SG Nova Roma, Chapter 3.05

5 – Two Weeks and 2230 Years Later

(Spera – Science Lab – Day 165, 0817)

Marc Vale had said goodbye to his family this morning. The Goa’uld had not attacked Earth, with most of their ships being either destroyed or badly damaged. As for the handful of ships that had survived undamaged, they had tried to locate Spera. But the Ancient ship had dodged them with ease. After two days, the Goa’uld had given up and gone away. They had then spent two days repairing the battle damage, before parking the ship in Earth orbit.

The next nine days had been very busy. To begin with, there was had been plenty of wreckage from the battle to clean up. Records recovered by Stargate Command had showed that Ra – who was Supreme System Lord at this point – had declared Earth’s solar system off-limits. But Vale did not expect the Goa’uld to pass up a chance to get their hands on something they could to gain power. So they had cleared the system.

At the same time, the Asurans had set to repairing and upgrading Spera. So far, it had been impossible for the Asurans to use the nanites on the ship. They had needed raw materials and time. And there had been not enough of either so far. But now they had all the resources of Earth at their disposal. And that was not the only thing they had gotten from Earth. They had used this opportunity to stock up on all sorts of supplies. But the biggest score was that they had been able to get plants for the hydroponics bays. And not just eatable ones, but the several medicinal plants.

Finally, Alec Colson and Nikita Aranov had been working on several salvaged pieces of command ship and berserker drones. This was giving them a lot of information about the technology. The last thing that they had needed to do, was to destroy the Siren Device so that the Goa’uld couldn’t recover it. Which they had done this morning.

So now there was only the tiny issue of getting back to their own time and the right place. Which was why Vale was headed for the Science Lab now. When he got there, Colson was talking to Claus. Nearby, Nikita Aranov was taking notes on something. ~Here we go.~ He turned to Colson.

“Alec, what do we have ?”

“There is good news and bad news,” Colson began. “The good news is that we have found a way to get back to our time and the place where we were before all of this happened. The bad news is that Nikita has made a discovery that you are not going to like.”

“Okay, let’s start with the details of how we are going to get back.”

“Well,” Colson said as he took out a roll of paper and unrolled it on a nearby table. “This is what we came up with.” The paper showed a schematic. “We can’t create a passage from scratch, But using several special satellites, we can wedge the one that brought us here open just far enough. The passage was a lightyear wide on our way in, but Spera is much smaller then that. So we don’t have to worry about them noticing us.”

“And the satellites ? We can’t leave them behind.”

“That why they are fitted with self-destruct charges that will atomize them as soon as we have entered the passage.”

“Excellent.” Vale turned to Aranov. “And for the bad news ?”

“Well,” Aranov began as he took out a map of the Praedones Empire. “this is the Empire. And those green lines are their shipping lines. Spera’s AI told us that there was cluster of inhabited planets ahead. Now, this region here…” He took a pen and drew a circle on the map. “…is about a week of FTL travel away from where we vanished. And there are no shipping lines there, but there are several Praedones colonies in that area. These are backwater worlds…”

“….with no military priority. So they probably weren’t attacked. And because they are backwaters, they are self-sustaining.”

“Hence, the lack of supplies lines,” Aranov said. “And when the homeworld was destroyed, they would not be affected. I think that region is the cluster we’ve been warned about. And the heart of the New Praedones Empire. The real bad news is that Jennifer did the math on how long it would take us cross that area.”

“And the magic number is…”

“Forty-seven days, sir,” Aranov said. “There is one tiny silver lining. Because we’ve restored and fine-tuned the FTL drive, we should be able to compensate for the fourteen days we’ve spent here. So we should be back on schedule by the time we’re done crossing the cluster. Presuming we’re not blasted to pieces by the Praedones.”

“So, how did Destiny cross the cluster without becoming scrap metal ? In fact, why didn’t they simply destroy the ship, instead of attacking Earth ? That would have prevented the test of the Time Sail as well.” They were still calling the device the Time Sail, because the name had simply stuck.

“Because Destiny is a pretty advanced piece of tech. It could be a great resource for them,” Colson said. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if the Central Authority Nakai didn’t appreciate the competition either.”

“That’s what I figured,” Aranov said.

“Thank you, Nikita,” He turned to Colson. “How long to set up the return trip ?”

“The satellites are ready to go. Once we deploy them, it should take about an hour to open the passage.” Colson said.

“Get to it,” Vale said.

Vale headed back to the bridge. Once they made it back to the future, they would be facing an uncertain fate. ~So, what else is new ? We’re going back to what we’ve been doing. Facing the unknown in a million year old spaceship in the middle of nowhere.~ Which was exactly what they had signed up for, and they had all known it. So he sat down in the command chair and got back to work.

(Pentagon – General O’Neill’s Office – Day 166 / 23 January 2018, 0917)

Jack O’Neill was writing a report that he had hoped that he would never have to write. But it looked like Spera was indeed lost. So he had to put that on paper, before officially reporting that to both the President and the Joined Chiefs. ~This is not going to be fun.~ He was about halfway through the report when there was a knock at the door. It was Sergeant Walter Harriman.

“Yes, Walter ?”

“Sir, there’s a package for you,” Harriman said.

“And…”

“I think you’ll really want to see this, sir.”

Harriman reached to a nearby table and picked up something wrapped in cloth. He put it on the General’s desk and unwrapped the cloth. Inside was a metal box. And written on that box was the General’s name, with an instruction not to open it before today.

“This was found during the construction of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, sir. It was exactly where the Stargate is now, sir,” Harriman paused. “They dated it to 12 BC, sir.”

“That’s impossible.”

O’Neill opened the box. Inside were three stones tablets, with English text carved into it. ~Son of a….~ It was a report by Colonel Vale. Besides the report, there was also a book. It was in Ancient, which was titled Rewritten History. O’Neill opened it to find a note with in English. It said ‘For Doctor Jackson, he’ll have a field day’. He closed the book and gave it to Walter.

“Get that to Daniel.”

“Yes, sir.”

Harriman left, while O’Neill smirked. He grabbed the report he had been writing and threw it in the trash. Then he grabbed the first stone tablet and began reading. He would still have a meeting with the President and the Joined Chiefs. But something told him that now, this meeting was going to be a lot more fun.

SG Nova Roma, Chapter 3.04

4 – How to Defeat a Legion of Evil Spaceships

(Spera – Bridge – Day 151, 0940)

Jennifer Hailey sat in the Command Chair and checked her watch. The fleet of command ship would arrive around eleven-thirty, which meant that they had about just under two hours to come up with a plan to defeat them. And yet, her mind wandered.

~I wonder why the Colonel brought his family here.~ She had learned about the Romans in school. And thus, she knew that they had created some wonderful things. But she also knew how brutal the Romans had been. ~Crucifixions, plundering, rape. They were no saints.~ So she had been surprised when she had met Gaius the Elder, who had seemed a calm, rational man. ~A soldier, just like his son.~

“So,” Frank Levine began. “what do you think of the Colonel’s father ?”

“Well, I can clearly see where the Colonel got some of his treats,” Hailey said. “It’s a shame that I didn’t get to meet his mother. I suspect she is a very interesting woman.”

“Maybe if we survive this, you can.”

Hailey nodded and hoped that the Colonel would come up with a general plan soon. Or they would be in major trouble.

(Spera – Science Lab – Day 151, 0945)

Nikita Aranov had finished reading the book called Rewritten History. He looked at Colonel Vale. ~The wheels are turning, you can almost see it.~ If you called him Marcus Valerius or Marc Vale, there was no doubt that in Nikita’s mind that their leader was one sharp cookie. He had know that convincing his family that he was not crazy would not be easy, so he had been prepared. The Colonel had brought a Life Sign Scanner and his Berretta M9 with him. Before he had taken them to the Puddle Jumper, he had demonstrated the scanner to them. Then he had used a chunk of meat to show the effect of the M9.

And that was not all he had brought to prove his story. He had taken along several polaroid pictures he had taken before they had left the ship. This had been enough to convince them to come with them to the Puddle Jumper and they had taken it from there. But none of that would matter if they didn’t come up with a plan to defeat the command ships and berserker drones. Vale activated his radio and made a call, breaking the silence. ~Okay, this is going to be the hardest meeting.~

Vale had asked Frank to come to the Science Lab. While the Ursini and Nakai were living beings, the New Asurans were….well, the old way they had been able to explain them to the Valerius family was as Machines in the Form of Man. So, there had been very little doubt in Nikita’s mind that this would be the most awkward introduction of the three alien species aboard Spera. ~They’re good people, but they are the most alien of the bunch.~ On the bright side, it was a sign that the Colonel might have come up with a plan.

“Sir,” Frank said as he walked in. “you needed to see me ?”

“Frank, you know about the incoming ships ?” Frank nodded to indicate that he did. ~Everybody aboard probably already knows, but it doesn’t hurt to check.~ “Can you build a Siren Device ?”

“You mean, something that works like the Sirens from legends, singing a song to draw in its prey ?” Now Vale nodded. “Sure, I can come up with a Siren Device to do that and build it before the vessels get here,” He paused. “But that would make the enemy ignore Earth and only attack Spera. Earth will be safe, but we will not be.”

“We will be…” ~He has a plan.~ Nikita thought with a smile. “…if we can drain our energy supply at the last moment.”

“Of course,” Octavia said. “because then the ship will leech from the sun, just like Destiny. But this ship was build to do that, while the beehive ships are not. We will ride through the fires, while the enemy will burn,” She paused. “But how do we drain the energy ?”

“Exactly,” Colonel Vale said. “And we can use the Stargate to drain the energy. The greater the distance the passage has to cover, the more energy it takes. All we have to do, is to try to connect to a world far enough away to use up all the energy.”

“I have already done the calculations,” Frank said. “I know the combination we can use.”

“That is not possible,” Gaius the Elder began. “How did you…,” He paused. “Are you a…..New As…as…”

“Asuran ? Yes, I am,” Frank said. “Our….nature allows us to do a great number of calculations in our head. We are made out of machines too small for the eye to see. And we can use these machines to build things.”

There was a moment of silence, then Gaius the Elder nodded. “Then we should let you get to work,” He turned to Vale. “Marcus, can we talk in private somewhere ?”

“Of course, father.”

Colonel Vale led his father out of the Science Lab.

(Spera – Vale’s Quarters – Day 151 /19 December 12 BC, 0952)

Marcus and Gaius the Elder were sitting in the Colonel’s quarters. The room was small and the two of them had to sit on the bunk. Leaning back, the Colonel looked at his father. He suspected that he already knew what his father was about to ask him.

“Son, why have you brought us here ?” He began. “This……all this….it is a lot to take in. So, why have you brought us into the strange, new world ?”

“Because I did not want you to mourn me,” Marcus said. “And because in all of the Empire, in all of the world, you are the only people I trust. Politicians, officials and generals….what would they do with knowledge of this ship and its secrets ?” He paused. “And out there, in the vastness, it is a struggle to survive. Water, food and other supplies are rare out there. But here and now, they can be found a plenty.”

There was a moment of silence, then Gaius nodded. His father understood what he saying. ~Dad served under Julius Caesar, was alive when he was assassinated and fought in the War of Second Triumvirate.~ So his father understood how traitorous politics could be.

“The machines and the secrets…,” Gaius shook his head. “…I would not trust anybody other then you with this kind of power.”

“Of course, we have to survive the battle with those Beehive vessels first.”

“We have time before they get here,” Gaius said. “Can we see the rest of the vessel ?”

Vale nodded and led his father out of the room.

(Spera – Bridge – Day 151, 1122)

The fleet of command ships was two minutes away. Frank the New Asuran had just connected the Siren Device to the ship’s main transceiver. Nikita Aranov was in the Gate Room, with the Stargate ready to dial. As for the Valerius family, they were in the Science Laboratory. The only exception was Attitia, who had insisted on being in the Gate Room. Colonel Vale sat in the command chair and watched as the ships closed. ~Here we go. This will either work, or blow up in our face big time.~ He activated his radio.

“Bridge to Gate Room, dial the Gate,” He turned to Anne Teldy, who was manning the tactical console. “Activate the Siren Device, Major Teldy.”

=/\=Dialing now, Colonel.=/\=

“Siren Device on-line, Colonel.”

Several seconds later, the lights slowly faded. ~Come on, old girl, you can do it.~ Vale looked at the screen next to the command chair. They had thirty second left until the command ships began shooting. The clock ticked down to fifteen seconds, but then Spera’s autopilot kicked in and the ship turned towards the sun. And the command ships, which had begun to deploy their drones, followed.

“Hold on people, this is going to be a rough ride.”

The shields began to glow as the ship dove into the sun. They were strained further by a rain of weapons fire from the drones. But Spera refused to give up. And then gravity started making herself known. They could have flown into the star without draining the ship’s energy reserves. But then the ship would have stay inside the sun for a short time. By draining the supply, they had multiple their time inside. And the longer they were inside, the bigger then chance of all the hostiles falling into the star.

“It’s working,” Teldy said. “I’m reading more and more drones being drawn in.”

Vale looked at the screen. It was completely filled with red dots, which were vanishing like popping balloons. The problems was that soon, Spera would be fully charged. And then she would pull out of the sun. ~Right into the fight.~ The lights came back on and the ship started to pull out.

“Ready the weapons.” Vale said. “Let’s give these….”

He didn’t finish his sentence because of what he was seeing. ~What in the world…~ An armada of Goa’uld motherships, Al’kesh and Death gliders was attacking the command ships. ~Of course, the Goa’uld think they would be next.~ The Praedones probably had programmed the fleet to attack Earth only, but the Goa’uld didn’t know that. So they were hitting the hostiles with everything they had. Spera quickly joined the fray, hitting as much drones as she could.

“We’re killing drones left and right,” Teldy said. “But it’s not enough. The shields are falling fast.”

The Siren Device had put an considerable hole in the fleet and the Goa’uld were putting up quite the fight, but their chances were not looking good. Spera was firing everything she had and still taking a pounding. ~Come on, Marc, time to earn your paycheck.~ He made his way to the tactical console and disconnected the Siren Device, which he needed for his plan.

“Divert all the power you can to the weapons and shields.” He said. “Levine, give me full sub-light towards Jupiter.”

“Yes, sir.” Teldy and Levine said in unison.

The ship bolted away from the sun, with command ships and drones in pursuit. Spera kept firing, thinning out the fleet some more. As they made their way towards Jupiter, Vale left the Bridge with the Siren Device. During their time aboard Spera, the New Asurans had built several Naquadah Reactors. They now had eight Mark One units and three Mark Two units as part of their supplies. He grabbed one of the Mark One units and connected it to the Siren Device. Then he reactivated the Device. He had just done so when Octavia walked into the Jumper Room, where the Reactors were kept.

“Can I help ?”

“You carry the Device, I will carry the power source.”

They grabbed the two devices and got going. Vale led them to deck five, where they put the devices into the system that normally dropped the communications relay. He activated the radio, telling T’Zalo – who was behind Flight Control Two – to drop the Siren Device. They saw it moving towards the hatch it would drop from.

“Back to the bridge,” Vale said. “Go !”

The two them made their way to the bridge. When they got there, Vale saw that Levine had put them on a course away from Jupiter. But he also saw that his plan had worked. The atmosphere was filled with streaks that he figured were command ships and drones trying to follow the Siren Device. They were burning up or being crushed.

“Good plan, boss.” T’Zalo said. “The nanites will fight to survive. They have already added a shield emitter to the construction you threw overboard. It will draw in every one of the hostiles. Except for the ones fighting the Goa’uld.”

“Goa’uld ?” Octavia said.

“A race of villains,” Vale said. “which will be defeated in the future. But we cannot fight them now, because we would alter the future.” He turned to Levine. “Engage the primary engine and take us to Sedna.” ~Time to get out of here.~

Spera jumped into Faster-Then-Light. He heard Octavia gasp at the sight of the FTL-effect outside the window. ~It is a sight to behold. Don’t let yourself get jaded to this stuff, Marcus.~ The ship dropped out of FTL and Sedna came into view. But there was no Goa’uld vessel in sight. So he began giving orders. ~So that if the snakes show up, we can give them a fight.~