SG Nova Roma, Chapter 3.10

10 – Assault on Destiny

(Exodus One – Cockpit – Day 173, 1108)

Exodus One was approaching Destiny. Whoever was in control of the ship, had been making extensive repairs to her. Telford could see this, because the metal they had used to seal the hull breaches was a different color then the original material. But the main discovery was that Destiny was not alone here. There was also a Nakai ship in orbit. It was located further from the planet then Destiny. Alas, he did not get time to ponder what this meant. Because the proximity sensors told him that he had to get ready for the boarding. ~Here we go.~

Since they were not welcome onboard, they would have to cut their way in. He landed the ship on top of a relatively flat piece of the ship and pulled a lever. A hatch opened in the bottom of the ship. They had picked one of the patches, hoping that the metal was softer then the original Ancient stuff. Two of the Alliance soldiers began cutting through.

“Thirty seconds, people.” Watson said.

“Sergeant Ingram, Taylor,” Sergeant John Ingram was a member of Telford’s team, while Taylor was an Alliance soldier. “new plan. There’s a Nakai ship out there. So you’re going to have to make a detour on the way back.” He paused. “I want a full scan of that ship.”

“We’ll get it, sir.”

They finished cutting through the hull and began boarding the ship. Ingram and Taylor sat behind the controls. Ingram was rated on F-302’s and Taylor had flown Death Gliders. They were the closest thing the team had to experienced pilots. Telford gave them a nod, before jumping through the hole. He landed and readied his weapon. They were in a corridor, relatively close to the Communications Room. But it was only a matter of time before the enemy came down on them.

“Let’s go !” Telford said.

Six members of the team followed him and Watson, while the rest headed in the direction of the nearest shuttle dock. Telford’s team made it to the Communications Room, but there were several people inside. The colonel was shocked when he saw them, but it was Watson who said what he was thinking.

“Humans ? That’s impossible.”

These people were wearing uniforms that looked like they had been lifted from World War Two. Two of them went for their weapons and got shot. The rest raised their hands. Three members of the team kept their weapons trained on the hostiles, while Watson searched for the Ancient Communications Stones. She found them and the device that they needed to used with. One of her soldiers threw her a backpack and she put the Stones and device in. Then she turned to one of the hostiles. He appeared to be in his thirties, with green eyes and brown hair.

“Who are you ? Where are you from ?”

“We..,” The man swallowed as he got dirty looks from his companions. “…are the Vicerant. We are from Novus.” He looked up, his look now defiant. “And you will all die.”

“Contact !” One of the soldiers yelled.

Three Vicerant soldiers, armed with submachine guns, came around the corner. The rear guard cut down them quite efficiently, but it was a clear sign that the enemy knew that they were here. Watson left the Communications Room, while Telford threw a flashbang into it. He then slammed the button that closed the door.

“Bridge ?” Watson asked.

“Bridge.” Telford said with a nod.

The team got moving.

(Destiny – Corridor – Day 173, 1119)

It had been a running firefight all the way to their first target. Captain Laura Cadman had served on Atlantis for several years, so she had seen real-slash-Ancient Puddle Jumpers. And whoever these people were, they had created a crude copy of those ships. They had also modified the shuttle dock. ~Makes sense, the Jumper is much smaller then the Ancient shuttle.~ Without the modifications, the airlock wouldn’t have been compatible and the clamps that were supposed to keep the Jumper in place would have been useless. One of the Alliance soldiers had taken the controls and had launched the Jumper towards Slave Dump at full speed. Now they were shooting their way into the shuttle dock where the second Jumper was. Or at least, trying to…

“This is going great !” One of Alliance soldiers said. “We’re absolutely not pinned down.”

“Gee ! I hadn’t noticed !” Cadman said as she shot another enemy soldier.

“Well, since I’m stating the obvious..,” The soldier fired another few shots. “…did you notice the bad guys are human ?” He fired again. “How does that work ? The last time I checked, humans don’t just pop out nowhere.”

“Time travel or something. Trust me, the details will make your head hurt.”

Before the soldier could reply, somebody managed to shoot the last soldier that was keeping them from advancing. They made their way to the Jumper. The bulk of the team got into the Jumper. Cadman and seven others would go for the Ancient shuttle and try to keep it secure until Telford’s team got here. Then – hopefully – they would use the shuttle to make their escape to Slave Dump. Of course, nobody said so out loud. ~Otherwise, something is bound to go horribly wrong.~ Which might happen anyway.

(Destiny – Bridge – Day 173, 1125)

The last Vicerant soldier went down. There were no civilians on the bridge, which made it crystal clear that this was some kind of military operation. ~They were clearly not expecting visitors.~ The next thing Telford noticed was there was some kind of computer next to command chair. It was wired into all the consoles. He and Watson went into the room, while the other took up positions to defend it.

“That’s not supposed to be here.” He said as he approached the computer.

Watson made her way to one of the control consoles and began checking things over. The look on her face made it clear that what she found was not good news. There was a control panel on the Vicerant computer, which was not secured. The display was in a variant of English, so Telford could read what it said.

“There’s a network of these things throughout the ship. They’re suppressing Destiny’s AI,” He said as gunfire erupted in the corridor. ~They’ve found us.~ “That’s how they’ve managed to keep the ship in place for the past five years. What have you got ?”

“Bad news,” Watson said. “They did something Destiny was never supposed to do. The ship is programmed with a schedule. That’s what the AI used to control the countdown clock when Destiny was on auto-pilot. But now this ship is five years behind schedule. And the AI has become obsessed with getting back on schedule. If we break the Vicerant system permanently, the ship will jump into FTL and she won’t drop out until she is back on the programmed time table,” She paused. “She won’t stop for supplies, she won’t care for the crew. And the ninth chevron will just….stop working. So supplies from the Milky Way will not be an option either.”

“So, anybody left on this ship will be royally screwed ?”

“Pretty much,” Watson began. “If we don’t get Colonel Young and his crew off soon, we’re not getting them off at all. The good news is that if we blow up this unit and run the right diagnostics, we can temporarily disable the suppression system. It will regain control once the diagnostics are done.”

“Will that be enough time ?”

“Yes. The diagnostic lasts six hours, but the Vicerant won’t know that,” Watson said as she worked the console. “It could take them weeks to find the ship. You need to blow that thing to pieces.”

Telford put a charge on the Vicerant computer. The reason they had limited their team to twenty-four people had not just been the space aboard Exodus One. There had only been twenty-four projectile weapons available. They were not Earth weapons, but the closest thing was a M-16 assault rifle. Besides these, they had also been give pistols that resembled the Russian TP-82. The charge was plastic explosive, not that different from C4. Telford and Watson left the room, closing the door. Five seconds later, the charge blew.

“Okay, we have ten minutes until this ship jumps into FTL.” Watson said.

The team headed out. Now it all depended on Captain Cadman and her team. If they lost their ride of this boat, this whole thing was going to end badly.

(Destiny – Corridor – Day 173, 1133)

The hostiles were making a hard push for the Ancient shuttle. But – at least, so far – Cadman and her team were holding them off. They had run out of ammo, but there had been plenty of enemy weapons for them to pick up. So they were still in the fight. ~Come on, Colonel. Things are getting sticky down here.~ She had just shot two more enemy soldiers when she saw another group rushing towards them. Cadman aimed her weapon and pulled the right. All she got was a click, meaning that the weapon was out of ammo. ~Oh, crap.~ The soldiers aimed their weapons, but were cut down by weapons fire from some place Cadman couldn’t see before they could pull the trigger. Then Telford and his team came around the corner.

“Time to go, people.”

They boarded the Ancient shuttle, shooting all the way. By the time Cadman closed the rear hatch, Telford was already behind the controls. Before the hostiles could do anything about it, the shuttle launched. They cleared Destiny and Telford put the shuttle into a turn so that he could see the ship. He had barely done so when the ship jumped into faster-then-light. Then he turned ship towards Slave Dump. The assault was over.