SG Nova Roma, Chapter 3.15

15 – Midseason Cliffhanger

(Spera – Mess Hall – Day 181, 0800)

Jennifer Hailey would conduct the briefing. She and Cinara had begun working on the plan, but Major Levine had come in while they had been working on it. He had also added some pieces to the plan. As had Claus and Nikita Aranov. So it had really been a group effort. They had spent several hours yesterday, hashing out the details. They had also made some arrangements with the FR-2 Senate. And now they were ready to go. ~Presuming General O’Neill gives us the green light.~ The general was here to represent Earth – having used the Stones to swap with Captain Grogan - while Colonel Young and Doctor Rush represented Destiny’s crew. Taking a deep breath, she made her way to an enlarged copy of the smuggler’s map mounted on the wall. Claus had made a wooden pointer stick for her to use.

“In seven days, we will reach the heart of Xivolo space, Cluster A,” She began. “When we get there, the plan is to take both Puddle Jumpers to New Xivolo Prime. Cinara has told us that in their arrogance, the Senate has never even considered anybody attacking the homeworld. Its Stargate is totally unsecured.”

“And what exactly would we be attacking ?” Young asked.

“There is a fallout bunker called Alpha One. It has the codes to turn off the acid making machines that are decaying the life-support systems on FR-2. Once we get our hands on those, we will be one step closer to securing the future of FR-2. But that is not all that’s in there. Exodus One was built using bits and pieces salvage from an Imperial starship that crashed close to the cities. The Empire colonized the planet, then evacuated it and then exiled all the slaves to it. And in all that, only one starship crashed ? That is very unlikely,” Hailey paused.

“The computers inside Alpha One should have a list of every starship that has ever been to FR-2. And the proper codes to activate their emergency beacons. With those and a subspace transceiver, we can find every wreck on the planet and in the solar system, providing Project Exodus with a large influx of resources.”

“And how would that help us ?” Rush asked.

“Rush.” Young said in an annoyed tone.

“What !? Providing these people with resource will not help us. We’ve lost Destiny, the mission…”

“Rush !” Young said, his tone clearly being his way of telling the scientist to shut up.

“Yes, we have lost Destiny. But we have begun hatching a plan to get it back. We’re calling it Operation Recovery.” Hailey said. “After the raid, we will head out of Imperial space as soon as possible. Our goal will be to reach a planet we have codenamed Beacon Alpha as soon as possible. Beacon Alpha is the first planet visited by Destiny’s crew.

It took Destiny about twenty-two weeks to get from Beacon Alpha to the edge of the galaxy. However, since this part has already been explored, we believe we can use Eli’s program to skip the rest of this galaxy. It would only take us five weeks to get to edge of the galaxy, where Phase Two of Operation Recovery will begin.”

“Which is ?” O’Neill asked.

“Both our own and the New Asurans ninth chevron work-arounds are useless. We used one to get the original crew aboard and the other to get reinforcement by way of the Beta Site. Spera’s security protocols had rendered both overrides inert...,” She took the map down, revealing another map underneath. It showed two galaxies with a line connecting them. “…for dialing IN. Using them to override the normal protocols for long-range dialing OUT is still doable. So, the plan is to park Spera at the edge Galaxy Destiny One and dial a Stargate in Galaxy Destiny Two. And thanks to the folks on Atlantis, we know which Gate to target.” She paused.

“We were so happy that we defeated the command ships and berserker drones that we forgot about our original plan, Operation Supernova. Because it never got executed, there are now eighty-two refitted Nakai Colony Domes sitting at the edge of Galaxy Destiny Two. Using the Deep Space Internet and Destiny’s reports, we have the location of those domes. And the nearest Stargate, which will be the one that we will dialing. The plan is to send both of our Puddle Jumpers through, with our New Asuran crewmembers and two pilots on them.”

“And then what…?” O’Neill asked.

“Doctor McKay once designed a hyperdrive for a Puddle Jumper. It only worked for two jumps and we were never able to recreate the technology. But now we have New Asurans on the payroll, so we should be able to refit both Jumpers with one. They’ll still only be able to do two jumps, but that is all we need. The Jumpers fly to the domes, drop off the New Asuran crewmembers and then jump back to the planet with Stargate. The New Asurans will reprogram the domes to fly straight to FR-2. Because they don’t need food or water, they won’t make any stops.”

The irony of that part of the plan was not lost on her, since it was obsessed mode that forced them to abandon Destiny to begin with. “And those domes will inject FR-2 with enough resources to overhaul their cities and execute Phase Three…” She took the second map down, revealing a schematic of a starship. The vessel was shaped like a 5.56 inch bullet. “….or as we call it, Chaser.”

“You want to build a starship to chase Destiny ?” Young asked.

“That’s exactly what we want to do. It will have everything necessary to support a crew of two-hundred. Including a working Stargate,” She noticed that got her a look from Rush. “We can harvest a Stargate from a nearby planet and the New Asurans can reconfigure it to make it work like Destiny’s and Spera’s, with the address not being a based on fixed point in space.”

“Is that even possible ?” Young asked.

“In theory,” Rush began. “But the actual modifications would require some pretty advanced technology.”

“And what exactly will Spera be doing during all this ?” O’Neill asked.

“Doing her best to catch up,” Vale began. “We will cross the void between galaxies and then program Spera to skip the part of that galaxy that Destiny has already explored. Our only stop in that trip will be to pick up the Puddle Jumpers and their pilots. So we’ll have to make sure we have plenty of supplies before hitting Beacon Alpha.”

“Speaking of which, what about using the Beta Site to get us some ?” Young said.

“Yeah,” O’Neill said. “There’s a minor hiccup with that,” He paused. “We finally managed to build a stable power source, but now the blasted thing is almost out of gas. The eggheads say that if we try to dial you directly, we can only dial one more time. And refueling the whole power source would take five years. And even then, it would only get us three more trips, apparently.”

“That’s why we need the Delta Site and a Epsilon Site. It’s the only way to create a reliable supply line,” Vale said. “We need to bring the People of FR-2 into the fold. If we become allies, they will let us upgrade their Stargate and use their Doorway Base as the Epsilon Site. And we can defend them against the Vicerant and help them explore their galaxy.”

“What about Langara ? Now that the Lucian Alliance is gone ?” Young asked. “Or the New Asurans in the Milky Way ?”

“From the reports that I’ve read, the New Asurans have their hands full making sure that the Alliance doesn’t reclaim the territory they lost,” Vale said. “And Langara is still refusing to help. Even if they agreed to do it, they are currently upgrading their Stargate facility. The new base they are building will not be finished for another two years. So, it’s the Delta-Epsilon scheme or nothing,” He paused. “Of course, none of this is going to happen, unless we manage to get those codes.”

“Yeah, how exactly do you intend to do that ?”

“Major Hailey, if you would, please ?”

Hailey nodded and then began explaining what she and Cinara had in mind for the Alpha One Heist.

(Spera – Gate Room – Day 188 / 14 February 2018, 2303)

The mission was planned to start at exactly 2305 hours. Cinara had provided them with information about New Xivolo Prime’s days and years, which Eli had used to calculate the best time to invade. 2305 on Spera was 0300 hours on the planet. And on New Xivolo Prime, the time from 0245 until 0500 was the darkest part of the night. And because the bulk of the people would be asleep, they would have a good chance of getting through the Gate unseen.

Puddle Jumper One would carry NR-1 and Cinara, while Jumper Two would take along NR-4 and Alec Colson. Major Teldy would be in charge of Spera and keep the Gate Room ready for any unwelcome surprises. Cinara walked into Jumper One and took the seat behind the pilot’s seat, where Colonel Vale was preparing to take off.

“This is amazing.” She said.

“Yes, it is,” Alex Patterson began. “The Ancients were a pretty smart bunch.”

The Puddle Jumper powered up and the Gate began to dial. Then the ship moved through the Stargate and Spera was replaced by the courtyard of the Royal Palace. She could make out the palace because of the lights. ~Looks like it’s still inhabited.~ The question was who or whom was living there now. All the servants lived in the nearby town of Toryn, so it wasn’t them. ~Maybe the palace belongs to the Senate now.~ But she hoped it did not. The palace had been in the family for hundreds of years and she loved the place. Then the Jumper pulled away so that Jumper Two could come through the Gate. The two Jumpers flew away side by side. Twenty seconds later, the alarm sounded. But then the Jumpers were already out of range of the defenses.

(Jumper One – Cockpit – Day 188, 2315)

Going to Alpha One in a straight line would have taken only three minutes. But they had not wanted to telegraph where they were going, so they had flown over several nearby towns and then cloaked before heading for Alpha One. Hopefully, any nearby ground forces would be busy with the sightings, allowing them to take Alpha One without having to worry about Imperial reinforcements. The Jumpers were now approaching Alpha One.

“Here we go,” Vale said. “Making our way inside.”

The Jumpers were still cloaked as they flew into the tunnel that led to the entrance of Alpha One. They reached the end of the tunnel and landed side-by-side. Only now did they decloak. Cinara followed Vale out of the Jumper. She was wearing one of the Tau’ri uniforms, so she fitted in with the group. They had even provided her with one of their sidearms, a pistol they called a Berretta. They made their way past a thick door, which would secure the base when it was in lockdown. As they passed it, Cinara realized that something was wrong.

~Where are the guards ?~ They had bypassed some of the guards by flying over the fence that surrounded the complex. But there should be eight more guards at the door. And the fact what they were not there, was not a good sign. Then she heard her a noise. As Cinara drew her sidearm, dozens of soldiers decloaked and surrounded them. ~Okay, this is bad !~ And the soldiers were about to fire…

(FR-2 – Eli’s House, Balcony - Day 188, 2318)

Tears were streaming down Eli’s face. Yesterday, they had completed all the briefings and tours. It meant that everybody was now up to date on everything that had happened since they had entered stasis. And it also meant that they could begin having personal visits using the Ancients Stones. That was when Eli had discovered that his mother was no longer alive. And the timing made it extra bitter, because she had passed away in December 2017.

Now he was standing on the tiny balcony that came with his house. The balcony provided a wonderful view of the city, but he was too depressed to see it. In his hands was a revolver. One of his neighbors was a police officer and the locals did not lock their doors. When the man had gone to sleep, it had been easy for Eli to recover his service weapon and two bullets. Eli looked at the weapon, his mind in a distant and dark place. So he did not notice when somebody opened the front door of his house. Whoever it was approached the balcony, while raising a pistol. Two gunfire reports echoed through the night….

To Be Continued….