SG Nova Roma, Chapter 3.22

22 – The Battle of Freedom Prime

(Freedom Prime – Epsilon Site, Briefing Room – Day 320, 0730)

The Vicerant warships were expected to arrive at 0915 hours, so there was time to get the planet’s defenses ready. The problem was that – except for Exodus Two – the planet didn’t have much weaponry to work with. The enemy’s decision to attack by ship was bad news, but it also made complete sense to Young. The only other way was the Stargate, which was secured by means of an iris. And even if any hostiles made it out of Epsilon Site, there was still local police force to deal with.

While they were official not part of the armed forces, it was a safe bet that they would put up a fight if the planet was invaded. A bet that was backed by fact that they had begun running drills for just that the day after construction of the Chaser began. And because they had the home team advantage, they would probably kick the butt of any invaders. So coming through the Stargate was a bad plan. Which left only attack by ship.

Besides Young, there were four others in the Briefing Room. Gy’Has represented the Senate, Telford was there because he was Epsilon Site CO, O’Neill was there to represent Earth – but he was now in the body of Matthew Scott – and finally there was Commander Axel Pass. Pass was a Jynacko. Formerly, he had been one of the best detectives the local police had to offer. And then he had volunteered for the salvage operation going on in orbit. There, he had proved to be a capable astronaut as well. So – all of ten minutes ago – he had been appointed as the Commander of Exodus Two.

“Great…” Pass began, while gestured towards a display that showed the telemetry of the planetary sensors. “…so basically, I’ve been put in charge of a suicide mission. Whose brilliant idea was that ?”

“Mine,” Gy’Has said.

“Brilliant, boss, just brilliant,” Pass rolled his eyes. “So, any chance of back-up ?”

“I’m afraid not,” Gy’Has said. “We only have functional ship and there is no way to get reinforcements here in time.”

“What about help from the surface ?”

“We’ve managed to bring some useful systems back on-line, but they are only good against unshielded targets,” Gy’Has paused. “It took years to repair the incoming teleporters because of lack of parts. But the salvage operation fixed that, so the teleporters are now fully operational,” Gy’Has hit several keys and a yellow line appeared around the planet. “We also have a massive stockpile of mining explosives. So if we can get them in range and figure out a way around their shields….”

“…You can deliver a nasty surprise,” Young said.

“That’s a man-sized IF,” O’Neill began. “What else do you have ?”

“The Empire set up a grid of particle weapons to protect the mining shafts from asteroids. We brought them on-line three weeks ago.” Gy’Has said. “They have the same range as the teleporters. The bad news is that they are low-yield. So again, we need to get rid of the shields and lure them in.”

“And our chances of doing that are not good,” Pass began. “The Vicerant are not stupid. All we have is Exodus Two and a bunch a wrecks that are barely….” An idea popped into his head. “Oh, that might work.”

“This had better be a brilliant plan,” O’Neill said.

Pass nodded and then began explaining what he had mind for defending Freedom Prime from the Vicerant.

(Xivolo Freighter 21A – Command Center – Day 320, 0915)

In past ten weeks and five days, the nine of the wrecks in orbit had been stripped down to the bulkheads. The only exceptions were Freighter Twenty One Alpha and Fourteen Charlie. And those ships were pretty bare bones as well. Twenty One Alpha only had its Command Center and sub-light engines left. The sub-light engines were taken last because they provided power to the command center and the structural shields.

Another reason they were taken last, was because they emitted radiation if handled improperly. And at the end of the operation, there would be nobody for the radiation to poison. As for the engines not used for the new Exodus-class ships, those would be taken apart for spare parts. Of course, none of this would happen if the Vicerant destroyed the planet. So it was all hands on deck. Which was why Valorie Watson had been put in charge of Twenty One Alpha.

She had taken Lisa Park and Matthew Scott along to help her operate the ship. The three of them were the only people aboard. Park was behind the science console and Scott was flying the ship. Watson had taken the Engineering console. She was diverting all the remaining fuel to one of the sub-light engines when Park’s console beeped.

“The Vicerant warships just dropped out hyperspace.” Park said.

“Matthew, I’ve diverted all the fuel to engine two,” Watson began. “But they drained the tanks pretty well. You’ll have seventeen seconds of thrust. Other then that, you’ll have to make do with the maneuvering thrusters.”

“I’ll take what I can get.”

The four warships came into view, but did not open fire on the wrecks. They had been moved to the far side of the planet, so that it was between them and the attackers. Instead, the ships headed for the side of the planet that had the cities. They settled in at positions just beyond the range of the teleporters and anti-asteroid grid. Watson saw this and cursed. ~Here’s hoping the Commander’s plan works.~

Exodus Two was behind the planet’s moon, but now made an FTL-Jump to a position right next to one of the Vicerant warships in the middle of the formation. She opened fire with everything she had, including her fighters. The warship returned fire, but Pass had discovered that his ship had one advantage. During the salvage operation, the Engineers had realized that the Xivolo thrusters were better then the Nakai units. So they had swapped them out. As a result, Exodus Two was much more nimble then when she had been when in the Vicerants hand.

And with Colonel Young behind the controls, she dodged the enemy fire with ease. Scott smiled as three missiles and numerous energy bolts missed their target and hit the warships instead.

“Time to do our part,” Watson said.

“Hold on to your butt,” Scott said.

He fired the one working sub-light engine, while using the thrusters to get them on course. The ship didn’t have any weapons, but it did have a nasty surprise for the Vicerant. Because Freedom Prime was a mining planet and gas giant, it had an ample supply of Methane. To get rid of the stuff, they had equipped the planet with machinery to turn the gas into ice. Ice that had been put aboard the nine engineless hulls and had melted to fill those shells, turning when into giant Methane bombs. And Twenty One Alpha was towing three of them. With Fourteen Charlie towing another three of these weapons.

“Here we go,” Scott said. “Approaching target.”

“Lisa,” Watson began. “Do it.”

Both freighters cut loose their bombs and pulled away. The problem was that the bombs were slow moving and that the Vicerant saw them coming. So two of the warships turned away from the surface and opened fire. They hit five of the bombs and these exploded. Which was exactly what Pass had wanted them to do. Because it meant that their flank was now exposed to the planet. There had been many more Xivolo thrusters then they had needed for Exodus Two.

And Pass had known that those had been bundled into booster rockets, which had been quickly welded to the last three bombs. They had placed on the other side of the planet as well. Except, they were in a lower orbit. One inside the range of the planetary defenses. And as soon as the warships turned, the bombs became missiles. Before the warships could react, the missiles came up and hit one of them. The warships shields came down. The last slow bomb slammed into its hull, causing a breach. Then the warship begun spinning out of control. It went right into the range of the teleporters and was quickly finished by the mining explosives.

The explosion send out a shockwave, which hit the remaining three warships. The ship that Exodus Two had been attacking was the closest to the blast and lost a considerable chunk of its shields. Scott put Twenty One Alpha on a collision course for that ship, while Fourteen Charlie did the same. Then he pulled a big red lever between his console and Park’s. Because ejection seats were not really an option in space, the command center was designed to eject as a whole. The consoles went dark and the module went spiraling towards Freedom Prime.

(Exodus Two – Bridge – Day 320, 0923)

Despite Colonel Young’s flying skills and the upgraded thrusters, Exodus Two had taken a major pounding. The shields were down to thirty percent and sections of the ship had gone dark. Worse, the weapons were down to forty percent. And they were still facing three to one odds. Pass was trying to get extra power to the shields when one of the warships exploded. The two freighters had rammed it and the ship had been hit in one of its magazines. This had started a chain reaction that had destroyed the whole thing.

“Rush ! Tell me our people made it out !”

“They did,” Nicholas Rush said from the Science console. “But we’re still outnumbered two to one and we have lost all our fighters.”

“Young, take us straight towards the planet with all the speed we can muster !”

Young nodded and set the course. This allowed Pass to divert all the power to the aft shields and weapons. One of the warships was still oriented the wrong way, so it was a one-on-one slugging match between the last warship and them. The problem was that the Vicerant warship simply had more guns. As they raced towards Freedom Prime, the shield began dropping fast and then….the Vicerant warship exploded.

“What the hell !?” Rush said.

Pass looked at the main viewer to see….a pair of Goa’uld motherships bearing down on the last Vicerant warship and blasting it to pieces. The warship exploded and the Goa’uld jumped into hyperspace. ~Well, this is going to be a headache during the debriefing.~ Then the view changed to a section of Freedom Prime. The battle was over and they were still here. But Pass got the feeling that their troubles had only just begun.

(Vengeance – Bridge – Day 320, 0925)

Pelops smiled as they headed back home. The Battle of Freedom Prime was over and the Goa’uld had won it. His underlings had been confused about going to safe the Tau’ri and their allies. But it was part of a greater plan Pelops had. In his view, the Goa’uld Empire had fallen for only one reason. And that reason was hatred. The Goa’uld had been cruel to their subjects, so everybody had hated them. And then the Tau’ri had gone looking for allies to fight then, that meant that they had found plenty. ~The Tok’ra, the Jaffa Rebellion, the Asgard.~

Back in the Milky Way Galaxy, it had been crystal clear that the Goa’uld were the bad guys and the Tau’ri and their allies were the good guys. If this New Goa’uld Empire was to survive in the long term, it needed to temper its cruelness somewhat. It needed allies and it needed to muddle the waters. Because if the situation was as black and white as it had been in the Milky Way, the Tau’ri would raise another alliance and burn the New Empire to the ground.

So they had saved the Tau’ri from the Vicerant. Not only beginning their campaign against the Tau’ri, but also damaging their greatest competitor. And as long as the Vicerant were focusing on the Tau’ri and their friends, the Goa’uld would escape their attention. Allowing them to move in the shadows. ~Yes, this New Empire is going to be a very different animal then the old.~ He smiled again, then left the ship in the hands of the crew. He had plans to make.