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Chapter 8
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SGC
Hammond grabbed the nearest chair and sat down in it heavily, rubbing his forehead. He could feel another headache coming on; luckily he was used to SG-1's reports by now and always came prepared. He reached into a pocket and withdrew 2 tablets; the duty airman just looked at him sympathetically, and passed his cup over. Hammond nodded his thanks, and swallowed the tablets, washing them down with the bitter coffee.
“Let me get this straight.” Hammond said, keying the radio on again “Since 1984, way before we opened the StarGate, the British have had classified proof that at least one race of aliens existed AND has been sharing technologies with a group of kids. Advanced technology at that, the sort of stuff most of our ‘allies' have refused to give us. Not only that, but they knew this alien was interacting with children from at least twenty different countries including the US .”
“Yes sir” the voice over the radio could be described 2 ways, very meek, and sounding like they wished they had some triple strength headache tablets handy. Hammond rubbed his forehead again, he could certainly sympathise.
“Even worse, they could have had these technologies and been in space along time ago, but a NID type operation scuppered that,” Hammond's mind started screaming about NID and Ammunition to use the next time they came an knocking, but then again, they probably wouldn't even care. It was an idea though…. “Not only that, but their visitor is generally seen as a glowing ball of light, with something of a superior attitude.”
“Ah, yes sir.”
“Ah… it gets better sir.”
‘Gets Better?' Hammond was, he had to admit, dreading this, how much worse could it get?
“Ah, well you remember those two motherships we blew up in orbit?”
By this time, whenever Carter spoke, the duty airman was wincing in sympathy, it looked to Hammond like a nervous twitch. He wondered if Doctor Frasier should be told…
“Well, their out of town friend was not fooled by the asteroids story sir.”
Hammond shrugged that off unsurprised, any alien, or human for that matter was unlikely to be fooled by the cover story.
“Which is when they decided to approach the British government, or rather Admiral Thompson, then Vice-Admiral, whom they believed could be trusted”
This on the other hand required more thought, rather pained thought at that; “Are you saying the British have all those technologies, their craft and spacedock because of us?”
“Ah, yes sir”
Groaning, Hammond grabbed the airman's coffee again and reached into his pocket, he knew he had some more headache tablets in there somewhere…
“I'm going to need a full report from you Major by the end of the day,” he finally replied before closing the channel. Now he just had to consider how he was going to report this to the joint chiefs…
Sometimes, this job was just far more of a headache then he deserved.
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Ground Control, RAF St Athans
“They don't believe us,”
Thompson shrugged, turning away from the control towers consoles to glance behind him, “I know, but what really can they do?”
“They're reporters,” Joan replied tartly, “they'll do what they always do, dig and dig until they get an answer that counts as news and if they don't get one, they'll eventually just make one up.”
“Perhaps,” he shrugged, turning back to gaze through the windows, his eyes following the form of an Airhead as it floated into a landing, a thin stream of smoke floating out the back of the starboard outermost engine, “some will try that certainly, most won't. The groundside missions we have some of the Airheads running will help provide a smokescreen and soon enough, most will forget and these craft will just end up being considered just a new addition to the armoury and not something worthy of an particular attention.”
“What we should have done is create versions of the Airheads for purely terrestrial use and with purely terrestrial technologies.”
The Admiral shot a smile over his shoulder, nodding pleased surprise, “that is certainly an idea. We still have the 1-6 couriers coming up and that airframe design is certainly more suited to atmospheric flight. With a few adjustments…”
She considered this for a moment, “it won't be perfect; the drives we're using just don't look like normal jets if you get a straight-on view…”
“And the fakes will have to be good enough to justify the apparent numbers of them we'll be using.”
“Budget,” Joan grimaced, “I don't think the auditors will like it too much.”
Thompson smiled as he watched the Airhead roll to a stop, rapidly surrounded by fire engines, “but if they do a good enough job, potentially it will be a money earner.”
“Given what the aircraft market is like at the moment, it will truly have to be something special. Perhaps we should get the institute team on it?”
He considered this a moment, then nodded, “speak to Albertine. I know aircraft isn't their normal area of expertise but they have already had to learn quite a bit for the Airheads to be workable in atmosphere. If they start working on an atmospheric 1-6 at the same time as the full couriers, I would imagine it would only increase the capabilities of them in atmosphere.”
“Perhaps,” Joan snorted, “I just hope the naming committee makes their mind up shortly. Pretty much anything will be better then calling them series one design six craft all the time.”
She got a laugh in response, “true. Just imagine what they will be like when we start building warships as well.”
Sub-lieutenant Williams grinned wryly at that, “true enough. But in all honesty, I don't think we can progress there until the American Government accepts us and starts working with us. This suspicion…”
“Is a perfectly understandable reaction and one we knew was coming,” Thompson shrugged, “nor can we do what the Americans did and go straight to a Cruiser. At this time, it looks as if our first warship design will be a frigate of destroyer.”
Joan's eyebrows rose startled, “I hadn't heard that before. Will such a small ship be able to go one on one with the Ha'taks? ”
Then she frowned, “no, they wouldn't would they… but as scouts, as support for larger ships, for fleets and escort duties and the like, a larger number of smaller cheaper warships would be necessary.”
The Admiral snorted, relaxing a little as he watched the fire engines start to pull away from the damaged craft, “I think the most appropriate word in that was ‘cheaper'. Certainly, there are a few persons who shall remain unnamed that have made their opinions on whether or not we should be considering the expense of building a warship at this time quite clear.”
“It's either that or buy the Prometheus design off the Americans and you know how much they are deliberately delaying the construction of that Russian ship!”
“Indeed,” Thompson shrugged, “when you factor in development costs, buying a Prometheus would probably be cheaper at first, but it would give America a greater degree of control over British warships then we would like.”
“Isn't that what we are doing to them anyway, in attempting to basically seize control of ship construction and repair?”
“To a degree yes,” he accepted, “but whilst we have a few tricks, the Americans still very much control the weapons technologies and for better or worse, that is a monopoly that should be broken. I… have my own reasons to distrust the Russians despite their apparent conversion to democracy but what is happening to them is what we are trying to avoid.
The Americans will have to let them have their warship eventually but until that happens; they still have absolute control over every Earth warship and weapons platform. That one nation should have that degree of control; that is dangerous. Akin to one nation having control over all nuclear weapons and we know what happened when that was true don't we.”
“They got used,” Joan replied and then shrugged, “I would not worry about their use against earth bound targets though unless the NID manages to seize control over Stargate Command.”
“They have managed that at least once before,” Thompson noted, “and Kinsey is very much in their pocket, if he does run for President which seems likely…”
“We have a few years yet for that,” she sighed, “but is that truly our greatest worry? Kinsey has pulled some truly arrogant ploys before and we don't even know of halve the shit he is involved with.”
“That is true,” the Admiral replied, “but I already have a surveillance team being prepped to go to America . Hopefully they at least will be able to give us some warning of any moves he makes. Until then, we will just have to do what we always do. Work with what we know and try to plan for what we don't.”
Joan nodded, then sighed, “maybe, but for now, I'm going to go get Albertine on the line.”
“Give her my regards,” Thompson noted as Joan walked swiftly away.