GateWar Interludes
I walked through the ship slowly, my eyes darting everywhere, wary.
Supposedly this ship was safe now, but I had been here too long to ever really consider this wreck safe, not with the depredations of a thousand years of abandonment, not with… the plague.
Thirteen dead, just to return this aged, battered hull to Alpha Centauri and we weren't there yet. Hell, we had yet to leave. We had done all we could in the bulky powersuits and equally cumbersome NBC suits as far as repairs and decontamination was concerned but this was still a vessel much in need of some shipyard time.
Old outdated weapons and shields, a large and valuable hull, we couldn't travel through space like this, not on our own. We were too big of a tempting target and if somebody came and took the vessel from us without knowing about the bacteria, there was a potential for true disaster.
We needed an escort.
That in itself was a problem, with the Sol and Alpha Centauri systems intermittently under siege, the slow return of the battlegroup and all our other commitments, the concept of spare or available warships just didn't exist in the modern spacegoing Earthforce…or Tau'ri Star Service, depending on which politician you asked.
I heard that all that was being sent was a Dauntless. I truly hoped this wasn't true, the royals had built a warship perfect for the scouting or battlegroup support roles but not really a vessel for operating independently, they really lacked sufficient weapons and bunkerage for that.
Not that they seemed to do much well, witness the unreliable and unsafe mess that was the Lancers or the constant rebuilding of Thundersdawn. It was certainly true that they had gotten far too much prominence in the newly formed joint military then they deserved, not that a mere Gatecrasher sergeant was even asked about such things.
I glance across, sighing, noting the soot covering the unnecessarily gaudy gold lining of the walls. This section was almost certainly clear, barring any cross-contamination; it had after all gotten a bit warmer in this area then was strictly required to destroy the bacteria, thanks to an electrical failure in the jury-rigged heaters and wires.
Dobson died here, fighting the fire. That shouldn't have happened; he was in his armour at the time, not the NBC suits of the bulk of the workers. But electric is electric and the armour, a very sophisticated mix of ceramics, plastics and metals.
A chime shines in my helmet and I grimace, irritated as I hear the Defiant announce itself. Not just a mere Dauntless, a nothing compared to the strength and capability of our Prometheus class ships but when that had been handed lock stock and barrel over to a Goa'uld, not just an enemy but an enemy traitor.
And one who's who vessel had been in refit for months and as such the crew would certainly have lost their edge.
Absol-fucking-lutely brilliant.
Nevertheless, I gave the order to launch and depart. It wasn't as if I had much choice after all.
“My Lady, I don't think the Tau'ri sergeant is best pleased at their escort.” Enerist stated calmly, the corner of her mouth ticking slightly upwards.
Enerina shook her head, “young, arrogant, pig-headed, sure of his own superiority?”
“Hers,” Enerist grinned, “and very much so.”
“It is always such with forces that believe themselves to be elite,”
“Until such time as the arrogance gets knocked out of them, and life itself will take care of that in time,”
Enerina's expression became contemplative, “as it did for me you mean? Or as it did for the rest of the Goa'uld?”
Her first prime of sorts frowned at this, but after a few moments nodded, reluctantly agreeing, “the perils of an unnaturally long life I suppose, that it might take an unnaturally long time for nature to take it course and remind you of your place. In the meantime, the damage you can cause…”
“Enough,” Enerina shook her head, “as soon as the beast is ready we will leave, be ready to proceed at their best speed.”
“My Lord, I am picking up an unusually large vessel transiting hyperspace at low speed.”
“How large?”
“Approximately the size of a Cheops or Rel'tec My Lord.”
The Goa'uld hissed, warily lying back in his throne, “such a threat… but such a prize!”
“My lord,”
“Send an Al-Kesh cloaked to investigate.”
“It may be a ship, but if so it is very small,”
“ Al-kesh, ” Enerina notted, glancing with eyebrows raised at the nervous human ‘loaner' Technical Sergeant who was duty sensor officer.
“Quite probably,”
“Can we obtain a lock?”
Gulping, he responded, stammering slightly, making his Adams apple bob disconcertingly “No, the return isn't strong enough for that.”
“I was under the impression this was an empty area of space, that was the whole purpose behind this routing!”
“A number of lesser Goa'uld's have fled the purges that decimated the system lords, if one fled to this area…” Enerist pointed out.
“This is a problem.”
“Luckily, the Admiralty planned for problems…”
“One Tau'ri warship and a battered hulk of a Cheops. ” The Goa'uld was displeased, “they've been where they shouldn't. Ra didn't want to abandon that project.”
“Do you wish us to capture the Cheops ?”
“No,” he mused, stroking his sideburns idly, “in its present state it is of little use. The greater prize is the so-called Dauntless. ”
“My Lord.”
“New contacts! Multiple inbound bogies, I'm reading two squadrons of Al-kesh , a Ha'tak and a trio of Tel'tacs. ”
“Inform the beast, and prepare to engage,” Enerina noted swiftly.
“We should whittle down the Al-kesh first, least they whittle us down.”
“Indeed,” Enerina grinned, “signal the beast; order them to target the Al-kesh with whatever they can bring to bear. Let's deal with those Tel'tacs first, least somebody get ideas about boarding actions.”
“Mai'tac!” Apep cursed sharply, leaning forward, bringing his reptilian Unas host into the light of the bridge, “how did they know?”
His Jaffa declined to answer, knowing that a sarky comment about not making the presence of Tel'tacs so obvious in the future was unlikely to go over well. Even if said Tel'tacs were only filled with barely trained human slaves with a scant few Jaffa to ensure discipline and purpose.
He hid a slight shrug as a brilliant glare revealed the destruction of the first of the Tel'tacs, his hands almost languidly moving across the controls as he placed them exactly and effortlessly where they needed to be, no wasted effort in setting the Ha'taks guns to fire in support of the surviving Tel'tacs.
“The Defiant just destroyed the second Tel'tac… the third is withdrawing behind the Ha'tak. ”
“Good,” her power armour whined slightly as she leaned forward, “now ‘suggest' to Enerina that she moves to support us and help destroy these fucking Al-kesh before they finish us off.”
“Temper temper,” Enerina shook her head, “I understand she's overworked and has been under a lot of stress recently , doubly so with having to relearn to walk but still, I think we may need a file a reprimand when this is over.”
“Agreed,” Enerist commented, then smiled, “and now both our friends and our enemies have the idea that there are only two combatants on our side, so lets change that tune shall we. Launch drones, tell me to quietly move behind the Ha'tak and then initiate the Waybourne strategy."
The Waybourne strategy was named after the Colonel, who mere months before had come up with it on the fly whilst flying a prototypal Paladin variant around Alpha Centauri during an unexpected attack by a Goa'uld scouting force.
Two drones fake hyperspace jumps points, the other four…
“My Lord! Four new vessels approaching from the rear! They appear to be Tau'ri destroyers!”
Apep was displeased, he had been under the impression that for all their vaunted skill, the Tau'ri didn't have that many warships to spare for an operation in a backwater like this, hence why he had chosen it as the foundation of his new empire.
To find one Tau'ri vessel was bad luck but survivable, but five and a cripple?
This was more then bad luck.
“The new vessels are the greater threat, leave one squadron of Al-kesh to keep the first destroyer and the Cheops occupied, the rest should engage the new arrivals.”
“They bought it,”
“For the moment,” Enerina glanced at the technical sergeant as he continued, “I estimate we have at most four more minutes before the bombers get close enough to the drones to actually see them.”
“Very well,” she grinned, it wasn't a particularly nice grin, “transfer targeting data to the drones guidance systems and prepare their cores for overload.”
Enerist blinked, “they wont have much Naquadah left for an overload,”
The Goa'uld turned human ally shrugged, “regardless of what ‘supply' might think, I find it doubtful we are going to be able to hang around to recover the drones so I see no disadvantage in damaging some Al-kesh and preventing their hostile recovery.”
“Drones?”
“I thought the drones aboard the Dauntless class were flawed.”
“General Carter had a hand in the design of the newer models I heard.”
“That would explain a lot,”
“Reform the Al-kesh, ” Apep ordered darkly, “consolidate into a single squadron and launch the Udajeet, order them to provide cover for the Al-kesh .”
“My Lord,”
He sat back in his chair, thoroughly irritated, knowing that the Udajeet would do almost nothing against the destroyer or the battered Cheops unless they got sucidal, but knowing also he needed more bodies out their to reduce the rate at which his bombers were being destroyed.
And to top it off, the blasted Tau'ri hadn't bothered to fire a single shot yet at his Ha'tak!
“They've launched fighters!”
“ Udajeet.” Enerina commented amused.
“Lots of them,” Enerist caught her master's eyes, “enough that they cant have any room for more surprises in the Ha'taks bays.”
“Good, signal 889 Squadron.”
“My Lord,”
Apep leaned forward once more, as his first Prime spoke once more.
“Fighters have dropped out of hyperspace on our flank, unknown class.”
“More drones, ignore them.”
“My Lord.”
“Those aren't drones…”
“Too small for patrol craft, too big for fighters, what the fuck are those?”
“ Strikers. ”
The Gatecrasher Sergeant looked up startled, “I thought there was only a single operational squadron of those!”
“Doesn't mean they've saving them for a rainy day Sabbat,”
A squadron of fighters, in theory, consists of twenty craft. For operational purposes, that means four ‘fingers' of four fighters each plus the spares, another four craft.
No Tau'ri space fighter squadron could truly boast those kinds of numbers as yet, not with operational losses and maintenance needs, but 889 Squadron was an Earth based squadron with direct access to the supplies and equipment it needed and despite having had to flee Manston on several occasions, had a support crew that was very personally aware of the costs of not being ready.
Fourteen Strikers dropped out of hyperspace on the flank of the Ha'tak , a warship that promptly labelled them drones and ignored them.
The Striker class had been labelled the A-10 Warthog of space, and the reason was simple. They had a pylon supporting 3 missiles beneath each ‘wing', another above, and a third at the tip where the T-shaped wing split, supporting an engine below and above the wing, way out from the crafts centre of gravity. The craft also held four missiles on the fuselage for a grand total of 22 missiles per Striker.
The fourteen Strikers carried a grand total of 308 missiles, a mixed bag of modified Sparrows and Sidewinders.
They didn't fire them all at the Ha'tak, they didn't need too.
And after that, they went after the Al-kesh, showing startling manoeuvrability for bombers, pumping their twin pulse lasers and remaining missiles into the demoralised and fleeing Al-kesh.
“She seemed a little more respectful this time Milady,”
Enerina smiled, she too had noticed the more subdued yet somehow gleeful tone in the voice of the Gatecrasher sergeant as she had reported on damages and repairs, “Perhaps that reprimand won't be necessary?”
“Perhaps,”