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Tok’ra Base – Revanna – January 2002
Elizabeth Weir looked around the circular room with its crystal walls. The Tok’ra had made it especially for this conference and it looked like they had taken the task seriously with plenty of ornate furnishings added and what appeared to be a silk banner behind each representative present emblazoned with their respective people’s insignia.
The table they were sat around was itself a huge crystal which caught the light and seemed to almost shimmer making it almost a shame to be covering the section before her with a laptop computer and sheets of paper. ‘I would first like to thank High Chancellor Per’sus of the Tok’ra for hosting this meeting’ she began earning a smile and a small bow of acknowledgement from their host sat also directly across from her, ‘next I offer my thanks to both the governments and the representatives of the Asgard, Nox, Tollan and Aschen for attending’ she continued, ‘on behalf of the United Nations of Earth I hope that this is only the start of a new era of fruitful contact and cooperation between our peoples’ she said.
‘Tollana shares the same wish’ High Chancellor Travell from the Tollan Curia agreed. ‘My people have already established firm and mutually rewarding relations with the Tok’ra and Nox and look forward to deepening friendship with both the Asgard and Aschen’ she said. ‘Although we have been isolationist for many centuries, and intend to continue our strict policy of neutrality, the Tollan are becoming increasingly aware of changes in the overall galactic situation and have come to accept the need for a more dynamic foreign policy in order to best meet the challenges of the future’ she continued. ‘We all have something to offer the other societies represented here today, be that technology’ she said, looking at the Asgard and Aschen representatives, ‘or wisdom and sage counsel’ she added, smiling warmly at Lya who smiled back.
Penigal from the Asgard High Council had his own notes in front of him, although like the Tollan and Aschen these were being projected holographically by small devices rather than being written on the paper of the primitive humans of Earth or on a seemingly stone tablet like the Tok’ra. ‘The Asgard are pleased at the development of this body’ he told them, ‘although our ongoing war with the Replicators means that our presence in this Galaxy will remain sporadic for the foreseeable future and we may not be able to attend all future conferences in person like myself rather than as a hologram’ he told the others apologetically. ‘Like the Nox we were once part of the Alliance known as the Four Great Races, along with the Ancients and Furlings, and we hope that such an Alliance might be reborn for the benefit of all’ he said grandly.
Lya nodded. ‘It is a shame that the Furlings are not also in attendance’ she opined. ‘Both my people and the Asgard tried to contact them but we have had little contact for many centuries’ she said. For her part she seemed to be working without notes or recording devices purely from memory which was unsurprising considering how bright the Nox were. ‘My people were both very pleased and reassured that the Asgard at least are involved in these discussions’ she noted, ‘we have been friends for many millennia and value their opinions even though we have long differed on philosophical matters’ she said.
‘Whilst we praise the Nox stance of utmost pacifism at some levels the Asgard have always maintained that it is utopian to think that not fighting always brings about the best outcome’ Penigal told the others. ‘For some groups such as the Goa’uld a threat of force is quite literally the only thing they understand’ he stated, earning a nod of heartfelt agreement from Per’sus and a more reluctant one from Travell, the Tollan regarding their advanced defence technology as a necessary evil.
‘If it wasn’t for the Protected Planet’s Treaty, and the Goa’uld perception that the Asgard would intervene militarily on our behalf, Earth would have been conquered by a coalition of the System Lords years ago’ Weir concurred. ‘I am not a fan of the military solution and prefer civilised, diplomatic alternatives whenever possible, but regretfully I have to recognise that even if we do our best to avoid war we face foes who are not likely to respond to any political overtures not backed by force.’
‘The Aschen are also concerned about the Goa’uld threat to our Confederation’ Mollem their representative told the group. ‘Although we are more advanced overall our ships are no match for theirs in speed, and the worlds of the Confederation consist of a handful of planets which could be invaded one at a time in a concerted move by the System Lords’ he said. ‘Our only available means of defence at present would be a pre-emptive strike by biogenic weapons launched through the stargate and our present government is reluctant to contemplate genocide’ he lied.
Daniel Jackson had once said that the Nox liked everyone, it was their way. In fact this was not true, Lya had taken an immediate dislike of Mollem and the Aschen as a whole and the combination of their near lack of emotion and humour, plus their near extermination of the Volian Union two centuries before, gave her the creeps. Empathic to some degree she couldn’t read Mollem at all and that was viscerally disturbing to a member of a species like the Nox who tried to live in harmony with those around them. ‘Killing countless others to save yourselves is immoral’ Lya declared.
‘There are billions of Aschen’ Mollem stated, ‘we have a right to self-defence’ he replied flatly.
Travell nodded. ‘And to that end the Tollan Curia is voting on the matter of supplying our Ion Cannon weaponry to the Aschen Confederation’ she said. ‘In addition to the other technology transfers between us’ she announced.
Mollem read his holographic notes. ‘Following negotiations brokered by Earth the Aschen are providing the Tollan with our Teleportation Platform technology in return for Tollan built stargates for the worlds of the Confederation that do not have them’ he said.
Lya turned to High Chancellor Travell. ‘I hope that these stargates will all be restricted as we requested’ she asked. The Nox had been the ones that helped the Tollan develop the ability to make their own gates and would not want the technology used to ill purposes.
‘The Tollan built gates cannot be manually dialled and can only be used at present to open wormholes to other worlds in the Aschen Confederation’ Travell confirmed. ‘They can be unlocked at a later date if required but the technology is tamper-proof’ she declared. ‘Given the Aschen actions against the people of the Volian Union the Tollan fully agree that the Confederation needs to demonstrate good faith over a long period of time before we can trust them with fully operational stargates and lists of gate addresses’ she said. ‘Likewise Earth and ourselves will not be providing them the faster Goa’uld Hyperdrive technology.’
‘The Aschen Confederation accepts these terms and trusts we will prove in time that we are not the same people we were two centuries ago’ Mollem responded. ‘Earth has agreed to provide the necessary naquadah for the stargates in return for a small number of our teleporter platforms’ he added.
‘We’re also providing the material for the gates Tollana is producing for the Tok’ra and ourselves’ Weir pointed out.
‘In trade for access to some of our technology and expertise’ Per’sus reminded her. ‘It’s not like you cannot now readily spare the naquadah’ she added.
‘Our new Cruiser using the Goa’uld Hyperdrive design we obtained from Earth will place the stargates on the respective worlds both the Tok’ra and Earth requested’ Travell said. ‘Each will be fitted with a force-field to prevent unwelcome visitors but given that they will be gate coordinates and worlds entirely unknown to the Goa’uld that should not be a problem anyway’ she said.
‘You went for the shield optional extra too then?’ Weir asked Per’sus.
‘It wasn’t too much more’ the Tok’ra High Chancellor replied. ‘You intend a secret base like our own?’ she asked.
‘Yes, far more secure than our Alpha or Beta sites’ Weir answered. ‘As well as the force-field we’re fitting one of our own trinium alloy iris shields in case of power-failure.’
‘Unnecessary I assure you’ Travell told her.
‘Tollan forcefields can’t be manually hand-cranked closed in an emergency’ Weir told her with a smile. ‘We like a back-up plan whenever possible’ she said.
Travell chuckled. ‘Tollan technology is supremely reliable’ she said confidently.
‘I’ll admit that we’re possibly paranoid as well as primitive’ Weir responded. ‘How has your research into elerium panned out?’ she asked curiously, ‘we did ask for regular updates in return for allowing Tollan Scientists and engineers access to Sectoid Technology’ she noted.
‘My Technical Advisors tell me that the naquadah allotrope you call elerium was definitely synthesised from the original material but they cannot as yet determine how this might have been accomplished in an economic manner’ Travell replied. ‘We have managed to reproduce it ourselves using nanotechnology, simply rearranging the atoms of naquadah into the correct crystal structure, but the cost is prohibitive beyond belief’ she said.
‘The Asgard ran into the same problem when we investigated elerium’ Penigal confirmed. ‘We suspect Loki must have developed some kind of self-sustaining catalytic reaction that breeds elerium from highly refined conventional naquadah but for now we are none the wiser on the actual methodology’ he admitted.
‘The Aschen would be willing to investigate, perhaps we would bring a new approach that might achieve results’ Mollem offered.
‘I’ll pass the offer on to my superiors’ Weir told him. ‘Elerium has been a gift to Earth technological progress because it offers shortcuts to technologies we would have been unable to develop so quickly otherwise’ she said. ‘The gravity engines on our F-302 Fighters or Plasma weaponry for example.’
Penigal muttered something in Asgard which only Lya understood. ‘The Plasma Beam weapon you back-engineered from Sectoid Vessels is originally of Asgard design’ he said changing to a language all could understand. ‘We have been working on a replacement for the energy pulse weapons carried on our Beliskner and now O’Neill Class Cruisers for some time and it appears that Loki used the elerium as what you called a shortcut in making it work’ he told them. ‘For any given input of energy the beam is more precise and effective at cutting through shields than current Asgard weapons, or those of the Goa’uld’ he explained.
‘It’s a scalpel used to cut precisely instead of a club used to batter through brute force’ Weir said, recalling an explanation one of the X-COM engineers had told her.
‘Correct’ Penigal replied. ‘Scaled up from the version carried by the tiny Sectoid ships the Plasma Beam technology would give a capital ship like the O’Neill unparalleled firepower’ he said.
‘Our Ion Cannon already give us an overwhelming edge over the Goa’uld’ Travell observed.
‘Because like our pulse weaponry you use an element of phase shifting to help penetrate Goa’uld shields’ the Asgard responded, ‘if the Goa’uld developed better shields your cannon might prove underpowered to smash them down’ he continued. ‘The beam weapon concentrates force at a point and drills through so less raw power is required to defeat the shield even if the improved design initially held.’
‘It is said that the new ships of Baal and especially Anubis may be a match for the Asgard’ Per’sus interjected, ‘unless we see more evidence I am inclined to think it hyperbole but we do know they are considerably more formidable than other Ha’tak ships in Goa’uld service’ she said.
‘Tollana is confident of our Ion Cannon but the new Cruisers offer additional insurance against attack’ High Chancellor Travell remarked. ‘I doubt the Goa’uld would risk attacking us if they believed retribution would fall upon their heads soon after’ she continued. ‘We now have phase-shifting missiles that cannot be shot down with warheads that would devastate a continent at their lowest yield and crack the crust of a planet if necessary’ she said.
‘As a world not bound by the terms of the Protected Planets Treaty, which of course prohibits the Asgard from providing advanced technology to the worlds under our protection, the Asgard High Council may be willing to offer you more advanced shields than you can provide yourself for your new Cruisers’ Penigal told Travell. ‘As our Beliskner Class is retired from active duty we have a number of their shield generators available as surplus awaiting possible disposal’ he said. ‘They are second-rank designs by modern Asgard standards, the O’Neill Class that is replacing the Beliskner is more heavily protected, but they are still far more effective than Goa’uld shields’ he stated.
‘We’ll take them’ Travell said quickly. The Tollan were well aware of the superiority of Asgard Shields over those of other races.
‘I will talk to the High Council on your behalf’ the Asgard told her. ‘We may ask a favour in return such as the use of the Tollana System as an occasional base of operations and resupply in this Galaxy’ he said.
‘I will have to discuss this with the Curia of course’ Travell responded, ‘but the Asgard Fleet is always welcome to visit Tollana’ she told him. For one thing the presence of Asgard ships in the vicinity had a tendency to make every usually belligerent Goa’uld Hat’ak ship within a hundred light years suitably nervous and mild mannered.
‘I would be happier to hear of these shields being placed to protect cities than warships’ Lya observed sadly.
‘In an ideal universe we wouldn’t need them at all ’ Travell replied.
‘The Aschen Confederation would very much like access to this defensive technology if the Asgard are offering it to other advanced human cultures not covered by your treaty with the Goa’uld’ Mollem spoke up.
‘It may be possible’ Penigal replied guardedly. Not a chance, he thought to himself privately.
‘If not, Earth has an improved version of Goa’uld shields that utilises Sectoid designs to enhance them and would be willing to exchange them for Aschen technology’ Weir interjected. ‘Our people are interested in your anti-gravity devices which judging from your harvesters appears to be ahead of the Goa’uld’ she said. ‘We’ll exchange one for the other if that is acceptable’ she offered.
‘That may be acceptable if the Asgard are unwilling to offer us their own shields’ Mollem agreed. Once they got a look they would almost certainly be able to improve the design still further themselves given that the confederation was scientifically centuries ahead of Earth if apparently still somewhat behind the Tollan overall and far behind the Asgard.
After the Conference it was agreed that the Tollan would host the next meeting and Lya accepted an offer of a lift back to her homeworld on Penigal’s ship, it only being a few minutes out of the way at the speed of an Asgard Hyperdrive. Mollem was the first to leave, being escorted back to the stargate by Tok’ra security who dialled the gate for him and as soon as he was gone everyone else compared notes on just how much the Aschen made their flesh crawl.
Back home Mollem advised his government that they should continue to play nice with the aliens for now until they had caught up militarily because currently the Tollan were too powerful to provoke, and the Asgard could crush them like a bug. Work was accelerated at new shipyards in preparation for the construction of an Aschen Navy to rival that of any Great Power in the Galaxy or beyond, all they needed was to bide their time and only make their move when they were ready.
The Tollan didn’t trust the Aschen an inch and regularly dispatched one of their new phase-shifting Cruisers, which the Tau’ri nicknamed Ghostriders, to the Confederation to spy on them. For their part the Tau’ri merely made sure to regularly, and in an unsubtle manner, remind the Aschen just how powerful a thermonuclear bomb encased in ten metric tonnes of weapons-grade naquadah was and just how many of the damn things Earth was stockpiling, the Tollan and the Asgard might have their high-tech as a deterrent but the apparent willingness of the Earth Military to turn heavily populated worlds into vast expanses of shattered and cratered radioactive glass on a whim was something the Aschen almost admired.
Stargate – P3X-116 – January 2002
Thanks to the ubiquitous terraforming of much of the galaxy first by the Ancients, then the Goa’uld, with the Asgard and Nox occasionally dabbling in it too, one planet on the stargate network was often pretty much like another as regards fauna and flora with a few examples of non-terrestrial life on occasion. The stargate here was amongst some sand dunes at the edge of a forest, and there was really very little of note to look at, once you’ve seen one mass of trees you’ve pretty much seen them all.
As always SG-1 had arrived through the gate ready for trouble but they hadn’t found any and after a while with nothing better to do as they waited for their contact to turn up they started to chat. Well O’Neill, Carter and Daniel started to chat, Teal’c said very little and Andianov continued to dutifully watch the tree-line, her pharmaceutically-enhanced intense focus on the task at hand overriding the boredom of having nothing to shoot at.
‘We just couldn’t beam through all that rock’ Carter explained. ‘The naquadah core of the asteroid was tens of kilometres down under ordinary rock so we needed the Tok’ra crystals to tunnel down to it’ she said. ‘Once we had that done we could use the transporters on the Redemption to just beam the unrefined naquadah into its cargo holds and haul back few hundred tonnes at a time’ she told them. ‘It’s only a fraction of a light-year out, less than a couple of minutes for a hyperdrive on maximum, so Captain Tanner just shuttles back and forth when he’s not beaming elerium engines out of Sectoid Ships’ she said.
‘But they’re constructing a permanent mining base?’ Daniel checked.
‘Yes with a naquadah refinery and several batteries of base defence laser cannons, missile silos and a squadron of Reapers to hold off an attack’ Carter replied. ‘Enterprise and Redemption could be there to help defend the asteroid in less than a couple of minutes if required too like I said’ she continued. ‘We’re hoping to snag an Al’kesh eventually and strip it out for cargo runs, hauling the stuff back to Earth round the clock.’
‘Someone could still blow it up’ O’Neill pointed out.
‘True but we eventually hope to mount a Ha’tak Hyperdrive on it so we can actually move the entire asteroid at will’ Carter replied. ‘Thanks to the Tok’ra we’re well on the way to being able to do that, the first Earth built capital ship hyperdrive is earmarked to be mounted on the Prometheus Project but once you’ve made one the second is always easier.’
‘Prometheus?’ Daniel queried.
‘The X-303, it’s a USAF project, US funded but with X-COM technical assistance in a few areas’ Carter told him, ‘Earth’s first self-built interstellar warship.’
‘Based on captured Goa’uld craft and Loki’s technology’ Daniel noted. ‘Prometheus stole the secret of the fire from the gods’ he said with a smile, ‘very appropriate.’
‘I’m hoping they don’t stick with that name for the ship itself’ O’Neill commented. ‘It’s a Greek tragedy.’
‘Sorry to tell you this Sir but its likely they will’ Carter told him. ‘The X-303 will probably be like the X-301 was, a prototype for testing out some of the technologies before a design for full-scale production model craft is produced’ she added.
‘X-304?’ Daniel queried.
‘BC-304, BC for battlecruiser, using naval abbreviations’ Carter replied.
Colonel O’Neill checked his watch. ‘We were supposed to meet our contact here fifteen minutes ago’ he complained. ‘If he doesn’t show up in the next five dial Earth’ he ordered. ‘I’m not going to sit on my ass here all day’ he declared.
‘Why not Jack? It’s a nice day for a picnic’ came a disembodied voice from nowhere that had Teal’c and Andianov snap their laser-rifles to their shoulders ready for action.
‘Oh you’ve got to be yanking my chain’ O’Neill moaned as a figure snapped into view beside them turning off a personal cloaking device attached to his belt.
‘Like it?’ Maybourne asked, ‘it’s amazing what you can get a Goa’uld to make for you with sufficient motivation’ he said tapping the device, ‘Nirrti says the battery isn’t as long-lasting as the original, because she had to use some less efficient Earth tech for some of the components, but it’s good for a couple of hours between recharging’ he told SG-1.
‘What the hell are you doing here Maybourne?’ O’Neill demanded to know. ‘And why are you dressed like that?’ he asked.
‘It’s my cover, I’m a trader’ Maybourne replied, ‘the look is a little medieval I’ll admit but if you’re going from planet to planet in a pretty low-tech galaxy you’ve got to try and fit in’ he said. ‘So how are things on Earth?’ he asked, ‘it’s been a couple of months since I left.’
‘Still there’ O’Neill replied, ‘now I know you didn’t leave via the SGC so...’
‘X-COM gate in Poland’ Maybourne interrupted. ‘They’ve been sending people through for a while to gather covert intelligence’ he explained, ‘Our CIA, British MI6, French DGSE, Russian SVR, Israeli Mossad... all the greats’ he continued. ‘X-COM didn’t want to rely on the Tok’ra for human intel so they asked for volunteers’ he told them. ‘There’s dozens of us out here all doing our spooky best to help defend the homeworld’ he announced, ‘makes you proud’ he declared with a grin. ‘Needless to say I’m one of the key operatives’ he added smugly.
‘And my opinion of X-COM went up for not trusting the Tok’ra and then straight back down again for trusting you’ O’Neill told him.
‘They recognise talent when they see it Jack’ Maybourne replied, ‘and you know I’m good at what I do even if you might not think the reason I’m doing it is on the up and up’ he said. ‘Anyhow you’re here to give me some back-up so we might as well get on with it’ he said brightly.
‘Sergeant if this man leads us into an ambush shoot him’ O’Neill ordered.
‘Yes Sir’ Andianov replied.
‘I don’t mean stun him with a zat’ O’Neill noted. ‘I mean kill him’ he said.
‘So I assumed Colonel’ Andianov replied unemotionally. ‘I will also have my motion-tracker to hand if he activates his cloak’ she added.
‘She’ll do it you know’ Daniel warned Maybourne.
‘Indeed’ Teal’c affirmed.
‘Consider me suitably warned’ Maybourne told them. ‘Okay so you’re probably wondering why you’re here?’ he said.
‘I was told we were meeting an operative off-world who had information for us’ O’Neill replied.
‘Kinda’ Maybourne replied, ‘come on I’ll explain on the way’ he said, leading off.
‘Where are we going?’ O’Neill asked suspiciously, staying where he was.
‘Goa’uld base a few miles thataway’ Maybourne told him, pointing. ‘I already scouted it out and they’re not expecting trouble’ he said. ‘The front lines are better than a five hundred light years from here and all the System Lords in this part of the Galaxy are allies fighting against Apophis’ he said.
‘I’m not going one step until you spill everything’ O’Neill told him.
‘And if we are not satisfied that which may be spilled could be your blood’ Teal’c told Maybourne.
The former NID officer sighed. ‘Okay, we found out that Anubis was setting up a new base on this planet’ he said. ‘The guy has a lot of high-tech but not much in the way of territory as yet so he’s expanding his turf into uninhabited worlds like this one’ he explained. ‘All his Hat’aks are off fighting Apophis right now so the only ships he’s got for jobs like this one are Tel’taks and Al’kesh’ he continued then grinned. ‘We’re going to steal an Al’kesh’ he declared.
‘We are?’ Carter asked in surprise.
‘Well technically Teal’c there is because I can’t fly one’ Maybourne replied, ‘but with my cloaking device and a distraction from the rest of us he should be able to sneak in, get aboard one of the two landed at the base, pick us all up with the rings and get the hell out of dodge before Anubis Jaffa realise what the hell is going on’ he said.
‘Oh yeah, sounds like a detailed well thought out plan to me’ O’Neill responded sarcastically.
‘Hey we’ve only been hitting Apophis for the last few months’ Maybourne reminded him, ‘there’s only a small number of Jaffa setting up the base, it’ll be a walk in the park.’
‘Damn it Maybourne don’t tempt fate saying stuff like that!’ O’Neill exclaimed.
‘Relax Jack, everything is going to be fine trust me’ Maybourne told him.
‘Not in this lifetime Harry’ O’Neill responded. ‘What do you think Carter?’ he asked.
‘We do need an Al’kesh’ Carter replied. ‘And one of Nirrti’s cloaking devices would give Teal’c quite an advantage’ she continued. ‘I say we check it out ourselves and if it looks possible it’s worth a try.’
‘Teal’c?’ O’Neill asked. ‘Sounds like you’re getting the dangerous job here’ he told him.
‘If the garrison is small and unprepared and the Al’kesh grounded and poorly secured as it well might be in the circumstances it would be an ideal opportunity to seize the craft’ Teal’c replied. ‘I am prepared to undertake the mission’ he said.
‘We know that Anubis can detect cloaked ships, maybe he has portable tech for his Jaffa that can detect cloaked people too’ Daniel warned.
‘The System Lords already have the Transphase Eradication Rod developed to detect and fight the invisible Reetou, and knew that other Goa’uld such as Nirrti had developed personal cloaks, but nonetheless they did not routinely issue the weapon’ Teal’c replied. ‘This would indicate that they do not take the threat as seriously as they should’ he opined.
‘Hey they didn’t detect me when I poked around their camp earlier’ Maybourne told them.
‘Okay let’s go take a look but if this looks risky I’m plugging the plug on the mission’ O’Neill announced. ‘Lead on Harry’ he told him.
Truth be told the entire operation went without a hitch. Teal’c wearing the cloaking device Maybourne gave him simply sneaked into the unfinished base, which was in the early stages of construction and poorly garrisoned, and when the rest of SG-1 provided a sizeable distraction by detonating C4 charges and lighting up the other side of the camp with laser and zat fire an invisible Teal’c entered the Al’kesh through an open bay door zatted it’s very surprised crew, threw them out of the ship and took off, picking up the rest of the team as they ran from the scene under the cover of a few smoke grenades.
Teal’c also had the presence of mind to plant a C4 charge of his own on the second Al’kesh parked next to the one he stole. It had nearly caught up with them when the plastic explosive detonated and pieces of the pursuing ship rained down onto the planet as SG-1 headed out of the atmosphere so they could engage the hyperdrive.
They dropped Maybourne off on another empty planet with a stargate before heading back to Earth. O’Neill told him that if the next time they met he could direct them at one of the upgraded Ha’tak’s of Baal or Anubis which was available for easy theft he might even start to like him a little bit.
Near the Galapagos Islands – Earth – January 2002
Cameron Mitchell watched with satisfaction as the three Reapers assigned the job of bringing down the Sectoid Battleship went about their business professionally. The largest type of Sectoid Craft carried a large plasma cannon which outranged their own, meaning that you couldn’t bring them down with impunity like you could smaller vessels, but they had soon developed tactics to cope with that. Two F-302X aerospace fighters would close to within range of their own recently developed X-COM plasma cannon and fire off as many shots as they could before the Battleship scored a hit on one of them whereupon the Reaper would immediately back off out of range and let its now almost depleted shield recharge while another fighter took over its place. The third fighter also had the job of keeping any Foo Fighters off the ass of the two attacking the battleship, they couldn't afford to be hit without their shields close to a full charge or they might not survive and would certainly incur damage.
Searing bright green beams of energy lanced through the sky towards the metallic grey battleship while the rest of the squadron dealt with the enemy vessels escorts, a small squadron of Foo Fighters which were now dogfighting for their lives against the less manoeuvrable but faster and shielded Reapers.
The heavy plasma beams, each Reaper had two one being slung under each wing on the inboard missile pylon, were unsuited for anti-fighter combat due to their low rate of fire so the human pilots relied on the laser cannon built into the F-302’s wing roots for the fast-turning close in fights with the Foo-Fighters. Occasionally you got the ideal target, a Sectoid pilot dumb enough to stay on the same course for more than a couple of seconds in which case you could vaporise him with a single blast of plasma, but generally they made you work for it Mitchell thought regretfully as he tried to get on the tail of an enemy craft.
It didn’t help that he was being forced to hold fire on his lasers trying to get in close for a decent hit with the unwieldy weapon slung under his Reapers belly and connected to a huge capacitor in the fighters internal bay. ‘Give me a break Marvin’ Mitchell hissed as the Foo-Fighter he was chasing jinked hard to the left, messing up his shot once again.
‘Battleship is going down’ a pilot whooped as the Sectoid ship finally succumbed to the multiple blasts of superheated matter fired into it and began to drop towards the ocean trailing thick smoke.
‘You’re next you bug bastard’ Mitchell swore as he managed to line up another shot, pressing the firing stud on his joystick. ‘Shit’ he added as the Foo-Fighter performed a sudden climb avoiding the massive zat’nik’tel cannon blast the human pilot had fired at him, the discharge barely missing its target but nearly hitting just wasn’t enough.
‘Thirty seconds to recharge the zat-cannon Sir’ the co-pilot in the back seat told him.
‘Okay Banks’ Mitchell replied as he continued pursuit. The advanced mind-controlled navigation, avionics and sensors in the Reaper meant that although the fighter had two seats it often flew with just a single crewman, but for this operation he needed someone along to monitor the largely jury-rigged extra weapon. Another Reaper chasing down its own prey, laser-cannon firing as it went flashed past the nose of Mitchell’s F-302X and momentarily scared the crap out of him, a mid-air collision was not the way he wanted to go.
‘Zat-cannon ready’ Lieutenant Banks reported. ‘If this works I hope they manage to catch it’ he continued. ‘It’ll probably drop like a stone when we hit the thing’ he stated.
‘That’s the other guys problem Lieutenant’ Mitchell told him. ‘We zap it, they snatch it’ he said, hoping that the Reaper crew carrying the large folded trinium cable net slung under their own airframe remembered not to be going too fast when they did, because inertial dampeners or not the sudden jolt on the Reaper of scooping up a plummeting Foo-Fighter at high speed would likely rip the F-302X apart, they were constructed of trinium and the extremely strong alloys used by the Sectoids but they weren’t that tough.. ‘All things considered I think we got the sweet end of the deal’ he said seriously.
‘You and me both Sir’ Banks agreed wholeheartedly.
Mitchell managed to draw a bead on their quarry again wishing that zat blasts went at the speed of light like a laser, or a fair percentage of it like a Sectoid Plasma Beam, because it would give the Foo-Fighter less opportunity to dodge the...
‘Got him!’ Mitchell hollered triumphantly as the zat-cannon scored a direct hit on the Foo-Fighter engulfing it in the usual lightning-like effects just scaled up by nearly two orders of magnitude. As expected the energy discharge had much the same effect on the unshielded enemy fighter as it did on other Sectoid equipment like their Cyberdisc hovertanks, the craft simply ceased to function properly, all the electronics went haywire, the gravity engine safeties all kicked in simultaneously and the Foo-Fighter suddenly did a very good impression of a falling rock.
‘If the bug flying that thing had hair it would all be standing on end right now I reckon’ Mitchell joked as the Reaper with the net dove down to catch it. ‘It must be like getting shocked by a Taser the size of a Buick’ he said, starting to laugh.
When Major Carter arriving back on Earth in a captured Al’kesh heard the news that her zat-cannon had worked she did a little dance of joy which she made the rest of SG-1 promise not to tell anyone about. Meanwhile when Mitchell’s Reaper squadron got the Foo Fighter back to Area 51 the base engineering team, who had instantly got to work stripping it down in order to back-engineer the technology, stated the best description of its unfortunate pilot when they opened up the cockpit was “crispy”.