[FFML] [FIC][BtVS][SG-1][MAU] Repost: Worthless 8/?

[Gandalf The Green]

***

Thursday, NID HQ, Morning Briefing

A Middle aged man in a dark business suit walked to the front of a small
room, full of men and women who are all dressed similar to himself. He lays
a manila folder upon the podium that awaits him every morning. "Good Morning
Agents."

The agents dutifully respond, "Good Morning, Director."

"I am going to get right to today's briefing, as we have a lot to do.

"General Hammond's command out of Area 52 has been given primary tasking for
any and all issues regarding the Starfall devices." There was a wave of
groans at this announcement as everyone believed that they were now being
cut out of yet another important assignment by the famous SGC. "We are still
authorized to conduct Research and Field Collections, so essentially nothing
has changed. It is apparent that the President has intended us to handle the
average encounters with these devices, while General Hammond's people put
out the brush fires from people getting nasty with the devices. Our orders
are to maintain first contact with the users, and forward appropriate cases
to the SGC for them to deal with. I doubt that I have to say that I don't
like giving up control of the more interesting cases to the SGC, so make
sure it doesn't happen.

"We still do not have a working device. E and Q returned from Minnesota last
night with their users. The users are currently stuck as 18" tall pixies,
and choose relocation to our dormitory due to how difficult it has been for
them to continue to function in their society. By the time E and Q arrived,
the device had already shut down of course, and they have retrieved the
non-functioning device. This device, as with the three others that we have
successfully recovered, has proven difficult to analyze. Neither X-Ray, MRI,
nor Ultrasound penetrates so we are unable to examine the circuitry of the
device to discover how it functions. Also, we still can't identify the
element that the device's exterior is made of as it has resisted every
sampling technique the laboratory people have tried.

"E and Q were able to capture several screens of an unknown text, and we
have sent it to our best linguists to decode. They have so far informed us
that it is not written in any currently used script, nor any of the common
extinct scripts.

"R and U are still in Boston tracking down their users. Given the details
that they are hearing, they do not hold out hope that they will be able to
retrieve a working device either.

"C, P, W, G, and N, I want you to go to New York City. Buzz indicates that
there may be several of the devices in the city that may still be active.
The Senator has authorized this mission as "Any Means Necessary" as this
thing is getting out of hand and we are having difficulty containing the
information. Any more incidents like the next one, and we will loose
containment. 

"Your orders are: 

"Retrieve the devices regardless of functionality. 

"Secure statements from any and all users. If indicated, offer new
identities or relocation to the dormitories as necessary.

"Use of force is authorized."

The five agents stood up and answered, "Yes Sir!"

The Director continued, "B and D, you are going to California. You are also
authorized as "Any Means Necessary." If the SGC sends personnel to
investigate this incident, you are to appear friendly and helpful to them at
all times, however, you will complete your mission objectives regardless of
their presence. As always, if SG-1 is involved, use extreme caution in
dealing with them.

"You will check out Heavy Weapons and body armor from Supply before heading
to this 'Sunnydale' as the incident you are investigating tore up a bank,
several buildings in the downtown area, and left a large crater on the
freeway outside of town. Sunnydale International Airport, while far from
large, is exceedingly well equipped, quite possibly the most advanced
facility in the Southwest. They reported a very large object fall rapidly
from great height that they believe to be de-orbiting, adjust its course and
fly over the city before vanishing off their radar screens. Note that they
didn't state that it returned to space or the upper atmosphere, nor that it
went elsewhere very rapidly. It also did not descend below their ability to
track it. The object simply was no longer there, similar perhaps to what
happens when two planes collide in mid-air. However, NORAD Space Defense did
track a large object exiting the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. This may
be the same vessel that also exited in a similar fashion this past Saturday.
The eggheads at NORAD state emphatically that the vessel or vessels that
have been leaving these signatures is far too small to be either the Star
Destroyer or The Enterprise. Furthermore, those vessels have been under
constant optical and radar tracking since we detected them."

The Director paused to take a drink from his coffee mug before continuing.

"Reports from eye-witnesses state that a person wearing what appeared to be
a suit of 'futuristic high-tech version of medieval knightly armor'
successfully robbed the bank but was confronted by several locals with
super-powers, including a girl with a Lightsaber, and an honest to goodness
Green Lantern. Now, at the very least, this second group sounds like they've
got their hands on one of our devices if anything ever has. It also sounds
like they may be very dangerous, so treat them with caution. There is a
military base near the city, so you may want to consider using it and its
resources. 

"The bank robber may also be a user, however from the trail of robbed banks,
he or she may have come from Oregon somewhere, and that portion of the
assignment will fall to H and S. There is a homicide in the area which may
be the point of origin for this rampage. 

"Your orders are:

"Retrieve the Device regardless of functionality. 

"Avoid antagonizing SGC personnel, but complete all other objectives
regardless of cost.

"Secure statements from any and all users. If indicated, offer new
identities or relocation to the dormitories as necessary.

"Confiscate any and all non-standard technology.

"Anyone possessing knowledge of their construction or advanced sciences is
hereby drafted by Presidential Order 1374 Signed President Roosevelt, 8
December 1941.

"Use of All Necessary Force is Authorized."

Again, the agents in question stood and said "Yes, Sir!"

"Agents A and F are due back from Florida in two days, as they have not be
able to secure any reasonable leads and are only tying up loose ends.

"Are there any questions?"

One agent towards the rear responded, "Sir, the Venezuela mission?"

"Scrubbed until further notice." There was a collection of groans at this.
"I know. We need to take out that last cell, but Senator Kinsey wants this
issue with these devices settled first. Until we do, all other issues are
secondary, and that isn't something that I necessarily disagree with. If
there's nothing else then?" and seeing no further questions, "Alright then,
you're dismissed."

 

***

Bridge, U.S.S. Defiant, Geo-Synchronous orbit over Sunnydale

Xander sat in the captain's chair, having relieved Giles and ordering him to
bed for at least two hours. The Doctor had called an hour ago to inform him
that Dawn would be fine in a few days. He still needed to monitor her for
infection and the like, but all indications were good for a speedy recovery.

Xander was also taking the time to review the information that Dawn had
recovered from the SGC's mainframe about whom they were and how much trouble
they normally got into. Generally good people, in a little over their heads,
but not in all that great a need of help. They had after all handled
everything that these Goa'uld had thrown at them so far. 

The Stargate. An impressive bit of technology. And even more incredible to
think that it actually worked and wasn't based off of something acquired
from a MAU. The huge network of gates would make supporting a galaxy wide
empire easy to maintain. If one planet has a bad harvest, most assuredly,
another world would be having record growing seasons and stability would be
maintained galaxy wide. It was yet another thing that would make defeating
the Goa'uld a difficult prospect. On the other hand, if an infectious
disease got out, it would be difficult to fight its spread.

The only down side would be if the Goa'uld came in ships, which they had
apparently done a few months back. Still, it wouldn't do to be unprepared to
receive any future visitors. He didn't want to acquire a reputation as a
poor host. Given what little the SGC knew about the ships the Goa'uld used,
mainly provided by this Teal'c, an apparent traitor to his deity and people,
it was unclear what capability they actually had. Teal'c, being a warrior,
not a technician, was unable to provide much data on the strength of the
weapons, shields, armor, or other technologies, just what technologies the
Goa'uld used and what it did from an observational standpoint, and
frequently, from the victim's viewpoint. On the other hand, if the Goa'uld
did control most of the galaxy, they had a whole lot of resources available.
Resources translates into ships and material. That was a scary thought. A
whole galaxy of combat vessels showing up at his front door. It didn't
really matter if two or three ships couldn't harm The Enterprise, several
thousand ships would eventually bring down any target. Not a good sign for
his plans for that Humans Survive thing.

Big questions of the moment were, did he need to make contact with this SGC,
or could they continue to handle things on their own for a while yet? What
did he need to resist the Goa'uld when they eventually come to wipe out the
Earth? World War II was won by the Allies because of industrial production
rates. If nothing else had been in their favor, the Allies had out produced
the Axis, and smashed the German capability to produce war material. This
alone would have nearly guaranteed their eventual victory. The Gulf war
wasn't won because of Industrial Capacity, but instead because of
Technological Superiority. 

Do we need industrial capacity when we have the MAU, or was the MAU itself a
source of near infinite industrial capacity? It didn't matter how they got
the ships at the moment, they didn't have the crew to man them. Data had
reported that he had acquired over fifty potential MAU users, and only six
had complained violently, one of which simply teleported back to Earth after
making a spectacular mess. He had managed to take his MAU with him as well.
Many of the users would need to use a MAU to be able to return to a normal
life, and he had hopes that some of them would be willing to assist their
group now that they had proof of alien existence. If they were capable of
accepting Aliens, then he had hopes that they could also accept Demons and
Vampires.

He'd had Data request that each user fill out a questionnaire that they
could use to determine what each person could offer in terms of skill and
experience, and what each would need or want in exchange, or what they would
need to return to normal Earth society. It should also help them determine
who to offer jobs to. 

Xander let out a long sigh. Even if they got all fifty users to sign on,
that wasn't even a skeleton crew for a ship like the Enterprise, let alone a
Star Destroyer. Sure, droids could handle a good deal of the grunt work, but
there were a lot of things that a true sentient were needed for. Droids were
capable of making repairs, but not the more complex problems that frequent
the Sci-Fi genre. It takes a sentient mind to figure out why something that
should be working isn't doing so at the moment and make it do so anyway.
Droids would also be poor combatants in the arenas that Xander was
expecting. They would have done exceptionally well in the Napoleonic
Conflicts, but not Korea or Vietnam. They may have done well in the recent
Gulf War. 

Ok, so how do I acquire large amounts of crew that I know can handle the
truth that aliens and monsters are real and want to kill us?

Xander wondered if there was a technological solution and queried the
Federation Database. Twenty minutes later the database kicked out a "No."
Xander figured that with everything Dawn had acquired, her database might be
more helpful, so he logged into it with the ID Dawn had given him earlier,
and performed the same search, and almost immediately more helpful results
came back. Star Wars had some cloning technology. This was certainly better
than droids, but then again, worse as well. The Cylons had some interesting
technology, but those lizard brains wouldn't be any better than an all droid
crew, and quite possibly a good bit worse. It was possible, given the
technology they had available, to make human-sized transformers, possibly
along the same forms as the Maximals from The Beast Wars. Armitage III
offered the possibility for Third Type Androids, which was certainly an
interesting possibility. The perfect artificial human, can pass for human
even under a medical examination, unless it decides otherwise. The most
advanced models were capable of participating in human reproduction! Looks
like Data is a little bit out of date. Then again, there was the cloning
technology of the Zentrandi. They weren't perfect clones, each one made to
be slightly different than all the others, so that facial features would be
different enough to prevent confusion within any given fleet. The Zentrandi
technology also allowed for rapid teaching of the near-clones. From start to
finish, a Zentrandi Warrior could be ready to go in three weeks. Of course,
the technology could also turn out technicians, scientists and doctors, all
fully trained and ready to go.

Examining the technology in depth, Xander discovered that as long as he kept
the Zentrandi cloning machinery on the appropriate settings, and maintained
an even mix of males and females, there would be adequate genetic diversity
to establish self-sustaining colonies without worrying about inbreeding
becoming a problem. He also verified that if the clone chambers were made
human sized, that they would still function as expected.

As far as Xander could tell, the only reason to not use the technology was
that most Earth religions had made cloning to be the devil's work. As far as
Xander was concerned, Cloning was Science, and therefore was inevitable.
Genetic Modification to suit your own desires was a lot less hazardous than
these MAUs, especially if the changes were made by knowledgeable people,
such as those he would create with the Zentrandi cloning chambers.

Looking through all the material he had access to on the Zentrandi, Xander
discovered the Zentrandi G95 Satellite Factory. This super massive factory
had more mass than some of the asteroids in the asteroid belt. He read the
numbers in the database, but the sheer size of the factory boggled the mind.
The central factory hub itself was nearly 20 miles in diameter! Each factory
pod was also at least 2 miles in diameter as well. And considering how
heavily defended it was, it would take a fleet of Goa'uld cruisers to
threaten it, and that was before he included all the various technological
upgrades, like weapons, sensors, shields, power generation, and everything
else from all the stuff they had access to. Needless to say, he'd use the
MAU to make those changes. 

With the G95 Satellite Factory upgraded, that would be a whole lot of
Industrial Capacity. Hell, even without the upgrades, the G95 was a whole
lot of Industrial Capacity. The question there was if it was enough
Industrial Capacity. It certainly should be in conjunction with the large
collection of MAUs he was having Data amass.

As far as technological superiority went, that was up in the air at the
moment. Without knowing anything about Goa'uld vessels, there was no way to
know how strong those vessels would be in combat. Well, the SGC's records
weren't devoid of data on the vessels, there was a comparison of sorts, but
it was worthless to Xander at this point. Teal'c had apparently not been
privy to actual details, but did give up what he did know. One of Apophis's
Ha'tak could take as many as 65 hits from another Ha'tak before his shields
dropped. Apophis's own weapons could kill the shields of an enemy Ha'tak in
as little as 35 hits. Gunnery was not computer controlled, it was controlled
by the skills of individual Jaffa. Ha'tak were of course easy to hit, Alkesh
were hittable, but difficult targets. Hitting a glider was all but
impossible, and was nothing more than a lucky shot. Of course, a hit against
a glider was an immediate kill. Speed and sensor range were about the only
things that Teal'c could quantify. A Ha'tak at maximum speed could pull a
little over one light year in a single day. That was about Warp 6. The only
thing they had that wasn't faster than a Hatak were shuttles and runabouts.
As to sensor range, they were barely capable of seeing the entirety of most
star systems, which meant that they could see maybe two light years. That
spoke well for the rest of the technology, but was hardly conclusive.

Xander decided that he would have to fix that soon. Possibly send an all
droid crew after a soft Goa'uld target. He would never hear the end of it if
he went himself, and he'd be damned if he sent anyone else. If he risked a
bunch of droids on a recon combat mission, it was no great loss if they
didn't come back. Should also send along a cloaked vessel incase the droid
ship didn't come back, they would still get observational data as well as
full telemetry. May not even need to risk the droid crew if the ship is
piloted on remote control from the cloaked ship.

Another major item Xander decided they were missing was intelligence on the
enemy. They knew very little about the Goa'uld forces. There really wasn't
much chance at gathering intelligence at this point, but with a few smaller
ships, like the Defiant Class, or even a real scout ship like the Saber
class each with a cloaking device, should be able to remedy that situation.

Determination and Tactics were two other areas that affected both battles
and wars. Which ever side was more determined to win, usually did. Using
good tactics in combat would help one prevail against one's opponents.
Fortunately, the Goa'uld didn't want Earth very badly at this point, based
on the fact that they had attacked but once in the past four thousand or so
years. Unfortunately, what tactics would be required of them were unknown at
this point due to their general lack of knowledge of the Goa'uld.

The final area that Xander knew that they were lacking in, was Numerical
Superiority. The Goa'uld had this at the moment, hands down, no argument
about it. Fortunately, the G95 Satellite Factory and the MAU should help
even that out fairly rapidly.

 

***

Cheyenne Mountain, SGC Command Briefing

General Hammond entered the briefing room to inform his department heads of
the additions to their duties. He sat the stack of folders he had carried in
with him on the table in front of him, and began the meeting.

"Good morning everyone. Yesterday afternoon, in a small town in southern
California called Sunnydale, a battle took place between two groups. One of
which, seemed to be intent on robbing the local bank. The other group seemed
to be a mixed group of individuals.

"The Bank Robbers destroyed a large chunk of the downtown area before
escaping the area.

"The other group is said to have comprised of a Jedi, a Green Lantern, and
several magic users. Several members of this group were armed with weapons
from Star Trek.

"It is therefore the opinion of analysts that the second group has some
connection to the starships that were discovered Tuesday morning. Further,
it is their opinion that the ships themselves were acquired somehow from the
Starfall devices. 

"Shortly after that battle, the ship known as the U.S.S. Enterprise has
moved into Earth orbit.

"The President has decided that a more military response is necessary to
incidents like the one in Sunnydale, and in a closed session of congress,
received approval to use the military in such situations.

"He then decided, that based upon our pre-existing mandate to explore the
galaxy through the use of the Stargates that these Starfall devices fall
within our scope of operations. The SGC, effective immediately, is
responsible for responding to incidents such as the one in Sunnydale.

"The National Intelligence Division has been tasked with the research and
standard collection duties. The President has ordered that they refer any
and all hostile cases to this command.

"To that end, SG-1 and a detachment of Col. Makepeace's Marines will be
leaving as soon as they are ready to do so. Your orders are to attempt to
make peaceful contact with those that defended the town. A secondary
objective is to place the bank robber under arrest if encountered. If you
encounter other users, make contact as you believe appropriate, with
preference being that peaceful contact be made by the NID. Questions?"

"No Sir." Jack and Col. Makepeace responded in unison.

"Then you are dismissed. Good Luck."

As the two senior field team leaders left the briefing room to prepare their
teams, General Hammond walked down the circular stairway at the room's back
end that led to the control room.

As he entered the control room, General Hammond ordered "Sergeant Harriman,
use the satellite network to connect me with The Enterprise."

"Yes, Sir." It of course didn't take Walter long to establish a radio link
through the satellite network to a satellite that was close to The
Enterprise's orbit. "We have the satellite sir, any particular frequency or
amplitude you wish to use?"

"Whatever you think best Sergeant. I leave the technical details in your
capable hands."

"Yes Sir. You may transmit when ready General."

General Hammond picked up the microphone and keyed it. "This is General
Hammond of the United States Air Force attempting to make contact with the
Starship bearing the hull markings 'USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E.' Please
respond this frequency and amplitude."

After thirty seconds of not receiving a reply, he transmitted his message
again. Having not received a reply after a full minute, he ordered Sgt.
Walter Harriman to change frequencies and boost the power slightly and
retransmit his message.

Meanwhile, Data ordered the droids that were currently operating the bridge
stations to continuing to scan the Earth, searching for active MAUs and
transporting them to a cargo bay and connect him to Admiral Harris.

"What can I do for you Captain?" Xander asked with his normal grin.

"Sir, I have picked up a radio broadcast from a nearby satellite that
clearly intends to initiate contact with the Enterprise."

"Do you have the point of origin for the transition?"

"Yes sir. It is coming from the Cheyenne Mountain complex."

"NORAD or the other one, um, the SGC?"

"I do not know sir." Data looked away from the main screen to listen to
something before turning back to the screen and continuing, "Sir they have
change frequency and boosted their power slightly. I believe this means that
they are insistent on making contact."

"You are no doubt correct. Before I have you go ahead and patch me through
to the satellite, play the message for me."

"Aye Sir." Data relayed the order to his crew and returned to Xander once
the recording had played once, "Whenever you're ready Admiral."

"This is Fleet Admiral Harris to General Hammond, What can I do for you?"

A moment later, the General replied, "Greetings Fleet Admiral Harris and
welcome to the Sol System. We have been tracking your progress through our
star system since you arrived several days ago, and would appreciate it if
you would state your intentions."

 "You don't have to worry about us General, I was born in California, I only
work in space."

"I see. I take it then that you have acquired your Starships from the alien
devices that came to Earth in the meteor shower last week?"

"We did General. And for your information, they are called Morphic Adaptor
Units, or MAUs. They were created by a race of beings called the Fwirthians
who we have been thus far unable to contact, although, we are still making
attempts to do so. They have seriously interfered with our little corner of
the galaxy, irrevocably altering, well, just about everything really."

It took General Hammond a few moments to process all this information before
he could respond, "What else can you tell us about these devices, or the
Fwirthians?"

"Well, we really don't know all that much about the Fwirthians, other than
what we've already said. We do not know where in the galaxy they're from, or
even if they are from our galaxy. I can tell you that the ship that was
transporting the MAUs that wound up on Earth was attacked by a fleet of
starships, and through a series of happenstance, the vessel opened a
wormhole, much like your own Stargate, and wound up in the Sol System. One
of the shots ruptured their cargo bay and spilled a number of the containers
into space. Some of those containers made their way to Earth.

"Now, as to the MAU, it is easier to say what it can not do than what it
can. In short, it can not create life. It will not cause harm. It will not
decrease Intellectual Capabilities, unless that's how you started out. It
deactivates after four days. Other than those limitations, it is only
limited by the imagination of the user."

"You said that the MAU can not create life, but that it will not cause harm.
Can you clarify that for me?"

"The 'Will Not's are apart of the programming in the MAUs software, possibly
for liability reasons. They are safeguards that prevent the MAU from
accidentally unleashing a plague upon its users or other such disaster. They
are dangerous enough as it is, and I for one am glad for the few
restrictions that they do have. As with any programmed behaviors, they can
be removed, but I will not be doing so, nor will I assist anyone else to do
so."

"That is good to hear Admiral. Would you mind my asking how you know about
our Stargate?"

"Not at all General. As an answer, have you ever watched the Star Trek
series?"

"No, I haven't."

"I see, well, the technology that is present on the Star Trek series is
vastly superior to our own computer technology. I could store all the data
in your base's mainframe, including the dialing program, inside a hand held
scanning device called a tricorder and still have plenty of room to spare.

"Yesterday, one of my people detected a wormhole. As standard procedure,
they attempted to localize it to ensure that it would not be a hazard to
navigation, or a danger to the ship itself. When they did, they discovered
that the wormhole was not only not space-based, but also artificial in
nature, and stable, if temporary. We did not have the opportunity to track
the wormhole to its other terminus before it collapsed. Once we had located
the one end on Earth, and inside a mountain at that, we investigated the
area, especially as it was Cheyenne Mountain. NORAD was apparently doing
something that the people didn't know about, and being the curious sort, we
endeavored to discover what that was. With computer technology four hundred
years more advanced than your own, do you really find it that difficult to
believe that we were able to pierce your security?"

"You do realize that you could get into a lot of trouble for hacking into
our computers?"

"I'm sorry General, but that doesn't follow. I have caused no damage, and in
truth, you would not even know of my accessing your database had I not told
you I had done so. I have not caused you any additional work, as it is not
currently possible for any programming of your technology to prevent people
with our kind of technology from accessing your systems. Besides, if you
decide to charge us with any of the various computer crimes, we couldn't be
friends, and then you'd miss out on all the things we can do for each other.
That would not be in the best interests of the Earth. Also, please
understand, that isn't a threat. I'm a Terran-Born Human, just like you. I
have a loyalty to the people of this planet, no matter how ignorant they are
of the various realities around them or our efforts to protect them."

"And just what can we do for you Admiral Harris?"

"Quite frankly, I need hard data on what these Goa'uld are capable of.
Specifically, I need to know their weapons and shield capabilities. I need
to know what star systems they control, where their major bases of
operations are, where their ship yards and training centers are. In essence,
I need to know what is necessary to fight a war against them, as they are a
clear and present danger to the continued survival of the Earth. Well, more
it's people than the planet itself.

"I could also use personnel. I have very little of that at the moment, and
androids can only do so much."

"I see. What can you do for us Admiral?"

"Well, for one thing, I can actually protect this planet while you go
exploring. I can provide ships and materials. I can provide technology. I
can make it so that any time you engage the Goa'uld in ground combat, they
regret it every single time. I have a wide range of technology at my
disposal General. Some of which, can even be marketed to the public as it is
essentially technology already in use, most of my technology however is far
too advanced and could bring about an economic collapse if released to the
open market.

"As a show of good faith, I would like to trade you a case of comm-badges
for some time with Teal'c and one of his Staff Weapons. These comm-badges
will work anywhere on the planet, and they can't be listened into, they
can't be hacked, or traced by current technology. I will even offer you a
communications relay, so that your comm-badges can be on a different network
than our own. It would allow us to communicate with each other, but not
listen into the other's conversations without their permission."

"I will ask Teal'c if he's willing, but you have my agreement."

"I suppose I should tell you that I have placed one person under arrest, and
she is currently in my brig. She's the one that started all that mess in
Sunnydale. While I'm glad that as few people were injured and killed as they
were, a lot of people died as a result of this person's actions. One of my
own people was injured as well. My doctor says she will make a full
recovery, but it was a very near thing, even with all of my advanced
technology. We will have to discuss at some point in the near future how to
give her a fair trial, but I won't just hand her over right now, as we
haven't interrogated her as to what all she did with the MAU."

"Would you mind sharing with us a report of what happened there?"

"I can do that for you General." Xander reached over and programmed the
computer to send the information to the SGC's computers. "You should have
the report in your computer now, unless I screwed something up. I'm afraid
computers were never my strong suit."

It took the general several minutes to confirm that they had in fact
received the file, then informed Xander of that fact.

"Good then. Is there anything else I can do for you General?"

"Not right now Admiral. I'll contact you once Teal'c has made his decision."

"Thank you General, Harris out." Xander closed the communications channel
and pondered the conversation that he had just had with the General.

It had improved the situation somewhat, but he had given out a lot more
information than he had gained. Then again, Dawn had taken all their
information already, so giving up as much as he had, while still keeping a
few secrets, was hardly a fair exchange. He felt kinda bad that he hadn't
shared that he still had a working MAU, but that was an ace-in-the-hole that
he didn't want to give up just yet. 

Speaking of which, he still needed to get that G95 factory satellite
deployed and put to use. Xander set course for the Kuiper belt at warp 3 and
The Defiant rapidly went on its way.

"Commander, you have the bridge, I'll be in my quarters. Please let me know
if we arrive before I return."

"Yes Admiral." The hologram replied.

Ten minutes later, Xander returned to the bridge with a brand new capsule in
hand.

"Admiral On Deck," the commander called.

"As you were. I have the Bridge. What is our ETA to the Kuiper belt?"

"Yes Sir. We are two minutes from the Kuiper belt sir."

"Good, I want you to start scanning for an appropriate location for a
Factory Starbase of very large proportions."

"Yes sir. Um, how large sir?"

"Consider it to have a fifty mile radius clearance requirement with the mass
of an asteroid of approximately half that size."

"Yes sir." Of course, it wouldn't take the hologram long to calculate an
appropriate position, and, as expected, he quickly said, "I have many
locations that will suffice, none have any significant advantages or
disadvantages. All have mineralogical resources in plentiful supply near
by."

"Very well, I need the coordinates to the nearest one."

"Yes sir. Zero-two-seven by three-four-zero, two hundred thousand
kilometers."

"Bring us to within transporter range of those coordinates."

"Yes Sir."

Moments later a brand new Satellite Factory was floating near the outer edge
of the Sol System. Xander ordered the Commander to dock the ship with the
satellite near the administration section.

Xander stepped onto the station from the airlock and spoke, "Computer,
Identify Harris, Alexander LaVelle, Fleet Admiral. As of now, I am assuming
command of this vessel."

And again, the computer responded with the predictable, "Identity
Acknowledged. Fleet Admiral Harris has command."

"Initiate synchronization with Utopia Planetia in Mars orbit."

"Synchronization initiating."

"Please show me the way to the commanding officers office. I'd like to put
you to work."

Within ten minutes, Xander was sitting at the C.O.'s desk, punching in
design specifications, calling up design schematics and modifying them to
include the best mix of technologies he could come up with. 

First, Xander started with small craft such as starfighters and shuttles. As
a light starfighter, good for an all purpose interceptor, he wanted
something highly maneuverable and able to soak a lot of damage. The two most
maneuverable designs he knew of were the Starfury and the Tie Defender.
While both designs appeared to be relatively flimsy in nature, they were
both amongst the most deadly in their respective origin universes. Pitting
the two designs head to head, the Tie Defender would clearly be victorious,
however that would have little bearing once the two ships had been upgraded
with various technologies from other universes. Xander eventually chose the
Tie Defender to base the design off of, and began upgrading the
technologies, from Star Trek, he used impulse drive, warp drive, pulse
phasers, shields, and from the Vorlons he used the Adaptive Armor. While he
knew he wanted powerful sensors in every spacecraft, the sensor suite in the
Tie Defender would be simplistic in comparison to even that on a Federation
Shuttle.

A second starfighter, more of a multi-role fighter, both heavier and more
flexible, would be based upon the VF-19 Space Superiority Variable Fighter.
To this, similar technologies as were added to the Tie Defender were added,
shields, impulse and warp drives, inertial dampeners, and he replaced the
Heavy Rail Gun Pod with a scaled up version of a Federation Pulse Phaser
Rifle, as seen in the latest movies, the head mounted lasers with Type IV
Phaser banks, and the mini-missiles with micro-photon torpedoes. The VF-19
would also include the same sensor suite as the Tie Defender.

After looking through the collection of various shuttles from the different
universes, there really weren't many that he liked well enough to modify.
Xander decided to make a few designs of his own. He decided on a broad
spectrum of capabilities, all of which would be modular like the Danube
class runabout from DS-9, and would range from five to thirty meters. Xander
designed them to look like the Type 6 shuttles from Star Trek. They were
armed with all the same technologies as the starfighters, but had the vastly
improved Federation sensor suites.

Next, Xander began to work on larger ships. Mostly, he just re-fit existing
Star Trek designs to include the maximum fire power possible, taking the
Type XII phasers and the quantum torpedoes from the Sovereign Class, and
pretty much all the other advanced Federation technology, and armored the
hulls with Vorlon Adaptive Armor, included additional turrets specifically
for point defense, and enlarged capacity shuttle bays to accommodate
starfighters. After a moments thought, he added Ion Cannons to the various
designs.

Of the designs given this treatment, Xander picked four frigates, the Oberth
as a science frigate, the New Orleans as a cargo frigate, the Miranda as a
diplomatic frigate, and the Olympic as a medical frigate. He also chose four
cruisers, the Constellation, Excelsior, Prometheus, and Akira as light,
medium, heavy, and attack cruisers. He used the Sovereign and Intrepid as
heavy and light explorer ships, the Defiant as an escort, and the Saber as a
scout. Finally, Xander gave that same basic treatment to Super Dimensional
Fortress Megaroad, mainly on account of it being forty percent larger than
the SDF Macross. The Megaroad class would be the flagships of the various
fleets.

Designing and redesigning the various starships, starfighters and shuttles
took several hours, but once finished Xander gave a few thoughts towards
ground combat. While most ships wouldn't have the internal volume to
dedicate to ground forces, the Megaroad class Super Dimensional Fortress
certainly did, and she could carry one thousand, four hundred and seventy
two mecha. However, a large ship that was nearly dedicated to ground combat
seemed like a wise idea, given that most of the Goa'uld forces were ground
based, and there didn't seem to be any way of knowing what else may be out
there. The Sydney class, basically a glorified cruise liner designed to sail
the stars of the Star Trek Universe, would be able to carry a single platoon
of up-rated Destroids after it was modified. While it was only 92 mecha
organized into 16 squads of 5, with 3 support teams of 4, were vastly more
combat capable than he expected any formation of enemy Jaffa even if they
did have Glider support. Alkesh on the other hand, might be a problem.

With the SDF capable of supporting so many more troops, Xander considered
the need for a larger infantry carrier, in case he ran into a target that
actually could fight them on a roughly even basis. For this, his first
thought was the Battlestar, but at only six hundred meters, it didn't have
the internal volume to carry the massive numbers of mecha that he wanted.
Xander was a bit disappointed as he had wanted to find a use for the ship,
but he wouldn't be finding one for it right now. The large ships from
Starship Troopers, might be a better idea, but they to seemed too small,
little more than infantry carriers. Xander flipped through the computer
database that detailed all the ships designs that Dawn had acquired from the
MAU. Finally, coming to a Zentrandi design for a large, three thousand meter
landing ship called the Quiltra Queleual. After it received the upgrade
treatments he had given all the other ships, it would be very powerful in
ship-to-ship combat, but it would carry an entire brigade of Destroids along
with an air group only slightly smaller than that carried by the Megaroad,
and since he really didn't feel like calling the class Quiltra Queleual all
the time, as it was a bit of a mouthful, he decided to honor his long-time
friend and call them the McNally class.

Xander was about to place the order to start the factory producing crew and
ships to fight the Goa'uld and any other threats that they might encounter
in the near future, when he received a call from the Defiant. "Admiral, Dawn
has regained consciousness."

"Thank you Doctor, I'll be right there." Xander smiled in relief as he
quickly placed the order for the ships, and an additional request to fill in
the reserves of clone-sickles, and as he was running down the halls he asked
the computer to even make some scientist types for a research and
development department.

 

 

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