Chapter 10

Tuat

Formerly the neutral meeting place of the System Lords Tuat was a planet at the heart of many travesties in the Milky Way. With no indigenous population, word of this most important of Goa'uld controlled planets never fell into the hands of the races of the Milky Way. Tuat had no stargate, and with its location at the far edges of the galaxy, the odds of discovery were low. Therefore, Millic had chosen this planet as the seat of power of the Lucian Alliance. Here he could spearhead his war on the Tauri dogs with little fear of reprisal.

Sitting in what once may have been a throne room in the palatial pyramid shaped building Millic sat with his Seconds of the Alliance.

"The Tauri continue to intercept our shipments of Kassa." hissed Rameris.

"Everyday they grow bolder in their perceived rule over this galaxy. The time to strike at their heart is now!" bellowed Vosh.

"The answer to the Tauri is docked on this planet. Several Tel'Tak's have been modified to carry our larger naquadah bombs. These will be used to great effect against the Tauri. Victory will not be found in meeting our enemy head on. Instead, we will deal a deathblow to all their people's allies. The Tauri will be forced to commit all their resources to aide those we strike or lose these allies due to their own inaction" confidently said Millic.

The combined Second's knew that to challenge Millic's strategy here and now was a death sentence. Although they may not all agree with the plan their keen survival instincts silenced the thought before it could be said aloud.

Athena

Repairs aboard Destiny were almost finished. After the remaining power cells were exchanged, Destiny would be complete. Until that time, she would remain protected within the shields of the Athena.

Colonel Eckhart was now aboard the Athena, going over reports from the repair team on his Ipad while sitting in the captain's chair of the bridge. In the background he heard a series of beeps from the sensor station and looked up.

"What have we got?" asked the Colonel.

"A hyper space window opened and a large ship dropped out. Sensor readings are consistent with information from Destiny. It's a drone command ship." answered Captain Franklin.

"Sound red alert, get a message to Destiny, and power up all weapons. Scramble the 302's." ordered the Colonel in rapid succession.

With Klaxons sounding in the background the crew of the Athena jumped into well rehearsed action. Crew members ran to their battle stations, pilots sprinted to their 302's and began their start up. Aboard Destiny, the crewmembers ran to the observation deck knowing they had no control in the fight to come. In the distance, those aboard Destiny watched as 302's quickly departed the hanger bays of the Athena.

"Three more command sh.i.p.s just dropped out of hyper space. Drones are separating and moving this way!" yelled Captain Franklin.

Sizing up what would be a fight he would rather end quickly Colonel Eckhart began to give orders. "Instruct the 302's to remain clear of all enemy vessels until we signal. Beam a Mark IX between the rear command ship and its drones. Fire the Asgard beam at the nearest command ship, two batteries."

The furthest command ship was in the process of disgorging its drones when the Mark IX naquadah enhanced nuclear warhead materialized in a flash of light. Five seconds later a massive explosion vaporized the command ship and it's smaller drones in an intense ball of light, energy, and heat. The closest command ship to Destiny was far luckier. The two Asgard beams tore two very clean holes through the command ship instantly rendering it and its drones inert. Aboard Destiny, people watched in awe at the power of the weapons employed.

"The remaining command sh.i.p.s have fully deployed their drones." crisply stated Captain Franklin.

"Order the 302's to engage the drones, and give weapons free to all rail gun batteries to engage any leakers. Lock on to the both remaining command sh.i.p.s with the Ancient drones and give me a salvo of four drones apiece." Eckhart calmly ordered.

From the rear of Athena appeared eight objects glowing in a golden colored light. The Ancient drones were the most agile of weapons, neatly sidestepping the oncoming enemy small craft in pursuit of their much larger targets. Behind them the 302's attacked the oncoming drones with ruthless efficiency. Their recently added rail guns easily destroyed the automated attackers.

The Ancient drones closed on their targets and easily pierced the command sh.i.p.s thin armored hulls. On breaking threw the other side of the hull the Ancient drones turned around swiftly and pierced the hull in another area until nothing but fragments were left of the command ship. Instantly the enemy drones went inert with the demise of their command sh.i.p.s. The 302's quickly eliminated their now dormant prey.

"One of those mother sh.i.p.s is still intact. Let's get it towed aboard into hanger bay two." ordered Athena's commanding officer. The battle had lasted three furious minutes.