Chapter 27

Hermes

Orders had been dispatched quickly to Colonel Mitchell. He was to precede to the outer edge of the galaxy and under cloak scan a little known planet for any signs of life or energy signatures. The same would be done for all the surrounding moons as well. Unsure of the reasoning of why he and his ship were being sent on a simple recon mission, he decided not to ask.

Gliding through the void of hyperspace the Hermes closed in minute by minute on her destination. Dropping out of hyperspace on the edge of the solar system the cloak was quickly engaged rendering the vessel invisible to visual and sensor detection. At full sub light their target was an hour away. Long range sensors scanned the surrounding solar system.

"Sensors are picking up energy signatures consistent with Ha'tak class vessels. Estimated ship count is five." said the sensor specialist.

"Any sign they have detected us in the neighborhood?" asked Mitchell.

"No sir. Weapons and shields are currently offline. I'll be able to tell you more as we get closer sir." said the sensor operator.

Silently Hermes moved into position near Tuat's outermost moon; her powerful sensors scanning every inch of the planet. A close eye was also kept on the orbiting Ha'tak vessels.

"Sir, sensors show a large facility on the surface of the planet; consistent with Goa'uld design. We are also showing a number of Al'kesh and Tel'tak's parked near the main structure. Some form of sensor jammer is in operation, we can't give you a number of life signs within the structure sir." said the sensor operator.

"That's a whole lot of what looks to be Lucian Alliance hardware parked on and around this rock. Relay our findings and sensor data to the SGC via subspace. Their going to want to know something is going on here." ordered Mitchell.

"Sir, The Ha'tak's are powering shields and weapons." exclaimed the sensor operator.

"They must have detected our subspace message being transmitted. That's just great. Either they've upgraded their sensor capabilities on those sh.i.p.s or that facility has a way to detect us when transmitting even when cloaked. Keep recording all sensor data on those sh.i.p.s." said Mitchell.

"Hyperspace window opening six hundred thousand kilometers to starboard." exclaimed the sensor operator.

On cue three more Ha'tak class vessels exited hyperspace. In seconds their shields were up and weapons were powered. All eight Ha'tak's began disgorging their gliders in search of the source of the subspace transmission.

"It's getting a little too hot in the kitchen. Navigation, give me full sub light out of this system. I don't want to risk detection by jumping to hyperspace within their sensor range. Once out of the solar system set course for Earth." ordered Mitchell.

Pluto

The construction of the ever growing Tauri fleet never stopped within the ancient shipyard, although it had slowed slightly. The automated army of construction robots in several handfuls of docks was busily working on their new task. Large numbers of the Ancient's defense satellites were being mass produced. The design had changed somewhat though. Their original power source was replaced for a faster charging and much longer lasting variant. The subspace capacitors addition to each satellite would ensure unlimited power for an infinite amount of time. Shield emitters much like those found aboard Destiny had also been added to keep the satellites in working order should they be attacked.

Elsewhere in the station a team of engineers were going over the proposed design of a new class of seed sh.i.p.s. These sh.i.p.s had a twofold purpose. While acting as advanced scouts gathering ever small detail of a habitable world they also manufactured and emplaced stargates. This new class of seed ship would have greatly increased shield and sensor capability, greatly improved defensive weapons, and a cloaking device. Lessons had been learned fighting the drones billions of light years away and those lessons were now being put into practice. These new seed sh.i.p.s would also build the Pegasus model stargates. Once the first ship was completed an upgrade of the Milky Way gate network to the Pegasus model was planned.

On lower levels of the shipyard construction was underway of several Improved Daedalus class vessels. The Constantine Alekseyev was to be Russia's newest vessel, and a replacement of the Korolev which was destroyed several years before. Beside her was another Daedalus midway through the construction process. The Dreadnaught was to be Great Britain's first space faring vessel. The French would also be getting their first vessel in the Le Triumphant. It had been decided to give the three nations the smaller sh.i.p.s so as to train crews for future Athena and Aurora class vessels for their nations. Each of the Improved Daedalus class vessels featured improved power cores with Asgard Neutrino Ion generators as their primary power source with a ZPM in reserve. As each day passed the arachnid like construction robots inched toward the completion of the vessels. The Tauri fleet continued to grow.