Chapter 154

NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium

Deep within the bowels of the highly secure compound of NATO headquarters, an urgent session called at the behest of the United States was taking place. The twenty eight individual member nations Permanent Representatives were seated at a circular table. Due to language differences, each Representative wore an earpiece over which immediate translation of each Representative spoken words were broadcast. After the recent attack on Earth so shortly after disclosure, the air of tension was palpable.

"As your respective heads of government have been made aware, an overt attack upon our planet was averted. Traditionalist forces of the Jaffa mounted this attack upon both Earth and the Arkos shipyard facility. Background information on both Arkos and the Jaffa can be found in the briefing packets before you. Utilizing internal self defense measures, the Arkos artificial intelligence engaged and destroyed the three Ha'tak vessels that attacked shortly after exiting hyperspace. Moments later four Ha'tak vessels exited hyperspace near Earth and immediately opened fire. The planetary defensive shield prevented any of the targeted weapons fire from entering our atmosphere. The Daedalus class vessel Sun Li Ren belonging to the Taiwanese government engaged the attacking vessels destroying two. While this attack took place, the vessel Destiny closed in on the attackers and also engaged destroying one Ha'tak. Both vessels maneuvered to further engage the remaining enemy ship, but the attacker engaged their hyperspace engines and escaped." Representative Lionel Pine stated to the assemblage of men.

"I think we can all agree that were it not for the timely actions of Taiwanese forces in conjunction with their American counterparts, this situation could have been much worse." Representative Geoffrey Calvert agreed.

"Representative Pine, I've gone over the briefing material. We can all agree that this situation is one we do not wish to repeat. Do we have any indications of additional follow up targets?" Representative Diego Garza of Spain asked.

"I've consulted with the Department of Defense about this. They assure me that the planetary defense shield is more than adequate to prevent any such follow up attacks on Earth. Despite that, defensive weapons platforms will remain at an elevated alert level until this conflict is concluded. Fleet units will also maintain a presence in the solar system. Even though we have defensive measures in play, we do have one area of concern where the enemy can inflict considerable harm to us so I've been informed. Where the Jaffa to target the moon with either a nuclear weapon equivalent or a large amount of ship based firepower, the resulting debris could prove a problem. Debris and ejecta from such a strike has the potential to shield the Earth from a high percentage of sunlight resulting in the equivalent of nuclear winter." Pine said solemnly.

"With all of your nation's new advancements can you not do something about that?" Garza demanded.

"Countermeasures to deal with such a situation are being formulated as we speak with our off world allies." Pine replied.

"What of other off world facilities?" German Representative Heinrich Von Eich demanded.

"The Alpha Site is equipped with defensive systems equaling those of Earth. The November Site is a joint Earth and Asgard off world facility, so we judge the possibility of an attack there highly unlikely if the Jaffa are even aware of the facilities existence. Should an attack occur there we deem the chances of success as minimal. Due to the November Site's proximity to New Heliopolis, the other Great Races would respond in kind." Pine explained.

"It is the position of Her Majesty's government that an attack on Earth represents a direct attack upon NATO and our respective individual nations. With that in mind, forces of my nations military are being prepared for deployment to respond to this attack." Calvert stated.

"I have been directed by the Chancellor to make available forces of the German Army under NATO command in support of our treaty commitments." Representative Von Eich added.

Over the next forty minutes the twenty eight nation's representatives reaffirmed their commitment of troops to the NATO cause. Several of the smaller member nations pledged their support, but made mention of a lack of the numbers of combat troops the larger nations were capable of deploying. Lacking a clear picture of how these troops might be employed, it was agreed that the respective nations would muster their deployable units and place them on standby in preparation for a quick surge elsewhere in the galaxy.

"It has come to the attention of Spanish Intelligence that several nations are in possession of the American F-302 design. Can the member nations of NATO expect the same courtesy? I pose this question due to our combined air force's lacking the capability to engage exo-atmospheric targets." Representative Garza pressed.

"You are indeed correct that several nations have taken delivery of a number of F-302's. When first introduced, the F-302 was constructed on Earth. We have since shifted production of the 302 to the Arkos facility. The incredible production capacity of Arkos is a true force multiplier. After a few slight changes in the construction schedule large scale production of 302's began thirty six hours ago. Using the stargate we would like to begin sending flight crews to Arkos for ferry duties of 302's back to Earth and the individual receiving nations. Of course, orientation check rides will be conducted in the United States before these pilots are sent to Arkos." Pine explained.

"We are all aware of which nations currently operate larger interstellar craft. When can the other member nations expect to be granted access to these advancements?" Von Eich inquired.

"Production of the Daedalus, Athena, and Copernicus class vessels obviously takes far longer than construction of a small fighter interceptor. Employment of these vessels to maximum affect takes a large amount of training and familiarization. We propose that nations new to the use of such vessels be first outfitted with the smaller Daedalus class vessels. Once an indigenous training cadre for your respective national training programs is available, subsequent production of Athena class vessels would be possible." Pine stated.

"Knowledge that nations not belonging to NATO are in possession of such vessels already does little to instill a sense of contentment into my government." Von Eich replied in an annoyed tone.

"I would like to remind the German Representative that had these vessels not been shared with nations outside of NATO, the craft that attacked Earth might have taken longer to combat. I'm glad that you mention this though as it brings us me to my next order of business." Pine replied smoothly.

"What might that be Representative Pine?" asked the Norwegian Representative.

"As the German Representative mentioned, non NATO member nations are currently in possession of Daedalus and Athena class vessels. This is something we wish to correct as the United States government feels strongly that all interstellar vessels in Earth's possession fall under the guises of NATO command. The United States wishes to invite both the nations of Taiwan and it's newly incorporated Chinese mainland, and the nation of Russia." Pine stated.

"Has the esteemed representative of the United States forgotten that NATO came about to contain the threat Russia posed to Western Europe?" demanded Von Eich.

"Several former Warsaw Pact nations are currently members of NATO, yet this argument was not poised at that time. Times change and nations change. Russia has played a crucial role throughout the history of the stargate program as has the former People's Republic of China now under the governance of Taiwan. In the face of the external threat now before us I would propose that now is the time to come together, forgive past transgressions, and martial our forces." Pine stated plainly.

Over the next three hours the merits of admitting both nations into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization were debated with vigor and at times venom. As tensions rose and fell, the collective representatives all saw the trend play out. Each time tensions over Russia's admittance came about the anger was a less fierce than the time before. Every nation around the circular table knew that the two nations would be admitted and in fact agreed that it was needed. Working in tandem, the British and American representative finally prevailed in smoothing over the lingering specter of decent in the room. Emerging from the conference room later to a collection of global news agencies, the NATO Secretary General announced with pleasure to the world the admittance of both Russia and Taiwan to the NATO alliance.