Downfall

Prologue:

Tau'ri Battlecruiser General George Hammond, Space, 3rd April 2010

Earth's newest battlescruiser – the General George Hammond – named after the late commander of the SGC and later Homeworld Command, glided smoothly through space, thousands of light-years distant from the tiny pale blue dot that was home to the ship and its crew. Having completed its maiden voyage nearly six months ago, the Hammond was now on active duty. With the Lucian Alliance fracturing from within and the Wraith on the defensive in the Pegasus Galaxy, it had been decided that now was a prime time to explore further afield in the Milky Way Galaxy.

The doors to the bridge slid open with a hiss and a striking blonde-haired woman, clad in US Air Force overalls strode purposefully onto the bridge of the Hammond. Colonel Samantha Carter-O'Neill, former leader of SG-1 and the Atlantis Expedition, not to mention saviour of Earth on countless occasions, was the commander of the George Hammond.

"Good Morning, Ma'am." The XO, Major Kleinman greeted her as she approached the commander's chair, which he obligingly vacated.

"Morning, Dave." Carter replied with a smile. "Anything to report?" Her tone was quite informal, considering her position as commander of the ship – it was a habit she picked up from Sheppard during her yearlong stint on Atlantis. Not that it mattered though, certainly not in the eyes of the crew. The Colonel was one of the most respected officers on Earth and, indeed, across a large portion of three different galaxies.

Kleinman shook his head. "Nothing out of the ordinary, Colonel. Most systems are operating at optimal capacity. There's a small shortfall in the efficiency of thruster seven on the port side, but it's only a discrepancy of 6%. Doctor Kelly is taking a look at it now, but he reckons it'll need fixing properly when we go home.

Sam nodded. "No other issues?" She asked. The XO shook his head. "Well, if that's the only problem, then we're doing pretty well – the ship does incorporate elements from four different technology bases. Still, keep an eye out for anything else that needs looking at."

The next few hours were quiet, but not uneventful, as the Hammond made another short hyperspace jump to allow several of the scientific personnel to observe and study the fantastic scenery of a nearby nebula.

The Hammond was just readying for another hyperspace jump to begin its return journey to Earth, when alarms began sounding across the bridge. The well-trained crew responded quickly and professionally.

"Multiple unknown contacts detected, Colonel." The sensor operator reported crisply. "Picking up three contacts, 35,000 kilometres distant, bearing zero-eight-four degrees."

"Sound action stations." Carter ordered calmly but firmly. She turned back to the sensor operator. "Can we identify?"

In turbulent times such as these, with the Lucian Alliance running rampant, the Free Jaffa Nation on the verge of fracturing from within and several minor Goa'uld still haunting the Milky Way, you could never be too careful in situations such as these. Not to mention the fact that in a far-flung corner of the Galaxy such as this, the crew of the Hammond could very well be marching headlong into a first contact situation.

"Negative, Ma'am." The man responded. "There is one larger contact and two smaller, but nothing that the Ancient or Asgard databases are familiar with."

"New contacts detected." Kleinman added. "Unidentified vessels are launching smaller craft, estimate one hundred plus – looks like a fighter screen."

"I want the '302s ready, but do not launch yet." Carter ordered. "These people obviously mean business. I don't want to provoke them into anything hostile."

There was also the matter of the Hammond's own fighter complement being massively outnumbered by the opposing fighter screen. Even though her ship could now deploy four squadrons of the new F302E fighter/interceptors with the folding-wing configuration – a total of 32 craft – they would still be outnumbered 3 to 1. Those weren't the kind of odds Sam wanted her pilots to face, especially against an unknown force.

"Colonel, we're receiving a transmission from the other ships." Captain Lisa Satterfield informed her a few seconds later from her position at one of the other consoles.

"On speaker." Carter ordered.

There were a few seconds of static before a slightly disembodied male voice crackled into life over the radio channel.

"Unidentified vessel, this is Admiral John Metcalfe, commander of the Colonial Battlestar Heracles and Battlestar Group are trespassing in restricted space. Identify yourselves immediately."

Carter exchanged a glance with her XO. "Not too friendly, are they?" She commented drily. "Open a channel." She ordered Satterfield. Receiving a nod from the Captain, she addressed the man on the other end of the line. "This is Colonel Samantha Carter, commander of the Tau'ri Defence Vessel General George Hammond. We are on a peaceful exploration mission and have no hostile intentions towards you or your people. If we have entered a sensitive area, we are willing to leave immediately. That said, we would be interested in opening relations between our peoples."

Following her comments, there was almost a full minute of silence from the 'Colonials' before a response was forthcoming. When it did, it wasn't comforting.

"This is Admiral Metcalfe. We have no knowledge of any group called the 'Towry'. There are no other nations apart from our own Colonies and the Cylons. This leads me to conclude that you are either a criminal smuggling or pirate vessel, or that you are Cylons." There was another brief pause. "Heave to and prepare to be boarded." He added threateningly.

Carter cursed softly under her breath.

"Satterfield, have you finished scanning their ships? What are we up against?"

"Yes, Ma'am." The younger woman confirmed. "Three ships – one roughly fifteen hundred metres in length and the other two, half that size. Scans indicate that they are pretty low-tech by the standards of most space-faring races we have encountered: no shields and they seem to rely on kinetic energy weapons and missiles. They have thick, armoured hulls, but nothing the APBs can't handle."

Carter frowned but nodded her thanks. Pressing a button on the arm of her chair, she re-opened a channel to the 'Colonials'.

"Admiral Metcalfe, this is Colonel Carter. We have no desire for hostility between our peoples. I will order my vessel to withdraw immediately."

This time, the radio remained ominously silent. After a few seconds, Kleinman called out a warning.

"Colonel! The Colonial fighters are accelerating towards us. It looks like they are moving into attack formations."

"Turn us about. Get us out of here, Major. I think we've outstayed our welcome." Carter ordered.

###

In a manoeuvre that left the Colonial crews stunned, the Hammond made a sharp 180° turn and accelerated swiftly away from the advancing Colonial ships.

Thirty seconds later, before the fighters could catch the BC304, a greenish-blue vortex formed ahead of the battlecruiser only to flicker and fade a moment later. On the bridge of the Hammond, Carter was demanding answers from the engineering section.

"Doctor Kelly, what is wrong?" It was abundantly clear to everyone aboard the Daedalus-Class battlecruiser that they had not entered hyperspace as planned.

"We've suffered a malfunction in the primary power conduits in the hyperdrive, Colonel." The Chief engineer reported over the intercom. "I can re-route power through secondary conduits but it will take some time." He added.

"How long do you need?" The Colonel asked simply.

"Uh, ten minutes, Colonel."

Carter sighed and looked across to her XO.

"Turn us back around, Major." She instructed. Turning to another officer she added: "Wepps, get me a firing solution on that mothership with the beam weapons. Prepare all railguns for defensive fire. Load tubes one through ten with Mark VIIIs."

She looked across to Satterfield. "Captain, tell Major Hailey to launch all squadrons."

###

The Hammond was only half-way through its turn when the Colonial fighters closed to firing range and opened fire with their cannons, spewing a hail of lead into darkness as they tried to disable their target's engines.

To the shock of the Colonial fighter pilots, their fire never reached the target. Instead it was effortlessly shrugged-off by the small battlecruiser as a shimmering wall of bluish energy materialised around the ship.

The Colonial fighters pulled up to make another attack run but two of them were not fast enough and slammed into the Hammond's shields, their pilots dying fiery deaths as their Vipers were consumed by twin fireballs.

Enraged at the loss of two of their comrades, the Vipers wheeled around for another attack run on the mysterious trespasser.

This time however, the Hammond's guns did not stay silent. All across the hull of the battlecruiser, railguns opened fire, swiftly destroying sixteen of the attacking fighters before the survivors broke off their attack run.

Moments later, the three Colonial warships, realising that their fighters were outclassed, launched a barrage of more than fifty missiles at their new opponent.

Instead of fleeing from the onslaught, the Hammond accelerated towards the Colonials, the railgun batteries effortlessly swatting away dozens of the incoming missiles. Still, four warheads made it through the wall of lead and exploded, brightening the darkness of space with their nuclear fire.

###

On the bridge of the Hammond, Colonel Carter squinted slightly as a bright flash filled the viewscreen. Even with the window automatically tinting to reduce the glare, the sight was still unpleasantly bright.

"Shields are holding at 91%, Colonel." A crewman informed her.

These guys are serious. Time for the gloves to come off. Carter thought grimly.

"Fire all beam weapons." The Colonel ordered calmly.

Seconds later, four bright blue beams of plasma lanced out from the BC304, reaching through space to strike the mighty Heracles. The first beam grazed the starboard hangar of the battlestar, burning away armour plating and exposing the hangar to space. The next three beams struck in quick succession, each hitting the main hull of the huge vessel and triggering a wave of explosions.

The damaged battlestar, crippled and without power, started to drift lifelessly through space. Thirty seconds later a wave of secondary explosions tore through the ship, sending the wounded warship and its crew to a fiery death.

###

"Enemy mothership has been destroyed." Kleinman reported as calmly as if he were commenting on the weather.

"The escort ships are pressing the attack." Satterfield added. "Looks like they are coming in at full speed and launching multiple fighters.

Carter nodded in confirmation. "All railguns target those fighters – there are too many of them for our '302s to handle. Wepps, target the nearest escort with beam weapons and prepare to beam a Mark VIII onto the other."

###

Major Jennifer Hailey rolled her fighter sharply to port to avoid a volley of fire from an enemy fighter as it sped towards her head-on. The shots missed by a hundred metres or more. Not wasting a second, Hailey put her fighter into a flawless Immelmann turn, bringing her up behind the enemy who had now passed her. Getting her target in her sights, she fired a short, one second burst from her twin railguns. The armour piercing shells pierced the Viper's fuel tank, causing the craft to burst into flames as Hailey claimed her third kill in as many minutes.

Glancing down at her radar, she saw that the largest enemy capital ship had been destroyed. The display showed dozens more, smaller, signatures approaching her squadrons though. She activated her radio.

"All squadrons, this is Spitfire." She addressed her pilots, using her own callsign. "We have multiple bogeys inbound. Everybody pull back and take up position around the Hammond.

###

Almost as one, the F302s disengaged from the battle with their Colonial opponents and fled towards the Hammond, utilising their superior speed to outrun the Vipers. The Vipers pursued, only to run headlong into a deadly wall of flak from the Hammond's railguns which tore the small fighters apart. A dozen or so fighters made it through the maelstrom, only to be picked off with ease by the F302s that had regrouped around the Tau'ri battlecruiser.

The remaining Colonial ships pressed forward, desperately pounding at the Hammond's shields with everything in their arsenals, only for the BC304's shields to effortlessly deflect the onslaught.

Then the beam weapons fired again. Two beams of plasma shot out from the battlescruiser striking the nearest escort head-on, piercing the ship's reactor and triggering another huge blast that vaporised the ship.

In desperation, seeing the demise of his sister ship, the commander of the remaining Colonial vessel ordered a short FTL jump. His ship vanished in a bright flash of light, only to reappear a mere ten kilometres from the Hammond and instant later.

###

"Shit!" Satterfield exclaimed harshly as the Colonial ship reappeared much closer to the Tau'ri vessel. "Colonel, they're heading straight for us – I think they're going to ram us."

Carter didn't hesitate.

"All ahead full. Helm, dive us underneath them." She ordered. "Tell the '302s to pull back. I want to hit these bastards with every railgun we can bring to bear on them."

###

The Hammond surged forward, even as the pilot put the ship into a dive to get underneath the Colonial ship. Nearby, the F302s quickly disengaged from their dogfight with the dwindling numbers of Vipers, once again fleeing at full speed. This time, the Vipers didn't pursue. Instead, the Colonial pilots switched their attention to the battlecruiser beneath them, lining up strafing and missile runs against the enemy ship.

It was a futile gesture. The Vipers didn't stand a chance of piercing the BC304's shields. Still, the Hammond wasn't out of danger yet, as it kept rushing towards the oncoming Colonial escort ship, even as it struggled to dive beneath it.

In the end, the Hammond made it with less than a hundred metres to spare. That was when two-dozen railguns opened fire again, spewing a torrent of armour-piercing shells into the unprotected belly of the Colonial ship.

The heavy armour of the escort was quickly overwhelmed by the huge volume of fire and within seconds dozens of heavy rounds were tearing through the ship's interior.

###

The Hammond passed the Colonial ship in a matter of seconds, then sped away before turning to face the enemy vessel once again.

"Alright. Let's see if our friends are ready to surrender yet." Carter said.

The enemy ship was clearly badly damaged from the Hammond's latest attack.

"Open a channel." The Colonel instructed.

Before the communications officer could carry out the order, the Colonial ship exploded, taking with it the surviving fighters that had clustered nearby to defend it.

For a few seconds there was silence on the bridge of the George Hammond. Then Colonel Carter started issuing orders again – less urgently this time.

"Major, scan the wreckage to see if there are any survivors. Captain Satterfield, please transmit a coded message to Homeworld Command. Inform them that we have encountered and defeated a group of unidentified hostiles at our present location. Inform them that the Hammond will be returning to Earth forthwith."