Stargate

Battle Preparations

It had been 2 weeks since the Langarans finally decided to allow the SGC greater access to their planet in order to defend it properly. General O'Neill had just arrived via the Stargate that had just been reconnected at a seperate facility.

"General O'Neill it is a pleasure to have you here today." Ambassador Ovirda said in greeting.

"Well this is nice, Ambassador, it is a pleasure to be here. Will you be joining us for the tour?" Jack asked as the gate shut down behind him.

"I will not be, we still have several issues to resolve about bringing a few of the systems online. Once you are finished however I would be delighted if you had dinner with me and our own military leaders. They have several questions they would like to ask." Ovirda told him honestly.

"Delighted Ambassador, Jonas, I assume you will be my escort?" He asked pointedly.

"Yes General, if you follow me we will begin with the facility here. It will eventually be our own Stargate Operations, once we reinforce it significantly of course. We are in the process of running the high output lines that Dr. McKay had delivered, and our own production of it is coming online. We should be ready to connect the buffer to the grid inside of a month, and than it should only be a matter if time beflre we have the power stored." Jonas said as they walked from the embarkation room and away from the ears of the delegates.

"Jonas, hownare the defensive installations coming along?" O'Neill asked him as they walked out of the main building.

"We have sensitive areas reinforced, and we are fairly sure they won't be able to set off the Naquadriah by bombarding us. As for the rest I will let Dr. McKay explain." Jonas said as they walked into another building on the premises.

They didn't walk far and O'Neill saw 3 of his best sitting taking a break. "General O'Neill, please join us. We were just reviewing the status of this project, and while I can say I wish we had an additional week, we will have about 80 percent of the critical locations well defended against any form of attack." Rodney reported to him.

"Excellent, make sure we get the rail g*n installations finished. If we can get all of those we should be able to hold off any attack from surface ships." Jack replied as he looked at the map.

"Those will be finished in 4 days General, the shield emitters are what we are having difficulty powering consistantly. The power upgrades are progressing, but we just don't have the time to get to 100 percent on the shields." Rodney told him shocking him. "We will actually be adding about 200 additional sites in key areas to help protect unshielded areas from significant attack."

Jack nodded as he looked over everything else. It was looking like they might just have a surprise or two for the Lucian Alliance when they arrived. None of the Earth ships would be detectable until they were in orbit, but 8 of them were already in the system. The other 4 would jump in as soon as the battle began, acting to cut off the escape routes from Langera.

Jack continued with the tour, as he saw the pilots givimg their forces lessons on how to fly the X302 fighter jets, as they had been granted access to 50 of them. Jack knew they had flown a few times, the rest of their training in simulators. He just hoped they would be encouraged to learn quickly because of what they faced now.

It was several hours later when Jonas lead Jack to the Presidential Palace, where the dinner he had been invited to was being held. They walked in amd Jack knew instantly it was a state dinner. He hated them more than anything, but he consented to stay when Jonas told him it was vastly important.

They mingled for a few minutes before dinner was served, and Jonas lead him to the table where he was sat just to the rigjt of the head. He took the lead of the others and raind standing, all 4 Ambassadors aroumd him with Jonas squaring up their number at the head of the table.

"President of the New Langaran Alliance, Emily Hunter." A paige proclaimes ceremonially as an attractive woman of about 45 entered amd took her seat.

"Please sit everyone, let us not stand on tradition." Emily said as everyone sat. "So General O'Neill, Jonas here tells me you appreciate Politicians who put their cards on the table and shoot straight with you, is he wrong?" she asked as soon as everyone was sitting.

Jack looked at Jack who shrugged his shoulders before turning back to her. "I find it easier for us to work towards mutually beneficial outcomes that way yes. If we say what we mean no matter how it may come across, there would be less confusion in the Galaxy." he answered for her.

"Very well, how is it you can justify the expense of all this technology coming here to us for so little in return? Setting aside compensation for the risks, the balance is still sonfar out that the cost benefit ratio cannot be reconciled." she asked him bluntly.

Jack smiled as he knew exactly how to address this issue in terms she would understand. "Madam President, do you have children?" he asked her and she nodded. "How much is his or her life worth to you?" Jack asked bluntly.

"I am not sure what you mean." President Hunter replied.

"Let us say your daugjter was trapped on the other side of the universe. Money was no concern as the children of the most powerful entities on your planet are with them. How much money would you be willing to spend to rescue them?" Jack asked her pointedly.

Emily Hunter nodded as she knew she would spend whatever it took. "I was not aware any of the Destiny Crew were your children, my apologies." she said bowing her head.

"No, my apologies. My child is no longer with us, but I would give anything to see him again. 87 people are aboard Destiny now, and we need to send the supplies in the worst way possible. We will soon have the ability to do it elsewhere, at greater risk of destroying a lot of people. However with your help we can send them what they need to survive until they can return to us. We do not leave our people behind, and right now they are out of our reach. If the cost of knowing they are safe and can survive is a few trillion dollars worth of supplies, we will gladly pay it for that chance." Jack told her simply. "We also would not ask if we had anywhere else to do it, and will do everything we can to mitigate the risk to your planet and people. I just hope our new cooperation lasts, and that this partnership lasts well into the future." he told her bluntly.

President Hunter nodded as she was one of the scientists reviewing the data as well. "General O'Neill, I appreciate your honesty. Not many diplomats would have appreciation for such a blunt response. Although we have not completed our work on the calculations you have provided, we are prepared to allow you an attempt after we have dealt with the Lucian Alliance. With what is projected to be completed, what do you see our odds of survivng this at?" she asked.

"With what I have seen, I would put our odds at roughly 80 percent success. The key will be to have enough armed men assisting the rail guns when the bombers, fighters and transports enter the atmosphere. We will also need defense forces strategically placed everywhere that the shields will not be able to cover. Fortunately we will be able to protect the key areas including power generation for each of your districts on the planet." he told her of his assessment. "I beleive we will have enough of your pilots trained adequately enough to field 300 X302s as a fighter screen. We will habe the stay in atmosphere to deal with anything that gets past us." O'Neill said honestly.

The military leaders as well as the Ambassadors nodded with relief that he believed their defenses would be adequate.

"General, I think you have assured our people that we have an actual chance. My people tell me that it will take us 3 weeks to charge the buffer to attempt a dialing to Destiny, will that timeframe be adequate for you?" she asked him.

Jack knew that Atlantis would be going in just over 3 weeks time, just before the resources aboard Destiny ran out. "The timeframe will be close, but yes, it will work for us." Jack said as he thought about it.

They all nodded as they knew the cost would be trust. "General, I think I can speak for all of us that what you are requesting could possibly be beyond what most of us are prepared to do. Fortunately there is only one of us you must convince, and you are well on the way. So long as you are prepared to be present when we dial Destiny for the first time, we are prepared to trust that the dialing falls within your own safety parameters." President Hunter said bluntly to him.

Jack smiled as she said that. "Very well Madam President, if that is what it will take so be it. If you say three weeks before we can dial, I will be here for it. I just need one thing from you in return." he said still smiling.

"What is it General?" she asked curious.

"Permission to land Atlantis in your Ocean to aid in your defense." O'Neill replied still smiling.

The Ambassadors and President were all shocked at this, as they had no clue Atlantis was even in the Milky Way. "How long would it be here?" President Hunter asked.

"Until just after the initial dialing sequence. After that we would depart for eventual arrival in the Pegasus Galaxy." he informed her. "The added bonus is it will increase our effectiveness rating to 100 percent."

President hinter nodded. "Very well, you have authorization to proceed. When can we expect Atlantis to arrive?" she asked.

"Madam President, I must object. It is not acceptable to accept this risk when we have not-" Ambassador Ovirda began before she cut him off.

"Ambassador, I was elected by a vote of the majority of the 3 Nations when we combined into a Planetary Government. I am well within my duties to enter into an agreement with any foreign government. General O'Neill, I trust that you will place your own safety in the same regard as I do my people. As such all of our government will be present, and despite the issue we have with Dr. McKay, I must insist he he present to enact his plan as well." President Hunter said sternly.

Ambassador Sevaarin chuckled slightly as she was glad they had selected the right person. "Ambassador Ovirda, we on this council might like to believe we hold the authority still. The fact remains we created a single planetary government to quell the unrest among the nations. President Hunter was elected by the majority of the people to represent us, and despite my wish to know more from our own scientists, I believe we can trust General O'Neill and the Tau'ri have the interests of our people and planet in mind as well." she said admonishing him. "As such she has my support to enact this plan to protect our people."

"Mine as well. Despite our own scientists lack of ability to tell us of the actual risks, I have seen the results of their attempted dialing. I have faith with those results, and will gladly be present for the dialing. I do have a few questions General, your pact gives us salvage right to any ships disabled or destroyed. How many ships do you expect to survive?" Ambassador Velcraf asked politely.

"We are hoping that between 20 and 50 percent will survive intact in some form or another. That will leave between 5 and 15 of them for you ro salvage for planetary defenses." Jack replied as the first course was finally served.

3 hours later Jack arrived at their new Stargate Operations building, and went to Earth to prepare for the departure of Atlantis. They had 3 days before they had determined it would not be possible. He ordered all of the battle personnel to report, and left the majority of the scientists to be transported afterward. He knew it would take atleast a day before Atlantis could depart.