Ariadne had quickly taken in what the crewman had told her when she arrived on the ‘bridge’ and was already formulating her own plans. The natives of this world had decided that since the Goa’uld were driven off the planet partially by their hand, they must therefore be the single most powerful faction in this area of space. Had they not been standing in the way of this mission, she might have laughed at the prospect. Particularly the idea that the heavily damaged Ha’tak they possessed - and no doubt had no idea how simple it was to fix - made them the superior force in this battle. She did wonder why the captain had been so hesitant in simply sweeping them aside after being attacked. The man in command had made it quite clear that he didn’t want to just let the Langford pass. “Captain, why are we negotiating? It is clear that that man is not going to give us what we want, and we have every right to fire in retaliation.” She asked, genuinely curious.
"Politics and ethics." Catherine answered simply, shuddering at the first word in disgust. "I could do away with everything that they have and take what we want, but the pilots in the gliders probably have no idea just how big a douche their CO is. As far as retaliation goes, not everyone has been at this stage long enough to understand how things work." the captain sighed.
"Take us for example - Our first trip through the gate, we killed Ra. We all know what that caused. The pilot is alive, and the plane apparently isn't as good for recon as I thought it would be. It's something to learn from but nothing I would kill over... yet." she said, her last word having enough venom to kill an elephant. "Besides, I am looking at a fleet of ships easy to disable at my leisure. Destroying them is such a waste. I'd rather commandeer some of them instead." Kat explained the 'battle plan' with an evil half smile, "Earth's ships may be powerful but there are too few. I am not going to pass up an opportunity to bolster our numbers such as this one. Who knows, maybe we can get you an al’kesh?"
Ariadne nodded at the explanation. She had heard that the Tau’ri often imposed limits on themselves that were not immediately relevant, though this was the first she had actually seen of them. She wanted to be irked at it, but Idalia’s feeling on the matter washed over her and stopped that particular train of thought dead.
Once the captain moved to more pertinent matters, however, she found herself admiring the strategist in her. She was right, why waste perfectly good ships when you can take them for yourself? “I would certainly like a ship of my own, though I doubt an Al’kesh would be able to keep up with the Langford, and it certainly will not fit in the launch bay. Regardless, if we take one of their Al’kesh now, we may not need to resolve the situation in space so quickly. None of the sensors onboard any of their ships could detect a cloaked Al’kesh, and we could use it to safely land at the facility. At least then we will know whether this battle is worth having.”
The Tok’Ra was rising an interesting point. Kat scratched her chin, the gears in her head spinning. Of course a cloaked ship would take them in and out, but what of the guards at the site? Would there be any? If so how would they react? Could they be knocked out before sounding an alarm? No, too many variables that could go wrong. Not to mention that the enemy would eventually miss the Al’Kesh.
“I don’t think we’re there yet, lets see if Mr. Williams can reach agreement with him, but I believe it’s as you said - they won’t give in no matter what we have to offer. I wonder if he is even his own master, what he said earlier sounded like Alliance propaganda.” Still, once the defecation hits the ventilation, it would be better course of action than she thought of. Her plan didn’t see past getting out of the system with as much bounty as possible. “But, once the negotiations fail, then we could do so. At that point all bets are off, and this actually allows us to at least partially accomplish the primary objective.” she raised her gaze from the map and looked directly at Ariadne: “Thank you.”
The captains reaction came as little surprise to Ariadne, the conversation thus far had shown her that Black had a fair amount of distaste for the political side of proceedings. Like Ariadne, she was a woman of action, and did not want to wait while superiors talked about issues. She smiled a warm smile at the heartfelt thanks being offered to her before continuing with the task at hand. Still, it might change things if they waited until everyone agreed to start shooting each other before acting. “If we are to formally agree to fight beforehand, it will likely be best to simultaneously strike every ship we wish to capture. What of the Ha’tak? if we aim to capture vessels, there is no sense wasting the most powerful, damaged though it may be. If I can get to the engine room I can easily wrest control of the ship.”
Listening to Ariadne, Catherine's mind came up with another, unrelated idea. Williams is going to love this. "I think I just solved my missing XO problem." she said, the corners of her mouth twitching in the tiniest hint of a grin. Motioning Ariadne closer, she amplified the map and highlighted possible targets. "The Ha'tak is a different problem. They are jamming our beaming, and the rings are locked out as well no doubt. The only way on board is to take a 302 and land there, which is something i’d rather not do."
Drawing a circle around the pyramid ship, the holo zoomed in and displayed an X-Ray view. "And once there, you have the life support down throughout most of the ship, making movement somewhat difficult. On the other hand-" she pressed a few buttons and several red blips appeared in the detail, "-There are barely a dozen of life signs on board. In theory you with your amplified strength should have no trouble fighting them off, but I still am not big on leaving you there without support. IF we go through with this, it'd be best to focus on disabling the beaming jammer. I'd feel more comfortable if there were engineers and marines with you in case there are unforeseen problems."
Zooming back out, a few of the Al'Kesh flashed. "Only these two are in good enough condition to be worth the salvage. I don't think they bothered to lock out the rings on those, so a squad armed with Zat's should be able to surprise them. They'll be expecting a fight, not a boarding. And if push comes to shove, my bioweapons expert is already preparing nerve gas charges for delivery. We can de-crew the rest with that, but i'd rather not use it. It's not a pleasant death." she finished her train of thought, looking to Ariadne for a second opinion.
“Death never is.” was all Ariadne said, thinking back to the close calls she had had when her host was severely injured. She quickly shook off that line of thought, it was not pleasant, and not something she wanted Idalia to focus on for even a moment. She brought up the hologram of the Ha’tak again and gazed at for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh. “Beaming jammers.” She said quietly to herself, before bitterly adding in Goa’uld “Ne’wae soy no’yan joy” A small smile then crept to the edges of her mouth at Idalia’s amusement over her annoyed state.
She turned back to the Captain, returning the map to its overview of the entire formation. “Do not forget the Al’kesh under cloak. We should still be able to ring to them even if we cannot find them. Oh, and once we begin to use the rings to attack them, a heavy guard will need to be placed on our own rings. In case they get ideas. Regardless, I think it may be too dangerous to take the Ha’tak immediately. If we decide to destroy it, target the Pel’tak, that will ensure it is crippled and can be dealt with at our leisure.”
“You don’t say.” Kat rolled her eyes at Ariadne’s use of Goa’Uld. She had the opportunity to learn some of the language, but didn’t find it worthwhile with Lt. Zaken on board. It was a bit mysterious to her how the rings would work even on cloaked ships. IF the rings could target, shouldn’t they be able to use that system to pinpoint a cloaked vessel? She shrugged the thought off for now and filed it in her mind as something else to talk about with Lawson.
“Guard won’t do, and we better do it right now. Internal, lock out the rings.” she said to someone on the far side of the bridge. “Boarding party is not the only thing they could send through. A bomb comes to mind. The alliance tried those even on earth itself. And while we don’t have confirmed affiliation, i’d rather not find out the hard way. As far as the cloaked ships go, once we start taking over their own, they will have to decloak to reinforce their numbers, at which point we can beam on board instead.” Catherine thought out loud. “The Ha’Tak is not going anywhere nor do it’s weapons appear operational. It’s of no bother to us, just a prize to be taken.”
Catherine took a few seconds to review the plan in her head. Wait out the shooting - check. The 304s shields were nigh impregnable by the forces left in the milky way. Get Ariadne on board the Ha’Tak - no, delay that, fighting still going on. Take over the Al’Kesh - check. Send the ground team on board one - check, the Jaffa can pilot for them well enough. At that point, the cloaked ships might enter the fray, but their numbers will already be down enough and their ranks disorganized for a 302 or two to slip on board the Ha’Tak. Good enough. Now if only Mr. IOA was so kind to fail at the negotiations so their plan could succeed. Then they could gloat. “This could work.” she finally said with a nod, preparing the orders to be distributed the second the slugging starts. “There’s still the matter of sending you onto the Ha’Tak via 302. It is similar enough to a glider, but i’d rather one of the pilots went along. Least they can do is guard your back once you’re there.” Kat would have loved to take her herself, but it would do the mission no good for her to leave the bridge.
“That would be best” Ariadne said. “I am as yet unfamiliar with the control mechanisms of your craft.” Both she and Idalia were quite eager to learn, though that was something to bring up when there was no hostile fleet so close. “I will go and prepare to board the Ha’tak.” She turned to leave, but before getting out of the bridge she looked back with a smile and said jokingly “I wager a bar of Naquada that I will be ready before negotiations inevitably break down.”
“No bet.” Kat replied in kind, saluting the Tok’Ra off. Popping up internal communications, she informed Mr. Williams that a contingency plan has been created should the negotiations fail that would allow them to continue with the main objective.
*Ne’wae soy no’yan joy - I am no longer amused.
