[b]OOC:[/b] With Forsythe. You may now board.

[hr]

In the main control office at Homeworld command people were running around frantically, paper was changing hands rapidly and voices were being raised to relay vital pieces of information over the rest of the noise going on. It seemed like chaos but actually worked more like a well oiled machine. O’Neill saw Walter bringing Black towards him and he pointed towards his office before walking in, once they were in he directed her towards the seat and took his own.

“Glad you could make it so quickly Catherine, I know you have a ship to get ready and a new crew and all but we’re going to need you first.”

The summon was unexpected but given the most interesting thing she did last few hours was ticking boxes on a cargo manifest, she left right away.

“No problem, in fact I could use a distraction. What do you have in mind?” she asked, wondering what one would need an explorer ship for in the Milky Way. She figured they just couldn’t spare any 304, so they looked at the only ship parked on the orbit.

“We’re in need of a ship with your speed and skills. What do you know off the mission to P5X-404 or P3F-964?” The seriousness of the situation would likely be prevalent, he was straight to the point.

“We should really start naming those.” Catherine grunted, trying to remember those reports. “Not that much. We found a bunch of refugees from all over Goa’Uld space, they got in trouble, we helped them out. Not much contact with them since. Correct?” she asked for confirmation.

“Short version. They called themselves the Pack, I got shot at by killer robots. They helped, we offered to help and form an Alliance. Some time travellers appeared including my daughter - Don’t ask. We did some stuff, went for the alliance and the Aschen showed up and caused havoc with a ship that can cloak and do all kinds of nasty drone related and weapon related things.” He leaned back in his chair. “We then kicked some butt, evacuated the Pack from their main ship and found them a planet to live on.”

He shrugged. “We’ve had some periodic contact with them, helping them adapt to a planet borne society and some trade deals here and there borrowed some ships when we needed them. Though they’ve missed a check in, we can’t dial them. We can’t reach them on subspace. Last contact seemed fine but they were experiencing some difficulty with their vegetation. We’re assuming the Aschen are out for some retribution and we need a ship there, fast.”

“Done.” Kat nodded after she processed the information. “My crew is almost complete, we can pick up the stragglers before we leave the Milky way. Most are specialists and or aliens, not in much need of training with the ship’s systems. For all intents and purposes we’re ready to leave immediately.” she informed.

“Just hang fire on that one, I want you to double check her systems first. We’ve sent enough ships into combat half tested. This wasn’t the shakedown cruise I really wanted for the [i]Nyx[/i] but with the Aschens ability to cloak and deal a punch she’s about the only ship that can do this solo. Couple of things, if they breach your hull seal and pull back. Last thing we need is them getting a chemical weapon on board. The main energy weapon is extremely powerful and it can release swarms of drones. Your main priority is to get in, get any survivors back to Earth and get out. Take out the Aschen ship if you can but I don’t want you at risk trying to do so.” He pushed over a file. “Carter went against it head on, that’s her report on everything she noticed about it and it includes my report from inside the ship. Just ignore the fact that there are two off me. You should be used to this craziness by now.”

“Any questions?”

Quickly eyeballing the file, she figured not much more would be known on a ship that can go invisible. “Can you recall any particular weak point? Me and Dr. Lawson came up with a possible way to accurately hit from beyond their sensor range using a five-four-seven to paint the target for the [i]Nyx’s[/i] main guns. It might be easier to dispose of the ship that way.”

“Well the obvious option is the drone launch, though I don’t know if Carter managed to pinpoint where it was. This is the first time I’ve looked at the file for years. Everythings in there, though the issue with targeting the ship is you’ll need to find it first and they’re fast little buggers. You might need to get dirty for this one Catherine I’m afraid.” He did have a somewhat regrettable look on his face.

“If they’re poisoning them with biological weapons, they’ll be holed up and observing. I think you might be right.” she nodded with a frown. “Well, the pre-flight will take some time, I best be on my way then.” she suggested, her eyes already pointing to the file and dissecting it word by word.

“Off you pop then, bon voyagé, don’t screw up, with great power comes great something or other.” He looked down at his desk before looking up again. “You still here?”

By the time the general looked up and asked, the chair in front of him was already empty and he was alone in the office.

“Good girl.”