Currentpresent 4
Undisclosed Location
Washington D.C.
September 1997
George S. Hammond looked around the bland underground tunnel he was in, possibly the same stretch of Washington he’d been in for the past few days. It was part of a network of tunnels that allowed people to move unseen through the city, a Cold War measure now used to avoid media attention. It reminded him how much had changed in a few short years, and how much
would change in the next few years.
He caught Sam Carter running her free hand over her dress uniform to smooth out the wrinkles, and gave her a reassuring smile. “Calm down Captain, the Joint Chiefs are all argued out after yesterday’s meeting.”
She gave him an amused and puzzled smile. “Was it
that bad, sir?”
“Well, let’s put it this way – your briefing is going to be good news in comparison,” he said honestly. He would’ve said more, if not for a Secret Service agent ushering them into a secure briefing room that resembled the one in
The Hunt for Red October. It was a cramped space, with rectangular table, a projector aiming at a blank wall, and just enough seating for everyone involved.
In this case, the president of the United States – a personal friend, which helped in many regards, the Secretary of Defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the vice chairman, the Chief of Staff of the Army, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and the Chief of the National Guard Bureau.
It was no surprise Carter felt intimidated – going through the Stargate might be a matter of personal life or death, but this could be a matter of
career life or death.
She opened the brief case she’d been carrying and pulled out a reel of slides, inserting it into the projector. Then she stood in front of the blank wall, all the eyes in the room falling on her.
“Gentlemen, this is Captain Samantha Carter. Captain Carter is trained in astrophysics and serves as SG-1’s field science expert. She’s here to brief you on a document written by her pastfuture counterpart, regarding technologies that can be rapidly implemented.” Having laid the groundwork, Hammond sat down and noted the respectful nods from the rest of the table.
At least they’re being polite, he thought.
Making her salute would’ve been a bit much when there’s this much pressure.
“Thank you, sir.” Carter took a breath, then clicked the projector’s remote. The first slide, bearing Stargate Command’s logo, appeared. “As you know, Stargate Command recovered a shipment of technology and documentation from an alternate future. This document is a series of recommended priorities for development and implementation, utilizing knowledge and tools provided from the pastfuture.”
She clicked again and brought up a slide labelled “Technology Tiers.” “My pastfuture counterpart prioritized technologies by time and resources required to implement them. In this case, Tier 0 technologies are already existing and available, either on Earth or the broader galaxy. Tier 1 is technology that can be developed within one to two years. Tier 2 is two to seven years, and Tier 3 is a sliding time scale, dependent on diplomatic and scientific developments.”
Everyone besides Hammond looked at each other. For his part, the SGC’s commanding officer kept his eyes on the president. When the two men locked eyes, he gave the commander in chief a reassuring nod.
“Tier 0 includes a number of Goa’uld technologies. For example, the transport ship Colonel O’Neill retrieved, the sarcophagus recovered in Mexico, and the various staff weapons we’ve captured.” Carter paused to make sure the audience was following along. “It also includes our home grown armored vehicles and other technologies, such as drones and Maverick missiles.”
“Pardon the interruption, Captain, but why Mavericks, specifically?” The Chief of Staff of the Air Force asked.
Carter clicked the remote and a diagram of the gate room appeared, with a missile launcher assembly lowering from the ceiling. “A Maverick missile launch system was installed in the SGC within the first few years of operations in the pastfuture. Using laser target designators, this gave SG teams the ability to hit hardened positions with more firepower than infantry could carry.”
The general sat back and stroked his chin.
“In addition, we received a pastfuture state of the art server, featuring a full gate address list for two galaxies, integrated error code detection, the ability to trick the gate into thinking it’s connected to a DHD, and integrated ‘Call Forwarding Device’ functionality.” She clicked again, bringing up a slide showing a diagram of various gate travel scenarios. “As you can see here, the Call Forwarding Device allows us to redirect any wormhole conveying organic matter to another planet of our choosing,
if the travelers don’t transmit the proper ID code prior to entering the wormhole. This adds an extra layer of defense and safety for our SG teams – not only will incoming Jaffa wind up on another planet, an SG team under fire that makes a mistake transmitting their IDC doesn’t have to worry about hitting the iris.”
“I take it there’s a manual off switch for this feature, correct?” The chairman asked.
“Yes sir,” Carter confirmed, “along with various controls for other features.” She continued the presentation, clicking to the next slide. “One potential combination of Tier 0 technologies is the use of a second Stargate, currently located in Antarctica, to enable the use of armored vehicles offworld. The pastfuture SGC never utilized armored vehicles due to the logistical challenges caused by Cheyenne Mountain, as well as fears of escalating the conflict with the Goa’uld. The presence of the xenomorph hybrids changes the tactical and strategic landscape, as they have the knowledge base to produce and deploy armored vehicles.”
Grim looks were exchanged between the various senior officers.
“Another Tier 0 technology that the pastfuture SGC did
not field was modified staff weapons.” The next slide showed a cut down staff weapon that had been mounted on an AR-15 lower whose magazine well had been machined off. Below that was a Gattling gun with six cut down staff weapons in place of conventional barrels. “Despite recovering a large number of weapons after large scale engagements with Jaffa, neither of these conversions ever left the lab for fear that the Goa’uld would capture examples and replicate them. Even with most of the Goa’uld relying on cottage industry for their weapon production, their established infrastructure could have easily been updated to produce these new designs, closing the gap in infantry effectiveness.”
Carter moved on to the next slide, which displayed an angular device with a blue screen and keys on the terraces below the screen. “This device is identified as ‘Arthur’s Mantle.’ It generates lepton radiation to pull nearby objects into an alternate dimension, making said objects invisible and intangible.”
Everyone sat up straighter, clearly seeing the implications of such a technology.
“In 2007, my pastfuture counterpart used this device to dimension shift an alternate universe’s version of Earth to save it from an alien attack. However,” she brought up the next slide, which was a series of charts and a map of the United States, “this required over
90% of power generated in the continental United States… and that was with post-Disclosure power grid upgrades. At the moment, even if we could transfer power from the
entire North American continent to a single point, we would fall short of the amount required by
at least 5%.”
Stifled groans and thousand yard stares were the response to the news.
“In more positive news, there are a number of Tier 2 technologies that would make using the device viable,” Carter added. Sensing her audience’s pessimism, she advanced to the next slide. “Next, we have Tier 1 technologies. The first has a broad range of applications – catalyzed crystal growth.”
The next slide showed a number of crystals of various shapes and colors, with Carter pointing a tall blue crystal first. “This is a Goa’uld control crystal. It utilizes its lattice structure to store data and process commands, all in one unified structure.” She pointed to a pair of crystals placed next to each other. “These are Tok’ra tunnel boring crystals, which allow the user to bore through solid rock in a matter of minutes, while also generating oxygen in the process.” Finally, she pointed to a crystal that resembled a rectangle with its corners cut off. “This is data storage crystal, the equivalent to the magnet platters in our hard drives. This specific model is designed to fit in a 2.5 inch laptop hard drive chassis. Its storage capacity is 1
petabyte – our current best hard drives are only up to
gigabytes in size.”
“Can you put that in perspective for us, Captain?” the Chief of Staff of the Army asked.
“Sir, 1000 gigabytes is a terabyte. 1000 terabytes is a petabyte.” Carter paused for a moment to let the numbers sink in. “In addition, these crystals have lifespans of centuries,
at the low end of manufacturing quality. Higher end crystals dating
millions of years were routinely encountered and still functioning.” She managed to keep a straight face, even as her audience’s disbelief was on full display. “What’s
truly incredible is that
all of these crystals can be created with the same equipment and processes. The differences between them are a matter of composition and process settings.”
“And you’re saying that in a year or two, we could make these?” the president asked.
“Low end models? Yes, sir.”
“Amazing,” he muttered, then gestured for her to continue.
“The next item on the list is a ceramic polymer insert, designed to insulate soldiers from the heat of a staff weapon blast and disperse the kinetic energy over a larger area,” Carter explained after moving to a slide with a thin sheet of gray plastic. “The first generation insert is producible with our current level of technology, although at a fairly high cost and with half lifespan than when the pastfuture SGC produced it. However, the reduction in fatalities and severe injuries more than makes up for it.”
“Would it be possible to scale this up for vehicle use?” the Chief of Staff of the Air Force asked. “From what I understand, the enemy’s fighters use a scaled up version of their staff weapons.”
“Correct, sir. However, such an application would be a Tier 2 technology,” Carter explained, then proceeded to the next slide. A rifle and pistol round, each in a white case with a silver metal base, were next to conventional examples of the same rounds. “Another Tier 1 technology is polymer ammunition cases with metallic bases. The pastfuture SGC actually sent an automated machine capable of assembling 5.56x45mm, 9x19mm, 7.62x51mm, and 5.7x28mm rounds, in addition to the technical data package for the rounds. However, in my personal estimation, reverse engineering the machinery makes it a Tier 2 or 3 technology, depending on funding and resource allocation.”
“What are the benefits?” The chairman asked, “And what in the world are 5.7x28mm rounds for?”
“There are numerous benefits, sir. The polymer casings allow for faster, cheaper ammunition production using injection molding technology, while also offering a 30% weight reduction per round. To answer your other question,” she advanced the slides, “the pastfuture SGC began issuing FN P90s as standard weapons to exploration teams. They fire 5.7x28mm armor piercing rounds from a 50 round magazine, and come with an integrated optical sight. They proved very effective against Jaffa and a variety of other threats.”
The chairman eyed the Air Force Chief of Staff, who nodded thoughtfully.
“The final Tier 1 technology is the Mark I naquadah generator,” Carter continued, advancing to a slide with a device that resembled a dumbbell with a cylinder in the middle. “The pastfuture SGC obtained the technology via trade with a human civilization known as the Orbanians, and were able to build a prototype reactor fairly quickly. However, it took four years of development work to devise a mass producible unit… development work we won’t have to do, thanks to the technical data package they sent us. We’ll be able to produce man portable power sources capable of powering a stargate once the required tooling is manufactured and proven out.”
Her audience nodded in approval.
“Moving on to Tier 2 – there are a wide range of technologies at this level, but my pastfuture counterpart focused on a few specific categories for prioritization.” Carter clicked past the Tier 2 slide to one labeled “Energy Generation and Storage.” “For example, the ability to create and store energy is vital to our ability to utilize our own technology, as well as alien derived technologies. By focusing on solid state, high density batteries, converting seawater and carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons, and nuclear fusion technologies, which can all be accomplished without non-terrestrial resources, we can solve most of humanity’s energy issues. As well as provide enough energy to power the Arthur’s Mantle device
without blacking out most of the continent in the process.”
There were a variety of utterings by most of the men in the room – and for good reason. Nuclear fusion had been a scientific holy grail for decades – cheap, effectively unlimited energy with far less drawbacks than nuclear fission. To be able to have it within a decade was utterly shocking… and the gears inside their minds were already turning, trying to figure out how to take advantage of it.
“Captain Carter, I just want to be clear here,” the Chief of Naval Operations interjected. “You’re saying that not only can we make fusion reactors, but we can
make fuel…
without alien technology?”
“Without materials that
do not exist on Earth, sir.” Carter pointed to the fusion reactor heading. “The pastfuture SGC actually acquired the knowledge required for nuclear fusion reactors from the Eurondan civilization, who were confined to planet that also lacked naquadah.” She paused and looked at the CNO. “As a matter of fact, the Navy were the ones responsible for developing the hydrocarbon conversion process.”
The CNO smiled in smug satisfaction as the president gestured for her to continue.
“Continuing to military hardware, first we have a number of improvements to the M16 and M4.” The slide showed a disassembled AR-15 next to a bewildering array of parts. “In the pastfuture, the federal Assault Weapon Ban sunset in 2004. As a result, manufacturing of AR-15 rifles and specialty components steadily increased. SOCOM units would utilize these components, or approach manufacturers to develop custom parts for their own needs. That created a feedback loop of improvements in special operations and civilian circles, and the best of those filtered down to general issue. A small sample of these improvements include freefloated barrels and handguards for increased accuracy, polymer magazines, improved pistol grips, and ambidextrous controls, and various caliber conversions.”
The Army Chief of Staff stared balefully at the image. He was a proponent of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW) program, which aimed to replace the M16 and M4, and the implication that it failed was a direct smack in the face. But he said nothing.
The Marine Corps Commandant, on the other hand, did speak. “Why is this in Tier 2, Captain? I understand that there’ll be a time lag between tooling up and mass production, but I’m sure our manufacturing base is up to the challenge of getting this done in a year or two.”
Carter licked her lips and glanced at Hammond. For his part, he understood why she was hesitant to answer. This wasn’t a military issue. This was a
government issue… but what the government did often constrained the military in ways no one thought about. So he gave a short, firm nod.
“Sir, with all due respect,” she said, putting every bit of deference into her voice, “comparing the present legal and political environment to that of pastfuture 2004 is like comparing apples and… bananas. That imposes additional costs and difficulties on manufacturers, increasing the time and money cost of tooling up to produce these components.”
For a moment, it looked like the Commandant wanted to dig even deeper into the topic. But he flicked his eyes over to the president and caught his stone faced expression. Instead, he waved his hand in a “keep going” gesture.
“The next group of Tier 2 technologies are fighter craft.” The new slide had three aircraft on it. Two were clearly related – both with twin tail fins and down and forward swept wings, covered in black radar absorbent materials. The wings on one were, in Hammond’s estimation, 2/3 the size of the other, and since that image was on the right side of the slide, he presumed it was a development of the largely identical, larger winged craft.
Below that was something utterly bizarre. It was also black, with what looked like a helicopter fuselage mounted inside of an array of octagonal panels that attached to the middle of the fuselage. A barrel stuck out of the bottom of the nose, with a single barrel turret mounted above on the side (presumably mirrored on the other side), and it seemed like there were missile hardpoints on the inside of the octagonal ring, along with internal bays like on an F-22.
“On the right, we have the F-302A, Earth’s first mass produced aerospace fighter. It’s propelled by a mixture of air breathing jet engines, aerospike engines for high altitude operations, and a rocket booster. Weapons fit was standardized to dual 5mm railguns, four modified AIM-120A missiles, and whatever ordinance can fit into the internal payload bay.” She paused to let the senior officers absorb the specifications. “The light weapons loadout is due to the volume required not only for fuel, but the first generation fighter scale anti-gravity device, which was only sufficient for Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing capabilities. It’s estimated that we could begin mass production within three to four years with pastfuture knowledge.”
Now Carter pointed to the other F-302. “However, my pastfuture counterpart believes that we could begin production of the F-302C by 2003 – which is when F-302A production began in that timeline. The 302C features dual ion engines, replacing the 302A’s engines, a more efficient anti-gravity system providing full VTOL capability, dual plasma cannons based on Goa’uld technology in addition to the two railguns, double the external weapons hardpoints, and a 30% reduction in wing surface size.”
She then pointed to the odd looking craft below both 302 variants. “Selecting the F-302C would allow us to build the A-306 close air support attack aircraft, which utilizes the same anti-gravity engine, railgun, plasma cannons, and avionics package. Its closest Goa’uld counterpart is the Chappa’no’kek gate fighter, a design that never made it out of limited production, partly due to the fact that it had to be manually piloted in and out of a Stargate.” Carter paused. “It was never determined if Apophis was incapable of making an autopilot that could handle the task, or if there was cost cutting or industrial espionage reasons for its absence.”
The Marine Corps Commandant and Air Force Chief of Staff were eying the aircraft like premium wagu steaks, and were mildly disappointed when Carter moved to the next slide, which featured three spacecraft.
The first ship, seen in 3/4 view, had a fairly blocky and angled main body, with three large engines in the back. The trapezoidal wing on the starboard side had a hangar in it, and tapered into a thinner part with what appeared to be an energy weapon and two clusters of missile tubes. Amidships, on top of a flat platform, was a squat conning tower. There was a caption that read “FF-305” under it.
Next to that was a ship mostly made of rectangles, at least from the angle shown in the picture. Massive hangar bays hung off the sides, and on top was a broad platform that flanged down over the hangars. A conning tower was on the port side of the platform, almost like an aircraft carrier. The caption read “BC-304.”
The final ship on display seemed much smaller than the others to Hammond’s eye. It seemed heavily inspired by the Air Crane transport helicopter, at least in general concept and the design of the bow. A bulbous nose connected to a thick fuselage that connected to a block of engines in the back, while the center was essentially a rectangular plate that shipping containers attached to. This was captioned “LC-307.”
“In terms of complexity, interstellar capable spacecraft are the upper end of Tier 2 technologies, and require mastery of various Tier 1 technologies to facilitate their construction. In the pastfuture, the first American built starship was the X-303
Prometheus – however, that design had massive design limitations, and so my pastfuture counterpart recommends bypassing it entirely to start with was designated the FF-305. At 206 meters in length and armed with a variety of missiles, point defense lasers, large caliber railguns, and high yield energy weapons, as well as high strength shields. It also has space for a flight of f-302C fighters.”
Pointing to the BC-304, Carter continued. “The BC-304 was Earth’s second, far more successful capital starship class. It benefitted from a close alliance with the Asgard, allowing for significant technological integration and optimization. At around 600 meters in length, the 304’s initial armament consisted of 16 Vertical Launch Systems and 26 twin Gattling railgun turrets, with a later refit adding 4 high yield energy weapons. It can carry 16 F-302As, or 24 F-302Cs, as well as large planetary bombardment ordinance and a Marine company, while crossing 4 million light-years in 18 days.”
The last item was a major letdown, and even Carter visibly worked to make the subject interesting. “The LC-307 is a hyperspace capable transport that has comparable range and speed to the common Goa’uld Tel’tak transport. Utilizing modular cargo storage, it can transport a larger volume of supplies, personnel, or vehicles than a Tel’tak, while still being small enough to be carried by an FF-305 or BC-304.”
The next slide was simply “Tier 3.”
“To be blunt sirs, Tier 3 is a list of extremely desirable technologies, all of which require extensive knowledge of advanced science that we currently do not have, and have
massive potential for destruction if used improperly.” Her face grave, Carter proceeded to give examples of potential disasters caused by various technologies, all of which endangered life on Earth at minimum. At the end of it all, her simple summary was “As you can see, it is
vital that we prioritize diplomatic relations with the Asgard and other civilizations with more advanced scientific knowledge to help fill our gaps in understanding.”
The president checked his watch. “Well, Captain Carter, thank you for all the time you’ve spent on this. Gentlemen, we’ll adjourn for an hour before resuming this discussion.”
Carter joined the rest of the officers in saluting the president as he left the room with the Secretary of Defense in tow. Hammond waited for the Joint Chiefs to leave before gesturing to his subordinate. “Follow me, Captain, I know a place where you can get a quick bite to eat before heading to Dulles.”
Carter was heading off to pick up her father, who’d once been his wingman in Vietnam. And owed his life to a time travel event that hadn’t happened yet, where
Major Samantha Carter would meet a young lieutenant George S. Hammond, in 1969. The bald general wasn’t looking forward to explaining the whole mess, but at least the pastfuture SGC had apparently put that information in the non-secured data they provided.
“So, how are you feeling, Captain? Not every day you get to brief the Joint Chiefs and the president,” he asked as casually as he could. He wanted her to be as stress free as possible before the cab ride to Dulles. From personal experience, he knew that traffic in Washington was a nightmare.
“Well, I think I would’ve had a harder time before our last mission,” she said, keeping things vague as the Secret Service shuffled them to the nearest exit. “How do you think I did, sir?”
“Pretty well. The only time you were off balance was the policy question, which isn’t something you’re supposed to worry about anyway.” The rest of the trip out of the tunnel, through a nondescript office building, and onto the street was silent, aside from the Secret Service agents providing directions. As Hammond looked out at the street around him, he wondered how much of it remained the same in 2022 of the pastfuture. A lot of things changed in the past 25 years of his own life, so obviously things had changed, but had they been for the better? He knew there’d been an eyes only packet for the president, and he wondered if that had been a sign that whatever new problems they had in this version of history, things would be better.
They arrived at a small sandwich shop in time to beat the lunch rush, giving Hammond a half hour to finish his lunch before returning to the meeting. He left Carter with one of the Secret Service agents, who would escort her around until she set off for Dulles, following his own escort through a completely different route to the underground meeting room. While he wasn’t the first to arrive, only the Marine Corps Commandant and the Chief of the National Guard Bureau beat him. The rest filed in, with the president being the last one in.
Once he was seated, he said, “Alright gentlemen. We’ve been given a list of things we can accomplish, and now we need to pare that down to the essentials. General Hammond, we’ll start with you, since your people will be on the front lines.”
“Thank you, Mr. President.” Hammond ran through what he remembered of Carter’s extensive presentation for a few seconds. “What Stargate Command needs is fairly simple. The ceramic inserts to protect our men and women in the field, especially if the Asgard forecast of a bloodier war is on the money. We need the tunneling crystals to help us build offworld facilities and mine deposits on other planets. We need naquadah generators to reduce the program’s operating costs and power those offworld facilities.” He paused and looked at the other men in the room. “After that, there’s plenty of things that’d be nice to have. Armored vehicle support, for one. Cheaper ammunition. Possibly even that gate fighter.”
The other senior officers nodded, and the president turned his attention to the Chief of the National Guard Bureau.
“Considering what the Asgard have told us, there are two likely scenarios for a Goa’uld attack. The first is a general orbital bombardment, where they blast everything and only land forces to secure the Stargate. The second is a more precise orbital attack, where they take out our military facilities and invade in force to take our industrial base and use it against Sokar.” He scowled. “Who knows what’s running through the mind of a half human, half xenomorph nightmare, but I bet they’ll lean towards option two. Which means that our priorities should be the crystal technology, the Tier 2 energy technologies, and polymer ammo production. Even if we can’t get fusion reactors up and running within a decade, that gasoline conversion system will allow us to stockpile enough fuel and plastic to keep a global resistance going for
years.”
Again, there were nods from the assembled officers. The president gestured for the Army Chief of Staff to speak.
“Quite frankly, sir, I’m not happy to see that it took over 20 years to replace the M16 and M4,” the general said in an even tone. “However, I’m not blind to the fact that we need to prioritize protecting the planet over implementing new weapons systems… At the same time, we have a new threat on the field, one that is capable of fielding technologically superior infantry to our own.” He paused for a second, jaw working from side to side. “So I concur with the existing recommendations as a long term strategy. In the short term, I recommend digging deeper into the pastfuture data regarding the polymer cased ammunition technology. I doubt lighter versions of existing rounds is the best they or we could do with it, and if we need to rapidly deploy a weapons system with superior performance, it could be an ace in the hole.”
“You have no objection to the ending the Objective Individual Combat Weapon program in favor of developing this new weapon?” the Secretary of Defense spoke, for the first time.
“Sir, we have clear evidence that it is a failure.” Hammond could see that it was costing the general a great deal to admit that aloud. “So any objection I could make wouldn’t change the outcome. At the very least, this new program might be able to accomplish the same goal with superior technology.”
“The Marine Corps would be glad to partner with the Army on this new program,” the Corps Commandant smoothly interjected. “As for general recommendations, I support the idea of a second Stargate Command base for handling vehicles, as well as constructing A-307 gate fighters. Even if the Goa’uld or these xenomorph-hybrids don’t have armored vehicles, we’ll need the capacity to build a beachhead around a Stargate for operations of our own. Better to start developing the infrastructure for that now, instead of needing the capability and not having it, with our people paying the price.”
The president nodded then looked at the Chief of Naval Operations.
“My colleagues have made excellent points, so I won’t waste time repeating them. What I will point out is that unless we’re spectacularly lucky, it’ll take us nearly a decade to get to a point where we can power our best planetary defense system. That’s not something we can ignore.” He looked around the table. “Gentlemen, like it or not, we’re going to have to build ships to hold off the Goa’uld in space. At minimum, we need to build those FF-305s – or rather, FF-303s, as a defensive stopgap. And once we have Arthur’s Mantle up and running…” He spread his hands wide. “Well, we’ll have the ability to power project beyond our solar system, on top of rescuing our people if they get caught in a sticky situation.”
The Air Force Chief of Staff waited for his turn to be acknowledged, then said, “I find myself agreeing with the rest of the Joint Chiefs. I will point out, though, that if we’re thinking about procuring the A-307, we might as well go all in and get the F-302C. And then there’s the jurisdiction issue over the ships.” He looked directly at the CNO.
“Actually, gentlemen, there’s a fairly simple solution.” Every one of the officers looked at the president. “We just make a new branch of the military for Stargate Command and the spaceships. Call it Space Force or something similar.”
Hammond blinked a few times, and pretended not to see the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff look like someone just shot their dog. He knew that the US military, often times for the worse, was often fighting amongst itself for money and prestige. The president’s solution would basically kick the legs out of the existing branches once the Stargate was revealed, and made future appropriations battles that much harder.
After all, who was going to argue against the service protecting the entire planet getting the lion share of the defense budget?
The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs didn’t have much to say, apparently brooding over the whole “Space Force” situation, but the chairman did. “My colleagues have focused a lot on what we need to make, but not
how it gets made.” He looked around the table. “Considering the threats we’re facing, we can’t stick rely on a single production facility, or even a handful of facilities. We need to spread production and deployment of these technologies as far as possible within our borders, to minimize the enemies’ ability to neutralize our industry and maximize our ability to produce those technologies.” He leaned back and smiled. “And the more people we get to make these things, the further our procurement budgets can go.”
With the end of the Cold War, the combination of defense budget cuts and defense industry consolidation was hitting the military hard, exacerbating the divisions and rivalries between the services.
“What about invoking the Defense Production Act?” the Marine Corps Commandant asked. “Maybe not for the final products, but at least to get the tooling production off the ground?”
The Secretary of Defense looked at the president, who shrugged. “All options are on the table, for the moment.”
“So gentlemen, let me get this straight.” Now the president took over the conversation. “We’re all in agreement on prioritizing the energy generation and storage technologies,
including naquadah generators, the crystal growing technology, polymer ammo, the advanced fighters, and the FF-30-whatever it is now.” He looked around the table and saw nods from all the men. “Alright, I want some proposals for this decentralized industry idea on the table before I go shaking up the Congressional money tree. Any questions?”
“Does the issue of opening a second Stargate Command facility count as part of this plan?” the Marine Corps Commandant asked.
“And what about NATO involvement?” the vice chairman added.
“Feel free to look at either or both options,” the president replied, checking his watch. “If that’s everything, I’d like to thank you for your time gentlemen.”
The Secret Service shuffled the president and Secretary of Defense out of the room, leaving Hammond to watch the Joint Chiefs slowly file out of the room. He could see the Army Chief of Staff and Marine Corps Commandant talking quietly to each other, along with the Chief of Naval Operations and Air Force Chief of staff. He waited a minute or so for his superiors to leave, then left the room, once again escorted by a Secret Service agent.
He felt nothing but relief when he saw the Joint Chiefs were nowhere in sight.
Let them
handle all the politicking, he thought.
I’ll settle for keeping Earth and the United States safe.
Author's Notes: A very exposition heavy chapter, but it'd be kind of dumb to do a time travel plot like this and
not explain what goodies the heroes got... and the headaches of trying to get them out to the field.
Some Stargate stories have gone with the approach that the SGC was too dumb to modify staff weapons into more effective forms. This always felt a bit mean spirited, so I've gone with a more practical and negative consequence based approach. This also happens to fit better with a story where Sokar, the most industrially powerful Goa'uld, is a villain.
Likewise, the F-302's lame weapon loadout has been criticized in some other fics as design incompetence, but I feel it's far more interesting to acknowledge that all the Earth ships in shows' runs are very much minimum viable products and had a lot of room for improvement.
Speaking of ships, multiple people pointed out that the
Gorgon class DropShip from BattleTech looks like an SG Earth design, so I decided to roll with that, but scaled up the ship to be a more appropriate size next to a 304. I'm using the more up to date 600+ meter scalings of the 304, instead of the DVD numbers,
which actually work out to be more realistic according to a naval historian, but raise a lot of questions about how they get built in secret.
.