Author's Note:

Hi, everyone. Sorry it's been a bit longer between these updates, I've been back at work and it has been a bit stressful at times. In future, expect this to be the length of time between updates.

Thanks again to everyone who left a review. I really appreciate it.

AchingHeart2011: Agreed. I'm afraid originality isn't my strong point! Still, glad you like the story so far.

Suzy87: Thanks. O'Neill will make another appearance or two in the next few chapters, but mostly this story will focus on the Colonials. I do have a vague idea for another story that focuses on the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy during the events of this story, but it probably won't be written anytime soon. Sorry. Hope you enjoy this one though.

In response to the guest who asked about the technical stuff for the F302: The F302E featured in the prologue is a single seat fighter. Apart from that and the folding wings, it is the same as the original F302. The Tau'ri will learn lessons from the design of the Viper but these won't appear until much later in the story, if at all. I'm afraid I haven't really gone into the technical details much though, so I will have to defer to your better judgement. As for the technological superiority of the F302s, you are probably right though.

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Downfall

Chapter 3:

Stargate Command, Colorado Springs, Earth, 5th September 2010

On the surface, a black AC Cobra pulled up to the guard post at the entrance to the Cheyenne Mountain facility.

An Airman, an M16 assault rifle slung over his shoulder, approached the classic car and nodded to the occupants.

"Sir. Ma'am." The Airman greeted them. "May I see your IDs, please?"

Stone handed the soldier both his and Emma's IDs from his place in the driver's seat. After a brief but thorough perusal of the ID cards, the Airman handed them back to the car's occupants.

"Thank you." He motioned for another Airman to raise the barrier. "Have a good day, Sir. And you, Ma'am." He paused before adding "Good luck." He had been around long enough to know that when the General's personal troubleshooters arrived on base, it was usually for some dangerous or top-secret assignment.

"Thanks, Tom." Stone smiled back before driving away to park the car.

###

Thirty minutes later, after dropping off the keys to the Cobra with Sergeant Siler for safekeeping, Stone and Macy arrived at the briefing room. There were already half a dozen people dotted around the room reading through various reports. The two officers took their seats at the back of the room and waited for the briefing to begin.

Ten minutes later, a total of seventeen people had gathered in the room, including a young woman dressed in the dark brown leather tunic that was the uniform of the Tok'ra. After a few more minutes, General O'Neill entered the room alongside another man who they both recognised as Edward Thorne, Director of Special Operations for the IOA.

Thorne motioned to an aide in the corner of the room who started handing out dossiers to the men and women who had been assembled for the briefing. While the documents were still being disseminated, he began the briefing.

"As you will all be aware, on the 3rd April, the Hammond was attacked by unknown forces during a routine survey mission to the outer reaches of the Orion Spiral Arm." He began. "The hostile forces were comparatively inferior to our own and were easily defeated by the Hammond. However, after further investigation of the 'Twelve Colonies of Kobol' that these attackers claimed to be from, Major Macy and Captain Stone" He said, nodding in acknowledgement to the two officers at the back of the room "were deployed on an initial reconnaissance mission. Having reviewed the information they gathered, as well as that collected by the Hammond, the IOA has decided that these people are worthy of further investigation, with a possible view to peaceful contact in the future."

Thorne paused and O'Neill stepped forward to take over.

"Normally, we would be sending either a group of cloaked Goa'uld craft or the Odyssey to conduct this covert mission." He explained. "Recently though, we received word from Ambassador Teal'c that the Free Jaffa Nation is on the verge of full-blown civil war. I know many of you will be thinking 'when are they not?' Well, the difference is this time, rather than a few random killings, it looks like the different factions are forming their own fleets and armies. Already, in the past month, there have been at least five large-scale engagements. Combined with the ongoing war in Pegasus and the clean-up operations against the Lucian Alliance and surviving Goa'uld, we simply don't have the resources to commit to such a long-term mission in the Twelve Colonies."

"That is where all of you come in." Thorne explained. "Your primary mission will be to infiltrate the Twelve Colonies and integrate into their society. Once there, your goal will be to gather as much information about these people as you can: social structure, government, attitudes towards different subjects, military capability and the like. You have all been provided with a personal dossier containing our latest intelligence on the Colonies, in addition to your assigned objectives and your personal cover stories.

"I want to reiterate this to you all: once you have been deployed to the Colonies, you will be completely without support from Earth. Each of you will be given a subspace transmitter to make your reports but if you get into difficulty, it is more than likely that you will be on your own. If we do receive word that any of you have been compromised or are in immediate danger, we will attempt to send an extraction team. Depending on the circumstances though, this could take weeks or even months."

###

The briefing continued for nearly another two hours before the operatives were dismissed.

As Stone and Macy stood to leave, O'Neill called out to them.

"Stone, Macy. Stay behind for a minute, please."

He motioned for the three to follow him next door to General Landry's office, which he had once again appropriated for his own use.

"First off, there is something I need to attend to: Captain Stone."

"Sir." Stone replied crisply, standing at attention as he heard the General's formal tone.

O'Neill took a small black box from his pocket.

"Usually, this would be done by someone in your own army, but when I heard, I asked to be the one to do it." He opened the small box to reveal a pair of Major's epaulette insignia – a crown with 'RM' emblazoned beneath it. "Congratulations, Major Stone." He smiled warmly, handing the box to his subordinate.

Stone snapped a crisp salute.

"Thank you, Sir."

O'Neill returned the salute before shaking the newly-promoted Major's hand.

"It's been a long time coming, in my opinion."

Emma took a step closer to her husband and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Well done, Alex." She smiled. "Just remember that I'm still the one in charge." She added with a wink.

No doubt there were plenty of Generals who would be horrified at the lack of decorum but luckily the head of Homeworld Command had never been one to stand on formality.

O'Neill cleared his throat loudly, gaining the attention of Macy and Stone.

"Now, down to business." He said, motioning for them to sit down.

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"As you probably guessed from Mister Thorne's briefing, most of the operatives we send to the Colonies will be integrating into everyday Colonial society to learn more about them in a general sense. Your mission will be slightly different. Rather than a wide-ranging assignment, we plan to infiltrate you both into the Colonial armed forces; learning about their technology, organisation, tactics and capability will be your predominant focus."

"I assume we will be placed in the Colonial Fleet?" Stone surmised.

"Correct. Judging from your reports, the Colonial Fleet is by far the largest arm of their military – not surprising when you consider that any attack against them would have to be made from space. You said there was no evidence of a stargate on any of their worlds, right?"

"Right." Macy confirmed. "Seeing as their religious texts describe a journey through space in ships, that's not completely surprising though."

O'Neill nodded in understanding.

"Anyway, the plan is for you both to pose as junior officers – pilots to be precise – in the Colonial Fleet. There is more detailed info in your dossiers, but we think that that will put you in the best position to examine their effectiveness."

"Uh, won't it be difficult to make that convincing?" Stone wondered. "I mean, seeing as we don't have any of their aircraft intact to practice in?"

The General shook his head.

"Nope. The Hammond was able to recover a number of damaged fighters and transports from the battlefield, as well as what we have discovered to be a flight simulator from the least-damaged of their ships. The geeks at Area 51 have been drooling over the things for months and have produced what they are confident are a pair of exact replicas."

Macy grinned like a kid on Christmas Day.

"Nice."

O'Neill smirked.

"I thought you'd like that." He looked back at Stone. "Alex, I know you don't have much training or experience as a pilot, like Emma does, but you have developed into a decent pilot over the years."

Stone nodded. It was true. He may not be the ace pilot that his wife was, but he was still more than capable, having flown everything from F302s to Tel'taks to Wraith Darts on countless occasions. With a bit of practice, he should be able to make a convincing Colonial pilot, if not a fighter ace.

"Area 51 is currently refurbishing an old Al'kesh that we captured from the Replicators, which will be used for the insertion into the Colonies. They plan to have it ready in two months time, so that is how long you have to prepare for this mission. The operation – which we have codenamed Operation Elysium – will commence on 9th November."

"Elysium." Stone mused quietly. "The Greco-Roman afterlife; I hope that's not where you think we'll end up." He joked.

"Hopefully not." O'Neill agreed.

Macy just shrugged.

"I don't see what the problem is with the name – it's not like we haven't all come back from the dead before!"

The three of them shared a quiet round of laughter. SG-1 may have had the highest temporary death toll amongst Tau'ri forces, but such situations were by no means unique to Earth's flagship exploration team.

A few minutes later, Stone and Macy stood to leave and prepared to depart for the Alpha Site where the pre-mission training would take place.

"By the way," Macy said, remembering something she had been meaning to ask. "I noticed we've got a Tok'ra coming along for this mission. Something to do with all those Greek Gods the Colonials worship?"

"Right." O'Neill confirmed. "We informed the Tok'ra High Council and they seemed pretty interested. They want to know whether there is any link to the Goa'uld, or if their religion dates back further to the earliest concepts of those deities. Dalara and her host, Tali Yelan, will be focusing mainly on that aspect of Colonial society, as well as looking into the Colonials' myths about Earth. Apparently they hope to get some leads on a few of the Goa'uld who have dropped off the radar. They think the Colonies might give them some clues."

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Alpha Site, P4X-650, 8th September 2010

With the recent construction of a new BC-304 shipyard on P4X-650, the Alpha Site was rapidly becoming the primary training centre for new F302 pilots and the crews of the new battlecruisers. As such, it was far from unusual to see the sleek, matte-black F302s weaving across the skies as their pilots put the aircraft through their paces.

What was unusual was the pair of drab-grey arrow-shaped craft that were currently flying low over the treetops.

In fact, this was the first time that such craft had ever been seen flying outside of the Cyrannus System, thousands of lightyears away.

Banking to starboard, Major Emma Macy expertly piloted her fighter down into a wide ravine, her wingman following close behind.

After a few minutes of flying through the canyon, she pulled up sharply, angling the nose of the Viper towards the sky. At twenty thousand feet, she levelled out and slowed the ship to a more comfortable cruising speed, allowing the other Viper to catch up.

"Dammit, Em, you are crazy!" She heard her husband's irritated voice crackle over the radio. Still, there was a bit of amusement in there too, she thought. "They said to get a feel for these things, not push them to the limit on our first flight!" Stone scolded. "You might be able to pull death-defying stunts like weaving through a ravine at 200 mph, but I almost ended up splattered across the canyon walls! When you said 'follow my lead' I didn't think you meant to the death!"

"Sorry." Emma replied, grinning sheepishly. "Couldn't help myself."She opened a channel to the control tower. "Command, this is Medusa." She stated, using her callsign for identification. "We're going to take the Vipers out of the atmosphere and see how they handle in space. Are the target drones ready?"

"Copy that, Medusa." A disembodied voice responded. "You are cleared to leave the atmosphere. Target drones are ready and waiting. We will activate on your command. Control, out."

"Okay, Stoney, let's go." Macy prompted, using her husband's (rather unimaginative) callsign. "Race you to the top!"

###

Less than three minutes later, the two Vipers were in space, orbiting around the planet below.

About one hundred kilometres ahead of them were the target drones – five unmanned Deathgliders, modified for training purposes.

Macy activated her radio again.

"Control, Medusa. We are ready to commence phase two." She informed the Alpha Site.

"Copy that, Medusa. Drones will be active in twenty seconds. Good hunting. Control, out."

"Hear that, Alex?" She asked Stone. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Was the hesitant response.

Seconds later, the drones came online and surged forward in a classic arrowhead formation.

With a slightly unhinged cry of "Tally-ho!" Emma accelerated towards her targets.

###

The dogfight was intense but brief. Although it was their first time in the cockpit of the Vipers, the humans were both experienced pilots and had studied the schematics of the new aircraft intensively over the past few days.

Macy took down two of the drones in quick succession. Stone took down another before being 'killed' by another of the drones. After that, the dogfight stepped up a pace as Macy desperately tried to keep one step ahead of the enemy Deathgliders. The Viper was not as fast as the F302, or the Deathglider on which it was based, but it was much more manoeuvrable. After another minute, Emma managed to shoot down another of the target drones before she too was 'killed' by the survivor.

Landing back at the Alpha Site, Macy and Stone were greeted by a group of F302 pilots as they climbed from their craft.

"Not bad." Major Frank Hopkins, CO of Black Knight squadron commended them.

"Pity you got shot down." Another of the pilots grinned. "Seriously, Stoney, only one kill? That's embarrassing!"

Stone gave the man a thin smile.

"That, is why I prefer to keep my feet planted firmly on the ground."

"Ah, come on, Rosetti. Four out of five, the first time in a new plane? That's pretty good." Hopkins said.

Emma shrugged.

"Rosetti's right. Good thing we've got some time to practice. Those Vipers handle completely differently to the '302s – even in space, our fighters manoeuvre as if they are in atmosphere. The Vipers are designed almost completely around space combat. It's going to take some getting used to."

She paused and grinned at the other pilot.

"Still, give me a couple of weeks to get used to it, then I'll see how I get on against a live opponent."

Rosetti grinned back at her.

"It's your funeral, Macy."

"Yeah, yeah" Macy dismissed him teasingly as she turned to walk back to the hangar. "I'll kick your Yankee arse."

###

Al'kesh transport, Orbit around Caprica, The Cyrannus System, 10th November 2010

After a day's travel in hyperspace from the Alpha Site, the ship carrying the Tau'ri operatives had reached the Cyrannus System without issue. With most of the agents already beamed down to locations on the other Colonial worlds, there were only four remaining in the cargo compartment of the cloaked Al'kesh as it arrived at the final insertion point.

The co-pilot's voice crackled over the intercom.

"Agent Wallace. Agent Chen. We are in position and ready to beam. Please acknowledge."

Agent Chen, the mission's Chinese representative, walked to the speaker on the wall and pressed a button.

"This is Chen. Agent Wallace and I confirm we are ready to beam." She confirmed, speaking with barely any trace of an accent.

"Roger that. Good luck. Beaming in five... four..."

Stone nodded to the two IOA agents as the co-pilot counted down. It was obvious from the countdown that the pilot was IOA – nobody in the military ever bothered.

"Good luck." He smiled at the pair, a moment before they were beamed away.

"Alright, Majors." The co-pilot spoke again. "You're next. Acknowledge."

Emma walked to the speaker and activated it.

"Go ahead." She said simply.

She moved back to stand beside her husband in the centre of the cargo hold. It didn't escape her notice that he was looking slightly tense. As the co-pilot counted down, she took Alex's hand in hers and gave it a comforting squeeze.

He returned the gesture and gave her a small smile.

"Once more unto the breach..." He murmured.

A second later, they were both beamed down to the surface of Caprica. There was no going back now.