Beta Site
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The Stargate Command Offworld Logistics Outpost, better known as the Beta Site, is one of Stargate Command's primary offworld facilities.
History
The term "Beta Site" originates from an alternate timeline that Daniel Jackson experienced during his encounter with the Quantum Mirror. It was the designation used by the SGA for their offworld evacuation site during the attack on their Earth by Apophis. (SG1: "There But for the Grace of God")
Stargate Command would adopt the term "Alpha Site" for its fallback outpost instead, later expanding it into a permanent offworld outpost a few years later when proper funding and approval had been secured. A Beta Site would not be established until after Jonas Quinn was captured by Anubis, and the location of the Alpha Site on P3X-984 was considered compromised. Personnel from the Alpha Site, as well as many Free Jaffa and Tok'ra allies, were evacuated to a temporary Beta Site on PB3-865, where Stargate Command had already established a naquadah mining outpost. In the meantime, Stargate Command worked with the Tok'ra to move a Stargate to a previously unlisted world, generating an entirely new Stargate address that would hopefully thwart Anubis' efforts to find the Alpha Site and bombard it from orbit. However, many of the refugees who had relocated to the Beta Site chose to remain on PB3-865, allowing the new Alpha Site to remain a primarily military outpost. (SG1: "Shades of Grey", "Allegiance", "Fallen")
As the war with the System Lords continued, more and more individuals required relocation, and a series of Goa'uld attacks on Jaffa colonies had left many of the refugees feeling unsafe wherever they went. Stargate Command decided to invest resources in somewhat fortifying the Beta Site, allowing it to serve as a defended sanctuary for anyone fleeing the Goa'uld. Meanwhile, Stargate Command and the Air Force Space Command took steps to increase their production of F-302 Interceptors and BC-303 (and later BC-304) Battlecruisers. Rather than ship naquadah and other offworld-sourced materials through the Stargate in impractically small quantities, it was decided that these supplies would be consolidated at the Beta Site, and transported back to Earth in bulk. Colonel Martin Edwards and SG-11 were given oversight of these oeprations. Following an attack on the second Alpha Site by Anubis and his Kull Warriors, the staff and survivors were once again evacuated to the Beta Site. (SG1: "Enemy Mine", "Death Knell")
Rather than rely on subterfuge — which had ultimately proven unsuccessful — to safeguard the new Alpha Site, Stargate Command instead decided to simply fortify the third iteration against orbital attack, echoing Cheyenne Mountain itself by building the new facility into a mountainside on P4X-650. By this point, the Tok'ra and Free Jaffa had withdrawn from direct participation in operations with Stargate Command, allowing the Alpha Site to be outfitted as a purely SGC facility. It was officially designated an "Offworld Command Outpost", and placed under the command of Colonel Ben Pierce; the Beta Site meanwhile received further expansion and was designated an "Offworld Logistics Outpost", commanded by Colonel Louis Ferretti. (SG1: "Covenant"; SGR: "The Arrow")
By the time of the Ori Crusade, the Beta Site was practically an offworld colony. After the formation of the Free Jaffa Nation, efforts had been made to increase the scale of Tretonin production on Pangar, and the Beta Site's abundance of refugees, trade, and through-traffic made it an ideal hub for distributing the drug to Dakara and other Jaffa worlds. Following the outbreak of the Prior Plague, innoculations were offered on 865 as well, for anyone who wanted them. Battlecruiser construction had also been upscaled: to avoid the bottleneck of having to transport additional materials to Earth, the Battlecruiser Odyssey was constructed and launched from an underground facility on the Beta Site outskirts - similar to the X-303 facility on Earth - with construction beginning on another soon after. Construction Operations were supervised by the Battlecruiser's intended commander: first Colonel Paul Emerson for the Odyssey, and then Colonel Ian Davidson for her sister ship; with Colonel Edwards still overseeing Logistics Operations, and Colonel Ferretti still in overall command. (SG1: "Avalon", "Off the Grid"; SGR: "The Arrow")
Hierarchy
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Commanding OfficerCombat Air PatrolBase OperationsBase Security
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Naquadah OperationsMarine Corps |
BC-304 Operations |
Behind the Scenes
The Beta Site has only been mentioned twice: first as the "mirror universe" version of the Alpha Site in "There But For the Grace of God", and later as the evacuation site for survivors of the second Alpha Site in "Death Knell".
It was intended to feature in the (cancelled) Stargate Worlds video game. The design for SGR is imagined to be a cross between the older Alpha Sites and the newer Gamma Site: a fortified main facility, but with the Stargate remaining outside surrounded by loading areas and temporary shelters. The planet PB3-865 derrives from the Odyssey mission patch: the idea of the Odyssey being built offworld is to help explain how the SGC was able to launch the Odyssey and Korolev in such quick succession, despite the ships taking "over a year" (according to Daniel) to produce, and why the Odyssey is the only Battlecruiser that isn't introduced in a season finale.
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