Stargate Nova Roma - Chapter 10

10 – Wavering Dedication

(Stargate Command – Briefing Room – 3 September 2016, 0800)

Jack O’Neill was extremely cranky. They had been able to confirm the readings the Defender had send over. There really was a vast alien tunnel network on the moon. And then the teams had come back…with Doctor Guskov’s body. It had been a massive blow to morale. As for the funeral….Colonel Vale had given a good speech. They had put Guskov’s remains in an empty supply crate, sealed it and launched it into the star. And that was just one of the things that had happened.

The New Asurans were – as much as Jack hated to admit it – proving trustworthy. They had given the crew of Nova Roma all the data on their attempts to dial the ninth chevron. (Along with some data on metal eating bacteria they had apparently been promised.) It turned out that they had tried to do the same thing as the crew of Nova Roma were planning to do. The eggheads had developed a special program which was supposed to fool Destiny to make it think the tower was on Earth. They – meaning Homeworld Command – had gotten to version 3.0. Alas, the New Asurans had tried for thousands of years before abandoning their effort. And they had gotten to version 207.8.

At the same time, this meant that they had another problem. Because it also meant that the Nakai were waiting for them three galaxies on. They would be able to skip the Nakai Home Galaxy itself, but they would still be in for a fight. And without Stargate access to Destiny, things would get….hairy. But the real problem was that – despite his and Colonel Vale’s efforts – the IOA had found out about this whole mess. And – just as Jack had expected – they had begun to waver in their dedication to this mission. And they had called him in to discuss the matter. But there was one piece of good news. All the high ranking representatives were too busy arguing to attend this meeting herself.

“Who’s blasted idea was this ?” O’Neill heard a male voice say as he entered the briefing room. “I’m a file clerk, not a politician or a soldier.”

“You think I like being here ?” A female voice countered. “I was working on the Mark Three naquadah reactor.”

The male voice belonged to a thirty-ish African-American man with short, black hair and brown eyes. He also had a week’s worth of beard growth. The man wore a blue coverall with the flag of the United Kingdom on one shoulder. Next to him sat a Caucasian female with blue eyes and red hair. She wore the same coverall, but hers had the flag of the United States. The chairs for the Russian, Chinese and French representatives were still empty. The two representative that were there stood up.

“General O’Neill, I presume ?” The man said. “I’m Reginald Jones, representing the United Kingdom.”

“And I am Doctor Ingrid Anders, representing….well…us, sir.” She paused. “I’m assigned to the New York research base, sir.”

There was a small research base in New York, which was manned by an international staff. O’Neill remembered that Anders was the ranking American scientist at that base. He looked at the two of them with a cranky look on his face.

“So, not only do they pull me out, I have to deal with the D-team ?”

“More like the F-team.” Jones said. “Apparently, even the D and E-teams are busy bickering, sir. And over half of this team didn’t even bother to show up.” He gestured towards the empty chairs. “I have no idea where the other representatives are. Hell, they didn’t even bother to tell us who they were.”

“Forget this, they can kiss….” That was as far as O’Neill got before the door opened and three people came in. They wore the same coveralls as the others. Two were Caucasian male and one was an Asian female. The female carried the flag of China on her shoulder, while the two males had the flags of France and Russia on their clothes. “…Yes ?”

“Sorry, we got lost.” One of the men said with a thick Russian accent. He had short, brown hair and green eyes. “Boris Grankin. And this…” He gestured towards the French representative. “….is Henry Valluy.” Valluy was muscled, with blond hair and blue eyes. “And Qui Han is our Chinese representative.” Han had brown eyes and black hair in a pixie cut. She the youngest of the three. Valluy and Grankin were in their fifties, while Han was clearly twenty-something.

“So, what are your day jobs ? So far, we have an egghead and a file clerk.”

“I was a cook on Atlantis.” Grankin said. “Valluy is a janitor and Miss Han is a nurse.”

“That does it, I am out of here.” O’Neill said as he got up and headed for the door. “You people are free to continue this farce, bye.”

And with that, O’Neill was gone. The three representatives sat down at the table. This was followed by a silence that was extremely uncomfortable. In the end, it was Valluy who broke it.

“Okay, this won’t do.” He began. “We can’t leave those people stranded on that ship. And that is exactly what our bosses intend to do.” He paused. “And they are going to use us as their scapegoats. So, does anybody have anything ?”

“I can brief you on the Lee Paradox.” Anders said. There were nods of approval. “Okay, Earth has had two Stargates. The first was located in Antarctica, so let’s call it Arty. While the second is one found in Egypt in 1928. That would be Sandy.”

“Right, that’s Stargate 101.” Jones said.

“Now, the problem is that when Destiny and Atlantis were launched, Arty was the Gate in use. And Arty has this symbol as the point of origin…” She took out a piece of paper and a pen and drew a circle with a line underneath it. “And it was also in use when Atlantis launched. Both Gates were programmed only to accept one address from outside their home galaxy, Earth. Which at the time ended with Arty’s point of origin.”

“But Arty got buried in the ice.” Han said. “Ra planted Sandy in Egypt. But from I understand, that only happened a few thousand years ago. While Destiny and Atlantis were launched millions of years ago. And yet we were able to dial into both using Sandy’s point of origin, the pyramid with a circle above it. So, how did Atlantis and Destiny get reprogrammed ?”

“Isn’t there something called correlative updates ?” Jones said.

“Yes.” Anders said. “The universe expands and thus the Gates move, causing their coordinates to change. The updates keep the network working by refreshing all the coordinates.” She leaned forward. “The thing is, as far as we know, these updates are limited to each galaxy.”

“But, let’s presume that Atlantis and Destiny are included in these updates, how did they actually get the file to those places ?” Grankin began. “Inside the galaxies, the Stargates themselves can be used as relays for the transmission. But how do you get the transmission from galaxy to galaxy ? Even if the Pegasus and Milky Way models can send transmissions over such a distance, the rest of the galaxies along the course have the Destiny model of Gate. And that model certainly doesn’t have the transmission range for sure.”

“That is the Lee Paradox.” Anders said.

“You know.” Valluy began. “There is something else. We know that the Ancients set Destiny on auto-pilot and planned to dial-in once it was far enough out. But how would they know it was far enough out, if they were not tracking its progress ? Thus they would have to send some telemetry back to Earth. Which brings us back to Boris’ question….How ?”

“So ?” Jones began. “What do we do ?”

“Well, we have nothing to lose.” Han began. “Let’s ask the New Asurans about this.”

“And what do we tell our superiors ?” Jones asked.

“I think it would be best if we tell them nothing.” Grankin said. “Otherwise, they’ll object and yell and generally make a nuisance of themselves. And then we’ll never get an answer. I say we wait until we have more information before telling them anything.”

“I agree.” Han said.

“So do I.” Valluy said.

“It’s the best plan we have.” Jones said. “And, as much as I hate to say it, it’s also the only plan we have. I think we should ask the New Asurans and stick to Boris’ suggestion.”

“Okay.” Anders began. “Let’s call it Operation LP. I’ll see if I can find General O’Neill and set up a visit to Nova Roma.”

There were nods of approval, after which Anders got up and headed out. She had a feeling that the General would not like this idea of them visiting the tower. But he would like the idea of abandoning the mission even less. So, in the end, they would be allowed to go. (Or at least, she hoped so.)

(Nova Roma – Main Science Lab – 3 September 2016, 1017)

Jennifer Hailey sat behind her laptop and stared at the screen. Two IOA representatives – called Anders and Jones – had arrived and written a file on Lee Paradox. They had then presented that file to the New Asurans and asked Gerhard for a reply. He had told them that he would have to discuss this with his superiors. Hailey had read the file and recognized it for what it was, a desperate gamble by five IOA employees who did not want to be sacrificed for political gains. The Lee Paradox – named after Doctor Bill Lee, who had been the first to put it on paper – was interesting. But in her opinion, the chances of there being something useful in the answer were not that good.

So instead, she was doing here best to do her part in helping to solve the mystery of the desert moon. They had send down teams to examine the place in more detail. They meaning the crew of Nova Roma and the New Asurans. There were photos, scans and samples of all sorts. The samples were being analyzed by a team led by Porter. As for Aranov, he was down on the moon, leading one of the collection teams. Which left Hailey with the pictures and scans. Alas, she was not making any real progress. While she had figured out some small tidbits, who these people where and how they had ended up here still eluded her.

“Having any luck ?” A female voice said.

Hailey looked up to see Anne Teldy standing there. She had been so focused on the work that she had not heard Teldy coming in.

“No.”

“Well, maybe some coffee will help.” Teldy put a big mug of coffee next to the laptop. “Even if it does taste like liquid rubber.”

“I’ll take what I can get.” Hailey said. “So, what do you think about this whole situation ?”

“Trusting a bunch of replicators ? I’m firmly in the this is a bad idea camp. But then again, I am the Head of Security, so that is kinda my default mode.” She grabbed a chair and sat down. “Be paranoid and all that. So…..what do you think of Colonel Vale ?”

“Well, he survived skipping 2022 years without going nuts. And he’s adjusted to things like aliens and Stargates. Not to mention that he kind of helped to come up with this whole Expedition.” She looked at Teldy. “Why do I have a feeling you have doubts ?”

“Look, I will admit that the guy has some things going for him. And that he would make an good CO for a normal Air Force posting, but this…out here…” She shook her head. “And after losing Doctor Guskov ?...”

“I know. But if we just turn around and leave, what will his death have been for ?”

Teldy leaned back in her chair. Before she could say anything, there was a beep from the laptop. The New Asurans had send a reply and the folks up in the Control Room had send a copy of it down here. Hailey entered her security code and the file opened. When she saw what was inside, she gasped. Sometimes it was good to be wrong.

(Stargate Command – Briefing Room – 3 September 2016, 1300)

O’Neill and Landry walked into the Briefing Room. The F-team had apparently hatched something. Not that O’Neill expected it to be anything even remotely useful. After all, up to this point, every IOA plan ever had been rubbish. As he walked in, he realized that this time, the whole team was here. He sat down and looked at the team.

“So ?”

“We’ve gotten an answer to the Lee Paradox from the New Asurans.” Valluy said. “And it might be a game changer. Ingrid ?”

“Right.” Anders said. “We’ve always presumed that the Destiny experiment has two major elements. A fleet of seed ships ahead of the ship, gathering resources and building Stargates, which they then drop on habitual planets. And Destiny herself.” She paused. “Turns out there is a third element to the whole deal. There is another seed ship behind the main vessel. Except this one builds communications relays and drops them between galaxies. Thus, allowing two way communications and solving the Paradox.”

“So, why haven’t we found these relays between the Milky Way and Pegasus ?” Laundry asked.

“Well, once we knew what we were looking for, it was easy to dig the blueprints out of the Ancient database.” Anders began. “It was in the same section as where we found the ninth chevron address. It turns out they are equipped with phase generators. These put the relays in a bubble that is out of phase with the rest of universe, which hides it and keeps it safe from attack. Because even if you know where one is, weapons fire will pass right through it without doing any damage.”

“And this changes the game how ?” O’Neill asked.

“Because it gives us a bone to throw our superiors.” Valluy began. “And while they bicker, the folks on Atlantis can use the data the New Asurans gave us to access this network. This network will allow us to transmit reports, files, make radio contact and more. We’re calling it Deep Space Internet. The DSI-network will give us more options then the stones do. And up until now, Nova Roma has been using a crude map based on what Rush reported back on Destiny’s course. But the DSI-network will give us a precise map of the course. And it should tell us exactly where Destiny is.”

Anders took over. “Which means we can calculate if Nova Roma can jump to Destiny or not. It would no longer be a gamble. And it appears that the New Asuran copy of the database did not have the blueprints of the following seed ship. But the copy we have at Atlantis might and that gives us a shot at a Plan C.”

“Might ?” O’Neill said. “Might.”

Han spoke up. “As I understand, the original plan for this mission was to fly the tower until it ran out of power. And hope that Nova Roma was at or close to Destiny after it came out of the last hop. But like Anders said, it would no longer be a gamble. As for Plan C, once we have the blueprints, we can see if this seed ship is suitable for habitation. And if it is, we could use it to reach Destiny, should Nova Roma not have the range.”

“That’s presuming Nova Roma can reach the seed ship.” Landry said.

“No, because we can do the math in advance.” Grankin began. “We’ll know if it can before the jump. And, as we all know, it’s this or turn around and give up. So we turn this into a report and send it to our superiors. But we also send a copy to Atlantis. While the IOA argues about what to do next, the Atlantis crew can get started.”

“Do it.” O’Neill said.

“Okay.” Anders said. “Let’s get something on paper.”

O’Neill and Landry got up and walked out. They made their way into Landry’s office. Landry sat behind his desk, while O’Neill sat across from him. O’Neill looked through the window to the briefing room, then turned to Landry.

“So, what do you think ?”

“I think that this F-team has more common sense then all of their superiors put together.” Landry said. “And asking about the Lee Paradox did work out. So they are good gamblers.”

“There’s that.” O’Neill said. “Of course, if it turns out that seed ship is not habitual, we’re screwed.”

The look on Landry’s face made it clear that he thought O’Neill was right about that.

Stargate Nova Roma - Chapter 9

9 - Underground

(Jumper One – Desert Moon – 2 September 2016, 1050)

The New Asuran shuttle was about the same size as the Puddle Jumper. It was oval shaped with a large window in the front, a hatch in the back and retractable – cylinder shaped – engines. It was clear that the design had been inspired by the Jumper. Before Aranov could ponder it further, the hatch opened and four Asurans walked out. Two of them were male and two were female. The males and one of the females were Caucasian, while the last member of the team would have been called Asian back home. He could not see what color their hair was, because they were all wearing helmets. As for the rest of their clothes…they were all wearing tan BDU-like uniforms above tan boots.

The Asian looking female approached Aranov. He looked at Mehra, who was looking very calm, but still keeping her finger near the trigger of her weapon. Grogan was not so good at hiding his nerves. His hand was on his holster and ready to pull his sidearm. Aranov gave them both a look that told them to keep their cool and that he would not tolerate any unauthorized moves.

“Doctor Aranov ?”

“That’s me.” Aranov began. “And you are ?”

“I am Claudia, I am the Chief Science Officer aboard the Defender. And this are Victoria, she is the head of Security. Peter is the ranking pilot…” She gestured towards one of the males. He had green eyes and looked like a human in his thirties. “….and Henry is a member of our medical staff.” Henry had brown eyes and appeared like a human in his fifties.

“You have a medical staff ?” Guskov asked. “I thought Asurans and New Asurans we not susceptible to diseases.”

“This is Doctor Guskov and he is the Chief Medical Officer of our ship.” Aranov said, before introducing Mehra and Grogan. Then he turned back to Claudia. “Now, about the doctor’s question…”

“Well, we didn’t have any when we left the Pegasus Galaxy. But when we got here…well, we discovered that life is way more adaptable and hostile then we thought the hard way. Including run-ins with three very nasty metal eating species of bacteria.”

“Metal eating bacteria ?” Guskov said. “Out here ?”

“I’ll see to it that you get the files, doctor. But trust me, you do not want these germs about Nova Roma.” Claudia decided to change the subject. “So, how do you want to go about this ? We didn’t scan anything useful on the way down.”

Aranov looked around. The moon was one giant – and hot - expanse of white sand. But they had to get this mission started somehow. So he made a call. “I suggest we head north-west…” He pointed in the proper direction. “….because there is a large dune about fifteen minutes of walking in that direction. We might be able to see something useful from the top.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Claudia turned to her team. “Peter, Victoria, you take the lead…”

“Mehra, Grogan, you cover the rear.”

There were tense nods of understanding. Everybody took his or her position and they headed out. As they did so, Aranov bit his lower lip. So far, the mission was going smoothly. But he could sense the tension in the air. One spark, one misstep and this whole thing would turn really nasty fast. They were carrying standard issues guns – P90’s and Beretta M9s – and not Anti-Replicator Guns. (ARG’s were energy weapons that made replicators fall apart.) And Asurans were bulletproof, so their chances were not good…

(NAS Defender – Bridge – 2 September 2016, 1050)

The New Asuran Ship Defender was an impressive vessel. Colson had read reports about the Aurora-class, but to see it first hand was really something. The bridge was the last stop on the tour. When they entered it, Captain Parron was sitting in the center seat. Her crew was busy working the consoles as she gave orders.

“How is the mission going, Captain ?” Colson asked.

“They’ve just landed and met up.” Parron began. “As for orbital scans, all they show is sand, sand and more sand. There are no signs of inhabitation down there.”

“Have you explored this system before ?” Porter asked.

“We have a basic chart, but we never explored it in detail.” Parron said. “We’ve never had a reason to do so.”

“Do you have basic charts of every solar system in the galaxy ?” Colson asked.

“Yes, and a few of solar systems outside this galaxy. Those systems were used as rest stops by the three ships we send to reach Destiny.” Parron leaned back in her chair. “It took thousands of years to chart this galaxy to that level. We call it the Hope Galaxy. It seemed fitting at the time. That and the transport we used to get here was called Hope.”

“I like it.” Porter said. “So what was it like when you got here ?”

“Pretty harsh. We picked the most fertile planets to settle on and even the most fertile one of that only had four species of plant and two species of insect. So we transplanted every species of life we found during our exploration to our planets. It took a bit of doing, but now they all have the same ecosystem. Which is still pretty limited.”

“How do you define pretty limited ?”

“Eleven species of plants, four species of insects and one species of similar to what I believe you call a cow.” Parron said. “And of course, New Asurans.” She said with a smile.

“Not counting microscopic lifeforms, I presume ?” Porter said.

“True, there are plenty of those.”

“What about the Stargate network ?” Colson asked. “Did you upgrade and expand it when you got here ?”

“No. We tried, but because the Destiny model and the Pegasus Galaxy model Stargate have millions of years of technological development between them, they are very hard to connect. It took every trick in the book to replace the eighteen Stargates on our worlds with Pegasus Galaxy models and made them compatible with the existing network.”

“What about the old Stargates ?” Porter asked, with a look on her face that made Colson frown.

“Alison ? What are you thinking ?”

“I don’t know yet. But I think there’s an idea growing in the back of my head.” She looked at Parron. “So, Captain, about the old Gates…”

“Well, I believe they are in storage in a warehouse on Planet One. That’s our capital, for the record. But nobody has….” That was as far as she got before there was an alarm. “What the…. Our teams are gone.” She hit some keys on a nearby panel. “One moment they were there and the next…gone. All eight of them.” She turned to one of her crew. “Get me Nova Roma.”

The crewmember nodded and opened the channel. Colson bit his lower lip and looked at the screen. This was where the soup would either stick to the spoon or things would fall apart.

(Desert Moon – Cave – 2 September 2016, 1057)

Grogan woke with a nasty cut on his forehead. One moment, they had been walking along. Then there had been a tremor and the ground had swallowed them all. As he got up, he realized that they were in a cave. Then he looked up and saw that the ceiling had apparently been made out of thin rock. It had simply been too weak hold their weight.

“Au. That hurt.”

“Don’t move.” He heard Henry say. Heard being the operative word, because the place was too dark for him to see two feet in front of his face. “I need to see to that cut.”

“I’d rather have Doc Guskov….” That was when people started turning on their flashlights, allowing him to see. And there, three feet away, was Pavel Guskov, his neck at an impossible angle. “....Doc. He is….” He looked at the Asurans and raised his Beretta. It was only now that he realized that he had lost his P-90 during the tumble. But Mehra grabbed him by the shoulder.

“He broke his neck in the fall. It’s not their fault.”

Grogan kept his weapon raised, but took a closer look at the body. As he did so, he realized that Mehra was right. He holstered his weapon and sat down. Henry set to treating the cut on his head.

“Sorry.”

“I understand.” Henry said as he bandaged the cut. “Our brethren in the Pegasus Galaxy really ruined our reputation, didn’t they ?” He handed Grogan his P-90. “Here’s you weapon, Captain.”

“Thank you, doc.” He made his way to Guskov’s body and closed his eyes. The doctor had taken a real beating on the way down. Grogan sighed and then cursed. His tirade was ended by his radio coming to life. He grabbed it. “Grogan here.”

=/\=This is General O’Neill, what’s going on down there ?=/\= But his voice sounded like Victor Leyton. And then he realized that the General O’Neill was using the Ancient Stones. =/\=You vanished from sensors.=/\=

“There was a cave-in, sir. Doctor Guskov…” He swallowed. “…didn’t make it, sir. He broke his neck in the fall, General.”

=/\=That’s it. I’m scrubbing this mission, get back up here.=/\=

“General O’Neill ?” Claudia asked, her tone sharp and annoyed.  “I thought Colonel Vale was in charge of Nova Roma ? Did you lie to us ?”

“No.” Aranov began. “Colonel Vale IS the commanding officer of Nova Roma. General O’Neill is his superior, who commands everything Stargate related. He’s back on Earth, but we have these Ancients Stones that….”

“….Allow people to swap bodies.” Claudia said with nod. “We know about that technology, but we don’t have it. Apparently, it only works on organic lifeform.” She paused. “And that’s how your report back to your superiors ?”

“Yes, it’s the only way we can communicate over that long a distance.” It was at this point this radio came to life and O’Neill yelled at him to reply. Aranov grabbed his radio and opened the channel. “We heard you, sir. The problem is that we have no idea how to get out of this cave, sir."

=/\=Well, figure it out. Because if you don’t get back here, you’re fired !=/\=

“Yes, sir.” He said. “Aranov out.” He closed the channel and looked at the body of Guskov. “I know this stinks, but…” He sighed. “…we’re leaving Pavel here for now. That hole is big enough for the Jumper. Once we’re back aboard, we’ll go back for him.” Grogan and Mehra gave him looks, but he didn’t flinch. “Now, let’s find a way out of here.”

Grogan looked around. The cave appeared to a circle. Then he spotted a narrow passage. He readied his P-90 and headed down it. Looking back, he saw the others were following him. The Asurans had pulled some kind of energy pistols. They were about the same size as their Berretta’s. He still thought this joined mission was an extremely bad idea. But for better or worse, they were in it now.

(NAS Defender – Bridge – 2 September 2016, 1105)

The crew had managed to get the team on the surface back on the sensors. They were now tracking them as the progressed through the underground passages. While Parron did that, Colson and Porter were working on finding out why they had not detected the tunnels before. They were being helped by an Asuran male called Zachary. He appeared like an African human in his thirties. The three of them were looking at the readings. Then Zachary hit several buttons and the display changed. It showed white circles emanating from blue lines representing the tunnels.

“Is that a dampening field ?” Porter asked.

“It sure is.” Zachary began. “But this particle signature is not in the database. This is not the work of any species we have encountered. I managed to compensate by running a recalibration routine.”

“Can you expand the scan to cover the entire planet ?” Colson asked.

“Right.” Zachary hit several buttons and the scan expanded. “Bloody…” The whole planet was covered in a network of blue lines. “It’s enormous. There’s enough room in there for thousands of humanoid people.”

“Hundreds of thousands.” Porter said.

It was at this point that Parron joined them. Zachary explained what they had found. Parron scratched her face, bit his lower lip and then turned to Zachary. She told him to transmit the telemetry and open a channel to Nova Roma, which he did.

(Desert Moon – Tunnel – 2 September 2016, 1109)

They were making good time down the tunnel. But as they did so, Grogan began to realize that something was wrong. The walls and floor were too even. And then he spotted writing on the wall. It was covered in dust, which he wiped away. The writing was unlike any he had ever seen before. (He had studied a bit of Ancient, Goa’uld, Asgard and even some Furling writing. Beyond these alien languages, he also knew some French, Latin and Chinese.) He turned to the rest of the group.

“Doctor Aranov, Claudia, you need to see this.”

“What did you find, Captain ?” Aranov began, before spotting the writing. “Writing ?”

“It’s not any language I’ve seen before.” Grogan said. “And I think there is more of it.”

“It’s not any language we have encountered either.” Claudia added. “We could run a sample through the Ancient database aboard your vessel. That might generate some data.”

Aranov nodded and took out a camera, which he used to take several photographs of the writing. That done, he made a hand signal to Grogan and they continued down the passage. After two more turns, they encountered an alcove containing a ladder. At the top of the ladder was a hatch. Grogan carefully tried one of the rungs. It held his weight. He climbed to the top and found a button next to the hatch, which he pushed. There was a horrible screeching sound, but it opened. As it slid aside, sand began pouring in. He quickly made his way back down the ladder.

“Well, I think we have found a way out.”

“Yes, but let’s wait until the sand….” Aranov said before his radio cut him off. “Aranov here.”

=/\= Aranov, you’d better not be sightseeing down there.=/\=

“No, sir. But apparently the natives wrote a ‘Keep Out’ sign on the walls, or something.” He paused. “But we did find a way out, sir.”

=/\=Then stop yapping and start walking.=/\=

“Yes, sir. Aranov out.” He turned to the others. “You heard the General. Let’s get out of here and…” He swallowed. “…and collect Pavel. The sooner we get off this rock, the better.”

Looking back at the ladder, Grogan realized that the flow of sand had slowed down enough for them to climb out. So he led the way out of the tunnels.

Stargate Nova Roma - Chapter 8

8 – Unhappy General

(Homeworld Security – O’Neill’s Office – 2 September 2016, 0835)

“You did what !?” O’Neill yelled.

Vale was in the body of Airman Peter Collins, a redhead with green eyes. Colonel Mitchell was also there. The two of them were briefing the General on their encounter with the New Asurans and their short visit to Nova Roma. And like Vale had expected, the General was REALLY unhappy.

“You invited over a pair of Replicators !?”

“Well…” Mitchell began.

“…it was either that or start a shooting war with people who have never done anything to us.”

“They’re REP-LI-CAT-ORS !” O’Neill snapped. “They’re a threat ! Simply by existing….”

“Really, sir ? That’s your argument ? Because I seem to remember that not being enough for a certain Colonel. A Colonel who was sort of  ordered to nuke a little planet called Abydos, but decided not to…. And then lied when he came back, to keep the innocent from being nuked…”

O’Neill made a face, but he was clearly no longer as angry as he had been before. Then he looked at Mitchell.

“And what do you think about this *fine* situation ?”

“I agree with Vale.” Mitchell began. “The New Asurans could have taken the shoot first, ask questions later approach. But they did not.” He looked at Vale. “And they probably have a whole fleet of Aurora-class ships, but they did not call for back-up. It could be arrogance, or it could be a sign that they are on the level.”

“Could be ? Seriously…”

“General, I’m just saying we wait and see.” Vale said. “Hailey is still crunching the numbers for the jump anyway. So, we use the time to find out if they really are as on the level as they appear to be. Maybe gather some extra intel on the Nakai…”

“And what, pray tell, do I tell the IOA ?”

“Nothing. Maybe there was a little hiccup and they don’t hear about this whole thing until after we’re back in hyperspace.” He bit his lower lip. “There have been misplaced memos before, sir.”

“Well, they are narrow minded, arrogant, Napoleonic….” Vale couldn’t help chuckling. “….bureaucratic asses. Do it.”

“Yes, sir.”

And with that, Vale turned and walked out of the General’s office. He just hoped that this would thing would not blow up in their faces. If it did, Colonel Young and Colonel Telford would have to wait a long time for reinforcements.

(NAS Defender – Cabin – 2 September 2016, 0840)

Gerhard had reported back to the Senate. Despite not sharing the brethren hatred of Humans, the New Asurans – especially the Senate – were more than a bit wary of the species. They had thrown objections and accusations at him. But he had stood his ground. He refused to let their paranoia and fear turn this into a shooting war. In fact, he felt it was time for them to develop diplomatic relations with Earth. So he got up and made his way to the bridge. When he got there, he opened a channel to Nova Roma. He had an idea or two about how to do this.

(Nova Roma – Puddle Jumper Bay – 2 September 2016, 0930)

Nikita Aranov leaned against Jumper One and wondered what they were doing. Colonel Vale had planned a morale boosting trip before the New Asurans had showed up. The trip was still happening. But now it was a joined mission with the New Asurans. Both ships would send their own ship to the moon. For Nova Roma, that would mean Jumper One. And the Defender would send a shuttle. Nikita would lead the team on Jumper One. So now he wondered what Vale was thinking. He understood that the Colonel was trying to build bridges. But there was no way to predict what they would find down on that desert moon.

His team walked into the Jumper Bay. Besides Nikita, the team had three more members. Grogan – who would do the flying – and Doctor Guskov – who was there as the team Medic – and finally Sergeant Mehra, who was the security part of the equation. The four of them walked into the Jumper. They sat down, with Grogan taking the controls. Nikita sat next to him.

“Take her up, Captain.”

“You got it, doc.” Grogan said, while working the controls. “So, am I the only one who thinks this could be a really big mistake ?” As he said so, the Jumper reached the ceiling and a section of it slid away. The Jumper flew into space. “This whole thing could blow up in our face.”

“He’s right.” Mehra said. “This is not the brightest idea. If you ask me, Mister Frozen Centurion lost a couple of braincells in that icebox.”

“That’s why nobody is asking you.” Guskov grumbled. “How long is the trip to the moon going to take ?”

“A bit under an hour.” Grogan said. “The New Asurans will meet us there.”

Jumper One pulled away from Nova Roma. And in the Control Room, Colson watched it go. While the teams explored the planet, he and Alison Porter would be going over to the Defender. Gerhard had offered to give two members of the crew a full tour of the vessel. He and Porter had volunteered. The two of them left the Control Room and made their way to the open area in front of the Stargate. Three seconds later, they were teleported out.

(Homeworld Security – Communications Room – 2 September 2016, 1045)

O’Neill had send Mitchell back to the Stargate Command. The Stargate was unplugged this week for upgrades to the dialing computer and the Control Room, which was why Mitchell had been planet-side today. But he wanted Landry and all the SG-teams briefed on what was happening with Colonel Vale and his crew. And Mitchell had drawn the short straw, so to speak. Besides, O’Neill wanted to see these New Asurans in-person, so to speak. And it would keep him out of reach should the IOA idiots show up.

Then – suddenly – there was an odd feeling and he was no longer in the Communications Room. Well, not the Homeworld Security Communication Room. He spotted a small mirror. The face of Victor Leyton looked back at him. O’Neill walked out of the room and made a beeline for the Control Room. Vale was in the Flight Control Chair. He was flying the tower towards a moon. O’Neill presumed that this was the moon Vale had talked about when he had told him about the trip he had planned.

“Colonel Mitchell ?” Vale said.

“Nope.” O’Neill began. “I decided I wanted to see some of this First Contact for myself.”

“Welcome aboard Nova Roma, General.”

“So, how is this powder keg going along ?” He still thought this whole thing was insane. “Gotten a bang yet ?”

“No.” He left the chair, which was taken by another member of the crew. “Colson and Porter are touring the Defender. Hailey is crunching the numbers on our second hyperspace jump. And the mission to the moon is has just started. We and the Defender are moving to get a closer look at the place from orbit.”

“And you think this is a good idea ? Trusting the mutated nanite robot people who can stick their hands into your forehead and probe your mind ?”

“Well, so far there hasn’t been any mind-probing.” Vale began. “And it’s not as if we don’t have enough problems. Between the Lucian Alliance and things happening in the Pegasus Galaxy, we do kind of have our hands full. That, and if things go pear-shaped, it might not hurt to have somebody friendly several galaxies closer than the Pegasus Galaxy.”

“There’s that.” O’Neill began. “So…”

“So, now we can get to the elephant in the room. The New Asurans claim they have tried to dial the ninth chevron, sir. And that it didn’t work. Which is another reason why we can’t get into a fight with them. We need to know if that claim is true, because if it is, this mission is O-V-E-R.” Vale sighed. “The New Asurans are just as smart and know just as much about the Stargate as the Ancients. If they couldn’t create a work-around, it can’t be done.”

“So, if they were being honest, we’re screwed ?”

“Pretty much, sir. And we need to find out before we jump and pass the point of no return.”

“You do know that there is no Plan B for this mission ?” O’Neill leaned against one of the control consoles. “If this mission goes down the drain, the IOA will put our efforts to rescue the crew of Destiny and Telford’s team on hiatus. Which is political talk for giving up. You’re the ranking officer, so YOU can’t let that happen.”

“I know.” Vale paused. “And I believe that if there is anybody in this universe who can help us come up with a Plan B, it’s these people. We need them. But if the IOA wrecks this first contact, that’s not going to happen. So you need to stay here, sir. Because as long as you keep the stones occupied, they can’t ask you questions and they can’t give me orders.”

“And here I thought you wanted to keep me around for my sunny disposition.”

“Nope.” Vale said with a smile, before turning serious. “I know I can’t give you orders, sir. But since you are here, could you man the communications console ? I want regular contact with our team on the surface.”

“You got it.”

O’Neill relieved the crewmember manning the Communications console, while Vale sat behind the Science console. This whole thing was a minefield. The IOA could interfere, the New Asurans could turn hostile, or something else – something unforeseen – could happen. But for now, it was a waiting game.

Stargate Nova Roma - Chapter 7

7 – Meanwhile….

(Nova Roma – Communications Room – 2 September 2016, 0805)

One moment, Cameron Mitchell was in the Pentagon. And the next, he was in a small closet. Based on the fact that the place was in the style of the Ancients, he presumed this was Nova Roma. Mitchell got to his feet and headed for the door, next to which was a small mirror. When he looked it into, he saw the face of Marc Vale.

“Cool.”

He walked out and made his way to the Control Room. Jennifer Hailey was running the show. She was giving orders and running a some kind of calculation on a display. He took a closer look at the display and realized that this was the math on Nova Roma’s position and course. Hailey looked at him.

“How did it go with General O’Neill ?”

“I’m afraid Colonel Vale is still in there. I’m Cameron Mitchell….Nice to meet you, Major.” He gestured towards the display. “How’s the math going ?”

“Right on schedule. Colonel Vale was planning….” That was as far as she got before there was an alarm.

Hailey hit several keys and the display changed. It now showed telemetry from the long-range sensors. There was an impossible spaceship approaching them. What made it impossible, was that it was an Ancient design. And – as far as Mitchell knew – the Ancients were all gone. So, how could this ship be here ? (Wherever here was.) Hailey hit several more keys.

“That’s an Aurora-class Battleship.” She began. “It will be here in less than an hour.”

“Can we speed up the math ?”

“I’ll see what I can do, sir.” She took a deep breath. “But if they’re hostile, we’re going to need to all the firepower we have. That means the tower’s own weapons and both Jumpers.”

Mitchell grabbed a radio from his belt and called for Grogan to report to the Control Room. He had memorized the entire Nova Roma roster, including who had the Ancient Technology Activation gene. (Of the one-hundred-and-three people aboard, two people – Colonel Vale and Captain Grogan – had been born with the gene. Before launch, they had managed to artificially introduce the gene into the DNA of twenty-one people.) He had just gotten off the radio, when there was a beep.

“We’re receiving a transmission from the Aurora-class ship.” Hailey said. “Orders ?”

“I think you should do the talking.” Mitchell said. “Me and Colonel Vale having switched, it might get….complicated.”

Hailey hit a key and the channel opened. A human looking female was on the other end. She was Caucasian, with green eyes and short brown hair. Mitchell thought she looked like she was in her thirties. But all of this was speculation. Just because she looked human, it didn’t mean she actually was human. The woman spoke. But her voice sounded odd. Then he realized she was speaking Ancient and that the computer was translating it into English.

“This is Captain Parron of the New Asuran Ship Defender, identify yourselves.”

Hailey looked at Mitchell. The Asurans had begun as nanites created by the Ancients. They had been meant as a weapon against a race called the Wraith. After a while, they had begun to cluster together into more complex patterns. The end form of that had been them becoming humanoids robots. At this point, the Ancients had considered them a failure and tried to wipe them out. But the Asurans had survived and rebuild. They had developed a deep hate of humanity along the line. In the end, they had been wiped out by the crew of Atlantis. So meeting these New Asurans could turn nasty.

“This is Major Hailey of the Earth Vessel Nova Roma.”

“Earth ?” Parron frowned and looked at somebody off-screen. After apparently getting confirmation of the translation. “As in the birthplace of Atlantis ? That is….impossible. The Ancients are….gone.”

“We’re not Ancients. We’re Human.”

“And you build this ship ? How is that possible ?”

“Yes and no. It’s…complicated.” She looked at Mitchell, who bit his lower lip and gave her a nod. “You’re welcome to come over to talk about it.”

“We’ll get back to your on that.” Parron said. “Defender out.”

The channel closed. Mitchell was about to say something, but then….

(Nova Roma – Control Room – 2 September 2016, 0830)

The math was still running. But Hailey was only ten minutes from locking down their position. As for the Defender, Hailey had briefed Vale on the situation. The ship was now sitting just outside of weapons range. From the sensor readings, her weapons were not armed. Nova Roma was still in orbit of the planet. The weapons were not armed, but both Jumpers were ready to launch. (Grogan and Teldy were manning them.) Vale was sitting in the Control Room, watching the readings on the New Asuran ship.

He had been briefed on several species during his time running Nova Roma, including the original Asurans. They had sounded like a nasty lot. So he was well aware that this whole thing could blow up in their faces. He was about to zoom in when the New Asurans hailed them again. He looked at Hailey and nodded. She opened a channel. It was Captain Parron who appeared.

“We had to deliberate with the New Asuran Senate, Major.” She said. “They have authorized me to send a party to your ship. If you approve, we will teleport them over.”

“Go ahead.” Vale said.

“You are cleared to teleport aboard, Captain.”

“Thank you, Major.” Parron said. “Defender out.”

The channel closed and two seconds later, there was a light and Captain Parron appeared. She was wearing what was clearly an uniform. It consisted of a pair of grey pants, a black T-shirt and a white jacket. Next to her was an older man. He looked African-American, with a grey beard and hair. Vale figured he looked like he was in his sixties. He was wearing a white business suit, with a black shirt underneath.

“Captain Parron ?” Hailey said. “This is Colonel Vale, he’s the Commanding Officer for this mission.”

“Major Hailey is the second-in-command of this base. I was busy reporting in to my superiors when you arrived.”

“I understand, if there is one thing that is universal, it’s bureaucracy. This…” She gestured towards the man. “….Is Governor Gerhard. He is the ranking official for Planet 7. He will be representing the Senate during these talks.”

“Shall we go somewhere more appropriate ?”

“Lead the way.” Gerhard said.

Vale led the way to a Conference Room. Originally, there had been a U-shaped table in this room, but it had been broken down and recycled by the maintenance nanites. The replacement was a large round table. It was made from wood and came with six chairs. They sat down at the table. Vale spoke up first. He told Parron and Gerhard about the Asurans and their conflict with the crew of Atlantis and the Wraith. Vale was not a diplomat, but a soldier. And that meant that he was not the kind to lie. He told them everything, including that they had destroyed the Asurans. After that, there was a tense moment of silence. It was Gerhard who broke it.

“Thank you for you honesty, Colonel.” He pounded the table. “Blast ! Being right sometimes really…” He sighed. “I’m sorry, Colonel. It’s not your fault…” He leaned back. “….after the Ancients tried to wipe us out and we became humanoid again, there was a schism. The majority hated Humans, but a really small group….just six of us, including me….disagreed.”

“So, what happened ?” Hailey asked.

“They tried to kill us. But we managed to survive and stole a transport.” Gerhard sat up straight. “We upgraded it and left for another galaxy. Now there are twenty-seven billion of us, spread over eighteen planets.”

“Why did you disagree ?” Vale said.

“Because it was not the Humans who tried to wipe us out. Holding you responsible for what the Ancients did, it was just….wrong. How would becoming mass murderers of the innocent have made us better ? And what would that lead to ?” He paused. “You did the right thing when your destroyed the Asuran…or as you called them, Replicator….Homeworld. They choose their fate.”

“So…what happens now ?”

“Now, I have to send a very unpleasant report back home. But, tell me, why are you here ? Are you trying to reach Destiny ?” Vale and Hailey exchanged looks. “I’ll take that as a yes. And yes…we know about the ninth chevron and the ship. As far as we know, it’s the only…asset, that would warrant travelling out here.”

“We have people stranded aboard Destiny and no power source capable of dialing the ninth chevron.” Vale began. “We found several prototypes of Atlantis’ command tower. It took a lot of effort, but we managed to fuse them into one tower. We called it Nova Roma. It means New Rome. Rome is one of the oldest cities on Earth, which it is said was built on seven hills…”

“…and you fused seven prototypes.” Parron said.

“Exactly.” Hailey began. “But if you know about Destiny, why did you never claim it ?”

“We’ve tried to connect by means of Stargate…” Parron said. “…but our addresses were locked up. We eventually discovered that it can only be dialed from Earth or another planet in its galaxy. We also tried to get there by ship, but there was a major hiccup…” She looked at Gerhard, who nodded with approval. Parron took out a disk and put it on the table. “….called the Nakari.” She hit a key and a blue alien with glowing eyes appeared. “They are obsessed with Destiny and destroyed all three ships we send to claim it.”

“Yeah, we learned that the hard way…” Hailey said. “….they kidnapped two of Colonel Young’s crew and experimented on one of them.”

Vale studied the image. The neck was thin and held up an oval skull that was slightly slanted. The crewmember they had experimented on was Chloe Armstrong. She and her father – who had sacrificed himself during an emergency aboard Destiny – had been touring the base when it had been attacked by an enemy called the Lucian Alliance. The attack had made everything go pear-shaped and was the reason the crew had ended up on the ship in the first place.

“So, their home galaxy is between us and the ship ?”

“Yes.” Gerhard said. “Our ships travelled three galaxies further down the path, then we hit theirs. They’ve been chasing that ship for a very long time. Some of us estimate that they were at it when we arrived in this galaxy. And that was thousands of years ago.”

“If I may…” Parron began. “….what will you report to your superiors ? About us ?”

“Well, if you were hostile, you could have teleported over a bomb. Or boarding parties to take the tower for yourself, so that you could use it to reach Destiny.” Vale said. “And you could have blown us to pieces the old-fashioned way. So, you have several things going for you in the friendly department.”

“Thank you, Colonel.” Gerhard said. “We’d like to teleport back to the Defender now.”

“Major, lead our guests back to the Control Room and then let them teleport home.” Vale began. “I’ll be reporting this situation to the folks back home.”

“Yes, sir.”

Hailey and their New Asuran guests left, while Vale headed for the Communications Room. He would have to report to General O’Neill again. And this time, he was pretty sure that the General would not be very happy with his report. It dawned on him that this was another advantage of being a zillion lightyears away from Earth. It made it impossible for O’Neill to shoot him.