SG Nova Roma, Chapter 4.19

 19 – Aftermath

(Spera – Briefing Room – Year 3, Day 100,1015)

The Hal’Iry surviving Hal’Iry troopers had boarded the troop transport and left the freighter behind. There had been so many wounded that they had needed the freighter crew to help them with treating them. The Fleet had returned a week later, with two hundred troopers and three fully armed warships. But it had been too late. The quarry had been stripped to the walls, as had the shanty town. And the both the freighter and the Frankenstein had been gone. All they had found were rows of graves containing the dead alien workers. And the remains of their own people, stripped off their gear.

It had been an insane race against the clock, but the crew of the Spera had found Xe and her wards a new home. H7V-775 was another planet with a quarry. The quarry in question was empty and five times the size of their old one. It was also far off the beaten path and deep inside a nebula filled with corrosive gases. This had not been a problem when the quarry had been in operation, three hundred years ago. It had dried up two-hundred and five years ago and been abandoned. In the years since, the allows used for the hull had changed. And while the old one had been corrosion proof, the new ones acted as if they were made from tissue paper.

The freighter, which had been loaded with the larger and heavier pieces of the old settlement, had barely made it to the planet. And it was an extreme certainty that it was never going to fly again. Which was also true for the Frankenstein. As for the Stargate, Colson and his team had put together an iris. They had also provided them with several Primian Gate Remotes, while Samuel Wallace had used the computers from the Frankenstein and the freighter to, well…..Frankenstein together a dialing computer.

Vale had wanted to make sure that the 228’s were properly settled in, so he had parked Spera – which was like the Hal’Iry ships of old in the hull department – in orbit of the planet. And now they were heading back out again. Vale was reading the final report on the new settlement and its defenses. Besides the bows and arrows, the 228’s now had a pile of captured energy weapons and a planetary defense grid.

The grid had been created by combining the weapons from the Frankenstein with the few weapons that had been on the freighter. There had also been several particle weapons that had been left behind. These had been fixed and added to the mix as well. He had just finished reading the report when Jennifer Hailey walked in. She was carrying a computer tablet.

“We just got an update from Chaser, sir.”

“How did Lieutenant Johansson’s treatment go ?”

“Not very good,” Hailey began. “Several minutes ago, she fell into a coma,” She gave the tablet to Vale. “The long version is on there. But she’s stable and both Bennett and Lam are keeping an eye on her. I’ve given Allisson a copy and she’s got a team going over the data right now to see if there’s anything we can do to help.”

“Good thinking, stay on top of it,” Vale closed the file on TJ and moved to the next one. “What else do we have ?”

“I don’t have to tell you that we’ve left orbit and we’re moving at maximum FTL. But T’Zalo and Levine did the math and we should be back on schedule in about a week. Also, we ran the checklist on Destiny again. The count is at ninety activate sub-protocols and dropping. If the protocols keep turning off at this rate, the math says we should be able to board the ship in about a month.”

“We ?”

“Yeah, that’s the last file,” Vale moved on to finale file. “The IOA changed the plan regarding Destiny once they learned about the Hal’Iry.” The original plan had been to move the original Destiny Expedition back to ship, plus Varro and several others. “The details are all in there, but I’m pretty sure you’re not going to like it.”

Vale sighed. “I suspect you are right, dismissed.”

“I’ll be on the bridge if you need somebody to grumble at, sir,” Hailey said with a nod, before walking out.

Vale set to reading the file. The new plan was for both Chaser and Spera to be left with a skeleton crew of twelve. For Chaser, that meant that one-hundred-and forty eight souls would be moving to Destiny. In Spera’s case, she would be adding one-hundred and eight people to the crew. This meant that Destiny would have a crew of two-hundred and fifty-six people.

Of course, there was the issue of who would be in command. The brass had decided that since he had been out here the longest, that job would fall to Colonel Everett Young. And then there was the issue of him having to select the twelve to stay behind. ~Including the new CO.~ He was glad he would have Hailey to grumble at later. But for now, he had decisions to make.

(Eighth Fleet Headquarters – Supreme Commander’s Office – Year 3, Day 100,1015) 

La-27-A was reading the latest reports on the aliens, which the higher ups had called Ka’Zinro. Ka’ meant outside and Zinro was the word for galaxy, so it meant People from outside the Galaxy. ~Typical bureaucrats, basically giving them a name that told you nothing.~ He closed the folder and leaned back. They had found signs that the quarry had been inhabited by a colony of younglings after the place had officially been abandoned. As for where they were now, that was a giant mystery. But he had decided that it was not a priority at the moment, the Ka’Zinro were. ~Wherever they went, those younglings aren’t going anywhere.~ As he closed the report, somebody rang the bell to his office.

“Enter,” He said. 

Middle Commander Fc-83-H came in. Fc-83-H was the Commanding Officer of the Decimator, a Class-2 warship that was leading a pack of ships following the first Ka’Zinro vessel. La-27-A nodded towards the chair across from him and the Commander sat down. It was his report that La-27-A had been reading.

“I’ve read your report,” La-27-A began. “So, you believe that the alien rings are connected to the Ka’Zinro ?” 

“Yes, based on the readings, my science officer believes that each of the Ka’Zinro vessel has one of these alien rings onboard.”

“So, you want to do research on the rings ?” La-27-A leaned back and pondered the proposal. “Looks, it’s a good proposal. But the politicians are not a big fan of research on the rings. They are never going to approve this. So we’re going to have to go around them somehow. Got any ideas on how to do that ?” 

“Well, you have top secret clearance, so you can get us all the information and research that’s already been done on the rings so far,” FC-83-H said. “And we have four warships following the first ship, each with one science officer aboard. We could put the four them together and officially ship them off for ‘training’. I know a couple of people at a civilian school kind enough to fake the paperwork.”

“I’ll dig up the data and send it to the Decimator. You call your friends and assemble the team,” La-27-A leaned back. “Dismissed.” 

“Yes, Supreme Commander.”

Fc-83-H stood up and saluted the Supreme Commander, then walked out. As soon as he was gone, La-27-A activated his computer and got to work. He had research to dig up. 

(Chaser – Infirmary – Year 3, Day 144, 1217)

TJ opened her eyes and looked around her. She didn’t recognize the room, but it was rather blurry. As it came into focus, she realized that she was in the Infirmary. She as spotted V’Lazo, who had clearly been waiting over her. The private had fallen asleep in his chair. She smiled at the sight. It was at this point that Doctor Nicholas Rush came in. He had been on his way to the bridge, which meant passing the Infirmary. Rush woke V’Lazo up, who got to his feet. 

“Lieutenant, you’re awake.” V’Lazo said.

“How long was it out ?” 

“Well…”

“You’ve been in a coma for forty-four days,” Rush said. 

“What about the therapy ?” TJ looked at Rush and V’Lazo. “Did it work ?”

“We’ll have to run some tests to see if it did,” He turned to Rush. “While I’m doing that, I suspect that there are some people who want to talk to the lieutenant.” 

Rush nodded and grabbed his radio. The first person he contacted was Colonel Young.

(Epsilon Site – CO’s Office – 01.01.2020, 2000) 

David Telford was sitting in office, reading the latest update from Chaser. Earlier today, Lieutenant Johansson had woke up. And the analysis the ship’s medical staff had run, had confirmed that her ALS had been cured. Unfortunately, it had also confirmed that it the treatment would be impossible to recreate on Earth. And that was not the only news in the update.

Two hours ago, the folks on Atlantis had run the Destiny checklist. The day before, there had been only three active subroutines. Now, however, only the main subprogram remained. The IOA wanted the people on Chaser to prepare for the relocation. But Colonel Young had decided that it could wait. Today, they were celebrating TJ’s cure and the start of the new year. 

It was also the first day that they were using the Earth Calendar. The decision to switch over had been made several weeks ago by both the IOA and Primian Senate. They had decided use to the start of 2020, since it was the nearest marker. ~All in all, looks like 2020 is going to be an interesting year.~ Telford scrolled down. The next section of the file was from Spera.

Colonel Vale and his people were packing up to move to Destiny. Vale had also chosen the skeleton crew that would stay behind. This crew would be led by Major Frank Levine. There was also a note in Vale’s section of the update regarding who should be Chief Medical Officer aboard Destiny. Alexander Bennett was a fully trained medical doctor, but he was a civilian. And the bulk of his service had been at Stargate Command, which was very different then serving on a spaceship in the middle of nowhere. So Vale recommended TJ over Bennett. He concluded his piece by saying that if her rank was a problem, they would simply have to promote her. ~Worked for Sheppard.~ And that while they were at it, Private V’Lazo deserved a promotion as well. ~He worked his butt off trying to cure TJ.~ Telford just hoped that his superiors and the IOA would have the common sense to listen to Vale’s recommendations. 

(Destiny – Gate Room – 01.02.2020, 0900)

Lieutenant Matthew Scott was the first person to step through the event horizon. He looked around the Gate Room and got a feeling of déjà vuThis was how their adventure had begun eleven years ago. Except – this time – the boarding was calm and orderly, with nobody being injured and none of the supplies being sent flying. And everybody knew where they were going this time around. Not to mention that the ship was fully operational now. ~And from the looks of it, fully charged.~ Greer joined him as he headed for the crew quarters. 

“I can’t believe I’m saying this…” Scott began. “….but it’s good to be home.”

“Yeah,” Greer said. “Don’t tell anybody, but I kind of missed this rust bucket.” 

While the two of them continued talking, Captain Tamara Johansson and Corporal V’Lazo were boarding the ship. The two of them had been promoted this morning. ~Whoa !~ V’Lazo thought as he looked around Destiny’s Gate Room. He had read all the files, heard the stories and studied the blueprints. But actually being here, was….

“…Something else.” V’Lazo shook his head. “I’ve done my homework, but this is….AMAZING !” 

“Come on, I’ll show you our new digs. Well, technically my old digs, but you know what I mean.”

“Lead the way, boss.” 

As the two of them walked out, Colonel Young watched them go. Young wanted to make sure that everybody – and all the supplies – made it aboard. He was directing people when Eli and Rush came through, followed by Lieutenant James. When he had been selecting the skeleton crew for Chaser, he had seriously considered James for Commanding Officer. In the end, he had selected Doctor Andrea Kennair as CO. The small crew also included five military personnel, led by Corporal Samuel Lee. Lee would double as second-in-command for Chaser. James joined Young.

“Lieutenant, are we still on schedule on the other end ?” 

“Yes, sir. Everybody should be aboard in about ten minutes. Spera’s crew should be arriving aboard Chaser five minutes after that. Then it’s just a case of rinse and repeat.”

Young nodded. Chaser was currently parked in orbit of a planet without a Stargate. That way, both Destiny and Spera presumed that she was simply another Mark One Stargate in the network. This would allow them to use Chaser as a relay point between the two. Of course, Spera was pretty far from Chaser, so it would take a lot of power to dial in. ~Good thing that Spera has fully functional capacitors.~ Young nodded and dismissed James, so that she could go and settle in. Then he went back to getting his people back onboard. 

(Eighth Fleet Headquarters – Supreme Commander’s Office – 01.03.2020, 0800)

La-27-A was reading Fc-83-H’s report on the Ka’Zinro and the alien rings. ~Subspace wormhole transportation devices.~ He threw the folder down on his desk, while uttering a long stream of curses. It was not the alien rings he was cursing about, it was the fact that Hive Leadership – a collection of one hundred females who ran the Hal’Iry Empire – had known exactly what the rings did. And that they had attempted to sweep it under the rug for propaganda purposes. 

~Idiots.~ And they were not only fools. Underneath the Hive Leadership was the Collective of Officials. These were Mayors, Governors and other mid-levels officials. The Collective was a mix of male and female Hal’Iry. But all of them – in his opinion – were idiots. The data on the alien rings was right there, with many of them having the proper clearance to access it and figure out the truth. ~This could be an open secret, one that could change the Empire for the better.~ But instead they were too busy with their own little power games. So none of them knew. Still feeling cranky, he activated a log recorder on his desk.

“Supreme Commander La-27-A, Fleet Log 4.7B, supplement 33,” He leaned back in his chair. “I’ve just finished reading the latest report on Operation Shadow.” 

Operation Shadow was the codename he and Fc-83-H had given their research into the alien rings and the Ka’Zinro. Log 4.7A was the official record, which was what he was sending back to his superiors. 4.7B normally were the rough notes, but La-27-A was using them to hide his personal thoughts on this mess.

“So, now what ? I’m stuck with a leadership and superiors that don’t want to know the truth. Yet, they want me to do something about these aliens. And for do something, read ‘wipe all of them out.’ And why ? To keep their propaganda-slash-ideology in place ? These people haven’t do anything to us. They’re no threat. And yet…” He sighed and began pacing his office. 

“The most recent reports indicate that the bulk of the Ka’Zinro have relocate the bulk of their forces to the first vessel. This makes this vessel the largest threat. Therefore, I have given orders to concentrate our efforts or this ship and ignore the second and third one. Those ships can be dealt with once the first has been neutralized. Finally, I don’t want to keep calling these ships first vessel, second vessel and third vessel. So I am codenaming them Prime, Follower and Tail. I’ve also ordered the ships following them to see if they find out what these ships are actually called. End of entry.”

He deactivated the log recorder.