27 – Clean up and Crossings
(H9X-995 – Field near the Stargate – 03.07.2020, 1203)
H9X-995 was a small, barren world that was located at the very edge of Galaxy Destiny Three. It was also the final resting place of those lost in Battle of Destiny. Forty-seven of the crew had died in the conflict. There had also been thirty-three wounded. Several minutes after the battle had ended, a friendly starship had arrived.
Called the Colonies’ Hope, it had been build by the same group that had build the detection grid that had helped win the battle. The Colonies’ Hope and two of her sister ships had towed Destiny to this planet at the edge of the galaxy in a matter of minutes. On her own power, it would have taken them nine days in FTL to get there. Thanks to the assist, Destiny had thus been granted nine days to conduct repairs.
But first, they had lain the dead to their rest. As for the Hal’Iry dead, they had been cremated and the ashes scattered into space. The Free Colonies loathed the Hal’Iry, but they knew a thing or two about their customs. And this was how the Hal’Iry had dealt with their dead for centuries. At the moment, however, it was their own dead who were on Colonel Young’s mind. He was standing at the edge of the small graveyard that was housing them.
“Colonel ?” A female voice cut through his thoughts. “Are you okay ?”
He turned to see Chloe Armstrong standing there. There was a worried look on her face.
“I’m fine, Chloe.”
“No, you’re not.”
This got her an ironic smirk from Young. He was remembering a conversation between himself and Chloe on their first day aboard Destiny. It had been just after her father, Senator Alan Armstrong, had sacrificed himself to save the rest of the Expedition. Young took a deep breath and turned away from the graveyard.
“So, what brought you here ?”
“Colonel Hailey just radioed in. The new crew has just arrived…” The new crewmembers had arrived from Earth and Freedom Prime. “…and the diagnostics have just been completed. All the repairs are fully functional.”
“Good.”
The two of them walked towards one of Destiny’s shuttles. Because Destiny was in orbit, using the Stargate had not been an option. So they had been using the shuttle to travel down to the planet. This trip had been to collect water from one of the few lakes on the planet. Young had also wanted to make sure that the graveyard was secure.
The Free Colonies had build a stone wall around the graveyard, while a forcefield controlled by an artificial intelligence protected the only archway in or out. If it detected a Hal’Iry, it would block access and fire several hidden weapons. Young gave the graveyard one last look, then stepped into the shuttle.
(Eighth Fleet Headquarters – Supreme Commander’s Office – 03.07.2020, 1300)
Supreme Commander La-27-B walked into the office that had previously belonged to his brother. He sat down behind his new desk and leaned back in the chair. Until yesterday, he had been the Middle Commander of the warship Talion. Then the Leadership had contacted him and informed him about his promotion. ~Arrogant fools.~ He had ordered his ship to Fleet Headquarters, where he would take command of the Fleet and they would pick up their new Middle Commander.
~Of course, I still have to CHOOSE said Middle Commander.~ But that would have to wait until the new Supreme Commander was caught up on all the Fleet’s paperwork. ~Especially since the Talion’s crew has deserved a couple of days of shore leave.~ Even when he been a mere starship commander, La-27-B had enough connections to have learned that the Ka’Zinro had massacred his brother and his people, before escaping the galaxy.
But that was not the official reading. The record said that his brother was a hero, who had sacrificed himself and his troops to destroy the Ka’Zinro. As far as the people of the Hal’Iry Hive knew, all three Ka’Zinro vessels had been destroyed in the offensive. ~Enough.~ It was time for things to change. He activated his communications unit and began making calls.
(Destiny – Bridge – 03.19.2020, 1612)
Destiny was twelve days into a fifteen day crossing. The previous shift had just been relieved. Matthew Scott was manning the helm console, while Dale Volker was monitoring the sensors at the left console and Ronald Greer was at the middle console. Eli was at the left aft console and Varro was at the right aft console. The final member of the bridge crew was Nicholas Rush, who was sitting in the command chair. He and Volker were studying a stream of data from Destiny’s AI.
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing ?” Volker said.
“Yeah, it’s more of the same,” Rush said.
Two days into the crossing between Galaxy Destiny Three and Galaxy Destiny Four, the ship’s AI had begun generating some kind of data stream. The problem was they had no idea what said stream was about. ~Destiny is doing some kind of math.~ Rush thought. ~The question is…on what ?~ Which was what Rush and the other scientists had been trying to figure out for the past ten days. He was reading one of the displays when Colonel Young came in.
“Any progress ?”
“No,” Rush said. “We’re still stuck,” He paused. “How are things going down in the Control Interface Room ?”
“Also stuck,” Young said.
Samuel Wallace, Amanda Perry and Ginn were using the Control Interface Room to work on the data stream. Before going to the bridge, Young had checked in with them. Young gave Rush a nod and then walked out. He could breathe down Rush’s neck, but that would not do any good. So he would find another way to pass the time.
(J2A-002 – Field – 03.22.2020, 0932)
J2A-002 was a planet as the very edge of Galaxy Destiny Four. It was here that they had found the answer to a very important question. During the crossing, Eli and Amanda Perry, had been studying the data they had gathered on the Hal’Iry warship. And their studies had concluded the Hal’Iry hyperdrives were good enough for them to cross to Galaxy Destiny Four. Which had raised questions, like…had they made the crossing ? And if not….why ?
As they had approached the planet, they had detected the wreckage of several Hal’Iry vessels. And once they had travelled to the planet, they had found out by who. The planet was home to a Zovaris obelisk. So Colonel Young had send the archeological team to examine the place in more detail. Which was exactly that they were doing.
“You know, these are really impressive,” Cinara began. “But they are also really annoying.”
“Yeah, it’s like slamming your head against a wall,” Chloe Armstrong said.
The instruments were not really telling them much. ~What else is new ?~ Chloe thought. While she and Cinara were working on one side, Nikita Aranov and Alec Colson were studying the obelisk on the other. Unfortunately, they were having even less luck then Cinara and Chloe. Aranov was looking at one of their scanners. But it was totally blank.
“The scanner is not helping,” Aranov said. “Something destroyed those ships, but if there are weapons inside this obelisk…”
“….Then we’re not seeing them,” Colson began. “And we still can’t read this text. So that’s not helping either.”
Then the Stargate lit up and the ship dialed in. Colson’s radio came on and Colonel Young ordered the team back to Destiny. He checked his watch and realized that they only had thirty minutes before the ship jumped back into FTL. The team collected their equipment, then headed back to the ship. As soon as the wormhole disconnected, a silver cylinder appeared. It ran a scan of the area around the obelisk. It transmitted a data burst, then vanished in a burst of white light.
(Destiny – Nicholas Rush Quarters – 12.18.2020, 0750)
Nicholas Rush was shaving his beard. Several years ago, the power source at the Beta Site had been down to eight uses. The original plan had been to use it only once a month. But Chaser and Spera had found enough supplies for that to be unnecessary. So the plan had been changed for them to receive supplies every couple of months. The first shipment had arrived just after the had left J2A-002. Ship number two had come in June 2020. And the last one had come yesterday. That shipment had included a supply of razors, both the old-fashioned kind and several electric.
“Cleaning up ?” Amanda Perry asked.
The two of them had been living together for months now. And they were not the only ones to have move in with one another. Eli Wallace and Ginn were now also living together. As were Lieutenant Vanessa James and Varro. Rush finished shaving and turned to Perry.
“New galaxy, new look,” He said, referring the fact that he had also gotten a haircut.
And Rush was not the only one. Amongst the replacement crew that had arrived after the Battle of Destiny, had been Petty Officer Second Class Walter Quinn. Before he had been selected for the Stargate Program, he had served aboard an US Navy Aircraft Carrier as a Retail Services Specialist. Which was the formal way of saying that he was the ship’s barber. Quinn had set up a barber shop on board Destiny – even recruiting a small team - and begun giving the entire crew haircuts.
“I like it,” Perry began. “But you have to go, we’re leaving this galaxy soon.”
The two of them kissed and then Rush headed for the bridge. When Perry had said that they were leaving this galaxy soon, she had not been hyperbolic. Galaxy Destiny Four had been smaller then Galaxy Destiny Three. When he reached the bridge, they were fifteen minutes from leaving the galaxy.
Colonel Young was in the command chair, Matthew Scott was piloting the ship, while Aranov was manning the sensors and Camille Wray was at the middle station. Samuel Wallace was at the left aft station and the right aft station was empty. Rush sat down at this station and got to work. Destiny was still generating the data stream that she had begun working on during the previous crossing. During their journey across this galaxy, Rush and Aranov had developed a simple theory….
Destiny was approaching the end of her mission. Before they had gone into stasis, Rush had been worried that – because they were skipping a chunk of galaxy – they might miss some vital clue, which would prevent them from completing their mission. Everybody aboard knew that countless years ago, the Ancients – aka Destiny’s builders – had discovered a pattern in the cosmic background radiation.
A pattern that the laws of physics said couldn’t be there. After thousands of years of research and debated, the Ancients had come to the conclusion that they simply didn’t have enough information to solve this puzzle. So they had build Destiny to travel the universe, collect more information and solve the mystery. ~And now she’s putting the pieces together.~ As for Rush’s concern, Spera had travelled through the area that Destiny had skipped. So that had become a non-issue. He was scanning through the data stream when Scott spoke up.
“We are now leaving the galaxy, sir.”
“Good,” Young said. “Time to Destiny Five ?”
“Fifteen days, Colonel.”
“Excellent,” Young began, while taking out his radio. “Young to Aranov, we have left the galaxy on schedule. How are we doing on that final report the President wanted ?”
=/\=I just finished double checking it, it’s ready to transmit.=/\= Aranov began. =/\=I’ll be heading over by means of the Ancient Stones to deal with any question, sir.=/\=
“Good, Young out.”
Young turned his radio off as Rush went back to working on the data stream. With Galaxy Destiny Four now behind them, he now had fifteen days to work on whatever Destiny was trying to put together.
(Earth, Washington DC – White House, Oval Office - 12.18.2020, 1305)
President Robert Mackenzie sat down behind his desk. He had just finished his lunch, before which he had finished his final brief on the Stargate Program. By the time Destiny completed her crossing, he would already be in the process of transferring power to a new President. Robert Mackenzie had served his two terms, so he could not run for another term.
The new President was Vincent Zachary Quinn. Unlike the man he was replacing, Quinn had not served in the military. Instead, he had begun as a low-level clerk and had worked his way up the ranks of the bureaucracy. Then – in 1997, at age 37 - he had accidentally rolled into politics and now – at age of 60 - he was at the top. ~Good luck, Mister Quinn.~
Leaning back in his chair, President Mackenzie picked up the hardcopy of his last report. During their journey across Galaxy Destiny Four, the crew of Destiny had discovered a lot of Zovaris structures. While they had learned very little about the inner workings of the obelisks, they had learned that Eden and Sector 3325 were on the outer edge of Zovaris space. ~Well, technically space visited by the Zovaris.~ Doctor Aranov and his people had done his best to discover a pattern in the placement of the obelisks, but had failed to discover one.
~Other then that they were oases in a pretty harsh galaxy.~ The planets with obelisks appeared to have been terraformed to some form, which made sense to Mackenzie. They had probably figured out how to build planets in Sector 3325. But building Eden would require more then just the skills to build it. The planet would have to be habitable as well. And that was where the terraforming came in. As for signs of other aliens races, there had been none. Galaxy Destiny Four had a blank canvas for the Zovaris to use for their experiments. And then there was the question the data stream that Destiny was working on.
~Talk about crappy timing.~ They had finally gotten Colonel Young and his crew back onboard Destiny, set up a supply line to the ship and were now making progress on the mission. If there had been more time, he would have also handed out several long-overdue promotions. As things were now, all he could do was leave a list of names on his desk and hope that Quinn would follow his recommendations.
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