(Destiny – Bridge – 06.28.2021, 2107)
There had been good news and bad news. The good news was that the team in the Prometheus science lab had been able to compute an intercept course of the source. The bad news had been that Destiny had been more than four months away. And Destiny’s Artificial Intelligence had refused to show the signal to the expedition. But Rush had been able to access enough of the computer to know that the pieces were coming together at an accelerate rate as they approached the source.
And now – after all these years, both inside and outside of stasis – they were mere minutes away from potentially finding out the Destiny of all things. So not it was very surprising that the bridge was fully manned. Colonel Young was in the command chair, while Rush was manning the sensors and Greer was on weapons. As for piloting, that job had been given to Matthew Scott. The right aft console was where Amanda Perry was sitting, while the two Wallaces – Eli and Samuel – had settled in at the left aft console.
Colonel Young had figured that whatever they were about to face, there would be plenty of information to analyze. So he had asked Colonel Vale to make sure that the Control Interface Room was also manned and ready when they came out of FTL. Young took out his radio and activated it.
“Young to Vale,” He began. “Marc, we are thirty seconds away, are you ready ?”
=/\=We’re ready, Everett.=/\= In the last couple of months, Young and Vale had learned to get along to the point that they were now on a first name basis. =/\=Doctor Park, Mister Brody and Mister Volker are on the consoles. Corporal Barnes and Camille are in the Gate Room, just in case.=/\=
“Good. Young out.” He put his radio away and looked at the clock. They had picked a point to drop out FTL and programmed in a countdown. It hadn’t been easy, but they had done it. ~Ten seconds.~ “Now, Lieutenant Scott.”
“Yes, sir.” Scott said.
Scott pushed the proper button and Destiny dropped out of Faster-then-light. They had dropped out between solar systems, but everybody aboard knew that the space ahead of them was far from empty. The sensors came to life and data began flowing all over the screens. Before Young could ask what they were approaching, he got an answer. But it was not from the place he was expecting.
(Pegasus, Atlantis – Deep Space Internet Facility – 06.28.2021, 2108)
President Vincent Z. Quinn had travelled to the Pegasus Galaxy aboard the Daedalus. And he was not alone. When he had learned that there was a good chance that the project was about to come to its conclusion, Quinn had provided Robert Mackenzie with the proper security clearance and asked him to come along. Mackenzie had accepted, but the two of them had not spent a lot of time together during the trip.
While Quinn had been busy running the country over subspace transmission, Mackenzie had gone back to his navy roots and had spent the three weeks getting familiar with the 304-Class and its inner workings. So this was the first serious conversation the two of them were having.
“So,” Quinn began. “Hawaii ?”
“Yes, I was done with the Virginia weather.”
“Rumor has it that you’re going for the Governorship next year,” Quinn said. “Is that true ?”
“No, I am done,” Mackenzie scratched his face. “I’m retiring and spending quality time with my daughter and grandchildren.”
“Good for you.”
Mackenzie nodded and looked at the main screen of the facility, where telemetry from Destiny was coming in. He was sixty-five years old now, with his time in the White House having begun when he was forty-nine. But that was not what was on his mind. When he had joined the Navy in 1972, the Vietnam War had been going on.
~The Fall of Saigon.~ He had been a mere Lieutenant and all he had been able to do, was watch. In the years since, he had climbed to Commander-in-Chief of the United States armed forces. ~Well, former Commander-in-Chief.~ And still, all he could do, was watch.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
He leaned back and hoped that their monitoring didn’t turn into a wake.
(Spera – Bridge - 06.28.2021, 2108)
The entire skeleton crew was watching as Destiny approached what could be the end of her journey. All the stations were manned, with Levine in the command chair and Doctor Peters running the science side of things. Spera and Chaser had rendezvoused several days after the Battle of Destiny, so the Primian vessel was visible through the windows of the bridge. ~Quite the beauty.~ Then Peters spoke up.
“Major, we’ve got a problem.”
“What kind of problem ?” Levine asked.
“See for yourself.” She hit several keys and one of the screen changed. It showed a white light on their course. “It’s a distortion of some kind. My sensors are saying that we’re heading right for it,” Peters paused. “And, before you ask, the controls are not responding. So we can’t avoid it. We have twelve minutes until it swallows us.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t we do this ?” Levine said. “The whole ‘trip to 12BC to safe Earth’ thing ? Been there, done that.”
“Well, we might have to do it again.”
Levine hit several keys and a countdown appeared on one of the screens. He had a feeling that whatever was waiting for them twelve minutes away, it was connected to whatever Destiny was about to face. ~Looks like the stakes have just been raised.~ Alas, there was nothing for them to do, but wait and watch.
(Destiny – Bridge – 06.28.2021, 2110)
Young had left the command chair and was now looking out the window. Ahead of them, a sphere of blue light had slowly begun to fade into existence. At the same time, Destiny had begun to slow down. Now, the ship was holding its position. ~The end of the journey.~ At the same time, he was also reading an update that Spera had just send over the DSI Network. ~Ten minutes and counting.~
“Great, no pressure.” He was about to grab his radio and contact Vale, when there was a beep from the sensors. ~Now what ?~ He turned to Rush. “What are the sensors saying ?”
“Nothing about what is ahead,” Rush began. “They are, however, getting readings about what is behind us,” He had been hitting several keys as he had been talking. “It’s seems…” One of the screens changed to show the outline of an alien vessel. “…that the Zovaris had decided to step from behind the curtain.”
The outline on the screen was a simple delta. But the computer had managed to identify the sub-light drives at the stern, which were three circles at the stern. Said stern was the bottom of the delta. They had also found a small dome near the bow. ~The classical bridge.~ Finally, there was alien writing in the picture. Destiny could not translate the writing, but it had matched the letters with the writing on the Zovaris obelisks they had encountered.
“So, now what ?” Scott asked.
“We’re getting a signal from the Zovaris vessel,” Samuel Wallace said. “It looks like a translation program, designed for Destiny’s communications system, Colonel.”
“Okay,” Young said. “Doctor Perry, your thoughts on that ship ?”
“It’s advanced,” Perry began. “I’d say it’s about the same level as the Aurora-class near the end of the war with the Wraith. But there’s nothing special about it. Just standard issue spaceship systems.”
“What about the locals ?”
“There are no readings on the Zovaris themselves,” Rush said. “There’s a field blocking the sensors.”
Before Young could push the subject further, his radio activated and Colonel Vale’s voice come over the channel. It turned out that they had more problems then what they seeing on sensors.
(Destiny – Gate Room – 06.28.2021, 2113)
Marc Vale was not a happy camper. Just after they had dropped out of FTL, Camille Wray had reported in from the Gate Room. Because Vale had been much closer, he had gone to respond. When Destiny had dropped out, there had been four Stargates in range. But then the screen had blinked and something had override the normal programming, locking those four Gates out. Instead, there was something impossible on the screen.
“A nine chevron address,” Vale said. “And it’s not Earth. That….should be impossible.” He hit several keys on the console and then grabbed his radio. ~Six minutes and counting.~ The update on Spera and Chaser had also appeared on the Kino reading console. “Vale to Young. Everett, are you seeing what I just diverted to you ? Something just overrode the normal dialing program.”
=/\=Yes, we’re seeing it.=/\= Young said. =/\=Rush is saying it’s impossible.=/\=
“That’s was my first response, but here we are. And I read the update on the two other ships, we’re down to five minutes,” Vale paused. “We need to act fast. There are only two possible sources of that distortion and my gut is telling me that going through the Gate to this other nine chevron place is the best shot we have at ruling one of them out.”
There was a pause as Young considered his options, then he made his decision.
“Do it.”
“Right, Vale out.”
He knew where everybody was, so he quickly put together a team in his head. ~Unfortunately, physically doing it will take a bit longer.~ And then there was the question if Destiny had enough power to make the connection. But there was only one way to find out. So he activated his radio again and began collecting his team.
(Pegasus, Atlantis – Deep Space Internet Facility – 06.28.2021, 2123)
Never, ever in Robert Mackenzie’s life had three minutes felt as long as now. And he had been through some humdingers. Spera and Chaser had just been swallowed by the distortion. The telemetry from both ships had died the second they entered it. ~Which can’t be good news.~ And Destiny was still hard at work collecting the team they were going to send through the Stargate. ~Another nine chevron address, what the…Unless, no, it can’t be….~ Before he could ponder it further, there was beep from one of the consoles. It was being manned by Radek Zelenka.
“The Stargate on Destiny has activated, sirs.”
“Excellent,” Quinn said. “What about the translation program ?”
“The installation is still running, Mister President. We’re at sixty-five percent and climbing.”
“Keep an eye on it, Doctor.”
Mackenzie looked at the display, then looked at his watch and did the math. Taking the lag into consideration, the program was actually nearly done installing aboard Destiny. ~That might be one very awkward situation.~ Diplomacy was hard enough between humans. Talking to aliens was even harder. So – and not for the first time – he was glad not to be the president anymore. ~Good luck, Colonel Young.~
(Destiny – Bridge – 06.28.2021, 2125)
There was a beep as the translation program finished installing. Samuel Wallace hit several keys and the program opened. Next to him, Eli turned his stool around to face the command chair.
“The translation program is installed,” He said.
“Good,” Young began. “Lieutenant, what is that ship doing ?”
“Nothing,” Scott said. “It’s just sitting there.”
“It’s shields are down and the weapons are off-line, sir,” Greer said. “Just chilling in deep space.”
Young nodded and then took out his radio. ~Come on, Marc. Tell me something.~ He activated the radio and contacted Camille. After Vale’s hastily assembled team had gone through the Gate, the dialing computer had gone inert. For all intents and purposes, the Gate had become useless.
Which was still the situation when Camille’s radio came to life. So that was exactly what she told him when he asked for an update. She heard the frustration in his voice as he closed the channel. This made Adam Brody and Dale Volker exchange looks. Vale had taken Lisa Park and Corporal Barnes with him through the Stargate. So the two of them had gotten the job of manning the Gate Room consoles. Besides Park and Barnes, Vale had also taken Corporal V’Lazo and Captain Grogan.
“I don’t understand,” Volker said as he worked the console. “This SHOULD unlock the dialing program.”
“Under normal circumstances,” Brody said. “But things are far from normal.”
“So, what else is new ?”
“Great, over two-hundred crew and I get stuck with Statler and Waldorf,” Wray said.
“I am not that…” Brody began, before being cut off by a beep from the dialing computer, which Volker was manning.
“It worked,” Wray joined him at the console to see that the dialing computer now displayed a list of five Gate Addresses. The impossible nine chevron was listed above the four normal addresses in range. “The Gate is back on-line…” He looked at Wray. “…and I’m running a diagnostic to see how much power we used for that dial.”
Camille grabbed her radio and reported the development for Colonel Young. He had left the command chair and was standing next to Amanda Perry, who had just managed tap into the dialing computer.
“Once we know how much power we have used, we should be able to calculate the distance Vale’s team travelled,” Perry said.
“Good,” Young said, while he suspected that he already knew where the wormhole had gone. “Time to take the bull by the horns. Eli, open a channel.”
“Right, one channel coming up.”
Eli reached for the proper controls, but then the world outside the windows of the bridge was broken by a flash of light. And then the world really turned upside down.
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