(Atlantis – DSI Network Room – 8 September 2016, 0830)
It had taken an day to find the DSI Network Room. The place was located at the far end of one the piers. It had been hidden behind several rooms full of machinery and a camouflaged door, which explained why it had not been found before. And then it had taken several days to figure out how to operate it. But now they had the hang of the place. Doctor Radek Zelenka was leading a team manning the room as Colonel John Sheppard walked in.
“How is it going, Radek ?”
“Well, the map is coming together quite nicely.” Zelenka began. “We should be have the location of Destiny and the seed ship by the end of the day. So, has the IOA made a decision yet ?”
“No, they’re still bickering about what to do.” Sheppard said. “On the bright side, McKay is closing in on the blueprints of the seed ship.”
Despite known what they were looking for, finding the blueprints inside the Ancient database was not easy. The database was massive and find a specific file was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. And even if they found the right file, it was very likely that the file was encrypted. Which would complicate things considerably.
“Anyway, Woolsey wanted a progress report and I couldn’t raise you.”
“Yes, the machinery in the other rooms seems to block our radios.” Zelenka said. “Chuck is gathering the components for a relay. It should be ready in an hour or two.”
“Good.” He left Zelenka to do his thing. As soon as he walked out of the last machinery room, his radio crackled. “Sheppard here, repeat that.”
=/\=This is McKay. I’ve found the blueprints of the seed ship.=/\=
“Nice work, Rodney, I’m on my way.”
He made his way the nearest transporter and beamed back to the command tower. Then he headed straight for the Gate Room. McKay was in the control section of the place. The blueprints was on one of the displays. Sheppard was impressed by what he was seeing. At first glance, it appeared to be the same design as the seed ships in front of Destiny.
“Nice.”
“Say hello to the Spera, which translates as Hope.” McKay began. “And this…” He hit several keys. “…is what the seed ships in front of Destiny look like.”
The two schematics appeared next to one another. Because Spera got the same telemetry as Destiny, she did not have to do as much legwork as the seed ships. This meant that there was a whole bunch of systems that she did not need. Added to that – because she was newer then Destiny – the systems that were there did not take up as much space as their older counterparts. Finally, the communications relays also took less space than the Stargates to fabricated and store. The space taken by one Gate could hold six relays. Between these three things, a large chunk of Spera was empty space. But Sheppard noticed something on the schematic.
“Is that a Stargate ?”
“Yes, it is.” McKay said. “It appears that we have found the first Alpha Site, well….ever.”
“Can we dial it ?”
McKay gave him a look that made it clear that he did not know.
(Nova Roma – Main Science Lab – 8 September 2016, 1017)
Hailey looked at the blueprints of the Spera. It appeared that besides installing the Stargate, the Ancients had also upgraded the command systems. The seed ships had a small control room, which aboard the Spera had been expanded into a proper bridge. But other than that, there were no facilities. Apparently, they were counting on whoever showed up to bring along whatever was needed to turn the ship into a viable base. And Jennifer had an idea about that. If they could get Nova Roma to Spera, they could cannibalize the tower to do just that. The problem was that they had no idea what condition the Spera was in. Or if they could reach it.
So Hailey was crunching the numbers. She was also using the DSI-Network to communicate with Radek Zelenka. He was double checking her math, while the rest of the people in Atlantis’ DSI Room were trying to figure out what condition Spera was in. They were also taking a closer look at her idea about cannibalizing the tower. The door to the lab opened and Colonel Vale walked in.
“How is the math going, Major ?”
“Good. But there is a problem.” She paused. “We planned to jump mere hours after dropping out. Instead, we have been sitting here for a couple of days. And even with our naquadah reactors, that has drained power from our second set of ZPMs. We might not make it.”
“If anybody can make sure we make it, it’s you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Vale walked away. As he did so, Hailey watched his. While she understood that Teldy had her doubts, she was certain that he was the right commander for this expedition. And she was also glad that he had confidence in him. But that didn’t help with the weight that seemed to be pressing on her shoulders. One mistake and they would ended up thousands of lightyears away from where they needed to go. Sometimes being the boss sucked.
(Nova Roma – Control Room – 8 September 2016, 1603)
Hailey’s math had said that their chances of reaching Spera were good. And the IOA – still being represented by Anders and company – had authorized the second jump. So they had jumped back into hyperspace at 1600, leaving the New Asurans and the Hope Galaxy behind. It made Teldy feel better to be away from them.
Part of her understood why the Colonel had wanted to make peace with them, but she simply did not trust them. Of course, they did have another major security problem. While the New Asurans where possibly hostile, the Nakai were definitely so. Their jump would put them far from the Nakai Home Galaxy. But that didn’t mean that there couldn’t be Nakai waiting for them when they dropped back out hyperspace. But that would not be for another sixty-two days.
At the moment, she was sitting behind the science console and monitoring the stability of the tower. It was holding steady. Several minutes later, Vale walked in. He sat down behind another console and started working. After another few minutes, Teldy suddenly spoke up.
“May I ask you something ?”
“Sure.”
“What do you think about this mission, sir ?” She paused. “Do you think Destiny is really trying to decode some grand message carved into the universe ?”
Vale seemed to ponder it. Aranov had told him that science believed that the universe had begun with an explosion called the Big Bang. And this explosion had left behind radiation. The Ancients had found a pattern hidden in that radiation and believed that this pattern contained a message. But who had created that message – and what message was – that was great mystery Destiny was built to solve. (She travelled through the universe and collected data to puzzle together the answer.)
“Well….” He paused. “I went from a world of slaves, swords and the Roman Empire to a galaxy full of Stargates and aliens. But if we manage to decode what Destiny is after, I think my leap will be microscopic in comparison. That ship and her mission could change things for the entire human race in ways we cannot even fathom now. The thing is…” Vale leaned back. “…that’s the big picture. And while I see the big picture, is that what matters here ? Me, I think we need we to rescue Colonel Young and his crew first. The big picture will still be there tomorrow.”
“Do you believe in…” Teldy paused, she had never had this kind on conversation with Vale before. “…well, you know, something…?”
“Back home, before….well, we had a whole pantheon of gods. But now….I honestly don’t know.” Vale turned his chair. “There are a lot of faiths out there. And they all claim that they are the only true one. How do you know which one is right ?”
“There’s that. And there’s not much you can do about it, is there ?” She said with a smile.
“Except do what you think is right and fair and not worry about it.”
“Which sometimes is not so easy, especially when you’re the commanding officer.” She looked at him. “Or as Hailey puts it…sometimes being the boss sucks.”
“Yeah, that’s one of the few things that hasn’t changed.” Before the conversation could continue, there was a beep from Vale’s consoles. He hit several buttons and cursed. “Great, the IOA blow hearts want me to report in. Say what you want about the Roman Empire, at least it had one thing in its favor…the bureaucrats in Rome were far away and it took forever for their orders to be relayed.”
“Good luck, sir.”
Vale walked out of the room and Teldy watched him go. As she did so, she wondered about their conversation and who Marc Vale was. And what he was about. She was still figuring it out. But from what she had seen up until now, he was a good man. Then her console beeped and she turned back to her work.
(Nova Roma – Mess Hall – 9 November 2016, 1550)
Aranov sat at one of the tables and took a bite out of his egg and ham sandwich. He had decided to take a break from his work on the artifacts from P2Y-101. The analysis of the data they had collected on the desert moon had given him a break from his original project. But after several weeks of pouring over the images and samples, they had written and theorized all they could. So he gotten back to the artifacts. And he had been able to put several of them together that he had been unable to fix before. And in doing so, he had managed to solve the puzzle of how the artifacts had ended up on the planet. It turned out that the people of P4C-227 – the nearest planet in the network - had been attacked by the Goa’uld in 1915. They had barely survived. And as part of their rebuilding efforts, they had hidden supplies on every planet they had the address to. P2Y-101 had been one of eleven uninhabited planets they had been familiar with.
But the research had not been the only thing going on. There had been several birthdays, which the crew had celebrated. To Aranov, it was sign that things were changing. During the first jump, everybody had been busy doing his own thing. But now the crew was beginning to bond. This was also evident in the fact that some of the crew had begun calling one another by their first names. And they were sharing meals when they could. So he was not surprised when he saw Alec Colson approach him. He was carrying a tray full of food.
“Hi, Nikita.”
“Afternoon, Alec.” He made a gesture. “Want to join me ?”
“Yes.” He sat down. “So, what are you working on these days ?”
“Well, with the one research project done and the other as-done as it is going to get…well, work is a bit scarce. “ Nikita said. “I am working on a study of the New Asurans. But there is not much to work with.”
“Have you tried running a search in the Ancient database ?”
“Yes, there is no info on them or the original Asurans. So, it was not very useful.” He leaned back. “But I was able to locate the Asuran Homeworld and do the math on the course the New Asurans probably took to get to the Hope Galaxy. I logged it. Who knows, it might come in handy someday.”
The intercom came to life. =/\=All hands, this is Colonel Vale. We are about to drop out of hyperspace. Report to your stations.=/\=
“Lunch will have to wait.” Colson said.
Colson and Aranov headed for the Control Room. Colson sat behind the Engineering console, while Aranov joined Hailey at the Science console. Ten seconds later, the tower dropped out of hyperspace. And straight into the path of six Nakai motherships….
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