(Stargate Command – Daniel Jackson’s Office – 3 July 2017, 2310)
Daniel Jackson was exhausted. He had just been on a mission to P2G-192, while had included a very long negotiation. The locals had been divided between three countries. It had been his job to oversee a fusion of the three nations. But that had been easier said than done. Now, he was finally writing his report on the outcome. (The treaty was signed and fusion was complete.) Suddenly, a knock made him look up. It was President Mackenzie, who walked into his office.
“I heard your mission to P2G-192 was as success, Doctor Jackson.”
“Yes, sir. I am working on the final report now.”
“It can wait.” Mackenzie grabbed a stool and sat across Jackson. “I need your opinion about something, doctor.” He reached into his pocket and took out a piece of paper. “I got a letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Vale. He wants permission to recruit Nakai, Ursini and New Asuran volunteers into his crew. My first instinct is to turn down his request, but…” He leaned on Jackson’s desk. “…Vale asked some very good questions.”
“No offense, sir. But isn’t that what we pay him for ?”
“True.” Mackenzie said with a smile. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I want your opinion.”
Mackenzie gave Jackson the letter. He opened it and read it. And Vale had indeed asked some very good questions. It reminded Jackson of an argument he had once had with then-Colonel O’Neill. SG-1 had been off-world on a mission to a place called Euronda. Daniel had asked some hard questions, which O’Neill had not wanted to hear. But in the end, O’Neill had changed his mind and told him to ask his questions. The answers had not been pretty. But they had kept Stargate Command from supporting the wrong side in a war. (It had turned out that the people they had considered helping were basically fascists.) He finished reading the letter, then put it down.
“Well, I didn’t know if we are worthy of controlling Destiny…” Jackson began. “…but I do know that there are people aboard that ship who will die if we don’t rescue them. And that we can’t let the Nakai or the Lucian Alliance have it. If either of them get it, they will use its secrets to massacre millions.”
“Yeah, there’s that.”
“As for monopolizing Destiny as a race….” He leaned back and looked at Mackenzie. “I know the people aboard Destiny have had issues with both the Ursini and the Nakai in the past. But if these people were going to stab us in the back, they would have done it by now. Hailey finished the dial-in program a week ago. And they know how to fly the city by now. They would have killed our people and taken the city for themselves.” Jackson paused. “And the New Asurans have been holding up their end of the deal as well. They signed a treaty with us, when they didn’t have to.”
“Anything else ?”
“Well, we have to remember that we have no idea what exactly is at the end of the line.” Jackson said. “We have no idea what the message that Destiny is trying to decrypt is. We also need to remember that there is a difference between monopolizing Destiny and monopolizing the good that can come from Destiny.”
Mackenzie nodded. He realized that there was a major difference between the two. And that the second was a much more important issue then the first. The first was also much easier to fix then the second. Which was exactly what Colonel Vale was asking permission to do. He realized that his first reaction was how the IOA would have reacted. Mackenzie cursed himself, then nodded for Jackson to continue.
“Finally, we have a problem. Even if we manage to convince the New Asuran to let us build an outpost on a planet in the Hope Galaxy, setting up a supply line will not be easy. The original plan to dial-in with the reprogramming sub-routine did not work. And we both know that we can only dial Spera twice. This might be our only chance to increase the number of people aboard Spera. And until Vale gets his people aboard Destiny, we can’t use the Beta Site to dial the ninth chevron.”
“Good point.” Mackenzie said. “Now, I am going to talk to General Landry. And you should get to bed.” He smiled at Jackson. “P2G-192 might be a pain in the ass, but it won’t end if turn in that report tomorrow.”
“I’m not so sure about that, sir.” Jackson said.
“Bed, now.”
And with that, Mackenzie walked out. Jackson tried to continue working on the report, but a yawn made him realize that Mackenzie was right. So he saved the file, turned off his computer and went to find a bed.
(Colony One – Control Room – 25 August 2017, 0711)
They were approaching Colony Eighty-Two. And there was plenty of good news to go around. All the cities had escaped from the Home Space Nakai. Furthermore, they had managed to thin out the Fleet to five motherships and a handful of fighters. And in the end, those ships had been forced to turn around. At the same time, President Mackenzie – along with the team of IOA representatives and several other heads of state – had given him permission to go ahead with recruiting volunteers from their alien allies.
Finally, Doctor Jackson had managed to bypass the problem with the New Asurans not wanting them to set up an outpost on one of their planets. Instead, they had asked the Ursini and Colonists to create an outpost on their world. And they had agreed. Vale was glad to hear that piece of good news. But he wondered what good the outpost would do. So he leaned against the Engineering console and asked Colson.
“Well, l looked at the logs of the ninth chevron dial-in. And it’s a miracle the whole complex didn’t explode when Colonel Telford and his team went through.” He looked at Vale. “The folks back home have been working on it since we left. They have made a lot of upgrades on the place already. But if there is one thing we have learned during this mission, Plan A rarely works.”
“Yeah, there’s that.”
“So, Plan B is to use the Beta Site to dial the outpost and then dial Destiny from there.”
“Yeah, you did remind them that this whole software-override thing doesn’t work ?” Vale said. “We’ll be lucky if we can get aboard Spera and get one wave of reinforcements.”
“Yes, they said they were working on that.”
Before they could continue their conversation, a loud – and very annoying – claxon sounded. Colson killed it, while Vale ran to the Control Chair. As he sat down, Colson announced that they were two minutes from dropping out of hyperspace. Vale activated the chair. Then he waited for the clock to hit zero. The moment it did, he dropped the city out. Then he left the chair and ran down the stairs. Hailey and T’Zalo were now flying the city.
“Right on course.” T’Zalo said.
“Excellent.” He turned to Porter, who was monitoring the sensors.” Alison, what do we have on the long-range units ?”
“Checking.” She worked her console. A cluster of dots appeared on her display, along with a circle. Inside the circle was another dot. “One planet with a colony on it. And eighty city-ships in orbit.” She hit several more keys and the display zoomed in. “Everybody is here, and there are zero hostiles on scanners.”
“Life-signs and ZPM count, please.”
“Zero life-signs and zero ZPMs in orbit. One ZPM and thirty-two life-signs down on the planet.”
“Thirty-one volunteers ?” Vale asked. The last life-sign belonged to a technician, who had stayed behind to help with the evacuation of Colony One to the Hope Galaxy.
“Plus another ten from this colony.” Carossa said as she walked into the control room. “Six Ursini and four Nakai, including Mister T’Zalo.” She turned to T’Zalo. “Mister T’Zalo, front and center.” T’Zalo swallowed and left his console. “I am happy to announce that, by order of the Ruling Council of Governors of the Nakai-Ursini Alliance, you have been granted the rank of Senior Master Sergeant in the Fleet.” And with that, she put two small, golden discs on his shoulders. “Now, land this city, Sergeant.”
“You heard the lady.” Vale said. “Sarge.”
“Yes, sir.”
T’Zalo took his seat and set to landing the city. Vale smiled and watched as they approached the planet. The integration of his crew has just begun in earnest. But for now, they had other things to worry about.
(Colony Eighty-Two – Control Room – 25 August 2017, 1605)
The control room of this colony was different from the one back on Colony One. There was no Control Chair and the Flight Control console was much simpler. This was because she only had to fly on auto-pilot during the mission. The control room also housed a Pegasus Model Stargate. This was the Gate the other colonies had used to evacuate to the Hope Galaxy. At the moment, the people of Colony One were moving through it. The Gate was powered by the last ZPM and all the power city-ships could muster. Colony One and Colony Eighty-Two were wired in the old-fashioned way, while the city-ships in orbit transmitted power down. Hailey, Grogan and Colson were overseeing the evacuation.
“Is this the last group ?” Vale said.
“Yes, sir.” Grogan said. “We’re the only ones left.”
The last colonists stepped through the Gate. Five seconds later, they received a signal from the other side. Which indicated that everybody had made it. Colson cut the power and the Gate disengaged. Vale turned and gestured towards the door. The four of them made their way to a room they were using as a staging area. (It had been a mess hall before they had commandeered it, so it was big.) Despite taking as much as they could, they had lost a lot of gear when they had evacuated Nova Roma. But then they had picked up some stuff in the Hope Galaxy. And now, the Expedition was taking what they could from Colony Eighty-Two. So they were actually pretty well supplied and stocked.
“I still think it’s weird.” Grogan said.
“It makes sense to me.” Colson said. “What ? We’re one crew now.”
The Expedition now consisted of 49 Humans – or Tau’ri, as the aliens members had begun calling them – 10 Nakai, 17 New Asurans and 14 Ursini. But it was a little bit harder to tell them apart now. Because it had been decided that everybody would now wear the Icarus Base uniform. Well, sort of. The only difference was that the Icarus Base patch had been replaced by a Nova Roma Patch. The patch was a blue circle with a silver sword.
Around this was a red border with black letters. The bottom half had the person’s name and rank. In case of the civilians, the rank was replaced by either the title or position. The top half said: Nova Roma Expedition – Earth / Hope Galaxy Alliance. Making the uniforms for the Ursini and Nakai had not been easy. (The sizes had to altered.) But they had succeeded.
The room was a beehive of activity and making oneself heard would not be easy. So Vale put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. Everybody stopped what they were doing and looked at him.
“Okay, people, I know it’s been a long and difficult road….” He began. “….and I know that we’re not there yet. But this is it. The colonies are empty. The autopilots have been programmed. The ZPMs have been planted by the defense ships assigned to this colony….” This had happened while they had still been on-route. “And we are about try and dial Spera.” If the Gate failed to connect, they would join the others in the Hope Galaxy and dial back to Earth from there. “You all know what it means if you board that ship. And the price that this Expedition might ask of its members. So I am giving you all one last to withdraw your anticipation…”
This was the point of no return. Once you were on that ship, your chances of seeing home – your friends, your family – ever again were slim. And everybody knew it. So he was giving them the option to change their minds. But all he got in reply was silence. So he nodded. ~Make or break time.~
“…okay, let’s do this.”
The Expedition Team, eighty strong, began moving into the Control Room. Hailey went to the Flight Control console and typed in a code. There was a beep as the computer acknowledged the command and a countdown began. In one hour, the autopilot would engage and fly both Colony One and Colony Eighty-Two in orbit, where they would join the other ships. And five minutes after that, the Fleet would leave for Galaxy Destiny Two to do their part against the Berserker Drones. Next, she keyed in another code and waited. There was another beep and another countdown started. This one began at fifteen minutes. When it hit zero, the first ZPM would overload. The rest would detonate at one minute intervals after that. Finally, she moved over to the Engineering console. She put several commands and there was a beep. That done, she turned to Vale.
“Countdowns engaged, sir.” Hailey began. “Override program activate.”
“Good.” Vale said.
Vale walked to the DHD and began dialing. As he did so, Porter used a remote to line up a MALP. They had cobbled it together from parts they had found around Colony One. The final chevron locked and the wormhole formed. He nodded to Porter, who then drove the MALP through. One of the consoles lit up with readings and a video feed from a camera on the MALP. Aranov looked at the readings.
“The air reads as breathable and pressure is stable. I can’t see any hull breaches on the video feed.” He hit some keys. “I recommend we check the air scrubbers as soon as we get there though. And power is low, so we’ll have to address that as well.”
“Radiation levels ?”
“Minimal.” Aranov said. “We have a go.”
Vale nodded and stepped through the Gate. The MALP was right next to the Stargate. He took a spare remote from the MALP and drove it towards the hull. This remote had a small screen, so that he could it use to inspect the hull closer. As he did so – confirming Aranov’s initial assessment – the rest of the team came through the Gate. Finally, the Puddle Jumpers came through. Then the wormhole disengaged. And after all that had happened, they were on their way to Destiny at last.
END OF SEASON 1 – TO BE CONTINUED….
No comments:
Post a Comment