Tuesday 31 December 2019

SG Nova Roma, Chapter 3.30


30 – Into the Unknown

(Chaser – Gate Room – Year 2, Day 38, 0918)

They had reached the border of Civilized Space. It turned out that said border was not actually a hard border. Instead, there was the official border and then a transition zone. The transition zone was not colonized by the Order of Other yet, but the local Gate capable planets had established frontier towns, farms and infrastructure. And basically, it was the Wild West of the Far Galaxy. That meant shoot-outs between outlaws and law and order were still very common.

In fact, Lieutenant Matthew Scott had just gotten in a firefight to back up the local constabulary on H5R-821. The planet didn’t have much to offer, but there was a sheep-like species that could be found in extremely large numbers on the world. Scott’s team had not only won the firefight, but had also come back with a large stockpile of meat and clothing. The natives had even thrown in some ammo for their trouble. Scott was reporting all this to Colonel Young when Chaser jumped back into hyperspace.

Young had been up for way too long, so he headed for his quarters and ordered Scott to go take charge on the bridge. When he walked onto the bridge, all three stations were manned. Eli Wallace was behind the right console, Corporal Barnes was in the middle and Sergeant Hari Poviso was at the left console. Poviso was a Nakai and a top-notch pilot. He was one of the new crewmembers that had joined them from Freedom Prime.

“So, Matt, rumor has it that you picked up some new threads for us on 821.” Eli said.

“Indeed I did. They even had some colors,” Scott said. The colors were limited to red, brown, green, purple and yellow. But he was not complaining. ~I’ll take what I can get.~

“Nice.” Eli said with a smile.

While they had been on Freedom Prime, the locals had repaired the clothes they had wearing when they had been thawed. They had also been given new clothes, with the Senate paying the bill. The civilians had each been given fours new outfits, while the military personnel had each gotten two new uniforms – the locals had managed to make perfect copies – and two civilian outfits. Scott also figured that they had enough clothes from 821 to give everybody one more outfit.

As for the new crewmembers…the Jynacko could wear the same clothes as the humans, while both the Ursini and Nakai wore costume made uniforms and civilian clothes. Like the new uniforms, they were perfect copies. They were just special sizes to fit the non-humanoids. Scott gave Eli a nod and then sat down in the command chair.

“So, what do we have on sensors ?”

“Nothing special so far, sir,” Corporal Barnes said.

“We have roughly three hours before we hit Uncharted Space, Lieutenant,” Poviso said. “According to the locals, 821 is the last settlement. We’ll pass H5R-823, which is the unofficial border of the Transition Zone. It’s been visited by colonists as a source for certain medications. But it’s a desert planet, so it’s too harsh for permanent habitation.”

“Medications ?”

“There’s a creature that sounds like what on Earth is called a scorpion. If you extract their toxins and process them the right way, you can make several anti-biotics.”

“Eli, make a note of that,” Scott said. “If we drop out in range, we might want to scorpion hunting.”

“Right.”

Eli nodded and set to making the note. As a result, he did not notice a red dot that appeared at the very edge of sensor range. It was only within range for a second before it vanished again. Eli finished making the note and went back to monitoring the sensors.

(Order Warship Yalock – Bridge – Year 2, Day 40, 1705)

Commander Rayo Gazzil was sitting in the command chair of the Yalock. The main viewer was showing the vessel they were trailing. So far, the target appeared to be totally unaware that they were being followed. ~So far, so good.~ Yalock was one of two warships the Order of Other had. She was assigned to deal with external threats. The other warship, which was called Grand Founders, was assigned to defend the Order homeworld. It had been the people on the homeworld who had labeled the ship they were following as a threat. ~After what happened on Mine 4, it makes sense.~ Now it was only a matter of time of picking the right moment to strike.

(Chaser – Bridge – Year 2, Day 50, 0800)

Matthew Scott dropped the Chaser of out hyperspace. This was the third time since they had left Civilized Space that they were taking a stab at gathering supplies. So far, they had not had much luck finding food and water. They had, however, hit upon a big stash off limestone on their second trip. Next to him, Ronald Greer was manning the weapons.

“Four Stargates in range, sir,” Scott said.

“What does our new toy say ?”

“H5X-018,” Scott began. “It should have water.”

Chaser still didn’t have Artificial Intelligence, but Eli, Rush, Park and Volker had been hard at work programming several advanced filters. They were programmed to find and highlight a selected list of elements when they were detected by the long range sensors. It wasn’t perfect, but – if they worked – these programs might increase their chances. The problem was that this was the first time they were using the filters, so the plan was still untested.

“Time to test the filter,” Young said, before turning to Greer. “Assemble a team.”

“Yes, sir,” Greer said, before turning to the third person manning the bridge, which was Varro. “You up for a trip ?”

“Always,” Varro said.

Varro and Greer left the bridge, while Young grabbed his radio. Several minutes later, Camille and Eli walked into the room. Before they had gone into stasis, Wray had never manned one of the bridge console. Which had made sense, because she was the IOA representative and the Human Resources Officer for both Icarus Base and Destiny. But Young had decided that he wanted all of the crew – old and new – on the Chaser to be rated on the bridge consoles. It was an approach developed by the US Navy for their submarines. The idea was that everybody had to be able to do every job. Wray gave Young a look, before sitting down at one of the consoles. She had barely done so, when her console beeped.

“A ship just entered sensor range,” Camille said.

“Do you have an ID ?”

She worked the console and a profile appeared on one of the screens. It was not good news.

(Order Warship Yalock – Bridge – Year 2, Day 50, 0807)

The time had come. Yalock was about to attack her target. Gazzil stood up from his command chair and looked at the main viewer. He had begun his career in Order Naval Forces as a pilot. So he would have preferred to be behind the helm at this very moment. But that was not his seat anymore. Instead, that place was held by Lieutenant Vi’Jar, a very capable Nakai pilot. As for him, Gazzil was a Jynacko-Xivolo hybrid who was no fan of the center seat. But somebody had to make the hard calls. Taking a deep breath, he turned to Vi’Jar.

“Maintain course and speed, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, Commander,” Vi’Jar said.

“Major Caross, sound action stations,” Gazzil began. “All hands, prepare to attack !”

Major Caross was the Ursini Executive Officer of the Yalock. He was also the ship’s weapons officer and the best shot they had aboard. There was a pause and then the alarms began to sound. Gazzil made his way to the helm and hit the proper keys to silence the klaxon. Then he sat down in the command chair again. The battle was about to begin.

(Chaser – Bridge – Year 2, Day 50, 0809)

Chaser scored two hits on the attacking ship, while dodging two shots herself. The Primians had not wanted to take any risks, so Chaser was fitted with the heaviest and most advanced weapons they had been able to get their hands on. She was equipped with sixteen cannons and two missile tubes.

As for their enemy, it was a Goa’uld Ha’tak-class vessel. But for some reason, it had not launched its Deathgliders. Not that Young minded. He watched as Scott threw the ship through another turn and Eli managed to score three more hits. Camille then launched two missiles at the attacker, both of which were fitted with technology that allowed them to got right through the enemy shields. The missiles hit the Goa’uld ship and its shields came down thirty percent.

“Nice shooting,” Young said.

“Coming around again,” Scott said.

“Cannons moving,” Eli began. “Firing again.”

Eli fired again, hitting the Goa’uld three times. The enemy fired back, but Scott dodged the shots. It was at this point that another ship appeared on sensors. Camille tried to ID the newcomer, but it was not in the database. What was clear, however, was that the alien vessel was a warship. It opened fire on the Goa’uld ship with all of its forward weapons. The Goa’uld ship’s shields collapsed and the vessel exploded. Then the newcomer turned around and jumped back into hyperspace.

(Order Warship Yalock – Bridge – Year 2, Day 50, 0815)

Gazzil wished he could have contacted Chaser. But his orders were clear. He was to protect the Chaser, not contact it. The Goa’uld had placed surveillance devices on Mine 4, which the Order had discovered when they had intercepted the signal from those devices. Which had triggered the alarm in Security Room Two. After Brother Xander had run this alert up the chain of command, Gazzil’s superiors had given all Order Naval Force ships orders to be on the lookout for suspicious Goa’uld activity. And when one of their ships had been detected following Chaser, Yalock had been ordered to follow them.

But the Goa’uld had been smart about their plan. They had waited until Chaser had left both Civilized Space and the Transition Zone behind. And then they had waited for their prey to be out of subspace transceiver range of the world they called H5R-821. It had been only then that they had attacked the ship. And had paid the price. He left Major Caross in charge as he headed for his office. As soon as they reached transmission range, he would report the outcome to his superiors. But for now, he had paperwork to deal with.

(Chaser – Bridge – Year 2, Day 50, 0816)

Young was glad that the Goa’uld had lost the fight, but plenty of things were not adding up. So he had assigned Rush and Brody to studying the data on the ship that had come to the rescue. He was also pondering why the Goa’uld had attacked them with just one ship. ~And where were their Deathgliders ?~

He left Scott in charge on the bridge and headed for Auxiliary Control, where Rush and Brody were working on the information on the alien vessel. While he started to discuss their findings, Doctor Lisa Park – who had been manning another console because they had gone to battle stations – left the room for her quarters. ~I need some down time.~

As soon she walked in, she realized that something was wrong. The entrance from the corridor led into her bedroom, where the lights were off. Then the automatic doors closed behind her and the lights came on. What she saw made her gasp.

“Greetings, Doctor Park,” Pelops, Supreme System Lord of the New Goa’uld Empire said. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

Pelops was not alone. He was accompanied by three Jaffa, all of whom were not wearing the traditional Jaffa armor. Instead, they were wearing black coveralls. And they were all pointing Zat’ni’katels at her.

“How did you get onboard ?”

“Well, Anubis might have been a psychopathic, sociopathic and utterly crazy monster,” Pelops began. “But he did acquire some useful technology, including Asgard teleporters. We added one to a cargo ship, which also came with a cloaking device. So, me and friends launched our little ship from the Vengeance before she proceeded to attack and teleported over while the shields were still down.”

“Why are you telling me this ?”

“Because I know all about the ninth chevrons and the signal Destiny was built to decipher,” Pelops said. “And I…,” He took out a small backpack. That backpack contained a cylinder filled with a blue liquid. And inside that liquid was a Goa’uld parasite. “….Need a spy aboard this ship. So we picked a set of quarters at random to teleport into, and you became the lucky winner.”

Pelops nodded to one of the Jaffa. The man fired his Zat and the world went black. As Pelops watched, the Jaffa put Park on her bed. They put her on her belly, while Pelops opened the cylinder. He grabbed the parasite from the cylinder and dropped it on her back. Then he took out a knife and cut a hole in her shirt. Two seconds later, Park screamed as the parasite borrowed its way into her body.

To Be Continued In Stargate Universe Season Five….

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