4 – Dust and Answers
(Unknown Planet – Desert - Year 2, Day 50, 1207)
The good news was that the virus had worked and Destiny had dropped out of FTL. The bad news was that they had only had a minute before the ship would jump back. And there had been only one Stargate in range. So when they had seen that it had a breathable atmosphere, they had jumped through the Gate. Which was why they were now standing in the middle of a harsh – and apparently endless – desert. Ginn took a deep breath and turned to Doctor Perry.
“Please tell me that are more Stargates in range,” She began. “Because if there are not, we are in major trouble.”
“I’m reading…” Perry worked the Gate remote. “…two Gates in range.”
They stepped back and Perry dialed the first Stargate. When she saw the telemetry, Ginn realized that this planet was not a good place to go. ~Ouch, that is the only thing worse then this place.~ The planet had a toxic atmosphere and was a frozen wasteland. It reminded her of a planet Eli had told her about once. He had called the Hoth system. Perry sighed.
“I’m sorry, Ben,” She handed him the Gate remote. “But we need that Kino back and you’re the only one who can go get it.”
“Understood.”
Ben dialed the Stargate and stepped through. Less then a minute later, he returned with the Kino. As soon as the wormhole disengaged, the dialed the Gate again. Alas, the second planet was also unsuited for them. The atmosphere was breathable, but the Stargate was surrounded by two lava flows. So there was no way for them to explore the planet. Ben ended up retrieving the Kino again.
“Great, what do we do now ?” Ginn said.
“What about using the Stargate on the second planet as a stepping stone ?” Perry asked.
“No such luck,” Ben said. “The Gate there only connects to back here. The one on the first planet had two other addresses, but without a way for the three of you to breathe….”
“That would be a death sentence,” Young said. “We would need time to make sure those two new addresses are safe. And we wouldn’t have it.”
“Well, we can’t just sit here.” Ginn said.
“She’s right, we should start looking for shelter and resources.” Perry said. “So, which way shall we go ?”
“We know nothing about this planet, so any direction will do.” Young said. “I vote for straight ahead.”
Perry nodded and they headed out. As they did so, Ginn held up her hand and looked at the sun. Fortunately, there appeared to be only one star in this solar system. The bad news was that they could not tell if it was setting or rising. Nor did they know what the day-night cycle was on the planet. Their arrival here had been a giant leap into the unknown. Now it was time for them find out where they had truly landed.
(Goa’uld Ha’tak-class ship – Bridge – 03.01.2002, 0711)
Pelops left his sarcophagus and made his way to the controls. It was a slow walk, because his host was old. ~Blasted Tok’ra.~ More than a thousand years ago, Pelops had been experimenting with time travel. But the Tok’ra had send several agents to sabotage his efforts. And while they had been killed in the process, they had succeeded in that mission. Instead of traveling through time, his ship – which had been fitted with an experimental device – had been thrown into the void between galaxies.
It had taken him all this time to return to the galaxy. Other System Lords now ruled the Empire, his territory had been taken and all his Jaffa had died during the trip. ~This ship is about to fall apart.~ His host was the only living thing still aboard and he lacked resources, so he had not been able to perform maintenance on the ship. ~Almost there.~ This meant that the ship’s condition had deteriorated. On the bright side, he was approaching a planet with a breathable atmosphere. All he needed was to get there.
~Where am I ?~ He checked the star charts, considering it a miracle that his computer still worked. The planet was at the very edge of the galaxy, but did not have a name. ~Fat load of good that does me.~ With considerable effort, he managed to put the ship into orbit. That done, he made his way to the ship’s last functioning escape pod. He stepped inside and closed it. Then he pressed the button to launch it.
The pod exited the ship and rushed towards the surface, it’s outside heating up as it did so. Behind the pod, the Ha’tak finally failed. Because of its age and condition, the craft no longer had the power required to remain in orbit. Instead, it also fell towards the surface. But – unlike the pod – it was in an uncontrolled descent. The craft hit the surface before the pod did, exploding in spectacular fashion. And the ship was not the only thing to shatter.
Because at its heart, the experimental time machine had remained. It exotic energies were now unleashed, hitting the space-time continuum like a sledgehammer. Existence itself was torn, creating a hole that swallowed the pod and its occupant. After more then a thousand years, Pelops had finally succeeded in his goal of unlocking the secret of time travel.
(Chaser – Infirmary – Year 2, Day 51, 0905)
Eli had listened to his father as he had unfolded the story of how Pelops had discovered time travel. He also knew this tale to be true, because he had this memory from his short time as a Goa’uld host. So he looked at Colonel Young, who was standing nearby, and nodded. Somehow – not that anybody understood why – the former hosts had been granted Pelops’ memories. ~But not the memories of the rest of the Goa’uld, so what’s up what that ?~ Eli suspected that this was a deliberate act, by…somebody. But he had no idea – or proof – who or whom that could have been. So he said nothing.
“So, if this Goa’uld could time travel, why didn’t he alter the timeline ?” Young asked.
“Because he liked the timeline as it was,” Sam said. “No competition and nobody looking for him. I asked Lieutenant Scott to do some digging and he said that, according to the Tok’ra records, Pelops was blown up in 993 AD.” He paused. “And yes, they are sure. They lost three agents on that mission. From what I heard about them, they’re not the kind to forget that sort of thing.”
“What did he do ?”
“He bided his time, rebuild his forces and learned about his enemies. That’s when he learned about…” Samuel sighed. “….us, Marian.” He took Eli’s hand. “It almost became too much to for me. I had my bags packed, but…” He shook his head. “…I went to a bar to get a drink. And…” A tear rolled down his face. “…I decided to go back.”
“You didn’t come back !” Eli said, pulling his hand away. “You left us !”
“No, I didn’t, Eli,” Sam began. “That asshat Pelops used his time machine ! That was the day he took me !”
“He is telling the truth, Eli,” Young said. “During his examination, TJ checked his biological age. He is twelve years younger that he should be. And the only way that is possible, is if he time traveled.”
There was a long moment of silence.
“Can I have a moment alone with my father ?”
Young nodded and left the two of them. Sam sat down next to his son, then put his arm around him. There was another moment of silence. Then Eli burst into tears and soon Sam joined him in crying for the woman – and the life – they had lost.
(Unknown Planet – Desert - Year 2, Day 51, 0605)
They had gotten lucky. The sun had set two hours after they had begun walking. If it had not, they would probably have died. But because the sun had set, they had been able to keep going. But it had not lead them anywhere. They were still in the desert and there was no end in sight. The small group had walked many kilometers from the Stargate during the night, so going back was not an option either. Now, Ginn was looking at the sky and doing the math. She figured that they had about an hour before the sun came up.
“We are in big trouble,” Young said.
“We need to find some shelter,” Ginn said. “Or else….”
That was as far as she got before the ground opened and swallowed her. When she stopped falling and sliding, she in was in a corridor. There was a set of doors at the end, which were stuck partially open. She made her way through them and gasped at what she saw beyond.
(Spera – Bridge – Year 2, Day 60, 1035)
Spera had found more and more traces of the Livaxona. Like Zovaris, it was a combination of two words. But these were Nakai. Liva meant Machine and Xona was the word for builders. But while Zovaris was usually used as a word, Livaxona was often shortened to LX or sixties, because of LX in Roman numerals was sixty.
There was, however, one major hiccup. The Livaxona Homeworld did not have a Stargate. So getting down there might be more complicated than usual. Vale wanted some time behind the Spera’s flight controls, so Jennifer Hailey was in the command chair.
“We should be in the solar system now,” Hailey said. “I think it would be a good thing to take a closer look at the other planets before he reach the homeworld. So let’s drop out of FTL, right here.”
“Dropping out it is,” Vale said.
Vale dropped Spera out of FTL and plotted a course that would give them a good look at all the planets ahead of them. There were five of them, with the third looking the most friendly to humanoid life. The outer world was a gas giant and the fourth one looked like a deep frozen ball of ice.
“No signs of life on number five and four,” Porter said from one of science consoles.
“Cinara,” Hailey began. “What about the orbits ? Anything up there ?”
“No,” Cinara said from the other science console. “There is nothing orbiting either planet four or five.” Her board beeped. “But planet four has a moon and that has something in orbit.” She worked her board. “Something really, really big.”
“Colonel, that sounds like something we need to take a closer look at.”
“Plotting a course.” Vale said, while hitting the proper buttons.
Spera made a slow turn towards their new destination, while Vale maxed out the sub-light drives. It took a couple of minutes, but then the object came into view. Porter frowned when she saw it and ran several scans. Then she turned her chair around.
“Is it me ?” She began. “Or does that look like….”
“….Charlie.” Cinara began. “No, you are right. That IS Charlie,” She paused. “So, how does a Vicerant Research Station, without any engines, end up here ? In fact, how did it even SURVIVE ? We barely survived.”
“Good questions,” Hailey asked. “Let’s run every scan we can. And let’s park the ship,” She got up and made her way to Vale’s console. “I also think that we might have to use one of the Puddle Jumpers to send a team over there. We don’t have spacesuits, but we have several oxygen tanks in the infirmary that with a bit of creativity could be modified to allow our people to move around any airtight spaces we find in there.”
“Call Doctor Bennett, get it set up.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hailey made her way back to the command chair to contact the doctor. Whatever the answers to the question of Charlie’s survival were, she had the feeling that they were about to go on a very interesting mission.
(Earth – Stargate Command – Year 2, Day 62, 0800)
General Hank Landy was reading several very interesting reports. The first was about the Nakai. It turned out that several Nakai officials had engaged in political mutiny. Intercepted communications had revealed that several Nakai colonies close to the edge of their home galaxy had detected the Livaxona ships in the void. They had reported that to the Central Authority, which had done nothing. But the officials on those colonies had suspected what would happen next.
So when they had been ordered to prepare a new fleet to pursue Destiny, they had not obeyed those orders. Instead, they had planted officers loyal to them on those ships. The fleet had departed as ordered. But after the fleet had travelled to the next galaxy, the officers had taken over the ships. The original – and now abandoned – supply colonies had been picked based on location. But the Nakai had surveyed more then just the worlds they had ended up settling. The New Rebel fleet – as it was being called in the report – had set about creating new colonies.
But these new ones were based on population, instead of location. And then the New Rebels had begun evacuating people from Central Authority space. To keep under the radar, they had only been evacuating backwater planets. In the meantime, the tension between the Central Authority and the Jynacko Empire was rising. ~It’s only a matter of time before all hell will break loose there.~ But thanks to the New Rebels and he Primians, the Nakai would survive as a species, no matter what.
He put away that report and moved on the next one. Spera had found the Vicerant Research Station they had codenamed Charlie. Not only had the station survived, it had aged several thousand years. A team led by Vale had recovered the logs – or what was left of them – from the station and had learned something that they had not believed at first. But their visit to Livaxona Prime had proved their findings on the now ancient space station.
When Operation Backlash had gone horribly wrong, it had launched the black hole on its course towards Novus. But it had also launched Charlie through time and space. The station had been badly damaged, but – somehow – several of the crew had survived. Those few survivors had settled on Livaxona Prime and become the first generation of the local population. But despite their best efforts, there had not been enough of them to man a fleet capable of defending their planet. And thus, the Livaxona Berserker Fleet had been born. Then, they had encountered the Xivolo Empire and everything had gone horrible wrong.
As for Livaxona Prime, it was a world without a Stargate that was covered in ruins. Back in the day, the local technology had advanced so far that the drones had not recognized it as their own anymore. So they had attacked and wiped out everybody. In the thousands of years since, the planet had healed. And all Vale and his people had found was the echo of a tragedy. After collecting what supplies they could from the planet, Spera had moved on.
Finally, there was a report from Colonel Telford on Freedom Prime. The Primians were still working on a cure for Lieutenant Johansson’s ALS. The good news was there had finally been some progress. The bad news was that several ingredients of the potential cure could not be replicated on Earth. Which pissed off the researchers – who had developed a deep hatred of the disease – and who wanted nothing more than to eradicate the condition from the universe. ~They are good people.~ Landry closed the file and hoped that they would be able to keep them safe.
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