Into the Void
In the dead of space, a massive, Ancient spaceship jumped out of faster-than-light travel in a blur. The ship had been vacant and mostly unpowered, but now lights started to activate amongst it's corridors. In the center of the ship, a Stargate spun around, erupted into an event horizon and filled the room with an ominous blue light. A young man, Lt. Matthew Scott, tumbled through the event horizon. Staggering to his feet, with rifle at the ready, he tried to make sense of dark surroundings. Behind him, luggage and other various cases shot through the Stargate and rolled down the ramp and slid across the floor. A few more people began falling through the wormhole, stumbling over the people who'd just arrived.
"All right, get out of the way," Scott yelled, helping the people aside. "Get out of the way! Come on, come on, come on." More people continued to trip and fall through. "Oh sh-," he whispered. Panicked murmurings flooded the room as everyone tried to shift out of each other's way. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon." Lt. Scott grabbed the radio on his vest. "This is Scott! Slow down the evac!" The radio static crackled. "We are coming in too hot! Come in!" he spun around. "Oh God, where are we now?"
"What is this place?" A man cried.
"Get 'em off the ramp!" Scott directed him.
By his feet another man, Dr. Nicholas Rush, dazedly rose from the floor, shaking his head. He staggered through the mob and away from the gate, protecting his glasses. More people came through, looking injured or bloody already. Dr. Rush steped over the injured, passed TJ and worked his way over to a console lighting up. Rush tried to read the console using his glasses, whose frames were now broken. He looked up towards the Stargate. The events there seemed to be moving in slow motion for him as he took it all in. Rush turned and climbed a metal, spiral staircase behind him to a higher level overlooking the Gateroom. He looked down at the panicked crowd and equipment still falling through the Stargate with an oddly satisfied smile on his face.
One woman in the thick of the lot, Camile Wray, quickly took stock of her surroundings despite the confusion. She spotted Lt. Scott helping people up and grabbed him by his vest, drawing his attention. "Where are we?" she demanded over the commotion. "Why didn't we come through to Earth?"
"There's no time to explain! Off to the side!"
"What's going on?" Dr. Brody yelled.
"Colonel, come in! This is Scott." Still nothing."Come in, is anyone there?"
Lt. Johansen began treating some people who had injured themselves from their falls.
"I need a medic!" Dr. Volker cried from the floor.
"Over here." called Lt. Johansen. Dr. Volker slid over to her using his left hand, with his right arm flung over his waist.
"Can you move your fingers?" TJ asked with cool focus.
"No. I think my arm's broken." Volker said.
"Okay, just hold your arm there and let me put it in a sling, okay?"
"Okay."
Eli stumbled through the event horizon and fell to the floor, quickly rising to check that everything on his body was still intact. He sighed in relief and turned around to face the Stargate, only to have to duck from more cases flying through the Gate.
A young lady and an older gentleman, Chloe and Senator Armstrong, stumbled through the Gate and fell sprawled on the floor. The older man gave a haggard cough.
"Oof. Are you okay?" Chloe asked her father.
"Yeah." replied the senator shortly.
"Keep calm. Keep calm," Scott reassured them. "And clear this area. There's still more incoming. Give me your hand."
They got out of the way of the equipment still bouncing through. The Senator looked around. "Oh God...holy-here the hell are we?"
Two more military personnel came through the Gate. As they were moving off to the side, Scott grabed one of them. "Greer! Where's Colonel Young?"
"He was right behind me." Sgt. Greer said looking back.
Colonel Young, shot through the puddle, and flew completely across the room, smoking as he barrel-rolled several times before slamming his head against a metal door on the opposite side of the room. The puddle flickered for a second, then vanished. Steam briefly hissed on either side of the Stargate, causing only more shouting and confusion. Without the light from the active wormhole, the room had plunged into darkness. The only lights came from flashlights or lights on rifles.
Sgt. Greer manuevered his way through the crowd of people and cases. "Move. Move! Stay calm. Get down."
Lt. Scott struggled against the crowd. "Excuse me. Move. Please move." He reached the Col.'s side, who hadn't moved yet. "Colonel? Colonel Young?" Col. Young tried to sit up. "No sir, don't move yet."
"Where a-Where are we?"
Scott reached to support Young's head. "I don't know, sir." Scott said worriedly.
Young, finding it hard to talk, said "You're in charge. Okay? You-," And passed out. Scott stared in horror as he pulled his hand away from the back of Young's head and found it lathered in dark red blood.
Scott, frightened, asked, "Sir?" The Colonel was silent. "TJ!" he bellowed.
"I'm coming!" she shouted from across the room, and rushed over to Scott.
"Move back, people." Sgt. Greer pushed the civilians backwards. "Get Back."
"Move, move, move." Lt. Johansen fell to the Col.'s side.
"Is he okay?" Greer asked TJ.
"I…I don't know." she said handing a rag to Scott to wipe his hands off on. TJ checked his vital signs.
Scott stood up, spotting Eli among the crowd. "Wallace! What is this place?"
Eli looked up meekly. "I don't know. Look, I-I just did what Rush told me-"
"Where is he?"
"I-I don't know. He-he went through ahead of me."
Scott called out. "Rush! RUSH!" He turned to Eli, "Eli, help me find him!"
"Well, I-"
Suddenly a shrill whine penetrated the walls and corridors of the ship. As they looked up, a strange light shifted throughout the room before stabilizing with a shuddering echo.
"What in the hell was that?" Greer asked cautiously.
"I don't know. Sergeant, I need you to settle these people. Find out who they are and what we've got. But nobody leaves this room."
"Yes, sir." He said absently, still looking around the room.
Scott looked down worriedly at TJ who was still treating Col. Young. "Eli! Now!" He demanded.
Eli, half-hyperventalating, could only stare back in shock. "Yeah...Yeah."
Lt. Scott and Eli walked down a corridor leading from the Gateroom. Their flashlights continously scanned the walls. Eli spotted a metal door with familiar Ancient writing and stopped to study it.
"What is it?" Scott asked.
"Uh…I-I've seen this writing before."
"In the game?"
"Yeah. I think so." Eli studied the side panel then pressed a few button. They both jump back a little as the door's center gearlock spun around parting the door down the middle. Inside the room, was Dr. Rush standing at a balcony in front of a large glass window, watching the light shifting of hyperspace travel passed and around the ship's shield. "Jeez. We're on a ship?"
Rush turned and grinned, "The design is clearly Ancient, in the truest sense of the word...Launched hundreds of thousands of years ago."
Eli peers over the edge and gawks at the sight, ignoring Rush. The ship extends in front of the window and to the sides far enough to hold a small city.
"Faster than light. Yet not through hyperspace," Rush continued. "Who knows how far it's traveled?"
"Dr. Rush. We've got a lot of wounded, and we need to get home." Rush glanced towards Scott looking annoyed at his interruption.
Back in the Gateroom, TJ and another person checked on Col. Young whose condition hadn't changed. Everyone else, if not otherwise injured, were at least in shock from the recent events. The civilians and several scientists wandered around looking lost.
There were some rattles and bumping sounds from one of the air vents. Dr. Franklin, closest, immediately notices. "The vents keep rattling over here." He complains to no one in particular.
TJ keyed her radio, "Lt. Scott, Come in."
Scott answered, "Go ahead."
"We've got a problem. One of the air vents just shut down in here."
Scott grimaced. "Copy that."
"Yeah, the air's gettin' pretty thin in here too." Eli agreed.
"What does that mean?" Scott asked Rush.
"That the life support system is failing. And we should probably do something about that." he answered caulously heading out. Eli and Scott exchanged glances and followed.