From the armored bridge of the battleship, Captain Augustine looked over the system. The fleet was positioned strategically around the cogboys encampment on one of the dull, brown misshaped asteroids. The captain observed the colorful asteroid belt, constituted of purple and blue gases. It was quite a sight to behold, yet the captain wouldn't let such trivial things as beauty distract him. He had been given a specific task, after all.
On the asteroid, the AdMech were busy toiling away at the thick rock, eager to reveal more of the strange ruins; large mining and excavation servitors drilling endlessly. The initial ruins were uncovered by a mining team. During their prospecting they had accessed a queer corridor; its smooth black walls a stark juxtaposition against the dirty dull brown. This was most perturbing to the Adeptus Mechanicus, as the entire system had been sealed off by a warpstorm for millennia. Whoever had constructed the ruins must have been here since before the rise of the Imperium of Man, which in and of it's self was nothing significant. Millions of species had risen and fell since the dawn of time.
"Commander," someone had entered the captains annex, it was Augustine's aide, Jarkin, who now stood in his portal-way. "We've received a message from Parthia, sir, it's a distress call."
"A distress call?" the commander responded, not breaking his gaze from the viewport.
"Yes sir," his aide stuttered, "They've been hit by Eldar raiders,"
"Hmm, unfortunate. Relay the call to the nearest Navy garrison."
"But sir, surely we could break anchor and-"
"You heard me Jarkin. I'm not here to hunt for glory; I'm here on orders to take care of these here cogboys." The Captain said, gesturing to the rock. He didn't need to say anything further; Jarkin knew he was alluding to Captain Morilda. She had been stationed in orbit around some backwater agri-world when she decided to break orders and assail a local ork rokk that had just exited warpspace. Short to say, the world was lost to the forces of Chaos, and the supposed ork rokk was nothing more than a lifeless space hulk. In the time it took her to reach it, the world had already fallen. Such a recent failure remained pertinent in the crew's mind. Shame too, she had a pretty good record.
On the planet progress was progressing smoothly, the local Explorator in charge, a techpriest by the name of Dalvon, was supervising the effort to unearth the ruins. All around him his entourage manned various Auspexes and other more complicated sensor equipment that the sergeant couldn't identify. He had been billeted with the techpriests to keep the captain in the loop
"Are you sure it's safe?" He asked.
"Of course," the techpriest said in a condescending, grating voice, "It hasn't been inhabited for thousands of years." His augmentic eye whirring as it refocused on the sergeant. Most of this face had been remade with augmentics, and the sarge found it hard to focus on the squirming mechandrites and data-plugs he had in place of a mouth, the Vox unit that he had spoken from lodged where his Adams-apple should have been.
The Sergeant sighed. He'd never know why the commander saw him the most likely candidate for the job. Quite frankly, he found cogboys awkward at the best of times, and disturbing and unholy at others. He'd always been taught in the schola, "to pollute the human form is heresy". "Uncouth bastard," he muttered under his breath. Shit, he thought, I hope he doesn't have hearing augments.
As if on queue, the entire asteroid resounded.
"What the khek was that?" the sergeant demanded
"The ruins are giving off a massive energy reading!" The techpriest said, and given the situation the Sergeant resisted an "I told you so". Eerily, the black walls became disgusting, as if they were an affront to the sergeants most base and primal instincts. Are… are the walls glowing...
"Sire, I have an interesting reading," announced one of the techpriests manning a work station in the bridge. "It appears to be eldar in origin, they've exited warp."
"Eldar?" the captain asked, "What in the warp are they doing here?" He shook such thoughts from his head, it matters not why they are here; they will die anyways. "Wake the crew! I want those ships targeted, if a lock cannot be maintained I want fire evenly dispersed!" He never did like squaring off against eldar, it was like striking at vague shadows.
The bridge picked up in pace as the techpriests and helmsmen hurried to turn the captains words into actions. All around the ship serfs sprung to action. The men manned their stations supervising them, ensuring none broke rank, and they began loading the massive macro-cannons and preparing the weapons. Techpriests initiated rites, the entire ship was alive, and the captain's orders willing it to action like the head of some massive carnivorous beast.
"Targets acquired, lord,"
"Fire!" In an intense moment space was brightened from the light from the breeches of the guns. The devilishly sleek and maneuverable eldar ships easily avoiding the thickest of fire, aided by their dancing holo-fields. The eldar returned fire and pulsars and plasma splashed against the Imperial battleship's void shields.
In moments, the lone battleship was aided by 5 escorts that had been in a loose picket around the asteroid, adding their firepower into the fray. In the crossfire one eldar craft was caught and torn asunder, its shields failing under such torrential assault, its hull buckling before the entire ship went up in a massive plasma explosion.
Suddenly, the ships jeered, performing acrobatics that Imperial captains could only dream of, their course changed, they began heading straight for the asteroid. "Stop those ships!" Augustine ordered, "Don't let them interrupt the Mechanicus' work!" The eldar craft continued their course, when suddenly they overlapped with the asteroid, to the captain's horror. "Cease fire! Cease fire immediately!" he roared, yet it was too late, the damage was done.
A full broadside was unleashed, and while it caught at least two eldar craft in its wake, the rest of the massive shells overshot and slammed into the asteroid. Under such an assault, it snapped into several pieces, secondary explosions rippling throughout the catacombs from the AdMech's tunnels and the ruins.
The entire asteroid shook again, and the entire interior of it was filled with the sounds of collision, bending metal and ear-rending explosions. The sergeant was silent, all color drained from his face. The walls had changed, somehow. Despite the happenings around him he was entranced by the walls, the smooth black walls. The techpriest was busy pouring over his equipment, issuing orders to his underlings in the gibberish, clicking speech of his order.
Yes, yes the sergeant was sure of it now. The walls were illuminated, bathed in a green glow. The techpriest confirmed this, "The ruins are active! The energy readings are off of the chart!"
And then, staring at the walls, the sergeant was bathed in flame. It was a more placid death then he probably deserved.
The entire asteroid at this point had been shredded into too many pieces to count; the largest remaining body was the chunk of rock the ruins were embedded in, now glowing an eerie green.
"The ruins are unstable, the readings are growing!" the techpriest shouted on the bridge of Imperator's Deliverant, before the ruins exploded into a ball of malevolent, rippling green waves, washing over the eldar and imperials without prejudice.
In the Pegasus galaxy;
Doctor Elizabeth Weir looked over the calm blue waters of Lantea, stretching to the far horizon. Before, back on Earth, when the president contacted her, she had no idea it would land her here, far away from home in the Pegasus galaxy. She let out a tentative sigh. It was stressful at the best of times, but she wouldn't give this chance to explore the unknown for anything in either two galaxies.
"Doctor Weir," someone announced over the intercom, "Scheduled activation's coming up from Stargate command."
"Right, thank you," How could I forget! She thought.
In the gate room Colonel Shepard and his team were already standing at the ready for the incoming wormhole. The gate spun and the chevrons locked, enveloping the room in the blue glow of the rippling portal. First to step out of the portal was Doctor Daniel Jackson, carrying a rucksack over his shoulder as he walked down the dais. The next and last person to arrive was Vala Mal Doran, her pigtails resting on her shoulders. She also carried a rucksack to her side in her right hand.
"Doctor Jackson," Weir welcomed, "And Vala. Good to see you."
"And you two, Doctor Weir," breezily replied Daniel, "I hate to be curt, but I'd like to start working as soon as possible."
"Right," Weir said, a bit taken aback. She didn't expect them to be in such a hurry. "The information you've requested has already been gathered and is waiting for you." She gestured to the corridor leading to the room she had prepared for them.
"Thank you," Daniel replied, moving past her into the corridor, followed by Vala.
"He's a workaholic," she said as she passed Weir without breaking stride, however giving her the courtesy to face her direction by walking backwards, before hurrying to catch up to Daniel.
"Not even a hello?" Rodney chimed; a plaintive look on his face.
"What's wrong Rodney? Thought she'd remember you?" Ronnon teased.
"What—no it's nothing like that. I thought Daniel would remember the work we did together, that one time," he trailed off in his own thoughts.
"I didn't know you rolled both ways," Shepard joined in on the teasing.
"Oh hah-hah very funny guys." Rodney finished, following the rest of the team out. They were only there for procedure, although frankly they all expected a much warmer welcome.
Several hours later, in the same gate room AR-1 waited in full kit, carrying their signature P-90s.
"Alright, this is just a standard recon mission. The current planet is believed to have a few sleeping wraithships, so watch your backs. Latest reports still list them as inactive though, strangely." Weir told the team in person, "I expect you back in one piece, Colonel, no brave heroics, got it?"
"Yes ma'am." The colonel replied. He remembered with a shudder what happened the last time they had infiltrated a hive.
With a whirr and a whoosh the stargate opened up, and AR-1 was away.
The planet was comfortable enough, warm clime, easy topography and a beautiful beach line not to far from the pedestal the stargate rested on. Stretching from the coast to the thick foliage were small buildings and markets, were people busily went about their day. Their was something in the air though, as people skittered around.
When they reached the township they introduced themselves, the previous Atlantis team dispatched had already taken care of most of the formalities.
"How do you do," Shepard asked a man in rags and leather working a fruit stall.
"G-good," He stuttered, "You're from Atlantis?" He asked, looking at Shepard and his team's vestments and weapons.
"Yes," replied Tayla, "We mean you no harm." She added in when she saw his cursory glances.
"R-right,"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong!" he practically yelled, raising concerned glances among the team. "I think he's crazy," Rodney silently said. "That's the thing!" the man continued, "The wraith, the wraith are gone!"
"The wraith are gone?" Asked Ronnon
"Yes! Two days ago, fire rained from the sky, and the avenging angels came! The wraith, they were just swept away…" he trailed off. Shepard seemed to get now what was in the air, anxiety. Something more powerful than the wraith had come, and disappeared.
From there the team went off along some roughly hewn dirt road.
"What do you think it was?" Asked Rodney, a concerned look plastered on his face. Undoubtedly he was only concerned for his skin.
"Ancients?" proposed Ronnon.
"People around the village spoke of ghosts and shadows," Tayla added, "Even if they were Atlaneteans, in doesn't fit. The Atlanteans always fought with pride and honor, championing themselves. Why would they cower?"
The team broke off at a certain point, into the dense foliage. On the other side was a sight that startled them. The wraithship the previous team had found in the clearing was shattered, now nothing more than a smoldering husk, the fires long dying out to smolders. All around lied wraith bodies, torn and dissected. It looked less like a space faring race and come, and more like a ravenous horde.
"Holy crap," Rodney was first to break the silence.
"Alright, I think it's time we reported back to the good Doctor," Shepard said, taking quick stock of the situation. He never would have expected this from a standard recon mission.
Back at the Stargate, the team contacted Atlantis.
"Shepard? I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon," she started
"Well things here have changed, boss."
"What do you mean 'things'?"
"The wraith are dead. I'd like a medical team out here to help collect some bodies."
"Right away," she said, motioning off screen to people outside of view.
"And tell Jackson that we have something he may like to take a look at."