A/N: About a year ago I posted a fan fiction called 'Phantom Rebel'. This story is a rewrite of that fan fiction as a spinoff from the last four chapters in 'Stargate: The Last Ancient'. Story begins 300 years after the events portrayed in the last chapter of SG: TLA. Star Wars Rebels timeline: late season 1, around about the time Ezra made his speech.
Stargate: The Galactic Civil War
Chapter 1: A Visitor from Outer Stars
Location: Edge of uncharted Galaxy outside of the Milky Way galactic cluster
20 million light-years from Terra
Space. The final frontier finally breached. This was the thought that coursed though the collective mindscape of humanity when the governments of the IOA disclosed the Stargate to the general population. That date, 21st of December 2012, was a date that would shake Earth's perception of the universe to its core. The Mayans prophesized that the world would end on that day, and in some ways it did. On that day the Terran Federation was born. Earth in its entirety came together for one goal. To preserve mankind and carry on the torch left behind by the Asgard and the Ancients, to take their rightful place among the stars as the Fifth Race, protectors of the Milky Way and Pegasus Galaxies, heirs to the Ancients and the Asgard. Even now, nearly 300 years after the founding of the Terran Federation, Danny still felt amazed by what the Terrans have managed to achieve in a relatively short amount of time.
It was strange, Danny thought, to be able to look at history knowing that you had a hand in its creation. That was bought the curse and the blessing of the Alterra, for that was what Danny was. He was Daniel Phantom of House Phantom, Commander of the starship Infinity, last of his kind. He was the last of the Gate builders, but he was also a Terran, not by species, but by place of birth. It was that upbringing in what his people, the Alterra, considered to be a primitive and warmongering world that made Danny truly unique. In his 321 years of life, Danny had seen many things, and fought many battles, reaching the station of High Admiral in the Terran Navy. He was not old, appearing to be only 24 years old, but then again Alterra lived for hundreds of thousands of years and he was still at the beginning of his life. His life changed when his father, his real father, Liam of House Phantom, last great Supreme Commander of the Alterran Fleet, told him of his heritage and he assumed it in full. Atlantis, the once capital city of the Alterra and one of their greatest creations in 5 galaxies now rested within the hands of the Terrans, just like every other peace of Alterran technology that could be found, all except one.
The Infinity was a truly unique ship. It was Danny's ship the only one of its kind in existence. The ship was built to resemble the Destiny, one of the Alterra's greatest creations only superseded by the Arkos shipyards and the Stargate network itself. While on paper it was an exploration cruiser, the time it was built in required it to be a battleship. And so it was. The ship was by no means new, having served Danny for well over 300 years. It was Danny's home, his little corner of the universe that was his to do with as he pleased.
These were the thought that were passing though Danny's mind as he read one of the ancient books of his vast library as he sat in his armchair. Like most of the things on the Infinity, there was a sense of age and power to the ship, its design being drawn from what many considered to be the classical age of Alterran architecture and design, with obvious latte 20th early 21st century Earth influences. In fact the library he was now in would not look out of place in a mansion on Earth. Wooden furniture tastefully decorated the room, with book shelves covering the walls. They held hundreds of books on a variety of different subjects and from a variety of different cultures. During his time in the galaxy of Celestia, the home galaxy of the Alterra, Danny discovered several hidden libraries of the Alterra and took the books found within them. They were added to his collection while copies of the books and their content was given to Earth and even some of the originals found their way in museums such as the Smithsonian, or the British Museum. In front of him there was a desk made of dark wood and beautifully engraved and behind the desk there was an executive chair. This was the desk Danny worked at when he was in his 'High Admiral' mode. He had since then retired from active service, but he was held in high regard by most of the Terran military since he was the only one still alive from the time of Great Wars and the only one still alive to have met the heroes of SG1 when they were still in their prime.
The room that Danny was in was more than just a library. It was one of the biggest rooms on the Infinity located at the middle of the dorsal tower, this room also served as a museum of sorts. Within the room was a collection of artifacts from Danny's many foes. They were trophies of sorts. Among them, in a place of honor was the sword he carried when he was still on Earth, before his father gave him the ancestral blade of House Phantom.
A beep attracted Danny's attention to the pad beside him. Pressing a button, he spoke.
"What is it William?" asked Danny in a bored tone.
"We are approaching the galactic edge and the disturbance field" announced William
William was the Infinity's VI, a highly advanced sentient artificial intelligence. His personality was modeled after Danny's to provide a better compatibility between the ship and its user. William was responsible for maintaining and running the ship's systems at optimal levels.
"On my way" said Danny as he rose from his chair, setting the book down on the table.
Danny had been contacted by Terran High Command to undertake a very important mission. Deep space telescopes had detected strange readings coming from the galaxy Danny was about to enter. Long range subspace probes had also shown disturbances in subspace originating from that galaxy. The Terran Federation covered a good part of the Milky Way local cluster and they had integrated into their federation most of the human worlds of the Milky Way. The Pegasus Galaxy humans also had their own independent government called the Coalition of Planets. They were in good relations with the Terran Federation, with the Federation maintaining a city-ship outpost in the Pegasus Galaxy. To promote good relations, a super gate was constructed in Pegasus and that was the bridge that linked the Milky Way and Pegasus Galaxies together allowing for free trade and cultural exchanges between galactic entities. Another one on the list of allies of the Terrans were the now freed people of the Alterran home galaxy. While they were primitive, assistance from Earth had helped them become almost fully literate, even if their technology was only at an 18th-19th century Earth level in technology. The people there had no desire for advancement like Earth did and while the Book of Origin was used for evil; its teachings were not necessarily evil. With that as their moral baseline, their society progressed tremendously under Earth's careful guidance. It was Earth's dream to restore the Great Alliance to its former glory, but so far the Nox, last of the original Four Great Races, did not seem to be interested and Danny while was the last of the Alterra he had made it clear that the Ancients did not wish to return to the mortal plane. Earth had outpost in the galaxies of Ida and Othala, former Asgard territories, but they lacked stargates and the Terran government was not willing to expend the resources to build a fleet of seed ships and thousands of gates. They were also watching over the galaxy of Triangulum, a galaxy that housed a multitude of young races. They did not interact with them, but merely observed them.
Arriving on the bridge, Danny sat down in his command chair, the chair lighting up blue as it sensed its commander. The bridge was almost the same design as the Destiny's bridge, only the command chair was changed somewhat. The Infinity didn't need a crew, only a captain and the bridge reflected that. Flipping a few switches the bridge rose from its location on top of the tower. Though the bridge windows Danny could see the rainbow of colors as the Infinity sailed through space at FTL the same way the Destiny did. This was the preferred method of travel when exploring, since Hyperspace travel severally limited sensor accuracy and range.
A man holografically appeared next to Danny. He had black hair and dark brown eyes and was dressed in much the same Alterran style clothing as Danny.
"We are approaching the disturbance field" announced William
Danny hummed. This will be his first challenge.
"Is the Warp drive functional?" asked Danny
"Diagnostics conclude that it is" said William
There was no way of knowing just how big was the subspace distortion field was, only that it interfered with bought FTL and Hyperspace travel. Warp drive technology was considered to be a primitive way of FTL travel, but it did not rely on subspace to work, meaning that it would not be affected by the distortion field
"Good, I want all sensor systems at full power and scanning for anything that might be out there out there in subspace and normal space" ordered Danny
"Understood" replied William
A hum began to reverberate through the ship and Danny's vision was temporarily distorted while the Infinity dropped out of FTL, powering forward on sub-light drives alone
"We have entered the field" announced William
"Status of the ship?" asked Danny
"All systems appear to be functioning normally, subspace communications appear to be only marginally affected, but the tertiary strata of subspace, hyperspace, is completely disrupted. There appear to be other disruptions in a higher layer of subspace than hyperspace, but they are inconsistent. With careful mapping of these anomalies the FTL drive could be used again and with certain modifications to the hyperspace window generators I am sure that the hyper drive could be used again as well" said William
Danny was thoughtful. This was unexpected
"Deploy a probe and have it take station outside the distortion field. Power up the Warp drive" ordered Danny
Power coursed through the conduits of the Infinity as the Warp drive activated warping space-time into a bubble around the ship. In a blink of light and what appeared to be a massive amount of acceleration the Infinity sped away at 5 times the speed of light, a pitiful speed compared to what Danny was used to. The Infinity's intergalactic hyper drive could cross 30 light years in a second and her FTL 10 light years in a second. A warp drive would cross a light year in around about a month, more time than it took the first Daedalus to cross the distance between Earth and Lantea at the height of the Wraith War, a distance of several million light years.
It took several days to exit the field. All in all Danny expected to be traveling at Warp a bit longer than a few days. He continued for the next few weeks at warp until he reached the first viable solar system he could find that had the right kind of star to recharge.
Danny was one again on his bridge as he watched stars streak by only to stop as the ship dropped out of superluminal travel.
"William run a scan of the surrounding system and immediate area of space" ordered Danny
"Scans complete, it appears that your theory was correct; there are corridors of space where the distortion field that surround this galaxy does not exist. This system appears to be in one such location. I have detected subspace and EM radiation coming from what I assume to be an inhabited world. I will attempt to translate their language" said William
Danny nodded and mentally ordered the ship to engage the cloak. He didn't want hostile first contact with the natives while his ship was low on power in the main capacitors and low on fuel in the primary reactors. The course was set and the Infinity dived into the star at the center of the system, all under cloak and away from prying imperial eyes. Once the recharge process was complete, Danny took the Infinity into high orbit around the planet all under cloak.
"William, what do you think, should we initiate first contact?" asked Danny as he stared at the blue and brown planet bellow as the Infinity glided past commercial shuttles under cloak.
"I would advise against that. My sensors have detected weapons fire in the largest city on the surface and on numerous locations around the planet it would be best to get a feel for the world before initiating contact with the local government" said William
Danny nodded. The idea was sound, but he couldn't just stay in orbit until he figured it out.
"William scan the oceans, are there any deep enough spots that the Infinity could hide in and be invisible to sensors if powered down?" asked Danny
"Scanning… I have the coordinates for one such place, but there is no easy access from the mainland" said William
"That's for the best, I wouldn't want someone to discover the Infinity while I'm away" said Danny looking thoughtfully at the holographic representation of the planet
"Sir?" asked William unsure
"The best way to understand a culture is to walk among them. Scan the life forms on the planet" ordered Danny
"There are a multitude of alien species, but one of them appears to closely resemble humans and Alterrans" said William
Danny was surprised, but then again, the humanoid template was the preferred evolutionary path for mammals. The fact that a third race evolved to human form was surprising and slightly unsettling. How many other 'human' races were there in the universe that the Alterra and the Terrans never encountered?
Danny shook the thoughts from his head and piloted the ship to the planet's surface touching down in an ocean. The Infinity submerged shortly after her landing on the alien planet settling down on the ocean floor.
"It is done; we are on the ocean floor. All nonessential systems have been shut off only the cloak remains active" informed William
"Good, I want you to run every test you know of to determine what exactly is causing the subspace disturbances. I'll tackle their language and culture" said Danny as he walked out of the bridge and headed to one of the many science labs scattered thought the Infinity.
Lothal
Ocean floor
One month later
It had taken Danny a few days until the local language was translated and understood, but once that happened the floodgates opened. The Holo-Net as the locals called the galaxy spanning network proved to be a treasure trove of information. The first thing Danny noted about the galaxy's inhabitants was that they were organized into an empire. Surprising, but such form of organization was not uncommon even within the mostly democratic governments of the Milky Way galactic cluster. What did peak Danny's attention was the fact that slavery was tolerated within the Empire. This would be a great point of controversy if the Terran Federation ever opened diplomatic lines with the Empire and the Jaffa might even declare war. Slavery was still a sore spot for them, even after 300 years. The Empire was also xenophobic, with anyone that wasn't human regarded as second class citizens. The galaxy was divided into multiple sections. The planet Lothal, where the Infinity was landed, was part of the outer rim sector of space. Another point of interest for Danny was the transmissions of one Gall Trayvis. Danny could not say that he was happy when he found out that he was an Imperial loyalist that beamed transitions thought the outer rim providing rebels with false information and drawing them out for the empire to imprison.
That was another thing that had caught Danny off guard. The Empire was young, no more than 15 years old and the Republic that came before the Empire had known peace for a thousand years. The Empire was the exact polar opposite of the Republic, highly militaristic in nature and was for all intents and purposed a totalitarian regime. This would not bode well for any relations the Empire might have with the Terran Federation. One look at the empire and the Terran High Council would have flashbacks to the time when the Goa'uld still reigned supreme. Even so, there was a small spark of hope in the galaxy. A rebellion was rising and all thanks to a kid and his friends.
During his excursions on Lothal, Danny always went to a bar. Old Jho's it was called. Danny saw it for what it really was though, a place where rebel sympathizers could gather without too much fear that the Empire might be watching them. It was here in that bar that Danny spent hours drinking and probing the minds of the clients and the bartender. The drinks didn't really affect Danny all that much, as an Alterra he had a different constitution than the rest of this galaxy's humans, who were surprisingly even less evolved than the Terrans. To be fair though, the Terrans were the children of the Alterra and their evolution was somewhat jumpstarted by the Alterra and further advanced by Danny himself. What he found from the minds he probed was disconcerting. It was as Danny suspected, the Empire was a totalitarian regime that did not care for its citizens, though when searching all these minds, there was one piece of information that stood out from the rest. Danny saw that numerous people had witnessed other people fighting with energy swords. They appeared to hold the wielders of such weapons in high esteem. Knowing this Danny made sure to wrap his trench coat around him more tightly to hide the armor underneath and the energy blade he himself had.
The people of Lothal were lively, but that all changed when the message of hope was beamed across the galaxy. Danny saw how the Empire began to crack down on the planet and so he took refuge outside the city. Danny helped where he could, freeing people illegally imprisoned. The Empire's soldiers, Storm troopers as they were called tried to stop Danny, but their training was pathetic to the extreme. A single company of Terran soldiers supported by armor could overrun and take the planet from the imperials, but they could not hold it. The Empire simply had too many soldiers for that.
On another more positive note, Danny was informed by William of an amazing discovery. The subspace distortions that were the cause of the barrier around the Galaxy actually stopped the further in the galaxy one went. There were still certain areas that were distorted, but the great majority of the galaxy was free from distortions. Another amazing discovery made by William was a vast galaxy spanning subspace telepathic network. It appeared that every living being was connected to it in some way, and the creatures' native to Lothal appeared to have a strong connection to it. It was a discovery that would keep researcher busy for centuries. Danny attempted to connect to this vast network using the Drone Chair on board the Infinity and the subspace communications array. A connection was achieved but once inside Danny could feel the collective emotions of every living being on the planet. Such a vast amount of different emotions overwhelmed Danny's unprepared mind. He tried again, this time strengthening his mental shields. It was amazing. He could feel himself more powerful than he had ever been before, but he could also sense danger if he continued, so he gave it up until he could understand this network better.
It was a day like any other day when Danny went into the city to gather more information on the locals. It was late and Danny was using his personal cloak to move around, since a curfew was in effect. He was actually searching for the rebels that allegedly killed the prime minister of Lothal. Danny seriously doubted that was what really happened, because the picture he saw of them clearly showed that they were as shocked and surprised as every other citizen. Danny intended to provide aid to them because the Infinity's sensors had detected a blockade in orbit of Lothal. Danny could easily smuggle them off-world, the Empire had no sensors capable of penetrating Alterran cloaks and even if they did, the scans of their Star Destroyers, as they called them, showed them to be inferior to the Infinity in a 1v1 engagement. However, the rebels seemed to have gone to ground and the imperial network had no information of any use to Danny on them. So Danny was forced to use the age old method of looking around to find them.
That is when Danny felt a presence. It was odd. He could not fully connect to the network that linked all life within the galaxy, but this mind he felt as clearly as if he were just another Terran. However, something was wrong. The being emanating this presence was dark, evil. The ripples sent out made Danny feel sick. Such anger, such hate, it was almost unbearable. Danny slammed his shields around his mind, concealing himself from the world completely as he leapt onto the roof of a building and began running towards the place where he felt the disturbance.
Lothal
Shuttle landing bay
Kanan would never admit it, but he was afraid, for himself, for Ezra and for the crew. He stood in front of Ezra as the Sith Lord walked slowly forward and allowed a horde of storm troopers though the entrance to the landing platform. The troopers took positions behind some crates and began to exchange fire with the Ghost crew. Kanan charged the Sith lord in an attempt to buy some time for his friends, however Vader easily blocked all his attacks and humiliated him. Ezra, seeing Kanan go down attempted to fight the Sith lord, but Vader easily Force pushed him to the side and pinned him to a walker's leg, while slowly using the Force to push Ezra's light saber closer to his neck.
Seeing his padawan in danger, Kanan attempted to help him, but he was too late.
From the sky a figure dropped down, dressed in black and white armor and a black coat on top. He landed on the platform generating a ring of power around him that expanded in every direction making Vader stagger under the unexpected assault, breaking his concentration and allowing Ezra to retreat.
The Storm troopers fired at the unknown combatant. They expected him to fall dead to the ground. To their surprise, their blaster bolts hit an invisible barrier around the mysterious man, making it flare brilliant green. After a few seconds of firing, they stopped. Vader also stopped attacking, curious of the new arrival while Ezra and Kanan regrouped with the others.
"My turn" said Danny as his eyes turned white
Above them clouds gathered and lighting fell from the sky onto the enemy positions. The bolt of lightning intended for Vader was blocked by the latter's light saber, but the storm troopers weren't so lucky
"Impressive, you are quite powerful, but it is nothing compared to the power of the Dark Side" said Vader as he thrust his arm forward
Danny mimicked his motion, sending out his own wave of telekinetic energy. The two were locked in a power struggle as they bought used all their concentration and power to try beat the other.
Meanwhile, the Ghost crew was impressed and slightly frightened at the power Danny displayed.
"Kanan, what is he?" asked Ezra as he blocked blaster fire with his light saber
"I don't know, but I think he's on our side" answered Kanan
"Well, whatever he is, I hope he can take a blast" said Sabine as she threw some explosives at the walkers
The explosives blew up, breaking Vader's concentration for a bit allowing Danny to push him in the way of the falling walkers.
Danny turned around and prepared to leave when he heard the screeching of metal. Looking behind him Danny was surprised to see Vader lift the walkers and walk out without even a scratch on him. Vader ignited his light saber and began walking forward. Danny turned to meet him, if it was a fight he wanted, it was a fight he was going to get.
"If that doesn't kill him, what will?" asked Ezra panicked
"Not us, run!" said Kanan
Reaching into his coat, Danny pulled out his energy blade, the ancestral blade of House Phantom. Activating it, the blade ignited with a hiss bathing the surrounding area in silver light. The cross-guard blades ignited moments later. Again the entire landing pad was quiet as a grave as they stared at the light saber in Danny's hands.
Falling into a stance, Danny signaled Vader to come forth and fight. He obliged.
Red and silver clashed into one another as sparks flew of where the sabers touched the ground. Danny was good with an energy blade, but he did not have the same experience or practice at dueling as Vader, making Danny take a defensive stance in the fight. Even so, it was apparent that Vader was struggling against Danny, since he had yet to break his guard and kill him. The dance of blades continued until the two locked their blades together
"You are powerful. Join me and you will rule the galaxy by my side" offered Vader.
He had nothing to fear, the emperor would not overhear him, after all, all the storm troopers had been killed.
"I have no desire to ally myself with the likes of you" spat Danny
Vader remained staring at him for a while like he had just discovered something unexpected
"You do not use the Force" said Vader
Danny deduced that the 'Force' was the name this galaxy had given the subspace network linking all living beings
"I do not" replied Danny
"How is it that you are so powerful without the Force?" asked Vader out of sheer curiosity
Danny smirked "Ego sunt autem Anquietas"
Vader said nothing as he broke the blade lock and force pushed Danny back
"You will join the Empire or you will die" declared Vader
Danny smirked. He was laughing inside. Oh, how many fools must he dispatch before they realize that he will not bow down to anyone. A beeping noise grabbed Danny's attention. Looking down, he saw himself sitting on top of a grenade. Without a second thought Danny erected a shield around himself, but it was too late, the blast caught him before he could fully form his shield and while the personal shield generator he carried was good, the fighting with Vader and the blasts from the strormtroopers had drained the shield. It protected Danny from the worst of it, but Danny was flung backwards and into the shuttle, hitting his head and fading into uncountiousness.
Kanan watched the fight between the unknown man and the Sith lord. When he saw the grenade go off he attempted to force pull him out of harm's way, but he was to slow and he was flung inside the shuttle, hitting his head on the wall.
"Chopper, go!" yelled Kanan
The shuttle almost instantly departed and sped away. Sabine immediately went to Danny to check for injuries
"Sabine, how is he?" asked Hera
"Fine, I guess. Other than a minor concussion he'll be fine" said Sabine
Kanan picked up the light saber Danny dropped
"OK, I'm going to ask the big question here. What is he? And who is he?" asked Zeb
"I don't know, but he feels wrong" said Kanan, frowning
"What do you mean, wrong?" asked Sabine
"There is nothing, it's like the Force doesn't want to connect with him and yet he is powerful enough to fight a Sith Lord on his own. Then there's this light saber" said Kanan "It feels old, ancient even"
"Like the Jedi Temple?" asked Ezra
"Older and much more powerful than that" replied Kanan
"Whatever he is, we can discuss it later once we're with the fleet" said Hera as she turned to the ladder to go up to the cockpit
A/N: And cut! Hope you liked it. Leave a review with any thoughts or suggestions you might have.