Final Decision
Author's Notes: I would like to thank everyone involved with the Stargate franchise for the many hours of entertainment over the years and would like to thank my friends and family for their encouragement. This story is broken up into chapters, but since it's a retelling of the episode Earth, some of the chapter breaks might be a little awkward. Please review and let me know what you think.
Disclaimer: All characters and situations originating with SGU are not mine and will never be mine. I would also like to give credit to the people on who write the transcripts on Gateworld.
Over the past few weeks, Melissa Mitchell, Earth scientist aboard the Alteran ship Destiny had experienced fear many times, but this seemed to be the biggest one yet. She was being hauled to the Gate Room with a knife at her throat by Saunders and Williams, the two men who had almost raped her three weeks before. The person who had allowed this was Colonel Telford, an officer who had come from Earth to conduct a test which would determine the viability of harvesting enough power from the sun for dialing the stargate back to Earth as the Destiny was billions of light years away from Earth. Since the ship was so far away, the only form of communication was by using something called a communication stone which enabled the user to switch minds with someone at the other end.
At the moment, Telford inhabited the body of Melissa's fiancée Colonel Everett Young, and he had taken particular pleasure in using it to terrorize her over the past several hours. Only two things had kept her sane—feeling the kicking inside her five month pregnant body and feeling the empathic link that she shared with Everett, which surprisingly enough she could still feel even though his mind was so far away. When they reached the Gate Room, Telford pushed her up to the console where Dr. Nicholas Rush, lead scientist of the group, and Dr. Dale Volker were standing and harshly said, "Tell me if the math is right on this." While she was looking at it, she heard Telford say to Williams and Saunders, "Once we get through to Earth, Young is never going to find her, and when her kid is born, we'll mail it back to him in cut-up pieces." The other two laughed, and at that point, Melissa knew her life and her baby's life were worth nothing if this plan worked.
She looked back at the screen and said, "Sure, everything looks great," although she had instantly spotted several calculation errors. Telford started to drag her back to stand with him and the others when Rush, who had seen the knife and had heard what had been said, remarked, "Colonel Telford, it would be handy to have someone who understands the math for this ready to do additional calculations if necessary. I could use Dr. Mitchell's help."
"That's fine," said Telford who pushed Melissa back towards the console. Dr. Rush helped her regain her footing and gave her a slight nod of reassurance. As they waited for the ship to start repowering, Melissa's mind went back in time to when this whole mess had started.
Twenty-Four Hours Earlier
Melissa and Everett were sitting in the Mess with several members of the crew who had become advisors and good friends since they had come to the Destiny. They were discussing the plan that Homeworld Command had come up with to bring the crew of the Destiny home. Eli Wallace explained, "The ship doesn't have enough power to dial back to Earth and—as we've seen recently—when the ship runs out of juice, it finds a star and refills its tanks. Now, theoretically, at that time, the full power of the star should be available to us."
"You're talking about star power," said Sergeant Greer.
"Yeah, it's brilliant…If we can somehow use the ship as a conduit and channel the star's energy into the gate as we dial."
Lieutenant Scott said, "That would do it."
Melissa said, "The problem with this is the 'whole ship as a conduit' part."
"Well, does anyone know when the ship will run out of power again?" asked Lieutenant Johansen, who was also known as TJ.
"It's tough to tell," replied Eli. "Based on current usage, it'll probably be several months."
At a nearby table, Sergeant Riley and Adam Brody had been listening to the conversation. Brody said, "Not if we can drain the power faster."
"Right!" said Eli, "That's the part of the plan that sounded a little vague."
"It's possible," said Riley.
Scott asked, "So you guys are saying you're all for this?"
"Let's see what Rush says," said Brody.
The colonel stood up and said, "I'm going there now to talk to him." Melissa left with him, and they headed for the Control Room where Camille Wray was also waiting. Young and Wray explained the plan to Rush who was not real enthusiastic. "Well, given how little we know about the ship…"
"Can't we at least try it, and abort if something goes wrong?" asked Wray.
"Well, unfortunately, the "something goes wrong" part would most likely mean the ship exploding."
Young said, "The people who came up with the idea don't seem to think so, but I don't think they know for sure either."
"You're right, Colonel, science is not as definitive as some people would like it to be. You're just gonna have to choose who you want to believe."
"Alright, I'm supposed to go back tomorrow and let them know our decision. See you in the morning." Everett and Melissa headed out of the Control Room and walked back towards their quarters. When they arrived, he turned to her and asked, "Sweetheart, how do you feel about this?"
"Honestly, Ev, I'm not sure if the science behind this has been thoroughly researched. From what you've told me, I really think there's an underlying agenda that goes beyond getting the crew back to Earth. I also know that we still need to pretend to find a way back to Earth as we don't want anyone to know about the Alteran ship that's supposed to be meeting us or about our background. And maybe this last part is just pregnancy hormones, but I have a feeling that something really bad is about to happen." She choked out a small sob as she turned towards the bed.
"Oh, baby, come here." Ev took her in his arms, and they gave each other a long hug. "Listen, if you feel like that, I'll tell them we need to research it some more. That'll make Rush happy."
"Thank you, Ev."
"You're welcome. Oh, I talked with Mac earlier. He's going to look after you while I'm gone tomorrow. Hopefully, I won't be gone long."
"I appreciate that." Missy thought for a second about asking this next question, but then decided Ev would want her to have peace of mind. "Hey, I have one other favor to ask of you."
"What's that, Babe? If I can do it, I will."
"You're going to think I'm silly, but sometimes I get nervous that I'm not going to be sure it's you when you come back from using the stones so I was wondering if we could have some kind of signal."
Ev lifted her chin up to face him and said, "Missy, you are not being silly. What did you have in mind?"
"Something real simple—just between us." She formed her hand into the deaf symbol for 'I love you.' "Have you even seen this? It's the deaf symbol for 'I love you'."
"Yes, I have. It's perfect." He leaned over and kissed her. "We should get ready for bed. Tomorrow will be here before we know it." The two of them undressed down to their underclothing and got in the bed where Ev put a protective arm around Melissa. "Good night, sweetheart. I love you."
"I love you too."
When they woke up the next morning, Everett, still sensing Melissa's nervousness, gently made love to her. After they finished, he cuddled her in his arms and told her, "Listen, Missy, I'm not going to be gone any longer than an hour. Then Chloe and Eli are going to visit their families, and I'm coming back to mine, ok?" He touched her belly and said, "Angel, I have an assignment for you. Take care of Mama until I come back. Can you do that?" They both felt the answering kicks in response. "I guess she accepted the assignment. Do you feel better, Missy?"
Smiling, she said, "Yes, I do, Ev. You always know the right thing to say to me." She looked at her watch and said, "I guess we should get ready." They both put their uniforms back on, and Ev helped her lace up her boots.
As he was finishing, the door chime rang. It was Mac who said, "Morning, Sir. Morning, Melissa."
They both greeted him warmly. When Melissa walked back to the bathroom to finish brushing her hair, Young took Mac aside and said, "I really appreciate you doing this."
"Naah, not a problem. Remember, she's like my sister. Anything in particular you want me to do?"
"Yes, make sure she eats, and if Telford is the one who comes, keep her away from him. Also, she is very nervous about this for some reason. If you can figure out a way to distract her, then that would be great too."
"Consider it done, Sir."
"Thanks, Lieutenant." Ev called out to Missy, "Time to go, Babe."
"Alright, I'm coming." She walked out of the bathroom, and the three of them headed towards the communication room. When they got there, they saw Chloe and Eli who were waiting for them. After they had greeted each other, Young asked, "Can you guys give us some privacy for a minute?" He took Melissa a little further down the hall. "I think I'll say good-bye out here." He took her in his arms, kissed her, and said, "Remember everything I told you, Missy, and especially this…" He formed his hand into the deaf symbol for 'I love you.'
Forming her hand into the same symbol, Missy said, "Be careful, sweetheart. See you in a little while." They walked back to the group, and after Missy said good-bye to Chloe and Eli, she and Mac headed for the Mess to get breakfast.
Meanwhile, Colonel Young, Eli, and Chloe had walked into the communication room where Sergeant Riley was waiting. As Eli looked nervously at the table, Chloe said, "Nothing to worry about. It doesn't hurt at all."
"Do I look worried?" asked Eli.
"A little."
Riley piped up, "My family thinks I'm on sabbatical in Africa."
Eli turned towards him and asked, "So, when it's time to come back, what do I do? Click my heels three times?"
"There's no way for you to disconnect the transmission yourself," replied Riley. "The base needs to be manually shut down. There's a device on the other side as well, and turning either off will sever the connection."
"That's pretty cool."
"Easiest way to swap consciousness with someone across the universe I've ever seen."
Young asked, "Are we ready to do this?" When the others nodded, the three of them picked up their stones and put them onto the base. The footage from the kino that Eli had left running still showed their bodies as being there, but the bodies had now been taken over by Telford and the two scientists he had brought with him. (Drs. Williams and McCormack) On Earth, Young, Eli, and Chloe had taken over Telford, Williams, and McCormack's bodies. Eli was getting used to the sensations of being in a new body and said, "Wow, check me out!" as he saw his new image on a screen across the room. When he turned away from the screen, he shook his head and said, "This is really weird. The people we're in can't hear us, can they?"
Chloe replied, "No, they can't."
"I wonder what they're doing with our bodies," said Eli. He chuckled nervously, but Young, remembering what had happened the last time Telford had been to the ship, was hoping that Mac was keeping Melissa far away from him.
A young lieutenant cleared his throat, "Colonel Young, General O'Neill would like to see you in his office. Mr. Wallace, Miss Armstrong, if you would please stay here until we come back." The three nodded affirmatively in response to him, and the two officers headed out of the room.
Meanwhile on the Destiny, Colonel Telford has asked Lieutenant Scott to bring Dr. Rush to see him. Once the two had come back, Telford said, "I'll just get right to it. I've been ordered to enact the rescue plan put forward by the IOA."
"Rescue plan?" asked Rush.
"I don't understand," said Scott.
Telford continued, "I brought Doctors McCormack and Williams with me." He turned to Rush and said, "I believe you know them."
"Yes."
"I've already set them to work."
Scott asked, "What about Colonel Young?"
Telford replied, "Effective immediately, I'm assuming command of the Destiny."