Title: Uninvited Guests

Genre: Drama
Author: Phoenix Fangor
Summary: Destiny drops out of FTL and an incoming wormhole raises a number of questions for her crew.
Pairings: Rush/OC
Rating: T

A big thank you to my beta readers TheSoliloquy and Anne McSommers.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything besides the plot, and Callista.

Destiny glided through FTL majestically. The ship hummed with a comfortable and lulling vibration. When the ship rocked momentarily, it was barely perceptible by most of the crew. Doctor Rush sat in the command center, researching the ancient systems, when he felt the ship's subtle change and the console next to him lit with red warning symbols. Moments later, the ship dropped out of FTL. He was startled to see the console glow with additional warnings of an incoming wormhole.

"Doctor Rush to Colonel Young," he said over the radio, his voice even.

"Young here," the Colonel replied.

"The wormhole is an incoming wormhole. It is very important you not send anyone or anything through."

"Affirmative," the Colonel replied.

Rush made his way quickly to the gate room, ignoring questions from many inquisitive crew members. Eli fell into step behind him, asking him questions.

"There is an incoming wormhole," he replied simply.

"That's weird," Eli commented.

"Quite."

They entered the gate room to see an open wormhole. Several marines were ready with firearms pointed towards the gate. From the bluish vertical pond emerged a young woman carrying a small back pack. She was petite, pale, and had mousy brown hair. She wore a girlish tee, modest jeans and sneakers.

Upon seeing the marines she stopped abruptly, holding her hands in the air in caution. Her eyes were wide with surprise and confusion.

"Who are you?" asked the Colonel, "Where did you come from?"

"Colonel Young?" she asked slowly, even more confused. "Everett? You don't recognize me?"

"No. Should I?" he said, bristling at the use of his name in such a casual way.

She looked around slowly. The wormhole suddenly closed behind her, and everyone jumped a little in surprise.

"Doctor Rush, you don't recognize me?" she asked, looking at the older scientist.

"No. Who are you? How did you initiate an incoming wormhole?" he asked sternly.

"Doctor Callista Young, assistant to Doctor Nicholas Rush, niece of Colonel Everett Young. I dialed the gate because I was bringing back some 'yams' for study," she said, fingering air quotes around the word yams.

"You were already off world? Who was with you?" the Colonel asked.

"What is this, some kind of mass psychosis? You're the one who sent us," she said. She put her right hand on her hip, and shifted her weight from one leg to the other, running her left hand through her matting hair. A ring on her left thumb caught the light and glinted.

"Where'd you get that ring?" Doctor Rush asked, gently grabbing her left wrist with his own left hand. This caught her attention more than any thing else thus far. Her eyes were wide with confusion and fear. She stood completely still, staring Doctor Rush in the eye for a long while.

"A friend," she breathed finally, "for good luck, and safe keeping."

"I see…" he said. He let go of her wrist and turned away. "She's from an alternate reality."

"I am?" she asked quietly.

"No one else has a ring like this, it was custom-made," he said quietly, just loud enough for her and the Colonel to hear.

"Then, how do I get back?" she asked. "How did I even get here? What about the rest of the team still on the planet? And why is the countdown red?" She pointed to the countdown clock on the wall, which read a little over 18 hours.

"That's bloody strange," Doctor Rush said, looking back at her.

"You, Doctor Young," the Colonel said, "What kind of assistant are you?"

"What do you mean? My qualifications? I'm a quantum physicist and a linguist. I wrote that Prometheus game puzzle," she said quickly, beginning to ramble. She began to fidget and it was clear that nerves were starting to get the better of her.

"Good. Help Doctor Rush and Eli fix the star gate so you can go home," Colonel Young said simply.

"Okay then…" she said reservedly but, when the Colonel gestured towards the control console on the far wall, she walked over, shrugged off her back pack and leaned over Doctor Rush's shoulder.


Doctor Rush had left to retrieve his notes from the command centre.

"So, Callie, does it get awkward with the Colonel being your uncle?" Eli asked.

"Oh, does it ever!" she said with a smile. "I'm stuck between his ego and Doctor Rush's, and sometime it's downright suffocating. Somehow they have managed though."

"They don't hate each other?"

"I get to play referee a lot. I'm that role between the extra brainy, who can explain it to the layman. Relieves some of the tension, I think…" she said thoughtfully.

"Are you really wearing his ring?" Eli asked quietly.

"How rude?" she gasped.

"Yes, how rude, indeed, Eli," Doctor Rush said, turning the corner with his notebook in hand.

"Found what you were looking for?" Callie asked Doctor Rush.

"Yes, I have. If we can access the gate controls deeply enough, we should be able to tap into the black hole we passed just before we dropped out of FTL."

"The black hole is what connected our two universes?" Callie asked. "That would explain that white hole we saw from the planet."

"You have white holes?" Eli asked quizzically.

"You don't? They just look like really big stars."

"Well, this is all really very fascinating, but a little assistance would be helpful," Doctor Rush snarked.

"Yes, well, I've gone into the controls only so far as to shut down the gate when Colonel Telford had it in his head to blow up the ship trying to dial Earth through the gate…" Callie sighed.

"Truly? That's bloody brilliant. Why didn't you say so?" Doctor Rush exclaimed, an edge of stress coming through.

"These controls are kind of different, that's why. It's like a different dialect of Ancient or something. I'm struggling to comprehend it all, to be perfectly honest," Callie said, shrugging.


Hours had passed with little progress. The crew was becoming restless, as the ominous red numbers continued to count down.

"Listen, Doctor Rush," Callista said, being as respectful as she could. She felt like she was starting all over with someone she had known for years. It was awkward and confusing, and she felt a bit she was walking on eggshells. "I'm feeling a bit dizzy…" she continued, "I'm just going to go down to the mess hall, and get something to eat. Do you want anything?"

"I can get stuff if you want," Eli offered.

Callista had been leaning on the console for quite some time, and when she pushed off, she stumbled a bit. Her equilibrium was off, and she could see her vision going black. "Help—" she yelped as she fell to the floor, passing out.