STARGATE ANDROMEDA
EPISODE: 101
NEW BEGINNING
Written by, Lewis Green
Lieutenant Colonel Eli Thompson stood in the Briefing Room of the Stargate Command. He sat in one of the leather chairs that surrounded a long, red and black table.
"Well, well," General Landry said, stepping into the Briefing Room from the spiral stairway behind Eli. The General holds a cardboard box in his hands. "A Lieutenant Colonel now, huh? Congratulations."
"Thank you, Sir," Eli replied, saluting in his blue blazer, now decorated with a pin only a few get to where. The General lowered his hand, and so did Thompson, not wanting to look like an idiot. "Sir, if you don't mind my asking, I was told I was to lead a team, but they never said what team, and they also never said what for. Are we talking special ops? A squadron?"
The General laughed and set the cardboard box he was holding in his hands, on the table in the center of the room.
"Go ahead and open it," he said as Thompson made his way over to it. Thompson looked at it and just thought what could possibly be in a box that small. It looked like a small FedEx box. "Come on, Thompson, we're not gettin' any younger!" the General protested at Eli's silence.
"Uh... Yes, Sir." Eli opened up the box to find a smaller box on top of a tablet computer in a case. He picked up the, apparently very important, box and opened it. It contained a patch of the USAF Symbol. But, there were two more patches, one had an image of the planet Earth on it with a weird symbol lain over it, and one last patch, a circle with a chevron, the number 5 lain over. "Sir?"
"You're team is SG-5, Colonel."
"SG-5?"
General Landry chuckled a little and walked to a window covered, on the outside, by a blast door. Landry grabbed a small dial beside the large window, turning it. The blast door rose and Eli slowly walked to the window, and saw a giant ring...
Landry turned to see Eli, smiling. "SG-1 is our elite squad of explorers, our flagship team. It was originally comprised of Colonel Jonathan Jack O'Neill, Captain, at the time, Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, and an alien named Teal'C. After about eight years, Colonel O'Neill was promoted to Brigadier General, and made leader of this facility, Stargate Command, or the SGC, if you prefer. A year later, a new man was brought in to lead SG-5, Colonel Cameron Mitchell. The Colonel was brought into the SGC, a year after a skirmish with some enemy aliens in Antarctica. Over the year between the skirmish, and when the Colonel joined, he was recooperating from a crash in his plane. Then another alien named Valla Mal Doran. Later, COLONEL Samantha Carter was transferred to an offworld expedition just about half a year ago, the Atlantis Expedition. But that's just SG-1. You're here to lead SG-5"
"So... SG-5 is a team of space explorers too?"
"To put it in the most simplest of terms."
"And they travel through that thing?" Thompson asked, pointing at the large ring a floor down.
"Yes, it's called a Stargate."
"Stargate? Did we make it?"
"No, no, no. The Stargate is a device that creates artificial wormholes that allow you to travel through space, to thousands of worlds. They were created by a race known as the Alterans. They created a system of Stargates in our Galaxy, and the Pegasus Galaxy, as far as we know, spreading life, millions of years ago." Landry walked to the box and picked up the Tablet Computer from inside of it, and took off its case. "This is obviously a computer, but it is connected to the SGC's main database. It has mission reports, diagrams of most of the equipment we use, a portion of the database from Atlantis , and even a few sections on the Stargate itself."
Under the tablet was a uniform. It had places for the patches Thompson was given earlier.
"This is your SGC and offworld uniform. You will wear it under you Tac Vest and equipment during missions, and day-to-day life in the SGC."
"Command of what Sir?"
"I didn't promote you because I felt like it, Colonel. You're here to lead the new SG-5." Thompson looked up at the General and smiled like the General had before. The General returned the smile. They spent almost a minute doing a weird, awkward smile off, until Thompson's dropped.
"You're kidding, right Sir?"
"I'm dead serious, Colonel," replied Landry in a very serious tone.
"Sir, I just got here. Do you really think it would be a good idea to put a novice like me in a position of leadership?"
"Your file speaks for itself," the General said, "168 hours logged behind enemy lines."
"Now that was..."
"Was able to master the F-302's controls in a matter of days."
"It wasn't that different from the Raptor."
"You led several Black Op mission, all successful."
"OK, OK, I get it... Sir," Thompson interrupted, "but do you really think that I'm capable of THIS kind of command?"
"Has a hard time excepting promotion above other pears, even tries to bring self down to level his ego. You're file DEFINITELY didn't lie," the General replied in a slightly cheeky manner.
Thompson sat down and just thought. He remembered all the mission's he had led all across the world. He had thought his career would take a nose-dive, get boring, especially after being called to NORAD.
"Do you?" a voice said, breaking Eli's daydream.
"Sorry?" Eli replied, looking up at Landry.
"Do you except this position?" the General repeated.
Eli tried to think faster, knowing that this was an opportunity of a life time, and without listening to any of the disagreements in his mind, he stood up.
"Sir, I except the position as Commanding Officer of SG-5."
"Good. Now, there's plenty of things left to be done." General Landry began to make his way towards the spiral stairs.
"I'm almost afraid to ask, Sir." Eli said, following the General to the spiral stairway.
Landry turned around, still smiling. "Well, Colonel, it's time to assemble your team."
Landry left the Briefing Room with Thompson still following.
The two walk through the Control Room, took a right, stepped down a set of concrete steps, and down the hall.
"Sir, I know I've been here for almost," Thompson cut off, looking down at his watch, "five minutes or so, and should probably know all this, but I haven't got the slightest clue of who would be qualified to be on a team for missions like these. I don't think I'm even qualified, I mean, missions across the Galaxy?!" Thompson waved his hands in front of himself, like a mobster.
"And then some. Thompson, you only need to take a look at a few files for a few hours is all," Landry replied.
"With all do respect, Sir, I just wouldn't know who to pick."
Landry turned around and looked at Thompson.
"Colonel, I'm not gonna lie to you, this isn't gonna be an easy job, you're inexperienced in interstellar travel. Hell, who is?! But the past two leaders of SG-1 started out in your exact position."
"I was just a Major until a day ago, Sir," Thompson pointed out.
Landry stopped and turned to look at Eli. "Everyone starts somewhere." General Landry studied Eli for a few seconds. "All it takes is some seasoning."
"OK, er... Yes, Sir."
The two made their way down the hallway.
Thompson sat on the bed in his new quarters. The SGC was larger than he thought, and it took him about an hour to find his quarters.
Thompson looked down at the floor, seeing five boxes of files. Each box was filled to the edges with files on SGC-Personnel and other US Air Force soldiers who maybe eligible for a spot on Eli's team.
Thompson picked up a hand full of folders and began reading. One caught his eye particularly. Eli reads the file aloud.
"Major James Redford, male, previously stationed on SG-4. Skilled in stealth operations, shows great ability to command, helped to bring down the first Ori Beachhead. Ori?" Eli reads on. "Has a problem with authority. Mm... Whatever, sounds good," Eli concluded, setting the file aside. Eli grabbed another handful of files and found yet another that caught his eye. He read that one aloud as well.
"Major Rachel Fisher, female, previously stationed on Atlantis. What the hell is Atlantis?"
Eli grabbed his Tablet computer and performed a search on Atlantis. He became quickly confused and discouraged by all the information that was given, and decided to let it be.
"Skills, aerial, ground, and space combat. Extreme knowledge in Aeronautics and Astronautics. A degree in Engineering. Fluent in one dialect of Ancient, written and spoken. Vast knowledge of the Pegasus Stargate System."
Thompson had absolutely no idea what a Pegasus Stargate System was. An inquiry for that Tablet Landry gave him, that's what it was.
Thompson picked up one last handful of files, taking one out in particular.
"Doctor Carl Rite, civilian, male. Previously stationed at the Alpha Site's R&D section. Excellent knowldege of off-world alien materials and lifeforms. Skilled in two Goa'uld dialects."
Eli thought it over, and opened the application on his Tablet of one, Doctor Daniel Jackson. Apparently, Rite had studied quite a bit with one, Daniel Jackson.
Thompson noticed that the file he had just read, was the last file he needed. He thought hard about it, and looked over the files again.
After long a long moment of thought, Eli concluded that he would much rather have a, "do whatever soldier," that can keep him from being shot with a laser or something, than a polished one that could get him killed through protocol. Thompson thought if he was making the right choice with that, but he figured that this would be a good way to go for now, he's just a candidate anyway.
As he picked up a pile the files he chose, he thought long and hard about what he was getting himself into. Eli lies down, and stares into space.
It was morning in Cheyenne Mountain, the day after Eli began his search for a team.
Eli was escorted from his quarters and to General Landry's office. Eli watches his back as he moves through the crowded halls of the SGC.
"Colonel!" called Landry from his office. The hall between Eli and Landry was very crowded, Thompson was just struggling to keep from running into someone.
After a few seconds of apologies for fallen boxes and documents, Eli made it to the General's office.
"Sir, I think I've decided on a few choice candidates for my team," Eli said, in an almost nervous voice, noticing that the President himself, and several senators were staring at him when he stepped into the General's office..
"Excellent, send them Walter's way, and he'll have them here within a few hours," the General said, noticing Thompson's nervousness.
"Mr. President," Eli saluted.
"Nice to finally meet you Colonel Thompson," he replied.
Thompson turned around and nodded to the senators.
Walter stepped into the General's office a few seconds after getting paged on the intercom attached to Landry's desk. Eli handed the 3 files to him.
"I think we should get set up in the briefing room. I'm sure the candidates will want to get started sooner, rather than later with this interview," the General said, easing the tension yet again.
The group walked up the spiral stairway from the Stargate Control Room.
"General," Eli asked to catch General Landry's attention, "Sir, with all do respect, why is the President and the IOA here?"
"You already know about the IOA?"
"Yes, Sir. I found out about them when I did a search on Atlantis."
"Well done. They're here to interview you as well."
"Why do they wanta interview me, Sir?"
General Landry leaned over, as not to be heard by the government authorities in the Briefing Room.
"Not so much of an interview, as an observation," Landry said in a hushed tone.
The two made their way up the staircase, leaving Eli more nervous than before.
Several hours had passed since Thompson came to the briefing room, he had finished setting up all the things he needed for the interviews and had to use all his willpower just to keep from falling asleep.
Eli suddenly came back to the world of the awake when the Stargate suddenly activated, sending a large blast of blue from the inside of the ring. A wall of metal suddenly filled in the opening of the ring, starting from the outer-rim and ending at the center.
Thompson ran down to the Control Room and took a look at all the active equipment and technicians running around.
"Cool..." Thompson whispered to himself.
"Receiving Atlantis base IDC," a random technician called to Thompson.
"Uh, a what?" Thompson replied.
Landry suddenly came from the concrete steps to Eli's right, ready to give orders.
"Open the iris..." Landry said to the technician.
"Yes, Sir"
"Are you ready Colonel? Your candidates are all starting to come on through the gate, so soon too!" Landry said to Thompson.
"Yes, Sir, so soon..." Thompson said tiredly. The iris opened, revealing the blue event horizon again. After a few seconds, a woman walked through with two Marines.
"I take it that's Rachel Fisher, Sir?" Eli asked Landry.
"Right, just one of the 3 candidates however," Landry replied.
Thompson started to immediately regret picking 3 people.
The blue puddle in the gate grew very bright and then disappeared. The Major was led out one of the blast doors and into the hallway by the gate room.
The chevrons on the Stargate all glowed at once with a loud noise, like a door slamming, and a light blue burst of energy flew from the gate. Several other candidates had already arrived, some were already at the SGC, Major James Redford was already waiting with Rachel. Two bodies emerged from the gate right before it shut down, Doctor Carl Rite and a Marine. Carl was wearing a shirt with a patch similar to Thompson's SG-5 patch, except it had a 4 placed where the 5 was supposed to be. The Doctor was a bit thin, with a kind of excited look on his face.
"Doctor Carl Rite, Archaeologist," Landry said to Eli, "he's the last to arrive."
"Yes, Sir. Should we get started then?" Thompson replied.
"Might as well, the IOA is getting a little impatient," Landry said, looking almost concerned.
Thompson and Landry walked up the spiral steps yet again to the briefing room. Thompson sat down and Landry headed to his office where he, the President, and the IOA observed him through the tactical map, printed on the glass separating Landry's office from the Briefing Room, listening to the interviews via a microphone.
After a few seconds, Eli sat down and the Airman brought in the first candidate.
"And if you take a look at my file, you'll see that I've spent a year in the SGC, previous to my stationing at the Alpha Site," Doctor Rite pointed out to Thompson.
"Well, everything looks good, I'll definitely consider you," Eli replied, showing the Doctor out.
Thompson took a deep breath, 3 exhausting interviews in a row.
Eli turned to the airman at the door.
"Do you wanta change jobs with me?"
The Airman shakes his head frantically, definitely not wanting the job.
Eli sighs, "right."
Thompson, exhausted, walked into Landry's office and handed him the three files of the candidates he approved, and headed home.
Thompson had just come back with his team on their second mission, another reconnaissance mission of the plant life on M4S-912. It had been five days since he had approved these people to be on his team.
Thompson turned to look at his team, "great job, you guys!"
"The plant life of M4S-912 is always so fascinating, Sir," Major Redford said sarcastically to Eli. The two chuckled and the four made their way to their debriefing with Landry.
Landry greeted them with an urgent look on his face.
"Sir, everything OK?" Thompson asked.
"We have a problem SG-5. A minor Gould, who recently just come into some power, he's found a lab that the Alterans built to battle the Wraith from the Milky Way."
Eli didn't look too concerned about this, yet he was still ready to take action.
"What is he going to do with all of those weapons?" Rachel asked?
Landry's face looked grave. "He's going to amass an army, and come to take Earth..."
To Be Continued...