When the new German 304 Wunder starts undergoing some drastic changes, one man feels drawn to it, like a moth to a flame.
Nevada. Desolate. Almost lifeless. Many of the numerous creatures and plant life that lived there would disagree. But by human terms, it was virtually inhospitable. For the inhabitants of the air conditioned Area 51 facility, this was not true.
As always, there was a lot of conspiracy surrounding the site. Whilst the US Government continued to deny the base's existence (something they knew was completely stupid, since it could and had been seen), civilians continued to see UFO's, strange aircraft and mysterious columns of smoke rising from the desert. In that general direction. The Government could deny as much as it liked. Because all these conspiracies were completely true.
The UFO's were captured Goa'uld death-gliders and Al'Kesh. The strange aircraft were F-302 space superiority fighters and the recent column of smoke was caused by tow alien spacecraft from another galaxy crashing into the base. Of course, none of this ever happened. Though not long afterwards, the Navy cordoned off a hefty area of San Francisco Bay and at least 100 people, including a high profile senator had gone missing across the country at the same time. Many people, such as the Japanese, were wondering why all this fancy alien stuff (at least that was what was expected) was happening there and not their own nation.
But Shio Ikryo was happy it was happening here and not Japan. He didn't want to find that a rogue Ha'tak had gone and landed on top of Hakone's largest skyscraper. Then again, he was in the country all this stuff was occurring in, so it was win-lose. Hooray, Japan is safe! Booooo, Ikryo-san is not.
But working 50 metres underground, working on the latest BC-304 Daedalus class battle-cruiser, had its perks. Following China's acquisition of the Sun Tzu (ironically, nearly lost in combat as it's Russian cousin had been), it was decided to have a far larger multi-national team working on extra-terrestrial affairs. That included building the warships needed to blow them up. At least one representative from each country around the world had a part in the Stargate program. Even the shady African dictatorships and North Korea had someone in it. So here was one of 200 Japanese men and women currently working in the United States, doing something that had been spawned by the Stargate program. Shio was the only one helping build Earth's space-borne fleet.
This was number eight and only the third 304 given to a foreign nation. It had been gifted to the Germans, much to the chagrin of the United Kingdom who wanted a new HMS Invincible and the North Koreans who wanted to call it something like Emperor Wong Il-Sung Kun diddly-dong. Or something like that. Who knew?
The Germans, however, thought the vessel was wondrous creation. So, aptly, they named it Wunder.
No-one was to know how much of a recipe for disaster this was.
7th July, 2009
Seven months after destruction of Wraith Super-Hive
"I want a status update Specialist. I wanted it five minutes ago" the General was not one you wanted get on the nasty side of. Hell, even when he was being nice, he was sarcastic and rude. But underneath the mean mush, was a rock-solid, combat hardened veteran who had gone up against several hostile alien races as well as having assisted in destroying the Replicators and undermining two Goa'uld System Lords, if not more.
"But General O'Neill," Ikryo responded, looking around the room nervously, "You didn't ask me five minutes ago."
The General sighed, "Shio, the Germans want their ship in the air very soon. If it isn't ready by next week, they have assured me that their most ruthless ambassador will come over here and personally tear the head off the guy in charge. And guess who that is Shio?" The look on O'Neill's face was one of wide-eyed expectancy, as if the Japanese man knew the answer.
Ikryo shuffled a bit. He didn't
"Me, Sir?"
O'Neill's face fell, "No you idiot, ME. I don't want to get blasted to pieces by an angry German man. An angry German woman is even worse. So imagine their surprise if they come along to chew me up and I tell them that their precious battle-cruiser is ready?"
If a point was being conveyed, Shio got it. If there was one.
"The Wunder is pretty much ready to go Sir. There was some concern over the prototype bio-circuitry, but everything in the pre-tests checks out."
"So it's ready?"
"Well 99 percent ready, but-"
"That's good enough!" O'Neill proclaimed triumphantly, "I'll get on the horn to them straight-away! Thank God I won't get any Germans chewing my ass off over this damn ship!"
Alas, Ikryo's cries of protest went unheard. He knew the General. Not as well as his old team, but well enough.
This was not like him. Not like him at all.
Now that the German battle-cruiser was ready (or wasn't), the workforce covered up all the workings, finished the last little tid-bits and then cheered at having finished another ship. But Shio wasn't cheering. As he left the facility, his depressed gait got him noticed by his co-workers. But no-one asked him what was up. They all just assumed he liked building the ship and was sad it was over for the next few months as the build-yard was prepared to build the next one.
If only they knew how he felt.
City-Ship Atlantis, San Francisco Bay
Shio Ikryo was a loner. That wasn't to say he didn't get around. He had been deployed to Atlantis once, back when Wier was in command. He had left soon after the destruction of the warship Orion, as he realised where he was really needed. Earth was still very much at threat.
Now it wasn't though. Although Atlantis now resided back on the planet it was built, there was still a presence in the Pegasus galaxy. Daedalus was still there and as luck would have it, a fifth Ancient warship had been recovered. In a much more favourable condition to Orion. It already had a name: Galaxis. Sheppard called it 'pretty neat'.
Still, Shio decided to go back to Atlantis, since it was right on his doorstep. It had taken a cloaked Jumper and a faked accident to get him over there, but in the end it was all worth it.
"Hey, Ikryo! Long time no see!" The brown haired Japanese man looked away from the view of San-Fran'. He smiled warmly at the sight of Jon Sheppard standing at the doorway of the viewing balcony.
"How did you know it was me?"
"Who else used to stand here, alone, on this particular balcony, at this time of day?" Sheppard laughed. Ikryo pretended to be in deep thought.
"I don't know. Some Ancient called Lancelot perhaps?" The two men burst out laughing, "Good to see you again, John. It has indeed been a while."
After a while, Shio told Sheppard what had happened with the German ship and how O'Neill handled it. Needless to say, he was concerned.
"Ninety-nine percent? I dunno. Such a small margin of error. Who's to say it won't go wrong?"
Shio took a look around, hooking his head over his shoulder, before returning his gaze to Sheppard. John could tell by the man's expression that it was serious stuff.
"Look, Sheppard. I shouldn't be telling you this. The Germans insisted that some new experimental circuitry be implemented. Bio-circuitry." The military man looked questionable.
"I dunno. I'm sure it's not Wraith stuff, but I can tell you're worried about it, but so were we when we first activated the Stargate. Vibrated so much, people thought it might be a bomb and was going to explode."
Shio grinned. Yeah, perhaps he was over-reacting. All the tests had checked out fine, so surely everything was going to be just that: fine.
"Arigato Sheppard. I feel much better now."
"Glad I could help," John said, a smile in his voice, "I've gotta go now. Nice to see one of the old gang again. Well, except McKay perhaps." The two shared a laugh at that.
"Sayonara, John."
"Good-bye Shio."
Earth Ship Wunder, Hyperspace, en route to Alpha Base
Three Weeks Later. Her crew had arrived. She had been launched. She had been tested. Now she was on her shakedown cruise.
Oberleutnant Schreiber winced as the ship groaned once again. He had been expected the odd creak here and there, but this was a bit over the top. But, rest assured, she would get used to the stresses of hyperspace and the groaning would stop. That would be a relief. It kept him up at night.
"Herr Leutant?" Schreiber turned in his command chair, seeing one of the engine techs.
"Yes?"
The Hyperspace core has begun giving off erratic readings. It appears that one of the Primary connector relays has come loose, Mein Leutnant. I suggest we drop out of hyperspace until we can properly diagnose the error."
Schreiber thought over it for a moment, before giving the Tech a curt nod.
"Done. FeldWebel, bring us out-" He didn't finish that order.
The ship suddenly screamed in protest, dropping out of hyperspace on its own. Lights flickered and alarms sounded, all but drowned out by the high-pitched wail of the ship.
"What the HELL is going on?"
"Structural Deformation, Mein Leutnant! The hull and internal structure have warped. The ships emergency systems pulled the Primary Hyperspace Connections!" The ear-shattering sound abruptly stopped. The bridge crew (and everyne else on the ship) stopped holding their ringing ears.
"Damage report!"
"Structural Damage in main hull. Engineering has evacuated. No major systems compromised."
"Except the hyperspace core."
"Jawohl, Mein Leutnant."
"Alright. Here's what we're going to do. Send a message to Alpha Base, inform them of our situation. Then I want engineering inhabited again. Get the Core back online and then we will continue our journey. I want it done as of half a second ago and counting."
"Jawohl!"
Engineering. Where the hell was Engineering. She ought to know, she worked there. Alas, Natalia was lost. And she went to the Himmeldamnt place everyday.
Of course, that wasn't the only problem. The bright, clean corridors that were a trademark of 304's had changed. They had darkened considerably, become straighter and there were computer bays to each side, at equal distances, bathed in red light. Wunder had changed considerably. As hard to believe as it was, there was no way to engineering. It had been completely erased.
Schreiber was not going to like this. Not one little bit.
789456123
And that concludes the first chapter of my latest story. Stargate and Evangelion was quite novel to me and I couldn't afford to not pass it up.
For any longtime subscribers, I have some news.
Fanatic (formerly futafanatic) will not be writing anymore stories for this account. He is moving over to AFFN and will work there.
The aforementioned OBLIVION Project mentioned in The Transom Ch.1 will not be happening. I loved the movie, but I decided it doesn't need an alternative story-line of what I thought it might have been. Maybe in the future, but not now.
Battlestar Galactica crossover with Homeworld is coming. Slowly. It will take a while to perfect. First chapters were never my strong point.
I also have created a schedule. I hope to update weekly. At the downside of it being just one story. If you are lucky, two.
It goes as such:
Sisterly Bonds
DALS (Defilement of Asuka Langley Soryu)
The Transom
Mind Break (provisional)
Wunder
However, now that this is online, I am going to take a break from Fanfiction. A proper break. There are several things I need to finish off on DeviantArt. I have an audience there too you know.
If you're interested in any DA stuff, find me, my username is Weldit.
That's all for now. Ta-Ra!
