Stargate Millennium: Abyss

by StargateMillennium

A new spin-off series: Technology has made us arrogant. Knowledge has made us ignorant. A freak accident traps Martin on another planet. Coming face to face with the scope of the universe, Charles Martin will soon learn, in spite of how far the Tau'ri have come, how small and insignificant they really are.

1. Chapter 1

Previously on Stargate Millennium:

When the SGC launched the Millennium Expedition, they knew they would be in a galaxy further than they ever explored before. They knew they would face things unlike anything they have ever seen before. They were ready for anything. Almost anything. They did not expect to meet something like the Harvesters, and enigmatic race of monsters responsible for mass disappearances all across NGC 300; from landmasses as small as a country to entire planets stripped of all life and living organic material. And they have come no closer to understanding this mysterious race of creatures.

But it wasn't just the Harvesters the Expedition had run into. They had made enemies of the Ror'char, a galactic superpower that believed in peace through control. However, the Expedition had to temporarily ally themselves with this foe in order to save a team that had been kidnapped by a band of space pirates. The assistance of the renowned pirate-hunters proved useful and they were able to save half the kidnapped team.

After a brief visit back to Earth, the Expedition returned with new recruits and more helping hands, including a Jay Felger. Unwilling to put up with his screwups, General Mercer assigned Doctor Chen to deal with Felger. While initially dismissing Felger as a simple screw up, Chen came to see Felger's untapped potential under his childish antics. With some work, they managed to come up with a system to utilize his ingenuity while minimizing his chance for failure. Now only time will tell if this new system will prove effective.

---

P90? How about an MP7? SCAR PDW? The P90 was certainly the oldest of her options, but the military still used it for one simple reason: it works. It has proven itself in the past and made itself the SG team's standard issue weapon. But, the times were changing and so was their technology.

P90. Nova chose to choose the weapon she was most familiar with. Though, she knew Chen preferred the HKMP7. Mercer intended to gather the Department Heads and discuss revising certain policies such as which standard issue weapon to give each team. She would decide this later, when she got back from the mission.

She had her dark auburn hair tied into a pony tail behind her head. She was geared up in black battledress uniform and tactical vest. Her boots could be heard clopping on the ground as she took an ark (more on this tech, please) to the conference room. One press of the button and the doorway would open straight to her destination as if they were adjacent rooms even though she was across the entire city. The conference room overlooked the gate room so meeting up with her team would be easy. As she stepped out of the doorway she was surprised to find Jennifer Hailey and Isaac McFee chilling in the chairs.

"What're you two doing here?" Nova asked, cradling her P90 in her arms. "Didn't Felger invite you two for a movie or something?"

"Well, me mostly," Hailey corrected. "He was hoping to have me and Soren watch a movie with him. I just invited Isaac too."

"I see," Nova said, nodding in amusement.

"It's not like that!" Hailey quickly barked. Nova gave a sarcastically skeptical nod at that phrase. Jennifer may not be able to stand McFree's juvenility but everyone knew they were closer than close.

"So you gonna take Felger on that offer?" Nova asked. Hailey just shrugged.

"It's not my type of movie," she replied. "He showed us the preview. Too much of a mindless action movie, pointless explosions, gratuitous violence…"

"Yeah, I forgot. You're a Disney-fan."

"Good special effects though," McFree pointed out.

"They always put the best effects in the trailer," Nova scoffed, rolling eyes. Isaac didn't seem to care about that statement through.

"That one scene where the car hit that red fountain and blew up was cool though. What are those things anyways?"

Hailey paused, trying to figure out what he was referring to.

"You mean the fire hydrant?" Jennifer asked.

"Wait, what?"

"You said 'red fountain'. You mean the fire hydrant, right?"

McFree stared at the two ladies in confusion and they exchanged confused glances over his confusion.

"Don't they have those in your country?" Terra Nova asked.

"No," Isaac answered. Nova and Hailey just stared at him in shock.

"So what do you do when stuff's on fire?" Nova stuttered.

"You call for a firetruck."

"Yeah, but where do you think the firetruck get the water from?" Jennifer asked.

"We plug it into the ground."

"WHAT?!" Nova and Hailey both gawked, trying to imagine firefighters rolling up and just shoving an end of their hose into the dirt.

"Our fire hydrants are in the ground," McFree explained. "They don't stick out like that." Hailey and Nova stared at each other in surprise. "Why would you build a fire hydrant like that for it to get hit and explode when you can have it buried in the ground?" He didn't know if Hailey or Nova even heard his comment.

"I'm genuinely shocked," Hailey remarked. "That's just crazy."

"It isn't crazy! What you Americans have makes no sense! You have something you can kick and explode water into your face."

"Ok, c'mon," Terra chimed in. "You can't make it explode water just by kicking it. Your car could hit it and it wouldn't explode."

"Yeah, but your car can't hit something that's buried under the road."

"Well then, how do you know where it is?" Hailey asked. "The firetruck's just gonna show up and everyone's just going to be running around looking for a hole in the sidewalk?"

"It's marked! There's a sign right next to the hydrant. We can find the hydrant and not have worry about running it over."

"I'm pretty sure I'm more likely to get struck by lightning than hit a fire hydrant," Nova said. "Big giant red can, easier to see, easier to access than a hole in the ground."

"What're the kids in the inner city going to do on a hot summer day?" Nova asked. "How're they gonna pop a hydrant?"

"You mean just let the hydrant spray water everywhere?" Isaac coughed. "There's no such thing as popping a hydrant? You people seriously have that? It's a bloomin' waste of water."

"It's not a waste," Jennifer Hailey remarked. "It's called 'beat'n the heat'."

"If you don't cool off, you could die, and that's called a 'waste of life'," Nova added.

The three were about to continue arguing when a familiar old man came strolling up the stairs.

"Major Nova," he called out, his mouth partially covered by his giant mustache. "Your team is ready."

"Yes, General Mercer," Nova said. "I'll see you guys," she said to Hailey and McFree with a wave before jogging down the stairs to the gate room. Major Hailey stood up and walked to the railing at the edge of the conference room with General Mercer. She watched as the silver gate was dialed up, each opal chevron lighting up before the shimmering wormhole was formed.

"General," Hailey said as she watched Nova enter the giant blue puddle. "Do you know why a country would put a fire hydrant in the ground?"

"I could hear your conversation from my office," Mercer remarked. Hailey turned red with embarrassment. She didn't realize that they were that loud. The last thing you want to hear is your boss saying he can hear your idle chit chat from his desk. "I would first recommend you familiarize yourself with dry-barrel and wet-barrel hydrants."

-.-

Martin had been snickering the entire mission. The moment he stepped foot on the planet, there was a smirk on his face. The planet they were exploring was a barren desert, gray sand stretching the landscape for miles, made even more depressing by the black clouds that covered the sky so barely any sunlight made it through. The silence only made Charles Martin's snickering even louder.

"What's so funny?" Chen asked irritably.

"Nah, just thinkin," Martin said dismissively.

"Thinking," Chen repeated. "Now I know you're lying." But, it seemed like even Chen's insult could not wipe the smirk off Martin's face. Nova found her subordinate's little argument amusing but even she was beginning to grow curious. Corin was walking on the other side of her, leaning forward, listening eagerly.

"C'mon, Martin," Terra Nova insisted. "Is it what I told you about Felger asking Hailey to watch to movie with him?"

"Hailey and Soren," he confessed. "He's pulled Soren into watching another movie with him."

"Felger always fawned over Carter," Chen commented. "Guess it makes sense he wants to become best buddies with her handpicked pupil."

"Thing is, Hailey said 'no' but Soren said 'yes'," Nova pointed out. Terra paused for a moment, thinking about Soren's antics and mannerisms. "Ok, he probably didn't say 'yes'. He probably just grunted."

"Which movie is it this time?" Corin laughed.

"Hell if I know," Martin chortled. "Seriously, is he only doing this out of pity?" Aside from a few snarky remarks, Soren was a fierri with only an angry expression plastered on his face. Yet this man who seemed to be perpetually angry was actually agreeing to spend time with Jay Felger, the headache of the expedition.

"To be fair," Nova spoke up. "He's not the screw up used to be. Chen did a pretty good job."

"I fixed him as much as he could be fixed," Chen said. "The rest is on him."

"Congratulations, Bob the Builder," Martin said, patting an irritated Chen on the back. "I knew you could fix it."

That was a comment that sent the rest of the team laughing.

"Don't call me 'Bob the Builder'," Chen said flatly.

Bang.

The sound was so sudden that Nova and Martin threw themselves to the ground, instinct kicking in. Chen threw his arm around Corin and knelt down. The sound echoed across the landscape. It had come out of nowhere with no warning, shattering the silence like glass. They were just having a conversation just a few moments ago and suddenly it sounded like they were under attack.

"What the hell!" Nova exclaimed. "Was that lightning?!"

As if to answer, a second bang rattled the land. It wasn't anywhere near as loud but, more importantly, they saw the bolt of electricity streak from the clouds and hit the ground far in the distance. Nova looked to the sky in horror, realizing those were storm clouds. But these made the lightning storms on Earth look tame.

"Back to the gate, double time!" Nova ordered, jumping to her feet, but Chen tackled her to the ground.

"Stay down!" he barked, holding the team leader close to the ground. "Look around! We're the tallest thing for miles!"

"What do we do then?!" Corin asked in a panic. At least if they were shot at they could shoot back and make a beeline for the gate. Now, they had no idea what to do.

"Stay low and take small steps!" Martin explained. Chen was an engineer and knew the mechanics of electricity. Martin was a hunter and outdoorsman and he knew about surviving lightning storms.

Running to the gate would've taken ten minutes. Crouch-walking there took even longer. Bolts of lightning shot out of the sky, striking the sand, burning it instantly, blackened craters left behind where it impacted. And it was getting worse. More bolts of electricity fired from the clouds.

The sight of the Stargate was a breath of relief for the team. Corin crawled up and quickly began punching in the address back to Millennium. The silver DHD glowed as each symbol engaged, the silvery ring spinning and powering up. The milky white opal-shaped chevrons locked in the coordinates.

The last chevron was engaged, the wormhole forming in the ring with a familiar whoosh. Corin quickly punched in the code into his GDO.

"Alright, let's go!" he shouted. He started crouch-walking for the gate, his team right behind him, but another bang practically ruptured their eardrums. Corin felt the air throw him forward, dust and sand raining down on him. He looked behind him, realizing everyone had been knocked down and he spotted why. A lightning bolt had hit the DHD, the top pedestal exploding in a shower of twisted metal and crystal, the panels that held the symbols flying off in all directions. The DHD was intact but the interface was demolished, the white center crystal shattered like glass and the tiles scattered across the sand.

Nova looked at the demolished DHD, her eyes widening in horror. If that gate shuts down, there was no going home.

"Double time!" she ordered. Corin was already in front of the wormhole so he stood up and threw himself through the puddle. Chen's eyes widened in horror when Nova got to her feet and bolted for the gate. She was so close to the gate she figured she to get there in a single dash, maybe even keep the wormhole open with her arm. But her stride was too wide. Suddenly, another bolt of lighting shot out of the sky, hitting the broken DHD once more. The electricity discharged through the ground. But now it had a better conductor to travel through: Nova's legs. Her eyes widened as she gave a final gasp before collapsing to the ground in a heap.

"Terra!"

"Major!"

Chen stayed low and made sure he took small steps as he practically crawled up to her, putting his fingers on her neck. No pulse. Martin was about to join him when a third bolt hit the DHD, the pedestal exploding apart, leaving a smoldering umbrella-shaped pedestal of twisted and burnt metal. Martin felt the explosion punch him away, launching him back from the gate.

Chen pulled out his knife and began slicing off Nova's vest and equipment. He going to have to carry her the rest of the way and the last thing he needed was all that extra weight. He didn't know what to do, but he did know someone who would. He had to get Terra to Kara Osborn as quickly as possible.

"GO!" Martin yelled, getting back to his feet. This was the slowest rush to the gate possible and it was excruciating. Another bang echoed across the landscape as lightning found a new target to strike, something taller and even more conductive: the Stargate.

"Here goes nothing!" Chen yelled, jumping to his feet. It was a suicidal risk but he bolted across the ground, his 'run': an awkward skip, trying to make sure his feet were never on the ground at the same time. He ran across the concrete platform that held the gate, throwing himself through.

Charles continued his steady pace, knowing that new matter going through the wormhole meant the gate's timer had reset. He had several good seconds before it shuts down.

Another bang and another bolt hit the gate, the wormhole flickering. Then another bolt hit it again. It was his turn to take a risk. He got to his feet and ran for the gate. For the last stretch, he threw all his energy into his legs and leapt at the wormhole just as another bolt of lightning hit the gate once more.

-.-

Back in Millennium, Corin had arrived first, alerting the doctors to their situation. He was already being checked out. Doctor Kara Osborn and Doctor Victor Kauffmann were also at the ready, a stretcher just in case. Mercer was in the control room, glaring at the gate. This planet was on the list of planets the IOA wanted teams to visit due to its violent weather. Looks like the 'test' was going as planned.

Suddenly two figures, or rather one since Chen was tightly holding Nova in his arms, shot out of the gate like a cannon. They hit the ground tumbling, Steven wrapping his arms around her head as they were sent rolling across the gate room floor, coming to a stop when they hit the back wall.

"Kara!" he called out in panic, laying back, snarling in pain. "Her heart stopped!"

Doctor Osborn didn't even bother questioning. She immediately got to work, taking Terra and putting her on a stretcher. He couldn't hear Kara's conversations with the other doctors, only erratic beeping from the machine hooked up to Nova and something about 'ventricular fibrillation'. Meanwhile, Kauffmann started checking on Chen. He put his fingers against the man's neck.

"Erratic heart rate," Kauffmann said with a heavy German accent. "I think you have a concussion as well."

"I'm fine," Chen groaned. "What about Terra?"

As if to answer his question, Kara's commanding voice echoed through the gate room.

"CLEAR!"

A controlled burst of electricity shot through Nova's body. Kara checked Nova's pulse again.

"We have a pulse!" she announced. "Get her to the infirmary!" She then rushed to Chen as the gate behind them shut down. "I'll take it from here," she told Kauffmann. "Keep an eye on Major Nova."

"Ja!" Kauffmann barked, rushing to the stretcher that was now carrying Nova away.

"Steven, how long did she not have a pulse?" Kara asked, checking on Chen, taking out her pen light and flashing his eyes.

"Minute, minute and a half at most," Chen breathed, completely exhausted.

"But no more than two?"

"Not a chance."

"Alright, she'll be fine then," Kara said, helping Chen to his feet. Corin was uninjured so he could walk out on his own but Chen had to lean on Kara for support.

"Wait a minute," Chen muttered. "Where's Charles?!"

They all looked around. The gate had closed but Charles Martin was nowhere to be seen.

STARGATE

MILLENNIUM

The steady beeps of the heart monitor could be heard in the infirmary along with Nova's shallow breathing. Corin sat in a chair on the other side of the infirmary, already fast asleep. Chen was in the bed next to Nova's, pouting over his own injuries. They both had been taken out of their black battle dress uniforms for white hospital gowns. Chen hated hospital gowns. He glanced at Nova, his frustration and worry intertwining.

"She's going to be fine," Kara said from the other side of the room. Chen looked at Doctor Osborn as she walked in, a box of medicine in her arms to restock her shelves. She set the box on the table before going over to the white wood cabinet. "You're actually more likely to survive a lightning strike than any other form of electrocution," she added.

"That makes no sense," Chen said bluntly. He knew that, unlike him, Kara believes in lying to people for their own good sometimes. Guess he shouldn't be surprised; she was a doctor and this sometimes meant telling patients that their injuries are not as bad as they actually are. If your patient is fatally wounded, she couldn't exactly say 'yeah, you're going to die in five hours'.

"It's called 'flashover'," Osborn explained. "The lightning is strong but brief so it conducts around the body instead of through it. So, she'll be fine."

"Physically," Chen said gruffly. "Don't lightning strike victims suffer psychological issues?"

"Well," Kara sighed, putting the medicine onto the shelves. "I'm afraid psychology isn't my field but there's still a good chance she'll pull through unharmed."

"Kara," Chen growled. He wanted the blunt truth.

"Fine," Kara groaned, rolling her eyes. "Look, some lightning strike survivors come out unscathed. Others face long-term issues that can't be solved. You said she in cardiac arrest for less than two minutes so at the very least any brain damage won't be from blood loss but we won't know if there was brain damage from electrocution."

"You said something about 'ventri-fibillation' or something?"

"Ventricular fibrillation," Osborn corrected. "Her heart was essentially vibrating instead of pumping blood. I've done what I can with the Alliance medical technology we have but all we can do is wait until she wakes up and see what happens."

Chen huffed in irritation before tossing himself back against his bed as Kara muttered something to herself.

"I can hear you saying stuff about me," Chen barked.

"Oh I was just thinking: if you worked as many hours as your attitude did then you'd be the head of every department here," Kara remarked, receiving an irritated glare from Steven. Before they could continue arguing, Hailey and Felger both walked into the room.

"Now that's just wrong," Chen muttered when he saw the duo walk in. He knew that he was the one that was helped Felger but it still looked strange seeing the former-train-wreck walk in alongside the Expedition's prodigy like they were equals or best friends. Then again, calling Felger a 'former train-wreck' gave him more credit than he deserved. At the moment, they were simply giving the 'train' a very specific set of tracks to run on to make sure it didn't wreck.

"We heard about what happened," Hailey said. "You ok?"

"I'm fine but Kara insists I rest for a bit," Chen grumbled. He turned his attention to Felger. "What're you doing here?"

"Just wanted to check on you," Felger said nervously. "I already turned in my blueprints to the engineering team, and I already turned in the lab report to General Mercer and-"

"I'll take your word for it," Chen immediately. He was not in the mood for Felger's babbling. "I heard Mercer had a MALP to check the planet. Did you find Charles?' Hailey shook her head sadly in response.

"The planet's completely different from what you described," she explained. "Your report said the place as a desert but the place was thriving."

"Well, good for the planet," Chen remarked sarcastically. "You wanna answer the question?"

Hailey just looked at her friend sadly.

"I'm sorry, Chen. Martin wasn't there."

Steven sighed and put his hands to his chin, taking in the new data.

"I don't want to ask this," Kara spoke up, closing the cabinet. "But, is it possible his body was buried?"

"There was a lot of lightning but no wind," Steven pointed out. "Even if it did, we can't exactly go back there."

"Yeah, I saw the footage," Jennifer remarked. "The DHD's fried."

"Yeah, a bolt hit the DHD the moment the gate was dialed, which makes no sense" Chen added, recalling the giant blast of electricity hitting the pedestal. "Shouldn't the lightning hit the gate? It's kinda the tallest thing there and a superconductor."

"Well, both the gate and DHD produce an electric field but the power source inside the DHD produces a stronger field than the gate," Felger recited. "If the field's strong enough, it could produce a positive ionic channel that coerces it to strike the DHD first before the gate, like artificial feelers. That might be why but I don't know, I'm not a meteorologist."

"Guess that's why the bolt decided to the dial home device first," Chen remarked. "Of course that means once the DHD blew up lightning would strike the second strongest field and tallest thing there. Still…that doesn't explain what happened to Charles."

It was only then realization struck Hailey like a bolt of lightning.

"Actually," she said. "I think I know."

-.-

The world was black. He couldn't see. He could only feel dirt beneath the palm of his hand. He could feel the cold mud against his forehead. The world was still spinning…or was it him that was spinning? There was no way for him to know anymore. At least, he could hear. He could hear the rain hitting the ground around him. He could hear the sounds of insects chirping like crickets in the underbrush. He could hear birds in the trees. He could hear…whispering. A soft hollow whisper that seemed to echo through the air. He couldn't understand what was being said but it sounded like people whispering amongst each other. No. It sounded like the trees were whispering to each other. No, that wasn't right either. It was as if there were just whispers floating through the air. And it was getting louder. He could hear footsteps coming up to him. If he could just open his eyes he was sure he would see whoever it was standing next to him, kneeling above him. But it was too late. He felt the world fade again.

Charles let out a gasp. He wasn't lying on the dirt ground anymore. In fact, he was lying on his back on something quite soft and comfortable. He was lying on a couch. He let out a groan and sat up, taking in his surroundings. He knew for a fact he had been outside but now he was inside what looked like a tavern, sitting on a couch in front of a fireplace.

He looked down and realize he wasn't in his uniform anymore. He was wearing a plain blue shirt with jeans. A pair of socks and boots had even been set at the base of the couch for him.

The room was lit up by the bright sunlight gleaming through the window, bouncing off every reflective surface. He continued scanning the room, looking at the arrangement of chairs and tables. When he looked to his right he saw an open area, some sort of lobby, a tiled floor that gleamed in the sun. There were a number of alien guests busy eating and going about their business. There was an antenok getting food from a counter, an icthyan sipping a drink at a table, and even a sireen male and human female sitting on the couch in front of the giant television hanging off the wall.

"Ah," the man at the front desk said when he saw the man waking up. "You're finally awake." Martin put on the socks before taking the boots and tapping them against the floor. It was second nature to him to tap out his shoes to make sure nothing was living in it when you put it on. Nothing fell out so Martin put his feet in and stood up. He walked over to the front desk, still a bit wobbly after his ordeal but aside from that he was fine. It felt like he had spent an entire day working out and had just woken from a nap after the workout. In a way, this was accurate. Bolting to the Stargate was its own workout and he was knocked unconscious after stepping out of the Stargate so he did take a nap. Still, he had no idea where he was or how he got there.

"What happened?" He asked the figure working behind the desk. "Where am I?" Charles practically jumped out of his skin when the man turned around and Martin came face to face with an insect. Two massive bug eyes stared back. There was no hair on that head, only a mat of bristles on his chin. There were no visible nose or ears either but Martin was confident they were there somewhere. His body was humanoid but his skin was a gray carapace.

"Bugger me!" He yelped in shock. Most of the 'aliens' in the Milky Way and Pegasus were human. He still had to get used to how most of the aliens in Caldwell 70 were not human.

"What?" the bug-man asked, taking the cigar out of his mouth and putting it on the ash tray. "What's with that reaction?"

Martin wanted to answer but he could only stutter.

"You're...you're a bug..." He kept staring the man up and down. Martin half expected antennae and long narrow insect limbs but he didn't see any. There were no antennae and the bug-man's arms and legs were as thick as any human's though the only reason he could tell was because the insect-person was wearing black shorts and a brown T-shirt.

"Oh yeah, you guys are new at gate travel," the bug man joked with a friendly tone. "You don't recognize all the different races yet."

"Uh…just new to the neighborhood," Martin managed to say.

"Ah, so you know gate travel, but you don't get around much."

"Yeah, something like that. How'd you know, though?"

"Oh, your uniform," the bug explained. "I saw a patch on the shoulder that said 'Millennium Expedition' on it. Word of the new Millennium Outlaws has been getting around."

"Getting around?" Charles repeated.

"Well, the other nations in this galaxy probably won't know you, space pirates are space pirates, but no way you can throw down with the Ror'char and the Quinterans without the other pirate gangs and guilds hearing about it."

The thought didn't occur to Martin at first but the moment the bug-man said 'pirate gangs' reality struck him.

"This is a pirate haven!"

The barkeep chuckled at this reaction as he walked around the counter.

"Call me Ashr," he said, holding out his hand. At least some aliens understood the concept of a handshake. "I'm the owner of the haven's tavern here."

"Ok…" Martin said awkwardly, knowing he was shaking hands with an insect. Would he even be considered an insect? He only had four limbs. Still, the man looked like someone bred with a dragonfly.

"If you don't mind me asking," Charles stuttered. "What are you?"

"I'm a narkoss and I know other planets have bugs so you can stop making bug puns."

It took Martin a moment to realize what he was talking about.

"Oh, it wasn't you," He quickly explained. "In the country on the planet I come from, 'bugger' is an expression. It wasn't meant to be a jab at you."

"I'll take your word for it," Ashr said dismissively with a shrug before returning to his spot behind the counter. "Been working this job too long to be offended by everything. Be careful though: narkoss don't like being called bugs any more than icthyan like being called fish."

"I'll keep that in mind," Charles said, cracking his neck. He was now up and about but his body was still stiff as all hell. "So what happened to me anyways?"

"Haven't the faintest idea," Ashr replied, typing something into his computer. "Arcturus found you in the woods and brought you here. I decided to clean you up and let you rest."

"Was there anyone else with me?" Charles asked. He remembered that Corin, Chen, and the Major went in right before him. They should have been waiting on the other side.

"Well, Arcturus didn't bring anyone else back," Ashr replied, putting his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Lose someone?"

"You might say that. Three of my friends went through the Stargate before me."

Charles played the event in his head again. He was sure of it. He saw Corin go through. Then Chen took the Major through. So where were they? And how did he end up here instead of Millennium?

"Sorry, bud, but you were the only one brought here. If any of the less friendly pirates found them then your friends are gone."

Martin knew what Ashr meant. Slavers, raiders, scavengers, head hunters, there were plenty of space pirates that would benefit finding a group of lost humans in the woods. Slavers to kidnap and sell them. Raiders and scavengers to kill them and loot their corpses. If any of those pirate bands found his friends then he wasn't going to see them ever again. But if they didn't then his friends were still somewhere out there.

"I need to get back to my place and mount a search party," He concluded. Martin hated the prospect of leaving his friends behind but he knew it was a waste of time scowering (the landscape by himself. The expedition was considered space pirates too so the haven probably wouldn't mind.

"Your place? Well, bud, if you got here via the Stargate I'm afraid you're stuck here for a bit."

Charles froze when he heard that. Ashr said it so casually, but it sent chills down his spine.

"Why's that?"

"The thing's been busted for days now. Sent one of the haven's gate experts to see if they can fix it. Don't suppose you can hitch a ride with someone."

Martin shook his head in response. He didn't know where Millennium was and even if he did he was not going to just give its location to pirates. Charles gave a long sigh. He was hoping to get back to Millennium and get help looking for his friends. But now it looked like he was trapped in general.

"Bugger," Martin muttered in frustration. It was only after a few seconds he realized Ashr was staring at him from that comment. "I wasn't talking about you!"

-.-

Hailey's hands flew across the keyboard in front of her. Chen may have just been released from the infirmary but while he was in there, she decided to get a head start on figuring out what happened to Martin.

"You know," Felger said from behind her. "I could help you with that." He stared at the galaxy map Jennifer Hailey was working on, the three dimensional hologram of a star cluster shown on screen. She was working at the computer console right in front of the map, trying to adjust the algorithm she created. Ok, fine. The algorithm was made by both of them. He came up with the formula but it was so chalk full of issues and errors it looked like a stroke of idiocy. She worked out all the tweaks and now it looked like a stroke of genius. Still, it didn't mean she wanted him implementing the thing. He came up with good ideas but he rarely ever made them work.

She looked around the control room. She could tell the technicians were all very uncomfortable having Felger in one of the most important rooms in the city. Donavan had his hand on the wheelchair controller, ready to wheel out of there at a moment's notice. Another technician had his hand on the DHD, ready to dial to some planet as an escape.

"I'm fine…" she said calmly, not wanting Jay Felger to touch her work. Felger has improved but his reputation wasn't going to vanish any time soon.

"Major," a voice called out behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to spot General Mercer make his way up the stairs to the control room with Chen right behind him. "Got anything?" Hailey looked at Chen, who took a seat in an empty chair near another computer. "You ok, Steven?"

"Yeah," Felger echoed. "You ok? You did just have an en-lightning experience." Jay chuckled at his own joke but Hailey and Chen merely gave him an irritated glare. More precisely, Chen looked like he was going to tackle and strangle Jay Felger. "He's fine," Felger concluded nervously. All eyes returned to Hailey. She was the one working on this problem.

"Do you have something, Major?" General Mercer asked.

"You could say that, sir," Hailey replied, turning around and leaning against the console. "We know that Wolf Pack got caught in a lightning storm. And we know that Corin Nevec, Major Nova, and Steven Chen made it back through the gate. Which leaves the question: What happened to Lieutenant Martin?"

"You have a theory?"

"Well!" Felger spoke up eagerly before Hailey could respond. "We know if enough energy is directed into the wormhole, it can jump destinations! That is how it sent General O'Neill and Colonel Carter to Antarctica."

"And how we dealt with the black hole," Hailey finished in a much calmer tone than Felger's.

"You believe that the lightning storm caused the wormhole to jump to another gate?" Chen asked, remembering how bad the storm was.

"It's a strong possibility. Once the ionic channel from the DHD was gone it would strike the tallest thing. But this creates one other issue."

"And that is?" Mercer asked. "Could you not devise a way to calculate the distance of the wormhole jump from the energy being directed into the wormhole?"

"That's the problem. Since the wormhole wasn't meant to jump between gates, the amount of energy gone into it is unpredictable. Increasing the energy doesn't necessarily increase the distance of the jump; only the potential distance of the jump." Hailey turned to the computer to show what she meant. A single tiny point in the hologram of the cluster lit up. "Doctor Felger and I created an algorithm to calculate what planets the gate could have jumped to-"

"Felger," Chen repeated, looking at Jay who beamed at his name being spoken. "Nice job."

"Back on point," Mercer interrupted. "Major Hailey, how many gates could the wormhole have jumped to?" Hailey looked at the hologram, pointing at the glowing point in the cluster.

"This was the planet they were on: LG9-P17. And…" A blue sphere began to expand from the planet, a few other planets lighting up as they were encompassed. "And these are the planets the wormhole could have jumped based on the amount of energy the gate would receive from a lightning bolt."

"Major, that is a significant area," Mercer remarked. "Even in the past when the wormhole has jumped it did not run the possibility of a space that large."

"That's because it was due to explosions of some sort. Only a small fraction of that energy is directed into the wormhole and the rest of it and being directed in all other directions. A lightning bolt has several billion joules of energy, that nearly the amount of energy in one ton of TNT and it's all being directed into the wormhole, especially if it strikes the gate."

Mercer looked at the hologram, his face stiff as stone.

"Donavan," Mercer barked. His adjutant wheeled up beside the General. "I want three teams organized. We're going to quickly explore each of those gates starting with the ones in uninhabitable locations."

"Uninhabitable?" Chen repeated, standing from his chair.

"They will be easiest to check off the list," Mercer commented. He stared at the galaxy map. This was going to be a long day.

-.-

"When it's silent, I can hear them: whispers in the back of my mind. They are coming."

What was this feeling? It felt like he was floating through space. In fact, after looking around, he realized he was. He was weightless in the nothingness. All around him, white stars dotted the black canvas. A nearby sun filled the void with a warm light, a single planet in sight between him and the giant sun. He stared at the glowing orb, suddenly spotting something in the distance. Something rose from beneath him, its figure blocking out the sun. The glow from behind it cast a shadow over its form so that only its glowing eyes could be seen, the glowing eyes piercing the darkness.

Martin stared at the massive beast as it moved forward, treading on the nothingness of space like it was solid ground. There was planet in the way. It reached forward, its claw seizing the mass and moving it aside. Its gaze refocused on Martin, its arms reaching for him.

Martin's eyes fluttered open as the world came back into view. It was just a dream.

He let out a soft groan, adjusting his position against the tree. Ashr had returned his uniform, equipment, and ion rifle so at least he got all his stuff back. But, he was still trapped there until whoever was fixing the gate had finished. Earth had gate experts so he guessed he shouldn't be surprised that other civilizations had their own. He had quickly visited the gate earlier. Like Ashr said, the thing was broken; the DHD wouldn't charge up or anything. Which meant he was stuck there. He the only way off the planet was by ship, and that meant asking the pirates for a ride. Even if he could convince one of them to lend a hand, he didn't know where he would go or whether or not his driver could be trusted. He had no choice but to wait for the gate to be fixed.

With nothing to do he decided to spend the rest of the day in the woods. He climbed a tree and found a nice high branch to sit upon and stare at the horizon. But he couldn't stay out there forever. He carefully climbed back to the ground and headed back to the tavern.

As he made his way back to the pirate haven he couldn't get his mind off that strange dream. He recognized the first person he heard. It was McFree. But that statement wasn't the only thing he couldn't get his mind from. What was that thing he saw in his dream? It seemed impossible and yet he couldn't shake the feeling it was accurate.

Martin shook his head and cleared his mind. He looked over his shoulder, glancing toward the setting sun. Ashr probably won't let him rent a room without any money but he could probably sleep on the couch. Worse comes to worse, he'll just sleep outside or in the woods.

The haven was a nice sight, even if it was where he was stuck for who knows how long. It was a more primitive town, countless huts of sheet metal dotting the landscape. Even the tavern was just a larger metal hut. A particularly tall building sat beside a large grassy field acted as their makeshift star port. There were open shelters where merchants would sell their goods during the day.

Martin remembered the last pirate haven he was at. That place was a small town bustling with people. This haven was much smaller, more of an outpost with far fewer people. Hell, he wouldn't call it an outpost. It was more of a rest stop. The town may be small but he could tell it would take a few hours to explore the place.

But Martin didn't intend on just wandering. He wanted to just wait back at the tavern. Ashr would probably tell him when the gate was fixed. Then he could go home. By this point Mercer probably had already organized and launched a search for Wolf Pack. He could only pray they find the others though.

As he stepped back into the tavern he noticed there were way fewer people in it than before. The room was largely empty except for a few people finally taking a moment to themselves. A number of races populated a few of the tables, crowded around a couch, and sprawled on a few chairs, busy eating their dinner and drinking their hearts out. He looked around, trying to decide where to sit. He may be stuck there and he might not have any money to buy food or drinks with but that didn't mean he had to be anti-social. Maybe he could get an update on the current events of the galaxy. It would certainly help the expedition if they knew what they were up against and it would help pass the time.

Still, he had to be very careful around space pirates. Fewer pirates meant fewer chances to get into trouble, but he still couldn't let his guard down. As Martin had learned from his last encounter, some space pirates were some of the most charitable people a person could come across. Others were monsters that would make the worst criminals on earth seem like saints. Still, if he made friends then if any of the bad ones did make a move on him then someone may be willing to step in. Besides, he didn't really have anything else to do.

"Whaddup, mates," he greeted warmly as he walked to a small group relaxed around a table. He knew this could go one of two ways. They would either just stare at him in confusion at the random stranger intruding on their conversation. Or, they would instantly let him in on the conversation. It looked like it was the latter this time.

"Um…same to you!" an icthyan said, a mug of alcohol in his hand. Martin looked at the small group. Along with the icthyan laid back in a chair there was also a human and a narkoss on a sofa, and a antenok standing behind them. They all sat around a small round table, casually laid back. The human and the antenok wore rather simple pants and a shirt while the narkoss and icthyan still kept his armor on. Martin quickly checked off everything he should not say in his head. Do not call icthyan 'fish' and do not call narkoss 'bugs'.

"Not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Nah," the narkoss said dismissively, with a wave of his hand. "Just sharing stories." Martin nodded in response. Jumping in on a random conversation may not be as bad as he thought it would be. "What's your name, bud?"

"Martin…Charles Martin."

Everyone in the group gave a friendly wave as the Australian greeted himself.

"Hey, look at this" the antenok exclaimed eagerly, grabbing Martin by the sleeve and pulling on it, bringing the 'MILLENNIUM EXPEDITION' patch to the front. "We got a Millennium Outlaw here."

Martin watched the icthyan shift uncomfortably in his chair.

"You know," the human spoke up. "He could've killed one of them and took his uniform." The group all quieted down and stared at Martin as if they were awaiting his answer. Martin froze, not sure what to say.

"Spoilers," He remarked with a shrug. The icthyan smirked at the antenok and human as if to laugh as their suspense.

"You seem really eager to meet these outlaws," The narkoss remarked.

"The humans who ended the Blood Hunters," The antenok recited. "The Blood Hunters aren't just what vormians shit out. They're the mold that grow on what vormians shit out. We should be thanking the Millennium Pirates."

"They also had to help the Ror'char in order to do it," The icthyan pointed out. "I'm glad that they offed the slavers, but they sold the rest of us out doing it." The icthyan looked at the floor, his face darkening. "As far as I'm concerned, they're traitors."

Martin felt a rock in his throat. He knew space pirates feared the Ror'char, but it never occurred to him that they could actually hold a grudge for helping them.

"Lesser of two evils," Antenok said.

"The Ror'char are hunting down space pirates!" The icthyan argued. "Even if he sold out slavers he sold out space pirates. He picked the worst evil." Martin could tell this conversation was getting hostile. He slowly began to back away, hoping to sneak off. "Where you think you're going?!" The icthyan barked, noticing Charles inching away. "I'm not done with you."

"Hey," The narkoss snapped. "A little nicer to the stranger."

"Notice the ion rifle on his back," The icthyan barked loudly, loud enough that the entire tavern had begun to quiet down to watch what was happening. "He traded the Blood Hunters for that! What's to say he won't do the same to us?!"

Martin could hear people in the tavern whispering to each other. It sounded like the icthyan's words were getting to everyone.

"I took the rifle from a Ror'char trooper I killed!" Martin immediately barked.

"Likely story." The icthyan snarled, setting his glass down and standing up. The antenok could see what was going down and quickly moved in. With his massive size and strength, he could easily hold the icthyan back with one hand, but the fish man immediately whipped a pistol from his jacket. Then again, calling it a pistol would make it seem smaller than it actually was. Hand cannon would've been more accurate, a massive black revolver with a hexagonal cylinder.

"Hey!" Ashr yelled from the front desk. "Take it outside. You break it, you pay for it!"

Martin glanced at Ashr in shock. He had hoped the bug man would at least come to his aid, but it looked like the only thing he was concerned with was the tavern. Then again, these are space pirates.

The group that had surrounded them had begun to disperse, not wanting to get caught in the violence. Others were filing themselves to the edges of the room, thinking the same.

"Put the gun down, amphibian." The antenok barked, staring down the icthyan. "You're drunk and not thinking straight."

"I'm thinking just fine," The icthyan hissed, turning around and aiming the gun right at Martin. "And I'm thinking I put down the loose cannon before he betrays us all to the Ror'char."

"We helped the Ror'char because the slavers had our friends," Martin explained hurriedly. He was hoping that the truth could convince this guy to stand down. "We both intended on taking them down anyways so we decided to team up."

"And if any other pirate guilds get in your way, will you team up with them again?" The icthyan growled. "So we better be careful pissing off your outlaw gang or you'll team up with the Ror'char against us too?"

Martin could've swallowed his tongue. It was worth a shot, but it looks like he just made things worse. Other pirates were already exchanging glances.

Martin looked around, hoping someone would want to jump in and intervene, but no one did. Only the pirates closest seemed the least bit concerned.

The fish man turned around, aiming his gun right at Martin. Without a moment's hesitation, he pulled the trigger.

A brilliant flash of green light flooded the room, a single loud bang echoing and rattling the metal hut. But there was something else. There was also a flash of blue light and a loud crackle. The icthyan looked up from his barrel in shock.

Just as he pulled the trigger, an armored figure had stepped in front of the gun barrel, a shimmering field of blue energy forming between the figure and the gun, a small pattern of hexagonal plates of energy forming right in front of its owner right where the shot would land.

Martin stared up at the figure, their entire body covered head to toe in sleek gray metal armor. Interwoven plates formed this entire suit, rectangular plates linked together to form the chest piece, the hands and arms completely covered by gauntlets, pauldrons, and rerebrace. Heavy boots shook the ground with every step, the shins covered by greaves, the thighs covered by the tail flaps of the figure's blue knee long uniform. The person's head was encased in a metal helmet, a single band of energy running across the face plate where the eyes would be.

The shimmering wall of energy quickly dissipated, the room darkening once again.

"Of course you would intervene," The icthyan growled. "Leave it to the last Knight of Aurox to stick their nose into someone else's business. Get out of my way, Arcturus."

The icthyan may have been ranting and raving but the armored figure didn't seem to mind the least bit, pacing back and forth in front of him.

"I cannot abide your behavior," Arcturus said calmly, a deep distorted voice emanating from the helmet. "I don't want to hurt you but if you continue this, I will." The armored figure's hand reached to the back and drew forth an ornate longsword from its scabbard, a silver double edge blade and a blue and gold guard and gray hilt and pommel.

The icthyan scoffed at the weapon.

"You bring a sword to a gun fight?" He sneered. He may have sounded confident, but he had seen the shield that protected the figure that was already armored head to toe. Maybe a slower melee attack would go through but there was no way to do that with the longsword. And he could not just shoot Arcturus like any other enemy. In other words, his gun was ineffective and fighting at close quarters was suicide.

"Do not worry," Arcturus replied, tracing the edge of the blade with two fingers. "I bring much more."

The armored figure took a step back, holding the sword at the ready, waiting for the fish man to make the first move. It was subtle, just a tiny flinch in the muscle, but Arcturus saw that the icthyan was preparing to raise his guns. Without a moment's hesitation, Acruturus charged at the fish man, who took aim and began pulling the trigger of his revolver as quickly as possible. Only about three shots landed and all of them were stopped just short of their target, shimmering small hexagonal walls of energy forming right in front of each energy bolt right before they hit their mark.

Staring at this, Martin realized this armored figure, Arcturus, was protected by a personal shield. But it wasn't like a Goa'uld or Ancient personal shield. It didn't immediately engage a bubble of energy around the user. It only formed a few small panels, just enough to stop the attack.

In a few strides, Arcturus had closed the distance with the icthyan. The armored warrior brought the sword down upon the fish man, who instinctively raised his guns to shield himself. The blade hit and slid down the side of the metal weapon, but the fish man was wide open. The moment the sword slid to the side, Arcturus drove a fist into the icthyan's face. The armored figure charged forth, ramming against the fish man like a train, sending him stumbling backwards, before spinning around, picking up a foot and driving it into the icthyan's stomach. The icthyan was launched back against the wall, falling to the ground in a heap.

Arcturus regained composure, returning the sword back to its scabbard. The armored figure turned and looked at Martin, who could only stare back.

"Blimey," Martin muttered. "Thanks for that." He knew death was always a potential danger of the job but that was too close for comfort. "You could work on your timing though." He added.

Arcturus didn't say anything at first, only staring at Martin, or at least staring at his patch on his shoulder.

"Very well," Arcturus replied dismissively. "Next time, I shall wait until after you have been shot to arrive."

Without another word, the armored warrior turned and walked off to the far corner of the tavern, leaving Martin speechless.

"You were joking, right?" He asked with a nervous chuckle. Between the force distorter and Arcturus's practically serious tone, it was next to impossible for him to tell if this person was sarcastic or dead serious. But Arcturus didn't answer. Charles just stared as the armored warrior retreated to the back corner of the room and sat down at the tiny table.

"Hell of a thing, huh?"

Martin jumped in surprise at Ashr suddenly appearing beside him. It was kinda rude and offensive but having cockroaches and centipedes popping out of nowhere was enough to startle a regular person; having a bug man pop up out of nowhere was enough to make Martin jump out of his skin.

The bug man looked at the scene, nodding at the icthyan's unconscious body and the broken table he had been tossed through.

"Eh…sorry about that, mate," Martin stuttered nervously.

"Don't worry about it," Ashr remarked. "It's a pirate haven. This stuff happens all the time. I was more worried about the blood stain you would've left." That comment did not make Martin feel any better. He nearly got turned into paste and, apparently, this was normal?

"So that's the guy who found me?" Martin asked, changing the subject.

"Yup. Arcturus, Knight of the Aurox. Showed up a few days ago. Won't say why or for how long. Found you out in the woods and brought you here."

It was only after Ashr said this that Charles Martin realized.

"Ashr," he said. "You said Arcturus found me out in the middle of the woods. Not in front of the Stargate?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I came through the Stargate," Martin pointed out. "I didn't walk anywhere so how did I get from the gate to the middle of nowhere?"

Ashr just shrugged it off. Didn't affect him so he didn't care but Martin could not help but linger on the question. How did he get from the gate to the middle of the woods? There were plenty of pirate gangs that would have been more than happy finding an unconscious person in the woods but none of them would drag him away from the gate and leave him. Slavers would take him away. Scavengers would kill him and take his gear. He could vaguely remember sliding in and out consciousness when he first arrived. And he could vaguely remember someone walking up to his unconscious form.

There was only one thing for him to do. Charles went to the back of the room where Arcturus sat, leaning back with feet on the table.

"Hey, thanks again back there," he said friendlily. The armored figured didn't answer right away, simply folding up the paper on the table. Martin didn't get a good look at it, but it looked like a map.

"I understand the Millennium Outlaws are unfamiliar with the workings of this galaxy," Arcturus said, sliding the folded map away. "However, you should take more care when it comes to space pirates."

"Yeah…" Charles said slowly, nervously scratching the back of his head. "I learned that the hard way. Hey, mind if I ask you a question?"

"You wish to know how you ended up in the middle of the forest when you arrived through the valgrind?" Charles nodded his head. Arcturus must've heard his conversation with Ashr. "I do not have the answer. I only know that I found you unconscious in the woods."

Charles wanted to ask more questions. Martin looked at the platter of food Arcturus had at the side of the table. Fresh steamed vegetables, grilled meat, and what looked like mashed potatoes. No, Charles was going to assume it was mashed potatoes. It smelled good and finding out what it actually was would probably murder his appetite.

Charles looked up in surprise when Arcturus took the platter and held it in front of him.

"Go ahead," the armored figure said. Charles looked at the food before looking back up.

"You sure?" he asked. Arcturus didn't answer, simply holding the plate in front of Martin's face. Finally, Martin took the plate, using the fork that was still on the platter.

"I understand you are currently in need of food and a place to stay," Arcturus stated. "I would be willing to help you if you do a few favors for me in return."

Martin looked up from his food when he heard this.

"Oh, so that's why you saved me," Charles remarked sarcastically. "You just wanted to ask me for help." Charles couldn't see Arcturus's expression through the helmet so he couldn't tell what the armored figure was feeling. But, he would swear he could feel himself receiving an unamused stare through the visor.

"No," Arcturus finally said. "I did not expect any returns for aiding you. However, I am in need of assistance that you can provide, and you are in need of food and shelter that I can help you provide. I believe that we are in a position to help each other."

"Whatever happened to being careful around space pirates?" Martin scoffed, taking another bite of food. He paused when Arcturus held out a hand in front of him. It took him a moment, but Charles realized Arcturus was asking for the plate back. Charles leaned away to show he still wanted his food. He didn't really have a choice. He didn't know how long it would be before his friends find him. If he wanted to eat, he was going to have to help.

"Alright, what do you need?" He asked, taking another gulp.

"Simple information-gathering missions," Arcturus explained, opening the map on the table. "There are some locations I need checked out. Just report back to me with your findings."

Charles leaned over and looked at the map, eyeing the X's and checkmarks all over it. It was obvious Arcturus was looking for something nearby. Still, as long as it wasn't anything terrible he didn't really care. He didn't mind helping others.

"And in exchange you'll pay for my food and even get me a room?" Charles asked.

"Your quarters will be simple, but it will be better than the tavern," Arcturus said. Martin bobbed his head, weighing his choices.

"I guess we have a deal."

-.-

Corin sat on the bottom step of the stairs to the gate room. It was the quiet season so the only teams out there were the ones looking for Charles. He watched as the gate activated once more. The gate room was filled with a warm blue glow as the shimmering surface filled the ring.

Corin could feel adrenaline shoot through his veins. He stood up, his eyes locked onto the wormhole. He could already see it: the Berserkers coming back with Charles Martin stepping out of the shimmering portal right behind them.

One by one, the members of Berserker came through. Corin kept his eyes locked on the wormhole as Soren finally came through. Corin kept waiting for Charles to come out next but he felt his heart sink as the wormhole closed. Corin looked at Soren, hoping the fierri had something to report but he could only shake his head.

"Nothing?" Corin breathed.

"I am sorry," Soren replied solemnly. "We searched the area but there was nothing; not even a boot print." Corin gave a tired sigh, running his fingers through his hair.

"Alright, thanks" He said. Soren put a firm but reassuring hand on Corin's shoulder as he walked by. Seeing no reason to stay, Corin put his hands into his pockets and wandered off. He looked up at the conference room rail where he spotted Nova also staring at the gate. He got up and quickly jogged up the stairs to the conference room.

"Nothing?" she asked as Corin came up to her. Corin just shook his head. He watched as she clenched her fists in frustration. "Mercer's denied letting me join one of the teams looking."

"You got hit by lightning," Corin pointed out.

"Not hit," Nova corrected.

"Hey, Doctor Osborn still wants you to take at least 24 hours to recuperate," Corin pointed out.

"Fine," Nova sighed, rolling her eyes. She was about to leave but she noticed the worry on Corin's face. They were all worried. Chen just hid his worry with frustration and anger since that was the only thing he knew. Hailey expressed her worry by obsessing herself with fixing the issue. Nova would probably spend time in her wood shop and Corin would probably delve into reading about the history of Earth and the Milky Way. Still, Nova knew she could not show her worry. Once again, her role as leader was putting some annoying burdens on her. She had to be confident. If she was not confident in what was happening, why would her subordinates be?

"I'm going to check on Jennifer and Steven," she said. "See if they have anything."

-.-

Martin felt the gravel crunch underneath his feet as he made his way back to the haven. Several days have passed now. He still had faith his friends were out there somewhere looking for him. He just wished they were hurry up. Still, at least this new lifestyle could sustain him until they do. It wasn't so bad. Every day, he would go check out an area, then come back and tell Arcturus what he sees. It was mostly if there were prints or remains of a basecamp. Sometimes there were. Sometimes there weren't. In exchange, Arcturus bought him food and even got him a bed to sleep in. It was far from luxurious, a simple mattress inside a small cupboard, but it worked.

Night had fallen and he had finished his latest job so it was time for him to report back.

As he made his way back into the tavern he found his 'boss' sitting near the back.

"You have the information?" Arcturus asked, looking at the map.

"Looks like an empty camp near the north side of the lake," Charles explained. "No signs of a struggle. The blokes who lived there probably just packed up and left."

Arcturus leaned forward, taking a pen and putting a checkmark.

"If you don't mind me asking," Charles spoke up. "What are you looking for."

Arcturus didn't answer, only staring at the map to look for where to have Martin investigate next.

Charles had to give a tired sigh. Arcturus treated him well and didn't seem to be planning anything devious. Hell, they got along great. Whenever he wasn't off exploring some empty woods or abandoned town, he was usually chatting with the armored warrior. Arcturus was serious but not stiff, willing to humor him whenever he talked. Still, he wished he wasn't kept in the dark.

He couldn't figure out what Arcturus could possibly want. He was checking areas to see if there used to be people there. He knew Chen would probably be on edge the entire time, but Charles gave Arcturus the benefit of the doubt. The armored warrior was the reason he was alive.

Martin took the coins Acturus gave him and walked to the tavern where Ashr was roaming about.

"The usual?" The barkeep asked in a friendly voice. Martin gave a nod, handing Ashr the coins. The bug man went over behind the counter and went to work.

"You've seem to make yourself a place here." He remarked, giving Charles a platter of grilled vormian. "You intend on just stay under Arcturus's wing?"

"I'm hoping my friends will find me," Martin remarked, taking a seat at the bar and digging in.

"Have you ever considered what you'll do if they don't?"

Charles paused at this. This was the one thing he didn't want to consider this. He didn't know what he'd do if he was stuck here. He did consider asking to hitch a ride on a ship but he didn't know whether or not he could trust any of these pirates or not. Not to mention, he didn't know where to go. He could hijack of a ship, but he didn't know how to fly it. And if he got caught, he'd be facing a mob of angry pirates. Overall, he had no idea what todo.

His train of thought was immediately interrupted as he noticed panicked talking filling the room. Ashr noticed it to, looking around in confusion.

"What's going on?" Martin asked instinctively. He was just kinda speaking his mind since he knew Ashr didn't know either. The bug man rushed up to one of the panicked pirates.

"What's happening?" Ashr asked the panicked sireen.

"Watchtower's reported a ship just exited hyperspace and is headed for the haven." The man babbled.

"Ok, then what's the issue?" Ships came and went from a pirate haven regularly, especially with the Stargate down.

Martin stepped up beside the bug man to listen to the conversation.

"The ship's not slowing down! It's going to crash into the haven!"

Martin and Ashr exchanged shocked glances before rushing for the door. They both rushed out of the tavern and into the haven square. People were all gathering outside, looking up to the night sky to see the ship. Many others were scrambling to their ships to get away.

"There it is!" Someone shouted, pointing at the sky.

Martin looked up into the darkness. It was immediately easy to spot, a bright ball of light in the sky barely above the tree line. It stood out against the darkness like florescent paint against a black background. But it wasn't moving across the sky. It was heading right for them.

Martin was transfixed, unable to move, not sure what to do. He could already feel the rumbling beneath his feet. That ship will crash into the ground and the explosion will incinerate the entire haven. If that ship crashed right on top of them, the only a bomb shelter could protect them. Then, he noticed that the giant fireball was moving. It was moving slowly ,but moving. It was only then Martin realized the ship was not going to crash into the haven, but just beyond it. Its angle made it seem like it was aimed right at the haven, but as it got closer the difference became much more obvious. Sure enough, the ship seemed to pick up speed as it flew over the haven and into the distance. The fireball vanished behind the tree line, but not long after a thunderous rumble shook the ground. Martin could see the glow of the explosion in the distance.

Martin looked around and realized that people were now rushing for the crashed ship. There were never that many people in the haven, perhaps sixty at the most, but about a quarter of them were headed for the crash site.

Charles knew this was probably simply because the scavengers wanted first shares of the ship, but he had to see if there were any survivors.

"Hey!" He called as a human leapt on what looked like a speeder bike. "Mind if I hitch a ride?"

The human gave a nod and Martin hopped on without question.

-.-

"I GOT IT! I GOT IT! I GOT IT!"

Felger was practically running people over as he dashed down the hall. He had to find Jenny and Steven. He practically ran face first into the closed door. He pressed the button the control panel and the doors slid open. Chen and Hailey were already inside working at a computer, Corin and Nova behind them.

"I GOT IT!" he called out shrilly. Everyone in the room looked at him in irritation. They were all working on a way to find and save Martin and he was shrieking like an excited school kid. "I GOT IT!" Felger repeated.

"Then stay away from us before we get it," Chen huffed in annoyance.

"Very funny," Jay chuckled, holding up a small stack of papers in his hand. He was so excited that even Chen's attitude couldn't put him down. Chen gave a sigh, exchanging glances with Jennifer. Working with the former failure was something to get used to.

"Steven," Nova remarked. "I know you and Jenny are helping him, but are you sure we can trust his work?"

"Give him a chance," Hailey said. "What do you have, Felger?"

The man eagerly leapt forward, spreading all the papers he had on the desk. He seemed to have printed every blueprint and diagram they had on the DHD.

"Alright, so we know that when enough energy is directed into the Stargate, a wormhole can jump destinations," Felger recited. "But we also know when a gate is dialed, the address is saved in the DHD."

"Ok…" Chen said, tapping his fingers against the desk impatiently. At the moment Felger was just stating the obvious.

"I think the DHD doesn't just store the addresses last dialed, but information on the wormhole itself!" he exclaimed. "When we rigged the SGC's computers to the gate, we always had equipment monitoring the gate in case something goes wrong. The Millennium computers do the same and so are the ones in Atlantis. If we can analyze the crystals in the DHD, we might be able to figure out where Martin went."

"How would looking at the wormhole data help anything?" Chen asked.

"Hold on, Chen," Hailey interrupted. "He might have a point. There has to be a change to the wormhole for it to jump like that. If we can interpret the data, we might be able to find out where the wormhole jumped to."

"The crystals got zapped by lightning," Steven reminded her. "You really think we can pull any accurate data off it?"

"Don't people in forensics who work with computers pull data off broken computers all the time?" Corin asked.

"Sure…on TV!"

Corin turned red with embarrassment. Maybe he had been spending too much time with Martin. The Australian sniper did love showing him Earth's movies and video games.

"Even if the data is corrupted, if we compare the corrupted data to data from dialing the same planets, we may be able to establish a correlation," Hailey said confidently.

"Jen, there's a problem," Nova pointed out. "The DHD's in bits. If we gate back there, there's no coming back."

"Actually, I've been working on that too," Felger gibbered happily, pulling open another paper. "The Ancients, Asgard, Nox, Wraith, and I'm guessing the Furlings too, they all had remote DHD's. If we can build our own, we can go back there and dial back to Millennium! I already started the prototype, I just need to-"

"That's ok," Chen and Hailey both barked, cutting him off. "We can take it from here."

"Didn't we also just finalize our alliance with the Fierri?" Corin pointed out. "You guys could ask to look at the data from the computers linked to their DHD."

Everyone's faces lit up. With Felger's one suggestion, the impossible now seemed possible.

-.-

The stench of burnt metal filled the air as embers from the wreckage floated into the sky. A mile-long path of destruction traced how the ship crashed, flaming pieces of debris littering the valley carved through the forest, entire trees demolished or uprooted as the ship tore through the underbrush, slamming into the ground and carving a path through the dirt before coming to a halt. The trail of destruction through the ground was like a scar in the planet. Even the forest around the crash was effected, twisted pieces of metal lodged in trees. Some of trees had been completely chopped down by the flying debris. The rest of the debris lay in the trail carved into the ground, remnants of the woods and the ship that tore through it sprinkled across the path.

From the ridge, Martin stared at the remains of the long white ship, an open carcass being picked apart by vultures. He scanned the landscape through his flip scope, watching the pirates move about. He could only imagine what the once beautiful ship looked like as it now lay there for the taking. The ship had hit the planet the perfect speed and the perfect angle that it wasn't engulfed in one giant fireball and incinerated. But now, it was a corpse for the picking. A little over a dozen scavengers were roaming the remains, picking apart the ship for anything useful. It was like a dead animal being picked apart by ants.

"Vultures," Martin growled in disgust as he flipped his scope back down. A ship just crashed and the only thing these people thought about were ways to line their own pockets. He knew that he had his own issues, but it wasn't like he had anything to do until either the gate was fixed or Millennium found him.

Martin made his way down the ridge, careful not to step on any of the flaming debris that littered the ground. Some of the scavengers had brought along carts and were just tossing as much scrap metal as they could into it. Others were picking apart the ship from the inside. Martin could only imagine how valuable the computers or engine components were. But Charles wasn't there to scavenge the ship. He was there to look for survivors.

Entering the ship wasn't hard; there were several very large holes in the hull. Once inside, he found himself in the middle of a dark hallway. Judging by how simple the ship was, it probably wasn't a civilian ship. The floor was like concrete and the halls were rather barren. The ship was built for a purpose and it wasn't to be luxurious. Cargo ship? Where was the cargo hold? It couldn't be a warship; Martin didn't see a single gun on the outside.

Martin was careful not to touch any of the wires, at least he thought they were wires, that hung from the ceiling like vines. The only light came from the moon light that poured through the ripped open hull and maybe a few flickering lights in the walls. Most of the lights through the entire ship were shattered except for a few bulbs struggling to stay lit.

He considered calling for help but the scavengers were already making such a commotion that a survivor would probably hear them first. They were all yelling and running around, fighting over the scraps. Not to mention, he would only end up calling another pirate.

He slowly made his way through the ship, careful not to do anything that could bring the ceiling down on him. His every footstep echoed through the desolate corridors. He took out a flashlight from his vest pocket and shone it down the hall. He peered into each room he passed by. Each one was trashed, a bent mattress and broken table and bed frame, but empty.

And that was the one thing Charles did find rather freaky: the lack of corpses. Even on the bridge, a wide open circular room with computer terminals facing the now shattered window toward the front, there were no remains.

"Watchtower's reported a ship just exited hyperspace and is headed for the haven."

How can a ship exit hyperspace if there was no one at the helm? And if there were people at the helm, where did they go? Even if scavengers looted their bodies they wouldn't bother moving the corpses.

Now that he thought about it, the ship was moving awfully slow for a ship that was supposed to be on an uncontrolled entry. It was as if someone was controlling the ship at the perfect speed and angle so that it would crash into the planet without being destroyed.

He considered trying to see if he could reactivate one of the computers but he knew that he had no idea how to use them. For all he knew he might accidentally activate a self-destruct.

Martin carefully took the ion rifle from his back and cradled it in his arms. He looked out the shattered window toward the front of the ship.

He could spot five scavengers still gathering as much stuff as possible and jamming it into a cart.

Charles gave a sigh and made his way off the bridge. This place was giving him the creeps. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching him. He stepped out of the room, ready to continue searching the ship. He had barely taken a few steps when he noticed someone standing out in the hallway. It was one of the scavengers, a human man. The sound of Charles's footsteps caused the bearded man to jump in shock, immediately pointing his plasma caster in Martin's direction.

"Hey now," Charles barked, aiming his ion rifle back. Getting a gun pointed at you was always enough to shoot fear through a person's body. But, staring into the man's eyes, Martin felt even more afraid than before. This scavenger looked scared. He was scared of something in the hallway.

"Run…" the man whimpered. Just as those words left his mouth, something leapt forth from the darkness. Charles jumped back in shock as something latched onto the man's face. It looked like a house centipede, a long segmented worm with dozens of hair-like legs sprouting from its sides, latching onto the man's face. But the thing was massive. Its body alone was the length of the man's face, its spindly legs long enough to cover his cheeks.

Martin instinctively aimed his gun the creature, but froze. Sniper or not, he couldn't shoot the thing off without taking out the scavenger it had latched to. He watched as the man tried to tear the insect off but to no avail. It slowly crawled into the man's mouth, using its legs to hold his jaws open as it crawled in, each spindly leg latching into his cheeks to push itself inside.

"I'm sorry, mate," Martin muttered. He kept his gun trained on the man, not sure what to do. Nova would…probably ask one of them for help deciding what to do. Chen would've shot him without a second thought; put him out of his misery and take out the bug in one go. But Charles couldn't bring himself to do it.

He didn't believe in mercy killing. If there was a snowball's chance in hell to save someone, he would take it.

Martin slowly backed up onto the bridge, quickly tapping the button next to the door, hoping the mechanism still worked.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" He muttered in frustration. The scavenger jolted up, staring at Martin, his pupils turning into slits. Finally, the door gave a loud hiss as it slid closed, putting a metal barrier between him and the man. Still, it didn't make Charles feel any safer. He backed up, his gun ready to fire if that door blew open. He quickly set his ion rifle to minimum yield. It lacked the destructive power of the higher yields but this close range it wouldn't matter. He wanted the increased rate of fire the lowest yield could provide.

His heart was beating so hard it practically rattled his body with every thump. He knew that that thing was on the other side. At least he thought it was. But after what seemed like hours of silence, nothing happened. He glanced at the control panel next to the door, tempted to open it. He hadn't heard any noises from the other side for a while now.

That's when something else struck him. Where did all the pirates go? Martin had been so enwrapped in what was happening in front of him he didn't even realize the noise of the pirates scavenging the ship had died down until a dead silence filled the air. Even when he glanced out the window, he could see the carts of equipment but the pirates gathering it had vanished.

"Hello!" he shouted out the window, panic beginning to take over. "Anybody there?!"

There were over a dozen pirates here and he didn't hear a single gunshot. That meant that that thing had picked them off one by one without anybody noticing.

He walked over to the window leaned over the control panel between him and the broken glass barrier, trying to see if he could spot anybody. He froze when he felt something beneath his palm. He stepped back, looking at his hand, then at the control panel he put his hand on. The controls were covered in slime. A thick gelatinous mass covered the control panel and the window sill of the broken glass.

Charles groaned in disgust as he wiped his hands on his pants. He glanced at the controls again. Did this slime have anything to do with that bug he saw?

Martin's body went stiff when he heard a familiar scraping sound, the sound of the door to the cockpit opening. he whipped around. The doors were wide open, a darkened hallways before him. He froze as a skittering noise echoed down the hall. Martin aimed his rifle down the corridor, stroking the trigger of his gun, not sure what to expect. He could hear something scuttling from down the hall. Thousands of tiny legs just skittering through the corridors. Something was down there but he couldn't tell what or where. With nothing but moonlight coming through the windows he couldn't see a thing. Then, just as quickly as it started, it stopped. The skittering, scuttling, it all stopped. A dead silence settled in the room like dust on a corpse. But, from the quiet, Martin could hear something: clicking. A low guttural clicking was coming from the hallway. Something was in the darkness watching him. That thing he faced earlier…it was back.

"Ok, bugger this," Martin muttered. He quickly set his ion rifle to medium yield, whipped around, aimed at the sill of the window, and fired. He watched as the blue bolt of energy shot from the barrel of his gun, hitting the wall and detonating, the sheer force of the explosion blowing the entire wall open. Without hesitation, he leapt through the hole.

As he landed on the hull running, he could tell his fears were true. Looking around as he ran across the demolished hull of the ship he examined the landscape around the spacecraft. Everyone had vanished. No trace. No corpses.

Martin shook his head and cleared his mind. He had to focus on getting away. That thing he saw earlier had somehow taken out every pirate here without a trace. He was sure of it.

The speeder bikes were still there. All he had to do was grab one. Martin leapt off the edge and slid down the side of the slanted side of the ship. The moment his feet touched the ground Martin practically flew to the closest speeder.

"Bugger, bugger, bugger," He muttered in panic as he leapt on. "How the hell do I start this thing?" Martin was twisting every lever and nob and key. He could hear rapid footsteps running across the hull of the ship, a scraping noise as it slid down the side, and the patter as it sprinted across the dirt. Something was running right at him. His hands were flying across the controls, trying to figure out how to start the damned bike.

Too late. It was on top of him.

"Piss off!" He yelled in panic, pointing his ion rifle in the direction of the noise and firing. The bolt of energy barely traveled a few feet before meeting its target and exploding. He had completely forgotten that the rifle was still on medium yield. The force of the blast launched him from the bike. He hit the ground and whipped around, ready to blow away any monster that stood before him. But, a firm hand grasped the barrel of his gun and aimed it at the sky.

"That's quite enough."

Martin recognized that voice. He looked up and spotted an armored figure standing in front of him.

"Arcturus?" He breathed in shock. Was this person the reason all the pirates were missing? Even if that was the case, Martin couldn't help but feel safe around the heavily armored and shielded warrior was comforting, even if they were only carrying a sword. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"The haven received your distress call." The armored figure explained, seizing Martin by the wrist and pulling him to his feet.

"Distress call?" Martin repeated.

"We received a panicked call for help from one of the scavengers," Arcturus explained, drawing their sword from its scabbard. "I chose to investigate and took off on foot."

"Wait, wait, wait…" Martin interrupted. "You ran here?"

"It was a lengthy run," Arcturus said dismissively. "However, when I arrived it appeared everyone had gone missing. I proceeded to explore the ship but upon seeing me, you fled."

"You were the one clicking in the hallway?"

Arcturus gave Martin a confused look.

"I heard no clicking. I only heard an explosion from down the hall so I rushed to see what was happening." Martin instinctively glanced at the hole in the bridge. So, Arcturus wasn't the one making that sound. Then what was? His thoughts were interrupted by his armored friend. "What is happening?"

Martin could only shake his head in response. "Couldn't answer if I wanted. Everyone just vanished."

Suddenly, a scream echoed from the ship. Martin whipped around, his rifle at the ready. He still could not get the guttural clicks out of his head. He had come face to face with death in the past but for some reason this thing terrified him. But he lowered his weapon has he saw where the sound came from: a human scavenger came limping from behind the hull of the ship. The rather muscular bald man was covered in sweat, his eyes bloodshot and full of panic, his jacket and pants covered in what looked like black blood. Martin kept his rifle trained on the man, half expecting something to seize his legs and drag him off.

The man took a step forward before collapsing to the ground in a heap.

"Clearly not everyone," Arcturus remarked.

-.-

Getting the lone human body back to the haven was easy enough. Arcturus hotwired the speeder. They put the body on a piece of scrap metal, retrained it to the metal plate, and attached the plate to the back of the speeder with a chord. After that, they both got on the speeder and sped off, dragging their load like a sled.

Martin glanced back at the ship, half expecting something to be standing there watching them. There was nothing there. He remembered arriving there with almost two dozen scavengers. Now only two were left. The rest: gone without a trace. He looked back forward as Arcturus piloted the speeder bike back to the haven.

Martin noticed there were even fewer pirates when they got back. Guess he shouldn't be surprised. Some of the other pirates probably left while they were gone and now another several dozen of them had gone missing. Still, a good number of them had gathered out into the center of the town when they saw Arcturus bringing back an unconscious man tied to a metal slab.

"Get this man to Urag," Arcturus ordered. Without question, several people quickly detached the cord and began dragging it to one of the huts, leaving the others to stare in confusion. They all wanted answers.

-.-

As Martin would find out, Urag was the haven's local doctor. Martin would spend the next several minutes standing in the observation window, watching the human doctor scan the unconscious scavenger.

The makeshift clinic was a giant circular room. The observation room was more of a hallway that circled the outermost edge of the building with the infirmary being in the center. There were a small handful of doors to other rooms in the building. Martin stood in that hallway, looking as Urag worked on the patient inside.

"You're not making any sense." The icthyan said. Martin growled in annoyance. It was the same damn fish man that tried to shoot him. Now the guy was pestering him over what happened. Fish-head and two other pirates decided to follow them in to find out what happened.

"I'm making plenty of sense you bloody idiot," Charles barked back. "We got to the ship and everyone suddenly vanished."

The icthyan leaned over him threateningly but a quick glance from Arcturus had him back off.

"Look, eel-face," Martin started saying.

"Lok Dod!" The icthyan barked.

"Whatever."

"Enough!" Arcturus interrupted, approaching the two. "It is unlikely that the human could have eliminated all the scavengers there unscathed. And it is even less likely he could have done is and disposed of all the corpses so quickly."

Dod grumbled in irritation but had to silently admit Arcturus was right. With nothing more to say he went back to the window to check on Urag.

"He's coming out," Dod announced as Urag wiped his hands on his apron on his way to the door. Everyone immediately gathered around the door as the doctor came out.

"So?" Martin asked when Urag came out. Charles was surprised by Urag's angry glare in response. He had no idea that helping the Ror'char would create such a response from so many.

"How's he doing?" Lok Dod asked. Urag took of his glasses and wiped them against his apron.

"I can't tell." He replied. "He's fine for the most part but his body seems to be reacting as if he is sick. Though…" Urag held out his hand, revealing a small holographic generator in his palm. There was a click and a blue hologram formed above the hand-held device: a hologram of what looked like a long spindly centipede.

"The hell is that?" Martin breathed, staring at the hologram of the segmented worm, dozens of spindly hair-like legs sticking out of all sides. "I saw that thing crawl into his mouth."

"Whatever it is, it's wrapped around his spine," Urag explained. "It appears to be some sort of parasite."

Martin kept his eyes locked on the hologram. There was something eerily familiar about it. He knew for a fact that he has never seen this creature before but there was something about it that seemed…off.

"So what now?" Lok Dod asked.

"I'll keep an eye on him for the time being," Urag replied, turning off the hologram and putting the projector back in his apron. "For now, I'd like you all to clear out of my house. Especially you, sell out."

"Mate..." Martin said, hoping to fix relations with the pirates.

"Out!" Urag barked. Martin felt his face sag. They may be pirates but he still didn't like making enemies if he could avoid it. He was about to speak but he felt a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Let it go," Arcturus replied. Martin watched as the armored figure went to the door and held it open, expecting him to just come along. After a moment, Charles finally relented and followed the alien warrior out of the building.

Lok Dod just walked out without saying a word and Urag eagerly closed and locked the door behind all of them.

"Bloody wanker," Martin barked at the door. "Seriously, you can't do anything when it comes to these guys."

"Space pirates may not align with any nation but they consider themselves to be an entity of their own," Arcturus explained, looking up at the night sky. Martin looked at Arcturus, the only person who has been the least bit helpful so far. And he still wanted to say thank you for saving for saving his life. But, there were some questions he had first.

"Can you fill me in?" Martin asked. "What's with everyone?"

"From what I was told, Millennium Outlaws were asking about hunting down the Crimson Slavers," Arcturus explained. "Some local pirates helped them. The Crimson Slavers are then wiped out by the Ror'char."

"Yeah, and some pirates helped us," Martin pointed out. "Why are they getting so pissy about it now?"

"Hostilities between pirate factions is a normal thing but it's another thing selling out another group of pirates to the Ror'char, a nation largely considered to be pirate hunters. Many fear you will now betray them to the Ror'char."

"It wasn't like that in the slightest," Martin argued.

"Your relation with the pirates of this galaxy is not my concern," Arcturus interrupted. Martin looked at the alien warrior. He could not help but feel venom in that voice.

"For a space pirate, you certainly seem to harbor a lot of hatred for them."

"The pirates are detestable outlaws and criminals. Murderers, thieves, and kidnappers who managed to make a living performing their crimes."

"From what I was told, the space pirates are just a bunch of random people who don't align with any one nation. They aren't all bad apples."

Even though Martin couldn't see Arcturus's eyes, he would swear that he was being glared at.

"Some pirate gangs have an initiation where they would charge a single shot in a five shot weapon," Arcturus explained. "They would randomize the shot and hand it to the applicant, who would then pull the trigger while aiming it at themselves."

"We have something called Russian roulette on our planet that's very similar," Martin pointed out.

"Then you know how dangerous the game is and its reputation, despite how unlikely death is. Space pirates are very much the same. While the worst ones are the minority there are enough. And I wasn't always a pirate."

"I heard," Martin said, recalling what Lok Dod said back in the tavern. "A Knight of Aurox or something like that."

"I was not just a knight," Arcturus explained, turning to face Martin. "I was the leader of Order of Aurox, Pariah of the Nox."

"Wait a minute," Charles stuttered, unable to believe his ears. "Nox?"

"Yes. While Nox believed in absolute peace, Aurox felt that peace was impossible to obtain without the use of violence. It was Aurox's belief that those who had power had to use their power to protect the weak and innocent to achieve peace. We found their scriptures. The Order of Aurox followed their teachings. We wield weapons and armor that had been left behind."

"Weapons and armor?" Martin repeated. "So that sword and that shield of yours belong to Aurox."

"Yes," Arcturus said with a nod. "Admittedly, they lack the power they once did." Arcturus pulled out the ancient sword. "This technology also relied on the supernatural power of the Aurox wielder, something we could only use technology to cheaply replicate."

Martin glanced at the ion rifle slung over his shoulder. Guess it wasn't only the Ror'char that made cheap copies of Alliance technology. Though, technically the Aurox were never part of the Alliance.

"So what happened?" Martin finally asked. Arcturus didn't answer, only looking up at the sky.

-.-

Urag gave a sigh and leaned back in his chair. He brought the bowl in his hands up to his lips and drank down the soup in it. No matter how much he ate he couldn't stop thinking about that Millennium traitor. It's slavers today but tomorrow it's a new pirate gang.

Part of him could not help but wonder if that sellout was responsible for the disappearances of all the scavengers. Still, how could one man wipe out so many scavengers? And what did he do to this one? What was the point of the parasite?

Urag was about to take another sip when something caught his attention. There was a knock as the door opened. Urag looked at the door in shock. He was supposed to be alone but there was someone at the door.

"What the?" Urag stuttered, putting his bowl onto the table in front of him. "How'd you get here?!" He felt his jaw drop as his eyes fell upon the scavenger he had as his patient. The man was somehow up and about. He stuttered and groaned, leaning against the door for support.

Urag was about to help the man but he could tell something was wrong. The man suddenly began trembling and thrashing, stumbling onto the table. Urag finally rushed to the man's side. It looked like he was having a seizure or something. Urag had to get him away from all objects, make sure he didn't hit his head on anything. But has he began to put the man on the floor, he felt something dripping onto his hand. He looked at it, his eyes widening when he realized it was a black slime. He threw himself backwards as the scavenger threw his head back and began screaming. A black slime began oozing from his skin, covering every inch of his body. Soon it engulfed him, turning into a cocoon of black slime that finally stopped moving, the man's screaming subsiding inside.

Urag could not stop shaking. What the hell just happened? What did he witness? He slowly inched toward the sac, which still look eerily human, like a human trapped in a thick black membrane.

He gently kicked the black sac, expecting it to suddenly explode out and engulf him. But nothing happened. He gave it a harder kick, his confidence growing. He was about to kick it again when it began moving.

Urag yelled in shock and jumped to his feet. The membrane had begun stretching, ripping, tearing. Something was tearing its way out.

-.-

A single terrified scream echoed through the entire tiny town, practically rattling all the buildings.

Charles whipped around. That scream came from the building.

"What the hell was that?!" he blurted out. He and Arcturus rushed back to the building, but he ran face first into the door. He stumbled backwards, clinging onto his nose.

"Smeggin' idiot locked the door on us," Charles muttered angrily. He reached back to grab his ion rifle but Arcturus stepped in front of him.

"Stand back," the armored figure ordered, sword in hand.

"You don't intend on hacking the door down?" Martin asked skeptically. "Considering that door's metal, unless that's secretly a lightsaber, you ain't going through it.

Though he couldn't see it, Martin could tell Arcturus was smiling from under that helmet.

"Stand back," the knight said, holding the sword to the side. Martin looked at it skeptically but he felt his jaw drop when the sword seemed to come to life. He watched as the sword began to transform. The pieces rearranged themselves, parts sliding, extending, and retracting until Arcturus had a rifle in hand.

Martin could hardly believe his eyes. Had he not seen it as a sword he would never have known it used to be one. Yet, he could tell which part of the sword had become what, the blade becoming the barrel, the handle becoming the grip, part of the guard turning into the stock and an edge of the blade becoming the iron sights.

Arcturus didn't even bother aiming the weapon, firing it from the hip right at the door knob. There was a brief but brilliant flash of orange energy blasted through the knob and into the ground, the lock disintegrating.

The armored figure kicked the door open and burst into the building, leaving Martin staring in shock. This galaxy was weird.

"Charles Martin, come!" Arcturus called out from inside. Martin immediately rushed in but it wasn't the same house he remembered. The place had been trashed. The biggest thing that caught his attention was the observation room window was shattered.

"Over here!" Arcturus called from one of the side rooms. Martin rushed in and immediately saw the issue. This was probably some sort of dining room but the table and chairs had been overturned, the food and platters scattered about. But it wasn't the food that caught Martin's attention but the massive splatter of black liquid against the wall. It was as if someone had slathered the wall in motor oil. But it didn't smell like motor oil. It smelled like decay.

His eyes widened in horror. It felt as if all the life had been sucked out of him. He kept telling himself that he was mistaken. They were still new in this galaxy. So, it could be something else.

But, there was only one creature in this galaxy that he could think of that secreted black liquid like that.

"Arcturus," Martin breathed. "I think we're in trouble."

"We are," the armored figure said darkly. "That's harvester blood."

Another scream suddenly rocked the building. It was close without a doubt.

"The next room!" Arcturus called out, immediately dashing for the source of the sound.

"Wait!" Martin called, not nearly as fast. But the armored figure was already in the next room. Martin got up and quickly followed suit. They couldn't just run through the building; they had to tactically clear it out or they could accidentally walk into an ambush. Still, he couldn't just stand back and do nothing. Ion rifle in hand, he rushed after his friend. He ran into the next room, immediately spotting Arcturus.

"Will you stop doing that?" he barked, dashing into the room. "Seriously, we need to-"

Martin never go to finish his sentence. As he stepped into the room, he turned to see what Arcturus was staring at. And what he saw chilled his soul.

Body-possessing snakes, life-sucking vampires, he knew the universe had terrifying things but he never imagined this: a freakish beast that was human in torso but in shape only. Four spindly legs held the thing up, the insect legs ending in sharp points like knives. He couldn't tell if it was covered in an insect's carapace or a reptile's scales. It looked like it was a carapace made of scales. A pair of beady red eyes glared at the two from its snake-like head. Even the humanoid torso was twisted and distorted, the limbs longer and thinner than they should've been.

"Arcturus," Martin breathed. "Is that…"

"It is," Arcturus answered. "It's a harvester."

The harvester reared back, a nightmarish roar emanating from its jaws. But it didn't just sound like a roar. It sounded like screams, hundreds of screams behind that monstrous roar.

"I knew it," Arcturus breathed, staring the nightmarish thing. "So there is harvester presence here."

"What?!" Martin barked at the knight. But he didn't get answer.

Arcturus took aim and fired but the harvester immediately reared up and leapt onto the walls of the building. Bolts of pure energy tore through the building like a blow torch through butter. The harvester creature dodged the beams but they still demolished the wall behind it, the metal wall turning into molten scrap.

"Hold on!" Martin called out but Arcturus wasn't listening. The knight kept firing, tearing through the walls of the building until the wall completely fell apart, creating a hole outside for confused pirates to stare in.

"You're not hitting it, just hold on!" Martin called.

The harvester leapt onto the ceiling, its claws legs digging into the surface. But Arcturus had already predicted this and aimed the rifle at that precise location.

The harvester gave a screech of pain as the bolt tore through the left side of its body, instantly disintegrating it into dust.

"You hit it!" Charles gasped. The limp corpse of the creature fell off the ceiling and to the ground in a heap, at least the remaining half of the corpse did. It fell to the floor, black blood seeping from the body.

Charles set his ion rifle to medium yield and took aim at the broken corpse. Martin would've used max yield but at such close range he would be incinerated too. The medium yield would have to do. He's had two run ins with the harvesters already and he was not taking any chances. He was going to use his rifle to completely wipe out any trace of this creature.

"Stop!"

Martin's eyes widened as Arcturus leapt forward and shoved the gun barrel out of the way. The infirmary room exploded in a shower of glass and twisted metal as the stray bolt flew out of the room and hit the observation room wall. He looked at the armored figure in shock.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"I need it alive!"

Martin was about to protest but a sickening squelching caught both their attention. They looked at the corpse in shock. It was moving again, thrashing about like it was having a fit. They watched tendrils began sprouting from the open wounds, the fleshy vines growing and shaping itself into its missing body. Once it had its shape right, the tendrils bloated and expanded, fusing together and mutated until it had actually become the body. More tendrils grew from its body, taking the shape of its limbs. Once again, when the tendrils had taken the proper shape, it fused and became the missing limbs. Martin watched wide-eyed as the thing got back to its feet, completely regenerated. It was as if it didn't get hit at all. But it hadn't finished changing.

The creature threw its head back, tusks growing from the base of its lower jaw. No. Those weren't tusks. Those were jaws. A second set of mandibles grew out and encased the bottom of the monster's lower jaw. Not only that, it was becoming even more nightmarish than before, spiny hairs coming out from between some of the scales. Its face was becoming even more rigid and bony.

Martin felt his blood run cold as he watched the creature leap at him.

"Look out!" Arcturus barked, shoving him out of the way, swinging the rifle. That's when he realized it wasn't a rifle. It had become a sword again, transforming from one weapon to the other in a fraction of a second, the massive blade cutting through the monster's chest. Oily black blood sprinkled from the wound, splattering against the floor like a fine mist.

Arcturus stood up, sword back into a rifle and at the ready.

"Arcturus, your face!" Martin called out. Arcturus didn't realize it, not at first at least, but a few droplets of blood had landed on the knight's helmet. Tiny string-like tendrils began sprouting from the black stain, sliding across the surface like a fast-growing fungus. It wasn't until the strings began sliding across the visor did Arcturus realize what was happening.

The armored warrior reached up and tore the helmet off, tossing aside the metal scrap as it was engulfed in the fleshy tendrils.

Still, that didn't stop Arcturus, brushing aside the blonde hair in her face. Most of the long blonde hair was tied in a braided bun at the back but there was still a fair amount of descent length bangs hanging at the front and side. She held her sword at the ready and launched herself at the nightmarish creature.

She must have cut one of its venom sacs. Either that or it decided to inject venom into its own bloodstream. If that's the case, she would have to be careful where she cut. It would've been easier to use the rifle to incinerate it but she needed the thing alive. She knew it had incredible regenerative abilities, which meant she could rough it up a bit, but she did not want to accidentally take it too far.

Charles fired at the creature. The thing leapt past the bolt but it didn't matter. The moment the energy bolt hit the ground, the floor exploded into a geyser of shredded metal. Shrapnel flew in all directions like lethal confetti. A concussive blast may not be very large but the floor had turned it into a mini grenade, the shrapnel embedding itself into the creature as it began scampering across the ceiling.

"Bugger!" He cried out as it leapt at him. At the last moment, he threw himself through the window into the observation room. He felt the glass hit his shoulder and shatter against his body. So close to the impact, the sound of shattering glass was deafening as he hit the floor on the other side, the glass crunching under his body weight. He rolled onto his back, aiming his rifle at the window he just jumped through. He had just took aim when another bang cracked the air. The harvester roared in pain as something hit it in the spine, the flesh almost instantly freezing solid and shattering like glass. He immediately spotted what it was.

Through the hole in the wall, Charles could see a figure standing in the distance, a fish man aiming at them with his revolver. It was Lok Dod. He began blasting the creature from outside, every shot instantly freezing its flesh and shattering it, wounds the size of apples forming in the creature. After five shots, Lok Dod stopped to look at the aftermath but the thing was still standing. An orange beam of energy suddenly carved through the creature's back. Arcturus had fired again before charging forward.

Arcturus swung her sword but it cut nothing but air. The creature had leapt away again, clinging to the top of the room with its four legs.

Charles quickly set the rifle to minimum yield and fired at the creature, pellets of energy hitting the ceiling. But one hit the creature in the leg, instantly cooking it. It may have lost one leg but it bent forward, its claws digging into the ceiling, crawling across the ceiling like an insect with five of its limbs, its dead leg hanging limply from its body. He vaulted over the window sill to get a better angle.

Another bang split the air, Lok Dod firing one more shot as it scampered across the ceiling. Black blood spewed from its leg as it hit.

Martin gave a yell of shock as more boltss of energy shot past, tearing through the ceiling, the metal beams falling to the floor.

"Watch it!" Martin called out in panic as the ceiling collapsed right in front of him. He glanced at the door just in time to watch the thing scamper out. He turned to scold Arcturus again but the knight had already charged out the door.

Martin could only growl in frustration and rush after her. The guy was hellbent on destroying this thing no matter what. No, not destroy. Arcturus said she wanted it alive. But why?

He rushed outside and immediately spotted Arcturus. But he couldn't spot the creature anywhere. It had escaped.

"God, buggerin', damn it!" Martin growled when he realized it had vanished. There were barely a few dozen pirates left in the entire haven which meant it could have escaped anywhere without being seen. It had gotten away.

At the very least they were safe now. That was too close for comfort.

He looked at Arcturus, panting, trying to catch his breath. That's when he realized. Snow white skin. Long blonde hair, the back of which was tied in a braided bun. Long bangs hanging from the front and side of the face.

"Wait a minute..." He stuttered. "You're a chick."

A/N: Hey everyone. Sorry for the wait. I've actually been sitting on this chapter for a while but I never got the chance to revise it. Hope by schedule hasn't affected my writing/revising. I would like to thank taleanaomi for his help writing this story. Something I decided to try my hand at was the cliche of the mysterious stranger turning out to be a female. From when she was introduced to when her helmet came off, I never referred to Sam as a he or she (and if I missed one, please tell me so I can edit it out).