WARNING: This is a new spin off which means new characters and new setting. If you are new then I recommend you read the first episode so you know what's happening. Otherwise, please review and enjoy.
A/N: Fifth episode. I think I owe my reviewers an apology. I was on a gateworld forum page discussing about fanfiction pet-peeves and someone mentioned that some people hate it when they review a story and get no response from the author (something I am guilty of). I apologize for that. Reviews are always welcome and appreciated. I usually don't respond because I don't know what to put aside from 'thank you'.
I also have put a trailer for this series on youtube.
watch?v=cFh4mIbxyko
Quick thing about the trailer: it is not just a bunch of random clips with music; I did not put it in there unless it was going to happen in one of my episodes (with a few obvious exceptions). It may be slightly different but similar enough that you can watch the trailer and point out which clip/audio came from which episode. If you see it in the trailer, it will happen in one of the episodes.
I have also started a forum about this on gateworld. threads/89185-Stargate-Millennium If you wish to ask me something just go to the forum page.
-.-
PROLOGUE
It has been twenty years; it's been twenty years since the first team of humans was sent to Abydos. Thanks to the massive stone ring known as the stargate, Earth has made enormous leaps technology. They have a fleet of ships ready to defend their planet. They unlocked the secret of the lost city of Atlantis and the mysterious ninth chevron that led to Destiny. But, they had barely scratched the surface of the Alliance of Four Great Races. To this end, Earth has launched a new expedition to the fabled city Millennium, built by all four races. It's a new expedition in a new galaxy, and these are their adventures...
-.-
It is said that the universe is infinite, that one could spend their entire lifetime trying unlock its secrets and barely scratch the surface. But, this did not stop races from trying. Four races, the Alterans, the Nox, the Asgard, and the Furlings aimed to unlock every secret of the universe before their races would die off. They united to achieve their goal, sharing knowledge and technology while expanding across countless galaxies. Some point in their history, they chose to go their own separate ways. They abandoned entire cities and left them for whoever could find them. But, there are still those who remain, watching...and observing...
-.-
Untouched by civilization, the skies of alien planets were often more beautiful than anything that could be found. It was a sight to see and explore.
A massive figure streaked through the sky, swooping through the clouds joyously, weaving in and out of the puffy white masses. From a distance, it looked like a dragon was soaring through the air with an armored rider atop of it. However, on closer inspection, it becomes obvious that this dragon-like shape was actually a large open-cockpit aircraft.
Corin stared in awe at the landscape around him as he steered his craft toward the ocean below. He wore a suit that looked like it was made of countless pieces of metal as he rode his aircraft. His helmet looked like dome with a large face plate that had three veins of glowing energy at the front. He could hear the wind whooshing past his helmet. He could only imagine what it would feel like against his skin.
Massive manta ray-like creatures jumped and bounced across the ocean surface as Corin navigated through the splashing waves, whooping in amazement. Water sprayed his suit. He veered back up into the clouds. This was a rollercoaster ride and he got to choose where the coaster was going.
"Having fun there?" Steven Chen's voice suddenly crackled on the radio as Corin was back inside the white masses.
"You have no idea," Corin laughed as he tried to stand up. "These dragonflies are amazing!" He immediately sat down when his ride began to wobble.
"We're only out here training, Corin," Chen reminded, emerging out of the clouds beside Corin riding his own dragonfly. The glowing red eye ports on Chen's black HAZARD suit were the most obvious as he appeared from the clouds. "Terra and Charles already finished their training; you're the only one left on the team. We should head back to the Millennium."
Corin couldn't help but groan in disappointment.
"Ok, once we get past these birds," Corin said.
"Birds?" Chen repeated in confusion. "What birds?" As if to answer his question, a flock of flying pigeon-like lizards suddenly burst through the clouds. Chen yelled in shock and covered his face as the creatures flew past, several of them bouncing off the front of the dragonfly. He cautiously moved his arms away from his face, looking around to make sure nothing else was going to run into him.
"I HATE birds!" Chen yelled in disbelief as the flock flew past. He readjusted himself on his seat as his computer console suddenly beeped a statement in an alien language at him. Chen didn't know what the statement said but it made Corin burst out laughing.
"It said: the Nox would like to remind you that animals are people too," Corin translated with a large grin. Chen was not as amused.
"I'm gonna turn off the onboard AI when I get back," he muttered.
The two of them continued flying through the clouds, headed for the stargate. It wasn't long until the coast came into view, massive pine trees reaching for the skies higher than most trees on Earth.
"Switching to vehicle mode," Corin announced as he flew toward the ground. As he descended, the wings on the dragonfly retracted into its body, turning the spacecraft into a speeder as it now streaked across the ground with Chen preparing to do the same. He knew they would have to stop and get off to dial the DHD since the dragonflies didn't come with their own but, until then, they could cruise across the landscape with nothing but a trail of dust being kicked up behind them.
-.-
The city of Millennium, once the capital for the Alliance of Four Great races, now was inhabited by the Tau'ri of Earth in their quest to unlock the secrets of the universe. People were going about their daily business. Doctors and nurses paced about the hospitals and the infirmary, ready to receive patients. Scientists and engineers had tables piled with Alliance technology to study and experiment. The halls, no matter what time it is, always had someone walking down them. The tram stations under the city always had someone using them. Like any city on Earth, there was always someone up and about.
The control room, heart of the city, always had people working in it.
"Incoming wormhole!" Donavan announced as the silver stargate activated. "Sealing the barrier." The line at the base of the stargate lit up and shot a beam of light across the shimmering event horizon, forming a large metal plate over the giant puddle.
Hearing the gate activate, General William Mercer exited his office. He wasn't wearing his blue dress uniform that he usually wears. Instead, he sported black khaki pants with a white dress shirt and tie with a black vest atop of it.
"What have you got?" he asked, his massive black mustache twitching as he talked.
"Getting Corin Nevec's IDC," Donavan explained.
"Raise the barrier then," Mercer ordered as he went to head down the gate room. Donavan punched in the commands and the line activated again, removing the barrier from the gate.
As Mercer made his way to the bottom of the stairs, Corin and Chen sped out of the gate on their dragonflies.
"Professor, Doctor," Mercer greeted warmly with a smile. "I assume the training went well."
"Incredibly well," Chen said as his helmet began to retract, folding back into the neck of the suit. "The dragonflies may not be military spacecraft but they are going to be tremendously helpful with station repair and off-world exploration." Corin simply laughed in agreement.
"With these things, we can travel and explore further than we ever could on foot," he said as his helmet retracted. "We can now even explore planets where the stargate's in a dangerous spot: the two space gates we found yesterday, the one on the volcano planet…"
"Good," Mercer said with a nod. "I think I have just the mission for you. Park the dragonflies and meet me in the conference room."
"Got it," Corin acknowledged as Chen typed a command into the dragonfly. Mercer took a few steps back as the gate room floor seemed to distort. Corin, Chen, and their dragonflies seemed to sink through the floor and out of sight into the chamber below.
-.-
Parking the vehicles was easy enough. Once they were done, Chen and Corin both waited in the conference room, not even bothering to take their suits off. The ark at the back of the room activated and opened, letting Major Terra Nova and Lieutenant Charles Martin come in with their black on-duty uniforms.
"Mates," Martin greeted happily in his regular Australian accent. "Nice suit," he said jokingly when he noticed Corin and Chen were both wearing the HAZARD suits. Chen just grumbled at that statement, knowing it was not sincere.
"Wolf Pack," Mercer greeted, exiting his office. Seeing the General, Nova and Martin both took their seats. "Before we begin the briefing, I'd like to ask Doctor Chen his assessment of the dragonflies we found in the Millennium garage."
Chen looked up in surprise, not expecting Mercer to open the meeting with him.
"Well, we got the doors to the room under the gate room open last week," he explained. "We don't know what the Alliance called them but we're calling them dragonflies. These aren't military craft, the closest thing they have to a weapon is their thermal lance made for drilling; they're made repair and exploration. We can use them to cover an even greater distance around the gate than on foot. It can alternate between spacecraft and vehicle depending on the situation, and its vehicle mode doesn't consume as much energy."
"Will it work in space or underwater?" Mercer asked.
"We'd have to wear suits or something and use flight mode but yeah."
"Excellent," Mercer said, taking out a folder of papers and passing it around the U-shaped table. "As you all know, after our recent incident, our galaxy map has suffered extensive damage." The team passed down the folder, taking a look at the pictures inside. "We still have the gate addresses in this galaxy but we no longer have the accompanying descriptions. We have to refill the map ourselves."
"General," Nova suddenly spoke up as she flipped through several photos. "What are these?" She flipped the picture around to show Mercer. The image was dark but obvious that it was taken underwater with countless specs of sand and barnacles floating by and a massive ocean floor at the bottom. But it was what was on the ocean floor that had caught Nova's attention; dotting the bottom were dozens of nearly identical towers of coral
"Ah yes," Mercer said pleasantly. "We sent a probe to TK5-986. Our MALP short circuited so we used one of the station's kinos to explore." Martin flipped through a few more pictures with what looked like close ups of the coral towers. "As you know, all four races of the Alliance colonized this galaxy; all of them built cities on planets of their choosing. Upon dialing this planet, we detected energy signatures in the vicinity of those coral towers."
"Energy signatures?" Corin repeated, not seeing how stacks of deep-sea coral could possibly emit that.
"Indeed," Mercer said with a nod. "We've analyzed cross referenced the energy signature with our database; it's Nox."
Hearing this, the whole team looked up.
"There's a Nox city in that bloody ocean?" Martin coughed in disbelief. Martin remembered the SG mission reports about the Nox and the ocean was the last place he thought he'd find them. "What are they doing at the bottom of the ocean?"
"The Nox highly values nature," Corin explained. "Different Nox cultures will try to connect with different aspects of nature. I read the mission report about the Nox from your galaxy. Their culture revolved around the forest. The one that built the city must've have a culture that revolves around oceanic nature."
Chen listened to the talk but did not react with as much surprise or eagerness.
"Did the kino actually see a Nox city anywhere?" he asked. "Was it floating in the sky or anything?"
"No," Mercer said flatly. "We believe that it was left cloaked."
"The Nox don't want their advanced technology interfering with nature," Corin immediately cut in. "They'll do whatever they can to avoid affecting nature, putting their cities in the middle of the ocean instead of on the floor or surface, set their cities in the air-"
"Put their cities in space?" Martin asked, thinking of the very large city that they occupied. Corin simply nodded.
"Guess we know why the Alliance chose to build something the size of Beijing in the middle of nowhere," Chen said gruffly.
"They always cloak their cities so that animals passing by won't react to it," Corin added. "If they want to interact with nature they have to limit the technology they use, built huts or mounds or…in this case, coral houses. Coral is the one thing that would survive for thousands of years exposed to water."
"So we know there's a Nox city in the vicinity," Nova concluded. "But, if the Nox built the city with the intention of not having anything find it, chances are we won't find it either."
"You won't," Mercer said, reaching for a box under the table. "Not without this." He slid out a small device and held it in the palm of his hand. "You don't give your engineers enough credit, Doctor Chen. While you were observing Professor Nevec's training, they built this." Mercer slid the device to Nova who took a moment to examine it. "They say, once in close proximity to the city, it will deactivate the cloak."
"I assume they also failed to specify their definition of 'close proximity'," Chen said bluntly as Nova slid him the device.
"Regardless," Mercer said. "We use this opportunity to see if we can find the city. We are lacking much needed resources and Nox technology might give us what we need. The Ror'char uses Alliance technology and if we even hope to fight them we must do the same."
"With all due respect, General," Martin said. "All our teams are running and hiding from them; not fighting them."
"Then it is fortunate that the city we found is Nox. You have your mission, Major Nova. I want Wolf Pack geared up and ready to deploy."
STARGATE
MILLENNIUM
The garage under the gate room was nothing spectacular. The dark blue floor seemed to glow to light up the whole garage, revealing dozens of dragonflies parked by power stations, ready for use. Wolf Pack was geared up. Chen and Corin were already in their suits so they just need to extend their helmets back over their head. Nova and Martin wore similar dark grey suits, distinguishable only by their helmets. Nova's helmet was shaped like a dome and had a single purple vein of energy running across it like a visor. Martin's helmet was wedge-shaped and had three veins instead of just one.
Corin and Chen were loading up their dragonflies with empty crates and containers.
"I still think we should send divers for this mission," Martin remarked as he rolled his dragonfly out to the center of the garage. "We brought marines. Send them."
"Millennium exploration teams are comprised of personnel from all branches of the military and civilian crew," Corin said as he locked down the last of the cases. "We're supposed to do the off-world exploring no matter what situation."
"He means that since the Air Force is in charge of the stargate program, they have to do most of the exploring no matter what the condition," Chen translated.
Nova clicked open a case.
"Here," she called out to Martin. "This'll cheer you up." She reached in and tossed over the Ror'char ion rifle. "Millennium Exploration teams are picking these up from their encounters with the Ror'char. General Mercer wants every team to carry at least one of them."
Martin looked at the alien gun with a smile.
"They're also the only gun, short of a grenade launcher, that's effective against Ror'char armor," Chen added.
"Speaking of guns, what are we going to bring?" Corin asked as he rolled his own dragonfly out. "The ion rifles work underwater P90's aren't exactly made to shoot down there."
"Give us credit, Corin," Chen said as he unlocked another case and took out several black rifles.
"Russian ASD amphibious assault rifles," Nova explained as the rifles were passed around. "Fires trinium darts instead of regular rounds. It'll work both in and out of water." Nova and Chen both rolled out their dragonflies to the center. "Gentlemen, are we ready?"
"Quick question," Martin remarked, looking at the ceiling, which was the floor of the gate room above them. "How're we gonna get to the gate room?" Martin looked at Chen for an answer, since he was the tech expert. Chen didn't answer; he just smiled and punched something into the dragonfly controls.
There was a loud click as a large glowing circle formed beneath their feet. The ceiling began to ripple and distort as the glowing disk beneath them began to rise, lifting them all up into the ceiling.
They passed right through the ceiling and emerged in the gate room on the other side. The stargate was already active and ready for them.
"Major Nova, is your team ready?" Mercer asked from the control room. The team mounted their dragonflies.
"Ready!" Nova called out with a thumbs up.
"Wolf Pack, you have a go!"
-.-
The active stargate on the alien world glowed bright enough for all the fish to see underwater. The large silver ring was stationed on top of a large football-shaped platform that floated in the middle of the ocean. The DHD was right in front of it, between sets of large arches that hung over the platform. Stabilizers on the gate glowed with power as they prevented the platform from just sinking to the bottom.
Nova came through first, a trail of bubbles shooting out the back of her dragonfly as she extended the wings and moved out of the way as he team followed through and did the same, the lights on the arches coming to life as it detected the travelers. Fish darted away as they came through.
It was certainly a new experience. They were so used to being able to move freely on land. Now, their every move met resistance from the water around them. Their every movement was slowed as if the water was grabbing a hold of them.
Chen groaned when he saw the seemingly endless amounts of water around him.
"Something wrong?" Martin asked when he heard Chen's agitation.
"I hate water," Chen said, trying to shrug off the thought of how deep they were.
"Just think of it as swimming in a pool, mate."
"You never had nightmares of drowning when you were a kid," Chen snapped, gripping the dragonfly tighter. "So, short of just swimming around like a bunch of idiots, how do we intend on finding the Nox city?" Chen asked. They looked around but could see nothing but darkness in all directions.
"Turn on the night vision," Nova ordered. There were four gentle clicks as the team activated the suit's night vision and everything around them became clear. The ocean still created a massive black void in all directions but they could now see the ocean floor and the masses of fish floated by.
"I say we head for the village first," Corin suggested. "The city's usually in visual range."
"Hold on a moment," Chen said as he maneuvered his ride closer to the stargate. He reached into his pack and took out a small machine.
"What you doing?" Martin asked as Chen put the machine right at the base of the gate.
"The first the SGC ran into the Nox, their gate vanished," Chen explained as he sealed his pouch. "Not to mention, the last thing we need it to get lost in the middle of the ocean; there aren't exactly landmarks."
"Just use the ocean floor," Martin suggested with a shrug. Chen rolled his eyes inside his helmet.
"Yes, of course," he said as the team drove into the darkness. "Who volunteers to remember which rock the stargate is floating above?"
-.-
Jellyfish floated past the towers of coral like balloons, a mass of stringy tentacles dangling under them. A plethora of creatures swam around and crawled across the towers like any other coral reef.
In the water, the dragonflies in flight mode looked like large manta rays with riders.
"This must be the village," Nova said when it came into view.
"How do those blokes live down here anyways?" Martin asked. "I mean, I know they have powers but they can't do this; can they?"
"We are talking about people that can make stuff appear and disappear with their mind," Chen pointed out as he approached the coral structures, watching as small minnows swam away. Leafy tendrils attached to the ocean floor waved with the current, eyes of small creatures living inside them peeking out.
"If they do use their powers to live underwater, they definitely can't hold it long," Corin said, parking his dragonfly and getting off, the dirt beneath him kicking up into a small cloud as he approached the ocean floor. "The biologists on Millennium will probably want coral samples."
Corin removed a container from the storage compartment at the back of his dragonfly and slowly swam over to a tower.
Martin was busier observing the tower.
"Found the door," he called out as he dismounted from his dragonfly and swam toward a hole in the side of the coral formation.
"Crikey!" he suddenly yelled in surprise, backpedalling out, his rifle aimed at the door. From inside the tower emerged what looked like a large spiny puffer fish with a single eye at its front. It looked at the startled Lieutenant Martin for a moment.
Nova maneuvered her dragonfly over when she heard Martin's yell and aimed at the large fish, which was the size of a dog.
"Friendly?" she asked cautiously.
The fish suddenly puffed up, its spines extending in all directions as it opened its gaping mouth, revealing rows of impossibly long teeth.
"Take that as a no," Martin said, trying to swim away. The fished rushed forward but barely got a few feet before Nova opened fire. Trails of bubbles erupted from her weapon as metal prongs shot out from the barrel, embedding themselves deep into the cyclopean fish.
As she stopped firing, mists of red leaked out of the creature and began floating toward the surface. Some of the red clouds drifted away into the darkness of the ocean.
"You ok?" Nova asked, lowering her weapon. Martin just turned around and gave a thumbs up.
"Those things actually work well underwater," Martin remarked, looking at the gun. He proceeded to swim through the opening and into the coral house. Particles from the coral floated around freely as Martin examined the scene. Everything that would've been part of the household thousands of years ago, tables, chairs, beds, had been eroded away. Only the walls of the house remained. He could only imagine what this would have looked like when the Nox were actually living here. He remembered reading SG-1 mission report about the Nox they encountered in the forest and tried to imagine what this village would've looked like thousands of years ago. The ceiling had a single hole in it that led to another room in the tower. Martin guessed that it would have a whole in its ceiling too that would also lead to another room.
"I'm not sure how appreciative the Nox would be of us shooting guns in their city," Corin pointed out with a laugh. He locked the container, now full of coral samples, onto his dragonfly as he went to get another empty one.
"We already shot guns in their city," Chen said, thinking about the firefight they had on Millennium, built by all four races of the Alliance including the Nox.
"The fish didn't disappear when I shot at it," Nova pointed out, scanning the area for more.
"That probably means the city is abandoned," Corin concluded as he loaded another full container onto his craft.
"Gee, and the empty village didn't give that away?" Chen asked sarcastically.
"Chen, you find anything?" Nova asked as she maneuvered her dragonfly through the village of coral structures.
"I'm looking for a needle in a haystack, Terra," Chen said, holding a scanner in one hand and the de-cloaking device in the other. "If the Nox are good at one thing, it's hiding stuff."
"Your planet encountered the Nox only once because they let themselves be seen," Corin said as he loaded jars of coral and dirt onto his dragonfly and remounted it. "They could've been on every planet your world visited and no one would know they were there. Since they don't want to fight, they have to stay hidden from everything."
"In other words, they could be watching everything we do in this galaxy and we'd never know," Chen concluded.
"That's bloody creepy," Martin remarked, imagining cities of fairy people just watching them, like a creeper watching a passerby from his window with telescope.
"Well, maybe we can get a chance to talk to them or something," Chen pointed out as something finally registered on the scanner.
"Got something?" Nova asked when she saw Chen pause. He simply pressed the button on the de-cloaking device and looked up in surprise.
The darkness of the ocean in front of him parted like black curtains being drawn open, revealing the massive emerald green city behind it. Schools of fish swam away in surprise, reacting to the sudden appearance of something so large.
"I think so," Chen answered in awe. Martin and Corin emerged from behind several of the coral buildings and stared at the city.
"Looks like we found it," Martin said, climbing back onto his dragonfly. He stared in amazement, still stunned that they found an ancient Nox city that was once lost to time, hidden from the world since it was abandoned.
"Think we've looked at the village long enough," Nova said. "Wolf Pack, let's check out the city."
The team had just begun to head toward the city when Martin stopped.
"Hold on a moment, mates" he called out, stopping his dragonfly and scanning the ocean around him. Everyone stopped and looked at him curiously. "Do you hear that?"
Without the hum of the engines, the ocean fell silent. They could hear the thrashing of the one-eyed puffer fish swimming away, but in the background they heard a soft moan like a ghost or supernatural creature calling out from the darkness.
"What is that, whales?" Nova asked, trying to figure out whether or not the source was dangerous.
"Those are very small whales," Chen remarked.
"Is it just me, or is it getting louder?" Corin commented. The team scanned the ocean around them for the source of the noise but could find nothing. Then, just as sudden as it had started, it stopped. The ocean fell silent once again.
"Whatever it was, it seems to be gone now," Nova said, easing up.
Suddenly, the whole ocean floor seemed the shake, sending the whole team stumbling off balance, as a massive black figure burst through several of the coral towers nearby. The puffer fish swam away in fear as the massive creature shot after it in pursuit, moving through the water with ease. It grabbed the fish with its claw and dragged its prey into a pair of smaller pincers protruding from its neck, its blood red eyes watching as its jaws ripped the fish apart.
"Are we in danger?" Corin asked worriedly. He knew a lot of animals in the galaxy of Caldwell 70 but he didn't know every one of them and it was clearly carnivorous. It looked like a massive black lobster, the size of a puddle jumper if not bigger.
"Nah," Martin said, shaking his head; it was only eating the fish after all.
As the remnants of its meal drifted away into the ocean like liter, the lobster swam off before turning completely around and heading for the team.
"Yeah," Martin said fearfully, changing his answer when it became obvious the thing was headed right for them.
"Alright Wolf Pack," Nova said, mounting her dragonfly. "To the city, double time!"
The team jumped on their vehicles and took off, a trail of bubbles erupting out the back as the massive creature followed, roaring demonically as it chased its prey. At these speeds, the water didn't just feel like a gentle force against their body but a mass of hands trying to shove them off. They gripped the handles of their crafts as tight as they could, afraid that the moment they loosened their grip they would fly off the back, pressing themselves against their dragonflies in a desperate attempt to make themselves more hydrodynamic.
The creature was rapidly catching up. It was made for swimming, built to chase its prey through the depths of the ocean, bred to hunt in this environment, designed to kill any and all organisms it chose.
"Chen we need directions!" Nova yelled as they flew toward the city, the thick platform of skyscrapers getting larger with every second.
"They'd need some sort of air lock!" Chen yelled. There was a crash as the creature tried to grab one of the dragonflies right out from under them.
"Doesn't narrow it down, mate!" Martin snapped as he narrowly avoided the lobster's snapping jaws. Martin glanced behind him and felt chills down his spine. The creature opened its jaws again, revealing a mouth full of not teeth but hundreds of hand-like appendages. Martin thought about the fish that had been eaten and he imagined himself falling into those jaws, being ripped apart by the countless hands inside the creature's mouth.
Chen's mind was racing. He had milliseconds to figure out where to go. He had to assume that all Nox cities were built in similar fashions; that meant the entrance would be the same on all of them. It had to be a place on the city where Nox could go from a planet's surface and into the air as easily as they could from the ocean into it.
Corin yelled in shock and swerved sideways as the claws clamped down where he was a few moments ago.
"Head under the city!" Chen yelled. There was no question. The team angled their vehicles downward and flew under the massive city with the massive lobster in pursuit. The underside was not flat but dotted with towers and buildings. It would've been a beautiful sight seeing skyscrapers and towers dangling upside down but they didn't have time to admire the view.
"Up there!" Chen yelled, pointing at what looked like a large man hole in underside of the city, nearly getting pushed off by the force of the water on his body when he pointed.
The creature eyed its prey as they veered upward toward a crack in the bottom of the city. It roared furiously as it swam even faster in a desperate attempt to catch the team. The bubbles being blown in its face from the vehicles didn't matter. It just wanted its meal and it had to catch them before they made it into the hole.
There was a deafening crash as the creature slammed into the bottom of the city. Its head and neck were just small enough to fit into the gap but the rest of its body was too large. It used the pair of pincers attached to its neck to make one last desperate grab at the team as they vanished into the darkness.
-.-
The emerald green walls of the inside of the city were masked by the darkness. Then, a single bright flash lit up the entire hall as Wolf Pack emerged from the light beam of light, carefully maneuvering their dragonflies into the hallway. They were sopping wet and dripping but alive.
"We're inside," Nova said as the beam of light vanished, plunging the team back into darkness.
There was a gentle click as the lights began to come on, peeling away the darkness of the hall.
"Good thing the Alliance HAZARD suits negate water pressure or we'd be dead," Chen remarked as they dismounted their vehicles. Martin gave him an agitated look.
"Next can you tell us that before activating the transporter, mate?!" he interjected. He didn't like the idea he could've died if it wasn't for a coincidental aspect of the suit he wore. He mumbled in annoyance as they retracted the helmets around their heads back into the collars of their suits.
"Uhh, guys," Corin said, taking a step forward. The lights continued to peel back the wall of darkness in front of them, revealing a large glass chamber in front of them.
Chen finally stepped into the room.
"I have to admit," he said. "It is a beautiful sight." The team knew what Chen was talking about. They gaped at the view of the city, which looked like it was upside down from their point of view. Countless sea creatures swam by. Schools of fish floated under the upside down towers like living clouds. Strange bird-like creatures with a mass of tentacles for tails glided by. Large disk-shaped creatures that looked like they were made of only skin floated around like balloons.
"Ok, moment's over," Nova said. "Gentlemen, back to work."
-.-
Chen found himself in an office that overlooked the glass chamber, trying to access the city's computers. Corin was hanging over his shoulder, reading the texts that Chen brought up as he scrolled down them.
"Terra, Charles, how's the exploration?" Corin asked over the radio.
"Good so far," Nova said as she and Martin continued wandering the empty halls. Even with the lights of the city coming on, it was still eerily dark. "It's kind of reminiscent of Atlantis…just with less lights."
"Yeah, I'm trying to get those on," Chen said as he continued hammering at the keyboard. "The city's power grid is in some sort of standby mode. I'm trying to bring it out but this is the first time I've ever seen Nox computer language."
"You're the first person who's ever seen a Nox computer," Martin pointed out.
"I don't even know if computer describes this," Corin said. "It's more plant than machine."
Just as Corin said this, Steven Chen froze and looked up. Corin looked up too, trying to find out what Steven was looking at.
"What is it?" Corin asked. He didn't see anything but the dimly lit halls and the large chamber they had parked their dragonflies in.
"Nothing," Chen finally said after a moment, slowly getting back to work. Corin looked up again to make sure there was nothing there. "You sure this city's abandoned?"
Corin looked at Chen in surprise.
"Well, no one stopped us from killing that fish earlier," Corin pointed out, knowing the Nox would do something to make sure there was no killing.
"So, no Nox hiding anywhere?" Chen asked. Corin looked at him questioningly. "I thought I heard something," Chen finally explained.
"What, you think that there are Nox still here invisible watching us?" Corin asked. Chen looked up at him as if to say 'yes'.
At that moment, there was a dull thud in the hallway like a heavy footstep. Corin and Chen both looked up, weapons aimed through the window.
"Ok, I heard that," Corin said, a little unnerved. "Hello," he called out, his voice echoing through the chamber. "We don't mean to disturb you. We are…young. We were hoping you could teach us to be wise."
He paused for a moment, hoping to hear a response. The only response he got was a single long screech, like nails scratching across a chalk board or something metal being dragged across the floor.
Corin reacted immediately, shutting the door and propping a chair against it.
"SG1-1's mission report never mentioned them being creepy," Chen exclaimed, his hand on his gun.
"Could be a Nox joke," Corin suggested, trying to think of some reassurance.
"Yes, because the Nox are well renowned for their sense of humor," Chen scoffed sarcastically.
Before they could continue discussing what was happening, Martin's voice suddenly came through the radio.
"Shouldn't we be worried about imminent power failure?" he asked. "Like, Atlantis nearly lost its shields and Millennium's life support was nearly dead."
Chen didn't answer immediately. He quickly typed something into the computer.
"No," he said. "According to this, the station's power is perfectly fine."
"How's that possible?" Nova asked. No one was surprised to learn Atlantis or Millennium was nearly out of power after tens of thousands of years and even felt slightly stupid for not considering it. Hearing that this city maintained its power this long without a problem seemed impossible.
"For one, the city isn't using a shield like Atlantis. The city is water tight."
"Still, what about life support?" Martin asked. Chen opened his mouth to answer but he honestly had no clue.
"You're close to one of the power plants," Chen said. "About fifty of them power this city. Hang a left."
Nova shone her flashlight down the hall on her left, exchanging looks with Martin. They had just begun proceeding down it when Martin froze.
"Martin?" Nova asked. Martin glanced behind him suspiciously before continuing.
"Nothing," he said before proceeding.
"Open the door ahead of you," Chen said.
Nova and Martin approached the large grey door. She gave Martin a nod and he waved his hand in front of the glowing orb at the side of the door. It opened with a hiss, revealing the fairly small room on the other side. At the center of the room was a small pedestal with a red cube atop of it.
"The Nox power source should be at the center. Just pick it up."
Martin hesitantly waked up to the cube. He tapped it with his hands several times, making sure he wasn't going to get zapped or burned if he touched it.
"What is it?" Martin asked as he plucked the cube out of the plug it was in.
"Well, I just found the data on Nox power sources."
"And?"
"Paragai, it's a fungus," Chen answered. Martin immediately tossed it back on the pedestal, holding his hands away from it in disgust.
"It's their power source," Corin clarified. "The fungus, under certain conditions, undergoes a chemical reaction that releases massive quantities of energy."
"Not as much as a ZPM or naquadah generator," Chen added. "But, it has a much longer life span."
Martin reluctantly picked the cube back up.
"So we can just find this fungus and get a power source?" Nova asked.
"Not exactly. The fungus has to reach a certain age in order to produce the energy levels the Nox use.
"They always did get all their stuff from nature," Martin grumbled as he took off his backpack and put the cube in it.
"Chen, download as much information from the computers as you can," Nova said. "It's time we head back."
"What?" Chen interjected when he heard.
"Why?" Corin asked.
"We're not leaving," Nova clarified. "But, we are scheduled for a check in and we might as well send back everything we've collected so far."
Chen bobbed his head, thinking about what Nova said. As long as he got to keep working at the computer he was happy.
"Downloading data," Chen announced, taking a flash drive out of his pack.
-.-
Bubbles trailed behind the dragonflies as the team made their way back to the stargate. The glow of their now extended helmets lit up a few feet of ocean in front of them.
"If we dial the gate, don't we risk having water flood the gate room?" Martin asked as he flew by several schools of fish. Corin felt like a kid in the classroom waiting to get called on by the teacher when he heard this.
"The gate possess the ability to differentiate between what is attempting to actually go through the event horizon and what is merely pressing on the surface!" Corin quickly babbled. Everyone looked at Corin in surprise, not expecting him to be the one answering the question. "I read it in the SG mission report where SG-1 gated to a water planet."
"Corin's right," Chen said. "The stargate can determine the difference between passive and active contact. Water won't get through the -"
"HEADS UP!"
Everyone practically jumped when they heard Martin shout that, not expecting him to yell. They looked around and immediately saw what had him so panicked. They veered out of the way as the massive lobster-like creature bolted past them and toward the depths of the ocean. It was the exact same one that had chased them earlier.
"The bugger's back!" Martin yelled as the large figure streaked past.
"Get that gate open!" Nova ordered as the creature, realizing it just missed its prey, whipped around and headed back up at them, the darkness of the water parting for its glowing red eyes.
They all scattered in different directions. None of them liked leaving the others to deal with the creature on their own but clumping up only made them easier to attack.
Chen flew his dragonfly by the DHD and practically jumped off to reach the pedestal. He began to slowly press the buttons, the pressure of the water hindering his movement.
"Steven, look out!" Corin yelled. Chen looked behind him. The creature was coming back around like an eagle hunting a mouse in the field. Chen grabbed the DHD and pulled himself under the console as the creature flew over with a roar.
Chen grabbed his gun and fired, the metal prongs leaving nothing but bubbles as they streaked through the water and bounced harmlessly off the creature's hard shell. Instead of flying past the platform the stargate rested on, it slowed down. It turned to face Chen, floating in the water so that it would be easier to grab its prey.
Suddenly, a bolt of blue energy streaked through the water, bubbles covering the surface of the bolt as its heat instantly evaporated the water touching it. The streak of energy hit the creature in the shoulder, exploding and sending a shockwave through the water that nearly threw Chen off the platform.
With a roar of utmost fury, the beast darted though the water at Martin. The Tau'ri ASD rifles didn't do much to the creature the Ror'char ion rifles obviously succeeded at pissing it off.
Martin gripped his dragonfly and flew off with the lobster right behind him. Its massive claws clamped the water as Martin made a U-turn and headed back toward the platform.
Chen tried to get back to dialing the gate; he had only managed to punch two symbols into the DHD. He still had five more to go and the water pressure made it hard to move. He looked up as Martin suddenly streaked through the inactive stargate, a trail of bubbles forming behind him. The creature roared as it tried to follow. Its head and neck succeeded in fitting through the stargate but its shoulders were just slightly too big, lodging itself inside the ring.
Chen was nearly thrown off the platform as it jolted underneath his feet. He looked up and saw the creature stuck inside the ring, its body nearly completely filling up the area inside the gate.
"Dial the gate now, Chen!" Martin called as he lowered his dragonfly. "The big kawoosh should kill that thing and we can get out of here!"
"Are you that stupid?!" Chen snapped.
"What? It's stuck!" Martin said defensively.
"Yeah, and it's also an obstruction. I can't dial the gate while it's still in there!"
The creature continued thrashing, still stuck inside the ring. Then it froze. It looked up toward the surface as if it suddenly sensed something. It scanned the water around it. Then, it began thrashing again but even harder and in panic.
"I didn't know!" Martin snapped. "I don't do this tech stuff! How am I supposed to know?! It doesn't matter. Kill it, dislodge it, then we get out of here."
"Martin, Chen, get out of there!" Nova yelled. The two of them only looked at her in confusion. Whatever it was that had the Major worried, it was behind the stargate. They turned around and stared into the darkness of the ocean. It took them a moment but they suddenly realized the darkness was not from the empty water but because they were staring down the maw of a cavernous mouth. They couldn't see the body of the fish itself. All they saw were the walls of its throat and the blackness in it like a massive tunnel to hell.
"Bugger," Martin whimpered. A massive fish, perhaps a whale, was headed for them, its mouth open to eat the creature stuck in the gate.
Martin jumped on his dragonfly and sped off. Chen didn't even bother getting on his. He just grabbed a handle and pressed the accelerator, hanging on as he flew off the platform on out of the way.
The lobster began forcing itself to swim backwards. There was a loud creak as it finally freed itself from the ring. It desperately began to swim away as the massive fish continued moving forward, its jaws open to receive its meal. The lobster managed to swim out of the way as the platform that held the stargate and DHD vanished into the darkness of the fish's mouth. But, the lobster was not going to sit idly by and let itself become food. It whipped around and charged at the giant fish, tearing through its scales and into its flesh with its claws. The two creatures continued fighting as their thrashing figures disappeared into the depths of the ocean.
"The stargate!" Chen yelled, looking up where it used to be.
"It's gone," Nova breathed.