AN:
Thank you for reading and commenting so far I have a good feeling and high hopes for this little story of mine.
Well enjoy and let me know what you thing, I'm trying this narrative style I hope you all like it because its hard lol...
It wasn't long before Aurora grew impatient with the speed of the ship she occupied and tried to think of a way to hasten its pace. She had spent the last 3 days flying through desolate space with nothing more to do than clean and sharpen the few weapons she carried on her, nothing more to see than space full of possibly dead light that travelled through time and space. Some believed the lights to be traveling souls that had ascended long ago. Others gathered their scientific evidence and believed stars to be the product of dying planets or merging gases.
A nice thought to believe she told herself thinking about the ancestors traveling throughout the infinite galaxies leaving behind their bright lights as a sign that they were never truly alone.
Turning the auto pilot settings on she stepped in to the cargo space to inspect the machine. She told herself it was to make sure the machine was just another safety precaution but in all reality, her curiosity grew with every passing second. How much trouble could she cause if she traveled ten hours in to the future she wondered? Better not to test the laws of physics she decided returning to the pilot seat for a quick nap. She kicked her feet up on the seat that would normally fall behind her and closed her eyes.
Aurora knew that to make the time machine ship Janus had to forgo certain comforts such as additional seating and storage in the cargo compartment, a lack of temperature sensors and controls.
The alarm sounded loudly as something clashed with the shield surrounding the ship, Aurora was startled upon waking. Unsure of what had hit the ship she quickly pulled up a visual of where the impact happened and piloted the ship so she could get a better view. A Wraith war ship had started to fire she gulped at the massive size of it in comparison to her own vessel.
There Wraith sent out a handful of single piloted pointy ships to finish the job knowing there was no chance for the Lanteans ship to escape or damage their ship.
Aurora sent drones to attack as she flew away trying to by some time for a better plan, a second larger number of single pilot ships was dispatched forcing her to release everything she had.
The ship took two shots and the shields alarm went off letting her know it was near depletion, if she lost the ship, she would risk this technology falling in to enemy hands. Looking around for any help, she realized she could easily make a jump through space then in time.
She powered the device up as she evaded the being hit and pressed the controls; the ship sped up so much it created a bright light. The bright light was the same thing she would see when a battle ship entered hyperspace then the light disappeared. In the far distance, she could still see the Wraith ship; no doubt, they were shocked and looking for her.
Wishing she had one more drone to surprise, the Wraith's with she imputed the number ten and quickly disappeared.
Within minutes, she was in a different time it was obvious that the Wraith had long ago left and if she was correct, she had an hour before the transporter vessel arrived and her mission was a success. She did a full systems check just like she would any other time, half way through her check the sound of grinding gears filled her ears. Slowly she turned afraid of what she would find; the noise came from the machine. She inspected repeatedly as the gears seamed to pick up velocity, closing the compartment off she returned to her pilot seat and took over navigations. A green light went filled the ship so thickly Aurora could not see, her skin burned the way dry ice did.
The pain was excruciating, the ship moved at such a seed that the inertial dampeners didn't help with the pressure falling against her body. The ship raced through different dimensions gaining speed and power, the machine's design enabled it to recharge its power supply in case of emergency. Once the bearings wasted themselves, the traveling quickly stopped, by this point aurora was weak and weary she tried the space communicator and cursed Janus for removing it. There was no time to rest Aurora had to figure out not only where but when she was, she started by looking for a planet that was near.
Planets came up on the screen with a grid to help with distance accuracy, one all too familiar Lantea. They will be angry that she did not destroy the ship and even more so that she did not make it to the transport ship. Setting the necessary coordinates in to the navigation, she accelerated the ship steadily looking back to towards the rear compartment and hoping she didn't set off the machine again. As she neared the planet she powered the shield up disappointed when it only powered up to 25% and it still needed to get through the planet's atmosphere.
"Could this be more impossible?" she yelled out of frustration.
The ship's temperature rose as it skimmed the atmosphere, ironically that was something she wouldn't have minded a few hours back. On last time, she checked the trajectory and calculated how long it would be before the ship hit the water 5 minutes. The glass started to crack giving Aurora the signal to move in to the cargo haul. The bulkhead door shut quickly behind her as she made her way to her bag that she had full of explosives and supplies.
Her plan was to set the explosives so they would blow up before hitting the ocean, she would open the hatch and jump out to safety. The city of Atlantis was close enough to see the explosion meaning they would send a rescue team, she had all the bases covered or so she thought. Just after setting the explosives around the time machine, the inertial dampeners went offline-sending Aurora flying in to the bulkhead door.
The door was turning red from the hear scorching her arm as soon as she fell in to it, rolling on to her back instinctively she screamed in pain as the skin on her back burned. She cried as she pushed herself up and used the machine to pull herself to the rear hatch. Waiting for the right moment she looked down at her watch, she started the five-second countdown on the detonation device. The rear hatch opened quickly when she pulled the manual lever. The decompression was not as strong as she thought it would be, she jumped turning in the air involuntarily and watched the ship explode in a huge fit of fire. Using her hands, she shielded her face seeing a large piece of the ship come towards her.
Though she didn't know it she hit the water before the debris hit her, the sudden change in temperature mixed with the painful collision shocked her body and mind taking her conscious into a dreamless sleep.
The bulkhead door floated near Aurora who was floating on her raw back in the ocean about a mile south of the city. The city had long since been abandoned and was left submerged; Dr Weir had stayed behind to rotate the ZPM's. Dr Weir was rotating the ZPM's for the third time meaning 9.9 thousand years had passed since she had spoken to Aurora, as Dr Weir entered the power room she noticed a bleeping yellow dot on the scanners.
The wraith had left the planets orbit many years back unsure of what the dot was she pressed on it with her now old wrinkly finger. Astonished at what she saw she took a seat and studied the life sign; if she was reading the monitor correctly, the vitals were slowly dropping. A screen opened up next to the life sign with a picture of the Lantean she remembered as Aurora, her medium blonde hair braided in to a band circling her head. In the identification photo Aurora was a few years younger biting her lip to keep herself from laughing at the faces her sister Trebal was making.
Dr Weir stood up and made her way to the gate ship bay, after entering one she carefully flew the ship through the water and up to the surface. The bright sun was blinding to her tiered dull eyes, shielding her eyes she searched for a body in the water. The gate ship sensors picked up Aurora's life sign and showed Dr Weir where to go.
Aurora opened her eyes feeling the bulkhead door hit her head as she floated. The sun stung her eyes blinding her shortly; she reached for the floating door and pulled herself on top relieved to be out of the cold water. Resting her eyes for a few minutes, she thought of why she was still out in the water and how long she had been there. Her watch told her hours had passed since the explosion, she was sure that it was only a mile away from the city so why wasn't any one there?
Aurora kneeled on the door painfully and looked around for Atlantis so she could just swim back. To her relief a gate ship flew by and circled her location, aurora jumped in to the water as the ship lowered over the bulkhead door she was on. The rear hatch opened reveling an old woman with long white hair, she was dressed in her peoples clothing.
"Aurora is that really you?" I woman asked.
Aurora just stared at her as she climbed in to the cargo area, who was this woman and where was the rest of the rescue team.
"That's me, who are you?" Aurora was shocked at how dry her voice sounded.
"I'm Dr Elizabeth Weir," the old woman said trying to help Aurora sit up.
"Why didn't a rescue team come?" she asked avoiding her last answer.
"Everyone evacuated to Earth, it has been nearly ten thousand years Aurora," the way Dr Weir answered it was evident that she was as surprised as Aurora to find someone here.
"How did you fly the gate ship?" Aurora asked with disbelief.
"I have the gene marker like you my people call it ATA gene its short for Ancient technology activation gene." She explained.
"Very imaginative name you people came up with," Aurora laughed as she pulled herself to her feet and headed for the pilot chair.
Dr Weir covered her mouth with her hand when she noticed how Aurora's back looked, the uniform she wore was in scraps and her back had what looked like third degree burns that traveled down her arm.
Aurora was in pain but she knew the sooner she got to Atlantis the sooner she could have medicine. She closed the rear hatched and waited for Dr Weir to have a seat. Using the navigational information the ship's programming had she easily found Atlantis and the entrance to the ship bay. Dr Weir had remained silent for the entire trip, but it was obvious that she had concerns about the burns.
"So I take it your plan was to wait ten thousand years for your people to come back?" Aurora asked as she rummaged through what the doctors left behind in the infirmary looking for painkillers. Aurora listened as Dr Weir explained what the plan was and how this was the final rotation of ZPM's.
Hearing the plan aurora decided the only thing she could do was jump in a stasis pod and wait for Elizabeth's people.
"In your expedition there are medical doctors with medicine?" aurora asked.
"Yes of course, are you saying what I think your saying?" Dr Weir asked figuring out what Aurora meant.
"Yes I am in great pain and we have no medical supplies left, I destroyed the time machine on my way through the planet's atmosphere there is nothing more I can do in this condition," she responded.
Dr weir had spent so many years alone she didn't want to go back to the stasis pod just yet. They both walked together to the room Dr Weir had been in the stasis pod and talked for a while longer. Aurora told Elizabeth about her journey and how she longed to see her father and sister, in return Elizabeth spoke of how happy she was to give her people the chance they deserved. They made sure to rotate the ZPM's before returning to Janus's lab.
"Oh John Sheppard is as handsome as they come, and with a big heart," Elizabeth explained with a gleam in her eye.
"Ah were you and he involved?" Aurora asked happily ignoring her pain to give the old woman a moment to relive the life she left behind.
"Lord no, I think you and him would make a marvelous team both personally and professionally. Aurora did you leave any one romantic behind?" Dr Weir asked smiling.
"No, my Father was disappointed that I had not found a love interest, he joked about marrying me to the first officer of a ship his name was Max. Max actually helped in my training when I was old enough to fight. Do you really think you can survive another thousand or so years?" Aurora asked. It was now her turn to worry about Elizabeth.
"I do, and I think you will as well come it's time," Elizabeth answered standing and motioning towards the stasis pod.
Aurora nodded knowing it was time to enter those scary machines. She watched as Elizabeth programmed her own pod. She took a pen and ripped a piece of her good sleeve, Aurora wrote five addresses all of which she was sure had ZPM's that she knew of. She placed it in Elizabeth's hand and smiled.
"Max told me of these planets with outposts they must all be powered somehow," Aurora nodded and started to program her stasis pod.
"Aurora you will make it your young and vibrant you should have this," Elizabeth countered.
"I'm in so much pain I doubt I have such a chance, besides your memory is intact so should anything happen to you I will make sure your expedition gets what they need. Go I will be fine," Aurora reassured Elizabeth.
Elizabeth held the cloth to her chest as she entered the stasis pod for the last time, the chronological freeze partials (as she liked to call it) effulged Elizabeth. The city was unusually quiet, no air seamed to flow the water around it was calm. The city was in a deep slumber resting and regaining her strength for the battles yet to come.
Aurora programmed her stasis pod after closing the window; she made sure to add extra proteins and anesthetics since she was hurt. She stepped in to the stasis pod and for once in her life let tears fall for all the people that had given their lives for this city, all the people who had lost some one dear, and for the memory of her father and sister. The gel was cool and quick to numb her uneasy mind.
The city turned the lights off to help the two women sleep and closed all the doors just in case water did enter they could have a chance to survive. The city loved its people just as much as they loved her, her slumber started once more for the next time this city would wake her children would return home where they belonged.
