Planeswalker Gothic 2
Unknown Planet. Pegasus Galaxy.
"You know we could have gone anywhere you can imagine" I said to Conrad Verner as several people with guns surrounded us "But no you wanted to check out this galaxy".
It was my own fault really. After dropping off the rest of the Mass Effect natives at the police station I'd explained to Conrad, who was now sort of my sidekick, that with the modified Puddle Jumper we could venture to other universes, which he'd totally believed without any evidence for some reason.
Also I had mentioned that the alien who had brought the Puddle jumper to his galaxy might have been doing other bad things elsewhere. This had led to him insisting that we find out what those things were, so I'd taken us back to the Wraith's lab. Which was now totally surrounded by SGC personal.
"You said we could go anywhere I wanted" Conrad reminded me "I wanted to make sure no more new drugs were going to start hurting people".
Damn heroes and their whole helping people thing.
"Who are you people!" a voice demanded to know.
It took me a moment to realise that it was John Shepard who was talking. The leader of Atlantis's number one team. I was a little star struck, but I soon got my act together.
"My name is Gothic and this is Conrad Verner" I said "We're from Earth".
Conrad currently had his pistol pointing at one of the Stargate people and we both had Kinetic Barriers, plus I was a magic user, so if it came down to a firefight we could win. Maybe.
"Who are you people?" Conrad demanded to know as an odd whining noise filled the air.
Before anyone could answer, there was a whine and a flash of light. I closed my eyes for a second, due to my eyes hurting from the bright light. When I opened my eyes again , they widened in shock and fear as there were now Wraith standing in our midst.
"Everyone take cover!" someone yelled.
The marines, or soldiers, or airman, I couldn't tell which, brought up their own rifles while Conrad and I did the smart thing, which was find cover.
While the fight didn't last long the last remaining Wraith, who was not one of the types that wore masks, grabbed Conrad and wrapped his arm around his neck. Now the blond haired men was looking at me, his eyes wide and filled with fear.
"Gothic!" he called out.
I now had my pulse pistol, which I knew could kill Wraith, pointing at Conrad, not the best move I could have made, but I'd done it anyway.
"Let him go," I ordered the space vampire "You really don't want to piss me off!"
The Wraith laughed maliciously.
"I hunger and this one is so full of life" the alien said.
Well I was rapidly growing fond of Conrad, and the whole reason I'd brought him alone, aside from wanting someone to fly my ship, was because he could very soon be the last of his kind. The Reapers would soon descend upon his galaxy and wipe everyone out. If Conrad died here then my small act of goodness would have meant nothing.
"If you hurt him, I swear that I will make your life hell before I destroy you," I promised the Wraith.
Not that I'd ever tortured someone, but I was willing to give at a go.
"That's a Wraith," John Shepard said to me in a low voice. "Don't let him put his hand on your friend's chest. They feed off humans. They suck out our er…life force. It will make him wither and die within seconds".
So clearly John Shepard understood that I wasn't a native of this galaxy. I wondered how he knew that. Maybe the clothes were a give away.
"Regardless of what you think you know of me, your friend here is mine. After him, I shall feast on you all" the alien said as he grinned nastily.
I really hated this species, and I was quite willing to kill the creature. With that in mind I used my TK powers to grab the alien's arm, the one around Conrad neck and I forced it up into the air.
"Conrad get down!" I shouted.
The Wraith roared with rage, and brought up his weapon with his free hand, a stunner. He shot at me and I let a magical shield take the shot. Which confused the alien space vampire. Not that he remained confused as I shot him with my pulse pistol, five times just to be sure.
Then the air filled with a sound that was becoming rapidly familiar, when I looked up I saw more Wraith darts.
"We have to leave" I told Conrad
My intention was to return to the cloaked Puddle Jumper.
"I'm sorry, but we can't let you go" John Shepard was saying "You have to come with us".
There was no time to argue.
(Line Break)
Conference Room. Atlantis.
"All right, what we do we know about our visitors?" Elizabeth asked.
No surprise Mckay spoke first.
"Well, we know at least one of them has telekintic abilities, an energy shield and an energy weapon" Rodney commented "So my guess is he's either an Ancient, or someone whose learned a lot about them. More than we have".
Teyla spoke next.
"Surely someone who can so easily defeat a Wraith is someone that we should ally ourselves with" she suggested.
Elizabeth nodded slowly.
"I would like to think that they mean us no harm, but I can't assume that" she soon said "They claim to be from Earth, but how did they get here? There is only one known Stargate on Earth and that is at the SGC. If for some reason the SGC had another ZPM, they would have arrived here in Atlantis, which they didn't, and they're clearly not SCG personal.
Rodney had a theory.
"Ah, but that's the thing. The only known gate. What if there is another one somewhere else? It wouldn't be the first time. Remember the gate that the SGC has now is the one they borrowed from the Russians. They found one in Egypt, then in the Antarctic, who's to say that it can't be somewhere else?" he suggested "The one with the energy shield sounds British, maybe they found a whole treasure trove of Ancient tech, like the Ancient Outpost at the South Pole, including a gate, they powered it up and came here".
It wasn't impossible. Although it seemed far fetched.
"Okay, assume for a moment that there was another gate somewhere else on Earth and they found it. I can believe that, even if it's a stretch. My next question, if they're really from Earth, then where did they get their powers. No human can do that," Elizabeth said.
Well only one of them had shown to have powers, but Dr Weir didn't assume that meant the other person didn't.
"They can if they're a wizard," a voice said from by the door.
Heads turned and stared at the man standing in the doorway.
"What do you mean wizard? Like magic and stuff? What? Next you're going to pull a rabbit from your hat?" Rodney said with a scoff.
Gothic arched an eyebrow.
"I could, but that's so cliched" he said.
John laughed a little at Rodney's expression, before turning towards Gothic
"So, you can really do magic?" he asked.
Mckay began ranting about magic being impossible. Meanwhile Gothic, took out what seemed to be wooden stick, made a gesture and Rodney found himself unable to speak.
"Don't worry I can reverse it" he then assured everyone else.
As proof went it worked rather well.
"So do you get to the Pegasus galaxy?" Elizabeth Weir asked.
What followed was a long story which if written down would make a decent sized novel.
"That's quite a tale," Dr Weir finally said.
The wizard took a seat before speaking further.
"It's my life. What can I say?" he replied casually.
Sometime passed as people took in this informed.
"That was a load of crap!" Sgt. Bates suddenly exploded "There is no such thing as magic. Major, I demand that you throw this man and his friend in a cell, they are a direct risk to this base and everyone on it".
No one was eager to do that.
"Regardless of whether you believe it or not, Sgt. Bates, we're not going to just throw them in the brig," Elizabeth stated sternly "I have a feeling that we have much to learn from each other".
She then turned to the so called Wizard.
"Could you at least undo whatever it is you did to Rodney" she requested "I get the feeling that if he doesn't get ask something soon he'll explode".
After another wave of the wand Dr Mckay could speak again, and he asked about a dozen questions in under ten seconds.
"I know how far fetched it all sounds" the wizard said, ignoring the many questions "but really its not more far fetch than being in another galaxy, in a city that was built by ancient beings. It's all a matter of perspective".
Not everyone took a moment to consider that.
"I don't care about perspective. I still think we should lock you up," Sgt. Bates stated.
There was another flick of the wand and the loud American found himself totally unable to move.
"He's just paralysed" the wizard assured everyone.
Elizabeth Weir was not happy. Neither was John Shepard who currently had a gun pointing at the wizard, who was unbothered by this.
"Er…this isn't permanent is it?" she asked warily.
The wizard shook his head.
"No, I just got tired of his attitude" told the woman "If he can keep his mouth shut, I'll reserve it".
Once able to move again Bates wisely took no action, he just glared at Gothic.
"If I wanted to harm any of you I would have" the wizard said "And I can teleport so locking up would be rather pointless. Besides I don't intend to stick around I was dealing with a Wraith who had gained the same abilities I have. He's dead now but I wanted to make sure he hadn't done anything that would mess up other worlds.
Suddenly Gothic's stomach growled and he looked around, embarrassed.
"Er…sorry. I haven't eaten for a while" he admitted.
Elizabeth nodded.
"All right then. I want your guarantee that you're not here to harm anyone," she demanded "I assume you vouch for your friend, he collapsed after nearly being fed on by a Wraith".
Well not right after, that had happened after they'd come through the gate.
"As long as no one attacks me I'll leave them be" Gothic assured the leader of the expedition "And while I'm here I might be able to help you. I have access to technology you don't. I'm sure we can work out a deal".
This pleased Dr Weir.
"Acceptable. If that is all, then we can adjourn. John, why don't you show our guests to the mess hall and let them get something to eat" she requested "We'll work out sleeping quarters later, and we can discuss a trade deal in the morning".
John nodded and the meeting broke up.
(Line Break)
Atlantis. Pegasus Galaxy.
To claim land a Planeswalker had to meditate and draw on the mana to form a link to that land. While I had an instinctual grasp on how to do this, I'd not done it for a while. Mostly because the mox diamonds on my gauntlet drew mana in over time which I could then use to power the spells that were my cards. When not using my cards I tended to rely on my internal magic, or on the items I carried like my sword, Winter's Bane.
Today I was claiming land, well actually I was claiming Atlantis, which was sort of an island so it should give me blue mana.
Blue's philosophy, like that of each colour of mana, was determined by its world view. To Blue, the world is opportunity. Within it hide wonders and possibilities most fantastic: the stuff of dreams. Blue was characterised by the desire to know the world's secrets and to make those possibilities real. The belief that dream can be reality, to which Blue holds fast, is belief in tabula rasa, the blank slate.
Also Blue believes that all things begin existence blank, without destiny or purpose. This is contrasted with Green's belief that one's life is predetermined, by natural ability. Blue believes the essence of a thing is given to it, that it is shaped by the storms and eddies of its existence. Those with the knowledge and willpower are masters of this: shaping and changing things at will. To Blue, essence is as malleable as clay.
Mastery of possibility, mastery of essence, is exactly what Blue pursues. Thus, Blue comes to prise knowledge. It is with knowledge that Blue will unlock great possibilities, and changes itself for the better. With all knowledge, omniscience, Blue can make itself perfect.
Recurring themes in Blue are illusion over reality (nurture over nature), thought over action (reason over passion), and the future over the past or present. Which would explain why I was now thinking of the future, and planning out exactly how I could aid the people in this city should I chose to.
Also I totally unsurprised by the Ascended being who was now watching me. Logic and reason told me that of course they'd take note of me, and that they would want to stop me from interfering with whatever plans they had in motion.
"I was wondering when one of you lot would turn up" I said causally "Let me guess you want me to leave".
That made sense I was sort of an ascended being myself, albeit one in human form. The Ancients didn't like it when ascended beings messed with mortals, unless they were the ones doing it.
"It is not our place to tell you where to go" the Ancient said.
I didn't recognise this Ancient, it wasn't one I'd seen in the Stargate shows, but that made sense as there could be millions of them.
"There are however limits to what we will tolerate" the Ancient was now saying.
I didn't care what those limits were.
"Don't worry I'm not sticking around" I assured the glowing person "Now why don't you go and glow in some kid's room as a nightlight, that way you might actually be of some use to people".
The ascended being didn't reply to that, rather it seemed vanished, and I was left alone to gather my Mana in peace.
(Line Break)
Jumper Bay. Atlantis.
"Sorry what?" I asked Conrad.
Certainly I had heard that wrong.
"I'm staying here" Conrad repeated.
Yep that was what he had said.
"Why?" I asked.
My time on Atlantis hadn't been that enjoyable, mostly due to that annoying Bates guy, he had started out not believing anything I said right up until I'd flown a team to Ilium so that we could pick up some useful ME tech. After we'd returned with a Puddle Jumper full of ME weapons, kinetic barriers and omni-tools the Sergent had demanded that his superiors take the Jumper from me. Not understanding that only I could get the ship in and out of the Void between realities. Without a Planeswalker to guide the ship it was just Jumper with odd shielding.
"Well they need someone to show them how to use all the tech we brought here" Conrad said "And Major Shepard offered me a place on one of the teams. I'd only be guarding scientists to start with, but he promised if I did well in training I'd be let into a combat team".
Having around someone who was used to ME tech would be good for the Atlantis folk since they were going to be making use of the stuff. Also I understood that Conrad wanted to make something of his life so him helping here did make sense. I'd also known that we would part ways I just hadn't though it was would be soon.
"Good luck Conrad Verner" I said while shaking the man's hand "Try not to get eaten by any space vampires".
Which in my view was good advice.
"I'll be heading out soon" I told the ME human.
My Puddle Jumper was fully stocked now. I had plenty of water, rations, other basic supplies, and even more weapons. Shepard had at least been nice enough to teach me how to shoot. I could now hit someone or something that wasn't standing right in front of me.
"Bye Gothic" said Conrad as he stepped out of the Jumper "Thanks for bringing me here".
I closed the door to the little ship, sat down in the cockpit and wondered what the heck I was going to next. Well whatever it I was going to do I wouldn't be doing it here. Not with the Ancients watching my every move and the locals who seemed to think I was one of their gods.
Time to move on.
(Line Break)
Eternity Bar. Ilium
After leaving Atlantis in my now fully stocked Puddle Jumper, which as it turns out I was able to fly just fine by myself, I ended up back at bar run by Matriarch Aethyta. While I could have gone anywhere in the multi-verse I'd found that I didn't have any idea of what to do next. That was the problem with having too many options, it made it hard to chose just one.
Until now I'd been avoiding quite a few planes because they were dangerous or because I wouldn't blend in, with a ship that could go invisible I had a lot more options available to me. I could have chosen one of them.
Yet here I was in a bar on an alien planet, when I could be off learning more magical stuff. Still it was giving me time to think about to do next. With my level of power I had a lot of choices. I could go join the Justice League, I could return to the Wizarding World and destroy the corrupt wand wavers. Maybe I would go see how Twilight Sparkle was doing before she got into her head to come check on me. Perhaps I should visit the Forgotten Realms and learn how they enchanted magical items.
"So Aethyta did you and Justicar work things out?" I asked the old alien.
She nodded and she kept on cleaning a glass that didn't need cleaning.
"Yeah turns out her daughter was murdering people on Omega, we had to kill her, and Samara considers herself to be in my debt now which is nice I suppose" she told me "The Justicar is still around here somewhere doing the goddess only knows what, but that isn't my concern".
I was about to order another drink only someone else spoke.
"Mr Gothic" a voice said.
I turned in my stool and saw Detective Anaya heading my way.
"Miss Anaya" I greeted "How are you?".
She didn't look happy.
"I should arrest you for blowing up that lab" she said "And I would if the Justicar hadn't warned me that I'd be biting off more than I can chew by trying. Still good work shutting down that lab. The Glitterstim supply has dried up and when we found what was left of those alien machines in the wreckage I was able to convince my superiors that Glitterstim should be illegal since it was being created with unknown alien tech".
Well I was glad that things had worked out for her.
"There's something else I think you might be interested in" Anaya told me while passing over a data pad "Soon after the guy you called the Wraith started working with Eclipse that gang started recruiting more than normal, but not for fighters and techs, the asari maidens they 'recruited' were all courtesans, good ones too.
A courtesan was pretty much a high-class prostitute, normally associated with rich and powerful men who gifted the whore with luxuries in exchange for her services. On this planet courtesans were more or less the same only they worked for powerful and wealthy asari businesswomen. They were brought along to social events as arm candy, and were used by powerful asari for sex as they didn't tend to have time to invest in more normal relationships.
"Let me guess you'd like to go and find them" I realised
The detective nodded.
"If this guy you call Wraith had something to with their recruitment, which I don't think was voluntary, then you might know where they ended up" the asari cop said "I know a few people who'd be grateful if they came home, they'll be a reward in for you".
Well I did need something to do and thanks to Rodney Mckay I had the Planeswalking Wraith's log in my omni-tool as he'd figured out a way to transfer the data.
"I'll look into it" I promised as I finished my drink "I'll contact you once I've figured out what happened to them".
(Line Break)
Sith Planet. KOTOR Galaxy.
I looked down at a set of vacant eyes that were part of a head that had little pyramidal shapes where ears should be, as well as two very familiar tendrils, or possible tentacles, attached to the back of the head.
A Twi'lek. A dead one wearing a skimpy outfit with a slave collar around her neck. This made sense as I had recently found out the Planeswalker Wraith had been doing more than making drugs while in the ME verse. With the help of some crooks he'd been taking asari and bringing them here to be sold as slaves to the Sith Empire.
According the Wraith's logs he'd been using the credits he'd gotten from the sale to buy some odd bits of technology as well info on more mainstream tech, such as shields and hyper drives. I'd assumed that the Wraith was looking for ways to advance his own race and by the looks of things I'd be right. Thankfully he was dead now if I hadn't killed him he could have really messed up entire galaxies.
My trail of thought ended when the door to my side opened and a man walked into the room. His uniform was dark gray, with red and blue markings on the chest, and my mind immediately connected the dots: Imperial uniform.
What also focused my mind was his blaster moving to point in my direction as the officer gawked at me in surprise. Sadly for him I had TK abilities, I just took the weapon off him and after setting it to stun, which was actually rather easy, I shot the man. This left me with another pistol for my growing collection.
Now that he was knocked out I took a good look at him now. While his uniform was clearly Imperial, the insignia was not that of the movie-era Galactic Empire but of the TOR-era Sith Empire. Which while interesting didn't mean I was in any less danger.
Moments later some figures rushed passed me. I made out peoples of various races who all wore either nothing or very little aside from their slave collars. Only two figures stopped when they saw me and they were wearing what I'd generously call dancer's outfits.
Both of the females, neither of which were human but were humanoid, looked at the Imperial Officer and then at the blaster I was holding.
"You're not an Imperial" one of them said "What are you doing here?".
Before I could even try to answer that question the other female spoke.
"They're almost here!" she yelled.
This was when even more Imperials arrived. I squeezed off a shot that went way over their heads and did nothing but reveal my position. A moment later blaster bolts sizzled by me, I could feel the heat coming off them.
I was in the process of raising my shield when a blaster bolt struck me in the side. And while my armour was unbreakable the blast still knocked me on my ass. Then a trooper came up toward me with blaster rifle levelled at my head. I couldn't see his face through his helmet but I imagined he was rather confused at my style dress and since I was not wearing my helmet he could clearly see that I was human which made him pause.
This was a mistake as with my powers I made his blaster rifle fly out of his hand. And then I used my magical powers to throw the trooper into the rest of his squad with enough force that it was like throwing a bowling ball at some pins. They all got knocked onto their asses.
"Never shoot a Planeswalker" I advised the troopers.
Figuring I'd need the firepower I grabbed one of the blaster rifles and then made to head back to the Puddle jumper. I could Planeswalk right now, as after all my practice I could manage about two walks a day, but I wasn't going to leave my ship behind. As for the asari slaves, well I should at least try to find them before I left.
"You sound like an Imperial" one the escaping slaves accused.
She was a green skinned twi'lek and her friend was an Mirialan if I was remembering my Star Wars correctly.
"I don't sound like an Imperial, they sound like me" I replied "Now I'm leaving, you can come with me if you wish".
While I had come here to track down some missing asari, I wasn't going to be able to do that during what seemed to be a slave revolt. Besides I wasn't willing to risk my life for them as I'd only be taking those asari home to where they'd all be killed by Reapers within a matter of months.
"You have a ship?" the Twi'lek asked.
I nodded as a thought passed through my head.
"And I can take you somewhere very far away" I told the aliens.
Right now I was having a hard time believing that I'd been so stupid. I'd been wondering how my little ship and I could make a difference in the coming war with the Reapers. In truth it couldn't, even with my powers I was no match for what was coming. Even the mightiest creatures I could summon would not be able to take down a Reaper, and even if my spell cards could help I'd still have to worry about being brainwashed.
While on that trail of thought earlier I'd been thinking about dumping off some of the asari on Illuim somewhere in the Pegasus Galaxy, sure there they could get culled by the Wraith, but they'd have a chance to survive if they hid. Also I'd been wondering if the folks at Atlantis would like some asari helping them out.
Now I was planning to drop as few dozen asari off, maybe a few hundred, on Star Trek Earth, it could actually save that species as the asari could make babies with pretty much anyone else, and given their long life spans it would take a long time to grow their numbers, but at least it would a chance for that species. It was something I could do.
"We'll come with you" one of the aliens said.
They didn't exactly have a choice, and I was sure they'd like Star Trek Earth were no slavery was allowed.
"Now before we go have you seen anyone who looks like this" I asked, while using my omni-tool to display one of the missing asari.
The Twi'lik woman leaned in for a closer look.
"Sure they're down three levels" she told me "In the education centre. We couldn't open the door before the Imperials found us, but you're a Jedi you can save them".
I was no Jedi, but I could understand why the alien might think that given that I'd just been throwing some troopers around with TK.
"Help me free them and I'll take you somewhere so far away the Imperials will never find you" I offered the two aliens.
Naturally they took me up on the offer.
(Line Break)
Eternity Bar. Illium
"I wasn't able to find all of them" I told Detective Anaya as we once more met at this bar "The trail has gone cold".
Even Planeswalkers had their limits, and while I might be able to handle Sith troopers I hadn't wanted to hang a Sith planet around in case I ran into a darkside user. I wasn't willing to risk my life for a few asari slaves.
"You did more than I was expecting" Detective Anaya replied "and I'm glad you got those girls home. They must have had a really hard time, they are all claiming that a blue skinned man flying your ship took them to another galaxy".
That did sound crazy.
"I imagine they're a bit traumatised" I said "and I found them in a sorry state".
A Sith education centre was not at all pleasant. It had really been a place for the brainwashing of slaves.
"I'll have the reward transferred to your account..." Detective Anaya started to say.
This was where I stopped here.
"I don't have an account" I told her "I deal in credit chips".
The asari cop smirked.
"Guess its hard to have bank accounts when you don't officially exist" she remarked.
If she was still under the impression that I was a System Alliance agent then that was good for me.
"Fine I'll get the money converted" Detective Anaya went on to say "Met me here at lunchtime tomorrow".
As soon as the space cop was gone, Matriarch Aethyta leaned in close, it was more than a little scary.
"Alesa told me that you told her that your a wizard from another universe" she said "And that ship of yours is like nothing I've ever seen before, and I've seen a lot. So why don't tell me exactly who and what you are".
Which I did because Matriarch Aethyta was a scary woman when she wanted to be.