Chapter 4

It was 3 hours later and a jubilant Eli stood on the bridge of the grounded Mothership, while outside yet another party was in full swing. Eli guessed that over the last few years there had been very little to party about. A state of affairs, thanks in no small way to him, that was now over.

Also present on the cramped bridge were several members of what passed as the Novan scientific community and Melissa, who still seemed to have trouble keeping eye contact with him for any length of time. Although her demeanour had improved considerably since a tentative group of soldiers burnt their way into the Mothership, to confirm 100% that it had finally been defeated.

Despite their obvious design being geared for full automation, the erstwhile builders of the drones had seen fit to install a small manned bridge. This was presumably for upgrades or tasks they preferred to do themselves. Melissa was clearly excited at the prospect of re writing their code to change them from automatic attack drones, to a scouting and defence system for the community to use. Just in case any new Motherships showed up to contest the planet.

The bridge was a circular room, with banks of computers lining the smooth curved walls. Whatever seats had originally been used had long been discarded so Eli was stooped over one of the consoles he'd managed to get power to. He had already plugged in the memory unit he'd taken from Destiny and was checking to make sure the transfer of Ginn and Perry back had been completed properly. For a few precious seconds he had hoped that uploading them to the Mothership then downloading them back into the unit would remove the blocks preventing him from re installing them back into Destiny's main systems. Alas the unit's display still showed their files as quarantined. As he completed his final checks Rickings came onto the bridge ducking under the small doorway. He and Melissa shared a look, and without saying anything she began to get very busy at the console she was working on.

'Eli have you thought anymore about staying on with us a bit? Who knows how long it will take for the drones to realise what we've done here and come looking for us? With your help we could take the fight to them, help free other planets in the same situation as we are.' He said, standing next to Eli's console. 'Yeah I have Rickings.' Replied Eli 'And my answer is still the same. I have to take Ginn and Perry back, and I have to get back to Destiny. We have a mission to complete.' Rickings seemed frustrated as Eli told him this.

He guessed he could see it from the Chief's point of view. Eli represented a hope that the people of Dapricord hadn't felt for such a long while. To see him go so soon after an apparently easy victory must be a bitter pill to swallow. He turned back to his console as Rickings left. His checks completed he could see the Mothership's operating system waiting to take commands. He was full of admiration for both Ginn and Perry, not only had they completed the objective he had crudely worked into their code, but they had seen fit to protect some of the Mothership's systems making it much easier for the Novan's to now make their changes, and turn the drones into a productive force instead of the hostile one they had so recently been.

It seemed so inadequate a reward that they both now had been returned to inert data streams on his memory unit. He wondered if Ginn had seen him. In the milliseconds between them finally taking control and them shutting the whole Mothership down, Ginn would have had access to the drones data. As the drones made that final sweep towards them maybe she could have glimpsed him. The thought seemed nice and he placed his hand on the memory unit as if somehow she could be aware that he was there. 'Soon.' He promised them.

Eli and the other scientists filed out of the Mothership and rejoined the main group dancing and cheering outside. The clearing had already been made bigger by industrious hands, and a large fire had been made casting shadows against the forbidding metal bulk of the Mothership. Food was starting to be cooked and the Novan's were clearly planning to make a night of it. This seemed as good a time as any for him to slip away back to Destiny. As Melissa walked by he gently put his hand on her arm feeling slightly irked that she flinched under his touch.

'I think its time I headed back to the Stargate,' he said. She looked back into his eyes before nodding. I'll tell Rickings, the security guys will want to escort you back to the gate.' For some reason this made Eli feel slightly nervous. 'I don't want to disturb anybody I'd rather just you and me slip away now,' he said. But Melissa shook her head. 'Eli the drones maybe down but there are still wild animals in the jungle between here and the gate. It's just a precaution,' she replied. Eli could see there was no point arguing with her and agreed. She turned and made her way towards the tall and imposing Rickings.

Eli could feel his spirits rising when they finally made it back to the Stargate clearing. He immediately began the dialling procedure and turned back to his entourage as one by one the chevrons lit up. His entourage in question contained far more people than he felt appropriate. In addition to Melissa, Rickings and various soldiers, there were children, their parents and even several of the elders who would normally never trek this far out from the settlement. Eli supposed he should feel honoured. They clearly just wanted to give him a big send off, but still.

The final chevron lit up and the Stargate activated, sending a plume of vortex out from the gate which retracted instantly leaving a stable wormhole, rippling like a grey puddle rudely disturbed by a stone. Eli breathed a final sigh of relief. The ship was ok. He addressed the group of what must have been about 30 people.

'Well folks it's been fun but I've got to go. You guys take care of yourselves.' He said in jovial way. There was a final round of hand shaking, congratulating and slaps on the back and then. Finally. Eli stepped through the waiting Stargate. He felt the familiar sensation of hurtling through a long twisting tunnel, and then his vision came back as he stepped through, shivering, into Destiny's gate room. He allowed himself a fist pump. It had all gone according to plan. Now he just had to decide whether he should put himself into cold sleep or wake the Colonel to let him now he had found a way of stopping the drones. Then he heard a noise from the gate.

He span round and saw Rickings step through the gate onto Destiny's deck. He barely had time to say 'What the..' when Rickings, seeing him said. 'I'm sorry Eli. But you gave me no choice.' Then he raised his radio to his mouth. 'Entrance room is empty, just like he said. First squad come through. Oh God! thought Eli, panic, suddenly rising through his whole body like icy water. They were going to take the ship! Adrenaline coursed through him and he made a bolt for the control podium. He had to shut off the gate.

Rickings was prepared for this, and sprinted forward to intercept the running Eli, body checking him as he did so. The blow sent Eli tumbling to the floor. He rolled back to a crouching position in time to see four men walk out of the Stargate. 'No No No NO!' screamed Eli, and in desperation he launched himself at Rickings. His fist swung wildly at Rickings' head, but Rickings was a veteran and smoothly ducked under blow whilst unleashing a left hook of his own. It was fast and powerful, Eli stood no chance. He felt the fist slam home under his ribcage knocking the wind out of him. He gasped for breath as the pain spasmed through his whole body dropping him to his knees. He fell forward his hands barely stopping his fall. From this position he saw more people walk out he gate, the last one being Melissa. Tears of betrayal stung his eyes. He knew his was his own mistake, he should have trusted his gut and never responded to that distress call in the first place. Rickings knelt over him as he wheezed painfully trying to get his breath back under control. 'I never wanted this Eli, really I didn't. But I have to think of my people too. And right now Eli they need your help, and they need your ship.'

Eli felt the sobs wrack his body adding to the pain of the punch. What have I done? He thought to himself. What have I done?

Colonel Young watched Eli carefully as the young man recounted his tale. Eli's face contorted in anger as he spoke of the takeover.

'After that day I haven't been allowed any direct control of Destiny. They put me to work optimising the Mothership control program, I've been working with Melissa all this time. Despite what I thought the day of my capture, she had been against forcing me to stay but was out voted by the Elders. At least the ones in the know. When word got out they'd captured me and the Destiny, there was talk of letting me go again. But Rickings was always good at blowing up perceived threats. He got them all thinking that a drone attack was imminent. One by one they came to see me, to tell me they didn't like it but they had no choice. Whatever helps them sleep at night I guess. Anyway what happened next is still happening. One at a time we're taking down Motherships. We've struck down nearly 30 of them now. Five of those are now crewed and controlled by Novan forces. They can be retro fitted with life support you see. Plus we've been able to make the bridge bigger. Add in some sleeping quarters. By the time this is over they're going to have quite the little fleet. They tell me once the drone threat is over they're going to release me, let us go in peace. I don't believe them though. It's Rickings, I can tell that bastard's got big plans for me. He won't let Destiny go. That's why I'm recording this, to tell you I'm going to figure all this out whether I can do it tomorrow, or it takes 50 years I'll find a way to put this right. Once you are able, check your pod. I'll place something on or near it so that once you get out you'll now what my plan is. I swear I'll make this right Colonel. If it's the last thing I...' The apparition of Eli looked away as if seeing something far and to the right of Young. 'Don't think I can keep this ruse up for long Colonel. Remember, check your pod there'll be something there for you.'

With that Eli's image flickered and he disintegrated into a billion flecks of light that scattered and faded to nothingness, leaving the Colonel once again by himself.

Young fell back onto his bed, his mind buzzing with everything he just heard. He supposed he should feel anger at Eli, and in some ways he did. But, even now he felt compassion for the boy. He'd saved their necks more times than he could count. In a twisted way it made sense that when he did mess up it would be on a spectacular scale. With that thought his mind could hold back sleep no longer, and he fell into a peaceful slumber.

It was eleven hours later when Young finally woke up. For a moment he felt like he was back on the Destiny before yesterday's events brought reality crashing, unwelcome back.

Callie came into the room with a bowl of soup. Young thanked her and asked if he could speak with Harding. She replied that he was already on the bridge and happy to see him as soon as he felt able. Young drank the soup with gusto. 450 years in stasis certainly gave you an appetite he thought to himself with a dark smile.

He was shown by a man called Alex to the bridge, he stopped only to apologise to Alex about trying to attack him when he had awoken the previous night. Which the young man accepted with good humour. Now though he opened the door to the Harro'than's bridge. It was fairly spacious and circular in design. One quarter gave way to a viewing window, which stretched from the floor to the ceiling, giving the impression one could simply walk out into open space. There were three ranks of consoles all facing this viewing window, all of which had crew suddenly staring at him and whispering behind their screens. Behind these consoles nearly at the opposite wall was another chair raised on a small dias, upon which sat Doctor Michael Harding, deep in conversation with a worried looking crew member who was indicating something on the small electronic tablet he was holding. Young's gaze fell on the viewing window. Outside they were obviously in orbit around the planet they had found him on. It was startlingly Earthlike with deep blue oceans and thick cloud cover. Images and text floated over this image as the viewing window displayed technical data regarding the well being of the ship.

'Colonel Young.' Said Harding noticing him and waving away the crewman he was speaking to. 'Come, let's talk in my office.' He said getting up from his seat and indicating a small door set into the curve of the room, which slid open as they approached it. They went through into Harding's office. Here the room was dominated by a big wooden desk, filled with clutter and a single computer terminal. The walls were covered in photos and bookshelves. It didn't take a genius to see this was the office of an academic.

Harding sat behind the desk and indicated for Young to take one of the smaller chairs opposite, which he duly did. 'Now then Colonel, I trust you had a pleasant night's sleep?' Said Harding steepling his fingers and sitting back in the leather chair. Young weighed up in his mind how much he should tell Harding, the man was after all an unknown quantity, but at the same time the only man he knew with his own starship. He elected to keep vague, at least for the time being.

'Yes I did thanks, I'm keen to know though, how did I end up here 450 years after I was put into sleep.' He said. 'Ah yes, you my friend are the answer to the greatest riddle of them all.' Said Harding, and with that he pulled a large book out from the mass of papers littering his desk and turned the cover to show Young. It was thick and leather bound and in large letters it declared "THE GOSPEL OF ELI WALLACE" 'A touch dramatic I'm sure you will agree, but without a doubt an accurate description.' Harding placed the book back on his desk. Young could see wedged in the pages dozens of post-it notes. Doubtless the book itself had extensive notes written in it. He made a mental note to get some time alone with that book. Harding continued talking.

'As I said last night my little research team has been looking for you, for years. Thanks to the Gospel we were able to narrow our search down to this abandoned little ocean world. You remember I told you that Eli's past has a few grey areas, such as why he would be piloting a massive starship by himself?' Young nodded, but said nothing intent on drinking in everything the doctor had to say.

'Well the that's the official story. That a young Eli Wallace travelled forward in time to rescue his descendants from the greatest threat they had ever known. However in the gospel, Eli discusses at length what happened after he defeated the drones, and in particular a reward to the military leaders that aided in that struggle.' Here Harding picked up the book again, and thumbed through till he found the page he was looking for. 'Here.' He said handing the book to Young. 'Read the fifth paragraph.' Young took the book and read as directed

"When the last Mothership was destroyed at the battle of Phargas, we celebrated. The whole nation. I declared that this should be a national holiday in recognition of the new beginning we have created for our people. To mark this auspicious day gifts were provided to the great leaders of this enterprise. What could be more fitting than a piece of their own heritage? In particular General Mos was glad to receive the Lion and the Sword. No present better fitting for the hero of Topkia."

Young stared blankly at Harding. 'You mentioned something about a Lion and the Sword last night didn't you?' He said. To which Harding smiled. 'Good to know you were listening Colonel.' He said. 'Now look at this.' With that he tapped a few keys on his terminal and span the screen round so Young could see. It was a photo of a man indicating a building behind him. No wait, not just any man. That was Eli Wallace in the picture, but he was in his late thirties. Young felt the weight of the years that had passed him. Somehow that 450 years started to seem more real. A portion of the building behind Eli was magnified so the viewer could see more clearly. Set into a stone recess was a statue of none other than Young himself. Whoever had done the magnifying had circled two objects on the statue. Above the stone Young's head was a carving of a Lion. And at the statue's feet was carved a large sword.

'You see.' Said Harding excitedly. 'Eli designed that building facade himself. It's a very famous building on Dapricord. He's as good as saying that you are the Lion and the Sword.' Young nodded. 'I see,' he said. 'You also said something about a tainted sun.' 'Ah yes. That deals with the where. The Mos family were very wealthy, not surprising seeing as how they helped found an Empire. They liked to keep little holiday homes on planets that had unusual properties.' Again Harding tapped on his terminal. 'Later on in the gospel, Eli makes mention of the Lion and the Sword fixed beneath a tainted sun.' He said, and with a flourish span the terminal back round. This time the screen displayed a garish advert for property on the ocean world of Anjou. According to the ad small islands were separated by hundreds of miles of ocean guaranteeing residents privacy. In particular the planet boasted the most incredible Aurora Borealis; because the K class star at the centre of the solar system was impacted by a Brown Dwarf star sometime in the last 10 million years, causing odd particles to exit the star and impact the ocean world. Indeed, boasted the ad. the star still carried the taint of this stellar collision to this day.

Young looked up at Harding. 'The tainted sun.' He said. 'Exactly,' returned the Doctor. Young thought to himself, If Eli knew where he was then there was still a chance he had planted something in his pod after all. Now all he had to do was convince Harding to let him go back to the surface.