Chapter 6
On the Destiny:
It had been a week, since the ship received the Return Command. They were very close to the Milky Way now. There was one stop planned for a final refueling. The Galaxies were father apart than they used to be.
"Pegasus?" Eli asked.
"It's the Galaxy the Ancients went to after they left the Milky Way. You know, the home of Atlantis, and if I'm right, it should still be here," Rush responded.
"What the hell is going on now?" Scott asked as he walked into the Control Room.
"We've dropped out of FTL," Rush responded. He began broadcasting on the radio. "Atlantis this is Doctor Nicholas Rush on board the Destiny. Please respond." Silence. They probably weren't even in range of the city. They were in a normal star system with a G class star. They looked out the side windows and noticed two Seed Ships and two Destiny Class ships. Then, three Hyperspace Windows opened in front of them. It was the Wraith.
"Uh-oh," Eli said. "Are those?"
"Yes Eli. Those are Wraith ships," Rush said. He armed the few weapons Destiny had. All five ships began to fire at the Wraith. Their weapons were no match for the Wraith.
"Scott," Rush said. "I need you to disconnect the FTL drive."
"What? I have no idea how to do that!" he responded.
"Take Eli with you! Hurry!" Rush yelled as he began to fiddle with the controls.
"We're going to sacrifice Destiny to save the other ships," he said. "I've programmed a course for them to dive into the star. We should be enough of a diversion for the Wraith. We're the only life on any of the ships."
"Why do you want to disconnect the FTL drive?" Camile asked.
"The Wraith cannot get their hands on it," Rush said. "It's small enough to fit into the shuttle. We should be able to go along with it."
"I'll inform the crew," Camile said, and she ran off. The Wraith continued firing at Destiny. Its shields were holding.
"Rush this is Scott. We've removed the FTL drive. Where do you want it?"
"Take it to the shuttle," Rush said. The thirteen remaining people on the ship reached the shuttle at the same time. They all crammed in with the FTL drive. They launched the shuttle, and aimed it for the nearest ship. They weren't sure if they could catch it in time.
"Eli," Rush said. "Is the drive still working?"
"Yeah, but it doesn't have much power," he replied.
"I need you to activate it for about two seconds, and then shut it off," Rush said. Eli pressed a few buttons, and nothing happened.
"That should've worked!" he said. He tried again. The shuttle shuddered, and it jumped into FTL. Two seconds later they dropped out of FTL right above the hull of one of the other ships.
"Hang on!" Rush said. The shuttle made a rough landing on the ship. "Everybody out!" Rush said. He, Camile, and Eli boarded the ship, followed by Chloe and three others. Four people stayed on the shuttle. Slowly they pulled Destiny's FTL drive out of the shuttle. Just then, a Wraith weapons blast hit the shuttle. The four inside were sucked into space. The airlock shut just in time to save Camile, Rush, Chloe, Eli, and three others along with the FTL drive. Young and four others They were all shocked. They ran up to the observation deck where they watched the Destiny being destroyed.
The four ships dove into the corona of the star. They filled up their fuel tanks and jumped back into FTL…
On Earth:
"Why can't we just send a robot or something through the Gate. I mean, these missions are soooo boring," Vala said. Daniel nudged her. "What? She asked for ideas!"
"I didn't mean that kind of ideas. This planet is a key Lucian Alliance stronghold," Sam said.
"Perhaps…" Sam cut Teal'c off.
"Sorry Teal'c. You're all going," Sam said. "Get going!" SG-1 left the Briefing Room. The Gate began to dial. SG-1 put on the new Sodan Cloaking Devices.
"So these won't conjure up any extra dimensional parasites that turn furry woodland creatures into bloodthirsty monsters?" Vala asked, examining the device. The rest of the team glared at her. "What? You can't blame me for asking." The Gate activated. They walked through…
In orbit:
Several Hyperspace Windows opened, and a dozen Lucian Alliance ships entered orbit around Earth.
"Oh my God!" Sam said. "Rodney… Dammit he's off world. Jack!"
"What?" he said into his radio.
"I need you to do me a favor," Sam said.
"What is it now?" he said.
"You're the only person with ATA on the city right now," she said.
"And…?"
"And I need you to bring the city to the surface," she said. "Please…"
"Alright…fine," Jack said. "But I'm not fighting off a fleet of alien ships this time!"
"Well…that's kinda why the city needs to be on the surface. We detected a fleet of Lucian Alliance ships in orbit," Sam said.
"Oh for crying out loud Carter!" he said. "I'm retired."
"Do wanna see the Earth destroyed?"
"Well…when you put it that way." He went to the Chair Room, and the city slowly began to rise. When it reached the surface, its systems automatically targeted the fleet in orbit. The ships were launched from the city, and they engaged the enemy. Drones and Beam Weapons began to fire from Atlantis. The Lucian Alliance launched Gliders. The Tau'ri responded by launching their F-302's. The battle took place above Atlantis. Sam dialed the Gate.
"SG-1 this is Carter. You need to get back here now! We're being attacked by the Lucian Alliance."
"You see what happens when we leave for five minutes!" Daniel said. Teal'c raised one eyebrow. They dialed the Gate back to Atlantis. The Shield dropped, and they came back through. The city continued to fire at the Alliance ships. One by one they were destroyed by the powerful Ancient weapons. At the worst possible time, four ships dropped out of FTL. They had gone from one battle to another.
"Atlantis this is Rush come in."
"Rush?" Sam said.
"Have we arrived at a bad time?" he asked.
"You could say that," Sam said. "We'll try to cover you."
"Where do you want us to land? If we even can," Rush said.
"Will you all fit in Area 51?" Sam asked.
"I'm not sure," Rush responded.
"Try it anyway. Stay far away from the Pacific," Sam said.
"Alright," Rush said. He pressed a few buttons, and the four ships descended into the atmosphere. Thousands of people across the United States saw them landing in Area 51. Naturally, this caused mass hysteria and panic.
The last of the Lucian Alliance ships retreated into Hyperspace. Sam relaxed a little. Now it was time to start work on that Moon Base. SG-1 left for the Alliance planet again. They wouldn't be back for another two hours. Sam sat down at her desk and continued to work out how they were going to build a Gate Room at the bottom of the city. The five Tau'ri ships landed on the city, and Jack sunk it back down to the bottom of the ocean…
In Area 51:
"I have never seen anything like them!" Radek said as he inspected the ships. He had just been delivered a crate of Stargates and an FTL drive to begin experimentation on the new coordinate system, but this was more important for the moment.
"I think you'll like this Doctor," Eli said as he, Rush, Chloe, and Camile approached Zelenka with an FTL drive.
"That's two in one week!" Zelenka said.
"There's four more," Camile said, wiping her hands off.
"Where's the rest of the expedition team?" Radek asked. "I thought there were more of you."
"There were," Chloe said. "Most of them were killed when the Alliance got on board a second time, and the rest were killed in a battle with the Wraith. Only seven of us survived."
"The Wraith?" Zelenka was surprised.
"We stopped to refuel in Pegasus, and the Wratih detected us right away," Rush said.
"I'd imagine you would like a chance to rest," Zelenka said. The three nodded. "Daedalus, this is Radek. Seven to Beam directly to the Atlantis Gate Room."
"Right away," someone on board the ship said. The Asgard Beam surrounded them, and a moment later they were on Atlantis.
"Welcome home," Sam said.
"It's good to be back," Rush said.
"We've prepared quarters for you," Sam said. Eli, Chloe, Rush, and the remaining Expedition team left, but Camile stayed behind.
"General," she said. "I know this might be an odd request, but I don't want to go back to the IOA."
"Well," Sam said. "The IOA was dissolved about a month ago. The President has gone public with the Stargate Program, and this is the new home of the SGC." Camile was surprised.
"We can offer you a position on the new Moon Base," Sam said.
"You can do that?" Camile asked.
"I'm a General, and it just so happens that I'm in charge of all SGC personnel," Sam said.
"Wait a minute," Camile said. "Moon Base?"
"We're building a new defensive system on the Moon. Things have gotten worse with the Alliance," Sam said.
"I see," Camile said. "Thank you General." She left. Sam walked back into her office. She got back to her desk, and the Gate dialed.
"What now?" she said to herself.
"Receiving SG-1's IDC," Walter said from the Gate Room.
"They're back early," Sam said.
"The place is swarming with Lucian Alliance soldiers," John said on his radio.
"SG-5, SG-17, and SG-23 are being attacked by the Alliance," Cam said.
"Send a Jumper through!" Daniel said.
"Right away Sam said.
"Why do we always get ourselves into these situations?" Cam asked. They continued to fire. Slowly, they backed up with the three SG teams toward the Gate. The Jumper decloaked and began to fire at the Alliance soldiers. They were surprised at the sudden appearance of the Jumper. They scrambled giving SG-1 time to get to the Gate. The other three teams made it through, but SG-1 was caught in a crossfire before they could get through the Gate.
"Atlantis, this is SG-1. We're cut off from the Gate!" Cam said into his radio. "Send backup if you can." The Gate shut off.
"Did they get our message?" Vala asked. Before anyone could respond, they were surrounded.
"Drop your weapons!" one of the Alliance soldiers said. SG-1 obeyed. They slowly put their weapons on the ground. The Alliance soldier pressed a button on his wrist, and they were Ringed up into a ship in orbit. They were taken to a prison cell and told to wait.
On Earth:
"Where's SG-1?" Sam asked the three teams that made it back.
"They were right behind us."
"SG-1 this is Carter," she said into her radio.
"General," John said. "Colonel Mitchell and his team were captured. The Alliance Ringed them up to a ship in orbit."
"Is there any chance of getting them out?" Sam asked.
"Not that we can tell," John replied. "Rodney's working on it."
"I'll have two more Jumpers sent through," Sam said.
"The Gate's too heavily guarded. They won't make it. Sheppard out." The Gate shut down.
Chloe was having a hard time dealing with Scott's death. She was in the mess hall eating a full meal for once. Eli sat down across from her. They sat there in silence for a while.
"My mom's gone," Eli said.
"I'm so sorry," Chloe said looking up. She put her hand over his.
"Her funeral was two days ago. If…If I'd just used the Communication Stones a week ago like I was planning to… I would've gotten to see her again. But we all got caught up in getting home. I figured she'd be here when I got back." They sat there together talking for several hours. Rush was sitting by himself, as usual, and there was no sight of Camile. Then, she came in, and sat down with Eli and Chloe. TJ wasn't far behind.
"We're starting a day care," TJ said.
"That's a great idea," Eli said. "But there aren't any kids on Atlantis right?"
"There's one," Camile said. "Teyla's son, Torren."
"You're starting a day care for one kid?" Chloe said.
"There will be more eventually once families start to live on the city. That's the plan right?" TJ said.
"I guess. We know as much as you," Eli said.
"It's strange," Chloe said. "Not being stuck on that rusty old ship anymore."
"Yeah it is, but it's good to be home," Camile said…
SG-1 was still trapped on the Lucian Alliance ship. A guard came into their cell.
"You," he pointed to Cam. "Come with me."
"And what if I don't want to?" Cam said, crossing his arms.
"Then you will watch all of your friends die!" the guard said.
"Just go," Daniel said. "It's not like that stuff ever works anyway."
"It's worth a shot," Cam replied, standing up. He followed the guard out of the cell. "So where are you taking me?" he asked. The guard didn't say a word.
"Oh c'mon," Cam said. "Just a hint?" He sighed and continued walking. They entered the bridge of the ship.
"Welcome Colonel Mitchell," a voice said from the chair where a Goa'uld would usually have sat. "My name is Sheryl."
"What the hell kinda name is that for a bad guy?" Cam asked. The guard hit him with a gun.
"Now now," Sheryl said. "We mustn't hurt him too badly. He needs to be able to talk. So tell me Colonel Mitchell, how do we lower the shield on the Earth Stargate?"
"You really think I'm going to tell you that?"
"No," Sheryl said. "But we have our methods of coercion. Send him back to his cell." The guard walked off with Cam. "Prepare the chamber," Sheryl said to one of her guards.
"Well…" Cam said after the guard shut the door to the cell. "That was interesting."
"What happened?" Daniel asked.
"There's a new Warlord in charge of the Lucian Alliance," Cam said. "Her name is Sheryl."
"What the hell kinda name is that?" Daniel asked.
"Indeed."
"My thoughts exactly," Cam said. "Anyway…" Vala cut him off.
"You said Sheryl? Don't let her name fool you. She's notorious at getting information from people. I wouldn't be surprised if she had us all spilling out Earth's secrets by the end of the day," Vala said. "She's a force to be reckoned with."
"Great," Daniel said. "So how do we get out?"
"I might still have a few tricks up my sleeve," Vala said.
"Oh dear," Daniel said. "What are you gonna do? Get into deeper shit than we already are?"
"Well. I'll try not to, but you know how these plans usually work out," Vala said.
On the Jumper:
"Rodney how's that plan coming?" John asked.
"Well there's about a one in fifty chance it'll work," Rodney said.
"Those are better odds than usual," Ronon said.
"That's assuming we can get through the shields," Rodney said.
"And if we can't?" John asked.
"Then we'll…uh…improvise," Rodney said. "Should we try it?"
"Why not?" John said. "Decloaking the ship." The Jumper decloaked, and the Ha'tak began to fire weapons. Rodney converted the cloak into a shield, and John flew the Jumper straight toward the shields of the Ha'tak. They all cringed as the Jumper pierced the shields of Sheryl's ship. When they were through Rodney converted the shield back into a cloak, and they landed in the Glider bay.
"Piece of cake," John said.
"I didn't actually think that would work!" Rodney said.
"Yeah. Well that was the easy part," Ronon said, picking up a gun and handing it to Teyla.
"Sheryl wishes to see you again," the guard said as he walked back into the prison cell. He escorted Cam to another room where Sheryl was waiting.
"You know," she said. "This used to belong to a Goa'uld named Ba'al."
"Your point?" Cam asked.
"He was particularly fond of unique torture methods," she said. "Put your hand on that wall."
"What? Why?" Cam asked.
"Put your hand on that wall!" she yelled. Cam reluctantly placed his hand on the wall to his left. A restraint shot out of the wall and grabbed Mitchell's hand.
"Whenever you're ready to tell me your secrets, I won't be too far away," Sheryl said, stepping out of the room. She pressed a few buttons, and the gravity in the room adjusted, so the far wall became the floor, and Cam was let hanging there by one hand.
"This is fantastic," he said to himself. He hung there for at least 20 minutes. He heard scuffling outside and P90 fire. The gravity in the room adjusted to normal, and the restraint released.
"C'mon we gotta get out of here," Ronon said. Cam rubbed his hand and ran out of the room. John tossed him a gun.
"More guards are approaching," Teyla said.
"Which way to the prison cell?" John asked.
"This way," Cam said. The group ran off, but they were confronted by Sheryl.
"Isn't this cute!" she said. "You're trying to escape." They began to fire at her. She ducked out of the way and ran back to the bridge. The ship jolted, they had entered Hyperspace.
"Great!" John said. They entered the prison cell and freed Daniel, Vala, and Teal'c. They slowly made their way back to the Glider bay, stopping occasionally to hide from Alliance soldiers.
"We've gotta blow up the Hyperdrive," Rodney said.
"And how would that help us?" John asked.
"We blow up the Hyperdrive, take an Al'kesh and our Jumper. We put the Jumper in the Al'kesh and then fly back to the planet," Rodney said.
"That's crazy!" Vala said.
"Well we want to get off this ship before we get too far away from a Stargate right?" Rodney said persuasively. They tried to get to the Hyperdrive without being detected, but it was difficult.
"Okay Rodney, make this quick," John said. Rodney approached the Hyperdrive and planted C4 around the whole thing.
"That should do it," he said. They ran to the Glider bay. When they arrived, there were Alliance Soldiers everywhere.
"Uh oh," John said.
"Indeed."
John pulled a block of C4 out of his pocket.
"Hey!" Rodney said. "I thought we used all of that for the Hyperdrive." John threw the block toward the soldiers. They examined it. He pressed a button, and the block exploded. SG-1 entered the Glider bay and snuck into their invisible Jumper. Vala, Daniel, and Teal'c found a somewhat empty Al'kesh.
"This'll have to do," Vala said, stepping over the bodies of the soldiers they just killed. She sat down at the controls.
"Are you ready?" she said into her radio. "We're only going to get one shot at this."
"We're ready over here," John said from the Jumper. Vala lifted the Al'kesh of the floor. The soldiers began shooting at it. She opened the cargo door.
"We're on board," Cam said. Vala shut the door, and cloaked the Al'kesh. The Glider bay doors were shutting. They heard an explosion behind them, and the Ha'tak came to a sudden stop. This distracted the soldiers enough for SG-1 to escape. They exited the Ha'tak and jumped into Hyperspace.
Back on Earth, Radek was examining the hundreds of Stargates he'd been given. The two Seed Ships had been commanded to finish constructing all the Gates they currently had. Radek just didn't understand how the Ancients managed to Gate to the Moon at some point. He selected two of the Gates and sent each one to its own hangar. It was probably too short of a distance, but it was worth a shot. He left the hangar, and dialed the Gate using the remote. The Gate roared to life. He cautiously entered the hangar. The wormhole seemed stable. He picked up a rock and threw it through the Event Horizon.
"Wallace, this is Zelenka. I just threw a rock through the Gate. Did it make it?" Zelenka said into his radio.
"Oh yeah it's here," Dr. Wallace said. "You said a rock?"
"Yes?" Zelenka said.
"Well there's a puddle of goo on the floor over here," Wallace said.
"Okay, too short," Zelenka said. "We should probably try for a longer distance next time," he said into his radio. I'll call the Hammond they can beam it aboard, and we can test it then."
"Sounds good," Wallace said.
"Hammond this is Zelenka," he said into his radio.
"Go ahead."
"We need you to beam a Stargate into the F-302 bay. It's been tagged."
"What exactly do you plan to do with this Stargate?"
"We're going to dial it from the surface."
"What?"
"I promise it won't explode."
"Alright Zelenka." The Asgard Beam locked onto the tagged Gate and beamed it onto the Hammond. Zelenka dialed the Gate and used the remote to fly a kino through. After passing through the Event Horizon the screen went black. He waited a moment. The screen was still black.
"Still not far enough," Zelenka said. "You can beam the Gate back down now." The Gate beamed back into the hangar. "I think our next attempt should be on the Moon," Zelenka said.
"Agreed," Wallace responded.
"Should we get started on all the other stuff these ships brought back?" Zelenka asked, walking toward the four massive ships.
"That should do it," Vala said as the Al'kesh dropped out of Hyperspace. There were several Ha'tak orbiting the planet.
"Great," John said. They climbed into the Jumper and flew out the Al'kesh undetected. The approached the planet and dialed the Gate.
"Atlantis this is SG-1. Raise the shield right after we come through," Cam said. He transmitted the IDC, and the shield dropped. They went through the Gate. The Alliance wasn't far behind. As soon as SG-1 made it through the shield went back up, and several soldiers hit it and were destroyed.
"Welcome back," Carter said.
"The Lucian Alliance has a new Warlord," Cam said. "Her name is Sheryl."
"Sheryl?" Sam asked.
"She was one of the most powerful Seconds under Kefflin," Vala said. "And now it looks like she's taken over. We've got to attack Lucia."
"We don't have the ability to do that," Sam said.
"Did we not just…acquire four extremely powerful Ancient ships?" Vala asked.
"Yes, but they're also extremely old," Sam said. "They need repairs, and we can't attack their homeworld with our five ships."
"Perhaps the Jaffa would be willing to assist," Teal'c said.
"Where has the High Council been moved to?" Sam asked.
"I am unsure of their exact location," Teal'c said.
"Try to contact them. We'll need their help," Sam said.
"As you wish General," Teal'c left.
"Zelenka hasn't made much progress on dialing the first-gen Gates," Sam said.
"Has he tried…" Daniel was cut off.
"His next test is going to be on the Moon, but someone will need to be on the moon to attempt to dial Earth. Daniel, Rodney, the Hammond is ready to beam you up." The ship locked onto Daniel and Rodney and beamed them up.
"Hello again," Rodney said to Zelenka. "So what are we going to blow up this time?" Zelenka laughed.
"It's good to see you too Rodney," he said. "And you Dr. Jackson."
"Call me Daniel. Should we get started?" Daniel said.
"Yes… right. So far we've been able to dial the Gates to each other," Radek said. "But things we send through don't come out. At least not how we sent them in. Right now we think the problem is distance. Right now, we're headed for the Moon." The ship approached the Moon and set down on its surface.
"Wallace, this is Zelenka. Dial the Gate," he said into his radio.
"Dialing," Dr. Wallace responded. The Gate spun. When the seventh chevron locked, it activated. "I'm sending a recording device through." He tossed a kino through the Gate on his end. It came out looking completely normal on the other side.
"We did it!" Rodney said.
"Well not entirely," Radek said. "We can't dial back. We won't be sure where the Gate will connect to, and that could destabilize the wormhole."
"So we need to change the address of the Gate on Earth slightly, so this one can connect?" Daniel said.
"Yes," Radek said.
"Then why are we here?" Rodney asked.
"Well we're going to try to make a connection," Radek said. He selected the address, and the Gate began to spin. When the 7th chevron locked the Gate activated as usual. "Watch this." He sent his IDC.
"Why did you do that?" Daniel asked.
"In case it dialed Atlantis instead of Area 51," Zelenka responded. He threw the kino through. The signal the remote received confused it. It wasn't supposed to be receiving two different signals.
"The Gate split the recording device in half. One half went to Atlantis, and the other to Area 51," Rodney said.
"Yeah that's bad," Daniel said.
"Zelenka this is Carter. We just got half of one of those recording devices through the Gate," Sam said into her radio.
"Yes that was our first test dialing of the Gate from the Moon," Radek responded. "Rodney's working on a way to change the address of the Gate in Area 51. So far, he hasn't made much progress…"
"I'm working on it!" Rodney yelled from the background.
"Dr. Jackson is working on figuring out the symbols on the Gate. They're not what we're used to," Zelenka said.
"Keep up the good work Radek. Atlantis out."
"Hey. I think I've got something," Daniel said. "Each symbol on the Gate is a sort of a distance and direction measurement." He pulled out a piece of paper. He drew a cube with a point on each face. "Usually, each one of these points is a star, in this case, we could make each one of them a sort marker for the Gate to lock onto. That would prevent the wormhole from jumping. Just for extra security we could install six markers here on the Moon."
"That's…brilliant!" Radek said.
"Yeah, but we need to calibrate each marker to a specific Gate symbol. That could be difficult," Daniel said. "Hey Rodney…"
"Don't even ask," Rodney cut Daniel off. "This is harder than translating normal Gate symbols. These ones seem to be able to lock onto any six stars not a specific set for each Gate."
"Has the Ancient database from the FTL ships been transferred to Atlantis?" Daniel asked.
"I'm not sure," Zelenka said. "I certainly haven't gotten to it yet. Why?"
"We know the Ancients were able to dial the Moon at some point," Daniel said. "We're not sure how, but they did. There might be specs for the marker design in the database."
"Hey guys," Rodney said. "I think I have something…"