To readers: "Gothic in front of non-Marines."
"English and gothic between Marines."
Response to Ravenor: That is a very good point and I think I'll use it, if no one objects. In this the main difference between the Star gate universe and the 40k one, as all universes are slightly different, is that the Necrontyr, who are the pre-metal Necrons, didn't make contact with the C'tan or star gods who got them to become the Necrons. So the Old Ones (40k) or Ancients (star gate) didn't fight the war in heaven. So the Eldar, Orks and several other races weren't created as the old ones soldiers. The Necrontyr still existed but their race died out a long time ago but their ships and some of their technology where preserved and this is where the Goa'uld got the pyramid design from the scavenged Necrontyr technology. As for the chaos gods in the chapter Far East or a new world I said that the warp was unusually calm and the very few demons were weak and easily frightened. This is because there are practically no Psyker to disturb the warp at this time and feed the demons, before human Psyker evolved, as the Eldar don't exist. So the chaos gods are not as powerful as they were at this time in 40k. They still exist but as the sleeping entities they were for the uncountable billions of years since they were formed. In 40k they awoke at the start of the Eldar's used of physic powers in the war in heaven, which brought about the birth of the Emperor to protect humans from these new gods. As for the Gothic when or if they get to earth they may learn English. This will be easier for them as High Gothic, normally spoken by Marines, resembles manly European languages while Low Gothic resembles a mix of most earthly languages. Sorry for the length but I just wanted you to know where I am coming from about the history. Know the mutant, kill the mutant.
To melgar: It is the holy duty of the Adeptus Astartes to free the human soul from the torments of the chaos spawn. Whether the body survives is another story. Read to find out. Yes I probably will do the alternate universe thing. Faith without deeds is worthless.
To Long live Warhammer40k: Thanks. A suspicious mind is a healthy mind.
To Riddlesindisguise: Thanks for the review. I will try and do that but some things will always slip through. We will see when it happens. Death is the servant of the righteous.
Teal'c, Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter, Jack O'Neill and Elizabeth Weir sat at the briefing table in the underground headquarters of Stargate Command as the Tok'ra Jacob Carter told them of the rumours of a massive ship that had engaged six of Khertu Ha'taks and destroyed them with no damage.
"Of course this is only a rumour, but three things are the same no matter who tells you the story, it is huge and invincible to their weapons, it is crewed by monsters in black armour that could shrug off staff hits and throw men through walls and it had a name that looked like Tau'ri." Jacob carter finished and looked at the four humans and Jaffa who were deep in thought.
"Are you sure this is true?" Daniel Jackson asked Jacob.
"Yes we are fairly sure. Our operatives have indeed confirmed that the Goa'uld Khertu is missing along with his six mother ships."
Jack O'Neill let out a sigh "Well if something out there is trashing the Snakes. Then who are we to stop it?" He said getting up to leave.
"Wait a moment Colonel; we still don't know if this ship, if it does exist, is friendly." Elizabeth Weir motioned for the Colonel to take a seat. Which he did with a dejected sigh.
"We don't have any indications of its intentions yet as we have no idea where it is now. The Jaffa that escaped from the battle are being hunted as traitors for abandoning their god and it took a lot of effort for us to coax that much out of one. We are leaning towards the possibility that they are highly hostile as they apparently pursued the Jaffa that were escaping in large numbers until they sealed several blast doors behind them." Jacob said as he relaxed back into his chair.
"We could send the Prometheus to establish contact." Samantha Carter put forward.
"That may in danger the Prometheus." Elizabeth Weir said looking at Daniel who was deep in thought.
"It would be wiser to risk a few lives than this entire world." Teal'c remarked from his seat as he swivelled in it slightly from side to side.
"Very well we will send the Prometheus. SG-1 you are going as well, thank you for the information Mr. Carter." Elizabeth Weir said.
The Tok'ra bowed his head and said "I will take my leave soon." They all disbanded to prepare for the coming encounter.
Samuel was distracted again from his work as another round of threats spewed forth from the captive in the isolation cell, at least he thought they were threat he could only understand a few words and those were very distorted. Samuel was treating some of the burns his Brother-Marines had taken from the Plasma weapons of the enemy.
"Release me now you insolent worm or I will have you head on a plate." Khertu screamed from inside the bare iron cell.
Samuel wondered how much trouble he would be in if he fired this man out an air-lock but considering Angelus's famous fits of anger he decided against it. Damn Levi why here of all places on the Emperor's Light, why here? Samuel thought to himself as the voice of the captive changed to its second style, which carried more force than the first.
Levi had spent three hours teaching the Logi-Engine of the ship the Goa'uld language. It had grasped the basics and was now working to translate the massive data files that they had brought back from the ship. Levi sighed and pushed the consol away from him, it was a great strain to hold this much information in his head for this long and he knew it could lead to damage. He began to let it slip away as he headed to the training halls to work off some of the stress he was feeling.
"Explain that to me again Baltus." Angelus said as he rubbed his temple, they were still holding station near the enemy ship and all four Tech-Marines had gone over with nearly a hundred of their servitors to pick the enemy vessel apart.
Baltus and Vanem had headed straight for the strange Inertialess Drive. Gideon was examining the controls of the ship which were much simpler than the Battle Barges. Caleb the Tech-Marine of the 4th company was examining the energy transfer methods in the ship they seemed to contain no or very little wiring.
"Angelus, this thing could be adapted to the Emperor's Light. It is like a cross between the Eldar Web Way and the Tau Gravity drive." Baltus said.
Angelus looked at the small speaker on the arm rest. "What do you mean a cross?" Angelus said gaining more interest in this.
Vanem's voice replace Baltus's "Well Brother-Captain, like the Tau engine we will not enter the Warp fully, so be safe from losing our way in the eddies and like the Eldar Web Way the speed will be at a constant with none of the temporal effects of the Warp." Angelus rubbed his chin as he thought about the implicating the drive on his ship.
"What would be the top speed?" Angelus asked.
"It would depend on the amount of energy we could feed the engines without the system overloading but asides from that the speed could be, theoretically, limit less." Vanem responded trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.
Angelus pleased the massive engines of the battle barge could put out several peta (10 to the power of 15) joules a second.
"How long would it take to reconfigure the Warp drive?" Angelus asked.
Baltus's voice cut in again and said "I could have it ready in two days, if Gideon can show me how to operate it."
Vanem cut in again and shouted "Angelus it would take at least three maybe four days for us to reconfigure the Warp engines safely."
Baltus cut back in and accused Vanem of being a coward. Angelus knew were this would lead and cut the channel to the sounds of Servo-Harnesses extending to fight.
Gideon had been experimenting with the strange control systems on the bridge, at least the ones the Terminators had not destroyed, he sighed as he found yet more controls that were destroyed from the fighting. The technologies of these Xeno's was impressive as all the controls of the ship were passed through a few consuls on the bridge giving the leader complete control with as few humans in the way as possible, every member of Adeptus Mechanicus's dream. So far he had managed to determine the controls needed for propulsion and weapons, the shields and life support were beyond repair and the Inertialess Drive's controls were heavily damaged. Angelus was not going to be happy.
Ishmael was in the inner sanctum of the holy cathedral in the depths of the Emperor's Light. How could they remove that demon from the body of that man? Samuel had said it was like a brain leech not a demon. Levi had been adamant that it was a demon though; he had said its heart contained only darkness and a thirst for power that only the truly evil showed. He had three choices; purify body and soul through pain, remove the parasite, burn it in holy fire and test the soul of the man or have Levi banish it back to the Warp.
There was a crackling of static and then Angelus's voice sounded from the ships Vox speakers. "All heads of stations and senior Brothers are to report to the conference room." Ishmael sighed as he got of his bent knee and headed out of the door. He wanted to stay in the inner sanctum and meditate but he had to answer the call of the Brother-Captain.
The most senior Marines gathered once again in the conference room to discuss how they were going to proceed. Angelus sat at the head of the conference table looking very tired. Levi and Samuel were once again locked in an argument over what the organism in the prisoner was. Karrack and Boras were talking to Stein about which Neophytes were closest to completing their scout training and filling the gaps left in the 2nd company by the recent battle, though they were few in a Space Marine Company there were sorely felt. Nestor was comparing sensor logs with Pontius, Marcus and Seleucus over the Goa'uld ships configurations and weaknesses. Macillan's speaker was in the middle of the table. Ishmael walked in on the scene the first thought that jumped in to his head was that Samuel and Levi were replacing Vanem and Baltus.
"It is about time you arrived." Angelus said looking the Chaplain in the eyes. Ishmael took his seat at the table and the meeting began.
"From what we have learnt from the small amount of the data crystals we have decoded the enemy, which refer to themselves as Goa'uld, rule most of this area and are parasitic organisms that take human bodies as hosts." Vanem said in a disgusted tone. There were a few nods of heads and a very smug look on Samuel's face.
Angelus nodded to Stein. "We have got three Neophytes that could fill the gaps in the 2nd company they should be certified for the Black Carapace in a few weeks."
Angelus looked over the room and nodded at Nestor. "We have been comparing our scans of the enemy's defences and weapons and have come to the conclusion that concentrating our fire on the lower half of the pyramids will destroy their ships, though the upper sections are not as heavily shielded our guns will have no problem either way. As for the enemy weapons their only real threat would be if our shields fail, which is highly unlikely, or that we are attacked by at least eighteen of them, including those bombers, using all but their tiniest reserves in the attacks. This estimate is based on the ships we have seen as we don't know if there are any stronger classes." This was accompanied by murmurs of agreement from Marcus, Seleucus and Pontius.
Angelus looked out the window at the star fields and the small pieces of hull that were floating past. "So what you are telling me is that most of our battle losses will be replenished, the main threat here is incredibly weak and we still don't have any star charts, coordinates or sign of the Astromica?" Angelus said.
"That is correct Brother-Captain Angelus." Macillan's speaker answered. The Navigator had been letting his Third Eye wander through the still Warp. It was very relaxing and had put him in a relatively good mood.
"Well is there any good news?" Angelus said looking each one of them in the eye.
Levi looked at Samuel and then at Ishmael. "We think we may have found a way to remove the parasite from the human's body."
Angelus looked at Levi and said. "How?"
Ten minutes later five Marines were all gathered around the door of the isolation cell.
"Now remember Felix and Able will hold him, Samuel will put them to sleep, Ishmael will use the Litanies of Faith to rekindle the man's soul and I will separate the two minds. Samuel will cut it out and place it in a containment jar. Then we burn the demon and check the man's soul for corruption." Levi said to the four Marines around him, the extra two were to hold Khertu.
"Remember were your helmets at all time or this thing will infect you." Samuel said as the loaded a large amount of sedative into the Medi-gauntlet.
"We must take the human soul from the darkness to the light." Ishmael said as he fingered his Rosarius.
The five Marines burst in through the door and the two Apothecary-Marines grabbed Khertu by the arms and smashed him in to a wall. Samuel quickly injected Khertu with the sedative. Ishmael began to chant the Litany and Levi placed one hand on the sleeping head of Khertu. Samuel moved over to the side and placed the scalpel of his Medi-gauntlet at the base of the man's skull. Sparks began to flash around his head and his hand glowed as soft blue, Khertu began to struggle weakly and mumble in his sleep. Deep in his mind Khertu could feel something he had not felt in his host for a long time, the strange chanting of these monsters was brining renewed hope in his host. He tried to regain control but the distance to the host mind became further and further, then suddenly he was alone. Levi opened his eyes and nodded to Samuel who cut open the back of the neck exposing the parasite, it was more ugly then any of the images had show, it was latched on to the base of the man's brain and would require precision. Using the Narthecium to repair the damaged tissue he slowly removed the parasites probes from the man. Khertu could feel as his body was removed and tried to release his neuron-toxin into the blood stream of the host but his body wouldn't respond. Samuel removed the faintly wriggling parasite and placed it in the plastic containment jar at his feet. Levis took the jar from the cell and Ishmael went with him. Samuel reconnected the flap of skin on the back of the man's neck and left with the two other Apothecaries. They left the host slumped against the wall to sleep off the sedative.
Khertu awoke to a world of dryness, a Goa'uld could survive in the air for a while but they were as good as dead if they were exposed to it for too long. Suddenly the distorted image of a black armoured man loomed over him; he tried to launch himself at him and acquire a new host but he rebounded off the plastic of the jar. The black armoured man began to chant like he had done when he was removed from his host. Then another man appeared on the other side, it was the one from the Pel'tak who had killed his Jaffa. He hissed in anger and coiled up in the centre of the jar. Levi pointed his hand at the jar and concentrated, he felt the Warp flames take shape and spread. Khertu was surrounded by those hateful blue flames, he could feel his skin flake and peel and the flames closed in. He writhed in agony as his body slowly derogated under the constant attack of the flames.
He lost conciseness as the last of his skin peeled away, the last words he heard were. "In the name of the God-Emperor of Man."
The final thought that ran through his brain before it stopped working was; I wonder who these humans serve, he must be truly powerful to command such potent warriors?
Ishmael and Levi watched through the small airlock window as the containment jar and its ashen content sailed out into the empty void of space. The man in the isolation cell had been checked with the holiest relic they could get and his soul had been free of the corruption of Chaos. As far as he was concerned the whole thing had been a great success, the demon was banished, the human soul was rescued and he could continue to serve the Emperor. Levi imagined the future of that jar and its demonic passenger probably to impact some distant rock and float for ever through the cold beauty of the Universe, totally forgotten by all. Such was the fate of those who opposed the Emperor. Ishmael and Levi turned and headed off to the hangar bays; Baltus and Vanem were bringing back the first pieces of technology that were to be fitted to Warp engines. Gideon was still trying to piece together the control system for it as no one knew when it would be translated by the Logi-Engine. Caleb had finished his studies and had returned a little crest fallen as his project was unless to be implemented, the crystals systems of the enemy ship would be destroyed by the tremendous power of the Emperor's Light.
Vanem had tried, unsuccessfully, to cheer him up by saying. "See Xeno technology is not always useful." This statement was severely dampened by Baltus calling out that his engine could revolutionize the Imperium, which was either very bad timing or Baltus was feeling especially cruel.
Angelus was in an unusual good mood and it was scaring Varas, the usually angry and violent Brother-Captain was sitting in his chair and watching as the Thunderhawks flew between the debris field of the enemy ship and the Emperor's Light. Nestor was had decided that it was best to leave Angelus alone as he would revert any moment to his normal self, this calm version of Angelus normally only came out when they were about to set off on a dangerous mission or when they had managed to gather some great victory over a hated enemy of the Chapter. Suddenly Nester's consol gave a loud beep and died as did everyone else's on the bridge, the servitors just carried on regardless. Out of the blue Levi came sprinting onto the bridge followed by Bora and Karrack.
"Angelus, we may have a problem." He said. Angelus turned to Levi and nodded for him to continue. "Well it is like this the Logi-Engine of the ship is frozen and me, Karrack and Boras can't undo it."
Angelus's small smile changed in to a snarl as he grabbed the spidery arm of a passing servitor and flung it at Levi, who despite his Power Armour ducked, unfortunately Karrack was not a quick and it caught him in the stomach sending him flying out the door and down the hall way. Rounding on Varas and Nestor who both visibly cringed as Angelus looked at them.
He shouted. "Fix this now!"
Boras backed away to check on Karrack who was struggling to untangle himself from the many arms of the servitor and Levi along with the entire bridge crew jumped into action of frantically pushing buttons and rewiring their terminals. Angelus looked over at the blue armoured Marine as he pulled a fist full of wired out and began to replace them.
"What, the in the name of the Emperor where you doing to it?" Angelus asked his anger rising.
Levi looked up still holding several wires. "We finally got the star maps out and we tried to find our location in the galaxy by matching up our maps with the Goa'uld's but we only got a few stars before the system froze and a message saying logical impossibility appeared."
Macillan had once again watching the Warp for some time; it was so calm you could almost lose yourself in it suddenly at the furthest reaches of his Third Eye he caught a shadow moving across the Warp, it was smaller than the shadows of the enemy but it was moving just as fast and heading this way. He concentrated on the Vox network and tried to find the Brother-Captains command seat.
Angelus's arm rest gave out a gurgling sound followed by the voice of Macillan. "Brother-Captain, a ship is approaching fast. I can see its Warp shadow. It will be here in a few hours."
Angelus looked away from the frantic bridge crew and asked the speaker. "What is a Warp shadow?"
Macillan thought for a moment and said. "It is an object that is travelling close to the Warp; it is like those ships that came before."
Angelus thought for a moment before he said. "So it is like Vanem said they travel near the Warp not in it."
Macillan answered. "Yes, but this ship has a different shadow from before."
Angelus was surprised according to the data crystals the Goa'uld were the only major powers in this area. "Well no matter what, we are in trouble, Levi managed to break the Logi-Engine" he said.
There was a small laugh from the other end and Macillan said. "That sounds like you Sons of Sol." Angelus laughed as well and cut the line.
Standing up he shouted. "Fix this ship or we are all going to be killed. A ship is approaching, so we need weapons, shields, sensors everything, even the kitchen has to be working when they arrive." Some of the Serf-crew looked at the captain then shrugged and got on with their work, there was no point in arguing with Angelus.
The Prometheus hurtled through hyperspace towards the last known location of the massive ship. They were hoping to make first contact with it; everyone knew that this ship was powerful and deadly so they were on edge. They were still about an hour out of sensor range, they would get a clear picture them of the vessels potential then.
Jack O'Neill looked out the window at the multi-coloured hyperspace slipped by, turning to Teal'c he said. "I really hope those guys are friendly, because I could use a good drink."
Teal'c knew this was O'Neill's attempt to lighten the mood so he just nodded and said "Indeed."