Author's Note: Thank you again for reading and reviewing! Here's a longer chapter to keep you all happy ... although I must say I really struggled with this one for some reason. Hope you enjoy!
Sheppard awoke to the familiar sound of soft beeping. Atlantis. Infirmary. But it didn't feel right. It didn't smell right.
Slowly, he opened his eyes and flexed his fingers experimentally, feeling sharp pains and aches all over his body complain at the tiny movement.
Definitely not Atlantis.
He was in a spacious room that was lined with several beds, most of which were empty but a few had sleeping occupants. The lights were dim and the place looked high tech. He racked his brain, searching for a memory as to how he got here and came up with nothing. The last thing he remembered was coughing his lungs out on the promenade with the strange white haired man standing protectively over him. He had been so tired and in so much pain and just couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. It looked like a rescue had happened, although who his rescuers were remained to be seen.
Sheppard shifted, trying to push himself up on weak arms, and the soft beeping changed pitch. The pain that flared along his sides and abdomen was so intense it left him breathless for a moment, and he froze, half pushed up on his forearms, trying to ride out the pain and blinking rapidly as the lights in the room spun.
A man suddenly appeared at his side.
"You shouldn't be getting up, sir," he said. "Please lie back down."
The man gently pushed Sheppard back onto the bed, fussing over him and reminding the pilot a little too much of Carson Beckett.
"Where am I?" Sheppard croaked, suddenly realizing he was very thirsty.
"You're on the Black Diamond," the man replied. "We're a Starfleet vessel sent on a reconnaissance mission to rescue you. It's okay now, you're in good hands."
"Starfleet ..." Sheppard vaguely remembered that word being mentioned onboard the space station. The Cardassians had seemed to think that he was a part of this Starfleet.
"Yes. We're the good guys," the man smiled down at him. "I'm going to give you something more for the pain. They did a number on you. It's probably going to take a few days before you're back on your feet."
The man pressed something cool to the side of Sheppard's neck and there was a soft hiss. Sheppard suddenly felt very sleepy and the pain and the thirst weren't so significant anymore.
Sheppard drifted in and out of consciousness. The doctor was always there when he was awake. When he finally became alert enough to comprehend what was going on around him, the doctor was nowhere to be seen. He began a mental pat down and found himself to be mostly pain free as he moved fingers, toes and limbs before finally sitting up on the bed and looking around the empty room.
He flipped the blanket covering him away and realized he was no longer dressed in his BDUs and instead had on loose black pants and a black t-shirt. His shoes were also missing.
Gingerly swinging his bare feet over the bed, he stood on shaky legs, realizing that he had probably been unconscious or asleep for a few days with how weak his body was feeling at the moment. He thought wryly that Beckett would have tutted his disapproval that Sheppard had been in the infirmary enough times to be able to tell how long he had been out when he woke up.
After searching the infirmary and finding no one, Sheppard tried what appeared to be the main door and found it locked. He couldn't find an access panel anywhere and gave up on the exit, looking over the equipment in the room and trying to decide if he should pocket what looked like a scalpel as a weapon when the door opened and two men entered. One was Salen and the other was a taller man with unruly brown hair and ears that had been cut to a point. Both were dressed in a black uniform.
"Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard," the taller man said, grinning and extending his hand. "I'm Razor, Commanding Officer of the USS Black Diamond. It's good to finally see you up on your feet, sir."
Sheppard took his hand hesitantly. Razor gave him a firm shake then stepped back. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions for us."
"Damn right I do," Sheppard snapped, starting to feel the stress of the past several days crashing down on him. "What the hell is going on? Your doctor here wouldn't tell me anything and the door's locked."
"Colonel, this ship is a Black Ops vessel," Razor explained patiently. "We had to be sure you were who we think you are before we let you do any wandering. We're here to answer your questions though. I believe you met Salen?" He gestured to the white haired man standing next to him.
Salen inclined his head, giving Sheppard a small smile. "We have met."
"What are you?" Sheppard asked in exasperation. "You're not human, are you?"
"No, I am not," Salen responded. "I am Vulcan, although I have spent most of my life with humans and my adopted father is human."
"He might look different, but he pretty much acts like a human," Razor grinned.
"And what about you?" Sheppard gestured to Razor.
"Me? I'm human. These pointy ears were an accident. Vulcan-sympathizer. It's a long story."* Razor gestured to the door. "We're here to help you, Sheppard. We want to get you back to your people but we need to discuss all this with the big guys first. Please follow me."
Sheppard warily walked next to Salen as they followed Razor down a long corridor with doors spaced regularly on the sides. They encountered a few men on the way. All were dressed in what appeared to be a black uniform. Most of the ship's occupants were human but the odd alien also wandered the decks. Sheppard didn't see anymore Vulcans.
They took him to a large conference room which he noted was much like their own meeting room back in Atlantis, with a long oval table in the center of the room surrounded by chairs, a window along one entire wall revealing a stunning expanse of stars, and a video screen on another wall.
As they entered the room, Salen indicated a chair for Sheppard to sit in and the video turned on, revealing a room mirroring their own filled with men and women in a uniform different to the one that the Black Diamond crew wore. The Vulcan had informed Sheppard on the way to the room that they would be meeting with the men and women that ran Starfleet, which appeared to be a large military and space exploration organization.
Sheppard sat stiffly, still sore from his healing injuries. Apparently, this ship had superior medical technology because he was up and about and nearly healed from injuries that would have had him down for weeks in Atlantis. He was still wary about these people, however, and had wracked his brain in the short walk to the conference room trying to figure out what to tell them. Something about Razor was starting to put him at ease, however, and despite the strangeness of Salen's looks, the man appeared honest and trustworthy. Sheppard wondered absently how the man had acquired the multiple scars that seemed to be covering his body.
"Greetings," a man on the video feed said. "My name is General Barry. I believe you are Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard?"
Sheppard nodded. "Yes sir."
"We have a slightly awkward situation, Colonel," the General said. "It appears that you are not in your correct time period."
Sheppard frowned. "Time?"
"What is the year where you are from?"
Sheppard shook his head in disbelief, starting to see where this was going. "Oh come on. You can't tell me that I time travelled!"
"Unfortunately, Colonel, that is what appears to be the situation. I am glad that it isn't going to take long to convince you of that. We are just as puzzled as you are. Believe me, however, we're going to do all in our power to get you back."
"How many years?" Sheppard asked.
"You appear to be roughly 250 years in the future, although we can't be certain of the exact date as we don't know what year it was when you left your time."
"2006." Sheppard hesitated, then added, "I hate to say this, but I've experienced this before. I think I know what can be done to get me back ... But I need to know more about you people first."
"Of course," Razor said, with a nod towards the General. "We're here to help."
Sheppard couldn't help to shake the uneasy feeling he had about trusting these people. Their body language was totally relaxed and he felt as though they were being honest with him, but after what he went through with the Cardassians he couldn't help but feel that trust had to be earned.
"First," he said, "what are you guys? What is this Starfleet? What is this place? What are you doing here?"
"We are a part of an organization called Starfleet," General Barry explained. "We are a union of several races and planets that believe in exploration and making peaceful contact with other races. We also operate as a military unit when needed. You are on the USS Black Diamond. This ship is a top of the line military Black Ops vessel. Most in Starfleet don't even know this ship and it's crew exist. They were sent to rescue you because we believe that the device that you came through may potentially be very dangerous or very useful. We need to know more about it and hopefully get it out of Cardassian hands if need be. There is also the matter that it seems as though you have time traveled through this device."
Sheppard nodded, allowing the information to sink in. "What do you know about me? Up until 2006."
"The files are quite old," Salen replied. "We know you were a part of Earth's military, that you worked primarily with the Air Force as a pilot and served in Afghanistan, but that you also had a stint in Black Ops, which I must add is the division that all of us here are operating in within Starfleet. We know that you worked for a top secret military operation and were assigned to Antarctica and the Atlantis project. Beyond that, we know very little about your movements in Antarctica and we know even less about the Atlantis project."
The General cleared his throat onscreen. "Colonel, was your assignment in Antarctica related to this wormhole device that you emerged from?"
Sheppard nodded. "You could say that. Have you heard of the Stargate project?"
"There was mention of this in the historical files," Salen said. "In Colorado?"
"Yeah. I don't know why you guys don't know anything about it. It was a big military project that started up when they discovered a device in Ancient Egypt back in the early 1900's. They found something that they called the Stargate that had been made by an alien race. That's what I came through to get here. There are thousands of Stargates throughout the galaxy, and in fact, I was in the Pegasus Galaxy not too long ago on the Atlantis mission. We use the Stargates to get from planet to planet as they form a connection of wormholes from device to device."
Razor raised an eyebrow. "It sounds like it could have revolutionized space travel. Why hasn't it come up in the Starfleet files on travel history?"
"It did revolutionize space travel for us," Sheppard continued. "We made contact with a few neighboring races, most primarily the Goa'uld, the Asgard, the Ori and the Wraith. It turns out most races in the galaxy just want to kill us. We made an alliance with the Asgard and they helped us defeat the Goa'uld and the Ori. The Wraith are another matter. They live in the Pegasus Galaxy and don't know about Earth since the Pegasus Galaxy is so far away. We'd like to keep it that way. Basically, the Wraith feed on humans and their supply in the Pegasus Galaxy is dwindling. They're looking for fresh stock, so my ... unit been forced to cut ties with Earth for the time being in order to protect them."
Sheppard decided to simplify things and not mention Atlantis. The city had been through enough lately without anyone else knowing about it. It also seemed that these Starfleet guys actually had no clue that anything like a Stargate existed so what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.
"Computer," Razor said, "look for mention of any of the races that Colonel Sheppard has mentioned in the database."
An electronic voice sounded out of nowhere, and Sheppard tried to hide his surprise. Technology had advanced.
"There is no mention of the Wraith, Goa'uld, Asgard or Ori in the database," the computer replied.
"Interesting." Razor leaned forward. "I'm starting to wonder if this isn't the future you were supposed to end up in."
Sheppard leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. "A parallel universe? Great. I time travel and happen to end up in the wrong universe."
"It would explain why we don't know anything about this Stargate," Razor said. "It sounds like it played a big role in your Earth's development, whereas we have only heard a small mention of it. It looks like the former United States military defunded the project not too long after your disappearance and there was no more mention of it."
Sheppard shook his head. "If this was my timeline, that'd never happen. There's too much out there, too much going on. They couldn't defund the program that quickly. We've barely scratched the surface with exploration and the potential out there is unfathomable." He refolded his arms and leaned forward. "What planet did I come out on anyway?"
"It's called Bajor." Salen stood and flicked at the console to the side of the viewscreen where a picture of a green planet came up. "It is not well known to Starfleet at the time and we have not made official contact with its people. It came to our interest when we received a file from one of our agents who has been keeping an eye on the Cardassians. He noted your arrival and also the fact that the Cardassians are building a space station relatively near to Bajor. We have a feeling they may be building the station because there is a large natural wormhole there that we believe leads to the Alpha Quadrant. It appears they were also excavating on Bajor as they were present when you emerged through the ... Stargate."
"Are the Cardassians part of Starfleet?" Sheppard asked.
"No." The General snorted. "We haven't bothered ourselves with them as we know very little about them at this stage, but they do not uphold to the vision of Starfleet. Starfleet headquarters are back on Earth and we are an alliance of races that believe in making contact with new races, making friends and alliances and exploring. As far as we know, the Cardassians don't believe in that."
"What about the Jem'Hadar?" Sheppard asked. "They seemed to be working for the Cardassians."
"We know even less about the Jem'Hadar," the General responded. He looked at Razor. "I have a feeling the Dogs are going to have to stick around Bajor for a bit. We need to make sure these guys aren't going to try and stir things up anywhere."
"It might be a good idea to get the Stargate out of their hands as well," Sheppard said. "If they figure out how it works it means instantaneous travel from one planet to the next, and if they discover there's a network, it could change your form of travel drastically. That's assuming, of course, that in this time and universe you have multiple Stargates."
"How many Stargates are there?" Razor asked.
Sheppard shook his head. "No idea. They were built by a race we call the Ancients, and as far as we know, there could be hundreds of thousands of Stargates across the universe. We thought they were just in our galaxy and then discovered another network of Stargates in the Pegasus Galaxy. There could be more. We just don't know."
"Is there a Stargate on Earth?" Salen asked. "You mentioned they had found one in Egypt."
"Yes. There were two, actually, although we ended up getting rid of one a few years ago. Long story. It could be different in this time, though."
"I guess the main problem now, Colonel, is how we're going to get you back home," the General said. "You said you've experienced this problem before. Do you know how to reverse it?"
"I have a feeling it had something to do with the Stargate I came through," Sheppard explained. "The planet we were visiting had some strange lightning storms and for all we know, they could have been caused by a solar flare. In the past when any malfunction with a gate happened, it was usually caused by a solar flare that interfered with the normal path of the wormhole."
"We shall get some scientists working on the problem as quickly as possible," the General nodded. "I think for the moment, though, Salen, Razor, you need to get a team together and get that Stargate off of Bajor and out of the Cardassian's hands. Work with Colonel Sheppard as I'm sure that he can give you a lot of information regarding how to move the Stargate."
With that, the meeting adjourned. Salen and Razor whisked Sheppard out of the room and into what they described as their engineering section, going over plans and devising a way to get the Stargate out of the cavern the Cardassians were excavating it from. Sheppard discovered that they had not found a DHD according to Razor's agents working on Bajor and immediately gave some work to the engineers to devise their own dialing device. McKay would have been proud. Sheppard paid more attention to details than he like to put on.
It was a simple matter to transport the device out of the cavern. Unfortunately, between the time that Sheppard had arrived and now, the Cardassians had placed a shield around the place, which meant Razor and Salen had to pull together a team to go to Bajor and manually shut down the shield so they could then transport the Stargate to the Black Diamond.
Sheppard volunteered to accompany the team and discovered that their "beaming" technology was very similar to the Asgard's. It sure beat having to take the time to fly a shuttle to the planet below while the Black Diamond orbited under cloak.
They materialized not too far away from the cave where Sheppard had been captured and moved swiftly and silently. Salen had chosen nighttime as the best time to operate and Sheppard was glad for the cover of darkness. He had been given a uniform like the other members of the team and the black material made the men all but invisible in the moonless night as they moved in towards the cave.
Sheppard hung back while Salen, Razor and two other men took out the Cardassians guarding the entrance, a silent operation that had the four guards slumped unconscious to the ground in seconds. As they moved deeper into the cave, they came across little resistance as they dealt with the armed guards too swiftly for anyone to sound an alarm. Sheppard was impressed with their efficiency.
They finally emerged in the center of the cavern where the Stargate had been propped against a wall with various electronic devices attached to it. Salen's men took up positions around the room, checking all crevices and extra rooms for any other Cardassians or Jem'Hadar.
Moving quickly, Sheppard took the devices he had been instructed to use and placed them on the familiar rings of the Stargate, noting again that this was not the Pegasus Galaxy Stargate. This one was very similar to the one he had stepped through on Earth to Atlantis all those years ago, covered in Egyptian hieroglyphs. He signaled back to Salen, who then keyed in a deactivation sequence into the console the Cardassians had set up for the temporary shield. There was a flickering around the room, and then Salen lifted his com, whispering, "Black Diamond, this is Salen. Beam us up."
With a wash of light, they materialized back on the Black Diamond in one of the transport bays with the Stargate laying on the ground.
Razor slapped his com. "Bridge, get us out of here, now!"
An alarm on Terok Nor woke Jakat from a deep sleep. Stumbling to his com, he slapped the console, pulling up the on duty officer on the bridge.
"What is it?" he snapped.
"Sir, the wormhole device has gone missing. We detected an ion trail leading away from Bajor just moments ago and believe that a ship has beamed it out of the caves. We are not getting any response from the men on the planet's surface."
"Bloody Starfleet," Jakat cursed. "Get the cruisers ready and track that ion trail. If you don't find whoever stole that thing in the next hour heads are rolling!"
*Read Phoenix-cry's Black Diamond Dogs series to get the whole story about Salen and Razor.