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Stargate: The Ascension of the Fifth Race
By Jayan-Phoenix
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Chapter Ten
Ocean Floor
The Higher planes were vast and all encompassing, it was here that the Ascended Beings resided, sworn only to watch and never interfere in the affairs of the mortal races.
One such being had watched over the planet Earth for a number of millennia, some would say that the being had a vested interest in its people. Long ago the being had arrived on the planet for the first time since his race had fled a great plague, but on their arrival had discovered that the humans that they had once been seeded to the planet were slaves to an alien race.
He had seen the potential of the people Earth first hand when one of their race had arrived over Atlantis the day before they returned to Earth, using technology that was forbidden by the Ancient Lantean Council.
Dr Elizabeth Weir had truly inspired many of the Ancient Lanteans, she was a compassionate woman but she contained a hard disposition when pushed and challenged. She had refused to return to Earth, she had wanted to return to her people in her own time.
She had willingly sacrificed herself so that her people could live, even though it meant the end of her own life. When the Ancient Lanteans had discovered the truth of why she had not arrived on Earth, many had petitioned to return for her, but Moros had refused the request.
Earth had been a harsh and uncivilised planet when they had arrived, using their influence the Lanteans had started to sow the seeds of civilisation across the planet. They had indirectly helped with the Goa'uld uprising and to their surprise four other individuals did the same and the Ascended Being has their own thoughts on where those four had come from.
When the Ancient Altera fled to Pegasus they had been few in number and had seeded life to the galaxy but the plague was still affecting them so they created the Ancient Lanteans using a point in their own evolution, but at a much more evolved state than what they had seeded in Avalon. The Ancient Lanteans were as close to the Ancient Alteran physiology as they could be without giving them enhanced gifts which would have made them susceptible to the plague.
The humans of Earth were legacy of the Ancient Altera and their children, they could trace their history to the Ancient Altera who originally seeded their species, then those same ancient people had created the Ancient Lanteans from their own genetics, creating less evolved copies of themselves and then they returned to Earth and passed on those genes to the humans of Earth to further help them in the future.
The Ascended had all watched as the people of Earth had rediscovered the Stargate and then unlocked the Gate Network across the now named Milky Way Galaxy, watched as they walked out into the universe for the first time and begun to find their place within it and rise to any threat or challenge that lay in front of them.
The people of Earth had been able to topple the System Lords, Replicators and the ancient enemy of the Ancient Altera, the Ori. Discovered their beloved city of Atlantis where they abandoned her at the bottom of an ocean and were fighting the war the Ancient Lanteans lost and had even discovered the legendry Destiny on her mission to unlock the secret of the Universe.
The Ascended Being who had watched the humans for so long wondered just where the people of Earth would go now, he believed in their own way they were better than the Ancient Altera and Lanteans, but predominantly they were explorers just like Dr Weir had said and it made the Being proud.
"They are so young, but have come so far." Said a female voice next to the male ascended being.
"As I knew they would, I saw their potential in the mind of Dr Weir." He admitted sadly, "They truly are our children."
"Yes but they are not yet ready to be the Fifth Race." She proclaimed "Maybe in time, but that day has yet to pass."
"The Asgard were not wrong when they named them, our children are still growing and maturing. They are our children but already they are cleaning up the mess we left in our wake." He told her "You know I am right."
"The Asgard named them too early" she repeated firmly, but she was sympathetic to the humans, she was among the many with a vested interest in them.
"I do not think they had a choice." He said tiredly "Their bodies and minds were failing them, they could not have continued for much longer. The Four Great Races have all met their end."
"The Nox still linger," She pointed out.
"Only as a former shadow of themselves, they are reclusive and do not care for the goings on of this galaxy. The Ancient Altera have ascended, the Asgard are nearly extinct with only a renegade off-shoot alive in Pegasus, and do not speak to me of the Furling." He said with distaste not liking what had happened to those that had been their allies and friends.
"They left this Galaxy a long time ago," she agreed, "But it will take time to discover where they travelled to."
"We should do more." The male being declared declared "I hate watching but not being able to help."
"You know that you cannot, the Others will not allow it." The women said sternly "you know what would happen, you are possibly the most closest monitored of us all."
"Two of our brethren are locked in eternal battles, one is bound to a planet unable to help but a few humans, another's mind has splintered and will never recover stuck in the body of a human child. Another returned to the lower plain to destroy our ancient enemy only to sacrifice himself to make sure they met their end and no one tried to help him." Janus spat, "I want to do more, and our benevolence is so frustrating."
"Janus you cannot help them!" the women exclaimed "You know the risks."
"I tire of this existence Melia. Sometimes I regret choosing ascension." He said looking at Earth sadly.
"A time may come when the Ascended take to the mortal plane again, but for now you must be patient" Melia said quietly "You are not alone in your thinking, but the collective is against us."
"It would only –"Janus began but he stopped himself and looked off to the distance at a location that was so far away "Something is happening on Atlantis."
"I sense it to, we should leave." Melia said also sensing a disturbance one that they had not felt for a number of years.
Two white tendrils of energy dropped into the lower plane of existence and travelled to a planet with a Stargate which they used to travel to the Pegasus Galaxy providing the power necessary using their own powers.
Pegasus Galaxy – Lantea – Atlantis
The city of Atlantis was mostly peaceful as its location was secret to all but the people who live in it; it was not often that the city population was running through its halls in terror. Four hours ago a great earthquake had rocked the entire planet. The city and settlement had felt the tremors but the earthquake had not caused any damage.
The quake however had caused four great tidal waves which had struck both the city and settlement. The city was protected by its shield which was powered by zpm's and provided the best protection and warded off the waves easily, the settlement however had been protected by a very strained shield which had been stretched further than its optimal distance in order to protect as much of the farmland and crops as possible and it had been a close thing as the traveller ships on the mainland struggled to provide the needed power all at once.
The city had moved as the waves had struck the shield and the connection to the drilling platform had been severed, the platform had also suffered minor damage that would take weeks of repairs by teams who could not easily access the areas needing to be repaired, there was also the problem of the current drilling crew being stuck on the platform without a way off.
"Rodney you should see this" Radek said from his computer where he was working through diagnostics of the city making sure there was no damage caused by the waves.
"There are many things that I need to see at this moment" Rodney said dismissively "The crew on the drilling platform are sending me data and I need to help to get it back online. We do not have the power to spare, you know that the Wraith have been in the area recently."
"Rodney, it's the underwater docking clamp."
"What about it?"
"We are detecting an error with clamp number four." Radek pointed out, "the mechanism has loosened and it cannot engage. It has shifted and fallen into the ocean floor."
"Well reset it" Rodney said waiving the concern away, "It happened a couple of weeks back, the internal mechanisms are probably out of sync."
"I tried, three times, it is broken, I think we should send a team down to repair it."
"No, the drilling station requires our immediate attention."
"The platform is on the way to the clamp, we could have a look at it first."
Rodney finally looked up and rolled his eyes, "Fine, you want us to take a look, we will. But I am telling you it is a waste of our time."
"Yes but if we needed to submerge the city we couldn't as without all clamps functioning the city would not be anchored to the ocean floor." Radek pointed out growing annoyed with Rodney's attitude and wondered if he had his coffee and snacks in the last hour, "You know I am right so why are you fighting me."
"Because I do not want to be down there much longer that I have to be! I almost died in that jumper that crashed."
"Yes but we found you." Radek stated but muttered to himself "Unfortunately"
An hour after this conversation a group was sent out to the ocean floor to investigate the fault before traveling on to the drilling platform; seven jumpers were dispatched by only five would stop at the clamps.
Rodney, John, Lorne, Larrin and Doctor Becket who was back in the city to go over new medical data from Earth, in the back of each Jumper was a Mark III naquadah generator to add additional power to the shields.
"Doctor McKay how certain are you that these little things will keep back the water?" Larrin asked, she had been given the gene therapy and could now fly the Jumpers but she did not like them and felt very vulnerable in them.
"Yes, the generators will give the extra needed power that we need to repair the clamps." Rodney explained "We will need to extend the field to push back the water around the area."
"You're sure we will be able to walk under the shield?" Becket asked "I feel a wee bit claustrophobic under this amount of water."
"With all five ships the shields power will be combined and lower the taxation on the emitters." Radek said over the radio, "You should be careful of the whale, it is coming around to your left."
"Don't worry about the whales they are harmless" Rodney said laughing "they are quite friendly really."
"It's odd that one is here now, its circling the clamp." Radek pointed out "reminds me of the one that circled you in your crashed Jumper Rodney."
"The whale is just here because we are" Rodney snapped not liking being reminded of his near death experience. "We are approaching the clamps now."
"Switch on all exterior lighting, would rather we didn't crash into anything." John ordered "let's see what is down here."
The Jumpers external lights switched on and the ocean floor could be seen a little clearer and they could see a great reef of coruscations and barnacles, according to the HUD it formed a perfect circle and was several meters high.
"What is all of this?" Larrin asked looking at the data the HUD was showing and looking at the formations through the window.
"Underwater organisms, they are created by the creatures that live here, back at home we have some great reefs." Becket explained "although I have never seen a formation like this. It's an odd place for it to form."
"This is where Atlantis sat for all those years since the Ancient Lanteans left until we arrived and this would have formed as the city slept." Rodney said "the damage would have been caused by the city rising from the ocean, breaking away parts that had formed over the shield, we might have damaged it when we submerged and risen to the surface over the years too."
"Rodney is there a particular formation we should take?" John asked "this shield had better work."
"It will, land where I have indicated on the map. This should maximise shield strength, all hatches should face the clamp." Rodney stated and he sent them a data packet containing instructions of where to land.
It took a minute for the jumpers to be settled down and then they activated the full power of their shields and drew power from the on-board generators and they utilised a shield matrix created McKay that caused all five ships shields to fuse with each other and form a very large bubble around the Jumpers and clamp and pushed back the water.
"Well Rodney, I think you might have outdone yourself" John said, he could clearly see the docking clamp, and it became clear that it was damaged, it had dislodged itself from the base unit that was installed to the ocean bedrock.
They lowered the rear access ramps and took hesitant steps out onto the ocean floor, it was wet and slippery and the floor had a number of odd looking fish flapping around gasping for breath.
"Rodney! Couldn't you have pushed the fish away with the shield?" Becket exclaimed looking at them with sadness.
"Well I am sorry I was more concerned with the millions of tons of water that could crush us to death!" Rodney snapped "You're a doctor not a vet, why do you care?"
"Rodney get over here!" John commanded breaking up their petty argument "You said this wouldn't take long, so how about you get started."
"Yes, yes okay." He replied and he pulled out his tablet and brought up a diagnostic system.
"How did it get damaged?" Larrin asked "I thought that Ancestor technology was very resilient."
"We might have damaged it when we left this planet a few years ago." Rodney said frowning as he clicked away "We damaged the drilling platform to, but –"
There was a loud noise above them and a great shadow passed over the shield.
"What is that!" Larrin exclaimed pulling out her particle magnum.
"It's a whale, it's probably Sam" Rodney said looking up, "What's he doing down here now?"
"Rodney, that shield will not keep a whale out will it" Becket asked looking up at the shadow.
"No, if it hits the shield it will collapse immediately,
"Can you fix this?" John asked agitated pointing at the clamp, "And is it a quick fix?"
"Yes, we will need a winch to pull it back into place." Rodney explained and he turned to look at Jumper four, "We have the winch, so get started."
The winch was hooked up to the clamp mechanism and the Jumper began to pull the large mechanism back into place, it was straining the winch but eventually it pulled away from the reef, but once it moved large sections of the reef broke off.
"Becket stop!" Rodney shouted loudly.
"What is it Rodney, did I break it?" Becket asked not trusting his use of technology.
"No, Sheppard there is something in the reef!" Rodney exclaimed drawing John's attention to what he was seeing.
True to his word there was something under the reef, and it was made of metal and glass although it was hard to make out as it was covered in crustations.
John rushed into the closest jumper and brought up the HUD and immediately saw data, and it made him raise his eyebrows, it was detecting seven metallic objects inside the reef and what shocked him more was the two life signs that was being detected.
"Atlantis this is Sheppard." John said bringing the communication system online.
"How can we help sir?" Chuck said "We didn't expect to hear from you."
"Get a message to the Daedalus, we are going to need their help."
They waiting for a minute before Chuck replied.
"They are on their way; it will take them thirty minutes." He advised.
"Tell them that to contact me when they are over our position" John ordered. "Sheppard out."
Whilst they waited they began to excavate more of the reef to see what they were looking at, and they unearthed a Lantean ship. It was not a jumper but the technology was similar, the cockpit glass had collapsed which had allowed the microorganisms into the ship.
There were no bodies but it was not surprising as they would have been eaten, but the technology was clearly Lantean but it was severely damaged, they had been able to locate a further two of the ships but couldn't access the ones with life signs.
"How can there still be lifesigns?" Larrin asked "If they are Ancestors they would be thousands of years old."
"Back home we found an Ancient Altera who was frozen but was able to survive in a kind of stasis, but we also found another Ancient Lantean, Moros who had been the high councillor of Atlantis before returning to Earth who had been in stasis for a long time and was alive." Becket said "But they will be weak, they can survive thousands of years in a properly powered stasis chamber but they will suffer the effects."
"So they could be true Ancestors?" she asked in wonder, "if that is true we need to help them, they may be able to help us."
"What I want to know is what type of ships are these?" John asked looking at it.
"Transport vessels" Rodney said walking out of the jumper "they are Ancient Transport vessels, they had a variety of uses and you can see they are larger than Jumpers meaning they cannot go through the gate, they travelled using FTL drives."
"Will the Daedalus be able to lock onto the ships using transport beams?" Becket asked
"Yes, but we will need to create a signal they can lock on to." Rodney explained and he pulled his bag off his shoulder and pulled out a bunch of beacons, "we used to use these back when we didn't have the Asgard sensors but they can be used to tag the ships."
Twenty minutes later the Daedalus arrived and they were able to lock onto the ships without the beacons and they were beamed directly into the beaming buffer and taken to Atlantis.
Rodney and the engineers managed to fix the docking clamp after a further thirty minutes and they were finally able to leave the ocean floor not a moment too soon as the generators were lagging and the power fading and they piloted them back to the city.
The Daedalus had beamed the ships directly onto a pier and technicians and scientists streamed onto the pier to begin work. They were able to strip back all of the coral and sea life and they were finally able to access the rear compartments of the ship with the life signs.
The rear compartment had been flooded and damaged but inside they had found four pods that were obviously Lantean in origin.
The pods had been transported directly to the infirmary to be monitored by Doctors Becket and Keller. It was hoped that they would still be alive but Rodney had told them that it was unlikely as the pods were nearly dead, and without power it was unlikely that the occupants would be in good shape.
"Colonel Sheppard, We have uncovered the pods." Becket said over the radio, "you might want to get down here."
"I am on my way."
Doctor Keller and Becket looked over the pods, the technology was Lantean, but their scans told them that the pods power supply was nearly entirely depleted.
"Carson have you found any way to open them?" Jenifer asked walking over with a hand held device developed by Earth.
"No, but I think I might have an idea." Carson replied "this here looks like an interface panel."
He placed his hand to it and the pod lit up with bright blue light, which was immediately mirrored by the second pod and data began to stream to the monitors.
"Here we go." Carson said smiling "They are alive but barely."
"Carson!" Jenifer shouted alarmed.
Turning he saw that the pods lighting turned to red and the pods sparked before all light died on the pods.
"Life signs are no longer detected" Jenifer said using her scanner "but power is still registering?"
"I see that, but…" Carson began to say moving towards the other pod but green light sprang out of the pods and scanned the room once they detected the doctors another light beamed directly to their heads and they fell unconscious.