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Stargate: The Ascension of the Fifth Race
By Jayan-Phoenix
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Chapter Fourteen
Borealis
Pegasus Galaxy - Elaria
John arrived on the planet through a cloaked jumper, as he passed through the puddle however it became clear who was laying siege to the world.
The Genii.
John was forced into evasive manoeuvres when the ground forces sent RPG's directly at the gate, guessing that something cloaked had come through. He patched into their radio frequencies and listened.
"Something just came through the gate." A voice said
"What was it?"
"We do not know, we didn't see anything but we heard it."
"Lanteans!" the second voice said in an amused tone "I had wondered if they would come."
"What shall we do?"
"Stay where you are, they are using an invisible flying ship, but they will be coming straight here." The amused voice said "We are ready for them."
John wondered how they had even found this planet but knew that was not important, if the Genii were able to interface their power sources into the Tower they may be able to detect the Jumper. He took a slow route to the location of the tower and when it was in sight the HUD activated and identified it.
Borealis
"Well at least that is better than calling it the tower" he said begrudgingly and then he actually looked at the location of the tower and what he saw shocked him.
Swarms of the Genii were pouring over a great excavation, they had revealed some of the outer sections of the city, they had created great mounds of earth on the outskirts and it was clear that they had been excavating the city for some time.
The parts of the city that he could see were damaged, none of the other structures stood over two stories, but the damage was not contained to the towers, there was damage to one of the piers.
He began to sweep past the city, using the life signs detector to try and pin point what had happened and where people were but it was impossible to tell who was who. Not learning anything he moved towards the villages and found the Genii stood guard over the villagers.
He wasn't going to learn much from his jumper so he set it down in an isolated location and activated a subspace beacon that would only be picked up by the Travellers or the Daedalus and he left the ship and set out on foot.
He made his way to the village where he had first met the Elarians and he managed to infiltrate it and he was forced to knockout two Genii.
"Lt. Colonel Sheppard?" said a voice ringing with shock.
John turned and trained his weapon on the voice and found it pointed at a battered and bruised Petra.
"Petra, what happened to you?" he asked lowering his weapon, she and her husband had taken in his team when he had been escorted to the tower. "What has happened here?"
"It has been over a year since they came, the Genii arrived offering us defence against the Wraith" Petra explained leading him into her home out of sight "They offered us trade and help, but we could not speak to them of trade without speaking to the other villagers, The Tower is where we discuss affairs that will impact our entire people so we took them there to wait for the other village representatives, and they became interested and asked to see more."
"I am sure they did." John said bitterly the Genii "I take it they soon decided that they were better off with your tower than you."
"Yes, they arrived in greater numbers and forced us to work in removing the tower from the ground." She explained "Lady Mara who watches over us was killed by the Genii leader, and all of our people were removed from the tower."
"Why do you look like you have been beaten?" he asked and he pulled out his first aid kit to help her.
"My husband Eldred and Baldric risked everything to get a message to Atlantis, Baldric lead my husband through the tunnels to the device you installed. They were caught but that was not before they activated the beacon. They are being held prisoner in the Tower, but to set an example to us they beat me."
"Who is leading this –"John began to say but the door crashed opened and five Genii soldiers barged in.
"Sheppard! Now this is a surprise!" said a voice that John recognised from the radio.
"And who are you?" he asked his gun still pointed at them but it was five against one and he knew he would be shot dead if he opened fire. They had covered the exits and they had him trapped.
"Captain Ganos, Come Sheppard we have been expecting the Lanteans for some time, but we never thought you would come through the gate." The captain said and his men approached John and disarmed him.
John didn't resist, he knew that his own people were on their way, he only needed to delay what was happening.
"You see we came across these people quite by chance and they carried and bartered a Lantean technology, imagine our surprise that they had an entire city here waiting for us." The Captain boasted, "The women who was the leader of these peasants said you would come and you did not disappoint, we have claimed the city and this planet for the Genii Nation!"
"Really? It looks to me that you have invaded a planet and wrecked an unsalvageable city." John pointed out and for his trouble he received a hard blow from his guard.
"Mock us as you wish, but we conquered this planet and the spoils belong to my people. We will rise to a race as great as the Ancestors!" The captain announced and he turned to Petra, "Take this woman to the village square and shoot her, she harboured an enemy of the Genii."
"No!" John exclaimed and he tried to get to her but his two guards held him whilst another hit him around the head knocking him out.
Pegasus Galaxy - Elarian System - Traveller Ship Uonos - One Hour Later
Above Elaria a rift opened in space and four large ships emerged.
On-board the lead vessel was Hessler, the captain and commander of the small fleet of ships that had previously been performing sweeps of outlining systems for Wraith installations.
"Anything on the sensors?" he asked looking at the planet out of the observation window.
"We have detected many life signs at a central location, and there we detect a large subterranean structure at the location. Sheppard's transmitter is also located in the structure."
"Colonel this is Hessler of the Generational ship Uonos please respond." He said broadcasting on the Lantean frequency but they didn't pick up anything, he tried another three times before he abandoned his attempted, and he had them scan for alternate radio frequencies and discovered the Genii's broadcasts and listened in for a while before communicating to his ships.
"I want all ships to descend to the planet surface, form a perimeter around the ruined city. The Genii do not have any weaponry that is powerful enough to threaten our ships with our shields activated, from our position we will push them back into the city. All ground forces are to ready for the assault in the next twenty minutes." He ordered and he turned to Major Samuels who had been assigned to his ship "Do you agree?"
"Your strategy is good, the Daedalus is on route and they will be able to remove the Colonel using beaming technology." Samuels agreed "But I would urge caution, that is a sister ship of Atlantis, our intel says they do not have a working ZPM so cannot use its weapons but they might have other technology on that ship which we might not know about."
Hessler looked at the communications officer and said "Get a message to Atlantis tell them what is happening here, but also warn the Daedalus. Tell them that it is the Genii and that the Sheppard is possibly a prisoner."
o-0-o
As directed the four ships descended from orbit and entered the planet atmosphere, where they had landed around the crashed city with their shields raised. The Genii had never seen such ships and had run scared for a number of minutes but soon had been organised and they started to attack the ships.
As they had believed the Genii weapons were useless against the shield technology they had made good use of, the crew used their own ship weaponry to push the enemy forces back to allow the ground forces to gain a foothold. The Lanteans were being careful, the Elarians were peaceful and they didn't want any fatalities due to their actions so they worked on securing the outlining villages first and they tried to push the Genii back into the partially excavated city.
The Daedalus had arrived when the last pocket of Genii resistance had retreated into one of the tunnels and they had been brought up to speed on the situation and Caldwell used a new piece of tech that had been installed on the ship to communicate directly to Sheppard.
John had been thrown into a cell by the Genii soldiers, but he had not been the only prisoner, Lady Mara was also there, as the Genii had faked her death so that they could use her ATA gene and have her people surrender.
They were talking about how the Elarians had made great use of the gate since the Lanteans had brought it down out of orbit when Caldwell shimmered into existence.
"Colonel" Caldwell said nodding in respect.
"What is the situation?" John asked "We have heard fighting and explosions."
"The four Generational ships and their forces have pushed all the Genii back to the city." Caldwell explained "But we do not have enough men to enter the city, especially with the amount of damage and sections that are not safe."
"My people should not be within the city, the Genii forced us to leave so that they could have free reign over the city. I believe I am on the one who has been allowed to remain." Mara said, "Can you not free us as you appeared without walking into this cell?"
"I am not actually here." Caldwell said quickly and to emphasise his point he waved his hand through the cell walls and the hologram broke. "What are you orders Colonel."
"Beam up all life signs to the Daedalus F302 bays; they can function as a temporary prison, have them emptied of everything but buckets and seats. The F302's can reside on the planet for now, but keep the hanger doors open, I think you can scare them a little, they have never seen space before." John ordered.
"That will take some time, and it might overload the system but I will have Novak get right on it." Caldwell said and his image faded out.
"What about me!" John shouted annoyed that he had been left in the cell and as if he had been heard a white light accompanied by the unmistakable sound of an Asgard transporter sounded leaving behind and smirking Ronon.
"Can I not leave you alone for five minutes?" he asked as he broke open the cell with his magnum.
"I was playing for time!" John said in his defence, "This is Mara, she is the leader of the people of this world."
"It is a pleasure to meet you; I have never seen a man who is so large." Mara said complimenting Ronon who only smirked and handed over a weapon and radio to John.
"Let's get you back to your people." John said and he led them out of the prison cell and down the corridor and they began to retake the city.
It had taken two days for all of the Genii to be rounded up from around the planet, some had fled into the surrounding area when the Lanteans had arrived and they had to be caught and beamed to the Daedalus.
Borealis had been thoroughly searched and looted by the Genii and it was clear to the Lanteans they were trying to copy and learn from the technology. The Genii were not cooperative within the make shift prison, even the sight of space had not settled them down as most believed it to be a TV screen or fabrication.
They had sent in teams to relieve them of weaponry and other technologies but a fight had broken out resulting in many injuries to both sides, Caldwell had the bays pumped full of a sleeping agent to knock them out so that his people could relieve them all of weapons.
The Elarians were thankful for the Lanteans but they had discovered just how dangerous it was for the Borealis to be on their planet and Lady Mara had asked that the Lanteans destroy it.
John had not wanted to agree and had asked for the opinions of the scientists and structural engineers on Atlantis for their views of the city and they had deemed that the city was salvageable and that if it could be unearthed and repaired to be made structurally viable they could transport it away.
When Borealis had been built by the Ancient Lanteans it has been a true sister to Atlantis, but it no longer resembled the legendary city and scans showed all but control tower was still intact, and the damage had been caused by a fight with the Wraith and its crash landing on the planet's surface. The damaged towers and other structures could not be repaired at all, it was the Lanteans plan to recycle the reclaimed materials for use in the repair of the city platform which incorporated the piers and engines that ran under them but the work ahead was extensive and some were dubious that they could manage it.
The first step for the Lanteans was to unearth the city ship entirely, something that had not happened since the ship crashed. Beaming technology on-board the Daedalus was used after the Lantean technicians had created a program that would make the beams only sweep over the city and remove the soil and plant life and not any of the actual structure.
This took three days to accomplish as they had to be careful not to damage the city ship further but their patience was rewarded as eventually the city was uncovered for the first time in a millennia and it was both breath-taking and heart-breaking.
The ship has suffered such significant damage the Lanteans had wondered if the city was even worth saving, but they knew that building a city ship was beyond their current capabilities, so even having this shell of a city-ship was head start.
Elaria was beginning to build its first great city using techniques taught by the Lanteans, using brick and mortar, metals and other resources to build homes faster than they could previously, they only asked that the Lanteans help them build a lasting society, help defend them in times of need and medical supplies in exchange for the city.
The Genii forces were transferred to an unoccupied planet where the DHD was removed so they could not dial out. There was to be a tribunal with the coalition for the Genii's actions, Elaria was not in the coalition but going forward the Lanteans planned to have them within the safety of the treaties, but the Genii's actions were abhorrent and their race could not continue as they were.
A date had yet to be set, Landon had advised the coalition that he had not sanctioned the acquisition of Elaria and that the forces deployed there had been a rogue group, but it would be further looked into at the tribunal.
The Lanteans had arrived on Elaria in very large numbers and they worked through the wreckage of the city, the repairs began but they were slow. The Lanteans understanding of the technology was better than it had been two years previously as they had been studying the technology in great detail since they returned to Pegasus, but there was still a great deal more that they needed to learn.
They understood how the technology functioned, but it was the components that made up Ancient technology that they struggled with as they did not always have the full schematics of each part and sometimes they created a part that was functional but nowhere near as efficient as that which it was based on.
Rodney and Radek with the help of the Atlantis engineers had created a new manufacturing technology; it was a liquid composite material enriched with a small number of nanites that were able to order the material into a needed structure and once the process was complete they would become inert and become part of the material and it was impossible to reanimate them.
Using the new technology they were able to repair the platform of the city with relative ease, but it took a long time to program each batch of the composite as the nanites needed to form in a specific arrangement for their needs and they were mindful of how nanites could be used against them or even self-replicate so they had to be sure their programming was not wrong even slightly.
The technology was limited but it was useful, they used it to not only repair the platform of the city onto which the towers had been built, it was also used to make the remaining corridors and passages safe, the composite liquid was sprayed from a hose down the corridors, covering what remained of the walls, floors and ceilings and then the nanites got to work shaping the liquid into the very thing that they covered and fused themselves and the surface into a whole on a molecular level making it a seamless repair and unnoticeable.
The city became a very large shell of what it had once been; the platform had been made structurally secure and repaired in four weeks of solid work with teams working day and night covering the city was layer on layer of the composite liquid and they had managed to get it all done but the next step was to install the needed systems and repair the stardrive and power conduits throughout the city platform and control tower which was something that the composite material could not do at all.
When the Elarians had started to use Borealis as a royal residence they had removed all of the Lantean control terminals and any obvious technology from the control tower and most rooms, Rodney and Radek with their teams of technicians worked to reinstall them back into their rightful places which was hindered by the damage the Elarians had done when the ripped them out of rooms.
It took them some time but eventually that Control tower was almost entirely restored to its former condition and it was unlike the one they were familiar with on Atlantis. Borealis's tower did not have the gate in it and in its place was the control chair and all of the systems that were needed for its maintenance.
It do not bother Atlantis that the gate wasn't on the city as they would be able to change things when they had the city off the planet and in a safe location where they could begin to restore it entirely, Rodney had been furious when they eventually could access the Borealis database and found that it was corrupted due to the crash landing but he had forced two technicians to try and repair it.
Pegasus Galaxy - Elaria - Two Weeks Later
John stepped through the Stargate with Ronon and Larrin, even from the gate they could see the city and it was an impressive sight, especially as it had only been three months since they had been given the city, but with only one tower it was a shadow of its former glory.
"What do you plan to do with the city?" Larrin asked staring at it in the distance.
"I have no idea" John admitted, "but in its current state it is much good for anything."
"Will your Earth want the City?" she asked frowning, she still did not like IOA forcing him to do things that she felt hindered their fight against the Wraith.
"Yes, and I think that will be a good thing." John said "With it they can do some good back home, we do not need two cities we can barely staff just the one and I will not give the city to anyone in this galaxy before you ask me for your people."
John could feel her looking at him but ignored her, he was tired, tired of Atlantis, tired of being the leader of the expedition and especially tired of dealing with the IOA. The Travellers were causing his a small amount of grief as the three ships that had left Atlantis permanently had run into some trouble and had the audacity to demand that they help them get the ship repaired.
He knew Larrin was getting the receiving end of his frayed temper but he didn't actually blame her, she had put her entire support into Atlantis. The IOA had seized the opportunity to have a working City-Ship for themselves back on Earth and they demanded that they ready the ship for a journey to Earth.
John had refused originally on principle but the IOA had thrown a considerable amount of money into the Expeditions budget to speed the process of its repair and he eventually had to agree to it, although he hadn't told them that the money was not needed as liquid composite construction technology had cut down the costs almost entirely and had already repaired the city, he happily took the influx of cash and had it diverted to develop other technology for manufacturing needs.
He had been avoiding the IOA for the last two weeks with excuses of off world inspection of assets or a trade agreement that needed his attention, he even spent three days on the drilling platform working with the crews just to avoid them.
"I did not consider it" she eventually said to him after a tense silence. "My people do not require a city and it only has one tower anyway. What is wrong Sheppard?"
"Nothing" John said waving off her concern, they were not a couple and he would not unload his concerns on her.
"Is the plan to carry out all repairs here or to transport it to Lantea?" she asked him "It would be easier back on Lantea."
"According to Zelenka in three months it might be capable of interstellar flight, but I think they have concerns which is why they called us here" John said "I am hoping it will be capable a lot sooner."
"We better hope the Wraith do not find out about the city, or they will come." Ronon grunted, "These people are not capable of surviving without assistance."
John agreed, they had kept the fleet in the system but they were trying to prevent the Wraith from detecting them in the proximity so they would not investigate why ships were in this quadrant of space, he hoped they would not be forced to defend the city as it was not viable as once it was discovered they currently wouldn't be able to defend it from constant attack.
They walked to the city where they entered the city using a door in one of the piers and had to walk up to the tower as they had not been able to get the transport booths operational, the walk took just over an hour which made John wish that they had taken a Jumper.
"Sheppard!" Rodney exclaimed "You took your time!"
"Sorry Rodney but since you have failed in getting the transport booths operational we had to walk the entire way" John snapped harshly "Now why have you asked for us to come?"
"The piers and platform are structurally sound and we have now begun to install power conduits from the central tower to the piers and star drive. We have been able to reuse some of the conduits that were undamaged and they have shown us how they were constructed, but we are going to need additional resources to get that all done, it's a city and there is a lot of conduits and other systems that needs to be repaired." Rodney reported "No our problem lies with the City-ship shield Emitters"
"What about them?" Ronon asked sounding bored already.
"Well a City-Ship needs ten emitters to generate the City shield as you know they are the most powerful shields in the known universe. The City will not travel in hyperspace without a shield and it will need a city shield to protect it."
"Rodney what is the problem" John asked impatiently think this was a waste of time that could have been avoided with a memo or report.
"The Borealis only has eight of the emitters, two of them had been entirely destroyed when it crashed or during the battle that made it crash. Three of those eight remaining emitters are damaged and will require major repairs, and we are going to have to build two from scratch."
"We are not even sure that we are able to build the emitter." Zelenka said pushing his glasses up his nose frowning with worry.
"What do you need?" John asked, "On Atlantis you have ten working ones you can study and four here on Borealis, What do you need to get the job done?"
Rodney looked at him again and opened his mouth to say something by Radek beat him to the punch.
"We will need access to the Atlantis Database, and possibly the schematics to the shield emitters for Destiny." He said quickly "Resources and materials will still need to be sent but we are going to need more teams to construct the necessary components for the emitters, some of them we do not have the facilities to make.
"Doctors you have been using the nanite construction techniques you created" Larrin said "Surely this is speeding up the construction and repair time?"
"Yes but we will need greater quantities of Neutronium for it to work." Rodney explained glaring at Zelenka for interrupting him "The liquid material is composed of basic raw materials which the nanites order and form into a new material. It is not a simple process for us to even begin creating the liquid materials used and it takes days to create even a small quantity, we need to refine the process of creating it."
John nodded, it was always the same thing, they needed more time to develop technology, but the Expedition needed breathing room to be able to truly develop technology and to get the city operational, but the threat of the Wraith and the IOA it was a second priority. "I will see if I can get the schematics for the matter streaming technology Area 51 has developed, that should help with construction."
"That technology is not currently viable" Rodney stated "Sam was testing it before she went missing."
"Yes, but I think your team could make it work for our needs." John told him bluntly "Your job is to get this city ready to fly. Meaning the Stardrive, inertia dampeners, chair and shields so we can get it to Earth for full construction to begin."
"Sheppard –"Rodney began to exclaim
"No, get it done so that we can get some breathing room from Earth." John told him, "The IOA is basically paying for this ship and if we do not deliver I am worried about what they will do"
John turned around and stormed out of the office to return back to Atlantis, he wished that Elizabeth was still alive she was a better leader than he was, and he was regretting returning to Pegasus.
As he walked he noticed that the city was dead, it was so unlike Atlantis, when he walked the corridors he could feel a sense of life and activity as if the city was connected to him through his genes. But on Borealis there was no feeling; it felt like a ton of metal with no personality or feeling.
He was aware that other ATA carriers felt the city is a similar manner but no one seemed to have noticed the lack response on this city. He wondered who had been the city's leader and what they would think if they saw their city now.
He shook his head, knowing the Ancients they wouldn't care, they would merely repair and move on like they had done so many times or just fled and never looked back, he walked passed a reflective surface and did a double take, he thought he saw someone behind him but when he turned nobody was there.
"Maybe this city is alive" he said to himself and then he turned and continued on "Or maybe I have gone mad."
He continued down the corridor and entered a stairwell which would lead him to the exit.
What he would have seen if he turned around was a man with whom he had much in common, a man who had once called this city his own and to its people their leader.
"Borealis was a beacon of hope once, now she is a shell of her former beauty." The man said sadly "Repair her and she will be a like a sun and help guide you towards peace and diplomacy, but perhaps you like myself were not the right man for command."
The man shook his head, and straightened his clothes, they were heavy on him but he did not mind the military uniform was a reminder of the path he took, one that cost the Ancients greatly.
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