Here's the next chapter for you all, questions will be answered and others will be asked. Note: I only own what characters i create, the names and places i invent and the ships and vehicles i seem to be designing in droves for this single story.
I would like to thank AlexanderD for all his help and i strongly recomend reading his story New Dawn. I hope he likes the character named after him Admiral Alec Xander.
For those of you interested in what some of the ships featured in this story look like here are a few sketches on photobucket: albums/ae166/Senrab_Nomis/
Please review and i will respond. Or alternatively post in the thread for this story in my forum. topic/84023/35075481/1/
Review Responses
AlexanderD: Who can really say what will happen, well me for one but i'm not telling. You'll have to wait and see i'm afraid. I'm not sure about the Matrix more like Tron in this case i think, at least from a graphical perspective.
Shadows-of-Realm: Yeah he is, and don't worry he can always pull a new rabbit out of his hat.
s-david-m: There is always something you miss isn't there, thanks for pointing that out.
romanhellhound: Hmm Andromeda, i'll add that to the list of comparisons.
jobe457: Thank you.
BIG Z1776: I'll make a note of the names. I know what you mean but the problem is i keep sticking O'Neill in the tough situations where he gets stuck in Head of Homeworld Command mode. However i am addressing that particular issue.
Paul Odin son: Don't worry i have no intention of stopping, i have just been busy as of late is all which slows down my update speed.
Tollana
This world was the home to the Tollan. This world was where they had fled to after their former home had been rendered uninhabitable by an act of kindness gone wrong. They had gifted the people of Sarita with a fission device allowing them to produce an unlimited amount of power, only that gift for peace had been turned into a weapon of war as part of a world war. A fission warhead had been detonated and had cracked the planet in half and dramatically shifted the orbit of Tollana as a result. Escaping the devastation of their former home the Tollan had fled to a new world, a safe haven where they could continue their civilisation, or it had been. For a while they had been safe, protected by their advanced technology until one day a Goa'uld Ha'tak had appeared and had proved to be impervious to their ion cannons despite how many times they had fired on the ship. Even though Anubis had found a way to overcome their advantage for a time after that the Tollan had still been safe. In order to avert her races destruction Chancellor Travell had agreed to provide phase shifting weapons to Tanith, the Goa'uld who had been in command of the Ha'tak. It had all been going well for them, until Narim discovered the plan to send one of those bombs through to the SGC and destroyed the weapons. Tanith had then carried out his threat when they failed to deliver the weapons and levelled their civilisation. Since then the Tollan had been presumed to have been killed to the last man. The Nox, who had assisted the Tollan in the past, had also been of that assumption. The Tau'ri had heard nothing from the Tollan and also believed they had been killed to the last man but no one was certain. Now though the Tau'ri were going to make sure one way or another and put the matter to rest.
From a hyperspace window emerged the forms of what appeared to be two Pegasus class vessels but one of which was quite different. The first was a standard Pegasus class vessel and was the flagship of the Milky Way fleet the Enterprise, while the other was a British suggested variant named Nightingale. This second ship was not a warship, far from it, since it had the weapons systems stripped to the point where only the railguns remained in place. The Grodin had been replaced with a transport array of the same design as the one the Beliskner class possessed. The shields and engines remained, although they only drew power from two neutrino ion generators instead of the standard four making it slower. The wing hanger bays remained in place but had been filled with unarmed tactical assault transports known as TAT's, which bore a striking resemblance to V-22 Osprey minus the rotor engines, and modified shuttles. The large underbelly hanger also remained in place, but lacked the industrial beam constructors but small matter synthesisers remained, and the manufacturing areas on the ship had been removed. A great majority of the internal space on the ship had been re-allocated for a single purpose that earned it the name Nightingale, medical facilities. Filled with general care facilities, thousands of beds, operating theatres and the latest in medical equipment, including full body scanners, and crewed by some of the best medical staff in the stargate program this ship was a symbol of hope for a world that had fallen on hard times. For her maiden voyage it was decided that the Nightingale would accompany the Enterprise to Tollana in the hope that there would be Tollan survivors to find. If there were then they would most likely require the facilities that the Nightingale was equipped with.
It was very early in the morning by the Tollan cities clock when the two ships arrived at the planet. Settling in to orbit the two ships began to scan the surface of the planet for life signs. On the bridge Jack, Sam and Daniel waited with baited breath for the results to come in.
"Anything Carter?" asked Jack from his command chair.
Sam looked up from the console which was displaying sensor readings. Her look was solemn as she shook her head.
Daniel winced and Jack sighed. They had all hoped that they might find some survivors, some poor souls that had survived the bombardment of the planet and were struggling to survive but were nevertheless alive.
"Alright then," said Jack. "Signal the Nightingale that their medical staff can stand down and that we're going into the atmosphere."
"Jack," Daniel began.
"I know Daniel," said Jack, cutting him off and scowling at no one in particular.
In all honesty he didn't like what they were about to do very much either. There mission here was to search through the remains of the Tollan city and remove any traces of advanced technology, because the last thing they wanted was it falling into the wrong hands. It wasn't lost on anyone that what they were doing was essentially grave robbing but at least they didn't have to use the technology they recovered. In his heart though Jack knew, as did everyone else on the ship, that there was always the possibility that they might find working example of the phase technology that only the Tollan had possessed, and that technology would be utilised if found.
"Take us in," Jack ordered.
Slowly the Enterprise and the Nightingale descended into the atmosphere of the planet, coming to rest several thousand feet above the remains of the Tollan city. The city had been effectively levelled. The Wraith had shown more restraint when they attacked Sateda. What had once been towering structures of stone, metal and glass were now burnt piles of rubble and that pretty much summed up the entire city. The few structures that were still relatively intact were burnt out shells with entire floors open to the elements. There wasn't an intact window in the entire city. Anyone who had been inside when the bombardment began would have been killed instantly as the buildings collapsed on top of them. It was a sickening thought when they considered what the city had been like ten years ago. Ten years, this happened ten years ago and they had only just dispatched a search team. Ten years ago, a year ago, hell a month ago there could have been survivors but they were only really searching now. It was a small consolation that the Nox also believed the Tollan had been wiped out but they still didn't know for sure, until now.
"Damn," Jack whispered as he saw the state of the city.
"Instruct the Nightingale its time to begin the clearance operation," Jack ordered, keeping his face a mask of stone.
"To think with all they're advanced technology the Tollan couldn't even prevent their own destruction," said Daniel solemnly. "All those lives lost."
"It could have been worse," said Jack. "The only survivor could have been Travell."
Daniel gave him a look and Jack said nothing in return. Sam looked at the two of them. She knew that despite their long friendship the two of them still saw things from their own unique perspectives. That normally worked well for them when it came to analysing a situation but it did cause some friction between them.
Outside the transport arrays on the two ships powered up and started to clear away the rubble that was all that remained of the city. If you looked closely you could see beneath the Enterprise the tell tale flashes of light where Asgard beams were sweeping away the pieces of stone and metal. The Nightingale however was taking a different approach to the task. The transport array on the nose of the ship powered up and started sweeping across the rubble in concentric circles until a pit was dug. Any technology found was beamed to storage although working examples were not present amongst them. Control crystals, fragments of working technology and large amounts of trinium were present but nothing had survived the levelling. It seemed explosions had somehow occurred that had damaged every single one of the computer cores to the point where only fragments remained. It seemed that in a final act of defiance against their attackers the Tollan had made sure that their knowledge would not fall into the clutches of the likes of Tanith.
The salvage process had been going on for an hour before something entirely unexpected happened. A life reading was detected outside the city. At first it was thought that it might be an animal, it certainly wasn't very strong. A closer scan revealed that it was in fact human. After a little while the life sign retreated and then vanished.
Spurred on by this ray of hope Jack, Sam and Daniel, accompanied by ISIS in holographic form went down to the surface to investigate. They refused to delegate this particular task to anyone. If there was someone down there then they were going to search for them and hopefully find them.
"Anything ISIS," asked Jack.
"Nothing on sensors yet commander," answered ISIS.
The three of them looked around at the rocky terrain. The outskirts of the city were open plains bordering on rocky ground. From the city this would have been a pretty impressive view, but there were still deep craters from where the plasma blasts had scattered. In the distance there were even the remains of an ion cannon that had destroyed in the attack. As they trod on they eventually came closer to the rocky area and noticed a series of cave mouths. As they approached they could hear the trickle of running water. Eventually they decided to split up and search for clues, with ISIS going with Jack. After five minutes there was a yell from Daniel.
"Um guys, I've found something you're going to want to see."
Following the sound of his voice they came across a stream and saw Daniel, smiling and sitting on a rocky outcrop. He pointed his thumb behind him and the others walked over to look. In an area sheltered from the wind there were a number of open vats, presumably to catch rain water and further down there was a large empty pot over the remains of a fire that was still steaming slightly and several large clear plastic bottles sitting in the sun. Just past that was the stream, leading to a pool of water lined with a form of tarpaulin and across the entrance to which a piece of fabric had been placed.
"Looks like a form of water purification," said Sam. "Pretty simplistic but certainly effective."
"I take it this means there are definitely survivors then," said Jack.
"I'd say so," said Daniel, with a grin.
"They might have spotted our ships and gotten spooked," said Sam.
"Let's try the caves," suggested Jack.
The caves were actually surprisingly dry and apparently empty. The further they went into the caves the quieter they all became, having encountered no other signs of life. Then Jack rounded a corner and found himself diving backwards for cover in order to avoid a staff blast.
"For crying out loud ISIS," complained Jack as he got back on his feet. "You could have warned me they were there."
"I am sorry Commander," apologised ISIS. "They did not register on my scans."
"From what I could see they looked like Tollan," said Jack, brushing himself down.
"They must have a way of hiding their life signs," suggested Sam. "It would explain why no one has been able to find them all this time."
"Well that answers that question," said Daniel. "Now how are we going to get them to talk to us?"
"ISIS, go and say hello," ordered Jack.
"Yes Commander," said ISIS striding forwards and past the corner. "People of the Tollan we are the Tau'ri, we mean you no harm."
The answer was a staff blast straight to her chest, or rather through her chest. Needless to say this did not go down well with the Tollan, who fired again.
"We will not be tricked," yelled an angry voice.
"I know that voice," said Sam as stark realization hit her. "Narim its Sam, we're here to help you."
"Prove it," Narim yelled back.
Jack decided to take a gamble. "Narim its Jack, Daniel's here to. We're coming round the corner with our hands up. Please, please don't shoot us."
Gingerly they stepped round the corner with their hands in the corner to be met by a group of three Tollan men, including Narim, standing in front of a large metal door and all pointing staff weapons at them. The three of them looked rather worse for wear, thin with rough cut long hair and beards. The clothes which were once the typical Tollan fashion and had been pristine ten years ago were now dusty, tattered and torn and yet still relatively intact displaying their high quality. When the three of them rounded the corner Narim stared at them in shock.
"It really is you," he said in disbelief.
"Hello Narim," said Sam. "It's good to see you again."
Narim lowered the staff weapon and gestured for the others to do the same.
"And you Samantha. Who is your companion?" he asked, gesturing to ISIS.
"This is ISIS, a computer generated holographic interface for one of our ships," Sam explained.
"The ships floating above our city are yours?" asked one of the Tollan in disbelief. "Preposterous, the Tau'ri are not advanced enough to build such ships."
"We've come a long way over the years," said Jack. He had expected this kind of response. When the Tollan had been levelled they didn't have the X-302 operational yet.
The other two Tollan gave him a look to say they very much doubted that but Narim looked intrigued.
"So as we were saying we're here to help," continued Jack. "We can offer you food, medicine, clean clothes, a shower and a shave and more importantly a way off this rock."
"That would be greatly appreciated," said Narim. "However I cannot make this decision for all of us. Come with me."
Narim turned and opened the door by typing a code into a control panel. The door slid open and the group stepped through. As they walked down the corridor they had glimpses into other rooms, and the withered forms of the Tollan lying within.
"How many of you are there?" asked Daniel quietly.
"Less than five thousand of us," Narim answered just as quietly. "When the bombardment started those of us that could fled here, not many made it."
"I'm sorry," said Daniel.
"It is not your fault Dr Jackson," said Narim. "The moment that Ha'tak descended upon our world and survived our days were numbered."
"So who's in charge here, you?" asked Jack as they walked along the long corridors.
"That is something I need to discuss with you first," he said with a grimace. "I am only second in command amongst our people the person in charge is-"
"Narim," a shrill female voice yelled, cutting him off before he could finish. "What is going on?"
Jack grimaced. "Oh you have got to be kidding me."
From around the corner using a staff weapon to support was the familiar face of Travell. The last ten years had apparently not been very kind to her health if the way she was leaning on the staff weapon was any indication. Despite the arthritis she appeared to be suffering from though her appearance had hardly changed at all; her eyes were still blazing with internal fire, her hair tied back in a tight bun and her clothes seemed much neater than every other Tollan they had encountered so far. The staff weapon wasn't the best walking stick for her to use but somehow Jack couldn't imagine her relinquishing it for a cane. In his mind it suited his image of her rather well and he was consciously making the effort to not make an 'old battle axe' reference. It wasn't easy.
"What are they doing here?" she asked, making no attempt to hide her dislike for them.
"They are here to help us," Narim told her.
"And how exactly do they plan to do that?" she asked.
"Well for starters we thought we would provide you with the bare essentials," said Jack airily. "Food, water, medical supplies, those sorts of things. And get you off this world and somewhere more hospitable if you want."
"I presume you must have stolen a Goa'uld vessel to get here," stated Travell. "There are thousands of us here. You cannot possibly transport us all off the planet, it would take months."
"Actually we came in a ship we built ourselves," said Sam.
Travell gave her a withering look. "Then it will take much longer to get us to another world with your primitive technology. It is a miracle you have been able to get here at all."
"Sooner than you'd think actually," added Jack.
"The world we are taking you to is only about two thousand light years away," explained Sam.
"From what I am told that should take about five minutes at top speed," added Jack, with a slightly smug smile.
"You are lying," stated Travell. "Even the Goa'uld do not possess a hyperdrive that fast."
"Did not," corrected Jack.
"What?" Travell snapped.
"The Goa'uld did not possess a hyperdrive that fast," stated Jack. "Past tense."
"The System Lords were overthrown four years ago, and Ba'al, the last surviving Goa'uld, was executed by the Tok'ra over a year ago," explained Daniel.
"The System Lords are no more," said Jack with no small amount of pride. "We made sure of that."
Travell narrowed her eyes at him.
"Assuming I accept your explanation where will you take us?" asked Travell.
"A world under the protection of the Asgard that is currently home to some relocated natives of the planet Lucia," said Daniel. "They will have a place for you to stay waiting for you upon your arrival while we'll provide anything you might require for the foreseeable future."
"You have heard of the Asgard right?" asked Jack. "You know, alliance of four great races consisting of the Asgard, Nox, Furlings and who you know as the Ancients. I only ask because it's important if you wish to understand about current events."
"The Nox informed our people of them," confirmed Travell.
"Oh well that makes things easier," said Jack jovially. "Because the Asgard named us the fifth race for all the good things we've done over the years for them and several galaxies and gifted us with their knowledge. Naturally we were very grateful and decided to put it to good use, like building the ships outside."
Sam smiled slightly. She knew Jack knew about the crowd their little conversation with the Chancellor had attracted and was no doubt enjoying every moment of this little reunion. Still so long as he stayed happy he wasn't getting angry at the Chancellor.
"It seems much has changed in the past ten years," said Narim.
"You would be amazed," said Jack gleefully. "We've helped liberate three galaxies from tyrannical overlords, four if you count Ida and the replicators."
"I don't have to sit here and listen to this," Travell said angrily. "You cannot possibly have accomplished this in just ten years and any help you provided will no doubt have been minor."
"Well you can ask the Asgard when you get to see them," said Jack, refusing to have his mood dampened. "There are actually a few on the Enterprise you can ask if you want."
"I want to speak to the Nox," demanded Travell.
"Not possible at the moment but if you ask the Asgard they might be able to oblige you," answered Jack. "Personally I'm not feeling obliged to help you personally with anything other than getting off this rock."
"You have no right to deny my speaking with them," insisted Travell.
"Actually you have no right to demand anything of me after what you tried to do," retorted Jack, his expression souring slightly before brightening again.
"Now I need to make a phone call," said Jack. "Anyone who wants to leave this rock can come outside and we'll have transports waiting for you."
With that he turned on his heel and walked out of the facility, with the others trailing behind him.
"Oh and if I have to speak to you again about any demands you have then make sure Narim is present," Jack yelled over his shoulder. "Him I feel no urge to put on trial for attempted mass murder."
Travell could only watch in stunned silence as the Tau'ri group walked away.
"ISIS," said Jack once they were out of ear shot of Travell. "Send a message to the Asgard that we will be requiring that habitat and that there are at most five thousand refugees. Tell the Nightingale that their medical staff are back on duty and advise them that they will be taking all the refugees. I know that the ship isn't supposed to take that many but they are in much better condition than we thought and it won't be for long. We'll load them up in waves and get the minor patients treated first then send them to get cleaned up."
"On it Commander," replied ISIS.
"Jack," said Daniel. "These people are going to be more than a little messed up by all of this. Do you really want to crowd them all onto one ship?"
"I like the idea of having them on a warship even less," argued Jack. "We keep them all together then they can't accuse us of separating them. Besides I wasn't kidding when I said they could reach that planet in five minutes and I intend for it to take no longer than that. We'll deal with any of the nuts before we leave the planet."
"Did you really mean what you said about Travell?" asked Sam.
"Well unless she manages to piss me off I'm willing to leave it for now," answered Jack.
From the hanger bays of the Nightingale one hundred and twenty eight TAT's and twenty transport shuttles took flight and flew across to the cave entrance where the masses of Tollan had gathered. Normally the ship would only hold half this many TAT's but an exception had been as this was the only ship in its class. On mass the craft began to land in the plains and opened their doors to allow access for the refugees. Medical personnel from the pararescue branch of the air force were on hand to help the Tollan people into the awaiting transports and to direct the more critical patients into the shuttles for immediate treatment.
Despite the good intentions a number of Tollan were clearly bitter towards the Tau'ri, knowing the part they played in the destruction of their world. These individuals were noted and watched, and would be taken to a separate area of the ship for their medical examinations. If security needed to intervene then they would be near by to do so. Although the Nightingale was easily capable of reaching the planet in no time at all they chose not to leave the planet until the Tollan had been treated and provided food and water, as well as given a chance to bathe.
Jack, Sam and Daniel had watched them carefully as they began to embark onto the awaiting craft. It had been interesting to note the expression on Travell's face when she had seen the ships sitting over the city. When she saw the transport array of the Nightingale active though she immediately came over to them, propelling herself forwards on the two crutches that the medics had provided her with and with Narim following her.
"What is that ship doing?" demanded Travell.
"Sorting through the remains of your city to remove the technology left behind," said Jack. "We don't want it falling into the wrong hands after all."
What he had failed to mention was that there were not in fact any working examples of technology amongst the rubble, or at least none that they had found so far.
"You have no right to our technology," argued Travell. "It is ours and not for primitives who have not earned the advancements."
Jack gave a steely look but his rebuke was interrupted by ISIS appearing out of thin air next to him.
"Commander our guest has arrived," the AI informed him.
"Thank you ISIS please beam her down," said Jack, smirking at the shocked look on Travell's face when ISIS had appeared and when Lya was beamed down shortly afterwards.
"Lya," said Daniel. "It's good to see you again."
"And you all," said Lya warmly. "I am pleased that you were able to find the Tollan alive, like you we were under the impression that they were lost along with their world."
"I am standing right here you know," said Travell indignantly.
"And we are very pleased about that," said Jack, still sporting a grin.
Ignoring him Travell turned to Lya. "On behalf of my people I request that you as one of the great races intervene."
"And what matter do you wish me to intervene in Chancellor?" asked Lya.
"I demand that our technology be handed over to us and does not remain in the hands of whoever's ships those are," demanded Travell, letting more anger than she should have slip into her tone.
"Have the Tau'ri not explained the situation to you Chancellor?" asked Lya, sounding puzzled.
"We tried," said Daniel. "She doesn't seem to want to believe us. She should believe you though."
Lya nodded.
"Those ships were designed and built by the Tau'ri Chancellor," Lya explained. "They are their ships and theirs alone. They came here to look for survivors despite the fact that we believed you to have been wiped out. It is fortunate that we were wrong."
"Nevertheless," argued Travell. "They have no right to our technology."
"We don't want your technology," Jack stated flatly.
"The Tau'ri informed us of the plan to search this world and that they would remove the technology so that it would not fall into the hands of those that would abuse it," said Lya. "As your allies we gave this mission our blessing because we believed that this ambition would be in accordance with your own wishes. They also agreed to recover it for your use should you be found alive."
Their conversation was interrupted by a troupe of ten Tollan, wearing side arms and carrying staff weapons, exiting the bunker while two of them were carrying a large box between them. They were immediately confronted by a number of PJ's who asked them to open the box and more importantly to relinquish their weapons. As such an argument was rapidly breaking out.
"What is that all about?" asked Jack. "I'm assuming there is something important in the box."
"It contains a copy of all of our people's knowledge," explained Narim despite the death glare Travell was giving him. "When our city was being destroyed all our computer cores automatically downloaded into a secure server in the bunker and then self destructed."
"Will you please tell them to relinquish their weapons?" asked Jack. "We are not allowing armed people on a hospital ship."
"They are following my instructions and will not allow our knowledge and technology to fall into your hands," asserted Travell
"Now let me make this very clear Chancellor," said Jack with steel in his voice. "We do not want your technology, we do not need your technology and we are perfectly content with learning on our own how to use the technology that others think we have learned. In the past fifteen years we only actively searched for technology in the hope of defending our world from hostile forces. Any technology we have we worked hard to understand and earn. A year after you tried to betray us we launched our first ship that we built using what we had learned by studying the technology the Goa'uld had tried to use to destroy us. Now we have a fleet of ships that are more than capable of dealing with what the System Lords had at the height of their power."
"And yet you did so using other peoples technology," argued Travell. "What have you developed by yourselves without others assistance?"
"Every single ship you see here for one thing," Jack shot back. "The Asgard were kind enough to gift us with their knowledge but they trusted us to make use of it. We had to figure out what they had given us for ourselves and put it to good use, and you know what we have. We could have used the knowledge they gave us to wipe out our enemies but instead we took the high road. We showed the Ori followers and the Jaffa the truth about their so called gods, cured the Wraith of their feeding addiction and wiped out the replicators in two galaxies. Now I understand you may not be familiar with some of those names but believe me if you had met them you would be very grateful to us."
Jack found himself short of breath after that tirade and in an arguable break of regulations, that no one present was about to prosecute anyway, Sam placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Now then," said Jack having calmed down slightly and taken comfort in the fact that Travell was looking suitably chastened. "There is a stargate on my ship that brought Lya here to this planet. We can send her and that box on to the Asgard where it will remain safely in their hands until you take possession of it again."
"That is my final offer," Jack warned when it looked like she was about to argue again.
"Very well," Travell agreed begrudgingly.
"Good," said Jack. "Now then let's get your people checked over and disarmed shall we."
"I will see to it Colonel," said Narim.
"I would like to speak to your superior officer when this is over," added Travell. "I feel that I should be talking to someone higher up when it comes to my people's affairs."
Sensing the reaction this was about to invoke Daniel decided to jump in.
"Oh that's right we forgot to mention there have been some promotions over the past few years," said Daniel. "Allow me to introduce Colonel Samantha Carter, commander of the George Hammond, and Major General Jack O'Neill, the head of Homeworld Command and effective military leader of all Earths defences and space based military assets."
Jack didn't complain in the slightest at Daniel cutting him off, the look on Travell's face was priceless.
"He actually wanted to retire you know," continued Daniel. "But they claimed they needed him, and the Asgard certainly didn't like the idea. Still that's not very surprising since they named their most powerful ship class after him."
Some people just earned fudging the truth a little to get the point across and in this case Travell was one of them.
"I wish to talk to the Asgard representatives," stated Travell.
"For what purpose?" Lya asked.
"I wish to make it clear that the Tau'ri are not suited for the level of technology they have been given," said Travell.
Jack threw his hands up as if to say 'I give up' and walked a few steps away from the group.
"The Asgard gifted the Tau'ri with pieces of technology for helping save their race from destruction on numerous occasions," explained Lya. "It is also my understanding that the Asgard believed their race to be on the verge of extinction and entrusted their knowledge to them in the hope that would be able to use to save this galaxy from conquest by the Ori, an offshoot of the species you know as the Ancients, which they succeeded in doing so."
"Galaxy number three," Jack murmured loud enough for all to hear.
"Clearly though the Asgard managed to avoid becoming extinct if they are to guard our new home," argued Travell. "Why have they not reclaimed the knowledge now that the threat has been averted?"
"Because the Asgard gave the gift to them because they believed they were worthy," answered Lya. "They named them the fifth race and it is the opinion of the Nox that they have earned that title with their current and past deeds. Even now they are helping those in need in another galaxy in a fight that they have no stake in."
"Galaxy number four," Jack murmured, again just loud enough for Travell to hear.
"They were entrusted with the safe guard of this galaxy and its human worlds and have succeeded admirably," continued Lya.
"Clearly though they are a violent people if they would send warships on a mission of mercy," argued Travell.
"One of those ships is a hospital ship capable of providing medical care for all of your people," Lya assured her.
"Hospital ship indeed," Travell said in disbelief. "I can see quite clearly that it is armed."
"We take the safety of our people very seriously," stated Daniel. "And you would be surprised how many people would try to steal one of our ships because of the technology we have been gifted with."
"You really feel it necessary to arm a hospital ship?"
"Indeed we do, and in case you were wondering," added Jack, turning round. "Galaxy one was when we took down the System Lords and galaxy two was when we wiped out the Replicators that had infested the Ida galaxy and were causing the Asgard a lot of problems."
"We've had a busy few years," added Daniel in an attempt to lighten the mood. "But at least at the end of the day there is always cake, right Jack?"
Jack couldn't help but crack a smile at that. "Yes there is."
"Now I think its time to get you into the care of the Asgard," Daniel stated finally.
Narim took the hint and hastened Travel on her way to the nearest transport.
Onboard the Enterprise Jack received an update about the peace talks with the Zarasians. His thoughts were summed up in two words, "Oh crap."
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