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: I have plenty more planned for the future for Tomin, but that session served to show what priors are capable of at the moment. Janus, Zarin, both good at giving people a headache years down the line. If it comes to it there is always the handy self destruct button for emergencies.
Cdoctor: Doh, that was my bad. The training session is one of those things that need to happen just to make a few points clear. Mainly it was about establishing a base line for current Prior abilities. More action is to come though.
Oddliver: The Zarasians can be cunning buggers as well.
Just A Crazy-Man: Wait until you read the next chapter.
Andriabow: Thank you.
Monsterjeffbuk: The Tomin scene was long i will admit, however it was also necessary. To make up for it though i have a lot of action planned.
wantjasperspeen: Finding the right balance between action and dialogue is tricky but i do have quite a few character convo scenes in the future amongst all the carnage. I refuse to write a story where people don't talk during breaks in the major events.
Kalen Aror
The ship narrowly swerved to avoid the hyperspace window in front of it while a horde of Zarasian strike craft and their fighter escorts followed close behind. The Aror was already feeling the strain from being mauled at by so many ships and the fighters swarming around her were preventing her from opening a hyperspace window to escape. But what no one expected was the large silver ship that emerged from the hyperspace window and the transmission that followed.
"Incoming transmission! Spotlight!"
Xander reacted immediately. "Bring us about. All guns target the enemy capital ships. Set a course for the Traveller vessel, we are not leaving them behind."
"New contact is transmitting IFF. It's the O'Neill!"
Xander smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever. He owed the Supreme Commander something special for this particular save.
Caught off guard the Zarasian warships were forced to scatter as the large shape of the O'Neill surged towards them, weapons firing with impunity. The Aror, despite its massive bulk, was designed to perform a tight turn to bring its broadside to bear against a target. Thrusters along the side of the vessel fired in time with the main engines allowing it to spin round and head back the way it came, much to the surprise of the Zarasian fighters swarming around it.
The O'Neill slowed down, allowing the Aror to catch up and even overtake while weapons were blazing away at the Zarasian strike craft. Then the spotlight manoeuvre came into play. Asgard ships were equipped with transport beams emitters along the outer hull as standard, and these came into play now. Like massive white spotlights the transport beams swept across space, making anything they touched seemingly vanish under their gaze. Using this method Zarasian fighters that had been swarming the Averian warship were removed from space without mercy. Within moments the space around the Aror has been cleared of the fighters and both ships were still sniping away at the enemy capital ships.
Both ships charged forwards towards the crippled Traveller vessel at full speed. Quickly they reached her and the O'Neill snagged her with a tractor beam before both ships opened hyperspace windows and vanished from the battlefield. The Zarasian strike craft were left behind, frustrated that their prey had managed to escape them.
"We detected a number of Zarasian vessels on our sensors and I thought you might need some help," Thor said. "It seems I was right."
"Thank you for that Supreme Commander Thor," Xander replied, breathing a sigh of relief at having escaped that nightmare.
"I have issued an alert to all forces in the local vicinity but my sensors indicate the Zarasian vessels are scattering," Thor reported.
"Makes sense," said Xander. "They wouldn't want us to be able to track them down by following a group of them so they separate in multiple directions so that if we want to track their destination we need to follow them all."
"I will drop the Traveller vessel off at Concordia then return to my search area," Thor stated. "Is your vessel capable of returning to Hope unaided?"
"Yes, though we'll need some time in dock to repair our plasma beams," Xander said. "If you hadn't arrived when you did the damage could have been much worse."
"You're welcome," said Thor. "I will see you later."
With those parting words the transmission was cut and the O'Neill accelerated away, leaving the Aror behind.
Unknown Location.
"Etere, one of our strike fleets has sent a report. They ambushed an enemy vessel."
"Did it send out a distress signal?"
"Yes Etere. An Averian warship responded and was subsequently ambushed."
"Was it destroyed?"
"No Etere. An Asgard warship arrived to assist its escape."
"And the other vessel?"
"Crippled but towed away by the Asgard warship via tractor beam."
"A tractor beam, interesting. A pity that they were able to escape but no matter. Begin stage two and inform Cyber Lord Azamoth to prepare for stage three."
"At once Etere."
Hyperspace – SPECTRE transport shuttle
"You all heard what happened to the Aror right?" asked Sovaer.
The other SPECTRE's looked at him with a look of boredom. Of course they had heard about it. It had been in the reading material for the mission they were currently on.
"Yes Sovaer we read it," Teyla replied. "The Aror responded to a distress signal from a Traveller vessel and was ambushed by a fleet of Zarasian strike craft but were saved by the timely arrival of the O'Neill."
"Then you see what my point is," Sovaer said. "The distress signal we are receiving now is clearly an ambush."
"Of course it's an ambush," Todd scoffed. "But so what?"
"So we know it's an ambush and yet we're the ones being sent in," said Sovaer. "I only just got back into this body and would like some time to enjoy being in it. I did promise Jakose that I would try to avoid suicide missions."
"Which is why we are the ones being deployed on this scout mission," Todd replied, concentrating on flying the ship. "We can investigate the source of the distress signal while maintaining a stealth profile."
"A distress signal from a Zarasian ship of all things," Sovaer pointed out. "That practically screams trouble."
"We will be perfectly safe," Eir assured him. "This ship has been equipped with the latest in stealth technology, provided we emerge from hyperspace a safe distance from the other ship."
"There is definitely nothing else out there?" Sovaer asked. "Look I realise my paranoia is getting on your nerves but it has kept me alive all these years."
"Scans indicate the ship is in deep space, far away from any star system," Todd informed him.
"Ok, so what assurances do we have that Zarin won't just trigger a self destruct command the moment we step onboard?" Sovaer asked.
"If such an eventuality were to occur there are contingency plans are in place," ISIS informed him, appearing amongst the group. "The moment a power up is detected I will immediately beam all SPECTRE personnel back aboard before entering hyperspace."
ISIS had been a recent addition to the customised SPECTRE transport shuttle and this was the smallest ship the AI had been installed on to date.
Sovaer looked thoughtful.
"Ok, just checking," he said, causing the others to roll their eyes.
"For a minute there I thought you were being callow," said Todd.
"Perish the thought," Teyla added.
"Thank you for that," Sovaer said sarcastically.
"You're welcome," Todd replied cheekily.
Silence reigned for a short while. Sovaer had been around Todd long enough to know that when he mocked you it was because he was hiding some other emotion. There was only one thing any of them could think of that Todd would have on his mind right now.
"We're going to find her," Sovaer said softly. "No matter how long it takes we'll find her."
The others turned to look at Todd, waiting for him to respond but Todd's only reaction was to nod.
"We're here," ISIS said, just as the transport shuttle dropped out of hyperspace. "Cloak is online."
The shuttle's occupants moved forward to look out the cockpits main viewport at the long arrow head shaped ship before them. They could be certain of two things just from glancing at it. It was definitely a Zarasian ship, that much was clear from the shape of it, and it was much bigger than the previously encountered strike craft.
"So not a strike craft then," Sovaer noted.
"Definitely not," Todd agreed.
"Is it dead?" Teyla asked.
This ship, whatever it was, was about 600 metres long, arrow shaped and lacking so much as a single active light on it's hull. It certainly appeared to be dead in the water.
"Scans indicate only minimal power readings coming from all areas," ISIS stated. "Life signs are not being detected."
"Rings?" Sovaer asked.
"Many, but none active."
"Are there any areas you can't scan in detail?" Todd asked.
"There is a sizeable central area that appears to be shielded."
"Do you have a record of similar shielding having been used before on Zarasian ships?" Todd asked thoughtfully.
"One record exists. Similar shielding was encountered around the area on the Zarasian flagship designated as the hatchery."
As they spoke the shuttle gently flew around the large ship and they got a better look at her. Her underbelly was much flatter than her more pointed top and was dotted with a number of circular hatches. These they had seen examples of only once before, on the Zarasian flagship.
"Are there any smaller vessels docked inside the ship?" Todd asked. He had a hunch.
"Several pod like craft appear to be present in areas above the exit hatches on the underbelly."
"I knew it," Todd exclaimed. "Behold the long suspected Zarasian troop transport."
"Are you sure?" Sovaer asked curiously, while tapping away at the console to review the sensor readings with his own eyes.
"A large hatchery to produce a large number of reapers, rapid deployment craft, multiple ring platforms," Todd listed. "Oh yes, a ship like this is all that is needed to conquer one of the many primitive worlds this galaxy possesses."
"What do you think we should do?" Eir asked.
"Beam aboard and check it out," Sovaer replied. "If there is a hatchery on board then we can find another clone and possibly a working command link."
After much research on behalf of the scientists assigned to the Doom Bringer they had been able to uncover some of its secrets. Each clone was connected to a subspace transceiver that allowed them to receive commands and relay data back to another queen higher up the command chain and ultimately all ended up connecting to Eurielle. The transceiver had stopped receiving any signals the moment the Zarasians realised that Eurielle had been actively talking to someone. Without an active link to work from they had instead been forced to try and find where the signal was broadcasting to, which wasn't working. A working command link would allow them to at the very least discover the location of another hatchery and maybe even ping the signal further up the command chain all the way to Eurielle.
"Sounds good to me," Ronon said, slipping a fresh power cell into his particle magnum.
"Janus you cannot be serious!" Morgan exclaimed, shocked by his outburst.
"I can, and usually am," Janus shot back. "I just sometimes choose to indulge myself and have a little fun, but in this case I am being very serious."
"If we interfere the others will stop us," Morgan argued.
"You mean if we try to clean up a galactic mess they will immediately step in and stop us?" Janus asked innocently.
"You know it's not that simple," Morgan protested. "They will stop us from changing things even if it was our people that caused the problem before we ascended."
"Yes because they have always been very reliable on that front," Janus said sarcastically. "You may recall how they stopped Oma from removing that thorn in the ass known as Anubis and were adamant that you should not help the Tau'ri use the Arc of Truth."
He snapped his fingers dramatically. "Oh wait that's right they didn't. They let you help the Tau'ri as long as it benefited them."
"The Ori were our problem to deal with," Morgan pointed out. "They had to be eliminated."
"So long as we didn't eliminate them personally," Janus argued. "And I note that the sangraal was never seen again after it was used."
"You know we couldn't just leave a weapon like that lying around," Morgan argued.
"But you were personally content with leaving the builder alive so that it could be built and then used in the first placed," Janus shot back.
"It was for the best," Morgan yelled.
"So is this," Janus yelled back.
Oma shook her head, sometimes it was like listening to an old married couple.
"Our people are responsible for this mess Morgan," Janus pointed out. "We lost the war with the Wraith because of our overconfidence so someone tried something risky and because of the misuse of this legacy multiple galaxies could be at risk."
"So we break all our rules and use our powers against them?" Morgan asked.
"Not unless it's necessary," Janus replied.
"If one does not make the journey to arrive at their destination then they lose more than they gain," Oma said sagely.
"Thank you Oma," Janus said gratefully. "I couldn't have put it better myself, but maybe more succinct."
"I'm really not in the mood Janus," Morgan said irritably. "So would you please just tell me what you mean?"
"We don't have to directly interfere," Janus explained. "We just need to lend a small hand and help them find the right path to take. They will do all the hard work and come out stronger because of it. Look at Concordia, because of this war they are coming together and helping each other. They are sharing their cultures, their knowledge and their experience to unite four galaxies. They are willing to fight for the freedoms of the people of this galaxy and you expect me to take that away from them? We don't have to fight this battle for them. We just need to make this war as short as possible."
"But how can we do that without interfering?" Morgan asked.
"By helping them find the right path," Janus said. "We can find where Zarin is hiding and point them in the right direction."
"That's it?" Morgan asked.
"For now," Janus said.
"For now?"
"If that is all that is needed, then yes."
"And if it isn't?"
"We'll see. Oh and don't give me that look, I'm only going from your play book."
"That is not true!"
"Yes it is and you know it. Or did you forget how you guided Daniel Jackson, gave Adria a bloody nose and healed Teal'c?"
"Fine," Morgan relented. "But that's all we're doing."
"On this plane," Janus agreed.
"Meaning?"
"We find out who left that little legacy in the first place," Janus replied.
"That I have no problem agreeing to," Morgan admitted.
"I myself would like to have a quiet word with whoever came up with that little idea," Oma said.
"Then let's get started," Janus finished.
Zarasian Ship
The SPECTREs, once they had beamed aboard, had slowly made their way through the ship searching for areas of interest. The moment they had beamed aboard they had taken in the very dim emergency lighting and staleness to the air. Or rather their sensors had taken in the stale air since they were all wearing full battle armour since they had had severe doubts about the quality of the air before they beamed aboard.
Since this was an entirely unfamiliar ship they decided to stick with the primary objectives first and check out the hatchery. Ideally they wanted to find the ship's bridge and engine room and seize complete control of the ship so that they could take it in for study, but their standing orders were quite clear. In the event that they discovered a potential link to what was being dubbed the Reaper Control Grid they were to secure it and immediately attempt a hack. The greatest priority at the moment was finding the locations of Zarasian assets since they had little information on that front. Right now the RCG was the best bet since the data recovered from the storage chip was proving to be scrambled beyond recognition or primarily containing technical data on the very ship they had captured. Admittedly progress was being made but it was slow going. In the mean time ISIS was conducting detailed scans of the ship hoping to locate an alternative to the hatchery, with the priority being on finding the bridge or computer core.
Slowly the SPECTREs crept along the ships corridors, their personal cloaking devices remaining active but the deck still trembled slightly as their heavy boots connected with each step. The hallways of the ship were dark, barely lit at all to the point that their suits had automatically activated minimal night vision capabilities to account for it.
On the shuttle they had been relaxed and slightly care free. But now they were on the ship and on a mission that care free attitude had vanished, replaced by a steely dedication to the mission. Their eyes were alert and constantly darting around to take in everything around them, ever wary of hidden dangers.
"Nothing on life signs sensors," Eir noted.
"We're about to enter the shielded section," Todd reported as they came to a large metal door at the end of the corridor.
"ISIS, power readings?" Sovaer asked.
By unspoken agreement the cyborg had taken charge of the group.
"Minimal, no change," ISIS reported over the comm.
"Teyla get the door please," Sovaer requested, while he and the others pointed their weapons at the door.
Teyla calmly obliged and pushed a button on the control panel causing the door to slide open and reveal…nothing. On the other side of the door was just another empty corridor. Cautiously the SPECTREs stepped through the doorway and into the corridor beyond.
"Scans still dry," Eir noted.
"I wonder if that's a good or a bad thing," Sovaer wondered aloud.
"Good question," Ronon grunted.
"No life signs mean either the shielding in this section is dampening the signatures or there is no one here," Eir pointed out.
"So we're either surrounded by hostiles and there's no clone, there's just a clone or there's no clone," Sovaer listed. "Wonderful."
"We won't know unless we continue on though," Teyla pointed out.
"ISIS," Sovaer said into his comm. "Do you have a lock on our positions."
"Local shielding appears to be dampening the individual signals of your beacons," ISIS replied. "However close proximity is allowing for them to breach the interference and for me to establish a lock."
"In other words we have to stay together if we want to do an emergency beam out," Todd summarised.
"You know this is sounding more and more like a trap," Sovaer stated.
"I'll say," Todd agreed.
"Ah well," Sovaer sighed. "As they say on Earth once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more."
With that the SPECTREs moved deeper and deeper into what they believed to be the ship's hatchery section.
As they travelled metre after metre they noted the strangeness of the section they had entered. Lining the twisting and turning corridor was door after door that had apparently been sealed shut, seemingly as a result of the ship entering this deadened state. Even forcing the doors had proved to be impossible and they didn't feel it was necessary to blow them open just yet. Not if those doors had been sealed for the reason that the entire ship had seemingly been abandoned. Seeing the very large door ahead of them, with its glowing control panel while the others before had been pitch black, did nothing to relieve their nervousness. Scans had revealed that all the other doors had denied them access to corridors leading to other areas of the hatchery which could only mean they were being led to this destination, quite possibly like lambs to the slaughter.
Exchanging worried looks the six of them moved forward to take the only route open to them. With the single push of a button the heavy armoured door in front of them slid open without the slightest hint of resistance. Inside was a room quite similar to the hatchery on the Zarasian flagship which had held the clone. But the dozen pods that lined this room were all empty and darkened. Cautiously, they crept into the room and to the containment pod that presumably contained another clone of Eurielle.
"Scans?" Sovaer asked.
"Still dry," Eir reported.
"Todd," Sovaer said.
The Wraith quickly approached the containment pod control panel and removed the cover. Pulling out a control crystal he replaced it with one of his own linking to a hand held computer and began working on electronically picking the lock. It must have been an odd sight to anyone else, seeing a cable leading to nowhere, since their personal cloaks were still active.
"Done," the Wraith said triumphantly as the computer in his hand beeped.
But instead of the containment pod door opening all hell broke loose.
"Power levels rising. Jamming field is active," ISIS reported just as the door to the room slammed shut and a liquid spray began pumping into the room.
"Liquid nitrogen!" Eir yelled.
"Jason, blow that door now!" Sovaer ordered.
While liquid nitrogen wouldn't affect them, since their suits would protect them, its deployment could mean only thing. This was definitely a trap and they were standing right in the middle of it.
Jason immediately switched from his rifle to his much more powerful energy cannon and fired at the armoured door. It held against the first shot but buckled after the second and was breached after the third. The door gave way not a moment too soon because a second later the liquid nitrogen in the air settled and the empty pods retracted, to be replaced by pods containing reapers.
But as the pods sprang open the reapers that emerged were not the same variety they had previously encountered. These were actual cyborgs. As they emerged from the pods only the right eye opened because the left was covered by a glowing green eyepiece. These cyborgs had their left forearm severed half way along and replaced by a long broadsword, glowing red hot. Their right meanwhile was severed nearer the wrist and replaced by a plasma weapon with an attached laser targeting device. As one the cyborgs turned to face their prey.
"Move!" Sovaer yelled.
The others didn't need to be prompted, the moment that the debris from the ruined door had settled they ran for the door as if the hounds of hell were nipping at their heels. In a way they were as the reaper abominations were close behind them, firing plasma bolts as they chased after their prey. Of course the dozen reaper cyborgs they faced were arguably no match for the combined might of the SPECTREs, even with their obvious enhancements. What really caused the SPECTREs to run with such vigour was the knowledge that since this was a trap there had to be more unseen dangers present than a mere dozen reapers.
It turned out that suspicion was correct as they dashed round corners only to come face to face with even more cyborgs that emerged from the formerly sealed doors. The SPECTREs didn't even miss a step and just continued running forwards while firing bursts from their various weapons at the enemies in front of them.
Sovaer took deep breaths as he surveyed the situation. For some reason these cyborg reapers seemed able to track him and his teams movements, which shouldn't have been possible with the Sodan cloaks hiding them from the visual spectrum and their suits hiding their body heat. Then he realised that the liquid nitrogen they had been sprayed with must have lowered the suits external temperature enough to make them register on the infra-red spectrum as abnormal cold spot. While normal reapers wouldn't be able to see them these cyborgs must be able to courtesy of their eyepieces. Cursing silently he continued running while watching the life sign count in the corner of his eye. More and more reapers were registering throughout this section and the number behind them was growing. At this point it was all they could do to stay ahead of them. What had him worried though wasn't the fact that there were cyborgs behind him but that the ship hadn't self destructed yet. Clearly whoever had set this up intended to capture them alive, or at least have something to examine after they were killed. He knew with some certainty that they needed to get back to the shuttle and fast. Unfortunately the only way to do that would be to hot wire a ring platform, which wasn't feasible with a reaper horde bearing down on you, or find an airlock. As it turned out this same thought was crossing the mind of every other SPECTRE present.
The reaper cyborgs however seemed to have other ambitions that conflicted with those of the SPECTREs. Just as it looked like they were about to make it out of the hatchery area a group of reapers dove through an open doorway on their right and tackled into the group, vaulting over the body of one of their dead doppelgangers. They only managed to stall the two stragglers of the group before they batted aside like so much dead weight, which they were after being riddled with plasma rounds, but that was enough to allow six more reapers to catch up and pile in.
Jason and Sovaer were the unlucky stragglers in this case. Sovaer because he had been the last out the door, and his insistence at covering their rear, and Jason because of his heavy bulk and the weight of his weapons. While the two were only slightly slower than the others in the long run it all added up.
Jason however, being the big brute that he was, was able to fight off two of the three reapers with the meat cleaver of a bayonet attached to his plasma rifle. The third hadn't even gotten as close as the other two before being riddled with holes from the very same plasma rifle. Sovaer was able to bring down one of his three assailants with several well aimed shots to the head but the other two slammed into him, glowing blades at the ready. Relying upon his artificial musculature to do the job he tried to force them off him but they determinably kept him pinned to the wall. He managed to impact the knee of one with his left foot, causing the reaper to stumble back. The cyborg responded by driving his left arm forwards and with a sickening crunch the burning blade cut straight through the soft part of his armour on his left leg and into the flesh and bone beneath. Immediately his artificial nervous system blocked the pain signals coming from his leg to stop him from losing control. It didn't however stop him from feeling light headed as the cyborg awkwardly wrapped its arms around his mutilated limb and ripped it away.
His eyes went wide with shock as he looked down to see his very own leg lying on the floor several feet away from him. The other SPECTREs had by now realised what had happened and were running back along the corridor to lend help.
"Just get out of here!" he yelled to Jason through gritted teeth.
The big Wraith, having now dispatched his assailants, simply shook his head in response.
His next actions seemed to last an eternity to Sovaer but in reality was barely more than a few seconds. With one swift movement Jason moved forwards and stamped the reaper on the ground into the decking. With one hand he levelled his energy cannon at the oncoming reaper mass and fired, before shouldering the weapon once again, while the other pointed his rifle at the dazed reaper on the floor and let loose a short burst. His now empty left hand reached out and yanked the cyborg pinning Sovaer to the wall back, momentum sending it slamming into the opposite wall, while his rifle came up and fired a short but deadly burst.
As the other SPECTREs surged past to provide covering fire Jason picked Sovaer up and unceremoniously tossed him over his shoulder before setting off down the corridor again.
With their comrade secure the other SPECTREs followed, occasionally turning back to fire off a few shots in a bid to slow the approaching horde.
"We can't keep this up," Ronon said eventually as they ran further and further through the ship.
They had reached what their scans said was the outer edge of the ship but had yet to find a single airlock, and at this point it they were beginning to doubt if they even would. They had lost count how many times the cyborgs had almost caught up with them before the SPECTREs put on a burst of speed to escape capture.
"We have no choice," Teyla stated, despite the fact that she agreed with him.
"I have an idea," Todd said hesitantly. "Deactivate your magnetic boots."
Not knowing his plan but trusting their comrade the others did as he requested.
"ISIS, blow up a hole in the ship 10 metres ahead of our current location," Todd ordered, to the others shock.
"Confirmed," ISIS replied.
"This had better work," Ronon growled.
The plan here was obvious. The loss of pressure the hull breach should result in them being sucked out into space and outside the jamming field, however if they weren't beamed aboard fast enough Sovaer would die from exposure to vacuum since his suit was now missing a leg.
Outside the ship the transport shuttle, under the direction of ISIS, zipped around the ship and fired a single shot from its nose mounted twin heavy X-699. The plasma bolt was powerful enough to rip through the Zarasian armour plating and breached the hallway ahead of the SPECTREs. Any air in the hallway was immediately sucked out by the vacuum and the SPECTREs felt the tug as they were propelled forwards and out through the gaping hole, with the cyborg reapers not far behind.
One moment they had been running along the corridor and the next they found themselves staring at stars and the black of space.
As a mass of shapes poured out from the wound in the side of the ship a little way out seven flashes of white light appeared simultaneously. Shortly after the transport shuttle turned away from the Zarasian ship and dived into a hyperspace window.
Onboard the transport shuttle the SPECTREs appeared several feet in the air and for a brief moment they hung there, right before artificial gravity brought them slamming into the decking.
"Todd you crazy half bug, that was completely nuts," Sovaer scolded, lying prone on the decking, too weak to move.
"Certainly worked though," Eir reminded him, while lowering her healing devices to his stump of a leg.
"How is he?" Todd asked, visibly concerned for the other man's safety.
"He'll live," Eir assured him, while continuing to work her magic with the healing devices.
"Sleep now," she whispered softly, as she waved the device over his head, causing him to slip into unconsciousness.
"Can you do something for him?" Teyla asked, equally concerned.
"I already am," Eir replied, as she continued to work on his leg. "I'm attempting to repair what I can but that isn't really much."
"What about his leg?" Ronon asked. "Can you give him a prosthetic?"
"Not with the equipment I have on hand here," Eir replied. "Besides a replacement isn't even an option at this point."
"Why not?" Teyla asked with a frown.
"Because of the damage done to his leg," Eir said as her healing devices shut down. "Look you just see the damage from the outside, not beneath the surface like I can."
"How bad is it?" Todd asked.
"For starters a good part of the muscular tissue around his knee cap has been ripped off while the rest is barely hanging onto the actual knee cap," Eir explained. "When those things cut through his leg they only went about two thirds of the way through and dented the bone. They then snapped the bone in half and ripped the rest of the muscle away. My scans indicate micro-tears along the entire length of his leg muscles as a result. Luckily any bleeding was reduced by the fact that the sheer heat of the blade that cut him cauterised the wound."
"Why was he in so much pain?" Todd asked. "I thought he had pain inhibitors to suppress any pain."
"He does," Eir confirmed. "But they weren't designed to deal with this kind of pain. He was in utter agony, and while they blocked out some of it they couldn't stop it all. They were meant to stop light wounds, not injuries that by all rights should have rendered him unconscious. I've eased his pain and fixed up what I could but a lot of work needs to be done before he can be given a replacement."
"A replacement?" Teyla asked quizzically.
Eir sighed. "The Vanir rebuilt his body, and I don't mean repaired but literally rebuilt from scratch. Bone, muscle, nerve fibres, blood vessels, skin, you name it they grew it and put the pieces together to make him a whole new body. They can easily manufacture the component parts to make a new leg and then attach it to that stump. They probably even have the base materials sitting in a research lab right now and only need to put them together."
"It's that easy?" asked Ronon.
"To make the leg, yes," Eir confirmed. "Reattaching it however is going to be the hard part, but nothing they haven't had to do before."
The others remained in thoughtful silence while Eir continued her monologue.
"I wouldn't mind taking part in the procedure myself actually," she continued as she picked him up in her arms and carried him to the medical bay. "It should be most informative."
Unknown Location
"Etere the team from the transport ship have sent in their report."
"And?"
"Your prediction was correct Etere. They sent in their infiltration team to scout out the ship when they suspected it was a trap."
"Were they captured?"
"No Etere, when they realised it was a trap they attempted to flee with our forces in pursuit. They damaged the hull and were pulled into vacuum. Sensors indicate bursts of energy and we lost track of them on sensors, our scientists suspect a type of matter relocation technology similar to our ring platforms."
"Ranged matter relocation technology, interesting. Were they alive?"
"We believe so Etere, however recordings suggest the one known as Sovaer was present and was critically wounded. His left leg was severed."
"Oh dear, Sovaer was unfortunate wasn't he. Good news for us though. Have Cyber Azamoth prepare for phase three and inform me the moment he is ready for the procedure."
"As you command Etere."
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