Chapter 37: "Door to Heaven" Pt. 3
Hi everybody! So happy that many of you are enjoying this universe and how I'm using the Stargate universe, reading your reactions really make my day. Now then, onto the reviews~!
Wolfang21: Ok, glad to have something to go off that, and so happy that I don't know much about it to begin with.
rune-fighter: No, only 4. It's actually going to be explained just how the Arcs are connected to the Stargate.
Phoenix Warehouse Productions: Dude, come on, who do you take me for? Of course I'm keeping all that in! Haha, that is some of the best parts of the whole movie! "Taste like chicken! Bok bok bok!" And there is a twist in the end that I'm planning to do with that romance ;)
kyro232: Oh yeah, actually I hinted at my wanting to use the shows when I changed the Stargate's look from that of the movie to the one used in SG1 (even all the way back in the second Holiday chapter when I gave Peridot the entire DVD collection of SGA and SG1).
jc-montanorock: I have not for either unfortunately. I was never a fan of Borderlands when I saw my brother try to play it (he stopped after a couple minutes and gave it to a friend the next day), and One Piece was simply too childish for me to enjoy (didn't like Luffy's character in the beginning when I saw him as a kid, too goofy for me [to be fair, I watched it while it was on 4Kidstv, so that didn't help]).
Enigma42: Not a problem, glad you like it so far. Actually, funny thing, the end of the movie does show a nuke going off, and I'm going to have Jack explain just how destructive the weapon is since most of the audience had never seen one in action before and a few may want to have them for their own means. The tablet is an indication of what parts had been already completed. "The Age of Two has reached its end" indicates The Brothers had died, or could be interpreted that Salem's and Ozma's war had finally ended (the last one did help shape Remnant's past and present, so it could be argued that the line was meant for them). You were actually pretty close to my intention for the "Four Pillars guide the blood through ages past" part. The Pillars didn't want the Arcs to fall in the same trap they knew the rest of Remnant would (i.e. an overreliance on Dust and Aura), and they also wanted to avoid the same trap the Ancients would always fall in (stagnation), so they tried to guide them as best they could away from the failings of both in small nudges and dreams. "Through ancient rings" is the Stargate, while the plural form is for the Stargate Network as a whole, and "the fifth has been found", well that's a future topic, and thus not really discussed yet. It won't be touched on fully for a few years down that timeline. Actually yes, didn't make that connection before. Michael was really smart in that movie, and I loved how he got all the mob bosses to lower their suspicion only to kill them all while he himself is in a church. Though you are right, it would be too slow (even for me) to do since I would need to give a LOT of background information in order to have that scene understood (like why he had the bosses killed, what a church even is). Not a problem, hope you like this chapter as well.
Bucky749: Uhm, I don't know what a Zeroid is. I tried googling it, but all I got were images of some kind of skin cream and a weird-looking Pokémon (I think it's supposed to be a jellyfish? I'm not sure) *shrug*.
X3runner: Pff, hahaha! Oh man, that's a great idea XD! Oh god, and it would so much sense too! I don't think I'll make it as large as that, but I can show how fit his ass is instead (almost did in Alice's possible future with the towel scene), while still having Terra confirming the genetics of it. Oh man, that was awesome!
1v2: Thank you, yeah I was really confused by the list because I had no way to check them out XD.
Guest: Well, Orion is a star constellation, and one of the symbols found on the stone is a pretty good drawn description of said constellation. Adrian was looking over the symbols for 14 days, it would make sense for his tired brain to make the connection when that's really all he was thinking for 2 weeks straight.
Guest: I'm good thanks. While I do think the idea for a Lego Batman has merit, I'd rather do the movie version since writing game dialogue/movement is more difficult than one might expect (that's not a confirmation of me doing Lego Batman, just my preference on the matter). I'm trying to do it with one game, and it's taking forever (I've been working on it for months by this point, and I'm still not close to finishing).
Matt: Wait, who said anything about hypnosis? The Arcs had full control of their actions when they killed them, they just obeyed the orders of the Elders like they were trained to do (no different than soldiers being trained).
ULTIMATE PETER: Thank you. Unfortunately, the time of gift chapters is over. With how long it took the last time, and with me planning to add twice as many characters by the time Winter comes around again, it would take me months to go over every gift, double check with the last two times to make sure no one got the same ones for the new one, and make reactions out of all of them. It's going to take forever, and I just don't have the patience nor temperament for it.
Guest: Does Halo Reach count? Or a story from one of the Halo books? He's not Master Chief in the latter, but he will still be considered one of the great heroes & military planners of the UNSC.
Naruto: Hello :)
Alright, back to the story!
Disclaimer in the prologue.
As everyone calmed down, they all turned to a confused Jack who paused the viewing.
The god raised an eyebrow at the stone, before getting out his tablet and began running a few scans. "Before any of you ask, no, I have no idea what the fuck's happening with this thing." That didn't reassure anyone, but they didn't really care about that.
Seeing Saphron still looking confused at what happened, Terra asked "Do you at least know why the children and my wife acted like that?"
Jack absentmindedly nodded. "Yeah, their Arcadian blood reacted to the sight and activation of the Stargate." He shook his head. 'Nothing. Seriously, what the hell? Why did this thing do that?' He narrowed his eyes. 'Maybe it's an indicator, but for what?'
Glynda blinked, remembering how her daughter acted. "But Alice is adopted, how could she react like the others?" She hugged her baby close, causing Alice to start shifting a bit in discomfort.
Jack shrugged and began scanning the child, thinking that this would be an easier thing to solve. "Hmm, someone must have done something to her," he ignored the horrified look Glynda gave him when he said that, "it seems she's considered a 'full blooded' Arc, at least according to this thing." He made air quotes near the end there, getting a few bewildered looks.
Whitley blinked. "Someone can do that?" At the god's nod, he brought a hand to his chin. 'If whoever gave that of how he could use this.
The mothers held their children close in fear, a few whispering to each other about what happened.
Glynda looked at her confused daughter. "What could this mean?" She whispered, fearing for her baby's safety as she smiled at her momma.
Jack just went back to his seat, looking at the results of the scans. 'No doubt about it. The Pillars, or another Ascended, did the change. Makes sense all things considered.' Hearing the whispers, he looked at the mothers with a frown. 'Can't let this get out of hand.' He began doing something with his hands, making weird gestures that left everyone thinking that he was starting to lose his mind. He sighed and leaned back in his chair in exhaustion.
"There." Everyone looked at the god as he smiled. "Just placed a few spells on the screen. Now we don't have to worry about anything coming through when something like whatever happened to the Arcs happens again." The mothers sighed in relief. He nods in agreement. "Just as well, if the Stargate's outgoing vortex reached any of them, it would've instantly disintegrated anything it touched."
The room got deadly quiet as the children and most of the mothers paled. Glynda and Terra held their babies even closer, much to their discomfort.
Coco gulped. "S-So," she started, trying to ignore that last bit, "back to the point, what the hell happened?"
Jack rubbed his temple. "Well," he leaned forward, "the Arcs all have this gene within themselves that reacts to certain 'items'. It goes back to the Pillars, and more importantly their shared husband."
Salem and Ozpin blinked, suddenly grinding their teeth in anger for some reason.
Yang raised an eyebrow in shock. "Wait, 'shared'? As in one?"
Jack nodded, "Yeah." He chuckles. "It's actually a funny story. The man, boy back then, was incredibly dense, but his kind and curious nature had the Pillars developing crushes on him anyway."
Pyrrha, and the others who knew him, felt like Jaune may have inherited his denseness from his ancestor. It would explain so much in his behavior. They also felt a weird kind of comradery with the Pillars, and hoped that they wouldn't have to deal with that for long.
For some reason, Chibi-Jaune felt like he was somewhat insulted.
Jack though continued. "As they grew up together, the Pillars began trying to woo him in their own ways, but could never get him to see what was right in front of him."
Pyrrha felt her eyebrow twitch at what she had to deal with her Jaune. Nora sighed for the same reason with Ren. 'Oh well, at least he's not like that now.'
Here, the god grinned. "But his parents didn't." He laughed. "They thought it was the funniest thing ever!"
Kali giggled, "What was his name?"
Jack smiled at the Faunus mother, "Moros, named after his people's last leader. His father was Janus; his mother, Melia." (1)(2) The Arcs felt a smile tugging their lips at the mention of those names. "Janus and Melia would teach them everything they could." He looked up with a fond smile. "They treated, and even saw, the Pillars as their own daughters."
Ozpin and Salem felt their hearts ache.
"After years of lessons, the Pillars and Moros had learned everything Janus and Melia had to offer, and the two Ascended." He grinned as he looked back to the now confused audience. "But not before telling their son to stop acting like an idiot, and for the Pillars to just hurry up and give them grandchildren." He laughed again, now joined by Kali, Coco, Yang, and Summer.
After taking a few minutes to calm down, Jack went to finish his tale. "After that, the Pillars decided to stop beating around the bush. 'No more!' They shouted, and did the last thing Moros expected them to do." He balled a fist and said, "they each grabbed him by the balls and proclaimed that what they grabbed was theirs by right! And they quickly kissed him one at a time before he could complain about their grip."
Qrow and Roman laughed, while Nora turned to grin at a now pale Ren. "Nora no, we're already together!" She just grinned wider.
The children giggled at the end of that tale, while most of their mothers wondered if they could do the same with Jaune.
Kali cooed at the romantic gesture, "Aw, that's like what happened before we started going out, remember Ghira?" She smiled as she turned to her blushing husband as he turned and coughed into his fist, all the while with both Blakes looking at their parents in horror.
While everyone expressed their thoughts on the Pillars' actions, Jack smiled as his story of the Pillars' past had the intended effect of finally calming everyone down. After waiting for a few minutes, he asked if everyone was ready. Getting confirmation from everyone, he un-paused the screen.
Arthur stood in slight awe at the watery surface, so one of the other officers took it upon himself to grab the phone, dial a number, and issued further orders.
Over the intercom in the gate room, everyone heard him say "Send in the probe."
Guards soon enter the Gate room and point their various weapons at the portal, while technicians set up a treaded robot to go through the Stargate. The officer then calls down to the control room.
Inside, Drake answers the phone. "Yes, sir?"
Back upstairs, the officer frowns as he doesn't take his eyes off the device. "Record all information from the Stargate."
"Right away." He heard the scientist before the line disconnected and he puts the phone back on the wall.
At the gate room, the technicians shuffle away, their job done, and the probe starts to drive up the ramp.
"Clear inner silo for approach." Violette's voice is heard over the intercom.
The head technician turns her head to the large window screen and gives a thumbs up, before she turns to her team and waves them off. "You heard the lady, clear the inner silo!"
Her team and their guards exits the gate room, leaving the little robot.
The probe continues to move up. It pauses just before the event horizon, and outstretches its metal arm. As the arm continues to extend, entering the event horizon with a weird sucking/splashing noise, the probe appears to be pulled through the Stargate.
Everyone blinked, not expecting the probe to do that. They did shiver though, when they heard the noise the probe made when it entered the Stargate.
"Ugh, that just sounded wrong." Roman said with Neo nodding with a look of disgust.
Back in the gate room, everyone turns to Pan as she stares at a small screen in shock. "By the Pillars, it's guiding itself." She turns to the star map at the back of the room as the trajectory guide is plotting the movements of the probe. "Can you believe that?"
Adrian blinks, before he smiles and turns to Akila with an excited expression as she looks at a nearby computer. The computer is streaming a lot of incomprehensible data that even Penny couldn't understand it clearly as it tries to track the probe across a picture of a star chart.
Pan turns back to the screen once she hears a beep. Pressing a few buttons, she narrows her eyes. "The beacon has locked itself onto a point somewhere…" She widens her eyes and turns back to Akila and Adrian. "… 1,000 lightyears away." (3)
Penny stuttered a bit before she could compose herself. "W-Wait a minute. The probe couldn't have been able to travel that far a distance."
Jack nodded though. "Oh, but it did."
Ruby looked at Penny with a bit of worry, not expecting the level of distress in her friend's voice. "Why not Penny?"
The former android took a few deep breaths to calm herself. "Do you remember that other universe?" She pointed at the Kelvin. "The one with The Federation? Jack said that the government spanned 8,000 lightyears, with a single lightyear measuring about 5.88 trillion miles or 9.5 trillion km." She looked back at the Stargate in wonder mixed in with disbelief. "This device, if the computer data and tracking system is to be believed, was able to establish a connection to a point 1/8 the distance of The Federation, trillions of miles/kilometers, in just a matter of moments!"
Many dropped their jaws, understanding a bit on just how incredible the Stargate truly was.
Violette stuttered as she looked over the data. "I-It has mass. It-it could be a moon or a large asteroid." She grinned as she realized just how big a discovery this could be.
Adrian looked back to the star map and pointed at random spots, "Where are we on that map?"
Akila turns from the computer and points at a blue dot. "Look down."
Adrian moves to the far end of the star chart where a blue dot inside a white box is, then follows to where the trajectory guide is now sitting.
Akila nods, "That's right, Jaune. It's on the other side of the known universe." (4)
James balked at her words. "Wait, the Arcs had already managed to map out so much of the stars already?" He didn't think about that when the tracking started, instead believing at first that the distance wasn't that far; and when Penny explained, thought that the tracker was in completely unknown territory. The idea that the Arcs had managed to scout a large portion of the universe made him feel that Atlas was being left behind, and his pride as an Atlassian burned at the thought. The feeling was felt by just about everyone from that Kingdom. (5)
Qrow, seeing the look on James' and Winter's faces, laughed a bit. "What's wrong, Jimmy? Upset that your high pedestal is taken away from you?" Raven, Neo, and Roman joined in, even as many of those from Atlas scowled at them.
Violette's eyes widened. "Shit!" She typed on her keyboard in a rapid pace. "We're-we're losing the signal!"
The wormhole suddenly shut down, leaving the Stargate dormant once more.
A few minutes later in the control room, Arthur and Jaune, along with several others, are analyzing the data & pictures the probe sent back to them on one of the screens. It pictures a room and, incredibly, another Stargate.
Arthur points to the picture. "This is the information the probe managed to send back to us." He turns to a technician, "Freeze and enhance." He goes back to the screen. "You can clearly see the 'gate on the other side." The picture becomes more detailed as the General continues his explanation. "Both 'gates must have functioned as a doorway between our worlds." (Penny: "That makes perfect sense. If our Stargate is able to form a stable connection to a different world, it would need another Stargate to complete the connection, otherwise there wouldn't be a need for the first one in the first place.")
Adams nods, and points to a different screen, "These readings tell us it's an atmospheric match." It shows a comparison of Remnant's atmosphere and that of this new world side-by-side. "Barometric pressure, temperature, and most importantly oxygen."
Velvet suddenly shivered, which Coco noticed and asked "What's wrong?"
She gulped and turned to her friend. "I'm starting to think that the Stargate wasn't made by anyone in Remnant." She pointed at the screen as her face paled a bit, "There is no way that we put that thing on a different planet so far away, and we obviously couldn't have built the one the Arcs found in the sands since it's made out of a metal not found on Remnant. Which means that-" "Which means that it was brought here from somewhere else." Coco finished, her eyes wide, and hands shaking.
Ruby gulped, "Maybe the aliens brought it with them?" She asked.
The two nodded, not really liking the possibilities they were thinking up for why they seemingly left it in the middle of nowhere rather than keeping it on their ship.
The two readings then overlaps each other on the screen, showing that the atmosphere on this new world was safe to breath.
Adrian looks at a different screen that has close ups of the symbols on the other Stargate. He shakes his head and points to a symbol. "These markings are different. They don't match the symbols on our 'gate." (Penny: "That could prove to be a problem.")
Arthur nods, "Exactly, which is why we may have to abort." He crosses his arms and glares at the screen. "This project is for naught without a reconnaissance mission."
Jaune sighs and nods, "I agree. Once on the other side, we'd first need to decipher the markings on that 'gate, which means going stargazing for who knows how long, and then dial home in the correctorder to establish a connection back here in order to bring our team back."
Arthur rubs his forehead and silently cursed their luck. "Based on this new information, I don't see how we can do that."
Adrian blinks and raises a hand. "Well, I can do it."
Arthur and Jaune turned to look at Adrian with disbelief, while Adams looks over with a half-smile, clearly not believing a word of that despite the young man's current success record.
Terra frowns, "Don't underestimate my baby." Adrian nods his little head with a pout.
Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" He asks, wanting to make sure that the team he sends won't be trapped on this alien world over to one man's hubris.
Adrian looks at the unique Chevrons and looks back at Arthur, nodding firmly. "Positive."
Jaune looks around at the others, then walks to the door, muttering to Arthur as he passes "I trust him." (Yang: "At least someone in that room does.")
Arthur smirks a bit and turns to Adrian. He nods, "Welcome to the team."
The view switches over to show a corridor and a guard sitting at a table. A nearby door opens, and the guard stands to attention as Jaune scratches the back of his head. He signs in at the guard's desk, and the guard opens a door labeled "09-Y". Jaune enters the room, showing the audience the fossil that the dig team found near the Stargate.
Roman hums, "Oh, so that's where they put it. I just thought they left it near the site, or placed it in a museum somewhere."
Neo raised an eyebrow, "Why'd you think that?"
The gentleman thief shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, I figured that since it's a fossil, there really wouldn't be much need to keep it, especially in a military base. Why waste the space for it? Would be more useful by just selling the thing, if only to give more funding to these people." He frowns, "Seriously, with all this outdated tech, I'm surprised they got anything done."
Ozpin and others couldn't help agreeing with the man, as much as it pained some of them to do so.
While he looks at the creature, Arthur is seen walking up behind him. Jaune narrows his eyes as he stares at the fossilized creature. "You understand this complicates things." (Saphron: "Wait, what's that mean?")
Arthur nods, "That's why I wanted you, Jaune. We've opened a doorway to a world we know nothing about, and with your powers, I can rest easy knowing you'll protect us." He smirks, "You've destroyed the Brothers, Jaune. I doubt anything from another world would stop you."
Salem sucked in a breath at the General's words. 'What?! How? How could a mortal succeed in destroying the Brothers?' Ozpin had the same thought, before they both remembered how Raven's and Sienna's children had no idea what Aura and Dust were, powers that were left behind by the Brothers themselves. 'Could it-?' Salem thought, 'Could it be that the Brothers were destroyed in that timeline as well?' (6)
Meanwhile, Saphron gasped as she smiled. "My baby brother did it!"
Many were confused, especially who these Brothers were, but Saph ignored all of that as she celebrated with a confused Adrian. "Your uncle did it sweetie! He set us free!"
That got Salem and Ozpin to quickly turn to a very happy Saphron. She was still oblivious though as she hugged & kissed her wife.
"And if I can't?" He asks, still not taking his eyes off the fossil.
The General sighs, "Then we go with Plan B. We always have a Plan B, you know that Jaune." The man nods. ("What's Plan B?" "Eh, I wouldn't worry about it Rubes.")
A few hours later in the research lab, Adrian is packing his suitcase full of books, several candy bars, and several MREs that he knew from previous talks with his uncle were the best in the Arcadian military. As he debated which last ration to take, the "Beef Goulash" or the "Pepperoni Pizza" (7)(8)(9), Akila enters the room.
"Adrian." The old woman calls out with a soft smile as she zipped up her coat.
Adrian though, didn't hear her and continued with his little dilemma, balancing the two rations in his hands as if literally weighing the pros and cons of each. That is until she lightly smacked him upside the head. He turns around and sheepishly smiles back. "Oh, hello. Hi."
Saph frowned. "Don't smack my baby." Terra nods with a scowl while Adrian pouts at the hit.
Akila chuckles and shakes her head. "I have something for you." She takes out the necklace that she took from the dig site all those years ago.
Adrian, seeing the gold, shakes his head. "Oh no, I couldn't-"
But the old woman was stubborn. She gently takes his hand, "Yes, you can." She grabs the ration in his hand, the Goulash, and places it inside the suitcase. "I found it with the Stargate, when I was a child. It has brought me luck. I have no doubt it will do the same for you."
She places the Eye of Ra necklace on his now empty palm, and closes his hand around it. Adrian looks at her in wonder.
Akila smiles as she goes over to the suitcase, and takes one of the books out with a frown. "This one's garbage. Trust me, you don't need this."
The Arc smiles and nods. As she leaves the room and joins her departing coworkers, he looks down at his suitcase and notices that the space the book previously took up was exactly the space he needed for the pizza MRE. 'Huh, seems the necklace is already doing its job.'
Coco nods, "Man, that was some pretty good luck right there."
Yang agreed, "Yeah, can't go wrong with pizza."
Winter and James though, shivered, not exactly agreeing with the blond as they remembered how bad the pizza MREs were in the past. 'So much mold.'
An hour later inside the gate room, some military personnel were packing a small rover with equipment.
In the control room, Violette was working on a few computers. "Back up storage, reserve power...on."
She sees the soldiers evacuate the gate room, and takes a deep breath to calm herself. 'Almost time.'
She and Barrett continue to run through their checklists, both with serious expressions as they work to make sure the away team makes it to the new world as safely as possible.
In a corridor next to the gate room, Jaune is approaching his team of two fireteams, mostly geared up and ready for the mission (10). He just had his helmet tucked under his arm.
The heroes were impressed by the battle uniform the team was wearing. They could see light gray fatigues underneath light brown, almost tan, ballistic armor which covered most of the body; balaclavas and polarized tactical glasses, which were both currently around their necks. Lastly were their helmets, which had a bit of a ridge going past the forehead, a belt with pouches for extra ammo & supplies, a pistol & knife attached to their right & left hip respectively, a kitbag, and armored boots. (11)
Overall they looked badass. Many of the women were drooling at the sight of their man dressed like he was going to war. Raven and Cinder felt a shiver of desire run up their spines as they saw him in his armor. 'I would've preferred something in black or red though, more intimidating that way.'
James nodded in approval of the look of the armor, noticing a tiny Arc symbol in the upper right of the chest armor. 'Smart, a large golden symbol would've just caught the light of the sun and be spotted by any scouts or snipers.'
Adams, with his fellow team leader Woods, stands at one end and sees Jaune walking towards them. He shouts "Ten-hut!", and the two fireteams rush to stand at attention as Jaune inspects them (Winter: "Good discipline."). Nodding at their posture, he briefly looks at his watch.
With another nod, Jaune looks at each of his men with a proud smile on his face. "Alright, this is it. You gentlemen will be the first to make History. If any of you have anything to say, now's the time to say it."
Yang hummed, "I wonder what I'd say if I was in their shoes."
A few others were wondering the same thing. Penny was excited, "Whatever it is, it must be something to commemorate this momentous occasion, to be the first people of Remnant to step into a new world!" She puffs her chest out and she salutes the exploration team. "It has to be inspirational, powerful, and most importantly-"
At the far end of the line, Adrian sneezes and pulls out a handkerchief. Everyone turns and looks at him as he loudly blows his nose.
Penny deadpanned, dropping the salute, "-one that will be remembered for centuries to come." She facepalmed with a disappointed sigh. Many of the students laughed at either the randomness of the unexpected sneeze, or Penny's disappointed reaction.
Meanwhile, Adrian stuck his tongue out at the mean lady and hugs his momma to try to hide his blushing face.
Jaune nods like it was no big deal, "Well said." "I'm sorry." ("Hey, he's stealing your thing Pyrrha." "Nora!")
In the control room, the technicians are readying up the Stargate's activation sequence.
The team goes over their gear to check that everything is in place. Adrian felt a bit weird, being suited up in an Arcadian battle uniform. 'Is this really necessary?' (Roman: "You're going to an alien world, with no backup, for an unknown period of time. Of course it's necessary!")
The sound of the Stargate activating was heard as the team finished their inspections, and they each looked at each other, some taking deep breaths to calm their nerves.
Jaune cleared his throat and motioned everyone to move out, the man taking the lead as they entered the room. A few security personnel follow the team before they stop at the bottom of the ramp and point their guns at it. Jaune nods to one of his men, who activates the small remote for the equipment rover and makes the thing enter the vortex first. Jaune narrows his eyes, and begins the trek up the ramp, the rest of the team following behind with Adrian at the rear.
The man stops before the event horizon, preparing himself before he enters with the same splash noise emanating from the event horizon. No one noticing the top chevron flashing blue for a second, before turning back to a normal orange.
One of the team members reaches for an Arcadian religious medal under his collar and kisses it before following suit.
Soon, everyone from the team had entered except for Adrian who, like his uncle, stopped before the Stargate.
Everyone stopped what they were doing as they focused on this moment.
He slowly raises his left hand to chest level and runs it along the 'liquid', studying the effect as he puts his hand in & takes it back out. He smiles at the ripples, then looks back ahead. He closes his eyes, and with a silent prayer to the Pillars, sticks his head in.
Saph and Terra gulp as they wondered what they'd see next.
Inside the Stargate, Adrian's face is seen popping through the surface, the area around him reminding everyone of what you'd see when you submerge underwater.
Just then, his face disintegrates with a "whooshing" noise as his molecules shoot through a tunnel of energy, the screen shifting to show a first person point of view as it moves through the whirling tunnel and quickly heading towards a light. When it reaches it, the screen briefly flashes white before it turns dark. Suddenly, streaks of white light start to move from around the screen's edges and start converging like a closing maw, before they move out of the way to show a different, now twisting, blue tunnel of energy with tiny dots in the background. The screen moves forward at a fast pace, like a roller-coaster straight out of hell, as it passes by some large lights on its way to its destination. As soon as it began, it ended as the tunnel suddenly stopped, and Adrian passed through to the other side.
No one had any words over what they just saw, only sitting in awe at witnessing the event.
Inside the alien Stargate room, Adrian comes out with frost covering his body, lying on some steps as he looks groggy from the trip. Adams and a soldier named Flynt hovers over him.
James gasped, not expecting one of his students showing up, let alone in Arcadian armor.
Nor did anyone else after that other universe.
Saphron and Terra though, were scared for their son. "What's wrong with him?" Saph asked while her wife hugged her son close.
Adams tried to calm the frightened young Arc, "Adrian relax! It's all right, it's over." He turns to Flynt. "Stay with him." Getting a nod, he stands up and goes over to an unconscious Jaune.
Now Jaune's friends were worried too. "Why's Jaune unconscious?!" Pyrrha asked, feeling like something terrible had happened.
Flynt tries to move Adrian's body around. "Adrian, just listen to my voice. Keep moving. It wears off in a minute." His words seemed to do the trick, and Adrian starts to move around as he slowly got control of his limbs again. Flynt smiles, and helps to move his limbs, muttering encouragements as he did so. (Ruby: "That's very nice of him.")
Woods was staring at the doorway of the room with a stunned look on his face, "What a rush." His armor was covered in frost as well, covering most of his suit in the stuff.
As more of the team started to get their bearings, Jaune groans as he regains consciousness (Nora: "He's ok!"). 'Ohh, my head. What happened?' '…' 'Wait, what the hell? Zangetsu? Shiro?'
Pyrrha, after calming down once she saw Jaune sitting up, scratched her head. "Who's Zangetsu?"
Both Blakes Kali, and Ghira blinked at the names. 'Slaying Moon? White? What do those mean?'
Robin and Altani though, sucked a breath. They hoped nothing bad happened to the old man or their dad's crazy self.
Nothing. No words, no whispers, not even emotions remained. Jaune felt like he'd been punched in the gut. "Oh no." He whispered, trying to get a feel of his powers, but found nothing. He began to sweat a bit, feeling truly powerless for the first time in decades. 'This is not good.'
Adams trying to grab his attention brought Jaune back to the matter at hand, and as he tried to get up, he felt Adams helping him. Deciding to think on his situation later, he nods at the man for his help and ordered his men to get ready. "Prepare to move out."
With the wormhole still active, the men turn on the flashlights on the side of their helmets, and start to move around the room. Adrian finally got enough strength in his legs to stand up. Once he did so, after uttering a "Thank you" to Flynt, he turns around to look at the Stargate, just as the wormhole shut off and left the team in the overall darkness.
Several of the men lit some flares and began tossing them across the room to get some more light.
Jaune looks around as the room is illuminated better, and stops in front of the doorway. "Fireteam 1, move out."
Adams nods, and he with his team stepped through the doorway, leaving flares in their wake.
Adrian follows behind with the second fireteam. He pauses with a member of the second team to look at a strange ring-like structure in the ceiling. "What is that?" He asks, but got a shrug from the soldier. "I have no idea, but it looks cool."
Ruby nods, "It does look pretty cool. Wonder what it does."
Weiss raises an eyebrow. "What makes you think that thing does anything?"
Her team leader shrugs, "I don't know, but it's in the same room as the Stargate, that has to mean something right?"
Adams' voice is then heard over the radio, and they continued on. "Fireteam two, move out."
The teams begin to leapfrog, once an area was cleared by one team, the second would go ahead to secure the next. This continued in an organized fashion for some time.
Finally, one of the troopers of the second fireteam entered a room with stone pillars. He takes cover and scouts the room with some of his teammates. Seeing no movement, he whispers into his radio, "Clear. No contact."
"Freeze. Hold for sounds." They did so as Flynt and another trooper from the first team with monitoring equipment move forward. They head to the doorway on the opposite side of the room, which is bright with sunlight.
Ilia blinks. "Oh, looks like they found the entrance of the building."
Eve hums, "And from what light is visible, it looks like the entire structure is made out of regular stone."
Sienna nods as she hugs her child close. "Doesn't look all that dissimilar from those found in Vacuo." She gently rests her chin on top of Altani's head. "Thought we'd witness something more alien than this to be honest."
Seeing the monitor reading "Oxygen ratio stable", Flynt tuns back to the group as they move past the pillars. "Sir, it seems conditions are similar to inside."
Jaune nods, and looking around the room, sees small piles of sand everywhere. Donning his balaclava and tactical glasses, he says "Alright, put on your gear. Seems we're in, or near, a desert region." The teams complied, with Adrian only putting on some clip-on shades over his glasses.
Jaune looks past the entrance, seeing more sand and what he thought were a pair of larger pillars, and felt his curiosity taking over. "I'm gonna take a look around. Adams? Woods?"
The two nod and move forward as their teams slowly follow behind. Adrian walks with them, studying the smooth walls of the structure.
Outside the structure, they walk across a small stone bridge onto a sandy desert. The teams pause at the sight of two obelisks with no writings.
Jaune didn't expect that, judging by him jerking his head backwards. "What the hell?"
Adrian walks up next to his uncle and tilts his head to the side. "Ok… Didn't expect that."
They both turn around, and jolted back at what they saw.
"What is it?" Emerald asked. "What did they see?"
There, towering over them, was a great stone pyramid. As if to tell them they were in fact on an alien world, they could see three whole moons, rather than a shattered one, behind the structure.
Saph, Glynda, Salem, and Ozpin gasped at the sight of a clearly manmade structure. "How? How is there a pyramid on this planet?" Ozpin felt like his understanding of the world was falling apart every time something new was seen in this future.
Everyone else were in awe at the beauty of the scene. A few like Coco and Mercury couldn't help but take a few pictures at the wonder.
Adrian smiles at the sight. "I knew it!" He shouts, seeing the physical proof of his theory right in front of him.
At that, everyone paled. They remembered what his theory was about, and couldn't deny the proof that was in front of them. "Holy shit." Yang whispered in shock.
A couple hours later, Woods was seen walking around the bridge with a piece of equipment. His fireteam, meanwhile, was busy setting up a basecamp on one of the nearby dunes.
James nods, "Good strategy, you never know if someone or something may try to attack, especially when at night. Better to camp on high ground for better line of sight."
Adams walks up to Jaune, who was looking after his excited nephew. Turning around he nods, "Report."
Adams lowers his balaclava and says, "A quarter mile perimeter survey is just about complete, sir." (Winter: "That's rather impressive considering the sand dunes everywhere and small number of personnel.")
They turn to see Adrian walking around the outside of the pyramid with an excited grin.
With a fond smile under his covering, Jaune turns to Adams. "Get some food, it's been a long," he looks at his watch and notices the time, and blinks, "morning?" He looked up at the clear afternoon sun. 'I guess the sun's cycle is different from ours, don't know why I expected anything else.'
Adams nods with a grin. "Right."
Jaune sighs and takes his covering off, seeing no need with the winds as soft as they were. "I want all of us back through the Stargate within two hours." He turns and starts to walk to his nephew, and the only ticket off this desert. 'Without my powers, I'll need to get everyone out of here as soon as possible.' He still felt weary about that, he doesn't have any idea as to how he lost his powers in the first place.
Adrian walks down the ramp to his uncle with a grin as he takes off his glasses to wipe away some sweat on his forehead.
Jaune smiles back. "Alright Adrian, start working on the Stargate."
Behind them, Woods walks up to his fellow team leader. "So, what do you want for lunch?"
Adams, starting to walk to Jaune, glances back and shrugs. "I dunno, anything with chicken I guess."
Back to the two, Adrian shakes his head, "I-I'm gonna need more time. I mean, there's bound to be more structures here, or some other traces of civilization." He looks around at the desert surrounding him, knowing that there has to be something. 'A pyramid couldn't have just sprouted out of the ground.'
"He makes a good point." Chibi-Blake says, not believing for a second that they were alone in the area. "If whoever built that pyramid did so over the Stargate, then I doubt they just abandoned the area."
Jaune starts working on his watch and shakes his head. "Sadly, not this trip." He points to the pyramid. "Just get back in there and reestablish contact. I don't want to spend any more time out here than necessary." There was an undertone of worry in his voice, which the audience could hear, causing many to exchange concerned glances.
Adrian missed the tone and shook his head. "Well look, it's not that easy. I mean this is a replica of the great pyramid of Giza. We're not gonna find any hieroglyphic inscriptions or carved reliefs. I mean, we-we really need to look around more."
"Ohh, I don't like where this is going." Penny said with a worried frown, getting Ruby to look at her with worry.
Woods and Adams by that point had joined Jaune and they all stared in shock as they heard Adrian's response.
Jaune frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Adrian, Your job here is to realign the Stargate. Can you do that or not?"
Adrian and Alice whimpered a bit at hearing their uncle/papa using that tone, causing their parents to try to calm them down.
Even the older children couldn't help flinching at the tone. "Oh boy, someone's in trouble." Peridot said, her twin nodding.
Adrian nods, then shrugs. "I can't."
The three look stunned at the rather casual confession.
Hearing the man's reveal had many gulp, knowing that the team's one hope in getting them all home had fucked up.
Jaune took a deep breath and glared at his nephew. "You can't or you won't?" He was not going to force his team to stay here if his nephew was just being stubborn.
Adrian raised his hands up in calming gesture, and stepped back a bit. "Look, I can decipher the symbols on the Stargate, but I need an order of alignment." He turns back to the pyramid points at it. "Now those coordinates were marked on tablets back on Remnant, so there must be something like that here. I-I just need to find it." He chuckles nervously at the end as he looks back at the three.
"Yep," Qrow winced, "boy dropped the ball there. Never assume with important information like that."
Winter couldn't help but nod in agreement with the drunk, as much as it pained her to admit that even in the safety of her own mind.
Jaune looked at him with bewilderment as Adams walked up to the nervous young man. "'Find it'? What do you mean, find it? You didn't say anything about 'finding' anything."
Adrian shrugs a bit and glances back to the pyramid. "Well, I assumed the tablets would be here, I mean right here."
Jaune scowled, "You assumed?"
The scowl made the children flinch again as they saw the slow rise in anger in his eyes.
Adrian buried his face in the arms of his parents, "I sowwy."
Adams balled his fists in anger. "You're a lying son of a bitch!" He shoves Adrian to the ground, "You didn't say a word about finding anything!"
Terra and Saph scowled at the man for pushing their son.
Yang frowned, "Hey lay off him, he didn't know." Her friends nodded, not appreciating the rough treatment there.
James though, shook his head. "In this situation, as much as I hate to say it, I think the young man is getting off rather easy."
The students looked at the General in shock, but Glynda sighed and nodded her head. "I agree, if he had just come clean about his assumption before they left, they would've been more prepared, or the mission could've been canceled outright. Now the team is trapped with no way to make it back, with limited supplies in the middle of an alien desert, and all of this based on a hope of returning home that was false all along."
Many of the students winced, the truth not sitting well with them. They all knew that if something like that happened to them, they doubt they would've stopped at just a simple push. The villains would've outright killed the man who trapped them in the middle of nowhere.
Saph sighed, knowing they had a point, and hoped that Jaune would at least try to mitigate any anger away from her son.
Jaune steps between Adams and Adrian, who was getting back to his feet. "Adams." The man looks at him, his anger easy to see. "Organize our supplies, make sure we have enough food and clean water. *Sigh* We may be here awhile." (Maria: "Good idea, in a desert the last thing you need to worry about is how much water you have.")
Adams takes a deep breath, "Sir-"
But Jaune shook his head and cut him off. "You've got your orders."
The man sighs and starts to go to the camp, Woods following as they looked at each other in worry at their situation. 'How the hell are we gonna explain this to the team?'
James winced, "And that's another thing, how're the men going to react to being trapped there?"
Saph still felt worried, but was comforted by the fact that her son was safe so long as Jaune was there.
An hour later, the troops continue to cart supplies to their camp, just outside the pyramid. Most of the tents were already pitched, and the equipment safely inside.
One of the troops had taken off his helmet and scratched his green hair. Verte sighed in frustration (12). "Geez, it's hot." He grabs a canteen and takes a drink.
Woods walks up behind him and pats him on the shoulder, "Just be glad our armor is as insulated as it is, or you'd be complaining even more than you are now." He sighed as he sat next to the man. "You know, I can't believe we're stuck here."
Verte rolled his eyes, "Don't be such a doomsayer, Woods."
Adams sighed from where he was sitting, eating a "Chicken Burrito Bowl" MRE (13). "Yeah, give it a rest."
Flynt nods as he tries to get a long-range radio to work "Yes, please." He shrugs, "If we're not back soon, they'll just turn on the 'gate from the other side, and we can go through then. It's not as big a deal as you're making it out to be."
Ozpin nods, "That's true, Arthur could always dial in and check the away team's progress. Jaune could then call for help. The probe was able to send images back after all, so I doubt communications would be a problem. And with the 'gate open, they could simply travel back that way."
Everyone sighed in relief, but Jake shook his head. "Sorry Oz. Stargates don't work like that."
Woods shakes his head and grits his teeth, "Oh, no. See, it doesn't work that way. If you don't turn it on from here, we're screwed. So I'm telling you guys, we're not going anywhere!"
At that, everyone gulped. Weiss though was confused. "Wait, how'd he know that?"
Jake raised an eyebrow. "Did any of you see the probe when the team first entered the pyramid?"
She and a few others shook their heads. Jack pointed at the screen, "That's because command had ordered the probe to come back, but it was destroyed as soon as it rolled through the Stargate from its end. See, the wormhole connection is one way for solid matter. If you step through the Stargate, and connection wasn't from your end, you just disintegrate as soon as you fully step through." (14)
Everyone paled. "Ok, point made." Yang raised a hand up, "Don't step through the Stargate if you're on the opposite side of the connection, got it."
Flynt's eyebrow twitched, "Shut up." He went back to the radio, finally getting the thing to work.
Just then, he notices Adrian arriving, lugging his suitcase and one of the equipment cases. "That's a nice tent." He said, appearing out of breath. "Oh, we each get a tent, that's nice."
Back in the 'gate room, Jaune is alone, opening a hidden panel on the rover. He takes out a cylindrical device and some parts, and begins putting them together. "By the Pillars, I'd hoped I wouldn't need to use this."
"Uh, what's that thing?" Ruby asks, getting a bad feeling when looking at that thing.
"That, Ruby," Jack began, "is Plan B." The ominous way he said that made everyone scared at what Arthur's contingency plan was.
Back at the camp, Adrian is sitting on the outskirts, amusing himself by opening one of the pockets in his belt. He finds some candy bars and spare ammo clips. 'I really don't know why I was given these clips, I've never fired a gun before.'
Winter blinked in shock. "You've never fired a weapon before? Then how were you approved to be on the exploration team?"
Whitley shrugged. "I think the assurance that he'd be able to get the Stargate working was enough of a reason sister."
But she shook her head. "That is still completely irresponsible. How would he be able to defend himself without learning to use a firearm? I can't believe Arthur allowed his inexperience to travel with him to this alien planet without rectifying it first."
Saph and Terra, while not happy at the thought of their son wielding a gun, agreed with the woman. If their baby went to an alien world, knowing how to use a weapon to defend himself would've made them feel a bit more at ease.
Woods and a few others watch from a distance with glares. (Roman: "Seems someone's not popular with the group.")
Adrian took out a random piece of paper. "What the hell is this?" He tosses the paper aside and continues muttering.
Verte looks to Woods. "Talk to him." He jerks of his head toward the oblivious young man. "We need him to get us home."
Woods scratched his nose and heads over to Adrian. (Terra: "He better not start something with my son.")
Adrian sighs in frustration, "I've got everything here but sunblock."
Yang winced. "Ouch, and in the middle of a desert too."
Ruby frowned, memories of sunburns whenever she went to the beaches of Patch while growing up coming back to her. 'Curse my pale skin!'
Adrian turns around to see Woods behind him, holding his suitcase. "Hi."
Woods nodded with a smile. "Hey. Isn't there something you should be doing right now? Like..." he scowled, "getting us out of here?!" He then throws the suitcase at Adrian, who ducks. The suitcase barely missed his head and sails down a sand dune. The team sees Woods, a few with vindictive grins, as the man walks back to his friends.
Nora scowled, and turns to a glaring Terra. "I will gladly offer my hammer to teach that ass a lesson."
The woman looked at the girl and blinked once, before she smiled and said "Thank you for the offer, but I think I should deal with that man myself."
Saph snorted, "No need, I'm sure Jaune is going to take care of that once he finds out. No one messes with his nephew." Their son nodded in agreement, "Oncl Jan pwotect!"
Adrian looks down at his suitcase, then at the item still in his hand. "Foot powder. *Sigh* Great." He drops the foot powder and heads down to retrieve his suitcase, which he saw had broken open and all his stuff was blowing in the wind. He sighed again and began recovering all his shit.
Meanwhile, Woods made it back to the camp, and Verte slaps hands with him. "That's cold man."
Flynt though shook his head. "I wouldn't have done that if I were you."
Woods smirked as he sat down. "What? He deserved it for stranding us here."
Flynt nods, "True, but when his uncle finds out you nearly took his head off, I won't lift a finger for you."
Woods snorted, "Oh, I'm so scared. What's a civvy gonna do? Complain?"
Speaking of said 'civvy', back in the 'gate room, Jaune continues to assemble the odd device, adding in a timer, when he sees the shadow of someone approaching. He quickly finishes his work and puts the device back in the panel, closing it just as Adams enters the room.
Adams salutes the man and says "Base camp is up, sir."
Jaune hides a small remote and nods to the man. "Good work, Adams." He looks around, and grimaced. "Let's get out of here. I swear, this place gives me the creeps."
Adams nods with a grin. "No argument here sir."
Back to Adrian, he'd taken a break from retrieving his books and sits down to open one of the MREs he'd brought with him. 'Pizza? Oh thank the Pillars the bag didn't open!' He opened it up and dug around for a bit. Knowing he didn't have any water with him, 'Oh man, am I gonna pay for that later,' he settled for taking out and opening the oatmeal cookie.
Taking a bite, he notices some large round prints in the sand. "What the hell?" He puts the cookie back in the pouch and stands up, walking over to get a better look. He sees the prints continuing past his sight over a dune ahead. He begins to follow the prints, finding over the next dune a large animal munching on some desert vegetation.
Many oohed and took pictures at the creature.
"What is that?" Coco asked, after taking a picture.
Velvet shrugged. "I don't know, maybe that planet's version of a camel?" She noticed that it had what looked to be a large hump, but it was hard to tell with all that fur.
Terra looked at the creature, and nodded. "Doesn't look harmless too. It doesn't seem to be very aggressive-looking, and judging by the way it's eating, it's an herbivore."
Glynda was impressed. "How can you tell?"
The woman smiled and pointed at the creature, "See the way it's jaws are moving? It's grinding the vegetation, as if its teeth were flat rather than sharp. And see the way it's not tearing the vegetation out of the ground? That suggests that it has few, if any, teeth capable of doing so."
Saph snickered. "You always did like animals. It never ceases to surprise me how you never became a vet."
Terra blushed, "Shut up."
Adrian looks around, but noticed that no one was nearby. "Weird." He goes closer to the animal, making sure to walk slowly as to not alarm it. "Is that a harness?"
Back at basecamp, Jaune and Adams finally show up and the Arc sets down his gear with a sigh of relief. He then looks around and sees something off. "Where's Adrian?"
They all look blankly at him.
Jaune stares back.
They start to fidget a bit.
He scowled, "Alright, I'm gonna count to three, and one of you sons of bitches are going to tell me exactly where my nephew is before I kick your asses so hard your grandchildren will have trouble sitting."
Yang and Ruby cheered. "Go Jaune, beat his ass!"
The children laughed at their dad's threat, while his sister nodded in agreement.
Adrian clapped his hands. "Wevenge! Wevenge!"
At that everyone paled, no one more than Woods who remembered Flynt's warning and realized just who the young man's related to. He then noticed everyone pointing at him, with his superior now cracking his knuckles while glaring daggers at him. 'Oh, I'm so fucked.'
END
Woo, another chapter done! Sorry for the late update, had to work on midterms, as well as try to see about a mistake I made on the last few chapters. Thanks you everyone for catching how the children addressed Adrian, that was my bad :P
Anyway, Woods is fucked. You don't mess with Jaune's baby nephew! Speaking of whom, what the hell happened to Jaune? Where's Zangetsu? So many questions~. I'll see all next time, bye~!
List of current Jaune's children in the Nexus:
Neo: Lucy
Emerald: Peridot & Garnet
Vernal: Amber
Raven: Robin
Sienna: Altani
Glynda: Alice
1. Moros: The last High Councilor of the Council of Atlantis during the Lantean-Wraith war, and one of the few surviving Lanteans who fled the Pegasus Galaxy (he would later become known as Merlin [yes, that Merlin]). Janus: a brilliant Lantean Ancient scientist, among the few surviving Lanteans who returned to Earth. Melia: a member of the Ancient Council on Atlantis during the Lantean-Wraith war and among the Lantean survivors of the Lantean-Wraith war who returned to Earth (she was the hologram lady you see in the SGA episode "Rising Pt. 1").
2. After evacuating Atlantis, Janus and Melia would enter a relationship and have a son, Moros, named after the High Councilor. They would roam Remnant for a few years, and would eventually find the castle home of Salem and Ozma. Knowing what was going to happen, they would enter the castle and evacuate the four daughters from their parents' fight. This is the reason for how the daughters survived; as for how they knew, well they did know a person who was from the future (those who watched the series knows who I'm talking about), so who knows what that person said to them.
3. According to the Stargate wiki, Abydos is said to be the closest Stargate world to Earth, within 2,000 lightyears (Chulak is 2,000 light years away). By that, I figure cutting the distance in half would make sense. Plus in the movie, before SG1 started, the beacon was tracked to a point in a whole other galaxy on the other side of the known universe. I don't see how they were able to track it that far out with their level of tech, but with Remnant replacing Earth, I can see them being able to do that (so long as it's within the Milky Way).
4. Still making it be the other side of the known universe though. Even after achieving spaceflight, not much effort would've been made trying to discover more of the galaxy before colonizing their own star system. 1,000 lightyears would be about right for them, it shows that they are making some effort in mapping out the universe, but also small enough that it shows it's not their top priority right now (the Milky Way is 100,000 light years across, being able to map out even 1% of it is still an achievement).
5. Many in Remnant don't think that the universe is very big, how could they when they hadn't given much effort in researching it (kind of hard to do when the Grimm are the main focus/threat, and are more closer to home)? Jack never explained how big the Milky Way galaxy is in comparison to The Federation, so they just assumed that that the government has control over much of the cosmos (8,000 lightyears is still a very large distance, despite it encompassing only 8% of the Milky Way). So the thought of the Arcs being able to map out such a "large" amount of space would make any from Atlas be a little pissed since they always prided themselves as the most advanced Kingdom in the world.
6. Jack never mentioned that the Brothers were killed in that other timeline, it was never really brought up and no one had the opportunity to really ask Robin or Altani afterwards (not for a lack of trying, just that events kept taking their attention).
7. Beef Goulash has: beef goulash, sugar cookies, MRE spoon, chunky peanut butter, strawberry jam, milk chocolate coco beverage powder, apple sauce, flameless ration heater, carboard sleeve, wheat snack bread, and an accessory packet (raspberry beverage powder, moist towelette, gum, toilet paper, and salt).
8. Pepperoni Pizza has: beverage bag, flameless ration heater, MRE spoon, chocolate protean drink powder, Italian bread sticks, jalapeño cheese spread, oatmeal cookie, peperoni pizza with cheese & sauce, carboard sleeve, cherry & blueberry cobbler, and an accessory packet (salt, moist towelette, sugar, instant coffee, creamer, gum, and toilet paper).
9. If any of you think this list looks familiar, that's because I'm mostly using steve1989's listing of the items found in the MREs that he presents in his channel. I actually follow him on YouTube, and I highly suggest you check him out as he does some great work in presenting and describing the MREs he reviews (he doesn't pull his punches either which is nice). If not for the channel, then look at the presentation/handling of these MREs, they each look awesome to eat. These two MREs are considered some of the best current US military rations. I originally wanted to use French RCIRs (their abbreviation for their MRE), but those are mostly stored in somewhat large boxes rather than individual packages like the US, and thus can't be placed in a suitcase (at least not very many as each box take up a lot of space for canned food & bulkier equipment).
10. An Arcadian fireteam is made up of five soldiers. So not counting Adrian or Jaune, there's 10 people on this mission. Adams commands one fireteam, Woods commands the second, with Jaune in overall command and doesn't have a dedicated team of his own. Adrian's basically a tagalong.
11. Picture the standard armor worn by the UNSC Marines in Halo Wars (not Forge's armor), with a military knapsack no their backs. Look at a picture of these marines, and you'll see what the Arc troops are wearing, only different colors. And yes, this armor is the standard set for all modern Arcadian ground troops.
12. Verte is green in French.
13. Chicken Burrito Bowl has: chicken with rice & beans, plain tortillas, cinnamon bun, accessory packet (gum, coffee instant, hot sauce, non-dairy creamer, wet nap, salt, sugar, and toilet paper), tropical punch beverage base, flameless ration heater, cardboard sleeve, toasted corn kernels, MRE spoon, and cheese spread. Again, I'm using steve1989's presentation.
14. It was never explained in the movie just how the fuck they knew that the wormhole was a one-way deal, so I just gave my own. It makes sense too, why would any of them want to leave their expensive probe on an alien world? They didn't know whether a team would be sent or not, so leaving the thing by itself just seems really wasteful. So they ordered the probe to return, which it tried to do, but it never came through the other side.