A/N: I forgot to mention that this story has a fair bit of OC's... Hope you like 'em!
BMick, thanks for the review (and the many others you've left on my stories). To answer your question, the story is split into two parts, each with multiple chapters. It's a bit of a slow build in these first couple chapters, but hopefully it pays off once it gets going!
"Something was definitely here, Zeb."
Estie held her scanner to the ground, the laser measuring the indent left by whatever had been here. She had been certain when she first got the readings that it was a craft of some sort, and here was the evidence right in front of her. Proof that all her years of research and theorizing hadn't been a waste. She couldn't keep the grin off her face if she tried.
"Estie," her assistant called from where he was crouched a few feet away. "Look at this!"
Zeb had joined her three years ago, his youthful enthusiasm for the project propelling her on at a time when she'd almost given up. He was practically buzzing now, his eyes wide with excitement, and she wondered if felt the same depth of awe as she did at the discovery. Not that she doubted his belief, but he had only been hunting for evidence a few years—her family's search for the truth went back generations.
She made her way to him and saw the fresh prints in the snow that he was now image capturing. "A manned craft?" she gasped, and her heart raced at the possibility of meeting the actual beings she had dreamed of for so long. "Could they still be here?" She scanned the horizon frantically but saw no sign of anything.
"Perhaps," Zeb said, holding up his magnification lens and turning in a slow circle. "I don't see anything. But these tracks look fresh."
She couldn't possibly hope to be so lucky as to meet the ones she had studied for so long, could she?
Suddenly, as if their conversation had been overheard, a ship appeared above them, rippling into existence and making both of them jump in surprise. It was a little bigger than the rover she and Zeb had driven here and was shaped like a cylinder, with two engines sticking out on the sides to keep it in the air. It looked different than she had imagined from the descriptions, but Estie immediately knew what it was. A Lantean gate ship.
She could hardly breathe as the ship settled down on the ground near them, her heart racing as she caught sight of the people inside. They almost looked as if they could be Tal'wean, except for their strange clothing. Estie met Zeb's gaze and saw the shock and profound excitement that she knew was mirrored in her own face. She had been right. And not just her, but her grandfather, and his father, and all those generations back who had held onto the beliefs even when they had found no evidence.
A door on the back of the ship opened, and Estie made some kind of involuntary nervous sound, reaching over to grab Zeb's arm to steady her shaking legs. She could feel Zeb trembling too. She had dreamed of this moment, but never thought it would actually happen. To her of all people. What was she going to say?
Her heart raced as fear began to replace her excitement. What if they weren't like the stories? What if she had interpreted the writing incorrectly? What if they wouldn't help her people?
The people were exiting the ship now, six men she could now see, wearing thick jackets and head coverings to block out the cold. They did not look so different from a Tal'wean, had similar features from what Estie could tell, though without the thick clothing she assumed they were on average a bit taller and leaner than her people. Yet, at the same time, they were so different. More diverse, with skin tones ranging from nearly as pale as hers to much darker, and none had hair as light as a Tal'wean from what she could see.
One of the men smiled, and the fear loosened enough for her to take a breath. "Hello," he said. "My name is Major Lorne. This is Lieutenant Kennel, Sergeant Jones, Sergeant St. Clair, Doctor Parrish, and Doctor Ishihara." He pointed to each as he introduced them. "We're explorers."
"You are Lanteans," Estie blurted. "The Gate Builders. I knew you were real!" She felt the blush rising to her face, embarrassed at the outburst. That was not what she had intended to say.
Major Lorne gave her a strange look. "Not exactly. We're not the Gate Builders."
Estie reigned herself in, shaking off the initial shock and trying to seem more professional than the blubbering fool she had just shown them. She should begin by telling them her name since that was how they had begun. "My name is Estie," she said, straightening up a bit. "And this is my assistant Zeb. We are the foremost experts of Lantean history on Tal'we. We identified unusual activity on our scanners here on Rijin and came to investigate." She paused, glancing at the ship. "We thought based on our readings that… Is this not a gate ship?"
"Uh, well," Major Lorne exchanged a look with the one he had called Lieutenant Kennel. "It is a gate ship. But we're not Lanteans. They're long gone. We're just borrowing it."
Zeb made a choked noise and Estie flinched at the words. The Lanteans, gone? No. They couldn't be, even after all this time. If her people had survived, they must have, too. "My research into the texts says that only a Lantean can fly a gate ship. So you must be," she argued with a frown.
This time, Major Lorne sighed, but before he could say anything, the one called Doctor Parrish piped up. "We're descendants of the Lanteans. Kind of. Well, some of us anyway, like the major. That's why we can use their technology." He received a sharp look from Major Lorne at this. "What?" he asked, clearly confused by the reprimand.
Estie wasn't sure she followed it herself. Why be deceptive about who they were? "But you are from Atlantis?" she asked hopefully. "And you came through a Stargate?" Descendants or not, if they came from the legendary city, they were Lanteans.
Doctor Parrish didn't answer this time, sufficiently chastised to stay quiet, so she had to wait for Major Lorne, who hesitated for a moment before saying, "Yes, we came through the Stargate from Atlantis." He seemed reluctant to talk about Atlantis, and she wondered why. "We would love to talk to your leaders if that's possible. Learn more about your people and possibly how we could help each other."
They wanted to speak with the Administration? Estie bit her lip and shared a nervous glance with Zeb at the thought. She supposed she should have expected that—they would need to deal with those who held authority, not a simple historian like her. But memories of her last visit to them, of the warnings they had given her if she continued to chase religious fairy tales, made her hesitate.
Of course, it wasn't like they could deny their existence if the Lanteans themselves walked into the city. And they said they wanted to help. What was she going to do, hide them away? That would negate the entire purpose of her life's work. She had to take them to the Administration, to prove to her people that she was right.
It was a risk—the Administration had been very clear about the punishment for going to the surface—but there was no way around it. These people might hold the key to the survival of Tal'we. Surely the Administration would see that and dismiss her transgressions. Would, in fact, hail her a hero of the people.
"I will take you to Ola'we to see the Administration." She tilted her head in thought as she considered the logistics of getting there. "The gate ship can fly underwater, yes?"
Major Lorne frowned at this. "Yeah," he drawled. "Why?"
"Wow, this is just like Gungan City."
Matt St. Clair looked away from the front window long enough to raise an eyebrow at Jones.
"Gungan City," Jones explained with a shrug. "You know, like where Jar Jar Binks is from."
Matt rolled his eyes. "You're an idiot."
"How wuude!" Jones shot back in his best impression of the annoying character, earning a glare from Lieutenant Kennel. "Sorry, sir," he apologized, but he snickered as soon as the man turned back around.
Now that he mentioned it, the sight before them did look like something from Star Wars. They had piled back into the jumper after Estie told them about the underwater city, following her rover to the edge of the glacier and then under the icy water. It didn't take long to get to the city of Ola'we, which was decidedly different than what Matt had anticipated. He'd expected something similar to Atlantis, but while this was obviously a city, it didn't look man-made.
Giant bubbles surrounded structures carved into giant rocks interspersed with things that bore a striking resemblance to trees. Crafts similar to the one Estie was flying wove slowly through the city, taking off and landing on platforms on the tops of the buildings. The structures grew taller the closer they got to the center of the city, leading to a giant building right in the middle. Walkways spidered out from it in all directions, and Matt could just make out people moving along them.
Even though the water was crystal clear, the sunlight only reached so deep, casting the city in an eerie blue glow. As they got closer, Matt noticed that much of that light was actually coming from the city, soft glowing lights dotting the sides of the buildings like flowers. He remembered something about bioluminescence from his high school biology class, and thought that must be what was lighting the city.
"It's incredible," Doctor Ishihara commented from his seat in the cockpit. There wasn't room for everyone up there, so Matt and Jones had taken the benches in the rear. Except now they were crowding the doorway between the two sections to get a look as the jumper approached the underwater city.
Doctor Parrish's eyes were wide with wonder. "Amazing," he agreed, transfixed. "It's like an entire biome in there."
"How do they get air down here?" Kennel wondered.
"The buildings look like they've been grown somehow," Parrish offered. "There's plenty of plant life there to produce oxygen for an entire city, maybe even a small country. But how do they eliminate waste? Is the entire city self-contained?"
"I'm sure we'll get to ask them," Lorne said, following Estie's rover as it headed toward one of the larger bubbles on the right. "But before we get too excited, let's make sure they're friendly."
Matt had noticed his CO's suspicion of Estie and her assistant from the moment she'd called them Lanteans. The major never liked it when Atlantis was brought up too early in the conversation with a potential trading partner, and especially didn't like it when people caught on to the ATA gene in any way, shape, or form. Which made complete sense given it had only been a few months since he and Colonel Sheppard had disappeared for six weeks, captured by a still-unknown alien who had manipulated them using their Ancient genes. And that had hardly been the first time that kind of thing had happened.
They landed on some kind of platform next to Estie's ship and a bubble appeared over them. The water began to drain out from under the bubble, and as it did so Lorne turned to address the group. "Okay, kids, no wandering off." He gave Parrish a poignant look here. "And keep an eye out for trouble."
They headed out, Matt taking up his usual position at the rear of the group. Estie and Zeb were already waiting for them, their expressions still a mixture of excitement and disbelief. No one else was nearby; it seemed they were on the edge of the city. On one side, tall buildings, on the other, just ocean. He nudged Jones when he saw a large shape moving in the distance.
Jones squinted at it. "Whale?" he asked quietly.
Matt shrugged. Whatever it was, he hoped it stayed over there.
"Welcome to Ola'we," Estie was saying, and Matt turned his attention back to their hosts.
Estie was friendly enough, if a little bit nervous, but out of the first contact experiences Matt had been a part of that was nothing unusual. She did seem to be a bit starstruck, which also wasn't that strange based on what she'd said about studying Lanteans her whole life. Matt still hadn't gotten used to how the people of this galaxy practically worshiped the Ancients.
Zeb, her assistant, hadn't said a word yet, and from the way he kept looking at them, Matt guessed he was a bit overwhelmed with the entire thing. He could relate. When he'd first learned about aliens, three days before he was thrown on a spaceship headed for another galaxy, it had taken some time to adjust.
They followed Estie and Zeb through an archway that led into the actual city. Up close, it was even more impressive than it had been from their flight in. They walked down a stone pathway lined with iridescent shells and sea glass that created a rainbow mosaic all along the edges. Buildings sprouted up around them like giant boulders, covered in lichens and mosses and ferns and sporting doors of smooth, dark wood. Plants that resembled sea anemones glowed softly in every color, and pink corals peeked out from under them. Matt thought it looked more like some kind of mermaid kingdom than Gungan City.
The place wasn't bustling, per say, but there were plenty of Tal'weans going about their business. All of them shared the same white blonde hair and pale skin that Estie and Zeb had, and the same style of clothing, usually in the same white or light blue coloring, though a few wore shades of yellow, green, or darker blue. They stopped in their tracks to stare as the Lanteans walked past, and Matt resisted the urge to wave snarkily at them.
He tore his eyes away from his surroundings for a minute to glance over the rest of his team. They all looked just as in awe of the place as he was, especially Doctor Parrish, who kept trying to walk away from the procession to get a closer look at the buildings. Major Lorne was on top of it, grabbing his sleeve to pull him back each time he started to drift. Matt chuckled to himself; the major complained about wandering scientists all the time and yet was quite adept at dealing with them.
"Pope," Jones whispered, smacking him hard on the arm.
Matt shot his friend a glare. "What?"
"Check it out." Jones nodded toward a building down one of the pathways branching off the one they were on. The entire building looked like it was one massive tree that put General Sherman to shame, with staircases and windows and doors carved right into the trunk and roots that wound down into the rocks beneath it. Glowing lights drifted up from the leaves like bubbles, orbiting the trunk like fireflies. Okay, so maybe fairy kingdom was a better descriptor.
They turned a corner and another huge building lay before them, the giant one that Matt had spotted from their approach. This one was a conglomeration of corals and trees and rocks all piled together in a way that looked completely natural, and somehow too perfect to not be planned. How had these people made this place? It was remarkable.
"The Administration," Estie said as they approached the large structure. "This had been the center of Tal'wean culture for 10,000 years."
"This has been here for 10,000 years?" Parrish said, awestruck.
Matt had been wondering the same thing. The building looked old, but not that old. How was it still standing?
"Not this exact structure," Estie explained with a smile. "The Administration has gone through many iterations, but has always existed here."
They walked up stone steps worn by thousands of feet and through a coral crusted archway into a large antechamber. The inside of the building may have been more impressive than the outside, the domed ceiling displaying painted mosaics of all manner of sea creatures and distinguished portraits of Tal'weans in various poses. The place reminded Matt of a cathedral.
Colorful pearls lined the walls and the floor, which at first appeared to be marble, seemed to be made of polished shells. Another giant tree grew right in the center of the chamber, giving off more light that lazily drifted around the room to light it. It was unlike anything Matt had ever seen before, and from everyone else's expressions he guessed they felt the same. They all stood slack-jawed for a minute, gazing around the room in awe.
"Estie." A short, round man scurried toward them, panic in his voice. "What are you doing? Who are these you bring with you?"
Matt glanced around the busy room and saw that the bustle of people who had been going about their business had all stopped dead in their tracks to stare at the newcomers. They all wore the same horrified expression as the man who had spoken to them. Talk about uncomfortable.
"Ardlone," Estie said nervously, but she stood tall, raising her chin proudly. "These are Lanteans. I have brought them to meet the Administration."
Ardlone's eyes bugged out and he looked as if he might be sick on the spot. "Y-you... They..." he stuttered for a moment, unable to form words. "They cannot be here!" he eventually spat out.
Lorne shot a subtle glance back at the three soldiers, and Matt gripped his P-90 a little tighter. "We mean you no harm," the major said in his best diplomatic tone. "We came through the Stargate, and would like to discuss the possibility of trading resources and knowledge, if you'll just lead us to whoever is in charge."
At the word Stargate, Ardlone paled considerably, and Matt saw some of the onlookers also grow even more uncomfortable. Ardlone's eyes darted around the room, seeing the expressions of the others, and cleared his throat loudly. "Come with me. Quickly," he ordered, turning and shuffling away stiffly.
Matt exchanged a worried look with Jones. They'd had a lot of weird first encounters before, but this one may have taken the cake. He made sure to pay extra attention to the hair on the back of his neck, already searching for exit routes in case a quick escape was needed.
I know there hasn't been much action yet, but I'd love to know if you're enjoying the story!