Stargate Hastings

Chapter Six: Abydos

Stargate chamber, Abydos.

Donald McCain had been waiting a long time for this moment, he would finally know whether the symbols he had found in the Abydonian's secret cave, would make the connection to Earth. He had gone against his own common sense and married a woman here, that had lead to a child and there was no way, orders or not that he was going to let his son grow up a slave. Meera his wife, was the daughter of Hassif the man who had taken him in, when he had found him staggering over the crest of a dune in the middle of the desert. He had not been the helpless idiot he had made himself out to be, to the man who had "rescued" him but had really been watching the man for two days, before setting his little drama into action.

On the day of his arrival on Abydos, he had spent the first day scouting out his temporary new home. His orders, if he did not meet any resistance on his arrival. Were to ensure that the pedestal on the other sides symbols matched the one back on Earth. Of which all but one of the symbols had. The symbol that he was told had to be inputted last of the seven, before pushing the button in the centre of the pedestal that would activate the Stargate, was the one that was different. Instead of a single circle above the triangle, there were three circles above it and they had lines connecting the top circle to the two lower circles.

When he had been taken to the secret place, that few Abydonians even knew about and found the symbols he hoped would get him home. There were six symbols that had survived the ravages of time, when he had found the stone pillar that they were depicted on. The bottom symbol, that had broken off and faded with time. Was luckily the one he already knew, the one that was unique to this worlds device. He just needed his luck to hold out a little longer.

He could have made the connection and gone home as soon as he found the symbols in the cave but Mr Hastings was right. The more he learned of these aliens that claimed to be gods, the more he knew how important their mission was. So he had waited until five minutes, before the time he expected Earth to make the connection and now was the moment of truth. He pressed the symbols required, then closed his eyes and pressed the centre button to activate the Stargate.

Gate room Earth.

Jim looked at the three other people about to step into the unknown with him and wondered what the hell he was getting himself in to. He trusted the people at his side. Rachael was vital to the mission, she had studied the archives for years before her cousin had become the head of the family and risked everything by approaching Queen Victoria. She knew everything about the aliens, that the Hastings family had found down the years and was fluent in several languages. Her father had been the man who had set out the mission parameters. Jim had not had to change any of them and the boy knew his role and would play it well, he was sure.

It was the fact he was actually going to go to another planet. He should be exited by the prospect but he only felt a fear nestling in the back of his mind. They were in the gate room checking their gear, getting ready for the Stargate to be activated. They each had ten small bottles of water that were in hidden pockets, stitched into their desert robes. Each bottle if rationed, would give them a days worth of water but with someone on the other side, they may not have need of the rationing. They also had a tent that was designed to withstand heavy sandstorms, with the adults carrying two each of the telescopic pieces. That when combined with the tarpaulin the boy was carrying in a small rucksack on his back, that lay flat enough to go unnoticed under the rough spun desert clothes that Donald had described in his halfway mission report, they could erect in under two minutes working together.

The adults each had weapons that could easily be concealed. The old man had what looked like a staff to help him walk but was in truth a broadsword once the very convincing wood effect sheaf was removed. Both Rachael and himself had chosen daggers has their weapons of choice, being easier to conceal and with no firearms being taken with them, to make it seem that they were more primitive than they actually were, in case they were captured. The hope was if they did not deem them a threat, then they would not expend to much effort trying to find the world they came from.

There were still five minutes left until they left, so the Stargate suddenly coming to life and a very loud bell ringing, followed by others that were further away from the one they could hear. Woke them all into action, Jim ushered Tom behind one of the stone barricades sat well back from the gate and was pleased to see his team had followed his lead. The door that could be closed in the hope of stopping anything from rematerializing on this end of the gate, was in the closed position. They had planned to test if the steel door would be destroyed, by the vortex of energy the Stargate expelled. On an out going or as yet unknown, incoming activation.

They knew that nothing could return back through the gate from the other end, because of the tests Donald had performed on his arrival and had a team standing by with a new door. If Rachael's hypothesis that the vortex would have the same problem as matter, which she had also made the assumption would not materialise on this end, proved false. When the door stayed intact Rachael jumped up and said "Yes I knew it!" a little too enthusiastically.

As he looked around at the sound of her voice, Jim noticed that the gate room was suddenly full of soldiers, all carrying the weapons Robert had demonstrated to him in the weeks leading up to now. Rifles that had a stock cartridge, that held fifteen high calibre bullets allowing the soldier to keep firing without having to reload each time. The Lee-Metford rifle was the closest he had seen to these guns but they only carried eight rounds and had nowhere near the stopping power of these monsters. Maybe it was not as relaxed around here as it seemed, he thought to himself impressed with the efficiency of the men.

Up on the command level Richard Hastings, awaited the confirmation that it was Donald who had activated the Stargate from Abydos and not the aliens, who they had no intention of actually interacting with yet. Jacob had been promoted to his chief aid, now that his uncle would be otherwise engaged and would be at his side more than anyone else from now on. It was he who bought the confirmation from the radio station, that was around the right hand corner of the balcony. He approached Richard and reported "It's McCain sir. Op is a go. Need to return. Will explain. Standing by." He finished his report then asked "What response should I tell them to give him sir?".

Richard knew he could not say no but he did not like this change in the mission or the fact McCain had taken it upon himself, to make that change. "Have the men informed in the gate room to be ready if anything hostile comes through but tell them they are to assume that it is a friendly and tell our friend in the pedestal chamber to be ready, in case the worse case scenario happens. When I give the signal for them to open the shield, tell him to come home".

"Yes sir". Jacob replied before heading off to do his lord and commanders bidding.

Once he saw Jacob back in position, ready to have the signal sent. He placed a cone shaped megaphone to his mouth and shouted "Open the shield!".

Once the shield door was opened fully by the guards stationed to that duty, he heard Jacob give the "Send transmission!" order. What he witnessed next made him want to get out of his wheelchair, jump over the stone bannister down into the gate room and strangle the man. He couldn't keep it in his britches, he should have known he wouldn't be able to keep it in his britches. Richard thought to himself. Before he could start screaming orders to get the man up here ten seconds ago, he saw him place the baby he was holding in his arms, into the hands of James and start heading in the direction of the heavily guarded stairwell, that lead up to the command level. Richard turned to Jacob, who was now standing back at his side and said "Tell everyone to stand down once the shield is closed and find out the reaction times of our men. It will be interesting to see how they fared, on their first off world activation".

It took a few minutes for Donald McCain to arrive through the maze that separated the gate room from the command level. A very deadly maze, if ever a hostile enemy made it that far. When he did arrive he had a smile on his face, that annoyed the hell out of the commander of the operation, he had just put at risk. "Why are you smiling McCain?". He had usually kept it formal with the members of the fledgling Stargate operation, they were trying to build but maybe James was right, a proper command structure would have to be established now off world operations, were actually happening. They had the symbols they needed to return home, which meant any future missions would be planned with that in mind.

Donald stopped in his tracks, he had expected him to be unhappy about the change in plans but in truth, nothing had changed except the fact he was here now. Then he remembered his wife and son down in the gate room. "I'm sorry sir but my relationship with the girl did help my mission in many ways. I just couldn't let me son or me wife, live as slaves man and what if we have to fight are way out of there. It'll be easier without a wee burn with us sir". Just then Rachael and Jim, who was holding a six months or so old baby in his arms, walked onto the command level with Meera in tow.

"What do you want me to do with them?". Richard said while nodding his head in the direction of Donald's wife, who was taking the baby from James.

"Well I was wandering if that... friend of yours Kate could take care of her, I'm sure Rach wouldn'e mind if she stayed at her place with the baby. She's not going to be using it for a few months and Meera can speak ok English, she can teach your brains her language. That's not without mentioning the Intel she can give you and oh I nearly forgot". He placed the bag he had carried in with him, put it on the floor and kneeled down to open it.

When he stood back up he had a black stone in his hand, when Richard saw what it was, his face lit up. On closer inspection he could see that the black stone was just a thin layer over the exposed mineral, that the main part of the mission was focused on. "You are forgiven and the Lady Katlyn will of course help your wife settle into the cottage". He looked to Rachael "That is if you have no objections". She indicated that she didn't.

Donald then asked, "Well there is one more thing sir, could you have me mother bought down from Edinburgh, to stay with Meera please sir? and the lady Katelyn ah, it's about bloody time. A blind man could see that wee lassie was devoted to ya. Congratulations Mr Hastings sir". He said, with his Scottish accent more pronounced than usual, in his excitement.

"Congratulations to yourself". He turned his attention to the shy girl, trying her best to hide behind her baby and added, "and the beautiful young lady now stood before us, I am sure your child will bring you both, many blessings".

Donald began translating but his wife stopped him and said, in broken but very good English "No, I un der staand him, you I not under staand, Don ul". She then said in her own language "He tell me that I am beautiful and that our son is a blessing".

Donald replied to her in the same language she had used "He said our son will bring us blessings".

"It is the same THING!" She replied in perfect English, obviously learning the phrase from how many times she must have gotten frustrated. Trying to learn a complicated and contradictory at times language like English. From a man who many would say, could barely speak the language himself.

He could understand it fine but understanding a Scotsman could be a difficult task for their own countrymen at times. The fact she had come this far, was probably more a testament to the girls own aptitude. Than that of her teacher and from the sounds of them conversing in the girls tongue, she had, had far more success in teaching him. Richard decided that she may well be a more important find in the short term, than the bag of the mineral he had returned with.

"Yes of course, I will have your mother bought here immediately to be with her new daughter and grandchild. I am sure your bride will be a great help to our cause".

Meera then started talking very quickly in her own tongue to Donald. They went back and forth for a moment, then Donald turned back to Richard and said "She wanted to know what cause meant sir, then when I explained. She wanted to know what our, cause is?".

Richard decided that what he was about to say was the truth and in order for her to work with them freely. Hope would be a very good motivator "Please translate for me word for word, what I am saying". He indicated to Donald that he had already begun, when he translated what he had just asked him to do for him. He continued "Our goal, is to liberate all of our kind that were stolen from this world, in the forgotten past". He waited between each sentence so Donald Could translate for his wife. "They were stolen from this world by the false God Ra and the others of his kind. If you can help with this, by teaching us your tongue and that which you know about our enemies. We hope to one day, cast down the false gods that have enslaved your people".

In perfect English she said "I will help you, free my people".

The smile on her face, told him he had used the right tactic to ensure her cooperation. "Your husband needs to leave now, my wife will take care of you. Until your new mother arrives".

Donald finished the translation and she nodded, then gave her husband a kiss, when he told her that Jacob would escort her to the mansion and tentatively left with him and their son. The now five person team, after Donald had finished a quick debrief of all the things Meera could not tell them. Headed back to the gate room, to await the activation of the magical portal to another world, a world called Abydos.