Stargate Hastings
Chapter Thirteen: The four great races
Aboard the Mjolnir.
Magni made the connection and was instantly greeted by Odin. "I have been expecting you Magni, what the joined one told you is very interesting". They were in Odin's personal residence and not the high council chambers.
"Yes All father I believe it is, will you be contacting the others or will we dealing with this matter ourselves?". Magni asked him.
"Would you like to join me Magni?". Odin asked his grandson.
Magni did not expect this. Only a select few Asgard even knew, that they were still in contact with the ascended ones. "I would be honoured All father". He said to Odin. Who looked disappointed with his grandson. He turned to his grandson and said. "I have done something unforgivable Magni but I want you to understand, that I truly believe it will be worth it in the end".
Odin knew all the secrets of the Asgard race and even those of the four great races. It was a burden he had carried for so very long now, it was only his sense of duty that carried him forward. The Asgard race was stagnant and unlike the rest of his race, he saw the Replicators as a blessing as much as a curse. The Asgard were unchanging for millennia, until the infestation began. The past eight thousand years were a sort of renaissance for the Asgard race, with great thinkers stepping forward in order to fight the Replicating ones.
Thinkers like Modi, who stepped out of the shadows of their superiors. To devise new tactics against an enemy that was ever adapting. Great minds that not only improved their existing technology but also invented new weapons, in the fight to rid their galaxy of the Replicators. That was the problem, one that would never go away. War was the mother of innovation and Odin no longer knew how he should feel about that. So many had stepped forward, where as before they would have been content to stay in their place. Stagnant then but moving through the ranks now.
The Asgard had a new Supreme Commander, of a new Asgard fleet and that would grow in time and be at the head of a new offensive and the one who even defeated a God. That man could be the key to it all. Odin was the only one of all of his people, that was privy to one particular secret and that secret was about to be well and truly revealed and in time he will even be able to forgive himself. Something he doubted his people ever would, the ascended ones certainly would not.
Then we came to Magni, he would be one of the candidates to replace him and his choice. He only hoped the Asgard race did not decide, that the entire family should be removed from office. If they did not then Magni would be the new All father. Odin moved the runes that would take them to a underground chamber, deep underground.
They would not actually be there, he was still in his residence and Magni was aboard the Mjolnir, in the Milkyway galaxy but only the All father, could authorise any transmission to this replica of the original meeting place, of the four great races. Hmmm great indeed, once great more like. They had made mistakes that effected three galaxies, maybe even more than that. Their history went that far back, even the Ancients themselves had forgotten much of their own history, before ascending. They remembered it all now, that was if they chose to acknowledge their past sins.
When Odin and Magni appeared, they were stood in front of the wall with Asgard runes depicted on it. Anteaus of the Nox, was in the position next to the Nox language. they were waiting for the ascended ones. Anteaus said to Odin. "He came to me as well but I sent him away. I am too old to be brave or is it stupid, I always get those two mixed up. I mean you no disrespect Odin old friend but what is done, is done". Anteaus said cryptically.
Magni did not know what was happening and felt uneasy. He understood the reason he was supposed to be here, that was the revelation of the new kind of joining. Both the Gau'auld and the Humans were the Ancients legacy and something as important as this, they should be consulted about. Only Odin was acting strange and talking about something unforgivable he had done. Now the Nox representative was talking about sending someone away. Magni was confused.
The first of the Ascended ones to arrive was a Furling female, she looked human at first glance but if you looked closer. She had the features of a feline, only they were subtle and made her look far more elegant than any human. Her skin was actually a sandy coloured fur but again you would have to look very closely, to recognise it as such. She was dressed in a style more oriental than any other but without patterns, only plain black. Her arms were uncovered but the rest of her body was completely covered up to her neck. "What have you done Odin?". She asked him.
She then looked to Anteaus and said. "You knew of this but said nothing, why would you do this?". She seemed genuinely hurt by the perceived betrayal.
"It was none of your concern Pangarr, your kind made the rules. We on the lower planes, only expect you to follow them. If one of your kind breaks those rules, who are we to stop them". He said it in the most polite way but even though the Nox were pacifists, they could be cutting with their words. Even those who were ascended seemed young to them and they would seem patronising to even them. Even though those people had ascended, many were still younger than Anteaus, even the older ones.
The Nox had achieved immortality by staying at the precipice of ascension, for longer than even the other two races had considered it, as an actual option. When the Nox had been cured of the hunger, that had driven their race to unthinkable crimes. It had changed them in so many ways. Entire races gone, races that had risen over millions of years, gone. The other races tell the Nox, that it was not their fault but they were not mindless creatures.
They knew what they were doing and the cure did not stop all of them, some of their kind fought on. With the last violent acts of the Nox race, being the deaths of their own kin. To those that were killed. The Nox that made that difficult decision and hunted their own kind down, were traitors. Maybe they were right. Anteaus was too old to care about such things, he only longed to wonder amongst the life on his world and be amazed how everyday, he would see something different and yet comfortingly the same.
Pangarr could not argue with Anteaus, the Furling had indeed made the rules. The Ancients had placed them on the path to ascension but the Furling's had reached it first and set the rules of none interference. The universe was infinite but the Furling's already knew of the Ancients home galaxy and those they had left behind their. So searched for it from a distance and felt their power, so they had shrouded our entire region of space.
Over the millions of years since the first of the Furling's achieved ascension, many have joined their ranks and that had ensured the safety of the lower plains from the Ori. However if their kind were to mess with the lower planes, then that could send up a flare to the Ori. Not certain to but a very real possibility. What these two have allowed to happen, even helped to ensure events proceeded unnoticed by the higher planes.
It was even worse than meddling in the affairs of the lower planes, they had allowed time to be altered and the man who had committed such a heinous crime, would be punished here today. The Ancients representative, was actually the accused and he was unconscious on the floor. They had at least left him his clothes but this one would never be given help to ascend again, not that he would want it. Pangarr thought to herself.
The Ancient who was a human in appearance, on the outside anyway. Started to come around, when he stood up he said. "That is better, that whole being pure energy". He looked over to Pangarr and finished. "It just, really was not me". He then started stretching and cracking his bones.
Pangarr looked furious. "How dare you act as if you have done nothing!". Her eyes that looked almost human, in her anger were definitely feline in nature.
Anteaus spoke up then. "If I understand the situation correctly. When he did what he did, was he not a lower form and there for, beyond your interference?". Magni noticed again, that the Nox seemed to be almost offended by the notion of being deemed, a lower form of life.
Pangarr did not reply, instead she turned to Odin. "You at least understand the seriousness of this?". She asked him.
"Yes, do you?". Odin asked in return.
Pangarr seemed to anger a little. "Do you believe this a joke?". She asked Odin.
Anteaus replied. "Do you believe we are?". He asked Pangarr.
"We are here to stand in judgement over this one, why am I the one on trial?". Pangarr asked, realising the change in purpose of the meeting.
The Ancient was the one who explained for her. "You are not on trial, we have no authority over the higher planes. We are simply pointing out, that your own laws give you no authority here. Time was altered by a being on this plane of existence, not yours. I only used that plane to keep an eye on things, which is not against the rules and those who corrected the course here and there. They were also of this plane of existence". He said with a smug grin on his face.
Anteaus then said to Pangarr. "Go back to your prison, leave those with free will, to live free".
"Why are you speaking like this Anteaus, have we offended you in some way?". Pangarr asked him.
"Your rules offend me but no you and the others have not offended me". Anteaus replied.
"The rules are there for your protection, the danger of interfering with the lower planes is a very real one. You surely must see that?". Pangarr implored.
"I see that the Nox are free and that your kind are not. Maybe you are the lower form of life, relatively speaking?". Magni knew the Nox had a problem with the ascended ones. Anteaus while speaking in a none threatening, serene even tone of voice. Was definitely not pleased with the Furling female.
Anteaus looked over to Magni and said. "They are cowards, young one. They huddle in fear and place restrictions on their own freedom. Many believe the same of the Nox but we are free, free to do as we please and we are brave enough to choose peace. I hope one day for the Asgard to return to their peaceful ways and so do you".
He then looked to Odin at Magni's side. "You have made a excellent choice for your successor Odin but I do not believe he will be needed yet. When they learn of what was to come, they will forgive you. Especially when they learn that the Replicators, are just another mess left behind by the cowards". As he finished the statement. Anteaus turned again to the Furling delegate or to be more precise the ascended delegation.
Pangarr could not believe what she was hearing, they had hidden all of this from them and the tampering with time. He had not just altered the past but had travelled to the future and witnessed what was to come. First a golden age, at least for some. In time factions were made and lines were drawn and war began between the Jaffa and the freed human slaves. The Tauri who were building a golden age for the earth and had begun colonising the former Ancient worlds, had no choice but to choose a side.
Even the Jaffa had split into civil war, with the faction that supported the Tau'ri, branded traitors to their own kind. The new war that started, was not against a predictable enemy like the Gau'auld controlled Jaffa. It was free thinking men and women, against other free thinking individuals. It was a war without end and many other innocent species were caught in the cross fire but that was no excuse for tampering with time. At least as far as the ascended ones were concerned.
"You have all gone insane, the future was not a pretty one but what of millions of years into the future. When there war was finally over, other life would have risen. What gave you the right to deny them their existence?". Pangarr asked all gathered. Magni did not know of the temporal tampering but he had played a role in it. Even if it was an unknowing one. She then turned to the Ancient and asked. "What gave you the right Janus?". With far more disgust in her voice.
With a look that made him seem wounded by the question. Janus replied. "Right? I did not have any right to do what I have done. I had an obligation and as far as those races that will never exist. Time has changed but there is a universe out there, in which I never made the final decision to change everything and that universe will continue on. I just wanted one universe, where one of those who left them in this mess. Was willing to take responsibility and do something about it. What is done, is done. By being here you are now breaking your own rules". Janus scolded her.
Pangarr then said before Vanishing. "I only hope the Ori have not sensed this disturbance, for everyone's sake!".
Janus then said to nobody in particular. "I was more worried about Anubis but we will deal with them as well. When the time is right".
"The Nox will not join your crusade Janus and we will not tolerate any more tampering with time. We aloud this because we agree with you, the ascended ones have washed their hands of the mistakes they have made and others have suffered because of them". Anteaus declared, in the softly spoken manner of the Nox. He then turned to Odin. "It is too soon to reveal this to them Odin my friend. Your people will need stability, now that your war with the Replicators will soon be at an end". He said as he bowed his head.
"Will they understand, when they learn that I have possessed the knowledge to end that war. Since before it began?". Odin asked the members of the now three great races, because the ascended ones were no longer welcome on this plane. They had made that clear enough to Pangarr.
"What is done, is done All father". Magni said to his grandfather.
Janus looked to Anteaus and said to him. "I believe you were correct Anteaus. Magni here will make a fine successor one day". He then said to Odin. "but not yet old friend, we still have much to do. Now be a good fellow and arrange transportation to my ancestral home would you. There is someone there who needs to know it as begun and another I must apologise to. After all it was because of me that he has been in that wheelchair, for all this time". With a flash of light the hidden chamber that was beneath Othala, was empty once more.
