Mystery Solved
Disclaimer: The characters of Stargate Universe belong to MGM. The characters of the Four Orders are entirely my own.
AU/SGU/FO: A powerful being from another universe appears on the Destiny just as Eli's time had run out. Stranded on the ship he has to figure out how to go home and the best way is to help the crew of Destiny.
Season Five – 'Adjustment'
Premise:
The crew of Destiny exited stasis only to discover two new passengers from another universe, which have spent their time fixing the ship. After some deliberations, they choose to keep them onboard as their newest allies.
Not long after, an Ancient seed ship nearly killed them all forcing them to start exploring the reason for that. Some of the discoveries they made shook them to their core and beliefs but much mystery remains. And one of the biggest ones is another powerful being that keeps obstructing Diablo in his quest for the truth.
Unsatisfied with the lack of progress of the SGC, Diablo leaves the ship and returns to the Milky Way Galaxy to dig up the history of the Ancients. Meanwhile on the Destiny life continues as the crew adjusts to the new realities.
Chapter 9
You know sometimes we wonder how we managed to complicate our lives so much when back in the day things were simple. You produce potatoes and he produces tomatoes. He needs your production and you his, so you exchange and that is it. And every other aspect of life had been simple but not today.
If our ancestors figured out that in the future, we are going to invent bureaucracy, they would have remained in the caves. Bureaucracy – damn the idiot that came up with that. One on hand, it can save our livelihood but on the other one, it can drive anyone crazy.
That is how Diablo felt when he started dealing with the SGC and the IOA. It is not that he did not have it back in his home but it was not nearly as annoying. Creating something as simple as an alliance, which was a piece of paper outlining the duties of two sides, it took so long and so much patience that he wondered how he had not vaporized the lot of them.
Of course, the IOA had their scare many times as Diablo had definitely threatened to make their existence a living nightmare and he nearly did several times before remembering that everyone had a job and they had to do it as annoying as it was.
But finally, several weeks later, an agreement had been struck that was satisfactory for both sides. During that time, no one bothered contacting Destiny mostly because Diablo had been very adamant and mostly scary, and the IOA did not want to test his patience more than they already have.
As per the agreement, Diablo now worked in a hangar in Area 51 as it had more space than the cramped rooms in the SGC, although they did offer him an entire floor. The IOA had also expressed their concern of him working in the SGC but agreed on a neutral ground. That way they could keep a closer observation without the constant interference and influence of the SGC and Home World Command. Not that was much of a problem as Diablo did not like much either side.
The SGC had to provide everything they had on the Ancients as Diablo wanted to establish a timeline of their movements in and around the galaxy since they arrived in it. That was a big chunk of time as General O'Neill had pointed out but that did not scare their newest ally. He found it fascinating.
The SGC had ordered Colonel Carter and Dr. Jackson to be present every day so to follow his progress. At some point, Diablo banished both of them as their presence was disruptive and annoying. He allowed them to come once a week. Reluctantly the SGC had to agree besides SG1 had missions to carry out. The threat of the Lucian Alliance has not yet being eliminated so they had their work cut out for them.
Diablo used the time to build his network of satellites over the Earth and in the process of building a base where to store the data collected. He did not trust the SGC and the IOA to be able to keep it safe. He needed a failsafe. He also needed an encrypted communication link with the Ashlar base in Europe. It was an asset he had not yet revealed to his allies as he knew what their reaction would be. But he needed it to operate outside of their purview.
Rebuilding the timeline had proven much more difficult than expected. The data the SGC possessed did not go that far back as he had hoped. They had mostly their movements for the past 10000 years, and that was not nearly enough. However their database contained every gate in the network and that was helpful enough to locate most places the Ancients had visited.
He would then send his assets to check thoroughly the planet. The deep scans provided more data and uncovered many ruins, the SGC had not found as they had examined only the immediate area around the gate. Every such discovery led to many questions and very little answers as nothing had survived the time to tell the story.
Diablo would also send ships of the SGC to study such planets or planetary systems around them, which always led to arguments as to why it is necessary to use their assets in this way, which was very tiring but he started to ignore them. He would only say that it is their contribution to make.
These studies took almost six months. In that period, Diablo managed to learn many things about the Ancients and their habits. In this particular time, General O'Neill came to see how things were progressing as Diablo had started not to submit progress reports and the IOA had been breathing down the general's neck for updates.
"Our agreement stipulates that all discoveries will be shared." O'Neill said.
"I know what the agreement is, General O'Neill." Diablo was tired explaining it every single time. "If only your IOA understood the word Discovery."
"It is something that you find."
"I can find a ten thousand year old turd left by a tyrannosaur that doesn't mean I should mention it because first I have to find out how the damn animal ended up four thousand light years from Earth or did your Ancients like it so much that they decided to transport it there. Discovery takes time as you have to understand the complexity of actions that led to whatever being present wherever. "
General O'Neill had no comment for this. There were times Diablo would use such metaphors and examples that left anyone speechless.
"I still have to give them something as they are breathing down my neck. "
"Well, in that case, you can tell them you found the tyrannosaur's turd and you are examining it to see how it ended up there. That should keep them occupied for a few weeks and off your neck and you out of mine."
O'Neill realized this example was not only for his benefit. There were times he was not sure if Diablo was making a joke or not. But he was not sure how the IOA would interpret this one.
"You have my people flying around Praclarush Taonas. That planet is under lava coverage and while it did house once an Ancient base now it is completely toast."
"That planet, yes, not the ones around it," Diablo replied. "A solar system is not made of only planet, General. Usually it is made of several."
"Carter said most planets were eaten by the sun. So, there are not many left in that system."
"Yes, but she neglected perhaps to mention the rather obvious and cool presence of moons around Taonas. And they are pretty much still mostly intact."
"But the gate was on Taonas."
Diablo sighed deeply. If he had to explain that every time, he would definitely need to demolish something.
"If I have sent your ships to do their duty towards this agreement, general, then there is a reason for it, even if I have yet to share it with you. "
"Well, that is the problem, isn't it? You do not share."
"If I have to explain every single action I undertake we would need several thousand years to do anything. I can understand now why your people move with such slow pace."
"Well, we are not Q."
"Thank the gods for that. Otherwise the universe would be much screwed."
O'Neill was no longer surprised that he understood most of his puns and especially the Trek references. But there were times he thought that Diablo actually meant some of the things he said and that had gotten him very intrigued. Perhaps there was a universe where Trek was not fiction but reality. He wondered what that would be like.
"Ok, so, why Taonas? You think we missed something."
"I think you missed a lot not just something. But we will have an answer to that when your ships return."
O'Neill took a look at the murals that Diablo had built all over the walls of the hangars. They covered the time period of the Ancients arriving to this galaxy until their last encounter with them. There were large chunks of missing periods but that was normal as they knew nothing of these periods. And yet Diablo had managed to fill in some gaps.
Planet Dakara existed in several periods. The last time he let Daniel dig around Dakara was after they had killed one of the priests of the ORI. He had found some other crates and ruins dating several million years back. This led them to believe that the Ancients visited this planet before even Earth.
Diablo had noted that and circled several systems around it but no one had explored them and yet. Perhaps even he did not consider it worth wasting time for it but perhaps there was a different reason for it or he waited for something else before doing that.
Still something did catch the general's eyes and those were several systems on the opposite spiral of the galaxy that he thought they had never visited before. He wondered where he got the idea for those. Or perhaps they were something from his universe that he hoped to find in this one.
He often wondered what it is to find yourself in a completely different universe from your own. He imagined meeting himself that was not a general but an artist or a poet or a scientist. Hello Mr O'Neill – or worse he could have had a completely different name - Hello Mr, Dr or Professor Jake Donovan or whatever. He wondered how weird that meeting would be.
"O'Neill," He snapped out of it.
"What?"
"It would seem someone down the vine wants you." Diablo had opened the door and in the distance he could see Master Sergeant Walter Harriman running towards them. It was both an elating and pathetic sight.
O'Neill went to greet him as Harriman stopped to catch his breath. "Yes, Walter?"
"The Hammond...sir..."
"What?" O'Neill asked.
"We lost contact with the Hammond. They were in the middle of their report when communication cut off."
"Had they completed their survey?" Diablo asked.
"Yes,"
"And?" O'Neill asked.
"What the good general is trying to say, Mst. Sergeant, where were they when they were making their report?"
"They were en route."
"Yes, this is not helpful at all. Let's go to the situation room at the SGC where hopefully we can get a more coherent answer." Diablo said. He offered a hand to O'Neill. "You are going the long way around, Sergeant."
O'Neill did not particularly enjoy this way of travel but it was faster. He put his hand into Diablo's and in a moment they were no longer in the hangar of area 51. He always saw lanes of light merging into one another in a twisted weird way. He always associated that with hyperspace though it was not, and in the next moment they were in the SGC's control room where they had startled many people.
"Now, would someone please tell me where the Hammond was when it was making its report?" Diablo asked.
After the initial shock of their abrupt arrival, a Lieutenant moved and showed them on the map. Diablo had provided the SGC with a map of the galaxy that was more detailed and had more substance so tracking of objects and planets was much easier. It resembled much the holographic one that could be seen when sitting in Atlantis's chair.
Diablo touched that region and expanded it. "Where exactly?"
The Lieutenant showed them again and Diablo only exclaimed – Oh.
"OH? Oh, what?" O'Neill looked at him questioningly.
"Weird space."
"Of course it is ..."
Diablo raised hands defensively. "No, no, you don't get it." He moved to the map and enlarged it. "This area of space is known as Weird Space."
"Oh," O'Neill explained.
"In your universe perhaps, Mr. Diablo."
"Lieutenant Nash, isn't it?"
"Yes,"
"Whether it is my universe or yours or another one is completely and utterly irrelevant. Weird space exists in every universe in exactly the same place."
"What is Weird Space?"
"Ah," Diablo exclaimed. "Well, um, imagine it as the playground of the Gods."
"Well, we have dealt with the gods..." O'Neill was saying.
Diablo interrupted him. "No, no, empty your heads of all notions of gods that you have – Goa'uld, Ancients, Nox, ORI, Q and the Silver City, and imagine for one tiny moment, the greater universes were created by the Primordial Gods, and yes, I do say gods plural, the universe is after all balance.
So, the First Ones, the gods that exist outside of their creations in a dimension, we call Zero, have left a space within each universe where they, how should I put it, thinker. They dabble in ideas, some for future universes, and some for changes in existing ones.
These areas are neither good nor bad. They are just..."
"Weird?" O'Neill said.
"Yes," Diablo nodded. "How I should explain so you can understand? Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. "
"How does this help?"
"Weird Space is an area where the laws of physics are not in the exact same way that you know or understand. "
"That's not helpful at all. How do we get our people out? "
"We don't."
"We don't? There must be something that can be done. Can't you go and get them?"
"No,"
"Why not?"
Diablo sighed deeply. "Look, I can go there but what I will experience will be different from what they are experiencing now. Everything depends on what you take with you."
"Like Luke taking the light sabre in the Cave of Darkness?" Nash exclaimed.
"What?" O'Neill asked not getting the reference.
"Um, yeah, something like that," Diablo nodded. "O'Neill, the Hammond is on a journey I can't follow, no one can. Imagine it as a personal path. As much as people want to follow you on your personal journey they can't because it is yours and yours alone. They will emerge eventually."
"Which is when?"
"I have no idea. Their journey is linked an nth number of factors over which neither I nor anyone else has control over. A military ship entered weird space with military personnel and guns and other physical shit while communicating with you, and all the emotional baggage that they were feeling at the time. How long – no one can tell – not even the creators of weird space. "
"That's not very reassuring or helpful."
"I know. But see it this way. They can learn something about the Ancients while they are in there. Now, whether they are going to remember or not, remains a mystery. But if their course is true they might."
"You are the king of the bloody universe and you can't do anything about it?"
"O'Neill, I keep telling you that there is only one power in the universe that is absolute and that is the universe, nature. No one can overturn a decision made by nature. Not you, not me, not the gods, not the creators, no one.
If the universe has decided that this or that must happen then it will, and nothing can change that. See it as fixed point in time. A fixed point can't be overturned, can't be changed, and can't be altered. It is absolute.
So, relax, they will come out eventually."
"In how many pieces?"
"Weird space is not a bad place or a good one. So far, no one has died in it."
"As far as you know and in your universe."
"Lt. Nash, it doesn't matter in which universe you are – weird space is the same everywhere. It is not designed to kill or remove or maim or whatever. It is a test ground. Everything that enters weird space leaves it in exactly the same way it was before it entered it. So relax."
"Easy for you to say, " O'Neill exclaimed. "How long could it take?"
"From zero to eternity,"
"WHAT?"
"Anyway, do you have their report?" He turned to Lt. Nash.
"Yeah, yep, I do."
"Oh, good, then send it to my hangar as soon as possible."
"Diablo, and my people, they are not important?"
"On the contrary, they are and they have done a good job but their predicament is beyond your help or mine. So, we just wait."
"That's just great."
"You are not abandoning them. They are just experiencing something so rare so exquisite that it could potentially be life changing. I keep telling you, the universe is strange, and weird, and the perfect place to live. It has so many mysteries, so much to explore that our tiny human minds can't even begin to fathom. Let them be. They will be back. "And with that Diablo returned to the hangar.
He received the transmission containing the Hammond's report and delved into it. He was certain their efforts were not for nothing. The universe always presents this weirdness at a time of need.
And it so happened to be true as the information uncovered by the Hammond was indeed valuable. Diablo was right to look for the moons of Taonas. They had located several stone pillars on four of the moons. Each bore symbols of the Ancients though not ones they have seen before. They seemed almost rudimentary.
"This looks promising." Diablo exclaimed. "Extrapolate and put them into the 3D model."
He was talking of course to his AI, Avatar. As the new data poured in, the model got populated with images of the pillars. One by one they were nothing remarkable but put together they nearly formed a coherent picture.
"It is a puzzle."Avatar remarked.
"Yes, rotate them. Let's see what we can build."
After running all possible computations, Avatar stopped at a picture. "Is that saying..."
Diablo smiled victoriously. "Yes, it does. Praclarush Eternas."
"Go to love the ingenuity of these Ancients."
"Locate it."
The map appeared. It shifted from Taonas to another solar system located several hundred light years away.
"Is the Apollo nearby?"
"Yes, it is."
"Have them go there and scan everything."
"Colonel Ellis will be overjoyed."
Diablo ignored the sarcastic remark. Colonel Ellis was more the military straight up guy in the ranks of the SGC's ships but even he disliked being given orders by an AI. However as per the agreement, he had to put up with it.
He knew that the good colonel will do what is necessary. He was one of the few that did not complain with the work although he would often point out that his ship is a military asset not a scientific one.
Several days later, the Apollo provided their report. It contained much interesting information and in particular the link Diablo was looking for.
"That's it!" Diablo was very happy. Finally, he got a piece of the puzzle he was missing. The Ancients had several planets devoted to project Destiny. Planet Eternas contained detailed accounts of the Ancients' movements in the sector. The planet itself also served as a sort of hub for the storage of the AI coding.
"Apparently, our Ancient friends calculated the life expectancy of the solar system just in case things went pear shaped."
"They miscalculated only Taonas." Avatar shared.
"I don't think so." Diablo disagreed. "Taonas itself perhaps but not the moons. These pillars were placed on four different moons each of which is relatively intact."
"Yeah, but the picture only works with all of them."
"Not true." Diablo shifted the picture made of the pillars and Avatar noticed something peculiar. "Each pillar contains a piece of the grand puzzle but in each pillar you have the same information but hidden within the stone itself. You need certain conditions in order to see it."
"Smart bunch,"
"Yes, that was a bright idea. Not sure, if it comes from our Ancient friends."
"So, these four heralds thing,"
"I think it more than possible. "
"Do we need to raise Destiny?"
"Yes, I think it is time. We need them to confirm a few things. Destiny's AI will have more memory about certain aspects of the past that we would. And with Viz, I can make other comparisons outside of our allies' purview."
"Let's hope he's not gone native."
"Very funny," Diablo said but got a bad feeling about this. Avatar's timing sometimes sucked but mostly because it turned out to be true. He sometimes thought the damn thing could link with the AI's heaven.
Contact with Destiny was made as per his request. The SGC had nearly forgotten about them as they were busy with the alliance, following around Diablo and sending ships on searches galaxy wide.
Camille Wray and Dr. Volker came back to the SGC to report of recent activities on the ship and explain themselves when they were participating in the deception that Diablo was still onboard. Colonel Carter had had the hardest time when Diablo appeared out of nowhere and announced that for the past 2 years they have not spoken at all.
They were then escorted to Area 51 where they can inform Diablo of everything that has happened. They were impressed with Diablo's progress for such short amount of time and granted him that it was a good idea for him to be here. It was also very surprising how quickly he had managed to reach Earth. Luck had been on his side though he did mentioned that there is no such thing as luck.
Then as the explanations went on, Camille touched the subject of the many marriages that have happened – Eli and Ginn, Scott and Chloe, Rush and Mandy, and then...
"HE DID WHAT?" Diablo exclaimed with a rapidly rising thunderous voice as Camille told him of Sgt. James and Viz.
She and Volker instinctively stepped back. Dale looked up and noticed the rapid forming of thunderous clouds all around them. Just as he thought that was an illusion, lightning crossed the clouds and a deafening thunder hit the ground around them quickly melting the asphalt and leaving small crater.
Diablo was out of his skin. What has this idiotic transdimensional being done? That was bad, very bad. The implications and complications of this union had put a wrench in many of his plans but also of his shared existence with Viz. And with every passing moment, he was on edge of going ballistic.
"Isn't that wonderful – a marriage, a coupling..."Avatar exclaimed happily.
"Are you short-circuiting?" Diablo asked making even the hologram retreat. He then turned to the already startled and spooked Camille and Dale. "Get that IDIOT and Colonel Young, here NOW!"
"How would Viz get here?" Dale asked.
"Oh, you need only to find a body of a recently deceased person or one who is brain dead but recently so, relatively." Avatar replied.
"Relatively?
"Yes, a day or two,"
"NOW!" Diablo's thunderous voice reminded everyone of his rapidly deteriorating mood.
Camille and Dale returned to the vehicle that had brought them while dodging some nasty bolts of pure lightning that torched the ground around them. It reminded Dale of some historic cannonade.
"Well that went well, all things considered. "Camille said somewhat cheerfully.
"Yeah, that depends on how you see someone going quite literally ballistic." Dale observed.
Back at the hangar, Diablo was observing the two until they vanished out of sight and then turned to Avatar.
"You and your damn timing,"
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