RILEY:
I watched in surprise as three humans walked towards the gate. Or at least they looked human, but they were wearing some kind of uniform that I had never seen before. I stayed hidden in the scrub, but I glanced at Mia by my side. They couldn't see us, but if they knew we were here, it wouldn't be that hard to find us. This was the only bit of scrub in the area.
One of the humans soon turned and began walking in our direction. They knew we were here. I cursed softly under my breath and hoped they were friendly. One of the men stopped about two meters from where we were hiding. He was tall and broad shouldered, with tanned skin and dark hair. He had a tattoo over his left eye.
"My name is Commander Chakotay." He called out, in a deep voice. "From the USS Voyager. We are explorers and we mean you no harm."
I said nothing and nobody moved. There was another man standing just behind the Commander. His hair looked almost blond in the light of the twin suns, the second of which was just beginning to rise. He wore the same uniform as the Commander, of a black suit with a strip of dark red across the shoulders.
On the Commander's other side was a tall woman. Her hair was blond and tied tightly back from a stunning face. Her figure was accentuated by the figure hugging clothes she wore. It was some sort of body suit I guess. I also noticed she had some kind of implant above her left eye and on her left hand.
When she spoke, it was calmly and efficiently. "They are hiding from us. But they are there."
"Please." The Commander said. "I only want to help you."
I looked at Mia, and then back where Daniel was looking after the Colonel, who was still unconscious. I took a deep breath and then stood up. Because of the heat, I had taken off my jacket and T-shirt a long time ago, and only wore my bra under the vest we always carried. I held my gun out in front of me, keeping it trained on the Commander. I trusted Mia to guard the others while I talked.
I saw the Commander look faintly surprised when he saw me. I knew my braided hair had come loose and it was sticking to me from all the sweat, and my arm sheaths were visible too. The man behind him grinned a little. The woman never batted an eyelid, as she glanced at me, and then down at the device in her hand.
"Who the hell are you?" I demanded.
"Their weapons and clothing suggest they are not from our time." The woman said from behind him. "As does her speech. I believe this woman is from somewhere within the late 20th century."
I didn't move. I kept the gun trained at the man's chest. I wanted some answers and I wanted them now. "Who are you?" I repeated.
"Commander Chakotay of the USS Voyager." He said. "This is Lieutenant Tom Paris, and Seven of Nine."
"USS Voyager?" I said. "Where is it?"
"Voyager is a starship. She's currently orbiting the planet."
I had expected something like this when I had heard the name. I didn't bother thinking about the implecations of humans having starships and exploring space, but the idea of a starship wasn't new to me. I'd been in motherships before. The Commander looked slightly surprised at my lack of reaction, but he didn't do anything else.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"Lieutenant Colonel Josephine Riley of the United States Air Force."
"Where are the others?" he asked. "Are they still here?"
"Yes." I said. "What do you want?"
"To help you." Chakotay said. "And to learn about how you got here."
"How I got here?" I echoed. Then I closed my eyes as inspiration hit. They wanted to know about the gate, and how it worked. It struck me then, that while they believed we were from their past, we couldn't be because they didn't know about the network of stargates. While we probably could have hidden the two on Earth, I doubt these explorers could have ignored the ones they found on all the planets near Earth.
"Wormholes. You want to know about wormholes." I said finally.
I let go of the gun, and it slid down so it was hanging across my chest. I looked back at Commander Chakotay and felt tiredness. I just wanted to go home again. I looked down at the Colonel and met Daniel's worried eyes. I took a deep breath. "Alright." I said. "You give us some medical attention and some supplies, and I'll tell you everything I know about wormholes and the 'gate."
"The gate?" Chakotay asked.
"The stargate." I said. Then at his confused look, I pointed at the gate behind him. "That."
"Done." he said, nodding.
He tapped a small device on his clothes. At first I thought it was some kind of radio, and then I realised that it was a communication device. "Captain, I request permission to bring the humans on board." He said.
"Where are they from?" A female voice asked.
"Seven says they come from around the late 20th century."
"What?" The woman said, sounding surprised. Then she sighed. "I'll beam the doctor down, but I can't let them on board a warp ship, Chakotay. You know that."
"If I may interrupt, Captain." The blond woman said. "But I do not believe we would be in violation of the Prime Directive. These humans are not from our reality. I believe they are from another dimension, and we therefore do not risk contaminating our own timeline."
I raised my eyebrow at that. It was what I was thinking, but because of the way she said it, I thought the woman might have had some experiences with inter dimensional travelling herself.
"Are you sure, Seven?" The Captain asked.
"Of course." She replied.
"Very well. Permission granted."
A moment later, I felt an almost familiar tingling sensation, almost like the one I felt when I was used the ring transporter - and the next thing I knew, I was standing in a cool metal room with a surprised human in the room. My gun was in my hand before I could think about it, and I whirled on the Commander. "What the hell was that?" I snapped.
"We just beamed you to our starship." Chakotay said. "You are now on Voyager."
"It would be wise to warn us of the fact, next time, Commander." Mia said as she straightened. "It would reduce your chances of serious physical harm, due to surprising armed fighters."
Chakotay raised an eyebrow. "My apologies." He said.
"Commander, I must protest at this intrusion!" the man in the room said. "I, too, would like to be told before you beam four complete strangers into my sickbay!"
The man was shorter than the Commander, and wore a green stripe across his shoulders instead of a red one. I looked around the room, and noticed the beds and equipment. It did appear to be a sickbay. "Are you a Doctor?" Daniel asked him.
"I most certainly am - "
Daniel cut him off. "This man here has a severe concussion and took a blast to the shoulder. I think it's broken."
The man seemed to get angry at that. "I am the Doctor here, thank you, and I will diagnose the patients!"
"Then hurry up." I said coldly.
He looked at me, and looked as if her would argue, but something stopped him. "Mr. Paris, help me get him up onto one of the beds."
It didn't take long, but after standing over the Colonel with a small device in his hand, the Doctor had treated the shoulder wound, and his concussion - as well as the dehydration. He turned to the rest of us, and was just finishing when a petite woman walked into the room.
She had shoulder length dark red hair, and the air of arrogance that comes with the knowledge that all your orders will be obeyed. Jack had the same arrogance, as did I. All commanders did. He uniform was the same as the Commanders, and she was accompanied by a tall dark skinned man, who wore a yellow strip across his shoulders. I raised an eyebrow when I saw his pointed ears.
'Welcome to my ship, the Voyager. My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway." She said.
I slipped off the bed I was sitting on, and nodded. "My name is Lieutenant Colonel Josephine Riley, of the United States Air Force." I said. "These are my team mates Dr. Daniel Jackson, Mia Mor'anth, and the man on the bed is our CO, Colonel Jack O'Neill."
Janeway nodded. "This is Lieutenant Commander Tuvok." She said, motioning to the man beside her.
"Greetings." He said.
At that moment Jack groaned and we all turned towards him. "Sir?" I said.
He groaned again, before his eyes flickered open. "Did we do it?" he asked, his voice raw and gravely.
"Yes, sir." I said. "The temple was destroyed and the other teams were on cleanup duty when we left."
"Good." He said. Then he frowned. "Where's the Doc?"
"I am right here, and I must say you are lucky to be alive after . . . "
Jack turned and glared at me. "Riley, report." He said. "Starting with, where the hell we are!"
As Jack sat up, Daniel glanced at me, but I shook my head. It was my decision, and I would take the consequences. "We are on a starship called the USS Voyager, sir." I said. "As far as I can tell, it is manned almost entirely by humans."
Jack shot me a final glare, and then looked about the room. Before he could say anything, the Captain stepped forward. "My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway." She said. "Of the United Federation of Planets, of which Earth is a member."
"This is Commander Chakotay, my first officer, and the man who helped you get off that planet." She said, motioning to Chakotay.
"What planet?" Jack asked.
"There was a jolt while we were travelling through the wormhole, Jack." Daniel said. "So we didn't end up on Earth like we should have."
"Where are we?"
"I don't know."
The Captain broke in. "I will be happy to provide you with information." She continued her introductions. "This is Seven of Nine, Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, Lieutenant Tom Paris and the Doctor." She said, motioning to each person in turn.
"My name is Colonel Jack O'Neill." Jack said.
Janeway nodded. "Yes, your Lieutenant Colonel introduced us."
Then Janeway frowned. "You also mentioned a temple that you had blown up. May I ask, what that is?"
"We're at war, Captain. The temple was one of our enemy's strongholds. We destroyed it." Jack's tone was completely empty as he explained.
"At war with whom?" Janeway asked. There was a curious look on her face, and I realised she thought that Earth and its countries were still fighting with each other. We still were, I guess, but that was not the enemy we meant. "It's not what you think, Captain." I said. "We're not fighting humans, we're fighting monsters."
The Captain still frowned at us, and I could see she was getting angry. She still didn't understand. "Is that truly what they are, or just what you would like to believe?" she asked.
I felt my own temper flaring. "Yes, they are truly monsters. And they are not human." I snapped. "They are symbiotes that take control of a human as a host. Snakes that hide that person's conscious away, so they cannot control their body, but a forced to watch while the symbiote does horrible and unspeakable things to others. They are monsters who are fighting us, because we can provide them with more hosts. We are fighting for our freedom, Captain, against a race that wants to enslave us, and exterminate all those who oppose them!"
But the time I had finished, the Captain had lost the angry gleam in her eyes. "I am sorry. I was biased by history and did not give you a chance." Then she looked at Jack. "Perhaps we should both sit down and explain how we both ended up here."
Jack just nodded.
I watched in surprise as three humans walked towards the gate. Or at least they looked human, but they were wearing some kind of uniform that I had never seen before. I stayed hidden in the scrub, but I glanced at Mia by my side. They couldn't see us, but if they knew we were here, it wouldn't be that hard to find us. This was the only bit of scrub in the area.
One of the humans soon turned and began walking in our direction. They knew we were here. I cursed softly under my breath and hoped they were friendly. One of the men stopped about two meters from where we were hiding. He was tall and broad shouldered, with tanned skin and dark hair. He had a tattoo over his left eye.
"My name is Commander Chakotay." He called out, in a deep voice. "From the USS Voyager. We are explorers and we mean you no harm."
I said nothing and nobody moved. There was another man standing just behind the Commander. His hair looked almost blond in the light of the twin suns, the second of which was just beginning to rise. He wore the same uniform as the Commander, of a black suit with a strip of dark red across the shoulders.
On the Commander's other side was a tall woman. Her hair was blond and tied tightly back from a stunning face. Her figure was accentuated by the figure hugging clothes she wore. It was some sort of body suit I guess. I also noticed she had some kind of implant above her left eye and on her left hand.
When she spoke, it was calmly and efficiently. "They are hiding from us. But they are there."
"Please." The Commander said. "I only want to help you."
I looked at Mia, and then back where Daniel was looking after the Colonel, who was still unconscious. I took a deep breath and then stood up. Because of the heat, I had taken off my jacket and T-shirt a long time ago, and only wore my bra under the vest we always carried. I held my gun out in front of me, keeping it trained on the Commander. I trusted Mia to guard the others while I talked.
I saw the Commander look faintly surprised when he saw me. I knew my braided hair had come loose and it was sticking to me from all the sweat, and my arm sheaths were visible too. The man behind him grinned a little. The woman never batted an eyelid, as she glanced at me, and then down at the device in her hand.
"Who the hell are you?" I demanded.
"Their weapons and clothing suggest they are not from our time." The woman said from behind him. "As does her speech. I believe this woman is from somewhere within the late 20th century."
I didn't move. I kept the gun trained at the man's chest. I wanted some answers and I wanted them now. "Who are you?" I repeated.
"Commander Chakotay of the USS Voyager." He said. "This is Lieutenant Tom Paris, and Seven of Nine."
"USS Voyager?" I said. "Where is it?"
"Voyager is a starship. She's currently orbiting the planet."
I had expected something like this when I had heard the name. I didn't bother thinking about the implecations of humans having starships and exploring space, but the idea of a starship wasn't new to me. I'd been in motherships before. The Commander looked slightly surprised at my lack of reaction, but he didn't do anything else.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"Lieutenant Colonel Josephine Riley of the United States Air Force."
"Where are the others?" he asked. "Are they still here?"
"Yes." I said. "What do you want?"
"To help you." Chakotay said. "And to learn about how you got here."
"How I got here?" I echoed. Then I closed my eyes as inspiration hit. They wanted to know about the gate, and how it worked. It struck me then, that while they believed we were from their past, we couldn't be because they didn't know about the network of stargates. While we probably could have hidden the two on Earth, I doubt these explorers could have ignored the ones they found on all the planets near Earth.
"Wormholes. You want to know about wormholes." I said finally.
I let go of the gun, and it slid down so it was hanging across my chest. I looked back at Commander Chakotay and felt tiredness. I just wanted to go home again. I looked down at the Colonel and met Daniel's worried eyes. I took a deep breath. "Alright." I said. "You give us some medical attention and some supplies, and I'll tell you everything I know about wormholes and the 'gate."
"The gate?" Chakotay asked.
"The stargate." I said. Then at his confused look, I pointed at the gate behind him. "That."
"Done." he said, nodding.
He tapped a small device on his clothes. At first I thought it was some kind of radio, and then I realised that it was a communication device. "Captain, I request permission to bring the humans on board." He said.
"Where are they from?" A female voice asked.
"Seven says they come from around the late 20th century."
"What?" The woman said, sounding surprised. Then she sighed. "I'll beam the doctor down, but I can't let them on board a warp ship, Chakotay. You know that."
"If I may interrupt, Captain." The blond woman said. "But I do not believe we would be in violation of the Prime Directive. These humans are not from our reality. I believe they are from another dimension, and we therefore do not risk contaminating our own timeline."
I raised my eyebrow at that. It was what I was thinking, but because of the way she said it, I thought the woman might have had some experiences with inter dimensional travelling herself.
"Are you sure, Seven?" The Captain asked.
"Of course." She replied.
"Very well. Permission granted."
A moment later, I felt an almost familiar tingling sensation, almost like the one I felt when I was used the ring transporter - and the next thing I knew, I was standing in a cool metal room with a surprised human in the room. My gun was in my hand before I could think about it, and I whirled on the Commander. "What the hell was that?" I snapped.
"We just beamed you to our starship." Chakotay said. "You are now on Voyager."
"It would be wise to warn us of the fact, next time, Commander." Mia said as she straightened. "It would reduce your chances of serious physical harm, due to surprising armed fighters."
Chakotay raised an eyebrow. "My apologies." He said.
"Commander, I must protest at this intrusion!" the man in the room said. "I, too, would like to be told before you beam four complete strangers into my sickbay!"
The man was shorter than the Commander, and wore a green stripe across his shoulders instead of a red one. I looked around the room, and noticed the beds and equipment. It did appear to be a sickbay. "Are you a Doctor?" Daniel asked him.
"I most certainly am - "
Daniel cut him off. "This man here has a severe concussion and took a blast to the shoulder. I think it's broken."
The man seemed to get angry at that. "I am the Doctor here, thank you, and I will diagnose the patients!"
"Then hurry up." I said coldly.
He looked at me, and looked as if her would argue, but something stopped him. "Mr. Paris, help me get him up onto one of the beds."
It didn't take long, but after standing over the Colonel with a small device in his hand, the Doctor had treated the shoulder wound, and his concussion - as well as the dehydration. He turned to the rest of us, and was just finishing when a petite woman walked into the room.
She had shoulder length dark red hair, and the air of arrogance that comes with the knowledge that all your orders will be obeyed. Jack had the same arrogance, as did I. All commanders did. He uniform was the same as the Commanders, and she was accompanied by a tall dark skinned man, who wore a yellow strip across his shoulders. I raised an eyebrow when I saw his pointed ears.
'Welcome to my ship, the Voyager. My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway." She said.
I slipped off the bed I was sitting on, and nodded. "My name is Lieutenant Colonel Josephine Riley, of the United States Air Force." I said. "These are my team mates Dr. Daniel Jackson, Mia Mor'anth, and the man on the bed is our CO, Colonel Jack O'Neill."
Janeway nodded. "This is Lieutenant Commander Tuvok." She said, motioning to the man beside her.
"Greetings." He said.
At that moment Jack groaned and we all turned towards him. "Sir?" I said.
He groaned again, before his eyes flickered open. "Did we do it?" he asked, his voice raw and gravely.
"Yes, sir." I said. "The temple was destroyed and the other teams were on cleanup duty when we left."
"Good." He said. Then he frowned. "Where's the Doc?"
"I am right here, and I must say you are lucky to be alive after . . . "
Jack turned and glared at me. "Riley, report." He said. "Starting with, where the hell we are!"
As Jack sat up, Daniel glanced at me, but I shook my head. It was my decision, and I would take the consequences. "We are on a starship called the USS Voyager, sir." I said. "As far as I can tell, it is manned almost entirely by humans."
Jack shot me a final glare, and then looked about the room. Before he could say anything, the Captain stepped forward. "My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway." She said. "Of the United Federation of Planets, of which Earth is a member."
"This is Commander Chakotay, my first officer, and the man who helped you get off that planet." She said, motioning to Chakotay.
"What planet?" Jack asked.
"There was a jolt while we were travelling through the wormhole, Jack." Daniel said. "So we didn't end up on Earth like we should have."
"Where are we?"
"I don't know."
The Captain broke in. "I will be happy to provide you with information." She continued her introductions. "This is Seven of Nine, Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, Lieutenant Tom Paris and the Doctor." She said, motioning to each person in turn.
"My name is Colonel Jack O'Neill." Jack said.
Janeway nodded. "Yes, your Lieutenant Colonel introduced us."
Then Janeway frowned. "You also mentioned a temple that you had blown up. May I ask, what that is?"
"We're at war, Captain. The temple was one of our enemy's strongholds. We destroyed it." Jack's tone was completely empty as he explained.
"At war with whom?" Janeway asked. There was a curious look on her face, and I realised she thought that Earth and its countries were still fighting with each other. We still were, I guess, but that was not the enemy we meant. "It's not what you think, Captain." I said. "We're not fighting humans, we're fighting monsters."
The Captain still frowned at us, and I could see she was getting angry. She still didn't understand. "Is that truly what they are, or just what you would like to believe?" she asked.
I felt my own temper flaring. "Yes, they are truly monsters. And they are not human." I snapped. "They are symbiotes that take control of a human as a host. Snakes that hide that person's conscious away, so they cannot control their body, but a forced to watch while the symbiote does horrible and unspeakable things to others. They are monsters who are fighting us, because we can provide them with more hosts. We are fighting for our freedom, Captain, against a race that wants to enslave us, and exterminate all those who oppose them!"
But the time I had finished, the Captain had lost the angry gleam in her eyes. "I am sorry. I was biased by history and did not give you a chance." Then she looked at Jack. "Perhaps we should both sit down and explain how we both ended up here."
Jack just nodded.