I don't own Space 1999, or Stargate.
Please let me know what you think.
Odyssey.
Water.
Life on board the Odyssey soon began to fall into a routine for the Alphans. While the ship itself was only a few decades more advanced than anything they were currently familiar with - relatively and universally speaking - there were enough similarities for them to get around, and the technical crews had quickly studied their new ship's alien technology to understand enough of how to maintain it all.
While the remaining Eagles were being maintained, in the bay where the hydroponic garden had been set up, everyone went about their business growing the fruits and vegetables needed for the crew, and helping in the generation of oxygen.
Engineering kept a watch on the Asgard hyperdrive, consulting with the holograms of the Asgard people to make sure it was in top condition for the long-haul flight to Earth.
In the meantime, the technical crews were busy examining the Asgard computer core. Their exploration was extremely basic. They did not have the resources yet to make any real experiments. But after what they had discovered about the various technologies, such as the Stargates, they really were looking forward to the challenges ahead. The knowledge of the Stargates and the wormhole networks they linked worlds with across entire galaxies in a vast web was enticing since it meant they could make aspects of star travel a thing of the past.
The technical crew knew that the Asgard database was full of incredible knowledge. Mathematical secrets, scientific knowledge that predated humanity by thousands of years, and centuries of experience and wisdom were contained in the database.
But at the moment, Commander Koenig and Professor Bergman were only interested in using the database to study some aspects of Asgard and even a bit of Ancient science so when it came to arriving on Earth, everyone would be prepared to teach it to everyone else.
The alien ship recovered from the SHADO base had also become a source for investigation and study. The alien secrets had been scraped by the scientists in SHADO's employ before they were given to space exploration organisations, which gave rise to more economical spacecraft, which led to the revitalised space exploration age Koenig and others had enjoyed before the disaster with Breakaway. But Koenig's people couldn't devote too much of their time to studying it, and they left it.
Odyssey had been travelling through hyperspace for a while now as they passed through the void between the galaxies. When they arrived in the galaxies, they would begin taking course corrections - the Asgard had many star charts from different galaxies, but their sphere of knowledge and influence was limited and while they had sent a few of their ships and probes on long-range voyages to make it easier for the Odyssey's computer to get an accurate enough fix on their location, the Alphans were busy counting down the days before their return to Earth.
In the meantime, the Alphan crew began relaxing and becoming intimate and having sex with one another. Space and supplies had been at a premium in Moonbase Alpha, and any newborn children would have caused a further drain on already scarce resources, which was one of the reasons why Operation Exodus was so important. But since everyone was so sure they had a chance of returning home, the rules had been relaxed.
Commander Koenig couldn't say anything.
He was pleased and happy the woman he loved and wanted to settle down with was with him, he was sure they would soon find a new home. They were drawing closer and closer to the Milky Way all the time.
Koenig was just amazed that the moon had been catapulted so far into the universe. They had passed through several phenomena, space warps and wormholes, but he was relieved they could return to the Solar system so relatively quickly.
Odyssey dropped out of hyperspace in the new galaxy after travelling in the conduit for a further 7 days. The last two galaxies had been just jumps through the galaxies while the navigational sensors got their course corrections. They had arrived in the galaxies and then they had left once the navigational arrays had gotten them a decent enough fix before they could return to hyperspace.
But this time they had to make a couple of stopovers.
"We've dropped out of hyperspace near the planet, now Commander," Stewart, the day's duty pilot reported.
"Good," Koenig replied as he stepped forward to get a closer look at the planet they were here to investigate. The HUD showed a world of mashes and water, with oceans before he realised that the same oceans were in fact giant lakes. When they had arrived in this galaxy only a few hours before, Koenig had ordered a check for worlds with water nearby, and this was at the top of the list. He had been informed a few days ago that the water supply on the Odyssey was going down and they needed to replenish it.
"Take us into a high orbit," Koenig ordered, happy he was able to give orders that would let them stay in orbit for a long period of time instead of being subjected to the laws of gravity.
"Yes sir."
"Kano," Koenig went to the Kano on the bridge, and it was David this time around. "Scan that planet's water. Run the readings through the Asgard database, and see if there is anything harmful in the water for us."
"Right," Kano turned to get to work.
Pulling out his comlock, Koenig sent a message to Alan Carter in Eagle 1. "Alan, we're in orbit of a marshy planet. Are you prepared for immediate lift-off?"
On the small screen of the comlock, Alan's face was squeezed to fit in. "Yes, Commander we are. The recon teams have just gotten on board. We're waiting for the word."
"Okay, we'll send you when we have the scan results. Kano's checking Odyssey's computers now," Koenig replied.
"Okay, Commander," Alan replied.
As if on cue Kano came through with his report. "Alan, we're sending you the coordinates of the water sources which have the best potential supplies of water. The Asgard database registers a number of different poisons down there."
"Yeah, we've got them," Alan replied a moment later.
"Take your time getting the water into the ship using the transporters and into the secondary water tanks. Try to collect as much as you can. I want us to be more self-sufficient for a while yet," Koenig ordered.
Alan nodded. Privately he wondered how others would feel about that, but decided it didn't matter. "Understood, Commander."
Koenig turned to Kano. "Clear the assigned Eagles for launch."
"Right, Commander," Kano replied.
X
From the hanger decks, the small cluster of Eagles left the Odyssey and travelled down to the planet below. Passing through the decompression forcefield, a product of Asgard technology which was so incredibly useful, the Eagles could pass through into space while the workers and technicians in the bays carried on with their duties.
As the mission leader, Alan didn't bother relating the plan to the others until they were heading for the planet's surface. "There are several clean sources of water on this planet," he was saying over the radio to the other Eagles, "we'll be testing the water, and we'll both pump the water into tanks stored on the Eagles and transport the water into the tanks on the Odyssey. We're gonna try and get two-three times more water this time than we did on the dinosaur planet."
"What about the rest of the water?"
"Kano told me there are several different types of poison in the water. What those poisons are, we don't know. But we have the locations for the best water sources available. We're going to split up. Matt, you, me and Hilary, we'll take the northern hemisphere, Walter, Kit, Clara, you take the southern. Keep in constant contact with the ship," Alan said. "Is that okay with everyone?" He added.
"No problems here."
"I'm okay with that."
"Me too. But are we the only ones who are going down?"
"No," Alan replied. "Another group will leave as soon as we return with the water tanks stored on our ships. We need a supply of water that will last for a while. All of us have a doctor or a nurse or a scientist who can run the appropriate deep-range tests on the water sources we find, but we need a lot of water so we won't run out for some time. At the same time, the Odyssey's sensors detected weeds very much like phodex and other high-nutrient plants. We're to sample some of them and see if they can be added to our collection. Right, we're going down."
X
On the Odyssey bridge, Koenig was going through the star charts the Asgard had on this galaxy when Sandra reported, "Commander, the first Eagle squad has left the planet."
"How much water was transported onboard Odyssey, Sandra?"
"Several thousand gallons. The Eagles are loaded down with water and several phodex-like plants."
Koenig considered. "Keep transporting the water onboard into the tanks, Sandra. We need to be sufficient until we return to the Milky Way. Send the next Eagle squadron down to the planet and tell them to continue as before. Their commanders have already been briefed."
"Understood."
X
When the Eagles returned, the Odyssey was made ready to once more jump into hyperspace, to continue their journey to the Milky Way. Commander Koenig was standing on the bridge overseeing the preparations when Dr Russell and Professor Bergman walked onto the bridge.
"Uh oh, I know this is going to be bad news. Is it the water? Is there something wrong with it?" Koenig asked when he saw their expressions.
"Oh no, it's nothing like that," Victor replied. "It's our air supply that's the problem. The CO2 scrubbers are playing up."
"How badly? And aren't the hydroponic section supposed to mitigate this?" Koenig asked.
"They do, but the CO2 scrubbers add a nice advantage to the life support systems of the ship, and as for how badly…they were pretty badly degraded when the Odyssey was found. It was mostly down to the age of the system."
"We need to find lime," Helena said. "Hopefully lots of it."
"How come we're only hearing about it now?"
"Because we've just checked. Maintenance found one of the scrubbers was failing, and they checked the others over the last few hours."
"If we had lime, we could repair the scrubbers," Helena added.
"I wish they told me about this," Koenig groaned. He had hoped after the water problem that they would just fly through the remaining galaxies and get Simmonds off of his back. Fortunately, the Commissioner had found other things to occupy himself with, but if they had any more stopovers then he might cause future issues for them. But this was still serious.
Turning to Alan, who was manning the helm station, he said, "Take us to the next star system, Alan. Kano, when we get there, scan for lime for the CO2 scrubbers."
Both men had overheard what Helena and Victor had said, and they got to work. Koenig turned to Victor and Helena. "Check with the rest of the supplies, see if we're badly in need of anything new," he ordered.
"Right, but John, we're bound to have several more stopovers like this," Victor pointed out.
Koenig knew his old friend and mentor was right.