Chapter 1- Explanations

Hyperspace-On transit to the Eridani System

Lieutenant Commander Wellings, first officer of the Endeavour, was studying the local area of space, it seemed that the Tau'ri didn't really know much about their backyard. Unlike most of the crew, she wasn't from the British Commonwealth, she was American. She formerly served as the weapons officer of the Prometheus when Davis first joined the Tau'ri Navy. She wondered why a RSS was given a XO position of an American ship, he wasn't even British in the first place! But over the period of time she served under him, she learned he was an able officer, and more then enough to have command of any ship in the Tau'ri. It took some fiddling on his behalf to let her join the Officer exchange program on such short notice but then aga….

"Sir we're picking up hyperspace activity in Eridani!" announced the Ops station, cutting the commanders thoughts off.

"How much?" The Captain asked

"A lot, they're is quite a bit of in system traffic as well, none match Goa'uld or Cylon energy signatures, or anything else we've seen for that matter."

"So it's a first contact situation then, better make best impression possible." He replied

"I'm also picking up weapons fire from two distinct sources, I think it's a major fleet engagement." Reported the Lieutenant at Ops

Davis grimaced slightly, "Noted, how far we from the system?" he asked navigation

"2 more minutes until we're within range of the battle." Replied Lieutenant Hunter.

"Okay then" he sighed softly before pushing a random button on his console " All hands this is the Captain speaking, looks like our shake-down cruise has turned into a combat trial , some have previously served under me, some have not, but I trust everyone of you to live up to the expectations of your captain and ship, you were picked because you were the best in your fields, and now we get to test those skills, live up to those expectations to the best of your abilities and you'll survive to see tomorrow, captain out." He said into the inter-ship communications "as soon as we exit hyperspace, I want shields up and weapons ready." Davis ordered.

The tactical officer nodded "Aye sir"

Eridani System, Aschen Mothership Orbit over Eridani 2

The commander stood silently, watching as his ships were pouring more destruction onto the primitive ships that were once welcomed as brothers to his people, they felt no remorse as their ships were gutted and disintegrated into nothingness, for their friendship was of a time that seemed so long ago. That friendship began with the push that these people gave to the Aschen needed to reach their place in this galaxy, but that was nearly a millennium ago, and apparently people change in time. Eons ago the Aschen were a slave people to the goa'uld, taken from earth nearly 6 thousand years ago, it was not until 1500 years ago, when a single ship of highly unusual design, entered orbit and engaged the Ha'tak guarding the world that they first knew of salvation. The battle was a short one as it soon appeared that the alien vessel could not beat the Ha'tak let alone defend itself against the goa'uld Mothership, so they did a desperate maneuver, they rammed their ship into the Ha'tak, while the survivors evacuated to the surface and melded in with the Aschen people. While the home world did not have a stargate for the sheer luck that it was moved onto the Ha'tak mere days before the engagement, there was still a significant number of jaffa occupying the world, and with their god taken away from them, they turned their rage on the Aschen people. But the alien people began secretly aiding his own, covertly taking their world back using strange and magical devices that were as powerful if not more then the Jaffas, soon a world wide war was fought between the Aschen and the jaffa, through overwhelming numbers the resistance took back their world. The people who aided were a long sort after mystery, they gave cryptic answer to their existence and culture, as they believed by this act that helped his world had poisoned its development way out of hand, and his people had sort to correct it, it was not till years long past that they informed the Aschen of their true name, they were known as the Vulcans.

Apparently they were one of the few people not tainted by the goa'uld, only recently exiting a civil war that devastated their home world and surrounding colonies. Only through careful rebuilding that could have taken thousands of years be complete, did they once again reach out to the stars. For the losers of said war, were disgusted at the teaching of Surak, and left to find a new world to inhabit, stealing the few remaining ships the Vulcans had. But that was nearly a century ago, and they once again began looking to the stars in hopes of finding new life and worlds to explore. The ship that had engaged the goa'uld was on such a mission and as they came across the Aschen system, they were shocked, or as shocked as an emotionless race could be. Immediately they came to the aid of his people, and in doing so doomed themselves live among the Aschen.

But by doing this they adapted and soon melded the two societies into one, the relatively small populations of both people became one through breeding with one another. After nearly one thousand years they developed into what they are now, the emotionless logical people that have developed at a pace that soon that lead them to space travel in but a few centuries. It was not long until they made contact with their precursors, and discovered that little physical resemblance remained, though they still both followed the same paths of Surak, and the two species lived in relative harmony.

However the Aschen became arrogant as they grew in power, they believed that younger species could be manipulated to benefit their own species. They went through vigorous studies of medical science to achieve this goal. The Vulcan's disagreed with this, to put it lightly, and severed all ties with the Aschen. That was over 400 years ago. By then the Aschen Confederation grew to 30 'member' worlds, and were almost successful in gaining control of the Terran homeworld if not for the their studying of Volian history, and undermining their plot. Even so with their offering of stargate addresses his people hoped to expand at a rate faster then ever, but discovered something so powerful that not even they could stop it. The Aschen system was now engulfed in a black hole, with 4 billion people trapped in its effect that would take years for the planet to be truly destroyed, only the few actual Aschen colony worlds and starship crews escaped the horrible fate. They would not let this action go without vengeance, a retribution that would devastate the people known as the Tau'ri.

Despite the lack of diplomatic relations, the Aschen continued to watch over the Vulcan people, and watch them slowly fall behind the Aschen in terms of technology, military and space. This led them to believe they could be easily conquered if that ever needed to happen, and now they did. The Vulcan's, sensing the weakness of the Aschen once their home world was taken out of the equation, began a campaign to destroy the systems under Aschen protection, but they did not realize how ineffective their weapons were against Aschen shielding, and soon the war was turned into a defensive one for them. The now Supreme Leader Molum ordered the remaining fleet to engage Vulcan Prime and then to engage the world called Earth and make sure they suffer for what they did to his people.

"Commander Gerol, hyperspace signature detected by long range radar, they'll be here in 30 seconds." The navigation officer reported calmly.

"Is it Aschen or Vulcan?"

"Neither, the speed is much faster then anything we could achieve, it also seems to have goa'uld technology, as well as another more advanced kind, nothing that matches our database."

Interesting, I had not anticipated that their were any space faring races other then the Aschen, Vulcans or Andorians, it is highly unlikely that this is a coincidence, it seems our ancestors have friends after all. Gerol thought to himself "An unknown threat, most likely an ally of the Vulcan's, but we shall establish first contact procedures as we always have." The commander ordered

"Yes sir, they're exiting hyperspace now." The vortex appeared amongst the battle of Eridani, as the Endeavour charged in with full weapons and shields charged.