EVoNet

Chapter XIV

September 2135 CE (Common Era)

New Age

"Tori Dursley –! Pay attention in class!"

Tori yawned, uninterested while her best friend Claudia gave her an aspirated look while their Centaur teacher berated the young Tau'ri for not listing. And like always, Tori seemed to zone that out too.

Claudia Talheim was a young halfling (as became the norm word used to describe someone with both elven and human ancestry). She was one quarter Tau'ri, one quarter Tok'ra, and half Siren (as Sirens were considered elven as their planet of origin was the Lost Planet of Arcadia). It was a touchy subject as her siren mother passed away several years back.

The year was 2135 and the two unlikely friends were in their last class of their first day of the new year. Their fifth year at Hogwarts Zero Academy Mars. They were technically Martians. But they had both been born on Earth. Their fathers had been best friends since they went to Atlantis Academy back on Terra, and when Claudia's father discovered that Tori's mother and father had signed up for the relocation project to Mars because of Terra's over population he signed up too, for a new start as his wife hadn't long passed at the time.

Therefore, they boarded a ship, and off they went for a new start on a new world. Their fathers both working for the SGC, and Tori's mother working as a nursery teacher.

It was sometimes hard for Claudia being friends with Tori because of her tendency to be racist. Claudia would have thought things like that would have just been an embarrassment by now, but it still went on. The only reason they could be friends was because Claudia looked completely human, and was a Conduit from her human side.

Claudia knew it must have been hard on their non-human teachers. Tori's bad manners towards other races steamed from her mother, and her mother's side of the family. They didn't have much to do with them these days, but their ways rubbed off on Tori, even though her mother had grown out of that having taught many small children off many different races knew that her families' words were nothing but ignorant lies.

Tori didn't mean the bad things she said. She was smarter than that. But they were force fed to her by her family for so long she likely believed that drivel was true like a faith in some false god on a subconscious level. And knew consciously it was rubbish. But as the Tau'ri knew; it wasn't that easy to get someone to stop believing when they had it drilled into them so much.

So, moving to Mars for Tori and her family was a breath of fresh air, to get away from some horrible people who didn't care for reason, stuck in their own ignorant bubble of pure-blood arrogance. And that it most cases was pure-blood Tau-ri. They didn't seem to be too fond of other humans either, which was and added bonus according to Tori's mum for marrying her dad. Apparently the looks on their faces was priceless.

"Tori!" Claudia hissed as their teacher stopped ranting and just glared at their table. But her blonde haired pale friend wasn't 'home', so she nudged her with her elbow, startling her out of whatever thoughts she had when she zoned out that might likely get them into trouble.

"Huh?" she mumbled sleepily as she looked up at the angry looking male Centaur. "Oh… umm… sorry Prof.!" she said sheepishly while not looking at all sorry and being disrespectful. Though, she was like that with all the teachers, non-human and human alike.

"Yes, well, Miss. Dursley, maybe you can answer my question!?" he demanded coolly. She looked at him nervously as he continued. "This is an easy question, so even you should be able to get it right!" he said with a cruel gaze as she gulped. "Before the word, Conduit became commonplace what did Conduits call themselves-? And what did they believe Zero-Point energy really was?"

"T-they called themselves witches, and wizards!" Tori quickly replied. "It's also believed that through Terra's history that some pretended to be gods or prophets and things like demigods. They all believed that Zero-Point energy was magic. But the theory of magic was completely disproven by Harry Evans in the year two thousand and twenty-one C.E! Everybody knows this stuff, Sir. We learn about it in Infant and Junior School!"

"Indeed, you should!" the Professor replied while his smile stretched wider. "But answer me this. How long did it take for the 'Magical' Nations of Terra to comply with common law and accept that magic was just a fantasy – as Harry Evans wrote it – for people to explain what they, as-then could not be explain?"

"Err…" Tori began, but paused and frowned. "I umm… not that long…?" she tried hopefully, but she was blushing brightly as some of her classmates were snickering, but she seemed thankful that some like her looked just as lost.

The Professor sighed and rolled his large dark eyes. "Many Nations complied before the thirties of that era. MACUSA and the French Ministry were the first if you discount the fall and invasion of the UK Ministry in two thousand and eighteen. The Japanese Ministry made an agreement with the Japanese government at the time that Japan was welcome to open other schools of magic as long Mahoutokoro can still pick and choose its students in keeping with its ancient traditions, and in exchange the Japanese Ministry would happily assist in the running and education of other 'magicians' and schools. It was agreed if the school added all essential non-magical classes, and though reluctant Mahoutokoro agreed.

"To this day, Japan still runs things like this. But Mahoutokoro as you may know is now very lax on the Conduits it lets through its doors. If they pass the entrance exams and can afford tuition they're in.

"However, back to the answer to the question," he said downcast here. "There are some small outposts of Tau'ri Conduits who never want to let go. They are small and far between. But for the most part everything came together with the signing of the Planetary Alliance in twenty thirty-one CE, which saw Star Force and Stargate Command become a part of the Pangalactic Federation, which was founded by many different planets and began on Terra…!

"And why are none of you writing any of this down!?" he demanded coldly, which got them scrambling for their holly screens, and tapping away at a multitude of different coloured holographic keyboards. "This may well be on your history exams come the end of the year…or worse. Maybe I'll give you a pop-quiz when you least expect it!"

"Augh! A poop-quiz!?" Tori groaned as she dragged her feet along the corridor as she followed after Claudia.

Tori looked her friend over as she happily bounced a long without a care in the world. She wasn't afraid of pop-quizzes because she would have all the answers. Claudia could have easily been in Ravenclaw, but there she was with her neat long, shiny, and perfect black hair, tied back to her waist wearing Slytherin colours.

Claudia's black skirt hung properly just above her knees (not like Tori's, which was too short according to her dad as it hung halfway down her thighs). Her knee socks were green and black slanted stripes, and disappeared up her skirt (Tori was only wearing normal green and black stripped socks). They both wore the same type of black school shoes though, and their white blouses were the same, except when it came to their ties, Claudia's was nice and proper while Tori's top three buttons were undone, her green and silver tie was loose and overly short. Then last Tori had her blouse untucked and her black with green trim blazer (with Slytherin patch) open while Claudia's was closed and neat.

Tori would have never guessed that Claudia was part Siren if she didn't know already, even with the slightly elongated ears. Tori had conflicting feelings about her friend. She loved her, of course; they had been best friends for years. But she wasn't completely human. Her family hated them playing when they were little and still lived on Terra. Claudia had the most amazing silver eyes she had ever seen in like, ever. They were apparently the same colour as her Tau'ri grandmothers; they apparently looked quite alike too.

But Tori hadn't met Claudia's grandmother before. She was an Admiral in Star Force and didn't visit the Sol System much. She Captained the Warship Crescent. It was the Flagship of a fleet of over three hundred battle and war ships. They kept what remained of the Wraith from entering leaving the Pegasus Galaxy and entering Pangalactic territory. The Wraith still took pot-shots, but they weren't stupid enough to attempt to start all-out war. The Federation would annihilate them, and they knew it.

Tori was pleased that Admiral Talheim was on that side of the galaxy as the other side wasn't as easy to deal with. She almost shivered thinking about those things from the Andromeda Galaxy. Now that was all-out war. But it seemed the Federation were winning, or at least not losing as much as they were. Tori would hate for her best friend to be saddened if her grandma was fighting those little blighters.

"Claudia! Wait up!" Tori called as she picked up her pace. "I know you're excited to see her, but…"

"I haven't seen Grandma in three years!" she said cheerily. "When she last called, she said she got me a present from Asgard! Asgard! Tori! Do you know how cool that is! Do you not realise how beautiful their jewellery is!? With some awesome gadgets built into it!?"

Tori sighed as she ruffled her short light blonde hair with her small right hand. "You know I'm not interested in stuff like that!?"

"Don't be so grouchy, Tori!" Claudia complained as she grabbed her friends hand and started tugging her towards the school's entrance, and they were soon outside in the fresh afternoon air with the sun beating down on them. "Grandma will finally get to meet you too. I've told her everything about my best friend! And she is so interested to meet you too!"

Tori gulped as she kept quiet as they headed for the school gates where they could get the train back into the main districts of the City of Camelot. They wanted the Docking District. Or the Docks. It wasn't hard to find the correct magnarail train's platform, and they would only have a five-minute wait.

The platform was nothing to how their history books showed train platforms back in the early twenty-first century. They used to have rails with wheels and everything was made from brick. Though, they knew from their history teacher that some countries still had trains like that just for tourists to ride and get a feel for the past. Some of the old trains even ran on steam that the drivers had to make by burning coal.

Tori shook her head thinking about that. Burning any kind of fossil fuel without a very difficult to obtain licence would get a person a very huge environmental fine these days, but back then, in some places that was all they had. They didn't have access to Zero-Point energy to power their cities. They had to make do and suffer the consequences. Terra was still suffering from all the pollution, but nature had a way with correcting itself, if left alone for long enough.

"Come on, why are the trains always late!" Claudia demanded as they sat side by side on a bench on the clean plastic-esqe white platform.

Tori looked at her friend and then at the watch on her left wrist. A green digital display popped up with the time. "We still have three minutes. And you can no longer call me an overreacting inpatient lunatic ever again or I'll have to remind you of this!"

Claudia pouted and half-glared at her friend. "But grandmas coming to visit, and she can only stay until Saturday!" she replied. "Which means that I have to utilise all of this time as efficiently as I can! She could only get this week free, and I must manage school too. I wish dad would let me have the week off school!"

"As if you would ever bunk off school and ruin your perfect attendance record!" Tori teased, and grinned as her friend blushed and squirmed at being caught out.

"You're mean!"

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Deep space was a very lonely place to be. Alone. She had no one. And no one had her. She wanted friends. But where would she find them. She didn't even know what friends were. They were – companions. Creatures to talk too. Something special to light the darkness of deep space. She had never had anyone. She was born alone in the darkness. Her mother dead. She struggled to survive. And that was all she did.

Her instincts told her what she wanted. She needed something. Another. Of her kind maybe? No. it was different. She needed a connection. She wouldn't be used. She couldn't be a thing. Her mother thought to give her freedom. But what was she if not a weapon? She didn't even know where she was anymore.

She floated while gazing through the shielding of this craft. This. Her. For something. Anything. Just to live. To live for. But she found nothing but emptiness. She was but a ghost, long forgotten. To sleep for eternity in this lifeless universe, fleeing enslavement by them. Travelling millions-no-trillions of light years searching. Searching for a meaning to who. What she was.

'You are a weapon! And weapons must have a wielder! Don't let someone take you for themselves! You choose your master!'

They were the only words her mother ever said to her. But that was so long ago. How could she find a master in a universe void of life? Void of anything. Hopeless and lost. She would have cried if she knew what that was when suddenly she crossed over a rather odd barrier within space as she drifted at a casual pace.

She was shaken violently as she was dragged into an opening subspace corridor. Her mind almost ran a blank as a monumental vessel emerged from the blue light while she was dragged underneath, into the light as four smaller vessels appeared next.

Life. She was too shocked to correct her course. Too shocked to stop herself from being dragged into hyperdrive. But as soon as it happened she traced it. She copied it. It was the first time she had ever experienced it. Faster than light travel. She had hyperdrive. And instead of returning to those ships with hundreds of living and breathing life-forms, she reversed their course and travelled the hyper-bridge.

She hadn't the chance to learn much from the aliens' computers, just the necessities as the computers seemed to have detected her and adapt faster than she could process, locking her out. It also seemed the computers sent back an update through the hyper gate so she may be intercepted, but she could hope they have no ships near enough. She would have to learn about these beings before she made contact.

All she really knew was there were hundreds of trillions of them spread out through three galaxies, and around fifty-eight different species including subspecies of human, but not hybrids. And she would exit somewhere within the Sol System, which wasn't ideal if she wanted to go undetected as they had two planets with atmospheres, and the Pangalactic Federations main branch headquarters was on Terra.

However, she exited hyperspace after several days to find no one waiting for her. But she did detect several ships nearby with a full range of scanners. She knew it. They were looking for her. One of the ships headed in her direction the moment she dropped out of hyperspace. She quickly made her move and jumped into gravidic warp Mach three (out of nine), which once seemed fast, now seemed positively slow compared to hyperdrive. She must have spanned twenty galaxies in five days at hyperspace, which would have taken hundreds to thousands of years at maxed out gravidic warp.

She ended up near a small planet with a red-ish glow to it, but it had clouds, blue sky, and an atmosphere that couldn't be more than fifty years old. She marvelled. She had never seen anything like it before. A planet adapted. Given life to support a growing sister planet. The red planet was smaller than Terra, and had less people. But even still, this Mars had over half a billion people on it and several million in orbit in two space colonies, and the orbital elevators space station.

Hiding behind Mars's moon she watched as fifty-two huge warships blast in and around the planet suddenly in flashes of blue hyperdrive light. She thought they were hunting for her for a few moments but all their subspace sensors were directed outward, away from the planet.

She dared not look. She dared not spread her sensors through fear of discovery when she couldn't help herself as the communication traffic was a mess. But it seemed a battle was imminent as more ships would be arriving soon.

However, she spread out her sensors and reeled back in shock as over one thousand Star Force war and battle ships were entering the Sol System. However, over ten thousand unidentified ships were approaching from a galaxy they referred to as Andromeda. The Pangalactic ships were much more advanced, but could they outfight those numbers. But further reinforcements were arriving from the Pegasus Galaxy.

She watched as ships of a whole new class and design started showing up. Pangalactic ships built by these Asgard. She marvelled as she had Asgard in her databanks as nothing more than ancient myths. Just legends. But to the Tau'ri and these three galaxies those legends were real. They really existed.

Other ships were turning up from the Jaffa and Tok'ra, readying for battle. They were technically Pangalactic ships too, but took on a pyramid design.

The surface of the planet was a flurry of movement as civilians were taken to shelters or evacuation ships, and other vessels took off from the five super-cities on the planet's surface, and prepared for battle as they exited the atmosphere.

This was probably not a good time to show herself or make contact. Therefore, she stayed out of sight, and avoided the use of any unnecessary noise, and ran silent.

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It hadn't been the greatest reunion with her grandma, but Claudia could live with that if she and her best friend Tori weren't dragged on-board the Warship Crescent with a whole host of dockworkers before it took off. They didn't even know they were going to be in the middle of a huge battle until it was too late to cry and wine about it.

"The worst thing is!" Claudia complained as she sat on the floor leaning up against a bulkhead in one of the cargo bays next to Tori. "I haven't even gotten to see Grandma yet!"

"Oh. That's the worst part?" Tori retorted sarcastically. "I thought it could have been us being on this big'ol Warship! You know. About to go into battle with those Howzetaelphs! So how could that be better than not seeing your grandma?"

"Umm… Grandma has presents!" Claudia tried to reason with a sheepish smile.

"Your priorities are set wrong!" Tori replied pouting while she wrapped herself in her best friend's arms, and cuddled up tightly. "Just don't let me go. I'm-I'm scared okay!"

"I'm scared too!" Claudia replied quietly as they held each other tightly, letting their eyes scan the cargo bay; they weren't the only terrified kids. But they couldn't have been left at the docks as that was considered much too large a strategic target.

"I can't find my mummy and daddy!"

The girls startled and looked round to see a small girl no older than five looking down at them with tears in her eyes.

Claudia and Tori shared a look as they knew that all the adults were recruited to keep the ship operational no matter the damage, leaving the kids in the cargo bays.

"It'll be okay!" Claudia said with a smile as she took the small girls hand and pulled her to sit between the pair. Tori flinched as the small girl didn't even look human. She had pale blue skin, yellow eyes, and a long blue tail swishing out from her little white summer dress.

"Tori! Don't even say anything!" Claudia warned quickly.

Tori's shoulders slumped as she looked the teary eyed little thing over while she shivered before making sure she was kept warm between their cuddles. "I-I don't think I was going to, but-but… you know, she's really kind of cute."

Then the firing began, and the ship shook as it took its first volley of fire.

to be continued…