2100 Hours, July 3, 2183 (Systems Alliance Calendar)
Hawking Eta, Terminus Systems, Milky Way Galaxy
The Hawking Eta was a relatively uninhabited sector of space. As was the case with many of the Terminus systems, its wealth lay in the abundance of resources and archeological curiosities it held in the planets and asteroid belts. Other than a handful of mining operations, mercenary bases, and scientific expeditions the small region of systems in the Hawking Eta were not exactly teeming with life. It was a surprise then to find a frigate sized vessel streaking across the star-lit background.
The ship was blocky and ugly; its body a rough T-shape. There were various shades of red and orange that seemed to indicate rust damage all over its hull. Large chunks of plating were missing, and exposed wiring and internal components could be seen in the holes. There were two sets of engines at the rear of the ship with four propulsion ports on each, though only five were operational. All in all, the ship was a mess that seemed to be on its last legs.
As the ship darted across the empty sea around it, a large apple-colored gas giant in the far distance, streaks of light bolted past it faster than one could blink. The ship in turn began to twist and turn as best as it could as more of the projectiles came up behind it. Such movements seemed to put great strain on the already damaged ship as chunks of hull plating came flying off it and disappearing into the darkness behind it. Coming up fast behind the small ship were three others. These were in much better condition the ship they were pursuing, though not by much. And clearly designed with combat in mind based on the protruding cannons and weapon placements around their hulls. They darted after the small ship with relentless aggression, firing their weapons all the way as they attempted to shoot it down.
Inside the small vessel's bridge, located near the very front of the spinal section, two figures sat in chairs in front of a series of bright orange holographic controls. Their three-fingered, suit covered hands danced across the intricate screens and buttons made of light as they attempted to make their ship dance and dodge in ways that it simply was not capable of. A bolt slammed into the neck of the ship behind the bridge, causing a blue wall that outlined the shape of the vessel to flare to life. The ship was pushed slightly off its course but recovered after a moment and continued on its escape route. The two crew members gripped their seats as they tried not to fall out of them. Sparks of overloading circuits rang out over the room, and smoke began to fill up the small area as damage control systems tried to compensate.
"I told you this was a terrible idea you bosh'tet!" one of the masked pilots cried out as he righted himself in his chair and tried to compensate for the barrier loss.
His partner was deftly dancing across three separate holo-screens as she tried everything she could to get more power to their engines, "It would have worked if someone hadn't tripped their dock security systems during takeoff!"
"T-that's not my fault! How was I supposed to know they'd tripled their screening process on system intrusion sweeps! They're supposed to be dumb pirates!"
"Obviously smarter than you then…"
Another loud thud sounded throughout the ship and the vessel rocked heavily as more sparks flew out around the two. A red screen suddenly appeared between the two with a flashing warning sign in the middle of it. Pulling the screen over to her, she transferred the diagnostic data to her screens.
"We just lost three more engines! Cooling systems on our secondary reactor are offline, I have to shut it down!" she cursed as she attempted to do so.
"This is not how this mission was supposed to go Rola! In and out, quiet as a drell! That's what you said!" her companion shouted at her.
She didn't look over at him as her focus was on maintain what engines they had left, but she yelled back all the same, "We can still make it Jal! The Relay isn't far! If we can re-route enough power for a short FTL jump-"
"-We're barely flying this piece of junk as it is! Hull integrity won't survive even a brief jump! We should have just gone to Illium with the others!" he cut her off, fear laced in his voice.
Behind them, their pursuers took advantage of their prey's loss of speed and began to increase their own acceleration. The lead ship's topside hull retracted to reveal a dozen silos armed with some kind of missile ready to dart out and swarm the tiny ship being attacked. Detecting the new weapons coming online, the ship out an alert on Jal's screen.
His voice cracked as he read, "T-they're bringing disruptor torpedoes online!"
They both felt a cold sweat break out under their helmets. If they were readying a disruptor torpedo barrage, it meant that they intended on taking down their barriers while leaving the ship intact. Which meant that they were going to board their ship. If they were feeling merciful, they'd only kill the two apparent thieves. If they weren't feeling merciful…
Suddenly the ship sprang forward with a sudden burst of speed causing the two to be pushed back into their seats for a moment until the outdated inertial dampeners were able to compensate. The small vessel quickly outpaced its pursuers and pulled away from their effective missile range. Their main weapons were still capable of striking them, however, with the increased distance between them making accurate hits would prove more challenging. Jal looked over at his co-pilot and saw her hands shooting back and forth across her boards.
"What are you doing?!"
"I shut down the barriers and transferred the power to bring more of our engines online. If they're trying to take this ship alive, then we won't need them. Right now, what we need to do is keep moving towards the Relay as fast as we can!" Rola explained.
"Rola, our engines can't handle the strain! I'm already getting alerts from heat buildup and overloading power relays!" he tried to reason, red pulsing warnings appearing all over his screens.
Despite his warnings, the ship continued on its path as it tried to outrun the pirates chasing behind. The occasional streaks of projectiles flying past their ship were the only visual reminders that they were being pursued as the pirates were too far away for a visual confirmation. Whether they were attempting to strike the two thieves' engines, offer warning shots, or decided to just destroy their ship was unclear. What was clear was that if the small frigate stopped for even a moment, the two onboard were as good as dead.
A few minutes passed as the two tried everything in their power to keep their ship alive and running before the engines gave out. If they could just make it to the Relay, they'd be home free. Free to end their 'little' adventure and return to the home they'd been away from for months. With a special gift that few ever returned with. Just a few more minutes and-
"-WARNING: CRITICAL ENGINE FAILURE IMMINENT. EMERGENCY SHUT-DOWN REQUIRED."
Rola cursed, "Dammit! No, no, no, no!"
She tried to override, re-route, and delay the inevitable shut down of their engines. Jal tried everything he could as well, though his skill lay in network hacking and data mining and not in engine repair. Suddenly the lights went out, the sound of the engine propulsion fizzled out, and the ship began to drift through space. The stars outside the viewport began to shift in perspective as the ship rotated 'downwards' towards its nose as it freely floated without course correction to keep it on its path.
Jal slumped back into his seat as all energy and life seemed to drain out of him, "So… what do we do now?"
Rola stared at him for a moment, before slumping back into her seat as well. They each had a pistol, a couple of grenades, and some tech abilities between the two of them. But neither one was particularly adept in combat; both had just barely past their marksman training back in the Flotilla. Once those pirates boarded, it wouldn't be long before they had the her and Jal on their knees. Begging for mercy wouldn't help much, and she'd much rather go out on her own two feet than on her knees despite the dread she was feeling.
"Ancestors, hear our prayer… please help us," she offered a quiet, desperate plea; hoping for someone, anyone, to hear it and step in to save them.
Whether it was chance, fate, or some other power at work, for the first time in a long time someone answered.
2100 Hours, July 3, 2008 (Taur'i Calendar)
Unknown System, Milky Way Galaxy
A massive flash of light mimicking a small sun coming into being appeared in the black star-lit sea. It lasted only a moment before disappearing. In its wake rested an impossible sight: a giant city the shape of a six-pointed flower. Each point was a pier with skyscrapers protruding up; all of them surrounding a central district that had an equal number of skyscrapers and buildings all around a massive central spire in the middle. Resting on two of the piers were ships of two very different classes. Three were of a grey, blocky, and streamline kind with two pods protruding out from a central neck. The other three were large golden pyramids surrounded by an ebony geometric super-structure. Around all of this was a golden-white, translucent energy field that acted as both protection from aggressive actions and to maintain an atmosphere in and around the city. It was a magnificent sight to see; even those who had lived in the Ancient city for years still hadn't quite gotten over how incredible it truly was.
The control room was silent as a crypt as everyone gripped their consoles, the walls, or the railing with white knuckles. No one said a word as they all held their breath; one or two technicians even held their eyes closed as if waiting for an inevitable and painful demise.
"…Mckay… we're still here, right?" a voice belonging to a grey-haired man asked.
A series of taps and clicks of a keyboard rang out over the silence, "…Yeah… yeah we're still here."
A wave of relief ran over the room as people began to relax a bit. Quickly tech sergeants and gate-room operators began checking in with other departments throughout the city to make sure they were all operational. Others began the process of using the city's sensors to detect their position in space, if there were any ships in the system, and other important pieces of information that they would very much need to know.
Jack walked over to where the two smartest people in the city were sitting, "Well, did it work?"
Carter took a few moments as she read over the sensor data the city was reading and slowly nodded her head, "Yes sir, if this data is correct… then the drive worked. This universe's quantum resonance field is far off from our own."
Jack nodded, genuinely surprised that this absolutely insane plan worked, "Wow, you actually pulled through Mckay."
Rodney nodded happily, before his grin faded, "Wait, you didn't think I could make this would work?"
Before the General could respond, the voice of Sgt. Chuck Mathews cut in, "Sir, we've got our deep space sensors back online… you're gonna wanna see this."
Nodding, the General walked over to the screen on the other side of the room as the others in his command staff. The screen blinked to life, showing the sensor logs the city had taken as soon as they emerged from the universe-to-universe tunnel the Mckay Alternate Drive used to transport them. A moment later, the lines of code and raw data were converted into a three-dimensional representation. The jaws of everyone in sight of the screen fell slightly as they showed the blinking dot of Atlantis not in the Lantea system of the Pegasus galaxy, but instead on the far side of the Milky Way galaxy.
"That… that can't be right… can it?" Dr Weir asked as she turned to her head scientist and the blonde Colonel next to him.
Rodney shook his head in disbelief, "No, no, no, check the sensor relays again. There has got to be an error somewhere!"
Carter shook her head without taking her eyes off her laptop, "I just did Rodney; these are accurate readings."
"My drive is designed to transport matter from one universe to another, the relative distance isn't effected in the slightest!"
"I mean it wasn't like we were sitting still when we jumped. We had just broken orbit," Mitchell pointed out.
Rodney scoffed, "Yeah, sure a few thousand miles at best we might move but arriving back in the Milky Way? It shouldn't be possible!"
"I mean, maybe we didn't move. Distance-wise I mean. Maybe this just happens to be where the Milky Way is located in this universe," Daniel suggested, causing glances to be sent his way.
Carter tilted her head to the side in thought, "It's possible that this universe's rate of expansion is faster than our own. Or our galaxy formed in a different location than this one. There could be any number of reasons why this happened."
Jack waived everyone off, "Alright you guys can science this later. All I need to know is that we're in a new universe and that there isn't a plethora nasty bad guys around us."
Just as he finished an alert rang out over the control room causing the command staff to turn and look over at the sensor station. The tech sitting at her console flinched slightly at the sudden attention before she quickly transferred the sensor ping over the screen.
"Uh, we just got an alert from our system wide sensor sweep. Looks like we've got four ships out bound towards the system's edge," she explained as the corresponding visuals came up.
"Ori?" Mitchell asked grimly.
That thought was at the forefront of everyone's mind. Had Rodney and Sam been wrong? Did they trade one universe full of enemies for another. Without a fleet and more ZPM's to defend themselves with, any engagement with their enemy wouldn't last very long.
"There's no match in our databases; they're definitely not Ori. They don't correspond to any known designs by races we've encountered," Rodney explained much to everyone's relief.
On the screen, three blinking dots were moving fast across the screen with a fourth a fair distance ahead of them. Just as the tech had stated, they were all outbound for the edge of the solar system. Their speed seemed comparable to other sublight engines they'd encountered, suggesting that the culture these vessels belonged to were fairly advanced. As the dots continued on their course, a series of streaks started racing out from the three ships in the back. Some seemed to hit the lead ship, while others zipped past.
"Looks like those three are attacking the lead ship. Wonder what that's all about?" Mitchell observed as he raised a hand to his chin.
A soft scuffle could be heard as Sheppard walked into Stargate Control and let out a whistle, "Damn, you guys seein' the speed on those weapons? Good luck trying to dodge whatever those are at close range."
"Doesn't matter, not our problem. We need to focus on finding a habitable planet to set this city down on," the General tried to get everyone on the same page.
Daniel stepped forward, "Well wait a second. We've just arrived in a new universe we know nothing about; shouldn't we try to get some information from the locals?"
Jack groaned a bit, having done this dance with his oldest friend too many times to count, "Sure Daniel, let's stick our noses into some alien's business that we know nothing about… again. I'm sure the four-hundredth time is the charm."
"I'm not saying we should start taking on more problems Jack, I'm saying that if the position of this universe's Milky Way is different, then maybe there's a lot more that's different too!" he shot back.
"Like what?"
Carter saw her opportunity to speak up, "Well sir, if the positions of galaxies is different than there could be changes like some solar systems never being formed, races that existed in our universe might never have evolved, and any number of other alterations could be normal here."
Mitchell's eyes widened slightly in realization, "Meanin' that all our star-charts are pretty much useless. We could waste a hell of a lot time and energy traveling to a system only to drop out near a black hole."
"Potentially," Carter acknowledged with a frown.
Crossing his arms, Jack stared at the screen with a frown. He knew that coming here was a huge risk, albeit one that was worth taking. He just was expecting to arrive an immediately head to a designated uninhabited planet where they could rest and recuperate. But of course, fate seemed to throw him another curve ball that once again left him wondering why he ever agreed to stepped into Cheyenne Mountain all those years ago. Daniel had a point; they couldn't afford to waste any time searching every nearby star system for a habitable planet. Atlantis needed to be set down somewhere viable as soon as possible. It was pure luck that they arrived in a system that already seemed to have someone home. Fate seemed to be offering both complications and a helping hand today.
"Maybe we can try and mediate whatever dispute is going on between these people in exchange for an information trade?" Weir suggested, though by her tone even she knew that was a long shot.
There was absolutely no reason to think they'd stop whatever quarrel they had going just because Atlantis dropped in and asked them nicely; that was assuming their translation software even worked. None of the planets in system were habitable either, which meant that these ships either flew here through hyperspace or they had a small base hidden somewhere they weren't detecting. Either way, they couldn't let these ships leave without at least trying to get the information they needed out of them.
Sighing Jack turned to Caldwell, "Colonel, get to your ship and jump to their position on the far side. We don't wanna spook them with the whole of Atlantis baring down on them."
Vala rolled her eyes a bit, "Right, cause large, dark, and deadly battlecruiser just screams 'we come in peace!'"
Jack just stared at the newest addition to his old team, not quite sure how to respond. He understood most everyone else in the Program. But the former host turned thief still perplexed him to no end. She was young enough to be his daughter, and the way she acted around even the highest authorities in their government definitely made her seem like one. Ignoring the spirited brunette, Caldwell began briskly walking away from the control room and down towards the nearest transporter closet.
Jack turned to his friend, "Daniel you go too. We're gonna need you on the negotiating and language barrier side of things."
Daniel nodded, "I'll just need to grab a few things from my office. Ten minutes?"
The General nodded and Daniel quickly walked away to get ready to head out to meet whoever it was on those ships. Turning back to look at the screen, he asked Carter to bring up the specs that Atlantis was able to get from its scans of the ships. Once they were on screen, even he could tell that these were some crap-tastic spaceships. Not that Earth's ships were exactly winning any beauty contests anytime soon, but at least they were functional and effective in their design and had the firepower to make up for their lack of cosmetics. These ships looked like they'd been welded together from a half dozen different ships and based on the structural readings they were getting these weren't exactly warships by any stretch. Unless this species standing military had seriously low standards, then these ships had to have been civilian. Or worse, some kind of pirate group like the Lucian Alliance.
Raising a hand to his ear Jack contacted the commander of the Daedalus, "Caldwell, recommend you maintain battle stations. These guys might not… scratch that, probably aren't the friendly sort."
"Acknowledged."
"Whelp, looks like the lead ship just stalled out," Mitchell suddenly spoke up, drawing attention back to the screen.
Indeed, the ship being fired on seemed to cease its propulsion. Whether done on purpose or due to a mechanical malfunction they couldn't tell. Though seconds later when the power readings they were getting from it dropped to almost nothing, they were willing to bet on the former. The pursuing ships ceased fire but continued to move on their prey's position. It seemed that the lead ship was dead in the water as it drifted under its own inertia.
One of the airmen manning the communications suite suddenly chimed in, "Sir, we're picking up chatter between the ships."
"Let's hear it."
"You think you suit-rats can steal from us and get away with it?! You have no idea who you've messed with!" the voice of their pursuers commander came in over their comms.
Rola glowing eyes rolled behind her face-mask, "Uh you do know that you hired us to originally, remember? Your outfit isn't exactly inconspicuous, even on a rust bucket like Omega! And its not stealing if it never belonged to you in the first place!"
"Rola, don't antagonize them further!" Jal chided her, his hands shaking as he tried to calm himself and think of a way out of this.
The situation was not looking good for them to say the least. They had minimal power running, just enough to keep their inertial dampeners on at their lowest settings and their comms online. Not that it would matter much, since by the time a message got through the comm buoy to their people it would be long too late. Perhaps though, they had just enough time to send a goodbye message to their friends and loved ones.
The commander snorted over the channel, "Keep that mouth of yours running, I'll look forward to watching you use it soon enough."
The comm went dead, and Rola's bravado began to dissipate as she heard the threat. Pulling up her boards she tried everything she could to bring main power back online, squeeze something out of the reactor, anything she could think of to save them. Nothing. She got nothing for all her efforts. This was going to be her and Jal's triumphant return; bringing back a prize this valuable to the Flotilla would guarantee them a position of prestige anywhere in the fleet. And… do some good in bringing some honor back to her family name. But… she'd failed instead. Failed her Pilgrimage, failed her partner, failed her family, and failed her people. Grabbing her sidearm with a shaking hand, she stood out of her seat and faced the closed bulkhead door behind them.
Jal stood too, though he didn't grab his pistol, "Rola, what are you doing?"
Gulping audibly, she turned to her friend, "W-we can either sit here and let them take us back to their base and face… well, you know what. Or… or we can fight."
"Are you crazy? We won't last five seconds if we fight!"
"You want to be taken alive? I'm not letting them get me… you've heard the stories… we all have," she hoarsely reminded him, her voice cracking as she tried to keep herself together.
An alert drew their attention to screen as it showed the three pirate ships closing in on their position; merely a hundred kilometers from them. Slowly, two of the ships began take up flanking positions around them. There weapons weren't charged yet, but slowly hangar bay doors started opening up which meant they would surely be launching shuttles soon. Then they would cut their way into the ship, blow the bulkhead doors, and then-
-Rola and Jal's eyes widened behind their helmets. Off in the distance, a massive lavender colored… tear, rip? However else it could be described, a hole in space appeared a short distance away from their small ship. They could only stare in awe at the beautiful sight before them, only to have their awe turn into absolute disbelief. Racing out of the tear at incredible speeds, a starship of a class they'd never seen before appeared. It was fairly large, roughly the size of a Turian cruiser. Its grey hull was angular, very utilitarian, and completely unique in design. Rola quickly typed in commands on her console to zoom in closer on the ship. The head of the neck of the ship had various antennas and dishes coming off of it, no doubt sensors and communication relays of some kind. At the base of the neck was the main body of the ship with what looked like to hangar pods protruding out on either side. What they saw next, however, worried them greatly. All over the hull they could see dozens of guns of various sizes and calibers. They could even see a long stretch of missile placements along the top side of its neck. No doubt, this was a true warship. Just who it belonged to, was a complete mystery.
Jal received an alert on his station and he quickly rushed back over, "I-I'm picking up a signal on an open channel," he clicked a few commands into the holo-board.
"…peat this is Col… mander of the Daedalus to unknown… please respond, over."
The two looked at each other in confusion. The voice sounded like it belonged to a human male. Neither Rola nor Jal had much experience with the newest race to enter the galactic stage, but they had seen a couple on Omega. Their vocal cords had none of the subharmonics of the Turians, nor the deep baritone levels that Batarians had. But this ship… was definitely not an Alliance vessel. There were a handful of mercenary groups out there that employed humans: the Blue Suns and the Eclipse being the most well-known. They were also two of the few mercenary companies out there that actually had small fleets of warships. But this ship bore neither of their markings or symbols. In fact, the only symbols they could see in the zoomed image was a strange triangle with a circle sitting on the tip plastered on the hull on the side of the long neck. Combined with the unknown design, the mystery only deepened as the ship simply sat in front of the small frigate and her attackers.
"I repeat, this Colonel Caldwell, commander of the Daedalus to unknown vessels. We request that you cease fire and allow us to speak with your leaders in negotiating a trade of information. We require intelligence and a heading to the nearest habitable system. We can provide neutral third-party arbitration if need be, to try and solve whatever dispute that is going on here."
Jola turned to Rola, his head tilted in confusion, "What are they talking about? You can't negotiate with pirates! Who are these people? Rola, what in the name of Haestrom is going on?!"
"Why do you think I have more information than you?" she responded, sounding equally as confused.
Suddenly, without warning a pair of mass effect rounds raced past their ship. Through the viewport they saw the bolts of light strike the ship directly at the front of the block at the end of the hull's neck. To their surprise, however, a sapphire concave wall appeared just beyond the hull of the ship. The projectiles erupted in small explosions that were quickly drowned and absorbed by the unique barrier, leaving the strange grey starship unharmed. Soon after more weapons fire followed up; all three pirate vessels now began to unleash their weapons on the cruiser which seemed to not have a care in the world as it just sat there.
The comm system crackled to life again, "Cease fire immediately; you are engaging in hostile actions against Atlantean military forces. We only wish to enter into a dialogue and an exchange of information. Repeat, cease fire immediately or we will have no choice but to defend ourselves."
"Atlantean?" Rola whispered aloud as she continued to watch the ship's shield hold strong under the pirates' constant bombardment.
She'd never heard of an organization with that moniker. Definitely nothing associated with the Alliance, if they were indeed human. Some new paramilitary organization? They were a dime a dozen these days. But she drifted back to her earlier thoughts: how many had access to cruiser sized vessels besides the major players? And that barrier… it was unlike any she'd ever seen before. Such a strange design, and likely costly in power to have it extend so far out from the hull. Then again, it likely offered more protection than the standard barrier design that hugged their hulls tightly.
The pirates continued their barrage without responding. Either their comms were off or, more likely, they saw an opportunity to snatch two ships in a single day and chose to ignore the warning. None of their ships were much larger than a standard Alliance frigate, and their conditions were… questionable to say the least. But they did have the larger cruiser outnumbered and, if they played their cards right, could potentially out flank the larger slower ship before it could get the chance to bring its main cannon to bare on them. Instead, however, something incredible happened.
From the bow of the cruiser, two pairs of pale blue beam lanced out and shot past Rola and Jal's ship. Acting quickly, Rola activated the rear hull-mounted cameras in order to see what was happening. A moment later the orange lined holo-screen changed to show the two ships attempting to flank the cruiser explode into miniature suns as their reactors overloaded. The blast waves from its companions sent the third ship spiraling back and away from the detonation area. Based on their limited sensor readings they could see its barriers were offline. Undoubtedly, the crew was in seriously bad shape, if not out right dead from the unexpected elimination of the pirates' ships.
Jal stared in shock; the cruiser had completely obliterated those two frigates in a single salvo. Granted, those ships hadn't been top-of-the-line warships, but still! Normally you'd need a mass accelerator of dreadnaught caliber to take down a barrier and its ship in one shot like that.
"What was that? I've never seen a weapon system like it! Some kind of enhanced GUARDIAN laser?" Jal asked.
Rola shook her head as she tried to come up with a theory, "No… it fired too slowly to be a laser. It had to be something else…"
Before they could contemplate further, they saw on their sensor boards that the third pirate vessel managed to arrest its 'vertical' spin and right itself on a stabilized flight path. Obviously, someone onboard the bridge had managed to survive well enough to engage the sublights. Realizing they were completely outmatched, they did what all pirates did when faced with such terrible odds: they fled. The ship turned away from the cruiser and the broken-down frigate it had saved and engaged its FTL drive. Its rear engines flared briefly before propelling the ship away at many times the speed of light, the space it had occupied rippling like a leaf had been plucked from a pond.
Rola and Jal would have let out a sigh of relief, if not for the fact that the much larger cruiser was still sitting a few hundred kilometers from their ship. Their easy dispatch of the pirates, using such exotic barriers and weapons, was quite intimidating to the suited-young ones. But… they had saved them. And had even tried to peacefully stop the pirates, as useless as the gesture had been. Which meant that they probably wouldn't just destroy their defenseless ship. Probably.
An alert directed their attention to Jal's station, "Um… they're trying to hail us… what should we do Rola?"
She swallowed and cleared her dry throat as she tried to calm herself, "Well, they did just save us… and I'd rather not make the Captain of the ship that wiped out those Batarians upset," she replied, nodding for him to open the channel.
A moment later the channel came online, "…This is Colonel Caldwell, are you reading our transmission?"
Jal took the opportunity to speak up, not wanting a repeat of Rola talking to the pirates, "This is Jal'Fimas vas Maekra responding to your hails. My companion and I would like to, um, thank you for saving us from those Batarian pirates. Our sublights are offline. If you hadn't shown up when you did…"
There was a long pause as the two tried not to be nervous. Had they said something offensive? They weren't sure how they could have, they'd only been trying to comply with the massive ship's request. The silence continued to drag on and on with the bow of the cruiser staring down on their small and damaged vessel. They kept an eye on their sensors but couldn't detect any power surges that would indicate their weapons were powering up.
A new voice spoke up over the comm, this one younger and softer spoken than this Colonel Caldwell, "Hello, I'm Dr Daniel Jackson. Our… communications suite isn't working properly right now. Would it be possible for you to send us some sort of language package so that we can understand you?"
Jal stared at Rola in confusion. How could such a powerful and advanced warship not have a universal language program? With all the different races that one would expect to interact with on a daily basis, not having the ability to communicate with others was a huge problem. Nonetheless, they sent the program package over the channel to the other ship and waited in silence once again.
A few minutes later the channel opened again, "This is Dr Jackson, sorry about that. We appreciate your help, not being able to communicate with each other would be a poor start to our first meeting. Are you two alright? Any injuries? We have medical staff on standby if need be."
Again, the response from this new person surprised Rola and Jal. First, they ask for directions, ask the pirates to cease their assault on not just their own ship but Rola and Jal's as well, then blow them out of the sky with what appeared to be no effort. And now they were offering their assistance to the pair whom they had never met nor had any reason to help. They were clearly some kind of military organization but had some seriously strict rules of engagement that prevented them from returning fire immediately when the pirates engaged them. Especially considering how powerful their weapons, whatever they were, seemed to be; they could have jumped in and ended the fight before the pirates even knew what hit them.
Which brought up another question that had been nagging them: what on in the universe had that 'tear' in space the ship had flown out of been? It was unlike anything they had ever seen or heard of before. The mystery behind this ship only deepened. Rola stepped in front of Jal, ignoring his protests as she took over the comm.
"Hello, my name is Rola'Jaram vas Nuvo. We don't need medical attention. However, our reactors are offline and our engines along with them. Life support is at minimum sustainable levels; most of our systems will probably be down shortly. I am unsure of the extent of the damage, but our ship may need extensive dry dock time to be salvageable," she explained, figuring that they could probably detect just how bad of shape their ship was in and that it was better not to lie.
There was a long silence after that. Rola looked to Jal apprehensively, who returned the gesture. Neither knew what awaited them now. They'd only just started to come to grips that this might very well be their last moments when this 'Daedalus' swooped in. Now they were completely at their mercy. After several minutes of waiting the mysterious ship finally replied.
"…Understood. We've been authorized to offer you safe harbor aboard our ship for the time being, if that is acceptable to you?" the first voice had returned.
"In exchange for what exactly?" she asked, her caution and suspicion clear as day.
The second voice returned, "Well, we're not sure if you heard us earlier but we're in need of some information and where we can locate the nearest inhabitable planet."
Jal tilted his head at that, "Are your own navigational charts corrupted?"
"… In a way… it's a long story. In exchange for safe passage aboard our ship, we want your own charts and anything relating to the galaxy at large. Does that sound acceptable to you?" the second voice explained.
Jal clicked off the channel before turning to his friend, "So, you think we can trust them?"
Rola wrapped her arms around herself and took a couple steps back from the viewport. She wanted nothing more than to be home with her friends and family. Back in her engine block where she did the same boring maintenance shifts day in and day out. These last few days had taken all the energy and drive for adventure out of her, as much as she hated to admit. Now, it seemed like they'd be returning home with almost nothing to show for it. Her dream of having a triumphant return seemed to boil away with each passing second. Even if they could get back out here within the week with another ship; the chances that their prize would still be here were slim to none.
Sighing, she turned back to her partner, "Do we have much of a choice? This ship is going nowhere; it took us days with a fully stocked drydock to get it this far. Even if we had the parts, we're out of nutrient paste. These people, whoever they are, saved us from… well, you know what from. If they wanted to do us harm, they could have easily done it the moment they showed up. If we want to make it back to the Flotilla, I don't see any other way. Unless you want to wait around for those pirates to show up again?"
Jal gulped at that and shook his head. He'd had enough of dealing with pirates. He too wanted to get back home as soon as possible. Looking out the viewport, he felt very intimidated by the much larger cruiser staring at them. But they had saved them. And they tried to talk their attackers down first. That must have meant they were, at the very least, a civilized group of people. He hoped that much, at least.
Turning the comms back on he replied, "Okay, you have a deal. How will we come aboard your ship? We boarded our ship via docking tube. We don't have any shuttles."
"Don't worry about that, we've got it covered. Do you need time to gather anything?" the second voice asked.
"No, everything we own we carry on us at all times. We can't afford to lose anything. We're ready to leave at a moment's notice," Rola explained.
"…Fair enough. Uh, standby."
Jal felt confused again, looking out the viewport as he expected to see a shuttle being launched from the 'Daedalus'. When nothing happened, he turned to Rola. They waited another few minutes with nothing happening. Jal began to grow impatient as he still had yet to see anything launch from the ship.
"Standby for-" before he could finish a musical chime filled the bridge as the two suddenly began searching for the source of the odd sound.
Suddenly, shimmering white light with a blue-tinted afterglow surrounded the two entirely. A moment later, the two bodies on the bridge converted to pure energy and shot straight up and out of sight leaving the quiet and empty bridge behind.
Daniel waited patiently in one of the many conference rooms aboard the Daedalus. This one had been cleared of any clutter leaving it almost entirely empty. It reminded him, a little too much, of the room he had been secured in on the Odyssey during his brief time as a Prior. Alongside him was a couple of the Daedalus medical staff and two Airmen SF's armed with Wraith stunners. He hoped that they wouldn't be necessary in dealing with their two guests, but their record for peaceful First Contact wasn't exactly stellar.
"We're about to beam in our new guests. Standby," Caldwell informed them over the PA system.
One of the SF's raised a hand to his ear, "Copy that sir. We're ready for them."
A moment later, the familiar chime of Asgard beaming technology filled the room. Milliseconds after that, two pillars of light dropped into the room before depositing two humanoid figures.
"-¶ìÚמ?" one of the figures spoke as though he was finishing the last of a sentence, though in a language that none of the humans could understand.
The Taur'i widened their eyes a bit once they got a good look at their guests. They were about the average height of a human with two arms and legs. Their legs, however, were bent backwards at a very odd angle that would almost make one think they were broken. Their hands only had three digits on them, as well as their feet. The entirety of their bodies was covered in some sort of environmental suit that was very form fitting, hugging their bodies tightly and leaving very little to the imagination. They could see that one was clearly male while the other was obviously female. Their heads were covered with helmets of some kind; in fact, the only facial features the humans could make out through the masks were sets of very bright eyes and possibly the outline of noses. All in all, it was obvious that these aliens were not human in the slightest.
The male seemed to bob his head back and forth as he scanned the room in a panic, "ÒÝßìì… ã㣎ÏÐæâ? øÛ×Öœ†ÎïðùÙ?!"
The female seemed to be more on guard, and as soon as she noticed Daniel and the others she turned to her side and reached her hand below her waist. Seeing the movement, the two SF's immediately raised their stunners and ordered her to freeze. The male alien instantly threw his hands up as he noticed the humans aiming strange looking sidearms at them, while the woman stopped in her tracks but didn't take her hand off what they guessed was a pistol on her hip. There was a bit of a standoff, and Daniel quickly stepped between the two groups to intervene.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Everyone just relax, we're all friends here."
The woman, or whatever they called females of their race, narrowed her eyes behind her visor, "ìÚמ ŽÏІÎï?"
Trying to placate them, the archeologist raised a hand to his chest, "I'm Dr Daniel Jackson, one of the men who spoke to you over the radio."
"ìÚ Öœ ÒÝ߶ìÚ," the woman replied, her body relaxing slightly, though still clearly on guard.
Daniel frowned a bit as he tried to understand her, but sadly didn't know where to begin in terms of trying to break down the language barrier. Unlike most of the races back in their home universe who had descended from Earth, Daniel had no reference or text to refer so he could understand them. The program that allowed them to communicate through the ship's communications suite wasn't going to work in this instance either.
"I'm sorry, but I can't understand you. Do you have anything like that language program you sent us? Some kind of text speech that we can use to communicate?" he asked hopeful that they did, otherwise these talks would end before they even began.
The aliens stared at him in what he could tell from their body language was confusion. But a moment later the male pulled his arm up, only after a moment's hesitation upon seeing the two Airmen tense but no raise their weapons, and he brought up some kind of orange, glowing holographic interface. The humans looked at him in surprise in wonder, having never seen a computer interface quite like it before.
"There, you should be able to understand us now," the male finally spoke, surprising the humans for a moment as they heard perfect English coming out from his helmet, the glowing, purple light on the chin flashing with every word, "Are your translators not functioning properly?"
"Not exactly… we don't really have any translators," Daniel explained, not sure how to tell them they'd never had them since they had never even seen their race.
The woman titled her head in confusion before following suit and a second after she spoke, "Who are you people!? How did we end up on your ship!?"
"Well… it's a bit of a long story. But as for how you got here, well, we beamed you over to our ship."
The woman seemed understandably confused at that. After all, even among the space-faring races in their own universe teleportation technology as advanced as the Asgards' was extremely rare.
"What does that even mean? One second we were standing on our ship and the next we're here!" she demanded, practically yelled as the two SF's in the room tensed, preparing to drop them the two aliens if they made a move.
Daniel signaled for them to lower their weapons, which they did though only slightly, "Well, we call it beaming, but it's just teleportation. We plucked you from your bridge and dropped you off in here. Don't ask me the science behind it; that's all way over my head."
The two were silent for a moment as they tried to process what Daniel had just said. Then they erupted into a flurry of questions and cries of disbelief.
"There's no such thing as teleportation!"
"Why are you trying to lie? And to come up with such a childish idea as teleportation? You aren't going to fool anyone with that!"
"Did you knock us unconscious? Drag us off the ship while you brought us here against our will?"
Daniel sighed and shook his head, "No, we didn't knock you out. If we did, would we leave you with your weapons and possessions?"
Looking down at their sides, the two had to acknowledge that it didn't make much sense to take them by force only to leave them with their weapons. Even so, the impossibility of what this human was saying left the two rescues confused and weary of anything they might say. The two guards with those strange guns didn't help alleviate their concerns. Turning around to face the viewport behind them, the male noticed far in the distance a shining point of light. Realizing what it was, he quickly brought up his Omni-tool and pulled up his mission clock. His eyes widened as he stared at the glowing orange screen on his wrist.
"…Rola… check your clock… what does it read," his voice wavered.
The female kept her eyes on the humans in front of her as she pulled up her own Omni-tool, taking her eyes off of them for a split second to look at her screen. The bright eyes behind her mask grew wide as saucers as she read the impossibility of her own clock.
"This… this can't be right. Jal, was there-"
"-I double checked Rola… no electrical surge or interruption of my tool's systems. Its running at normal time… almost no time has passed from us being on the bridge a moment ago to now…"
"Then how…" she trailed off as she stared up at Daniel in shock.
He could see that the wheels were turning in her mind as she came to the realization of what had occurred. There was simply no logical way that they could have been taken out of the bridge, through the corridors to the hangar bay, flown across the distance between their ships, and deposited into this room in only the few seconds that have passed. Logically, this should not have been possible. But… if what this human said was true… combined with how they had destroyed those pirates…
The woman, who Daniel now knew as Rola'Jaram vas Nuvo from the radio, dropped her aggressive stance as she stared at the humans and repeated her question, "Who… who are you people?"
That question took some time to answer. Once the medical team had cleared them for any airborne pathogens and injuries, which had to be done with their Ancient scanners since their two alien guests had adamantly refused to remove their suits, they brought in chairs for them to sit in. They were also forced to surrender their weapons and anything that looked dangerous. Daniel could tell they weren't exactly thrilled with this, but at the same time knew that they weren't in a position to refuse. Once the guards had left, though remained just outside the room, Daniel brought out his laptop and wirelessly connected it to the nearby screen on the wall just to his right. He went over everything that Jack had said that he could; they were from an alternate universe and had come here to escape a war that had driven them from their homeworlds, and that they'd literally just arrived only minutes before the Daedalus saved them.
As expected, they didn't believe a word that the good doctor had said. If he was being honest, if he hadn't dealt with so many different realities over the years he wouldn't have believed himself either. Still, he needed them to understand that he wasn't lying. So, pulling up a number of data sheets and results from the successful jump Sam had sent over to him, he displayed them on the screen for both of them to see. He wasn't sure if they believed him, but they seemed to study each piece of information with serious intent.
They probably didn't understand a word of it, but he didn't know how else to show them. Moving on, he explained that because they were, quite literally, new to this galaxy their old star-charts weren't valid and as such they needed help knowing where to go. And where not to.
"It was pure chance really that we happened to jump into this system. If we hadn't, who knows how long we could have gone without running into any other intelligent life, or how long we would have spent searching for a habitable system," Daniel explained as he leaned back into his chair.
Rola mimicked his movement, her eyes appearing as narrow slits behind her helmet, "So that is supposedly why you need access to our Omni-tools data?"
Daniel tilted his head at the odd term, turning over to his notebook as he started writing, "Omni-tool? Interesting, that's the holographic display you two made appear on your arms, correct?"
Jal shared a look with his partner before turning back to the human, "Yes… they're computer interface hardware. They fulfill a multitude of roles from hacking to repair, even combat tech."
"Combat tech? And by that you mean?"
"Electrical discharges designed to disrupt barriers, overload weapons, things like that," Jal replied before she noticed Daniel's concerned look and continued, "Don't worry Dr Jackson, our models are much more basic than that. Not good for much more than surfing the extranet and hacking low-security doors."
Daniel wrote down that as well, "Okay… extranet? Is that some kind of internet? Information sites shared across a network?"
Jal shrugged, "I don't know what an 'internet' is, but the extranet is a galaxy wide network that allows ships, stations, and planets to have a common source for sharing information. I'd say its similar to your 'internet' from your description."
"Well, back to some of the other questions I was going to ask you. Starting off, and please don't be offended by this, but what are you two exactly? We've never encountered a species such as yours back in our galaxy," Daniel asked his big question that he'd been wondering since they beamed in.
This definitely seemed to surprise Jal and Rola. They still didn't believe this man's outrageous claims about being from an alternate universe. Sure, many scientists from many different species had long contemplated the possibilities of alternate universes and whether or not they could interact with each other. Of course, no one had ever proved it one way or the other. Still, either these people had been a part of some kind of sequestered human colony that never rejoined their kin on the galactic stage or, more likely, they were really committing to this insane story for reasons neither could figure out.
Deciding to play along Jal replied, "We are Quarians."
Daniel, obviously hoping for a little more, urged on, "Quarians. Alright, now are those suits for breathing a different atmosphere than oxygen? I noticed how concerned you were about not taking them off."
"No… our immune systems are extremely weak from centuries aboard our sterilized ships. We've never had strong immune system even before that," Jal explained sadly, feeling a bit irritated that this human was making him explain one of the most painful aspects of a Quarian's life.
Daniel looked confused, "Wait, what do you mean centuries on board ships? Are you part of some long-term expedition?"
"Of course not you bosh'tet! Why are you insisting on keeping up with this charade? You know perfectly well why no Quarian has set foot on our homeworld in generations! What do you really want from us?!" Rola suddenly exclaimed and stood up, tired of playing along.
"Rola please! Calm down, don't make this worse for us!" Jal pleaded as he grabbed her arm to get her to sit down.
Suddenly the heavy set of bulkhead doors slid open, and the two Airmen entered with their stunners drawn. The two Quarians immediately backed off at the aggressive action, while Daniel stood and placed himself between the two groups again.
"Easy guys, things just got a little heated. No harm no foul," Daniel tried to placate the men.
The lead SF shook his head, "Sir, we really should be in here with you."
Daniel rolled his eyes, "Look, we're fine. If Colonel Caldwell has an issue, tell him we can discuss it after this meeting."
Clearly not liking it, but also not willing to fight a member of SG-1 and General O'Neill's command staff on this, the two men nodded and stepped out of the room again. Turning to the two Quarians, Daniel motioned for them to take their seats. At first they didn't move, clearly afraid at having almost been shot; though they didn't know that the weapons only stunned.
"Please, I promise you no harm will come to either one of you. Let's just sit and get back to getting to know each other better."
A moment passed before they finally sat back down. Smiling, Daniel followed suite. He listened to them tell the tale about how their people were experimenting with virtual intelligences a few hundred years back. Like an alien version of Terminator, the machines eventually became a lot more intelligent than intended and rose against their creators. After a short but brutal war the surviving Quarians were driven off their homeworld and the few colonies they had. They turned to something called the Citadel Council, made up surprisingly of more alien species, for assistance. However, AI research was apparently illegal in Citadel space which led to the Quarians losing their Embassy and charter with the Council.
Daniel looked shocked, "So… they just left your people out in the cold? Families, children?"
Rola nodded her head, "Yes, AI laws come with the strictest punishments in Citadel space. Even if it was accidental, in the Council's eyes we put the entire galaxy at risk by unleashing the Geth. We've been forced to live on our ships ever since. The Migrant Fleet is culmination of centuries of nomadic travel through the galaxy. We have thousands of ships that our people live on, make families, grow old, and die on."
Daniel shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't understand how anyone could live on ships for so long. Couldn't imagine living on the Daedalus for the entirety of the rest of his life. Teal'c had told him a few things about the alternate timeline where SG-1 spent sixty years onboard the Odyssey. Obviously, he remembered nothing from it; the only proof being the white streak through the Jaffa's hair. He hoped that wasn't the fate his people were doomed to live through. Though, if he thought about it, they seemed to share something in common with these Quarians. Both were driven from their homes; both were now a nomadic people. The only difference being that the Quarians had centuries to adapt while the Taur'i were still newcomers to this lifestyle. These people might have more to offer them than just information.
Daniel thought back to something Jal had mentioned earlier, "You said that your immune systems are very weak and that those suits are what keep you safe?"
"Yes, any foreign bacterial infection or virus could be fatal for us. We can't risk physical contact with anything or anyone outside our suit environments without becoming extremely ill," Rola quietly explained as she rubbed her arm.
Daniel raised a hand to his chin as a thought started to form in his head. The two Quarians shifted in the uncomfortable silence, staring at each other and then back at the archeologist. A moment later Daniel stood up out of his chair and briskly walked over to the intercom on the wall near the door.
He clicked a button and spoke, "Colonel Caldwell, I need to get back to Atlantis. I think I've got an idea that's gonna help us all."
"You wanna what?" Jack asked loudly as he stared wide eyed at his friend.
The command staff was back in the conference room listening to Daniel's report about their two guests that were now sitting, under guard, in an unoccupied a couple of levels down from them. Once the Daedalus arrived, he gathered his friends and peers and quickly went over a brief summary of everything that Jal and Rola had told them. He also gave Sam and Rodney all the data from their Omni-tools which they were currently going over in Rodney's lab.
"Look, we should be able to get a habitable planet from Rola and Jal's information. Once we get there, then what? We just sit around and hope our supplies last while we try and get our own productions up and running? Plus, what are we planning on doing with our guests? Leave them locked in a room for the rest of their lives?" Daniel asked.
Weir raised an eyebrow at that, "It's a fair point. We can't just keep them here forever; we don't even know what kind of food they eat. And it's not fair to them; they didn't choose to get rescued by us."
"But is contacting their government the way to go? If what they said is true, we'd be exposing ourselves to a fleet made up of thousands of ships. I'm not too keen on taking on a fight that big right now," Mitchell pointed out, with Sheppard nodding at his point.
"We're assuming that they'll be hostile then?" Weir asked indignantly.
The two Colonel's shared a look. They were paid to be suspicious and cautious about entering unknown situations, or rather they used to be paid, and this whole 'new universe' situation left the two of them feeling out of their element. So, understandably, they were hesitant to just chomp at the bit and fly over to meet a race that had hundreds of times the ships that they had. They couldn't afford to be reckless right now.
Sheppard replied a bit more neutrally to his friend, "Yeah, maybe we should take them to the nearest habitable planet. Drop them off in a cloaked Jumper and bail."
Daniel disagreed, "Look, these Quarians are a lot like us. They've got no home, no allies, no support other than themselves. They've got contacts and knowledge about this galaxy that we don't. If we bring back two of their own and offer them a deal, then not only do we have a supply route but also a grateful ally to help us when we need it."
"I'm not bringing Atlantis to meet with a massive fleet like that. We should be focusing solely on finding a place to set the city down. Not playing politics," Jack stated firmly.
"Should Colonel Carter and Rodney Mckay manage to find a suitable planet, can we not take the city there while the Daedalus travels to meet with these Quarians?" Bra'tac asked from his seat.
Both sides of the table had good points. Their first priority needed to be getting Atlantis and the civilian population somewhere safe. On the other hand, having access to an off-world supply chain could be extremely beneficial in that it would allow them to get off the rationing they'd been on for the last few months and be a big boost to morale. It would also buy their hydroponics division more time to get a viable crop going. Interreacting with other people in the galaxy would be a lot easier as well if they had a third party with which to do their deals; allowing them to maintain anonymity and keep their people away from prying eyes.
Jack rested his chin on his hands as he contemplated all this, "Well, I'm not crazy about sending Caldwell off on his own with no back up."
"Jack… I had a long talk with Jal and Rola. They're just kids, and I don't think they're lying. If it helps, I'm willing to take a Jumper with just them and myself once the Daedalus drops us off within range of their fleet," Daniel offered as he stared at the General with conviction.
"Right… you piloting…" Jack slowly stated before seeing the familiar look in his friend's eyes, Jack couldn't help but sigh, "You really think these guys are gonna help us out? That they can help us out?"
"I think its worth the risk to find out. Worst case scenario, the Daedalus can beam me out and we still have their data to find our own way."
Raising a hand to his ear Jack spoke into his radio, "Carter, how's the info looking?"
"…It's incredible sir! There's so much information in here about planets, systems, galactic politics! There's multiple space-faring species in this galaxy besides humans. Of which are very interesting; in this universe it looks like-"
"-Carter…"
"… Right, sorry sir. Well, Rodney and I have been going over their nav data and I think we've picked a planet that would be suitable for us. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any Earth-like planets, or 'Garden Worlds' as they call them, that doesn't have at least some presence of either a colony, military bases, or mining corporations to name a few. The best we were able to find was one that is almost ninety percent ocean called Proteus on the far side of the galaxy. It has minimal colonial life from the humans of this galaxy and is outside of their main body of government's jurisdiction. If we leave within the hour we can be there by 0200 hours."
Jack nodded, pleased to at least have that issue solved. He wasn't exactly thrilled that there was a presence on the planet they'd picked out. But this was a stopgap more than anything. Hopefully, in time, they could find a planet more suitable to their needs away from any potential visitors. With Atlantis safely tucked away on a planet, however, he was more open to the idea of entering a trade agreement with these Quarians. If only briefly.
"So, what exactly did you have in mind for what we can offer them. I'm assuming they're not gonna just help us out just because we brought back a couple of teenagers out after midnight," his question directed at Daniel and Weir.
"Well, according to Rola and Jal their species has extremely weak immune systems."
Daniel seemed to be leaving the door open for the General to follow where he was leading with this idea. Jack stared blankly at his friend, not sure where exactly he was supposed to follow him. Daniel rolled his eyes once he saw that Jack wasn't getting it.
"Very. Weak. Immune systems… sound like anyone else we know?"
Jack blinked, then his eyes widened in understanding, "Oh."