Jump Chain Gothic 4 - Atlantis - Part 8
Aurora-class warship. Between Galaxies.
The ship was currently crossing the massive void between two galaxies, and while this was an Ancient vessel powered by a hyperdrive, it was still a long trip, the vessel could have done in a few days, but it wasn't wise to tax the engines so it was actually going to take more than a week.
Not that I minded really, at this speed we made the USS Voyager seem like a mobility scooter. Plus this long, peaceful trip was giving me the time to sit down and do some planning. I had things to organise.
While I hadn't accepted the IOA's 'suggestion' that I take on some liaisons, who would no doubt be their spy, I was thinking over the idea of taking on some more crew. I was pretty sure that I could get people I wanted on board this ship as long as I offered the right thing in exchange.
Before I'd left Stargate Command I'd gotten personnel files on the kind of people who the security clearance to know that I existed. O'Neill seemed to like the idea of getting someone who worked for him aboard my ship, although in his case he might be doing just to annoy the IOA, as his people didn't answer that organisation.
There were many qualified people both in the SGC or who'd been part of the Atlantis expedition, but one name and face caught my attention. I so had to have her as part of my crew, and perhaps one day as a companion. If only because she was cute.
Jennifer Keller was born and raised in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, USA. A few years prior to her joining the Atlantis Expedition, her mother died and she was all her father had left. During her educational years, she was always ahead of her class, having graduated from her high school at the age of 15 and earned a Bachelor's degree before she was 18. After this, she spent six years in med school training to become a doctor. She graduated from medical school from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During this time, she made the mistake of confiding in her biology lab partner about her fear of the movie Alien. As a result he hid a live snake inside a cadaver she was working on as a joke. After she gained status as a medical professional, she then gained military clearance to the Stargate program; where she joined the Atlantis expedition. She was chosen by Dr. Elizabeth Weir, due to her experience in the medical field.
There was a lot more than that in the file, but those were the highlights. Not that it really mattered I'd already made up mind on one person I was going to take on board. Now I just had figure what to offer her in order to get her on my ship.
(Line Break)
M7G-677. Pegasus Galaxy.
While I'd made a deal with Stargate Command to trade some minor bits of Goa'uld technology and contact with the Jaffa leaders, in exchange for large amounts of rare metals that they needed for ship building, something had gone wrong.
I was willing to make a fair deal, but those IOA fools had gotten involved and now they were bogging down the deal with needless details. Basically they wanted access to my technology as well as the minerals. They hadn't phrased it that way, but it was clear why they wanted to place a liason on my ship.
To make it clear that I wasn't going to do things their way I'd simply left, I'd give them some time to think things over while I carried on my work in the Pegasus galaxy. In this little corner of the universe there were plenty of cultures to make contact with, technologies to recover, and many worlds to explore.
Lucky for me the Ancients had been far easier to deal with, the Captain of the Aurora, whose ship and crew the Asgard had been able recover from their extended stay in stasis. He was far more reasonable towards outsiders, and he knew how to express gratuite.
This thanks included the gifting on information on the worlds of this galaxy, most of the information was out of date, but it was enough to give me an idea of where to go. I'd also gotten my hands on the Atlantis's expeditions mission logs. Cortana had hacked them during one of my visits to the city from the computers the remaining people from Earth used while working with the Ancients
"Hold on we are entering the dampening field" I announced.
Seven and I activated the counter field, which was a modification to the force field projected by our life support belts, to protect our technology from the Ancient dampening field's effects. This was a very important tech upgrade for Cameron as without she couldn't even enter the field, and it was almost as important for Seven as she might die without within the field.
Which would perhaps make it wiser for me to take Tali in here, but Seven was confident in her adjustments to our environmental shields, and of course she'd already tested them using our version of a MALP, which was basically like those used by the SGC, but it had its kinetic barriers and a small laser cannon mounted on it. Nothing to fancy in case it got captured and back engineered by someone.
"So how long will it take to replace the power source for this dampening field?" I asked Seven.
She considered this question for a few moments.
"No more than a few hours" she answered "I can not be certain without inspecting the device".
The dampening field which kept the natives of this world safe from cullings wasn't necessary any long, as such it was up to them to switch it off or not. The device was powered by a ZPM, however it was going to fail soon according the mission logs the Atlantis expedition had left in the city's database. We'd come here to replace that failing ZPM with a generator that would last longer.
Also I wanted to claim the ZPM as even a nearly depleted one would be of great value, it was even possible that we could learn to make our own. If we could then my group would not only have an incredible power source, but also the means to destroy entire worlds.
Before we could move more than a few meters inside the field several teenagers came out of the woods with war paint on their faces and bows pointed at us. Even without our new armour suits we wouldn't have been in danger as the arrows would be neutralised by our other defences.
"Hello," I greeted as I took off my helmet.
Hopefully they'd see me baring my face to them as a sign of trust. I figured that a helmeted person was bound to be more unsettling even for people who had a bunch of crossbows and slingshots ready to fire.
"We are not here to harm you in any way" Seven informed the children.
Given that we were strangers their concern over our presence was totally understandable.
"You're a full grown," commented one of the small humans.
I actually looked down at my own body as if I needed to confirm what the girl before me had just said.
"How very observant of you," Seven replied.
I smiled, hoping that it made me look friendly, and not at all creepy.
"My name is Gothic" I said, introducing myself to the children "This is Seven of Nine. We've come to speak to your leaders".
The kids lowered their weapons, slightly.
"You need to see the elders" one of the locals stated.
Indeed we did.
"Okay lead the way," I said.
We were led to a village that was up in the trees. As we waited for the children to climb up the rope ladder to the tree houses above Seven and I paid noticed a pile of artifacts that seemed to be of importance.
"It looks like a shrine," Seven commented "Very primitive".
The shrine was up of dead Wraith soldiers, their equipment, and some other materials.
"Wraith bones," said the child who led us here.
"Yeah we know," I said.
It was a shame I couldn't scan the shrine, but while we could keep our technology working in this field the dampening field still prevented scans from being taken.
"A Wraith bird fell out of the sky years ago. We keep it here to remind us of how life used to be," the boy explained.
That explained the odd lumps of something metal like that I didn't recognise. Since Wraith ships were in some sense living things it wouldn't actually be metal, but I couldn't find out for sure.
"The elders are ready," informed one of the teenagers.
We climbed up into the tree house to find the elders, who were all young adults.
"Hello I'm Gothic, this is Seven of Nine and Cameron" I introduced.
Not for the first time I wondered how odd our names sounded to people.
"I'm Keras one of the village elders," replied one of the teens.
I turned the local gesture of greeting when it was made at me.
"Please sit," invited Keras as he took off his head dress.
Seven and I sat down. Cameron remained standing, and ever watchful.
"We've come to tell you about the Wraith" I told the elders.
Even on a world that was safe from the space vampires, simply mentioning them caused fear to ripple through a crowd.
"We are familiar with the Wraith" said Keras. "They used to farm our planet as we used to farm livestock and beasts of burden only we were their herd. Our ancestors fought them, but our weapons were not strong enough. Our people tried to hide from them but they were always found".
Soon that would all be over. Future generations would never know the horror of a culling, and if the Ancients could regain some control over their former domain then perhaps major conflicts between humans could be avoided. At least in this galaxy.
"Then you'll be pleased to hear the Ancestors have return and then have used a device created long ago to ensure that there will be no more cullings" I informed the kids.
According to my Judgement Day perk no more worlds would suffer the horror of a culling. At least not in the next one hundred years, which was the length of time the perk extended, and this was important because the Wraith could hibernate for centuries at a time. It was possible that some of them might find somewhere to hide, sleep for more than hundred years, and then start culling worlds again. However plans were in motion to reduce that risk, and I would be involved in them.
"As you know there is a device left here by the Ancestors which stops the Wraith technology from working" I was now saying to the elders"But since the Wraith can no longer cull worlds you no longer need the device's protection. So if you wish we can turn the device off, or you can leave it on. If you chose to leave the device on we can install a new power source that will last for many years".
The elders all looked at each. I didn't doubt that words being exchanged despite the fact that nothing was actually being said.
"Even with the Wraith gone there are still dangerous people out there" I warned the young adults "You might want to keep the field up even without the threat of the Wraith".
They seemed to be doing just fine without much in the way of technology.
"We will need time to discuss this" one of older people told me.
There was no rush.
"Well return tomorrow" I told the elders.
There really was no rush, and what they had decide
(Line Break)
New Athos. Pegasus Galaxy.
When the Ancients, or the Ancestors as they were known in these parts, had returned to their city, they'd forced the Athosians to also leave that world. The Ancients had selected a new world for Athosians, and being a resourceful people they'd managed to build a new home for themselves.
However shutting down the Stargate Network how allowed the safe use of the Janus's device, it did make it impossible for worlds to trade, so while I hadn't come here to gift the Athosians with easily replicated supplies, I was glad that I had.
What I'd actually come here for was to enlist the aid of Teyla with a special project that I had in mind. Not long after beaming down I found her in a tent thing, that was likely close to what my own ancestors would have used in centuries past, and I joined her for some tea as we began our discussions.
We'd come here from the planet full of kids and young adults, while there Seven had studied the device which was the cause of the dampening field. The elders had decided to keep the field up. That might prove wise in the long run, as the Asurans were still out there, and perhaps other meances with advanced tech.
"You are asking me to leave my people" she said.
I nodded before speaking,.
"Only for a short time" I told her "The Wraith have been prevented from culling anymore worlds, but this won't last forever, the Stargate network needs to be restored so worlds can trade with each other, which means turning off the device that is keeping any remaining Wraith ships trapped in whatever system they are in".
Telya understood the implications of this.
"So the cullings may resume" she said.
My perk told me otherwise, but that was because the Ancients had no intention of turning off the device until the Wraith were defeated. However the future wasn't fixed, things could change. So we needed to prepare.
"Yes" I said "One day, and battling the Wraith in the future would be a lot easier if we understood their technology. I have a plan to seize one of their cruisers. The problem is that the larger Wraith ships have some means of preventing those who are not Wraith from controlling them, but certain humans have a some Wraith DNA. You are one of those people".
Judging by the expression on her face she hadn't know this. Which wasn't surprising as the Siege of Atlantis, if it could be called that in this timeline, had happened sooner than expected.
As such there hadn't been a chance for Telya to discover her Wraith DNA, but it was important that she discover the truth, and I could help her do just that.
(Line Break)
Wraith Lab. Unknown Planet.
"Anything interesting," asked Tali as I analyzed the data being holographically projected before me.
We were currently inside of an abandoned wraith laboratory, the address of which was obtained from one of Teyla's people. The old woman had told Teyla a story about the origin of her wraith sensing abilities. Apparently some of the villagers taken by the wraith on this planet had returned. Never having done so before the villagers were amazed and took it as a blessing, until the returned started mentioning hearing voices and in some cases even turning violent.
The other villagers massacred the returned but several had already been banished offworld so had survived. One of these surviving returned had been an ancestor of Teyla's. We already knew of Teyla's small bit of wraith DNA so knew some of what happened to the returned villagers. Now as I scanned the data being projected we would knew why.
Thanks to the It's All Kruvis To Me perk, I was able to read the Wraith, and while I knew some of this already, it was interesting to read about in detail. Of course I didn't understand the actual science behind these genetic modifications, however I did know enough of that science to know how complex it was to do correctly, and while there had been unforeseen side effects due to this Wraith's work, it had actually gone well for the most part.
This Wraith had a great understanding of both human and Wraith biology, his research was well worth copying, and I was sure that the Asgard who were working on their people's genetic problems wouldn't mind a look at this info. Of course they'd have to trade something for it, perhaps they could share the tech that allowed them to transmit holographic images over great distances.
"The scientist was blending a bit of wraith DNA with captured humans in an attempt to make their food source more compatible," I explained.
"He was trying to make their meals more tasty," asked Tali in surprise.
Well the Wraith wanted to make the feeding process more efficient too, as even with most of the species going into hibernation for centuries at a time there was never enough food to go around. That was why the Wraith had been so interested in getting to Earth.
"Basically yes, along with making the feeding process more efficient so they didn't have to feed as often" I explained to the Quarian engineer , repeating my thoughts out loud "The Wraith population was much too large and there simply wasn't enough humans to go around, which is why they were forced to hibernate for centuries".
Telya, who had agreed to aid me, at least for the time being, came closer so that she could hear more of what I had to say.
"Here is what I find most interesting" I said next "It appears the blending of the DNA gave these humans the ability to not only sense the wraith but to tap into the telepathic network that the Wraith use to communicate".
Telya kept her cool, but I could tell she was a little overwhelmed by all of this, and who could blame her?
"I wouldn't recommend trying to access it. The telepathic abilities of a full blooded wraith would be much stronger than yours" I added.
In the show Teyla's 'gift' was something she mastered, but given that we were in the process of wiping out the species it seemed pointless for her to try. Plus when she'd first started using it Wraith had been able to take over her body, and the results hadn't been pretty to say the least.
"Telya I know this a lot to take in" I said "But if this gift can allow you to control a Wraith ship then it's an opportunity we can not pass up".
Hopefully she'd be up for this as I really wanted a Wraith cruiser. I had a empty dock, with room for a small ship, and while I didn't intend to keep a Wraith ship in the long run, it would be well worth it to be able to study such a craft.
(Line Break)
Deep Space. Pegasus Galaxy.
Wraith cruisers were typically seen escorting Hive ships during assaults or when feeding on a Human world. When their Hive ships are destroyed, the escorting cruisers typically abandon the battlefield by escaping into hyperspace. Beyond this role, they are also seen in the role of patrol ships that are sent to investigate disturbances near Wraith territory. They are also sent alone against Human worlds in order to cull its inhabitants that are incapable of mounting a defense against the vessel. Similar to other Wraith vessels, they apparently do not possess shields and instead rely on their organic hull to protect them from damage.
Finding a Wraith ship turned out to be easier than expected, they couldn't flee to hyperspace and journeys at less than light speed were pointless so those Wraith ships that had survived so far were just floating around. They were making no attempts to hide and several Hive ships as well as a few cruisers were within scanning range of Atlantis.
Sneaking up on a lone cruiser also proved to be simple. We simply dropped out of hyperspace early and snuck up on the cruiser while cloaked. Then Cameron and myself, along with a squad of robots, left my ship on a Jumper.
Once we were ready my warship de-cloaked, and as predicted the cruiser launched its darts, and when that happened I was able to board the Wraith ship.
(Line Break)
Wraith Cruiser. Pegasus Galaxy.
After landing the cloaked Jumper in the small docking bay of this ship I saw a Wraith technician busy at a nearby console. Without pause I activated my own cloaking device and exited the craft along with Cameron.
The technician didn't hear or see my Terminator as she stepped up behind him and snapped his neck before taking the creature's stunner, no doubt she intended to add the weapon to her own armoury, or put it on display somewhere as a trophy. A habit she'd picked up off me.
Once the path was clear I ordered the robots out of the Jumper,and we began to the process of clearing out the cruiser, which didn't have a large crew according to the life signs detector I was carrying.
We quickly moved on me and small army of metal killers, who aside from Cameron were all Cortana's direct control. It was wise to keep the mechs under her power as more than once I'd seen mechs like these malfunction and go on a rampage.
The cruiser was tiny when compared to a Hive ship, but it still had decent sized crew, and while some on the Wraith warriors had been fed on by the higher ranking Wraith, there were still plenty of them for us to shoot at.
Before the bodies even hit the ground they disintegrated. There would be no stunning the Wraith on this mission. Our disruptor rifles were set on disintegrate mode so in one shot the targets just vanished. This way there was no chance of any on the space vampires healing themselves and attacking us later.
While under personal cloaks, which didn't prevent us from seeing each other, we made it a quarter of a way to the bridge before we were discovered, and an alarm went off. The shrill noise was not only loud, but also painful to hear, once my helmet had filtered it out for the most part, I wondered if that was by design.
The plan called for us to reach the bridge as quickly as possible in case the Wraith commander in charge of this ship, whose judgement might be impaired by hunger, decided to risk jumping to hyperspace.
Of course the weapons of my ship would be used in an attempt to disable the engines of the Wraith vessel if that happened, but I wasn't going to depend on that working as while Miranda could somewhat command the ship, she didn't have the fine control I did and might not be able to hit the hyperdrive. So we rushed to the bridge.
As the Wraith stunners dissipated against my armour I dropped the cloak in favour of the shield, I'd done this as the cloak had not been working and my armour could only handle so many blasts before the energy started reaching my body.
The Wraith were either using some psychic sense to detect us or a more mundane sense that was different enough from a human's to find us. That sense hadn't worked for the technician whose neck Cameron had snapped, but that might be because he'd been distracted by his work.
Weapon's fire from Wraith energy stunners dissipated harmlessly as they met our shields, and when the remaining warriors made use of what cover their was we made use of our grenades. The screams of dying Wraith would have been music to my ears if not for the fact that it had been drowned by explosions.
When my team finally reached the bridge we quickly took out any Wraith present. Then the real hard work began. Because of the jamming, we couldn't beam on or off the ship, so we needed to disable the jamming as quickly as possible so that more robots could be beamed onto the ship. Then we could take out the remaining Wraith with overwhelming numbers.
With that in mind I attempted to get Cortana to interact with what passed for Wraith computers. They were biotech so I doubted she'd able to do much, but all she had to do was disable the jamming, and then we could beam Teylor on board, and she could interact with the ship's systems.
(Line Break)
Wraith Cruiser. Pegasus Galaxy.
"It appears that I can control this ship" Teyla informed me "I can feel the systems now at my command, but it may take me some time to understand exactly how to use them".
This was good news. Cortana had been unable to do much of anything despite being rather good at hacking computers. But that wasn't surprising given that this was all biotech of some kind. We were lucky enough to have been able to switch the jamming off.
When that had happened it had been a simple matter to deal with the rest of the crew as I'd been able to beam over more mechs, they might be cheap security droids made from Mass Effect level technology, but they'd been more than a match for Wraith warriors who didn't seem to have much in the way of fighting skills.
"Don't worry" I assured Teyla "You don't have to fly this thing we'll tow it to the space dock, and we can study it once we're there. All you'll need to do is keep the lights on, and maybe activate some systems".
Naturally we couldn't just fly this ship to my space dock as it would explode should we attempt to enter hyperspace. However it should be fine if we used a tractor beam to tow it through hyperspace. Of course I didn't intend for anyone to be on board this vessel when we entered hyperspace just in case something went wrong.
I wasn't too worried if the ship did break while getting towed as I didn't think I'd keep in the long run, but it would keep Seven of Nine busy for a while, and once it had been fully studied I could always trade it to one of my allies.
"Gothic!" called out a voice over the radio "There's still a few of those darts in the hanger bay. Guess they didn't have enough pilots".
I'd sent Miranda down to the dart bay and Tali to what passed for engineering on this ship. Seven and Cameron were searching the rest of the vessel for anything of interest.
"Cool" I said "We'll keep one for study and hand over the rest to our allies as gifts".
Might as well throw the Tau'ri a bone, so to speak.
"We'll do a full accounting later" I said next "For now let's back to our ship and tow this thing to the space dock".
(Line Break)
Wraith Cruiser. Space Dock.
Seven of Nine was not one to easily give up, however she was tempted to now as her current work was highly frustrating. Partly this was her own fault as she hadn't regenerating as often as she should.
Currently she was attempting to not only to come to an understanding about how Wraith technology worked, but also to come with a method of controlling the captured Wraith Cruiser. Even with access to technology and knowledge gathered from different universes this task was proving beyond even Seven's great skills.
Which wasn't to say she hadn't been totally unsuccessful, which the aid of a native of this galaxy who was called Teyla, the cyborg had been able to activate and to some extent control, several secondary systems, as well as life support. But systems such as sublight engines, weapons, sensors, and hyperdrive could not be accessed.
No Borg, in or out of the Collective, had been held back by a simple matter of biology since their war with Species 8476, back then no drone had been able to assimilate even the smallest bit of that race's biotechnology.
Seven of Nine closed her tricorder, which she'd been used to scan what seemed to be some sort of fluid system that transmitted electrical impulses as information, and then moved her arm towards the nearest control console.
Two small tubes sprung out from her wrist, she was in a sense now attempting to assimilate the Wraith cruiser using her nanoprobes, although it would not become part of the Borg Collective, as that did not exist in this universe.
She'd never attempted to assimilate anything this large or complex before and while the process had barely begun, she was already starting to feel the effects. More and more of her nanoprobes left her body and began to alter the Wraith ship in small but noticeable ways.
Controls were reconfigured in both form and function, making them not only much easier to use, but also more recognisable as controls. Behind the scenes, systems were altered and Seven's nanoprobes make new connections, and systems that been dormant came online as they no longer required any sort of mental control in order to be used.
The work was completed even sooner than Seven had expected, which was good for her because her body required nanoprobes, without them she'd die, and while she hadn't given up so many that meant her death, her body wasn't able to cope with the sudden loss, and she passed out.
(Line Break)
Aurora-class Warship. Space Dock.
While the sickbay of this ship had been used before, and wasn't at all staffed, it was more or less functioning, and thanks to Voyager's EMH I had enough medical training to figure out that Seven really just needed some rest as well as few helpings of that horrible excuse for food she called, nutritional supplements.
I soon realised that this could have been much worse, and that my crew needed a proper Doctor, I would have to return to Earth sooner than expected and try to recruit Jennifer Keller. I should be able to offer both her and the people she answered to some sort of incentive. Perhaps cures for some of their more deadly diseases.
As far as I could tell the nanoprobes that Seven required to function had been greatly depleted in number, they were now making efforts to replicate using energy and materials taken from Seven. While the nanoprobes were each mircosophic in size there were so many of them that their attempts to replicate had harmed Seven, thankfully they were also repairing her now that their numbers were being restored.
Seven of Nine's fluttered open and she returned to the world of the living. I wanted to yell at her for being so reckless, but I quickly found that I didn't have in me to berate her like she was a child. However I didn't let her off easy.
"Don't ever do that again" I firmly ordered.
At this point I started feeling rather emotional about the whole thing, and it would total ruin my image as bad ass if anyone saw me getting upset, so I quickly left the room.
