Jump Chain Gothic 4 - Atlantis - Part 9
Planet. Pegasus Galaxy.
While it was my intention to return to the Milky Way in order to gather Goa'uld technology for study, there was no rush as most of their stuff was just ripped off from the Ancients anyway, and I'd decided to check out a few more things in this galaxy before leaving. After all why rush, I had ten years in this universe.
The Wraith would be dealt with by the Ancients and the Asgard without my aid, and there was so much to see in this universe that I wanted to get on with things. Hence why I'd gone into the Ancient's database and found this world.
This planet was important as it was home to another city-ship. I had no intention of seizing the city-ship, mostly because I didn't have the manpower or the resources to make use of one, however I had no intention of leaving this world before dealing with the cruel idiots who used the city-ship's weapons to oppress the local villagers. They didn't need the Tower to protect them from the Wraith so there was no sense letting the Tower stay active.
"Let us go greet these villagers," said Teyla before leading the way.
Cameron, Teyla, Miranda and I headed into the nearest village. I let Teyla do the talking as the villagers informed us of their daily lives.
It was all as I'd expected, The Lord Protectorate ruled from the Tower, the city-ship's main spire. If the villagers did not comply with his wishes a drone was sent forth as a demonstration of the Lord Protectorate's power.
Just like from canon I interfered in the attempted abuse of of a villager by the Tower's soldiers in the place of John Sheppard to get myself taken before the Lord Protector. Which was of course all part of my plan.
There was a slight issue with Cameron wanting to come along, but I managed to sort that about explaining to the guards that she was servant. It was good for them that they accepted this as if they'd tried to stop Cameron from following me they would have been in for a world of pain.
(Line Break)
The Tower. Pegasus Galaxy.
As I looked around the lavishly decorated control room the Lord Protector and his entourage came in. I could already tell the Lord was dying from the poisons administered by his court genealogist, Otho, who'd made a deal with the Lord's son.
Which was in exchange for killing the Lord Otho would receive the hand of the beautiful Mara in marriage. While waiting I amused myself by imagining what I could do to these "royals" of the Tower when I was through playing nice.
I wasn't going to do anything to explosive as Seven would want to study the city-ship in great detail, and I wouldn't simply slaughter everyone, as tempting as it was to humble these prats, violence wasn't always the solution. Besides I'd done enough killing.
"You there…approach," instructed the Lord as he pointed at me.
Slowly I stepped forward.
"I am Captain Gothic," I said in order to introduce myself "I'm a visitor to your world".
The Lord Protector shifted in his control chair.
"I know who you are. I saw you in the village. I see all that I need to see within my domain," explained the Lord Protector as he brought up a real time holographic feed of the village "Your friends…they are concerned about you".
Indeed they were, but they need not have worried, I was in little to no danger. All I'd have to do was press a button on omni-tool and Cortana would ensure that I would be beamed up back on board my ship.
Besides these fools hadn't even taken all my weapons from me, and nothing other the drones the Lord Protector controlled could harm Cameron and I because of our super duper new armour.
"They have cause to be concerned since I seem to be a prisoner," I replied.
"A show of force was necessary for the benefit of the villagers. It keeps them from getting ideas" said the ruler of this world "But for the moment I would prefer if you thought of yourself as my guest".
Alas for him I'd be a poor guest.
"Father I must object. This man should be punished" spoke up a person who if I remembered correctly was the Lord's son "He challenged one of our constables".
"One of our constables," asked the Lord.
"Forgive me…one of your constables," replied the younger man.
Clearly there was some friction between these two men. That would have been clear to me even without me seeing the episode.
"Gothic it would be my pleasure that you dine with us this evening," said the Lord.
I nodded in acceptance of his offer, while wondering what was on the menu.
(Line Break)
The Tower. Pegasus Galaxy.
During dinner I sat beside a young lady called Mara during dinner. She was the only one who seemed to not be sucking down food like they were starving, and as a result was one of the few people who actually spoke during the meal.
Mara, who was pretty much a princess, was constantly smiling at me, her attempts to flirt were crude, but I wasn't offended.
"Captain Gothic, why do you have two names?" asked Mara.
Apparently surnames were a thing on this planet. Which I thought was odd as nobles usually make a big deal about having the right family name.
"Captain is a title given to the commander of a ship" I explained to the young woman "You can just call me Gothic".
My military rank was actually Lieutenant-Commander. I was still an Alliance Officer after all. But the title of Captain was starting to grow on me.
"Yes, Gothic" Mara said with a smile.
Our dinner conversation was interrupted as the Lord of this place began to have a coughing fit. While everyone was distracted I used the Asgard stone to aid my memory and perfectly recalled that a man called Otho, who was a member of the court, was the one poisoning the Lord Protector. Since this was months earlier than when Shepard was suppose to come here I could only conclude that poisoning had been going on for a while, and it was being drawn out for some reason. Perhaps to make it look like a natural illness.
"My Lord," Otho cried out in what I knew to be false sincerity.
"Stop it…leave me be," ordered the Lord.
He failed about in an effort to push the bald man away, but totally failed.
"Take him to his chambers," Otho command of some servants.
Once the leader of this place was gone things began to calm down.
"What's wrong with him," I asked.
I had to pretend that I didn't know.
"He will be alright…it isn't the first time this has happened," Otho answered before leaving.
And unless I put a stop it, then it wouldn't be the last time either.
(Line Break)
The Tower. Pegasus Galaxy,
I returned to my quarters to await a visitor that I knew was coming.
"Am I disturbing you," asked Mara as she arrived in my chambers.
The noble had changed in what I guessed to be some sort of causal evening wear, but it was barely any less ornate than what she'd worn during dinner. All that jewelry and frilly stuff had to be heavy.
"Most definitely not, how's your father," I asked as I stood.
"He's resting" Mara told me "thank you for your concern".
No one spoke for a moment or two.
"There's a matter of great importance my father wishes to discuss with you, perhaps in the morning he will be well enough to grant you a proper audience" Mara was now saying "Until then perhaps there is something I could do to make you more comfortable".
The room was well decorated, and comfortable looking, plus with Cameron right outside I wasn't in danger.
"What did you have in mind," I asked.
Mara's reply was to undo a few fastenings in order to reveal that she had on absolutely nothing underneath. Her body was in good shape, and she had a good level of hygiene, so I wasn't worried about catching anything from her.
She quickly pressed her lips against mine as her hand caressed my cheek. No more words were needed as the naked Mara jumped me, driving me back on the bed. Yet despite our arms being all over the place we managed to get me undressed
As I pulled my shirt over my head Mara guided her eager wet pussy over my hard length of man meat. Apparently foreplay wasn't on the menu tonight.
While I let Mara work herself up and down on my shaft I simply relaxed, only wondering for a moment if my companions would object to me sleeping with this woman, but it shouldn't be an issue as while they weren't allowed to sleep with anyone outside of the group I'd never accepted that limitation.
With that in mind I was able to fully relax and let this sluttly excuse for a princess show me how eager she was to please.
(Line Break)
The Tower. Pegasus Galaxy.
"Well this had to be quickest revolution in history" I commented as the nobles who had ruled this world were being rounded up "I wonder if they'll be any executions?".
If there were going to be then I should do something to help out Mara, she might be a useless toff, but I'd banged her, and it would be a bit wrong of me to let her die after spending a night with her. Beside saving her life wouldn't be too much trouble, I had no intention of adding her to my crew, she lacked the skills to be useful to me in that way, but I could take to another planet, and let the locals deal with her. I could easily pay someone to take in.
"Should we not do something to prevent that?" asked Teyla.
I didn't feel motivated to.
"The rulers of this world have been using the tower to oppress the people here for thousands of years" I said to the Pegasus native "they've been living in luxury while the peasants lived in poverty, and I've seen these people eat, they have feasts while everyone outside of the Tower barely has enough to eat. Then there's been the Lord Protector's demonstrations. I have no sympathy for them".
My only interest was getting to study the city-ship, and once the lower classes had taken control of the tower it should be a simple matter for me to arrange access. All I had to was offer them stuff like food, clothes, and other supplies. They were a practical people and would see the sense in becoming my allies.
As for Telya, well I didn't really need her anymore, so I figured that it was time to return her to her people, along with some supplies as a way of thanking her for her services.
(Line Break)
The Tower. Pegasus Galaxy.
As I sat in the control chair of this might vessel I became aware of it in ways few people could ever understand, I learned more about the amazing city-shops, and what they could do, simply by sitting in this chair that I could have with days of normal investigation.
City-ships were perhaps the most impressive technological marvel known to have been created by the Ancients, and this was a race that had spread Stargates over whole galaxies, and had mastered terraforming. They'd even built ships, such as the Destiny, that was still flying around despite having been launched from Earth so long ago.
In shape they were snowflake-shaped behemoths, stretching kilometers in diameter, and they had an internal volume comparable to every building in Manhattan. Which sounded impressive to be despite the fact that I had no idea how many buildings their were in Manhattan, and nor did I have clue how much internal space they had.
Capable of intergalactic travel via a powerful stardrive, one of these craft crossed the 3.5 million light year gulf between the Milky Way and Pegasus, and they could all do if they were fully powered and in working order. Crossing the massive void between galaxies in less than a human life time was an impressive achievement, and I should know as I'd done it twice.
At their best the city-ships were powered by three Zero Point Modules, devices which contained vast amounts of energy, but this vessel wasn't as ZPMs were rare these days, no one knew how to make them, not even the Ancients living in Atlantis as the construction of ZPMs hadn't been common knowledge. Thankfully for the remaining Ancients the Asgard had ways of generating energy that were good enough to keep Atlantis running.
The main defensive systems of a city-ship were the drone weapons, some of which were taking from this place so that my ship would remain fully armed, and an all-encompassing shield, but the city had other ways of defending itself, not that I had much idea of what they were, however I did know that they could cloak in order to hide from attackers.
Since these city-ships were not airtight, when the city-ship went into space a shield must be active in order to hold in the atmosphere, otherwise everyone within the city-ship would suffocate before long. Also the same applied to the heat, but that was less of concern as everyone would die from lack of air before they could freeze to death.
City-ships carried a complement of smaller ships, dubbed "puddle jumpers" by John Sheppard, and this city-ship was no exception, but since I had a docking bay full of them I had no use for the small craft stored here.
Like Atlantis this city-ship had many systems, including long-range sensors, internal transporters, and sophisticated computer systems. There were also systems that I simply didn't understand the purpose anymore than a medieval knight would understand the purpose of a USB stick.
As to why I was spending my day sitting in the control chair, well that was because Seven of Nine wanted to study this amazing piece of Ancient technology, and since that was going to take some I could end up sitting in this chair for a good long while. I couldn't leave because she needed to me keep the systems online while she figured out what they were.
The central nexus of command within a City-ship was the control tower, which was the single tall spire in the center of the vessel. And that was the only part of this city-ship that was occupied, the rest was below ground and not very safe.
Inside the tower was the control room (in Atlantis while it was occupied by the Atlantis expedition this where Stargate Operations was based) and normally it was the location the crew controlled the ship from.
This part of the city-ship contained such locations as the hologram room, conference room and the leader's office. The Stargate was also located here if the City-ship had one, and for some reason this one didn't. Controls for dialing the Stargate, raising or lowering the Stargate shield and main city shield, activating the cloaking device, and many other functions were normally located here.
While this was the primary point of control for the ship, there was also an Auxiliary control center located deep inside the city. The Control chair was the main method of activating and operating the city's Stardrive, and could also be used to control and configure some of the city's systems; in theory, the Control chair could also be used as a backup command center, although only one person can use the chair at any one time.
For some reason the control chair of this city-ship was located within the main spire, and had been used as a throne by the Lord Protectors over the centuries, until I'd turned up and helped bring an end to that arrangement.
These vessel's internal sensors allowed for the detection of individuals or objects inside the city. However, if power was shut down in a certain area then the sensors in that grid were offline and became incapable of providing information to the control room.
Another aspect of this sensor grid was the biometric sensor which was capable of detecting irregularities in biometric rhythm and reporting them to the system. This made it similar to a Life signs detector; however, this more powerful city-based sensor was capable of discerning alien lifeforms from human, and reporting to the crew the presence of these aliens in the city. However, it required a significant amount of power to operate (though it was possible to focus the scanning field to certain parts of the city, thus reducing power requirements drastically)
I was messing about with that, watching life signs, made up of my crew and some the locals who'd moved into the Tower.
Once I got bored of that I brought the long range sensors online, they worked as Seven had installed our generators to support the nearly drained ZPM, and to my delight I found something. A lone ship, not Ancient, nor Wraith, and I didn't think it was Asgard either as the scanners informed that the ship didn't have high energy levels. It might be the Earth ship Daedalus, but I suspected that it was someone else, and I was going to go find out.
(Line Break)
Traveller Ship. Pegasus Galaxy.
This was not how I'd intended things to go. When we'd located a small traveller fleet I'd been very happy as they were not easy to track down, if they had been the Wraith would have wiped them out a long time ago. But things in this galaxy were changing, even the Travellers, who must mostly keep to themselves, had noticed the lack of cullings, and the fact the Wraith ships were staying put.
We'd found them, and rather than run, or shoot at us, the Travellers had invited me to beam onto one of their vessels, only it had turned out to be a trap, as soon as I'd transported on board I'd gotten stunned. Apparently those particle weapons the Travellers used were powerful to blast through my defences, it had take more a few shots to stun me, but they'd managed it and boy had it hurt.
How they'd take down Cameron was a bit of a mystery. I hoped she was okay. I had asked about her, however the gentlemen who was currently in my cell wanted to be the one asking the questions.
"Here's how we are going to do this. I'm going to ask you questions and you're going to give me answers. Is that simple enough for you," said my captor
Of course I'd used the Asgard stone to refresh my memories on the Travellers before coming on board so I knew that this guy was named Silas.
"Sure thing Silas," I agreed.
I could tell Silas was surprised I knew his name but shook it off. No doubt he figured that I'd overheard it from some one
"Who are you? Where are you from? And where did you get your ship," questioned Silas.
"My name is Gothic. I'm from a galaxy far far away in another dimension, and I got my ship from what you'd call an ascended being," I answered.
Thinking I was lying Silas punched me in the stomach. I had to admit that this guy was tough. I actually felt the blow despite the armour I was wearing. They not been able to remove anything other than the helmet, and Silas really should have punched me in the face.
"Now that was a mistake" I said
With my biotic abilities I hit Silas hard enough that he dropped to the floor unconscious.
Several minutes later the door to this makeshift brig opened to reveal the beautiful leader of my captors, Larrin.
"Hello Larrin," I greeted as I sat on the nearby bunk.
While waiting for her I'd amused myself with my omni-tool, which was part of my body armour these days.
"Check Silas," Larrin ordered one of her underlings.
Silas was quickly dragged out of the brig.
"What…you aren't going to ask how I knew your name," I asked.
"How…how did you do that," asked Larrin.
"You'll find I can do a lot of things Larrin," I replied "But if your referring to your friend Silas I knocked him with my biotic abilities".
A moment later my hand was surrounded by blue energy.
"We need to talk," I told her as I stood up "And I'd much prefer that we do so the civilized way".
(Line Break)
Traveller Ship. Pegasus Galaxy.
After following Larrin to the mess hall I sat at the table opposite her. I didn't even touch the food she offered in case it was drugged.
"I'll cut to the chase. We both have something the other wants," I began by saying. "You want my help in developing an interface for controlling a Lantian battleship so that your people will have a nice big ship to live in. And you know that I can control Ancestor technology because you saw that I have a Lantain battleship of my own. So you need my help, and you can't force to help you because if I wanted to I could rip this ship apart with my powers".
Now that got her attention, just as I'd known it would, and it looked as if she believed me, which was good because I couldn't actually rip this craft apart with my biotic abilities.
"I'm willing to help you" I told her "In fact there's a lot my people can do for you. In exchange I want some of those cool guns of yours".
The traveller leader seemed to think things over.
"You're Lantian," Larrin incorrectly concluded.
I shook my head.
"No but I do know where you can find some Lantains" I told her "I am an advanced human, and I do have the gene they have, but I'm not from this galaxy".
I figured that things would take some time to explain, but that I could convince this woman that an alliance with me was in her best interest. I wanted to open up trade between my group and her people, if only so I could get my hands on a few of those cool particle weapons that they carried.
(Line Break)
Aurora-class Warship. Pegasus Galaxy.
While I didn't have much time until my meeting with the captain's of the Traveller ships, we needed to finalise the terms of our alliance, as well as finish trading vast amounts of supplies, for the tech I wanted, I still spared a few moments to let Seven brief on what she'd learned about the Travellers so far.
To this end I made my way to one of her labs, which she was using to go over the scans of Traveller ships we'd able able to take so far. She didn't waste any time greeting me, she simply got on with things.
"The Travelers are a technologically advanced race of Humans in the Pegasus galaxy who have escaped being culled by the Wraith by hiding aboard generational ships which travel throughout the Pegasus galaxy" she started by saying "The Travellers began as a race of humans who decided to escape the Wraith by launching themselves into space, thereby making it impossible for them to be pinned down in one place. Since then they have remained aboard their ships, landing as needed for supplies but otherwise keeping on the move. However, without a home base and with virtually no other advanced civilizations in the galaxy to trade with, they have been forced to improvise in order to maintain their fleet. As such, they cannot build new ships, and those that remain are often repaired using mismatched components and haphazard reconstruction".
Which was why they'd been willing to kidnap anyone they could find who had the ATA gene, they badly needed their Aurora class working. It could house hundreds of people, maybe as many as a thousand if they were really squeezed in.
"According to the database I was able to download The Travellers are led by a Governing Council which makes all major decisions pertaining to the race as a whole such as alliances and decisions of war" Seven told me "However in reality individual ship captains have the real power when it comes to deciding what the fleet will or will not do".
Which was why I was dealing with the captains, this council would just slow things down and the Travellers couldn't afford not to have me as an ally.
"Traveler technology is relatively advanced compared to that of most other Pegasus civilizations" Seven was now saying "They have hyperspace-capable starships, hand-held and ship-mounted energy weapons, as well as shielding technology. Curiously, Traveler technology is different from most FTL-capable races in this universe as it is not based on the use of crystals, but on more primitive wires and chips".
I'd noticed that to, it suggested that the Travellers had before taking to the stars, been developing technology much like that used on Earth.
"Did they send you the blueprint for their handheld energy weapons?" I asked Seven.
I couldn't hide the eagerness in my voice.
"They have" shed answered "And I have already began my study of the technology"
I could tell that she was about to lecture me some more.
"The particle magnum has the appearance of a long-barreled revolver. The cylinder of the weapon is a power cell with a luminescent dome on the back" she started by saying "The cell has a finite amount of energy, but can be removed to be recharged or replaced".
I wasn't really listening I was too busy imagining myself in my cool new armour, blasting aliens with a particle magnum.
"The barrel of the gun has three small crystals of increasing size from bottom to top. The weapon has three settings: stun, kill, and incinerate" Seven said, rambling on "The toggle is on the barrel just in front of the cylinder, and the cylinder colour changes to indicate the setting: red is for stun, white is for the other settings".
"When set on stun, the particle magnum can render the target unconscious for several hours with just a single shot, making it far more potent than a Wraith stunner. When set to kill, it can kill humans and Wraith in a single blast. The incinerate setting can put a 25 centimeter hole in most materials with a single shot, though it takes multiple shots to blast through denser materials" she then said.
This was when Cortana informed me that the Traveller captains were ready to speak with me.
"I've got to go" I informed the former borg drone "While I'm gone could you and Tali, please build one of those particle magnums for me".
Seven agreed to attempt the task, and I couldn't help hugging her, then I remembered that she didn't much care for that sort of thing so I quickly left the room.
