Author Note
Just one chapter this time so that I can bring the story up to seventy thousand words. More chapters are on the way.
Reviews
Guest
Flying around the universe gathering technology is a lot more fun than just copying someone's database. Plus the Atlantis database is huge, they would not be able to download that much information without anyone finding out.
Joe Lawyer
Optical regenerators is like laser eye surgery that comes from a device the size of a pen. Maybe the Federation does have something like, I wouldn't know and it doesn't matter. The main reason for ending that war was to test the Asgard technology.
Mark Adaar
I've already done Teen Titan stories with a Raven romance. I was thinking of the DCAU for next Jump but he'd recruit and reform some sexy villains.
kirosyamcha
She seemed rather busy with her own people's problems in the show. I'd don't think she'd leave them. Plus she doesn't seem as if she'd serve Gothic like the other women do. She's a leader in her own right.
john777
Actually he already has a robot crew, but they can't improve things just repair and maintain. Therefore its better to bring in experts for the upgrades.
I looked up Sujanha, and decided to have him appear briefly in the story.
Jump Chain Gothic 4 - Atlantis - Part 15
Aurora-class Warship. Void Between Galaxies.
While normally I entered one of Seven's lab in order to check on her progress with some project of hers. Today that wasn't the case, she was tinkering with something, however she was my main concern, not her work.
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
Seven had been the first to try the DNA altering machine, because she badly wanted the ATA gene, mostly so she could use all the ship's systems, and adding it to her DNA was a good way to test the technology. However while it had been a simple alteration of her genetics, at least in theory, I couldn't help worrying. Things could wrong, and while so far they didn't seem to be, I figured they still could. Best to keep on eye on her.
"I am fine" Seven told me.
Currently she was attaching a helmet to one of the suits of armour we used. Normally it was Tali who performed the modifications Seven designed, as she was the engineer, but this time it was Seven who had gotten her hands dirty. She was in the process of applying this new modification to all the suits.
"What are you up to?" I asked, while walking further into the lab.
By the looks of all the tools, and the empty plates of what were no doubt her nutritional supplements, she'd been in here for a while. That or she was much more hungry than normal, it could be that as a side effect of having your DNA messed with. I remember Rodney Mckay eating a lot when he got 'evolved'.
"I have made a small modification to our armour suits" she told me "Upon inspecting the helmets used by the Jaffa, I discovered that they collapse themselves into the armour. Allowing the removal of the helmet without the wearer having to take off the helmet and carry it. I have added this feature to our own armour".
After moving over to one of the suits, the former Borg drone pressed a small button on where the neck would be if someone was wearing the armour, and the helmet retracted into the suit. She then reversed the process.
"Cool" I commented.
It was good that we could take all the technology I was working so hard to gather and find practical uses for it.
"Well we still have a couple of weeks before we make it to Atlantis" I said to Seven, trying to sound causal "Plenty of time to mess with our genetics".
Merlin, or Moros to give him his proper name, had taken command of Atlantis as hoped, and was now calling me to Atlantis on a matter of great importance. I didn't know what that actually meant, but the leader of the remaining Ancients wouldn't be calling upon me unless it was important. I suspected that whatever was happening there, it would affect the lives of people in more than one galaxy. Which meant it was something I wanted to be involved in.
"I'll be in my office, if you need me" I then said to Seven.
She barely acknowledge my departer, she was already engrossed in some other piece of work. I made a mental note telling myself that it would a good idea to force Seven to take some time off in the future.
(Line Break)
Aurora-class Warship. Void Between Galaxies.
Heimdall the Asgard geneticist, had quickly come to understand how to use this technology, which I was now going to refer to as the Ascension machine, despite the fact that it was really several devices working together.
Ascension was a process that allows beings to leave behind a physical existence and live eternally as pure energy in a higher plane of existence, this also gives the ascended person a greater amount of knowledge and power than mere mortals.
It could be a mental, spiritual or even a so called evolutionary process, a direct result of obtaining a certain level of wisdom and knowledge as a person, or even more of a biological process. There were a few paths towards ascension, and while the routes there could be very different from each other the end result was the same,
The Ancients were the first known race to ascend and some of them, such as Oma Desala, attempted to teach the "lowers", those who lived lives on the physical plane to ascend without the use of technology, or millions of years of evolution.
When he first met Oma Desala, Doctor. Daniel Jackson speculated that this is what the Earth religion of Buddhism is based on, and that Oma Desala was Mother Nature along with the other Ancients being spirits. Not that this was the truth.
According to research by Dr. Rodney McKay, once the brain achieved 90% synaptic activity, a person attempting to ascend must achieve an EEG of 0.1 to 0.9 hertz, during which they will learn how to convert their body into energy. If they do not achieve ascension before 96% synaptic activity is achieved, the lower functions of the brain will shut down. I didn't understand how or why this was, nor did it really matter to me.
What did matter was that Ascension as a physical process involved a human who has the ability to use approximately 90% of their cerebral capacity. They can learn to Ascend without much problem, gaining more and more power as a mortal. This is related to the myth of which the people only use 10% of their brains, with no real justification. Unlike the spiritual this form of Ascension does not require the being to be good of heart.
Near ascension, which was the state of being I was aiming for, occured when a Human was evolving to the point of Ascension, but didn't need to shed his or her physical form to become pure energy. It was actually a term that could be used on a whole array of more evolved humans.
A normal human brain performs at 10% maximum capacity at any one time, but they require at least 92% to ascend, however from my understanding that whole idea of humans only using ten percent of their brain was a misunderstanding. There was a difference between mental capacity and brain usage. Humans closer to ascension didn't actually use more of the brain, they just used it better.
But again this wasn't what really mattered. What I cared about was that the state of near-ascension gives humans such as myself special abilities due to the heightened brain activity. The abilities become stronger and more diverse as the brain activity increases.
eThese power included stuff like Healing; Near-ascended humans has the power to heal themselves rapidly and also the ability to heal others, even if they had major wounds, maybe even bring back those who had recently died. They can also cure diseases. Priors have shown the ability to cure the Ori plague, though it is unknown if this is through technology or their near-ascended power
Some states of Near-ascension can also allow the user to see visions of the future and share them with others. These visions have always come true, although the user cannot tell when or where what he sees will happen, or under what context. Which made them rather unless in my view. Hopefully I wouldn't get that power.
Psychokinesis, also known as telekinesis, was the ability to move objects that one can or cannot see with the power of their mind. Beings near ascension are able to demonstrate psychokinesis.
An example of this Cassandra Fraiser was given psycokinetic abilities by Nirrti in an attempt to create a Hok'tar (advanced human) host; through a retrovirus, and this could also be done via DNA resequencer.
In the show Priors also demonstrated the ability to use psychokinesis, as have de-ascended beings such as Merlin, and Daniel Jackson after downloading Merlin's memories. Rodney McKay also gained telekinesis when exposed to a Ancient Device that was designed to accelerate a human's natural evolution. That device was in Atlantis, and while it might be possible for to gain access to it, I'd rather not since it didn't work that well.
Technopathy (the ability to manipulate machinery): Some near ascended beings have displayed the ability to control various forms of technology. Priors in particular have displayed the ability to control Ori warships with just their mind alone while Adria could also sort through a DHD's memory and determine the last address dialed. While possessing the mind and abilities of Merlin as well as a Prior, Doctor Daniel Jackson was able to take control of the systems of the Odyssey with his mind, fly an Ori warship and dial the Supergate.
There were other powers I could gain as well, the ability to create and control fire, was a good example, but more than anything I was hoping for the increased intelligence and the ability to comprehend the mysterious of the universe.
Shortly after leaving the Alteran Home Galaxy, the Ancients began to develop these abilities, and eventually ascended, but some of the technology they left behind has allowed others to follow the same path. The Ori also ascended (but later than the Ancients,) and without the assistance of technology
Heimdall, the Asgard who would be operating the devices required to evolve a human being on the path towards ascension, was now finishing up her preparations. With the help of my companions she'd already added the ATA gene to Seven's DNA, and now she was preparing to evolve me. In time others might use this device, but none of my companions seemed eager to.
Not that the path to ascension was true evolution, which was about using adaptation to better survive in your habitat. A common misconception by many was that evolution has goals, long-term plans, or an innate tendency towards "progress", as expressed in beliefs such as orthogenesis and evolutionism; realistically however, evolution has no long-term goal and does not necessarily produce greater complexity in life forms.
As such ascension, and the states of being that led towards it, were not really about evolving and more about improving oneself, which was a noble goal, but ascension was not a natural process even if it could be considered spiritual.
I'd never understood why some science fiction settings have people in them that consider evolution to be something divine, it was just a natural process, worthy of no more respect than gravity or weather cycles.
"We are ready to begin" Heimdall informed me "Please step into the stasis chamber".
The actual treatment would take very little time on a person out of stasis, however rapidly changing a person's DNA could place a lot of strain on a body, so it was best done while in stasis. Unlike Prothean stasis technology, the Ancient version of the technology didn't pause a person's biological processes, rather they were greatly slowed down. This meant the changes to my DNA would take place over weeks rather than mere hours, meaning there would be plenty of time to deal with any problems that came up.
In fact by the time the first treatment was done our long journey between two galaxies would be over.
"Okay here goes nothing" I said while stepping into the stasis chamber.
The last thing I saw for a good long while was something that looked like ice forming over me.
(Line Break)
Aurora-class Warship. Pegasus Galaxy.
For a while now Jennifer Keller had been poking and prodding me with a number of implements, and she'd also been scanning me with devices. All of which seemed interesting to her, but I found myself getting bored.
I'd only been through one treatment in the ascension machine, which was my name for the DNA resequer and the equipment required to take a human being, such as myself, and push him or her down the road to ascension. Which while not a journey I intended to finish, I did intend to get somewhere near the end.
"You took a big risk using that machine" Keller was saying "DNA isn't something you should mess about with".
Her concern was unwanted and unneeded.
"You forget that my team have experience with advance technology" I said to the doctor "We know what we're doing, and we have the help of the Asgard".
Another person moved over to scan me with some device.
"Indeed you do" said the Asgard known as Sujanha.
Sujanha was a female sounding Asgard who, sometime during the 1500s, made a theoretical breakthrough in the field of Human psionics. With these theories, Sujanha believed that she could allow the Naranjani, natives of the planet Naranjan, to reach their full psionic potential without using the complex rituals which had previously been employed by the Nivashan. Using Asgard technology to disguise herself as a Human, Sujanha went to the planet Naranjan and began teaching students her methods. Her theoretical breakthrough was proved a success and her efforts were ultimately successful, but the full-scale introduction of psionics proved disruptive to society on Naranjan, leading to widespread rebellion against the ruling Nivashan.
The job of Sujanha wasn't just to monitor and study me so that the Asgard could learn more about how to achieve ascension, which was the main reason for their involvement in this project, but also to help me learn how to use my abilities.
In the show those that achieved a state of Near ascension seemed to be able to use their abilities right away, however their 'evolution' was also very rapid and most often it would have been fatal.
My circumstances were different. Not only was I being 'evolved' at a slower rate via some careful and controlled treatments, I wasn't a human who was the result of the Ancients seeding life in two different galaxies, add into the fact that I was already more advanced than other humans, and we couldn't be sure that I would just know how to use my powers.
Sujanha wasn't the only one who could teach me, some of the remaining Ancients, including Merlin, had the abilities of near-ascended beings. Also the Nox had similar powers, only they were pacifists, and since I was a soldier of sorts, they might not be willing to teach me. Still it wouldn't hurt to ask, they wouldn't harm me, they would just say no or yes.
Another option was The Cloister which was a village in a valley within a Time dilation field. It originally was created by the Lanteans as a safe place where humans could evolve and ascend without fear of being culled by the Wraith.
Time within the field travels around 250 times faster then in outside world. So in theory I could go in there and learn a lot of ascension from the spiritual side of things, while very little time would pass outside of the field. However I didn't know how much of my ten years in this universe would be used up if I went into a time dilation field.
This was more of a long term concern as it was unlikely that I'd develop any mental powers until after a couple of more treatments. For now any changes would be to limited to my intelligence, which like my ability to recall and ability to learn, should be increased.
Another person who was studying me was Sigyn an Asgard, one of their most intelligent—who once worked on the Asgard life-extension project with other Asgard, including Heimdall, and Fenrir at least until the Replicators became a major threat and Fenrir left the project to work on military research.
Sigyn was more interested in the genetics that already extended by life, and how further 'evolution' could affect that.
"I assure you Doctor Keller" said Heimdall, who was at nearby machine "I would not have allowed Captain Gothic to undergo the first treatment if I believed that it could endanger his life".
A debate may have broken out, but I was saved from this by Miranda, who over the intercom, declared that we would soon be arriving at Atlantis.
(Line Break)
Atlantis. Pegasus Galaxy.
Upon returning to Atlantis I was surprised to find an entire fleet in orbit. Not only were two remaining Aurora-class warship under the control of the Ancients, here, there was also an Asgard built O'Neill class battlecruiser in the system and half a dozen Traveller ships as, which were led by their Aurora-class warship.
As it turned out the leaders of the Ancients, Merlin and the two captains of their last warships, had invited others, such as the leaders of the Traveller's, Supreme Commander Thor, SG1, and some other people from Earth, and myself, to discuss something that would affect the future of this galaxy. There even a few people from the more advanced humans worlds of this galaxy in attendance.
The main meeting, the one which I'd been called for, would only involve a handful of people, the three Ancient leaders, Mr Woolsey of the IOA, Colonel Caldwell, myself, Thor of the Asgard, and Larrin, one of the Travellers. She was heading my way right now.
Captain Larrin had born into the Travelers, a technologically advanced race of Humans living in the Pegasus galaxy. Larrin's people long ago took to space in an effort to escape the Wraith, living their entire lives on board a fleet of ships. Though their nomadic lifestyle was originally a defensive action, by Larrin's time, it has become a part of their culture. Recently Larrin had become the commander of one of the ships in the Traveler fleet but the fleet was aging and her people lacked the resources to build new ships. Despite strict population controls, they were running out of space and needed to find new ships.
At some point the Travelers discovered a derelict Aurora-class battleship which had been left in orbit of a dwarf star for thousands of years. They were soon able to access the ship's logs and learned that the Lantean vessel had been abandoned by its crew after a Wraith attack had left it with a radiation leak from the main drive, along with damage to sublight engines and communication systems.
Hoping to utilize the vessel to house some of their people, the Travelers attempt to restore it to operational status. Though they were able to use shield emitters to keep key areas of the ship clear of radiation, their efforts to restore the ship proved unsuccessful and, after two months of work, Larrin's chief science officer, Nevik, had been unable to restore full power to the vessel.
The Travelers began work on a control interface adapter which would allow them to operate the vessel. However, in order for the device to work, they needed genetic material from somebody with the Ancient Technology Activation gene.
Larrin got her hands on me much sooner than she would have taken Shepard in the show, and while I'd been lured on board one of their ships under false pretences, I'd decided to aid them anyway in exchange for some of their tech. Building an interface had proven rather simple for Seven of Nine, as she'd been trying to find ways to work around the ATA gene for a while now.
This deal had benefited her people more than mine in terms of materials gained, since they'd gotten a working Ancient warship out of the deal, as well as a load of raw materials, but since I had replicators and a Matter Furnace, raw materials were for me, rather easy to come by. Still I'd gained some technology, and some of it might come in handy one day.
"Captain Larrin" I greeted.
"Captain Gothic" I replied.
Currently I was outside admiring the view, while waiting for the proper meeting to depart.
"How's your new ship?" I asked.
She told that it was doing fine.
"So any idea why we were summoned to Atlantis?" I asked.
If it was something concerning this galaxy then she was far more likely to have heard about it than myself.
"Not sure" she said "but I heard something about a new threat".
Oh great, that was all we needed.
"Captain Gothic, Captain Larrin" said one of the Ancients "If you'll follow me, the meeting is about to begin".
(Line Break)
Atlantis. Pegasus Galaxy.
"While there has been some disagreement between over whether or not we should totally wipe out the Wraith or not" Merlin, the leader of Atlantis, began by saying "It was finally agreed that at the very least we should hunt down and destroy all the Wraith ship we could find in this quadrant of the galaxy".
City-ships such as Atlantis had great sensors, and could track Wraith ships that weren't dormant over a good chunk of the galaxy. Therefore the Ancients should have been able to hunt down and destroy a decent percentage of the Wraith out there without any help.
However since some of the Ancients wanted to ascend, and that did involve a measure of spirituality for the most part, so they must not think that totally wiping out an intelligent race was a moral action.
Which I could understand, however since it was their race that created the Wraith, if indirectly, as well as the humans the Wraith preyed upon, then they should deal with issue themselves.
"As part of this campaign we sent both of our remaining warships to deal with vulnerable Wraith Hives" the leader of Atlantis was now saying "While so far they have been successful in defeating the Wraith, sending them away nearly proved to be a fatal mistake".
A hologram was displayed into the air above us, which I hadn't known could be done in the meeting room, and the image became one of a ship. One that my new and improved memory recall ability allowed me to remember.
Information was displayed as well, as such I could tell that the ship was not much smaller than a Daedalus class ships. Which made it much smaller than a Wraith Hive ship, and much smaller than my ship.
When the hologram began to show the attack on Atlantis I saw the alien ship possessed green coloured high yield energy weapons capable of depleting Atlantis' shield rather rapidly, which meant they were more effective than Wraith weapons. The shots from the weapons had a unique look: they did not look like the pulses or beams, but rather flaming blasts.
"Little is known about the defensive capabilities of this ship except that it has shields that block drones" we were told "However when one of ships returned, we found that our pulse cannons were effective enough to drive these unknown hostiles away".
Since my ship used drones as its main weapons, I found this worrying.
"This alien ship carries a large group of fighters" Merlin was now saying "The hanger bay of this ship was protected by a green energy shield. The rest of the ship's systems are unknown to us"
Then all we knew was that these aliens had high yield energy weapons, and that there ships carried at least 15 fighters. Atlantis had scanned these fighters to, so we had some data on them. However it wasn't much, we knew they possessed energy weapons and are inferior to Earth's F-302 fighter-interceptors judging by well they manoeuvred and the speeds they reached.
As for the aliens themselves, they had no information on them. And what little I remembered wasn't going to be much help, although once I'd had a chance to the Asgard memory stone and think on things, I was sure I would be able to supply people with more info.
"Since we can leave Atlantis defenceless we must rethink our plans to rid ourselves of the Wraith" Merlin said next "The Wraith must be defeated, so I am asking our allies to support us with ships and soldiers to defend the city".
I had no problem hanging around Atlantis for a while, and we could leave as long as there were other ships here to defend the city. With that in mind I was the first to volunteer to help protect the city.
