I hope you like this chapter, I know I liked it. Thanks for reads, reviews, and what-not
Stargate Atlantis: Ark of the Apocalypse
Chapter 3 - A bit of bad news . . .
M6R-042 - Ancient Ruins
Daniel Jackson had been poking around for the better part of three hours, Major Lorne and his team were getting rather bored.
"Having fun, Dr. Jackson?" Major Lorne asked.
"Yeah, why?" Daniel asked without batting an eye.
"Well, that's just great." Major Lorne sarcastically remarked.
Daniel didn't say anything.
"That was sarcasm!" Major Lorne reminded.
"Yeah, I was on SG-1 with General O'Neill for six years. I'm sort of used to it."
Daniel paused,
"Whoa, this is interesting, and yet that makes no sense."
"Have you found something?" Major Lorne asked.
"Maybe." Daniel said as he continue reading the glyphs on the wall, and then realized something.
"Most of these lines are cut off mid-sentence, sometimes in the middle of the word." Daniel explained. "There must be some kind of door here." Daniel said.
"Well, let me know if you find it." Major Lorne said as he leaned against the wall. Without warning the wall opened and Major Lorne fell backwards.
"Found it!" Daniel announced, then gathered up a few things and went inside, helping Major Lorne up on the way.
Inside there was a table control panel, much like the one on P4X-639, and the now ruined Dakara.
"Oh, great! Another puzzle. Boy am I glad we weren't sent here to scout the area." Major Lorne replied sarcastically.
"Sorry, but this used to be a place where the Ancient used to come, and they might have left something important behind." Daniel challenged.
"Something important?" Major Lorne asked.
"Yeah, though, not as important as the artifact I came to find." Daniel replied.
"And what's that? The Ark of the Covenant?" Major Lorne asked.
"Yep." Daniel replied simply.
M3K-119 - Onboard the Apollo
The Apollo drops out of hyper space.
"Begin sensor sweeps." Colonel Ellis requested.
After a minute a response came. "All I'm getting is minor planetoid, and some background radiation."
Then a small hyper space window opened. "We have a hyper space window."
"Can you identify the ship?" Colonel Ellis asked.
"It looks like a probe, only four meters across."
"It's scanning the area."
The probe began firing on the Apollo as soon as it was detected.
"Shields up!" Colonel Ellis ordered. "Fire all forward rail guns."
The Apollo let loose with all forward rail guns.
"No effect!"
"The shields cant take much more of this. It those weapons, they're over powering our shields."
"Ready the Asgard beam weapons." Colonel Ellis ordered.
"Ready."
"Fire at will!"
Several blue beams erupted from the ship and struck the probe, and it was destroyed.
"Where did that probe come from?" Colonel Ellis demanded.
Carter looked up from her screen.
"I think I may be able to answer that." Carter said.
"How?" Colonel Ellis asked.
"When to probe was destroyed it released several objects, one might be a flight data recorder." Carter replied. "Request permission to beam them aboard." Carter said as an afterthought.
Colonel Ellis just nodded in approval, and Carter made the necessary calculations and beamed three objects to the bridge.
One was a cube-shaped object, obviously the flight data recorder, the second could not be identified as of yet, but the third was the most obvious . . . a Zero Point Module.
Atlantis Gate room - Sheppards team is returning from M1G-007
"As far as we can tell, the entire village wasn't just leveled, it is nothing more than a smoldering crater." Sheppard said to a waiting Woolsey.
"We haven't heard from Major Lorne or Dr. Jackson. But they're not due to check in until tomorrow." Woolsey informed. "But we did hear from the Apollo, they had dropped out of hyper space, and fell under attack."
"Who was it?" Sheppard asked.
"We don't know, but their weapons were being powered by a Z.P.M." Woolsey replied.
"Oh, crap!" Rodney said.
"What?" Sheppard asked.
"The ship that attacked that village must have been using a Z.P.M., so that either means there are still some Replicators, or someone worse that knows how to build Zed PM's."
"As soon as the Apollo returns, I'll contact Earth, and request the Daedalus, and the Odyssey." Woolsey said. "I just hope that thing doesn't come looking for any other populated worlds.
M3K-119 - Onboard the Apollo
Carter was working in engineering when Colonel Ellis entered.
"You wanted to see me?" Colonel Ellis asked.
"Yes, I have been able to tap the Z.P.M. in to the Apollo's power grid, and it is powering the entire ship."
"But?" Colonel Ellis asked.
"The bad news." Carter paused. "The flight data recorder indicated that the probe made a stop before coming here – M1G-007." Carter divulged.
"When?" Colonel Ellis asked.
"Six hours ago." Carter replied. "And that's not the worst of it. The other device, it turns out that it's a homing beacon. Now I have been able to deactivate the beacon, but the damage has already been done." Carter said.
"I need to know everywhere the probe has been."
"Understood."
Colonel Ellis contacted the bridge. "Contact Atlantis, we're going to investigate M1G-007."
M6R-042 - Ancient Ruins
Daniel had been working on the table interface for two hours, before he stumbled on to the coding system.
"Ok, that make sense." Daniel said.
"What?" Major Lorne asked.
"This is like an ancient D.H.D., we just need to input the correct series of seven symbols to activate it." Daniel replied.
Major Lorne looked at the device and noticed everything was in Ancient.
"Sorry, my Ancient is a little rusty." Major Lorne said. "Wait, there aren't thirty-six panels here."
"True, but the gate address to planets like Proclarush Taonas, the name of the planet is the gate address." Daniel explained. Major Lorne just looked confused.
"Never mind." Daniel said, then tried to input the gate address to Earth.
"Ok, that's not it." Daniel said realizing he was missing most of the symbols.
"Try the gate address to Atlantis." Major Lorne suggested.
Daniel manipulated the panel, until he had the desired code input.
"Well, here goes nothing." Major Lorne said.
Daniel pressed the button.
Sheppard looked down the hallway somewhere in Atlantis.
Sheppard heard a voice.
"John Sheppard. You have to find it." The voice trailed off, Sheppard heard a word, but was unable to understand.
"Find the ship." The Voice said, filled with desperation.
Sheppard looked around to see where the voice was coming from. Then ran down the hall, following where he thought the voice was coming from.
Sheppard entered a door he thought was the mess, only to find himself on the east pier, off in the distance was a small water vortex and it was rapidly expanding.
"Hurry, time is running out." The voice was behind Sheppard, turning he found himself atop the central spire, and the maelstrom covered the entire horizon.
Sheppard's heart leapt to his throat, and he went pale.
Then the worst thing imaginable happened. . . the city began to sink in the wake of the maelstrom.
Then Sheppard woke up in a cold sweat.
"Colonel Sheppard, we're receiving a message from the Apollo, they'll be landing on the east pier soon." Richard Woolsey informed.
"I'll be there in a few minutes." Sheppard said.
Atlantis - Stargate Ops
Carter, and Colonel Ellis beamed in, and were greeted again by Sheppard and Richard Woolsey
"Welcome back, Colonels." Woolsey said.
"I'd like to go over the info we've gathered so far. We'll just have to wait on a final decision until Daniel gets back." Carter said as they climbed the stairs to the control room.
M6R-042 - Ancient Ruins
"That's it?" Major Lorne asked.
"That's it!" Daniel replied.
Daniel and Major Lorne stared, slack-jawed at a holographic figure. Soon the figure spoke.
"I am Tylanus, I am one of Janus' assistants. In the years leading up to the climax of our war with the Wraith. The Asgard helped us build a ship. We built this ship, and it was done unknown by the Lantean council. It was supposed to be the key in winning the war with the Wraith, but when the war went critical we were unable to get to the ship. But we knew that it would be needed one day."
The hologram faded, and an alcove opened, revealing a crystal.
Daniel picked up the crystal and found himself in a brightly lit cloud. There was a voice talking to him.
"Dr. Jackson, you must hurry back to Atlantis, and make sure that crystal makes it there!" the voice pleaded.
When the light lifted, Daniel was barely conscious, mumbling incoherently, and being carried to the jumper, the ruins collapsing around them.
I thought I'd leave you hanging, aren't I a stinker? What is the connection between the three planets? Is it really a coincidence? Chapter 4 is coming soon.