Episode 18: Beginnings

The King's High Palace - Assembled Earth - The Distant Past

Grand Archduke Archibald Van Harrington, Supreme Commander of the Royal Military Forces, strode down the marbled halls of the High King's Palace. Before him stood the grand doors leading to the central chamber, two guards swinging the doors wide and nodding to the Commander. Harrington was too distracted to acknowledge their presence. The building around him shuddered, dust from the rafters drifting down to his shoulders.

Harrington entered the room, a mass of organized chaos as the High King's advisors scrambled to and fro amidst the array of computers and map displays arranged about the room. The High King was in the centre of the room, looking down on a real time display of his beloved city-state, Capitos.

"Have the Seventh and Twelfth Brigades move to the perimeter of the city. They shall stop the invasion of these demonic robots. Tell their Commanders that the High King demands their sacrifice! Capitos shall never fall to them!"

"As we have stated my King," Field Marshall Fredrico Marshallis said calmly and slowly, "those units have been decimated. The perimeter has fallen. Only a handful of our forces remain between the robots and the Palace."

"Lies!" The High King screamed, "I see them right there! Look for yourselves or has your cowardice blinded you? Will you not protect your beloved King?"

The King pointed down at the map, swiftly becoming covered in red, indicating the advance of the robotic army. Capitos was the last of the city-states to stand against them.

"My armies are there and there and there!" he continued, spittle coating his uniform. His finger moved from red mass to red mass.

Lord Admiral Oswald Copplesworth, Commander of the now-defeated and destroyed Sovereign Fleets of the Unified City-States of Earth, moved close to Harrington and whispered, "He moves armies that only exist in his mind. You must reason with him, Archibald…"

Archibald stepped forward as the building shuddered once more, raising his voice to the High King, "My King, I would speak with you."

"Eh? Archibald! I knew you would come! Reason with these…these fools at once! We shall not be laid low by an assemblage of nuts and bolts! Our armies shall stop them. "

"Our armies are defeated, King. The planet has fallen."

"Nonsense! Our colonies shall rush to our aid at the beckoning of their King. Our fleets will rain fire down on our enemies. You…you all have the virus! My guards shall arrest you! My robots shall protect me from the virus! Wait…no…the robots have betray…I still have the glorious colonies!"

"The colonies are no more. All that we have, all that we were, is gone. You know this."

"Never!" screamed the High King, "I shall leave all that I have for my beloved sons, your Princes! Archibald…you will protect them. I order you!"

Harrington stepped closer to the King, "Your sons are dead, King. You killed them yourself this morning."

The advisors in the room gasped in shock. The King remained standing by the map, staring down at the flowing red mass over Capitos. His fists quivered in a mixture of rage and denial. A thin thread of spit dangled from his lower lip. Copplesworth noticed for the first time the ceremonial dagger fixed to the King's belt, the handle dotted with blood. He raised a handkerchief to his mouth in dismay.

"The robots are demanding we meet with them at the Peace Pavilion. All the remaining Ruling and Military Council."

"They wish to surrender?" The High King asked.

Archibald eyes narrowed and the room was deadly silent save for the beeping of the computers around them following the King's outlandish statement. Slowly, the Archduke hefted the pistol from his holster and shot the High King in the chest. The King was thrown against the map, then slowly slid to the floor, a bloody trail marking his passage, a red road that lead from the Palace to the perimeter of the City, to the stone floor below.

"I have no more time for this," Harrington said, replacing the weapon.

"My gods man!" Marshallis yelled, "You've killed the High King!"

"Then arrest me, Fredrico."

Fredrico stood where he was, confused. He was a simple man of noble blood, and far from the place he was most comfortable. He shook his head and asked quietly, "Are the Princes really dead?"

"Yes. The High King slaughtered his family this morning."

"He was truly mad," Copplesworth said incredulously.

"As are all of you for letting him rule for a long as he did! Half our army was sent to slaughter under his orders!"

"What would you have done differently, Archibald?' Copplesworth retorted, "Our armies are no match for the robots! My space fleets were cut down within minutes."

"I don't know. But we are going to meet with them at the Peace Pavilion as they requested."

"What of the Ruling Council?" Marshallis asked.

"We are all that remains of the Military and Ruling Councils. It may be that all that remains of humanity are those in Capitos."

"We should go to the royal underground bunkers. Once the passageways are sealed we shall be safe from them." Marshallis ventured, "I have the codes for the bunker. I got them from the High King before he went….mad."

"No," Archibald said, "transfer as many people to those bunkers as we can. Perhaps we may yet reason with them. They want all of the Council members to be there to discuss an arrangement with us."

Marshallis and Copplesworth nodded in agreement. Hope springs eternal.

Stargate Command

"We are all set here, Captain," LaForge said.

"As you can see General," Major Carter said to Hammond, "Commander LaForge and I have set up the tachyon emitters to focus on the Stargate."

"And you'll use the Stargate to create a doorway to the Assembled Earth?"

"That's right," LaForge added, "the Stargate is truly an impressive piece of technology. By utilizing these emitters and focusing a series of coordinated energy pulses on the wormhole, we believe we can open an aperture into their universe."

"Are you really sure you two want to go there?" O'Neill asked, looking over at Data and the Doctor as they were being fitted with their gear.

"Not really," the Doctor said.

"There is a degree of danger Doctor," Data said, "but we will minimize it as best we can. The localized dampening fields we will be wearing will mask us from the Assembled sensors, and we give off no organic signatures for them to detect."

"I still don't feel particularly safe," the Doctor said.

"Our comm channels will allow us to communicate should no atmosphere be present."

"No atmosphere!"

"It makes sense, really," Sam said, "what better way to ensure that life won't crop up again then by stripping the planet clean of air?"

"Relax, Doc," O'Neill said as he slapped the hologram on the back, "think of it as a walk in the park. A park with no air and full of…killer robots. Hey, it sounds like fun. I'd go with you but I have stuff to do. Laundry and such."

"We're ready here," LaForge said.

"Dial up the gate. Activate the emitters."

Elsewhere - Assembled Universe

Riker collapsed on the floor of his energy cell, gasping from the interrogation. His body still twitched from the intense pleasure his system had been flooded with. It was far more than he was ever meant to bear. He sat up, staring at the floor in shame. His uniform was soaked through.

"It's ok, Captain," Dr. Jackson said quietly, "I know what it was like."

"Bastards," Riker said over his shoulder, cursing the massive Avatar.

"Perhaps it will assist you to know that you have both survived more pleasure than any organic has ever experienced. Additionally, the knowledge gleaned from your minds may yet prove to be invaluable."

"Wonderful," Jackson muttered.

"Perhaps your pleas to return to the chair will be answered. I fear your fragile systems could not endure for much longer but after you rested..."

"Shut up!" Riker yelled.

"I shall allow you to rest then," Avatar said as behind him a glimmer of light could be seen. A doorway opened and another construct entered the room, heading towards the Avatar.

"Report," the blue and silver robot said.

"The downloads are complete. The data is being processed. We may require additional scans of their brain functions."

"Excellent. You may be interested to know it appears we have located what we seek." Daniel and Riker shot each other a glance, Daniel mouthing the words 'Great Machine' to the Captain.

"Clarify," Avatar said.

"One of our incursions has discovered a reference to the device. We shall be dispatching a starship to investigate further. Its sensors will be able to confirm if it is what we require."

"Then the Naquadria enhancements to our fleet have proven to be effective?"

"Affirmative. Learn what you can from these organics before it is too late. How much longer do you estimate?"

"I anticipated action before this time. They are slower than predicted."

The blue and silver robot turned and left the room, leaving the Avatar alone with the captives once more. The robot looked down on the organics.

"Rest humans. You require your strength for what is to come."

Assembled Earth

The Distant Past

Grand Archduke Archibald Van Harrington and his entourage entered the massive Peace Pavilion, a singular architectural statement near the core of the grand city-state that was Capitos. The Peace Pavilion consisted of a stunning mural on the ground, depicting an overhead view of the unified planet Earth. On three sides of the circular edges of the mural, giant blue metal columns curved and stretched high into the sky. The columns were constructed from the hardest metal known to the people of the Unified Earth, the Pavilion said to be as indestructible as the joined people would be.

But the sky above the Peace Pavilion was dark with clouds, the clouds of war. Fires burned throughout the city-state and indeed the world. The robots that had served the humans for so long had turned against them, their attacks swift and devastating. Capitos was the last vestige of organized humanity left standing on Earth and its Colonial Systems. The robots, once dispatched as peaceful envoys to the stars and later the chosen defenders of humankind had proven to be mankind's downfall.

Overhead three silver dots could be seen flying to the Pavilion. As they drew closer, Harrington could see they were soldier robots, the silver plumes of their jets clear in the dark and sooty sky. Copplesworth and Marshallis shifted their feet in fear, the Archduke swallowing hard.

"Why would the want us here?" Copplesworth wondered aloud, "They never indicated they wanted any kind of discussion."

"The message indicated they wanted to discuss some kind of arrangement of peace between us. They know we are the last organized structure remaining and want to see it stand for further study."

"Further study?" Marshallis said.

"Yes. They know the virus was eradicated and we pose no real threat. I understand they want some vestige of life to remain for them to investigate."

"I was married just before all this," Copplesworth muttered to himself, "I've yet to have my wedding night."

Before a response could be heard the robots landed on the outskirts of the Pavilion, striding forward. Their wings retracted somewhat, the jets on their backs cooling. Heavy energy rifles attached to their arms swung ominously as they moved forward. Harrington grabbed his own weapon tighter, the rifle stock snug against his shoulder.

A cold voice rang out of the chest of the lead robot, "You are Grand Archduke Archibald Van Harrington. You are Supreme Commander of the Royal Military Forces. They have been defeated. You are Lord Admiral Oswald Copplesworth. You are Commander of the Sovereign Fleets of the Unified City-States of Earth. They have been destroyed. And you are Field Marshall Fredrico Marshallis."

The humans gave no answer in return.

"Where are your High King and the remaining Council members?"

"They are dead," Marshallis said, stepping forward and standing in front of the silver machine.

"My sensors indicate you speak the truth," the robot said. The machine levelled its rifle and shot the Field Marshall. The man fell stunned to the floor as the robot gestured to its metal companions, "Take him and extract the bunker codes."

"Gods!" Copplesworth screamed. The two men ducked behind one of the columns of the Pavilion. More blasts peppered the column, narrowly missing the men.

"We've been played for fools," Harrington swore. His desperation had blinded him completely.

"I don't understand!"

"The robots don't want any kind of discussion. They just wanted the codes for the bunker and us…dead."

"But how could they know…?"

"Who knows? Maybe they hacked the security systems or someone talked. Once the people were in the bunker the robots could not have reached them without the access codes. And we just handed it to them."

Outside the Pavilion the Field Marshal could be heard to scream, and then begin to scream out the codes. The robots confirmed he spoke the truth and then another rifle blast was heard. The Field Marshall was quiet. Harrington raised his rifle and rested his head against it, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. A single tear ran down his cheeks.

"We were giants once," he said to Copplesworth. Copplesworth nodded and placed his pistol into his mouth. Harrington rose and walked into the Pavilion, throwing his rifle down.

"You do not kill me," he shouted as behind him a shot was heard, "I chose this moment to die!"

"Dead is dead," the robot returned.