VIII: Rendezvous, Reconnaissance, and a Revelation
The TARDIS whirred into existence, appearing just behind the main navigation panel in the front of the Dedalus. The Doctor opened the door wide and stepped out, followed by Martha. The hologram of Thor stood behind the general control center which was flashing various warnings.
"Oh look the little grey man, you humans weren't too far off in the abduction stories." Thor looked up to the Doctor and glared for a moment with his holographic black eyes before he turned back to the panel.
"Doctor, if you are going to be of any use we need a man here. I need to assist Samantha Carter and Teal'c who are currently working on a way to reverse the temporal rift that is spreading outward from here."
"Oh that?" the Doctor seemed dismissive, "That little thing can be fixed with the TARDIS. What we need to worry about is a little more problematic."
Daniel Jackson rushed on to the bridge, "Oh, right you," Daniel stuttered as he passed by Thor to reach for a control module, "What can you tell me about this?" On the main screen what looked to be blips of light were getting brighter, one in particular that was much closer than the rest.
"That looks like hyperspace drive technology to me," said the Doctor, who was squinting at the screen, "the one on the right is far closer to us than the others. In fact I'd guess it'd be here shortly."
"Right, well that is what we feared. The one that is closest is Atlantis we believe, but the others we can't tell. Atlantis hasn't made contact with us and the ship that dephased earlier has disintegrated. We don't know if Mitchell got out alive."
"There is something else Daniel Jackson," said Thor, "the ships sensors are detecting a stream of energy building up around Earth."
"What kind of energy asked the Doctor who rushed to the console. Martha pointed to the screen, "Doctor, what is that thing?"
As she pointed the TARDIS whirred to life and disappeared from the bridge stranding them and taking Jack Harkness with it.
The Doctor looked at the screen in astonishment, "That is a TARDIS net, and it's impossible, there shouldn't be any other TARDISes left besides mine. No...no…no this can only mean that the time lock on Gallifrey is no longer there. Or worse…" The Doctor began to put in a sequence of commands into the Asgard computer which promptly put up a model of the universe with a marked location bleeping.
"The time rift, it reversed time, not just corrupted it but reversed it. That is Gallifrey, before the first time war. And that means that…"
"The Howling has been reopened." Finished Thor, who had an expression of ho-hum reality across his holographic face.
***
Atlantis's hyperdrive shuttered as it forced its self through layers of temporal back-log.
"We're almost to Earth, and hopefully the shielding won't give out." said McKay as he ran his hands over his tablet, inputting numbers and recalculating power output.
"Uh guys," said Zelenka, "I think there is a problem. One because of the power we wasted trying to dial the gate, the ZPM seems to be fluctuating heavily. Power output is down to thirty percent and we are still an hour from Earth."
"And?" said McKay.
"And I think we are being followed, but it is hard to tell because of the temporal distortions."
"Then adjust for the scanners to read through a temporal filter and scan until you find what ever it is that is showing up."
"I've already tried that," said Zelenka, "there are two types of energy signatures, one is appearing to be Ancient in origin and another seems to be Wraith, but there is a third. It is unlike anything I've seen before."
"Let me see it?" McKay swiveled the screen towards him and began to look at the signature. Sheppard and Weir entered the main control room, "What's our status?" Weir asked just as another temporal barrier rocked Atlantis.
"We're about an hour from Earth, but we have other problems."
"Like what?" Sheppard asked.
"Like three ships that are following us. One that appears to be Ancient, another that is Wraith, and a third that neither Zelenka nor I have seen before."
"I'll get to the chair and ready our weapons, we don't know if any of those are enemies, but we do know the Wraith aren't going to wait for us to raise our shields."
Sheppard took off for the chair as the others monitored the ships.
***
Mitchell strapped himself in and engaged the small ship's computer. Unknown symbols flashed before him as an autopilot kicked into gear. The cargo bay doors began to open depressurizing the flight bay. In doing so several of the other craft's autopilots kicked in as well just as the decaying ship began to separate and disintegrate. The small ships went in all directions ripping through the petrified webbing that made up the ship. One exploded as it crashed aimlessly into the petrifying cargo doors.
"Controls…where are the controls on this thing." As if in response two panels lit up on both arm rests, and a gooey substance slopped out, "you've got to be kidding me." Pushing his hands into the substance he felt the whole of the ship come to life. His eyes flared and his mind filled with all of the sensors of the ship. Thinking move forward the ship jumped with a rush of speed broke through the fragile door in front of him. The sensors didn't pick up the Dedalus anywhere, and the only ship detected was an early Asgardian vessel.
"Only place to go…."
***
The Ori ship was leaking drive plasma as it detected the other ship which faded in and out on their sensors.
"Take us to them" said the commander. The crew obeyed as it changed course to intercept.
"If they are the only other survivors we may need to work together."
The human-dalek hybrids gave sullen nods as they pushed their vessel to its limits.
"By our sovereigns' courage we will take revenge for what those creatures did to the Ori."