Governor Olken sat down at his desk sifting through all of the paperwork that has accumulated over the few months. Reports of new buildings and requests for budget increases are just the tip of the ice-burg that he is required to look through. He also had reports from the different scientists and astronomers that the Initiative brought over that detailed all the latest new discoveries about their surrounding space. Most painstakingly though were the various requests for off-world scientific expeditions to nearby planets. With the threat of the Covenant out there, he would have to ask General Hardin, the minister of defense, to divert assets to provide security, something Olken knew he would not be happy with.
Most intriguing however, was the discovery of an artificial structure buried 5 kilometers deep beneath a mountain not far from where the main colony is. Olken can only imagine what kind of knowledge that the alien structure might grant the colonists. Requests for digging efforts has been piling up on the governors desk ever since a random miner used a resource scanner to scan for resources, but ended up finding the structure instead. However, he had more important matters to attend to.
First of all, there was the threat of the Covenant. He had told his most trusted military advisers to draw up plans in case of possible contact. Now, he had 3 plans laid out for him. One option was to simply evacuate the populace and relocate to a safer place. The other option was to use whatever military resources they had at their disposal and launch an all out campaign against the aliens in the hopes of disabling their capacity to carry out further conflict. The last option, the option that the governor is seriously contemplating over, was to create a series of fortified bunkers and underground networks where civilians can simply "hide" from the covenant. It is a daunting task however as they would need to figure out how to build massive labyrinths and tunnel networks that could hold the majority of the colonists as well as be deep enough to survive any covenant glassing attempts.
Secondly, there was the more immediate threat of a possible upcoming food shortage. Recent reports have shown a rapid increase in the colony's population, an increase that could potentially prove unstable. Estimated figures show that with the current modest agricultural output, the colony would face a food shortage within a few years. Here, agricultural representatives have heavily lobbied the idea of exploiting the planets vast fertile low lands located on the other side of the planet. However, many other experts have argued that the colony simply does not have the necessary logistics to transport large enough quantities of goods over such a vast distance in a timely manner. Sure, they could utilize the cargo vessels that they had brought with them, but they can only hold so much and making regular short hops into space and back into atmosphere is surely going to put much more strain on the engines.
Lastly, the general elections for colony mayor is going to be held in a few months time, and its supposed to be campaigning season for the potential candidates. Olken himself has put his name down as a candidate for re-election but public opinion polls aren't in his favor. Lately, on top of his own list of duties as colony mayor, Olken has followed the election campaigning very closely, and he is being increasingly worried at his prospects of re-election. One strong candidate is a former high school teacher back on Mars and is heavily calling for more educational reforms as well as creating more job opportunities in the industrial sector. Another candidate is the current secretary of defense whose idea of larger militarization of public sectors, though has caused controversy and being labelled as "war-mongering" and "fascist" by some hate-groups, has gained a surprisingly large amount of supporters who viewed it as a necessity to defend the colonists against the many dangers that the galaxy would have to face. Olken himself had tried to present himself to more supportive of more exploration and diplomatic relations with potential new governments that the colony could face, but many are in a disagreement to this policy saying that such an outlook might possibly invite hostile neighbors.
Knock knock knock
The sound of the door snapped the governor out of his thoughts and back to reality. "Come in"
The door opened to reveal a young woman, probably early in her twenties, carrying a data pad and judging from her facial expression, is very very excited.
"Ah, Doctor Sullivan" he started, instantly recognizing the highly decorated anthropologist and archaeologist. "Please come sit."
"Thank you governor" she replied sheepishly before doing as instructed.
"To what pleasures do I owe your visit today?" the governor asked, pushing away the thoughts of his work duties aside for just the moment.
"Its about the human bodies Lieutenant Baker's team found on the planet sir" she said, voice full of professionalism.
"I'm sorry," he replied in disbelief. "Human bodies?"
"Ummm, yes sir. You did read the mission report yes?" she asked back confused.
"Yes, well my version clearly didn't entail that small detail."
"So I see..." she said, not completely convinced. "Anyways, to sum it up, Lieutenant Baker's team had found a village, well what's left of it anyways, and plenty of human bodies."
Olken just blinked at the information. "Humans. In Pegasus."
"Yes"
"How?"
"Don't really know for sure, but I have a theory"
"Let's hear it doctor"
A brief paused followed as the doctor tried to find the best way of explaining her idea. "Do you know anything about the forerunners?" she asked.
"Barely" Olken admitted. "Never did any real research into them, but I heard the name being thrown around a lot"
"Doesn't really surprise me" the woman replied, to the confusion of Olken. "We know very little about them and most of what we do know, their technology, culture, and all that stuff, is being heavily regulated by ONI".
"But aren't you on ONI's payroll?" Olken pointed out.
"Hardly, besides what I do have access to is the bare minimum. Nothing too fancy or anything that would get me that sort of privileges". She cleared her throat before continuing, "Anyways, what we know for sure is that the Forerunners are an ancient and technologically advance race that ruled the Milky way galaxy for millions of years up until roughly 10,000 years ago."
"Is that roughly the same time as the Fermi mass extinction?" the governor inquired.
"The what?"
"The Fermi mass extinction." he repeated, "I know its not an exact scientific term doctor, but I read some articles back on Earth that had linked the Fermi paradox to a galactic wide mass extinction in ancient times. I'm sure there's a specific name for that but Fermi mass extinction kinda stuck."
The doctor simply shrugged her shoulders. "Could be possible, I'll have to look into that. Anyways, after the 'Fermi mass extinction", her voice making an emphasis on the ad-hoc term, "The Forerunners managed to reseed most of the life in the galaxy."
"And by the galaxy you mean..."
"The Milky Way, yes sir" the doctor finished the governor's unspoken words. "Now, my theory is that the Forerunners had also, for whatever reasons, though I do have some interesting ideas of my own, decided to seed humanity here in the Pegasus galaxy as well. Hence, the human bodies Lieutenant Baker found."
Hearing that, Olken's eyes lit up like a christmas tree. If what the doctor here said was true, then that means that there could potentially be hundreds of human societies waiting to be discovered. In his head, Olken was already drafting up rudimentary trade agreements, laying out first contact protocols, and potentially using all of this to his advantage in the upcoming elections.
"Thank you doctor." Olken addressed the woman after snapping back to reality. "This could potentially change everything."
"My pleasure governor, but I also have another reason for paying you a visit." Now this, perked Olken's curiosity even more.
"Oh?"
She just simply nodded, then it hit him in the head. "Its about that alien structure isn't it"
"Precisely sir." she confirmed, to the annoyance of Olken. "Me and my colleagues would like to request to lead the excavation efforts as well as gain first access as soon as possible."
Olken visibly sighed. "As I've told many times before doctor, with the elections coming up, I do not see the structure as a high priority right now, especially when considering the fact that there're more important things for me to worry about."
"Governor what if we struck a deal? You give me and my colleagues access to that structure, and I will do everything that I can to ensure your re-election."
Ok, I'm listening lady. "Why so much effort on the structure?" he asked, trying to figure out the woman's real motives.
"Sir from what I've told you earlier, the structure could be ancient forerunner, who knows what kind of technological wizardry can be found in there?"
Liar. With that answer, he already knew the doctor's bigger picture. Yes, the procurement of forerunner technology is always a plus, but he has no doubt that as soon as ONI manages to get access to it, they will immediately swoop down and grab everything. Jurisdictions be damned. However, that's not the doctor's goal. Olken knew that doctor Sullivan here has a professional feud with another archaeologist, the both of them always wanting to out do the other and competing for research grants. If Sullivan could prove her theory about the forerunners, using the alien structure as proof, then she will immediately gain more acclaim and her research efforts prioritized. Or at least that's the theory.
"How will you go about getting me the support necessary for winning the election?" he then asked.
She grinned as she answered. "Simple: I have connections. My husband's brother is on the farmers committee and my husband himself heads a worker's union down town. With simple persuasion I can easily get them to support you."
Olken thought long and hard on this one. He knew both the farmers committee and the aforementioned worker union has a lot of political influence over its members and their communities. If Sullivan can deliver what she promised, then that's an additional 3 percent of the voting population on his side.
Olken never had a chance to utter a reply when his office door suddenly burst open and in came Admiral Jingles looking very distressed.
"Sorry for the interruption sir, ma'am" he quickly stammered out. "But we have a situation."
Olken glanced at the admiral and then back to Sullivan. Why does politics have to be so messy
"Admiral I'm afraid you'll have to come some time later." he said gesturing to the doctor, "We were in the middle of a..."
"Sir, its the Covenant" the admiral interjected. That simple statement was enough to make the governor's blood run cold. "We found them."
Olken then turned his attention to a very surprised and shocked doctor. The knowledge of the Covenant in Pegasus has been deemed classified at the highest level to avoid panic among the civilian population. "Doctor, I'm afraid we have to continue our discussion another time."
The doctor simply nodded and hurriedly left the room.
"Lock the door" Olken ordered, to which the admiral promptly obeyed. "What are we up against?" his mind now racing to come up with plans and back up plans, while his hands raced across his desk to find the contingency plans.
"Sir," Jingles began to reply, his voice cold. "You're not going to like what I'm going to say...". For the first time in his political career, Olken was truly, truly, scared.
"Unscheduled off world activation!" Sergeant Chuck shouted out, causing a flurry of activity as security teams rushed into their assigned positions to cover the gate. Blue lights flashed on the gate's perimeter as it establishes a stable wormhole before a coat of blue light covered the interior.
"Who is it?" Weir asked as she hurriedly raced down the steps of the city's control room from her office.
"Reading Shepherd's IDC ma'am"
At this, Weir shared a look of confusion and concern but decided to store the questions for later. "Lower the shield and let him through" she ordered before making her way down to the main floor.
Chuck simply nodded his head in acknowledgment before pressing a few buttons on the ancient console, causing the shield to drop, revealing a water like surface within the ring.
Moments later, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, Doctor Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmargen and specialist Ronan Dex, as well as 4 completely new faces to even Weir herself, stepped out from the stargate. The group took a few moments to collect themselves, clearly tired from what must have been another encounter with the wraith.
"Assuming everything went well?" Weir asked Sheppard half-jokingly.
"You can say that" he replied as he walked over to greet her.
"What exactly happened? We almost gave Caldwell the go ahead for a rescue mission"
"Well, long story short, we got ambushed by the wraith"
"Again?" Weir exclaimed. "This is like what? The 6th time this month?"
"Sounds about right," he said as the pair walked up the stairs to Weir's personal office. "Only this time, they were successful"
"Took out the entire team?"
Sheppard nodded grimly. "Pretty much, yeah."
By now the pair had already reached Weir's office and she promptly closed the doors while she sat down at her desk to continue listening to the officer.
"We were then taken to a hive ship, surprise surprise, had a little chat with the queen, and then let us go free"
"And by let you go free you mean..."
"We broke ourselves out yeah," he replied with a giant smirk on his face. "Ronan always keeps his knives ready to go."
"I see... and what about our guests here?" Weir asked, gesturing to the 4 unfamiliar faces that the Lieutenant Colonel brought along.
"Them?" Sheppard asked, jerking his head towards the men. "Those are just people we found in the hive"
"And you decided to bring them back here?" Weir exclaimed, clearly in shock of the blatant breach in security protocols.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time" Sheppard replied, trying his best to defend himself.
"I heard that expression before"
Sheppard paused himself for a few seconds before replying "Well...this time is different"
"How so?"
The former air force pilot leaned it and replied softly, barely above a whisper "They say they're from Earth".
A/N: *sneakily comes in and plops this on the table* Sorry for the long wait guys! Real life has been a pain. More sorry for the short chapter. I really wanted to get this out before some certain people come knocking on my door *glances at the window*. Hope you guys enjoy and please leave a review. I really appreciate all the support you guys are giving me so I thank you all for that and giving me the motivation to keep writing. Oh, and say hello to the Atlantis Expedition! *runs away*