Disclaimer: The characters of Stargate belong to MGM. The characters of Farscape belong to Jim Henson Productions.

Chapter 8

Unexpected guests

Previously:

The figure then vanished. A thunder hit the ground. Darkness befell before their eyes. And the life slipped away from theirs bodies, as death took Alicia, Vala, Alison and Terol.

And now…

Dusty felt free of her stone prison. It was the most horrible experience she had ever had. She opened her eyes and noticed she was still before the chest in the middle of the Stone Hedge.

"Alicia!" – She called but there was no answer.

She stood up and looked around. Her look fell on Alicia and in that moment her heart stopped.

"NO!" – She barely whispered.

She bent down to her leader and touched her pulse – there was none and then she noticed Vala and Terol's bodies. She dared not look for Alison dreading what she would see. But it was true. She let out a cry of despair and out of the effort and of the sight lost consciousness.

Some time later, she felt someone pulling her up. She opened her eyes and saw the very distressed face of Colonel Mitchell. He had bruises all over his arms. He must have jumped across the precipice.

"Sergeant Mehra, what happened?" – Cam asked, his voice trembling.

Dusty told him everything till she reached the part where she was petrified – turned into stone. She spoke very little about this experience.

"And then," – Dusty continued. "I woke up and found them like that – dead." Tears ran down her face. "Oh, my God – they're…they are…" She couldn't repeat that word given that she was as good as dead when she was petrified.

"Shh, calm down." – Cam took her in his arms, gently petting her on the head, calming her.

"I can't believe it." – Dusty hiccupped.

Cam did not bother say anything. It was too much for him too. When he heard Dusty's cry of despair he went berserk. He jumped off the cliff and barely made it then he hurried to them. But when he arrived he stopped frozen. He couldn't believe his eyes. He ran to Vala but she had no pulse. Then he checked the others – they were just as cold as Vala and dead.

This time the bodies were present but he knew not whether he had the strength to burry them. But it was something he had to do. He simply can't leave them like this.

"Come on." – He said to Dusty. "We have to…to…them."

Dusty sniffed her eyes still red of tears but nodded. She stood slowly up.

"Where are you going to…?" – Dusty asked.

"Not here anyway." – Cam said. "Stay here, I'm going to look around."

Cam moved out of the circle and followed the path, which now present led outside the gorge. Soon, he reached a hill of fresh, aromatic grass. It was perfect. He returned to Dusty. Together, they brought them to the hill.

Cam picked up the shovel and dug four graves. The effort of digging helped him dull the pain. It also cleared his mind. Now, they had to finish the quest alone. He wished only he knew why they were dead but he guessed he's going to receive an answer just as much as he knew why SG-1 died. No, he said to himself, those thoughts must be banished. Hope must die last.

"Nothing else matters!" – Cam whispered more to himself than to Dusty who was crying silently while wrapping the bodies of her friends.

"It's time." – She barely said.

With Cam's help they placed the bodies into the graves. Dusty then looked expectantly at Cam.

"We must say a prayer."

"Yes," – Cam sighed, suppressing the tears. He stood before the fresh graves but couldn't say a word. They were stuck in his throat.

"Oh mighty Lord, receive Vala, Alicia, Terol and Alison in your arms and look after them, and…" – Dusty burst again into tears. She couldn't do it either but she had to. So, she snapped and finished.

They remained there for hours, maybe days they did not remember. They couldn't just abandon them. Cam thought best to bring help, and then give them a proper burial. But first, he had to find the torch otherwise it would have been all for nothing.

"We have to go on." – Cam said finally snapping out of the grief.

Dusty pulled herself up as much as she could and followed Cam.

Their path was going now down hill. In the distance, Cam saw a small building looking like a shrine. He though they would reach it in ten minutes but looks must have been very deceptive. It took them ten exhausting hours.

The shrine was small but neat. The walls were white with nothing on it except the altar where hanging above was a silver chandelier with four candles. Not knowing why, Cam lit the candles up. Seeing the candles burn, Dusty and he felt better.

They left the shrine and returned to the path, which was going now upwards. Cam took one last look at the shrine only to notice that it had vanished. He stopped.

"What is it?" – Dusty asked.

"The shrine – it's gone."

Dusty also looked back. He was right – it was gone. This would be another mystery but Dusty knew they had to go on.

"Let's go." – She said.

"Right," – Cam sighed.

The path took them up until they arrived before great marble columns. They led into a temple whose dome shined in white silver. They entered hoping finally to find what they were looking for.

Inside, the temple was bigger than it seemed from the outside. Its dome was high, maybe a thousand feet. The walls were covered in pearly white canvas with small painted, golden stars. In the middle they noticed four smooth and well polished blocks. But as Cam approached he noticed that they were not blocks – they were statues. Each was holding a torch. The torches flames were pure yellow fire with no smoke.

"Which one is it?" – Dusty broke the silence.

"I'm not sure." – Cam hesitated. He somehow had the feeling that those were not what they were looking for. He looked around the temple. There must be some index where the real torch is. He noticed several paintings on the farthest wall.

The paintings were what he was looking for. They showed the real thing. The torch itself didn't look very special nor made of any metal but simply of wood. It was shown that it bore four symbols. They were the same as the stone blocks where the bodies of his fallen friends were, i.e. the symbols of infinity, witchcraft, death and wisdom. Each symbol was in different color. Infinity was in starlight, witchcraft in blue, death in black and wisdom in silver.

"Colonel!" – Dusty called. She had noticed something interesting too.

Cam also saw on the paintings the symbols individually and then together one by one illuminated thus opening a rift in space, which revealed the torch.

"Colonel!" – Dusty called again.

Cam moved away from the paintings and joined Dusty at the statues.

"What is it?" – He asked.

"Look!" – Dusty pointed at the torches. Each torch had a symbol on it. Now, Cam knew what to do.

He had to place the symbols in order and torch of Helios will be presented. But placing the torches in the right places proved to be much more difficult than Cam anticipated. He tried to remove one of the torches but it did not move.

"Maybe together?" – Dusty suggested.

"Yeah, maybe."

They pulled together. The torch gave in and they managed to detach it. Together, they pulled off the rest.

"Now to place them in order." – Cam said.

As he was saying it the grounds shook and pieces of marble began to fall as though the entire temple was about to collapse.

"And we don't have much time." – Cam remarked.

Struggling to stay on their feet, they placed the torches one by one in the order Cam saw in the paintings. The shaking stopped immediately after the last torch was placed. They stepped back in anxiety.

The torches' flames intensified to a point of blinding light. A rift opened in the space between the four statues. A console rose up from the ground right in the space between the statues. From the rift something fell and stood right atop the console. The light then vanished.

Cam and Dusty moved towards and gasped in disappointment and amazement. On the console stood not the torch but four diamonds, each containing a silver ring inside. Cam stretched his hand and took them.

"Diamonds." - He sounded disappointed.

"We must have done something wrong then." – Dusty said.

"Probably." – Cam agreed.

He was about to return the diamonds to their place and try moving the torches again when the four statues distorted and crumbled into pieces, the four torches alongside. The temple walls started to shake again.

"Argh," – Cam growled with frustration. "Let's vacate this place before it falls on our heads."

They exited the temple as quickly as they could. Once outside, they saw the temple fall in a cloud of dust. The marble columns followed shortly after.

"Damn it!" – Cam couldn't resist shouting.

As the cloud of dust cleared, they saw rambling stairs. Brought with hope, they climbed the stairs. But it was not what they were hoping for. They emerged near the statue of Helios and the path behind closed so quickly they did not have the time to return. The way back was shut.

Cam and Dusty looked at each other and ran towards the entrance, to the path of Athena where they began their journey only to find that it was gone too. Crestfallen, they returned to the statue. There was nothing more they could do.

Cam sighed deeply. Yet another mission has gone wrong. Now, they had to leave this place where they lost Vala, Alison, Terol and Alicia. He was now truly alone. But he had to continue his mission – seeking the answer to the mystery. He had to do it for those he had lost.

He and Dusty packed everything, prepared the interceptors for flight and left the paradise planet, which became their hell. As they were approaching the tunnel system, Dusty voiced her concerns.

"Colonel, how are going to go back?"

Cam did not answer at first as he had asked himself the same question. But he held the hope that there is a dialing device near the gate.

"There is a dialing device near the gate." – He said.

"Are you sure?" – Dusty asked a bit skeptically.

"Yes, I am." – Cam lied but hoped to be right. "After me!"

Cam dived in. The way back was much more difficult but with diligence they found their way back to the gate. As they made the last turn, they gaped. The gate had somehow moved closer from the point where they came in and it was already activated. There was no time to react as they crossed through the event horizon.

They emerged on the other side, the point of origin. The moment they crossed the gate shut down. Cam looked just in time to see the gate vanishing too and rocky fragments falling off the cave ceiling.

"Sergeant, we have to get out quickly." – Cam said.

"I notice that." – Dusty remarked. "The whole place is going to hell."

They turned their interceptors and made their way in between the falling rocks. Soon, they emerged from the underground system and headed straight to space.

"Achilles, this is Mitchell. Do you read?"

"Colonel, we read you loud and clear." – Colonel Reynolds replied. "What happened? Why do you return so quickly?"

"What are you talking about?" – Cam asked.

"I was told you went through the gate just sixteen minutes ago."

"WHAT?" – Cam exclaimed utterly surprised.

"That's impossible, sir." – Dusty interjected.

"Colonel Reynolds, look." – Someone on the bridge spoke.

"Oh my!" – Reynolds exclaimed totally baffled.

"Colonel!" – Dusty exclaimed too while looking back at where the planet was.

Cam looked too and gaped. The planet wriggled, distorted and vanished without a trace leaving empty space.

"NO!" – Cam shouted frustrated and hurt towards the universe.

Now, there was no way of ever finding Vala, Alicia, Alison or Terol. They were gone for good. As the planet vanished, a ripple crossed space hurtling the Achilles into incontrollable spinning. The interceptors were also affected and it took Cam and Dusty some time to take hold of them again. The Achilles also managed to stabilize.

Cam and Dusty returned to the ship where Cam made a quick debriefing. The grief on the ship was indescribable. Major Vega and her team were loved deeply by the crew. Colonel Reynolds held a memorial service on the insistence of Dusty and Cam. Then the ship jumped into hyperspace heading back to Atlantis.

At this time, on Atlantis, Rodney was making his routine checks on Atlantis' systems in the control room when the systems went berserk. Every single reading of the consoles was off the scale. And then even with the shields activated the city was tossed into the air like it was a toy with such force that it knocked down all personnel. Everything turned upside down and then with loud thump the city crashed back into the ocean surface.

At the impact, the city shields held but several of its structures did not. The city's outer piers were ripped, while other parts of the city were torn. Rodney, at the moment the city was tossed, was jettisoned to the ceiling and then back to the floor. He lost consciousness the moment he hit the ceiling.

An hour later, he regained consciousness. He opened his eyes. The city alarms were wailing. Rodney tried to stand up but couldn't. A piercing pain crossed through his left shoulder and right leg. He managed though to sit up despite the pain.

"Dr. McKay!" – Someone called. Rodney looked around and saw Chuck.

"Chuck!" – Rodney said with difficulty.

"Sir, what happened?"

"I have no idea." – Rodney shook head. "McKay to med bay, we need you up here, stack."

"They can't reach us, Doctor." – Chuck said.

"Why not?"

"Communications are down and the city has initiated emergency lockdown." – He explained.

"Oh, hell." – Rodney blurted out. "Then you will have to get me up to the consoles so I can determine what the hell happened, and to override the emergency protocols so to get everyone the medical help they need."

"Sure, Doctor." – Chuck said, standing up.

He helped Rodney to a chair before one of the city's consoles, and gave him the fallen pad. Rodney started to work immediately.

"There is damage on the outer piers of the city." – Rodney informed few minutes later. "It looks like it was from the impact."

"Yeah! It's a miracle we landed on our bottom." – Chuck observed.

"You mean – it's a miracle the shields held otherwise we'd have been very dead." – Rodney corrected him sarcastically.

"There is also damage on the long range communication's array and the long range sensors." – Chuck informed.

"There is damage all over the city." – Rodney added. "But the good news – well the only good news is that no one is lost and the base of the tower and the city is intact."

Ten minutes later, Rodney reestablished communication within the city. The doctors of Med Bay have survived with no serious injuries. Rodney managed to override the emergency protocols initiated by the city so the medical teams were now able to reach those that were injured and injuries there were – plenty.

Colonel Lorne reached the control room. He had been sent by the SGC on a specific mission to the Pegasus Galaxy.

"Dr. McKay, what happened?" – He asked as he was climbing the stairs.

"I'm still trying to determine." – Rodney replied irritated.

"Damage to the city?"

"There's damage all over the city." – Rodney said. "We're lucky, very lucky to be alive and in one piece."

"The most notable damage is confined to the outer piers." – Chuck inserted.

"Yeah, but for now, the damage is the least of our problems." – Rodney interrupted.

"What could be more important, Doc?" – Lorne inquired.

"How about – is what happened going to happen again?" – Rodney shot.

"That's a bit grim." – Lorne said. "So, is it?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out and if left alone I might actually be able to." – Rodney replied but then stopped as the pain in the shoulder came back.

"Doc, are you injured?" – Lorne looked concerned. "Lorne to Med Bay, we need a team up in the control room."

"I'm fine. I'll manage." – Rodney protested.

"Sure, doc."

Two hours later, Rodney was still in the control room. He had refused to be moved until his work is done. The only thing the doctors managed to do for him was to bandage his leg and shoulder, and give him a sedative to dull the pain. Chuck was assisting Rodney whenever he needed to be moved. For that, the med team brought a wheel chair to ease the movement.

Military base commander of the Atlantis expedition, Colonel Jordan was overseeing the search and rescue parties. There were people stuck in the areas that were torn and ripped during the impact. Hopefully, those areas were not flooding otherwise the people would have been already lost. Engineering teams were working around the clock and by dawn of the next day they rescued all trapped personnel.

In the control room, Rodney who was temporarily made base commander by the I.O.A until Richard Woolsey could return to duty (as he had left Atlantis before the disaster took place) was having hard time with Atlantis sensors readings. He was jogging between corrupt and lost data trying to identify the cause for the sudden loss of gravity and inertial dampeners that led to the city being tossed into the air like it was a fluffy toy.

"Rodney, you must rest." – Dr. Carson Beckett was insisting every hour or so.

"Carson, I'll rest when I'm done." – Rodney was replying irritated.

"At this rate, you'll be done in no time." – Carson remarked after his last visit. "You have a broken shoulder and leg…"

"They can be fixed later." – Rodney interrupted as he was on the verge of finally making sense of all problems.

"McKay, what's taking so long?" – Colonel Jordan asked as he entered the control room.

"If any would care to know, I'm dealing with astrophysics on a subatomic and subspace levels by previously unrecorded readings and scales." – Rodney blurted out. "And it would be best if people actually let me alone so I could determine exactly how deep in the you-know-what we are."

"You had almost half a day."

"Yes, yes and the last time I had to find a solution to dispose of the Replicators it took me eight days. This is way more complicated."

"You think we are dealing with the Replicators?"

"No, I was just giving an example of how complex our problem is."

"Would you care to give us the highlights while you are jogging into the domain of unknown science?"

"In time, I will." – Rodney retorted.

Colonel Jordan shrugged. He still had hard time adjusting to Rodney although he had been on Atlantis long enough. He just wished Colonel Sheppard were here. He knew how to handle Rodney at any situation.

"Can we at least dial Earth?" – He asked.

"No, not yet."

"Why not?"

"It would be because the gate is out of alignment." – Rodney replied.

"What?"

"Fancy that, eh! A single act and we have to wait for the brilliant doc to figure it out."

"Alright, doctor, I got the point." – Jordan gave up arguing with the good doctor though he could have ordered him.

"Dr. McKay, I've managed to restore the long range sensors." – Chuck informed.

"Great!"

"And I'm detecting something unusual." – Chuck said.

Rodney lifted up his head. "What do you mean?"

"Well, look." – Chuck pointed at the screen.

Rodney turned into the direction of the screen and gaped. Chuck was right there was something unusual. The sensors were picking up an object. The object though was not traveling into hyperspace but another level of subspace bearing a most unusual signature.

"What the hell?"

"Whatever it is it will emerge from subspace in less than two hours." – Chuck said while examining the data.

Colonel Jordan had come too. "What is it?"

"We can't be sure." – Rodney began. "But it could be a ship. The unusual part is that it is not traveling into hyperspace but some other form of space travel on another subspace layer."

"What other level?'

"I don't know." – Rodney shrugged. "When it emerges as Chuck said in two hours or so we could go and examine it then we'll know more."

"Oh!"

"I would suggest deploying several jumpers in orbit waiting for it to come out." – Rodney proposed.

"I agreed." – Colonel Jordan nodded. "But wouldn't it be best if cloaked the city until we are sure how they are?"

"Normally, I would agree but for now the shields will have to do." – Rodney shook his head.

"Colonel, would you take four jumpers, cloaked, into orbit?" – Jordan turned to Lorne.

"Sure." – Lorne replied and headed to the jumper bay.

An hour later, in the control room Chuck informed that the Achilles will be arriving within the next hour or so. He also dissipated the other bad news.

Rodney stopped working when he heard it. He couldn't believe it. And it must be admitted it wasn't easy to hear it. Just recently, they lost SG-1 and now Atlantis has lost SGA-1 who was loved by everyone just like SG-1. But Rodney had to resume work for their problem seemed to be much bigger than Rodney had originally anticipated. He even had suspicions regarding the origin of the unusual ship the city sensors were tracking.

The hour elapsed. The four cloaked jumpers in orbit under the command of Colonel Lorne were expecting their unexpected guests. Chuck just informed them that the object was very close now.

Colonel Lorne was about to reply when he saw it coming. The colonel and his men gaped for this was a sight previously unseen.

Through a rift in space bathed in starlight appeared a ship twice the size of the Achilles with tentacles tails joined at the end of the vessel. All readings suggested that the ship had bio components just like a hive ship though the sensors did not pick up any weapons. The ship itself looked more like a goliath, a beast – a leviathan that has just jumped off the oldest legends and myths.

To be continued…

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Lordheaven