Darkest Before Dawn
Chapter 2
An Old Friend?
Milky way Galaxy: Middle Rim / Sol Sector / Earth
March 17, 2002
Colorado Springs, Colorado U.S.A
A short man with blonde hair and green eyes sat in his house watching TV as usual. He was a successful businessman and was all alone despite appearing to be in his late forties. The program continued to play though he wasn't really paying attention. Something was scaring him and he didn't know why. It was as though someone he knew very well had come back. Someone that he had assumed was long dead.
The news had mentioned that a scientific expedition to Antarctica was returning. He really paid no attention to it as when the Lanteans had returned to Earth, Atlantis was still in the Pegasus galaxy and as such he didn't have to worry too much about the Humans, as they liked to call themselves finding anything to useful. Yet something was bothering him. He knew for years now that the humans were keeping the Stargate in Cheyenne Mountain. Deciding not to let it go he grabbed his briefcase and headed out the door. Once in his car he headed towards the old military base.
He parked his car near the main gate with several men with automatic weapons pointed towards him. Not bothering to introduce himself he stepped out of the car and raised his hands showing that he was unarmed. He didn't need to be though. He approached the gate and all of the guards fell asleep as they opened it up to arrest the intruder. He grabbed an ID card and went inside. Several more guards awaited him inside.
They posed no threat as they fell asleep the second they saw him. They hit the floor with a loud thud as he walked by without interruption. Once at the elevator he swiped the ID card and pushed a button on the elevator and descended in to the mountain. Once emerging into a long hallway he was met by another force of guards. They too fell asleep at his mental command. Slowly he made his way down corridors and hallways, into another elevator and to a medical center.
His fears were confirmed. His old apprentice was there. A man so dangerous that if he escaped, the universe would be forever doomed. Several men appeared behind him and told him to raise his hands. He considered putting them to sleep and running for dear life through the Stargate. But that would only delay his inevitable demise.
The man decided to raised his hands and told the guards. "There are greater threats to your facility then me."
"I'll decide that." General Hammond said walking around the corner, with SG-1 behind him.
"If that man returns to full consciousness, you will all perish and the galaxy will curse your names for the evil you have unleashed upon it. That is until while they still live."
"He can only blink and he's still an ice cube," O'Neill retorted.
"Then there is still time to kill him." The man stated.
"No one is killing anyone yet," Hammond said, "Take him to a cell so we can interrogate him."
The man did not resist as two guards came up and grabbed his arm, allowing himself to be led away.
A few hours later
"What's your name?" Jack asked.
"Metrinos," the man replied.
"And what makes the popsicle so dangerous," Jack continued his line of questioning.
"He is an Alesian," Metrinos answered, "Have you ever met an Alesian?"
"An Alesian? We've heard of them, never had the chance to mock one though."
"You would mock them?" Metrinos inquired, surprised by the statement.
"Of course I would, it's a job perk," O'Neill stated.
Metrinos shook his head as he asked, "when faced with not only your doom, but the destruction of the whole galaxy, you would make jokes?"
"It's what I do," Jack replied.
"You are a strange man," Metrinos shook his head.
"I prefer the term different, but that doesn't explain how you managed to get in here let alone, how you knew about the mansicle, or about the Alesians. We only found out about them recently." Jack said, back to business.
"Yes I am what you call an Ancient. They were once as well. My pupils in the Lantean fleet forces. They feared that the Ori would one day return to destroy us all. We feared them more then we feared the Ori. We were not wrong in doing so, what we didn't know was how much support they had amongst the fleet. A fifth of our forces defected when they were banished to a corner of this galaxy. A planet called Alesia. We hoped the high gravity would kill them, but it only made them stronger. Our betrayal of them left them bitter and spiteful. This one especially."
"Our plan seemed to have worked, for the first twelve thousand years or so. Until on a routine exploration mission, one of our scout ships vanished without a trace. Other ships were sent and only managed to get a message out. It simply read, they are coming. Battle hardened by the brutal landscape and planets savage gravity. Roughly five times that of earths, made them even more dangerous than before."
"However by then we were at war with the Wraith and hoped that the Asgard could keep them contained. And they did. Trapped in a time bubble the Alesians seem to have been contained. Only some of their outlying planets weren't affected. Hiel the Merciless somehow must have escaped and made his way to our old outpost."
"So what you're saying is, you're over twenty-two thousand years old," Jack asked.
"Older. Much older. But I am surprised that is all you took out of that," Metrinos inquired.
"Yeah. I hope to look as good when I reach that age," Jack replied sarcastically.
"This is serious. When he awakens he will reign down death and destruction upon you, like you have never seen before."
Jack shrugged as he asked, "What else can you tell us about these Alesians?"
Metrinos shook his head as he said, "We know nothing of them after they were banished to Alesia. We always assumed they had died off," Metrinos looked up as he continued; "Hiel is growing stronger as we speak. He has almost regained consciousness."
"And that's bad," Jack said jokingly.
"I can keep his powers suppressed for now, but its only a matter of time before my hold on him breaks," Metrinos suggested.
Jack shrugged his shoulders as he inquired, "Can't you just put him to sleep like you did those guards?"
Metrinos shook his head as he replied, "No. His mind is too strong and his will too powerful. The only thing I can do is suppress his telekinesis. Even then he will find a way to break through that and when he does we are all doomed. The only way to save yourselves is to kill him. Kill him now while he is still frozen."
"Not as frozen as you might like, you coward," a heavily sedated Nex mumbled as he was dragged into the cell next to Metrinos.
As Nex passed out, Metrinos sat in the corner of his cell and began to meditate to focus his power. It would only be a matter of time until Nex broke free, but this might buy him enough time for the humans to execute their greatest threat to date.
The next day
Nex awoke in his cell and everything around him was quiet. He peered up to see Col. O'Neill sitting in front of Metrinos' cell. Jack was saying something he wasn't quite sure what as he was still fairly doped up from before. All he knew was it seemed to be a one sided conversation.
As the drugs slowly wore off Nex felt stronger, and he knew his time of escape was near. Jack was still talking to Metrinos, although it was obvious that Metrinos wasn't responding to the questions. Standing up Nex also noticed that they stripped him of his armor. Something he wasn't expecting from the lesser beings. Something else was odd as well. He thrust his hand at the cell door expecting it be ripped from its hinges and now be imbedded in the wall. However, not even a puff of dust whiffed from the ground. Metrinos could be the only answer.
"How long can you hold me old man," Nex called out, "Even now you must feel me slipping from your grasp."
O'Neill peaked around the cell door and casually said, "Oh Sleeping Beauty finally decided to wake up and join the world of the living."
"You know nothing of living, primate," Nex retorted.
"Yeah well, talking to this guy is like talking to a brick wall," Jack replied.
"I find that hard to believe, it's impossible to get him to shut up," Nex snarled.
Jack just shrugged his shoulders and said, "he's kinda just sitting there."
Nex almost laughed as he called out, "Really old man? You have to resort to meditation to keep me down? Old age must be getting to you."
Jack leaned back in a chair he dragged over as he spoke, "So tell me a little bit about yourself, Hiel."
"Hiel? That man is no more," Nex said with rage in his voice.
"According to the guy in cell three, that's your name," Jack replied.
"The Lanteans took everything from me. My years of service meant nothing to them. My dedication meant nothing to them. My life meant nothing to those bastards!" Nex Ado shouted angrily, slamming his fist against the door.
"They stranded us on that forsaken planet. With an environment so harsh that they thought we would die in days. We survived. By the time our supporters arrived we had adapted to the savage gravity and the cold. Only the strongest survived. It was then the Alesian Empire was born, it was then I ceased to be what I was to them. I am now Nex Ado. General of the Imperial Legions of Alesia."
"So did this Amann Adar change his name as well?"
"No. Amann refused to let them take everything from him. Some of us took on new names, others kept their old. The choice was theirs to make." Nex, sneered at O'Neill
"So do you have a death star," Jack asked sarcastically.
"what pray tell are babbling on about," Nex asked.