All over the galaxy the necessary preparations were being made to enter into the new age of discovery and the Alteran people now had something to look forward too. Now free of the virulent plague that had stalked the people of Avalon, the Alterans united in celebration and vowed that whatever might lie in the future; it would be a time of prosperity and peace that would span for many thousands of years.
In Atlantis, the high council was once again in session; having just been informed that the vaccine had finally finished being distributed throughout the galaxy. They were, having just decreed an age of discovery, deciding upon the best course of action that would best allow their people to do this.
Councillor Menia was currently outlining her ideas to the council, " Once we have secured our foothold in the outlying galaxy destiny is currently residing in, we must begin the construction of long term colonies throughout the system. This will allow our empire to grow exponentially within a short amount of time. Amelius' Laniatus Portas is currently being planned in orbit above terra and the plans are moving swiftly. This gives us two way transport to the galaxy and provides ongoing support to our people there". The other councillors nodded in agreement. This project they believed would kick-start the growth of an empire so vast and mighty that it would endure until the end of time.
Over the next weeks construction began on the individual components needed to create the Laniatus Portas and, with the overseeing of the construction by Amelius himself, the device was nearing completion. Running concurrently was the construction of the components needed to send through to destiny. They were being built on the planet that had the necessary energy requirements needed to dial the ship and were soon ready for the trip many millions of light-years across the universe.
Once assembled, the plan was for the components to be flown into orbit above terra where they would be reassembled into the Laniatus Portas. Likewise would the Destiny Laniatus Portas components be positioned in orbit above a planet in the unknown galaxy. Once successfully pieced together the devices would transmit a signal to each other pinpointing their positions in space utilizing the same technology that allows the long-range communications devices to work in tandem.
An expedition had already been sent to Destiny and they were currently stationed in a system where the seed ships had seeded the most stargates. Currently there were nine gates in the newly dubbed 'Colonium system' and the high council believed that this was enough worlds to jumpstart long-term colonies.
The Laniatus Portas was to be positioned above the planet that the high council had selected to be the heart of the colony. Aboard Destiny the matter conversion units had just finished assembling the final component. The lead science officer on Destiny was a man named Hallun and he was overseeing the construction of the Laniatus portus on his end. Beside him was the representative from the council, communicating with him via the stones that had been brought aboard Destiny from Terra.
"The council is extremely pleased with the progress on Destiny, Hallun, and they are anxious for the first shipment of supplies to be sent here" said Weyydon, " Of course once the Portas is online, you will of course be having this conversation with the council face to face". Hallun smiled down at the young representative and turned his attention once more to the task at hand.
The matter conversion technology was a new breakthrough in Alteran technology and the scientist was amazed at the speed in which the device had been created. What once would have taken months of arduous work was taking weeks with no input from Alteran hands whatsoever, as the unit worked by converting raw energy into matter which was then virtually pieced together from base molecules. The units were brought to Destiny during the first shipment of supplies to the ship.
But now they had nearly finished the job that they had been built for. The construction of the Laniatus Portas was scheduled for the following day and Hallun was to make sure that everything went smoothly. Hallun called over his associate who was nearby at a workstation. "Syym, how goes your preparations for tomorrow, have you allocated enough space in the cargo hold to account for the supplies we are to be receiving?". "Of course Hallun, you seem to think me a fool sometimes, I am quite capable of performing such a simple task, the space is ample to hold the supplies until adequate structures are built and with the new matter conversion units that will take no time at all". "Forgive me Syym", replied Hallun, "I am growing old, my friend and my mind betrays me at the best of times, forgive my lack of faith in you, my worrying is for naught". The two smiled at each other before going about their business once more.
The plan was for a small number of ships to travel through the Laniatus Portas from Avalon to assist and protect the new colony and for supplies and technology to be beamed through the wormhole directly into Destiny's cargo holds. The matter conversion units would be used to create structures on the first planet that can accommodate 1000 Alterans and once a viable colony was set up, more people would be able to travel there.
The council had selected the best and brightest of there people to set up the colony and due to her amazing accomplishments in the creation of the vaccine to counter the Ori plague, Hergara was being offered command of the outer-galactic colony as a reward. Such a command was unheard of and Hergara leapt at the opportunity; the council was providing her with a great honour and she promised that she would give her life to the colony.
Soon the time to test a connection between both portals and everyone was filled with excitement and trepidation. Both science and security teams were on standby in case of an emergency and the council were observing the trial onboard an Aurora-Class vessel in orbit of terra. On an Adaris-Class science vessel near the Portas, a scientist named Fergall was given the go ahead to activate the device. Drawing energy from subspace that mimics the radiation given off by black holes the device was able to use the energy to throw a wormhole to an adjacent Portas resulting in instantaneous travel between both points. Fergall typed a command code onto his terminal and the signal was sent to the device. Almost immediately he was rewarded with the coordinates of the second device on the other side of the universe. He opened a secure channel to the council, "Councillors we have made a connection through subspace, and we can now pinpoint the exact location of the second Laniatus Portas in the unknown galaxy". He told them, and to prove his point he sent them a holographic map of the known universe with a course that travelled through many galaxies until it reached the once Destiny was currently residing in.
The council were contented with these findings and ordered Fergall to dial the Portas. Back on the Adaris, Fergall input the spatial coordinates into his dialling program and sent the signal to the device. In space the Portas begin spin and one might observe what seemed like electricity running through it, this however was perfectly normal as the individual components where being immersed in the energy needed to dial. Once each component was charged the Portas stopped spilling and for a moment there was silence among the observing people. And then, with enough power to obliterate anything within its path, an unstable vortex was created to the lack of consistent power running through the Laniatus Portas' buffers. After a few moments the event horizon was still once more and had the same appearance of the Astria Portas however on a larger scale. The Alteran scientist, Amelius, who had created the project looked over his equations regarding the power requirements and by doing a small calculation was able to surmise that the gate could remain open indefinitely as it was constantly drawing energy to sustain itself from subspace. The Portas could however be deactivated to allow dialling in from the other galaxy.
Now that the device had created a wormhole, it was important to test the safety of travellers going through the wormhole. First a probe was sent through the device to see of travel was even possible. Using a communication stone one of the councillors could almost see everything going on from the other end and within minutes there was confirmation that the probe had arrived, fully intact. The next test was to send a Gateship with a single Alteran inside through the wormhole. Everyone was silent as the ship flew over to the Laniatus Portas from a hangar bay on the Aurora-Class Vessel. Slowly it inched its way closer to the event horizon and soon had entered the vortex. The young pilots bio-rythms were being monitored and seemed stable and again there was confirmation from the councillor when the gateship was received on the other end; both pilot and ship alive and intact.
Satisfied that the tests had proved the safety of travel the High Council ordered all departing to ready for transport in two hours.