Ch 1: A Most Fitting Coincidence...
"Okay. Everyone who thinks this is absolutely an insane idea, raise your hand. Come on, be honest." Col O'Neill 7.1 - Fallen
The warble of the phone was not exactly the kind of wake-up Col. Jack O'Neill wanted. He wanted a large pay-check, a nice weekend, a lack of potentially world-ending situations for a full year, was that so much to ask? The warble came again, and he groggily reached out of bed, slapping his hand around on the nightstand, feeling for the offending phone.
There it was. Click. "Col. O'Neill, what is it?"
"Col., we need you at the mountain as soon as possible." The authorative tones of General Hammond was not what he had in mind as a wakeup call. "How soon can you be in?"
Jack blinked as he sat up, his blanket falling away as he did. "Sir, is it SG-1 urgent, or normal dangerous urgent?" He looked over at the clock, the dim green numbers spelling out 100 hours shining out of the clutter of his nightstand.
"I'm afraid it's the kind of urgent that absolutely cannot be discussed Col." General Hammond's slightly apologetic, but demanding voice got a wince of sleepy annoyance out of Jack.
"Right, Sir. Give me an hour, and I'll be in." Jack blinked again as he swung himself to sit on the edge of his bed.
"Good man, Col. We'll be waiting for you. This one ought to make your whole year." General Hammond hung up on that enimagtic note, leaving Jack with his now silent phone. He stared at it for a moment, wondering what in the heck the SGC had found THIS time.
"Probably Danny again... It's him and Mondays..." Jack O'Neill got up, scratching the side of his leg as he sleepily stumbled across the clutter of his room, looking for a uniform he could put on after his shower...
/SGC, T'ealcs quarters/
The knock on his door poked at the edges of the former First Prime's Kel'noor'eem meditation.
"Enter."
Carter opened the door slowly, looking in at the consumate warrior sitting in the midst of his usual sea of candles. "T'ealc, we have a situation, SG-1 has been called up for something we found out in the outer solar system."
T'ealc raised his eyebrows without opening his eyes, nodding as he took in that once again the team's help was needed. "What situation would require our help, MajorCarter? Has Anubis sent a Ha'tak to scout our system for defenses?"
"Not exactly." Sam shook her head as she slipped in, shutting the door behind her as she stood near the entrance.
T'ealc listed in his head many of the odd occurances that he had dealt with since joining the SGC. "A Tel'tac, perhaps, looking to have us grovel before a false god?" He spoke with distain, knowing that had to be it.
"Nope."
"A replicator invasion?" "Sorry, no." "The Aschen, coming to seek revenge?" "I'm sure they're all enjoying the list of stargate addresses that we sent them still, if they're even alive."
T'ealc paused, his brow furrowing slightly as he thought of odder circumstances. "A time-warp rift threatening to destroy the system?" "Interesting, but no." "A form of body-snatcher aliens taking control of the Prometheus?" "Has to do with her, but no." "Cosmic Radiation storm?" "No" "A black hole, perhaps?" "You'd already know if that was the case."
"Indeed." T'ealc finally opened his eyes, looking at Carter, who still stood slightly sheepishly by his door. "I am out of possible occurances that would require our particular brand of expertice that I know of."
Carter smiled, knowing that T'ealc would get an absolute kick out of this one. "You need to come to the briefing, the only way you'll ever believe this one is if you see it for yourself." She opened the door, getting ready to head there herself.
"Then I will be there, MajorCarter. This has intrigued my intrest. It has become rare that we have encountered something this far beyond our experience." T'ealc began blowing out his candles, as he mulled over the possibilites in his mind. "As far as I know, we have encountered most universal phenominon, and some multi-reality phenominon."
"We have had some strange luck, haven't we? But, you finally got part of it. It isn't from our universe, though you'll definately recognize it." Carter shut the door behind her, leaving a bewildered and slightly confused T'ealc in her wake.
/The Confrence Room/
Samantha Carter was still perky from having been on Prometheus time, as she checked over the projector and her data. Jack was jealous. How come she was always perky at these odd hours, creating things to get called in over. He looked over, seeing General Hammond come in, dark circles under his eyes from having gotten a similar wakeup to O'Neill.
"General." "Col. O'Neill."
The two found their seats, looking around. A large number of laptops, data-booklets, was that a Star Wars DVD? "Carter?"
"Yes, sir?" She paused in her work, looking over to the now mostly annoyed O'Neill.
"Why is there a Star Wars DVD in the briefing pile? Is this a mission brief, or a really late movie night?" There was only a slight bite to Jack's voice, the Col. having become used to the odd hours, and even odder briefings of the SGC.
Carter and Hammond looked at each other, wondering if they should wait, or go ahead and tell Jack. The General spoke first. "Perhaps the explainations should wait until everyone gets here. This is one briefing that will go down as downright odd, even for us."
"Right, sir. Where is T'ealc and Daniel?" Jack looked around, not seeing the Jaffa and the spacemonkey. He turned his chair completely around, getting up to look into the gateroom. Nope, no space-monkey there.
The stotic Jaffa choose that moment to make an entrance, striding in purposefully, his normal blank mask on once again. He looked over at the clutter of briefing materials, spotting several of the items that Jack had missed from his point of view, and raised an eyebrow high at that, before striding over to the rich wood table, taking his customary seat. "MajorCarter, I have noticed you have... some rather unusual materials for our briefing."
"Like I said, you'll never believe this one..." She looked up again, noticing Daniel hadn't come in. She blinked for a moment, before realizing she hadn't even told him. "Uh-oh..."
Jack blinked. An Uh-oh from Carter was the equivilent of "Oh, SH-!" for most people. An uh-oh before a briefing could only mean one thing, he hoped. "You forgot to tell Danny again, Carter?"
"Yes, sir."
Jack sighed, shaking his head. It wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't be the last if he had his way with this mission. He turned to T'ealc, shrugging his shoulders. "Come on, T'ealc. Let's go get Daniel, knowing him, he's probably buried in his lab with a rock or something."
"Indeed, O'Neill." T'ealc rose smoothly, stepping out from the table and following Jack out.
Carter looked to General Hammond, and relaxed slightly at seeing the miscievious look in his eyes. "Wasn't intentional, sir. This time."
"Just remember, intentially misinforming Dr. Jackson to get more time to prepare is not your standard briefing tactic." Hammond smiled in his fatherly way as Carter nodded sheepishly. You play a simple gag once, and no-one ever lets you forget.
"Yes, sir."
/Daniel's Lab/
Jack and T'ealc reached Danny's lair with little problem, and commenced their standard check for booby traps on the door. He had learned a lot since coming, including the importance of a well-defended hide-out. No electric-shock knob, no wires for paint-balloon pulling, door not adjar for tar/feathering... clear. He had to be inside.
Jack nodded to T'ealc, who nodded back in affirmitive. He grabbed ahold of the door-knob gently, before slowly opening it, hoping that maintence had finally WD-40'd it. No betraying creak, good, he looked inside, seeing no initial trace of his favorite space-monkey. He turned to T'ealc, putting his finger to his lips in the traditional sign of 'Be wewwy, wewwy quiet, we're hunting Daniels.'
"I don't see him, he must be his BDC's."
"His what, O'Neill?"
"His Book Dress Camoflauge." Jack slowly crept in as he spoke, looking about constantly for the misplaced archeologist. Not on the bunk, not at his normal desk...
"Over here, O'Neill." T'ealc had found Daniel propped up against a bookshelf, one up upreached to a book, snoring softly.
"Ah, the D section. Dr's, Dancers, for Dummies, and Daniels." Jack walked over, wondering how best to wake him in a non-hostile way. A fluffy feather quill nearby caught his attention.
"Danny..." Sniff, snort. "Dannny..." Snerg... "Danny, for the love of God, will you not wake up?" ACHOO! Sneerrrrgg...
"Okay, that was kind of gross, but that'll be an acceptable form of 'I'm awake'." Jack looked at the now gunked end of the quill, which the now blinking Daniel had sneezed all over. Jack's favorite archaeologist looked at him sleepily, not exactly sure what was going on.
"Jack? What are you doing on-base during the weekend?"
"It's Monday, Daniel, and we have our weekly crisis to take care of. We're supposed to be having a briefing in the confrence room." Jack looked at Daniel with amusement, before looking up to the once-again blank-masked T'ealc.
"It's not even Monday afternoon, and we've already got one?" Daniel's sleepy question got a shrug/nod out of Jack. "The cycle is speeding up."
"Tell me about it, now come on, we're being wait upon by Carter and General Hammond."
/The Confrence Room/
They all got back fairly quickly, waking up more along the way, to arrive to the surreal sight of...
"Carter, for crying out loud, why is there a Star Destroyer on the projector?" Jack was about ready to go up in a fury of frustration. He wanted sleep, not a movie night.
"Col. O'Neill, there is a Star Destroyer on the projector because we have one in Neptune orbit." General Hammond snapped it lightly, knowing he had thought along the same general lines himself when he had seen it. As the bulk of SG-1 looked at him in surprise, he gestured to the chairs. They slowly skittered over to them, taking seats and looking attentively to Carter. She now had their full attention.
"On the journey back with Prometheus, the sensors picked up anomalous power spikes in the region of Neptune. When we came in close, this is what we found." Carter clicked the remote in her hand, and the image shifted from the classic shot of the Devestator chasing after the Tantive IV to that of a battered and brusied Star Destroyer lounging in orbit of Triton. Holes had been punched in the upper surface of the ship, dark scorch marks littered her multi-colored patchwork hull, extra thrusters adorned the rear end, and the unmistakable small line of kill sillouettes ran below the main port and starboard Turbolaser batteries.
"Well, at least it doesn't seem to be much of a threat." Jack leaned back as best he could in his chair, rather surprised at this revelation. T'ealc turned slowly to face the Stargate, a look of indigestion on his face from the revelation. Daniel sat up straight in his seat, pushing his glasses up as he thought of the possibilities.
"Do we know if there are any survivors?" Daniel was scared of the implications of having such a ship in-system, but this was a cultural goldmine, after all. A whole other history waiting to be looked at. Was it from their universe, was it crossed over? Where, when, how, why did this happen!
"We don't know at this time, but judging from at least minimal power, it is possible that some of the crew has survived, and is either attempting repairs, or is awaiting some kind of rescue. " Carter brought up a sensor analysis of the ship, pointing out on the corrected diagram showing their visitor the various damages that had been incurred.
"From the radar telemetry, and the optics on the Prometheus, we have identified major damages, and the various ways of entrance. On the dorsal surface, there is a major breach along the spine of the ship, which appears to be a weapon impact. It streaches several decks into the ship, and terminates 500 meters from the bow, having started at 323 meters from the bow." The mentioned gash flashed several times in response as Carter continued. "Due to the fact that we don't yet know what the armor is made of, we'll have to come in through gaps to prevent any attempt at Transporters from getting refracted. It will also give us a line of sight, since we don't have sensors yet from the Asgard to back up our transporters."
"Now, on the first step of the superstructure, you can see a lesser impact, possibly a second bolt from the first impact's group. It pentrated at least 50 meters in, and should offer us a way in, provided we can get past blast doors." She shifted to the chunk blown out of the port side of the bridge module. "Once again, likely part of the same attack that caused the previous two impacts, considering the straight line that can be drawn between them. This one, due to the more... fragile nature and thinner armor of the bridge tower, is a bit more severe. As you can see, a large chunk of the portside ventral tower has been blown off, enough that we should just be able to squeeze the Prometheus in under it."
"It looks like someone chewed this thing up pretty bad, Carter. You sure there are any survivors?" Jack rocked slightly in his chair, wanting to just take a look at the ship in person.
"We don't know. Considering that the... literature states that there is at least a 20000 man crew, it certainly is possible that one of them might have survived." Carter crossed her arms in front of her, used to Jack's twitchiness.
"The usual that if there is enough of them, one of them is bound to repeat our luck?" Jack had a deadpan face as he spoke, knowing the ludicrous odds against.
"Probably, sir." Carter turned back to the projection, continuing. "There have been numerous previous repairs. This large patch of blue-white streching from 400 meters from the bow, and going back to 800 meters on the starboard side may be the repair marks after a ramming attack. The entire upper superstructure appears to be rebuilt using the same blue-black materials used in the..." She cleared her throat, rather annoyed by the title, "Super... Star Destroyers, possibly due to having to replace the hull, may be intentional."
Jack winced, thinking of what could pull that off.
"There are several odd structures on insulating platforms along the uppermost level of the superstructure. Judging from the way they are mounted, I would have to say that this ship has been heavily modified with additional sensors, purposes unknown." Carter pointed with her laser pointer to the triple sets of pallets. "Also, there are several notable guns that are not on the replicas or documention of Lucasfilm. These may be standard, but judging from the rest of this ship, are more likely customization."
T'ealc shifted, wondering from the various tidbits if perhaps it was a scout. "Do we know what actually rendered it adrift, MajorCarter?"
"Unknown. Also, you can see various numerous minor scorch marks and bucklings, likely signs of numerous battles and little time in dock. This especially seems to be the case with the killboard under the guns." Carter shifted the view to the underside of the ship, and an even more impressive array of damage.
"Anubis get a crack at this thing?" Jack blinked, the number of holes was... impresive, and jealousy raising. He wished he could get as good of a crack at bad-guys.
"The energy signatures and blast marks do not appear to be consistent with that, sir. They do appear to match the visual appearance of Turbolaser bolts that we have seen, however." Carter started at the bow. "Here we have what appears to be a set of armor that was retrofitted to repair damage. It appears to be from what has tenatively been called the 'Venator' class Star Destroyer seen in the new film. However, it has been well-fitted and patches have matched up the hull between the original hull and this new piece." She shifted her focus from the rather pristine replacement Republic red hull piece to a more dubious observation.
"Here, on the starboard side, is what appears to be a series of impacts from a Turbolaser attack. The impacts regularly have punctured through the hull, 20 counted 30 meter holes going from the bow back to almost the reactor bulb. Whoever was shooting at this ship was out for serious blood." Carter flicked along the 20 actual punctures and the numerous more scorchings that lined the blast corridor.
"Indeed, they have done a remarkable job of damaging the ship from the evidence seen so far." T'ealc was impressed by the sheer beserker rage attack that apparently had been inflicted on the ship. He regretted not having been there to see it, however, but resolved in the back of his mind to view the recordings and find out the ship's tale.
"Right. Now, over here, on the port side, you can see a dark grey patch that has been built up and appears to be a repair that has been on for long enough to get major emplacements put back onto it, streching in a rough 120 meter wide rectangle going from 326 meters back to 769 meters. Also note the several points where definate intentional openings leading to various equipment, possibly gunports." Carter continued on, getting into a babble-mode.
"Now, behind the reactor bulb is an interesting one. It may be part of the previous starboad side sequence of impacts, and an attempt to re-aim to the reactor." Everyone straightened up as they saw just how close the ship had come to blooie. A hole had been blown clear from the starboard surface to the port side, with blank screen visible beyond the wreckage of a hole big enough to fly a Y-wing through.
"Thats... wow..." Jack was sitting on the edge of his seat, looking intently at the hole. At less than 50 meters behind the reactor bulb, there could be no doubt that that was the reason why the ship had stayed in Triton orbit, if not the reason why it was there in the first place.
"Looks like someone didn't like this ship, and decided to take care of it the same way the system lords like to deal with us." Daniel adjusted his glasses again, having been silent to let Sam speak. Everyone turned to him, a little creeped out at what he had thought up. "What? I'm sure there must have been an imperial version of us, after all."
Carter nodded slightly, as she rotated the model to show the rear hull. It was hardly touched, damage-wise, but modification-wise was a whole other story. "As you can see, this is most definately not standard issue. The three main engine cowls are approximately 20 percent larger each, with at least a 15 increase in the thickness of the cowling material. The secondary drive thrusters each have been modified in what appears to be an attempt at vector-thrusting, judging from how they have been squared off, with diagonal secondary vents to their various facings."
Then she pointed to the other two new engines, out on the edges, half the size of the main engines, and big wedges of vroom. "These two, however, are completely new. Judging from their nature, and how they have been split each into halves, I would say these are to allow for emergancy manuvers, likely a measure installed after a previous incident with the ship and one of it's more.. interesting moments. They might provide an after-burn type feature, or several other possibilities. We'll have to look at the controls once we figure them out up there."
"Up there? We're not actually going up there, are we?" Daniel popped the question, as he leaned his elbows on the tables.
"Yes, Dr. Jackson. SG-1 will be part of the spearhead element up to the ship, along with every other SG team currently available. This will be our primary focus for the next month, attempting to salvage it, and begin reverse-engineering on various components. For years, we have been praying for a miracle to even the odds with the Goa'uld, and if we have to steal the devil's own to do it, then we can play that game." General Hammond spoke up, his voice grabbing everyone's attention as they all turned to look at him.
"Be ready in 3 hours, team. This is our chance to fight the pandora's box that we opened 7 years ago. Let's not squander it. Take whatever you feel will help, reference materials of any kind, try and find anything that will help you with command and control of that ship. SG-1, this could well be your finest hour." Hammond stood up as he finished off, saluting Col. O'neill.
"Yes, sir, we'll do you proud, general." Jack returned it, before turning to Carter. He smiled and put on a pleasant face, though he was on the annoyed side of the house. "Carter." He addressed her sweetly, ready for her response.
"Yes, sir?"
"I am never letting you out of my sight again. This has GOT to be the top wierdest and off the wall thing that has ever happened to us. This has topped even space-monkey here's top trouble-making!" Jack started ranting, not happy about this in many ways, though he definately liked the idea of his own lightsaber.
"Well, sir, you always did want big honking space guns, as I believe you said it, sir." Carter put on her sweetest face, with a maniac grin, as T'ealc moved over to glance at the imagry taken of the ship.
"But you have pulled a star destroyer out of your hat, for cryin' out loud! How do you find a star destroyer in OUR SOLAR SYSTEM, of all places!?" Jack continued on as T'ealc picked up the topmost photo, of a 4 letter signage on the side of the superstruture.
"Why couldn't you find the Millenium Falcon or something small and manageable?"
"Because it's not the SG-1 way, Jack. After all, the Goa'uld, Aschen, Replicators, Asgard..."
Jack cut off Daniel in the middle of his listing. "Hey, leave the little grey dudes out of this. They're fairly good."
T'ealc ran the symbols through his head as the team continued slightly bickering, before he raised an eyebrow in intrest. That was unusual. "O'neill, I believe I have deciphered the hull number of the Star Destroyer."
"-after all I- wait, what? Say that again, T'ealc?"
"I believe I have deciphered what appears to be the hull number of the Star Destroyer." T'ealc turned around to face the rest of SG-1 as they came over.
"Are you sure? They use a diffrent symbol system, and we can't even be sure that they use English as their standard spoken language, after all." Daniel didn't know what quite to make of T'ealc so casually deciphering a foreign language, especially one that had supposedly been made up.
"I am quite certain, DanielJackson. I have 'The Big Book of Star Wars' in my room, and have often referenced it in concern to my life here at the SGC. In it, it has the meaning of every symbol. The hull number reads 1-7-0-1. A most... unusual cooincidence, perhaps." T'ealc got eyerolls and head-shakes from all three other members of SG-1. He was a near religious fanatic of Star Wars, and they probably should have seen this comi-
"Wait, 1701?" Jack snapped back from his musing when the number sequence clicked in his head. Nearly every american knew that number... it couldn't be, what would be the chances...
"Indeed, O'neill. It appears that the ship does indeed have our particular 'brand of luck'. Enterprise has been an unfortunate name, according to the annals of 'Star Trek'." Only T'ealc could have pulled off such a realization first without going into a fit of laughter. Jack began to chuckle, before breaking out into all-out laughter. This one was just too much... only here, could something as crazy as the day's sequence have unfolded.
"God really does exist. Big honkin' space guns, and the name I had originally wanted! He just has one hell of a sense of humor proving it!" And with that, Jack O'Neill broke into a half-hysterical fit of laughter. Once again, fate was playing games with him, but this was one he could appreciate!
TBC