Stargate Genesis

Episode 21

"Xenocide and Other Necessities"

Todd stared around sullenly at the wreckage that had been his quarters. It had been three days since Eli had inadvertently helped him let loose a primal predatory part of himself in this room and he had still not managed to clean up the mess. Most of what had been in here was easy enough to replace, but the loss of his miniaturized laboratory and the bacterial cultures he had been using to produce more anti-Wraith serum meant that there was no more chance of concealing his return to form from the crew or from Sheppard.

The door to his room slid open and Eli stood there flanked by two marines. It was obvious why they had come, but they at least had the decency not to draw their weapons.

"Are you ready?" asked Eli.

"One moment," said Todd.

He opened a drawer in his desk and removed a box containing a pair of communication stones nestled in a red fabric pillow. He picked one of the stones up and palmed it in his feeding hand then closed the lid and handed the box with the remaining stone to Eli.

"In case you need me while I'm gone," said Todd, then he brushed passed the marines and marched unbidden toward the infirmary.

~~00~~

Colonel Sheppard had had a rough week. For starters, he and his crew had been forced into playing unwilling host to a lunatic. The rogue Area 51 scientist Dr. Orlando Reynolds had shown up uninvited in his gate room and all but demanded that he be made a member of the Elizabeth's crew. The man had sauntered right into his gate room wearing a fully charged personal shield emitter the operation of which he seemed to understand much more fully than even Rodney McKay had. He also carried a backpack he had yet to open, but which Sheppard feared might contain more stolen technology the purpose of which he could only guess at. For now at least the mad scientist had consented to being locked in the Elizabeth's brig, but the nonchalance with which he had gave Sheppard the uneasy feeling that it was all just part of his plan. Orlando Reynolds was obviously a dangerous adversary, if somewhat unhinged. His hope was that General Carter would think of a way to neutralize the shield emitter. Then he could shove the bastard back through the gate and into the hands of some heavily armed marines at the SGC.

The issue facing him now, while clearly still connected to the activities of Dr. Reynolds, was of a wholly different stripe. Apparently Orlando's sister, just before her departure, had destroyed Todd's supply of anti-Wraith serum on the order of her Alliance handlers. Todd had managed to keep this turn of events secret for some time, until an incident the specifics of which Sheppard was still struggling to unpack had destroyed the equipment the Wraith was using to make more serum.

At first Sheppard had been angry that Todd had kept such an important development from him, and immediately ordered him confined to quarters under guard, but after considering the situation more fully a pang of sympathy had shot through him. Todd wasn't human. He was a Wraith. To many of the crew he was a monster. Under those circumstances how could he be sure that divulging such a secret wouldn't result in his summary execution? He couldn't. Simply for being what he was Todd had gone from respected crew mate to prisoner, and unlike Orlando Reynolds, Todd wasn't covered by the Geneva Convention.

Sheppard decided that the Wraith couldn't be blamed for fearing for his life. Even now, though John was the only one aboard who knew it and intended to keep it that way, a fleet of human ships was on its way to the Pegasus Galaxy for the express purpose of committing xenocide against Todd's people. By the time he awoke from stasis he might just be a member of an endangered species.

~~00~~

When Todd entered the infirmary he found Colonel Sheppard waiting for him. Marines lined his route to the stasis pod, but they were saluting rather than fingering their safeties, an unnecessary touch, Todd thought. In his rightful state these humans could no more tolerate his existence than the cows and chickens of Earth could tolerate theirs. It was only in these far reaches of space and under the influence of powerful body-altering drugs that their relationship could be anything other than adversarial. Before he had reverted to his natural form, he had almost deluded himself into believing that he could forsake his race and live as a human, but now he knew better. If he ever emerged from stasis it would be as a Wraith. He would escape the influence of humanity and live as his Wraith instincts instructed him.

He marched passed Sheppard without acknowledging him and climbed, once more unbidden, into the stasis pod. John followed him.

"This is only temporary," said Sheppard. "We're too far out for Dr. Beckett to send more serum, but Eli says he can probably have some ready in a month or two."

Todd considered this. His chances of escape were far better aboard the Elizabeth than they would be back at Area 51, but the length of the ship's mission was indeterminate. Either way, when the time came he had already decided he would take only enough anti-Wraith serum to avoid starvation.

"When you first met me, John Sheppard, I had been held without food for nearly seven months," he said, "but I suspect that will not be enough to sway you against this course of action."

Sheppard shook his head.

"I'm sorry Todd, but we can't afford to keep guards on you all the time. You'll just have to trust me."

"Indeed," said Todd, "an unfortunate situation I seem to find myself in all too often."

"Goodnight Todd," said Sheppard, and he began to close the stasis pod door.

"Goodnight, John Sheppard."

~~00~~

It took a few days, but Colonel Sheppard eventually felt his morale begin to climb back up to where it had been before the arrival of Dr. Reynolds. The reasons for this turn around were numerous. No decision had yet been made about what to do with the mad scientist, but he was at least not giving his crew any trouble. Sheppard had received regular reports noting that despite being locked up, the doctor was unfalteringly polite and complementary about everything from the ship's highly advanced alloyed hull to the fine quality of his bunk's linen. Meanwhile Eli was making steady progress on Todd's anti-Wraith serum and was being assisted by a new member of the crew: a Kino endowed with the consciousness of a former Alliance operative named Ginn. For Sheppard, that someone else had made it off the doomed Destiny more than made up for the fact that she was, in effect, a stow away who had gained unauthorized access to his ship with the assistance of one of his officers. Apparently she had shared Eli's body for a time before Todd came up with a way to move her into her new digs.

These developments, along with the fact that chef was serving steak and twice-baked potatoes tonight had put a spring in John's step, but the most important reason for his positive attitude was that the Elizabeth was about to reach the most important milestone of her mission. One more gate jump and they would be within sensor range of the galaxy from which the signal they were following had originated. The Genesis Address was within their reach.

"Major Ročenka," said Sheppard. "Are there any sights to see within sublight? I don't intend to rush this next jump. Even with Ginn Kino at his side, Eli's a little short handed without Todd around. I'm ordering an eight hour cool down, so what can the rest of us do to keep occupied in the meantime?"

Though somewhat doubtful that he would find anything of interest, the navigation officer began dutifully to sort through sensor readings of their immediate surroundings. The automated Lantean seed ships that had traveled out ahead of the Destiny laying stargates on interesting worlds in her path were far behind them. When they had stopped in other galaxies there were almost always a few active gates to provide the crew with some pleasant diversion, but if you wanted to find a hospitable world this far out you had to find it yourself.

On the viewscreen Ročenka scrolled through the local worlds with stars, orbital paths, and masses similar to Earth's for a minute or two before pausing over a red planet that from a distance could have been Mars.

"Actually," he said. "There is something. I think this planet might be inhabited."

Ročenka zoomed in over the right half of the planet's northern hemisphere. It was a murky brown color, but even from so far away it was clear that what they were seeing was a vast ocean butting up against a mega continent. The Navigation Officer zoomed in on the coast and suddenly the natural curves of mountain and valley were replaced by grids as though a mind had parsed the land into homesteads.

Sheppard sat up a little straighter. Despite the fact that the Wraith had been the first truly alien race he had met, he often fantasized about making first contacts. As Captain of Earth's fastest, and most far-flung vessel it was only natural that such a responsibility would eventually fall to him and he figured that given the Wraith as a reference point, the only way to go was up.

"We can be there in less than an hour, sir," said Major Burnette beside him.

"Make it so, number one," he replied, and stood up. It was time to form a landing party.

~~00~~

After the fashion of Captain James T. Kirk, Colonel Sheppard decided that he would lead the mission down to the red planet himself. To accompany him he selected his linguist Dr. Bailey Evans, and his first officer Major Lauren Burnette. By rank this left Major Pyotr Ročenka in command of the Elizabeth, but Sheppard decided the responsibility was better left in the hands of Lieutenant Matthew Jacoby and so granted him a temporary two-rank field promotion to lieutenant colonel.

For an instant the three of them were enveloped in the white light of the Elizabeth's transport beam before they were standing on the surface of a dusty red planet in the middle of what had once been a major city. Around them towering conical structures inlaid with jewels pierced the sky, alien office buildings arranged in consecutive semicircles with their open ends facing the coast. They were neat and orderly, with roads spaced evenly between each swathe of buildings intersecting five artificial canals cut into the land at regular intervals. At one point it must have been a bustling metropolis with ships, trade, and high technology, but now dust and tumbleweeds appeared to be the only inhabitants. It was like a ghost town of the old west re-imagined on a larger scale.

Despite their grandeur, the buildings were in the advanced stages of decay. Those that were still standing sported gaping wounds edged with twisted metal, as if some great behemoth had taken bites out of them. Shards of the jewel windows littered the streets.

"What could bring a race that built cities like this so low?" asked Dr. Evans.

"I'm not sure," said Lauren, "but maybe that had something to do with it."

She pointed to a spot further inland, nearly at the edge of the city. Sheppard turned in the direction she had pointed and saw nothing. The roads, buildings, and canals all looked the same. The only thing which was different was… the sky. Everywhere else the sky was a pinkish orange but there it was gray. Then he realized that what he was seeing was not the sky, but the side of an enormous gray cube that dwarfed the towers around it. As their party got closer they saw that the cube seemed to have been placed without any regard for the city around it. This monolith had set down right across roads, and canals, and even appeared to have crushed a few of the neatly spaced towers that had originally run between them.

"There's a door," said Lauren, and she started pulling at a seam in one wall.

It didn't give.

"Step back Major," said Sheppard.

He reached for his sidearm. It was a gift he had received some years ago from a friend in the Pegasus Galaxy, a particle magnum. He set it to incinerate and lined the door up in his sights. Three shots was enough to burn a man size hole in the gray metallic surface. He holstered the weapon and raised his P90. With Major Burnette behind him he stepped through, shining the light of his P90 in ahead to light the way. Dr. Evans remained outside ostensibly to stand guard.

They walked what was probably several blocks through a deserted hallway with high ceilings. Sliding doors similar to the ones they had entered through lined their route. All were shut tight. At the end of the hall they found another door no different from any of the ones they had passed.

Three more shots with the particle magnum and they were in a domed amphitheater. It was empty, but their presence introduced a slow change, as if the room were trying to remember its purpose. Light, not from any single source, but instead seeming to seep through the walls filled the space, and a gentle hum started up somewhere far away. When Sheppard brushed the opalescent walls words appeared there in an alien language, and as Lauren approached the center a cylinder of light shone down and drew three dimensional images of a creature that looked almost human. They were anatomical in nature and alternated between musculature, nervous tissues, and bone structures.

"How is it that every single sentient race we've come in contact with has been bipedal?" asked Lauren. "Even this far out and all it would take is a little makeup and some spirit gum to make her look human."

"Look again," said Sheppard. "No makeup in the world could hide those ears, and you'd have a hard time covering up that tail with some spirit gum."

"Yes, sir," said Lauren, "but you've got to admit that the primate body plan is a little too ubiquitous for coincidence."

"You're talking to the wrong person, major," said Sheppard. "Raise it with General Carter. I know it's got something to do with convergent evolution, but she started talking about allele frequencies and I zoned out."

A few hours later Dr. Evans had a chance to see the words that scrolled over the walls at her touch and was startled to discover deep parallels in them with early examples of Ancient.

"Either they met the Ancients or the Ancients are descended from them," she said finally, "and that goes for both of them."

"Both of them?" asked Sheppard.

Evans looked surprised.

"Oh yes," she said, "They're nearly the same, but there's definitely two distinct languages here. The first one I saw around the city on the way here, but the second is exclusive to this building."

"I guess it was already pretty clear that they were made by different people," said Sheppard. "Is there any way to tell where the people who built this monolith came from?"

"Nowhere nearby," said Eli. The prospect of discovering some new alien technology had lured him down to the planet after hurriedly finishing up his work on the Elizabeth and leaving Ginn Kino the utterly unnecessary task of checking his calculations. "I dug a little way up underneath this thing and found reentry burns. It must have fallen right out of the sky."

"And was that before or after the city outside became a ruin?" asked Sheppard.

"Before," said Evans flatly. "From what I've read of the database I'd say this facility was built to collect biological information, and there's epidemiological data here for a planet-wide population of ten billion."

Suddenly there was a commotion as an entire science team attempted to reach Sheppard's com at the same time. Through the shouting and gasping he gathered that something of interest had been found on one of the upper levels. It was a stasis pod, and it was occupied.

~~00~~

An argument was in progress when John, Eli, and Evans arrived at the pod in question. Two scientists were debating whether the thick fur covered tail of the woman inside was most similar to that of a marsupial or an arboreal mammal. The confrontation would have come to blows if not for the intervention of Major Burnette.

"She's alive all right," said the major, "the only living thing on this planet as far as we know."

The normally self assured major looked to Sheppard for orders. She wasn't shy about making decisions when it came to her subordinates, but civilians, if this creature could be called such made her nervous. She had never been much of a people person.

"We probably won't be doing her any favors by waking her up," said Sheppard, "The evidence isn't exactly conclusive, but it looks to me like this planet and its people were destroyed in what amounts to an alien invasion. I'm not sure I'd want to wake up to a world where I was the last of my kind, but–"

"But there's so much she could tell us about what happened here," said Evans. "She might even know where we can find whoever was responsible."

"Yes– " said Sheppard, and he was cut off by the major.

"They could be a threat," she said. "Reviving this woman and hearing what she has to say could be vital to the safety of our mission."

"I know–" said Sheppard, and Eli chimed in.

"Plus who knows what she could tell us about her own people and their technology," he said. "We can't pass up an opportunity to–"

"I'm aware," said Sheppard finally, "which is exactly why I'm ordering you to revive her."

He ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm glad to see we're all on the same page."

With an awkward cough Eli approached a pedestal to one side of the pod which sported a keypad and with Evans help managed to start the thawing sequence. A blue tinge faded from the woman's skin to be replaced with the midtones of a healthy tan. Then the door came open with a hiss and she opened her eyes.

One look at the group outside sent her into hysterics. She clawed at the various tubes still attached to her body, and when her throat was clear began to scream.

"Opifex! Opifex! Opifex!"

As one they stepped back to give her space to breath, but they were at a loss as to how to calm her.

The woman cowered back into her pod making herself as small as possible. She went on screaming, becoming still louder until with one last shriek of "Opifex" she fainted.

The building started to shake.

"Oh hell," said Sheppard. As the realization of what was about to happen hit him he reached up to his com and hailed Lieutenant Colonel Jacoby back on the Elizabeth.

"Emergency transport," he said. "I need everybody back on the ship now."

Jacoby's reply came swiftly.

"It's no good Colonel. The monolith's gone opaque to our sensors. The beams can't lock onto you while you're inside that thing."

Moving quickly, Sheppard hauled the unconscious alien out of her stasis pod and slung her over his back. Then he ordered everyone to make for the exit. The frequency of the vibrations running under their feet gave an impression of building up to something. John thought back to the alien vessel that had vanished before his eyes. These vibrations had probably been happening there too, but they had been masked by the vacuum of space.

When Sheppard and his officers reached the door they encountered a pileup. He hadn't needed to give the order to evacuate. When the shaking had started in earnest, the science teams that had dispersed to the buildings corners had come running, and nearly all of them were lugging heavy equipment behind them. Eli stepped forward and started to clear the blockage. His sparring sessions with Sheppard had toned his arms and core, and he was using them to hurl not just equipment, but people into the dusty road outside. With his free hand John drew his particle magnum and pointed it at a group of astonished scientists who ducked. In eight shots a new exit had been cut through the thick wall and people were pouring out of it as well. Through the hole he had made Sheppard could see that as quickly as the scientist's feet hit the road they were engulfed in light and disappeared. He might decide to let Jacoby keep that promotion.

Eli, Evans, Burnette, Sheppard, and their new acquaintance were the last to leave. They made it a few paces beyond the door before the thunderclap and whoosh of displaced air hit them and they were dragged backward into the pile of ruble that had sat buried under the now missing monolith. The speed at which it had vanished created an air current that tugged hard at the surrounding buildings. Ancient as they were, they started to buckle and bits of debris began to rain down on top of them. A spire from the tallest of them broke off and would have landed directly on top of Sheppard's head if not for the fact that a second before he had vanished in a bath of white light.

~~00~~

At the end of his report General Carter shook her head in disbelief. This was now the second report she had received of mysterious monoliths preceding the collapse of a civilization. Admittedly the first report had come from a now defunct alternate future visited by SG-1 aboard the Charles Kawalsky, but it was still disturbing.

"And this woman referenced the same beings the ship you visited a few weeks back claimed to be fleeing from?" she asked.

"Yes," said Sheppard seriously.

Carter's mind boggled. That made three instances, each separated by billions of light years.

"John," said Samantha seriously. "These Opifex could be the greatest threat we've ever faced. The IOA might use them to make me recall you."

"You know," said Sheppard, "every time we step out of our solar system we find new threats to be afraid of. Sometimes I wonder if humanity wouldn't be better off if we stuck to our little corner of the universe."

"I know you don't believe that," said Carter.

"No I don't," said Sheppard, "but even for all the good people we've lost over the years I think we've gotten off a little too easy."

"The universe doesn't work that way," said Carter. "It doesn't care about balance or karma and you know it. What comes will come, just be prepared."

"Sure," said Sheppard, but in his mind he wondered if anyone could be prepared for the frequency with which war and xenocide and the prospect of extinction seemed to crop up in the universe. At least Dr. Reynolds was still behaving.

~~00~~

Since being brought aboard the Elizabeth the strange woman Sheppard had extracted from the monolith had lapsed into a comma. John reasoned that whoever had magicked the structure away must have been aware of its location, and possibly even of their having visited it, so he ordered the jump to proceed an hour ahead of schedule.

As Eli had expected, Ginn Kino had found no errors in his calculations and the coordinates for what could quite possibly be the Elizabeth's final jump before heading home were entered, and the gate drive spun. A swirling blue-green wormhole opened in front of the ship and with a last mournful glance at the dust covered planet Sheppard fired the sublight engines and another one hundred and fifty million light years disappeared into the ether.

Written by Andrew Marron

Story by Caleb Palmquist and Andrew Marron

We hope you've enjoyed Season One of Stargate Genesis. Please subscribe to our author alerts to stay updated on future stories and Stargate Genesis Season Two, coming next year.