BOOK FOUR: TRAPPED OUT OF TIME
With their new homeworld established, and with a powerful starship capable of holding its own against most enemies, the Aetherial look to explore further. Much, much further.
Chapter Forty: The Pegasus Project
Wednesday, 12th July 2000.
"What in the world is going on here, Colonel?" Hammond asked as the last stretcher was moved off the embarkation ramp, staring at the man who was meant to be helping Doctor Jackson assess these newly discovered ruins. Not filling the SGC with refugees, yet again.
"The Goa'uld attacked not long after we arrived, General. Came through the gate and caught the rear guard hard. Louis died in the initial attack. Arthurs died in the ensuing battle. While trying to retake the gate, assault craft came from orbit." Jack was clearly upset at the loss of men he considered to be under his command.
While George knew he was the commander of the base, when off-world, both he and Jack considered the Colonel to be the top of that chain, even if he and another SG commander shared equal rank. And neither of them liked losing good men to this war with the Goa'uld.
"I take it we should consider P6Y-325 hostile for the foreseeable future?"
Jack paused, dropping onto the end of the ramp butt first. "Not necessarily, General."
Hammond glanced at the rest of SG-1, none of whom appeared injured unlike SGs 14 and 15, both of whom had lost men and had others under Frasier's urgent care. "Care to explain?"
"As we were attempting to dial home," Jackson spoke up, "some kind of weapon began laying waste to the Jaffa."
"Some kind?"
"It was airborne, sir," Carter added. "Energy based by the look and sound of it, but maneuverable in ways I've never seen."
"Teal'c?" Hammond asked, turning to the former First Prime. The man had extensive knowledge of what was out there thanks to his time in that role under Apophis.
"I have never seen the like, General Hammond. It was a most formidable weapon."
"Went right through the shields on an al'kesh, General," Jack said. "If it is based in those ruins, I don't see how we can not go back there as soon as possible. In fact, some of the damaged ships cleared a pathway in front of the gate. I'd recommend we send a UAV through asap to provide some extra intel on whether the Goa'uld stuck around."
Hammond considered his options for a moment. Obviously, this planet was dangerous, but by the sounds of this weapon, they couldn't ignore its significance. He turned to the nearby technicians watching the exchange. "Do it. Major," He said, turning to Carter. "I want you to prepare an orbital scanner to be placed by the gate. I won't send our people back into a shooting gallery."
"Yes, sir." She said, nodding. "I'll get on it right away."
"I take it you never had a chance to inspect these ruins?" He said, directing the question at Doctor Jackson.
"I never quite got the chance, General."
Hammond nodded. "Do you think this weapon might be located within them?"
"Seems a safe bet," Jack replied, hauling himself back to his feet. "May we, sir?"
Hammond observed the four, they all looked a bit ragged, but Jack was by far the worst. "Very well. We'll debrief in full in two hours. Dismissed."
SG-1 nodded, and Hammond noticed Major Graham and Lieutenant Riley doing the same over by the exit to the locker rooms, before they followed out of the room.
Hammond sighed as he surveyed the debris left behind in the gate room as the technicians moved in to prepare to launch a UAV back to 325. He was unsure how to proceed. This weapon sounded like something they would dearly like to get their hands on, but the probability of Goa'uld attack was high as well.
It was going to be very difficult to navigate the next few hours once these reports were filed. Ever since Maybourne's side operation was shut down, those circling overhead had been very eager to have the SGC show its value. And they had been far worse since the Eurondans were defeated. That had been a gold mine they had dearly wanted to get their hands on.
This was the part of the job he hated the most.
ϟ
Thursday, 13th July 2000.
"So, what do you think?" Natalie asked as Jack leaned back in his chair.
He considered the battle he had just witnessed. It was incredible how powerful the Aetherial's newest ship had proven. And the teens handled themselves well in the confrontation.
"Your husband made a potent weapon there. You've confirmed the levels?" He asked, and Natalie nodded.
"These are the readings." She replied, sending a burst to the holographic display over the table in front of him.
Lines of data recorded by the powerful sensors aboard Vir scrolled by. The ship had data he would never even have considered recording. Everything from shield strength and power levels, to barometric pressure readings of the nearby gas giant. But what was very clear was that nothing the Goa'uld had thrown at Vir the day before had stressed the system in any way.
"She's a solid craft. There are a few things I'd advise in future. I can make a summary for you, if you like. I'd also like to show a couple of friends some of this data. The pertinent stuff at least."
"Do you trust them?" Harry asked, having remained mostly silent throughout the playback. It seemed he was uncertain of his actions the day before and was seeking advice. Jack found it fascinating how he could be so authoritative in the moment, and yet constantly question himself so much after the fact.
"One of them, with my life. The other, to be honest, I've only met him the once. But he is Mother's commanding officer. Presently on leave after some incident involving the President. He and his new girlfriend need to work out their futures. Fraternization rules and all of that. He was a marine pilot. So is Sky Monster. They'll be able to assess the 'aerial' battlefield stuff better than I can."
"If you and Mother trust them, that's fine."
"As for my input, you handled the situation well. But you've neglected one thing." Harry suddenly drooped and Jack thought it might be time to commit to a few one-on-one sessions with the lad to help increase his confidence in his leadership abilities. "The SGC are gonna be curious as shit about those ferrum."
This seemed to confuse Harry and Natalie. "What do you mean?" She asked.
"According to these readings, they are likely to be completely unaware of your presence in the system. So far as they knew, there were the Lazarians, themselves and a Goa'uld mothership. So where are they going to think this mysterious saviour came from?"
Realization dawned on Harry's face and he blushed. "That explains why they went back."
Jack glanced at Natalie and she explained. "The SGC sent a significant force back to Lazaria this morning. The vulta we left behind shows them setting up a large satellite package by the gate, obviously to scan for orbital craft."
"Makes sense. They will scour that area for the source of that weapon."
Harry rubbed his face as he growled in frustration. "How is it that I keep messing things up with them so badly?"
"Don't beat yourself up, Harry. You had larger concerns, and by the time you didn't they had already left." Natalie said, trying to get the boy to see reason.
"Natalie is right. You can't be held responsible for the misreading of a situation someone else might make. As long as you aren't intentionally misleading them." Jack agreed.
"And if Heru'ur decides to go back to Lazaria in force?" Harry asked.
"I'm confident that Vir could handle the fight."
Harry dropped his head again. "Not what I was suggesting. I'm not out here to single-handedly defeat the System Lords. The SGC needs to realize there is nothing on Lazaria worth their time."
Jack considered suggesting that they could simply return and inform the SGC of the true source of the weapon. But after Harry's last encounter with them on foot, he wasn't sure it would go down all that well.
"Have the others come up with any names for an ambassador yet?" Harry asked Natalie.
"None that have gone anywhere as yet. But we are looking." Natalie replied, smirking slightly at Harry's reluctance to take on such a role. Justified as he may be in that reluctance.
"Anyone you know who can do the job?" Harry asked, directing the question at Jack now.
"Not really. Most of my acquaintances tend to be either military or scholarly. Not too many of them deal in international or interplanetary politics. But I can reach out, see what I can find. It will mostly depend on what you consider most important."
"How so?" Natalie asked.
"Well, do you want them to have known chops or do you want to maintain your secrecy?"
Harry glanced at Natalie who simply shrugged. "I'd need to confer with the others, but we live off Earth now. Secrecy is not nearly as important anymore. With us recruiting from Earth, it's not like we can maintain it indefinitely anyway."
"We do need to grow our numbers," Natalie confirmed. "And sooner or later, we're going to recruit someone that is going to get noticed. Or that someone on Earth we interact with has met before. So it's less about being secret and more just being wary of who we allow access to what seem to be the most powerful weapons and technology in this galaxy. Not to mention, we probably want to like the people we recruit."
"Alright, I'll put out some feelers. Max might know a few people of note. But I make no promises." Jack replied, leaning back and relaxing into the soft padding of the chair.
"I suppose that's all we can do for now." Harry sighed. "That and keep the sensors watching over Lazaria. Hopefully, the absolute rout they suffered will keep Heru'ur away long enough for us to sort out how to contact the SGC."
Jack glanced at Natalie who smiled at Harry. He was enjoying his time with these folks, but he was very glad he did not need to be the one making such decisions.
ϟ
Tuesday, 18th July 2000.
Harry hit the render control and leaned back in his chair as the computer analyzed the parameters and once again attempted to quantify the design he'd been working on for almost a week now. The first two attempts were beyond massive in scope, with one of them coming in at almost five kilometres across.
While they would have done the job, he wanted to ensure the design was smaller so that they would be easier to deploy near planets, instead of hours away, just hovering in the empty space at the edges of a star system, hoping the enemy would pass nearby. Something they had already witnessed that the Goa'uld did not necessarily do.
Especially now they had to worry about planets like Lazaria where they might accidentally inspire the SGC to endanger themselves by searching for things that were not there.
A pair of familiar arms slipped around him as he sat there and Harry felt his smile widen as he relaxed into the grip.
"Watcha doin'?" Hermione asked in a childish sing-song voice that she knew Harry enjoyed hearing. It allowed him to momentarily capture an aspect of his lost youth.
"Redesigning the beam satellites again. The computer wants to make them enormous." He replied, letting his head rest back against Hermione's chest and glancing up at her.
"Well, they are satellites. It's not that weird for them to be big."
Harry gave a soft laugh and she looked down at him curiously. "You gave your dad all that trouble for making Vir as big as he did, but now you want me to dwarf it?"
"I didn't say that, exactly. But it's finished." She nodded at the screen as the console beeped several times.
Instead of releasing him, Hermione simply pushed the chair forward so that Harry could operate the controls, keeping him firmly in her arms. Harry activated the hologram and a completely new design appeared. "Nice, that's more what I was thinking."
Rather than the chaotic starburst design of the original, and several of the subsequent designs, this was far simpler. A large inverted tetrahedron turned slowly on its bottom vertex. The specs of this version came in far smaller than the other variants he had tried, only being seven hundred and fifty metres along each edge now, matching the length of the beam cannon in the Vir which had proven to be more than powerful enough for the moment.
"How does it work?" Hermione asked, "I'm not seeing the emitters."
Harry glanced up at her to see she was staring at the image now, her head tilting to try and see where the offensive capabilities came from.
"Each vertex is cutoff and functions as the emitter point. It uses a dish design with high-powered magnetic fields to warp the energy, so it can angle the beam slightly upon emission. Which gives each corner a slightly wider range of fire. So it doesn't have to point exactly at its target first in order to hit. And, it turns out that most of the size of the other designs were the hundreds of capacitors used to power the weapon. They were designed to charge constantly off of solar energy, keeping it in large banks until needed. Occasionally just discharging in a "safe direction" in order to help cycle the system."
"Let me guess, you did away with them?"
"Two potentia. One for shields, one for weapons, just like Vir. There is a small control room inside that we can beam in and out of for manual control or repair. But I left out life support. We know our suits will be enough. And with no external hatches, it keeps it very safe from sabotage or takeover."
"Makes sense, I guess."
"And one other thing that using potentia for the power source alters, this can fire much faster, and can fire all vertices simultaneously."
"You can fire in four directions at once?" Hermione asked, looking rather impressed at that.
"Oh yes." He replied with a smirk.
"Very nice. And those?" She asked, pointing at the six small bulges on each of the wide faces.
"Plasma turrets, to cover against those smaller ships, if they're too quick to safely target with the beam. Wouldn't want to drag a shot across something important trying to tag one of those little buggers."
"Good idea. But are we overusing the potentia?"
Harry shrugged. "Probably. But they are awfully convenient. Small and compact, but with insane levels of power. The two in here could feasibly remain powered for nearly half a million years if it never has to fire a shot. Under sustained use, they'd still last for centuries. The Alterans once tried to pull energy directly from subspace into their systems, given that dimension is just raw chaotic energy, but it did not go well."
Harry said, and the look on his face easily conveyed how catastrophic a disaster had befallen those experiments. "If there is a better option, I've not found mention of it in the data I've looked through. If Merlin hadn't been programmed to have one ready, we probably still wouldn't have even begun the mission Myrddin had set out to achieve."
"True. The beam engines alone would be a lot less efficient with a lesser power source. Not to mention we'd have never been able to dial Ida." Hermione said, letting her grip loosen as Harry turned his seat to face her. She stepped forwards and straddled him and Harry was very glad these seats were strong enough to allow it, as Hermione tended to enjoy straddling him wherever possible of late. "So, do you have plans for it yet?"
"Somewhat. I was going to place one above Lazaria if the SGC don't leave soon. And one in every system currently listed on the Protected Planets Treaty."
Hermione's face went blank for a moment before realization hit and she laughed. "A good choice. But that wasn't what I was talking about. Do you have plans for your birthday yet?"
Harry looked at her confused and shook his head. "Why would I be planning that far ahead?"
Hermione gave him a knowing look and Harry felt like he was missing something obvious. "Harry, today is the eighteenth of July. It's not even two weeks away."
Harry paused as that settled in. Time had really gotten away from him here. Everything they were doing now was so much more laid back than he was used to that what day it was hardly seemed to matter. The only deadlines they now had were entirely self-imposed.
"Oops?" He said sheepishly and Hermione gave him a light kiss.
"That's ok. It means that I am free to plan something special. And I have a really good idea of what. We can make it a thing for you and Neville, as it might take a couple of days."
"O-k," Harry replied, now feeling quite confused at what his girlfriend might be planning. "If that is what you want, I'll happily await the surprise."
"Good." She said, leaning down and giving him an even longer, and far deeper kiss.
Harry felt his heart racing when she finally pulled away and he noticed that his hands were now firmly cupping her bum through her pants. "I'm never getting tired of that." He said blissfully.
"Neither am I," Hermione replied, laying her body across his own as well as the chair would allow. "So, when will you start building these?" She asked, clearly looking at the still-hovering hologram.
Harry took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the woman in his arms and felt his body relaxing even further. "I still have to figure out how to run them. They're so powerful, we can't have them randomly targeting anything that enters the system. But we also can't wait for whatever arrives to attack them to trigger a response either."
"That's true. Maybe Jack can help out there. He might know how Earth's militaries handle such identification systems. We can hardly just say 'Halt' and expect any ship to understand. This language thing is quite a pain."
Harry smiled, but he very much agreed. They'd only been at this a short while and they'd already met several species with their own wildly different languages.
"You're right. I'll have a talk with him and see what we can come up with. But that can wait until later." He said as he turned her to face him once more and pressed their lips together again.
ϟ
Friday, 21st July 2000.
Hermione sighed with mild disappointment as Parvati finished explaining why she and Padma could not go, as their family celebrated the festival of Naga Panchami in India every year during the summer holidays, more for the fact it was one of the few times their entire family were all free to come together from across the globe. It put a small crimp in her plan, but did not derail it entirely.
"Alright then," Hermione said, "if we have it here then, on Neville's birthday. Then we can invite friends and family to the party itself. No one has any objection to that?"
She glanced at her parents, who nodded to her. While they would be staying on Verda for the actual present portion, they were more than happy to join a big party for the boys. Both had been instrumental in the change their lives had gone through, and they thought Hermione's plan would be excellent as a way to finally look in on something that they'd been curious about for a while now. Since it had come up in the research the girls had been doing recently.
The twins conferred with one another before Padma spoke up. "We can make the thirtieth. We could even make the second if needed. But after that, we have to be in India. Otherwise, we'd be there for sure. We can pop over once things are done though. Probably the weekend after. It's not like you need all of us to repower the place."
"Of course. And I'm not asking you to fob off your family's tradition." Hermione said to the girls with a smile. "Perhaps we can come with you next year. I'm sure Harry would be fascinated to see it. He'd probably steal the show given he can still talk to snakes."
Both Patil girls lit up at the reminder that their schoolmate was a parselmouth, and they began to whisper between themselves about what such a thing could bring to their family celebrations and the event in general. Hermione left them to it, turning to Aurora instead.
"Thank you, but I'm unsure how long we'll be there. My friend seems to think we'll be out of action until at least Monday. Possibly the Thursday if past is prologue. Sorry." Aurora said, drawing her eye.
"Don't be sorry. You work with us, Aurora, you're not our slave who needs our permission to go out. Merlin has the details, and the power source, to allow you, any of you, to pop through once you get back. Once I figure out why it won't connect, that is. You only need to ask him."
She took a small breath to collect herself. "The elves are already having a thing of their own all week and are out. So, that means party on Sunday with everyone. End of the day we board Vir and head off. And it will be me, Luna," she said, nodding to the smiling blonde who was already practically bouncing in her chair, "Carson and Cyla, and the two birthday boys, of course. We should be able to manage. It is mostly a curiosity excursion, after all."
Hermione turned to Cyla who was watching with her usual curious fervour, absorbing the entire conversation. She seemed particularly interested in the festival the Patils had mentioned. "Are you sure you want to go now? We can always bring you over once things are sorted."
Cyla locked eyes with her and Hermione saw the resolve within. She knew that Cyla wanted this, hoped that it might kick start some of her memories shaking loose. "Yes." She replied simply.
"Very well. I'll set about making the arrangements." Hermione said, turning to face her father. "Which means you need to finish whatever tweaks you are making to Vir by Saturday at the latest. I need to know it's good to go before the party begins."
"It'll be well ready by then. Most of the changes are already in place. And none of what's left affects the primary systems. You'll be good to fly come next Sunday, I swear. I'm prioritizing the upgrades, locking down the design specs before I set the main beam engine to work making a second one." He replied with a knowing smile.
"Excellent. Thank you all, and remember, do not tell Harry or Neville." She finished with a wicked smirk.
ϟ
Sunday, 30th July 2000.
Neville nearly lost his balance as he and Harry were manhandled into place at the table.
The celebration had started hours ago, when the last of their quite broad group of friends had arrived on Verda, and continued non-stop ever since. Glancing momentarily at his gran and great uncle, Nev felt a slight pinch at the fact his parents were still not able to attend, but he did not let that colour the day for him.
His research was coming along nicely, and some of the plants he'd found here on Verda already showed promise for helping their case. But dwelling on such things was not for birthdays.
He glanced at the man next to him and saw Harry similarly smirking at those now gathering around the large table set in the middle of Aedis's large courtyard. This one had a conspicuous absence in the centre, where all the others were straining under the weight of the food and drinks that had been provided for all.
Neville noted that Harry seemed to have taken his own fair share of the treats from the table that had been made invisible to the couple of young children in attendance. Teddy Lupin had been running amok all day, copying person after person as he made his way through the party. One minute he was one of the many Weasley's the next he was as bald as Mother as her husband Ralph bounced him on his knee with a hearty laugh.
But mostly he seemed taken with Jack's little girl Lily. The wee olive-skinned girl looked nothing like her 'father' but Neville knew that was because she was actually the daughter of the Oracle of Siwa. And one would have thought it was her birthday given the face she made when she learned that there were four new languages to learn. Neville would not have been excited about such a concept at the age of four.
Now the two children were tucked in the strong arms of their parents as the crowd gathered together around the table and Neville knew what was coming next. Molly Weasley walked forwards with a broad, even proud grin on her face before she lifted her wand and with a swish, revealed the concealed item.
A massive cake filled the open space, long and rectangular, it stretched almost two metres across. One side looked like a Quidditch pitch, complete with stands and goals, the icing showing a red-cloaked Seeker soaring after a tiny golden glint. The other was an overgrown garden, much like his own at Gran's had become after he started spending all his time here in Aedis instead.
Across the surface was a set of forty colourful candles, split across the two sides. Neville glanced back at Harry and the pair smiled happily. Neither of them had ever had a birthday party quite like this before.
Hermione snapped her fingers from beside Harry and the candles flicked to life. Neville never failed to be impressed by his classmate's talent at magic.
"Time to make a wish, boys." Mother said, waggling her eyebrows at the two.
"Then we get to see who can blow out all their candles first." Libby Gant, a newcomer to their circle that was apparently very good friends with Mother, pitched in with a smirk very similar to her Marine companion.
"Yeah, by the look of you two, we aren't getting a speech anytime soon." Bill pitched in, joining the ribbing that the birthday boys were receiving from the other side of the table.
"Now, now, be nice." Fleur defended, softly reprimanding her husband. "It eez their birthday after all."
She gave them a soft look of support and Neville grinned at the woman. He hadn't interacted with her much in her time at Hogwarts during the Triwizard Tournament, but he was impressed at how improved her accent had become since last he'd heard her speak.
With a quick glance at Harry, to see he too seemed unbothered by the light ribbing, the two laid their hands on the table and took a deep breath. In unison, the pair blew hard over their respective sides of the massive cake and within a few seconds, the flames were out.
Leaning back satisfied, both paused when a single candle on Harry's side flicked back to life out of nowhere. Neville smirked at Harry's confused face as it meant he won this admittedly pointless little competition.
Rather than trying to blow it out again, Harry quickly snatched the candle from the cake and squeezed the tip between his fingers, literally squashing the flame out and Neville couldn't help but laugh at the disappointed look on the faces of the Weasley Twins and Richard. He realized that this must have been some sort of trick candle the men had secreted onto Harry's side for a laugh, and his housemate had just circumvented the attempt.
"Let them eat cake!" Harry shouted, breaking the shock that had settled at his swift action and a cheer went up. Hermione shook her head as she used her remote to evenly slice and distribute the cake to all present and the crowd broke up once more.
Neville slumped back into his chair, enjoying his own piece of the massive cake, his eyes drifting over the guests as they milled about talking. He hadn't been in so large a crowd since he graduated from Hogwarts. But it was very nice to be surrounded by friends and family today.
Even though he knew that some of them were keeping something big from him and Harry, it didn't diminish the fun he'd had today.
This was the best birthday he'd had in years, and he doubted anything would top it until he could once again share one with his parents.
ϟ
Harry swayed slightly as the crew beamed aboard, taking a moment to correct for his overly full stomach in the slightly altered gravity. Perhaps he had overindulged somewhat during the big party, but it had been so nice being surrounded by friends and family for the whole day. For most of them, it had been their first-ever trip off-world, much less their first visit to Aedis.
He glanced at Neville and noticed the actual birthday boy was swaying as well, and the two shared another groggy smile. Some of those drinks Luna had whipped up from the local produce on Verda were some pretty strong stuff.
Hermione left Harry's side for the first time in hours and moved over to the navigation console, quickly entering a few commands before tapping the comms open. "Aedis, this is Vir. We're heading out. Speak to you in a week."
"Copy Vir. Have fun, kids." Natalie replied over the radio before Hermione entered the last of her command string and Harry tried to peek over her shoulder to see what she was doing.
"Uh uh," Hermione said, spinning on her heel and poking him in the chest with two fingers, pushing him slowly back. "It's still a secret, mister."
Still staring at him, she reached her right hand behind her and felt for the control that would set the craft off on the now-programmed course. With a bright chime, the command took hold and Harry saw the familiar sphere of Verda slip out of view through the dome as the ship turned, pointing out of the system and with the same colourful cloud of the hyperspace window from their first extrasolar trip, it shot into the vibrant tunnel of hyperspace.
"Tease." He said, poking out his tongue before Hermione walked closer to him.
"I put a lot of work into this, the least you can do is let me surprise you with it."
"I would, but I already know where we're going." He said, pulling her into his arms as the others slowly exited the bridge behind them.
"Do you, now? Who told you?" Hermione asked, and Harry could feel the curious expression on her face.
"You did."
"Is that so? And how exactly did my keeping it all secret from you tell you where we are going?" She asked, with a cheeky smile.
"'A couple of days'. I know the math for these engines. Though it will be nice to visit them again."
Hermione gave him a smile that did not fill him with confidence before she gave him a kiss. "My clever man." She said, pulling back and taking his hand. "Let's head to bed. We can talk more tomorrow."
Harry eyed her suspiciously, now not as certain of his deduction as he had been before. But as she towed him out of the bridge, he realized he didn't really care too much where they were headed, just that he was going with her.
ϟ
Tuesday, 1st August 2000.
Hermione sat quietly at navigation as the computer chimed, indicating their approach to the destination she had set. In truth, she'd been there for half an hour already, needing to get away from Harry's constant gaze for the final stretch. Ever since she had cracked the veneer of his assumption, he'd been watching her closely, hoping that she would give up something more, but she believed she had managed to keep her secret.
It had been hard to lock him out of the navigational system for the trip, given he technically had the highest set of privileges as the High Councilor, a fact that was hard-coded into the ship by her father's joking design. But somehow she had managed, and now they were mere moments away.
The door to the bridge slid open and Hermione glanced up at Cyla as she came to a rest standing beside her, watching out the dome.
"Eager?" Hermione asked the ancient woman, who simply nodded without turning from the view.
A view that distorted as Vir dropped out of hyperspace in their destination system. Hermione turned to her console and ran a basic scan of the system, ensuring that they had indeed reached their intended destination as the door opened once more and Harry and Carson entered, talking between themselves.
Hermione triggered the new holographic stand in the centre of the bridge that her father had installed last week and the entire system hovered into view above it. The star in the centre, orbited by seven planets. It was oddly similar to their original home, just missing a Mercury and a Pluto to match. And there was no asteroid belt here.
Ignoring the other planets for now, she altered course, allowing them to settle into orbit around the planet they had been closest to upon exiting hyperspace and Harry moved past the large hologram to stare out at the planet outside, hovering above the lines of the ship in space.
"Wow. I had expected a lot more landmass after our last visit." He said, looking down at the planet that was mostly water with one large visible continent just peeking from around the curved horizon.
Hermione smiled again, and glanced at the others who returned her smirk. Allowing Harry to continue in his erroneous assumption, she ran a new set of scans, these ones providing more detail of the planet. It appeared to be much as it had been recorded in the database during her research on their predecessors and their history.
"There it is." She said as she narrowed the focus of the scan to one very specific piece of the ocean.
Cyla moved to stand beside what her father had called the Critical Information Centre, though she assumed it was another pun or joke he was actually making, leaning on the waist-height metal railing that ran its circumference. The woman stared intently at it as the hologram of the star system vanished, replaced now with a slowly building image of the target of Hermione's scan. Harry turned as Cyla gasped at seeing the shape again for the first time in millions of years.
"Wait," Harry said, spinning on his heel and looking up at the planet again, before he turned back to view the hologram rendering the spires of the city. "That's Lantea?"
Hermione's smile brightened as Harry realized that, while they had indeed ventured to another galaxy, they had not been headed for Ida, but Pegasus. The city had come up while she and Padma had been looking into the history of the Alterans. It was one of many interesting elements they'd found, and she recalled Merlin mentioning it a few times. After a pointed chat with the construct, her plan had begun to form. And the birthday celebration and completed starship gave them all the excuse they needed to finally visit.
She watched both her boyfriend and Cyla inspecting the hologram as more and more detail was shown in the render. The city appeared to be intact from what the database held of its design. Ten thousand years after it had last been occupied, here it sat, perched at the bottom of a shallow part of the immense ocean. Perhaps at some time in Lantea's distant past, that segment of land had been an island.
"Hmmm, she's intact," Carson said, checking the readout on her terminal before joining the others at the CIC. "But that shield strength is waning considerably."
He tapped a string of commands into one of the panels on the CIC and the render shivered as a new layer was applied. A thin field now surrounded the towers, and Hermione noted that he was correct. The shield had collapsed to its minimum sustainable level some time ago, and several of the emitters were in the red. In a few years, or possibly even months, it would begin to fail. Sacrificing sections of the city in order to maintain shield integrity around the central tower.
"Well, that is a pain. I'd hoped to take our time with this." She ran a new subroutine in the system and a small box beamed into place on the floor, coming out of the buffer she had stored it in the day before the party. "Looks like we need to hurry up and get these installed."
Harry suddenly became much more serious as he stepped forwards and grabbed the box from the floor. "Ready when you are."
Hermione smiled at him before turning to Carson. "Do you mind staying up here for the moment? Just in case anything is wrong down there, you can get us back out quickly. Neville is still asleep."
"Of course." He said, taking her seat and preparing to run the controls.
Just as Hermione was about to say something more, Luna walked in dressed in her spacesuit, holding Harry and Hermione's in her hands, with a third draped over her arm. "I saw we dropped out of hyperspace. Is it time?" She asked, walking forwards, and pausing when she saw the shimmering hologram. "Cool."
"Should have guessed," Hermione said, stepping over to the girl. Luna had departed the mess with her earlier, but veered off on the way to the bridge. Taking her own suit, a quick switching spell had her outfitted in a moment, and she repeated the spell for Harry as well. She turned to Cyla, who was now staring out the dome at the ocean. "Cyla?"
The woman turned, but she waved the trio on. "I am not quite ready. You go." She finished with a tight smile.
"If you're certain?" Harry asked, watching her carefully.
Cyla nodded. "It has been several million years. I can wait a little longer. Go make sure my old home remains intact, please."
"Alright. We'll be back soon." Hermione said, triggering the bubbles on all three suits, just in case the air was less than pleasant after ten thousand years of recirculation. Or even no circulation. She nodded to Carson and the three of them vanished in a burst of light.
As they appeared, several lights in the corners of the wide room began to light up, illuminating the room far better than before. Hermione noticed the pair of consoles immediately behind them as Harry knelt down, setting the box on the floor and popped the top open, quickly pulling one of the six potentia free of the foam inside.
He walked around the consoles, heading for the large triangular hub which burst upwards from the floor in the centre of the room that she now saw contained three potentia, two of which were completely dull, indicating they were completely drained.
"Two of these are totally dead," Harry said, tapping one of the dull ones and causing it to rise up out of the hub. "And the city is only drawing on one at a time?" He said curiously, correcting the function on the small panel on the hub itself.
Hermione followed his example, walking over and repeating his action on the second dead unit. Harry replaced his module, and it descended quickly into the hub, lighting up far more brightly than the last original unit as it became flush with the surface once more and a dense sucking sound came from all around them.
Luna looked at the other two curiously. "What the heck is that?"
"Would the shield immediately expand again when given sufficient power?" Harry asked and Hermione considered it for a moment.
"It's possible. You think that is…"
"The ocean being forced away from the city? Yeah. Which means we keep these on for now. All the air in the city will be at risk of being pulled into the vacuum left behind by the shield expansion." Harry said, gesturing for Luna to bring over the last potentia.
Hermione finished exchanging her own unit and tapped it, sending it into the hub adding more power to the city. "Carson, we've got the main power going again. Can you beam some fresh oxygen into the city? We think the shield has expanded outwards."
"Aye, it has. We can see it on the scan." He replied. "And there is one heck of a wave spreading out that we can see from here. It must have pushed back a lot of water."
Harry looked disappointed that he had missed that sight, but took the third potentia from Luna, tapping the only one in the hub that still seemed to have power of its own. He exchanged the two and the third full unit descended into the hub, coming flush with the triangular top as well.
"Well, that's part one done," Luna said with a bright smile, gathering up the three dead potentia and stuffing them into the now-open spaces in the box. "Do we go exploring now, or later?" She asked with an expectant look on her face.
"Later," Hermione said. "Merlin warned me that there could be any number of dangerous experiments that might be loose by now. Or damage to the structure itself. We should return to Vir for the moment, see what the scans show."
"Poo," Luna said with a petulant frown that made Hermione smile, as the three were surrounded again by beam energy and were whisked back to the bridge, the open box on the floor next to them.
"Well, that was very exciting," Hermione said, retracting the bubble over her head and stepping over to the CIC. She manipulated the controls on its side, intensifying the scans running over the city below. "That's good. It doesn't look like the shield had actually failed at all. Though several of the emitters are definitely looking spotty."
"How's the oxygen swap going?" Harry asked, stepping over to the terminal by the starboard wall where Carson was exchanging the old stale, thin or even missing air for new fresh batches from the surface.
"Quite well. Air is nowhere near as dense as some of the things we beam about, so it doesn't take much to move it. I have most of the main tower exchanged, the computer is assessing areas to prioritize after that."
"Can't we just do it all at once?" Neville asked, yawning as he moved over from the screens at the back of the bridge.
"Oh, morning," Hermione said, finally noticing him there. "Unfortunately not. While the beam engine aboard Vir is far more powerful than those on the navi, it's nothing compared to the one built into Aedis. It can't handle that much simultaneous matter transfer, even if it's insubstantial. Not yet at least."
"Thankfully it seems most of the city was closed up when the Lanteans left," Carson noted. "So we can do it fairly systematically. Currently working my way out through the rooms around the base of the central tower. Including the power vault where you three just were."
"Excellent," Harry said, watching the rooms on the detailed scan above the CIC showing the progress the man was making with his efforts. "Any suggestions for areas we should prioritize?" He asked Cyla as she stood beside him, silently watching the city in which they believed she had been born.
"Your current system works well. But there is an anomalous energy reading here." She indicated a small room not far from the power vault on the opposite side of the tower to where Carson was gradually swapping out the air.
"Yes, I'm trying to figure out what it is. I know I've seen a reading like th…" Hermione paused mid-sentence as the reading clarified and she figured out what it was. One life sign was now being detected within the city. In a portion that currently had very little thin atmosphere. "Crap."
She rushed to a nearby console and activated the beam, bringing the figure aboard where she reintegrated on the bridge. Standing before them now was an elderly woman with long white hair and a slightly grubby set of Lantean clothing.
The woman looked at them curiously for a moment before she fell to her knees, panting heavily. Harry rushed over and helped to keep her from falling further.
"Easy now. You've just woken up after a very long sleep. Cyla?" He said in Alteran, as the even older woman helped him grab their new guest and guided her to a nearby seat at one of the consoles.
"Where…" the woman replied, also in Alteran, her voice croaky from disuse.
"Trust me, do not try to speak right now. Extended stasis is very draining. You will need to drink and rest." Cyla said, gesturing for Harry to conjure some water for the woman as the others watched on in stunned silence. "Here. Drink this."
The woman looked between Harry and the glass in surprise, clearly amazed at what she had just witnessed. "Atlantis. Low power." She said, taking the glass and sipping it gingerly between her words.
"We know. We've already replaced the potentia."
"Potentia? Right, yes. Janus mentioned that. We call them ZPMs." She replied, her voice becoming stronger as she downed more of the water, her breathing slowly steadying as well.
"Good. At least that means your memory is fairing well after such a long stasis. Can you tell us your name?" Harry asked.
Continuing to slowly sip the water, she spoke slowly, each word sounding hard to expel, though her strength seemed to be returning. "My name is Doctor Elizabeth Weir. I was the leader of the Atlantis Expedition."
"Ok, Elizabeth. My name is Harry, this is Cyla. That's Hermione, Luna, Neville and…"
"Carson?" Weir said, standing unsteadily from the chair and allowing the glass to tumble to the floor as she saw the man peeking over the control console.
"Aye. How is it that you know me?" He asked, baffled as they all were at the statement.
Elizabeth began to pant before she collapsed back into her chair, hyperventilating as she did.
"I think she needs a hand, Carson," Harry said.
Carson stood and rushed over to where she was seated and Hermione beamed his medical bag from his quarters to his side. She stepped over and began to cast her own set of diagnostic spells over the woman. For several minutes, the two assessed her health and eventually, she was able to calm once more.
When she was finally able to speak, she took Carson's hand and smiled at him switching to English. "It is so good to see you, Carson. It's been so long. I've missed you terribly. Your grasp of Ancient has improved dramatically. Where are the others?"
"The others?" Carson replied matching her language, glancing at those around them curiously at her words.
"Rodney? John? Radek?" Weir replied, looking at them all confused.
She finally seemed to take in her surroundings and noticed the design of the ship they were aboard. The decidedly Alteran design, and the complete lack of any Earth-evident technology in Carson's bag, and the fact that until now, they had all responded to her in perfect Alteran. She began to breathe heavily once again.
"Stay calm, love," Carson said as she seemed to be becoming agitated. "We mean you no harm, but I'm afraid I don't know who you are talking about."
"What year is it?" She asked, and they all looked at her confused. "Please."
"It's currently the first of August in the year 2000 on Earth," Harry said, assuming from her grasp of English that she was from Earth.
"2000? I woke early." She replied, looking down at the floor, seemingly in mild shock.
"Early?" Luna asked.
"Well, sort of," Elizabeth said, seeming to look inward for a moment. "The Atlantis Expedition originally left Earth for Atlantis on the fourteenth of August in the year 2004." She raised a hand to her face and covered her mouth as she took a sharp breath in. "My god, that means I am currently alive, living on Earth. I don't even know about the Stargate Program yet."
"You're referring to the SGC?" Hermione asked.
"Yes. I ran it for a short time earlier that year. But when we discovered the Ancient Outpost in Antarctica, I was chosen to lead the team down there and General O'Neill took over the SGC. When we found the address for Atlantis in the database there, he authorized us to send an expedition."
"How did you get there? The potentia in Fundamenta must have been completely drained by 2004." Harry said.
"Fundamenta?" She repeated, looking as though she was analyzing the word for a moment before she recalled Harry's question. "Oh, well SG-1 found a ZPM on a planet called Taonas which they used to power the drones and defeat Anubis."
The group looked at one another, Hermione starting to understand some of the ripples their own discovery of Fundamenta could have caused if Anubis would have still been alive and causing problems in four years' time.
"Well, you don't have to worry about that being necessary this time around. Anubis is dead." Neville informed the woman with a broad smile.
"Are you sure?"
"Very. We have confirmation from the Ascended themselves." Harry said.
"That's good to hear." She said, relaxing significantly.
"How is it that you seem to come from a different timeline?" Cyla asked slowly in English, still her weaker language, cutting to the core of the matter.
Weir glanced at the woman and smiled. "When we first arrived, we were awed by the state of the city. The lights came on, but we couldn't power any of the consoles. We immediately began exploring, separating out and spreading through the city." Her breathing accelerated.
"Easy now," Carson said, checking his bag for a potion that Hermione had provided him. "Take this. It will help calm you, but it won't put you back to sleep."
Hermione smiled at him as Weir downed the potion, blanching at the taste. "My god, what is that?"
"It's a calming draught mixed with a little pepper-up for kick. It helps soothe emotional turmoil." Hermione explained. "I can give you a full rundown later if you like."
She nodded and focused once more on her story. "Rodney tried his best, but nothing we did seemed to work. The city seemingly came to life around us, but we had no control or interface. And when we finally managed to link some of our own computers to the system, we discovered that the ZPMs were almost completely dead.
"Ten thousand years of holding back the ocean, not to mention the dozen wormholes back to Earth after almost a decade of siege. They were barely at half capacity when Janus and the others left."
"You speak as if you were there," Neville said.
"Because I was." She replied simply, taking a moment before continuing. "When the shield began to fail at the edges of the city, I ordered us to evacuate. We didn't even have time to connect one of our generators to the gate. John and Radek found what appeared to be spaceships in a hangar above the control room. But water penetrated somewhere in the middle of the tower before we were able to evacuate anyone. The three of us were sealed inside a ship John called a puddle jumper. And you drowned trying to get people into the other jumpers." She said, staring directly at Carson, who gulped under the intense stare.
"Good thing they can operate underwater," Harry noted, having tested their own navis back on Aedis not that long ago.
"Yes, we found that as John powered it up and a flare of energy surrounded us. The walls of the city vanished and we shot up out of the ocean, right into a hail of weapons fire. The jumper was hit and we plummeted back into the water and I was knocked out. When I woke, I was in an infirmary. The Ancients managed to pull me out of the wreckage at the bottom of the ocean, and healed me, but… John and Radek didn't make it."
The others remained silent as Elizabeth mourned those she had once known.
Eventually, Weir seemed to come out of her thoughts.
"The head of the Lantean Council, a man named Moros, refused to aid me in returning to my time." Hermione's eyes flicked to Harry who matched her knowing glance, but Elizabeth seemed to miss it, continuing with her tale.
"Janus was my only ally. Turns out he not only healed me, but was the one who had built the time machine we had been in. He tried to help me, but the council remained steadfast. They destroyed the then-new jumper and prepared to evacuate back to Earth. It took them nearly three days to completely evacuate everyone, even as more ships and people tried to return to the city. Janus used the confusion to keep me hidden."
"Why?" Hermione asked, wondering why she would choose to remain in stasis in the city.
"They offered to take me with them, but I worried about the dangers. I could potentially be introducing my own genetic material back into the human race ten thousand years before I was ever born, not to mention any diseases I might be a carrier for from the modern era. And Janus had a plan to help prevent what happened."
"He had another time machine?" Carson asked.
"Evidently not." Luna pointed out, given Weir's advanced age.
"No. He kept his research on the design. It's possible he made another one back in the Milky Way. His plan was for me to remain behind and rotate the ZPMs in series, allowing the power to last longer than it would in their usual parallel configuration. However, I would need to remain in stasis, leaving it twice to rotate the system. He also set it to wake me when the expedition arrived."
"Sorry about that, but they never would have come," Harry explained.
"Why not?"
"Fundamenta, the Ancient Outpost that SG-1 found in your timeline, we deconstructed it about eight or nine months ago," Luna said.
"What? Why?" Elizabeth asked disbelief on her face.
"It's a long story, but suffice to say that the SGC won't ever find it now. And I think that's for the best, given what happened last time." Harry noted.
"You would deny us access to the city?" Weir asked, dumbfounded.
"I didn't say that. As you seem to know, the Ancients as you call them moved on from both Pegasus and Avalon long ago. Ascending or dying out. We are trying to build a new form of that dead civilization. We have already hired Carson and Jack to help with that. Aurora and the Grangers are back home, keeping watch over our new capital. We will definitely need more people from Earth to help us grow. If you give us some names of people you know would be willing then they will be welcome to join us."
Weir eyed them suspiciously for a moment before she drooped. "I'm sorry. We lost so much in the hopes of getting here. I gave up my life to make it possible for them to survive their arrival."
"And they will," Hermione explained to the distraught woman. "Anyone who comes to Atlantis now will find it fully powered. All three potentia have been replaced with fresh new ones. And we plan to make significant repairs and upgrades to the city while we are here. What you experienced before can never happen again. Everyone you lost is alive now, on Earth. Your sacrifice succeeded in keeping all of those lives safe."
Weir smiled at her softly. "Alright then. If you had access to the outpost, why did you come by ship?"
"We tried connecting from home, but for some reason, the stargate wouldn't work," Hermione explained. "So we decided to fly our shiny new ship out here to check. A birthday gift for two of our number."
"Oh, that would be Janus's doing as well. As the final group were leaving, he set the gate to only allow connections from Earth. Which must mean…"
"We are from Earth originally," Harry said, "but we no longer live there. I guess my genius girlfriend forgot to try from Aether when she couldn't get a lock." He finished with a cheeky smirk.
Elizabeth looked curious to further hear that story. "Thank you for what you have done, but I think, if you don't mind, I would like to rest now. My body isn't as young as it used to be."
"Of course," Neville said, stepping forwards and extending his hand to her. "We have plenty of spare rooms aboard. I'll be happy to show you somewhere you can lie down."
"Actually, my legs appear to have fallen asleep. I don't think I can walk right now." Elizabeth said, sheepishly.
Neville looked unperturbed, and still took her hand before nodding to Luna, who triggered the ship's beam and sent them both off to one of the spare quarters where Elizabeth could sleep for a while.
"Keep an eye on her please, Carson," Harry said, looking at the now empty chair. "I don't think she likes the rest of us all that much right now. And after ten thousand years in stasis, she probably needs significant medical help."
"Aye," Carson replied, looking thoughtful for a moment. "It is so odd being recognized by someone I've never even met. I can guess why she distrusts you though. Even if you had your reasons. She sacrificed her entire life so that her expedition could succeed. But I will watch over her, if for no other reason than the me she once knew."
"You can tell her our whole story if you like. Something tells me, she's not really going to be able to slot back into life on Earth anymore, so she'll probably have to stick with us. Maybe once she knows everything, she'll understand our reasons."
Hermione turned her attention back to the CIC and noted that while they had been talking with Elizabeth, Vir had continued exchanging the stale air of the city. Now the entire hologram was pulsing, indicating that all areas now had fresh oxygen filling them. Still dressed in her suit, she moved to the nearby console and activated one of the other buffer beamouts, directing it to the large empty room a few doors down from the power vault.
"Come on you two." She said, pointing to Harry and Luna with her wand and activating the bubbles once again. "We can't explore until the full scan is done, but we can get the new beam engine installed in the city. That way we can start making repairs while we wait for her to be willing to speak to us again."
Carson gave her a nod and moved back over to the controls, sending them back down to the submerged city once more.
