To all my readers...This will be the last chapter for a few weeks, but not the end... This story will take some time to unfold and have reprocussions in the following chapter 11 (already written), but there are answers coming to some previous "anomalies" some of you may have picked up, in coming epps.
Please Enjoy,
I will try to post a new chapter soon...
SGU s03 e10
Apology
Destiny was still in the orbit of the planet, but the violence had passed a few hours ago. Although injured, Franklin had told Dr Rush and Eli that it was possible to hack the planets version of the internet, but they would need a better computer to translate due to the complexity of the language. Eli smiled as he knew just the computer he needed; Destiny. They would have to stay for a while to let the FTL drive cool down; Rush and Chloe had calculated about 22 hours until they could resume FTL flight again, and had moved out of orbit with sub light engines. There were some minor repairs required to the FTL drive, which Nick and Dr Jenkins were now attending too.
General Young sat with Lt. Scott and MSgt. Greer in the infirmary, while Amanda worked on Greer's thigh.
"I'm going to have to explain this back home; I know you did what was required once Camille and Franklin were taken...but we did get into a fight with an alien race, and that may have consequences later on." The General was right; they had no real idea about this race, and had taken out more than 50 inhabitants, and completely destroyed their head quarters.
The com got Everett's attention "General, its Eli...Adam helped me hack into the planets communications, and the ship's translator is working well."
"Good work guys...what's on the evening news?" asked Everett
"Um...really cool pictures of Destiny from the planet...she looks awesome" replied Eli with a happy smile admiring the pictures.
"That's not quite what I meant Eli..."Everett shook his head as Greer's leg hurt from laughing so much.
"Ok...sorry...looks like we're front page news all around the planet; Chloe must have spooked them a bit parking so close. Um hang on, there is a report about where the stargate is...General according to this, the area we were in is controlled by some kind of...cult...like extremists that hate aliens or something" Eli was reading as Adam was pulling up various news paper articles and video.
"Anything about our two men in the field...?" Scott and Greer's laughter disappeared abruptly as Everett asked.
"Hang on...yes General..." Adam looked at Eli shaking his head; Eli wasn't sure if the translation was correct. "Um...General Young, this is going to sound strange; I think they are apologising and asking us to collect them..."
Everett arrived at the bridge followed by Dr Rush, several minutes later who had been listening in on the com, and looked at Dr Brody's laptop screen;
"Are you sure this is correct?" he asked;
"Yes Sir...it is on the front page of nearly every news paper and news site we have been too. They are apologising to us saying that the people who attacked are criminals from some kind of cult. That might explain why the fighters didn't fire at the shuttle...and they were military fighter aircraft." Dr Brody was now certain of the translation.
"Can you find out more about their military, like hack the satellite or something?" Everett wanted to be sure before he made a move; although the locals they came across weren't military standard, they did have some type of training.
"I'm on it General..."said Dr Rush as he helped Eli crack the codes.
Ginn, who had come to the bridge after Chloe had left, spoke up "General Young, we're getting a transmission from the planet...I'm converting it now"
The crackly message came through in converted language "President Bisha I am; no harm we mean...sorry we are" Ginn tried to fine tune Destiny's language converter; "I President Bisha...we sorry for attack, we mean no harm to you."
"Ginn, can we send one back?" Everett wanted to negotiate the return of his fallen men.
"Yes Sir, I believe Destiny can now convert both ways" she smiled proud of cleaning a difficult translation; "When you're ready General:"
He looked at Ginn as she nodded to start: "I am General Everett Young of the Ancient ship Destiny; we wish to negotiate the collection of our two fallen men. We are not here to harm you or your planet; we are explorers from another galaxy and only defended ourselves against those attacking us" he looked at Rush for conformation, who gave him a nod.
A message came back "We have your dead, respect be their treating. You welcome here come collecting them. We condone those attacked you, criminal men they are."
"Ok...Dr Rush, how's it going on the satellite, got through yet...I want to know what they're planning before we go anywhere" said Everett, suspicious of every word.
Eli yelled "I got it! Where on Sir" again Rush felt left out with Eli's calculations cracking the code first.
They all listen to the chatter on all the military channels; to everyone's surprise there was no evil scheming going on, there was the usual precautions anyone would have, but all the chatter was positive to finally meet real aliens form space.
Everett called a meeting with everyone in the bridge "Ok people...this is the way I see it; this is first contact and from the sounds of it they have no idea about the stargate, or any other races out there. Both Scott and Greer aren't in the best shape so I will have to go myself; this means should anything go wrong, Rush and Eli will be in-charge...indefinitely if necessary...any thoughts?"
"Maybe we should send a woman too, less threatening" suggested Ginn.
"They would have rapped Camille from all accounts; that's what started this whole thing in the first place" said Eli knowing Ginn was sort of volunteering.
"The only women going to the planet will be in uniform...where there to collect our men" said Everett.
"Why don't you offer to bring a couple of them onboard, after we bring them home?" asked Ginn
Eli answered "A reporter or scientist maybe, someone who wouldn't be a threat. They have been to both of their moons, so someone from...their version of NASA" he immediately turned to the laptop and found the agency responsible; and searched for a candidate.
"It's a good idea General, although we won't actually know who they are...but we could ask for a name and look it up on the laptop; they don't know we've hacked the internet" Rush made sense.
"Yeah, but why bring them on board...what does that achieve?"Asked Dr Brody
"Would you rather they meet the blue aliens first; or us?" Dr Rush replied sarcastically.
Cutting in Eli had found someone "How about this person...the name translates to...um, Professor Krystal Neb?" Eli did some more reading "She was the overall project officer in both moon landings, expert in computers, math, and astrophysics; sounds smart."
Brody looked at her picture; apart from the obvious differences, she was an attractive woman "Wow, a girl after my own heart."
"Ok...we'll send a message asking for her and see what happens; we also need a place to meet, somewhere Destiny can cover us from above" as Everett finished, Ginn was already looking.
"It may sound obvious, but how about this field? It is out in the open and Destiny's scanners could easily pick up any threats within 2500 kilometres" Ginn had Destiny assess any possible situations.
"Ok...does anyone wish to say something, or all we all in agreement?" Asked Everett
They all nodded their heads; Everett again looked at Ginn, saying "Open communications"
She pressed the button and gave him a nod:
"This is General Young of Destiny; we agree to meet in the large cleared field 30 kilometres southwest of the city to collect our men first, and also request privacy from the public at this time. Please limit your military forces to no more than 20 individuals and two aircraft, but we will allow small contingents local law enforcement; anymore than this will be perceived as a threat. We cannot translate between languages in person on the ground, but we'll bring devices that are readable." Everett paused for a moment and then continued;
"We will return shortly after this and ask that you bring your scientist called "Professor Krystal Neb" form the space agency; we will offer to bring her aboard our ship as we have much to discuss. At this time your media will be allowed to send a well known reporter, if you wish to record this event; please submit their name to us. Thank you for your understanding."
Ginn closed the link.
"Let's see what they say..." said Eli.
Over the military channels things went wild with communications going all around the world. They tuned in on the one concerning Professor Krystal from the planet, who quickly received a direct line from her president. The more Destiny heard the language, the better the translation was getting; it now sounded normal to the crew. Krystal took the call.
"Hello President Bisha, this is Professor Krystal Neb; it is an honour to talk with you again. How may I assist?"
"Professor Krystal, I suppose you have heard what is happening; we have just received a communication from the alien ship...and they have personally requested for you to meet them. We believe your scientific knowledge is what has intrigued their attention" said the President.
"Wow, they requested me?" she took a deep breath "I would be honoured to assist or world with this President Bisha" Krystal was ecstatic at the prospect of meeting beings from another world.
The President continued "There is one more...um...delicate question I have to ask of you; they are offering to allow you to visit their space ship, we believe it is called Destiny. I understand this is a big surprise, knowing you may need some time to think, but..." she interrupted him
'Yes...yes I will! I cannot tell you what this could mean to our world...we finally know we are not alone in the universe...when do I leave?" She was anxious to meet them:
President Bisha was quick to reply "Right now...there is a fighter waiting to bring you to the meeting point...Oh, and Krystal...best of luck with your mission; I know you will do fine. Good day Professor Neb" he didn't wait for her to hang up.
Everett looked at the crew on the bridge "I still can't get use to the fact that the aliens are us. It was only about 15 years ago we learnt we weren't alone either."
Dr Rush just smiled and nodded his head; "Remember to be careful about what we introduce this woman too; our own population knows nothing about what the stargates are, and what they have brought to us. We won't be able to hide it forever; all this will come out...one day, the whole human race on Earth will finally know they're not alone."
Eli posed a question; "What happens if we give these people knowledge...I mean we don't really understand anything about their race, values, or how much technology they really have?" Eli was genuinely concerned about the power ancient technology could bring.
Everett looked at the faces of everyone there, coming to terms with the position they now found themselves in; "Maybe we should act as the Asgard did for us; show them the possibilities, but allow them to advance on their own without our interference, until they have proven themselves. I believe that is the best course, as we have already interfered enough."
Dr Rush made comment; "This woman seems smart; we don't have to give them the keys to the universe, maybe just some mathematical understanding...point her in the right direction and they can find it themselves" Rush loved teaching but knew learning was best done the hard way.
Everett answered "That way we can work out how advanced they really are too."
It had been Jack O'Neil from Earth that had proven to the Asgard we were ready to become the "fifth" race, by retaining the ancient knowledge in his own brain until they removed it. The crew of Destiny suddenly found themselves in a similar situation to the Asgard; they were the technically superior beings and whatever was to come of this, it had already changed the lives of this race before them. These people were now where the Tau'ri found themselves as they first activated the stargate: at the beginning.
A new message was coming through "General Young, this is President Bisha; Professor Krystal Neb is on her way and should be here in one and a half hours; shall we make a meeting time?"
Ginn opened a reply and smiled at Everett with a slight nod: "President Bisha, we will arrive in 15 minutes to collect our men; and will return within the hour for Professor Neb...Thank you." Everett made a cut sign across his throat; "Eli, open the com across the ship."
Everett began his address "Attention all military personal; I want a six man team of no lower rank than Corporal ready to go in 5 minutes at the shuttle bay: Young out"
He met them at the shuttle bay a few minutes later, and smiled; Lt. Scott, Lt. Johansen, Lt. James, MSgt Greer, Sgt. Emma Jones, and SSgt. John Davies: Everett made seven. Vanessa handed Everett a parcel wrapped in a cloth; he unwrapped it to find three perfect flags inside.
"One of the scientists helped me make these in the printer, for the three of them..." with that they all stood back and saluted Everett, holding the flags.
He let his stony faced guard down and smiled, saluting them back: "Thank you."
They got in the shuttle with Scott at the controls, undocked and headed to the landing site. The officers arrived to a small group of people, mainly military; with local law enforcement containing the area.
Everett wasn't taking any chances "Sergeant Davies; lower the shields to 2% at the door but keep them steady around the rest, just in case." He looked at Scott and Greer, whose leg still hurt: 'Are you ready..." they nodded.
The door opened and the Terestay people stepped back, as Everett stepped through the reduced shields like pushing through thin plastic wrap. His two men were on stretcher like beds at waist height, wrapped with some type of dark cloth. Lt. Scott, Lt. Johansen, and Sgt. Jones marched down one side; while Lt James, MSgt. Greer, and Gen. Young who carried the flag, marched down the other side; all of them turned toward the body at once: no one spoke, and the small crowd was respectfully silent. Everett started to unfold the flag handing the corner opposite; meticulously they slowly unfolded and passed the flag along the line, then placed it gently over Private Albert's body. In one movement, they receipted the Private's body and slowly marched him into the shuttle; turned around and repeated the action for Corporal Leigh.
There were no goodbyes or talking, just a mark of silent respect for two servicemen who had given their lives protecting their fellow countrymen.
Matt got back behind the shuttle controls and left, headed back toward Destiny; they docked and open the doors, the only noise was that of the soldiers removing the men from the shuttle. The procession team move the men to the same room that Corporal Reynolds was now in; they had now also covered Reynolds with the flag after a short ceremony. Everett sealed the sterile compartment again and vented the air; they would lay these men to rest when they found an appropriate planet, or way home.
"Thanks guys, this never gets any easier" said Everett after the formalities ended.
Everett went back to the bridge along with Matt and Ronald. He ordered Ron back to the infirmary to rest and get treatment on his leg.
Everett noticed the blood stain now apparent on his uniform;
"You're one of the toughest men I've ever had the honour to serve with Sergeant, but that leg of yours needs a rest..."
"Thank you General, it's my honour too Sir..." Greer left for the infirmary.
Arriving there he found someone waiting patiently for him; Lisa was sitting on the bed:
"Ok tough guy, get in bed right now!" she ordered him with a big grin on her face.
"That's not exactly the bed I want to get into with you..." he replied smiling through the pain he was now in.
Ronald lay down on the bed as T.J and Varro came over and removed his paints. Lisa giggled as Ronald made a joke of it;
"You know, someone usually introduces themself before they remove my paints..." Ronald looked at Varro and T.J with a slight grin.
T.J looked at his leg with a much more serious expression, "You shouldn't have left Sergeant; the wound has now ruptured and will require surgery to repair before we can apply the belt."
It had cut a lot deeper than they had originally thought; even with their medical technology it would still take some time to heal. Lisa held his hand as Varro happily poked around the outside of the wound causing him some pain; a bit of payback for Greer's mistrust of him and T.J, but his humanity soon came back as he asked T.J for a strong solution of their new anaesthetic. Varro and T.J had developed it as part of Lisa's eye treatment solution, and had found it to be very versatile for other medical uses.
Lisa's eye treatment had gone well; it had been less than 20 hours, but already she had noticed dramatic improvements. She could now make out objects in front of light, and although still blurry was able to distinguish shapes of people. She stayed with Ron as Varro and T.J worked on him under local anaesthetic, repairing the damage before applying a different type of healing pad under the belt.
"This is a grafting pad, it allows your body to use it as packing temporary until it converts permanently to new tissue; the laceration has nearly reached the bone Sergeant, so I'll be ordering you off duty until I review it in a couple of days...and that is an order Sgt. Greer"
Lisa looked at Ronald almost in the eyes "I'll make sure he stays off it T.J..."
T.J added something "And um...no physical activity for a while...either" there was a slight smile starting to break on her face.
Everett, Dr Rush, and Dr Brody stepped into the shuttle along with three soldiers including Lt. Scott, who took the controls; he turned to Everett and said;
"Only just a few hours ago these people were trying to kill us; now we're inviting them onboard Destiny...are you sure about this General?" Scott's expression said it all; mistrust.
"Point taken Lieutenant, that's why we have people on Destiny covering us; they won't have any problem backing us up if needed" Everett smiled at Matt and gave him a quick pat on the shoulder "Let's go"
It only took a few minutes to re-enter the atmosphere and fly over the landing sight. Different from the earlier landing, crowds had gathered to witness the event; the first landing had been kept quiet, but this had been announced in the media. From Everett's perspective, that could mean every nut job under the sun may also be there; he would have preferred a notsopublic first contact. After circling over the crowd, Matt brought the shuttle to a gentle landing right on the spot the Terestay people had marked out. Before they opened the door Dr Rush reminded them of the tricky situation they now faced;
"To our knowledge, these people have never seen any type of alien technology...we need to be careful what we say, do, and show them. Dr Brody has equipped the shuttle with a translation program, but there will be a longer delay during conversion...best of luck gentleman" Rush gave a nod to Everett.
"Lieutenant, open the door" Everett stood and walked to the door. This time the shields were dropped to zero; General Everett Young stepped out to a rock stars welcome.
Camera flashes and cheering erupted from the crowd that were being held back by local law enforcement behind make shift barriers. Dr Rush was the next to appear along with two armed soldiers; Nick, who was holding a small tablet, quickly spotted Prof. Neb and headed her way along with Everett. She walked forward to them as a hush came over the crowd; Nick spoke first.
"Hello, I am Dr Nickolas Rush; please speak toward this device to convert our languages." Rush smiled at her.
Professor Neb read the message but hesitated for a moment before answering, unsure what to say;
"It's amazing to meet someone from another world Dr Rush, I...I really don't know what to say" Krystal was so nervous she couldn't stop shaking.
"We were the same when our people found out..." Nick offered out his hand in friendship toward her; again she hesitated, but lifted her hand forward carefully taking hold of his. "It is a pleasure to meet you and your people Professor Neb, we have much to discuss; this is our commander, General Everett Young."
Krystal had settled herself somewhat and put the words together that Everett really wanted to hear; turning to face him directly she said the only thing they could:
"General Young, on behalf of our race I wish to apologise for the treatment your people received when they arrived; those men were criminals, and we had no idea that they would react in that manner." Both Rush and Everett could see the tears well up in her eyes as she spoke; she was genuinely sorry for what had occurred.
Everett looked at her and smiled "We accept your apology, and wish to start over again. As a gesture of our good faith, we request that you come aboard our ship with one of your worlds well known media presenters to record this event."
Although Krystal was still nervous, she was hoping they would make the offer and believed that they were genuine. Quickly she introduced a male reporter called "Deed La'tell" who spoke so fast the tablet had trouble keeping up. Rush took an instant dislike to the reporter who came off like, in his words "a complete tosser". Everett gestured toward the shuttle;
"Are you ready Professor?" Everett smiled at her nervousness "it will only take a few minutes to reach our ship".
Nick reached out his hand to her again; this time she took it quickly as he gently led her to the shuttle. She stopped at the door scared and looked deep into Nick's eyes; he smiled from the heart and nodded sensing how excited and frightened she was. Even without speaking Krystal found something honest inside him, and entered the shuttle. The reporter stepped in next, trying to show no fear, but he was even more scared than Krystal. The two soldiers and Everett got onboard as Matt closed the door and brought up the shields; the translator made life a whole lot easier for everyone now on the shuttle.
Dr Rush explained what would happen before they took off "Ok Professor you are going to hear this in your own language from now on; you will notice a delay from when someone speaks, to you hearing the words."
Krystal and Deed looked on stunned as they understood Rush speaking. "Um, you can call me Krystal if you like, and how did you do that?" the questions had started.
"Well the short story is; the ship picks up your brainwaves and allows the converted words to directly interact with your brain. This interrupts any spoken language frequency signal that you would normally hear with your ears; this way, there is only a slight delay and you actually "hear" the sound in your mind, not your ears. Mind you, your language uses extremely complex algorithms and it took some time for our systems to fully understand it." Rush smiled broadly as she nodded her amazed understanding; Deed was busy taking notes, so Rush explained something further to him.
"Your video camera doesn't have a brain, so all the sound will be in a mix of languages; you might want to narrate what you see for your people" Nick smiled and refrained from calling him a "tosser".
Everett asked Krystal; "Would you like to sit up here?" and motioned to the co-pilots seat next to Lt. Scott "Where about to take off, thought you might like to watch"
She jumped at the chance and sat down looking at the alien CI control panel that Matt was operating. He looked at her and smiled "Ready?" she nodded; Scott lifted off and made a circle around the landing area to give them a view.
"Wow, this is so smooth, not like a plane at all" Krystal was ecstatic as the shuttle headed toward the sky; she sat mesmerized by what was happening looking out the front screen.
"The ships have dampeners that alleviate the normal forces you would feel in an aircraft" said Lt. Scott as they started to enter space.
Destiny was still hidden from their view beside one of the planet's moons; Krystal had another question "We're in space...so why do we not float?"
Matt answered "We have artificial gravity, but if you want I could turn it off..." Everett intervened quickly:
"Lieutenant, please don't...and open a com" he asked
"Destiny this is Young, Eli please move the ship into view."
Matt brought the shuttle to a halt and waited.
Dr Rush added "You might want to get that camera ready..." Deed got up and pointed the camera out the window.
Slowly Destiny's nose appeared and continued coming into view from beside the moon. Too get the full view Matt had stopped about 5 miles off her port side; both of the guests were speechless as Eli brought her full length into the open.
"What do you think...?" Everett was also admiring the ship he now commanded.
Deed finally said something "Astonishing, I have no idea such a thing could be built, but here it is"
Krystal couldn't put words together; she looked back at Nick and said "That's impossible, it can't be real..."
Nick gave her the explanation; "When we first went to our moon from our home planet "Earth"; it took three days. Twenty seven years later we found and activated the stargate, walking through to our first alien planet in only minutes; that was a little under 19 years ago. It took us three years in stasis to cross from the last galaxy to yours, but we are friends with races that can cross them in a day. Even we have no idea how many alien races there are in the universe; but we meet them in all stages of existence and development, some friendly, some not." He let that sink in as Everett told Matt to take a close outside tour of Destiny for them.
Nick continued "We are only here from our own curiosity and mistakes, no one forced us to this; there are between 200 billion and 400 billion stars in our own galaxy. Only some have planets supporting life; mind you, that's still a lot of inhabited planets. We know the ship is over a million years old, and we are not her original designers; but we do believe that we are their ancestors, as she was launched from our planet." Nick looked at Deed who was speaking his lingo into the camera's mic, narrating what he was saying.
Matt flew over the top of Destiny and then circled around to show them the back view. The crew on the shuttle were equally impressed having never really taken the time to look over the ship; Matt brought the shuttle to a standstill and turned toward the moon.
"Did you go to the moon Professor?" he asked
Krystal peered out at it, having never been so close "No, all I could do was watch the footage"
Lt. Scott fired the engine and took them for a short joyride around the moon in a very low orbit, and soon found the landing site of their mission. Without asking he landed the shuttle next to the remains of their lunar landing craft.
"You can't go out, we didn't bring any suits...but I can open the door for you to see it with your own eyes for a few moments" Matt increased the shields to 90% and opened the door.
Krystal peered out at the barren lunar landscape she had studied for so long; and now beyond her wildest dreams, was only meters from the surface. What could she say to these alien people for giving her so much; thank you just didn't seem enough. Everett motioned to Matt time was getting away.
Matt shut the door and headed to Destiny, docking shortly after; Nick spoke to them both again.
"There are about 80 people on board, including four from other worlds who are the same species as us. The same translator is part of the ship so you won't have any problems talking to any of the crew."
The door opened and they stepped out onto Destiny; Krystal was bewildered at what was happening "Wow...I'm on a real spaceship" as jumped up and down looking at Nick who smiled back at her;
"Artificial gravity is about the same as your planet... within 2 % anyway" Nick gestured to them to follow and took them to the observation deck.
As they looked out over Destiny's tremendously large hull, they were both spellbound by the sight; not the size of the ship or the amount of stars you could see, but by their home planet.
Dr Rush, standing beside Professor Neb, sounded the words that unbeknown to him would eventually change the course of the Terestay race:
"Seeing your home planet from space brings a whole new perspective on one's life; it is the clearest moment of understanding for any intelligent being to have."
After a long moment of reckoning, Krystal finally asked "Who said that?"
Nick answered: "Me...Just now"
Everett returned with Ginn and Amanda, introducing them to their new guests.
"This is Dr Amanda Perry; her expertise is very wide spread in both medical and engineering fields: and this is Ginn, one of our scientific officers. She is from another planetary system in our galaxy, thousands of light-years from our own."
The reporter seemed confused "Excuse me for saying but you look the same as everyone else here, shouldn't you be different?"
Ginn just laughed and smiled, as Professor Neb gave Deed a "look";
"The Human race has been "seeded" across a great number of planets in our galaxy, and we share the same DNA" she explained, and showed both of them Eli's keno control with the same recording Maryanne had seen. "This might be what you were thinking of..." as she played the video of Eli and Ra'toli with Asgard D.J.
"Ohh..." Krystal gasped as she watched; "That's what we sort of have in mind when someone mentions aliens..."
Amanda told them more "The tall one is a race called the Ursini, and the other being is from the Asgard Race. Both of them are highly technologically advanced compared to us, and are peaceful races that have helped us for many years."
The professor in Krystal finally came out "Will you help us advance our own technology?"
Rush looked at Mandy and nodded; he knew half her answer would come from Destiny too:
Amanda looked hard into Krystal's eyes, and responded "We cannot give you the keys to the universe from where you are, but we are allowed to give you some directions. We will download specific data and equations to assist, but how you use it is upon yourselves; we had to earn our place amongst other highly intelligent races, by becominghighlyintelligentourselves first. Above all else, you must show compassion and the understand when to stand up and fight, or stand down and allow events to unfold. The universe is a very beautiful and dangerous place for anyone; your actions in it determine other's perception."
Rush looked at Amanda with a knowing smile...Destiny had spoken.