Hello... Sorry for the wait, it hasn't been the best start to the year for me... A special thanks to "Sam" for your support over the last few weeks. Just so all of you who read my story on a regular basis know, the continuation of series 4 will be under this story to make it easier for those of you who have alerts (I lost count after the first hundred). Epp 19 is all but finished, and with any luck I will post it late next week. Epp 20 will be the final in this series, but it will take some time to write, so it maybe 2 to 3 weeks; and no spoilers...lol
Thanks Everyone for your PM's and reviews...enjoy!
SGU s03 e18
Commitment
Apollo 2011 was the biggest and best of Asgard, Ancient, and Tau'ri design in all its features; the shape and size of the ship was larger than Destiny, and very different from the boxy, bulky looking X-303s and Daedalus Class. She was sleek and smooth with a skin design similar to the Asgard O'Neill class; although named "Enterprise Class" by General O'Neill, in terms of appearance (in reference to Star Trek) they looked more like a cross between Destiny and a Klingon Vor'cha Class vessel. The sheer size of the ship was huge; the forward swept rear wing design spaned 590 metres, with Apollo's total length of 930 metres. The forward section was 350 metres long by 180 metres wide, which contained the bridge, mounted centrally at the top, and crew living quarters, 20 decks in total.
The bridging hall was 150 metres long and 100 metres wide by 15 decks; that included a full hospital and research facilities, before reaching the enormous tail section that started at a single level at the wing tips, and evenly elevated through to 34 decks in the centre structure. This section contained three separate hanger bays, engineering, main armoury, firing range, and housed Special Opps personal in their own restricted area. She had a rotating crew of three shifts filled by 6000 personal; if need be the Apollo could be flown by twelve. Three Asgard were also assigned to the ship, controlling beaming and engineering technology, and one Ancient would occasionally descend to assist if needed. Another special feature of this ship design was the addition of a stargate with nine chevron dialling capability, the same as Destiny; but the stargate was updated similar to the one on Atlantis, and a DHD was integral to the main controls.
Apollo 2011 carried formidable firepower and shielding; her smooth hull was ringed by rail guns, hidden behind the outer skin that would fold out when needed. The main weapons were modified Asgard beam with Valeyian enhancements, positioned visibly in several key areas around the ship; Castell had told them she would easily take on a fleet of Ori ships with these, but no one was willing to try just yet. The shields were Valeyian design; the Asgard threw everything they had at them without so much as a power fluctuation, even they were impressed. Four Ur'torina generators were positioned across the ship; one forward, one centre, and two aft, although Apollo could run easily on one alone. She had two banks of twenty, four metre diameter sublight engines arranged in a five by four pattern, 70 metres each side of centre at the rear; two single engines were enough to reach 85 percent of sublight speed if needed.
At the heart of the engineering section was the all important Ur'torina Drive that had just delivered Apollo 2011 to Destiny. Thanks to the Asgard matter stream technology, and some special help from the Ancients, construction of this first vessel was done off world in only several days. For all her size and technological advancement Apollo could still safely land on a planet; although she hovered above the ground. Five more of the ships were under construction, two on Earth in public view; Colonel Telford almost got his wish but not with Destiny, instead he was to be given an Enterprise class vessel to patrol and operate out of the Pegasus Galaxy against the Wraith...they too would be in for a shock upon meeting one of these ships. They were to be given to the Asgard, Tau'ri, and also offered to the Ursini for protection of their own galaxy and surrounding ones from the Ori; the Nox, Ancients, and even the Furlings maintained they had no need for them.
Apollo successfully docked with Destiny, encasing the two ships within Apollo's shields; as the airlock opened, Generals Young and O'Neill waited with Dr Rush, Eli, Lt. Scott, MSgt Greer, and several other military personal to greet them.
"Welcome aboard Destiny Colonel Mitchell" as Everett held out his hand; "How was your trip?"
Cameron's casual smile adorned his face "Well, a couple of minor problems...artificial gravity decided to take a break for several minutes in a few areas of the ship; but apart from that, all was good." He looked at Jack; "General Landry sends his regards...and he said to tell you; he wants to know if "now you will finally retire for real"..."
Jack looked on with a grin "He's welcome to my chair anytime he likes..."
Colonel Samantha Carter came through the airlock a few minutes later, and met with Eli and Dr Rush. After saying hello, their conversation soon turned towards more technical topics about the ship and its systems; both Destiny and Apollo. Eli couldn't wait to have a look at the new ship; they had seen it on the screen as they closed in and it looked awesome. She had to dock underneath Destiny due to her sheer size; Jack walked up behind them and spoke to Col. Carter;
"Hi Sam, have you told them yet?"
"General, I was just getting to it Sir" she turned back to Dr Rush and Eli "Can we talk somewhere private?" she asked;
Eli was first to react "Yeah, come this way..." as he turned, they all followed him to the directional elevator; once inside he closed the door "Ok we can speak in here without being detected" Eli though this must have been top secret military "stuff".
Nick looked at Sam "You want to see the databank don't you..."he turned his attention to Jack "I thought you said no one else knows about this?" spoken in a gruff tone.
Samantha smiled at him trying to break the tension "I was the only other person allowed to know, and that came from Castell himself, Dr Rush."
"General O'Neill, it's not that I don't trust Colonel Carter; but our instructions were very explicit...no one is supposed to know we have it..." Rush still had anger in his voice, but conceded that eventually this would happen.
Jack slightly nodded his head and said "I understand Dr Rush, but this is not to leave this room..." he paused for a moment "We don't really know all that much about this race, and we're mainly taking your word upon trusting them. My bosses aren't as easily convinced about these people, and were not impressed by his methods and actions at the conference; we just want to know...no, understand a little more about them, that's all..."
Sam continued "I'm only here to study some of their culture and engineering capabilities, not their meaning of life..."
Eli stepped up "Colonel Carter, um that's where it's really difficult; everything is tied together. Form what I and Dr Rush have deciphered so far, their power comes from the mind and centuries of training. Hell, they live for around 2000 years these people; that would have to be a key to something."
Dr Rush became friendlier with his tone "We have theorised that a lot of what they can do is along a similar line to say one of those Buddhist Monks that study martial arts with extraordinary capabilities. We believe..." he looked at Eli for confirmation "We think it is mainly in their minds, which give them the keys to their special "technology"..."
Sam replied "On our way here we made a quick stop off near an asteroid, that was half the size of the US on a close call to Earth; we tested the ships weapon at full capacity. The entire asteroid was vaporised into nothing in one shot; it was like it had been packed with thousands of nuclear warheads. That wasn't mind power but, it was incredible technology we still don't quite understand."
Eli smiled having one up on someone a smart as Samantha Carter "We do..."
Sam's surprised look said it all "So is it ok if I take a look?" Eli looked at Nick who nodded; he pressed the elevator controls to the databank area...
Throughout the next week the two ships remained docked; tours were conducted on both, with the crew of Destiny amazed at the capabilities of the Apollo. The ship was a small flying city with some new changes to culture as well; there wasn't any money onboard, unlike the aircraft carriers of Earth. Matter creation technology was used instead for inanimate and animate goods like food, personal items, or parts, similar to Destiny's 3D printer. This allowed anyone to create any desired product or component required at the time; three major units were installed that ran independent of the ship, in case of emergency to create parts or life support systems.
A completely new crew of 25 military personal, 2 members of the I.O.C, and 15 civilian scientists was assigned to Destiny with permission granted by Everett, Lt. Scott, Nickolas, and Camille after reviewing their personal files; this brought the crew to eighty.
Lt. Mathew Scott was awarded the military's newest, yet still publicly unknown award "Off World Valour Medal" for his daring actions on the Terestay planet to save his men and civilians alike:
Citation: Selflessness in singlehandedly diverting a heavily armed alien force to aid the escape of his remaining men carrying a wounded civilian, and the protection and retrieval against enemy forces, of civilians without question for his own safety.
It was the new equivalent of the Service Crosses for off world forces personal.
MSgt Ronald Greer received both a Purple Heart and a Silver Star for a "Gallantry in Action".
Citation: Expert marksmanship in protecting the life (and lives) of civilian crew members while outnumbered under heavily armed enemy attack.
Both of them were ordered to return to earth for the presentation, along with the surviving members of the team; all of them including the fallen were awarded Bronze Stars, and some, Purple Hearts. In discreetly breaking some traditions and bending the rules, Jack awarded Camille and Franklin a Purple Heart; Corporal Reynolds was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, which was presented to his parents.
Vanessa lay beside Camille with her arm over her belly "Te'arly's belly is getting bigger by the day, and to think Ginn's is pregnant too...I can't imagine Eli as a father" said Vanessa.
"I can; I think he will be a wonderful father...he has so much love in his heart, and he is completely in love with Ginn. It is so wonderful to see two people that devoted to each other..." Camille said sleepily as she turned to Vanessa and kissed her.
The com broke their embrace "Lieutenant, this is Scott please respond."
Vanessa answered "Yes Lieutenant..."
"Um you do realize you were supposed to be on duty fifteen minutes ago?"
Lt James turned white "Oh! Shit, sorry Sir I'll be there in five..."
Matt smiled at her reaction "Ok...Lt. James..." and chuckled as he closed the com.
An air of calm had befallen Destiny, but her new recruits were anything but calm compared to the "old hands" still onboard. They were busy learning different systems, and some strange customs that were very different from the standard military protocols; Hawaiian Day being one of them. With all of the new personal especially that of the Air Force, Lt. Mathew Scott was promoted to Captain; for his experience of being aboard Destiny, and of course his actions that had saved many on various occasions. MSgt Greer was also lifted in rank to 1stSgt. Ronald Greer, for his outstanding efforts and clever improvised thinking; any bad record he had seemed to have just disappeared thanks to a certain retiring General. 2ndLt. Vanessa James was also promoted to First Lieutenant; something that she had been immensely proud of, and deserved.
The military personal gathered in the exercise room for an update of orders from Stargate Command, General Young addressed everyone there:
"We have a new direction from Command. We are to explore planets of interest approximate to our current path, and appease any attempt of injustice against a people or race that would seek to remove them of their free will within any current galaxy." Everett paused and reflected for a moment then continued "In simple terms it means stop the Ori or any other oppressive force picking on the innocent; as always, there will be more to it than that of course."
Capt. Matt Scott gestured to his General with his eyes and a slight nod;
General Young continued "There are several features of this ship that are to remain highly classified from the outside world; for this reason, these will be areas off limits to unauthorised personal, both military and civilian alike. If for some reason you are required to entre these areas, or in an emergency, you will not touch or question anything that you see; nor will you describe to any unauthorised person what you saw. Something's are better not known for your own good and the safety of this ship; out here, we are truly on our own so all precautions are necessary. Your superior officers will explain the areas in more detail." Everett handed the floor to 1stSgt. Greer for a weapons briefing.
Greer used his menacing drill sergeants voice "Ok, you all heard General Young; if I catch anyone disregarding this warning about restricted areas, you will be arrested and contained, is that understood?"
In one chorus the men screamed "Yes First Sergeant Sir!"
Greer softened his tone somewhat and continued with the weapons training "In answer to some of your questions, I will describe our defences aboard the ship. Destiny's main weapon has been modified by the Valeyians into a two stage "pulse" weapon, capable of penetrating Ori shield technology and destroying the ship completely; and no, we haven't tried it yet, but I'm certain we will get the chance." He paused for a moment before describing as best he could how it worked.
"The first "pulse" is what has been called a space/time disrupter that creates a small gap through the energy field of the targets shield, regardless of the type of energy it uses. This gap allows the main weapon beam or second "pulse" to penetrate to the target and deliver a blast of up to 50 megatons at full power. Although we don't understand exactly how this is possible, what we do know is the Valeyians want us to be able to protect ourselves from the Ori; I have been to their planet and I can tell you, they have technology beyond our wildest dreams..." "Our shielding will withstand pretty much anything that we know of, and the shuttle has the same; although not with the weapons. Now follow me to the armoury for a description and training in the Ancient weapons and suits..." Greer was happy to play the holographic training again.
Capt. Scott was trying to become use to his new title with his promotion, and walked around Destiny's hanger with Everett.
Everett smiled "So, Captain; how does it fell to have half a dozen Generation III F-302 fighters on board now?"
For a moment Matt looked behind him for the "Captain", and then remembered to Everett's amusement. "I don't know why I deserve this Sir; I only did what I had to in the situation we found ourselves in, I'm no hero General..."
Everett stopped being his General and became his friend "That wasn't what I asked, but obviously it is troubling you, talk to me son..."
Matt took a deep breath "I just don't think what we did was that different to other battles that have happened out here and on Earth...there should be a whole heap of these given out; look at some of the things SG1 achieved, what reward did they get?" "How many times did they save Earth or some race from destruction or oppression...it just seems unfair." He sighed at the thought of his men that were killed that day.
Everett put a fatherly hand on his shoulder "Sometimes things don't seem fair in life; you helped me recover from where I was before we entered stasis. Matt, your guys took on God knows how many men that day; the Terestay said their body count was well over 100, and they had near equal weaponry to us, and home town advantage. You took it upon yourself to double back and create a diversion to take the heat off not only your men carrying Franklin, but to lead them away from your escape route. Greer told me that if you hadn't of done that, they would have run out of ammo trying to defend their position before we arrived; you really did save a lot of lives that day son...you, and Greer, earned it and lived to enjoy it...many don't." Everett smiled at his good friend, who he had now come to think of like a son; their thoughts were quickly interrupted by the com.
"General Young please respond" asked Adam Brody;
"Mr Brody what's the problem?" he asked
"General, we are picking up a distress signal on long range sensors; our E.T.A is 15 minutes, the vessel is an unknown."
Matt looked at Everett with concern in his eyes; "Very well Dr Brody, we'll be on the bridge in a few minutes, Young out."
Matt and Everett arrived on the bridge to find Adam in Kirks chair, with Franklin and Ginn at the forward control CI bank; Dr Rush entered a few moments later.
Everett asked; "Dr Brody, what do we know?"
"General, I can't get a solid reading apart from the distress signal, they maybe cloaked; but we have a lock on the space distortion around them: the ship may only be about 100 metres long by 30 metres square" he replied.
"Ginn, open the hailing frequencies" asked Everett as they dropped from FTL and closed in at sublight speed.
"Distressed vessel this is General Everett Young of the Starship Destiny please respond..."
Nothing
He tried again "This is General Young of Destiny; we have received your distress signal...please uncloak so we can assist you"
Again there was no response.
"Dr Brody, how far away are we?"
"We're at 5000 metres; they're right in front of us General, drifting slowly on sublight engines."
Eli broke their silence on the com "General! Destiny is searching the databank like...ballistically! I'm trying to find out what for, but there are holographic screens projected everywhere down here."
"Ok Eli; Dr Rush anything?" asked Everett:
Eli answered first "Sir, I think she's modifying her scanner array to cut through the ships cloak" he said with some certainty.
Dr Rush confirmed Eli's suspicion "Destiny is attempting to render a 3D picture of the ship through the cloaking device, and check for life signs"
"We can do that too another way, Capt. Scott..."
Matt responded before he could finish "Step ahead of you Sir, on my way to the fighter bay now..." as he left the bridge; Everett smiled to himself.
Eli cut through the com "Are you guys seeing this?" He tapped the holoscreen and sent it to the bridge screens.
"We are now..." said Dr Rush studying the image of the unusual alien ship.
Adam sat there opened mouthed before saying "Oh my God, it's the Borg!"
Franklin looked at Brody "What the fuck is the Borg?"
Brody looked at him strange as though he should have known the answer "You know, Star Trek...the Borg, who assimilate living beings into Cyborgs? They have cubical space ships too..."
Dr Rush jumped in as Matt's fighter and two others departed the hanger flight deck "Dr Brody; I don't think it's the Borg somehow, and the ship is a series of 3 rectangles joined in a line by a tube. However, it is a different design to the many other ships we have encountered."
Franklin leaned over to Adam "You really were a nerd as a child..." he said sarcastically; Adam grunted.
Nick continued "General I'm picking up several life signs; although they appear to be in a hyper sleep or stasis of some sort, ten signs in all and two have different bio readings." Rush did some more searching on the alien life forms "General, you need to see this..."
Everett stepped over to the CI screen where Nick was standing "Terestay race, two readings; I can't identify the others but they appear 99.99 percent human"
Eli piped up on the com "General; Destiny is attempting to lower the ship's cloak, she is trying to jam the generator."
It didn't take long before the ship flickered to reality again, as Destiny's powerful new knowledge in the database gave the answer; she navigated through the basic shields of the alien vessel and linked with the central computer. Destiny then lowered the shields and brought the vessel to a stop, before giving everyone a message;
"Do you wish to revive the crew, General Young?"
Everett didn't even look at the screen "Go ahead Destiny, wake them up..."
The signal was given to the onboard computer to awaken the crew; Capt. Scott and two other pilots were behind the alien ship at a stop with weapons armed, just in case. The Gen III F-302 had the latest Valeyian shields and armourment modifications; F-302's had been modified to take on Ori fighters and win, and they believed enough of them could cause severe damage to an Ori mother ship.
Within several minutes a transmission was received by Destiny in a scared female voice; "Please, we are refugees from the Fildara System; we mean you no harm..."
Everett quickly responded "This is General Everett Young of the star ship Destiny; we are responding to your distress signal, do you need assistance?" and waited for the reply.
The reply shocked everyone on the bridge as a friendly voice came across "General Young, this is Professor Krystal Neb; we are ok, but the ship and FTL drive is damaged..."
Even Eli, who was listening in the database room, got a shock; Everett responded "Professor Neb, glad to hear your all ok; what happened?"
"General, I hate to be rude, but our life support is down to eighty percent and failing; may we please come aboard Destiny? There is a small docking bay on the lower portside of the ship's forward section; I think your shuttle will fit" she replied hastily.
Dr Rush gave Everett a nod to confirm Destiny's readings of their life support slowly failing; before he replied he quickly radioed the awaiting shuttle to depart.
"Professor, the shuttle is on its way; please be advised that: you and your crew will have to be under our protection until we know what is going on...I'm sorry Krystal, it's just a protocol measure." Everett didn't trust who she was with.
Her reply was simple "I understand, thank you General."
The door of the docking bay opened and the shuttle squeezed in; ten people got on, two Terestay and eight humans, 1stSgt. Greer welcomed them and Krystal onboard.
"I guess you have learnt to use the stargate Ma'am; not as easy as it seems hey?" said Greer as he checked out the faces of the others
The three fighters kept watch as the shuttle re-docked with Destiny, before coming home themselves. All of the stricken crew left the shuttle under armed escort with Greer standing beside the Professor.
He asked quietly out of earshot of the others "Are you under duress Ma'am...just say the word and I'll help."
"No Sergeant, its ok; but the planet: have you ever heard of a "Prior"?"
"Let me guess, from the Ori?" asked Greer with dread in his heart.
"Yes...they came to the planet two weeks after we had made first contact with the Fildarans; they are an advanced race, but their technology was no match in battle against the Priors power" she said sadly.
"Not many races can I'm afraid..."Greer wanted to tell her that Destiny could, but knew he had to keep silent until they worked out the truth.
The group of five women and three men along with Krystal and her male team member Zanx, headed to the gate room. Once there, General Young introduced himself; the captain of the vessel was a woman called Tezareena who asked to be know by just "Tez"
"I am sorry that we meet under these circumstances General Young; but it seems now that my homeworld is lost to the Ori. Our defences just wouldn't hold up against them; we battled them for a week before fleeing our now devastated planet" Tez was visibly upset along with the rest of her crew, with some still shedding tears.
Everett listened to his instincts that told him these people were on the level, and he could see a genuine fear in their eyes: "How far did you get before the FTL drive failed?"
Tez shook her head "Maybe two days worth of travel before the engine failed; we drifted for a day until getting the sublight engine online again, and have been in stasis for a few days since the life support started to fail..."
Nick had joined the party and asked "How fast is your FTL drive?"
Tez had to think for a minute through the fog of trauma in her brain "About twenty ly (light-year) per hour...the ships computer should be able to tell you more, but some of the data maybe corrupted from the fight. We managed to modify our shields to withstand more, but it was still not enough...they just killed so many people..." Tears were now streaming from her eyes and another of her crew held and comforted her.
Matt came into the gate room and got Everett's attention "Sir, from where I could see the back section of their ship took a direct hit; about a quarter of the rear section is missing, it's a wonder they made it this far."
"Captain, get on the subspace and call Apollo; time to put them to the test..." Everett was through running from the Ori; now was the time to stand and fight!
T.J, Amanda, Camille, Vanessa, along with Lisa and Varro, took the crew to the infirmary and checked them over. Some had minor scratches with the worst a couple of broken ribs from being thrown in the blast impact; the status of their minds was a completely different ball game. Camille's counterpart from the I.O.C, Dr Tasha Wong Hoy was a practicing psychologist on Earth; she began to talk to them all about what happened.
Krystal asked to see Everett after she had the ok from T.J; Tamara called him to the infirmary.
"General Young, Tez has told me that there are three other planets that they trade with on a regular basis, on this side of the galaxy; two are major cities and civilisations, and one is a simple farming community that live near the gate."
Everett asked "Do you know the gate addresses, and are they on good terms with these people?"
Krystal Smiled "Yes, they're on good terms; but you should know, one race are sea dwellers. I mean, they live in the ocean in an underwater city; they can breathe both on land and underwater, as their planet is nearly ninety eight percent oceans."
Dr Rush was in the room for the conversation and waded in "They're not translucent and blue headed by any chance, with ship technology?"
"No Dr Rush, they are a quiet and peaceful race and apart from gills in their necks, they appear very similar to us; they have told me there is no need for them to explore space, although they do have unusual technology that controls the ocean and creatures within: it also allows us to breath like they do underwater."
Nick looked at Everett "I doubt the Ori would have any power over these beings, water would not be of use to them. If they have power over the elements like that...the lack of land, maybe the Ori wouldn't think there was anyone on the planet in the first place."
Everett turned back to Krystal "What about the other two planets...do they possess any technology to defend themselves?"
Krystal shrugged "I have only been to the farming world, and that was several weeks ago; Tez was one of the cargo ship pilots that used to collect and deliver goods to them, she knows them well and said they would be in trouble..."
"Do you have a gate address and how many are on the planet?" asked Everett in a matter of fact way.
Tez came over to them "There are about 200 people there in a small village near the gate...I can draw you the symbols for the astria porta address; I haven't visited in nearly two months, it isn't time for their harvest yet."
Dr Rush's eyes widened "Astria Porta...you know the Ancient word for the star gate?"
Tez began to focus on saving the lives of anyone she could "Yes, we know of an Ancient race that once lived on our planet more than 10 million years ago, but we call them Vale'ions. They seemed to have possessed amazing powers and technology; there artefacts' have given us much of our own technology."
Nick stared at Everett for a moment then said "Valeyians...must have been a stopover planet."
Tez looked a bit confused "No, Vale'ions..." she corrected.
Dr Rush answered "No, you don't understand; Valeya is a planet from which the Valeyians come from in this galaxy. They have been around for over 470 million years; it is where the original human beings come from, both you and me...I know by what you have just described, no other race could have been that advanced; they are one in the same race."
Matt came back down to the infirmary in person "General, the Apollo is turning around but she is 40 hours away across the universe near the Ursini's galaxy; both of them are coming too Sir..."
Everett looked at Matt's smile "Both?"
"Yes Sir; the Ursini's new ship also...They told me they've detected a fleet of Ori headed to this galaxy on the way back; Col. Mitchell sends his regards and had a message for you Sir...he said he wants some Ori payback..."
Everett chuckled to himself "He did hey...It will be to late by then to save the farming planet; let's get in gate range and pick them up..."
Nick reminded Everett "General, what about Tez's ship; Destiny has uploaded as much as she could from their computer, but I mean it's beyond repair: where are they going to go now?"
Tez looked at both of them "The ship is beyond repair; there is nothing on there but bad memories, and a computer that could give out sensitive information...destroy it!" she ordered.
General Young looked around the room "Does everyone agree with Tez, or have anything to collect?"
"No...We agree" was there consensus, including Krystal and Zanx.
"Ok we'll destroy it" Everett took Matt with him to the bridge.
They found Chloe had taken Kirks chair from Adam who was now sitting at the main gun control.
"Chloe take us to 15,000 kilometres from the ship, turn and target with the main weapon; Dr Brody, arm the main weapon to ten percent, with Valeyian enhancement. I don't think they will mind us trying the weapon on an unoccupied ship."
Within a few seconds Chloe had Destiny aimed at the ship; General Young made an announcement to all.
"All personal; we are poised to fire the main weapon with Valeyian enhancement in 30 seconds, please secure any loose goods near your person now!"
He looked at Chloe "Ready...Dr Brody, status report?"
"Shields at full power, weapon ready General" he held his breath.
Everett counted down "three...two...one...Fire!"
Brody pushed the button...