Welcome everyone to series 04 of SGU. I was overwhelmed with p/m's and a few comments, not to mention the 400 reads (over 1000 hits) in only 3 days. I want to thank everyone for reading so far and I hope the vast majority of you have enjoyed it. This episode was nearly finished when I posted s03e20, and a lot of you were touched (good and bad) by the ending; for the record, it was difficult to write bad things happening to good characters, especially ones I love myself... Epp 02 will be a couple of weeks away due to some holidays (yea!), but it is underway. So enough of this; please enjoy the continuation, and new season...
SGU s04 e01
Callous pt II
The gate closed as Decca laughed falling out the other side on the farming planet "That will piss him off a bit" he said to his awaiting crew.
One of Decca's men said "I guess it didn't go so well then..."
Decca turned and shot him in the head without hesitation; "No, it didn't fuckwit" he looked at his other men "let's get out of here, leave the body..." they walked off toward the now visible Tel'tak.
Back on Destiny Everett was still in shock; everyone standing around was speechless aside from some whimpers, at the sight before them;
Suddenly, the gate room went dark, as the emergency lighting came on;
The ship started shaking and vibrating; Everett couldn't care or didn't notice: he just knelt there gently rocking his soulmate's body sobbing endlessly. A ghostly white light lit up the gate room; it was followed by a golden silhouette of a lady on horseback, which appeared to ride around the room. The white light began to take form in front of Everett at his lowest ebb; it soon morphed into a lady with long brown hair, slim figure and the deepest grey-blue eyes. Everett looked up as the Ascended Lady Destiny, came to mend his shattered soul;
"Hello my darling Everett, it wasn't supposed to end this way..."
The silhouette turned into a golden mist that circled through the room, then toward Everett; it seemed to pause hovering as though looking at him and Te'arly, before gently wrapping itself around Everett.
"Ohh..." he gasped at the unconditional love passing through his body, as Te'arly's eternal sprit energy engulfed him.
Everyone around stood astounded as Lady Destiny graciously knelt down and received Te'arly's body from Everett, placing her hand over the wound;
"We know how much you love her, and need her; this wasn't supposed to happen, we want you to have your second chance at love..."she smiled as she allowed Te'arly's healed body to rise up horizontally in front of everyone.
The mist departed a warmed Everett surrounding Te'arly's floating body, forming a brilliant golden halo around her; Lady Destiny eloquently collected her, handing Te'arly back to Everett;
"She will wake to your kiss, my darling Everett..." the words drifting from her abound with unconditional love and compassion.
He leaned forward and kissed her soft lips tenderly; Te'arly's eyes fluttered open as she gasped for breath...
She coughed and spluttered; then her eyes focused on the man she loved "What...hap...pened..."
Everett tears turned to joy "You got hurt, but you're all better now..." he said simply with a face full of tears.
"My back...hurts..." she stammered
"It's ok Baby, you just need some rest..." he gazed at Lady Destiny who was now glowing as a form of pure sprit, with eternal gratitude in his eyes...
One of the hardest marines of all, First Sgt. Ronald Greer wiped a tear from his eye; observing all that was happening he decided to take charge for a while. Everett was in no state to do much at all, with Capt. Scott looking after Chloe from her battle within Destiny also distracted.
He quickly got his men to do a final sweep, as Amanda and T.J, with assistance from others treated and searched for the wounded; he walked up to Everett and spoke carefully and slowly "General; I'm going to take over for a while until you're ok..." Everett smiled and nodded without taking his eyes off his beloved Goddess Te'arly, as Lady Destiny slowly vanished...
Focused on his task at hand of securing the ship, Ronald asked Vanessa: "Lieutenant, the farming people need to be checked; I don't think he would have hurt them...but..." he looked over and pointed "Grab those two as guards...and then tell Andrew what happened..." he then realised that he should of asked her first "Sorry Ma'am...I should have..."
Vanessa cut him off understanding the practicality of their situation "Sergeant, its fine; you're the best man for the job right now, General Young would need you to do this."
Eli walked up to Greer and handed him the gun "You ok Eli?"
Eli shook his head no: "Fuck no... Dumb question...but I gota get back to Ginn..." Eli thought about her in the infirmary for a moment before asking for some unknown reason, "Hey; where's Varro?"
T.J, who was treating a wounded civilian nearby, heard the comment:
"Oh God no!" she jumped up and ran to the directional elevator, punching the buttons to the lab level.
She arrived and flew down the passage and hit the door control; blood trickled out at her feet as she shivered looking at drag marks on the floor:
"NO...NO...NO...NO...NO!" she cried as her heart broke...
Varro was propped up against a bench with the Ancient word for "Traitor" written in his own blood across his forehead; she felt for a pulse...it was faint but still there; she screamed to Destiny, but the sensors were down: Decca had made sure of that. Tamara leapt up and ran to the next room grabbing the radio stashed in the draw; "Man down, Man down! Med lab, three level; urgent help needed..." she cried...
"T.J, this is Greer we're on the way, hang in there..."
T.J did all she could with what she had "Don't you die on me...not after making me fall in love with you... Please Honey, stay with me..." tears were flowing as she held pressure on his wounds...
Eli walked into the infirmary; Ginn was resting with two small white straps across her face. He said quietly "Thank God for the Ursini..."
Ginn opened her eyes "Hey...Sweetie..." she slurred, unable to use her mouth properly.
Eli hid what he was feeling and put her first "It's safe now, he's gone..." he snuffled his tears and slightly running nose "we have the ship back..."
Ginn began to cry with relief, but knew Eli was hiding something from her; after a few minutes, she settled asking "Honey what is it...what's wrong?" thinking it was her she added "I'm going to be fine, and our baby is safe..."
Eli's hand was still shaking "I...I..." he had trouble admitting what he had to do;
"Eli, it's me...tell me baby..." her words of love still slurred.
He looked her in the eye and found the words "I shot James...dead" his eyes began to water with the turmoil inside...
T.J's world was now in slow-motion as the Marines' rushed their once enemy to the infirmary; Amanda was getting organized to operate, with Camille and Lt. Paterson, who was also a military medic, assisting. They carefully removed the stretcher from under Varro; Camille was at a loss for words as she stared at the four bullet wounds in his body. Hearing Amanda talking, she quickly snapped to;
"Camille!" Amanda raised her voice "The main blood loss is from his liver, but the bullet is still in there; I have to remove the bullet fragments before we can use the healing belt. Take the healing pads with the smaller white belts and cover the wounds in his shoulder and knees to give us time...there all through and throughs. Amanda took a deep breath as Kelly passed her the scalpel;
"Oh God Varro...what have they done to you my friend..."she said quietly beginning to cut...
Chloe was lying on her bed with Matt beside her, his arm wrapped around her waist; she was restless and said "Honey, I gota get back to the bridge, I'm getting a bad feeling about something..."
Matt didn't move "Are you sure...you have been through a lot already..."
Chloe got up and sat on the bed facing him "This isn't over yet; I can feel it..." she got out of bed and lifted her hair, tying it into a bun "Come on soldier boy, get to it..." she smiled and kissed his cheek, then walked out the room; Matt followed.
Matt got on the horn "Greer, what's the status?"
"Hey Captain, nice to hear your back; how's Chloe doing?" Greer said between silent pointed orders to his men.
"Huh...she's back on the bridge: said something about a bad feeling. Scary part is, her bad feelings turn into nightmares for us..." replied Matt "Where's General Young? He didn't answer."
"Matt, you don't know?" Greer stopped in his tracks "Te'arly was shot by Decca as he jumped through the gate; he killed her..."
Matt cut in "Fucking what?"
Greer continued the brief story "Lady Destiny came down and saved her; it was fucking magical to see man, brought tears to my eyes too..." Matt could "hear" Greer's smile through the radio.
"So she's...alive?" a somewhat confused Matt asked.
"Yeah, Gen. Young was a mess, so I told him I'd keep watch; since you were kinda busy too..." Greer chuckled in disbelief at the whole situation that had played out.
Matt asked "Where are you now?"
"At the first armoury...and Sir, we got casualties... Meet me here; I'll fill you in, Greer out."
Chloe took back her seat from Dr Rush, who had asked Destiny to perform a standard shields and weapons check; it wasn't long before Chloe's bad feelings paid off.
Dr Rush turned to the others on the bridge "Houston, we've had a problem; it seems the forward shield generator bank is offline. We have less than five percent protection over the first twenty five metres of the ship..."
Brody raised his eyebrows "Can we fix it here?" he asked slowly expecting a no in return.
Rush lost his temper "Dr Brody, do you think I might have checked that before I'd even tell you?"
Franklin piped up "Rush! We're all in this mess together remember; what do we need to fix it?" he said more factually.
Nick hated being right, but knew he should have kept his cool "I can't tell from here..."
Chloe cut in "Three capacitors and maybe four or five crystal power chips; there maybe some circuit damage also. Spare parts are..."she paused "next to the stasis pod workshop near the Ancient armoury; that area will be well shielded. The forward end of the ship may leak very low levels of radiation with the shield that low, but it should be safe for an hour or so..."
"How longs "or so" Chloe?" asked Franklin
Chloe's eyes opened "We don't know..."
Adam asked the question "So...who is going?"
Franklin nodded "I'll do it; I'm never going to have kids anyway..." he said with a half smile.
Nick nodded "Ok...you'll need help; it's a two man job to lock the capacitors in place."
"Then I'll do it..." Krystal looked at Dr Rush
Nick turned to the professor "That radiation, it could cause you problems...later on with children"
Krystal nodded her understanding "It's my body Dr Rush..." she then asked "What damage will it cause if we don't repair it in time?"
Rush answered "As long as nothing happens, not a great deal; but we can't FTL with less than five percent shields up front. If we were attacked and they hit the area head on...I don't know what would happen; I believe the shields would take the impact up to their overlap point. That would mean the front of the ship could be literally cut off, or worse...I don't really know."
Franklin continued "So you're saying there is a possibility a direct hit, from say the Ori, would get through the shields completely...and we'd be fucked..."
Rush smiled at his correlation "That's about it..."
Krystal gazed at Franklin in understanding "We'd better get going then..."
A nervous T.J was sitting on the floor with her knees up around her chest, waiting just outside the infirmary. Sgt Greer had suggested it would be best if she wasn't involved; Amanda came out about an hour later and squatted down in front T.J.
"He's stable T.J, but not out of the woods yet..." Amanda wasn't going to give her any happy stories or false hope "He lost over a litre and a half of blood; we had to gave him the equivalent of seven transfusions, but he is responding well now to the healing pads and belts."
T.J just lunged forward and hugged Amanda "Oh God; thank you so much..."
"Would you like to see him?" she asked with a smile...
Tamara sat beside her man holding his hand and speaking softly "I love you so much baby; just get better for me, I'm here for you..." as the tears flowed from her eyes...
Matt stood over the body bags in the gate room, ready for transport to Earth; the final toll was four Marines, two Airman, three civilians two women and one man, and a member of the I.O.C, British man Peter Williams. Cpl Stevens was recovering from his sedation along with Pfc. Murphy who also had been stationed outside the communal area.
Lt Scott looked at Greer asking rhetorically "How the fuck did we let this shit happen...?"
Greer shook his head thinking about the events "Even Eli killed one of their guys and saved General Young; poor kids going to be a mess..."
Matt and Ronald watched on respectfully as the men and women were moved; he gazed at Ron "Freedom always comes at a cost... Usually to us it seems lately..."
Ron turned to Matt "They shot Varro four times; I recon in the shoulder to drop him, then the knees as torture, and the gut to bleed out slowly... Amanda said he's stabilized; if Eli hadn't have said something, he would have bleed to death before we found him."
Matt asked; "How is T.J doin'..."
"Bit of a mess too; seems to be a lot of that today..." said Ron with sadness in his eyes...
Everett held Te'arly tenderly beside him in bed; "I thought I'd lost you forever..."
Te'arly sat up flexing her back, and stared at her love "You nearly did...but it wouldn't be forever; now I know there is an afterlife, and it is amazing..."
Everett was a little taken back "You remember it...being dead?" he asked in amazement
She placed her finger sensually on his lips "Shhhh... My love, that is for you to find out yourself one day; I will tell you this: time has no meaning. It was like being the wind with eyes and ears, but across the universe; now, no more questions..." she lay down on top of him, kissing Everett passionately, then they made love like the first time...
Franklin and Krystal had collected the parts they needed from the cargo area, and were making their way to the forward sections of Destiny.
Krystal asked "Why can't we wear the space suits to stop the radiation?"
"We could, but the capacitors are through a service tunnel, and you won't get in with the suit on" replied Franklin, having replaced one before...
While all this was happening, Nick had informed Matt about the shield issue; they concluded it was all part of Decca's plan, being no reason why they would fail after just being replaced recently.
Franklin reached the confined area first "Oh crap... It looks like they cut some of the main conduit; this could take a while" he reported to Krystal, who radioed the bridge more bad news.
Rush just flicked his head side to side "Fuck that rat barstard!" he said aloud.
Chloe suddenly had a shiver streak through her tired body, that became a knot in her stomach;
"Oh no...!" she exclaimed.
Alarms and sensors went off all around the bridge; Adam Brody realised everyone's greatest fear:
"Ship exiting from hyperspace...Ori mothership!" he said in a panic.
Chloe took natural evasive manoeuvres to shield Franklin and Krystal from any shot; just as the Ori immediately fired on Destiny. Even the ships inertial dampeners struggled as Destiny pulled a massive G rating turn as the Ori blast dissipated harmlessly against the full strength Valeyian enhanced shields along Destiny's side. Although Chloe out manoeuvred the Ori at every turn as they chased, people were still feeling some of the effects; but the shields held at full power without even slight fluctuation.
"Franklin; Krystal...you guys ok?" called Nick as he tried to re-route more shield power to the forward section.
Everett scrambled into the bridge, dragging Te'arly with him as Franklin replied "We're fine for now but I'm getting a bit seasick, what the hell is going on?" he yelled back
Nick looked at Everett as he held the radio "Chloe's out running an Ori mothership; the only way to get a good shot at them is to face them head on..."
There was silence for a moment before "Then stop talking to me and let me finish... If I can get one working it should be enough to suppress several direct hits, or jump to FTL..." the ship lurched violently and threw Krystal on top of Franklin both flat on the floor; her soft cleavage landing in his face:
"Krystal, I like you...but this was more than I expected..." he said jokingly, mumbling from under her.
They both laughed helping each other up and quickly got back to fixing Destiny...
General Young called Lt Scott "Lieutenant, can we get the fighters out and distract them..." again the ship rocked as Chloe looped over trying to target the Ori ship away from its main weapon. Dr Brody had the systems armed and ready to fire, but couldn't get a lock on the Ori.
"Franklin! Get those shields up!" yelled Rush over the radio;
Krystal answered "Dr Rush, a few more moments..." and with that the forward shield came online; and died again as sparks flew around them, Franklin yelled:
"Damn it... we blew another two crystals..." he took two more out of the bag holding them up to Krystal "Last two...or we gota go back" she nodded.
Franklin rechecked the cables, finding a dislodged connection from the rough flight; they managed to get two capacitors out of three installed, which should be enough for seventy percent power. He slid the crystal circuits into the alien panel...
Rush yelled "We're online at sixty eight percent forward shield and stable..."
Franklin came over the radio "All good for now Rush!" Krystal gave him a hug...
Everett took over "Chloe, slow down, turn and face them; this is the last time we run from these barstards!"
Chloe brought Destiny to a full stop, turning to face the Ori, at a distance of about 10,000 kilometres. Opening all hailing frequencies and the com with a nod to Everett, it wasn't long before the Ori message came through.
"Bow down to Origin and your meagre lives will be spared;" said the Prior
There was silence on the bridge; across the ship everyone listened for the open reply from Everett:
"I am General Everett Young, Commander of Destiny..."
"Go to hell; we bow to no one!"
Everett pressed fire...
The Valeyian databank lit up like never before as if reading Everett's mind, beating the signal from the bridge; at almost the speed of light, it sent a blue pulse of energy that immediately disrupted the Ori shields. It was followed closely by a yellowish white beam from the main weapon, both pulses only a hundred feet apart.
Everett yelled Chloe's name as life seemed to turn into slow motion; she threw Destiny into a dive at full sublight to escape the massive blast radius that was now inevitable.
The Prior didn't know what hit him; fifty megatons of explosive Ancient and Valeyian energy beam weapon obliterated his ship in an instant, from the inside out; Destiny turned in time to see the blurry blue ring and white hot nucleus expand into the vastness of space. Even at a distance of over a million kilometres, it was still blinding; as though a small star had exploded. The percussive wave rocked Destiny slightly, as her shields glowed silvery in colour from the radiation...
Te'arly held onto Everett tightly as the smaller shockwaves passed over. Silence befell Destiny as those who could see stood in awe of the first strike; then joy and cheers erupted from the souls onboard the Ancient ship...
The humans, the Tau'ri; had finally been given the ultimate power to fight back against one of the universe's most difficult and feared enemy, The Ori...
Although the ship was now a noise of people, the cheers had subsided and the grim task of continuing the search for any more wounded or dead still continued. Vanessa had been talking to Andrew and his people for some time now, explaining just who the man they had known as John actually was.
Andrew felt ashamed "I have no words to express our remorse for the injuries and loss of life your people have endured..." he finally said to Vanessa after a few moments of silence "I feel in part that we're also responsible for this heinous act."
Vanessa would not hear of it; "This was the act of a desperate individual, with no concern for any of the lives he impacted upon; yours' or mine!" she passionately affirmed. "You did what all decent people do in a situation; took them at face value while offering assistance. There is nothing to be ashamed of or apologise for, ever."
Andrew gave a slight smile, but these events weighed heavily on his shoulders "Thank you for your kind words Lieutenant James; however, this will be my burden to tolerate..." he looked defeated.
Vanessa clasped his hand in hers and opened her heart "Please Andrew, this is not your doing, or fault, nor is it your peoples' fault; we live or lives out here with risk, everyday. It was our choice to assist you in a time of need, and that man had nothing to do with it; there is no difference about how we came to help. The important thing for everyone is that we came to help, and that was the only reason we were here altogether... I believe all things in our universe happen for a reason, both good and bad; if nothing more, events like this bring us closer together" a tear rolled down her rosy cheek as she spoke.
Andrew slowly nodded his greater understanding of uncontrollable events, feeling a little lighter in his shoulders "Your words and generosity are boundless...Miss James; they will not be waisted..." he bowed slightly and returned to his wife.
Jenny hugged her husband "I cannot understand how a man could be so..." she searched for the right words "...gracious...in saving our son but so callous toward others; there is no sense in his actions..."
Andrew put his hand around his wife and child "We should be thankful for whatever was within him to deliver Dale safely back to us; but that will never redeem his other actions taking so many lives of good people..." he held his family close.
Brody and Rush had now completed a full systems check, and scanned the surrounding area for more Ori ships. They knew that one or more could arrive at any moment, although they figured the Ori may think twice having just lost a mothership in a single blast.
Adam smiled at Franklin who had just returned with Krystal "Good work guys; you saved our asses..."
Everett thanked them for their courage; Franklin and Krystal thanked Chloe for keeping them safe:
"General, do you think that will hold them back for a while?" asked Krystal
"Maybe, but they don't give up easily. The Ori will want to know how someone cut through their shields like that; with the speed it happened, I doubt they will have an understanding of how..."
Everett turned his attention to another person wanting to enter the bridge, as the guard said from outside "General, Captain Tez is here to see you Sir."
"Thanks Corporal, send her in..."
Tez stepped into the bridge for the first time "Wow! This is remarkable..." she said gazing at everything; she turned to Everett "Thankyou General: it was a small step toward healing my people..."
"Which is our next highest priority; to find any survivors...Tez, can you think of places they may have escaped to; like underground or through the gate?" asked Everett.
Tez thought for a moment "In parts of our growing fields there were always stormy twist winds; people's dwellings reside underground to avoid destruction. There is a whole network of infrastructure hidden beneath the terra firma; some of which was left by the Vale'ions too."
Nick looked at Everett "Sounds like a good place to start; the Ori would have concentrated on high population density first. From the sounds of their technology, they may have thought no one resides in the farmland areas; especially with the absence of housing..."
As Everett's attention was elsewhere, he didn't notice who was now sitting in Kirks chair; without looking he said "Chloe, get in close to the planet and scan underground..." he got a shock at the voice he heard back:
"Ok Honey..." Chloe giggled as she directed Te'arly on how to fly Destiny;
Everett spun around "What?"
Te'arly quickly looked over her shoulder and waived as Chloe taught her how to manoeuvre the great ship toward the planet.
Nick put his face in his hands when he heard "Chloe; this is a ship, not a toy..."
The look from Everett could have killed as he stared down at Rush without a word "Don't even go there Rush..." he knew if anything went wrong Te'arly would immediately give the chair back to Chloe anyway...
Everett turned his attention back to Tez with a sly grin on his face and shook his head slightly; there was no way in hell he would have asked Te'arly to stop, she had more than earned a little fun time...
"Tez I need you to fly down to the planet with Captain Scott and his crew; your people will need to see a friendly face to avoid any more accidents; is there a way we can contact them to say we're friendly?" asked Everett.
Tez answered immediately "We have a radio wave network across the planet; if I give you the frequencies we should be able to communicate with any survivors. General, they may be hostile at first until we prove we're here to help."
"If the Ori had just devastated my planet, I'd be hostile too..." added Everett expecting it.
Tez appeared to have more to say, so he asked her "Is there something else Tez?"
She put her head down and sighed before lifting it back up to face the people that had given them shelter and safety "I am so sorry General Young, but I have deceived you somewhat..."He looked at her with his eyes open wide: "The people on my ship, not all of them are crew...one of them is Ambassador Hanson, another is her aide; we were on a journey to see the Farming community to broker a new deal..."
Everett glared at Krystal "You knew this too?"
Krystal felt ashamed of keeping the secret from them also "I am very sorry General Young, but Tez begged me not to tell you even though I told her they would be safe..."
Everett looked at them as an uneasy silence came over the bridge; everyone there waited for his next move;
Everett sighed and shook his head "I'm disappointed that you felt you couldn't trust me, not that you kept it from me; I understand that from a political point of view..." A tear rolled out of Tezareena's eye as Everett gently put his hand under her chin and lifted her head to face him "If there is anything else you need to tell me...now is the time" he smiled at her showing his forgiveness and said;
"We are here to help you; I cannot do that effectively if you only tell me half the story... So is there anything else I should know?" he asked with affectionate understanding.
She answered simply "No..." still ashamed of her betrayal.
"Ok Captain; would your people respond better to a message from her?" he asked
"Yes; they would...and General Young, she was sorry to do this too..." Everett put up his hand:
"I get it...yes; let's just put it behind us and move forward. Now is the time to go and speak with her about this..." said Everett, as they left the bridge together; Krystal figured she had worn out her welcome and left too, headed for the infirmary to see Zanx...
Te'arly took Destiny into a high orbit above the planet under Chloe's careful instruction, then thanked her and gave Chloe back the seat "Thank you so much Chloe, this was amazing..." she gave Chloe half a hug in the chair.
"No, you are amazing...and a natural" Chloe replied with a smile...
In the hanger Captain Scott briefed his pilots; "Ambassador Hansen has cast a message to the planet below, and received a welcoming response from many survivors. We still need to be on our guard as not all of the people may have heard the message; remember they are a more advanced race than our planet, which means they also will have better armaments..."
As they got into the F-302's Matt turned Tez around by the shoulder "Are you sure you want to do this; I don't want your own people to accidently fire upon you if it goes wrong."
She smiled "I'm sure Captain..." and with that she climbed into the cockpit and brought the systems online.
Four fighters and the shuttle with Ambassador Hansen left Destiny for the surface of Fildara. Tez was blown away by the thrill of flying the Gen III F-302, with Matt allowing her a few moments to "get acquainted" with its amazing capabilities and feel, in the form of some acrobatic flying. He thought to himself how much of a natural pilot she had turned out to be, and hoped that she may want to stay onboard Destiny indefinitely; being that he could use an exceptional pilot.
Her ride was over all too quick as she touched the fighter down gracefully next to the shuttle. Tez watched as a scared people started to emerge from hiding spots, after feeling safe enough to come out. These were a great people, proud of their peaceful lifestyle and achievements; all that had been ruined within a few short days. Her eyes filled with tears at the sight of a now demoralised and broken people coming her way.
She thought to herself "I don't know how to fix this..."
"But I will never give up trying!" making herself a vow...