Chapter 2: Avallana
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC.
Rate and Review :) Agnos was a planned world for the game Stargate: Worlds. Check out the page for it on Wikia. I have changed the galaxy location for it obviously as well as the location of the Stargate
It had taken weeks to get everything ready for the expedition. Uniform, weapons, supplies and also plenty of computers and tablets, all of it took a lot of time and money to prepare, and this would be the day where it would go to good use.
"You almost ready?" Terrence heard Mitchell ask outside his door.
"Almost" he called back, zipping up his quarter-zip black fleece.
"You're almost as bad as a woman!" he heard Sheppard call through.
"Yeah, well perfection takes time darlings" he called back in the most feminine voice and he could hear the two Colonels roaring with laughter. "You liked that didn't you?" he called out and he got two barely coherent responses. "Okay, I'm all set" he said, chucking his laptop bag around him.
"Working for you is going to be fun" Mitchell said, wiping a tear from his eye.
"Well I hope so. Don't expect me to be lax to often though" the Brit advised.
The other two nodded and with wide grins they walked to the Gateroom at the SGC where the large expedition was already beginning to gather. The grin widened on Terrence's face as he walked up to the ramp and whistled for everyone's attention.
"Okay ladies and gentleman. We're about to do what the Atlantis Expedition did four years ago only it will be a little bit easier. Our mission is not only to do what we were doing before, but we need to last two years if we want to get Atlantis back to the Pegasus Galaxy. Should you wish to leave at all, then make sure to let us know so we can get you back home with some help. Do any of you wish to withdraw your participation now?" he asked and no one said anything. "Start dialling" he said with a small smile. He headed up to the Control Room so he could look at the readings from the MALP when they send it through.
"Chevron eight is locked" Harriman said and the wormhole connected, earning a small applause.
"Send up the MALP" Terrence said.
The reconnaissance probe slowly made it's way up the ramp and through the Stargate and the Brit waited with anticipation. The monitor then switched from having 'No Signal' on it to a dark image of what was on the other side.
"We have MALP telemetry" Harriman said and Terrence looked at the monitor.
"The room looks like the Atlantis Control Room" Terrence noted.
"Atmosphere is stable, no toxins present what so ever. You have a green light" Harriman said and turned to him with a small smile.
"Thank you, Walter" he said.
"Leaving already?" he heard General Landry ask behind him.
"Yes sir. We have confirmation" he said respectfully.
"Very well. Good luck Terrence" the General said. "We'll keep you posted on the status of Atlantis when we hear more" he said and the other nodded.
"Thank you sir" he said. With a grin he grabbed his large rucksack and secured it before walking out of the Control Room and back up to the ramp. "Mitchell, Sheppard, Stackhouse and Matthews, you're coming through with me" he said and the others gave a nod and a grin.
"What's it look like?" Sheppard asked.
"Oh it's familiar" the Brit replied with a grin.
The four military personnel aimed their weapons and stepped through as soon as Terrence did, the feeling of Gate travel familiar to him.
(On the other side)
They stepped out to see the Gateroom already lit up from the sun, though the wall lights came on anyway as well as the ones on the stairs. The MALP was moved away from the wormhole whilst the others looked around.
"Familiar. It looks the same!" Sheppard said with a grin.
"This'll make things a little easier" Terrence said, earning agreements.
"Terrence, status?" his radio sounded, General Landry been the one to speak.
"It's all clear. Start sending them through" he said when he raised the radio to his lips. Sheppard and Mitchell went to the Control Room and took the dust covers that had been placed over the panels as more personnel began to come through.
"Dibs on the office" Mitchell said, spotting the office across from the Control Room.
"I think not. Commander gets first pick" the Brit said, legging it up the stairs and placing his bag in there, much to the chagrin of Mitchell.
"Childish" Mitchell said and Terrence chuckled.
"This coming from the one who tried to call dibs" he said, and Sheppard chuckled.
Terrence stood on the balcony in the Control Room and watched as two hundred people made their way through the Gate with all the equipment. A final soldier came through and looked up at him, a small nod symbolising the last one had just come through.
"General Landry. Avallana offers it's own greetings. You can cut power to the Gate" he said into his radio. The Stargate shut down then and with a smile he turned to the expedition.
"What now?" Sheppard asked.
"I'll explain" he said and then he whistled to get everyone's attention. "Okay, from the looks of this room, I think it's a safe bet that the rest of the tower is likely to be the same. Leave all equipment that isn't personal to you and find yourself your quarters" he said and they began to disembark from the room.
"Terrence, take a look at this" Mitchell called and he headed out to where he was, on the balcony.
"Oh my God" he said, leaning over the balcony.
The Control Tower was built near the edge of a cliff and was overlooking the rest of the city. Three towers were connected to the spire they were in and they spotted a second tower of equal height on the same cliff, also surrounded by three smaller towers.
"This will take some getting used to" Sheppard said and the others nodded.
"There is one thing that is the same" Terrence said with a small smile.
"What's that?" Sheppard asked.
"Just listen" Terrence advised. The sound of rolling waves and water could be heard and the two former inhabitants of Atlantis grinned. "Easy sleeping here I come" he said, before heading back in.
"When do we start missions?" Cameron asked.
"Not for a few days. I want to get this place organised before we do anything. Plus I want to check out that ship they were busy refitting before they left" Terrence said, standing in the Control Room with the others. "I intend to command it should we need it" he added, and the others blinked.
"You want to command that ship?" Sheppard asked for confirmation.
"Yeah. I may have been a medical doctor, but I know how to negotiate terms. I think having a ship around would help if the Wraith decide to show up" he said, leaning on a panel and activating it which made the three jump.
"And it looks like you have the gene for it" Sheppard said and the other grinned.
"Exactly. Now go pick out some quarters" he said, pointing downstairs and the two nodded. Honey-brown eyes wandered around the room and Terrence smiled widely, before heading out to pick his own quarters.
(Six Hours Later)
It didn't take long for people to set up the Control Room and that was when they learnt that a full ZPM was powering the city. The city was smaller than Atlantis, but not by much and thus it only needed one ZPM to power the settlement.
"The ZPM isn't tied into the Control Tower" one of the technicians noted.
"So what's powering this place?" Terrence asked, looking around, confused.
"There is a large satellite in orbit around the planet which directs pure solar waves down onto the tower. According to the database, the Solaris is protected with anti-detection software as well as a defensive shield as back up" Rodney explained as he walked in.
"Why a separate power source?" Terrence asked.
"If the ZPM fails then not all of the city is shut down. Particularly handy during a Wraith invasion as it allows the biometric sensors to remain active in the tower and also power the shield around it" the physicist explained.
"And so long as the satellite remains active..." he let it hang.
"The longer the shield holds. The Solaris tracks the sun and continues to focus the waves, allowing for power in the evenings" Rodney continued to explain.
"How is the satellite powered?" Mitchell asked.
"By solar energy, just as the Control Tower is" he said, sounding as though talking to an idiot.
"Anything of interest?" Sheppard asked and Rodney looked impatient.
"We've only just got here. What am I? Speedy Gonzales?" the scientist huffed and Sheppard glared at him. "If you mean any nasty surprises then no, so far. No Ancient viral labs, no alternate copies of us contained in stasis, no tumour creating device" Rodney crossed off of his fingers.
"Well that's good" Sheppard said.
"Bear in mind we've only explored this tower" Rodney pointed out.
"What about this ship? Do you think you can locate it using the sensors?" Terrence asked and the Canadian sat down at one of the panels and he began tapping on the controls. A glass screen behind him switched on and a diagram of a triangular shape appeared.
"According to the sensors the ship is located in an underground hangar bay. We're still getting EM readings so that's good" the Canadian said and the Brit nodded.
"I want you to assemble a team to finish what the Ancients started" Terrence instructed.
"What's the scale of work been done?" Rodney asked.
"In short, the hyperdrive is half complete, sensors still need to be calibrated properly as well as the on-board Stargate. There is a magnetic docking mechanism used for towing damaged ships that needs to be finished. Oh and lastly a Puddle Jumper bay has been installed but the access on the bottom of the hull is on the blink" he said and he looked at him for a reaction.
"You've got to be kidding me" he said flatly and turned.
"Oh, I almost forgot. They were busy working on a way to interface Drone weapons with their current armament. A control chair like the one on the Orion is ready to be installed" he said and he could've sworn the Canadian flipped him off. "I'm such a bastard" he said with gleeful smile and the others raised a brow.
"Yes you are" Mitchell agreed.
"Ahh, that's a piece of cake for Rodney" the Brit said.
"In the meanwhile?" Sheppard asked.
"Well, at the rate at which the settling process is going it won't be long before we start doing our off-world missions again. Sheppard, you and your team will be reaffirming relations with the Athosians and Travellers. Cameron, you and me will be going on a diplomatic mission as soon as I find a planet nearby" the Brit said.
"Will weapons be needed?" he asked.
"This part of the galaxy is remote to the Wraith. As far as the deep-space sensor logs show, it looks like this place hasn't seen a Wraith culling in the ten-thousand years since the Ancients left Atlantis which is remarkable" he said, showing them a map of their system.
"It's devoid of Hive Ships" Sheppard pointed out.
"No cruisers, not even a Dart" Terrence reaffirmed.
"It's almost too good to be true" Cameron said and the Brit nodded.
"I've got the technicians pushing the deep-space sensors to see what the Wraith have been up to in our absence. We haven't got a clue on whether or not this civil-war is still on the go" he said and the other two nodded.
"Well if it is then that's a bonus" Sheppard said.
"It is. However, if they unite, the remaining Hives will likely seek us out. Who knows how many more ZPM's they stole from Asuras" Terrence said.
"Well we have a city which can stand up to them. The Control Tower will stand because of the shield" Sheppard pointed out. "Anyway, let's not get ahead of ourselves" the Colonel said.
"Yeah. May as well relax. We'll see how the rest of this move goes. I'll contact you in the morning to see if you're going and I'll search for planets in the mean time. Have the rest of the day off guys" he said, but they didn't budge. "You did just hear me, right?" he asked for confirmation.
"You seriously think we're gonna leave you on your own to pour through that database?" Cameron asked.
"Don't let me stop you" he said, burying his head into a tablet.
"Got a spare laptop?" Sheppard asked.
"You really want to sift through many planets in this area of the galaxy in the hopes of finding one to trade with?" he asked and the other nodded.
"We'd rather hang out with you at the moment anyway" Sheppard said and the other nodded before pointing to them where two spare laptops lay.
"My office then" he said, and they followed.
The sun had begun to go down as they searched all of the planets in their system with all three of them getting more than a little frustrated.
"When they said that this is one of the most remote places in the galaxy they weren't kidding" the Brit said.
"Yeah" the other two agreed in unison. Terrence's eyes all of a sudden shot up.
"I have one. They call themselves the Lumen. According to the Ancient database they allowed an outpost to be set up, the purpose of which has been forgotten. The resulting radiation from the experiments had a different effect on them and gave them the strangest of abilities. They are a polite and friendly people and welcome anyone who approaches them" he read off of the tablet.
"Sounds like an easy mission" Sheppard said.
"I'm just wondering what these abilities are" Terrence said as he scanned over the data.
"Can't be too harmful, considering they're a welcoming race" Cam said and Terrence nodded.
"Point taken. So that'll be our mission tomorrow if all goes well" the Brit said, closing his laptop. It was like old times. Forging relations, discovering new technology and soon, kicking Wraith ass over the galaxy.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate constructive criticism, I really do as it allows me to improve, however, I prefer it if people would review directly with their criticism so I can respond with a message. Instead, I have to do this and I will only be doing this once so please read this and burn it into your mind.
Dear Incognito Reviewer
I appreciate that you have questions, but please read the summary and the conditions of the expedition. I believe I stated that they are going to this city to prove that it is better to hold the line out there than closer to home and if they can, then Atlantis can return to Pegasus. The city is not a city-ship, it is a permanent settlement, by which I mean that it can't be moved. You're questions on the invasions obviously didn't take into account that Earth has a fleet of five Daedalus-class battle cruisers and now that they know how to deal with a super-Hive, I don't think an invasion by the Wraith will be an issue. And let's face it, given the opportunity, wouldn't you want a second Ancient city for a second colony in Pegasus? If this doesn't sound like it's in the best of tones I do apologise.