A Long Walk in the Dark: Arc 1
Chapter 1: Homecoming
Greetings internet this is Ghostrider21 signing on for the first time exciting isn't it? I've been considering writing a story like this for a while now and haven't really thought out how I would go about doing this until now.
This is my first story I've created so please criticism is welcomed, flamers will be met with napalm, just a heads up…
Anyway let's get this thing started shall we?
April 21, 2018 1300 Hours- Atlantis Central Spire, San Francisco Bay
The wind blew calmly across the patio as its lone occupant stared across the sea. The man sighed as he gazed out at the rolling white-caps while running his hand through his hair. "So bored," he thought to himself "nothing has happened since we've returned, not even any excitement since the team was broken up. I kind of miss the action." He smiled warmly as he thought man's plan originally was to stand out there for a little while longer however fate had a slightly different plan.
"I kind of enjoy this lack of constant excitement howev-"
"Whoosh"
"Ignore it back to my train of thoug-"
"DOCTOR we have a situation"
" Zapomeň na to, back to work. "He thought as he grabbed his data pad. Dr. Radek Zelenka took one last look out at the sea before turning around and running into the control room to see what was going on.
Atlantis Control Room 1240 Hours
"996, 997, 998, 99- shit!" exclaimed Sgt. Stevens as he threw his paddleball on the floor. Stevens dropped face first down on his workstation with a bounce, groaning while those that had been watching his attempt laughed, glared, or just plain walked away from him. He slowly turned his head to the side to see the evil grin from his right.
"Alright then Collins pay up." Stated his friend and coworker Sgt. Evans, as he extended his hand. "Come on then and get it over I don't have all day."
"Fine it was twenty right? Here you g-,"
"No you little cheater the bet was twenty and you then doubled it when you hit five hundred the bet is forty so fork it over," demanded the angry Sgt.
"Fine but I still think it was twenty," grumbled Collins as he handed Evans the money.
The control room slowly returned to normally operations as everybody returned to their stations and began their duties again. Collins controled Atlantis's long range sensor array and was in charge of alerting Atlantis and as of now Earth in the event of an impending attack. Collins had recently been assigned to Atlantis by the SGC and since joining, he had yet to see action. While the city was mighty impressive, after 4 months of siting at a station seeing nothing but friendlies in orbit it was beginning to get a little dull. "What I wouldn't give for a little action," he thought dryly, "Something anything to end the monot-"
"WARBLE, WARBLE, WARBLE," his console blared as an unknown target appeared… directly over them?
"SHIT," he thought as he activated the cities communication system, "Attention Atlantis, an unknown contact has appeared in orbit, command staff to the control room!" He could hear Evans opening the door to the balcony where the Dr. was taking a break and yelling to him.
As the knowledge of having an unknown ship make it past Earth's defenses sank in, the room erupted in to shear bedlam as everybody went to combat stations. Collins noticed as Atlantis's current CO Lt. Colonel Lorne and Dr. Zelenka made a beeline straight for him.
"Status Sergeant what the hell happened how did they get past us?" Lorne demanded as he reached Collins.
"Unknown Sir the sensors detected no hyperspace window, no course, nothing. One second it wasn't there the next it was."
Lorne looked to Zelenka, "Well Doc any idea how they got past the pickets undetected? And if they did why are we detecting them now?"
Zelenka stared at the screen trying to get comprehend how a ship manage to make it past not only all the ships and sensors spread out in orbit but Atlantis's sensors again. They were capable of detecting a ship in hyperspace and yet they got no warning at all. "Nemožný, I mean impossible there is no way anything made it past us undetected, there must be something," he said as he pushed Collins out of the way. Zelenka's fingers flew across the console as he tried to find something, anything that would show why they weren't seen. It was then that the sensor array finally acknowledged an important piece of information which it quickly displayed on the screen.
"Ping," as Zelenka pounded on the keyboard the sensor displayed a new piece of info on the unknown craft, an IFF.
"Hm what's this? An IFF that at least explains who it is but how… nemožný, how?" Zelenka proceeded to slump in the chair as his brilliant mind struggled to comprehend what had just transpired. "It's them," he whispered with a slight grin on his face.
"It's who Zelenka? Collins who is the mad Doc talking about?" inquired the Major.
Sgt. Collins maneuvered around Dr. Zelenka to see what had caused him to stop panicing and he grew confused. "Sir it appears our contact is one of ours although I don't recognize it."
"Which ship is it?" asked the Major
"The Borealis Sir but as I said… Sir?"
As soon as the Major heard that name he immediately ran straight to the communications officer. "Contact SGC now." He demanded, "I need to speak with the General."
Department of Homeworld Security- Pentagon 1420 Hours
The man sat at his desk and scratched his greying hair as he completed the massive stack of paperwork on his desk. "What I wouldn't give to go off world right now," thought Lt. General Jack O'Neill. Ever since taking command of Homeworld Security from the late Lt. General George Hammond, O'Neill grew bored quite easily. The lack of excitement from constant missions, dying twice and the pain of losing the Icarus Expedition, and an important science experiment were beginning to seriously wear on him. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling as he remembered everything that he had been through. He snorted, "A change of pace is probably for the best," he said to himself. O'Neill grab his pen again as he leaned forward to resume his paperwork, when his phone rang.
Glancing to his side he noticed it was the emergency phone for the SGC and immediately picked it up. "What's the situation?" he demanded as he waited for a reply. "What?! Are you serious? Have you tried to contact them?" a pause, "Who's in orbit right now?" pause, "Alert Colonel Caldwell to get ready for me, I'll be ready for a beam up on his next orbit."
Jack leaned back in his chair again stunned from what he heard. Glancing down he reached into his desk and pulled out a photo of him and young Colonel standing in front a ship, the name Borealis visible on its side. As he looked at it a smile began to cross his face, "Colonel, you SOB you made it back I knew you would." Standing up the General spun around and opened his closet, his old fatigues just in reach, "A little adventure every now and then won't hurt will it?" he said while grinning.
Five minutes later the aging General left his office in his fatigues and left a note with his secretary while activating his radio, "Get me up there Colonel we have a crew to welcome home," he stated as he vanished in a flash of light.
DSC 304 Daedalus- Geosynchronous Orbit, Earth 1600 Hours
"We should be in visual range soon Gentlemen please hang on," reported the Daedalus' helmsmen
"Any response from our hails yet McKay?" General O'Neill asked anxiously, "We getting anything at all from them?"
The Canadian scientist rolled his eyes and turned around, "Yes Jack I've been asking them if they've been enjoying the weather, no I haven't heard anything yet. I'm not getting much of a reading at all the sensors must need to be calibrated again."
"Of course it's the ships fault Rodney nothing you ever do could be wrong," stated Colonel John Sheppard as a rolled his eyes at friend, "I mean everything you've ever touched has always worked so w-"
"Can it you two this is important," the General glared at his subordinate and the scientist. "Why does Teal'c have to be on Chulak at a time like this?" Glancing at the Colonel, "Yes that means I'm trying to tell you two to shut up." A pause, "What's the status on the sh-"
"Got it! The Borealis just came back online I'm getting some readings and a message, audio only."
"SGC, this is the DSV Borealis, if you are receiving this message the ship has finally jumped home. The crew has been put in stasis for an extended period of time. Medical attention is required. Message repeats."
(Halo OST Dust and Echoes)
As the message repeated itself the ship finally made an appearance.
"Sir we have a visual…" a sensor operator began as the view screen was filled with the Borealis. All of the Ancient warships that the humans had found had a sense of deadly beauty. From their size to the shape, the ships created by the Lanteans all looked incredible. The Borealis on the other hand looked terrible. Burn marks marred her patched up hull from stem to stern and chunks of the hull were missing with conduits exposed underneath. One of the ships fins appeared to have been snapped off while the dome on the ships spine had metal welded over some of the panes. A quick glance at one of her jumper bays showed that the door appeared welded shut while the crew noticed that only half of her maneuvering jets were firing to correct its list. Most of the ships defense turrets were either missing or damaged and one of the ships primary engines was gone.
The crew of the Daedalus were dead silent as the observed the once beautiful ship and tried to imagine the horrors that befell the ship and her crew.
"McKay," silence, "McKay!"
"Wha-what Sir?"
"Does the ship have an atmosphere?"
"Yes"
"Then get us over there now," demanded the General, "We have a crew to rescue."
DSV Borealis-Bridge 1650 Hours
A flash of light appeared on the darkened bridge as twelve people appeared in full combat load out. Six of the arrivals fanned out in groups of two, guns out as they swept the bridge and conjoining hallways for any targets.
"Clear"
"Clear"
"Clear"
"All clear Sir"
"Alright McKay do your stuff the General is gonna shoot us if we take too long," stated Sheppard dryly as he glanced around. His eyes fell on the control chair and pointed his finger at it, "Hey you want me to try and start some of the systems with the chair?"
McKay glanced up from his computer, "Give me a sec let's see if I can get Serenity back on first," he replied as he interacted with the ships Lantean AI. "Alright looks like she was shut off to conserve power but why? I mean they had a ZPM, the ZPG, and the Naquadah generators they should have had plenty of juice." A pause, "Alright then looks like it's going to take a minute for her to restart in the meantime I'm going to check the ships power reserves.
"We good then McKay, can we call the General over?"
"Life-signs detector says were good so go ahead," replied McKay as Serenity continued her start up. Sheppard nodded and contacted the Daedalus to send over General O'Neill.
Another flash of light filled the bridge as General O'Neill and another group of crew members appeared. Deep within the ship the Zero Point energy Generator (ZPG) slowly began to activate allowing the darken ship to flicker to life.
"Welcome aboard Sir, we would move on but McKay wants to talk to Serenity before we do," Sheppard stated as he saluted the General, "We can check the Asgard Core if you want Sir it has its own power supply." O'Neill nodded and beckoned Sheppard to lead the way to the core.
"Hey wait I need one of you for the chair."
"I thought you said it wasn't ready yet?" Sheppard stated as he turned around. "Besides if I remember correctly the interface is just down the hall."
"Colonel, stay here I'll take a team to the core you stay here and let me know when we can get Beckett over here to thaw the crew out," O'Neill began as he waved at some of the men standing around. A group of the soldiers acknowledged the wave and took up a protective formation around the General as he left the bridge and entered the hall.
As the AI continued its startup Sheppard wandered around the bridge observing some of the damaged and blown out consoles, he noted the panels welded over part of the bridge's forward view-port. "What happened here?" He thought as he noticed what appeared to be a blood stain on the deck. "How could all this have happened in 4 years?" He continued mulling over his thoughts until he heard a whine as all the bridge lights finally came back on a holographic emitter lit up displaying a dark haired female Lantean.
Serenity calmly looked around the room while in reality her sensors were doing the looking. She observed the humans before her, the ship nearby, and the life-signs from her frozen crew. She then took in the reports from her internal sensor telling her the condition of the ship and herself, once she completed all of this in a matter of seconds she finally greeted her guest.
"Hello again Dr. McKay it's nice to see you again." She greeted warmly, "and you too Colonel Sheppard it's nice to finally be home."
"It's been too long Serenity, too long; you keep the Colonel and company out of trouble?" Sheppard asked.
Serenity frowned as she thought of the proper response however before answering that… "Before I answer could you tell me what year it is so I can calibrate? The long range receiver is gone so I can't connect to Earth's networks."
Sheppard glanced at McKay, "Sure it's 2018 you guys have been gone for four years."
A pregnant pause filled the bridge as Serenity processed his response, "It seems we were correct, the time dilation was indeed a factor in our trip." She looked at the Colonel, "They don't know yet then." She finally responded to the Colonel's original question, "I have tried my hardest Colonel Sheppard and yes I kept him in one piece, for the most part."
Sheppard looked at her and nodded, "thanks then," he looked at the chair again and McKay, "Can I get the ship to a more stable position now McKay?"
McKay nodded and Sheppard headed over and sat in the chair. He leaned back and willed the chair to activate like all Ancient tech; the chair flickered once and shut off. Sheppard frowned and looked at McKay, "McKay," he growled.
"Not my fault let me see," McKay said as he walked over to the chair.
"No need Dr. McKay I believe I have fixed the issue, when the ZPG restarts, we have power distribution problems. The chair should work now." said Serenity.
Sheppard nodded and once again attempted to activate the chair. This time it leaned back, lit up and stayed lit. For the first time in a long time the Borealis' primary engines lit up and the ship moved, under careful watch by the Daedalus, to a stable orbit.
"Alright get some more teams over here, we need to check the rest of the ship," Sheppard relayed to Caldwell as the bridge once again lit up with a transport beam.
Asgard Core Room
O'Neill entered the core room just as the lights came back on. "Finally," he exclaimed as he looked around, "you know what it was better with the lights off," even this room looked in bad shape. The back wall had been cut out giving access to one of the jumper bays, scratch and burn marks on the deck and walls made it look like a grenade went off in there; he shook his head in wonder. As he went to activate the core he voice rang out.
"Hello General O'Neill it is good to see you again," Serenity began, "The core is offline right now there is no point in trying to start it.
O'Neill raised one his eyebrows, "Alright then I guess we'll head to the stas-," he began.
Serenity interrupted him, "My apologize General but the Colonel wanted me to leave to deliver a message to you if you were still here."
"Still here, how long did he think he was gone?" He thought, "Alright then what's the message?"
"Please go to the nearest console." She asked
The screen turned to static for a few seconds while Serenity found the file. As he watched the video the dark haired Colonel from his photo appeared on the screen and began addressing him. Minutes ticked by as his expression grew darker and darker, the men around him were also becoming confused by the video. When it finally ended the General was quiet for a moment before saying with steel in his voice, "Direct me to the stasis pods now."
Borealis Bridge-1730 Hours
As the bridge crew continued to get systems online, their radios began to squawk. "McKay, Sheppard get Beckett and the medics over here now we're getting the crew out," General O'Neill ordered, "And get it done now."
"Roger that Sir they're on their way, Sheppard out."
"What do you think has the General so spooked like that?"
"No idea let's just get Beckett over here and get down there, we can't keep the General waiting.
Borealis Stasis Bay
Dr. Carson Beckett shined his flashlight into some of the stasis pods trying to confirm what the diagnostics for each person were displaying. While he wasn't the real Carson Beckett everyone around him was trying they're hardest to make him feel as if he had never died. The clone sighed as he thought of this while continuing his exam.
"Well Sir it appears that everyone here survived stasis although some of these guys are pretty banged up. I don't know if all of them will survive the thawing process. We need to get them down to Atlantis's med bay as soon as possible." Beckett stated with his Scottish accent. "We start this there is no stopping till they are all down there."
"Do it Beckett, and where is he, I want to see him." O'Neill stated.
"He's right here Sir, it appears he'll survive."
"Good," He began as he made his way over to the pod, the dark hair Colonel lay within. "He looks tormented," he thought as he glanced at his face. "His message was right then," he glanced to the Colonel's left, "Who's that, I don't remember her being a member of the crew."
"No idea Sir it seems some of the ships memory is damaged, the crew manifest isn't accessible, we could ask Serenity?"
Serenity appeared from a nearby emitter, "I'm sorry General but the Colonel requested to be the one to explain everything to you. In the event that he died he requested that his video log and the Commander explain it." She said with a frown.
O'Neill approached the Colonel's pod and stared at the man within. "Fine get them down there now, Beckett start thawing them let's get them home."
May 6, 2018 2213 Hours-Atlantis Medical Bay, San Francisco Bay
The hiss of oxygen filled the room as the 389 surviving crew members of the Borealis slept free from their stasis pods. Since the crew had been thawed 12 members died due to their injuries, they never woke to see that they had made it home; the remaining crew had yet to show any signs of waking. As an orderly checked each bed to make sure the occupants were safe she noticed activity from one of the sleeping crew. As she approached it became apparent that this one was indeed waking.
"Dr. Beckett! One of them is waking!" she yelled getting the attention of more orderlies and the Dr. in question. As she moved to his side she began checking all of his vitals again. As she checked his pulse a hand reached out and grabbed her wrist. She jumped in fright as the sleeping crewmen opened his eyes for the first time in years.
He looked at her with his sharp brown eyes and tried to speak. All that came out was a hacking cough so she helped him take a sip of water. The others finally gathered around them as Colonel Christopher Vought spoke his first words in a long time.
"Where is she?" he wheezed before falling asleep yet again.
Well what do you think? Good, Bad, Ugly, I want to hear your responses. Out of curiosity does anyone think I'm being too technical? I am an programming major and I tend to over think and over complicate things. The next chapter will explain a lot so just hang on that one will hopefully be out shortly. One final thing, this story I plan on being a crossover of epic proportions however because of this I have no idea where to put it. For now I'll leave it where it is although I may just break it up into separate stories. Oh well thanks for reading what will hopefully be a good story catch you next time. Ghostrider 21 signing off.