Ace In The Hole
Chapter 47
"It's getting warm in here" Rodney whines causing Jeannie to grin at him.
"Are you for real?"
"You're just imagining it doctor..." Alex sighs shaking his head.
"I wonder why?" Rodney gripes pointing to the huge star now filling the jumpers view port "Are you even sure there's a planet there?"
As if in answer to his question the view port suddenly polarises blocking out a large portion of the stars light, a small rocky world in the distance is clearly visible.
"J39-1-NTC dead ahead" Alex chuckles.
"Did your people just have a talent for picking crappy names or did it take practice?" Rodney says sarcastically earning himself yet another glare.
"J39-1 is the first planet in the Athos system, NTC denotes the ship yard, its functional and practical and..." Alex stops and grins "maybe a little dull..."
"Dull or not that planet is starting to get awfully big now" Lorne says glancing towards Alex in the co-pilots seat "Where too?"
"There is a canyon near the northern pole you can't miss it... we need to head there"
"Erm... guys..." Cairns says looking at the data on his pad "This planet is putting out a huge electromagnetic field"
"It's seismically active?" Radek says eyebrows rising with surprise.
"That's not possible, its way to small" Rodney says taking the pad off him.
"The magnetic field is way more powerful than even Earth's" Rodney clicks his fingers "That's what makes it hard to detect, you have to get relatively close to even pick the planet up on sensors"
"A large portion of the core is made up of liquid Naquadah and as useful as that might be, the disruptive field it puts out is much more valuable than just mining it" Alex says as he takes over piloting the jumper from Lorne.
"Liquid Naquadah, doesn't that make the planet unstable?" Zalenka says nervous tension filtering through his voice.
"There is just enough there so that the pressure of the planets mass and the tidal forces of the stars gravity keep it molten and hot enough to flow but not hot enough to explode... its all about having the right balance"
As Alex flies the jumper towards the canyon a building can be seen a few miles to the east, clearly Lantian in design.
"Its a decoy" Alex says with a grin seeing where Lorne and Rodney are looking "Put there in case the Wraith ever discovered the planet accidentally, its just a lab with some old solar research"
Alex plunges the jumper deep into the huge canyon flying close to the cliff wall "Don't worry we aren't going to hit the bottom yet this canyon is 3-4 miles deep" Alex says with a grin whilst levelling out, he heads down the deep trench until suddenly an alarm sounds on the jumpers control console, quickly he enters a code and smiles as a huge structure shimmers into existence a few miles in front of them.
"Jesus that's big" Rodney says, the Station is huge, roughly two thirds the size of a city ship and clearly of similar design, the centre is the shape of a flattened six pointed star a single cavernous bay enters at three opposing points of the star providing a huge inner working area.
There are no obvious buildings on the upper surface but as they approach they can clearly see the glint of light reflecting off many windows that are built into the super structure of the main star part of the station, The central control tower can easily be seen rising up above the main body over all it looks much more functional than elegant.
Alex smirks as he glances back at the scientists who are all staring in excitement as they approach but as they clear a ridge in the canyon floor Alex gasps in shock.
Lying there in a natural basin below the station its wreckage spread in every direction are the chard remains of a city ship, the base superstructure is snapped into numerous separate pieces that have crashed face down debris and wreckage is strewn everywhere.
"Halzora" Alex says sadly "It looks like she crashed trying to land at the station"
"The stations no where big enough to land a city on it" Rodney says in a surprisingly gentle tone causing Jeannie to smile at him warmly.
"The station has a gravity flux generator, it can produce a anti grav field directly above to hold a city in place, by the looks of it Halzora was to badly damaged to come in under full control, it seems as though she hit the field at considerable speed which would basically be like hitting the ground head on, from the way she's broken up I think the field snapped the superstructure in to pieces and they fell either side" Alex sighs.
"I'm sorry" Lorne says.
"Her commander had already radioed Atlantis saying that they had taken severe damage and were going to attempt to get her here manually, her Cerebrious had already been destroyed" Alex says with tears welling in his eyes.
"Cerebrious, her brain?" Jeannie says coming forward and placing her hand tentatively on his shoulder for comfort.
Alex just nods "Her Avatar, Javen was gone, his repository's both the primary and the back ups and had been destroyed and his physical form was killed in a huge explosion, over 60% of the buildings had been destroyed in battle when her shields collapsed" he glances at Lorne "You've already seen how difficult it is to control a city without an Avatar, with all the damage and loss of life" Alex shakes his head wiping his eyes with his sleeve "They didn't stand a chance"
As the Jumper comes into land in the cavernous bay the mangled wreck of an Aurora class vessel is clearly identifiable lying on its side against one side of the back wall, from the skid marks scraped across the floor its obvious the ship crashed and slid into the wall at great speed.
Alex makes a slow circle of the bay taking in the damage before gently bringing the jumper down to land on a small raised platform.
"I'll need to activate the stations basic systems, I should be able to do it from that console, hopefully it will give us a better understanding of how much damage has been done" Alex says pointing towards the group of consoles at the edge of the platform.
"Is it safe?" Rodney says concern tingeing the excitement present in his voice.
"Life support is barely online but little else" Alex sighs "Looks completely locked down" he grimaces slowly "Or it could just be broken"
"That's just great" Rodney sighs downbeat.
The bay is huge easily big enough to fit three Aurora class vessels comfortably and easily twice the height as the crashed one in-bedded into the wall is lying less than half way up at its highest point, on either side are smaller bays and although one is open the others are blocked by huge heavy doors.
Alex places his hand on the console and a blush of Lantian code flashes on every monitor in sight as the station hums into life.
{Greetings Atavus,. it has been 4,010255 days since your last system access}
"Hello Cal" Alex smiles as he turns to the others "Cal, stand by for a situation update"
{Confirmed}
"If you want your people to have full access to her systems I have to bring her up to speed on the current state of things"
"Is that wise?" Teyla says causing Alex to frown "She may not like the fact that we are humans and not Ancestors" Alex just smiles warmly.
"Cal is smart, but she was not designed to question things like that, her system is to basic" Alex says looking to Lorne for permission before proceeding.
"We need to get this place online if we can" Lorne shrugs looking to Teyla once more with a non committal smile. Teyla just shakes her head annoyed that Evan was passing the buck to her but as she glances around and sees the excited looks on everyone else's faces she just sighs causing Ronon to grin.
"Very well"
Alex places his hand on the console once more and another blush of Lantian code flows across each and every monitor as he opens his eyes he smiles at hearing Cal speak.
{Control of this facility has been successfully transferred, Teyla Emmagen, Gamma Epsilon Clearance, Colonel John Sheppard, Gamma Epsilon Clearance, Lt. Colonel Evan Lorne, Gamma..}
"Cal?" Alex says stopping her in her tracks
{Yes Atavus, Correction, Yes Alex?} Alex grins.
"You don't have to reel it all off"
{Understood, awaiting instructions}
"You have all been given Gamma Epsilon clearance... basically full access, she's all yours" Alex says to the excited looking scientists before pulling Lorne to one side "If it's OK with you I would like to go check out the cruiser" Alex nods towards the mangled ship "There may be bodies over there"
"After 10000 years?" Lorne says sceptically.
"If they got into the life pods they would be preserved even without power... I owe it to her crew to lay them to rest"
Lorne nods understanding "Take Ronon with you just in case" Ronon nods and they both head off quietly in the direction of the ship.
"Cal, what is your current status?"
{Slip way one and three are fully operational however slipway two, your current location has sustained heavy structural damage... and I am unable to initiate repairs} Rodney frowns but Jeannie beats him to it.
"Cal why are you unable to make repairs?"
{Resources at zero, advise replenishment of stations supply's} Jeannie grins when she sees Rodney role his eyes.
"Great, an AI with a sarcastic attitude"
"Rodney there is a half completed Aurora sitting in one of the other undamaged slipways on the other side of the station, this place is huge" Radek says as he and Lorne come back up the steps to the platform.
"Cal, could you utilise the partially constructed vessel sitting in the other slip as material to effect repairs?"
{Of course but said vessel would cease to exist? Is this acceptable?} Rodney rolls his eyes but smiles anyway.
"Yes, use the vessel as material to begin repairs"
{Understood, requested function will take 6 standard hours} As Cal stops speaking the roof opens and four huge robotic arms drop down from the panel, beams of light begin sweeping across the area clearing rubble at speed, scuttling robotic crab like creatures almost the size of a family car begin ferrying pieces of equipment around as dozens of Renatus drones appear and start synthesizing new deck plates, a single robotic arm following them along to weld the newly laid plates in to place.
"Wow" Radek says as the scene is altered in mere moments.
"Cal?"
{Yes Dr McKaye}
"Do you have any more damage?"
{Negative, although it should be noted that my primary Potentia is depleted and the secondary back up Potentia's power is at 14% and falling, Weapons, Shields and Drive systems are all currently offline to conserve power}
"Wait, Drive systems?, Cal can this place fly? Like a city ship I mean?"
{Of course Dr McKaye...} Rodney stares at Jeannie and Zalenka open mouthed.
"What is it Dr Jackson always says about the Ancients?" Jeannie grins.
"They did everything Big!" Radek and Rodney say together excitedly.
[Guys!] Lorne and the three scientist turn around to see Dr Cairns waving to them from the other side of the bay next to two sealed hanger doors that are furthest away from the damaged area.
"Doc!, I told you not to wonder to far" Lorne says over the radio.
[Teyla and I have found something!, you have to come and take a look at this] Lorne sighs and nods.
"We're on our way"
It takes the group only a few minutes to cross the cavernous bay "What!, is so important?" Rodney barks annoyed at being pulled away from the main console.
"According to this someone was apparently looking at the viability of creating a fighter craft in here" Cairns says pointing to the monitor at the side of the locked hanger door.
"The Ancients didn't use fighters" Rodney glares.
"They had the drones David, from what we have learned of the Ancients, fighters were considered to barbaric and backwards" Radek sighs agreeing with Rodney.
"Maybe, but one of them it seems began work on a fighter" he says with a smirk.
"It was Janus" Alex says as he and Ronon return.
"Anything?" Lorne says but upon seeing Ronon shake his head he places his hand on Alex's shoulder tentatively "Maybe they abandoned ship?"
"Maybe" Alex sighs but he just shakes his head, ever impatient Rodney can't hold his tongue any longer.
"Janus?!" Jeannie just thumps him on the arm and glares at him.
"You really are one of a kind Doctor McKaye" Alex says shaking his head as a weak smile slips on his face "Janus saw the Lantians dependency on the drone weapons as a big weakness, but the Lantians had not flown fighter craft in countless millennia, to them a fighter was never going to have the punch a cruiser can have, they shut him down"
"Why?, every race we have come across so far has fighters" Rodney says but a frown appears on his face as soon as the words are out "Except the Asgard, and the Ancients"
"Add the Furlings and the Nox to that and you see why the council saw it as a waste of time" Alex grins.