Here's the next chapter for you all, questions will be answered and others will be asked. Note: I only own what characters i create, the names and places i invent and the ships and vehicles i seem to be designing in droves for this single story.
Please review and i will respond. Or alternatively post in the thread for this story in my forum. .net/topic/84023/35075481/1/
Review Responses
AlexanderD: It felt i owed it to Echidna to give her a bit more depth seeing as i only briefly touched upon the events shown. This way i got to expand the readers understanding of her character without having some of her mystery removed from the point of view of the other characters. I will always aim to keep the readers guessing, and besides when is anything so straight forward.
Shadow of Realm: Well the past does have important ramifications for the future, a fact that it would be good to remember for this story. Its always nice to know i can still surprise my readers, but wait till you see whats still to come.
Jedi Carpet: Thank you. It took some time to estabilish a suitable time line i was happy with, as well come up with a suitable origin story. I'm glad you apreciate it.
New Orilla – Ida Galaxy
When the Asgard went into isolation, or what some were calling hiding, they made sure to sweep their footsteps clean, leaving nothing behind of their culture and technology in their home galaxy. On every planet that they had ever made a foothold on they had meticulously removed all traces of their culture. Buildings had been deconstructed down to the very foundations and mine shafts had been collapsed after being cleared of equipment. To complete the illusion of their death they had even blown up their capital world, the resulting explosion taking two Ori motherships along with it. They had then withdrawn from their home galaxy with what remained of their once mighty fleet; consisting of the Valhalla, 50 Beliskner-class vessels, 30 O'Neill-class vessels and 20 science ships, and hidden themselves on the Nox homeworld.
Now though the Asgard were re-establishing themselves as one of the now five great races. The first step involved rebuilding their entire planetary based civilisation, which would normally be a massive undertaking, time consuming and a horrible position to be in. Luckily the situation wasn't as bad as it might sound as the Valhalla had been designed to support their entire population, and as such had acted as the races home for the past two years with the advanced technology aboard providing them with everything they needed. But even without this problem reconstruction was no small feat. Thankfully they had several advantages on their side, consisting of matter conversion technology and mining robots. The most common mining robots were shaped like large manta rays and equipped with mining lasers, large tunnelling drills, claws and scoops. Entire packs of these would work in harmony on a single mining shaft borrowing through the dirt to the precious resources they were programmed to seek out. The next most common ones were shaped like hammerhead sharks, with a large container on their backs. These robots were equipped with scoops and claws along with a point to point beaming system that sent the ore to the transport robots hovering above. These massive robots were reminiscent of blue whales, their insides filled with dozens of storage containers to receive the unprocessed ore. Once full the transport craft would be replaced by another and would take the unprocessed ore to a processing station. They were programmed to receive commands from a manned control hub, telling them where they needed to mine and what to do with the unprocessed ore they gathered. The craft were also equipped with powerful sensors which would be send mineral readings to the diggers beneath the surface. Without instructions however they would switch back to default programming, searching for resources with their built in sensors and taking the ore to the nearest automated processing station. Once deposited the ore would be processed using matter separation technology and then stored and guarded. Then matter construction beams could be used to make any buildings that they had the design plans for in their database. Because the Asgard were environmentally conscious the excess earth would be put back into the tunnels behind the robots, as the support struts were removed, once a secondary shaft had been dug.
Valhalla was sitting in orbit around New Orilla, the planet the Asgard had chosen to rebuild their civilisation on. The name paid homage to the previous world that the Asgard had chosen as their new homeworld in an attempt to salvage their race. The attempt had been largely successful, until their genetic degradation problem had finally hit home and they had been forced to convert much of the new capital into Valhalla itself. Now the Asgard world ship was busy churning out massive numbers of mining droids and maintenance drones, all to be sent out to other worlds to get the resources they needed and expand their influence. The science ships were all being sent to previously occupied worlds to check their suitability as colonies and mining worlds. Beliskner-class vessels were being used to transport masses of resources from nearby mining worlds and then utilising their matter constructors to assemble buildings from the raw materials. A number of O'Neill vessels were acting as a defence screen in system while others were guarding the off world mining sites and acting as scout ships.
A fleet of five Asgard ships, consisting of an O'Neill type and four science vessels, were not actually in the Ida galaxy and were in an entirely different galaxy altogether. This fleet of ships was the Pegasus expeditionary force, tasked with tracking down the Vanir and bringing them back for judgement by the Asgard high council should it be necessary. The fleet of ships exited hyperspace in the New Lantea system and the fleet flagship, the Daniel Jackson, hailed Atlantis.
"This is Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard science ship the Daniel Jackson offering greetings to the Atlantis expedition."
"Greetings Supreme Commander," came the reply. "I am Richard Woolsey, chief administrator of Atlantis. How can we help our allies?"
"It is the Asgard who offering you assistance Mr Woolsey. I have been given command of the Pegasus expeditionary force and have been tasked with finding an offshoot of our race that you have come to know as the Vanir."
"I see," said Woolsey, slightly puzzled. "But I still do not understand why you are here. I understood that all the information pertaining to our encounter with the Vanir had been handed over to you."
"Indeed it was, however my authority as commander of this fleet affords me certain privileges. One of those privileges allows facilitating the return of Asgard to previously assigned positions, namely the return of Asgard engineers to the Tau'ri ships they were assigned to. This would be to continue relations with the Tau'ri that the Asgard enjoyed in the past."
"I see. But to my knowledge the Daedalus is the only ship we have here that had an Asgard engineer at one time."
"That is correct. But while we understand that such crewmen would not be necessary for your Pegasus-class vessels, as they possess an AI monitoring system, your battle cruisers had an Asgard crew member to provide assistance. We would also like to offer one of our scientists to serve on the Apollo, with your permission of course."
"I would have to put it to the individual ship commanders first, but thank you for the offer. However I suspect there is something else that brought you here, would I be right?"
"Indeed there is. From what O'Neill told me you have been assisting the Wraith in solving their feeding problem, however there are still a lot of Wraith that have not received the treatment."
"I take it your offering to assist us with speeding up the process?" enquired Woolsey.
"If you were to allow our engineers access to the machine you are currently using I believe we could reproduce the effect. We already utilised similar technology in our cloning attempts."
"I'll talk to Echidna, but I believe she would agree to it. However they are still in the process of establishing their agriculture and if our food synthesisers become overtaxed can I count on your assistance?"
"I intend to leave our warship, the O'Neill, in orbit to assist you in guarding duties. The ship will remain unless its presence is required in our search for the Vanir."
"Do you have any idea how long it will take to find them?" Searching the entire Pegasus galaxy could take a long time and the longer it would take would mean a delay in helping the Wraith.
"It is hard to determine an exact period of time, however considering the number of planets that they would have settled on to begin with it should not take long. But we will not be beginning the search until we have provided the Wraith with assistance, if they wish it," Thor added.
"I appreciate the sentiment, and I'm hoping you'll get to meet Echidna. However I should warn you that she has been rather depressed as of late and may not feel like taking visitors," Woolsey warned.
"I understand, I have read the reports on the incident," said Thor with a touch of sadness in eyes, like he was reliving an old memory. "Please offer her my condolences. It must be hard on her."
"I'll pass them on." There was nothing more that could be said.
Tau'ri Mining Planet – Pegasus
In the Pegasus galaxy there were many worlds that could sustain life but were uninhabited. Many of these worlds were barren and desolate places that would provide a great challenge to anyone who might try and make a home, but some were tropical wonderlands untouched by humanity. This particular world was unarguably one of the former of the two. The planets surface was littered with mountains, jagged rock fields and small leafless shrubs, and the rest sprinkled with dark scorch coloured earth courtesy of the occasional dust storm. You could certainly survive but you wouldn't want to live there, not if you had a choice. The planet did have one redeeming feature though, a large amount of highly valued natural resources. Throughout the planets crust there were several large veins of trinium and naquadah, both highly valued for use in their ship building efforts. Another useful find was several deposits of iron, titanium and chrome for general use in their construction efforts.
With the lack of stored resources left on the Weir construction materials were becoming an issue, and so steps were being taken to resolve this problem. The ship had been dispatched to the planet found in the Ancient database and had used the last of the resources stored onboard to begin mining efforts. Every last cubit of material left had been used to construct the Tau'ri' version of mining machines, a design made specifically for off-world use. Mining was notoriously known as being a very dangerous industry, and it was well known that the use of machines not only made mining more productive but safer as well. When it came to off-world operations the Tau'ri also had limited personnel at their disposal due to the need for secrecy and a limited number of specialist personnel. In an attempt to counteract this the Tau'ri designed mining machines did not require human operators, as they were the equivalent of robots. The design was a combination of the Asgard mining robots and Tau'ri continuous mining machines. The basic shape was that of a continuous mining machine with the addition of a CPU linked to sensors and a guidance system. Other additions were Asgard mining lasers and, at the end of the conveyor, a large cargo bucket equipped with beaming technology. Like their Asgard counterparts they were designed to act independently, but also receive instructions from those monitoring the mining operations and even be controlled remotely.
A large number of these machines had been produced and beamed down to the numerous deposits across the planet. From then on they proceeded to carry out their primary directives, start digging and mine for the much needed resources. The Weir had only constructed the miners though, and now lacked the resources to manufacture anything else. So the ship stayed in orbit as the miners continued to dig deeper and deeper until they reached the mineral veins and started beaming up their loads to the ship. There the ores were processed and the material used to construct the buildings and additional machines the world would require to become an independent mining world. Across the planet placed in the middle of the smaller deposits of materials were several trios of small buildings linked together by an umbilical. One of these buildings consisted of the control building, which housed accommodation for the various operators and technicians and the control station for the local mining operations. The second was the automated processing building, and the third was a hanger for the numerous machines and transport vehicles. The transport vehicles were a modification of the transport shuttle design. Once again the design was modified to operate independently, or remotely, and contained dozens of cargo containers that the unprocessed resources would be beamed to. The transports would wait until they were full and then take the resources to the processing building. Once processed the materials would be transported to the main planetary mining base. This base was considerably larger than the outposts across the planet and featured dozens of control buildings, hangers and processing centres, all linked by a web of surface conduits. The base was situated in the middle of a cluster of the largest mineral veins on the planet and featured one very unique building, a specially modified gate room at the heart of the web of conduits, utilising one of the many salvaged gates from the void. This gate room was linked to all the control stations and storage hangers throughout the base and acted as the departure point for the processed resources. However the resources did not need to be transported off world, the maintenance hangers were capable of constructing additional miners and transport vehicles using the raw materials. Also, as time went on, mining operations could be expanded and larger construction hangers for star ships could be made and ship building operations could begin. The main base was already equipped with neutrino ion generators. These were partly to power the defences protecting the base, but also to provide the juice necessary to dial Valley Forge and eventually send the resources back to Argus shipyards as ship construction was a hope for a later day. The main base may have been up and running by the time the Weir departed but the smaller outposts were still being constructed by the resources processed at the base.
The timing for the temporary departure of the Weir may have seemed inappropriate considering the situation with Todd and the threat of the Queen sister's but Echidna's mental state made it possible. To put it simply, she was very upset. The Weir would not be necessary to keep watch over the Wraith fleet for signs of treachery for two reasons. The first being that Echidna would no longer tolerate anyone stepping a foot out of line, and the second being that because of this the Wraith were terrified of her. In the days following Todd's surrender to his sisters Echidna had been personally co-ordinating massive operations. As more and more Wraith were treated they were being dispatched in fleets of ships and all with one purpose, finding the traitors. Echidna was taking no chances, not with her descendant's lives, as armadas of ships were being deployed as scouts for this purpose so that even if they were ambushed they would survive. Once the scout ships arrived at a new destination they would combine their mental might into one force and search for the others of their kind. With their combined powers of telepathy they could cover a far greater distance than they could with just their sensors and would not risk being controlled. When the Asgard arrived Echidna was actually quite pleased, as in the past few days she had been growing quite annoyed at the number of Wraith available to be sent out as scouts. The more Wraith that were untreated the more that needed to stay in stasis, and the more that needed to stay in stasis meant larger numbers of stasis pods would be needed to store the massive numbers of Wraith. This meant the fewer ships that would be available for the scouting fleets, and also that the more powerful hive ships would have to stay behind because they had the largest number of stasis pods. As a result the scout fleets would need to be larger to have a better chance of surviving. All of these problems added up and when on the mind of Echidna created a woman that no one wanted to be with in a hundred yards of for fear of being subjected to her anger. Thankfully Echidna was in such a bad mood she had taken to staying in her control chair onboard the Arima and issuing orders telepathically. So when the Asgard said they could dramatically speed up the conversion process she was so pleased she actually left her chair to personally discuss the Asgard proposal.
The news she received was astounding, after only a few days study the team of Asgard geneticists had found a way to replicate the genetic alteration affects and could now implement it on a massive scale. Couple this with the ability to mass produce the cure serum and the remaining Wraith could be cured in a single day. And so it was that she found a hologram of herself being projected into the massive assembly halls on the Asgard science ships preparing to deliver to a speech to the assembled Wraith before her. Before her were the assembled hordes of the Wraith, some cured, some about to receive the cure, all gathered together from all corners of the Wraith empire for this momentous occasion. Hundreds of benches were spread about each assembly hall for those about to receive the treatment to sit on while their cured kin stood over them, waiting. When the Asgard activated the conversion beam the cured Wraith would be tasked with injecting their kin with the serum, as they would be in no fit state to do so themselves.
With a murmur from her assembled children her hologram shimmered into existence on the large stage, her size and voice amplified so she could be easily seen and heard by all present.
"My children," she seemingly bellowed. "The time of our rebirth is upon us."
A great cheer went up from the amassed Wraith, as even the drones expressed their delight as part of their treatment was the removal of the neural inhibitor that, while making a less submissive, gave them more autonomy. It was Echidna's wish that they become individuals as a reward for their loyalty and as recompense for their many years of slavery. Over time their individuality would greater express itself, although it would be easier for any new drones born. Under Echidna's rule the Wraith were becoming redefined as a species.
As the cheers died down she continued.
"Before this day is done we will have moved forwards as a species. No longer will be feared as one of the great horrors of this galaxy. No longer will the people of this galaxy dread our arrival on distant worlds. No longer will every sentient creature in this galaxy wish to see us lying dead at their feet, and our name a half forgotten memory of a time that could have passed quickly enough. For we shall rise my children, we shall step forward and take our place as protectors, as friends and as honoured allies. Before this day is done we shall be reborn!"
The masses cheered louder than before, with chants of reborn reverberating off the walls. But once again Echidna was not finished, and she raised her open palms for silence.
"But my children there is still much be done before this great day is finally upon us. There is a great debt that must be repaid to the peoples of this galaxy."
Low murmurs quietly erupted, and a single question flitted through the gathered crowds like a lightning bolt. What would she have them do?
"You are as aware as I that what has happened is in the past and that the past cannot be undone. For millennia our kind has squeezed the life from the humans and it is that debt that we must repay. We owe them our continued existence, and now we must help them ensure theirs. For those that would allow we must become their allies, and help them when it is right to do so. The Tau'ri are such a people, they could easily have destroyed us if they chose. Once we defeated the Ancients we thought ourselves supreme, that nothing could oppose us. And yet we did not consider what that war had cost us, how few of us remained, how much we had sacrificed. We won the war through sheer numbers, sending wave after wave against our enemies until the few that survived finally claimed victory. The Tau'ri saw this, they realised how weakened we were and how powerful their own forces were. But they also saw that they had a choice of what path to take, and they made their decision. They offered us a cure for our hunger, a chance to move forwards, a chance to cast off the shackles that bound us to a path that would surely lead to our destruction. And for that we must thank them, for that we must fulfil our duties as allies and so we shall. In thanks we must see too it that humanity will never again be threatened by those who would choose the old ways as a way of life. By now you all know of my two daughters who chose to kill me, and of the sacrifice my son made to save me. I swore that I would find them. I swore that I would save him and I swore that I would kill those that would set our race down a path of destruction. But this is my task, my path alone and not one I will the rest of my children join me upon. Before this day is done you will be sent out to find you kin, but once you find them the task of dealing them will fall to me and me alone. I will not see any more of my children sacrificed for sake of my own selfish desires. But if I fail then the Tau'ri will merely enact a task that they were already capable of doing, and it will be that much easier for them now. And when they find my son, and I have every confidence that they will, then he shall be the one to lead you forward. You have all heard the tales of the legendary Todd, the one who has done more for our kind than any other, our races greatest servant. But I give you this order, do not seek vengeance. If I fail then you will not seek vengeance against my daughters. I will not have you die simply for your loyalty. It is my order as Matriarch. This is my task and not that of my children. It is I who shall do this, for our race and for my children!"
Cheers erupted once again and, as the dazzling light from the genetic alteration beams spiralled down from the ceiling, chants echoed off the walls until they became one word from one voice, Echidna.
"Thypoeus, what is our status?"
"Our damaged sentinels have been repaired. The solar collectors are operating at maximum capacity and the replacement sentinel will reach full maturation soon. I am happy to report that the Asgard have been able to successfully interface their generators with the growth pod clones and the results are promising. They are currently growing on the planets surface in the western plains."
"Good, we'll need those extra sentinels if we are to take on my daughters. We still don't know just how strong their forces are."
"I should remind you though that we only have umbilicals for three sentinels. Any damage the others receive will be down to their own regeneration systems to repair, not to mention their range will be limited because of their weaker armour. We may have to leave some behind after the battle."
"We can always go back to collect them, or even just wait until they are all repaired/ Besides the fact still remains that we still need them."
"I hope you'll be accepting the Tau'ri's help when they offer it."
"If they offer it."
"Think that if you will, but we should still accept. It's still their fight after all."
"I know it is. How can I forget? But I owe it to them to finish it myself."
Unknown System – Unknown Planet
In a system seemingly void of life, a place where the Wraith would never come, the Asgard were continueing their search for their kin, the Vanir. The system was small and it's planets few, a pair of gas giants, four volcanic infernos, a frozen wasteland, while the third world was a barren wasteland coated with a toxic atmosphere. Needless to say all of them were incapable of sustaining natural life. But it was the information that their world was hazardous to life that the Vanir had parted to the Tau'ri during their brief encounter, which made this system a potential candidate. One of many candidates plucked from the planetary records stored in the Ancient database that would have still been suitable over ten thousand years ago, and were still suitable to this very day. So now Thor's personal science ship the Daniel Jackson was performing the same task it had performed in so many systems, just as the other science ships were, scanning the system for traces of civilisation. For days now the Asgard science vessels had been searching, utilising their incredible engines to dart from system to system in such a short period of time it should surely be impossible. And now, at last, it seemed they had found what they were looking for.
On the third planet from the glowing red giant the science ships powerful sensors had detected signs of the presence of artificial structures. Where there should be toxic gases that would strip flesh from bone in seconds, and even the strongest alloys over extended periods of time, there was just an empty void. To less powerful sensors, like those aboard most Wraith ships, the planet would register as vacant, but to those equipped to the Daniel Jackson the cluster of voids of varying sizes on the planets surface were very noticeable. Locking on to the voids, the passive scans magnified in strength, going to full active, until they cut through the detection barriers that would fool those of a lesser strength. As readings were analysed it quickly became clear that the structures and the buildings within them followed a distinctly Asgard design in nature, while further analysis resulted in confirmation of the presence of Asgard clone body life readings. The Vanir and their hiding place had been found. The response was immediate.
"Attention Asgard science contingent who identify themselves as the Vanir," he hailed. "This is Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard Fleet, acting on behalf of the Asgard High council. I am here to take you into custody in and to take you before the Asgard High Council where you will stand trial for your actions."
"I am Frey," was the reply as the image of a clone bodied Asgard appeared on the view screen. "I am the leader of the Vanir and so it falls to me to warn you that any hostile actions taken against us will result in immediate retaliation."
"Hello Frey it has been a while," replied Thor conversationally.
"Indeed it has Thor, and judging by your appearance it seems that much has changed."
Over the visual link the stark contrast between the two members of the supposedly same species was quite apparent, and more than a little surprising.
"Much has changed for our people Frey and under different circumstances I would be happy to tell you about them, as well as how well your sister is. Unfortunately the actions of the Vanir have forced my hand in this matter," was the stern reply.
"It is good to hear that my sister is doing so well but I must ask. To what actions do you refer?" said Frey in a deceptively innocent voice.
"It has become known that in the pursuit of solving your cloning issue that the Vanir have experimented on humans, that alone warrants your immediate arrest."
"I can assure you that the Vanir are guilty of no crime and I must ask you to vacate our system at once or responsive action will be exercised."
The threat delivered without so much as a twitch from a face showing no emotion was enough to give Thor reason to pause.
"Our sensors have fully scanned your habitat on the planet and have detected no weapons," said Thor with a raised hair less brow. "You cannot stop us from taking you into custody."
"Then you will not choose a different course of action?"
"I will not," said Thor, with eyes of steel.
"Then we will have to respond," said Frey as the connection was severed.
"Commander, vessels de-cloaking directly ahead!" exclaimed a startled crewman.
"Raise shields!" shouted Thor.
Between the Asgard science ship and the Vanir world four unfamiliar vessels shimmered into existence. The Asgard manning sensor stations would first note the ships interesting shape, the curving slanted hull plating so similar to that of an Aurora or the Tau'ri Pegasus class. With two jutting sections near towards the prow of the ship and a large, smooth, box like structure making up much of the lower part of the ship. Next taken into account would be the size of these vessels, 300 metres long, 100 metres wide and 225 metres tall. But what quickly stole their attention were the two large emitters on the front of the ship that were already powered and locked on their target, the Daniel Jackson. Alternating their fire, two lances of bright yellow energy burst from the twin emitters of each of the ships and hit the just raised shields of the Asgard science ship, causing the shield to flare white as it took the impact.
The bridge of the science vessel shook from the impact, and the bridge crew fought to stay upright as the ship surged forward in a bid to avoid more hits. In response to the hostile action several small pale ion bolts from the science vessels limited weapons struck the enemy ships in return.
"Status report!" yelled Thor.
"Enemy weapons equivalent to a Tau'ri designated APB. Shields are at 60%. 50%," tactical added, as another twin impact rocked the ship. "Enemy shields comparable to Upgraded Ha'tak, limited damage. Recommend immediate withdrawal."
As the science ship soared between the rapidly banking enemy vessels the sensors were able to get a partial scan of the enemy and the results were startling.
"Sir, sensors indicate enemy vessels manned by human crews, minor Vanir presence onboard."
"What?" Thor wondered allowed, before shaking his head as he processed the information. "Helm, take us into hyperspace then set a course for the New Lantea system."
"Yes sir."
The Asgard science vessel, in an impressive display of manoeuvring, swung upwards and surged forwards, momentarily surprising the enemy. As the enemy shots went wide the Asgard vessel tore open a hyperspace window and dived into it, fleeing from the system and the mysterious humans who aided the Vanir.