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: Well here it is my friend, and i can assure i am big fan of the Asgard as well. I never did like the fact they got wiped out when ordinary people have come up with such inventive solutions to save them. In this story they are here for keeps.
If I Stay: Thank you for pointing that out, i really hadn't intended it to be read like that so i have corrected the phrasing. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
stark40763: You guessed right. A mysterious group, can't have that, lets try and find out who they are.
Jedi Carpet: Glad you're enjoying it.
While things were progressing in other parts of the galaxy events were coming to a close in others. The last of the Genii had finally been picked clean off of Kolumnar and the natives were nearly finished cleaning up after them. Mass executions were not something that would be easily tolerated so Ladon was forced to come to a compromise, those that had followed Nadier would be exiled to a planet with the stargate later removed and replaced with a space gate. Nadier himself however would be kept imprisoned for life for his crimes against the people of Kolumnar in a Genii holding facility, never to be seen again. Of course they only had Ladon's guarantee that he would be kept alive, although the people of Kolumnar never raised any objections to this. As concessions for the actions of the traitors Ladon had opted to leave behind all of the equipment that Nadier had moved into the city. From Ladon's point of view there wasn't much of a loss as Nadier had been secretly stock piling the equipment for years. The people of Kolumnar were very grateful for the large amount of weapons and equipment they were left with and, for the promise of future trade agreements with the Genii, the Genii were providing training in its use.
On a distant world a new Tau'ri facility was being filled with people coming in from the Milky Way, bringing the base up to operating capacity. So after finishing placing the foundations for their first Pegasus mining world the Weir had finally made its way back to Atlantis, and to a very interesting sight. For the first time in weeks the system wasn't filled with all manner of Wraith ships, the last Wraith had long since received the treatment and had begun their new mission. The hundreds of new farms that had been started were already being tended to by the first Wraith that had been cured. Now the rest were manning every ship available to them and had split the remaining ships in system into several sizeable fleets, fleets which had since spread out to the very same culled systems that the Arima had scanned not so long ago. It would take time to reach the system, time to search great expanses of space using their telepathy and, if they failed to find what they were looking for, time to move on to other nearby systems and begin the search again. It would take time but through sheer determination they would find the rogue daughters that had defied their Matriarch. They would not stop, they would not tire and thanks to the huge amount of synthesised supplies given to them by the Asgard they wouldn't even need to stop to resupply for a long time to come. The only Wraith ship left behind was the Arima with her escorting sentinels.
The rest of the Wraith ships had been replaced by a lone Traveller ship floating alongside the lone Asgard warship the O'Neill. Over the past hour though they had been joined by the three Asgard science ships that Thor had ordered be recalled, the Asgard had revealed that he had found the Vanir system but hadn't divulged what had taken place. All he had told the Tau'ri was that he urgently wanted to speak to their leaders when he rejoined the rest of his fleet. For now all they could do was wait until Thor returned, and in the mean time keep an eye on the diplomats who were trying to hammer out the alliance agreement between the Travellers, Wraith and the Tau'ri.
As with all negotiations they were progressing slowly, but so far though they had managed to hammer out a non-aggression pact and the bare bones of a mutual defence pact. What was causing problems was a mutual aggression pact, as is always the case with sides of varying strengths there were disagreements and the arguments were becoming legendary. Echidna was willing to help her allies but was very much against pursuing acts of active aggression when it would risk her children's lives, Wraith ships could be quite vulnerable with only biological armour to protect them. Not to mention the fact that they were in no fit state to wage war against anyone at the moment. In a year perhaps when they had better established their food supplies they would be in a better state. Arguably the Travellers would need this time as well to establish their own colonies. But the problem still remained that any threat would have to be dealt, for now though the discussion was being shelved. And of course none of them wished to discuss the matter of the rogue Wraith at this stage. Echidna may have been in a more improved mood since her children left tracking but she still wasn't willing to risk more lives. It was hoped that the Tau'ri could offer their help in time as their ships were the least vulnerable and the most capable of facing down a Wraith fleet, but for now they were keeping quiet. The one thing they were doing was assisting Echidna's fleet expansion plans, with some help from the Asgard.
Wraith ship technology was highly unique in several galaxies for its reproductive capabilities. Wraith darts were grown in the hangers that held them, while cruisers were grown in maturation chambers aboard hives that also served to speed their repair. But hive ships, and even the Arima, required the sacrifice of a humanoids life in order to grow. During the war the Wraith had found ways to overcome this problem when they were able to steal several ZPM's to power their one of a kind cloning facility. Armies of clones of drones were produced and not all of which served as troops to fight on the front lines. Some were injected with the pathogen that had reverse engineered, to a degree, from the original used to produce the Arima. With so many soldiers to spare the Wraith were able to develop large fleets of ships, most of which were lost in the war, and were able to bring down a great tide down upon the Wraith. The Ancients had fought hard, and the stolen ZPM's were quickly depleted as more and more soldiers were produced but it was already far too late as the Ancients had been pushed back to the point where the Wraiths natural ability to produce reinforcements was enough to hold them at bay.
However Echidna had no wish to produce more hive ships to take on her daughters, as hive ships would require crews and that would mean putting her children in danger. So instead she had requested that they help her by cloning the growth pods used aboard the Arima to grow sentinels from. A dozen of these pods had been cloned by the Asgard and placed on the surface of New Lantea. All it had taken was a little creative engineering for power generators to be connected to the pods, which was incredibly easier than connecting a ZPM and the growth process had begun. The growth pods idea was actually a project that Todd had been working on before he had been captured and with Tau'ri and Asgard assistance had been completed. The new sentinels were growing well, and very quickly too. One advantage that Wraith technology had was that if they focused the energy into one aspect then the capabilities were very impressive, with an obvious example being the ZPM powered hive ship. Soon Echidna would have her hunting fleet, and eventually her children would report the location of her prey.
As part of ensuring better relations between the Asgard and the Tau'ri, Asgard crewmen had been posted to the Tau'ri battle cruisers to provide technical support. This meant that the Daedalus gained Hermiod back and the Apollo were gifted with a well known Asgard of their own, the scientist Loki. After he was found guilty of illegally cloning O'Neill he had been forced into a low position amongst the Asgard science echelon. However with the genetic degradation problem becoming more and more of a problem it was all hands on deck. Despite his earlier actions Loki had proven to be a dedicated worker and had worked hard to help solve the problem and had later worked on the android body solution. As it stood he was now being given a probationary role that could well determine his future, he was essentially being tested. If he failed to perform admirably at his current posting then he would remain in his low ranking for many years to come. The Asgard high council would not be lenient if he caused an incident that resulted in tension between them and the Tau'ri. Thankfully Colonel Ellis ran a tight military ship, and was determined to keep his crew in line. Unfortunately some of the civilian members of the crew were not as professional and were prone to conflict. One of which just happened to be a member of the Apollo's engineering crew, a scientist known as Peter Kavanagh. Kavanagh was known for making large amounts of complaints about those he was working with, and he usually complained to the highest authority he could find. He wasn't stupid enough to actually complain to an Asgard official about an Asgard representative so it meant Woolsey got the call.
"I'm rather busy Doctor Kavanagh," said a disgruntled Woolsey, having been sat in negotiations for several hours now. "What do you want?"
"I wish to lodge a complaint about the Asgard crew member assigned to this ship," he said while waving an empty energy drink can around. "He is completely incapable of operating in a working environment and is completely ignorant of the proper command structure."
The Asgard in question was actually standing right behind him as he continued to rant and turned to glare at the scientists back.
"I have a lot to do Doctor," Woolsey sighed. "So if you could please be a little more specific I would appreciate it. What is your complaint this time?"
"He is incapable of following my instructions as I give them. I am a senior member of this crew and should be afforded the proper respect that I deserve."
Before the rant could go any further, or even before Woolsey could get a word in edge wise, Loki had walked over and plucked the drinks can from Kavanagh's hand, gripping the ends tightly with both his thumb and middle finger.
"I would like to remind you Doctor Kavanagh," said Loki capturing Kavanagh's gaze with a steel look. "That during my time I was officially in charge of many capable scientists. During that time I had their respect, because I earned it, and now I may be required to serve on this ship but I do so gladly because my people owe yours a great debt."
"However," he continued. "I do not have to listen you whine to those who have the misfortune of having to listen to you. However, since you are clearly too cowardly to complain to my superiors so I would suggest a compromise."
"If you have a complaint then address it to me and me alone," he finished as he used his robotic strength to crush the can between his fingers with a shocking ease.
That single act was clearly too terrifying for Kavanagh as he fainted right there and then.
Loki turned to back to face Woolsey.
"I apologise for any inconvenience this incident may have caused you Mr Woolsey," he said, remembering the words of the High Council. "I hope that this does not result in any tension between our people."
"Do not worry Loki. I for one think you handled this incident rather diplomatically," said Woolsey with a small smile.
"Thank you. I must return to my work now and I will not keep you from yours."
It didn't take long for Thor to finally make it back to the New Lantea system and the question on everyone's lips was what had happened. Everyone knew that the Vanir had been found but no one knew just what had happened in the system to make Thor request an immediate meeting once he arrived on Atlantis. When he did beam down to the control room he seemed agitated to say the least, and he didn't say a word to anyone, he just went to the empty conference room and waited for the others to arrive. Colonel Sheppard, Administrator Woolsey and Doctor McKay arrived shortly, after having received an anxious advisement that Supreme Commander Thor was waiting in the conference room.
"Welcome back Supreme Commander," said Woolsey. "I understand you were able to find the Vanir."
"Indeed," said Thor in a neutral tone, before irritation slipped in. "However when we arrived and tried to take them into custody they protested their innocence."
Sheppard snorted. "Not a very original response. But I thought you would have taken them into custody anyway."
We tried, however it turned out they had allies ready to aid them."
"Who would ally themselves with the Vanir?" asked McKay, the memory of his encounter with them still quite fresh.
"We do not know, but from what our sensors were able to determine they are human."
Everyone was silent for a moment as they stopped to process this. The Vanir had claimed to experiment on humans in an attempt to solve their genetic degradation problem. So why would humans then ally with them?
"Well this just keeps getting better," said Sheppard. "How much of a threat are they?"
"They possess ships similar in size to a vessel utilised by those you call the Travellers and boast considerable offensive weaponry," said Thor. "However I believe that you battle cruisers would easily be superior in combat, as their defensive technology is somewhat lacking. I have sent a tactical report to the Weir and to Atlantis for you all to look at, and encryption locked it so only you may view it."
"I'm guessing you'll be going back there again with the O'Neill?" enquired Sheppard.
"Yes and I take it you would like to come as well?"
Sheppard grinned. "Hey it's a chance to meet some new people and help our allies. Also at this point it might help to have a slightly more neutral party involved since they have already taken exception to you. Besides it wouldn't hurt to hear them out and they might actually want to talk to us if they think we're keeping you at bay."
Thor smirked. "I believe your people call this the good cop bad cop routine."
Sheppard smirked back. "That would be the one."
"Well then," said Woolsey. "I'll let you go deal with this problem and when I hear from you again we'll hopefully have some new allies to negotiate with."
Vanir Homeworld
A few hours had passed since the Asgard science vessel had made its brief visit and there wasn't much sign that anything had changed as a result of their presence. Last time the Asgard had been forced to quickly flee the system or risk destruction, the weapons and defences of the science ship being unable to match the might of the mysterious humans that had aided the Vanir. The encounter had left many questions unanswered, the most prominent of which being why would anyone who could be their potential experiment subject ally with them? But with the arrival of the O'Neill, which boasted considerably more firepower, in the system it was hoped that those questions might soon be answered.
Exiting hyperspace in orbit of the planet, the Asgard warship quickly went to full alert, ever wary of aggressors. They had been caught by surprise before, but this time they would not be caught so unaware. Shields were raised, ion cannons charged and sensors were constantly sweeping the system searching for any signs of the forces lying in wait. From the command chair on the warships bridge Thor hailed the Vanir settlement below as well as sending out a general hail to any ships that might be in the area.
"Attention Vanir settlement and Vanir allied ships in the vicinity, this is Supreme Commander Thor. I hereby request that you immediately surrender so that no further conflict will occur between us. The science ship you encountered before was not designed for combat purposes, however the warship you see before you was and I will not hesitate to you engage you if it is deemed necessary to accomplish my mission."
"This is Frey of the Vanir," came the reply. "I say again that the Vanir are guilty of no crimes. I ask that you leave us and our allies alone."
"It is your allies who have faced us in battle thus far Frey," retorted Thor. "If you insist on hiding behind them then I think I should be speaking to them if you refuse to co-operate. I think they would be very interested to know that you have experimented on humans for the sake of your survival."
"Our allies know our true history Thor," countered Frey. "And they value their anonymity a great deal, which is why they are not talking to you. However they also value their allies, which is why they are willing to protect us from you."
"The Asgard also value our allies Frey, which is why we will see to it that you answer to the charges being brought to you. If it is proven that the Vanir have experimented on innocent humans then you will be brought to justice."
"Neither the Vanir nor our allies wish for conflict with you Thor, we wish to be left alone. However we will defend ourselves if necessary."
"Then you should prepare to defend yourselves because one way or another we will take you into custody."
In response to those words a dozen ships de-cloaked and revealed themselves, placing themselves between the O'Neill and the planet. All of them were identical to the four vessels that had attacked the Daniel Jackson several hours ago, and like before all of them immediately raised their shields and powered their weapons. The threat from both sides was obvious and the only thing stopping them from firing was that both sides were waiting to see what the other would do. The tension hung thick as both sides watched and waited, waiting for the first move to be made in a game that could result in the destruction of either side. Most likely both sides were wondering the same things. Were the enemy alone? Did they have reinforcements lying in wait, ready to strike at a moments notice? Are our own forces enough? Can we win? What's going to happen next?
Whatever the Vanir thought would happen next they probably never expected what actually did. What did happen was the Weir de-cloaked right in the middle of the two fleets, showing both her flank. To an outside observer the Weir, with her shields raised and weapons unpowered, seemed to be opposing neither side but was instead trying to step in to stop a fight before one started.
Sheppard's image joined the others on screen.
"This is Colonel John Sheppard, Commander of the Weir. Now why don't we all just sit back and talk this out."
"And who are you exactly?" enquired Frey.
"Some friends of the Asgard and the humans of this galaxy, and we would very much like to see you all get along."
"And what business is this of yours?"
"Well for one we were told first hand by some of your people how the Vanir have experimented on humans, and although we've been told this is an Asgard affair we would like to get to the bottom of this, preferably peacefully. Now personally I hope you're innocent and this has all been blown out of proportion because civil war is not fun, no matter how short it may turn out to be. So how about we sit down and talk about all this. Oh and I'm not just asking you Frey I'm also asking the humans manning those ships."
"One moment," said Frey before the transmission winked out.
For a full five minutes the coms were silent except for the hint of chatter between the Vanir settlement and the mystery fleet. Then the response came through.
"We agree to talks between our peoples," said Frey. "The Vanir and the Averians would like to formally request that you attend talks in the Vanir city. We will send you the co-ordinates shortly."
"Well nice to see we've stalled civil war for a little while," said McKay.
Sheppard, McKay, carrying his tablet, and Thor had beamed down to the planets surface for initial talks. All three of them were feeling a little out of their depth on this one, having not even heard a whisper about these people, and would have liked if Teyla or Ronon could have come along. Unfortunately both were off world helping the Athosians and the Wraith establish proper trade relations as well as sizeable farms. It was certainly interesting how peoples job requirements change over time. Of course if things got interesting for these three they could always bring in their resident court room champion. Woolsey was certainly much more used to hammering out agreements and negotiating and had the authority to do so. You had to feel sorry for the guy though seeing as he was currently in the middle of some taxing negotiations with the Wraith and the Travellers. Still if all went well today they would have two new groups to add to the alliance.
"I want you to know that I greatly appreciate your assistance in this matter," said Thor.
"Hey don't mention it Thor we want to see this matter cleared up just as much as you do," said Sheppard encouragingly. "Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this quickly."
"I hope so," said Thor.
The three of them walked down the clearly Asgard designed corridor until they came to a large room featuring a circular conference table, easily big enough to seat a dozen people, with raised seats. Already present, and seated next to each other, were a human and a Vanir. The human was easily over forty, with lines of grey creeping into to his dark but silvering hair, and wore a black military looking uniform. The Vanir had a clone body the Asgard used to feature with the exception of two cybernetic implants, one above the right eye and the other on the left side of its chest. Standing behind them against the wall was another human, in a similar military uniform with a weapon holstered on his hip, and what was presumably a Vanir wearing an armoured exoskeleton. Clearly the seated two were in charge and the ones behind them were acting as their bodyguards for these talks. The trio quickly took their seats, with McKay and Thor sitting either side of Sheppard.
"Hi," said Sheppard. "I'm Colonel John Sheppard, this is Doctor Rodney McKay and we represent the Tau'ri or Lanteans as some would call us, and of course this is Supreme Commander Thor representing the Asgard."
"Greetings," said the human in a deep voice. "I am Admiral Caius Durra of the people of Averia. I believe you are familiar with Frey, leader of the Vanir."
"Averia," said Thor, intrigued. "Is that name derived from the Ancient language?"
Durra nodded. "Yes, the name comes from the ancestral word meaning…"
"…Ark," finished Thor. "So you are the people of the Ark, most intriguing."
"And can I take the name Lantean to mean that you come from the legendary ancestral city of Atlantis?" asked Durra.
Sheppard grinned. "We have a base there and a shared ancestry, in some cases, but we're not the Ancients."
"Interesting," Durra shot back.
Sheppard smirked. He was beginning to like the Admiral, he had a sense of humour.
McKay coughed. "While I very much look forward to finding out about your people, for now can we get the whole who attacked whom business sorted out?"
Durra raised an eyebrow, his expression once again serious. "And who do you believe attacked who Doctor?"
McKay pointed an accusing finger at the Vanir guard, "Several Vanir wearing those suits attacked Atlantis and took myself and one of my colleague's prisoner."
"The Vanir have no ships available to them and we do not use our stargate in order to avoid detection, so how could we have attacked you?" asked Frey innocently.
But Thor, having interacted with beings housed in similar clone bodies for a long time now, noticed the tell tale signs that something was on Frey's mind. Even Admiral Durra seemed to thinking something in response to his words. While Thor had been observing the two Rodney had been tapping away at his tablet until he brought up an image of the Vanir ship that had attacked Atlantis so many months ago.
"This," he said revealing the image on the tablet. "Was the ship used in the attack."
Frey winced almost unnoticeably at the sight of the ship while Durra turned to look at the Vanir with suspicion.
"We also took on another two just like that one," added Sheppard. "We destroyed them and damaged a third but it fled into hyperspace."
"What were they doing?" asked Frey, who looked quite downtrodden at the moment.
Giving him the benefit of the doubt they quickly recapped how the Vanir had activated the Attero device in a bid to destroy the Wraith, how they had tracked them down, learned about their history and eventually destroyed the device. They left out a few details such as the Wraith involvement and the Travellers. The Wraith part would lead to a long explanation and would require a current status update which would take too long and the Travellers reserved their right to privacy.
"Personally I would like to know where you got the ships from, they aren't based on our designs," said Thor.
"The answer to that is simple," said Durra. "We gave them to the Vanir as a gift as part of our alliance. They were old ships based externally on a design of the ancestors and we rarely used them anymore even for transport purposes. Although I'm sure my superiors would very much like to know why they were allowed to be used in hostile actions against a neutral party," he added accusingly.
Frey sighed. "I can assure you I was not aware of the actions my father took."
"Your father?" asked Sheppard.
"Njord," answered Thor. "A great warrior in his day, and a fond believer of doing whatever was necessary to protect his people."
"When the Averians gifted us with the ships it was becoming clear we would eventually have to leave our home here," said Frey. "My father had served the Vanir people for many years but he was a warrior at heart and administration was never something he was fond of. One of the reasons I took on the mantle of leading our people was so he could do what he wanted. But he continued to serve as our military advisor for many years. He offered to take the ships and a few of his loyal followers and search for a new home for our people. I can only assume that using some records from when the Ancients were still around that he was led to the Attero device."
"What happened to him?" asked Thor.
"He died," Frey simply stated.
When it became clear he didn't want to say anymore Durra continued for him.
"The ship he was on eventually made it back to this system, which at the time was already under our protection. It seemed that the battle must have caused some significant damage to his power core. I can only assume some of the excess energy damaged the generator when his shields were weakened as he made the transition to hyperspace. When he finally opened a window and re-entered real space his reactor went critical and the ship exploded. The last transmission we detected was, 'Tell my son I did what I had to for our people.'"
Everyone took a moment to consider this. It meant that the Vanir as a people were innocent of the attack and those responsible were long since dead. The Travellers would certainly be pleased at having destroyed all of those responsible for the destruction of their colony and the death of over 3000 people. But one question still remained unanswered.
"What about Njord's claims that you have experimented on live humans?" enquired Thor.
"Oh that's certainly true," said Durra with a small smile as if he alone knew the joke. "It was my people they experimented on."