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.
I would like to thank AlexanderD for all his help and i strongly recomend reading his story New Dawn. I hope he likes the character named after him Admiral Alec Xander.
For those of you interested in what some of the ships featured in this story look like here are a few sketches on photobucket: .com/albums/ae166/Senrab_Nomis/
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: I think i will surprise you with the way this chapter is going to go. Be prepared to be shocked and amazed by the time you reach the end.
Shadows-of-Realm: You may believe so but not everyone does apparently. Time to find out who's right.
Hydroplatypus: Maybe, maybe not, you'll just have to read and find out.
the brown cow: Sentinels are 1500 metre long escorts in the shape of super sized cruisers.
s-david-m: You'll see.
Andriabow: Who knows, oh wait me. Read on and you shall find out.
WarshipWar: A good story needs balance between action and intrigue, be it political or otherwise. The reality is that people will try to avoid war if it is possible and it is something the Tau'ri have tried to avoid if they can. Peace will always be the first option, but that doesn't mean circumstances will allow it to happen. I would be happy to discuss this with you further so i invite you to create an account so we can message each other.
Scourge75: The galaxy isn't in the state where there is a need for constant action just yet. As i have said before peace is the prefered option but not necesarily the one that gets settled for. Your right, they aren't that good, they can't simply talk a race into submission which is why they remind people of the power they wield to make people realize that peace is the better option.
Arima – Bridge
"Do you think this is really possible?" asked Echidna.
"Honestly?" asked Sheppard, in holographic form.
Echidna nodded. "Honestly."
"The way I see it this is the same situation we found ourselves in when we encountered the Averians," said Sheppard. "They hate what the Wraith used to be but if it saves lives then they were willing to try to make it work."
"Nobody wants to go to war if they don't have to," said Echidna, sinking back into her chair.
"Not if it saves the lives of their people," agreed Sheppard.
"If we use the same briefing you gave to the Averians then I think it should convince them," said Todd.
"If it isn't broke don't fix it, as you humans say," said Typhoeus.
"Now we just need to hear their reply," said Sheppard.
"It helps to have their leader present in the field," said Typhoeus.
The others looked at him.
"I used to be an Alteran remember," he said with a grin. "Etere, it means Eternal. Add that to name Zarin and it looks like we have the leader of the Zarasian Empire in our midst."
"An imperial monarchy led by a family whose founder thought it was their right to rule over the galaxy," said Sheppard. "I wonder how far the apple falls from the tree."
"And what does that mean?" asked Echidna irritably.
Sheppard winced. The Matriarch was clearly under a lot of stress and slightly obscure cultural references were not something that was going to help her mood.
"Sorry," he said apologetically. "Basically it means that the descendent may not be like the ancestor."
"In other words he may not be a power hungry genocidal maniac," said Echidna dryly.
"We can only hope," said Typhoeus, placing a comforting hand on Echidna's arm which she felt through the mental link.
"The news we gave them seems to have certainly lit a fire under them," said Sheppard. "We've detected plenty of chatter between their ships, and a lot coming from their flagship going out into space."
"Hopefully they aren't calling for reinforcements," said Echidna.
"Don't worry our deep space sensors show no other ships heading our way," Sheppard assured her.
"Ah for small mercy's," muttered Echidna.
"If they try anything mother with our allies at our side we will be able to easily deal with them," said Todd.
"Our fleet isn't going anywhere for the time being," added Sheppard. "And the Zarasian fleet is showing no signs of going anywhere. For now we just have to wait."
"When will the rest of your ships arrive?" asked Todd.
"They should be at Celestia pretty soon but they are still several hours from here," said Sheppard. "We figured something like this might happen though which is why the 306 fleet went on ahead. If it comes down to it they have plenty of firepower to deal with the enemy out their without their escorts. Add the Asgard fleet to that and I doubt the Zarasians will try anything."
A name had finally been decided on for the new Tau'ri space station Celestia, while the AI would be called Celeste.
"Please thank the Asgard for their presence here for me," requested Echidna.
"Thor said you might say that," said Sheppard with a grin. "He said to say the Asgard are your allies."
"Nonetheless it is appreciated," Echidna assured him. "I don't trust the Zarasians intentions."
"The Averians are also just as concerned mother," said Todd. "They do not place much faith in the idea that the Zarasians have changed from the ideals of their founder."
"That's why we are here," said Sheppard. "The Tau'ri and the Asgard are going to act as mediators in this dispute, assuming a meeting even takes place."
"A dispute," said Echidna dryly. "That's one way to describe this situation I suppose."
"Minister Jakose should be arriving soon," said Sheppard, ignoring the last comment.
"Let us hope the talks proceed then," said Echidna. "Otherwise he will have had a wasted trip."
On the surface the planets stargate activated and a sleek looking craft shot out of the shimmering event horizon, drive pods extending from the sides. The craft was the Averians version of a puddle jumper and with its smooth lines and pointed nose the craft was reminiscent of a British Javelin train, hence the nickname Javelin the Tau'ri had gifted it. Gracefully the craft rose through the atmosphere and into the icy depths of space. Quickly traversing the distance the Javelin soon found itself amongst the gathered fleet of Wraith and Averian ships standing guard over the world. Heading to the designated Averian flagship the craft came to rest in the ships hanger. Once she had landed the rear hatch lowered and Jakose and Sovaer exited.
Walking through the ship the two slowly made their way to the command bridge.
"Not even a welcoming party to greet us," noted Sovaer.
"I told the commander to remain on the bridge," said Jakose. "If something happens they will need him there."
"Well well old friend, you have certainly picked up a few tricks," said Sovaer, impressed at his friend's military thinking.
"A need of necessity in these troubled times," noted Jakose.
"Yes," admitted Sovaer. "You know I still don't like this. I don't trust those people."
"I know old friend but if they are willing to talk then so am I."
"I still don't like it," said Sovaer doubtfully. "They already attacked us once. Who is to say they won't do it again."
"They will not attack us now," Jakose assured him. "Not with our allies at our side. Once we sit down and talk about this then there will be no more need for fighting."
"So what are we going to do if they choose not to talk?" asked Sovaer sceptically. "We're just assuming they will. We're hoping we can just sit around a table and peacefully talk about everything that has happened and come to an agreement."
"Sometimes all we can is have faith that people will see reason," said Jakose. "We have to hope that they wish as much for no bloodshed as we do."
"It's not safe," Sovaer stated adamantly.
"That is why you are with me," Jakose pointed out. "Hopefully though you won't need to put your upgrades to use."
"They'll regret if they do," said Sovaer, with a predatory gleam in his eye. "Of that I will make certain."
Jakose smiled. "Well I hope it doesn't come down to that, for their sake."
Weir – Bridge
An hour had passed and still nothing from the Zarasians.
"Colonel Sheppard," said Zarin. "I have news for you."
"Good news I hope," said Sheppard lightly.
Zarin smiled. "Indeed. On behalf of my people I wish to propose we meet for peace talks we do not wish for war."
"I am very glad to hear that," said Sheppard. "Where should we do this?"
"A neutral location I think," said Zarin. "There is an uninhabited planet not far from here that can be reached by stargate. I'm sending you the location."
"You'll understand if we wish to send our fleet there to check it out," said Sheppard in what he hoped was a reasonable tone of voice.
"Of course," said Zarin. "I will be redeploying my own fleet there so that we are out of Wraith territory."
"We'll see you there then," said Sheppard.
The transmission cut out, and it seemed like peace was but a talk away.
Celestia
With their work done the Asgard fleet departed, the station was finally complete. All the work that the Asgard had put into it in the past week, working night and day, had culminated in this finished technological marvel. Now that it was complete crewmen were pouring into the station to provide the crew necessary to allow it to operate at maximum efficiency. The station had originally been slated to be the Midway replacement and as such all the new crew were to arrive through the stargate the station was supposed to be equipped with. This meant that a different approach was needed to send the new crew across.
The solution was actually quite simple. The station still had the gate room, minus the stargates, and the transport receiver for that gate room. By shunting additional power into the device transmitting to that receiver, a lot of additional power, they could transport someone from the mining world command complex to the station.
The first of the crewman to arrive were the command crew and engineers, all of whom wore space suits based off the Vanir versions since the power had yet to be turned on. They slowly made their way through the station, grateful for the fact that the doors weren't sealed and in the case of the engineers a little annoyed that they would have to slog it through most of the station on foot. Eventually though the engineers arrived at engineering and began to bring the generators online. The secondary naquadah generators were the first ones to come online, they needed them online to provide power to the monitoring stations before they brought the primary neutrino-ion generators online. With those providing a minimum amount of power to the station the command crew could finally get some lights on in the control room.
With minimum power available to them the command crew started to bring online the main computer core while the engineering team brought online the primary generators. As the full power of the primary generators became available the first signs of life of the station became apparent as the running lights of the station lit up along the outer hull. Throughout the corridors of the station a wave of light stretched out as power flooded through the corridors bringing the metallic hulk to life. From the open windows of the station more lights joined those along the hull. In minutes the station went from being a lifeless hulk to a throbbing beating heart of raw power.
With power being sent to every corner of the station they could finally bring the lone Pegasus stargate online. The reason they hadn't done so before, or arrived using it, was because with power offline throughout the entire station there was no artificial gravity, a fact that was bound to cause problems if they had attempted it. Now that all systems were go they could use the gate to bring the rest of the stations crewmen onboard. Slowly the procession of people, and their luggage, made their way through from Valley Forge to their new home.
The world below was a rather barren rock that was, nevertheless, hospitable to human life even to this day and as such had been gifted with a stargate so many years ago. The world was like the rest of the system, bare and mostly uninteresting. One distinctive feature about this system however was the large ion cloud around the planet that played merry hell with sensors whenever you tried to scan it. It seemed the cloud had such a high magnetic field that even the most powerful sensors were ineffective. Ironically since the cloud did not completely cover the planet so there was a sizeable gap to allow for a scan of the barren world below.
The fleet of ships sitting in orbit around the planet could easily scan the entire world with their powerful sensors. The combined fleet of Asgard and Tau'ri warships sat patiently waiting for the Zarasian fleet to catch them up. Even though they were still travelling through hyperspace the Zarasians were being constantly monitored to make sure they didn't deviate from the agreed location. So far they had remained true to their word.
It wasn't long before the fleet emerged from hyperspace on the far side of the ion cloud. Slowly they passed through it, each one momentarily vanishing from sensors like a phantom only to reappear again as they emerged from the electrical cloud. Eventually the entire fleet was sitting in orbit around the planet across from the Tau'ri and Asgard fleet. Arriving shortly after came the Wraith and Averian flagships. The Arima and her sentinels fell into formation with their allies, while the lone Averian warship slipped out of a cavity within the Wraith flagship that was usually reserved solely for sentinels.
Having already been in the system for some time now the Tau'ri and Asgard had had plenty of opportunity to set up a meeting place on the planets surface. Given that they didn't want to have to spend too much time on this planet and they only needed somewhere they could sit and talk a large tent had been erected near the stargate to keep out the wind. The tent had been decked out with a large circular conference table and chairs, since nothing more was deemed necessary.
From the gathered ships a small group of shuttle like craft began to descend into the atmosphere and gently came to rest around the tent. One Wraith transport, one Averian Javelin and a predatory looking shuttle, not unlike a much smaller version of the transport shuttle used by the Tau'ri, from the Zarasian Empire landed on the ground. The Tau'ri delegates, Richard Woolsey and Colonel Sheppard, were already present, as was the Asgard representative Thor.
From the transport craft emerged the representatives of their respective races, Jakose and Sovaer from the Averians, Echidna from the Wraith and Zarin from the Zarasians.
Standing guard around the tent were a dozen marines of the Tau'ri, each one of them clad in tempest battle armour and gripping an assault rifle. They were there as a message to the Zarasians that even at this stage treachery would not be tolerated. As a sign of trust though an honour guard belonging to the Wraith and the Zarasians were also present, but they would not be allowed near the tent for obvious reasons. The two former Wraith drones and two genetically engineered soldiers of the Zarasians stood opposite each other. The Wraith drones stared at the other warriors, remembering a time when they had not been much different, before they had been gifted with their mental freedom. In the case of the cyborg troopers however there was not even a flicker of emotion on their faces, they stared forward coldly, waiting for further instructions. The only lone ranger amongst the gathered guards was Sovaer, who had opted to stand away from both parties. He was staring intently at the closed tent entrance, his gaze never wavering.
Once everyone was seated around the table and introductions had been made the peace talks could finally begin.
"So," said Zarin lightly, keeping his features neutral. "I believe you have an interesting tale you wish to tell."
"Interesting is certainly one way of looking at it," said Sheppard. "But I think the term you are actually thinking of is unbelievable."
"Yes," admitted Zarin. "It is rather unbelievable I must confess. However I think you will have more to show me than a little cosmetic alteration on a single Wraith queen."
"I am not a queen," said Echidna sternly. "I am a Matriarch. I rule over all Wraith in existence, not just a few on a single hive."
"My apologies," said Zarin sincerely. "I meant no disrespect."
"Just don't test my patience," Echidna warned him.
"Of course," said Zarin calmly.
"Now as I was about to say we do have more evidence," said Woolsey, tapping on the tablet in front of him. "This is a recording of our first meeting with the Matriarch."
Projected from the dome like disc in the centre of the table a two dimensional image appeared and began to play the first meeting they had had with Echidna. As the recording played Zarin could only stare at the projection with rapt attention.
"That's was the condensed version of the Wraiths history," explained Woolsey, when the recording paused.
"How did you come to control the entire Wraith collective?" Zarin asked Echidna. "The Arima?"
"Retaking the Arima was an important step," explained Echidna. "But the gift the Tau'ri gave me was the most vital."
"How exactly?" asked Zarin, curious.
"Watch and see," said Echidna, nodding to Woolsey.
The image switched to show Echidna receiving the treatment that removed her ability to feed on humans and restored her ability to eat regular food.
"They changed you so easily?" asked Zarin, surprised.
"They have the technology," said Thor.
The image changed once again to show the Arima recovery operation, where Echidna offered her children an ultimatum and the Tau'ri displayed the power they had at their disposal. Just as they had when they had been viewed by the Averians the recordings both showed that the Tau'ri backed Echidna and her cured children and also gave a small glimpse to the technology they had available to them.
"So it was as simple as that?" asked Zarin sceptically. "Somehow I find it hard to believe that the Wraith would just fall into line and give up being the dominant power in the galaxy."
"Not all agreed to the terms I gave them," said Echidna, her expression a mixture of emotions as she spoke. "Those that did not were dealt with."
"All of them?" asked Zarin. "There must have been many like those two that would have preferred to remain in power."
Echidna had only one response to that. "Show him."
This time the image showed not a complete picture, but an image seen from multiple angles. This was the battle against the traitor twins where the last Wraith resistance against the new order had been annihilated. The images had been collected from the recordings made by the Weir, the O'Neill and even some of the Averian warships. As the recordings went on Zarin saw as the entire armada that was the twins fleet was steadily overcome and destroyed through a combination of sneak attacks, ambushes and overwhelming brute force. Eventually, as the last of the enemy ships were destroyed, the recordings combined again into a single image. This image showed how the twins had attempted to escape only to be found and captured by Echidna with the assistance of the Asgard.
"So the threat is gone," concluded Zarin.
He looked at the Asgard. "I presume the warship seen in those recordings was one of yours?"
Thor nodded.
"I thought as much," said Zarin. "An impressive vessel you have there, very impressive."
"Thank you," said Thor politely.
"That was definitely the last of them?" asked Zarin. "My people have nothing to fear from the Wraith?"
"The last of the rebel forces have been eliminated," said Sheppard.
"In their arrogance my daughters ensured their own downfall," added Echidna.
"Then I am glad to hear that," said Zarin. "And I am sorry for attacking your people. I deeply regret the loss of life that incurred as a result and I assure you that had I known what I know now I would not have authorised the attack.
Echidna nodded begrudgingly.
"However" Zarin continued. "I believe there is still another matter that needs to be discussed."
He looked across the table at Jakose, who had been staring at the Zarasian the entire time. The expression on Jakose's face was a mixture of calm, coldness and a hint of dislike. Now for the first time he chose to speak.
"I assume you mean the attack by your people on mine," said Jakose coldly.
Everyone knew this was going to be a turning point in the talks. They had gotten past the first hurdle, and the attack on the Wraith was arguably understandable if admittedly regrettable. However the attack on Hope was not something that could just be written off as an unfortunate mistake.
"Yes, I am sorry," said Zarin.
"You are sorry," said Jakose, his tone still icy.
"Yes," repeated Zarin. "Unfortunately I was given the wrong information at the time and the attack was deemed necessary."
"And what information did you receive that necessitated the deaths of my people?" asked Jakose in a dangerously low voice.
"It came to my attention that you had allied yourself with the Wraith," Zarin snapped back. "It seems I can say with some certainty now that it wasn't wrong."
There was silence after that last outburst. For a moment everyone thought the two of them were going to leap across the table and attack each other. Before that could happen though Jakose dropped his head into his hands and let out a long sigh.
"That alliance," Jakose said slowly. "Was for the purpose of eliminating the traitor twins, as people call them, and it was the Matriarch."
"As I said before," said Zarin, having lost the brunt of his anger. "I was not aware that the Wraith had been cured of their hunger at the time. I'm…sorry."
Jakose glared at him. "You have been saying that a lot lately."
"What else can I say?" Zarin asked angrily. "I cannot change what has been done."
"You can say that it will never happen again," said Jakose coldly. "You can say that you will never again lash out blindly on innocents. You can say that you are not the same as your ancestor."
Zarin nodded. "It will never happen again. I am not my ancestor Minister I am something new. At the time what he thought was foolish and short sighted, and I do not think the same way as he did. I want what is best for my people Minister and I am willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure that future."
Jakose nodded grimly. "My people will not be so ready to trust yours after all that has happened."
"Indeed," said Zarin. "Perhaps…"
He trailed off as a distant rumble became audible, just on the edge of hearing.
"What is that?" he asked.
"I don't know," said Sheppard as he rose from his seat. "But I'm going to find out."
He tapped his ear piece. "Weir, what's happening up there?"
"Colonel, six unidentified objects just appeared out of the ion cloud and have descended into the atmosphere. Sir…they're heading your way."
Sheppard ran out of the tent, with the others quickly following and looked up at the sky to see six burning shapes plummeting towards them. It was hard to tell from the rather steep angle they were descending at but it did appear that the objects, whatever they were, were slowing down. As they came closer and their speed dropped significantly the shape of the objects became more apparent. They appeared to be large metallic pods with spiked prongs emerging from their sides. Finally the objects hit the ground, still travelling at break neck speeds, landing in a hexagonal formation around the tent and the assembled transport craft.
The shockwave caused by their landing was enough to knock the feet out from under everyone and the dust wave thrown up temporarily blinded them as it billowed over them.
With a series of groans people slowly rose to their feet.
"What the hell?" asked Sheppard.
"Good question," muttered Sovaer, slowly looking around.
His eyes widened.
"Incoming hostiles," he yelled, pulling out a plasma pistol.
His warning was rendered rather moot when a hail of green energy bolts tore into the tent and the ground around them.
From out of the dust came a wave of troops clad in dark leather and wearing black helmets that completely hid their faces. Not a single piece of skin was exposed to the open air.
"Weir, emergency beam out," Sheppard yelled over the sounds of the fire fight now taking place.
"…strong…magnetic…from…can't…a lock…" came the garbled reply.
"Damn it," Sheppard swore. Those pods must have been blocking their transporters, as well as screwing up communications.
"We need to fall back to the transports," Sheppard yelled, as he opened fire with his side arm at the nearest hostile.
"Small problem with that," Sovaer yelled back.
He was right, they were surrounded, and right now the majority of the enemy troops were on either side of the transports. So far they were holding them off, with the tempest clad marines giving much more than were taking.
"I'm going to try to push through," Zarin yelled, running forwards with his honour guard before anyone could stop him.
Jakose looked at Sovaer before nodding and the pair set off after them.
The rest were quick to follow, seeing no other option at this point. With the Zarasians and Averians leading the charge by a good distance the group moved forwards towards the transports, cutting down the opposition as they went.
For a while it seemed like they were making progress, advancing closer and closer to the transports. Then out of nowhere a group of enemy soldiers appeared from around the sides of the middle transport and counter charged. Caught unawares Zarin's guard were quickly cut down by the hail of firepower. Turning instinctively to face the threat Sovaer was struck by a charging enemy in his blindside. Winded and knocked to the ground Sovaer struggled to shake off his heavy opponent as he realised in horror that his principle was being dragged away by another one of the brutes.
Seeing the enemy soldiers hastily retreating with Jakose in their arms Zarin sprinted after them wielding a plasma pistol. He made it about ten feet away before he took a hit to the leg that knocked him to the ground. In a fit of rage Sovaer rolled himself and his opponent over and drew out his knife, proceeding to stab the enemy in the throat. Not even bothering to pick up his pistol he ran after the retreating figures that had by now ran almost all the way to the nearest pod.
The rest of the group were busy trying to keep their group together, get to the transports and collect Zarin. After Jakose had been snatched the rest of the enemy had moved to form a wall between them and him, and it was working. They were completely cut off from them and they were desperately dragging Zarin to his transport, which ironically happened to be the closest. Luckily the pilots were all still present in their respective craft, the only problem was they could only batten down the hatches until the passengers arrived else they would allow the enemy access to them.
The soldiers dragging a beaten and bruised Jakose had just about reached the pod but Sovaer was sprinting as fast as he could go to reach them before that happened. Just as they made it between the support legs he caught up with them, diving into the group as rings emerged from the pods underbelly to swallow them up. In a flash of light the group was gone, and the pods engines powered up. Thrusters in the legs forced the prongs out of the ground and before anyone even realised it the pod had lifted away from the planet.
At some unspoken signal the rest of the enemy soldiers turned and ran to their pods. The members of the peace talk were in no mood to chase after them, they had wounded to take care of and the priority was to get their people to safety. As they were dragging their wounded into the transports the last of the pods took off from the surface. As for the soldiers that had been killed or otherwise incapacitated, they were consumed by fire as self destruct devices activated by remote leaving no remains to recover.
The pods quickly rose from the surface, into the upper atmosphere and out into space again. At Sheppard's warning that there were captives in one of those pods the amassed fleet did not open fire on them, instead they attempted to surround them. But the nimble craft headed straight towards the Zarasian fleet, confident in their ability to evade the bulky vessels, and they were right. Nimbly they slipped around the large craft forcing them to give chase. When they entered the ion cloud though they disappeared from sensors and strangely failed to reappear on the other side the combined fleet took position around the cloud to surround them, and yet there was no sign of movement. Suddenly sensors detected a sudden pulse of energy from within the ion cloud and a piece in the middle suddenly vanished from sensors. There was only one discernable conclusion that they could make, a ship had jumped into hyperspace and the gap had been caused by the hyperspace window opening. The lack of detection could be a sign that the ship was cloaked. Even if this wasn't the case the pods were definitely not in the cloud which meant Jakose and Sovaer were gone.
Shaken by this sudden change of events the gathered ships went their separate ways, uncertain as to what to do next. The injured had been returned to their respective vessels so it seemed like there was nothing more to do, for now. The peace talks certainly couldn't continue, not with the leader of a world MIA.
Celestia - One hour later
In the gate room the stargate activated. This didn't surprise the gate room crew that much since it was probably another batch of supplies from Valley Forge. What they were not expecting was the large metallic orb that soared out of the event horizon and eventually halted in the middle of room. If anyone were standing near it they would be able to hear a low hum as the device powered up and a blue field shimmered around it. Suddenly the field expanded on all sides like a wave of energy, stretching out to strike the gate technicians and continuing on. On contact with the wave the technicians collapsed, the wave having rendered them unconscious.
From the still active stargate soldiers poured out of the event horizon like a flood. Each of them looked almost identical to the other, dressed in dark leathers and black helmets and carrying energy rifles.
Go on admit it, you thought it was going to be easy for them. Please Review.