Weir – Bridge
"Who are you and what do you want?" Sheppard demanded of the intruders.
By now the bridge was filled with the ships security forces, all of whom were pointing particle magnums at the intruders. Railgun rifles were out of the question inside a space ship.
"I'm Janus and this is Oma and Morgan," Janus replied. "I trust you've heard of us?"
"Yes I have, we all have as it happens," Sheppard said. "Now what do you want?"
"Would you mind having your people lower their weapons?" Oma requested.
"Why?" McKay asked. "It's not like they can hurt you."
"You're right they can't and while I'm sure it helps you humans relax I don't think it a good idea when we're standing in front of a large window," Oma replied. "Then of course there is the visual created since we're here to help."
"Holster them," Sheppard ordered. "Now once again what do you want? The ascended do not just stop by for a chat, especially not ascended with your reputations."
"We have reputations?" Janus asked intrigued.
"The spiritual guide, the mad scientist and the freedom fighter," Sheppard said. "And I'm really not willing to repeat myself again."
The ascended paused as they took in the titles they had been given. Now matter how hard they thought about it they really couldn't deny that they were appropriate.
"You're aware that we offered to help the Liberum?" Morgan asked.
"Yes," McKay said, adding his voice to the conversation.
"Well you should know that we decided to go a little further than that," Morgan said.
"What are you planning to do?" Sheppard asked, unable to keep the sound of hope from his voice.
Janus frowned. "Actually we already did it, or rather we tried to."
"Go on," McKay prompted.
"We…tried to kill Zarin when he turned up on his flagship," Janus admitted.
"So what happened?" Sheppard asked. "You end up taking someone else down with him that you didn't intend to?"
"No, we failed," Morgan replied.
In the silence that followed you could hear a pin drop.
"How did you manage to fail?" Sheppard asked, shocked. "No wait don't tell me…the others intervened."
"Not exactly," Janus said. "One particular individual intervened and stopped all three of us. We put everything we had into getting past him and at Zarin and we couldn't even touch him."
"How is that even possible?" McKay asked. "Three ascended beings against one should have been no contest. Your powers should have been about the same."
"They should have but they weren't," Morgan said. "Somehow Vejovis, that's his name by the way, has been drawing powers from human followers in this galaxy to boost his own. Just like the Ori did."
"But surely the other Ancients would have done something about that if he's supposed to be one of you?" McKay asked.
"He's been hiding his strength," Oma said. "We all only just learned of it recently."
"Look I'm grateful that you three are willing to stick your necks out like this but I have to ask what this has to do with us," Sheppard said. "The way I see it we still have a war to fight and you aren't being allowed to change that by the others."
"Not the others, one individual. A fact which has a lot to do with you because it means that on top of everything else Zarin has an ascended being in his corner. Vejovis didn't do this because of the rules but of his own free will he wants to see Zarin succeed."
"So why hasn't he interfered before now?" Sheppard asked.
"Probably because he doesn't need to," McKay said. "The man is flying around on a twenty kilometre warship that could conquer a planet on its own. He doesn't need an ascended to help him, just to make sure other ascended beings don't try and stop him."
"You're right," Janus said. "However we do want to stop him and we need your help to do that. We can't stop Vejovis but you can."
"How?" Sheppard asked. "Tell us how and we'll do it."
"Then tell me why the others won't interfere," Thor said as he walked onto the bridge. The Asgardian had come aboard earlier to debrief the SPECTREs. "My old allies have made their stance on interfering quite clear."
"Hello Supreme Commander," Janus said. "And to answer your question they seem to be a little relaxed on dealing with individuals as of late. Adria, Anubis, they didn't mind seeing the back of them. We should be able to take out Zarin but you're right they won't like us simply removing the Zarasians from the board entirely."
"That will be down to you," Morgan said.
"Not an easy task," Thor noted. "Though Zarins removal will upset the Zarasian command structure."
"So how do we weaken Vejovis?" Sheppard asked.
"How much do you know about the Ori?" Morgan asked. "Specifically how they acquire power."
"They sap the energy from their followers I believe," McKay said. "That allows them to obtain more power than they would naturally have."
"Yes that is basically it," Morgan said. "However there are limitations. They essentially tap the followers like batteries, acquiring a miniscule amount in comparison to their natural stores. But if the flow isn't constant then they will run out of power because they can't store it. There is also a range limit to the power flow so Vejovis can only draw from followers in the same galaxy as him. That is the reason the Ori needed to convert your galaxy if they were to defeat us."
"So you want us to remove the followers from this galaxy or at least show them the truth," Sheppard surmised.
"Correct."
"Now why do I get the feeling you know where the base is?"
"Because we do," Janus said.
"How?" Sheppard said.
Janus looked at his fellow ascended.
"You might as well tell them," Morgan said. "We all know you want to show off your genius."
"It was a team effort but I'll explain," Janus said. "We accessed supply records for the war with the Wraith. We put the pieces together and discovered that Vejovis, along with an ally of his named Cura, secretly kept two outposts active despite claiming that they were deliberately destroyed."
"Accessed where exactly…" McKay asked with that look in his eye when he thinks he is about to find out some revolutionary technology.
"Our central database," Janus replied.
"The central database is the one that was originally on Atlantis right?" McKay replied.
"Yes it is."
"But I've been through that database a thousand times and there were no such records," McKay argued. "ISIS never found them in her copy either."
"Not that you could see there weren't."
"You hid it?!"
"Of course, you don't think we would leave all of our records and technological secrets for anyone to find did you?"
McKay pouted. "Well no but it would have been nice to know about it."
"You'll never be able to access the hidden database even if you do know about it. Not without our help anyway, and no I'm not going to just give it to you."
"Why not?" McKay complained. "Some of that stuff could really help us."
"Because you don't need it," Janus argued. "You have the technology of the Asgard already and you've built upon that. Our technology wouldn't add much that you don't already have or can't learn yourselves eventually. You know how to charge a ZPM and eventually you'll discover how to make one. You have drones which don't have phase technology but have everything else and eventually will even have that. Your race is advancing in leaps and bounds already. You don't need us to tell you things you can discover for yourselves."
"And now back to the matter at hand," Sheppard said. "Where are these two outposts?"
"One of them is on Averia," Janus said.
"You mean the one that they discovered in that mountain?" Sheppard interrupted.
"Yes."
"So that woman in the recording was this Cura."
"Correct," Oma said. "The other is in Zarasian territory. We'll give you the co-ordinates."
"Oh great," McKay said. "I knew it was too good to be true."
"So you're sending us into the lions den," Sheppard summarised.
"Vejovis won't have the Zarasians on his side," Janus said. "Vejovis is in Zarins corner not the other way round. He may be protecting Zarin but Zarin isn't protecting him."
"So just Atlantis level defences for us to deal with?"
"I didn't say it was going to be easy."
"What information can you give us on the outpost and its defences?" Thor asked.
"Its location," Oma replied.
"That's all?" McKay complained. "There could be anything waiting there for us."
"We'd have to take this entire fleet, plus the Sagittarius, with us to cover all the bases," Sheppard added.
"As a minimum," Thor agreed.
"I'm sorry," Oma said sincerely. "But there is a limit to what we can do. Anymore would only give Vejovis leverage to use against us and stop this before it even begins."
"You mean the others don't object to Vejovis going to the dark side?" Sheppard asked.
"Ascended politics is…complicated," Oma said uncomfortably.
"Well I can understand that at least."
"The co-ordinates are in your computer," Janus said. "Good luck."
With that the three ascended vanished. One moment they were there and the next they were gone. It was as if they had never even been there at all.
Doom Bringer
"You know Azamoth," Zarin said casually. "Sometimes I wonder whether I give you far too much freedom."
"I'm sorry Etere," Azamoth said, not willing to look his leader in the eye.
"Oh don't be Azamoth. This happens to be one of the times where I am happy with the direction you took."
Azamoth looked up sharply. "You are?"
Zarin chuckled. "You need to think more long term my Cyber Lord. They may have seen your latest little creation but you scared them with its very existence. Never underestimate the power of fear Azamoth. Scare the enemy enough with what you could do and you need not fight at all. You also found a way to detect their infiltrators."
"Thank you Etere but there is something you should know," Azamoth replied nervously.
"Oh?"
"The SPECTREs acquired the control device used on the stage one prototype," Azamoth explained. "They may be able to deduce from that how we turned the population of our latest conquest against them."
Zarin frowned. "That is a pity but no matter."
"Etere?"
"Remember that the control devices were never originally meant for infiltration purposes, merely bringing the natives under control while we consolidate our position. Though I am pleased that you came up with such a creative use for them their end purpose remains unchanged."
"Of course Etere, but won't this affect our plans?"
"Not in the least bit. When we begin to use the strings on mass against target worlds then they will be discovered anyway. Now they just have another reason to be afraid." Zarin smiled a predatory grin. "If we use enough of them then we won't even need to land a single reaper. Entire worlds will tear themselves apart as the people find themselves fighting their own instead of an enemy."
Zarins monologue was interrupted by a glowing mass of light appearing in the room.
"Remember your task Zarin," Vejovis said, scowling at the human in front of him. "The destruction of the Wraith and the unification of this galaxy under one power is your goal. You are not to harm innocents."
"My apologies ancestor," Zarin said sincerely. "What is it you would have us do?"
"Serve your purpose and eventually my children," Vejovis replied. "Use the strings to bring the populations under control until my children are ready to take up their mantle but do not employ their victims as a weapon. There was a reason I had you program them to preserve life Azamoth, remember that."
"Of course ancestor," Azamoth replied, bowing his head once more.
"You creations are exceptional. Using the offspring of the Wraith against them is a masterstroke and one I very much approve of."
"In that case might I request that you allow us to use them against our enemies?" Zarin requested.
"Hmm, very well then. It would be a fitting method to destroy the Wraith, though I doubt that you really need it with the forces at your disposal. The number of reapers on this ship alone is several times the entire population of the Wraith. Remember their purpose. The strings are needed to control the human populations until my children are ready to take up their role. Serve your purpose and you will retain your position as leader of the military and you Azamoth will be allowed to continue your research."
"Thank you ancestor, but what about our other enemies?"
"Those who stand with the Wraith after all their kind have done will share their fate. Do what you will with them but remember that you still need to unify this galaxy."
"I will ancestor."
"Pegasus is your testing ground Zarin. Succeed here and you will go even further, there are other galaxies out there that I intend to see brought back into the fold. My people's former capital not so long ago is located in a galaxy thousands of times bigger than this one. When you finish here and my children take control of the humans that will be your next task will be to seize that one."
"That will not be an easy task. That galaxy is a long way from here and will take time for my forces to get to."
"It is a future project Zarin not an immediate concern. Your ships may require a long time to get there but a ship like this one can make it there in a matter of days. When my children finally reveal themselves you will also have superior technology to aid you."
"Of course ancestor, but you should know that there is a more pressing concern in this galaxy that hinders our progress. Many worlds have been discovered to be lacking populations despite signs that they were recently inhabited. I suspect that our enemies have been moving them to another location out of our reach."
"You know I cannot do anything about that Zarin," Vejovis snapped, sparks flaring about his body. "This is your problem not mine. If you cannot search a small galaxy like this one then you will most certainly fail to take one far larger. Perhaps your usefulness is coming to an end?"
"No ancestor," Zarin spluttered. Normally he wasn't afraid of anything but he knew that an ascended being was capable of vaporising him with a thought, and Vejovis was far more powerful than a regular ascended. "I merely meant that it would be faster if I knew where they are. I remember that there are rules that limit your involvement."
"Rules that will no longer concern me when my children take control," Vejovis replied. "But for now they are necessary. The others are not all in agreement with what I have planned but when eventually their own rules will stop them from interfering. You should know though Zarin that not all of them obey the rules, I had to save you quite recently."
Zarin visibly paled, after all he had done to cheat death and achieve a form of immortality he was powerless against an ascended. "They tried to kill me?"
"Tried and failed. They know now that I am too powerful and that I won't let you be stopped. Your task will be completed."
"Thank you ancestor. But won't they try and find other ways to interfere?"
"Of course," Vejovis replied, as though it were obvious. "And I fully expect them to. But you need not worry about them, I am already using their interference to my advantage. For every move they make against you I will have leverage to convince the others to let me restore balance and help you."
"What will you give us?" Azamoth asked. His curiosity at the prospect of acquiring Alteran technology allowed him to temporarily overcome his fear of upsetting this all powerful being.
"Not technology," Vejovis replied. "The rules will not allow it, but I can give you something equivalent to what they give your enemies."
"Thank you ancestor. Would that maybe include a location of an inhabited world where the humans have been moved to?"
"No. I can tell you for nothing that attacking that world would be foolish. It houses civilians of powerful races, some of whom were once my people's allies. If you anger them by harming their civilians you will be in for a world of pain that will jeopardise the return of my race to power. If that happens then I will finish you myself, am I clear?"
"Yes ancestor. But if I not able to attack that world how will unite the galaxy?"
"Stick to your original plan. Strike fear into the hearts of your enemies with your capabilities and they will not want to fight you. They will surrender rather than fight and incur terrible losses. Besides there are other targets for you to attack that are already known to you."
"Yes ancestor."
"Very good, now I have matters to attend to. My brethren are making their moves and I need to make my own in response."
Vejovis vanished in a flash.
"He is not quite what I expected," Azamoth said.
"He is an all powerful being that can destroy both of us with a twitch of his finger," Zarin replied. "What did you expect?"
"He is a contradiction, he wants us to crush the enemy and yet save the civilians. He wants us to destroy the Wraith even though they are no longer a threat and yet he will not have us anger his people's former allies who are a threat."
"He wants to reunite the galaxy," Zarin explained. "His people once dominated not only this galaxy but others as well. He seeks to restore that order and will use us to do this. But he also wants to see the end of the Wraith who he despises. I told you before Azamoth we have a task to fulfil. You and I will either remain the leaders of the Zarasians, the military arm of the new Alteran Empire, or we will die."
"We cannot fail Etere. They cannot hope to match our military might."
"I hope not. Now have as many of the stage two models, control devices and command level reapers ready for deployment as possible. Once we have consolidated our position on this new world I want to move on to stronger targets."
"Which target would that be? Averia, the Wraith world, the Jaffa world or maybe another assault on Celestia?"
"We shall see what the ancestor has to give us first, and then I will decide where we will strike."
"When did you first meet him Etere?" Azamoth asked. "You never did tell me."
"Oh long ago, after I was exiled and started to prepare the Empire for conquering the galaxy. It seemed he took a liking to my idea of uniting the galaxy and wiping out the Wraith and chose to modify our plans to match his own."
"Does it ever bother you that we could have succeeded even without him."
"I take great pleasure in the fact that he could never realize his ambitions without my help. For now that is enough."
Atlantis
The great city ship sat peacefully on the ocean surface. Since the start of the war the great city had not seen much in the way of action or excitement that she had in previous years while under the control of the people of Earth. She was not a wonder technological construction but she wasn't a fighter and as such she wouldn't be seeing the same amount of front line combat as her sister Borealis would be. While she was not actively participating in the war though the city had not been forced into obscurity and was still fulfilling an important role. The city had become a symbol for unity and co-operation amongst powerful races and now her halls were bustling with activity. While Concordia was a world filled with diplomats and a symbol of peace Atlantis was the scientist's playground. Inside
her many science labs Asgard, Vanir and Tau'ri researchers worked on a myriad of different projects that could hopefully bear fruit and provide new technologies for the benefit of their respective races.
One of the labs had been handed over to the Asgard and Vanir for their android body research as well as producing replacement bodies for those that had lost them. Most of the time this was not necessary as no Asgard had lost their body, until recently. Since the battle on Calium multiple Asgard and Vanir had needed knew bodies and quite recently a certain Asgard SPECTRE.
The offensive fleet had decided to stop by here and drop off their latest souvenir taken from the Zarasians and use the facilities at the same time while they planned their assault on Vejovis' base. It had taken time but eventually her new body had been manufactured and Eir was downloaded into it.
"Welcome back," Thor said when the download was complete and Eir finally opened her artificial eyes. "How do you feel?"
"Like I died and then came back," Eir said. "I hate closing my eyes and then finding myself in a new body."
"Better than a constantly degrading one," Thor retorted. "Besides I've died and gone through more bodies than you over the millennia."
"That isn't a good thing you know," Eir replied.
"No but it puts your own problem into perspective."
"If you say so, where are the others? Did they make it out?"
"They all got out safely. They were ordered to get some rest before our next mission instead of getting in peoples way."
"Our next mission? You're coming with us?"
"Actually you are coming with us. There is a full briefing packet for you regarding our next mission."
"What about the device recovered? It was recovered wasn't it? I would hate to think I self destructed for nothing."
"It is currently being taken apart and put back together again by our scientists they think you have discovered something quite interesting."
"Oh?"
"It appears to interface with the brain stem and override the subject's nervous system, isolating the brain and taking complete control of the subject's body. The individual units appear to possess an ability to operate networked to one another or independently following a set of pre-programmed commands."
"Surprisingly complicated for a simple control collar."
"Considering that it was still scuttling about when we brought it in and tried to attack several people I think we can safely say it isn't a simple control collar."
"Then what is it?"
"We'll know that when we decrypt the core command subroutines."
"So now what do we do?"
"Now we take a trip into Zarasian space."
Zarasian Space – Ancient Outpost
The fleet that emerged over the planet was a powerful one. On top of the forty five capital ships of the allied offensive fleet there was also the Sagittarius, Nightingale and Aror. These additional ships were deemed necessary since the entire fleet was delving deep into suspected Zarasian territory. No one could actually say for sure what space the Zarasians claimed as their own. It was largely suspected that like the Travellers the Zarasians were mostly space based and so they had a large space fleet and their civilisation was highly mobilised. There was the possibility that they could have a number of Zarasian battle groups descending on them at any moment so they weren't taking any chances. On top of that there was the fact that if this planet was indeed the home of Vejovis and his followers then it was likely to be well defended. Taking on a facility with Lantean level defences was not something to be taken lightly even with the advanced technology at the disposal of the fleet.
The planet was certainly not that different from most planets that had been given a stargate, having been terraformed long ago to support life. There was a space gate in orbit of the planet, hanging between the planet and its single small moon, but it was on the far side of the planet from the co-ordinates given to them by the infamous ascended trio. Most likely this was a safety precaution should the Wraith come through the gate while the defences were down. Of course because of those presumed defences the fleet actually found nothing remarkable upon arrival. They hadn't really expected to though, Vejovis and Cura had been bound to build in some stealth features into their secret base.
The solution had been to send down a flight of puddle jumpers to the co-ordinates in a search pattern. When the small craft got close enough the landscape below shimmered and several structures came into view. Most of them bore a resemblance to the various Lantean era structures they had encountered over the years, like the outpost where Janus had constructed the Attero device. One slightly disconcerting structure that came into view was a circular hatch that looked suspiciously like one of the drone launchers on a city ship.
With the sensor blockers offline a beaming lock could be established and it wasn't long before teams from the Sagittarius started appearing throughout the facility in flashes of light. As the teams searched they discovered, to their surprise, absolutely nothing. The entire facility had been abandoned and left to gather dust. They did find a ZPM that was getting low after all these millennia and a few hundred drones, which came as a pleasant surprise but that was it. Even the computers were empty of anything useful, lacking anything useful aside from an automated program to protect the base if anyone got near the base and a friendly recognition program. There wasn't even a control chair to manually fire the drones.
"Well this is a bust," Sheppard noted.
Rodney however could only see the positives of the situation. "You know there were days when finding a ZPM that had a bit of juice in it and a few hundred drones was a good thing."
"And there aren't any Zarasians nearby," Xander added.
"And we potentially have a secret base to use in Zarasian territory," Thor added.
"Well when you put it like that okay, but you know what I mean," Sheppard replied. "This isn't what we actually need right now, although the ZPM isn't a bad consolation prize."
"No I know what you mean," Xander admitted. "We need every advantage we can get."
"Have we found anything that might give us a hint on where to go from here?" Sheppard asked. "Somehow I doubt that we're going to find anything new on Averia after all these years that your people haven't found yet."
"Our teams have been combing the facility but have yet to find anything," Thor replied. "The facility doesn't even have an internal transport system although it does have a working ring platform, which for some reason we can't connect to."
"Figures," Rodney said. "The place isn't big enough to need one...wait a minute what did you say?"
"There is a working ring platform we can't connect to," Thor repeated.
"Hang on, surely if you can't connect to it then it's not working," Sheppard said.
"On the contrary," Thor replied. "All scans indicate the device is fully functional however we cannot lock onto it using our own rings but it will lock onto our own rings. We also can't shut them down to perform alterations to the command protocols."
"So it works but doesn't go to our ships?" McKay summarised. "Interesting."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Rodney?" Sheppard asked, a grin creeping its way onto his face.
Rodney's own face mirrored that grin. "It would make sense. We've seen it before after all on other secret sites, Avalon for instance."
"ISIS," Sheppard said. "Deactivate all the rings in the fleet. I recommend you have the Aror do the same thing Admiral."
"I'll send the message now," Xander replied, his curiosity stopping him from asking what was going on since he wanted to see this play out.
In a little while all the rings in the fleet, and there were a lot of them as it happened, were offline. With nothing in orbit for the rings in the outpost to lock onto they locked onto the only ones they could. The six SPECTREs had been chosen for this foray into the unknown, it was after all what they did best. They would of course only form the initial scouting party, with Thor, Sheppard, McKay and Xander following soon after providing it was safe of course.
As the six rings dropped back into the floor the SPECTREs found themselves in a small darkened chamber. Looking around they saw no signs of any apparent technology but there was a closed door, and more importantly air. Detecting no pathogens in the air and no immediate danger they reported their findings and were told to press on since they couldn't scan outside the room.
Using their enhanced strength they were able to pry the door open a crack and let in some fresh air. The moment the door opened sensors were able to penetrate deeper into the complex since apparently the door was the only thing shielding it from sensors and more importantly no immediate hostiles or dangerous pathogens were detected.
Sending back the all clear signal the rings activated again and the VIPs ringed down into the subterranean complex. Just as the SPECTREs forced the door open far enough for someone to slip through and the rings activated the complex finally reacted to their presence. The doors slammed shut, nearly taking several fingers off in the process, and locked in place with a metallic clunk. Simultaneously the panels in the walls retracted and slid open, revealing figures standing in alcoves.
As twin red lights flashed into life on the figures heads and a green crystal in the centre of their chests started to glow they stepped forward out of the shadows and into the now fully lit room. They were tall, easily six foot, and they definitely weren't human. They were androids. You could tell by their silver skull faces, their smooth metallic bodies, the bulging black artificial muscles in their limbs and, if that wasn't enough, the fact that the two glowing red lights were their eyes. What made everyone of the SPECTREs immediately move to form a protective circle around the VIPs were the Asuran style energy weapons clutched the androids hands.
"Oh crap," McKay muttered.
Above them a metallic orb that looked like an supersized kino, with a glowing red light emanating from its core and lens, descended from the ceiling and started speaking in a metallic chirpy voice.
"Intruders detected. Scanning. Hostiles detected."
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