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On a geosynchronous orbit around Earth, aboard the newly constructed X-304, originally baptized 'Phoenix' and later renamed 'George Hammond' in memory of the general, the crew was working on the final details.
There had been many new discoveries made after the previous Earth's cruiser, the 'Sun Tzu', had been built and offered to the Chinese government. Since then, numerous elements were improved from the other cruisers already in service and still required scores of verifications, tests and adjustments. In many ways, this new spaceship, the sixth of his class in the Tau'Ri fleet, was a way of testing new prototypes and evolutions on the already well tested Daedalus-class battlecruiser hull design. It was also the first time that several complex systems created by Asgards, were constructed, assembled and configured, from A to Z without any assistance from their original inventors.
In the last decade, thanks to the Stargate program, Earth technology had made a huge leap forward, hyperspace capabilities, powerful energy shields, advanced weapons and even teleporting beams. The last batch of military technologies, graciously offered by the Asgard High Council before their extinction, proved nevertheless to be challenging considering the gap between both civilizations. It had been discussed for example, to replace the naquadah generator used so far on the other ships, by an Asgard power core like the one installed on the Odyssey, but despite having all the necessary knowledge, the means to actually manufacture one still required massive investments and a lot of time to develop the indispensable industry. There was also an attempt to replicate the cloaking device designed by Daniel Jackson / Merlin during the Ori war, but even with its study and the incredible amount of knowledge they had amassed over the years, it proved to be impossible.
In the end, it had been decided that the USS George Hammond would not be an attempt to replace the Odyssey as Earth's flagship. It would however set the new standard for the planned upgrades of all the other battlecruisers and confirm the design as the unquestionably most advanced warship being constructed in the galaxy since the Asgards. Although the seventh one had been planned to enter its construction phase later this year, it was delayed until further notice due to an economic crisis and a new American president. Still, the Tau'Ri fleet was on its way to establish itself as the first military power in the Milky Way.
Colonel Samantha Carter, the appointed commanding officer of this ship, was rather satisfied with the progresses her new crew made in the last days, they were on schedule with the testing, had not encountered issues that they had not been able to solve permanently and more generally, proved they were up to the challenge so far. Of course, with the exception of the few members that were transferred from the SGC or from one of the other battleships, most of the crew would still have to prove themselves in a really critical situation. At least the squadron of sixteen F-302 that will join them when the spaceship will be declared ready, would be made of highly decorated veterans from either the war with the Goa-Uld or with the Ori.
Samantha Carter was currently working with the chief science officer of the ship, Captain Jennifer Hailey, her protege from the Air Force Academy and later her direct subordinate in the Area 51 Research and Development department. Both of them were running simulations on the hyperdrive and the navigational systems in the engineering deck, when the general quarters alarm went off. The colonel raised her hand toward her earpiece, but she was beaten to it by the freshly transferred from the Apollo ship's pilot, Major Kevin Marks, who contacted her on radio. "Colonel, we have an unidentified ship coming out of nowhere. I'm getting us in combat position, but you should hurry back to the bridge".
"I'm on my way, raise the shield, power up the weapons and transmit whatever we have so far to Homeworld Command" answered Carter running towards her own post.
…
Entering the room, Samantha Carter realized that some other crew members continued to arrive on the bridge. The situation was less than ideal, they didn't even have time to leave Earth that already they were done with exercises and were confronted with reality. She took control of the situation "All station report, what do we have", the Colonel sat down in the captain's seat in the middle of the flight deck, starting to inspect the giant HUD on the front window.
"We have a visual confirmation, we can discern a puddle jumper but the sensor system can't recognize it, the readings don't make any sense for some reason and there's no IFF received". Major Marks told from his seated place on the right.
"Homeworld Command scrambled a first squadron of F-302 to support us and a second on an interception course between the unknown ship and Earth, ETA eight minutes" was announced from the rear section of the bridge, where the tactical large map display was located.
On the radio, she received a critical piece of information from Captain Hailey "I'm looking over the sensors but they seem to be working fine, however checking the logs, we did detect the ship's arrival. It came through the same type of window that was opened by the 'fantasy' prototype".
"We will be in weapons range in two minutes Colonel" told the helmsman, Captain Chandler, seated in the left seat.
Reading the ongoing scans from the advanced array of Asgard sensors, Carter had access to information that didn't make a lot of sense; she immediately understood that the computer system didn't recognize the jumper due to its magnetic signature, it was simply too different compared to what they knew. Furthermore the energy readings were through the roof, an absurd amount of power was detected from this small ship, on par with the biggest ships or installations she even examined during her career. More concerning were the details of the scan, the whole computer system was almost saturated by the complexity of what they faced, an unfamiliar type of energy, strange particles, a wide array of radiation including several known and unknown and even a couple of life signs that couldn't be identified.
Whatever the 'fantasy' team had found during their six days expedition, there were definitely results.
Considering the time frame and the menacing amount of energy in this strange puddle jumper, Sam didn't have a lot of time to work with, it could be an incredibly powerfull bomb or an elaborate trap. So close to her homeworld, risks couldn't be taken, if they didn't have more information than that, they would have to destroy the ship, whatever the consequences for her friends that may well be onboard or trapped in another universe. But there was still a chance that she could justify not immediately attacking "We are going to hail them, prepare to broadcast on multiple frequencies' ".
On her right, Major Marks, made the necessary adjustments and turned towards before nodding to signal the communication system was ready.
As the spaceship's captain, it was Sam's duty to talk "This is Colonel Samantha Carter of the Earth's United States Air Force vessel 'George Hammond', unidentified ship can you read me".
She waited a moment before the Helmsman added "Weapons range in thirty seconds, all systems ready for combat"
Resuming the communication, Sam continued to hail the unexpected visitor "You are currently in a restricted sector, if you don't cooperate we will have no other choice than to attack".
"We receive a transmission, there's a video feed with it". Told Major Marks before designating a screen.
Turning their seats toward the display, the bridge crew finally discovered the response from this mysterious ship.
On screen, they could see what appeared as a strange copy of a puddle jumper cockpit, however many details immediately noticeable were wrong; for starter the colors were very differents that the ones usually seen in Ancients constructions, instead of the discrete shades of light brown and gray, the whole interior was of made a thick black, bright gold and flashy red. Secondly, the very recognisable stone like appearance of the Ancients design with its smooth shapes were nowhere to be seen, in this ship, the design was metallic, shiny and sharp. The black, almost mirror-like walls were reflecting the glowing buttons and displays that were red instead of the usual blue.
The ship's interior and its details, were in the end just something that most of the crew registered more or less consciously, the most surprising were the people occupying the exotic jumper.
In the foreground of the screen and therefore, probably piloting the spaceship, they could see a young girl with long red-gold straight hair, she didn't seem to be more than fifteen and had beautiful delicate traits. This girl was strangely wearing an eyepatch, a camouflage scarf with a matching headband and what looked like a kind of maid outfit.
In the background, two other persons were present side by side in the rear seats, in black and red, they both appeared as the personification of the ship's design; the first one on the right of the screen, was an elderly gentleman, with white hairs, an immaculate beard, wearing an elegant and very formal black suit, heightened by a bright white tie and the matching pocket handkerchief. The second one offered a completely reverse sight from the first, instead of an old man, he was a young male with nicely combed black hair, however he seemed from another species, close to humans, but a pair of long ears was visible. He was wearing what looked like a luxurious, particularly flamboyant, bright red pinstripe suit and shiny glasses.
The young man adjusted his glasses, then declared imperiously with a very wide and slightly disturbing smile, "Greetings humans from Earth, we are representatives of the Sorcerer Kingdom, the civilization you contacted in another universe".
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The eight men from the SGC SF teams, were standing guard around the transportation rings aboard the 'Hammond', as it was called by his crew, waiting for the higher ups from Earth, or if needed, to fight.
Due to the circumstances, the original onboard forty men security group, had been reinforced by the SGC up to a hundred and were given just about every kind of available weaponry. Once the teams prepared, their overall firepower was impressive, with equipements from Goa'Uld shock grenades and transphase eradication rod used to fight Reetous, going through the full spectrum of Earth's heavy weaponry such as machine guns and grenade launchers, up to some models from the last generation of Kull disruptor and Anti-Replicator gun, the men were as ready as humanly possible.
The ship's commander, Colonel Carter, had been forced by the Pentagon and the IOA to use her brand new vessel as a ground for discussion with the newcomers. Considering what they had learned through scans and talks about these peoples, keeping in mind the hijacks track record of Earth's cruisers, Sam thought it to be a major risk. She had tried every recourse she could think of and looked for any other possibilities before ultimately, she had no other options than accepting her orders.
Still, she had prepared an operation that bordered with utter paranoia; she had started by evacuating all non-essential personnel from the ship and besides the newly reinforced combat group, remained only the absolute minimum to be able to operate the ship. After that, she coordinated with Homeworld Command and organized not only a permanent patrol of F-302's, but also a permanent watch of the ancient weapons system from the chair on Atlantis with Dr Beckett and others. Carter and her remaining crew then prepared numerous failsafes on the 'Hammond' itself, from a disarmament protocol that would leave the battlecruiser without weapons and shield, to an autodestruction after jumping in hyperspace.
It's only after the maximum level of precautions she was authorized to prepare was attained, that the Colonel gave the mysterious jumper landing instructions towards the empty F-302 bay.
Unsurprisingly, even once the whole operation was ready and the 'guests' onboard, the matter required another two hours of discussions on the ground between the different agencies and branches of the governments. After a total of almost twelve hours since the first alert was triggered, the transportation rings finally activated and the long awaited diplomats appeared from the SGC new rings platform. Only two men appeared, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Davis wearing his service dress uniform, representing the Pentagon and Richard Woolsey in his most rigorous suit, representing the IOA, both were carrying a suitcase and seemed rather tense.
The Lieutenant in charge of the SF team saluted and announced "Colonel Carter is waiting for you on the bridge, two of my men will escort you there".
…
"We installed them in the briefing room for the moment and since then, we are observing them. For some reason, they have decided to not close their ship once onboard, so we are cautiously examining it. I think they wanted us to realize that the inter-universe device is not inside their jumper and that it is not Ancient built". Said Carter to the representatives sent from the ground, more angrily that she wanted to.
Sighing, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Davis said "I know the situation is not to your liking Colonel, but you told us yourself that they are too dangerous to be met on Earth. Unfortunately the Apollo and the Daedalus are in the Pegasus galaxy, while the Odyssey is still en route towards the abandoned Sun Tzu to try to salvage it. This is also our only opportunity to negotiate the release of our team, despite their affirmation that they are neither prisoners nor hostages."
There had been a series of bad interactions between Richard Woolsey and Samantha Carter, first when he had been working for senator Kinsey against the SGC, later as a member of the IOA and ultimately when he had been appointed his replacement on Atlantis. Well aware that the Colonel wasn't fond of him to say the least, Woolsey looked embarrassed, but continued "I command your caution and we agree with all the measures you deemed necessary. The problem is that too many in the IOA and the government felt that this was an opportunity for a diplomatic encounter with another advanced civilization. It's a shame but your ship was deemed the proper solution and since you are the third person designated for this first official contact, we need you to work with us on this".
Relaxing slightly in her command chair, Sam rubbed her eyes and told them "Yes I know, sorry about that. This whole mess couldn't come up at a worse time, I've been up for too long and there are too many unknowns in this equation".
Realizing something important had been said, Lieutenant-Colonel Davis wanted some precisions "Wait a minute, you are saying that they don't have the traveling device? From what I've read about the 'Fantasy' project, Janus himself thought it impossible to travel without it. It shouldn't even be possible to open a window for another ship like with a hyperspace tunnel, without the other one being torn to pieces".
"We might have an answer about that" answered Carter, she nodded to Major Marks who launched a video in the background. "We provided some food and drinks for them and so far they haven't touched anything, but look at this".
On the video could be seen the three guests waiting around a conference table. Both men sat on the opposite sides and remained almost perfectly still, the only indication that the frame was not stopped was the tail of the young one that was lazyly waving behind the chair back. At one point however, the young girl that was installed between the two made a strange movement, she raised her hand and it disappeared weirdly midair. After a couple of seconds, she took out from a strange purple rift, a brown bottle. She grabbed a straw from the bottle's side and used it to drink quietly.
"Our instruments were barely sensitive enough to pick it up, but at this exact moment there was a spike of an unknown energy form. My guess is that she is able to store things in another dimension. Since she was the pilot, she might be the one carrying the device but if the others are capable of the same thing, anyone of them could" explained Carter.
Checking on his file, Richard Woolsey found what he was looking for: "From your short radio communication with them, her name is Shizu and she is a Pleiade Battle Maid, whatever that could mean. Did you learn anything else that we should know about?"
"Nothing conclusive so far. Using the internal life detectors we are now sure that none of them are human, however this Shizu is not even detected as living. With the EM field she is emitting we are almost certain that she is mainly mechanical, perhaps even entirely, but since she is the only one that drank we can't be certain. Also, although the one that introduced himself as Demiurge has been the only one speaking so far, we are still unsure of who amongst them is the leader. We are almost certain that this is not the girl, of the three she is the one emitting the least energy, however the other two are comparable despite emitting slightly different detectable elements". detailed Carter.
Continuing to read the transcript of the earlier communication between both ships, Woolsey added "The one name Demiurge is apparently a Guardian, I imagine that it is some kind of rank, perhaps a military one. The third, Sebastian as he was called, is … the personal butler of their king? I'm not sure if we should consider him a representative of another branch of their state like the Lieutenant-Colonel and myself, usually the military is under the crown's authority. Or maybe the king wanted someone close to him personally to be present, we don't know enough about their hierarchy to be certain".
"I read what you had transmitted on their ship but I couldn't understand as much as I wanted, what can you tell us about it, now that you got a better look at it" asked Davis.
"There is a lot to be said, but once again, nothing conclusive. My chief science officer is working on it but we can't take too many risks, it could be booby trapped and we can't symply dismantle it for study." explained Carter, she grabbed a tablet computer and started to read their observations so far. "I confirm that this spaceship is essentially a copy of a puddle jumper, there are a lot of differences but the overall shape and technical design is a giveaway, it even seems that some elements are from the jumper we sent. The dissimilarities are very interesting, although the construction is obviously very advanced, most elements are rather crude, we think that it's either due to time constraints or that their technological advancement is very unlike what we are used to. For example the hull, it seems made of an alloy including unknown materials and is probably the most solid one we ever encountered, but we also discovered many minor imperfections that make us think that it was hand forged. Another example is the power generation, it's incredibly potent for its size and we're not sure what element it's using, but this model is obviously not standardized for repairs or mass and modern production."
"If we are ourselves unable to copy an ancient ship the way they did, even improving some components, are they not more advanced than us? I've got the impression you are implying that it's not the case" remarqued the Lieutenant-Colonel with a frown of concentration.
"It's simply impossible to replicate a spaceship in such a short time, especially an Ancient one and it's not only a technological problem, even the Asgards couldn't have done it". Explained Carter, before continuing with what she thought of it. "I think we are technologically more advanced than them, this ship is a prototype and probably the first one they ever built. I think they somehow managed to study our jumper, instantly understood pretty much everything of its functioning and found ways to make their own, by methods that are totally alien to us. Since we sent our team into another universe to learn about magic, I'd say we found what we were looking for, people using magic. However it looks like we also found a powerful empire with a lot of resources available and highly capable people at its service".
"And now they are here in our universe, wanting to talk with us." Understood Mr Woolsey, with a worried look toward the screen that displayed their image.
Wanting to clarify his orders and those of their group, Davis said "Our mission is to learn as much as possible from them, negotiate the return of our team and if we deem it possible and appropriate, establish diplomatic ties with them".
Remembering her time on Atlantis and the similar situation she had to undergo with Woolsey to negotiate with Todd the Wraith, Carter smiled ruefully and told them "At least this time they are wearing suits and ties, perhaps we can even shake their hands without being fed on".
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Hello guys :)
I hope you are still enjoying the story, I took my time to write this chapter and had a lot of SG episodes to watch to check everything, vocabulary, names, idioms etc. I did my best to have the details right
I have to say that this chapter is a part of what I had in mind when I started this story and it turned out slightly different that I originaly imagined. But still so far I enjoy how it goes :)
Thanks for the reviews and please give more
See you around :D