Hello everyone,
A few days late, but I needed to edit this chapter to make the August chapter work.
I hope you all enjoy, as always, please leave a review.
-Spearhead
Revan pulled back on the controls and looped his Aurek-class tactical strikefighter around one of the brown rocks floating in space to find his target. With a squeeze of the trigger, low powered blaster bolts used for training purposes sprang from his ships twin cannons.
They hit their mark and dissipated against the targets hull, the other strikefighter's pilot muttering over the comlink as the Jedi Master circled around, preparing to speed off into the debris belt to begin the exercise again.
"Don't forget to use your ships sensors as well as the force, young one." Revan reminded as he finished his manoeuvre, ready to begin again.
"Yes, Master." Erica's disappointed voice replied over the channel.
With a glance as the ships tactical display, he saw the ID tags of his starfighter trainees. Currently the six other fighters were above the asteroid field performing evasion drills.
Due to the fact that Revan was, technically, the only qualified starfighter pilot on Atlantis, he had spent a lot of the latter half of the past week inside of the cockpit.
Rotating several hours of training between two flights of six starfighters, Erica's seventh on this run being an exception, he was working hard to instruct the volunteers from the Expedition.
Of course, their on-board Astromechs were doing a lot of the heavy lifting, compensating for piloted error by avoiding collisions and rotating shielding to prevent damage from micro debris.
The first three days of the week had been spent effectively in a classroom, using the holotable in his operations centre to show them the specifications and introduce them to the control layout.
Most of the pilots had previously flown Earth aircraft, so Revan was confident it was more effective to have them learn by doing and time spent would allow them to adjust quicker than theoretical knowledge would.
His immediate goal however was to get Erica to a level of competency where she could begin teaching the basics of combat to the pilots that were currently familiarizing themselves with the nimble attack fighters.
Erica had piloting experience, mainly shuttles and speeders, but now she needed to build on that foundation. She had done brilliantly with every test so far, the force helping guide her. He even thought that perhaps she was a better pilot than a lightsaber combatant.
So far, the only thing the young woman had yet to achieve, was landing on the Might without scratching the hanger flooring.
Once Erica was certified, a Sentinel-Series droid from the Might being her evaluator, Revan would hand over training responsibilities. Erica and her two flights would be the start of the Atlantis Defence Squadron.
Revan quickly pushed aside all of the thoughts occupying his mind when his display flashed green, indicating Erica had reached a position she liked and had elected to restart the training module.
With a small smile, he increased the output of his engines and flipped his fighter over and launched himself into the search of his Padawan's Starfighter.
John Sheppard sat stiffly, trying his best to hide his boredom as he listened to Doctor Beckett brief Doctor Weir about the Hoffan drug.
"Unfortunately Carson, we had no right to stop them even if we had the capabilities." Weir reminded, understanding the pain the physician was currently feeling and the guilt he was beating himself up with.
"If only they had given us a little more time, we could've stabilised the gene therapy." Beckett sighed, disappointment coating his words.
"You said it yourself, vaccinations and gene therapies take years to perfect. You did the best you could with the time you had." Weir reinforced with a gentle smile, trying to sooth his anguish.
"Aye." Beckett sighed, trying to mentally accept the outcome.
"Onto other business, Major?" Weir asked, looking towards the military commander.
"Well, offworld missions are still in progress, we currently have two teams meeting with potential trading partners and another two on the mainland with a contingent of droids from Revan performing surveys." Sheppard informed, leaning forward and forcing his lower back muscles to stretch for the first time in an hour.
"Speaking of Revan?" Weir questioned, noting his absence from the briefing room.
"He is currently offworld, technically. His starfighter class is near the asteroid belt, running drills and practising their flying." Sheppard answered, trying to hide his jealousy that Ford was at this very moment sat in one of the small ships.
"Right, of course. Any update on the Star Forge?" Weir queried, jotting a note down on her pad.
"It's still building itself, as far as I know. The last update from McKay said that the first solar capacitor should be finished in a few weeks. They waited until all the components were synthesised before beginning construction. The second units parts are already being made as we speak." Sheppard answered, jealousy once again creeping up as the scientist had remained behind on the station while he had been basically ordered to return to Atlantis.
"That's fantastic news. Once it's finished and charged, we won't have to worry about our power consumption." Weir commented, relief in her voice.
"You know what they say, one's good, two's better." Sheppard smirked, gaining a raised eyebrow from the expedition leader.
"What about the Bastilla's Might?" Weir asked, scribbling another line of text onto her paper.
"She's also in the asteroid belt, they've found a lot of Naquadah. But we don't have a way to refine it at the moment. So they're just stockpiling it until you tell them where you want the refining done." Sheppard answered quickly, not having much to say about the warship being used as a mining vessel.
"That's a discussion for another time, Rodney will no doubt have some input." Weir admitted, writing on her paper and circling it.
"Alright." Sheppard nodded, knowing what was coming up next, but not really wanting to discuss it.
"Is there any update regarding the Athosians?" Weir asked, remorse flashing across her features for a brief instant.
"Teyla, FC-L0 and several HK-51's are helping them move across the city. They are going to be staying with Revan for the time being. While there are several towers on that pier designed for habitation, they are in need or repair after the flooding. The Athosians have also agreed to work in the new hydroponics tower, when that is set up." Sheppard explained, still unhappy with how the Athosians had been and were still being treated by the expedition. But he figured that Revan wouldn't allow anything bad to happen to them, so they were in the best spot possible, for now.
"I'll admit, I didn't mind giving Revan the space he initially requested. But now with a second tower under his control, then giving up another to the Athosians, I'm starting to worry we'll have less and less of the city as time goes on." Weir stated, voicing her concerns aloud.
"Well, the hydroponics tower will feed all of us, as well as giving us supplies to trade around the galaxy. I wouldn't say it will be under his complete control, Teyla's people will be working in there too. Besides, I would say he's more than earned his right to parts of the city." Sheppard reminded, with a shrug.
"As for the Athosians, we accidentally caused them to lose their home, it's only fair we give them a new one." Beckett admitted, not even sure if he had a right to be involved in the conversation taking place.
"You're both right. Major, I would like you to have a discussion with Revan, see if he needs any help training the volunteer pilots. I have a feeling, sooner or later, they will be needed to defend Atlantis. Carson, I'd like an update on the medical knowledge and technologies Revan has provided us with. I need to know what our current medical capabilities are." Weir nodded, Sheppard simply left with a giddy spring in his step while Beckett lingered for a moment.
"I just want to warn you, we may need to move the infirmary to a bigger space. Especially if we're wanting to use more of Revan's technology." Beckett informed.
"I don't think that'll be a problem. But, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Elizabeth smiled, allowing the Doctor to leave.
The expedition leader jumped slightly in surprise when a series of beeps rang out from the little astromech present, the machine nearly sounding happy as it rocked from side to side slightly.
Already the Expedition had grown accustom to the droids, them being present every day in all areas. Atlantis, the droids, Erica, Revan and the technology they had bought into the Expeditions lives was quickly becoming the norm.
Doctor Shaw and Doctor Lu stood on the observation deck, watching the droid workers chipping away at another asteroid they had bought into the refitted hanger bay.
The Sentinel-Series droids using their drills and built-in sensor units to remove the unwanted material into waste carts. Astromech's moved around the area, collecting the carts for disposal.
The ship had completed its tour of the asteroid belt, cataloguing numerous deposits, but only retrieving a few examples to verify the sensor readings and to give the droid crew assigned to the mining detail something to do.
Now the Might was heading towards one of the planets that shared the solar system with Atlantis. The long range sensors had detected a breathable atmosphere, but they were waiting to get closer for more information.
What was really interesting, was that the same technology that had detected an atmosphere, also seemingly suggested that an artificial construct orbited the planet. Neither of the scientists could wait for their arrival, they had been discussing all morning about what it could be.
Lu had suggested that it was an ancient subspace communications relay while Shaw had proposed it could be a Lantean refinery. Either way, in a few hours, they would find out.
There it is, as always, I hope you enjoyed.
I'm sure you can probably guess roughly what the next chapter will be about and it won't exactly follow Canon.
Please leave any comments or thoughts as a review!
-Spearhead