Robotech: The Stargate Saga

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around and mash together for my own demented author amusement – sadly all Robotech and Stargate characters and concepts remain the property of Harmony Gold and MGM respectively – I am merely borrowing them and make absolutely no profit from their use. As a result, please keep the legal attack dogs – also known as lawyers – firmly muzzled and on a leash as I have no money to give to anyone.

Chapter Four

Landing Grid

Fort Minotaur

Two Days Later

Sheltering from a light drizzle – something that was not uncommon at this time of the year – under a handy umbrella Rick Hunter watched as the VC33 transport plane – known informally to everyone in the military as a "mom's kitchen" due to its use as a front-line supply plane during the unification war - came into land on the base's main runway. While he knew that the planes had VTOL capabilities – with both of its two powerful mid-wing mounted Rolls Royce BR720 turbofan jet engines able to pivot – which was what had made them so useful as a supply plane/evac transport for front line soldiers it wasn't really the preferred method for landing. He had been waiting for this plane to arrive, or rather he was waiting for someone it was carrying as a passenger along with fresh supplies and equipment for Fort Minotaur including parts to replace the ion pulse turret that had been blown up during the attack two days ago.

Has it really only been two days, he thought with a mental blink of almost incomprehension that it was so short a time since the base had been attacked; it certainly felt like it had been longer since they'd been attacked by the upgraded destroids, presumably sent by whoever this Vosegus – and wasn't that a strange name – person was. It felt longer since a lucky shot from him blew the main power bus on the last of the attackers letting them take the pilot prisoner. It most definitely felt much longer than the two days it had been since to his shock and horror the pilot had turned out to be his own wayward cousin Nathan, who had been altered to a seemingly impossible degree by someone with a greater knowledge of bioengineering than anyone Rick knew of while also having his own mind and personality overwritten by an artificial one.

The device needed to remove said artificial personality had arrived yesterday – transported under heavy guard due to both the fact that it was potentially a very dangerous, easily abused piece of kit as Nathan's current situation made clear and the fact the European airspace was not exactly the safest place to be right now, EBSIS was really pushing their luck right now as they attempted to intimidate more European nations into joining them instead of staying loyal to the UEG – along with a specialist neuro-scientist, a Doctor Ieuan Johnson, trained to operate the imprinter. Doctor Johnson, and his micronized Zentraedi assist Korilan, had thoroughly reviewed Doctor Fraisers findings and confirmed that they could indeed remove the imprint, and even stimulate Nathan's original neural patterns to re-establish themselves, but that Nathan – or whoever he was at the moment – would have to be fully conscious when they began the procedure.

Thus, the medical personnel had taken him off the sedatives that they'd been pumping into him ever since the attack. Though to prevent escape or interference with the device he would remain tied to the bed in numerous locations. The last of the drugs would have finished leaving Nathan's system so they would be able to begin the erasure procedure as soon as he was awake. Doctor Johnson having already set up the imprinter ready to use with two of the UEDF STORM commandos standing guard – in their distinctive Tristan powered combat armour and carrying Colt PB2 beam rifles – in the room at all times to protect the imprinter. Though Johnson had said he would wait until Rick, and the guest he was waiting for, were present to begin the removal procedure.

The guest in question was of course his Aunt Maria.

Rick was honestly looking forward to seeing his father's younger sister again. While they had spoken quite a few times over the phone during the last eighteen months they hadn't seen each other face to face in years not really since Pops funeral on the family ranch a place which no longer existed as the firestorms created by the Rain of Death over vast areas of the planet had burned it, like so many other places, to ashes. Rick put the thoughts of the ranch – that until its destruction had been the home of the Hunter family for over a hundred years – out of his mind and instead continued to watch and wait.

He didn't have to wait much longer as he could see people walking down the cargo ramp from the now parked aircraft. Most of the people disembarking from the VC33 were military personnel – reinforcements for the base as well as the loading crew who would liaise with base personnel to unload their cargo – but one person stood out amongst them. It was a tall now well into middle-aged, but still relatively fit woman whose once black hair – the same shade as Rick's own hair – was now laced through with grey and white streaks. It was tied back into a neat bun in the same hairstyle that she'd worn her hair in for as long as he could remember.

Standing next to her was someone that Rick was not at particularly surprised to see here, considering just how close they had been getting over the last two years. With a slight smile on his lips, relieved to see them both despite the less-than-ideal circumstances that had brought them here, he started walking over to greet them.

"Lisa, Aunt Maria welcome to Fort Minotaur," he called in greeting, mentally bracing himself for what he knew would follow from Aunt Maria.

"Ricky," Aunt Maria replied loudly in greeting before marching up and pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. Still standing near the VC33 Rick could see Lisa mouth 'Ricky' even as her shoulders shook in sudden laughter at the nickname. It was a nickname that she could see Rick gaining from friends and family members – and possibly even friends at school – as it was more irrelevant than Rick which she knew was short for Richard, though she was also aware that Rick absolutely hated being called Richard.

"Oh, it's so good to see you," Aunt Maria said pulling back and examining her only surviving nephew, he looked so like a shorter – Rick having inherited his mother's shorter stature alongside her blue eyes – and younger version of her brother dressed in a uniform that just looked right on him, certainly it looked better than that hideous orange jumpsuit he'd worn for the air circus. "You look so handsome in that uniform. I wish Mitch could have seen you."

Rick allowed a small, sad, smile to grace his lips at the mention of his father. Even after all this time he still greatly missed his father not just for his unconditional love and support but his kindness and wisdom. Though he didn't doubt that Mitchell Hunter would have been just as incensed by what had been done to Nathan by Vosegus as he was. "It's good to see you again Aunt Maria, I just wish it was under better circumstances," he replied. "I wish he was still here as well… he'd be as pissed as I am about what's we've discovered."

"Watch your mouth young man. You're not too old that I won't wash your mouth out with soap," Maria scolded for the language, making Rick wince and cringe – remembering the one time when he'd been eight years old that she had done just that, Roy had thought it hilarious until she did it to him as well - while nearby the listening Lisa chuckled at seeing how well the older woman had her nephew whipped. She'd enjoyed getting to know Maria Hunter during first their flight from Denver to New Macross then the flight here. She'd certainly given her a few more ideas for how to keep a certain, stubborn, loud mouthed and frequently extremely opinionated flyboy in line both when on and off duty. She'd certainly got the feeling that for all that she was unassuming – despite being taller than average – Maria could be a force of nature when she wanted to be. And she definitely had the same fierce temper – which any Zentraedi who'd faced him in battle and managed to survive had learned to fear given that an angry Rick Hunter was not loud as you would expect but instead he was cold, cold and utterly ruthless – that her nephew did.

"Sorry Aunt Maria."

"That's better," Maria answered before her expression turned pained. "Did Nathan really lead an attack on this place?"

"Yes and no," Rick replied. "Have you been told what we discovered when we examined him?"

"She has Rick," Lisa confirmed before looking up at the sky, the clouds were darkening more and the drizzle falling on the base seemed to be threatening to turn into heavier rain. The wind was also picking up a bit, indicating the presence of an approaching storm. Something that meteorology had apparently predicted to happen at some point today though they could not be sure precisely when. "Though before we continue might I suggest we go inside before this drizzle turns into a torrential downpour?"

"Good idea," Rick agreed offering his umbrella to his aunt who accepted it with a grateful smile. "Come on the entrance is this way."

With that he turned and began to lead the way inside.

Elsewhere

That Same Time

The operative was nervous as he carefully moved towards the secure medical wing. It had taken him quite a while to forge a reason for him to be in this section of the base, access to the secure medical wing being strictly controlled due to the sensitivity of some of the work carried out there, but he had finally managed to do it. Of course, that was just the first of the hurdles he would have to overcome to carry out his god's command to eliminate the captured Prime and get away without compromising his position here. There were numerous other things that had to go just right for this vital mission to be successfully completed.

Arriving at the first of the two security checkpoints that he would have to pass through the operative presented his ID card and the data card carrying his forged orders to the guard on duty. The guard accepted them without comment, put both in a reader and began carefully scrutinising them and their contents.

"Is there a problem?" the operative asked, nerves fluttering in his stomach like a swarm of disturbed butterflies. Mentally he prayed to Vosegus for luck and that he would pass through the checkpoint without difficulty. A handful of anxious moments passed while the marine guard, a guard that he didn't recognize but then he didn't exactly know everyone on the base in fact he preferred to keep to himself, only interacting with these infidels when he didn't have a choice. Not that the people here knew that, they assumed that he was just a loner – a belief that he had somewhat encouraged.

"No problem. Just with the attack we're being extra careful," the marine answered before ejecting the card and ID from the reader. "Here you go." As he spoke the marine tapped a control causing the barrier blocking the corridor to open allowing him access.

"Thank you," the operative replied as he accepted them back, before passing through the opened barrier and resuming his journey towards the secure medical section hoping that he would get through the second check point as easily as this one. The marine guard watched him go until he was sure that the other man was out of earshot…

…then he reached for his radio.

"Corporal Roberts to security," he said into the radio.

"Security go," came the immediate response.

"We've got a problem."

Unaware of the conversation beginning behind him the operative continued on his way towards the second and final security checkpoint beyond which were the secure wards and his quarry. Absently he fingered the ring on the middle finger of his right hand, it was completely unremarkable to look at being in appearance a slightly ornate ring of reddish-brown metal. It certainly didn't look like what it really was, the weapon that he would soon use to kill the captured Prime before hopefully slipping away again.

Realising what he was doing he stopped fingering the ring just before he came to a bend in the corridor. He rounded the bend, and the second checkpoint came into view. A faint shiver of unease ran down his spine as he saw that this checkpoint was not being manned by a normal marine but that it was being manned by a pair of STORM commandoes. Both were dressed in full Tristan armour and had their helmets on meaning that instead of seeing two human faces all he saw was a silvered visor.

Both also had their beam rifles aimed right at him.

"Freeze. Hands up," one of the commandoes said, the vocaliser in his helmet given his voice a slightly metallic quality making it hard to place his accent.

"Is there a problem," the operative asked raising his hands as instructed before crossing them behind his head, using that as cover to tap the hidden button that caused his ring to expand into its true form memory metal components unfolding and locking into place with only the faintest of whirs. "I have authorization to be here."

"Actually, you don't you see while your little forgery is very good you made one tiny mistake," the commando who had spoken to him replied, "two of the code blocks were out of the correct sequence for this part of the base."

"Oh well I will have to watch that in future," the operative answered before exploding into motion, knowing what his duty to his god now was. Faster than either commando could react he brought his arm down, pointing the weapon at the commando who'd spoken to him and fired sending a pencil thin red energy beam at the armoured man. The beam hit the marine dead on, producing a brilliant flash and making him stagger back but otherwise not hurting him as his armour deflected as much of the blasts energy as possible while dispersing the rest through a complex hypercarbon/titanium nanofiber mesh to dissipate harmlessly leaving the person underneath unharmed.

It was the only shot he got off.

Even as the first commando staggered back, knocked momentarily off balance, the second fired his AR2 rifle in his direction. The beam took him high in the shoulder of his gun arm, dropping him to the floor with a scream of pain as fiery agony from the wounded shoulder exploded through his mind. Simultaneously he lost all feeling in his arm and realized instantly that the beam had certainly severed critical nerve endings rendering his arm, and the weapon sitting on top of his middle finger, useless.

He immediately heard approaching footsteps and knew the two marines were coming to take him prisoner. You're not taking me, he thought as he ignored the pain as much as he could to start to reach over with his good arm, heading for the button on the weapon that would trigger its self-destruct. His hand never got there as an armoured boot, its force enhanced by nano-muscle servos, kicked the arm hard. Knocking it back and producing an audible crack, along with a new stab of searing agony as his forearm was broken by the imparted force.

"Oh no you don't. No killing yourself here," the marine said sounding irritated before, assisted by the massive strength granted by the nano-muscle servos in the armour – the other marine picked him up and made him stand. He didn't dignify them with an answer instead he glared at them, inwardly cursing up a storm that they'd dared to stand in the way of his holy orders from Vosegus.

"What is going on here," a female voice abruptly asked from behind him. He tried, futilely to resist as the marines turned to find none other than Captain Lisa Hayes standing there looking a little peeved. Standing with her was Captain Hunter and a tall, middle-aged civilian woman.

"This man tried to reach the secure wards with a forged security pass ma'am," the same marine who'd spoken earlier replied. "When we stopped him, he attacked us with this," he held out the weapon that the operative realized, with a jolt, had been taken from his finger though he naturally hadn't felt it due to the nerve endings to that arm having been severed by laser blast, "it fired some kind of laser though nothing compared to the beams from our rifles. After we stopped him, he attempted to touch a button on it presumably to trigger a self-destruct."

"I see," Lisa said stepping closer and looking at the operative closely. She could see that he was wearing a UEDF uniform, the kind worn by one of the technicians that were everywhere on any base or ship making sure that everything kept working as it should. "Who are you? What did you hope to accomplish?"

The operative didn't answer he simply glared at her as to his mind she was just another infidel who was daring to stand in the way of the will of Vosegus.

"Not feeling talkative," Lisa asked.

"He seems like a fanatic ma'am," the marine answered, "we do however have a good idea what he was here for. There is only one patient in the secure wards at the moment."

"You were going to kill my baby," the civilian woman said stepping forward, anger on her face. That at last prompted an angry outburst from the operative.

"He's not your baby," he snapped, "he's the Prime of the Jaftari in service of the Great God Vosegus. Who will punish you all for eternity for daring to thwart his will."

"A cultist then," Lisa commented. "Take him to the brig and get the doctors to look at that arm. He'll be questioned later."

"When his wound is treated make sure that they run some blood tests. Tell Doctor Fraiser to look over them and compare them to those taken from Nathan," Rick added.

"Will do ma'am, sir," one of the two marines replied before taking their prisoner away. The other returned to the security checkpoint to let the three of them through.

"Strange order their Rick," Lisa commented looking over at Rick. "What are you thinking?"

"When we first examined Nathan Doctor Fraiser found a previously unknown biological compound saturating all his bodily tissues but especially the neurological system," Rick explained as they made there way through the checkpoint. "It was dead, presumably killed by the electric shock Nathan received when the Spartan destroid he was piloting was disabled by yours truly. However, given it was focused on the neurological system Doctor Fraiser thinks it could be some kind of mind-altering compound. Maybe a bioengineered mind controlling compound of some kind."

Lisa blinked. "You think mister would be assassin is another victim of this compound," she asked.

"Given his mention of Vosegus, whoever he really is as I don't for a second believe that he is a god he wouldn't need robotech weapons if he was, I would not be surprised," Rick replied.

"Rick, are you saying that Nathan was brainwashed somehow?" Maria asked her nephew, suddenly desperately hopeful that that is what had happened to her son. For so long she had wondered why Nathan had so suddenly run away – only leaving a note in his hotel room for her to find that terrible morning when she went to wake him for breakfast – that summer.

"I'm certain of it, Aunt Maria. He certainly has been beyond brainwashed now with the imposition of an artificial personality," Rick answered as they arrived at the entrance to the observation room where they could watch the use of the neuro-somatic imprinter on Nathan to remove this 'Prime' personality.

The moment she saw the one-way glass Maria glanced at her nephew, who nodded to confirm that Nathan was in the room on the other side. Feeling rattlesnakes suddenly in her stomach, she slowly approached the window and looked through. Despite having been warned by Lisa during their flight here that Nathan had been extensively biogenetically altered sometime in the last three and a half years the sight that met her eyes still stunned her. The person on the bed looked like someone had taken Nathan's head and stuck it on the body of Arnold Schwarzenegger during the height of his bodybuilding career. He was tied to the bed with strong bands across his chest, wrists, waist and both his upper and lower legs. Bands that he obviously wasn't happy about wearing as she could see from the way his muscles kept standing out, and the sheen of sweat he was covered with, that he was trying to break them – trying and failing.

"Oh, my baby what's happened to you," she breathed putting her hand on the glass, even though she knew that he would not see her and probably wouldn't respond to her anyway given what she had been told had happened, had been done to him. A hand touching her shoulder caught her attention and she looked over to see that Rick had come up without her hearing him, a look of complete understanding on his face. She gave a slight smile back knowing instantly that he understood exactly how she was feeling.

After a moment she noticed the odd apparatus set up around Nathan's head. It looked almost like some technological head and neck brace – though a visor was present over his eyes – and was connected by a series of cables to another nearby device. A device that just by looking at it she could tell had not been made on Earth.

"What's that around his head," she asked.

"It's the neuro-somatic imprinter," Rick replied, "it's what Doctor Johnson will use to remove the artificial personality before stimulating Nathan's original neural patterns to reassert themselves."

"So, he'll be himself again?"

"Yes well as well as anyone can be after what he'd been through," Lisa replied, "he's probably going to need quite a considerable amount of therapy and emotional support after the artificial personality is removed. Especially as he will remember everything that he did while under its control, that is bound to take a terrible toll on his psyche."

Maria's eyes burned with tears of both anger and sadness. "Oh, my poor boy," she said looking back through the window to see two new individuals had arrived in the room. One was a short, but very stocky, man with short brown hair. He looked completely unremarkable unlike his companion who was very tall pushing six foot six with mauve coloured skin and purple hair.

"Who are they," Maria asked nodding at the two new arrivals.

"The short stocky one is Doctor Ieuan Johnson he'll be the one operating the imprinter," Rick replied, "the tall one is his assistant Korilan – he's a micronized Zentraedi."

"Is that safe?"

"Perfectly."

"They're beginning the procedure now," Lisa commented as the two men moved to their positions and got to work.

It wasn't much to look at as the parts of the imprinter that were around Nathan's head lit up and abruptly, he seemed to freeze as though he had been instantly transfixed by the light. For a few minutes nothing more seemed to happen then a laser-like fan of energy began steadily sweeping back and forth across Nathan's forehead, the beam penetrating into the skull beneath the layers of skin and muscle.

"What's that doing," Maria wondered.

"As I understand it the beam you see is the imprinter isolating the foundations of the artificial Prime personality and beginning to remove them," Lisa replied. "Depending on exactly how long the artificial personality has been there and how dominant it has been the process could take anywhere from twenty minutes to three hours to complete."

"Once that's done the last aspects of this 'Prime' persona will be gone and then they'll be able to stimulate Nathan's original neural patterns to re-emerge," Rick added having been thoroughly briefed on what the imprinter was going to do to his cousin. "After the procedure's done he'll sleep for awhile as his neural pathways recover and are regenerated by a healing energy imparted by the imprinter at the end of the cycle."

"And there is nothing we can do in the meantime," Maria asked.

"Nothing but wait."

Maria nodded and stood there watching and waiting. Nearly two hours passed with the imprinter still running that scan beam back and forth. Until abruptly the scan went static before firing a series of pulses into her son's head. The reaction was immediate as Nathan stiffened – everyone of his muscles suddenly looking almost like they were going to pop out of his skin – and his mouth opened and while she couldn't hear it, she didn't need to, she knew that Nathan was screaming. She started to move, to go in there and stop them hurting him, only for Rick's hand to shoot out.

"Don't," he said, "I was warned this might happen."

"But they're hurting him," Maria started to argue with her nephew, despite the situation she was surprised by the amount of strength she could feel in Rick's arm. It seemed out of proportion for the compact build that Rick had. She wondered if it was true what some people said about the UEDF giving all its military personnel some form of genetic enhancement as a sign-up bonus.

"They're not the one who is hurting is the artificial personality as its destroyed," Rick replied he glanced back into the room to see Nathan had stilled. "See."

Maria followed her nephew's gaze and saw that Nathan was indeed calm again and had stopped screaming. The imprinter was still active though the colour of the beam had changed from a pale red to a soft green. A pulse of brighter light shot along the beam and disappeared into his head. A second pulse followed then a third and a fourth before finally the beam moved again. Running back and forth across his head three times before shutting down the imprinter going dark moments later.

Through the window they could see Doctor Johnson and Korilan talking for a few moments. Then Doctor Johnson left the room while the Zentraedi began carefully removing the imprinter apparatus from around Nathan's head. A moment later the door to the observation room opened and Doctor Johnson came in.

"The artificial personality has been removed," he said calmly in an accent that Maria couldn't place but she would bet it was Welsh. It would fit as if she was right Ieuan was a Welsh variant of Ian. "We have successfully restored the patients' original neural patterns. They are functioning normally though based on my calculations he will sleep for eight or nine hours while his mind gets used to itself again."

"But he'll be alright," Maria asked.

"Physically yes. I will have to do a series of cognisance tests when he wakes up to make sure everything is alright but that shouldn't take long. I will get some medical techs to move him to a proper recovery room."

"Thank you doctor. Can I see him?"

"As soon as we've moved him to a recovery room, you'll be able to see him."

"Thank you doctor."

"If you'll excuse me I will start the ball rolling to move him."

"Of course," Maria replied. Doctor Johnson smiled back, then turned and left to begin arranging for the transfer of Nathan Hunter to a room where he could begin to recover from his ordeal. Rick, Maria and Lisa watched him leave before the two Hunter's turned and gave one another a hug of relief at the knowledge that the removal of the artificial personality had been a success and that while he would no doubt have a long road to go down to recover from his ordeal, they had Nathan back.

And that was all that mattered.

Hieroglyphics Lab

A Short Time Later

Doctor Daniel Jackson smiled as he carefully checked his translation of the hieroglyphics that had been present on the cover stones. It had been a challenging job translating them – not only were the glyphs damaged from the weight of the derelict Zentraedi cruiser, but the dialect they were written in was a very old one even by Ancient Egyptian standards which wasn't surprising when you considered that these things had been buried beneath the Giza Plateau over six millennia ago – but it had been a challenge he had enjoyed especially as he had learned to use a laser scanner in the process.

Reaching out he tapped the comm unit on his main workstation. "Doctor Jackson to Doctor Carter."

"This is Doctor Carter what is it Daniel," Samantha Carter answered immediately from the main lab.

"Sam you better get in here," he said, "and bring everyone who you think will be interested."

"You've done it?" Sam asked.

"I have."

"We'll be right there."

Five Minutes Later

Claudia Grant had a slight spring in her step as she arrived at the lab that had been specifically set aside for Doctor Jackson to work on his translation of the cover stone hieroglyphs. She was surprised that the translation had come so relatively quickly, especially given how damaged some of the glyphs were requiring the use of a laser scanner to read them and attempt to reconstruct them in the form of a holographic projection. Though at the same time she was eager to learn just what it was the glyphs meant and if they gave any indication of the nature and purpose of the mysterious naquada ring.

Entering the lab, she wasn't surprised to find that a number of other people had arrived before her including many of the scientists who had been attempting – somewhat unsuccessfully – to probe the secrets of the ring. General Richards and Colonel Kowalski were present as well but one person who was present did surprise her somewhat.

"Lisa this is a surprise," she said in greeting to her friend and former SDF-1 shipmate. "I would have thought you would be with Rick and his aunt. Did the procedure work on Nathan?"

"It did take over two hours but the artificial personality is gone," Lisa replied embracing her best friend from their days on the SDF-1. "Nathan has been moved to a recovery room and is sleeping now. According to Doctor Johnson he could sleep for eight hours or more as his mind recovers from the removal of the imprinted personality and the restoration of his original brainwave patterns. Rick and his aunt are currently sitting with Nathan for a while. If I know Rick, he'll be there until Nathan wakes up and from what I have seen of her Maria will be as well."

"Well, they are Hunters stubbornness run's deep in that family," Claudia pointed out.

"True," Lisa agreed as they approached the crowd waiting for Doctor Jackson to speak. After a few moments the archaeologist, anthropologist, and linguist – seeing everyone was here, with some people in the form of Admiral Gloval, Minister Exedore, Secretary Anderson, and Commander Breetai attending on holographic screens – stepped forward to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen thank you all for assembling here on such short notice," Daniel said. "As you all know I was asked to come here to translate the hieroglyphs written upon the cover stones of the alien naquada ring. While it was a challenging assignment due to both the fact that the glyphs were damaged and had to be digitally reconstructed and the fact that the dialect, they're written in is old even by Ancient Egyptian standards, I am pleased to inform you all that this translation has now been completed."

"What do they say doctor?" Admiral Gloval asked.

"The translation says the following "A million years into the skies, sealed and buried for all time the Stargate of the false god Ra. May it never see the light of day again less the false ones return to rule the world again". The final set of glyphs on the central cover stone after reconstruction are not hieroglyphs at all but a series of seven symbols identical to those on both the pedestal and inner ring of the naquada ring which I believe to be this Stargate."

"Stargate," Breetai muttered before a thoughtful expression appeared on his face, "do you mean star portal?"

"It reads Stargate commander, but it could easily mean star portal in another dialect," Daniel replied, "I ran a check of the symbols against known star patterns in both our own and the Zentraedi database. They all converge on a binary star system six hundred light years from here."

"Why do you ask if Daniel meant portal commander," Gloval asked.

"There is an old, and quite obscure legend among the Zentraedi admiral," Exedore replied, "one we inherited from our creators the Tirolians or as they are now known the Robotech Masters. This legend states that there was once a technology that translates from ancient Tirolian into star portal. While little information on this legend remains says that these star portals were supposedly devices created by a long gone extremely advanced spacefaring race known only as the Ancients.

"The portals were planet-based structures that when activated by imputing a series of symbols into a control device would create a stable subspace wormhole between two portals no matter how far apart, they were in space. Any non-full size Zentraedi would then be able to enter the portal and emerge nearly instantly at the portal it had connected to," Exedore continued. "Unfortunately, due to the passage of time there are no descriptions anywhere in our records of what these star portal devices looked like or what their control device looked like."

"Could it be that the Stargate as Daniel calls it and the legendary star portals are one and the same," Samantha Carter asked after a moment of thoughtful silence.

"I would say that it is a very real possibility," Exedore said, "if it is indeed the case that we have discovered one of the star portals, or Stargates, then it is indeed an incredible find. Especially if others still exist and are fully operational either in this galaxy or beyond."

"We need to find out," Gloval pointed out after another few moments of silence. "The question is how."

"The most obvious way would be to enter these seven symbols into the pedestal device and see how the ring responds," Sam pointed out. "We already know that the ring responds to buttons pressed on the control pedestal."

"Logical but also dangerous Doctor Carter," Secretary Anderson pointed out, "there are these false gods to consider whoever, or whatever, they really are. How much of a threat do they present to us? Are they really a threat that we need to confront right now?"

"It is possible that we might be dealing with one of these false gods already," Gloval said grimly, "this cult leader who sent those upgraded destroids – which I have to remind you had non-standard defensive technology such as energy shields – to attack Fort Minotaur and clear the way for transport planes loaded with troops to land. All to take this Stargate."

"You suspect that this Vosegus is one of these false gods spoken about in the hieroglyphs," Anderson asked.

"It would fit," Gloval replied, "the fact that he sent forces to attempt to capture the ring means he knows exactly what it is."

"Plus, Vosegus is the name of an ancient Celtic god of hunting and forestry," Daniel added recalling the Celtic and other European mythologies he'd studied back when he'd been training to be both an archaeologist and anthropologist. "It is possible that this Vosegus could be an alien of some kind, after all to our distant ancestors a technologically far more advanced alien would be seen to be able to wield magic and could even be perceived to be a god."

"Interesting," Anderson commented. "Doctor Jackson, I hate to impose any more on your time, but would you mind writing up anything you know about this Vosegus. If he is who we are facing, then it means he has been here for a very long time."

"It has been a while since I studied Celtic mythology, but I will do what I can sir," Daniel replied.

"Thank you doctor," Anderson answered with a pleased smile.

"In the meantime, what do we do about the Stargate sir," Sam asked.

Anderson looked thoughtful. "It's clear we need to know more," he said at last, "however using the gate is something that the entire defence council and the UEG executive need to discuss and decide on. To that end I am going to order only a minimal amount of additional research to be carried out on the gate for now. Try to get it to work but do no more than that until further orders are received."

"Understood sir," Sam acknowledged. She knew some of her fellow researchers wouldn't like having to wait but she would keep them in line, she had gotten quite experienced at doing that in the years since she'd left the US Air Force after the arrival of the SDF-1 and joined the Robotech Research Group.

"Does anyone have any questions," Anderson asked looking at the assembled soldiers and scientists. There were none, for now at least. "Then you all know what to do. Once the council and the executive have their decision, I will let you know. In the meantime, you know what to do. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a few meetings to organise."

"Understood sir," General Richards answered for everyone.

"Good luck everyone," Anderson replied before closing the communication down from his end. A moment later Gloval and Exedore also disappeared to begin preparing for their part on the discussions ahead, Breetai following them a moment later.

"Alright everyone you all know what you need to be doing let's get to it," Richards said prompting everyone to begin dispersing back to their assigned workstations with a new enthusiasm – but also a healthy amount of concern – in all their steps. All of them knew, as many had known when the SDF-1 first crashed to Earth thirteen and a half years ago, that the work they were doing here was going to put humanity on the cusp of a new age and bring about the potential for great change. If that change was for the good or the ill was not, could not, be known yet…

…as always only time would tell.