Robotech: The Stargate Saga Version 2.1
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 Two
UEG Government Flight LT14
Two Days Later
Daniel Jackson's mind was still somewhat awhirl as he sat in an incredibly comfortable seat as an official government plane conveyed him towards his destination. Which was apparently Fort Minotaur a UEDF military base on Crete – a base that had originally been built as a research facility but, in the aftermath of the Rain, had been repurposed to serve as the centre of UEG political and UEDF military operations in the European sector of the Eurasian Quadrant – a few miles to the south-west of the capital city of Heraklion. He still couldn't quite wrap his head around how quickly events had moved from the moment he had agreed to assist with the translation of the cover stone hieroglyphics.
As soon as she had had his agreement Major Grant had set things in motion with a call, from a portable fold comm device a piece of technology that he hadn't even realized existed, straight to not just UEDF High Command but to Admiral Gloval himself. Within no more than two hours he had received a phone call from the dean of the university informing him that they had agreed to loan his services as a translator to the UEDF, though they hadn't said at the time what they had been given or offered in exchange. He had later found out from some of his friends among the staff that not only was the university getting a hell of a lot of money – enough to run it for nearly five years – from the United Earth Government but they were getting a whole lot of state-of-the-art equipment out of it along with a full refurbishment of the campus. Both the speed of their offer, and the immense generosity of it, had communicated to him quite clearly that whatever this was, whatever was hidden under the cover stones that the UEDF had found beneath the remains of the Giza Plateau it was big, possibly as big as the arrival of the SDF-1 had been nearly fourteen years ago.
Since then, everything had been something of a whirlwind, the vast majority of his time being taken up by travelling. First there had been a flight from Santiago to New Macross City where he had spent the night put up in one of the nicest hotels in the city. Then after a hearty breakfast they had boarded this plane – which was not only luxurious but of a make and model that he'd never seen before – and begun a long trek across first the Atlantic Ocean then the Mediterranean Sea towards Crete. At least I have good travelling companions, he thought glancing across at where Major Grant – or Claudia as she kept telling him to call her - and the Zentraedi Minister Exedore were sitting. They had both been very good conversationalists, he'd especially enjoyed talking with Exedore as the anthropologist in him had been fascinated to learn more about the Zentraedi as a people and how they were learning to, slowly but surely, embrace a way of life that didn't involve being at war all the time.
More than once since this whirlwind journey had begun, and especially since he had met Exedore, he had found himself thinking about the Zentraedi's previous existence. Travelling through the galaxies going from warzone to warzone, bringing death and leaving nothing but devastation in their wake. An existence that, until they started chasing the SDF-1 across the solar system and picking up entertainment transmissions from the city inside said ship, had not changed for five hundred years. It was a downright depressing way to live when he thought about it.
"May I have your attention please," the voice of Captain Hunter said from the public address system gaining all their attention. "We have entered the approach pattern for Fort Minotaur and will be landing within the next ten minutes. Please prepare for landing."
"Finally," Daniel muttered, it had been a very long time since he had taken a flight anywhere, let alone one like this that crossed hemispheres and multiple time zones. Thankfully the phenomenon known as jetlag was a thing of the past as drugs existed now – and had done since two thousand four, along with numerous other things they had been developed from technology and knowledge found on a fallen alien starship that had been both a Rosetta Stone and a Pandora's Box in equal measure – that compensated for physiological upsets that caused the condition. He had made sure to pick up and take some before they had taken off from New Macross City Airport.
"Not used to flying for long periods are you Doctor Jackson," Exedore asked with a smile of wry amusement.
"Not these days, Exedore," Daniel replied with a smile of his own as he fastened his seatbelt for landing. "Until I left Santiago, I hadn't been to an airport in over a decade let alone taken a flight anywhere. Taking a long flight like this after so long is therefore a bit taxing even with an anti-jetlag drug in my system."
"While your people use it for that that is not that particular drug's primary purpose," Exedore answered with a smile. At the surprised look Daniel shot him he explained. "The drug was originally created by the Tirolians to counter the occasionally very deleterious effects of the first generations of space fold drives. As space folding technology has improved over the last few millennia, and the flaws that caused said effects eliminated, the need for the drug diminished though its formula has remained in most databases."
"Which is where we found it," Claudia said recalling how they had found the formula for that and a number of other drugs that had radically improved life for so many on Earth before the Zentraedi arrived and the Robotech War began. Though those drugs had also helped save a lot of lives after the Rain, especially the ones that boosted cell regeneration and helped counter the worst effects of radiation poisoning. Even the exotic subspace radiation left behind by reflex weaponry could be countered with either high doses of the drugs or immersion in a regeneration tank.
"Indeed," Exedore agreed.
"Who are the Tirolians," Daniel asked not recognising the name, though something told him that it was an important name.
"They are the ones who created the Zentraedi initially as tools of labour on the planet Fantoma but later they repurposed us into weapons of war," Exedore explained. "For the last five hundred years they have been known more as the Robotech Masters."
Daniel frowned. "They don't sound that friendly," he commented inwardly feeling disgusted at the thought of engineering an entire species first to be a labour force somewhere and then later transforming them into weapons of war, tools of destruction and conquest. It was a disgusting practice as he could think of much better things to do with the knowledge of bioengineering and genetics that these Tirolians/Robotech Masters had to have to create the Zentraedi in the first place.
"The Robotech Masters are a very advanced, very powerful race yes, far more so than my people have ever been, but they have not been to war in many generations," Exedore said reassuringly, unsaid was the fact that warfare was what the Zentraedi were for, "plus Tirolian space is a very, very long way from here being literally galaxies away. There is nothing to fear from them."
For now, at least, he thought knowing that the Robotech Masters certainly knew of the death of Dolza and the destruction of the vast majority of the entire Zentraedi armada by now. He didn't think though that they would be in a position to do much about it for quite some time given that their own forces were limited and mostly tied down keeping the subject worlds of the Tirolian Empire under heel. The only possible force they could send would be some of the Guardians and even that would be a bit of a gamble for them especially as the Guardian Zentraedi were constantly preoccupied protecting the borders of the Empire from hostile races like the Invid or races who were advanced enough to be a threat if they turned their full attention to dealing with the Empire. Races like the Asgard, though in their case even the Guardians had to be careful given that the Asgard were one of the oldest known spacefaring races and had the power and technology that backed up said age.
"I see."
The sound of the fasten seat belts sign lighting up and a change in the pitch of the engines, as they were beginning their landing approach, brought an end to the discussion before it could go any further. Daniel braced himself for the bump of landing while wondering just what it was, he was going to find when they entered the base and he got to translate the hieroglyphs on the cover stones.
He also had to wonder if they would show him whatever it was that the cover stones had been concealing. For them to have given all they had to the university in Santiago in order to secure his loan it had to be something massive.
"What are you thinking of Daniel," Claudia asked using his name as he had asked her to do, in exchange for him calling her by her name.
"Just thinking about the cover stones Claudia," Daniel admitted, "I have to admit that I am very intrigued to know what it was that was underneath them. For the UEG to go to all the trouble and be as generous as they have been it has to be something incredible."
Claudia smiled. "You will see soon enough," she replied knowing that the UEG and UEDF High Command first wanted him to translate the hieroglyphs before they showed him the ring. It was believed after all that the hieroglyphs would reveal something about what the ring was meant to do. Despite an exhaustive search by Exedore and his fellow advisors the Zentraedi records had not been that helpful in that regard, having no idea what the ring was though they had revealed a bit more about the capabilities and potential uses of the material that it was made from.
"I look forward to it," Daniel answered as a jolt ran through the plane as the wheels touched the ground for the first time in hours, followed by the sound of the engines going into full reverse thrust slowing them down.
"It shouldn't be long now," Claudia replied as the feeling of deceleration died away as they came to an almost complete halt. The only feeling of motion now was Rick taxiing them to their assigned stand on Fort Minotaur's aircraft parking grid.
After a couple of moments even that stopped as they reached their assigned parking spot, the sound of the engines dying away completely a moment later. A few moments later someone beating on the door to the outside world indicated that a set of steps had been brought up to the hatch. Meaning that there welcoming committee was certainly waiting outside for them to disembark.
"That's our cue," Claudia said undoing her belt and standing up. Knowing that it was time to disembark both Daniel and Exedore undid their own seatbelts and stood up, falling in behind Claudia as she approached the hatch to the outside world. A hatch that was already being opened for them by Rick, who unlocked it, pulled it back and slipped the door to one side letting the warm, moist air of a Mediterranean autumn spill into the interior of their jet.
Throttling down his nervousness Daniel followed behind Claudia, with Exedore following along behind, as they stepped out into the golden sunlight of evening. The sun was beginning to set casting long shadows across the surface hangars and structures of the base – the vast majority of the base including the living quarters would be buried deep underground safe from all but the most powerful of attacks. Daniel briefly looked around noting that the base was primarily constructed from a material that resembled reinforced concrete though it was probably a robotechnology material and thus much stronger than it appeared. Then he noted the small welcoming committee that was awaiting them.
Knowing that he couldn't linger here he followed Claudia down the steps to the ground, Exedore and Captain Hunter following a few paces behind him. Once they had all disembarked, they approached the small group of officers, led by an athletic-looking middle aged man with salt-and-pepper hair.
"Major Grant, Doctor Jackson, Minister Exedore, Captain Hunter," the man said nodding politely to each of them in turn, "I am Colonel Charles Kowalski, I am the second in command here. Welcome to Fort Minotaur. General Richards sends his apologies that he cannot be here to greet you himself but his eldest went into labour an hour ago, so he's had to leave the base to be with her."
"That's quite alright Colonel," Claudia answered fully understanding why Micah Richards – who was well known to be a very committed family man – would want to leave the base to be with his eldest daughter as she birthed his first grandchild.
"If you'll follow me some guest quarters have been prepared for you," Kowalski said, "I'm sure you would all like to freshen up a bit from your long flight."
"That would be nice," Daniel admitted. "Though I would like to take a look at the cover stones as soon as possible."
"Understandable as we are quite anxious to know what the damned things say," Kowalski admitted, "but you should take a little time to rest and maybe have a bite to eat first as you have had a long flight. The cover stones have sat in the ground for thousands of years they can wait another couple of hours for translation to begin."
"True," Daniel admitted, eager as he was to get started, he was quite hungry, and he did desperately need a shower and maybe a change of clothes.
"Please lead on Colonel," Claudia said.
"Of course, Major this way please."
Two Hours Later
Daniel felt like he had rattlesnakes performing a mating dance in his stomach as he followed a UEDF marine through the brightly lit corridors towards the lab where they were keeping the cover stones. It had been nice to freshen up and have something to eat in the quite comfortable quarters, which were certainly a lot more comfortable than his apartment back in Santiago, that he had been assigned in the VIP section of the underground complex.
Now though he was quite eager to get started and it would definitely be interesting to see just how much of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that he actually remembered as it had been so long. It had been pure luck that he had recognised the meaning of the glyphs that he'd been shown back in his apartment that had convinced him to come here and help.
"Here we are Doctor Jackson," the marine said as they arrived outside one of the numerous labs that dotted this particular level. The marine swiped a security card – identical to the one Daniel himself had just been issued with – through a reader beside the door making it open with a whir of electromagnets. Daniel smiled and followed the marine inside…
…only to stop at what he beheld.
The lab was a large rectangular box eight meters wide by ten meters long. It was largely empty though there were several work benches dotted around that in the labs normal life would have no doubt been filled with all sorts of equipment. It was certainly an impressive workspace but what instantly grabbed Daniel's attention was what was floating suspended on a complex rigging apparatus at the far end of the lab.
The cover stones.
Moving almost on automatic pilot Daniel approached them gazing at the huge circular stones in awe. For all that they had spent literally millennia underground they were remarkably intact. Though as he got closer noticed evidence of damage to the stones, especially the central one as it had a very nasty crack running right through it, damaging some of the glyphs which was going to make translating them somewhat difficult. But then he liked a challenge.
"What happened here," he asked gesturing to the crack, noting with some surprise that the marine had been joined by Major Grant – he hadn't heard her come in or hadn't heard her following him.
"We believe the damage to the cover stones is from where the derelict Zentraedi cruiser was sitting on top of them," Claudia told him, "There was only a centimetre or so of pulverized sandstone between the cover stones and one of the upside down cruisers dorsal heavy particle cannon turrets. These stones had a few million tons of derelict robotech alloys sitting on top of them for a year and a half. Between that and the shock of the cruisers initial impact with the plateau it is not surprising that they took some damage."
"No, I suppose not," Daniel admitted with a sigh as he turned his gaze back to the cover stones noting the worst of the damage was to the circular centre stone though some of the others were also damaged being chipped and cracked either from the ravages of time or from the immense weight of the cruiser, "I suppose we're lucky that they weren't shattered into a million fragments by all that weight pressing down on them. Still, I can tell you now that some of these hieroglyphs are going to be quite difficult to translate as they are quite badly damaged."
"Can you still translate them," Claudia asked.
"I believe so yes," Daniel replied with a reassuring smile, "it's just going to take me awhile as I will have to somehow reconstruct the damaged glyphs to figure out what there likely meaning is. Due to the damage, I do have to warn you that the translations aren't going to be quite as accurate as I would like."
"We have a high-resolution laser scanner due here tomorrow," Claudia told him making his eyes widen in surprise. "Will that be of any help reading the damaged hieroglyph sections?"
"It should yes," Daniel replied after taking a moment to recover from his surprise. "Though I will need quite a bit of help deciphering the data as I've never used a laser scanner before thus, I have no idea how to interpret what it tells me."
"That can definitely be arranged," a new voice said from the direction of the doorway, drawing everyone's attention. Daniel turned with the others to see a relatively tall blond-haired woman who appeared to be in her late thirties or early forties – much like Daniel himself – and wearing a lab coat had come into the room. "Sorry I'm late I was unfortunately delayed dealing with a slight spat between some of the other scientists. It's been resolved now."
"That's quite alright doctor," Claudia replied knowing from experience how tetchy scientists could sometimes be, having worked with a fair few of them over the years since the SDF-1 first fell to Earth. To say that it could be like herding cats at times would have been a colossal understatement. Thankfully she hadn't had to do it that often, usually Doctors Lang or Cochrane would see to any bruised scientific egos. The few times she'd had to do it she always ended up wanting to throttle someone. "Doctor Jackson, please allow me to introduce Doctor Samantha Carter, she is the head of research here at Fort Minotaur and is the leader of this project. Doctor Carter this is Doctor Daniel Jackson."
"Pleased to meet you," Samantha said holding out her hand for the other scientist to shake. She had been reading up on Doctor Jackson and had found his theories about the pyramids being constructed by aliens as well as crosspollination of the ancient cultures of Earth quite interesting. The arguments were logical and made sense, unfortunately they had been a bit too radical for the scientific authorities in the pre-Robotech world and the poor man had been made a laughingstock by those who felt threatened by what was clearly a very intelligent and intuitive mind.
"Likewise," Daniel replied with a smile taking the other scientist's hand and they shook. "Though what project is that? There is obviously quite a bit more going on here than just these cover stones."
Sam blinked in surprise. "You haven't told him yet?" she asked looking at Claudia, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"Not yet," Claudia replied, "UEDF High Command wanted Daniel to begin working on the translations first before we showed him the rest."
Daniel blinked. "Show me what," he asked.
"Why what was under these things Daniel," Claudia replied with a smile. "I know you have been curious ever since we first met you in Santiago and you have been patient enough, as much as command may disagree, I am not going to make you start translating until we can do the laser scan."
"You mean," Daniel started to say.
"Indeed, we are," Sam replied taking the lead. "This way please, doctor."
"Please call me Daniel."
"Alright then Daniel. You can call me Sam only my father ever really called me Samantha and usually when I'd done something wrong," Sam replied, even as she felt a familiar stab of pain at the thought of her father General Jacob Carter, who'd died of a very aggressive form of leukaemia a year or so after the arrival of the SDF-1, before the modern anti-cancer drugs – created from information found in the computers of the alien battlefortress – and treatments became available. Treatments and drugs that had cut the mortality rate of all forms of cancers down to virtually zero – something that had saved a lot of lives both before and after the Rain.
"Alright Sam it is."
"This way," Sam said with a smile before turning and leading the way out, back into the near featureless corridors of this particular subterranean fortress. Only the fact that she was well used to UEDF underground bases, all of which tended to follow the same basic floor plans with only small, mostly cosmetic, differences between them due to scale and the bases intended function, enabling her to navigate the corridors towards the main lab. The sound of footsteps behind her letting her know everyone was following.
In no time at all they reached the main lab and she gently ushered Doctor Jackson inside, Claudia also following while their marine escort remained outside. Daniel immediately noticed that this lab had a lot more people in it than the one assigned to him, all the tables had people working on them but what really grabbed his attention were two objects in the centre of the room, which unlike his lab was circular with everything facing inwards.
One was an enormous ring-shaped structure made of a brownish-grey material that didn't look like anything he had ever seen before. It could almost have been mistaken for stone but there was something about it, something about how it gleamed under the lights told him that it wasn't made from stone. As he looked closer, he could see that it was actually two rings in one with the inner ring consisting of thirty-seven panels each engraved with different symbols whose meaning escaped him. Spaced equally around the edges of the outer ring were nine chevron-shaped objects that appeared to be centred around a reddish-orange crystal of some type. The other thing that grabbed his attention was a vaguely mushroom shaped pedestal with a slanted circular board on the top clustered around an orange crystalline dome. Again, he could see that it was split up into a series of panels each with a symbol on them – a symbol that to his trained archaeologist's eyes were identical to those on the ring-shaped device.
"Incredible," he breathed, "these are what were buried under the cover stones?"
"Yes," Claudia confirmed, gazing at them in wonder herself. It was one thing to see these things on computer screens or projected as holograms, quite another to see them in person. She couldn't help but feel that whatever these things were, they held an incredibly powerful secret one that could bring great scientific and technological riches or utter annihilation in equal measure.
"What are they," Daniel asked.
"That's just it we don't know," Sam answered, looking back at the two devices with a look like a child in a candy store in her eyes. These two things were presenting her and her teams with an extremely interesting puzzle. A puzzle that she hadn't tackled in quite some time not since she'd worked with Karl Riber and others on reverse engineering the quantum reflex power plants of the SDF-1. "We know that they are some sort of linked mechanism, our sensors confirm that there is a subspace link between the pedestal and the ring, but what they are and what they're actually meant to do we have absolutely no idea at this time. We're hoping that your translation of the hieroglyphs on the cover stones will provide us with some answers."
Daniel blinked and then looked at the devices again, eyes practically glowing in glee at the puzzle these things and the cover stones were presenting him with. A puzzle that was eons in the making and one he would do his utmost to solve. "Then I guess I better get started at least with some of the least damaged glyphs," he said feeling some of his old enthusiasm for solving the riddles of the Ancient World return; a moment before a whooping alarm began to sound throughout the base. It resonated odd off the walls and made him look around in alarm. "What's that? We're not having a fire drill, are we?"
Claudia looked up in surprise and concern at the sound of the alarms, then she turned and spoke to Daniel. "No, we're not. That alarm… it's a battle alert," she said her next word sending a shiver of fear through the currently, but hopefully not for much longer, disgraced archaeologist, "Fort Minotaur is under attack."
Authors Note: In a major difference to the original version of the story the attack on Fort Minotaur by the forces of Vosegus has not taken place in this chapter. Instead it will now be taking place in the next chapter as I have redone the battle since upon rereading I wasn't entirely happy with it or with its position at the end of the second chapter.