Hello everyone!
Here we are once again with the next chapter of this story.
I just love all the support and kind words you guys have been offering me since this story began. It means a lot.
And so, let the chapter begin!
Chapter Twelve: The Lost Are Found.
Time: April, 28, 2006. 1500 hours. Location: Atlantis.
The sunlight was reflecting off the towers of Atlantis, creating beautiful gleaming lights everywhere as the giant city ship's many inhabitants went about their daily work.
Dr. Rodney McKay, self proclaimed smartest man in two galaxies was currently in the control room of Atlantis. He was facing towards one of the long range sensors consoles while he typed commanded into the small terminal in front of him. The scanners responded to his commands and began to focus in on one area of space near the edge of the Pegasus galaxy.
Sheppard, Weir and Gloval all walked over towards McKay as Sheppard said, "McKay, whats up?"
"As you know, thanks to the nine Reflex Furnaces here on Atlantis, we have a ZPM's equivalent of energy being pumped throughout the city, as well as having a ZPM tied into the city, allowing for power levels of two ZPM's to be used by use. With all of this energy, we are capable of using a vast majority of Atlantis's technological capabilities. One of those is the long range scanners, which have gotten a massive boost in their capabilities thanks to the new amounts of energy." McKay explained to those assembled.
"Get to the point Rodney." Sheppard said.
"While scanning throughout Pegasus, I found the data transmitter of an Ancient warship." McKay revealed as he clicked a button, the long range sensors zooming in to show a large shape near the edge of Pegasus.
"An Ancient warship? Sheppard asked, completely flabbergasted. The ADF had found several notes talking about Ancient warships, but no technological data could be found about these warships.
"Yes. An Ancient warship. As in a warship used by the Lanteans during their war with the Wraith." Rodney said.
"Why didn't we find this thing earlier? We have had the ZPM plugged in and the Reflex Furnaces online for months now." Sheppard asked.
"For one, we weren't looking for it. We were just doing passive scans to find the location of Wraith warships. Reason two: we have been very busy rebuilding and getting stronger after the Siege. We just haven't been looking. Another thing is that this warship is on the very edge of the Pegasus galaxy. She was most likely just outside of our sensor range and then accidentally drifted inside of them. In the end it doesn't matter how we didn't find her until this point, all that matters is that we now have the location of an Ancient warship. We have to get out there and check her out." Rodney said.
"Agreed. An Ancient warship is something we could really use right now. I would suggest using the Macross, she is our largest and strongest warship to date and should be capable of towing this Ancient warship back here to Atlantis." Gloval said.
Weir nodded and said, "Sheppard, you are AR-1 go with the Macross and go check this Ancient warship out. Also, take a compliment of Replicators with you as well as some Asgard. If possible I want that warship capable of being taken back here to Atlantis as soon as possible."
"Understood." Sheppard said as he and McKay went to get Ronon and Teyla suited up and ready.
Fran and Heimdall were told of their orders and within two hours, 1,000 Replicators and 100 Asgard where ready to be beamed on-board the Macross while Teyla, Ronon, McKay and Sheppard were all in the hanger area, waiting for the Macross to go to their designation.
Once everything was ready, the Macross ignited her engines and lifted off from the large Moon Base for the first time in over a month.
Once the massive white and blue warship had gotten far enough away from Moon Base ALUCE, she activated her fold drives. A familiar looking sphere appeared around the powerful warship and in the blink of an eye, the large warship disappeared into the blackness of outer space.
Time: 2000 hours.
Three hours of travel later and the Macross finally reaches the site in which the Ancient warship is suppose to be at.
The Macross leaves her fold sphere and reenters normal space, coming to a complete stop in a matter of moments.
AR-1 is currently on the bridge of the Macross all of them having their Cyclone armors on and ready to roll.
The Macross ignites her sublight engines and then slowly began to move towards the coordinates of the ancient warship.
After a few minutes of searching, Teyla notices something in the blackness of outer space and says, "Is that it?"
The Macross moves closer to the strange object and discovers what it really was.
It was the frame of a warship, being easily over three and a half kilometers long. Or at least it should have been, but the front end of this warship was completely obliterated, a massive hole where the front of the bow used to be. Dozens of other smaller wounds were burned into the frame, exposing the inner workings of the warship to the void of outer space.
"Looks like she was in a hell of fight." Sheppard commented as he scanned the form of the warship.
"And she lost." Ronon agrees, the horrible amounts of damage to this warship clear to even him.
"Vanessa are we getting any life support from that thing?" Gloval asked.
"Negative sir. Scans are revealing that the ancient warship has suffered approximately 35% damage to the frame, with a high possibility of 42% damage to the frame. It's a miracle the ships still in one piece." Vanessa commented as she scanned the ruined warship.
"Alright. Vanessa, beam over Replicators and tell them to head for the life support systems first. Once the life support is back up, we'll send over the Asgard. AR-1, you are going to head over there and check for any threats." Gloval ordered.
"Understood." Sheppard said as he pressed the right side of his helmet, the front section sliding down and locking in place, creating an airtight seal.
The other members of AR-1 did the same and soon after, the four man team was beamed over to try and secure the ancient warship, while other teams of marines and ADF personal were also beamed over. Replicators went down and quickly found the life support systems and began to repair them, their insane construction speed easily capable of getting the ship's life support systems up and running inside of three hours.
Sheppard and his team were headed down a corridor and when they got to the other side, they saw something amazing.
Pods, round circular pods built into the walls of the warship itself. There must have been hundreds of pods on this level alone and who knows how many elsewhere. However, it was what was inside these pods that truly amazed the ADF members. Human beings. Asleep with small white snowflake like things on their white and brown robes garments.
"McKay, are you seeing what I am seeing?" Sheppard asked.
"If you mean the hundreds of stasis pods with possible Lanteans inside of them, then yes. I am going to go to a control panel and hack in. Maybe I can found out how many are on this ship." Rodney said as he then walked over to one of the consoles.
Sheppard nodded and then called the Macross and said, "Macross. We have a big surprise. We found a large number of stasis pods with possible Lanteans inside of them."
"How many?" Gloval asked.
"Well, from the single hall we are in there are several hundred at least in here, with god knows how many other stasis halls elsewhere on this ship." Sheppard replied as he walked over to one of the pods and whipped away the front from the top part of the stasis pod, showing the elderly woman inside.
"So, the entire crew is alive?" Gloval asked, surprised and shocked.
"Most likely." Sheppard said.
"Dr. McKay, is there a way we can bring them out of stasis?" Gloval asked.
"Well, the pods are the only thing keeping them alive. However, thanks to Asgard cloning techniques, we should be able to clone them new bodies and then transfer their minds into the new bodies. However, that will take time. And this all relies on the fact that we can get this ship to Atlantis. From where I am standing, it will take at least a day and half to build the three inches of hull plating over all of the exposed frame that way the ship can survive the trip back to Atlantis. I would recommend that is where we focus our efforts next after finishing life support." McKay said.
"Agreed. I would rather not get into a fight with the Wraith with that warship so exposed as it is. Lisa, get Skull, Green, Blue and Vermillion Squadrons and set up a CAP around that warship. Vanessa, send a bit more power to the sensors. If a Wraith warships gets within five minutes of us I want to know." Gloval said.
"Understood." Lisa said as she called up the designated Veritech squadrons.
The pilots were quickly in their Veritechs and flying off into the void of space, their large pink-red engines flaring brightly as they flew out and began to set up a CAP around the still form of the Ancient Warship.
Back on the Ancient Warship...
McKay was currently going through the ships computer to see how many stasis pods were currently on the ship. Eventually he found the number and it shocked him.
"Okay, I have found how many pods are currently active." McKay said.
"So, how many are we looking at?" Sheppard asked.
"500 stasis pods are currently active, so around 500 Lanteans are alive on this warship." Rodney said, a little shocked the crew of this warship was so small considering the vast size of the ship.
"That few? This ship a lot longer then the Macross and the Macross can hold over 75,000 people on her. How come the ship has such a small crew?" Sheppard asked.
"Well, for one this is a Lantean warship and therefore has the mental interface system, same as the Jumpers and the Pendragons. That would mean that ship operations would be a lot easier for them and therefore the need for a large crew is reduced." McKay explained.
"So, what's the damage report?" Sheppard asked.
"Were to start? Well lets the power generators. Out of the three large reactors the ship uses, all three are barely operating while the ZPM the ship is carrying is down to 5% power. Life support is almost up so that's good. The long range sensors appeared to have been hit with a Wraith particle blast and so long range scanning is completely out of the question until that is rebuilt. Weapons have suffered extreme levels of damage, with all of the secondary pulse cannons completely destroyed and three of ship's four drone launcher are too badly damaged to launch drones, what little good that will do since the ship only has 41 Drones left in total in the hold." McKay said bluntly, reading off the numerous damaged systems.
"The hyperdrive is completely fried and we'll have to completely rebuild the thing from the ground up to get the ship mobile again, as the sublight engines are damage beyond repair as well. Long range communications is also out, while short range communications is so damaged we would have problems contacting the Macross, who is only a few kilometers away from us. The only things slightly working are a shield emitters, with 10 of the 12 shield emitters in relatively good condition, while the remain emitters are completely fried. All in all, the ship will take months to get back any form a reasonable condition." McKay concluded.
Sheppard winced as he heard that, from the outside the Aurora looks terrible, but on the inside she's ten times worse.
"That bad huh?" Ronon asked. He may not truly be able to understand just how badly damaged the ship is, but even he understood from what McKay said that the ship isn't going to be going into combat anytime soon.
"It's worse then you know. I mean, some of the systems are so badly damaged, it'll just be easier for us to completely tear out sections of the hull and rebuild it from the ground up. Power cables are severed, crystals are broken, key systems are fried, it's a mess. I have no idea how the ship survived this long in her condition." McKay said, showing a small hologram with all the damaged areas highlighted red.
Most of the ship was covered in red as large damaged areas were showcased and showed just how badly damaged the ship was.
"Truly remarkable this ship managed to survive in such a condition." Teyla said as she stared at the hologram.
"Yeah. Also, I found out the name of the ship." McKay said.
"Really?" Sheppard asked, a little confused McKay would go search up something as meaningless as that.
"Yes. The ship is called the Aurora and according to the few logs I came across, the Aurora was on a super top-secret mission from the High Council itself. I mean, only the High Council itself and the crew of the Aurora knew what the orders for the Aurora were and where she went." Rodney said, catching John's attention.
"You think the Aurora might have found one of Janus's secret labs?" Sheppard asked.
"No, from what little the logs say, there is no way the Aurora found one of Janus's logs. The Aurora went to the very edge of the Pegasus galaxy and once there, she went to an unnamed planet and found something of impossibly high importance and was then ordered to return to Atlantis at max speed. She was coming back to Atlantis when she fell under attack from 3 Wraith Hives and 9 Cruisers. She expended everything she had to destroying the Wraith and she won, but she was so badly damaged that the crew was forced to go into stasis to survive." McKay said, showing a few of the logs he had found while going through the computer systems of the Aurora.
"What do you think they found Rodney? Some kind of weapon?" Sheppard asked.
"No idea. Whatever it was, the High Council placed a level 10 sealing classification on it. For those who don't know, a level 10 sealing classification means that if you so much as breath a word about it, you will be locked away in one Atlantis's cells or just thrown onto a planet and left to die. There is no greater level of security then a level 10 for the Lanteans so whatever they found, it must have been something of world shattering importance." McKay said to the shock of those listening.
"And let me guess, the data pertaining to whatever the Aurora found is incapable of being unlocked unless you have a Council members ID code. Correct?" Sheppard asked.
"Correct. The levels of security surrounding this thing is so dense it would take us centuries to break through. It just makes whatever they found all the more intriguing. I would imagine the Captain of the Aurora might have a way to access the data on the data cache somewhere so we just have to wait for him to tell us." McKay said as he went back to his Infiltrator.
"Agreed. It would incredibly dumb to not allow the Captain of the ship carrying world shattering information to know anything about said world shattering information." Sheppard said as he looked around as the stasis pods, wonder which one contained the body and the mind of the Aurora's captain.
Suddenly Sheppard's communicator began to beep. Clicking it he said, "This is Sheppard, go ahead."
"Sir, we have found a security breach here. We are sending you are coordinates now." A ADF marine said.
"Alright. Let's go." Sheppard said as he led AR-1 towards the security breach.
A few minutes later...
Sheppard saw the marine squad, their weapons pulled out and armed as they aimed towards a single stasis pod.
"Major, what's the situation?" Sheppard demanded as he and his team arrived.
"Sir, take a look." The Major said as he point his gun towards the pod.
Turning his head, Sheppard saw what was in the pod and he was horrified.
Laying down with it's eyes closed was a single commander type Wraith while the skeletal remains of a Lantean was next to the pod.
"Shit! Macross, this is Sheppard. We have a code red over here." Sheppard said.
"What is it Sheppard?" Gloval asked.
"We have found a single commander type Wraith here in a stasis pod, along with the remains of a Lantean. There is a high possibility of incoming Wraith warships. I would suggest we get ready to be attacked and try to get the Aurora out of here now." Sheppard said as he kept his A-55 pointed at the Wraith.
"Agreed. Claudia, change us into red alert and raise shields and power weapons. Vanessa, anything on our scopes?" Gloval asked.
"No sir. Nothing yet." Vanessa replied as she kept scanning space around them.
"McKay, is it possible to use the shields of the Aurora to protect us from the radiation of Folding?" Sheppard asked.
"Yeah, but the emitters are in a really bad condition. They will work, but their more then likely to fry themselves and then explode during our trip back to Atlantis." McKay said.
"Alright. Well, the life support is now back online. Tell the Replicators to focus only on the shield emitters and to get them repaired as quickly as possible. We're going to have to move the Aurora like she is." Sheppard said.
"Now, how do we get that thing out?" Ronon asked.
"Let me check." McKay said as he connected into the stasis pod systems.
"Okay I am in and wow wow wow!" Rodney said as he looked at the screen.
"What?" Sheppard asked.
"According to the scans, all the stasis pods are interlinked together. They are communicating to one another. I recognize the system, they are using. It's like a hyper-realistic artificial reality. No wonder the Wraith got into the stasis pod. He knew it was his way of learning incredibly advanced technologies to return to the Wraith. Think about it. This was his chance of talking to Ancients and learning more about their technology." Rodney said as a sense of horror rose up in everyone.
"So, your saying this Wraith used the pod to jack into the artificial world the Aurora crew built and is using it to learn about advanced technologies to bring back to the Wraith Could he have altered the artificial reality in any way?" Sheppard asked.
"It might be possible for him to have effected the artificial reality in such a way it might kill all the crew if he is taken out. I'll have to search through the lines of code and find any booby traps he might have left inside." Rodney said as he began to quickly scan through the lines of code to figure out what the Wraith did while in the pod.
Time: 2245 Hours.
Rodney had searched for over an hour through the lines of code for the artificial reality and saw nothing that would suggest tampering via the Wraiths avatar.
"Well, I can saw with all certainty that the Wraith did nothing to tamper with the artificial world while inside the pod. I can forcibly eject him from the pod and then you guys and kill him. Just make it quick so he can't call in Wraith reinforcements." Rodney said as the marines and AR-1 snapped into position, all their weapons trained on the pod.
"On the count of three." Rodney said as he hand was over the button.
"One." The ADF members primed their guns, bright blue energy coalescing in their barrels.
"Two." Sweat was starting to come down their faces as the pressure built higher and higher.
"Three!" McKay shouted as he clicked the button and the pods power was cut, causing an emergency system to activate that would cause the pods occupant to be forcibly ejected to try and save their life.
The Wraith barely opened his eyes before his chest and head was riddled with bright blue bolts of energy that tore his body apart, leaving a bloody dead Wraith corpse in the pod.
Sheppard stepped closer to the Wraith and then pocked the corpse with his gun to see if he got a response. He got none.
"Okay. Target is neutralized. McKay, status on the shield emitters?" Sheppard asked.
"Shield emitters are roughly at 58% at their maximum effectiveness and will reach 100% effectiveness in roughly around seven more hours." McKay reported.
"Okay." Sheppard said and was about to continue when a emergency channel was sent out.
Sheppard clicked his comm and said, "Sheppard here."
"Lt, we have two Hives and six Cruisers approaching our will be here in five minutes." Gloval said grimly.
"Dammit! It seems we were too slow. We have two Hives and six Cruisers approaching our position." Sheppard said to the ADF embers assembled.
"Sheppard, get to the command chair. We still have Drones and can fight. We focus on the Cruisers, the Macross can focus on the Hives." McKay suggested.
"Good idea. Send me the location." Sheppard said.
"Doing it." McKay said as he sent the location to Sheppard's Cyclone.
Sheppard received the data and before he ran off he said, "Go help get those shields ready. We are going to need them."
Sheppard transformed into hovercycle mode and drive off, heading towards the control chair.
After three minutes of driving, due to the need to stop and accelerate several times due to this being on a warship, Sheppard finally reached the control chair.
Going back into armor mode, Sheppard walked out of the Cyclone and then walked over to the control chair, where he sat down.
The chair activated immediately, reclining backwards and the platform where the chair laid started to glow bright blue as the chair also began to slowly rotate in a clockwise manner. Several holograms appeared before Sheppard as he checked the system to see if he could target and fire. Luckily, short range scanners where operational, if barely and he could fire the remaining Drones. If he minimized Drone usage Sheppard could potentially take down three Cruisers with the remaining Drones.
The Macross had turned herself around in a 180 degree turn to face towards the direction the Wraith warships where coming from. The bow of the Macross had split open and the ever imposing form of the Reflex cannon was shown. Giant bolts of raw energy where flying everywhere as the Reflex cannon charged up. The numerous particle cannons on the Macross were also charging up and ready to fire the moment those Wraith warships came out of hyperspace. Torpedoes and Improved Alterran Drones were loaded up and prepared for launch.
The Aurora would not be touched during this fight, no matter what. Those Lanteans were going back to Atlantis. They were going to come home, no matter what.
The minutes slowly trickled by as the Wraith warships approached until finally, they arrived.
Immediately, the Macross fired her main cannon, outright obliterating a Wraith Hive ship in a matter of moments as well as badly damaging two other Cruisers. The damage cruisers soon found themselves facing a plethora of heavy particle beams tearing into the organic hull of the Cruisers with ease. The Cruisers shook and shuddered as the blue lances of energy burst through their frame, causing dozens of explosions throughout the large warship before the two warships exploded in thunderous fashion.
Sheppard closed his eyes and activated the Drone launcher, the metal screeching as it opened up to allow one of the most dangerous and powerful weapons types in the known universe to go flying out of the launcher. A long stream of 41 Drones flew out of the launcher and off towards the Wraith ships.
The golden squid like projectiles impacted the hulls of a Cruiser and tore through it with minimal resistance. The Drones buried themselves deep with the Cruiser, tearing through the ship before they erupted out the backside, where they then arched themselves back towards the ship and buried themselves into the warship once more. This continued for a while before the Cruiser started to glow orange in the area where it's reactors are located and then the Cruiser exploded, another victim to the power of the Alterran designed Drones.
The Macross had done the same, two large streams of the Improved Drone weapons were currently tearing apart the frames of two Wraith Cruisers before they too exploded into small bits of flotsam and debris.
Several reflex torpedoes flew out of their tubes and rushed forth, hitting the last Cruiser. Tremendous explosions roared out from the impact sights, causing massive flashes of light as the torpedoes exploded.
The Macross angled herself towards the remaining Wraith Hive ship, the massive Reflex cannon charging up. Giant bolts of orange-red energy crackled along her long booms as the mightiest weapon available to the Macross charged up.
Once fully charged, the Reflex cannon roared forth, a giant beam of orange death plowing forwards, craving through the hull of the final Hive ship with impossible ease. The mighty Wraith vessel disappeared in a blinding flash of light, signalling the ending of the battle for the Aurora.
Few dozen Darts the Hives and Cruisers had managed to launch were quickly disposed of, the mighty Pendragons tearing apart the Wraith fighters with almost causal ease. In a matter of 11 minutes, all Wraith forces had been annihilated, saving the Aurora and her crew.
"Alright. Rodney, are we good to go? I don't want to be here another minute." Sheppard asked as he scanned the ship for any additional damage. Thankfully none of the Wraith warships managed to fire off their main cannons in time and the Wraith Darts were destroyed before they got int range, not that thy would have been able to do much to the Aurora with her shields up.
"I have reconfigured the shield matrix. Now the shield will become skin tight and sit on the hull itself, thus reducing the amount of energy needed to keep it up. However the shield emitters are still badly damaged and need to be repaired further. We should be able to get back to Atlantis, but it's going to be close." Rodney replied.
"Alright. Macross, this is Sheppard her on the Aurora. We are ready to be towed back to Atlantis. Let's get out of here before the Wraith return." Sheppard said.
"Understood." Gloval said as he then turned towards Claudia and said, "Claudia, position us above the Aurora and expand our Fold Sphere to encompass the Aurora. Also latch a tractor beam onto the Aurora's hull to minimize movement from her."
Claudia nodded and the massive engines of the Macross ignited, sending the smaller warship moving forwards slowly as he flew towards and then above the Aurora. Once the Macross dead set in the middle of the Aurora, four thin green energy beam shot out from the bottom of the Macross and attached themselves to the hull of the Aurora, stabilizing the much larger warship. Once that was done, the familiar sight of a golden Fold Sphere appeared and encompassed the giant Aurora inside.
For a few seconds, neither warship moved and then suddenly, a tear in space appeared before the Fold Sphere. A second later, the Fold Sphere with the two large warships inside of her shot forwards and went flying into the the tear in space and disappeared.
Sheppard sighed as the long day finally started to catch up with him. Checking the speeds they were going at, it would take them around 10 hours to get back to Atlantis, due to the shear size and mass of the Aurora slowing the Macross down significantly.
Sheppard closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep while sitting the control chair.
Sheppard suddenly woke up with a start, looking around and seeing himself in outer space, no Cyclone armor on around him, but he was perfectly safe.
He then saw a giant Hive ship fly over his head, the many cannons firing off salvos of hundreds of particles blasts. Turning around, he saw a Lantean warship firing back, her golden shields managing to absorb the energy blasts with ease while several streams of golden drones flew from her Drone launchers, tearing apart numerous Wraith warships surrounding her. Her secondary pulse turrets fired off their yellow blasts, impacting the hulls of the Wraith warships and causing giant explosions from where they did.
Sheppard looked at the Ancient warship and just instinctively knew that it was the Aurora. She was fighting for her life as more Wraith warships appeared and fired at her, the golden shields that protected her through so many battles beginning to wan and fail as the firepower impacted them.
The Aurora fought back with all she had, her large swarms of Drones tearing apart any Wraith warship unlucky enough to be in their way while the yellow pulses from the pulse turrets did massive damage when they struck the enemy warships.
However, as time went on the Aurora was pounded harder and harder until her shields eventually fell and the particle weapons of the Wraith finally started striking the hull of the Aurora. The Aurora got her revenge by destroying all of the energy warships, but in the end, it was pyrrhic victory.
The Aurora was damaged, badly. The entire front part of her bow was obliterated, while dozens of other holes had been punched into her hull.
Sheppard then suddenly found himself on the Aurora. He saw as the entire crew rushed to save the Aurora. They managed to keep the ship from exploding, but they couldn't call for help, they couldn't go to hyperspace and their life support was failing them. The entire crew ran to the stasis pods and got inside, the large pods glowing light blue as they worked to keep their occupants alive until they were rescued.
Sheppard watched as a man who was dressed much differently from the rest of the crew ran through the halls of the Aurora until he reached a specific room. Punching in a special code, the door open and the man rushed inside. Sheppard followed and saw a large computer console inside the room.
The man activated a console and entered in a another code. The computer changed as a special screen started to appear. However, Sheppard's vision turned to white before he could see what was on the screen.
Sheppard awoke with a start, looking around the room and seeing he had slept in the control chair. Checking his watch he saw it was 0800 hours. In a little over an hour the Aurora and the Macross would be arriving back at Atlantis.
Sheppard remembered his dream and decided to go see if he could find the secret room and see what was on that computer.
Sheppard climbed back into his Cyclone armor and set off, trying to remember only which corridors that strange Lantean had gone down in his vision.
After about half and hour, he finally found the corridors and followed them, making sure to remember which door the man had entered. A few minutes later, he finally found the door. Closing his eyes, Sheppard carefully punched in the exact same code the man did in his dream. The door stayed close for a few moments and then with a horrible shriek, slowly slide open.
Sheppard stepped inside, his helmets night vision allowing him too see perfectly in this dark room. Sheppard approached the large computer console and turned it on, seeing he needed to enter a special code.
Closing his eyes once more, Sheppard then tried to visualize which buttons the man had punched in.
With careful clicks, Sheppard punched in the symbols and waited. After a few seconds, the computer screen changed to a screen that showed a series of scientific notes while a strange element was displayed on the screen.
Sheppard couldn't make heads or tails of this stuff, but it looked important. Clicking his comm he said, "Rodney, do you copy?"
"Yeah. What's up Sheppard. We are going to be leaving Fold soon." Rodney said back.
"I am in a special computer room with a computer console displaying some strange stuff. I need you to come here." Sheppard said as he sent his location to Rodney.
"Fine. I'll be there in a second." McKay said as he started heading towards Sheppard. Surprisingly, the shield emitters of the Aurora had done much better then McKay had originally estimated and they would be okay by the time they reached Atlantis. It was strange, McKay could have swore the emitters would have close to burning themselves out by now, but whatever. A pleasant surprise.
McKay soon arrived at Sheppard's location and Sheppard said, "Where are Teyla and Ronon?"
"They are having breakfast with the marines down in the mess hall. So, show me what you got." Rodney said.
Sheppard showed McKay the screen. McKay scanned the screen for a few seconds, his face growing more and more amazed by the second before he said, "This is incredible!"
"What is is?' Sheppard asked.
"These are the scientific notes about a previously unknown energy particle. Even the Lanteans didn't know about these things until the Aurora stumbled across them during her travels. The logs don't go into specific detail about how they came across these particles but that isn't the point. These particles have the ability to increase energy production by a significant margin." Rodney said, his scientist side going into overdrive.
"How significantly?" Sheppard asked, extremely intrigued.
"No idea. The Aurora was transporting a batch of these particles from wherever they found them and was taking them back to Atlantis for study. They knew almost nothing about these molecules whatsoever, so exactly how much these particles increase energy production is unknown. This is a major find for us. Now we can increase energy production for our Reflex Furnaces by a significant margin if we figure out how to harvest the power of these particles." McKay explained.
"Nice." Sheppard said, getting more powerful reactors was always something the ADF would never turn down.
"How did you find this place anyway?" McKay asked.
"It was weird, for some reason I fell asleep in the control chair and then had this vision of the Aurora final battle and then I saw what might have been the Aurora's captain running through the Aurora to this room to check on the computer core, probably to make sure the computer was undamaged." Sheppard said.
"That's weird. The control chair doesn't have the power to transfer memories to the person who sits in it. Strange." McKay said, looking slightly confused out.
"McKay, you said the shield emitters were supposed to be dangerously close to being fried at this point, so why aren't you panicking?" Sheppard asked.
"Well, the shield emitters and just fine. Strained, but no where close to failing, even though we're close to Atlantis. At this point they should be close to failing, but they are going strong so far." McKay said.
"Really? Are you sure you did your math right?" Sheppard asked.
"Yeah, I triple-checked before I told you the emitters would be close to frying right now. I can't explain it. It's as if something is actively preventing the emitters from failing." McKay said, frustration in his voice.
"First your math is wrong and then I get a weird vision that leads us to a computer core where the scientific notes about a super important energy particle. Something is not right here." Sheppard said.
"Yeah, I agree. But, we are going to be exiting Fold soon. We better head to the bridge. I'll place a beacon here to mark this room as important. We'll move the data to Atlantis as soon as possible." McKay said as the two left the room.
The two men were unaware of the being in the back of the room who stood on a plane of existence they couldn't possibly fathom. The being gave a smile as he saw how far the children of Earth had grown in such a short amount of time when he felt a pull from the other members of his race. With but a thought, the being vanished, as if he had never been there before. No trace of his presence would be found by anyone who came into this room afterward.
Time: 0900 hours.
The golden Fold sphere faded away as the Macross and the Aurora reappeared in regular space only a few dozen kilometers away from Moon Base ALUCE.
The Macross ignited her engines and the green thin beams of light tugged the Aurora with her, forcing the much longer warship to follow the Macross towards Moon Base ALUCE.
Once near the base, the giant bay doors opened up, exposing the newly built berth made just for the Aurora. It had originally planned to be for an additional three O'Neill class ships, but the berths had been completely rebuilt by the Asgard on the base for the Aurora.
The Macross moved the Aurora close to her new berth when tractor beams from Moon Base ALUCE flared, grabbing the Aurora and tugging her slowly into the base. After a minute, the Aurora finally settled down into her new home and immediately, thousands and construction drones moved towards the ship, intending to get the ship back into working order immediately. A docking tube was extended to the Aurora and docked with the Aurora's airlock, creating a airtight seal and allowing those on-board to leave the ship while new Replicators and construction drones would enter to begin repairing the warship.
Sheppard and AR-1 left the Aurora and when to Moon Base ALUCE's command room, where they were met by the commander of the base, Colonel Manstriff.
"Hello AR-1 and welcome to Moon Base ALUCE." Manstriff said as he walked over to them.
"Thanks Colonel." Sheppard said as Heimdall walked in.
"Colonel Sheppard, I am happy to report that all of the Lanteans have successfully survived the trip back here to Atlantis and we have already begun the process of transferring their minds into new computers. Once that is done, we will disconnect their pods and take DNA samples from their bodies to begin the process of cloning them their new bodies. I estimate a little over a month and a half to get the entire process completed." Heimdall said.
"Thanks Heimdall. Also, did you guys find a beacon me and Rodney placed?" Sheppard asked.
"No, not yet. Why?" Heimdall asked.
"Well, me and Rodney found a room where a computer console was located and cone we got on the computer, we found scientific notes for a previously unknown energy particle that increases energy production. We should definitely get those notes onto Atlantis." Sheppard said.
"Agreed. Something as important as that needs to be handled immediately. I will make sure the data is transferred to Atlantis as quickly as possible." Heimdall said as he left to go get the data transferred as quickly as he could.
Sheppard nodded and then he and AR-1 were beamed up to the Macross and then sent down to Atlantis.
A lot had changed today, for the Ancients would soon rise once again.
However, even greater change was fast approaching as a meeting was happening in a realm of existence known only to those who had made themselves worthy.
Time: Unknown. Location: Impossible to determine.
In a place beyond human, Asgard or even Ancient comprehension, there was a gathering.
In a grand hall with walls that appeared to be woven strands of reality, showing the wonders of the universe that no one on the lower planes could ever hope to begin to understand, there was a number of beings who had transcended time and space to reach this level of existence and they had gathered together for the first time in several millennia to talk about the actions of one of their own.
Each being appeared to be humanoid, but each and every single one of them wore clothing made of light that was beyond blinding, shinning with light that transcended light. There was thousands of them gathered here, each one radiating power beyond the imagination of any lesser being.
Five of these beings stood above the others, each one of them having an aura that told anyone who stood before the they were beyond all others. Three were women and two were men and they appeared to be very displeased.
Finally, a single blinding flash of light beyond that of a exploding star erupted at the base of the this meeting hall.
From the light stepped a man. Like the others, he wore simple white robes that shinned beyond what should have been possible. He had short curly black hair with blue eyes. He wore a simple smile as he stepped forwards, uncaring about the glares and stares surrounding him.
Finally he stood in front of grand five and without preamble the head of the five, a man with a long white beard and grey hair, "Janus, we know what you did."
The now-identified Janus said, "Then you know why I did it."
"Even if they are our brothers and sisters, you interfered on the lower plane and directly influenced those lesser then us." Another of the great five, a young women with long raven black hair and silver eyes said.
"Yes, and I saved the crew of the Aurora. If I had done nothing those shield emitters would have failed and the radiation of Fold space would have killed everyone on that ship." Janus argued, refusing to bow to them.
"You did what is expressively forbidden. You interacted with those on the lower planes of existence. Our laws and rules exist for a reason. To keep us from becoming like the Ori." Another of the great five said. She was a slightly older lady, having slightly graying hair that flowed like water and slightly dimmed blue eyes.
"The Ori were monsters who forced those on the lesser planes to worship them like gods for power. I fail too see how saving 500 of our brothers and sisters from dying a horrible death will make us all monsters who thirst for power." Janus argued back.
"The problem isn't that you helped save our brothers and sisters, the problem is that now you will be more inclined to help them out more and more now and you also gave the human the scientific data to the Particle. They shouldn't have found out about it for millions of years and yet you gave it to them, drastically altering their development. Who is too say they won't use this new found power to enslave others? As the humans say, "Absolute power corrupts and power corrupts absolutely." Another of the grand five said, a young looking man with blonde hair that was neat while also having brown eyes.
"For one, they will have our brothers and sisters to guide them, as well as the Asgard to make sure they stay on track. The Furlings have been watching Earth for a while now and I know they will make contact with Earth in the coming years. Also, the Nox are also starting to stir. Soon the four Great Races will rise again and make sure our descendants will stay on the right path. Between the Asgard, the Nox, the Furlings and our brothers and sisters, I am absolutely sure the people of Earth will not become like the Ori." Janus argued, causing several others in the room to murmur their agreements. They all knew of the strength of the Four Great Races and with them as their guide, it was highly unlikely the children of Earth will fall into the same desires and temptations the Ori did.
"Be that as it may be, the fact of the matter is, you broke our greatest law. We are to never interfere with the lower planes of existence, no matter what the reason may be. To do so invites the temptation to do so at a later date and then it is a slippery slope that may just end with us being no better then the Ori." The final member of the Grand Five said, a small slip of a woman with short golden hair, emerald eyes and a soft complexion.
"So, you would have me let our brothers and sisters die, alone in outer space after having come so far to try and return to Atlantis? How can we turn our backs on those who need our help? When did we become worse then the Ori?" Janus asked.
All those assembled stood up and shouted out their anger at those words until the Grand Five flared their auras and forced everyone back down, but Janus stood his ground.
"ENOUGH! Janus, I would watch your mouth." The head of the Grand Five warned.
"No. I will not hold my tongue any longer. When we first ascended, I begged you to allow me to free Pegasus from the Wraith, a scourge we created, but you forbid me from doing so. When the Goa'uld began to take over and enslave worlds while killing thousands of innocent beings using technology derived from pockets of technology we left all over the Milky Way galaxy, I begged on my knees to be allowed to stop them, but you forbid me from doing that as well. I have held myself back for too long. I will not allow others to suffer and pay the price for our hubris, our mistakes a moment longer! If I can do something to help the children of Earth clean up the mess we created then I will damn well do so! It is not a sin to help others, especially those less capable then us. What is the point of having all this power, all this knowledge if we don't use it to help others? By closing our eyes and ignoring all of the horrible things that have happened because of our actions, we have become even worse then the Ori. They at least made sure they took care of those that worshiped them. Us, we have abandoned the universe and left all the inhabitants to die, all while claiming upon our thrones on high we are the most perfect and incredible beings that have ever lived and we have dared to claim we are better then the Ori while doing so. We have become worse then our worst enemies ever could have." Janus said his voice heard clear across the hall.
"When the Wraith culled worlds into oblivion and the Goa'uld burned worlds to glass, where was the free choice of those being killed? We claim we support free choise in any form, but we have disregarded those that have been hurt. They didn't choose to die by the Goa'uld or the Wraith, they wanted to live. They wanted to see another sun rise, they wanted to see their loved ones again. And yet we allowed the Wraith and Goa'uld to obliterate countless civilization all because of an old fear of what we might become. I say, that no matter what, as long as we remember to help others simply because it is the right thing to, we will never become like the Ori." Janus finished speaking, his eyes blazing brighter then the cores of a sun.
All was silent as those sitting in attendance sat in silence as they contemplated Janus's words. A slight stirring as felt as some felt that perhaps Janus was right and perhaps they had forgotten what it meant to be apart of the universe. Did they really forget all their morals and the very reason why they had seeded life across several galaxies and then worked with all their might to keep that life safe.
"Janus. Enough. This discussion is over. Interfere with the lower planes again and we will strip you of your powers. Dismissed." The head of the Grand Five said as he vanished, followed quickly by everyone else in the hall.
Janus looked around the empty hall and said, "I don't care. I am not going to stand around idly while others work to clean up the mess we created. Mark my words, I will offer them aid and you will do nothing to stop me."
Janus then vanished as he left to make preparations.
The Ascended beings are divided into two camps, those that want to help those on the lower planes and those that wish to remain non-interfering. Janus's words have left a stirring in their hearts as they think about all the pain that could have been prevented if they had interfered.
A time will come when all those here in the Ascended planes will have to make a choice: Stay here and leave the universe alone or to step in and help clean up their mess.
When that time comes, the outcome will decide the fate of millions.
The universe just suddenly got a whole lot more complicated for the Tau'ri.
And there we go!
We have the Aurora saved and Janus is calling the other ascended beings out on their hypocrisy.
What will come from these events? Only time will tell.
Sorry this chapter took so long to finish, I have just really been lazy. Sorry.
Also, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I had fun today and I hope you did as well.
And so, as always, if you have comments, criticism, or concerns, send me a P.M. or leave a review, always appreciated.
Until next time, this is StrikeFreedom10, signing off.
PLUS ULTRA!