Hello everyone!
This is the first chapter of my new story in which five franchises and thrown together in one massive galaxy.
This is going to be fun and crazy and I hope you stay with me for the whole journey. I would also like to say that I am looking for a beta reader. If anyone wants the job, send me a PM and I'll look it over.
With that out of the way, let the story begin!
I do not own Stargate or any franchises shown in this story, nor am I receiving any revenue from this story.
Chapter One: Twilight of the Asgard.
The infinite field of darkness one normally sees when venturing out into the depths of outer space was missing. Instead, the crew of the USAF Odyssey, second Daedalus class Battlecruiser constructed by Earth, were only capable of seeing the light blue tunnel of hyperspace that seemed to go on for eternity in both directions.
In the bowels of said warship, two men sparred hard against one another.
One was a mountain of a man, his chocolate brown skin covered with a small layer of sweat as he brought his large staff down towards his lighter skin toned opponent who simply raised his own staff to counter.
"This vessel does not have a pool, Colonel Mitchell." The larger man rumbled, the intricately designed golden tattoo on his forehead seemed to gleam due to the sweat from the man running down it's metal surface.
"I was talking about the gambling variety, Teal'c." Replied the dark blonde hair Air Force Colonel.
Teal'c simply raised an eyebrow as they continued their spar, the two staffs smacking into one another with loud "thwaks" that echoed out into the halls of the Intergalactic Battlecruiser.
With speed beyond that of many men, Teal'c capitalized on the small opening Mitchell had unwittingly exposed and managed to land a heavy blow against the smaller man's back.
Mitchell winced and moved away, Teal'c himself retreating a few steps to allow his teammate and commanding officer to recover from the extremely harsh blow he had just suffered.
"I do not wish to speculate." Teal'c evenly replied as he circled around back towards Mitchell.
"He only said it was something important." Mitchell said as he finally recovered and raised his staff, silently challenging Teal'c.
"Indeed. But I would not risk a wager." Teal'c said as he swung without warning at Cam's head. Said man ducked with a slight yell of shock and fear and their spar was once again started.
Dr. Daniel Jackson, leading expert on everything Ancient, was currently walking through the hallways of the Odyssey while reading a large book and was also looking to keep an eye out for any crew members he might run into. Daniel is the very epitome of ordinary. He has an average build to him, wears thin frame glasses and has short dark brown hair and slight stubble around his mouth. Not the picture that comes to mind when thinking about the man who has saved countless lives and even helped save the galaxy several times.
However, it is true. The plain man walking the halls is the same man who finally cracked the code and unlocked the power of the Ancient Alterran device known as the Stargate for Earth to use. The Stargate is a incredible device that allows anyone to travel between planets and even galaxies in minutes via the usage of stable and artificial wormholes that connect two Stargate's together. Using a DHD or a Dial Home Device, anyone can travel between any two Stargates, all you need is six symbols which correlate to coordinates in space and a seventh symbol as a point of origin.
Thanks to Daniel unlocking the Stargate, Earth took her first steps out into a much larger universe, however this also had it's consequences. Earth's existence was discovered by the Goa'uld, a race of parasitic snake like creatures that burrow into another being's body and takes them over. Humans are the preferred host of the Goa'uld for a number of reasons and so the Goa'uld took humans from ancient Egypt and spread them across their empire, using them as slaves and even genetically altering them to become warriors.
However, humanity kicked the Goa'uld off of Earth and then buried the gate in Giza, until it was discovered in 1928 and taken by the US military by the USS Achilles to keep it out of the Nazi's hands. The Gate moved around a lot over the years as the US Government tried to find out exactly what it did. It wasn't until 1994 and the recruitment of Daniel that the true purpose of the Gate was finally uncovered.
After the initial use of the Gate, the alien device was closed once more to keep Earth safe, but the Goa'uld still found the planet and thus the SGC was founded to get advanced alien technology to keep Earth safe. What followed was ten years of harsh conflict with the Goa'uld and many last minute saves that nearly saw the complete destruction of Earth.
And yet, Earth managed to pull off a victory. The System Lords, undisputed masters of the Milky Way galaxy for over 25,000 years, finally fell. Their large Empire shattered, their vast armies broken and leaderless. What remains is a shell of what was once a massive empire.
After that, the SGC finally thought that maybe they could have peace. However, Daniel made a mistake and awoke an enemy much worse then the Goa'uld. While in Glastonbury Tor in England, he discovered a vast treasure filled with gold, artifacts and Alterran technology, one of which was a Long Range Alterran Com device. In his haste to talk to a real, living Alterran, Daniel awoke one of the universe's most powerful and dangerous species to ever exist.
The Ori, a race similar to the Alterrans, especially due to the fact that they also Ascended, shedding their mortal forms and becoming beings of pure energy. However, while the Alterrans respect free will of all living things, the Ori are greedy and lust for more power at any cost, damn anyone who has to die for them to get more. The Ori get more powerful the more beings on the lower realms of existence worship them. And Daniel accidentally just told them all there was countless human civilizations across the Milky Way just waiting for the Ori.
What followed was several years of defeat after defeat as the Ori unleashed their armies in a crusade to either convert the entire Milky Way to their religion, Origin, or they would be exterminated. And so far, the war has seen too much of both. Earth and her allies have put up a valiant attempt at stopping them, however the Ori warships are too powerful.
Earth and her allies launched of combined attack of at least 15 vessels, mostly Free Jaffa and Tok'ra, but also Lucian Alliance, Earth's own Odyssey and Korolev as well as a O'Neill class warship from the Asgard themselves. The Ori sent only 4 warships to meet them at what has become known as the Massacre at the Super Gate. Even with weapons powerful enough to wipe out planets, the Ori shields didn't waver at all. Instead, the Ori's own weapons tore the fleet apart with fury and power never before seen in the Milky Way galaxy.
In the end, only the Odyssey and one other warship managed to survive and even that was by pure luck. And since that point, only one Ori mothership has even been destroyed and that was by extremely specific circumstances.
In the end, it took an Ascended being by the name of Merlin to create a weapon capable of killing the Ori. He took over Daniel's mind and body and used him to construct the weapon which was then sent to the Ori galaxy.
Since then, it would appear that the Ori are dead, but their fanatical followers have continued their crusade still, dozens of worlds either falling to Origin or being wiped clean of life.
Daniel sighed, a deep well of guilt rising up once more as he thought about what has become of the Milky Way galaxy due to his own reckless behavior. Perhaps if he had done something different, millions would still be alive.
Daniel mentally shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. Looking back at the past and thinking about what you would do differently is a good way to drive oneself either insane or depressed. What happened has already occurred and just thinking about what different actions one would take is doing nothing to fix the damage caused. He made this mess and Daniel is determined to stop the Ori, no matter the cost.
The man walked up to the mess room doors and opened them, unprepared for what would occur next.
"Surprise!"
The mess hall was packed with crew members, as well as streamers, balloons and on top of one table there was even a cake with a candle on it.
Daniel sighed as he saw the person who was no doubt responsible for this. She was the one who has caused him more grief and headaches then any other being in the universe. At times she seemed to be god's personal envoy of misery, sent to punish Daniel for all of his sins by making his life unimaginably more complicated then it should have the right to be.
She was a dark haired woman wearing dark BDU's, her beautiful face having a mischievous smile as she unrepentantly looked at Daniel. She seemed to live for the moment when all hope and joy died in Daniel's eyes after finding another of her schemes. All around her, the crew members who she managed to get involved in this affair all smiled at Daniel.
Daniel simply smiled mildly at them, already having dealt with dozens of many other such surprises by the woman.
"It's not my birthday." Daniel said as he turned around, knowing that reading his book while in the mess hall was now a distant dream. However, the bane of his existence followed after him quickly. Vala Mal Doran was a woman of many talents and skills, and one of them was getting on Daniel's nerves very easily.
"Hey, we made a weird cat pinata thingy." Vala said as she caught up to him. Her lack of knowledge about Earth culture was one of the many things about her that made Daniel want to throw her out an airlock somedays. That, as well as her habit of stealing things and getting them both in trouble for it, as well as other characteristics about her.
Daniel calmly closed his eyes and counted to ten before he turned to her and said, "I told you to bring something to amuse you. I didn't mean me or the crew."
"But they won't believe that it's my birthday...again." Vala complained in a near child like pout.
"Not my problem." Daniel replied as he turned and started walking away. Maybe once that would have worked, but after years of dealing with Vala, Daniel has mastered the art of simply walking away.
"Being stuck on this ship is worse then being stuck at the SGC! I-I-I tell you, the last time I was this bored, I took hostages!" Vala called out in a last ditch attempt to get Daniel to turn around.
"I was there." Daniel relied, recalling said incident. It was the time he was trying to get the Atlantis expedition via the Earth warships X-303 Prometheus. Vala managed to take over the ship and took everyone hostage.
With that, Daniel turned the corner and walked out of sight, leaving Vala standing there while still pouting.
On another part of the ship, SGC veteran Samantha Carter was walking onto the bridge while a tablet sat nestled in her arms while she continued to run a diagnostic on the Odyssey's shield generators.
Asgard in origin, these shield generators were responsible for the creation of the ship's mighty shields that prevented the ship from all manner of harm. After the battle at the Super Gate, the shield emitters of the Odyssey have had a few small problems here and there, most likely as a result of all the damage the ship took. The Odyssey had come within an inch of being destroyed and even after all the repairs made by Earth, some systems just didn't seem to work as well as they once did. The irregularities in the shield system are not enough to compromise the shield, but still enough that Sam and the other engineers have always kept a close eye on them to make sure these small problems didn't become big ones later down the line.
The light blonde haired scientist extraordinaire walked onto the bridge, many of the crew members not turning or even reacting to her arrival as they sat and did their duty.
This was something Sam was slightly grateful for. After all of her achievements, like blowing up a sun using a Stargate, she has had received far more attention then she was comfortable with and so when the Odyssey crew basically ignored her, she silently sighed in relief.
Turning towards the command chair which is located centrally, right between Helm and Operations Station, while Science and Weapons consoles are located to the left and right of the fore windows respectively and on the far left wall is a large LCD screen with a small keyboard underneath the screen for visual communication and tactical battlespace displays.
In the chair is the temporary commander of the Odyssey, General Jack O'Neill, current head of Homeland Security. Normally he would be back on Earth, but this is a special occasion. The Asgard are some of Earth's greatest allies and request from them is not easily ignored. Besides, the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet, Thor, is one of O'Neill's best friends and vice versa, O'Neill is one of the few humans Thor trusts implicitly, with Sam, Daniel and Teal'c being the others.
Also, O'Neill is not one who likes sitting around signing paperwork all the time. The last few years he has barely kept his sanity from all the inaction. So, when he heard Thor was asking Earth to send the Odyssey to Orilla on a mission of grave importance, O'Neill leapt at a chance to go offworld once more and see Thor again.
His argument for being the person of whom has had the most experience with Thor as well as having good relations with many other Asgard made O'Neill a logical pick for commander of the mission.
"Major Marks? Are we there yet?" O'Neill asked, causing Carter to give a low chuckle at hearing his famous "O'Neillism" at work.
"We are approaching the coordinates sir." Marks said. A veteran starship operator, Marks has served for a number of years as a bridge officer on both the Odyssey and the original Prometheus as well. His calm and collected attitude has served him well when facing combat scenarios.
"Good. Drop us out then." O'Neill ordered.
Marks nodded and then lept into action, swiftly deactivating the hyperdrive and bringing the Earth Battlecruiser out of hyperspace, the endless tunnel of blue light fading away as the large spaceship shot out of the hyperspace window at blinding speed before coming to an abrupt halt that didn't turn the crew to paste thanks to the advanced inertial dampeners. Marks brought the ship into a stable orbit above the large blue and green planet before them with practiced ease.
"Sir, we are being hailed." Marks told O'Neill before continuing on after tapping the buttons on the side of his console. "The Asgard are requesting permission to come aboard."
"Sure, let 'em in." O'Neill replied.
Only a scant few moments eclipsed before a musical chime could be heard on the bridge followed by a blinding flash of white light that disappeared seconds later. When the light ceased to exist, what was left was a small pale grey alien that had a large bulbous head, thin arms and legs with black eyes. Before them stood a member of the Asgard race, Earth's most powerful, if somewhat distant ally that had saved the planet over and over again.
The identity of this particular Asgard was revealed when he began to speak. "Greetings and welcome to the Asgard Homeworld, Orilla."
"Thor! Little buddy! Good to see ya again." O'Neill said as he got up and hugged the smaller alien gently, a beaming smile on his face.
"O'Neill, it is good to see you again. You are looking well." Thor said, turning his head up a little to get a better look at his friend.
"Been working out a little. Got to keep myself in shape." O'Neill replied, happy to see his friend once more.
"Thor!" Sam also exclaimed as she too walked over to her friend. While the two were not as good of friends as O'Neill and Thor were, Thor and Sam both held each other with great respect and enjoyed each other's presence.
"Hello Colonel Carter, it has been far too long since we last saw each other." Thor responded as he turned his head to his other friend.
"Out of curiosity, how can you tell the difference?" Vala asked Daniel, seeing as she has never seen an Asgard in the flesh before. Even the memories she took from Quetesh after their separation had none regarding the Asgard, save for the fact they are very powerful and are enemies of the Goa'uld.
"The voice." Daniel replied quickly, not wanting to miss anything Thor might say.
"It's good to see you too, Thor. This is Colonel Mitchell and Vala." Sam gestured to each in turn.
"Greetings." Thor said as he slightly bowed his large head towards the newly introduced members of SG-1.
"So Thor, mind telling us why you called us out here?" O'Neill asked the question on everyone's mind.
"We have contacted you and asked you to come as quickly as you can because we intend to give this vessel significant technological upgrades. If you move the Odyssey to these coordinates, there is a shipyard in lunar orbit ready to begin the refit. Once it has begun, the High Council wants to meet with you to discuss these upgrades in more detail." Thor said.
"I hope it's ray guns, I've got ray guns in the pool." Mitchell whispered to Teal'c.
"Are you guys giving us big honking space guns?" O'Neill asked, not even bothering to hide his excitement, although he knew it was most likely not to be. The Asgard are really strict about any offensive based technologies they give to other races.
"We are giving everything we have...and know." Thor replied, causing the entire bridge crew to stop immediately as they all simultaneously did their best impressions of statues.
"By that, you mean..." Vala asked, her mind struggling to keep up.
"Everything. All of our current technology. All of our knowledge." Thor said with finality as he made sure that there was no miscommunication between himself and the crew of the Odyssey.
The moment those words left Thor's mouth, all noise ceased on the Odyssey. Even the usual tone of machines working seemed to disappear as if the universe herself as shocked into silence from Thor's revelation.
"Sorry, it's just we are a little stunned. I mean, why are you doing this? You've always resisted in the past. You always said we weren't ready." Daniel asked, desiring to know why Earth's oldest ally would all of a sudden decide to leave everything to them clear out of the blue.
"Indeed." Thor agreed. "Many on the council still believe that."
"So what's changed?" Mitchel asked bluntly.
Thor lowered his head slightly and for a brief moment, O'Neill and the others saw regret, fear and sadness cross those dark eyes. That really set off the alarms in the heads of SG-1 who have known the Asgard for a long time.
Thor then raised his head back up and said, "As a race, we are dying. Very soon, we will all be gone."
Absolute silence as Thor's words reverberated in the minds of all that heard them.
Carter looked shocked and turned to O'Neill, only to stop when she saw his face.
O'Neill's face had turned several shades paler as he stared at Thor with distant eyes, fear, shock and distress all at the forefront of his current emotional state.
He looked like a man who just watched his entire world disappear.
A few hours later and the Odyssey was sitting comfortably in the massive berth that usually held O'Neill class warships, but now held the relatively tiny Earth cruiser.
O'Neill and Thor were talking with one another about what Thor had meant.
"So, you guys tried to cure yourselves of your degradation, but instead gave yourselves a really nasty disease?" O'Neill said.
"Indeed. We have tried everything we can think of to cure ourselves, but all of our efforts have been met with failure." Thor said, wishing he could do something to try and comfort O'Neill, but knowing there was nothing he could do.
"What about Ascension? You guys could always just Ascend and then retake your old physical form." O'Neill suggested, only to have his idea shot down by Thor.
"No, that is not possible. We chose to extend our lives through science many generations ago and in doing so, have blocked the critical evolutionary progress needed for Ascension." Thor said.
"So that's it? Your just giving up?" O'Neill said, a lot harsher then he intended before he cut himself off.
"O'Neill, that cannot be further from the truth. I do not wish for this, none of my kind do. Leaving the planets that we are supposed to be defending all by themselves to face the Lucian Alliance and the Ori is something we hate with our entire being. Yet, we cannot stay any longer. In a little over a month's time, every single Asgard will be unable to move as our bodies shut down. Already many of my brothers are already at this state. We cannot allow ourselves to reach this state before we leave behind our legacy. The galaxy needs us, but we cannot be there for it any longer. And that O'Neill, is something that causes us to feel no end of regret." Thor said.
O'Neill looked down, ashamed that he let his anger get the better of him and said, "Thor, I'm sorry about snapping at you. I...I am just really shocked and I guess scared that you will no longer be there to help bail us out. I am just not ready to be without you. I think no one in the Milky Way is. We have all thought of you guys as our ever dependable allies and I guess we thought you would always be with us."
Thor walked over to his friend and said, "O'Neill, we will never leave you. As long as you bear the burden of keeping our legacy, as long as you continue to uphold our ideals, the Asgard shall live on, through you."
O'Neill had tears in his eyes as he bent down to look Thor in the eyes as he said, "We have a lot to live up to. You guys are leaving behind some pretty big shoes to fill."
"You shall do an excellent job. I know you will." Thor said as he placed his right hand onto O'Neill's shoulder.
O'Neill could only silently let his tears run as all the emotions raging inside of him were let out. Thor looked on and only felt pain and sorrow knowing so many would feel the sting of their absence. Once more, he cursed his races arrogance and short sightedness . The decisions they made all those years ago has doomed so many worlds and so many people to death.
The two sat in silence for a while as no words could accurately describe the raw emotions present in both human and Asgard. And yet words were not needed. The bond between O'Neill and Thor, the one forged from fire and combat, made it so that words ultimately, were unnecessary.
Several hours later and O'Neill was back in his quarters aboard the Odyssey, looking over mission reports from Atlantis as he tried to take his mind off the fact that the Asgard were going to be gone soon.
He had spent the last 8 hours since leaving Thor digging through every single file the SGC had, trying to look for some miracle, some way to save the Asgard and yet, he found nothing.
He took up an inventory list McKay had compiled about new technology they had discovered on Atlantis, his bloodshot eyes lazily looking over the items and their descriptions when he stopped dead in his tracks.
He read the last item's name several times over, trying to make sure what he was reading was real and not some hallucination created by his sleep deprived mind had concocted.
With a burst of speed, O'Neill leapt from his chair and ran across his room and open the door, practically bulldozing past several crew members as he raced to his destination.
Carter was currently looking over the specs for the Odyssey as several Asgard worked when she heard someone slam into the bulkhead wall just next to the door.
The door opened to reveal a sleep deprived Jack O'Neill who had a nearly crazed look in his eyes.
"Carter!" He screamed as he stumbled his way into the room, drawing attention from everyone in it.
"Sir, are you okay?" Carter asked, moving towards Jack with concern on her face.
"Carter, look at the bottom of this list!" O'Neill said, pushing a list into her face.
"Sir, what's going on?" Carter asked.
"No time to explain, just look at it!" O'Neill said.
Slightly concerned her superior has finally lost all traces of sanity, Carter took the list and looked at the last item at the bottom. The moment her eyes gazed the name of the item, she finally understood why O'Neill was in such a state.
"Sir, this is brilliant! We need to get to Thor!" Carter said as she clicked her earpiece and contacted the bridge.
"Bridge, contact the Asgard, tell them we need to speak with Thor immediately." Carter said.
A few moments later, the Asgard commander appeared in the room with a bright flash of light as the musical chime of the Asgard Transport Beam as heard.
"Colonel Carter, I head my presence was needed. What is the situation?" Thor asked, concern on his face.
"Recently a lot of new technology was found on Atlantis, one of which you have to see for yourself. The item in question is at the bottom of the list." Carter said as she gave Thor the list.
Thor looked down at the list for a moment until he came to the bottom and saw what it was that got O'Neill and Carter so worked up.
"Let me explain. The Lanteans were losing the war with the Wraith, so they began experimenting with nanites to try and kill the Wraith from within. However, they programmed the nanites with self-replication and self-modification. This lead to the nanites interlocking to form more complex forms until they became the most advanced form they knew of, which was the Lanteans and thus the Asurans were created, the Pegasus variety human form Replicators. Now, the rest of their history isn't important, but what is important is that McKay just found the machine that the Lanteans used to create the Human Form Replicators. If we can reprogram the device, we can use it to create new bodies for you guys to transfer your minds into, ones that are free from the genetic diseases as well as cellular degradation. We have found a way for you guys to live." Carter said, her excitement palpable.
Thor looked at the list and then lifted his head back up and said, "Colonel Carter, this device cannot save my people."
"What? Why?" Carter asked, not understanding why Thor wasn't happier.
"From the files Dr. McKay has attached, this device was made for human form Replicators and is incompatible with our Asgard minds. It would take significant reprogramming for the device to be able to create an Asgard form Replicator body as well as make it compatible for Asgard minds. It would most likely take months to do and simply that is too long, we just do not have that much time left." Thor explained.
Carter racked her brain and then said, "What if you digitally copied your brain patterns and placed them in long term storage here on the Odyssey? We could get the programming done eventually."
"The Odyssey simply does not have the size for the computers necessary to hold all of the Asgard minds. It would require an extensive remodeling of the Odyssey's frame to do so." Thor said.
"Hey, you guys still have the Time Dilation technology don't ya? We could activate the field and then make time work faster on the inside of the field." O'Neill said, adding another option.
"Sir, that's brilliant. It would give us enough time to properly test out the new technologies and then fix any problems that might arise." Carter said, amazed O'neill had this idea.
"Hey, I have a good idea every now and again." O'Neill said.
Thor simply looked at O'Neill and knew from the steely resolve in O'Neill's eyes said it all. No matter what Thor said, they would not stop searching for any method to save him and his kind. Not that Thor was complaining, it was touching to have such great friends who would stop at nothing to save him. And he did have to admit that the plan did have a high chance of success.
Thor mentally debated whether or not to acquiesce and begin working on the human's plan or to simply refuse and go with the one they already had. Eventually he came to a decision and said, "I will take the plan to the High Council. If they agree, then we shall begin preparations. However, should they instead refuse we shall continue with the original plan. Agreed?"
O'Neill nodded and Thor then said, "I need to go talk with the High Council."
Carter clicked her communicator and said, "Bridge, please beam Thor down to the High Council building."
A moment later and the sound of an Asgard Transport beam activating could be heard before Thor was engulfed in a bright flash of light and disappeared.
"Do you think they'll go for it?" Carter asked.
"It's not like they have a lot of options Carter. It's either this or they go extinct. The plan has it's dangers, but it's their best shot for survival. If I was in their position, I would take that leap of faith." Jack said.
"Well, we can only hope sir." Carter said as she went back to work.
O'Neill sighed and left, heading for the mess hall to get something to eat. He didn't eat, drink or sleep after his talk with Thor and after all that has happened in the hours since has left him drained and hungry. He knew he can't work at his best if he is sleep deprived, hungry and thirsty, so O'Neill went to remedy those situations while he has free time.
Ten hours passed after Thor's departure before the crew of the Odyssey learned of the High Council's decision.
Thor beamed aboard the Odyssey once again and went to the briefing room where SG-1 and O'Neill awaited him.
The briefing room had been modeled to look like the on back at Cheyenne Mountain complex where the SGC operated. There was rectangular table which seemed molded right out of the floor that had some various equipment on it, there as a LCD display on one wall while to another all was a set of windows that showed Orilla.
Thor walked in and said, "The High Council has decided. We will enact the alternate plan General O'Neill and Colonel Carter proposed."
All those with a personal connection to the Asgard let out a silent sigh of relief at hearing that the Asgard were not going to wipe themselves out.
"In order to do so, I will need to work with Colonel Carter on make the necessary modifications to the Odyssey's frame. It is certain this vessel will need to be enlarged to handle the computer banks necessary to house all the Asgard minds." Thor said.
"I can do that. When do we start" Sam said.
"We will have to wait. The Time Dilation Device needs to be rebuilt, although thankfully we still have several spare parts we didn't use for the original. We should have the device constructed inside of five days. Then we can begin. We have a month to finish the redesign and upgrades for the Odyssey, that is our time limit Colonel." Thor said.
"Understood. I will be ready to begin when you are." Sam said.
"I think we should begin the redesign of the Odyssey now to maximize our limited time." Thor suggested.
Carter nodded and the two left the briefing room.
After that, Cam, Vala, Teal'c and Daniel all filed out of the briefing room and left O'Neill by himself.
O'Neill stood up and looked out the window towards the view of the incredibly advanced Asgard city. Towers and structures of immense size constructed of pure white material gave the city a majestic appearance beyond any other city with the sole exception of Atlantis.
It was an incredible view, one that gave O'Neill a sense of calm. He wasn't worried about the Time Dilation Field, he trusted Thor and Sam to make sure it worked properly.
However, what really was giving him unease was what happened after that. It is a long shot that they can get the Human Form Replicator machine reprogrammed to make Asgard form bodies and to also ensure their minds are compatible with the bodies. There is quite literally a million things that can go wrong and doom the Asgard to extinction. However, that machine is the best and last hope for the Asgard to survive not only as a civilization but also as a species. There is no other options. Either the machine works and the Asgard are saved or it doesn't and the Asgard are doomed to remain without new bodies for possibly centuries.
It is a large burden to place on O'Neill's shoulders when the threat of the Ori is already placing enough of a strain as it is. However, he managed to get through the Goa'uld war and he will get through this as well.
With his head held high, O'Neill left the briefing room as well, headed for the bridge to get ready.
Five days later, several Asgard technicians walked into a hastily constructed room.
They entered in a large open area that had a five upwards curving arches around a T shaped opening in the floor where transparent materiel lay while a six pronged structured lay near the top of the device.
This is the Asgard Time Dilation device, rebuilt after it's usage to trap the Replicators in a bubble of slow moving time.
The technicians looked over the device several times before they all nodded to one another and then one of them moved over a nearby pedestal on the far right of the room where he moved several of the control stones into new positions. Once that was done, the device activated for the first time.
A large transparent dome erupted from Orilla and moved outwards until it encompassed everything in the distance of the lunar orbit.
"Aegis, how fast is time going to move inside the field?" One of the technicians asked.
"The Time Dilation Field is moving time at an increased rate of fifteen hundred percent." Aegis answered.
"The the device is working perfectly. That is good." Another technician said.
"Indeed." Aegis replied.
The five technicians stayed in that room for several more hours to ensure everything worked correctly before leaving.
The next thirty days seemed to pass unbelievably fast for everyone onboard the Odyssey, except for Vala who nearly went insane many times during this period.
After a solid four days of none stop work, the new design for the Odyssey was completed and construction began.
The new frame of the Odyssey was built from the ground with Asgard technology to make the ship even stronger. The new hull plating is an experimental design that was meant to replace the ancient blend of Carbon, Naquada and Trinium blend used by O'Neill class warships as well as Beliskner class warships. This new blend is dark black in coloring, making it so that seeing the Odyssey via sight is a much more difficult task, however the hull now also blocks scans and hides the ship's thermal and radiological emissions as well. This new hull plating is also tougher and stronger then the regular hull plating used by Asgard ships, offering an increased amount of protection and defense when compared to the regular Trinium and Naquada based hull plating the Odyssey used originally.
The Odyssey is being built from the ground up with advanced Asgard technology in mind, this allows the ODyssey an incredible amount of power as even minor technologies are being upgraded that have a vast impact on the ships performance. The power conduits and initial dampeners for example are completely Asgard in origin. The Daedalus, Prometheus and Odyssey also suffered from several flaws in their power lines that made it so that even when energy blasts struck the shield and were dissipated, power conduits could still explode and the ship shook which caused crystals to take damage as well. This is due to the inferior nature of the human based inertial dampeners as well as the power lines. Highly advanced compared to what the rest of those on Earth use, but they still used human based technology to work which had a number of minute flaws their designers just can't correct.
However, these powerlines and inertial dampeners are Asgard in nature, being of the latest design they are a vast improvement over their original counterparts. For one, the powerlines now used are much less likely to overload and explode when the shields are struck, and the inertial dampeners have been made so that energy attacks won't rock the ship and break the highly fragile control crystals.
The Naquada based nuclear reactor has been replaced by no less then five of the latest Neutrino Ion Generators. Designed less then five months ago, these Neutrino Ion Generators are less then a third the size of the ones used on the Beliskner and O'Neill class warships and yet they still give out equal amounts of energy, one billion kilojoules per Neutrino Ion Generator. Additionally, ten Asgard designed Naquadria Fusion Reactors that are smaller then the original Naquada based Reactor to supply the ship with power should all five of the Neutrino Ion Generators deactivate. All of these Naquadria Fusion reactors together only provide 1 billion kilojoules of power due to their small size, but they are still a good form of backup emergency power. Also, the ship now has a ZPM port built into her frame, allowing her to instantly install or uninstall ZPM's instead of carefully calibrating her power systems like before.
The shields of the Odyssey are of the latest design, being made for the O'Neill class warships. With the incredible increase in power generation as well as the advanced shield emitters, the shields of the Odyssey are now an astonishing 5 times stronger then how they were before. Before these upgrades the Odyssey could take four shots from a Ori Mothership before her shields failed, now it will take 20 shots from an Ori Mothership to take down her shields and that is not counting how powerful her shields will be with a ZPM. The shields are highly regenerative and can quickly gain back their strength even if they are depleted. Also, these current models can adapt to energy weapon fire to make energy based attacks much less effective the more the shields are struck. However, it takes the shield a long time to adapt to even basic plasma based attacks like those used by the Jaffa and Tok'ra, never mind the multi-layered and heavily condensed particle beam attacks used by the Ori.
Sensors and communication have both received upgrades as well, now the Odyssey can detect vessels in hyperspace from many light years away as well as communicate with people from many light years away.
The Odyssey's Alterran designed cloak, a gift from the mind of Merlin when he was in Daniel Jackson, remained on the Odyssey and now was even better then before due to the ship now having six times the cloaking emitters to generate a much stronger cloaking field.
Sublight speeds have increased as the Odyssey carries six large main sublight engines at the back of her hull now for increased acceleration.
Her frame has increased in size, going from her original size of 650 meters in length, 367 meters in width and 135 meters in height to just over 900 meters in length, 490 meters in width and 200 meters in height. This increased size however has not decreased her maneuverability that much since small ion engines have been placed along the front of the bow on either side as well as in other areas to help push the ship in tighter turning arcs.
Also, the Odyssey now sports six hangar bays each capable of holding sixteen F-302 Fighter Interceptor craft as well as four additional support craft for a grand total of 120 fighter craft.
The hyperdrive likewise has been replaced with the latest Intergalactic hyperdrive model, drastically increasing the ships FTL speeds. Before the ship was making the trip to Atlantis, a 18 day journey without the ZPM. Now the ship would take only 2 days to make that trip, less when the ZPM is put back into the ships power network.
The weapon compliment of the Odyssey is where the greatest amount of change has occurred. When she came to Orilla, the Odyssey only had 26 Rail Guns as well as 16 VLS missiles tubes for weapons. Now, she has a lot more.
Her Railguns have been vastly upgraded over her original compliment. Not only does she now have 120 Rail Guns, each Rail Gun fires 750 rounds per minute with each round being launched at Mach 75 for over 1,500 miles. These guns are still basically useless against capital grade warship shields, but are very deadly against fighter craft as well as unshielded ships hull.
The next weapon system are her 60 x Quad Disruptor cannons. These cannons are an ancient Asgard design, dating back just before the time they met the Ancients, Nox and Furlings. They have been upgraded with modern technology to better aid against the current enemies of the Tau'ri. The Quad Disruptor cannons can fire 200 energy blasts per minutes, each energy blast capable of hitting targets 950 miles away from the ship. The cannons are more powerful then the Rail Guns, but they are also largely ineffective against capital grade energy shields. They will help aid the Railguns in defending the ship again enemy fighter craft as well as destroying unshielding enemy warships.
On the surface of the hull are now 16 Ion Cannons, each cannon having the firepower of an O'Neill class Ion Cannon, but being only slightly larger then a Tollan Ion Cannon.
Also, there are now ten horizontal torpedo tubes, six bow facing with four on the aft. The torpedoes are a new weapon type, being only two and a half feet in length, the torpedoes have the explosive firepower of a Mk. IX nuclear missile and can accelerate to half the speed of light. They are still unshielded and can be intercepted, but it is incredibly hard to do now.
Along the neck portion of the ship are 32 missile pods, each pod containing 20 individual missiles for a grand total of 640 missiles. These pods are highly customizable and can launch an assortment of different missiles. The ship carries three different missile types, each one having a different effect that can help win a battle. The plasma missiles have a plasma charge that when detonated will eat through the hull of a ship, making them excellent choices when wanting to destroy unshielded warships, however they have minimal effect on warships with shields. Ion missiles are extremely effective at wearing down the shields of enemy warships, but have little effect on a ships hull, making them the inverse of the plasma missile. And finally there is the Interceptor missiles which are smaller and faster then the Ion and Plasma missile which are good against fighter interceptor craft, but are useless again shields and the hulls of capital grade warships.
There are two Drone Launchers on either side of the ship to launch Alterran Drone weapons, however the ship does not currently carry any drones at the moment, but if a new supply of the weapon type are found, the Odyssey can now carry up to 3,500 Drones into battle.
And finally, the greatest weapons ever developed by the Asgard are the Asgard Plasma Beam weapons. The Odyssey has special emitters all over the ship that allow her to lash out in any direction. She can fire twelve of these beams at once and like the shields these weapons can be modulated to fire at specific frequency to bypass enemy shields much like the Alterran Drone weapons. However, unlike the drones which use an energy field to bypass shields, the Asgard Plasma Beam weapons need to carefully modulated and that can take time to do so. These Plasma Beam weapons are currently the Asgard's best hope of finally cracking the infamous Ori mothership shields, which at this point have resisted every single weapon in known space with the sole exception of Ancient Drone weaponry, but no ones if even the mighty Drones will be capable of piercing the Ori shields.
The last upgrade to the Odyssey is the Asgard Computer Core. Located towards the back of the vessel and mostly situated to be at the middle of the ship, the Asgard Computer Core contains all the knowledge and history of the Asgard Race. The core also provides the ship with unimaginable computing power that for example will allow the ship to scan and identify shield frequencies much faster then any other vessel. The Asgard Core is also the room where all the Asgard minds have been placed.
Along both the right and left walls of the room, which is 90 feet in length by 13 feet in height, are hexagon shaped light blue computer crystals, each crystal containing the mind of a single Asgard. The crystals are only around an inch in diameter as well as three and a half inches in length. This room contains the minds of the remain 28,080 Asgard and serves as their final hope for survival.
There are also two rooms, one to the right and one to the left of the computer core where someone can go to learn about Asgard history. These rooms have a single pedestal that has Asgard Control stones on them that activate large interactive holograms filled with text for someone to read about the trials, failures, success and victories of the Asgard race.
Currently Thor and Sam are putting the finishing touches on the Asgard Core, the large neo-Nordic workstation having been added to the desk.
"The Asgard computer core is equipped with its own power source that will not infringe on your ship's ZPM, Neutrino Ion Generators and Fusion Reactors. However, when the upgrades are complete, the core will be fully integrated into all your ship's systems."
"That's good." Sam said, her lack of enthusiasm showing.
"Are you displeased?" Thor asked.
"No, it's just...I wish there was something more we can go for you. I know we have a plan to ensure you all live, but still, so many Asgard are suffering down on the planet below us, dying a painful and slow death and there is nothing I can do to help them. It's frustrating, all this technology and all I can do is look on." Sam said, a few tears rolling down her face.
Thor looked on and said, "Please do not be sad. My race will not die when Orilla is destroyed. We have a chance for a future thanks to your people. A chance we would not have if you were not here. This has been a long time coming. My race made too many irreversible mistakes in our development that has lead us here to this destiny."
"I know. It just doesn't make it any easier." Sam said before she wiped her eyes and then asked, "So, have you copied your mind into a crystal yet?"
"I have done so. Each crystal has been carefully archived and stored here. To find a particular crystal, you need just search through the computer core." Thor responded.
"We will make sure you live on Thor." Sam said.
"Although I appreciate the gesture, you must head to Earth first and get these upgrades on your other vessels. The Ori must be defeated at all costs. You are the Fifth Race. Your role is clear. If there is any hope in preserving the future, it lies with you and your people." Thor said as he looked Sam right in the eyes.
"No pressure huh? We won't let you down." Sam said with conviction.
Thor the heard a small beeping and looked over at the core and saw a message.
"The upgrades have been completed. The vessel shall undergo a final scan to ensure everything is completed and then you shall leave as we detonate the bombs." Thor said.
"I wish it didn't come to this." Sam said sadly.
"This is not the end Colonel Carter. Although this body shall die with all the other Asgard down on Orilla, our hope and dreams live on with this vessel and with her crew. The Asgard shall live on and one day, we shall return." Thor promised.
Sam gently hugged Thor, unable to say anything more.
After that, Thor disappeared in a flash of a light as he went back down to Orilla to make the final preparations for the destruction of Orila.
O'Neill stood on the new bridge. The bridge had been moved towards the middle of the ship, directly between the large Asgard looking tower structures that sat on either side of the ship.
The bridge looked somewhat the same, a large holographic interface table sat behind the captain's chair where the astro navigation charts used to sit while the consoles now have Asgard looking aesthetics on them. The crew managed to learn the controls of the ship quickly and were ready to ship out as soon as the Asgard gave them the go ahead.
"Sir, we have a transmission from the Asgard. All systems check out and are ready to go. The Asgard are disembarking from the ship and are heading down towards the planet. We should get to a safe distance." Marks said from his station.
"Right. Take us out, three-fourths max speed, don't want to break anything important after all that work." O'Neill said as he tried to keep his emotions in check. He knew the Asgard are not actually going to die out, but it's still doesn't help curb the pain of knowing they are about to die.
The rebuilt Odyssey ignited her engines and gently left the shipyards that have been her home for the past month. The large vessel quickly moved out of lunar orbit and began to make her way deeper into the solar system to a safe distance to bear witness to the destruction of Orilla.
However, just a minute into their flight Marks said, "Sir, I have three incoming warships. Size and energy output indicates that they are Ori motherships. Eta is one minute out."
O'Neill clicked his ear pierce and said, "Carter, we have three incoming Ori motherships. Can we head to hyperspace?"
"No sir. The hyperdrive is still doing diagnostics and final adjustments. Eta is three minutes until it is done." Carter replied.
"Carter, we will have three Ori ships on us in less then one, can you do anything to make the drive finish faster?" O'Neill asked.
"Sorry sir, I can't. If I attempt to bypass the diagnostics, we might miss something that could destroy the drive. It's brand new and just installed, we can't run that risk." Carter replied.
"Then I guess we just we'll just have to avoid them. Can we cloak?" O'Neill asked, looking over at the screen showing the ever closing Ori motherships.
"No, the cloaking crystals are also going through their own diagnostics as well." Carter replied.
"Damn. Guess we are going to have to fight our way out. Power Asgard Beam weapons, raise shields and prepare to fight." O'Neill ordered, preparing himself for battle.
The shields of the Odyssey raised as a blue-green bubble wrapped itself around the Odyssey while special emitters on the Odysseys hull powered up for the first time ever.
They didn't have long to wait as the three Ori motherships dropped out of hyperspace soon after and once they were back in realspace, two of the Ori ships continued on their way towards Orilla while the third broke off and went flying towards the Odyssey.
"Marks, bring us about. We won't get enough distance to escape with that warship on our tail. Once we are in range, fire Asgard Beam weapons." O'Neill ordered as he held onto the arm rests of the captain chair.
Mitchell, Teal'c, Daniel and Vala all walked onto the bridge and took up positions on either side of the bridge.
Meanwhile, the Odyssey banked hard to the right, the smaller vessel showing amazing maneuverability as she managed to dodge the long white particle beam from the Ori ship. Small blue energy bolts lept from their cannons on the Ori ships and flew across the void of space to impact the shields of the Odyssey, the small energy bolts doing little damage to the powerful protective screen.
The Odyssey maneuvered around to the aft of the Ori mothership and while she was in the middle of her arc, she unleashed her new weapons.
Two thin blue-white lances of hyper-energized plasma lashed outwards from two of the fore beam emitters, the beams impacting the shields on the dorsal section of the Ori mothership in quick succession. The beams caused the Ori's shields to flare up and after several seconds the beams sputtered and died out, but Marks noticed something.
"Sir, sensors are showing that enemy shields are fluctuating." Marks reported.
"Keep firing!" O'Neill ordered, determined to caticalize on this event.
Immediately after O'Neill said those words, two more lances of the ultra-destructive plasma came rushing forth from the dorsal emitters, one of the beams impacting the Ori shields and was successfully deflected, but the second beam impacted the shields and finally punched through the energy barrier. The beam continued forth into the very hull of the Ori mothership, the oxygen inside the ship flash igniting from the intense heat while power cables ceased to exist in moments. A large explosion erupted from the sit of the impact, but the Ori mothership had no time to recover as another plasma beam lanced out and struck the main power core of the Ori mothership. A titanic explosion erupted outards as the singularity that powers the large enemy vessel was breached, the immense amount of energy contained within the singularity released all at once.
The victorious Odyssey flew away from the burning remains of her enemy, small pieces of hull plating smacking into the shields of the Odyssey, but failed to breach them.
"We got them." Mitchell said, deeply amazed that at long last, finally they had weapons that can kill Ori ships.
"We got big honkin space guns." O'Neill said, a massive smile on his face. His inner ten year old child was bursting with excitement over how incredible these new Agard weapons are.
However, his revere as broken when Marks said, "Sir, the other Ori ships have entered Orilla's atmosphere and have begun to launch fighters. However, there is a massive power build up coming from the planet."
O'Neill was about to order hard right to head back to Orilla to attack those Ori ships, but then he remembered why the Odyssey as here in the first place. The immense build up of energy, the lack of any weapons being turned against those Ori warships and the imminent demise of the Asgard all pointed to one conclusion. The Asgard were going to take those Ori motherships with them.
"Power up the hyperdrive! We need to get out of here now!" O'neill bellowed, startling many near him.
"Yes sir, activating hyperdrive!" Marks replied, completely startled by O'neill change of demeanor. Luckily the hyperdrive was ready to be used and so with a single click of a button, the extremely advanced Asgard hyperdrive powered up and activated for the first time.
However, the moment the hyperspace window formed, Orilla herself began to explode. Vast eruptions began to tear the planet's crust apart as the large Asgard devices destabilized Orilla's core. A moment later and the planet exploded violently, giant piece of molten magma spewing forth while chunks of rock were hurled into space at hundreds of kilometers per seconds.
With their final breathe, the Asgard destroyed two Ori motherships as their souls road forth into Valhalla. However, the destruction of Orilla had much farther reaching consequences then even the Asgard could have predicted.
The Odyssey lept into her hyperspace window just as the highly contaminated energy wave caused by Orilla destruction and then polluted by the Ori singularity cores slammed into the open hyperspace window.
Massive amounts of energy was thrown directly into hyperspace, the alternate dimension that allows for faster then light travel. This raw and vastly uncontrollable energy tore across hyperspace and blew holes in the boundaries between realities.
Rifts and tears in reality itself were formed from all this energy being funneled into a hyperspace tunnel. Left unchecked, these rifts and tears would encompass these different realities and destroy them entirely.
However, gazing from beyond the veil of time and space stood a being. This being watched as the rifts and tears were formed and began to destroy the other realities.
Countless amounts of sentient beings would be killed unless he did something. He had the power. After all, he and his kind were responsible for what those on the lower realm called "the Big Bang" countless eons ago. Some of those lower realm managed to Ascend beyond their mortal forms, yet they were still but children compared to him and his kind.
After considering his options, the being decided to act. Reaching out with his power, he grabbed the alternate realities affected by these rifts and drew them into this reality. They had been contaminated by the rifts and if they had remained, their own realities would destroy those affected to protect themselves.
So, in order to save lives he drew forth that which had been effected and brought them here to his reality. Four new galaxies now laid inside his domain, each one destined to die if he couldn't get them stabilized.
First thing he did was close the tears in reality and then he began to meld these new galaxies into the galaxy called Avalon. Avalon merged with these new galaxies, forming a incredible mass of stars swirling together in harmony because he willed it so.
Looking down, he saw that the Ascended as they called themselves were panicking, trying to find who had changed Avalon in such a way. Let them try to find him, it shall be a fruitless endeavor.
This new super-galaxy would now be the home of untold amounts of lower beings. There would be confusion, panic, fear and mistrust as they all try to find out what has happened. But, there could also be new alliances as they come together to save themselves and their homes from those that wish to see them dead.
In particular, he foresaw that the children of Terra would play a crucial role in the future to come. They would find themselves facing many different enemies, but if they band together with their alternate cousins, then they might just survive.
He then felt a summon. His brothers and sisters were calling him. Not doubt to explain why he had just intruded upon their domains. He would most likely owe them favors in the future, but they will forgive him in time.
The nameless entity gave one last look upon his creation and then turned and left, all the while wondering just what would come next.
And that is it for the first chapter of this new story!
I think it turned out well, couple of things that I think might have been done better, but I still think it works well enough.
Yeah, Asgard aren't completely dead, just their organic bodies. Copies of their minds now lay within the Odyssey until the time they can get the Replicator building machine working for themselves.
Always wondered why they didn't do that. I get Earth isn't super technologically advanced, but considering all the times the Tau'ri have pulled a miracle out of their asses, I wouldn't put it past them to find someway of allowing the Asgard to live. Even if they can't use organic bodies anymore, they should have still at least copied their minds into the Asgard core so that they can watch over Earth and make sure Earth doesn't use their tech for evil. Earth may have advanced far since the start of Stargate, but the Tau'ri are still a young species and needs limits to make sure they don't become the next Goa'uld empire.
In Stargate Universe, it's said that there is a artificial pattern in the Cosmic microwave background radiation and that the pattern could not have been natural in origin. This suggests intelligent life around the time of the Big Bang, so I decided to run with that idea. Nameless entity's older then the universe itself that caused the Big Bang and have watched over the universe long before it even existed. Beings of this caliber would logically outclass the Ascended by several leagues in terms of abilities. Don't expect them to appear a lot in this story. Having characters of this power would make every problem go away instantly and that doesn't make for an interesting story, so not going to appear a lot.
If you are wondering what the redesign of the Odyssey looked like, go google Stargate Polaris Task Group B1 by ZizZgfx. The Stargate ships he has created are incredible and I want to use more of his designs for this story.
I already have four franchises selected for this story. If you are wondering, the universes selected so far are: Stargate, Halo (time period is just after Fall of Reach), Star Trek (Just after Star Trek Beyond in the J.J. Abrams Trilogy), and Star Wars (Original Trilogy, legends continuity just after a New Hope, year is 2 ABY).
I have decided to cut the fifth universe out, there shall only be the four aforementioned universes above in this story. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it was just too much hassle to try and think of another franchise and then try and merge it together with the pot of insanity I am already working with. I will try and make the chapters better to make up for it.
And that is it, so if you have any comments, criticisms or concerns, leave a review or send me a PM, always appreciated.
Until next time, this is StrikeFreedom10, signing off.
Have a good day.