Destiny had a new crew.
Zalenka and Narim were quickly getting up to speed on the new technologies. Dr. Fraiser was setting up a medical bay, with the new equipment that was arriving daily from Altera. Carson was studying the control chair with Larin, they needed to be able to control Destiny in flight during combat. Thrud was busy learning every inch of the Destiny, the specifics behind each room, and compartment. Oma busied herself with investigating all the information on the background signal. Tomin was training the security officers and weapons training.
Then one day the Stargate activated and Nicole Keller walked through.
"Col. Mitchell, I've been re-assigned here," replied Nicole.
"You know Rodney isn't here right?" asked Mitchell.
"That's the point," replied Nicole.
"Is it me or anyone else confused or feel we've missed something?" asked Hailey.
"Oh your not aware there are two of me. I'm from a different universe. I've been here since the entire attack on Commander O'Neill. They just rescued yesterday Dr. Keller from your universe from the Genii. Btw I'm going by Nicole Keller to help avoid confusion. Think of us identical twins," replied Nicole, "Can someone show me around and show me my quarters?"
"Tomin here will," replied Mitchell. Tomin leads Nicole off on a tour of the ship.
Vala spoke first, "Anyone else feels like we are missing out on important gossip?"
"I've gotta get Walter to start giving me updates!" replied Mitchell. Mitchell confirmed the story and the transfer with Altera.
Jackson continues to study writing from the Obelisk. They have dubbed the aliens the "Star builders".
"Did the ancients every build a star? or planet?" asked Vala.
Jackson shaking his head, "Not that I know about. The Asgard did collapse a star to form a black hole once."
"So it's possible these star builders are more powerful than the ancients?" asked Vala.
"Hard to say without knowing more," replied Jackson, "Could these blue water aliens be the ones who created the obelisk?"
"No, they would build a water world if they built one," replied Vala.
"Vala, you can tell me what you saw in the building. I know you're having nightmares at night over it," replied Jackson.
"Daniel my love, you once told me there was something you knew you wished you didn't. That if I knew I would wish you never told me. Putting words together to even describe what I saw, would be reliving that horror again. You would wish I had never told you," replied Vala.
"I understand. I just want to help you and I don't know how," replied Jackson.
"You are doing it by reminding me of kindness, understanding, and love. Just be yourself," replied Vala embracing Jackson in a hug.
Mitchell had placed Hailey in charge of Narim, Zalinka, and Carson, to have someone able to speak at their level. She was meeting with them.
"Carson, can you unlock the chair so that Larin can pilot the ship?" asked Hailey.
"I believe that I can. It will require replacing a few control crystals, which I am working on now. I am having to program the nanites to build it, as we have no suitable system for creating crystals this old," replied Carson.
"Good, next time we drop out of F.T.L. we need to be ready for combat if we meet these drones or these blue water aliens," replied Hailey.
"Do we think these blue water aliens are still around these galaxies? I mean we are a couple away from where the Furlings were," asked Narim.
"If the Furlings had drones this far out, then likely they were fighting these blue water aliens this far out. We have to assume they are still a threat," replied Hailey.
"I believe your drone disruptor is going to be our lifesaver. I have been able to extend the range to about ten thousand kilometers. This should give us plenty of breathing room when we encounter them next time," replied Zalenka.
"Narim, how goes your work with the Interdimensional Energy Collector?" asked Hailey.
"Well as you know it's not compatible with Destiny's systems. So I'm having to build an entirely new conduit system for it. It won't replace what's here on destiny, but it will add a second weapons platform and shield system to destiny. We will have to control it as a secondary system," replied Narim.
"So new more powerful shields, and four Asgard beam weapons?" asked Hailey.
"Yes, four beam weapons. I have the nanites building as fast as we can, but that is going to take some time. Working it around the existing systems and not interfering is the difficult part," replied Narim.
Mitchell was meeting with Tomin.
"How are you doing?" asked Mitchell.
"Adjusting, this is different than being on board an Ori ship," replied Tomin.
"I would imagine it is. How are the security personnel?" asked Mitchell.
"We are making progress, Thrud is helping considerably. We are learning the name for every part of this ship, so we can respond as quickly as possible. Drills are showing we are improving drastically. It's now just trying to determine where we should station people at," replied Tomin.
"Well we know three spots aliens have boarded the ship before, those might be good places to start," replied Mitchell.
"We are going to have three standard patrols running constantly, this will help keep us mobile, and an eye on those parts of the ship everyone is in less," replied Tomin.
"Yeah big ship and only one hundred and ten of us onboard. This ship could easily handle five hundred," replied Mitchell.
"Also we are continuing to document what we find in these containers in the storage lockers. We have found a number of devices placed on board for use. We just to determine exactly what they are. Perhaps one of your scientists could take a look?" asked Tomin.
"I'll have Hayley get someone on it," replied Mitchell.
Just then destiny dropped out of F.T.L.
Mitchell over the communicator, "Red alert everyone to assigned spots!" Rushing off to the bridge. He found Hayley, Narim, and Zalenka already there.
"We have two hundred drones headed our way," shouted Zalenka.
"Let's see if your new toy works Captain!" shouted Mitchell.
"Activating the disruptor now," replied Hayley. Two brief seconds later and the drones stopped advancing and say where they were located.
"It appears to be working. Find me that command ship!" ordered Mitchell.
"It's behind the fourth planet. Our path does not give us a clear shot to fire at it," replied Zalenka.
"Carson we need to be able to steer this ship in combat!" shouted Mitchell.
Carson sighed, "I need at least another two weeks to build the new control crystals."
Destiny was on course to pass near the star to recharge its power.
"What's our power reserve?" asked Mitchell.
"We are at eighty percent," replied Hailey.
"Why are we recharging then?" asked Mitchell.
"Looking at the course, we're about to make an intergalactic jump," replied Zalenka.
The crew continued to monitor the drones over the next six hours as Destiny flew toward the corona to recharge. A constant eye was kept for a chance to destroy the command ship, but none became available. The drone disruptor kept the drones away. Only a part of the crew had seen the ship enter a corona before, it was a sight to behold. An hour after the recharge was complete the ship returned to F.T.L. and was en route to the void between galaxies, for a three-week journey.
Mitchell met with the crew, this gave them time to make progress on the enhancements they were trying to put in place. Narim informed them he should have one maybe two Asgard Beam Weapons available by the time the reached the next galaxy. Carson was working away to create the reprogramed crystals that would give Larin flight control in the chair.
Mitchell in his update to Altera, "Commander O'Neill, we will be in the void for three weeks it appears before we emerge in the next galaxy."
"Col. Mitchel, has Destiny had any contact with the Hades since she departed?" asked O'Neill.
"No sir we have not had a need to. Is there something wrong?" asked Mitchell.
"We have not been received or make any communication with them since their check-in when they left to go investigate the Furlings further," replied O'Neill.
"We can try to raise contact with them here, sir," replied Mitchell.
"No you stay silent, if they ran into trouble we want to limit your presence out there. Col. Carter and the Nemesis is going to make the jump out there soon as they finish in the Ida galaxy later today," replied O'Neill.
The next two weeks were wearing on Mitchell. He found himself wanting to do something. Everyone on this crew knew what to do, and they were doing it. They didn't need him to provide orders. Mitchell was not good at twiddling his thumbs. He wondered how he did for all those years in the time dilation field with Teal'c, Jackson, Vala, Carter, and Landry on board the Odyessy, but Teal'c wouldn't talk.
Mitchell went and spoke with Oma daily. Getting as much feedback on she could provide on this signal in the background radiation. What was it and where was it originating from were the questions he needed answers to. Commander O'Neill had told him discreetly he felt this could be the key to a peaceful ending of the war with the Old Ones, but he also knew Destiny was possibly many millennia away from finding what it was searching for in the universe. He wondered if this signal is what had brought the Furlings out this far into the universe.
After the second week, Destiny dropped out of F.T.L. Everyone came rushing to the bridge except Carson who was already there.
While staring at the galaxy before them, Mitchell asked, "Why have we dropped out of F.T.L.?"
"Not sure sir, the countdown isn't displaying anything," replied Hailey.
"Do we have another homemade start and planet in our way?" asked Mitchell.
"Destiny is getting a major update from the Stargate network over subspace," replied Zalenka.
"What do you mean a major update?" asked Mitchell.
"Every Stargate in the Universe has detected some event. Destiny's systems are pulling this data now to analyze," replied Oma who just appeared on the bridge.
"What kind of event?" asked Mitchell
"I haven't been able to tell, but the event was seen by every Stargate so it must be significant," replied Oma.
"How long are we going to be here?" asked Mitchell.
"At least another three days to receive all the information. I do not know if Destiny will return to F.T.L. before analyzing the data or do so here," replied Oma.
"Great so we wait longer," replied Mitchell.
Wait they did, three days later and the data had been all downloaded by Destiny, then it began to analyze the data. A week later and they were sitting in the divide between galaxies. Hailey and Zalenka reported nearly all of Destiny's systems were running at one hundred percent to analyze the data. Carson had managed to complete his changes to the control chair. Narim had complete the new conduit for all four of the Asgard beam weapons. The nanites were now building those weapons as fast as they could. Zalenka and Hailey continued to work on controlling the drones, but they did not have much success.
Mitchell contacted Altera and had learned Nemesis had spent two weeks searching for anything on the Hades with no success. The tracking system showed them in orbit around the Furling homeworld, however, they could find no trace of them. Mitchell felt helpless, Lorne was a good friend and good man, he wished there was something he could do. The Nemesis was ordered to return to Altera. O'Neill informed Mitchell they were on their own. Backup could be there in an emergency from Altera within thirty minutes. Mitchell preferred thinking he had backup a minute away if needed.
Another two weeks passed, and Narim had completed the Asgard beam weapons, the new shield generators, and installed a control panel in the bridge. Carson was working on an upgrade to the chair that would allow it to control the new systems. Dr. Fraiser was recalled to Earth, with Nicole Keller heading up the medical department Fraiser was no longer needed. O'Neill sent an Asgard core for them to install with the new systems. Hoping it would help quicken the process of analyzing the data. Zalenka, Carson, Narim, and Thrud had it installed in a matter of hours. Carson was able to fabricate the tools he needed and quickly integrated control of the new systems to the chair. The Asgard core immediately showed it was processing at one hundred percent.
"It seems Destiny's system has taken over and is using the Core for processing. I do wish I could study the A.I. of this system to see how it works," replied Carson.
"We've found nothing that provides a single detail on how it was created. The system protects it from all attempts to access those command functions to review it," replied Zalenka.
Two days later, Tomin reported to Mitchell.
"Sir we have a problem!" spoke Tomin.
"What's wrong?" asked Mitchell
"We have several walls missing," replied Tomin.
"Walls missing?" asked Mitchell.
"A set of three rooms is now a single room. The walls that divided them are no longer there," replied Tomin.
"Maybe they are recessed?" asked Mitchell.
"Dr. Zalenka and Cap. Hailey is investigating and already determined that is not the case," replied Tomin.
"Let's go see," replied Mitchell. On their way, Tomin received word of another twelve walls missing around the ship.
"Cap. Hailey Dr. Zalenka can either of you tell me what is going on?" asked Mitchell.
"Yes I can," replied Zalenka, "If these logs are accurate Destiny is building another set of F.T.L. drives."
"What? How can it do that?" asked Mitchell.
"The Asgard core has beaming technology. It's scavenging the walls that are not needed into material for building four new drives," replied Hailey.
"Destiny can do that?" asked Mitchell.
"The A.I. behind destiny can do that. Not only is it building it, but it's using information from the Asgard Core to make them more efficient and faster," replied Carson.
"Faster is better," replied Mitchell.
Oma entering, "Which makes me question where is Destiny going that it needs faster and more efficient drives?"
Narim discovered not only did Destiny build the new drives but interfaced them directly with the new Interdimensional Energy Collector. He found four primary conduits installed and leading to the new drives. The raw materials left behind for use with the nanites was gone. Additional supplies of food, water, and medical equipment were sent from Altera.
Zalenka and Hailey were monitoring the progress on the new drives.
"Col. Mitchell the drives should be complete in the next thirty minutes," spoke Hailey over the communicators.
"On my way to the bridge," replied Mitchell.
Everyone returned to the bridge to see what Destiny would do next. As the last piece of the drives was completed, Destiny jumped back into F.T.L.
"OK where are we heading?" asked Mitchell.
"There has been a course change, we are going to a galaxy much further away. Without the new drives, it would have taken three years to make the distance. With the new drives we will be there in six months," replied Oma.
"Six months?" asked Mitchell.