O'Neill was dreading today, it was his monthly meeting with all the eggheads. Armstrong insisted that he attend these instead of her summarizing them. He ordered her to attend, and after having no coffee, no blue-jello, and technical problems with every system he touched for a week, he surrendered and said he would go.
O'Neill was joined by Dr. Miller and today Bra'tac from the Council would be joining him. He took consolation that Bra'tac would suffer as much as he would.
"We have an action-packed day today," replied Miller.
"Really?" asked O'Neill.
"Yes really. First up we have ..." spoke Miller as Lee was entering the conference room, "Dr. Lee!"
"Yes I am Dr. Lee," spoke Lee.
"Bill we know who you are, we've known each other for years!" cried O'Neill.
"Your right, sorry I always get nervous," replied Lee.
"Have you blown anything up?" asked O'Neill.
"No," replied Lee.
"Then you're fine. Let's hear what you have!" replied O'Neill.
Lee pulled the cloth off the device he had wheeled into the room.
"This is a mini drone launcher that can fire up to one thousand mini-drones before having to reload. Using our crystal storage technology, we can store a thousand in this little magazine like device. We also have a neural interface that we can use to control them, once fired," spoke Lee, showing a small device that he attached to his temple.
"Impressive, can we integrate these into our battle suits?" asked Bra'tac.
"Yes we can," replied Lee.
"What is the rate of fire?" asked O'Neill.
"Right now with the prototype, thirty drones a minute," replied Lee.
"That would be pretty effective," replied Bra'tac.
"Actually I was thinking more along the lines of a thousand a minute," replied O'Neill.
"A thousand a minute?" asked Lee.
"Yes," replied O'Neill.
"I'm sure Dr. Lee can work on increasing the rate of fire?" asked Miller.
"Yes, I can. I'll just have to come up with a power source for it," replied Lee.
"Work with a battle suit," replied Bra'tac.
"Yes I'll work on that," replied Lee.
"Next!" spoke O'Neill.
Volker entered the room and patted Lee on the back as he was leaving.
"Our ships have a number of rail guns located on them. And as you know rail guns are all about kinetic energy. I have been able to form a new superconductor that is 150% heavier than our typical uranium/steel mix. Because of its superconductive properties, we are able to fire it at the same speed as our current shells. This increases the blast of each strike by another 150%. These new shells will generate seven hundred eighty-one megajoules of kinetic energy, compared to three hundred twelve megajoules," spoke Volker. He lifted up a small round metallic ball.
"What's it made of?" asked Miller.
"A mixture of trinium, neutronium, and cobalt," replied Volker.
"Cobalt?" asked O'Neill.
"Yes, that is what gives it the boost on its conductivity," replied Volker, "Let me show you a video of a test firing."
A video came up showing a rail gun, targeting a one-foot thick neutronium plate. The rail gun fired three successive blasts at the plate. When the dust cleared the plate had a gaping hole in the center.
"That is impressive, it would take a number of shots, with our current rail guns," replied Bra'tac.
"Yes it would take a continual blast of 39 blasts to generate an equivalent hole," replied Volker.
"Get the designs and specs up to Commander Caldwell, for immediate testing," ordered O'Neill.
"Yes sir!" replied Volker, excited to see his creation promoted. Jackson came into the room as Volker was leaving.
"What are you doing here?" asked O'Neill.
"Presenting my findings," replied Jackson.
"Mr. Walters asked that I include his staff in today's round of meetings," replied Miller.
"So it's the science guys and antiquities?" asked O'Neill.
"Yes," replied Miller.
"OK, so what do you have for us Danny boy?" asked O'Neill.
"Well for starters I have been able to uncover Noah," replied Jackson.
"Noah as in the Ark?" asked O'Neill.
"Yes, turns out about fifteen thousand years ago, a Lantean by the name of Noah, disappeared. They searched for him but no record could be found of him leaving via stargate, or taking a ship. He suddenly disappeared. I was able to identify what room he had on Atlantis and discovered there was a transport built into the room. However, it did not connect to the other transporters around Atlantis. Dr. McKay checked it out, and it turns out it was set to beam to the underground shipyard that Commander Sheppard and Dr. McKay found on Lantea," spoke Jackson.
"So he built the Ark on Lantea?" asked Miller.
"Speculating it appears he used it to leave the Pegasus galaxy and come here to the Milky Way, to collect different races," spoke Jackson.
"Any idea as to why he did this?" asked O'Neill.
"His personal journal that was recorded in the repository, he speaks often of concerns about the civilizations here coming into conflict, and wanted to disperse them further out," replied Jackson.
"Over one hundred billion light-years is very dispersed," replied O'Neill.
"That is giving them plenty of room," replied Miller.
"Ahh but you're not taking into consideration the number of races he took," replied Jackson.
"How many?" asked O'Neill.
"At least according to his journals, he was somehow monitoring many of the races here in the Milky Way from Pegasus. He estimated that between five to seven thousand different races were flourishing here in the Milky Way," replied Jackson.
"Five to seven thousand?" asked O'Neill.
"How many have we seen?" asked Miller.
"Not even a hundred, most worlds we have encountered have humans transplanted by the Gou'ald at some point in time," replied Jackson.
"Where are these other races? Do we have gate addresses?" asked O'Neill.
"I'm speculating many are not on the gate network," replied Jackson.
"Oh crap," replied O'Neill.
"Crap indeed," replied Bra'tac.
"Why crap?" asked Miller.
"Dr. Miller, if there are five to seven thousand additional races out in this galaxy, that are not part of the gate network, many of them could be extremely advanced and a possible threat," replied Bra'tac.
"Crap," replied Miller.
"This is something we are going to have to look into further to solve. We need to make sure we do not have any threats in our backyard," replied O'Neill.
"Well he felt the solution was to give these races a chance, by spreading them out to new homeworlds much further apart, so they could grow and not be in contention with each other," replied O'Neill.
"Do we know anything further?" asked Bra'tac.
"Other than what the Curiosity has been able to tell us, we know that Noah was ascended. He must never have shared any knowledge of this with the rest of the ascended," replied Jackson.
"Anything else?" asked O'Neill.
"Well with the help of the Orci, I was able to find some very old texts written by the Ori, that seem to confirm what we learned from Quetzalcoatl. These texts appear to predate the Ori ascension by millions of years. They were recorded on a form of papyrus, that disintegrated as we read them. If I wasn't ascended I would not have been able to memorize the text on them fast enough, to translate later. It's really a miracle they even survived. They were buried deep in Celeste," replied Jackson.
"All interesting, anything else?" asked O'Neill.
"No, nothing you would be interested in," replied Jackson.
"Next!" replied O'Neill.
Siler came into the room on hearing O'Neill call for the next one. He was carrying a small orb and an ax, he placed them on the table.
"Sirs this is a repair orb, instead of using a full Asgard core, to control the nanites we have created a slimmed-down version that is much smaller, that is dedicated to controlling the nanites and directing them to repair anything," replied Siler.
"So it's a slightly smaller version of what we have?" asked O'Neill.
"Yes but it can also do this," replied Siler, taking the ax and chopping off a section of the table. Everyone jumped up looking at Siler. Siler pushed a button on the orb, and it came to life, floating about four feet off the ground. A red beam scanned the room and identified the damage to the table. Within fifteen seconds, the corner that was on the ground disappeared and was now appearing as nanites reattached it to the table, at the molecular level.
"It doesn't need designs to know how to repair things. It's able to identify the damage, and determine how to fix it on their own," replied Siler.
"OK, first no more ax swinging," replied O'Neill.
"This works on any type of item?" asked Bra'tac.
"If it can't reach one hundred percent certainty in the designs it's creating then it will inform you that you need to load the designs. Sorry about the ax," replied Siler.
"Don't worry about the ax, you got your point across," replied Bra'tac.
"Don't worry about the ax? Have you lost your mind?" asked O'Neill.
"He was just demonstrating! This has many practical applications," replied Bra'tac.
"Yes I know that it would have been extremely handy during the reconstruction," replied O'Neill.
"Worlds devastated by natural disasters alone, this would be a lifesaver in being able to repair the damage," replied Miller.
"Imagine a ship dropping into orbit, and beaming these devices down to a planet that has been devastated by some sort of disaster," replied Bra'tac.
"Well you better get designs for this out to Commander Caldwell, and tell him we will need a few ships, with several thousand of these," replied O'Neill.
"Seriously?" asked Siler.
"Yes Siler, you knocked this one out of the park," replied Miller. Siler had a smile that went from ear to ear. This went far beyond his hopes of being accepted. They were going to build an entire ship around his device. Tossing the ax on his shoulder as he was leaving. The blade fell from the handle and cut a six-inch gash in the back of his leg. O'Neill had Avidan transport him to the medical bay for treatment.
"How is that man still alive?" asked O'Neill.
"He must be the luckiest man alive," replied Miller.
Bra'tac and O'Neill turned to her and said, "What?"
"Think about it, how often does he get hurt, and he is still alive and well?" asked Miller, "I mean I've signed off on a dozen medical incidents with him int he past two months alone. Dr. McKay is thinking about an Asgard core to store all of his medical incidents."
"No comment," replied O'Neill.
"Mr. Brody, your next!" called Miller.
"Brody so how is life as a Tok'ra?" asked O'Neill.
"Far'ui and I are still adjusting," replied Brody.
"So what have you been working on?" asked O'Neill.
"As you know the Puddle Jumper is capable of underwater propulsion. I have been studying them and exactly how they work underwater. I have come up with a new engine that is more efficient than the ones on Puddle Jumpers. I have crafted several underwater crafts that make use of these engines, along with the specifications to integrate them into our existing engines, with minimal changes," spoke Brody.
"We have tried this before what is different this time?" asked O'Neill.
"Yes don't remind me of the failure last year. I nearly drowned," replied Bra'tac.
"Nobody stopped and looked at how the engine interacted with the water. It has a slightly different interaction than our normal engine. There is a subtle frequency change for it to operate underwater," explained Brody.
"So McKay, Carter, and all of the other geeks missed this?" wondered O'Neill.
"Yes they do not have the intellect to pick up such subtleties," spoke Far'ui with Brody's eyes glowing.
"There is the Tok'ra arrogance I've come to not love," replied O'Neill.
"Sorry about that sir. Far'ui and I do disagree on such things quite often," replied Brody.
"I wish I had blended with a host who was wise enough to understand my intellect," spoke Far'ui.
"Look send your designs on to Commander Caldwell, we will see what we can do," replied O'Neill.
"Thank you sir!" replied Brody, leaving quickly.
"That is an interesting pair," spoke Bra'tac.
"Tok'ra or Goa'uld I don't want them in my head," replied O'Neill.
"I would agree with you on that. I have enough problems with my own voices in my head, I don't need another," replied Miller.
"Something we should know about?" asked O'Neill.
"No I just meant, my mind goes in so many different directions. You know what I meant!" cried Miller, seeing O'Neill grinning.
Meanwhile out on Curiosity. Mitchell was working on dinner. Tonight's meal would include fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and honey carrots, just the way his nana made them. Wallace and Hailey were the first into the mess hall.
"Smells like chicken," spoke Wallace.
"At least it's not that fried steak!" cried Hailey.
Entering the mess hall was Ginn, "Please tell me it's not the fried steak."
"It's chicken, and you'll do not know what you missed on my southern fried steak!" cried Mitchell sticking his head out the window.
"We all tried it, only you and Moran liked it!" replied Hailey.
"Moran likes everything," replied Wallace.
Zalenka, Gardner, and Nicole walked in, each sniffing.
"Fried chicken?" asked Gardner.
"Yes Sarah, it's not the fried steak," replied Ginn.
Moran walked in, "Fried Steak?"
"Now see there is a man who knows good food!" cried Mitchell.
"No that is chicken," replied Moran.
"Yes, fried chicken. I'll make us some fried steak tomorrow Moran, and leave them out," replied Mitchell.
"Please do!" laughed Wallace.
As the crew settled in to eat, and discuss details from the day. Ginn watched the navigation tablet as the ship flew on auto-pilot. Everyone was having a good laugh. You would never guess this crew had spent most of the last two months in hyperspace, trying to get home. They had no further encounters since their run-in with the Verlag.
Ginn had continued to study the data that was returning from the probe they launched at the edge of the universe. The probe was returning there was nothing. Even in normal space, there were atoms of hydrogen, but not at the edge. The probe had shown nothing. She felt there really was nothing beyond a certain point.
Zalenka had been working on improving the durability of the hyperspace engines. Constantly running simulations to determine what parts would wear down, and working on different alloys to improve them. He was determined to find a way to keep the hyperspace engines running full time. This would cut nearly 3 months of travel off their journey.
Wallace had been working on improvements to Avidan. He had sent a number of them off to Altera. From integrating the navigation controls, and sensors to allow Avidan to report on current conditions. He had even integrated in a cooking program. The recipes he had did not turn out well. He had sent back to Altera requesting recipes that were based on the food stores they had.
Gardner had been going over every language and reviewing material Jackson had sent her. They would exchange updates each week, during their communication break. She had learned what Jackson had discovered on Noah.
Mitchell and Hailey were taking turns patrolling the ship, looking for any damage, or anomalies that might occur. Not wanting to leave it up to the onboard sensors alone. Curiosity was a large ship that had two other mid-size ships docked on the port and bow. Mitchell wondered what this ship would be like with a full crew.
Nicole, busied herself with making updates to the medical bay pods, on how to treat different ailments. Everything from the common cold, to various diseases. She kept in contact with "sister" Jennifer and worked with her on new updates she had worked out.
This was how the crew had spent their time, trying to pass the time, and not go stir crazy, with such isolation. Altera was beaming out requested videos, and the news in bursts during their communication breaks. The crew would often come together in one of the recreation rooms to watch the movies. Tonight was one of those nights. Hailey and prepared the popcorn, and they were preparing to watch the original Star Wars. Just as the introduction had finished, Ginn's navigation tablet flashed red, and gave a warning.
"What is it?" asked Mitchell pausing the movie.
"There is a gravitational anomaly ahead," replied Ginn.
"Everyone to the bridge!" ordered Mitchell. Everyone was running to the bridge.
Wallace jumping at the controls reading the sensors, "We are detecting a gravitational well like a large star, but sensors are not detecting any star."
Ginn reviewing the navigation screen, "Sir we are quickly approaching I suggest we drop out of hyperspace and see what this is."
"We need a change of pace, so bring us out near it but outside of the influence of the gravity," ordered Mitchell.
Dropping out of hyperspace, the viewscreen showed a large blackness, with no view of any stars from it, in their entire forward view.
"Why am I not seeing anything?" asked Mitchell.
"Oh my!" spoke Zalenka.
"What is it?" asked Hailey.
"A Dyson sphere," replied Zalenka.
"I don't see it," replied Mitchell.
"Unlike the one at Primus, this one has no lights or external illumination," replied Zalenka.
"Eli, can you turn on some lights in front of us?" asked Mitchell.
"Give me a minute to calibrate our lasers into lights," replied Wallace. After a few adjustments, he had calibrated the lasers into a broad spectrum low energy laser producing white light.
"Is that a glint there?" asked Hailey.
"It is. That is a particular smooth entirely black Dyson sphere," replied Zalenka.
"So another one," replied Mitchell.
Carson was just beginning to explain his enhancements to the control chair, "The control chair now had its own power source. while this won't power anything outside of the chair, a number of new enhancements can make use of this. Number one, the chair now has a shield generator allowing the occupant to be secure. Number two a time dilation device has been added, allowing the user to activate and enter multiple commands quickly to be processed once the field goes down. Number three no longer requires a human with the ancient activation gene. Anyone that it has been programmed to respond to may now use it, this includes ascended beings," spoke Carson.
"Those are significant enhancements. I bet Commander Shepard wished he had those for Pacifica," replied O'Neill.
"So a Jaffa can now operate the chair?" asked Bra'tac.
"Yes, if they have been given access," replied Carson.
"This is something the Jaffa would certainly like to make use in our planetary defense," replied Bra'tac.
"And they will be," replied O'Neill, "How is your father Loki doing? I have not seen him in a long time."
"He continues going through everything Thor, Sol, and Mani ever did, to try and ascertain where they have gone," replied Carson, taking his leave. O'Neill paused on what Carson had just said.
"Next we have Dr. Lam," spoke Mille
"I am most excited to hear her progress," replied Bra'tac. O'Neill letting Bra'tac take the lead on this one. He was still pondering what Carson had said.
"Well, I have been conducting a study on a new tretonin replacement for the Jaffa. While the trendolin has made production much easier for the Jaffa, the better solution would be to remove the dependency entirely on it. We have looked at gene therapy similar to the Asgard, however, what we have learned is that any remnants of the tretonin in a Jaffa's system immediately causes the immune system to shut down again. Even with putting a Jaffa in status, we have been unable to restart the immune system and remove the tretonin. Removal of the tretonin prior to the procedure leaves a Jaffa extremely vulnerable even for a short period of time," explained Lam.
"Yes that has been the case," replied Bra'tac.
"Till now, we place a Jaffa in suspended animation, using the nanites to remove all traces of tretonin from their system, we can then begin the gene therapy to awaken their immune system," replied Lam.
"Once the Jaffa is awake for the therapy they are vulnerable to any number of viruses and illness," replied Bra'tac.
"We leave them in suspended animation," replied Lam.
"I didn't think we could do the gene therapy on someone in suspended animation?" asked Miller.
"We couldn't, but we can now. I figured out the secret," replied Lam.
"How so?" asked Miller
"We began years ago when Commander O'Neill here was shot and had the substance that kept his body from being healed. We began to look at ways to do more in suspended animation. What we have learned is that by using time dilation fields that are at a cellular level, we can wake up a single cell and perform gene therapy on a single cell at a time," replied Lam.
"I'm afraid this is beyond my knowledge level," replied Bra'tac.
"If I'm understanding Dr. Lam, she can use the gene therapy on a single cell at a time, that is placed in a time dilation field. That would prevent the entire system from working and spreading the pathogens around the body," replied Miller, "That is brilliant!"
"Thank you, we have had to create a new medical bay pod to do so. It's an extremely slow process, for a typical Jaffa, it could take twenty-four to thirty-six hours," replied Lam.
"Then Jaffa would no longer have a need for tretonin?" asked Bra'tac.
"It won't happen overnight but your people will be free, of any dependency," replied Lam.
"How soon could this begin?" asked Bra'tac.
"We have conducted tests on five Jaffa, we would need to begin slowly before any mass number of procedures. As it proves itself further we could create more pods, and increase the treatment rate," replied Lam.
"Can this be used in other areas?" asked Miller.
"It's certainly something we would not throw away," replied Lam.
"Commander O'Neill do we have permission to continue?" asked Miller.
"Yes of course, sorry, just thinking about something. If this can help the Jaffa go on test away!" replied O'Neill.
"Thank you sir!" replied Lam leaving the room.
"This would be another major step for the Jaffa," replied Bra'tac.
"Have all of the Jaffa relocated to Remoc? asked Miller.
"Most have, we have a few small settlements that wish to remain separated. I believe in time they will join us," replied Bra'tac.
Hlin walked into the room, "Greetings Commander O'Neill, Dr. Miller, and Master Bra'tac."
"Good morning Hlin, what do you have to show us today?" asked O'Neill.
"As you currently know our current wristbands use crystal storage technology. The user still has to put on the armor, or other devices as necessary. We began looking at using nanites to form the armor, however, the number of nanites needed is considerable. Also, the storage pattern for nanites is to complex to store the additional nanites in crystal storage. The solution was to place the items in crystal storage, and use the nanites to rematerialize them around the body," replied Hlin pressing a button on her wrist, and suddenly she was lifted from the ground and was wearing a full suit for battle armor.
"That is impressive!" replied O'Neill.
"The same concept can be applied to the stun armor," replied Hlin.
"What about the F-71 that you had stored in the newer model?" asked O'Neill.
"They are available still in some modules," replied Hlin.
"Begin getting these constructed for the troops. These will be extremely helpful," replied O'Neill.
"Yes sir!" replied Hlin who left directly from the room.
"Good morning everyone!" smiled a cheerful Colson as he entered.
"Alec, how are things?" asked O'Neill.
"I feel I need to take my leave," replied Bra'tac.
"You're not going to leave me in here with all of these geeks are you?" asked O'Neill.
"Director Colson, I must beg your forgiveness for leaving, but I do have other duties to tend to," replied Bra'tac.
"None taken!" replied Colson.
"So what do disbursements have for us today?" asked O'Neill.
"We wish to expand the super-gate system. We currently have eight super-gates, we would like to expand this to twenty-seven," replied Colson.
"Twenty-seven for what purpose?" asked O'Neill.
"Intergalactic tours. Even ascended individuals, can not traverse the vastness of the different galaxies. There are many sites to behold. We have an entire group wanting to provide intergalactic cruises," replied Colson.
"I've heard it all!" replied O'Neill.
"Think about some of the amazing things you have seen, people just want a chance to see the same thing," replied Colson.
"Those things came at a cost," replied O'Neill.
"Imagine being able to see a black hole, twin stars, or birth of a new star?" asked Colson, "Yes when you got to see those things you were usually risking your life. Fortunately, that is not the case now."
"It's one thing for around our solar system, but another entirely when you're talking about other galaxies," replied O'Neill.
"How about we start with the three additional ones here in the Milky Way?" asked Colson.
"Three?" asked O'Neill.
"Yes," replied Colson.
"Send Sheppard the locations you're looking at. I will have him conduct a security survey to review overall safety," replied O'Neill.
"Thank you!" replied Colson taking his leave.
"Space tourism?" asked O'Neill.
"You had to see it coming," replied Miller.
"Yeah I know," replied O"Neill.
"Lunch?" asked Miller.
"Excellent suggestion!" replied O'Neill
Miller and O'Neill headed to the commissary for lunch. O'Neill was excited blue Jell-O was out. Jackson joined them. O'Neill decided that since Bra'tac ditched him, that Jackson would be a good one to suffer through things with him. Lunch passed too quickly for O'Neill, and Jackson was far more excited to participate than O'Neill would have liked to see. Armstrong joined O'Neill after lunch to take notes, and to send out orders as needed.
"So how large is this Dyson sphere?" asked Mitchell.
"It's difficult to get readings. There is a lot of EMF interference," replied Zalenka.
"Are we in danger?" asked Mitchel.
"Eli, am I reading this correctly?" asked Zalenka.
"A magnetar?" asked Wallace.
"Yes," replied Zalenka.
"What's a magnetar?" asked Gardner.
"Something we do not want to encounter," replied Mitchell.
"How can they build a Dyson sphere around a magnetar?" asked Zalenka.
"Is it safe?" asked Mitchell.
"The Dyson sphere seems to be containing most of all the magnetism. We should be safe, I mean I wouldn't want to live here," replied Zalenka.
"Sir I think we are being scanned," spoke up Wallace.
"You think?" asked Mitchell.
"The EMF levels are making it difficult to be sure," replied Wallace.
Rush entered the conference room to see O'Neill, Miller, Jackson, and Armstrong waiting on him.
"Dr. Rush any progress on how to upgrade the existing gates?" asked O'Neill.
"I have a plan, even I have to say it's crazy, but I believe it will work," replied Rush.
"Let's hear it," replied O'Neill.
"Could you tell us first what you're working on?" asked Jackson.
"A way to upgrade existing stargates to the new model that Commander Carter and Dr. McKay have designed and implemented on a small scale," replied Rush.
"Upgrade all of them? How many are we talking about?" asked Jackson.
"The count as of yesterday was thirty-five million seven hundred fifty-six thousand nine hundred eighty-one," replied Rush.
"That's a lot," replied Armstrong.
"Which is why I have come up with a crazy scheme," replied Rush.
"Let's hear it," replied O'Neill.
"We need to build a Dyson Sphere, around a black hole," spoke Rush.
"A Dyson Sphere around a black hole?" asked Jackson.
"You are crazy," replied O'Neill.
"I've met with Primus and he is willing to provide designs for gravity shielding. The gravity shielding will convert the pull of the black hole into energy along with all other forms of energy being emitted. We will define one small section, it will generate enough power to create another one. We will use an advanced core to control the creation process. Every time a new section is added it will increase the speed up producing additional components until we have completed the entire process. Once the sphere is completed it will give us enough power to access every stargate in a galaxy at once, and create the nanites necessary to convert the stargate from it's current model to the new model," explained Rush.
"Let me get this straight you want to build a Dyson sphere around a black hole, and then dial up all the stargates in a galaxy and send nanites through it to convert the gate? asked Miller.
"Yes," replied Rush.
"How long will it take?" asked O'Neill.
"Creating the Dyson sphere will start off slow, as it progresses it will speed up. It will take seven months to complete the sphere. Then another two years of constantly dialing galaxies and sending the nanites to complete," spoke Rush.
"What is needed?" asked O'Neill.
"We need to begin construction on the first piece, then deploy it," replied Rush.
"We also need to review the designs," replied Miller.
"Dr. Miller you review and get anyone else you want to review. Bring me back a recommendation on moving forward. Dr. Rush good job, I'll take three years," replied O'Neill.
Carson returning to Othalla, was greeted by Thrud, "Did you deliver the message?"
Carson looked up, "Yes, Commander O'Neill knows my father is trying to find where Thor, Sol, and Mani have went and that we do not know."
"Good, he needs to know, but I can not tell him," replied Thrud.
"Why not?" asked Carson.
"You know why," replied Thrud.
"Your father is no longer here," replied Carson.
"He has many friends still here," replied Thrud.
"Including my father," replied Carson.
"O'Neill knows that," replied Thrud.
Beckett entered the conference room next, "Good afternoon everyone!"
"Dr. Beckett, what wonderful breakthrough do you have for us?" asked Jackson.
"We have a reoccurrence of the plague that struck the Ancients, millions of years ago," replied Beckett.
"This would be a red alert situation," spoke O'Neill.
"No need to be alarmed, I have a cure for it," replied Beckett.
"You cured the plague that swept through the Ancients and decimated their society? The one they could not cure?" asked Jackson.
"Yes, actually we humans have been exposed to variations of it for years, it's a Coronavirus, actually Covid-19 is the official name. We had a few patients who became ill, we identified the virus, I then ran it through the repository looking for a match and it turned out to match the virus that caused the plague," explained Beckett.
"You said you have a cure for it?" asked Armstrong,
"Yes, technically a retrovirus. Similar to what Dr. Keller on the Curiosity used to spread the cure among the Unacks. It will remove the virus DNA from the cells, in basic terms. We just need to spread this virus, to make everyone immune," replied Beckett.
"We need to run further studies to make sure it's safe," replied Miller.
"This is another one I'm going to leave in your hands Dr. Miller," replied O'Neill.
"I'm more concerned with where it came from?" asked Jackson.
"It's apparently been in some form in the animal kingdom, for years. I believe it was exposed in the past few years during the rebuilding efforts here on Earth," replied Beckett.
"So no one trying to wipe us out?" asked O'Neill.
"I can't say for certain, but I do not see anything that would make me think it was an intentional exposure," replied Beckett.
"Keep us informed on any new developments. Work with Dr. Miller on testing procedures replied O'Neill.
"Thank you!" replied Beckett.
Mirrin came bouncing into the conference room.
"Hey kiddo!" shouted O'Neill.
"Hey Jack, and Dr. Jackson!" replied Mirrin.
"Your presenting?" asked O'Neill.
"Yes she is. Dr. Carter recommended we support her work. She is our newest scientist," replied Miller.
"And you already have something to present?" asked O'Neill.
"Yes, Dr. Carter and I were discussing the application of my technology to adjust the spin of particles. Taking her suggestions, I began modifying a shield generator, added in my technology to control the spin of the particles it's emitting. We are able to establish a solid shield," spoke Mirrin. Pushing a button on a wrist device, a shield formed around her.
"That doesn't look any different?" asked Jackson.
"Dr. Jackson would you please try to shake my hand," spoke Mirrin.
"Yeah, I know this trick. I try to touch you and land on the other side of the room. I will pass," replied Jackson. O'Neill grinning.
"I assure you that is not what would happen," replied Mirrin.
"If I do, you're in deep trouble with me," spoke Jackson. Reaching out he took her hand. Instead of a shock, or feeling her hand he felt a solid substance, that wasn't her hand.
"What is that?" asked Jackson.
"The shield is formed into a solid object, that only allows certain particles, such as air, to pass through. Everything else will encounter a solid surface. Adjustments can be made to allow energy weapons to pass through in one way only," replied Mirrin.
"How strong is it?" asked O'Neill.
"Tests I have conducted indicate it can withstand a one-megawatt energy burst, with one-kilowatt energy input," replied Mirrin.
"Seriously? The shield input on our ships is in the range of two hundred megawatts. They can withstand a one to two-gigawatt energy burst," replied O'Neill.
"Upgraded with my changes they would be able to withstand two hundred gigawatt energy bursts," replied Mirrin.
"That would be a huge upgrade," replied Jackson.
"That would save so many lives!" replied Miller.
"Get this to Commander Caldwell. Let him do some field testing and roll this out to the fleet," ordered O'Neill.
Mirrin grinning, "Thank you!"
Sheppard, entered the room next, much to O'Neill's surprise.
"You know you report to me. You could schedule a meeting anytime?" asked O'Neill.
"Yeah I know, but I heard this was planned so I wanted to get in on it," replied Sheppard.
"So what is your want to present to us?" asked Miller.
"You don't know?" asked O'Neill.
"No he wouldn't tell me," replied Miller.
"I'd like to try to establish communication with the next universe," replied Sheppard.
"Excuse me?" spoke O'Neill.
"Just how do you plan to do that?" asked Armstrong.
"We know wormholes can carry certain energy waves both ways, while larger streams like matter can only go one way. The wormhole at the center of the universe should be no exception," replied Sheppard.
"You want to send a M.A.L.P. through?" asked O'Neill.
"We already did, the Destiny," replied Sheppard.
"He's right, we could try to contact Narim on Destiny's system," replied Jackson.
"Wow talking to someone in another universe," replied O'Neill.
"As far as we know that's never been done or attempted," replied Sheppard.
"What do you need?" asked O'Neill.
"I'd like to take a fleet there, just in case we encounter the Nakai," replied Sheppard.
"Permission granted. Commander, we could have done this over a call. Why here?" replied O'Neill.
"Well after the entire Weir incident, I thought I may need help convincing you," replied Sheppard.
"The Weir matter is settled," replied O'Neill.
"Thank you sir!" replied Sheppard leaving the room.
"Ms. Armstrong please schedule a regular meeting with him for me. He and I don't talk enough," ordered O'Neill.
"Weekly?" asked Armstrong.
"Yes," replied O'Neill.
Parks entered into the room with a small device she placed on the table."
"Good afternoon, I have been studying the holographic technology that Moros used to create the image of himself in the Glastonbury caves. He was able to create a hologram that could interact with the environment. I've been able to duplicate that technology," spoke Parks, pushing a button and generating an image of Avidan.
"Avidan pick up Dr. Jackson," ordered Parks.
Daniel found himself being hoisted in the air, but the Avidan hologram, "Wait! Put me down!"
"Sorry Dr. Jackson, Avidan set him down," ordered Parks.
"Impressive, how do you envision this being used?" asked O'Neill.
"Imagine being able to have Avidan un-arm enemy combatants, like our foothold situation on Pacifica. Or being able to assist moving items," replied Parks.
"That does have some applicable uses," replied O'Neill.
"Would Mirrin's technology work with this?" asked Jackson.
"Yes, it could. I'd like to recommend Parks you work with Mirrin on this, I believe your two technologies here could really improve our hologram technology," replied Miller.
"I can certainly do that!" replied Parks. Heading to find Mirrin.
"Dr. Keller its good to see you!" spoke O'Neill as Keller.
"Thank you commander!" replied Keller.
"So do you have more changes coming to the medical pods?" asked Miller.
"No, I wanted to discuss the Wraith Anti-Virus that we have created. We have tested this on volunteer Wraith and it works. You said I could have a mission to try and work with the Wraith on this," replied Keller.
"Yes I did, and you never got it," replied O'Neill.
"So what are you going to do about it?" asked Keller.
Miller and Jackson turned to see how O'Neill would respond.
"I'm going to ask Commander Sheppard to send the Pegasus Fleet to the Wraith Planet with a medical ship with you to conduct any final tests that you need. You have permission to treat any willing Wraith," replied O'Neill.
"Thank you now when?" asked Keller.
"Pegasus Fleet is in the midst of conducting final rundowns. I don't see why they couldn't complete that while on a medical mission," replied O'Neill.
"Thank you I will let Carson know and we will begin preparations," replied Keller, as she left.
"Did that remind anyone of Dr. Fraiser?" asked Jackson.
"More than a little," replied O'Neill.
"Gentlemen I need to take my leave," spoke Miller.
O'Neill confused, "What now?"
"Yes, I made a promise to my daughter, that I have to keep, replied Miller.
"Even I can't have you breaking a promise to Madison," replied O'Neill, "Don't worry Ms. Armstrong is here to keep me in line with your scientists."
"Can you call me Chloe?" replied Armstrong.
"That's difficult," replied O'Neill.
Miller taking her leave, and heading toward Madison's school. She would be presenting to the class today on how Stargate's worked. More would understand than didn't. She hoped that was a good thing for the future.
Mitchell called out, "Sheilds up!"
"I'm not sure they can do much good here, sir!" replied Zalenka.
"Then let's get out of here, resume course Jinn!" ordered Mitchell.
"Greetings!" came a strange voice from behind everyone.
Everyone turned around to see a humanoid shape standing near the doorway to the bridge.
Simpson walked in looking like she was ready to pop any moment. O'Neill spoke first, "Little Jenny still doesn't want to be born?"
"No and if she doesn't come soon I may pull her out myself," replied Simpson.
"Ms. Armstrong please make sure I don't say anything that will cause Dr. Simpson to kill me?" asked O'Neill.
"I'm worried about myself," replied Armstrong.
"If Stephen is still breathing, you all are probably safe," replied Simpson.
"If?" asked Jackson.
"Don't push it, Dr. Jackson," replied Simpson.
"What do you have to show us today?" asked Armstrong.
"I am seeking approval to build a new shipyard at Primus Station. Working with Primus he has the excess energy that can be redirected to creating the raw materials we need, without the mining, this will greatly increase our ship output," replied Simpson.
"Primus has agreed to this?" asked O'Neill.
"He welcomes it. He seems ready and willing to expand Primus Station as much as we want. Plans I have discussed with him would call for twenty-four new docks," replied Simpson.
"Well Primus did offer to help Dr. Rush on building an entirely new Dyson sphere," spoke Armstrong.
"Dr. Rush wants to build a Dyson sphere?" asked Simpson.
"Yes to dial-up stargates around the universe to upgrade them," replied Jackson.
"How long will it take?" asked Simpson.
"I believe he said about four years total," replied Armstrong.
"Then what?" asked Simpson.
"We would need to find another use for it," replied O'Neill.
"That kind of power imagine how far we could open a wormhole," replied Simpson.
Jackson looking up, "Your right we could use it to open a reverse wormhole for the Curiosity to return on."
"Dr. Simpson you're a genius," replied O'Neill.
"About time you figured that out," replied Simpson.
"See Woosley, have him take care of any diplomatic agreements we need with Primus on the dockyard and go for it!" replied O'Neill.
"If Dr. Rush can build the Dyson sphere in seven months, Curiosity could be back here right after that," replied Jackson.
"Yes, I think we just solved a major problem!" replied Armstrong.
"Think I'm going to go see Dr. Fraiser and yank this kid out!" exclaimed Simpson.
"Why didn't you say you were in labor?" shouted Armstrong.
"She's not," replied O'Neill.
"I'm not yet," replied Simpson rubbing her stomach. Leaving and heading toward medical.
"Ms. Armstrong make a note to discuss the Dyson sphere gate system with Dr. Rush," ordered O'Neill.
"Yes, sir! replied Armstrong.
Nyan entered the conference room, for his turn.
"Nyan how are you doing?" asked Jackson.
"Doing well, sir. Good to see you here," replied Nyan.
"So what do you have for us?" asked O'Neill.
"I've located two new Ancient Outposts," replied Nyan.
"Where are these?" asked O'Neill.
"One is the Ida Galaxy, and the other is in the Andromeda Galaxy," replied Nyan.
"Are these the ones you were going to send us to get to complete Altera?" asked Jackson.
"The one in Ida probably is, but my list had none in Andromeda," replied O"Neill, "You sure about Andromeda?"
"Sir I don't think you understand. I meant new, as newly built. Not ones that once resided here in Altera," replied Nyan.
"How new?" asked O'Neill.
"From the records, they were built about ten thousand years ago," replied Nyan.
"That's when the Ancients abandoned Pegasus and fled to Earth. Did they build them after they returned?" asked Jackson.
"The records don't say who built them. Two new city ships were built at these locations. I have sent a probe to each of them and verified they do exist, and appear to have nobody there," replied Nyan.
"Dr. Jackson, you will accompany me on the Enterprise, and we will check the one in Andromeda Galaxy. Nyan you will go with Commander Lorne to Ida," ordered Nyan.
"When?" asked Jackson.
"Now! Ms. Armstrong think you can carry on without us?" asked O'Neill.
"Yes, sir!" replied Armstrong.
O'Neill, Jackson, and Nyan hurried from the room. O'Neill contacting Lorne on the way to beam Nyan up who would supply the coordinates. Lorne had the Hades ready to launch within thirty minutes. O'Neill once onboard the Enterprise was ready to launch in twenty minutes. Jackson had sent a hasty message to Vala explaining he would be gone tonight. Carter was already on board, with the kids. Davis had been told to arrange groups to gate to Andromeda and Ida if the cities were really abandoned and safe to travel to.
Altera was all abuzz with excitement. Two new city ships, the word spread like wildfire through Altera.
Loki arrived in the conference room to meet with O'Neill.
"Where is Commander O'Neill?" asked Loki.
"He and Dr. Jackson had to take off immediately. They were needed immediately in the Andromeda Galaxy for something," replied Armstrong.
"The Andromeda Galaxy? I must take my leave. I have something urgent to tend to," replied Loki, running as fast as Armstrong had seen any Asgard run.
Novak entered the conference room, "My turn?"
"Yes it is, come on in," replied Armstrong.
"Are you in charge?" asked Novak,
"I am now," replied Armstrong.
"Two new city chips is all it took. Heck your second in command of the Alliance," replied Armstrong.
"I never thought of it that way," replied Armstrong, "So what do you have for me?"
"Mainly my report I provided to Commander Davis, on Altera. The city is now at full capacity. We have only five percent of our residential space left. Commander Davis has authorized the expansion in the outer sections. Our agricultural facilities are running at capacity, we are producing enough food to ship to other worlds, that are in need," replied Novak.
"Other Alliance worlds?" asked Armstrong.
"No, they are not in need. To worlds not part of our Alliance that we are on good terms with. We supply food to help support them," replied Novak.
"That's even better!" replied Armstrong.
"We are continuing to expand our commercial structures as well. We are expecting to increase the size of the city by twenty percent over the next year to accommodate our continued growth," replied Novak.
"Twenty percent?" asked Armstrong.
"That is the best estimate that Commander Davis and Director Voronkova has been able to give me," replied Novak.
"Are we expanding the education facilities?" asked Novak.
"Yes ma'am. We are expanding their resources by another ten percent," replied Novak.
"Anything you need approval on?" asked Armstrong.
"Sorry ma'am, Commander Davis just wanted me to report to you all on these changes," replied Novak.
"Well maybe I can approve something on my next one," replied Armstrong.
"Good luck!" replied Novak leaving the room.
McKay entered the room, "Everyone take off for the new city-ship?"
"Yes, I'm in charge of these meetings now," replied Armstrong.
"I should be out there! Nobody knows Ancients City ships as well as I do!" exclaimed McKay.
"Yes Dr. McKay I'm sure you will be there as soon as possible," replied Armstrong.
"I should be one of the first ones in there!" exclaimed McKay.
"You want to the first in a city that we know nothing about, or what kind of dangers maybe there, that kept he Ancients from inhabiting them, when they left Pegasus?" asked Armstrong.
"You have a point," replied McKay.
Avidan appeared, "Dr. McKay, Commander Davis has asked you to prepare to be in the lead party to advance to the city-ships."
"Oh, well I guess they did need me," replied McKay, taking his leave to get ready.
Armstrong sat quietly, instead of approving big advances, she was getting to do nothing.
Cassie walked in, "So how is it going?"
"Are you here to present?" asked Armstrong.
"No I'm not, in fact, I think you're done," replied Cassie.
"Great! My big chance to approve things I have nothing I can approve," replied Armstrong.
"Don't you approve things all the time for Commander O'Neill?" asked Cassie.
"Yeah basic stuff," replied Armstrong.
"You realize you run more of the Alliance outside of military matters than Commander O'Neill?" asked Cassie.
"I guess I do," replied Armstrong.
"You are like the second most important person in the Alliance," replied Cassie.
Author's Note: Covid-19 sucks, no other way to put it. Thanks to changes it has made it difficult to write like I was. So I must ask everyone's patience that chapters will be coming, but not nearly as fast as you all want, or even as fast as I want. I pray all of you are well and stay safe during these times. I hope you enjoy the story and do not worry many chapters are yet to come. I have an outline of ten more chapters that I planned out earlier. This story will be finished, and I will not abandon it!
Stay safe -GhostProgrammer