Destiny's Child Version 4.1

Disclaimer: I do not own most of the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around for my own demented authorial amusement – sadly, all Star Trek and Stargate concepts and characters remain the property of Paramount, CBS, and MGM respectively – I am merely borrowing them and make absolutely no profit from their use. As a result, please keep the legal attack dogs – also known as lawyers – firmly muzzled and on a leash as I have no money to give to anyone.

Authors Note: I know that I haven't updated this story for quite some time as it unfortunately went and got itself stuck in the linguistic quagmire that is writer's block and only just worked itself free during a readthrough a few days ago. I am honestly surprised by how quickly this chapter came together as I really wasn't expecting it to be ready before New Years which is a very pleasant surprise for both me and you.

Chapter Four

"Sir the Klingons have escaped."

The moment that the words finished leaving Commander Beach's voice Darien resisted, just, the impulse to groan in annoyance. Of course they've escaped, he thought irritation colouring his thoughts. He was seriously beginning to regret saving the survivors of that Bird of Prey a part of him wondering if he should have just left them on their wrecked ship to die either when life support failed or their damaged warp core lost containment whichever came first.

"How did they get out," Commander Urlet demanded frowning, "I thought they were being kept unconscious in one of the cargo bays?"

"Apparently the system that was supposed to keep the bay flooded with a sleeping agent shut down when we went to red alert," Beach replied, sounding puzzled as the system really shouldn't have been affected by the change in the ships alert status. "As a result, they quickly recovered consciousness and used the battle as cover to get out of the bay and hit a small nearby armoury. They're armed with multiple phaser rifles and pistols."

Darien cursed softly. "Where are they now," he demanded.

"Sir they're in corridor A181 on Deck Eleven. They appear to be heading for one of the secondary shuttle bays."

"Any of our crew in that area?"

"Negative."

"Then seal off the corridor with both force fields," Darien ordered, "then flood it with sleeping gas. Once they're unconscious I want every one of them moved to the brig. Make sure they're stripped, and their uniforms replaced with prisoner jumpsuits."

"Aye sir," Beach replied, and his hands began dancing across his console as he entered the proper commands.

"They're really not going to like it when they wake up," Urlet said to Darien. "They'll accuse us of dishonouring them by removing their armour."

"I know but I am done with playing nice with their warrior sensibilities," Darien replied letting some of his annoyance with the Klingons, who were responsible for them being in a different universe in the first damned place because they had to so foolishly challenge a Sovereign-class starship in a dinky little Bird of Prey, show in his voice. "Right now, if I could get away with beaming the whole lot of them into space and being done with it I would but..."

"...regs don't allow it," Urlet finished for him with an understanding smile. Back when the Andorian Imperial Guard had still existed as anything more than a home defence force spacing uppity Klingons had been something they had done quite frequently. So often in fact that the Klingons had quickly learned not to give them any trouble, certainly not the trouble they were forever giving Humans. The warrior race never seeming to understand that while Humans preferred peace and would go out of their way to avoid war, they were in no way weak and that they could and would fight if pushed. And fight with a ferocity that could outshine the Klingons while at the same time being as coldly logical as the Vulcans with it, and – when they wanted to – outdo the old Romulan Empire when it came to being sneaky. From some ex-military Romulans she'd spoken to over the years since the Hobus supernova and the destruction of Romulus she knew that trait of humans had been something that had never ceased to fascinate them. A fascination which was one of the reasons why relations between the old Star Empire and the Federation had generally been cordial if occasionally strained.

Right now, in his annoyance Darien was showing that more aggressive side of Humans. One that few people ever encountered and lived to tell the tale about.

"Sir most of the Klingons are down," Beach reported, "however one of them has gotten into the Jefferies tubes where we cannot flood them. He's still heading for one of the secondary shuttle bays."

"Someone's stubborn," Urlet commented with a shake of her head.

"Indeed, but it's not going to get him anywhere," Darien answered, "Mr Beach have a squad of marines meet him when he comes out of the Jefferies Tube outside the shuttle bay. Detain him even if it means phasering him into unconsciousness."

"Aye sir."

"Sir our first search and rescue teams report ready to transport down to the Tollan capital," Lieutenant Ashton reported, bringing everyone's attention back to the other matter that they were currently dealing with after destroying the unknown alien warship.

"Send them," Darien ordered. "Do we have any idea yet why the alien warship exploded in the way that it did?"

"I believe so sir," Lieutenant Rakan reported from the science station. "I've been going over our scans of the ship and a sizeable percentage of the hull was composed of an unknown quasi-quartz material that appeared to amplify and conduct the energy of our phasers. It quickly reached critical mass from even the reduced power beams leading to a sudden violent destabilisation."

"That doesn't make sense," Ensign Querr commented from the helm. "Why would anyone armour or build a warship out of a material that reacts to weapons fire in that way?"

"They might not have anticipated dealing with particle weapons," Rakan said thoughtfully. "They may have designed their armour primarily to defend against their own kind of weapons since even plasma disruptors like the aliens used rely primarily on heat and kinetic force to inflict damage unlike particle weapons – let alone phased particle weapons like our own – that attack the very basic baryonic structure of matter. In the case of phasers by causing subatomic particles to go out of phase with one another."

"Particle weapons might be unusual in this reality," Urlet said thoughtfully. "After all most of us discovered particle weapons – be they phasers or disruptors – as an outgrowth of the development of warp technology. Whatever FTL technology they have in this reality may have leaned local races more towards plasma weapons."

"Perhaps," Darien agreed, "though we are probably reading far too much into it given how little we know about this reality we've found ourselves in. Let's not make such potentially dangerous assumptions."

"Understood sir."

"Sir our marines report that they have captured the last Klingon. It was their commanding officer."

"Excellent. Have them bring him to my ready room. It's time me and this idiot had a conversation."

"Aye sir."

Tollana Surface

That Same Time

Narim felt like he wanted to be sick as he emerged from the emergency shelter – one of dozens that had been constructed across Tollana after the Goa'uld Zipacna attacked a few years ago – and beheld a scene of utter devastation. Everywhere he looked he could see nothing but rubble, the remains of buildings that had been levelled by Goa'uld plasma blasts from space, some of which were still smouldering from the intense heat of the bolts. Overhead the sky was dark and thick with smoke from the fires, the sun completely obscured though it wasn't dark as everywhere there was an orange twilight from the fires. In the distance he could see some of the cities taller buildings were still standing but all were heavily damaged and burning fiercely – as were the parks and wild spaces they'd built their new capital around.

I did this, he thought feeling his insides twist in a mixture of pain and shame. I brought this destruction upon us when I destroyed those weapons, we made for whoever Tanith was working for. Yet he couldn't bring himself to regret that action, that decision. By destroying those weapons, he had saved Earth and countless other worlds from destruction as he recognised the explosive used, well it wasn't an explosive per say but it could be used to make one, that was in those weapons. The warhead had been a weaponised version of the antimatter converters they'd long used to power their civilisation. Almost identical to what the Seritans had used against one another – which in the process had ignited their worlds naquada veins – leading to the end of their planet and the loss of the original Tollan homeworld due to the planet being yanked into a new orbit around its parent star.

The fact that the Curia had been willing to build such weapons in the first place, knowing full well what they could do the utter devastation they could cause, sickened him. As had the fact that they had done so at the behest of a Goa'uld for yet another, currently unknown, Goa'uld. Though as Travell had pointed out when he, along with SG-1, had confronted her about it they had had little choice as it was either make the weapons or Tanith would destroy their world. A threat he had kept as within moments of him using an ion cannon to destroy the warehouse where the first shipment of the weapons was being stored Tanith had started raining plasma down upon them.

"How many have died," he muttered to himself gazing at the destruction and feelings tears of both grief and rage run down his cheeks at the sight. Grief for the hundreds if not thousands of his fellow Tollan who had to have been killed in this attack, as there was still nowhere near enough shelters ready for everyone and not everyone had been able to get to one as the attack on the city had been fierce and unrelenting, and anger at the Goa'uld who was ultimately behind this whole ghastly situation.

A sound caught his attention, and he looked around in confusion until he saw a dozen blue lines appear in the air. What the hell, he thought recalling something he had heard Colonel O'Neill say a few times as the lines parted, and shimmering particles of silver-white energy appeared as the parted. Silver-white particles that rapidly formed into figures and then dissolved away leaving a dozen individuals standing there. Individuals who weren't Jaffa but who were wearing some kind of black and grey uniforms. They wore either blue or yellow jerseys underneath and had the same colour in bands on their wrists so clearly it had some form of significance though what that was he had no idea.

Narim was stunned. Whoever these newcomers were - like everyone in the shelters he had seen feeds from the orbital sensors which showed an alien starship arrive and engage Tanith with some type of beam weapons and like everyone else he'd cheered when said weapons overwhelmed and destroyed the Goa'uld mothership – they clearly had mastered a technology that had long eluded the Tollan. A technology that they had been researching and trying to develop – without much progress – for the last two hundred years or so.

The technology for open-ended teleportation.

One of the newcomers, a type of alien he had never seen before as while humanoid this being had olive-tinged skin pointed ears and eyebrows with close cropped black hair, spotted him and walked over. He noted that the alien had some type of weapon holstered on their right hip, some box like thing on their other hip and a kit of some kind in a case being held on by a strap.

"Are you the one in charge here," the alien asked speaking with a male voice, but it was cool and emotionless. Yet something told Narim that that was not the result of an issue with his translator implant but was the alien's natural way of talking.

"I suppose I am the highest ranked individual in the shelter behind me," Narim replied, "my name is Narim. What's yours?"

"I am Lieutenant Commander Sovell from the Federation Starship Resolution. We answered your planetary distress call."

"Yes, I saw on the shelter monitors. Thank you for that if you hadn't come when you did Tanith would have continued firing until the entire surface of our world was destroyed."

"Indeed, though given the monophasic nature of the Goa'uld disruptors that would have taken them considerable time," Sovell answered, "your leader, Travell, has asked for assistance. My team and I are among many beaming down from our ship as we speak. Do you have any injuries Mr Narim."

"I am fine," Narim replied, inwardly a little concerned to learn that Travell was still alive having no doubt retreated to the government bunker beneath the Curia building when the attack began. He didn't doubt that she and any other surviving members of the Curia held him responsible for this and he shivered to think what their retribution would be. "Just a few minor bumps and bruises. However, there are far more injured people in the bunker."

"Would you lead us to them please. The sooner we can assess them and transport the more seriously injured to medical facilities on the Resolution, the better it will be for them."

Narim nodded. "This way," he said turning and walking back towards the bunker. Footsteps behind him let him know that the alien was following. "By the way do you mind me asked what your species is? I have never seen a being like you before."

"That is not unexpected I am a Vulcan," Sovell replied. "Most of my team however are humans, though Lieutenant Karten is Betazoid and Lieutenant Shev is a Reptilian Xindi."

Narim blinked slightly having never heard of alien races with those names before. On one hand it wasn't surprising as his own people had long been quite isolationist even before the destruction of Serita and Tollan Prime. They had rarely interacted with the wider galaxy especially due to the Goa'uld who, until now, they had never truly seen as a threat to be dealt with. At most until Tanith and his master had come along the Goa'uld had been at most a pest an annoyance that they just didn't want to deal with. Though on the other hand it was still strange as they did maintain some contacts with the wider galaxy in the form of the Nox – after Earth introduced them to that incredibly ancient race, a race who had taught them how to build Stargazes though there were still a few bits of how the gates worked that they didn't yet understand though according to the Nox that would come with time – the Tok'ra and occasionally the Serrakin. Surely one of them would have mentioned races as advanced as these to them. And what was this Federation Lieutenant Sovell spoke of?

Before he could begin asking any questions to learn more about the Federation they arrived in the bunker. Many of the dazed and terrified people there, many of them civil servants and their families, screamed and recoiled in a mixture of fear and terror as they saw him come back with some unknowns in tow. Some who were human but others who clearly were not. Narim quickly held up his hands to appeal for calm and slowly the room of people calmed.

"It's alright everyone," he said putting on his best reassuring smile, "these people are from the ship that destroyed Tanith. They've come to begin treating our wounded and hopefully help our people begin to recover from this catastrophe. Please allow them to treat all wounded we have."

A murmur ran through the crowd of people then they nodded. Not needing to be told Lieutenant Sovell's team moved into the room and at once began triage procedures with the ease and efficiency of people who had done this kind of thing before. All of them pulling those boxes off their one hip and opening them, revealing them to be scanners of some kind that they immediately began waving over everyone searching for wounded and figuring out in what order to treat those they found.

Narim watched for a few minutes as the Federation people began treating the wounded. Then he felt a hand touch his shoulder and he looked back to see a Tollan security officer, just one and his stunner was holstered on his hip which was a good sign, standing behind there. If he was to be arrested for defying the Curia and ultimately precipitating the Goa'uld attack, then more guards would have been sent. Plus, the stunners would have been drawn ready to fire if he tried to escape.

"High Chancellor Travell wants to see you," the guard said firmly.

"Now?" Narim asked.

"Now," the guard confirmed. Narim, knowing better than to try to run, nodded and took one last look at the people in the shelter who were now being tended to and assessed by the rescue party then turned and nodded to the guard to show that he was not going to offer any resistance. The guard nodded back, turned and began walking away. Narim followed him hoping, desperately, that he wasn't walking to his own funeral as the Earth people would say.

The security officer led Narim down the shattered streets of the capital. Streets that were starting to bustle with activity as survivors came out of hiding and were treated for injuries by Tollan medics as well as more emergency teams from the Resolution. Strange boxy shuttlecraft of some type filled the skies going back and forth from orbit bringing teams and heavy equipment down from the orbiting starship to begin aiding in rescuing trapped citizens from the rubble. As he watched he saw one hovering shuttle suddenly begin emitting a diffuse blue energy beam of some kind that immediately lifted a large mass of debris – that looked like it came from the central plaza of the Curia complex where the Stargate had been, at least till the main Curia building took a direct hit – from the ground and began flying away with it.

"Some type of gravitational/electromagnetic force beam," he muttered to himself watching the display. He had heard of such things before and indeed the Tollan had them themselves though mostly on specialist mining vessels the closest of which was based on Pellor where it was stationed mining asteroids for naquada and trinium.

"But on a much smaller scale than anything we've achieved ourselves," the guard agreed as they came upon a temporary shelter that had been set up. The guard took him inside and Narim found Travell standing before a portable holo-table watching a view of the ruined capital city and the sight of small craft of alien design coming and going. "Narim High Chancellor."

Travell turned in their direction at the guards words and Narim couldn't help but be a bit shocked at her expression and the look in her eyes. The high chancellor's normally quite aristocratic bearing had vanished. In its place he saw a complex mixture of different emotions. There was a weariness present that he had never seen from her before, the weariness of someone who knew that she would once again have to oversee the reconstruction of the Tollan civilization.

There were other things, other emotions there as well. Deep pain and sorrow at the sight of the complete and utter devastation that had been inflicted upon the Tollan people. To someone like him who knew Travell well – as his job meant he regularly interacted with members of the Curia even though he was not on the council himself - it was obvious that she was barely holding herself together that she was forcing herself to act as her station demanded and not breakdown and cry. There was anger there to, anger and hatred but he was surprised – and honestly quite relieved - to find that it was not being directed at him.

"You asked to see me your eminence," Narim said with a polite bow, since Travell didn't seem to be angry with him over this, he saw no reason not to show her some of the respect due her station.

"Yes, I did Narim," Travell answered her voice was calm but the look in her eyes told a different story, told how much all of this had affected her and her outlook. "Walk with me."

Narim nodded and followed as Travell walked out of the command tent – which had no doubt come from stores in the Curia bunker – and into the shattered, smouldering ruins of their once gleaming capital city. Travell said nothing as she moved towards a hill that had once looked out over the major part of the city, Narim followed her until they came to a stop. Below them was a scene of carnage as the city was shattered and burning, though he could see that the fires were steadily declining as shuttles from the Federation ship released some type of robotic drones that alongside emergency crews – emerging from their own bunkers – were beginning to bring the plasma-ignited infernos under control.

For a few moments they both stood there gazing down at the aftermath of Tanith's assault. Neither speaking or needing to speak as they both took in the magnitude of the devastation and both knew that while the Tollan people would recover from this, would rebuild as they had before, things would not be able to go back to the way they were before. The Goa'uld were too much of a threat now, they could no longer ignore them and trust in their technology to protect them.

"You know," Travell said at last not looking away from the scene, her voice quite yet strangely it was as loud as a thunderclap in Narim's ears. "By all rights I should have you detained for your part in bringing this attack down upon us. After all you destroyed the weapon's, we made for Tanith's master. But I will not."

"May I ask why eminence?"

"Because this was always going to happen," Travell said, "though with one critical difference. It would not have been the Goa'uld attacking us, but the Asgard our people would have been exterminated, literally reduced to dust on the stellar winds."

Narim couldn't help but shiver at that piece of news. While they had not had many dealings with them the Tollan were aware of the Asgard and knew them to be a far more advanced, and thus far more powerful, race than they were themselves. They were known to be the one race that would fill even the most arrogant and cocky of Goa'uld System Lords with mortal terror as no Goa'uld who had ever faced there powerful, intergalactic travel capable, warships in combat had ever survived the experience especially as Asgardian weapons, both their ion cannons and molecular disintegrators, made their own look like toys.

The prospect of the Asgard attacking them was unthinkable. It was surely not a situation that they would hope to survive as if the Asgard attacked then Tollana, and all their colonies, would be annihilated in short order. Crushed beneath the military might of one of the most powerful spacefaring species in the known universe.

"But why would they?" Narim asked after a moment.

"Because of what Tanith wanted me to do just before you destroyed the weapons," Travell told him, "Tanith wanted a test of their effectiveness. He wanted me to activate one of the weapons and send it through the Stargate to Earth. Though I did not know this until Doctor Jackson told me Earth is a world protected by the Asgard, hence why the Goa'uld cannot attack them themselves. If they did so the Asgard fleet would respond with overwhelming force.

"If I had sent the weapon," Travell continued, "then not only would Earth have been destroyed and who knew how many killed by the blast, but they ensured that it would be us who faced the Asgard's wrath not them."

They both shivered at that prospect.

"So, what now eminence?" Narim asked.

"Now we begin the long, painful process of once again rebuilding our civilization," Travell said a determined fire appearing in her eyes. "But to do that we are going to need allies and access to more resources than we currently have access to from both the mines here on Tollana and on our colony worlds. While I don't doubt that Captain Parker and the Resolution crew will help as much as they are able to, we cannot to rely on them for everything.

"The Stargate has been uncovered as it was only buried and not destroyed," Travell continued having asked the Federation shuttles to move the debris. The shuttle pilots hadn't understood why she wanted them to do that, unbury a certain object as they clearly did not know what Stargates were. She made a mental note to explain it to them later. "I want you to travel through it to Earth. We will need their help if we are going to rebuild our world and possibly more depending on what the Curia and the colony governors decide in our next meeting."

"Given what happened with Tanith they may not be willing to assist us," Narim cautioned knowing that by working with Tanith to save themselves they had burned a lot of bridges with the Tau'ri.

"Do what you can to gain some assistance from them," Travell replied, "I will give you a recording from our orbital observatory to show them of the battle between the Resolution and Tanith."

"That will get their attention."

"It will indeed, and they might be willing to trade relief supplies including power sources like those naquada generators they've developed – which we will need as most of our antimatter converter generators are currently not serviceable – in exchange for an introduction to the Federation ship's crew."

"That could work," Narim agreed knowing full well that the people of Earth would be very, very interested in the Federation starship and its technology level. Technology that was obviously far more advanced than that of the Goa'uld given how relatively easy it had been for the Federation to overwhelm and destroy Tanith's ship. No doubt they would want to talk about getting tech from them though if the Federation was anything like them then they would have, the very sensible, policy of not giving technology to less advanced civilizations. "I will leave as soon as the recording is available eminence."

"Excellent."

Authors Note: Well, another chapter bites the metaphorical dust, I hope you all enjoyed it. This is going to be my last fanfic update of this year however as I have quite a few things to do to get ready for New Year, so let me take this opportunity to wish you all the very best for the coming year and I will see you all in 2025. Hopefully it will be a much better year for all of us than the last one has been. Until next time.