1 Week later
Deep Space, en route to Abydos
Admiral Borman sat at his desk going over the daily morning report, so far the in the journey no issues had cropped up, the engineers even reported that the jump engines across the fleet were holding up well, not that they were really stressing them, they only travelled 84 light years out of a thousand so far.
Borman was tempted to increase from the six jumps a day they were currently doing, if they went flat out it would only be 21 days to Abydos from Earth, that pace though would risk damage, a risk he was unwilling to take, a more modest increase was doable though, he'd float the idea at the command meeting later.
Food and fuel supplies were within expected consumption rates, Commander Durant had asked to get more flight time for the pilots, their general lack of experience with carrier operations was him some consternation, especially take-off and landing, unsurprising really, the Enterprise was the first mobile fighter platform produced, fighters and bombers previously being based on fixed installations and planet side.
He gave his approval for more practice hours, they had the fuel to spare, not much manoeuvring in the deep dark of interstellar space, he'd contact Captain Anderson and Commander Durant after he was done here.
He reached for his coffee and finished it off, powering down his console as he stood, as he was about to reach for the door his intercom beeped, heaving an exasperated sigh he returned to his desk and accepted the call.
"Borman here" was his curt greeting.
"Sir" Captain Andersons voice came through, "the survey ship reports a possible life bearing planet in the nearby system, they're requesting permission to jump there and investigate"
"Approved, tell them to return immediately if they find anything, we'll explore further options then" They did have a mandate to survey potential useful worlds, it was part of the reason for the generous travel time they had.
"Anderson, I'm approving Commander Durant's request for increased flying hours for the pilots, pass it along will you"
"Roger Sir, I'll inform him immediately"
"Anything else Captain?"
"No sir, Anderson out"
"We'll see what's what in a few hours then" he thought to himself, as he opened his office door.
Pilots Briefing room
30 minutes later
Durant walked into the briefing room, Lt Commander Mason Decker trailing after him, Decker was the man in charge of the bomber pilots on the ship, he was also the DCAG, second in command after Durant.
The room was full of the ships pilots, even the shuttle ones, all in conversation as they walked inside, they quickly quietened down as they saw the two men enter everyone standing to attention, Durant move with purpose up to the front, "At Ease" at those words everyone quickly sat down.
"The Admiral and Captain have approved more flight time, Commander Decker and myself have drafted up some rotas, starting tomorrow after every jump we will be launching combat space patrols around the fleet".
He continued, "We'll rotate one squadron per day, one wing per jump and repeat" he motioned to Decker "Commander Decker will be running anti shipping drills with the bomber pilots once a week, and performing combat landing drills with all pilots every Friday from now on"
Durant looked around the room, the pilots excited that they got to practice their craft more, having been stuffed into the ship for a week straight without the touch of their wings.
The ship had 64 fighters and 24 bombers onboard, with a dozen shuttles for transport around the fleet, they were divided into four 16 plane squadrons with four planes per wing, and two 12 plane bomber squadrons.
"Alright ladies and gents, Dismissed"
He noticed April and signalled her over as the room cleared out, "Hey, how are you holding up"
"Just a bit bored, at least you solved that but I never expected running a squadron was so much paperwork, I'm swamped every day and nothings even happening" he heard the minor frustration in her voice, internally he was quite amused.
"Hey, don't look at me, you wanted more responsibility, that's what come with it" he finished with a chuckle.
Her face reddened, whether in anger or embarrassment he couldn't tell, it just made him laugh harder.
"Ugh, enough of this, its lunch time, the food on this tub is decent at least" with that she waked out the door, Durant walking along beside her.
Unknown system
The same time
A bright flash disturbed the fabric of space, where before it was empty now a large metallic object existed, the Survey ship Intrepid, at 100 meters, it was the smallest Earth ship able to jump, Earth manufacturing still unable to produce components comparable to the colonials, its hull was festooned with antenna and cameras, sensors galore, its purpose to explore.
Sat in the captains chair in the small bridge was the Captain Naomi Khan, the ship and the crew were members of the Unions exploration division, they underwent extensive screening to be selected for the Prometheus expedition, only the best were here.
The star trek like main screen in the bridge showed a verdant green world before them, their jump calculations able to place them precisely before it, the world was almost a mirror of Earth, only the different shape of the continents able to differentiate it.
"What are we looking at Jim" she asked the man at the sensor control's her eyes never leaving the image before her.
"The planet's dimensions are identical to Earth, distance to its star indicate it should be slightly colder overall but well within habitable range, we wont be able to know more until we land or send a probe".
Naomi nodded along, her speciality was xenobiology, a speciality that only came to prominence after the Velos and ridiculed before, she couldn't wait to get down there, the whole planet was covered in foliage apart from the large ice caps.
"Sarah, ready the probe, I want it down there asap" The woman operating the helm danced her fingers over her console, "Five minutes to get in position, we can launch then Cap"
"Right" Naomi stood and walked over to Jim, "Jim, get full scans of the rest of the system too, they'll want to know if there's any tylium or kobolium" She turned towards the helm, "Sarah, start the jump engines rechanging, were leaving in an hour, we'll need one of those landing ships to get down there".
Naomi paced the small room as she waited for the ship to move, "Damn the Union, we would've found this planet sooner if not for those restrictive exploration laws, its not even that far away".
The development of Earth jump drive was seen as a major change in society, speculators expected that ships would be exploring worlds left and right, the unfortunate reality was the governments restricting access to jump engines, often citing safety reasons, and heavy controls on exploration, it would normally take a year to fully survey a system, before the Union would allow commercial exploitation, and the limited amount of survey ships, only five built so far, had let Earth explore only a small amount of space, not passing 20 light years.
"Those politicians are going to be sore about this, their whole Exodus project just got flushed down the toilet, no ones going to want to live on New Hope when this planet exists" She thought it was karmic, all that wasted money when this place existed, though it all depended on if the atmosphere was breathable or not.
"Captain, were in position, ready to launch, I picked this open field here for the landing spot" Sarah was pointing to a zoomed in image of a clearing in a forest that closely resembled a pine one from Earth.
"Do it" There was a tense few minutes to follow, the crew watching as the probe descended into the planets atmosphere, initial readings showing results similar to Earth, although lacking the pollutants, the probes outer shell was discarded as a parachute emerged to bring it to a final rest in the forest clearing, its weight crushing a few local plants and insects.
"Data coming in" Jim was glued to his computer, his hands a blur of typing, "Oxygen nitrogen atmosphere, fully breathable, no toxic compouds in the air, Gravity is exactly 1g" he trailed off at the end, it was statistically unlikely to find a planet with the exact mass of Earth "Must be a sensor glitch or something, anyway gravity is within Human tolerable"
He panned the camera around and zoomed in on the trees, they looked suspiciously like they belonged on Earth.
"Either my eyes are lying to me or that's a White bark pine tree" more panning "even the grass and weeds look familiar" he went silent.
The two women stared and Jim and then at the screen, Naomi felt a shiver run through her, starting to feel a small tremor of fear in light of the information.
"Jim, remember what we know about the colonies" Sarah interjected, "They have similar flora and fauna to Earth, it might be the same thing here"
Naomi calmed herself, Sarah was right and anyway they weren't going to find out anything from up here.
"Sarah, are the engines charged?"
Sarah glanced down at her console, Jim was still engrossed in the probe data, "Yep, we can jump when you want"
"Jim, send the data down to the labs, were going back to the fleet, we need more eyes on this and we need to get down there to solve this".
Cruiser Dublin
Marcus Baltar was having a miserable day, he woke to the worst stench imaginable, apparently the sewage recycling system had clogged, toilets around the ship backed up, the engineers tracked the problem to an improperly replaced part during the refit, they had used the wrong pipe size in the machinery somewhere and it got blocked, the problem was since fixed but the smell still remained, compounded by the sealed system of a space ship.
He had just finished taking another shower after scrubbing his bathroom thoroughly when the CIC informed him Admiral Borman was on the line, he threw on a uniform quickly and had the call put through to his personal terminal.
"Glad you could join us captain" It looked like it was a conference call, Baltar could see all the top commanders on the line.
"Sorry Sir, we had a minor technical issue on board"
"Send me a report later Captain", Baltar noticed another person on the call wearing the Unions exploration service uniform, "Must be from that survey ship, I heard they jumped somewhere earlier today, must be about that".
"Since we're all here I'll start, Earlier today the Intrepid's radio telescope detected a possible habitable planet in the nearest star system" Baltar saw a new file in his email, it looked like the logs of the Intrepid.
"I gave them approval for a closer look" Baltar saw the image of the planet, blue and green just like Earth.
"The planet is by all measures habitable, but the team on the Intrepid noticed irregularities, plant life identical to Earths and gravity the same, they returned after this discovery"
"Captain Naomi requested a ground team investigate and I concur, but I wont risk the whole fleet jumping there in case there is anything sinister afoot"
"Captain Baltar, your going to lead a small excursion back to the planet, Commanders Nobuyuki and Dupont will be going with you and one of the Skymarshall landing ships"
"Captain Naomi here will lead a small ground team to the surface, Commander Carter I want you along too, some of Colonel Méndez's men will provide security"
"Baltar, keep your eyes peeled, just in case there's something to this"
"Alright people, you leave in an hour, Dismissed"
System HD43325, Orbit of Unnamed Planet
1 hour later
The small fleet appeared with a flash of light, the Dublin and the destroyers Fuji and Mogador in a loose formation moved themselves into high orbit over the planet, the limpet form of the Skymarshall docked to the cruiser, its jump drive easily able to tow the thirty meter long landing craft, it was far smaller than the SpaceX landers with the fleet which also had their own jump engines, the Skymarshalls normally lived in the hangar of the Enterprise.
"All system report green, jump drive recharging" came the report from the navigation officer.
Baltar looked over to the comms, "Fuji and Mogador reporting in, no issues, their awaiting orders"
"We'll do a few orbits before I let the team go down, get some details scans of the landing area" he decided, "Tell Commander Carter they launch in 30 minutes"
Planet side
Earlier that day
It watched the flaming streak of the probe as it descended, finally it thought, its long exile would be over.
It ambled its large hairy form from its cave home, beginning the trek to where the probe had came down.
After minutes of travel it finally saw what had landed, a primitive looking device, completely unlike anything it was familiar with, but it knew its purpose, all it had to do was wait and see.
It kept out of sight as it hid itself in a suitable looking bush, and waited.
Present time
Chad floated serenely on the water, waves rocking him up and down, the crystal water of the Bahamas carried him gently to the shore, apart from an annoying whining noise everything was great.
"Wa.."
Having just won the lottery, now billionaire Chad Thompson, from small town Tennessee, was living it up.
"Wake.."
Chad's turned to the shore, the beautiful women that awaited him waving him closer, he flipped around and began to swim closer.
SLAP
Chad woke with a start, hand going to his cheek, it stung.
"Chad you blockhead, if the Sarge sees you sleeping again we'll all get extra PT"
Chad returned to awareness, the dim interior of the drop ship coming into focus "Oh yeah, the alien planet and stuff".
The interior of the craft was filled with a loud electrical whine, he was told earlier that the anti grav lift engines were the cause, the production versions would have extra soundproofing, still clutching his cheek Chad turned to Pvt Flint, "Why slap me, there's easier ways to wake me up"
"Chad, man, you sleep like the dead, I was nearly shouting at you there"
Chads moaning was interrupted by Sergeant Brown walking towards them, they were currently waiting to undock from the Dublin but that looked to change.
"Thompson, Flint, strap in we're hitting atmo in five" Brown was curt, his dark skin and moustache reminded Chad of Apone from aliens or Johnson from the Halo franchises, "If I catch you sleeping again Thompson I'll have the whole squad digging latrines down there".
"Yes Sargent, Sir" both privates saluted and were quick to strap into the harness of their seats.
The Skymarshall's roomy interior could fit four modern tanks in its hold, it was currently setup with seating for their platoon and some eggheads, crates of their gear strapped down in the centre.
Their journey so far had been smooth, but as the ship entered the atmosphere the turbulence was severe, Chad's stomach dropping several times from the sudden drops, before with a final jolt the ship touched ground.
Chad unstrapped and sorted out his gear, the Union had supplied plain gear fatigues along with a plate carrier and harnesses, the whole expedition ground force had FN Scar's with some experimental anti Cylon 6.8mm rounds, Méndez having procured them after being in a warehouse for twenty years, every military just issuing AP rounds to its soldiers rather than replacing all their weapons.
Chad spied Lt Hope in conversation with Commander Carter and Captain Khan, he manoeuvred himself to eavesdrop.
"The airs clean from what we can tell, no poisonous gas or other toxins, I don't think we need to wear the suits" Khan was explaining to the others, that sounded fine to Chad, being stuffed into a space suit to walk around the planet wasn't his idea of a good time.
Spacesuit technology had advanced massively from the Velos, Earth having just copied the designs of colonial ones, but after weeks in space Chad wanted to breathe some fresh air, especially after just being on the Dublin, that ship stank.
The next few minutes passed, Chad nearly looking for somewhere to go lay down before finally Sergeant Brown called them.
"Form up marines" Chad was quick to assemble, "1st squad will be staying to secure the LZ, fan out and cover, don't go into the forest" He turned to Chad, "Cpl Ramirez, take Chad and Flint, your escorting the explorer over there, Captain Khan, she wants to gather samples, keep in constant radio contact"
"Move out marines"
…
Samantha Carter took her first step onto an alien world, one small step, the mood was ruined by the loud marines rushing around, but still for an alien world it looked an awful lot like British Columbia.
It was always her dream to explore space, everyone always thought she was going to join the space force, it was a shock to all her family, especially her father, General Jacob Carter, that she joined the air force instead, she was approached in university with a very tempting offer, working on the stargate, and years later here she was, still she got to fly the ground based orbital interceptors, so she was in space often enough.
She bent down to examine the grass, to her inexpert eyes it looked like every blade of grass on Earth, she even saw a beetle crawling into cover that looked suspiciously like the ones from home, it was quickly stuffed into a container, the biologists on the fleet would be happy.
Naomi Khan and her entourage of scientists approached her, "Commander, I assigned my crew to gather samples in the field, Jim here will recover the probe" she indicated a bearded young man.
"Sounds good, I'm going to setup here" a soft clunk had her turning around, one of the crew had deposited her equipment to the side, she'd be able to get details readings on the planets gravity and elemental composition soon.
"The Admiral gave us one day to investigate, you have one hour to gather some samples in the forest, I don't want anyone wandering away or any accidents" it was her first time in charge of a mission after all.
A burst of loud cracks was heard near the edge of the clearing, the unmistakeable sounds of gunfire, everyone's head turned, two of the marines looking at a large bush.
Carter and the others were quick to rush over, sergeant Brown was quick to begin berating the men.
"Private Chad Thompson, there better be a good explanation for this"
"Sir, the bush, it was moving, me and Flint … it could have been a monster"
While the conversation was happening Carter and Lt Hope approached the bush with weapons drawn, pushing back the foliage revealed bloodstains, she followed the trail, a still form was visible, it looked to be fleeing before its untimely demise.
"Its just a deer" Hope called out
A small red deer, Hope clearly didn't recognise its significance, why was there a small deer, clearly from Earth on an alien planet, her dad took her hunting when she was younger, this deer was identical to the ones they hunted.
Naomi joined them looking at the deer, its torso looked like it had exploded out, a massive hole went clear through it side, she turned to Hope, "What rounds are you using?"
"Some experimental anti Cylon ones, armour piercing explosive I was told"
Samantha was surprised, as far as she knew explosive rounds were illegal.
"Aren't they illegal?"
"On Earth yes, against people, not robots, Colonel Méndez pushed for them when he read the reports on Ra's men, I don't think aliens count"
Naomi Khan was busy examining the body as they talked, "Amazing, it looks identical to Cervus elaphus, the common red deer", "Female" she was jotting down notes on a pad at this point and turned to Sam "Commander, I'd like to take the body aboard for further analysis"
Carter nodded, "Lieutenant Hope, see to it"
They walked back over to Sergeant Brown, still chewing out the two men "Sergeant Brown, have some men take the carcass back to the ship" Lt Hope ordered as they walked away, "You heard him numbskulls, get over there and grab it, On the Double or I'll have you digging holes all night"
…..
It watched as they landed, watched as they wandered around, it planned, escape was near.
They were primitive, easy prey.
It watched as two of them neared its hiding spot, an unfortunate deer was startled and paid the price, It used the distraction to reposition and waited, soon enough four of them began to move away, entering the forest, it would strike there.
…
Chad was bored and tired, every shady tree looked appealing, they had been following the egghead Captain around for thirty minutes now, stopping at every interesting plant or rock or speck of dirt.
She wasn't a bad looker to Chad, around 30, black hair in a tight braid, clearly from India, slight hint of an accent, Chad began to daydream about an encounter with her when it happened, his distraction was costly.
One second he was walking along at the back, Flint nearby, Ramirez was taking point, Naomi in the middle typing away at a pad.
Suddenly he was flying through the air, a tree stopped his journey with a sickening crunch, blackness overtaking his vision, the last thing he saw was a large hairy shape goring Flint.
…
It struck, the fools at the back the first to feel its wrath, the dopey looking one dispatched with a backhand of its claw, he was sent flying head first into a tree, still alive somehow, even after the impact but down and out.
The second was dealt with by claw, stabbed through the chest, It didn't expect the resilient armour so he only suffered a flesh wound, the man tried to lift its weapon but It stopped him with a casual backhand, sending him careering off trailing blood from his guts, he didn't get up.
The first two had been taken so fast the others had only reacted now, the female screaming and running away, no matter she wasn't the target, the last male screaming in his primitive language some word unknown to it "Bear" or something similar, probably a swear word.
It closed the distance as the man raised his weapon, Its perception far above any human allowed it to doge the burst of projectiles, the man's shocked face at his speed, he didn't get to fire again.
He pinned the pitiful human beneath his paw, and brought their faces together and engulfed his mouth.
…
Sergeant Jackson Brown was proud of his men, expect for two, Chad Thompson and Eric Flint, eternal layabouts, they needed more discipline, he have them dig some holes here, the lack of dirt on a space ship meant that punishment was unavailable previously.
He examined the field, 1st platoon was scattered around keeping the civilian scientists covered as they worked away, Lt Hope back inside the ship letting Jackson get the real work done.
His reverie was disturbed by the familiar sound of gunfire, quite faint to his ears, so some distance away, he just knew Chad had given himself more shit to deal with again, he sighed and reached for his radio.
"Brown to Ramirez"
Static was his only reply, even after several attempts, he thought he heard another gunshot too, before finally an answer.
"Its Naomi" she sounded breathless
"Its a bear, we were attacked by a bear"
He waved a marine over as he hit transmit "Say again, a bear attacked you, where are the men with you"
"It got them, its still there" the sounds of running were heard, her voice terrified.
"Go get the LT, the scout party was attacked, by a bear"
"Stay calm Captain, what's your current position"
…
It took them ten minutes to find the attack site, Captain Khan escorted back to the ship when they found her.
The sound of laughter was what drew them in, Ramirez pinned under the massive form of a Grizzly bear, its head exploded from a close range shot.
Thompson and Flint still alive if barley, neck and spinal injury to Thompson and Flint's stomach ripped open by the bears claws.
Ramirez demeanour was off, dismissed as shock but he kept a sinister smirk on his face the whole trip back to the ship.
The expedition was cut short as Thompson and Flint were rushed back to the fleet.
Prometheus expedition Fleet
Several Hours later
Admiral Borman sat in a conference call with the commanders of the fleet, going over the after action report from the planet.
"It must have weighed half a ton at least" Lt hope was ending his report.
"Hmm, and the men, how are they?"
"Seriously wounded, not life threatening though, Pvt Flint should make a full recovery, Pvt Thompson will need a few months, the doctors are worried about possible nerve damage to the spine"
"Cpl Ramirez was unharmed, apart from the initial shock from the attack" Lt Hope finished
"Very well, that's all lieutenant, your dismissed"
"Yes Sir" he said and logged out of the teleconference.
"Baltar what's the science teams report on the planet?"
"As far as they can tell, identical flora and fauna to Earth, all the samples tested so far have the same DNA as Earth species, their telling me the planet was likely terraformed at some point and seeded with life from Earth"
Borman sat in thought, "terraformed by who?, Ra?, whoever put humans on Kobol?" the thought of an alien power messing around with Earth was terrifying, the level of technology to transform a planet into a facsimile of Earth was beyond anything they had.
Still, it was the go to explanation for the existence of the colonies, this planet was just further proof of some ancient alien empire, or even the ancient astronaut theory that was around.
The planet would be claimed by the Union anyway, its close proximity and ideal habitat made it inevitable, bears or no.
"All right then, Colonel Méndez, have your men brush up on animal attacks, there's no knowing what kind of animals are on Abydos, lets not have another incident like this"
What that the meeting came to a close, the fleet jumping again on their journey to Abydos, Ramirez smirk never left his face.
27th September 2064
Prometheus Expedition
8:00 am fleet time
Admiral Borman was sat at his desk again, reading a new novel that was popular on Earth when they left, a murder mystery his wife had given him, after just over two months of travel they were just one jump away from Abydos, Borman having decided to increase the pace but not go flat out out of fear of overtaxing the fleets engines.
Borman looked at the book but he wasn't reading the page, lost in thought about the journey so far, the discovery of the planet was the biggest thing they found, no other life bearing worlds or even ones close to being terraformable, they did scout some candidates for possible resupply stations for when the route between Earth and Abydos was full of freighters bringing back kobolium.
The marines that were attacked on the planet were recovering well, Private Flint had made a full recovery minus a new scar on his abdomen, Private Thompson was still bed ridden but the doctors informed him he would be fit for light duty in a week, Corporal Ramirez seemed to be suffering some psychological effects, reports indicating his withdrawing from social activities.
James put the book down and checked his antique wrist watch, about an hour to the scheduled jump time, the fleet had jumped here yesterday, he decided to let the fleet rest the night before jumping to Abydos, he felt it would be better they tackled their first visit with fresh minds.
He stood and moved in front of his mirror, a quick glance and some minor adjustments later and he was off to the CIC, time to get to work.
Colossus Class Passenger Transport Vortex
Hospital Deck
Colossus classes were brand new ships specifically designed for the mass transport of people and cargo to the newly colonized world of New Hope, the massive modular design enabled it to be easily mass produced by Earths shipyards, most of which had been specifically built to produce them.
It marked a major increase in the amount of civilian tonnage in space, government money diverted from the militaries of Earth in an effort to reduce the ecological strain of eleven billion people, the plans called for shipping one billion to New Hope in ten years, most people thought those numbers overly optimistic, with free land given to volunteers and financial assistance to get settled.
Eric Flint had considered taking that offer when he left the Marine corps, after the discovery of the new planet he changed his mind, in his opinion the Exodus project was now even more doomed than before, no one would want to live on a barren crap hole when a lush world was a stones throw away, bears not withstanding.
It was a surprise when the whole company was told they were part of the Terran Unions armed forces now, planet based forces and ship security division, everyone called them space marines ironically but they were called the Terran marine corps officially, they used the traditional rank structure of the Army and Marine Corps, the fleet using traditional naval ranking structure.
Flint looked at the room numbers as he walked, the hospital was big, a lot of it was for research purposes though, tons of labs ready to research anything Abydos threw at them, they were plenty busy right now looking over the fruits of bear planet, his own personal name for it.
Finally Chads room was in sight, he found him inside reading off a pad, engrossed in the text.
"Hey man, how you holding up"
Chad looked over, "Oh, hey Flint, I'm doing better, they say I can get out of here in a week"
He placed the pad on a nearby desk, "I've been reading this stuff Brad gave me, it all about piloting giant robots and shooting lasers, Battletech it's called"
"Sounds good man" Eric took the seat beside the bed, "Anyone else been in to see you lately?"
"Everyone been here, even Sergeant Brown came in, told me he have me digging holes when I'm better, I think he was joking" he paused "Except Ramirez, haven't seen him sine the planet, it strange, normally he's the chatty type".
"He's been fucked up since we got back, barely talks to anyone any more"
Eric passed the package he had brought along over to Chad, "Anyway here it is man, don't let anyone know I gave it to you"
Chad was quick to rip open the plain brown wrapping paper, inside was a selection of chocolate and other sweets, "Thanks man, they don't let me eat anything good here, all health food all the time!"
"Chad, man, if you ate normal you'd stop falling asleep all the time"
"psst, fat chance"
Eric shook his head, Chad was a head case most of the time "Anyway, the last jump is in an hour, we're nearly there, can finally get some solid ground under my feet again, and some fresh air"
"Lucky you, I'll be stuck here for another week" Chad was already unwrapping a bar, about to stuff his face.
"Whatever, I'll see you ground side in a week then, don't stuff it all down your throat in one go"
Passenger berth 452
He sat in darkness, freedom was nearly at hand.
Pretending to be this Ramirez was taxing, his instincts to smite the lessers around him, make them bow, view him as a god.
He just had to bide his time, once on the planet wait for the opportune time to access the stargate.
He laughed again, thousands of years in exile, Ra's punishment for failure, losing a battle against primitive machines, no Stargate, no escape.
His host dead within a day by the bear, it volunteered to be the next, centuries stuck as the creature, but he had the last laugh, Ra dead at the hands of primitive Tau'ri, his empire ripe for the taking before the other system lords realised what happened.
Imhotep would rise again.
Abydos Orbit
1 Hour Later
With a flash the fleet appeared over the world, sensors reaching out to document every detail, a flight of fighters leaving the Enterprises hangar to begin patrols, satellites following after taking positions around the planet.
Captain Anderson watched as her crew stood down from jump stations, the fleet all accounted for, Admiral Borman was beside her watching the camera view of the world below, they were all on alert, the possibility of more of Ra's ships being here was more than zero.
"Hmm, not a large body of water anywhere" he muttered.
"Sir, the Valdez is requesting permission to begin its mineral survey of the local asteroids" the comms operator called over to her, she remembered that was the mining ship that came with them.
"Admiral?" he was still distracted looking below
"What?, oh. permission granted, Captain look at this" he pointed to the image, the barren looking planet was a mosaic of the colour brown, small splotches of green visible here and there, the camera had zoomed in to what looked like one of the pyramids from Egypt.
"Fascinating, just like in the reports, no signs of life apart from the city nearby"
"Look there" he pointed again, this time to a nearby green spot "that must be their food supply, and water most likely"
"Captain, there's no trace of any debris from Ra's ship, they likely burnt up in the atmosphere" the sensor operator reported, the nuke must have vaporised it she thought, how enhanced had it been?.
"No chance of recovering any info then" the Admiral mused, "Hopefully there's more to find below, tell Dr Weir she can depart when she's ready, we'll have the other lander secure the mines after she makes contact, we don't want to appear hostile"
"Sir" she gave a perfunctory nod, "Comms, get me Dr Weir".
Abydos Surface
City of Nagada
Daniel Jackson was enjoying the peace of the simple life of Abydos, teaching the natives basic skills in maths and English, he was even thinking of gathering some of the local men to help him excavate the pyramid.
His new wife Sha're was busy cooking another local delicacy while he worked on translating more of the hieroglyphics he found in the pyramid, he was beginning to think they actually might be coordinates, he was beginning to suspect they might be related to the stargate.
His musings were interrupted by Skaara bursting into the house, "Daneel, the gods are returning" he was in a panic.
Daniel was quick to his feet, rushing out the door after Skarra, the people outside had their eyes glued to the skies, a streak of fire visible, descending towards the city.
Daniels momentary fear of another Ra was replaced by a more familiar one, something he should have expected really, Earth had come.
He followed Skaara to his father's home, Kasuf was the leader of the Abydonians, he stood outside like the rest his face fearful of punishment from the gods for defying Ra.
Daniel noticed and was quick to calm him "Father, its not the gods, its my people, the Tau'ri"
Kasuf looked relieved but confused, "Daniel my son, that is good news indeed, you did not tell me your people travel the stars like the false gods".
Daniel was chagrined, he should have guessed this would happen, what military would let go of a super mineral that enhances bombs, his faith in modernity was low enough already, Sha're was all that was keeping him going now.
The flaming streak had resolved into a more solid steel form, the ship coming in for a landing outside the city gates, the Abydonians were quick to retreat to their homes, fearful of a repeat of Ra's ships strafing the city.
"Well, we better go and meet them" he said to Kasuf, "Skara, gather the men and the weapons, its better to not show weakness to these kind of people"
….
Dr. Elizabeth Weir watched as the greeting party approached, she examined them in detail, most wore fully covering clothes, face and head included, most likely to protect from the sun and sand, she saw some had guns and helmets, from the first stargate expedition she decided, at the lead were two men, one she recognised as Dr Daniel Jackson, the other she assumed was Kasuf the leader of these people, she read his name in the reports.
The heat was unbelievable, even standing in the shadow of the drop ship she was sweating buckets, she noticed the marines with her tense at the sight of the weapons, one whispering into their radio "Looks like some M4's, no heavy weapons"
"Nothing unexpected, proceed as planned" Colonel Méndez was monitoring them it seemed.
She was flanked by Kawalsky and Ferretti, she hoped the familiar faces would help to break the ice so to speak, she'd love a bath of the stuff right now.
They had walked into speaking distance now, Dr. Jackson recoginsing the two soldiers beside her.
"Charles Kawalsky and Louis Ferretti, two faces I never expected to see again, where's Colonel O'Neill? And who's your new friend" he said as he shook hands with the two men.
"Dr Elizabeth Weir" she offered her hand too, "Colonel O'Neill is still on Earth, he retired"
"Ah, so what brings the fine fine people of the united states to Abydos?"
"Not just the United States, the whole Terran Union"
A momentary flash of surprise drew itself on his face, quickly changing to resignment, he turned to Kasuf.
"Kasuf, the leader of the Abydonians, and my father in-law"
"Greetings Friends" his broken engilsh apparent, Dr. Jackson must be teaching him, the reports said they spoke a version of ancient Egyptian.
Kasuf motioned them to follow "Come, Come", Daniel explained "Local hospitality, we can talk inside".
The trip through the city was enlightening, people had exited their homes and were gawking at the party as they travelled, the clothes were mostly off shades of white and the buildings a uniform sandy colour, strange animals toiled pulling carts around, market traders had returned to sell their wares again, the shouts audible to her, and a crowd of children followed them around, she likened it to Afghanistan.
Even in the city the heat was oppressive, but the lack of humidity made it bearable, finally they approached Kasuf's house she assumed, they sat on the ground in the cool darkness the guards left outside.
"I'll get right to it, the Union wants the mine, plain and simple, were prepared to offer compensation to the Abydonians in exchange"
After some translation she got her reply., Kasuf's English not up to par yet.
"What compensation, I'm not letting them get scammed with some coloured beads"
"We're prepared to offer infrastructure upgrades, building a hospital and school and food and water supplies, possibly building a water treatment plant in a suitable location" she paused "And money"
A long conversation followed, Kasuf and Daniel arguing back and forth in the local language before he finally turned to her.
"Against my better judgement, they'll accept but no Abydonians will work the mines ever again"
"Thats no issue, but one of our conditions is the stargate, we want full control of it"
Another back and forth followed, she suspected he was coaching Kasuf, not that she'd be able to know.
"He says yes but the Abydonians will be granted access unconditionally"
"Great, that's no problem, we'll have to contact Earth to get a proper treaty written up, is that an issue?"
He glanced to Kasuf again, a nod followed, "Its fine, we didn't even bury the gate, just blocked it, we can go there after, local tradition is to rest and relax after trade negotiations"
As they finished up, local girls entered carrying trays of food and drink, Daniel excused himself to go see his wife saying he'd be back soon while Kawalsky was engaged in conversation with Skaara.
She settled in, there was no rush.
Hours Later
Outside the Stargate Pyramid.
Wier had contacted the Admiral as soon as the negotiations were over, already the other dropship was ferrying down men and equipment to clear ground for a base and landing strip, the big landers and space planes would need the runway to land.
Dr. Jackson had led them to the Pyramids, they had flew, she refused to use the native pack animals, they looked like the worst parts of a camel and an elephant, the day had begun to cool as they arrived, the dropship leaving to bring more troops to secure the pyramid.
He led them inside to the Stargate, "Here it is" It was stuffed full of debris, unusable in its current state, "It took us days to fill it in, easier than trying to drag it outside"
"I think there might be hidden chambers in the walls" he was explaining as he led them to another building outside, he led them inside, lighting torches as they went, the light revealed a vast space, statues lining the walls, the Eye of Ra, visible on the far wall.
"I figured there had to me more to this, so I started exploring, first around the pyramid, then the town, I found this about two months ago" he gestured to the room.
Weir looked closer at the walls, hieroglyphs covered them "What do they say?"
He paused to look at the wall, "it doesn't say anything. Actually it's sort of a chart, or a map."
"A map?" she looked again, she had no idea how hieroglyphs where anything close to a map "what's it a map of?"
"I've only started analysing it" he gestured around the room, emphasising its size "It'd take my whole life, but the cartouches seem to be separated clearly into groupings, each grouping is attached to the others with a series of lines, and each grouping of glyphs contain seven symbols"
"I don't see the relevance" she said.
"Oh, you came by ship, the stargate address to Abydos was seven symbols, I think that this is a map of a vast network of Stargates but I'll need more time to research, I've only just started"
That was unsettling news to her, more stargates, where there more Ra's too? She'd have to call the admiral immediately.
Enterprise
Abydos Orbit
Admiral Borman was going over the reports from the fleet, ground work was proceeding apace, men and equipment were being ferried down in a constant stream to begin constructing the runways for the bigger ships, the refinery station was being unpacked and assembled by a crew in orbit and ships were already cataloguing the solar system for useful resources, kobolium top of the list, it was on the planet after all it should be in space too.
He looked up as Captain Anderson, Commander Carter and Colonel Méndez entered.
"I trust you heard from Dr. Weir?"
They all nodded
"We suspected as much, but had no luck trying other addresses, my team tried hundreds of symbol permutations using Earth as the point of origin, and it never worked" Commander Carter stated.
"We need to contact Earth asap, Colonel what's the estimate on clearing the Stargate for operation?"
"At least a day, the openings too small for any equipment we'll have to move all the debris by hand"
"Right, We'll proceed as planned then, we can get Earth to ship experts through to help with the translations after we contact them, this changes nothing in the short term"
"Sir, requesting permission to view the site in person" Carter asked the admiral.
"Granted, document everything, prepare a report to be transmitted to Earth too, Méndez, have some men secure that map room"
A chorus of Sirs rang out, the meeting adjourned soon after.
Stargate Room
The next Day
They worked all night but it was done, tons of rock shovelled by hand out of the pyramid, the stargate now lay clear.
Dr. Jackson did the honours and entered Earths address into the pedestal, everyone gathered around, even the Admiral had come down to view the gate, having never seen one in person before.
Daniel pressed the large circular button on the middle and the gate came to life with a woosh, an explosion of what looked like water exiting out before settling down to a blue pool contained in the circular ring.
"Prometheus Expedition to Pluto Station, come in"
They waited, there was no response.