Continuing Stargate

[s09119]

Hmmmm, sorry, but you may have to wait a few more hours than I thought; apparently I didn't save my finished copy of the next episode, so I only have a half-done version stored in NotePad. Alas, such is life.

I'll finish it up right now and have it out before the night ends (luckily I remember it all...), but it's going to be a pain. Anywho, sorry about this :/

[Jeffala]

I suggest switching to an application that will autosave every X minutes.

[s09119]

13x13 "Double Entente"
Synopsis: When an out-of-control starship exists hyperspace over Earth, the ISGC takes the vessel into custody for examination. It isn't long, though, before they begin to regret rescuing the craft at all.

Spoiler:

A lone Jaffa tel'tak is preparing to enter hyperspace high above Earth, no doubt heading home after dropping off some supplies. As the small cargo ship finally breaks away from the planetary gravity well, a hyperspace window forms ahead of it... but the tel'tak is not the ship that opened it.

As the Jaffa pilot pulls his small craft out of the way, the window flashes and a cruiser roughly the size of a Prometheus-class ship shoots out. Its design is unknown and irregular, but it most closely resembles the ships used by the Traveler peoples in the Pegasus Galaxy. The large vessel begins to spin bow-over-stern as it flies ever-closer to the blue-green orb hovering in the distance, and chunks of metal and other materials fly off as it careens towards the Tau'ri defense grid.

Down at the ISGC, Walter Harriman has already sounded the alarm, and the Pentagon (under the direction of General O'Neill) is preparing a group of 304s to neutralize the incoming ship before it can break through and hit the planet. Daniel Jackson runs into the control room, closely followed by Lt. Col. Mitchell, and asks to know what's going on. As soon as he's filled in, his eyes widen and he demands a line to Jack immediately, which Walter provides as soon as Dr. Talbot gives the go-ahead (she enters a moment before).

As the USAF personnel watch the cruiser come steadily closer, Daniel connects to O'Neill and pleads with him not to blow the ship to kingdom-come. He points out that there could be survivors onboard that ship, as well has valuable intelligence on the a new alien race. But Jack says that the President and the Joint Chiefs don't see any way to stop the ship for a boarding party, and it's going to hit the atmosphere within two minutes. There's just no time to do anything but stop it.

Suddenly, Mitchell gets an idea. He grabs the phone and tells Jack to call off the 304s and instead power up the Asgard defense grid. If, according to him, they dial down the power of the satellites, they can hit the ship with low-energy blasts that should be able to slow it down and, eventually, stop it. As Talbot mentions, though, there's no way of knowing if the ship has any shields; if they do this and its defenseless, that'll be it. Regardless, Daniel agrees that it may be the only way to save the ship, and Jack reluctantly agrees to ask to the President.

With everything up to O'Neill now, Jackson, Talbot, and Mitchell turn to the monitors and watch via video feed on the Aurora as the alien cruiser passes by the trio of 304s and approaches the Asgard defenses. There's a tense silence as it comes closer... and closer... and closer... but then it happens; the nearest dozen satellites open fire with noticeably less-bright bursts of plasma, which reach out and slam into the alien ship's shields. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief, and a general cheer goes up when, a moment later, the continued pelting slows and stops the ship mere meters from the closest Asgard satellite. Jack did it.

A few hours later, a group of 303s and 304s has surrounded the alien ship, and all traffic is being rerouted around the area for the time being. Down at the ISGC, Col. Carter and Vala have arrived, and Daniel is just finishing bringing them up to speed when Dr. Talbot enters from her office. She sits down in the chair at the head of the briefing room table and motions for the others to be seated, as well (Jackson mentions that Mitchell is bogged down by Dr. Lee at the moment). She informs them that the BC-303 De Gaulle is just about ready to dock with the alien ship, but the Pentagon wants the team to go along, too. Carter asks at once why the Pentagon is asking them, and not the United Nations, to which Talbot replies that the US is treating this as an internal matter since the ship only ever breached American "airspace."

Either way, the three SG-1 members agree to a quick beam-up to the 303, and they head off to the ready room. Meanwhile, Mitchell looks about ready to kill himself two floors above in Dr. Lee's lab, where the somewhat-eccentric scientist is trying to show off his newly-redesigned X-699 (first seen completed in Season 10's "Bounty"). Lee claims that it is now ready to attachment to F-302 fightercraft and possible for deployment in the field as an alternative to projectile weapons. The rifle is now noticably smaller than before, about the size of an AK-47. Mitchell asks pointedly if there is a point to this little demonstration, and Bill quickly tosses the Lt. Col. the gun to show him how useful it has become. Turning to face a suit of propped-up Kull warrior armor, Mitchell aims and fires the pistol, loosing a bolt of green energy that leaves a smoking dent in the impenetrable suit and knocks it to the ground. Impressed, Mitchell hands the rifle back, then asks if Dr. Lee has developed any pistol-sized versions of it just yet...

In orbit, the BC-303 De Gaulle is approaching the derelict alien cruiser (considered derelict because no radio calls have been answered). The commander, a French colonel by the name of Louis Monroe, authorizes SG-1 to be beamed onto the bridge, and the team (minues Mitchell) appears a moment later, dressed in full combat gear. Monroe gladly welcomes his American counterparts aboard his ship, and asks them to be seated while they conduct final docking maneuvers (with the alien ship's shields still up, they cannot beam on).

Carter, Jackson, and Vala watch anxiously as the 303 matches the rotation of the alien ship and slowly extends an umbilical. After a few seconds of jiggling the airlock, a solid connection is made, and the sensors officer reports that they have an airtight seal between the two vessels. The team stands up and, after thanking Monroe for the quick ride, departs for the airlock. En route, Jackson comments on how strange it is that a French 303 was chosen for this mission considering how the United States is trying to contain this ship from other powers. Vala, suspicious as always, guesses that the US government forced France's hand in this matter, and this seems especially likely since the USAF still has technical control of the stargate.

Arriving outside the airlock, SG-1 meets up with about a dozen French marines that will be accompanying them inside the alien ship, and their leader, Lt. Col. Charles Doumer. Almost at once, Carter recognizes the French officer as one of them men who helped defend Stargate Command when the Replicators invaded five years before ("Reckoning, Part 2"), as he was on assignment there as a diplomatic envoy.

Finally, the airlock is opened. Air whooshes out of the chamber, and Carter realizes that the oxygen supply in the alien ship must be quite low. Small, portable air tanks are brought for the members of the boarding party (much like the ones seen in Atlantis' "No Man's Land"), and then they head inside. The first thing everyone notices is the lack of gravity; obviously, the artificial generators aren't operational. Regardless, the group pulls on their masks and kick off into the dark, turning on flashlights so they can see in the darkened ship.

As they move through the airlock proper, Carter pauses, looking around. Something about the design of the interior looks familiar, in a way that wasn't apparent from the battle-scarred exterior armor. But then she shakes her head and rejoins her team, continuing to explore this strange vessel. Up ahead, Col. Doumer's marines have come to a T-section in the hallway, and he offers to check out the bow if SG-1 agrees to head to the stern. The team agrees to do it, of course, and the group splits into two, each headed down an equally pitch-black passageway.

Trudging along the dark path, Vala asks what the odds are that the ship will lose pressure, especially given its beat-up status, and they'll all be killed. Carter, answering amonst a chorus of creaks and moans from the superstructure, says it's very unlikely considering there's hardly any pressure actually being exerted on the frame, so the most they'll ever get is just the typical sounds of an old, battered hunk of metal. Jackson, meanwhile, has been scanning the various signs and plates on the walls they pass, and his frown deepens at each one. When Sam finally asks him what's up, he irritably replies that he cannot understand a single letter he's seeing, let alone whole words and sentences. The previously-thought-impossible was actually happening, and Daniel Jackson had encountered a language he, for once, could not instantly deduce.

Carter's radio crackles, and Col. Doumer reports that they think they've located the way to the bridge on a ship schematic chart, and his scientist believes the power core is near SG-1's position to boot. He asks them if they can go get primary systems online (particularly lights, gravity, and computer terminals) and then work their way up to the bridge after them. Sam gives an affirmative and then leads the way further down, dragging a still-perplexed Daniel behind her.

At the ISGC, Dr. Talbot is making her way down to Dr. Lee's quarters. Apparently, the middle-aged scientist called for her, interrupting a priority call to the Department of Defense, and she is somewhat peturbed. When she does at last arrive outside his room, she finds a very, very strange sight; brightly-colored shirts, pairs of pants, and socks are being hurled out at surprisingly high speeds, occassionally slapping passerby in the face or chest. The base commander sticks her head in to ask what's going on, then quickly pulls it out as a flamboyant lime green tie whizzes past her head. Trying again, she manages to get a demand for an explanation in.

In the middle of the room, Col. Mitchell is standing, covered in clothes, with an open suitcase in his arms. Dr. Lee is knee-deep in sweatshirts, his glasses somewhat askew, and asks Talbot if he "can go." Understandably confused, she asks what he's talking about, and Lee explains that he wants to showcase the now-complete X-699 at a scientists convention in New York City... which starts in just under five hours. Of course, he'll need a jumper to get there faster... or a beam-up by a 304, whichever is easier... but Talbot quickly stomps that idea down, shouting at him to get back to work and find a way to lower the shields on the alien cruiser. Humbled, the doctor stammers an apology and rushes back to his lab, leaving an amused but relieved Col. Mitchell still covered in articles of clothing in the middle of the room.

(Too long, see next post for more.)

[s09119]

(Too long. See previous post for beginning and next post for end.)

Spoiler:

Back in orbit, SG-1 is approaching the power plant of the ship. Quite suddenly, a scanner at Carter's waist goes off, alerting her to an energy spike a few rooms over. Interested, she temporarily diverts the team to that area, asking Doumer to wait a second or two while they check the spike out. On the other side of the ship, the French marines are trying to open the bridge door, but cannot seem to make it budge. They've tried using the scanner pad nearby, prying it open with the butts of their rifles, and cutting into it, but nothing's working. Unbeknownst to them, though, a camera nearby swivels to face them, its lens already zooming in on the human soldiers.

A burst of steam from a nearby pipe bursts out at Vala as she, Daniel, and Sam enter the room where they detected the energy spike. Jackson is getting uneasy with the situation, not quite so confident anymore that the area is 100% safe, but Carter assures him that so far, they're good. The trio moves farther into this room filled with glaring emergency lights and hanging wiring, eventually coming up to a horizontal glass pod covered in a thick sheet of ice and dripping water. Carter and Daniel recognize the device at once as a stasis pod, and quickly fill in Vala, who then points out a second such device in the other corner of the room. But there's a clear difference with this one, a difference that frightens the team; it's already been opened.

Immediately, Carter grabs her radio to alert Col. Doumer and his men, but all she gets is static interference. Instead, she tries raising the De Gaulle, but she recieves no answer there, either. The next thing is even more shocking, though; the lights all flicker on and the roar of sublight engines can be heard. Near the bridge, the French marines are all looking about in surprise as small turrets emerge from the walls and release a flurry of energy blasts, bringing them all down in seconds.

Outside, larger turrets can be seen curving out of the ship's hull and pivoting to face the umbilical connecting it and the De Gaulle. Since the two ships' shields are intermingled, allowing the airlocks to connect, when the turrets open fire there is nothing to stop them, and the energy blasts chew through the airlock bridge in seconds. Then, before anyone can react, the alien cruiser jerks away from the other ships, its shields flashing as they come back to full power. Planetside, Dr. Talbot and Col. Mitchell are watching the scene unfold from the ISGC, and she immediately orders the Asgard defense grid recharged and fired at will, but mere seconds later, the alien ship is shakily blasting off and opening a hyperspace window. A moment later, it's gone. Talbot tells Col. Monroe to take his 303 and any 304s that want to go with him out after them, using whatever means he deems necessary to track and bring the cruiser back, then she turns and storms up the stairwell to contact the Pentagon.

On the alien craft itself, SG-1 is still inside the stasis chamber, listening to the hum of the hyperdrive. Vala asks what they plan to do now, but neither of the others have any idea. Thinking, Daniel proposes they open the pod left sealed to see if its occupant knows anything useful. Carter has no objection, especially considering that it seems the pod has already started defrosting, so together they pry it open, revealing a being that looks, at first, like a typical human... until they notice the two extra arms, third leg, and gill-like slits on the being's chin. Vala grabs her zat straight away, worrying that this may be some horrible alien experiment gone wrong, but Carter tells her to put the weapon down, unless they want to scare the poor thing to death when they wake it up.

When it opens its eyes (which are a brilliant orange-red), the being cries out in shock and sits up in the pod. At once, it starts to feel all over its body, making sure its clothing and posessions are still intact. Once it as found that nothing was taken, one of its arms reaches around to its back, and a wicked-looking pistol is produced. In a melodic and clearly-feminine voice, she demands to know what kind of creatures SG-1 is and why they have invaded her ship. Daniel very quickly explains what's happened, putting extra emphasis on the fact that it was her ship that invaded Earth's orbit and threatened to slam into their planet. The alien appears quite surprised by this, saying that she has never even heard of "Earth" before, nor the "Tau'ri." Indeed, her people, who she calls the Acrelans, have lived in relative isolation for many millions of years, only occassionally venturing out beyond their few star systems when more resources are desperately required, such as the stellar matter they use to fuel their ships, which is often found in nebulae or pockets of extraterrestrial gasses.

Carter asks the being (who calls herself Qamos) who powered up the ship if she didn't, but she honestly claims to have no idea. When Vala points out the second pod, she says that she was on this ship alone, as it was going on an automated trip to collect stellar matter that would take, even via hyperspace, two years. During such scouting/collecting missions, Acrelans often went into cryostasis to pass the time, but only one is really required to run the operation. The ship should never have come to Earth at all, and there should never have been anyone else aboard. Either way, she says they should go to the bridge, where she can override whatever's going on and get the ship back on course, so the group leaves, albeit cautiously.

In the bridge itself, another Acrelan, this one with more masculine features, stands watching a security feed from outside the stasis chamber. He mutters something incoherent, then turns to a nearby control panel and goes to work...

As they get closer and closer to the bridge, Daniel questions Qamos on Acrelan culture and philosophy, and she gladly gives him what he wants. She explains that her people can be very territorial, and even on her homeworld, personal property is regarded as sacred. But when Jackson mentions the Ancients (asking if they utilize the stargate network at all), she goes into a frenzy, pulling out her pistol and demanding to know why he dares to ask about such a *******izing group of people.

Carter manages to pry Qamos off of her teammate, then stands between the two of them. She asks why she would speak about the Ancients in such a way, considering how revered they are amongst most other societies, and that is when the bombshell is dropped; the Acrelans were originally slated to become the Fifth Race of the Alliance of old. They once held a vast empire rivalling that of the others, though Qamos hints that they and the four "Great" races were not the only ones out there at the time. But just as her people were being considered for entry, the Ancients decided that the Acrelans were not good enough to join, a view shared by, surprisingly, the Asgard and Nox. Only the Furlings defended them, and when the war over their rogue AI broke out, all their credability was lost, along with the hopes of Qamos' people.

So for many millions of years, the Acrelans retreated into their corner of the galaxy and survived so many different agressors; they repulsed the System Lords when they came, defeated the Replicators during their invasion, and even held out against the Ori. To this day, they remember how the "Great Alliance" spurned them and cast them to the side, and they refuse to ever join any such coalition out of rememberance for their ancestors' suffering.

After some more walking (now in silence), the group arrives outside of the bridge, and Qamos waves her hand over the scanner, attempting to open the door, but nothing happens. Confused, she tries again, but is still denied access. As if seeing their frustrations, a nearby monitor lights up, and the face of the Acrelan inside the bridge appears, looking quite upset. He snaps at Qamos in a rough language, appearing to ask a question that she refuses to answer. Signaling his annoyance, the monitor then promptly flicks off.

Daniel asks what that was about, and their alien guide says that whoever has taken her ship off course is demanding to know how to access the navigational controls. As it stands right now, he can only fly to destinations already stored in the ship's computer banks, which does not help him much since his desired location is off the grid, so to speak. That's when it hits Carter; if the ship can only reach destinations pre-programmed into the ship, how did it get to Earth in the first place? Qamos has no idea, but mentions that a sensory chip in her head (connected to the ship's external sensors) is telling her that there was a firefight with an unknown class of ship just before the last hyperspace jump was made, no doubt explaining why it tumbled toward Earth when it emerged and did not make a clean jump.

Still, Carter knows they need to get inside that bridge. She pulls a pack of C4 off her vest and stick it to the door, prearing to blow it. Out of the corner of her eye, though, she notices the hidden turrets swiveling at them, and pulls everyone else out of the way. The four of them manage to get around the bend in the hall just in time to avoid a barrage of energy blasts. Then, pulling out the detonator, Carter flips the switch and sets off the C4, blowing a massive hole in the bridge doors. At once, the turrets cease firing and the monitor comes back on.

The Acrelan inside can now be seen holding a pistol to the head of Col. Doumer, who is slowly coming to. The alien demands that SG-1 leave the area at once, or he will blow the man's brains out. If they continue to persist, he will do the same to every last human until they are all dead. Not seeing any other option, Carter tells the others to fall back, and they leave the vicinity of the bridge.

Qamos, of course, demands they go back and retake her ship, but Sam isn't about to let a fellow soldier get killed for no reason at all. If they want the ship back, they'll need a plan. Now knowing that she might as well go along with the team, Qamos suggests disabling the hyperdrive, as it would force the vessel to drop out of hyperspace immediately, stranding this crazed alien here and forcing him to come and fix the problem himself. Sam agrees, despite the risk that he could just shoot Doumer out of spite, and she and Vala leave for the engine room. Meanwhile, Qamos and Daniel continue to swap knowledge about their respective people.

On Earth, the Pentagon is losing patience. They want Dr. Talbot and the ISGC to bring back their missing people as soon as possible, as this incident is beginning to reflect badly on the United States (since they handled the entire matter themselves, they are recieving all the blame). But Talbot has no answers for them, and neither does anyone else, as she keeps trying to make clear to them. By the time she hangs up the phone and leaves her office to tell Mitchell that they're expected to solve this, her voice is hoarse from arguing with an ignorant blue-collar secretary all morning.

Back in the dark corridors of the Acrelan cruiser, Sam and Vala have reached the hyperdrive. Carter is going over possible ways to disable it, including zats, viruses, and EMPs, but Vala has a much simpler idea; she kicks it. Almost at once, the ship jerks as it reverts to sublight speeds, and Sam shakes her head in pleased disbelief. The two of them then rush down the hall to tell Daniel and Qamos that they can move on with their plan.

[s09119]

(Too long. See previous two posts for first parts.)

Spoiler:

Some ways away, on the bridge, the Acrelan in control of things is quite angry now. He re-stuns the French soldiers, seals the bridge, and heads down to the engine room to get things working again. When he arrives, though, he fails to notice Sam, Daniel, and Vala all poised around the chamber with zats, and at Carter's order they all jump out firing. But the blue blasts hit harmlessly against a personal shield, shocking even Qamos, and the alien annoyedly leers at them to leave him well enough alone. Then, picking up his own pistol, he casually shoots first Vala, then Sam, but isn't able to stun Jackson and Qamos before they can escape.

Running down the corridor, the two remaining heroes stop to breathe for a moment (though it seems Qamos is significantly less winded than Daniel). Neither of them knows what to do now, as their enemy has a shield that would prevent any weapon from harming him. Then a bolt of energy flies past them, and they're forced to run off again as the crazed alien appears at the other end of the hallway.

As they flee, Daniel remembers how Teal'c and Jack O'Neill managed to kill a Goa'uld years ago on the Prometheus, and asks if there are any airlocks in the area. Qamos says that there is one a deck above, but doesn't quite see how it would help them. Jackson just tells her to follow him, then leaps up the nearest access tube. A moment after the two shimmy upwards, their persuer arrives and, after taking a moment to analyze the area, follows.

Arriving outside the new airlock, Jackson yells for Qamos to prep it for opening and then grab ahold of something. She asks how he plans to survive, now understanding his strategy, but he just tells her not to worry. And after a few more seconds, their attacker does in fact arrive, grinning viciously. He says that all he ever wanted was to get away from his god-forsaken homeworld, to escape from he trap of the Acrelan people that were so afraid of stepping outside into the galaxy. Sure, he admits he may have killed a few dozen people to arrange getting onboard this cruiser before it launched, but he only wanted to be free. And is that so bad?

Daniel tells the Acrelan that he truly is sorry, but pulls out his pistol and shoots the safety bolt on the airlock, sending the door spiraling into space. The alien's eyes widen in shock, but then he is sucked out into the vaccuum, far, far away from those he had tried to kill. Meanwhile, Daniel has his arm looped around a hanging pipe. He pulls himself to the left a bit, until his body is directly above the control panel for the airlock, sticks a glob of C4 to the wall, and drops himself. As soon as he is firmly stuck to the bulkhead, he pulls out the detonator and blows the explosive, destroying the wall ahead of him. But thanks to the open airlock, all the debris is pulled into the hole, and a moment later, the flow of air to the vaccuum stops. It's over.

Some time later, the Acrelan cruiser is in orbit over Earth, now acting as a peaceful visitor returning lost personnel, and not a possible doomsday weapon. In the airlock between the now-returned De Gaulle and the alien ship, Qamos says good-bye to her one-time allies, and hands over the hyperspace coordinates for her homeworld. She says she will return there to tell her people about the kind and generous races now inhabiting the galaxy, so different from those of old, and hopefully they can continue to be friends one day soon.

Just before she leaves, though, Carter finally realizes something. She calls out for Qamos to wait, then rushes forward. Sam asks if she has any images of what her ship would look like were it not so heavily damaged, and the Acrelan asks the computer to display a hologram of her vessel. A sleek, matte-gray cruiser soon appears, with wing-like weapons pods that were apparently torn off in whatever firefight forced it to make the emergency jump to Earth, and Sam's mind flashes back to a point years before, when she was trapped on the Prometheus after an alien ship had attacked it.

Now she realizes; that ship had been an Acrelan supply ship collecting stellar matter from the gas cloud nearby. The territorial nature of the Acrelans had prompted the crew to fire on the Prometheus, thinking they were coming for the gas themselves, and once Sam had proved otherwise, they were happy to let them go. Qamos agrees with this interpretation, saying that another great mystery has been solved this day, and that her people will be very happy to know that the ship they've all heard about was a friendly one, after all (she says this also explains why her ship was able to choose Earth as an emergency jump point; the Acrelan cruiser Sam encountered years before scanned the Prometheus and extracted the coordinates of the human homeworld).

Now satisfied, Qamos seals her ship's airlock and tells the cruiser to bring her home. It pulls away from the assembled Earth fleet and makes the jump into hyperspace, hopefully heading to usher in the peace and prosperity its people have so long yearned for...

[Commander Cid]

AWESOME!!
Whens the next one due.

[Jeffala]

Exxxxcellent!

</Mr. Burns>

[s09119]

The next one will be out later this week... and I'll be posting an announcement on it within the hour.

[Lt. Col. Mcoy]

Interesting. So the 'Grace' aliens are unmasked at last. How's that third leg work, though?

[Jeffala]

How's that third leg work, though?

LOL (My head was in the gutter for that one.)


Species 8472 was tripedal in Voyager. They were pretty spry. Of course, they were made by computers.

[Apollo214]

Very nice, a good continuation of the aliens from "Grace"

[s09119]

Interesting. So the 'Grace' aliens are unmasked at last. How's that third leg work, though?

It's situated around where our... well... rectum would be, and it helps out by propelling Acrelans forward with an extra boost of speed unattainable with only two legs. Plus it's more stable.

[s09119]

Next episode is clearly "A Family Affair"

Insofar, the Carter clan has turned out nothing but kind (and exceptionally intelligent) people, but that's not all there is to our dear Colonel's family. Her nephew Jason Carter, the son of her beloved brother Mark, is nothing but trouble in his high school, constantly causing a commotion and picking fights despite his incredible genius when it comes to strategy and mathematics. He's so smart, in fact, that he has yet to lose a single chess game in his entire life, and not one of them has lasted for more than five minutes.

But Jason's intellect and knack for trouble may come back to haunt him as the Trust begins a program of kidnapping child geniuses from around the globe in an effort to deprive their enemies of future leaders and generals. And when Jason suddenly goes missing one day, the highest levels of the military are alerted; any family member of Samantha Carter's -- or any SG-1 member's -- family is considered a precious natural resource that must be defended.

The only question now is, can Sam save her oftentimes-renegade nephew before the Trust breaks him, or perhaps he can finally put his smarts to good use and do the world a favor for once... if he can actually bring himself to admit he may need help.

[ussrelativity]

Wow, you're definitely keeping up the efforts. I've got to find a way to get back on my own works.

[Jezzalinko99au]

Wow, great work as always. Can't wait for the next one.