The New GateWorld Virtual Fleet

[guppy338]

yes it is

[Davidtourniquet]

well the main purpose of this thread is to post the stories/battles so that people can read them with ease. If they were posted on the other thread then they would have to find them amonst the mass of posts that don't exatly have that much to do with the stories

No they don't they would show up as the last post. I'm posting it here and on the wiki afterwards anyway. It's just a milestone thing.

[bradly08]

No they don't they would show up as the last post. I'm posting it here and on the wiki afterwards anyway. It's just a milestone thing.

Fair enough, what ever makes you happy

[Davidtourniquet]

Well, someone posted on the 5,000th post. Good to know people listen.

[Davidtourniquet]

Here is the first battle of the Lucian/Tauri war:

Part one

Part two

Part three

Part four

Part five

Enjoy!

[webxro]

It's a good one , a bit to long but it's very good , you get my green

[Lt. Col. Mcoy]

A SHATTERED VISAGE
By
J. F. McCoy

Chapter 2
Edited by Carter1994

Spoiler:

The Sun Tzu sat silently in orbit of Antalon, one of Earth’s larger colonies. It was nearly dawn on the planet below, and the lights of Antalon City were visible as dim pinpricks amidst the dark, untamed land. The terminator line crept slowly across the Zeusian continent as the planet spun through space, approaching the city and signalling the start of a new day.

Rear Admiral Gao Cheng, formerly of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, stood on the bridge of his ship enjoying the tranquil view. Very little had happened since he had taken over command of the Third Fleet, and he had come to appreciate the distinct beauty of every planet in his sector. Many of them were completely wild, untamed but for a small outpost or research facility, but a few, like Antalon, showed signs of intelligent life. Gao had taken the time to study the patterns and layouts of each city, and he could pick many of them out without the help of a computer.

“Sir,” said his communications officer, Lt. Commander Li Mao. “We are receiving a subspace transmission from the Woru’aih.”

“Open the channel,” Gao ordered.

“Aye, sir,” Li said. The bridge of a Ha’tak-class ship appeared on the main display, and an older Jaffa stood from the captain’s seat.

“Greetings, Admiral Gao,” he said. “My name is Ne’cham, First Commander of the Edyappan defence squadron.”

“To what do I owe the honour, Commander?” Gau asked congenially.

“A man came to Edyappa three days ago, and I feel the Tau’ri may be interested in his identity. Captain Yal’ac suggested I contact you; I believe you’ve worked together in the past.”

“We are acquainted,” Gao replied. “Speaking of Yal’ac, where is the good captain? Has the Woru’aih been reassigned?”

“Yal’ac is busy elsewhere at the moment, but he has not been replaced,” Ne’cham said reassuringly. “I have temporarily moved the standard to his ship because it is the fastest in my squadron.”

“Ah,” Gao said. “Now then, who is this man you feel is so important?”

“He claims to be an emissary from the Aschen,” Ne’cham replied. Gao’s eyebrows immediately shot up.

“The Aschen, you say? And what exactly does he want?”

“That is the most interesting thing of all,” Ne’cham said. “He claims to have come to represent the Confederacy’s grievances against the Jaffa Planets’ Alliance. He says that ships identifying themselves under our standard have attacked no fewer than three Confederacy worlds in the past month.

“We have made no such attacks.”

* * *

Major General Cameron Mitchell was annoyed. He had been in the middle of a game of golf at one of the most prestigious courses on Scoria when the call had come in from Admiral Gao. Now, instead of teeing off on a gorgeous mountainside, he was stuck in a board room talking to a pair of screens. Gao had wanted Carter in on the briefing, but she was en-route to Hebridan so they had called in Admiral Ikagura to represent the Earth fleet.

“I can’t believe we’re actually discussing this,” Mitchell grumbled. “It’s obvious the Aschen are just messing with us. They’re probably trying to find an excuse to rope some more planets into their little Confederacy.”

“That is likely,” Ikagura agreed. “And the fact that their emissary came through the Stargate is disturbing. It may indicate that they were able to decipher the dialling system by extrapolating from the addresses we gave them.”

“Yeah, but that was always a risk,” Mitchell said. “Besides, it’s been over two decades since we gave them that stuff, so their system must be pretty hit and miss if we’ve only just now encountered one of them.”

“Or,” countered Gao, “they could simply be very good at evading detection.”

Mitchell sighed. “Yeah, yeah. I get it. Anyway, what do the Jaffa want us to do with our mutual friend?”

“I got the feeling they just want him off their hands,” said Gao. “They deny all his claims, of course.”

“Of course,” said Ikagura. “But what would we do with him?”

“I say we send him to you, Joe,” said Mitchell. “If he’s willing to act like a nice little galactic citizen, he can lodge a complaint with the Helipolite council. That’ll take things out of our hands, and they can run their little investigation. When nothing turns up funny, we send him packing.”

“That sounds reasonable,” said Ikagura. His projection looked over to the screen displaying Gao’s image. “How soon can you bring him here?”

“I can go get him right now,” Gao replied. “I’ll bring him to Heliopolis myself.”

“Well,” said Mitchell, standing. “I’m glad we got that settled. Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I have a game to get back to. Sixty-one and four holes to go.” He walked out of the room, and Gao and Ikagura smirked at each other with arched eyebrows before their displays deactivated, returning the room to its usual dim light.

* * *

The planet Hebridan was constantly surrounded by a swarm of activity. Ships coming from and headed to planets across the galaxy passed through the system, and local craft buzzed about between the planet, moon, and various orbital stations. It was not at all unusual, therefore, when a hyperspace window opened in high orbit of the planet. However, the ship that exited this window elicited a bit of curiosity in the passengers of nearby craft. After all, a Daedalus-class ship from Earth was a fairly rare sight outside of the Tau’ri sphere of influence; usually only civilian transports or smaller craft were spared from the continual defence of Earth and her colonies.

The controller at Central Space Control, however, was not surprised to receive the 304’s IFF broadcast as it entered the system. He had been told to expect the Earth ship by his superiors, and quickly informed them that it had arrived. He wasn’t sure why they were here, but any visit from the Tau’ri was welcome in his mind. Their connections and aid had been of immeasurable help to the Hebridians in rebuilding their homeworld after the Ori Crusade.

Landing instructions for the Earth party quickly came back to his terminal, and he forwarded the information to them. A few years ago, the Tau’ri could have simply beamed down into Athergus, the Hebridian capital, but the Hebridian Government had seen the benefit of installing transport jammers to defend their city, so the Tau’ri now had to use shuttles like any other visitors. They didn’t seem to mind, though.

* * *

[Lt. Col. Mcoy]

A SHATTERED VISAGE
By
J. F. McCoy

Chapter 2 (cont)
Edited by Carter1994

Spoiler:

O’Neill stepped out of the Scorpion that had ferried them down to the planet, followed by Sam and a pair of USC officers – still called marines by most people. Daniel was waiting for them on the edge of the landing platform, and he greeted Sam with a friendly hug.

“I’m glad you guys made it,” he said.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” O’Neill said, glancing around the nearly empty landing area. “So – no escort?”

“I told them I could lead you off the pad myself. The Hebridians are waiting inside the Space Centre,” Daniel said, nodding towards a large silver building to his right.

“Well, we shouldn’t keep them waiting,” Sam said. “I’m interested in what this Tollan has to say.”

Daniel nodded, and they followed him to the building. O’Neill noted the security guards as they walked through the main doors, marking them unconsciously due to years of military experience. They were greeted shortly by a middle-aged human with a small entourage.

“My name is Da’er Iliov,” he said, “and on behalf of the Unified Hebridian Government I welcome you to Hebridan. I believe you’ve all been here before?” O’Neill looked back to their marine bodyguards, who nodded.

“Yup,” he said. “Nice place.”

“Thank you,” Da’er said, smiling. “Now, Daniel here has given me to understand that you are here to see our recent visitor?”

“Yes, we are,” Sam said. “We’re interested in what she has to say to us.”

“Ah, yes,” Da’er mused. “Her enigmatic warning. Perhaps she will finally reveal something now that you’ve come.”

“That’s what we’re here to find out,” Daniel said.

“Well, in that case I have two options to offer you,” Da’er said. “You can go rest a bit in the diplomatic suite we’ve reserved for you at the Embassy Hotel down the way, or you can come with me to the Security Department right now to see our guest.” O’Neill looked at Sam, indicating that it was up to her.

“I think we’ll go right now,” she said. “No need to keep her waiting.”

* * *

The Sun Tzu slid gracefully out of hyperspace in orbit of Edyappa. The planet was on the fringes of the Jaffa Planets’ Alliance, but it still had a fairly impressive defence system. A web of weapons satellites orbited the planet, providing a screen against any attacking force, and a pair of Ha’tak sat in high orbit with their Al’kesh escorts.

Gao was not surprised, therefore, when the Sun Tzu was immediately hailed and requested to lower her jamming so she could be scanned. He ordered his sensor officer, Lt. Commander Wong Chi, to comply, and after a few minutes the Jaffa contacted them again to welcome them to the Edyappan System. Shortly after this, they were hailed by the Woru’aih. As expected, Commander Ne’cham appeared on the screen.

“Hello again, Admiral,” he said. “My thanks to you for responding so promptly to my request. I understand you wish to take the Aschen on board?”

“Yes, Commander,” Gao replied. “We will take him to Hebridan, where he will be free to lodge an official complaint against the JPA if he wishes. If the investigation proves your innocence, we will simply send him away.”

“I am certain it will,” Ne’cham said, tilting his head down respectfully.

“Indeed,” Gao replied. “Now then, has the Aschen agreed to this? Things could become rather difficult if he will not come.”

“He has agreed to go with you,” Ne’cham said. “We have him onboard now, ready for transport.”

“Very good,” said Gao. “Our shields are lowered; you may transport him when ready.” Ne’cham motioned off-screen, and a matter stream quickly appeared between the two ships.

“Transport complete, sir,” Wong said. “We have the passenger.”

* * *

Daniel, followed by Carter and O’Neill, walked into the mid-sized suite that Da’er had led them to inside the Security Department. He paused for a moment before noticing the door off to the side, which Da’er went over to and pushed open. Daniel followed him into the room, and was greeted by the sight of a young woman, no more than thirty. Her pitch black hair was in sharp contrast to her pale skin, and the intensity of her grey-blue eyes seemed to pierce right through him. In some ways, she reminded him of Vala, whom he hadn’t seen since she left to attempt to reconcile with Tomin. In others, she reminded him of his long-dead wife, Sha’re. But there was something else, another air about her that he felt he should recognize but didn’t: something deeply familiar.

“Um, hello,” he began, somewhat less than eloquently. “I’m Daniel Jackson, and this is –”

“Jonathan O’Neill and Samantha Carter,” she said. “Yes, I know who you are. You were famous among the Tollan.”

“Really?” O’Neill said quizzically. “You’d never have guessed.”

“I assure you, your likenesses were well known. The saviours of those lost on Tollan,” the woman replied.

“Wait a minute,” Carter interjected. “How could you remember us? You can’t have been alive when Tollana was destroyed.”

“I was not,” the woman admitted. “But my father was. He raised me and taught me of Earth. That is how I know who you are.”

“Well,” said O’Neill, “you may know us, but we don’t know you. What was your name, again?”

“My apologies,” she said politely. “My name is Cevacel.”

“Cevacel,” Daniel said, rolling the name around in his mouth. It didn’t sound familiar. “We’re pleased to meet you.”

“Thank you,” she replied.

“But we didn’t just come to say hi,” Carter said. “We were told you had a message for us. A warning.”

“Yes,” Cevacel said, her eyes darkening. “You must hear me now if you wish your people to survive.

“You are all in great danger.”

[Experiment 442]

Fumes of War

Spoiler:

Vae’Alis
October 13th 2025
part 1

Spoiler:

Looking down upon the ports of Vae’Alis, one can tell quite a bit. One thing being that eight docks lay on each side of a port and under the docks lay a large terminal building full of activity. About ten of these could be seen from the cock-pit of the Al’kesh as it entered the atmosphere of Vae’Alis. It asked for landing instructions and was told to head to port seven dock eight. There they would tell their business to an Edward McArthur of port security and he would direct them to wherever they needed to go. They had ten minutes to comply or be told to move along with an escort of Scorpions. A large man, sitting in the middle of the medium sized vessel with about sixty soldiers, was trying to understand why they hadn’t been figured out yet. The device lay at the back of the ship, near the engines.

-

Something was always happening on Vae’Alis. If civilians weren’t arguing about food shortages then someone was bickering about a broken layer in their farm. The police didn’t help the matters much, because they were also arguing with the government about their pay and how it hadn’t come through yet. The Government was trying their best, for the last twenty or so years it had been working perfectly fine, then things had started to break and computers had started to crash. The spaceports were the worst hit places. Shipments were lost and vessels took off too early or late. David was now facing a very angry man who had every right to complain about the security in port seven dock three.

“And I even told them it was hydrogen tanks, they didn’t give a care and now some criminals have them!” The man shouted as his brand new ship, a rather slow old design that had become obsolete three years ago, was searched by the security.

“Mr, uh-”

“Grad.” The man replied.

“Mr. Grad, to be honest I would love to help you, but someone let a herd of cows loose in dock six and-”

“I don’t care what happened in dock six, this was hydrogen, it’s used in nuclear weapons for crying out loud!” Mr Grad was just going over the top now.

“Mr Grad! Its hydrogen! That comes from water, on Earth. A planet that’s three quarters water.” David finally finished a sentence and found it a rather small victory. “All you can do is file a report of what happened then hand it in. Someone will investigate it when they get the time.”

“And when will that be?” He asked rather impatiently.

“When they have the time.” David’s voice sounded rather like a jackhammer, and the man suddenly realised he should fly away and try to sell the remaining hydrogen somewhere else.

“Where can I find the paper work?” He asked, for the first time calmly.

“In the security office next to dock one.” David replied. The man nodded his thanks and walked off toward dock one. David rubbed his eyes and walked over the coffee machine. Ten hours wasn’t worth the pay check he might receive. He should join the military maybe. There was a moon dedicated to that, and it was just a resignation and a trip on the next transport away. Maybe he’d get lucky and serve on a 304. Or a 320. But he’d miss this, it was simple enough, on the other hand, adventure and action did seem a bit better than cows.

His radio suddenly burst to life with a clatter of static. “We got a problem in dock eight.” Edward whispered over the radio. “Some guys landed in an al’kesh and well, they look hostile.”

“I’m on my way Ed.” David replied. There probably wasn’t a problem at all, just some big guys in an alien ship scared a few people. While he was on the tram system going through the middle of two lines of docks, he looked out over seven at eight and saw the al’kesh in question. It did indeed have some very large men walking out, all holding some very strange rifles. They almost looked like they were from Earth, but were a little more advanced. “We might have a big problem in port seven dock eight.” He called in, a bit of static in the radio.

He walked through into the corridor from the tram and looked both ways. Hundreds of people were going about their business, some of them were Jaffa others were Hedbridans. The corridor to his left was about ten meters long and ended in a lift going to the terminal. There were lifts opposite every dock, and every dock was about a hundred metres apart. There were also large gates between each lift as well as engineering lifts between those, they went down a little bit to the vents and the docks’ large supports and hydraulic systems.

He walked up to the dock gate along a small bridge bundled with crates and saw Ed talking to one of the men. He had the gun slung across his back at the moment, that was a good thing. Ed on the other hand had his in his arms in case he had to use it. David nearly walked into the man’s line of sight when he heard gunfire. Ed dropped to the ground and David tapped his radio while ducking behind the crates. “Red alert, LA in port seven dock eight. Three men down and they’ve got a device out of the ship.” But it was no use, the radio was full of static.

David pulled out his rifle and observed the numbers pouring out of the ship. About sixty so far, the head man of this seemed to be walking off right now. It would of taken one shot from David to kill him, they still didn’t realise he was there. He could tell what was happening, but soon he’d have to get out of there. Ed was being pulled off the platform now. A roar from Scimitar engines sounded as a Scorpion leaped up through the air behind the Al’kesh. A machinegun on the underside of the nose started to rev up and bullets started to hurtle at the LA soldiers. They ran for cover behind other ships docked and containers. The gun on top of the Al’kesh, probably modified in, turned to face the Scorpion and with a jolt of energy, shot it from the sky. The explosion sounded like poison to David’s ears.

With a flurry of something which certainly wasn’t stealth, he crept toward the door from whence he had entered and tried the lock. They’d already locked it down. He peeked at the LA soldiers again, most were walking toward the wreckage of the Scorpion which had crashed on the edge of the landing platform. He tried his radio, nothing but static. There must have been a jammer on board the Al’kesh. He wasn’t about to surrender either. What could he do?

Suddenly a half brained, probably coolant fume powered, idea popped into his head. He looked over the small walkway to the sloped edge. There was a vent a few metres away and a rather large fall beyond that. He really didn’t have time to argue with himself though, and so he made the nearly fatal choice to try and reach a vent which may contain rather horrible fumes. He slid a bit down then started to edge his way toward it. Thinking of cows now, made him rather unhappy. He heard talking, and a bit of a strain in the voices’.

“You think the Tau’ri are going to notice this guy?” One of them, a rather blunt ended voice that seemed as sharp as freshly baked bread, asked.

“No, that transport though?” Another, about as sharp as stale bread, replied. “Of course. They’ve probably locked the main terminal doors though. We can expect another six soon enough.”

“Six guys?” He asked, not entirely understanding.

“No, transports.” The other said. “They might just blow the dock up. I’m tellin’ ya’, this was a suicide mission. No one could infiltrate Vae’Alis like this.”

“Do you know a better way?” A new voice, cutting through the air like a rocket, asked rather aggressively. “Just throw him over, we’re blowin’ the doors open with the cannon.”

Ed flew over David and then went down toward the ground a few hundred metres away. He was silent for a bit, trying to creep closer to the vent. He just needed to make sure he didn’t hit a-

Steam started to rush out beneath him as a platform extended.

-manual overdrive for the extended platform.

“Check that!” The rocket voice ordered.

David pulled the vent open, smelled fresh air, thanked modern Tau’ri standards, and pulled himself in as he saw two faces look at him. He heard gunfire again, then:

“Leave him, he’ll burn with the rest.”

David was now rushing through a vent system which was an intake. This meant a large fan was at the bottom. He dreaded the thought. He could hear fan blades now. When his legs finally hit something, he was happy it was a mesh grate a few metres above the fan blades. What now? He knew there was some kind of room next to all these fan blades, for maintenance and all. He checked his radio. It was clean enough.

“This is David Belose reporting a Lucian Alliance infiltration force has entered Vae’Alis port seven dock eight. Does anyone read me?”

“This is colonel Kal’is, we are aware of the situation Mr Belose, we thought the entire security of dock eight was killed when they landed.”

“Colonel Kal’is, I got to the dock when I saw them kill Edward McArthur. He was the only security on dock, someone released cows and security got caught up there.”

“We are aware of that also. I’ve just lost a scorpion, can you tell me what they’re doing now?”

“Blowing the doors open with their Al’kesh.”

“What is your position?”

“I’m stuck in the vents under the platform, I’m standing on the grate on the fan.”

“There should be a maintenance hatch near you.” David looked around. He could make out the small shape of a handle in front of him.

“Thank you Colonel.” David opened the hatch and entered a much more technological room. Two men were sitting in here, one had a sort of mechanical tool and the other a data pad. They stared at him for a second then he said, “I’m with dock security.”

They looked back to their work and ignored him as he made his way to the lift. Through the music he could hear an explosion and the screams of innocent bystanders as Lucian Alliance soldiers started their pillage of the port. He could have gone down to escape, but he was with security after all, and an officer of security at that. It was his duty to protect this port. The lift stopped with a bell noise and the doors opened to reveal a rather horrible sight of people running away from gunfire. He stepped out slightly to get a better look at the situation. LA soldiers were heading to the terminal lift. The lift he was on would only go to engineering levels.

People were dying around him, co-workers and civilians. He took his rifle in his hand and peeked around the corner again. Ten soldiers were running down the corridor, more like a mob than a squad. He quickly aimed his rifle and pulled the trigger. The butt of the rifle punched into his shoulder blade each time he took aim and triple shot a man. When they were all dead he reloaded his weapon. He had never needed to use it, even after two years on the job.

More soldiers ran in from dock eight and he continued his defence. He couldn’t lose ground, not when people were depending on him. These soldiers were a bit more concerned when they saw a team of their comrades on the ground, they also instantly took cover when one of their team fell to the ground with three bullets in his chest.

[Experiment 442]

Part 2

Spoiler:

Another security officer ran in from off the tram. He dived into cover by a wall post and looked at David. Bullets were now flying into wall posts all along the corridor as both sides fired rather blindly at each other. At the moment all David wanted was some military to help. His radio sparked to life, it was suffering from static, but still slightly operational.

“- supp – in – ing! – out – there!” Colonel Kal’is ordered over the radio. The LA soldiers made a run for the main dock doors, two of them went down while a third was limping before they escaped. David ran down the hall, the officer following him as soon as he caught the drift.

David punched in the door code for the inter dock door and hit it when it didn’t respond. The tram wouldn’t be back for three minutes, time they didn’t have. He stood back and shot the door panel in a last hope effort, and to his surprise, it started to creak open. They reached the other side and David locked the dock off from the other control panel.

Their eardrums seemed to suddenly disappear as a loud explosion destroyed the other side of the door. He started at a run to the elevator at the end of the hall and waited for the noise of bullets to follow. They came, along with shouts of anger and loud bangs on the other side of the door. Another explosion, about fifty metres behind them ripped the doors, and most of the ceiling, apart. David didn’t look back and kept running, his breath was becoming heavy with every trod. With a quick instinct he took cover, pulling the officer with him. He could see through the window to the Al’kesh now, he couldn’t see the ground, only the cannon that was scarily pointing in their direction.

“Ten metres, you run as fast as you can, don’t look back, hold the lift until I say go, ok?” He quickly said to the officer. They nodded. “Good. Now.”

David started to blind fire down the hall while the officer ran down the hall a little more and jumped into the lift. He got out of cover and finally saw the force coming at them. Thirty or forty soldiers were running down the hall now. They might shoot David clean in the back, but he managed the crouch walk back to the lift where he shouted, “Go!” and slid in.

“Glad that’s over.” The officer said. “Lieutenant Belose right?” He nodded, “I’m Sergeant Ben Saunders. Got off the tram at the wrong time in the wrong place.”

“No you didn’t. We’re getting off at the security tram.” He said while pressing the button to stop at the level they were at. “Dock one and sixteen will be evacuating. We might get some backup.”

They got off the lift and entered the security tram. David hit the button for dock one and waited in silence for a few seconds. He decided to reload his weapon, which disturbed Ben quite a bit. “Don’t worry, just like it being full of ammo.”

The tram came to an abrupt stop by dock one and they were instantly drawn out by the crowds of people running up from the terminal. David instantly lost Ben in the crowd and tried to understand what was happening. He forced his way toward a soldier and held up his badge.

“What going on?” He asked the soldier who was busy helping people into a scorpion.

“The LA dropped a device off by a power generator in the northern part of the city, they’re doing it here as well. We’re evacuating the ports.” Suddenly the distinctive sound of humming rang through the sunset sky. Light started to turn up in a huge kilometre dome that covered a section of Vae’Alis, more were appearing. Get those people in the air!”

David stood in silence for a few seconds. He stared up at the sky in awe as raw firepower rained onto the shield. The clouds combusted and the skies turned red with flames. Ripples were crisscrossing like a pond surface being hit by a volley of pebbles. He could hear it now, the Al’kesh was already taking off and firing bolts at structures wherever it could manage. Two yellow orbs started to fall onto the buildings, buildings he’d known his entire life. That was his apartment building burning now.

With fierce fury, he grabbed onto the safety rail inside the scorpion and felt the ship move quickly away. It sneaked through a tunnel then vibrations started to tremble through the underground system. The ship lurched to the side and started to horribly screech along the side of the tunnel then something, sounding remarkably like the left engine, broke off. A red light started to flash with a siren following.

The dimmed room became a flashing blackness with sudden bursts of red. The pilot was already shouting something, but David didn’t hear. His mind was elsewhere when it crashed head first into a gate.

-

The ships in orbit were passing blows while blue erupted from a shield dome in the city below. The attacking Ha’taks started to concentrate their fire on that area again as two 304s launched missiles and fired all batteries in a ditch attempt to stop the massacre.

Colonel Kal’is was sitting by in a scorpion that had managed to get passed the shield before it had activated. The 340 Jubilee was leaving a trail of fire, atmosphere and bodies as it limped away from the fight. The moon was on the wrong side of the planet and fighters had not reached the fight yet.

He was sitting with his face bloodied and side in pain while his breath tried to pull the atmosphere back inside the ship. They were failing miserably. He could still see out he small viewport in the hallway from his slumped position. Three of the thirty Ha’taks had been destroyed and another seven were without shields. But the sheer force of attack on the ships had taken a toll. His half functioning brain remembered something about a twenty five percent loss of defensive craft, and a few more being heavily damaged.

Hundreds of lines of smoke ripped out through the battlefield as the fighters came in to act as support for the larger ships. Half the Tau’ri fleet fired a full silo launch with six more Ha’taks breaking to pieces and three more starting to burn. His eyes darted to the small patch of planet that was being utterly destroyed. The scorpion had landed in the 340’s hangar bay right as the shield had gone down. Two seconds after that the Jubilee found itself in the way of half the Lucian fleet’s attacks and had taken severe damage. He wouldn’t make it. The ship probably wouldn’t make it either.

A body flew past the view screen and he suddenly woke up. Straining the urge to lay down he found his way to the door and put in a number. Sparks flew from the panel as he entered the code. The small leak was draining atmosphere slowly. He collapsed in the next room and took a deep breath.

Two scientists were in here, both floating in zero gravity. The atmosphere in here was non-existent. With that breath he had lost his grip on reality and was floating outward to see the ship pummelled by a volley of fire. The Ha’tak received several hits before everything went black.

-

Six Ha’taks remained a few minutes later. All were running with their tails between their legs. Fighters grouped in on one and destroyed it with a systematic missile launch. The remaining 304, The Defiant, launched a few missiles at another two, destroying them in rather outstanding fireballs. The last three were limping away as fast as possible, one escaped in hyperspace. The other two were having difficulty with the constant barrage of Railgun fire. Two missiles flew out from The Defiant and with large shockwaves the Ha’taks disappeared.

Sergeant Carlson was hovering in the remains of his scorpion when the call for victory rang through the comm. System on board The Defiant. Cheers mixed with rage and anger filled the halls, rooms and corridors of the ship like an army of immortal soldiers. Sparks were still singing the side of his face, but he joined the cheer anyway. He looked down at the patch of burning planet near the centre of the city. He activated a distress beacon and set it to ‘no engines’. The Jubilee caught his eye when it started to limp back toward the fleet like a loyal dog. It had lost most of its left hangar and the other was trailing fire. It was travelling at a snail’s pace and half the body was covered in melted metal and plumes of atmosphere.

Over the radio, he could hear the estimated losses.

“Eighty thousand to one hundred thousand civilian casualties. One thousand military casualties and three 340s destroyed. One 304 heavily damaged and two 340 heavily damaged. Repair craft are incoming from Vae’Alis 1.”

[ZakeD]

Wait, Jotnar? Holy ****.

[Lt. Col. Mcoy]

Zake! Zake-o! Zakey-boy! Good to see you again!

About the Jotnar; I figured the name was a fitting tribute to the old fleets, and it fit rather well.

[Exthalion]

Between the Idea and the Reality
By
J. M. Tryby

Spoiler:

© 2010 by J. M. Tryby (Exthalion).

Stargate, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate: Ark of Truth, Stargate: Continuum, and Stargate Universe are the property of MGM Television Entertainment, Stargate Productions, and NBC/Universal. This work is solely for the enjoyment of the author and readers, and is not to be sold or otherwise distributed for profit.

All plotlines, characters, locations, technologies, and creatures original to this work are the intellectual property of the author, and may not be used for any purpose without the author’s express, written consent. The content reserved above may be used by members of the New GateWorld Virtual Fleet.

This work may not be distributed or recreated, in its entirety or in part, without the express, written consent of the author.

Edited by Crazy Tom,Lt. Col. Mcoy, and puddlejumperOZ

Section 1

Spoiler:

Ýdalir

In my being I become naught
Silent here in my twilight hour
Amesha Spenta I endure
A mockery of light and flame
Concerning myself with vanity
Amesha Spenta I endure
What a piece of work are we
In thought how like creation
In form how like water
In music how like the living stars
Amesha Spenta we endure…
For a time yet…

Set amid the Great Star Ocean: a vast work is hung: A fabric of white stone and gold inlaid heavily with mother of pearl brightly shining. Long protrusions twisted like fine weaving into the form of a flower and all expanding star burst. In its crystal heart burns an inner fire and the whole of the edge is wreathed in violet flame. It luminous heartbeat is steady yet, travelling from core to extremity and fading into cold fire. There to be carried into that dark ocean beneath space-time where no star has ever sung.

So little a thing to carry at last the song of immortals doomed to die; May time every fleeting forgive us, we who have forsaken our faith and so become apostates in our own eyes.

Thrudeim

Since they had reached this isolated base, the Asgard had been forced to rely on extensive amounts of automation. While their computer technology had been an integral part of the Asgard lifestyle for centuries now they were almost ubiquitous. There were simply not enough left to perform any task besides the most vital.

Thus it was an automated system which detected the slight change in hyperspace geometry caused by the high energy transmissions from Álfheim. It was dutifully logged and placed for review in the file containing potential intelligence on Jotnar. Like the rest of the copious amounts of data the base's long range sensors detected it fell to sophisticated pattern recognition software to isolate the source of the transmission and begin translation.

When the report finally reach Freyr some nine seconds later it had been neatly formatted and received a full analysis against the existing data-banks. Along with the transmission itself were all the relevant facts the computer could find and its assessment of the signal and the likely originators. Most of its analysis was wrong, but there was a reason for that.

It took Freyr all of one read through of the raw data to realize exactly what it was and exactly what it meant. He had known this day would come, he had known it longer then the ancestors of the Tau’ri had had fire. Now when it came to this, there was nothing he could do. No resources could be spared and no time could be dedicated. Now there was only one thing he could do for them. So he did it…



Earth

In a rather nondescript room in a rather typical monitoring station, a typical Second Lieutenant had an extraordinarily atypical day.

Monitoring deep space for alien activity was important. Large portions of the galaxy were still unexplored and enemies could perhaps be hiding anywhere. Those facts did not make the assignment any less boring.

When the shift was over in six hours he would wake up his replacement and get to enjoy eight hours of recreational boredom, followed by eight hours of blissful oblivion, followed by another shift at this station where nothing interesting ever happened.

And then the console started to beep. The Second Lieutenant nearly fell out of his seat in surprise. During his whole tour he had never once gotten a confirm signal error. He was a not a little bit ticked off when he got around to reading his screen. Then he really did fall out of his seat. The Asgard! The real honest to God Asgard! The signal was not only from them, but it was an actually communication! The Asgard wanted to talk to them!

He quickly relayed the information to the SGC down on Earth. In a matter of some thirty seconds the word “Classified” appeared on all the data screens and he received a rather terse call, ordering him to the Mountain.

Two hours later there he was back in the SGC. Dressed in his freshly ironed dress uniform, they hadn’t told him what to wear, so he went with best guess. He later stood at attention in the briefing room and gave his rather short report on everything that had happened. He left out the part about falling out of his chair and really he hoped that wasn’t going to come up. When he was finally done he was sent back to the monitoring station praying to whatever was up there that nothing interesting ever happened to him again.

Two Days Later

Within the immense underground hanger a massive 304 sat undergoing upgrades and resupply. All around the ship technicians were busy installing redundant sensors and adding armored shutters to windows. On the lowest level cargo loaders carried bulky crates between the ship and numerous staging areas and stores sites, the activity took on a hyper tempo.

It was into this chaos that First Lieutenant James Christopher Wyler emerged carrying a standard kit over his shoulder. As he navigated the mess of people, vehicles, and equipment he was forced to stop several times to ask for directions. Finally he was directed to a makeshift lab off to one side of the room.

There between the banks of free-standing monitors and diagnostic equipment several men and woman in lab coats flew about packing equipment and running calculations. Like the calm centre of a storm one person sat in the centre of their activity. This scientist, a rather attractive looking woman, who appeared to be in her late twenties, was sitting on the only visible chair and seemed slightly bored as she directed her swarm of underlings in their tasks.

Upon reaching the edge of the enclosure Lieutenant Wyler snapped to attention. In the minute it took for him to be noticed the young woman, who was having a conversation over the radio, proceeded to requisition ten kilos of coffee grounds for her team, get the captain to allow them to use the mess as a headquarters over his stringent objections, and replace someone called Kavanagh. That last brought something akin to a cheer from all present and while enjoying her team's thanks and gratitude, she finally noticed him.

A quick hand gesture was all the Lieutenant got by way of acknowledgement. As soon as he was close enough that no one would run between them he started up on the speech he had worried over on the entire flight here.
“First Lieutenant James Wyler reporting for duty. It is an honor to be working with you Dr. Thomson-”

“Stop right there fly boy.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye while watching the rest of her team at work. “I want you to know I did not ask for you to be here. But since this is a military ship and a military mission I have little choice in the matter. I am in overall command of the science team on this mission and since you had the bad luck to be assigned to my team you will do what I say.” She stood up and placed her hands on her hips, as a show of authority. “You are here because you can do something which could possibly prove to be remotely useful unlike more of the rest of those jar heads.”

She turned to face him full on, “And if you do anything to jeopardize my work because of some stupid monkey’s orders I will make certain you go home in a body bag. Is that clear?”

“Crystal Ma’am.”

“And don’t call me ma’am, it makes me feel old.” With a wave of her had she directed him to stand in a corner where he wouldn’t get in the way of the real experts.

Both of them had the feeling this was going to be a very long trip.

[Exthalion]

Section 2

Spoiler:

Twenty Eight Days Later

It had been a very long arduous month. Being trapped with the good Dr. Thomson had begun to make James wish for the tender affections of a drill sergeant. Her habit of inserting that little barb when discussing his work seemed designed just simply to get under his skin. The only thing that made it bearable was the fact that she was right most of the time. What made it infuriating was that, on the rare occasions when she did make a mistake, a simple "sorry" sufficed compared to the days of disapproval he was forced to endure.

He had managed to work through most of the trip, and so mostly for the most part, avoided the good doctor’s ire. At least the work was interesting. Not as interesting as that fiasco when the toilet backed up -- but that was a thought best never brought up again.

The Asgard signal had included only a short message from the Asgard themselves requesting Earth’s assistance in helping the original senders of a certain signal, which was included with the message. As James reviewed it, he muttered under his breath. “What a piece of work are we . . .” No, it had to be a coincidence: an artifact of the Asgard translator.

“So, can you tell me anything about the signal, or did you ask for that job as a creative way to avoid real work?”James flinched a bit at Dr. Thomson’s characteristic piercing question from nowhere. She had a habit of walking up right behind him without making a sound.

“Doctor, I am sorry I can’t give you the signal gain analysis or an analysis of the original signal structure, or any of the other things that can be done to it. I may be the only one here without multiple Ph.D.s in every scientific discipline, but I know my job.”

She seemed momentarily taken aback she regarded him with something that was either offence or respect. Given her talk about her intellectual rivals it may have been both. She simply said, “Prove it,” and let him continue.

“Tha-- thank you doctor.” Clearing his throat he started to explain his findings.

“We don’t have a sample of original form of the signal; all we got was have is the Asgard version so I can’t say much about the structure of their language. Based on the slight differences in meaning from translating from Asgard into different Earth languages it seems the language is either exceptionally complex or has no subtlety because the translations were almost synonymous. That could point to a very ordered society with a high degree of cultural variation. Similar to a trade language or…”

“I know what it means, go on. Unless you feel my xenosociolinguist didn’t earn her multiple PhD’s.”

“Sorry doctor. Moving on, the first part of the message,” here he moved over and scooted his laptop forward to show here the relevant portion, “displays a great deal of melancholy. I would have said pathos, but from what I gather this message -- in some respects -- wasn’t meant to be received, so an appeal to emotions wouldn’t make sense.”

“What do you mean ‘not meant to be received’?”

“Well, doctor, it contains no relevant details about their situation or themselves. In some ways, it is similar to a stream of consciousness narrative. Also, the phrase ‘Amesha Spenta I endure’ seems almost like a mantra.”

“You think the message was religious in nature?”

“Possible, it is similar to some forms of prayer, and is also intensely personal. Also, the change from ‘I endure’ to ‘we endure’ indicates that this message isn’t exclusively personal. If I had to guess, I would say that whoever is sending it was assigned the duty on behalf of several others. Also, the final line, ‘for a time yet’ indicates that that the time of the group is coming to an end in direct conflict with the rest of the message and indicative of a possibly deep spiritual crisis.”

“That seems a lot to take from four lines.”

“It is, but the whole thing is very dense with allusions and symbols. That they line up with Earth symbols might be due to the translation program but I can’t be sure.”

“What do you mean? I don’t see any human symbols besides the general depressed tone.”

“The term Amesha Spenta for one…”

“That could just be their name for themselves. That’s how it’s used in the message. Not all stones bleed, despite what you may have learned in your college language courses.”

“Perhaps doctor, but the term is from Earth history.”

“Really?” The derision dripped from her voice as if James had just said she had two heads.

“Yes, doctor; it’s a Zoroastrian term referring to an order of gods or high angels.”

“Are you saying that these people inspired Zoroastrianism the same way the Goa’uld inspired Egyptian myth and so on?”

“Not likely, Zoroastrianism developed after the Goa’uld left Earth. Besides the Asgard, I don’t know of any alien race that has visited Earth in a recent enough time frame. However, the phrase’s meaning is also of interest.”

“Fine, I’ll bite. What does it mean?”

“Bounteous Immortals.”

“Seems like a rather bold claim. What does it mean?”

“Consider it in context; ‘Amesha Spenta I endure’ is an affirmation of the speaker’s nature. An immortal by definition does not die so saying ‘I endure’ is the same as restating the meaning. But the last line doesn’t make sense if they’re immortal. ‘For a time yet’ indicates an ending.”

“So you’re saying they’re dying?”

“I can’t say without more. The message was very short . . .”

“But you suspect something. Spit it out.”

“Well . . . this section here,” James indicated the portion immediately prior to the end. “The structure is very similar to a selection from Hamlet.”

“As in Shakespeare?”

“Yeah . . . I think it might just be a coincidence. I mean, they couldn’t have been to Earth so recently. A stronger case could be made for Psalms 8, but it is probably little more than similar meaning.”

With a sudden jolt the ship burst out of hyperspace, and all the occupants looked out a nearby window in total surprise. What greeted them was not the planetary system they expected but a spectacular view of a massive nebula that filled space as far as the eye could see.

“Follow me and keep quiet!” Dr. Thomson ordered. Turning without another word, she began heading for the bridge as fast as the people who saw her coming could get out of her way. James had to jog to keep up.

[Exthalion]

Section 3

Spoiler:

The short elevator ride to the command level was... awkward. Dr. Thomson seemed to be trying to force the car up by shear willpower. The pause while they waited was very apparent after the previous rush to reach the captain.

Arriving on the bridge both of them found themselves struck by how quite it was. Normally something significant enough to pull a ship out of hyperspace would have incited a frenzy of activity.

The view of the nebula out the bridge windows was spectacular. Luminiferous structures of blue and violet gas spread out in a complex spirals. Semitransparent layer after semitransparent layer gave the impression of looking at a rose of infinite depth. Faint blue white lines traced between the distant stars like alien constellations. Overall the effect was captivating.

Dr. Thomson walked briskly up to Captain Steimetz and began talking before he had a chance to get a word out. “Captain, what is the situation? Why have we dropped out of hyperspace? Why has there been no announcement? And why do I even have to ask any of this?”

“Doctor, please remember that this is still my ship.” He cast a vaguely disapproving look at the bridge crew who, careful not to catch his eye, kept their eyes down, avoiding his gaze.

“I don’t know why we dropped into real space. I have the sensor crews working on it. If you would like to help, then please get to main computer control and coordinate the sensor data. If not, then go to your quarters and stay there. You can’t waltz onto my bridge whenever you feel like it.”

With a huff the good doctor turned and stalked off the bridge giving ever impression that she was doing so at her own decision, James merely followed in her wake. When they finally entered the computer room the expected frantic activity had resumed. Like a duck taking to water Thomson began directing the technicians who immediately fell in line wither her orders.

Trying to stay out of the way James happened by the main display and happened to see a message in Asgard run across the screen.

“…run a full systems diagnostic on the navigational array, it could be a glitch in the internal chronometer. You check for anomalous power spikes it might have disrupted the …”

Almost sorry to interrupt Hannah, for that was the good doctor's given name, when she was in such an assertive position James nevertheless spoke up, “It’s the geometry of the real-space/subspace boundary. Several anomalies in this region make traditional travel almost impossible through the central region of this galaxy. The computer is trying to calculating the most efficient course but isn’t receiving the proper feedback from the navigational sensors.”

The sound of a pin dropping would have been jarring in the silence that followed. The techs looked shocked that he had spoken at all. Thomson seemed shocked that he had said something so intelligent.

“And how could you possibly know that?” Her voice was laden with suspicion.

“The error message on the large screen,” he pointed with his finger at the offending panel, “the Asgard text at the bottom spells it all out.”

Thomson walked over to a counsel and typed a few buttons. Sure enough the text translated to an almost perfect restatement of the Lieutenant’s words. She tapped the microphone on her ear and began speaking.

“Bridge, we’ve found the problem. Since the Asgard systems were removed we haven’t had time to replace all their secondary functions with our own systems. Reroute the nav sensor data down here and we should be able to resolve this issue.”

“Rodger, beginning data streaming.”

Without a word Thomson started typing. The two techs glanced around nervously as if unsure of what to do before quietly returning to their own stations. On the main computer screen the display of the galaxy began to update with higher resolution sensor data. The inner nebula appeared to take up nearly a third of the roughly spherical volume. In a shell like region encasing the core thin blue lines began tracing out connections between stars. One by one the stars outside of the intricate latticework resolved from uniform points of light to variously sized and colored points representing the stellar characteristics. While the lace-like shell was composed of mostly young and middle aged stars which all seemed to fall into the planet forming range those outside were ancient stars near death in stellar terms.

What confused James were the lines themselves. He wasn’t aware of any such notation for galaxies and had never seen it on maps of the Milky Way or Pegasus.

“Those lines seem to connect potentially habitable systems. Are they some new mapping tool?”

“Lasers…”

“I uh… what?”

“Their lasers. Mostly anyway. The sensors have noticed slight gravitational lensing. It can only mean a lot of particles with mass are moving fast enough to acquire very large apparent masses. The sensors don’t know what to make of it so they just mark where they are.”

“Interesting, but why are they visible? I saw them from the bridge. Wouldn’t that require orders of magnitude more energy than a star puts out?”

“Seems there is more than just guns and khaki in that head of yours. It would yes. These particular beams have the added help of being viewed through the nebula. It contains one of the most convoluted subspace structures ever seen.

The Asgard may have been able to tell you more, but our computer is having trouble even modeling them. What I can say is that light passing through the region is brightened. Almost like more light then was originally emitted exits.”

“And the gravitational lensing? That seems a little beyond even Asgard sensors.”

“You might want to quit while you’re ahead. If you show much more competence I might make you start doing real work.” She held a finger to her rosebud mouth. “To answer your question though it is normally beyond our sensors. This ship, the Hubble, has been outfitted with several new systems including a very expensive and very delicate subspace telescope.”

“When combined with data from the nav sensors and correlating with several other related devices being tested on this trip it is able to detect the gravitational waves from planets the size of Mercury orbiting a star.”

“I would love to explain how it works, but it required the equivalent of the graduating classes of the top three computer science programs in the world to write the software and fields of math so esoteric that even the leading experts admit they have no idea what they’re doing.” She said.

“Data saved from the Asgard core before we lost it?”

“What did I tell you about competence?” Her earlier cold tone had now become almost friendly. Like he was a friend from college who had decided to major in English but was still smart enough to keep up with her circle of friends. It was almost… unnatural after getting used to the cold and authoritarian Dr. Thomson.

“Bridge, that should fix it. What’s it like on your end?”

“Navigational controls are restored. We are re entering hyperspace.”

[Exthalion]

Section 4

Spoiler:

It didn’t take more than an hour to reach the system the Asgard had indicated as the origin of the signal. James and Dr. Thompson spent it in the coordination room for the science team which had originally been the mess.

In an unusual display of openness Hannah had agreed to speak with him about the mission. Now they sat looking out the large window to the hyperspace tunnel.

“What do you expect Doctor? I mean we know the Asgard are involved and we have the transmission itself. But all that doesn’t really contribute much to a mental image. What do you think it will be like?”

“What every new world humans have stepped on has been like. A place where some of your expectations turn out to have been spot on and most amount to nothing. They could be some advanced race of starfish or a colony of Ancients living in crystal spires and wearing togas.”

“You would think the Asgard would have mentioned something that extreme.”

“Who knows? For all their apparent similarities to us the Asgard are an alien race that evolved under different conditions and whose history took a wildly different path. We understand some of their technology and rational, but how they think is still a complete mystery. For all we know this might have been a test to see if we would actually come. To see if we had developed enough compassion to help others.”

“Isn’t that just a bit overly cynical?”

“To quote Nietzsche ‘Cynicism is the only form in which base souls approach honesty.’ Look at any human now or a thousand years ago and we are still a base and ignorant people.”

“I thought scientists were supposed to be the visionaries bringing enlightenment and advancement to society with infinite belief in the possibility of reason and progress.” He tried a forced smile, but failed.

“Did they forget to teach you post-modernism in school? But enough of this, we are nearly there, and the new sensors will have to be put through their paces.” Standing up and loudly cracking her neck she began speaking in her accustom manner.

“Alright people listen up! We have over a billion dollars in untested equipment to play with and I for one have always been an expensive date. I expect a full readout from every single one of them. Sylar, Lauren, and Alejandro get down to the port hanger and make certain the jar heads don’t damage the external sensors. Davis, Cho, and Muhammad I want you three in the main data room. I don’t trust the techs with the data feed. The rest of you to your stations and look sharp.”

The assembled scientists went about their tasks with practiced ease. They seemed to be familiar with each other enough to work together like a well oiled machine.

“What about me doctor?”

“You Wyler will be attending me on the bridge to make nice if I have to shout the captain down.”

With that she began walking to the bridge at her usual fast clip. James was not in a pleasant state of mind during the short trip. He silently prayed that he would never be put into any such position.

As if Thomson had timed it they reached the bridge right as the ship came out of hyperspace. Put simply the view was spectacular.

Because of their course correction the nebula was now on the left side of James’s vision. It seemed to perfectly balance the system.

The star was distant and blue. So bright that he couldn’t look directly at it. The system was filled with immense rings of glowing gas that sort of reminded him of Saturn though much larger relative to the central sphere. Frequently there would be a flash or a long glow from a point in the rings giving the impression that they were distant and full of stars. It reminded him of growing up when sometimes after it rained a perfectly circular rainbow would encircle the sun. This put that to shame.

Dr. Thomson was talking and he did his best to keep up. “The protoplanetary disk is still present, but the system is definitely old. Gravitic perturbations from the two blue giants’ orbits are preventing it from settling completely…”

Thomson continued to describe the various planets in orbit and the strange abundance of apparently habitable worlds and mass relative to normal systems.

James was left to ponder while Thomson continued to speak. While she did the captain left his chain and joined her at the holotable that had replaced the traditional position marker. It made for a wonderful presentation though he had heard grumblings about what would happen if power went out.

After staring out the window for a little while longer he thought he should join them at the map which now showed the stars in closer detail. As usual Thomson was talking with only a few interruptions from Captain Steimetz.

It seemed that a massive array of satellites was projecting an even more massive shield over both stars. It was impossible to get accurate readings on power, a fact which irked Thomson to no end.

“Doctor, who could do something like this? What kind of industrial capability would that entail?” Steimetz asked her, feeling somewhat enthralled himself.

“One far in advance of our own is the best I can offer. Anything more and I risk coming short. This here…” she typed in a few keys and the display zoomed in to a tiny object between the two stars, “…is more than five times the mass of the Earth and twice the radius. If I had to guess I would say it is a factory complex. We can’t even begin to think of construction on those scales.”

The captain looked visibly shaken and with good reason. “What about the signal we were sent here to investigate? Is it coming from that station or one of the planets?”

“The second planet out.” Again the display changed. This one was considerably less detailed then some of the others.

“Currently it is behind one of the stars so we don’t have as much data as we like. It is slightly larger than Earth and from the extent of the technology these people seem to have, a population one trillion not beyond reason. I just can’t say though. So far, there has been no sign of active habitation anywhere in the system.”

They discussed a little more, but the conclusion was obvious, they had to go see for themselves. All the expensive equipment in the world couldn’t do everything.

They made a short hyperspace jump around the stars, the nav system would not go between them for some reason, and arrived at the world they had come to see.

[Exthalion]

Section 5

Spoiler:

In what seemed to be on the verge of becoming a permanent feature of each hyperspace jump there is an audible in drawing of breath when the ship re-entered real space. The planet below them looked unlike any world any of them had seen before.

It seemed a giant blue jewel. The light from the suns and distant stars glittered off the surface and the whole world coruscated. The captain was the first to speak. He did so in a whisper as if afraid to break the silence that had fallen over most of the ship.

He couldn't muster the words.

Thomson responded in an almost reverent hush. “The whole planet is encased in a shield system similar to that around the stars. The outermost shell has a diameter greater than the orbit of the moon.” She paused to examine more data. “Due to the slight transparency we are able to identify multiple shield layers, at least five, all rotating at different speeds. It would take more fire power then the whole fleet could muster to break through.”

The officer at the sensor console spoke up, “There appears to be a restructuring of the shield geometry. A hole is forming.”

As if because of her words a very apparent flow did start. As the projecting satellites began to slightly shift their orbits a thin slit opened in the shield bubbles. It grew steadily wider until it was about the size of Asia, a task which took no more than a few seconds.

“Captain, that looks like an invitation to me.”

“Agreed doctor. Helm, move us in slowly. Take no actions that could be considered hostile.”

Slowly passing through the hole, which closed behind them, revealed another sparkling jewel of a world. Around it six moons were visible. They appeared to alternate slightly in size and each looked like a spindly lattice of silver contained a writhing sea of some glowing iridescent liquid. The shield which encased all this was transparent from the inside giving a fantastic view of the space outside. Like the central nebula it showed the constellation like connections between distant stars.

Thomson seemed torn between what her screen was telling her and the window. “Fascinating…”

“What doctor?” James was brave enough to say. He listened to her but his eyes never left the bridge window.

“The inner surface is a partially holographic, it isn’t powerful enough to light the world, so that lunar rosette provides consistent light to the planet.”

As the ship rose above the orbital plane of the moons a ring came into view. Like so many other things in this system it seemed to have been meant for no other reason than to be visually impressive.

They had made a short stop at Saturn before leaving Sol system for some final checks. James had had little to contribute so he had taken in the view. Now he was glad he had taken the time to be impressed then. This ring system was such that he doubted any other would ever equal it.

Light form the moons shown on them and reflected off the planet. Slight shifts in the particles sent sparkling beams all over where they were taken up by yet more. The changes in color washed over the rings leaving them a sea of color and light.

“Doctor, please tell me what I am seeing?”

For once she seemed at a loss for words.

“Doctor?”

“What… oh right.” She turned to her screen. “A complex system of micro moons is creating the bands. The individual ring elements are… oh my god!”

The captain turned away from the window abruptly, “What! Are we in danger?!”

“I… I don’t think so. If they meant us harm I don’t think we would be alive right now. The rings… they are… all of them are a saturated with high energy events. Earth doesn’t use as much energy in a year as this ring system uses in an hour.”

“What about the planet? From hear it looks fairly blue. Another shield layer?”

“No, if I had to guess I would say material storage or computing. It is composed of spheres of uniform size in a high orbit. This whole environment is incredibly data rich. Our computers can’t make sense of it.

We have found the transmitter though.” She typed a few commands and a holographic display overlaid the bridge window. It focused on a region on the far side of the planet. Zooming in it showed an enormous station made of crystal and wreathed in blue fire. It had an ethereal quality too it, with disconnected sections spinning about it and delicate extensions that tapered off into nothing.

“It seems to be automated. No signals are being exchanged between it and the surface”

The same sensor officer as before again interrupted; a habit which she would likely be broken off if for no other reason than she didn’t particularly like the expectant looks being constantly thrown her way.

“A hexagonal hole has opened in the… whatever the spheres are.”

“Helm, continue course for the hole. All stations to full alert.”

Once again Wyler found himself feeling like being swallowed by a whale. The shell was over fifty kilometers thick and the tunnel they passed through was almost cathedral like in its size and appearance. At least now the view was expected. Unlike the interior of the outer shield this shell was not transparent instead giving the impression of a perfect cloudless blue sky. The rings and moons were not visible and neither was anything external. The hole closed behind them leaving them to gaze at the planet.

The world below was beautiful no other word for it. The world was a blue green color with nearly equal parts water and land. He guessed the plant life was mostly blue since he saw several large patches of what appeared to be forest save for the color.

Thick golden clouds pregnant with lighting and churning as if made of fire covered large swaths of the planet and he could make out a sort of golden haze above the surface even where the clouds were not present. In seemingly random locations large masses of twinkling looked like cities though he didn’t see the long connections or outshoots he was used to.

Once again it was the captain who spoke. “Doctor, are those settlements?”

“No, most definitely not. If I had to guess I would say mountain ranges made of crystal.”

“Mountains? What kind of geology could produce that?” Typing a few commands into his chairs interface the screen isolated a section and removed the atmospheric distortion.

“They almost look like impact craters. Nearly circular and the intensity tapers off.”

“The inverse square law captain. It may explain their formation but we long ago reached the point where our sensors weren’t telling us much.”

“A hundred million dollars in sensors and…”

“Nearly two billion. Look, we don’t have the computer power to even make use of half of what our sensors tell us normally. We fill in the gaps with models and filter out what we don’t need. Here there is so much to take in that our sensors can’t even keep up. This is the most complex system on record and even accurately mapping it would take months. Correlating the data would take years.

I know my job captain, but I can’t do magic.”

That seemed to satisfy him on that point. “So what do we do now? I don’t see any more invitations.”

“I honestly don’t know. My recommendation would be to scan the planet for any apparent signs of civilization. We need more data before we can start making informed decisions.”

“Start working on that then. I want a report waiting for me in…” he hesitated a second, “ten hours.”

Thomson who appeared to have been on the verge of saying something smiled. “That should be sufficient.

Come Wyler, you have a lot of work to do.”

[Exthalion]

Section 6

Spoiler:

It is amazing how relative time really is. In eight hours James had reviewed signal data equivalent to the Library of Congress in size and unearthed all of… nothing. The signals were either encrypted by something his limited computer time was insufficient to crack, or these aliens used a language and coding system with very little relation to the signal they were sending.

The signal at least was still comprehensible. It used a modified form of Asgard transmission protocols. However, for one of the few times in his life he very much hopped he was wrong. It was in this state of worry that Thomson found him.

“Wyler, what is it, you look like you just met your dead mother.”

Trust her to be perpetually insensitive.

“No, but I just found out an acquaintance is dying. Or at least I think they’re dying.”

“Neat trick that. How did you get a signal from Earth? Or have you been afraid to open some letter?”

“The signal the aliens are transmitting. I think there is one of them on the station and I think it is dying.”

“… Explain.”

“The signal is neither static nor repeating. Instead it reads like a stream of conscious narrative. From what I gather whoever is sending it is being destroyed by the very act of sending it. It speaks of dissipation, of sending its will out to the stars and so becoming diffuse, of becoming part of the great star ocean and so losing the light of its people.”

“That could mean anything, it could…”

“Look, I agree with you, it could mean anything. But I can’t help shake the feeling that it means what I think it does. You’ve read my report; you know I haven’t been able to get anything else out of them. So I have spent the last six hours reading the signal.”

“I think you are too close to this.

“Yeah maybe. I just really wanted to contribute something, you know?”

“I do know… now go suit up, we leave for the surface in fifteen minutes.”

“Fifteen mi… I...” James stuttered a little as he ran off franticly unbuttoning his jacket.

Hannah smiled inwardly at the kid. He could go places if kept on course.

Fifteen minutes later they stood on the bridge with a small escort.

“Captain, are all these marines really necessary?”

“They aren’t ma…”

“They are armed personal on a ship of war who are charged with security and going ashore to perform military duties… and Marines sounds less silly then Astrates.”

James was left wondering if had really just made a joke about… his thought was interrupted by the beaming and he was relieved of any thoughts besides awe and amazement. He had the very distinct impression this entire system had been engineered explicitly to look very very impressive.

The city/temple/palace whatever in front of him most certainly fit.

Seven three kilometer high towers rose beneath him like pillars supporting the sky. Each was nearly three kilometers apart from its fellows and all the land around was a vast city filled with domes and spires crowned with crystal and gold. He saw long canals and colonnades, wide boulevards and bridges, vast pleasant looking plazas next to airily palaces; it looked less a living city then a monument to the glory of what a city could be.

Unlike the cold and bland look of planned cities on Earth this was a work of art, a single piece of sculpture instead of endless variation on a small number of themes. From what he saw of the ground plan it was like a giant six sided mandala or rose window. Foundations of shining white marble rose into gleaming structures of blue, green, yellow, purple, clear, and opalescent crystal. He saw windows of alabaster and stained glass windows larger then a city block.

The city on the ground, fabulous as it was, held his attention for only a moment; for he was on another kind of structure amidst a great many others. All around him were floating buildings like those beneath save that they were freed from gravity's constraints. It was like being inside a chandelier, all about were buildings of crystal and color and light.

The music of water and chimes surrounded him like an embrace. The motion of the buildings caused wind to sing through shaped chambers producing a deep and slow music. It was strange, each breath of wind, each glint of sunlight seemed part of the music. The trees swayed with the words, the little random plops from the fountains accented notes. The whole city seemed caught up in some sort of dance.

“Fascinating…” There was no cynicism in Dr. Thomson's voice. She seemed caught up in the same sensation he was.

“Thousands of discrete sounds harmonizing into meta structures consistent with human speech. The calculations for something like this…” She trailed off staring at a large structure around which the upper city seemed to rotate.

James was still entranced by the rest of the city. He noticed smaller structures slowly rotating around larger. He noticed changes in elevation and position perfectly timed to appear graceful, with tricks of perception and different speeds making the whole thing look part of a great ballet.

He saw again the spirals and mandalas below somehow more free by the floating medium. His eyes kept being drawn back to the structure Hannah was looking at. It was like the star and the whole city a system in motion around it.

Dragging his eyes away from it for a moment he tried to focus on the ground and not become lost in the city. Instead he was only entranced by the slowly shifting colored tiles lit as if from below or within with the dancing pattern of light reflected on water. Looking around he saw the same thing on the whole city. How he didn’t notice before was beyond him. Even the tiniest floor stone had amazing detail, displaying faintly glowing lines of text shaped into artful geometric and floral patterns.

“This whole place is an arabesque… a sacred fractal showing the whole of creation equal to and emerging from its smallest parts… It is a prayer written in stone…”

“Diamond actually.”

James was startled out of his musings by Dr. Thomson. “What?”

“The vast majority of the material is diamond. There is heavy naqueda impregnation and impurities to give color. Carbon micro-structures and some very carefully engineered molecular construction mean the stuff is about as far from brittle as you can get. Almost a perfect building material.”

“Diamond? Where would they find pieces this large? Those crystal mountains?”

“Oh heavens no, that stuff is so exotic the ships sensors couldn’t even make sense of it. This stuff was manufactured. Carbon is plentiful and, once the techniques are down, easy to work with.”

“What does it all mean? Why would anyone go to such lengths?”

“That’s your job remember?” There wasn’t any hint of mocking in her tone. In fact it was almost like… an admission of weakness?

“So what now doctor?”

“Simple, we go meet them.”

“How exactly? I see stairs and walkways on this piece, but no way to reach any of the others.”

To answer his question she simply started walking toward the beautifully sculpted railings. As she approached it fell away. Undeterred she kept walking and to the surprise of everyone besides her a platform extended itself. As she continued to walk the platform’s shimmering edge expanded and grew leaving a large floor with neatly spaced columns on either side not quite connected by arches.

It looked precarious connected to the balcony by only a narrow path but it didn’t even sway as Hannah stepped onto it.

Following after her, and muttering a bit, the rest of the team stepped on to the floor without any adverse affects.

“Hannah, how did you know this was going to happen?” That from Seiji, the xenolinguist.

“I didn’t, but I expected anyone this advanced to have something like this in place.”

“Don’t scare us like that next time.”

“Are you volunteering to step off the next cliff we come across?” There was that slightly mocking tone.

As soon as the last member of the away team, incidentally James, was on they started moving. The platform didn’t move, it stayed right where it was. Instead all of them were lifted slightly off the ground and propelled forward toward the central structure in a slightly visible tube which he was certain hadn’t been there before. Every so often James saw a pair of floating pillars with not quite full arches which they passed through.

When at last they were placed back on the ground the tube marking their route was nowhere to be seen. Not that any of them noticed particularly when they were now able to view the central structure without distance or intervening objects to get in their way.

James didn’t know if it reminded him more of the Lotus temple in India or the Azadi tower in Iran. Sensual lines of white stone soared upward into a structure of infinite complexity and yet utter elegance. In all the splendor and color and beauty and motion of the great city it was small, pale, and still yet majesty radiated from it unlike any of the other magnificent buildings.

It was upheld by an enormous platform of diamond which showed strong influence from the white building but was not of the same quality. Anywhere else the platform would have been an artistic marvel, a wonder of the world. Here is was only a pedestal meant to go unnoticed before the small white building.

Everything seemed to have changed slightly to emphasize the building. The music had shifted slight, just a little slower and a little sadder, but all the more beautiful for its sorrow. No… it wasn’t sorrow it was wisdom. A deep and old wisdom which had seen much sorrow and passed through it and beyond it.

“Whoa… when did I start waxing poetic?”

”When you realized it was the point.”

[Exthalion]

Section 7

Spoiler:

“What! Who’s there?”

“I am the keeper of this place whom you came here seeking.” The voice had a perfect inflection and pitch. It sounded human yet unnatural. Almost too perfect. The idea of the uncanny valley came to James’ mind though of course it no longer applied in human media any more.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

“Twenty thousand years ago we chose to place form equal to function in our aesthetic principle. Thus all our works are meant to be beautiful. You and your companions experienced this as we intended. Upon closer examination of your own thoughts you became aware of the intentional effect of this beauty on your thought patterns.”

“I uh…” James glanced around but the rest of the team, even Dr. Thomson, was looking at him expectantly.

“Would you mind if we saw you? It is kind of hard to talk to a disembodied voice.”

“As I am you could not perceive me. However I will assume an avatar with sensory components sufficient for your senses.” As the voice spoke a general increase in the lighting of the area in front of James began.

When the voice had finished there stood the image of a man in his early twenties. By the man’s expression and bearing he was proud and familiar with the world. His eyes held an ageless quality that was unnerving to look at. Discretely James averted his eyes, instead looking at the spot between them.

“If this form unsettles you I will gladly change it.” The voice and image shifted ever so slightly. Tiny flaws you wouldn’t even have noticed unless you specifically looked for them added up to something much more human.

Before James could even comment the figure spoke again.

“Please try to remember that this is a projection. Through the various devices included in the construction of this place I am aware of the position, motion, and orientation of every molecule in your body. Similarly your neural activity and thoughts are utterly transparent to me. I do not respond to your thoughts as a matter of politeness.”

James audibly gulped. What kind of entity were they dealing with that had more or less claimed to be a god? “Who are you exactly? Who are your people? We came…”

“You came in response to our signal which, though not according to our intentions, was not entirely unexpected. Like my form my name is not transmittable in any meaningful sense in any human language.

You may call me as you wish, though when last I was among your people in the service to the gods I was referred to as Ashiel. Though none of you are of direct biological descent from the people group I interacted with I believe it likely that cultural transmission would be sufficient for the name to be meaningful.”

James was overflowing with questions. Was the ending ‘el’ consistent with traditions of naming angels…?

“To provide a more complete and satisfying answer to your questions, I am Alfar. This galaxy was named Álfheimr by the gods who created us. This planet they named Gimlé which we have taken as the name of this extended construct.

We Alfar are a race of sentient computational processes similar to your computer programs. Disregarding the similarity of your own neural architecture to such systems, I will merely say that the primary mode of our existence is as light which explains your inability to perceive us as we are.”

Whatever else could be said about these Alfar they were very good at leaving stunned silences.

Gather his courage James started to ask for more details when he was cut off.

“Your curiosity is both understandable and commendable. However, being residents as you must of the community of races present in your galaxy it should be understood that it is the function neither of me nor my people to provide you with whatever information you desire with no gain to ourselves. You see the fairness in this so I will proceed with my own questions before I provide more information to you.”

Slightly worried about being interrupted again James once again looked around as if something would have changed and someone would step in. Hannah was of course recording the whole conversation and several other members of the team were madly scribbling on their tablet computers. Since the voice appeared the security detail had had guns pointed at the Alfar though James doubted those would be of any use.

“Ah, okay that is acceptable. What do you want to know?”

“What planet or planets do you represent, what is the status of your faction in relation to the rest of the galactic community specifically the Goa’uld, why did you respond to our transmission, and why do you possess the gods magic on your vessel.”

Stunned silences were becoming less something to punctuate major announcements and simply what came after the Alfar spoke.

“Well we ah,” James swallowed, “We represent Earth and her colonies who are united under the leadership of the United Nations of Earth. We have several treaties with other powers such as the free Jaffa and the Herbridians. About the Goa’uld… they haven’t been a major power for years, decades. And ah…”

“The magic of the gods present on your vessel.”

Trust them to remind him of the part he forgot James grumbled internally. Was that a hint of a smile on the avatar’s face? No couldn’t be…

“What gods are you referring to exactly?”

“The Asgard who originate in Ida,” he raised a hand and blue sky cleared and atmospheric distortion faded revealing a view of the system and the Ida galaxy beyond.

“Your superluminal device shows marked similarity to their own as opposed to Alteran derived Goa’uld units. I suspect you have other technology of theirs.”

“The Asgard, we are allies with them.”

Just the slightest raising of the eyebrow, just the slightest inflection and the Alfar’s doubt was perfectly clear.

“Why did you not inform them of our signal then? It was addressed to them. Did they perhaps dispatch you and outfit your vessels with technology to make the journey?”

“Actually they sent us the signal; we weren’t able to pick it up. And they gave us the technology but not for this. They gave it to us because they were dying.”

For some reason no emotion displayed on Ashiel’s face. “They are dead then? Under what circumstances did they die?”

Hannah shot James a look with more meaning then he was able to discern in his high stress state.

“Well they aren’t dead, not any more. There just aren’t a lot of them left any more. Not a lot of the friendly ones that is.”

“Then our hope is likely in vain and we shall soon join them in the obscurity of time. Thank you for delivering this information. You may go with our thanks.”

“Wait! We have so many questions! Maybe we can help.”

“I mean no offence, but what do you think you can do? We have worked on this problem longer than you have had the wheel.”

James had trouble trying to wrap his mind around the concept of a race so ancient. With the Asgard and the Ancients it had never really sunk in, such a great expanse of time was beyond what he could comprehend.

But the Alfar… they had had space travel while his ancestors where huddling in caves. What must they think of humans?

“Okay, maybe we can’t fix whatever it is your problem is. But we could still be friends.”

“You would offer us friendship knowing what we are? Why?”

“You are people too. I mean I have friends who are Tokra…” at the very slight look of non-comprehension he explained, “Goa’uld who rejected the dominating the host and live as true symbiotes. The Asgard upload themselves into their computers and that isn’t all that different from you.” James had to consider his next words carefully. “I guess what I mean is… We wish to enter Félag with you.”

For a moment there was silence. The penetrating glares at James made him feel like an ant under a magnifying glass.

Ashiel had a distant look on his face. A gleam, a slight change in color or motion seemed to be occurring on nearly every floating monolith of Gimlé.

“No.”

There was a sharp in drawing of breath. Finally Dr. Thomson spoke up, “I think what the Lieutenant is trying to say is…”

“I know exactly what he is trying to say. Just as I know exactly the course your thoughts have taken through the whole conversation and the argument you will attempt to use to change my mind.”

She actually did sputter at that.

“We agree to a conditional friendship. We will provide what aid we can in what times and places we may. As friends, we would expect you to do the same. Should you do nothing, or attempt to shirk the duties of friendship we will feel under no obligation to continue to exert ourselves for your benefit.”

He looked directly at James now and such was the intensity of his gaze that the rest of the team took a step back.

“In this way it is honor which will decide the course of our fellowship. If your race proves themselves worthy of our friendship we will give it gladly. If they do not then your fate shall be your own affair. Is that acceptable?”

James could only nod slightly. This conversation had taken a turn somewhere and he was completely lost.

“You may remain in our system for as long as you wish. You will be monitored but your privacy will be respected. If you have questions or wish to talk, a small number of your crew may return to the surface to converse with me. You will not need guardians; they have no power here besides what I grant them.”

With a flash of light the familiar beaming effect ended with a very surprised away team left on the bridge of the Hubble. Not content to let the surprise be theirs alone, Captain Steimetz asked the question on everyone’s mind, “What just happened?”

It was Hannah who responded, “We met the Elves. Things are going to be very different now…”

[puddlejumperOZ]

The Hozgura #1

Spoiler:

The Hozgura


Before the dawn of the his elevation to System Lord, then outcast, Sokar found a human civilisation on the outer fringe of the Galaxy, ripe for invasion and submission to his will. His fleet surrounded the planet and at first found little or no resistance. He was after slaves, concubines and perhaps new blood for his Jaffa, with a Queen at his side, all could be accomplished swiftly.

His Hat'aks and Al-Kesh landed without opposition and his First Prime reported many villages had virtually surrendered as soon as the first shots were fired. These people were primitive he told his Lord, carrying little more than swords, bows and spears. He only omission in Ra'ul's report, was that there were very few males in the villages, and those that were, old men and very young boys.

Sokar and his Queen Salisa, made a lavish encampment on a hill over looking the valley he learned form the locals was named in their dialect, the Vale of Sorrow, he scoffed and told them it would be named anew. It seemed there was some sort of suspicion attached to the name. In the first days of being there, he could see nothing but fertile lands tended by an agricultural society. Already he and Salisa had picked some wonderful candidates for symbiotes and young boys who would be made to accept the Jaffa rites. The unsettling thing of these humans, even for the two Goa'uld Lords, was the body self maiming. It wasn't just the odd pieces of metal piercings as Sokar had seen on some worlds, this was at best in his mind grotesque, Salisa could not even look at them and bid her Lord she retire to their Warship. Sokar thought it best as well and with his personal guard, the Goa'uld Queen left the encampment with a small procession down into the valley and out toward the grassy fields where the fleet had landed only days before. Something in her mind worried her as she swayed in the litter carried by eight of her own male slaves. Her female attendants close behind.


Machag looked at he scene below from the back of his horse, his tribal symbols hung from various parts of his body. Bone, metal. His muscled brown frame was essentially covered except where he needed to mate with his wives. The strangers had come in ships of the heavens, not the first, but the first in his lifetime. The wreckage of previous visits lay beneath the warm soil of the Vale of Sorrow. These fools were of the same making of that in his great-fathers time, they never left and neither will these. He lifted a gloved hand, a thunder grew behind him and not long after, twenty five thousand men and women of the Horde were assembled across the tops of the foothills.


Salisa felt it first, her Goa’uld senses attuned to her surroundings. It started as a slow cadence, like distant drums, she pulled back the curtain of her litter and saw only a great dust plume coming from the tops of the foothills, the sun’s glare taking away any clear view of what it might be. Nearer to the stationary ships of Sokar’s fleet, Jaffa and slaves alike went about their business setting up and arranging the immediate area for a long term stay. Oblivious to anything else, the rumble of far away thunder a minor distraction.

From his solitary position on the hill Sokar saw the first wave of the black horde descend upon the valley, like a swarm of locusts, it devoured everything in it’s path. He screamed in mental agony as he witnessed his Queen’s cortege’ obliterated like ripe corn. A few staff blasts gave a semblance of defence, some of the horseman went down, but not enough. There were simply too many. When it had ended, he saw only the trampled corpses of his army, his Queen’s litter a smashed wreckage. Not a single one of his ships had managed to launch, the savages had ridden their beasts right into the bowels of each and every vessel. He was now alone to face what may come, as he saw a group break away and ride in his direction, he lifted a staff weapon, ready to give whatever ever punishment he could, to avenge his beloved Queen. His hand quivered in echo of his rage, as his fingers tightened within the metal of his ribbon device.

With one hand held out before him, the staff weapon in the crook of his other arm, the Goa'uld stood there with defiance, he would not and could not cower to these beasts of the plains. A single rider broke away from the group and came at Sokar at the trot. He bore himself with dignity despite his savage bearing. He reined in a few paces short of running down the robed man and with fluid motions dismounted. Arms on his hips, he bellowed a hearty laugh.

Machag, for all his beastly heritage and customs, was not a fool. He knew that the hordes were doomed if they could not change, they had scoured the continent for eons, ravaged every other tribe and absorbed them. But they had grown too large, the land could no longer sustain them.

“Lower your weapon fool. We will not harm you, though you would not last a winds breath if you tried so much to sneeze. I offer you a bargain.”

Sokar looked at the savage human. “You offer me a bargain?” His eyes glowed and he held his hand out, a shot of energy unseen, sent Machag's horse screaming and tumbling back down the hill.

“Impressive, I know what you are. I do not fear you.” He lifted his hand. From the backs of his fellow's horses, bows sprang into quick hands, short shafts strung and with a quivering hiss, two dozen arrow heads struck the earth at Sokar's feet, surrounding him, most not more than a hand span from him. Machag spoke again. “You cannot leave, but we need to. This is my bargain. You will lead us from here in time, myself I may not live to see it. You will teach us the ways of the great sky ships and all we should know. Then after that time has passed, we will release you from the bargain, alone, free to go your way.”

Sokar perhaps for the first time since he took host, was bewildered, these butchers could have ended him there and then, but chose not to for their own sake. A tool he had, a new army maybe for a while. The memory of what he had, was now dust. He spat on the ground. “So be it. I will lead you from this place unto the stars. The plunder of this part of the galaxy shall be yours.” He knew his won enemies would not tolerate his return so soon. “But, journey into the inner reaches of this galaxy at your and my death, there are many of my kin, who would not parley even if the face of doom looked them in the eye.”

“So be it then, you will live. For now.” Machag smiled evilly, his teeth sharpened to points, made him appear an agent of the seven hells.