Stargate Universe - Asteroids

[Mr Evil 37]

Author's Note:

Hello, GateWorld

A few months ago, I began writing this fan fiction, posting it to FanFiction.net. I have written ten chapters so far, not including the prologue, and am currently on a break while I study for exams and work on other writing projects.

This is not the first time I have posted this story here, but the thread appears to have been deleted and back then I only had the prologue and chapter one. As I make edits to each chapter, fixing continuity errors and making the overall quality better, I will be posting it to this thread. I will begin with posting the prologue, with the first chapter to follow soon.

Here is a short synopsis:

"When the Destiny drops unexpectedly out of FTL into the middle of an asteroid field, the gate auto-activates, leaving the crew scrambling. With tensions rising, can the crew survive until the countdown ends?"

Here are links to my other work:

FanFiction.net - This is where I post my fan fiction. I currently only have Asteroids up there, but I have plans for some more projects too.

FictionPress.com - This is where all of my original writing is posted.

Anyway, onto the fic.

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Previously on SGU...

"Destiny. The design is clearly Ancient, launched hundreds of thousands of years ago." - Dr. Nicholas Rush.

"Where the hell are we?" - Lt. Matthew Scott.

"Several billion light years from home." - Rush.

"We are on a ship, but we have no idea where we are, in relation to Earth." - Scott.

"This ship could be the most important discovery man-kind has made since the Stargate itself." - Rush.

"These are the wrong people, in the wrong place." - Col. Everett Young.

"We've got a lot of wounded, and we need to get home." - Scott.

"We barely have enough power to operate the main systems! This ship simply doesn't have the capability to dial Earth." - Rush.

"Control over most of the ship's operational systems is limited, at best. Navigation, propulsion, many others have been locked out entirely by a master code which we have had no luck in breaking." - Rush.

"Many of the power conduits have been badly damaged. And firing the ship's weapon system without either repairing them or isolating the damaged areas would be prohibitively dangerous." - Rush.

Prologue

Destiny: Gate room.

Eli Wallace pressed a couple of buttons on the Ancient console in front of him, bringing up a schematic of the huge ring shaped structure that towered above him at the far end of the magnificent gate room.

It was close to midnight. Most of the survivors from Icarus Base were sleeping. But not Eli.

As he continued his work, "math boy" muttered to himself in his characteristically sarcastic tone.

"... and while everyone else is sleeping at this time, even Young, I am stuck here trying to learn as much about this damn gate as I can."

Eli looked forward at the Destiny's Stargate. It was a dark gray colour, with nine white triangular chevrons placed evenly apart around the entire ring. A small white ball, the gate bearing, hung from the ceiling, just touching the top of the gate. Dozens of symbols covered the entire perimeter of the gate. Gate addresses, which were required to form a wormhole to another Stargate, to planets within the same galaxy were made up of seven of these symbols. To dial another galaxy, eight symbols were required. But up until a few months ago, the purpose of the mythical ninth chevron had been unknown.

After the attack at Icarus Base, Doctor Nicholas Rush had dialled the ninth chevron address in order to escape. They eighty plus escapees came through the Stargate to the Ancient ship Destiny, which was travelling a far corner of the universe, billions of light-years away from Earth.

Destiny was locked on an unknown course following a number of unmanned ships that were gathering data and resources, manufacturing Stargate’s and depositing them on suitable worlds in their path.

The survivors of the Icarus attack were now stranded on this ship, for millions of years worth of damage and neglect meant that the ship was unable to gather up enough power to dial the Stargate back to Earth.

"Eli?" a voice said, interlaced with static.

Eli picked up the black, military issue radio up from the console.

"Eli, it's Doctor Rush. How is-"

"Look Rush, I'm working as fast as I can! The Destiny's systems aren't very forthcoming when it comes to information about the Ancients biggest technological breakthrough," Eli said into the radio, frustration and exhaustion taking over.

"Stop whining, Eli. This information will be extremely important in the future," Rush stated matter-of-factly. "That gate is very old, probably a prototype, and we need to find out as much about it as possible. Range, power usage etc."

"I know, I know..." Eli rubbed his eyes.

"That gate is our only hope of ever getting home," Rush said, as if it were some kind of encouragement, before sighing. “Okay, Eli, work for another thirty minutes, then get some sleep."

"Thanks," Eli said, his spirits raised. "You should get some sleep as well, you know."

There was silence for a moment.

"No, I have work to do here in the control interface room. Trying to find out more information about the gate seeders sent ahead of the Destiny."

Eli frowned, as he realized how much work Rush actually did, and how little sleep he got in return. Most of the crew hated Rush for one reason or another, mostly because he was the one who had dialled the ninth chevron instead of Earth when Icarus was attacked.

Yes, he had stranded them in a far corner of the universe, but without him they would have all died weeks ago, when the life support systems failed. His knowledge of the Ancients was nearly unmatched, and despite his problems with Young and the rest of the crew, they needed him, whether they liked it or not.

"Okay, but don’t blame me when you collapse,” Eli said sarcastically. “I'll let you know if I find anything important."

"Thanks, Eli,"

Despite Eli's complaining, Rush was right. The Stargate was a miraculous piece of technology, and they needed to find out as much about it, as well as the Destiny as a whole, as possible if they were ever going to make it home.

Even the idea of the Stargate was mind-boggling at best. A round circle that could transport you to another planet through a wormhole? Despite it being months since Rush had first come knocking on his door, the very fact of the Stargate’s existance still blew Eli's mind.

After a few moments of admiring its majesty, Eli's gaze returned to the dusty Ancient console in front of him. Back to work, he though with a reluctant sigh.

Or not.

The immense groan of the Destiny's engines was heard throughout the narrow corridors of the ship, and suddenly Eli's console lit up with data. The ship had dropped out of faster-than-light travel, or FTL, and had detected a Stargate on a planet nearby. But before Eli could interpret any of the data on the screen, there was suddenly a loud crash and Eli was thrown to the floor violently.
He yelled, pain shooting up his arm as he stared up at the magnificent Stargate.

The chevrons on the gate lit up a brilliant white, and the entire ring started to spin clockwise. The gate stopped moving after a few seconds and the gate bearing lit up, locking the first symbol of the gate address. The entire gate began rotating again in the opposite direction, and the process was repeated for the second symbol.

Eli picked himself clumsily off the floor, and fished inside his pockets for the radio, and held down the "transmit" button.

"Uh, Rush? Colonel Young? Anyone on this channel?!" He said into the radio, his eyes growing wider with shock as he looked at the data on the console.

There was more turbulence, nearly knocking Eli down again, but he supported himself on the Ancient console.

"We have a rather large problem!"

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[major davis]

Hello there,

I just wanted to say ive been reading this story on the fan fiction site and beside one small beaf with a plot point I realllly enjoy it. Its the only one ive stuck with for a long time.

[Mr Evil 37]

Wow, thanks major davis!! I didn't realise. I'm glad that you are enjoying it

I have just completed my revisions to chapters one through three, so I will be posting chapter one here soon. Two and three will follow within the next couple of days.

Just out of interesting, which plot point caused you concern? I'll try and fix it during my edits. Put it in a spoiler tag though, for people who have not read it yet.

[Mr Evil 37]

Author's Note:

Here is the revised first chapter. I will also be posting these revised versions to FF.net soon, and I have added names to the chapters too. Enjoy

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Stargate Universe
Asteroids

By Mr Evil 37.


Chapter One “A Big Problem”

Destiny: Corridors

“Eli! I’m on my way!” Rush yelled into the radio as he dashed through the Destiny’s dark corridors.

“Faster would be better!” Eli replied, his voice frantic and hysterical.

Then another, deeper voice came through Rush’s radio, and Rush frowned with dislike as he realised who the voice belonged to.

“Calm down, Eli. I’m on my way to get Scott and Greer, and then I’m coming to the gate room,” Colonel Everett Young, the reluctant leader of the Destiny expedition, said reassuringly.

“Please hurry!” Eli yelled frantically over the radio. “We are out of FTL, the gates dialled, but... well, just hurry!”

There was another loud crash, and Rush was thrown against the hard metal wall, pain shooting up his arm. What the hell was going on? Were they under attack? It hadn’t been long ago since their last encounter with the mysterious blue aliens that were following the Destiny, and was Rush was not sure what state the weapon systems were in.

Rush turned a corner, and suddenly ran head on into a person, throwing them both to the ground. Rush quickly picked himself up, and saw who the idiot was who had ran into him. Chloe Armstrong, daughter of the late Senator of California. The most useless person on the ship, and yet the one Rush had to be the most polite too.

Well, not now.

“Rush, what the-,” Chloe began, before Rush interrupted.

“Chloe, do I look like I have time to chat?! We have a situation, return to your quarters right now!”

Rush set off again at a sprint, leaving Chloe to pick herself up of the floor.

People like Chloe were really starting to annoy Rush. They were the wrong people for the mission. He needed professional experts who believed in the Destiny’s purpose, to explore the universe using the gate networks placed by the seeders. He didn’t need a Senator’s daughter, or a military Colonel who was unwilling to make the hard decisions that needed to be made. The new crew of the Ancient ship needed to realise that they were here for the long run, and they fulfilling the ships original mission was the only way they were ever going to get home.

Not that Rush actually wanted to go home. He was perfectly happy where he was.

Rush rounded a last corner, and entered the huge gate room. But the Scottish scientist had no time to admire the impressive architecture, for he had more pressing issues. Like Eli frantically moving from console to console, pushing buttons like crazy.

Eli’s usually friendly face was contorted in shock and terror; his large build accentuated by a thin red shirt, his relative height magnified by Rushes lack thereof.

“Rush! I need to you confirm this data, you have more experience...,” his voice faded away, as more crashes resonated throughout the ship.

As Rush ran over to the console, he looked at the Stargate, the event horizon of the open wormhole rippling like a pond with millions of tiny stones being dropped into it over and over again, sending rippling shadows across the entire of the magnificent gate room.

“Have you sent a Kino through?” Rush asked curiously, referring to the small, grey ball-shaped Ancient cameras sent through the Stargate to get a good look at the surroundings and to relay telemetry such as atmosphere and gravity back to the Destiny.

“No! I’m kinda busy right trying to make sense of this!” Eli pointed at the screen in front of him, before raising both arms above his head as a sign of helplessness.

Rush hurried over, and looked at the data flickering across the screen, translating it from Ancient to English in his head. It took him a few seconds to comprehend what he was seeing.

“Oh my God...”


Destiny: Corridors.

Colonel Everett Young and Lieutenant Matthew Scott sprinted alongside each other, not saying a word. Young tried to ignore the immense booms reverberating throughout the ship, while thinking ahead about where he was going; Greer’s quarters. The reluctant new crew of the Destiny had been there for months now, but all of the corridors looked the same and Young was still finding his way around.

After being awoken by the first booms and crashes, Young’s first thought had been flashbacks to the horrors of the Lucian Alliance attack on Icarus Base.

After a moment he had remembered where he was however, and had hurriedly dressed into his black Icarus Base uniform. He had then rushed off to Lieutenant Scott’s quarters. On the way, he had contacted Eli, who had spoken frantically and crazily. Rush was on his way to help, while Young gathered Scott and Greer for a possible off-world team. Eli had mentioned an active Stargate, but Young had no idea how much time they had before the jump back to FTL. That, coupled with whatever was colliding with the Destiny, gave great need for urgency.

To his credit, Scott had been dressed and geared up by the time Young arrived at his quarters. The young Lieutenant had grabbed his G36 assault rifle, and followed the Colonel on his way to get Greer.

Scott had an athletic build, with his dark hair shaved in a close buzz cut. He was relatively tall, and was found rather attractive by the eyes of the female crew members. Especially Chloe Armstrong.

“Do you think Greer will be awake, sir?” Scott asked jokingly.

“He damn well better be,” the Colonel replied, smiling. “If he isn’t, I’m going to kick his ass all the way back to Icarus.”

Scott smiled at his joke, but almost instantly his smile receded, betraying the doubt that was creeping to the surface.

Scott has a good man. He had been thrust against his will into a position of leadership by the evacuation to the Destiny, but so far he had surpassed Young’s high expectations: first bringing back the lime needed for the CO2 scrubbers, then on multiple occasions expertly flying the only functioning Ancient shuttle, risking his life to replenish the Destiny’s water supply on the ice planet, and displaying great leadership skills to the off-world team who had been trapped away from the Destiny just a few weeks ago.

Scott had been thrown in the deep end and emerged with a new confidence that surpassed all of Young’s expectations of the Lieutenant. The Colonel had no doubt that Scott would continue to impress.

The pair rounded a corner. On their left was a rusted metal door, tinted with a soft yellow/brown colour like the rest of the Destiny’s interior, and with a circular lock in the centre made up of two stars placed on top of each other. The points of the stars featured black Ancient lettering, presumably for setting lock combinations.

Young slapped the button on the wall to the doors right, and the two stars began spinning in opposite directions. With several clicking noises and then a low hiss, the two sections of the circular door slid apart.

Inside, the warm lights illuminated a small cabin, with quite a lavish bed to one side. Standing by the small viewport to the right, stood Sergeant Ronald Greer. The African-American man was tall; about the same height as Scott, with a large build, closely shaved black hair on his head and face. He turned as the door to his quarters was opened.

“Sergeant! We have a situation, we need to get to the gate room,” Young stated. “Right now!”

Greer’s eyes widened slightly. “Have you looked outside?” He said in his slow-paced, deliberate voice, which gave a false impression to people meeting him for the first time.

In reality, he had a very short temper and was very unpredictable. In traditional military terms, he was considered a loose cannon. He too had been a member of the stranded off-world team, and had arguably fared worse off than the others.

Before Young could answer, Rush’s voice came over the radio.

“Colonel Young! Have you gathered Scott and Greer yet?”

Young held the radio to his mouth. “Yes, we are on our way to the gate room now.”

"You might want to go to the observation deck first," Rush said. “It’ll get you up to speed quicker.”

Young looked at Scott quizzically, who shrugged. Greer took one last look out of the viewport, before gathering up his bullet-proof vest and G36 assault rifle.

“What’s outside, Sergeant?” Scott asked curiously.

“Come see for yourself,” Greer replied, as he lead the way out of his quarters, Young and Scott following with frowns on their faces.


Destiny: Observation deck.

Five minutes later, the door opened, and Scott, Young and Greer walked out onto the large observation deck, and gazed with wonder at the magnificent sight before them.

The deck consisted of a relatively large open space, with a wide convex glass window giving a perfect view of the rest of the ship and the surrounding space. There were two central pillars near the glass window, with a metal hand rail extending all the way round the circular window. An assortment of Ancient tables and chairs, plus a long bench on the centre, made up the furnishings on the deck.

“Whoa...” Scott said, his mouth dropping open.

As Young, Scott and Greer moved closer to the hand rail, they gazed with wonder at the sight on the other side if the glass.

Stretching out in front of them was the incredible ship they now resided on. The part of the ship they could see was the forward section, which was relatively flat and triangular in shape, with both the left and right sides being markedly concave. The ship had a heavily textured surface, and clearly showed its age. There was a lot of visible degradation, and most of the areas Young could see he knew were uninhabitable. From the observation deck, the three military personal could even see a few of the Destiny’s vast arsenal of double barrelled energy cannons.

However, it was not the magnificence of the Destiny itself that shocked the three men so much. Floating all around the ship were hundreds and hundreds of rough, spherical rocks of varying sizes and shapes. It was an ethereal sight; an ancient space craft thrusting a path through the free-floating rocks, which were likely ancient themselves.

"Uh, Rush? You mind telling us what we're looking at here?" Young said into his radio, as he looked at Scott’s shocked face and Greer’s expressionless glare.

"We came out of FTL just outside of a giant asteroid field, and proceeded to plough our way right through it," came Rush's reply.

Young saw a smaller rock in the distance falling towards the front of the long ship, before colliding, the energy shields glowing yellow as the asteroid broke up into several pieces on impact. A very faint shudder was felt by the three soldiers on the deck, emphasising the sheer size if the Destiny.

"Wow... a real asteroid field," Scott said with awe in his voice.

"First Hoth, now an asteroid field... this really is The Empire Strikes Back!" Eli's sarcastic voice said over the radio.

Ignoring Eli’s jokes, Young’s eyes were drawn to a larger asteroid, which was slowly drifting in space.

Suddenly, Young was momentarily blinded by an extremely intense blue and purple glare, a glare this large asteroid had been hiding. He held up his arms to shield his eyes from the light, and screwed up his eyes tightly so he could just see the blinding flash.

"Rush? Is that a star?"

"Yes, Colonel,” came the reply, tinted with irritation.

No doubt Rush thought that had been a stupid question. Well I’m sorry for not being an astrophysicist, Rush, Young thought with resentment.

[major davis]

Wow, thanks major davis!! I didn't realise. I'm glad that you are enjoying it

I have just completed my revisions to chapters one through three, so I will be posting chapter one here soon. Two and three will follow within the next couple of days.

Just out of interesting, which plot point caused you concern? I'll try and fix it during my edits. Put it in a spoiler tag though, for people who have not read it yet.

Ya I don't have a fan fiction account so I couldn't comment... But really its been great. Your a great writer!

Spoiler:

I hate to be critical but I feel your making Greer a little too angry. Yes he has a loose temper and has had some run ins with Rush, but I feel him getting to the point of killing Rush because of one or two insulting phrases is a little over the top. I could understand him getting ticked.. but to the point where he would shoot him at the first chance he gets......... probably not. Even when Rush was staging a mutiny (In Greers mind in Pain) he only knocked him out... Shooting him cause he made fun of his father(especially on a mission that could be vital to destiny where Greer knows he needs to stay focused... just like in air part 3 where he was ticked at Rush like mad but didn't kill him) then doesn't seem like it would make sense.

Other then that you've done a superb job..... keep it up!!

[Mr Evil 37]

Greer then spoke. "This is a much better view than my quarters."

More and more smaller asteroids began drifting towards and colliding into the Destiny. The force of gravity was working in splendid effect; a smaller mass attracted to a larger mass, and being the size of at least five aircraft carriers, the Destiny was without a doubt the largest object in the immediate vicinity. The shudders were almost too small to be felt, until suddenly a larger rock appeared out of nowhere and crashed into the Destiny’s side. The shock wave from the impact vibrated throughout the ship, forcing Young, Scott and Greer to grab hold of the cold hand rail for support.

"How are we doing, Rush?" Young said into the black radio.

"Colonel, stop asking me ridiculous questions and get up here to the gate room," Rush replied.

There was a short pause, sending Young’s insides plummeting into dread.

"Young?! We don't have much time, get up here right now!"

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Author's Note:

I've given up on putting the word Destiny in italics every time. I really can't be bothered

Thanks for breaking up the chapter!!! Haha, kidding, don't wrorry about it

That is one of the major things I am going to change, the whole end of that chapter. Don't worry

[major davis]

Sorry if im being a little too nitpicky.... Maybe im just out to lunch.... lol

[Mr Evil 37]

Don't worry, you're not being too nit-picky. I too recognised a lot of errors with that segment of the story, so I will be fixing that. Don't worry

[major davis]

Don't worry, you're not being too nit-picky. I too recognised a lot of errors with that segment of the story, so I will be fixing that. Don't worry

Your doing great.... DOnt meant to discourage you....

BTW how are you liking SGU so far?

[Mr Evil 37]

I am LOVING it, my favourite show at the moment. I love the complicated characters, and the more intelligent and unpredictable storylines, and I currently find it better than Atlantis. I can't say whether it is better than SG-1 because I have not watched it in years. But it's at least as good.

My only gripe is that occasionally they have wasted the enormous potential of some of their story-lines, such as bringing the lost team back in Sabotage. That was a waste of a fantastic set up.

But it's still my third favourite sci-fi show of all time (First is Firefly, second is Battlestar) and it's VERY close behind BSG. And it's a pleasure to write in the universe (ha, pun).

[Burns]

Just as a heads up, mr evil 37, if you hit on your name then the view posts tag you can find old threads that posted in or started. By the way, nice story keep up with the good work.

[major davis]

I am LOVING it, my favourite show at the moment. I love the complicated characters, and the more intelligent and unpredictable storylines, and I currently find it better than Atlantis. I can't say whether it is better than SG-1 because I have not watched it in years. But it's at least as good.

My only gripe is that occasionally they have wasted the enormous potential of some of their story-lines, such as bringing the lost team back in Sabotage. That was a waste of a fantastic set up.

But it's still my third favourite sci-fi show of all time (First is Firefly, second is Battlestar) and it's VERY close behind BSG. And it's a pleasure to write in the universe (ha, pun).

Lol we think like exactly the same. I love firefly.. and from what ive seen BSG is good too... I agree about sabotage. The end was anti climatic though.... and the sabotage part stunk. If they just took Camille/Sharon screentime(it felt like recycled story from life... OMG so glad ur home luv u for who u are stuff... we learned nothing new about the two) and devoted it to the team getting back that would be so much more awesome.

[major davis]

Lol we think like exactly the same. I love firefly.. and from what ive seen BSG is good too... I agree about sabotage. The end was anti climatic though.... and the sabotage part stunk. If they just took Camille/Sharon screentime(it felt like recycled story from life... OMG so glad ur home luv u for who u are stuff... we learned nothing new about the two) and devoted it to the team getting back that would be so much more awesome.

Also im thinking of doing fan fic but i feel like im just gonna suck at the descriptive part... I know i can do fine with stories and dialogue and writing for the characters but i feel like itd be just blah cause im not good with descriptive stuff.... any advice?

[Mr Evil 37]

Try and describe most of the surroundings, to give the reader a general idea of what the space looks like, but don't give too much because it will get boring and it's always good to allow the reader to use their imagination.

I'm not very good at advice though... try to describe it through the characters eyes. Say what THEY see, as if it's through their eyes, so don't go and describe something which you know is their but the characters can't see. As I said, I'm not good at advice :/

I'll post the next chapter tomorrow afternoon

[Mr Evil 37]

I'm really sorry about not posting the next chapter, but I am currently re-editing the previous chapters in light of recent changes I have made. The next chapters will be up eventually, and I would imagine that when one is up the rest will follow fairly rapidly. I know I don't have many readers here, but for the ones I do have, I'm sorry and it's coming