Chapter Text
P3X-671
… Jonas Quinn, born of Kelowna and currently acting as the main liaison/scientist/archaeologist/egghead as per Colonel O'Neill's own statements, slid into cover behind a piece of rock right beside some kind of unknown ancient temple just before a Jaffa's staff blast hit it, melting part of the rock.
He spun about onto his stomach and fired a burst from his P90 Personal Defense weapon, watching the spray of rounds cut across the metal armor of the Jaffa that had shot at him, a dark-skinned human male. He aimed straight for the stomach and watched the penetrating rounds spark off the plate, punching into what was essentially the Jaffa's second heart:The Goa'uld symbiote pouch.
The Jaffa dropped dead, blood staining the ground beneath him as the rest of Stargate Command's premier officer team, SG-1, made it to cover. Samantha Carter, Major of the US Air Force, slid into cover beneath a berm and said, "Hell of a welcoming committee! For a place not on the Abydos Cartouche, Anubis's guys got here REALLY QUICKLY!"
"We oughta ask him about that the next time we see him! These guys were on high alert, too!" Jack answered, then fired his own weapon, nailing a Jaffa clean through the forehead tattoo. He crouched behind the cover of a low ruin wall, then reloaded his weapon and asked, "Hey, Jonas!" only to see the young man turn his head. "Did we ever figure out what kind of ruins these are!?"
"No!" The young man answered, "I've never seen the script before! It isn't Ancient, Goa'uld or any other known Race!"
"It does seem oddly familiar, however!" Teal'c replied, then snapped off several shots from his own staff weapon. A swarm of other Jaffa troops surged out from the treeline, speaking to each-other in the classical 'Krees' and other words of the Goa'uld's language, firing their weapons to try and keep them suppressed.
A pair of them tried to flank the unit, but Carter was quick on the draw, firing into the trees. Shards of wood sprayed out with each impact that missed a Jaffa, washing over the half-alien, half-human carriers of the Goa'uld and splintering further against the chainmail. Several rounds did impact, though, sending two men tumbling over like bowling pins struck center mass.
A third turned, aimed his staff at Teal'c and fired, but the Free Jaffa was quicker on his feet, actively dodging the blast and turning to face his still-enslaved brother. Two shots left his own staff, bolts of golden Naquadah-enhanced plasma that zipped through the air and struck, blowing two large holes into the man's sternum and the pouch.
He ducked as a volley of other staff blasts swished overhead and struck their cover or the ruins around them. He asked, "O'Neill! Have we any reinforcements?!"
"Nothing we can call on right now! 'Gate's been on the fritz since yesterday night and SG-3 is stuck down there defending it against an onslaught of Jaffa!" The Colonel answered quickly. He radioed and demanded, "REYNOLDS, YOU GUYS GOOD BACK THERE!?" while the whine of antigrav engines filled the air. He saw a pair of the birds-of-prey of the Goa'uld Navy flying circles around the Gate.
"We're facing a lot of heavy firepower over here, sir! Got a couple Gliders circling overhead and we can't get to our Stingers!" The man answered over the loud din of gunfire, probably an M60 or one of the newly-deployed M240B GPMGs. He added, "Engineers are saying the 'Gate's juice should be back, though!"
"Good!" Jack murmured, "At least something went right for us today…! Alright, SG-1, bounding retreat! We move in pairs! Jonas, Teal'c, you guys go first! I and Carter will cover you! You make it to that treeline, you turn and cover us! We keep leapfrogging like that until we're with SG-3 in defilade, then we book it for the Gate!"
"Understood! Come, Jonas Quinn!" Teal'c spoke, waving the young man to his side. Jonas took a deep breath, said a quick prayer to whatever non-Goa'uld Kelownan god he could think of, then jumped to his feet and ran toward Teal'c while Carter and O'Neill provided covering fire. When he made it to Teal'c's foxhole, the Jaffa yelled to O'Neill, "We are ready!"
"Okay! GO!" He answered, then immediately started firing. A full second of automatic fire from two distinct guns suppressed an advancing force of Jaffa soldiers that were trying in turn to suppress them. Jonas and Teal'c bounded across the open terrain toward the treeline, running as fast as their legs would hold them.
Jonas, however, let out a loud, "WOAH!" and skidded to a halt, digging his heels into the grass and mud below. He stopped Teal'c, too, watching the Jaffa raise his staff at a dozen silhouettes of Jaffa warriors stepping out of the treeline, weapons already aimed at them. The two men were about to raise their weapons, probably knowing they'd be dead or captured. This was basically a Last Stand.
But the enemy's shots never came. Instead, scarlet bolts rippled out from the right, burning through trees and through the Jaffas' armors. The weapon blasts were more focused, though, much more-so than normal Jaffa staff weapons. The two men staggered and dropped into cover quickly, then turned their heads.
"Go, go, go!" They heard a gruff older voice call out. Before they could react, a squad of troops equipped with what looked like standard Firearms appeared out of the treeline. They wore broad white helmets with black visors and were clad in camouflage uniforms of some kind. Their leader, an older man with a goatee and his grey hair caught in a bun, stepped out of the treeline while firing a handheld pistol of some kind.
He moved up to them, dropping into the same foxhole alongside two more of his soldiers, a male and a female, then asked, "Are you and your people friendly?!"
Jonas stared in shock for a second, while Teal'c seemed to be processing what he was seeing. The man grabbed Teal'c by the arm and asked again, "I know we're in the middle of a firefight, son, but I'm going to ask you again, are you four and the people defending the Ring FRIENDLY!?" only for Teal'c to look into his eyes.
They were white. He had burns around his eye sockets, too. He was BLIND.
And yet, Teal'c sensed something about him…
"Indeed…" Teal'c replied in a low voice.
The man seemed to 'stare' for a second more, looking at Teal'c and at Jonas. He nodded and said, "Okay. Good…" only to lift his right hand, which seemed to have some sort of com device attached to it, up to his mouth. He spoke, "TALON-2 and -3, this is ACTUAL. Converge on my position and be ready to move out. We've got friendlies who need some cover!"
He then looked at Teal'c and Jonas and said, "Stay down," as he stood up, blasting two more Jaffa with his own energy pistol, "And cover us! We'll get your friends back and retreat to the Ring!" before he drew something off his back and ignited it… A bright emerald energy blade extended out from a hilt wrapped in cloth, glowing in the midday.
"Holy…" Jonas started, cradling his P90. Teal'c looked stunned as he watched the man deflect several staff shots back at them. A dozen men clad in similar uniforms stepped out of the trees and engaged the Jaffa with their own plasma rifles, cutting multiple down in bursts while the man in the lead pushed forward.
He had a strange scarlet emblem on his shoulder pauldron–a red bird with its wings sprawled and head pointing up… Teal'c mumbled, "... Familiar…" as he hefted his staff and said, "Come, Jonas Quinn! We must move!" while lifting Jonas to his feet. Jack looked back at the man moving up beside him, eyes widening slightly as he saw him deflect energy blasts with his own laser sword.
He and Carter exchanged a look of concern. Never look a gift horse in the mouth, though, O'Neill thought, turning toward the old man and saying, "I'm guessing you guys are friendly! You mind backing us up so we can get the Hell home!?" only to freeze upon seeing the man was blind. He mumbled, "For cryin' out loud…!"
"We've got more of my own incoming," He replied, then deflected another bolt without so much as 'looking'. He he then drew his pistol again and shot two more Jaffa clean through their heads, before saying, "... Once they're here, we're going to pull back to the Ring and then you can explain to me why I feel two lives in these peoples' bodies."
"... Gotcha," The man replied, stunned. He gave Carter a pat on the back, then turned to provide covering fire as Teal'c and Jonas joined back up with them. He asked them, "You guys figure out who this is…?"
"No…" Teal'c answered, though he hesitated. Jonas, meanwhile, shrugged his shoulders. The trooper beside him, a young woman armed with a long-barreled laser rifle, aimed and snapped off a shot that vaporized a Jaffa's head while the drone of antigrav systems seemed to grow louder and louder. Teal'c then said, "... It seems we've angered the hornet's nest! Incoming Death Gliders!"
"Yeah, we saw them!" Jack replied, then looked at the blind old man with an energy blade and said, "You might wanna get down from there!"
He got a sideways 'glance', or whatever passed for one from the man. The two enemy fighters turned about, tracking the ground troops as the weirdly-varied group of soldiers spread out across the clearing. The older man said, "Keep your heads down," as a sort of warning, then took a combat stance more akin to that of a knight as he tracked the two fighters by sound.
The first Glider fired its cannons, two boulders of plasma roaring out. The man's left hand shot out and seemed to stop the first blast. The second, he deflected away from the battle line and into the trees, causing a detonation that uprooted several and moved the treeline back a few feet. He then jumped way too high for a normal being as the craft drew close enough and slashed one across the cockpit.
His hand shot out again as the first fighter careened toward the ground and slammed into another clearing nearby, exploding in a flareup of Naquadah and fire. His hand clenched and the second Glider's engines seemed to explode outward. He landed on his feet as the last enemy craft fell out of the sky like a god-damned brick, landing not far behind them.
The man landed beside Jack, who blinked and said, "Okay. That was impressive," as he stood up. Several dozen pairs of footsteps approached and SG-1 immediately trained their guns on the direction of the incoming. All of them paused as they saw several humans AND SEVERAL BIPEDAL ALIEN CREATURES moving with them.
A blonde-haired woman in a combat uniform said, "General Kota… Glad to see you found actual friendlies-" then froze as she saw Teal'c. The Jaffa bowed his head in greeting and continued shooting at the other Jaffa that were coming after them. She whispered, "... I suppose he'd also be a friendly, then?"
"Sure seems that way," The man spoke warily, "We haven't gotten introductions done, but we'll likely get those out of the way when we're off this rock. You know how to operate the Ring?" and his gaze transfixed on O'Neill immediately.
"Yeah, we do. It's kind of our thing," Jack replied, then radioed, "Reynolds, be advised, check your fire! We're coming in with a few new allies, some of which are…" and he eyed a googly-eyed, almost fish-like humanoid in the group who was wearing a leather cap, "... Alien. And I'm talking more than Teal'c or the Jaffa."
"Colonel, with all due respect, we'll take anyone we can get right now!" The man answered, "We've got a battalion of Jaffa bearing down on us as it is!"
"We're on our way. Dial the Gate," The old man spoke before Jack could. 'Kota' was his name. He looked at O'Neill and inquired, "... Where are you from? It's rare to see slugthrowers in combat, especially with that kind of rate of fire…" to which Jack blinked. He looked over at a worried-looking Teal'c, then back at Kota while he was processing things.
"... Well, we're going to our place right now, so if you wanna find out," He spoke, then gestured toward the direction of the Gate, "... Are you guys native?"
"No," The female answered as she holstered her pistol, "We came through the Ring while escaping an enemy force that was trailing us. This was the only combination of symbols we knew and we have it with us on a holodisk…" then she paused. More heavy footsteps, metal, probably Jaffa. She said, "We have to go, now. Before more of these people come back."
"Follow us," Jack answered, then looked at Carter for answers as if she had them. Much to the Colonel's chagrin, the woman shook her head. He sighed, then rallied Jonas and Teal'c to his side. The squad, now reinforced by about forty-odd people armed with plasma weapons that looked like Earth guns.
The sound of gunfire drew closer and closer as the teams marched out toward the Stargate. O'Neill popped out of the Treeline first, to the sight of the Marines of SG-3. One of the men hefted a Stinger, an anti-air Man-Portable Air-Defense System–or MANPADS for short—aimed it and waited for the tone before firing. The missile streaked out of the tube and nailed one of the other enemy Death Gliders while Reynolds suppressed several targets with his M16A2.
The Alien infantry of their newfound allies moved out to cover them and started firing up at the enemy fighters while Reynolds dialed the Gate. He looked back at O'Neill, then blanked and said, "Is that a fucking Lightsaber, sir?" as he watched General Kota and the blonde woman step up to the line of fire.
Kota looked at him and nodded, then scattered his troops as he shut off the blade and sheathed the hilt, simply focusing on his blaster pistol now. Teal'c seemed to gain some sort of immediate and terrifying insight as to what he was seeing. He crouched, aimed his staff at an enemy bird trying to dive down on them, then fired.
Reynolds called out, "Right, well… This is gonna be fun to tell the kids about," before he slammed his palm onto the orange central 'gem' that was the Gate's DHD. Beside them, the Gate glowed and flared, a whirlwind of energy flowing out from the maw like a splash of water, before retracting and stabilizing into a semi-calm lake, the event horizon.
Jaffa forces advanced through the trees, nailing one of Reynolds's men in the hip. An alien soldier was quick to pick him up and help drag him through the 'Gate while SG-1 provided covering fire. Carter thumbed a few buttons on her own 'Garage Door Opener', the GDO Code emitter, then said, "GDO'S IN! LET'S MOVE!"
As the enemy's Death Gliders turned back in and fired their plasma cannons, the troops managed to rush toward the Gate, with Jack and the General stopping right in front of the Gate. He looked at the man and said, "Look, I don't know how you're doing all this crap, but this is one hell of a moment to get scared!"
"I'm not," The man replied, then gazed back at the enemy fighters, "... I don't think we're really home anymore, though."
"Understatement, now C'MON!" Jack barked as he grabbed the man by the armor vest and threw both himself and the man in. The feeling of being demolecularized or whatever Carter had said happened to them whenever they went through the Gate came and went as quickly as it'd take to snap one's finger.
The two older men stumbled through the 'Gate last, to the sight of several Marines and Airmen pointing rifles at them and these guys pointing their rifles back in turn. Jack was quick to call out, "EASY, GENERAL, THESE GUYS JUST SAVED OUR COLLECTIVE BACON BACK THERE!" and looked at General Kota, who was… Well, almost looking like he was glaring at him.
The man removed his hand rather forcefully from his chest, placed it by his side, then said, "I was gonna go through on my own. Was just gauging out what kind of people we've annoyed in this new place…" And a moment later, he walked over to the blonde in the ranks of his forces. Jack blinked in confusion. Something felt ODDLY familiar about these people.
"Any ideas, Teal'c?" Jack asked.
"... I do believe they may be Rebels, O'Neill," Teal'c replied with an odd sense of excitement hidden behind his usually stoic facade. O'Neill looked confused. As if what Teal'c had said didn't narrow it down whatsoever. So, he clarified, "... Do you remember my favorite Tau'ri motion picture?" which immediately caused Jack to blank out and remember, eyes widening. He looked at Kota and pointed at him, to which Teal'c gravely said, "Indeed."
Meanwhile, General Kota listened to approaching footsteps. A somewhat rotund, but well-built gentleman in an Air Force uniform ordered, "At ease, gentlemen," which got the US troops to immediately put their guns on safe. Kota looked back at his men and gave them a nod. A second later, the energy weapons' barrels were pointing at the floor, with the bald man saying, "Welcome to Earth, ladies and gentlemen… I'm General George Hammond, United States Air Force officer and current acting commander for the base you find yourselves in, Codename:Stargate Command. Thank you for protecting SG teams One and Three."
"You're welcome," He answered, then added, "I'm General Rahm Kota of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. We've never heard of Earth or your United States… But we appreciate the timely rescue as well. We've been stuck on that rock fighting and running for the past two days… And I'd like a place for my soldiers to rest."
"That can be arranged while we go through a debriefing, General," Hammond answered.
He nodded, then gestured the blonde woman forward and said, "This is my executive officer, Captain Juno Eclipse. She's one of the finest pilots we have and one hell of an officer… If you don't mind letting her talk to the teams we just fought alongside, I'd like to have an extra bit of information about where we are while we talk."
"That's perfectly fine by me," George replied, then looked at Jack and said, "Colonel. Hope you don't mind an extra shadow for the day."
"No, no, that's… Perfectly fine, sir," Jack answered as they descended from the gate, looking a bit… Weirded out.
"But?" Hammond raised a brow, noting the hesitation.
"... We're better off talking in private. No offense, Captain, General," Jack suggested, then looked at the pair. Kota nodded, while Captain Eclipse looked particularly unbothered, hands behind her back. Hammond hummed, then sighed and shook his head. He led General Kota and the squad out of the place, with medical teams immediately moving to help those who were wounded in the firefight.
Captain Eclipse said to him, "Thank you for that… We didn't know how to operate that Ring. Hell, if we'd have known it was a teleport beforehand, we wouldn't have touched it…" as she adjusted the holster of her pistol underneath her khaki jacket. She saw the man's worry reflect in his eyes, then said, "... Don't worry. The Cartouche we originally took the symbol combination from was destroyed."
"So your bad guys can't follow you over here… Right?" Jack asked as he gestured broadly at Earth. The last thing the man wanted was those kinds of ships popping into orbit above them.
"Unless they can somehow track the direction that teleporter took us, no," The woman replied, "And even then, we were at the edge of the known Galaxy. It will take the Empire time to gather up the reinforcements to hound our cell. Our own ships should've scattered into Hyperspace, making the destruction all the more unlikely…"
"That's a lot of info to give out to people you barely know, Captain," Carter observed.
"Because your uniforms do not match those of the Empire and I'm fairly sure they haven't started using Slug Throwers, even for Planetary Defense Forces," She replied calmly, eyeing the Major right back. She then looked upon O'Neill again and told him, "Believe me, Colonel, we mean no harm to your people."
"Oh, I know," He answered in a murmur, "I'm more worried about what usually comes after we meet new people. Especially now…" his eyes darting between the various alien soldiers in the room. He jabbed a thumb back toward one, a female with tails for hair, then asked, "Where's she from?" only to immediately turn to the woman and say, "No offense, we don't judge friendly aliens."
"None taken," The woman replied, her accent thick and VERY French.
Juno answered with, "Katrya's from Ryloth, but we aided her in escaping Kessel. Joined our merry band of soldiers and was trained by me and General Kota personally… Same as most of those around you," then she pointed at another soldier, a human with black hair and pale skin and said, "Nix joined us from Corulag, his wife Beth," then he pointed at a blue-eyed girl of seemingly Asian descent, "Came from Bespin… Faoh is from Mandalore."
"Hello, Vod," replied the woman in the rear, a woman with a darker complexion and touting a sniper rifle. She wasn't quite African-American, but closer to a Mediterranean skin tone with curly black hair and eyes the color of green olives. She gave the man a quick salute, then said, "Can we get some chow soon, captain?"
"Give it time," The woman answered flatly, "I'm sure they have something edible here."
The group climbed up the stairs, to the sight of staff operating the Gate Room's controls and various computers. One of the Rebel riflemen commented, "Huh. Old Computers. Nice," before being shut up by a glare from Juno. The troopers then walked up a metallic spiral staircase to the second floor of the command room, where a table was waiting with refreshments laid out.
The table was a strange mix of materials, ovoid and angular, long enough to house two full squads for debriefing. It was also surrounded by various windows depicting constellations. Juno murmured, "Huh. Reminds me a little of Yavin–IV…" as she saw a glass screen depicting yet more constellations, plus areas marked with dots and visited planets.
The General gestured to the comfortable seats, then sat down at the head of the table. Kota sat opposite him, his back to the window showing the Gate, before Hammond began, "Well… Let's start with the beginning then, shall we?" as he adjusted his uniform slightly. Kota and Eclipse both looked at one-another, then at SG-1, then at the General.
Kota leaned onto the table, fingers steepled together as he began, "... We'd like to ask a few things before we go on. Namely about the Ring out there, what I'm assuming you're calling the Stargate," as Juno poured herself something to drink. General Hammond nodded, though he soon noticed again that the man was blind. He told them, "How does it operate? The principles behind it could be quite useful for our people. And if you've made them, we could sure use a lot more of them."
"We didn't," Jack replied, "But we hear ya. The Ancients left all these doohickeys behind for us to have fun with and no instruction manual. Took us a bit of time to get our own Cartouche and start exploring, though… And we've been doing it for a fairly long while at this point," and he smiled, "... Soooo… You guys are from…?"
"The Alliance to Restore the Republic," Kota repeated clearly, "Or 'The Rebellion' if you wanna call us by a shorter title…"
… It was then that a realization seemingly dawned on Hammond, another one of the people Teal'c had watched a certain movie with…
And the question came up:If they had a Stargate… Who the hell else did?
… Caprica, Helios Alpha System, Cyrannus, The Twelve Colonies of Kobol
6th of Junis 1994(Caprican Calendar), around 30 years after the Treaty
Archaeological digs on Caprica and the other Colonies would usually turn up a bevy of interesting artifacts, both from the Cylon War period and the various historical periods of the planet during its Colonization. These kinds of Artifacts would always help further the Colonials' understanding of how they came to be upon these Twelve Planets they called home now.
Usually, those artifacts would be something small and benign. A spear-head or maybe an ancient model of firearm that so many modern guns get their derivations from, its wood eaten away by the elements, the rust permeating its metal frame thus making it unusable as anything but a museum piece, if even that.
Some things necessitated increased security, however. High-yield ordnance left from the previous wars, old nukes lost by the Military during Civil Wars or the very recent war with their former machine servants, the Cylon. It was one of these things that was brought over to a secure military installation on Caprica itself, in the Mountains.
… Which, for some reason, felt a tad cliche.
Rear Admiral Helena Cain adjusted her cufflinks and collar, making sure her uniform was straight and prim and proper for when she got to her odd new command. The Battlestar Pegasus was still her main official flag ship and her command, but Fleet needed her dirtside for this one. She looked at her adjutant, a young Navy officer with a shine in his eyes and on his dress shoes.
Hers were matted out at this point from the amount of parade crap and combat patrols she had to do with her Battlestar Group. Sighing, she finished adjusting her uniform and said, "You're way too wiley today, Konrad. Do you have any idea why Command had to move something like this to an underground bunker? Stuff like this is usually big old stones with what people always interpret to be starmaps."
"No, ma'am," The young man responded, "Word of mouth is it's tied to an old Religious sect, though…"
She rolled her eyes, mumbling a quick, "Great…" as if getting raked on the coals by the Gemenese or Sagittarons for 'damaging holy sites during training' didn't make her job harder. She told him, "Guess it makes sense now… You a religious man?"
He shrugged, "Only as far as going to the Temples to pray. My family has Athena as our Patron, mostly due to our history as Hunters," and he looked at Cain. He had the face and build of a country hick, alright, but the boy was also smart. Sharp as a knife and calm as a well-oiled machine purring in the factory.
She cracked a smirk, moving her hands behind her back and interlacing them as she replied, "Good to know. You're a fresh assignee to my cadre. Where are you from?"
"Born Caprican, ma'am, but we have ties to Picon," He replied as the Elevator, a fancy one made of steel with wood panels and various newly-created electronics, slowed as it approached Sublevel Twenty-Two. He turned toward the door, then said, "We're coming up on the Command Center, ma'am…"
"Old decommissioned nuclear silo, son," She corrected, then took a deep breath, "Hell of a place to store secret artifacts…"
The Elevator's PA let out a loud ding as it finally stopped. The main door slid to the right, opening with a mechanical crackle and hiss to reveal wide reinforced concrete corridors and Colonial Army infantry armed with standard issue Model 36 Rifles. They snapped salutes as Cain and her adjutant walked out. Salutes she replied to in kind, saying to them, "Glad to see the footsloggers are busy."
The Riflemen let out short laughs as the two Navy officers passed by them, taking a left down the T-shaped corridor, passed power boxes and other circuitry while the recessed lights above them hummed their usual, dreary hum. The Admiral led the way through toward the Base's meeting room, climbing up a set of concrete stairs and taking another right. The place also had tarps slowly being removed from all the computer systems
They entered the briefing room where various computers beeped and chimed and where Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine officers were waiting. They all stood up and saluted, with Cain immediately recognizing Major-General Apone from the Marines, General Shepherd of the Army with his bushy silver mustache and Brigadier General Brewster from the Air Force.
"... Gentlemen," She greeted. She felt underdressed as a Rear Admiral. So many two and three-star staff. She quickly saluted back, watching as Brewster gestured to the chairs saved specifically for her and her XO. She said, "... This must be important enough if half the Chiefs of Staff of the United Colonial Military are here…"
"It's why we chose to meet here, Admiral," Apone spoke, holding a cigar between his lips. The eagle emblazoned on his officer cap held the sash bearing the symbols of the Twelve Colonies in its talons, wielding a sword in its beak and perching upon a shield. He took his cap off and scratched the top of his shaven head, dark skin glistening with a bead of sweat, "The situation necessitates a lot of secrecy unless we want a whole new cultist issue to spring up."
Apone was a military man from Tauron. The Corps was his lifeblood. His entire family had served at some point in the Marines, with even his own daughter, Amanda, being on-duty right now at some training exercise housed on Picon. Amphibious landing practice, if she recalled. The Peggy was supposed to participate in it, too, before she got recalled here.
Brigadier General Brewster said to General Shepherd, "I think we're ready to begin, General."
"Right," The man nodded, then took a deep breath and stood up, adjusting his own beret. He walked over to a massive tele-screen nearby. One of the Guards present turned off the light as the television switched on. As the first image appeared, Shepherd said, "... At Oh-Thirteen-Hundred hours yesterday morning, Archaeological digs in the polar circle discovered a cache of artifacts that have been carbon-dated to Humanity's arrival in the Cyrannus System. Though normally not a surprising occurrence, they lent some credence to various theories…"
The images showed the various items pulled by the staff from the tundra. Bone tools, metal rods, perfectly-preserved leather armor and so on. Several small jars of some kind were pulled out from what looked like a ruin buried in the ice. The General said, "These types of Jars, however, are a very new discovery. One we haven't found so far in any similar archaeological sites."
"Is that it?" Cain murmured to herself, "Some fancy jars…?"
Shepherd looked at her and said, "We wouldn't have been called here if that was it," in a deadpan. She replied with a shrug and a nod, allowing the man to continue, switching out images, "... With these Jars, we found a series of tablets in a dialect we haven't seen before. Some were already translated before they were brought in, lending credence to an ancient theory in regards to our people's arrival in the System."
Cain blinked, then paused as the files on the Screen showed details about some sort of 'Eye of The Gods'. She remembered that theory:They hadn't fully arrived by ship. Some were sent via starcraft to the planet while others yet made their way through the 'Eye of the Gods', getting transposed to Caprica first, the origin point of the Colonies.
She mumbled, "Don't frakking tell me…"
Shepherd nodded gravely… "We found it."
He thumbed the button on the remote, switching to an aerial view of the Dig. A Circular object made of some kind of strange stone sat, laid down on the hardened dirt and ice. It had multiple orange gemstones placed in nine distinct locations, almost resembling a clock. There was an internal ring made of symbols within, looking like familiar constellations.
"That's…" Cain began.
Apone said, "Impossible? We thought so, too… 'till we carbon dated whatever the hell it's made out of. It's beyond ancient, older than even our arrival here. Hell, perhaps older than the entire human race," as he gestured at it. He then added, "We've made sure every single Scientist working at the base that unearthed it is on an NDA. Anyone who tries to dodge it disappears."
"... This is giving credence to those assholes in the Rhean cult," The woman stated, staring at the Eye of The Gods with a hint of shock. "To think their ramblings… No, wait, no, it could just as easily be an old worship thing, like a totem or a statue. And if that's the case, we can blow it and whatever else is tied to it to pieces and make sure the others never know."
"That may be a bit tough," Brewster commented, looking at her. Seeing the confusion in the woman's eyes, he told her, "We had to use mining charges to dig this thing out, Helena. The dirt around it felt like it hardened for some gods-forsaken reason. Almost looked like stone, too. Like something was trying to stop it from being recovered."
"All the more reason to put it back or blow it to hell," The woman grumbled, then asked, "Okay then. Where is it? I'm sure you didn't call me here just to show me some pictures of this crap and say 'oh, we buried it again'. Did you actually bring it to this base?!" to which Shepherd smiled. He walked over to a nearby armored window that had a bulkhead over it as one of his riflemen turned the light back on, then waved Cain over.
The woman stood up with her ensign, marching to the window. The blast doors were there to shield observers in what was once the Silo control room, meaning… She looked down at the Eye of the Gods below, her own eyes widening as she leaned against the window frame. She whispered, "... Gods above…"
"Rhea's Eye is real," The General said as the other officers joined them, "... Looks like we know for a fact Kobol was real, too."
"... Those tablets. We need them translated right now," She answered promptly, then looked down at the strange alien device to the side of the Eye. She pointed at it and asked, "And what the hell is that?"
"What we believe to be the control system of the Eye," Brewster quickly answered, leaning against the window, too. "It's got a power source emitting a great deal of energy from within and from what we could see inside, it's powered by some sort of crystalline network far beyond what we can even dream of doing. And it's got all the symbols on the Eye's internal ring."
"... And we're gonna keep this crap a secret from the rest of the Colonies, right?"
"Only the people in this room and the most high-up members of government will know about it," Shepherd replied, "And we're all sworn to secrecy."
"I'll sign whatever NDA is needed," She replied, "... I want the Pegasus transferred to the Caprica Defense Fleet ASAP. You guys called me here for the same reason you're all around, right? We're planning on setting up a research station in this base to understand this damned thing. We could find Kobol… Hell, we could find the legendary Thirteenth with it!"
"You're actually excited for something like this, Helena?" Shepherd commented, gesturing to the Gate, "Never thought I'd see the day."
She told him, "Trust me, Herod, I wouldn't usually be like this, but I wouldn't be born from the descendants of Kobol if I wasn't excited to find the Ancestral Home. Much more, to find our long-lost brothers of the Thirteenth Tribe…" then gestured broadly at the Eye, "And that ring of stone's about to make that possible."
"Let's hope you're right…" He answered, then handed her a set of access cards, each with a high security level, "Because command wants you running the show when you're not on patrol with the Pegasus. We'll also be around from time to time to take the place off your hands, but considering the way you've been carrying yourself?"
She smiled a very Cain-esque smile, a knowing look in her eyes. She took the cards in hand, then said, "It'll be my pleasure to get this place in shape, then. Probably start by giving it a thorough cleaning," as she ran her finger across the window sill and lifted it up to reveal dust, "Y'know. Considering it's ancient."
"Fine by us," The man said, "The Archaeological team who uncovered these materials is also present on-site if you want to talk to them. We have our head translator working on the tablets we found."
"I'll go see them right away… If you guys will dismiss this little commission, that is," She said, pointing broadly around the room by using the cards. She then paused and asked, "... What kind of funding are we looking at here? I know this isn't gonna be a Caprica-only operation, seeing as we have me and several other Tauron and Picon staff here."
"The Ministry of Defense has already set aside a healthy amount of Cubits for this program. There's vested interest in it succeeding," Apone commented, crossing his arms to his chest, "Keep it close to the vest, though. Everyone's gonna be wonderin' where a few BILLION Cubits went over the next couple years…"
… Cain had nearly fainted at the full sum. To keep the lights on in this base, which was being refurbished for what the government had code-named the TRAVELLER PROGRAM, it cost around ten million Cubits per month. They'd only paid for one month so far, but the grand total summed up for full base operations, including soldiers' salaries, researchers and tech, got up to about SEVEN-POINT-FOUR BILLION COLONIAL CUBITS PER YEAR.
No sane man that wasn't an entrepreneur was gonna see that money in a LIFETIME, much less in a YEAR. And even the local millionaires had no hope of touching that kind of cash flow in ten years. Twenty to thirty, maybe, if the economic growth was projected to continue as it had since the Cylon War.
Konrad walked with her toward the base's laboratories, stating, "You seem a bit worried, ma'am."
"One of the greatest archaeological discoveries in humanity's history, possibly able to change the great religious paradigms of SEVERAL Colonies and outright cause them to descend into Civil War due to the reinterpretations it would cause, is currently in our possession. One slip-up could lead to the greatest and most destructive conflict Mankind has faced since the Cylon frakking rebelled and I'm the one they put in charge of it," She counted the issues on her fingers, sounding more and more upset before settling her voice into a half-hearted sarcastic bluster, "Nah, I'm perfectly fine. Just fine."
"My bad," He shrunk a little, then sighed and said, "Any chance you can get other officers down here, ma'am? We might need a few veterans with us."
"Have a list of people you might want around on my desk at sixteen-hundred," She answered, then thought for a second and said, "Make sure William Adama's on it. The man's work on the Galactica has him slotted for either an amazing promotion, or one hell of a retirement. I'd rather keep him around for a few more years if I can help it."
"Aye, aye, ma'am," The man replied, writing down the man's name in a notebook for future reference. The officers then entered the laboratories. Though the room was narrow, it was packed with some of the top-of-the-line technologies available to the Colonial Military. Odd, but she'd take any help she could get at deciphering this mess.
The scientists all turned when she entered the room. A female scientist with curly blond hair walked up to her with a bright smile, then said, "You must be the new commander of this base… They told us to expect you," as she looked her over. Cain furrowed her brows, slightly surprised at the beauty before her, then nodded.
"What do you have for me, doc?" She asked as they stepped into the room itself. She saw several of the tablets and the weird jars resting on the nearby tables. The woman led the way over to the table where the first of the tablets lay. Aside from her command ability, Cain had a pretty good deductive spirit. The symbols she was seeing on the Tablet matched something else in this project.
The female scientist said, "Going by the look you have in your eyes, I presume you figured out this first tablet, or at least what it represents."
"... A Cartouche of some kind," She murmured, lifting the weighty stone item up. She also noticed several other stones and things around, but didn't dare touch them. She looked at the Scientist and said, "Some of these symbols match what little I could see on the Eye and its little support pylon or whatever the hell that is."
"We called it a Dialing Device," The woman replied, "Mostly because it looks like the dials on old phones… And yes, you're correct. That's what we believe to be an Address at the top… We're preparing to test it out," while the Admiral handed it back. "With your permission, obviously… Though we'd also like to translate the rest of the Data."
"... We'll put in the combination first, then read through the rest," The woman answered, then told her, "Thirty mikes. Get to the Eye then in HAZMAT Gear… It's time to see if the Eye of the Gods is real, or just a totem like I said…"