Chapter Text
Stargate Command
“... We have been investigating rumors of this artifact since before we even jumped into the uncharted system,” Juno explained calmly. They had placed a holographic device on the table that displayed the rough coordinates of the system they’d found the gate. She continued, “Rather obviously, when we landed, we discovered what you call the ‘Stargate’ buried within the confines of an old temple of some kind, lined with both Aurebesh, our standard Script for Basic, and an odd, more old-looking and angular language.”
As images flashed, showing the differences between the two, Jonas pointed at it and said, “That’s the script we saw on the planet. The one beside it is Ancient,” then he pointed at the more angular Ancient scripture. The woman nodded, to which he said, “Wait, so you guys are saying that is your version of English?”
“Yes,” Juno replied calmly, “We noticed you use the High Galactic alphabet, though. I can have Aurebesh written out for you in a few hours.”
“I’d appreciate it. We took photos of all the scripture in those old Temples and I’d like to translate it,” Jonas answered, then added, “But this does imply another thing–your people had an outpost here at some point in time. And while I’d like to go back and do the whole work of carbon-dating that crap, I’m pretty sure the Jaffa have the Gate locked down tight.”
Kota hummed, while Juno continued, “The outpost itself was an Old Republic site, presumed to be at around three to four thousand years old. We don’t know why it was abandoned, but we can assume it was because they met the ‘Goa’uld’... That, or perhaps issues tied to that age meant they couldn’t sustain the Outpost for long.”
“... Has this Republic been around for that long?” Jack asked, though he felt like he already knew a good bit of the answers there.
As Juno had barely opened her mouth, Kota, who was leaning against the leather office chair with his arms crossed, told them, “The Republic was an entity that survived several hundred thousand years of our Galaxy’s history. Only in the last few years has it faced its downfall from within. All because we got careless… And because we trusted too easily.”
“Right, right,” Jack replied, “So…”
“If the site is as ancient as The Old Republic, a presence in this place… Which I’m going to assume is a different Galaxy as we’ve never heard of the Goa’uld, these ‘Ancients’ or anything tied to that,” Juno spoke, leaning onto the table. There was a great deal more to touch upon, but she figured she’d best have addressed that ahead of time. It didn’t seem to surprise them much, so she continued, “And with the thought that we come from-”
“A Galaxy Far Far Away…” Jack quoted with an awkward smile.
Juno nodded, “Right…” while Teal’c, Carter and General Hammond stared at the Colonel with mild concern. She told them, “With that issue in mind, we also assume you’ve hopefully encountered similar situations with travellers from alternate galaxies, at least in the hope of us being allowed to go home… Or at least that we have a way home with which we can investigate if our research outpost was fully destroyed.”
She gestured at the holographic display, images playing across it of Imperial Infantry, soldiers clad in dark-green tunics and armors with large helms and protective goggles and infantry in bright-white armors with black optical systems and bodygloves pushing through an opening, red bolts going back and forth between the two lines of infantry. A second hologram appeared, depicting the ships.
Thin-necked vessels and smaller craft with large engine bays and turrets peeled away from an enemy task force made up of three large, arrowhead-shaped warships that were at least twice the size of the largest Rebel ship. Juno spoke, “Several of our vessels were destroyed when attempting to escape, but many succeeded in jumping before the Empire could deploy their Interdictors… We know this because we caught the last transmissions before we jumped through the Event Horizon of the Gate.”
The images flashed away and the holographic emitter shut off. Juno leaned over the table to retrieve it, adding, “... The likelihood that the Empire could even know what the Gate is is infinitesimally small. We’ve destroyed all of the computers of the research station and all internal data was wiped and cleared beforehand… The last known container of Gate Coordinates is here,” and she lifted up the Holodisk, “... It’s what led us to the planet you found us on. It had a few more addresses.”
“How many symbols?” Carter asked as she leaned forward.
“Eight total,” Juno replied.
The Major looked at O’Neill, who immediately said, “... Huh. That does mean you guys came from a different Galaxy alright. Did the ‘Gate have any extra power sources around it, or just the DHD? Y’know, the big thing made out of Naquadah with an orange gem in the middle and the full show of symbols on it?”
“... The ‘Gate had a different DHD,” Juno answered, “And looked different from the ones in your Galaxy, too. It also housed a more powerful source of energy below its systems, at least according to subsurface scans we made with our ships. A power source that looked to be based on Zero-Point Energy…”
“Huh…” Everyone Human-From-The-Milky-Way in the room let out at the same time, before Carter mumbled, “Well, it isn’t unlikely…” before asking, “Are there any addresses on that disk that are seven symbols strong?” and getting a shake of the head. Well, that was odd… “That means there are no other Gates in your Galaxy.”
“Terrific, really,” O’Neill commented as he looked at the two Rebel officers, “Means we’re less likely to have Imperials dropping by other planets through your Gates…” as he leaned back into his chair. He mumbled quietly, “... However, I don’t like the odds that the Imps could jump here from wherever the hell your Galaxy is with a ship.”
“Flight between Galaxies is a fool’s errand unless the Galaxies are extremely close together,” Kota replied quickly, then felt the confusion in Jack. He smiled and said, “Being blind enhances all of your other senses, Colonel…” and he leaned forward, picking up the water pitcher on the table and a glass, flipping said glass right side up, then pouring himself a drink.
Jack nodded, “Right… Hey, I gotta ask,” even though he knew the answer somewhat from browsing the ‘net, “How did you do that thing where you jumped ABOVE a Death Glider, cut it to pieces and ripped the Grav Drive outta the other one?” and he immediately got a look from Teal’c. He shrugged and asked, “What? It was cool.”
“... I am a Jedi. Or I used to be,” The man answered calmly, “The Jedi are a religious order of warriors who were in a symbiotic relationship with the Republic, providing peacekeeping duties and going out into the wider Galaxy to see to the needs of the many people the Republic’s wide hand couldn’t quite reach… And while Religion might seem paltry or insane to some, we have a power.”
The man lifted his free hand and ‘aimed it’ at a nearby object–a small ball. It slowly began to lift off the table right in front of Teal’c, who seemed to crack the tiniest smile, like an excited toddler staring at his childhood dreams coming true. The man pulled his hand backward and the ball flew into it, or more accurately he grabbed it out of the air.
He continued with that, “... This is the Force. It binds all living things and provides those with a much greater affinity to it with powers like mine. Telekinesis, enhanced healing and various other outputs,” and he set the ball down, “Obviously, my ability to ‘see’ is aided by the Force. I can see all of you right now, for the most part.”
“... Like some sort of… Echolocation…” Carter spoke, stunned.
Hammond whispered, “This is becoming too familiar…” as he eyed Kota. Teal’c hummed in agreement.
The General nodded, then sighed and said, “Well, with that in mind, we’d like to hear about you people. The Goa’uld, this whole little Galaxy also under the rule of an oppressive empire and the whole situation tied to it, including the Jaffa… And why they carry Snakes in their stomachs,” as he once more rested against his elbows, which were themselves resting on the table as support.
Jack answered, “Alright. Sounds good to me… You mind, General?” as he looked at Hammond. He gave his non-verbal approval and O’Neill said, “Right, where to begin? Humanity here is considered the Origin Point for most of the humans in this Galaxy and there’s a lot of us. Currently, about six or so billion people on this planet alone, with god knows how many tens, maybe hundreds of millions more out there. Or billions. We haven’t run into a planet like that yet, though.”
The two Rebel officers continued to listen. Happy at that, Jack continued, “A couple thousand years ago, the Goa’uld came here, stole a bunch of our people as slaves and even kept a few here under the guard of a Goa’uld named Ra, posing as the ‘Sun God’ with the same name in Egypt. You’ll note a lot of different cultures exist on Earth, by the way, kinda similar to how many different cultures there probably are on your planets as I’m sure Jonas was probably gonna point out. The Goa’uld like to pose as Gods.”
“That sounds fairly familiar,” Mumbled Kota, then said, “Okay. What next?”
“We buried our Gate in Egypt and only recovered it… Like sixty years ago? Seventy maybe?” He continued, “While our ancestors were doing a dig. Then a couple of years ago, we brought it here, started it up with the help of an… Old Friend…” and he breathed a sigh. Kota blinked, feeling that little pang of sadness and guilt from the otherwise steeled mind that was O’Neill. Shaking that off, though, the Colonel continued talking, “To make a long story very short, we killed Ra, who was somehow still alive, liberated a planet and caused a massive power vacuum that a lot of Goa’uld tried to fill. First guy was Apophis, whom we got Teal’c free from. He died a bunch of times, then we finally offed him proper… I don’t remember how. Oh, right, the Jaffa are genetically-engineered humans designed as living incubators. They get the whole regeneration thing from the Goa’uld, plus immunity from a lot of diseases, but they’re also heavily reliant on the Symbiote, meaning their immune systems are shot when it gets removed-”
“Sir,” Carter began.
“Right,” He waved it off, “Back to the Goa’uld. There were a couple of others who tried to kill us and unify the System Lords… And now, it’s Anubis. He’s managed to get all the other System Lords we haven’t offed together. There’s still some holdouts, but for the most part, they’re all working with the bastard… Those were his troops we fought on the planet we got you from. As for anything more detailed than that, if General Hammond’s cool with it and if we do sign some kind of treaty with you guys, you can probably get access to the mission reports of all SG Teams.”
“That’d be good,” Juno murmured, “At least we’d know what we’re getting ourselves into…”
“So that’s a yes on being buddies?” Jack asked with a smile on his face. Juno looked at Kota, who seemed to be pondering the request for a second. They really, really didn’t have much choice at the moment. Not until they linked back to their Galaxy. And even then, the likelihood of the Empire having left a force behind to Guard the Gate or having moved it somewhere else for safekeeping was too high.
Kota, who knew all of this and had already taken it into account, replied with a wry smile and a joke. “If you’re okay with a blind, crazy old man with a laser sword and his comrades tagging along with you all until we manage to link back up with the Alliance, then yes. We need a place to bunk and I’m not looking to test out the remaining addresses on that Holodisk without backup.”
O’Neill then smiled and looked at George, who was smiling as well. The General of the Air Force said, “As I said, General, that can very well be arranged. I will contact the President, get your people the same status I acquired for Teal’c when we began working together. I’ll also scrape up some paper for a written temporary agreement until we can get in touch with the rest of your faction.”
“Alright,” Kota replied, “Then it’s settled… One more thing, though. Before we share our own Gate address list,” and he turned his head toward Hammond. Though it wasn’t exactly obvious to everyone in the room, Rahm noticed that Hammond had caught on, or at least seemed to have an inkling of an idea going by how calm his own emission in the Force was. “We want to tag along with SG-1 for their outings. They’ll be the most likely to receive these Gate Addresses as missions.”
Hammond nodded, then looked at the Colonel and said, “Jack?”
“... Perfectly fine by me, sirs,” He cracked a smile, “Gonna be great having a Space Wizard with us to put the fear into the Goa’uld. Welcome to the team.”
“Thank you,” Juno spoke, “However, this does raise the size of your team considerably. Approximately forty new soldiers is going to be one hell of a ‘we’re here’ sign for the Goa’uld,” as she adjusted her jacket slightly. The others seemed to agree quietly, though she stated, “But we’ll be more than glad to help.”
“Yeah, we’ll have to figure out a roster,” The Colonel replied, then asked, “So… What do we do?”
“We download the Disk and get these people a place to eat and sleep,” Hammond answered, then pointed at Jack, “Colonel, I’m relying on you, Major Carter and mister Quinn to get all of this done ASAP. Teal’c, you’re free to head off for your Kelno’reem if you wish.” Teal’c gave the man a quick bow as thanks. Hammond told them, “Alright. Dismissed. To our Rebel allies, welcome to Earth.”
“May the Force be with you, General,” Kota replied, then stood up and gestured for Jack and Carter to lead the way. The two nodded, then walked off while Jonas packed up his gear. He looked at Jonas and told him, “... I’ll make sure Juno gets that list of Aurebesh symbols to you ASAP. Even if that’s Pre-Rectification Basic, you should still be able to understand it.”
“Thank you, General,” The man replied as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. The groups departed for their own separate areas, with Colonel O’Neill and Major Carter leading the way through the narrow base corridors and toward the mess hall first, while temporary accommodations would be handled soon.
Juno looked at Carter and told her, “To think humans are this prevalent across the universe…”
“Trust me,” Carter smiled, “You’ll get used to it after a while. You commanded a ship?”
“Yes. Still do, technically,” The woman shrugged, “But my XO probably took over for me… For a droid, he can be pretty smart,” and she cracked a smile. Carter blinked, surprised, to which the woman asked, “... You all have Droids, right? I mean, we saw that bulky wheeled machine next to the Gate when we came in.”
“... A MALP,” Carter replied, stunned, “Which we’re in control of. Are you talking about an…”
“An actual artificial being, yes,” She got her answer. The Captain saw that strange look of shock in her eyes, then continued, “Okay, then. That’s a surprise, but I suppose we should’ve expected it from people still utilizing slug-throwers as mainstay armaments…” only to get a couple glares. She said, “No offense. They do seem like quite capable firearms, though… Nothing like all the old slug guns we used to see.”
“Well above a cycler rifle,” Kota commented, “Considering they’re fully automatic.”
“And compact enough to be carried close,” The woman murmured, then asked, “Can I try one later today? I feel like we may want to conserve our gas and battery packs for future encounters,” as she shifted her own blaster pistol holster forward. Colonel O’Neill seemed to agree, giving the team a thumbs up.
The group separated a moment later with Sam in the lead. Kota stated bluntly, “These people managed to figure out and utilize the Stargate and have been utilizing it to travel through space… It’s rather interesting that they bypassed the necessity to develop hyperspace,” as he once more put his arms together against his chest, “Luck was with them.”
“That, or the Goa’uld’s foolishness,” Murmured Juno. When she noticed her comrades were looking at her, she clarified, “Think about it for a moment. Beings who fancy themselves Gods over all of humanity allow a revolution to brew on this planet and get themselves kicked off. Meanwhile, the people survive, evolve independent of the wider empire for millennia and now come swinging back around to kick said Empire’s teeth in.”
“While their planet is seemingly divided along political lines,” Kota commented, pointing out the flags on the walls and the uniforms of the soldiers as if he could see them. He told her, “The United States is but one country of what must be hundreds of smaller and larger nations… Something that might not bode well, should any of them decide to side with the Empire when it comes swinging.”
“No ifs and buts about that,” Juno grumbled, then sighed and said, “We’ll be careful, General… If push comes to shove, we can always try our luck by raiding the Goa’uld ourselves until we find a way home… Though we’d be out of ammo long before we managed to do any meaningful damage. At least from my count.”
“We already promised we’d sign a deal with Stargate Command, Juno,” He spoke, “And you know me. I keep my promises.”
“That I do…” She smiled now, though she knew he couldn’t see her. With a simple pat on the shoulder, she told him, “C’mon…” and they continued to follow Sam…
… Elsewhere in the base, Teal’c was smiling. Jonas and O’Neill both stared at the tall, dark-skinned Jaffa with mild concern and humor in their hearts. Jonas leaned over toward O’Neill and whispered to him, “Uh… Can I ask what’s gotten Teal’c this excited? I didn’t quite catch the references you were making back there.”
“Ask Teal’c to show you Star Wars, Jonas,” The man replied with a hint of faked warmth, then set his plate down. He mumbled, “Though I gotta say, this is creepy…” Before he made eye contact with Teal’c. The man’s smile immediately faded, returning back to his usual deadpan as he said, “That’s better. Thanks.”
Teal’c bowed his head slightly, then said, “Shall we tell them about Star Wars? Perhaps they may find it comforting to know that the Empire is soundly defeated at Endor… Which we may perhaps get to witness.”
“Oh, God, no,” Jack shot back, “I don’t wanna mess with whatever Force, whether it was that magic or not, that helped Lucas create that entire series until we get the last one in our base library so you can tell me how it was,” then he clapped a hand on Teal’c’s left bicep. “I also don’t doubt they’d search the whole of the US for whoever gave Lucasfilm the idea and I’m not looking to make it a LITERAL Intergalactic incident before I’m retired and watching the fireworks.”
Teal’c hummed, then acknowledged, “I understand. My lips shall be sealed.”
“As will mine,” Jonas added quickly as he stood up, “Because I have zero clue what you guys are talking about and I’d rather keep it that way. I just wanna get through the stuff we recorded before we got into a firefight with the Jaffa.” Then, he packed his gear and walked out of the door. The Colonel and Teal’c both watched him go.
Teal’c commented, “I had hoped to assist in translating the scriptures. Seeing the local version of what one would call Galactic Basic has been… Interesting… To me,” which got a short snort out of O’Neill. The Jaffa warrior turned toward him and inquired, “O’Neill. When will Episode III finally come out? Seeing the end of Anakin Skywalker’s Saga is of great interest to me… I wish to see how he came to be the Dark Lord.”
“We’re still a couple years off according to ol’ George himself,” The man replied as he, too, dusted himself off and stood up, carrying his mug of coffee with him. The Jaffa let out a sound that could only be described as something between disappointment and resignation to the fates. He once more clamped a reassuring hand onto the Jaffa’s shoulder and said, “C’mon. I got some cookies in the mail from Sara for some reason.”
Teal’c seemed to stop for a second, thinking and visibly flinching as he recalled, “... I do believe it is your birthday, O’Neill.”
“... Oh, right.” Jack blinked. How forgetful of him.
“Happy day of birth.” The Jaffa said with his usual deadpan.
“... Thanks, Teal’c. Let’s go.”
… Back with good major Samantha Carter, the woman had managed to guide the Rebel team over to their new bunks, then to the armory to drop off their gear. She had also stowed her stuff away in the lockers, due to carrying a good chunk of it around since the debriefing. She could process the fact that Teal’c’s favorite movies were a real thing… For the most part. But that also implied a great deal more than just them was real.
Down to the books and games that were released as recently as of this year, 2003. She recalled a very fancy game that Teal’c was actually playing, Jedi Academy, had a pretty in-depth lightsaber combat system. Although the fact that she could soon see a saber master FIGHTING LIVE (despite her view on the movie itself as nothing more than Science-Fantasy) would be something…
She nearly froze when she heard footsteps running toward her from behind, then swiveled about and saw Juno approaching. The Captain called out, “Major! Sorry to stop you on your way!” before she skidded to a halt in front of her. She offered the Holodisk and said, “I forgot to hand you this. And…” then she pulled out a datapad with Aurebesh symbol transliterations, “I also had this. Aurebesh-to-High Galactic. Deliver it to mister Quinn for me.”
The woman smiled and said, “Thank you, Captain…” while she took the items into her own hands, slotting the Holodisk into her jacket’s pocket. She asked, “... So, do you think your Droid’s going to figure out where you went? If your ship sensors are strong enough, the Wormhole’s event horizon should be quite easy to track to here.”
“Perhaps. But if it’s an entirely different Galaxy, I highly doubt they have the necessary fuel to make the jump unless our Galaxy is really close to yours,” The woman commented as she set one hand on her own hip. She gestured broadly with her left hand, “While our reactors are quite powerful, I doubt they could withstand that kind of jump distance… And even if they could, they would have to daisychain several powerful-enough reactors together like the old Outbound Flight project… Even then, the fuel requirements would be impossibly high, which would mean they had to detach one of their precious Altor-class replenishment they use to keep the Fleets on-station for years. It’d be an expenditure of Star Destroyers and ships they’re unlikely to put together.”
“... Well, that’s comforting,” Carter replied semi-sarcastically. If a singular Star Destroyer would jump into this Galaxy, it would more than likely spell the end of even the Goa’uld, not to mention Stargate Command’s own starship building enterprises like the current X-303 project undergoing testing at a certain military base. If they somehow had a fleet in support, that’d make matters ten times worse.
“Apologies… Just make sure these get to where they need to get to,” Captain Eclipse said simply. The two women then bid goodbye to one-another and went their separate ways.
Caprica, TRAVELLER Base
Cain was sitting in the still-under-construction control room of the base’s Embarcation Station. The Dialing Device had been brought to the middle of the room itself, separated by a thick layer of bulletproof glass that also had an additional layer of defense in the form of a deployable multi-layered titanium barrier built just like the bulkhead doors themselves.
She watched the scientific staff going about their business, examining the Eye with geiger counters and radiation detectors. They had been able to note the fact that the thing was made up of a material that didn’t match any known substance on their periodic table. Whatever it was, it was apparently a high-density energy storage system that also apparently used said energy to form a wormhole.
At least according to the data on the few tablets they managed to translate so far. The yellow hazmat suits glowed weirdly in the recessed lights built into the walls around the shaft of the silo. Their geiger counters could be heard clicking from within the confines of the control room, where staff were unpacking several highly-capable computer systems.
“Ma’am,” A voice called out. Konrad walked inside with a notepad. It’d taken a second for the woman to register the fact that it had its corners clipped, the same as every piece of paper and book they had, making for a very uneven octagonal shape. She still didn’t know why they did books and other stationery materials like that, but…
“What is it?” She asked, turning to face the young man.
He handed her the report and said, “Reports from the Yashuman and Pegasus’s patrol near the DMZ as you requested, right alongside the confirmations for the transfers of Commander Adama and his two sons to our rank and file… Going by the noise, neither of the Adama boys was too happy about being pulled out of flight training.”
“Get their old training officer over, too. That Thrace girl,” The woman said as she started flipping through the reports. Nothing major, as usual, from either of the Battlestars, which was good. She then said, “Tell the Yashuman and Pegasus to return to Caprica orbit and stand by… The Gods only know what we’re about to do.”
“Ma’am,” He saluted, “Permission to stick around and watch the show?”
“If there even is one, sure,” She approved, smirking. Then, she turned toward the microphone connected to the embarkation room’s PA system, tapped the ‘speak’ button–which inadvertently caused a short feedback look with a shrill sound that bothered the crews–and asked while she winced, “Are we ready in there, Doc?”
”Just about!” She answered. Doctor Amanda Doyle, graduate of the Caprica University of Sciences, player of Pyramid in her free time and a relatively normal human being for all intents and purposes. She was a pretty little thing, Cain thought warmly. She sighed, then crossed her arms while the woman continued working through the necessary protective steps.
A moment later, she gave a broad wave of the hand, then looked at the control room and pointed at the left-side door. Cain nodded, then looked at an Airman sitting at a nearby desk. He hit a button on a nearby control panel and the doors’ side warning lights began to flash in bouts of bright scarlet. The door itself began to slide open, allowing the woman and fellow eggheads to step out.
They’d set up the Gate on a small metallic ramp, though that, too, felt Cliche to the woman for some reason. As the doctors approached, they quickly removed their Hazmat gear and set it aside, dusting off and straightening out their own uniforms and labcoats. The Doctor put her glasses back on as she approached, then said to the Admiral, “We’re good.”
“Shut the doors…” She ordered, then took a step to the side and pointed at the Dialing Device, “All yours, doc,” as she joined Konrad to watch. The woman pulled the nearby tablet with the first symbol combination, then took a deep breath. Her hands pressed down against each symbol tile. Each of them let out a deep thrum as the light around them began to glow.
As the seventh symbol was tapped in, the Doctor said, “And that’s the seventh chevron, our planet’s, locked…” before she looked at the central gem. She pressed down upon it and watched it light, before the Eye… Sputtered, then whined and failed, shutting off. The Doctor blinked, eyes widening, then looked at the Admiral, who crossed her arms. She said, “Wait, wait, this should be right…! The translations say this should work!”
“The fact it’s lighting up tells me that much, doc,” The woman mumbled, then looked at the Eye, “... Maybe we should’ve waited until you translated everything.”
“Yeah, but nothing says this thing shouldn’t work,” The Doctor replied, “And from what the engineers tell us, the Power Sources are connected, meaning the Dial Device is feeding power to the Gate itself!” then she started pulling out more of the tablets. She started parsing through each of them right in front of the Admiral and the rest of the staff, looking determined to understand just what she’d done wrong.
Her eyes darted across the writing like it was second nature. She blinked and paused as she lifted the third tablet up, then set the others down on the window. She hummed, then adjusted her glasses and said, “... Well, this is odd… By the Gods…” before lifting the tablet itself and stating to a concerned Cain, “... This is a frakking piece of Rhea’s own diary…”
“What?!” The others immediately replied, eyes widening. The Admiral demanded, “Are you sure about this?!”
“Yes,” She nodded, “... It’s written in first person and mentions something about ‘protecting’ and ‘separating’. I’m going to need more time to do it properly, but for the love of the Gods… She’s done something to the Eye itself, perhaps to protect us from something…” as she slid the tablet back in with the others. She requested, “I’m requesting permission to entirely focus my efforts on researching this.”
“Permission granted. Expedite it,” The woman spoke, then looked at the Eye again, murmuring, “... I’d rather we throw that thing back into the pit it came from, but I know damn well we already pulled the damned genie out of the bottle…” as she crossed her arms. She wasn’t sure what to think of the fact that she’d switched from ‘absolute concern about issues with the Rhean cult’ to ‘let’s just open the doorway to the POSSIBLE ANCIENT DANGER’.
She sighed, rubbing her eyes, then told her, “I’ll be in my new office for the time being. Konrad, you get yourself something to eat and keep me apprised of the situation within the base and outside… I have to write some reports to command about this crap,” before she walked out of the room. The Doctor breathed a deep sigh, then packed her kit and led her comrades out of the place.
Her new office was a floor above the command room, just behind the meeting room where she’d rallied with the Generals of the other Colonial Military branches. She also knew a lot more staff was bound to arrive pretty soon, so she figured she might as well knock a few personnel files off the old desk before she got the news.
She’d read Bill Adama’s file, as well as those of his two kids. Lee and Zak. Great soldiers, well-trained, well-equipped for future duties, though Zak had apparently flunked his flight courses unlike Lee. He could do well as the commander of an infantry team if the Commander didn’t make too much of a fuss about it. Which he shouldn’t, seeing as she was his boss.
Then, there was Lieutenant Thrace, the officer that’d trained Zak and had even tried to get him back to Flight School so he could become a Viper pilot like his dad. She was a loose cannon, but nothing if not a capable pilot. She could prove useful for future operations around the planets out there, if they could even acquire ships to send out for that, plus as a pilot she was second to none. She clearly knew that, because her file had a list of issues with command, including a couple scraps with the Galactica’s XO.
Chief Engineer Galen Tyrol was next. Old hand in the engineering decks of the venerable Battlestar Galactica of Battlestar Group 58, tough bastard with his repairs and someone that could probably rewire the engine of an old Viper to run on every piece of new tech they had and then strap a few guided missiles to it without issue. He’d probably want Specialist Henderson and the rest of his crew with him.
Karl ‘Helo’ Agathon, Sharon ‘Boomer’ Valerii, Alex ‘Crashdown’ Quartararao and so on for potential Raptor Pilots… She needed a few Vipers just in case…
She was poaching a lot of the old Galactica crew, so she figured an XO for her future XO would be nice. Galactica was being prepped to be a Museum Ship anyways, with her inauguration set to take place six years from now, after her Last Patrol and the Ceremony that would follow. She made a mental note to let Bill attend it, but she also made a note to get Colonel Saul Tigh into the ranks, too.
Tigh was a drunkard with a few remarks about drunken disorderly conduct on his file, but he was a tough son-of-a-bitch, able to keep things running in perfect order on board the Galactica. He and Adama Senior had also flown together during the Cylon War, wingmen specifically off the Galactica herself, so that gave them some chemistry. Chemistry she could probably use.
She switched over to the Marines and Army elements. If they were gonna be deploying away teams to the planets on that list–and that was a big IF until they figured out what was wrong with the Eye–she needed the best. Shepherd and Apone had provided the files for said best. She mumbled, “... 88th ‘Hoplite’ Regiment out of Caprica? 5th Marine Expeditionary? Gods, you guys really packed my list here. Guess all of the Colonies are serious about this… Even the 47th Mech Brigade…”
The Hoplites were one of the finest Army Special Forces units available to the Colonial Military. They were the scalpel of the Army when the need arose, usually travelling with the 7th Special Operations Air Recon Battalion, which operated the few Stealth fixed-wing and orbital craft available to the Military overall, with Stealth being a very, very new concept for military airpower usage.
Meanwhile, the 5th MEU was equivalent to the Army’s 1st Division, the Big Gold Ones. The 5th itself had a slew of nicknames, none of them pretty or repeatable in a respectable setting, but there was nobody better at Amphib assaults… And she was pretty sure that Apone’s daughter’s division was a part of them.
Finally, the 47th was the premier fast response deployment unit, usually travelling by barges and jumping straight into hell with the Marines alongside them. They had the Infantry Fighting Vehicles and Humvees necessary for high mobility warfare across the wide plains of multiple planets, meaning their boys and girls were trained to be capable of going out into hell. They also had some of the Military’s first attempts at Drone units since the Cylon War, using the prototype Command Navigation Program or CNP.
She mumbled to herself, “No wonder I saw some of those Drones here. Automated ground scouts, UCAVs…” then she looked over at the computer on her desk and started typing. It seemed as though the Doctors would take a while longer to fully translate all the data on the tablets, which gave her plenty of time to see the personnel she had from each unit.
“... Second Lieutenant Vik Theodorakis, gunner, 47th Mech, born on Tauron, so that immediately gets you some bonus points from me,” The woman spoke and smirked, looking at a young man with dark hair and emerald eyes, “Far as command tells me, you’re a damn fine machine gunner, son. What kind of kit do you carry?”
“Model two-forty general purpose, ma’am,” He smiled awkwardly.
“Eight-mil. Full rifle cartridge,” She grinned, “Alright… Before you ask why I called you in, I’m looking to set up the first exploration units before we finally get our little experiment working. I’m gonna need some good, well-trained personnel to go out there…” before she checked his service record. She whistled and said, “You were part of demining ops on Picon?”
“Best couple of years of my life, aye, ma’am,” He answered, “Worked with platoons from so many different places…” and he looked a bit longingly in the distance.
“Get me some names and I’ll see if I can’t have them transferred here, son,” She said calmly, “I want my teams to have cohesion. You’ll see a lot of Galactica crew around for that very reason,” and she slid the man a notepad. He snapped a salute, to which she said, “Dismissed, son. I have a few more people to look through.”
“Ma’am,” He replied, then took the notepad and said, “I’ll get this back to you ASAP.”
“Cheers,” She answered, then turned back to typing. Before two hours elapsed, the woman had gone through maybe a dozen officers to form the necessary away teams for this program. While she was well aware that preparing away teams was a worthless endeavor if they couldn’t get the Eye working, it was better to have a roster prepared. Just in case.
At exactly two hours and a half since the failed attempt to open the Eye, the Admiral heard a light, soft knock on the door. She set the papers she was signing aside, then said, “Come in,” and made sure to remember that the budget would likely not have to be paid back, as this was a government operation.
And they hadn’t spent much of it anyway. At least she thought so. She watched the door open and saw the Doctor walk in with Konrad. She was beaming, holding one of the tablets and a stack of papers before saying, “Rhea did this!” as she set them down on the desk. The confusion in the Admiral’s eyes seemed enough of a hint for the Doc to continue explaining, “Look… I was right. A few of the Tablets are the Mother of Gods’ Diary. Rhea herself wrote them! Note, I haven’t translated anything, but what I’ve read so far is amazing!”
“And what do they say?” The woman asked, wanting to hurry her along so she could understand.
“... She mentions coming from a species of usurpers and murderers led by someone named ‘Ra’,” The woman began as she sat down in the chair opposite her, “Turns out Ra loved turning Humans into slaves and using them to his own whims. She doesn’t specify how or why, but there’s a lot of details here regarding the fact that she chose to separate herself and her sect from him, only for them to become the same on Kobol… Which is why she helped us rebel. Sent us away to Cyrannus.”
“... Rebel?” The Admiral repeated, blinking in surprise, “Gods…”
“Yeah,” She nodded, “But the most important part is this!” and she pointed at a specific line, reading it word for word, “I cannot allow my siblings to come upon this version of Mankind, nor anyone like them. The Thirteenth will head back to the Tau’ri, the First World, while these children of mine shall be hidden amidst the artificial nebulae of that ancient repository. None shall touch them there as long as the Veil Device protects them, neither through the use of Chariots, nor through the Eye.”
“... She hid us away from her own kind,” The woman mumbled, scratching her chin, “And… ‘First World’? Isn’t Kobol literally the First World?”
“There’s been speculation in the theological and scientific communities that, no, Kobol was merely a stepping stone,” The woman spoke, “There’s an old saying in some of the more reclused religious texts that we have in the archives. It says something along the lines of ‘What has happened before shall happen again’... Metaphors aside, it seems like the Exodus from Kobol to here was only one of many similar repeat incidents across the long history of humanity.”
“... Great,” The woman grumbled. Further ammo for those cultists, she thought, then stood up and asked, “And? Do we have any idea where this ‘Veil Device’ crap is? Or what it even is?”
“... No on the former, yes on the latter,” Doyle replied, “You know the massive nebulae surrounding the Cyrannus system? And I mean the entire bloody thing from top to bottom and the metaphorical left to right…” and she immediately smirked as she saw the Admiral’s eyes widen in realization. She nodded and said, “Yes. That is an interdiction field of some kind.”
“... Our ships make random jumps past it all the Gods-damned time, though,” Konrad mumbled.
“That’s the thing,” Doc Doyle responded, “Whatever FTL these Usurpers had, it wasn’t frakking based on Tylium like ours. There’s very little detail on it beside the fact that it could very easily be disrupted by what the Diaries call ‘Mass Shadows’ like those of the Nebulae. We’ve always thought it was weird that they’re emanating a light gravity field of their own.”
“... Alright,” Cain nodded, “And that means this is also disrupting the Eye?”
“Yes,” Doyle quickly answered, “And if we can find it and shut it off, we can use it… Side note, it’s not called an eye. Rhea calls it a Chappa’ai in her native tongue… I had to look up some REALLY obscure texts for this one, but it doesn’t mean ‘The Eye of the Gods’ or ‘Rhea’s Eye’ as some people thought. It translates to ‘Stargate’.”
“Nice little side fact,” Cain mumbled, then told her, “Finish translating the other Tablets. Maybe we’ll luck out and see where the hell the Veil Device is so we can shut it off… And so Command doesn’t sack my ass for running a failed op,” as she handed the stuff back. Doctor Doyle gave a quick nod, then skipped out of the room, items slung under her arms. Cain sighed, then said, “... Just how much deeper is this crap going to go…?”
“I have a feeling we haven’t even found sublevel one, ma’am,” Konrad answered in a murmur, adjusting his uniform. This was barely day one of their little endeavor with the Traveller Program, meaning all she could deliver were preliminary reports. This entire thing reeked for some reason. Even then, though, Cain was somewhat excited. This was the most excitement any peace-time flag officer had felt in forever.
… They’d see how long that lasted…