[HICHE] ADKoPD: Episode 22, Praise Them

What do aliens look like? Considering the extreme diversity of life just here on Earth, there are countless possibilities. Would anything from another planet resemble any of the groups we have here, like reptiles, insects, or even plants? Arising from entirely different conditions, and perhaps not even using the same cocktail of organic chemicals as their basis, true aliens could be truly alien, challenging our very concept of what life needs to survive, or even what qualifies as this enigmatic state we call “life”. And space-faring civilizations? Intelligence can blossom in any creature, creating an endless stream of options, with widely disparate yet equally valid shapes and forms the likes of which we can’t even…oh, what’s that? Twenty-dollar costume budget? Okay, humans with flat hair it is. Welcome, friends, to Episode 22 of “A Different Kind of Pegasus Device”.

[G-Docs Chapter Link – Praise Them]

Rainbow Dash is back on missions as Rarity’s anti-stunner fabric prototype is rushed into service, and takes point on the newest one with Minuette and two others; if there’s a longer buffer sequence of her talking with everyone back on Atlantis, I didn’t write it. The Jumper arrives through a grounded Stargate in a forest, but gets a radio communication from the locals, who are advanced enough to have defense turrets, making the Expedition land and explain itself, which is where we meet the Odonans.

Ah, yes, the Odonans. The unholy spawn of a bored afternoon in Pony Creator, I liked how the first model looked and soon decided that I wanted them in this story as the obligatory “most alien” alien, the intention being to show that there are far more than simply past-Gen world chunks out in the stars of the Pegasus Galaxy. Named for their dragonfly wings (from the clade Odonata), and each named after a dragonfly species sharing their main color (they were designed first, named second), a more in-depth description of them is available in the draft. Suffice to say, there are four of note that are featured: Anax, the Odonan leader; Eryth, a security squad leader; Sym, an assistant technician and Anax’s either daughter or niece (the story knows, I don’t); and Trith, the original Odonan model I made and a history-enthused technician that Sym works under. I’m sure the only one with accessories isn’t special in any way.

After a failed attempt at diplomacy, Twilight is called in to smooth things over, also bringing Night Knight for minimal story impact. This next stretch is a bit unwritten and is the obligatory lore dump. In summary, after the last Wraith culling, the Odonans rushed to build large defense turrets to hold back any Wraith ships, and though they succeeded, their defensive array is some of the only advanced technology they have; this was only a few decades ago. These turrets are inspired by those of the Tollan from SG-1, but the rest of their civilization doesn’t match much. However, we learn how all is not well in paradise when Twilight thinks she recognizes this location from the Wraith antenna map…because plot, confirming Anax’s suspicions of an inside agent. Over the past few months, the Wraith have been systematically attacking Odona’s Stargate trading partners, the latest even though they had strategically never learned that planet’s Gate address. I was considering that planet being Bumbleland from G1’s “The End of Flutter Valley”, with both the bees and Odonans being insect-based, but I’m hesitant, as I think making it another completely original group would fit the theming of this corner of the Gate network being fully alien to the canon of MLP.

No time to worry about that, though, because a series of strategically-placed explosions take out the generators for the whole turret grid, clearly the work of a knowledgeable saboteur. Because hard-dropping clues earlier would be too clunky in a summary, Sym and Trith oversee the turrets and generators, and Sym’s hairband is discovered in the wreckage, pointing suspicion at her. There’s a reason I made specifically sure only Sym was named after a dragonfly called a “darter”, much like the Wraith ship…to make her a red herring Wraith connection, because after an undrafted sequence of events I reveal that Trith is actually the culprit, being a Wraith Worshipper. Introduced late in SGA, Wraith Worshippers are mentally disturbed individuals who voluntarily seek out and serve the Wraith because…well, they’re psychopaths, and they like it when the Wraith flush them full of life energy they stole from other people. They sometimes sell sob stories to justify themselves if discovered, but others are unapologetic.

Trith was the only survivor of the attack on Odona’s last trading partner, Twilight assuming she’d been brainwashed during the incident, as her journal descends into just “Praise them” (roll credits) over and over after a point. Twilight, Anax, and some guards confront Trith and discover her vest hides the chest wound of Wraith feeding marks. Trith mocks them that she’d been a spy for far longer, her history obsession having always been rooted in the time before the turrets, and she uses a Wraith stun grenade (my invention based on explosive Wraith grenades in SGA and Goa’uld stun bombs in SG-1) to escape. She dials out and triggers a beacon in her rose-colored monocle (the symbolism of which certainly says something…I just don’t know what) to call the Wraith in, but Twilight messes up her attempt to dial a second planet and leave (the first was probably a Spacegate). However, she escapes in the confusion after the Gate dials in, the Wraith sealing off their ability to dial out but being too cautious to actually step through this way. Not to worry, their Hive waiting just past the turrets’ range is closing in. Actually, worry.

As the Hive hovers in orbit over the main Odonan settlement, Trith gets herself scooped up by a Dart to be taken aboard just before she’s caught again. Twilight’s plan is to get one of Atlantis’ two remaining ZPMs here to power the turrets and take out the Hive before a full-scale ground invasion begins. There are only two problems: 1) ZPMs and Odonan technology probably won’t be compatible, and 2) there is no proven way to shut off an incoming wormhole from the receiving Gate. No I don’t have solutions for either of them, why do you ask? I suppose they could attempt something like the failed EMP in SG-1’s “Redemption, Part 2”, and Amber Waves may have been working on some sort of ZPM adapter (available at your local Apple Store for only $99,999.99), but that’s what an unfinished story gets you. After those problems, Atlantis’ Wraith prisoner telepathically connects to the Wraith over Odona when the Gate gets opened; I haven’t decided, but he probably dies here to stop this. Rainbow gets the ZPM and they head back, luckily not getting cut off by the Wraith’s wormhole. In however many steps it takes, the power grid is too fried to work, but a lone turret is directly powered, coming to life and easily shooting apart the Hive within seconds (I said Tollan turrets, didn’t I?). Though betrayed, Sym will use what Trith had taught her to repair the turret network, and though Odona will need to hold onto the ZPM for a while, they agree to give it back after that.

‘What’ but not ‘how’ is better than no ‘what’ at all for a resolution, right? Incompleteness aside, I still like it, but then again I’m obsessed with Tollan turrets, it’s a legitimate problem. Speaking of, the race to fix even a single turret and stop an aerial assault is heavily inspired from the SG-1 Tollan episode “Pretense”. Also, not important but Trith’s diary’s ramblings are taken from Doctor Who’s “The God Complex”. Dial in next time for a severely emaciated script as we explore the least-planned pair of episodes, starting with “Parked in Hyperspace”.