Stargate Universe: Revival

by Dreagar


Perseverance

It was never about going home. It's about getting us to where we're going. That... is... the mission.

-A quote from Dr. Nicholas Rush as recorded by Eli Wallace.

"Tamara, go and see if everyone's okay. As for me I'm going to babysit Rush, there's no telling what he might end up doing." Lt. Tamara Johansen nodded grimly and left for the other pods. With a sigh the old Colonel set off after Rush.

"Rush, we had an agreement!"

"Fine. You want to know what I know? Nothing. Bloody nothing. For all we know, it could have been millennia since we entered stasis, for all we know, life support might have failed and we are breathing the last wisps of oxygen on the entire ship!"

"Okay Rush, give me positives. What DO we know?"

"There is air, but I take it you know that. And there may well be scraps of energy left."

-&-

Eli rounded a corner sighting the unmistakable button, he leaned on it forcing the nearby door to unlock then open. Before him stood Destiny's Observation Deck, the room was spheroid in shape although flattened with a sweeping glass window displaying the ship's fore and the space above it.

"Wow.“ Eli exhaled taking in the vast galaxy before him only to notice Destiny's trajectory. A star! They were flying into a star!

-&-

Trillions of watts pulsed through power conduits performing a routine as old as the ship, strings of energy coalesced into a weave of light, enclosing the ship with an amber aura. Moving at speeds almost unthinkable Destiny drew close to the ageing star. Crimson and orange light intermingled flooding through each and every window as the ship plunged closer and closer to the star.

Ripples of plasma boiled on the star’s surface as jets of energy poured out only to return to the star's electromagnetic allure. Destiny for all it's grandess was dwarfed by even the smallest of events, but the challenger pushed forward closer and closer to the rippling mass.

The shields shone with untold stress at the sheer pressure of resisting 27.14g of gravitational force whilst buffering 6,740 Fahrenheit of sheer heat, all the while blocking 375,000 trillion trillion lumens of photons barraging each and every side of the ship.

Yet the challenger pushed forwards, fighting its way to the core. Elsewhere on the ship solar collectors the size of small apartment buildings lowered themselves closer to the sea of plasma. An unmistakeable buzz of life surged through the ship light after light flickered on, system after system clicked into full gear. All the while Eli stood beaming at a show well done.

-&-

"Where's Eli?" Chloe asked, a hint of desperation evident in her tone.

"Here!" Eli grinned, maybe everything was going to work out alright.
Chloe rushed to hug the bemused Eli who gently patted her on the back in a failed attempt to return the gesture.

"So, Eli, tell us. How did you survive without fixing your pod?" a stunned Rush asked.

"Well, that’s kinda a long story."

"Well I want to hear it." The colonel was not taking no for an answer.

-&-

Three years ago Destiny had to escape an army of robotic drones lest she be destroyed along with her crew, to save the ship Rush and Eli calculated a solution in which they would use their intergalactic Faster than Light engines, in favour of the extragalactic but power thirsty alternative, to navigate through and beyond this far-flung galaxy and into the next. However due to the extremely limited energy supplies aboard, the crew would be required to exist in stasis, conserving power necessary to finish the journey, a three year long journey.

There was one catch to this brilliant plan. The ship hosted 71 crew members and only 70 functioning cryostasis pods. Someone had to stay behind. After a heated debate Eli elected to stay behind, in hopes that with all his knowledge he could find a solution before his week of life support ended.

Only on the last day of his week Eli came up with an idea. Earlier in a desperate attempt to fix his pod, he used a device known as the ancient communication stones. The device was capable of communication at any distance in real time however for it to work a user must be on both sides of the "line" and must swap consciousness with the other. Calling in Cmdr. Samantha Carter, Eli had her look over the stasis pods in hope that Earth's foremost leader in alien technology would have a solution. She didn't.

However as he slept that very night, a vision came to him. Teal'c of the free jaffa nation, a human turned slave by the egotistic Goa'uld race and freed by the peoples of Earth, entered a stargate but before he could exit, it shut off. Samantha had worked day and night to free him from his prison inside the buffer of a stargate. That was the key Eli thought, if he could store himself inside the stargate's buffer he would use no energy from the ship and would stay perfectly frozen in time!

You see, wormholes can only transmit energy, not matter. So the ancients overcame the problem by converting matter into energy, sending it through the wormhole, and then converting that energy back to matter. As a safety feature, all of an object had to be de-materialised before it was sent, so in every stargate there is a buffer that can store the de-materialised form of any creature for any period of time. A perfect solution!

-&-

"Fascinating as your story is Eli, we both know that anything could have happened in our absence and that, that stunt you pulled may very well have cost us those last volts of power needed to remain in FTL!"

Eli cringed at Rush’s scalding words, but only a little, after all it was Rush.

Rush turned and left the room with Eli quickly following, after a short walk they arrived at the bridge, a large square room with a circular depression where an array of consoles and chairs ordered at the front with a raised captain's chair centre-stage.

Quickly planting himself on the captains chair Rush leaned to the side and tapped a few commands in. Eli, knowing the routine sat in the console responsible for system diagnostics.

"Okay, year is 2014, so at least it hasn't been that long, uhh ship looks okay but I'm no expert. Annnndddd no drones in sight!"

"Good. At least that worked out." Rush had relief painted all over his face, it was almost humorous.

-&-

"Listen up everyone, the colonel's got something to say." Master Sergeant Ronald Greer announced, Greer always looked up to Young, in his opinion, he was the type of leader this world needed.

A flying orb Greer knew to be a kino flew by him and settled above the crowd to film Young's speech. With an intake of breath he began.

"May 9th 2014,
Three years ago we entered stasis expecting sanctuary in this new galaxy; Three years ago we came close to defeat at the hand of an unparalleled drone army. Three years later we now hope to whatever deity or belief that for once, we can actually go one day without fear of our lives. I have had the pleasure of knowing each and every one of you as not only crew, but friends. This new galaxy, Rush tells me, is very similar to our own milky way, it seems so far that the drones have not followed us across this void, but if they do, we will be ready for them. This is our ground, we have the advantage and I suspect everyone agrees we will use it on those bastards. Until then I suggest everyone go see Lt. Johansen for medical checkups."

With some sparse clapping and a few murmurs of agreement the crowd dissolved. Young prayed silently that he was right.

-------

Writer's note,
Sorry for the lack of ponies, but this part had to be done :D
I promise much pony when Destiny next jumps into FTL! And please don't forget to add your 2 cents of constructive criticism, I'm not a professional, but this will help me in preparation for my GCSEs.