CH1: Towards the New Frontier
XXXXX
Location: Pegasus Galaxy- Sector 21-987-32
2010/2/22
The galaxy is a vast place; you never know what might happen out there, so many wonders, so many adventures, and so many unbelievable sights which few people might get to see. Albeit though the universe is filled with many wonders, it also happens to be filled with insurmountable amounts of dangers, such is the way things always are.
For Rodney McKay, space was filled with awesome sights, but of course that didn't mean there weren't some serious risks to travelling it, like aliens who could suck the life out of you with their hands, or parasitic aliens which can hijack your body. There were other beings capable of vaporising people with high energy radiation cannons.
Oh there were also the various alien races out there with ulterior motives and their politics, also the dark side of the various agencies on Earth who wanted to use the Stargate for their own purposes. But of course the latter had been dealt with in the past decade, but for the most part, it was still something that does concern the government.
But for Rodney these kinds of problems weren't going to be the case, not today anyways. He was enjoying a relaxing time trying to sort out the variables of multi-dimensional folds within subspace to better regulate the flow of zero point energy for the new Arcturus class Cruiser, which had been going on its first shakedown run in the Pegasus galaxy. It was the first of a new line of ships designed for long range expeditions and independent deployments.
The Arcturus was built with the most advanced level of technology available, state of the art weaponry and equipment, ready to use against anything, well nearly anything. The ship was just 1 of 3 which had been constructed, and the others were still at dry dock back on Lantea. The Arcturus he was currently on was the one which had been finished ahead of schedule.
It needed testing before it could be put into full use, not to mention, since it was the first ship launched of its class, it required a number of tweaks. The other reason why this ship class was called the Arcturus was due to an incident over 4 years ago with an Ancient Atlantean experiment which was supposed to draw zero point energy from the universe, but it overloaded and exploded.
Rodney wasn't too fond of remembering one of his greatest screw-ups but, this Arcturus was based on the same principle. The ship was created to draw zero point energy with its new zero point reactor, but not only that, this one had one additional upgrade. The multi-dimensional drive, a new form of FTL which would open quasi dimensional wormholes for ships to pass through, but of course it was still a work in progress.
The experimental drive was a very complicated and highly advanced piece of multi-dimensional engineering; meaning if something went horribly wrong, well there wasn't telling what'd happen. Rodney, pushed the thought of disaster away as he focused on the zero point generator, he tested the predicted the output of energy once more and doubled checked his findings.
Tapping the data into the console, he reviewed the data and came to a safe conclusion that powering up the drive within a certain margin of error was alright. He pressed into the console commands and waited for the drive to reach its peak.
He pulled up his com channel and opened a line to those who he needed to inform. "Ok ZPG is holding at 90%, looks like we're in business." Rodney announced.
He heard the gruff reply over the coms.
"Good, we've just finished the diagnostics of the shields and weapon systems; they're all in the green. Also McKay, you might want to speed it up, Carter's set us up a meeting in the conference room, and you know how she doesn't like it when you miss these things."
Rodney rolled his eyes as he replied.
"Fine Sheppard, but do tell Carter that if she can do this any faster, then she can come down here and do it herself." McKay replied in an agitated tone.
"I'll be sure to pass that on." The voice of Sheppard replied in a sardonic fashion.
As the com line closed, McKay got back to work on the console controls for the generator, he wondered what they could possibly be meeting about, but of course he knew better than to miss a meeting. It usually involved details about dangerous assignments or some new anomaly they can all fly right into.
But that was just another day in the Pegasus galaxy, nothing ventured, nothing gained. And he knew that from experience alone, he'd been through the wringer a few times with luck in the past, though he didn't necessarily believe in luck, it was all about probability. Really whether or not the universe wanted him dead really depended on him. He finished up his overview of the generator as his fellow subordinate Radek appeared.
"Oh good you've just made it back, I've got a meeting to attend to so just check on the usual output of the drive, and oh right, don't touch the..." McKay was about to finish when Radek cut in an annoyed fashion.
"Don't touch the output modulator for the drive, I know I know…" Radek said as Rodney was packing his things up.
Radek added thoughtfully. "Oh I'll be sure to not touch it like how you started to touch controls on an ancient mine last time."
McKay replied indignantly. "Hey that wasn't my fault; no one ever said the bomb was in built with a motion sensor." He said before he took his leave from engineering.
Rodney straightened out his uniform as he walked through the corridors of the Arcturus. It didn't take long for him to take his mind off the current assignment to nit-pick at his surrounding environment.
He wondered if they'd ever bother changing the lighting for the ship someday, it was always so dull, he wouldn't mind if they put in some high band UV lights, those tended to feel less depressing, but of course the ship was still pretty new so he could request a slight change. As he walked through the gunmetal grey corridors of the ship, he took a moment to reflect.
To clarify, McKay had a near brush with ascension, becoming an ethereal being of incredible powers and such; he did for about 5 minutes before he returned to the physical plane of existence thanks to the aid of some powerful friends. He took some time to make meditations and relax; of course he did this when he had time.
It was strange but a calming thing, of course probably an incredibly stupid thing to do in an emergency or a fire fight. He took a moment to reflect upon himself, here he was 41 years old, and still looking good, albeit thanks to the aid of the UCAF giving him some regenerative treatments which reduced his aging process and reverted him a couple of years younger, but that wouldn't last forever.
Brown short cut hair, calm deep brown eyes, and a really bad habit of being agitated easily, arrogant, condescending and overly confident, of course he had his reasons, being one of the smartest people alive in the human race, barring the Ancients of course and well maybe a few other species. He was only matched by his sister, Samantha Carter, a few other people across Earth, and then there was Eli Wallace.
He still couldn't believe a 21 year old wash out from MIT managed to figure out a means of successfully generating zero point energy using a reactor as a containment device solves the causality faults. He knew he'd run into some smarter people across the galaxy, but a washout from MIT pulling this out of his hat was definitely a new one.
Rodney calmed himself, no need to go all aggro before he even made it to the conference room, as he took some time to think it over; he figured the universe is full of people, probably a lot of smarter people. He might get along with a few of them, also taking credit as part of some greater project was usually a good idea.
Speaking of Eli, as McKay reached the end of the corridor which exited into a cross section in the ship, he turned into the nearby lift where he was greeted by the short curly haired late teenage boy who had a PSP in hand and playing avidly.
"Hey there." Eli said as he played intently on the mini console.
"Hi." McKay replied hesitantly.
McKay never truly understood the point of playing games in this day and age, of course to be honest he wasn't much of a gamer to begin with, games and such depend on reaction, hand to eye coordination, or some sense of imagination, which he wasn't really such a big fan of. Eli on the other hand was creative and possessed a great sense of ingenuity.
"So, where're you off to?" McKay said as he pressed on the pad of the lift control.
"I'm heading off for the meeting." Eli muttered as he continued to play.
McKay was taken aback. "Wait why are you needed at the meeting?" He asked the gamer.
Eli shrugged as he continued to play. "I dunno. The Colonel wanted me at the meeting to brief me on some stuff regarding our next jump, I guess it's got to do something to do with the trans-dimensional drive enhancement I had you guys install." He replied as he jiggled around his PSP.
McKay was a little sceptical about why the new drive needed the game-boy's attention, but if Sam thought it was necessary then he couldn't overrule her decision as much as he would have liked to. McKay wasn't much of a fan of Eli's gaming habit, it seemed rather distracting, ok the kid managed to jump a ship from the inside of a planet once and saved everyone's asses.
But it didn't excuse his lax behaviour in all of this; he was still a member of the expedition, who also happened to be a bit better versed at multi-spatial physics than he was, and well a bit faster at doing calculations. But he was still older than Eli, and a lot more experienced, at least in some areas.
Of course holding this over Eli would just make him look like an ass in front of everyone else, so he didn't bother trying. As they reached deck 7 the doors opened up and let them out, Eli seemingly knew that this was the level to get off of even though he was still engrossed in his game, it was strange. Did the guy have a navigation app for his PSP?
The more McKay thought about it, the more it gave him a headache, he decided to leave the question as he and Eli turned the corner. McKay was greeted by the sight and sounds of a certain officer. "Oh Sheppard." He stated in a bit of surprise as he greeted the specialist marine.
Sheppard who had been ahead of them turned about. "Hey McKay, Eli, what's going on?"
Before he could say anything Eli, paused his game and faced the colonel with a smiled.
"Hey Sheppard, me and McKay were just heading to the meeting."
"Uh Eli he knows I'm going." McKay threw Eli a look.
"Well since you two are here, any ideas what the meeting's going to be about?" Sheppard asked candidly as he continued down the corridor.
McKay and Eli tagged behind him in tow, McKay began. "It could be anything at the moment; I wouldn't be surprised if Sam's calling us up because of how the ship's still not absolutely finished."
"Hey I doubt it. The Arcturus is fully functional, aside from the small issue of the multi-dimensional field drive. It should be at peak efficiency." Eli stated.
"Yes, but it's also because of that new enhancement you installed for the Arcturus that we're stuck out here in the middle of nowhere trying to get it ready for its formal launch." McKay quipped in response.
"Hey I'm not the one taking 4 hours to run a dozen diagnostics at once, besides, since when have you cared about my projects? Mr I'm busy learning about the secrets of the whole freaking universe." Eli retorted aptly as they continued onwards.
"Will you two quit it already?" Sheppard interjected in an annoyed tone.
The two most brilliant members of the Pegasus Research Department dropped their argument and followed the Colonel to the conference room; it wasn't long till they were greeted by various members of the ship's crew and officers of each military division aboard the ship. The conference room, which was fairly spacious, was built with utility in mind.
It was an amphitheatre which was large enough to fit a couple of C-130 Hercules inside and then some, the rows and rows of seats which were positioned in a fashion which wasn't claustrophobic. Down in the floor level of the conference room was a single set of chairs ringed around a large holographic display unit. The majority of the conference room chairs and tables remained empty, since this wasn't necessarily a full command briefing.
Down on the floor level was where everyone was gathered, Carter was just going over some data-pads of whatever reports she was receiving still from across the Arcturus aside from that, she had most of her focus on matters currently occurring across the ship and well across the rest of the galaxy.
Ever since the Wraith Empress was killed things have been steadily going back to the way they were before, albeit the fact that the UEF United Earth Federation was still engaged in war with the remaining Goa'uld System Lords, Baal's last clones, the Nak'esh, and a handful of other troublesome species which seemed to have popped into existence since 12 years ago.
To currently explain the state of affairs of the United Earth Federation, the UEF has been around since the start of 2004, with the help of some extra-universal help from the UCAF, a faction from another universe which helped Stargate Command become as crucial organisation in defending Earth and various other worlds from various threats.
The Lucien Alliance was one said threat until a few months ago when most of the Lucien Alliance Leaders were killed by the UEFF United Earth Federation Forces, under the command of Colonel Mitchell. The Lucien Alliance was responsible for the mass murder of millions throughout its brief rise to power; it held dozens of worlds until the UEF became cohesive enough to challenge their power.
Other factions such as alien races were becoming a more common sight thanks to the fall of the Goa'uld Empire, but that said, there was a sharp increase in more aggressive alien races. Since the fall of the Goa'uld the Nak'esh and a few other races have been encroaching on neutral ground and attacking trading outposts across open space.
The UEF had made the decision to begin implementing patrol forces for each nation, country and etc. to begin large scale recruitment for the UEFF to help in securing the borders of the UEF from dangerous races which had come to rise. Carter who had been part of the SGC was also a leading member in the UEFF itself.
It was why she was caught up in all of the paperwork; she did technically help create the UEF and also help in expanding human knowledge of the universe. A colony here in the Pegasus galaxy was also named after her, thanks to her contributions to saving lives from the Wraith, Replicators, Collectors and the Genii made her a public figure amongst the inhabitants of the galaxy.
McKay grinned as he recalled the day he got a whole battleship named after him, of course Sheppard wasn't so please since McKay spent the whole week bragging about it. Sheppard then muttered about something as they reached the ground floor.
"Looks like we've got Caldwell here." He nodded in the direction of the officer who had been assigned to the Pegasus expedition some years ago.
McKay turned his head to see the bald officer; Caldwell was seated on the other side of the table with a few other commanders from the various ships of the escort group assigned to the Arcturus. McKay hadn't seen the good old Colonel since their last little drop in a few weeks ago; well technically he wasn't a Colonel anymore.
McKay's thoughts were interrupted. "Okay people let's get this briefing underway." Sheppard announced as he took his seat on the 3rd arch table left of Caldwell.
Carter cleared her throat as she put down her data pad. "Very well, I've come to announce that the UEFF High Command has decided that a temporary ceasefire is being discussed between us and the Genii." She stated in a slightly agitated tone.
"What?" Sheppard exclaimed with a look of surprise.
"You've got to be kidding." McKay concurred in an equally surprised tone.
Carter sympathised with her fellow members. "I wasn't anymore happy with it than you are, but since we've been at war with them for the past 5 years the UEG (United Earth Governments) aren't pleased with the way we've been having to put out spot fires since this war began. As much as we'd like to ensure that Kolya doesn't try another coup with the Pegasus Coalition Government, we cannot continue to expend resources at the moment." Carter memorised from the message she received prior to the meeting.
"Because of that new expedition being planned by Dr Jackson?" Sheppard asked Sam.
Sam was a bit hesitant in replying but she nodded. "The UEFF has been trying to construct the new Avalon class Carrier for the better part of a year now, the resources required to construct it have been taxing the UEF to continue manufacturing new ships and repairing our ships."
McKay decided to inquire. "Ok seriously Sam, why does Jackson even need a 7.2 kilometre warship anyway? I thought his pet project was supposed to relate to the Ancients most highly secured scientific project?" He said in a satire tone.
"Well since you've asked so nicely McKay…" She gave him a slightly disapproving look, which he knew immediately she didn't like him poking at Daniel over his work, he looked away to keep her glare from him.
"The Avalon's supposed to be a large scale expedition ship for extended trip's across the universe, particularly, the ship is meant to reach the Antares galaxy within a week. And carry enough personnel and equipment and resources for the expedition, since Laputa is supposed to be a dozen times the size of Atlantis, not to mention requires supposedly a lot more resources to maintain."
"Now that's been squared away, I can guess we're going to be standing down our alert status along the galactic borders?" Caldwell inquired with a slightly less than enthusiastic tone.
Carter nodded. "Pretty much, we can't afford to maintain as many ships out in the Pegasus galaxy at the moment, the UEFF had decided to reduce our current forces by a fourth by next year." Carter stated before sighing, her past 3 years as the military commander of the Pegasus Expedition had been wearing her down considerably.
Sheppard palmed his face before he stated. "We haven't even dealt with the current problem of Wraith remnants still around the galaxy; we can't possibly expect to eliminate the last loyalist Wraith factions without substantial forces." He said in a rather dispassionate fashion.
Carter empathised with him. "I know, but the UEG believes that we can hold with what we have, and if necessary they'll launch the reserve fleets from around New Melbourne and direct them here." She tried to reassure the Colonel.
Sheppard rolled his neck back and just decided to accept that the UEF Government is probably up to its neck dealing with political issues regarding more local problems like the fragmented remains of the Goa'uld system lords which still continued to plague local shipping routes with hit and run attacks. Not to mention one survivor of the Lucien Alliance, a commander named Kiva whose father was executed for war crimes by the UEF.
The Lucien Alliance holdout was determined to inflict as much damage upon Earth as possible and had been held responsible for recent terrorist attacks on shipyards in 3 sectors of space, the need of forces to go and hunt her down have been trying. It was doubtful this problem would be resolved soon, which was going to be more problematic for the Pegasus expedition.
"So aside from the usual crap we have to go through, is there any good news from the UEF High Com?" Sheppard asked satirically.
Sam pulled out a data pad and said. "Well there are a couple of good things to say about today."
"What would be the first?" McKay asked aptly.
"The first is that we have been given advanced resources for creating the Arcturus class, General O'Neil came through for us in requesting the UEF prioritize the fleet since the new Arcturus class itself is going to be needed soon enough." Carter began.
"Which means he wants to even out the little hiccup the UEG made for us?" McKay deadpanned.
Carter threw him another glare which he dropped the subject. Carter explained clearly. "The Arcturus is going ahead thanks to the urgency of the new Expedition, not to mention the UEF is somewhat uncertain to do with the situation here in Pegasus."
"Well it's expected, they aren't technically here doing this themselves, and I probably doubt they'd really like to try." Caldwell added thoughtfully into the conversation.
"Bureaucracy at its finest." McKay said with a roll of his eyes.
"Well at least we got the green light for the Arcturus or we'd be waiting another 8 months to get a reply from the UEF High Command." Eli stated optimistically as he changed the game on his PSP.
"So what's the last bit of good news before the universe smacks us in the face?" Sheppard asked with a light yawn.
Carter pulled it up on her data pad and stated in a clear and calm tone. "To Colonel Samantha Carter, current commander of the United Earth Federation Forces stationed within the Pegasus galaxy, it is my distinguished honour to announce your promotion to Brigadier General of the United Earth Federation Forces effective immediately. Your years in service to Earth and its colonies are greatly recognised by all members of the UEF and believe your distinguished service is worth merit.
Signed Chairman of the United Earth Federation, Henry Hayes.
Note that there will be a formal ceremony on Earth on the 15/4." Carter finished.
The conference room was suddenly dead silent from the announcement, aside from Eli who was still playing on his PSP, who after a moment said.
"Oh congrats Sam, it's about time they made you a general." He said in a mildly happy tone whilst engrossed in playing Devil May Cry IV.
Samantha was taken aback by the sudden announcement as well, she didn't expect that they'd promote her after all this time; it was a refreshing change of pace. Sheppard broke out of his surprise and added. "Well congrats General Carter." He said thoughtfully.
Caldwell seemed a little bit more surprised than the rest of them, but also added his approval. "It's about time, though I have to say their timing is somewhat tedious, if I do say so ma'am." He said in respects to her new rank.
Rodney was also approving, though he agreed. "This seems kinda convenient; as soon as they reduce our military presence they make you brigadier general, am I the only one a little suspicious by all of this?" Rodney asked them all aloud.
"No, but it's better than nothing, I'm assuming that this is probably going to be a formality, Hayes is going up against some tough opposition in terms of his position back on Earth, the UEF has plenty of people who'd want to put someone else in power than him." Carter stated as she closed the data pad.
"Great more politics, as if our little escapade with the Trust didn't scare those idiots back on Earth." Sheppard muttered as he shook his head.
"A great recipe for disaster, but I think it's still worth the promotion, I'm sure General O'Neill voiced his approval as well, as much as he could really say." Eli said as he continued to play only glancing up as he finished his sentence.
"Well the good thing about all of this is that Carter can't get overruled by the other officers in Pegasus now, Petrukov himself will undoubtedly be annoyed at this. But better we have him angry at her than try and overrule another decision like in 07." Sheppard stated in his observation.
"So if that's all of the good news, anything else we'd need to know?" McKay inquired as he wrote down some notes of what to begin investigating.
"Nothing else, Atlantis forwarded an update on the expansion project to the mainland was going well, they've almost got Newport ready for the next colonists inbound from Earth. The update with Todd, he's gotten out of that bind back on VD-093, and Ronon along with Teyla have begun to open up trade with the Avarians, they'll be back next week." She finished up on the reports.
"Well looks like we won't be having any new disaster any time soon, which is usually a bad omen." McKay stated.
"Why is that?" Eli inquired.
"Because every time we get a short break somewhere in the galaxy something really bad tends to happen." McKay stated.
It was then the conference room's intercom came active. "Uh ma'am, this is the Ironclad-12-34 we've got an unknown contact approaching on the other side of the system, we're cannot make a confirmation, they parked themselves right into the atmosphere of the local gas giant." The commander of the Ironclad stated.
Everyone got out of their seats to head over to the main bridge, Carter replied over the com. "Keep an eye on them, and don't move to ID, if they make a move in our direction pull back."
"Understood ma'am." The commander replied.
"So I'm guessing that this is probably that this is that little disaster?" Eli asked McKay.
"Probably." McKay said plainly with a shrug as they rushed up the stairs to the exit.
Sheppard was already ahead, his augmented body took him 4 paces ahead of everyone else. Officers, crewmen and other such individuals were rushing to their stations, undoubtedly preparing for whatever was going on. Caldwell broke off at the lift intending to get to the transporters; he had to get to his cruiser which was parked alongside the Arcturus.
As the rest of them reached the bridge, they were greeted by Sam's favoured pupil and one day successor, Commander Jennifer Hailey. "Ma'am." She greeted the new General.
"What's the situation?" Carter inquired.
Hailey brought up a map of the solar system on a holographic display unit near the command/control section of the bridge; it highlighted the third planet in the system.
"We've got one ship, size is consistent with a Wraith Cruiser, its currently holding position within the gas giant's atmosphere."
"Great, Wraith again, the fun just never ends with those guys." Sheppard muttered as he looked over the data himself.
McKay checked the sensor logs as well; Eli who put his PSP away grabbed a computer tablet and was going through the secondary sensor relays in some attempt to get a better resolution on the vessel.
Carter inquired. "Any signs of any other Wraith vessels in the region?"
McKay checked the long range sensors. "Nothing in the hyperspace emissions, they're pretty much empty."
"Isn't the nearest Hive fleet over a week away from here?" Sheppard asked them aloud.
"Yeah that is the case, but that doesn't mean the Wraith don't send in some advanced scout ships to check out star systems." McKay stated as he doubled over the sensors.
It was Eli who discovered something. "Hey guys, I'm getting faint electromagnetic emissions coming from the second planet in the system, I'm reading a large dispersal pattern changing at a rate of 0.3 seconds." He stated as he looked over the sensors.
"Hailey what's the status of the fleet's shields?" Carter asked the commander.
Hailey stated in a calm disciplined reply. "We have full shield functions, though Captain Caldwell states the Daedalus is having some minor issues with its lower shield emitters, he's got his engineering teems working on it."
"Okay, McKay what's the status of our hyperdrive?" Carter asked the Canadian science officer.
"Well I've got the secondary hyperdrive working; we were still in the midst of fixing the primary hyperdrive to the ZPG, it's going to take at least another half an hour." He replied as he changed over from the bridge console to a mobile tablet.
"Uh, guys, I think we have a problem." Eli stated as he looked over another sensor anomaly.
"What is it?" Carter asked the young scientist.
The alarms started sounding; the voice of the ship's AI Amanda appeared. "Sorry for not appearing sooner, I finished running full diagnostics on the status of our primary and secondary systems; I did a double over on our sensor logs and found three approaching shadows approximately aft of the fleet." The AI stated.
McKay was a little startled at the sight of the AI, he hadn't gotten used to Amanda since the whole incident with being trapped in a chamber with a crazy malfunctioning android. "Seriously couldn't you just materialise on the holo-projector?" He asked in a slightly annoyed tone.
"As much as I'd like to argue the point of where I appear, we do have more pressing concerns." Amanda stated in an annoyed tone towards the scientist.
Eli cut in once again this time in a more urgent tone. "Guys those ships look really damn familiar."
It was then Amanda exclaimed. "Ships have begun charging high energy impulse weapons; energy signatures are consistent with Wraith Stalkers."
"Oh that's not good." Sheppard stated as they received a warning.
"Incoming volley." Hailey said as she rushed down to the CIC below them.
The ship shuddered slightly as the Wraith Stalkers fired their lances, the effect wasn't enough to knock anyone over, but it did make them shake a bit. "Energy impulse was directed exactly aft of our shields, we've received a high end energy burst, receiving overall capacity overload around junctions 3-21-11."
"What was their target?" Carter inquired.
"They hit our hyperdrives, those energy bursts were directed at our shield harmonics. They bypassed our shields and overloaded the control junction, we've lost hyperdive capability." McKay said in alarm as he checked over the damage report.
"Ma'am Wraith vessels have begun moving out of their positions; I count a total of 9 Wraith vessels." Hailey stated as she took command through the CIC.
"Incoming communication from the Daedalus." A com officer stated.
"This is Carter." Sam stated over the com.
"General, we've powered up weapons and are moving to a defensive position aft of the Arcturus, what's your status?" Caldwell inquired.
"We've sustained energy damage directed at our Hypderdrive; we've lost FTL capability at the moment, McKay's working on it, but we're counting 9 Wraith ships on approach along with Stalkers. You already know what to do, cover us for the moment; we're going to try to get the Hyperdive back online." Carter replied in an orderly fashion.
"Very well we'll hold our position aft." Caldwell stated.
Amanda then announced with a slightly tuneful tone. "General Carter, I have detected additional Wraith ships on approach."
"I thought you said there weren't any other ships in reach?" Sheppard asked with a questioning look at McKay.
"I did, unless they masked their FTL signatures…" He then realised something. "Just like the Empress did back in the siege of Atlantis." He trailed off as he felt a lump in the back of his throat.
"Oh that's just great, just when I was beginning to feel better about space again." Eli stated as he rushed off to the navigational interface on the right side of the bridge, technicians were going about trying to map the approach.
"Think it's a remnant faction of the Empress?" Sheppard asked aloud as the ship shuddered from potshots from the Wraith ships.
"Very likely, looks like they haven't lost their touch." Carter replied as she looked over the sensor ghosts on approach.
Eli managed to discern the approaching vessels approaching. "We've got a Hive Dreadnought and what looks like 5 cruisers, and a whole mess of smaller ships."
"Just great, looks like they were waiting for us." McKay stated in a slightly alarmed tone as the other Wraith vessels began to close in around their fleet.
"I doubt it McKay, if anything their Stalkers probably tracked us through subspace and traced us right here, probably took the chance to attack while we were vulnerable." Eli hypothesised.
"Makes sense, I'd do something like that if given the chance." Sheppard agreed as he watched the battle continue.
"Well we better start figuring out a means of getting out of here. I don't think even Arcturus was built to fight that many Wraith ships especially a dreadnought." Carter said in an urgent tone.
"I'm working on it." McKay stated as he began to work.
Amanda thoughtfully stated. "At the best possible time we cannot fix the hyperdrive in the time allocated, I estimate that the Wraith fleet will be right on top of us within the next 5 minutes, and if calculations are correct, the Dreadnought alone will effectively reduce our shields to minimal levels through sustained bombardment." The AI stated clearly and calmly amidst the battle.
"Any good news?" Sheppard asked them openly.
"I've got nothing, it'll take another 20 minutes for us to get the secondary hyperdrive fixed again and the primary is still not mounted with the ZPG. I can get started but that'll take at least another 30 minutes to get running." McKay said before adding. "That's assuming those Stalkers or any more like them don't overwhelm our shield emitters and hits us with another pulse blast, or we're sitting ducks." He stated as he looked over the damage of the main hyperdrive.
"Can we send a message to Atlantis?" Carter asked to a nearby com officer.
The man shook his head grimly. "Not possible, they've flooded the system in subspace scramblers; I doubt anyone within range of us will be able to help though." He said trying to clear the channels.
"Not like that'd do us much good, it'd take them a while to send a fleet in our direction." McKay added aloud as he began to bypass damaged sections of the junction from the control console.
"Ma'am Wraith fleet is emerging from hyperspace off our port bow." Hailey stated from the CIC as she tracked the movement of enemy ships.
They all turned to face the viewscreen as the Wraith fleet came out of FTL; it was truly a frightening sight for those who hadn't faced the Wraith in the past. The size of the Wraith forces hadn't truly diminished since the start of the war years ago. Massive vessels kilometres in size appeared, their insect like hull armour gleamed dimly in the open void.
The outer layer of the hull bristled with weapon arrays and a number of sensory nodes designed to track and destroy ships which dared to face the Wraith ships. But the Dreadnought was the most daunting of all; its size was about 3 times the size of Atlantis, capable of carrying hundreds of thousands to millions of Wraith per vessel.
It was shaped into 9 great spines, with the middle being shaped like a hook which arched downwards, its length was lifelike and organic in design, crafted to savagely rip into enemy vessels without remorse. The dozens of smaller ships around it were immaculate in comparison to the capital ship.
"This is going to get really fucking ugly." Sheppard stated profoundly.
"Yeah it is." McKay agreed as he immediately got back to work.
Amanda then alerted them. "Enemy capital ship has charged weapons and is firing. Brace for impact."
The Arcturus violently shook as dozens of energy blasts began to slam into the outer shields. Carter was almost knocked off balance, but realigned herself and took to the bridge command chair, a few consoles sparked from energy overloads. "Amanda what's the status on our weapon arrays?" Carter asked the AI over the sparks and shudders.
"We have all primary weapons active; I have already begun to return fire, however the Wraith Dreadnought is dispersing and absorbing the impacts fairly consistently." Amanda stated in a matter of fact tone as she worked to overcome the Wraith's larger capital vessel.
"McKay can you get our FTL back online even for a brief moment?" Carter asked in a more demanding tone.
McKay ran through the controls and functions for the FTL and replied in a rather agitated fashion. "Not fast enough, calculating and reconstructing the main drive matrix isn't something I can do on a dime here."
"But can we go into FTL even for a short jump? We don't need the absolute 100% on the drives; just give me anything to work with here." Carter asked him urging tone.
Eli and McKay took a few moments to run through a couple of simulated short jumps. McKay found nothing. "I can't the drive wouldn't get us as far as the outskirts of the system and that's assuming it doesn't overload and send us into oblivion…" He mumbled the last bit as he tried to reconfigure the controls.
"There's just not enough power being redirected to the control matrix to allow a stable FTL jump." Eli said in hindsight as he did his own calculations.
McKay added. "Exactly meaning any jump we make would either just end in failure or we all die in the blink of an eye."
"Yes, but you're not adding one factor." Eli stated as he looked over the controls for the multi-dimensional drive. "We can channel the ZPG and use the multi-dimensional drive to channel power right into the control matrix that should give us a short burst, though where we'd end up is probably going to depend on how long the jump is." Eli said as he thought the process through.
McKay exclaimed in response. "No it doesn't we don't have any idea what'll happen if we plug the MDD right into the control matrix, sure we have a 10 percent chance of making a successful jump anywhere, but we have a 60 percent chance of unknown variables." He stated in a heated response.
"Better than being ripped to pieces by Wraith." Sheppard stated his opinion as he looked over the battle report filing in.
"General, Captain Caldwell is on the line." The com officer stated.
"Patch him through." Carter acknowledged.
The familiar voice of the Captain came through albeit tensely. "General we've done all we could, we've received damage to our hyperdrive, secondary shield arrays are down and we have breaches on 3 decks, primary armaments are holding up, but not for much longer if these Stalkers keep pounding us like this."
The sounds of battle continued to come through on Calwell's end, Carter knew that this was not going to end well either way. "Understood Captain, we're exploring our options right now, we've narrowed down our decision, hold on for a bit longer."
"Understood ma'am." Caldwell stated as he got back to the fight.
Hailey who had been busy trying to coordinate the fleet came over the CIC com. "Ma'am, I've given it some thought and I suggest we follow along with Eli's plan, we cannot maintain this position for much longer. The Ulysses and Yamato have been both forced back to our perimeter for shield recovery, there are still too many Wraith vessels for us to handle, strategically this is not a matter of holding on much longer." Jennifer stated in a meticulous fashion.
Carter asked Sheppard. "What do you think?"
Sheppard looked around from the display on the bridge and stated. "Can't hurt us anymore than sticking around ma'am."
Carter came down to the decision. "Alright, we're going with Eli's plan." She said aloud. "Jennifer order all ships to close formation around the Arcturus, when we jump we'll pull the fleet through." She ordered the commander.
Jennifer understood and began to relay orders to the fleet. "All ships close formation prepare for mass FTL jump."
"Eli how much time do you need?" Carter asked the young prodigy.
Eli gave her a slightly strained look as he calculated the timing. "About another couple of minutes but I'll probably have to go and manually link the MDD to the hyperdrive." He replied.
"Okay, get going." Carter said before looking at McKay. "You go as well, try and help Eli get the jury rig done ASAP." McKay was about to reply to the order but held his tongue and nodded.
"Okay, but if anything goes wrong it's not my fault." McKay sighed as he followed after Eli.
The ship shuddered once more as heavy particle beams from the Wraith ships continued to pound away from the outside. Carter hoped that this was worth the gamble, Sheppard who had been eagerly looking over the engagement from a display asked Carter. "You know if this doesn't work…"
"I know, but better we try something, I have my faith in Eli and McKay they haven't let us down in the past." Carter stated hopefully.
"Well aside from McKay blowing up a whole star system and Eli who managed to cause everyone to go invisible last time." Sheppard added thoughtfully.
"Right aside from those things, I'm fairly confident they wouldn't cause any more trouble especially now." Carter tried to reassure him as much as herself.
Outside of the ships beams from the various plasma beam cannons continued to fire out directed energy blasts against the Wraith ships continuing to assault the human ships. Each beam was substantially more powerful than Wraith weapons, though they lacked in volume of fire which the Wraith had plenty of.
This engagement was merely to wither down the defences to close distance and board the UEFF fleet. Of course that was assuming they didn't just scuttle the ships rather than let them fall into the hands of the Wraith. Down in engineering, McKay and Eli worked away linking the FTL drive directly into the MDD.
It wasn't long before they had jury rigged the machines together, though the unpredictability of the two machines working together was unpredictable at best. Eli upon finishing the calculations to make the jump called over the com. "General we're ready to activate the drive, though I'm not sure what'll happen as soon as we activate it."
"Right, we've gathered the fleet into the range of our FTL that should be enough. On my order execute the jump." Carter stated.
Eli and McKay stood together in engineering, with Radek and the other various members of the technical crew working around trying to make sure everything was in working order.
"Okay in 3, 2, 1…" Carter counted down.
"Activating MDD." Eli said aptly before pressing the button on the console.
Once the drive was active the ship began to shudder, at first subtly and then it increased. The fleet around the Arcturus was engulfed in what could be described as a bubble of light, all-encompassing, the battle between the UEFF and the Wraith suddenly stopped as the brightness eclipsed everything.
On the bridge Carter braced herself in the command chair while Sheppard had magnetised his shoes to the deck of the ship and held onto the display table waiting for what was to come. What should have been a simple jump had suddenly gotten much more interesting. After this point everyone passed out.
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One hour later…
McKay heard the distinct tinnitus ringing away as he awoke; he had been through reality jumps before, but multi-dimensional jumps? Ok that was new. He managed to get onto his feet with a bit of difficulty, of course it seemed most of everyone else was already up. "Hey guys, I feel like someone took a sledgehammer to my head." He groaned.
Eli who had stumbled away from the console and was picking himself up off a nearby bench. "Likewise."
Radek who was busy checking over the systems across the ship said. "McKay we've made the jump I think."
"What do you mean you think?" McKay exclaimed in confusion as he checked the console in front of him.
Eli got back over to their console as the intercom came to life. "This is Carter; give a full status report McKay."
McKay's transponder was still working for him to reply. "We've got about no discernible signs of damage on the ship, though our shields look a little depleted, I can say is that the navigational systems are working just fine…" He paused as he noticed something profoundly wrong.
"Uh okay, that doesn't look right." Eli said as he peered over McKay shoulder.
"What is it?" Carter asked them in a concerned tone.
"Well from what the navigational computers indicate, we haven't moved at all." Eli said as he double checked the navigational records.
Sheppard came over the line and said. "Uh McKay you know that whole bright flash of light thing kind of felt familiar." Sheppard stated in a rather perplexed tone.
"Yes I noticed it as well, but we channelled it right into the FTL drive, it's not like we used a subspace capacitor like those other idiots did." McKay said in response.
"What's going on?" Carter asked the two of them.
Eli knew what this was all about; he was the one who dealt with this problem in the past. "McKay and I believe we might have accidently jumped into an alternate reality again."
There was a slight pause before Sheppard who had been listening said. "McKay, you'd better be joking." The colonel said in a slightly aggravated tone.
"Okay let's not jump the gun just yet, we haven't verified anything." McKay tried to defend himself. "Eli was the one who proposed this plan, and I simply went along with it."
Eli then said. "Well it was a calculated risk, besides if anything at least we're out of the boiler."
"Yeah but we could have just jumped into the frying pan." Sheppard muttered over the coms.
Samantha who had been thinking over the situation wasn't so familiar about how inter-reality travel worked, only by so much could be assumed not much was put into actual practical application of dimension jumping. She then recalled. "McKay, didn't you and Eli both work on the alternate reality Daedalus when it arrived over Atlantis last time? I recall you managed to get it to send you back."
Eli who was busy checking over the recorded dimensional jump then said. "I think that might be a problem."
"What's wrong now?" Sam quipped.
McKay checked over the logs and he compared it to their records on the Daedalus from the alternate reality. "You've got to be kidding me." McKay said as he checked over the comparison.
"What is it McKay?" Sheppard said in a demanding tone.
"We-." Eli was cut off as McKay said. "We've compared our data on the alternate reality Daedalus and our jump, they don't match up."
"Why what's different than before?" Sheppard asked them.
Eli took over to explain. "The drive on the alternate reality Daedalus had a smaller drive which didn't link itself into the hyperdrive, meaning the jump was usually a systemic one, what we just experienced was more like a blind jump through subspace, we could have ended up anywhere."
Sheppard then asked in a rather sheepish tone. "Why not just flip the drive back in reverse like last time?"
Sam finally got what had happened and said. "It's not possible because we don't know where we just jumped to; it's like a point of origin to destination."
"And we didn't input our destination." McKay said in a rather panicked tone.
Eli then interjected. "You know you really need to calm down McKay, we can make it back, it's just really figuring out how."
McKay snapped angrily. "Oh easy for you to say Mr Optimistic I'm a boy genius, we've got no way to determine our point of origin from our jump, for all we know this reality could have flying cars and penguins for people."
"That'd sound weirdly interesting." Sheppard added thoughtfully.
"Uh, okay back to our primary cause for concern. Where are we right now?" Samantha asked.
The two physicists looked around before Amanda came over the intercom. "Ma'am I have just completed overall system repairs, no critical systems have been compromised and I have had the opportunity to use our stellar cartographer to compare stellar locations within the surrounding space."
"And where exactly did we end up?" Sheppard inquired as he prepared for the worst.
Amanda, who had been based off Amanda Perry of the UEF Scientific Research Department in Bathurst Australia, chimed in a surprised tone. "We have arrived approximately within 5 parsecs of the Sol System."
"5 parsecs of Earth? How's that possible? I thought the reality jumps limit us to exactly where we are in space. It shouldn't have moved us." Sam asked them aloud.
Jennifer who had been in the CIC for the majority of the conversation added her hypothesis. "We were linked to the hyperdrive when we made the dimensional jump, for all we know it might have sent us anywhere in space, we're lucky we just ended up so close to this reality's version of Earth."
"True, but we don't know what's going on in this reality, for all we know Earth doesn't even exist." McKay added thoughtfully.
"Which would be bad, since we don't know how long we're going to be stuck here. And a nice place to sit down and figure out a means to getting back to our reality would be preferable." Sheppard suggested to them.
"Agreed, of course if this Earth is habited, we may need to be careful, we don't exactly know what might be going on the planet, and we don't need to cause an incident." Sam advised.
Amanda interjected in her usual passive tone. "Ma'am may I suggest we repair the hyperdrive while someone is sent to scout out this reality's Earth? I have also Captain Caldwell on the other line; he hasn't been entirely informed on the current situation."
Carter understood. "Very well, I'll speak to Caldwell, Jennifer get the fleet into a defensive perimeter, stand down alert across the fleet. Amanda, who do you need to go and begin repairs on our secondary systems?"
Amanda replied curtly. "I shall require Dr Eli to help in repairs to the crystal arrays located near the aft junctions; I do not require Dr McKay's assistance any time soon." She smiled as McKay interjected.
"Hey I can be just as useful." He said in an indignant tone for the sly remark.
Sheppard decided to add thoughtfully. "I'm going to scout out Sol, just make sure we're not going to impose on any business going on there."
Sam asked him. "Do you want to take a team with you and a Jumper?"
Sheppard replied curtly. "Don't plan on taking a team for this one, besides Jumpers aren't really that hard to see especially when coming out of hyperspace, I'm going to take my Kestrel for a quick trip." He said as he made his way out of the bridge.
He was about to leave as Sam said to him. "I know you have authority to take individual action since the UEFF recognised you as a one man army, but you still report to me. Before you do anything rash, contact me first before starting a war." She warned the Colonel in a somewhat mocking tone.
"Understood, and don't worry since when do I start trouble?" He asked her in an equally mocking tone.
McKay knew immediately what he'd think but held down his satire response. As Sheppard headed down, the rest of the crew got back to what they needed to do. It was going to be a long day for the crew of the Arcturus fleet.
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Location: UEFF Arcturus- Hangar 15-A
Sheppard reached the changing rooms before going into the hangar, he knew that it was best to be suited for the occasion; he entered into the pristine clean gun metal room and stepped into a cubicle marked with his name. As he stepped in, he activated a holographic display on one side of the cubicle which brought up his gear selection.
He selected his space flight gear with atmospheric add-ons; he knew that if the alternate Earth was habitable it was best to be prepared for a short trip through the atmosphere. As the selection was completed, the cubicle began to hum, a section of the cubicle was highlighted and indicated in a diagram to stretch his arms and legs out so it could attach the gear.
He complied with a deep breath and closed his eyes as the cubicle suddenly glowed brightly; he knew the process the machine was molecularly forming his gear over his body. It didn't take any longer than a minute before he felt the weight of his gear weighing down on his body. He opened his eyes and the lighting returned to normal.
The panel then said in bold words [Process Complete], he stepped out of the cubicle and checked over his suit, making sure everything was in place; he turned to face a nearby mirror which stood at the end of the room and did a quick look over. His matte black and red armour dully shone in the lighting, he got a good look at his headgear, and then he made his way out.
He opened the doors and entered into the hangar bay where his fighter was being stored, technicians rushed around to tend to hundreds of vehicles and crafts, but they dared not touch the Kestrel Sheppard owned unless he had authorised them to do so. Sheppard's bird was a Kestrel FV-105 series multi-role fighter/mobile suit; it was constructed 5 years ago in response to the danger of attack on Earth from the remaining System Lords.
The Kestrel is a 24.5m long fighter, its wings were switchblade like which tucked into the sides of the fighter to allow compact storage, it was built with VTOL capabilities and an anti-gravity generator to enable quick deployment even on the ground. The Kestrel was constructed using various materials, from trinium, tritanium, carbon plates and a number of incredibly sturdy and lightweight materials.
The Kestrel features various upgrades from its cousin fighters the FX-301, 02, 03 and the more recent 322. The Kestrel was integrated with energy shields, polarised armour, internal honeycomb construction, making the Kestrel the most advanced fighter created to date. One of the more distinguishable features of the Kestrel is the ability to mount additional equipment; such has 180mm rail guns, a single ARC-V15 energy lance and a number of heavy weapons.
The fighter was developed to launch long distance assaults on ships, bases, outposts. But it also acted as a scouting vessel for fleets, and also performed pre-emptive strikes on high valued targets. Thus the Kestrel is one of the foremost advanced and dangerous of its class, being able to function in all sorts of environments against usually very low odds.
And then there was the MS system which was inbuilt into the Kestrel series of fighters, of course not many were built since the costs for manufacturing all of the parts and equipment not to mention the drives were incredibly expensive compared to a normal fighter or standard MS unit. His one was built to his specifications and well thanks to a certain Japanese teen that was hyped on caffeine.
Sheppard loved his fighter thanks to all of the upgrades and additions he had made to it over the years. His Kestrel could be mounted with his own assortment of weapons, including an external booster frame, something the UCAF had given to the UEF in its fight against the Wraith's superior numbers. There was also the fact that his own fighter had been tailored to his own needs.
A remote neural interface, stealth field projectors, an emergency mini-transporter in the event the fighter is either destroyed or suffers critical damage. Then there were the other additions made by him, a storage locker for weapons and equipment, ion fusion cells for his gear in the event he needed to repair something, and also the nice leather chair he added in for his cockpit.
He stepped up the side step ladder and into the cockpit, he found it rather comfortable to be back in the pilot seat again of the Kestrel, it had been a long month since he had the chance to pilot his fighter. Combat was becoming sporadic back in Pegasus; it was kind of boring now that most of the Wraith were digging in for the long haul.
As he interfaced with his fighter, he was greeted by one of the engineers from the crew who was clearing the way for him to launch. Sheppard identified the engineer as a Vaunian, his white pale hair and yellow/gold tinted eyes gave it away pretty easily since Vaunians were the only ones to have this particular trait.
Once the engineer had completed his check, he got onto a console and activated a crane to move Sheppard Kestrel right to the launching catapult. Sheppard waved the engineer off as he locked the flight gear to the catapult. He linked his com set to the ship and called to the bridge.
"Alright I've finished my pre-flight; I'm ready to take my bird out."
Carter replied over the com. "Understood Sheppard, but remember you have 24 hours to report or we'll send someone to check in on you, for now we're holding here. Check in at least every hour or so, or when you reach your destination."
"Understood ma'am." Sheppard said as he prepared to launch.
In front of him he watched as the hangar bay doors opened, the containment fields held the atmosphere inside and let fighters pass through. As the catapult finished charging, Sheppard indicated for launch. "This is Nova-1 heading out." He said as he hit the ignition for the engines.
His sublight came to life and shot the Kestrel forwards, the gees he should have been pulling were absent as he accelerated into open space, he could see the stars open up to him, all shone so brightly. He was glad something's in the universe never changed. He grasped the controls and navigated his fighter above the Arcturus.
As he prepared for his jump to hyperspace, he took a moment to look over the Arcturus itself. The Arcturus was as impressive as any other vessel in the UEF fleet, albeit this was essentially the fourth largest vessel in Earth's fleet. 3.6km in length, and a bit over a kilometre in height, not to mention wide enough to fit a few warships in between, the Arcturus was an impressive and daunting thing to look at.
Arcturus was created using advanced materials and blueprints of Ancient warships, all obtained on an abandoned Ancient outpost some light years on the edge of the galaxy. The ship was created from a number of new techniques in ship construction all aimed to making highly durable warships to fend off future assaults on Earth and to defend against more hostile enemies.
Sheppard kept in view the fleet, consisting of 11 warships of varying sizes, he loved how the designs they started out with were horribly boxy and bulky and now they were just boxy and streamlined. He watched as he passed the Daedalus' aft, he admitted, the Daedalus' design was a lot smoother than the other ships created even thought it was the first cruiser class built.
As the Kestrel reached the designated jump point, he input the location of Sol and then activated the hyperdrive, in a flash the event horizon of a formed within a few meters of the Kestrel. Sheppard was pulled through hyperspace, he was greeted by the brilliance of light which was hyperspace, and he estimated the jump would take about a couple of minutes.
The UEFF had equipped every ship with Asgard upgraded hyperdrives which could easily make a jump across a hundred thousand light years in just under a day. It was pretty useful having advanced alien allies to help things along, as well as having friends who could upgrade a lot of these things as well.
His Kestrel was built with an enhanced hyperdrive, capable of flying faster than the standard UEFF hyperdrive; of course he paid for the modifications since it wasn't technically part of the UEFF's sanctioned upgrades. Sheppard spent the good part of the couple of minutes going over his own thoughts.
'Over 6 years in the service and not a penny for his pension ironically, since the UEF had changed the economic situation a few years ago and now there's not technical currency in existence. Well at least they cover healthcare.' He thought to himself.
As his Kestrel reached its destination, he grasped the controls and pulled down on the control lever and a pulled it back; he activated the neural interface and decelerated the fighter. Within moments his fighter pulled back into real space, his view passed from the vibrant lights of hyperspace to open space.
He was greeted by the welcoming sight of the sun, though he did notice something was a bit odd, well firstly his view was filled with only the view on just a planet that looked like Earth. Albeit it happened to have a slightly different tinge in colour from what he remembered. His on board sensors did a quick scan and identified a few noticeable differences, only 3 other planets, or what could be identified as planets were in the system.
It seemed as though the alternate reality was pretty plausible here, though as to what kind of world this version of Earth, if it was even called Earth, was going to be very likely a different place alright.
XXXXX
Location: Equestria- Canterlot- Royal Castle
Time: 12:30 AM
Date: 12th Day of the 6th Moon, 1003 New Millennium
It was quiet tonight; the chirps from insects hidden amongst the bushes, the distant flow of water from nearby fountains and the mild breeze of the cool night rustling the trees could be heard tonight. Luna took a moment to take in her night, she felt it calming, but also somewhat melancholy, sure having her duties to attend once more should have been something she was familiar with, but it was the solitary sense of peace that she had been getting used to.
Though having to be left on the moon exiled for 1000 years did give her time to reflect at least within her mind, it wasn't a particularly pleasant feeling she wanted to remember. She turned her attention back to the night skies, staring up at the various constellations of stars which blanketed the night.
She took in the sight for a moment longer before she decided to head back into her room, her nightgown flowing around her as she strode to the golden oak doors of her bedroom; she grabbed the gold gilded handles and closed the doors shut. The cool air was replaced by the warmth of her bedroom, an immaculate dark navy coloured room with shades of black.
Of course in all honesty the definition of bedroom wouldn’t do justice to her private sanctum, the room was as big as an antechamber and had flowing curtains of dark silk and satin drapes which ran rings from the interior to the outer rim of the room. The walls were made of obsidian and enchanted marble, absolutely seamless to any scrutinising eye.
Tables and chairs situated in neat orderly positions, at the centre was her bed, an empress sized circular cushion of velvet blankets, pillows and mattresses. In all honesty it seemed a tad over indulgent in hindsight, but it was her room. As Luna strode her way across the length of her chambers, she took a moment to enjoy the detail and effort placed into crafting her sanctum.
There was one most defining piece of her room that she enjoyed, though it wasn’t as the same of being outside, her room also sported a large dome in the centre above her bed, it was studded with enchanted gems of arcanite, a powerful magically infused gem like material. The gems had been placed into a specially designed dome which followed the stars.
It was quite a beautiful sight, and she appreciated the artistry put into making such a fine piece of art, however, there was a difference in her opinion with just having a glass dome instead of the enchanted one. It was then her peace and quiet ended. “Knock Knock” The sudden tapping on her door caught her attention, she answered.
“Who’s there?” The princess asked from across the room.
She heard a slightly muffled reply from behind the door.
“Sister, it’s me.”
“Come in.” Luna stated clearly.
The door to her room opened with a slight creak, and there her sister stood, her ever straight posture never changing as she walked in, her heeled shoes tapping on the marble floor. Luna had to admit her sister’s stature never seemed to change, though that was likely out of habit than anything else.
“What brings you to my bedroom at this time Celestia?” Luna asked her elder sister.
Princess Celestia, her older sister, and current co-ruler of their country replied aptly.
“Nothing much Luna, I was hoping to get some time to ask you about something of importance.”
“What matter would that be?” Luna asked in a piqued tone.
“The matter in regards to tomorrow’s mid-summer celebrations.” Celestia replied curtly.
Luna suddenly recalled today’s date, it was the 29th which meant that the midyear harvest celebrations were about to begin. “Ah yes, you wanted me to oversee one of the events this year?” Luna asked.
Celestia nodded and then shook her head. “There was a change in plans, unfortunately due to a mishap in Manehatten a large shipment of wheat intended for the celebration arrived, but it was spoiled. The event was changed to a closer, one I do believe you’ll be more than happy to attend to.” She said with a small grin.
Luna’s face brightened at this piece of news. “Ponyville?” She guessed confidently.
Celestia nodded. “Yes…” And then she added. “However, Ponyville hasn’t had the opportunity to hold a mid-summer celebration since 4 years ago, and this mishap in Manehatten has caught them a little off balance. They requested some help in dealing with their situation, so I thought you wouldn’t mind overseeing things till the celebrations?” She asked Luna.
Luna happily accepted the chance to go to Ponyville once more.
“I’d be delighted to help oversee the preparations for the celebrations.”
“That’s good to hear, however you would need to leave early, I informed Twilight that you were coming in early to help since I’ve been detained by my duties here.” Celestia said with a slightly exasperated sigh.
Luna could understand Celestia’s feelings on her work, it was keeping her occupied, though she suspected that this was also to keep Luna busy, as well as help her build a more confident bond with the citizens of Equestria, if not to enjoy herself. As her sister departed after a couple more exchanges, Luna decided to take the time to sleep till early morning, she’d probably have to deal with quite a bit today.
XXXXX
Location: Orbit over unknown world…
Two hours passed since Sheppard arrived, and in that short time span, he’d been able to gather quite a substantial bit of information in regards to the world below, it was roughly 2.4 times the size of Earth, its moon was also noticeably larger, though it was interestingly closer as well. The gravity seemed about equal to that of Earth, and even if there was a slight variance, he doubted it’d him that much.
However he was getting a lot of bio-signs, more than he could identify. A few of them matched signatures of species found on Earth, but others he couldn’t get anything solid, as he waited, he thought about going down to do a closer inspection, sure Carter would probably chastise him for breaking the golden rule about making contact with under-developed worlds.
But then again, he could technically do as he pleased, if to an extent… He thought it over for a few minutes, and then decided to make a quick report. He also added that he’d be going down to the planet’s surface for the duration of the recon. He remembered to activate the stealth fields on his Kestrel before he began his descent to the unsuspecting world below.
‘I should think of something profound to ask the locals.’ He thought to himself as his fighter entered into the upper ionosphere.
As he passed into the atmosphere he noted a few interesting things, his sensors were getting a lot better readings, however they were picking up a lot of anomalous amounts of ambient energy, something which he hadn't seen before. From what his sensors told him, the majority of the energy readings were concentrated on the continent he was heading towards.
He decided that this would merit further investigation, well technically he could use it as an excuse for an investigation, he doubt Carter would be particularly happy with his judgement. He angled his fighter into a turn and headed to the largest concentrations of ambient energy reading, a location near a large mountainous chain. He figured he could set down in some nearby forest and make his move from there, that was pretty straight forward.
However the real concern was being noticed by the locals...
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