Stargate Aurora

Episode III: Phantasm.

The following is a fan fiction based on the world of Stargate, originally written by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin and expanded upon in Stargate SG1, Atlantis and Universe by Brad Wright, Johnathan Glassner and Robert C. Cooper.

I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last one but especially Lone-ranger1 for Beta-reading and for giving me writing tips and Proclarush Taonas for giving me support every step of the way (even before I contacted her about the it.) :)

The drowsiness and headache wore off as he opened his eyes to find that he was still wearing his uniform from the last shift, as has happened in the past. He rubbed his forehead as the lights came on in sequence in his quarters.

As captain of the ship he had the largest quarters and he used them well. The outside room was a general area however he used it as an office while the inside rooms were pre assembled as a bedroom and a bathroom unit.

Renatus pulled his legs from off of the beds warm, cotton like cover and to his own embarrasment realised that he hadn't even pulled off his shoes before dragging himself into bed.

"Dammed it." He said in annoyance and stood up and walked over to the door to the outer office slowly, each step excruciatingly slowly from the lack of circulation developed from sleeping with tight shoes on.

Almost instantaneously as he wiped his hand across the shining blue crystal on the side of the wall the bronze trinium enhanced steel door opened and the lights within revealed an office of a man with very few possessions.

His computer screen activated immediately as he stepped into the room to reveal the sorry piece of information that the Tooadillius league was cancelled due to national emergency yet again, for thirty six seasons in a row now. Other information passed through the stream on his screen as well; crew logs that needed to be submitted to the High Council, status reports from the various outposts around the galaxy and beyond and a thousand other useful things in the business of running vessels.

Renatus sighed as news of the battle over Signis Ignatiallis went, six corvettes had been lost to the wraith...seven hundred and sixty people were gone. He wondered how many had been lucky enough to Ascend, he didn't imagine it could have been more than a dozen or so. The old man lifted up his right arm and groaned in anticipation of the varying temperatures of the water in the bathroom's shower facility

Pulling off the thin cream-leather chest armour that captains such as himself wore and then his shirt. Renatus sighed to himself as he realised that age was still keeping up and the beginning of the fold on his stomach was still growing more than one in his position would want it to.

Renatus scrunched his uniforms creamy white shirt and threw it against the rooms automatic door while he left the leather segmented chest piece upon his office chair. He cracked his knuckles and pulled off the wrist guards he were also part of his uniform, and set them upon the table. Hopeful that the spray would be warm today, Renatus made his way to his private wash room...

...........

Trebal passed numerous officers on her way to the Captain's quarters some of them nodded, smiled, looked away or simply reacted using micro-gestures. From her experience most humans didn't seem to notice the tiny expressions that her kind gave to each other as they passed, a lip shudder, a twitch, a tiny wink...to a human it appeared that her kind were ignoring each other but for those such of her it was obvious that more could be said by two Alterans passing than an hour of two human beings conversing amongst themselves.

She crossed the corridor and passed the two security officers guarding the Captains quarters on the end of the deck. She didn't say anything as she did, she really didn't need to...not with the large report that she held between her right arm and torso as well as the large tray of food balanced precariously in her hands.

It was a magic act to get the food tray to balance in her arms while she waved her palm over the doors blue crystal lock but through sheer tenacity (and quite a bit of luck) she managed to ease her way inside

As she entered the room she almost tripped up on the captain's used shirt but managed to regain her balance of the tray and with an irritated grunt,kicked the shirt back across the room to the far side and smiled with satisfaction as the sound of the fabric hitting the trinium wall reverberated throughout the room.

She looked around the quarters and wondered what the Captain had been like when he was married, if he had been any less of a slob. She kicked the cream shirt to the side of the room and made for the man's desk. She then placed the food tray down and looked around the room.

She sighed to herself as she read that the league had been cancelled yet again. She understood that during wartime it was necessary to conserve resources but still...she wanted to see the silver wings get beat again, at least once before she announced that she was planning to teach Van'tu on board the ship as a form of exercise.

The knowledge of the six corvettes effected her more than she had thought that something of that nature possibly could. The Wraith and her kind had been at war since before she was born, she was a post war born; one of their kind that had never known peace and yet, it still effected Trebal more than she thought it would...she sobbed to herself then made her way through the room.

"Strange, I wonder where he is at this time in the morning?" She asked herself as she wiped the singular tear that had gotten past her defences and had trickled down her cheek. She quickly moved forward through the Captain's quarters.

She moved her way to the bathroom and placed her hand over the rooms crystalline locking mechanism, she was half way down the blue streak of crystals that were synonymous with Alteran doors across the universe when suddenly...

"OPEN THIS DOOR TREBAL AND YOU'LL PAINT THE RESULTS OF THE LAST FIVE MILLION YEARS OF TOOADILLIUS FIRST LEAGUE RESULTS ONTO THE HULL!" She heard through the rooms intercom monitors and backed off and raised her arms in the air in the manner of caught thieves.

"How did you know I was here, sir?" She asked with a smile.

"Everyone else onboard would have messaged me on the intercom before coming into my private quarters." Captain Villgans said through the intercom. In the background Trebal could crystal clearly hear the sound of a high pressure spray of the Alteran cleansing system.

Embarrassed, Trebal sat down at her traditional side of the desk still laughing at herself. Eventually the Captain appeared from the bathroom fully dressed sans body armour and sweat guards. She smiled to him as he walked over to her and sat down at the desk. He briefly read over the data stream and then switched off the computer screen.

"Good morning Trebal." He said as he pulled his plate off of the tray and smiled at the sight of the twinned eggs.

"Good morning sir, did you have a good rest?" She asked as she picked up her own plate off the tray.

"Yes, it was very good, thank you very much Trebal." He cut the eggs up. "Although, that turn at 6:43 made me accidently bite my tongue in my sleep."

"Yes, although in my case it tossed me out of my bed...I believe that that Verro must have forgotten the old adage, Faster than right-"She replied, only stopping when the Captain interrupted her.

"No left or right." He interrupted her with a smile. The two officers conversed on things to tell the crew about the destruction of the six corvettes, latest ship gossip etc. They also conversed about the upcoming mission and of the repairs to the ship.

............

Verro and Kiana, commanders of the ship during the third watch sat together at a steel table in the Aurora's mess hall. Though both were tired and clearly showed the exhaustion on their faces as the smiled at each other and ate.

"...I agree. The Aurora definitely needs that upgrade if we are to continue." Verro said as he took a deep drink out of his silver and blue kafe's mug. His faced shrivelled up as the warm brown liquid travelled down his oesophagus and it's after effect.

"So..." She said. "Are you going to do it?" Kiana asked with an evil grin.

"Are you nuts? Do you have any idea what he'd do to me if I asked the captain if we could have chairs on the bridge?"

"It can't be that bad, just drop it in during a conversation once or something."

"The last officer that tried to have chairs put in the bridge was transferred out the next do you think you got the job as CAG?" The two officers laughed in the middle of the crowd that occupied mostly empty room sans two dozen or so empty benches besides the ones occupied by groups of officers. A quietness settled into the room as the whole group seemed to eat at once.

Chef put out a new plate onto the constantly warm surface of the counter for the crew to eat, from where he sat Verro couldn't see if it was toast or eggs but he guessed that it would be Toast, it was easier to make and chef had a lot to cook.

Suddenly Karyan and Gun Captain Adalyx entered the mess hall at the same time. Verro and Kiana tried their best to stare at the as they entered, collected their breakfast and then sat down at the far end of the mess hall.

"When did they get back from Katara?" Kiana asked as she cracked her egg with the edge of her knife.

"Last night." Verro took another gulp from the silver cup. "We even took an orbital Astria Porta so that they could come aboard."

"Alright for some, when I had to do my rotation in the Spector Millites I had to wait on the planet for seven and a half hours while the Aurora came in range." Kiana grumbled as she swallowed the first bite of her egg.

Verro chuckled. "You're a pilot; couldn't you have borrowed a gateship to come aboard?"

"They're space ships; they don't let you rent them." She said with a grin as she looked at Adalyx and Karyan from across the room. She lowered her voice to conspiratorial levels as she said. "They're sitting together."

Verro turned slightly and watched out of the corner of his eyes. "What? Do you think anything happened while they were on the tour of duty?" As Verro asked, Kiana's face shrivelled up...possibly she was imagining the circumstances and subsequent events of those two could get together or maybe she was simply repulsed from the idea.

"No!" Kiana raised her voice just t little too much and quickly shirked down to avoid attention. " I mean...well...maybe, possibly? ?" She seemed unsure of herself as she thought about it and shook her head to clear her mind. " No, that would never happen...I mean, you know those Great House types, they never mate with anyone who's not from one of the houses."

Verro raised his eyebrows and resisted laughing. "I wasn't talking about that...I was asking if you thought that they might have been attacked or something planet side." To her embarrassment Kiana's cheeks turned slightly red. "And that's a popular myth."

Feeling the sudden need to change the subject, Kiana pressed forward. "Has anything come through the data stream yet?"

Verro, ever the tease decided to press on with the questions. "What, about the mating habits of the members of the Great Houses, possibly? I haven't taken a look on any Chi-Chi-Chi streams yet this morning..." Kiana shot him an evil stare as the joke failed to make her laugh to his own displeasure.

"Not funny Verro."

"I know, I blame the food." Verro said with a sly grin.

Officers came and went, the numbers of people in the mess hall finned out steadily as the chronometer went forward.

"So what do you think the council have sent us to look for?" Kiana said after a long protracted silence.

"It could be anything, a piece of wreckage...a rogue comet that was knocked out of orbit due to a supernova billions of years ago." Both Lanteans frowned at each other. In truth neither felt right about the coming mission, every fibre of their bodies told them that something was wrong. But as General Hippaforalkus would say, Commence Operation: This can not conclude in a favourable manner.

Kiana had been called to the bridge and she walked the ships corridors with trepidation. Technically as a part of another service the ships CAG was rarely called to the bridge, most of the CAG's general communication with the senior staff came through messages sent through the data stream or through conversations with Verro. She passed men and women whom she had barely seen in the three and a half years that she had been aboard the vessel.

As she walked into the bridge through the large open door that lay at the back of the great open room it dawned on her of how large the room was and how busy it could get. She noted at least twelve officers about the room working at various stations; some she recognised like Laurentia working at the navigation console or Selmonkiv at the Life Sciences section.

"Sir, reporting as ordered." She was surprised to find that the Captain's chair had giro's in its base that allowed him to face her and she was more surprised to find that he had a half eaten carved and skinned pineapple in his hand! He took a bite out of it before replying to her.

"Nice to see you on the bridge, Commander of the Air-Group." She stood at attention at the back of the room, while Trebal and the captain dissected her with their eyes.

"Sir, may I speak freely." Kiana said as she stood in attention.

"Yes, second Captain." The Captain replied.

"Where did you get that pineapple from, sir?" The Captain and Commander Trebal looked at each other in puzzlement then continued to dissect her.

"The hydroponics bay, Second Captain." Captain Villgans said simply. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason sir, I was just getting hungry." Unexpectedly the Captain smiled warmly in response. "Sir, you called me to the bridge." She added.

"Yes, we're about to drop out of hyperspace and due to the drop off points relatively close proximity to the galactic core we can't get reliable sensor telemetry, not even Atlantus' sensors can get a clear reading in the area which means..."

"...That means that when we drop out of hyperspace we could drop out a meter from the ground floor of a planet or close enough to the heart of a gas giant planet that inertial dampeners become little more than weights." She said clearly.

Captain Villagans raised an eyebrow. "In a word ,Yes."

"Then in that case you'll need the best pilot you can find on board, just in case you need to get out of gravity well in a pinch." He smiled again. "Sir, I do have to warn you though. According to current regulations it is illegal for a CAG to pilot a Classis ship."

Trebal and Captain Villgans looked at each other the same way that siblings do, like there is a private joke between them and they are only just realising that the whole world has never noticed it before.

"We feel..." The Captain began, only for Trebal to finish his statement.

"...That in the face of impending death by any number of universal phenomenon the rules, this time...can be bent."

The Captain stood up from the black and silver trinium chair and the great light dimmed as he did. He moved over to Kiana's side and smiled at her. She gulped and then sat down on the monumental chair, as the mental control began to activate she realised that she could now feel so much more than she did even when she was connected to her own gate ships.

She could feel the wind of hyperspace rush over her, she could smell the dark matter between the stars...she could hear gamma rays and taste the cold dust particles on her tongue as if she were literally licking it. It was no wonder; she thought that when most children attempt an interface for the first time they almost all normally forced to vomit.

In her mind's eye she could see the raw data and the power of the ship being transferred through her brain in real time.

"Kiana, still there?" Captain Villgans said to her.

"Yes sir." She spoke with an open throat, the way that people do when they have been running out in the ice cold of winter. "I'm still here, its just...the Aurora has many more systems than the standard Gate Ship does."

The Captain moved off to the centre of the room and gently tapped his com badge, all throughout the ship the various speaker systems activated and the various monitors followed suit.

"This is the Captain, we are about to exit hyperspace. Will all crew members please remember that due to the relatively close location of our destination to the galactic core we have very few sensor and as a result have no idea of what the situation we are jumping into. Keep your distance from the walls, have a nice day." He tapped the badge again and the ships speaker systems deactivated. They could hear the crew moving to their stations, even through the trinium enhanced bulkheads of the ship.

"Captain, we're fifteen seconds away from recommended co-ordinates." Laurentia said from her console.

"Thank you sergeant, please give Second Captain Kiana An eight second count down." He replied.

8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1...

The warm blue and black swirling mass of hyperspace was torn away as the massive, powerful light of a hyper-giant star blinded everyone on the bridge. Officers threw themselves to the floor as they were temporarily blinded by the baleful blue light of the star.

By Kiana's will alone the chair spun in the opposite direction of the ships window, she covered her eyes and leaned down in a bid to deny them any light. Suddenly the CAG felt another mind interface with the ships systems and she felt flashes of another person's life; their thoughts, their feelings. Only two real thoughts were indistinguishable from the rabble of sensory information 'Heads up Display' and 'Infa-red'.

The bridge went dark.

Slowly as she regained her sight Kiana noticed the Captain standing over the command chair, his face was slightly discoloured and his pupils seemed to be shrunken but otherwise he seemed to be uninjured. Slowly she rotated the command chair to bring more of the bridge into view. Laurentia and Selmonkiv both lay on the floor with their hands over their eyes, at least a dozen and a half other officers were doing the same; Trebal lay behind one of the consoles while Verro and a few other were hunched over.

"Report." Captain Villgans said as Kiana surveyed the bridge.

"We're all here. There's some slight scorching on the outer transparent trinium shielding but its nothing that can't easily be replaced." Kiana read from the ships datastream that was going through her mind. He rubbed his eyes continuously.

"How are you sir?" She asked. The captain opened his eyes and waved his hands left to right.

"I'm not blind, if thats what you're asking Kiana. What about you Trebal?" Trebal tried to stand up but simply fell back to the floor.

"I'm just surfing on the ovum side of the quantum filament while the Venator apotheosises his left horse shoe Captain." Trebal said with a girlish giggle...clearly she was a Astria Porta short of a gate network at the moment. The captain rolled his eyes and groaned as the figures flashed and danced about his field of vision.

"Someone call the medical staff to the bridge." The captain said as he moved over to Kiana. "And remind me to have the man that decided to put a giant open window on the bridge sent to a planet on the edge of the universe infested by giant worms."

Karyan made her way to the bridge accompanied by Seevua and Beroge; both highly trained medical assistants and Kion, a fellow physician. As the other three walked towards the bridge they discussed the mundane; their relatives, their hobbies etc. Even though she was their superior she dared not to silence them, to focus their minds on the task at hand...she was still the outsider and until she became one of them they wouldn't listen to her.

As they entered the bridge Karyan was taken aback by how organised they were, even after direct solar contact...some of them were slightly burned but most just had red faces, nothing a cream wouldn't fix. Verro moved towards her in the doorway slowly.

"It's all right Karyan, it doesn't look like anyone was hurt as bad as we thought we were." Verro said calmly. "But Trebals pretty shaken up."

"Seevus, Kion-take her to the med bay." Almost on cue the two medical personnel moved over to the hunched over commander, brought her to her feet and moved her out of the room. The two second captains watched with great apprehension as they did, it was obvious even from here that the commander was nauseous. "What the hell happened?"

"We dropped out of hyperspace facing a blue hyper giant star...and we got sunburnt." Kiana said from the pilots chair. In the front of the ship Captain Villgans was standing close to the view screen which had been transformed into a giant HUD which was dominated by a huge infrared scan of the star and the ship...Oh Ascended Ancestors!

"Incompertus vas, noo ani lanteus. Est bellus navis Aurora. Tua..."

"Captain..." Karyan interrupted the captain part way through his message to the other vessel. He stepped off the isomorphic communications platform and looked to her.

"What is it Karyan?" He was close to shouting, not only had he been ordered to this damned place but now his first contact with an unknown alien race had been interrupted by a member of his own crew.

"Sir, their no need...It's one of ours."

The ship on the view screen clearly showed all the hallmarks of an early first republic starship...it was shaped much in the same fashion as the chevrons on the original Astria Porta, the ones that had once dotted the universe before scientific advanced had warranted the new network in the Avalon Galaxy and then in turn the even more modern one in the Pegasus Galaxy.

...............

On board the ancient ship, deep within the ancient hallways and far from reach of the stale old air and in the cold darkness; in a frozen pool of one of the water holds that had once been able to sustain a crew of little less than five hundred a creature of pure rage, instinct and hunger stirred. ..