Stargate Universe: Ascension

Chapter 4

     General Hank Landry was used to at least one thing going wrong each day at the SGC. So when a good day comes along and everything seems to be all right, he never complained about it and went with the flow rather than look for something to ruin it. After going through a unique but satisfying debriefing with SG-12, Landry decided it was time to call it a day. He had a little paper work to do in his office, but the heavy lifting for the day was done. He strolled out of the conference room and over into his office. When he walked in there, the General got the surprise of his life. Standing in his office, waiting patiently was a young man. He was dressed in what seemed like a white robe like clothing, something he had never seen before. The young man looked familar to him, but he couldn't figure it out. "Who are you?" Landry asked rather sternly, "What are you doing in my office?"

     "I hope I didn't surprise you." Eli replied. "You don't know me personally, but my name is Eli."

     "Eli... Eli... Eli..." Landry pondered it for a moment. "Are you Eli Wallace?"

     "Yes, that's me!" Eli said, slightly flattered. "But how..."

     "Over there." Landry said as he pointed to the other side of the room. "In that filing cabinet is a dossier of every human being that is currently off world. Nobody leaves this planet without my knowledge, or approval."

     "Okay." Eli replied, slightly impressed. "I am definitely talking to the right guy here."

     "Anyway, what the hell are you doing here?" Landry said as he closed the door behind him. "The last time I checked you were still on Destiny!"

     "Well, I'd like to tell you how I got here." Eli said, "But I can't."

     "Why not?" Landry asked.

     "That's classified." Eli answered.

     "That's not funny Mr. Wallace, especially since you're not a member of the US Miltitary." Landry said as he walked over to his desk and finally took a seat.

     "Well I have a new group of people I answer to, and I'm kinda sworn to secrecy." Eli explained. "If you figure it out yourself I can confirm or deny, but I can't tell you outright. That's against the rules."

    "I'm not in the mood for guessing games Mr. Wallace." Landry honestly confessed. "Perhaps you'd like to think it over in the brig."

     "Well, that's not very nice." Eli replied.

     "I'm a soldier." Landry explained. "I'm not paid to be nice." There was a sudden knock at the door. Laudry paused for a moment. "Who is it?"

     "General, it's Col. Carter and Dr. Jackson." a voice called from outside.

    "I would really like to talk to Dr. Jackson." Eli informed Landry. "It would really cut down on the guessing game you're not interested in."

     Laudry seemed satisfied with that. "Come in." he called.

     Carter and Jackson opened the door and strolled into the room. When Dr. Jackson noticed Eli he immediately backed away. "General, what is this being doing here?"

     Laudry seemed confused. "Being? This is Eli Wallace from the Destiny."

     "No, no." Eli corrected. "Being is quite accurate given the current situation."

     "Holy smokes." Jackson said as he came back into the room. "When did you ascend?"

     "Several months ago." Eli confessed. "It's been rather enlightening."

     "Eli ascended?" Landry repeated, "But does that mean he's..."

     "Dead. Yes, Sir." Carter confirmed. "What happened over there, Eli?"

     "I couldn't repair the last stasis pod." Eli answered. "I had three weeks left until life support would run out and I had very few options."

     "So you ascended?" Dr. Jackson asked.

     "Yeah." Eli said with a smile. "I did."

     "How did you pull that one off, wonder boy?" Landry asked.

     "It was actually his idea." Eli said as he pointed to Dr. Jackson. "I was going through Rush's stuff, and he happened to have one of your SGC instructional videos. In this one, you talked about the idea of ascension. I had no other options left, so I gave it a try. I looked up everything Destiny had on the subject and used that information with your video to give it my best shot."

     "And you just happened to hit the bullseye." Landry filled in.

     "On my first try too!" Eli bragged.

     "What about the ascended ancients?" Col. Carter asked. "How did they respond?"

     "Well, I'm a little popular up there right now." Eli said with a cocky grin. "You on the other hand are still in their bad books." Eli was pointing to Dr. Jackson when he made that comment.

     Dr. Jackson sighed. "Thanks for the update."

     "This is very interesting..." Landry said as he interupted. "But I'm more concerned about the men and women on Destiny. How are they doing?"

     "They're fine." Eli answered. "The ship is still in FTL and from what I could gather, they still seem to have enough power to make it to the next galaxy as planned."

     "How do you know this?" Carter asked.

     "You checked up on them, didn't you?" Dr. Jackson guessed.

     "I was there about an hour ago." Eli confirmed.

     "Isn't that considered interferring?" Dr. Jackson asked rather challengely.

     "No. Everyone was asleep and I was just checking the system to make sure everything was on track." Eli answered. "Also, I asked for permission first. I was cleared before I left."

     "That's nice." Landry chimed in again. "So where does that leave us now?"

     "Well, I came by to let you know everyone on Destiny was all right." Eli replied. "Now I've got to take off."

    "Where do you think you're going?" Landry said as he tapped a button on his desk. Within moments, securty guards came into the room.

     "General, that's not going to make much of a difference." Dr. Jackson called out.

     "Why not?" the general replied. He then got his answer when he looked around the office. Eli had vanished into thin air and was gone.

    "That's why." Col. Carter answered. "Eli is an ascended being. He's pure energy. He can go anywhere he wants, anytime he wants."

     "Where is he now?" Landry asked.

    "Anywhere." Dr. Jackson replied. "He could be back on another plane of existance with the ascended ancients, or all the way back on Destiny if he wants."

     "That's a twist I didn't see coming." Landry confessed as he sank back into his chair. He tapped a button on his phone. "Connect me to the Pentagon. I need to speak with Col. Telford, immediately!"