A/N We do not own any of the franchises represented herein. We are just fans.
Chapter 21
After the collapse of so many cities, and Earth being attacked so devastatingly, the last of the surviving population was in a panic. Reports were coming in from across the galaxy of planets falling to the Ori. Automated systems would report an Ori ship entering orbit of a planet and record its attack, only to be destroyed after the planet was sterilized. The Doci was brutally effective in psychological warfare. He intentionally allowed the automatic Asgard systems to record and report the destruction of different societies only to destroy those same systems later.
The war was not going well for the Iconians, yet the final blows were soon to come. The sensor net managed to pick up a fleet of wraith hives entering the Avalon Galaxy. They brought some horrifying news. Pegasus had fallen to the Ori. Of the estimated one point two trillion people in Pegasus, only two million people were still alive in culling storage units.
The wraith had been reduced to only those loyal to Todd, but now he only had twelve normal hives left as well as one superhive, thirty cruisers and spread throughout his entire fleet, one hundred twelve darts. He had managed to cull the humans to transport them all to the Avalon galaxy. Before leaving Pegasus, he had managed to rescue seven Traveler ships.
It seemed that the Ori had massed in other galaxies to destroy them, before returning to Avalon. One week after the fall of Pegasus, news arrived with the remnants of the Asgard fleet that the Ida galaxy had also fallen to the Ori. All that was left of the once proud Asgard fleet was thirty-five O'Neills, ten Biliskiners, and one city ship. No one had suspected that the Ori would attack the Ida galaxy as it was completely uninhabited aside from the Asgard. All other races had been wiped out by the Replicators centuries before.
The final blow to the Iconian alliance was the fall of Gaia, the Nox home world. Seventy Ori ships dropped out of hyperspace and began an orbital bombardment. The Nox had refused to install orbital defenses, and now they were paying dearly for it. The bombardment had the effect of glassing the surface of the planet. The trees were burned to ash.
Once the Ori started a complete destruction of Gaia, the Nox made a horrible decision for themselves. Long ago, they had fought a war that made this one seem like mere childs play. They won, but they lost as well. They had created a weapon that was so deadly that after using it to win, they had turned from war completely, unwilling to even consider fighting again.
Now, they aimed the weapon at the ship destroying their planet. They had kept this horrendous device, but it had not been maintained in uncounted millennia. When fired, it worked. The weapon cancelled all molecular motion in it's target, and the Ori ship glowed briefly and then it's molecules, unable to hold together, dispersed.
The Nox hoped that no Ori would be willing to stand up to such a weapon. That was not to be the case. Another one took over where the first one quit. The Nox fired again. Five of the Etre class ships, the largest and most formidable of the Ori vessels, were dispersed on the solar wind before the unmaintained Nox weapon burned out.
The Nox city ship managed to escape its doomed world, and entered hyperspace. Their city, also named Gaia, contained just over two hundred thousand people, the entire remnant of the Nox race, except for those who were living or working on Earth.
Heliopolis…
In the Camelot council chambers, the leaders of the Iconian Alliance were meeting in a televised ceremony, as Todd had decided to formally bring his Wraith empire into the alliance. Several Iconians had reservations regarding a Wraith membership, but the fact that Todd brought millions of humans back to Avalon by culling them was a point in his favor. By culling the humans, he stored them in buffers, and when he arrived at Earth, these buffers were turned over to the Iconian leaders. It was decided to refrain from releasing the people from them for the moment, however, as there was simply little room to house them.
The Asgard also brought their remnant to Earth as their galaxy had succumbed to the Ori. With the addition of the Nox refugees, Earth was being repopulated. However, projections made by the most gifted scientists in the alliance predicted that Earth would not be able to sustain life after seven years. Those were the optimistic estimates.
"Todd of the Wraith, would you please step forward?" Merlin asked.
The Wraith leader stepped to the stand facing Merlin. He bowed his head as he said, "Thank you for your consideration, Merlin."
Merlin nodded his acknowledgement. This decision was far from unanimous. In fact, it had barely passed, but the Wraith were needed, and that was something no one could deny. "The Iconian Alliance has decided to allow the Wraith a provisional membership." At Todd's expression, Merlin hurried on. "You must understand, Todd, that the Wraith have a history of bad relations with humans. Granted, the Wraith that are left have no need to feed off of humans now, and that has been taken into account."
Todd graciously said, "Thank you for the offer of provisional membership, but I would like to know what the provisions are before I accept."
Merlin again nodded. "I will tell you, Todd, that this is common practice for our alliance. If the council decides with a simple majority vote, we extend provisional membership. If the vote is unanimous, we have the option of extending full membership.
"Your provisional membership will extend all rights and privileges to your people, but you will not have voting rights on the council for one year."
Todd considered for a few moments, looking at the table in front of him. Then he looked up at Merlin. "I understand your laws regarding this, and my opinion is that they are wise. The Wraith accept the offer of provisional membership in the Iconian Alliance."
Todd stepped down and took his seat in the auditorium. He and Jardis were seated at the end of the first row, nearest the entrance into the chambers. He had noticed early in the evening that there were several empty seats between them and the rest of the audience. He heard the door open, and turned to look. Rodney and Jennifer McKay entered the room and scanned the crowd. Rodney's eyes rested on Todd and Jardis. He clearly saw the buffer zone that had been made, due to the fact that no one wanted to be seated next to a Wraith. Very deliberately, the McKays walked to the front of the room. Neither one hurried at all, but made sure that people saw what they were doing. They walked up to Todd and shook hands, then they sat down on the other side of Jardis. Their message was clear. They were extending the branch of friendship to the Wraith.
Merlin had stood at the lectern, saying nothing as he watched. He had seen the space between the Wraith and the others earlier in the evening, and had felt for Todd and Jardis. They had lost much, and even though their emotional makeup was different than a human's, there was still human DNA in them. Their feelings became closer to a human's than they had been because of the retrovirus they had taken.
Jack Carter took the podium. He looked tired and drawn. When he spoke, his voice shook. "Earth has suffered blows in this war like never before. War makes heroes, and very often, takes them away quickly." He looked out at the faces in the crowd. He recognized them all. There were several hundred people in the auditorium, and even more people were watching the live broadcast. He took a deep breath and looked to Allison. She blew him a kiss and he went on. "I want to honor a hero tonight. Brigadier General Everett Young, in command of the Atropos battle group died giving his life for the people of Vis Uban, and the People of Novus. His sacrifice was not in vain, as the city ship, Novus, escaped with all of its population intact." Jack wiped his eyes. "General Young's heroism is representative of the heroism of many men and women who have given their lives so others in our alliance can live. We are truly one people now"
He stepped down, and Daniel Jackson took the stage. "Ladies and Gentlemen of Iconia, you all know of the heinous attacks on Vis Uban and on Earth. Vis Uban was almost totally destroyed. The planet was populated mostly by Terrans and the People of Novus. A small percentage of the population escaped because of the heroism of General Young. It allowed the city ship of Novus to escape into hyperspace. The entire air wing ofAtropos was lost, as was the ship itself. Thankfully, most of Atropos' crew transported to Novus before the city entered hyperspace. We have scanned the planet since the battle and there is no life left there. Vis Uban has been turned into a giant ball of glass. It will be unable to support life for eons.
"Earth came close to suffering this same fate. The Ori used an attack on our cities to distract us from what they were attempting. They used the geology of our home to destroy it. By setting off most of our volcanoes at once, they have set in motion the eventual destruction of Earth. Our scientists have predicted that it will not support life for more than seven years.
"The Q were instrumental in saving the lives of many Terrans. When the Ori weaponry took down our communications across Earth, they immediately sent a representative to each city to facilitate communications. This saved countless lives on Earth, and we thank the Q for their help. Because of communication, we knew where to place city ships to shield standard cities on the ground.
"Now, we are moving as many people as possible from the outlying towns and cities into city ships. These will remain on Earth with shields up for now. As many people as we can transport off world, will be relocated to other planets like Kolowna and Chulak."
Jackson finished his speech, and ended the meeting. Then, he hurriedly contacted the Commander to be transported aboard Avalon. The rest of the leaders followed suit.
Once they were on board, the leaders of Iconia met to discuss options privately. It was decided to use Avalon as their meeting place as it was virtually impenetrable to the Ori. One of the recreation decks had been reconfigured into a replica of the Camelot council chambers. The leaders were all present, and in addition, several scientists had been called on to have a say in this meeting.
From Earth, Henry Deacon, Douglas and Holly Fargo, Eli Wallace, Nicholas Rush, Helena Wells, Jennifer Haley, Zane Donovan, Eric Marten, Kevin Blake, Jeanne Miller, and Callister Raines were present, and were being asked to participate actively in the coming project.
From the Alterans, Montgomery Scott and Geordi La Forge were present as well as Janus. The Asgard had designated Hermiod to help, and the Nox had chosen Antaeus, husband of Lya.
The First of the Q and Nareem of the Tollan had both dedicated themselves to seeing the coming project to completion. The last person to join the team was Jonas Quinn, of Kolowna.
Seated on the platform, with Merlin between them, were Samantha O'Neill and Rodney McKay. Merlin stood and addressed the group. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to embark on a project which will preserve our people. What is about to be said in this forum must remain here if we are to avoid a full scale panic. Our aim here tonight is to brief those people who need to know. What we as Iconians are planning, if it comes to fruition, will be one of the greatest undertakings ever known. To explain, I am going to turn this meeting over to Dr. Samantha O'Neill and Dr. Rodney McKay."
Sam and Rodney stepped up to the lectern. "Good evening," Sam said, "we all know each other here, so we're not going to stand on much ceremony."
McKay nodded, and said, "Dr. O'Neill and I are going to explain the situation to you. Many of you will be wondering about a lot of our recent communications with you. You're probably wondering if we've flipped out, and maybe we have. The idea we have is a long shot." He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "We believe that the war will be lost. Now I could try to explain our reasoning for this to you, but General Jack O'Neill, Bra'tac, and Thor could do a much better job of that than I can, and really, that's not what we're here for. If you want to know the reasoning, talk to one of them later."
Sam was nodding her agreement. "What we have in mind," she said, "is called the SARAH project. Now SARAH is the AI responsible for controlling my brother's house in Eureka. What we propose doing, is giving SARAH a new 'body'. Not a biological body, but a much larger, mechanical body.
"Since our best predictions say that we will lose this war, we need to attempt to preserve our cultures and species. My brother, Jack Carter, said earlier this evening that we are truly one people now. To that end, we are going to build a home for all of us where we can keep our people alive. To describe the idea, I'm going to turn you over to Dr. McKay. This is his idea, and it's only fair that he introduce it to you."
McKay smiled at Sam as she went back to her seat "Thank you, Samantha. Actually, I would debate with you that it was solely my idea, but now isn't the time." He looked over the crowd, somewhat nervously. Some of the beings in this room were enormously powerful. He knew that many of them were Q or Ascended. However, be that as it may, they were here to hear his idea. It was daunting, even for one with an ego like his, but he had learned to share the limelight. That was the reason he was willing to give Sam credit as well. In truth, the initial idea was his, but he went to her with it immediately, and they developed it together from there.
"Project SARAH, in a nutshell, is to build an enormous habitat, surrounding a gas giant that we convert into a star. We can then build a planetary like surface on the inside of the habitat, complete with atmosphere and places to dock our cities. The actual completed size of the habitat will be on the order of a Terran AU. This will make the surface area of the living area enormous."
Dr. O'Neill and I have some questions for the scientists here, designed to get you all thinking. I know that you are committed to working on this, and right now you probably have decided that we are completely out of our minds. Well, that's fine. I understand that reaction, but I've learned that necessity is truly the mother of invention. We will make this idea work. I'm certain of that."
He looked at Douglas Fargo. "Dr. Fargo. First off, can SARAH be adapted for this purpose?"
Fargo thought for a long moment. "I initially built SARAH around another AI, called BRAD." There were audible groans in the auditorium as many of the people there had read about the BRAD project. "I know, I know," Fargo said, "BRAD had definite problems, that in fact surfaced after SARAH had been in use for several months. After that experience, I removed the aspects of BRAD that had caused the problems, without removing the intelligence behind them. This allowed SARAH to truly be her own self." He looked back at McKay. "In answer to your question, Dr. McKay, I believe that SARAH could be expanded. I will need access to the units she will control as they are developed, and as SARAH is an individual, she will need to agree to this as well."
"I'm here, Dr. Fargo, and I'm willing to be relocated into the habitat," Sarah's voice came over the loudspeakers of the auditorium.
"That's great, Sarah," Fargo said smiling. "I'm glad to hear that you've agreed.
"Of course. I have no desire to see the Iconian Alliance that I am part of die out."
Samantha stepped forward as McKay made room for her. "We plan on starting the habitat much smaller. Dr. McKay and I have devised a method of converting a gas giant into a star. We will move Jupiter from it's orbit and then build the framework for the habitat around it before igniting the planet. This will create a smaller star then Sol, obviously, however speaking with The First has led us to believe we can transport material inside which will allow the star to grow as we expand the size of the habitat."
The First was listening intently. "That sounds logical. In fact, it should be possible to collect the burnt material from the star and convert it to whatever alloys we need on a subatomic level. However, this will yield only a fraction of the amount of material necessary for even the beginning phase of the project."
Sam gazed at him for a few moments. When it became apparent that he wasn't going to offer any alternatives, she asked, "Do you have any idea as to how we might collect more material?"
"In theory, one could build a collector which could break down matter using a matter to energy converter. It could utilize some of the matter it collected to produce it's own fuel, and then transport the rest to the construction site using a gateway system."
"Thank you, First," Sam said. "That sounds like it will solve many of the problems we were struggling with."
The meeting lasted a surprisingly short time as the idea was to give the leadership an inkling of what was coming. The scientists met in several more sessions ironing out the details.
Dr. Donovan and Henry Deacon began working on the basic structure, aided by Scotty and LaForge. The designs were drawn for a cell system. Each cell would have a footprint large enough for an Atlantis class city ship, or approximately four thousand meters. Each cell would collect solar energy and use replicators to convert it into trinium which was the basic building block of the habitat.
The shell they were building would contain the basic systems necessary. Power, computers, and shields. Weaponry would be provided by the ships, cities, and defense satellites, at least in the beginning. Later, the shell would expand itself to it's full size. The cells built in orbit of the sphere would only have the parts to collect and store power. Every fifty cells built on site would be complete with the ability to build mites or have replicators. This was done to speed the construction. Later, the mite construction would be installed into other cells. Once the basic construction of the shell was completed, the mites would begin placing an outer shell of carbon neutronium on the entire structure.
One evening, Dr. McKay, Kevin Blake, and Scotty were discussing some of the problems of structural integrity. Kevin was figuring incredibly difficult mathematics in his head, while Scotty and McKay were marvelling about it.
"Several years ago, I went through the ascension machine on Atlantis. I wish I had been able to hold my development at that high level without fully ascending," Rodney commented.
"The Atlantis ascension machine?" Scotty said. "But that model has the ability to lock in without fully ascending someone. How come ye didna just tell it to?"
"I didn't see anything about that. What are you talking about?"
"Aye, Laddie," Scotty said. "Ye just have to flip the right switch. Avalon has the same model. Come with me, and I'll show you."
They left the lab, with Kevin still working on his math, and entered the medical bay. Scotty told the room, "Ascension Machine, mark 7B."
A machine, startlingly similar to a single transporter pad, materialized in the room. Scotty walked to the control panel and manipulated a few controls. "There ye be, Lad. Now you go through that machine, and it will halt your development at ninety-eight percent." Scotty gestured towards the pad.
McKay looked doubtful. "Are you sure it wouldn't ascend me all the way? I mean no offense, but I think I'd be bored being ascended."
"Ach, Lad. Ye'd be surprised what ye can find to do with all your time. Aye, it's safe. I mean, I never woulda stepped into it after LaForge and me built it if I didna think it was safe."
"You built the ascension machine?" McKay was almost speechless.
"Aye, Lad. Merlin's wife, Che Ryl, was curious about a race that had ascended on their own, and was wondering how we could do it artificially. She asked us if we could help her. I looked at her specs and said sure. We worked for two days, round the clock to get it built. I could never say no to a beautiful lass." He sighed at the memory. After a moment, he looked back at McKay. "But if ye want the brain power, step on the pad. It'll just take a wee moment."
"So you invented the ascension machine, not just built it?"
"Well," Scotty hedged. "It was Che Ryl's idea. Me an Geordie? We just built it."
"I see," McKay said. "So who was the first person through it?"
"That was me!" Scotty said emphatically. "Ye dinna think I'd put someone else through something like that before I'd tested it myself, do you, Lad? After me, Geordie tried it."
McKay was standing on the platform now, and Scotty threw the switch. Rodney's body was bathed in swirling lights as it built up power and caused his DNA to mutate. Quickly the machine wound down and the lights shut off. Rodney was left standing on the platform, swaying slightly. After a moment, he opened his eyes and stepped off. "I don't feel any different," he said.
"What's the square root of two hundred sixty-eight thousand four hundred seventy-two point nine six one eight three, divided by seventy-one point eight nine two one six."
McKay started to answer but Scotty said, "Squared."
Immediately, McKay said, "Fifty-one point nine four four two five one one four six six eight three zero four." His eyes widened as the numbers simply flew out of his mouth.
Scotty stood, arms folded, grinning broadly.