“One new contact on sensors, larger than the previous two, sir. Also engineering has been able to restore ship-wide comms throughout most of the ship.” Major Fields told the Colonel. A second later a central holographic display showed the newly arrived ship as seen by an external camera.
"Incoming Transmission from the ship." Fields said.
"My Name is Raiden Korten, and I am the current SOSCOM commanding officer of the Heavyweight Research ship codename:Oblivion. We are a research Vessel. and intend no harm. our ship shall remain open to communications, Good day to you."
“Looks like we won’t quite have time for a briefing.” The colonel noted regarding his order to have a debriefing.
He instead brought up a second smaller holographic display and used it to contact engineering. “Foley, I need a sit rep.”
There was silence for a few good seconds before the Colonel and Major heard coughing accompanied by the sound sparks flying in the background through the intercom.
“… Long story short…” more coughing interrupted the chief engineer, “ we’re screwed. I mean pick your poison. Death by freezing, death by suffocation, death by explosion. I don’t even know wh-“
“Foley!” The colonel snapped at Foley, interrupting his nonsensical blabber.
“Let’s start with the hyperdrive.” Mills tried to pull something coherent out of the ships chief engineer.
“The hyperdrive has sustained some damage, though still can be repaired. The real issue is the power conduits that power it. Those essentially no longer exist. We would have to basically fabricate new ones. Not sure yet what’s wrong with the sublight propulsion system, they haven’t really taken that much damage yet are offline nonetheless. I’ll probably need Dr. Rose’s help on those. I could probably have one asgard beam weapon back online in no time, but don’t expect to fire more than half a shot with it. The missile system is still in pretty good shape, though unusable due to the control circuitry being fried throughout the bow of the ship. Should however be an easy fix. The two main issues right now are life-support system damage, the fact that we’re venting atmosphere isn’t helping, and the naquadah generators which are giving out worrying readings. Remember the death by explosion I mentioned?
Our power grid is also just as likely to fail at any moment.”
“Alright we get it. Not the best of shapes. Prioritize the hull-breaches and life support for now.”
While the chief engineer was explaining how screwed they were two more ships appeared.
“Sir, the two ships are also broadcasting messages.” The Major reported after a few moments of silence.
"Unidentified contacts, this is Captain Leonard Powers of the United Earth Government Naval Command battlecruiser Paramount. Please identify."
Right afterwards the Major played the second transmission as well.
"Attention outsiders, this is Captain Markurio of the V.V. Pale Quiver. We are the true loyalists of the Valinosian Pact, and we hear your messages of peace. So long as you refrain from committing acts of barbarism, you have my word that my vessel's weapons shall be powered down. I have hopes that you outsiders are different, but make no mistake; We will retaliate if you prove to be just like the rest of them."
The Colonel nodded and considered his options. He decided not to directly respond to any of the ships. They would have plenty to talk among themselves for now. They needed to focus on their situation right now. Mills then opened another intercom channel. “Dr Rose, it seems we won’t have time for a proper debriefing. I need you to come up to the bridge and give me the short version.”
“Okay. I’ll be on my way.” A calm female voice said over the intercom.
In the meantime another vessel flashed in out of nowhere. It had a ring-like shape and looked more like a space station than a regular ship, however a quick scan revealed it was more than capable of moving independently. By this point the Major assumed this would become a regular occurrence if the number of ships that arrived in quick succession was any indication and therefore simply brought up a local map on the main holo-display, showing all ships in the immediate vicinity of the Helios.
"This is Captain Sarah Parker with The Intrepid, we are friendly and will be able to offer emergency repair services once we have our own ship in order. If any one is in need of assistance, we are happy to show good will and assist."
Before Colonel Mills could even contemplate how to react or respond to the latest arrival, the holo-display displayed an additional ship. Just as before, appearing out of nowhere.
“This is getting ridiculous.” The Colonel commented.
“Sir, this one is different.” Major Fields informed the colonel.
“How?”
“I’m detecting zero life-signs on-board the ship.” He explained.
“Either it’s abandoned or . . .” The Colonel paused. “Replicators?”
He then tapped a few buttons and had another intercom link to engineering.
“Foley! Let’s switch around a bit. Drop any hull repairs that are being made and make sure those missile tubes brought into function. Also do the best you can to not have that plasma beam cannon get fried after one shot. We might have a replicator problem on our hands.”
“How are the ship's weapons going to help against replicators?” Foley questioned.
“They’re not on-board . . . yet.”
“Oh.” Was the only thing Foley added before the colonel could already hear shouting in the background, ordering the few engineers the ship had on-board to get to work on weapons.
“If they try anything suspicious don’t hesitate to open fire with what we have left of the railgun network.” Mills ordered the Major.
“Yes, sir.” Fields responded with a worried sigh.
Two more ships blinked in on the main screen while the few on the bridge waited any form of reaction from the lifeless, possibly derelict ship.
One of them appeared eerily organic on the display. Both the Colonel and the Major stared at it for while without saying a word.
They waited for another transmission, yet none came.
Suddenly both the Colonel, Major Fields and possibly everyone else on the Helios winced at the slight discomforted the psychic communique caused.
"Greetings unknown vessels. We are the Advent, and we come with no ill intentions towards those who mean us none in return. To those who do, know that we will not hesitate in defending ourselves as we deem fit."
“What the hell was that.” The Colonel said.
They didn’t have time to ponder on it as more events followed in quick succession.
This time it was a message directed at the Helios from the Soviet rocket-ship.
"Romanova to the Helios. In the spirit of goodwill, we would like to send an envoy to discuss our situation."
“This should be interesting. Open a channel.” Mills ordered.
“Greetings commander Romanova. We accept your proposition of a meeting, However, due to security concerns, no more than 3 individuals will be allowed on-board. We will wait on a response to our terms of the meeting.”
After the message was sent another broadcast came from the soviet ship. This time it was sent to everyone present in the area of space.
"Romanova to all ships. We propose a meeting on a any other ship to discuss our situation and confirm our present location."
“What are they playing at? Requesting a separate meeting with us? I don’t like it.” Mills remarked with narrowed eyes.
In the meantime the side-doors to the bridge opened with Dr. Rose on the other side. The Colonel glanced at her and simply raised two fingers implying she should give him a moment. Colonel Mills then looked at the Major.
“Open a channel and broadcast to all ships this time.”
The Major nodded and a few taps on a holographic display later, the channel was open.
“This Colonel Darius Mills of the United States Air Force Vessel Helios. We do not wish to engage in any hostilities and we agree to meeting with one condition. The shields of the vessel on which the meeting will take place will be lowered for the entire duration of the meeting provided it possess any.”
“Standard protocol.” The Colonel said to Major Fields after muting the channel.
“Yes, sir. I’ll have the Asgard transporter ready to beam you out at your command if things go south at the meeting.”
After that the Colonel turned to doctor Rose.
"Doctor, what do you have for us."
Dr. Rose went over to the front of the bridge where the holo-display showed all the nearby ships. She waved her hand and holo-interface appeared. The ships were then replaced with the schematic of the supergate they went through prior to their arrival here.
"After we passed through the event horizon of the supergate around P3W-452 we assume the two hive ships pursuing us opened fire on the supergate, somehow causing the wormhole to collapse or jump to a different gate. Normally the a gate is required to re-materialize the matter sent through the gate. We, however, were cut off mid-transit. It is quite astounding the even survived and re-materialized out of the blue." The Doctor explained the holo-display glimmered with the diagram of an active supergate followed by one of the wormhole itself.
"As to the other ships here. I believe they are from alternate realities. SG-1 has had such encounters before. If a large enough explosion is directed through a wormhole and wormhole's path happens to be through a black hole, the wormhole can jump to stargates in other realities. Our situations is rather unique as we did not even reach the destination gates. We are currently stuck between the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy. Such a tear into other realities can be undone with an Asgard energy weapon, allowing us to both return home and close the said tear. The schematic no doubt exists in the Asagard database we have. The main issue here is that we would still need a stargate to reverse the effect." Dr. Rose explained.
"And we don't how to build them or if this reality has any." Colonel Mills finished off her hypothesis to which the Doctor nodded.
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