Atlantean Thunder: A New Oddessy Begins
by Andrew James Williams
Authors Note and Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis (unfortunately) or the Thundersdawn fanfic universe and everything to do with it. I thank chaos eternus for creating this wonderful fan fic universe and allowing me to play in it. This story and any that follow are based in a AU Atlantis offshoot of the Thundersdawn series.
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Prologue
It was quiet aboard the Ravenbright station after all the furore of the last few weeks. It was also late aboard Ravenbright General O'Neill had retired to bed for the evening as had the bulk of the stations operational staff so it was only a skeleton crew on night time watch of space around Alpha Centauri II. It was just the time that Captain Steven Mills liked the most since nothing was ever likely to happen at this hour. No ships were due for a day or so and those ships that were here both RSS and SGC not to mention Enerina's Ha'tak Del Shakka Mel were sitting in quiet geostationary orbit of the planet.
The calm of the evening in the control centre for Ravenbright was shattered when the stations scanners chimed a warning. Mills jumped.
"What is it?" he demanded to know.
"Sir sensors are detecting a large tectonic disturbance on the planets surface eastern side of the northern continent," the operator at the offending station reported.
"What kind of disturbance?"
"Earthquake sir. Approximately 8.8 on the Richter scale." Mills frowned a quake that powerful was something that was very dangerous indeed something quiet capable of altering landscapes and if on the coast produce powerful tsunami's that would wreck havoc wherever they pounded ashore.
"I thought there were no fault lines in that area?"
"Not that we knew of but faults can lie hidden and dormant until bang you get an earthquake," sensors replied. "The quakes dying away now. Whoa..."
"What is it?"
"Picking up faint energy emissions from the epicentre of the quake along with a large dust cloud. Looks likes a rockslide triggered by the quake has exposed something signature is fading but."
"But what?"
"Sir its... the signature matches the power source used in DHD's."
"Ancient!"
"Yes sir."
"When will it be light down there?"
"Not for another two hours sir the winds pretty strong down there so the dust cloud should have cleared away by then." Mills considered then turned to the single guard on duty at the entrance to the command centre this late.
"Go and wake General O'Neill tell him to come to the command centre immediately."
"Yes sir."
*********
It was a very grumpy Jack O'Neill who walked into the command centre a few minutes later dressed in a hurriedly thrown on uniform.
"This had better be important Mills," he growled rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"I think you'll agree it is sir," Mills replied. "A few minutes ago our sensors picked up an earthquake on the planets surface..."
"Earthquake! Where!"
"Epicentre was on the eastern coast of the northern continent. Force 8.8."
"You woke me up for that. We haven't got anything near there."
"That's not why. The quakes caused a landslide its exposed something. Something that's giving off an Ancient power signature. Very faint now but still there." Instantly Jack was alert. His own experiences with the Ancients technology - especially the thing with the archive of knowledge - had taught him to be very weary of it. But he also knew that in his lap had landed a rare opportunity to actually get some - possibly intact - Ancient technology into Tau'ri hands for study. Technology that could potentially be very useful against the Goa'uld.
"How long until sunrise on that area?"
"Just under two hours."
"Prepare to send a team down there. Have a Paladin ready to take them down as soon as it's bright enough to see properly."
"Yes sir."
"And get Narim up here to the station. Kalinda as well if possible. If there's Ancient technology down there that's intact then they can help examine it. Before we send it back to Earth."
"Yes sir."
**********
Just After Dawn
The Paladin-class transport shot over the tops of a forest that was showing signs of damage here and there from the sudden earthquake. Younger trees had been completely uprooted by the quake others were leaning over at odd angles where the ground had moved. Only the oldest tree's were still standing and even some of those were showing signs of being more than a little wobbly.
This part of the coast of the northern continent of alpha centauri II was very reminiscent of the coast of Alaska and British Columbia in appearance. Here and there seal and seal lion analogues filled bays with huge breeding harems while off shore marine predators prowled waiting to pounce on the unwary.
Looking out the window in the passenger section of the Paladin Narim couldn't help but be struck by how beautiful this planet was even having been here for a year now the beauty of this planet and its largely unspoilt wilderness was never lost on him. Now though he could see damage where last nights earthquake had shaken the whole coastline with awesome force and spawned a number of titanic ocean waves that were causing damage wherever they hit. Tsunami's one of the Tau'ri he'd spoken to had called them.
After a short while the Paladin turned inland towards there destination a large open patch of land where every tree had been flattened by the quake or buried when what looked like half the face of the mountain had slipped away. As they approached Narim wondered what they were going to find but any Ancient technology would be worth it even if it wasn't particularly useful since it would add to there knowledge of that ancient humanoid race that had first built the Stargates.
The Paladin landed moments later and Narim accompanied by Kalinda and a number of Tau'ri military personnel sent down from Ravenbright climbed out and began moving cautiously across the uneven ground. At one point there came a rumbling and the ground began to shake drawing frantic terrified cries from native fauna.
"Aftershock," Colonel Stevens the head of the combined RSS/SGC unit said. They all held there position waiting for the ground to stop shaking. After a short while it did and they resumed there walk.
**********
It didn't take them long to reach their destination. What they found when they got there was a shock. It was a very badly damaged room with architecture that was distinctly Ancient. There had obviously been other rooms that had all been ripped away and destroyed by the massive landslide set off by the earthquake. What was left was little more than a room with a strange chair in it sitting on a platform. A few small items littered the floor but that was it.
"Okay people lets survey this place look carefully for anything that could be emitting the energy signature Ravenbright detected," Stevens said. "But be careful this whole place could come down at anytime." With the colonels cautionary words in mind everyone started looking.
**********
All in all it took three minutes to find what it was that was emitting the energy signature. It was Kalinda that found what they were looking for. A panel near the chair had come open and inside was what was definitely a power source of somekind. When she held her hand over it the power source simply popped up and she was able to remove it. It wasn't that heavy and seemed to be more like a multilayered crystalline cylinder than anything else the crystalline outer edge serving as power contact points. The crystal glowed softly with a strange inner light similar to the light given off by a ZPE collector.
"I think this is what were looking for," she said examining it closely. Her psychic link with Chocky provided no answers as to what it could be. The light looked like zero point energy but there was none of the terrible and potentially fatal drain on a psychics life force coming from the device. She would have immediately been affected by it if it were.
"That is most likely," Narim agreed coming over and looking at the device curiously. Like Kalinda he wondered what kind of power source it could be. They had some tools here to analyse it though the bulk of them at the moment were taken up by the project the few survivors of his people were working on to build an entirely new generation of ion cannon that could be mass produced by Tau'ri technology and be used both offensively and defensively on Tau'ri controlled worlds, space stations and warships in addition to there pulse lasers, torpedoes and gauss guns. They had met with great success so far and would be able to test fire the prototypes soon.
"We should take it back with us," Kalinda said. "So that it can be examined. I'm due back at Thundersdawn soon. If we cannot analyse it here then I'll take it back with me. We should also take as many of these other things back as we can. There is no telling how useful they could be."
At that moment another aftershock shook the area and some support beams came down. Soon this chamber would collapse they would have no chance to analyse it. As the aftershock died away Colonel Stevens ordered everyone to grab what they could and leave before the whole place came down. Kalinda and Narim both looked sadly around at the room both loving to get a chance to examine it but knowing they couldn't take the risk. They were about to leave when one of the RSS personnel picked up one of the Ancient devices and it immediately lit up in his hand.
"What in the world," the startled former Royal Marine asked before he felt something. Something he couldn't describe it was like something touching his mind and waiting for orders.
"What is it," Narim asked coming over. "How are you doing that?"
"I don't know," the marine replied. Narim gently took the device off the marine only for it to die immediately. As soon as the device left the marines hand the feeling of something touching his mind vanished. Narim frowned trying to get it to light back up. Nothing happened.
"What did you do last time," Narim asked as they started to leave the damaged facility.
"Nothing I just picked it up and it lit up and there was also..."
"Also what?"
"A feeling from it in my head," the marine replied. "That it was waiting for me to tell it to do something somehow."
"Interesting," Kalinda commented having been listening. "Hold this and let me try." She handed the power source to Narim and took the device off him. Again it stubbornly refused to light up. "Okay you try again lieutenant," she said giving the device back to the RSS officer. As soon as he took it from her it lit up again and the presence returned.
"There it is again."
"Try thinking something," Kalinda said. "Like a command." Frowning the lieutenant considered then tried to make the device show what it was for. The front part of the device lit up and deployed a spluttering hologram of a very Human looking woman dressed in strange robes with Ancient markings on them.
"Must be a data recorder of some sort," Narim commented as the Ancient woman spoke.
"Messages from..... indicate.... preparations.... Atlantis............... near complete," the woman said in flawless English and somehow the lieutenant knew that the device had somehow translated the language from his own thoughts.
"Did she just say Atlantis," Kalinda exclaimed in shock. "As in the lost city of Atlantis on Earth?"
"Lost city?" Narim questioned not knowing what Kalinda meant but judging by the shocked looks on the faces of the entire team who'd gathered around to watch something about hearing the hologram say the name Atlantis had surprised all of them.
"Its an old Earth myth tell you later," Kalinda said. She looked at the active object and the hologram as it spluttered and died obviously damaged but the glowing device in the lieutenants hand. "It seems that we've stumbled on an even bigger mystery than just this power source thing. Like why you can use that when we can't."
"I'd like to know that as well," the lieutenant agreed. "Now how do I turn this off."
"Perhaps try thinking it or something like that," Narim suggested. "Whatever device that is it seems to work by some sort of mental link."
"Try it lieutenant," Stevens agreed. Again the lieutenant concentrated and tried to think of a command like off. After a couple of attempts at it the device stopped glowing.
"I think that got it," the lieutenant said at last. "Here." He gave the device to Kalinda.
"Thank you," Kalinda replied.
"Now lets get back to Ravenbright," Stevens said. "And inform General O'Neill of our findings."