Chapter 45
The crew of the Skidbladnir had officially parted ways, and Amos Fyree, along with Reva, Egeria, Sha're, and Michael Jackson, was on their way to Euronda to recruit them into the Lantean Commonwealth.
Within thirty minutes, they arrived at their destination.
"That was quick," Egeria remarked.
"Absolutely. It didn’t take long at all," Sha're agreed.
Reva chimed in, a touch of pride evident in her tone. "The Samantha is twice as fast as other ships in the Asgard fleet. I applied what I learned from the Skidbladnir and the Star Drive on the Lantean City Ship to build an even faster engine."
Amos chuckled and leaned forward in his captain's chair—a striking red Lantean command chair with a circular back and gold embellishments. "Michael, run a sensor sweep of the planet. Let’s see what awaits us on this intriguing world."
Michael complied, scanning the planet for any signs of intelligent life. Once he completed his assessment, he turned to Amos, his expression uncertain.
"Your majesty, I’m not detecting any life readings. It’s as if the entire planet is lifeless," Michael reported.
Reva's fingers danced over the controls, her mind racing as she sifted through the chaotic readouts flooding her screen. "Baby, he's right. I'm not getting any new signs of life,” she uttered, despite the bleakness of the data. But then, almost as if fate had cast a glimmer of hope, she paused. “Wait, I am picking up some electromagnetic activity underneath the ground.”
“Reva, launch a Kino.” ordered Amos.
The Samantha launched a Kino into the planet to get a better reading.
“I'm picking up severe ionized gas, radiation, – oh no.” muttered Reva.
“What is it?” wondered Amos, as he sat in his Captain's chair.
“The planet suffered a major catastrophe, No wait, not a catastrophe, an apocalypse. I'm reading signs of nuclear, biological and chemical warfare. All biological life on the surface is dead,” read Reva, her voice barely a whisper by the time she finished the report.
The weight of her words hung in the silence, but in that moment, Egeria's optimism pierced the gloom. “Wait, you said that there were signs of electromagnetic activity underground, maybe there is still some life buried somewhere under the surface.”
Amos seized on that fragile thread of hope, urging Reva to dig deeper.
Just as she honed in on her search, the ship's subspace communicator sprang to life.
“We're being hailed,” said Michael, turning back around in his seat.
“On screen.” ordered Amos.
An image of a husky black woman with shaggy hair appeared on the view screen of the Samantha Carter.
The image of General Latoya filled the screen, her form and her demeanor a mix of authority and warning. “Unknown vessel. State your purpose over our world or we will be forced to fire upon you.” Fear coiled in the pit of their stomachs as a fleet of hidden fighters emerged from the shadows, ready to defend the desolate world that held dark secrets beneath its surface.
“Amos, I’m counting twenty… no, thirty fighters advancing on our position, weapons powering up,” Sha’re noted, her tone serious as she pointed toward the viewscreen.
Michael, eyes scanning his console, added grimly, “There’s also a fleet of orbital drones on approach. They’re headed right for us.”
“Damn it, why didn't we detect them sooner?” Amos snapped, tension coiling in the air like a spring.
“They must have been cloaked,” Reva replied, her voice steady. “Our sensors should have picked them up the moment we exited hyperspace.”
The Samantha was swiftly enveloped by a threatening swarm of orbital drones and Eurondan fighters, their silhouettes dark against the backdrop of space.
"Well you weren't lying about being advanced,”mumbled Egeria in a snarky and sarcastic Goa’uld voice.
Amos got up from his Captain's chair and walked towards the holographic emitter.
"Well now, I guess it's time to introduce ourselves, now more than ever, I suppose”.
Meanwhile, deep beneath the surface of Euronda, military personnel surged through the corridors, frantic in their preparations for the encroaching invaders. During the tumult, a sudden flash of light cut through the chaos, materializing into the form of a young man with dark skin. He confronted General Latoya and her troops with an air of calm authority.
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“Greetings. I am Amos Fyree, captain of this vessel and leader of the Lantean Commonwealth. I ask your forgiveness if you’ve interpreted our arrival and probe as an act of hostility. We came initially on a mission of diplomacy, but our scans reveal that your world has recently endured a catastrophic disaster.”
Unfazed by the holographic visage of Amos, General Latoya shot back, “How did you come to know of our world? This planet has suffered for decades, yet here you are, with probes in our atmosphere? If you intend to claim this land or strip it of its resources, know this: we will respond in kind. I won’t hesitate to destroy your vessel,” she declared, her words slicing through his authority like a sharpened blade.
“Your majesty, the Eurondan vessels are powering their weapons,” Michael said, his eyes glued to his terminal, urgency tinging his voice.
Amos found himself in a perilous predicament. The advanced civilization he sought to ally with—the most sophisticated he had ever encountered—had their fighters and drones fixated on his newly acquired ship, weapons primed and ready.
"Damn it,” he thought, realizing the gravity of his situation. One misstep could cost him Euronda, his ship, and the ambitious dream of a glorious Commonwealth. From the depths of dire necessity, Amos knew he had to unveil the truth to General Latoya about his mission and why he had ventured into her domain.
“General, I beg your forgiveness; it's true, we have visited this world before,” Amos admitted, glancing nervously at his crew, who stared back at him in stunned silence.
“Several months ago, my Planet – a planet called Earth – made contact with your world and tried to set up diplomatic relations with your people.”
The General turned to her subordinate officer who shook his head and whispered something into her ear, then turned back and addressed the hologram. “My people have no records of your vessel, or any vessel of that matter, in orbit around Euronda within the last twenty years.”
"That is because we didn't use a vessel to get to your world, we used an alien device known as a Stargate. When my people made contact we were met by a group of Eurondans who viewed people of our skin tone as – different,”said Amos in a descriptive tone. "At first our people were in high level trade talks with their government exchanging technology for deuterium – your people may call it heavy water. However, when we discovered that they hated people of different races and that their faction were the ones responsible for the planet's devastation we broke off all contact with them and left. Col. Jack O’neil and Teal’c, Members of our elite exploratory team SG-1, were even beguiled by their leader Alar into flying one of their aerofighters at the time. They were told by their leadership that the targets they would be attacking were nothing more than unmanned drones. However, when a plane was shot down he quickly found out that that was a lie. An image of a colored man flashed in his face before both he and his aerofighter had been destroyed. Needless to say that when Col. O'neil and Teal’c found out, they were not happy. They took the aerofighters they were flying, made an about face, and provided cover fire for your ships as they attacked the Eurondan base. They then crash landed their aerofighters into their bunker and made an escape through the Stargate before the base was destroyed. We returned to see if we could make contact with the other government – your government. ”
A grave look fell upon General Latoya's face. “That was you?”asked the beleaguered General.
“Yes, that was us,”Amos responded. “I came back to this world in order to salvage any diplomatic relations we might be able to still foster between our two peoples and if possible provide humanitarian aid and resources to help you rebuild your world. When we arrived in orbit we thought that it was already too late. We launched a probe only to see if there was still any life left on Euronda.”
“Euranda still has millions of people,” stated the sturdy General, “However we are forced to live underground in shielded bunkers. The Eugenicists are the faction that you speak of. That little stunt that SG-1 pulled helped us end the war once and for all. For months we were busy wondering what happened and now we are given closure to what had actually happened. Amos Fyree, my people are in your debt.”
Amos's nerves began to ease after finally getting through to the hardened General. As he began to relax, they began to relax, and soon the Eurondan drones and aerofighters powered down their weapons.
“General, our vessel is highly advanced. After analyzing the status of your planet it may be possible for us to correct the atmosphere and make the surface of your planet breathable again.”
“You possess such technology?” said the General, profound curiosity etching her features.
Amos shook his head in affirmation and said, "Yes, General and much much more. Standby, and watch us work wonders.”
Amos stepped off of the holopad, then turned to Reva and asked her if her nanites could fix the Eurondan atmosphere.
"Better than that my love, while you were talking I was able to synthesize a neutralizing compound that should negate the negative toxins in the atmosphere. All we have to do is launch a salvo of kinos into the upper atmosphere, allow them to print the compound, and the planet will be good as new,”Reva explained.
"A neutralizing compound will only get rid of the toxins. How about we release the radiation absorbing nanites we used on Mars into the atmosphere just as a secondary precaution just to make sure the radiation is neutralized as well,”added Sha're.
Amos sat down in his crimson command chair and said, "Do it!”
Within seconds a salvo of 100 kinos were launched around the planet carrying a neutralizing compound aimed at ridding the atmosphere of the toxic gas left by the Eugenicists; as well as radiation absorbing nanites, similar to the ones used on Mars to rid Olympus Mons of radiation.
Down on the planet, the Eurondans were analyzing the progress of the Samantha Carter.
"General Latoya!” a young man, appearing to be a lieutenant, walked up to General Latoya and handed her a silver tablet filled with planetary data.
“Oh ancestors… is this true?”said the General as she looked at the tablet's readings. General Latoya began barking orders as her subordinates quickly worked to confirm their findings.
A Eurondan scientist clothed in silver attire walked up to General Latoya and said, “General, our results are conclusive, the planet's atmosphere is free of all toxins and the radiation caused by the nuclear weaponry has been completely absorbed by the devices launched by the alien ship.”
All over Euronda bunkers housing their population's citizenry began to open and thousands of people began to walk onto the surface. Even the war hardened General opened up her bunker and came outside to smell the fresh air. For the first time in several decades Euronda had been restored.
As thousands of Eurondans began walking on the surface of their planet again, a beam of azure light penetrated the alien sky as Amos Fyree and Reva arrived on the planet to greet General Latoya and the Eurondan people.
"Greetings General, how do you like your fair planet, now?”asked Amos, a hint of pride in his voice.
“I haven't been on the planet's surface since I was a child,”said the teary eyed General. "How is it that we can ever repay you?”
"Well we came to this world to open up diplomatic relations with the hopes of you all joining our Commonwealth. We're putting together a coalition of the most advanced worlds in three galaxies and Euronda was on the list,” said Amos.
"We'd be honored to open up a dialogue between our peoples; and we'll also consider joining your Commonwealth,” said General Latoya.
"That's excellent,”said Amos. "Please allow us to give you all one more gift to help you get started rebuilding your world.”
Reva printed a Kino and crystal disk, as she always did, and threw the disk-filled kino out into the open space in front of them. In minutes a second generation Lantean City Ship emerged glorious, hovering in the Eurondan sky. As the surrounding Eurondans looked up at the ancient citadel a sense of awe and intense emotion could be felt throughout the crowd. After decades of war and flirtations with annihilation, the Eurondan people could once again live on the surface and make this world their home.
“Is this city ours?”asked General Latoya.
“Yes, it is. It's loaded with the most up to date Lantean technologies to help your people on your way,” said Reva.
"Thank you. Thank you all so much. Anything your people want it's yours,”said General Latoya.
Amos smiled and responded to the emotional General, “Believe me, you've already given us all we need. In a little while emissaries will be arriving on your world on behalf of the Commonwealth. They will deliver food and humanitarian aid and formally invite you to our first meeting which will happen in two months. Please prepare a delegation to attend the meeting where a charter will be signed establishing our new union.” said Amos.
“Absolutely, We'll be there!”said the General filled with enthusiasm.
“That's good news!” replied Amos with a bright smile on his face.
Amos and Reva waved goodbye and teleported back to the Samantha then headed back into hyperspace.
