Chapter 48

  “Mayday, Mayday. My name is Warrick, Captain of the Sebrus. My ship was trapped in an asteroid field and has crashed on an uninhabited world outside of the Hebridan Federation. If you are receiving this message please hurry. Be advised. this is a prison transport, my prisoners have escaped. They are armed and dangerous. My crew is trying to round them up but we are outnumbered. Please send help.”

  Michael was covering the bridge of the Samantha Carter when an autodistress signal was picked up by the ship's Asgard sensors. After picking up on the distress beacon, and viewing the attached message, Michael quickly called Amos and the rest of the crew.

  “Hey MJ what's going on?”asked Amos as he arrived back at the bridge.

  “Welcome back, your majesty. We just picked up an autodistress beacon from a planet ten light-years from our destination. The ship’s name matches one we found in the SGC mission reports. Should I reroute?”

  Amos glanced at the emergency message, quickly cross-referencing the ship’s name with Daniel's laptop. “Yep, it’s the same ship, Go ahead and set a course,” he said, eyes wide. “They’ve been down there for over a year! And the prisoners are loose. Looks like we're gearing up for our first fight.”

  “Baby,”said Reva, sensing the incoming danger, “if we're going to get in a fight, we need to be fortified. Fortunately, I've prepared some equipment that should help us remain safe on the battlefield,” she stated.

  Amos and the others quickly agreed and the crew of the Samantha made their way down to the ship's armory where an assortment of Lantean shields and weapons were being stored. "Here we are,”said Reva almost in a joyful manner. “I finally get to show off my new toys,” she said walking amongst an awry of armor and energy weapons.

  "Reva, what are these?” asked Egeria picking up a bright green object.

  "Those are personal shields, my Queen. Usually a Lantean soldier would put those on before battle to prevent injuries however we won't be needing those today,”said Reva, her voice brimming with confidence.

  “Uh, what do you mean we won't be needing them, Reva? We don't want to die down there, do we?”asked Amos, scratching his head sarcastically.

  "My king, have you already forgotten? The holobadges I have given you already contain a personal shield,”replied Reva with a childlike grin on her face.

  Amos had almost forgotten that Reva had installed personal shields in all of the holobadges. “Each badge should protect the wearer from all kinetic and directed energy weapons while attached to the wearer's body,” she explained as she handed out the badges. "Not only that but I took the liberty of designing something else that should help you out in any fight. All you have to do is double tap the holobadges.”

  Amos glanced at Sha're, then at Michael and Egeria, each of them wearing expressions of confusion and uncertainty. "Ready?" he asked, his voice tinged with doubt.

  "Guess we don't have much choice," Sha're replied, fidgeting with her holobadge.

  With a quick double-tap on the devices Reva had given them, a sudden swarm of nanites enveloped them. In moments, they found themselves encased in a sleek layer of white armor, three inches thick.

  "Whoa, this is intense," Michael remarked as the armor molded perfectly to their forms. The added protective layers shimmered on their chest, shoulders, arms, knees, and legs—designed to shield them from any injury.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Egeria flexed her wrists, feeling the enhancements kick in. "The matter converters are integrated with the suit," she noted, a hint of amazement creeping into her voice.

  "And check out these helmets," Amos said, adjusting the fit over his head. The displays lit up with information—enemy counts flashed alongside navigational data. "Life signs detecter... and life support stats," he added, his brow furrowing as he tried to process it all.

  "This could actually give us a fighting chance," Sha're said, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the HUD through her helmet.

  "Let’s just hope we don’t need it," Michael replied with a half-hearted smile, trying to lighten the mood as they prepared for whatever was coming next.

  “I feel like a power ranger in this suit,”said Amos as he examined his body head to toe.

  "This is phenomenal, Lady Reva,” highlighted Michael.

  "Morphenomenal,” added Amos his mind rolling over with laughter.

  “Just like the ablative armor on this ship, your armor should provide 100% protection from all conventional energy based weaponry. Moreover, as long as the shield emitter on the holobadge remains powered, you should be protected against kinetic weaponry as well,”Reva explained.

  "And how long will the battery on one of these things last?”asked Egeria worryingly.

  "5,832 years… give or take,”said Reva with a bright smile on her face.

  “Wow, what is there a mini zpm in here?” asked Amos, who was also worried.

  “Precisely,” Reva confirmed, her excitement infectious. “The suit is integrated with nanites that possess matter conversion technology. As soon as the suit powered up, it synthesized two mini ZPMs, which should be nestled beneath your chest plates. And just so you’re aware, I’ve already uploaded the schematics of a variety of human and Lantean weapons into the suit's matter converters, as well as your own wrist converters. In the field, you’ll be able to manifest any weapon you desire merely by concentrating on it. If you wish to discard your current weapon, simply think ‘disintegrate,’ and it will vanish. When you have your mind set on another weapon, just envision it, and it will materialize in your grasp.”

  Amos, Sha're, Egeria, and Michael armed themselves and prepared to head down to the planet.

  "Stay here on the ship, Reva,” ordered Amos. “ If we need your help we will call you with our holobadges.”

  The Samantha came out of orbit over a lush and wild planet near the Hebridan system. On its surface a battle was unfolding between passengers and crew. Energy blasts rained back and forth as the battle raged on.

  “I've been hit,” screamed a member of the Sebrus’s an alien blood bleeding through his chest.

  "We need to retreat,”shouted Warrick, captain of the doomed vessel.

  As the prisoners advanced, Warrick and the remainder of the Sebrus crew pulled back into the thick forest at their rear. The team of Hebridanian prison personnel pushed deeper into the forest where they found shelter near a small creek.

  "Blast!” said one of Warrick's lieutenants. "Those bastards aren't going to get away with this.” As the rest of Warrick's crew arrived at the small creek they noticed that two of their compatriots were badly injured.

  “Am I going to die?”asked one of the injured crew members.

  “No, you're not going to die! I'll make sure you live!” reassured Warrick, pools of alien blood pouring from the injured young man. The wound was small, but Warrick and his crew weren't human. Hailing from the Hebridan and Serrakin Federation, a mix raced society on the outer edge of the delta quadrant, the crew of the Sebrus was an eclectic mix of humans, serrakins, and hybrids of them both. The Serrakin were a cold blooded reptilian species. Thousands of years ago, they came to Hebridan when it was controlled by the Goa’uld. They liberated the human population and intermingled with them, showing them everything they had and knew.

  “I can't feel my legs, boss. I can't feel my legs,” said the wounded half human half Serrakin copilot of the Starship Sebrus. No matter what Warrick did he couldn't stop the strange, yet familiar blood, from flowing out of the mixed race man. And then, like a thief in the night, death took the copilot of the Sebrus.

  "He's gone, Warrick he's –”said another crew member of the doomed now desolate crew of the Hebridan prison transport.

  The man Warrick had promised would live, was now dead.

  "We're coming out of hyperspace now,”said Reva, carefully examining the Samantha's navigation controls.

  Amos, Egeria, Sha're, and Michael Jackson were in the ship's hangar bay preparing for the upcoming battle.

  “Ok, our objective is clear. We neutralize the prisoners and secure the crew. Any questions?” asked Amos, his voice and demeanor hardened for combat.

  “I have a question, your majesty,” asked Michael as he played with the controls of his Lantean rifle. Michael turned to look up at Amos who was also examining his weapon. “Am I cleared to use lethal force?”

  Amos had forgotten that he put safeguards on all the elves to prevent an elven uprising. Only when authorized by the Commonwealth can they use lethal force.

  “Yes,” Amos affirmed. “Since this is an official Commonwealth mission you can use lethal force. That goes for all of you,” said Amos turning to look at Sha’re and Egeria as well.

  The away team put on their helmets, a swarm of nanites materializing on their heads just by mere thought, and stood back to back ready to beam down to the planet.

  “Reva we're ready to beam,” declared Amos, hands gripping his rifle.

  “Ok, Beaming you to the planet in 5…4…3…2…1.”

  Suddenly a radiant blue light enveloped Amos and his team, piercing through the hangar bay of the Samantha Carter down into the azure skies of the embattled planet below.