Starborn Smith [Stargate, Battletech Multicross]

- - -

POV: Eudora Cassia

It had been a little more than three weeks since we first began recovery operations for the Daedalus. It had taken a while, but we had finally gotten the ship's outer hull fully sealed. The villagers, despite how they appeared sometimes, really knew what they were doing. 

That shouldn't have been all that surprising, considering the fact that they're ships didn't have grav-plating. They were obviously inexperienced when we started the repairs, but that didn't last long. Now, the exterior hull was a mess, but it was airtight and we could finally start repressurising the rest of the ship.

Since operations had started, we had revived 16 of the ship's crew and there had yet to be any issues with any of them. They all seemed relaxed and happy to be alive – something that James had reported in those revived by the device. The Sarcophagus was scary. It seemed to either temporarily suppress the trauma that came before its use or remove it entirely. We would only know in the coming weeks and months, but considering the fact that there had yet to be any significant issues, I would say that it was unlikely that we'd notice anything for a while, and by the time we did we would hopefully be able to give these people a break.

Now, repairs were ongoing with the Daedalus and according to the engineers, we would be ready for a relight of the main engines. Once it was away from the Phobos, the next step of this process would begin; clearing the ship of inactive Centurions. 

The Phobos was a modified version of the Nebula class corvette, one of the first purely Cylon designed ships. With that in mind, we weren't entirely sure how usable it would be for a human crew, but we were going to try anyway, the Centurions had to be capable of getting around somehow. 

I let out a deep breath as my radio activated. "This is engineering. We are ready for relight." 

I replied immediately. "You are go for relight."

Several long seconds passed before a hum seemed to pass through the hull of the ship before it just as quickly passed.

"Relight successful. Good thing we spent the extra time checking the fuel tanks."

I chuckled bitterly. "Indeed. Prepare the ship for a light burn. The sooner we're out of the way the better."

A moment passes. "Yes ma'am. Thrusters are ready for a 10% burn."

I turned to the Helm and nodded. The person stationed there immediately began working. Several seconds pass and I felt a slight tremor through the ship's hull; my radio activated once more, "Burn confirmed at 10%" 

A voice came over the radio, from Elder Annelise. "You are cleared of the immediate area."

I nodded. "Understood. Give us a few hours and you're clear to begin with the Phobos. Hopefully we can get the Jump Drive working, otherwise I don't think we're going to be getting back to Dendred anytime within the year." 

A clear reply came back. "Understood. Send for us if you need anything."

"Understood. Out."

Once more, I took a deep breath. It felt good to have the Daedalus back and running again. Hopefully we'd get her back to fully working order."

- - -

POV: Eamon Thorne. 

I took a deep breath as I floated into the visible hole in the hull of the Phobos, my team slightly behind me. The Daedalus had disappeared from sight several hours ago. Now it was time to begin sweeping the other ship's interior. 

We didn't see anything we would consider an airlock on the main body, but there were several holes where the hull had been scratched open as well as a main hangar which was too small for even a Tel'tak to enter. A total of eight teams had begun sweeping the ship.

The first thing I noticed when I was inside was how similar it was in style to the Daedalus. Even if the Cylons had started to depart from standard Colonial design, it was clear that they still very much copied colonial design standards. 

With great care, we swept through the ship. Our compads were used to track our location and create a primitive map. We found our first Centurion after about ten minutes. It floated in the middle of the hallway. We marked its location on our compad and carefully proceeded around it.

We were pretty sure that at least one such Centurion had been active after the jump, and if one of them was active then chances were that there would be more of them. We were going to be at this for at least several hours. After that, we'd need to remove all the inactive centurions, then see what we could do about disconnecting the internal computer systems… there was a lot to do. 

- - - 

POV: Arthur Sinclair

"Look, see these." I pointed to a set of values that had been inputted into the terminal years prior during Operation EXODUS. "Those are wrong."

Lieutenant Sarti looked at the numbers, then looked over her shoulder to one of the engineers. "Give me the manual."

She was handed a compad; a document with over 3,000 pages was opened and she began scrolling through them. Finally, on page 1,700 she found what she was looking for. She shook her head, "No. The manual clearly states that these are correct." 

I scoffed at her. "I guarantee that there is no single person in existence who knows the Field Initiator better than me. I promise you, those values are wrong." 

She frowned; she moved forward several pages and cursed. She turned to everyone else in the room. "Everyone shut up! Put down everything you're doing." 

Once everyone had stopped what they were doing, she continued. "We're going to have to resolve the KF-Drive Equations, from scratch this time, we have major errors in the manual."

Groans filled the room; this would be a two-week long process at the bare minimum. We returned to the village to inform Elder James before commandeering one of the Rec Rooms aboard the Confederate SLS Maresias. The moment I stepped onboard, my perk activated. 

First Perk Activated. Partial Blueprint Acquired: SLDF Confederate Dropship

Confederate Engine Nozzles

I had completely forgotten to grab the partial blueprint from this dropship. Well, I've gotten it now. 

We entered the conference room and immediately began working away on the drive equations. There was an immediate and glaring flaw. Whoever wrote the manual had been working with incorrect assumptions for the mass and power requirements of the Manassas' Experimental Field Initiator and Drive Core. Luckily, the correct values were available in the ships manual at another section and I was able to confirm them thanks to my first perk.

I groaned – in all honesty, everyone was groaning a lot. I would be doing a lot more math in the coming weeks. 

- - -

POV: James Cromwell.

"Arktos," I nodded to the giant of a man as I approached the landing bay of Enyalius' former fortress. 

He turned to me and nodded. "James." 

We stood and watched as several of the Tel'tak took off; the pilots were practicing take off and landing, so they'd be back in just a few seconds – if even that.

"How are they progressing," I asked. They seemed to be doing alright considering how well the ships were flying.

 Arktos nodded. "Well, but it will still be several weeks until I feel satisfied with letting them fly a ship by themselves."

He seemed to hesitate for a moment before continuing. "I have a proposition. I am aware that you wish to get your expedition off the ground as soon as possible."

I nodded. The Inner Sphere had resources that we just didn't have access to. Industrial ability and the like. I hated the idea that I might have to interact with the great houses, but their resources could really provide us a kick start of raw and manufactured materials, not to mention personnel. A thousand people was barely enough to operate a single factory, let alone the dozens that we would need.

There was more. I had been hoping that Arthur's words about what the Inner Sphere had devolved into would be wrong, that if I went to find the Exodus Fleet then I would find a paradise. With every day that passed, with everything he said about the state of the Goa'uld Empire that turned out true, that hope dwindled further and further. 

I needed to know what happened and I knew that my crew needed to know as well. 

I responded. "The sooner I can have ships back home, the better."

Arktos hesitated as well. "I have had second thoughts about my own plans."

I raised an eyebrow. "Regarding what?"

He smiled bitterly, "I have talked with Lady Isetri about the Sodan. The Tok'ra have made contact with them, but it has been limited."

What was so concerning about that? "That is excellent news."

Arktos shook his head. "What she has told me of them leads me to believe that they are no different from every other Jaffa, they just chose other gods to follow, replaced one master with another."

Assuming that Arthur wasn't wrong with his information, that was about correct. Though their new gods cared even less for the Sodan than the Goa'uld do for the Jaffa. 

How much should I tell him? I let out a sigh. "As far as I am aware, several thousand years ago the ancestors of humanity managed to achieve ascension – that is to say they transformed into beings of energy. The Sodan worship these ancestors as Gods in place of the Goa'uld."

Arktos looked away from the ships and towards me as I spoke. "I'm surprised you know so much."

I snorted. "It isn't all that much. Just some vague ideas about what happened." 

Arktos sighed. "Gods have never done my people any favors. I have not spent decades working to defeat Ares just to have him replaced with another – even if these others have some actual claim to the title of 'gods'."

I snorted. "If it makes you feel any better, the Ancestors forbid any form of interaction with the material plane. I highly doubt that they were the ones who had the Sodan worship them. It is far more likely that the Sodan discovered a facility belonging to the ancients and learned of their nature."

Arktos was quiet. We watched as one of the Tel'taks came back around for a landing before once more taking off. 

Finally, Arktos spoke again. "I wish to join you."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

His face was blank, but his eyes gave off a melancholic aura. "You and the Dendredans; you look towards your future with hope. You may not know what is to come, but you have a chance and you have the freedom to choose what you wish to do. My people… we may have had that once, but it was beaten out of us thousands of years ago. All we know how to do is follow others."

I frowned. "So you wish to learn from us?"

He nodded. "I want you to teach my people how to live. I want them to learn music, poetry, literature, architecture… and perhaps, somewhere along the way, we will learn what it means to be free."

I stood there in silence. "What of the people of Dendred?"

He snorted. "In time, I hope. Your people know that we could have treated them much worse than we did, and you were only slaves for a few short months. The people of Dendred have had our boot on their throats for decades now. They resent us, and rightfully so. I will do what I can to make up for it, and in time they will forgive us."

Another moment of silence passed between us. Finally, I reached out my hand. "Then I hope my people can provide what you are looking for." 

He looked down and a genuine smile crossed his face. "So do I, James."