Stargate Universe: Continuation

Nightmares

Eli didn't know how long he had been asleep, but the blaring alarm that was sounding as he opened his eyes was not helping the ringing in his head. He looked around and realized he had been thrown across the room, and the tablet beside him was flashing red as he picked it up to look at the screen. The first thing he saw was that the ship was no longer in FTL, and the power system was reading 30 percent of the total power that he had before he had fallen asleep. It however had stabilized, and scanners were showing that Destiny was in a galactic dead zone.

The nearest star was 120 light years away, and no gates were remotely near the range of Destiny. Just as his head began to clear the lights came back on, as the control station lit up showing that the computer had been forced to reset itself. As soon as it was fully powered on, he realized that there was no countdown clock. He looked at the sensors, and thanked the gods that he was even still alive.

The stellar plasma tank had ruptured when a generator overloaded, and the resulting loss of power and explosive decompression of Stellar plasma through the side if the ship had starved the FTL drive of power just before the shields had failed. The cascading failures had resulted in every system aboard Destiny shutting down, and only slowly coming back online as the computer systems reset.

Eli knew that this was the worst thing that could happen, as the sensors showed he was already outside of the corridor the seed ships had taken through this galaxy. Yet despite it all, he knew it could prove to be a blessing. He shored up the power that he could, and instead of bleeding power through the shields he shut them off completely. Every system he looked at had suffered from what had happened, as it had sent a power surge through every system as the generator had died. The only good news was that the ship had survived dropping out that way intact.

The bad news was every system had just suffered the catastrophic systems failure they had been trying to avoid. Eli adjusted the repair procedure for the large robots as the ship was now out of FTL, as repairing some of the breaches was far easier from the outside than it was the inside. The simulation took only a few minutes to setup, as he wanted to determine how long it would take him to get the ship repaired to a state he might be able to jump and recharge. He looked in shock as it returned that alone it would take him a year to get the systems back online to even attempt a jump. It even showed him the location of several other repair robots, and what he would need to do to get to them when an alert sounded on the tablet from his power seperation program. Something in the forward section had activated life support in a sealed section, and had just begun consuming a lot of power before it stopped nearly as suddenly. The 3 new life signs however, were a complete surprise as he knew none of the Destiny crew had been that far forward.

Eli locked the computer down, and ensured that the controls couldn't be routed away from him as he tried to lock down the section they were in as well. He had no idea what was happening, he only knew that he wished he had not been the one to stay awake. In fact he had the distinct thought that he hoped it was a nightmare, as the simulation gave him only a 12 percent chance of living long enough to repair the ship enough to jump. There wasn't just one issue, it was that even with everything set to automate the repairs, there was not enough labor to get them complete before the power was drained from the system. The computer advised him it would take a team of six people 4 months to complete enough repairs to get to the nearest star before power levels wouldn't be enough to engage the FTL engines.

He was distracted by his work until he heard the doors to the arboretum open, and standing in the doorway was three beings that looked like they Humans. Eli s**t the station down, and locked it with a personal code as he slipped into the shadows.

"They are growing food, however it doesn't look like any of it has sprouted well yet." a male voice said as Eli watched them look around with flashlights and sidearms.

"Stay alert, just because sensors show only one, doesn't mean that is all there is. The damage to the ship is extensive." a female voice replied in a language that Eli swore he had heard before. He just didn't recognize all of the words, as he realized he was probably listening to a progenitor language to Ancient. Whatever is was, he really hoped he was dreaming as he slipped behind the two and saw the third was standing guard at the only door in or out of the arboretum.

"There is the Console, see if you can unlock it." the woman demanded as she scanned the seemingly empty room. "We know you are in here, and we do not intend to harm you." she said as she kept scanning as Eli tried to decipher what she was saying. He just needed her to keep talking as he smiled as he remembered the comms. He turned the brightness on the tablet down, and used it to activate the comms panel.

"I cannot understand you yet, would you please keep talking." he said as he saw the man jump back as the woman looked at the console curiously.

It had shown what he said, translated into Ancient. "What language do you speak?" she asked allowed and he recognized a few of the words. It helped that she had replied through the comm panel as well and his tablet translated her words.

"English, where are you from and how long have you been aboard?" Eli whispered which came over the speaker loudly.

"Interesting you should ask that, as we are the rightful occupiers of this ship. We are form Alterranus, and we have been aboard since the ship was accidentally launched from our home world. How long have you been aboard?" the woman asked him.

Eli was surprised when the tablet translated the word Alterranus to Earth as well. "2 years and a few months. I am a Human from Earth." he said knowing that it would translate to her own home world. He heard the gasp as one of the men also gasped in surprise.

"What is a human?" she asked curious as it was a term she was unfamiliar with.

"It is a long story, and will take some time to tell. Part of what we know is that those who we call Ancients left our world several million years ago, and we are the second evolution of their form on the planet they left from. They called it Alterra, and another word for Earth is Terra." he said as he saw the translation show the word in different forms.

There was silence for a few minutes as he watched the other man walked past where he was hiding, and watched them.

"It seems we have no choice but to trust each other, until we can learn more about you. How many more are with you aboard?" she asked.

Eli smiled as he thought about it. "The rest who are aboard are in stasis and unable to help us until the ship is repaired. In fact with 3 more people, I am not sure if we can survive with the power we have remaining." he said as the tablet translated for him and he began connecting the words with what she was speaking.

Those words elicited another gasp from both of them as they summoned the third to read what he had said for himself. "What has happened?" she asked after the man arrived at the console and read the words.

Eli stood up and exited his hiding spot with his hands wide with only the tablet in them. "We arrived 2 years ago to a ship that was on the verge of failure from multiple systems failures. We have tried to repair it as best as we know how, but truth be told even this level of technology is beyond our ability to fully understand. This galaxy has an automated weapons system designed to attack all technology not like theirs, and multiple battles taxed our ability to conduct comprehensive repairs.

"Earlier a generator exploded and damaged a stellar plasma storage tank, further reducing the amount of fuel we have available. Because of hull breaches we are as of yet unable to access the Engineering Compartment to assess the full extent of the damage, or conduct full repairs." he said as the two men watched him while the woman read aloud what he was saying at the same time.

As soon as she finished reading it she switched into the limited diag optics of the console she was at, and saw the full extent of what he was saying. There was so little power that most of the ships systems were non functional, and those that were online were in such critical state they were barely functioning. "s**t, this is far worse than anything we could have imagined." She didn't stop as she opened the ships logs, and watched the course as they had when they first had come aboard. She pushed a few more buttons, and it started showing the dates in number of years the ship had actually traveled the stars. "62 million years Iraman and Shaw'ti, that is how long it has been since we launched. Another glitch stopped our wakeup call that was supposed to wake us."

Both men gasped as she said that, and Eli actually understood that. It was the same as Lantean and Latin as well. "You have my sympathy." he said with a heavy heart.

All three nodded as the woman closed the course charts and looked at Eli. "What do we need to repair first?" she asked him.

"Shields are the most demanding system, trying to keep the ship from tearing itself apart every time we jump. Hull repairs are my first priority, as the robots I have found operational conduct repairs to the systems on the inside. Shields, Weapons, Electrical, and Power Generation. 2 large robots are conducting hull repairs, and I am assisting from the inside with the space suits we have managed to repair." Eli said as all three nodded.