Adrift Among Foreign Stars Halo/SGA crossover (Commissioned)

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 1

Date: June 4, 2009
Location: BC-304 Daedalus, en route to Pegasus galaxy

"So, remind me why we're doing this again," Rodney McKay commented through a mouthful of food. "Aren't we supposed to be taking a break or something?"

"Well, eventually, we're going to want to go back to the Pegasus, set up another base, not abandon our allies," Sheppard commented. "We're supposed to go check out a few worlds we had set up outposts on, make sure our allies know that we're going to be back, that we're not leaving them hanging."

"It is fortunate that we were able to get into contact with the Travelers," Teyla added. "Larrin seemed most interested in meeting with Jon again."

Ronan simply continued eating and shrugged. "Least we get to see what's happened while we were gone."

"Look, I'm not saying that we shouldn't go back," Rodney said, "I'm just questioning why it has to be us?"

"Would it not be because we are the ones with the most experience in exploring the Pegasus Galaxy?" Teyla asked.

"Maybe," Rodney sighed. "Look, I just have a bad feeling about all this. The IOA's trying to take over the city, and we're off into the Pegasus Galaxy."

"The man's got a point," Sheppard agreed, pointing towards the scientist. "I'm a bit worried about the IOA, too. The thing is, I don't see how we can be much more of a help down there. We're not exactly their favorites after everything we've pulled over the years. Hell, I'm not sure Woolsey's even on their good side after the events of the last year. So, we're toeing the line and making sure that there's still a Pegasus galaxy to return to. The Wraith are still out there, and there are a lot of people who need our help."

"Lot of people out there who don't know Atlantis is gone," Ronan shrugged. "We've been gone for a while, and the Wraith don't exactly wait around."

"Even if they have gone back into hibernation, it is still in the best interests of both Earth and the Pegasus Galaxy to ensure that they are kept at bay," Teyla shrugged. "I would be more concerned with what other threats are out there."

"Doctor McKay to the computer room, Doctor McKay to the computer room!"

"What do they need you for?" Sheppard asked.

"Well, the Daedalus was the last ship in line to get an Asgard computer core added. But due to the mission, they only grabbed part of it. Enough to give us a little bit of help with Asgard beaming and some small bits for us to peruse on the trip between galaxies, but not the full core that the Odyssey has aboard. I'm supposed to help make sure that everything's going smoothly and ensure that the core doesn't go… Hmm, haywire due to someone doing something wrong."

"Need any help?" Sheppard asked.

"No, but thanks for offering," McKay smiled. "Hopefully there won't be all that much to do and I can return for an excellent turkey sandwich."

"Well, we'll be here," Sheppard shook his head and dug back into his food.

AR-1 was headed back to the Pegasus galaxy, not knowing what they would find.

—
—

Four days later…

"This is an interesting system the Travelers have asked us to meet them in," Colonel Caldwell commented as Shepard and the rest of AR-1 entered the room. "Major Marks is telling me that there are some strange anomalies present."

"Really? Let me take a look at it." McKay offered. "It looks like the anomaly is originating from the gas Giant. If we have the time, I'd love to take a closer look before we leave."

"Later, Rodney," Sheppard said. "It looks like Laron's finally here."

A Traveler ship had come out of hyperspace and was waiting just within weapons range.

"Sir, Larrin is requesting permission to come aboard," Major Marks reported

"Ask if she's ready to be beamed and have them lower their shields for it," Colonel Caldwell replied. "We'll beam them aboard. Colonel Sheppard, can you and your team meet them? I'd like to get this done so we can return to Earth."

"Yeah, we'll get right on that," Sheppard nodded and headed out the door; Teyla, Ronan, and McKay in tow. "You guys will make sure she doesn't try anything, right?"

"We'll see," Ronan replied as the door to the bridge shut behind them.

"Sir, I've got a lock on four signatures within the other ship and they've drop shields over the section," Marks said, his hands moving across the controls.

"Beam them to the briefing room," Caldwell ordered.

"They're aboard, sir," Marks reported. "I'm seeing something odd on sensors, it's like they're distorted by the gas giant McKay mentioned."

"Can you make anything out?" Caldwell leaned over and glanced at the control.

"It kinda looks like a Wraith Cruiser. I'll try to clear it up. But I'll get weapons and shields ready, and tell the Travelers what we've detected."

"All hands, move to battle stations," Caldwell hit his intercom button. "We've got Wraith incoming," he lifted his hand off the button and turned. "Launch three-oh-twos, and get the Asgard beam weapons ready. We know they work on Hiveships, let's see how they perform with the upgrades. Also, prepare to beam our guests out when combat starts. I can't imagine they'd want to stay here."

"Yes, sir, relaying the message now."

Instead of the cruiser they were expecting, five hiveships and their escorts arrived. The group of ships filling the void.

"Sir, second wave is arriving," Marks commented. "Looks like another four hiveships."

"We're not staying to fight them," Caldwell said. "Alert the Travelers and give them the coordinates we're going to jump to."

"Sir, hyperdrive isn't responding, we can't lock onto any coordinates."

The Daedalus began to rock as the battle began, the void filled with alternative waves of Asgard beams and hiveship energy blasts.

The first pair of cruisers sacrificed themselves to guard a pair of hive ships.

A particularly hard hit rocked the Daedalus and sparks flew from one of the consoles, an airmen falling to the ground stunned as a result.

"Colonel, we need to leave, now!" Rodney entered the room, AR-1 and the Traveler party with him.

"Well, if you could find a way for that to happen, I'd love to take it, but right now hyperspace seems to be blocked. So, it looks like we're gonna have to fight our way out," Caldwell replied.

"No, you don't understand," McKay turned his tablet around, showing what he was talking about. "The gas giant's about to turn into a star. All of the extra energy in this system is feeding it. If we stay, we're going to end up fried, and I'm not a big on looking like KFC."

"Maximum sunlight," Caldwell ordered. "Marks, get us out of here, and tell the Travelers to stay on our tail, we'll absorb any hits we can."

The two ships moved quickly through the voice of space, trying to reach the edge of the system when the Gas Giant suddenly doubled in size, the beginnings of a fusion reaction taking place within the core when the extra energy began to ignite it. Right as the both the Daedalus and the Traveler ship entered hyperspace, there was a jolt, and both ships dropped out of hyperspace, their crews unconscious and unaware of what had taken place.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 2

Date: June 5, 2009
Location: Unknown

Aboard the Daedalus, the crew began to wake up, Major Marks being one of the first to shake off whatever fog had appeared off and moving from his station to wake up Colonel Caldwell, the bridge crew, and AR-1.

"What happened?" Caldwell asked.

"Sir, it looks like we triggered our hyperdrive at the same time the Gas giant began the fusion process," Marks said. "I couldn't tell you why, but both us and the Traveler ship are dead right now. I've got limited control of our systems unless we do a system restore. Life support is still active, as is maneuvering thrusters. But that's about it."

"I can help with that," McKay groaned. "Sheppard, Ronan, I'll need your help in engineering. Meet me there in five minutes. I want to take a look at what these readouts can give me."

"Is there any way for me to get back to my ship?" Larrin asked.

"Not until we've restored power to the beaming tech," Marks shook his head. "Our 302 bays doros aren't going to be able to open until we've restored power to those sections."

"Do we have any ideas as to what may have knocked out our power generation?" Teyla asked.

"Well, while we've blown up solar systems and stars, we haven't witnessed the birth of a new star yet," McKay replied. "Despite hardening our ships against EMP and other things, we still don't know enough about everything in the universe to protect ourselves and our ships against everything. It could have been some new sort of radiation that fried the shield emitters, or something that simply overloaded the core and forced it into a shutdown," McKay looked at his tablet before tapping a few controls. "Hmm, that's interesting. Marks, try a base level restart of the basic sensors. I think those are already coming back online. The Asgard ones aren't online yet, but we can at least get a picture of what's around us while we try to fix things. Anyway, as I was saying. Teyla, it could be any number of things. I won't have an answer until we've reviewed all of the sensor data. Sensor data that we might lose if I don't get the rest of the ship online."

With that, the scientist left the bridge and headed for engineering.

"Marks, do we have sensors yet?" Caldwell asked.

"Yes, sir," Marks replied. "We're not in the same system we were before. Looks like a four planet system with a binary star. Planet's in the goldilocks zone. I'll be able to tell you more information if we get closer to the planet."

"Do we have intercom yet?" Caldwell leaned over the armrest.

"One moment" the Major hit a few controls and then nodded. "Intercom's active now sir."

"Doctor McKay, do you have an update yet?"

"Full reset's going to take fifteen minutes," he replied. "Two crystals are fried and need to be replaced. I'm bypassing them and forcing the system restore."

"Sir, I'm seeing radiation spikes on the outskirts of the system," Marks said. "Looks like it's a ship moving in orbit of the planet. Without the Asgard Sensors we can't make it any clearer. It's not something in our warbook though."

"Doctor McKay, we've got company in the system," Caldwell said into the intercom.

"Working on it!" the irritated scientist replied and the lights went off in the ship entirely for what felt like an eternity. "Check it now."

"Sublight and Asgard systems are restored," Marks replied. "I've got full information on the Traveler ship now."

"Good, beam me back to it," Larrin said, startling the crew that had almost forgotten about her. "I need to make sure my people are alive."

"Allow me to go with you," Teyla stepped forward. "I may be able to render assistance."

"Fine," the blond rolled her eyes. "Tell Sheppard we're not leaving until we have this figured out."

"Beaming you now," Marks reported, the wave of light taking Larrin, her party, and Teyla to the other ship. "Colonel, I've got a better scan of the system now. Looks like it's not just that ship that's here. We've got other contacts closing in. Wait," the Major held his hand up to his earpiece. "We've got transmissions on a familiar frequency. I'm patching it through now."

"Unidentified vessel, this is Commander Keyes of the UNSC Iroquois, we've received reports of an incoming Covenant Fleet. Be advised, if you do not evacuate now, they will open fire on you."

"UNSC?" Sheppard asked, entering the bridge with McKay and Ronan. "United Nations Security Council? Since when did they get ships?"

"Open up a channel to them," Caldwell ordered. "Commander Keyes, this is Colonel Caldwell of the Earth Ship Daedalus. We're willing to provide assistance if you require it."

"Colonel, this isn't a fight you want to be here for," Keyes replied. "Evacuate while you still can. This war has enough dead heroes without getting more civilians involved."

"Sir, the channel was cut off," Marks reported. "And four more ships just appeared."

"Well, are we going to help them out, or not?" Sheppard asked.

"The Traveler ship is still dead in the water and showing minimal power," Marks replied. "If we leave them here, they'll be sitting ducks."

"Look, beam me over and I'll fix the Traveler ship," McKay offered. "You guys go help. I don't like the look of those other ships. They remind me of the Wraith."

"Very well," Caldwell replied. "Teyla, we're beaming Doctor McKay over to assist with repairs. Then we're going to go and assist the people in the system."

"Very well," Teyla replied. "There are quite a few wounded. May I suggest medical supplies be sent over as well?"

"Do it," Caldwell nodde at Marks. "Sending over what we can, Teyla. Caldwell, out."

"Take us into the system, maximum sunlight," Caldwell ordered after the supplies and scientist had been beamed off the ship. "Colonel Sheppard, we do have a pair of those new 302s if you'd like to join my pilots."

"Yes, sir," Sheppard headed for the hangar bay with Ronan in tow. "

"Ready the Asgard weapons and prepare to fire when we enter weapons range."

"Yes, sir," Marks replied. "All systems are green, and engineering is reporting they've replaced the damaged crystals. We're ready to go."

As the Daedalus got closer to the fight, they saw that the Iroqouis was doing something suicidal, some sort of blueish purple glob was following the UNSC ship around as it got extremely close to one of the Covenant ships.

Then the purple glob impacted the ship the Iroquois had gotten super close to and its shields flared and then died before boiling away armor. The UNSC ship moved away from the trio, a nuke detonating as it moved away, stripping two of the ship's shields and leaving them dead in the void.

"Standby, Iroquois," Colonel Caldwell said. "We've got the last straggler."

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 3

In one universe, the Covenant Carrier managed to reach Sigma Octanus IV and deploy the majority of its invasion force. The Luminary onboard indicated that there were hidden Forerunner artifacts among the Côte d'Azur Museum of Natural History and some of the other cities on the surface.

In this one, they only managed a small fraction of that, as incoming fire disrupted the waves of shuttles, dropships, and other troop carriers heading for the surface. Turning what was supposed to be a full invasion force into something entirely different. Instead of thousands of Marines being wiped out by the Hunters that were a part of the invasion force, there was mainly Grunts and Jackals on the ground, supplemented by one or two of the giants. This was a threat much simpler to deal with, and it showed as the Marines began to take back the city, block by block.

"We have impacts, sir," Major Marks reported. "Power levels seem normal, but our beams seem to be doing less damage than they have in the past."

"Put us in the middle of their fighters and have our railguns deal with them," Colonel Caldwell ordered. "Identify weak points and keep firing."

The Daedalus positioned herself in between the carrier and the planet, her point defenses targeting the dropships and fighters that moved around her while the battlecruiser focused on the Covenant Carrier.

"Whoever these guys are, they're tougher than the Wraith, that's for sure," Caldwell commented as return fire rocked the ship. "Damage report!"

"Shields are at eighty percent," Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Bishop reported. "Minimal bleedthrough."

Between the two ships, beams of light were exchanged, plasma for Asgard beams that began to chew through the shields before carving their way through the carrier entirely and causing secondary detonations throughout the ship, splitting it into multiple pieces of debris.

"We're being hailed," Marks reported.

"Thanks for the assist, Colonel." Commander Keyes' voice seemed calm. "We have reinforcements on route. They'll deploy to handle the groundpounders while we wait for the second strike."

"Well, while we wait for your reinforcements, would you care to tell us what's going on here, exactly?" Caldwell asked.

"I'm surprised you don't already know what's going on, Colonel," Keyes sounded exhausted. "If you can wait, Admiral Stanforth will be here shortly. Until then, please maintain a stationary position."

–
–

Commander Keyes hid his apprehension as he studied the images of the unknown ship that had so easily taken on a Covenant Carrier that was easily six or seven times its size. It was fast, too. Far faster than the Covenant and UNSC ships that Keyes had seen through the years.

The strangest thing, though, wasn't the design of the ship itself; he'd seen ship concepts that were far stranger than that. No, it was that when he'd zoomed in on the image, there were English characters scrawled across the side of it. "USAF DAEDALUS", the characters read.

However, the second ship, the one that was simply sitting as if dead halfway across the system, that ship didn't match the Daedalus or anything else he'd ever seen before. No, that ship looked like one of the old Colony ships that had been urgently refit after the War had begun.

Still, with one of the potential enemies dead in the water, that just left the one right in front of him to keep his focus on, unless circumstances changed.

"Lieutenant Hikowa," Keyes tapped a control and sent the image of the ship up on the holographic pad that was usually reserved for AI. "If you had to guess, what would you say this ship's armament and role are on the battlefield?"

"Well, sir," the young woman moved slowly, as if sleepwalking or full of lethargy. "We've got what appear to be two hangars here and here," She pointed at the sides of the ship. "I'd estimate twenty to twenty-five decks depending on different tolerances. Probably has between a hundred to two hundred and fifty crew."

"Sir, we also know that those beams aren't quite omnidirectional," Lieutenant Hall took over the display to show a recording of the Daedalus moving around the Carrier. "They seem to be originating from this part of the ship," she highlighted the forend of the ship. "And they seem to fire in pairs."

"Meaning they either have to charge up like the plasma torpedos and energy lances of the Covenant," Hikowa agreed. "Or that they have to alternate fire between the weapon systems."

"Regardless of how they managed any of this," Keyes continued. "We're going to have to study this."

"Commander, the second ship is moving!" Lieutenant Dagger sounded panicked.

"Lieutenant Dominique, open a channel to the Daedalus," Keyes ordered. "Dagger, stow that nonsense."

"Opening channel now," Dominique reported.

"Colonel Caldwell, it seems your second ship is mobile again," Keyes kept his voice neutral as he spoke.

"Yes, they've restored power to their engines and are moving closer so that we can provide other assistance," the Colonel replied. "We suffered damage in our transit here, and while we were able to affect repairs, their ship requires a bit more work to keep it in fighting shape."

"Understandable," Keyes hid his sigh behind a mask of calm. "Have them maintain the same distance you are, and we'll remain where we are."

"Commander, the UNSC Leviathan just entered the system along with the rest of the battlegroup," Lieutenant Hikowa interjected after Keyes' finished speaking to the Colonel. "Admiral Stanforth is ordering us to meet up with the UNSC Cradle for repairs while he takes over the meeting with the newcomers."

"Give our response and begin communications with the Cradle," Keyes ordered. "We took one hell of a beating. Might as well see how bad the damage is."

---

"We've managed to get power restored to the shields and sublight engines," McKay reported. "Unfortunately, it looks like this trip fried the hyperdrive. It'd take days to cobble something together that would work well enough to get us to the next system, let alone back to Earth."

"Is there anything else you've noticed, Doctor?" Caldwell asked. "Our Asgard beams seem to be outputting a lower damage output than previously."

"It's a different universe," McKay seemed a bit frazzled. "We're lucky any of our tech works at all. What are fundamental laws of physics back in our universe might be completely different, or just slightly altered here."

"Will Hyperspace work?" Sheppard asked, stepping onto the bridge.

"I have no idea," McKay shrugged. "I'd have to do some testing to be sure."

"We're probably going to have to hold off on that testing, Doctor," Caldwell responded. "Larrin, Captain Katana, is your ship repaired enough for us to beam McKay back aboard?"

"We've survived for generations," Katana replied. "We can make do without him for now."

"Sir," Marks leaned over. "We're receiving a transmission from one of the ships that just entered the system. A Vice Admiral Stanforth wants to meet and speak with us."

"I want to be present for that," Larrin interjected. "We are in this together, and I'll not leave my people unrepresented."

"Tell Admiral Stanforth we can meet within the hour," Caldwell replied. "Sheppard, have your team on standby. Larrin, you'll be coming with us. Bring two people as security, and we'll have AR-1 on standby as well. It might seem like we have a technological advantage for now, but until we know how our weapons interact, or if we can even jump into hyperspace, I'd rather play it safe. Captain Katana, please continue working on your hyperdrive and keep us posted. If things go south and it's not working, we'll do what we did with the Attero device and drag you along with us for the ride."

"Much appreciated, Colonel," Katana nodded. "We'll keep working on our end, Katana, out."

"We'll have to do this without rings or beaming," Caldwell informed AR-1 and Larrin. "I'm not sure how they'll react to our appearance like that. I want to keep that in our back pocket."

"Let's just hope they're more friendly to us than we were to their friends," Sheppard snarked. "Given what one ship did to four of theirs without shields, I'd hate to see how things play out if they've got more advanced tech we didn't see."

"I seriously doubt it," McKay scoffed. "You see this?" He flipped his tablet around to show the Iroquois firing. "These things aren't energy weapons. It's basically the equivalent of throwing a rock as fast as you can at the other guy and hoping he dies. Advanced, sure, but not on the level of the Goa'uld or even the Wraith. I mean, for crying out loud. What civilization gains access to energy weapons and would decide to use projectiles instead."

"You want to continue that line of thought?" Larrin asked, looking pointedly at the handgun on McKay's belt.

"Well, personal defense weapons are different, okay?!" McKay protested. "I'm talking about space-scale weaponry and defenses here. Missiles, energy weapons, those make sense, I'll even grant railguns for point defenses. But these," He pointed back at the screen. "This is nothing more than a ship built around a gun."
"Given they have been willing to speak with us so far, I believe that they will not be willing to resort to violence so soon," Teyla interjected. "As Rodney has pointed out, they do not possess shields, and if things do go wrong, we can be beamed out, correct?"

"As long as their transponders are working, yes, ma'am," Major Marks replied. "I'll be keeping an eye on everything from here."
"Then instead of arguing about their technology level, we should begin working on what it is we wish to discuss with this UNSC," Teyla concluded. "They are not yet enemies, and we should not treat them as such."

"We're going to try to negotiate for repairs to Larrin's ship," Caldwell stated.

"That will not be necessary," Larrin shook her head. "As this civilization seems capable of manufacturing new vessels, we will be attempting to conduct negotiations of our own. We are allied with you, but we have our own goals in mind here," she smirked at Sheppard. "As long as those goals don't conflict, we should all work together just fine…"

"Larrin," Sheppard growled.

"Relax, Sheppard," Larrin continued to smile. "We're allies, and until we know if the Wraith ended up here or not, I'd rather not drift too far away from the people I know who can take out their ships."

"Why didn't I look for that?!" McKay began typing on his tablet. "It's possible all of the Wraith that ambushed us ended up here as well, just in different places," His face turned pale. "The stars."

"What about them?" Caldwell asked.

"We're not in an alternate Pegasus Galaxy," McKay muttered. "We're in the Milky Way, and we may have just unleashed the Wraith on a new unsuspecting galaxy…"

 

[SixthRanger]

Thankfully, this isn't that Galaxy after the Halo Event...

Unless the Wraith landed at Installation 05...

The Gravemind would be mighty curious of this kind of flesh...

 

[Drageos]

""We're not in an alternate Pegasus Galaxy," McKay muttered. "We're in the Milky Way, and we may have just unleashed the Wraith on a new unsuspecting galaxy…""

Meanwhile the Wraith who end up running into the Flood: AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! RUN AWAY!!!!

 

[MarkWarrior]

Unfortunately, it's possible I won't be able to update any fics this week. Wife has been in and out of the ER the last two days, and I'm also in the process of moving into a new house on Friday.

Lot's of ups and downs all at once! Yay!

 

[MetalGearDull]

Unfortunately, it's possible I won't be able to update any fics this week. Wife has been in and out of the ER the last two days, and I'm also in the process of moving into a new house on Friday.

Lot's of ups and downs all at once! Yay!

Click to shrink...

Real life takes priority. Wishing you and your wife the best of luck and health!

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 4

Commander Keyes reviewed the logs from when Lovell had been on duty. They were careful and intelligent. So the boy way still sharp… Was he hiding?

A gentle knock on the door broke Keyes from his thoughts of replacing Lieutenant Dagger. "Lieutenant Dominique, I said I was not to be disturbed."

"Sorry to intrude, son," a muffled voice came through as the door's pressure wheel turned and Vice Admiral Stanforth stepped inside. "But I thought I'd stop by before meeting with our newcomers."

Stanforth was smaller in person than he seemed on screen. His back was bowed a bit with age, and his white hair was thinning a bit. Still, there was a palpable air of authority that seemed to surround the man.

"Sir!" Keyes stumbled backwards to attention, knocking over his chair in the process.

"At ease, son," the Vice Admiral glanced around his quarters, his gaze pausing on the framed copy of Lagrange's original manuscript. "You can pour me a few fingers of the whiskey, if you can spare it."

"Yes, sir," Keyes grabbed another plastic cup and poured the Vice Admiral a drink.

Stanforth seemed to relax for a brief moment as he took a sip and then sighed appreciatively. "Very nice."

Keyes fixed his chair and offered it to the older man, standing slightly away as the Vice Admiral sat down, set the drink on the table, and leaned forward. "I wanted to congratulate you personally on the miracle you performed here–"

"Sir, I don't.." Keyes stopped as Stanforth held up a finger.

"Don't interrupt me, son. That was a helluva piece of astrogation you pulled off. People noticed. Not to mention the morale boost it's given the entire fleet," Stanforth sipped at the whiskey again. "That's not the only reason I'm here. The folks you met today. What's your opinion on them?"

"Well, sir," Keyes began and then stopped, trying to piece together his thoughts before speaking. "At first, we thought they were another group of aliens. Now, I'm not so sure. I think they're human. I'm pretty sure they're not insurrectionists, though. Their methods and willingness to help don't fit."

"Current thoughts from the ONI spooks aboard the Leviathan are that they're a possible lost colony," Stanforth leaned his chair back onto two legs. "Humanity spread out pretty far after we developed the slipspace drive. It's entirely possible that they're one of the ones that weren't documented."

"What do we plan to do?" Keyes asked.

"I need to talk to them," Stanforth sighed. "If they're a full nation, I'd like to see if they're willing to help. Beyond that, though. We have a battle to plan. We need a victory here. It's been too damned long. Us getting whittled to pieces by those alien bastards. So this has to be a win. No matter what it takes."

"Understood, sir," Keyes knew that morale had sagged over the last few years throughout the UNSC. No military, no matter how well trained, could stomach defeat after defeat without it affecting their determination in battles. "How is it going planetside?"

"Well, thanks to the new people we just met, we were able to evacuate all the surrounding cities and most of CÔte d'Azur before the Covenant began slaughtering," Stanforth smiled. "General Kits has them on the back foot. We can win the ground. That's never been a problem." The Vice Admiral's bravado seemed to quiet down a bit. "It's the rest of the fight we have to win. Now, you leave the rest of the thinking of what the aliens might be doing up to the spooks in ONI, son. Just get the Iroquois patched up and fit for duty again. And you let me know if you need anything."

Stanforth swallowed down the rest of the whiskey and stood. "I've got to meet with the newcomers and marshal the fleet. Oh," Stanforth paused. "One more thing," he pulled a cardboard box out of his jacket pocket before setting it down on the Commander's desk. "Consider it official. The paperwork will catch up to us soon enough."

–
–

"Interesting design," Larrin noted as the transport that had moved into the Daedalus's bays. "Very utilitarian."

"Well, I think it looks cool," Sheppard folded his arms across his chest. "Like something out of Aliens."

"You know, now that you mention it," McKay commented. "It does kinda remind me of that."

"Sirs, ma'am's," A uniformed man stood just inside the craft's bay as it lowered, his hand holding onto a handle at the edge. "If you'll step aboard, I'm to take you to the meeting section of the Cradle. Vice Admiral Stanforth is waiting for you."

Larrin and Katana were among the first to board and take seats on the craft, closely followed by AR-1.

"One moment," the man moved to the door that led to the cockpit and tapped it twice, signaling for the troop bay door to shut and for them to take off. "It'll take us a few minutes to get to the docking bay of the Cradle."

"Speaking of which," McKay interjected. "Why design something that's almost literally a square with engines on it?"

"The Cradle's a repair and refit station," the man brimmed with pride. "When we're running at full tilt, we can repair and refit six destroyers simultaneously within five hours.

"Impressive," Larrin said. "What would it take for us to acquire one of these stations?" Larrin asked.

"I have no clue, ma'am," the officer shuffled uneasily. "I'm just here to take you to the Vice Admiral."

With that, an awkward silence filled the troop bay until they arrived and were led into the buildings of the Cradle and into a conference room.

"Ladies," an old man in a similar uniform to that of the man from the pelican stood at the end of the table, four bars on his collar, a pistol on his hip, and graying hair belying his experience. "Gentlemen. I'm Vice Admiral Stanforth, the current commander of UNSC CENTCOM Region 3 and of Battlegroup Leviathan."

"I'm Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, this is Teyla Emmagan, Ronin Dex, Doctor Rodney McKay, Larrin, and Katana Lebrea," he went through and introduced everyone that was with him. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Normally, you'd have been met with a bit more suspicion," Stanforth said, gesturing for them to pull out a chair and take a seat before doing the same. "However, we owe you one for taking out that Covenant Carrier before it could drop off more than a handful of troops. So, we need to talk histroy. Who are you, Where are you from, and what are your intentions towards the UNSC?"

"We're peaceful explorers from a place far away," Sheppard gestured towards himself and AR-1, neatly sidestepping the issue of Earth. "Larrin and Katana are Travelers; their people mostly live on ships. We were supposed to be scouting out a region of space that we hadn't been to in a while, and ran into an ambush. Strange set of circumstances later, and here we are."

"Despite our circumstances, we wish nothing more than to become trading partners and potential allies," Teyla said smoothly. "It is unknown if the enemies we faced before being brought here are present or not. However, we would be remiss if we did not warn you of the dangers."

"Well," Stanforth said after a minute of digesting everything. "I'd like to look at the full breakdown of what happened in that battle. We've had strange mishaps in Slipspace of our own, and researching yours could help us."

"Unless you have records of a gas giant turning into a star, I'm afraid none of our documentation would be helpful to you in the slightest," McKay interjected. "What happened was a freak accident, a fluke. I doubt I could get it to happen again if I wanted to."

The Vice Admiral had paused and was looking at McKay with a considering look.

"What kind of Gas Giant?" Stanforth asked, his aging face had an intense stare to it. "Please, any information or data you have on the jump or the gas giant itself could be useful to us."


"A supergiant," McKay replied. "It seemed to be gaining enough mass to turn into a star while we were in the system. We made the jump at the last possible second before we would have been vaporized. As for the data," McKay glanced at Sheppard, who merely nodded. "I can leave a copy of it."

"I would like to discuss a possible alliance," Larrin finally interrupted, having allowed the SGC personnel and the UNSC Admiral to speak the entire time. "My people are primarily ship dwellers, and it is clear that you are capable of manufacturing said ships. We would be willing to allow a significant technological exchange in order to obtain some of your ships."

"I don't have the authority to grant that," Stanforth replied. "That would have to be taken up with HIGHCOM and Lord Hood. For now, I just need you to stay out of the way while we secure the system. The Covenant is going to be back, and we're going to beat them."

"Or," Sheppard offered. "We can help out a little bit."

"I don't even know what you're capable of, son. Much less if you want to even get involved here," Stanforth replied. "I'd prefer it if you just stayed out of our way and let us fight. However, I acknowledge that you're not a part of my military. I cannot order you to stand down and stay out. If you feel you need to get involved, that's your business. Just stay out of our lines of fire. Now, I'm afraid I have to cut this short. The Covenant are on their way. And I'm out of time. Ensign Lash, please escort these people back to the Pelican. It's time to fall in line."

"Ma'ams, Sirs," Ensign Lash nodded at them. "If you'll follow me. I'll take you back to the hangar."

"So, it's a Pelican?" Sheppard asked the ensign as they reached the bay. "How does she fly?"

"You'd have to ask a pilot for that information, Sir," Lash replied. "I repair things, I don't fly. That said, good Pelican pilots are hard to find these days."

"Why is that?" Sheppard asked.

"Because most of them didn't make it back…" Lash trailed off. "I'll be seeing you around, Colonel. Try to not get burned out there."

 

[Pyro Hawk]

"Unless you have records of a gas giant turning into a star, I'm afraid none of our documentation would be helpful to you in the slightest," McKay interjected. "What happened was a freak accident, a fluke. I doubt I could get it to happen again if I wanted to."

The Vice Admiral had paused and was looking at McKay with a considering look.

Click to shrink...

Cole's 'final' gambit huh?

 

[SixthRanger]

Yeah, until the Halo Event, humanity was kind of boned six ways to Sunday.

To be fair they do have compact fusion reactors, so maybe a bit of shielding data would be nice to trade? Being able to turn a lethal shot into a suvivable one is a massive improvement at this point of the war. If they can fit shields to Longswords that would also be amazing.

The railguns are curious, but implementing them to the fleet would take took long.

What else? The Ring transportation is also an energy hog that would be a curiosity, and maybe Oni would like to know more...

Oh! The Hyperdrive! To be able to perform small in-system jumps would be a massive boon! That would be a game changer for the space battles...

 

[Pyro Hawk]

Being fair to Halomanity, the whole 'why do you have MACs when you could have energy weapons' is...

I can easily see the Tau'ri having some biases that just cause them to underestimate how hard something is. Such as the lack of naquadah or the various other 'super-elements' that are present in the Stargate universe allowing them to pull off something that Halomanity just straight up lacks the material science to achieve because developing the materials from 'scratch' rather than having natural deposits of them or an equivalent metamaterial is a lot harder. And that's the sort of thing that would only really come up when they look at the scans and go "why is Substance X missing?" or start doing tech trades and run into the issue of 'so your energy weapons use a critical material with these properties here... do you have fabrication data for such a material because we've got nothing close'.

Which can easily see an equivalent energy weapon go from 'four times bulkier for same effectiveness' to 'everything is worse and we had to cap it at ten times bulkier, with cost being far higher'. At least until some of the Covenant and Forerunner reverse-engineering, salvage and data acquisition pays off and elevates Halomanity's material fabrication capabilities.

Now roll that out across everything and oof. But the Stargate data's not useless, because it's still a lot of operating, engineering, scientific and 'function' data to be integrated into their own development programs allowing them to shortcut a lot of 'prototype, test, refine and only then know what to look for'.