Stargate Thirdspace: The Reboot

Authors Notes: I bet everyone thought I'd abandoned this story after not updating either version of the original since 2012 – something I'm deeply sorry about its just the muse somewhat dried up for it – but now it's back and hopefully will be better than ever. I'm actually going to be making quite a few changes from the previous two versions of this story as there are a few epic fails that I now cringe at in the original versions.

While this will still primarily be a crossover with Babylon Five I'll be setting things up for a spin off story – sorry it won't be with Halo as I've done previously I have a different universe in mind to play around with *evil grin* - that I'll also be working on occasionally. I'm also going to take out the going back and forth between B5 verse and future SG verse as I'm well aware that that got a bit jarring and confusing for some of my readers so I will no longer be doing it. Also the time when they arrive in B5 verse will be different to when it was originally – it will be much earlier to throw an even bigger monkey wrench in that little order v's chaos pissing contest between the Vorlons and the Shadows.

Finally I would ask that everyone remember that there are no Ori in this version of the Stargate universe and that the Asgard are still alive and kicking though they don't quite look the way everyone remembers. I will be introducing a few Asgard characters in upcoming chapters so you'll see what I mean.

Prologue

TFS Achilles

March 2nd 2525

Sitting comfortably in a synthetic leather chair Admiral Jacob Robyns picked up a flexipad and carefully began to reread the orders that had been issued to him. As he carefully scanned the hologram being projected by the flexi he felt some of his old youthful wanderlust – which had prompted him to join the navy in the first place as he'd wanted to see the galaxies – stir back into life.

The orders were for an escort/protection mission, but an escort/protection mission with a difference as it was the kind that didn't come up very often. A mission that would be ready to get underway within the next hour or two at the most – assuming there were no more delays. His forty-one ship strong fleet had been selected to escort a cityship to its destination, then protect her and the tens of thousands of people within when the destination was reached and the city successfully alighted on a new world. Within mere hours now the cityship Rivendell would leave the artificial lagoon where she had been constructed and begin a long two week hyperspace journey to a galaxy that they honestly knew next to nothing about.

The galaxy in question had only recently been detected when a shift in Andromeda's position in the sky – which had begun millions of years ago however due to the distances they'd only recently become aware of it – had unmasked it. They'd consulted the Ancient database and it hadn't been overly helpful when it came to information on this galaxy as it was far off the beaten interstellar track so to speak with no Stargate Network present – meaning the Ancients had never gone there or not found anything interesting enough to warrant the massive expenditure of energy and resources that building a network of gates would have entailed.

Either way they were curious enough about it to send an expedition to investigate.

Putting the pad containing the orders down Jacob leaned back in his chair in thoughtful silence. While the prospect of being one of the first humans to set foot in a new galaxy – especially one so different from the norm – was enough to fill him with excitement, but at the same time he knew that they should be cautious. Expeditions to newly discovered galaxies were always events that weren't to be embarked upon lightly to often in the past his people had done it in a very ad hoc and disorganised fashion and gotten themselves into trouble and encountered enemies they hadn't really been ready to face – enemies like the Wraith. Even when they were cautious going into a new galaxy there was always the possibility of encountering a powerful and hostile spacefaring race, it had happened before after all and such encounters didn't always end favourably for either side. Indeed the last time that had happened two centuries ago it had plunged the Tau'ri as a people into a ten year long bloodbath against the forces of the reptilian Theliax.

Thinking about the new galaxy Jacob hoped they wouldn't encounter anyone with hostile intentions. Still he would be prepared for it if they did have a violent encounter with unfriendly natives – between the ships in his task force and Rivendell's own defences they would hopefully have the firepower to see off any hostile natives. There was also another factor at play that would reduce the likelihood of encountering anyone with hostile intentions.

A long range exploration ship, the Northern Horizon if he remembered her name correctly, was already holding position off the edge of the new galaxy. Holding position and launching repeated robotic probes of the outer edge of the galaxy. They were both looking for a suitable planet for Rivendell to land on once they arrived and for any sign of someone who could potentially be hostile to them. If she found the latter the Northern Horizon had orders from both command and the Senate Exploration and Resource Development Committee to immediately inform the Senate back in the Tau'ri capital city of Avalon on Earth via a high powered subspace burst transmission.

From his orders Jacob knew that the Northern Horizon and her captain Taylor Matheson had orders to join up with Rivendell and his task force when they arrived at the new galaxy. They would drop out of hyperspace at the Northern Horizon's coordinates long enough for the other ship to join formation with them before proceeding to the coordinates of the planet that should have been found for them by that time.

That is assuming nothing goes wrong, Jacob thought. If something did go wrong, if they didn't find a suitable planet or they encountered another hostile species then contingency plans would be activated. Plans that would, in the case of the former see Rivendell return home and in the case of the latter would see the whole fleet withdraw – they had enough on their plate keeping the peace in this galaxy and in Pegasus as it was. They didn't need to get into a fight with anyone else if they could possibly avoid it.

A bleep from his desk communications console drew him out of his thoughts with a jolt. "Main bridge to Admiral Robyns," Captain Josephine Owens said as a holographic screen showing her face appeared in front of him.

"Yes captain?" Jacob asked.

"Sir we've just received a notification from Rivendell," Josephine replied. "They report that the last of the expedition members and their families have arrived and are being settled in their quarters. Governor Shepherd also indicates that they are almost finished taking on supplies and will be ready to launch inside of thirty minutes."

"Very good, signal the task force to begin powering up for departure," Jacob ordered. "As soon as Rivendell reaches orbit all ships are to assume escort formation Gamma Two around her."

"Aye sir," Josephine acknowledged before signing off to carry out the orders. The holographic screen vanished into nothingness with all the fuss of a bursting soap bubble leaving Jacob alone in his ready room once again.

Almost time to go, Jacob thought as he turned his attention back to his electronic paperwork, he had a great deal to do – commanding a task force of forty one capital warships and the twenty eight thousand eight hundred men and women in said force was an enormous responsibility and one that generated a considerable amount of paperwork. Paperwork that in his experience never seemed to end as it seemed like no sooner than he finished one pile then another would seemingly materialise out of subspace for him to do. Join the navy and see the universe, that's what the ads on the Starnet say, he thought with a wry smile, pity they don't tell you about the bureaucratic make work that comes with the adventure.

Given the amount of work he had to do Jacob knew that the time between now and departure would fly by, however he had no intention of not being on the flag bridge when the fleet set out for its destination. A quick command to the desk console with one hand set a fifteen minute alarm while his other hand picked up a readiness report from Captain McKenzie of the Jutland and he began the tedious but necessary task of reading through it.

Central Control

Rivendell, Twenty Minutes Later

Governor Alison Shepherd looked over from holographic displays floating above her desk when she heard the sound of someone clearing there throat. One of the control room staff stood in the doorway to her office and for a moment she struggled to connect the youthful face to a name, she still hadn't learned the names of all the control room staff. But then again she did have a lot of different things to worry about as the time for departure drew ever closer.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Governor our final checks have been completed," the young man – Jones she now recalled his name to be – replied.

"And," Alison asked bracing herself for the possibility that Rivendell might not be ready for departure, that something had gone wrong with one of the millions of systems and subsystems that the city needed to function not just as a city but as a gigantic spacecraft capable of intergalactic travel. She doubted anything major had gone wrong – the cities A.I Arwen would have immediately informed her if it had – but it was always a possibility. Cityships were the most complex and advanced machines that the Tau'ri knew how to build – even with everything they'd learned from the Ancient database in Atlantis over the last five hundred years, cityships like Rivendell pushed their technological abilities to the absolute limit. Compared to building a cityship things like forging new Stargates and making zero point modules were child's play.

"All systems read as fully operational ma'am," Jones replied grinning. "All three Zed-PM's are plugged into the cities energy grid and providing power as are all neutrino-ion generators. Secondary power generators are engaged and standing by to compensate for any shortfall, though engineering does not believe we will have any power problems. Life support systems are ready to engage as are the shields, sublight drives and the hyperdrive."

"Then we're ready to launch?"

Jones nodded. "Yes ma'am. In fact we're as ready as we will ever be," he said.

Alison grinned. "Then let's get this show on the road," she answered before tapping a command into her terminal dismissing all the holographic display screens and standing up. With Jones preceding her Alison made the short journey across the mezzanine to the city's main control room.

Alison took a moment to look at all the control room staff, taking in their eager, expectant faces. Though her people were professionals she could see the excitement in their posture, they were as eager as she was to begin their mission. A mission that would if successful massive increase their knowledge of both the universe in general and dark matter galaxies in particular. The latter was so mysterious to them; even the Ancients hadn't appeared to know much about the enigmatic galaxies at least if the lack of any real information on them in the Ancient database in Atlantis was anything to go by.

"Alright people listen up. The time we've been working towards for the last year and a half has finally arrived," she said. "We're ready, ready to begin our mission to expand our knowledge of the universe. With luck once this mission is concluded we will have discovered a whole new kind of space for humanity to explore and possibly colonise.

"The city is ready, so are we and so is our escort group," she continued with a wry smile knowing how happy Admiral Robyns would be to be able to finally be ready to get their mission underway. In all the preparation work that had gone on over the last few weeks and months she'd met him a number of times and gotten to know him quite well. She knew him well enough to see that behind the stiff military façade was a man with an incessant curiosity about the universe around them. His service record also attested to that desire to know about the universe as she recalled that for much of his career he'd served on exploration ships with only a handful of tours on warships before he'd reached commander.

"So let us begin," she finished. "Communications contact the shipyard operations centre and request departure clearance."

"Yes ma'am," the officer at the console in question answered and with a single mental command relayed the request to the shipyards control room. Almost immediately a response came in from shipyard control. "We've been cleared to disengage from the shipyard and move up into orbit."

"Then let's get going then," Alison said. "Disengage the clamps holding us to the shipyard lagoon. Then begin departure sequence."

"Yes ma'am," came the response from a number of locations around the control room. A moment later an alert sounded throughout the city, the distorted and discordant noise of the Ancient-style alarm demanding attention.

"Attention all personnel; departure sequence has been initiated," Arwen's voice said over the citywide PA system. "Sublight engine start in sixty seconds. Repeat departure sequence has been initiated, sublight engine start in fifty nine seconds."

"Inertial dampeners powered and engaged," one of the staff reported. "Anti-gravity wave generators powering, sublight drives active."

"Raising fortress shield, all exterior doors and windows closed and sealed," another added.

"Launch in thirty seconds," Arwen said calmly, mighty engines set into the piers of the city greedily hoarding power in preparation for task ahead. The whole of the six and a half kilometre wide cityship began to rumble gently, rising on the gentle thrust of the secondary engines and resting on the very surface of the water.

"Launch in ten seconds…ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four…" The gentle rumble transitioned into a furious shaking, and for a moment it seemed the city might shake itself apart. "…two… one. Firing antigravity thrusters." The shaking ceased for the briefest of moments, a moment of calm in the eye of the storm. Then a titanic whumph seemed to come straight up through the floor and with a faint sensation reminiscent of an old fashioned manual lift the city began a slow but steady rise into the sky.

To the shipyard workers who'd laboured so long to build and outfit Rivendell the view of her launch was spectacular. Standing on various observation decks on the waterfront they watched as the city sat in her lagoon surrounded by the translucent silver-white bubble of its main shield.

For a moment the city remained stationary then small plumes of steam began to appear all around the perimeter of the shield. The steam grew in intensity, becoming hissing jets of boiling water as the city began to rise. Slowly at first then with ever increasing speed the city moved inexorably upwards, soaring into the sky. Sunlight reflected off the shield gave the protective dome a shimmering quality, and the polished metal and crystal of the city towers made it seem to glow in the yellow-orange light of the K0 type sun. A thick mist descended from the base of the rising city as the shield was made permeable to the water that sat between the piers. As the sheet of water fell the engines turned it into mist which began a long descent to the surface below. Spectacular rainbows rippled in the falling mist turning the warm water into a riot of glorious colour.

Still the city continued to rise, ascending towards the stars. The last of the trapped water left the city shield and the protective barrier again became fully impermeable and trapped a thick bubble of breathable atmosphere around the gleaming towers. At thirty thousand feet above the surface of the planet the cities massive gravitic sublight engines went to full power, the powerful anti-gravity wave providing the final boost to the city. A rippling shockwave of air and distorted gravity blasted out from the base of the city, tearing apart the lazy clouds surrounding it as the city suddenly shot spaceward at incredible speed, becoming rapidly smaller to the cheering observers below.

The atmosphere thinned and darkened as the great spacecraft passed the majority of the atmosphere and through into space, the cities lights all activating and making it look like a miniature galaxy itself. Finally Rivendell broke free of the final layers of Sigma Draconis III's atmosphere and embraced the void. Immediately her ascent began to slow and eventually she came to a halt, in defiance of gravity as the planet lazily continued its spin beneath her.

"We have achieved orbit, governor," one of the control room staff reported, his voice raising a cheer from all the staff, the security marines guarding the control room and those city residents who'd gathered on the floor of Stargate Operations for the launch.

"Very good," Alison replied smiling and inwardly feeling like joining in with the celebrations at the successful launch. With some small effort she kept herself focused on the task at hand – there would be time to break open a bottle of champagne and celebrate the successful launch later. "Power the hyperdrive," Alison ordered. "Set a course for the rendezvous point with the Northern Horizon. Sensors, where are our escorts?"

"Admiral Robyns task force is approaching at maximum safe orbital velocity, ma'am," the young woman at the sensor station replied.

"Governor we're being hailed by the Achilles," communications added. "Admiral Robyns says his ships are preparing to move into escort position around us. He would like to know our status."

"Advise him that we are powering up our hyperdrive and will be ready to get underway as soon as he is," Alison instructed.

"Yes ma'am." After a moment the comm. chirped again. "The Achilles has acknowledged our transmission and request we link our navigational systems to theirs so the whole fleet can depart together."

"Arwen, set up a link with the Achilles navigational computer," Alison ordered which prompted the holographic avatar of the cities A.I to materialise beside her. Like all A.I's Arwen had been permitted to choose the form her avatar appeared in and had chosen an appearance that matched her namesake. She appeared as a classic elfin princess, beautiful and ageless with porcelain doll features, jet black hair and finely pointed ears while being dressed in a long flowing robe of intricate weave and laced through with runic symbols.

"Setting up the link now, Governor," Arwen replied with a smile even as a part of her vast mind negotiated with the main computer on the Achilles and was permitted through its adaptive firewalls and given a link to the dreadnought's navigational control systems. "Link established."

"Excellent," Alison replied turning to look at the main holographic systems display plate at the back of the control room. Currently it showed a sensor grid of the space immediately around the city with light blue chevrons representing the bulk of Admiral Robyns' destroyers and cruisers moving into escort formation around the blue snowflake symbol that represented the city. The larger chevron representing the Achilles moved around the city taking up station ahead of them with a pair of cruisers flanking her in mutual support formation. In practically no time at all the sensor display confirmed that Rivendell was floating in the centre of a defensive sphere of warships with the mighty dreadnought Achilles and her supporting cruisers holding position directly above the cities main spire.

"Governor, I'm monitoring a transmission from orbital control to the Achilles," Arwen reported then the avatar smiled. "We're being given clearance for departure: all civilian traffic has been cleared from our path. We can leave whenever Admiral Robyns gives the order."

"Then its Admiral Robyns call now," Alison replied.

"Technically that would be true, Governor Shepherd," Admiral Robyns voice abruptly said from behind her making Alison jump and spin around. To find herself face to face with a life size, three dimensional holographic projection of the admiral.

"I'm sorry to startle you," Robyns said and Alison smiled back to say it was alright. "But I thought it would be fitting if you were the one to give the order to get underway."

Alison's smile widened, she was deeply touched by the ceremonial significance of Admiral Robyns letting her give the order to get underway. "That's very good of you," she said before straightening up and putting as much of the authority that had been vested in her as she could in her tone as she spoke again.

"The word is given, Admiral," she said. "Take us to the Northern Horizon."

Admiral Robyns straitened to attention. "Aye ma'am," he said formally before looking over at someone else on his flag bridge, someone that Alison naturally couldn't see, and giving a small nod before he turned back to her. He gave one final smile then his hologram rippled with rainbow light and vanished as the holographic transmission from the Achilles was closed down from the dreadnoughts side.

Alison stared at the point where the hologram had been for a moment, before moving forward to the front of the control room to look down at the floor of Stargate Operations. As she walked a faint humming whine began to be heard throughout the city as the great spacecraft's massive hyperdrive system reached full power.

For a few moments the sphere of ships remained stationary in space above Sigma Draconis III, the light of the star playing off both the shields of the cityship and the polished silver-grey hulls of the warships making them glow like angels. Then with a perfect coordination that would have made any profession ballet troop in the universe green with envy they began moving, accelerating out of orbit.

For several seconds the massive group of ships continued driving into open space leaving the planet behind them. There hyperdrives came to full strength and under careful direction from the flagship activated – all the subspace fields meshing together seamlessly before applying tremendous pressure to the very structure of space itself.

For a millisecond the universe resisted the inconceivable pressure but then the quantum folds that separated normal space and subspace parted. A truly gargantuan hyperspace window burst into existence with a silent roar of power, spilling subspace energy into normal space as a brilliant greenish-white light. The fleet and cityship paused for a moment before the monstrous tear in space-time they'd created as if in awe of their accomplishment, before in perfect unison leaping forward and vanishing into the window and hyperspace.

No longer being held open by the combined power of the fleet's hyperdrives the energy vortex of the window folded in upon itself before vanishing returning the state of local space time to normal. Even as it closed its makers were already gone from the Sigma Draconis system – driving through hyperspace towards the distant explorer ship Northern Horizon at speeds millions of times that of light.

The Tau'ri mission to the newly discovered galaxy, and a destiny nobody could possibly have foreseen, had begun.

Codex: Technology: Computers: Flexipad

Flexipads, or Flexi's, are a distant descendent of the computer tablets first developed on Earth in the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries. When inactive a flexi takes the form of a thin sheet of translucent crystalline material approximately six inches square that appears featureless. However when activated by the DNA and neural patterns of its owner or authorised user a flexi creates a fully interactive three dimensional holographic display and keyboard enabling the user/owner to operate the computer with ease.

Codex: Species: Spacefaring Races: Theliax

The Theliax are a reptilian species native to the Andromeda Galaxy. Technologically advanced and highly xenophobic the Theliax came into contact with the Tau'ri when explorers arrived in Andromeda in the mid-twenty third century and began to explore the network of Stargates constructed their by the Ancients. A war soon erupted that lasted for over a decade before the more numerous and much more technologically advanced Tau'ri forces drove the Theliax back to their home system and forced the Theliax to surrender.

In the aftermath a campaign began – that continues to this day – to rid the Theliax of their xenophobia with the hope of one day making them productive members of the interstellar and intergalactic community.

~~~/~~~

Authors Notes: Well here's the first part of the new version of this story done. There aren't many changes from the original beyond some new terminology here and there and the removal of references to a dark matter galaxy – which I admit now didn't work as well as I'd thought it would – instead replacing it with a new and unknown galaxy in the local group.

As seen above I will be periodically adding some codex entries to this story – and its spin-off when the time comes and if the muse cooperates – just to fill in some of the details of Tau'ri technology and the history that has taken place over the centuries that have passed since we last saw them.

Now with Christmas only four days away I doubt I will be able to get any further updates done as I have far too much still to do to get ready for it to have much time for writing. So I will just take this moment to say you've all been great readers this year and to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.