Chapter 12

Athosian Trade World

Merchants from across the Pegasus galaxy descended on the newly founded Athosian establishment. Knowledge of the enormous number of goods available was quickly spreading to every world. Each gate activation brought another vendor or buyer. This greatly pleased the Athosian's, as they were privy to one percent of each sale as owners of the marketplace.

By midday, throngs of people packed every stall eager to barter for goods needed on their world. A constant stream of trade goods flowed towards the star gate with each successful purchase. Business was good. So concentrated on the deals to be had was everyone that a group of forty individuals with heavy bags over their soldiers drew scant attention. These individuals slowly mulled through the crowd until they vanished in the ocean of people.

These forty men and women were elite soldiers of the Genii. Working their way into the wood line, they began unpacking the heavy sacks that hung over their soldiers. Each member removed from his or her bags automatic weapons, pistols, grenade belts, and copious amounts of ammunition. In silence, they donned their gear for the strike to come. They were under orders to unless a tide of aggression the likes of which these people had never seen. Ten soldiers detached from the others to cover the approach to the Stargate so that no one would escape. The remaining thirty moved through the thick forest to position themselves at the rear of the market avenue. A simple click of the radio send button was the signal to begin.

Without any warning automatic weapons fire erupted into the crowd. Men and women fell with abandon. Screams and shrieks of agony were all that could be heard over the constant clatter of automatic weapons fire. In a panic to get away from the carnage, the crowd ran towards the Stargate several hundred yards distant. Dozens were trampled to death in the ensuing frenzy to escape. Running towards the gate to escape was within grasp. At that moment, the ten soldiers guarding the gate fired from their concealed positions. Grenades arced through the air tossing bodies in the air when they detonated. For five horrible minutes, this scene continued to play out. Knowing it was only a matter of time until another merchant arrived and discovered them the Genii dialed the gate and left. They would travel through fifteen gates to conceal their destination. Their mission accomplished the soldiers stepped into the event horizon and vanished.

Athena

Dr. Bill Lee was busy analyzing the damaged drone mother ship in the hanger bay. After a brief conversation with Rush and Eli he felt he knew enough to proceed. This ship still had power; it had simply shut down when its transmitters were vaporized by the Asgard beam strike. Finally finding an access port, he began to copy the mother sh.i.p.s operating software. Perhaps some clue could be found in the coding to shut these weapons down for good. Running off to grab lunch Dr. Lee left his laptop connected to finish the download.

When he returned, he expected a new and exciting computer language to decipher. What he got made the scientists audibly suck in a quick breathe. Lee radioed the bridge of Athena and requested Rodney McKay's immediate company in the hanger. With a bright flash of light, McKay appeared two minutes later.

"Lee, you're standing in the way of a massive breakthrough." whined McKay.

"Rodney, if anyone else had experience with the type of tech I think this is I would have called them." conceded Lee.

Looking at the computer code Lee had displayed on his laptop McKay instantly found the mistake. "You opened a file with Goa'uld code language instead of the file you saved this tin cans data in." pronounced Rodney.

"Therein lays the problem. I do not have any Goa'uld files on this laptop. This is what downloaded from the mother ship." responded Lee.

Staring at the computer code downloaded they drew amazing parallels with early known examples of Goa'uld code. It was uncanny how similar they were. Admittedly, they did have minor differences but were too similar to be a coincidence. The question was how it ended up billions of light-years outside the Milky Way when the System Lords were not known to possess intergalactic hyper drives capable of travel this far.

Destiny

Repairs would be complete in a matter of hours. After inspecting several science labs recently discovered Colonel Young was heading towards the mess for lunch. Everywhere he looked once grim faces were now filled of optimism and excitement. Turning the corner Young was greeted by a well dressed man with eyes of the deepest blue. Thinking he must be from Athena, he smiled at the man and kept walking.

"Colonel Young, I need a few moments of your time." said the man.

Stopping and turning around the Colonel answered "How can I help you?"

"Colonel, I wish to tell you the people of Novus are safe and in our care."

"I don't understand. Our Care?" asked Young.

"Yes Everett, we have given them shelter from the threat coming towards you even now." answered the well dressed man.

"If this is a joke I really don't have time for this right now. Ok, how about you start with basics; who are this 'we' you mentioned?" demanded Young.

With a smile and a slight bow, the man looked into Young's eyes and responded, "Forgive me Colonel. We are the Furling."

Atlantis

Lorne's team was prepped for their daily security check of the Athosian trade world. No one expected any trouble but were armed per Atlantis standard operating procedure for off world travel. Gate room personnel wished them a safe trip and the team stepped into the event horizon.

Exiting the gate on the trade world the team instantly saw the carnage twenty yards from the gate. Blood and bodies were everywhere. This was not an attack but a massacre.

"Sergeant Banister dial Atlantis and request reinforcements now!" yelled Lorne.

Spreading out, the team began its search for whoever had carried out this attack. Evidence of the bloodied ground was littered with shell casings from automatic weapons fire. Clear evidence of explosions was seen on the ground also. It looked like grenades had gone off. The people strewn on the ground were beyond anything modern medicine could do for them. Their faces locked in terrified expressions that they wore when their hearts took their last beat.

Lorne was normally a very even-tempered man. This horrific act enraged him. This was terrorism on a peaceful people. Picking up several of the shell casing, he examined them. The markings on the bottom were Genii.