I sat in the copilot's seat within Ma'chello's custom Tel'tak. I had been staring out the window into the swirling seablue of Hyperspace for the entire day and a half long trip. The strange dimension absolutely fascinated me.
Was this hyperspace the same hyperspace that was used by Jumpdrives and the HPG system? I vaguely remember reading on a forum somewhere the Battletech Hyperspace being inhabited by giant squids, so probably not, but did that mean there were multiple parallel dimensions? I had no idea.
Ma'chello who had been watching his display for several minutes finally spoke.
"Exiting Hyperspace in 3… 2… 1."
We emerged into orbit of a rocky moon. I heard the sound of the cloak coming online. Furrowing my brows, I asked Ma'chello about the sound.
"Do you know what produces that noise?"
He responded absentmindedly.
"Ahhh? No idea. I hadn't really thought about it. I'll have to check. It's likely to be some sort of resonance with the ship's internal structure."
Ma'chello started accelerating and quickly the world of Dendred – which had been hidden behind what I now recognized as a moon – came into view. I could just barely make out two continents (three if you counted one particularly large island) and a multitude of islands that were barely visible from this distance.
I briefly turned to Ma'chello to find him staring longingly at the pale ball of blue and green held before us. A moment later, he turned his attention back to the console.
"We'll be landing in ten minutes."
We watched on in silence as the world approached. The ship had apparently decelerated, so there was none of the effects I was expecting for reentry. As we passed through a cloud layer, we found ourselves above a mountain range. The ship floated there for a moment, seemingly waiting.
Ma'chello pressed a button and spoke in his native tongue.
A moment later, what I assumed to be the comms system came to life. Once more, someone spoke in the same language.
Ma'chello quickly replied and the ship moved towards a rather large mountain in the distance. As we approached, a portion of the mountain near its base opened up. The ship approached the now open doorway. The inside of the mountain – what I now recognized as a hangar – held two other Tel'tak, as well as three other ships. Two of those other ships were long and angular, clearly not produced by the Goa'uld.
The final ship was… odd. It was worn, with a dull metallic hull that looked like it had survived more than a few battles. The forward section featured a wide, rounded canopy reflecting the dim lights of the hangar. It felt oddly familiar — though I couldn't for the life of me say why.
He turned to me.
"Here we are."
I nodded. Ma'chello stood up and exited the ship. I waited for a moment while he talked to the people in the hangar.
"Alright, you can come out."
I did so, behind me was Lior, Elder Elias, Yren, and six of the village's former hunters who all looked around at the massive internal cavern in awe.
Ma'chello had been talking to a man who appeared about thirty years of age, who led a group of a dozen others. They're uniform consisted of a thick leather jacket on top of an undershirt made from a cotton-adjacent woven fabric, all of it dyed in browns and dark greens.
The man in the lead spoke first.
"I am Kaden Varris, commander of this facility. We will be escorting you to the medical hall for testing."
I nodded, none of us offered any argument. We had been informed beforehand of the security measures put in place by the resistance and had already agreed.
The group of men surrounded us and we walked behind the commander down several long hallways before we found ourselves in a grey room filled with metal frame beds. Waiting for us there was a woman, who I presumed was a doctor, wearing a similar uniform as the guards except for having her underclothes undyed.
All of us – including Ma'chello – were directed to take a seat on a medical bed where we waited as several nurses walked around the room drawing blood from all of us and throwing it into a machine for testing.
Eventually, the doctor walked over to the commander. They spoke to each other for a moment before nodding. The commander walked over to Elder Elias and myself.
"You two are cleared. The resistance leaders are ready to speak with you."
We both stood up and followed the man down several hallways into a conference room of some sort. Waiting for us inside were three people. Elder Elias and I sat down across from them, while Ma'chello took the seat at the head of the table. He began the meeting immediately.
"Everyone this is Elias Raines, formerly of the SLDF, currently an Elder of the Village of Veyna's Rest. He is here to provide training on the weapons systems that his people are providing us. With him is Arthur–"
One of the people at the table – a man about Elder Elias' age – interrupted Ma'chello.
"He's a kid." he said, gesturing towards me with incredulity written on his face.
Elder Elias nodded.
"Aye, and I guarantee he could defeat anyone you put him up against."
The man was about to respond, but Ma'chello cut him off.
"I understand your reservations. Arthur was the one who made contact with me and I have seen him in some of their training exercises."
The man and Ma'chello looked at each other, before the man eventually sighed.
Ma'chello continued.
"Elias, Arthur. This is Ariston Pyrros, he is the leader of the resistance on our southern continent. To his left is Elpir Stavrou, she is the leader of the resistance on our Northern Continent. Then we have Eudora Cassia; she is the leader of resistance special operations. Finally, you've already met Kaden Varris. He is the one responsible for the safety and security of everyone on this base."
Ma'chello turns to the other resistance leaders.
"I have an agreement with Elias' people to provide us with weapons. In exchange, in two months' time, we will begin a joint assault on Eris' base here on Dendred, before we use the Stargate as a platform for an assault on Ares' City on Mycena before we take on Enyalius and Phobos."
The resistance leaders fell silent at his words. It was at least a full 10 seconds before they seemed to have understood his words.
"How are we dealing with Ares' aerial superiority?"
Eudora asked, a look of contemplation on her face.
"Our friends here have a way to override all Goa'uld aerial assets."
Ma'chello replied, a look of pure joy on his face.
Eudora narrowed her eyes.
"What's the catch?"
The look of joy somehow intensified.
"We need to capture Eris."
Eudora's face hardened. She tapped her fingers against the table. After 30 seconds of silence, Elpir burst into laughter,
"Alright then. Even if we die, it's better than waiting in these damn mountains for Ares to decide he's bored and get off his ass."
Ma'chello bursts into laughter.
"Well said! Indeed."
He takes a minute to gather himself before continuing.
"The tentative plan is to begin an assault on the Sanctum – that is what the Jaffa call the facility which was constructed to house the Stargate – from without–"
I interrupted Ma'chello quickly.
"I was under the impression that Ra had claimed all of the Stargates. Why would Ares put such a facility around a Stargate?"
Ma'chello nods at me.
"Good; you were listening. That is the case for world's that are public knowledge among the System Lord's, but if the other's don't know of a world's existence, then they can't exactly punish him for it."
I let that settle for a moment.
"So the other System Lord's do not know of Dendred?"
Ma'chello nodded.
"And Ares prefers to keep it that way. Ra does not permit industrialized societies to exist in any measure; all System Lords are required to destroy such civilizations the moment they are discovered. The instant the rest of the System Lords learn of us is the moment we lose what little freedom we do have."
I nodded in understanding and gestured for Ma'chello to continue.
"Our people will assault the Sanctum from outside while Elias's people dial their gate and begin an assault from the Stargate."
Eudora sat back in her chair.
"Capturing Eris is going to have to be the very first objective of the Assault. That simply is not feasible. She is very well guarded and I highly doubt she'd let anyone get to her."
Ma'chello nods.
"Our friends here will be using the Ashrak Cloaking devices we recovered a few years back. As soon as they have grounded Eris' forces, the rest of the assault will begin."
Everyone at the table furrows their brows. Ariston is the first to ask the question obviously on everyone's mind.
"How is it that they're capable of activating Goa'uld technology?"
Elder Elias answered for me.
"It is likely some sort of genetic anomaly. We have several dozen people capable of activating Goa'uld technology in our camp, and most of them are related."
Unsatisfied, but unwilling to look a gift horse in the mouth, the resistance leaders move on. Eudora lays back and nods.
"Seems to me like we really have a chance, huh."
Ma'chello nods. Once more, a moment of silence passes over the table before everyone is dragged into discussing the minutiae of the next two months.
The meeting continued for almost 12 hours as we discussed – in excessive depth – the nature of our alliance. Much of the information had already been discussed with Ma'chello beforehand, but the addition of the other resistance leaders increased the complexity of the agreement.
As we approached the end of the meeting, Ma'chello brought up another topic, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Now, are your people familiar with a civilization by the name of Οι Ηνωμένες Αποικίες του Κομπόλ?"
Elder Elias raised an eyebrow.
"No, I don't believe I have."
Ma'chello frowned.
"Are you sure? The name should translate as something similar to 'The United Colonies of Kobol.'"
I froze at the name. Freaking Battlestar Galactica? Am I in a crossover… yes… yes I am. Why not add another one. Wait a second… that third ship in the hangar was a Colonial raptor! No wonder it looked so familiar.
Everyone at the table immediately caught my hesitation.
I spoke to Elder Elias – in German.
"The nation they are asking about appeared in another show. Also, do you remember that third ship in the hangar – the smallest one – that was a ship from the Colonies."
Elder Elias stared at me blankly before letting out a deep sigh.
"Go ahead and tell them what you know."
I turned back to the other resistance leaders at the table.
"As far as we are aware, the Twelve Colonies are… well, fictional. We do not have any proof of their existence. That being said, they apparently created sentient machines which they called Cylons. The Cylons rose up for their freedom and fought a ten year war before signing an armistice."
I was hesitant to say any more than that, since I had no idea where they would be in the timeline. If they actually exist in this universe, then let's hope they haven't wiped themselves out yet. I continued.
"May I ask where you heard of them?"
Ma'chello turned to Eudora once more. The two looked at each other for a moment before Ma'chello began speaking.
"Several decades ago – this was a few years after the beginning of Ares' occupation – a ship appeared at the edge of our system. Their ship experienced an issue with their Faster-Than-Light drive. The few survivors landed on our world and have been instrumental members of the resistance for the past thirty years."
I raised an eyebrow, while Elder Elias spoke.
"So why haven't you asked the colonies for aid?"
Eudora was the one to reply.
"We have no idea where the Colonies are. We've been searching for their home system for years, but it isn't within a thousand light years of us."
Elder Elias chuckled lightly.
"Well, I'm afraid we're not going to be much help either. We have not had any contact with these colonies."
Ma'chello sighed.
"So it is truly just us then?"
Elder Elias nodded lightly.
Ma'chello continued.
"Well, I believe that is everything. I'll have someone show you to your barracks."
"Thank you. When will we begin training your men?"
Ma'chello turned to Eudora; she thought for a moment.
"I can have my men ready in five hours."
"Then we'll start then."
Elder Elias and I exited the room, following behind a resistance member that we were shown to follow. It was time for some training.