Fic: Chase the Morning {29/37}
Chapter Four: Updates
Date: October 14, 7 A.I. [2007]
Location: Denver Sanctuary, Denver, Colorado
The air shimmered and flashed gold for an instant, and then resolved into two figures, one with a hand on the shoulder of the other. The two new arrivals to the Denver Sanctuary quickly hurried over to one of the hidden entrances in the fortified wall surrounding the Sanctuary. One of them, a stocky woman with jet black hair, pressed her hand against a certain brick, and then waited. After a few seconds, a quiet beep was heard, and a small section of the ground slid away, revealing a round hole that led deep underground. Once the two had entered the passageway, the concealing door slid shut, leaving no indication that anything had happened.
Nikola climbed down after his guide, feeling an odd sense of déjà vu, and he knew why. The teleportation had reminded him of John Druitt, though John had a certain flair to his travel that Nikola had never encountered before or since. Unfortunately, John had disappeared early in the invasion, teleporting onto one of the Wraith Hive Ships with a bomb and detonating it, disintegrating the Hive Ship almost entirely. He hadn’t been seen after, and Nikola could only assume that he was dead, leaving only the half-vampire as the sole member of the original Five. Even though Nikola and John had been mildly antagonistic towards one another even while they were a part of the Five, Nikola had always respected John, though there had been some major strife between them during the period that John had gone insane and torn through Whitechapel as Jack the Ripper, and now missed bantering with him greatly.
When Nikola and his guide, Sarah Northman, reached the bottom of the vertical shaft they made their way briskly down the concrete tunnel that ran underneath the lawns of the Denver Sanctuary. Adele was waiting for them in the small library on the second floor of the Sanctuary, accompanied by Will, Henry, and Peter, who had returned from Atlantis the previous day.
‘Welcome to Denver, Doctor Tesla.’ Adele said, giving Nikola a bright smile.
‘We’ve been over this, Adele. Please call me Nikola. Besides, we’ve known each other for how long?’ Nikola replied, shaking his head in amusement. ‘Will, Henry, it’s good to see you again. You as well, Doctor Kavanagh.’
‘Please, call me Peter.’ Peter said, extending a hand for Nikola to shake. Nikola shook it briskly and then stepped back.
‘Well, now that we’re all here, we can get to business.’ He said. ‘Now, you said that you had some news about Project Phoenix?’
‘Yeah, we did.’ Henry said, nodding. ‘The SGC and Atlantis have finally decided to share what it is, exactly, that they’re doing off-world.’
‘Really? That’s fantastic.’ Nikola grinned. ‘So, what’s it all about?’
‘Over the past seven years, the SGC has been trading for technologies from their off-world allies. Among other things, they’ve collected a rather impressive amount of ships confiscated from various enemies, including the Goa’uld.’ Peter said, leaning against the bookcase behind him. ‘Yeah, they still exist, though their numbers have been reduced thanks in part to in-fighting and in part to the SGC. We’ve managed to reverse-engineer some of their technology, as well as that of a few of our allies. Put that all together with the Ancient tech from Atlantis, and they’ve managed to complete the project.’
‘And the final result?’
‘Three battleships. The Odyssey, the Daedalus, and the Apollo.’ Will said. ‘They’re the culmination of seven years of research and building. If we play our cards right, we might actually have a chance to win this war.’
‘Good.’ Nikola sighed, running a hand through his hair. ‘How soon will we be able to move on the Wraith?’
‘General Hammond and Doctor Weir are due to arrive here any minute,’ Adele said. ‘They want to meet with us to speak about the next phase of the plan.’
Nikola nodded. ‘Very well. Let’s get everything set up for the meeting, then.’
End Part Two