Vakai stood there in front of his chair as he watched the shuttle craft leave the port hangar bay of the Hercules and made its way towards the Centaur. Most of the team were on their way back to the ship since the crisis on board the other vessel had been taken care of. The surviving four Wraith, as they were called, are in separate holding cells and guarded. His First Officer, James Ryker, decided to remain on board the strange vessel to continue to speak with its Commanding Officer, Colonel Harry Ryker, who Vakai just found out, happens to be a perfect resemblance of James’ ancestor.

Those who are on the shuttle craft are the four ensigns, Chief of Security Koyda, Hazard Commander Maya and of course, Sivol. Who will be going to Sickbay, along with one of the Ensigns, for a final check up before they are sent to their quarters to rest. The one other officer who remained is Ashley Gomez, who’s curiosity had grown the best of her and wanted to remain on board to assist with the repairs.

From Vakai’s understanding in the damage that the Hercules has sustained, is that her shields system are offline, along with her sublight engines, beam transporters, weapons and lastly their sensors. Gomez believes that the sensors are just being affected by the nebula but there was some indications of damage. Some of this were caused by weapons fire, others by crossing through the subspace rift. Gomez made it perfectly clear that they need to get the shields back online before they cross back over to their side of the rift, or they could suffer further damage and if there are hostile vessels on their side of the rift, they would be put in grave danger. And James Ryker was not at all too thrilled on letting them return to their universe without at least getting their shields and weapons back online.

Not like Vakai would refuse to assist another space vessel in need, but he has begun to grow concerned in regards to the storm affecting the colony that is close by. The very colony in which their Captain, Captain Carter, is temporarily in command of a vessel while in charge of the evacuation of said colony. And from the frowning brow on Lieutenant Bazial’s face, he can only assume that the sensors were showing uncomfortable readings on her display. “Got something Lieutenant?” Vakai decided to get the bad news done and over with.

The trill turned in her chair so that she could look directly at him. “Our readings are indicating that the storm is getting worse. Most likely from the effects of the subspace rift behind the other vessel. If we don’t close it soon, we could be looking at severe lightning strikes.”

Vakai sighed. “Of course.”

James stood there on the bridge of the Hercules while he stared out at the Centaur from the forward view port. But he did not stare at it for too long, as his eyes were attracted to all the instruments around him, his curiosity peaked once again. He simply just could not help himself. He was like a child in a candy shop. “What does this do?” He asked as he started to reach for a button, only to get a smack on the back of his hand by one of the officers.

“That would activate the point defense system, our rail guns. Fortunately, if you had pressed it, they probably would not even work since our weapon control system is down.” Said Harry.

James chuckled. “Not sure why I even did that. But this is a bit nostalgic for me.”

Harry raised his brows. “You had ships like this?”

James turned to face Harry and shrugged his shoulders. “Well to be fair, no not really, at least nothing like this. We do have a few very old vessels in the museum that our ancestors used back before the United Federation of Planets was chartered. I’ve visited them all whenever I had the chance and just seeing all these push buttons reminded me of them.”

Harry smirked. “Well we are working on touch screens, as our ships are so advanced as they are, no one is truly safe from an EMP attack. If we tried to make all of this analogue, it wouldn’t be too fun.”

“I’ve been curious. What made you join the Air Force instead of the Navy?” James asked.

“What makes you think I had my eyes on the Navy?” Harry asked.

James shrugged his shoulders again. “Not that I am trying to compare you to my ancestor, just really curious. Have you ever thought about joining the Navy?”

Harry smiled. “I did when I was a kid. Heck for a while that was something that I had planned on doing even when I went through High School. But for some reason, my father and mother encouraged me to join the Air Force instead. They told me that I would have a much different experience than I would in the Navy. So I went through college, joined the Academy and became a Second Lieutenant. Not even a day goes by when my mother and father, oh I forgot to mention they were in the Air Force too, took me straight to Stargate Command. Well first I had to sign quite a bit of paperwork along the way but the second I was done, they did not hesitate to show me my future.”

James nodded his head. “I think my grandfather told me that, and this was passed down of course, when he showed me the pictures of our family, the Harry Ryker in my family had chosen to join the Navy. Probably for the same reasons you had in the beginning. But considering that we didn’t have anything like a ‘Stargate Program’ or whatever it was, I doubt his parents did anything to stop him. In fact, my grandfather said that Harry’s parents encouraged him to go where his heart wanted to go.”

Harry laughed. “To be fair, that is exactly what my parents told me to do, except they were incredibly persistent that I joined the Air Force. For a while my heart leaned towards the Navy but once I got a peak at the Stargate in Stargate Command, my heart began leaning towards it. I knew my parents knew what was best for me, so I never doubted them and to be frank, I am glad that they did.”

James smirked. “Strange how such differences in our universes would influence people in different ways.”

Harry nodded as he folded his arms against his chest. “I still think back on what it would be like to be in the Navy but to be honest, I don’t think I would ever switch branches. I prefer where I am right now.”

James laughed. “I don’t blame you. This is a beautiful ship, regardless how old it looks-”

“Watch yourself.”

James grinned. “But it certainly is up to date on certain technologies. I mean you got shields, beam weapons, energy drones that I could compare to being photon torpedoes in our case and transporters. Of course sensors, communications, stuff like that. But the one thing that separates us apart, is your way of traveling faster than light.”

Harry sighed with a nod. “Unfortunately it doesn’t work here. The hyperdrive anyway.”

James raised a brow. “Why not?”

Harry shook his head. “I don’t know, you would have to ask the egg heads behind it. Major Maddison told me that it has something to do with this universe. It doesn’t make sense to me, to be honest, but I already asked Captain Marks to plot a course and for Lieutenant Hayes to open a Hyer window but upon doing so, the window was completely unstable. Our safety protocols engaged and stopped us from completing the window as well as shut the hyperdrive down. If we had engaged our hyperdrive engines and flown into that window, as unstable as it were, we would have been torn apart. For some reason, this universe is just not allowing us to do it.”

“Huh. Maybe it just needs some adjustments.” Said James.

Harry nodded. “That’s what Maddison said too but she said it could take her weeks, maybe months, to figure out the proper adjustments needed in order to make sure it is stable and safe.”

James gave a single nod. “Ah. Suppose then that would make me wonder if our roles were reversed, would we be able to create a stable warp field around our ship. Oh well.” He shrugged at that.

“Well it’s going to be a bit before we get all our systems back online. I feel like talking to one of them Wraith’s in our holding cells. The one with more brains than brawn.” Said Harry.

James rose a brow. “You really think they are willing to talk?”

Harry smirked. “They don’t have much of a choice right now. Once we go back to our universe and report to Command, we will likely end up either heading straight for the Pegasus Galaxy to meet up with one of the Wraith Hives that we are friends with and hand them over. Or transfer them over to another ship to do that job for us. OR return them to their Hive in a gesture of good will. Just never know what Command will decide. Come on, I’m really curious to see if I can find out what kind of excuse they have for continued hostilities towards us.” Harry gestured to James to follow as he led the way.

It took only a matter of moments but they were now standing there face to face with one of the more agile, mask less, Wraiths. Of course behind a generated force field in the doorway of the cell to keep the Wraith from leaving. With his arms folded against his chest once more, Harry stared into the eyes of his enemy for what seemed like several moments until finally…someone blinked. “Is anyone going to say anything?” Of course it was James that was the one that blinked.

Harry glanced at him for a moment before he looked back at the Wraith. “Look. I know the whole spiel and nonsense that your kind spews whenever we capture you so let’s cut the crap and get to the point. Why is your Hive so insistent on sticking with the old ways?”

The Wraith stood there in silence for a solid minute before he decided to speak. “You would not understand.”

Harry sighed and started to rub the bridge of his brow. “Here we go. I told you to cut the crap…I’m just going to call you Bob, is that okay, Bob? Okay, Bob. What is it you think I would not understand? Just explain it.”

“We must remain who we are if we are to survive.” Said the Wraith.

Harry shook his head. “I guess Bob’s right. I don’t understand. Because your Hive was there when our people laid down the legitimate proof that your kind can survive without feeding on people. We made that discovery…for your people…so that your people no longer need to survive but to live…to live life to the fullest. Is that not good enough for you?”

“All the other Hives know nothing of what we know. They know nothing of the horrors that still awaits us. We must remain who we are if we are to survive against a foe that has nearly wiped our species out.” Said the Wraith (Bob).

James raised his brows and looked at Harry, who too looked at James with his brows raised. They were definitely getting somewhere. Harry looked back at Bob and licked his lips. “So you’re telling me that there is a race out there, that we have yet to encounter, that has nearly wiped your kind out?”

Bob nodded his head. “We call them the Remnants.”

Harry shook his head. “Lovely. A name that your kind has chosen but most likely not what they are actually called.”

“We don’t know the name of their species, just what we know of them. They are incredibly powerful.” Said Bob.

Harry nodded his head. “I know. That’s what I just said. All right, Bob. I’m going to get back to you on this subject. Because I assure you, if we all unite together as allies, we can do anything. But your Hive resisting and causing so much trouble is making everything that much more difficult. So I’ll see you soon, Bob.” Harry then gestured to James to follow as he began to walk away, the guard closing the door afterwards.

“At least you’re getting somewhere…right?” James asked.

“Yeah but I swear to god…we are always finding out that there are some other…more powerful species out there. Like if it weren’t for the Asgard and their weapons and upgrades, we would have lost the war with the Ori. Well. Maybe. SG One had a lot to do with stopping them. But the fact remains is, we really stood no chance against the Ori. And now we got some other unknown, powerful race to deal with? This is going to make heads spin back at Command.” Harry explained.

James laughed. “Tell me about it.”