DUAL WORLDS
Through the Horizon

Chapter 1: First Gate on the Left, Straight on til Morning


Northern Dancer, her cloak concealing her presence from even the most sophisticated of sensors, was orbiting the designated world quietly. Quietly apart from the clicking and flashing of lights as her autopilot analysed her continued status, potential threats and keeping a constant vigilance in general.

The planet itself hung in space like a green emerald alight with an inner fire. She looked charming enough, patches of ocean intersected by high mountain ranges and large irregular shaped continents smeared with a dark shade of green. The nightside would have appeared invisible from the background had it not been for the iridescent blue glow of the atmosphere.

In fact M13A-TWA looked positively inviting. Those that set down on her surface were lulled by her beauty and tranquillity into a false sense of security. Of the people that had survived such landings, the world now had a reputation that kept most but the truly desperate and the occasional intrepid and incurable explorer from setting foot on her surface. For M13A-TWA held a secret…a dark secret at the heart of the web of her ancient past.

At the moment there were in fact some ‘explorer’s on her surface. It was difficult to tell if they were intrepid or not…judging from the grumbling coming from some of them, at least some members of the team didn’t consider this the best idea of the year.

Nameless voices drifted through the woods that covered most of surface below a certain altitude. They were moving much more rapidly than they should, allowing for their human origin.

The two narrowly missed a tree trunk, weaving in and out among the trees of the ancient forest just above the shrubs that covered the ground.

“Wahoooo!!!”

“Yeeehaaaaw!!!”

The wind rushed by as the two continued their high speed ride, fuelled by a giddiness that they rarely got to show when under formal command – though this didn’t stop them from trying.

A new voice crackled over the com-link.

“Unit 1, Unit 7 Get your sorry assess BACK to base camp, NOW!!!!” It snapped.

“Ooops, looks like we’ve been busted brother old buddy.”

“Yeah, didn’t you say you turned off the tracking signal on these things before we left?”

“SHUT UP you pair of louts! Have you forgotten why we’re here? Now get back to work. Assuming the Mini-MALP is still in one piece, put it in the glade we scouted earlier and return to base camp. And NO funny business this time.” The authoritarian voice sounded exasperated.

“Aww…don’t get your knickers in a twist will ya! We’re right on it.”

The two brothers grinned at each other. They did indeed remember what they were doing on this world, and a number of other worlds, moons, strange sections of space and other places of ‘interest’ for that matter.

Some time ago, someone had broached the subject that their parents worked way too much and too hard – resulting in several other voices sounding exactly the same opinion about their  parents. In the end, a bit of a scheme had started to form. The parents would, whether they wanted to or not, take a little vacation.

Of course to achieve this, considering who the parents were that were involved, they needed to bring in some collaborates – mostly in the form of old ‘friends of the family’. As a result, all their respective parents were now ‘stuck’ on a pleasant planet, lots of sun, waves and breeze while their main collaborator watched over them from a ship in orbit.

To further ‘help out’, though it was half ‘help out’ and half ‘chance to have some fun’, the kids had agreed among themselves to do some of the work that their parents had gotten in over their heads with lately and especially that which kept them away from home for substantial amounts of time.

So currently they were gallivanting around the galaxies, though admittedly there were only two of them, getting work done and trying  not to draw too much attention to themselves. For this they had ‘liberated’ one of the Space Force’s ships, the recently ‘re-designed’ Northern Dancer – a curious but effective blend of technologies.

And just in case, they had added to her old (pre-refurbishing) compliment of two shuttles and a light somewhat outdated model of fighter, three of their own ships. Two of those were of the same model, a newly developed fighter, which had, in the case of these two specific examples, come under the gentle attention of the combined efforts of the kids. As a result they had already gotten several ‘upgrades’ from their more common brethren. There was also present a somewhat a larger fighter craft, of a more, shall we say, unique variety.

So now, the ‘kids’ were all trundling along happily on the surface of the planet, far below the watchful eye of the Northern Dancer. Or not so happy in certain cases.

Having placed the Mini-MALP early in the morning, two of the team were now on their way to check up on it, to make sure it was operating effectively and safely before nightfall would make them retreat into the safety of their base camp – set up in a much smaller glade and largely overshadowed by heavy tree crowns.

As a result, it was late afternoon that two people were making their way through the underbrush of the forest, one of them clearly not to keen on being there.

“Why did I have to come? I don’t even know anything about MALPs,” the female complained, pausing only to push an errant strain of hair out of her face for the n:th time and seriously wishing she’d worn it up today.

“Then this would be a good opportunity to learn some,” the male voice responded. “I didn’t go through the trouble of placing it here so that it could malfunction. So quit whining.”

His companion slowed down and drew to a halt. He turned around to urge her to get a move one, to stop being such a slowpoke, but the air of attention around her made him stash those words for another time.

She kept almost perfectly still, only her head looking about, as if trying to phantom the existence of some invisible beast or perhaps hearing something that no one else did.

“What is it?”

“Something’s coming,” she answered, her head tilted at an angle that in other circumstances could have been called cute.

They were just at the edge of the glade, still hidden among the thick canopy of trees, trunks and bushes. Their Mini-MALP was in clear sight, trundling along happily, if such a machine was capable of such feelings, just doing its job, perhaps avoiding the occasional rock.

It happened right before their eyes. The MM bleeped, one moment a happy little machine the next, a flat sheet of metal compressed into the grass as if stepped on by an invisible giant.

Their jaws dropped. They stared, unable to speak. Then the moment of shock was over and the world around them began moving again.

“We better contact the others, let them know something just arrived here.” He turned around addressing his companion finding that she was no longer there. “Blast it!”

Face set in grim determination – not only of finding out what exactly had just happened, but if a suitable situation arose from the encounter to exact revenge for their crushed Mini-MALP, she was already striding across the grass of the glade.

“Damnit!!” He let out a string of oaths to accompany the first rather innocent one. “Get BACK here…we don’t know if it’s safe.”

Realizing his shout was falling on deaf ears, the young man decided he had no choice but to catch up with her, before something worse happened.


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The Malp incident was the result of some other unexpected events mere minutes previously. It had been meant as an uneventful trip. Simply take the experimental ship out for a ride to check if all the upgrades worked, fly it around a bit, take it through the Stargate once or twice, then bring it home and report on the success of the upgrades. Of course, considering who was involved in the test, there may have been a few ulterior motives at work but on the whole the plan was simple. It should have been easy. It should have been a walk in the park…but the experience of those inside the ship was certainly not indicative of an easy ride.

“Hold on!!” The pilot yelled. “We got turbulence!”

“Turbulence?” One of the passengers called out. “This is not turbulence!”

People were getting tossed around in the ship as if they were but peas in a maraca. Several of them had tried to tie themselves down to no avail and there weren’t enough seats for everyone. Instead whoever did manage to find sturdy footing was trying to grab others and hold them tight.

“It’s the energy fluctuations…” A third voice rose up. “It’s like storm winds – we can’t do anything about it!”

The pilot growled in frustration.

“Just hang tight people – we’ll ride it out…”

“Great!” Yet another voice grumbled. “I just hope the Hopper is in one piece when we’re done!”

The pilot ignored the grouching, setting her face into an expression of grim determination as she wrestled with the ship against the tidal forces of the energy stream they had gotten caught in.

When the ship lurched violently then suddenly went still, the air inside the ship went stiller yet. Everyone looked at everyone else. Then they looked at the pilot. The pilot looked to her co-pilot. They both then turned to look at the engineer. The engineer, glancing up from her computer screen, blinked.

“What?”

“Well? What happened?”

“Erm…we’re out. We’re done. This should be the end of it.”

The pilot shot the engineer a look over her shoulder.

“Okay then…finding a spot to set down…”

The tall commanding figure that had been protecting another with his own body during the flight spoke, his voice quiet in its authority.

“Wait…I want two of you to scout the area as soon as we set down. We need to know how long the repairs are going to take, yes, but we must be sure that it is safe enough outside for us to be here any length of time.”

“I’ll go.” The pilot volunteered. “I’m no use with the fixing, just the flying.”

“And I.” A second voice offered. “Between us we can be sure of finding any possible threat to us.”

“Good. Get your gear ready.”

The ship set down, a faint scraping sound echoing through the hull at one point that everyone assumed was brush or branches catching at the vessel. Once the ship had been landed, the two volunteers kitted up with vest, belts, and weapons and made sure they had spares for ammunition and medical supplies.

“One hour.” The leader looked at each of them sternly.

“Copy that.” The pilot, dressed appropriately in black cargo pants, tee-shirt and jacket, shouldered her weaponry and slipped from the rear hatch. The second volunteer, also female, caught the eye of one of the men.

“I’ll keep an eye on her.” She smiled, catching her long dark hair up at the back of her head. “We’ll be fine.”

She too slipped from the rear hatch. Glancing to check on their progress, the leader nodded slightly as the two women disappeared from view almost immediately after leaving the ship. His second looked over.

“They using cloaks?”

“Yes.” Turning back, his dark eyes surveying his team, the man in charge sighed. “Right…let’s get this ship back up to operational performance…”

“I’ll need to let the cloak go…can’t afford the power drain whilst running the diagnostic.” The engineer looked up from her position on the floor. “Sorry…”

“Do whatever you have to.”

Approximately two minutes later, two figures appeared from thin air – one crouched to the ground, long hair tied back into a rough bun, whilst the other watched the area around them, poised and holding a weapon ready. They seemed to exchange comments briefly, one indicating the ground, before the standing figure spun to stare at the two people coming towards them.

“Hey there!” They called, waving a hand, just as the ship wavered into view behind them.

“You're the pilot of this rust-bucket?” Her mouth a thin accusatory line, Aeyla threw out an arm indicating the ship. “You squashed our mini-MALP!!”

Not too many steps behind, John managed to catch up before things started to snowball. His immediate concern was reserved for the strangers rather than for themselves. Not surprising really, considering who his ‘partner’ was.

“Easy there now, I'm sure they didn't mean it.” Despite his concern John kept a wary eye on the individuals before him, even though this was concealed behind a seemingly nonchalant aura.

The first speaker, a tall young woman with deep brown hair, stood her ground.

“Squashed a what?” She looked round to where the glinting of flattened metal was now visible on the ground, though most of it was buried under the ship itself. “Oh. Whoops.”

The second figure, also a young woman with startlingly innocent-looking features, turned apologetic eyes upon the male.  “Our sensors were damaged – we were lucky to land within this glade at all...we will of course help to recover the data.”

“See, it was an accident...”

“Still, we'll need a whole more day and another MALP to replace the data and samples lost.” Aeyla’s grim expression suddenly lifted. “On the other hand, I’m not the one that has to do it.” She smiled happily.

As the first woman grinned at the remark, the second sighed. “We were not aware there was anyone here - our apologies.”

Feeling reassured his own companion wasn’t going to do anything crazy in the immediate future, John turned more of his attention to the young woman addressing him.

“Neither were we...this is an uninhabited planet.”

“Uninhabited huh? Don't look it to me...” The darker haired woman quipped, eyeing the man and woman in front of her with a barely suppressed smile.

“Us? Oh, you misunderstand. We don't live here....”

Aeyla chuckled at the distasteful thought. “No one but a complete nutcase would want to...the beasts on this world are an effective discouragement to any permanent settlement.”

The brunette grinned suddenly.

“Nutcases huh? Well...seeing as we had to put down and you guys were all ready here...think I can work out which of us is nuttier right now.” She held up a hand, her expression one of self-reproach. “Sorry...mouth running away with me again.”

“Explorers...just like us.” Inclining her head in both welcome and acknowledgement of the explorer spirit, and deliberately ignoring her companion, the dark auburn haired woman smiled at the man. “Our pardon for disturbing your expedition.”

“Well, no real harm done...” John waved it away, his downy blond hair mirroring the motion. “Though it would help if we could determine whether you're friends or foes....”

“Not the first time and probably not the last.....” Aeyla muttered at hearing the brunette’s comment about mouths.

“Aeyla!!” John snapped reproachfully.

“Well...we haven't shot you, you haven't shot us - looking good so far!”

Glancing at the woman just identified as ‘Aeyla’, the red-head smiled softly, rolling her eyes at the second smart-mouth comment.

“An accurate assessment.” She flicked a disapproving glance at her companion. “After barely two minutes...you are becoming obvious.”

“Agreed...” John nodded. “Though first impressions can be deceiving...I hope this won’t be one of those times,” He smiled disarmingly and held out his hand.

Relief as well as a more mischievous streak flooded the expression of Daniel’s daughter.

“Good! I'm allergic to artificial holes in me....”

Grinning, the brunette made an ‘Aw shucks’ gesture.

“Same here! They just itch like crazy...always come out in a rash with those damn things...”

Taking the outstretched hand, the red-head shook it confidently as she replied to John, “As do I.”

“Everyone insisting on sticking needles in you”, Aeyla grinned back.

Shaking hands, John’s previous assessment of the young woman was confirmed. Even though she ‘looked’ innocent enough, her grip and confidence matched that of someone chosen for early recon. He decided that it was in their best interest to remain on friendly terms with these people if possible, and chose to act casual about the whole thing.

“Nice to meet you. I'm John.”

Someone finally gets it!   “Needles, thermometers, extra gauze...” Warming to her topic, the brunette pulled a face. “Just an all round general pain in the mikta.”

“And you...I am Tiahmae.” Tiahmae then gestured to her left, hoping to end the diatribe with the introduction. “My companion is...”

“Call me Charlie.” Charlie stuck her hand out with a smile.

“Insisting that you should stay under supervision...the list goes on...“ She hesitated for a moment, watching the hand dubiously before deciding that at this stage it would be undiplomatic not to shake it and proceeded to do just that. “Aeyla.”

Her grip only lasted a second or two, then Charlie’s fingers were checking the security of the gun strap on her shoulder, an obviously habitual movement, as she continued, “Sitting on ya if you try to leave too soon... The doc has threatened it a few times...I'm not great at sitting tight - gotta be doing something.”

She grinned sheepishly as her companion fastened a pale green glower on her.

“Charlie...I believe these people have heard enough of your list of faults against the medical bay.” Her tone having that practised patient quality to it, Tiahmae turned back towards John.