The Mystery of P4F-651

The Centauri soldiers continued onward, making their way out of the wetlands to more solid ground. In the distance they could make out a herd of creatures not too dissimilar from that which the Veridians had encountered, and not willing to make themselves the subjects of another ambush they sniped the creatures from a distance. Tachyon beams, although perhaps not the most powerful weapons available, were certainly known for their accuracy, and a fair number had been dispatched at a distance. One, however, proved to be especially resilient, as not even several shots to the head seemed capable of downing it. It appeared to be the pack's alpha, and the shots seemed to only drive it into a deeper bloodlust than the one it was already in.

Bullrushing the Centauri, it managed to knock aside one of the Centauri soldiers and fell upon him with its talons, swiping down the chest and puncturing the silksteel armor that he wore, even drawing some blood. It was not a particular deep gash, but the exposure to the environment worried the downed Centauri soldier more than anything. The other Phlangites made their shots, and enough connected to put down the raging beast once and for all, but it was at a cost. The downed soldier had been badly injured, and the attack of the alpha opened the opportunity for some of the younger beasts to flank the group. Though most of the Centauri had only small scraps from the sortie at worst, the downed Phlangite could not say the same.

Colonel Neiri quickly rushed towards the downed Phlangite, and applied a dab of regenera cream and then the layer of environmental sealant. Though the wound was fresh yet, Colonel Neiri feared infection by alien pathogens. After helping the downed man to his feet, he was almost downed again when an explosion sounded in the distance. "Damn," Colonel Neiri said. "That can't be natural. Must be one of our allies: make your way to the source."

Advancing in that direction, they could soon enough see the lights that gave away the energy source...

The Veridian team continued their trek southeast, towards the energy source. It had been sometime since they'd almost become the lunch of those exotic animals, a few of their fellow soldiers of course had not been so lucky. Major Jomar said very little to his men and in return, the men said very little to each other. Most were a bit on edge as the fog kept visibility low and they all knew very well that something nasty could come out against them at any moment with little notice. The walked for hours before the silence was finally broken between them. Major Jomar had been deep in though for most of their walk. Between contemplating his next move, mourning those he'd lost under his command, and still curious as to whether or not the Centauri had made it, he'd not noticed his pilot who was fidgeting with his personal PADD device.

"Hey" said Major Jomar, "what are you doing over there."

The pilot almost didn't respond and when he did , was certainly surprised someone was talking to him. "Oh sir, just working on some calculations."

"For what?"

"The interference we experienced during our flight here" said the pilot as he walked closer to the Major to show him his work. "I think I've pinpointed the frequency of the disturbance. I know we all signed on for a one-way trip but if it doesn't have to be one, then it should right? Anyways sir, if I've done the calculations correctly I believe I have developed a program that will allow one of our flight computers to more accurately autocorrect the flight. If we can find a shuttle or anything flyable, I believe it will get us off the planet."

"Well lets see what you've got here" said the Major as he took the PADD and began looking over the program. He didn't understand it all but what he did, he liked. Damn fine work though the major expected nothing less. After all if anyone was going to figure a way out it was naturally going to be a Veridian. He handed the PADD back and the men continued forward until at last that came to a clearing from the forest. They couldn't tell for sure but the Major and his men had a good feeling that they were now standing at the forest's edge and that a grassy plain now laid before them. This was a relief to the men as it would be a bit easier to detect other lifeforms as they moved forward with the HUD displays.

"Well this should be a bit easier now" said the Major, "we've still got a bit of ground to cover but I don't feel we're too far now. Lets keeping moving me..."

The major's words were cut short as the ground beneath them began to shake violently. The earthquake conditions were strong and the men soon feel to the ground and struggled to get back to their feet. In the distance they could hear the distinctive sound of trees cracking by the trunk and tumbling down. The sound got louder as it got closer, happening quite suddenly and giving the Veridians little time to react. The trees along the forest edge began to crack and fall as the ground beneath them gave way as a fissure began to form. It seconds the ground below them just seemed to open up as one by one the Veridian team fell beneath the ground line. Only Major Jomar had the time to roll out of the way of the fissure only to move back to grab the hand of his pilot, the only man close enough for him to grab. Holding him only by one hand the Major knew he wouldn't be able to hold him for long as he himself felt his body slipping forward. The tremors themselves stopped, all in all, only lasting about 5 minutes.

"Hold on" the Major yelled, "see if you can grab hold." These orders were in vain however as everything the man attempted to grab broke away from the wall and fell into the deep darkness below. "I can't hold on much longer sir" the pilot yelled. "Nonsense, I'm getting you out of there" the Major protested. At about this time the pilot reached into a pocket of his suit and procured the PADD he'd been working on moments earlier. "Sir you've gotta take it" he stated, "it may be the only way off this cursed rock" The Major shook his head but knew in his heart that he couldn't hold on to the man forever. Reaching out with his other hand he grabbed the PADD only moments before the pilots grip slipped and he fell into the darkness below. The sound of the ground giving way around him forced the major to scramble backwards as part of the cliff began to crumble away. Panting, he slammed his fist into the ground out of anger. It took Major Jomar several minutes before he compose himself and got back to his feet. Placing the PADD into a pocket on his suit, he surveyed the area and got a fix on his destination.

The Major continued to walk for at least an hour, alone. It was an eerie feeling being all alone in the fog-like mist environment. Unlike the forest which had been full of various sounds the plains area was quite. There was barely even the sound of a wind blowing across the grass to be picked up by his audio receptors in his suit's helmet. It wasn't long before the Major began to wonder if the trip had been futile. Perhaps the lights his helmet's HUD were picking up were some sort of optical illusion and he was simply wondering blindly. Almost to the point of giving up the Major's sense of purpose was renewed when he at last came across some evidence that he was on the right path. Fragments of various building materials sparsely littered the ground beneath him. The further he walked the more he found until at last, emerging through the mist was a structure. A Veridian facility was at the location where the energy signature was located and now that he was standing outside the building he was close enough to pick up the energy signal using his suit's scanner. The building was heavily damaged on one side, as if something or somethings had barreled their way out and through the walls.

Knowing he did not know what lay inside, he ready his riffle and carefully entered the facility....

The Phlangites proceeded into the plains region from the more barren region they had came from, using the lights of the facility to guide their direction. Compared to the areas they had seen before, the plains seemed rather less dangerous, placid, even. With an unobstructed line of sight, they saw little movement and few native life-forms, and after all the encounters that they had before it was a major relief. Nevertheless, they kept vigilant - the memory of the ambush in the riverbank remained with them, and they had little desire to be caught by surprise again. The force seemed to be making good progress through the plains: they could reach the light source in an hour or so at the very most, and having the facility in sight certainly did good for the soldiers' morale.

Then, however, things took a turn for the worse. The ground began to rumble, and many of the soldiers were thrown to the ground by its magnitude, not at all suspecting heavy seismic activity. Though they could barely keep their footing and their advance was considerably slowed, the Phlangites could make out a large fissure forming in the distance where the plains region bordered a forested region, and it came as some minor relief to them that they weren't there, of all places. Little did they know that it was the fate of their Veridian counterparts.

With the ground stabilizing and the earthquake ending, the Phlangites could soldier on, and they made good times as they continued through the plains. Before long, however, they found themselves surrounded by a thick fog unlike anything that they had ever seen, and it was hard to make apart the path before them. Even the powerful lights that could be cast from their helmets could not penetrate the fog. The environment was unnerving to the Phlangites - there was little that separated them from an ambush, and for all they knew they had wandered off away from their objective. But Major Alinari could sense their disease, and said to them, "Worry you not. The fog is a sign that we near our objective - does it not resemble the cloud formations we saw as we descended?"

"Aye sir," Pilot Allende replied. "With luck, our allies may have found their way here as well."

Before too long, they too could discern the structure in the midst of the fog, and with an authoritative nod, Major Alinari said, "This is our objective - we must secure it for what we can, allies or no allies. Begin moving out."

With that, the Phlangites began to make their way into the facility, alert with tachyon rifles ready to fire.

The facility was mostly silent as Major Jomar moved deeper into the complex. He followed a basic path moving almost in a straight line. He moved through one broke wall or crushed open door after the next. Apparently whatever was inside the complex got out, and did so without letting anyone or anything stand in its way. At various points he found the bodies or part parts, of Veridian soldiers. Perhaps it was the security detail to this facility, but if they weren't attacked from the outside what attacked them from within? The Major had been brief very little about the actual purpose of the facility before leaving for the surface. All he knew was that the facility was a testing lab for something, perhaps a new weapon? He honestly could figure it out but whatever they were doing he got the increasing feeling that not only did it go wrong, but it did so horribly for the personnel inside.

Rounding a corner, he soon ducked back as he heard the quiet sound of a man's voice. Peering around the corner again, he saw saw a figured dressed as a Veridian scientist. However, the man looked severely unkept, his hair long and his face scruffy. It was much brighter in that room that in the hallway or anywhere else that the Major had come across so far in the facility. The man seemed alone and if he was survivor, maybe he knew what was going on. Moving cautiously forward the Major took every precaution not to alter the man until he wanted him to know he was there. Moving into the room he turned to see the source of the light. It looked like a stargate but it was different than the ones Veridians used to travel between planets. What caught him by surprise the most was that it appear that it was this machine that the fog/mist around the planet and beyond was emanating from.

"Stay right there" the Major said finally, his rifle fixed on the scientist who was naturally alarmed to hear and then see the Major. "What's going on here, and what the hell is that?" The Major noticed the fact that not only did the man seem quite unkempt, his eyes were bloodshot as if he'd not slept in weeks.

"Why its the gateway of course" said the man matter-of-factly. "You must be the rescue party, come to rescue us....we me, I'm the only one felt. It all went so horribly wrong, ro quickly. Do you have transport, are we leaving now."

"Rescue..." the Major was still curious over the gate machine. "Rescue....yes, Rescue. We need to find a way to turn this thing off."

"Ah yes of course" said the man, "I've been attempting that myself. Please if you could help me....yes, I need you to come over here and turn this valve."

The Major looked cautiously in the direction the scientist point and saw a valve. Sitting his rifle down he began to move towards the valve. "Yes, I need that turned while I create an overload. It will shutdown the gateway and we can leave." said the man as the Major moved past him. It was at that moment the Major caught the glimpse of something on the man's neck. "What the hell is...." the major wasn't able to finish. With lightening-like reflexes the scientist grabbed the Major by the neck, picking him up off his feet. Doing so, the man's hair moved around from his neck revealing some sort of creature attacked around it, no doubt connecting itself to the man's spine. With great force the major was thrown across the room, being stopped violently by a wall before falling to the ground unconscious.

The scientist grinned "no one is going no where" he said, his voice low and sinister. "The gate stays open, the veil must continue its work." At about that time he turned quickly as he heard movement not far from the room.

The Phlangites proceeded through the ruined complex, which seemed permeated by the very feel of decay. The building was clearly crumbling apart as it was lost to time and the elements, and the gruesome dead were clearly rank with xenopathogens. Were the environment suits not protecting the marines, the contaminants could have potentially been dangerous, even life threatening - they did not seem so far removed from the footage of the atrocities at Nova Silesia those few years ago. And the Veridian seals emblazoned on all ob them - what did this all mean? Were they the ones who were behind all of this? Colonel Neiri would have preferred to focus on the mission at hand, but his intuition screamed out to him that something was not as it should be.

His contemplation ended when he heard the sound of voices in a nearby room, and then that of something being thrown into a wall with a resounding thud. Pointing to the sound's source, he said, "We've got action! Move out!"

With that, the Phlangites burst into the room where they heard the noise, and to their shock they saw what appeared to be a Veridian stargate generating the fog that pervaded the system, and a man with some kind of symbiotic or parasitic organism attached to him, as well as a Veridian officer out cold to their side. Within a moment's notice the tachyon rifles of the Phlangites were trained upon the strange man, awaiting a command to open fire, and Colonel Neiri said to him coldly, "Hold your hands up where we can see them, and don't make any sudden movements unless you want your head riddled with tachyons. I presume that you must be the one responsible for this - immediately power down whatever this anomaly is, or we shall not hesitate to open fire. You are outnumbered and cannot hope to win, but even if you were to successfully resist our power generation units are rigged to detonate and take this entire facility out. This is your only warning."

"Of course....of course" said the scientist, his had slowly raised towards the ceiling. "No need to get violent. Say, you're not like the other one...no, no you're Centauri me thinks. Yes, yes....Centauri how peculiar you'd be so far from home."

The Centauri continued to fix their weapons on him as he continued

"Yes, turn the gateway off, of course...of course. Though, aren't you a bit curious as to what it is and who built? Hmmmm, yes...YES you must be curious though I'm sure by now you've figured it out. The Veridians, oh yes the Veridians built the gateway. Seems sometime ago they came across an experiment that involve a bridge between dimensions and exotic particles, why...I believe your people were involved too. Seems the whole affairs intrigued the Veridians so much they decided to make attempts to duplicate it. Built the gateway for that very purpose and, what I suspect was sheer dumb luck, they create a two-way bridge. Surprising, I know...given the primitive nature of their technology and their knowledge of the science involved."

"Shut it down" the Colonel replied again.

"Of course, of course....but still, aren't you curious as to why the built it? What ever could they have been looking for? Weapons...yes, they wanted weapons to no doubt you against you...use against the whole galaxy if given the chance. Dangerous species these Veridians you see, short tempered, prone to violence, arrogant...the list goes on. Problem is, there arrogance blinds them. They didn't see the danger until it was too late, until the veil began coming through. Beautiful thing the veil, it will soon engulf this whole system. We don't know where it came from but in less than a thousand years, its encompassed thousands of galaxies in my dimension. Even now its reworking the geological makeup of this planet. Soon it will flatten it, expanding its surface on a two-dimensional plane. I'm sure you've felt the trimmers."

He creature, no more Veridian than alien, slowly began moving towards a console. "But I suppose if I must cut it off. Pity, the Veil creates peace...yes, peace as it ends the need for territorial war. No longer do people in my dimension fight for resources as they are plentiful and space to grow is more than abundant. Don't you want peace, surely you're people want it though I know these Veridians don't. Vile creatures, even now more facilities such as this scattered across their small patch of the galaxy. All sorts of hideous and insidious experiments and weapons development projects are at work. They want you all dead you see....all dead...yes what a pit....."

The shot rang through the room land startled the Centauri. The creature now had a gaping hole through its neck, the creature attached to the man hissed only short, its brains now splattered on the floor at the body feel lifeless. Looked back behind the creature as it fell, Major Jomar had propped himself up against the wall, his pistol still smoking for the shot. "I imagine we'd heard all we needed from him" he said smirkly. Not entirely sure if he was friend or foe himself, the Centauri soon trained their guns on him and the Colonel asked again, in a similarly cold tone if the device could be shut down.

Rising slowly from the ground, the Major left his pistol where he'd been sitting and now appearing unarmed he moved towards a control panel. "Facilities like these generally have self-destruct protocols" he said while pressing a few buttons. "Ah yes, it appears that it was stalled somehow in mid-count but I should be able to get it back online." WIthin a few minutes of the Major's words a few red lights through the room and outside in the hallway began flashing. "We don't have long come with me" Their weapons still trained on him the Centauri followed the Major back through the hallways of the facility and then outside. Moving around the building they came to what look like a general landing area for shuttles. Out of the four they found, only one looked undamaged and able to fly. "Hope you all have a pilot" the Major said, "Mine's gone but I have this, its a program that should get us through the interference" The Major slowly procured the PADD from one of his suit pockets and handed it over the Colonel. "If there's nothing further, I imagine we'll be wanting to get on our way unless you want to be incinerated...."

Colonel Neiri nodded, and said, "We'll see what we can do. Pilot Allende, take this tablet, and make of the program what you will."

"Aye aye, sir", Pilot Allende replied. He took control of the shuttle and while it took him a brief moment to get acquainted with the controls, he shrugged, and continued, "Think I've got the gist of this machine. Isn't too different from the ones I normally fly: let's see how this thing handles, and get out of this hellhole, shall we?"

He then tried to ignite the Naquadah power source and power up the engine, but the system was unresponsive. "Damn," he cursed. Yet another attempt at ignition. No response. In the meantime, the group could begin to feel the temperature begin to increase, as the fire began to spread into the hangar, and Pilot Allende cursed twice more: "Damn, damn! The power's out - we need to get ignition!"

He quickly jumped out of the cockpit to the outside, and made his way to the back of the shuttle where the power source was. It seemed that the interference in the past had rendered it inert and he was going to have to replace it, and fast. Thinking on his toes, as the Phlangites watched him with a mixture of awe and confusion, he detached his own fusion engine from his armor, and began to rewire the power source's input to the fusion engine. Still, as fast as he was, he wasn't quite fast enough, and the fires had begun to catch up with him just as he finished rewiring. Quickly, he climbed back onto the shuttle and into the cockpit, just in the nick of time before the fires could consume him.

Turning back, he shouted to the others, "This should be it - enough to get us off of this damned planet, but no more. Let's see if this works..."

Blasting off, into the atmosphere, and then through the dissipating clouds into the comforts of space, Pilot Allende breathed a sigh of a relief, and so did the rest of the crew. Patting him on the back, Colonel Neiri said, "You did good there, Allende. God knows that I wouldn't have thought of that myself."

"Just my job, sir. Just my job."

The fires in the facility had been caused by the general overload of the facility's main reactor. Its detonation was the final act in the facility's destruction. Luckily for the shuttle, it had not only escaped the atmosphere but was now clear of the cloud itself when the reactor finally blew. The light was not unlike that of a nuclear bomb exploding and being seen from space. However, what happened next was completely unexpected as the blast triggered a chain reaction that set the veil ablaze. In a brilliant blue color, the veil ignited, putting the planet and the immediate space around it in flames. Though in truth it only lasted a few second in space before the great vacuum snuffed it out, it was still something neither the Veridians, the Centauri, nor the Sacaen have ever seen before. When the flames cleared all that was left was a chard world, the natural atmosphere blacked by smoke while smaller fires could still be seen burning across its landscape.

With the veil gone, all the interference it created was also cleared and the radio of the shuttle instantly came to life. "This is Captain Khev to shuttle, Major Jomar is that you?" The message came over several times before the Major got up from his seat and activated the communicator. "This is Major Jomar, the surviving member of the strike team. I'm joined by what appears to be most the Centauri team. I believe our shuttle is..dead in the water, we could use the assistance."

"Understood Major"

Within a few moments a Veridian shuttle was dispatched and after attaching itself to their own, it tugged the old shuttle in. After the Major disembarked, Colonel Neiri and his crew were flown back to their own ship. It took several minutes afterwards before the Veridian ship contact either the Centauri or the Sacaen ships. When at last Captain Khev did contact either ship, his message was quite brief and not surprisingly generalized.

"Captain Erebus, Order Captain Soren, this is Captian Khev. It seems we've determined the source of the distress signal and completed our mission. I am sure the Dominion will like to officially thank both of your nation's cooperation in this matter. I imagine diplomats will be dispatched to make such gestures by my government. If there is nothing further, our ship along with a skeleton crew manning the Razor, shall be leaving now back to Dominion space."

*Order Captain Soren clicked the mic once as a code for "yes" or "affirmative" then jumped system without so much as a goodbye*

With that, Colonel Neiri was debriefed thoroughly, and the reports on the event corroborated and passed on to the Council of Admirals as a matter of urgent interest, who then passed it to Brother Lal himself, given the nature of the events and the potential security threat they formed. He gathered Talent Zhang to his office, in order to discuss the incident and any future action the Governate might wish to take.

"So," Brother Lal asked Talent Zhang, "what do you make of the reports? Though the Veridian ambassador has sent a word of thanks in, though I scarcely believe that compensates for their other actions."

"No, I do not believe so either. Though perhaps whatever that being was may have been lying, I strongly believe that there must have been some truth to it. After the Veridians saw the sheer amounts of energy generated from parallel universe tapping and the destructive potential of strange matter, they may have been tempted to experiment in the subject with their subpar technology."

"Agreed. Developments such as this must be watched carefully, as an ascendent Veridian Dominion is not only a danger for the security of the Governate but of the galactic community as a whole. They willfully violate sentient rights wholesale, and we must continue to utilize our diplomatic influence to contain them. I fear, however, that they have made inroads yet."

With a sombre nod, Talent Zhang nodded, and said, "Regrettably, I believe that is true. We shall however redouble our efforts in the future to contain them, and to monitor their actions in events such as these."

"Let it be done, Talent Zhang. Let it be done."

WIth the Sacaen gone and then the Centauri the two Veridians ships also left, retreating back into the safety net of their spacial border. They were order to the nearest starbase where the skeleton crew docked the Razor and Dominion crews border, planning to completely dismantle the ship and see what changes, if any, had occurred to it while it floated lifeless in the veil. They also took the bodies of the crew that had been killed by the arachnids, to also study. The Skeleton crew was then ordered back to the Saber while Captain Erebus and Major Jomar were debriefed by a representative of the High Command.

_________________________________________

Starbase 15, Dominion Space....

Orbiting a small gas giant was Starbase 15, a small space station built by the Dominion for research and development purposes. Housing a small group of the finest scientific minds of the Veridians race, the experiments conducted on the starbase would make some heads turn if not create a cause for war by others. The official head of the facility was Dr. S'anra Cretak, a renowned Veridian Astrophysicist. Though she had been working on many exciting projects as of late, she wasn't to be found in her lab as today she was playing tour guide. Executor D'Nal Jo'rek was still modeling into his leadership role, having only recently been elected as Executor by the Quorum. Their coup against the former Triumvirate, they'd successfully sacked the old leadership and seamlessly transitioned the executive to the Executor's office. Executor Jo'rek was a very capable man but at times he did indeed feel overwhelmed by all the things the Dominion was now involved with.

"Here is where we continue to study Gar''zhog and Hildenburen technology salvaged from the battle for Veridian Prime." Dr. S'anra stated while pointed through a viewing window. "Nothing that we recovered was in operating capacity but our engineers feel confident that with time and funding, we may be able to reverse engineer some of their weaponry."

"I was told in a report that much of the technology recovered is severely incomplete" the Executor responded."

"Yes Executor, much of what we recovered is missing various components to make them effective but once we understand their general construct, we can fabricate the missing pieces and eventually produce a working model."

The Executor appeared less than impressed. He looked away, turning back towards the hallway. "I was told that artifacts from the Gateway project were sent here."

"Yes Executor, this way please." The Doctor lead the Executor down several hallways until they came before yet another viewing screen. "Though the project was shutdown, by our orders of course Executor, we do have some of the artifacts that the project produced before it was overrun and eventually terminated."

While the Centauri might have believed the project on P4F-651 was for energy purposes the truth about it was much more sinister. This was of course quite apparent with the artifacts that the Veridians had been able to procure. Though most of what the Veridians were able to steal from other realities was not technology or other items they could not find in their own, one particular "artifact" was of great interest to the Executor and one of the reasons he'd chosen to make the visit to Starbase 15 since having to close down the project."

"How is the patient Dr. S'anra?"

"He's doing remarkable well, though in truth it took our medical team a good while to determine the effective amount of sedatives. He's quite strong and his physiology is very impressive."

"Did the team at P4F-651 ever determine if his initial story is true?"

"No Executor, however since he was brought here a few weeks ago, prior to the accident on P4F-651, we've done some of our own research. He is Veridian, as the team at P4F-651 believed. We've found his counterpart in our reality and he too, is a engineer. A real find engineer if our records are accurate. According to patient Zero, his Dominion took to the stars much earlier than ours did. By his time, the Dominion controls an entire quadrant of the galaxy. They possess technology far superior to our own, technology that we've only begun to hypothesize."

"Will he be cooperative?"

"That remains to be seen" said the Doctor. "While he's remained cooperative over basic, generalized questions about his Dominion, he has so far evaded any specifics. This is especially so with regards to their technology. He's also proven extremely resilient against our interrogation techniques. However, we remain confident that we will be able to break him eventually."

"Keep me posted on this specifically" said Executor Jo'rek. "The failure at P4F-651 was costly, perhaps even more so given the fact that the Sacaen and Centauri were involved. While we don't currently perceived the Sacaens as a personal threat, we have our suspicions that the Centauri keep a close eye on our activity. If they grow too suspicious that could pose a great problem for us, especially if they attempt to involve the Rheans or Burnites. No, for now the Dominion will recede into the space we already control and remain diplomatically silent. As for this facility and its project, continue your work with Patient Zero, I expect good things Doctor."

"Of course Executor Jo'rek....."

OOC: Sorry it took so long to finish this guys but thanks to helping me bring the story to an end instead of just leaving it hanging