NationStates Jolt Archive

Hutchison Island
400 Miles South of Northrop-Grumman Mainland
Saturday, March 25, 2021
7:23 P.M CCST

The late evening sun cast dark shadows across the tree-filled island as it set, but lit the clear skies up in a beautiful bright orange glow. The pilot of the V-22 Osprey watched the sunset out of his left side window as he and nine other Marine pilots flew in formation towards their designated landing site. They were supposed to insert two-hundred forty Marines into an island that had never been trodden on, but had only been mapped by high-flying aircraft and satellites. The Marines where to then use GPS and rough maps to find their way, which would take nearly two weeks, through the dense forests and mountains to the beaches on the southern coast where they would be picked up by the aircraft carrier Essex, one of the few surviving carriers left after the devastating accident that destroyed the capital city and nearby New Newport News less than a year earlier.

The pilot looked at his navigational equipment and announced on his radio, “LZ ETA 5 minutes.”

He then saw something strange out in the distance. It looked like a blue energy shield that was expanding rapidly in all directions. He immediately attempted to maneuver out of the way by pulling back and turning the flight controls to the left, but the energy weapon proved to be much to fast for the Ospreys. When it hit them, the aircraft almost instantly exploded, but the power of the weapon vaporized any debris. When Chairman Jack O’Neill heard of the mysterious loss of the two-hundred fifty Marines and ten aircraft, he ordered that the island be kept off-limits to all civilian and military personnel.

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O’Neill Residence
Outside Caprica City
January 5, 2041
7:45 A.M CCST

Chairman Jack O’Neill shoved his body weight against the storm door of his house in a desperate attempt to break the ice off of it. The previous night had proved to be one of the coldest in Northrop-Grumman history. Temperatures that were twenty degrees Fahrenheit below zero, brutal winds, and heavy ice and snow encased the entire nation into a frozen cocoon. Most people stayed home on such a terrible day, but unfortunately for Jack, he had a nation to run so he arose early in the morning in the hopes to break the ice off the truck.

With all of his might, he pushed against the door one more time. It flew open into the wind, pulled the hydraulic support out of the doorpost, broke the chains at the top, and slammed into the mailbox on the side of the house. The window panes shattered from the impact, flinging glass all over the yard. He cursed at himself for doing that and slammed the inner wooden door shut. With the ice scrapper in his hand and wearing heavy boots, a heavy coat with a hood, heavy gloves, and sunglasses to shield his eyes from the bright reflections from the sun off the ice and show, he walked over to his truck that was parked beside his house. He looked at it and sighed. It was completely covered in ice and show. He could not even tell it was green anymore. He then carefully walked on the frozen driveway and started to slowly chip the ice off the windshield.

His wife, Siri, stepped out of the front door just a few minutes later, wearing similar winter clothes to her husband but much lighter because she had more of a tolerance for the cold than he did. The cold tended to make his joints stiffen up and was not all that pleasant for him.

As she began to walk towards the two car garage, Jack looked up from the side of the truck and asked, “Where are you going?”

She took a set of keys out of her pocket and waved them in the air. “I’m taking the car to the Academy today. Why?”

“Oh, no, you’re not.” He shook his head and gestured to the garage. “That Porsche cannot handle these icy roads. Our street and Route 40 haven’t been sanded yet so that car is going to act like a drunk man slipping and sliding on ice. I think we better take my truck.”

Siri nodded and shoved the keys back into her pocket. She knew that he was getting aggravated over all the ice that seemed to be coating everything and looked off into their snow covered yard. Meanwhile, Jack kept chiseling away at the driver’s side door trying to get it open. He cursed at it and punched it several times. This day was not starting off well for him. Soon he was just going to call it quits and have a shuttle flown in.

Just then, something cold stuck him in the back of the neck. He turned around to see what or who did it, but was struck in the face by a snowball. He managed to scrape the snow off of his face only to see his wife winding up to throw another one. Just as the third one left her hand, he managed to duck and roll under the truck. It slammed into the door and scattered snow everywhere. Jack quickly scrambled to his feet and looked around for some snow. He grabbed a large clump from his side of the driveway and packed it tightly in his hands. Then, he slowly peered over the bed of his truck and scanned the front yard for Siri. When he saw her kneeling in the snow with her back to him, he chucked the snowball over the truck and hit her right in the back. She turned around with several of snowballs in her arms and began launching them towards Jack, who ducked behind the truck again. Most of them missed, but a few were at such an angle that they hit him. He snatched up another clump of snow and packed it in his hands. He peered over the hood of the truck and saw Siri again. This time though he did something completely different and ran out from behind the truck and threw it right at her. It struck her in the back of the head so she got up off of the ground with what ever snowballs she had and ran right after him, repeatedly hitting him with them. Suddenly, he lost his balance and crashed into the snow, managing not to go face first but landing on his side and then rolling over onto his back. Siri took this opportunity to jump right on top of him. She was light enough to not hurt him but was heavy enough to keep him on the ground. She started to grab snow from both sides and pelt him with it as he held up his arms and laughed.

Jack yelled out, “Whoa! Whoa! Truce!” She stopped then busted out laughing while he shoved his hands under the snow around himself and tossed up piles of it at her. They both started laughing soon afterwards.

“Thanks, I needed that,” he said as he looked up at her.

“You looked frustrated over there at the truck and needed some fun. And well, you know how people here say ‘Life’s too short to worry about pointless crap.’”

“You’re absolutely right.” They both stared into each other’s eyes before he replied, “I think I may need some more fun.”

She smiled and leaned forward until their lips met, and they began to kiss passionately out in the snow. They continued for several minutes until they were interrupted by Jack’s cellular phone.

“Don’t answer it,” she replied between kisses.

“I really should. Who knows if something bad has happened?” He did not stop what he was doing, but with his hand he reached down into his pocket, grabbed the phone, and laid it on the snow with the speakerphone feature turned on. “O’Neill”

A lone voice spoke up. “It’s Vice Chairman Naelthasser.”

“Ok, Shiran, what’s wrong?”

A long moment of silence then an answer came forth. “Oh, I noticed that you are very late for work and wondering why you are not here….what are you doing presently?”

Jack looked right up at his wife and smirked. They both knew why Shiran had called. “I’m out in the front yard with Siri. Why?”

There was an even longer silence before he replied, “Doing what?”

Jack could hardly keep from laughing. “Shiran, we were having a snowball fight. Lay off the infrared satellite for once. If I am late for work, you really don’t need to track me down. Look at something worthwhile.”

“I see.” Shiran quickly changed the conversation to hide his embarrassment. “I noticed that the roads there are completely frozen over. Would you like me to teleport you and Siri to work today?”

Jack glanced over at his truck and thought, To hell with it. “Alright, but first drop us off at the 7-Eleven. I need a cup of coffee and a doughnut.”

“Very well, just tell me when.”

Jack looked up at Siri who nodded and got off of his chest. They both stood up and brushed the snow off of themselves.

“Alright…now.” Within a split second, the couple was teleported away from their front lawn, to 7-Eleven, and then the capital building.

Hutchison Island
400 Miles South of Northrop-Grumman Mainland
8:27 A.M CCST

Umraedri’ira trudged through the bitter cold wind and the knee-deep snow with her infant son in her arms as she made her way north out of the mountain range. Many hours earlier, she had been taking one of her weekly walks up one of the large ventilation tunnels for one of the massive subterranean cities under Hutchison Island when the tunnel behind her that led back into the city suddenly collapsed. Rock, mud, and dirt filled in over a half mile of the tunnel. She had leaned against the stone wall and waited over an hour for any sign of someone digging through the rubble to rescue her, but soon realized that either the cave-in was too massive or everyone thought that she had perished. She had begun to think of other options for her and her son’s survival when she was reminded of the Great Obelisk that lied in the center of the city. It was made about nine thousand years ago out of naquadah by a surviving Hazkaranithian after their final war which drove Umraedri’ira’s people underground. The obelisk had multiple inscriptions carved into it that foretold future events all the way up to something called “The Final Battle” about twenty some years from now. One event that had happened more recently was a massive earthquake that stuck all the cities about twenty-one years ago. It had caused cave-ins all over that killed several thousand people. Although most of the inscriptions were very vague, there was one that was not. Umraedri’ira remembered that today was supposed to be the day that the descendants of the Hazkaranithians make contact again after all these millennia. She knew from reading the old books in the library that they would possess massive flying vessels that housed thousands of people and were almost as technologically advanced as their ancestors, so she decided that her best option would be to go to the surface and try to find them before her and her son froze to death.

Umraedri’ira continued to stumble over the branches and rocks underneath the deep snow as she slowly made her way north. The weather was having adverse effects on her health for being out in it too long, and the clothes that she was wearing was not best suited for this weather either. The feeling in her hands, legs, and face was almost gone and her breathing became slower and more labored. It was also becoming much harder to keep her balance as she walked. She became slower and slower while drowsiness began to overcome her. She pulled her cloak tightly around herself and decided to rest for a moment on an old log that had fallen between several other trees nearby. As she leaned against the tree behind her, she could not help but have second thoughts about what she was doing. Maybe the Obelisk is wrong, she thought. All this walking is probably for nothing and we’re going to freeze to death out here. She glanced down at her son, who had been kept very warm from her own body heat and the multiple blankets that were wrapped around him, and sighed because she kept thinking about how his life would be cut short. Then, her mind became more clouded as her condition deteriorated rapidly. Suddenly, her head fell backwards against the tree as she became unconscious.

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Centennial Plaza
Caprica City, Northrop-Grumman
8:30 A.M CCST

Early that morning, Shiran had finished up what little he had of the daily paperwork. Most of the governmental offices were closed that day because of the terrible weather, and those that were open could not do much because half of their employees were snowed in. After getting a cup of hot coffee, he moseyed back over to his desk and decided to do as Jack had said, which was to look at something worthwhile with the satellite. He sat down in his chair and powered up the computer in his desk. Several transparent screens rose up out of the edges and a panel slid open on the top to reveal a keyboard. First, he scanned the naval base and shipbuilding facilities at New Newport News. He quickly became bored with the monotonous rows of rooftops and moved south to Hutchison Island. The island was particularly fascinating to him because he knew there had to be something hidden under it, but after years and years of analysis from space, nothing could be found that was the least bit interesting. The military and civilian population was told to keep a distance of fifty miles away from the coast and never to fly directly over it. Of course, some daredevils chose to ignore those warnings and visit the island. They never returned.

Shiran scanned over the island, looking for anything unusual, and saw nothing of interest. The landscape was similar to what he viewed of New Newport News, but instead of endless rows of rooftops, there were endless rows of trees. He then noticed a small bit of heat slowly moving the surface. Expecting it to be a bear or deer but was curious anyway, he zoomed in closer for a better look. He saw what appeared to be one person, whose body temperature was too low to be the least bit healthy, and another but smaller person, who seemed to be much warmer than the other. It was difficult to tell anything more with the old satellite, so Shiran placed an urgent call into the sensors officer of NGSS Zereul.

The first lieutenant onboard the Zereul heard the red phone on his console ring and picked it up, knowing it to be someone important. “Lieutenant Woods speaking. What can I do for you, sir?”

“This is Vice Chairman Naelthasser. I want you to scan these coordinates.” He pressed a few buttons on the keyboard. “And tell me exactly what information you see.”

“Yes, sir,” Woods replied and began working quickly at his station. Within a few minutes, he got back on the phone again. “Mr. Vice Chairman, sensors show two beings down there. Neither is human, and the DNA structure is not in our databanks. Therefore I cannot construct an accurate model of what they look like. Nevertheless, one is female, while the other smaller being is male and most likely an infant. By looking at their body temperatures, the female appears to be suffering from hypothermia while the male is in a much better condition. That is all the scanners can pick up from this distance. Is that all, sir?”

“Yes, it is. Thank you, Lieutenant.” With that, he hung up the phone and quickly ran out of his office to find Jack and Siri. He found the couple within a few minutes. Jack was strolling out of the capital building through the promenade exit along with Siri to take her over to the subway station, which was the only mass transit service still running on this day.

“Jack!” Shiran yelled as he desperately tried to catch up to them.

Jack turned around quickly somewhat alarmed. “What’s wrong?”

“There are two people down on Hutchison Island.”

Jack shrugged. He could not care less about some morons on a daredevil trip. “Yeah, and? So? Therefore? They know darned well they’re not allowed there. Let whatever is out there get them.”

“No, no. You do not understand. I had the Zereul scan them. Their DNA is not in our databanks, plus one’s an infant and the other appears to be suffering from hypothermia.” Shiran knew that since the Chairman was the one who placed the restrictions on the island, he could be the only one that could allow the two people to be taken out.

Jack’s attitude changed immediately. “Dear God…Shiran, teleport them into sick bay, now and alert Dr. Czesnik that he’ll have two new patients.”

Shiran nodded and quickly stepped over to the nearest computer station. Meanwhile, Jack and Siri ran together through the Promenade to sick bay. When they finally arrived to the intensive care unit there, they found Dr. Jozef Czesnik, the Chief Medical Officer, looking over what appeared to be a metallic coffin. In reality, it was a special pod that encased the entire body below the neck to monitor life signs and, if needed, to act as temporary synthetic organs if the ones in the patient had stopped functioning. Next to that pod was a much smaller one, which encased the entire body, including the head. This one, in addition to what the larger pod did, could put the person inside into stasis.

The couple approached the larger pod and Dr. Czesnik, who was busy studying the readouts on the pod. Jack was curious to see what the person in it looked like and peered over the top. He saw what looked to him like an obsidian-skinned, female elf with long snow-white hair and stepped back quickly.

“Who is that?” He quickly asked the doctor.

Dr. Czesnik shrugged while he worked. “I honestly do not know all that much about her other than her medical condition.”

“And that would be?”

The doctor looked up with a somber expression on his face. “Not good at all. She has a severe case of hypothermia and the frostbite on her body has turned into gangrene. Right now, she’s on life support because most of her organs have either shut down or are almost at that point, but I don’t know how long it will sustain her.”

Siri spoke up before Jack could reply. “How is the baby doing?”

“Quite well, actually. Just a little bit of frostbite that should not cause any future problems. Other than that, he’s as healthy as all of us here.” He pointed over to the smaller pod. “Now if you want to go take a look, just hit the yellow button over on the side and the video screen should come on.”

Siri nodded and slowly walked over to the control panel on the pod while Jack posed another question. “How long do you think they were out there?”

“From what I can tell so far, about twelve hours. I am surprised that she is even still alive. That weather would have killed any of us in several hours.”

Jack nodded his head. “Is there any way to wake her up? I’d like to have a little talk with her.”

“Well, it might be risky, but I believe there is a way I could have the pod…”

Jack knew there was going to be technobabble so he cut the doctor off. “I don’t need the science lesson. Just do it while she still has time.”

The doctor nodded his head and began working at the computer station near the pod. Meanwhile, Shiran had come in and watched everything from the back of the room.

Umraedri’ira gained consciousness to feel the pleasant warmth of the sick bay, but she did not feel like she should. There was a throbbing pain running throughout her body and everything below her neck was immovable because of the way the pod encased her body. She opened up her eyes, waited a few seconds for the cloudiness to dissipate and found herself in a strange metal-walled room with two odd people with pale skin looking over her.

“Vel'klar tlun usstan?” she called out in her native language.

Jack could not understand a word she said and called over to Siri with hopes that maybe she could translate. “Do you have any clue what she’s saying?” Siri shook her head no and walked over to next to him.

Meanwhile, Umraedri’ira studied her surroundings as she lied there. The room seemed similar in design to what she had read in the books in the archives about the Hazkaranithian. Figuring that these people might be their descendants, she decided to call out to them in the Hazkaranithian language. When she spoke, the computer system in the capital building searched its databanks for any language that matched it, and upon finding that it was similar to early Latin and translated it into English as she spoke.

“Where am I?” she asked as the computer translated.

Jack was surprised and replied as the computer translated what he said back into her language. “You are in the sickbay inside the capital building of the Northrop-Grumman Corporation. We…uh…found you walking out there in that god-awful weather.”

Umraedri’ira did not understand what he was talking about. Northrop-Grumman Corporation? What is that? she thought to herself, but she had a feeling that these were the people she was looking for. Then without warning she fell unconscious for a few minutes.

Dr. Czesnik turned to the computer screens. “She’s getting worse. It’s only a matter of time.”

She woke up again, but was now growing more worried. She knew that she was not getting any better and was, in fact, doing the opposite.

“Where is my son?”

Jack tried his best to crack a smile. “He’s doing pretty good. Just a little frostbite, but nothing to worry about. By the way, what is your name?”

“I am Umraedri’ira Aleanrahel and my son’s name is Alakantar.”

Jack pointed to each person in the room. “I’m Jack O’Neill. That’s my wife, Siri. There’s Shiran Naelthasser in the back. And your doctor over there is Jozef Czesnik.”

She nodded her head. Lovely couple. she thought as she watched Jack and Siri. She did not have a husband anymore for he was killed two months earlier trying to repair that same tunnel that she had walked through earlier. Suddenly a sharp pain ran into her neck, and she became unconscious for several minutes.

Once again, she woke up, but this time could not open her eyes. She knew that death was only seconds away and spoke one last thing to Jack.

“I don’t think that I am going to survive for much longer, but I do want to tell you one last thing. Take care of Alakantar after I am gone. I can tell from watching you and your wife that you both will make fine parents. Thank you for saving him.”

As soon as she finished, her body gave up the fight to live, and the EKG on the top of the pod flat lined as it began to let out a long beeping sound. Dr. Czesnik reached over and turned the machine off without saying a word.

The entire room remained quiet for several minutes until Shiran broke the silence. “What should we do now?”

Jack replied, “Find a good burial site in the cemetery and prepare a proper funeral for the mother. That would probably be the nicest thing we can do for her.” Then Jack turned and headed for the door as he said one additional thing that struck everyone else in the room as cold and heartless. “See if there are any families looking for adoption for the baby.”

Siri was startled by his attitude for she had never seen him act that way and shouted back at him. “What?! Why can’t we keep him?!”

He glared at her. “I don’t think that we’d make good parents…Shiran, do what I said.” With that, he left the room.

Siri grew angrier and started to follow him. Shiran stepped in front of her and tried to block her from going through the doorway.

“I do not think that is wise. He needs to be left alone right now.”

She ignored what he said and shoved right past him. After teleporting herself just outside of Jack’s office using the capital building’s teleporter system, she pushed open the metal doors. She found him rocking in his leather chair and staring out the large glass window with a bottle of Guinness in his hand.

She walked over to the front of his mahogany desk. “Jack, I want to have a word with you.”

He did not even turn to look at her when he replied. “Not now. Can’t we do this later?”

“No. I want to know now what has gotten into you.”

Irritation rose in his voice. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

She became more forceful as she spoke. “Why not? I’m your wife. We need to go through what ever problems we have, together.”

He turned and looked right at her. “This does not concern you. It’s my problem and I will deal with it. Alone.”

She became angry and slammed her fist onto the top of the desk. “Is this problem also the reason why you don’t want any biological children either?!” He did not answer her question so Siri took it as meaning yes. “Then, it’s my problem too!”

“You want to know why?!” He was at his wits end and jumped up from his seat. In anger but without thinking, he shattered the bottle in his hands. The glass cut into his hands, which began to bleed almost immediately. “Remember when I told you awhile back about my son dying? Well, I didn’t give you all the details. He died because I left my gun unlocked in my bedroom and he found it and shot himself with it. My gun! I should’ve locked it up, but no. I was careless.”

Siri cut him off. “It’s not your fault.”

“Yes, it is! That’s why I am not fit to be the father of that baby and think that it’s best for him to go elsewhere! Now leave!” He pointed with his non-injured hand towards the door. “I’d rather be alone now.”

She turned to leave, and when she had reached the door, she said one last thing very calmly. “It looks like you have a decision to make. You can either live in the past which you cannot ever change no matter how hard you try, not ever have any children, deny that baby a good home, and spend the rest of your life sulking in misery or you can move beyond all those wretched memories, provide that baby a good home, and prove to yourself that you are in fact not, nor ever will be, a bad father. The decision is yours. I cannot make the choice for you.” She then sighed and left the office.

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In the sickbay, Siri asked Shiran, “I wonder what he’s doing up there. It’s been almost three hours already.”

“I honestly do not know. He is probably in shock. No one has ever stood up to him like you did and pressed him for an answer.”

A voice answered from the doorway. “Nope, but I’m now glad someone finally did.”

Siri and Shiran both rose from their seats and quickly looked over in that direction. They saw Jack in the doorway with a bulky manila envelope under his arm and his hand covered in white bandages. He walked up to Siri and put his hands on her shoulders. “I’d like to apologize for how I acted earlier. No one should have their husband act that way towards them. Also, it wasn’t fair to you when I didn’t let you into my past. I should’ve been more open to you from the beginning. For that, I am sorry.”

“That’s ok. I forgive you,” she replied.

“Oh, before I forget.” He took the envelope out from under his arm and handed it to her. “You need to sign these because we need to send them out ASAP.”

Siri was confused and took it in her hand as she wondered what was inside. “What’s in here?”

He smiled. “Adoption papers. I’ve filled out almost all the details already. You just need to sign in the areas at the bottom of the pages. After that, just send it in, and everything will be official.”

Her expression changed instantly to joy. She jumped up into his arms and began to kiss him. “What changed your mind?”

“A little bit of eye-opening by someone who I love with all my heart. Now how ‘bout we go over and see our son?”

Siri nodded in agreement they both walked to the stasis pod where a new addition to their family was.