“Instrumentalist” Reika’s voice rang in Jack’s ears as he found himself roused from an unpleasant slumber, “I need your presence.”
Jack opened his eyes, painfully, low lights piercing him lightly as though he had a hangover.
“I apologize for the rough transport,” She said, “But I need you to active the system.”
Jack quickly got his bearings—he was inside a ship, Ancient (or, rather Mulian) in design by the look of things, and it wasn’t working.
They were deep enough inside that no natural light penetrated, only light blue emergency lighting filled the room—largely from the large crystalline platform at the room’s center. In front of it was something he assumed to be a control panel.
Reika stood next to it.
“Please, activate the system,” Reika said.
He looked at his watch: only half an hour had passed since the "Show" portion of the evenings activities began. He wished he had more than a military watch in terms of equipment.
“Why?” Jack snarled as he stood up, “Where the hell am I?”
“You are in the Atlantis city-ship,” Reika explained, her voice slightly strained, “And you are here to activate the city’s defenses to prevent it from falling into Millennium’s hands.”
“And you can’t do so because--?”
“I am locked out.”
“Okay, why are you locked out?” Jack folded his arms.
“An Ixtili cannot operate Mulian Technology other than what we are created for or bonded to.”
Jack’s ears perked up, “Bonded to?”
“We don’t have much time—activate the station please,” Reika pleaded.
Jack walked towards the console and placed a hand on it. Blue and yellow-white light quickly spread from Jack’s hand and illuminated the room.
A voice soon followed: it was soft, yet commanding voice of a young woman, “Atlantis station now reactivating.”
A form blipped into existence before him. It was quite different from what he had previously seen of the ancients up until now. Like Oma Desalla, her outfit could best be described as a pantsuit. But unlike Oma, the arms had a large stripe of black running down their length, with patterns he did not recognize emblazoned in gold. Also in gold was an emblem on her chest a round circle and three ovoid shapes like the tips of spears arranged in a cross-like pattern reminiscent of a bird (with the circle acting as the bird’s head). The woman’s hair was a light blond and grew long down her back with two thick strands held by silver clasps that draped over her shoulders and ran down to her hips. Her eyes were a light shade of blue, but her skin was a nearly sickly pale color, as though she rarely went outside.
“I am Dianna Soriel, Ixtili of Atlantis. The Mu are long dead, why am I being disturbed?”
“Defend the world from Nazis?” Jack put forward.
“‘Nazis’ is not a term I recognize,” Diana answered, “My defensive capabilities are unreliable at the present. There are no Power Batteries or Rings to use. The Leviathan was destroyed decades ago. Furthermore, the Manhunter Dolems are in various stages of rampancy.”
“Okay, wow,” Jack said, “I think I understood every other word.”
“Do you still wish to activate the security protocols?” Diana repeated.
“How?”
“Third light on the left,” Reika answered, “The green one.”
Jack nodded with a “Better than nothing, I suppose,” and touched the light, which began to flash blue and red.
The walls of the chamber became segmented and changed shape, creating small chambers where large figures were soon teleported in. They stood almost 8ft tall and were sleek metal figures with smooth, un-segmented hands that reminded Jack of mittens on first glance. The head on each figure was large with a visor-like bar as the only segment on the metallic beings that was not smoothed out on its surface.
They also came in a variety of colors. One was black, another was purple and a third was orange. Three of them were 3 different shades of blue (dark, medium and light blue); two more were shades of red (classic red and maroon).
“No Man Escapes the Manhunters,” They boomed in unison.
“Good to know” Jack began, “I’m Colonel Jack O’Neill of—”
“I’m goin’ on break,” The orange manhunter blurted out.
“On break?” A maroon-colored one standing next to it turned with a start and faced the orange one, “but we were just reactivated for the first time in thousands of years.”
“Yeah,” The orange one continued, “and I figure we built up a lot of backlogged break time, so I’m taking advantage now.”
“You can only backlog break time while you’re in the field, isn’t that right, Sarge?” The Maroon one shot back.
“Darn tootin’” The red one, Sarge answered with a gruff voice and an odd Texan accent, “You don’t earn a second of break time until you actually start to work.”
“But you know I hate work,” The orange one whined.
“Which is why I’m giving you DOUBLE duty, private,” Sarge answered, “Any day where you suffer is a day I sleep easy.”
“Hey!” Jack said, “Can you focus, please.”
The light blue Manhunter scoffed, “Clearly, you’ve never met us before. This is all we do. Ever.”
“It’s true,” The Black one said, “They bicker, whine and mock each other and that’s about it.”
“That’s not true,” The dark blue one countered slowly, “Sometimes we go on adventures and meet scary aliens and get yelled at by mean people and—”
“Stop, I get it,” Jack sighed.
“Perhaps,” Reika added, “This was not the wisest course of action.”
“Sir,” The Black one said with a feminine voice, “I believe proper introductions are in order. I am Manhunter Tex, Freelance Unit, Sir.”
“She’s got a point,” Sarge said, “I’m Manhunter Sarge, leader of Red Team.”
“I’m Griff, also of Red Team,” Griff said.
“I’m Manhunter Simmons, and if I may add sir,” the Maroon one answered before turning to the blue Manhunters, “SUCK IT BLUE!”
“Yeah, suck it!” Griff chimed in.
Sarge’s face remained static, but his voiced carried a hint of a smile as he said, “Nice timing, Simmons.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Okay, ignoring them,” The blue Manhunter said, “I’m Manhunter Church, leader of blue team the slow one’s Manhunter Caboose.”
“Hi,” The dark blue manhunter said, “My name is Caboose; you want to be my friend?”
“And,” Church continued, “That’s Manhunter Tucker.”
“Hey,” Tucker casually answered.
“And I’m Manhunter Medical-Unit Dufrain,” The Purple one said.
“Everyone calls him Doc,” Church elaborated.
“I’m a combat medical Program,” Doc said, “Not a doctor.”
“Same diff, Doc,” Tucker snorted.
“Manhunters,” Diana interrupted, causing all of the machines to turn and face her, “Behave yourselves.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” They answered her and knelt before her in surprising synchronization, silencing their apparent animosity.
Jack felt a headache coming on when the sound of a large machine being scrapped against metal, followed by a loud thump repeated over and over again, drawing his attention to—
The Doctor’s TARDIS, as it materialized in front of them.
When the cacophony and light show died down, the Doctor stepped in.
“Ah, there you are,” The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS with a grin and confident stride, “Figured you’d go either here or Antarctica—which of course means I went there first by mistake. It’s always the last places you look.”
"Greetings, Doctor," Diana Soriel said, “It has been a while.”
The smile on the Doctor’s face immediately faded as his eyes were drawn to her.
“Oh,” He said quietly, “Oh my…”
Diana said, “I deduced that I would see you again once I entered this state.”
The Doctor remained quiet, letting Diana continue.
“You’ve changed a great deal since then—you’ve gotten younger,” she smiled slightly, “and I miss the scarf.”
“Regeneration does have that affect,” The Doctor murmured, “Why did you do this to yourself, Diana?”
“Do this to herself?” Jack asked him.
The Doctor nodded slightly, “Diana Soriel was not a computer program when I knew her. Back at the height of Atlantis, she was its Queen.”
“And to protect my people,” Diana said, “I uploaded myself into the primary system of this last City-Ship to defend my people and the future of life on this planet. I committed my memories, biochemical makeup and essence to the protection of my people.”
“The ultimate sacrifice.”
“Yes, Doctor.” Diana said.
“But—”
Diana raised a hand and cut the doctor off, “Because you were not always around, Doctor. You can save this planet time and again, but you do not always save the planet from everything? That is asking too much of you, and those that did drove you way. Their greed and desire for war drew in Sauron, the Deceiver. He fooled us all and we paid the ultimate price for it.”
Her words were spoken calmly and without malice, but they still carried force with them, cutting into the Doctor like a knife, “With you gone and bound not to return until sometime far into the future, I enacted the RahXephon plan with you in mind.”
“You did this—all this—with me in mind?” The Doctor stammered slightly.
“Indeed,” Diana said, “Though more out of a sense of irony than anything else. We knew that the Dark History would consume us. All we could do was leave fail-safes to curb the things that brought about our downfall and protect the other humans not part of the Mu from our mistakes. The RaXephon was part of that system, but also something more.”
“Look,” Jack said, “I know this is really important stuff, but with Nazi’s breathing down are necks, could you cut it short?”
“Of course,” Diana lowered her head slightly, but her face grew darker ever so slightly, “We created an Alternate Reality for the RahXephon to fulfill its goal. We could not have it create a perfect world, but we could create a perfect life for one person. This is the world we live in now. It’s not perfect for everyone, but it is better than before.”
The Doctor grew visibly pale at this, “You did what?!”
“Create a New World,” Diana said, “I’m surprised you did not notice.”
“Y-You can’t just create a Reality like that without—”
“I know, that alternate Reality is gone, sublimated completely into this one,” Diana countered, “None who were in that universe were lost, they just have different lives within this one. This defeated most of our enemies without even having to harm them. As such, we no longer were needed as we were. Thus, we too were integrated back into this new reality. Only our time before the creation of the RaXephon mattered, in the end. All that is left is kept for the maintenance of what we created and chose to protect.
“Finally, we based the RaXephon’s tune on something you always cherished,” Diana’s eyes narrowed, “But could never give: Love.”
The word hung in the air like smoke.
“Love?” The Doctor’s expression lightened slightly.
“It is appropriately whimsical, I think.” Bitterness tinged the Queen’s voice, but only subtly, “Basing this new world on something you could never really express.”
After a moment, Jack added a simple line that garnered odd looks from everyone: “Still better than three quarters of an orphan.”
To which he followed with: “I guess I’m the only one who watches Venture Brothers here.”
*
Signum awoke with a start to meet the penetrating gaze of a pair of icy, scowling eyes.
“And where exactly have you been?” the owner of the eyes demanded.
Signum picked herself up from the slouch she fell in from the couch, towering over the tiny redhead giving her the evil eye. The scowl of Vita’s skull and crossed-bones t-shirt matched her overall facial expression.
“I was out, Vita,” Signum ran a hand through her disheveled hair, slowly rousing herself from her slumbering state.
“You were out to see
him, weren’t you?” Vita barked.
Signum paused before she said, “Not entirely,” before adding in a telepathic communication “I also took care of Wodan Ymir. His slaughter of our targets ended last night.”
Vita telepathically responded, “At least there’s that, but—”
Another girl, even smaller than Vita, wheeled in with a tray on her lap full of warm food.
“You shouldn’t sleep like that, Signum,” she said, “You’ll catch a cold.”
“I’m sorry,’ Signum answered.
“So” the girl’s face grew a Cheshire grin, “Who’s ‘Him’?”
Vita’s silence allowed Signum to quickly answer, “His name is Harry Dresden, Hayate. I believe I have developed affection for him.”
“Harri Du-re-su-den?” the girl, Hayate, took her time pronouncing the name, “really? Where’d you meet?”
A pause followed before Signum answered, “We were opponents in kendo.”
“Oh?” Hayate purred, “Did he beat you and now you can’t rest until you cross swords with him again?”
Another pause followed, “Nothing as dramatic as that, no,” Signum said, “Also, I defeated him three times so far.”
“Ah, so now
he is—”
“Not especially,” Signum cut her off, “But he is a tenacious and intelligent opponent.”
“I swear”, Vita sighed, “You watch too much anime, Hayate.”
“Have you asked him out yet?” Hayate asked Signum, earning the taller woman a death glare from Vita.
“Not yet,” Signum answered, “The timing has not been right. He is also from out of town—commuting for him is something of a problem.”
“That’s too bad,” Hayate’s face fell, “Doesn’t mean you should give up, though.”
“I had no intention of doing so, master.”
“Please,” Hayate, “Just call me Hayate.”
“My apologies.”