Chapter #59: Supreme Commander Thor
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POV: Michael Dresden. The next day.
I stepped out of the Stargate, my team right behind me. The first thing I felt was the sheer cold of the outside. The ground was covered in snow. I hadn't felt cold like this in decades. Nekhara was a temperate planet, and even when it snowed, it didn't get this cold.
Luckily, we had all come prepared with thermal clothing.
Before us was a stone pillar. A large, ornate metallic hammer topped it. The surrounding area was covered with a thin layer of snow. Luckily, it wasn't snowing at the moment, though it was overcast.
"Raines. Start checking the DHD." Hana, the team's engineer, quickly turned her attention away from the statue and rushed over to the DHD. She quickly opened the panel underneath the DHD.
The moment she touched the device, a stream of blue energy was emitted from the center of the hammer. It scanned over each of us, spending several long seconds on a person before moving on to the next. As it scanned the last member of my team, it stopped.
Arthur had told us about the device in advance. Had a Goa'uld or a Jaffa appeared, the beam would have teleported them to the labyrinth in the nearby mountains. With that in mind, it had been decided to leave Khavros behind for this expedition.
I turned to my other team members. "Alright. There should be a village somewhere nearby. Start searching for signs of habitation. There should be something in this clearing."
It took barely two minutes before my radio crackled. "I've found a road. Looks like there are horse tracks, and wheel marks." I quickly responded. "Understood. Return to the gate. Looks like Raines needs a few more minutes."
A few minutes passed as everyone returned. Hana finally spoke as she placed everything back into the DHD. "Everything looks good. There's no damage, and there doesn't appear to be any modifications."
Hana stood up and dusted her hands off. Everyone else did the same, and we made our way up the nearby hills to where the tracks had been spotted previously. These quickly led to a very well-maintained gravel road, which seemed to lead further upwards and over to the next valley.
It was at about this time that we spotted the smoke rising in the distance. As we reached the peak of the road, we finally got a good view of where the smoke was coming from. The valley had several simple homes, each of which had several small holes to allow smoke to escape.
Down the road, I could just barely make out five people guarding the entrance to the village. We continued onward, and it wasn't long before the people saw us. "Halt! What brings you to our town?"
I stepped forward once and spoke. "We've come looking for the Hall of Thor's Might."
The townsman looked totally caught off guard before he spoke again. "Why would you come looking for such a place?"
"We wish to speak with Thor and request his aid." I paused for a moment. "We have heard legends that Thor has prepared a trial, and that you must pass the tests within the hall to gain an audience with him."
The townsman seemed taken aback once more. "Wait here while I go get the village head."
I looked at my team members while he did so, but with nothing better to do, we waited. Several minutes passed before a small group of villagers left one home and approached us. All of them were well dressed for the cold. At their head, an older woman who looked like she was in her 60s or 70s led them.
"You come seeking the Hall of Thor's Might?" She asked, seemingly dubious about the claim.
I nodded. "We do. We seek the aid of the gods, and we hope to find it within the hall."
She stared at me suspiciously for several long moments. "My eldest son will lead you to the hall, but you will permit him to leave before you enter."
I raised an eyebrow, but nodded again. "We understand. You have nothing to worry about either way. Thor is not a wrathful god."
She nodded, and a young man stepped forward. "Please follow me."
The sky cleared up a bit as we began our trek into the forest. The path had clearly been walked before, but definitely not often. We walked for almost two hours before a little shrine became visible.
It was very similar in appearance to the pillar by the Stargate, but it was much shorter. As we came around the front, there was a small red gem embedded in the center of the pillar. The boy pointed at it from a distance. "There it is."
I turned to him. "Thank you. Get going; we don't want you caught up in our problems."
He nodded, turned around, and ran off into the forest. I set a timer for thirty minutes, just to be safe, and we approached the hall. I turned to Hana. "Alright, get to work. Just don't touch anything yet."
From her bag, Hana pulled out the familiar diagnostic tool and waved it all over the statue. "Definitely some really advanced technology. The orb in the middle is just a detector of some kind, but the center of the thing is way too dense for the scanner to get a good read on anything."
She continued to scan away, hoping to get a good enough reading of what was going on inside the device, but she clearly wasn't getting anywhere. Finally, my watch started beeping and everyone started standing up. Hana put away the diagnostic tool. "Everyone ready?"
We all spoke in affirmative, and she walked right up to the center of the pillar and touched the red stone. The thing lit up, and moments later I watched as a beam of light ran over all of us.
Without waiting, I pulled my flashlight from my pocket and pointed it at the stone floor of the room we found ourselves in. "Count off."
Everyone began turning on their lights as they all confirmed their positions. In the distance, I watched as another identical pedestal came to life. Before the pedestal, the air rippled like a rainbow, and a Viking with a metal helmet appeared. It spoke, "I am Thor. You are brave to come before me."
I tried to interrupt it. "We have come to make contact with Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard Fleet."
The hologram continued despite my attempt to interrupt it. "However, only the worthy may witness Thor's might."
With a ripple, the hologram disappeared. I winced. I had hoped that would have been enough to get their attention, but it appeared that we would actually have to complete the trials.
The room shook, and all five of us stood back against the far wall. With a crash, the floor disappeared below the center of the room. I gulped, and Hana spoke. "Sir, I don't remember this being in the file."
I smiled bitterly. "Unfortunately, the only thing that Arthur could remember was that circles were involved."
Through the center of the room was a single long, narrow beam, apparently for us to walk across. "I guess this means we're supposed to cross to the other side."
With a deep groan, I got down on my hands and knees and crawled carefully across. As I reached the other side, I turned around and nodded. "Alright. Everyone across, nice and slow."
Hana was next. With a deep breath, she carefully closed up her bag and made sure it was properly sealed. Then she started crawling. It was as she was halfway across that the room shook, and Hana hung on for dear life.
Luckily, it stopped after just a few seconds, and she quickly and carefully hurried across. The last two members of my team got across with no issue.
We stood on the opposite side of the massive chasm, waiting for something to happen. Then, before our eyes, the floor reappeared as if it had never gone. Once more, the hologram was once more before us. "You have shown true selflessness and bravery. I salute you. Now you must add wisdom to courage. Solve the riddle of the runes, and I will show you my true might."
With a flash of light, we suddenly found ourselves in another room. The wall was covered with Norse runes and geometric symbols. I turned to Hana once more. "Alright. Get to work."
I turned to Sakura on my other side. "Get pictures of the walls." She immediately got to it as well.
In the meantime, I got to work looking up the meaning of the runes. Several of the Claymore's researchers were language nuts and had brought digital copies of several hundred textbooks on extinct languages. They had thrown them into the flexi's translation program, and now the flexis had a (mostly) complete list of all the languages of ancient Terra, included among them was the Old Norse language.
The wall translated into 3, 14, 15, 9. I stared at it blankly for several long seconds. "It can't be that simple."
Hana came over and looked. She blinked at the flexi a few times. "Arthur said that the answer was related to circles. I'd say that's a pretty big coincidence."
There were two other circles in the room. One of them was a wheel drawn on a wall. The other was among a group of geometric shapes. First, we examined the drawn wheel. Though we quickly moved on since the diagnostic tool showed nothing.
But when we came to the circle, it was very odd indeed. After a quick scan, it quickly became clear that there was another sensor behind the circle. I pursed my lips. "Well. Definitely the circle then."
I placed my hand on the circle and watched in amazement as the stone turned into sand and then just slowly fell away. Inside, a red crystal with golden decorations appeared. I stared back at everyone and then touched the crystal.
For several seconds nothing happened, then a light appeared behind us. We all turned back to find the same hologram of the Viking from earlier. With a shimmer, the hologram transformed from a human into a diminutive grey alien, nearly identical in appearance to the greys of 21st century Terra.
"I am the actual one…whom you know as Thor," the Asgard hologram spoke.
I coughed. "Are you still a program, or are you the actual Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard Fleet?"
The hologram turned its head. "You know my official title. You are not Cimmerian?"
This was the actual Thor, or at least a direct call to him. I nodded. "We are. Has the war against the Replicators begun yet?"
He stared at me blankly for several long seconds. "Yes. We have been attempting to exterminate the self-replicating robotic hive known as the Replicators for approximately 228 of your years."
That was far less time than I had been expecting. We had all been under the impression that the Asgard had pulled out because of the Replicators, but that clearly wasn't the case. Something to consider later.
I nodded. "We have information on a weapon that will allow you to permanently remove the Replicators, but we need you to remove the specific memories from someone's head."
The grey stared at me for several long moments. "We will not search through the memories of someone who is unwilling to have such a search done."
I nodded. "That isn't a problem. The person in question has a lot of memories of stuff that we'd all like to see. We'd just like copies of the memories in question once you've got them out."
I got the distinct impression that the Asgard was annoyed, but he responded quickly this time. "My vessel will arrive at your world in seven hours."
I blinked at him. "What do you…" I was cut off as the beam of blue light shone over all of us and I suddenly stepped out of the Stargate on Kaelastrum. I quickly recovered my balance and stood back up.
Around us, all the soldiers were holding their firearms at the ready, and I could see the newly constructed buildings in the distance. Thor had sent us back to Kaelastrum directly. We hadn't even gone to Cimmeria directly. We had used several intermediary gates before dialing the world.
I grabbed my radio and turned it on. "This is Dresden. Contact with the Asgard confirmed. We…" I thought about what the Asgard, Thor, had said before he returned us. "We might have a slight problem though."
- - -
Author's Note:
YAY! Asgard! Thor is slightly annoyed that his break is being interrupted by some random humans though.
Read up to Chapter #71 on Discord: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]
POV: Michael Dresden. The next day.
I stepped out of the Stargate, my team right behind me. The first thing I felt was the sheer cold of the outside. The ground was covered in snow. I hadn't felt cold like this in decades. Nekhara was a temperate planet, and even when it snowed, it didn't get this cold.
Luckily, we had all come prepared with thermal clothing.
Before us was a stone pillar. A large, ornate metallic hammer topped it. The surrounding area was covered with a thin layer of snow. Luckily, it wasn't snowing at the moment, though it was overcast.
"Raines. Start checking the DHD." Hana, the team's engineer, quickly turned her attention away from the statue and rushed over to the DHD. She quickly opened the panel underneath the DHD.
The moment she touched the device, a stream of blue energy was emitted from the center of the hammer. It scanned over each of us, spending several long seconds on a person before moving on to the next. As it scanned the last member of my team, it stopped.
Arthur had told us about the device in advance. Had a Goa'uld or a Jaffa appeared, the beam would have teleported them to the labyrinth in the nearby mountains. With that in mind, it had been decided to leave Khavros behind for this expedition.
I turned to my other team members. "Alright. There should be a village somewhere nearby. Start searching for signs of habitation. There should be something in this clearing."
It took barely two minutes before my radio crackled. "I've found a road. Looks like there are horse tracks, and wheel marks." I quickly responded. "Understood. Return to the gate. Looks like Raines needs a few more minutes."
A few minutes passed as everyone returned. Hana finally spoke as she placed everything back into the DHD. "Everything looks good. There's no damage, and there doesn't appear to be any modifications."
Hana stood up and dusted her hands off. Everyone else did the same, and we made our way up the nearby hills to where the tracks had been spotted previously. These quickly led to a very well-maintained gravel road, which seemed to lead further upwards and over to the next valley.
It was at about this time that we spotted the smoke rising in the distance. As we reached the peak of the road, we finally got a good view of where the smoke was coming from. The valley had several simple homes, each of which had several small holes to allow smoke to escape.
Down the road, I could just barely make out five people guarding the entrance to the village. We continued onward, and it wasn't long before the people saw us. "Halt! What brings you to our town?"
I stepped forward once and spoke. "We've come looking for the Hall of Thor's Might."
The townsman looked totally caught off guard before he spoke again. "Why would you come looking for such a place?"
"We wish to speak with Thor and request his aid." I paused for a moment. "We have heard legends that Thor has prepared a trial, and that you must pass the tests within the hall to gain an audience with him."
The townsman seemed taken aback once more. "Wait here while I go get the village head."
I looked at my team members while he did so, but with nothing better to do, we waited. Several minutes passed before a small group of villagers left one home and approached us. All of them were well dressed for the cold. At their head, an older woman who looked like she was in her 60s or 70s led them.
"You come seeking the Hall of Thor's Might?" She asked, seemingly dubious about the claim.
I nodded. "We do. We seek the aid of the gods, and we hope to find it within the hall."
She stared at me suspiciously for several long moments. "My eldest son will lead you to the hall, but you will permit him to leave before you enter."
I raised an eyebrow, but nodded again. "We understand. You have nothing to worry about either way. Thor is not a wrathful god."
She nodded, and a young man stepped forward. "Please follow me."
The sky cleared up a bit as we began our trek into the forest. The path had clearly been walked before, but definitely not often. We walked for almost two hours before a little shrine became visible.
It was very similar in appearance to the pillar by the Stargate, but it was much shorter. As we came around the front, there was a small red gem embedded in the center of the pillar. The boy pointed at it from a distance. "There it is."
I turned to him. "Thank you. Get going; we don't want you caught up in our problems."
He nodded, turned around, and ran off into the forest. I set a timer for thirty minutes, just to be safe, and we approached the hall. I turned to Hana. "Alright, get to work. Just don't touch anything yet."
From her bag, Hana pulled out the familiar diagnostic tool and waved it all over the statue. "Definitely some really advanced technology. The orb in the middle is just a detector of some kind, but the center of the thing is way too dense for the scanner to get a good read on anything."
She continued to scan away, hoping to get a good enough reading of what was going on inside the device, but she clearly wasn't getting anywhere. Finally, my watch started beeping and everyone started standing up. Hana put away the diagnostic tool. "Everyone ready?"
We all spoke in affirmative, and she walked right up to the center of the pillar and touched the red stone. The thing lit up, and moments later I watched as a beam of light ran over all of us.
Without waiting, I pulled my flashlight from my pocket and pointed it at the stone floor of the room we found ourselves in. "Count off."
Everyone began turning on their lights as they all confirmed their positions. In the distance, I watched as another identical pedestal came to life. Before the pedestal, the air rippled like a rainbow, and a Viking with a metal helmet appeared. It spoke, "I am Thor. You are brave to come before me."
I tried to interrupt it. "We have come to make contact with Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard Fleet."
The hologram continued despite my attempt to interrupt it. "However, only the worthy may witness Thor's might."
With a ripple, the hologram disappeared. I winced. I had hoped that would have been enough to get their attention, but it appeared that we would actually have to complete the trials.
The room shook, and all five of us stood back against the far wall. With a crash, the floor disappeared below the center of the room. I gulped, and Hana spoke. "Sir, I don't remember this being in the file."
I smiled bitterly. "Unfortunately, the only thing that Arthur could remember was that circles were involved."
Through the center of the room was a single long, narrow beam, apparently for us to walk across. "I guess this means we're supposed to cross to the other side."
With a deep groan, I got down on my hands and knees and crawled carefully across. As I reached the other side, I turned around and nodded. "Alright. Everyone across, nice and slow."
Hana was next. With a deep breath, she carefully closed up her bag and made sure it was properly sealed. Then she started crawling. It was as she was halfway across that the room shook, and Hana hung on for dear life.
Luckily, it stopped after just a few seconds, and she quickly and carefully hurried across. The last two members of my team got across with no issue.
We stood on the opposite side of the massive chasm, waiting for something to happen. Then, before our eyes, the floor reappeared as if it had never gone. Once more, the hologram was once more before us. "You have shown true selflessness and bravery. I salute you. Now you must add wisdom to courage. Solve the riddle of the runes, and I will show you my true might."
With a flash of light, we suddenly found ourselves in another room. The wall was covered with Norse runes and geometric symbols. I turned to Hana once more. "Alright. Get to work."
I turned to Sakura on my other side. "Get pictures of the walls." She immediately got to it as well.
In the meantime, I got to work looking up the meaning of the runes. Several of the Claymore's researchers were language nuts and had brought digital copies of several hundred textbooks on extinct languages. They had thrown them into the flexi's translation program, and now the flexis had a (mostly) complete list of all the languages of ancient Terra, included among them was the Old Norse language.
The wall translated into 3, 14, 15, 9. I stared at it blankly for several long seconds. "It can't be that simple."
Hana came over and looked. She blinked at the flexi a few times. "Arthur said that the answer was related to circles. I'd say that's a pretty big coincidence."
There were two other circles in the room. One of them was a wheel drawn on a wall. The other was among a group of geometric shapes. First, we examined the drawn wheel. Though we quickly moved on since the diagnostic tool showed nothing.
But when we came to the circle, it was very odd indeed. After a quick scan, it quickly became clear that there was another sensor behind the circle. I pursed my lips. "Well. Definitely the circle then."
I placed my hand on the circle and watched in amazement as the stone turned into sand and then just slowly fell away. Inside, a red crystal with golden decorations appeared. I stared back at everyone and then touched the crystal.
For several seconds nothing happened, then a light appeared behind us. We all turned back to find the same hologram of the Viking from earlier. With a shimmer, the hologram transformed from a human into a diminutive grey alien, nearly identical in appearance to the greys of 21st century Terra.
"I am the actual one…whom you know as Thor," the Asgard hologram spoke.
I coughed. "Are you still a program, or are you the actual Supreme Commander Thor of the Asgard Fleet?"
The hologram turned its head. "You know my official title. You are not Cimmerian?"
This was the actual Thor, or at least a direct call to him. I nodded. "We are. Has the war against the Replicators begun yet?"
He stared at me blankly for several long seconds. "Yes. We have been attempting to exterminate the self-replicating robotic hive known as the Replicators for approximately 228 of your years."
That was far less time than I had been expecting. We had all been under the impression that the Asgard had pulled out because of the Replicators, but that clearly wasn't the case. Something to consider later.
I nodded. "We have information on a weapon that will allow you to permanently remove the Replicators, but we need you to remove the specific memories from someone's head."
The grey stared at me for several long moments. "We will not search through the memories of someone who is unwilling to have such a search done."
I nodded. "That isn't a problem. The person in question has a lot of memories of stuff that we'd all like to see. We'd just like copies of the memories in question once you've got them out."
I got the distinct impression that the Asgard was annoyed, but he responded quickly this time. "My vessel will arrive at your world in seven hours."
I blinked at him. "What do you…" I was cut off as the beam of blue light shone over all of us and I suddenly stepped out of the Stargate on Kaelastrum. I quickly recovered my balance and stood back up.
Around us, all the soldiers were holding their firearms at the ready, and I could see the newly constructed buildings in the distance. Thor had sent us back to Kaelastrum directly. We hadn't even gone to Cimmeria directly. We had used several intermediary gates before dialing the world.
I grabbed my radio and turned it on. "This is Dresden. Contact with the Asgard confirmed. We…" I thought about what the Asgard, Thor, had said before he returned us. "We might have a slight problem though."
- - -
Author's Note:
YAY! Asgard! Thor is slightly annoyed that his break is being interrupted by some random humans though.
Read up to Chapter #71 on Discord: [ LINK: https://discord.com/invite/dbVKfqYw5T ]