The Galaxy Project

PROLOGUE

December 21, 2012.
The whole Earth was holding it's breath. Dozens of world leaders had locked themselves up in the Headquarters of the United Nations for the past week, meeting for an unknown purpose. News stations, journalists, and conspiracy theorists worldwide were making wild guesses as to what they were doing there. Discussing the fate of the planet? Trying to hash out a worldwide treaty? How to deal with the Middle East? Declassifying some important information?

Whatever it was, they had been there for an entire week, so it was rather obvious that it was going to be very important - probably change the human outlook on life.

Strangely, about three days in major religious leaders were called into the meeting as well, raising even more questions. Were they discussing something spiritual in nature? Was armageddon coming? Did science discover the soul or something? Was the world doomed from a meteor about to crash into the planet?

People were getting really tense. Larger-scale violence had not broken out - yet - but it was definitely going to occur if the world leaders didn't come out and say something soon.

On December 21, 2012, the doors of the UN swung open. The President of the United States, Henry Hayes, walked up to a podium. Reporters were everywhere outside the UN, pointing their cameras and asking questions rapidly. Hayes simply held up his hands, gesturing for quiet. He cleared his throat.

"Today, I have been chosen to impart some news to the citizens of the world. We have been debating for a whole week on the best way to do this, and after all this time we decided there was no need to be roundabout about it. The news is very simple.

We are not alone in the universe."

Hayes paused as he heard many people in the crowd gasp. Some looked panicked.

"Now now, there's no need to panic, there's not any immediate danger to Earth at the moment. To be honest, there used to be. But we have decided to declassify everything now since, at the moment, there is peace in our corner of the galaxy and we are poised to enter a new era of human existence.

Our human race began our foray to the stars with the launch of Sputnik. Then we landed on the moon many decades ago, that one step indeed being a giant leap and a defining moment in our history. The next giant leap we made, however, was not one anyone here is aware of. Before we even set foot on the moon, we discovered an ancient artifact buried beneath the sand of Egypt - a giant ring made out of a material none of our scientists could identify. We had no clue what it was, but we were quickly able to discover that it wasn't human in origin. It took the efforts of archeologist Daniel Jackson to finally crack the code of the device - called a stargate - which we activated for the first time in 1996. When we did this, that one small step opened pandora's box. We triggered a war with an alien race known as the Goa'uld who dominated this sector of the galaxy. They wanted to use humans as slaves, and as we soon discovered they had in the deep past occupied Earth itself. Due to the actions of the Goa'uld and an ancient race known as the Alterans, human beings are spread across the galaxy, all of which originate from this planet. They are our lost brethren.

The war with the Goa'uld lasted for eight years, but eventually with help from various alien and otherworldly human allies, we won. However, it took another war with a race of beings known as the Ori to truly bring us all together. What was once a bunch of separate worlds had to band together to face a threat that wanted to wipe all of us out. That war ended back in 2007. Since then, we have for the first time enjoyed peace in the cosmos.

In that time, we began to put in place a plan. The war with the Ori decimated many of our otherworld allies, mostly our lost human brethren. We have been sending them aid for some time, and we are forever indebted to them for what they sacrificed to ensure that our race continues to survive. Today is the day we introduce some new nations to the UN, lost brethren from other worlds."

He waved his hands, and nothing seemed to happen. Then people gasped and pointed into the sky. A dozen or so black shapes were descending from the sky. Seven of them were similar in size and shape - large rectangular craft with two smaller rectangles off to each side. These made a deep thrumming noise as they approached, and the flags of major Earth nations could be seen imprinted on them. Behind them were four other craft. One a giant golden pyramidal ship, another a round white ship with a glowing thing not unlike a star inside it, and a smaller blue ship with alien writing all over it. The fourth larger ship seemed to be of a similar design to the seven other craft, but much larger and with four rectangular structures around the center. It has the UN logo printed on it, along with large words indicating the ship's name.

"Mister President, the is General O'Neill calling from the Enterprise. Are you ready for the delegates?"

"Send them down." Hayes spoke into the mic.

"You're clear, Commeral."

The blue ship - apparently designated the Commeral - drifted to just above the president, and shot out a beam of light and a series of rings appeared on the stage behind him. Suddenly, there were several delegates standing there, each with their nations flag or symbol imprinted on their shirts: all of which no-one had ever seen before.

One delegate caused a collective gasp. She was obviously not human, but some kind of humanoid reptile. Hayes smirked as the people all started talking. He waved for silence, but it didn't happen. The other world leaders motioned for silence as well, but the crowd was too busy yelling.

A gunshot went off, bouncing off a shield put in place around the leaders.

The voice of O'Neill could be heard over the Enterprise's loudspeaker. "Hey, if you want answers, you have to A) be quiet and let them talk and B) not shoot them. Got it? Good. By the way, just beamed up the shooter. He seems to not be all there, if you know what I mean."

The reminder that there was a big hulking spaceship above them shut everyone up.

Hayes smiled. "Thanks Jack."

"No problemo."

Hayes rolled his eyes. "Now that that is over with... I see you've seen Saril, a member of the race known as Serrakins. They are from the only nation that currently occupies more than one world, the Hebridan Commerce. Their society is half human, half Serrakin, and they live together in harmony, just like we hope we can. With the additions of these peoples, we now effectively own a somewhat large section of the cosmos. We also have highly advanced technology gifted to us by the dying race known as the Asgard, which ensures our safety as we continue to explore the galaxy. We should be extremely honored to receive the legacy of the Great Alliance that spanned the galaxy millions of years ago.

While the UN will be keeping the Asgard technology strictly regulated, we will be giving the less advanced but still world changing technology to the public domain so everyone can make it. We expect that within five years we will be able to construct civilian starships, solve the energy crisis, and put a serious dent in world hunger now that we can use all these technologies out in the open. Earth will become the center of a new age in space.

A new branch of the UN is also being implemented today, an interstellar government called the Tau'ri Alliance devoted to representing humanity - and any nonhumans in the UN - to the rest of the galaxy. Leaders have already been selected, and all the information on the Tau'ri Alliance, as well as most of the stargate missions and history, will be available for everyone to read on the Internet within a few hours.

Speaking of the rest of the galaxy, we have to allies to the Tau'ri floating above us right now. You two can come down now."

More rings appeared, depositing two people. Both were men, one somewhat young and in what appeared to be knight armor, another really old, bearded, and displaying a golden mark on his forehead.

"May I introduce Tomin and Brae'tac, leaders in the star-spanning unions that are our allies.

Brae'tac spoke first. "It is an immense pleasure to finally see the general people of Earth. I am from a race known as the Jaffa, a race designed by the Goa'uld to be warriors in their army and hosts for their young. We are an old race, deeply set in our traditions of honor, battle, and glory. When your people came into the fight against the Goa'uld, I must admit I saw them merely as good warriors who stood a chance at finally overthrowing the Goa'uld overlords. Now, looking back I can see that they fought us something. They showed us that while sometimes battle is necessary, honor can be achieved through brokering peace and showing mercy. It was - and still is - difficult for Jaffa to accept a world where not all of us are warriors, but the Free Jaffa Nation is learning. I, as a member of the Jaffa high council, extend my thanks to you for teaching us how to accept our newfound freedom from the Goa'uld, in addition to helping us achieve it." He bowed, gesturing to Tomin.

Tomin nodded. "My people's story is similar to the Jaffa, except that our overlords were the Ori. They were beings of immense power who we worshipped as gods, we didn't know that our worship was actually what gave them their power. The Tau'ri, the Jaffa, and their allies had to show us the truth rather forcefully and get us to rescind our old masters. The Ori are gone now, defeated in the war by a machine left behind from a past age. They left us behind, a people who were very confused and lost about what to do - our only purpose in life had been to worship the Ori, and they provided for us. With them gone, what would we do?

Like Brae'tac, I must thank you for helping us get back onto our feet. You showed us that the Book of Origin, the religion the Ori gave us, was appealing because most of it was right. It told us how to behave, how to treat each other, and that it was actually remarkably similar to the doctrines of your own Christianity. We have found that without the Ori, no-one is keeping us in check. But we have also found that the freedom to make our own decisions has given us more life. And for your help, I thank you. I also thank you for finding a way to stop us on our crusade without large death.

We, the people of the Reform, look forward to peaceful relations with your people. The Ori may be gone, but they left us with a lot of ships and technology from the war that we are more than willing to share." He nodded.

Hayes smiled. "Citizens of the Earth, let us take the thanks these two powerful individuals have offered us and prove ourselves worthy of our respect. They have met our leaders, our soldiers, our diplomats, and our scientists. Let's let them feel just as proud to call the rest of the world friends. Let us not throw the world into turmoil, but let us look forward into the stars.

Let us venture forth into the vast stars, helping those who are in need, and proving to the galaxy that we deserve what we have been given. Let us usher in a new era of human existence."

There was silence.

Then there was applause.

O'Neill, sitting in the bridge of the Enterprise, smirked.

Well whaddoya know, it went well.

The future seemed bright for the Tau'ri. A new era was about to dawn. 

---

What no being within the galaxy knew was that at that moment, something was coming. Something that would change everything.

And the galaxy only had 250 years to prepare for a threat they weren't even aware was coming.