Notes: This story is placed after the season 2 finale "Gauntlet". The story will start after the stasis hiatus. Though it's a "general" story it will contain mild slash elements, aside other relationships, which means, there will be characters who'll have a homosexual relationship, though they will not be the usual suspects.

In addition to that there will be graphic descriptions of violence at several points.

I will post "archive warnings" in the beginning of each chapter, so, those who are sensible to any of those points mentioned, will get a warning.

The first chapters are safe for everybody, but I'd recommend it for readers not before 16.

This story is a translation of a story I'm writing in German „Das Ende der Stille", a WIP, I still continue, though it'll take some time.

Last but not least I'd like to give my thanks to my lovely beta-reader jeri33, who did everything to make sure this will be a radable English text.

1. Awakening

After long, quiet months of continuous flying through the void between two galaxies in FTL mode, the main computer aboard Destiny received instructions to call several subroutines to start a sequence for reinstating life support.

Switch on console after console. Activate corridor after corridor, and room after room: turn on oxygen supply, gravity, temperature controls and light. Provide proper environmental conditions.

The spaceship Destiny equipped with its durable and efficient computers, and an Artificial Intelligence built deeply in the midst of it's internal systems, was the most progressive and revolutionary piece of technology of it's time. The builders made tremendous efforts to send her on a journey that they knew would not only outlast themselves, but until the time to end all times. This is how it was planned and how it will continue.

Destiny started her journey hundreds of thousands of years ago, or even longer, during a time before anything existed on Earth that could be called a human being. Her programming commands her to stop the automatically set course in a few cases only. This course tells her to fly from one galaxy to the next, collect data, arrange and archive it, then to calculate the jump to the next galaxy and start again.

Several hundreds of thousands of years have passed, doing nothing but this, only interrupted by a few turbulent moments. In all this time the ship managed, because of its flexible and adaptive AI, to even rid itself of quite persistent invaders, so that it could continue her flight again, although not without sustaining some minor damages. The whole ship was despite its age, elegant, even if some areas had a fair amount of patina.

Destiny's automatic program to collect data could only be interrupted while dialling the ship's gate, or if a crewmember manually overrode the command to make an unscheduled stop. In both cases the ship would stop the FTL flight mode and float only with sub light engines through space. Normally the ship must pause and recharge the engines at certain stars, or it must stop near a particular gate and contact one of the seed ships. Seed ships build and set up the gates on selected planets, and are ahead of Destiny by an unspecific amount of time, to correct the future trajectory.

The creators of Destiny made sure the survival of a human crew has priority over the accomplishing of the ship's mission, therefore, all life supporting systems take precedence over collecting data, as long as the mission itself is not at risk. Time is meaningless.

Ensure the survival of the crew. Examine the stasis chambers. Dwell with them. See their joy. Feel their mourning. Lament with them about every loss. Waiting for an answer from a seed ship, which will never answer again. Realizing another one is gone. Check the flight path. Watch their curiosity. See them being together. Understand their emotions – but a ship does not know about emotions. Make them understand. Guide them if necessary. Undertake security tests. Learned so much. So many questions left. My crew without an exception. Time is change. Time spent with humans is adaption to change.

~/~/~

After three years, nine months, twenty-three days, eight hours and forty-eight seconds, the FTL engine stopped and Destiny slipped slowly, and smoothly, despite her huge form, into an even speed through space. Twelve hours later the ship would recharge her energy reserves on one of the first stars at the rim of a new galaxy. Then Destiny would look for a planet with an intact stargate and the particular environmental conditions that her crew would need to be able to refill their supplies.

Now that the life support systems were fully online the computer started to bring stasis chambers with higher priority online. In eight of them temperature, air supply, and a dimmed light inside the stasis chamber was activated. After a while the doors of the chambers, or „pods", slid open towards the ceiling. The humans inside the pods opened their eyes, one after another, and emerged out of the small, high boxes.

Colonel Young stabilized himself on the doorframe, seemingly in need of more time to

become accustomed to his surroundings. Dr. Rush, Lieutenant Scott, Sergeant Greer, Lieutenant Johansen, Chloe Armstrong and Camille Wray had the same problems. Rush tumbled awkwardly from the chamber into the corridor, looking first at the broken capsule left for Eli.

Before he reached it, he could see Eli stumbling out of his pod. His eyes met Young's in that very moment. Young gave him a short nod, which he answered back in relief.

Young was the first one who reacted and spoke in his natural and easy way. "I cannot say how happy I am to see you again safe and sound, Eli!" And without hesitation he cordially hugged the young man.

While Eli tried to peel away from his arms, he said, "You have no idea how happy I am to be here, now, and in one piece. For a while it didn't look good. But in the end I made it, against the odds." At the same time he saw Rush and his gaze darkened for a short moment. But then he saw Chloe and TJ and he started to smile again. „It's a long story. I'll tell you later. But now, I need a bit of time to adjust to all of this!"

Rush gave him a short nod. "Mr. Wallace, I'm very relieved to see you..." But Eli interrupted him impatiently, "Yeah, I'm fine, nothing happened."

Chloe, who had been helping Scott, came over and stood between Eli and Rush. "Hey you two, what's going on here?" Then she looked confused at Eli. 'What's that!' she asked herself.

But before the situation could become more awkward, TJ got her chance. "Okay, folks, whatever you want to say to each other, I don't care. I want to see all of you in the infirmary. ASAP!" And with an alarming glance to Rush, Eli, and Young she added: "No Exception. I don't care who's first, just one after another. So, who'll be first?"

Scott and Greer answered more or less at the same time, "Me!"

"I'll go with you," said Chloe, and left the room, followed by Scott and Greer.

On her way out TJ took one of the radios from a console near the entrance. She stopped, turned and said to those left behind, "Take your radios with you, and switch them on. When I'm finished with them, I'd like to continue with you. Don't make me wait. Thank you!" TJ sounded tired and on edge.

Camille who observed the whole situation without saying anything, suddenly felt very uneasy. "Somebody should get in contact with SGC!" she said to Young, who had stayed behind with Eli and Rush.

"Yeah, of course, but we're not in a big hurry," said Young. "We can do that later. Rush! Eli! First let's check the systems. Is it possible to use the bridge? What about energy, supplies, water? Is it possible to get more people out of stasis?"

Rush, who was already busy on one of the consoles, cleared his throat and answered without looking up from the display. "The ship is approaching a star. We should reach it in about seven hours. Our reserves are close to zero. So, no, we don't have access to the bridge, not yet, at least. Those systems would require too much energy. Supplies and water?" He looked over to Eli, who didn't react. "How much was left, before you entered the stasis pod, Eli?"

"Um, yes, there's enough water, but no food, aside from the rest of this quite tasty protein stuff we brought with us from Icarus," Eli said, looking at Young, disregarding Rush.

'Since when does Eil not answer someone who's talking to him?' Young looked irritated at Eli and then Rush, but decided to ignore the tension between the two. "Okay, not great, but better than nothing."

Young noticed Rush looking irritated as well, as if he just realized how uncharacteristically cold Eli reacted towards him. But Rush seemed to be tired, or too occupied with other things to care, and went on with what he was doing. Finally he told Young, "Eli and I'll have a look at the consoles in the control interface room. Then we can check all the other stasis pods. But, it might be wise not to wake all the people at once. After we have recharged the ship in the star, we can go on to another group so we have enough people to get supplies on the next planet, which we'll reach tomorrow, by the way. And after that, we could go on with the rest."

"Yes, good. Do it, Rush!"

"Um, sorry Colonel, but do you mind if I delay this for a few minutes? I need to visit the bathroom," said Rush, and was gone without waiting for an answer.

Before Young could do anything, Eli was behind Rush, saying "me too!" And only two seconds later, Young realized suddenly that this might actually be a good idea and followed them without waiting. But just before he was out of the room he heard Camille, calling, "How about water for everyone?"

"Great idea," Young called back and took one of the radios from the console in front of the door, just as Rush and Eli had.

~/~/~

In the meantime TJ, Greer, Scott and Chloe arrived in the infirmary. When they opened the door, the light went on automatically, but stayed dimmed. 'That's strange', TJ thought, 'I've never seen the ship dimming the light in the middle of the day.' But before she could linger on that thought she realized she was horribly thirsty. So she went to the sink, took some cups off a nearby shelf, and filled them with water. Intuitively she smelled the first cup, but after she found nothing suspicious she gave one to everybody. "Drink this. Slowly. All of it!"

"Yes ma'am!" answered Greer in his typical manner, while Scott and Chloe took the cups, and drank them empty, without saying anything. After a while Chloe, saying more to herself, than to anybody else, "This is strange, first I had the urge to go to the bathroom, but when I was there, I got the feeling it was much ado about nothing, and now that I'm really thirsty, I'd prefer not to drink."

"I felt the same. But maybe this is a natural thing for somebody who has just come out of a stasis pod," said TJ.

"Quite possible," Scott agreed, while Greer just nodded his head in approval.

~/~/~

Rush sighed faintly and rubbed both hands over his face. 'How daft is that? A moment ago I thought I needed to go, and now. Whatever.' He pressed a button and waited until the mist stopped running into the ancient version of a toilet bowl. Then he stood up, pulled up his blue jeans, tucked in his t-shirts, and buckled the belt. Like everyone, he was used to the fact that everything was cleaned automatically. So, without wasting a thought about it, he opened the door and left the stall. He then went over to a sink to wash his hands under a device that delivered a kind of mist and ultraviolet light.

After a moment Eli and Colonel Young came out of their stalls, and also put their hands under the enlightened mist, both of them scowling.

With a side glance to Rush Young said, "Didn't work?"

"Not really," Rush answered.

Eli's reaction was more of an agreeing harrumph sound, and then he sighed and said, "I could really drink something. I'll catch Camille on her way!"

"Good, I'll go to the control interface room, will we see you later, Eli?" Rush asked.

"Yes, I'll be there," he said and went to the mess hall.

"Are you going to come with me, Colonel Young? When I've finished, I'll go directly to the stasis pods and check on everybody there."

"Yes, as long as TJ doesn't call me, it makes more sense to see everything first hand."

~/~/~

Meanwhile, Camille Wray was in the mess hall arranging a tray with eight cups full of water. Just before she left, she started to drink one, but then she wrinkled her nose and put it back on a corner of the tray. Then she went to the infirmary first since it was closest to her.

When she turned around the corner, she could hear TJ's soft voice. Then she saw the four cups standing on the nearby side tables and said with a small smile in her face, "Right, I should have thought about that, of course you have water here!"

"That's absolutely okay, Camille! Thank you anyway. But you should really drink some yourself," TJ said friendly while checking Greer's blood pressure.

"I tried, but I think I'm not that thirsty!"

"It's the same for all of us. Do it anyway, your body needs it. But drink it slowly, one sip at a time. And when you're finished, it would be nice if you'd take the tray to the control interface room, and make sure all three of them empty their cups."

"Yes, I'll do that. And I'll stand there looking grim until they all drink to the very last drop. And then they'll hate me. Especially Rush!" She said with a wink, and started to drink as she was told. Then she left.

After he realized that he missed Camille in the mess hall, Eli went back to the control interface room, still thirsty, and started to activate the second console next to Rush. Rush was concentrating on the display of his console, unaware of anything around him.

When Camille approached the room she could hear, aside from the constant very low hum of the ship, the voices of Eli and Rush, and the gentle clicks and beeps they made by working at the consoles.

Camille went into the room and put one of the cups on Eli's console. Then she went around him to give Rush his cup, who was sitting at the other console. She gave the last cup to Young who was standing next to Rush. Then she said, „Your water, with best regards from TJ. You must drink all of it, slowly!"

Camille stood her ground and looked at the two men in front of her. Eli was the only one who didn't hesitate, and started to drink while she had still been talking, but after a few sips he stopped, and placed the cup back onto the console. A moment later Camille saw a not too avid look on Young's face, although he drank as ordered. Only Rush stopped drinking after the first sip, wrinkled his nose in disdain, and put the cup onto the console.

"TJ said you must drink all the water, with no exceptions!" Camille slowly articulated, while she looked pointedly at Rush.

"I'll drink this later!" He said hesitating and reluctant.

"Yes, of course, and then you'll conveniently forget, something you always do when trying to avoid things you don't want to do. So, do yourself a favour, and drink. Now!" Camille answered quiet, but firm, still focusing on him.

Eli and Young drank their water reluctantly, but Rush started to go on with his work, trying to ignore Camille glaring at him. After a few moments he asked Eli to acknowledge something, but when he didn't hear anything, he looked at Eli, and finally back to Camille, who was still there, continuing to stare at him. When he met her gaze she raised an eyebrow. Rush looked back to Eli, who was now busy at his console. Then back to Young to look for another ally. But when Young just gave a shrug Rush took the cup, and drank, hesitatingly. After he finished he put the cup back and looked at Young, and back to Camille with his best mean-traitor-look.

"Well, look, it wasn't that hard, was it?" Camille said mockingly.

"Yes, yes, I get it!" Rush answered quickly. "Would it now be possible to go on with our work? Eli? I'm still waiting for an answer!" He continued impatiently, but then he stopped halfway and said softly, and casually, so that only Camille was able to hear, "Thank you, Camille!"

One second later he was again preoccupied by his Console.

~/~/~

Eight hours later the ship was recharged and another group of crewmembers were able to leave their stasis pods. In several habitable parts of the ship, people were doing different kinds of work, which was needed to start life again on Destiny.

This is the end of silence. What will come this time?

Unfortunately, with the newly awoken group there was a victim to bemoan, Dr. Inman, one of the analytical chemists. She was beloved by everyone for her bright charm and her continually great inventions of new flavouring agents for the sometimes-strange tasting food. She had died during the awakening process.

Rush was the first who saw the missing life signs on the small control board next to the door of her pod. He understood immediately what it meant and reacted uncharacteristically emotionally, by ramming his fist into the wall. Not surprisingly, he knew the wall was too hard for doing something like that, which was, of course, anticipated. But, nonetheless this idiotic act helped him by causing him enough pain to overcome his emotions. Before anybody else was able to realise what had happened, he concealed his pain, and went on as if nothing had happened.

For a split second he thought he saw Gloria, who stood there, smiling and shaking her head, gently speaking a word he couldn't understand. But when he focused, the only thing he saw was a rusty metal wall.

'Great, since I stopped the ship's simulation program months ago, this means, I'm hallucinating. Again,' he thought, while his blood pressure went slowly back to normal.

"How silly. Did you really think this would get you somewhere?" – She doesn't always understand the humans.

'Somebody there? No? No. Damn now the hand starts to hurt. You idiot. You are a reasonable scientist, not Colonel Young. Don't act like him,' he thought before he took the radio from his belt to report to Young what he had just found.

Colonel Young was, as expected, upset and insisted on checking all the other pods immediately, as if by doing so, it was possible to make sure that it wouldn't happen again. That's why he pushed all the scientists to hurry with their work, only to realize, after a few minutes, as he calmed down, that this won't really save anyone. Finally he apologized to them. Colonel Young recognized that it was not only hard for him to lose one of his crew, but for others as well.

The only thing that could be done for Dr. Inman was to put her back into the stasis pod, in order to stop the degeneration of the body until TJ would be able to do a pathological examination. Thankfully no one else was lost.

~/~/~

Late in the evening, just before midnight, according to "Destiny standard time" everything was done, and the entire group of 32 people where able to get some rest and sleep. Shortly before that time, while a few people were still working, the computer showed additional information about the planet they would reach a few hours later. The duty for the next morning was to gate to that planet to find fresh water and food.

Each team for off world missions were composed of a mixed crew, so that aboard Destiny,

and on the planet there were enough specialists for each necessary task. A rotation of an even

number of soldiers and scientists where chosen to ensure that everyone could become proficient in different tasks required on missions, and that eventually all the necessary work on the teams could be preformed by anyone. Last but not least, every one of those 32 people should be able to leave the ship for some fresh air, and a little bit of sunshine too.

It had taken Camile a long time, and even more words, to convince Young to involve the scientists in more of the off-world teams, so that in the end, everybody, regardless of his or her profession, felt a part of one united crew.

This time everyone needed to go to the planet, even Eli, Rush, TJ and Young, who more often stayed behind for security reasons. Therefore it was planned to divide them into different groups, so that Eli and Young were part of the first group, and TJ and Rush part of the next one. So this was the schedule for the following day.

Now, after midnight, nearly everyone was asleep. TJ, who stayed a bit longer working in the infirmary, finally went to the bathroom to take a shower. She was looking forward to enveloping herself in the wonderful warm mist and then going to her bed with a marvellous relaxed and clean feeling.

When she opened the door to the bathroom, she realized somebody who looked like a man had the same idea. The room was not locked, assuming whoever was taking a shower didn't mind sharing the bathroom with anyone who came in. TJ hesitated at first and wondered if whether she should ask whomever it was to hurry up and finish and wait outside. The bathrooms on the other floors were still closed, so she couldn't go elsewhere. The communal use of bathrooms was forbidden among the soldiers, and, anyway she preferred to take a shower in private, or if necessary with other women. But she decided that she didn't want to wait, and so she ignored the rules and went in.

She could see a person dimly through the milky shower door, who was slightly bent and was running his hands through half long hair. Only then did the head show above the door and she recognized Rush, who stood with his back towards her, unaware that he was not longer alone.

When she cleared her throat to draw his attention, he turned to look at her and said shyly: "Oh, I'm sorry! I ... I'll be finished directly. I didn't think anyone would come to take a shower this late!"

"It's okay. Take your time. You didn't lock the door. I'll take the stall over there, if you don't mind!"

Then he turned around again with his back to her and said, "You know, I always have the showers to myself. I prefer to come here when everyone on my shift is asleep, and the next group is already at work. So, locking the door is not necessary, and since I don't have problems with breaking any military rules...!"

TJ understood the pointed remark as what it was, raised her eyebrow scowling a little bit, but let it be. She just wanted to have some quietness to enjoy her shower.

It seems Rush got the message, and continued with his shower and didn't mention anything more. Then TJ realized that he was just relaxing in the warm mist, happy that he could stay a little longer. She smiled, and went to a bench on the opposite, farthest wall from Rush's shower stall. Eventually she took off her uniform, shoes and socks, took her towel and went over to the stall closest to her. She closed the door and took off the rest of her clothes, put them over the frame of the door, and finally switched on the shower. After a few seconds the whole stall was filled with fine warm mist, which felt like heaven on earth. She leaned her head back and fully enjoyed the relaxing sensation.

'The showers will be one of the things I'd really miss, when and if we are ever able to leave Destiny', she thought sleepy. Then she heard the quiet sound of bare feet on the floor, so she turned instinctively around to the source of the noise. Rush had left his stall and had gone over to the bench where his clothes were piled up. Not extremely orderly, like they'd learned to do in the military, but also not undisciplined or in chaos.

During the brief moment she looked at him, her brain memorized unconsciously everything her eyes noticed. First there was still the scar on his chest, not large, but clearly different in colour from the relatively white, hairless skin in the area around the scar. She had never seen him without any clothes; despite the fact the he'd been in the infirmary for several days on several occasions. Now she could see that he had a very slight build for a man, but at the same time masculine. 'He could use a few pounds more,' she thought as she turned her head around to give him a bit of privacy.

"You really should go to bed now, we have a hard day in front of us tomorrow." TJ said.

"I know. I was there with everybody else during the briefing!" Rush answered her, continuing to dress himself.

"Yes, I saw you. But I also know you. You never get enough sleep!"

"Yes, I've heard that before. But now, I'm really dog-tired. What about you?" Rush asked, as he put on his shoes. He winced noticeably, his hand reminding him of the abuse he'd done to it a few hours before.

TJ who hadn't noticed, replied, "I needed to do something which couldn't wait. But after the shower, I'll go to bed too!"

Finally he got up and while leaving the room, he said tiredly, "Good night, Lieutenant Johansen!"

"Good night!" she called after him. Now she could indulge in one of the few pleasures the ship was able to offer.

~/~/~