A/N: Okay, it's been a while for those of you who've read my stories before. I hadn't planned on returning to the Stargate universe for a while…but you know how that goes. This idea burst into my head, and I decided I couldn't deny anyone this little story. Okay…enough going on, let's get to the story. Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to review!

Chapter One

The active Stargate shone wavering blue light through the gate room and onto the faces of General Landry and the technicians in the control room. The General's attention was focused down at the computer display as he listened to the regular report from Atlantis.

Mr. Woolsey's voice was steadily without inflection as he worked his way through any and all events that had occurred on the Atlantis base since their last check in. As he reached the end, a specific word jumped out to catch General Landry's attention.

"—Dr. Jackson would be most welcome to visit and assist our scientists in the translations." Having not caught the first part of the statement, Landry was forced to interrupt.

"Pardon the interruption, Mr. Woolsey. Could you repeat that last statement? I'm sorry to say, my ears must not be what they used to, because I could have sworn you said something about Dr. Jackson going to visit." A heavy sigh came over the radio.

"Yes, General. I did offer for Dr. Jackson to lend his expertise to translating a device we've discovered within the city." Another sigh. "Since you most likely missed it, I will repeat the statement. A lab has been discovered in one of the outer quadrants of the city and from what our scientists can decipher, its function was research on ascension. There is a large amount of data stored there and, knowing how much Dr. Jackson is interested in this subject, I thought it prudent to extend the invitation. It would greatly help our translators, none of whom are as proficient in the language as the doctor."

Landry nodded to himself, knowing just as well how much Dr. Jackson would enjoy the opportunity. Since the defeat of the Ori, the doctor had made many requests to again visit the city of the ancients, all of which had been denied by the general. Not for any malicious reasons, but just that there were still things that needed Dr. Jackson's attention. Now seemed a perfect opportunity to finally grant the doctor's wish and let him visit.

"Thank you, Mr. Woolsey. I will be sure to let Dr. Jackson know as soon as possible. I know he'd be eager to help." Landry glanced at his watch; it was almost time for his lunch meeting with his daughter. In an attempt to repair the bonds of family, he had set up regular meetings with Carolyn, and their relationship seemed to be improving. He wouldn't want to ruin that now. "And if that is all, Mr. Woolsey, I have a meeting to attend to. Another fine report, I appreciate your attention to detail. I'll contact you again when we are ready to send Dr. Jackson to you." He motioned to the technician sitting below him, and the man deactivated the connection, shutting the Stargate down. Woolsey's spluttering complaint was cut off just as it had begun.


Daniel Jackson was in his lab packing an away bag with extra tape for an audio recorder, his camcorder, some notepads and a few reference books he'd compiled on the Ancient language and ascension. He heard a knock on the door right before an unmistakable southern voice rang out.

"Soo…Jackson. I hear you're taking a trip over to Atlantis." Daniel turned to see Colonel Mitchell swing around the doorframe and into his lab. The man tucked his hands in his pockets once he was in the room, and sauntered over to inspect Daniel's preparations. With one last glance, Daniel returned to his packing.

"Yep, it's been a while since I've been to the city." He paused, nodding. "The Lost City…that I helped find." Daniel shrugged. "But I'm going now, and not even Vala can stop me this time." He threw a surreptitious glance over at the doorway, half expecting Vala to appear with some crazy plan that would prevent him from leaving.

Mitchell chuckled. "Yeah, good thing she's off 'contacting friends'" He made quotation marks with his hands. "We all know she's back to her same old tricks. She shouldn't be back for at least another two weeks. You might even be back before her! Then she'd be none the wiser." Nodding absently, he strolled around the lab. Daniel nodded back, then looked up as Mitchell picked up a particularly fragile artifact.

"Was there something you needed?" Daniel asked, reaching out and snatching the endangered piece from out of the colonel's hands. He gingerly replaced it on its shelf. Mitchell shrugged.

"Nope, just stopping by. Soo…you taking anyone else with?" Mitchell asked, attempting and failing to sound casual about it.

"Why, did you want to come?" Daniel countered. Mitchell gave him a guilty look. "Well as far as I know, General Landry's only cleared me for the trip, and since there's no immediate danger, I don't see him authorizing an escort." Mitchell looked crestfallen.

"Oh, well…I guess you're right. I'm sure the duties roster will have something interesting for me to do until you get back." He began to stroll towards the door. Turning, he called back to Daniel. "Y'know, I never realized how boring things would be after we beat the bad guys." With that, he walked out and turned the corner out of sight. Daniel merely shook his head and finished packing.


Daniel stood in the gate room with his duffel bag of supplies and glanced back at the control room. His farewell committee didn't comprise of many people. Teal'c was away helping the Free Jaffa rebuild their homeworld, Vala was off…well, being Vala, Sam was working on a top secret project even General Landry didn't know about, so Daniel wouldn't be surprised if she never knew he'd gone. That left only Colonel Mitchell, General Landry, and the gate techs to see him off.

The Stargate was already activated and connected to Atlantis, and knowing how much juice it took to keep such a connection up, Daniel wasted no time. He waited till the General gave him the go-ahead that the shield had been shut down, and then he trudged purposely up the ramp and through the wormhole, not looking back. All that was on his mind was the excitement of once again being in the city of the Ancients.

After what felt like an eternity, but was in reality only a minute or so, Daniel stepped through the gate into the Atlantis gate room. Expecting some kind of welcome committee, he was surprised to see no one standing ready to usher him off. As a matter of fact, he couldn't see anyone standing…anywhere. He looked around, glanced up at the control center and over to the conference room and then over to Mr. Woolsey's office. Nothing. Straining his ears, he couldn't hear a single thing either.

He walked toward the stairs as the gate shut down. Taking them two at a time, he hurried over to the control center and sat down in front of the dialing device. With expert hands, he punched the address for Earth and waited for the Stargate to activate. And waited…and waited. The chevrons would light, but no wormhole would appear. He was stuck here, and something was definitely wrong.


After the Stargate deactivated, General Landry turned to Mitchell as they both wandered out of the control room and up the stairs to the general's office. "You think he'll be all right over there?" The general asked.

"Ahhh, he'll be fine, sir!" Mitchell said, going to clap his arm around the man's shoulder, then stopping short. He dropped his hand lamely to his side.

"We tend to forget, colonel, but they're still fighting a war over there. The wraith could attack any moment, or who knows what else could happen!" Landry commented, stopping in the doorway to his office.

"Sir, I'd be surprised if he noticed anything at all while he's there. That's Daniel Disneyland, sir, and while he's working on that device there isn't a thing in the world that exists except for him and his work." Mitchell shrugged. "Only thing I'd be worried about is that we'll have to drag him away when the time comes." Nodding, he awaited the general's permission to leave.

General Landry nodded, reassured, back at him. "You're right, colonel. There's nothing to worry about with him on the case. Dismissed." He turned and walked into his office.

"Sir." Mitchell nodded, and wandered off to shoot some hoops before reporting to the duty officer to find out what he'd be doing while he waited for Dr. Jackson to come back.


A/N: Okay, short and sweet, I know. The next chapters should get longer, but this seemed the proper time to end this one. Just a note, this story takes place before Daniel's upcoming trip to Atlantis on the show. I hope it enticed you, and I hope you enjoyed it. Please feel free to leave a review to let me know what you thought.