Home Is Where The Heart Is (Alternate Reality 112)
By: SGElite23
Set In Atl's Season 4 After Episode 17 Midway (Alternate Universe/Timeline)
Note: In this universe the Destiny Crew go missing sometime about a year after the Atlantis Expeditions arrival in Atlantis, so they have been cut off from Earth for a little over 2 or 3 years in this realities timeline.
Also, in this timeline Teyla doesn't become pregnant, nor do the Athosians leave Atlantis.
It was a day like most others at the SGC, everybody going about their duties that is until the alarms blared all throughout the underground complex, with a familiar voice being heard over the P.A.
"Unscheduled Off-World Activation!" Sgt. Walter Harriman moves his hand to the handprint scanner. "Closing the iris!"
The large iris closes in the center of the gate just before it's wormhole engages, a few seconds go by without any indication to whom was dialing in.
"Whats the situation Sergeant?" General Landry asked as he entered the Control Room.
"Well, sir. It seems like...Wait a minute..." Harriman turns his attention to the computer screen. "This can't be!"
Landry turns his attention toward the gate just as the iris opens leaving the event horizon of the wormhole exposed, also potentially letting anything that stepped through the other side into the SGC. He watched as a group of marines took up positions at the end of the ramp, guns drawn and ready to open fire.
"Patch me into the gate room." The General keeps his attention locked on the marines.
"Yes sir." Harriman nods before patching Landry into the gaterooms speaker system.
"This is General Landry, you have authorization to shoot on sight, whatever comes through the gate don't hesitate...We can't let Earth be compromised, do..." Landry was cut-off by Walter before being able to finish his sentence.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you sir, but, the gate seems to be drawing in power at a rate I've never seen before. This connection must not be originating from inside our galaxy."
"Is it from Pegasus, Atlantis?" General Landry seemed to be at a loss for ideas, not just for the iris deactivating by itself, but why hadn't anyone come through the gate yet.
"Not the Pegasus Galaxy, no sir. This connection is coming from further out than even that, this connection could only be powered by a ZPM, maybe even two or three." Walter couldn't help but think about Destiny. "Sir, I was thinking, could the crew of the Destiny Expedition have found a way to dial Earth?"
"Recall Colonel Carter, I want her here A.S.A.P!" General Landry walks back toward his office leaving Walter to make the call, he couldn't help but wonder if SG1 would be reformed, having been inactive for going on 2 years now.
(Atlantis - Gate Control Room)
Dr. Rodney McKay had fallen asleep at the gates controls having been awake all night trying to, in his words, work out a bug in the gate system which could give their location to anyone whom knew where to look. Colonel Sheppard had ordered him to fix the bug, but in true McKay fashion he took it a step further, and found a way to not only fix the problem...But also boost the power output in the gate itself.
"You don't look so good..." Dr. Radek Zelenka walks into the control room.
"Thank you for your keen sense of observation, and your natural ability to state the obvious, now are you ready to help me, or are you going to go back to sleep and leave me here to work by myself? Not that that isn't such a bad idea, by the way." Rodney yawns as he sets up turning his attention back to what ever he was doing before he fell asleep.
"I told you to take a break but you wouldn't listen, you never do." Zelenka sighed a bit knowing this was McKay he was talking to, not exactly the easiest person in the world to talk to. "Let's just stop bickering, what were you able to figure out?"
"Well, right after you went to take your little nap I was able to get a power boost out of the Stargate, seems this bug we discovered has been around ever since the early days of the Stargate network." The Doctor of course didn't take his attention away from the computer console.
"So, your telling me that this bug has been around since the time of the Ancients, one of the most advanced races in the galaxy and they couldn't fix it, but you can?" Zelenka said that last part with a touch of sarcasm, which earned him a scornful look from Dr. McKay.
"Yes, I fixed it." McKay was more than just a little agitated. "I..."
Rodney had no more than uttered a word when Atlantis' off-world alarm activates and the chevrons on the gate begin to light up, indicating that a wormhole was incoming.
"Unscheduled Off-world Activation! Colonel Sheppard, report to the control room Immediately!" McKay turns his attention to the gate computer seeing that he was getting no reported IDC or Iris Codes, he activates the gates shield before seeing a flashing red light on the console. "My god..."
"What?" Radek peered at the computer screen but couldn't see what McKay did. "Whats wrong, Rodney?"
"The gate is drawing twice the normal power then it usually does, I mean this is making a connection from Pegasus to the Milky Way look like child's play, do you know how much power it would take to hold a connection like this open?" McKay asked in a stunned tone of voice.
"Not really, seeing as how we don't even know where this wormhole originated from." Radek just smirks as he gained himself another scornful look from McKay.
"Whats going on?" Colonel Sheppard asked as he walked into the Gateroom. "Tell me thats Teyla's re-con team coming back from P73-112, and not what I really think it is."
"Don't worry, it can't possibly be what you think it is because I don't even know what it is." Rodney sighs a bit trying to find some clue as to what was going on.
"Oh, well my guess would have had something to do with the wraith, which would have been very bad. Are you sure it isn't the wraith?" Sheppard asked in his usual tone of voice.
"No, this wormhole isn't originating from this or the milky way galaxy, it's coming from a point in space that is so far away our gate is building up twice the amount of power than normal. Think of it this way, the gate is being powered to...Wait a second..."
Without warning Rodney darts out of the control room followed a second later by both Dr. Zelenka and Colonel Sheppard, both of which were wondering if McKay needed to be sedated.
"Rodney!" Sheppard called out as McKay comes to a stop in front of the Stargate, his eyes seemed to be counting the number of chevrons which were lit up. "What are you doing?"
"Sheppard, we have a problem here, I'm counting 9 chevrons being lit which means this wormhole is originating very far out, we only know of one type of gate which requires a 9 chevron address." He looks back at Sheppard whom looked just a little bit lost. "Oh come on, you can't tell me you don't know this."
"Sorry doc, it must have slipped my mind, so how's about you refresh it?" The Colonel asked.
"Destiny!" Zelenka looked at Sheppard then at Rodney. "Could it really be?"
"You mean those people that were trying to dial all nine of the gates chevrons? The ones whom got lost when the Icarus base was attacked and destroyed?" Sheppard remembered hearing about it but being in Atlantis it didn't mean much at the time, as he hadn't been back to Earth in a while.
"They must've found a way to dial back here, but why dial Atlantis? Why not dial directly to Earth?" Rodney questioned aloud.
"Not enough power?" Sheppard suggested.
"Don't be dumb, if they have enough power to dial here they have enough to dial Earth, something isn't right here." Rodney looks back at the Gate just in time to see the wormhole disengage but it right away activates again, another incoming connection this time only the normal 7 chevrons light up. The wormhole then re-engages behind the shield. "Who is it?"
"I'm reading...Wait a second, this...It can't be." Lieutenant Heather Lawrence walks over to the glass which overlooks the gateroom, looking down at the three confused people below, whom were looking up at her. "Sir, it's Lieutenant Ford's IDC. The computer is reading it as inactive, should I let him through?"
"Oh god..." McKay backed away from the gate. "Everytime that maniac gets near me he tries to shoot me."
"Yeah, McKay, you seem to have that affect on people." Sheppard shakes his head before looking at Heather. "Deactivate the gates shield, let him through."
"Yes, sir." Heather hits a button on the gate console lowering the shield. "Done..."
Lieutenant Ford steps out of the wormhole unarmed yet in some sorta battle armor, which appeared to have a respirator built into it.
"What, no welcome home, sir?" Ford asked looking at McKay then back at Sheppard.
John just keeps his eyes locked on Ford as if he could stare a hole straight through him, he didn't even utter a word his trust for the lieutenant having faded a long time ago, no longer would he or could he afford to be fooled by his onetime friend.
(Stargate Command [Gate Control Room] - The Next Day)
Colonel Carter arrived at the SGC early in the morning and had already begun working on ways to figure out where the connection a day earlier had come from, so far though she hadn't had any results from any of her tests and nothing to even pinpoint a point in space.
"Anything?" General Landry asked walking up behind Carters seat at the gate computer.
"No, sir. I can't even pinpoint where that wormhole could have come from, nor why it was drawing so much power from our side." Carter looks back at the General. "Normally a gate is powered by the DHD, if that power is insufficient or the DHD is damaged the gate will draw power from the dialed gate, but..."
"Our gate doesn't have a dhd, correct?" He asked crossing his arms across his chest.
"Right, but I believe it was drawing power from our power grid, we feed that energy into the gate which in turn would be tapped in order to power an off-world Stargate with insufficient power to hold the wormhole open." Sam looks back toward the computer. "The computer also registered a huge energy spike when the gate disengaged."
"Yeah, I noticed that aswell." Walter turns toward Sam. "I have been here for I don't know how many Off-World gate activations, but, this one was different...I don't know how to explain it, it just felt like something was a little, well, off."
"Walter, you said the connection used all 9 chevrons, correct?" Samantha asked in a questioning manner.
"Thats right, I noticed right away that all 9 were lighting up, thats why I thought it was the Destiny Expedition...But being they sent no IDC, and no one came through I figured it wasn't them."
"But, who else could it have been? I mean, the Destiny Gate Network are the only gates which require all 9 chevrons to lock, Pegasus requires 8 and the Milky Way gates require 7...The process of elimination suggests that it could only have been Destiny, could it have dialed without them knowing?" Landry asked trying to find the missing piece of the puzzle.
"Sergeant, get ready to dial the gate bridge." Carter stands up turning her attention to Landry. "I'm going to Atlantis, as much as I REALLY hate to say this...I need Dr. McKay's help with this."
Landry nods and gives Walter the go ahead signal to dial the gate when she was ready. "Good luck."
"Thank you sir." Carter walks out of the control room needing to get suited up, she couldn't help but keep thinking about the mysterious dial in from yesterday, her mind seemingly scrambling to figure out what was going on trying to find answers that just simply weren't there.
(10 Minutes Later)
Carter now back in her SG1 Uniform enters the gateroom standing back from the ramp which led upto the mouth of the Stargate, she took a deep breath then looks back toward Walter. "Dial the gate!"
The inner ring of the Stargate begins to spin as one by one the chevrons engage, when it came to chevron 6 Sam began to get ready.
"Chevron 6, engaged!" Walter watches as the computer indicates that the 7th Chevron engages and then locks in place. "Chevron 7, locked!"
Sam turns her attention to the gate watching it's inner ring stop spinning and within' seconds it opens a connection, she walks up the ramp and finally through the event horizon which sees her first to the repaired Midway Station, and then to Atlantis.
(To Be Continued) Chapter 2: The Darkest Night
