***Disclaimer*** I an not affiliated in any way with Stargate or MGM.

Chapter 1

Tensions at the SGC were high. The majority of the facility had been destroyed or badly damaged. The Stargate wasn't operational, and communication to the Odyssey wasn't working. Teal'c and Daniel were crawling their way to the surface, and Sam was trying to get the gate working again. No one had seen Landry who was briefing Vala on her upcoming seminar on kleptomania when the beam hit. Sam began to wonder if anyone had seen the beam that hit the top of the mountain. Surely they wouldn't be able to cover this one up.

"Great," she thought, "we'll have to go public now." She pushed this thought to the side and continued to run gate diagnostics.

"This doesn't make any sense!" she shouted, "The gate should be connecting…"

Meanwhile in orbit:

"How the hell are there still Ori ships in our galaxy?" Colonel Anderson yelled. The Odyssey was taking heavy damage, and General Davidson had been killed. The Odyssey along with the Apollo, the Daedalus, and the George Hammond were all attempting to destroy the Ori ship before they could get another shot at Earth. The Ori ship was more maneuverable than usual, and the shields had been upgraded to partially block the Asgard beams. The Ori attempted to fire again, but before it could, the Hammond fired a shot that cut straight through the Ori shields. The ship was split in half.

"Send a team over there," said Anderson when he was told life support was still functioning in part of the ship. Ten minutes later, four F-302's left the hangar bay and flew off toward the wreckage of the Ori ship. Anderson sat on his chair and anxiously awaited the report from the team on the Ori ship.

"Colonel," said the familiar voice of Cam Mitchell, "The Ori didn't send this ship." Anderson relaxed a little. "It was the Lucian Alliance," said Mitchell.

"How did they get their hands on an Ori ship?" asked Anderson.

"I'm not sure, but it looks like some of them are still alive," said Mitchell.

Back at the SGC:

"Hey Teal'c. Is it just me, or does that look like sunlight?" asked Daniel.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied.

When Teal'c and Daniel reached the surface, they heard a familiar voice.

"Well it's about time!" Vala said.

"Vala? How…." asked Daniel.

"Well…. you see, I had just finished my meeting with General Landry, and I had the strangest urge to go outside, so I climbed up the escape hatch, and walked around up here for awhile, and then, as I was about to head back, an Ori laser beam shot out of the sky and hit the top of the mountain," said Vala.

"Ori…! How were you not killed when the beam hit?" asked Daniel.

"Oh… right… I forgot that part. I 'borrowed' this from you lab Daniel," she said as she pulled out an Ancient shield device.

"Have you seen General Landry?" Teal'c asked.

"I'm afraid not," said Vala, "Last time I saw him, he was in his office. Well I better be off now… ta ta." She waved as an Asgard beam activated.

"Vala!" yelled Daniel. Then, the familiar sensation of being beamed up surrounded him and Teal'c, and in an instant, they were on board the Odyssey.

"Long time no see," said Cam as the beam disengaged.

"You didn't think I'd leave you there Daniel?" said Vala.

"What is the meaning of this Colonel Mitchell?" Teal'c asked.

"The Lucian alliance hijacked an Ori mother ship, and they brought here. We have one of the crew members in the infirmary," Cam said. "Oh… one more thing. The beam was caught on tape, and the President is being pressured to go public with the Stargate Program. Is the Gate working?"

"No," replied Daniel, "Why do you ask?"

"We need to dial Atlantis. The expedition team is being recalled along with the city," Mitchell said.

"Why?" asked Daniel.

"The SGC is being moved there, so if and when the President goes public with the Stargate Program, the SGC will be in a safe place," Cam said.

"What about Colonel Carter and General Landry?" Teal'c asked, "Can you not lock onto their sub-dermal transponders?"

"Unfortunately we can't," said Cam, "But the Apollo and the Hammond are going to stay here while we go to Atlantis."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't it take three weeks to get to Atlantis?" Vala asked.

Anderson interrupted, "Each of our ships has been equipped with a fully charged ZPM. Major, set a course for Atlantis and engage the hyperdrive."

Four days later on Atlantis:

"John, I am telling you, I can sense a Wraith somewhere on Atlantis," said Teyla as she sat in the Colonel's office.

"Teyla, we've scanned the city three times," John replied.

"There is a Wraith on Atlantis. I am sure of it," Teyla said angrily as she stormed out of Sheppard's office. Rodney and Jennifer were in the mess hall when something caught Rodney's attention.

"Is that… the Odyssey?" he asked.

"Looks like it," said Jennifer, "But you know I can't tell the difference between all those ships."

"How did they get here so fast?" Rodney asked, "Surely if those dimwits at the SGC had come up with a new hyperdrive, they would've needed my help!"

"Rodney!" Jennifer scolded.

"Right… modesty… sorry," he said, blushing. Just then, Ronon came bursting in.

"Hey, has anyone seen Tey…Whoa…" he said as the Odyssey and the Daedalus landed on the city.

"No I haven't… Why? Is she missing?" Rodney stammered.

"Yeah. She is. Last time anyone saw her, she was leaving Sheppard's office," Ronon said in his usual tone.

Somewhere in the East pier:

"I am going to find that Wraith," Teyla said to herself as she walked briskly down the dark hallway. Above her, she heard the Odyssey touching down.

"They cannot be here already can they?" she asked herself. The feeling of the Wraith presence was growing stronger. She knew she was close. She pulled out her sidearm, and she turned a corner she saw the Wraith. He was barely alive, and he was limping away.

"Stop!" she yelled. Excited to see a new food source, the Wraith began to run as best it could toward Teyla. She fired her gun several times before the beast collapsed in front of her. She was about to turn around when a hand grabbed her shoulder. She whirled around preparing to shoot another Wraith, but she lowered her gun when she realized it was John.

"Well, I guess I was wrong about that Wraith," he said.

"Yes you were John," she said, trying to suppress her laughter.

"How's Torren?" John asked as they began to walk back to the Control Tower.

"As well as can be expected," Teyla said, "Growing up without a father is difficult for him and for me, and I do not know if I am ready for a new husband."

"Teyla," John said as he stopped walking, "You are an excellent mother, and if you ever decide to get married again, I'm sure you'll find the right guy." Teyla smiled, and they continued walking.

In the Control Room:

"What! That's ridiculous! You want us to move the city again! We just barely had enough power to get from Earth back here. And unless you can magically make three ZPM's, this city isn't going anywhere," said Rodney to Colonel Anderson.

"Calm down Rodney," Jennifer said.

"What's going on up here?" Sheppard asked as he and Teyla stepped out of the Transporter.

"They want us to move the city back to Earth!" Rodney said.

"So?" said Sheppard.

"Well in case you haven't noticed, we don't exactly have any charged Zed-PM's lying around," Rodney said.

"Well each ship has a fully charged ZPM, and Atlantis has one. Does that help?" asked Anderson. He said something into his radio, and an instant later, two glowing ZPM's appeared. Rodney took them down to the power room, and they plugged them in. The city hummed and buzzed with power that it hadn't had for 10,000 years. John went to the Chair Room and sat down. He raised the city's shield, and lifted it off the surface of the ocean. As the city cleared the atmosphere of New Lantea, John engaged the interstellar hyperdrive…

Back at the SGC:

"I don't understand!" Sam said, "The Gate should be working now." Just then, an Asgard beam locked onto her and Walter and beamed them onto the Apollo.

"That's the last of them sir," said the crewman working at the transporter station.

"What about Landry?" Colonel Black asked.

"We can't locate him," the crewman responded gravely.

"Landry's…dead?" Sam stuttered.

"We're not sure, but once Atlantis gets here, we should be able to find him if he's alive," said Black.

"Atlantis... What's going on?" Sam asked.

"The Lucian Alliance hijacked an Ori ship, and they attacked Earth. Atlantis is being recalled to serve as a new Stargate Command. The President is being pressured to go public with the Stargate Program," Black responded.

"I didn't know there were any Ori ships left," Sam said.

"We didn't either," said Black, "But we have to be prepared in case the Lucian Alliance has more than one."

Back on Atlantis:

The city had just crossed into the Milky Way, and its hyperdrive disengaged. Before John could reengage the hyperdrive, four Ori ships dropped out of hyperspace. He could see them in his mind, and he activated the Drones. Outside the city, thousands of points of lights flooded from the city's depths. They impacted the Ori shields, but they did not do very much damage.

"Sheppard to Control Room. Rodney… The Drones aren't working," said Sheppard over his radio.

"I noticed," responded Rodney, "Try the beam weapons."

"Atlantis has beam weapons?" Sheppard asked.

"Well duh," said Rodney.

"Then why haven't we…" Sheppard was cut off.

"Have we ever had three fully charged Zed-PM's before?" said Rodney sarcastically. By this time, the Daedalus and the Odyssey had joined the fight. It took a combined hit from both of them to destroy one Ori ship. In the Chair Room, John was still struggling to activate the beam weapons. Then, he felt a surge of power flow through him, and the beam weapons fired at the remaining Ori ships. Their shields were quickly overwhelmed, and the beams cut right through them.

"That was cool," said John.

"Rodney to Sheppard," said Rodney into his radio, "You can reengage the hyperdrive now."

"I'm getting to it Rodney," Sheppard responded. He powered up the engines, and the city was propelled into hyperspace. After about another week they reached Earth. John sprinted to the Chair room, and the city dropped out of hyperspace.

They received a transmission from Colonel Carter who had returned to her command on the Hammond. "Welcome home Atlantis. I wish it was under better circumstances."

"It's good to be back," said Rodney from the control room. "Has the President made a decision yet?"

"Yeah," said Sam. "He's going public with the Stargate Program. You've been instructed to land in the Pacific Ocean 300 miles west of San Francisco. We'll follow you down. Oh… and don't forget to cloak the city, Rodney." Sam winked and the transmission ended.

"Did you get that Sheppard?" Rodney said into his radio.

"Yep," said John. "I'll try to bring it down smoothly this time." He sat back in the chair, and he focused his thoughts on landing the city. After a few tense minutes of reentry, the city found water. Four flaming streaks shot down out of the sky following the Lost City. The four starships landed on Atlantis, and John converted the shield to a cloak. He ran back to the control room where he met Colonel Carter.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"For what?" John responded.

"We're going to Colorado to search the remains of the SGC, and you're the best at flying Jumpers," Sam said.

Sam, Daniel, Vala, Jennifer and John took one Jumper, and Teal'c, Cam, Rodney, and Ronon took another. The two cloaked jumpers silently flew over the Pacific Ocean. They could just barely see the glimmer of San Francisco in the distance. As they approached the shore, they increased their altitude, so they wouldn't cause any odd wind patterns as they passed over the city. After leaving California, they passed over the desert in Nevada and Utah. When they reached the Rockies, it was nearly dawn. They didn't have much time. The President was going to make his "announcement" at 11:00. The two jumpers landed on the obliterated top of Cheyenne Mountain.

"I'm reading two life signs," said Rodney pulling out his scanner. "And one of them is right over here." Rodney walked over to a large piece of rubble, and he tried to pick it up by himself. "Does anyone want to give me a hand with this?" Teal'c walked over, and easily picked up the piece of rubble. "I must've gotten it loose for you," Rodney said.

Sam walked over to the hole in the ground. "Siler… Is that you?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am," said Siler from the bottom of the escape shaft.

"Is General Landry with you?" Sam asked.

"No ma'am," said Siler. "He was in his office just before the room collapsed. I don't know what happened to him after that ma'am."

"Alright," said Sam. "We'll send someone down to get you."

"Rodney…Where's the other life sign?" asked John.

"I'm having trouble isolating it…It's very weak," Rodney responded. "I think it's somewhere over here." He wandered off toward another large piece of rubble. "I think I found him! Maybe if we fire a Drone at this rubble, we ought to be able to crawl down into the office." John reluctantly climbed into one of the Jumpers. Everyone stepped back, and a yellow light fired from the Jumper. The rubble exploded into a million tiny fragments.

"Well it's about time!" General Landry yelled from his office. "I barely have enough water for another day. What took you so long?"

"I wish we had time to chat, but you need to get to the infirmary," said Carter as she helped Landry out of his office. "Odyssey, this is Carter, do you have a lock on Landry?" Carter said into her radio.

"Yes we do," replied Colonel Anderson. "We'll beam him, Doctor Keller, and Siler straight to the Atlantis infirmary." A beam of light surrounded Siler, Jennifer and Landry, and they were whisked away.

Carter looked at her watch and noticed the time, "Everyone into the Jumpers," she ordered. "It's almost 9, and we're supposed to meet General O'Neil in fifteen minutes." Everyone climbed back into their Jumpers, and the two ships sped off for Washington D.C. The sun was rising now, and they had fifteen minutes to cover two thousand miles. Getting the Jumpers to travel 8,000 MPH in the atmosphere was difficult, but they managed to land on the White House lawn at precisely 9:15. The Jumpers decloaked making President Miller jump a little.

"Don't worry. They're the good guys," said Jack as the hatches of the Jumpers opened. "Welcome to the White House," Jack said. "Mr. President…."

"I've called the nine of you here today because, as you know, I will be announcing the existence of the Stargate Program. I need the nine of you to explain the program and its benefit to mankind. We need to convince the people of this country…hell…this whole planet that the Stargate Program is devoted to the safety of Earth. If the people aren't convinced it could be World War 3… No pressure," said Miller.

At precisely 11:00, every single news station world-wide was broadcasting the President's speech…