Trips of the Heart
Chapter 1: A Friendly Arrival
Things were changing rapidly at Stargate Command, several hundred feet underground inside Cheyenne Mountain. General Jack O'Neill had left Colorado several months before when he had been reassigned to Washington and SG-1 was under the command of yet another new leader. But in retrospect, things seemed to be falling back into a normal pattern rather easily. Whatever a normal pattern was when the fate of the entire planet was at stake on a daily basis.
Colonel Cameron Mitchell, the new leader of SG-1, strolled hurriedly through the halls of the SGC looking for a member of his team. SG-4 had just returned through the Stargate with information on something pertinent to the latest mission his team had been unable to complete and, when it was discovered that the scroll the team had discovered was encoded in an unusual language, Mitchell instinctively knew where to turn for help. This led him to where he now was, standing in the doorway of one of the offices on Level 18.
"Hey, Jackson! You busy right now?" Cameron asked as his target looked up from the computer screen and acknowledged his presence.
"Oh, uh, not really. Just doing a little bit of side research. What's up?" Dr. Daniel Jackson said with a smile, closing the screen on his laptop so he could give the other man his full attention.
"SG-4 brought back some weird scroll from their latest mission last night. Looks like it might contain some clues to where we can find the Ori home galaxy we've been looking for. Landry wants you to take a crack at translating it."
"Sounds like it could possibly be a promising lead. I'll get to work on it immediately." Daniel said.
"Good. I thought you might say that." Cameron smirked as he pulled the scroll out of his jacket and tossed it on the desk. Daniel's response to this was shaking his head and rolling his eyes.
Two hours later, Daniel was sitting in his lab with Teal'c still trying to translate the scroll that Cameron had given him to work on. In the hours that they had been working, he and Teal'c had barely scratched the surface.
"This is ridiculous, Teal'c. We've been at this for over two hours and we haven't gotten anywhere. This language is unlike anything I have ever seen in the nine years I've been going off world. I don't even have a derivative to use." Daniel said, pulling off his glasses in frustration and pinching the bridge of his nose lightly.
"We are indeed lacking in progress, Daniel Jackson. Perhaps if we had additional assistance. Perhaps someone not of this planet." Teal'c said, nonchalantly making a suggestion.
"You might have something there. In fact, I know you do. You're a genius, Teal'c. Keep at this and see what progress you can make. I'm going to talk to Landry about getting us some help."
General Hank Landry was sitting at his desk reviewing mission files when a sharp, rapid knocking on his office door caught his attention, causing him to look up from what he was doing with a mild exasperation.
"Come!" Landry called, his exasperation fading when Daniel walked hurriedly into the office.
"General. I'm sorry if I caught you at a bad time." Daniel apologized, slightly embarrassed as he noticed the open files on the desk and realizing he may have been interrupting something.
"It's all right. What can I do for you, Doctor Jackson?"
"Sir, Teal'c and I have been working at translating that scroll for over two hours and we haven't gotten anywhere. Teal'c gave me the idea that we could possibly use some off world help."
"Did you have anyone in mind?"
"Yes, sir. Actually, I'd like to send for Jonas Quinn on Langara. He worked with SG-1 for a year when I was, uh, unavailable. Anyway, I think he might be the missing link we need to cracking the code on that scroll." Daniel said, hoping that Landry would approve his request as he was at almost at his wit's end.
"Jack filled me in on the circumstances behind Jonas Quinn's involvement in the SGC three years ago. I happen to agree with your argument that he may very well be able to help you and Teal'c. Head on down to the control room and I'll have them waiting for you." Landry agreed, picking up his phone to relay his orders as Daniel turned and left the office.
In the control room, Daniel walked down the stairs from General Landry's office to find Sergeant Walter Harriman bent over his keyboard. The man looked up from the screen to greet Daniel as he approached.
"Good evening, Dr. Jackson."
"Hi. Have you begun dialing the coordinates for Langara?" Daniel asked.
"Yes, sir. The first six chevrons have already locked." Harriman confirmed as the final chevron locked into place and the Stargate exploded to life behind them. "Radio contact established. You're clear to send your message, Dr. Jackson."
"This is Dr. Daniel Jackson from Stargate Command. I need to speak with Jonas Quinn."
"We have a response coming through, audio only. Piping through speakers and amplifying."
"Daniel? You there?" Jonas Quinn's voice came through strong.
"Yeah, Jonas, I'm here. Listen, I know you're the Kelownan ambassador and all but do you think you can spare a few days? We could use your perspective here." Daniel asked.
"Yeah, I'm due to take some personal time anyway. What's up?"
"Well, Teal'c and I have been assigned to decipher a scroll that could be of vital importance. But we've hit a little bit of a snag in the translations and we could really use your help. Do you mind?"
"Oh, no, of course not. Look, give me a little time to inform the First Minister of my plans and throw some things together and then I'll come through and help you out. ETA should be about fifteen minutes." Jonas said, more than a little relieved to be getting away from planetary diplomacy for a while.
"Great. We'll be waiting for your IDC. See you soon." Daniel said as the transmission terminated when the gate was shut down.
Fifteen minutes later, Daniel was back in the control room with Teal'c waiting for Jonas to arrive. It wasn't long before they got the confirmation they were looking for.
"Receiving Jonas Quinn's IDC. Opening the iris." Harriman confirmed as he placed his hand on the scanner that signaled the iris to open.
Daniel and Teal'c hurried down into the gate room and were waiting at the bottom of the ramp when Jonas materialized through the Stargate and came toward them.
"Jonas, I'm glad you could come." Daniel said, shaking Jonas' hand.
"I'm glad to be able to help. I hope that I can provide what you need to figure this thing out."
"It is good to see you, Jonas Quinn." Teal'c greeted.
"It's good to see you again, too, Teal'c." Jonas smiled, clapping the large Jaffa on the back as the three headed out of the gate room toward Daniel's office.
A few minutes later, the trio was in Daniel's lab and preparing to start working on the scroll again. There were a few moments of silence that seemed to hang in the air so Jonas decided to break the quiet.
"Well, there is definitely something very familiar about this place."
"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Daniel said, an uncomfortable feeling suddenly settling on him. He had a funny feeling about things, like something wasn't quite right.
Jonas suddenly realized that he may have stuck his foot in his mouth and said the wrong thing so he quickly decided to change the subject. "So, uh, what do you have that you need my help with?"
"Right. Like I said before we've gotten our hands on a scroll that could be of vital importance to our fight against the new enemy in this galaxy since we took down the Goa'uld. These new enemies are called the Ori and they're 100 times more dangerous than the Goa'uld could have ever dreamed of being. We have to find their home galaxy because if we can't then a lot is going to be at stake and this scroll could possibly tell us how to do that."
"Well, I brought some of my texts with some of the oldest dialects common to all three of nations on Langara. Some of these are similar to ones here on Earth but some are completely different. Maybe one of these can be used as a derivative."
"Then it would be advisable for us to resume our endeavors immediately." Teal'c suggested.
An hour later, it seemed that the translation was not progressing very well, even with Jonas there. Then suddenly they hit on the lead that they were looking for.
"Hey, here's something. It's really vague and in an obscure dialect but it talks about a period in the earliest Kelownan history, before our country was inhabited by people the Goa'uld brought to our planet. Anyway, it talks here about a race of beings that coincided with the Goa'uld on our planet and for the longest time were left alone, but when they challenged the Goa'uld and tried to assert dominance, they were forced to leave Langara to save themselves and fled to the sanctuary of another galaxy. It's referred to here as the Aeroma galaxy and it's not even listed on any astrological charts I've ever seen." Jonas said, confused.
"Does the text elaborate on the identity of this other race of beings?" Teal'c asked.
Jonas paused for a moment and scanned the pages for a moment, then stopped and glanced up at his companions, slightly pale. "It says that the other inhabitants of our world called themselves 'The Keepers of the Ways of Origin'."
"The Ori."
"This is impossible. There's no way this can be."
"Daniel Jackson?"
"Something wrong, Daniel?" Jonas asked, helping his friend to a chair as Daniel's legs nearly collapsed beneath him.
"I can't believe that I didn't see this before. Looking at the book Jonas brought I recognize the derivative of the scroll. According to this, we've had the answer all along. We just need to have Bill Lee and his team go to work on that device with the stones we found a few months back that was sent to Area 51. The answer to getting to the Ori home galaxy lies there." Daniel said as he reached for the phone on his desk and called Dr. Lee's lab. After a hurried conversation, Daniel replaced the handset and stood up.
"What are we to do now?" Teal'c inquired.
"Right now, nothing. According to Bill, Landry's going to have the device shipped back from Area 51 in the morning and his team's going to get to work on it. Sam's in Washington until tomorrow and Cameron's already left the Mountain so there really isn't much of anything that we could have done tonight anyway. So for the evening we can just relax and enjoy having Jonas here."
"That sounds good to me. Hey, are you guys hungry?" Jonas asked after a moment.
"I believe I am in need of some sustenance."
"Yeah, come to think of it I'm pretty hungry too. We could go to the commissary and grab something."
"Actually, I was thinking of something else." Jonas admitted.
"What did you have in mind?" Daniel asked.
"Well, I remember when I was here on Earth three years ago that there was a place not far from here that I always liked that had the best hamburgers and things. I would have a staff car take me there sometimes. I was thinking that if you guys didn't mind, I could maybe get someone to carry me down there and I could grab some burgers and bring them back for us."
"I have a vehicle that you may use if you do not wish to rely on base transportation, Jonas Quinn." Teal'c said.
"I could go down the mountain and get food. I don't mind." Daniel offered.
"No, I'd like to go. I like the scenery around here and the drive is nice. You're sure you don't mind if I take your car, Teal'c." Jonas declined.
"I do not." Teal'c acknowledged with a nod of his head as he handed the key to his SUV to Jonas.
"All right. If you're sure. Just be careful because I heard from someone in the control room that it's raining outside." Daniel cautioned as Jonas gave him the okay sign and headed for the elevators to the surface. A few minutes later, Jonas located Teal'c's vehicle in the parking lot and ran through the rain to it. After starting the engine, he traveled down the mountain to the restaurant he remembered.