A/N: Welcome to my new series of "Fade to Black". I'm going to call it series 2.
This series will focus on a story that will take us on a journey of discovery, catching up with old friends and making some new ones. We will also see the rise of a powerful force from the very distant past as well as learn more about the Ancient races of the alliance and how different they are now compared to when they first met.
Fade to Black - Series 2 - Episode 1
- - Neringa - -
Several months have passed since the violent event in Egypt, when the cult of Tum-Ex-Ra took control of the Great Pyramid and activated an Ancient device to bring about the rebirth of their God they set in motion a chain of events that would change the world forever.
The world leaders spoke in conference and came to the conclusion that a powerful energy beam coming from within the Great Pyramid was a threat and it had to be dealt with swiftly, they called upon the U.S.S Daedalus that was in Earth orbit at the time for assistance, it was by no means an easy decision to make but it had to be done.
Colonel Caldwell took command and ordered the strike on the Pyramid, a low level Asgard beam hit and completely destroyed the Pyramid in a matter of seconds, unfortunately nearly a hundred civilians were in the blast area at the time and 97 men, women and children lost their lives that day, it was a day that Caldwell and indeed the world will never forget.
In the days following the Egypt incident, which was captured by a camera crew filming a documentary and subsequently broadcast on every major news network, the entire world were demanding answers and no longer will they be duped or fed stories and lies, after months of heated discussions and now with the full cooperation of the world leaders the Stargate program, technology and off-world events past and present have been shared with the world with the exception of the location of the Stargate and the identities of SGC personnel which have not been released for security reasons.
When the information was made public it had the expected reactions, most were shocked at finding out they're not alone in the universe but had faith in their governments and Stargate personnel to do the right thing and continue to protect them from otherworldly threats as they have done so for more than twenty years, others did not agree, riots broke out in cities worldwide, some demanding the Stargate be destroyed, some demanding those responsible for the deaths in Egypt be brought to justice, others committed acts of terrorism on military facilities across the globe.
The world has changed over the last several months, peace has largely been restored and although many people still have suspicions, fears and concerns, they have got on with their lives, people still work, children still go to school, businesses are still open and trading as normal, life goes on.
The revelation that we are not alone in the universe has also seen many wealthy individuals come forward and offer financial assistance, billions of dollars have now been invested in the Stargate Program, some chose to remain anonymous while others offered financial backing in exchange for being allowed access to any non-lethal alien technology obtained during off-world missions.
The Stargate remains active and SG teams continue to explore the galaxy.
Stargate Command
Sam is heavily pregnant and should be taking it easy but she isn't the type of person to just sit around doing nothing all day. After firmly refusing several attempts by Jack and the General to get her on maternity leave she remains on active duty but in a limited capacity, limited to working only on base, which seems to please everyone and none of them want to argue with her, especially after having their heads bitten off a few times during her mood swings.
She is in the infirmary at Stargate Command for her latest check-up and sitting on the edge of a bed as Dr Lam examines her.
"Oh-woh." says Sam, flinching for a moment after feeling the ice cold metal of the stethoscope being pressed on to her chest.
Dr Lam removes it and exhales warm air on to it before placing it back, "Sorry.", she listens to her heart rate for a moment and then relocates to her stomach and listens again, "Good, very strong..." after removing the stethoscope she picks up and places a blood pressure band around Sam's arm, "..just check your blood pressure and you can go."
"Great, I'm starving." says Sam.
"Are you feeling hungry, when was the last time you ate?." asks Dr Lam.
"Oh about half-hour ago." replies Sam.
Dr Lam smiles, "Cravings huh?."
"Oh yeah. Right now I'm craving pickled eggs, donuts and bacon with chocolate sauce." says Sam, licking her lips and giggling.
"Wow that sounds...disgusting." replies Dr Lam, "..go easy on the sugar, alright. You're blood pressure is fine, you're...doing great." she adds, unstrapping the blood pressure band from Sam's arm.
"Goooood morning." shouts Jack, casually strolling in to the infirmary.
"You're late." says Sam.
"I'm sorry, I was eating cake and donuts in the cafeteria with Daniel and then I had to sort out an emergency in the briefing room." says Jack, kissing Sam on the forehead.
"What was it?." asks Sam.
"Triple chocolate sponge cake I think." replies Jack.
Sam shakes her head, "I meant what was the emergency?" she asks.
"They ran out of decaf..." jokes Jack, he looks at Sam but can see she isn't really in the mood for jokes, "...it was nothing, don't worry about it. So how's the patient doc?." he asks.
"Great, both mother and baby are doing just fine. You must be so excited." replies Dr Lam.
"Oh yeah." says Jack, giving Sam a tight squeeze.
"Have you thought of any names yet?." asks Dr Lam.
"Uhm we've narrowed it down to a few but we haven't made up our minds yet." says Sam.
"Well you better get a move on, thirty-six weeks, it won't be long now." says Dr Lam, she finishes writing on her clipboard, "..you're all done." she adds.
Sam slides of the bed and starts walking very quickly towards the door holding her aching back with one hand, "If Daniels eaten all the donuts I'll rip his arms off." she mumbles as she walks out.
Jack remains sitting on the bed looking a little amazed at how fast Sam just left the room and looking at Dr Lam awkwardly, "...well, good seeing you doc." he says before swiftly getting off the bed and leaving the room himself.
Sam's Lab
Sam finished eating her 'brunch' in the canteen and has been in her lab for a couple of hours, thankfully they had a hefty supply of donuts and chocolate sauce left and Daniels arms remain firmly attached to his body. Her new lab on base is surrounded by state-of-the-art equipment, she's wasted no time in putting the billions of dollars invested in the program to good use.
She has been working really hard over the last month as the new equipment meant she can finally do something she's been itching to do for years, dive right in to the Stargates operating code in the hope she can discover it's inner secrets, how it actually works and just maybe she will be able to replicate it in the future.
"Damn it.." shouts Sam, bashing her hands on the keyboard after hearing another negative beep coming from the computer, "...why won't you work!".
Alisana has been helping her with her work and is sitting at the work station beside her, "Are you alright, Sam?."
"Yes.." says Sam, wiping the frustration from her eyes, "..sorry I just can't get in to this, I should be able to do this."
Sam turns around to look at the 110 inch 4K display fixed to the wall behind her, it's displaying several complex layers of intertwined ancient computer code on the screen, "We managed to get through and crack all the encrypted code from the gate up to this point, it doesn't even look like gate code, what do you make of it?."
"Well it's old." says Alisana.
"Yeah, it's ancient." says Sam.
"No I mean it's really old, it's Surillic code." replies Alisana.
"What's Surillic code?." asks Sam.
"It's a secret. I mean Surillic code was used by the ancient council for some secret tasks, only the elder council members knew what it meant and how it worked. They stopped using it long before I was even born but while studying technology in the library I came across an old book that mentioned it, it was only a passing reference and didn't go in to much detail." says Alisana, she steps closer to the screen and stares at the code for a moment, "...I have no idea what this means." she says.
"So we're stuck.." sighs Sam, "..I've ran this through every decryption program we have, both my own, McKay's and the Ancient database.", she sighs again placing her elbows on the table and her head in her hands.
"Not necessarily." says Alisana, gathering her thoughts, "Surillic was secret and secure but it wasn't used for that long and the council would have wanted it to be as secure as possible for whatever it is they were doing."
"Well they did a good job." says Sam.
"What if we've been going about this in the wrong way." says Alisana.
"What do you mean?" asks Sam.
"We know that a lot of technology required the ancient gene before it could be used, Surillic was created around the same time the Alterans were experimenting with this gene technology. So what if the council secretly used that technology, what if Surillic isn't encrypted digitally, but organically." says Alisana.
Sam thinks with an agreeable expression on her face and lightly biting her lower lip, "That would explain why our programs haven't been able to break through it. Call Jack, get him down here."
2 hours later
Alisana called Jack but he was unable to come to the lab right away because he was in a private meeting with General Landry, Sam was a little frustrated that he didn't come right away but that's just her mood swings and it actually went in her favour because it gave her time to set-up the equipment they needed.
Jack knocks twice on the door frame as he enters the lab, "Is it safe to come in?", knowing Sam sounded moody earlier.
Sam's head pops up from behind a large computer screen, "Yeah come over here."
"So what's the big emergency?." asks Jack.
"We need a hand." says Alisana.
"Doing what?." asks Jack.
Alisana walks around the table and holds Jack's hand as she leads him over to Sam, "We actually need your hand."
They've managed to convert a hand scanner in to simulating an Ancient gene scanner, "Put your hand here." says Sam.
Jack looks curiously at the scanner for a moment and hesitates, "Why?." he asks.
"You know we've been trying to crack the gate code, well we hit a block and can't get around it. We...Alisana, believes that this particular block is encrypted organically so we need the Ancient gene to unlock it. So will you just put your hand on the scanner, please!" says Sam.
"Okay.." says Jack, after a brief sharp intake of breath he places his hand on the scanner and holds it in place, "...now what?."
Sam checks the computer but nothing seems to be happening.
"Maybe he needs to think of something, it has a mental component." says Alisana.
"Right.." says Sam, "Try to focus on the code, think...unlock, access.."
"Open sesame." jokes Jack.
At that precise moment the base alarms sound and Walter is heard over the coms alerting the base to a gate activation, at the same time the multi layered code on the large screen behind them begins to cycle and fill the screen with Ancient text, like binary 1's and 0's. Then the code vanishes and all electrical equipment on base goes dark.
The intercom in the lab rings and Jack goes over to answer it, "This is O'Neill."
"Colonel, what's going on. We detected a large power surge coming from the lab just before the power went out, is everything alright down there?." asks Landry.
"I'll...have to get back to you on that Sir, but we're all fine down here..." replies Jack, then the power returns, "...power's back on Sir."
"I can see that, Colonel. I'm on my way down to the lab." says Landry.
"Yes Sir, I'll..." says Jack, he stops talking when the General unexpectedly hangs up on him, "...talk to myself." he hangs up the phone, "..The General's on his way."
"That wasn't our fault." says Sam.
Alisana is staring at the screen on the wall and taps Sam on the shoulder, "Sam, look at this."
The screen is active again but instead of gate code it's displaying a two-dimensional map of the galaxy, then slowly one-by-one tiny indicators appear all over the screen.
"What are those?." says Jack, walking over and sharing their amazement looking at the screen, "..I've seen something like this on Atlantis." he adds.
"Stargate's." says Alisana.
Sam turns back to her computer and begins to type very quickly, she brings up a display from the SGC database and places it side by side with the gate map on the large screen and turns back around and watches it cycle through a long list.
"Oh my God."
"What?" asks Jack.
"These numbers.." says Sam, pointing to the tiny indicators on the map, "..have to be gate coordinates. I just ran a program to compare the coordinates we extrapolated in our address database with all the gate coordinates shown on the map, there are hundreds of gates on here that aren't in our database."