The Atlantian Trunk

Summery: Girl finds an ancient trunk containing her mysterious heritage and information that could possibly change Atlantis…forever.

Disclaimer: I only own the characters and places that are not part of the TV shows on the sci-fi channel – Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis

Chapter One: The Trunk

Far away in the darkness of the old attic, hidden by a veil of cobwebs sat the old family trunk. It was an unspoken understanding that no one was to touch the trunk; but once in awhile, when no one was at home, Enya snuck up the creaky attic stairs and studied the old mysterious writing that was carved into the antique wood and almost illiterate underneath the layers of dust that had collected over the years.

"We're so sorry about your uncle, dear." An older woman relayed to her as she filed past in the line to view the corpse.

Enya simply smiled and nodded. She felt that she should try to look sad – but it almost seemed sinful to pretend to be sad over a death when you didn't even know the person who had died – besides an occasional birthday card or letter at Christmas. The only thing truly sad about it for Enya; was that Uncle Mort had been her last living relative. Her parents had been killed in a small engine plane crash in New Zealand on their anniversary trip just a few months after she had turned 19. That was four years ago.

Now Enya taught Ancient Civ. And Ancient Languages at a university in Colorado – where she had grown up.

After the viewing was over, Aunt Kath pulled her aside.

"Thank you for coming today – I know that we haven't really kept in touch with your family. That's why this is so strange –" She pulled an envelope out of her purse. "Mort made me promise to give this to you when he died. He never mentioned it before and told me that it was to be kept quiet. So here you are."

Enya took the envelope and examined it in the dim light of the funeral home. There were no markings – no name on it. Had her Uncle left her money? Or maybe some old pictures of their family.

The seal was difficult to rip, and the envelope split more than she had intended. Inside was simply a wad of papers – also yellow. Unfolding them revealed a carefully script document:

The McKnight Family History.

Was sprawled across the top.

That's all? Enya refolded the paper disappointedly. She had expected something exciting after the bit about 'keeping it quiet'. It was probably only boring documentation about how her family had migrated to England from Egypt and then came over to America.

"Just old documents." Enya answered the question in her aunt's expectant eyes.

"Ah well. I've done my deed and given it to you at least. I have to get going – my sister has a dinner planned for us. Have a good drive back."

"Thank you. Take care." They exchanged a meaningless hug and Enya headed out to her Aztek. She threw the letter on the passenger seat and didn't give it another thought.

The next morning it got buried underneath piles of maps and books for school, and fell under the seat when she took them back out.

"Good morning, Enya." The girl at the main office called as she headed towards her class room. "There's a package here for you."

"Alright Anne. I'll pick it up on my way out."

It was a long day in the class room – mostly just proctoring midterms. The exciting part of teaching about Ancient times would not happen again until after Christmas break. Her family had always been interested in ancient culture, Egypt and migration. By the time the last class had let out she had such a throbbing head ache that she got to her car and started it before realizing that she had forgotten the package. She shuffled back in and unlocked the office.

The huge box on the floor had her name on it. It was so large that she had trouble lifting it. Figuring that it was probably something for the curriculum she plopped down on the floor and cut the box open. As soon as she saw the wooden chest inside, her jaw dropped and she stared at it. Not wanting to open the mysterious forgotten heirloom until she was in her own home – where she could soak it in and explore it, she lifted it onto a dolly and wheeled it out to her car.

She brought the trunk inside her small house without bothering with her books and un-graded papers.

Once she had it sitting in her living room, Enya sat and stared at the trunk – letting the fact that it now belonged to her slowly sink in.

After a few minutes she got up and took the dusting spray out from under the sink and carefully cleaned the outer wood. The symbols that appeared were ones she had never seen before – they were like hieroglyphs, but they weren't. There were also images of strange constellations that she had never seen before.

Now that everything else was done – she took a deep breath and unbolted the lid – after this moment she would never again need to wonder what this trunk held. Would it be boring, or a treasure worth all her years of curiosity?

The lid creaked and light poured in – catching on a bit of metal laying at the bottom. Her imagination soared – could it be loot from an old pirate adventure? Reaching in – all she found was a simple ring – with one strange mark on it. Everything else was papers. She wondered if the letter she had never bothered to read would explain all of this. She slid her slippers on and headed out to the car.

A/N: Stargate Atlantis WILL come in the next chapter. Chapter two to follow soon. Please R&R!