Author's Note: This fic is co-written by the wonderfully talented AthosionWarrior, who is graciously allowing me to post it on my profile :) it's set somewhere in Atlantis season 3. Please read, review, and enjoy!

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Chapter One

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SG1 paused as they stepped through the Stargate, taking stock of the village spread out in the valley below them. Large, dome-shaped tents were scattered around a large area, and children ran and laughed among them while adults worked and cooked and talked. They were all dressed in clothes made of leather and rough, warm cloth; but there were little details that did not come from a simple people. Teal'c's well-trained eyes also spotted knives and other small weapons hidden among the intricate garments.

Sam whistled.

"Wow," she said, glancing around. "This looks kinda... familiar?" she was confused; there was definitely a quality about this place that she recognized; but she couldn't place the mission in her mind.

"Do you suppose that there's anything valuable here?" Vala asked, bouncing a little on her heels. Mitchell fixed her with a severe glare.

"Don't steal anything," he said firmly. Vala frowned, looking insulted.

"I wasn't going to," she pouted. "I was just wondering if there was anything worth it here."

"I do not believe that I have ever seen a people like this," Teal'c stated, interrupting them. "I believe that I would remember if I had."

"Oh, you didn't see it," Daniel, who had been quiet the whole time, suddenly spoke. "You didn't come with us when we went to Atlantis."

"Atlantis?" Vala questioned, confused. He nodded, his eyes bright with his new discovery.

"Yeah, do you remember, when we met Morgan Le Fey? And after all of that and the whole super-gate thing, how we went to the mainland for a day to meet their allies?" Vala still didn't understand, but Sam and Mitchell's eyes widened as they realized what Daniel was saying.

"These people are Athosian."

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"You found Athosians in the Milky Way galaxy?" Elizabeth repeated the news that she had just received, glancing at John. What had been intend to be nothing more than their weekly status report to earth had suddenly gotten a whole lot more interesting.

"We think so," Colonel Carter stressed, glancing at Daniel, who stood beside her in the SGC control room. "They look an awful lot like the people that we met at the settlement; but we're not sure."

"They were speaking another language that I've surprisingly never come across before," Daniel said. "A couple of the words did seem familiar; but I don't know enough to decipher it."

"Even Teal'c and Vala have never heard it before," Sam continued. "So we're pretty stuck."

"But we were hoping," Daniel cut in again, "that Teyla would be willing to come to earth for a couple of weeks and help us communicate with them. And if she can't, at the very least we'll know whether or not they're the Milky Way version of Athosians."

"I can't speak for Teyla," Elizabeth said. "But I can talk to her about it."

"Thank you," Daniel said, and he meant it. He obviously cared very much about this. "If she agrees, she can gate over today."

"We'll let you know as soon as possible," Elizabeth assured them, before they shut the gate down to conserve power. John radioed Teyla, and within five minutes they were all in Elizabeth's office. Dr. Weir began to explain the request, but got no further than, "SG1 wants you on earth" before Teyla interrupted her.

"They want me?" she asked in confusion. "Why?"

"She was getting to that."

"They said that they came across some people off-world that they think might be their galaxy's version of Athosians," Elizabeth continued. They'd like your help to communicate with them; or at least tell them if they really are Athosians."

"How long will I be gone?" she asked.

"Well, Daedelus is on it's way to earth," John said. "They'll get there in about two weeks; and we can hitch a ride back with them."

"We?"

"Yeah. You don't think that I'd let you go to earth for your first time really going alone, do you?" she smiled a little, and turned back to Elizabeth.

"I will go," she said. Elizabeth smiled.

"Good. The two of you pack up what you need; we'll dial them up as soon as you're ready."

They met in the gateroom in under half and hour, each carrying a single bag. Teyla was dressed in full Athosian garb, and John smiled a little. He wondered if she was doing it to make an impression on SG1.

Teyla rubbed her hands apprehensively on her pants, both excited and nervous to meet SG1. She had heard many stories from the Marines and other Atlantis staff that had been in the Stargate program on earth prior to this expedition, and she knew that the members of SG1 were everyone's heroes. She had been assured that they were good people; but somehow she felt like they would see her as inferior to themselves.

"You ready?" John asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. She turned to him with a slightly anxious smile, and nodded once.

"Yes," she said. John grinned broadly, looping his arm through hers, and together, they stepped through the gate into Cheyenne Mountain.

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Daniel waited with barely controlled excitement for Sheppard and Teyla to step through the gate. He had never met the Athosian woman before; she had been off-world during his visit to Atlantis several months before. But he was eager to meet her, and eager to find out more about the people that they had met today.

Whatever else he was, at heart, he was an archaeologist, obsessed with finding out about other civilizations and cultures; learning how they lived, learning their languages. And ever since learning about the Athosians, he had been curious to know more. And now, to have possibly found an extension of their people right here in his galaxy... he could hardly wait to begin. He realized that if these people really were Athosian, then they truly were an ancient people; possibly some of the first to ever inhabit this galaxy. The sheer importance of finding a race like that, that did indeed span two galaxies, was making his head spin.

"Hello? Earth to Daniel?" Vala waved a hand in front of his face. He blinked.

"Sorry, what?" Sam grinned at him

"Head in the clouds much?" she teased.

"I was just thinking about what this could mean, if they really are Athosian." Her gentle jab hadn't bothered him; none of his team's teasing did. He knew that they only did it because they counted him among them completely, despite his occupation. They were fighters, soldiers, and a flirt; and he was a scholar. But he knew that they counted him among their ranks; and he had learned to ignore their teasing and stay focused on what was important. They were a team, and when it counted, there was no one that he would rather have by his side.

"What do you mean?" Vala asked.

"For one, it means that the ancients thought that they were important enough to bring them both here and to Pegasus; it means that they're an ancient race. And I know that the Pegasus Athosians history is somewhat scattered and incomplete because of the wraith; but it's entirely possible that the people that we met today have a complete recorded history, all the way back to the beginning." Vala yawned, losing interest.

"Yes, yes, learn from the past and all that; what's taking them so long?" before anyone could answer, two figures stepped through the gate. Daniel grinned, and Vala crossed her arms and pretended to be upset.

"Don't you know better than to keep a lady waiting, Sheppard?" she called to him. He made a face at her, then grinned.

"I was looking after my own lady," he replied stepping off the ramp with Teyla as the gate shut down. The team came forward to meet them, and they got their first look at the pretty Athosian that they had called in.

Teyla stepped through the gate to earth for the first time, and looked around. Contrary to the large, opened, airy gateroom on Atlantis, softly sunlit with stained glass windows, earth's gateroom was harsh and gray and unappealing. The only colorful things that she saw there were the members of SG1; and she wasn't thinking of the shade of their BDU's.

The large man with the gold symbol on his forehead had to be the Jaffa that she had heard of; and besides him there was a man who bore himself in a similar fashion to Colonel Sheppard; and she figured that he was the team leader. There was also a similar woman who seemed equally confident, a man who she guessed was Dr. Jackson by the glasses on his face and the book in his hand; and a dark haired woman bouncing excitedly as she spoke to Colonel Sheppard; she had to be Vala. She stepped off the ramp and nervously listened to their introductions, in spite of herself curious about these heroes who had asked for her help.

Daniel wasn't quite sure what he had been expecting; he had seen a few photos of her, and a short video that Dr. Weir had requested that she make; but he definitely hadn't been expecting this. He wondered what it was that had made her so different in that video than she was here; but after watching her for a moment, he realized the difference. The confidence that she had displayed in the video was gone, and she was clearly anxious and ill at ease.

He remembered something that the Athosians had taught him when he had met them, and in an effort to make her more comfortable, he stepped forward and bowed his forehead to touch hers.

"Welcome to Atlantis, Teyla Emmagan," he said.

Teyla was both surprised and pleased with Dr. Jackson's gesture; he had proved to her, more than anything else could have, that they wanted her here; and that they respected her. She doubted that Daniel knew the full meaning of the gesture; but the fact that he had even tried to learn the ways of her people assured her that she was welcome.

Once the introductions were done, Daniel launched into a quick recap.

"Dr. Weir briefed you on whats going on, right?" he asked. Teyla nodded.

"Yes, she told me that you think you've found Athosians here, and you want me to confirm it."

"And to translate," Mitchell cut in. "Unfortunately, they speak a language that even our great and powerful twenty-six-odd language speaking archaeologist here has never heard it before." Daniel shrugged.

"It's not similar to any other language that I know, either. The only place that I've ever heard anything remotely similar is, like I said, at your people's settlement on Lantea."

"Can you describe their village?" Teyla asked, her instincts taking over; she wanted to know everything that she could about this world before she went there.

SG1 explained what they had seen, cutting in on each other every few sentences and all trying to talk over each other all at once. Teyla was briefly reminded of Rodney and the other scientists trying to figure out a problem; but she quickly shut that out of her mind and concentrated on absorbing all of the relevant information that they were feeding her.

"That does sound like your people," John said when SG1 had finished their explanation. Teyla nodded.

"Yes it does..." she said slowly, her brain kicking into full gear as she tried to figure out exactly what that would mean.

"They also gave us this," Daniel held out a small object. It was a necklace; a carved wooden pendant strung out on a leather cord. Teyla took it and gently turned it over in her hands.

"They gave this to you?" she asked.

"Yeah, do you recognize it?" she shrugged and handed it back.

"I think that it is time that I met these people," she said. Mitchell shrugged; that was good enough for him.

"Dial it up!" he called up to the control room. The gate began it's tedious dialing sequence, and Teyla watched as the great ring within the ring rolled ponderously around; so different from all of the Pegasus gates. She felt John take a step closer to her, and her whispered in her ear.

"What do you think?" he asked, as the third chevron connected. She glanced at him.

"I believe that these people may somehow be connected to mine."

"Not about that; about SG1. Not as bad as you thought they would be, are they?" she wondered how he had known.

"No," she agreed. "Not as bad." the last chevron locked into place, and the wormhole sprang out at them, then receded back into itself to become a rippling wall of blue. Everyone hesitated, waiting for someone else to go first. Suddenly, Vala sprang up the ramp and stopped just before passing through the sapphire sphere.

"Well?" she demanded. "Isn't anyone else coming?"