Inheriting Knowledge

by SciFiFantasyWriter1

How would things be different if an accident leads to Daniel Jackson going through big changes when Samantha Carter leaves Earth to take over the Atlantis expedition? Daniel has a major realization. Read the author's note at the beginning (very important). The Harry Potter part of this is very minor and doesn't come in until the very end. Almost pure Stargate story. Daniel/Sam

1. Chapter 1

Inheriting Knowledge

By SciFiFantasyWriter1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of any recognized characters or universes within.

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Highly Important AN:

This story was inspired by reading Stargate_sg1_fan1's story series Inheriting a Draconian Mantle. While it is not necessary to have read that series first it would most definitely be helpful to your understanding of some plot points in this story. One thing to note is that Stargate_sg1_fan1 wrote his IaDM series with multiple women paired to one man. Inheriting Knowledge on the other hand has a single woman (Sam) paired with a single man (Daniel). If you are going to search the name of the author I just mentioned remove the two underscores (_) from the name.

Chapter 1

October 7th 2007, Stargate Command, Earth…

Daniel Jackson was in his lab trying to work on translating some very obscure text from the Atlantis database. Trying was the keyword. Daniel had just learned that his best friend one Colonel Samantha Carter was leaving for Atlantis next week to take command of the Expedition in the city of the Ancients. Daniel had a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach about what life would be like without Sam nearby. For a long time Daniel had considered Sam like an older sister or that was what he had tried to tell himself. He was just coming to grips with the fact that he had feelings for Sam no siblings would ever share. It had taken the archeologist a long time to get over the death of his wife Sha're. Even to this day Daniel still loved Sha're. She would always hold a place in his heart. But he was starting to wonder if maybe what he felt for Sam was also like how he felt for his Sha're.

Before Daniel could think anymore on this topic pain suddenly tore through his body the likes of which he had never felt before. Given what he had lived through which included impalement, physical death by radiation, staff weapon blasts, and a number of other horrors for the pain to be worse was saying something. Daniel collapsed to the floor in so much pain he couldn't even cry out. He writhed on the ground in agony unable to even pinpoint where the pain was coming from. Mercifully he passed out a few moments later.

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Daniel opened his eyes and let out a groan. He was lying on the floor of his office. The concrete was rather unforgiving. He sat up and was surprised to feel no pain other than his sore muscles.

"What the hell was that?" Daniel asked as he sat in his chair.

He looked at the clock and saw that only a little more than an hour had passed. No answer was forthcoming. Daniel thought about going to the infirmary and consulting Dr. Lam but he had always been very self sufficient. His office had been outfitted with an Asgard class scanner used to catalog and examine artifacts. The scanner would also work just as well for a medical scan. Daniel picked up the portable scanning wand and began running it over himself. He consulted his computer monitor. The image showed several different diagrams of Daniel's body. One of the diagrams showed a tissue scan and the status of Daniel's tissue. According to the scan Daniel's tissue was above average and quite healthy. Another diagram showed Daniel's skeletal structure which was also quite healthy. Yet another showed the flows of energy throughout Daniel's body color coded by energy type. There was thermal energy, bio-electric energy, and pure chemical energy. The largest portions of energy were two that made Daniel's eyes bug out in shock.

Zero Point Energy

Unknown Energy

The blue and red types of energies swirled angrily within Daniel's form and appeared to be at war with each other. Just as quickly as the panic rose within Daniel it vanished. A feeling of calm and peace stole over him. He felt that somehow the energy wouldn't harm him. Daniel's mind raced. Zero point energy research and manipulation was heavily pursued by the Alterans. He had walked among them several times while he had been ascended. Had that left a mark on him? Daniel had never been under an Asgard class scanner before so how would he have known until now. And what type of energy could be unknown to the Asgard? As far as Daniel knew few races were more advanced than the Asgard. The Alterans were one of those races. Daniel decided he shouldn't tell anybody about what was going on until he figured it out for himself. The best place to do that would be Atlantis where he had full access to the Alteran database and all the equipment within Atlantis. Plus he could see Sam and help her with the challenges she was likely to face.

For some reason Daniel felt a new curiosity within him arise. He wanted to explore the technology and physical sciences stored in the Asgard database. As he began to look through the technologies available to Earth he began to understand somehow just how they worked. He struggled with some of the concepts but as he read more and more he worked past the hard concepts. He lost himself in the database well into the next day. He eventually remembered he needed to eat, sleep, and take care of other bodily functions. Before he did all of that he shot off an email to his IOA contacts to be transferred to Atlantis to continue his research there. Given the number of times he along with SG-1 had saved the world over the years he didn't expect his request to be denied.

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October 12th 2007…

Daniel had been very busy over the past few days. He had been preparing for his journey to Atlantis. Through his explorations in the Asgard database Daniel had managed to gather together some very useful technologies. He had even with his newfound understanding modified several of those technologies to suit his needs. It hadn't been difficult as a scientist to gain access to one of the energy to matter synthesizers the Asgard commonly used. There were several in the science division alone. What had been difficult was keeping what he was making off the radar. The higher ups liked to keep an eye on what the scientists were synthesizing. A nuclear weapon could be made at the push of a button. The government trusted SGC personnel but only so far. Daniel had circumvented the usual protocols and created his toys without oversight. His newfound skill with technology was very useful. It came with a price though. Daniel was getting frequent bad headaches, especially when he pushed himself mentally. Aspirin was his new friend. But it was worth it.

Daniel pointed his most useful toy, a rod-shaped device that fit into the palm of his hand, at several of his books and watched them vanish with a subdued version of the usual Asgard transporter light. The device was a localized portable version of an Asgard transporter but instead of transporting matter great distances it transported the matter into the matter storage medium clipped to Daniel's belt and hidden under his shirt. The matter store medium (MSM) wasn't able to store an infinite volume. But it was still quite handy. The MSM attached to Daniel's belt could store a volume of matter equivalent to the size of his office. What looked like a watch on Daniel's wrist vibrated signaling him that somebody was approaching his office. He didn't want to be caught flat footed so had installed a sensor in the hallway to warn him whenever someone approached.

Moments later Sam Carter walked into the room wearing her dress blues. Sam stopped in the door of Daniel's lab when she saw him examining the contents of a very old looking book. Leave it to Daniel to forget all about what day it was due to translating old texts. She didn't blame him. She could become just as engrossed in her work. She stopped and admired her friend without him knowing she was there, or so she thought. Daniel had come so far from that academic she had met ten years previously on Abydos. He was still an academic but physically he was in his prime. Five years her junior Sam had always found Daniel able to keep up with her intellect. They got on well together. She had sometimes found herself wondering why they had never gotten together as more than just friends. It all came down to timing. It just never seemed like a good time even after Daniel had seemingly gotten over the death of his wife Sha're.

"Were you going to let me know you were there or just stand there looking at me all day?" Daniel asked teasingly.

Sam blushed at being caught and stepped into the office before replying, "I wanted to commit this all to memory. Teal'c already stopped by to say his goodbyes."

"And you're here for my goodbye," Daniel said knowingly.

"I'm going to miss you Daniel," Sam admitted as she stepped closer, preparing to give her best friend a hug as she had Teal'c.

"No. You're not, Sam," Daniel assured.

Sam's nose wrinkled cutely as a look of confusion stole over her features.

"I'm not?" Sam asked.

"No, you're not," Daniel assured. "Did you really think I was going to let you run off to Atlantis and face those challenges alone? I can do my research even better in Atlantis. I'm leaving with you."

Sam's face absolutely lit up with a huge smile. Daniel smiled just as brilliantly at the gorgeous blonde.

"That's fantastic," Sam declared before wrapping her best friend in a hug. "I'm so glad you are coming."

"The IOA approved everything a few days ago," Daniel explained as he drew back from the hug reluctantly.

He couldn't pinpoint the fragrance of her perfume. But it was intoxicating. She had fit perfectly against him. Hugs from Sam were a cherished commodity.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sam wanted to know.

"I wanted it to be a pleasant surprise on a day you would be sad to leave everything behind," Daniel answered.

"Not everything," Sam rebutted with a still brilliant grin. "I'm going to go get my briefcase and then I'll meet you in the gate room. That's assuming you are ready to go?"

"I've been ready," Daniel assured. "I'll meet you there."

Daniel watched Sam walk out in her dress skirt and couldn't help but admire her butt. It was delicious from years of working out.

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Sam and Daniel walked out of the Atlantis gate side by side just as they had done so many times before on missions. Both of their belongings would be sent through the gate bridge later that day. A group of Atlantis expedition members awaited the pair in the gate room including department heads, control room personnel, and a few others. An airman stepped forth and took Sam's briefcase. The two new arrivals stepped forward to where Sheppard and McKay were standing.

"Colonel Carter, Dr. Jackson, welcome to Atlantis," Sheppard greeted.

"Thank you," Sam said while Daniel nodded his greetings. "It's nice to be here."

"Indeed," Daniel added, causing Sam to have to bite her lip to keep from laughing at her friend's impersonation of Teal'c.

"I want you all to know how honored I am to accept my appointment as head of this expedition. I come here to the Pegasus galaxy fully committed to this expedition and its members. I look forward to working with all of you," Sam said to those gathered.

"Nicely done," Daniel praised his friend.

"I'll show you two to your new quarters," John offered.

"Lead the way," Daniel replied.

As it turned out Sam and Daniel's quarters were next to each other. It wasn't long after Sheppard left them alone that their belongings started arriving. Daniel made quick work of unpacking and decided to see if Sam needed any help. He arrived at the door to her quarters which was open in time to hear Sam greeting Rodney McKay.

"I brought you a little something to spruce up the place," Rodney announced while holding out a bouquet of wild flowers.

"Thank you, Rodney. That is very sweet. Would you put them in that vase over there," Sam asked as she pointed to a vase on the table. A few moments later Daniel heard Sam say, "Oh, Colonel Sheppard dropped that fruit basket off. I thought a basket of fruits from our various offworld trading partners was a thoughtful gift."

"Sure it is," Rodney said with a groan of dismay. "I came by to welcome you to Atlantis, see how you are settling in, you know if you needed anything…and did I mention I was seeing someone?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Sam replied nonplussed.

"I'm seeing someone. I only brought it up now since you are here and we will be working together a lot more now. I thought with our past I should mention it," Rodney explained.

"What past are you referring to?" Sam responded.

"The unrequited lust that has been hanging over our heads for years now," Rodney pointed out as if what he was talking about should be as obvious to Sam as it was to Rodney.

And that was Daniel's cue. He rounded the corner. When Sam spotted her best friend her expression lit up with relief.

"Daniel," Sam called happily.

Rodney turned like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Hello, I finished unpacking and thought I'd see if you needed any help, Sam," Daniel offered.

"Yes, yes I could use some help," Sam assured.

"Well I had best be going now," Rodney stated.

Before Rodney could escape a tall man who from the descriptions Daniel had heard was probably Ronan Dex entered the room.

"I hear you are in charge now," Ronan said to Sam without preamble.

"Ronan, this is Colonel Carter," Rodney introduced. "Sam, this is Ronan, he is…"

"Satedan," Sam finished, cutting Rodney off. "He's a member of SGA-1. What can I do for you Ronan?"

"I wanted to bring some friends to Atlantis and apparently I have to clear it through you first," Ronan replied.

"Unfortunately some new IOA security procedures prohibit any offworld visitors to Atlantis for the time being," Sam explained.

"The IOA doesn't need to know," Ronan rebutted.

Daniel was tempted to intervene to help Sam out since he was better at politics. But intervening at this point wouldn't do her any good. She needed to assert her authority and show she could handle things.

"Ronan let me ask you something. Would your government have sent a team of your people to another galaxy without ensuring they knew what was going on? Would they have just sent one person they could trust?" Sam asked.

Ronan was silent for several moments before answering, "No, they would have planted spies everywhere."

Nodding Sam added, "I don't think they planted spies everywhere. But I highly suspect they have our communications monitored and have several plants who report to them through encrypted communications. If we brought your friends here it could jeopardize the safety of this base. That in turn would jeopardize your position on SGA-1. I know you don't like it but it is obvious your friends have survived on their own for years. Give them just a little while longer out in the open. Atlantis just went through a major shakeup. Let us get to know your friends first. I don't think it will be too much longer before the IOA relaxes their restrictions a bit."

Ronan was silent for twenty seconds as he stared into Sam's eyes. She didn't flinch.

Ronan was no fool. But when it came to the subject of his people he lost all reason. Ronan had thought he was the last living Satedan. Finding that some of his people had survived made the reasoning abilities Ronan had left diminish even further. As far as he was concerned getting his friends to Atlantis was the best way to ensure their safety. He did have enough reasoning left to know that pursuing the matter wouldn't change anything.

"Fair enough," Ronan finally said.

Daniel felt the tension ease enough that he felt he could now speak. Sam had won the dominance game for the moment.

"Rodney, I was going to tell you later. But I might as well tell you now. A few days ago I located a few dozen planets that were in the process of being terraformed for habitability before the Alterans left Atlantis. These aren't in the main section of the database but were included in some information transmitted back to Earth. It's highly probable that the automated terraforming processes are completed by now. I doubt any wraith have access to these worlds. There is no human life on them. Why don't you choose one and see if Ronan's friends can stay there. We can provide supplies and temporary structures," Daniel suggested.

"That's an excellent idea," Sam agreed.

Daniel could see some of the tension going out of Ronan's body.

"Sure, where are the planets located?" Rodney asked.

Daniel withdrew a flash drive from his pocket and tossed it to Rodney.

"The password is Alteran underscore Orici where the first letter of each word is capitalized," Daniel announced.

The two members of SGA-1 left the room. Daniel turned to Sam to see her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"Since when do you start encrypting your files? Hell, since when do you know how to do that?" Sam asked.

"I'll have you know that I have mad computer skills," Daniel mock boasted.

"Oh yeah, since when?" Sam challenged with a grin.

"Since…," Daniel trailed off, not wanting to lie to Sam.

Sam's grin vanished and she questioned, "What is it Daniel?"

Daniel fixed Sam with a thoughtful expression.

"Sam, I'm going through some things right now, things I can't explain but which I know aren't harmful. I might do some strange things that you've never seen me do before. But please trust that I know what I'm doing. I promise I'll explain when I have things figured out," Daniel explained.

Samantha Carter was a genius. There was no doubt about that fact. She was somewhat less experienced with emotional issues. She could tell though that her friend was freaked out about something.

"So you are suddenly very good with computers but you don't know why," Sam probed. "If I didn't know better I'd say you had gotten the Ancient database downloaded into your mind like Jack has several times."

Sam's comment meant as a joke actually resonated deeply with Daniel. He thought maybe she was right about knowledge being downloaded but not necessarily Ancient knowledge, or at least not necessarily knowledge from when the Alterans were corporeal.

"Sam, I don't want to talk about it more right now. But you might not be far from the truth," Daniel admitted.

That comment alarmed Sam and she just couldn't let it go. Jack had almost died several times when he "went Ancient."

"Daniel, if you've somehow gotten the Ancient knowledge downloaded into your brain you need to tell me so I can remove it. We have the Asgard technology to remove it if that did happen," Sam assured.

"Sam I can honestly say I'm not going Ancient like Jack," Daniel replied. "I have no recollection of sticking my head in any Ancient tech unless you count the Stargate."

Sam stared intently at her friend and determined he was ok for now. She would be keeping a close eye on him though.

"Alright," Sam said. "Will you have dinner with me?"

"Of course," Daniel agreed. "It's a date."

This earned the archeologist a stuck out tongue from the astrophysicist. Daniel helped Sam get settled in and then left her to go take a shower and do some personal things.

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"Damn Sam, you look tired," Daniel informed his friend as he sat down at the dining hall table across from her.

"You certainly know how to make a girl feel special," Sam said wryly before taking a bite of her peas.

Daniel paused before he took a bite of his own food. He set his fork full of noodles down and reached across the table to touch Sam's hand. As he did so Sam gasped very quietly when she felt a surge of electric like energy shoot through her hand from the point of contact with her friend. Renewed energy began to flow into Sam and it started to wash away her tiredness. As he spoke the energy flow increased.

"Sam, no matter how tired you are you are still one of the most beautiful women I've ever known. I'm sorry I never told you that before," Daniel said sincerely.

"Thank you, Daniel," Sam replied, touched. She felt a sense of loss as he drew back his hand. "You polish up pretty nicely yourself. Janet used to feed me all the gossip from her nurses and how they had the hots for you."

Sam didn't mention that those same nurses had also mentioned seeing Daniel naked on several occasions during physicals and had commented on his size, something Janet had confirmed while drunk one night.

"God I miss her," Daniel admitted.

"Me too," Sam agreed. "Don't get me wrong…I love the fact that you're here. But there were things I could talk with a girlfriend about that I just wouldn't feel comfortable talking to a guy friend about."

The two friends had not often talked about Janet since her passing. It was good to keep her name alive.

"No worries," Daniel assured. "So anything interesting happen that I missed out on?"

"I was taking a look off of a balcony on the main tower earlier when Major Sheppard came to talk to me. He wants to send a team after Dr. Weir," Sam mentioned between bites of food.

Daniel winced and observed, "I bet that went well."

"At least he was more understanding than Ronan," Sam admitted. "I told him I would consider sending him if he came to me with a plan with at least a good chance of success. I would love to see her rescued as much as the next person. But storming a planet of replicators even more advanced than the Ida derived version is pure suicide."

"I definitely don't disagree," Daniel assured.

"So what is your sense about Ronan's friends?" Sam asked, valuing her friend's opinion.

Daniel chewed thoughtfully before swallowing and replied, "There is something I don't trust about them. I know the wraith are busy with the replicators of this galaxy. But I doubt they wouldn't have heard about these Satedan survivors boasting if we did. It smells like some kind of trap to me. You made the right call not letting them back here."

"I got the same feeling," Sam agreed. "And it wasn't a hard call to make. I wasn't kidding about my suspicions of IOA plants on Atlantis. And that was a great save with the planets you pulled out of your ass."

"My fine ass can produce many great things," Daniel declared with false boasting.

Sam snorted and complained, "Daniel, that was horrible."

"It got you to laugh," Daniel said with a wink.

The two friends passed through the rest of their meal with their usual comfortable banter.

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Sam and Daniel didn't have to wait long to hear what the three Satedans Rakai, Ara, and Tyre had planned. The trio had proposed raiding a wraith lab that was working on a way to deactivate the replicators. SGA-1 would fly the Satedans into the lab in a cloaked jumper and the groups would raid the lab together. On the surface it sounded like a passable plan; in action not so much. A few hours after SGA-1 left on the raiding mission Ronan came sliding through the gate on his back firing his weapon into the event horizon. Sam and Daniel weren't in the gate room at the time but were instead enjoying some downtime watching a movie in his quarters when she was summoned to talk to Ronan. Daniel decided to tag along with her. They arrived in the infirmary to see Ronan being treated for several cuts.

"I was with Rakai, Ara, and Tyre when I heard weapons fire coming from where we left Sheppard, Tayla, and McKay. I rushed back to try to help but was overwhelmed by wraith," Ronan admitted. "I barely made it out of there. I tried radioing both teams before I left but got no response."

"Well this op sounded too good to be true and I guess it was," Daniel surmised.

"This is no longer a support mission for us but one to rescue our people, and yours," Sam said, directing that last bit at Ronan. "Dr. Zelenka, ready two jumpers."

"Yes Colonel," Zelenka replied before leaving.

"We'll go get ready to go," Sam informed Ronan as she left with Daniel.

"I'm a little surprised you want me going," Daniel mused.

"Don't be. If this is as much of a trap as it seems then I want you along. There is nobody else in this galaxy I want watching my back," Sam admitted.

"Sam, did you just give me permission to check out your butt?" Daniel teased.

Sam smiled for a moment, secretly thrilled that the dynamic of their relationship was becoming more flirtatious now that it was just them and not the rest of SG-1.

Her smile disappeared as she admitted, "If this was a trap and that facility really was researching ways to shut down the Pegasus replicators we just sent the guy who reactivated the replicators straight to them."

"Shit, you're right," Daniel agreed. "We'll just have to get them back and kill us some wraith in the process. We're about to get our first wraith kills, Sam."

"Too right," Sam agreed.

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The jumper lowered into the gate room and positioned itself in front of the gate automatically.

"I'm looking forward to jumper flight training," Daniel announced just before the jumper shot through the gate.

"You have the Ancient gene?" Ronan inquired curiously.

Sam and Daniel shared a smile.

"Daniel has been ascended several times, Ronan. He has the Ancient gene," Sam assured.

Ronan looked at the archeologist with a new appreciation. There was more to the man than met the eyes at first glance. The jumper was cloaked as it came out of the stargate. At the speeds the jumpers were capable of it was only a short flight to the wraith facility. The biopolymer structure was grown into the bowl of a tree filled valley with mountains spotting the landscape next to the hill of the valley. Per the prearranged plan jumper 2 decloaked and lured several wraith darts out of the area. Jumper 1 landed at the edge of the trees.

"Just give me a few moments to get the door open," Zelenka suggested when the group reached an entrance to the wraith facility.

"I've got it covered," Daniel assured and pulled an object from his pocket with a spike on the end.

He walked forward and stabbed it into the door's locking mechanism. The device sensed the bio-lock straight away and overloaded the system.

"Daniel, where'd you get that nifty toy?" Sam asked her friend casually as she tossed a grenade inside while Zelenka stood stunned.

After the grenade went off and took out several wraith drone soldiers Daniel shouted over weapons fire, "The Alterans already had some systems developed for wraith ground infiltration. That device was one of them. I just had to dig around the database a little bit."

"McKay is going to be pissed he didn't think of that," Ronan commented as he led the way into the facility.

The others smiled at that.

"There is a power relay located right here," Zelenka announced after a quick scan with one of the Ancient hand scanners.

Ronan opened up on the relay with his weapon and power quickly went out in the facility. Bio-electric emergency lighting kicked in.

"You've got to give the wraith credit in one respect," Daniel mused as the group continued on through the facility towards their captured people. The life signs detector could distinguish between wraith and humans. The jumper had given a good location before the team landed. "Their bio-engineering is second to none as far as we know."

"True," Sam admitted.

A couple of minutes later and Sam spotted the guards outside the cell holding Sheppard and Teyla. Sam killed one of the guards with a quick burst from her weapon and Daniel took out the other one. Zelenka handled the cell door lock with the device Daniel had brought.

"Are you guys ready to get out of here?" Sam asked.

"Hell yes. We were just wondering if we'd have to bust out of here ourselves," Sheppard replied.

"Where is Ronan? Did he make it back to Atlantis to warn you?" Teyla inquired as she took one of the extra weapons Zelenka brought out from his backpack as did Sheppard.

"He did. And he came along on this mission. But we detected three life signs in another part of the facility near a wraith. We figured that was Rakai, Ara, and Tyre and that they were in imminent danger so close to a wraith," Sam explained.

"We also know where Rodney is," Zelenka provided.

"Rodney said it was Rakai, Ara, and Tyre that stunned him," Teyla warned.

Sam and Daniel exchanged a look and Daniel replied, "We were worried about something like that. I'll go after Ronan in case he needs backup. You guys go after Rodney."

"I can go with you," Teyla offered.

Daniel directed his gaze at Sam and stared intently into her eyes. She quickly picked up on the fact that he didn't want Teyla tagging along. Daniel had a feeling he would be able to operate better alone.

"Daniel works better alone," Sam replied. "Unless he's working with someone he really really trusts…like me," She thought to herself. "Stay in contact," Sam directed at Daniel.

The archeologist nodded before dashing off. Daniel arrived at Ronan's location in time to hear Ara explaining to Ronan why she, Rakai, and Tyre were now wraith worshippers. The wraith had broken their minds by constantly feeding upon the three Satedans to the brink of death and then restoring their life force before repeating the process. Two others had not survived the process. The anthropologist in Daniel saw him staying in the shadows and observing a Satedan way for settling differences. The quartet took off their gun belts and slid the belts aside before they attacked each other using hand to hand. Ronan was a whirlwind of limbs as his body swayed about. Ara was quickly knocked out of the fight and Rakai followed temporarily soon after. Tyre was the next best fighter after Ronan. But it was obvious Ronan wasn't going all out.

As Ronan and Tyre fought and Ronan held Tyre's wrists in a tight grip Rakai pulled a knife behind Ronan's back.

"Rakai, no," Tyre shouted as he saw the knife.

"So much for honor," Ronan growled at Tyre.

The recovered Ara grabbed Rakai's arm and shouted, "No weapons."

Rakai was mad with insanity and slashed the knife at Ara's neck, opening up her throat. As she clutched at her ruined throat and dropped to the ground dying Ronan and Tyre stared at Ara in horror. Rakai let loose an insane cry and charged at the other two male Satedans. Ronan tossed Tyre aside and blocked Rakai's slash with his arm, taking a nasty gash in the process. Ronan ignored the gash and grabbed at Rakai's next slash before twisting his attacker's arm and deflecting the knife thrust into Rakai's chest. Rakai died quickly. Ronan let out a cry of anguish as he clutched at his dead friend.

Tyre stared on in shock.

"There has been enough killing," Ronan roared at Tyre. "Leave."

Tyre fled the scene of death. Ronan couldn't look at his two dead friends as he retrieved his weapons and stumbled out of the passageway down a corridor different than Daniel was concealed in. The archeologist stepped out of the corridor he was hidden in and strode to Ara's still form. She wasn't yet completely dead even though she appeared that way. Brain death hadn't set in. Daniel dropped to his knees and placed his hand across Ara's ruined neck. He wasn't sure why he did it. But he suddenly felt a familiar feeling energy escape his palm. He had healed before, he was sure of it. White energy covered Ara's neck and restored damaged tissue. It only took 33 seconds. But when it was complete she didn't wake. Daniel hadn't wanted her to. He felt a sense of exhaustion when the task was complete and had to pause to recover his strength. The exhaustion passed soon enough. Daniel stood and took out his remote matter transporter. He caused Ara's form to disappear into the matter storage vessel on his belt.

Daniel then collected the two wraith stunners dropped by Rakai and Ara and sent them into his matter storage vessel as well before leaving the corridor to find his friends. He trailed in the direction Ronan had gone to make sure the big guy could get back in such a shocked state. The trail of wraith bodies told Daniel that Ronan was far from helpless even as shocked as the Satedan obviously was. Daniel arrived back to the other Atlantians a few minutes after Ronan. He fell in step beside Sam who looked relieved to see him even if Zelenka had been tracking him approaching on the life signs detector.

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"Rakai and Ara are dead," Daniel replied. "It wasn't pretty."

Sam nodded and didn't ask more questions. She knew talk would come when those involved were ready.

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Daniel transferred Ara into a stasis chamber when he got back to Atlantis. It was strange but Daniel felt like he was never lost in Atlantis. Finding a stasis chamber in one of the unused portions of the city had been simple. He suspected perhaps he had visited the city extensively when he was ascended. Or perhaps Oma had given him memories of the city. She had lived there before her ascension.

"We've only been in Atlantis a short time but already it feels like the SGC," Sam admitted as she dropped onto the couch next to Daniel in his quarters.

"Definitely," Daniel agreed. "It is a bit easier to step through the gate here."

"Yeah, no form to fill out every time we go through," Sam added.

"So what do you want to watch?" Daniel asked as he dialed up the database of movies on his computer which fed video to a wall screen.

"Spaceballs," Sam decided.

"Sure, I haven't watched that in years," Daniel agreed.

Sam leaned her head onto Daniel's shoulder and the two best friends settled back to watch the movie.

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Before she went to sleep that night Sam relieved her sexual frustration and some of the day's stresses which had built up while being in such close proximity to Daniel. She found her best male friend to be gorgeous. She always loved to finish her day off to thoughts of Daniel.

In his own bed Daniel was unknowingly mirroring Sam's activity while thinking of her.

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October 19th 2007…

A lot had happened for Daniel in the week since he had arrived on Atlantis with his best friend. He had established a lab in one of the abandoned parts of the city. And he had managed to outfit that lab with an energy to matter synthesizer that wasn't under the oversight of the IOA. That particular feat hadn't been easy. But it was easier than it would have been back on Earth. As the head of the science department on Atlantis McKay had a lot of leeway granted to him. Daniel had hacked McKay's systems and used McKay's authority to create the separate synthesizer parts. If the creation was discovered it would come back on McKay. But Daniel highly doubted anyone would even pay attention to the synthesizer parts being created because it wasn't the Asgard designed synthesizer but the far more capable synthesizer the Asgard had based their design off of. The common Asgard synthesizer was a lot less energy efficient. It was also far less complex but at the same time couldn't create as sophisticated technology.

The Asgard had a workaround for this though. They used nanite construction devices to assemble devices which were too complex for their synthesizers and just transported the complex technology in place as if the synthesizer had done the work. It was a matter of showmanship. The Asgard hadn't wanted any deficiencies to be observed in their technology. With the Alteran version Daniel had found in the Atlantian database far more could be accomplished. He had also tied the synthesizer into a small subspace capacitor system so the drain on Atlantis' power wouldn't be noticed.

In the last week Daniel had experienced some changes personally. His strength had increased dramatically to the point where he woke up one day and was crushing anything he tried to pick up. The synthesizer came in handy then to replace all of his crushed items. He also started sleeping less and less to the point where he only needed an hour at night to feel completely rested. This allowed him to get a lot more accomplished. Then there were the changes with Sam. While on Earth Daniel and Sam had always had their separate homes outside of work. Now their homes were side by side. They shared virtually every meal together and the only real time they spent apart was while they were working. Daniel had instituted the tactic of being more physical with Sam. A casual brush of the hand here, a squeeze of the hand, a neck massage, and so on were excellent methods to get her to relax around him more. She was also more freely physical with him. She was very accepting of his massages.

Their conversations had grown far more personal and virtually no topic was left untouched. Daniel remembered his conversation with Sam at dinner a week after their arrival quite well.

"Sam, have you ever wanted to have kids?" Daniel asked.

Sam was silent for a moment as she chewed her chicken breast.

After she swallowed Sam replied, "For years I have wanted kids. But the mission we did on SG-1 was so important that I felt I couldn't endanger that mission by having kids. If I had become pregnant they wouldn't let me go offworld as soon as I started showing. That's why most female SG team personnel wore birth control patches." To emphasize her point Sam lifted up her shirt enough to show Daniel a patch on her abdomen. "Now I can feel my biological clock ticking as they say. I'm 42 Daniel."

"What about now? You're no longer on a team that goes to other worlds every day. If you became pregnant you wouldn't be taken off the expedition. You're sitting at a desk for the most part," Daniel pointed out.

"You're right of course. There's also the not so little problem of finding a man. I mean I know there are alternatives, like artificial insemination. But I would want to know my child's father," Sam explained while looking Daniel in the eyes. "I would want my child to know their father."

"I can understand that desire," Daniel agreed.

"What about you? Do you still want children after what you went through with Sha're and Shifu?" Sam asked quietly.

"I know it wasn't Shifu's fault for how he was born. But he looked so much like Apophis…it was hard not to look at him and see him as a constant reminder of what Apophis did to Sha're," Daniel admitted.

Sam reached across the table and took her friend's hand and gave a comforting squeeze before saying, "There is nothing wrong with feeling that way, Daniel."

Daniel gave her a grateful smile.

"But I would still like to have a child or two of my own," Daniel admitted.

"Two would be my limit if that many was even possible given my age," Sam said.

"A boy and a girl," Daniel added. "Sam, you're not that old at all. You will have your children."

As he spoke Daniel squeezed Sam's hand back. It wasn't lost on either of them that they hadn't let go. Sam turned Daniel's hand over now that she had finished her meal and examined the lines on his palm. She ran her thumb across the lines to trace them.

Slowly, hesitantly, Sam asked, "Daniel, something has changed between us hasn't it?"

Nodding just as slowly he replied, "When I heard you were coming here to Atlantis I felt a deep sadness that I wouldn't see you every day."

"Is that why you got transferred here?" Sam heard herself asking, unable to believe she had just asked that question.

Her heart was racing as she waited for her best friend's response. She was in dangerous waters with their current conversation.

"Yes," Daniel admitted.

The word was so simple yet it held a world of meaning. Sam looked up from Daniel's palm and saw him staring right back at her with those gorgeous brown eyes which held a wealth of knowledge.

"I don't want to lose you as a friend Daniel. The thought terrifies me," Sam said.

"It terrifies me too Sam. Look at us…we routinely faced dangers that would have caused most people to go insane yet we are afraid of letting our relationship evolve," Daniel suggested.

"Let's take our trays up and go for a walk," Sam suggested.

Daniel nodded his agreement. As soon as they were away from the mess hall and into the nearest transporter booth they linked up hands. It just seemed so natural. Daniel hit the button to take Sam to the same deserted section of the city his lab was in near the pier.

"I've been doing some exploring of this section of the city," Daniel admitted.

"You shouldn't really be doing that on your own," Sam pointed out.

"If I listened to what I should be doing I never would have published my theories about the pyramids being landing pads for alien ships," Daniel mused as he led Sam out onto the nearest pier overlooking the waters of the ocean Atlantis floated on.

The sun was setting. It was a beautiful sight.

"True," Sam agreed. Turning to face her friend Sam looked into his eyes and asked, "Doesn't it bother you that I'm five years older than you?"

"I could care less about that Sam," Daniel replied, staring at the woman he had come to love over the past decade spent with her. "Does it bother you that I'm younger?"

"Nope," Sam assured easily.

"I'm willing to give us a try if you are," Daniel admitted.

Sam was silent for several moments before she leaned forward and pressed her lips to Daniel's. It wasn't a kiss to end all kisses and it wasn't the kiss between friends. It was somewhere in between. There was definitely chemistry there. Sam felt a heat and fire rush through her body.

"Yum," Sam said after the kiss had ended before blushing.

"I'll take that as a yes," Daniel replied with a goofy grin. "Saturday we'll have our first date night."

"What we do every night could be considered a date," Sam pointed out.

"I'll try to think up something special for Saturday," Daniel replied.

"Ok, but no pressure. If you succeed I'll have the next Saturday to figure out what we can do," Sam announced.

"Already planning our second date," Daniel stated. "I like it."

Sam turned back to watch the sunset. She wrapped her arm around Daniel's waist and leaned her head against his shoulder. It was a great night for the former SG-1 members.

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Early the next morning after sharing an enjoyable breakfast with Sam, Daniel completed one of his projects in his lab. He held up what appeared to be a sword in the style of a katana.

"Broadsword," Daniel commanded clearly.

The katana changed shape until it was the shape of a massive broadsword. Daniel twirled the blade through the air experimentally. It was perfectly balanced. There were several strips of steel of varying thicknesses clamped down to a lab table. They were there for the purpose of testing. Daniel began cleaving through the steel pieces one by one starting with the thinnest and working his way thicker. The blade cut through the steel easily.

"Mace," Daniel intoned and the sword transformed into a heavy spiked mace.

Daniel swung it at a prepared practice dumby and watched as the dumby shattered under the weapon's attack when combined with his strength. The weapon was constructed of densely packed nanites and was currently programmed with several preset shapes. The bladed weapons were sharpened down to the atomic scale and would slice through just about anything. If the blade even developed a scratch the nanites would fill it in.

"Katana," Daniel whispered, preferring that form.

Daniel wasn't sure why he had created the sword. He only had a feeling that he should have one.

It felt natural.

"Storage," Daniel whispered.

The weapon began to switch form again and Daniel lifted up his shirt. The weapon now took up residence hanging from his shoulders around his chest and back like a gun harness. It would remain there until he gave it a command. This was a useful way to store his new weapon the archeologist thought. Daniel headed off looking for a certain Satedan to test out the weapon properly.

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Rev 0 Published 9/9/2018