A/N: Here is the second chapter of the story, enjoy.
Onboard the Koralev:
After receiving the message from the Apollo, Dr. Weir had sent Colonel Sheppard's team out along with Dr. Zelenka and a few other scientists. "We will be arriving momentarily, you should board your craft." Colonel Chekov advised Sheppard just before the ship dropped out of hyperspace.
Onboard the Galactica:
"DRADIS contact!" Gaeta called out as the Koralev appeared on their sensors.
"Cylons?" Tigh asked immediately.
"No, the ship matches the design of the other vessels in the system." Gaeta replied, referring to the other F-304s that stood off station around the fleet.
"Very well," Tigh said, "Inform the raptors that they may proceed to the surface of the planet.". Gaeta nodded, and the Colonial delegation was off.
Onboard the Apollo:
"Koralev is in system and standing by. Count two puddle jumpers in space, heading for our docking bays." the technician reported.
"Good." Jack answered. "We better get down there then.". SG-1 followed the general down to the docking bay, and into the second puddle jumper, which soon took off and set a course for the planets surface.
Uninhabited Planet:
Admiral Adama stood outside of a raptor, shoulder to shoulder with President Laura Roslin. "So we have no idea where these people are from?"
"No. They did not state any allegiance in their messages to us." Adama answered.
"Then let us hope that they will continue to fight the Cylons, rather than us." Roslin said as the pair noticed two strange ships closing on their position very rapidly. The ships stopped over the clearing and slowly descended. "This must be them.".
The rear hatch on both ships lowered, revealing a man with gray hair and a green hat. "Admiral Adama I presume?" the man, who Adama recognized by his voice as general O'Neill asked.
"Yes general." Adama said, "May I introduce Laura Roslin, president of the twelve colonies.".
"Madam President." Jack said graciously, let me introduce everyone. This is Colonel Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Colonel Cameron Mitchell and Teal'c.". Each person greeted the colonials in their own way as they were introduced.
"Who are those other people?" Roslin asked, referring to the other jumper, where Sheppard's team was preparing to go investigate the ruins.
"Ah, them." Jack said, as if he had hoped that it wouldn't come up. "They will not be joining us for this meeting, instead they are going to have a look around the ruins.".
"Excuse me." Adama said, "But we found those first, and are in the process of looking through them ourselves.".
Teal'c raised an eyebrow behind O'Neill at this unforeseen problem. "Are you now." Jack said spinning around to talk to Daniel, "They are looking through them now, thats too bad isn't it?".
"Jack." Daniel said, a warning tone to his voice.
"Perhaps we can negotiate the possibility of allowing you a brief tour of the ruins later." Roslin said, hoping to defuse the situation.
Jack suddenly had a disgusted look on his face as he turned to Carter and said, "Get on the radio, order Sheppard's team to return to the jumper.".
"I don't think there will be any need for that." Carter said, gesturing over to where ten colonial marines were leading the Atlantis team back into the clearing.
Jacks mind was working fast now, the team had barely left the clearing when they must have been ambushed by these colonials. It stood to reason that there must be more of those marines around. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked, his anger barely under control.
"General, you have to understand. We have had some terrible things happen to our people, we take no chances now." Roslin attempted to explain.
"Too damn bad." Jack replied, his zat pointed at Adama's head. The rest of the team had raised their weapons as well, as had the colonial marines that were still emerging from the trees around the two puddle jumpers.
"Perhaps as a sign of good faith you could lower your weapons." Roslin said, trying to be diplomatic.
"A sign of good faith?" Mitchell said disbelievingly. "Last I checked he gave you a whopper of a sign of good faith by saving you fellas from those other ships.".
"We thank you for your help against the Cylons." Adama said, his own weapon in his hand.
"You could thank us by letting us into that city over there." Daniel said, pointing to the ruins.
"Why are they so important?" Kara Thrace asked, her pistol inched away from the face of Rodney McKay.
"That city was built by the ancients." Daniel explained.
"The ancients?" Roslin asked, perplexed.
"You have never heard of them, perhaps you refer to them as the ancestors?" Teyla responded.
"The only other peoples we recognize are the Cylons and the thirteenth tribe, apart from the Lords of Kobol." Kara said aggressively.
That could be them, Daniel thought as he listened to the aggressive pilot answer Teyla. "As a start, why don't we all lower our weapons." Daniel offered.
"Perhaps that would be best." Laura reasoned, motioning for the marines to lower their weapons. SG-1 followed suit, with Teal'c lowering his staff weapon just as O'Neill's zat went back into its holster.
"Now, lets talk like civilized people." Daniel said calmly.
Onboard the Apollo:
"They have been gone for almost five hours." Colonel Ellis exclaimed.
"Patience Colonel." Thor said softly, "These things can often take much longer than this.".
"I don't have to like it." The military man responded as he continued to scan the planet for any sign of the jumpers taking off again.
Onboard the Galactica:
"Still no word from the surface?" Tigh asked Gaeta, who was still at his station.
"None sir.".
"Frak." Tigh said, although it came out almost as a sigh.
Onboard the Apollo:
"Sir, we are receiving a transmission from the surface." the radio technician said, turning to face Colonel Ellis as he did so.
"Patch it through." Ellis ordered.
"Colonel, we've finished the first round of talks with the colonials." reported General O'Neill.
"General, good to finally hear your voice." Ellis responded.
"Thank you Colonel." O'Neill said, "After a few initial difficulties Daniel was eventually able to work out an agreement on the ruins of the ancient city that are sitting down here.".
"What did this agreement entail?" Ellis questioned.
"A joint expedition into the ruins, thankfully these people do not seem to know exactly what they have stumbled on." Jack answered, his distain for sharing the possible spoils evident in his voice.
"Is there anything else that General Hammond needs to be made aware of?" Ellis asked, referring to the report he would be making after his current conversation ended.
"No, we won't have anything else until Daniel meets with their president again." Jack answered.
"Very well, is there anything you need down there?" Ellis asked.
"Yes actually, we found a ring platform down here so have Prometheus take up position over the ruins." Jack ordered.
"Yes sir." Ellis answered before the transmission ended.
Uninhabited Planet:
"Is Prometheus inbound?" Sheppard asked.
"Yes Colonel, the ship will take up position above the ruins." Jack answered.
"Jack, are we ready to go?" Daniel interjected as he ran up to the two military men.
"Yes Daniel, we can all go in now." Jack answered with a small smile, before following Daniel into the opening that the colonials had blasted into the walls of the city. The group of colonials and SGC personnel continued to move into the city until they again came to the stubborn door that had refused to open for the chief earlier. The colonials began fastening multiple pieces of plastic explosive to the door, as if to exact revenge for their wait.
Daniel nudged Jack and said softly, "If they aren't careful then they could bring the whole ceiling down with that door. We should tell them to use less C4.".
"It's a blast door Daniel," Jack answered, "ergo, we need extra C4 to blow it down.". The colonials motioned for everyone to move back, which they did, just before an explosion went off on the door. Jack poked his head around the corner he had taken cover behind, "These guys are not going to be happy.".
Daniel was about to ask why when they heard a cry from the chief, "Fracking door wont fracking move!". Jack wore a slight smile as he walked towards the offending door.
"McKay, try and hotwire it." he ordered, before watching the scientist peel the panel off the wall and begin to remove and relocate control crystals. Minutes later, the door slid open a fraction, allowing three colonial marines with pry bars to open it the rest of the way. They stood in a vary small room with a set of stairs that ascended up and untold number of floors.
"We should be right under the main tower sir." Carter said, looking up at the stairs.
"Good, McKay, Daniel, every door that we pass on the way up, translate what it says, that will tell us the rooms function." Jack ordered.
"How do you know there will be symbols to translate?" a colonial asked in a slightly disbelieving tone.
"Daniel, what does that translate to?" Jack asked, pointing to words in ancient that were engraved above the door they had just come through.
"Loosely translated, it mean exit." Daniel said.
"And on the other side?" Jack continued.
"It said, main stairwell." Daniel answered honestly.
"That's how I know soldier, now follow us and do not touch anything we don't tell you to." Jack said.
"Why should we follow your orders? We found this place first so we are entitled to first pick of whatever we find." another marine said, earning a glare from Starbuck.
"You will do it because you have no idea what you could possibly be dealing with, you will do it because I am your superior officer, and you will do it because if you manage to endanger us all, I will shoot you." Jack snarled, the brim of his green baseball hat almost touching the other mans helmet as he leaned in to make his point absolutely clear.
The marine looked helplessly at the closest officer, Starbuck, as if he was asking for help. "Private, we will be following General O'Neill's orders while we are in here, they have dealt with these things before.".
Jack was puzzled slightly when the colonial mentioned that they had done these things before, he motioned to Daniel, who moved and confronted the colonial as the rest of the group began climbing the stairs.
"What did you mean by your comments back there?" he asked the blonde colonial as the climbed at the back of the group.
"You mean how did I know that you all had done something like this before?" Starbuck replied, never breaking stride.
"Yes." Daniel pressed, almost eagerly.
"It was fairly obvious, your ships appeared in system looking for something, and these ruins are the only thing on the planet. That and the fact that you were not awed at all by the scope or technology that we have encountered so far, it was all business." Starbuck explained, waiting as Daniel marked off a door that said 'primary lift' above it in ancient.
"I suppose that does make sense." Daniel said as he digested the information given to him by the colonial pilot.
"Of course it makes sense." Starbuck replied with a grin as the pair continued to climb the seemingly endless stairs.
"McKay, quick question." Sheppard said as he reached yet another level.
"Go ahead." the scientist answered as he continued to stare at the screen of his laptop.
"Why haven't the lights come on or the city powered up as we entered it?" Sheppard asked.
"A number of reasons really, why do you ask?" McKay replied quickly, not breaking stride.
"Oh I don't know McKay, maybe because a transporter would come in handy right now." Sheppard snapped, irritated at the sheer number of stairs they were being forced to climb in order to reach the control room.
"Ah, yes. Well, it could be that the city's zed-pm is completely depleted. Or, it could be that we have to be in the control room for the city to power up, it would be a fantastic waste of energy for all systems to go online just because someone entered some remote part of the structure." McKay answered, his eyes finally leaving the laptop.
Sheppard had to admit that it made sense, but the fact that it was a sound theory did nothing to alleviate his tired legs. That being so, he kept his mouth shut until they reached one final landing that opened up into what he recognized as a control room, minus the stargate.
Just then the lights began o come on, causing the colonials to raise their weapons sharply. "There are your lights Sheppard." Jack said, "And you all can lower your weapons now, there are no threats here.".
McKay ran up the steps and began accessing the computers that the ancients left behind. The expressions on his face ran from pleased to perplexed in a matter of seconds. "Is there a problem doctor?" O'Neill asked as he approached the man.
"A few problems actually." McKay answered.
"The greatest of which are?" O'Neill asked, leaving room for McKay to complete the sentence.
"The city has no drones ready for action and evidently the control chair itself is damaged. We are defenseless if anything gets by the fleet.".
"I can see how that could be a problem. What's the good news?" Jack replied.
"The good news is that the database says there is a laboratory where the ancients made zed-pms, so there might be some lying around." Rodney answered excitedly.
O'Neill's face broke into a large grin at the news, "Begin the search doctor, unfortunately I have to be at the next round of talks so I will be unable to join you. Report anything you find immediately.".
"Yes, yes of course." Rodney said distractedly as he began searching the computers for a location of the lab. Jack merely shook his head as he walked back down the stairs and out of the city fifteen minutes later.
Abandoned City:
"Your ships are impressive." Starbuck said in a conversational tone to Daniel as the pair searched for anything useful in the many rooms of the city.
"I suppose they are, although your own are much larger." Daniel quipped back.
"True, but your own vessels have those shields." Starbuck argued.
"Yes they do, and before you ask, I do not know how they work." Daniel replied, causing the colonials face to drop a little, before she came up with another question.
"Your ship, the Apollo, is it named for the gods?".
"The gods?" Daniel said in a confused tone before snapping back into his normal learning mode. "So you worship multiple gods?" he asked.
"Yes, the Lords Of Kobol, the people of your world do not?".
"The people of my world worship many different gods, although most religions only have one." Daniel explained.
"You have more than one religion on your planet?" Starbuck asked, almost incredulously.
"Yes we do..." Daniel stopped as the door in front of him slid open to reveal a large room, with three ZPMs sitting ready, but not installed, into a power station. "Sam!" he yelled into his radio, "Get McKay and get down here.".
Onboard the Prometheus:
The next round of talks between the two cultures took place in a large room cleared out directly adjacent to the ring platforms. Jack had chosen the site personally, to avoid giving the colonials and tour of the ship. Next to him sat Colonel Pendergast, commander of the Prometheus. So far, little had been accomplished, although no one had pointed a gun at anyone else during the proceedings, which was a definite step up from former meetings. "General O'Neill, surely you understand that we are leaving our fleet in great danger by staying in orbit around this planet." Roslin said, referring to the Cylons, which so far had shown no hesitance to wipe out humanity.
"Madam President, rest assured that you will have the assistance of our fleet when and if the Cylons do return." Jack had the urge to add 'and don't call me Shirley' but managed to bottle it up, at least for now.
"No offense meant general, but how do we know that we can trust you when we know nothing about your people, your government and what you stand for?" Adama questioned, looking Jack straight in the eyes.
"I'm sure that we could get you all the information you could ever need, but I will share a few things with you, that will hopefully ease your mind." Jack answered, meeting the colonials gaze. Adama nodded for Jack to go ahead.
"Well, years ago, we burst onto the scene in our galaxy as a result of a number of discoveries. What we discovered was that the majority of our galaxy was under the control of a race of beings that had enslaved humanity on almost every inhabitable planet except our own. We decided to try and free as many of the people as we could, and a war that we knew we had little chance at winning began. We eventually gathered allies, one of which you may meet later, and we eventually toppled the regime that had enslaved the galaxy, because it was the right thing to do." Jack said, although he knew he was playing up the circumstances a little.
"Why would you undertake such a seemingly impossible goal?" Adama asked, with a small amount of disbelief in his voice.
"We discovered that our planet had thrown one of the tyrants off a millenia before, and that the rest of the oppressed galaxy looked up to that goal, and had named the people of my planet the Tau'ri." Jack explained.
"And what planet is that?" Roslin asked, leaning forward, her hands clasped together.
"Earth." Jack answered without hesitation, not really knowing what he had just started.
Abandoned City:
Daniel and Starbuck stood a few feet away as Carter and McKay excitedly went over the readings they were receiving from the ZPMs that Daniel had discovered. "This, this is astounding!" McKay shouted to no one in particular.
"What is so important about those gems, are they valuable to you people?" Starbuck asked Daniel as the two did their best to keep out of the way of the scientists.
"Oh yes, they are very valuable, although not as currency. Those are power sources, the most powerful ones that we know to exist, Colonel Carter could explain how they work if you are interested." Daniel explained.
"But if they are just power sources, why are they so valuable?" Kara asked, still puzzled.
"They are so valuable because we do not yet know how to make them ourselves." Daniel answered, without giving too much information away.
Starbuck was about to respond but she was cut off by a call from Sam, "Daniel, we need you to start translating these logs on the computer terminals.".
"Okay Sam." Daniel said, shooting Starbuck a slightly apologetic glance because of the abrupt ending to their conversation.
Onboard the Apollo:
"That's when they got all excited George." Jack said as he filled in General George Hammond on what had happened during the second meeting with the colonials.
"They had been searching for us the entire time?" Hammond asked, as if for clarification.
"Yes, they know us as the thirteenth tribe, and after I revealed that we came from earth, they were more eager to talk with us." Jack explained.
"And they now want our help against these Cylons." Hammond stated.
"Yes sir, they believe it is our duty to help them. And they have requested a safe planet to stay, at least until the talks are over." Jack elaborated, his face showing his dislike towards the colonials attitude about an alliance in their war.
"Very well, begin a search for an uninhabited planet in the Pegasus galaxy, and prepare defenses around the planed you are currently orbiting. We do not want to leave the ancient ruins unprotected." Hammond ordered.
"Yes sir. But if these Cylons were to somehow get through our defenses..." Jack said, leaving his sentence dangling.
"If so, you are ordered to detonate a nuclear device at the center of the city, that should take out anything of value." Hammond said before cutting the connection.
Abandoned City:
Twelve hours after the conversation O'Neill had shared with Hammond, a warhead had been installed in the center of the city, and the fleet was a full battle readiness. The Colonial fleet had jumped to another system, with both battlestars accompanying it. The only Colonials who had stayed were observers, although one of those was Kara Thrace. She had scarcely left the side of the intelligent Daniel Jackson, whom she had become attached to. Although never as religious as some of her comrades, she was now riveted to the new perspective that the thirteenth tribe put on the Lords Of Kobol, or Ancients, depending on who you talked to.
With the Colonials gone, the F-304s had taken up station around the planed, with the Prometheus still in the atmosphere assisting in the exploration of the city. Although the ship had been little help so far, the ancients had shielded the entire city from sensors and even transporters in order to give it a smaller technological 'footprint' from orbit. It had worked, the wraith had never landed on the seemingly empty planet. It did however hamper efforts to speed up the process of exploring the city.
Even without the help of sensors and transporters, discoveries had been made. Control crystals had been ripped out of terminals that they lacked the power to operate, something that Daniel had fought against ferociously. Jack had eventually been able to silence him by mentioning that Carter would surely be able to reinstall them when/if any threat to the city had been eliminated. But for the time being, keeping that technology out of anyone else's hands was a priority. One startling find was the 200 drones that sat in a large room full of racks. Those had to be painstakingly carried out of the city before they could be beamed into the hold of the Prometheus. More and more was being discovered, but the eventual return of the Cylons occupied everyone's mind.
"McKay, is the shield ready yet?" Jack asked the scientist as he worked inside a large access hatch that stood near the technology that generated the shield, technology Jack did not want to understand, but rather to operate correctly.
"No general, just like the last ten times you asked me." McKay snapped.
"Well what's wrong with it?" Jack questioned, knowing that they needed that shield if they hoped to stay in the city.
"I don't know yet! Everything should be working, the ancients must have sabotaged it in some way before they left." McKay said
"Why would they do that?" Jack asked, with a small amount of sarcasm.
"I don't know, maybe to ensure that no one else used the city as a stronghold?" McKay snapped again, in a way that suggested he was speaking with a small child. It was a tone that Jack did not appreciate.
"You have two hours before I put Carter on this.' he decreed before leaving the room, and a flabbergasted Rodney McKay behind.
Jack walked down a hallway and up a mercifully short flight of stairs before emerging back in the control room of the city. "Carter." he said, both as a greeting and as a request for an update.
"I'm making progress sir." she answered, referring to her efforts to repair the long range sensors.
"Well that's good." Jack quipped.
"Not as good as I'd hoped for though." Carter clarified while casting a forlorn look at the offending screen, which was mostly blank.
"What do you mean?" Jack said, glancing at the screen.
"Do you see the sections of the screen that are filled in?" Carter asked, causing Jack to nod, "Those are only small sections of space, the Cylons could appear from any of the directions where we currently have no means of detecting them.".
"I can see how that could be a problem." Jack replied thoughtfully.
"Yes, although our screen of F-304s will be enough to at least give us a chance to evacuate and detonate the warhead under the city." Carter rationalized.
"That is our best option, especially considering McKay has yet to get the shield working." Jack stated, clearly annoyed at the situation.
"Hopefully I can get these sensors working, then at least we will know if the shield will be needed." Carter replied, upset over her own uncharacteristic failure of her task. Jack merely nodded before he was off again to check the progress in yet another part of the city.
Onboard the Galactica:
Admiral Adama sat in his office with his son and president Roslin, discussing the ongoing relations with the thirteenth colony. "...we have no choice but to trust them at any rate." Adama said, finishing a sentence that had illustrated his reluctance in trusting a people that they still knew very little about.
"They will not betray us." Roslin stated, no trace of disbelief evident in her voice.
"How can you be so sure?" Adama asked the woman who over the course of their odyssey had become a close friend and confidant.
"Because they are the thirteenth colony?" Lee answered, although it came out almost as a question.
"That means very little," Adama said, "They are unaware of their heritage, and are a very different people than we are.".
"Perhaps, but we have much to offer them." Roslin said.
"Such as?" Lee questioned, the image of one of the earth ships absorbing missile impacts still etched into his brain.
"Our history and culture for one." Roslin said.
"They will not want our culture, at least not in its entirety, these Tau'ri as they call themselves are their own race." Adama stated with equal confidence.
"Our history and records then." Roslin assured the two.
"For academic curiosity maybe, but they will not need to offer much in return." Lee said, suddenly seeing where his father was going with his argument.
"We must have something to offer them in return for their help against the Cylons." Roslin said, realizing how naОve she had just been.
"We do." Adama said, convinced that his answer was the only one.
"What is it admiral?" Roslin questioned.
"FTL technology." Adama answered simply.
"They have inquired about it then?" Roslin asked, pleased by that revelation.
"Not directly, they have expressed curiosity about the technology but have thus far withheld any request to study it. Although that could be an effect of the current situation at the ruins." Adama replied.
"So until they request the technology, we have nothing to offer them?" Lee asked.
"Yes, it seems we are reliant on their goodwill towards our people until we prove ourselves worthy allies to the Tau'ri." Adama answered before returning to his own thoughts. The rocky start that the two peoples had gotten off to had without doubt hurt their relations, the question was, how much?
Abandoned City:
Jack O'Neill had finished his rounds of the major discovery sites in the city and was in the process of making his way back to the control room when Carter's voice crackled over his radio. "Sir, you better get up here and take a look at this.". Breaking into a run, jack was there in less than three minutes.
"What is it Carter?" he asked, coming to a stop next to his former teammate.
"Look at this sir." Sam said, gesturing to the screen she had been working with all day. Jack looked, noticing the many blank spots still evident on the screen.
"Its still broken." he observed nonchalantly.
"Yes, but look at what it caught a few moments ago." Carter explained before initiating playback on the screen. Jack saw a brief moment where a group of shapes emerged, before they vanished again.
"What was that?" he asked.
"That was the appearance of a large group of Cylon baseships." Carter explained, "I am unsure of the exact number because they appeared directly next to a portion of the sensor grid that is still offline.".
"How long until they reach us?" Jack asked.
"Sir, to be fair, they should be here already, especially with their FTL technology. But they are hesitating, taking a longer route to get to us." Sam explained, her confusion over the Cylon behavior evident on her face.
"They must be waiting for reinforcements." Jack thought aloud. "Carter, get a watch on this station, we need to know when they will arrive. You and McKay need to start getting as much ancient technology out of this city and onto the Prometheus as possible.".
"What about the city itself?" Sam asked.
"If I'm right, we wont be able to hold these Cylons off for very long." Jack said before striding towards the door. "And make sure that the warhead is working properly, the last thing we need is a dud.". With that, Jack was gone, and Carter began hurrying to carry out his orders.
A/N: Please continue to review and share your opinions, I enjoy reading every intelligent review I get.