"What are you doing here?" Martouf asked SG-1, clearly puzzled.
Before Sam could respond, Jack stepped in, "Yeah, we're not completely sure about that." He paused for a moment. "What are you doing here, anyways?"
"There is a Tok'ra base here. I was unaware that you had the coordinates," Martouf answered.
"Yeah, that's because we don't," Jack stated. Martouf and the other Tok'ra looked even more puzzled.
"What do you mean?" another Tok'ra asked.
"Sir, if I may step in," Carter said. "We aren't exactly sure how we got to this planet. We were all on earth and then the next minute we were here. A few minutes after we got here, those just materialized." She pointed to the metal case, the other weapons, and the laptop. "And then you showed up."
"I suppose that would explain the strange energy readings," Martouf stated.
"What kind of strange energy readings?" Carter asked, the gears in her head already starting to turn.
"We don't know, we couldn't identity them," replied.
"Hmm," Carter said, "do you mind if I have a look at them? It may give us a clue to how we got here." Carter paused. "Wherever here is. I'm guessing it's an alternate reality, but neither of us touched anything that would have triggered a transport to a parallel universe, or at least that we remember…"
"A parallel universe?" Martouf said.
"Yeah," Sam replied, "we can't get any signals from any of our ships."
"Your ships?" Martouf questioned. "I did not know that the Tauri had the technology to build ships capable of interstellar travel."
"'Course we do," Jack stated. "We have for a couple years now."
"You have?" Martouf asked. Jack just nodded. "Then you were capable of interstellar travel before you opened your Stargate?"
SG-1 all just stared at Martouf. The was a long, awkward silence. Finally, Jack spoke up, "Whatcha mean, before we opened the Stargate?"
"You just opened the Stargate a couple years ago," Martouf said slowly.
"No, we haven't," said Jack. "We've had a fully operational Stargate for years now (not to mention a couple little incidents…)."
Nobody said anything. Both the To'kra and SG-1 were thinking things through. Eventually, it dawned on Colonel Carter. "We must have traveled back in time!" Sam exclaimed. Everyone looked at her like she was partially crazy. "That's the only explanation; why our ships seemed to have disappeared, how come they don't have any memories of the past few years," Sam said, pointing to the To'kra at 'them', "or why there are some differences. This isn't an alternate reality, this is an alternate time."
"You mean you are from the future?" Martouf asked.
"I think so," Sam answered.
"Wait a second, here," Jack said. "I thought the only way to travel through time was through a Stargate with a solar flare or something like that, and that puddle-jumper that we discovered and destroyed."
"That we know of, sir," said Carter. "I am sure there are other ways to time travel, those are just the ones we've encountered."
"You've traveled through time before?" Martouf asked.
"Yes," Sam said. "Once was by accident when we happened to step through the Stargate at the exact moment of a solar flare so it sent us back to earth, but in the sixties. And the other was using Ancient technology in one of their ships that they built that we used to travel to the time when Ra ruled over earth to obtain a ZPM that Ra didn't know how to use. But we apparently were trapped there because I didn't want to change the timeline or something; and we destroyed the ship so no one could use it to travel through time again… although all that never really happened to us, since we found the ZPM and a recording a couple weeks before we were supposed to go back in time." Everybody's faces were blank, even Jackson's and O'Neill's, both who had heard (and lived) this story before.
"It's all relative," Jack said. Cater sent annoying glare his way.
There was yet another long, awkward silence. This time it was Martouf who broke it. "What's a ZPM?" he asked.
"It's like an battery," Sam attempted to answer his question, but when seeing the confusion on his face when referring to the Tauri's batteries, she took a different approach. "Never mind. It's an energy source that draws it's power from sub-space. It was used by the Ancients and powers most of their technology."
Some understanding crossed the To'kras' faces. Before anyone could say anything, the handheld device Sam had in pocket beeped, making everyone jump at the noise. Sam took the device out of her pocket and looked at it. A few seconds later, dread crossed her face.
"What is it, Carter?" Jack asked.
Carter swallowed before answering. "Wraith, sir." O'Neill's eyes widened in surprised. "Wraith hiveships are on their way to our galaxy."
"How?" Daniel asked. "I thought the Wraith didn't know about this galaxy until we started stirring up trouble in Pegasus."
"So did I," Sam said. "But whatever brought us here might have something to do with it. Or maybe the whole galaxy went back in time, excluding us and the rest of the universe, but that's quite unlikely. Plus I'm not quite sure how that would work, if even possible."
"Excuse me," Martouf said, "but what are 'Wraith'?"
"They are beings from another galaxy that are basically vampires- that is they feed on humans," Daniel stated.
"They feed on humans?" Martouf asked, incredulous.
"Yes. We are their food source, they quite literally suck your blood."
"What else can you tell us about them?"
"Well, they were an enemy of the Ancients," Daniel paused for a moment. "The Ancients were at war with the Wraith in the Pegasus Galaxy. Even though the Ancients were superior in technology, most notably hyper-drives, they lost. There were just too many Wraith, not to mention they were mostly pacifists."
"They defeated the Ancients'?" a different To'kra asked, disbelief displayed on his face.
"Yes. I suppose you could say that they had a hand in the Ancients' demise," Daniel said. "The Ancients' left their city in Pegasus and came back here, but it was just so primitive they never were able to rebuild their city. So some went and lived with some early human cultures, others basically lived like nomads, on their own, and others and devoted their life to meditation and reflection, eventually ascending to a higher plane of existence by shedding their physical form and becoming pure energy."
"You seem to know an awful lot about this, Dr. Jackson," another To'kra stated.
"Yes, well I am considered the leading expert on the Ancients back home," Daniel said, "and I have studied a lot of their artifacts and other things they left behind. Plus it helped that I was once ascended myself."
"You were once ascended, as you call it?"
"Yes. I had help from an Ancient who we met a Keb." Jackson knew they wanted to know more about ascension. "Before you ask, I don't remember anything from when I was ascended. I retook human form after breaking some rules to save my friends, and the Others didn't really like it, so Oma (the Ancient who helped me ascend) stripped my memories." They looked quite disappointed that Daniel would be unable to tell them more about his experience with the Ancients.
"Uh, not to interrupt anything here, folks," Jack began, "but shouldn't we be getting onto more pressing issues?"
Sam blushed, and Jackson just nodded. "Okay, we'll tell you what we know about Wraith hiveships."
"Hiveships?" questioned Martouf.
"Yes," Carter answered. "They are like the Wraith version of a Mothership, but much more powerful." She paused for a moment, thinking. "But first we should talk to the Council. And do you have satellites or long-range sensors that we could use to confirm the Wraith hiveships?"
"Yes," Martouf said. "This way."
SG-1 followed the Tok'ra, off to probably save the galaxy yet another time.
Okay, I hoped you liked it. I'm sorry if I got some facts wrong... if I did, please let me know. A lot of this stuff I am just making up and doesn't have any mention in the regular series. By the way, does anyone know the names of some Tok'ra that I can use? I am just too lazy to go any look them up. Oh, and when I reread it, it occcured to me that Sam should be more excited about seeing Martouf. But at first she knows it's not herMartouf (that is Martouf from the same reality), and later she is preoccupied with the Wraith hiveships. Anyways, thanks for reading, and double thanks if you reviewed!
~Amada
Quotes/Smiles of the Day:D
"CHILDHOOD: The rapidly shrinking interval between infancy and first arrest on a drug or weapons charge." ~Rick Bayan, The Cynic's Dictionary
"You never understand a point until you fail to explain it to the child." ~Lenoid S. Sukhorukov
"There are three stages of a man's life: He believes in Santa Claus, he doesn't believe in Santa Claus, he is Santa Claus." ~Author Unknown