Chapter 2: A Mystery Begins

Ten days after they had left the Milky Way, the Daedalus touched down on the East Pier of the great city of Atlantis. As the crew assisted with the unloading of the supplies in the cargo bay, Caldwell excused himself and headed through the massive city to Dr. Weir's office. He had made a promise to General Landry that he would deliver this letter personally.


Elizabeth Weir was sitting in her office drinking a mug of coffee when she heard a soft knock on the wall. She looked up to see the Daedalus commander leaning in the doorway, staring seriously at her.

"Colonel Caldwell, welcome back to Atlantis. Is there something that I can do for you?" Weir asked casually.

"Actually there is." Caldwell began, pulling the envelope from the jacket of his uniform.

"This arrived at Stargate Command ten days ago and was beamed up to the Daedalus with the rest of your supplies. I was asked to bring it to you personally."

Weir took the envelope that Caldwell handed her, puzzled by the writing on the front. She carefully opened it and unfolded the letter inside. Her curiosity soared as she read the contents of that letter.

Dear Dr. Weir:

I know you will be intrigued, perhaps even curious, when you receive this. When you discover the reason behind it, I can guarantee that you will be very surprised.
I have a simple request of you. Return to Earth and travel to this address. Do not travel alone. Bring the members of your front line team with you. I know you are
wondering my identity and the nature of the purpose behind my correspondence with you. When you arrive at the address I have provided, I will be there to meet you
and I will explain everything then.

Sincerely,
B.M.D.

After reading the letter, Weir's pulse was racing at the mystery that had just been delivered into her hands. She was determined, as she folded the letter and placed it back into the envelope for safe keeping, to figure out who this mystery contact was, how they knew about her expedition in Atlantis, and more importantly why they had contacted her.

"Dr. Weir, there's more. General Landry asked me to request that you include something about the contents of this letter in your next weekly status report. He was reluctant to send it here with us in the first place from what I hear."

"Colonel, I think I can give him one better than that. Can you excuse me please? I need to make some preparations." Weir asked.

"Of course. I'll head back and help my men in unloading your supplies. Let me know if you require any further assistance." Caldwell said, heading out of the office as Weir nodded her agreement.

As soon as Caldwell was gone, Elizabeth activated her headset. If this mystery person wanted her to bring her team with her, she needed to alert them and tell them to be ready.

"John, what's your position?" Weir said into her headset.

"I'm in the gym with Teyla. We just finished a sparring match. Why? What's up?" Colonel John Sheppard replied breathlessly, sharing a puzzled look with the Athosian member of his team.

"I need to see you both in my office as soon as possible. Something has come up that needs to be discussed. Please bring McKay and Ronon with you."

"Will do. Sheppard out." Sheppard said, keying off his headset and turning to Teyla. "What the hell do you suppose that was about?"

"I do not know. Perhaps we should do as Dr. Weir has requested and we can find out." Teyla smiled as the two left the gym and went in search of their teammates.


Five minutes later, Sheppard and Teyla appeared in Weir's office with Ronon and Dr. Rodney McKay in tow. They were all curious to find out what was so important that they had to be summoned from what they were doing.

"Elizabeth, what's going on? Radek and I were working on the power systems when Sheppard came and pulled me away. I need to hurry and get back." McKay asked, looking slightly annoyed at the interruption.

"Well, Rodney, if you'll all have a seat, I'll try to explain." Weir began, waiting for the four to be seated before continuing. "As you know, the Daedalus arrived this morning with our scheduled drop of supplies from Earth. Only today, we got an unexpected delivery."

"What the hell is this?" Sheppard asked, taking the letter from Weir's hand as the other three leaned close to look over his shoulders.

"It looks like a letter, Sheppard." Ronon quipped.

"I know that, Ronon. I meant the meaning of it."

"Please. Let me explain." Weir interrupted. "Colonel Caldwell hand delivered this to me this morning. The contents of this letter are very mysterious."

"They sure are."

"There must be an explanation as to why the message is so cryptic." Teyla added.

"Okay. We've established that this is a letter and that it's very vague. The question is what are we going to do now?" Rodney interjected.

"That's why I've called you here. As you read, the letter says that I am to come to Earth to the address given on this slip of paper here and bring my front line team with me. I want the four of you to pack what you think you'll need for an extended visit to Earth. We're going through to get to the bottom of this mystery. Meet me in the control room in thirty minutes."

Back in the science lab, Rodney approached Dr. Radek Zelenka who was obviously agitated at having been left to work alone. He turned on McKay, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

"Rodney, where the hell have you been? I have had to finish the power distributions on my own. It was increasingly more difficult with one person."

"I'm sorry about that, Radek. Elizabeth wanted to see us immediately. I told her that I was in the middle of something when I was pulled away but it couldn't wait. Anyway, I just came to get my data pad and my laptop. Apparently we're going to Earth. I'm on my way to my quarters to throw some things together."

"Why are you going to Earth?" Zelenka asked, his earlier agitation replaced by a stronger curiosity.

"Some sort of mysterious letter that Elizabeth got in the supplies that got here this morning. Wants us to go and solve the mystery." Rodney explained.

"I would like to go with you. Mystery books are one of my hobbies and it would be interesting to see what you are talking about."

"Okay. Hang on." Rodney keyed his headset. "Elizabeth."

"Yes, Rodney."

"I'm here with Radek and he said he'd like to come with us to Earth. Apparently he likes mysteries."

"Well, one more can't hurt. Tell him to pack a bag and come to the control room with you." Weir replied.

"She said that..." Rodney began before realizing he was talking to Zelenka's back as he departed the room in a hurry. McKay just shook his head and headed for his own quarters.


Thirty minutes later, the gate alarms at Stargate Command began blaring, signaling an off world activation. Walter Harriman punched up the IDC recognition screen on the console in from of him as General Landry came down the stairs from his office to see who was attempting to come through the Stargate.

"Do we have an IDC, Chief?" Landry asked.

"Yes, sir. It's Dr. Weir's IDC." Harriman responded, a little surprised.

"Well, it looks like we're going to have some visitors from Atlantis. Open the iris, Chief." Landry ordered as he left the control room to meet their arriving guests in the gate room.

A few moments later, the Stargate exploded to life and Elizabeth Weir materialized through the event horizon followed by several members of her expedition team. It struck Landry as a little strange that these people would return to Earth so soon after a mysterious letter had been delivered into their hands.

"Dr. Weir, welcome back to Earth. To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"General, my team and I have a mystery to get to the bottom of. I'll get you up to speed if you'd like." Weir said professionally.

"Okay. Let's go to the briefing room."

Once the group were all seated around the briefing room table, Landry decided to get to the bottom of what had brought several of the Atlantis expedition here.

"So, what's this you're telling me about your team needing to solve a mystery, Doctor?"

"Well, General, the letter that you sent to me through Colonel Caldwell is the mystery. It is from someone who apparently knows who I am and knows about my expedition in the Pegasus Galaxy. I was given an address somewhere in Scotland and told to travel there with my front line team and the mystery contact would be there to give us all the answers. That's what the others are doing here with me." Weir explained, the excitement clear in her eyes.

"Are you absolutely sure about this, Dr. Weir? You could be placing yourself and your team in danger." Landry asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. If we're going to get to the bottom of this, this is the only way. Besides, I have a sense about these sorts of things that comes from years of bartering negotiations and it's telling me that we have nothing to worry about and there is no danger here"

"Very well. I'll have a staff car take the six of you to the airport and I'll call ahead and have an Air Force plane waiting for you on the tarmac to take you. You'll have everything that you need."

"Thank you, General." Weir smiled as she and her team were dismissed to prepare for their journey.