Chapter 3

"McKay! This is Sheppard. Get up!" said John into the radio.

"Mmmph…" said Rodney as he reached for his radio. "What?"

"We need you in the Control Room," said John. "We're submerging the city."

"What?" yelled Rodney.

"…Rodney…" said Jennifer from the other side of the bed. "Can you stop talking please?"

"Why didn't anyone tell me about this?" Rodney whispered into the radio.

"I'm telling you now," said Sheppard. "I thought you wouldn't like to wake up on the bottom of the ocean."

"Ok…" said Rodney. "I'm coming." Rodney climbed out of bed and got dressed. "You're lucky you have the day off," said Rodney to Jennifer as he left the room.

"Why are we submerging the city?" Rodney asked when he reached the Control Room.

"We're trying to prevent another attack," said Sam. "If we sink the city, the chances of someone being able to find us are slim, and the shield will be in constant use, so we wouldn't have to worry about converting the cloak into the shield."

"Well, in case you haven't noticed," said Rodney, "We only have three Zed-PM's."

"They should last us about 10,000 years," said Sam.

"Not with the city active and running, and certainly not if we plan to use the Stargate," Rodney responded.

"It's our best option until we can find more ZPM's," said John.

"More?" Rodney said. "Are you kidding? It was hard enough to find the three we have right now!"

"Daniel thinks he might be on to something," said Cam.

"He thinks he knows where an Ancient Seed Ship is," said Sam. "With any luck it will have a few ZPM's on board."

"And if it doesn't?" Rodney asked.

"Well… then we'll think of another plan," Sam said. "John… get down to the Chair Room."

"Yes ma'am," John said, and he ran off.

"Nice and steady," he said to himself as he sat down in the Chair.

"Are you ready down there?" said Sam over the radio.

"I think so," said John. The city began to sink slowly into the ocean. The shields were holding. Rodney carefully monitored the power consumption. When the city finally touched the bottom, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"General Carter," said Walter. "There's a message for you from General O'Neil."

"In my office, Walter," said Sam.

"Yes ma'am."

"What does he want?" Sam said to herself as she walked to her office. "Hello?" she said as she picked up her phone.

"Carter!" said Jack's voice.

"General?" said Sam.

"You don't have to call me that anymore," he said.

"Why not sir?" Sam asked.

"I'm retired," said Jack.

"Permanently this time?" Sam asked skeptically.

"Yep," Jack said. "I still have to do the whole 'ceremony' thing, but I should be out there by the end of the week."

"You're going to live here on Atlantis?" Sam asked.

"Yeah…Is there something wrong with that Carter?" he asked.

"No…there's nothing wrong with that," she stammered a little.

"Who's going to be the head of Home World Command then?" she asked.

"Ol' Woolsey's taking that job," said Jack. "The IOA's been dissolved."

"Unscheduled Off World Activation!" Walter yelled.

"I gotta go!" said Sam. She hung up the phone before Jack had a chance to say anything.

"Receiving IDC. It's Teal'c," said Walter. The shield around the Gate lowered, and Teal'c stepped though the Event Horizon.

"Chu'lak has been attacked…"

Fifteen minutes later, Teal'c, Sam, and the rest of SG-1 reported to the briefing room.

"The Lucian Alliance has attacked Chu'lak using an Ori Mothership," Teal'c said.

"Why would the Alliance be interested in Chu'lak?" Cam asked.

"With the Goa'uld, Asgard, and Ori gone, the Alliance's only powerful enemies are the Free Jaffa and the Tau'ri," Teal'c responded.

"And now that both Earth and Chu'lak have been attacked, the Alliance now believes they are the most powerful force in the Galaxy," Teyla said.

"Indeed," Teal'c responded gravely.

"General?" Cam asked. "Permission to take SG-1 to Chu'lak to assess the damage."

"Granted," said Sam.

"Alright SG-1," Cam said. "We'll leave at 1030 hours."

Two hours later SG-1 was on Chu'lak, or what was left of it. A few stray Gliders and Al'kesh were flying toward the Stargate. None of the Ha'tak had survived the attack. The Council Chamber had been burned to the ground. One of the Al'kesh stopped above the Gate and Ringed down Halak, a former servant of Apophis.

"Brother," said Teal'c as Halak approached. "How many have survived?"

"Only those who are in these ships," Halak said. "The Lucian Alliance will pay for their crimes against the Jaffa!"

"Calm yourself brother," Teal'c said. "The Tau'ri have agreed to help us in our fight against the Alliance."
"They do not have the means to fight the Alliance!" Halak said.

"On the contrary," Teal'c said. "They have powerful weapons and ships."

"Only four ships," Halak responded.

"We will stand a better chance with the help of the Tau'ri than without them," Teal'c said.

"You are most wise brother," Halak said. "Come with me, and I shall show you what the Alliance has done." He pressed a button on his wrist, and the Rings from the Al'kesh beamed him and SG-1 up. As the ship flew over the charred and smoking rubble, SG-1 couldn't help but stare out the window with their mouths wide open.
"That was our Council Chamber," Teal'c said as the Al'kesh flew over a large crater in the surface.

"Wait a second…" John asked. "How the hell did the Lucian Alliance know what planet your Council Chamber was on?"

"Indeed…" Teal'c said. "No other attacks occurred before the Alliance came here. This is most intriguing."

"There must be a spy in our ranks," Halak said.

"Indeed."

"When I find out who, I shall…" Halak was interrupted by a horrifying explosion.

"What the hell…" Vala said, getting closer to the window.

"I've seen this before," Cam said. "Teal'c how stable is Chu'lak's core?"

"Unknown," Teal'c responded.

"This place is gonna go like Icarus! We've gotta get out of here!" Cam yelled. The pilot adjusted the controls, and the Al'kesh shot up into the sky. The rest of the Jaffa ships followed.

"Hold on tight everyone!" John yelled. The planet below them became increasingly unstable. The ships shot up through the atmosphere. Below them, glowing cracks formed in the planet's surface.

More and more cracks appeared on the surface until the planet finally exploded. The Al'kesh and one of the Cargo Ships made it into Hyperspace just in time.

Meanwhile on Earth:

Sam had gone to Area 51 to check on the progress on the next class of Starship. She had designed most of the ship herself. It was faster, stronger, and larger than anything they had built before. "Sam!" said Zelenka. "We weren't expecting you so soon. Please come this way." They entered a small building which housed an elevator. "We had to double the size of the construction facility to house this new ship."

"How close is it to completion?" Sam asked.

"For the most part it's finished," Zelenka said. "We just need to incorporate the Asgard systems. They are very tricky. It should be ready for field tests in another two weeks," he said proudly.

"There's one more thing I want you to add," Sam said, handing him the specs for the ZPM interface.

"This is a….a ZPM interface. Have you found more?" Zelenka asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately not. We only have three, for now," Sam said.

The elevator stopped. "Here we are," said Radek. "This is the Atlas!"

"It's…massive," said Sam.

"Do you want to see the inside?" Zelenka asked.

"Can we?" Sam asked.

"Absolutely!" Zelenka responded. "Right this way." They walked toward a maintenance entrance. The interior was certainly not what Sam expected. The halls were twice as wide as a Daedalus Class ship. All of the conduits and access panels had been hidden behind smooth walls. There were computer interfaces every couple of feet.

"This is amazing!" Sam said.

"We designed this ship for comfort and purpose," Zelenka said. "We're still working on putting the carpet in."

"Carpet?" Sam asked.

"Yes," Zelenka responded. "Like I said, comfort and purpose."

"Can we go to the bridge?" Sam asked.

"Sure," Radek responded. "We've incorporated the Ancient Transporter technology, so we can get places faster. A traditional elevator wouldn't work, and of course, walking is out of the question on a ship this size."

They stepped into a Transporter, and an instant later, they were on the bridge.

"Spacious," said Sam as she walked toward the massive view window at the front of the bridge. "Thank-you, Radek," she said, smiling. "I should probably get back to Atlantis now. Carter to…" she was cut off.

"There's one more thing we need to show you," Zelenka said. "It's a surprise. Come with me." They stepped back into the Transporter Zelenka pressed one of the glowing dots, and an instant later, they were in the F-302 bay. It was empty except for one ship that was certainly not an F-302. "May I introduce you to the X-400," Radek said proudly.

"400?" said Sam. "I didn't know there were any new prototypes."

"Well," said Radek, "It's not an official prototype yet. This is the only one we've made, and it hasn't been tested in the air yet. We're hoping it will be able to replace the F-302 by the end of the year, but we're still working out some problems."

"It's much sleeker than the 302's," said Sam as she approached the ship.

"We used some of the aerodynamic features of a Wraith Dart in it," Zelenka responded. "It is still mostly Goa'uld technology though. We're working on incorporating Drones into the weapons systems, but for now, they remain incompatible."

"Thank-you very much for showing me this, but I really should get back," Sam said. She walked back to the Transporter leaving. She turned around to say goodbye to Zelenka, but he was already gone. She pressed a dot on the screen, and then she was standing in the entrance hall of the ship. She walked out of the ship and toward the elevator. She stepped in, and the elevator slowly began to climb to the surface. When she reached the surface she called the Apollo. "Carter to Apollo, beam me up," she said. She waited, but nothing happened. "Apollo, this is General Carter, respond." Nothing. She tried calling every ship that was supposed to be in orbit, but none of them responded.

"Carter to Zelenka," she said.

"This is Zelenka," he responded.

"Something's wrong. None of the ships in orbit are responding," Sam said.

"That's very odd," Zelenka said.

"Is your radio down there working?" she asked.

"Yes…I think so," Radek responded.

"Alright…I'm coming back down," Sam said. She got back into the elevator and it sank back down to the Atlas. She walked inside and took the Transporter to the bridge where she found Zelenka.

"I don't understand it!" he said. "The radio is working, but it's like there's nothing up there."

"Are the sensors on line?" Sam asked.

"Yes, but you won't be able to get a clear reading of anything in orbit. We're too far underground," he said.

"Well…we'll have to fix that won't we," Sam said. "Can the ship fly?"

"Yes…but I wouldn't recommend it," Zelenka responded.

"All hands," Sam said into the comm. "Close all external hatches, and brace yourselves. We're taking off." Sam released the docking clamps, and the doors above the ship opened. After a little bit of shuddering, the ship lifted off its supports, and it slowly rose out of the ground.

"Radek," Sam said. "Get the Asgard Beam Weapons online just in case there's a surprise waiting for us up there."

"I might be able to get you one, but certainly not all eight," Zelenka responded.

"That'll have to do," Sam said. Zelenka ran off to the Asgard Computer Core, located in the back of the bridge. He began moving the stones around the console. The ship climbed higher and higher into the atmosphere. Zelenka was working as quickly as he could to get the weapons online.

"Sam," he said. "I've got one of the Beams online, I'll try to get at least one more working." He went back to work. The ship was now on the upper levels of the atmosphere. Zelenka managed to bring one more Beam online, but that was all he could do, the other six would not work. When the ship cleared the atmosphere, Sam could see flashes of light ahead. She pushed the sunlight engines to their maximum. As the Atlas got closer to the flashes, Sam realized they were near the Moon. The Atlas continued on its course toward the battle. Sam saw the Apollo, Daedalus, Odyssey, and the George Hammond fighting a dozen Ha'tak and an Ori Mother ship.

Sam flew the Atlas in, and Radek began to fire. The Ha'tak shields had been enhanced to protect the ships against the Asgard Beams.

"Odyssey, this is General Carter. Respond."

"General?" said Colonel Anderson. "Are you on board that ship?"

"Yeah," Sam said. "It's called the Atlas."

"Can it fight?"

"Of course." Radek continued firing. Squadrons of Gliders were launched from the Ha'tak. The Tau'ri launched their F-302's, and soon, there was a cloud of fighters between the two enemy fleets.

"Our shields are failing!" yelled Colonel Black from the Apollo. The Lucian Alliance slowly forced the Tau'ri ships closer and closer to Earth. Then, the Ori ship suddenly exploded. An Al'kesh and a Cargo ship decloaked, and approached the Tau'ri ships.

"General Carter, this is Sheppard please respond."
"John?" Sam said into her radio. "Why are you on an Al'kesh?"

"That's a long story. We have six more Naquadah Bombs in here. We're ringing them over to the Alliance ships now," John said. A few moments later, there were six brilliant flashes. The remaining Ha'tak collected their remaining gliders, and they jumped into Hyperspace.

"Radek," Sam said. "Take the ship back to Area 51."

"Will do," Zelenka responded.

"Apollo, this is Carter," she said into the radio. "Beam me to Atlantis."

"Yes ma'am." An instant later she found herself in the Control Room. The sirens were blaring, and she soon found herself surrounded by people with guns.

"What the hell is going on here?" she said.

"There is a prisoner on the loose, General," Teal'c said.

"You mean one of the people who attacked Atlantis yesterday?" Sam asked.

"Indeed."

"How are things on Chu'lak?" Sam asked as she and Teal'c got into the Transporter.

"Not well. The planet was destroyed," he responded.

"What!" Sam said.

"The core was unstable," Teal'c said.

When they reached the East Pier, they were immediately confronted by Teyla, Daniel, and Rodney. Once they realized who it was, they put their weapons down.

"Daniel Jackson. Have you located the prisoner?" Teal'c asked.

"Not yet. We're having a hard time. Apparently her partner also escaped, so we can't be sure exactly where they are," Daniel said.

"We think they're looking for a critical system or a power generator to take out, so we have teams near the Zed-PM's and the Naquadah Generators," Rodney said.

"We have divided everyone up into teams of three or more," said Teyla. "You are most welcome to join us." The group walked off down the hallway until Rodney stopped suddenly. He was looking at his scanner. There were to blips moving quickly their way. They could hear the pair of woman arguing about which way to go. The women turned the corner to find themselves face to face with a Jaffa Staff Weapon. Teal'c calmly activated it. The two women dropped their guns, and put their hands up. Teyla approached them with handcuffs.

One of the women spat in Teyla's face. "Alien bitch!" she yelled. Teyla raised her eyebrow, and then punched the woman in the face. She spun around and kicked the other one into the wall.

"That was… relieving," Teyla said as she cuffed the two women. They walked them to the Transporter, and a few minutes later, the two women were safely locked up in the prison even the Wraith couldn't break out of.

"Um…I guess we don't really need to do anything else for now," Sam said as they left the holding area. "I'll see you all in an hour for a briefing?"

There was general nodding. The Transporter dropped them off near the Control Room, but Daniel couldn't even take a step out. Vala came rushing in, and she pushed him against the back wall. "Well Daniel," Vala said seductively. "Where do you want to go?" She tugged at the collar of her shirt.

"Back to the Control Room," Daniel said, trying to get away from Vala.

"Oh c'mon Daniel."

"Vala!" he said, hoping someone would hear him.

"We've got an hour to kill, and as you can see," she pointed to a window, "We can't go anywhere. I don't want to have sex in this hallway, but I will if I have to."
"We're not having sex at all," Daniel said.

"Let's just go somewhere nice and cozy, get naked, and see what happens then," she said innocently. She backed him up to a door and swiped her hand over the panel. Daniel fell on his back, and Vala climbed on top of his pelvis. The door slid shut behind her.

"Daniel?" she said, adjusting her position. "Did Adria dismember you when you were a Prior?"

"What? No… Can we at least get off the floor?" Daniel asked…

One hour later:

"Well Daniel, I must say that was much more satisfying than the first time," Vala said. "Although you still need to work on your…" Daniel cut her off.

"We…um…better get going to the Briefing Room," he said.

"Ah yes… where did our clothes go?" she said, looking around the room.

After getting dressed, the pair walked to the Transporter when suddenly Vala stopped.

"Wait," she said.

"What?"

"We should go up separately. That way it won't look suspicious."

"You're worried about this looking suspicious?"

"Yes!" Vala said. "I have a reputation to uphold."

"Ha!" Daniel laughed. He grabbed her arm, and pulled her into the Transporter. An instant later, they were standing in the Control Room. They walked normally toward the Briefing Room where they sat down on opposite sides of the room.

Teal'c began. "As you all know, Chu'lak has been attacked by the Lucian Alliance. We have promised our aid to the Free Jaffa to help them to rebuild and to fight the Alliance."

"And how do you suggest we do that when we almost got our asses kicked by the Alliance a few hours ago?" Cam asked.

"We must use Earth's ships to seek out and destroy key Alliance strongholds," Teal'c said.

"Who's gonna defend Earth then?" Ronon asked.

"General Carter? Is Atlantis not capable of defending this world?" Teal'c asked.
"I guess it is," Sam replied. "But it can only defend a small part."

"Wait a second!" said Rodney. "This might sound…"

"Yes it does sound crazy Rodney," Sheppard said.

"What if…we built a base on the Moon!" Rodney said.

"You're kidding right?" Ronon said.

"Hush," Rodney said.

"If we equipped it with an Asgard Beam, it might just work," Sam said.

"You don't think this is absolutely insane…ma'am?" Cam asked.

"I think Rodney might be on to something here," Sam said.

"Indeed." Suddenly, the doors to the Briefing Room opened.

"Miss me?" said Jack as he stepped in. Sam resisted the urge to run over and hug him.

"Sir…I mean Jack!" said Sam. "We weren't expecting you so soon!"

"Yeah…well I managed to sneak out a little early. Oh… I almost forgot! Look who else came along," he said, stepping aside. There stood General Landry, who had also retired.

"Please, join us," Sam said. "We were just talking about building a Moon Base."

"Yeah…" said Jack. "You mentioned something about that after you saved our asses from Ba'al didn't you?"

"Yes…I did, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind… Rodney?"

"What…oh right…sorry. I think we should be able to create a small facility on the Moon equipped with Asgard Shields and Beam weapons."

"We would have to place it correctly, but it should work," Sam said.

"Right…between the Moon Weapons Platform and Atlantis, we should be able to defend Earth against pretty much anything," Rodney said.

"How do you plan to build this structure?" Teyla asked.

"Well…" Rodney said. "We could build it like Midway."

"Wait…" Sam said. "You're suggesting we put a Stargate on the Moon? That's not possible."

"We can change a Stargate's address right?" Rodney asked.

"Yes…but… we can't put one in our own Solar System," Sam said.

"We should if it's a Milky Way Gate," Rodney said.

"We have a Pegasus Gate here, so it will override the Milky Way Gate," Sam said.

"Well…" Daniel chimed in. "We know the Ancients build Stargates before the Milky Way Gates, and they used more of a coordinate system. It could be possible to find two of those, and put one here on Earth, and the other on the Moon. The coordinates should be distinct enough that they can dial each other."

"Where do you think we could find two 'First Generation' Stargates?" Rodney asked.

"On an Ancient Seed Ship," Daniel responded. "I've narrowed down the list to three possible planets."

"What the hell are you people doing these days?" Jack asked. Sam shot him a dirty look and continued.

"Well…I'll take SG-1 to Daniel's planets," Sam said. "Rodney, you stay here and work on the design. John, take Ronon and Teyla in a Jumper."

"General Carter," Teal'c said. "I shall return to Chu'lak to inform the remaining Jaffa of our plan."

"Dial it up Walter!" Cam said as he walked out of the Briefing Room.

Jack stopped Sam on her way out. "What was that all about?" he asked her.

"Not now. We'll talk about…things later," she said. She have him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. No one seemed to notice. She ran out of the room toward the rest of SG-1. The Gate roared to life, and the "original" SG-1 stepped though the Gate. Shortly after them, John, Ronon, and Teyla followed in a Jumper.

"SG-1, this is Sheppard," John said into the radio. "We'll do a quick flyby to see if we can spot anything." The Jumper flew off.

"It's freezing here," Vala said.

"What exactly are we looking for Jackson?" Cam asked.

"A 'Field of Stargates,'" Daniel said.

"This place is completely barren!" Vala said. "What makes you think the Gates are here?"

"For some reason, the Seed Ship was on its way back from some distant Galaxy when it crashed on a world with a Stargate in our Galaxy," Daniel said. "There aren't many planets with Gates on the outer edges of our Galaxy. I also found three Gate symbols which helped me narrow the search down to this planet and two others."

"What makes you think it's on one of those three planets?" Vala asked.

"The place where I found the reference. It's about 500 light-years from each of these planets. This is the only side of our Galaxy with Stargates right on the edge, so I assumed it would be on one of these three planets," Daniel responded.

"SG-1, this is Sheppard."

"Go ahead Colonel," Sam said.

"There's nothing here," John said. "We're making or way back to the Gate."

"We'll dial the next address," Sam said.

"Sheppard out."

"Hopefully the next planet is warmer," Vala said.

"Indeed," Teal'c responded. SG-1 returned to the Stargate, and they dialed the next address. The Jumper arrived soon after. They flew through, and SG-1 followed close behind.

"Whoa…" Ronon said. In front of them there was a typical village, but beyond that there was a massive valley of ruins. They looked like the ruins of a large Ancient outpost.

"Hey Colonel," Sam said into the radio. "Can you give us a lift?"

"Sure thing," John said as he set the Jumper down in front of SG-1. They climbed in, and John flew the Jumper toward the valley. When they landed, Daniel was, of course, the first to get out. Right away he began examining the ruins.

"Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said. "Have you found anything useful?"

"No," Daniel replied. "None of these inscriptions make any sense. It's like they've been rearranged." An idea popped into his head, and he began to rotate sections of the column. Once the inscription made sense, a panel on the column opened. "What is this?" Daniel said as he pulled out some form of control pad out of the compartment.

"It appears to be a control pad," Teal'c said.

"Yeah, but for what?" Daniel asked. "It's obviously Ancient, but it's far older than Lantean technology." Daniel pressed a button, and the word "Transmitting" appeared on the screen. Nothing happened. "We're on the wrong planet," Daniel said to himself. "This is meant to activate something, but not something here."

"Hey guys!" Daniel said to the rest of the team. "I think what we're looking for is on the third planet."

"John," Sam said. "Let's go."
"Yes ma'am," John said. The team climbed back into the Jumper, and they flew back to the Stargate. When they arrived on the third planet, it was obvious where they needed to go. Near the Stargate there was a massive scar in the planet's surface. Just past that, there was the wreckage of an enormous ship. Scattered around it were dozens of Stargates. When the Jumper landed, Daniel pressed the button on the pad again, and a kino flew out of the wreckage. The screen on the control pad lit up, and a recorded message began playing.