A/N: Sorry about the long break between chapters. Lots of stuff going on in real life. And a bad case of writer's block.
As usual, I don't own anything except the plot of this story.
Gibbs and Ziva had their sidearms out as soon as they rematerialized aboard the Deadalus.
"Woah, woah, woah," Mitchell said as he put his hand on Ziva's gun. "Cool it, will you? You're aboard the Deadalus, one of Earth's starships."
DiNozzo snorted. "And I'm Monty Python."
"Uh, Tony," McGee started, not taking his gaze off of whatever he was looking at past his coworker's shoulders. DiNozzo and the other NCIS agents turned around.
DiNozzo's mouth opened and closed twice before he could speak. "Ok. I believe you now."
Mitchell laughed. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Colonel Caldwell, commander of the Deadalus." He gestured to a balding man walking towards them in a green jumpsuit.
"Welcome aboard, Agent Gibbs." Caldwell shook Gibbs's hand. "The Deadalus will serve as your base of operations for the course of the investigation."
Daniel raised an eyebrow. "You're not going back to Atlantis?"
Caldwell shook his head. "No. When Carter heard about the murders, she had us leave as soon as we could. The rest of the fleet is stretched pretty thin thanks to the Priors, so we got stuck with you guys."
"Sam's here?" Mitchell asked.
Caldwell nodded. "She's working with Hermiod on the computer system. They're trying to set it up so Ms. Sciuto can do her work up here."
"Why can't I work back at the lab?" Abby asked Caldwell suspiciously.
"Your lab doesn't have access to our mission reports or NID fingerprints. Our computers do." He shrugged. "And we'd rather not leave classified material like that at NCIS with no one to watch it when you're not in the room."
"Not that we don't trust you," Mitchell quickly jumped in, "It's just that none of you coworkers have high enough security clearance to know about all of this. If they somehow were to come across the information…"
Gibbs nodded, seeing his point. "Then they could endanger the lives of those in the program."
"Not to mention themselves." Daniel added, happy that Gibbs agreed. It would have been difficult to get them to go along with this if he hadn't.
"I assume that is why I am here as well?" Ducky asked.
"Yes, Dr. Mallard." Caldwell confirmed. "You will be working in our Morgue." He turned to Jenny. "Director Sheppard, it's probably best if you return to NCIS headquarters. Someone needs to do damage control, and we'd rather not stir up the hornet's nest by kidnapping the head of NCIS."
Sheppard nodded. "I agree. Keep me informed of my agents' progress. If Gibbs gives you a hard time, just let me know." Gibbs glared at her.
"Yes ma'am. If you are ready, then?" Caldwell asked. Sheppard nodded and a bright white light engulfed her, marking her departure. Caldwell turned to the other agents. "Colonel Mitchell can show you to your workspace." With that he turned his attention back to running his ship.
Mitchell beckoned to a nearby doorway. "Let's pull Sam from Hermiod first."
"Who's Hermiod?" McGee asked. "And did someone say something about the Lost City of Atlantis?"
"Hermiod is the Asgard working on the Deadalus. He keeps their technology running. Jackson would be better to talk to about Atlantis." Mitchell replied, looking back at his colleague as they climbed into an elevator. He and Gibbs started discussing plans for the case before McGee could ask the colonel any more questions.
Daniel turned to McGee. "A couple of years ago we discovered an Ancient outpost in Antarctica. It wasn't until recently that we discovered that Atlantis was the original city that the Ancients, the race that built the Stargates, lived in. After a year or two of digging we found that Atlantis was in another galaxy. We decided to send an expedition team there and they've been living in the city ever since."
"Why did the Ancients leave Atlantis?" McGee asked as the elevator stopped and the group followed Mitchell down another corridor. "Is it the same city in the old legends?"
"Our expedition team discovered a race of advanced aliens called the Wraith. They're kind of like Vampires, except they suck the life out of humans with their hands. That's why the Ancients left Atlantis – they were losing the war and they didn't want the city to fall into the hands of the Wraith, so they sunk the city and left for Earth, letting it slumber until they could return again. Ten thousand years later, we come around and raise the city from the ocean thanks to a failsafe mechanism put in place by someone from the past. So yes, it is the same city. In fact we believe that the old legends are based off of what Plato must have heard from a surviving Ancient."
"Are we there yet?" DiNozzo asked.
Mitchell rolled his eyes. DiNozzo and Vala really were a good couple – both of them were incredibly annoying, but good at their jobs. "Almost, DiNozzo."
"So back to our original discussion." McGee said, changing the subject. "What does Atlantis have to do with the Deadalus?"
"The Deadalus has been based at Atlantis for a couple of years now. It goes back and forth, sends messages, back and forth, fights the Wraith, and basically does whatever Atlantis needs it to do." Daniel responded.
"How long does it take to get to Atlantis?"
"About thirty minutes, now that the gate bridge has been built. Ask Sam about that later. She understands it much better than any of us. Put simply , we strung a whole bunch of Stargates together to build a bridge between Earth and Atlantis."
"Wait, my turn McGee." DiNozzo interrupted and fell into step between McGee and Daniel. "How come we aren't floating?" He asked the Archeologist.
Daniel blinked. "Inertial dampeners. Asgard tech."
"Oh. Cool!" DiNozzo said and turned away. Most of this was so far over his head he was glad something could be explained in four words. He fell back to where Ducky and Teal'c were walking. He couldn't imagine what those two would talk about.
"So you had a parasitic life form living in your stomach?" Ducky was asking the Jaffa.
"Indeed." Teal'c replied.
"What was it like?" Ducky asked, giddy as a school boy. That's the medic in me, he thought to himself, always fascinated by a new development in biology.
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "I would have torn out the larva False God if I would have survived."
DiNozzo frowned. "False God?"
Overhearing his question, Ziva hissed in Tony's ear, "Didn't you listen during the presentation, or were you too busy gabbing at Vala to pay attention? Goa'uld pretend to be Egyptian gods. Jaffas, like Teal'c, are their servants and they carry Goa'uld babies around in a pouch like a mother Kangaroo." Ziva glared at him.
"I knew that." DiNozzo said haughtily. "And it's gawking, Ziva, not gabbing."
Ziva huffed. "I like my way better."
Daniel stopped all of a sudden. He had heard Ziva's response. Heart pounding wildly, he turned. "Can you say that again?"
Ziva looked at him quizzically. "I like my way better." She said. Again.
"She always says that when we correct her English." DiNozzo said. Now the entire group was watching the exchange quizzically.
"What's up, Jackson?" Mitchell asked.
Daniel shook his head. "Nothing. It just reminded me of someone I knew a long time ago."
"Well, we're here anyways." Mitchell gestured to a door on his left. He made a mental note to ask Daniel about his little outburst later.
"Finally," Vala and DiNozzo said in unison. And the bickering between him and Ziva started back up again.
Daniel watched Ziva closely now. He had to get a chance to pull her aside. If there was any ay she could be.. Daniel blinked a few times to get himself together and shook his head. He'd approach Ziva later, when they were alone. He didn't want prying ears eavesdropping when he talked to her.
A/N: Yes, I truly am evil. I cut things off as soon as they start to get interesting. Well, my dear readers, you'll just have to wait until Daniel gets a chance to talk to Ziva before finding out their past. That may happen next chapter, it may not. Who knows? Only time will tell.
If you review I might be persuaded to move that part early into the story rather than later. Just a thought.