Chapter 7

"General Carter," Teal'c said. "I have successfully contacted the Jaffa High Council. They have agreed to assist us."

"How many ships?" Sam said.

"They will send all ships capable of fighting," Teal'c said.

"Good. We'll send all of our forces," Sam said. "When?"

"We will assemble the fleet on the border of Lucian Alliance territory next Tuesday," Teal'c said.

"That's specific," Sam replied. "I'll prepare the ships." She gave the Hammond another day on the Moon for Rodney to figure out the Gate symbols. Daniel returned to Atlantis to examine the databases on the Ancient ships. He wasn't having much luck.

"Alright," Rodney said. "I think I've got this figured out. I've selected twelve possible symbols we should use. That means a bunch of possible arrangements of the markers. There's no way to know which ones we should use. I've got an idea, but there's no guarantee it'll work," he said into this radio.

"We should give it a shot. I think I'm onto something with the markers," Daniel said. "I've found reference to them, but I can't find a design yet. I'll let you know when I do." Daniel continued to talk to the interface on Atlantis. "Whoa…wait what was that?"

"Please restate," the computerized voice said.

"What were those designs for?" Daniel asked.

"Those are designs for devices that are no longer in used," the voice said.

"What was the purpose for that device?" Daniel asked.

"To allow short range dialing of Stargates. The project was abandoned due to inability to create a stabile wormhole," the voice said.

"I see," Daniel said. "Send the specs to the Control Room." Daniel left the interface room. He pulled up the specs on one of the screens. "Hey Rod, I've got something," Daniel said into the radio.

"What?" Rodney asked.

"I found the specs, and they should be easy enough to program," Daniel said.

"Great. Now if only we had any idea which six symbols to use," Rodney said. "I'm still trying to figure out what the symbols mean."

"I'm going to have the computer make us twelve of these things," Daniel said.

"Alright…whatever…go ahead. McKay out." Daniel used the Asgard construction system to make twelve of the markers.

"Okay, these are much more complicated that I thought," Daniel said, picking up one of the markers. An idea sprung into his head. It would take another two hours to finish making the markers.

"What was the mission of the Destiny Class ships?" Daniel asked the interface.

"To ascertain the true nature of the Universe," the interface said.

"And how were they meant to do that?" Daniel asked.

"Ten million years ago, the Alterrans noticed a pattern in the cosmic microwave background," the voice said. "They designed the Stargates to begin exploring the Universe. The Stargates did not have enough range. They build Stargate Seeding Ships with the ability to travel faster than light. They sent them out into the Universe to gather data, and to make a path of Stargates. The Gates would transmit information from the Seed Ships to the Destiny Class ships."

"Wait a minute. What pattern in the microwave background?" Daniel asked.

"The Alterrans believed it to be a sign of Intelligent Design," the voice said. "To their knowledge there was no species more advanced than them."

"Show me the pattern they found," Daniel said. The interface displayed a map of the Universe according to the Seed Ship records. It showed an intricate pattern that looked random to Daniel.

"And that is a pattern?" Daniel asked.

"Yes," the computer responded. "There is a code in an alien language that has never been encountered. Until now."

"What do you mean until now?" Daniel asked.

"The Destiny discovered an Obelisk on a planet in an unnamed galaxy with markings in this language," the computer said.

"And that helps us how?" Daniel asked.

"There is now a reference to the language from which I can extrapolate the meaning of the pattern," the computer said.

"Okay good… wait, you just said 'I'," Daniel said. The visual representation of the computer looked Daniel in the eye.

"The computer can run all the translations in the world, but only you have the answers," the voice said.

"Morgan?" Daniel asked. "I thought you were…"

"She escaped. I have tried to track her but…" her image faded.

"It looks like she found you," Daniel said. He really had no idea what she was talking about. He analyzed the image in front of him. It snapped into view. "Oh my God," he said. "Show me a picture of the Universe ten million years ago. The image changed. It became clear. There was surely a pattern here. He compared what he saw now to the symbols. Still no match. "These obelisks," Daniel said. "There must be more of them."

"That is unknown," the computer said.

"How many Destiny Class ships were launched?" Daniel asked.

"Three," the computer said.

"And how many Seed Ships?" Daniel asked.

"Six," The computer responded.

"So where are the other three?" Daniel asked.

"Unknown."

"Sam!" Daniel said. "There are three more Ancient ships out there. We need to continue to follow the course of the Destiny Class ships."

"How long will that take?" Sam asked.

"Centuries, maybe even longer," Daniel said.

"We still have to deal with the Alliance," Sam said.

"I know," Daniel responded. "We'll make that a priority, but as soon as our war is over, we need to get back out there."

"Alright. We'll have a ship built," Sam said.

"It needs to go faster than the ones we currently have. Much faster," Daniel said. "We're talking faster than faster than light."

"I'm not sure how that's possible. Until now, we didn't think it was possible to travel faster than light through normal space," Sam said.

"Don't worry about it now," Daniel said. "I'll work with McKay to figure out the new Gates."

"Thanks Daniel," Sam said with a smile. Daniel was beamed up to the Hammond.

"Hey Rod," he said. "How's it going? I brought six markers."

"What? You found them?" Rodney sounded shocked.

"Well it wasn't that hard," Daniel said.

"So where have you been the last two hours?" McKay asked.

"Nothing really. Just figuring out the secrets to the Universe," Daniel said.

"Let me see one of those," Rodney reached for the markers. Daniel handed them over. "Well this shouldn't be too hard," he said, examining the marker.

"Really?" Daniel asked.

"No. I'm joking," Rodney said. "This could take days, but it should go a little quicker."

"Good," Daniel said. "I am going to get something to eat." He left, leaving Rodney by himself.

On a Lucian Alliance ship:

Sheryl and her Seconds were meeting about the Tau'ri threat.

"We know they're going to attack us. That much is obvious," Shomei said.

"What should we do about it?" Tima asked.

"Stop them of course," Sheryl said.

"Well how do you plan to do that?" Shomei asked, raising her voice.

"Perhaps we should all calm down and work this out together," Mirta said.

"Like that ever gets us anywhere," Shomei said. "I'm moving my ships to defend the border."

"Do you think that'll stop them?" Tima asked.

"I can try," Shomei responded.

"Your ships are not ships that we can't spare," Sheryl said. Shomei sat down.

"Any good ideas?" Sheryl asked. No one answered. "Alright then. I guess you're all useless then. Perhaps you'd have some better ideas if you worked on a kassa transport for the rest of your lives." She left.

On the Moon:

"Daniel! Daniel! I think I've got something!" Rodney said.

"Wha?" Daniel said his mouth half full of a sandwich.

"I know how to program the markers," Rodney said.

"That's good," Daniel said.

"Don't get excited or anything," Rodney said.

"Okay, so how do we do it?" Daniel said.

"Take a look at these buttons on the back," Rodney said.

"They look like the Gate symbols," Daniel said, examining the marker.

"Well sorta. They're programming symbols. Seven for each marker. That makes it possible to program each of the 36 symbols," Rodney said.

"36?" Daniel asked.

"These Gates have fewer than standard Gates," Rodney said.

"Right. So how exactly does this work?" Daniel asked.

"You press seven symbols in the correct order to program a Gate symbol into each marker," Rodney said.

"So that means we need to figure out what each symbol's magnitude and direction is, so we can focus the wormhole to a specific Gate," Daniel said. "Brilliant. How the hell do we do that?"

"I don't know," Rodney said. "We should probably use the time we have before the ship leaves to build a temporary Gate Room on the Moon's surface."

"Do we have time for that?" Daniel asked.

"I'm not sure, but do you really want to go into the heat of battle?" Rodney asked.

"That's not the point," Daniel said.

"Hey Daniel," Sam said into her radio.

"Go ahead."

"We're about to leave," Sam said.

"Alright. McKay and I are going to stay here. Hopefully by the time you get back, we'll have accomplished something," Daniel said.

"Alright," Sam said. "Good luck. Carter out."

"Sam wait," Daniel said. "Be safe."

"I will Daniel," she said. She turned off her radio.

"C'mon Rodney," Daniel said. "They're gonna beam us back to Atlantis and leave the Stargate here." The beam locked onto them, and they were back on Atlantis.

Sam was on her way to her quarters when Jack pulled her aside. "Hey you," he said.

"Jack…" Sam said. "I'm about to leave."

"That makes this all the more important," Jack said.

"Why don't we talk in private.

"Ok," he said. They stepped into Sam's quarters. They could see a massive school of fish swimming outside the shield.

"Beautiful aren't they?" Sam asked as she turned around, but she couldn't see Jack at first. He was on one knee in front of her.

"Samantha Carter," he said. "Will you marry me?" Sam was expecting it, but she still began to cry. A huge smile covered her face. Jack looked out the window. "They're not as beautiful as you," he said…

Sam kissed Jack as the Asgard beam locked onto her.

"That was interesting," he said. He left.

Rodney was surprised when he walked into his quarters. There were veils over the windows, and there were Lantean Rose petals on the floor. They were some of the only flowers he wasn't allergic to. He had no idea where anyone had found them. "Rodney…" came a voice from the bed.

"Hello there!" he said as he approached Jennifer. She smiled at him.

"I've been waiting all day for this," she said. Rodney ran his hand down her soft face as he looked into her beautiful eyes.

"She's the one," he thought to himself…