SGU: Guiding Light

by Sage1988

In the aftermath of the Attack on Icarus Base, one of the survivors on Destiny must find herself and navigate the problems in front of her to save both herself and the others, even those from within. OC character AU story. 31/08/15 Sequel SGU: Message in Time is now up

37. Chapter 37 Wild Destiny

I do not own Stargate Universe

Sorry that it took me a while to get this chapter posted, I got a case of writer's block

Chapter 37 – Wild Destiny

The ship was cruising along at FTL so that the long range sensors could better analyse the surrounding area. So far there had been little to get excited about, a few habitable planets devoid of intelligent life and apart from some vaguely interesting plant and mineral samples they had collected this area was turning out to be a very dull corner of the Pegasus Galaxy and they were only a third of the way through their survey yet. The crew was doing the same day to day activities and was almost hoping they would could across a hive ship as it would give them something to do after a week or so of boredom.

The science team had taken the spare time to pursue their own projects; Volker had begun his study of stars to discover how feasible his stellar manipulation theories were. Brody had been designing his own environmental exploration drone. Lisa Park was working on creating a synthetic version of Medella now they had managed to cultivate several of the plants required to make it. Claire was devoting her time evenly between reverse engineering Destiny's technology and researching the development of ZPE energy sources. Rush was still buried in the task of unlocking the message fragments that they had recovered from the far edge of the universe but had yet to make any progress, but still he kept trying certain that something incredible was hidden in that message.

They had recently managed to figure out how to dial Pegasus stargates with Destiny's own stargate dialling program. So they were now able to send regular progress reports to Atlantis.

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Back on Atlantis, the reports were received with slight disappointment as they had had high hopes of something interesting or at least useful in that sector but so far there was just an abundance of boredom. Otherwise the expedition was doing well now that the last of the damage from the Vanir raid had finally been repaired and the city was operating normally again. In a lab inside the city's main tower, two medical doctors were taking advantage of the reduced threat level to work on devising a treatment for the virus that Jennifer Keller had contracted.

"Right lass." Carson Beckett told her. "After analysing the samples you gave me I have to admit this is one of the most tenacious viruses I have ever seen so we have to be more tenacious in our treatments." He finished as he looked into a microscope.

"Well I hope we find it before there is no human left in me." Jennifer said as she put a set of vials on the side. Carson looked up from his microscope and got up from his seat, crossing the room he put two reassuring hands on her shoulders.

"Lass don't worry, we will fix this. I think some of Michael's work could be adapted to slow down the process to give us more time." Carson told her.

"I hope." She answered with a slight dread. Over the past week she had begun to get used to the idea of becoming an Ancient but she still wanted to remain as a human.

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Claire was on duty on the bridge that night, she was wearing a loose shirt much like TJ had done as her pregnancy developed. She placed a hand gently on the bump and smiled. Three little girls were growing inside her and now that the morning sickness had passed she was feeling better about it. She was basking the quietness of the control room as she kept a close eye on the long range sensors. Nothing was registering so she went back to her work on the pad she had picked up from Atlantis. She was working on a possible way to generate the artificial space time or quantum foam as it was known, when the long range sensors started beeping a warning. She was surprised to hear the noise and looked down from her tablet to see what it was saying. Checking the readings she then activated her radio.

"Colonel Young come in." She said, after a moment he replied.

"Yes Claire what is it?" He asked from his quarters where he was completing the mountain of paperwork forced on him by the IOA after being out on the edge of the universe for over a year.

"We have unknown objects hanging in space twenty minutes from our present position. Do you want to take a look?" Claire asked. His answer was immediate as he leapt from his chair and started making his way to the bridge.

"Yes, alter course." He told her, thankful to be free of the paperwork, at least for a while.

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Twenty minutes later, the ship dropped out of FTL close to the unknown objects. From the bridge the people present could see the shattered hulls of four ships spread out across the vacuum.

"What happened here?" Matt asked while Claire sat at the centre console checking readings.

"We have the wrecks of an Aurora class warship and three Wraith Hive ships. All dead in space and judging by these readings this didn't happen recently." She told them, seeing no real power readings and the weapon signatures on both ships had long since faded.

"What is an Aurora class warship?" Sharon asked from the side with Camille.

"It's the main warship used by the Ancients during their war with the Wraith over ten thousand years ago." Rush told them as he looked out at the scene. "We should start a salvage operation on the Aurora class ship, there might be a lot of useful material over there." He suggested. The Colonel looked unsure for a moment, seeing as the last thing that the ship in question had been doing was fighting a battle who knows what hazards might be on-board that ship? However the opportunity to study a ship like that came up very rarely so it shouldn't be wasted.

"Right Major Todd get suited up with Lieutenant Scott, James, Greer and Brody. I want you to check that ship out but be careful. That ship looks unstable." Colonel Young ordered and the people indicated nodded before going to get fitted into the environmental suits. Claire was about to ask why she couldn't go when she realised that with her pregnancy it would be difficult to get into one of the suits. She instead covering her embarrassment at not thinking of the obvious by shouting after them.

"See if you can get the computer systems up and running so we can access them from here. Maybe we can discover the ship's mission. Failing that recover as many data crystals as you can." They turned around at her words and nodded before leaving the room, Claire turned to Young and told him. "I'll find the best place to transport our team in." He nodded and left the room himself, intending to dial Atlantis to tell them of their discovery.

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Half an hour later, the team wearing the Ancient Environment suits were transported into the jumper bay of the Aurora class ship. Around them there were three levels high of Puddle Jumpers. The crew looked around to see the small gate ships and Brody checked his scanner.

"Real low power readings, no atmosphere and there are breaches all along the hull. This ship must have been hit hard by those hive ships." Brody told them as he looked at the readings he was getting.

"Not so hard that it managed to destroy the three hive ships out there." Matt said as he looked at the puddle jumpers and wished he had the ancient gene so that he could get a chance to fly one.

"They're still dead though." Greer said, his own thoughts were drifting back to the last derelict ship they had boarded, just before they met the Berserker drones and he was hoping that they didn't suffer a similar thing today.

"All right guys keep it serious. We need to find out how stable the ship is. James, how does it look?" Major Kate Todd said keeping to military professionalism and looked at the only other woman on the team.

"No chance of restoring life support with all those holes but the basic structure is sound except for the fact that the entire bridge has been blown to smithereens." Vanessa told her, analysing the readings on her own scanner. While outwardly she showed the detachment of a soldier, inside she was jumping up and down with excitement at getting the chance to explore and hopefully study an Aurora class warship. The last major ships used by the Ancients were light-years ahead of Destiny but still she had to admit that Destiny had held up far better than these ships for millions of years longer. She called up a schematic that Claire had downloaded onto the scanner for them and looked for another place where they could access the ship's computers.

"There's an auxiliary control room about a hundred metres down that way." Vanessa said looking at the blueprint and checking it against the scans. Clearly the Ancients hadn't seen the need to make any changes to the design once it had been completed. The ships constructed by Earth were constantly being upgraded and altered in some way as improvements were made. Vanessa wondered if the Ancients had made any changes to the design at all as they appeared to be the same as they had been when the ships had first been built in the early days of the war. Was it arrogance in their technological superiority or instead merely lack of innovative thought. Lack of adaption in nature was fatal, or so Darwin said. Maybe not changing their tactics or weapons to fight more aggressively was a bigger factor in the defeat of the Ancients than the sheer numbers of the Wraith because it allowed the Wraith to build up to that extent. Vanessa shoved those thoughts aside as she led the group away from the jumper bay through the open door. They moved through the corridors and recorded everything through a Kino being operated by Brody.

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"This is so cool." Eli said as he, Claire and Ginn watched the feed from the Kino on Destiny's bridge. Claire sat in the centre chair watching the scans just in case they wandered into a dangerous area so she could warn them. Eli and Ginn were contenting themselves at watching the feed and comparing how Destiny was different to the much younger Aurora class.

"It looks sleeker on the inside but somehow not as hard wearing." Ginn said, the comment earning a rebuke from Claire.

"The Ancients built Destiny to last for millions of years, those ships were constructed to fight a war that the Ancients thought would be over in months. That being said they still inflicted massive damage on the Wraith before they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers."

"Still I wonder what the ship was doing out here? It's not exactly a galactic hotspot around here is it?" Eli said with a frown on his head as he recalled how boring it was.

"Maybe now, but back then who knows? And we still haven't completed the survey so maybe you two could focus?" Claire told them with an edge of annoyance in her voice while she redoubled her concentration on the readings.

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The dark corridors of the Aurora class ship were spooky when unlit and it put the team on edge. They moved carefully through the corridors with the long hallways till they arrived at the door to the auxiliary control room. This time the door was closed and although Vanessa faced her hand over the opening mechanism there was no reaction to her Ancient DNA.

"It's stuck." She told them frustrated, so close to possible answers only to be stopped by an inch and half thick door.

"We could use C-4." Greer suggested and Brody looked deadpanned at him.

"Yeah and risk blowing up all the controls inside. Not to mention setting off an explosion on an already damaged ship." Brody told him condescendingly which caused Greer to look at him with anger. Seeing the confrontation in the offing, Major Todd interrupted.

"Right then gentlemen if you would perhaps you can pry it open?" She suggested with a serious tone in her voice and Brody and Greer while giving each other one last look of testosterone fuelled annoyance, both walked up to the door and while the rest of the team stood back, they pressed their gloved hands into the gap and using all their strength, aided by the servos in the suit to try and pull the door open. Although the door was heavier than it looked and had not moved for over ten thousand years, the doors slowly began to part as the two men groaned in exertion as they put all their strength into the work. When finally they had managed to force the door open enough to allow them to enter the dark room was only illuminated by their torches. The control panels were dead and lifeless, even when Vanessa went over to them, they failed to react so Vanessa activated her coms.

"Destiny this is James. The controls have no power, could you send over a naquadah generator?" She asked. The reply came quickly.

"This is Destiny, understood. We're sending one over. Just give us a minute." Claire's voice sounded on the coms. Minutes later, one of the mark IV Naquadah reactors given to them by Atlantis materialised next to them with the appropriate equipment to hook the generator up to the controls.

"Brody, a hand please?" Vanessa said as she picked up the small power generator while Brody picked up the tools. Moving to the main console, they knelt down to get to work, pulling off a panel on the underside of the console and with great care as to not damage the delicate parts. Once the connection was made, Brody switched on the generator. They all waited for a second or two before the lights in the room started flickering to life as energy coursed through them for the first time in ten millennia. The lights were quickly followed by the control panels and displays beginning to glow as they came to life again. Vanessa and the rest of the team smiled as the ship showed that there was still life in her despite the shape she was in. Moving over to the controls, this time they did react with Vanessa's Ancient DNA which was still nowhere near as advanced as Claire's but still rendered her thirty percent Ancient. She smiled as she called up the database and told the team and the people listening from their mothership.

"The ship is called the Virtus, in ancient it means valour or strength. The date stamp on the last entry in the log puts it at the very end of the war. But the rest of the files are encrypted." Vanessa said with a slight frown as she looked at the code being displayed before her. "But I can't access the mission directives or logs, they're in code."

"Move the Kino over so I can see the screen." Claire told them. Brody moved the Kino to just over Vanessa's shoulder so Claire could get a look at the symbols. "I know this code, I can crack it just download the files to data crystals and send them over." Claire spoke after a moment of studying the symbols through the Kino cam.

"Right so let's check out the areas that are still in decent shape." Major Todd said as Vanessa removed the data crystals in the room and put them in a box to transport back to Destiny.

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The box was transported to Destiny so that Claire could break the encryption on the files they had recovered. The team on the Virtus split up to check out the rest of the ship. Destiny kept a constant transporter lock on each of them to make sure they could be evacuated at a moment's notice. Greer had just discovered the half-filled drone bay on the ship and could not help but compare the small projectiles to the Berserker machines that they had encountered on the other side of the universe. Matt had just discovered a second jumper bay and stared at the huge gantries that held the small gate ships.

Major Todd was at the front of the vessel, looking out of the wrecked bridge to see the vast vacuum ahead of the ship. She could make out the wrecked hulls of the three destroyed hive ships ahead and could see in her mind's eye the scene as it could have been ten thousand years ago. The captain in the centre chair as the crew bustled around. Ahead out of the vast window three hive ships with all their darts baring down on the badly outnumbered ship and the crew staying at their posts of the ship was bombarded by enemy fire. The drones fired by this ship destroying the hive ships but not before the ship's shields failed and the bridge was destroyed, killing all who worked there. It sent a chill down her spine and made her wonder if maybe she should try for a spot on an SG team back home to get to see more sights like this.

Brody had otherwise made his way to the engine room where the hyperdrive stood forlorn at being abandoned and never again to carry the ship across space. Brody with the greatest of care, holding his excitement at bay examined the powerful piece of equipment and marvelled at the craftsmanship of the design and the technology. He saw that the drive was virtually undamaged and after taking a look at the sublight drive units they seemed to be in decent shape too.

Vanessa meanwhile had discovered the captain's quarters. The door was ajar, allowing her to carefully enter the room that had belonged to the commander of this ship. The torchlight illuminated the bed and desk were she caught her first glimpse of the kind of person who had run this vessel. The battle had shaken the contents of the desktop but it all stayed on the surface; she saw crystal based pads that had been the handheld computers used by Ancients at that time sitting there but more poignantly there was an image like a photograph on the desk of a woman sitting on a bench in a park somewhere. If she had been human she looked to be in her mid-thirties, smiling keenly at the camera and more heartfelt than that were the four small children sitting around her all smiling like her.

Vanessa carefully stepped back and out of the room, feeling as though she intruding in a place that was sacred. This ship was a grave for the crew that had been here and they deserved to be respected, so personal effects she was going to leave alone.

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Awhile later they returned to the ship and reported to Colonel Young, Camille and Claire.

"Well the ship is certainly wrecked beyond the possibility of recovery but there is still a lot of salvageable technology over there." Major Todd told her superiors who looked impassively on but were secretly delighted at the find and what it could mean.

"Dozens of puddle jumpers, stacks of drones." Matt started to talk drawing their attention over to him. But then Brody jumped in.

"The engines are in excellent condition, if we recover them it could really help us improve our own hyperspace drives." Seeing the excitement on everyone's faces, the three senior members of the crew openly smiled, then Claire who had been looking up the mission reports from previous encounters with ships like the Virtus since they had discovered this wreck, remembered something and had an idea.

"Were they configured for interstellar drive or intergalactic?" Claire asked knowing that the idea she had just had depended on them being a particular class of drive.

"Intergalactic, that's why we really need to salvage them." Brody told her and Claire's grin became broader. Noticing that Claire was looking rather like the Cheshire cat right now, Camille asked.

"What is it?" And without her smile dimming in the slightest, Claire explained her plan.

"In 2006, the Atlantis expedition encountered another Aurora class vessel called Tria which was full of Ancients. What happened after that isn't important at the moment but the main thing is that when the crew of the Tria returned to Atlantis they left the ship floating in the intergalactic void between galaxies and as far as I know, it's still there. The reason they left it was because the ship's hyperdrive was too badly damaged to be repaired." She explained to them and she saw not one had yet connected the dots so she sighed in frustration and her smile dropped a notch in intensity before she added. "We now have a working intergalactic hyperdrive that is compatible with the Tria which could get it to Earth." After she spoke, it dawned on them what she was suggesting. The plan was straight forward enough and it would net the SGC another powerful ship for the ever growing fleet.

Colonel Young smiled at her when he realised the implications of her plan and the potential benefits. This was why he had made her the Chief Scientist on the ship.

"Once we break the encryption on the data crystals, start the salvage operation, anything that can be used take it. We rarely get the chance to study stuff like this so make it count. How long before you can break that code?" He told the group before returning his gaze to Claire as he asked her a question with his normal probing eyes but Claire was unfazed and replied.

"I was taught that code by General Samantha Carter. I'll probably have it ready before tomorrow morning." She told them with a smile.

"Right then." Colonel Young said. "I'll report to Atlantis, we start the salvage operation tomorrow morning. Get some rest everyone, we've got a busy day ahead."

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Claire was up nearly all night working on cracking the encryption of the data crystals, she relished the opportunity to try and break this code. When she finally did so and the files opened up she almost leapt for joy but confined herself to a big smile. Looking through the mission directives she made an interesting discovery. Later she stood the mess hall with the other senior members of the expedition and reported her findings.

"The Virtus was possibly the last ship still flying in the Ancient fleet aside from the Tria." She told her audience who focused their attention squarely on her. "When the decision was made to evacuate the last of the Ancients or Lanteans as they were known at the time back to Earth via the stargate, the Virtus was tasked with going to every outpost that the Ancients once had and either destroying or retrieving technology which might be dangerous in the wrong hands namely the Wraith." The people around her looked surprised.

"What were they doing here?" Colonel Young asked her. He himself saw the logic in the plan, it made sure that the Wraith couldn't get their hands on things like ZPMs or intergalactic hyperdrives so that they couldn't follow the Ancients or spread beyond the Pegasus galaxy.

"There is an outpost about two days travel away, they were supposed to destroy it but they were ambushed by the Wraith before they got the chance. Maybe we should check the place out after the salvage operation?" She suggested. Young looked around and saw the interest on the faces of the crew. She then added something else she had learned from the data brought back by the away team. "The crew of the Virtus stored what they called 'high value targets' in a vault located near the engine compartment. Maybe we should look inside?"

"Alright let's do that, so get started on the salvage operation." Colonel Young answered with an easy smile, a bit relieved himself that this two week trip was not going to be completely boring. Maybe he had got too used to the pressure of the other end of the universe and facing the unknown. Either way he was glad to have something to do which could really help his homeworld and by extension the population in two galaxies.

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The next day, again wearing the Ancient Environmental suits a team of people boarded the ship to start stripping the ship. In the engine room, Brody and Riley were working to disconnect the hyperdrive unit from the rest of the ship.

"Hey be careful." Brody said as Riley nearly dropped the unit. "Remember what happened the last time we were in these suits?" Remembering the time when Riley had nearly been killed by an exploding console. That incident had been enough to make Brody join Rush and Claire against Telford and his goons when they had first tried to dial Earth from within a star.

"Sure." Riley said with a smirk.

Lisa Park was assisting Volker in dismantling the ship's communication system. The holographic communication device was in surprisingly good condition but unfortunately the subspace transmitter was destroyed since it was mounted to the front of the vessel.

Not far from them was Vanessa James, she was studying the lock on the vault door. Her scans told her that it was over six inches thick and made of a naquadah based alloy. Judging by its density, C-4 would not even dent it and it also inhibited sensors so they couldn't just transport someone inside. She had attached the portable generator to the mechanism and was trying to access the system but it was in code, so she had attached a laptop to one of the subspace communicators and then connected them to the door lock.

"Can you access it now?" Vanessa asked on her communicator.

"Yeah, we've got the connection. Now stand back while we work some magic." Claire said from the bridge of Destiny as she worked with the ship's computer to crack the code on the door lock. Vanessa waited for a few minutes till she heard the electronic style whirring of the mechanism as it started to unlock or rather would have heard since sound didn't carry in the vacuum of space. The door started parting to reveal a small room which had several crates piled on top of each other spread around the room.

"We have entry." Vanessa said, stepping forward into the room slowly, nerves building as her torch moved over the boxes stacked around her. She cast her eyes over the different boxes till she found one at waist height. She scanned it and the other boxes but no bacterial or dangerous substances were detected, no power readings, everything was completely normal.

She carefully opened the box to see six fairly big metal tubes inside, all held in place by a foam like substance. Leaving the cylinders alone for a moment she stepped back outside the room and called Destiny.

"Claire this is James. I'm going to need some help emptying this thing." She told her friend on Destiny.

"Got you. I'll get the rest of the team to join you when they've finished their current jobs." Claire told her over the communicator.

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Later in one of the empty cargo bays, the crew started to store the salvaged materials from Virtus. The hyperdrive was handled with such care that it may as well have been spun glass. Brody looked ready to pitch a fit when one of the marines nearly dropped it. Elements from the sublight engines where stowed close by so they could be separated into various sections. The communications and sensor equipment were stowed nearby and after that there was the dismantled power units. Computer parts where being set aside in another room because they were usable on Atlantis as well as Tria, as the drones had been moved to separate room with what shield emitters that were still intact while the twenty or so puddle jumpers were being put wherever there was room. The final load which came from the vault was being unloaded in one of the storage rooms. Claire was standing there with Rush and the other members of the science team as they sorted through the boxes. So far there had been a number of small devices that they couldn't identify which were carefully put back in their boxes and to the side so they could be sent to Atlantis for a cautious study.

"Anyone have any idea what these things are?" Eli asked as he picked one of the six mystery cylinders that Vanessa had found.

"No but be careful." Volker said looking at the mystery canister like it might explode and kill them all, which it might well do.

"Come on, I doubt this thing is dangerous." Eli said shifting the cylinder around in his hands and as he gripped it, the end of it twisted off and slid off and something started to slide out before Eli grabbing it tightly to stop it.

Everyone in the room froze when they heard the cylinder bottom fall on the floor with what seemed like a huge clang and looked over with tense, almost scared expressions.

"Eli don't move." Lisa quickly told him and with his eyes wide with fear he firmly grasped the cylinder and whatever was trying to slide out of it with enough pressure for his hands to turn white. Claire slowly walked over to him and held her hands out. Eli slowly handed the cylinder over to her, she had a grip on the top part when Eli's hand slick with sudden sweat slipped when hold the object that was falling out of the cylinder. Quick reactions from Claire meant that she was able to grab the thing before it slide out of the tube entirely but it was enough for everyone to get a real scare. When they saw Claire had grasped it they all breathed a small sigh of relief. Claire however was surprised when she noticed the bottom of whatever it was that was sliding out of the cylinder; it was crystalline by the looks of it. Coloured in a mix of orange and yellow separated into uneven boxes by rough black lines. Seeing the yellow light that was coming from this object Claire slowly slid the cover cylinder away and the excitement of everyone in the room quickly overwhelmed their fear as the metal tube finally cleared the object revealing a large multi-coloured crystal just over two feet in length, gently humming with a yellow light.

"Oh my god." Volker said as they all stared at the crystal in awe. Eli was confused as to what had them all in shocked awe as was Ginn so she asked.

"What is it?" And Vanessa filled in the blanks for her.

"That is a Zero Point Module, a ZPM."

"And more or less fully charged judging by the glow." Claire told them as she held the large crystal to her face she could look at it closely. She wondered how they had failed to detect the signature from this, taking a quick glance at the container it had been in there was circuitry on the inside that must shield the device from detection. These must have been gathered from the Ancient outposts the Virtus had stripped Claire thought to herself.

"What is a ZPM?" Eli asked confused as was Ginn.

"Possibly one of the greatest achievements that the Ancients ever made. One was the most potent sources of energy ever created." Brody explained still looking at the crystal intently. Now knowing what it was, the junior members of the science team also looked at it but with greater interest. Gently passing the ZPM she was holding to Rush, Claire went to the other containers and opened them to see five other ZPMs in various stages of charge.

"We just hit the jackpot." Volker said as he held one of the crystals that were more precious than any metal or jewel in the galaxy.

"This explains why Atlantis could hardly find any ZPMs around. This ship must have stripped most of the surviving outposts." Claire said as she carefully placed the ZPM back in its case.

"Explains what?" A voice from the side asked. Turning to look the scientists in the room all saw Colonel Young walking in from the side door. Claire turned around and held out the ZPM for him to see, at the sight of the ZPM.

"Was there something you wanted to tell us?" Rush asked with a slight smirk at the gobsmacked look on Colonel's face.

"Yeah, Earth agreed to give Claire's idea for the Tria a go. The Apollo is being sent to check out the condition of the ship to see if we can restore here. Now is there something you all want to tell me?" He asked looking directly at the ZPM intently.

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Two days later…

After shipping the contents of the vault including the ZPMs to Atlantis so they could be safely stored and the unknown devices studied, Destiny had set course for the Ancient Outpost which had been the last destination of the Virtus before its destruction.

On the bridge Colonel Young sat in the centre chair while Claire, Volker and Vanessa sat at the consoles in front of him. He looked at his own displays as asked Claire.

"How much longer before we arrive?" The girl in question turned to her instruments and told him.

"Ten minutes." She told him. Colonel Young nodded before settling back in his chair. He was growing a little nervous at leading his people on a mission to study an Ancient facility considering the mission reports from SG-1 and Atlantis that he had read. How many near disasters had happened on those missions? Nearly always there was a disaster of some kind. That said he was a bit excited too at the chance to explore a facility of the same race that had built Destiny. The other three people in the room were filling those same emotions too as they closed in on the location. They remained silent as they worked till finally ten minutes had passed.

"Reverting to normal space." Claire told him from the navigation console and the ship emerged from FTL to see a planet in the distance. Engaging sublight engines, the ship closed the gap to enter orbit around the planet.

"Report." Colonel Young said now serious as he put his game face on.

"Earth like planet. Hotter than normal, a lot of desert terrain but there are regions of vegetation and a vast ocean." Volker told him. "I've detected the Ancient Outpost, it's in a mountain range on one on the equator."

"No life signs or power readings in the outpost but I 'am detecting a settlement twenty seven miles from the outpost. Life signs read as human." Vanessa reported.

"Okay, James, take a shuttle down to the facility and check out every nook and cranny. Keep a comm line open at all times." Colonel Young ordered and Vanessa almost leapt out of her seat in eagerness but managed to contain herself enough to calmly get out of her seat and leave the bridge to assemble a team. Claire got up behind her and was almost to the door before Colonel Young asked her.

"Where do you think you're going?" Claire turned to face him and said.

"To gear up for the mission." Young could hardly keep a straight face.

"Not happening, stay on the bridge and monitor from here." He told her, he certainly didn't want to put a pregnant woman in the heart of a potentially dangerous situation, but Claire gave him a stern look that was as unyielding as steel.

"I'm the best Ancient technology expert you have and I'm familiar with Ancient codes. You need me down there." Claire told him firmly, she might not have been able to go on the salvage operation but she was sure as hell not going to miss this opportunity. Young tried to stare her down but Claire refused to budge and he sighed before telling her.

"Stay in the shuttle till the rest of the team have declared it safe. Understood?" He asked and Claire nodded before setting off for the shuttle.

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Under Kathy's expert piloting skills, the shuttle left its mothership and made its way down towards the mountains on the planet surface. The team sat in the back as their pilot carefully made her way around the peaks and jagged outcroppings. It only took a few minutes before they came upon the base.

It was set up on a large and relatively flat plateau in the centre of several peaks. There was a small cluster of buildings; there were seven in total the one in the centre was circular standing at five stories above ground level. Surrounding it were six small building that rose to four stories in a semicircle around the main building. The buildings were white in colour and smooth to the touch as the team carefully disembarked. But the most noticeable thing about the installation was the large cannon that rested on the roof of the main building.

"That is one big gun." Riley said as he looked up, tilting his head as far back as he dared to look at the large weapon mounted on the roof. The others eyes had all been drawn to the large gun as well but none of them had felt the need to speak.

"Well it looks like pictures I've seen of the point defence satellites or ground based cannons constructed by the Ancients during the war." Claire told them as she walked with them towards the centre structure. There were small statues around the main building in a circle of different animals, people and some weird shapes that they couldn't identify.

"This is incredible." Palmer said as she knelt down to exam one of the statues but refrained from touching them and got up to re-join the group as they came across a large door. Seeing a familiar panel at the side of it, Claire went over and waved her hand in front of it. The panel beeped before the door began to open, revealing the small crowd that was holding their breath; a dark entrance hall complete with more statues this time larger than those outside. Looking around They could see a number of doors that led out of the small hall so without further ado, the team slowly crept inside. Ginn was documenting the entire area with her Kino with Vanessa and Selene surveyed the room with all the care and caution their military training provided, their rifles in their hands. Palmer and Claire were scanning the room with their equipment.

"No viruses, no automated defence systems. It's safe." Claire told them, the civilians on the team relaxed while the military ones stayed vigil.

"So which way do we go now?" Dunning asked from the rear of the group and Palmer consulted her scanner before telling him.

"There is a lift beyond that door which should take us to the control room." She pointed at the relevant door. The group walked carefully towards the door on the opposite side of the hall and it opened automatically. Squeezing into the small space was a challenge for the team but managed to achieve it because none of them had a big lunch. Claire having been one of the last to get in, pressed the button for the control room and the door closed, quickly moving the group to their destination.

Within moments they had arrived and the doors opened revealing a large open space with two levels much like the Atlantis control room. They fanned out of the lift with great relief, but stayed alert as the moved into the unknown area. Kathy moved slowly and carefully up the steps into the control area, her rifle pointed keenly forward. Vanessa meanwhile moved down the steps towards the stargate where it stood tall but was covered by metal discs in front and behind. Carefully Vanessa put her hand to the smooth and cold metal that covered the gate. Ginn joined her and asked.

"Why put this here? It's a bit crude for the Ancients isn't?" Vanessa turned to look at her as Ginn put her hand to the metal and said.

"Maybe it's not very fancy but it is effective. With a force field someone has to be here to switch it on and off. And its parts can wear out and with no one around to fix them. This way as long as the metal is here, no one could enter the facility through the stargate." Vanessa said as she took a step back to get on with checking the rest of the room.

In the control area, Claire pulled a plastic like sheet off of a control console and sat down in a chair next to it. She waved her hand over the panel and it started coming to life again as it presumably hadn't in thousands of years. She began pressing the controls to do a quick diagnostic of the systems first. It took the super-fast computers only moments to confirm that all systems were fully functional. So she started looking through the systems.

"I have the computer online." Claire called out to the others. Vanessa being the mission leader moved quickly up the stairs to the control area where the scientists on the team were pulling off the sheeting to reveal the controls underneath.

"What can you see?" Vanessa asked as she reached Claire who was calling up a schematic of the base.

"This complex is a lot bigger than we thought." Claire said as she called up the plans. "It was originally a retreat for leading members of the Ancients before the war with the Wraith, sort of like a spa and holiday camp." She told them and everyone frowned having hoped for something more interesting than that. However Claire was not finished talking.

"However when the war started they converted it into a bunker for the council and senior military commanders. They excavated a lot of new levels underground for that purpose. But when the decision was made to evacuate back to Earth, they took what puddle jumpers were left to Atlantis while a couple stayed behind to seal the stargate and wait for pick up by the Virtus." She explained. Around her the faces grew more serious.

"A pick up that never arrived. What happened after that?" Palmer asked as she thought about the people who were left behind here.

"According to the main log they waited here for a few weeks before they realised that no one was coming. So since they couldn't dial Earth from here since they couldn't gather the necessary power and would have to unblock the gate to do so, they decided to join the existing human population on this planet to live out their days. That was the last thing recorded before our arrival today." Claire finished. Everyone stayed quiet for a moment before Kathy asked.

"What else can you tell us about this place?"

"It is like Cheyanne Mountain back on Earth. Over thirty levels down beyond the surface, most of them empty but it has subspace communications and the power plant is a mix of solar winds and geothermal energy with some very large naquadah reactors. Energy weapon emplacements are arranged around the surrounding mountains for defence with an energy shield if necessary. No drones but the weapon that we saw on the roof is an upgraded ground based version of the satellite green beam technology. No jumpers now but it has a bay for them." Claire told them. The group nodded before Vanessa asked her.

"Can you raise Destiny?" Claire nodded so Vanessa told her. "Do it." Claire nodded and went to work.

"Destiny this is James come in." Vanessa said and after a moments wait, a familiar voice answered back.

"James this is Destiny we hear you. Report." Colonel Young's voice sounded and Vanessa smiled before telling him.

"Sir we have entered the complex and confirm it is abandoned. It has an energy cannon for defence but there are a lot of levels to check out. We're going to need some help down here."

"Understood Lieutenant. We're sending down additional teams." Young told them. But before they could even finish the transmission, an alarm sounded to Palmer's right. Getting up from her present workstation, Claire quickly moved over to see what was going on. Everyone looked on concerned as their head scientist began to work and saw her face tighten as she read the information.

"What is it?" Ginn asked concerned as she saw the worry on Claire's face.

"We're under attack." She told them with fear entering her eyes.

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In orbit above the planet Destiny was being doubled teamed by two Wraith Hive ships and had barely had time to raise the shields before the alien ships had started firing. On the bridge, Colonel Young sat in his centre chair while Rush, Park and Eli manned the other consoles.

"Shields down to sixty percent." Eli said, fear clearly visible on his face. Young ignored it and turned to Rush.

"Where the hell did they come from?" He asked, the two ships had emerged from nowhere.

"They must have been hibernating on one of the other planets in the system and made a short hyperspace jump here when they detected us." Rush reasoned as the ship was struck again, sending sparks flying around them.

"Their launching darts. Bringing turrets on line." Lisa said from her station.

"Fire." Young said and Lisa obeyed not having to be told twice. The smaller energy batteries deployed and started firing. The darts that were swarming around the ship like prowling piranhas were no match for the blasts of blue energy fired by Destiny but they were too many to gain ground. Worse the attacks from the hive ships increased in their ferocity.

On the planet below, the team in the Ancient facility watched the battle in orbit with horror as they saw their mothership being overwhelmed by the Wraith.

"We have to help them." Dunning said as they looked at the tactical screen.

"How?" Kathy said feeling so helpless that it sickened her. Their ship was going be destroyed while they remained powerless on the surface.

"The energy cannon!" Vanessa said suddenly remembering the large weapon on the roof of this building. She turned to Claire as the others did too with desperate looks in their eyes and she asked. "Can you bring it online?"

"Yes. Hold on." Claire said as she began working furiously to bring the cannon online. It powered up quickly and Claire bit her lip when she saw it could only achieve thirty percent charge right now but she thought resigned it would have to do. "Locking on." She told them, using the targeting computer to pick a target. "Firing."

On the roof of the building, the large cannon swerved over to align with its target in orbit and hummed as it charged before letting lose a large beam of green energy. The deadly beam moved through the atmosphere towards one of the Wraith hive ships in orbit and without any apparent effort, cut it in half leaving it in two large pieces which drifted away from each other as they started to individually break up.

"Bull's eye." Dunning said with relish as everyone looked on. Claire sat amazed at the destruction this weapon could achieve with only thirty percent power but quickly went back to work drawing energy for the next shot. It quickly built back and she adjusted the targeting computer for its next target.

Then she fired.

Another beam of green energy was let lose by the cannon that raced through the atmosphere into space and slashed into the other hive ship. The Wraith vessel started to break up in a series of large explosions when out of its landing bay a scout ship raced out and towards the planet, straight at the outpost. Seeing it on the tactical screen and knowing time was of the essence, Claire moved the weapon to face the incoming scout ship and with the weapon only at three percent power fired again.

The beam when it fired this time was much dimmer in appearance but it still just reached the scout ship, however it only achieved a glancing blow, damaging the ship but not destroying. The explosion knocked it off course away from the outpost and flaming towards the surface. As it got closer and closer towards the ground, the pilot of the ship seemed to manage to slow the ship's descend by angling the ship so instead of just hitting the ground, it would make an emergency landing. The scout ship then slammed into the ground, the ship slid roughly over the dusty surface till it came to stop, reduced to a flaming hulk.

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After Destiny had managed to destroy all the darts that had been left, the beamed people down to the base where Claire was waiting with some important news.

Colonel Young, Camille and Rush all transported down to see the additional teams that they had sent working under Vanessa James' direction to explore the base. Claire stood on the stairs waiting for the three senior members of the ship's crew to arrive. When they materialised, Claire smiled and walked down to greet them.

"Welcome, what do you think?" Claire asked them as she made the last few steps towards them. The three looked over to her and Camille and Young smiled while Rush just gave her a slight nod. Claire returned the gesture evenly, knowing that this was probably as close to a greeting as she was going to get.

"Looks good." Camille said as she took the room in visibly.

"It certainly does." Young said as he too looked around the room. But Rush got right down to business.

"What have you found so far?" He asked her and she sighed before telling him.

"This place is for the most part empty. It was never used as a command bunker and although it has long range sensors and communications it has little else apart from the energy weapons and shield." Claire told them. "But it is absolute top condition. As soon as we unblock the stargate." Claire said turning towards the great ring which was still covered by the metal discs. "Atlantis might want to turn this facility into an outpost a Beta Site perhaps. It has space for jumpers, research facilities, you could build a hanger for F-302's outside. There's plenty of space for railgun and missile launcher emplacements to complement the existing energy weapons." Claire said starting to rattle out the ideas that she had had for this place till Young stopped her.

"I'll mention it to Woolsey. Now is that all?" He asked, becoming suddenly worried when Claire's smile disappeared and so did Camille and Rush.

"No, remember than Scout ship that we shot down?" She asked and they nodded. "Well it seems that twenty or so Wraith managed to survive the crash. We managed to detect them using the base's sensors." The faces around Claire became quite alarmed at the thought of twenty Wraith running around.

"So we need to deal with them." Young said, slipping into the role of the soldier again. "Can we just destroy the ship from orbit?" He asked Claire, thinking to end it with Destiny's own weapons.

"Yes." She told him grimly. "But they had already abandoned it by the time we had detected them. They've taken shelter in a cave system near the town we detected earlier." Claire told them.

"What should we do?" Camille asked, turning to Young.

"Well, warn the locals and then deal with the Wraith." Young told her before turning to Claire. "You've had first contact training, you are with me while we beam over there and meet the new neighbours."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Camille asked.

"Well we did put twenty life sucking aliens on their doorstep so we should at least give them fair warning." Young told her.

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The day was hot, the sun burned down on the inhabitants of the small town. As the group from Destiny walked towards it from their beaming in site, they felt a strange sense of déjà vu. It was almost a mirror image of the wild western towns from films that they had seen as children or adults back on Earth. A cluster of buildings made of wooden planks stood near a large lake with the only path a rough dust road. As the team moved closer, wearing hats to protect them from the sun they could see enclosures that held animals all over the place. Walking into town they should noticed the locals who stared at them suspiciously as they walked along the dusty road. Feeling very self-conscious Claire took a convert look at the sights around her.

It was just like any western town; there was a church or chapel of some kind on the side of town nearest of the water front. A blacksmith could be seen standing next to his anvil as he stopped work to observe the outsiders. Outhouses for toilets stood on the sides of rough wooden houses and deer like animals were tethered to stands wearing saddles like the horses back on Earth with wagons and carts idle close by. They past a school house where they could see the children peering out of unclear glass windows and more adults emerging from their buildings to look at them wearily.

As they came to the saloon a man came out to greet them. Like the rest of the town's folk he wore rough wood or cotton clothing but unlike the others who held back, he stepped up towards them without fear on the outside at least. He was an older man in his later fifties if Claire had to guess, his face was dominated by his short beard which like the rest of his hair was black in colour but was grey at the temples. He stepped up to Colonel Young who having faced aliens for a good part of his adult life showed no fear. The two men's eyes met firmly, neither was going to lose face by being the first to look away.

"Greetings stranger. Welcome to Clarity, I'm Mayor Thomas Hill of this here town." The village man said as he extended a tense hand out to Young who looked at it for a moment before accepting it and gave as firm a handshake as he could without trying to crush the other man's hand and told him.

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Colonel Everett Young, this is Claire Williams, Lieutenant Matthew Scott, Sergeant Greer and Eli Wallace." Introducing the team. Eli was still very much in awe of his surroundings while the more experienced and combat hardened members of the group kept their focus sharp for any potential threats. The town's people as far as they could tell were staring at them but no one was making any potentially aggressive moves. Claire reached out mentally to the people around her, ignoring her own team mates and trying to gain the general mood of the town's people. The ones in the immediate area were wary, wondering if they meant any harm but otherwise did not want to hurt them and in fact were quite curious at who they were and what they wanted.

"Well now I know your names I have to ask, what are you doing here strangers? We don't get visitors except the Wraith. And none dressed like yourselves." The Mayor asked eying their clothes with a look of curiosity having never seen anything like it.

"We're explorers, we've come from far away and we saw your town and decided to make contact." Young said, unsure of how to go about this. His SGC team had been a reconnaissance and assault team, whenever they did do plain exploration there was no locals to deal with. Claire came to his rescue by taking the next step.

"It's our job to find and meet new people such as yourselves so if you will allow it meet the rest of your good town's folk. If you prefer it we will leave and not return." She offered, key to making them feel more comfortable and therefore more likely to agree to more in depth meetings was letting them know they had the power. The Mayor looked uneasily for a moment before he gave an uncertain smile and gestured back towards the saloon where the crew followed. As they walked through the door they saw other men looking at them with mixed expressions while they were led to a table where the Mayor sat down. Taking his lead they took the other seats and the Mayor signalled for the barkeep to bring him over a drink. Eli was really annoyed that Claire had forbidden him to bring a Kino to document the village, pointing out that if these people didn't even have electricity yet the a floating camera ball might be a bit off putting.

"Well then, where do you folks come from?" The Mayor asked and the group tensed up inside as they wondered what to say in this situation. Claire tried her best to move off the subject by telling him.

"We used a gateway known as the Stargate to come from another world, perhaps you might know it as the Gateway of the Ancestors?" She asked and seeing the recognition in his eyes, she realised with a sigh of relief that the Ancients that settled here must have left stories behind about the stargate. Seeing an opening she pressed home. "We are interested in meeting other cultures and new ideas so perhaps we can get to know each other?" She implored the mayor carefully. He looked at her and smiled.

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The Mayor was interested to hear their story so they told him that they were fighting the Wraith which instantly made them more welcome but then Claire told them something that she knew she had too but regretted.

"Mayor, I have to warn you that some Wraith have landed on this planet earlier today." She saw the town people's eyes free up in fear. "And we are here to stop them." She told the town's people who all looked at her strangely.

"No one can fight the Wraith." One man said from the side but Young stepped in with his own retort.

"Our people have been fighting the Wraith for six years at this point. And we are still here."

"We tried to do that once." The Mayor told them with a downcast expression. "Fifty years ago there were ten towns far bigger than this one. We numbered in the tens of thousands." He took a painful pause before continuing. "Then the Wraith came from sky. They swarmed our settlements and nothing we did would stop them. Within hours there was only a few hundred people left, cowering in the cave system of a mountain not far away from here. When the Wraith left, there was nothing left of our way of life, so those of us that survived came here to start again. Now you tell us that the Wraith have returned, we won't survive another culling." He finished grimly.

"This time there is only twenty of them, on foot." Matt said. "And we have weapons that can hurt them. You help us and no one will be culled this time." He added causing the town's people to look at them were scepticism but underneath that, Claire could feel the stirring of hope. Something which judging by the despair she had first felt when they had told the Wraith were coming they hadn't felt in a long time. The shadow of the Wraith that had been cast over their rebuilding intensified by today's news.

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An hour later, the Mayor had called together all the people who were willing to fight. Exiting the saloon, the Destiny crew were greeted by a rather disheartening sight.

Five men and two women.

"This is it?" Matt asked with disbelief. These were the only people willing to try and fight the Wraith, if this was it then they were going to struggle. Destiny had marines on-board but only seventeen total that were actually full time soldiers rather than support staff and none of them as of yet had faced a Wraith in action. They had tried to contact Atlantis for additional support but the city was not responding for some reason so they were going to have to deal with this on their own.

"All that were angry enough to fight." The Mayor said with great sorrow in his voice. The last culling had devastated his people in spirit as well as number. So many loved ones culled, innocent children amongst them seemed to have drained his people of their spirit too. The seven in front of them had lost their entire families to the Wraith and their anger had been the only thing to get them through. None of the survivors had been spared losing someone they cared about, many of them individually were the sole survivors of their family. From tens of thousands they had gone to less than a thousand in just a day. Those who had escaped the cull had come here to rebuild something of what had been before, once there had been ten towns all double the size of this one.

Now only Clarity remained, his people's last hope and holding.

"Then this it will have to be." Colonel Young said. He turned to the Mayor and asked him. "We need to get all your people here and to fortify the centre of town. Now show us what weapons you've got?" He asked and the Mayor pulled a revolver from a holster on his waist that looked a lot like a Colt 45. The Colonel looked to Claire who bit her lip in nerves, taking the hint the Colonel asked. "Anything else?" He asked and the Mayor knew already what the problem was given how in effective these weapons had been against the Wraith the last time. They really were only useful at holding off or hunting local animals.

"Just single bolt rifles like these. I hope you have something better?" The Mayor asked with an almost pleading hope in his voice.

"Indeed we do." Claire said taking her Ancient Particle Magnum out of its holster and aimed at a barrel next to the blacksmith and fired. The blue bolt of energy blasted a hole clean through the wooden barrel, startling the town's people who had only seen such things from the Wraith before. "We can loan your people these weapons and some others more like your own for the fight but we won't have much time to teach you to use them." Claire told the Mayor, she wasn't crazy about giving the locals advanced weapons like this even in the short term but needs must. Already the town's people were starting to arrive in the centre of town and fortifying the buildings by locking them with the heaviest metal locks they could find and stacking objects in front and behind doors, blocking off streets and alley ways with whatever objects they could find.

"Lieutenant." Colonel Young said turning to Matt who snapped to attention. "We need as many able bodied soldiers as we can down here and armed to the teeth, bring extra ammunition and energy weapons. Then set up in the best vantages points we can find." He instructed looking around, this place was going to be hard to defend but for the sake of the thousand or so people they were going to have to try. They had tried to detect the Wraith on Destiny so that they could just beam them into space and be done with it but there was something interfering with the older ship's sensors and they couldn't get a lock although they were still able to track them using the outpost's sensors. And in less than a day, they would be here.

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The away team that had gone to village stayed overnight while the marines began to train the locals in using the ancient weapons. Claire was lying in her bed in the room they were sharing, trying to get some sleep but she heard Eli fidgeting. She turned over and stared before asking.

"Having trouble Eli?" The young man turned to face her, he swallowed and told her grateful that she was there to listen.

"I…I just can't stop thinking about what is going to happen tomorrow." He said, he was terrified at going head to head with the Wraith. Seeing that snarling one a few weeks ago had been scary enough but this was twenty of them and all apparently sane.

"It's okay to be nervous Eli. This is a bad situation and tomorrow will be a hard day by all accounts but we just have to remember our job. You can be in real danger, but whether or not you give in to fear is up to you. In the last year or so I have seen you do incredible things Eli, you've grown so much from that rookie that I met in the Icarus Base mess hall." She told him and gave him a big smile which he returned looking a little less green at what tomorrow would bring. "Now get some sleep." She told him before turning over herself and closing her eyes.

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Dawn came swiftly, waking Claire and the rest of the crew with a grim anticipation of what was coming.

"Where are they?" Claire asked on the communicator.

"According to these readings only an hour or so away from the town." Lisa Park on the bridge of Destiny in orbit told them with worry. "Are you sure about this?" She asked. "We could still try to evacuate the people?"

"No." Claire said shaking her head. "They don't trust us enough to let us take them anywhere. I did put that option down but to be honest if they weren't in such danger and so scared of the Wraith they would probably have turned our help down. I suppose we are their first contact after such a horrific event so their suspicion is to be expected." Claire said with a sigh, their job today would have been far easier if they didn't have to worry about the civilians at the same time as they were going to fight the Wraith.

As the sun was rising above the mountains in the distance, Claire walked up to Colonel Young who was standing the centre of town organising their defences.

"Right get Barnes and Dunning up on the chapel roof. Lieutenant James and Private Howard, you take up position in the barn next door." He ordered on the communicators. He saw Claire coming and turned to face Claire and told her. "Get back to the ship, I don't want you here when the fight kicks off." He said sternly, he had wanted her to leave last night but had needed her help in training the locals with the energy weapons as the rest of the soldiers prepared defences and the town's people were gathered here. This time he wasn't willing to argue with the stubborn red head. Claire was ready to start a row with him but she suddenly stopped herself. She was a fighter by nature but now that she was over four months pregnant, she found herself getting scared. Not for her own life, but for the three lives inside her. Her hand moved gently over her swelling stomach and with a soft vulnerability in her eyes that Young had never seen before, nodded and gave him a small smile before telling him.

"Good luck." She said in a whisper that only he could hear before activating her communicator and said. "Williams to Destiny, transport me back to the ship."

"Acknowledged." Brody's voice said and Claire disappeared in a flash of blue light.

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After everyone was in position, the Colonel ordered all of them to conceal themselves as much as possible to try and surprise the Wraith as much as possible. On the roofs, in the buildings by the windows, everyone tensed as the Wraith came into view. Vanessa James was waiting by the window of the barn with Selene Howard and one of the locals. Selene's eyes met her own and Vanessa gave her an encouraging nod which the younger woman returned with a smile. But as she turned to look at the local volunteer the smiles disappeared. He was in his mid-twenties, not much younger than Vanessa herself and his eyes were wide with fear and he was visibly trembling. Vanessa reached out and put a comforting hand on his shoulder and put a smile on her face. She would have spoken more but as the Wraith approached their position she withdrew her hand and tightly grasped her rifle. The leading Wraith looked around at the strange setting, confused at the lack of people when in the window of one of the houses, a local panicked and started firing his borrowed M4. Waving the gun wildly out of the window, it nicked some of the Wraith but was aimed to wildly to hit anything important. From his hidden position Colonel Young saw what was happening and the Wraith returning fire with their stunners. Gritting his teeth he activated his communicator and told his people.

"Go. Go." And without further ado, he moved half out of his protected positon and started firing his own rifle. Following his lead, the rest of the concealed soldiers began returning fire on the aliens. Two were cut down in the opening volley, but the remaining eighteen managed to find some cover in all the stuff moved so hastily to make a barricade. The Wraith shaken from the attack began firing their stunners at any targets of opportunity, one of them hit a town's person on top of the blacksmith's roof causing him to fall from the edge of the roof and painfully to the ground. The town's defenders however could not take the opportunity to go and check if he was alright as they kept up the pressure on the Wraith. The concealed positions of the defenders however were beginning to tell on the attacking Wraith as fire streamed from all directions leaving them confused and unsure of which way to turn. So they fired at the places where they thought the defenders might be but thanks to the concealment offered by their positions it was near impossible for the badly prepared Wraith to make an effective counter attack. As they were slowly cut down one by one, a single Wraith saw the locks on the door nearest to him was slighter than the rest and dodging the fire from the humans made his way to the door and shoved it open, slipping inside leaving his brothers to die. He moved through the wooden building which was empty into to the backdoor where he again shoved it open and saw a group of people cowering around the back of one of the houses. He licked his lips at the thought of feeding on so many people at once and made his way forward, holstering his blaster after shooting a human that had been holding a gun near them. The natives now noticed him and screamed and started scrambling to find a way to get away only to be prevented when the door lock to their house stuck. The cowering people started pushing themselves against the wall of the house. The Wraith moved closer not intimidated at their larger number and feeling their fear, savouring the taste of it like a fine wine that these humans favoured. He was so sure of himself that he didn't even stop when one of the men stepped forward and spoke.

"Come on." The Mayor told the rest of the people would had been with him. "We have got people out there fighting for us and I for one and not going to cower from them any longer." Emboldened by the bravery of the defenders, the Mayor felt his fear while still strong give way to resolution, not to die so easily. He picked up a pitchfork from a hay stack and got ready to charge at the Wraith who stopped moving forward when the rest of the men in the group got to their feet emboldened by the Mayor's words and joined their Mayor as he charged straight at the Wraith who was so surprised at the sudden change of attitude that he wasn't able to draw his stunner or react in anyway before the mass of men hit him and knocked him to the ground, leaving him winded long enough for the men to grab hold of each limb and hold it down as the Mayor got to his feet and held the pitchfork over the Wraith who struggled fiercely against the humans as the Mayor plunged the sharp points of the farming tool into the Wraith's chest.

Looking down as the Wraith squirmed before bleeding to death, his breath quick he looked up when the gunfire stopped. Everyone in the small area held their breath as they waited to see who had been triumphant. A figure appeared at the same door as the Wraith had done, obscured by dirty glass. Preparing themselves for another Wraith, everyone felt relieved when the door opened and one of the visitors Major Todd walked in and told them it was over.

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Two Days Later…

Sun was setting on the town as the people surrounded a coffin as it was lowered into the ground. The man had been Armin Taylor, a local farmer that had been one of the few brave enough to volunteer to fight the Wraith and had met his death after being hit by a Wraith stunner and fell from the roof, breaking his neck. It had been quick, TJ had told them and the town plus the crewmembers from Destiny that had fought in the battle had come together to honour him. As they broke apart when the service ended, the Mayor approached Colonel Young and asked him.

"Will you return some time?" He asked knowing that the travellers would be leaving soon.

"I can't be sure." Young answered truthfully but told the Mayor who looked a bit crestfallen. "But some of my people might come here if of course they would be welcome?" Young asked the last part.

"Of course they will be most welcome." The Mayor said looking hopeful as although he wouldn't say it, he had enjoyed having the visitors here the last three days. The Colonel had finally managed to get in contact with Atlantis who had been excited at the opportunity to establish an off world base in the Ancient Outpost, already personnel were being chosen to be stationed there and plans drawn up to expand it to suit all their needs.

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Back at the Ancient Outpost in question, Claire was awaiting the first group of personnel from Atlantis to arrive so she could hand over operations. She was doing some final system checks when the gate began dialling. Pressing the controls of the console she was sitting at, Claire raised the shield and waited once it had finished dialling for the IDC to let her know it was friendly coming. The communications system started displaying a transmission of numbers which confirmed it was Atlantis dialling in so she lowered the field and activated her communications to say.

"This is Claire Williams the shield is down you are clear to proceed." Claire waited a moment before a small group of thirty people came through the gate, leaving the gate open Claire got up from her seat and walked down to meet the group's leader and the commanding officer of this new base.

"Colonel Teldy. Congratulations on your promotion." Claire said as she came face to face with the blonde haired woman who nodded with a slight grin as she looked around her new assignment. She would have preferred to stay as reconnaissance team leader but a posting like this was probably better for her career as it let her assume greater responsibilities. When the base was fully operational they would start launching other exploratory missions from here and maybe turn it into a training base for new personnel.

"Thank you Doctor Williams." Teldy answered back, referring Claire formally was something that the young redhead wasn't comfortable with being relaxed about rules and procedure. Claire grimaced slightly at the formality and refrained from making a comment about it as she handed her and Doctor Allison Porter a tablet each on everything they had so far learned about this place.

Here is the layout of the base to peruse at your leisure." Claire told them before continuing. "Sorry we can't stay around but Destiny has to get back on the road."

"Thank you Claire." Allison said, happy to get the chance to explore the base. "Safe journey." She told her with a big smile.

"You too." Claire said back, now smiling again before she activated her communicator and said. "Destiny, one to transport." And Claire disappeared in a flash of blue light.

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Again sorry that it took so long to get this written but as I said before I got a case of writer's block and it is longer than the usual chapters that I write.