AN: Bit of an Earth-centric chapter but I hope you like it all the same.
Rebirth of Ares
Boldly Going
April 2004
Earth, SGC
It had been a two weeks since the battle of Sol and the SGC was as active as ever. Despite a previous moratorium on gate travel for a review the President had allowed a few missions on a case by case basis. Mostly to keep in contact with allies or to check out reports on a battle. The SGC had watched with concern as the Goa'uld System Lords descended into further conflict. This time between the forces of Ba'al and those of Ares.
It was here that Jack O'Neill was sitting in Dr Weir's office listening to her explain the situation. "Colonel with the Ancient weapons platform in Antarctica and the various treaties regarding that continent the US has no choice but to partake in an international oversight body that is being created from the five permanent UN security Council members as well as those involved in the Antarctic Treaty as well as select NATO allies. We have no choice in the matter unless we want all of them to reveal what is going on as some of them will have witnessed the activity in Antarctica and reported that back home. Think of it this way, we get more resources in terms of personnel and money to keep this place going." Jack just grumbled under his breath about politicians interfering. Weir arched an eyebrow at that. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that Colonel. I'm here and I'm going to do my job. Which is tricky enough given the war going on out there and the military hating a civilian pencil pusher peacemaker being in charge." Jack looked up in surprise. "Oh don't give me that look, I know how most of you military types think of me after replacing General Hammond but it's not entirely helpful when I have to run this place and deal with the President and your own bosses. Need I remind you it wasn't really my choice and I was just sent here to take charge?" Jack nodded and was about to speak when the alarms blared. "Unscheduled off world activation" came the voice over the inter-comm. The two shared a look before heading down to the control room. "Picking up Tok'ra IDC ma'am" Walter said at their arrival and upon hearing it they relaxed somewhat.
"Let them through" Weir said after a moments thought. The iris slid open and through came an older gentlemen wearing cream fur-like uniform rather than the brown leather previously seen. "It's Jacob" Jack said from beside her.
"General Carter? Sam's father?"
"Yep, that's the one" Jack replied before then leaving the room to go greet Jacob. Weir followed on after him. They met him at the bottom of the ramp. "Jacob! Hows it going? Welcome back."
"Jack good to see you, where's George?" the man replied with a smile and then a look of concern.
"Hello, General Carter?" Dr Weir asked. "I'm Dr Elizabeth Weir, I was placed in charge of the SGC by the president almost a month ago. General Hammond is now heading up a new Homeworld Security division of Homeland Security out of the Pentagon. He acts as an overall boss of the SGC and its starship operations arm as well as an intermediary between them and the President and the new International Oversight Advisory, a committee of the various nations now involved in the gate project."
"Lot of political bull and pandering Jacob, I feel sorry for George to be honest" Jack added. Jacob just nodded before bowing slightly and his eyes glowed.
"Greeting Dr Weir, my name is Selmak. I am the symbiote Jacob Carter hosts. I hope you bring the same determination and fairness General Hammond had when he ran this base. I came here to give you some of the latest news on the Goa'uld war. It seems you have some to relay as well." The two humans nodded and led him up to the briefing room where the rest of SG-1 were sitting around. Sam stood up to hug her father briefly. "Hey kiddo, you alright?"
"Yeah I'm good dad, been busy saving the world you know" she replied with a shrug and a smile. They retook their seats and weir called the meting to order.
"So should we go first or you?" she asked to Jacob.
"I'll start and maybe you can fill in what happened" Jacob started. "So around two weeks ago Anubis disappeared with a portion of his fleet and hasn't been seen since. At the same time the System Lords under Ares launched an all out assault on the worlds Anubis held. Without Anubis, his command ship or the additional ships, his troops fell relatively easily. It helped further that Ares possessed the anti Kull weapons though he hasn't shared it with the other System Lords. During the scramble for systems, unfortunately Ba'al claimed Tartarus despite Ares attempting to reach it first. Ares did claim the world which contained the Asgard knowledge Anubis stole so now the pair are in a state of cold war. Or they were until Ba'al struck with Kull warriors at a number of other System Lords' worlds barely a day ago."
"Why did he attack? Surely they'd have wanted a year or two of peace to rebuild?" Weir asked.
"Don't tell me you had something to do with it Jacob?" Jack asked, practically begging.
"No we didn't or at least not officially. If a Tok'ra acted alone to get the war to continue we wouldn't have stopped them but the council never choose to get them to fight on" Jacob replied defensively. "Anyway, war is close to breaking out again with these attacks as the two sides gear up and take allies. In theory Ares should win as the Supreme System Lord, having better ships, more ships, more Jaffa and having Yu, and most of the other System Lords onside. Ba'al has one or two plus a handful of minor lords who have few ships. Ba'al did claim a large piece of Anubis' territory despite Ares attempting the same. In the end they both took about 40% with the rest being divided amongst the other lords. So its' mostly one sided but we thought the same with Anubis until the war started" Jacob explained.
"So that's why you haven't been visiting recently?"
"Yeah we've been hunting for Anubis plus keeping tabs on the cold war."
"Well we can answer the problem of Anubis easily. He's dead, or mostly and his fleet was destroyed" Weir explained. Jacob just gaped at them and looked around the table before glancing at Jack to see they were all serious.
"You can't be serious? You defeated him and his fleet? How?" he asked in dismay.
"There is a defence outpost built by the Ancients on Earth" Sam explained. "We used it to defend the planet."
"Holy Hannah. Wow. I can't believe Earth just took out the worst Goa'uld in one shot. You really did it?" Sam nodded with a proud smile. "Nice work kiddo." Jacob said proudly before turning serious. "What did you mean by mostly dead?"
"Ah noticed that did you?" Jack said with a grimace. "He's a, what you call them Daniel? Ascended something or other?"
"Anubis ascended but was then reverted half way to be a hybrid. He is an energy being that was held within that cloak he wore. We think he is either dead or some sort of ghost like creature. We don't know for sure. Scans of the debris haven't shown up anything and we haven't had any incidents recorded so far."
"And you know to look for this because?"
"Ares warned us that there are currently no weapons that can kill an ascended or part ascended being. That said, he did say there was a locked out segment in the Repository in the section that discusses killing, or in this case not killing, them. I, and Daniel agrees, think that it implies they might have theorised a way to do so purely because they could theorise one but then when they started ascending they didn't want anyone to kill them and so locked the knowledge down impossibly tight" Sam explained with some interest and Daniel nodding slowly in agreement.
"How does the Tok'ra see a war between Ares and Ba'al going er Jacob? Or Selmak?" Weir asked stumbling over who to address.
"It depends who you wish to address Doctor. I think for most Jacob is best and Selmak will come forth if anything needs something extra" Jacob explained sympathetically to the woman. Those unfamiliar with symbiotes and the Tok'ra often had to get it explained to them as to who they should ask. Usually the host was easier unless it was specifically for the symbiotic themselves. "As for the war it will likely be one-sided as I mentioned before. But with the Kull warriors who knows."
"So if I was to place a bet?" Jack asked. Jacob just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Probably place it on Ares but likely at great cost" he eventually answered.
James and Carol were currently looking over the various Asgard tech they had recovered and for the most part now moved to his lab on Areya, placing most next to the timeship and on the other side and away from the Repository to keep them separate. It took them both some time to figure most of it out as they did not know Asgardian though they could recognise it and tell whose writing it was. Reading it meant 'borrowing' some notes of Dr Jackson during the last check-in Carol did to Earth. The borrowing actually involved mostly copying the translation programs Daniel and the archaeology department had created. Thankfully their brief foray into the SGC computer network went undetected thanks in part to the crystal computers the Goa'uld utilised making processes proceed at a vastly superior rate and how brief the connection was. With the aid of the translation programme they worked their way through the various technologies after decoding the Asgard and Ancient ciphers placed on the knowledge by Thor and Anubis respectively.
After days of work they got the bulk of the data decoded. And what a jackpot it was. The information contained included schematics and the science behind Asgard holograms, Asgard beaming and even a few records of weapon systems past and present. The knowledge also included some shield designs that Thor knew as well as tactics and fleet distribution. It was a gold mine of information that James could use to improve mining and communication along with entertainment services for his people on top of various upgrades he could give to his flagship and others. His flagship would be first though, and he knew what to add. There were some shield modifications he added first that evened out the shield bubble and improved its efficiency and strength. Though he was using an Ancient designed shield, the Asgard had been continually improving theirs for centuries and so had some improvements on the Ancient design he he had been using. As well his ship's sensors got a boost in distance and detail while he also added the holographic technology for communication and some tweaking was carried out to his hyperdrive to make it what the races would call an Intergalactic drive.
His core worlds had increased their populations and were now numbering well over 100,000 on the more populated worlds with Areya and Lucia reaching a count of over a million spread out in a number of towns and a large city. Lucia itself had become more peaceful and stable, transitioning into a place much like London or New York based on services provided and shopping. He granted to his people the right to now travel to a select few gate addresses within his domain in order to trade goods.
July
Daniel was standing next to Lyrena working on the gate address for Atlantis. They had been at it for months since they'd found this outpost and had been slowly chipping away at the gate address and the message that contained it. But today was the day. They were dealing with the last chunk and they could soon translate the message and access the gate address. "Daniel you should relax, there is nothing you can do to rush the computer further to decode it" she said to the practically bouncing man beside.
"But this is Atlantis, how can I not be excited? We have legends about the city, it's the ultimate archaeologists dream to find it and we've been looking in the wrong place, the wrong planet even" he replied eagerly. Finally a beep rang out announcing the decoding was complete. Daniel gave a small yell of excitement before hurriedly working on translating the decoded message and gate address. "Well we have the gate address as that is just gate symbols. Huh, looks like an eight symbol address, so Ares was right about it being in another galaxy." He continued working alongside Lyrena to translate the message before they both gasped at the end. "Oh this is not good, not good at all. I better speak to Dr Weir. Hmm, maybe Jack too" he said before wandering off while Lyrena seemed close to tears.
Elizabeth Weir was standing beside Dr Carson Beckett as he sat back in the control chair, his eyes firmly shut while frowning in concentration. "Come on Carson focus on picturing the solar system" came the annoyed voice of Dr Rodney McKay from the other side of the chair.
"Aye whatdya think I'm tryna do! It's just not working for me. I knew you shoulda got someone else."
"Well we don't have someone else do we? Only you and General O'Neill have shown any true sign of being able to use it plus a handful of others who are currently busy or off world in the case of that Ares fellow. So focus" Rodney snapped back.
"Relax Carson, just focus on the solar system and the nine planets" Weir tried.
"Eight actually, a bunch of kill joys decided Pluto doesn't count" Rodney grumbled.
"Not helping Rodney" Weir sighed.
"Sorry, but it's true they killed so many childhood dreams with that. Bloody Nye and Tyson, think they're soo much better than-"
"Rodney! Focus." Weir snapped. Just as Rodney was about to reply Daniel Jackson came over.
"Ah just the two I wanted to see" he turned around and walked off leaving Weir and McKay confused. Daniel then came back a few seconds later. "Ah yes, follow me please." He led them back to the area him and Lyrena had occupied as an office for their translation work. Lyrena was just drying her eyes with a tissue as they came in. "So we managed to finally crack the code and have just translated the message and gate address. It's not great news" Daniel said grimly.
"What does it say?" Weir asked cautiously, not liking the looks Daniel and Lyrena were giving her.
"It was written by an Ancient called Janus" Lyrena began. "It explains how after some time in what we now call Pegasus, the Lanteans, as they called themselves at the time, came across a race that was unlike anything they'd ever encountered. A war broke out and eventually the Lanteans lost after decades of fighting, sinking Atlantis to make it inaccessible except for by gate and only from Earth. The few who survived, a few thousand, retreated to Earth to live out the remainder of their days amongst the humans. Janus says that the number of, Wraith he calls them, should have reduced over time and perhaps the galaxy can be reclaimed but warns of the great cost and risk involved. Only in full force should we go or only as far as Atlantis until full force can be deployed. He says not to reveal Atlantis' survival as the Wraith know its location and will come by ship to level it. His final words are to wish us good luck and may the light guide us. It's a traditional saying of farewell" Lyrena explained with some sadness. The group stood in solemn silence at the words of the long dead or ascended man. To know that the greatest race alive had been reduced to so few in a war lasting barely a hundred years was mind numbing.
"We have to go, at the very least to confirm Atlantis lives and replace the power modules so it can last a thousand more years" Daniel began passionately.
"I really think that's a bad idea, just going there could draw these Wraith people to Earth and we are barely keeping the Goa'uld at bay" Rodney said slightly panicky. Weir hummed thoughtfully.
"You both have good points but this needs to be brought to the IOA and General O'Neill's attention. Lieutenant Ford!" she called to outside the room and in stepped a young African-American man.
"Ma'am?" he asked.
"When is General O'Neill due to arrive?" she asked and the man checked his watch.
"About twenty minutes or so Dr Weir."
"Alright we'll brief him on this and see what he thinks" she decided before they heard a crash and several yells of surprise and a buzzing sound. "What in the world-"
"We have a rogue drone! I repeat: rogue drone! All aircraft land and power down immediately" a voice came over the PA.
"How in the blazes did -"
"Carson" McKay said with surprise and quickly rushed out towards the control chair, Weir following close behind. Elizabeth then ran up to Beckett her arms outstretched in bewilderment.
"I told you I was the wrong person" Carson said apologetically.
"It doesn't matter now. Just do something!" Rodney snapped.
"Like what?" Carson asked in confusion.
"Okay, Carson, concentrate on shutting that weapon down before it hurts someone" Weir said soothingly. Carson leaned back and closed his eyes, focusing on the rogue drone. Lyrena came over to watch but did not say anything.
"Any suggestions?" Weir asked her softly while a number of technicians monitored power flow and various telemetry from radar and the like.
"I'm afraid I'll be of little help. I rarely used the chairs, we had designated personnel who trained to use them expertly and with barely a thought. I know the basics like many but for this, it is simply down to his will and mental strength to shut the drone down" she explained sadly. It would be about four minutes later that Carson would eventually shut the drone down, narrowly missing the helicopter carrying O'Neill.
15 minutes after that, Jack O'Neill eventually caught the elevator down and came sauntering into the outpost proper. "Jack!" Daniel calls out in greeting as Jack and a 30 something year old man dressed pilots clothing arrived.
"Daniel. Warm welcome" Jack answers dryly.
"It wasn't me. How did you manage to -"
"Keep my ass from getting blown out of the sky? The exceptional flying of Major John Sheppard. He likes it here."
"Exceptional? You like it here?" Daniel replies looking bewildered and glancing at the now named major. Jack then poked Daniel in the chest.
"What say we cut to the part where you start talking real fast?" Daniel gulped slightly before answering. "Ah. Weir's in here."
"Hey" Jack said turning to face the Major. "Don't touch anything."
"Yes, sir" he replied looking around rather confusingly and with intrigue. Jack nodded and wandered off after Daniel.
"Dr Weir, how nice to see you again. A warm welcome" Jack said entering the room Daniel and Lyrena had occupied.
"General O'Neill, apologies for that. The person operating the chair, unexpectedly to everyone and themselves, activated the drone though they were able to shut it off. You're alright I presume?" Weir asked.
"Yeah I'm good thanks, just a bit cold from diving into a bank of snow and my knees, I think the cold gets to them" Jack started to ramble. Daniel coughed stopping Jack from continuing on.
"Right so to recap, I figured the Ancients packed up their entire city, Atlantis, and left somewhere between five and ten million years ago or at least that is what the repository say which matches the evidence left behind."
"In their…flying city?" Jack says with a quirk of his brow, clearly humouring Daniel.
"Yes." Jack then shoots Daniel an amused, if sceptical, look.
"What?"
"'Flying city?'"
"Well, keeping in mind this is the race that built the Stargates. They did everything big. Plus surely you saw the pictures Ares gave us from his Repository and when you were here in the outpost?"
Jack just grunted. "So, why did they leave?" he asked instead of answering.
"Why'd they leave? Um, well we know from the Repository that the Ancients on Earth and in the Milky Way were suffering from a plague. Um, maybe some of them were trying to start over, seeding life in a new galaxy. Maybe that's what Ancients do. The point is, we know where they went."
"Pegasus" Jack said simply, the others just watching the byplay and briefing to remind Jack of the cliff notes.
"Yes, it's-it's the name of a dwarf galaxy in the local group" Daniel said checking his notes
"After all that time, is there any hope of actually meeting them? We know that message said they abandoned Pegasus. Do we really think any stayed given the threat?" McKay finally chipped in.
"Threat?" Jack asks cautiously.
Daniel glances at Dr Weir before replying. "Uh, well, who knows, but isn't that reason enough to go?"
"Threat?" he asks again, now a bit annoyed.
"Well, I've been choosing members for this expedition for months, Doctor. I'm not the one who needs convincing." Weir answers Daniel.
"If I have to ask again heads will roll. What threat?" Jack asks for the final time with some exasperation. Daniel and Weir exchange looks with each other and Lyrena before Lyrena answers.
"According to the message we decoded and then translated there was a great threat in Pegasus that defeated the Lanteans, the Ancients as we know them, in a war which lasted almost a hundred years. The last survivors sank Atlantis and fled to Earth, blocking all access to the city from everywhere but Earth." she said before continuing on. "The message said we only have a chance if we go in force or just stay in the city and make no mention to the human population already present in the galaxy that we are from Atlantis or Earth since the Wraith, the enemy, know where Atlantis is and will bombard the city from space. In short, if we go, we go in force to liberate the galaxy or we stay in the city until we have suitable defence or a plan" she explained.
"Well, that sucks" Jack said glumly.
"Jack" Daniel said hopefully.
"General, I am willing to go and I would bet most of my team would be especially since with the Potentia factory we can take all the power modules we need, plus spares, and you can have one here and one at the SGC. But the benefit to humanity is far greater than the risk, General. And it is a risk that every one of my expedition members is willing to take. We can be in constant contact, sending supplies and data back and forth. It's not a one way trip" Weir argued calmly.
"We can always just scout the city to see how it is, plug in the new Potentia and leave until we have enough ships if we still want to go" McKay added helpfully.
"Aw crap. Fine then, gather your team Dr Weir, I'll have Prometheus drop by the factory to requisition five of those power thingies -"
"Potentia" Daniel interjected helpfully, Jack barely glanced at him.
"I suggest you take anyone with the ATA gene-" He was interrupted when a man burst into the area looking at Dr Weir.
"Dr Weir, we have a wee problem at the control chair" he said worriedly with a strong Scottish brogue. Weir hurried out of the room followed by McKay and Carson with Daniel, Jack and Lyrena following afterwards. "Who is this?" Dr Weir said approaching the control chair and seeing a man in a pilot's jumpsuit lying on it as it glowed.
"I said don't touch anything" Jack said exasperatedly
"I just sat down" Sheppard replied defensively. Not one to waste an opportunity Rodney stepped forth and spoke to the Major. "Major, think about where we are in the solar system."After a moment, a three dimensional holographic image of the solar system appeared over their heads. Weir looked on happily as did a few others while Jack was bemused. McKay was shocked.
"Did I do that?" asked a baffled Sheppard.
"So do we have permission to go?" Weir was asking Jack as they walked over to the elevator to take it back up. Jack looked about, seeing the various scientists studying the outpost, and remembered the earful he got from Daniel about how important a find it could be.
"Yes Doctor, I'll let you go. I'll get it cleared with the IOA but sure, you have a go. On the condition though, that you do not explore the galaxy there until we have some space assets there. If the threat is as bad as the message implies then we wait till we have some ships there. Here we at least have three ships, a fourth is being built and is set probably for a launch in 6 months or so. At that point we'll see what things are like here and there and we might say you can go out and check the galaxy out. Who know maybe you'll find a ship on Atlantis so you won't need our ships" he said with a shrug. "Good luck Doc, you're gonna need it by the sounds of it." Weir just smiled back nervously before leaving to go tell her people. She paused before turning around to speak to him again. "Er General, we need him."
"Sorry, Doc, I need Daniel here."
"I'm talking about Major Sheppard" Weir replies.
"Oh. Don't you have a dozen or so people already who can use the Ancient technology?"
"Yes, with concentration and training, they can make it work, but John Sheppard, he does it naturally."
"You know, I've checked into his record" Jack says stubbornly.
"I know about the whole supposed black mark in Afghanistan. He was trying to save the lives of three servicemen."
"Disobeying a direct order in the process" he argues back.
Weir scoffs. "I have read your own file General. Please." Jack rubs the back of his neck and sighs.
"Right. Okay, it's your expedition. You want him, you ask him."
Weir then looks a bit uncomfortable before replying. "Uh, that's the thing. I already have."
"Really?" Jack says taken aback in surprise.
A few days later James got a call through the gate from the SGC saying they were sending an expedition to Atlantis of around 500 people. It was a courtesy really considering his help in getting them that far plus the knowledge of whose side he was really on by SG-1, O'Neill and Hammond. They'd sent him a generic list on what and who was going in case he, as a leader of a galaxy wide empire, had other suggestions. A mixture of scientists, technicians and military personnel were going. In terms of equipment he was surprised that they had decided to send along a number of ground mounted railguns for Anti-Air duty along with five Potentia. In terms of food supplies he saw from the list that enough for two months would be sent but given the Potentia on both sides they'd have plentiful amounts of power for trips back and forth.
Still he could admit to being a little envious of them going to such a place; the history and knowledge contained would surely be immense. He almost wished he could go. Almost that is. He had a large domain to rule over and protect from the destructive ambitions of other Goa'uld like Ba'al. Ba'al who was now conducting raids on his worlds and would need to be responded to in force. Shame really, he had kinda liked Ba'al for his humour and cunning. It was most regrettable that he'd become an idiot by trying to challenge him. James sighed as he thought upon the news of the past of days. 'Oh the joys of being the Supreme System Lord. No escaping its duties.'