Beyond the Gate

by Xeir Zith

The last thing Tanith remembered was Cameron cracking a very bad joke and Daniel cracking up in laughter. The next thing she knows is that she has a splitting headache and is in the dark, literally. As she unravels where she is, she finds out things she would rather not know. The SGC and Atlantis learn more of who the Furlings really are, and where they were hiding all that time

8. Rodney 2

Beyond the Gate

Chapter 8 Final Pass

Planet: Ascretta

Present Day

In orbit, around noon

Just before we left Atlantis, Ben and I traded thoughts, we had about two minutes before the rest of the team got into the jumper. Teyla was at Athos helping her people resettle the Ancient city. With the Replicators able to construct ZPMs we used a cradle similar to what I had made for the Daedalus and the SGC to power the formerly Geothermal controlled energy sources instead of risking a supervolcanic event again.

"Alright, I enhanced our sensors as best I can without overloading the systems. Can you go over them to make sure they're stable ?" Ben asked me while handing me the tablet. I checked them briefly, everything was perfectly in the green.

"Looks good to me" I said absently, I was more focused on something else. "Were there any further lightning or energy bursts ?"

"As far as I can tell, nothing. But Radek said something of checking the sensor logs while we're away on this mission." Ben replied

I sighed in thought. I handed the tablet back to Ben. "Alright, lets say we find major Pendergast on the other side, what do we do ?"

"That is a good question Dr McKay" Ben replied in thought, "But I suppose it would depend entirely on her condition at the time we locate her, if we are indeed able to locate her. Were she injured or deceased or alive and well. That is another question entirely"

I nodded. "That makes sense" I mumbled. Last thing I wanted was to bury another empty coffin. Two were enough with Carson and Elizabeth. Hell the last thing I wanted to do was tell Claires mother her daughter was dead in a freak storm. I mean a mission going wrong and dying from the Wraith is a better alternative truth be told.

I looked at Ben however. "But say, hypothetically, that we find Claire, and maybe Col Raines, and they're both fine and wanting to come home ? What would we do ?"

"I would say that it depends entirely on their condition, but it would also depend entirely on their disposition opf where they are and if they're able to return here to Atlantis at the very least or even to Earth." Ben replied

I simply nodded and Sheppard showed up. Within seconds we were ready to go. "Flight, This is Jumper 1, we're set up here" John said

"You're clear Jumper 1." Came the reply from Radek.

"Rodney," John said, I looked at him, "Dial it up" I nodded and dialed in the address. As soon as we had a lock on the stargate on Ascretta, Sheppard eased the jumper through seamlessly. Ben had been monitoring the system constantly. So as soon as we arrived in the Ascretta controlroom. We all stared dumbstruck at what we saw.

"Whoa" John said when he took stock of what was present. The Ascretta control room was an easy three times as big as our own gateroom on Atlantis. And from what we could see through the stained glass all around was more then likely grasslands. Which made me nervous.

"I'm not reading any water unless you count various streams and rivers outside." I said, which told me plenty, there was a strong possiblty that if this was a cityship as I had hoped it would be, flying it would not be possible, it was more then likely anchored to the planet itself. Or maybe it was flyable ?

"This place is big" Ronon said thoughtfully.

"Yes it is, but again, there's absolutely no water around us aside from what looks to be a river a kilometer to the west, and a bunch of streams and smaller rivers between the big river and us, I'm surprised this place is even standing" I said in reply

"Getting anything ?" John asked to Ben. I looked up from my laptop at the copilots seat and looked back outside the window. We all knew the planet had a breathable atmosphere

"I'm picking up a faint energy reading, but it is similar to the systems in Atlantis back home." Ben replied, "But other then that, no, nothing."

"So this place is similar to Atlantis, another Tower ?" John asked me.

"Oh god I hope not" Ronon grumbled. I agreed with him, that adventure was a little too much for me too

I raised a hand, one fginger pointing upwards in thought. "Possibly what Ben is picking up is this facility, we came out of the stargate from Atlantis, the MALPs showed us this structure is designed similar to, or at least identical to Atlantis, only on a much much larger scale." I said in thought.

"Its also possible that this structure built Atlantis, but I cannot be sure until I connect with it somehow." Ben said thoughtfully. We were all quiet a moment, finally Ben asked me, and John. "Permission to try and radio link with the facility ?"

John was thoughtful, I wanted to say yes, but something told me to say no. "At this moment, I'd say do it passively, try and find something like a floor map or something at best. The last thing we want is to tip off anyone who lives here that we're here, or worse, trigger a trap of some kind."

"Floor maps, right, I'm picking up some lifesigns not far from here, they appear to be natural wildlife" Ben replied. Projecting them onto the front window briefly we saw what looked like deer with six legs. We stared at what had to be mutated whitetail deer for a moment or two before refocusing on why we were there.

"Oh hello." I said simply as I typed on my keyboard.

"What is it ?" John asked. He had us hovering just as the stargate shut off, Ben was trying to get a connection to the facility

"According to this, There's something in orbit. Possibly a satalite of some sort. But I cant be sure until we get closer to it" I said while pointing at my screen.

"A satalite ? I thought the Wraith were never here ?" John replied, he was confused and I didnt blame him

"Well, that's just it, the Wraith never came here, the Ancients stripped this planet even from datamaps before the wraith were even encountered. Its possibly an ancient satalite and if that's the case, its signal, the signal from it is identical to our own Jumper, and also a subspace signal identical to the facility here, as well as back at Atlantis." I replied. I pointed to Ben, "That must be the signal you picked up when we got here."

"So it is possible that this facility and Atlantis are connected in some manner. This place does not feel the least bit familiar. I am unable to connect via subspace or even radio link to this facility" Ben said, he sounded embrassased, which for a Replicator must be a sign he was learning. "I think I might have to get out of the jumper and connect to it" he said thoughtfully

The Replicators I had rebuilt, I knew, could learn emotions and the like, Fran was a good example, she was upset when Atlantis was damaged this morning alone in that storm! And now Ben was embrassased to admit he couldnt connect with the facility. Maybe it was hardened against intrusion ?

I was about to reply when John spoke up "Guess we're going to have to worry of connecting with the facility later. Alright, Rodney, where in Orbit ?" John said after a minute, good, getting away from the radioactive core was a good plan.

But it was also the feeling of him looking at me directly that I briefly stopped typing on my keyboard and looked at John, "What ?" I asked him, confused in my tone and expression.

"Where in orbit is the signal coming from or should I just head for orbit on a whim ?" John asked.

I sighed, this didnt make a lot of sense at the moment. Then I snapped my fingers a few times again and pointed at John. "Tilt this thing up fourtyfive degrees, I just found the subrutine that our own Jumpers have to open the roof. Let me see if I can open it from here. Ben, can you expand our sensor range a bit more ?" Ben nodded and greatly increased our sensor range.

John lifted us from the surface of the planet, with Bens enhancement to our sensors we were able to pick up even more lifesigns, and what had to have been a city or two scattered around. Within minutes we'd be in orbit. "Try and keep us in geo orbit over this. I think Ben and I can get a handle on whats here" Ten minutes later and we were nearly to a ring of asteroids around the planet. Everyone was staring, well, everyone but Ben, who was busy with his eyes closed trying to find the source of several signals at once.

"Whoa" John said as we neared the asteroids belt. "Looks like the remains of moon or two ?" He looked to me. I shrugged

"Possible, but I got bad news." I said glumly as the results of the scan scrolled on my laptop screen.

"What ? We're having liver and onions for dinner tonight ?" John asked, Ronon just smirked

"Worse, these asteroids have a strain of Cadium Four, one of the fuel mixes for the Orion and the Daedalus" I replied. "We so much as fire one drone" I said, John looked at me like he was going to. But then when I let the thought hang briefly. He knew better then to test the waters.

"OK, so if it comes to a fire fight, we cloak fast as we can and get the fuck out of hell. Right ?" John said, I nodded and went to my PDA.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." I mumbled.

"I think I found a signal. Something is nearby... Lookout!" Ben said out of nowhere, he worked quick to enhance our cloak first, but then had to transform it into a shield as something shot past us. Out of the blue.

We stared briefly, John jerked the controls slightly, even with the dampers we felt the slight movement of the jumper and it jerked me into reality. Something was out there with us. "What was that ?" John asked looking out the window, information appeared on our screen.

Something, or someone had shot at us. And it wasnt a drone, but a blue pulse like weapon. Ben did a energy scan. "It appears to be a energy weapon unlike a Drone or Asuran rifle. Similar in design to a Wraith blaster or Wraith Dart weaponsfire. But without a damage assement or energy take from the shield, I cant get a damage assement of what damage it can do." He surmised.

"So someone or something took a potshot at us with a weapon that cant set off the Cadium Four ?" John asked. He triggered the damage report, I sighed with relief, there was no damage, Ben had spotted the incoming shot before it could make contact with us.

"So whats out here ?" Ronon asked. Clearly upset that someone took a potshot at him. Amid the asteroids floating around there was oddly an open space with, among the huge building and city block sized space rocks, was... smaller and almost microasteroids. Floating amid the asteroid ring of rock around the planet.

But there was something else out there with us.

"I cant see anything with all the dust and busted asteroids around" I said after a minute of trying to make sense of it. "Its possible that the satalite is cloaked, and this asteroid belt is the remains of one of its targets ?" I mused, I started typing on my keyboard, information dscrolled on the puddlejumpers screen. "So if it is cloaked, I can try to convince it we're friendly"

"That's a good thing to hope for." John said in a sarcastic tone. It made me smirk however the way he said it, the words used. "So wait. If it was a satalite. How could it have detected us if we're cloaked ?"

I stopped my typing and looked at John thoughtfully. "You know that actually is a very good question" I replied as I checked my computer. "We're cloaked, but I am now also detecting a subspace signal, similar to what we use for our radios back on Atlantis, but also similar to the link all the puddlejumpers have too." I said in thought.

"Meaning ?" Ronon said

"Meaning that we might have a slight problem if its a cloaked satalite. If its a friendly satalite, I can use the subspace signal to send a notice to uncloak it so we can board it and disable the weapon on it." I said in reply.

"I think there is something out there with us" Ben spoke up he'd been staring directly ahead, seemingly with a vacant expression on his face. Was he scanning ?

"What do you mean ?" I asked him as I typed on my computer

"I am picking up signs of life" Ben replied

"Where ?" I asked going to the viewscreen and activating the local map. "Its in the asteroids with us ?"

"According to the sensors, there are two viable life forms a kilometer or so away from our location, it is possible they are aboard the cloaked satalite." Ben said

"I dont think its a satalite" John spoke up, his voice sounded as if he was in awe, or worried.

"There" Ben said, pointing out the window "What is that ?"

"Its just a bunch of rocks floating in space, they might have been targets of the satalite" I said in reply, then I was confused "Why ?"

"Is that what I think it is ?" John said, suddenly as the windshield formed the information seamlessly in front of us.

"Is what what you think it is ?" I asked looking out the windscreen before typing on the keyboard, a new screen popped up.

"I do not think what we are seeing is a satalite, it might be another puddlejumper." Ben said. The windshield of our jumper lit up with information and we could see the lifesigns again, but there was nothing else present.

I traded looks with John before turning to Ben "Is it possible that another race of ancient linked peoiple apart from the Asurans have a puddlejumper or more ?" I asked, we could see the dust and microasteroids, along with many burnt and exploded asteroids floating in space around a certain area.

Ben had no idea how to answer that question. I snapped my fingers as an idea came to me "I think I see it." I said, already thinking of what to do next. "I think I can make it reveal itself, if I can match our signal with that one. Its possible it mgiht have Ancients in it, or something else. If this is indeed where the Furlings were kept or had lived at least." I said, my hands going to the keyboard as I started typing in commands and codes.

"I dont think hacking their signal is going to be needed." Ben said within a few seconds after I started typing.

I looked up at him. "What do you mean ?" On our window there appeared a image I thought I'd never see, a face so oddly scarily familiar, two women sat inside a puddlejumper. But the thing was so exotic in appearance inside around them. If it wasnt for the crystal controls like our jumper I would have mistaken it for a movie set piece. It was nothing like how the Ancients had built ours.

"Col Sheppard I really hope that is you" The woman, the one with red and white striped hair, said.

John looked to me, but never turned on the comms yet when I shook my head. "What do we do ?" He wanted to reply, but I didnt know for sure. It was possible we were drugged. That I was dreaming this whole scenario. But I knew for a fact I was wide awake

"That woman looks familiar" I said pointing at the red and white striped woman. I couldnt hope to recognise the calico colored woman in the dark dress, but I could tell both of them were feline women. Just judging by the stripes on their arms, as well as their clearly feline ears, their clothing looked like something out of a Chinese movie.

John raised an eyebrow. "She looks familiar ?" He asked, he pointed at me then at the screen. "Is it just me or does this look like two cat women are trying to talk to us ?" I could tell he sounded slightly worried or slightly pissed off. "And why does she sound like Major Pendergast ?"

Oh that was a good question, a very good question. And we still hadnt replied to their question about who we were.

"Col Sheppard!" the catwoman in the dark dress said sternly as she spoke up, "I really, really hope that's you. Dont make me shoot at you a second time. What I aim at always dies."

I was struck dumb for a full minute. The other jumper appeared from thin space perfectly as it decloaked, it was more exotic in appearance because of the design of it compared to our own, it was still conical and angled like ours front and back, but the colors and its pattern was vastly different than our jumpers were on the outside than our own jumper as its engines were unfurled, and yet, I couldnt see any drones on the jumper before us. Just really evil looking blaster like barrels.

"Rodney, do I reply or what ?" John asked me, his hand hovered over the radio controls.

It wasnt possible. "I really hope that's not her." I mumbled as I typed rapidly into my laptop. The information that came back made me stare. "It cant be." I replied, I typed into my keyboard a few more commands. On our screen another screen appeared showing Tanith's drivers license picture along with Claire's picture. Putting them side by side. "Does anyone else see what I am seeing ?" I asked

"Rodney..." John didnt like the look of those strange weapons the jumper in front of us had ready for use.

"Oh my god" I said in reply. Sheppard was also in shock. The pictures, and the two women, were nearly identical. "I think," I stuttered, "I think we just found Major Pendergast, and Col Raines."

"What ?" John asked me. I typed another command and the pictures disappeared, I waved for him to answer.

"As much as I would love to see those guns in action, I would very much rather be on their good side right now." I said when John didnt asnwer. I hit the radio controls, "Col Raines is that you ?"

"Who is this ?" The woman in the dark dress asked, she had to be Tanith. I hoped I was right.

I sighed, we barely met Tanith and I. I keyed the comm one more time."This is Dr Rodney McKay of Atlantis. I ask again, Col Raines, is that you ?" I repeated.

The two women traded looks, and from what we could tell, they were looks and expresses of pure relief as the woman in the dark dress seemed to slump and relax in her chair. "Oh thank fuck" The dark dressed woman said, the woman in the red dress sighed clearly relieved.

"Finally a Friendly face, please tell me you have some shampoo in your jumper ?" That had to be Claire. She wore a gorgeous red dress that showed off her arms and a rather ample endowed chest, just like Tanith. Though I knew for a fact I had never really met Tanith in any other form of clothing outside of a set of combat fatiges. I only met Claire briefly, twice, at her fathers funeral. The second time wass I think it was yesterday but I dont remember.

How time flies.

"I didnt think to bring any no, didnt exactly have the chance to pick some up" I replied truthfully. Now why was Claire asking about shampoo ? Then it hit me, the two catwomen, they had to be cat women, on our screen, more then likely had no chance of getting shampoo or a good bath.

A good minute passed and we could hear the asteroids, and microasteroids, dinging off our shield. Finally Tanith spoke. "Well, for your information, Dr McKay, yes, I am Col Tanith Raines, US Marines. Who is with you ?" Tanith, the catwoman in the darker dress. Which was showing off a lot of fur in that design. Said to us.

"Me, Ronon, Ben, and Col Sheppard are here yes." I wanted to mention Teyla, but the last time Tanith and Teyla met there was one hell of a catfight that ended up with both women in the infirmary and Tanith nearly dying from the same issues. And at this moment Teyla was with the Athosans back on Athos and New Athos working on harvesting crops

The two women traded looks, they were confused. "Ben ?" Asked Tanith to Claire, the catwoman in red shrugged. I barely met Claire, she was barely on Atlantis five hours when she disappeared.

But Claire had a question for Tanith. "Ronon ?" Apparently Claire hadnt the chance to meet him yet when she got taken here by whatever it was.

"Its a long story, but is there a place we can talk face to face ?" John asked, somewhere that we couldnt endanger the locals. "Instead of, well, viewscreen to viewscreen ?"

Tanith and Claire traded looks, then Tanith smiled, "Follow us" Tanith said simply. She didnt make her jumper disappear though. Instead it she made it cruise deeper into the asteroids before we cleared them completely and headed for the planet, straight back to the shipyard facility

From space we could see just how big the cityship was. It was three times larger than Atlantis was. Atlantis itself was roughly the size of Manhattan island on its own in terms of residental space. But this place lbew that out of the water, it was three times the size of manhattan island, hell all five bouroughs could fit in there plus Detroit and maybe Sacremento ? And still have room for Long Beach and Jersey!

Finally Tanith's jumper landed on what looked to be a landing pad, we landed next to it and went to get out of our jumper. John had his P90 ready, Ronon had his particle gun ready. Whereas I had a pistol, but also my tablet. Ben simply had a phonesized tablet in his hand and was already scanning for energy surges.

Our back door opened, and we were greeted by something we'd never thought we'd see. Tanith didnt look like the Tanith I could remember. The very guarded feline woman standing before us, Ori Staff Weapon ready and primed, and she didnt look very happy. I only met Tanith once, and that was during a request on Earth that we had to track down a Replicator there.

"I need to know something before we go further." Tanith said as she aimed her staff at us. I could see that she also had a pair of Kull vambraces on her wrists. She sounded like Tanith alright, though, so I guess it was her, just very... fuzzy.

"Where is Claire ?" John asked, his own gun ready to shoot at Tanith, but he never pulled his trigger, I had to admir his restraint. I never reached for my gun as I had my tablet in hand

"In our jumper. Just answer me this one question and maybe, just maybe, we know each other." Tanith replid with a soft growl.

"Ask away" John said simply as he lowered his gun.

"Where am I from ?" Did she mean this planet, or where she disappeared from ?

"Uh..." None of us could answer that right away

At least until I got my brain and mouth to work together and asked her. "Do you mean like, what do you last remember before looking like... all fuzzy and catlike ? Because I dont remember you being... fuzzy, or catlike" Why did I want to pet her ? Her conical ears twitched as she turned towards me. Her graygreen eyes drilled into me, I was sorry I spoke up. When we briefly met when she was human, her gray eyes were more silver over green. In this case being turned into a two meter tall cat woman, her eyes looked as if she were blind.

Tanith seemed to take that as the answer she sought. And smiled, lowering her staff with a soft sigh. "Its alright Claire, They're from Atlantis alright."

"Thank fuck" Claire replied as she stepped into view. Now that we could see both women up close and in person, we could see they were both taller than we last saw them, they were covered in thick downy fur. And wore dresses right out of a Chinese movie "Almost started to wonder if you guys would ever come looking for me. What made you come here ?"

"We uh..." John started to say, almost going into full on kirk mode as he spoke before realising who he was talking to. "Ben, tracked the, uh... lightning bolt that took you from the North Peir." John said while pointing towards the Replicator with us, I nodded.

"We also searched the database for any mention of the Furlings, and that, along withjthe lightning bolt's energy signature, also lead us here, this planet, Ascretta is its name, apparently the Ancients used it a few million years ago before the war with the Wraith as a sort of testing ground, and refugee relocation zone." I said "As well as a shipyard, this facility is huge" I concluded.

"That much we could find too, with what supplies this facility had, we made our jumper." Tanith looked slightly upset. "Truth be told I actually hoped you were enemies. I wanted some live fire testing for these babies." She said patting the barrles of some really nasty weapons.

"Drones would have been a disaster, fire all in that asteroid field with all that Cadium Four in those rocks" I told her as I remembered the Cadium Four in the asteroids

"Cadium four ?" Tanith asked me, confusion on her face

"Its one of the fuel sources for the Daedalus and Apollo, and also for Ancient ships. Its like this, a drone fired into a Cadium Four asteroid sets off a chain reaction similar if not stronger to a Gatebuster Mark Six bomb." I explained

"Well thats good, everything we shot at didnt do anything that explosive" Claire spoke up

"How ?" I asked turning to her, up close and in person she indeed looked far prettier than I remembered, the red and white tabby cat woman in front of me was drop dead gorgeous.

"Our Jumper doesnt have any drones, designed that way." Tanith explained

"No drone weapons ?" I asked, It was impossible for the Ancients to build a ship that didnt have Drone Weapons at the very least. "How ?"

"With the limited supplies this place has, it meant that we had to pick a different kind of weapon, In some ways we were stuck. There is nothing in this facility that could make half the drones we'd need just for a full weapons test, but one of the storage rooms were right on the assembly line so we used what was in there, about a truckload of Ori staff weapons" Tanith replied.

I raised an eyebrow, so other weapons, not just drones, could be fitted into the Jumpers ? Ok that was actually really cool, and by the sound of things, an Ori staff was stronger than a Jaffa staff in terms of damage output. So using a truckload of them to be used as a weapon on the jumper. I was interested.

"What happened to you ?" John then asked to Tanith and also to Claire, he turned towards the red and white striped catwoman. "I mean the last thing I remember was diving for cover during a lightning storm from hell, fully expecting you to land fried to a crisp on top of me, instead I get your helf melted radio bouncing off my head."

Claire looked thoughtful as she raised a hand to her chin in thought. "I know, I know you're confused, I still am too, Tanith barely got me unconfused. The last thing I can remember was trying to figure out what room to call my own in the North Peir when I got hit by that bolt of lightning, the next thing I know, I wake up out there on the meadow somewhere, everything hurt, and Tanith is right there looking down at me." Claire said to us.

We turned towards Tanith and repeated the question.

"If only that could easily be answered" Tanith replied. Leaning on her staff. She sighed, then said "I woke up in the dark, literally, what I could remember on Iota, Dr Jackson was nervous because of the sudden storm. So Col Mitchell cracked a bad joke, and cracked Daniel up very good." She sighed and went silent briefly. "Next thing I knew, there was a huge white light, as if we hit an IED, and then I had a splitting headache."

She stood from her staff and looked to us, holding her Ori staff loose in her hands. "I woke up in a tomb, five other bodies laid neatly around me. Four now that Claire is here."

"Like I mentioned, Tanith found me out in the meadow not far from here. About... judging by the time, I'd say about six hours ago" Claire said as we turned towards her. "She had all this clothing ready for me too at the time, the weapons too"

"So you're not human anymore ?" John asked, this was too much to take in. They both shook their heads

"No, but, we used to be. And I would like you to take this back to the SGC, let them know we're alive, we want our access codes to continue to work. There's a good half dozen weapon and supply caches on this planet not far from the stargate." Tanith said. Handing me a piece of paper, it had 5 names on it, hers, Captain Zanes, A retired Marine named Zackary White, and a Chief Petty officer Thomas Wallace of the third Alpha site third Shift chow hall. Along with Major Pendergasts name.

I nodded, I could let the SGC know their codes could still be fully valid because they were still alive, and needed those codes for access to weapons and supplies. "Weapons caches ?" I was not aware of such things

"Several planets had to be set up as fallback points during the war against the Ori" Tanith said, "This planet was briefly taken by the Ori, but we drove them off, there's a good half dozen weapon and supply depots scattered on this world. Possibly more" Tanith then explained in brief detail exactly how things had gone with the Ori.

Well that explained that. I thought as John said "That explains the weapons you have, at least, the Ori Staffs, are those kull blasters too ?" Tanith nodded, and said nothing of the Asgard Personal Shields she possessed. The collar about her neck looked rather ornate and almost Norse in appearance.

"You can shoot me if you want" Tanith said. Without missing a beat, Ronon did just that, his pent up anger, briefly held at gunpoint, he fired, a stunshot of course. It just washed over Tanith like nothing. She sighed and cocked her head slightly. Tanith could tell Ronon was pissed. She sighed "Yeah, I'm sorry about having to get you guys at staff point. I just needed to be sure on who you were." She said

"At least it was set to stun" So she had a shield of some kind. I thought. "So what happens now ?" I asked

John threw me a look. "Rodney. About the planet ?"

"Huh ?" I looked at him confused, and then it hit me, I snapped my fingers. "Right right, Tanith, if that is your name." She nodded. "This planet, its called Ascretta in the database, its connected to both Pegasus stargate network, and the Milky Way stargate network." I said. She looked at me as if I just told her something she knew, but she also needed clarifcation on. "The good news is, the Wraith dont know about this planet. Its not on any starcharts that we can find so far, so coming here by ship isnt possible, the only gate so far with the address to here, is in Atlantis."

"So that stargate did work, and you guys came through it. Perfect!" Tanith seemed happier than normal at that news.

"I repeat my last question, what happens now ?" John asked, this time looking up at the sky, it was starting toget dark, wasnt it around noon ?

"Wait, what time did you.. wake up here ? Where was the sun at ?" I asked, I looked at my watch, it was only One twenty Atlantis time.

"High noon ?" Claire said thoughtfully. Tanith nodded

"The days are wonky here, some are longer than others it seems. Oddly it feels longer than it should be." Tanith said

"So how'd you get here ? A lightning bolt took Claire from Atlantis, and you had her drop in on you" I said to Tanith

"That's where it gets funny" Tanith replied pointing a furred finger at him. Her black claws shined in the setting sunlight.

"Is it possible that you can explain ?" I asked her, I was curious, but I hoped she didnt catch me eyeing her feline ears, why did I want to pet Tanith like a cat ?

Tanith sighed. "According to what I had been able to find out with Tantomile so far, anyone who disappears from Earth or any of her sites, or even Atlantis or any of their sites will reappear on this planet in a storm. Though Claire just dropped in from the clouds without a sound." Tanith said

"You mean the storms happen here too ?" Ben asked her, Tanith nodded. That made sense, he and I traded looks "You dont suppose" Ben started

"Could work, the problem is, when is the next one going to occur and do you want to hang out here to try and wait it out ?" I said to him

"If I can find a sutible shelter close to the Pegasus stargate I can set up there." Ben said in thought.

"That could work, though there is the problem of supplies you might need." I said in similar thought.

Ben smiled. "Dr McKay, please, I'm a Replicator, I can just replicate what I need to survive if I must do so" I conceeded. Ben had a point, the way I had the Replicators recoded was to allow them to replicate just enough to repair personal damage, but not able to swarm a location. Maybe if they could, replicate enough blocks to form a single bug of one generation in order to harvest a type of materiel. In Bens case, he'd only need to replicate enough to make a sensor screen.

Our attention was once more taken by Claire as she complained while rubbing on her butt "My ass still hurts from that landing." I could see a gorgeus red and white tail from a slit in the back of the dress she wore. I could only guess that Tanith had the same thing on her own gown. I struggled internally to keep my cat owning thoughts to myself.

"What about the swords and throwing knives I guess ?" John asked, a knife fight was not something he felt he'd want to get into. Espcially when it came to Tanith, When she and Teyla did a sparring session it ended up with both of them in the infirmary, Tanith with a broken jaw, and broken ankle, Teyla with a broken jaw, three broken ribs, and both women with numerous cuts from their knife happy time.

"Found them where I woke up, along with my clothes." Tanith said simply.

Simple answer for a simple question. I couldn help but trade smug looks with Tanith at that reply.

"Alright." I spoke up, "So, forgive me for sounding denser than the offspring of a village idiot, but. Where exactly are we ?" I asked to Tanith

Tanith smiled, her razor sharp teeth glittered in the evening twilight. "Ask Claire, she directed us down here" Tanith then motioned to the meadow around us. "This whole place though, each peir, its a shipyard."

So I turned to Claire, and Major Pendergast said simply. "I dont know, it just, well, it just felt right, like we were supposed to land here"

At the words, "supposed to land here" The ground shook hard. John reacted first. "Get to the jumpers!" But before we could move, a crack was heard and a ring formed around us, including the jumpers.

"Oh not again" I heard Tanith grumble as the ground shook and we began to lower into the bowels of the shipyard. The ground shook and rumbled as we dropped a good twenty five meters directly down before coming to a stop on solid ground.

John turned on a flashlight as Tanith turned on a beamlight from the Ori staff. There was very little, if any, dust around us. "Alright, that was new." Not even Atlantis did that

"We need to get back to the control room" Ben said, I looked at him

"What ?" I asked him

"I'm picking up an influx of energy, it is identical to the same energy burst that occurred right when Major Pendergast was taken from Atlantis" Ben explained, According to my scans, its happening in the Controlroom area. I'd say within three hundred meters from the stargate itself"

"So someone is appearing, directly in the controlroom ?" John asked him.

"Exactly" Ben replied with a nod

"How do we get there ?" I asked, "I cant see a thing in this darkness!" The lights slowly came on. Going from full dark to a modest level of brightness allowing us to see without being blinded. But something took my complete attention as the lights came on, and it was not something I expected to see. "Whoa"

The light revealed the room we had been lowered into. A dozen puddlejumpers, just as exotic as the one Tanith and Claire had piloted. Were parked around us. All of them aiming towards...

"Holy shit" Tanith swore

"Three stargates ?" I asked at the same time Tanith all but shrieked

"There's three of them on this planet ?!" She stared at the ring

Directly what the puddlejumpers aimed at, was a ring, but it was old, older than even the Milky Way gate, it looked to be one full piece.