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

9. Tanith 4

Beyond the Gate

Chapter 9 Cashing in

Planet Ascretta

Six hours ago

In orbit

We flew fast, and found a ring in orbit around the planet. Rocks floated around us, some the size of small bullets, others the size of city blocks. But as we flew so effortlessly, the ZPM providing the perfect power supply as I piloted the jumper smoothly into space.

"Wow" Claire said next to me as the jumper slid into the upper atmosphere of the planet below us, within a minute we could see the curve of the planet below us. Information scroll across the screen.

"Did you do that ?" I was simply trying to see what I could ahead of us.

"Yeah I was actually wondering how fast we were going. This is amazing not pulling any G's." Claire said, she must have trained in a 302 fighter

As I piloted us into the black from the planet below my mind wandered. "This is cool" I mumbled. But I didnt see myself piloting into space. No, I saw myself at the track, seated in my car, waiting to throw down with another driver for pink slips. Then the thoughts of pulling Gs hit me like a lead pipe. "I'll tell you one thing, Claire, there's a dozen guys, streetracers all of them, who I know for a fact would kill to get their hands on one of these." I said

I found myself feeling as if I needed a friend, I missed him dearly. Dominic was the boss, he was the Dad of the family so to speak. But it was my closest friend. Tharon, who I felt a pang for in my heart. He worked for Delta Airlines now that I remember, I tried to get him to join me in Officers Training School after we both finished Basic. But he went on to finish his enlistment, and then from there he became an airline pilot.

"You mean you were once a streetracer in the big city ? Like Rio or the like ?" Claire asked me, her being a southern belle from Lansing Mnichihgan, military family and all, I knew she wouldnt have the access to the street that I had. Souped up coupes, seeding roadsters. Fleeing police when they showed up.

I found myself missing it. I nodded at her question. "Yeah. We had this thing out in California, before I joined the Marines, this thing called Race Wars, it got so popular that even the air force base there started sponsoring it" I said

"I cant say I heard of it" Claire said to me.

I looked at her. "Given who you were before you came here, I doubt you might have. But I never forgot my roots, just before I got shipped out to Officers Training, I went to the Air Force Base for one last Race War." I explained. As I spoke I took the jumper on a weaving path through the asteroids as we neared them.

"We raced for what we called Pink Slips, the loser also lost their car" I smirked, nobody execept Dom could beat my Vette. Only Dom knew my secrets of what I put in it. My dads old crate engine from his beloved Elanore. "Since it was my last race, I said no pink slips, just for the sheer hell of it, lets see how far we can do it, first caw to throw a crankshaft would lose."

I slowed the jumper down as we neared the larger asteroids. Slowing us to a very slow speed of maybe two or three kilometers per hour I turned my seat towards Claire. "So Doms younger sister, Mia, wanted to race me, since it was my last race I even said I'd use one of their cars instead of my corevette. Mia insisted on me using my Vette, for the sheer hell of it." I smirked at the memory, Mia was a smart girl and knew her timing.

I sighed. "So what happened ?" Claire asked me, she was enraptured by my story.

"Mia insisted I use my Vette, but I insisted on using an import. Because if I had used my vette, I'd be dead" I said, the memory took a sour turn, Fortunately the TCI cruiser was low enough it survived under the truck. Better than I thought. "TCIs normally arent built for under carraige driving." I said. If it wasnt for Dom and the others making those mods to the TCI I had used I'd have died. Fortunately I walked away from that wreck.

I laughed briefly then. "Of course Mia asked who threw the crank first, me or the truck" I sighed, "I told her I didnt check. The next morning I shipped out Hawaii for officers training, then from there I went to Iota" I was thoughtfully quiet then. "I wonder how they're doing now. Would be kinda nice to see them."

Claire gave me a sardonic glance. "You miss your old life, huh ?" She asked me

I had to nod. "Yeah, but even then I couldnt wear stuff like this, or use an Ori staff, or have a Asgard type personal shield for that matter." I said, truth be told, even with me in charge at Iota, we still had to wear the uniforms, we still had to follow protocol, there were things I hated about Iota and the SGC, and the IOA was one of them, their rules were the worst part. I held out my arms. "I mean look at us, would Atlantis allowed us to wear this type of outfit ? Would we be able to show off this much skin even in the SGC ? Of course not!"

"So you feel freer here then ?" Claire was oddly acting more thoughtful, she was as first came off to me, a southern belle who worried more for herself and military background. Torn between the cat within, and who she was at heart.

I turned back to the controls. "Yeah" I nodded. "I feel lighter. Like I lost weight, must have been all those IOA rules holding me down" I said, it made Claire snicker. "Being like this, in this body, tell me, cant you feel like you've been given the freedom you've longed for as far as you could remember ?" I asked to Claire as I looked her way.

We'd been testing the abilities of our new toy for the last hour or so. Claire was quiet for a good minute, finally she said "I do feel as if I was set free from my old life. But I also miss my old life. My mom, my dad, my brothers. Hell I even miss Atlantis even though I was barely there a day." Claire said

"I remembered Rodney talking of how the stargate network had a Midway Station built between Pegasus and the Milky Way, and then Rodney started into the really wonky math and it went entirely over my head." I admitted.

"Yeah, its gone now thanks to Brett" Claiure said, I knew who she meant. The fucker was an idiot when it came to delicate structures like the Midway Station. "And last I knew Earth didnt have a power source to get to Pegasus yet. So I flew there on the Apollo, it took three weeks" Claire explained then, a three week journey. There had to be a way, with our ZPM powered hyperdrive, to be ale to take our jumper to Earth quickly as possible.

"But the Daedalus only took four days on its first trip if I read the mission report correctly" I mused, I turned to Claire, if this thing only has an effective distance of five thousand light years, I wonder if there can be a way to update it, maybe include a just above speed of light type speeds for greater distance." My thinking brain had gotten the best of me again.

But then it was what Claire said of just barely being on Atlantis a few hours when she got hit by that lightning bolt like I had been. "Wait, twenty one days to get from Earth to Atlantis..." I mused thoughtfully. Claire looked at me confused. I looked at her. "Why didnt the lightning bolt take you from the Apollo ? Why did it wait until you were planet side ?"

"That is a good question; I was barely on Atlantis for a day, let alone ten hours before I got hit by lightning and woke up in front of you." Claire said to me after a few moments of quiet thought. She looked at me from where she sat. "But what about you ? What got you into the military ?"

"My husband" I replied as I steered our jumper through the asteroids around us. "Also my dad for getting me to meet my husband"

"Your dad ?" Claire asked, she had a somewhat sad tone to her voice.

"Yeah, When I was a street racer I made money to help my dad pay for the house bills, the mortage, the utilities, that kind of thing. I didnt become a street racer until I was about sixteen or seventeen or so. I was about twenty two when the medical issues started." I said in reply. My own voice had taken on a sad somber tone to it.

"If it is too hard to talk about" Claire started, but I waved her off.

"Its fine" I said, "It needs to be told I guess."

I took a deep breath. "I was twenty two when the medical bills started to pile in. Dad had liver issues since I was a infant but his medication and health insurance normally paid for his medicines and such. I was 11 when my mom and dad divorced. I was sixteen when mom died of liver cancer. So I did odd jobs, babysat for friends and nieghbors, mowed lawns, those kinds of things."

I sighed as I remembered "When I was sixteen I met Dom and his sister Mia, I mentioned them before. At that same time my dad took me to a local dealership and pointed to any of the cars on the lot and said to me that I could pick any one car, and it would be my car and he would help me pay insurance and the like on it, regardless of the car I chose. I chose my corevette." I had a dreamy expression on my face as I spoke.

"I loved that car, Dom offered to help me keep it tuned up on many occasions, even helped me overhaul the stock engine with better parts, made it faster, stronger, easier for me to survive a crash in if I wiped out during a Race at Race Wars. Then Dad and I put his old crate engine from his mustang into it"

I sighed then, Easily rolling our jumper around a huge chuck of rock. "I had just turned twenty two, I had won huge at Race Wars the day before when I had to call for an ambulance to get my dad to the hospital. His liver had failed. He had no medication at home, so they kept him over night. And they didnt bill his insurance" I set my jaw. "Fuckin' hospital drained my winnings from the day before, every last dime."

Claire heard me growl, and was thoughtful a moment. "Why couldnt your dads insurance cover it ?"

"Apparently my dads insurance did not cover emergency visits or amublence transportation, had I taken dad in his mustang, we would have gotten pulled over a block or two from where we needed to be." I grolwed softly. I decided to take a few test shots with our blasters, bolts of blue plasma shot from the pulse rifles on the wings of our engine pods.

Seeing the asteroids explode into fragments made me smile and calmed me down a little bit. "Fact is, just taking and covering my dads over night stay at the hospital became my top priorty, I knew the hospital would be sneaky with further fees, so the very next day was a street race, an illegal one I admit that freely. The top prize was twelve grand, all in cash. I could take that and put it directly in my dads bank account, since we both shared the debit card with it we could pay further hospital bills with it."

"And that became your life ?" Claire asked me

I nodded "Yeah. For four years that became my life, street races, Race Wars, all my winnings, I never put any work into my car, or the house, I simply cared for dad. All that money went to his medical bills. And even though I did the best I could, he still kept having to go back, for long and longer visits." I sighed and relaxed in the chair.

I waved to Claire, "You go ahead and drive for a while, these arent just one pilot position, there were two of us so the assembly line made it so we can fly this thing from either seat" I said to her, Claire took the controls.

"If it helps any, keep talking" She said simply, it made me laugh, a brief chirp of laughter.

"If it'll keep you awake, sure. I was twenty two when that first visit happened, after that, about two months later, dad was in the hospital again, this time with breathing issues, he had a mild stroke. A few weeks later, his appendix busted on him, Each bill just piled on the last. Race Wars was once a month."

"And the bills kept piling up" Claire mused

"Yeah" I replied. "It got to the point where dad was spending nearly a month at a time in the hospital. I was twenty seven when I nearly self destructed." I said

The jumper came to a solid halt as Claire looked at me, we hovered in space, the asteroids floating freely aroun us. "You nearly self destructed ?" Claire asked me.

"Yeah" I simply nodded in reply. "Dad's kidneys had both failed him, so he was on life support, he could still breathe sure, but he needed oxygen. The latest news of both kidneys being under failure threat, that was enough to make me want to down a bottle of painkillers and go to bed right there in that room." I sighed thinking back on it, then chuckled

"Whats so funny ? You nearly killed yourself and now you're laughing ?" Claire was confused, and worried for my sake and I knew it.

I shook my head and sighed, "My dad was lucid in that hospital bed and he knew how much of a toll he was on me, he seemed to know how close I was to self destructuon. So he actually told me, "Tanith, girl, go have fun, forget about me being in here, go enjoy yourself, sure my kidneys are fucked, but that's my problem. Go have fun" So thought about it a minute, then I nodded, the Ren Faire was in town that weekend, and the weekend after, and dad promised we could both go and enjoy ourselves at it."

I smiled at the memory. "I stepped out of dads hospital room and there was a older man there, a priest I think, and my dads doctor was there, the two men saw me and came right to me. Asking how my dad felt and everything. While the priest wanted to see my dad. I was scared he was going to die and the priest said that wasnt the case, and let the doctor explain it to me." I smiled again.

"What happened ?" Claire asked me.

I smiled and chuckled. "The priest was named Robert Sheen, and he was a direct blood match to my dad, he was going to be a Kidney doner for my dad, I was so overjoyed I told the doctor that if my dad didnt survive, I wouldnt survive. The doctor swore that my dad would pull through. So I went home, got dressed up. And headed for the Ren festival." I chuckled again. "I never expected I'd meet him there though"

"Meet who ? Your father ? But he was in the hospital bed ?" Claire said to me, confusion in her tone

"No not him." I replied, a dreamy look once more on my face as I remembered spotting Tharon, who introduced himself rather gallantly and gentlemanly as Puss in Boots for the very first time. "I met my husband, Tharon, at that Ren Faire that afternoon. We spent the entire afternoon together, and Tharon offered to walk me to my car when it came close to closing time. So when he asked me where I lived, I said normally at home with my dad in Long Beach, but lately we were in the LA Hospital with my dads medical issues. He then asked what room. Next thing I knew, Tharon proposed to me at the next Ren Festival, at the same time my dad was there because he was able to walk out of the hospital, healthy as a horse thanks to Robert Sheen."

"And you accepted ?" Claire mused to me

I chuckled and nodded. "Fuck yeah I accepted. If it wasnt for my dad insisting I go to have fun, I would have never met Tharon, he's so sweet, a gentleman, kind, thoughtful. Hell of a pilot, and he always had my back in Boot." I said with a firm happy nod. "You'd like him"

I then went thoughtfully quiet. I was about to ask Claire about her story. But something took our attention.

Ascretta

Present Time

In Orbit

A jumper floated into the asteroids around us and sat there for long moments. I didnt like the look of it and barely nodded to Claire. The red and white striped catgirl fired a pulse of blue energy, it smashed into a asteroid as the other jumper barely dodged the shot.

"Col Sheppard I really hope that is you" Claire said into the radio, we didnt have any headsets, but the comms were on. Our screen showed their diagnostics data, but couldnt show us who was inside the jumper.

"Colonel who ?" I asked to Claire

"John Sheppard, he was supposed to be my boss back on Atlantis when I got stationed there before I got hit by lightning and turned into... this" Claire gestured at herself. I chuckled.

When no answer came from the other jumper I hit the radio. "Col Sheppard" I said "I really, really hope that's you. Dont make me shoot at you a second time. What I aim at always dies." I mostly said that last part because it was true, but somehow, they evaded the shot Claire had fired on accident.

An unknown voice answered "Col Raines is that you ?"

Claire and I traded looks, Claire shrugged and mouthed 'I dont know' "Who is this ?" I asked looking at our windscreen, data scrolled across our front window. But we could see nothing from the owner of the voice that just replied to us. And I couldnt hope to recognise it by voice alone.

The voice came on again, this time the screen lit up with information "This is Dr Rodney McKay of Atlantis. I ask again, Col Raines, is that you ?" I didnt really know or get to know Rodney, but I did get to figure out a few other critical things. Namely, something happened.

I traded looks with Claire, who visibly sighed in relief. "Oh thank fuck" I said as I too relaxed in my chair.

"Finally a Friendly face, please tell me you have some shampoo in your jumper ?" Claire said onto our radio, we didnt have any headsets, so our radio system was voice activated.

"I didnt think to bring any no, didnt exactly have the chance to pick some up" Rodney replied, Claire didnt look too happy, and I didnt either. Last thing I wanted was my hair to get tangled, much less stinking up the place.

A good minute passed, and Claire and I traded looks, finally I spoke. "Well, for your information, Dr McKay, yes, I am Col Tanith Raines, US Marines. Who is with you ?"

"Me, Ronon, Ben, and Col Sheppard are here yes." Rodney replied

Claire and I traded looks, both of us confused. "Ben ?" I asked

Claire looked at me just as confused as I was, only the name she asked me was "Ronon ?"

A new voice broke in over the radio. "Its a long story, but is there a place we can talk face to face ?" John asked, somewhere that we couldnt endanger the locals. I thought as he spoke. "Instead of, well, viewscreen to viewscreen ?"

I looked to Claire, she smirked, I smiled and said simply. "Follow us" I turned our jumper towards the deeper thicker part of the asteroid belt before heading towards the planet.

The planet opened up before us. I knew that Tantomile and the others more then likely had their eyes on the sky or were hiding somewhere. But I didnt care. For once from the sky we could see, I could see, how big the city below was, what I thought was a small village was just one of seven spires of the snowflake patterned city ship.

"Looks homey" Claire said simply.

"Seems the stargate, the Pegasus network stargate, is in the centeral structure there" I said, a map formed on the windscreen in front of us showing what I was thinking. "Which means the Milky Way gate is... there" A point dropped on the map. It showed the Milky Way gate in a cluster of buildings nowhere near this shipyard.

There was something of a mass of life signs not far away. But I paid no attention to it. I could tell that Sheppard and those wit him were in awe of the sight of the massive cityship. It was after all a shipyard, it dwarfed Atlantis by far too much.

For all I knew, it built Atlantis. I headed for a landing pad; or at least what appeared to be a landing pad of a sort for the jumpers to land on. It looked more like an open meadow really. But once we landed it felt right. The jumper powered down.

I made to stand up, but Claire stopped me as she spoke. "Whats the plan ? If that isnt really who they say they are ?"

"Tell you what, I'll go first and talk to them, ensure they're friends, when I call for you that its safe to come out, you can come into their view, until then I'll have my shield active, and my hands on this" I picked up my Ori staff weapon from its cradle by the bulkhead door. "If you hear shots, close the rear ramp unless I knock twice"

"Sounds good. Have your radio on too so I can hear it in here" Claire said, I nodded, but then I remembered, I didnt have a radio. Out of nowhere a radio formed, an earpiece, similar to what was used on Atlantis. Ready for use. We stared at it briefly, then I shrugged. I picked it up and put it on. Stepping out of the front third of our jumper I hit the bulkhead controls, closing one and then activating the rear ramp.

I stepped out towards the other jumper and raised my staff weapon towards the opening ramp. My shield was active. A man pointed a gun at me. He was a massive guy too, but I knew Chief could give him a run for his money. Rodney looked confused, yet also concerned, John, it had to be jon in that vest of his, looked guarded and even raised his rifle at me.

For a good moment there was quiet Finally I said simply. "I need to know something before we go further." My voice was even, calm, yet I was ready to pull the trigger on my staff, wherever it was.

"Where is Claire ?" John asked, He looked ready to shoot me. But I had my weapon raised, I didnt think I could get a shot off on the big guy, who had to be Ronon, before John filled me with lead.

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

"Ask away" John said simply as he lowered his gun. Oh good he didnt want to shoot.

"Where am I from ?" I stated simply. It was partly a trick question but I really wanted to be sure of who they were. I wasnt going to start shooting if they couldnt correctly answer it.

"Uh..." John said, trading looks with the big guy and the fourth man.

Rodney however snapped his fingers rapidly and pointed at me. "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"

I turned my gaze to the man, my gray eyes were sharp and yet he must have thought I was blind as a bat. At least my eyes looked a pale gray to colorless in the mirrors here. I sighed and lowered my staff. "Its alright Claire, They're from Atlantis alright."

"Thank fuck" Claire replied as she stepped into view. Now that we were both in their sight they got a good look at us, and we got a good look at them. They seemed shorter almost since the last time I saw any of them, I barely recalled Rodney's face. "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 gave the fourth man, now identified as Ben, a careful glance. He looked similar to Radek.

Claire glanced towards Ben, who was focused on his tablet, the phone sized thing looked fairly new, but also interesting and clearly Ancient in design.

"We also searched the database for any mention of the Furlings, and it also lead us here, this planet, Ascretta is its name, apparently the Ancients used it a few million years before the Wraith were ever encountered as a sort of testing ground, and refugee relocation zone." Rodney said "As well as a shipyard, this facility is huge"

Rodney went on to tell us as I told them I was upset I didnt get to do any live fire practise with our pulse weapons. It made me thankful that we didnt go with drones, those were fire and forget for the most part.

It took a bit more to explain about the weapon caches and the Ori army advances. But once we were done with it all. As well as where I woke up and how I got dressed as I am. Things were more or less settled.

At least until I said to Ronon who still had his pistol ready to fire at me. "You can shoot me if you want" 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 my shield like nothing. I sighed and cocked my head at him slightly. I could tell Ronon was pissed. "Yeah, I'm sorry about having to get you guys at staff point. I just needed to be sure on who you were." I explained

"At least it was set to stun" Rodney said "So what happens now ?" He then asked

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

"Huh ?" He looked at him confused, and then it seemed to hit him, he snapped his fingers a few times again. "Right right, Tanith, if that is your name." I nodded. "This planet, Like I said, its called Ascretta in the database, its connected to both Pegasus stargate network, and the Milky Way stargate network." He said. I looked at him as if he just told me something I knew, which I did, but I also needed clarifcation on on that same fact. And in this case, Rodney had confirmed what I wanted to know. "The good news is, the Wraith dont know about this planet. Its not on any starcharts either, at least the charts we can find so far, so coming here just by ship alone isnt possible, the only gate so far with the address to here, is in Atlantis."

It then came to the question of how I got here onto this planet, a storm, or what ? All I could remember was one hell of a hangover. So I mentioned the storms for some, but Claire had just dropped in, but I had her stuff for her before she landed. Rodney and Ben had a brief conversation but then I saw Rodney turn towards Claire as she complained.

"My ass still hurts from that landing" Claire complained, I smirked. I saw Rodney taking a good look at her... tail

A few more questions, mostly about my weapons were easily answered. In this case when asked where I got them all, I simply told John, "Where I woke up." And then rodney spoke up and made me want to break down laughing.

"So, forgive me for sounding denser than the offspring of a village idiot, but, where exactly are we ?" Rodney asked us.

I pointed to Claire. "Ask Clair, she was flying" I then motioned to the meadow around us. "This whole place though, each peir, its a shipyard. We only explored I think three buildings in one of the outlaying peirs"

Rodney turned to Claire, and she said simply. "I dont know, it just, well, it just felt right, like we were supposed to land here" she shrugged.

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 grumbled 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 I 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, as did Rodney

"What ?" Rodney asked him. "Why ?

"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 to him. And accordinbg to this scan, its about three hundred meters from the stargate."

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

"Exactly" Ben replied with a nod

"From where ?" Rodney asked him

"We wont know until they get here." I replied.

"Alright new question then" Rodney grumbled at me. "How do we get there from here ? 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 Rodney's complete attention, and it was not something I expected to see either. "Whoa" He said

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

"Holy shit" I swore I swore at the sight

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

"There's three of them on this planet ?!" I stared at the ring, it had symbols on its ring that I couldnt hope to recognise.

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.

About twenty minutes later and after some extensive searching, Claire found a room, a small closet of a sort. "Looks like a transporter" I said, I stepped into it, it wasnt as big as the transporter that Tantomile and I had used, but it could easily fit two maybe four people at a time.

As I stepped into the small closet like space, the panel opened up. "Yeah, that's a transporter" John said upon sight of it.

"Where did you say the energy signature was from ?" I asked towards the Replicator, Ben

"The control room." He said in reply, "Center spire"

"Alright, who goes ?" John then asked, "For all we know, whoever just showed up didnt use the stargate, and is possibly lost just as much as you guys were" He had a point.

Claire and I traded looks, "I'll go" Claire said after a second. She had her staff in hand. "If its a cat like us, another cat would make them feel safer. I hope."

"Dont do anything I wouldnt do" John joked, we cast him a look. Rodney was making the cut off the head motion as if to shut John up. Little did Sheppard know I read that mission report, of him dabbling with an Ancient woman. Claire went into the transporter and hit the panel for the tower controls. It would be a few hours as Rodney went back to looking at the strange gate.

"Find anything yet ?" Ronon asked as I stepped up next to him.

"Well, for one thing, even Ben confirmed it. This thing has no power supply, and far as I can tell, no DHD either. There is nothing in here, well not counting the puddlejumpers at least. For all intents, this place is more or less a shrine." Rodney explained

"So the Ancients had gods to worship or something ?" John asked him it made even me confused, the Ancients were considered magical to the lesser races on Earth ages ago.

Rodney shook his head. "More like it was built and then lived in by whoever else lived here, they treated it like a shrine, its why its designed this way. No power supply, no DHD, which means that there is no way whatsoever to get a wormhole to work with this thing." Rodney said waving him off.

"The Furlings" Ben said out of the blue

We all looked at him. "The Who ?" I asked

"Great band, but I dont think that's who he means" John spoke up as Ben nodded at him and continued speaking.

"In the Ancients database on Atlantis there were mentions of a race of beings the Ancients helped transplant their entire world, everyone and everything on it, to someplace else entirely. In this case, from what I can easily recall, 'Ascretta became their new home, and they took to it well, building starships to bolster our fleet. We made sure to keep the world from star charts and listed it as empty, dead. It worked for a short time. For They soon came upon it. And tried to take it for themselves.' What that means I do not know"

Rodney was nodding. "Its possible that this is a first generation stargate even with a power supply I see no way of manually dialing this thing anywhere, so even if we did have a power source of some kind, I dont think it could connect to anything, for all I know, this was just a prototype and never intended to be dialed anywhere. Maybe more or less for display." Rodney said waving at the thing.

"And you said it might as well be a shrine ?" John asked him.

"Well, at this point it might be considered one considering how the puddlejumpers are all set up" Rodney said in reply

I was curious and went to the front of one of the jumpers and looked in, the stink of the dead was clearly within it. "This is a shrine, though it has the vibe of a tomb or a crypt" I spoke up, John and Rodney turned to me. "But we were meant to find it I think." I said as I counted three wrapped bodies that I could see through the window. It made me wonder, who wrapped them ? "I count three bodies, and according to this readout, there is just enough juice in this jumper alone to open the rear hatch, if I do that, the effects of time might hit these bodies and affect them all." I said as I stepped off the front bumper.

We took a close look at all twelve jumpers, not including our two. "They're all built like yours, really... exotic looking." John said, our jumpers were longer, still the same height and width of a Atlantis jumper, but an additional ten feet longer, and also colored incredibly different.

"Maybe they were built in this facility, you know, to... to... serve as a coffin ?" Rodney spoke up. Not that it was a bad thing, I couldnt blame him for trying.

"Its possible that the deceased in these Jumpers are infact going to come back to life. And when they do." I said, but Ronon cut me off

"When ?" He asked, he didnt look too happy about such an idea.

I nodded to him. "Yes I said when" I replied, "When they do wake up, they'll have headaches from hell, but apparently plenty of food and drink, I woke up in a tomb, soon as I got myself free, I found a stream, it was an open menu and the deer was recommended" I said to him. I saw his tattoo on his neck, it made me slightly nervous and yet, worthwhile to see him nervous.

"So what happens now ?" Ronon asked. He looked from me to John.

I did not have the means to answer that.

A good five minutes passed, my radio went off. "Yeah I'm here Claire, whats going on ?" I asked

"The woman here wants to know where her husband is, I found some clothing for her, but no weapons, so I let her have my kull vambrace from my left hand" Claire told me.

"Who is her husband ?" I asked as I held a hand up so Rodney wouldnt say anything, even John was curious.

"She says her husband is named Mahumed Nazari." Claire told me.

"That does not ring a bell, either of you know a guy named Mahumed Nazari ?" I asked to Rodney and John, both men shook their heads. "Anything else ?" I asked Claire

"Yeah, the stargate started dialing." Claire told me, so I relayed that to the Atlantis team.

Suddenly Rodney started talking into his ear and he answered, "Radek good to hear from you, whats going on on your end ?"

"We just got word from the SGC in a databurst; we're gonna have guests first thing in the morning." Radek told him

"Really, who ?" Rodney asked

"Dr Jackson and Prime Minister of Egypt, Mahumed Nazari." Radek replied, "According to Dr Jackson, Nazari's wife disappeared a month ago when the Miami cast of a musical disappeared. She along with her husband were hosting a gala at Tell Basta in Egypt when she disappeared in a lightning storm"

"A lightning storm..." Rodney mumbled. He lkooked at me, "What did Claire say the new arrivals name was ?"

I shrugged and then asked to Claire on my radio., "Whats the name of the cat with you ?"

"She says her name is Tunia, but I think its a name that was fdrom a body here. When I asked what she remembered her husband calling her, she said she was called May or Mai I cant really tell" Claire replied

I turned to Rodney, "Claire says the new arrival is named Mai, or May" I told him.

"Either way her husband is gonna show up first thing in the morning. Can we get back to the gatroom without taking the transporter, or are our puddlejumpers stuck here ?" He then asked me

The ceiling opened at those words. "I think we can fly back to the gateroom." I said simply as I looked at the opened ceiling, then to him, "You really want to rush back ?"

"Its more that Ben wants to get a lock on the energy reading and set up in the gateroom on this planet." Rodney told me. I threw a look at the Replicator. I hadnt been given the chance to fight against them, but I had heard from mission reports that they were nasty little shits.

"Alright, lets go to the gateroom." I said, I went into my jumpoer as the atlantis team filed into theirs. Soon as my ramp had closed I got on my radio. "Chief, this is Tanith come in."

"Quaxo here" Came the reply. I had to smile, he kept using his cat name, but I didnt name him, Vala neer called Teal'c by his name, always called him Muscles.

"Our guests are friendlies from Atlantis, however, best to keep the others out of sight for now." I told him

"Copy that, whats your plan ?" Quaxo asked

"I plan to have a plan, for now, keep everyone out of sight until I get back." I replied and then I turned off the radio. Taking the lead out of the shrine I began to wonder, twelve jumpers, three bodies in each one.

Who buried them ?

I let Rodney lead the way back to the gateroom. Radioing ahead for Claire to ensure that Tunia as she was insisting to be called was presentable, dressed at the very least. And also able to tell us more upon arrival. I also had Claire find a room for Ben to use as his hotel suite so to speak in order to do his job.

Twenty minutes later, Claire, Tunia and I left Ben in his hotel room in the centeral spire of the shipyard in order to track further lightning storms and energy surges while the rest of the team we back to Atlantis. As it was, I insisted Claire and I remain there, but also requested that our access codes remain fully valid. Rodney assured me our codes would remain valid.

It would be two weeks before we saw each other again.