Araiansu

by Lerris

This is a multicross, initially focused mostly on Stargate. Ranma from Ranma 1/2 is added at the start and a couple other series are added later. This is a story about how the great alliance came to be. Politics warning plus some mentions of religion.

14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: The characters used within this are mostly the property of others. I have a few originals, but the vast majority are not original. A few well known names may be used, but everything here is fiction. This is for entertainment only and not for profit.

-=oOo=-

Araiansu - Chapter 14

-=oOo=-

SG-1, Sam, Ranma, and Jacob sat around the old briefing room with General Hammond.

"This won't work Jack. Sam. You know this. There is zero chance of you not being blamed if that weapon is destroyed. That they can't prove it will mean precisely nothing."

"Yah. We do," admitted Jack.

"What would you suggest?" asked Sam.

"I don't have a better solution, but are you sure you can even find the power modules? Much depends on them."

Jacob said, "We checked with the Asgard. They are willing to build six more Neutrino Ion generators if we fail, which they estimate as the minimum we would need to bring Atlantis from the Pegasus galaxy. They would prefer we did not fail, since they really would rather put those resources towards building another ship to go after the replicators, but they see it as important enough to do. George, we need to do this."

"I know." He looked between Sam and Ranma. "About your wedding? Why not do it on Atlantis? It would save us one trip, and it is not as if you can't go there afterward if you want."

Ranma hesitated, suddenly nervous.

Sam said, "I checked and the route is not significantly out of the way of the way back. Liberator can easily detour the small amount, have the wedding, then probably catch back up to it before it reaches this system. Atlantis is bound to be much slower in hyperspace. Pure physics tells us that much."

"Fair enough. I already talked to John some days ago. He definitely wants to join the EDF. When do you need to break orbit?"

Sam said, "There is a few hours yet before Nozomi is repaired, then it will take probably another eight hours to recharge that power module and reconnect it, so say an even twelve hours."

"I can be ready by then. You will have the people you need. Did you say you found another possible person to help run Atlantis?"

Jack said, "Carson Beckett. He is a doctor from Britain. The research we did indicated he was a possible candidate."

Sam added, "He is a leading geneticist."

George said, "The I suggest you approach him ASAP. I will take care of the rest, except, what about the religious aspect? You have the Vatican involved and the Pope. This is going to look horribly biased."

Ranma said, "Reverend Alverez insists they have it covered. Another six from different religions will be there."

"I'm surprised he facilitated that."

Sam said, "Yes, us too."

"Okay. Can Nozomi take care of watching the people we want to make sure aren't used as hostages?"

"Possibly," Sam admitted. She then added, "Zen, connect me to the Nozomi."

Rommie said, "I'm here Sam. What do you need?"

"If we give you access to the cloaked satellites that are monitoring the politicians and have some limited beaming functions, can you assist in making sure the list of people we need protected are protected? The computer there is well programmed, but…"

"Probably won't be able to adapt if they get clever. I'll be able to fly once you recharge this module. I can do this task. Leave it to me." Sam looked at Ranma who nodded. She said, "Zen give Rommie access to and supervisory controls to the cloaked satellites."

"Confirmed. Access has been granted."

"Well that takes care of that then," George said.

Sam hesitated for several seconds. "We believe there is a chance, albiet small that Rommie and thus Nozomi is compromised due to all the years she was alone."

"But you just gave the ship access to those satellites."

"Yes, because your concern was a greater risk that she is. She was a living breathing Lantean once. We still don't know why she volunteered to become the core of a ship."

"It is over my head. If you say this is the best choice you can make I'm going to believe you."

Jack said, "Plan Bs never hurt sir."

"There are several in place. If you need to know them…"

"We don't sir," Jack insisted. "Protect your people."

George nodded. "You should know that the pentagon is pushing had to activate that weapon, and I'm not confident this facility remains secure. Rodney is out there now, but not long after I submitted his first report they started immediately pushing to add another engineer I don't know. You need to make that priority one. I'm not sure if they read his original report, or if a member of his team talked, or if they didn't like my interpretation of his report. Either way Rodney is not the best actor. You may want to transition him to the EDF earlier than later."

"We will sir," agreed Jack.

"Then if that is all, I believe we all have work to do."

-=oOo=-

Kasumi knocked on the door of the little room the Reverend had taken aboard the Nozomi. He could have taken a much bigger room, but he had said the space was adequate for his work, and did not require more.

"Hello Kasumi. How are you?"

"I am well. Rommie and I finished the work. We are 100% repaired. Avon just disconnected and transported up the temporary power module for recharging. We were hoping you could remove the final bits of wall holding us in this place? We could remove it, but we just repaired the paint."

The reverend laughed. "You are okay launching underwater then? There is no direct exit from here that is not underwater, though at low tide it is close."

"We are."

"Then I'll get a team."

"I'll help," Kasumi said.

"If you wish."

Soon her, her Father, and a team of two dozen workers from the Vatican were working their way with pics, hydraulic rams, and wheel barrows to remove the final sides of the wall still pinning in Nozomi. These were thin layers no more than a foot thick, and usually less, kept mostly as security if nothing else.

-=oOo=-

Rommie was now able to fully manifest for short distances outside of Nozomi. She did so as she thanked each and every one of the workers. She was surprised to see the old Reverend also doing his part. She asked, "Are you sure you should be doing that?"

"I am fine. I take my time, or these others will get mad at me and insist I rest."

"Well perhaps I can distract you to keep you from working so hard."

"Perhaps," the old priest smiled. He then added, "We were hoping to use this as a base. There is a mainline natural gas pipe not that far from here that we believe we can get permission to tap into and arrange to use it as needed. With the generators we are purchasing it will probably about twenty times the power we had before. It is still a drop in the bucket to what you needed..."

The old man was surprised when the young seeming woman hugged him enthusiastically if briefly. "You really know how to treat a lady."

"I thought it would not be enough."

"It is enough so I won't have to use power from the main power module while docked unless I have to do major repairs. That means no decay to the possibly irreplaceable module. It buys time and that is a precious thing."

"We are still working on more updates. We know that most likely you will be based at Atlantis..."

"Not necessarily. It is foolish to put all resources one location. If they don't know where I am… I have grown used to it here, and don't mind living here when I am on Earth, though I do hope you will expand a bit. I can do precision flying, but should I become damaged..."

"We plan to. In fact there we recently purchased some heavy machinery that will be shipped here soon. We are hoping the Liberator or you can transport them down to this area in a couple weeks when they arrive. They are the best we can get that is battery based, and designed for mining. The batteries aren't great."

"I can supply designs for better batteries. That is not a problem."

"I thought you were restricting technology transfer like the Liberator."

"Not at that level. They would probably provide you the same or similar if you asked. Get me the specifications we are trying to replace and I'll search my data stores and forward the request to Liberator as well. A lot will depend on what you can actually build, rather than on which design is better."

"I see. The temporary power module you are using was still more or less restricted technology, if less so. A replacement battery for an excavator is nothing in comparison."

She nodded.

"And yet the replacement battery technology could change the world."

Rommie asked, "Do you understand better why the Asgard insisted on the restrictions, why the Lantean's were very cautious giving out our own technology or why I delayed you for centuries? The same technology as in that temporary power module could be used to make hypersonic missiles with essentially unlimited range, particularly if you coupled in either a Lantean or Asgard propulsion system. In essence, you are dead before you even see or hear the missile coming."

Carlos paled. "I understand," he said soberly.

-=oOo=-

The Liberator's flight deck was crowded. Ranma was in nominal command today, with Sam on engineering. Jack and the rest of SG-1 were in their quarters to make space. The rest of Sam and Ranma's family filled out the other positions. General Hammond was on the bridge as were the leaders of the different religions. Reverend Alverez managed to make it as well as thanks for his efforts on their behalf.

Ranma said, "Most of you should by now know about the Stargate program." There were no looks of surprise. He continued. "We have intelligence obtained through sources that they have stumbled upon an extremely powerful weapon, that we do not believe they are ready for. The Asgard concur with also believe that such a weapon would be very dangerous in the hands of the American government, even if it is currently in a period of relative stability. We further know that the civilization that build this weapon, built it as if out of nowhere. In short, we know with some certainty that they were probably a thousand years in technology away from any such device. We know that they used it, possibly to defend against the Goa'uld, though that is uncertain. We know that the weapon worked and that they planned to use it to conquer other nearby worlds. We further know that something wiped out the entire civilization. An estimated four billion men, women and children dead, seemingly overnight. Further they disabled, but oddly did not fully destroy or just take the weapon. That is the situation. Our goal is to finish destroying the weapon, but first Sam and I will beam down and search for more information. We would particularly like to understand more of what happened. We will not be seen, unless we wish to be. In the unlikely event we are killed Jack O'Neil will continue our work. Do you have any questions?"

There were some, but mostly they were cautious as to be being affiliated with what amounted to an attack on US personnel.

General Hammond added, "I'm not here as a general. Even now my resignation along with the resignation of everyone who came with me is being held. This is only the first mission we will take, and should not take long." He then went on to tell them about their Atlantis mission, which got their full attention as he explained. Before long they were ready.

"Amazing," Andy Davis said softly, even as he reviewed his reporters notebook.

Ranma said, "Sam are we good to go? Have the Asgard cleared us for full speed flight?"

"They have. With their fixes to our generators, we are good to go for all operating speeds. Shall I run them all up?"

"Please."

All the reactors began to spin up to their maximum capacity. This resulted in a barely audible hum as the Liberator went from lazily waiting to maximum readiness.

Sam said, "All reactors online. All engines nominal. Zen final readiness check."

"All systems are running normally. We are at one hundred and six percent of our original design certification."

Sam said fondly, "Thank you Thor, Heimdall, and all the rest."

Ranma said, "Jenna, plot us a course to Velona. Emergency speed."

"Course is already plotted. Ready to execute at your command."

"Begin."

Liberator quickly opened a gateway to hyperspace and shot itself across the galaxy.

Jenna said, "Three minutes until automatic hyperspace cut in the Velona system. All systems remain nominal. We are actually running eight percent faster than our previous maximum. It seems the Asgard repairs were more than successful. It will be a total of seven minutes till the beam down point."

Ranma said, "Jack, come to the bridge when you can. We are well on our way."

"On my way."

Cally said, "Full wavelength cloak is ready to activate once power becomes available and our energy signature drops to something that can be cloaked."

Her dad said, "Execute as soon as we are ready."

"On it."

Her mom said, "I'll power down all but one of the generators once I get the signal from Cally."

Jack was there before they emerged back into normal space.

Jenna said, "Hyperspace cut in 3, 2, 1.. Now."

They emerged back into normal space with barely a ripple.

Sam said, "Powering down generators two through 7."

Less than fifteen seconds later Cally said, "Energy emissions within threshold. Activating full wavelength cloak."

Jenna said, "Activating main drives at standard speed. ETA remains unchanged."

Jack asked, "Aren't you two going to go get weapons?"

Sam said, "Anything that could wipe out a civilization could kill us. A weapon would just give it the excuse, if it is even still there or monitoring."

"If you say so. Cally, I assume you will be keeping a transporter lock on them?"

"Of course."

A few minutes later Jenna said, "We are in range."

Ranma glanced at Sam who nodded. He said, "Beam us down."

-=oOo=-

As soon as they beamed down they both fell into the skills that were originally created by Ranma's father. They weren't quite invisible but they were very hard to notice.

They quickly made their way to the weapon to see that Rodney was looking worried as he sat in the base camp. There was no one around them. Sam and Ranma sat to either side of him.

Sam said, "It is me Sam."

Rodney twisted in panic. "Where? What?"

"Right here. Calm down."

"Where are you? I can't see you."

"We are mostly invisible. Now calm down."

"Calm down. They are going to activate soon. There was a plant on our team somehow that believes he had the skills, but they aren't doing it right and I don't know if I should help them or sit here and hope I live somehow, though I really doubt it."

"Damn," cursed Sam.

A cloud of energy with a face suddenly appeared before them. "Who are you?" it asked.

Sam and Ranma allowed themselves to become visible.

Sam said, "We are just here to destroy that and try to keep anyone from dying."

"You may be too late. Your friend is right," the cloud of light with a head said.

"Damn. Damn. Damn. We have questions. Can you come to our ship?"

"That far I may go."

"Rodney you want to be here or not? You will live either way, but if you come with us you just joined the EDF."

"Screw this. I'm going with you."

Ranma said, "Beam us all up."

Ranma appeared on the bridge. He said, "That mess is about to blow. Can you beam the rest into an unused locked room?"

Cally said, "On it." "Transfer complete. Do you want to say anything to them?"

"No," Sam said. "This level of stupidity should not be rewarded. Let them sweat."

The alien entity appeared on the bridge.

When he started to talk Sam said, "Busy now." She then asked, "Avon, what is the status of the weapon? We are clear correct?"

"I would hardly have failed to mention it if we were not." His mom rolled her eyes. "Either way, power is building. I would estimate no more than five or ten minutes until critical. I could give you a better reading without the cloak and active sensors."

"Do it."

"Damn. Jenna emergency escape max speed. Activate the force wall." commanded Avon.

"On it," said Jenna.

Sam said, "Reactors up. Force wall activated."

Seconds passed until the planet just exploded, wiping out over a third of its mass.

The entity spoke. "I didn't sense it before. It was well hidden, but the others left a trap if anyone was tempted. It cascade failed in a way that would not have been possible for the original design. I think it was a test for me. Would I stop them or not?"

"You passed," another disembodied voice said. This one was clearly a woman.

"I passed? I let them die."

"The test was to determine if you would make the right call if called again. You could have helped them make it work. It would have still blown up. You would have failed then."

Sam said, "I assume we are talking to a pair of Ascended. What about the ones we saved?"

"They know little of value, and what was learned has been removed, save from the one who was smart enough not to help this folly. He too knows little, but his wisdom is enough to stay our hand."

"Hey," Rodney exclaimed.

Sam glared at him.

Ranma asked, "What of Anubis? Will you continue to do nothing?"

"He is a special case; neither truly ascended or truly mortal. The decision has not yet been made on him."

Jack said, "I assume you have no objection to us killing him?"

"None at all. If, in the end, you still have need, call for us. We do not promise there will not be a price for our aid."

Sam asked, "What about the replicators or our mission to bring back Atlantis?"

"You push our laws, but I will tell you what I can." After a few moments of thought she continued, "The replicators will be defeated but probably not completely gone once the Asgard finish their war. Orlin is permitted to rejoin us. Replicators are an offense against life. Once their numbers are exhausted we will do the rest, but the Asgard must finish their work first, or we will not. We do not interfere with free will, unless it is to fix a mistake of one of our own. Limited exceptions have been made and this will be one. As to Atlantis, you are warned do not wake the Wraith. Do not linger. We will not help you if you do."

They both vanished after that.

"Well that was ominous," said Jack.

Reverend Carlos listened closely to one of the other religious leaders. He then carefully and quietly tried to explain to them.

Sam said, "Jenna, plot a course to the nearest safe Stargate and get us the heck out of here."

"Sure thing mom."

"Pardon," the Pope spoke barely audibly, yet it was enough for people to pause.

Sam said, "Hold Jenna."

"Okay."

"Before, we leave this place, might we return to that world and pray."

Sam said, "No one died. Oh you meant before."

"Yes."

Sam said, "Take us back to the planet."

Jenna said, "Taking us back."

"We won't be able to land. At least without space suits. That explosion was bound to blow away the atmosphere. Even with space suits we would have to be sure it was safe."

"That is fine."

Avon said, "We could project the outside of the ship inside one of the conference rooms. You would see the planet in more detail there than even standing on it, particularly from space suits."

The Pope looked to Reverend Alvarez. Carlos said, "We will try that first."

Sam said, "Avon, please escort our guests to a conference room and set it all up."

"Sure."

They were ready a short time later. The conference room table and chairs had been beamed away. They now appeared to look out on a crumbling world on all six walls.

Avon asked, "Do you need anything else?"

One replied, "Just water and time."

"I will be right back." He returned less than ten minutes later with a case of bottled water that was near frozen and removed bottles from the plastic. He said, "I apologize. I can replicate glasses if you wish."

"There is no need. This will be fine."

Avon just stood there awkwardly until Daniel came in. Daniel wore a black shirt, shoes, and pants. He said, "I'm here if you have any questions. Avon was requested back on the flight deck."

Avon awkwardly slipped out of the situation.

"What do you think of men having such power?" one asked.

"It scares the heck out of me. The alternative is just worse. While we didn't imagine this exact sequence of events, the potential was certainly there, which is why we came."

"Then we are in agreement. We will pray for the souls lost here. Do you mind if we pray for you as well? Are you even religious?"

"I'm not particularly religious, but I appreciate your prayers nonetheless. We are trying to navigate through uncertain times knowing that the candle we see by does not see all; hoping we don't make a mistake that can't be recovered from. I know the others are the same. We will take all the help we can get."

"What do you make of the Ascended?" another asked. "What are they?"

"I don't know. Not really. We think it is a state some species can reach where they move beyond their bodies into an eternal form. We don't think it makes them perfect. They do not seek worship, at least for what I can tell."

"But surely they are very close to divine?" another asked.

Orlin briefly appeared. "Please, we beg that you do not worship us. There are others far away in another galaxy that have done this disgusting thing; that leach power from the faith of their followers. We are or were people much like the rest of you. We destroyed this world because of my mistake. They did it, because they thought it was the lesser evil. Had we stopped and thought longer perhaps we could have done something better, such as remove memories. Had I stopped and thought longer, perhaps I could have done something less stupid than given power even above what this ship represents to people not ready for the responsibility. We have learned much since then, but do not attribute to us divinity, for we are not. Our mistakes are terrible, which is why we have so many rules, and it is why I regret breaking them. The ones I speak of do far worse. Their so called religion crushes the potential of the men and women who serve them. I know not whether any of the gods you believe in truly exist. There are many mysteries, even to us, but we are certainly not among them." He faded away.

"That was amazing," said Daniel. Then he added, "And worrying. Yet another threat on the horizon we have to stay well away from, somehow."

The Pope spoke, "It is always better to know about problems. At least that way we can make a start on fixing them, but then our mistakes are well known, much to our shame."

"Agreed. We once destroyed an Asgard device meant to protect a planet to save our friend Teal'c. We went back when a native sent a message about an invasion, but we are sure dozens were killed by our actions. I've had nightmares about the dead there and other places. The worst are the ones when Thor didn't come to clean up our mess."

"Then let us learn from our mistakes and make fewer of them in the future."

Daniel nodded soberly. They spent hours praying over the now dead world as Liberator slowly orbited.

When they were waiting, on Jack's order Avon secretly beamed a laptop from the baggage of their temporary guests. After it was reconnected, their next report would read, "We were really really stupid, and almost got really really dead, because we were really really stupid and ignore or avoid the best advice available. Next time we will likely be really really dead. Please ask us to retire. We are too stupid to represent Earth."

SG-15 was then dropped off on the nearest world with a gate. They quickly dialed home and left.

Ranma said, "Well now that that bit of fun is taken care of, shall we go find a power module?"

Jenna said, "Course is set for the one Rommie said was likely to have multiple modules."

"Engage." Sam rolled her eyes.

Liberator opened a hyperspace window and started its journey.

"I always wanted to say that. So, what is it?" asked Jack.

"The Asgard database has no information. Rommie's said there may be a factory still in operation there. According to her they found a rare binary star system they were able to harness for the production of power modules. She was apparently one of the ships used to create the facility. She hopes it is still there and that Liberator can approach it safely. It was difficult even for her at the time."

"Safely? Did I miss a memo?" asked Jack.

Sam said, "Jack I know you know star classifications. This is an A class star, which is a lot hotter than our sun, with a G class star similar to our sun orbiting around it, or at least that is the info Rommie had. The installation is basically acting as a moon to the G class star. In short, anything less capable would likely be very very dead going there.

"Ah, so business as usual then."

Sam rolled her eyes.

Ranma said, "My crazy usually only risked myself. Are we sure this is safe with our guests and everything?"

"If it is not, we leave," Sam said.

George said, "We really do need those modules, and I would hope that our guests would accept some risk. Part of the reason they are here is so more than just the US military understands the scope of the problems facing the planet, well that, and if we asked for politicians we never would have gotten a guest list finalized."

Andy Davis asked, "You have never explained why you need those power modules. Care to share?"

Sam said, "If all goes well we think you will agree it was worth it."

"Okay."

Reverend Alvarez spoke for several minutes quietly to the leaders of the other religious factions. When they were done the Reverend said, "Do what you must do to protect Earth."

Sam said, "Thanks for your trust in us."

Jenna said, "Our ETA is fourty seven minutes. We need to route around several stellar phenomena that are big enough to distort hyperspace. Others are just bad enough that we dare not use our full speed."

"So not a tourist destination?" quipped Jack.

"Hardly," agreed Sam. "If the prize at the end wasn't so good, we wouldn't go here at all."

Selmak said, "You may want to pay close attention here. Regions of instability have proven quite useful to the Tok'ra in the past, either as a place to hide, or as a place to run through when your trying to lose someone pursuing."

Avon said dryly, "Well the opportunities are all over. Any Goa'uld stupid enough to follow us into this briar patch deserves the fate they get."

Sam said, "Zen, display forward vision."

"Confirmed."

"You can see that hyperspace is not the normal blue and white we are used to, but reds and oranges, likely related to black holes or perhaps neutron stars we are close to in normal space."

"Information," Zen chimed in. "Sensor data indicates that some of the hyperspace anomalies were caused by residual matter as a result of hyperspace combat."

Jack said, "I thought you couldn't fight in hyperspace."

Sam said, "We can't, at least not well. It is too volatile. Zen, is there a danger to the ship?"

"The current conditions are well within Liberator's design parameters."

"Someone can," noted Jack.

"Giants in the playground," Daniel said quietly, even as some dark yellows were added to the mix outside.

"I hate finding out I'm the ant," grumbled Jack. Then a bit later he added, "I wish Teal'c was here."

"Yah, me too sir, but he is still helping with the cargo ships. It was all we could do to get the other two."

"I know, and you don't have to call me sir."

"Old habit. I'll work on it."

Sam said, "Assuming all is as expected, I'm thinking I'll go across first by myself, if things look dodgy."

"What?" exclaimed Ranma. "I can protect you."

"If the shielding on that station fails over there I'm doubting that even you can protect me."

Avon said dryly, "If we are lucky we can just attach the tether beam to the station and pull it to a less unsafe distance."

"Information," Zen announced. "I have a message from the one known as Rommie to play at this time."

"I should have mentioned this sooner, but I asked Zen to play this should you not already come to this conclusion. Here are my suggestions if you want to get on that station and back off it probably alive, assuming it still exists. You need at least one person with the gene present. If others go across then no more than one additional for each person you send. They should remain right next to each other. Also, do not attempt to affect the station. You could engage anti tampering measures and cause the whole thing to self destruct. There is likely a limited area on the station that will permit beaming, though I don't know how the presence of Asgard beaming technology affects that. I would not recommend attempting to be clever. The stations anti tampering programming could detect it and again cause the whole thing to blow to bits. Finally, while on the station only those with the gene may handle the power modules. Again, we have to assume the anti tamper system is still active. I had really hoped you would go to the other choices first, but then perhaps you have and this choice remains the only one left. Do not let knowledge of the stations anti tampering measures, or its location, fall into the wrong hands. That station if it exists, and if it can still produce power modules is priceless."

"Well that is a bit late," said Jack dryly. "Should we abort?"

"I don't think so sir. At minimum I want a scan of the facility from a distance."

"Still with the sir."

Ranma said resolutely, "I'm going. I can protect Sheppard. Jack will have to protect you."

"With my life," Jack said solemly. Ranma nodded, accepting it as the simple truth.

"What about the language?" asked Daniel.

Ranma said, "If required we can swap out, but I want to make sure it is safe over there. Also, it is possible it will consider me as a Lantean descendant, given I am a close match to the gene."

Sam smiled as she watched the interplay. She walked over to Ranma's station before gently being enfolded in his arms. She said softly, barely above a whisper, "Forgive me."

He whispered back, "There is nothing to forgive. Yes, I worry for our children too, but I will always have your back, no matter the risk."

Jack glanced at them, seemingly unconcerned at their closeness. He said more loudly, "I thought I broke Sam of that I'll take the risk rather than the team nonsense years ago."

Dana said, "She is not worried for herself, but for us. She is afraid if this goes badly we could lose both our parents, but she should know better than assuming dad can't do something, and we are anything but helpless. We may end up protecting you all."

"Way to state the obvious," Avon added, those his cheeks pinked a little.

Villa said, "If you need us we will be there, no matter the risk. We are all considered adults as well."

Cally and Jenna added, "Without fail."

-=oOo=-

John Sheppard was more than a little freaked out. Oh they said the gear he was wearing would protect him from most radiation, extreme heat, and cold. Of course most radiation didn't include being this close to a sun, let alone two. Liberator was standing watch within range to beam them back. They were within the limit of what they could shield and even then could only beam to this one corner of the station. The word death trap came to mind, but he ignored it.

Jack pushed on the door, opening them to the rest of the station.

Sam said, "The air in here appears clean, but there is not enough oxygen. Don't take your helmet off. It isn't worth the risk that there is something here our suit sensors don't detect."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Sheppard muttered. "Do we know where these things are?"

Sam said, "Not really no. I assume there could be some stored separately, and maybe some finished that were not moved, but I really don't know."

Four rooms in and there were no more rooms they could open. There were just three odd looking beds with the heads of the beds coming together in the middle of the room.

Sam relayed their findings to the Liberator.

Avon replied, "I looked through Nozomi's database briefly with her permission. These I believe are designed to access their technology by thought. I do not recall reading about any example where they used three. One could be used to control almost any sized craft. Perhaps only one is needed, or perhaps it is a security measure?"

"Maybe," Sam agreed. She then turned between John and Jack. "One of you needs to try the chair. We probably should start with John."

"Hey!" exclaimed Jack.

"Sorry Jack, but you are not exactly the best with keeping your thoughts focused."

"What happened to sir?" Jack grumbled.

Sam smiled in amusement.

John said, "So I should think what?"

Sam said, "We might as well tell the truth. Just think we need a power module for the Nozomi and ideally three more for Atlantis."

"Okay," he said dubiously before laying down on one. It lit up briefly and died.

"Damn," Sam said. "That didn't work." John got up. "Jack you want to try?"

"Power for Rommie and Atlantis. Got it."

"I would focus on the ship's name," Sam said.

"Okay."

Jack laid down on a different one and got the same brief lighting then nothing.

"Try together?"

They did. The light came on for several several seconds then died.

"Ranma you try too."

The light stayed on for almost twenty seconds before dying.

"Are we just not Lantean enough?" mused Sam.

Ranma asked, "Try with me Sam."

"Oh, you mean." Ranma nodded.

They laid back down. Sam laid on top of Ranma even as their aura flared visibly into view and merged one with another and then, much to Ranma's suprise spread thinly among Jack and John as well.

Several minutes of continuous effort resulted in one of the doors opening. In the next room there were row after row of modules, but only four of them were lit up.

John said, "I'm sure I heard we were only to take the four as we had not demonstrated need for more."

"Me too," Agreed Jack.

"Ranma and I heard it as well," Sam said. "And whatever security is here we got the impression it would blow everything up if we did anything but what was asked. They took the security here seriously. I think we only barely passed the conditions of the triple lock out."

John said, "Perhaps you didn't hear as well as I did. We passed. The computer appears to understand that time has passed, but it basically said one per customer per lifetime. I think it was more security. That we are getting four is only a fluke of how we got it to work."

Jack said, "Well how about we take the win and head back, unless there is something else?"

"Agreed," Sam and Ranma replied.

They each, one at a time picked up one of the lighted modules. The remaining modules appeared the same, but the lighting for their storage went off as soon as they picked up the last. They quietly walked out the door of the storage room, only for it to immediately close with a dull thud as the last person left it. They stepped back where they could beam out.

Once they were back where they started Sam said, "Beam us out one at a time, with maximum caution. Every one of us is holding a power module."

Cally replied, "Beginning now."

First Sam, then Ranma, then Jack, and finally John was beamed away.

Once they were all on the bridge John asked, "Out of curiosity, why was I last?"

Cally said, "You were the best match for Lantean genetics, followed by Jack and Ranma."

"Ah."

Sam said, "Avon, Villa, Daniel, Dana, will you go get the containers we made for these. I want these stored and locked down before we move."

They quickly rushed off only to return ten minutes later with several heavy duty cases filled with rigid foam that had been carefully machined to fit a power module. Sam was the first to put one in, then covering the module with more foam before sealing and locking the case. The others quickly followed suit.

"Okay, let's have the same persons carrying them again, in case that station is still monitoring. Follow me."

They followed Sam deep into the core of the ship, not far from the middle bay to a small door, barely wide enough for one person.

"Zen unlock this area."

"This area is protected by a triple lockout. Does Ranma Carter also agree?"

"I agree. Unlock the area."

"Does Jack O'Neil also agree?"

"I agree. Unlock the area."

The door opened quietly to a small narrow room that was completely vacant except for one spherical device in the corner, nearly ten feet in diameter that took up almost the entire far end. It was secured into position with straps.

Sam said, "That is our failed Neutrino Ion generator. The Asgard let us keep it. I'm not sure I'll be able to repair it, but I figured it is spare parts if nothing else."

The walls were filled with tie points. Each boxed power module got webbed in with no less than three straps before they left and resealed the door. They then returned to the bridge.

Sam asked, "Status?"

Cally said, "We have a databurst from the station. It translates to wishes for success on our mission and gives us permission to depart at any time."

Sam said, "Back us out of here, but keep monitoring that station."

Five minutes later Jenna said, "We are clear from the worst of it. I'm just keeping the force wall up for caution's sake."

"Continue."

Ten minutes later they entered hyperspace and Sam let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Everyone that place is really really dangerous. We got lucky and had the combination of people to keep the computer that runs that place happy. If not, well, I don't think Liberator would have survived if that computer decided to blow it. Don't write about it and don't talk about it unless your sure the room is secure and you trust everyone in it with your life, and you have a really good reason to talk about it. As far as what you say happen, if you must say, say we found four modules on an otherwise empty outpost on a moon somewhere, you don't know where."

George said, "Agreed. Everyone forget about that and the modules entirely. We put them where they go, and never mention them again."

Jack said, "Agreed."

Sam asked, "Are we good to go to the planet where we think Atlantis is?"

Avon said, "If it is really on an ocean floor we are going to need to Stargate in. We can't beam through that much, not and be sure we are safe, particularly if there is a shield up."

Villa said, "We were also warned about that system."

Sam said, "Okay, well a regular gate can't dial another galaxy, at least not without a bigger power source."

Jacob said, "Why not install a gate on this ship? The Goa'uld do it all the time."

Sam asked, "Zen are there any working Stargate's along our way that are on worlds that are now uninhabitable?"

"There are four hundred and thirty seven that meet that criteria within the next thirty minutes."

"The nearest?"

"One point three minutes."

"Works for me."

Jenna said, "Altering heading. Setting course, for well, it's a moon. I don't have a designation recorded."

They quickly reached their target system, cloaked, then flew the rest of the way before beaming away with one complete stargate.

"You know," Jack said. "This ship feels like cheating at times."

"Thank you sir." She then turned back to her daughter. "Jenna get us back on course. How long do we have left?"

"About three hours. It is a very long trip."

"Good. I'm going to go check over the gate we brought up. Avon, Selmak, do you want to help?"

Agreement was had by all.

Sam mused, "I'd have asked Siler to come as well, but he stayed back to work on the Mars project."

The testing turned out uneventful. Avon summed it up. "This is boring. It checks out fine. The only thing remotely difficult is figuring out where to use it. The void before we are in Pegasys proper seems a good idea. It isn't going to work to go to Atlantis if we are already there."

Once they got back to the bridge Sam said, "Jenna, stop before we enter the Pegasys system, well outside of any known detection range."

"Okay."

"The way I see it, we take my son's suggestion, and activate the gate while outside of Pegasys. Liberator can then get to the planet within about twelve minutes."

Jenna said, "Eleven."

"Okay eleven minutes. So we activate the gate, send through a probe, make sure the environment will hold for a short time, then some of us step through with one power module. That probably needs to be me and Ranma, together with Jack and John again. We need people that can use the systems. I need to replace a power module, and Ranma needs to be there just in case we need backup, and because I'm sure he will insist on coming anyway."

Ranma nodded with a small smile.

"General Hammond, will you command the rest of this till we return? The idea is get there, cloak, wait for us to contact you, likely via our Asgard transmitters. We are not sending any signals from Atlantis if we can help it."

"So, your people already know what to do, and am just there in case there is a judgment call?"

"Yes sir." Sam replied.

"Okay."

"Does anyone else have any questions?"

The reporter asked, "You speak of Atlantis, but wasn't that a legendary city on Earth? I'm afraid I don't understand."

Avon said dryly, "Yes, it was a city on Earth. They flew it here."

"They flew a city here to an entire different galaxy? A city? Are you serious?"

Ranma said, "We are."

"Can I come?" he asked.

Sam said, "You are aware that none of this is remotely safe. We could easily be killed in ways we can not imagine?"

"I'm willing to take the risk."

"Then you can come, provided you will follow orders. We may not have time to explain them."

"Understood."

Reverend Alverez said, "We understand the risk. Are you sure you are taking enough people to insure your odds of success?"

Ranma turned to Sam and then to Jack.

Sam said, "No, we aren't, but we just don't know enough. Adding more could as easily make things more difficult."

General Hammond said, "I've learned not to second guess SG-1. I see no reason to start now, even if the people have changed slightly."

The Reverend said, "I understand."

-=oOo=-

John Sheppard could hardly believe they were almost in another galaxy, let alone that he could step through a Stargate to finish the Journey. The gate connected. A small UAV shot through. It's camera's immediately displayed the inside of Atlantis. Almost everything was dark, though the UAV's own light illuminated things well enough.

"They are underwater," Jack noted.

"And it is intact," Sam said, checking that box. "The UAV is detecting the shield and possibly the power source, but we are not going to get a definitive reading. I say we go."

"Go," Jack agreed.

"Go," Ranma agreed.

"Sure why not," John added.

John grabbed the module and hopped through. The others followed. The gate shut off. The ship slipped back into hyperspace.

-=oOo=-

Sam said, after they were through, "Touch nothing. Remember Rommie said they had to be almost out of power. We don't want to activate anything, even if it is benign."

Sheppard moved past a bank of computers. Suddenly all the lights and systems immediately started to come on. "I didn't touch anything! My hands are still full!" He indicated the module he was holding.

Sam said, "Let's just search for where the modules go."

They searched for over an hour before they found the room that contained the power modules. Two were dark. The remaining one was very dim.

Sam quickly went to one of the dark ones. "Open the box. I don't want to risk this shield failing, so I'll try to make it quick."

John set the case down and opened it. He gently pulled the device out and held it."

Sam fiddled with the dark cover over the apparently depleted power module. Her tapping and attempts to unscrew it failed. Finally she pressed down and the cover moved sideways before the module moved up in the air. She pulled gently, and then a little harder before the module came out. She handed the old module to Jack who quickly put it away. She then took the new module from John and gently put it back into place. Nothing happened. She pushed down. Then she pushed down harder. The module slowly descended back into its holder before glowing with intense light. The cover slipped back into place.

"I so hope I did that right," she muttered.

"Me too," quipped Jack.

"Me three," added Ranma.

"Me four?" added John uncertainly.

Jack said, "I'm surprised Liberator hasn't contacted us."

Sam said, "They wouldn't. Our communicators tell them we are alive and could talk if we wanted to. They wouldn't risk sending anything beyond that."

"So we are going to fly this city to Earth?" asked John dubiously.

"You probably, well you or Jack, probably using that chair we saw before finding this."

"And how am I to do that? Sure I may have this gene thing, but I in no way have a license to drive a city."

Jack said, "I'm willing to give it a shot."

Ranma said, "Why don't you and I try? I know I spent years studying for a reason."

"True. Let's give it a go. Maybe we can have them lean against the chair or something to turn it on."

They returned to the chair room. Ranma pulled a bottle of water from his weapons space and poured a bit over his arm, become a she.

John Sheppard goggled.

Ranma smiled sweetly and said, "What you never seen a man become a woman?"

Sam said, "Stop teasing him. Now, I assume you changed to save space, so side by side?"

"Always."

Ranma sat on the right side of the bed. Sam on the left with Ranma's left arm under her and her's under Ranma's body. Each of their heads lay over the head area on the bed. The bed stayed quiet, even when their combined auras enveloped it.

Sam said, "Okay John try leaning against the side."

"This looks like something out of a bad movie," he muttered/

"Just do it," Sam snapped.

John leaned against the side. The bed started to start, then stopped.

"Jack, other side."

"This definitely ranks up there on even our weird oh meter," added Jack.

When Jack's body touched the bed it finally woke. Ranma and Sam's aura's once more extended out from their bodies enveloping the bed and even lightly touching Jack and John's bodies.

Around the city systems that had set idle for thousands of years powered on. A voice, sounding a bit like a blending of Ranma and Sam was heard all around.

"Diagnostics are running. Shield is at full strength. Stardrive is operational. Hyperdrive is operational. Power is at critical levels for Stardrive operation. Operation on one module is not recommended. Sealing area and removing air from the city."

The door to the room they were in closed. The reporter jumped in surprise.

"One point nine hours remaining until target buoyancy achieved. System programmed to emergency surface once target buoyancy is met. Automatics commencing."

The chair dimmed as they got up. Jack said, "So the plan is? I didn't like hearing about air leaving."

Sam said, "It is fine sir. This room has its own supply. The system detected potential contaimination in the city air. We figured it safer to just get rid of it. That will increase pressure on the shield, but with the new ZPM we should be fine. We programmed the city to stop within a hundred foot of the surface. Liberator should be able to beam down the remaining modules then."

Ranma pulled his communicator out. He said, "They sent a secure text message. It asks for a status report. They are cloaked in orbit."

Sam said, "We have to wait. Two hours till we are ready to release the clamps. At least another two hours to surface in a controlled manner. I guess respond four hours. Remain radio silence."

"Done."

Jack, "Carter, you know we might have to go to the bathroom here?"

"You will have to hold it or well."

"I get it Carter. This sucks."

Ranma said, "You know we haven't practiced in awhile?"

"Now? You want to practice now?" asked a surprised Sam.

"Yes."

"Sure."

They moved to the side of the room and quickly began sparring at high speed in the limited space. Jack and John sat down at the other end.

"You know this could be worse," commented John.

"One is Carter, who you are not allowed to perv on, and the other is a guy."

Sheppard snorted. "Some guy. Though it looks he, well she does wear some kind of support garment."

Sam said, "We have ears."

"Sorry!" exclaimed Sheppard. He suddenly dodged when a ball of something shot at where his head was.

"Who did that?"

Sam said, "I did, you got a problem with that?"

"Um no," John added hastily.

Ranma snickered. "That wasn't strong enough to cause significant damage. It would have hurt though.."

"How do you do that?" asked John.

Ranma said, "You are just military trained?"

"What do you mean just?"

"To become good at the art is to live the art. The training in the military is not remotely enough. I'm pretty sure Jack could beat you."

"Hey, I'm resting here," complained Jack.

Sam said, "You have done a lot of training with Teal'c, even if you complain about it a lot."

John said, "Are you saying someone at least twenty years older than me, who should be nearing retirement can kick my but?"

Jack said, "Oh why not. I'm game."

Ranma smiled.

Sam rolled her eyes again.

They swapped places. Jack took John Sheppard down in under three minutes.

Sheppard said, "Damn that hurt. Did you have to kick me in the leg that hard?"

"Suck it up rookie."

Ranma said, "Sit down and I'll fix it."

"What do you mean?"

"Just do it," grumbled Jack.

Ranma pulled back his pants leg until she saw the swelling on the bottom of his leg. She carefully put her hands around the injury. Her hands flared white. Over a period of five minutes the swelling went away.

"That was amazing. How did you do that?"

Ranma said, "I'm not convinced you have the discipline to learn the art to this level."

"What does it take?" he asked.

Sam said, "About ten years, if you work really hard. There is a lot of medical information to learn and then all the ki training. Longer if you can't dedicate all your time."

"That is a lot. Wait, I know your military record. When did you find ten years?"

Sam said, "That is a long story."

John said dryly, "We have time."

Sam looked at Jack, then at Ranma.

Jack shrugged. Ranma nodded.

Sam said, "Sure, why not?"

Just before she started on her story Atlantis released itself from the ocean floor and began to rise, its engines gently controlling the process.

Sam began the story and finished it just before Ranma said, "We stopped moving. I think we are ready for the modules."

Sam asked, "Is everyone still okay bathroom wise? We plan on filling the city with air as we leave the atmosphere. Liberator will transfer over camping supplies, but we are stuck on Atlantis once we enter hyperspace."

"I'm fine," the reporter said.

Jack said, "But we don't have to stay leaning against the chair?"

"No, We are good once we enter hyperspace unless something happens. From what I could tell either of you could run it by yourselves with training."

"I think I'll pass, at least for now. Let us just get this to Earth in one piece, and yes, I can hold it a bit longer."

Sam nodded. She entered a message into her communicator. "I'm asking Avon to install the remaining two modules. He will have to wear a suit since the air may be evacuated from that chamber. Once he signals us we can proceed."

Fifteen minutes later they got the mission complete message. Ranma and Sam got back in the chair. Jack and John sat on either side to activate the finicky chair.

Atlantis soon rose easily into the alien sky. Forty five minutes later the ships air was refilled and they were in deep space before the entire city Jumped into hyperspace, followed closely by Liberator.

Sam and Ranma got up as their door opened.

Avon stepped in. His mother said, "I thought you were going back to Liberator?"

"And miss this?"

"Did we get out of here without attracting attention?" Sam asked. "I really didn't want to chance that warning we were given."

"It was clean on Liberator's entire passive sensor suite the entire time I was over there, and they would have sent a message had that changed."

Jack asked, "So where is the bathroom?"

Sam said, "Let's go find it. I still want everyone to stay together, preferably until Rommie has a chance to scan this thing and make sure there are no surprises. We also need to find the camping supplies."

After they had found the bathroom and figured out how to use it Jack asked, "So how long is the trip?"

Sam said, "You can't move a city through hyperspace nearly as fast as a smaller ship. Even with three power modules we are looking at twelve days till we are at the world for our wedding. After that it is another two days to Earth."

"I thought we were going to send Atlantis directly to Earth."

Sam said, "It isn't more than a day out of the way, and well, unless your going to fly the ship down to the Earth's surface…"

"Wedding is good. We should do that first."

John said, "Well, I certainly don't want to be the one that crashes a city into the planet. I'm reasonably sure killing your new employers hurts your job prospects."

Ranma said, "The rest of them are planning the details. They will go ahead when we get closer and set it all up."

"Well let's get camping then."

Over the subsequent days Sam and Ranma spent an hour a day submerged in the consciousness of the city. It was not like Rommie. It had no actual warmth or personality, and certainly no life energy. Thankfully after their initial activations the chair no longer required all of them. Ranma and Sam still had to work as a pair, but the other two could activate it solo.

The city was programmed to protect, but that mostly consisted of keeping people out of dangerous areas and not anything more elaborate. They made detailed notes of the areas of the city that the sensors could scan well enough to be deemed safe. They had whole other pages of areas that they could not deem safe. Some they could not even scan. They were put on another list. It was hope that Liberator's scanners could make something of it, once they were out of hyperspace.

They also found a training option that they could lock on for certain duration and began letting Jack and John train on the system. The main thing they learned was how to reliably enter the training system every time. They each spent what time they could there on their way to the Carters new wedding.

-=oOo=-

Author's Note: Please vote if you are eligible in the upcoming elections. I ask that you vote for the most honest candidate that you can that is electable. Also if you are thinking of just throwing the one side out because you are unhappy, ask yourself this, what policies is that other side proposing that will fix anything? Cutting inflation requires reducing the money supply or stopping corporations from so much price gouging. There are only two ways to reduce the money supply. You tax the price gouging corporations or the cost goes to everyone that needs a loan or credit in the form of increasing rates. Some of the price gouging will go away as everything balances, but then you end up with the top 1% owning even more of everything. Is that really what we want? One side is trying to save us from high gas prices, by getting off of it, and while they are at it giving our planet a future. One side is cutting the cost of prescription drugs by letting medicare and such bargain for better deals. One side is trying to improve energy efficiency so our month to month bills are less. In short one side is working for solutions, however they can. The other side generally just blocks everything and gives the rich tax cuts. Tax cuts do not fix inflation. They increase the money supply, which can lead to inflation.