Pentavus
By Porphyric Hemophiliac
Chapter 2
O'Neill sat down at the long table in the conference room. Surrounding him were SG-1, SG-2, and SG-7.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he began reluctantly, as if he hated to hear himself make a formal intro, "We must discuss the topic of Pentavus."
"Well," Carter said thoughtfully, "Because this may, like the Atlantis mission, be a one-way trip, I believe that it would be best to not send a designated SG team. We should probably form a new Pentavus reconnaissance unit."
O'Neill nodded. "Agreed. Who do you have in mind for the leader of this unit?"
Carter smiled. "I have just the person..."
Shawn Jordan was asleep at his desk. Even years of Stargate physics study had not given him a good sleeping schedule.
He was awoken by a rap at the door. He got up drowsily and answered it.
"Yeah...what do you—"
He stopped at the woman at his doorstep. "Sam?"
"Hey, Shawn."
He smiled. "Let me guess. I, Major Shawn Jordan, have been recalled to active duty because of something that has to do with the Stargate."
"How'd you guess?"
"Just a hunch. You want to come in?"
Shawn thought about her as she stepped inside. They had been friends for years, ever since he met her in high school. They had gone to the same college and just happened to both work at the SGC—until he had decided to leave and work as a private consultant. They had been friends, nothing more.
"So what's the scoop, Sam?"
"Well..." she explained it to him as he made cocoa for them to help part the chill in the air. As they sat talking and sipping the cocoa, Shawn couldn't help but notice a preoccupation in Sam's eyes that he hadn't seen before.
"Sam, are you okay?"
She looked at him. "Er...yeah. Why?"
"No reason. So, you've finally discovered Pentavus."
"What do you mean, 'finally discovered'?"
He smirked. "I always had a suspicion that there would be a center to the Stargate network—a point of origin for the universe. Maybe form there you can reach other universes. Interesting thought, hm?"
She smiled and sipped her cocoa.
About two weeks later
O'Neill stood up in front of the Stargate, the thirty-five brave men and women before him. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said in that same reluctant tone, "You are about to embark on a mission that will go down in history. You..." He trailed off and turned to Major Jordan. "Take it away, Shawn."
"Yes, sir." He replaced O'Neill at the base of the great ring. "You will become today a part of history. There's..." he looked around at the eager faces. "...nothing really much to say here. Basically, we have no idea what will happen here today. So let's get started." He looked up at Walter Davis. "Begin the dialing sequence."
Davis nodded and tapped on the controls, which had been reconfigured to accommodate for the single chevron. The dial began to spin.
The spinning disc landed on the point of origin. There was a shudder and a pulse of energy, and the single chevron locked.
"Chevron...9...encoded," Davis said uncertainly. Indeed, the ninth chevron on the bottom left lit up.
There was a surge of energy which the gate released, forming the 'splash', a large blast of disorganized wormhole energy which welled up and blasted out of the ring. After a moment, it returned to the ring's surface and a large circular puddle appeared—the event horizon.
The M.A.L.P. shuddered and moved up the ramp, into the wormhole.
"Target will reach destination in 5," Davis said over the microphone, "4...3...2...1..."
O'Neill leaned in to the monitor as video connection was established. There was a lot of light, but the screen was covered in a snowy static that blocked much of the visuals.
"What's going on?" O'Neill demanded.
"I don't know, sir," Davis replied, "I can't figure it out..."
Carter interrupted. "Perhaps the destination is so far that the radio signal has a hard time going back and forth."
O'Neill nodded and looked back toward the screen. "Can you see anything?"
Davis squinted at the screen. "I can see some movement, sir...there could be people there. Atmosphere, pressure normal...I don't see anything that looks particularly dangerous..."
O'Neill swatted him lightly on the back of the head. "You said there could be people. You don't think that could be dangerous?" He sighed and looked down at the gate room. So much could be in store.
"SG-Pentavus," He said, "You have clearance. Proceed with caution. LOTS of caution. There may be life on the other side."
The team nodded and began to go through in twos and threes. Soon the bay was empty.
O'Neill crossed his fingers and nodded for Davis to shut it down. As the energy of the gate dissipated, he prayed that the team would be okay.