Author's Note: So sorry this has taken so long, guys! I feel really bad about it, but I got so busy with school – and then spent the last week and a half in bed with the flu. So sorry guys!
Cheeky.
Chapter Twelve:
"Unscheduled off-world activation!" The warning echoed around the base as I stood in the control room and gazed at the spinning stargate below.
"Close the iris!" the General barked.
The iris closed with a familiar hiss as the wormhole engaged behind it. Everyone waited with baited breath for the loud thump that would signify something had come through, but none came. I glanced at the General who was standing beside me.
"What's going on?" he snapped at the gate technician.
But just as he spoke, the air in front of the stargate shimmered and solidified, revealing the image of a dark, cloaked figure seemingly standing in the middle of the ramp. I gasped when I recognised who it was and felt my father tense on my other side.
Below us, the Marines that guarded the gate room had swung their weapons to point at the figure, ready to fire if the order was given.
"It's a hologram, sir." The gate technician said, breaking the tense silence.
The General nodded tersely, still staring intently at the figure in the gate room. "Why isn't he speaking?" the General muttered.
"Because he wants to speak to me." I said, the words just coming out of my mouth without prompting – and I knew deep down in my gut that I was right.
The General gave me a sharp look, but nodded. I slipped out of the control room and down the stairs to the gate room. "Stand down." I called to the Marines as I entered. "He's a hologram."
The Major in command of the Marines looked up at the control room and we both saw the General nod. The Marines eased up from their crouches and pointed their weapons at the floor – but I noticed their hands stayed on them and they still regarded the hologram with apprehension.
I ignored them and walked up to the hologram, stopping a few steps beyond the edge of the ramp. "Anubis." I greeted levelly, suppressing a shiver of fear.
"Ancient." He returned, his voice echoing and disembodied, as if it did not come from a human chest…but then it really didn't.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"Because of you." Anubis replied. "I will spare your people's lives if you tell me what I want to know."
"Ascension." I said thoughtfully, not needing to be told what information Anubis wanted. "You expect me to simply tell you everything I know about ascension?"
"If you want to spare this planet, then yes."
"I am an Ancient." I replied.
"Only one." Anubis sneered contemptuously. "I have defeated your kind before."
"I will not tell you what you want to know."
"Then I will exterminate all life on this miserable little planet!" Anubis said with such a disdain and hatred behind it, I couldn't help but feel the twist of terror in my gut.
"You can try." I said calmly. "But you will not succeed."
Rather than reply, Anubis simply vanished his hologram in a wave of shimmering air and disappeared from the gate room. With calm, controlled steps I made my way up to the control room. I was impressed at my ability to hold myself together as I walked so that I did nothing to betray the almost paralysing terror and doubt I felt. I had just told Anubis to attack!
Emotions rushed chaotically through me, twisting my stomach and making my head pound. How could I have ever thought that I could do this? I was just a girl compared to the Ancients! Wisdom had deserted me and I had foolishly endangered Earth!
As I walked into the control room I felt a wave of peacefulness and confidence wash over me. But the confidence wasn't my own, but rather my father's confidence in me. I glanced at him and he gave me a reassuring smile. Dad had felt the turmoil of my emotions and sought to soothe them in the only way that would have worked, silently giving me strength as well: through the Ancients bond of telepathy that we both had.
"Just what the hell was that all about?" the General spluttered when he turned to see me. "Why didn't you tell me it was Anubis?"
"I'm sorry, General. I should have." I replied.
"Yes, you should have." The General echoed. "However, the sentiments were the same."
I looked at him in surprise. "Did you really think I would ask you to give him that much of an advantage?" the General asked, slightly frustrated with my lack of faith.
"No." I said, smiling a little. "I guess you wouldn't have."
"Right." The General said. "So what are we going to do about this?"
"The only thing we can do." I said.
"Pray?" the General interrupted sarcastically.
I smiled. "No." I replied. "Find the lost city of Atlantis."
"Atlantis?" the General snapped. "But no one knows where it is! Hence it being called the lost city."
"Oh, but I do." I told him. "It's in Antarctica."
"Okay, tell me again why we're going to Antarctica?" Daniel asked Jack, as he shrugged into his BDU's.
After my confession to the General, he had given us – including a rather bewildered Janet – permission to go straight to Antarctica and find Atlantis. As we had prepared to find the lost city, the General had started organising as many defences as he could find, but we both knew that it wouldn't be enough unless we found the lost city – and the weapon it was said to possess.
Which is how I found myself in the locker room changing into a pair of BDU's. After much consideration it had been decided that we were to take the ship that Dad and I had originally used to get to Earth, as it would be the quickest way to get to Antarctica – with the added bonus of the sensors that would help in a search. Anything would help as it was only a matter of hours before Anubis was in range to attack.
"To find the lost city of Atlantis." Dad replied.
"And you don't think that we would have found something that large sitting around Antarctica?" Daniel asked.
Dad grinned at him. "I thought I was supposed to be the sarcastic one?"
"Oh, he's been making up for your absence." Mom told him, with a teasing grin directed at Daniel.
"Indeed." Teal'c agreed.
I laughed. "Can't say I ever noticed." I said sweetly.
Daniel grinned at me while mom arched her eyebrow in a look of scepticism. I tried not to smile and turned back to my locker, while Janet just sat back and laughed. "Ready, kids?" Dad asked after a moment.
"Yes, sir." My mom said automatically, sounding like she hadn't ever stopped saying that.
Dad raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were a Colonel?" he asked. "Besides, I'm not all too sure if I still hold rank. Can aliens hold rank in the USAF?"
"You're not an alien." She replied firmly. "And old habits die hard I guess."
"Fair enough." Dad agreed. "So are we all ready to go?"
Without waiting for an answer, Dad simply flashed me a brief grin and directed his thoughts to the ship orbiting the planet above us. Then we all disappeared in a flash of light. Oh, the benefits of Ancient technology. I grinned at the four startled faces around me, before heading straight to the pilot's chair. Dad, of course, beat me to it, so I had to settle for being co-pilot.
I poked my tongue out at him, rather childishly, and crossed my arms. "How come I never get to fly?"
"Because I got here first." He replied, his smile a little smug.
I raised an eyebrow. "Try that next time and see what happens." I said.
As we spoke, Dad had started the engines and we began the short trip towards Antarctica. "Wow." My mom said as she followed us. "Nice ship."
"Thanks." Dad grinned.
Mom smiled softly and shook her head. "How long will it take us to get to Antarctica?" she asked.
"About five minutes." Dad answered. "Finding Atlantis, however, is going to take a lot longer."
"Oh?"
"I only know the vague coordinates." I explained. "As the Ancients used a different measurement system to us."
"That makes sense." Mom agreed.
"Anything we can do to help?" Daniel asked, coming up behind mom.
"Not until we land, thanks." I said.
As the great white expanse that was Antarctica spread out before the ship, slowly growing in size as we got closer, I shifted my mind slightly and directed my thoughts towards the ships computer. Dad shot me a glance as the ship automatically altered course to head for the coordinates.
"Starting to scan for Atlantis now." I said, as a screen appeared before us.
I have to admit that this whole thing with the ship knowing exactly what I was thinking of was a lot better than any other plane I had ever been in. Not that I had been in many, anyway.
The search took a good hour before we found something big enough to be Atlantis buried beneath the ice. "Found it." I said, opening my eyes.
"So how do we go about this?" my mother asked.
"It should be easy enough to transport directly into the city," I said, "but I'm not sure just what shape it's going to be in."
"What do you mean?"
I looked at mom, noticing the curiosity and concern in her expression. "Well, the city has been, in affect, asleep for thousands of years."
"But the presence of someone with the right genetic structure should wake it up again, right?" Daniel asked.
"Of course." I said, suppressing the sudden fear I felt. It would work. It had to.
"Ready?" Dad asked everyone.
"Indeed, O'Neill." Teal'c answered for everyone.
Taking a deep breath, I gave the computer the command to transport us straight to the lost city of Atlantis.