Stargate: Genesis
Written By: The Ascended Ancient
Chapter XV: "The Virus"


In the control room of the S.G.C., the gate operating staff of the S.G.C. are having a slow night. No off-world activations meant lots of downtime. So when the screens on the computer consoles in front of them flickered a bit, they didn't really notice. That is, until the gate began to dial.

Without the usual alarms that accompany such an action, the Stargate's inner track began to spin. All three gate operators stood up, staring in horror at the gate as the first chevron was engaged. One of the operators pressed a button on the console in front of him, and then the alarms went off.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In her cell, Leslie smiled. She had taken her chance, and so far, it was working. She just needed a wormhole open for 12.937 seconds. That would be enough time to tell the Zetharian everything she knew about the weapon.

And, she thought with glee, while everyone's focusing on the gate, I'll have a clear shot at the weapon itself. Oh, this was going to be fun.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

S.G.C. troops raced into the gate room as the fifth chevron was engaged. In the control room, General Carter and Doctor McKay frantically tried to shut down the dialing sequence, but they couldn't.

"We're locked out of the system," Carter told General Landry. "Something has overridden all the command protocols."

"Can we at least close the Iris?" Landry asked. Carter pressed her hand on the palm-print scanner, and the Iris closed.

"Yes, sir," she replied.

"General," McKay said anxiously. "Whatever's doing this... it's dialing P4X-337." There was silence in the room as everyone realized what that meant. General Landry grabbed the microphone on the console.

"This is General Landry," he said into it. "I want three full security teams at Leslie Crawford's cell immediately!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The door to Leslie's 'cell' burst open, and a squad of S.G.C. soldiers barged in. Crawford smiled. So they had figured out that she was behind this. It didn't matter. They couldn't stop her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

With a fwoosh, the gate activated. The moment it did, a high-pitched screech was broadcast over every speaker in the base. S.G.C. personnel pressed their hands to their ears, the sound so high-pitched that it was painful. Then, just as quickly as it had started, the screech ended, and the gate deactivated.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In her cell, Leslie smiled even wider than she already was. Her plan was having some unexpected benefits, one of which was being able to send the base's command codes to the Zetharian. She had never thought that she could take over this much of the base, at least, not without being stopped. But so far, nothing had come up to stop her.

And, she thought happily, I may just be able to make sure that the Zetharian can conquer Earth... today. But even as she thought that, she felt her connection to the S.G.C. computer system suddenly become severed. Her eyes widened as she remembered the only race with the power to do that.

The Asgard...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In orbit over Earth, the Asgard Mothership O'Neill, the second vessel to bear that name, beamed all the Sallium probes out of the S.G.C.'s computer systems. On the bridge of the O'Neill, Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet, feared what a Zetharian presence on Earth meant. If the Zetharian had truly escaped containment, then this galaxy, and indeed, the entire universe, was in grave danger.

Once he was certain all the Zetharian technology had been removed from the S.G.C., Thor decided that he should personally visit his old friends on Earth.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In the control room of the S.G.C., McKay and Carter stared at the display monitors as control of the base was suddenly returned to them. They didn't know why this was happening; they certainly hadn't done anything.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light. Everyone in the room turned towards it, and they all found themselves face-to-face with Thor.

"Thor," Carter said, realization dawning on her.

"Greetings, General Carter," Thor replied. "I detected a Zetharian presence in your base computer systems, and felt it would be prudent to remove it."

"Thor, what were you doing here in the first place?" Carter asked.

"Reparations to Asgard worlds in our home galaxy after the defeat of the Replicators have been completed," Thor explained. "The Asgard High Council wished for me to re-formalize our treaty with your world."

"Well, I guess your timing was impeccable," Landry commented. "As for treaty negotiations, if you'll join me in my office, we'll get right to work on that."

End of Chapter XV

A/N: I'm very sorry, people, but my interest in this story is waning. I love how it's become so popular, and I want to finish it for you. And, who knows, maybe I will. But for now, here's a brief chapter, a token of apology from me. I hate to cut you off like this, but it's likely that this will be the last update for a very, very long time.

Actually, I do have an idea of how to keep this story alive. I know I have a lot of loyal fans out there, and if you'd be so kind, I'll turn control of this story over to you. Volunteer through reviewing, and I'll send you an outline of what I had planned for the rest of the story. Then you write a chapter, e-mail it to me, and I'll post it. Whoever does the writing will be credited for it.

Other than that, I'm done with this story. So, this is The Ascended Ancient, signing off.