Chapter 6, The Lost City

Sol system, Earth Alliance.

"What do you know about these Wraith?" President Sheridan asked. He was still onboard the Excalibur in Mars orbit as the ship underwent final resupply before beginning its new mission. Captain Gideon had pulled together a crew including the enigmatic Dureena Nafeel and most surprising of all Galen, the Technomage apparently looking forward to this grand adventure with obvious exuberance. He was sat once more in the ships briefing room with Captain Gideon now joined by General O'Neill and Colonel Caldwell.

"They are an alien race from the Pegasus galaxy," Caldwell answered. "Very old and very powerful, we've had a few skirmishes in the past but nothing this scale before."

"They've sent a fleet to our base on Atlantis." O'Neill continued. "It is absolutely vital we hold the city, for one thing it's the best facility we have to find a cure for the Drakh plague along with a whole wealth of other vital information left by the Ancients who built the place."

Sheridan nodded, if these Wraith were as hostile as they sounded the SGC was going to be stretched to defend its base. "What forces do you have?"

"I'm sending more teams through the Stargate to bolster the troops in the city." O'Neill said. "As soon as Caldwell tells me he's ready we'll be taking the Daedalus back through and sending it to reinforce Atlantis from orbit."

"What about your other ship?"

O'Neill shook his head. "We can't risk sending Prometheus, it would leave Earth defenceless and we have other threats to worry about."

"The Oddesey and Nemesis are close to completion, but they are still months away from flight readiness and if we add the new technology from your guys it'll be even longer." Caldwell sighed. "Our other three ships are only just been laid down now we know the design is sound."

"It'll be over a year before the Argo, Achilles and Theseus are up and running and until then we can only send one ship." O'Neill confirmed.

"Perhaps there is something we can do to help." Sheridan leaned forward. "I can talk to the Alliance and see if they can give you some of the mothballed fleet."

O'Neill and Caldwell shared a glance. "You'll give us some ships?"

"I can try, now they'll be old and outdated by our standards, with the Drakh threat Earth force needs every front line ship it can get, but we can give you some old Olympus or Artemis warships." Sheridan explained. "They're similar size to the Daedalus and although they are slow and don't have gravity I'm sure you guys could fix them up with your systems, new engines and shields, that sort of thing."

"It's a great offer Mr President," O'Neill nodded his thanks. "They'll be a good stopgap until we get our own ships off the ground."

"The problem is trained crews." Caldwell stated. "There are only a couple of hundred trained ship crews on our entire planet, all part of the SGC."

"Maybe you could get the other governments to help?" Sheridan said. "Have them crew the ships, I'm sure they'd jump at a chance to own a space going cruiser."

"I bet they would." O'Neill grinned. "I'll talk to my President when I head back with Daedalus."

"Great, but I'm not finished yet." Sheridan looked to Gideon, and then back to O'Neill. "There's more, if Atlantis is vital to a Drakh cure we have an interest in keeping it safe."

"Yes Mr President, and freeing up those ships will help a lot."

"But not soon enough, you need forces now and even with ready built hulls it'll take weeks or months for you to fit out our old warships. You helped us in our hour of need," he nodded to Caldwell, "now we'll return the favour. I've talked to President Luchenko and convinced her of the Importance of Atlantis to the Earth Alliance, despite the current crisis she has made available a unit of Earth Force Marines and the destroyer EAS Titans."

"A destroyer?" O'Neill sounded impressed. "Like an escort ship for Daedalus?"

Sheridan raised his eyebrows for a moment. "Well it's a political thing, what we call a destroyer should really be called battleship or dreadnought. Titans is a Warlock class ship, about two kilometres or armoured firepower and Thunderbolts."

"Oh." O'Neill said calmly. "Well that's cool. Don't you think that's cool Colonel?"

"Yes sir." Caldwell nodded. "I've seen those ships in action, their forward guns could make the Wraith think twice about hitting Atlantis."

"The problem is getting them there." Sheridan continued. "You gave this ship a lift to the Victory shipyards, could you do the same to take a ship all the way to Atlantis?"

Caldwell shook his head. "I don't know, I'd have to ask Hermiod."

"And then sit through a lecture on how Asgard tech can do anything?" O'Neill added. "Just remind him that his guys owe me for saving their butts about fourteen times."

"Yes sir." Caldwell smiled. "But in theory we could haul a ship across the galaxy."

"How about more than one?" Sheridan smiled. "That's what Earth is sending, but as President of the Interstellar Alliance I have a few other resources at my disposal."

"Like what mr President?"

"Like this ship." He glanced around him. "Plus a few Ranger ships, Delenn has released some Whitestar class attack ships, they're agile enough to dance circles around anything and pack a hell of a punch."

"That should come in real useful, we'll take any fresh firepower we can get." O'Neill grinned. "Show those Wraith they picked the wrong species to screw with."

"The Excalibur will be ready when Daedalus is." Gideon interjected. "My crew is in place and there's just one more thing to take care of."

"Whats that?" Sheridan frowned. "I thought you were good to go?"

"Mr President, I can't start hopping galaxies and attack all powerful aliens with the head of the Interstellar alliance on board." Gideon said pointedly. "You're too important to risk sir."

"He's right." O'Neill agreed. "I heard you are pretty handy with a nuke but you have other things to do here. We'll take care of it."

Sheridan reluctantly had to agree. He'd already been hanging around on the Excalibur for too long because he felt like he needed to do something direct, to be on the frontlines trying to make a difference. Unfortunately those days were behind him now and he had a responsibility to the alliance he had help forge, and if he happened to be killed or lost in battle during this crisis it could fundamentally cripple the ISA. He had to let it go.

"I guess Delenn would be expecting me back." He sighed. "Very well Captain, I'll take the first ship to Minbar, but keep me informed."

"We'll all do what we can to get word through." O'Neill promised. "On behalf of my superiors thanks for the help, and the spare warships."

"You're welcome General, good luck with your mission."

"With the amount of firepower we're taking in?" O'Neill grinned widely. "The Wraith will be the ones praying for help."

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Asteroid belt, Sol system, 2004.

"Wow, it really is identical." Commander Morton noted.

"But quiet." Captain Ivanova said. "No mining posts, no colonies, no transports. Just total silence."

Ivanova had guessed right, the Titans was being held in reserve in case of a special mission, and this certainly counted. They had arrived with a pair of Whitestars and the massive form of the Excalibur to assist in the defence of Atlantis and while a worthy mission Ivanova had one or two reservations, the biggest one was travelling there and more importantly back again. The official plan was to 'Piggy back' with the Daedalus all the way to Atlantis and back as time allowed. On paper this sounded fine, but considering the forces provided by Sheridan outmassed the little ship by about four hundred times Ivanova wasn't looking forward to travelling further than any Earth force officer had imagined.

"Its amazing." Morton said wistfully. "You grow up knowing Mars is just a day away, that the whole solar system is buzzing with life and constant communication chatter, then you take a look at this. It's so unspoiled."

Ivanova kept a neutral expression. This was what home would look like if all the humans just stopped. For her it wasn't peaceful of unspoiled, it was a graveyard.

"Captain, here's something." Lieutenant Patel said from communications. "Picking up some transmissions from Earth, a lot of Transmissions."

"Lets have a look." Ivanova nodded. "Garibaldi was always saying 20th century entertainment is the best."

One of the bridge consoles changed from tactical readings to showing a group of scantily clad women, causing murmurs of appreciation from the male crew and a glare from Ivanova. They were stood on a beach giggling inanely as a greasy looking male presenter introduced them to the viewing audience.

"I think your friend was right Captain." Morton smiled "this is entertainment."

For the next fifteen minutes they watched as the assorted lovelies performed 'tasks' in order to win the game show, these tasks invariably involved getting wet and showing cleavage. While her first officer seemed captivated Ivanova was amazed such exploitative material would go out disguised as entertainment.

"Oh come on!" she pointed. "Don't they have shame?"

"Guess not." Morton leered. "Err, guess not Captain."

"Lieutenant, find a news channel." She ordered, noting Patel was gawping at the screen. "Mr Patel, unless you want to finish your shift wearing less than those empty headed starlets you'll find a news channel right now."

He quickly did so, and a more well dressed woman arrived on screen to give them a quick insight into the current state of the Earth.

"Captain, report from the hangar deck, our passengers are ready to depart." Morton suddenly reported.

"Very well, inform General O'Neill and get the shuttles ready."

In addition to the ships own weapons and airwing the Titans had been loaded up with a large force of Earth force soldiers and their support equipment for deployment to Earth and then through the gate to Atlantis. Almost a full battalion of Gropo's were moving to bolster the defences at Atlantis taking with them Uller anti aircraft lasers and even a unit of Vakyrie VTOL gunships stowed in their hulls in a disassembled form able to fit through the gate. Quite how a dozen shuttles streaking down to Earth would be explained was outside her remit, she reckoned the SGC was adept at making excuses by now.

"Message confirmed, he asks us to proceed when ready."

With a nod the launch sequences were activated. Internal gravity was switched off to the launch bay and the Hades class assault shuttles rose up on minimal thrusters. Normally the sky would be swimming with Thunderbolts to provide cover but as they were in friendly space it wasn't required, the Prometheus herself would be going in with the shuttles while taking O'Neill back to Stargate Command to oversee the operation. In the same way that Sheridan had to return home and leave the dangerous stuff to his commanders, so too did O'Neill have to leave Caldwell in charge. With a clank the bay doors opened and the Earth force troops headed planetside.

"Well we're committed now." Ivanova sighed. "I hope John knows what he's doing." She reflected that upon first hearing the idea her reactions had been less supportive.

"Dammit John, what the hell are you doing!"

Ivanova was fuming, she had stood up in shock as Sheridan explained the current situation to her following the Drakh assault and the existence of the alien artefact. "Are you serious!"

"Atlantis is the main source of advanced information we have access to." President Sheridan continued calmly, they were both alone in the Excalibur's briefing room orbiting Mars.

"Its in another galaxy! Another reality! How do you know it even exists?"

"General O'Neill gave me his word, and after what happened with his people I'm inclined to believe him." Sheridan said with a growing edge to his voice. "They have given us no reason to doubt them and every reason to trust them."

"And have you got anything solid in return?" she snapped. "You give them interceptors, new engines, advanced fire control computers, hell you even let them look around a ship that's supposed to be top secret! Now you're going to send our people to heaven knows where to fight for them? What are you, nuts?"

"We've had a good look at their technology." Sheridan stated flatly. "Michael is securing certain manufacturing rights even as we speak."

"You brought Garibaldi into this too?"

"He's already through the gate on their version of Earth and has been for some time."

Ivanova blinked in surprise. "Nobody said anything?"

"Wouldn't be much of a secret mission otherwise would it?" Sheridan smiled. "The full story is known by very few people, despite the best efforts of ISN." He grumbled.

"And now you're sending a task force through? Also in secret?"

"That's right, until we can show something concrete to the people, like a possible cure for the plague, we need to keep things quiet and let ISN spin along any story they want to."

The true motivations of her friend suddenly became apparent to her. Normally Sheridan would have been cautious and examined every aspect of the new arrivals story himself along with covert reconnaissance from his Ranger units to make sure they were honourable, but with a sword hanging over Earth he was forced to rely on instinct alone for now and while it was causing him a lot of stress he had to know he was doing the right thing.

"You really think they can help us?" she asked quietly.

"From what I've heard Atlantis was built by their version of First ones, like a miniature Great Machine. I've given Captains Gideon and Anderson the mission to find and analyse anything left by the First ones wherever it is, we'd be fools not to go and check it out."

"You're going to send one of these ships?" Ivanova wondered.

"Captain Gideon is ready to go, he just needs his XO sending over." Sheridan replied. "I'll also send a few Rangers to help, but I think we need a commissioned pure Earth Force ship out there too."

"Good look finding someone dumb enough to… oh no way."

"Susan, of all the Earth force ships yours is best suited to the mission, it's the best in the fleet and with an expert crew and Captain you'll be our best ambassadors to the SGC."

"Its another galaxy!"

"It's a mission to secure a cure for Earth." Sheridan corrected. "The most vital mission since Coriana. I need someone I trust out there Susan, I trust Garibaldi and he's representing us to the SGC. I trust Delenn and she is planning on hosting a conference for our new allies to set up an official treaty. And I trust you Susan, I got industry covered, I got politics covered, now I need someone to cover the Military."

"I don't know John, I have a duty to stay here and protect Earth, and to kick the crap out of the Drakh."

"Plenty of time for that later." Sheridan smiled. "But I need you out there Susan, the Joint Chiefs have approved but the final word is yours. What do you say?"

Obviously she hadn't refused, and now here she was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away bringing Russian grumpiness back to the stars. The army units headed away for their mission which left her free to conclude her own. "Move us into position, nice and steady."

The Warlock took position besides the mighty Excalibur, the Whitestars forming up between them. They were much closer than Ivanova was comfortable with but the closer they were the less space the Daedalus would have to cover with its hyperdrive which would already be strained to the limit. Hermiod had dragged every ounce of power from the ships systems and linked up some secondary Naquadah generators to give an added boost, but he had been quite clear that this was a very risky action. Even so Atlantis had to be protected and they needed to get as much firepower there as possible.

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Stargate Command, Cheyenne mountain.

"Good to be back." O'Neill stepped out of the elevator and surveyed the organized chaos surrounding him. Heavily armed troops darted back and forth nearly bowling the general over as the entire facility seemed to be a hive of busy ants. "It's like I never left."

He wandered down the corridor with his hands in his pockets observing the scene, trolleys full of heavy weapons were rolled past all heading to the gate room while technicians and officers argued about the best order to ship things through. He approached one of the small gaggle talking about the Earth force supplies.

"They'll be a valuable stop gap until we get our heavy ships in place." Colonel Carter emphasized.

"True," a technician replied. "But we can't get the crates down even in the freight elevators."

"Hi Carter." O'Neill chipped in.

"So how did we get the gate in?" she continued without noticing O'Neill. "Open up the test shaft and lower them in."

"Carrrrterrrr." O'Neill said in a sing-song voice.

"You know how much trouble that would be?"

"Trouble?" Carter dropped her voice. "Trouble! This is Atlantis we're talking about, those are our people out there and if I have to move this whole damn mountain we will get those reinforcements through, now do it!"

"Echo." O'Neill sighed. "Is there anybody out there?"

"Okay Ma'am." The technician stated. "I'll get on it."

"See that you do." She said firmly, then almost walked into O'Neill. "Oh, General didn't see you there."

"Uh hu." He acknowledged. "Well you seemed preoccupied."

"It's the heavy weapons you brought back from our new friends, you know they gave us VTOL gunships?"

"Yeah, I'd call that awesome."

"Me too, and they come in crates ready to assemble, I guess so they can be airlifted like an Apache and quickly assembled in front line airfields. Or maybe space lifted," Carter considered. "Anyway, they fit through the gate in their parts but not into the facility, so we'll have to open up the shaft above and lower them down."

"But it'll be worth it." O'Neill nodded. "You handled that guy well, making you a Colonel was easily the smartest thing I've ever done." He paused. "Which might not be saying much, but call it a compliment."

"Thank you General." She smiled with a hint of shyness. The two officers had a past, one which they couldn't openly acknowledge but which occasionally surfaced in these quiet moments. Quickly she changed the subject. "The first batch of Alliance soldiers showed up, they call themselves 'Gropers?'"

"Gropos." O'Neill corrected. "Slang for 'Ground pounders' which kinda makes sense."

"Right, well they started filtering down. Mr Garibaldi is up in briefing ready to meet you."

"Good, Sheridan sent a guy to deliver him a message, called a Ranger. Not very talkative."

Carter smiled, trying to get a word in past O'Neill was a hard task for anyone. "We'll go let him know the situation."

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"Lousy Dodgers." Garibaldi put down the data pad Sheridan had sent.

"Vital information then." O'Neill nodded at the message.

"Most of it's tech readouts, reports on how my little business is doing back home, that sort of thing." The bald man explained. "I figure he dropped in that score just to torment me."

Beside him the black and brown robed human stood unmoving and silent. "You know that guy said about two words all the way over. "O'Neill pointed. "So what's a Ranger?"

"We are those who walk in the dark places where none dare travel." The Ranger spoke nobly. "We stand on the bridge and none may pass, we are a light in the shadow and the guardians of the night. We live for the one, we die for the one."

"Wow." O'Neill said with awe in his voice, then turned to Garibaldi. "So what's a Ranger?"

"They are Sheridan's elite, answerable directly to the President and Delenn." Garibaldi said calmly, clearly quite a fan of Rangers himself. "We train them in every form of combat, from unarmed combat to fleet level strikes, couple of his buddies are accompanying the fleet to Atlantis. But their real value is behind the scenes, they are the best espionage and intel operatives known to us, every security chiefs best friend or worst nightmare. Guys are serious players and I'm glad they're on our side."

"Neat." O'Neill smiled at the Ranger who remained stonily silent. "Welcome to my world."

At that point Daniel Jackson strode in with his head buried in a report. With years of practice he managed to find his place at the table without even looking up and sat down with them. "Sorry I'm late, just reviewing some of these history files, remarkable stuff."

"Care to share?" O'Neill raised an eyebrow.

"It's data Mr Garibaldi here provided, our history is more or less identical up until the late twentieth century, while we elected President Hayes in Mr Garibaldi's universe there was no such person so they elected a different President after Clinton, and after that we split."

"Well that explains the slightly different cultures, but what about the other alien races, like the Goa'uld or Asgard?" Carter asked. "Or the ancients?"

"That's the big question." Daniel looked up. "There is no record of those races, but we do have vague references to 'ancient and powerful beings' who could have been their version of ancients, unfortunately there were a lot of similar races around who didn't really get along."

"Vorlons and Shadows." Garibaldi clarified. "Not the best of friends, caused a lot of wars and wiped out a lot of civilizations before they could really expand. Could be the Goa'uld and others were among them."

"Likewise the system lords here or other unknown powers could have destroyed our universes versions of Minbari or Narn." Carter commented. "Or we just might not have encountered them yet."

"Which brings me to the Stargate." Daniel remarked. "With no dominant ancients it means no Stargate network, instead the races over there developed other methods of travel. This does however create one huge problem."

"The dimensional gate out there." Carter continued. "The one in the other universe had ancient writing, meaning somehow the ancients put it there."

"But we don't know how?" O'Neill concluded.

"Our IPX guys are going through back records of every dig they visited." Garibaldi contributed. "If we can find a trace of the same language we might be able to shed light on things, but until then we should finish up here."

"Okay, so next order of business." O'Neill looked to Carter. "What is it?"

"Funding." She announced. "General Hammond will be seeing the President to get more money into developing weapons from the ISA."

"We could use that." the general nodded. "What about the other governments?"

"Well the Russians and Chinese are adamant they will do their own research." Daniel outlined. "But Britain will combine its resources with ours on a joint development, we're hoping to float the idea past the ISA leadership about creating a new type of ship built from the ground up with our combined expertise."

"But until then some basic refits will be enough." Carter remarked. "We've tested some Alliance energy weapons and they'll fit nicely onto our new 303 ship hulls under construction."

"Speaking of, how many of them do you have?" Garibaldi wondered.

"Currently two in operation." O'Neill answered. "With two more ready soon. We hope for a fleet of twelve in the end while I understand the British are building one with plans for a second. Russia and China as always go with their own while France makes a fuss but remains on the fence."

"Back home we use heavy automation to build our ships, construction robots and all sorts of plasma cutters and welders. Looks cool to watch." Garibaldi smiled. "Point is we can churn out ships the size of a 303 in a couple of months."

"It takes us over a year, even considering secrecy issues." Carter stated.

"Well I guess that's something else we can help each other with." Garibaldi said helpfully. "We're both on the same page here, with some of your shielding and weapons on our ships and some of our basic infrastructure elements here, well I can see this being very profitable."

"It'll give the president something else to spend our hard earned money on." O'Neill said, and then was interrupted by an incoming call. "O'Neill here. Who? Oh yeah, send him along." Then he placed the phone down. "Another one of your guys."

A few moments later a thickly built dark skinned Earth Alliance officer stepped into the room with a commanding presence, he wore a smart duty uniform and had an air of supreme confidence.

"General Richard Franklin, assigned on the authority of President Luchenko of the Earth Alliance."

"Welcome General." O'Neill stood and offered a respectful salute. "Please take a seat."

"Hello General, how was the trip?" Garibaldi offered.

"Mr Garibaldi, heard you made it big. Congratulations." Franklin managed to make the compliment seem like a mild telling off. "The trip was new." He said with amusement. "In fact this whole thing will take some getting used to."

"It's a pretty big step." Garibaldi agreed. "You heading through the gate?"

"No, I'll be staying here and acting as a central command for all Earth force units on this side of the gateway." Franklin explained. "With General O'Neill's blessing I'd like to set up in this facility if possible and stay close to the SGC."

"Fine by me." His fellow General agreed. "Make yourself at home."

"We're sending a full batallion through," Franklin continued, "we'd have preferred more but Earth is stretched to the limit back home, all we could spare were these forces and an old general to lead them." He chuckled a little. "I'm amazed you managed to get a Warlock out here."

"President Sheridan pulled a couple of strings." Garibaldi shrugged.

"I'm sure." Franklin said with some disapproval. "Well we're here now."

"And it's good to have a little back up." O'Neill said truthfully. "Okay, I think that covers it. Lets get your guys set up and over to Atlantis."

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With the troops deployed and the ground defences sent to Atlantis the ZPM powering the gate was removed and rapidly transferred up to the Daedalus for integration into the ships hyperdrive. It wasn't exactly an exact science and the integration needed a lot of work, as Hermiod insisted on repeating. Fortunately the process was quick, though Ivanova was in no hurry to make the journey.

"Holding position." Commander Morton said. "Shouldn't be long now."

"Do you think this will actually work Commander?" Ivanova asked. "I mean really?"

"Well the SGC ships are supposed to be pretty powerful, lots of reactor juice. I think it'll be okay."

Ivanova remained unconvinced. "You know we'll probably just explode, but far enough away so no body ever figures out what happened to us." She mused on the idea a little. "Yeah, that's where we're going. It'll be a mystery."

"Yes Captain."

"Check out the local News again, maybe there's something important happening."

Her nearby console flickered on and she found herself looking at an immaculately coiffed blonde female in a sharp suit. At the very least the story would take her mind of her impending doom.

"And Finally," the reporter said. "UFO's, aliens and little green men beware because your secret is out."

That made Ivanova pay attention, according to Sheridan the existence of alien races was still unknown to the people on Earth. For such a story to leak out would constitute a major breach of security on the part of the SGC or its allies.

"Clarence Wilmy of Nevada has spent his whole life trying to reveal the truth, that humanity is immersed in a war with an alien superpower which our government is hiding from us. Mr Wilmy claims to have seen not only alien vessels but also extremely advanced human built weapons using alien technology. Here's what he had to say."

The studio cut to a man in a cheapa nd slightly scruffy suit stood in the desert next to a military sign and a barbed wire fence warning intruders to stay away. In the far background behind the fence a black truck was visible. Ivanova suppressed a chuckle at how theatrical it was, while this guy and the world looked at this place in Nevada the real action was happening in Colorado. The more she thought about it the more she believed the government was controlling these random sightings to throw off investigators from the true scent.

"All this they tell us about meteor storms and light reflecting off clouds? Its absolute crap!" the man raved. "I know the truth! The Nimitz wasn't hit by a rock, it was them!"

"Are you saying the carrier was destroyed by aliens?" a dour field reporter asked.

"That's exactly right, we're at war." He pointed back through the fence. "You should see whats in there, did you know our government has real space ships? Why do you think we don't go to the Moon? Its because we have colonies on other worlds to finance! And do you really think a Stealth Bomber costs two billion dollars, it costs a tenth that but the money supposed to be spent on it goes to black projects with alien technology."

"I'm sure our viewers would like to know if you have any proof?"

"It's all in the book, everything." He waved a fairly grotty looking paperback at the camera. "American Space ships, Alien wars, grey alien experiments, super evolved humans living among us, an agency in the FBI dedicated to discovering unexplained cases, and the truth about the loss of the Nimitz, all in my book!"

"But what about proof?"

"Here," he fished a photograph out of his pocket. "Look at that, I took from my camp in the desert, it's a Space ship! A real one!"

He held the image up for the camera to see and Ivanova gasped a little as she spotted the Prometheus pictured as clear as day crossing the desert.

"This is real, I'll submit it for any tests you want, this is real and it's happening now!"

The field reporter was clearly unsure of himself now. "Well I think we'll need a little more…"

"How about videos of lights in the air moving faster than normal acceleration allows? How about plans smuggled out of human built space fighters called F 302's by the Government? What about samples of alien DNA and eyewitness accounts of a human lifting a three ton truck?"

"How did you get this alleged evidence?"

"Lets just say I have friends in high places, people who know the truth, even in the ranks of the homeworld defence command."

"I'm afraid that's all we have time for, but could this man have what so many have sought for so long? Proof. This has been Alan Molen, Area 51." The reporter signed off and returned to the studio anchor.

"Well on that note good evening, and watch out for little green men." She beamed an insincere smile. "I'm Julia Donovan, Goodnight."

"Think any of that is for real?" Morton asked. "The Prometheus would be hard to fake, this is like a major breach."

"Maybe." Shrugged Ivanova. "I mean we know that its all real back home, so I guess it is here. We'll ask Colonel Caldwell assuming we don't all end up dead."

"Ours is not to make reply, ours is not to reason why." Morton quoted an old poem.

"Ours is but to do and die." Ivanova finished the mantra. "Orders are orders huh?"

"The President wouldn't send us on a suicide mission like this, there's got to be a good chance of us getting out of this alive."

"You don't know John Sheridan," Ivanova smiled. "He was always sending me on dangerous and suicidal operations. I got the impression he thought it was for the funny look on my face when he mentioned the term 'certain death' three or four times in a conversation."

"He seemed to have an odd sense of humour, he's no Rebo and Zooty."

"Which is a good thing." She said quickly. "If I ever hear those guys spoken about again I'll reintroduce keel hauling as a punishment, and on a ship this size it won't be fun."

"Aye Captain." Morton stood too and hid a smile.

"Captain," Lieutenant Patel spoke up. "We have a transmission from Daedalus, she's ready."

"That's our cue ladies an gentlemen." Ivanova said. "Alright then, get yourselves strapped in and prepared for the jump, we can't predict how this will go so prepare for the worst." It was like her motto.

"All fighters are locked down, jump engines safe, bulkheads sealed." Morton said. "All sealed up at action stations."

"The I guess all that remains is an old Egyptian blessing then." She said quietly, the same one she had heard from her old Captain many years ago.

"Daedalus is in position." Morton reported. "Powering up."

"If it all goes right we'll just be along for the ride." Ivanova commented. "Just think happy thoughts."

"Energy spike, here we go." Morton grabbed the console out of instinct.

The Captain took a breath and projected as much calm as she could to the crew and whispered the old prayer. "May God stand between us and harm in all the empty places where we must walk." Ivanova recited the old blessing, then closed her eyes.

Space altered as the window opened into hyperspace in a bright green flash, and when it dimmed the fleet was gone.