A/N – New chapter and note for all of those guests that want a new chapter. It is my story and I write it however fast I want to and I have four other stories to take care off, not to mention my personal life wasn't easy recently, so don't tell me how fast I should be writing the story. Anyways, read and review.

o-0-o

Jack was sitting in front of his cabin in Montana and preparing for fishing when he was enveloped by a silver beam of energy. When he looked around he saw that he was on the bridge of some sort of a ship, one with almost unmistakable Asgardian decor.

"Asgard was destroyed, wasn't it?" He said, looking around the room. His eyes slipped over the walls and a large window showing the Earth below them before coming to stop on some sort of a creature. "Who are you?" He asked, pointing a finger at it.

"Thor, Asgard was never dead, O'Neill. We just hid really well."

"Why did you fake your death?" O'Neill asked walking to Thor.

"We needed time and peace, away from the events of the universe, as well as a place where we could regrow our civilization in peace and safety."

"What about your cloning issue?"

"Solved," someone said and Jack's head flew in the direction of the voice, he saw a tall Ancient with brown hair and striking blue eyes. "We gave them push in the right direction and they did the rest."

"Who are you?" Jack asked.

"Janus," the being said and smiled. "Yes, the Janus."

"Didn't you ascend or something?"

"I did, but we decided to take more interest in what's happening in this world and Thor was kind enough to take me on board his ship," Janus smoothly explained. "However there is more to why are we here."

"It is because of an event that didn't happen for the past ten millenia," Thor said and Jack arched an eyebrow. "A summit of the Four Races happened, and you were the topic of this meeting."

"Oh?" Jack asked.

"Indeed," Thor said. "We discussed if you should get the status of the Fifth Race and we were unable to agree on it, so we only agreed on sharing with you our technology."

"Our?"

"Of all of the Races," Janus explained. "As we think that some changes need to be made and since you are familiar with the technology of Asgard we believe that you should be more than able to use our technology."

"Also we will help you integrate it with your current technology," Thor added.

"What about that shipyard we discovered when you were gone?" Jack asked.

"You can keep it," Janus said before Thor could say anything. "We have already created a new shipyard for ourselves ages ago. Even if it was ours once, we won't take it back when it is being utilized by someone else."

"That's good," Jack breathed out in relief. "We kind of started to use it."

"It was also planned as a repository of knowledge and ships for our descendants so they would have ready ships and knowledge at hand. You have all the rights to use it as you see fit," Janus said and smiled. "We will advise you, but we won't force you to do anything, we will let you use it however you see fit."

"That's the future," Thor said, cutting in. "Now I want you, O'Neill, to tell your superiors that we are alive and in ten days we will be here with a proper delegation to negotiate all of the details."

"And in the meantime we will help them unlock the secrets of the shipyard," Janus added and briefly glowed, before a small ball of light disconnected from his body and disappeared. "Done, part of me is in the shipyard."

"How am I supposed to tell my superiors that you are coming?" Jack asked.

Thor didn't say a word and instead moved few stones on a console in front of him and Jack was back in front of his cabin in Montana.

o-0-o

The leadership of Lucian Alliance was confused, three of their Ha'taks were gone and nobody knew how the hell they were destroyed. No message was received prior to their destruction and scouts sent into the systems where they were supposed to be found only scattered pieces of debris, most of which didn't help them in solving the mystery. However they managed to learn one extremely important thing. Whoever destroyed those ships used weapons that were more than able of piercing shields of Ha'tak in one volley, which substantially limited the number of possible guilty parties to a few of the most advanced races.

The mood in the meeting room in their complex on Lucia wasn't improved by what their spy arrays scattered around the Tau'ri system reported, a huge increase in activity over the past few weeks. There were reports about the Tau'ri increasing their fleet, but they were ignored initially. Now there were reports showing over sixteen hulls in various stages of construction and more worryingly a sudden burst of activity around one of moons of one of the gas giants that were in the system.

"We need to strike at them, now," Slaviash bellowed. "They are weak and we have a chance to win."

"Anubis tried this feat with thirty Ha'taks and his mothership and got killed," Kefflin calmly said. "We have over a hundred Ha'taks in the whole galaxy but most are tied in subduing new worlds, we would need all of them to have a chance of winning the battle."

"Indeed," Rameris, the new First, said. "We need to increase our fleet size and get better ships than we have at the moment. Kefflin, I want you to travel to our shipyards and try to get them to work more effectively, you have permission to raid whatever planet you want for slaves to man the mines and shipyards."

"Of course," Kefflin nodded. "What's the goal I should achieve?"

"Five hundred Ha'taks," Rameris said and almost every of his Seconds sputtered. "I know that it is a lot, but we need it to have a chance against Tau'ri. Slaviash, for you I have the most prestigious mission. You will lead an attack against the Tau'ri homeworld to test their defenses, you can take fifteen of our Ha'taks and three hundred Al'kesh."

Slaviash got up from the table, bowed to Rameris and walked out of the room, he knew that it was a death sentence for him. Unless, he was able to come up with a tactic that would allow him to survive meeting with the Tau'ri fleet, a task that was almost impossible to achieve, yet he had an idea how to do it. He walked out of the complex of buildings and entered into an Al'kesh that waited for him The pilot without a word took off and flew towards the fleet that was amassed in orbit, letting him have few precious moments of thinking and planning before he would need to start to issue orders.

o-0-o

Samantha Carter walked along the catwalk spanning the slips filled with warships under construction and entered into the control center where Daniel was pouring over holographic displays. "What did you find?" She asked, coming to a stop to his side and looking at the displays.

"Atlantis wasn't one one of its kind," he said. "City-ships were a common thing for them and they used them as capitals for sectors of their empire and as bases for expeditions into uncharted space."

"So how many more can we find?"

"Dozens? Maybe more," he said and glanced at the display. "The thing is that their location and production list was erased from the database."

"It wasn't erased, just hidden really well," someone said which caused both of them to spin around and grab their sidearms. "I'm unarmed and not a threat to you," the stranger said.

"So how did you get here?" Carter asked, her eyes focused on him. "We didn't hear you approach."

"Daniel knows," the stranger said with a smirk. "A while ago he could do the same."

"Daniel?"

"He is an ascended being," Daniel said. "They are beings composed out of pure energy and thus can move silently, unless something has changed, Janus."

"It hasn't," Janus smirked.

"Aren't ascended beings banned from interacting with us, humans?" Carter asked.

"Not exactly, and the rules have been changed recently anyways. As of now we can do it freely and we can also use our powers when needed," Janus said and looked at her. "As to your question, nothing was deleted out of the databanks of this station, everything is there, just hidden well. In the past there were constructed just under a thousand of them, now there is just fifty of them."

"What happened to the rest?" Daniel asked.

"War with the Wraiths, civil wars, sabotage, and few clashes with Ori when they caught us by surprise," Janus said, then walked to the console and pressed few buttons. "But more interesting is where almost every single one of them is heading."

Carter looked at the displays and blinked when they showed a perfect chart of the solar system that was focused on the inner part of it, then it moved and an image of Mars filled most of the display. "Mars? That's just a desert planet that's completely inhospitable and that lacks any protection from radiation."

"Maybe for you," Janus said and they looked at him. "Terraforming is one of fields in which we excel and making it hospitable is a very easy task for us."

"Changing an inhospitable planet into one where you can live is an easy task?"

"Colonel Carter, with all due respect, you don't understand how advanced we are and what our technology can achieve, or for that matter what ascended beings can do when they are allowed to fully use their powers."

"Sam, he is right," Daniel quietly said. "I was once an ascended being and the power I had at my disposal was almost limitless."

"Indeed," Janus nodded seriously and looked at them. "So don't worry about what we can do and focus on discovering the station."

Carter nodded and looked at Daniel who just shrugged and went back to pouring over displays, from time to time asking questions to Janus.

o-0-o

O'Neill looked around the Oval Office and wondered if everybody thought he was crazy, or just mildly insane. He finished retelling his meeting with Thor and it seemed as if everybody would burst out laughing at him.

"How sure are you that they are the real Asgardians, not some fakes?" Richard Woolsey asked.

"Who else is gray and has their teleport beams?" O'Neill asked.

"Weren't they supposed to die out because of some flaw they were unable to fix?" President Hayes asked.

"They were," General Landry nodded. "But it seems that they lied to us and simply needed time to fix themselves."

"So let me get this right, they said that in six days from now they will be here to negotiate with us?"

"That's what Thor said," Jack said. "And we can trust him, Janus less so, but if Thor said so we are safe."

"Any idea what we can get from them?"

"No idea, sir," Landry said. "They were reluctant to share any of their plans, so we will see. Making predictions is a tough task when it comes to them."

From that point onward the meeting moved towards technical details that were far less important for O'Neill, one thing that mattered for him was that Thor was alive.

o-0-o

The USS Apollo, USS Daedalus and Tsar Nikolai were in the outer reaches of the solar system testing their weapons and shields when alarms were sounded off as dozens, if not hundreds of hyperspace windows opened around them.

Colonel Caldwell was frozen in shock and fear for a few seconds, he never expected to see such an armada appear without any warning on top of his ship. Finally snapping out of it, he looked at his staff. "Helm, evasive maneuvers and take us out of here. Tactical, full power to shields and weapons. Communication, get those orders to Apollo and Nikolai, send our sensors reading to Earth and try to establish communication with them."

Staff nodded and three BC-304 broke their formations as shields and weapons were charged to full power and they tried to gain as much distance as possible and to get an idea of who the owner of those ships was. Not many races knew the exact location of this solar system and even fewer had the resources to create so many ships that were able to leave hyperspace in one big group. The tense situation lasted for mere seconds before communication was established, but for everybody aboard Daedalus and her sisters it felt like an eternity.

"Colonel Caldwell, this is Supreme Commander Thor," said the person whose image appeared on one of the displays. "We do not bring war to your system."

"How can we be sure that you won't attack us?" Caldwell asked.

"All ships that can will lower their shields," Thor said and glanced to the side. "Excluding sixteen city-ships that need them to keep atmosphere."

Caldwell nodded and looked at his staff.

"They are lowering their shields," Lt Colonel Marks said. "Weapons are offline and targeting systems are also disabled."

"Fair enough," Caldwell said. "If you don't mind, we will follow you, just to be sure that you do not betray us."

"Of course," Thor nodded.

Caldwell nodded and gave orders for his ships to move into positions behind the whole formation, as they did he was able to take a look at the ships that were in the middle of the whole group. Fifteen city-ships the size of Atlantis and one much bigger one. One that made them look like dwarves. He could see a mix of Asgardian and Alteran ships, among the crowd of warships his eyes spotted several that were roughly the size of an Aurora and dozens of smaller ones that swarmed around. However they weren't the ones that caught most of his attention, this title belonged to several bulky and massive ships that were as close to city-ships as possible and were watched over by warships. It made him realize that they were civilian ships, massive ships filled with God only knew how many people on board.

o-0-o

Jack walked onto the bridge of the USS Hammond and looked at Carter. "What did you learn about them?"

"It's the biggest fleet we have ever seen," she said and walked to a display. "Fifteen city-ships, one ship that is even bigger than they are, forty Auroras, dozens of smaller ships and probably the most important part of the fleet. Twenty transport ships."

"Are they what I am thinking they are?" He asked, looking at the numbers.

"Yes," she said with a nod. "They are loaded to the brim with people and supplies, no armament, but armored more heavily than Aurora and from what Daedalus sent they have much more power to use."

"Why are they bringing those ships with them and why did they leave hyperspace outside of the solar system?"

"Mars, they are going to Mars," she said and walked to the display. "They did it so that we wouldn't attack them without warning. You leave hyperspace so far out when we don't want to surprise your hosts. Also with such fleet it is far easier to avoid crashing into each other or into the planet that is your target."

"How soon will they be here?"

"In a few hours, they are going on sublight drives and aren't pushing them hard, those transport ships are probably slowing them down. So if you want to take a nap you will have plenty of time."

"And I will watch a Simpsons episode before they get here," Jack said, before walking out of the bridge. He trusted Carter and he knew that even if she didn't state it openly, she would much prefer him away from her command post. Besides, he had better things to do.

o-0-o

A/N – Some notes on ship design, tactics, numbers and navigation.

Milky Way is a huge thing, between one hundred billion to four hundred billion stars and even if just a percent has habitable planets that still gives between billion to four billion solar systems. So no matter how effective is your communication and administration you need to decentralise it as heavily as possible so that it can be governed with some degree of effeciency. Granted, you can have one capital, but it will take weeks before report gets to it, climbs up the chain of bureaucrats and ends up in proper place, after which few more weeks will take to find free ships and dispatch them. While with decentralization it will take far less time and it will be done for more efficient as governor that has let's say fifty solar systems will have far less to govern and will take actions far sooner. So for me city-ships would make perfect sense as command centers and local capitals, not to mention good bases for starting new colonies as unless someone brings a fleet of ships nothing will pose a danger to a settlement.

Which also means that five hundred Ha'tak isn't that much, granted it is still a lot, but compared to the vastness of the galaxy and scale of the theater even ten thousand ships wouldn't be enough.

Design of Ancient transport ships, transport ship putting it simply needs to deliver its cargo in a reasonable time frame at a reasonable cost and in some comfort, as well as do it safely. Which means few things, no offensive armament as it is expensive and usually they have some company that takes care of enemy. However shields and meters thick plating aren't a bad thing as it means that in case of an ambush it can survive for long enough to get the hell out of it. Engines, unless it is ship designed for resupply, there is no need for the fastest drives possible, it will get its cargo to target even on slower ones and will burn less fuel, also it is far cheaper as construction costs are lower.

One last thing about ships, Aurora, Gungnir or O'Neill are capital ships, which means that they are great when it comes to dealing with other capital ships, but are vulnerable to fast and nimble ships that are usually smaller, but follow a philosophy of punching way above their weight and running the hell away before enemy targets them. BC-304 would have a decent chance of dealing with them in one on one duel as it is small and can lay in ambush, waiting for them to show up, then few quick salvos and running away. So expect that those huge ships won't be produces in huge numbers, most of produced will fill a role of escort ships or taking naval names, cruisers, destroyers, frigates and corvettes.

Reviews:

rice2999 – It all depends on circumstances as Japan in thirty years managed to catch up to the west, granted gap here is a lot bigger, but the more we know the more we can learn and also current educational system means that in a short period of time you can produce a lot of people with desired skills that can adapt knowledge learned from the other races. We are surprisingly good at adapting to new conditions and using whatever we are given, so once the whole thing is revealed there will be a huge leap in technology that kinda already started.

Since Prometeus Earth knows how to produce technology based on crystals and how to utilize it, and all of the races use crystals as basis for their technologies which means that adapting them will be far easier and more importantly producing and development will be relatively easy as they know the hardest thing, how to use crystals.

They had Asgard core for few years and used that time well to recreate alloys and power sources which means that materials and energy aren't an issue when it comes to building things which means that military will be changing ships really fast. Daedalus already has one update to it and second is developed, so soon almost everything will be outdated. Best comparison would be period between 1900-1914 when navies started to use ironclad, ships that were entering service were usually outdated as new and much better designs were being manufactured.

General technology level will take far longer as people need time to adapt to it and nobody is insane enough to give their top of the line technology freely. Give pokes in a right direction and help, sure, but give newest technology for free? No way, as if you develop it on its own you learn how to create new things and you understand it on a far better level than when given.

Guest – O'Neill will need to wait, but he will get a ship, though he will be more of a passenger, than a commander as officers with such a high rank usually lead whole units, not single ships. Daedalus is a decent design, but it isn't designed for a flagship role, for which you need a special ship that can accommodate all of those additional guests, their needs and requirements of housing staff which needs good awareness of situation and as good communication as possible. Enterprise as a name is on the list of names to be given, along with a whole lot of other names.