Colonel Jack O'Neill's booted feet rang on the metal ramp as he made his way out of the wormhole, emerging into the Gate Room. His remaining team members and Ezri Dax followed him through. General Hammond waited for them at the bottom of the walkway, eyes searching for the missing members as the wormhole quickly dissipated.
"Where are Captain Riker and Doctor Jackson?" Hammond inquired.
"Taken sir," O'Neill responded, his voice tight, "the robots were waiting for us on the other side."
"They must have downloaded our mission projections when they accessed our database," Carter mused.
"They were captured?" Hammond stated, incredulous, "I thought they had no interest in capturing humans."
"It would appear that is no longer the case," Teal'c replied, "It seemed as though Dr. Jackson and Captain Riker were singled out by the robotic scout."
"You'll have to fill me in later," Hammond said shortly, "there is someone waiting for you in the conference room."
"Good news I hope?" O'Neill asked.
"I'm afraid not, Colonel."
"When it rains it pours," O'Neill sighed.
Conference RoomJonas Quinn rose from his chair as the SG1 members filed into the room. Ezri had returned to the Enterprise to report the capture of Riker shortly after their return, leaving the SG1 members to get reacquainted. Carter embraced Jonas in a warm welcome, Teal'c bowing and smiling a little in acknowledgement of his friend.
O'Neill stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked backwards on his heels. He was anxious to begin looking for Daniel, although where exactly he was going to look he hadn't fully figured out.
"You're looking well, Jonas. Get a haircut or something?" O'Neill inquired.
"Um, yes, actually."
"Wonderful. What's up?"
"I came here looking for a little help, actually. General Hammond informs me you guys encountered some kind of robot."
"That's putting it mildly," Jack returned.
"Jonas' planet was attacked earlier today by the same robots," Hammond said.
"What? Seriously?" Carter said, mystified by this revelation.
"Yes. We tried to stop them but our weapons were ineffective. They somehow disabled the gate and made their way to our storage areas. We've just now been able to re-establish outgoing wormholes."
"Storage areas?" Teal'c asked.
"I don't like where this is going," Jack said to no one in particular, staring at the floor.
"What kind of storage areas, or should I ask?" Carter requested somewhat hesitantly.
"They moved into our containment facilities for the Naquadria we had gathered. As far as we could tell these…robots set up some kind of mass energy transport and took our entire stock."
"They took ALL of your Naquadria?" Jack blurted, amazed. "What the hell would they want that for?"
Carter shook her head, taking a moment to gather her thoughts, "Naquadria can be used as a powerful energy source. If the robots were able to refine it to a more stable form…I really don't know what that could mean."
"Man, this can't be good," Jack breathed, then added a heaping dose of profanity to his statement.
"We must inform Starfleet of this immediately," Teal'c interjected.
"Could you say that one more time?" Jack asked, "It just sounds so cool."
"Starfleet?" Jonas asked, confused.
"We'll fill you in later. It's a dozy of a story, believe me," Jack replied.
"Is that where Dr. Jackson is now?" Jonas wondered.
"Not quite," Carter answered, "We're not really sure where Daniel is at the moment."
"I hope he is all right," Jonas said in a worried voice.
"I'm sure he's making friends," Jack said in a hopeful voice.
Somewhere ElseDr. Jackson awoke to a gentle shaking of his shoulder. Captain Riker hovered over him, calling his name.
"Dr. Jackson, are you all right?" Riker asked.
"Um, yeah, I think so," Daniel said, climbing to his feet, "Where are we? And why is everything so…yellow?"
Daniel turned in a complete circle, studying his surroundings, or lack thereof. The two seemed to be enclosed in a field of bright yellow. No division between ceiling, floor and wall could be discerned, only a bright yellow haze surrounded them and making Daniel want to squint.
"I don't know where we are," Riker said, "I was knocked out just after that robot took us."
"Same here," Daniel said, adjusting his glasses.
"There is a wall a few steps away from us. It's an energy field. Not dangerous, but meant to keep us here."
"A prison cell."
"That would be my guess," Riker inhaled and straightened his uniform.
"Well, guess we might as well get comfortable and wait for whoever to come and tell us what they want," Daniel said, planting himself on the floor and digging through his pockets for something to eat.
"I take it this isn't the first time you've been captured?"
"Not really," Daniel said, peeling the wrapper off a chocolate bar and holding a piece out to the Captain.
Riker thanked Daniel and chewed away, finding it helped his thought process. He was about to comment further on their capture when the field around them began to grow transparent, becoming little more than slight discolouration to mark its boundary. Daniel jumped to his feet and gazed around.
Beyond their prison walls was simple blackness, broken here and there by cells in similar condition to their own. The floor of each cell was a circular impression of yellow, and Riker and Daniel counting four other occupied cells. Humans occupied two of the cells with the remaining containment areas holding large aliens. One of the aliens was dressed in simple garb, with large leathery wings covering its shoulders like a cloak. The other alien was encased in gold armour, black eyes watching the new arrivals with curiosity.
The human nearest them was naked and perhaps unconscious, curled into the fetal position with his back to Riker and Daniel. Riker noticed what looked like a data port attached to the base of his spine. The farthest cell from them held an irate prisoner, who jumped up and stood as close to the energy walls as possible, straining to get a look at the new captives.
"Hey, that looks like…" Daniel began.
"It's not," Riker said quickly, "the insignia on his uniform is all wrong."
"You there!" the man called out, "Can you hear me?"
"We hear you," Daniel returned.
"Where are you from?"
"I'm from Earth, or rather one Earth. I'm Daniel Jackson of Stargate Command. And this is Captain William Riker of the…"
"Careful, Doctor," Riker warned.
"Captain?" The man shouted, "Captain of what?"
"Just a transport vessel," Riker said.
"I'm J. Tiberious Kirk of the Imperial Starship Enterprise."
"Imperial Starship?" Daniel said under his breath, "Oh, hey, I remember now!"
"That's not the Kirk of my universe," Riker replied. Daniel caught a distinct hint of disappointment in the man's tone.
"Who are the rest of you?" Daniel said loudly, looking at the others. "Can you understand me?"
"I understand you fully," the large winged alien retorted, "I am Goliath, also of Earth. New York City."
"Really," Daniel said amazed, staring at the large gargoyle.
"I also understand you," the armoured alien said, "I am Chellis, of the Protoss."
"Where you both captured like us or brought here by some other means?" Riker asked.
"Captured," Goliath said, "I battled a large being of metal and it brought me here."
"My fellow Protoss also fought against these robots. I was brought here during the battle."
"I'll have their heads for this," Kirk spat in fury, pacing like an animal.
Daniel and Riker were about to ask more when a loud hum drew their attention. They stepped back and watched as a red glow formed near their cell, quickly becoming one of the large robots. The construct stepped forward, red and gold metal covering its body gleaming in the weak light. The robot loomed over them, easily eight feet tall by Riker's reckoning. It surveyed the two humans for a moment, then nodded and spoke.
"Greetings and salutations, Captain William Riker and Doctor Daniel Jackson," it said warmly.