Stargate Command Operations Centre.

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado

Earth, Milky Way.

January 11, 2005.

"Chevron five, encoded"

Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman glanced over his control boards as power surged through high voltage cables overhead towards the Stargate. The great ring in front of him slowed with a sound of stone grinding against stone, then stopped. On his screen, a star constellation expanded, then shrunk down to the side as the chevron locked in place.

"Chevron six, encoded"

At this point, Walter carefully looked over the Chevron listing down the right hand side of his screen, mentally ticking off each one. Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces…

"Chevron seven, locked"

There was silence for a second, then with a whirring sound followed by a great whoosh, the unstable vortex short forth, then snapped back into the Naquadah ring as if it was attached by an elastic band.

"Wormhole established. Subspace transmitter is powered and ready" Walter announced.

"Thank you Chief" General Landry nodded, then leaned down to the microphone and slapped the talk button. While there was now a very powerful subspace transmitter hidden among the several dozen aerials that NORAD had placed on top of Cheyenne mountain for more mundane communications, sending a signal halfway across the Galaxy would take ten or twenty times as much raw power as just opening a wormhole and using the much smaller subspace transmitter built into the gateroom computer.

Not that Colorado had a power shortage of course. But people at the power company might get a little suspicious if NORAD kept surging huge amounts of power far beyond its history for official purposes on a regular basis. Even nine years after the program started, every effort was taken to limit the knowledge of its existence to the United States population.

"Prometheus this is Stargate Command, respond".

There was static for several seconds, then a squealing, then-

"Stargate Command this is Daedalus. Authenticate Charlie Echo One".

Landry glanced down at Walters computer screen. Authentication codes were assigned by the time of day according to Zulu time and assigned to all SG teams and starships leaving Earth. It was a quick and theoretically unbreakable challenge common to all allied because the combinations were completely random. The code for between 12:00 and 14:00 hours would be…

"Prometheus this is Stargate Actual. I authenticate November Hotel Niner".

"Stand by one Sir" the distant technician said, then Walters screen dissolved into static which quickly resolved to display Colonel Caldwell sitting in his command chair.

"Stephen, mind telling me where Prometheus is?" Landry asked without preamble.

"Their on their way General" the distant commander replied, glancing at the ships tactical displays. "We have them on long range sensors, they should be here in about five minutes".

"Fair enough. When they arrive, tell Teal'c that he has received a message from Dakara and he needs to contact Raknor ASAP".

"Will do Sir".

"What's the situation?"

"We have boarding party aboard the station led by Colonel Sheppard. They're not making much progress apparently, the Ancient language is very archaic compared to more mainstream Ancient".

"Well I'm sure Doctor Jackson will be happy to lend a hand. Just remember to take him with you when you leave or I'll never hear the end of it".

Caldwell grinned. "I'll try not to forget him".

"Damn straight" Landry smiled. "SGC out".

The Stargate hissed then the wormhole vanished.

"Well Chief" Landry said to Walter, looking out at the deactivated ring in front of them, "It looks like Colonel Mitchell's out of a Geek".

Ancient Space Station.

Orbit, P4X-221 Star System.

Unclaimed Space, Milky Way.

January 11, 2005.

Colonel John Sheppard turned as the chime of an Asgard transporter rang through the control room. Three columns of light appeared to phase through the roof and crash onto the floor, shimmering for a second before fading to reveal two figures in the military khaki of Stargate Command and one…not. John knew Doctor Jackson and Colonel Mitchell. The final person however…

"Colonel" John greeted the defacto leader of the new arrivals, throwing off a salute to the officer, who waved away such formality and extended his hand which John took. "Good to see you again. I didn't think it would be so soon though".

"What can I say; I love a good Space Station". Sheppard gestured to the man next to him who was looking with great interest towards the computer consoles. "You know Doctor Jackson I presume?"

"Oh. Damn"

Daniel turned back and frowned at that.. "Umm excuse me?"

Sighing, Sheppard reached into one of his utility vest pockets and emerged with a crisp twenty dollar bill, which he handed over to Mitchell, who carefully folded it and placed it back into his own pocket. Daniel stared in confusion for a few seconds.

Then it clicked.

"Wait…you were betting on me actually making it to Atlantis?" Daniel asked with a somewhat amused expression. Sheppard shrugged with a wan smile.

"Well given your history with Atlantis I thought it was a pretty safe bet".

"I'd have been happy to loose it to be frank" Mitchell added with a smile that looked a little forced. And it wasn't hard to guess why, given the current situation.

Daniel wasn't happy with the situation either, despite the fact that he had been trying to get to Atlantis for over a year now. Mitchell had worked his way through a years worth of physical therapy with only one goal in his mind, to join SG1. Then when he finally got released back to active duty status…it made Daniel feel more then a little guilty.

Not enough to stay of course. He turned backed towards Sheppard.

"So Colonel…what can we do for you?"

"Well the good news is that McKay here thinks there is a Zero point module powering the station, which we all want to get our greedy hands on. The bad news is that we can't find it. The irritating news is that the computer files are written in some kind of formal Ancient script he doesn't have a clue about".

"I have a clue just not much of one" the Canadian protested from a few meters away without bothering to look up.

"Whatever!" Sheppard said back with an expression that said he didn't really care. "So Doctor if you would please…"

Daniels expression brightened as he stepped around the group and up to the console McKay had plugged into. Sheppard turned back and directed his attention to the rather non military women standing next to Mitchell. "And you would be?"

"Vala" the women answered, looking over Sheppard with a practiced eye that missed little. "Vala Maldoran. And you would be?"

"Colonel John Sheppard, United States Air force".
Vala sighed.

"I'm beginning to see why so many Goa'uld wanted to destroy Earth. It has to be the most incredibly boring planet in the Galaxy! Nothing but 'Yes Sir!' 'No Sir!' military types who wouldn't know the meaning of fun if it bit them in the-"

Vala may have continued on her tirade if not for Mitchell hooking a finger through a convenient leather strap on her back and pulling her back towards him.

"Leave the man alone, dear" he said with a slightly amused expression. "Because I'd rather you not annoy the men with the guns to the point where they just decide it's much easier to shoot you rather then listen to you".

"Except for the slight fact that Daniel would die as well" she pointed out.

Mitchell raised an eyebrow.

"I said shoot you, not kill you"

"Why is it that all of you want to shoot me?" Vala demanded with an exasperated sigh. "I brought you a map to enough treasure to make us all rich-"

"And forced Daniel into helping you find it"

"But we did find it!"

"And there is still the whole stealing the Prometheus thing"

"…well there is that. But it was all in good fun! Ask Daniel, we had a ball!"

A few meters away, Daniel muttered something under his breath.

"Just stay inside the room". Mitchell pleaded. "And try not to annoy too many people".

Scowling, Vala turned with a flick of her ponytail and started to walk around the control room, taking in the gleaming technology and reams of data streaming over the laptops and plasma displays the tech team from the Daedalus had plugged in. A few seconds later, an Asgard transporter beam flashed and Teal'c arrived, holding the large book Daniel had recovered from the vault under Glastonbury tore, which he handed over to the archeologist.

Mitchell turned back to Sheppard who was looking at him like he was deranged.

"She stole the Prometheus?"

Mitchell simply grinned.

"Teal'c, how's the high council"

"They are well Colonel Mitchell. The debate over the future government of the Free Jaffa has been suspended for a week as several other members of the high council are not on Dakara today".

"Well that's good news isn't it?"

Teal'c considered. "Yes" he agreed after some thought. "The situation is…fluid".

"Sounds serious" Mitchell said with a frown. Teal'c nodded slowly.

"There has been much dispute over the formation of our new Government". Teal'c said in a lower tone. "The Jaffa struggled for so long to free ourselves that we gave little thought to how we would govern ourselves after the victory".

"That doesn't sound good…on Earth we've seen any number of situations like this turn very nasty very fast".

"Which is why Bre'tac and I campaigned for a truly representative Government that embraced all Jaffa and would let our race find its own destiny". Teal'c's expression did not change, but Mitchell sensed the displeasure that rang through his voice. "A Jaffa named Gerak emerged as spokesman for the more traditional ways of the Jaffa. They backed a more restrained change in Jaffa society, talking years or decades to reshape, if they wanted to do so at all".

"That doesn't make any sense" Sheppard protested, drawing the Jaffa's attention. When he had left for Atlantis, John had only a sketchy understanding of the politics in the Milky Way. One of the joys of his new rank however had been spending the last few days taking intelligence briefings on the situation in his home Galaxy. And this didn't add up.

"Those 'traditions' were nothing but an elaborate smokescreen to bind the Jaffa more tightly to the Goa'uld. Often by encouraging fighting among each other and blind obedience…they should be rejecting that past, not embracing it!".

"Indeed" Teal'c agreed. "But Gerak represents a very significant powerbase of Jaffa in both the size of their armies and worlds they seized from the Goa'uld. A large majority of these Jaffa switched their allegiance after our Victory at Dakara. Most occupied relatively high ranking positions in the service of the Goa'uld and with the deaths of their False Gods, they simply took their place on those worlds".

Carmon's felt sour. "And as the votes in the high council are assigned based on military assets…"

"Gerak's coalition has the numbers to vote him leader of the Jaffa nation" Teal'c finished. His expression broke slightly into a small smile. "However. Bre'tac has suspected that the true size of Gerak's coalition has been deliberately overstated. The break in these debates will give the council time to investigate their holdings. As well as gain time for negotiations with several of those Gerak represents".

"So…being off world with your Tau'ri buddies actually saved the day, no?"
Teal'c simply raised an eyebrow.

"Ohhhkay. Baby steps, baby steps" Mitchell muttered to himself. "Come on, Teal'c, Let's go have a look around the place".

"Ah! No, go back one. One more. No the other way…yes that's it!" Daniels enthusiasm had a half dozen technicians looking up curiously as he tapped at a data entry on McKay's laptop.

"Ok. Activate that and we should get…" Daniel looked up as the holographic monitor activated and lines of Ancient characters started to poor onto the screen. "That".

"So what have we got?"

"Ok. These" Daniel said, waving his hand over a directory listing "are the stations computer generated logs. These" he added, tapping another set of icons "are links to the stations primary systems"

"Oh goody" McKay said and brought up the logs, flashing down a page of entries. McKay accessed the most recent and redirected the stream to the primary window, expecting the translations of the logs to start rolling down the screen.

Instead, ASCII characters started to randomly scroll onto the screen including a few characters McKay had never seen before, until he killed the stream process.

"What does that mean?"

"The translation matrix doesn't have a clue. It was programmed based on the work you did on that time loop machine and has no basis here".

"Those were the days" Daniel muttered.

"Yeah, anyway, we're going to have to completely reprogram the translation matrix to handle this new variation of Ancient if we're going to convert the logs to English. But the underlying OS is more or less identical to the mainframe on Atlantis as well as the outpost on Earth, so the application level interface is still functioning".

Daniel held the Canadian in a level gaze, calmly waiting for him to translate that.

McKay sighed.

"You have to translate the logs yourself. Ok?"

"No problems" Daniel nodded confidently. "Let's take a look here" he said, tapping the systems link. McKay pulled out one of the control crystals, flipped it over and returned it back to another port on the dusty orange console. Here the Ancient script was much more conventional and Rodney was able to move around the system with only minimal guidance from Daniel. A few false starts later they found what they were looking for and the display shifted to a wire frame view of the station, text highlighting various areas.

"Ok I've got the primary power grid system…can you read this?"

Daniel adjusted his glasses and stared hard at the screen. The schematics for the stations power plant were once again labeled in the obscure dialect.

"Sort of…but it's going to take some time to get a real translation of it. That", Daniel pointed to one label, "is a transport station". According to this, the only other way into this room is climbing down a single access shaft through the core of the station. It's uh…very heavy protected by what looks like solid trinium".

"Hang on" McKay said, then opened up a new window and logged back into the Daedalus's external network through the communications gear they had brought on board. The relatively unsecured connection was read only, but a quick login got him the logs of the sensor scans they had been conducting of the station when they arrived. "Take a look at this" he said, lifting the computer for Daniel to get a look. "The one area the Asgard sensors couldn't scan through was this area in the central core around the engine room. Either they're hiding something, or they have so much shielding around something down there that its blocking sensor probes"

"Well someone's going to have to take a look" Daniel commented. Then he got an idea.

"Ten meters on your left guys" Daniels voice crackled over Sheppard's earpiece. The lights in the outer corridor of the control level only operated on very limited power, just enough to highlight the passageway but not enough to rid the area of the dark shadows that cloaked it. Sheppard and Mitchell swept their P-90's steadily as they moved forward, the tactical lights slung under the barrels illuminating their path somewhat, Teal'c brought up the rear, keeping an eye on their back trail. The twin doors from the control room lead into the passage that ringed the command centre, providing access to a transport room, lounges, storage rooms, conference rooms and access points to the internal conduits under the command centre. None of the rooms had been of any real note, except for the fact that they had clearly been put in order very carefully as if the Ancients who had crewed this station knew they would never come back.

It was just like they had found Atlantis.

Slumbering.

Waiting.

Derelict

He had walked Atlantis in the middle of the night more then once. The city was so large and the human population so small that one could walk for tens of kilometers and not encounter another human being in a city the size of Manhattan. All that could be heard was the hum of the cities few active systems, the crash of the waves against the 'shoreline'…and the ghosts of the Ancients who had once inhabited the city.

Moving around the constantly curving passage which looked so much like those back on Atlantis, Sheppard's thoughts once again returned to the expedition in the Pegasus Galaxy. Intellectually he knew that this station could represent a short cut back to Atlantis, but having the Daedalus just sit still here irritated him. Atlantis had called in for weekly status reports to Earth since obtaining the ZPM and he knew the city was more or less safe, the Wraith convinced it had vaporized in a multi megaton hellfire.

But the situation in Pegasus was deteriorating. The Wraiths activity across the rest of the Galaxy was still increasing far beyond any previous cull, the Geni were unlikely to have found new hobbies and he had just made a promise that effectively meant he would track down Ford, drag his ass back for Becket and get him off the Wraith juice.

The sooner Stargate Command took over this whole space station issue, the better.

"I don't see it yet Daniel" Colonel Mitchell sent back, bringing Sheppard's thoughts back to the present. Focusing his own tactical light, Sheppard frowned as he also failed to see the doors of a transport room where Daniel said it should be.

"Well it says it should be there on the map".

"You want to come out here and have a look? It isn't here" Mitchell responded, walking a few meters to the outer wall and looking as far down the corridor as he could.

"Ok wait a minute….opps"

"Opps? What opps?"

"Uhh sorry guys, we were reading it upside down. We just overlaid the life signs detector. The room is on the opposite side of the corridor from where you area."

A quick nod from Mitchell sent Teal'c off with the two officers following him.

"So Daniel, what's your Girlfriend doing?"

"She is not my Girlfriend the indignant reply came back quickly. "And she is just sitting in the corner pouting because everyone is busy and no-one is paying attention to her…well except Rodney"

"Oh I so am not!"

"You're drooling all over the console!"

McKay continued to half protest his interest as Teal'c edged his way around the station. His excellent sense of direction let him judge when they were nearing the opposite side of the corridor ringing the control room and this time a brown door was embedded into the inner wall. Gesturing to the two Colonels behind him, Teal' approached the door, which opened with a slight hiss revealing an empty room and a small control screen embedded in the wall.

"Just make sure she keeps sitting in the corner. I'd rather not have her steel the station out from under us" Mitchell said as he angled his weapon around, shining his light into the room, then gestured everyone to get in.

"I'll keep an eye on her.

"Use both" Mitchell muttered without activating his radio.

"Ok we're here" Sheppard said as the three stepped inside. "Now what?"

"Ok there should be two other locations you can transport to on the display. One of them is the stations power room; the other is a hanger bay".

"Wait this thing has a hanger? Sweet! We should look at that first" Mitchell protested enthusiastically, Sheppard rapidly nodding his agreement.

McKay broke into the conversation with a sigh.

"Yes I'm sure you pilots would dearly love to look at 'Yet Another Ancient Spaceship', but can we try to stay on topic for at least five minutes?"

"Spoilsport" Mitchell scoffed, and then frowned. "Hey what do these two red dots on the transport room display mean?" Sheppard looked closer at the display and saw what Mitchell was talking about, two dots that were outside the space stations wireframe, but instead of flashing white, they burned a bright red.

"Those are just the ring rooms on the Daedalus and Prometheus which are not active, feel free not to press them unless you want to have your pattern lost to deep space, otherwise be my guest".

Mitchell looked at Sheppard.

"You made him a member of your team, why?"

The white flash of the transporter room faded from Camrons eyes as he the sequence completed, the door in front of him opening to reveal a large but only partially lit room.

"We're in" he radioed, wondering if they could hear him through all the shielding around the room…though the lack of a response suggested they couldn't.

Teal'c stepped out first, holding his P-90 like an oversized pistol as he swung it around to take in the entire room. Sheppard followed him trying to look everywhere at the same time, then Mitchell brought up the rear. An even dozen holographic monitors circled the room's walls, all deactivated. A railing matched the circular outer wall, defining a two meter wide walkway around the perimeter that separated the monitors from an inner raised area with a quartet of the now ubiquitous Ancient computer consoles placed equally around the perimeter of the platform.

"Ok, let's take a look" Mitchell said, then followed the railing to the left with Teal'c in tow while Sheppard broke to the right. A quarter of the way around the room he found a short staircase that provided access to the central core. He jumped up with Teal'c on his six…then felt his jaw drop. Sitting in the middle of the gap between the two consoles were a trio zero point modules. They sat, extended from a triangular power console, lit softly by a spotlight twenty meters above in the dark ceiling.

"John?"

"Yeah?" the Colonels voice echoed from somewhere on the other side of the room.

"We hit the jackpot"

"Hang on, there's a staircase over here - whoa!" Sheppard breathed as he caught sight of the three power cores.

"Indeed" Teal'c agreed as he joined them, reaching for his radio. "Daniel Jackson, Doctor McKay, can you hear me?"

Static crackled back over the radio.

"There must be too much shielding around the room to get a signal out" Sheppard muttered, looking around the room, then stopping and walking over to one of the consoles. "But if this thing works like the one on Atlantis..." he speculated, then tapped one of the crystals covered in an Ancient symbol he recognized. "McKay, can you hear me?"

There was nothing for a second, then a soft chime sounded through the room.

"Yes, we were wondering what was going on down there".

"Well it looks like the room is shielded against our radio signals". Sheppard shrugged. "Or something. But I can confirm that the power core is made up of…THREE Zero Point Modules".

"THREE" Daniel and McKay simultaneously gasped in astonishment.

"Three" Mitchell confirmed moving closer to Sheppard.

"Well that would explain why the sensor shadow was far more powerful then it should be" McKay commented in a more thoughtful voice. "Can you read how much power they have?"

"All the screens down here are deactivated and most of the lights are off".

"That would be a no?"

"That would be a no".

"Well the station is running off secondary power. There is a Naquadah sheathing over most of the central core that is absorbing solar energy and powering the systems we have operational" McKay commented, and then paused. "Wait, are the ZedPM's sitting inside the console or are they sort of sticking out of it"

"They're sticking out"

"Ahh see that would explain it, they're not active in. You're going to have to push them slightly on the top, they'll retract into the console and become active, and then we can check their status".

Sheppard looked at Mitchell. Who looked at Teal'c. Who looked back at them both…all with the same expression on their faces.

"Umm are you sure about that McKay?"

"Of course I'm sure. Look we're just connecting the ZedPM's to the power grid so we can have a look. Nothing more, Nothing less".

The two officers glanced at each other, shrugged and walked out to the central console along with Teal'c.

"On three?" Sheppard said with a raised eyebrow.

"On three" Mitchell confirmed. "One".

The three stepped up to a ZPM each.

"Two" the three put their hands on top of their chosen power core.

"Three!" and each of them pressed carefully on the top. The three cores started to lower with a whir of motors and they snatched their hands away.

"Ok they're going in" Sheppard called back…watching as they came flush with the console, then they brightened and a red dot glowed on each of them.

"Excell-"

The station jolted and a roar of a very big machine powering up ripped through the room.

"MCKAY!" Sheppard and Mitchell demanded in unison as the power centre around them shuddered its way to life.

"It's not me!" the Canadian protested as he hammered the console in a near panic. Seeing no response, he ran around to the next console, scooting the technician sitting there out of the way. The second the Zero point Modules had been inserted, the stations primary systems listing had lit up like a Christmas tree. Technicians were franticly working their own consoles trying to disengage the power systems, but no-one had a clue what was going on.

"McKay, NOW would be a good time to press the stop button" Sheppard's voice came over the intercom again, understandably concerned as the station rocked again sending a couple of technicians flying into walls.

"Sheppard, Mitchell this is Caldwell, what the hell is going on over there?"

McKay listened as the various officers talked to each other, trying to tune it out. Many of the other civilian technicians who were on their first ever mission with the Stargate program were also near panic, starting to demand that they get the hell out of there, turning into a roaring cacophony that made it impossible to concentrate. Daniel was trying to reassure everyone while he tried to get them back to their stations, listen in on the three way debate between Colonel Mitchell's team, Colonel Pendergast and Colonel Caldwell AND try to help McKay translate.

It was also clear he was failing at all of those tasks.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!"

The powerful voice ripped through the noise in an instant, causing everyone to turn and show a rather irritated Vala Maldoran glaring into the group of civilians.

"How in the Galaxy you people managed to take down the Goa'uld Empire I don't think I'll ever understand. But if you don't all get back to work, you are all probably going to die here".

The technicians started at her. She narrowed her eyes.

"SO GET MOVING!" she shouted and they scattered back to their stations. She gave Daniel a wink, then with perfect nonchalance, walked back to the wall and went back to reading the book recovered from Merlins vault.

Daniel blinked, then turned back to McKay as his radio crackled.

"Doctor McKay, this is Caldwell, come in"

"We're still here Colonel" McKay spoke as he brought up a screen full of graphs which were rather alarmingly moving from green up through the spectrum towards yellow. "The station is activating".

"Shut it down!" Caldwell demanded. McKay barely managed not to snap back at the officer.

"I've already tried that Colonel" he said, following Daniels directions as he moved through the stations specifications. "The computer isn't listening to me". McKay slapped at a crystal on the control pad. "Mitchell, you still there?"

"Right here Doc"
"On the console near the ZedPM's there should be a crystal control with what looks like two capital letter A's stuck together at the top, positioned horizontal."

"Hang on" Mitchell said as Sheppard looked around, then spied the crystal. "Ah! Got it!"

"Ok we found it" Mitchell shouted back into the communications array, trying to be heard over the roar of the technology around them as it powered up.

"Ok, get the crystal and put it into a slot just under the centre module in the power array".

Sheppard yanked the module out and tossed it to Teal'c who easily slotted it in. A tiny control panel exposed itself.

"Ok it's in, a control panel just opened up".

"Good, tap the left side of the panel twice".

Teal'c tapped then the panel grayed out and shut.

"It just flashed then closed up again".

"Perfect, I should have control …oh no".

"What do you MEAN Oh No?" Sheppard demanded.

"I can't shut down the power flow! The Zero point modals are locked open!"

Cursing, the three joined Teal'c at the Console and started looking for inspiration to shut down the system…somehow.

McKay jumped back into the primary systems as the other technicians tried to find ways to redirect the power. "Well can we pull them out?" Mitchell's voice asked with the first traces of worry in his voice.

"Not a chance" McKay responded as he swapped two crystals around and brought up another screen. "The modules are locked in. And even if you could pull it free, if it's not shut down you'll just destroy half the solar system".

That comment made Sheppard, Mitchell and Teal'c carefully pull their hands away from the module they had been trying to pull out of the console.

"So what does this mean?" Pendergast broke into the channel. One of the scientists working at the console tossed Rodney a clipboard with some figures he glanced over, then grimaced.

"The ZedPM's are dumping energy from subspace into realspace at a steady rate. It has to go somewhere. Right now it's going into the capacitors built on the station but as soon as they are filled, this entire place will explode with enough energy to be seen from Earth in oh…fifty thousand years?"

"So what are our options?" Caldwell asked.

"Either we activate the station or we run".

"I vote for run if anyone's interested" Vala chipped in from the seat next to Daniel.

"Seriously, not now, please" he begged, then turned back to the display.

"Well what is this thing supposed to DO?" Caldwell demanded.

"Once again, it could be a giant coffee peculator for all I know, we haven't had TIME to figure out the stations purpose".

"Well actually I was looking through that book-" Vala broke in before a glare from Daniel shut her up again.

"Well can we recover the ZPM's at least?"

"Not while they're active and locked. The only way to disengage them down is to let the station complete its primary program".

"Exactly" Vala beamed and reached past Daniel to point at an icon on the display. "You see the-"

"Can we divert the energy from the capacitors somewhere?" Daniel asked McKay who looked up at the technicians, both completely ignoring Vala who was rapidly getting irritated.

"For a limited time, it's not impossible" one of them said. "If we activate the shield generator, turn on everything on the station and so on we can soak up the power. If we had weapons we could simply shoot away the energy but-"

"It's only a temporary solution" McKay finished. "Unless we activate the station, and we don't know what the station does, then-"

"It's a Gateway to another Universe you idiot" Vala snapped causing heads to turn in the control room and silence on the communications link.

"A what?" Daniel asked looking rather confused while McKay looked interested.

"Look here" she said, slamming the old book down in front of him, which caused Daniel to jump like someone had shot him with a zat. "This text here towards the back talks about some Ancients who left your sorry excuse for a planet to find a new place to do their Empire building. And here" she said with a smile as she turned to page to show a beautifully illustrated picture which perfectly matched the wireframe now flashing with red labels on the view screen, "it talks about their passage into the new Universe-"

"Okay Okay, it's like um a Quantum Mirror" McKay said for the benefit of everyone still listening in. Where too?"

"Doesn't say" Vala shrugged. "But if the Gate builders went there, there is a good chance they are still there. Or at least that the place isn't full of badly dressed eye glowing-"

"Where doesn't matter" McKay broke in. "Colonel Caldwell-"

"Doctor we don't have a clue what could be on the other side" Caldwell cut in, anticipating the next question. "Without knowing that, can we really risk opening the gateway?"

"Yes!" McKay responded in a heated voice. "If we don't, we loose the ZedPM's, we loose the station…we should be able to shut down the portal after it stabilizes".

Silence reached through the line for a good five seconds. McKay watched the graphs continue to climb and resisted the urge to start shouting into his microphone boom.

"Rodney, this is Elizabeth. Are you sure you can do this?"

"Yes" he replied automatically as he started programming commands into the mainframe.

"Ok. You have a go. What do you need?"

"Alright listen up" McKay said, still on VOX but addressing the people in the control room. "Everyone here but, Dr Jackson, me and his girlfriend need to get back to the Daedalus now. Sheppard?"

"Here"

"I need your team to get down to the Hanger bay ten seconds ago"

"We're on it" the response came back as Vala stood up looking rather indignant.

"How come I have to stay?" she demanded.

Daniel simply pointed at the bracelet on her wrist.

"Oh. That" she frowned as she remembered, reaching up to her vest and calmly loosening it to expose a generous portion of her cleavage.

McKay gawked as she reached in and removed a red crystal from in between her breasts, then tightened the black leather back up again. She waved the crystal over her armband then Daniels and both of them immediately flexed and unlocked. Daniel yanked it off and threw it against the wall with relief.

"Now don't get yourself killed" she admonished him, then grabbed his face and as his eyes widened in surprise, kissed him passionately until his chest felt like it would burst for lack of air, before breaking away and walking to stand with the technicians. She waved with a smile, and then vanished in a flash of light as Daedalus whisked them away.

"And you don't want to go out with her?" McKay rhetorically muttered as he shook his head and got back to work.

"McKay we're here, now what?" Sheppard demanded as they sprinted into the hanger bay. The transporter room didn't actually open onto the bay itself, which was a logical precaution to guard against transporting into a decompressed area. Instead the transport room deposited them in an antechamber with doors to the left and right and a huge vertical door that dominated the far bulkhead. Tapping the control and opening the bulkhead door, Sheppard charged in-

-and came to an abrupt halt, Mitchell and Teal'c narrowly missing slamming into his back as they skidded to a stop.

They stood on a vast raised platform that circled the hanger, which had to be a good two hundred meters in diameter and forty in height, the floor being the very base of the stations central cylinder. Tucked in under the raised platform stretching left and right of them were puddle jumpers, at least ten of them but docking slips for four times as many. Directly opposite them a huge airlock built into the bulkhead allowed access to space. But the hanger was dominated by a huge metal rack that stretched from floor to ceiling in front of them. Mounted inside the rack were four of the strangest looking ships that Sheppard had ever seen. They were long and thin like needles, with what looked like hundreds of antenna neatly folded against their hulls.

"There are three things you have to do. Power the satellites which will generate the portal by connecting them to the grid, launch them and open the hanger doors". McKay paused. "Not necessarily in that order of course".

"Of course" Sheppard said trying not to roll his eyes. "How do we do this?"

"Ok there are four power conduits that have to be attached to the grid. Do you remember the grounding stations on Atlantis?

"Yes"

"They'll look like that". Sheppard shrugged and clattered down the stairs to the hanger deck with Teal'c close behind, the pair sprinting for the towering framework at the centre. "Colonel Mitchell?"

"Present"

"To your left you should be able to see a control room with a window looking into the hanger bay. Entrance is behind you". Mitchell looked around, saw the door and jogged back. He activated the door just in time to be thrown from his feet and stumble into the control room as the station rocked violently.

"What the hell was that"? Sheppard and Mitchell demanded simultaneously.

"Shield generator exploding" McKay responded in a tone that suggested they had just asked him how the weather was back on Earth.

"I would suggest you hurry" a new voice cut in, recognizable to most as Hermiod back on the Daedalus, now holding station several billion Kilometers away while Prometheus stayed in close, ready to pull the last people off. "The energy buildup in the capacitors is beyond ninety percent".

"Great" Mitchell grunted as he got off the deck and slapped the door controls open.

"Sheppard, Teal'c you ready?"

It took John Sheppard approximately twenty seconds to sprint across the metal deck of the hanger bay to the huge framework in the centre. Plus the five seconds it took for him to get back off the floor after the stations shield generator detonated. Hauling himself back up, he closed distance, annoyed to see Teal'c hadn't fallen with the stations shudder and was waiting at the first station.

"Ok, we're at the stations, what do we do!"

"Right!" McKay said.

Then he turned to Daniel. "What do we do!"

"Hang on I've almost got it…just about"…Daniel was furiously scribbling on a pad of paper as he stared at the 'instruction manual' that McKay had helped him find in the mainframe.

"Ninety three" percent Hermiod calmly broke in. If he didn't know the Asgard better, McKay would swear the Asgard was getting a kind of perverse satisfaction at counting down their time to live.

On the other hand, perhaps he didn't know him as well as he thought.

"Dr Jackson, if you're going to do something, now would be a good time" McKay muttered out of the corner of his mouth as a rumble started to build in the station, a vibration that steadily grew as Rodney diverted as much of the energy as he dared into the inertial dampeners and artificial gravity systems.

"Okay okay okay I got it!" Daniel said as he franticly finished his scribbles. He grabbed his radio from the console top and clicked three times rapidly for attention. "Colonel Sheppard, Teal'c, on each of the consoles enter the Ancient equivalent of one seven six six two one, then execute".

Sheppard forced himself through an act of shear will not to hammer the console as fast as his hands would let him and instead methodically touched the strange symbols one after the other, each making sounds like a Pegasus DHD being activated. When all six were lit, he pressed the execute button. Immediately the thick cylinder immediately behind the console jolted then smoothly connected to the conduits that ran into each of the four needle ships. Congratulating himself he looked up to see Teal'c nod, then they both ran for the second station.

Watching them from the control room, Mitchell followed instructions from McKay as he brought the hanger bay launch systems online. He wasn't as familiar with Ancient technology as Sheppard was but enough in the way of cross training had occurred before he joined the SGC that he was able to manipulate it well enough.

"Six one four four seven two three" he muttered to himself, carefully entering the code on the control station. Obediently, the holographic monitor switched to a wireframe view outside the stations lower core, with the rectangular door flashing green. Trying to ignore the dozen red warning icons flashing he thumbed his headset. "Ok that's it".

"We're good" McKay said with glee, then stabbed down on the control to start the launch sequence. Icons flashed yellow as the computer started to power the servomotors on the hanger bay door. Daniels eyes went wide. "Wait what about Teal'c and Sheppard?"

"Relax, the hanger bay is protected by an atmospheric shield"

"Even with the shield generator destroyed?"

McKay stared at him for a good second, then Daniel grabbed the radio.

"OK that's it, lets go" Sheppard said as the final column connected and power flowed. A whirring sound, not unlike that of a puddle jumper started to come from the ships. They had reached the base of the stairs when Daniel jumped onto the radio.

"Guys if you're inside the hanger, get the hell out of there!"

Sheppard and Teal'c didn't question Daniel when he spoke in that tone. They pumped their legs and it was to their credit had made it to the top of the stairs when the huge bulkhead behind them split down the middle and a starfield became visible.

A high pitched screaming rapidly descended into a roar that built through the hanger bay as the air inside impossibly tried to shift and fill the infinite vacuum outside. Teal'c and Sheppard were thrown off their feet and they grimly dug their hands into the metal mesh that made up the platform, crawling their way forward. Teal'c managed to reach the door first and braced himself against a handhold inside. Sheppard thought felt his grip weakening as the airlock cycled wider and the force of the air increased. There was only a finite amount of air of course in the hanger, but he knew he couldn't hold on. And just as he thought it, he lost his grip, was yanked backward-

A grand total of one centimeter as Teal'cs hand grabed his wrist.

Moving force, meet unmovable object.

Teal'c's expression was one of simple determination.

The vacuum would not win. He would not let go.

Even as the air pressure dropped and the temperature plummeted, he refused to be defeated.

Even as the bulkhead his left hand was clamped to groaned in protest at the force being exerted upon it, he refused to let up.

Even as his muscles cried out in pain, he ignored them.

He would not yield.

He did however manage to turn his face enough to see the alarmed face of Colonel Mitchell inside the automatically sealed control room window trying to override the door seal. Teal'c gained his attention and nodded towards the console. Like a true warrior, the Colonel held his gaze for a second, then whirled back to the control panel and slammed his first on a flashing crystal as he shouting into his radio, but Teal'c couldn't hear as his ears screamed in pain from the pressure drop.

Far ahead of Sheppard, the engines on the four craft ignited, sending the quartet of ships rapidly out where they executed a sharp course change that took them up and away from the hanger. Teal'c's heart rejoiced at the fact that they had completed their mission. His respect for Mitchell grew as he saw that the Colonel knew where his duty lay and that death while performing ones duty held no dishonor.

But death would not claim him today.

His vision suddenly brightened to a complete whiteout…then faded to reveal the bridge of the Prometheus, whose deck Teal'c and Sheppard rapidly thumped onto.

Mitchell and Daniel instantly leapt forward towards the gasping men and helped them up. Sheppard coughed, then slowly stood and faced Perndergast.

"Colonel" he said in a horse voice. "Permission to come aboard"

Caldwell probably would have thrown him back out the airlock for making such a jest.

Perndergast however chuckled with mirth and gestured to Daniel and Mitchell.

"Get them to the Infirmary" he said, glancing at McKay who after seeing the two were alive, ran over to the sensor readouts on the port side of the Bridge. The stars outside the ship blurred into hyperspace for a split second, then vanished as Prometheus rejoined Daedalus a good forty light minutes distant. The Asgard sensors on both ships had no problems monitoring the station at this distance and eyes were glued to view screens.

The four ships that the station had launched formed a diamond, perfectly on the line between the station and the systems star. Readouts showed the stations ability to store the energy the ZPM's were force feeding it at just about critical...then a dozen brilliant white beams shot from the station at the speed of light, all focused on the closest 'ship'. So bright were the beams that they would have blinded anyone within five thousand Kilometers looked at them with the naked eye. As it was, the stay behind drone Prometheus had left lost its IR scanners in milliseconds as they completely burned out from the burst of energy. The first "ship" which had its stern pointed to the station appeared to wrap the energy around itself like a cocoon, then the folded appendages whipped open and a pair of white beams blasted to the next two middle satellites, then they in turn targeted the final of their number, forming a brilliant white diamond hanging in orbit of the systems star. Almost immediately as the loop closed, the star filled interior of the diamond started to shrink as the white beams appeared to thicken, expanding inwards at a steady rate.

"Incredible" McKay commented as he looked over the readouts of the energy being thrown around down there. It was completely staggering, yet the fact that the Ancients had so casually thrown it around almost frightened him. He wondered if those who had built this station had done so in humility, knowing the awesome power in their hands and the possibilities for misuse…or if they had wielded it in arrogance, thinking they could control it without any consequences, for they were the race that had seeded entire Galaxies with life…and death.

"Do we have any idea where this portal leads?" Pendergast said softly from behind him, watching the show so distant that the light would not even reach their position for over half an hour.

"Some idea" McKay allowed. "Doctor Jackson was translating a lot of the book on the fly while we trying to turn the place on. It looks like the Ancients may have seeded the Galaxy on the other side with life, but at a much more accelerated rate then they did over here. And with a much greater interaction.

"So you're saying we might find humans more advanced then us on the other side?"

The Canadian shrugged in a non committal way. "It's a distinct possibility, yes. Apparently the group of Ancients who built this station took to calling themselves the 'Lords of Koobal' or something".

"The Lords of Koobal?"

"I know" McKay snickered. "Ridiculous isn't it? Though the book Dr Jackson has suggests that at least some of them return a few thousand years ago.

Their attention was drawn back to the screen as the four sides of the diamond met forming a perfect 2D diamond so bright that only the beam of energy coming from the station showed where the structure was.

Then the beam from the space station cut off and twin huge pulses of energy like the vortex on a Stargate shot out from both sides of the object, reaching back tens of thousands of meters, before snapping back into the white energy field. The nanosecond the vortex was absorbed, the fields glow faded to nothing leaving an almost invisible portal, its presence only betrayed by a steady refraction of the starfield behind it, like a mirage on a highway in summer.

"Well that's that then" McKay announced as the energy output of the station dropped off till once again it became a derelict.

Albeit an intact derelict.

Pendergast nodded towards the helm.

"Signal the Daedalus and take us back". Once more the starfield blurred then faded to reveal the station. McKay hurried down to the ships ring transporter which was tied into the stations grid, letting him and get a tech team into the power room in seconds. Walking inside, he quickly accessed the controls which were now agreeably co-operative and grinned as two of the three Zero point Modals unlocked and slowly retracted. The third the computer refused to eject, apparently still powering the portal in some small way. Shrugging, he ever so carefully removed the other two modules and placed them into a pair of foam padded security cases a technician held up for him. Putting the stations computer into standby, the group returned to the transport room, but it was the Daedalus's ring room he appeared in, not that of Prometheus.

He held out the cases to the smiling face of Elizabeth Weir who was waiting in the equipment bay, then passed them onto a technician who headed aft for the ships cargo bays.

"So what's going on?"
"We're heading back to Earth" she said. "With a ZPM at the SGC, we can finally get reliable two way travel to Atlantis up and running. We talked to General Landry and the plan is to install the other into the Daedalus so she can head back to Atlantis in a few days. General O'Neill has assigned Prometheus to stay and start initial investigations on the other side of the portal, assuming it's feasible".

"What about Colonel Sheppard?"

"He's fine" she reassured him as they passed through a bulkhead door towards the central spine of the ship. "They transported him over while you were on the station. Carson says he'll have a hell of a sore throat for a few days, but no permanent damage".

"Fantastic…wait…what about Doctor Jackson?"

At that moment a subtle shift in background noise of the ships powerplant said louder then words that the ships Hyperdrive just activated. McKay looked at her and his eyes went wide.

"You didn't"

She smiled. "He's been reassigned by the SGC to the effort here. General O'Neil pointed out that he is still the most qualified person on the Ancients…and everyone else who might have been able to spearhead missions to the other side of the portal are either on their way to, or at Atlantis".

"Did you tell him?"

She shook her head. "They wanted us back to Earth fast. So I didn't have time".

"Chicken". Weir looked at him in mock indignation.

"I am not"

"Chiccccken" McKay confirmed as he started to walk away. As he rounded the corner, the Canadian looked back flapping his arms and making loud clucking sounds. Weir stopped for a second to smile and shake her head, then stepped out of sight as she moved forward. Chuckling, Rodney turned… and saw Hermiod five meters in front of him, the Asgard starting at him with one eyebrow raised in a very good impression of a human frown. The grey Asgard held his gaze for a second, then shook his head and entered the arriving lift to the engine room. The door rolled shut, leaving one very embarrassed Doctor Rodney McKay very much alone.