Author Note: Many thanks to Golfbabe87, Harute9595 and lilnudger82 for taking the time to leave a review. I'm glad you enjoyed the prologue. My thanks also go to all those who favorited and/or put the story to their alert.

Here's now the first chapter. Please enjoy, and I'm looking forward to receiving your feedback! :)

– chapter one –

In The Dark

"So," Dr. Daniel Jackson said when he entered the plane and sat down. He nodded a greeting at Teal'c sitting across from him and continued, "What exactly are we dealing with?" He sent an expectantly cheerful smile at his friend though he felt anything but cheerful. It was well past midnight, and he was tired and wanted to go back home and to bed.

Sam being busy with furiously typing on her laptop only pointed toward the table in front of them. Daniel reached out and took up the file lying on top. It consisted of print outs – about astronomy. "Are we going to give a lecture on comets and meteorites?" he joked after having gone through the papers.

"Then I fail to see the reason why I am to accompany you," Teal'c spoke up. He had so far remained silent.

Daniel looked at him. "You've been on a comet. Your first-hand experience will make the difference."

"You too have been on that comet, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c returned, not reacting to the attempt at a joke.

"Yeah, but it wasn't me who left the ship to nuke it," Daniel countered.

"We're not going to give a lecture," Sam finally spoke up.

Both Teal'c's and Daniel's attentions turned toward her. "So where are we going?" the latter asked.

Sam remained silent for another moment, fiddling with her seatbelt. Both men mirrored her action. Not a moment later, the plane drove to the runway and taxied off soon after. Once airborne, Sam belatedly answered, "California."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow and Daniel incredulously asked, "At this hour?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, at this hour. Sorry that I had to wake you guys but General O'Neill wants a debriefing at 07:00 hours."

"Okay…" Daniel muttered.

"May I inquire about the nature of this mission, Colonel Carter?" Teal'c spoke up.

Sam smiled – the first time since they had entered the plane. "General O'Neill observed a group of four meteorites landing on Earth. He asked us to investigate."

Daniel shared a surprised look with Teal'c. "Four meteorites without warning? That's… unusual."

"I agree," Teal'c said.

Sam nodded. "That's why we're heading to California. I took the trajectory the satellites picked up and calculated where exactly they will come down." She pointed at the file in Daniel's hands.

He took the hint and ruffled through the papers once more. "Tranquility?" he read.

"Tranquility," Sam confirmed.

Silence fell over the three for moment. Daniel interrupted it with a sigh before forcing his cheerful attitude on and asked, "So, any idea what sort of alien we're dealing with?"

Openly grinning now, Sam said, "Let's find out."

…

They landed at Fresno Yosemite International Airport about two and a half hours later. The local sheriff who looked quite young for the position was already waiting for them with a car next to the runway. "Welcome in California, ma'am," the diligent man said when they disembarked, trying and failing at a proper salute.

"Thank you, Sheriff," Sam replied. "Sorry for the trouble at this time of the night."

"No problem, ma'am, not at all." He hurried ahead, only to open the car door and hold it for her. "The car's fuelled up, and the GPS is working perfectly – checked it myself – but just in case, I put a map into the glove box."

"Thank you." Sam slid behind the wheel while Daniel claimed the passenger seat. Teal'c had no other choice but to climb into the backseat.

The sheriff bent down and looked in through the rolled-down window. "Are you certain you'll be fine by yourself? I could drive you. I know this place like my back pocket. Surely you're all tired and –"

"Thank you, Sheriff, but we'll be fine. We slept on the flight over," Sam said resolutely. As eager as the man was, he didn't have clearance. Besides, none of the three SG-1 members had any idea what they were going to find.

The sheriff looked a little disappointed but said, "Of course, ma'am. Hope you enjoy your stay."

Sam nodded her thanks and, after starting the motor, drove off.

Once they had brought some distance between themselves and the airport, Daniel glanced at the car clock. "It's nearly half past one. Let's assume we'll need about half an hour to get to the landing site…"

"… which will give us about five hours to investigate before Colonel O'Neill expects our call," Sam said and sighed. Despite the nap on the flight over she was tired and slowly starting to feel the exhaustion. She wouldn't mind Daniel taking over, but for some reason she hesitated asking him.

Probably owned to the fact that they had been working together closely for years, Daniel gave her a long look and softly said, "If you need a break, we can switch."

She sent him a smile. "Thanks, but I'm still fine. I'll let you know if I'm about to conk out."

"Fair enough."

She gestured at the navigator. "I have the landing coordinates saved on the laptop but we shouldn't put them into the GPS. You wouldn't mind reading out directions though, would you?"

Daniel pulled out the laptop and switched it on. "Not at all. Just tell me where you saved the coordinates."

The drive through the city was uneventful and passed in silence most of the time. Teal'c put himself back into kelnorim after the session during the flight had been ended abruptly, and Daniel had opted to check out the local news on Sam's laptop. The meteorites had gone by fairly unnoticed; Daniel found a short news feed that read 'four fireballs streaming over the city.' He also came across one late night TV report and streamed it. One of the meteorites had apparently slid along a street, battering quite a couple of buildings in the process before coming to a stop in a repair shop. "Check this out," Daniel said quietly and turned the laptop so that Sam could glance at the screen. While the reporter talked into the camera, the rampaged street was clearly visible.

"Wow," Sam commented. "Those holes are big. Whatever landed isn't exactly tiny."

Daniel nodded. "I've been watching the people in that feed closely. No glowing eyes. I don't think it's a Goa'uld."

"Asgard?"

"Doubtful. Their ships are even larger than that." He paused, flying over another news article. "Maybe an escape capsule? Do they even have those?"

Sam looked back at the road. Even though still very early in the morning, the traffic wasn't exactly light. Also, the very first morning commuters were starting to appear and she had to concentrate. "Beats me," she eventually said when the traffic flowed smoothly for a moment. "Haven't ever seen some, but then again, whenever we've been on an Asgard ship, it's been under trying circumstances. No time for a sightseeing tour."

"Yeah," Daniel agreed and pulled up another article.

"Found anything else of interest?" Sam asked.

"Not really. Guess it was just too late for the reporters to catch it. However, I found an entry of an online journal that describes some sort of chasing. Listen to that: 'A helicopter followed what looked like a giant, but both were over so fast, it felt like a dream. Only the large footsteps on the asphalt bear witness.'"

"Could it be that the stone giants your grandfather Nick stayed behind with came here to Earth, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c spoke up, startling both Sam and Daniel. No one had noticed him coming out of kelnorim.

With Sam being busy navigating through the traffic, Daniel took it on to answer. He shook his head. "I doubt that. They existed on an alternate plane of existence. I wouldn't put it past the realm of scientific possibilities that they somehow managed to cross dimensions, but my gut instinct says it's something else we're dealing with."

"The question is what else is there?" Sam said. She glanced at Teal'c through the rearview mirror. "Does anything sound familiar? As Apophis' former First Prime you've certainly gotten around a lot."

The Jaffa nodded. "Indeed I have, but I do not remember ever having seen or heard anything like what was encountered tonight."

They fell silent again afterward.

About ten minutes later, they arrived on the edge of the city. Sam parked the car at the roadside, and while both Daniel and Teal'c already got out, she pulled out her cell and inserted the coordinates before shutting down her laptop. Afterward she too exited the vehicle.

"So," Daniel said, "where to?"

Sam consulted her personal GPS. "Over there," she said and pointed before setting off. They followed her without another word.

They wouldn't even need to go too far; in the closer distance, they could already see a tree halfway burned. There were still small flames licking at the branches and trunk. Thanks to the clear night and relatively brightly shining moon they could see quite a lot, and it was evident that the ground around the tree was roughed up. Badly. Daniel, Sam and Teal'c had barely walked fifty feet when they already reached the edge of a crater.

"Wow!" Daniel exclaimed, stunned. He pointed his flashlight which seemed too small and feeble to cover much.

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

Daniel carefully looked around, taking in the size. "This is huge," he murmured and tried to somewhat trace the edge with the flashlight. "My guess would be at least twenty feet wide."

Sam standing next to him nodded. "If not even larger," she muttered, then said, a little louder, "The meteorite was at least very heavy." She pointed into the crater. "Just look how deep in it went."

Carefully, the three worked their way around the crater's edge before finding a spot that was safe to climb into it. They walked slowly, careful to not overlook anything. Even the tiniest boulder could tell them what they were dealing with.

Only, they never found anything, not even the smallest trace of extraterrestrial rock.

"That's odd," Sam mumbled when she crouched down, carefully running her fingers over the ploughed ground. "There's nothing here except soil."

Daniel squatted down next to her. "Do you think that whatever came down here actually is the meteorite?"

Sam stood up again and Daniel mirrored her. "I don't know how that would even be possible, but it just looks like it." She fell silent, pensive. In all those years that she had travelled through the Milky Way she had never encountered anything like what they might be facing. "What sort of creature would be able to travel through space by itself?" she wondered out loud.

"Haven't the foggiest," Daniel said. He surveyed the size of the crater in which they stood.

"They would have to be able to create breathable air," Sam continued, the scientist in her excitedly looking forward to find the answer to that question.

"Colonel Carter, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c suddenly called. Both turned and saw their friend some feet away – outside the crater. "You should see this," the Jaffa added.

Sam and Daniel quickly walked over to him. "What is it, Teal'c?" Sam asked.

The Jaffa just pointed – at a footprint in the dirt. They stared at it for several moments.

"Okay… whatever landed here is definitely not human-sized," Daniel summed up their observations.

…

Major General Jack O'Neill sat in his office, sipping his morning coffee, tapping his fingers on the desk and trying to read some reports. The latter was especially difficult to concentrate on as he was waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly, his phone rang. He glanced at it for a moment before checking his watch. He picked up the receiver and, without a greeting, said, "Just on time, Carter. You're only one hour too late."

"Good morning, sir," came the reply, "and my apologies. I forgot that there is a time difference between Colorado and California." She sounded contrite.

Leaning back into his chair, Jack asked, "Well, did you at least find anything?"

"Yes, sir, we did. I emailed you information on what we found including photos and news reports but to summarize it: The meteorites are not natural."

He sighed deeply. It would have been nice for once not having to deal with an alien invasion. "Do I need to alert the President?" he asked.

There was a short silence before Carter slowly allowed, "I'm not certain, sir. Maybe you should. Daniel came across a press release from Secretary of Defense Keller about the destruction of Soccent in Qatar where no one had yet claimed responsibility, so I called Major Davies for more information. He then told me that Air Force One was hacked on the President's flight from the SGC to Washington. Specialists were able to isolate the hacker's signature; it's the same person that hacked the Pentagon's servers before Soccent was destroyed. On top of that we have four mysterious meteorites. My instincts are telling me that the hacks and our investigation are somehow connected; only I cannot yet see the relation."

While Carter spoke, Jack found the email she had sent and quickly read through it. He checked out the press release she had mentioned. He would call Keller first before calling the President. Maybe the Pentagon had already found out who was responsible for the hacks and the attack on Soccent Base.

Turning his attention back to Carter, he said, "Keep investigating. I want to know more. If you need, ask the personnel of Travis, Edwards or Vandenberg to assist you but choose them carefully."

"Thank you, sir."

"Keep me posted."

"Of course, sir. Carter out." The line was cut.

Sighing, Jack stood and walked down into the command center. "Walter, get me SecDef Keller on the phone please."