Author Note: Many thanks to Telron and Robo Reader 21 for their reviews, as well as to all those who favorited the story and/or put it on their alert.

Here's now the final chapter and before last instalment. I hope you enjoy! Reviews are love.

– chapter six –

Visitors From Heaven

They had reached Nellis Air Force Base quickly enough, considering that there was hell on the streets. People were evacuating the city, and Sam couldn't blame them. Yet despite the masses on the move, the process had been smooth, the traffic rolling steadily.

The guards at the gate had been waiting for them, most likely tipped off by Sergeant Epps. Sam and her comrades were grateful, even more so when an airman of mid-twenty had led them to personal quarters rather than the hangar where the alien guests were surely housed. "Sergeant Epps is taking a nap, ma'am, as are his comrades," the airman had offered on inquiry. "The sergeant suggested you might want to take one too." The airman had then blushed, betraying his young age.

Sam smiled. "Thanks, Airman. We appreciate the consideration. If you could wake us in… two hours?" She glanced at Daniel and Teal'c who both nodded.

"Yes, ma'am, of course."

When Sam eventually awoke on her own and asked the airman waiting in the hallway for the time, however, dinner time had long since passed. It was nearing one in the morning. "Six hours?" Sam asked, stunned. "I slept six hours?"

"Yes, ma'am," the airman – whose name tag read E. Kapp as Sam noticed only now – answered. "I tried waking you, several times, but neither you nor Dr. Jackson nor Mr. Murray reacted." He paused, then stood even straighter at attention, as if waiting for punishment for his failure. "I'm sorry, ma'am."

Running a hand over her face, Sam shook her head. "Don't apologize, Kapp. I guess we needed the sleep pretty badly." She looked out the hall window toward the tarmac doused in floodlights. "Do you know where Sergeant Epps is?"

"Yes, ma'am. He is in Hangar B with Captain Lennox."

Sam perked up at that. "When did the captain arrive?"

"A few moments ago. He refused the bed we offered, mumbling something about ensuring they're fine first."

"I see. Thanks, Airman."

A door to their left opened, and both Sam and the airman turned around. It was Daniel, yawning behind a hand, his hair completely disheveled. He blinked several times against the hallway's garish lights, eventually lifting an arm to shield his eyes. "What's going on?" he asked in a slur, sounding still half-asleep.

Sam grinned. "Good morning, Daniel," she said brightly.

"Gah!" He winced. "There's no need to shout at me like that, Sam. I can hear you just fine." Sam's grin widened, and the corner of Airman Kapp's mouth twitched.

Eventually taking pity on her teammate, Sam asked, "Airman, is there some coffee around here? Daniel's not exactly a morning person."

"Of course, ma'am. There's a mess hall downstairs. They should have some fresh coffee available."

"Great, thanks." Sam took Daniel's elbow to lead him. "Please wait for Murray to emerge," she asked the young man. "We'll get some coffee and then head to Hangar B."

Kapp saluted smartly. "Ma'am, yes, ma'am."

The mess hall and coffee were easily located, and after just two sips, Daniel became more coherent. He still yawned now and then, but that was far and in-between. They both had their second cup in hand when they eventually stepped outside. The cool night air did the rest in refreshing them both, and Daniel was no longer squinting through eyes heavy from sleep.

The hangar was guarded by armed soldiers who only allowed specific people to enter – "on order of Secretary of Defense Keller," one of the guards said. "If you would please identify yourself?"

They pulled out their IDs wordlessly. Sam was admittedly surprised about the politician's involvement, but felt much more at ease because of it; no one would thus stumble across the aliens on accident. "Is the SecDef here then?" she asked the guard while his companion started first frisking her, then proceeded to Daniel.

The man shook his head. "No, ma'am, but he called in a few moments after Sergeant Epps' arrival on base." A moment later, Sam and Daniel got cleared and were allowed to enter.

The Autobots, she noted, were still in vehicle mode. Their entrance didn't go amiss, though. "Good evening, Colonel Carter," the regal voice of Optimus Prime came from the semi.

"It's rather 'good morning' already, but ditto. Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long, but we literally crashed onto our beds."

"There is no need to apologize," was Optimus Prime's soft response.

The Search & Rescue Hummer appeared alarmed at that admission though. Before Sam knew what was happening, she was doused in multi-colored light beams coming from the hummer's headlights. She opened her mouth to protest, not knowing what exactly was in the light beams, but the bot was already done and moved on to Daniel, subjecting him to the same procedure. Another moment later, he commented, "Your species is surprisingly energy-inefficient. I am surprised you could hold yourself up as long as you had. Even now after several of your hours of rest your energy reserves show as barely half full."

Sam chuckled, realizing they must have been scanned by the medic. "Adrenaline rush, doc," she explained. "Makes you perform miracles even if half-incapacitated."

The CMO's engine rumbled in a harrumph. "It is not healthy. You should return to recharge immediately and take Captain Lennox and Sergeant Epps along; they are not listening to me."

Lennox and Epps stood over by the wall and were grinning broadly, amused at the medic grouching at them. "I told you I slept on the flight across the pond," Lennox threw in. "I'm fine. And Epps had a lovely nap earlier."

Ratchet wasn't so easily deterred. "Initial research shows that fully grown members of your species require six to eight hours recharge to function properly. Colonel Carter and her companion had six hours of recharge, but as I stipulated, it had barely been enough to restore their energy reserves to half their usual norms. Sergeant Epps' recharge barely lasted three hours. You, Captain Lennox, have not recharged for over twenty hours."

Epps jabbed an elbow in Lennox's side. "We should listen to him, sir. After all, he's the medic, and what did the last doctor you saw say?" He waggled his eyebrows and was grinning broadly, his tone bordering on insubordination, but Sam felt the equal friendship that bound the two soldiers more than their ranks should allow so she remained silent. She herself and General O'Neill had often enough skirted the edges of military hierarchy; she'd be a hypocrite if she said something now.

"To follow orders to the letter." Lennox swatted at the offending elbow. "Fine! I'll be heading off to bed." He did so promptly, waving at them over his shoulder without looking around. "Don't bother waking me before breakfast."

"What if there's another attack?" Epps called after him.

"I don't care if it's the President calling. I'll have my beauty sleep." The hangar door opened and shut behind the retreating captain.

Silence lasted for about three seconds, then the black pickup, Ironhide, grunted. "You humans are confusing. First he refuses to recharge, then he refuses to be onlined in case of a crisis."

"Yeah, that about sums us up," Epps said, grinning, and slapped the pickup's hood teasingly, much to Ironhide's displeasure judging by his engine's angry rev.

Sam chose to change the topic and pointed at her teammate. "Guys, I want to introduce you to Dr. Daniel Jackson. He's an archeologist and has been a member of my… unit for several years now. Daniel, these are Optimus Prime, his weapons specialist Ironhide and their medic Ratchet." She pointed at the vehicles in order of naming them. "There's a fourth named Bumblebee." She looked at the hummer questioningly.

"He's been hurt in battle and recharging to restore his energy reserves," the medic readily provided before adding, "Something all of you should do as well."

"Noted," Sam replied. Turning back to Daniel, she continued softly, "The fifth, first lieutenant Jazz, didn't survive the battle."

Daniel's expression showed his surprise. He turned at the vehicles and declared solemnly, "My condolences for your loss."

"Thank you, Dr. Jackson. It is appreciated," Optimus Prime responded.

Silence settled over them. Daniel regarded each vehicle closely; Sam could see he was impressed by the forms they took as well as the relatively flashy paintjobs. If they Autobots found his scrutiny impolite, they didn't show it.

Deciding now was as good a time as any, Sam cleared her throat, catching everyone's attention, and asked, "So, what can you tell us about that war of yours?"

"What would you like to know?" Optimus Prime asked civilly.

She shrugged. "Everything you are willing to share." She would first see what they offered of their own volition before starting to ask the more prying questions.

The Autobots launched into their story without preamble, and it was a quite lengthy one. It started with how the increasing hostilities from the future Decepticons eventually caused the outbreak of their current war. Sam thus learned that the 'Autobots' were one of the two warring factions although, once, all Cybertronians had been referred to as 'Autobots' by other races (friendly and antagonistic), confirming her initial thoughts that the word meant more than just 'autonomous robotic organism.' "But that has been a long time ago when we were still exploring the galaxy to further our thirst of knowledge and ability to understand," Optimus Prime said. "Long before the war even started. None of those still online today can remember those times."

"That's sad," Sam offered, her sentiments unspoken but apparently nevertheless understood for Optimus Prime replied, "Thank you."

The Autobot leader then gave them a basic rundown of their battles on Cybertron, told them about their most memorable victories and heartbreaking defeats. Sam listened attentively, leaving the posing of questions for clarification or out of general curiosity to Daniel. His eyes began to glow visibly – the non-Goa'uld kind of glow – when Optimus started talking about the AllSpark and its subsequent ejection into space to keep it out of Megatron's grasp. It was, apparently, their most sacred artifact, the one object that created new Cybertronian life and sustained it by producing energon, their lifeblood.

"Really?" Daniel asked enthusiastically. "How exactly does that work?" He fished around his pockets for his notebook.

But before any of the Autobots had the chance to respond to that question, Sam held up a hand and said, "Not now, Daniel." He turned to her with a dejected expression, looking like a puppy being begrudged its most favorite toy. Sam sighed and said, "Later, all right? Let them finish first with the history of the war."

He sighed. "Yeah, okay. You're right of course." He gestured at the semi. "You ejected the Cube, and then?"

"Megatron finally saw through our diversion and followed the Cube into space, a development we had thought possible but with low percentage of actually happening," Optimus Prime said. "With their leader gone, the Decepticons beat a hasty retreat. Though technically victorious, it was a dark moment for us Autobots as we had lost many of our friends and comrades in the diversion battle. Cybertron lay barren, and with the Cube gone, our only means of restoring our planet to its former glory was lost. We built the Ark, intending to go search for the AllSpark, hoping to find it before Megatron did."

"Let me guess, you found it," Daniel concluded. "Here on Earth."

"Yes, they did," Sam interjected. "It was destroyed during the battle." Daniel raised his eyebrows at that, but Sam chose to change the topic to something less distressing now that she knew the background of their war. "What about that ability of yours to shift forms?" she asked.

Epps, who had been listening in silence so far, nodded with obvious excitement and added, "Took us quite by surprise when that chopper that attacked Soccent turned into a giant robot just like that." He snipped his fingers.

It was Ratchet who took up the explanation and it became extremely technical. Even Sam had trouble grasping every detail the medic told them. What she did understand was that, apart from a few exceptions (sparklings to be precise, and Sam understood they were the Cybertronians' equivalent to human babies), all Cybertronians had the ability to transform into vehicles. It was a fascinating prospect and she itched studying the transformation process. It was apparently an ability that distinguished them from other robotic lifeforms.

Sam met Epps' and Daniel's surprised expressions. "There are more robots out there?" she asked, alarmed.

"Yes," Optimus Prime said. "Our race had dealings with them in the past. They were not pleasant. Judging from your surprise, you have not yet had contact."

"Be glad that you haven't met them yet," Ironhide added in a grunt, then mumbled something indefinable that could have been a human language or not, Sam wasn't certain. And she definitely wouldn't ask.

For a moment, Epps looked like he was trying to figure something out. Sam watched him closely, wondering whether or not he caught the hidden message in Optimus' words. But then the sergeant shook his head, dismissing whatever thought had bothered him. Sam and Daniel glanced at each other in relief.

Sam then turned back to the Autobots. "Do we have to fear that these robots attack Earth?"

The Autobots didn't reply immediately but they were far from silent. A flurry of electronic sounds went to and fro between them, some of them reaching frequencies that made her ears hurt – Epps' and Daniel's too, if their grimaces were anything to go by. "English, dudes, English," the sergeant grumbled, annoyed, and soon after, the Autobots resumed the conversation in English.

"We do not believe that Earth is in danger of being attacked by the whirr-click chirr-chirrup click click," Optimus Prime said. "The last time we had dealings with them was long before the war started. They have not been seen or heard of since then."

"Does their name not translate into English?" Daniel asked.

"No, it does not," Ironhide replied.

Sam frowned. "The name aside, we didn't count on being attacked by Cybertronians either. There's no guarantee these whatever they're called won't find our planet too."

Ironhide's engine growled. "We've been travelling the galaxy for hundreds of vorns and haven't encountered them. Chances that they will somehow find their way here are nonsignificant."

"A vorn is approximately 83 years of human reckoning," Optimus explained when seeing their expressions of confusion.

It went against her instincts to trust the assessment of aliens she didn't know that well just yet. But judging the relatively dismissive tone of especially Ironhide, she thought it would be for the better to drop the topic. At least for now. "We'll take your word for it," she therefore concluded but made a mental note to mention this possible threat to O'Neill in her report. Maybe they could at least get coordinates of Optimus Prime to avoid heading into those regions of the galaxy.

Epps crossed his arms in front of his chest. "If you don't mind, could you elaborate on the necessity of ejecting the Cube into space? You said it was to keep it out of Megatron's hands, but why doing something this drastic when it was the most holy artifact of your species?"

Optimus Prime settled a little on his axles before patiently answering the sergeant's question – at length. They still hadn't exhausted that topic when Teal'c walked in, about an hour after Sam and Daniel, wide awake and looking like he could move mountains.

Of course, Ratchet scanned him as well – only to reel back visibly. "You have a hole in your stomach!" the medic exclaimed worriedly. Teal'c raised an eyebrow at that, staring at the hummer incredulously. Sam and Daniel burst out laughing, much to Epps' growing confusion, Ratchet's too judging by his irritated huffing. "I don't understand what's so funny about it. With a hole like that it's a miracle he's still even alive!" When neither Sam nor Daniel showed signs of listening to him, he turned back to Teal'c. "Didn't one of your medics check you after battle?" he asked. "I would do it but my knowledge of human physiology is still rather limited."

Teal'c wisely didn't reply, and neither did Sam nor Daniel once they had stopped laughing. Epps seemed put out at that – having correctly guessed that it was his presence preventing the secret to be revealed – but Sam simply said, "Sorry, Sergeant, but that's classified."

"So…" Daniel turned around to Optimus Prime and started bombarding him with in-depth questions regarding the AllSpark, and later their religious beliefs. Much to Sam's surprise, the Autobot commander took Daniel's enthusiasm in stride and provided most of the answers he sought.

Author Note: Cyber cookies to anyone who correctly translates whirr-click chirr-chirrup click click. :D