CHAPTER 88

EPISODE…………THE PEGASUS PROJECT

Jack wasn't very happy about letting them go, but he didn't have much choice. Ford stated that they were all going wherever he liked it or not. He could come along if he was that worried or he could shut up and just go with it. Jack grumbled a lot, but seeing as the President approved of the idea, despite Jack's objections which were mostly just worries since he had no real, proof as it were to make them need to stay and not go. So they were headed there in the Odyssey, except for Teal'c who stayed behind. Daniel was totally energized and practically giddy with excitement. He couldn't wait to get there. His parents got to come as well to take a look around. They were just as fascinated with seeing the place like him.

"It's only a another couple of days Daniel. Just, calm down." he said as they sat in the eatery area and looked out at the hyperspace field.

"But I'm finally going and since we don't have any stops, the wait is almost killing me." he whined.

"See, this is another reason why we all needed to go. Daniel would probably be bothering everyone on the ship if we weren't here to keep him company, or in this case, seated instead of pacing around. Your parents have more restraint."

"Well, um…." he said trying to come up with something. "It may have something to do with the fact they don't work for the SGC and it's a, courtesy, that they are even able to come."

They shook their heads.

"If it wasn't for the danger, I would have really liked Sally to see Atlantis." she muttered.

"Your parents have any objections?" Mitchell asked.

"Dad did. He wanted to come, but mom was not leaving Earth unless we had to evacuate or something. Even after we showed her the gate, still scares her that I go through it."

"Sally didn't want us to go either. She somehow knew we were going to be gone for awhile."

"Longest we've ever been away from her." she muttered.

"Think you can handle it?" Daniel asked.

"Got no choice. Certainly can't go back now." she said looking out the window.

"You could always go back through the gate when we get there." Ford said.

"Not unless you're coming with me."

"I want to, but this is more important. We don't find that weapon…." he said slowly. "Then she and everyone else is already dead. We've got no other way to fight back."

"Unfortunately true General." Mitchell stated.

"I've always wondered something about you Mitchell.." Ford said as Mitchell gave him a curious look, that was also guarded. "If I asked you to talk to me from now on like I didn't have a rank, use my name instead, would you do it?"

"Um…..I don't know. Off duty isn't much of a problem, sometimes." he said crossing his arms. "If you ordered me to do so, then yeah I'd try but otherwise…"

"Thought so. No big deal. Still can't get Teal'c to really change back to calling me Ford Carter. Told me to do so would not be as respectful."

"Are you going to go check out that room of yours when we get there? I mean is it the first thing you are going to do or…" Vala asked.

"I don't know. Maybe look around for awhile, see how the place looks again. While we're having fun with the tour, you and Daniel can look for that info about the weapon."

"But Daniel's boring." Vala whined as Daniel glared at her.

"Jack would agree. But I have little choice in the matter. Daniel is the best one of us to keep you in line, or so the higher ups say. I don't think you'd really try to steal anything while we are here, but certain other's think otherwise."

"You are being watched Vala. Remember what I said?" Mitchell asked.

"Yes." she grumbled.

"I'm wishing I brought the General along. There are some large areas outside the city, well certain areas on the branches were I could drive around."

"You just want to be the first one to drive a vehicle off world. Correction, in another galaxy. You've already done off world." Carter stated. "Unfortunately for you, it's already been done."

"I don't count those Hummers. They are government issue, not civilian. Further those are military vehicles. Besides, mine would be the first car."

"Fine then. In that case, I want to bring my motorcycle if we ever do this."

"Can I get in on this?" Mitchell asked.

(A.U. I assume that Mitchell has some other vehicle that the Mustang he used in a later episode. Until I know otherwise what it is, I'm giving him one.)

"No offense Mitchell, but that truck you have really isn't designed for speed, much less off roading."

"That's true, but I do own another vehicle."

"You do?" Ford asked curious.

"Yep, nice black Mustang. Not a Shelby version like yours Sam, but it is a 65."

"Welcome to the family Cam!" Ford said proudly as he shook the man's hand. "I tried to get Jack to join us in owning special vehicles, but he refused to have anything but that truck."

"Teal'c doesn't have one."

"I worked on the Durango. Tweaked it a bit. But then I really liked that vehicle and we all helped him pick it out. It's what I had before I ended up here, back in the beginning. Durango's are cool."

"I kinda figured that you had the General Lee in that universe." Daniel said.

"Yeah, me too. I never thought otherwise either." Carter said.

"No. It was one of those things that were big collector items along with several other TV cars. Parts weren't easy to find either. Wasn't really a money issue, it was a locating issue. Seeing as that universe was a little more advanced and such. The other problem was because of new rules with pollution issues and things of that nature, using gas powered cars was heavily monitored. My Durango was all electrical, like most vehicles. A Mustang though. Nice choice. How long you've had her?"

"Oh many years. Still practically mint condition. I try not to drive her much except during the summer. Basically good weather days."

"And yet, I've never seen her. I'll have to see her sometime. I could probably do some upgrades."

"I'll think about it."

They talked for a few more hours keeping Daniel busy and such. The day before they were to arrive, Daniel was so excited he wasn't asleep like the rest of the team.

"Daniel…." Ford said as he entered the eatery area seeing Daniel drinking coffee and looking out the window.

The Colonel had asked Ford to do something about the poor doctor who had asked if it was possible to coax just a bit more out of the engines so nothing came up and stopped them from making it. Basically, he was bothering people with all the energy he was buzzing on. His parents were just thrilled to be leaving Earth and seeing Atlantis. So Ford left a sleeping Sam and came out in his SGC issue robe. He got looks because of his Garfield slippers, but no one said anything.

"Hey Ford. No interruptions happened. We'll be there in the morning." he said practically bouncing. "Only a few short hours….."

"Daniel….."

"All this time…."

"Daniel!"

"What?"

"You, like several other's on this ship, need to get some sleep. Now….ah hell, you're practically bouncing with adrenalin and who knows what. I'm going to get you a sleep aid. And quit drinking that coffee."

"No, I don't….."

"That's what I thought." he said pulling a zat out and stunning the poor man before he could say anything.

"Thank you sir. I didn't think he was going to ever leave. He just kept talking out loud about going to Atlantis finally, over and over….."

"I got it airman. He ragged the Colonel enough that he was told to get off the bridge." he said picking Daniel off the floor. "Sorry about the coffee."

"Don't worry about it."

The next morning, they arrived on the bridge, with Daniel really hyped up. He wasn't to thrilled about being stunned to sleep last night, but it did get him closer to Atlantis, in a sense sooner.

"Odyssey this is flight. You are cleared for landing." a voice said through the com.

"Understood flight. We have the beacon." the Colonel stated as SG-1 came onto the bridge.

"Wow. Been awhile." Ford muttered as he walked up to the window and looked at the planet. "A very long while."
They exited the cloud to see the city floating as always on the large ocean. The bright sun beaming down gave them a good look at the different angels, some of which shined brightly.

"Hey, do a quick circle around her for me Lieutenant before you land." Ford said not looking away.

The Lieutenant looked at the Colonel and he nodded.

"God, this is beautiful." Daniel said in awe.

"Odyssey, this is Weir. I wanted to be first to say welcome to Atlantis." Weir said over the com.

"Thank you Doctor Weir." the Colonel said as the ship tilted slightly. "We are getting a fair view of your city even as we approach."

"Colonel, what is your ship doing?" Weir asked.

"The General wanted us to do a quick swing around before landing."

"General?" Weir asked confused.

"You didn't tell her you were coming did you?" Daniel asked hearing the tone in her voice.

"Nope. I had it kept secret." Ford said as the Colonel stated that Ford came along with SG-1. "Wanted to surprise her."

"Understood Colonel. Be advised, Stargate Command got a message to be sent along stating that they want the mission started as soon as you land and to get back to Earth as soon as possible."

Ford and Daniel groaned.

"Look on the bright side Daniel, you made it here." Carter said.

"Hey, we may…" Ford said suddenly pointing. "I lived in that section. Anyway, we may find out the info quickly and then be able to look around as the supplies and such are off loaded."

"We can hope." Daniel said as the ship came back around to the landing pad.

"Well, let's get going." Mitchell said as the ship swung around away from the city to be looking out across the ocean.

Daniel was the last one to leave the bridge muttering about the fact he was happy he brought his camera.

Doctor Weir was waiting in the gate room when they all arrived. Sheppard was waiting there with her as was a few others. McKay wasn't among them.

"General. Is there a reason why you didn't info us of your arrival?" Weir asked.

"Um. Surprise you maybe?" he said with a small smile. "Seriously, it was that and I didn't want a special reception or anything."

"And why did you think we'd do something like that sir?" Sheppard asked.

"John?" Weir asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember that rule the General made?"

"Oh right, I'm sorry. I'll try better in the future. Same question though General."

"I'm guessing you never told anyone yet?"

"That you are one of the original people who used to live here? Only a few people really know that, but I think that will expand quite a bit today." she said looking around.

"I really don't care anymore. Sometime today I'm going to that section of the city to open the door. And grab a few things I left."

"Not a problem. So, did you all have a nice trip?"

There was a chorus of yes's.

"Daniel was so excited last night the General had to zat him asleep." Mitchell stated.

"Really? Well, let's get your mission started and maybe you'll get it over with in time to get a look around Doctor Jackson."

"Is McKay around?" Carter asked as they headed for the briefing room.

"He should be arriving shortly Colonel. Considering some of the…history you three have had…"

"History?" Vala asked to Daniel quietly.

"McKay wants Sam, but she never liked him."

"Ah."

"I don't think we'll have any troubles with him. Just wanted to know if he was here or off world." Carter said.

The lit up tables, which formed a partial octagon shape, three sections missing, all sat facing toward a large TV monitor which showed detailed information and a picture of the large Supergate. Weir sat at the middle table while the other two, on either side sat the other's. On her right sat Carter, then Ford, then Sheppard and finally Vala. Her left was Mitchell, then McKay and Daniel. There was three more monitors behind the tables. One behind Weir, one behind Ford and one behind McKay. All of them against the wall.

"The Ori Supergate has been inactive since they sent in their first wave. It's been reported that the Priors are saying that they are waiting for reinforcements for their armies. Now we can only assume that means more ships, which could arrive at any time. And these four are already more than we can handle." Carter stated.

"Why didn't you try dialing out? I mean if it is powered…." McKay asked.

"We tried, and failed. Then the ships came and you know the rest. After they left, we tried again, but still no luck." Ford said twirling his thumbs in his lap.

"Oh." McKay muttered sitting back.

"The Asguard have even tried, but no such luck as of yet either." Carter said.

"But you have a plan to supposedly dial in?" Weir asked.

"There's a problem with that. It was designed to dial in from another galaxy." Carter said pointing at the screen.

"Like one of the Stargate's in the Pegasus?" Sheppard asked.

"No, no, no." McKay stated quickly. "The diameter of a Stargate is not arbitrary. There is a specific correlation between the energy required to create a stable wormhole…"

"And the size of the gate. I know that." Carter stated as Ford dropped his head shaking it.

Even Daniel realized it had already started between the two. Mitchell rose an eyebrow but kept quiet. Weir sighed and Vala looked a little surprised. She'd never seen Carter in a competitive mood. Sheppard rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as he gave Ford a glance which Ford noticed. There was a subliminal question in his eyes which asked, are you going to stop them?

"And it's exponentially proportional to its size." McKay stated a little loudly. "Which means the energy required to make a connection to a Supergate would far exceed that of a normal gate. It would be like putting together a Saint Bernard and a Chihuahua."

"And the problem with that would be?" Vala asked.

"Well, it's obviously a question of…." McKay began.

"They are dogs, those…." Ford began.

"I know what a dog is. I've seen some pictures."

"The Saint Bernard is a huge breed of dog, biggest I think." Ford said holding his hand out above the table to show the size. "This is if the dog was on the table. The Chihuahua is this big."

"Okay." she said with some understanding.

Daniel and Ford both were glad to see she didn't make any or certain references pertaining to sex like she used to.

"Colonel, if you would please continue." Weir asked.

"I want to look around so I'll sum it up. Sorry Liz. Teal'c isn't here because he is at that Supergate. Our plan that we came up with before and on the way here is to use another gate, one of the normal ones to try and use it to dial the Supergate." Ford said as Carter opened her mouth.

"You're going to try and make some sort of jump." McKay stated.

"Can you even do that?" Sheppard asked.

"Yes." Mitchell said. "One of Colonel Carter's more brilliant planet saving ideas back then. Stargate Command inadvertently dialed a planet that was on a collision course with a black hole and it therefore made it impossible to shut down the gate. P34 5W1 if memory serves correctly."

"How do you do that?" Ford asked then looked at Carter. She nodded that Mitchell was right. "I can't remember the last planet we went to, the designation anyway."

"It's a gift."

"Before the base and everything else was swallowed up, we set off a shaped charge at the event horizon and it made the wormhole jump to another gate." Carter said pointing a device at the screen behind Weir.

"And if we can do it again, we can tie up the Ori Supergate indefinitely." Mitchell said.

"Even if you were to establish and initial connection…." McKay began.

"We need a nuke, we know." Mitchell said.

"And a dialing crystal enabling…."

"We have one." Mitchell stated with a tone that he was already tired of McKay.

"And if you want to keep an open connection for more than 38 minutes…."

"Yak, yak, yak!" he stated loudly seeing Ford trying not to laugh.

"You'll need to find a black hole in the Pegasus Galaxy!"

"Yes we know! This isn't our first barbeque Doctor McKay." Mitchell stated.

"He's handling him pretty well." Ford muttered through a few light chuckles.

"Very well." Carter said with a smile that Weir not only noticed but agreed with.

"I'm just saying that the yield calculations can be extremely risky.." McKay stated tapping the table forcefully with his finger. "If not borderline impossible!"

"He argues with everyone, right?" Ford asked looking at Sheppard.

"Including himself sometimes."

"Very funny Sheppard." McKay said glaring at him.

"Look, we have this all planned out. K-9 helped with the calculations…." Ford said.

"Is he here, because I don't see him."

"No, he stayed on Earth with Sally."

"So if something goes wrong he won't be here to help fix any mistakes. In which case you need my help."

Ford tilted his head back rubbing his face as Vala laughed lightly.

"Colonel Carter said as much."

"Vala, we weren't suppose to tell him that." Carter said.

"Oh. Sorry."

"You think you can spare Rodney from your team?" Weir asked.

"Hell, you guys can keep him." Sheppard stated with a smile.

"Nice." Mitchell muttered as McKay smiled about the opportunity.

He got up and headed out of the room with Sheppard following. As they left.

"Since us three will be working together, I expect you two to be nice and try your best not to compete against each other." Ford said looking at two certain people.

"Excuse me?" she said.

"You heard me Colonel. I know you two. You both started going at it a moment ago and there was plenty of witnesses to back me up. Seriously, I want you two to be on your best behavior and work nice together. We're suppose to be concentrating on saving not only everyone in this galaxy, but Earth's as well."

"I agree General. Sometimes it's bad enough McKay and Zelenka go at it." Weir said giving the two a look.

"I can do that." McKay stated. Ford heard the underlining tone that said as long as she realizes I'm better.

"And McKay…"

"Yes?"

"Don't be hitting on her either."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Somehow, Ford actually felt McKay meant that, physically anyway.

"I got to tell you Sheppard. You really got a nice place here." Mitchell stated as he looked down at the floor near the gate.

"Thanks." he said looking around slightly. "We just painted."

He turned and walked away from the room toward the control room.

"Well, good luck." Sheppard said following. "If McKay starts being a bother or such, just…."

"Shoot him, got it."

"Good. Also, he's mortally allergic to citrus."

"Really?"

"Yep. I keep one of these with me at all times." he said removing a lemon from his inner jacket pocket. "Just a comfort to know, it's there."

"That's good intel." he said grabbing it as it was tossed. "Thanks."

"That was a good one." McKay stated with a laugh as he saw the exchange. "We are actually quite close."

"You got your bags packed yet?"

"Right." he said running off as the rest of the team came toward them.

Carter saw what was in Mitchell's hand and laughed.

"Damn, we haven't even started the mission really and already Mitchell has a lemon. You've got to learn to be more optimistic Colonel.."

"Very funny General." he said pocketing it as the two Carter's cracked up.

Daniel only got the joke slightly as he and Weir watched the two descend the steps.

"Well, enjoy it while you can Daniel." Mitchell said.

"Wish I was going with you."

"No you don't."

"You're right, I don't."

"As I said Jackson, enjoy it while you can. Find that weapon."

"Right, no pressure." he said as Mitchell walked away.

"Yes, your desire to access the Atlantis database seemed quite urgent Doctor Jackson." Weir said. "Let's go."

"Um, where's Vala?" he asked looking around.

"This way." Weir said seeing her out on the balcony.

Vala was looking out over and down at the city. She was quite impressed and was so busy looking she almost didn't hear the doors open and them walk out.

"Oh." she said turning after hearing their boots. "I can see why you wanted to come here Daniel. This place must be full of wonderful…..souvenirs."

That last word she mentioned quietly in his ear. He gave her a look as Weir looked at her hearing it.

"So, how much of the city have you been able to explore?"

"Just over half about now. But we have the city schematics so we know where just about everything is now. With some exceptions, such as the General's room."

"Can't access it at all?"

"DNA lock out, apparently."

"Ah. Interesting."

"There's entire sections of this city and other systems we don't even pretend to understand." she said

"You could spend a lifetime trying."

"I hope to. I'm not saying this to make it sound like I'm…overconfident or something similar, but it really feels me with great pride and respect that Ford, which still shocks me sometimes knowing what he is and that he came from here, that he trust me to keep Atlantis safe until we can get it back to Earth."

"You make it sound like he's going to take the city away if it does ever get to Earth." Daniel said.

"He mentioned something along the lines of running the place and such when we the city back on Earth. Seeing as it takes so many people to run the place, I gathered he would want me to stay and help out. Before this I was a diplomat and when we get this place home, he'll need someone keeping other's from trying to forcibly take it over."

"That and when the technology starts being shared, he'll need someone to help make sure one place doesn't get more than the other and such."

"That too. Diplomacy isn't his field. Come on, let's go find what you need." she said heading back in. "Oh, I ran that search you asked for. I entered every pronunciation of Castiana and Sahal that I could come up with."

"And nothing?" he asked as he followed her down the steps with Vala beside him.

"You didn't actually expect either of those names to be in there did you?"

"No." he said as people around them, lots of people were moving items from the Odyssey into the place and such. It was really busy.

"Did you get the spelling right?" Vala asked as they turned off to the right.

"Well, that's the problem with Ancient languages, you can get the pronunciation to change within a handful of generations, but let alone a thousand years, the etymology of an individual word can change entirely."

"Well, we know that there is something in the Atlantis library." Daniel stated as Vala tugged on his coat.

"Hey, do we have to go in there straight away? Can't we do a little site seeing first?"

"No. If we get lucky and find out what we need to know quickly, then maybe yes, until then, we need to find that information." he said pushing her along. "Where are my parents?"

"Getting a tour at the moment. They plan to look around for a week or so before going back." Weir said.

"Wish I could stay that long." he muttered.

"This is the Captain. Standby for lift off."

That came over the com as the three scientist were working in the room on the ship with the nuke bombs.

"You can check my preliminary yield calculations on that station over there." Carter stated pointing at a computer nearby while she was working on the open head of the warhead.

"Yeah, sure." McKay muttered looking at the screen.

"No faults here. This one's ready to go." Ford said after he finished checking one. "You can move it off airman."

"I have to say, even though I see that nothing is ever going to happen between us now….."

"McKay, there never was a us. Even before he arrived, I was totally interested in someone else."

"Yes, General O'Neill." he said with some resentment.

"Everyone knew Sam. They just didn't announce it out loud. Jack admitted it to a few people after we got married, but he also admitted he was never going to try and take you away from me. And then he got Charlie back."

"Anyway, my point is even though nothing is going to happen, I just wanted to say thank you for the opportunity to be able to work with you anyway."

"Thanks, I think."

Weir took them to the room where a hologram of a slightly long dark haired woman in a bright white dress appeared before them, slightly in the air. A tall hexagonal computer interface was just outside the platform that the hologram came.

"We use this room sparingly now. It's a bit of a power hog, and we can access the database from workstations all through the city now." she said as she waved at the system. "But for the first time user, this is the place."

The hologram didn't move, much. Other than the look of breathing and her eyes blinking as Weir stepped unto the small enclosure at the bottom of the hex.

"It's as simple as asking questions to a holographic interface, for example…."

"Doctor Weir, report to Stargate operations." a voice said as they heard alarms go off.

"I'll be right there." she said touching the small headpiece on her ear as she got off and headed for the door. "The interface can walk you through your search until I get back. Oh, and I should tell you, if she seems to be a little be patronizing, she was designed to teach young children the Atlantian system."

"Thank you." he said as she left.

The door closed and he got on the hex as Vala made a jump for it. As expected the woman showed back up again.

"Hello."

"Hello, we are looking for a couple of planets in the Milky Way…."

"Vala."

"What? What can it hurt to ask?"

"You may enter your command verbally or by manually using the console in front of you." the hologram stated.

"I'll speak, if that's alright." he said giving Vala a look.

"Of course, but note for future actions, most system requirements need manual interaction."

"I think I had her in grade five." he muttered.

"What?" Vala asked really confused.

The Odyssey did find a black hole and Ford mentioned it really looked like the one they came across when they had that incident with the multiple versions of SG-1. When both Carter and McKay started to explain it, he told them never mind.

"Maintain orbit at minimal safe distance and keep the sub light engines online." the Colonel ordered the Lieutenant on his left.

Carter was next to the chair looking at the screen while McKay was behind the command chair. Ford was near the window looking out at it while resting his right hand on the wall. Mitchell was a few feet away from the front of the chair looking out as well.

"Is that thing cool or what?" Mitchell asked as McKay walked up beside him.

"Hmm."

"The black hole?"

"What you are looking at is called the accretion disk. It's matter trapped in the gravity well. You can't actually see the black hole itself."

"I know. I've heard the scientific reason behind it from Colonel Carter." Mitchell said turning slightly. "I was up close to one once before."

"A little too close in some ways." Ford muttered.

"We're in optimal range for releasing the gate. We can commit to the next phase." Carter said to the Colonel.

"This is Colonel Pendergast to flight operations. Release the gate."

One of the hanger bays opened and a set of clamps released the gate into the vacuum. It started to float away when three small thrusters kicked on a different times pushing the gate toward the event horizon.

"Bye, bye." Ford said with a small wave as they all saw it float away. "Good thing these things are somewhat abundant."

"True." Mitchell stated.

"Well, it's going to be a few minutes until the gate is in position and we can try dialing out." McKay said looking at his watch. "Well, I missed lunch, so I'm going to go fix myself a sandwich, anyone want anything? Anyone?"

Everyone but Ford gave him a look.

"That isn't a bad idea. I could use some chocolate." Ford said turning around. "Does this boat have M&M's or Reese's Colonel?"

"Vending machine in the mess hall General."

"Thanks. Must have missed it." he said walking out. "Ate all the chocolate I brought on the way to this galaxy."

"Yeah, about ten pounds worth." Carter muttered after Rodney left.

"He ate ten pounds of chocolate on the trip?" the Colonel asked really surprised. "And he didn't get sick?"

"Well, most of it. And it was more like sixteen pounds." she said fidgeting slightly. "I had, some."

No one was dumb enough to touch that.

Above the head of the hologram was a large picture of a spiraling galaxy.

"Okay, that is Earth and that is Taonos." Daniel said looking up as he leaned on the computer system. "Hmm."

"Praclarush Taonos was one of the earliest Lantian cities. It was abandoned when the inhabitants learned that their sun was nearing the end of its life."

Vala was getting bored quickly and apparently all the questions that Daniel had been asking were not getting the responses they needed. And Daniel still hadn't asked the easiest or obvious way, at least according to Vala. So this time around she was making movements with her hand as Daniel dropped his as the hologram talked.

"Yes, thank you, I know. I've been there. Show me the order in which the earliest Ancient cities were founded."

"How is that useful?" Vala asked. "You going to draw up all the pretty dots and make a picture?"

They both didn't notice it, but the woman looked directly at Daniel and then started straight ahead again.

"I'm just trying to get my bearings. You're just going to have to get use to the fact that this is probably going to take awhile."

"The way you approach things, it could take the rest of our lives." she said with a mocking tone and smile. "Well, yours anyway."

"We are not going to find the location of this thing by looking under 'W' for weapons." he said forcefully as she walked to his right side.

"P for planet then? I'm just saying, ask the obvious. What can it hurt?"

"It would be a complete waste of time." he grumbled.

"It would take all of eleven seconds." she said with that tone again.

"Fine! Hello, we are looking for two planets. Known in ancient times in the dialect of old English on Earth as Castiana and Sahal." he said with a hint of sarcasm. "See. Nothing, satisi…"

"Taos Valclarush and Valos Cor."

Daniel was shocked. Very shocked.

"Now I am." Vala said closing his mouth by pushing on his bottom jaw.

He was further shocked when the planets came up on the galaxy map above them and with gate addresses.

"See Daniel, it doesn't hurt to ask."

He wasn't looking at the map anymore, he was staring at the woman. Who just kept breathing. And blinking, quite a lot actually.

"That was too easy."

"Maybe it happened or I should say is happening because you deserve a break and what do you know, it happened. Well, not you specifically."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ford once mentioned, actually a number of times I think, that SG-1 needed a break every now and then and he hadn't seen much of a good one in awhile. This looks like one."

"Still think it's too easy." he said looking at her again. He could almost swear he saw a hint of a smile.

"Gate telemetry is normal. The stabilizing thrusters are online. Power levels are in the green." Carter said moving from a monitor showing the ship's position from the black hole to a control console nearby on the bridge.

"Phase one is working. Now we get ready to play with explosives." Ford said watching a monitor in the back.

"Yep. Blew up one in my career, might as well go for a few more." Mitchell stated as he looked at her console. "Where's McKay?"

"I'm right here. Great sandwich by the way General."

"You made him a sandwich?" Mitchell asked.

"He wasn't the only one. When you've done it as much as I have, it becomes second nature. Real quick and easy. Had one myself."

"So, we ready to go?" McKay asked rubbing his hands together.

"Yeah, we're ready to make the connection."

"That will be the easy part." he said walking over to look at Carter's panel.

"I've just set the remote dial command. It's going to take awhile because of the time dilatation." she said as McKay nodded and walked to the monitor behind him. Ford walked up glancing at her controls. "Were you taking pictures again?"

"A few. The other black hole was much bluer."

"Yeah, I think it was." she said as her console and the monitor beeped. "Wormhole established."

Mitchell nodded after she nodded at him.

"Teal'c, I have a collect call from the Pegasus galaxy. Will you accept the charges?"

"With as much money as we have, we could never afford it." Ford muttered with a chuckle as Teal'c responded. Even she laughed lightly at the joke.

"I will indeed Colonel Mitchell." he said in a slightly distorted voice.

"Hey T, how are things back in the Milky Way?"

"The second gate is in position. There has been no Ori activity since my arrival at the Supergate." he stated a few seconds later. "Which was in fact several hours ago."

"I told him to bring a book or even a game system." Ford muttered.

"That's what Jack always did." she said.

"Well, we're about to get the party started, so just hang loose." Mitchell stated over his com, seconds later.

"I am hanging loosely Colonel Mitchell." he said seconds later again.

"Is it just me or does his voice sound deeper?" Mitchell asked.

"Time dilatation." the two Carter's said.

"He probably heard you sounding funny too." Ford said.

"Okay, then my hearing is just fine then." he said walking toward them. "So, who wants to set off a big Ol' firecracker?"

"That's a 26 megaton direct energy firecracker, you mean?" McKay asked sternly. "Not until we decrease the yield by 5."

"I knew you were going to say that." she said shaking her head.

"Oh forgive me…." McKay began.

Ford put his hands between the two of them since they were practically close enough to kiss, which really interfered with his comfort zone and he pushed them apart, gently, startling her more than McKay. He didn't say anything, but gave them both a look as he cleared his throat.

"I assume you saw K-9's calculations McKay?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now, for the sake of the argument I know that you were starting, we'll try it with a five percent decrease. K-9 gave what I call a rather slim margin of error, which you have went over…"

"Over? His calculations stated…."

"We know. A 3.5679 margin of error McKay." she said. "He also calculated that the gate could handle it and quite possibly a 2.739 increase in the yield."

"Look, we destroy the gate…."

"We can't try this again. I know!"

"Can we do this before the second coming?" Mitchell asked. "Colonel."

Sam nodded and walked over taking the console to the right of Colonel Pendergast.

"Teal'c, this is Sam. We are about to launch the first warhead. Are you at a safe distance from both gates?"

"I am."

"Attention all hands. Standby for the launching of the first warhead." the Colonel stated over the ship com as the alarms went off.

Ford slipped his glasses on and stood just off to the side of her console with Mitchell.

"Beaming device in three, two, one, mark."

Teal'c was in the ship looking out at the large Supergate and the normal Stargate that was floating just above the bigger gate. A massive energy burst that looked like a flame shot forth from the gate electrifying the Supergate. Unfortunately, it didn't activate it.

"That was rather cool." Ford said being the only one that was able to really look at the explosion without squinting.

"Teal'c, what's the good news?"

Seconds passed by.

"This delay is annoying." McKay muttered from behind her.

"The news is not good Colonel Mitchell. The first attempt was unsuccessful."

"Well, let's try again. With a higher yield." Carter stated.

Back at Atlantis, Daniel was still looking at the woman.

"What's wrong? We got what we came for?"

"Yeah, but like I said, still to easy."

"Come on Daniel, let's go tell the rest of SG-1 the good news."

"Not yet."

She groaned as she crossed her arms.

"Why can't you look at this as a good thing?" she said waving her hands. "We have what we wanted, and yes, it seems to easy. Why can't you just live with that?"

"Because it shouldn't have worked. I mean, I didn't expect it to when I asked Elizabeth to try, I thought there'd be at least some remnant, some vague similarity between Castiana and Sahal and their Ancient counterparts."

"She wouldn't lie though. She's a hologram. Something Ford mentioned on more than one occasion that he wants to look at."

"He's told me that too. How about this, how can a database translate a language spoken 8,000 years after the Ancients abandoned Atlantis?"

Took her a moment to realize what he meant.

"That's a tough one."

He nodded and turned back to the hologram.

"Is there a archived visual record of the Atlantians that fled to Earth?"

"There is."

"Display them for me, one at a time."

She dropped her head and walked over to sit against the wall.

They were coming from a section of the ship, other than the bridge. Both Carter's, Mitchell and McKay were together walking toward another part of the ship. The three were arguing as Mitchell followed behind just watching.

"No, no, no. Look, I don't care what that dog of yours says. We use to much power and boom, there goes the gate." McKay stated sternly. "Need I remind you we only have one…."

"Yes, yes, yes. We only have one gate and that's on either side. If we blow them both up then everything is lost." Ford said.

"Look McKay, we don't use that much power, there won't be enough power in the energy stream to make the gate jump." she said.

"And too much power will cause the gates destruction. Look, you want to run high power, but you've only got an extension cord. Look, it is impossible and I've told you both so….."

"Rodney, no offense, but K-9 rarely makes mistakes. Hell, because of him, we've gotten additional information on the gate we didn't know about." Ford said.

"Yeah, I saw the data. Those gate buster bombs won't work on a Stargate if it is a hundred or so miles away from the gate. That close would only knock it around. I know you trust her and that dog, but I do know what I am talking about…"

"Excuse me?" she said glaring at him as they stopped. "Rodney, I'm really trying to work with you but….."

"Hey, hey, hey." Mitchell said stepping between them all. "Look, you are all the smartest we have and working against each other is not helping. Let go of your pride and ego's and figure this out."

"I have figured this out, but they won't listen." Rodney said crossing his arms as she kept glaring at him. "You know you look…..never mind."

They took off again after Ford gave Rodney a look and then gave her a gentle push.

"This isn't the same Rodney McKay I heard all about." Mitchell said.

"I know." the two muttered.

"Wait, what stories? What have you heard?"

"Well, for starters, that you didn't know the meaning of the word impossible."

"I can certainly understand that…."

Ford and Carter shared a glance with a knowing smile. All you had to do was, stroke McKay's ego and he'd do whatever you thought couldn't be done, scientifically speaking.

"And under the thought of impending death, you could work absolute miracles."

"Ah, I suppose Sheppard told you that?"

"Yes he did."

"Well, it's all true, but I'm not under the threat of impending death." he said and then quickly pointed at Ford as they all stopped. "I haven't done anything to make you make any sort of…threat against me."

"He's a got a point. Annoyance and attitude aren't enough justification to allow me to threaten him." Ford said crossing his arms.

"No need to think of anything General. Sheppard gave me a piece of advice, in a sense." Mitchell said reaching into his pocket.

Rodney stepped back as a lemon was waved at him.

"Is that…."

"Real? Oh yeah. Keep it up…." he said giving it a squeeze.

"Okay." he said with fear as he backed away. "I'll just go and see if I can come up with something else then."

"You do know that citrus is very lethal to him?"

"Yeah General." he said tossing it in the air before putting it back in his pocket. "Skin isn't broken though. Like I said, just taking a bit of advice from Sheppard."

"I hate to say this, but he's right. With those scans we got back, using that much power could destroy the gate." she said.

"It's possible." Ford said as they kept walking. "But I'm looking at the fact that a lot of that power, even though it is being directed at the gate, some of it will be sucked up by the gravitational forces of that black hole. K-9 did state that the black hole could have a great influence on what we are doing. Besides, there is no, friction, such as ground in the way of the blast so it won't all be concentrated on the gate, which means, less effect on the gate than if we were exploding the bomb on a planet."

"Yeah. That makes sense." she said. "I really didn't take into account the gravitational force, much less the, friction idea."

"Good thing that we got McKay to leave. I've heard that stroking his ego can be bad for everyone else's health." Mitchell said.

"Yeah, McKay tends to brag sometimes." she said.

Daniel was still looking through different images as Vala yawned.

"As exciting as it is to view the Atlantis family album….."

"I'm looking for someone in particular."

"I don't know of any ten thousand year old Ancients. Well, we obviously don't count Ford even though he's actually older. However, if he was here, he could probably point people out. But he's not."

She looked up as she noticed that the images had stopped on one.

"I take that back, we know him." she said getting up.

She hit some button and the woman showed up beside the image.

"Moros was the last High Councilor of Atlantis."

"Well, apart from the funny hat, he's a spitting image of Merlin, isn't he?" she asked.

"In Arthur's time it was Myrddin. You can see where a word can change over the centuries."

"I know where you are going. You think that Merlin or Myrddin or whatever his name was came back to Atlantis at some stage and hid these names here as clues for us to find."

"No."

"No?"

"The first human to set foot in this city after it was abandoned was Doctor Elizabeth Weir. Current leader of the Atlantis expedition." the hologram said.

"Are you sure of that?" Vala asked.

"Evidence of his presence would have been recorded."

"Well darling, I guess that's it." she said patting him on the arm and then headed for the door. "We'll have to leave here with exactly what we came looking for."

"No, I already knew that Merlin was in the archive, I was looking for someone else. Wasn't too surprise to see Ford's parents." he said tapping at the console.

"Who?" she asked standing on his left.

"You chose your words carefully when you said, the first human to set foot in the city. What about ascended beings?"

The hologram didn't respond, just kept blinking, a lot for some reason.

"I knew it. You're not a hologram are you." Daniel stated.

It was a brief moment and then she turned and looked right at him. Surprised Vala.

"You have your answer Daniel Jackson, I suggest you act on it." the hologram said then vanished.

"I did it." McKay stated as he came onto the bridge with one of the laptop's that didn't have a lid. More like an electronic etch a sketch with computer capabilities. "I figured out the problem….."

"Just skip to what we missed please. Time is important here." Ford ordered.

"Very well." he said pushing button on the computer he was holding. "Our energy output problem isn't one of degree, but of duration."

"Ah. I wonder why K-9 didn't factor that in?"

"Impending death or in his case deletion…"

"McKay." Mitchell warned putting his hand into his pocket after seeing a look come across his friends faces.

"All we need to do is calibrate the explosion with a low enough yield that the gate will survive, but there be a high enough energy output to have a cumulative effect on the matter stream. You see…."

"We use two bombs." they said together.

"You two are really creepy." Mitchell said as the Colonel walked up.

"And we do this how?" the Colonel asked.

"We have the second bomb go off seconds after the first. The right calculations…." she said.

"They are right here." McKay stated holding up the computer which Ford took. "Hey!"

"I'm just checking the figures. If it helps your stroke ego any Rodney, I do the same with Sam's."

"Oh well, that's good, I guess."

"And I check his when he does something."

Rodney's face fell some.

"And we have K-9 check ours and just about everyone else who has a big project." Ford said handing the computer to her. "Looks fine to me."

"Nice job McKay." she said reading it.

"Yes well, it does help to threaten me." he said looking at Mitchell.

The Colonel looked at Mitchell for an explanation but seeing Ford shake his head with a small smile, he figured it wasn't important info.

"We only have four bombs left."

"Yes, which means we have two shots at trying. Let's try to get it right the first time." Ford said.

"I agree. I'm worried that two blast will destabilize the stabilizing thrusters on the gate and drive it further into the event horizon of the black hole. I'm not crazy about the idea of bring the Odyssey any closer to that thing." the Colonel said.

"Me either, but we have little choice. This has to succeed or else the Ori will take over our galaxy in no time. Those reinforcements have to be held off." Ford said.

"Agreed. Let's get this over with and my ship out of the danger zone while we still can."

The three headed off the bridge as the Colonel informed the ship they were getting ready to try again and to get the ship ready as well.

It was about mid-day at Atlantis. Pretty much clear skies with clouds here and there. Elizabeth entered the control room asking what was going on.

"Elizabeth, we've detected a Wraith hive ship on long range sensors." Radek said as he walked over showing her the scanner.

"Is it headed for here?"

"Toward the Odyssey."

"We should alert them. Open a channel." she said turning to a man at a station nearby.

"We can't." Radek stated quickly. "The black hole is blocking their subspace communications."

"And Odysseys sensors will also be effected?"

"Most likely. Along with several other systems."

"There's a possibility of them not seeing the Wraith until it's too late."

"That is my concern, yes."

"Dial Earth." she ordered going to the main console. "It's quite possible the Wraith were drawn to the nuclear blast."

The gate opened with no trouble and she input her code.

"Stargate Command, this is Weir."

"Doctor, we weren't expecting to hear from you until 1930 hours tomorrow. Is everything okay?" Walter asked.

"No. We've detected a Wraith ship on long range sensors and it's headed for the Odyssey. They are in close proximity of the black hole which is hampering communications."

"How can we help?"

"If you can send our message to Teal'c, he should be able to alert them through the Stargate's."

"We'll have to send a team with a sub space transmitter closer to Teal'cs position."

"Whatever it takes Sergeant. I'm forwarding our message now, but you're going to have to send it fast."

"We'll get right on it ma'am."

"Thank you, Weir out." she said then looked at the guy. He nodded and shut the gate off as she turned to Radek. "I'm going to go check on Doctor Jackson and apprise him of what's happening."

Daniel and Vala were both walking on the platform that the hologram was on.

"We know you are still here. It is no use hiding." Daniel shouted.

"I don't think she is coming back." Vala said pacing. "Especially if you shout at her."

"Yes she is. She's going to finish what she started, you're not fooling anybody anymore!" he shouted as Weir entered the room.

"Doctor Jackson." she said making them both turn around.

"Oh hi." he said looking back toward the ceiling.

"Hi. Who are you talking to?"

"Oh, I don't know what she's calling herself these days, but at one point in history, she used to be called Morgan Le Fay!" he said shouting her last name at the ceiling.

"Morgan Le Fay was here?" Weir asked walking up slowly.

"Posing as a hologram, yes." he said still looking up.

"May I?" she asked pointing at the hexagonal control console.

"Oh, yes." he said as he and Vala got off.

Weir stepped onto it and the hologram showed up again.

"Hello."

"That's her." Vala stated.

"You can enter your query verbally or you can manu…."

"You know, you can drop the school teacher act!" Daniel exclaimed.

"This is a computer generated Atlantian woman who lived ten thousand years ago. I'm pretty familiar with the program. It hasn't changed." Weir said waving at the hologram and console.

Daniel shook his head.

"Question, whose avatar is your image based on and what is the purpose of your program?" Weir asked.

"This program was created by Ganos Lal, in her image, with the purpose of assisting younger minds."

"Okay, what makes you think otherwise?" Weir asked.

"For starters, she told us exactly what we wanted." Vala said.

"She did?"

Daniel nodded.

"Is this thing capable of playing back things that happened earlier in a session?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Go back to the last sentence she said to me before she disappeared."

The image barely changed and then she looked at Daniel again.

"You have your answer Daniel Jackson, I suggest you act on it."

The image changed back, and she was looking at Daniel again. But they didn't notice.

"See, see? Her demeanor completely changed." Vala stated pointing a finger. "She looked directly at Daniel."

"I did warn you this device could be patronizing."

"You said this device uses a lot of power, right? Is there any way of determining how much power we've used?"

She nodded and asked the control room through her ear piece to check.

"None." a voice reported back a few seconds later.

"None? Are you sure?"

"Well, the lights are on, but other than that."

"Hey." Vala said snapping her fingers at Morgan. "We got you."

"I think I owe you an apology Doctor Jackson." Weir said as he shook his head.

Morgan relaxed and turned slightly to him.

"There is no need Doctor Weir. I'm the one who should apologize."

The other two weren't stunned, but Weir was.

Teal'c was just sitting there keeping quiet and watching the large gate. He almost jumped when the radio came to life.

"Teal'c, this is Mitchell. We are about to make another attempt. Looks like this is one of those days when one nuke is not enough. We are going to use two in rapid succession."

"Understood Colonel Mitchell."

"Maintain a good, safe distance Teal'c. There is a possibility of vaporizing both gates if we get this wrong." Carter said from the console of the Colonels right.

"I don't think we'll destroy the gate." Ford said leaning against the console to her right.

"What makes you say that?" McKay asked as he walked back and forth behind the command chair. "One of those future things we keep hearing about?"

"No. I think we underestimate the craftsmanship and quality put into building the gates. I think they are designed to withstand a lot of punishment on purpose or else they wouldn't have lasted this long."

"He's got a point." Mitchell said in agreement. "Hell, we've found gates buried in dried up lava beds. Okay Sam, whenever you're ready."

"Coordinates set." she said pressing buttons. "Beaming warheads in five, four, three, two, one…"

While everyone else on the bridge squinted or looked away, Ford had his glasses on, again.

"Wow. Rather spectacular site." Ford said.

"Yeah, you're the only one that gets to look at it without seeing problems." Mitchell said still squinting.

Teal'c watched as power and the blast wave surged from the gate electrifying the Supergate. It lasted a few moments and then quit. The gate did not engage.

"Teal'c, any luck this time?" Ford asked hitting the button.

"This delay really sucks." Mitchell stated after a few seconds.

"I regret to inform you that the attempt has failed."

"Great." Ford muttered. "Last chance to try, let's go all out."

"Agreed. I can set them for maximum yield…."

"Wait! You couldn't stop saying that that much power would destroy…." she began.

"We got one chance left, what have we got to loose?" McKay stated.

"Can you two knock it off?" Mitchell asked. "Look, just go get the bombs ready, set them for maximum potential and let's try again before the Ori notice what we're trying to do."

"That's motivational." Ford said turning to the three. "You two go work on those bombs."

"Those explosions put the gate closer to the black hole. To be able to be in beaming range, I'm going to have to have the Odyssey brought in closer." the Colonel stated from where he was looking at the other console with the female Lieutenant.

"The closer we get to the black hole, the more systems that are affected." she said.

"Sublight engines and beaming technology still work, but sensors and communications are out of whack as it is." the Colonel stated.

"We're flying blind?" Mitchell asked.

"Not completely." Ford said. "We just have to go at it a little more manually as we get closer to it."

"Why aren't you coming to help?" Carter asked as she got up as saw him going a different direction.

"I'm going to fly this bird in." he said heading for the station.

"What?" Mitchell asked as everyone else looked at him.

"No offense General, but we've seen your scores…."

"Yes, I suck at combat fighting in the air, I know. Being laughed at by the instructor didn't help. Having my name posted as the record holder of the worse combat flyer wasn't funny either. But I excel at obstacle courses, turbulence trouble and general flying." he said as the Lieutenant looked at him then at the Colonel. "I can do this. I've been using the simulator a lot."

"This bird, as you put it General, is a lot bigger." the Colonel said unsure.

"Yes. Seeing as the Prometheus is gone and those ships designs are not being produced anymore, I figured I'd take, classes as it were in flying these types. Trust me Colonel. I've gotten very good marks on flying this class of ship in the simulations. Just not the combat times."

"Let him try Lieutenant." he said nodding. "If anything starts to go wrong…."

"I'll get up, I promise." Ford said sitting at the controls. Took him a few seconds to familiarize himself as Mitchell came over. Sam and McKay just stared for a moment.

"What are you really doing?" Mitchell asked.

"Flying, what else? Besides, they won't let me up in a F-302 remember." he said looking at the controls.

"This isn't a joy ride."

"I know that Colonel." he said slowly pushing the ship forward. "Let me know when we get just into beaming range Lieutenant."

"Yes sir." she said.

"Not a bad job so far General." the Colonel said after a few moments.

"Like I said, I suck at combat flying. For some reason, I never could concentrate very well against a opponent in the air. At least not against more than one." he said compensating as the system told him of the increase gravitational pull.

"Odyssey, this is Teal'c."

"This is Mitchell, what's up Teal'c?" Mitchell asked.

"My sensors have detected a Ori ship entering the vicinity. At their current speed, they will arrive within minutes."

Ford laughed lightly getting looks.

"Sorry, I tend to think of what Jack would say in these situations. Sam, is it possible for that ship to use it's cloak….."

"Yeah, I think it is. Hang on." she said going back to the console. "Teal'c, it's Sam."

Night descended on Atlantis. While other's where changing shifts and such, Daniel was still talking to Morgan. Vala and Weir were still there.

"You're an ascended Ancient?" Weir more stated then asked.

"I am."

"Specifically Morgan Le Fay. I thought I recognized her from the descriptions from the archives on Vagon Bre." he said.

"That's great. Now enough of the tiny tid bits of information. Not that we're ungrateful.." Vala said waving her hands as she got just onto the platform. "If you know what it is we are looking for, and as an ascended being, I have to assume you do…."

"Daniel Jackson knows that is it against our highest law to interfere." she stated a little forcefully.

"But interfering a little bit is just fine?"

"It might be a good idea to bit a bit less confrontational." Weir said prompting Daniel to pull her off the platform.

"But she is chatting with us, isn't that interference?" Vala asked pulling herself free from his grip.

"If you really are Morgan Le Fay, how do I know that you really are helping us?" he asked. "According to legend, you were Merlin's greatest rival. Merlin is both Moros and Myrddin."

"Ah." Weir stated in understanding.

"For a time in your history, yes I was his rival. But we are talking about many thousands of years Doctor Jackson. As you know, things changed. When we first abandoned Atlantis all those millennia ago, the Earth was so harsh, the people were so primitive by comparison. There was no hope of living among them as Lantians or rebuilding our society. So we spread out, to many lands. Some of us planting a few small seeds of civilization among the tribes of man. Other's making there way to the gate at your southern pole. Still other's deciding to live the reminder of our lives in meditation and seclusion. Merlin and I chose the latter path."

"And so you ascended." he said.

"It was only some thousands of years later, upon seeing the threat the Ori could one day later become, that Merlin retook human form in order to create the weapon that you seek. He did everything within his power to keep the work secret. But, we feared his intentions. I was sent to observe. And if necessary to stop him."

"Wait right there. If he was human again, then you were interfering and breaking your own law." Vala stated pointing a couple of fingers.

"Merlin retained all of the knowledge from when he ascended as well as many powers. Knowledge and power capable of creating a weapon used to destroy ascended beings."

"So, you're saying he cheated?" Vala asked as she noticed Daniel was in deep thought.

"In a manner of speaking. For a brief time in your history, he was the most powerful being on your planet. He created a small enclave of nobleman that he entrusted with his secret."

"Arthur and Camelot." Weir stated with a smile.

"Yes."

"So you're telling us that after everything you did in your power to oppose Merlin, all the sudden you agreed with him?" Daniel asked. "Because if you don't then you are deliberately misleading us."

"Do you know if the Ori have detected you?" she asked.

"I am uncertain."

"I want you move your ship closer to the gate and activate your cloaking device. Hopefully it will work and they won't see anything, much less detect you."

He pulled forward and parked just to the left of the gate. Both the ship and the Stargate disappeared without any trouble.

"You do realize that the Ori ship could be coming to wait for the arrival of a new fleet of ships…" McKay said.

"Doctor McKay. Why don't you go and get those last two nukes ready for us." Mitchell said giving him a order. "Maybe we can do this before they get those supposed reinforcements."

"Right, good idea." he said walking out quickly.

"Teal'c, the cloaking field may be attenuative since you expanded it, so shut down all non mission systems and maintain radio silence." she said.

He pushed the buttons needed and the ships interior lost a lot of its glow as systems shut down.

"Hopefully they are there just to check things out." Mitchell muttered as Ford stopped just inside the beaming field. "And then they'll be gone soon."

"There we go. See, nothing to worry about." Ford said sitting back.

"Did rather well General." the Colonel said impressed.

"Thank you. I could get used to this, but I prefer the open road."

"I have no reason to deceive you."

"No, no, of course not." Vala stated. "So, what were you doing when you were pretending to be a hologram?"

"The learning program I created many years before I left Atlantis presented itself as a means of helping you."

"If you had fallen for it, you'd have your answers and be on your way thinking you had figured it out." Weir said understanding what Morgan meant.

"That was my intention."

"Something is not adding up still." Daniel said as the women gave him a curious look. "You mentioned that Merlin descended years later to make this weapon, which would mean that he had to make the system to hide it from the rest of the ascended Ancients at the same time. Ford once mentioned that he helped Merlin, or Moros at that time, make a device similar. A prototype if you will. Can you explain that, because I'm quite sure that Ford wasn't there helping Merlin back in the Dark Ages."

"Ah yes. Forandin Primasudeus." she said nodding a few times.

"Fora-what?" Vala asked. Even the other two were confused.

"Before many of the Lantians, such as Morus and I ascended, we did continue with our lives. We do know that, Ford as he is now called, regained some of his lost memories."

"Some? You mean there is more?" Daniel asked a little suspicious.

"We attempted to create a super solider to help in our fight with the Wraith. The first attempt was a failure."

"You created this soldier in a lab then?" Weir asked.

"Yes. Fortunately, no one was killed when the creation went wrong. He was uncontrollable, unstable. We could not repair or fix what we had created, so he was eliminated. Two of our top scientist on the project volunteered to try another plan. Many were against the idea, but in the end, approval was given."

"Ford's parents experimented on themselves." Daniel stated.

"Yes. It took many months of making sure that they did not end up harming themselves as the treatments went on. As soon as, Nancy as you know her, became pregnant, much more strenuous and careful genetic work was done on him as he developed. When he was born, there was no serious complications, physically."

"He had mental problems? Kinda of hard to believe." Weir said.

"He has always been very intelligent Doctor Weir. Our problem with him occurred during his first ten years of life. He became increasingly difficult to discipline and his temper was almost uncontrollable. Not to mention his increased strength made it difficult to take him down without him hurting us or himself when he went into a fit of rage. It became obvious that unless work was done on him again, the super solider project was going to be a total failure. Ford's parents did not want him to die and agreed to allow genetic manipulation be used on him once again. He did not agree to the idea and somewhere in his mind, he believed the Wraith were trying to kill him. He almost killed Moros and his parents before he was subdued. It took three days of work to repair the genetic problems that arose in his brain that were identical to the first experiment. His memories from before were a jumble. Things came and went, but he became a very active member of our society. Science came naturally to him as it always had, plus fighting techniques, and he helped Moros with several of his projects, along with several other people. And then the day came we had to abandon Atlantis. Ford's parent's agreed to volunteer for another project soon after learning what little information Doctor Weir gave them when she arrived here in the time shuttle. The family was suppose to be put into another dimension and arrive in the future as Doctor Weir and her expedition team arrived. It did not work as planned and they arrived in another alternate universe. 20 years of their life was taken away in the result."

"20 years?!" Vala exclaimed. "I'm sorry, what do you mean?"

"They regressed 20 years. They still knew everything, but physically, they lost 20 years. Ford was turned into a baby and had to grow up again. Which is why he's actually a lot older than he looks." Daniel stated. "I got a question of personal interest really. Did Ford ever get married to anyone back then or…"

"No." she said with a completely neutral look. "He along with many other Lantians were too busy with other things to have any other life. If he was not helping other's with projects, he was learning the art of warfare and battle tactics. Which he excelled at greatly. The Wraith do know of his existence and how much of a threat he is to them. The plan was for him to become one of our war generals when he got older, but…"

"And yet he doesn't really want command of the SGC." Weir said offhandedly.

"Yeah, he's said that before to us too." Daniel said. "I can understand why seeing as he would rather take the enemy on himself, alone."

"He did work better without teammates during simulations." Morgan stated. "Once his parents realized that they could not do anything in that world to send them home to this universe, they ascended when he was older."

"They used their powers to make him arrive here." Daniel said nodding as she did.

"But isn't that more interference?" Vala asked.

"Ford would have eventually regained his memory and that would have had very bad results for him. And when, if he was finally killed on those missions he went on, he would have came back to life, which would have been very bad for him or anyone around him, to certain points."

"Telling everyone that this was all real and then being placed in some mental hospital wouldn't be as bad as coming back from the dead and being a guinea pig for scientific experimentation. Which he would have fought tooth and nail to keep from happening. Considering his abilities, it wouldn't take him long to get loose and run. Or go on a killing spree." Daniel said nodding again. "I can see why he was brought back. But why not sooner?"

"There was much debate about how and when and some wondered why we should even bother."

"Is it true that the Ori can't touch him or is that something his parents are going to try and stop if it came down to it?"

"Debate on him has been ongoing and still continues. It is more of a, situation sort of thing right now."

"What about what happened to him when the Ori plague hit Earth and he got it?" Weir asked.

"He would have came back, fully restored of that condition. When he used his Ancient healing powers on Samantha's mother…he lowered his immune ability to fight off internal attacks."

They nodded in understanding of her, reference.

"I believe you now. I do. It makes more sense with the other dreams Ford has mentioned to us about his past on Atlantis. I also understand the fine line you have to walk with telling us only certain information. But I think I have a stronger demand than Ford does for wanting to know more." he said then looked up with anger. "I know you're all there and listening. I am sick and tired of cryptic messages and riddles and puzzles. The Ori are a serious threat and everything we are currently going through is all your fault."

He looked back at Morgan still having anger in his voice.

"I may not remember everything I did and knew when I was ascended but I'm damned sure that you have the capability to fight and stop the Ori from killing everyone in the galaxy that doesn't bow to them. They are not only a threat to us, but to your own existence as well. When this war is over, and the Ori have destroyed and killed everyone that didn't bow before them, and those other's that did bow, pray and give themselves freely to the Ori, they will have the power to then take the war to you. I can't even begin to imagine how that war will look or what battlefield it will take place, but I won't be alive to see it."

"If we interfere, we are no better than the Ori." she said with conflict in her voice.

"God I wish Ford was here." Daniel said spinning around in frustration. "I don't have it in me to go up onto this platform and try anything, but I know for sure he'd do something. And I'd be surprised if you stopped him. I can understand why he doesn't ascend either. You really want to help, but don't want to help us lower life forms, then help yourselves."

The Ori ship coasted along slowly coming upon the Supergate. The ship passed over Teal'c while he was watching from out the front window. It was really quiet until the communication line became active.

"This is SG-11 com officer relaying a urgent subspace message from the Gamma site for the Odyssey. Message from Atlantis states that a Wraith cruiser is headed for the Odyssey's coordinates in Pegasus. Cannot relay message directly because of interference. Advise Odyssey commander of receipt of this message. Original message received at SGC, 15 Zulu hours."

"That was rather fun, despite the fact I didn't really feel anything happening." Ford said watching the controls. "Hey Colonel, do you think I could land this on Atlantis when we get back? See what she feels like in the open air and such?"

"I assume you won't be trying any stunts?" he asked with a hint of a smile.

"Something this big? No way." he said shaking his hands. "I wouldn't do that even if I was on this thing alone and they could be mass produced quickly."

"Bombs are ready to go." McKay said as he came back onto the bridge.

"Great, let's get this over with. Take a seat." Mitchell said walking past Ford's view.

"The sooner, the better. The sublight engines are under a lot of strain maintaining this position this long." the Colonel stated. "Despite the General's best efforts to minimize it."

Ford smiled as he kept his eyes on the screen. The smile went away quickly as he looked up sharply out the window.

"General?" the Colonel asked.

"I got this weird creepy feeling all the sudden."

"Like a spidey sense sort of feeling?" Mitchell asked leaning on the console with both hands.

"Yeah." he said looking at the screens near his fingers. "I don't think we are alone."

Out in space, just outside the black hole, the Wraith cruiser arrived, about a minute ago.

"You speak from the heart Doctor Jackson. I would say you learned it from Ford, but you have usually been this way. That is what I remember most from your brief time with us. I know you don't recall those memories we stripped from you when you were sent back."

"That's what you're afraid of isn't it? Doing the right thing and being punished for it." Daniel said insulted at the idea.

"I've already gone to far." she said with some fear in her voice.

"But you can't be the only one to have realized that the Ori have already changed things? Excluding Ford's parents. There has to be other's that see that the time to join this fight is now!" he said seeing her look away with a bit of fear on her face.

The Ori ship continued flying across the Supergate as Teal'c was thinking. As it flew beyond the other side of the ring, he contacted the Odyssey.

"Odyssey, this is Teal'c."

"Why would he be calling when…" Mitchell began as he walked over to Carter at her station.

"Maybe that is the feeling I'm getting." Ford muttered.

"Teal'c, what's the word?" he asked.

"A Wraith vessel is approaching your position." his distorted voice said.

"Son of a…..no wonder I don't feel right. Colonel."

"Oh, great. A Wraith vessel." McKay stated with worry as the Colonel put the ship on full alert.

"Not that we don't believe you T, but how in the hell do you know that?" Mitchell asked.

"Atlantis has detected their approach."

"Play with enough large bombs and someone is bound to hear it or in this case, detect it." Ford muttered.

"I am relaying their message via Stargate Command." Teal'c said pushing the buttons as the Ori ship began turning around.

"I'm not detecting any Wraith ship on the sensors." Carter said scanning the area.

"We can't trust sensors this close to the black hole." the Colonel said.

"The shields are only operating at 20 efficiency." the Lieutenant reported.

"The black hole is interfering." McKay stated with fear.

"Yeah kinda figured that." Ford said pushing a few buttons. "I'm taking us out."

He got the ship turned around and then it shook a few times.

"Guess we are being fired upon." he said banking left sharply.

"General…" the Colonel began as the ship ducked down slightly.

"I think I got it."

They looked out the front window seeing blast coming at them, but Ford was somehow managing to evade them, sometimes. After getting a few looks.

"I thought you sucked at combat with flying vessels?" McKay asked.

"I do. But I'm looking out the window at incoming fire. I think of it like staff weapon fire which I can avoid pretty well sometimes." he said banking right as he avoided a few more shots.

A couple hit though making sparks shoot from equipment near the back of the bridge. The Colonel informed the crew of the maneuvers as Ford kept dodging what he could.

"Can we fire weapons Lieutenant?" the Colonel asked.

"The Wraith ship is to far away." she said holding on as the ship took a hit.

"Can you put some distance between us and that thing General?"

"I can try. Bringing engines to full power."

"No, we need to do the opposite." Carter said quickly.

The ship took a direct hit near the bridge and even though the shield held, it rocked the ship pretty hard.

"Sorry! You want to do what?!" Ford asked loudly.

"Against a gravity well this strong, they have the higher ground. You can't avoid all those shots."

"True." Ford said ducking the ship rather low.

"If we can get them to follow us in…." she began.

"Then their systems will be effected as well including their jamming technology!" McKay stated excitedly.

"Which means we should be able to beam the warheads directly aboard their ships." she stated.

"In that close, we won't have the engine power to maneuver." the Colonel stated.

"So we sling shot and use the gravity well to accelerate out." Mitchell stated as he held onto the console as Ford dipped again.

"I'm impressed Mitchell. Must be all those Sci-fi shows you watch. Hang on people, this will be very tight!"

McKay fell down along with a few others. Mitchell lost grip as the ship took one hit during the tight turn.

"Lieutenant, put this screen to show me a aft view." Ford ordered as the ship took a few hits.

"I know what we are asking you to do. You are afraid that the others will jump in and stop you from helping us. But maybe, just maybe, they need someone to cross that imaginary line instead of just walking it. There must be other's just waiting to follow your example."

"Not enough." she said with a sad sigh.

"They have obviously allowed you to go this far." Weir stated stepping closer.

"Trust that you have your answers." she said with a tone to please not ask anymore.

"At least tell us which one of the planets to go to?" Vala asked. "Please."

"Please." Daniel said as well.

"Merlin's weapon is not…." she started saying when she was literally pulled away, like a image being stretched until it vanished.

"What happened?" Weir asked as Daniel shook his head.

"Just what she knew would happen. They stopped her from helping us. We won't see her again."

"Are they going to punish her?" Vala asked concerned.

"I don't know." he said sadly.

"I think I understand why you came back Daniel." Vala said. "I wouldn't have liked their company either."

"Ford is going to be so angry. No, I think, pissed, or worse."

Ford wasn't doing to bad. And the closer they got to the black hole, the more the Wraith ship kept missing.

"Do you see the gate yet General?"

"Um." he said looking at the other small screen. "Not yet."

"Teal'c, this is Sam. We are about to try something that will probably vaporize the gates at both ends. You have exactly 20 seconds to get your hyperdrive online and get out of there."

Teal'c powered the ship back up as the Ori ship was slowly coming closer.

Ford turned the ship as they started to get pulled into the churning current the black hole was creating.

"Hey there it is, or was for a moment. We should be coming upon it soon as we swing back around." Ford said nodding at the screen.

The ship shook slightly from the gravity field and from a few hits. Time actually started to slow down, or at least it looked that way to Ford. He rounded the event horizon and came shooting past the Stargate.

"We just past it Sam." Mitchell stated looking at the screen to Ford's left.

"Wraith ship is in position!" McKay shouted.

"Beaming warheads in three, two, one…"

The Wraith ship was coming around and flew right at the Stargate. As they were coming up on it, they exploded. The Ori ship was just over the Supergate when the power surge came through the Stargate that was floating above the larger one. Teal'c had backed off quite a distance, but he didn't leave as he watched the surge of energy hit the shields of the large ship. They held, but they didn't hold back when the gate became active and split the ship in half as the plume reached out and through the ship. She tilted and then exploded before Teal'c's eyes.

"And we are clear." Ford said as he slowed the ship down as she got it out of range. "Wow, that was rather fun actually. You can have her back Lieutenant."

"Thank you General." she said taking the seat.

"The Wraith ship has been destroyed." Carter reported looking at her screen. "Whoa. I almost don't believe it, but the Stargate survived."

"It did?" McKay asked in surprise as he looked over her shoulder. "It did. And it is active."

"See, I told you those gates are capable of a lot of punishment. Those gate buster bomb test that were done were done on a planet to begin with. Not in space and certainly not near a black hole. It changes the rules." Ford stated waving his hands.

"Yes, yes. I get it." McKay muttered standing up.

"Odyssey, this is Teal'c."

"Teal'c, I thought we told you to get the hell out of there." Mitchell stated.

"Indeed. Had I done so, I could not deliver very good news."

"The Supergate is active? Hey it worked." Ford exclaimed. "That is good news Teal'c."

"Indeed. But that is not the good news as to which I was meaning."

"Oh my god!" Ford said leaning over the console making her sit back startled. "I think I know what you are about to tell me, but say it anyway Teal'c. Please let it be what I think, dear god let it be."

Mitchell and Sam noticed his fingers were crossed.

"At the time the Supergate became active, the Ori vessel was over the event horizon. The Ori ship has been destroyed."

Everyone cheered and started patting each other on the back. The whole vessel was awash with people cheering such a great victory. They got underway after managing to settle back down. Atlantis heard the news as soon as they were able to get back out of interference range. Ford was allowed to pilot the ship in and even though they should have reported it to Weir that someone else was landing the ship, Ford managed to get the Colonel not to say anything. Sam actually was thinking he was going to scratch something or worse.

"I had little room to land in that landing bay Sam, and I hadn't flown anything that big before. I'm just lucky I scratched the paint job." he said setting the ship down gently. "See, I had more room and a hell of a lot more training. Even though it was all simulated. Come to think of it, you and Mitchell should get some training just in case. Teal'c too."

"What about Daniel?" Mitchell asked.

"He can hardly fly a cargo ship."

"Good point."

Once they had landed, the Colonel reported to her that they were going to stay there for a few hours to make repairs before leaving. Weir was a little surprised that Ford piloted the ship as was Sheppard, but the results of their mission made that all go away quickly. Most of Atlantis was cheering the good news of the Ori ship being destroyed and the Wraith ship as well. As SG-1 with McKay came into the gate room, Sheppard and Weir were there to greet them. Daniel and Vala walked down the stairs from the out door balcony.

"Once again I congratulate your team and the Odyssey for a job well done General."

"Timing was right." Ford said with a shrug.

Sheppard was asking McKay how it went and asking Carter how much of a bother that he was to her as Daniel, Weir and Vala were telling Ford what transpired on their end. Mitchell saw Ford's eye twitch and not in a good way. He was listening to Sheppard and the other two banter on, but they stopped to see Daniel start trailing off.

"Oh boy." Daniel muttered stepping back. "This isn't good."

Vala even backed off getting behind Daniel. Weir backed off several steps muttering something about seeing that look before. Sheppard saw fear in her face and walked up quickly. Many others in the area stopped noticing how quiet it got around the gate. Dead quiet. Ford's fists popped audibly as he clenched them so hard the bones cracked. He was beyond pissed. It was one of those moments where smoke would come out of his ears if it was possibly because of the burning anger. For the first time in his life, Ford was ashamed of his people and even more ashamed he was one of them, somewhat now. To Daniel and the few standing near him, it started off slow. You could barely hear what he was saying through his clenched teeth. But it rose to a yelling point that a few people had to hold their hands over their ears as Ford shook his right fist toward the ceiling and yelled in extreme fury. But no one had any idea what he was saying. Everyone even looked up and kept looking, thinking something was going to happen. After a few moments of everything being quiet, someone looked down.

"Where'd the General go?" one of the tech's asked.

"What I want to know is what pissed him off and what the hell did he just say?" Mitchell asked looking at Daniel.

Weir went to the control room to see if he was still on Atlantis. Everyone else just went back to what they were doing, but waiting for an answer from her to what just happened.

"I, um, told him I talked to Morgan Le Fay, which I will tell you all in more detail later. Basically, she tried to help us further and they stopped her. Took her away. From everything I gathered, none of the ascended Ancients aren't going to help us at all. Those that want to will be stopped before they get the chance."

"Okay. That would piss me off too. What did he say?"

"I, really don't know. All I can tell you is that he was speaking in Ancient and it is a good guess that he was cussing them out. I didn't even know he could speak it that well."

"I heard the word fron a few times." Carter said looking at her watch. "Says he's still here."

"Colonel Mitchell."

They all turned to see Weir calling from the control room.

"The computer system reports he is in the Northern Pier."

"Um, which way…" Mitchell asked pointing.

"I'll take you." she said coming down the stairs. "This way."

"Should we bring backup or something?" Sheppard asked unsure. "He didn't look like he vented enough steam."

"We'll call if we need anything." Weir said as they got into the small room.

The door opened and they walked out into an empty corridor.

"Wow, so that's the transporter that Sheppard talked about." Mitchell said giving it a look.

"I think he went to his room." Weir stated as they walked briskly.

"His room?" Vala asked.

"Remember, he was born here. Morgan did tell us…."

"Yes I remember now Daniel."

They came around another corner to find a security door that was previously not operable open. They slowly went through with Sam going first.

"Whoa. Kinda smells like disinfectants." Daniel said. "Or like a infirmary."

"Is it me or do these walls look, a little better in color than the ones out there?" Mitchell asked.

"Yeah, there is a slight difference." Weir said looking. "That's strange."

Several dozen feet away was another security door that was still closed. On the wall to the left was nothing other than the normal design that was through the rest of the city. On the right wall, dead in the middle was two large double doors. Several other places in the city had the same sort of doors, but these had a key code pad with a hand scanner of sorts on the right side. Power was obviously going through it from the glow it gave off. A camera of sorts was above the door that tracked their movements.

"I haven't seen this sort of system anywhere else in this city." Weir stated. "There is something similar in the brig area though."

Daniel looked at the keypad and shook his head.

"It is obviously in Ancient but I can't even begin to guess at the code."

"He's in there." Carter said putting a hand on the door to knock.

"I smell something burning." Vala muttered.

"So do I." Carter said.

They were surprised when it opened. The room was rather huge surprisingly. The room had two doors in it other than the one they were in. One went off to the right and the other to the left. On the far wall was a large computer screen that was smoking and flickering from damage. Several bullet holes and his sword sticking it in. The five monitors hanging from the ceiling were flicking, but mostly damaged. The computer consoles under the screen had several more rounds in them and a few deep slash marks. The smell of burnt circuits filled the air and even though one of the consoles had a small fire going, no suppression system kicked in. On the floor near the computer was what was a Atlantian medical bed that was cut up and trashed. A couple of trays and dressers that had technological medical items were strewn across the floor, all damaged. They stayed in the doorway as she walked in avoiding the damaged items on the floor.

"I think maybe I should be the only one here, for the moment."

"Are you sure about that Sam? We learned some really disturbing info about his past, or I should say upbringing." Daniel said worried.

"Something to do with him almost killing his parents?"

"How did you know?" Daniel asked surprised.

"He did what?" Mitchell asked.

"I'll explain later." Daniel said.

"He's had dreams about certain aspects of being here. Including some bad things he remembers doing. I'll be fine." she said.

"We are just a call away." Mitchell said.

They left, somewhat reluctantly. She looked through the door on the left, which opened by just waving your hand near a small scanner like all the other doors in the city. A large table typical of Atlantian design was a few feet from the door. Four chairs were around it. A large coffee like table was in the middle of a open room that would be considered the living room, if it was back on Earth. A large screen that was black was hanging from the wall in that room. A large window that showed the ocean was to the left of the screen. The table was in a area that they knew to be a kitchen of sorts for rooms this big, well close to this big. Another door was on the far wall on the other side of a counter near the table. She was going to head to it when a noise behind her caught her attention.

She went to the other door and it opened to show a bedroom. Several Atlantian monitors were hanging from the ceiling, all dark. There was a bed with a small window that showed the ocean. A few dressers that were closed were to the left of the bed. The sheets were gone, but the mattress was still there. A small Atlantian computer system was set up on the other side of the bed, a few feet away. No power was running to it though. Ford's coat was on the floor at the end of the bed. His large cannons were laying on the floor near her feet. He was sitting on the bed looking out the window.

"Ford?"

"Yes." he said with a flat tone.

"Should I just come back?"

"No." he said turning to open a drawer. "Kinda figured when this small section was sealed off from the rest of the city, seeing this area was put under a sort of suspended animation system, that a few more of my things would have been here. I have, had, some nice designs for some rather cool objects. A sort of boat thing to. Can't remember it very well now. But everything is gone. Kitchen, living room, my room. Probably my parents as well."

She sat down next to him as he pulled out a large silver frame. A ten by ten. It showed a very young picture of him and his parents. They looked as they did when Carter and SG-1 met them after Ford got a download in his head. Ford had to be in his teens. His hair was as dark as it is now, but it was really long. The parents were on either side of him with a hand on each shoulder. They were all smiling and trees where in the background.

"Where was this?"

"The picture was actually taken with, a camera of sorts. I don't really feel like explaining anything technical right now. Point is, it shouldn't be in that frame."

"Parents did this then?"

"I have no pictures of them. Left them all behind in that other universe and when we ended up there, it was just one day of work after another. This was a good memory that I remembered from this galaxy. Those trees in the background aren't from Earth. Think of an oak tree, but it is a soft wood, burns with a terrible stink. Bears fruit that has a orange like texture, but looks like a apple, just black in color. Damn things were so sweet and yet so tart they put lemons to shame."

"Yeah, I can see them in the picture, barely."

"Guess the planet hasn't been located again or it was destroyed. The Wraith caused a lot of destruction back then. There was once a planet that we called gem world as a little joke. There was little plant life, mostly minerals and water. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires and such. Practically everywhere. If that planet was still around, we could have some of the biggest gems the world had ever seen. Remember that movie we watched…um, CORE?"

"Yeah. Wait, you mean gems that big? But those were quartz in that movie."

"Yeah, but that was the movie." he said looking at the floor.

"Ford, are you alright?" she asked placing a hand on his back.

"No. I'm remembering a lot of the things that happened in here. How much I was told what I was for by one guy that felt I wasn't living up to my potential. He was one of the few people I almost killed back before I was ten. I'm what many people would call a genetic freak."

"Do you believe that?" she asked taking his hand.

"Some days. Considering the amount of people I killed back in that other universe and how and why I did it, it explains everything. I was born to be a super solider. Explains why I am so good at warfare. I was forced to fight a few Wraith before that they captured. Though badly injured, one did escape. I won't even begin to describe what I ended up doing to them in my fit of rage." he said with a small shudder. "Sad to say I ended up doing worse to other people in that other universe."

"Weir said that Landry wanted us back as soon as possible. We can go home, away from the bad memories."

"And hear Daniel complain? I don't think so. We can stay for a few hours or so. Landry is only telling us orders from above. They don't like it, they can fire me for making SG-1 stay."

"I don't think they'd do that."

He only shrugged as he looked at the photo.

"Are you really okay?" she said still seeing the hurt in his eyes even though he wouldn't look at her.

"No." he said standing up and walking out ranting. "I remember Moros. He was fun and he believed that we should share our technology or at least pass it onto others since the Wraith and plague and such. But they said no. And even now, thinking that being ascended and not helping their decedents is against some fucked up rule they made up! They are worse than Q continuum! At least with them, you have a chance getting help if you beg hard enough!"

Sam jumped slightly as he kicked the broken medical bed so hard it cracked the wall. His sword fell out of its place and clattered to the floor.

"But my people, no. That's beneath them. Helping those less fortunate would make them evil." he said growling in anger. "I…..all that propaganda those Prior's talk about almost makes it seem it is worth going to the other side. I swear Sam, I am so tempted to change sides just to get back at my own kind. I could so easily go to wherever that place is that Daniel said he saw that strange wall of flames and just tell them all they need to know to get here and take them out. I could so easily give myself to them, let them learn how to transcend time and space so…."

He stopped as she gently grabbed his arm.

"I can't even begin to understand what you're feeling."

"I'm ashamed! I hate that I am related to people who do not give a damn about the people they left behind! All they had to let her do was tell us which planet to go to, that was it, but no! They couldn't allow that! Had to make it harder on all of us! I am surprised that my parents have had enough patience to stay up there as long as they have. If I was them and I couldn't help my son, or daughter, I'd descend and leave them with one less person to help fight."

"Why did you destroy this? Was it just an object to vent anger…" she asked as he picked up his sword.

"No. Well, partially. All the data on me was still in there. And how to make another person as screwed up as I am. Don't argue." he said as she opened her mouth. "I made sure the information is destroyed. Bad enough there is one of me."

They looked in his parents room to find it completely empty. After getting his coat, they left with him shutting down the locking system.

"General, have you, calmed down is guess is the best term?" she asked finding him looking out over the city with the rest of SG-1.

It was now really late at night and the skies were clear. Daniel had looked at what he could while Ford gave him the chance. The Odyssey had left about an hour after landing and getting repairs. They all took an hour or so tour and then all ended up here to take a quick look before going back to Earth. It was rather pretty at night. Quiet too.

"I only trashed my room. But I had a reason for that."

"There could have been…"

"Nothing in there Doctor. There was no information in that computer except the ability to make….another Khan as Captain Kirk would say. No one needs that info. Least of all the Wraith finding a possible weakness for me."

"Very well." she said hearing his tone. "Can I ask what you yelled earlier?"

"Well, a less, um, graphic version would be, I told them I've met spineless cowards with more backbone than they have. Amongst other things. Mom wasn't thrilled with my tone or words, but she understood. Been awhile since I've been scolded for a foul mouth."

"You're parents came down?" Daniel asked.

"No, unfortunately and fortunately. She'd probably rip my ear off while dragging me to the bathroom for soap or something worse. But if they had came down, I could have asked about Morgan then. All it was really, was a whispered in my ear, in a sense."

"You both are quite sure that we are alone in this fight?" Mitchell asked.

"Oh yeah." Daniel and Ford both said sadly.

"When do you plan on leaving?" Weir asked.

"We'll be in, in a few minutes." Mitchell said. "Did you find anything that you wanted or were looking for General?"

"No. That stuff was all gone. Wish I could at least remember some of the notes and files I had. All that there was in there was this picture on my old dresser. Which in many ways is a lot better than the other things."

"One of these days, we'll get to come back. Maybe some of those things are just in a different part of the city." Daniel said. "They haven't explored it all."

"Maybe." he said tapping the picture against his hand. "Doubtful though."

"General, can I ask why you wanted the spatial coordinates for Atlantis?" Weir asked.

"Research purposes." he said after a moment of thinking.

"I don't buy that."

"In that case, we'll just say it's classified and you don't have to worry about anything happening to you, anyone else here or the city. I just needed to have the location."

"Very well, Forandin Primasudeus." she said with a small smile.

Daniel groaned.

"I thought we weren't going to say anything." he muttered.

Ford slowly turned his head to look at Daniel. Everyone else was looking at him.

"Fora…what?" Carter began.

"Morgan told us your real name." Daniel said smiling slightly. "Why did you say you were named after car companies if it wasn't true?"

"I get it now. Ford, Chevy. That makes sense." Weir said.

"But I was named after them. Forandin isn't a name you'd really find anywhere in this day and age, if at all. They saw a Mustang, liked it enough they bought it and shortened my name after it. From what I got from Chevy, she was named after the 57 Chevy Bel Air. As for her real name, she never said."

"Okay that makes sense." Carter said.

"Named after a great car General. Impressive." Mitchell said.

"I'm ready to go." Daniel said.

"Now Jackson, I gotta know. Are you going to complain about not being able to stay longer or are you satisfied with finally making it?" Mitchell asked as they walked back in.

"Yeah, was the couple of hours I held off for us going enough or will you be complaining in a few days Daniel?" Ford asked teasing him also. "I know you've been dying, almost literally after that bracelet incident…"

Daniel groaned as they headed down the stairs. Weir had the gate dialed as the team ragged Daniel all the way home.