Hello again to all. This is a second re-write of this chapter; the original left far too many "holes" that would not have worked out. I am introducing a new race that will predate the Ancients and in the reality of the Stargate Universe, I hope that they may answer some questions of where humans began. I have done a lot of research on different websites to find any pre Ancient history (aside from the Ori split) but have drawn a blank with "they came from an unknown galaxy". As one could imagine, finding a race that has survived and existed for millennia and had chosen not to Ascend, would make for an extremely advanced race beyond anything current humans would understand. The next chapter (14) will address as best as possible some blank history the writer's never mentioned. I have to say, how it would feel to have allies like this; but even with all the technology, the universe will always have the final say...

I hope you all enjoy this one.

SGU s03 e13

Ori

Everett looked at his sleeping beauty beside him; as she lay on her side in peaceful slumber he played gently with her long now streaky blonde and dark brown hair, while Te'arly's intoxicating scent filled his senses. He couldn't remember when he felt so overwhelmed by the love and innocent honesty of another human being. Running a hand along the side of her exquisite body and over the shoulder along Te'arly's arm until, he draped it across under her breasts and pulled his soul mate in closer. He could now feel a slight firmness of her pregnant belly and knew he would have to explain a few things amongst the crew within a few weeks.

Everett whispered, "I love you so much, I can't imagine my life without you..."

In a sleepy voice an answer came back as she placed her hand over his "Your my whole world baby...I love you too."

About an hour later both of them were sitting in the mess enjoying breakfast; Eli and Ginn sat down to join them:

Te'arly asked, "How have you been feeling Ginn?" smiling at her and Eli;

Ginn, suddenly looking a little pail jumped up and ran for the bathroom before she could even get a word out; Eli spoke for her obvious action:

"Um...it seems she suffers from bad morning sickness" as he watched her run off.

"I'm glad I don't..." said Te'arly in a casual way forgetting no one knew about her.

Eli looked back at her and Everett whose face gave it away "You mean you're pregnant too?"

Te'arly realised her error, but with her honest nature she simply replied "Sorry, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone yet..."

Eli looked at Everett with a smile, but the General just said, "She was pregnant before boarding the ship Eli..."

"Oh, ok..." Eli thought about it for a moment remembering why Te'arly was on the ship, but then withheld his next question out of respect for them.

Everett could see the question in his eyes, although Eli stayed quiet

"Thanks Eli..." he said.

"Hey, that's ok...we all have our own problems" he looked around to see Ginn looking a bit worse for wear heading back "that would be mine..." Te' and Everett smiled at him as he got up and went to Ginn.

Matt walked into the mess with Chloe in hand, and up to Everett saying hello;

"Um...Sir, could we have a moment?" he asked;

"Sit down son...what's on your mind?" asked a knowing Everett.

Before Matt could speak, the strange wave of Destiny dropping form FTL came across them; the com opened and beckoned Everett "General, there are two gates within range; a third seems to be inactive..." said Volker from the bridge.

"Thanks Dr Volker, I'll be their shortly; Young out"

"Did you want to ask me something Matt?" Everett looked at him and Chloe with a smile;

Matt turned to Chloe and then back to his General "Uh...it can wait Sir"

"Ok, but don't wait too long...you better get a team ready Lieutenant..." both Everett and Te'arly smiled broadly at them, but he resisted the temptation to congratulate them.

"Yes Sir..." they left hand in hand as Chloe looked at Matt asking;

"Do you think he knows already?"

"Everyone seems to know everyone else's business around here..." as he squeezed her hand for reassurance.

Adam Brody was in the gate room now sending a keno through to survey the planet; the pictures came back of a lush green world full of plant life and water falls in the distance. He circled around the gate and lifted the keno high up to get a better aerial view, but found no signs of structures or dwellings.

He looked at Lt. Scott "The place looks empty, but it's a balmy 92 degrees outside and seems to be very tropical with high humidity; I can't see any signs of ruins or dwellings with the keno."

"Ok Dr Brody...Alright people, let's go" and with that they walked through the gate.

On the other side the heat and humidity of the day hit them like a ton of bricks as they walked down the overgrown ramp. Destiny was always at a steady 68 degrees and over time the crew had adjusted to the comfortable temperature. Smells of rainforest engulfed them as they took up defensive positions around the gate while the civilians came through.

Greer looked at his Lieutenant saying "Man this place smells like South America, without the pollution..."

A flying creature taking off from the tree tops with an eerie squawking sound suddenly startled them; it looked like half eagle and half pterodactyl.

Scott answered Greer "Looking at that we ain't in South America...I hope there's no T Rex lurking around..."

Camille Wray had wanted to get over her fear from the Terestay experience, and had gone along to help with the collection of plant species. She stood in awe of the incredibly large waterfall they could see in the distance; it would have been around a hundred meters across and fell into a giant ravine that looked to be over 1000 meters below. From this position the crew quickly worked out they were standing on a plateau of a canyon, in what seemed to be a prehistoric land. Their equipment finding little apart from animal life within scanning range confirmed this; there was a nearby water stream that flowed gently towards the direction of the big waterfall they could see.

"Lieutenant Scott, there are no signs of humanoid life or technology within range or in orbit; the planet appears to be in a prehistoric stage..." said Franklin now well healed of his wounds.

Lt. Scott looked over at Franklin "Ok...but keep scanning for life just in case something comes our way..."

"Will do Lieutenant..." he replied; then added, "hey...this place is showing deposits of naquadah about 2 clicks from our position"

Matt spun back around to Franklin "What?"

"Yeah, not real big amounts...but enough; might be worth a look" Matt moved over to Franklin and looked at the scans; Franklin answered him before he could ask, "No, the planet doesn't have a naquadria core, but it might mean we're on to something. Mind you, it is a pretty rare element to find anywhere"

"I need to contact Destiny..." Matt headed back to the gate with his keno control in hand, and dialled the ship; holding the radio he called Everett.

"Destiny this is Lt. Scott do you copy?"

"Go ahead Lieutenant..." replied Everett

"Sir we have found what appears to be a small deposit of naquadah about two clicks form the gate. The only problem I can see is how dense this jungle is; could take us a while to cut through..."

"How longs a while Lt. Scott?" asked Everett well aware of the limited time;

"Well, even if we use the plasma rifles to cut down the foliage...it would still take some time to reach; but then we need to get it, and back. I just don't think it would be enough time to do the round trip" Lt. Scott weighed up the dense terrain they were facing; he knew that using the plasma rifles as ploughs may have unwanted side effects as well.

"Scott, it's your call...you're the one on the ground" replied Everett wishing they had more time;

"Ok Sir; we'll mark it for later use. I don't want any more unnecessary risk of people's lives"

"Agreed Lieutenant...gather what you can and get back, Young out" the gate closed.

Camille was busy gathering different plants while the scientists took readings of the planets wealth of minerals. They did some digging not too far from the gate under the watchful eyes of the soldiers, and found a few small amounts of naquadah; some other elements that would be worth a fortune on Earth like gold and platinum were also found. It seemed that the further the entered into this galaxy, the more the mineral deposits increased; Franklin was starting to put together a "road map" of where different elements had been sourced, with the intensity growing as they progressed through.

Matt spoke to Franklin as time was running out "We'll have to leave in about half an hour, we better get packed up...What are you looking at?" said Matt as he watched him bring up the star map on screen;

"It appears that we are slowly headed toward a naquadria planet soon...if we stay on the current path, I estimate somewhere around here..." as he pointed at the screen "could be the powerful gate we're after" said Franklin.

"How so, I mean it could be anywhere..." replied Matt

"Well, the further we have travelled, the richer the deposits of elements have been...now we have proof of naquadah in this galactic area, there is a real good chance of a naquadria cored planet..." Franklin wasn't getting too over enthusiastic about his findings just yet.

"Have you told anyone yet?" Lt. Scott sounded sceptical, but interested

"Nah, just a theory at the moment; I need some more concrete data to make an analysis" Franklin looked at Matt; "but I'll mention it to General Young when we get back"

"Ok" then he boomed in his military voice "Alright people, let's go!" as he opened the gate.

Back on board, the countdown clock showed just less than eight hours remaining. After coming back with their materials and data, another scientific team was ready to go; Matt and Ronald pulled a double shift ready to go through with another band of fresh soldiers.

Greer looked at Matt "At least the last place was quiet; I wonder what's next?"

"Don't know, but I sure we'll find out" Lt. Scott watched as the old gate spun around and locked in the last chevron, then opened.

As the keno pictures came back, they all stood in awe of the view; Matt commented;

"I think will need the suits..."

"Yeah..." Greer's voice automatically answered as he kept watching the screen.

Matt got his attention away from the sight "Ok people, we need full suits for the next mission...if you don't want to take part I would understand; we will not stay very long due to the possibility of high levels of radiation around the planet"

Within the hour everyone and more where back at the gate room; this time Dr Rush and Dr Brody had joined them to witness what was unfolding on the planet. None of them had ever seen anything like this form this perspective, holding their breath as the gate reopened to the planet. The keno footage was again studied for a few minutes, reviling an uninteresting planet that was mainly a dark and barren rock; Adam and Nick's excitement was obvious as they prepared to walk through.

"Holy Mother of God..." said Nick as he stood just in front of the gate ramp staring at the sight before him.

It was the universe at its most creative and destructive at the same time; a quasar galaxy of massive proportions was emitting two giant beams of light rays at opposite poles, uncountable light years into the universe. The planet they were now on was probably doomed, being less than half a million light years from the other galaxy offering an unprecedented close up view. The suit helmets were trying to reduce the amount of blinding light and radiation coming in even from this distance.

Dr Brody just shook his head speaking through the suit com "At a guess, these two galaxies will collide in about a billion years at this distance. I would need to calculate the approximate mass...but the younger galaxy in front of us is huge"

Nick didn't move his head; "This planet is on the outer edge of the galaxy according to Destiny's data...this may even be visible from Earth in the future, considering how far we are from home"

Adam looked at Nick "We're defiantly heading in the right direction, back in time from an Earth perspective..."

Matt finally asked Rush "Is there anything useful on this planet?"

Nick just looked at him and smiled "No, just the view..."

"Well perhaps we should get back to Destiny..." replied Matt gesturing toward the gate.

Nick noticed how burnt the rock around him seemed to be; as though it was a recent lava flow.

"Dr Brody, what do you make of this rock...looks fresh" said Nick

"Hum..." Brody looked around at the ground and canyon they were in; he spotted what looked like a tree trunk not far behind the stargate. "Hey, this looks strangely like a tree..." his words trailed off as he got closer;

"What the f...?" it was a burnt tree trunk close into the bluff face.

He reached it with Nick and several others in tow asking; "How would a tree trunk get to a place like this?"

Adam touched it with his gloved hand and broke a piece off; it was still not completely dry inside. Looking all around with Nick picking up on his hunch saying; "There doesn't appear to be any sign of drag marks from the gate...or foot prints"

Suddenly Adam stood upright from crouching near the rocky ground, looking at the horizon; "Get everyone and everything back through the gate now!" they looked at him "Move it!" he screamed.

They took off back to the gate watching the horizon getting brighter with Matt now encouraging all of them "Hurry up...move it people!" with no idea as to why.

The light at the horizon was turning an orange colour, looking more like flames. They reached the gate with a few stragglers still coming; Rush was out of breath but ask Brody anyway:

"This was a planet in another orbit... the galaxy has moved it..."

"Maybe an asteroid...but something big has pushed it close to the sun. We're about to get a really bad suntan..."

The gate opened with Matt on the keno; the last of the stragglers made it and were helped through. Matt, Nick, and Adam watched the fire slowly coming towards them as the last men standing; taking one last look at the incredible sight around them, they turned and walked through the gate as the temperature began to rise.

Back on Destiny Matt asked what was happening along with many of the other crew there; removing his helmet Adam told them;

"I believe the tree trunk was native to the planet...I can't say for sure, but either a massive impact, the other galaxy, or a black hole has pulled what was an inhabitable planet out of its normal orbit. At a guess, it may even eventually crash into the sun."

Lisa was in the gate room while waiting for them to get back "How close do you think the young quasar galaxy is from this one?"

"Well, at a guess I'd say less than you would like it to be...I would have to scan the area to get some more accurate data on the size and distance; but there is no doubt in my mind it will collide with this one"

Everett joined in the questioning "So what happens then, if they collide?"

Lisa answered "Usually the larger galaxy with more mass will sometimes absorb the smaller one within it, but they may also pass through each other and simply form a new larger galaxy. Our own Milky Way Galaxy is on a collision course with the Andromeda Galaxy, but not for about four and a half billion years; by then Earth probably won't be around to see it...one thing is certain about the universe; change is the only constant..."

Nick joined the conversation as more people came to the gate room to hear what was going on;

"There is a definite pattern here; these are both reasonably young galaxies in astronomical terms. I'll bet that the next galaxy Destiny goes through will be even younger; we are getting closer to Destiny's mission" Nick smiled.

Everett answered "The order behind the chaos..."

Adam looked around the room at everyone listening, and addressed the crew "There must be something in all this; a majority of you have elected to stay for whatever reason...I believe it is because deep down we all want to know the truth about our own universe, and how it may have come to be. Destiny was dedicated to finding that out, with a whole complete section of the ship setup to examine and explore what we find."

Everett and Te'arly sat on the observation deck looking out at the stars; there was still time on the clock, but no one was going through the gate in the last couple of hours. Matt and Chloe walked in, heading toward them. Taking a seat on one of the new soft couches the Ursini had installed perpendicular to where they were sitting.

Chloe looked out the window at the distant stars as she snuggled into Matt's side, and laid her head on his shoulder; he looked at Everett who had Te'arly doing the same.

"Um, Sir...Chloe and I are engaged..."

Everett's grin turned into a broad smile as he got up and shook Matt's hand, then pulled him close and hugged him.

"Congratulations son..." Everett looked at Te'arly as she hugged a very happy Chloe "We are very happy for you both."

They swapped partners and hugged again; Matt said "Chloe has something to ask you..."

Everett stood in front of Chloe holding her hands as she spoke;

"I know you knew my father well, even if you did disagree sometimes..." remembering him, a tear ran down her cheek as she sniffled then smiled; "Could I ask you to give me away at my wedding?"

"I would be honoured to Chloe..." as they hugged again with tears now clearly visible on her rosy cheeks.

After sitting down again Matt asked Everett a difficult question "How did you guys know already?"

Everett sighed; then began to tell them what he knew about Amanda and her link with Destiny. Matt and Chloe listened as he explained how discrete she had to become, knowing virtually everyone's private life. Amanda's unique perspective on life from having been so challenged for many years gave her an extraordinary ability to understand people and respect their privacy.

Matt just listened, then said "Wow...that is some gift to have; tough choice too"

Chloe asked "Could she marry us?"

Everett thought for a minute and then said "We can get a celebrant to use the stones if you like, that would be legal then..." he looked to the stars "Talk about a place to get married...no views like this on Earth."

"No, I want Amanda to do it...out here what does it matter if it's legal on Earth or not?" Chloe's question was gentle.

Everett laughed; "I'm sure she would be happy to do it..."

Matt added "I'll bet she already knows..." as they all laughed together knowingly.

It didn't take long for Amanda to find Chloe and Matt, congratulating them and agreeing to act as a celebrant whenever they were ready. Her and Nick sat with all four of them and watched the view; with drinks in hand they talked about different things that had happened during weddings and receptions they had attended over the years. About half hour later, T.J and Varro now both dressed in civilian clothes; walked in together holding hands discreetly.

Everett looked at Varro with a straight face; then broke into a smile nodding his head slightly.

"Sit...please guys" he said to them with a genuine smile

Tamara looked a little uncomfortable and said "Um, sorry I'm not in uniform Sir..."

"Well...I think it's about time for a change..." even Everett was in new clothes; "We're a long way from regulations out here...and we were stuck in the same clothes for far too long" he started to laugh.

Varro quickly struck up a deep conversation with Nick about the progress they had made on Lisa's eyes and Te'arly's problem.

Nick asked "How is the progress going with Lisa's eye treatment?"

Varro smiled knowing it was working well "She has responded very well to the solution since we started. I believe her eyes will return to normal function in a couple of weeks based on her current progress"

Nick didn't have the same misgivings about Varro that some of the other people may hold; he had seen a man who was forced into a difficult situation that he now had the chance to reverse. Varro had found himself; not wanting to return to his old life, he really made an effort to become part of the crew. It had taken a while but now it seemed Everett had finally accepted he'd changed; the conversation continued:

"Have you had any success with the blood you took from Te'arly's umbilical cord?" as Nick questioned, she leant forward slightly listening for the answer.

Varro aware of her action aimed his answer more at her than Nick "Yes, T.J and I have isolated what we believe is the link in her DNA chain responsible for the disorder; it certainly stands out from the rest of the chain. I must stress Te'arly, we still need to do more test; the fact that you are human DNA makes it easier to isolate anything that shouldn't be there."

T.J looked at Amanda smiling, as she nodded before looking straight at Te'arly "What we have achieved is creating master cells that will remove any pre-programmed part of your peoples DNA chain, and replace it with genetically correct links." Not understanding all the terminology Te'arly looked a little confused;

T.J changed her explanation to a simpler version "We have a way of fixing it, we just need to find the right bit to fix"

Te'arly leaped up off the couch and hugged Tamara, then Varro; "Thank you both so much for what you have achieved to help my people..." after a minute or two she laid down beside Everett with her head in his lap, as he draped his arm around her; she had no more secrets to keep:

Looking up at Everett she said loud enough for all of them to hear "I love you..."

Looking back at her without caring about everyone there the worst kept secret on board was finally made public as Everett said "I love you to darling" she snuggled closer to him and closed her eyes in happiness.

Amanda looked at Tamara and then Varro who smiled back knowing what she was going to say;

"Tamara, we have made some progress for you too..." she said "It isn't a cure, but it may slow the onset of the symptoms down for a lot more years; we still have some more testing to do, but it is looking promising..."

Tamara didn't want to get her hopes up, so she remained interested but not excited "When did you find this out...I mean, I've been working on it too?"

Amanda replied "Only in the last couple of days; sorry I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier...I was hoping to give you better news on the progress"

Tamara smiled "Thanks guys; for all your help..."

Eli and Ginn were alone on the bridge as the clock stopped counting down. Destiny didn't jump into FTL; instead she plotted a course toward the nearest sun. Eli didn't see the clock as Ginn was now sitting in his lap on Kirks chair having a heavy petting session; before things heated up too much, Eli heard a familiar voice call his name:

"Eli sweetheart..." he looked past Ginn in shock; his mother was standing in front of him with a smile on her face.

Ginn jumped up as he suddenly said "Mom...? What the f..."

"Honey, I don't think it's appropriate to be doing this on the bridge of a space ship..."

"Um..." he looked at Ginn who could see Maryann standing there too; then the realisation hit him "Oh...sorry Destiny; um...we really mean it, we are sorry" Eli's apology was very genuine.

"That's ok sweetie, I know you too are deeply in love" Maryann smiled; then vanished

Ginn looked at Eli saying "I believe we just got in trouble from our Mom,better keep this to ourselves then" both of them were impressed by Destiny's polite way of addressing what happened.

"She is amazing...and right; I'll have to add being told off by a star ship to my list of weird things that happen on Destiny" said Eli now paying attention as Destiny rounded a large planet on her path.

It was a different perspective the rest of the main crew had from the observation deck as the ship speed toward the sun at full sublight power.

Nick watched the view asking "Do you think Eli needs a hand up there?"

Everett took another sip "Na, he'll call if he needs us; just hope those two are behaving themselves alone on the bridge..."

Amanda tried to contain her smile; and admired the way Destiny had handled it. Reaching the sun they heard the collectors open up as she flew through the immense magnetic arches drawing up energy. It didn't take long before they left the sun's corona and headed back out into space; a new course came up on screen, with Eli and Ginn checking it over and agreeing. The sensors picked up that signal again, but only for milliseconds; Eli played it back and matched it to the others.

"Damn it, there still tailing us...I know this isn't going to end well" he said, not knowing how right he was;

The now familiar blur came over the ship as Destiny jumped back into FTL.

Destiny wasn't in FTL for more than a day when she suddenly dropped out without warning; orders were yelled over the com as the gate started spinning with an incoming wormhole. Lt. Scott, MSgt. Greer, and Lt. James along with several other Marines and Air force personal flooded the gate room fully armed just as the worm hole stabilised. Everett commanded them to hold their fire and allow whoever to entre.

As the crew watched with bated breath, a lone human male step through the gate with his hands outspread in a peaceful manner. He stood of average height and appeared middle aged being well toned, wearing a golden sleeveless robe, long black paints, and sandals. His hair was streaky grey and long with a Chinese goatee beared that appeared to be slowly greying. He began to speak without any translation required;

"I bring you greetings from our world Valeya (Vay-lay –ya); my name is Castell…what is your purpose in this galaxy?"

Everett walked toward Castell without fear and put forward his hand in friendship "I am General Everett Young, Commander of the Ancient star ship Destiny. We are travellers from the Milky Way Galaxy" Castell accepted the offer and grabbed Everett's forearm firmly similar to the Jaffa.

"It is an honour to meet another intelligent race from a faraway galaxy. Your technology is one of the more advanced in this galaxy; although I have to insist on asking again, what is your purpose for being here?"

Everett turned to his men and waved his hand for them to lower their weapons; sensing this being maybe powerful and highly advanced he decided to tell a limited truth "We are explorers…our ancient ancestors built this ship, although we only arrived aboard some years ago and have continued their mission. The ship has passed through many galaxies collecting data from gated and other planets."

Castell looked at Everett with a discerning eye "Is there anymore to your journey General Young of the SGC and Icarus Base?"

Everett didn't lose his nerve; "You seem to know something about us already…" he smiled.

"We have been watching since your ship, Destiny, entered our galaxy. It seems though you are expecting some trouble…perhaps following you?" Castell smiled knowingly back at Everett.

"Um, ok…I take it you come from a very advanced world; we are not here to cause any trouble with any other beings, we are just looking for…" Castell cut in;

"Looking for the order behind the chaos of the big bang?" Again Castell smiled warmly at Everett with a genuine compassion.

Everett conceded "Yes, that is our mission; what else do you know about us?"

Castell just opened his heart with his voice "Everything…That your people becoming the fifth race in the Milky Way Galaxy depends on your conduct out here; not even you knew that."

Most of the crew standing around watching had their mouths open in shock; Everett gave up his brave demeanour "Who are you? Are you an Ascended Being?"

Castell looked at Everett and shook his head; "No Everett, we have not ascended…but we are in contact with those who have and unlike the Asgard who are bound by their treaty with the Ascended, we will help you and your ship to fight the Ori who follow you. We do not want Origin to be the order of our galaxy; even if you had brought the Ark of truth with you, we wouldn't need it…believe me when I tell you, the Ori are defenceless against us." With a wave of his hand the gate started to turn "Please leave your arms here; we will never be your enemy…"

Everett looked at his crew; they nodded and disarmed themselves. Te'arly walked up beside Everett; he smiled at her as she took hold of his hand. Castell looked at Eli and Nick;

"Destiny will jump back into FTL when we leave; Mr Wallace please join us…Dr Rush, Destiny will follow a pre programmed course to our world…I bid you all greetings" Castell walked back through the gate followed by Everett, Te'arly, and his usual men; all unarmed.

The gate closed and Destiny blurred back into FTL.