Here's the next chapter for you all, questions will be answered and others will be asked. Note: Sergeant Major Richards is the property of DaniWilder, so thanks for letting me borrow him. Echidna however is mine, and so are any of the ships that I proudly create.

I intend to look at all reviews and try to clear up any questions you may have, so if you have any stick them in your reviews and i will try to answer them without giving the game away at the start of each new chapter.

As some of you may have guessed there will eventually be new ships being built. The tricky part is coming up with appropriate names which is very important, so if you have any suggestions send them in and the best will become the names for the new BC - 305 class ships. Of course if you have suggestions for 304's be they American, Russian, etc then send them in.

Review Responses

DaniWilder: I'm glad you noticed and apreciated the effort, and your right the history of the Wraith took a lot of effort. The hard part was dealing with the flow of ideas, sometimes you just cannot type fast enough to get them all down.

Shadow of Realm: Everyone has a story, and with Wraith creepy stories are a given. Echidna was the first Wraith so hers was going to be something special.

Ruby Pena: Always nice to have a new reviewer, they are welcomed and encouraged. I fully intend to keep up the good work, and thus i present to you this new chapter.

P4X-650 – Pegasus-class ship – Bridge

Sitting in the command chair of one of the latest ships to roll off the production line was General Jack O'Neill. A month had passed since he had given command of the Weir to Colonel Sheppard and now his own ship was ready. That was the wonderful thing about industrial beams, if you shovel in enough resources you can build just about anything. This was of course without using pure energy to build the ship which not only took a long time but put a fair amount of strain on the generators themselves and dramatically reduced their life expectancy; even the most advanced generators created by the Asgard can only do so much. As such they would stick to just shovelling in raw resources than pushing the generators to the point where they were in danger of exploding as they burnt through their fuel at an alarming rate.

Interesting things had been happening in both galaxies in the past few weeks. One surprising thing was that the Nox had actually got in contact with them and asked that they swing by their planet to discuss something important. Exactly what they had wanted to talk about was not specified but given the nature of the Nox a meeting itself was a big leap forward. A requirement of this little meeting was that the original members of SG-1 all be present, which was handy as Cameron Mitchell had taken command of his own ship and he would hate to leave two ships without their Commanders. So while he was waiting for the others to arrive at the Alpha Site to be beamed up to the ship he was pondering everything that had been happening in Pegasus as of late.

He had to hand it to Sheppard and his team, they really knew how to stir things up, and in the space of just two weeks they had set the entire Pegasus galaxy down a whole new path. Not only had they established the Tau'ri as the dominant power but they had also managed to effectively neutralise the Wraith problem in one foul swoop. In the past few weeks the Matriarch Echidna had been gathering her people to her and getting them to submit to the genetic alterations. This was admittedly taking time, so those Wraith that were unconverted were forced to spend their time in hibernation pods. But they were getting eventually getting their treatment and hopefully they would soon be able to duplicate the genetic alteration technology to speed up the conversion process. Of course there was always going to be the issue of food but that was also being dealt with, the food replicators on the Weir were being worked hard and large amounts of supplies were being channelled through Valley Forge. But they were also producing seeds for crops and the Athosians were educating the Wraith in farming and agriculture. On Wraith controlled worlds acre upon acre of land that had otherwise been unused were becoming farms to be tended to by converted drones as they learned the skills necessary to grow their foods. It was the worshippers that really had it hard though, what with the gift of life being off the table. So now they were taking up places managing the farms in order to stay out of trouble. Admittedly liking the Wraith was no longer a punishable offense, but liking them in order to save your own neck while allowing others to be fed on left a sour taste in even the mouths of those trying to encourage Wraith relations. According to Colonel Sheppard's official report, while they were still a long way from home base, they were certainly making progress towards the Wraith becoming an accepted member of the Pegasus galaxy. Or at the very least they didn't have reason to wipe them out anymore which was certainly a start, although that part was officially off the record.

As O'Neill saw it if they were willing to accept the change then they were all right by him. It was one thing to feed on humans when you have the choice but quite another to do so when you knew there was a better moral option. He wasn't about to declare war on them when they clearly choosing the path that was best for them and the rest of the galaxy. After all it was making the right choice that was what gave the Tok'ra one of their more endearing qualities and was what had separated them from the Goa'uld. If they could have a relationship with the Wraith that was at least as good as that with the Tok'ra then the Pegasus galaxy should be alright.

His musings were interrupted when his ships own ISIS appeared in front of him.

"Commander, the Alpha site is reporting that the rest of SG-1 is ready to beam up."

O'Neill smiled at the AI's words, they brought back good memories.

"Thank you ISIS, you can beam then up now."

"Aye Commander," she said before his old team appeared in a burst of light.

"Hey gang," said Jack. "Welcome aboard the Enterprise."

His former team resisted the urge to chuckle at the name, they knew how long he had been trying to swing it, and settled for a grin at seeing their old friend again.

"Good to be here Sir," said Sam, ever the professional. She was dressed in pretty much the same off-world gear she had worn to Baal's extraction ceremony, except in green, and O'Neill couldn't help but notice how well it fit her.

"Indeed, it is good to be here O'Neill," said Teal'c. Being an unofficial representative of the Jaffa he had opted for his silvery robes for this, hopefully, diplomatic mission.

"I bet you're glad you finally have your big honking space ship eh Jack," said Daniel. Who, like Sam, had gone for off world gear of the typical green variety.

"Ah a big honking space ship to call my own and the old gang are back together again," said a smiling Jack. "Could this day get any better?"

"For you? Probably not," said Daniel. "For me? Hopefully."

"How is Vala Mal Doran?" enquired Teal'c, with barely the hint of a smile.

Daniel sighed. "Annoyed at not being allowed to come, but I think it helped that Dr Lam offered to go shopping with her."

"What's wrong with that?" asked Sam. "Vala likes shopping so she probably won't mind that she missed out a diplomatic mission."

"Nothing," said Daniel. "Except I can't remember where I put one of my credit cards."

Everyone except Daniel burst out laughing at that point, and even some of the bridge crew chuckled. Odds were Daniel had left it under a stack of books in his office but knowing Vala there was always the chance that it was currently allowing a number of clothes items the chance to change owners. Luckily Vala was no where near as much of a thief as she used to be, her time with the SGC having taught her to behave a bit, and it wasn't as if the bill might come to much as she would at least show restraint. Odds were that Vala had just taken it so he would be scratching his head wondering where it had gone as pay back for leaving her behind, or she would just buy one or two small indulgences for herself with it.

"Okay gang," said Jack as the laughter died down. "It's time to hit the road. Helm, set course and take us into hyperspace."

With those words the ship came about and broke out of orbit. Soaring forwards the ship dove into the hyperspace window that opened before it.

Nox Homeworld

Above the jungle homeworld of the Nox the Enterprise re-entered normal space, and gracefully manoeuvred into orbit. The planet below was seemingly uninhabited, even to even the powerful sensors of the Pegasus-class vessel and clearly they were far from infallible. O'Neill knew that, at the very least, an entire floating city was hovering somewhere, hidden from sight by the powerful abilities gifted to the Nox race. The presence of the Nox may have been unapparent but they apparently knew of the presence of the Tau'ri above their world.

"Sir," said the com officer. "We are receiving a transmission from the planet, exact source is unknown."

SG-1 turned to face the main screen in front of them as O'Neill said, "On screen."

The HUD appeared displaying the face of a very familiar Nox. On the screen before them was the smiling face of Lya. She hadn't aged a day since they last saw her.

"Welcome people of the Tau'ri it is good to see you all again after so long," she said.

Jack, being the man in charge, was the first to speak. "Likewise Lya, it's nice to visit your world again, even if we are just in orbit."

"My apologies for the necessity of your use of ships to reach us," she replied, having realised the hidden point. "However my people have decided to keep the stargate buried for now, and we would rather you be able to visit us at your own convenience rather than our own."

Jack smiled at the sentiment. "Oh don't worry about it. I was looking for an excuse to take my new ship out for a spin anyway."

Lya returned his words with a smile of her own. "I am glad that we were able to help you in this matter then."

"So what made you think to give us a call?" asked O'Neill. "Your message said you had something important to discuss but I can't really think what would need from us."

His puzzlement was not unfounded. The Nox were quite possibly the last of what had been the four great races, and were significantly advanced in their own right. It was hard to believe that they would call on the up and coming Tau'ri, preferring to remain isolated to maintain their personal sense of peace, even if they had been called the fifth race by the late Asgard.

"I have indeed a matter of great importance to discuss with you. It is believed by many of us that without your assistance it will not reach a satisfactory conclusion."

That statement shocked everyone, the Nox were asking for their help. The very idea was more terrifying than it was flattering. The good General seemed slightly lost for words which allowed Daniel to jump in.

"Lya what is it you need our help with exactly?"

"It is a delicate matter," she said hesitantly. "If you would beam down to the co-ordinates I am sending you though we should be able to resolve this quickly."

There was something in the way she spoke that made them think the situation was a lot more complicated than it seemed. It had to be if she thought they could solve the problem merely by beaming down for a quick chat. In the background Sam moved over to a console and brought up the co-ordinates they were being sent.

O'Neill seemed to reach a decision. "Okay fine we'll beam down in a couple of minutes."

Lya nodded in response and terminated the transmission on her end.

Jack turned to face his former team, a sense of nostalgia overtaking him for a moment. It was just like old times.

"So team, thoughts?" he asked.

Daniel sighed. "Well what can I say? In many ways this is a dream come true, but we still don't have a clue what they expect of us."

"He has a point sir," said Carter. "The Nox asking us for assistance means they think we have some skill that they don't. Although I can't for the life of me think of what it may be."

Teal'c had seemingly been pondering something for the past few minutes and it was only now he spoke. "The people of the Tau'ri have become greatly respected and feared by many in recent years, and the exploits of SG-1 are known to many. It may be possible that this respect is the reason that they have chosen us."

"That's true," conceded Carter. "If the Nox know that the Asgard entrusted their legacy to us then that might have swayed their views in our favour."

"And if our experience is anything to go by then I doubt it's that they have found themselves in some kind of trouble," added Daniel. "The Nox are a very peaceful race, couple that with the fact that almost no one knows about them it would be rather difficult for them to get into a scrap with anyone."

O'Neill mulled this all over. "Okay so we have no clue what we're looking at but it's probably not anything to dangerous. At the worst we're looking at a very dull session of diplomacy. So any idea where we're heading? I'd rather not try materialising between decks."

"I actually checked out the coordinates she sent us," said Carter. "Don't ask me how but the sensors can detect what I can only assume is a room. It's in mid air but that's not really surprising from what we've seen."

"Okay fine we beam down there and see if we can get some answers."

The team materialised inside a wide room. From the general configuration this was most likely a viewing gallery, as one long silvery wall was missing entirely and instead in its place was a balcony allowing them to see the thriving jungle beneath. The rooms design was strangely familiar to the team and its curving pillars set into the walls reminded them of what little Asgard architecture they had seen.

From behind them, in the direction of the door, came a very familiar, and loud, voice that they had not heard in years. "Comtraya, it is good to see you again my friends."

Hardly able to believe it they all spun around to see, standing just inside the doorway, a smiling Harlan. Jack, with his years of training coming to his aid, recovered first.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he almost shouted. He still couldn't believe that Harlan, of all people, was actually here.

Harlan was seemingly unaffected by Jack's outburst and was still smiling as he began to speak. But before he could get out a single word he was cut off by the arrival of the Nox delegation through the door behind him. The group consisted of Lya, Anteaus and Ohper. The day was certainly bringing up a whole host of old faces.

"He is here General," said Anteaus, in a level voice. "Because like you all he was asked to be here."

O'Neill took a deep breath and then exhaled in a sigh in an attempt to keep his emotions in check. "Okay fine he was asked to be here and, although I may regret asking this, are we all here for the same reason or did you think that we would appreciate the chance to see old faces?"

"I take it that you are referring to fact that it is us three you are talking to rather than someone you do not know General," said Lya.

"I think that about covers it," he replied.

"It is us that you are talking to because it is our purpose to be the ones to talk to you," said Ohper.

"You mean you're the Nox's ambassadors," said Daniel.

Ohper smiled at the young having become wiser, "Very well done Doctor Jackson. We are indeed our people's ambassadors."

Daniel seemed slightly humbled at the praise of the old Nox. "Ah, well it wasn't really that much of leap really."

A thought seemed to have occurred to Colonel Carter which led to her question. "How did you know we had beaming technology?"

Teal'c seemed to be going on a similar train of thought to the Colonel, most likely it was because of the warriors inside them constantly analysing the situation. "Indeed, there are not many who know of the full abilities of the people of the Tau'ri."

"Yeah and it's not like you guys tend to go out and about to find out these things," added O'Neill.

"You are correct in your summations," said Ohper, showing off a little telepathy. "We were told of your new advancements by our allies."

That only puzzled them more, the Nox were not known for having any allies aside from being members of the four great races.

"Who?" they asked in unison.

The Nox smiled slightly at their reaction.

"By him," said Lya gesturing at the doorway.

Listening carefully they could hear the sound of gentle footsteps echoing down the corridor. In the doorway a lone figure appeared. The figure was unclothed and, surprisingly, of thin and almost human proportions. This was surprising because the figure was, without a doubt, an Asgard.

The Asgard dropped its head, scrunched up its features and let a drawn out "Oh no" in the unmistakeable voice of Thor. The sudden appearance of his supposedly dead friend rather pushed O'Neill over the edge as he struggled to with the numerous emotions dealing inside of him.

"Okay will someone please explain to me what the hell is going on," he practically shouted.

After a little while Jack had calmed down significantly, although he was still a little peeved he was happy to see his old friend again. They were currently all sitting around a plain metallic table that had been beamed in to the room.

"Okay, I think its explanation time," said O'Neill, clapping his hands together as he spoke.

Thor sighed, "I am sorry for the deception O'Neill, however it was necessary. I did not lie when I said my people were dying."

"Well clearly you fixed the problem," said O'Neill.

"Indeed," added Teal'c. "In fact you appear to be more like your ancestors than your previous forms."

"That is true," Thor admitted. "However our new form is not a result of our studies into cloning new bodies from our ancestors DNA. In fact that particular avenue of research eventually failed to save my people."

"Then I'm guessing that is why Harlan is here," said Sam.

For the first time so far Thor stopped looking ashamed and actually smiled, his more human like features allowing for a greater visual display of emotion.

"Good guess Colonel Carter. It is thanks to Harlan and his people's technology that we were able to gain these new bodies."

Harlan added the next part of the story.

"These people, the Asgard, came to my world two years ago as you had done. It seems they had learned of my existence from your own records of our encounters. Only instead of exploring they came for my help. They studied my android body as well as any empty ones I could make, and I gave them what knowledge I had. By combining the designs with their own technology they were able to improve the android bodies as well as modify them to their own needs, hence the change from their previous forms."

"Surely that can be a problem for you though," said Carter. "From our experience we know that the android bodies require constant recharge or their power cells drain quite quickly."

"One of the modifications that the Asgard made to all of the android bodies is to include a small naquadah power generator that will not require replacement fuel for quite some time to come. As thanks for my help they also gave me a new body with the upgrades. This new body is much more durable, stronger and faster thanks to the advanced computer core that my mind resides in." He smiled. "With this new body I can explore the galaxy. I see now why you find it so appealing, there is much to see and as time passes there are even more new things to see. I fear that infinity will not be long enough to enjoy them all."

He seemed truly ecstatic at the thought of being able to explore the galaxy to his hearts content, and really they couldn't blame him. He had been stuck alone on his homeworld for thousands of years and had never had the chance to leave and explore the galaxy and meet new people. It was no wonder that he had made duplicates of them just so that he would not have to be alone. Not to mention the fact that he had probably been in need of help to maintain the power generators that kept him alive.

"So if you don't have the problem of needing new bodies why are you still hiding your existence from everyone?" asked Daniel looking at Thor.

They all turned to Thor at that point. Everyone wanted an answer to the question that had been on their minds since the beginning.

"Yeah and why did you blow up your homeworld just to make us think you were dead?" added O'Neill.

"At that point our own attempts to cure our genetic condition had failed. As a result we decided to search out other alternatives and so we scoured your records of your encounters with other worlds and found out about Harlan, but our experiments with android bodies were still in their infancy. Even if we did find a way to succeed we would still need time to recover and since there was still the problem of the Ori invasion we knew you would need help to defeat them. Since we believe you had become the fifth race and were ready to accept new responsibilities we decided to give you the tools you would need, including our prototype weapons and our database. With the Nox hiding our ships presence we destroyed our homeworld and all other remnants of our technology leaving the illusion of our extinction. This also had the added advantage of making the Ori think we were dead as they had been making incursions into our own galaxy as well. If the need arose we believed that we could reveal our presence and provide assistance against them once we had finished our research. When you quickly defeated the Ori however we realised that our trust had not been misplaced and you were indeed the fifth race, and so capable of standing on your own. You have achieved much in the past two years and I believe that you will continue to achieve much in the coming times without our help. So we decided to remain hidden and hopefully we will eventually solve our genetic problems."

"If that's all true then why are we here?" asked O'Neill. He was experiencing a range of emotions from pride, at being acknowledged by Thor, to sadness that his friend had chosen to fake his and his people's death. But right now suspicion was taking the driving seat.

Surprisingly Thor glared at the Now representatives, demonstrating another emotion his new features were capable of displaying.

"I suspect," he said, in a slightly annoyed tone. "That some people felt that our decision was not the right one and have chosen to interfere."

"I think you will find Thor that we have not unnecessarily chosen to interfere," said Ohper. "You asked for our help to preserve your way of life, and that is what we are trying to achieve here. You have chosen to hide yourselves needlessly when you have no reason to, and have left your own responsibilities to others. Even with your technology the Tau'ri still have some ways to go. It is true that they have great potential but they still need someone to help them along the right path lest they stray from it."

"They have a point Thor," said Daniel. "We would rather have you guys around than see you gone. There is still so much that you have to offer the people of this galaxy that we can't."

"We have given you the entire knowledge of our race and the means to protect the worlds listed under the protected planets treaty," said Thor. "What more do we have to offer you?"

"Thor, I would normally be the last to admit that we have a long way to go but the truth is we do," said O'Neill. "You guys are way smarter than most of our geniuses combined and even with the database you gave us we are still a long way from using it to benefit our world."

"Simply put we don't have enough people with the knowledge to properly use the technology we are being given," said Carter. "Looking through the database I would be lucky if I understood a small percentage of it. What we need is someone to teach our people about the knowledge you've given us. If we can increase the number of people who understand even some of the basics of the technology at our disposal then we can slowly bring our entire world into the fold."

"My own people would also benefit from your help," added Teal'c. "Since we have been set free from the Goa'uld we have achieved much to becoming individuals, however we still need help. While we can replicate and maintain our technology there are few that understand how it works, and those that do are those are being over tasked. If we are ever to advance as a people we need someone to teach us. However we cannot ask the Tau'ri to do this for us as they are busy trying to educate their own people. Also there are those who still resent the Tau'ri for the superiority that they show over us. It was with their help that we were finally freed from our enslavement a feat we were unable to achieve by ourselves. However if a race that even the Goa'uld feared offered us help to become stronger then I believe that the Jaffa would become more united as a people and that we would be able to become more independent. I will not ask you to gift my people with the same technology as the Tau'ri as I know that they have earned it. I merely ask that you help us to understand the technology that we have so that we might one day be as worthy of your recognition as they are."

It was a speech full of honesty and praise, causing Thor's resistance to wane with every word. It was true, the Jaffa were still progressing as an independent nation. While they were building ships of their own and incorporating the upgrades that the ships of Anubis had flaunted against them many times in combat, they still lacked an innate understanding of the technology to make advancements of their own. This was slightly moderated by the fact that certain aspects of their technology could be improved by channelling more power into them. So by adding more generators to their ships they could improve the overall operating efficiency but this was far from a long term solution.

Thor sighed emotionally. His reasons for arguing against the idea for the Asgard to become a part of the Milky Way's affairs were dwindling to the point where even he could not believe in them. But he still had one fall back left to him and while admittedly it was his weakest card to play at this point it was the only card he had left. He turned to the Nox representatives.

"Surely all of this violates your own policies of none interference. You pride yourselves on not taking sides or interfering in the affairs of others and yet you brought them here," he said, gesturing to SG-1. "Why couldn't you just leave us be, to choose our own path? Why not just let us carry on as we were? What business is of yours?"

In the face of this onslaught the Nox all remained calm and kept their faces neutral, they would probably make excellent poker players.

"It is our business Thor because you made it so," said Ohper. "You asked for our help in hiding your continued existence whilst you did what you needed to be done to saves your race from extinction. But now that task has been accomplished and yet you still hide your existence, from the universe and from your friends. In being here you are under our protection and we need to protect you from your own pride. You fear that you are not the same great race that struck terror into the Goa'uld so that you might protect what human worlds you could, and yet you are right. You had realised that you cannot be solely independent if you wish to be a power in this universe and that is why you asked for the help of the Tau'ri. But now you are reverting to your old ways and it is those ways that led to your downfall in the first place. Listen to your Tau'ri friends, like us they do not want to see you fall again. You are still a member of a great race Thor, and great races should not hide themselves from those that they have done so much to help."

Thor hung his head. His last card had been played and he had no more fight left in him. But he knew that the other members of the Asgard High Council would still need some convincing, for they were suffering from the same fears as he was and he would need a very good reason to become a greater part of the universe again. He nodded, his decision made.

"I will speak to the others and try to convince them," he said. "However I think I will need more information about the current state of galactic affairs if I am to fully convince them." He smiled. "I suspect you have caused many changes in more than one galaxy."

SG-1 then proceeded to give them a brief breakdown of what had happened over the past two years, providing details on the more recent events, including the encounters with Echidna and the Pegasus Asgard.

"I see," said Thor, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. "So the Vanir are still around and performing experiments on humans no less."

"I think an expedition to the Pegasus galaxy to deal with them would certainly merit your reappearance in galactic affairs don't you think?" said Daniel. "I've had first hand experience of dealing with these guys and they certainly don't have as much compassion as you do. I'm not pointing fingers but it would be better if you guys dealt with it rather than us. Quite frankly, if anyone from the Pegasus expedition got a hold of them then they would probably return the favour for what they did to the humans of the galaxy, and I can't really blame them."

"At the very least you can use it as a good excuse for why you made yourselves known again," said Jack. "Personally I would rather avoid wiping them off the map for choosing the wrong path because they were terrified of the Wraith, but from our point of view we are expected to retaliate. But if a great race like the Asgard were to step in to deal with a group of their own that they thought had been lost, well I doubt there are many that would argue them leaving the galaxy to go back where they came from. And of course having all of their research confiscated in the hope that some good would some day come out of it would not necessarily be a bad thing either."

The implications were obvious. The Asgard could make their reappearance and would deal with an issue that had been left unresolved for some time now. They would hopefully even manage to get some research out of it that would bring them one step closer to solving their genetic issues, which would of course mean that they would not need to hide their presence anymore if their was a chance at hope.

Thor smiled. "I should tell you that the entire Asgard Council is most likely watching these discussions and I suspect that they will like your idea very much."

Over the ships intercom an Asgard voice rang through the room, "We do indeed Thor."

Thor smiled at his friends, "Then it seems we have a Pegasus expedition of our own to plan."