Here's the next chapter for you all, questions will be answered and others will be asked. Note: I only own what characters i create, the names and places i invent and the ships and vehicles i seem to be designing in droves for this single story.

I would like to thank AlexanderD for all his help and i strongly recomend reading his story New Dawn. I hope he likes the character named after him Admiral Alec Xander.

For those of you interested in what some of the ships featured in this story look like here are a few sketches on photobucket: .com/albums/ae166/Senrab_Nomis/

Please review and i will respond. Or alternatively post in the thread for this story in my forum. .net/topic/84023/35075481/1/

Review Responses

AlexanderD: I hope you aren't dissapointed after all the anticipation of what is to come and i hope i am able to surprise you with what i have in store.

Shadows-of-Realm: He is a scientist who needs something to interest him, i better find something quickly.

StarEcho: Thanks for pointing that out, even now when i look back at old chapters i seem to find some small detail i missed. Enjoy.

DaletheChu: Yes he can, but maybe not for who you think.

kwh5953: All things come to those who wait and i can only squeeze so much into a chapter. But don't worry your wishes were already being planned out when i saw the request.

"Where is he?" asked Morgan in a frustrated tone. "How do you lose an ascended being? Now we have to find him."

"If you immediately know the candle light is fire, then the meal was cooked a long time ago," Oma replied cryptically.

Morgan fought the urge gave Oma a look, and lost. Sometimes the woman could be infuriatingly wise, other times she wasn't sure if she secretly enjoyed giving cryptic clues just to wind her up. She had a point though, they could find him easily enough with their abilities and that was the only hard part of the ordeal. It was however annoying that they had to look for him in the first place. Or rather she had to look for him, Oma would help but as far as she was concerned Janus would eventually turn up.

Rather like a bad penny as some humans would say, Morgan thought.

"But getting the flame is not so hard," Morgan replied. "Where do you think he is?"

Oma raised an eyebrow. "Knowing Janus…"

"He got bored and went to find something interesting," finished Morgan.

"Janus will always be Janus," said Oma. "He can be nothing more and nothing less."

"He's not in this galaxy so that leaves Ida or Avalon. He was complaining that Ida was boring since the Asgard are only rebuilding at the moment."

"Avalon it is then."

"Come on then. The sooner we find him the sooner I can yell at him for running off without telling anyone where he was going."

Janus as it happened was in the Avalon galaxy, or as the Tau'ri thought of it the Milky Way galaxy. More specifically he was taking a look at the events happening on Dakara.

Dakara was a sacred place for Jaffa, being the world where the first Jaffa had been implanted by a Goa'uld symbiote but also marked the turning point in the Jaffa's history. Once the planet had been successfully captured by the rebellion, and attempts by both the Goa'uld and even the 'plague' of replicators had been repulsed, Jaffa across the galaxy had turned on the false gods that enslaved them and fought for their freedom. During the Ori invasion of the galaxy their assault on the planet had resulted in the destruction of the superweapon and a large number of the surrounding buildings. The Jaffa had since been working tirelessly to rebuild and repair the damage that had been wrought and the signs of battle had almost been removed. Now the only remains were the devastated mountain and the debris its collapse had left behind, a monument to the hardships they had endured.

At the request of Teal'c the Asgard had sent a small delegation to the planet that was once again the centre of the Free Jaffa Nation. The collection of scientists had been busy teaching any Jaffa who would learn about the technology that was at their disposal. The Jaffa had been trained in both using the technology, and naturally in combat, since childhood. Some had even picked up a working knowledge of the technology over the years, having been deemed the favourite of a Goa'uld technician tired of having to do everything or having spent the majority of their lives in the shipyards. Unfortunately these Jaffa were few and far in between and the short supply was costing the Jaffa. Their skills were greatly needed to help the Jaffa expand by teaching others and working on the run ragged fleet, but of course they couldn't do both. The Asgard had proposed that the Jaffa who wanted to learn divide their time between both lessons and acting as apprentices to the more qualified Jaffa engineers.

While the Goa'uld had trained the Jaffa to fight against other Jaffa and to act a suppression force for the human worlds in their domain it was obvious to Teal'c that this would need to change. The Jaffa were no longer a force of oppression, they had taken it upon themselves to act as guardians of the human worlds that the Goa'uld had enslaved and in return the humans would pay taxes to them. As it stood this wasn't proving to be easy without a currency based economic system but over time this would hopefully change. It was obvious though that change would take time and that they would have to wait for the system to stabilise and the Jaffa to learn about the technology they were using. However Teal'c realised that they could use what he had learned over the course of the rebellion right now. The results of the lessons learned were already beginning to show for the Jaffa, both technologically and in their society.

The Jaffa were primarily a warrior people, they each had fought for decades and in the case of the more senior Jaffa for over a century. Most had been born into a world where they had to fight for survival practically every other day against an enemy that were only doing the same, other Jaffa. The Jaffa right of passage was not, as some might think, the day they receive their symbiote which was a fact they were very grateful for. It was in fact the day that their training as Jaffa ends, not that it could be considered training since it was basically a series of skirmishes against other Jaffa groups. The day their training ends is the day the games become real, and it becomes survival of the fittest. In the eyes of the Goa'uld only the strongest should survive and that belief had led to the premature death of more Jaffa than it bore thinking about.

One of the first things the FJN had done was to end that particular right of passage immediately. The games still continued, using intar weapons of course, as they had served as training methods for millennia past, but Teal'c felt that more was needed if the Jaffa were to match the combat abilities that the Tau'ri had displayed. The training was not the real problem that the Jaffa faced in that regard as the combat experience and the fear of 'death' were excellent learning experiences. Once the plans for the new final test for the Jaffa in training was complete then the Jaffa would be required to meet a standard that would match the skill of the Tau'ri. No, the problem was the weapons the Jaffa used. As O'Neill had once said the staff weapon was a weapon of terror and the same could be said of all other Jaffa weapons as well as their armour. The armour a Jaffa wore consisted of steel plating over a chainmail suit, and against energy and ballistic weapons it was next to useless. The newer versions that were being experimented with incorporated trinium plating into the design. Trinium was both lighter and stronger than steel but it was harder to acquire and more valuable, not that Teal'c was going to let that bother him.

Re-designing the armour to incorporate new materials was the easy part, while weaponry was a whole other matter entirely. The Jaffa staff weapons were excellent weapons for ceremony and for honour guards but they were not appropriate weapons of war. Given that they were bulky, had a low rate of fire and were incredibly hard to aim at a distance any re-design would have account for these deficiencies. Zat's were slightly better but they were flawed along the same lines given that they were larger than necessary and did not have a dedicated iron sight. They were very effective as a stun weapon, but in that regard did have the unfortunate side effect of potentially killing a subject if they were accidently shot twice. A lower powered version, like those recovered from killed Ori soldiers, would render this problem moot. Teal'c however wanted to give his soldiers the option of both. He was pushing for a design with a safety catch that would change the setting of the weapon from stun to potentially lethal if hit twice.

But while the zat would essentially be a modified version of the original design the primary weapon of the Jaffa would be completely different. Teal'c had come to admire the practicality of the Tau'ri rifle weapons and was hoping to see that kind of practicality reproduced. Working with the Asgard the Jaffa engineers had come up with a design that offered the power and durability of a staff weapon combined with the accuracy and versatility of a rifle. The end design was light and compact but also very deadly, the first Jaffa plasma rifle. The technical specifications for the prototype included a plasma repeater as the primary discharge, an under mounted plasma cannon and a retractable electronic sight, all of which was powered by a liquid naquadah power cell. The plasma repeater was the equivalent of the kull warrior's wrist weapons, while the plasma cannon had the strength of the staff cannon.

Teal'c was very pleased with the prototype and already had Jaffa putting the weapon through its paces readying it for mass production. The other Jaffa were initially sceptical about the weapons capabilities so Teal'c proposed the Jaffa have a 'game', with one side using intar versions of the plasma rifle and the other intar staff weapons.

Janus had turned up to watch the day's events and was enjoying himself immensely with his ascended observation point, it wasn't long into the morning that Oma and Morgan found him. He told them, very politely, that he intend to stay where he was and invited them to do the same.

By lunch time, and about half way through the day, the Jaffa had been already gone through several battles. Teal'c had been momentarily overwhelmed when the entire side using staff weapons immediately came to him and demanded that, in the interest of fairness, they be allowed to use trade weapons with the other side. The glee that they had displayed when Teal'c had agreed had both pleased and pleasantly surprised the ageing Jaffa. The reason for this was blatantly obvious to those who had been able to see the way the battles had progressed over time. The Jaffa with staff weapons had eventually found themselves being sniped from a great distance at little risk to the other side. But now that they had plasma rifles they found that they could exact the same retribution to the other side, and were enjoying it immensely. In the interest of fairness however both sides were eventually issued with plasma rifles, the point having been made.

Once again however the Jaffa found that they had to change their tactics as they adapted to this new type of warfare. The weapon you wield defines how you fight, especially when you find yourself with a whole new range of options available to you. The Jaffa didn't even know the meaning of the word sniper until they had found themselves sniping the enemy thanks to the rifles high powered electronic scope. Before they had been using weapons that were next to useless at long range when it came to accurately hitting a target, except on mass, but now they could stand very far back and still score a hit. They were now practically relearning how to fight, adapting to the weapons of their opponents and the weapons they themselves now wielded, and they were getting very good at it.

"Fascinating design," said Janus, examining one of the prototype weapons. "Deadly and yet rather elegant in its nature, and the power source is brilliant."

"Where did you get that from?" asked Morgan. She could have sworn that he hadn't actually gone anywhere and yet he suddenly seemed to be holding one of the rifles in his hands.

"Oh from one of the storage units in their camp, it won't be missed for a while," he said offhandedly. "Now as I was saying this weapon uses a liquid naquadah power cell which means that it shouldn't run out of energy for a very long time. A Jaffa could grow old and die before his weapon even runs out of juice."

"Yes, yes very nice," said Morgan dismissively. "Now will you please put it back before someone wonders where it went."

"Of course," said Janus, and in the blink of an eye the weapon had vanished. No doubt it was now resting comfortably back in its cradle from wherever Janus had found it. "You know it really is interesting to watch how the Jaffa have progressed over the years. I can't help but wonder what they will be like in just a few more years."

"You cannot know the depth of the river until you see the bottom," Oma said casually.

Janus sidled up to Morgan and whispered in her ear. "I think I understood that, how about you?"

"I think so," replied Morgan, although she sounded uncertain. "But with her you can never be sure."

"True," admitted Janus.

"When the mind is enlightened the body matters not," said Oma, causing the others to wince. She had heard them.

Oma turned to look at the pair.

"Oh and you two," she said. "Lightning flashes, sparks showers, in one blink of an eye, you have missed seeing."

And with that she was away, leaving the others where they were and slightly perplexed.

"She was trying to tell us that something interesting is about to happen, right?" asked Morgan.

"I think so," said Janus uncertainly.

His eyes widened with realisation. "And we're going to miss it."

The two glanced at each other before they shot off after her.

Weir - Bridge

"Sheppard," said McKay. "We're receiving a transmission from Hope. Apparently Jakose has something."

"They say anything else?"

"Just that we need to agree on a neutral place…and they have a suggestion."

Sheppard sighed.

"Okay tell me."

"They want to use the Arima."

The silence was palpable, even the bridge crew had turned to look at the physicist.

"Why?" It was the only thing that Sheppard could think to ask.

"They just say that they think it should definitely be the Arima."

The fact that they had specifically requested the Arima was significant. As a rule if the Wraith flagship was present then Echidna would also have to be present. She was after all the only one capable of piloting the thing through hyperspace to get here.

"Anything else?"

"Just that they want a few hours to get some things ready for the meeting. I'd say they need to get people brought here." Rodney shrugged, it wasn't that surprising. The Averians were probably calling in people who would be better suited to give them the information they were after.

"That stargate we gave them not operational then?" Sheppard asked casually.

"Probably not," admitted McKay. "They never used one in the past for security reasons so they need to set up a proper space for it. They are probably more interested in fortifying their position before they bring it online, it's not like they lack ships to make the trip."

That was true. The Averians had been building up their fleet for a long time now and arguably had the largest fleet in the galaxy. The Tau'ri and the Asgard could probably match them if they worked at it, using their highly advanced production techniques, but for now the Averians easily beat both in terms of numbers. Strength however was a different matter. Even Echidna had been awed by the capabilities of a lone Asgard warship.

"Confirm that we'll request the Arima's presence and be sure to tell them when we get confirmation." There was no doubt in Sheppard's mind that the Matriarch would be attend, she would no doubt be just as curious as they were. "Then I want you to contact Atlantis and tell Woolsey that we need him here and that Echidna should be picking him up and then send the request to Echidna."

"You really think she'll come…yeah she'll come."

Arima – Echidna's Chambers

It had been a long day for the Matriarch as is, as she was coming to learn, every day when you are building an empire that spans the stars from practically the ground up. The old Wraith had never really established a true infrastructure because they never really needed one, why would they? They had their independent feeding grounds, their hive ships and even a few outposts used for building ships and research purposes. There was nothing more they needed. The closest thing to what Echidna was trying to achieve on every single planet she had was what the traitor twins had built in secret to guard against the risk of her return and now even that was nothing more than scorched wasteland. She was exhausted from her efforts and right now she was supposed to be working but her son had noticed how hard she was pushing herself and had decided to forget to wake her. In his mind she needed the extra hours, they would do her good.

The universe, however, is full of possibilities, and while she slept old memories began to surface in the form of dreams.

She opened her eyes and found herself in a room on Atlantis, the architecture easily recognisable to her and yet the room seemed odd. The colours were wrong, too dark, too vague, like they missing something. Sitting up she realised she was lying on a medical table, fully clothed and unbound, and yet she could not escape the feeling of unease at her situation. Something was about to happen to her.

"It will be alright Echidna," said a familiar voice on her left.

She twisted her head and suddenly standing next to her was Thypeous, and it was as if he had been there all along.

He gently placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, encouraging her to lie back down.

"Do not worry. I am here, and I am not going anywhere," he assured her.

Slowly a feeling of calm seeped into her body from where his hand still rested on her shoulder. She knew that what he said was true. He would stay throughout the whole procedure.

"It is time," said a voice to her right.

Stood there was a faceless figure, she did not know. She did not know his name, she had never asked. He was just a physician charged with a task to perform by the council. He was going to infuse her DNA with a serum. Her DNA, she had been told, had shown a level of adaptability that was unique amongst their people. It had been determined that the strands were capable of mutating over time to adapt to survive when subjected to threats and it was hoped that the serum would accelerate that process exponentially. She had been told that this could greatly aid their quest to someday ascend and exist as beings as pure energy, un-ageing and forever eternal. For this experiment she would greatly rewarded and she was happy to participate in the name of discovery. The opportunity to live with Thypeous forever was too good to pass up.

Thypeous kept his hand in place on her shoulder, while his other hand clasped her own warmly. He wasn't going anywhere.

The faceless physician lowered an injection device to her neck and pulled the trigger. As the vile was emptied Echidna screwed up her eyes and gripped her loves hand tighter, refusing to relax her grip until the strange feeling that coursed through her body subsided. As her pounding heart began to still and her lungs became able to contain air for more than a moment once again she opened her eyes, and saw Todd looming above her with his hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright mother?" he asked, his tone betraying his concern.

Echidna groaned as her brain processed her surroundings and recollection came upon her.

"I am fine," she assured him groggily.

"We have received a request from the Tau'ri," said Todd. "They and the Averians request to use the Arima for a meeting regarding the unknowns who attacked the Averians."

"Did they say why?"

Todd shook his head. "No, but if they want the Arima present then they want you to hear what they have to discuss."

"Then I will go," said Echidna, rising from the bed. "And you are coming with me. I want your perspective on these talks."

"As you wish mother," he replied, following her out the door. He knew not to argue, for more reasons than he cared to list.

Arima – A few hours later

In a flash of light that heralded the arrival of an individual courtesy of Asgard beaming technology a balding man in an Atlantis expedition command uniform appeared on the bridge of the Arima.

The man immediately took in his surroundings, noting the numerous Wraith lining the walls of the room, all of which were armed with spear stun guns and wore the uniform of drones complete with face masks. These warriors had been selected as the finest of all the Wraith warriors and were charged with a single duty, guard the Arima and protect the ship and the Matriarch from hostile forces. It was a duty they would perform with unwavering dedication ever since the neural inhibitor had been removed from their genetic makeup. And sitting comfortably on the ships control chair, with Todd, her right hand, at her side was Echidna.

"Greetings Matriarch," intoned Richard Woolsey. "It is good to see you again."

"As it is you Administrator Woolsey," Echidna replied curtly. "I hope Atlantis fares well. I know what a hard task it must be, being in charge of my former home."

Woolsey smiled warmly. "Not as hard a task as you must surely have, nor as ambitious. Establishing an infrastructure for an entire empire is something that many can only dream of even beginning to effectively co-ordinate. You should be applauded for your efforts."

Echidna smirked. "Having telepathy certainly seems to speed things up."

Indeed the establishment of the empire was progressing in leaps and bounds at a time. Already entire colonies were beginning to take shape as the bio-technology of the Wraith allowed for hundreds of buildings to be grown at once as the seeds were planted. It was truly astonishing what a hive mind race could accomplish, or any race for that matter, when a task was undertaken with such determination. Working on a collective level, undivided for the first time in ten millennia, the Wraith possessed a level of co-ordination that was almost frightening. It would certainly be interesting to see what they would become in just a few years, never mind a few hundred.

"I can only imagine," Woolsey replied. "Thank you picking me up by the way, I hope it didn't cause you any inconvenience."

"Your thanks are appreciated but unnecessary. It is in the spirit of friendship that I do this. I owe your people much already so a lift is the least I can do."

"Besides," she added. "We have been invited to the meeting as well."

Hope Station Space

A good distance from where the mighty station lay, and coincidentally between both the station and the Weir itself, a hyperspace window tore open and the Arima and her fifteen sentinels returned to normal space. The sentinels quickly followed their programming and moved into formation around the ship, taking up position to at the very least act as a defence screen.

Woolsey was quickly beamed aboard the Weir to meet with Colonel Sheppard and Doctor McKay. The biggest question on his mind was what the hell had been happening in his absence from the diplomatic arena. He couldn't help but wonder why a neutral location was needed.

"Gentleman," said Woolsey, as he was beamed over. "I have just one question. What has been happening that requires a neutral meeting ground between our allies."

The pair looked at each other, trying to decide who was going to go first.

"If I might help here," said ISIS, appearing like a ghost amongst the group. "I can show you a full recording of the meeting."

"Do it," said Sheppard, a little too quickly for Woolsey's liking. Sheppard however didn't notice since he was too busy thanking the Asgard for designing an AI with an evolving neural net. ISIS was really beginning to understand them.

Woolsey watched the recording with rapt attention, his face a mask of stone. But when the recording ended he sighed deeply and removed his glasses to rub his eyes.

"Sometimes I don't know what to make of you two," he said. "You are complete idiots, brave fools or conniving geniuses and I really can't decide which."

John and Rodney just stood their, trying to look innocent. They had honestly been lucky and relying on the nature of Jakose to get them through that bold strategy. As it turned out it had all worked out for the best and they were about to enter a meeting to find out just who the hell was actually behind the attack on the Averians.

"Alright so what's the current situation as you two see it?" he asked.

"Well I think they still trust us," said Sheppard jokingly, only to receive a glare from Woolsey.

"They have something big to talk about," offered McKay. "Now they either want Echidna there because it's something they think she is going to want to hear or it's just to make sure we don't try anything. Given how our last meeting went and the fact that they have Hope and a very large fleet parked nearby I'm leaning towards the former."

Woolsey nodded, that had been his assessment also. Jakose, from what he could tell, had taken the boys attempts at playing politics relatively well. If you even vaguely mistrusted someone you don't order your bodyguard to remove himself as a threat. And of course McKay was right about what the Averians had nearby, Hope itself had been designed to be a fortress, throw in the close to two hundred warships sitting nearby and the consequences of bad feelings on the Averians part didn't even bear thinking about.

"So the Averians most likely have an answer and they want Echidna to know about it which means it will concern her," Woolsey summarised with a sigh. "Wonderful."

"On the plus side it means the alliance will have a common interest," said Sheppard.

"You realise we never actually signed an alliance with the Averians right?" said McKay.

"No we have not," confirmed Woolsey, seeing the surprised look on Sheppard's face. "I know, it was supposed to happen after this joint mission to take down the rogue Wraith but the attack forced a re-shifting of priorities. Not to mention Echidna has been quite busy lately. I think she's happy to be here just to get away from it all for a little while."

"Well a common enemy might speeds things up a bit," said Sheppard optimistically. "Unfortunately that would be a worse case scenario for us right now."

"Did you see where she went?" asked Janus.

"No but she can't of gone far," replied Morgan. "We know she is definitely in Pegasus."

"Blast it!" said an exasperated Janus. "Why did she have to make it difficult to find her?"

In their ascended forms the two were mentally searching for Oma, who had somehow managed to give them the slip after they had followed her into Pegasus. It wasn't too surprising really. They had only been able to follow her this far because it had been apparent where she was heading too, the finer details about where in the Pegasus galaxy where not so easy to guess so they now had to look for her.

Morgan snorted. "You're one to talk considering what you…wait a moment what's the Arima doing parked by Hope?"

The two ascended Alterans looked at each other, nodded and then set off as fast as possible.

From her vantage point where the other two hadn't been looking for her, which was ironically exactly where they had just been, Oma smirked and set after them. It was nice to see that the two of them were beginning to understand each other.

Arima – Meeting Room

The Arima, having been designed with a different purpose in mind than your average hive ship, had many unique features. A lot of the rooms had been designed to be more accommodating to guests and one of the results of this was the meeting room. While it bore the traditional features of a meeting room, such as a table and chairs it also possessed a specialized domed ceiling that was essentially a massive viewing screen. To the occupants of the room it was almost as if the silvery hull of the ship was absent, allowing them to see directly out into space. It certainly made for an impressive sight.

One interesting thing about the table was that it lacked chairs at both ends. Instead at one end, a little way from the table, was a large throne chair, where Echidna now sat, and on its right was a more recently added smaller throne chair on which Todd sat.

Lining the walls of the room were Wraith drones, all of them armed with spear guns which they held clasped in both hands.

It wasn't long before the delegations from the Tau'ri and the Averians arrived. The Tau'ri group consisted of Doctor McKay, Colonel Sheppard and Administrator Woolsey, while the Averian group consisted of Admirals Durra and Xander, along with Minister Jakose and Sovaer.

"Now then," said Echidna, once all were seated. "I believe there is new information about the identity of those who attacked Hope."

"Yes," said Jakose, as all eyes around the table came to rest on him. "I believe they are Averian."

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