Chapter Forty-One: Adrift


Wednesday, 2nd August 2000.

Harry reclined in the familiar chair as it slowly rotated in place. With his eyes closed, he found the rotation helped to keep him focused on his work, acting almost soothingly as he directed the repairs.

It had taken most of the previous day to properly integrate the new beam engine into the city itself. While the room Hermione had beamed it into had been plenty large enough to house it, it lacked any sort of proper power conduits to allow its connection. Creating them had taken some time and Harry was glad to head to sleep the night before, leaving the city to scan itself with Vir's help to identify any potential problem areas.

He had just finished repairs on a miniscule slow leak in the primary power conduits that ran the length of the central tower that had probably helped drain more power from the already low supply during the period the city had lain dormant.

Harry set several more repairs in action before he acknowledged the presence in the room that had been watching him for several minutes now. Leaving the system to work, he leant forwards and the chair deactivated.

Harry blinked his eyes several times before they settled on Cyla who was watching him curiously.

"Hello." He said with a smile. "How are you doing?"

"Hello." She said in reply, pausing a moment before she continued. "It is odd being back. I get small glimmers that are almost like a memory. Feelings of being here."

"I suppose I can imagine that. The last time you were here, this was a bustling city full of your people. It must feel strange to see it so empty."

She nodded. "Oddest of all, I went to my quarters before. At least, I think they were my quarters. I still can't access the memories, but something in here," she said, pointing to her temple and Harry gave her a supportive smile, "led my path. It is very hard to explain. Carson says it might be muscle memory. They are still there, though there were a few personal artefacts that were certainly not mine. And yet, the room had not changed. Not in millions of years. I am coming to realize that my people may have been too… stagnant?"

"I mean, they made some incredible discoveries, even after leaving Earth. I don't think I'd call them stagnant, exactly." Harry said, though he somewhat believed the same. He had inspected the stardrive under the city during his work and it still almost perfectly matched the design of the original city from when it was built countless years ago. The model installed on Vir outperformed it in many ways.

"It is polite for you to defend them, but in my way, I have seen across millennia, Harry. While my memory is still extremely hard to capture, I can occasionally compare, then to now. Very little changed while I slept."

"I'm sorry. For all you've lost."

Cyla gave a slight chuckle. "And yet I have found new friends. And new purpose. Well, maybe that last one. I still can't tell you what my purpose was before."

"Is being here helping at least?" He asked, standing up and walking over to her.

"A little. As I said, I have feelings of being here. I was sure that I was walking to my room from the stargate. While I can't close my eyes and see the memory, I think it is still there. Like with my name. I don't remember it, but when you ask me for it, my mind pushes forth the word Cyla all of its own accord. I have hope that I will recover more. But I am already very glad I chose to join this trip."

"We're very glad to have you with us. And you are free to choose whatever purpose you wish to pursue amongst us. Nothing is off the table. You can be High Councilor if you really want." He said, almost hopeful as he joked with her.

She smiled at his continued efforts. "I feel that I wish to aid Carson. My ability would be useful in such a position." Cyla said, standing firm.

"Then we will do what we can to help you do so. Just, no using that ability for now. We need to make sure that you survive first and foremost. Deal?"

Cyla nodded. "As agreed. I have refrained."

Harry smiled at her. She was a welcome addition to their number, and he found talking with her incredibly relaxing. Cyla has such a unique view of things. Both incredibly ancient and profoundly naive at the same time.

"Anyway, I have diverted you enough for now. Hermione requests you return to Vir. They found something while you worked."

"Really? Ok then. Beam me up." He said with a smile that Cyla did not return and he realized she lacked understanding of certain Earth idioms that he was coming to understand himself now he had the freedom to watch and read whatever he liked. "Sorry, we'll get you up to speed on that too. Are you coming?"

"No. One of the reasons I came down is they apparently need to go off somewhere for a while. I prefer to stay here for now, get my bearings again."

"Very well. Thank you for the chat. Come find me if you ever want to talk about anything." Cyla nodded and Harry tapped the beam command into his remote, reappearing a moment later on the bridge where Hermione and Carson were looking at a section of the galaxy on a map above the CIC's indented upper surface.

"Welcome back," Carson said with a smile, and Harry returned it easily. He found the cheery Scottish man to be a real treat to talk with as well. He brought a lightness to the group that even Luna sometimes struggled to match.

"I'm told there was something important I needed to see?" Harry asked, joining them by the hologram.

"This," Hermione said, indicating a pulsing red dot somewhere by the very outer edge of the galaxy.

He nodded meaningfully, an impressed look on his face as he spoke. "Ok. I see a dot. Does it come with an explanation?" He said, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the other two.

Hermione smiled at his cheek. "Yes, it does. It's a battleship. Called the Aurora." Harry chuckled, thinking of their resident healer back on Aedis, or possibly still on Earth at present. "We linked Vir into the Atlantis control system about an hour ago. It seems setting the city back to its proper running state activated a few dormant systems that were running when the Lanteans departed. This one tracked the location of their ships during the war. And this ship in particular is outputting a very weak distress signal."

"You want to go have a look," Harry said, a statement rather than a question. He could already see the answer in her face.

"Aye, she does. But I think I shall head down to the city while you do." Carson said, drawing the eye of both his companions. "I'm a medical doctor. I'm not cut out for rushing through the galaxy to inspect ancient battleships. And I'll only be a radio call away, given that you have a stargate in the secondary hangar."

"That is true, but you'll need to work out the relation of the new symbols. We hadn't had the chance yet. That's why we haven't called home just yet." Harry explained. It had been one of the other things he was looking for while using the chair, as it gave a much smoother interface with the breadth of the Lantean database. "I left a few files tagged from my search, but I hadn't opened them in detail yet."

"I'll make it a priority. Elizabeth has already gone down with Luna and Cyla. Neville is getting ready in his quarters and he will join you."

"Alright then. I guess we should head out as soon as possible. Don't want someone else to find her first."

"Aye. And I will also check for that system in the city. See if there are any other results we need to check in on."

"I've transferred half of the matter buffer aboard down to the city, so you should have plenty to work with for the repairs," Hermione said, moving over to what seemed to be becoming her chair on the bridge. "Are you ready?" She asked Carson, who gave her a nod before a beam of light whisked him down to the planet below.

Hermione looked at Harry before he purposely walked away from the big chair and seated himself at the weapons console. "A distress beacon might mean danger." He said, powering up the shield and weapons systems which, thanks to their independent power sources, could remain active in hyperspace. Hermione smirked at him, piloting them out of the orbit she'd set them in the day before and entering hyperspace.

It took them some time to arrive at their destination, given it was at the edge of the far side of the galaxy. Neville joined them quietly, smirking at the pair as he sat in the big centre chair without any fanfare, but all three acknowledged the silent joke.

When the ship exited hyperspace, Harry immediately set about scanning the area. So far, he only detected the Aurora about three thousand kilometres off the bow. "There she is." He said as another beep indicated a second detection. "And we made good time, someone else is on their way here. I'm picking up another vessel in hyperspace about an hour away at its current rate of travel."

"Then we shouldn't dawdle," Neville suggested, preparing his suit for hopping over to the derelict ship. "I don't detect any life support aboard."

"No," Hermione confirmed, "and power levels are extremely low. It's a good thing we brought a dozen potentia with us to Pegasus. I say we board, install the potentia and shut down the beacon."

As she spoke, the vessel became visible in the dome and Harry was amazed. While of the same overall design architecture, it was far bigger than Vir, even accounting for the fact the entire front section of the ship had been blasted open by something. As they progressed forwards, Hermione allowed Vir to slowly rotate and they looked up at the dozens of punctures in the extremely thick hull of the Aurora.

They could see the dome that was the bridge of the ship shattered and open to space as well and Harry sighed at the sight. "She took an absolute beating."

"And yet," Hermione noted, "she's the one left standing." Harry nodded as he considered that fact. In spite of the extensive damage, the Aurora survived.

Harry considered the massive craft for a moment, considering it carefully. "Your father designed this ship based on that model by the look of things. Do you think that we can dock them together?"

Hermione glanced over at him thoughtfully before turning back to her own console. She ran a detailed scan of the exterior hull of the Aurora. "Maybe. I'm detecting a connection point on the upper hull, just behind the bridge. If we maneuver correctly, we could dock the ships together."

"Cool," Neville said as Hermione rolled Vir carefully, the damaged Lantean ship disappearing from view as the ventral hull lined up with the location she had scanned. The CIC kicked to life and showed the two vessels approaching one another. A set of approach corridors lit up on it in red and green, indicating the narrow approach vector Hermione needed to achieve to successfully tether the ships.

As she entered the green corridor, Harry spoke as he entered his own commands. "Nice. Hold steady and I'll bring her closer with the tractor beam."

Using three of the ventral emplacements, Harry watched as the large ship slowly approached their own. He held his breath as the distance between the two ships narrowed, a countdown on the right of the CIC hologram indicating their distance apart which was now in the low twenty metres.

The numbers lowered even further and with a solid screeching sound, the two vessels came together. Harry quickly set all the ventral tractor beams to hold their position steady so that Hermione could enact the connection.

"Forward three metres and a sliver to the right, Harry," Hermione instructed.

Harry altered the controls, moving Vir across the top of the ancient warship below. A loud grinding sound filled the air before a solid clunk sounded out through the corridors and Hermione sat back, looking at her terminal with a broad smirk.

The CIC showed a connection had been made and Vir was now diverting power into the Aurora's systems.

"Nice. That should help keep it stable while we board." Neville noted.

Hermione began running far more detailed scans using the now combined ship systems so that they would have a better idea of the layout of the Aurora before they tried to board. They did not have time right now to go exploring the entire ship and needed to ensure their focus was on getting it away from here before that other ship arrived.

Harry double-checked the long-range scan and saw they still had about fifty minutes before it was due to arrive. He entered several other commands and a single potentia beamed into place beside him. Picking it up as he stood, he turned to face the others, activating his suit's bubble. "Ready when you are."

Neville quickly joined him as Hermione finished picking their destination before she too stood and the three were surrounded by light. They reappeared in the power vault, a long thin corridor leading off of it into the stern of the ship where they knew the primary powerplant would be. Thanks to their view from outside, they knew that powerplant had been critically damaged, and only the potentia on the wall nearby was sustaining the ship at all.

Harry momentarily considered just pulling it and towing the ship back to Lantea as is. And while Vir was more than powerful enough to do so, something nagged at him that doing it that way would be a bad idea.

"Ok, Vir should be providing enough power to prevent the systems from outright shutting down. I guess I just swap them out." He said aloud, though the triangular chip behind his ear transmitted the sound to the others as the scans had shown that there was no air through which sound could currently travel around them. The ship's life support was completely shot. Not that it would have mattered given the hundreds of massive hull breaches through which any generated air would immediately escape.

He entered the command into the small panel beside the glowing potentia and it extended outwards from the socket. Neville stepped up beside him and firmly pulled the old unit free, the gravity under them dropping considerably with both power sources unavailable, Vir not properly fully tied in enough to prevent the systems from dimming slightly without the onboard power.

Harry quickly inserted the new unit into the socket. It lit up, illuminating the mostly dark room far more than the mostly drained unit had been doing as it withdrew into the wall, the systems around them humming with new life now that they had proper power once more. Once again, the ship's artificial gravity flared up and both boys were pulled firmly into the deck once more.

Harry smiled at the sight and turned to Neville. "I don't think we should bother with life support for now. We've all the oxygen we'll ever need in these."

"Agreed. Especially with all those holes." Neville said, turning to get Hermione's opinion only to find her missing. "Where is she?"

Out here. Hermione's voice came over the radio and the two boys quickly joined her in what turned out not to be a hallway, but a high-ceilinged room filled with stasis pods. Occupied stasis pods.

"Bugger me," Neville said, walking over to one of the pods and staring at the slumbering figure within.

"No wonder it drained its power supply. I thought this was a hyperspace-capable battleship. Why would it need stasis pods for all the crew?" Hermione asked, using her wand to cast a bright light up into the ceiling, illuminating the many pods.

"I've no idea, but that just settles things. We need to shut off the beacon and tow this thing out of here now." Harry said before he paused for a moment. "Actually. I have another idea."

With several taps on his remote, the three were whisked back to Vir and Harry rushed over to the rear wall. He quickly brought up the beam system and began to scan the large ship below them. It took several minutes to precisely pinpoint what he was after, but he had the section he needed to target outlined. Thankfully it was mostly self-contained, and having just received a new surge of power from the replacement potentia, it would last for some time once he activated the system.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked as he prepared the beam to activate and he took two steps back in order to look above them through the dome.

"Leaving something to find." He said as the beam activated and a small section of the Aurora's hull became visible hovering in the vacuum above the dome. "That's the beacon."

"Won't whoever is coming still wonder why it suddenly sparked to life?" Neville asked, watching the tiny chunk float through space.

"That's the beauty of it. That star nearby is a pulsar. It recently swept over this section of space according to the residual read on the Aurora's sensor logs. Hopefully, they'll assume it kicked some life into a long-dormant distress beacon floating in space and be none the wiser that we, or the Aurora, were ever here."

He turned to face the others and saw a now familiar look on his girlfriend's face. Harry blushed as Neville also caught sight of the look and turned away, heading for the navigation controls.

"As much as I love it when you look at me like that, we're on a clock, Hermione," Harry said, walking over to her and kissing her flushed cheek. "Later."

She gave a soft moan and Harry walked past her, heading over to Neville. "How's it look? Will it take much to jump both of us out of here?"

Neville was quiet as he calculated a course that accounted for the additional weight and complexity of their ship and cargo. It was going to take Vir far longer to tow such a massive vessel all the way back across the galaxy.

After a few moments, Hermione sat at the weapons console and altered the shields using the Aurora's own ventral emitters to help expand the field. It took surprisingly little time to get both vessels ready for the jump, and Harry checked the long-range scan again.

All up, it had taken the three of them less than twenty-five minutes from arriving to being ready to depart with both ships and the Aurora's little secret. The incoming signal was still over thirty minutes away by the time they were ready for the jump into hyperspace. Vir handled the additional load well, though the engines did sound far more stressed than usual.

Harry leant back into his chair and let out a sigh of relief as the pale green pulsing walls of hyperspace surrounded them once more. They were now safely away with some of the most precious cargo they could have possibly uncovered. A battleship full of somehow still living Lanteans. This was going to be interesting.

ϟ

Friday, 4th August 2000.

"Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it. What do you think?" Daniel asked, his arms moving about animatedly as he spoke.

Jack sat quietly, taking another bite of his fruit loops as he took stock of the moment. He had drifted off from whatever Daniel had been talking about some time ago, simply enjoying the crunch and flavour of his cereal.

It was one he often avoided, thanks to the memories that tended to be associated with it, however, he'd had an urge to try them this morning and was currently recalling some of the nicer memories of such mornings spent with Charlie and Sarah.

But as a result, he now had absolutely no idea what Daniel had just asked him, seemingly out of nowhere as far as Jack was concerned. The fact that the waffles on Daniel's plate were barely half-eaten only added to his confusion, as that meant whatever the man was asking was something he actually felt quite strongly about.

Both Carter and Daniel looked at him, clearly waiting for the answer to the question, so Jack slowly finished his mouthful, trying to seem pensive as he did so.

Lowering his spoon back into the mostly finished bowl, Jack happened to notice the time on his watch and smiled softly at the reprieve. "It's a good question, Daniel. But we're going to be late for this briefing. Ask me again later?" He asked, shuffling his chair back and standing under Daniel's disbelieving gaze.

Carter had quickly checked her own watch and come to the same conclusion. Jack had no idea what this briefing was about, despite the fact he'd been sent a report the day before when all the teams had returned from 325. He just assumed it would be a summary of their complete lack of findings on the planet for the past three weeks.

They had inspected the ruins inside and out, and while Daniel had been thrilled at what they had found, there had been absolutely no sign of any kind of weapon, or a way to control it. The entire mission was turning into a huge waste of time and Jack was eager for SG-1 to have something new to focus on before he went mad with the routine of it all.

Though Carter did seem oddly excited now that her focus was back on the briefing. Perhaps he would need to pay a little extra attention this morning to figure out what had her so enlivened.

ϟ

Cyla stared up through the shield at the ocean waters being held at bay. It was an oddly beautiful sight that drew her eye far more than the breadth of the city she had once called home.

The others were fascinated by some of the things they had found, but she had found more of the same. Glimpses of a past still denied to her and a lack of recognition of most of what she now saw. While she knew enough to know that the only real change she had noticed in the city so far was the newer design of stargate, she couldn't tangibly put into words what she knew to be in her mind.

At times, she slightly envied Luna her passenger, and wondered if perhaps a symbiote of her own might allow her to unlock her hidden memories. Or if, without the months of rigorous training, she would simply become a slave to its will.

"They're back." Luna's voice sounded from nearby, and Cyla turned away from the view and stepped back into the primary control centre.

The waify girl stood behind one of the many consoles, carefully monitoring the incoming vessels, but she smiled at her as she looked up. "It's about time," Carson said, coming up the stairs leading down to the stargate. "They called in ages ago."

"They're settling into orbit again. And in three, two, one…" Luna pointed to the empty space in front of the stargate where three figures beamed into existence.

"How do you do that?" Cyla asked.

"I know Harry and Hermione very well. They do love to make an entrance these days. I think Merlin rubbed off on them." Luna replied, dancing away from the controls and down the stairs, throwing herself into Harry's arms for a tight hug before switching over to Hermione instead.

"Hello to you too, Luna," Harry said, as Cyla and Carson joined them.

"How were things back here? Where is Elizabeth?" Neville asked as he received his own greeting from Luna.

"She retired to her quarters. Being in here bothers her. So many of her expedition died in this room." Carson explained. "Speaking of survivors, I hear you have some of your own."

"Yeah, you might say that," Harry said. "We did a head count on the trip back. Which, by the way, confirmed that we can safely use the beam while in hyperspace. At least between two vessels tethered together in the same hyperspace corridor. There are four hundred and six living crew aboard."

"So many?" Cyla said, a strange feeling filling her chest.

"More had initially survived, but at least twenty-two of the pods seem to have failed rather recently for some reason as the power drained or through additional damage as she drifted, perhaps," Hermione noted sadly.

It took Cyla a moment to realize that she had just been told beyond all doubt that she was not the last of her kind in the universe. There were more living members of her race, though they were millions of years her junior, the very fact that she was not the last filled her with the strangest sensation.

Hermione placed her hand gently on Cyla's shoulder. "Unfortunately, they have aged considerably over ten thousand years. It is very unlikely that any of them would survive being revived normally right now."

Cyla nodded. "I understand. I guess we can't expect my fluke to occur often."

"That doesn't mean we intend to give up," Harry said. "They're not completely out of it. They set up some kind of neural link between the pods before they entered stasis. We think they've been in a virtual environment the entire time. If we can safely tap into that network, we might be able to communicate with them directly in real-time."

Cyla smiled at the news as Neville continued. "In the meantime, we'll use the beam engine aboard Vir to reconstruct the Aurora. If for no other reason than to allow proper life support aboard again."

"That is good to hear," Cyla said, still trying to digest the information, despite having known the ship had living crew members aboard since Hermione had reported back the day before.

"How are things here?" Harry asked.

"Pretty good," Luna replied. "We've fully repaired the central tower. Nothing is too badly damaged, but we prioritized the star drive upgrade next."

"Probably a good idea. We still aren't certain who that ship we detected belongs to. We didn't want to wait around and find out." Neville said.

"Speaking of, were you able to follow them afterwards?" Harry asked again.

"Aye. They returned to a small fleet further in from the edge of the galaxy. They arrived this morning. We have the long-range sensors keeping an eye on them for now, but they're too far out to get any sort of detailed readings back from the vulta you left behind. Though it definitely managed to sneak aboard." Carson replied.

"We know far too little about this galaxy. Any information we have on file is at least ten thousand years out of date." Hermione noted, heading up the stairs to the control centre. "Which is why I asked Neville to bring some of his little friends along."

The blonde boy smiled and tapped his remote, decloaking one that was already hovering in the corner of the room. "I never go anywhere without them. Terribly handy."

Cyla smiled at the tiny ball. She had spent a fair amount of her free time watching recordings that the vulta had made of her new friends. "We can use them to scout other worlds." She suggested.

"That was the plan," Hermione said, sitting at one of the new chairs they had added to the section as part of the repair and refit work. "Did you have time to install the generator yet?" She asked Neville as he leaned over the other side of the console Hermione was seated at.

"Not yet. I had an idea for its design now that I've seen this place, and tweaked it on the way back here. But I haven't had the chance to integrate it yet. I figured I would do it when we upgrade the stargate, assuming we are planning to do that?" Neville said, turning to the others.

Harry stepped up beside Neville and patted him on the back. "Yes and no. I get the impression that down there is the first-ever model of this generation. We should preserve it, as we did the one from Fundamenta and the models on Exodium. With that there, I believe we now have the full set of all six. But we will install a new model in its place. If for no reason other than ensuring security from uninvited guests who may have already known the address of this world. Unless anyone objects?"

Cyla watched as they all nodded before Harry turned to her. She was surprised to be consulted on the matter, as she was not an official member of the ruling council. "I think that would be for the best."

"Alright then. I suppose there is no reason you can't have the next stint in the chair, Nev. For now, put the Lantea stargate in the Vir long-term buffer. We'll probably want to take it back to Aedis for eventual display."

"Aye aye, sir," Neville said with a cheeky salute before he turned and ducked away down the stairs at the rear of the control centre.

Cyla found it very hard not to laugh at the look on Harry's face whenever his friends treated him as their boss like that.

ϟ

Hermione gave a sigh of relief as the newly installed stargate came to life, the now very familiar shimmering of the event horizon greeting her. Standing before it, she keyed her mini and stared into the undulating surface as she spoke.

"Aedis, this is Atlantis."

Hermione! Her mother's voice came through in her mind and she smiled. We were starting to get worried.

Sorry. This galaxy uses a different glyph system on its stargates. While Earth's address is right there in the database, we were unable to figure out the relationship needed to translate one to the other just yet in order to dial Aether or Verda. So in the end, we just installed a new model. Atlantis is intact and fully powered once more. We even found a surprise guest in stasis. A human from an alternate timeline Earth named Elizabeth Weir.

She's been there the entire time? Natalie asked, clearly dumbfounded.

Afraid so. And her time here before her stasis was somewhat traumatic. She's been avoiding the control room for the moment.

"Hello?" Weir's voice came from behind her, and Hermione turned away from the stargate.

"Hello, Doctor," Hermione replied, before sending a message to her mother. One moment. "How are you feeling?"

The aged woman was staring at her curiously, leaning heavily on a cane that someone must have conjured for her. "Better. Carson gave me some more of your potions. Were you going somewhere?" Her eyes drifted to the active stargate behind her and Hermione could see the moment when Weir figured out the unit had changed. "My word."

"Sorry. We couldn't figure out the relation of the glyphs to Avalon in order to dial the changing address of Aedis. So we mothballed the original one and installed a new one of our own so we could call home."

"Home. That's Earth?" Weir said, stepping forwards, her hand outstretched towards the event horizon as if she longed to return to the planet of her birth.

"No, that's Verda. Our new home. We decided that it would be very difficult to attempt to build the Aetherial society from scratch on Earth amongst all the others vying for land and resources."

"Oh."

"Do you wish to return to Earth?" Hermione asked, watching the woman closely.

It was clear that she was torn. Obviously, she wanted to return home, to see a world she had been separated from for so long, but she had sacrificed so much to be here, in Atlantis. And she had no way of knowing what home might look like. There was a version of her already living there in this timeline.

"No," Elizabeth said, with a shake of her head. "Not right now at least."

Weir began to sway slightly, and Hermione quickly conjured a chair for her to sit in. "Easy." She said as she helped Elizabeth into the chair.

"Plus, back on Earth, I wouldn't even know magic exists. In fact, I don't even know if it did on the Earth I originally came from." Elizabeth finished, looking up at Hermione with a wry smile on her weathered features.

"I suppose that it is plausible that somehow your interaction with the evacuating Lanteans allowed a miniscule change to pass back to Avalon that could have somehow triggered the development of magic in the humans of Earth," Hermione said, shaking her head as the ramifications and complications of such a long chain of cause and effect made her suddenly dizzy. "Wow. I doubt there is any way to ever truly know for certain."

Elizabeth smiled at her as she knelt in place. "So, you were going back to Verda? I take it you have a ZPM at the other end as well."

"We do, several actually. But no, I was just calling them to let them know we arrived safely and have begun the repairs and upgrades." Hermione said, feeling her mother's amusement from the far end of the connection. "Perhaps we'll make a quick trip back at some point this week. I'd hate for you to never get to see Aedis. I think you of all people will be able to appreciate it."

"I would like that. Did I interrupt?"

"Only a little. Mum can still hear what is going on. I just don't have a way of letting you hear what she is saying right now. We'd need to be sure your mind can handle it before we give you a mini. Cyla doesn't have one either for the same reason."

"Yes, Carson mentioned her story. A real living Ancient. I have so many questions." Elizabeth said, turning in the direction of the woman's quarters.

"Don't we all. But unfortunately, she doesn't yet remember her old life."

I'm glad to hear that you are alright, sweetheart. But you sound busy. Her mother said, and Hermione turned her head to answer.

Sorry.

Don't be. She's earned your time by the sound of things. I'll let the others know you are well. Can you send me the new address cypher?

Hermione thought the information to the computer she knew was situated at the other end and her mother acknowledged it had been received. Excellent. We'll talk later.

With the usual electronic sucking sound, the wormhole disengaged and Hermione focused back on Elizabeth. "Sorry, Mum says to give you my full attention."

"I didn't mean to interrupt. I can go."

"Not at all. We all think that you have done more than your share of waiting in your life. Shall we take a walk?" She asked, smiling at Weir as Hermione stood once more.

"Actually, sitting right now is preferable." The old woman replied and the pair smiled.

Hermione pulled her wand properly and made a show of turning Elizabeth's conjured chair into a comfortable wheelchair as she sat in it. "A roll then?"

Weir was clearly fascinated by the concept of magic, possibly even more so than the city she had lost so much to explore. When she nodded, Hermione flicked her wand and the chair matched her speed as she walked towards the nearby ramp leading deeper into the city. Ready to have someone quiz her on all things magical for a change.

ϟ

Harry watched the two women depart from his place up in the control room. He smiled as Weir began to inundate Hermione with questions about magic, the elderly figure mirroring his girlfriend's youth in so many ways. He waited until they were both out of sight before he triggered his command and watched from the small balcony as the stargate activated again.

Hello, Merlin. He thought.

Greetings, Harry. How are things in the Pegasus Galaxy? Merlin replied directly into Harry's thoughts through the mini.

Surprisingly well. And quite the surprise. I was expecting to arrive in Ida.

Ah, so Hermione managed to keep the secret from you. She is a clever one.

That she is. But I wasn't just calling for the sake of it. I need you to do something for me. We found someone in Atlantis. They were in stasis and claimed to come from an alternate future of Earth. Can you look her up for us? Doctor Elizabeth Weir. She's American. Probably of some renown. I'm sending what we know of her now.

He paused as he thought the necessary information through to the computer back in Aether.

I just want to make sure she is who she claims to be. If she's still living on Earth, we can accept what she's told us is likely the truth.

Harry felt Merlin's sigh on the other end. Someday you might recover from your childhood, Harry. But I will do as you ask. One moment.

Harry rolled his eyes at the cheek of the intangible consciousness that Merlin had become since Myrddin's interference.

I look forward to it, more than you realize. Harry replied.

Several silent moments passed, with the sound of the event horizon filling the large room. Harry enjoyed the quiet as he examined the space. Towering support beams. Contrasting patterns woven into the very material of the walls and floor. The large retractable door in the roof which led to the upper navi hangar.

The city was truly beautiful.

Confirmation achieved. Merlin said suddenly, startling Harry from his reverie. Doctor Elizabeth Weir was born on Monday the 14th of October 1974. Expert in international politics, with two PhDs. Recently resigned from a position teaching political science at Georgetown University. She is listed on several negotiations and treaties filed with the United Nations. Currently resides in Washington D.C. Presently noted as taking a few days away to celebrate her newly announced engagement to one Doctor Simon Wallace…

Ok. Harry interrupted with a smile. She is who she claims to be. I don't need all the details. She's entitled to some privacy.

Harry felt a burst of mirth from the intelligence on the other end before it trailed off. A moment later, the wormhole suddenly shut down and he was left staring at the empty ring once more. It was a bit annoying that Merlin had hung up on him so abruptly, but he decided not to dwell on it. He could prod the odd character later. For now, he had the information he needed to settle his nerves about their guest.

And he had other tasks to be getting on with anyway.

ϟ

"Anyway, I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it. What do you think?" Daniel asked, and Jack looked up surprised. He could still feel his heart racing from the struggle with Malakai and Teal'c, and his body was tingling all over as though that weird bright energy had filled his entire body.

"What?" He asked, slowly taking in his surroundings. Somehow he was sitting in the mess hall when only moments ago he'd been on the other planet.

"What do you think?" Daniel asked again, slower this time, looking at Jack as if he was merely ignoring the question. Which, in fairness, he had been earlier.

Something was very off, and Jack was struggling to reconcile what he could clearly remember, and still feel in his slowly calming body, and what he could see and hear around him now.

"Colonel, is something wrong?" Carter asked, looking at him curiously.

"Maybe!" Jack replied, glancing down and noticing the spoonful of fruit loops in his hand as confusion settled on him even further.

What the hell was going on?

ϟ

Monday, 7th August 2000.

Luna looked at the screen and frowned. The others were all standing nearby, watching as she altered the resolution on the scanner, a system she was perfectly ok to use unaccompanied, and it began sending back a more refined image. Two ships had appeared on the readout from seemingly nowhere after she had finished helping Neville integrate the new, more powerful sensor arrays.

"Their course is definitely headed here." She said as the system cross-referenced the design it was detecting, trying to make sense of the new sensor data it was receiving. "But I still can't quite make out the design."

"Do you have any idea what they might be?" Harry asked, turning to Elizabeth as she sat nearby.

"I'm afraid not. We never really got the chance to explore. Or turn any of these systems on." She said, her eyes watching the screen carefully.

"Okay, that is not good," Luna said, as the readout stabilized the distant signal and the computer finally recognised the design it had detected. "According to this, they are…" she paused and double-checked the description, "Wraith Cruisers. Medium-sized assault craft belonging to the race that chased the Lanteans out of this galaxy."

She turned to the others and they all seemed equally concerned. If this enemy had been powerful enough to send the original inhabitants packing, what chance did their small number have?

"How long?" Harry asked.

"Given the progress they've made since we first detected them," Luna replied, running the complex math needed to calculate the hyperspace course. "I'd estimate another one and a half to two weeks at least."

Harry glanced at the others, clearly seeking input.

"I think we could safely upgrade the star drive in that time. The work is slow as it has to be incredibly precise, but I feel confident we can do it." Neville said.

"Perhaps we don't have to do anything at all." Hermione offered, and the others looked at her curiously. "I get the feeling these cruisers were the nearest group, dispatched by the ship that we narrowly missed the other day. They found an active Lantean beacon in space after ten thousand years of silence. I think I'd be curious as well. They're likely coming to see if someone is occupying the city again."

"Interesting." Luna mused to herself as she considered the theory. "If that is the case, we should be fine to simply drop the power levels temporarily and cloak Vir. We can surely extend the field around the Aurora as well if we upgrade its cloaking emitters to assist."

"And the Wraith will come, find nothing but what they expect and leave?" Harry summarised.

"It's possible," Hermione said. "There are flaws to it as well. With the city being put into a super low power state, we've no idea how often the Wraith have come to check on Atlantis. There aren't any sensor logs from that time period. Or whether their sensors are powerful enough to detect it down here properly. If we retract the shield to minimum coverage, to match what we found, it's possible that if the Wraith can detect the city, they might see a weak shield as an opportunity. Hanging around waiting for it to finally fail."

"If they haven't been here since the Lanteans left, they might expect the shield to still be at full power," Neville noted. "If they have, they might expect it to be near failure as it was when we arrived. We can't really know how to react."

"And yet, if we move the city, and they can detect it, that would tip them off to our presence just as much as if we were on the surface waving." Carson surmised.

Harry sighed, clearly not enjoying having to make decisions like these. "We wait for now. Try to find out everything we can about Wraith technology from the database so we can make an informed decision. And contact Merlin, to see if he can help or at least advise on repairing or upgrading the stardrive. I want it ready to go if we need it, long before they get here."

Luna was impressed at Harry's decisiveness and once more felt sure that they had made the right choice in electing him their leader.

The silence that filled the room at his statement was finally broken by the activation of the stargate downstairs. The group turned and stared for a moment before the console in front of Luna gave a beep and a voice came through.

"Aedis to Atlantis," Richard said.

"Hello, Richard, how are you?" Luna said brightly as she keyed the system to open communication.

"Good…ish. Aurora and the Patils have not returned yet. And we cannot connect to Aether or the SGC."

"What? Since when?" Harry asked, leaning over the console.

"Since late yesterday at least," Natalie said. "We were in no rush to speak with them and simply figured it was bad timing, that they were using the stargate in Aether to dial somewhere else. But we tried again this morning, without success. And we've tried multiple times since then, both facilities. They were supposed to return today, yet we've heard nothing."

"Great. Why can we never just deal with one problem at a time." Harry mumbled to himself as he rubbed his forehead in agitation. "I take it that the new ship is still days from being ready?"

"Weeks at least. I only started integrating it on the second." Richard replied.

Hermione moved to Harry's side and placed her hand on his back. "Contact the Asgard. They seem to have a vested interest in Earth. Let them know it's out of contact and we can't be there for days or even weeks. Maybe they can send a small ship or something. We can't just leave the Aurora floating about with her crew aboard with Wraith on the way here, so we'd need to leave her tethered to Vir for now, which would slow an intergalactic trip far too much."

Harry sighed in clear frustration. "I guess, for now, that's all we can really do. Until we have a way to safely fly there and check on Earth, we just have to wait." Harry finished, looking pained at the idea that everyone that he cared about that wasn't involved in this conversation might be dead, dying or something even worse.

"We'll figure it out, Harry. We always do." Luna said, giving him a wry smile in support, and seriously hoping that she was right.