0719 Hours, November 5, 2183 (Council Calendar)
Quinn, Hyperspace, Milky Way Galaxy

"Food's up guys! Get it while it's hot!" the mess sergeant called out from his makeshift galley as he started plating up.

Quickly a number of Airmen, Marines, and Jaffa began to form a line as they eagerly grabbed the plates. Moving away from the line, they all began to sit down on metal tables that had been welded into the deck, though without a care for aesthetics. The room was originally meant to store Stargates that the Goa'uld had taken off worlds that had either rebelled or were no longer necessary. It had since been modified to accommodate a mess hall so that the crew wouldn't have to live off of MRE rations for the entirety of their missions. The room still held the signature design of Goa'uld architecture however, with hieroglyphs and Goa'uld symbols lining the golden walls and ebony floors.

The Quinn was one of the Al'kesh the Jaffa had brought with them to Atlantis. They had been upgraded with enhanced hyperdrives and shields. They were still far below what their mothership counterparts were capable of, but they gave the small vessels a bit more of a chance in combat. The outer hull had been welded with the Atlantis symbol for an identifying mark, though few in the galaxy would be able to recognize it. Named after the former SG-1 member Jonas Quinn, it operated as a long-range reconnaissance ship that had already ran a number of missions throughout the Terminus systems. Relatively simple tasks: checking out worlds that had promising trade, mining opportunities, and other simple missions that were very low risk. This time, however, they were on their way to a very different world.

A tray dropped loudly in front of Daniel Jackson who was completely engrossed in his Omni-tool as he read about the world they were heading towards. The sudden noise caused him to jump slightly as he looked up to see the familiar face of Lt. Colonel Mitchell smirking slightly as the man took a seat across from him.

"Mornin' sunshine. I see that you haven't gotten any sleep yet," the Colonel pointed out the dark circles under the archeologist's eyes.

Sighing, Daniel closed the orange glowing computer on his wrist and slowly began to shovel food into his mouth, "I actually did get some sleep last night. But I couldn't stay down for long… my mind was racing too much."

"That excited huh?"

"More like I'm contemplating the impending doom that's going to befall the galaxy unless we find the Beacon," he replied dryly.

Mitchell nodded solemnly at that, "Right. Well, it wouldn't be an SG-1 mission if there weren't galaxy-saving stakes on the table."

All around them the sounds of conversation, jokes, and aggressive eating echoed. They'd been in hyperspace for over two weeks now, with this being the day they finally arrive at their destination. Once Daniel had explained where they needed to go, General O'Neill immediately authorized SG-1 to take the Quinn out the following day. All of them were getting antsy and needed time out in the sun; any sun would do. While the Al'kesh was relatively large, it was becoming cramped for the forty people on board. Especially when compared to long trips on the Daedalus or Apollo, the battlecruisers being far larger and having more facilitates for recreation like a gym.

"The pictures on this 'Eden Prime' look pretty great. And I gotta say, it's gonna be nice to have some grass and plants to walk around on. I don't know how Sheppard and Weir ever handled living in Atlantis for three years before this," the Colonel wondered, "I really need to start getting out to the mainland more."

Daniel nodded in agreement, "From what I've been reading, it's supposed to be the crown jewel of the Alliance colonies. Fertile, beautiful. They've done a really good job not to over-industrialize the planet."

Mitchell gulped down a spoonful of whatever the mess sergeant had whipped up, "Well, hopefully we'll find a good reason to stick around for a while. It'd be nice to have some time to explore a bit. Maybe find a place to pick up some new beer, like the O'Neills wanted," referring back to the request the General and his clone had given him.

"Indeed, Colonel Mitchell. O'Neill also wished me to find more candy of the sweet and sour variety. His 'stash' as he refers to it, has become depleted," the gruff voice of the Teal'c called out as he sat down next to Daniel.

Mitchell tilted his head, "Really? Are the supplies in the civilian population running low?"

"According to Dr. Weir, what few comforts the civilians brought with them to Atlantis are running out. We will need to find other sources out in the galaxy," the Jaffa replied, putting a large chunk of meatloaf in his mouth.

"Well, that's gonna be a while before we can go back out, considering the situation we're dealing with now," Mitchell shook his head.

The three noticed movement off to the side and turned to see the familiar blonde hair of Colonel Carter walking over with a tray of food in her hands. Like the archeologist beside them, they could see the exhaustion in her eyes, but there was also a bounce in her step that meant she'd probably already downed a pot or two of coffee already.

"Hey guys!" Carter called out as she took a seat beside Mitchell.

"I'm surprised to see you out of the comm room. You've been tucked in away in there since we left Atlantis," Daniel commented, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Well, I wanted to make sure we were prepared for when we find the next Beacon," she explained, "I've been going over the data we got from our initial scans of the Prothean pyramid. And the data we pulled from you when the Tok'ra used their memory recall device. Together, me and Krad'ik developed a bypass that should allow us to pull the data without anyone having to interface directly with it."

Daniel let out a sigh of relief, "Good. I was really not looking forward to having to go through that again."

"Oh, like I'd let you do something that reckless again, Daniel," another female voice called out from down the table.

Vala was sitting down at the of the table, her feet up and leaning against the empty chair while she munched on an apple. When Daniel convinced General O'Neill to approve this mission, she made sure that she was with them this time. One of the other cultural experts took over their classes, with Eleni stepping up to help. And so, SG-1 was whole again. It was a good thing too, given the importance of the mission they were on. They needed all hands on deck, and everyone's unique skill sets would come into play for the most important mission they'd undertaken since arriving in this new reality.

"Trust me, I'm keeping my distance this time," he nodded to her.

"I still don't know why we brought so many people though. This is supposed to be a stealth mission," Vala waved to the other tables that were full.

"General O'Neill didn't want us going in without back up. And given our track record these last few weeks, it's probably better to ere on the side of caution," Carter referenced the incident on Omega with SG-2 and SG-42.

"I think the General is pretty much over trying to stay below the radar too," Mitchell commented, drawing a look of surprise from the thief, "It hasn't really worked out for us so far. He ordered us to try and avoid drawing attention, but to not let that keep us from doing what we need to do."

Teal'c concurred, "The time for stealth has passed. We no longer have the luxury of holding back with Geth forces mobilizing, and these Reapers present a far greater threat that we cannot waste time in confronting."

"Exactly," the Colonel nodded, "We'll still be the ones going down. We'll do a little recon, make sure things are on the up and up," Mitchell smirked in anticipation.

"And should things go wrong as they usually do, the cavalry will only be a short beam ride away," Vala snapped her fingers, but then she thought of something, "How exactly are we going to be moving around the colony without landing our ship?"

Mitchell shook his head, "This is why you don't skip mission briefings. We're using a Kodiak shuttle we got from the Quarians. We're going to drop out at a nearby Secondary Relay, jump into the Utopia system, and land the old-fashioned way."

"Wait, we're going to go through one of those things?" the thief asked, sitting up suddenly, "Those things are terrifying!"

"As opposed to flying through a different dimension?" the archeologist deadpanned, motioning to the ship that was traveling through hyperspace as they were speaking.

"Yes!" she declared, "There's nothing else in a hyperspace tunnel besides the ship flying in it. But these Mass Relays send a ship at FTL speeds through normal space! What if we hit something!"

Carter shook her head, "The Relays create an avenue of mass free space… somehow. No one really knows how they do it. Think of it like a highway that goes through a mountain. There's lots of stuff surrounding it, but the highway is clear of any trees and animals."

"Not to take her side, but people can still hit a deer on a highway," Mitchell pointed out.

"It's just an analogy. The point is, in the thousands of years that the Council races have been using the Relay network, there hasn't been one reported accident of travel through them," Sam explained, then she frowned as she thought of something, "Well, except for the Omega 4 Relay."

"What is the Omega 4 Relay?" Teal'c asked the obvious question.

"It's the number four designated Relay in the Omega system. It's a Primary Relay, but no one knows where it leads to. The only thing that is known is that every ship that's gone through it has never returned," Daniel jumped in, silencing the conversation at the table and several others around them.

Vala hugged her arms and frowned but didn't make any more fuss. The team continued to discuss Eden Prime and what they could expect to encounter. Daniel had been researching non-stop on the hyperspace trip to the planet. Not long after they encountered the Quarians, they'd managed to establish a subspace connection to a Quarian comm buoy, allowing Atlantis and their ships unfettered access to the galaxy wide information network. It certainly made the scientific minded citizens of Atlantis's lives much easier. And it allowed the civilian population to get instant access to everything from movies, music, and just about any other piece of information available not just from Earth and their fellow humans, but all the other races as well. They'd even started screening movies in some of the auditoriums from other races, something that was quickly gaining popularity as more and more Stargate personnel joined in.

"Eden Prime's got a population of about three-and-a-half million. Most live in the main city here," he pointed to the highlighted area on the datapad he set on the table, "It's slightly larger in square miles than the city on New Rivers, but with a lot less industry. There are small settlements spread throughout the region, and the rest of the population lives in these massive high-rises. They try and keep their footprint on the planet to a minimum. Most of the planet is designated for agriculture, so outside of the city it's pretty much all farmlands."

"So, that's where we'll be landing then?" Vala guessed, motioning to the city.

"Yep, we can't exactly fly into their airspace and go wherever we please. We'll have to land at their port and hopefully they'll be welcome to some visitors," Mitchell confirmed, "The only issue we may run into is this."

He tapped a button on the tablet, and the image changed to show nearly two dozen ships in orbit. They were white, pristine, and each had the blue symbol of the Alliance on them. Most were small, but there were a handful that were cruiser-sized classification.

"The 18th Defense Flotilla, a detachment of the Systems Alliance Seventh Fleet who patrols the Exodus Cluster, Petra Nebula, and Kite's Nest. The closest systems to Arcturus and Sol," Mitchell explained, "Ships are rotated in and out, but there's usually no less than twenty combat-capable in system at any time. And at least three cruisers, minimum. And the rest of the Seventh Fleet is usually no more than a few hours away."

"Right… I'm guessing that our little white lie we used on New Rivers isn't going to cut it this time," Vala asked, referencing the 'lone colony in the Terminus Systems' cover story they were going with.

Sam shook her head, "No, not by itself it's not. But going alongside General O'Neill's decision that we need to forget trying to be subtle given the clock we're under, we've figured out something new that should keep most suspicion away and give us some breathing room. Daniel?"

Daniel nodded and pulled out a small box and set it on the table, "We had some of our people on Merchant's Row put these together for us, but everyone's gonna be getting one soon."

He opened up the box and pulled out five circular patches. In the center, was a winged Pegasus with a Chevron underneath. Over its head was the Stargate symbol for Earth, known as 'At' in the Ancient language. A circle surrounded all of that, with the words 'Atlantean Defense Force: PMC' tracing the circle on top and on bottom of the symbol. Daniel handed everyone a patch and let them study it closely.

Vala held her, which was a bit smaller than the others given her slight frame, "PMC?"

"Private military contractor," the brown-haired Colonel clarified, "We keep getting taken for mercs almost every time we've come into contact with people in this galaxy. So, we figured we should lean into that. Well, in an official and legal way. We've been bouncing the idea around for a while, but we finally got it set up enroute from Atlantis."

"How did we set that up?" Vala questioned, "That doesn't seem like something that we can do as easy as deciding what new shoes to wear."

Daniel raised his finger, "Actually, it was surprisingly easy. There's dozens of private military organizations throughout the galaxy. And there's an expedited process for getting the licensing and paperwork filled out over the Extranet. Its got a pretty hefty fee, but we've got more than enough after the New Rivers deal."

"And we contacted Administrator Rollin over an encrypted Extranet channel and asked him to backstop some invoices for our trade deal and an official request for assistance for Sheppard and Ellis's help against the Batarians. So now we've got some actual credibility too," Sam added, "And if we start expanding our mining efforts, we'll be able to use this as a platform to launch a mining company to start trade with more worlds that are aligned with the Citadel and Alliance."

Vala blinked in surprise, "Wow, I'm shocked you all thought of that without me! That seems like something more up my alley."

"Should we be forced to defend ourselves or others, we will have the benefit of the doubt instead of outright suspicion being the first response others have of us," Teal'c pointed out the benefits.

"And it'll help us not be such an unknown during first impressions. When we drop into the system and approach Eden Prime, the Alliance can look us up," Mitchell explained, "Hopefully, our good deeds on New Rivers will open the door for us. If not, well… I don't think our shuttle is gonna do much to help us out of there."

"I still don't know why we didn't take the Apollo or the Bane. I'd feel a lot safer knowing we had that sort of back up," Vala voiced her concerns again.

"Because we're not dealing with some isolated colony in the Traverse or pirate station in Terminus. This is the principal colony for the Alliance, and they're going to be on the lookout for any sort of trouble. If things go wrong, having the Quinn drop in under her cloak to beam us out will be a lot better than showing up in a big ass cruiser," Colonel Mitchell explained.

"Let's just try not getting into a situation where we need to be beamed out," Daniel suggested with a tired sigh.

The crew finished their meals quickly and returned to their posts. Airmen and Jaffa technicians manned the auxiliary control consoles that kept the Al'kesh operating at full capacity, while the ground teams began to prepare for possible deployment. Given this was an Alliance world, a small team of Taur'i and Jaffa troops was chosen so as not to look overly aggressive. A handful of marines and Jaffa warriors looked better than the full-sized company an Al'kesh was capable of dropping in.

SG-1 had finished gearing up, this time opting for a lighter loadout. With their new status as PMC's, Citadel and Alliance law permitted them to carry weapons on worlds like Eden Prime, but they wanted to show that they weren't there to start any trouble. Everyone was armed with Avenger assault rifles, Zats, and Teal'c had opted for duel Tempest submachine guns instead of his massive Revenant machine gun. They were waiting in the drop bay at the very bottom of the Al'kesh near the parked shuttle.

Sam was packing her scanner and other equipment into her pack and her pockets, "Daniel, you said that there's some pretty scenic areas around the colony, right? Maybe we can take a detour once we've found out where the Beacon is and gotten what we need from it?"

"Oh, I'd love that, we can have a picnic!" Vala agreed enthusiastically.

"Yeah… I don't think we're gonna be able to swing that. This ain't a vacation," Mitchell waved them down, before stopping to think for a moment, "But I am glad we're not going to another desert planet. I always get sand in the worst places."

"I understand the feeling, Colonel. I am used to the dense forests of Chulak and northern winds that come down out of the mountains… going to Dakara was one of my least favorite duties in the aftermath of securing our freedom," another voice responded drawing the officers' attention.

Walking up to them in his silver trinium armor and ebony Kull-micro-mesh under-suit and holding his Kull-inspired helmet in his arm, Aron bowed his head in greeting. The commander of the Jaffa contingent aboard, Aron was a veteran of the Jaffa Rebellion and was one of the first to join Teal'c and Bra'tac in their uprising. Well over sixty years old, the middle-aged Jaffa towered over his Taur'i compatriots, his forehead bearing the System Lord Moloc. With Master Bra'tac leading the Atlanteans alongside General O'Neill and Teal'c still on SG-1, Aron had become one of the top field commanders of the Jaffa forces. He would be in command of the Quinn once SG-1 left and would make the call to come in and extract them should the need arise.

Mitchell stood up as he finished adjusting the scope on his rifle, slinging it over his shoulder, "Well, from what the briefing said about Eden Prime, we'll definitely be able to see our fair share of trees and wildlife."

"There's a unique form of animal the locals call gas bags: they're some kind of methane filled sacs that float around the grass lands," Daniel spoke up, drawing curious looks from the others.

"Do they pose any kind of threat, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked as he finished pulling on his tactical vest.

He shook his head, "No, they're harmless. But they're toxic, so if they explode around you get away, fast."

"Well, how bad is the toxin?" Vala asked.

"Bad enough that you'll be laid up in bed for a week," was his response.

Everyone agreed that they would stay far away from the things after that. It wasn't long before they all felt the familiar shift in motion that was associated with dropping out of hyperspace. Everyone started filing into the shuttle. Mitchell and Teal'c stopped just before jumping in, turning and facing the Jaffa commander.

"Once we clear the relay and get approved for landing, we'll let the Quinn know. We'll check back in at 0900. If you don't hear from us by then, reach out over the comm channel," Mitchell explained to Aron who nodded in understanding.

"And if we should still get no response?" he asked.

"Then assume that we have been compromised. Enter the Utopia system under cloak, and lock onto our subcutaneous transmitters. Avoid engaging the Alliance forces," Teal'c ordered.

Aron bowed, "Understood. Good luck to you all," and he clasped arms with Teal'c.

Mitchell offered a two fingered salute and hopped up onto the shuttle with his Jaffa friend. Aron made his way out of the bay and up to the Pel'tac. The two made their way past the rest of the team who had taken their seats. Mitchell set his rifle down in the weapons locker while Teal'c did the same. The Colonel took the pilot's chair while Teal'c sat in the co-pilot. Raising his hands to the holographic controls, the window screens activated and showed the exterior of the shuttle via the hull cameras mounted all around it. Mitchell's hands danced across the controls, powering up the engines and thrusters. The shuttle began to hover over the deck for a moment, before it split apart and revealed the blackness of space.

Mitchell lowered the shuttle down from the Al'kesh's cargo bay, and once it was clear, he brought the engines to full power and began to make the short trip to the system's Relay. Mitchell expertly piloted the craft, having spent time over the last few weeks with other Atlantean pilots training with the Quarians on how to operate vehicles in this galaxy. The holographic controls took some getting used to, but he and the other human and Jaffa pilots adapted quickly.

"Alrighty ya'll, ETA to Relay is four minutes. I'd start strapping yourselves in," Mitchell called out from the cockpit, before looking over at his copilot, "How we doing, T?"

Teal'c was going through screen after screen, "We are doing well, Colonel Mitchell. Sensors are online, and I have our communications suite prepared to contact the Alliance Navy once we clear the Relay."

Mitchell nodded, "Thanks, T," he then tilted his head towards the troop bay behind them, "So, any bets on whether this First Contact goes into the win column?"

Daniel peaked his head around his seat, trying to get a look at his team leader, "Oh yeah, I've got a good feeling about this one. Galaxy-saving stakes always make for great dinner conversation."

"Well, we should probably keep from bringing that up. Nothing says crazy like shouting about the apocalypse from the rooftops," Vala offered her bit of advice, "And the last time we tried telling people about some really bad, galaxy shattering news, I got burned alive."

Daniel winced as he thought about that awful moment when they were using the Ancient long-range communication stones that transported their minds to the Ori galaxy, "Right… we'll try not to let something like that happen again. Luckily, the Systems Alliance seems to be a lot more civilized than that."

Sam looked up from her Omni-tool, "You know, there's talk that if this mission goes well and we can establish a good rapport with the Alliance, we might try and push for visitations to Earth eventually. Well, their Earth."

"Really?" Daniel asked surprised, "How come no one told me?"

"Well, you've been a little busy lately," she pointed out, noting the dark circles under his eyes, "But, it's mostly just an idea that Mr. Woolsey and some others in the civilian population have been tossing around. But ever since we got here and found out that there's another Earth…"

Everyone knew what she was talking about. Losing their home was something that they all still struggled with, even if they tried not to show it. Everyone in the city, military or otherwise, threw themselves into their work to avoid thinking about it. After arriving in this new reality, word spread quickly about the alternate Earth and the Systems Alliance. Many civilians wanted to go there and try and pick up their old lives. Of course, they didn't take into consideration the fact that they didn't officially exist according to Alliance records, and the fact that they were one hundred and fifty years in the future. But the thought of returning to their world, even an alternate one, was a temptation that many were finding difficult to resist. Even among the senior staff.

"I'm sure Jack is loving that idea," Daniel guessed the opposite, since the General's mission was keeping them all safe and together.

"Yeah, never mind the fact that we'll have to explain our extra-dimensional origins, making sure that we don't lose track of anyone on Earth will be an issue too," Sam continued.

"What do you mean? If the Alliance lets people visit Earth, why would we want to keep them from staying there?" Vala asked, "Having the backing of an industrialized world with dozens of colonies behind them would make things a lot easier."

"Because, from what the Quarians told us about all those pesky intelligence outfits in the galaxy," Mitchell called out from the cockpit, "Our people will be an extremely tempting target. Even if they're just civilians who don't know anything about the specs of Atlantis or our technology. And our job is to keep them safe, even if they don't like it."

Daniel acknowledged that, "They'll understand. Eventually. I think it'll be a long time before the Alliance would even think about letting us get that close anyway."

"Perhaps not so long, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c's voice popped up, "We are nearing the Relay."

"Alright, everyone buckle up. This is going to be… different," Mitchell ordered, hesitating for a moment as the anticipation of using a new form of FTL was felt by himself and everyone.

Through the camera mounts they saw the gargantuan forked shape of the Mass Relay quickly growing larger and larger as they approached. Mitchell let out a whistle, thoroughly impressed with the intergalactic transportation device.

"Damn… and you said these Reapers are the ones that built the Relays, right Jackson?" the Colonel asked out loud.

"Yeah, they did," Daniel quietly stated as he and the others stared at the screen in the troop section of the shuttle that showed the Relay, "And the Citadel. Seeing it in person instead of on the Extranet though…"

"Thousands of these things spread all over the galaxy… these Reapers were clearly masters of astro-engineering," Sam observed the image in awe.

"Still are Sam," Daniel corrected, "The Reapers are still out there, and they're coming. If we find the Beacon and get the information inside, we can use it to spur the rest of the galaxy into preparing for them."

Sam nodded solemnly, "Then let's hope that someone on Eden Prime knows where to point us."

"And if we don't find what you're looking for, Daniel?" Vala asked grimly.

"Then we keep looking all over the galaxy. We need to find the information that was missing in the Prothean pyramid. I know it's important for something…" Daniel got that far off look in his eye again, "And if we want the people of the galaxy to take the threat seriously, they'll need to see it for themselves."

"Here we go people," Mitchell interrupted, and the shuttle surged forward.

It came up and alongside the Relay, like an ant crawling on the leg of an elephant. Cobalt, electrical currents began to crackle all over the massive device. The rings of the Element Zero core began to rotate faster and faster, the massive chunk of eezo at its center glowing brighter and brighter. An arc of energy shot out from the Relay, latching onto the shuttle as the core rotated and glowed even more. The buildup of energy grew until it could no longer be contained. The shuttle neared the end of the relay, and a millisecond later, the shuttle shot out at incalculable speeds away from the Relay. Everyone in the shuttle felt the G-forces fighting against the inertial dampeners, but given the speeds they were traveling at, the pull on their bodies should have been much more than what they were feeling.

Mitchell and Teal'c watched through the viewscreen as the stars raced by with streaks of dark energy trailing throughout. It was an odd sight, but nonetheless beautiful. So different from travel through subspace, no familiar blue tunnels being the only thing one sees for days or weeks on end. A few seconds passed before the streaks came to a sudden halt, throwing the shuttle back into the starry black sea. The Colonel took the controls back into his hands, bringing the sublights online and bringing up their position in system.

"Transit successful… all systems in the green… and it looks like we drifted about three thousand klicks from the Utopia Relay," he announced, going over the readings on his screen, "Engaging FLT drive. Should be at Eden Prime in a few minutes."

"Nice job, Cam. Most Relay transits result in close to ten thousand klicks in stellar drift," his co-leader praised from her seat, "That's fantastic for your first piloting through a Relay. I'm sure Sheppard couldn't do better."

"Yeah, don't tell him that. He's gonna take that as a personal challenge," Mitchell dryly pointed out, knowing all too well how his fellow SG team leader acted when it came to figuring out who was the best pilot in Atlantis," he then clicked on the subspace comm on his wrist, "Quinn, this is Mitchell. We've successfully exited the Relay in the Utopia system. Will initiate contact at 0900 hours."

"…Understood, Colonel Mitchell. We will enter the system under cloak and monitor the situation from afar. Quinn, out," Aaron's voice spoke over the comm before it clicked off, leaving the shuttle in silence.

Vala raised her hand, "That felt… weird. But not as bad as I was expecting," she commented on the odd form of faster-than-light travel, her fears of it alleviating slightly.

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed from his seat, "While our own hyperdrive technology is far more strategically viable, the benefit of such a fast, short range system jump cannot be overlooked from a tactical point of view. If conflict is coming to this galaxy and we are drawn into it, we will need to re-strategize using these Mass Relays."

"Agreed. Unfortunately, ships need an eezo core for the mass effect to take… well, effect," Sam stated, stumbling over her words for a moment and shaking her head at realizing her very Jack-like grammar, "We will need to see if we can modify our own ships to use them," she explained.

Mitchell then engaged the shuttle's own FTL drives, shooting the small craft from the Relay and in the direction of Eden Prime. They could see the magenta hue that covered the ship with dark energy, the ship shooting past other planets in the system and before long Mitchell took them out of FTL just outside of the effective weapons range of the Alliance ships that were no doubt orbiting the planet.

The shift from FTL back to sublight brought everyone back to the present moment. Half a second later, an alert rang out from Teal'c's screen, and he began swiping and punching in various commands into the holographic keypad.

Raising an eyebrow, he turned towards his friend, "We are being hailed by a cruiser. Its IFF reads as SSV Eisenhower."

"Alright, let's see what we're dealing with first," Mitchell pulled up the sensor readings of the Alliance fleet in orbit.

On their screen as well as the one in the troop bay showed a two-dimensional representation of the planet and the ships guarding it. There were twenty-five vessels in orbit: two cruisers and twenty-three frigates. There was one more cruiser and another four frigates on patrol throughout the system. All in all, a sizeable defense force that seemed appropriate for a colony of this importance.

"Just what we expected," Mitchell eyed the readouts with curiosity and caution, "Alright, put the hail on the speakers, T."

The Jaffa nodded, and a moment later the speakers in the shuttle came to life, "Attention UT-47 Kodiak shuttle, we do not have you on our inbound flights scheduled for today. Transmit your IFF and state your intentions immediately."

Mitchell cleared his throat, then hit the button activating their comm, "Howdy folks, this is Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell, Atlantean Defense Force: PMC. Transmitting IFF and registration. Requesting in-port landing authorization."

They waited patiently as the Alliance was running their information through their system. Given they were a newly registered organization within Citadel space, it was probably taking a little longer than usual to confirm that they had all the proper paperwork and identifications. The Colonel was grateful that there was a galaxy-wide comm buoy network that linked every ship, station, and world to the Extranet and all the information on it like ship IFF's and registrations. A few more minutes passed without word back from the Alliance, and now SG-1 was looking at each other nervously.

Suddenly, the comm came back online, "Registration confirmed. Escorts will guide you down to the landing zone," with that, the line clicked off.

Mitchell noted the sensor readout of fighters that were being launched from the fleet and heading towards their position, "Startin' to feel like the start of Sheppard's mission to New Rivers."

"Makes sense that they would have similar protocols for receiving unexpected visitors," Sam commented from her seat, "New Rivers started out as a human enterprise. They probably had a lot of former Alliance personnel in their security and administration."

"Well, hopefully word has spread a bit by now about Colonel Ellis and Sheppard's actions on the colony," Daniel optimistically stated, "Things were definitely easier when the whole galaxy knew about Earth and what the SGC had done over the last ten years."

"Well, they'll know about us soon enough if things go the way we think they will," Sam commented with a small frown.

The Colonel continued to pilot the shuttle towards the garden world ahead of them. The screens showed the planet in great detail: huge swaths of green, brown, and blue across the planet. Observing the beautiful world, they realized why Eden Prime was considered to be the new favorite among prospective colonists looking to immigrate from other parts of human space. There was plenty of room to grow, and the potential of the colony to become the new hub of human civilization outside of Earth and Terra Nova was obvious even to the newcomers of Atlantis.

Three fighters, F-61 Tridents, came about and behind their shuttle, falling into an escort formation. All four continued towards the planet, their advanced sublights crossing the space between in no time at all. As they approached, SG-1 observed the 18th Defense Flotilla floating in geosynchronous orbit over the planet. Like their SG-2 counterparts as well as the crews of the Daedalus and Apollo, they couldn't help but be impressed by the ships of this universe. From the frigates to the cruisers, the sleekness and well-designed structure of the vessels spoke volumes about the System Alliance's technological capabilities. Decades of trial and error, experience, and input from the Council races allowed the humans of this universe to build up a Navy that the humans of Atlantis would have been proud to call their own. Technological inferiority aside, it was clear that form and function blended much more closely in their ships than the Atlantean battlecruisers. Echoing the feelings of their peers on previous missions, it was an intimidating sight to say the least. The numerous GARDIAN anti-fighter/missile batters protruding from the hulls of the ships didn't help those feelings either.

They flew past the fleet and made their way down into the atmosphere of the planet. The blackness of space quickly faded into a sky blue, and whisps of clouds blew past the nose of the shuttle. Before long, they broke through the cloud cover and were able to see the surface of Eden Prime. Wide stretches of grassland with a few forests scattered throughout was all they could see all the way to the horizon. Towers that stretched nearly a kilometer into the sky obstructed the view sporadically, no doubt holding large chunks of the population within. As the shuttle and its fighter escort skimmed the ground and raced forward, the team finally got a look at that 'city'.

Calling it a city was a bit generous in their eyes, however, as it was no more than fifty square kilometers in size. There were a handful of skyscrapers that stretched above it, but most buildings were low to the ground prefabricated units of various size and shape. Most striking about it, however, was the complete lack of smog and emissions being exuded above. Not even the distortion of heat being produced and causing a mirage could be seen.

"Landing coordinates are being transmitted now. Proceed to them without deviation," a mechanized voice came over the radio, "Be advised: AAA-defenses have target locked your shuttle. Any course deviation or increase in thruster output will be viewed as a hostile act and responded to as such."

An alert rang out on Teal'c's console, confirming the target lock that showed over a dozen weapons scattered on the city's permitter aiming for their shuttle. If they were in an Al'kesh or cargo ship, such weapons wouldn't prove to too much of a threat. But they hadn't had the time to modify the shuttle with any of their advanced technology, nor did they want to for fear of it falling into the wrong hands. So, Mitchell very delicately guided the shuttle towards the transmitted landing zone, doing everything in his power to make their flight look as non-threatening as possible. As they passed the city limits, the three Tridents broke off, peeling around and making their way back into the upper atmosphere and returning to the fleet.

SG-1's shuttle continued on its predetermined path that kept it on the outskirts of the city. After a few minutes, they could finally see that it was leading them to the port where supplies were flown in and out of the city. A series of small landing pads were lined up closer to the port buildings; some had shuttles and other craft on them, while some did not. The Colonel flew their shuttle towards the highlighted pad on his screen, bringing it to a gentle hover before finally letting it land fully on the metal beneath. Once that was done, he shut down the engines and thrusters and took the eezo core offline. Teal'c did the same and shut down all secondary systems. The pair stood from their seats, grabbing their weapons and moving into the troop bay as the rest of the team was getting up as well.

They all gathered near the door, and Mitchell pulled up his Omni-tool and hit the comm, "Quinn, this is SG-1. We've safely landed on Eden Prime, will keep in contact."

"…Understood, Colonel Mitchell. We are standing-by in-system," the voice of Aron came over the subspace channel.

Mitchell clicked the channel off and raised a hand to the control for the door, "Everyone ready?" he asked, waiting for everyone to give him a nod before he slapped the button.

The shuttle door opened, the top half rising up and away while the bottom pulled down from them and allowing the natural sunlight to enter. Squinting his eyes for a moment, Mitchell threw on a pair of sunglasses and fixed the army green cap on his head before hopping off the shuttle. Teal'c followed, and the pair made sure there was no immediate danger to them before nodding for the other three to follow. Once everyone was off the ship, the shuttle doors closed behind them, and the team began walking forward and towards the port authority building.

Like on New Rivers, there was a group of people waiting for them as they approached, though this time it looked to be far less confrontational. A woman in a finely made civilian uniform was standing with her hands behind her back, flanked by two Alliance marines in hardsuits with berets on their heads. They were armed with Avenger rifles but kept them down at port arms. SG-1 kept their weapons away, but none of them really felt that they would need them here. As they got within a few yards of the Alliance group, Mitchell noticed that the woman had her hair in a bun, and a pair of round glasses over her eyes not unlike the ones that Daniel used to wear.

He offered a lazy two fingered salute as they came face to face, "Howdy, I'm guessing you're in charge of the welcoming party?"

The woman nodded, "I'm Rebecca Lincoln, deputy governor of Eden Prime. We welcome you to our colony, unexpected as your arrival is," she introduced herself in what sounded like a Welsh accent.

"Right, sorry about the lack of a heads up. We weren't sure who we needed to talk to before coming," the Colonel apologized, before offering his hand, "Colonel Cameron Mitchell, leader of SG-1."

Rebecca waved off his apology and accepted his hand, "It is no trouble. We are always welcoming newcomers to Eden Prime. Especially ones with a reputation such as yours."

"Reputation?" Daniel asked, curious as to what the Alliance had heard.

"Yes, your reputation Mr.…," the woman replied, pushing her glassed up onto her nose to get a better look at the man and wondering who he was.

Daniel smiled and offered his hand and properly introduced himself, "Dr. Daniel Jackson: Archeological and linguistics expert. That's Colonel Carter, Vala Mal Doran, and Teal'c."

A light sparked in the deputy governor's eyes, "Ah, a pleasure Dr. Jackson. And many in the Alliance have heard about your organization, and the major role you had in repelling those dastardly marauders on New Rivers."

"Really?" Sam asked, playing it dubious to get as much information as they could, "What has the Alliance heard?"

"That when the Batarians attacked New Rivers and tried to make away with their colonists, it was a new private military group that helped expel them. I understand that you hadn't officially registered your group at the time, however, but the colony's Administrator has since credited the action to Atlantean Defense Force: PMC," she explained.

"Our people just did what we thought was right," Mitchell explained with a shrug.

"But afterwards, we saw an opportunity… you know, to help keep the credits flowing," Vala joined in, playing off the idea of registering as an official company despite her not having any involvement with its conception, and getting only the mildest of glares from her team leader.

"There's been a lot of talk in the Alliance and in Citadel space about the attack, and of your intervention," the deputy explained, causing the team to share a look that was understood by each other despite not being verbalized, "People have been talking about how we're not giving our colonies in the Traverse enough help."

"But the Traverse borders the Terminus Systems. If the Alliance goes there in force, it could spark a war," Mitchell pointed out.

"True, but some people think it's worth it if it saves human lives. And the fact that an unaffiliated human mercenary group decided to take the initiative and do what the Alliance Parliament would never do… well, it's sparked some serious debate in whether or not the Alliance is doing enough to safeguard our people out there in the galaxy," the deputy explained.

"So, is it a good thing or a bad thing that we're here?" Sam asked, not sure if they'd just walked themselves into a political powder keg.

Rebecca shook her head adamantly, "When I heard who was approaching our sovereign space, I insisted I be the one who greets you! I've been trying to learn more about your organization ever since I heard about the New Rivers attack," she then frowned a bit, "I won't lie, there are some in the higher ups of the Alliance that are embarrassed by your actions. But I assure you, there's nothing you need to worry about here."

Daniel breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good, the last thing we want is to get into any kind of altercation with the Alliance."

"I'm glad to hear it," she replied with a slight nod, "Given that you're a newly registered private military group, even with your reputation as it is, means that you'll be subject to more scrutiny until you've been properly vetted and established," Rebecca explained, "But that does bring me to my first question: what is it that you are doing on Eden Prime? Have you come because of the dig site?"

During the meeting when Daniel had been explaining what he had learned from the Prothean Beacon on Joab, he had chosen Eden Prime as the planet where they could find another Beacon. The device on Joab had imparted to him several planets that might have had functional Beacons, but Eden Prime was the ideal candidate for two reasons. First, the fact that it was an Alliance colony meant that they would have ample protection should another attack occur when they found the Beacon, or completely dispel the possibility of an attack given the strength of the Alliance forces there. The second reason was that during his research on Prothean technology during SG-1's initial journey to Joab, he found that there was an Alliance initiative on Eden Prime to uncover Prothean artifacts. Apparently, the planet was speculated to have once been a Prothean colony over fifty thousand years ago. Since Prothean technology was highly sought after by all races, the Alliance had commissioned a science team to begin excavation. So far, only a few trinkets had been found, but according to news outlets there were promising signs of more to come. Given that Daniel knew there was a Beacon somewhere in the ruins that were being dug up, he hoped that he might be able to talk to someone about helping them find it.

"Actually, we have," Daniel confirmed, "We've been sending teams out to places to try and offer our services. When I read about the excavation here, I thought we might be able to assist. I've got a lot of experience with archeological projects."

"I see. And how come we did not receive an official offer of assistance from your company?" the deputy asked.

"My pappy always said if you want someone's business, its best to go right up to them and ask for it in person with a smile and a handshake," Mitchell explained, putting said smile on his face as he did so.

"This is most unusual," Rebecca stated with a frown, "When I learned that you were coming, I assumed it was for negotiating a contract for your military services to help protect the site, not participate in the project."

"Really?" Sam asked, "Do you get a lot of private military outfits reaching out to you? Seems like a waste of time, given that Eden Prime is an Alliance colony," she motioned to the Alliance marines flanking the other woman.

The deputy tilted her head in thought, "Well, sometimes some of our more remote colonies do enlist mercenary groups for added protection. Mostly in the Traverse, but some in the farther reaches of Alliance space as well. But given your reputation, I suppose you might be trying use that as a means of getting a contract that others would never be able to get."

"We're really just here about the dig site to be honest," Mitchell explained.

Rebecca raised an eyebrow at that, "Well, unfortunately this is not my call to make. We'll have to bring this to the governor and see what she says."

With that, she turned and motioned for them to follow. SG-1 fell in behind her with the two Alliance marines coming in behind them. The group made their way past the ports, walking into the city that was bustling with people coming and going to various businesses. Just like in the reports from New Rivers and Omega, there were skycars flying all over the place. As it was SG-1's first experience seeing them, the Earth born members of the team couldn't help but be awed by the sight. Mitchell remembered Sheppard describing the sleek skycars in particular and couldn't help but think about what Atlantis would be like with them flying all over the place.

The group continued on their way, moving past ports and deeper into the city. After a few minutes of walking, they came up to a large building that had the Alliance symbol plastered on the outside of it. Walking through the doors, SG-1 observed the Alliance headquarters. In the main foyer, civilians and military personnel alike moved about, carrying on important conversations while attendants and interns scurried after carrying stacks of paper and datapads. The two Colonels felt like they were back at the Pentagon for a moment. As they approached the security line, the deputy-governor motioned for them to follow her past the main line and through what they guessed was a VIP security check point. As they walked up to it, an Alliance technician dressed in their version of BDU's and with an optical overlay device on one of his eyes held up his hand.

"Stand-by," he said, boredom clear in his voice.

A moment later, blue wireframe scans erupted from the ceiling, going over every nook and cranny of the team. This continued for about ten seconds, then the laser turned off and the technician went over the scans. Seemingly satisfied with what he was seeing on his screen, he nodded to the deputy who turned around to face the team.

"Before we move on, I'm going to have to ask you to leave your weapons inside our weapons locker there," she motioned towards the gated room just to the right of them.

Mitchell shared a look with his co-leader, who nodded her head after a moment of internal debate, "Alright, your house, your rules."

SG-1 began to disarm themselves, walking over to security room and laying their weapons on the counter. The armorer inside nodded as she took each weapon, inspecting it for anything suspicious or defective before placing them in an empty rack just behind her that had 'Visitor' on a steel plate over the top of it. They also placed knives, grenades, and other combat related gear on the counter. The only thing they didn't place, however, was their Zat guns since they didn't register as weapons on the Alliance scanners that were designed to register eezo-powered weapons. When asked, they simply said that they were scanners they used on archeological sites. Given their unique design that didn't even look like a weapon, the Alliance armorer waved them by.

Teal'c dropped his duel submachine guns on the counter, causing the armorer's eyebrows to jump up, "Damn, don't tell me you use these at the same time?"

Teal'c raised a single eyebrow in return, "Indeed, I do. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No… it's just that… the recoil for firing those things with one arm would be insane, and accuracy pretty much would be nonexistent," she stated, before her gaze trailed down to the sleeveless arms of the Jaffa that were easily twice the size of her torso, "But… I guess that's not much of an issue for you."

Vala scoffed, "Yeah, yeah. Everyone's always impressed with muscles over here," she lightly slapped her friend's arm, "You should see him using heavy weapons. It's not really even fair for the other guys."

Mitchell rolled his eyes, and turned towards the Alliance official, "Alright, is there anything else we need to do?"

"No, that should just about cover it. Follow me," Rebecca said and started walking past security.

The rest of them came up behind her, following her through the hallways and offices of the building. Given the size of the colony, and the fact that the Alliance used it as a sort of hub for official activity in the sector, there were dozens of officials, ambassadors, and Alliance military milling about and keeping the vast interstellar operations of Earth running smoothly. It was impressive, if a bit disheartening to see for the veterans of Stargate Command. Everything they saw here, on New Rivers, and on the Extranet involving humans and the Systems Alliance was a vision of what their Earth could have one day become. To have it taken away…

The deputy-governor finally came to a halt in front of a door that had a small plaque on the side that read 'Governor'. She tapped the green holographic lock on the door, opening it and allowing her and SG-1 to enter. The two Alliance marines took up posts on either side of the door and waited for the meeting to be over.

The team entered the room and were surprised to see that it was relatively small with only a single desk towards the back and a window wall that looked out at the rather poor view of some buildings and the street. Sitting at the prefabricated desk was an older woman with greying hair, probably in her fifties or early sixties. She was typing away at the console on her desk, but looked up when she noticed the people who had come in. She logged off, stood up, and briskly walked over to her deputy and SG-1 with a soft smile.

"Rebecca, I take it these are the heroes of New Rivers," she asked, placing a hand on her deputy's shoulder, and raising the other to the humans and Jaffa in front of them.

The woman nodded and went down the line, "Yes! May I introduce Colonel Mitchell, Colonel Carter, Ms. Mal Doran, Mr. Teal'c, and Dr. Jackson."

The Governor nodded and walked over to each and shook their hands, "It's a pleasure to meet you all! I am Governor Swan. Welcome to Eden Prime."

Mitchell nodded in thanks, "You've sure got a fine place here. Definitely the nicest planet we've been to so far."

"We do pride ourselves on our hospitality," she said with a smile, "And when people with a reputation such as yours arrive, we make doubly sure to put our best foot forward."

"Yeah, your Deputy here explained to us what that reputation is," Daniel spoke up, "But we should reiterate that it wasn't our team that helped out on New Rivers."

"Yes, I read the reports thoroughly. From the eyewitness testimonies, it was a team that referred to themselves as 'SG-2' correct," the Governor Swan thought back to what she had read.

"That's right," Sam corroborated, "SG-2 is our secondary team that functions in the same manner as SG-1," she said as she pointed to the rest of the team, "We're the flagship reconnaissance and research team for our organization."

"Yes…" the Governor nodded as she looked more closely at the patch on their shoulders, "Atlantean Defense Force: PMC. An interesting name as far as private military groups go. Atlantis was the name of a long-lost civilization on Earth, no?"

Daniel nodded, not giving away anything, "Yeah, we have a bit of a taste for the antiquities."

A lightbulb seemed to spark in the older woman, "Ah, that would explain your presence here. Obviously, the archeological excavation here has drawn the attention of many different groups. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that mercenaries would eventually throw their hat into the ring."

Sam winced slightly at being called that, "Well, we're more akin to explorers than mercs, and we have quite a large scientific division that researches alien civilizations and their technology. Being private military just gives us a bit more wiggle room than a purely civilian one would."

"We wanted to see if we could assist with the dig and offer our expertise in dealing with the Prothean ruins you find," Daniel further explained.

Governor Swan raised a hand to her chin, "And what makes you think you'd know more than the top minds in the Alliance?" she asked, genuinely curious and not at all mocking the doctor.

"Well, we've had some experience with Prothean technology…" he slowly revealed.

This was a tricky thing that he, Dr. Weir, and Mr. Woolsey had discussed after the briefing on the Reapers and Protheans. Despite the fact that they were not associated in anyway with the Alliance, withholding Prothean technology or knowledge was the third most severe crime in Council space, just behind AI research and the devastation of garden worlds. And with the image of humans already suspect in the galaxy, revealing that they had access to an unknown cache of Prothean relics, not exactly the truth in and of itself, would either be viewed with suspicion if not outright hostility. Not to mention that the Alliance might not want to work with people who had, in their eyes, broken Council law. But the three civilian members of the senior staff didn't see any other way to gain the access to the dig site. Other than just stealing the device, which none of them were inclined to do.

Now the two Alliance officials looked concerned, with the deputy folding her arms, "What do you mean you have experience with Prothean technology?"

"We were out in the Terminus Systems, and our ship was mining for resources when they came across this," Daniel pulled up his Omni-tool and showed the two the image of the Prothean pyramid on Joab, "We managed to activate it briefly before something went wrong and it seemed to self-destruct."

A slight altering of the events that actually occurred on Joab, but they didn't want to reveal anything else until they had the information, and more proof, from the Beacon on Eden Prime. And inciting panic about the Geth wasn't going to grant them access either. Not to mention that it was highly unlikely that anyone outside of Atlantis and the Quarians would believe it anyway. Daniel didn't care for lying, but he'd learned over the course of his career at the SGC that sometimes in order to help people, the truth needed to take a backseat to the needs of the mission. Once that was complete, the truth would come later, and hopefully those who needed to hear would be more receptive to it.

"Why didn't you contact the Alliance or the Council when you discovered this," the Governor asked, shock in her voice.

"We're not affiliated with either one, and we're not stationed in either one's space," Mitchell explained bluntly, "We had no incentive to do that. Even if we had, we barely had the thing for more than a couple of hours before it went kablooey."

"So, why did you come to Eden Prime then?" Rebecca asked, "Even if your leaders are interested in Prothean technology, there are several other active Prothean projects throughout the galaxy that you could have gone to."

"Before it self-destructed, it managed to broadcast some sort of code that we intercepted part of. The rest was sent out on an interstellar communications network they seemed to use," Carter explained, pulling up her own holographic screen, showing the galaxy.

On the two-dimensional image of the galaxy, a blinking point in the Terminus Systems representing Joab appeared. A moment later, a series of stuttered lines started from Joab, crossing the galaxy and into Alliance territory until it landed on the highlighted point of Eden Prime.

The Governor stared at image in fascination, "The Beacon you found led you to us?"

Rebecca's eyes squinted in suspicion, "How come our people haven't detected anything at the dig site?"

"Well, you haven't found a Beacon yet right?" he asked, and the two women slowly nodded, "That's kind of why we're here," Daniel explained, closing his computer, "We wanted to try and help you find the Beacon that's buried here."

The two women shared a look before the Governor walked back around her desk and sat down in her chair. Her deputy followed, and took up a spot just behind her, folding her arms over her chest again and leaning on her back foot. Her attitude wasn't exactly hostile, but the warm welcome she'd given them before was gone now with the revelation of their true purpose on Eden Prime.

Governor Swan rested her hands on her desk, looking up at SG-1, "And what would you want in return? Credits?"

"For starters," Vala spoke up, ignoring the looks her team gave her.

Daniel gave his friend a light elbow in the side, eliciting a soft grunt of pain, "Just a chance to study the Beacon, and the dig site around it."

"Really? That's it? You don't want the Beacon for yourselves? Most people, and species, would kill to have a chance to study an intact Prothean Beacon, let alone obtain one for their own," the deputy stated, "If there is one here that is."

Obviously, she was far from convinced of SG-1's claims, not that they could blame her. While their reputation, fledgling as it was, got them in the door, they didn't know if their claims of finding previously unknown Prothean technology were going to be enough. If this didn't work, they didn't really know what their next step would be. They really didn't want to have to steal the thing if the Alliance turned them away…but if it was between that and risking the fate of trillions across the galaxy…

Governor Swan sighed, "I'm afraid I cannot just allow you access to the dig site. It is a… sensitive subject given that we haven't even allowed the Council to send a science team in yet. If we allow a private company access then…" her voice trailed off, letting the unsaid implications speak instead.

"Well, what if you don't put in a request for assistance. Officially speaking," Mitchell suggested.

The Governor scrunched her eyebrows, "You mean lie?"

Vala waved her hands, "No, no, no! Not lie! Just don't tell anyone."

Daniel shook his head and stepped forward slightly, "What if you just brought me in as a… civilian consultant. We'll share every bit of data we have on the Prothean Beacon and help you find it, and in exchange we get to study some of the data for ourselves."

"Any information recovered from a Beacon would be considered classified information. Moreover, even if we find such a valuable piece of technology then we will have no choice but to bring the Council in as per Citadel law regarding Prothean technology," Rebecca informed them, "You won't be able to download any of the data."

SG-1 frowned at that news. If the Alliance wasn't going to let them have the data, then they were most likely going to have to take it. Whether than meant trying to steal the data out from under them, or outright beaming the device off the planet they weren't sure. Sam and Vala could probably bypass whatever security protocols they had in place, but doing so would mean they'd be blacklisted from any future dealings with the Alliance. And it would make any chance of convincing them of the threat of the Reapers that much more difficult.

Daniel nodded despite the deputy's declaration, "How about we help you find the Beacon, then you can decide what happens from there. Even if we can't take any data, maybe just helping you find it will be enough of a boon to our reputation to satisfy our leaders," he said, trying to keep them in the game.

The Governor and her deputy shared a look, silently debating whether or not to let the team help. After a few moments, the older woman nodded to Rebecca. Returning the gesture, she walked back around the desk and towards the doctor.

"If you will follow me Dr. Jackson, I'll arrange an escort to bring you to the dig site," she explained.

"What about the rest of us?" Colonel Mitchell asked.

The Governor shook her head, "I'm afraid that won't be possible. I'm taking enough of chance just letting Dr. Jackson into the site. But an entire squad of heavily armed private military contractors?"

Mitchell frowned, "I'm not too big a fan of letting one of my team go off by himself."

Vala raised her hand, "Can I come with? I promise you won't even notice I'm there!" she exclaimed, nearly bouncing on the tips of her toes.

Governor Swan looked concerned despite the thief's reassurances. Daniel and the others let out another sigh as Vala continued to stare at the two Alliance women with hope in her eyes, and the promise of wonderful 'souvenirs' to be found at the dig site. Mitchell locked eyes with Daniel and tapped his ear twice. Daniel, getting the silent message, nodded before turning and following the deputy. As the three left the room, Mitchell turned back to the Governor who was staring at the remaining members of SG-2 with her hands crossed.

"So, what else do you wish to do here?" she asked, "I imagine that gaining access to the dig site isn't your only motivation for coming here, despite what you say."

Sam nodded and pulled up her Omni-tool, "Well, we're always looking for new trade partners. We've brought agreements for raw material we mine out in the Terminus Systems that we'd like you and your people to go over."

"And we thought we'd take a look around your city, if that's alright. It's our first time to the 'crown jewel' of the Alliance after all," the other Colonel added.

"Huh, I'm surprised you're still not trying to offer your military services," Swan commented as she started to skim the trade agreement the blonde Colonel just sent her, "It's what most groups do when they come to Eden Prime for business. Hell, just a few months ago I turned away the Blue Suns for the tenth time… hopefully they got the message."

"Like we said, just here to help do some digging and trade some rocks. We're not here to step on the Alliance Navy's toes," Mitchell replied, knowing all too well how a state's military often felt about outside contractors being hired on to supplement security.

The Governor eyed the Colonel with an inquisitive stare, "Hmm… you're very peculiar for mercenaries."

Before they could tell her again that they weren't really mercenaries, she opened her computer terminal and punched in a few key commands. A few moments later, the doors opened, and an Alliance marine appeared.

"The Corporal here will escort you to the main city. Please, enjoy your stay here. If and when we hear back from the dig site and your friends about the Beacon, we shall see what we can do about ensuring that you are properly compensated," she explained, and with that returned to her typing away furiously on her computer.

The Alliance marine asked them to follow, so the Atlanteans left the room and followed their escort back the way they came. They made a quick stop at the armory to get their gear. They saw that Daniel and Vala had already grabbed theirs before heading to the dig site. Once they were geared up again, they were brought outside to a nearby sky car. After a short ride, they were dropped off on the main strip and told that they had free reign to travel wherever they wished. The three started walking, observing all the other humans going about their daily lives. For a moment, the two Earth born Atlanteans felt like they were home again. If only for a moment.

"Gotta say, those sky cars are a smooth ride. I can see what Sheppard was talking about now," Mitchell commented as they walked.

Sam nodded absently, but her mind was somewhere else, "Is it just me, or did the Governor let Daniel and Vala into the dig a little too easy?"

"You're complaining?" he asked.

"Come on, Cam. You didn't really think that we were going to walk in here and the Alliance was just going to let us walk through the door, did you?" Sam continued to press the issue.

Mitchell frowned, and he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't thinking the same thing. He figured that they'd get rejected, told that they could stay for their visit, then have to call in the Quinn to either beam them down to where the Beacon was, or outright just beam the whole thing out and bring it back to Atlantis.

"Yeah… does seem a might bit odd, don't it," he nodded in agreement.

"Then perhaps the Governor has other motives that she does not wish to reveal to us or her people," Teal'c began to speculate, "From what I understand, a Prothean Beacon is a find of no small value. Should such a device be discovered, it could prove quite valuable for both her position as the leader of this world, and for the Alliance at large."

"So, helping them find it lets them take the credit and gives them leverage with the Council," Mitchell surmised, "I feel like we've been to this dance party way too many times the last couple years."

Sam winced as she thought about all the times they'd been in this kind of political situation, "Well, let's hope that when Daniel finds the thing, we can get the data and leave before things get ugly."

Both Colonel Mitchell and Teal'c stopped and stared at their friend in silent disbelief, who realized just how badly she'd just jinxed themselves and the mission. She pinched the bridge of her nose and growled in frustration at her own words.

"Oh, for crying out loud…"


Daniel and Vala stepped out of the sky car, standing up moving away from it. Their Alliance escort motioned for them to follow, and the three walked down the metal walkway. The dig site was near the monorail that led to a supply port for this area of the colony. Originally, they had been clearing the way for a new skyscraper for more of their population to inhabit when they'd stumbled across the remains of some Prothean buildings underneath. Now, the area was completely devoted to the dig. The pair could see excavators of varying sizes all over the place, dozens of workers carrying rocks and material out, and scientists all over the place scanning and documenting the area.

They continued along the walkway, passing by a small warehouse being manned by some dockworkers, shuffling about as they unloaded supplies from a large container. The Alliance marine escorting them nodded to the head foreman who was holding a datapad and making sure everything that was being accounted for.

"Marshall, good to see you!" the foreman acknowledged the marine.

The marine offered a smile back, "Rick, how are the kids?"

"They're great! Nick's getting ready to head off to Earth for college, and Christy's finishing up high school," Marshall replied.

"Is she still looking to join up once she's eighteen?" Marshall asked, and the two Atlanteans noted the grimace on the foreman's face.

"Yeah… she's pretty adamant about it. I'm sure you can guess how Rebecca feels about it," he said with a frown.

"Can't she make sure that she gets stationed planet-side with the 212th or the 224th?" the marine questioned.

Rick shook his head, "We've tried, but you know how Christy is. She wants to get out there," he motioned to the sky, "Not stay down here and guard farms. Plus, she gets bonus points for doing exactly the opposite of what her mother wants."

The marine let out a soft chuckle, "Sounds like you're stuck between a rock and hard place," he looked over at the two he was escorting, "Good luck Rick, I've got to get these two up the hill. We'll grab a beer later this week."

"Thanks, Marshall," the foreman nodded, turning back around and looking back down at his datapad, "Okay, let's see here… thirty crates of MRE's… one hundred crates of power cells for the diggers… and… wait… only twenty-nine cases of grenades for the 212th? How… dammit… Powell…." He muttered to himself before taking quick and aggressive steps towards the warehouse.

The marine frowned as he watched his friend walk off but shrugged and told Daniel and Vala to follow. The three continued past the warehouse before stepping down off the platform and onto the soft grass and dirt. They kept walking, moving past a couple of prefab houses that were for the dock workers and continued up the hill. It was a bit of steep climb, and about halfway up Vala huffed and began to complain.

"Why didn't we have the skycar drop us off up there, instead having to climb all the way?" she asked, letting out a breath.

Before the Alliance marine could answer, Daniel shook his head, "When you're excavating an archeological site, heavy winds aren't exactly helpful. Flying a highspeed shuttle or sky car would throw dust and dirt everywhere."

"Exactly," the marine said, eyeing the doctor, "You're an egghead, right? I figured the doctor title wasn't a medical one."

"I'm an archeologist, yes," he dryly replied.

"Ah, that's why the Governor ordered you two to be brought in," Marshall realized as he led the way, "I was wondering why a pair of unaffiliated civilians were being brought in. Not sure what she expects you to do though, we've already got like a hundred scientists up here."

As the broke the top of the hill, they moved onto more even ground. Walking into a camp with more prefab buildings, there were even more scientists going about their business. Tables with pieces of stone and ebony metals were scattered about, and scanners of varying sizes were shooting wireframe lasers all over taking in every piece of data they could. There were a few other Alliance marines scattered throughout the camp, but even Daniel and Vala could tell that this was not the most glamorous or exciting detail from their slacked stances. The three continued towards the nearest prefab building, stepping up the ramp and walking inside.

Sitting at a desk, a woman with short, fiery red hair was typing away at the console in front of her. She wore a skintight suit with a grey collar that had white octagon shaped patterns all over, with a similar pattern on the arms. The grey broke into plain white and ran down the length of her torso and onto the legs. It was a much different look than the lab coats and clothing that their own people wore on Atlantis, but one hundred and fifty years of advancement meant that clothing styles of sorts would change and evolve.

The woman looked up from her computer, noticing the three people now in her bungalow-style prefab, "Hello, can I help you?"

"Dr. Warren, this is Dr. Jackson and Vala Mal Doran. I'm sure the Governor sent word that they were coming," Marshall explained.

The woman smiled and stood, walking around her desk to stand in front of them, "Yes, she explained everything. Thank you Corporal, you may return to the city. If we need you to pick them up again, we'll send for you."

The man nodded to her, then to the Atlanteans before exiting the building and making his way back towards the port where the skycar was waiting. Daniel and Vala focused their attention on the woman in front of them, who was standing there with her hands folded over each other and an excited look in her eye.

"Dr. Warren, it's a pleasure to meet you," Daniel spoke, offering his hand.

She took it and shook adamantly, "The pleasure is all mine Dr. Jackson! When the Governor told us what you had to offer my team, we were all very interested to see this data for ourselves."

"You mean you weren't mad that she was bringing in outside help?" Vala asked.

"Not at all! Science is a group effort, and if someone else has something to contribute, then their help should be welcomed, not shunned. Besides, the prospect of finding a Beacon is more than enough motivation to alleviate any sort of misgivings anyone might have," the woman replied.

"Well, we're just as interested in finding it as you, so I hope we can help," Daniel said with just a hint of sadness that only Vala was able to pick up on.

She started towards the door and turned to them, "Please, follow me. We should get started right away."

She led them back outside and began to show them their operations. The camp was their primary research center, with the buildings acting as their quarters and housing advanced scanning and storage facilities. As she walked them around the camp, Daniel and Vala could tell that despite Dr. Warren's words, not everyone on her team was happy to have strangers come into their project. Eventually, they came to a man who was staring intently at a block of Prothean metal with emerald energy glowing throughout it. His eyes were focused on it, unblinking, and it seemed as though he was attempting to gaze directly into the inner workings of the device.

Dr. Warren cleared her throat, "Manuel? Manuel, this is Dr. Jackson and Miss Mal Doran," she motioned to them, "This is my research assistant, Dr. Manuel."

Daniel offered his hand again, "Nice to meet you Dr. Manuel."

Dr. Manuel didn't say anything, or even acknowledge their presence. Daniel slowly dropped his hand, looking at the man in confusion rather than offense. Vala on the other hand stepped right up to him, waving her hand in front of the doctor's face.

"Helloooooo? Anybody home?" she asked, getting in close.

Despite her antics, the man still didn't flinch. Daniel reached around him and pulled the woman away with only mild protest, but he was also wondering what was going on in his head. He didn't respond to Dr. Warren for a whole minute, before he finally sighed and turned around to face them. He was an older man, probably in his fifties based on the lines on his face. He had brown hair that was receding into a widow's peak, and equally brown eyes that seemed to pierce into their very souls.

"Ah, Dr. Warren. Yes, the science team from that mercenary group. I apologize, I was… studying this device," Dr. Manuel pointed to the Prothean object on the table.

Daniel moved closer, standing next to the man as he looked down at it, "What is it?"

Manuel turned back around to stare at the device, "I believe it to be a barrier generator of sorts. I've detected an Element Zero core, among other radiological signatures. Although, I cannot say for certain. I've been trying to… see within," and he went back to staring intently at the device.

Daniel raised an eyebrow at that, "Right…" he turned around and gave a look to Dr. Warren.

She just shook her head, "Perhaps it is best to let Manuel be. Come, let us go down into the primary dig site."

Once they were a fair distance from the camp, Dr. Warren turned around, "I apologize, Manuel is a brilliant researcher… but his eccentricities can be off-putting to most people."

"That's putting it mildly," Vala commented, "Is he… you know?" she pointed a finger to the side of her head and twirled it around, causing Daniel to pinch the bridge of his nose.

Warren shook her head, "Brilliance and madness are often the two sides of the same coin."

"Can't argue with that," Daniel commented, "How much progress have you made in the excavation?"

"Not as much as I would have liked," the red-headed scientist replied, "We've started to excavate the buildings on the far side of the dig site, but here is where we believe a laboratory of sorts was. We've recovered numerous artifacts and pieces of technology. Nothing that is fully functioning, however."

"And likely where the Beacon is going to be," Daniel commented, reaching into a pouch on his tactical vest and pulling out an Ancient scanner that Sam had given him.

The ivory device had been pre-programmed by the Colonel to scan for the Prothean Beacon using the data they gotten from Joab. As long as the device wasn't buried too deep, the scanner would be able to detect where it was within a thirty-kilometer radius. If that didn't work, then they'd need to call in the Quinn to use her advanced scanners to try and detect where it was. But doing so would mean potentially revealing her position, and they hoped to avoid that.

"What is that?" the Alliance researcher asked, pointing to the computer in his hand.

Daniel brought the device online and began to punch in the commands to set it to search for the Beacon, "I'm going to start scanning the area. If we decoded transmission burst we got from the Beacon we found in Terminus correctly, then we should be able to find where it is within a few hundred feet."

Dr. Warren stared curiously at the Lantean device in the archeologist's hands, "I've never seen a mobile scanner like that before. You're saying that something that small will be able to penetrate the rock? Our most advanced scanners haven't been able to find a hint of where the Beacon might be. And those scanners are significantly larger."

Daniel bit his lip as he thought carefully about his response, "Well, let's just say we've got access to some… unique technology we've found throughout our travels."

With that, he started scanning. The screen on the device changed to show a topographical layout of the camp site, before expanding to show a five-kilometer radius. Dozens of life-signs were being detected, but he ignored them and expanded the scan to penetrate the ground below them. He watched as the screen showed nothing but solid rock, but soon structures were being detected and x-ray outlines of Prothean architecture started to appear. Daniel instantly recognized the style from his vision and couldn't help but picture the Reaper ships destroying the once mighty structures with their weapons, bombs, and sheer mass. Shaking off his thoughts, get continued to observe the scanner as it penetrated deeper into the crust, the algorithm that Sam designed doing its job, looking for the specific energy source that-

-An high pitched beep drew everyone's attention, "I think I got something!"

Vala came over and peered over his shoulder, "Hmmm… looks like the same kind of energy spike that the pyramid was emitting… just on a much lower output."

Dr. Warren walked over on the other side of Daniel and observed, "Incredible… none of our equipment was able to detect this!" she exclaimed, and in a moment of thoughtless excitement, reached out and grabbed the scanner from the man's hands.

Instantly, the device shut down and went dead, much to the confusion of the redhead, "What happened?"

Daniel smiled and gently took the machine back, "It's coded so that only our people can use it," he explained, not exactly telling the truth or lying, "But, according to the sensor readings, the Beacon is about a mile south from the camp's position, and about three hundred feet down."

The woman's eyes lit up at that, "Yes… we suspected there more Prothean artifacts in that location based on the amount we've been finding more south we went. Come! I want you to brief the team. Assuming the readouts look right, then we can begin excavations immediately!"


The sounds of heavy machinery and lasers cutting into the ground echoed throughout the site. Dust was being thrown into the air, and workers were carefully removing stone and materials away from the site. Thanks to the extremely accurate and comprehensive scans Daniel's Lantean computer took, the Alliance team was able to speed up the digging process significantly since they knew exactly where and where not to dig. Within hours, large chunks of Prothean buildings and what was left of skyscrapers began to emerge from the ground. Alliance researchers were documenting every inch of the site, while engineers were sending mechs into the buildings to check for structural integrity.

Daniel was crouched low next to young man dressed in the same grey-white research uniform all the other Alliance personnel had. The two were looking over a piece of what appeared to the remains of a statue. There were a pair of legs, with nothing above the knees, and two toes protruding from the feet. Below that, a plaque with Prothean writing carved into the metal.

"So, based on the clean slice we can assume…" Daniel left the question open, waiting for the young man to answer.

The young Alliance researcher pondered for a moment, "…Based on the slight melting of the metal on the edges, and the perfecting straight and precise path… some sort of laser or high-heat device cut through in one strike."

Daniel smiled and nodded, "Correct. Now, look at this line here," he pointed to the first row of words and letters of Prothean, "This first part translates to 'He who will lead us into-', means whoever this was probably commanded a great deal of respect. And the rest?"

"Let's see… um, I think it says '-the new mature, free from the… animals of obscurity'?" the younger man sounded unsure.

"Close," Daniel reassured him, "Trying to translate one language to another is hard enough when they're from the same planet. Another species makes it even harder. This word, this one, and that one isn't quite so literal in English. It says '-the new epoch, free from the monsters from the darkness'."

The young man's eyes re-read the sentence, the understanding sparking a light in his eyes as he nodded in understanding, "I see! Wow, Dr. Jackson, how did you get such a deep understanding of the Prothean's language? I spent eight years at the University of Arcturus, and most of my professors there didn't have your fluency."

Daniel frowned a bit as he listened to the young man's awe. It was true that he spent a lot of his spare time researching the Protheans ever since they'd arrived in this universe. He'd gotten a basic understanding of the language, though not enough to compare to the experts from the Alliance and the Citadel that had spent decades, or centuries, studying the so-called creators of the Mass Relays. No, he'd gotten his total understanding from the Beacon he'd interfaced with. Like the Ancient Repository of Knowledge, the Prothean Beacon had imparted him with a complete understanding of their language, and other aspects of their culture. Of course, he couldn't exactly explain that to the young man, or the other Alliance scientists.

"I've just got a knack for languages I guess," he shrugged, standing back up to his full height, "I've got to get back to Dr. Warren, but keep up the good work!"

The young man nodded enthusiastically, and returned to scanning and taking notes of all the artifacts that he was finding. Daniel smiled and couldn't help but be reminded of himself when he was that age. The memories of working under and learning from Dr. Jordan at the University of Chicago brought back happy feelings. But those were quickly drowned out when the memories turned to Sarah, and then of Dr. Jordan's death at the hands of Osiris. Sighing, he returned his attention to the matter at hand.

Daniel walked through the site, quietly observing the excavation process and feeling a bit of jealousy over how quickly and efficiently the Alliance researchers were digging. Thanks to their advanced technology, what would have taken a team on his Earth days if not weeks to uncover was done in hours. And it was good that they did, since time was not on their side with the Geth and Reapers on the move. Continuing his march, he eventually came to the center of all the partially uncovered buildings, noting a pair of machines carefully digging into the ground with diggers and mini lasers while scientists looked on in anticipation. At the back of the scene, Dr. Warren and Vala stood behind a small desk with holographic monitors linked to the machines.

The Alliance scientist turned as she noticed him walking up, "Ah, Dr. Jackson, I was wondering where you had gotten off to."

"Oh, I'm sure my Daniel was like a kid in a fruit store," Vala joked before noting the confused looks staring back at her, "What?"

Daniel shook his head, "She means kid in a candy store, and yes, it's been a while since I've been a part of a real archeological dig."

"Well, this new site has been most promising! My people are going to be cataloging for weeks!" the redhead exclaimed, turning and raising a hand to the commotion going on behind her, "But none of it compares to this!"

Daniel walked up beside her and Vala, and the three observed as the machines continued to do their work. Minutes passed by as they and everyone else watched, the lasers and mechanical scoopers digging deeper and deeper into the ground. Suddenly, the beams shut off and the diggers pulled out a few remaining piles of dirt. The machines pulled up and out, backing off from the hole in the ground that they had just made. Another machine came over with a radar dish-like device protruding from the side and pointing down over the hole. A moment later, lilac waves of dark energy pulsed out of the device and into the ground. Slowly, the dish rose higher and higher…

"I think I… I see it!" Vala exclaimed, breaking the silence.

Obsidian metal broke through the hole in the ground, and as the device continued its climb, the metal grew in size and length. First a foot, then three feet, and before long nearly four meters of Prothean Beacon was hovering over the hole. A scientist pulled up his Omni-tool, punched in a few commands, and a small platform on treads rolled over and underneath the Beacon. Slowly, the pillar was lowered onto the platform, and once it was stable, the Element Zero device shut off. Everyone kept a safe distance from the device as they went about scanning it. Once their scans were complete and they were able to confirm what it was, claps and small cheers and congratulations began to echo around the site. People were shaking hands, taking pictures of the Beacons, and walking over to the three standing behind the table.

Daniel found himself surrounded by Alliance personnel who were giving him pats on the back and grabbing his hand. Not used to being the center of attention, he simply smiled and offered humble thanks and tried to downplay his part. Vala on the other hand was right at home with the praise that she was receiving, thoroughly enjoying being fawned over by the younger male scientists who were busy thanking her as she acted like the discovery was all thanks to her. Daniel tore himself away from the group and moved back over to Dr. Warren who had her Omni-tool activated, and she was speaking into it.

"Yes ma'am! We actually found it and we're securing it now… yes, I've taken care of that and- yes, I understand. We'll move it there immediately and get it prepared… alright, we'll be waiting for them," with that, Dr. Warren shut off her Omni-tool.

Daniel moved over to the woman, "I'm guessing that was the Governor?"

The Alliance scientist nodded, "Yes, I informed her that we found the Beacon thanks to you. We're going to bring it back to our campsite and secure it there."

"And who are we going to be waiting for?" Vala asked as she walked closer.

"The Alliance is going to be sending a detachment of the Fifth Fleet to come pick up the device and bring it back to the Citadel for study," Dr. Warren explained.

"But we needed to see what was inside it!" Vala exclaimed, drawing a sharp glare from Daniel.

Daniel turned his attention back to the redhaired scientist, "I thought that helping you find the Beacon would get us the chance to look at the data."

"Oh, it has!" Dr. Warren explained, shaking her hands to ward off their confusion, "The Governor has decided to give partial credit for the discovery to the Atlantean Defense Force! You'll be joining our science team on our way to the Citadel!"

Daniel and Vala's eyes lit up at that admission. That was not what they were expecting.

"Uh, going all the way to the Citadel? Can't we just take a peek here and be on our way?" the thief asked sheepishly.

Dr. Warren shook her head, "I'm afraid not. It was enough of a risk for the Governor to allow you access to the dig site. Had you failed, well, her inevitable reprimand from the Alliance Parliament would have been… damaging to say the least. But now that you've succeeded, she's created some political standing for herself. Giving credit to the people who saved New Rivers will give her even more."

"Right, and give those in the Alliance who think that they need to do more for their colonies something to use," Daniel sighed, not enjoying the fact that they were once again being roped into another world's political game.

She shrugged in response, "Maybe, but that shouldn't matter. You and your people are about to be thrown into the galactic spotlight with us! Imagine it! The first humans to discover a Prothean Beacon in such pristine condition! Surely, the Council will finally give the Alliance its due credit now."

With that, the doctor began directing her team to move the Beacon. A handful started to file out of the site while the rest stayed behind and continued to excavate. Daniel shared another look with Vala, before the two started to trail behind the scientists who were leaving. As they walked, Daniel raised a hand to his ear and tapped the comm link.

"Mitchell, Sam, you there?" he asked.

"…Mitchell here, how's the field trip going?" the Colonel asked over the channel.

"We found the Beacon!" Vala chirped into Daniel's ear in response, even though she had her own comm link in her ear.

"Really? I guess that explains all the people running around here," Sam replied, and the two could hear the sounds of commotion and people talking in the background, "Did you get the data?" she asked quieter and muffled, like his mouth was being covered by his hand.

Daniel groaned, "Not exactly…"

Mitchell followed up with a groan of his own, "What happened?"

"We were going to ask to examine the device, but apparently the Governor has called in an offworld Alliance team to come get it and bring it to the Citadel," Daniel explained as they kept a fair distance behind the group, "And apparently we've been given the honor of going with."

The channel was silent as Mitchell processed what Daniel had just said, "…I'm sorry. I think the connection cut out a bit there. It sounded like you just said that they want us to go to the Citadel?"

"I do not believe there was connection error, Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c joined the conversation, "For what purpose do they wish us to go to the Citadel, Daniel Jackson?"

"The Alliance is going to use the find as political leverage with the Citadel Council," he continued.

Sam hummed as she thought about the situation, "And because of SG-2's actions on New Rivers causing people on Alliance colonies to rethink how they and the Council go about policing the Traverse, we're being used as an example of what they think humans should be doing."

"Right, humans fighting off slavers, finding ancient technologies of dead races," Vala summed up her friend's thoughts, "I suppose we are making the Alliance look bad…"

"And that's going to be used by people like Governor Swan and others to effect change in Alliance colonial policy," Daniel added, "And strutting us and their own scientists around the Citadel with this new Beacon is going to be the first step."

"Yeah, no way General O'Neill is going to go for that," the Mitchell replied bluntly, and they all couldn't help but agree.

The idea of going to the Citadel, while exciting for the team for their own curiosity, was not something that they were prepared to do just yet. And frankly, they didn't have any time to waste going there. They needed the data that was inside the Beacon. They needed to know what information about the Reapers it held and use that information to start coming up with plans to deal with them. Which would, inevitably, bring them to the Citadel in order to brief the rest of the galaxy on what they knew.

"I could always… you know, take the data," Vala whispered the last part.

Like many of the other SG team members, Vala had been training with the Quarians on all the new and fancy technology this new reality had to offer. For Vala, she'd been particularly focused on the network infiltration and hacking capabilities of her Omni-tool, even going so far as to trade some items she'd… acquired back in their own universe for a top end model from one of the Quarian researchers that was living in Atlantis. With the help of Sam, she'd upgraded it further with some Asgard-developed software. After months of training with it, she was confident that she could get past most security measures that the galaxy used, making her more skilled in the art of thievery than ever before, much to the displeasure of her friends who were starting to notice things missing in their quarters.

Daniel shook his head, "I'd rather you didn't. The last thing we need is you getting caught, and us getting arrested again."

"I won't get caught," she replied confidently, tapping her arm that had her Omni-tool and the emerald crystal of a Sodan cloak.

"I hate to say it Jackson, but we may need to do that," Mitchell commented on the other end, "We can't go to the Citadel. And we can't leave without that data."

Vala smirked as she heard that, "Yes, I've been waiting for a chance to test this thing out. Practicing on Atlantis's security doors just doesn't quite have the same thrill to it."

"Guys, seriously? There's got to be another way," Daniel said disapprovingly.

"Daniel, I don't like this either… but what else are we supposed to do?" Sam asked him, "It's not like there's many Beacons out there according to the data from the Pyramid. You're the one who said that time isn't on our side right now."

The archeologist wiped his face as he tried to think of another option, "Let me try and see if they'll let us analyze it before the Alliance team gets here."

"…Alright Jackson, see if you can convince them. But if you can't, Vala gets a crack at it. I'll be letting the Quinn know what the situation is, and they'll be standing by to beam us out," Mitchell laid out his orders.

With that, the line cut out, leaving Daniel and Vala to continue after the Alliance group escorting the Beacon back to the main camp. After a while, the came down into a small clearing just below the camp. The Beacon was dropped off on a small landing pad, and a team began to scan the device to make sure that it was stable. The rest walked back up the hill until they returned to the camp where their prefabricated buildings were. Only now there was about thirty Alliance marines decked out in hardsuits and armed to the teeth. They were scattered around the camp, and two who were wearing different, and sturdier looking armor were standing just outside the main building that housed Dr. Warren's office.

The lead scientist greeted them, "Ah, Lieutenant Gomez, Gunnery Sergeant Williams, it's good to see you again."

The man standing there with his arms behind his back and sporting a blue beret with the silver symbol of the Alliance smiled as he returned the greeting, "Dr. Warren, always a pleasure. We heard that all your digging has finally bore some fruit."

"Yes, thanks to our new friends here," she motioned to the two standing beside her, "May I introduce Dr. Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran of the Atlantean Defense Force: PMC."

"Ah, yes. The heroes of New Rivers," he replied shortly.

Daniel noticed it, but tactfully ignored it and offered his hand, "Nice to meet you Lt. Gomez. And Dr. Warren is giving us too much credit, we just helped out a bit. I'm just glad we were able to work together to find the Beacon."

The dark-haired woman beside the Lieutenant let out a scoff, "Wow, an egghead who isn't an ego maniac. I didn't think that was possible."

Daniel wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, but apparently Vala did as she stepped forward slightly, "Oh, Daniel isn't like any egghead you've ever met. Not that a knuckle dragger like you would understand," she bit back, using a word she'd learned from Mitchell who'd used it to tease some marines during training.

"Excuse me?" the Gunnery Sergeant seethed, stepping forward slightly.

Dr. Warren quickly stepped in between the two women, "Lieutenant, why don't you and the Sgt. Williams here begin preparations for when the Alliance team picking up the Beacon arrive."

"Good idea," he replied with a nod, "Come on, Williams."

The Gunny narrowed her eyes one last time at the thief, before following her superior away and towards the rest of the platoon that had gathered. Dr. Warren let out a sigh of relief and motioned for the Atlanteans to follow. They walked back inside the building, and the scientist took a seat at her desk. Vala and Daniel came to a stop just in front of her desk, which unfortunately did not have any seats for them relax into.

"Okay, something we're missing about what just happened?" Daniel asked.

"I do apologize for them. Alliance marines and sailors are notoriously suspicious of private military organizations. In particular, because of your people's actions on New Rivers, many have begun to criticize the military as well as the Alliance politicians for not being active enough. More so than that, the last thing that they want is for colonies to begin to hire outside help to do their job."

"She didn't have be so rude," Vala complained, folding her arms.

Dr. Warren shrugged, "Well, Gunnery Sgt. Williams is a bit abrasive. But she's one of the most skilled soldiers we have on Eden Prime, or so I'm told. And given her family history, she's not one to waste time mincing words."

Not wanting to unpack that given their limited time, Daniel changed the subject, "Listen, we appreciate Governor Swan letting us help you find the Beacon. But we don't really have the time to go all the way to the Citadel and wait to be given permission to access the Beacon, if they let us at all. Is there any way that you could just let us take a look, then we can be on our way."

Dr. Warren looked conflicted as bit her lip in apprehension, "I want to help you… I really do. If it was up to me, I'd let you take a look at whatever you wanted. But it's not up to me. Unfortunately, you're a piece in the Alliance political game now, just like all of us here. You're of course allowed to leave, but if you want even the chance of being able to access that data, you'll have to go to the Citadel."

Daniel internally bashed his head against the imaginative wall he was thinking of. Every time they needed to do something that would save the galaxy, it seemed like there was some kind of political time waster there to stop them. Senator Kinsey, the NID, the IOA… they all had agendas that were self-serving and only wasted their time. Nearly every disaster and world-ending situation might have been avoided if they didn't have to play politics. And now, an entire universe away from those organizations, they were dealing with the same old problems. Only now, it wasn't just their own world at risk. An entire galaxy was at stake. And they had neither the luxury nor the power to jump universes again to avoid it.

"Why don't you two take some time to yourselves. You can bunk in our camp here, eat and take a shower. In the morning, you can decide what you would like to do," Dr. Warren offered, pointing to the nearby building.

Taking the hint, Daniel nodded and the two walked out of building and walked over to the next. Stepping inside, they made their way to farthest room towards the back. Once they were alone, the closed the door and did a quick scan to make sure there were no bugs. Satisfied, Daniel contacted the rest of SG-1 on his Omni-tool while Vala sat beside him to get a look at the holographic screen. After a moment, the screen changed from black to show Colonel Mitchell standing outside, overlooking the city.

"What's the word, Jackson?" he asked, as Sam and Teal'c walked in from out of frame behind him.

Daniel shook his head, "They didn't go for it. It's either the Citadel or…"

"Or I get to have some fun!" Vala exclaimed.

Mitchell rolled his eyes over the video comm, "Right… where are you two now?"

"We're in one of their bunk houses in the main camp. Dr. Warren offered us the night to think over whether or not we want to go," he explained.

"Yeah, the Governor offered us the same thing. We're going to brief General O'Neill soon. We'll take the night to think things over. In the morning, we'll do whatever the General decides is best," Sam advised the rest of the team.

"Awe, I was hoping to do what I do best," Vala moaned, and laid down on the bed in protest.

Daniel gave her a sideways glance before looking back at the rest of team on the screen, "I should talk to Jack too."

Mitchell waved him off, "Don't worry about it. I'll make sure he knows you're thinking about this little wrinkle. Get some rest you two. We'll, touch base in the morning. Mitchell, out," the team leader ordered, and the line clicked off.

Daniel sighed and started to take off his boots. He bent over as he sat on the bed, undoing the magnetic clasps and feeling the relief that came with them coming off. He was grateful that they didn't have to wear the full hardsuits that the rest of the galaxy used, and their Asgard designed suits were much more comfortable and easier to remove. As he pulled off his other one, he felt a pair of hands reach around and start to undue the clasps on his tactical vest that lay over his suit. A chin rested on his shoulder, and he felt long, ebony hair drape around his back.

"I thought you could use some help," Vala whispered in his ear as she finished unclasping the vest and pulling it off.

Normally, Daniel would have protested, but he was both too tired, stressed, and in need of some comfort to summon up any sort of defense. Slowly, Vala began to undo his suit, rubbing his shoulders and arms as she did so. Daniel let out a sigh, closing his eyes and letting her continue. The suit came off his torso, and she slid off the bed and crouched in front of him. Daniel opened his eyes and looked at her. She had taken off her amor and suit without him even realizing, wearing only her shorts and tank top. She was smiling up at him. Not her usually mischievous smirk, but a real, genuine smile that he'd been seeing on her face more and more.

Slowly, she drew closer and closer to his face. He started to lean in too. He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her long black hair out of the way. She reached up and pulled his glasses off his face, setting them gently on the stand next to the bed. Just as their lips were about to meet, she stopped and gave him a pointed look.

"Are we ever going to tell the others about us?" she asked.

Daniel shrugged, "You think they haven't figured it out already?"

She thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement that given the level of intelligence of their friends. She jumped up, smashing her lips onto his and pushing him back onto the bed. It didn't take long for more articles of clothing to find their way to the floor, and the lights to be dimmed. Thankfully, the rooms in the prefabricated buildings had a certain level of noise cancellation. So none of the others sleeping in the building were woken up by the Atlanteans...


Daniel stared up at the window to their room, watching as the rays of Eden Prime's sun moved across the walls and floor. He'd been up for a while, but he didn't want to move and risk waking the woman whose head was laying on his chest. His arm was wrapped around her, and the blanket covered the both of them. It was a scene that become more and more common since they'd arrived in this universe.

He'd had conversations with Teal'c about the alternate timeline SG-1 had spent aboard the Odyssey. Over time, he'd eventually gotten a few pieces of information out of the stoic Jaffa Master. Enough to know that… something had happened between him and Vala. He'd had several interests over the last few years, Sarah being the most prominent in his mind. But he'd never thought he'd feel this way about another woman since Sha're. Every time he got close, the pain of losing her would stop him from going any further. But with Vala… well, something was different. Like it was with his wife. And after his brush with the Prothean Pyramid, he was very grateful to have her with him.

Vala began to stir as the light hit her eyes, and she looked up at him with groggy eyes, "Mmmh, morning already?"

"Afraid so," Daniel confirmed her fears with a chuckle, "We should get moving. I'm sure the rest of the team is wondering why we haven't checked in yet."

"Or they're not," she smirked, referring to their conversation from last night.

Shaking his head, he placed a soft kiss on her forehead before pulling the covers off and standing up. Stretching his back, he leaned over and started to pull on his clothes. He heard Vala sigh and start doing the same.

"Oh, you're no fun… I'm sure General O'Neill already decided that we're to just take the data. I'm sure we can spare a few more minutes," she said with a mirthful tone and a spark in her eyes.

A part of Daniel did want to do just that. Lay in bed all day with this woman whom he'd grown to care so much for… but he knew that there was too much at stake now to waste any more time. Images of giant mechanical monsters descending from the sky, burning everything to the ground filled his mind.

"Sorry Vala, but we need to get moving," he stated firmly, pulling on his under suit as he started to attach the armor plating.

Vala was hopping on one foot as she tried to get her pants on, "Well… maybe when we get back to Atlantis, we can carve out a weekend and take a trip to the mainland. I heard that the Athosians are-"

-Without warning, the building began to shake and rumble. Both of them looked at each other, then another rumble came. Suddenly, the window blew out, and sent glass everywhere causing them to duck for cover. With the window blown out, the sounds of explosions and gunfire echoing outside could be heard. Quickly and with years of practiced ease, the two suited up and grabbed their weapons. They ran out of their room, through the hall, and outside to see the base camp on fire, only to find everything in absolute chaos. There were bodies all over the place: scientists cowering behind whatever cover they could find, buildings on fire or outright destroyed, and Alliance marines engaging Geth forces that were approaching the camp from the space port.

Daniel and Vala quickly ran over to where there were a handful of handful of marines in cover behind some rocks. The Geth were in an elevated position on top of a hillside about twenty meters beyond them. The two Atlanteans slid into cover beside them, adding their firepower to theirs.

Daniel looked to his right and saw Gunnery Sgt. Williams and Lt. Gomez trading shots and cover as they tried to organize what was left of their marines. Daniel looked over the marines that were left, and even though he was a civilian, he had over ten years of combat experience under his belt. Training with special forces soldiers and century-old Jaffa. He didn't pretend to be the most skilled person on a battlefield, but he could hold his own. And even he could see that most of these Alliance marines had never seen a day of real combat in their lives. Most of them were young, probably not much older than twenty. Scared, wide eyes as they tried to carry out the orders being shouted at them.

"What the hell are you two doing out here?!" Lt. Gomez yelled over the sounds of battle.

Daniel flinched as some dust and particles flew in his face from a round impacting their cover, "I thought you could tell us! Where did they come from?"

Williams growled and primed a grenade, pulling from cover just long enough to launch the disk at the entrenched machines before pulling back into cover, "Damn things just dropped in out of nowhere. Barely had our morning coffee before we were up to our earfuls in these mechanized fuckers."

"How the hell did the Geth know to come here?" Vala asked both Daniel and the universe.

The Lieutenant's gaze snapped over to the thief, "Geth?! How- why- how do you know that these things are Geth?" he demanded, his suspicion obvious.

Vala winced at her slip of the tongue, "Well…"

"-Sir! I've got access to the comm buoy back online!" a marine yelled, the marine standing up from cover to inform her superior officer.

Williams jumped from cover, running over to the marine and dragging her down roughly, "Get down!"

Gomez sent one last glare at the Atlanteans before running over to them and grabbing a hold of the radio operator and speaking into her helmet cam that was directly linked to their communications, "We are under attack and taking heavy casualties! I repeat: heavy causalities We can't-" he was cut off as an explosion sent debris all around them, "-Argh! We need evac! They came out of nowhere! We need-"

A mass effect round punched through his weakened barriers, blowing a hole in his chest in a burst of red. The Lieutenant dropped to the ground, shocking the two Alliance marines in front of him. Daniel rushed over, turning Gomez onto his back. But the moment he did, he knew that the man was gone. No amount of medigel would help him. He was about reach for his comm link to contact the rest of SG-1 when he heard it.

- WWWHHUUUUUUUAAAAAAA

Everyone covered their ears on instinct as that horrible noise seemed to permeate every fiber of their beings. The Geth continued to pour on the fire, dropping several more marines who were distracted by the noise and out of cover. That woke everyone up, and they returned fire even as they tried to block out that god awful noise.

Suddenly, several of the marines stared up at the clouds in absolute terror. Breaking through them, massive ebony legs with ruby lightning dancing around them began to appear, and before long the gigantic, bulbous, squid-like metal body lowered closer and closer to the ground. The Alliance marines and the two Atlanteans stared up in horror, even as the Geth continued to advance and take advantage of the distraction.

"Oh no…" Daniel gasped as he continued to fire his weapon.

A hand grabbed his shoulder, "Come on, we need to fall back!" Williams exclaimed, ordering everyone to follow.

Vala grabbed his arm, pulling him along and following the NCO as she and the few remaining marines retreated towards the hill and down towards where the Beacon was. Daniel finally got his wits about him and sprinted along with everyone else. But he couldn't help but look back at the massive vessel that was lowering closer to the ground, and he felt a cold shiver go down his spine.

If the Geth and Reapers were here, then they must have known about the Beacon as well. And if they knew about the Beacon, then they knew that the Protheans knew a way to defeat them. Which did not bode well for the rest of the galaxy. Or Atlantis.