A/N: Hiya, thanks for all the reviews and the views for the story. Here's the latest chapter which I sincerely hope you guys enjoy. Cheers.
A/N2: This chapter has an episode mention of 'Ex Deus Machina' (SG1: s09e07)
Gateroom, SGC, 0030 hours, the next day.
Faith and General Landry were waiting in the Gateroom for SG1 to come through the open wormhole. The Prometheus had dropped them off at a nearby planet so that they could Gate back to Earth while she went on her next mission, which was to chart nearby black holes that could be used as a power source. She and the General had read a quick preliminary report of what the Ori intended to do; use a black hole to power a giant sized Stargate, a Supergate, in order to bring more of their forces to the Milky Way. As for what happened to Vala, the General and Faith had to wait till the briefing.
The both of them stood in front of the ramp as SG1, led by Colonel Carter and Colonel Mitchell, walked through the event horizon before the wormhole was disengaged.
"SG1" said the General as SG1 stood in front of the both of them, "well done in destroying the enemy beachhead."
"Yes, Sir" said Colonel Carter, "but we're not done yet, I wouldn't be surprised if the Ori and their Priors are planning to try again in another part of the galaxy."
"Which is why the Prometheus and the ships from the Free Jaffa Nation are scouting other black holes for any anomalous activity" said Willow, "but there are many in the galaxy that…"
"We'd be lucky if we actually found another one?" asked Faith.
"Yeah" said Willow, "for all we know, there could be another Supergate somewhere out there, and we won't even know about it until it's too late."
"Sorry that I wasn't able to find out what Nerus was planning much earlier" said Faith, "maybe if I had found out before the Mark Nine was detonated…."
"I don't think we could have done anything about the shield to be honest" said Colonel Carter, "it and the Gate was being powered by a black hole from the other side, from the Ori galaxy. We never realized that we didn't have a chance of beating the shield anyway, it would have expanded around the whole planet with or without our help."
"But" said Colonel Mitchell as he looked at Faith, "you still did good."
"Indeed" said Teal'c before he turned to General Landry, "General Landry, with your permission I would like to return to Dakara after the briefing. The High Council needs to be made aware of the severity of the situation we are facing."
"Gerak, the leader of the High Council was there too" said the General, "you don't think he'll take this seriously?"
"I do not know" said Teal'c, "I believe that he has a hidden agenda, and may not share all his information with the council."
"I see" said the General before he nodded his head, "very well, we'll have the briefing at 0300, in the meantime get checked out by Dr. Lam."
"Sir" said Willow, "about Vala….. what she did was very brave."
"Any idea on if she survived?" asked Faith.
"The Prometheus sensors logged an energy stream from the ring transporters that got sucked into the black hole that was created from the Ori galaxy" said Colonel Carter.
"It's most likely that Vala could be in the Ori Galaxy" said Daniel.
"Oh" replied Faith.
"Come on, guys" said Colonel Mitchell as he led SG1 through the doors, "let's get the briefing done and then we get some shut eye."
"Red" whispered Faith as she and Willow walked out of the Gateroom together, "I can feel your anxiety. How bad is it? Really?"
Willow: "Bad, very, very bad. We're talking about folks who can use a powerful force field to shrink a planet into a singularity."
Faith: "A black hole."
Willow: "Yeah, and then use that limitless power to power one of the largest Stargates I've ever seen. If they succeeded…. Damn…. If they succeeded, then they would have started an invasion. The size was enough to fly ships into the galaxy."
Faith: "You think Vala's really alright?"
Willow: "Alright? I don't know… but most likely alive somewhere in the Ori galaxy. Are you alright? I mean, you two seemed to have gotten closer over the past few weeks."
Faith: "She's an outsider… she reminds me of what I used to be. I wanted to help her fit in.. you know what I mean?"
Willow: "Yeah. I know."
"I'll wait for you in my quarters?" asked Faith looking at Willow as the both of them entered the elevator with the others, and pressed the floor for her quarters.
"You don't wanna come to the infirmary with us?" asked Willow pouting.
"Nah" said Faith, "how about you come to my quarters after you're done and we just…."
"Oh dear God" said Colonel Carter who was standing right behind Willow and Faith, "I don't want to know."
"Indeed" said Teal'c as he looked away while Colonel Mitchell was looking down at the floor nervously, and Daniel was looking at a spot on the elevator wall with intense concentration.
"Oh come on" said Faith with a grin, "I was gonna say that I sneaked in some burgers from the Mess Hall into my quarters, so after she's done… we could eat dinner there. You guys have such dirty minds."
Faith: "You do know what I meant?"
Willow: "You are a bad girl."
Faith: "You figured that out after this long?"
"IN that case" smirked Colonel Mitchell, "mind having company for dinner?"
"Sure" said Faith to the Colonel's surprise, "I brought extra's."
"Wait" said Colonel Mitchell, "you're serious?"
"Of course" said Faith, "I told you I brought enough."
"Oh" said Colonel Mitchell scratching his head, "I thought you were kidding or something, figured you two wanted to be… you know… alone."
"We are being professional" said Willow as she glanced at a smirking Colonel Carter.
Faith: "Ninety-nine percent of the time."
Willow: "Never can be a hundred percent, but yay… smoochies for me."
"So" grinned Faith at Willow, "you guys coming?"
"I could do with something to eat" said Colonel Carter.
"Me too" replied Daniel.
"As would I" said Teal'c.
"Sure" said Colonel Mitchell as he shrugged his shoulders, "why not?"
Willow: "so no smoochies then?"
Faith: "If there's time after they leave, and just before the briefing."
Willow: "We'll try to fit it in."
Faith: "In the meantime stall them after the medical, I gotta beg the cook to make some burgers for dinner."
"I'll see you soon then" said Faith as she walked out of the elevator as Willow tried her best not to laugh as the doors closed behind the brunette. Then, when no one was looking she bolted to another elevator and took it down to the Mess Hall level and begged the cook to make seven burgers with all the trimmings.
Briefing Room, SGC, 1130 hours; a month later.
Dawn had just walked into the briefing room with Major Hailey, SG22's Colonel Raimi and SG3's Colonel Reynolds just as SG1 had finished their own mission briefing. As she sat went to claim her favourite seat which Willow had just stood up from, she noticed that a dark haired woman in a suit was putting files marked Classified into a briefcase.
"Hey Dawnie" said Willow as she picked up her notes from the table along with her laptop, "going to the Sunnydale outpost today?"
"Yeah" said Dawn.
"You have no idea how jealous I am" said Colonel Carter, "imagine the technologies that may exist in an outpost none of us knew even existed."
"Dawn" said Daniel, "have fun."
"We'll bring back any database we find, Dr. Jackson" said Major Hailey as Dawn nodded her head.
"How about the other one?" asked Colonel Mitchell, "the one in Death Valley National Park?"
"Satterfield, SG25 and 26 will be handling that one" said Colonel Reynolds.
"Sweet" replied Colonel Mitchell.
"Miss Summers, Major Hailey, Colonel Raimi and Colonel Reynolds" said the General as he walked out of his office, "please take a seat."
"SG1" said the General as he looked at the departing front line team, "you have your mission orders, Dr. Jackson, Major Rosenberg and Colonel Carter meet up with Agent Barret; while Colonel Mitchell and Miss Lehane meet up with Teal'c on Dakara. We need to nip this situation in the bud."
"Yes, Sir" said Willow, Colonel Mitchell and Colonel Carter together before they walked away.
Willow: "Be careful, Dawnie."
Dawn: "You too."
"Sir?" said Colonel Reynolds.
"We have an issue with the Trust" said General Landry.
"The same doofusses who gave the symbiotes to Travers to implant into Buffy and Faith?" asked Dawn, "that Trust?"
"Yes" said the General, "SG1 will be handling that side of things, in the meantime I need you all to be careful when on the field today. Thanks to General Carter liaising with the Tok'ra, we received intelligence from a captured Trust spy in one of their encampments that there could be more of them on Earth. He claims that they have taken over some of the more influential people in various sectors of the economy. We're hoping that we can smoke out either Kinsey, or whoever is the leader of the Trust"
"I see" said Colonel Raimi.
"Anyway" said General Landry as he looked at Major Hailey, "what do we know about this outpost."
"Prometheus took scans of the area, Sir" said the Major as she handed everyone a folder, "and as you can see, the complex is quite large. It has three levels but without any visible point of entry."
"Beaming technology?" asked Colonel Reynolds.
"The same energy distortions that prevented the Asgard beaming technology from working in the Glastonbury cavern is present here" said Major Hailey.
"Ring transporters?" asked General Landry.
"NO luck there either, Sir" said Major Hailey, "the only place the rings seem to transport anyone to is the Glastonbury cavern."
"So" said the General, "no visible point of entry, no ring transportation system, and no way to beam in or out."
"Looks that way, sir" said Major Hailey.
"But there has to be some way of getting in there" said Dawn, "I mean the complex is huge, and if it was made by the Ancients then I'll bet anything that there is an alternative way of getting in there. I mean there has to be a reason why this place was built like this…. You know…?"
"Sir" said Major Hailey, "Dawn's right, I'd suggest that we go down in the desert and find a way to get into the complex. There has to be another way."
"With the Priors still coming into the galaxy" said Colonel Reynolds, "I'm just afraid that we'll be going on a wild goose chase."
"But this place could have technologies that would be able to beat the Ori" said Dawn, "at the very least, it could have information that could tell us why this outpost exists in the middle of nowhere."
"Colonel Reynolds is right" said General Landry as Dawn's face went flat, "we can't waste our time in finding an entrance that that may or may not exist. Especially with the Priors still coming into the galaxy. But, Miss Summers and Major Hailey are also correct in saying that if we could find the entrance, we could have access to more Ancient technology that could help in defeating the Priors, or have information on defeating Ascended Beings."
At hearing that, Dawn suddenly perked up and smiled at Major Hailey as General Landry leaned forwards.
"Colonel's" said the General as he stood up before heading back to his office, "you and your teams have two days to find the entrance, in the meantime I'll hold off sending the teams to Death Valley until such time you have completed your mission."
"Very well, sir" said Colonel Reynolds and Raimi as they stood up. Colonel Reynolds then nodded at Dawn and Major Hailey, "we'll move out at 1300 hours."
"Sir" said Major Hailey as she stood up, along with Dawn.
"Thanks Colonel" said Dawn.
"I really do hope that we find this thing" said Colonel Reynolds, "I need to think of every scenario, especially with what's out there."
"I understand" smiled Dawn, "I know Major Hailey and I can find the entrance."
"Get to it then" said Colonel Reynolds as he walked out of the briefing room.
Sunnydale Desert, an hour outside Sunnydale, 1300 hours.
The Prometheus had beamed down SG22, SG3, Dawn and Major Hailey to somewhere in the Sunnydale desert, along with two cases of weapons, some cases full of scientific equipment and some Naquada generators.
"Forgot how hot it could be" said Dawn as she tied her hair into a ponytail and put a cap on her head before she turned and saw Major Hailey doing the same thing.
"SG22" said Colonel Reynolds as he pointed to an area near some large rocks, "set up camp there while we set up a perimeter."
"Yes, Colonel" said Colonel Raimi.
"Miss Summers, Major Hailey" said Colonel Reynolds, "find that entrance. I'll join you with one more of my people once we've established a perimeter."
"Sir" said Major Hailey as she handed Dawn a scanner, and a Zat.
"So what am I looked for?" asked Dawn sheepishly as she holstered her Zat and activated the scanner.
"Energy Spikes" said the Major, "it could possibly indicate a hologram, or even a shield that's hiding a secret entrance."
"Or any other weird readings?" asked Dawn.
"Yeah" replied Major Hailey.
"Alright" said Dawn as she walked alongside the Major.
"So" said Major Hailey, "anything we should worry about in the desert?"
"Other than the regular poisonous snakes and scorpions you mean?" asked Dawn as Major Hailey nodded, "possibly vampires, but I can't be certain that they'd come this far out into the desert. Maybe werewolves? But then again, I don't think anyone would bother coming out this far into the desert, unless they had a death wish."
"Safe then" said Major Hailey.
"Probably" replied Dawn as they walked on.
The both of them had been walking around for over three hours and they were soon accompanied by Colonel Reynolds and two other members of SG3.
"Miss Summers, Major Hailey" said Colonel Reynolds, "any luck?"
"Not yet, Colonel" said a sweating Dawn as she took a drink from her flask.
"How about the both of you go back to camp, get some rest and some food" said the Colonel, "Bosco, Peterson and I can take over for now."
"I'm alright for a going a little longer, Sir" said Major Hailey.
"Me too" replied Dawn as she wiped the sweat off her brow.
Colonel Reynolds nodded his head as he got on his radio and notified SG22 and two more members of his team who were left at the campsite that Dawn and Major Hailey would be leaving in about an hour's time.
Sunnydale Desert, an hour outside Sunnydale, 1700 hours.
After about another hour of searching, Major Hailey nudged Dawn who was looking the other way as she pointed to some shrubs and a group of large boulders in the distance, "hold on, I'm getting some weird readings from there."
"What kind?" asked Dawn as they headed in that direction after letting Colonel Reynolds know.
"Not sure" said Hailey as the both of them got closer to the energy signature when Major Hailey suddenly tripped and fell.
"Jen" said Dawn as she helped the Major up after she ended up on the ground face first, "you alright?"
"Yeah" she replied as she wiped the dust off her vest, "what did I trip on?"
"Two left feet?" asked Dawn smirking.
"Very funny" said Major Hailey, "you're a riot."
"I try" said Dawn as she crouched down onto the ground and felt the ground beneath her, the same area that the Major had tripped. She then wiped away the sand on the surface and looked at the Major with wide eyed surprise, "this is artificial."
"Yeah" said the Major as she crouched down and wiped away the top sand and felt the unnaturally smooth surface that had the exact same colour tone as the natural surface of the desert, "and it's just this small rectangular part here."
"I know" said Dawn when she and Major Hailey suddenly stumbled back as the small section of artificial ground rose up in the form of a small pillar.
"What the?" said the Major as she stood up slowly and looked at the pillar that ended up waist high for both women. She and Dawn saw that the pillar itself was off-white in colour with cut outs on the side that shone blue.
"Looks Ancient" said Dawn as she stepped forward and looked at the device.
"Colonel Reynolds" said Major Hailey as she got on her radio, "we found something."
"Stand by" said Colonel Reynolds, "I have your beacons on my scanner; we'll meet you at your location. Reynolds out."
"What is it?" asked Dawn as she touched the sides of the pillar.
"I don't know" said Major Hailey as she crouched down and ran her hands down the pillar, "I don't see any obvious access point to get inside it."
"Why would someone… anyone keep this thing in the middle of the desert without any reason?" asked Dawn as she touched the top of the pillar. Once she touched the top, Dawn stepped back as the surface vanished to reveal what looked like a palm scanner.
"A hologram" said Major Hailey, "that was the strange reading."
"You wanna try?" asked Dawn as she looked at the Major.
"Let's wait for Colonel Reynolds" said Major Hailey, "he should be… oh, there he is."
"Major" said Colonel Reynolds as he, Bosco and Peterson came up behind him, "looks like you guys definitely found something, what is it?"
"We can't be sure, Sir" said Major Hailey as she led Colonel Reynolds to the pillar, "Dawn touched the top of the pillar which happened to be just a holographic recreation of the desert surface. It deactivated only to reveal some kind of a palm scanner."
"Have any of you tried it yet?" asked the Colonel.
"No, Sir" said Major Hailey.
"Colonel" said Dawn, "maybe this is the entrance we've been looking for?"
"Could be" said Colonel Reynolds as he turned to Bosco, "contact the SGC, tell them we may have found a way into the Ancient outpost."
"Yes, sir" said Bosco as he went on his radio.
Major Hailey tried her luck in placing her palm on the scanner, but she had no luck in activating it. Once she stepped back, she nodded at Dawn to give it a try.
"Maybe it responds to the Ancient gene?" asked Major Hailey.
"Maybe" said Dawn as she placed her palm on the glass when a green light suddenly flashed on the screen. The light kept on flashing more rapidly until it remained steady, "Ok, now what?"
All of a sudden there was a strange sound and Dawn felt a slight tingle go through her body as she saw her entire surrounding change in a bright flash of light.
"Dawn!" shouted Major Hailey as she and the others saw Dawn vanish in a flash of white light.
Ancient Outpost, under the Sunnydale Desert, 1800 hours.
"Umm….." said Dawn as she stood in a darkened room, "what just happened? Jenn? Colonel?"
Dawn took out her flashlight from her left vest pocket and turned it on. As she looked around the room, she saw objects on the floor, the walls and there was a console, similar to the one on Dakara that she had helped General Carter translate before firing the super-weapon. But, there was no Major Hailey or Colonel Reynolds anywhere; she was alone in the darkened complex.
"Jenn?" said Dawn as she got on her radio but only received static, "Colonel?"
'Great' thought Dawn to herself as she shone the torchlight at the wall behind her and on the floor. Seeing no panel on the wall or the same column device near her, she knew she had to move towards the console she noticed earlier. She was hoping that maybe she could activate whatever it was that brought her here and get back to the surface.
As she took one step forward, the lights slowly turned on inside the large room.
"Whoa" said Dawn as she turned off her flashlight and looked at her surroundings. She saw what looked like two circular pedestals on the floor; one on either side of the huge room. One of the pedestals was close to another console while the other one was near a device on the wall.
"That looks like the device that Willow told me about" said Dawn as she kept her distance, "the same one that downloaded the Ancient Knowledge into General O'Neill's mind, but what are those handle things for?"
As she took more steps forward, she heard a cracking sound under her boots. Crouching down, she saw that she had stepped on a control crystal… a destroyed control crystal. Looking as the floor around her, she saw that it was littered with burnt crystals. Picking another one up, Dawn noticed that the circuit like patterns inside were all melted away.
"What happened here?" asked Dawn to herself as she noticed holes at the sides of one of the pedestals. Laying down on the floor, she saw some kind of blast marks at the edge of the holes. As she looked inside, Dawn noticed that all the crystals were melted or burnt beyond recognition. She moved over to the other pedestal and noticed the same thing as well. As Dawn stood back up, it felt to her as if these were destroyed on purpose. Running to the console, Dawn crouched down and pressed on the side on the large console and looked on as a tray slid out.
"Phew" said Dawn as she exhaled the breath she was holding, worried that the crystals in the console would be destroyed too.
'Ok' replied Dawn to herself as she pressed down on some of the columns as the screen in front of her suddenly came alive with data, 'first thing I need is communications, come on… communications… there…. There we go… this place has a subspace communicator… yay me. Now, Willow told me the subspace frequency we use to communicate and….. voila!"
As Dawn pressed a button at the side of the console activating the subspace communication system, she simply just spoke into the air.
"Ummm… hello?" said Dawn nervously hoping that she did everything right, "anyone there?"
USAF Prometheus, Lunar Orbit, 1830 hours.
Colonel Mitchell, Teal'c and Faith were on the bridge of the Prometheus as they faced off one of the Ha'tak vessels belonging to the leader of the Free Jaffa Nation's leader, Gerak. Teal'c had recently found out that Gerak had sent in Jaffa to capture Ba'al who just happened to be hiding out on Earth. It had taken some time for the Earth ship to find Gerak's ship, and when they did.. it was hiding behind the moon. As the two ships faced off, with Colonel Pendergast telling the leader on the Ha'tak vessel that anymore ships heading to the planet's surface would be blown up, before the communication before the two sides were cut off from Gerak's ship.
"Sir" said Major Marks as he looked at the Colonel and the three members of SG1 confused, "we're getting a subspace message from Earth."
"SGC?" asked Colonel Pendergast.
"No sir" said the Major.
"This is Colonel Lionel Pendergast of the USAF Prometheus, please identify yourself."
"Ummmmm…." Said Dawn over the speakers, "this is Dawn Summers…. I'm ah…. I must have put the wrong number…."
"Miss Summers?" said the Colonel as he looked back as the equally confused members of SG1, "how are you communicating with us?"
"I'm in the Sunnydale Ancient outpost" said Dawn, "although I wouldn't call it an outpost… but that's just me."
"Colonel, Sir?" said Colonel Mitchell, "may I?"
"Go ahead" said Colonel Pendergast.
"Miss Summers" said the Colonel, "this is Colonel Mitchell, where are the rest of your team?"
"Jenn… I mean Major Hailey and I found something in the desert and when I touched it, I was transported into the outpost" said Dawn, "the others didn't make it in with me."
"SGC, confirms Sir" said Major Marks as he looked at Colonel Pendergast, "she simply vanished."
"Inform them that we have communications with her" said Colonel Pendergast, "and connect this subspace call with the SGC as well."
"Yes Sir" said Major Marks.
"Miss Summers" said Colonel Mitchell, "do you see a way out of there?"
"No" said Dawn as she looked around, "I found a console here that I used to open this channel, but I haven't gone through all the data or the schematics yet."
"Dawn" said Faith, "hang tight alright, we'll find some way of getting in."
"Sure" replied Dawn as she smiled as she stood at the console.
"Can we beam down to her location?" asked Teal'c as Faith walked to one of the scanning stations.
"Scanners are showing that that place is chalk full of energy distortions" said Faith as she checked one of the screens, happy that her training on the Prometheus sensors were finally paying off.
"Miss Summers" said Colonel Pendergast, "we're unable to beam you out, or anyone in because of the energy distortions. Can you use the console to deactivate them?"
"Ok… let me check" said Dawn as she pressed down on a few more columns before she found what she was looking for, "Ummm…. I found something about electro-magnetic interference…. Would that be useful?"
"That would prevent a beaming lock, Sir" said Major Marks.
"Can you deactivate that?" asked Colonel Pendergast as he spoke to Dawn, "we think that's what preventing your beam out."
"I'll try" said Dawn as she depressed two columns down at the same time as two bright lights shone on either side of the walls, "I think it's deactivated."
"Major?" asked Colonel Mitchell as he looked at Major Marks, "anything?"
"I got her, Sir" said Major Marks, "but only for that particular level she's on. The energy distortions for the next two levels are still active."
"We can see you now, Miss Summers" said Colonel Pendergast as he nodded at Major Marks, "stand by for transport."
"Colonel" said Dawn, "if I get transported out of here, then there is no guarantee that I could get back in. Could you maybe transport Jenn and the others here? I mean there's a lot of data that we should sift through."
"She does have a point, Sir" said Colonel Mitchell, "plus she and SG22's Dr. Balinsky are the only ones who can read Ancient down there right now. We can't let an opportunity like this pass us by."
"Very well" said Colonel Pendergast as he looked at Colonel Mitchell, before turning to Major Marks, "inform SGC about what's going on. Tell them to notify the others on the surface in that area to stand by for transport into the outpost."
"Yes Sir" said Major Marks.
"Now" said Colonel Pendergast as he turned to look at the large Ha'tak vessel on his view screen, "let's make sure that our Jaffa friends don't do anything else."
"Indeed" said Teal'c.
Ancient Outpost, under the Sunnydale Desert, 1915 hours.
While Dawn was sifting through the massive treasure trove of data in the outpost, she stopped at a particular section and kept on reading it repeatedly.
"No way" said Dawn, "no way."
Just then she heard buzzing sounds behind her and saw five bright lights deposit Major Hailey, Colonel Raimi, Dr. Balinsky, Bosco, and Faith.
"Faith" smiled Dawn.
"Hey kiddo" said Faith, "thought I'd come rescue you from another sticky situation you got yourself into."
"Hey" said Dawn, "doesn't happen all the time."
"Miss Summers" said Colonel Raimi, "please report."
"This place is old Colonel" said Dawn as Dr. Balinsky walked up next to Dawn, "very, very old."
"Looks a little over ten million years old" said Dr. Balinsky, "and it looks like the last entry was….. Miss Summers?"
"About ten thousand years ago, that's when the sensors read someone was here last. All of the corrupted data are from that period ten thousand years ago" said Dawn as she looked at the screen before depressing another column, "the logs show that weapons fire erupted on this level."
"Any ideas what's down at the bottom two levels?" asked Colonel Raimi.
"None" said Dawn, "but I was looking at the schematics, and we know why the Prometheus didn't show up any ring transporters."
"Because there aren't any?" asked Colonel Raimi.
"No" said Dawn as she looked at the screen in front of her and them at the Colonel, "the ring transporters here have been only programmed to work within this complex, and even that was only recently done, meaning ten thousand years ago."
"Security feature?" asked Bosco.
"That would be my guess" said Dawn, "and I think it's because of this."
Dawn then pressed three more columns as the picture of a DNA sequence came up on the screen, followed by more streams of data in Ancient.
"This says that some experiments were carried out here" said Dawn.
"What kind of experiments?" asked Faith.
"Mixture of genetic experimentation, research on Ascension, research on… what….. strange creatures?" said Dawn as she looked at Faith and the others in shock, "but….. this can't be right… some of this includes…. The data is all fragmented… some are older than ten million years ago while others are fairly recent."
"Dawn?" said Faith, "what does it include?"
"Weapons research… biological weapons and germ warfare" said Dawn, "there are some logs here."
"Video?" asked Dr. Balinsky.
"Hold on" said Dawn as she depressed another column, resulting in the rising of another. Dawn then depressed that one and the screen went blank, and then a red line of text appeared in Ancient, "damn, all video has been deleted."
"What?" asked Major Hailey.
"Most of the data…. Sorry, all of the data on the details on these experiments have been corrupted" said Dawn.
"Sir" said Major Hailey as she looked at Colonel Raimi, "I could try and recover that data."
"Do it" said Colonel Raimi as Major Hailey walked up to Dawn.
"Dawn" said Major Hailey, "where's the…?"
"Bottom left, center" said Dawn as she remained concentrated on the screen in front of her while pointing at the location of the control crystal tray.
"Colonel" said Faith, "I'll go check out the next level."
"Bosco, Dr. Belinsky" said Colonel Raimi, "go with her. Miss Summers, input the frequency for the SGC and update them on our progress, have you found a way out of here?"
"Yeah" said Dawn as she walked towards the area where she had beamed in, "I found it a few seconds before you guys arrived, sorry."
"It's fine" said Colonel Raimi as he followed Dawn.
"There was a hidden panel here" said Dawn as she pressed what seemed to be a line of text on the wall, "I found it in the schematic."
Once Dawn had pressed the button, a panel slide up to reveal some controls.
"According to what I read, this will return you back to the surface" said Dawn, "but the pillar up there needs the Ancient gene to transport you back here."
"I'll get the Prometheus to send me back" said Colonel Raimi as he nodded his head and pressed the button, "I'll update Colonel Reynolds."
Dawn headed back towards the console when the Colonel vanished in a flash of light.
"Dawn" said Faith, "where are the rings?"
"Right under the lights on the left wall" said Dawn, "the control panel is there too."
"Cool" said Faith as she, Bosco and Dr. Belinsky walked towards the rings, "see ya soon."
Dawn grinned and waved at Faith as the rings rose up from their housing and deposited them on the second floor.
"Dawn" said Major Hailey as she connected her laptop to the crystals inside, "have you found out exactly what this place is?"
"Research and monitoring station" said Dawn.
"Monitoring?" asked the Major as she stood up and joined Dawn in front of the screen, "monitoring what?"
"The text" said Dawn as she pointed at the screen, "it says that this station was built after….. after…. Even this is corrupted. Damn it….. I think it says something about a plague."
"The plague that nearly wiped the Ancients out" said Hailey.
"Yeah" said Dawn as she looked at the screen, "they've…. Wait…. They've tried everything for a cure… even built a machine to change their fate."
"The time loop machine" said Major Hailey.
"Yeah" replied Dawn, "Willow gave me that report to read."
"That one" said Major Hailey.
"Anyway" said Dawn as she turned back to the screen, "that failed so they built city-ships, the largest being Atlantis."
"Ships?" asked the Major, "any idea on their names?"
"Hold on" said Dawn as she searched the database, "no… a lot is corrupted…. Or purposely deleted."
"Damn" replied the Major.
"But as a last ditch effort, the Ancients enlisted the help of some allies to create… I can't tell what it is…. The next word after that is something based on the Ancient's Quantum Mirror technology" said Dawn as she turned to the Major, "can you recover most of this?"
"I don't know" said the Major as she went back to her laptop and pressed some buttons, "now?"
"A gateway into alternate dimensions" said Dawn, "a…. oh dear God, they did it to find a way to beat the plague… they thought that maybe if they travelled to alternate dimensions they could find a cure… something that even they haven't thought about."
"But?" said the Major as she looked at a worried Dawn, "what happened?"
"They created the doorway by using the same technology as the Quantum Mirror and then used….. there's that word again…. Mystics… they had the help of an ally that used Mystics to connect the doorway into the Earth itself" said Dawn.
"Huh?" replied Major Hailey, "wait, does that mean what I think it means?"
"These ally's who used Mystics" said Dawn, "they connected the doorway to the Earth so that it could be powered by the planet itself. A never ending source of power…. A gateway that cut into alternate dimensions."
"What are you…" said the Major as Dawn continued excitedly.
"They opened the gateway" said Dawn as she looked at the screen and depressed another column, "but they couldn't shut it down…. It became self sustaining, but it was already too late. They were given the order to leave the planet because the plague had already decimated the population of the entire galaxy. Whoever was last in this outpost signed out a little more than ten million years ago, after that all we have are readings… and look at that…."
Dawn pressed another column down as the screen showed what looked like a graph that spanned millions of years.
"Dear God" said Major Hailey, "look at the energy output… then the spikes… do you see that?"
"Something came in" said Dawn, "that's my guess…. The Ancients had already left the planet by the time first energy spike appeared. There would have been nothing left in the galaxy after the Ancients set off the Dakara Superweapon, and left in Atlantis."
"What are you saying?" asked Major Hailey.
"It's the Hellmouth" said Dawn as she looked at the screen in shock, "the Ancients and their ally were responsible."
"Wait" said Major Hailey, "that can't be… if we assume that this is the first one, the first since by your own admission that the Ancients left right after this was opened because it was too late for them to find a cure, then who opened the others?"
"I…. I… don't know… this just collected data on this one under Sunnydale" said Dawn, "but…. If there was nothing here on this planet to go into the gateway…. Then something must have come in, and kept coming in."
"The huge energy spikes?" asked Major Hailey.
"Yea" said Dawn just as the ring transporters activated and Faith, Bosco and Dr. Belinsky stumbled out of the transport pad.
"Get him to the side wall" said Faith as she directed Bosco to help Dr. Belinsky sit down against a wall.
"Faith?" asked Dawn as she looked at Dr. Belinsky panted hard, "what's going on?"
"Connect me to the Prometheus" said Faith.
"Faith?" said Dawn as she depressed some of the buttons, "what's going on?"
"Hold on" said Faith as Dawn nodded her head, indicating that the subspace communication with the Earth vessel was established, "Colonel Pendergast, this is Faith. Do not.. I repeat do not beam in anyone unless they follow full Hazmat protocols."
"Faith?" said Major Hailey, "what are you saying?"
"Miss Lehane" said Colonel Pendergast with surprise evident in his voice, "can you confirm? Did you say full hazmat protocols?"
"Yes" said Faith, "please sent a med team in full hazmat gear too, just in case. They need to have full spectrum anti-biotics….. basically the whole shebang of medications."
"I copy" said Colonel Pendergast, "the message has been relayed to Stargate Command, all beaming of non-medical personnel has been halted. Colonel Reynolds, Colonel Raimi and their teams have been notified."
"Thank you" said Faith.
"And yourselves?" asked the Colonel.
"I need Dr. Lam and her team to check us out" said Faith, "I'm afraid we may have been exposed to some biological agent… even if it's nothing, I don't want to take the chance."
"Understood" said Colonel Pendergast, "Stargate Command informed us that they'll have a team sent to you in thirty minutes."
"Thanks" said Faith, "think we could get some pizza with that?"
"Afraid not" said the Colonel.
"Drat" smiled Faith, "thanks, Colonel."
"Prometheus out"
"Faith?" asked Dawn as the brunette started coughing, "what happened?"
"We found bodies" said Faith as she sat down and coughed even harder, "we found hundreds of dead bodies."
TBC.