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Stargate Atlantis

Chapter Two

Raising Threat

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(A Brief note I do not own Stargate or its associated products. Also please forgive any grammar and spelling errors I am Dyslexic and even with a spell checker it is difficult for me to see them.)

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"So, while Elizabeth is dealing with that," he said watching Elizabeth leave through the hangar main access door "Why are you Exo-thingies so busy?" asked Major Sheppard, he noticed another large crate as it floated into another toom by three of the small robot eggs.

"That would be for the Nova."

"What."

"The Nova."

"a single name doesn't narrow down what they're doing Lieutenant." The Major was always slightly annoyed by answers that were not really answered at all.

"sorry sir." He replied, "I forgot that you hadn't read my reports yet." He moved towards the door of the runabout before turning back "If you'll follow me, sir." He led them back out of the craft and into hanger proper, as they headed to another set of large doors, they could appreciate the vast cavernous space that at the height of the war must have been full of all kinds of crafts.

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the next sector of the hanger was a short walk once they left the Runabout. the corridor to the next part of the hangar was full of crates in different states of fullness some half-empty empty some full others empty and stacked. Lt Davis paused as he came up to the closed door.

"I figured that with the proof of concept that is the Runabout I could work up something that we could use in case of emergencies." He said as he pressed the wall control to open the door.

Inside the Exocomps were buzzing about and talking to each other in a cacophony of accents and conversations. The activity was frantic but conversely, calm as they moved in a sincerity similar to that of a school of fish in the depths of the ocean.

"what the hell is that?"

"That's the framework for a Nova class Starship." He said indicating that the framework was hovering in front of them. "as it stands with the replicators and the Exocomps working round the clock it will take a few months to fully construct it."

"And if you had the rings up and running?" asked Sheppard as Dr McKay was mesmerised by the technological marvel in front of him, you could practically hear the gears turning in his brain as he watched the machines at work.

"A few days to a week."

"How the heck did the Ancients lose?" he asked his voice a whisper kin to more of an astonished sigh

"The Wraith mass-produced clones and grew whole ships in vast nurseries and farms powered by stolen Zed Pee Ems."

"What?" the shock was palpable as even it affected the usually unflappable Taylor.

"I read up on the war." He replied, turning to face the remaining team members. "The Ancients kept meticulous records of every battle and every tactic and strategy."

"What do you mean clones?" asked McKay.

"You know that they have wraith drones that wear masks, and the higher-ups don't," he said as he gestured with an open hand circling his face. John paused for a second before giving a slight nod to the Lieutenant.

"Yeah." He said slightly unsure as to why he never thought to ask that before.

"Well, the masked Wraith are mass-produced clones born from vast tanks in the heart of Wraith territory according to reports they were churning out tens of thousands of them every few days."

"that must have been what the virus we encountered was for." Said McKay putting the dots together "an artificial tailor-made virus designed to attack the visual cortex of the brain and given that the Wraith are partly psychic such a virus would have nearly enough made them psychotically paranoid and lash out at each other."

"which would have bought time for the Ancients to counterattack." Said Ford

"but they were missing a piece," said McKay. "it would attack everyone not just the Wraith it needed more refinement."

"According to the reports they sent out a ship to collect the samples they needed, but they never came Back." Said the Lieutenant "but the Wraith did in larger numbers."

"they must have captured or destroyed the ship leaving no alternative but for the Ancients to run." Said McKay.

"Leaving the Galaxy to the Wraith."

"My god." Said Sheppard in a horrified whisper.

"Yeah," nodded Lt Davis "The Ancients were slaughtering them in large-scale combat butchering hundreds of thousands of ships and millions of clones, but they just kept coming." He said as the machines continued to work as sparks cascaded from them like a golden waterfall brightening the room even more than its lights. "it wasn't until the last years of the war that they found what they believed to be all of the breeding farms and eliminated them, but by that point it was too late." He sighed in resignation as if the whole weight of the Ancients' war settled on his shoulders. "They had lost the main shipyards, their biological solution couldn't be refined and almost every planet in the Galaxy was a Wraith buffet, billions of people culled with only Atlantis left of their once great Empire."

"I cannot even imagine how helpless they must have felt." Said Taylor, with an edge of sadness in her voice that cut through the room like a sawblade through wood.

"we…" he whispered barely audibly but it was heard up by the keen ears of Taylor before he coughed as if clearing his throat. "They tried so hard, sacrificed so much." He felt emotional as if it were his sorrow that was taking over him, "but the Ancients aren't the Asgard." He said bitterly, "They weren't natural born Warriors with a passion for martial prowess."

"that's not like the Asgard we know." said McKay, "I worked with several of them they seemed level-headed and quite passive."

"This was pre-cloning" he replied turning to look at the Doctor, "and genetic tampering looking for immortality." He shook his head "Such a loss."

"what were they like before?" asked Sheppard his curiosity peaked, he had never met an Asgard before, but the reports spoke of a people very much like McKay described.

"On Average between seven and eight feet tall around six hundred and thirtyish Kilograms like a melding of a bear and a human, but closer to human, with a culture not too dissimilar to that depicted on Star Trek for the Klingons." He replied, "their poetry was exquisite and had such profound imagery as to move people to tears before the end of the second stanza."

"I haven't had any contact with them outside of the Sciences." Said McKay with genuine curiosity.

"that's a shame." He replied to the Doctor "I've translated one and it brought me to tears like a masterpiece of music in the hands of a conductor of equal skill and talent with musicians that are all true grand masters of their arts." He replied to the Doctor "I'll send you one." The Doctor nodded gratefully.

They were all silent for a moment watching as the Exocomps worked on the framework.

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It had been about a week since the big secret had gotten out mostly because Dr. Kavanagh had a nuclear bitch fit in the mess hall over 'imaginary' technology and space madness that had gotten him a day to cool off in the brig. But that wasn't enough for Dr Kavanagh he had stormed into the industrial sector to prove he was right and got shanked by Glyn in the right buttock.

Which by itself caused a series of meetings and a severe reprimand for the Exocomp, though Lt Davis was pretty sure that Glyn was the hero of all of the night shift.

So, now everyone knows and is wandering into the industrial district like tourists in New York. But the most annoying part to Lt Davis was the scientists asking for specific things like a Millennium Falcon or the Enterprise A, B or D.

The most interesting part of his week was discovering that he was following too literally what the Goa'uld were going but deeper research with Dr McKay showed that the rings were supposed to work horizontally and vertically much like a Stargate. On closer inspection, there was some form of tracks that the ring would use as a guide to follow similar to how a train used tracks but in a simulated zero G environment.

The computer had archived the recommended power for the ring and thanks to the industrial replicators they had built the needed number of generators. The Nova's framework was moved very carefully into the centre of the ring and once activated the ring began to do its work.

They started slowly to reduce any mistakes that could occur so instead of a few days the ship would take about two weeks to fully construct. This slower pace allowed the scientists to fully grasp the method of construction of the Ancients... or at least that was the plan.

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Lt Davis was elbows deep in the guts of the Ancient Orbital Defence Satellite, with both Dr Zelenka and Sparky acting as his aids Dr Zelenka was in the Satellite monitoring the progress of the repairs and Sparky was locked into the main computer of the Runabout and monitoring closely in case of an emergency.

"Try it now Doctor." He said over the radio as he finished installing the new crystal cluster. He checked to see the yellow, orange, and red crystals start to light up and thrum as if it was a heart beating.

"Excellent." Said the Czech Doctor the genuine glee plainly evident in his voice. It was a joy to work with the man, he had all the intelligence of Dr. McKay with none of the ego or attitude and it made him one of the most fun scientists in the expedition. "the targeting systems are fully online." He smiled "I'm testing the capacitors now, stand by."

The Satellite moved to face the large asteroid field that sat between the planet and the station.

"capacitors read green across the board."

"I'll get back to the Runabout before you fire Doctor." He said as he tapped the rampant winged stallion button on his suit. The design was reminiscent of the Star Fleet Com-badge and was a better hands-free communicator than the standard earpiece they had before and a lot more secure. The stallion was set into a shape similar to that of the Stargates Chevron, the Pegasus looked like a pearled enamel with the chevron backing it in a brushed steel with the rest being an assure blue the whole thing combined looked like a challenge coin and was a similar size.

"Sparky, beam me up". Said Lt Davis causing the small droid to groan he couldn't keep the smile from his face as his view shifted from the starfield of space to cascading sapphire lights and then the inside of the Runabout.

"I swear to the great bird of the galaxy if you say it that way again, I will pull a Glyn." Said the small robot its mini replicator materialising a sawback bayonet it twisted it 'menacingly'. This caused the Lieutenant to bark out a laugh before he sat taking off his helmet.

"All right Doctor I'm on the Runabout" he said his fingers tapping the ship's controls pulling the Runabout away from the Satellite. He walked over to and began to manipulate the controls of the science station "Fire when ready."

"I read you." The Scientist was practically bouncing as he activated the weapons. "Firing now." The Runabouts sensors picked up the power build-up and the exotic particle generation just as the Ancient station's wrath roared to life once again, it fired a beam of emerald energy similar to a phaser lance.

They had selected one of the largest asteroids on the field. It was five miles in circumference and made of solid iron, it was situated in such a place that if it did explode the debris would not impact the planet. As the beam impacted it, the asteroid glowed for a few moments before rendering it to dust in one shot.

The concussion wave was enough to buffet the Runabout and the station for a moment before the dampeners kicked in to kill any of the buffeting and stabilise them once again.

"how's it looking Doc." He asked.

"We almost blew out the focusing lenses." He answered, "We'll have to adjust the power capacitors I think the Ancients set this one to overclock." He said after a moment they could hear him tapping away at the console "Probably in an attempt to hold the line against the Wraith."

"From what I read;" he said over the communications network "the Satellite was one of the dozens of Defensive Satellite that were daisy-chained around the Lagrangian point." He said showing the ancient debris field at the Lagrangian area the sensors showing where the Defence Satellites had been and their remains within the asteroid field. "they held for about six months before the weight of numbers wore them away."

"I've adjusted the Settings back down to its regular state." Reported the Czech Doctor

"right." Lt Davis said, "According to the records you need to set the power output three steps down from maximum to deal with cruisers and one step down for Hives." He said as he read over the document, "I suggest setting it for Hives."

"if they needed it to be set like that why overclock it." The Doctor asked himself as he was going over the controls.

"as I said weight of numbers." Replied Lt Davis

"I don't think so" replied the Doctor, "at that level of power after a few shots there is a delay for recharging that would leave these things open to return fire."

"what do you think Doctor."

"I think it was set like this to take out something massive not just a Wraith Hive."

"What makes you say that."

"the targeting computer still has its profile in the buffer." He said his voice almost hushed in a kind of astonished whisper, "The sensors showed the power of the ship to be several orders of magnitude higher than six Wraith Hives."

"What?" Lt Davis asked in disbelief, "Can you send it to me."

"give me a second."

The profile arrived and while the satellite didn't have the best sensors besides its targeting array what they did show was telling.

"My God," he breathed in horror "this is a ZPM-powered Dreadnought a…" he paused allowing his brain to catch up to his mouth "A Super Hive."

"do you think they still have these?" Asked Dr Zelenka

"I hope not." He left that thought hanging as they got back to work the sudden feeling of uncomfortable horror descended on them like a dark fog over London. It was a cold feeling that oozed down their spines like a gel. It was about an hour later when they got something to distract them.

"Atlantis Control to Runabout Danube."

"Lieutenant Davis here Dr Weir."

"we're having a major issue with the computers here we need Dr. Zelenka back."

"What kind of issue?"

"We don't know" she replied in frustration "Some kind of override has happened and with Dr McKay looking for the ZPM at the Dagan's archaeological dig."

"I understand." He replied to the Doctor, he tapped the buttons on the com section to bring the Czech Doctor onto the call just as Dr. Wier closed her com. "Dr Zelenka." He called.

"yes."

"we're needed back at Atlantis."

"I've just finished the adjustments." He said a small hint of a whine in his voice "We need to check the calibrations."

"we'll destroy more asteroids later Doc."

"very well, one to transport." He said pouting.

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The journey back to Atlantis was quick but the duo had spent it talking about Star Trek it turned out the Doctors' parents had risked everything by fixing their TV to get American channels from Germany during the Cold War as his father was a linguist, he had taught the family the language so they could all understand what was on.

They huddled in their basement with a hidden arial, and his genius mother had practically fashioned a TV from spare parts as the Soviets had very strict controls over the media and whether or not people could have a TV in the first place, they moved into a position within the party that allowed them certain luxuries.

It had been both enlightening and a dark reminder of the darkness humanity was capable of. They had agreed to meet up and screen some of the Star Trek films and a series or two, they even discussed the merits of having Taylor's people join them in a kind of cultural exchange.

Zelenka had opted to be transported directly to the gate room so that he could get to work quicker thus allowing him to blow up more asteroids quicker he was a simple yet complicated man.

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It had been an hour since their return and both Lt Davis and Sparky were installing some equipment on the Nova, specifically its operations console, when they had a call come in over the comm.

"This is Dr Weir there is a Wraith Dart incoming we need pilots for interception." Faster than Jessie Owens at the Olympics Tom shot out from underneath the console, and he pressed the badge at his chest, just as Sparky caught up to him.

"Danube two to beam out." His vision became a cascade of falling sapphire stars before the bridge of the Nova became the transporter in the Danube in a flash of light. Without a moment's pause, he burst into the bridge of the ship. he activated the console just as Sparky entered his alcove in the co-pilot's console.

"Main hangar doors opening now." Said his companion. "weapons are charged and the targeting system is online." As soon as the doors were wide enough the runabout erupted from within like water from a geyser.

The ship swung around to face the city as the Dart made its first pass the targeting sensors picking it up immediately the photons and phasers were almost immediately ready for firing. The first time the ship had fired its weapons in anger and amber lance hit the ship as it evaded two Puddle Jumpers the weapon atomising the fighter as soon as it touched its organic hull.

"Target destroyed." Said Sparky. Tom tapped a button on the console and opened a communication channel to Atlantis.

"Lt Davis to Atlantis Control"

"Atlantis Control, this is Dr. Weir."

"I'm going to backtrack the Darts course and see if we have a ship incoming or not." He closed the channel without replying and the ship went ninety degrees vertical and made for orbit. "Lt Davis to Glyn."

"Here Sir."

"I want the Nova Finished by the time I get back."

"Understood sir."

As the Runabout hit the void its sensors picked up the highly radioactive and obvious trail left by the Wraith Dart. At full impulse, it took a minute to find out how the small parasite craft had gotten to Atlantis. Sitting in a debris field was the radiation signature of a Wraith ship of about Cruiser class though the debris field was vastly smaller the hyperdrive was that of a Cruiser.

The sensors modelled the debris into what could only be described as a strange melding of a hyperspace ring similar to those used in the Star Wars Prequels and a Warp skid from Star Trek.

"prepare a level 7 probe." He said to his companion, Lt Davis had reasoned that a probe like the level 7 should be enough to backtrack the hyperspace window that the Wraith had used, and he could follow on once the probe's telemetry returned.

"probe ready."

"launch." He ordered. The probe moved towards the wreckage and shimmered for a moment before it entered the decaying window that the Wraith had used.

The hyperspace probe was based on a design that the ancients had used to track the wraith it couldn't open a new window, but it could pass through the backwash of a Wraith hyperdrive window and follow the corridor to its origin point before it collapsed and sealed.

As the probe disappeared, he moved to the science console and began to track the probe using the galactic map that he had downloaded from Atlantis. As the probe slowed to a stop the computer input the coordinates.

"Atlantis Control, I've found how the Wraith got here." He reported.

"was it a ship?" it was Dr Weir that answered.

"negative." He replied, "It's some kind of external structure that had an independent hyperdrive in it similar to a warp sledge or a hyperspace ring."

"so, there are no ships in the vicinity." She reiterated pushing for a definitive answer.

"that's Affirm." He replied as he extended the sensor sweep in case another dart arrived using the same method. "I've tracked the origin point to PXA-101."

"Sumner's planet?" she asked, "where Wraith Queen was?"

"yes ma'am" he replied, "I'll get the Nova ready and check it out."

"is that a good idea we could need it if we have to evacuate."

"I believe it to be the best course of action." He reasoned, "If only to check if they have any more devices," he said as he overlooked the debris field "I'd rather not face a full squadron of Darts coming at us unexpectedly in the night."

"very well." She sighed "But you're taking Dr Zelenka and Dr Grodin with you."

"Affirmative returning now."

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True to his word Glyn had put the rings to full power and they along with the Exocomps had finished the ship. a few of the scientists were upset but they set the controls to construct another placating them and their wish to understand Ancient construction techniques.

The ship was sporting its almost pearlescent white paint the black NX-01-F was pinstriped with scarlet. The NCC number was for the construction as it was the second ship built but the first of the Class the F identifying the ship as a Frigate class.

Tom had met the two men accompanying him in the hangar they spent a moment conversing before he had arrived.

"Gentlemen." He nodded to them; he was flanked by a dozen of the Exocomps some carrying equipment boxes some just floating with them. "are we ready?"

"Yes, Lieutenant." Said Peter returning the nod and holding out his hand for a handshake, Dr. Zelenka did the same, he shook both stiffly before tapping the badge on his chest.

"Nova fifteen to beam up."

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Lt Davis arrived at the bridge walked out of the Turbo lift and took the command chair. it was designed to be closer to a Kling Command Chair rather than a federation one, but the bridge's DNA was pure federation being an amalgamation of the spacious Voyager-type bridge and the Enterprise D's Battle Bridge.

The Command chair was designed to work like the command chair in the Ancient Arora Class battleship allowing the commander to take complete control of the ship by him/herself. The Exocomps were there to act as damage control and as an autonomous crew.

"computer." He called the ship VI acknowledging with a chirp. "lights." The bridge came to life with a cacophony of whirring and warm lights as every console activated. He smiled as they did so the ship's status played in his mind showing the full complement of weapons probes and ancillary craft along with all systems statuses.

"It's beautiful." Whispered Dr Zelenka

"Computer initiate complete system activation procedures."

"acknowledged." It replied with the melodic voice of Majel Roddenberry "HMS Nova now under the full command of Lieutenant Davis."

"wonderful machine." He smiled for a moment lost in nostalgia before he turned the chair to face the two scientists who were going to accompany him. "gentlemen if you would take a seat." He indicated to the Voyager-like seats that would be behind him if he was facing the prow of the ship.

He turned the chair back to face the screen as Sparky interfaced with the combined Ops and Helm console. The ship rose from its landing legs and hoovered for a moment as they were withdrawn into the ship.

He nodded to himself before concentrating for a moment opening the hangar doors and moving out at full impulse, the ship rocketed out of the atmosphere where they opened a hyperspace window to the coordinates the probe had indicated.

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The trip by hyperspace took only an hour but the second that the Nova had jumped back into real space they had cloaked hoping to avoid detection but what they found was certainly underwhelming. The system was abandoned and completely devoid of any wraith signatures, the sensors were at their maximum power and had found nothing, nothing on the planet, nothing in the system and nothing indicating that the Wraith had been there at all.

"query the coordinates Sparky." He said as the Nova sat in high orbit of the planet keeping as much of the systems powered down to avoid any detection.

"we're at the right place sir." Said the small machine "but the Wraith are long gone."

"expand the scanning range as much as possible" he ordered "We may be able to get some trace data for the computer to analyse." He said as he stood from his position intending to move to the science console when he was interrupted by Sparky.

"Hello, this is strange." He said gaining everyone's attention the two scientists turned from huddling around the science station.

"what's strange Sparky?" said Tom as he walked over to his console and loomed over the device.

"I'm picking up a signal." Said the small machine its antenna seemingly to convey some confusion. "it's weak almost concealed in the background radiation but it's there and distinct."

"is it Wraith?" asked Grodin, he wasn't sure if the ship could engage a Wraith capital, ship no matter what the numbers said, and he didn't want to find out.

"no, it's not Wraith and it's not Ancient either." This raised a few eyebrows among the organic crew. With how the Wraith plague the Galaxy another space-faring civilisation was a near impossibility. Even the Genii didn't have ships and they had been surviving attempts at culling for centuries.

"Can you trace it?" said Lt Davis as he returned to his command chair.

"yes sir, it's just outside of the solar system."

"very well Mr. Sparky lets hyper jump to the location."

"aye, sir." He said as his little horns jostled "Coordinates input."

"Engage." He pulled off the Classic Picard point with his index and middle fingers towards the main viewer.

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The Nova moved with a speed and a grace made famous in star fleet, its deflectors and nacelles glowed for a moment as the Hyperdrive opened a window into Hyperspace the purple portal opening and swallowing the ship leaving a small starburst as it closed behind them.

A moment later the ship once again entered real space its powerful engines bringing the ship to a gentle stop where it was met by something very large and interesting.

"that is definitely not Wraith." Said Dr Peter Grodin observing the massive ship. its large, angled hull and pure metallic structure making it obvious that the ship had, probably, nothing to do with those Vampires.

"two thousand five hundred meters long." Said Sparky. "eight hundred wide and six hundred and eighty-nine tall." The Machine rattled off the sensor data. "and around forty-four trillion metric tonnes."

"The Hull composition is a Titanium-51". Said Dr Zelenka "And it's got score marks from plasma weaponry but not pulse blasts like the Goa'uld and Wraith but beam like the Asgard."

"Could it have fought the Asgard?"

"no, the Plasma of an Asgard beam would have gutted the ship from stem to stern in one shot." Said Tom as he brought up the clear scarring at the ship's midsection where the plates were effectively melted. "even a glancing blow would have detonated the ship given the exotic particles in the beam."

"I haven't seen a ship this large that isn't Wraith or Goa'uld." Said Dr Grodin

"agreed, that ship is a beast." Said Tom as he looked over the in-depth sensor data. "there is something wrong with the Quantum signature." said Zelenka as he ran the science station. "it's not completely matching the rest of our universe."

"I'm getting very faint life signs," said the Exocomp "…all humans."

"how many?" asked Lt Davis

"between ten and eleven thousand people." Replied the machine Tom took a moment to digest the stats and data everything seemed to be adding up. He ran an in-depth heavy scan, the type of scan that was both rude and easily spotted in the Federation. But it was the only way to get the answers he needed short of going over there.

"what's their status." He asked, "Are there any cascading failures."

"Like Captain Carter and her dimensional alternate." Considered Dr. Zelenka as he ran a deeper scan. "Nothing like described in those files but I am detecting that the ship is maintaining minimal power." He said as he brought up its engineering section the wireframe schematic showing its reactors. "they appear to be in some disrepair but capable of higher power output."

"yes, but look." Said Grodin pointing to the screen "Their hyperdrive core is missing."

"That's probably why they were sending out a distress call," said Sparky as Lt Davis manipulated some controls built into the armrest of the chair that was also integrated into a monitor similar to those on the Galaxy and Voyager class ships.

"that's also probably why the armaments onboard are so mundane and quite pedestrian for something in this Galaxy." He said as he manipulated the controls. "Nukes with no enhancements, coil guns and a type of magnetic acceleration cannon they are very far from home."

"Most of the ship must be automated." the Czech Doctor reasoned as he observed the sensor data "Maybe some kind of supply or escape ship." he manipulated the controls and brought up the large, cavernous interior. "look at all of that space what else could it be."

"an escape ship maybe." Said Dr Grodin "fleeing the Wraith or something similar in their universe."

"That's a possibility." Replied Lt Davis "but we shouldn't discount other possibilities."

"Like what." Asked the English Doctor

"well, they could be from this galaxy scavenged some Ancient tech and the drive core could have malfunctioned." Said the Czech "It would explain the exotic particles and the quantum signatures to have a variance like we're seeing here."

"is that possible?" asked Dr Grodin

"potentially" Lt Davis agreed "but for one thing, none of the species we have encountered use English as their written language" he told the young Doctor "Look at the nameplate." He brought the bright white painted name up on the screen. "it's in English and if I'm not mistaken that's a stylised planet Earth that the iconography screams American."

"Spirit of fire." Said the Czech Doctor "It's a strong name."

"Indeed." Replied Sparky.

"I wonder what U.N.S.C stands for." Grodin wondered aloud to himself as Lt Davis walked passed his station and headed to the turbo lift.

"I think we've learned all that we can from here." Said Lt Davis as he marched to the lift doors that opened with the very familiar whooshing sound. "I'm going aboard you two contact Atlantis and let them know what we have found and let Dr. Wier know that the Wraith are no longer in the system."

"Are you sure you want to do this we don't know who these people are." Asked Dr Zelenka "They could be dangerous."

"it's a risk" agreed the Royal Marine, "but it's one I'm not willing to leave these people to die." He said from the turbo lift. "Transporter room 3," he said as the doors closed.