Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Star Wars, or Stargate movies, TV shows, games, books, or comics. This story features elements inspired by Warhammer 40K. They all belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not for sale or rent.
Chapter 17: It all began on Abydos….
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Part 1
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25 December 1996
Stargate Command, Colorado
The United States
Milky Way Galaxy
It was 10:00, and Jack O'Neill wondered if this would be an utter embarrassment, a critical step forward for Earth, or a suicide.
The mission was a go. Everyone was assembled, and a miracle of miracles, they were sober after last night. He could see curious, excited, and even frightened looks coming from the support personnel who would be carrying out the critical parts of the mission if they were lucky.
Many of the civilians were staring at Jackson, who appeared to be uncomfortable under all the scrutiny. Despite that, there was no mistaking the vindication the man felt. Jack felt a bit sympathetic to the geek. From what he gathered, Daniel has spent his whole life following in his father's footsteps, defending what was until recently fringe, even insane theories.
The universe proved Jackson right, so the joke was on everyone else. Jack knew that if it wasn't for the unique benefits of research that the SGC offered, Daniel would be busy writing a book, perhaps multiple books based on the Stargate and various alien artifacts recovered after contact with Perun. When the secret became public, Jack thought that Jackson would need a security detail to keep his fans away.
"Colonel, O'Neill, we have final authorization and will begin the dialing-up sequence presently," Captain Davis emerged from the Stargate hangar.
"You heard him, folks! Fall in, and be ready for deployment when called!" Jack bellowed and followed the Captain back inside.
He looked at the rows of Delta Force soldiers standing beside the gate. They were clustered in three groups around the Wiesels. Major Grayson was walking around his unit, ensuring that everything was in place like he did three times earlier today. The Army officer gave Jack a sharp nod and continued with his inspection.
O'Neill walked to the control station of the Stargate, where his backpack was waiting beside Carters. The Captain was the lead tech specialist in the US scientist team, and Jack had explicit orders that if he had to choose, she should be the one to make it back intact if at all possible.
"Dialing up now! Stand clear from the Stargate!" Sergeant Harriman's voice echoed throughout the hangar over the loudspeaker system installed in the ceiling.
"Colonel," General Hammond greeted without looking away from the computer terminals.
"We are ready to go, sir," Jack reported. It was a formality – they already ensured everything was in position before ever thinking about beginning the dialing-up sequence.
The generators roared, nearly drowning the hum of capacitor banks and high-voltage cables attached to the Stargate. The artifact's rings began spinning, pausing every few seconds to lock down a chevron.
From how Jack understood it, those things were similar to the numbers on a telephone or a region designation. Due to the kludged system they were using, geeks like Carter could better understand how the Stargate actually worked. It needed actual coordinates in space that designated a region to look for another Stargate to link with and create a wormhole.
Those symbols were for the user's convenience because most people traveling through the Stargate only needed to remember a few addresses to dial-up in the dialing device.
"Chevron six encoded…" Harriman announced. "Chevron seven encoded…"
A louder click came from the gate. Energy burst forth like a wave of foaming water, then the Stargate sucked in the destructive blast, forming a glowing, rippling portal.
"We have a connection!" Harriman announced.
Jack wasn't as elated as most people around. This only meant the last few weeks of work weren't' pointless and that today's exercise wouldn't end in complete embarrassment.
An utter disaster was still in the cards, though.
"Sending MALP through!" Carter informed them.
Sure enough, a robot that waited at a safe distance from the Stargate came to life and began crawling forward on its treads. It soon went up the platform put in place to facilitate the movement of vehicles and drove through. It looked almost like someone was passing through a waterfall, disappearing from sight.
The reality was much more enjoyable. The few times Jack had gone through, it felt like a weird acid trip.
Seconds later, the MALP emerged on the other side. The monitors linked to its cameras blinked, showing a large room barely lit by the portal's glow.
"We have a strong signal!" Carter's voice was positively giddy. "There are stairs in front of the Stargate; be careful as you move it forward!"
"I am careful. Switching on the lights…"High-powered flashlights attached to the cameras came to life. A button switch made them unfocus their light beams to illuminate a larger area.
"The Stargate is in a large stone chamber. I am seeing a lot of dust and sand. We might have a desert biome outside," Carter informed them. "We'll have temperature readings soon. The atmosphere is good. I'm reading oxygen, nitrogen, low level of carbon dioxide… There is nothing immediately harmful in the area.
"I am not seeing a dialing device, Captain," Jack was more concerned by what the cameras weren't showing. Yet, he was delighted that no one had recently been to the gate.
"Bring up the gate on the cameras and show us the symbols," Carter ordered.
"Doing so now…" Harriman muttered.
"They look the same…" Carter brightened up. "We have Earth's address, and the origin point will be the only unique symbol on that Stargate. We also have Earth's coordinates, and after linking up with the Stargate over there, I can transmit the relevant data back here. The supercomputers will be able to give us a dialing sequence for input by the time we've set up generators to power the device for a return trip."
"If we have to, we can ask Perun's people to activate the Stargate for you," Hammond noted.
They did have multiple options to get back, as long as they didn't run into hostiles on the other side. If that happened, it was either begging Perun for help or bringing in the failsafe.
That was why everyone going was a volunteer, aware that this might be a one-way mission.
"General?" Jack asked.
"You are a go, Colonel. God's speed."
"Yes, sir! Major Grayson, secure the other side. I will bring the first group when you give us the all-clear!"
"Yes, sir! Barnes, you are it! Go!"
The first group of the Delta Force jogged towards the Stargate, slowed down by all the gear and heavy weapons they were carrying.
"I am moving the MALP out of the way!" Harriman reminded them that a bulky robot was right in front of the portal on the other side.
Lieutenant Barnes looked at the command station and waited until Walter gave him a thumbs-up.
"The path is clear now!"
"Follow me in!" Barnes barked and jumped into the portal, followed by the rest of his men.
Seconds later, the MALP showed them stumbling out on the other side. Barnes raised his SAW and slowly approached the single dark corridor they could see. Behind him, the commandos fanned out, sweeping the room with the Stargate.
"The area is clear. We have only one visible entrance," Barnes reported.
"Bring in the Wiesel and the second group. We will sweep the rest of the building before bringing in the VIPs," Grayson decided.
The tankettes came to life with purring engines, and the first one rapidly moved until it was right in front of the portal before slowly driving through.
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Part 2
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25 December 1996
Stargate Pyramid, Abydos
Ra's Domain
Milky Way Galaxy
Jack walked through a corridor lit up by chemical lights. All around him, soldiers and scientists were busy moving supplies and equipment. O'Neill's nose twitched at the smell of stale air, dust, and sand mixing with the sharp chemical stench coming from the Wiesels' engines. He reached the next ample space in the building – a large hall lined up by square columns that held the ceiling. This was the destination for much of the supplies they brought forth – getting them in the space between the columns and the walls left most of the chamber free to traverse and got them out of the way.
The last international team was through the Stargate, leaving only the second group from the Delta Force and engineers. They would be bringing in even more supplies. Then, the commandos would set up defensive positions around the Stargate. At the same time, the rest of the expedition would do its thing.
For Jack, that meant going out and ensuring that Major Grayson had everything in hand. Besides, he needed to see for himself what he was in charge of defending. Meanwhile, Ferretti and Kowalski were busy ensuring the American civilians were squared away and had everything they needed.
Jack walked around a wall, up two stairways, and ended up in a second chamber that appeared identical to the one he just left. This one was not as well preserved. O'Neill could see a few stones from the ceilings that had fallen over the years. They were weathered and worse to wear, just standing there. Obviously, no one had been around to do something about it, or whoever visited simply didn't care.
It was noticeably warmer in this chamber, and the temperature increased as Jack approached its exit. He had to walk around another wall and up more stairs. Here, he could see a lot of windswept sand gathering beside the walls. That rang alarm bells in his mind.
Jack had been in deserts before. He had seen ruins. If this place was as abandoned as it appeared, it should be chock-full of sand by now. While no one had bothered to properly maintain it, the odds were increasingly good that someone did ensure the desert didn't bury this building.
O'Neill braced himself for the heat and sun, then walked around the last bend and emerged in the shade, facing an immense door, one that was much taller than the corridor leading outside. He nodded to the soldiers stationed there and moved out, examining the building.
He beheld a stone ramp mostly clear of sand, flanked by two obelisks at its end. Those things were huge, perhaps almost as tall as the monument in Washington. Jack walked down the ramp, paying attention to the soldiers and engineers busy setting up camp and, more importantly, defensive positions around the area. When he turned around, O'Neill concluded that Jackson wouldn't let his colleagues live this one down.
There was a massive pyramid sticking out of the sand. Its entrance was surrounded by a tall square structure flanked by two more obelisks. The amount of sand around the pyramid and the high dunes covering everything in sight was further evidence that there had to be someone around, ensuring this place didn't get completely buried.
"At least there's only one sun here, Colonel," Major Grayson came up to stand beside O'Neill.
"I don't remember seeing pyramids on Tatooine. On the bright side, there might not be a Jabba here," Jack quipped. "You see it, don't you?"
"I've served in the Middle East for long enough, sir. There isn't enough sand inside, much less around the entrance or the ramp. Someone or something is keeping this place accessible."
"That can be an excellent thing. We came here looking for answers about the Goa'uld, not just to make our geeks happy," Jack said.
"With your permission, I want to send patrols on the tallest dunes in sight after we've set up proper defenses. For now, we'll keep them close. However, I want to see if they'll notice something of interest, and they will act as spotters."
Jack glanced around and nodded. The pyramid's entrance was in a shallow valley between dunes, some almost as tall as it was. He was sure that what they saw now was like an iceberg – most of it was buried under the sands.
"Make sure all patrols pullback in the evening. I want everyone standing tight when night falls. We know virtually nothing about this place or what critters might crawl out at night," Jack warned.
"That's why we have motion sensors and night vision equipment."
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Skaara trudged through the sand and cursed that damned Mastadae who ran away from the mine. That damned beast did so often enough, and then they usually returned themselves after finding nothing to eat or drink in the sands. There was no need for the Elder's son to go personally chasing the dumb animals.
This one was different, and to Skaara's misfortune, it ran away when he was at the mine, overseeing things instead of his father. Kasuf was getting older, and regular trips through the hot sands were not good for him. Skaara and Sha're had to argue often with their father to make sure he would take it easy when he could.
In this case, the Mastadae that ran away had a sled tied to it, loaded with ore to be brought back to their home for storage. The beast managed to spill half of the precious rocks the Gods wanted as a tribute, forcing many workers to dig through the sand to recover the cargo.
Skaara had no choice but to go to retrieve the damned thing himself. He could do nothing less if he wanted to live up to his father's high expectations. People were looking up to him, and he had to keep overseeing the mine to ensure Kasuf didn't strain himself too much. The last time his father visited, he spent the following days bemoaning how his knees, hips, and elbows hurt.
The youth looked up and frowned. Skaara could already see all the moons showing. The sun would soon hide behind the dunes, plunging the sand in cold and darkness. He had to find the Mastadae before that happened. At least then, he could ride the beast on the way back.
Skaara crested a dune and finally laid his eyes upon the furry bastard. It was slowly making its way up the dune ahead, spilling what little ore was left in the sled. Skaara cursed quietly and slowly ran after it, doing his best not to spook the dumb animal. The last thing he needed was to have it spook and charge ahead, throwing ore all over the place.
On the way up, Skaara looked at how much precious cargo lay in the sand and cursed himself this time for not bringing a few of his friends with him on this hunt. He was their leader and was responsible for dealing with problems, so he left them behind and now regreted it. He was now sure to spend most of the evening freezing his ass and digging in the sand. Leaving this for tomorrow could mean a lot of work for many people because all it would take to bury the ore in the sand was some wind.
Most nights on Abydos, there was a lot of wind. They were also about to enter the sandstorm season, which didn't help.
The only good thing about this disaster was that Skaara couldn't get lost. The Mastadae was heading towards Ra's temple, and they were almost upon it now. From there, he could easily find his way back, even if it was a particularly dark night.
With the three moons up, it wasn't going to be nearly as dark as it could be.
Skaara sighed in relief when the Mastadae reached the dune's crest and stopped. It looked at the temple, possibly feeling awe at the sight. Skaara muttered a prayer to Ra, thankful he wouldn't have to chase the animal anymore.
"You're lucky!" Skaara grumbled as he approached the beast's flank and grabbed its reins. "If you make me chase you any longer, I will have cooked for a feast, you hear me?!"
Instead of listening to him, the Mastadae warbled, then strained to move towards the temple.
"What do you want now?" Skaara grumbled and looked at the building. His breath caught in his throat in shock. His fingers let go of the reins, and the Mastadae used the opportunity to trot down the dune, right towards all the strangers camping in front of Ra's temple. They were like a stirred hive of insects, seemingly without direction. Skaara could see a few of them pointing at him and likely talking to each other.
These were guests from beyond the stars!
Skaara looked at the pyramid and didn't see Ra's golden chariot on top of it like some of the old stories said. Then Ra himself wasn't here, only his servants. Skaara shook excitedly and skipped down the dune, following the stupid animal. He was the Elder's son, and who better welcome the servants of their God first?
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Informational: How Stargate addresses workplace
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Compared to an example or two in the show for plot reasons, what is different is that you can't manually dial the gate without DHD or other computer interfaces. The symbols on the gates and DHDs are rough equivalents of the numbers on the phone. They're for the convenience of the users. Without a DHD in sight and no DHD in the chamber holding the gate on Abydos, you need a computer interface to feed the Stargate the correct coordinates to find its counterpart at the desired destination.
Each gate has one unique symbol corresponding to its coordinates when dialing up and sharing the rest. The gate network, when working in conjunction with DHDs, regularly updates the locations of the Stargates across the galaxy. Hence, the DHDs know what coordinates they need for each Stargate and which symbols are required to get you there. Moving a stargate to a new place that didn't have coordinates and an address would require a new address to be entered into the network. Suppose the Stargate goes to a location that is already locked into the network. In that case, it will link with the primary Stargate in the location if there is more than one or in the new one if the old was moved, buried, or destroyed.
That is the explanation that makes the most sense for me based on what we see and what I've read over the wikis. Due to the plot requiring it, details in the show differ from time to time. OTL Heliopolis was one such exception.
For example, when you dial Earth from any place in the galaxy, Earth's address on the Stargate or DHD would be the same, save for your location's origin symbol, which is unique for each Stargate. However, if you are not using a DHD but a direct interface, like SGC, or others with devices able to power and dial-up the gates, like the Goa'uld, Tolan, etc... they basically aren't necessarily using the simple user interface that is the symbols to get to places. They bypass that Macross and use the underlying data to dial-up, which is why SGC, for example, spent tons of resources calculating stellar drift to find the new close enough locations of planets so they could get there and explore.
Each Stargate knows its location in space, its origin point. Suppose you have the coordinates of a location you want to go. In that case, you can go there with the suitable computer interface without knowing the address's symbols if there is a Stargate at your destination that is not buried.
This information is generally not useful for the SGC because they don't really know where useful planets with Stargates are unless they already have an address they can either directly dial or have to do the work to calculate its new location. A DHD connected to the Stargate network bypasses the need for those calculations because the network often updates itself with new coordinates, even if no one goes to a place, as long as the Stargate is linked to an operational DHD.