"Sir, that asteroid that NORAD has been tracking? The one that they've determined is on a collision course with Earth? Something is happening with it." Sgt. Walter Harriman reported to General George Hammond.
"What's happened?" He asked.
"It's changing course, sir."
"That's not possible, it can't change course under its own power." Major Carter said. "Unless, it's some kind of camouflaged ship."
"Find out what's going on, Major." General Hammond ordered.
"Yes, sir." She responded and headed up to NORAD to study the readings herself. She came back a few hours later to report her findings.
"It didn't change course on its own, sir. A ship tractored it to the Kuiper Belt."
"The ship we were worried that the NID has their hand on?"
"I don't think it's the NID, sir. This ship doesn't resemble any ship we've yet encountered. It's definitely not of Gou'ald origin or Asgard. We've yet to find a ship built by the Ancients or the Furlings and as far as we know, the Nox don't even leave their planet any more."
"Maybe we should ask Thor to come for a visit and have a look at it." Colonel O'Neill suggested. "What exactly did this ship do?"
"It was under cloak, it dropped the cloak once it was beside the asteroid, tractored it and towed it to the Kuiper Belt. It dropped it well away from any other object in the Belt and then cloaked again."
"Maybe we've got another benefactor, sir. The Asgard may not be the only people looking out for us. We know the Furlings have the Orbanians under their protections, even if we haven't actually gotten to meet them yet." Dr. Jackson offered.
"That's possible, sir. The Furlings and the Asgard prefer not to interfere directly with a developing civilization. They just try to keep other races, like the Goa'uld, from destroying them until they can protect themselves. This ship may belong to one such race." Major Carter agreed
"Its still a good idea to contact the Asgard, we need to know if they really are friendly." General Hammond said. "I'll speak to the President and see about sending a message. Major, study the readings we have and see what you can figure out."
"Yes, sir."
Alexander took his seat in the command chair and it reclined.
"A ship this size isn't meant to tow something that big." Corda said. "It's a good thing we have a nearly full Potentia, we're going to need the power."
"Johnathan, I want you monitoring the Altimah, we could crack like an egg under the stress." Alexander ordered.
"Oz, monitor the Potentia itself. Corda's right, this is going to take power. A larger ship could use its own mass and momentum to compensate, we can't. I doubt we'll come anywhere near draining it, but we can't be too careful. It's the only one we've got and we may theoretically know how they're made but we don't have a processing facility to make them." Alexander ordered. Both boys took their stations. "Corda, over all monitoring please."
She nodded and took her station. The awning and hanger bay doors retracted and the Altimah rose up out of the hanger and cloaked. It was a fast, light weight ship and it didn't take long for them to arrive at the asteroid. It loomed before them. It was a number of miles across, probably just less then five miles. Alexander maneuvered the Altimah around and behind the asteroid.
"Disengaging cloak." He called out. "Engaging tractor beam. We have a lock. Beginning acceleration. Accelerating to three quarter light speed. Johnathan, how's the Altimah doing?"
"She's holding Alexander, but don't go any faster. The stress on the hull is at its limit. She really isn't meant for this."
"No, she's an attack cruiser. She's meant to move like a butterfly and sting like a bee, to quote that boxer." Alexander joked. "A hauler could do this with no problems because they're built a whole lot sturdier and bigger."
"The Potentia is registering a slight drop in power." Oz called out. "Slight, but noticable."
"We're almost there, we just need to hold on for a little while longer." Corda said calmly, as Alexander had often noted, she was a good person to have in a crisis, she'd stay steady through almost anything.
"I see a good place to drop it." Alexander said. "It's a nice clear area with nothing around it. Decelerating, prepare to disengage tractor in five, four, three, two and tractor disengaged. Report."
"Hull stress is returning to normal, but microfissures are noted in more then a dozen places. We're not going to vent atmosphere before we get back to Earth, but the fissures will need to be taken care of before we can launch again." Johnathan reported.
"The Potentia's power levels have steadied, it's no longer loosing power." Oz reported calmly, he too was a good person to have in a crisis.
"Over all, we're looking good, Alexander." Corda reported. "Our people really did build to last."
"Reengaging cloak and returning to Earth. Good work people, we really do make a good team." Alexander congratulated them.
"The President has agreed to let us send a message to the Asgard. He wants to know who these unknown people are too. Major, see to it, please." General Hammond ordered
"Yes, sir. I'll do it right away."
It wasn't long before Thor responded. Just a few days later, his new ship, the Daniel Jackson, which had replaced the O'Neill, the ship Major Carter had blown up to destroy a group of Replicators threatening Othalla, the Asgard Homeworld, appeared over Earth, but was cloaked.
"How may I be of assistance?" He asked, after beaming himself and his command chair into the conference room. General Hammond explained the situation and showed him the images of the ship. Thor compared the imagines to his database and was very surprised by what he found.
"The ship is of Alteran manufacture. It is a small, light weight, attack cruiser."
"Who are the Alterans?" General Hammond asked.
"The people you call the Ancients, they were known as the Alterans before they left this galaxy after the plague devastated their population. We lost contact with them, until they returned to Earth and Ascended."