"There's no time to celebrate." Alexander said softly. "We need to figure out what's in that mountain, so the Free Jaffa can hold Dakara."
"I need to go back to Earth. Now that I know, I won't risk this baby. We waited so long."
"Teal'C!" Alexander called out. Jack trusted Teal'C. Alexander was going to trust him too.
"Yes, Alexander?" Teal'C asked as he approached.
"Teal'C, I need you to give your energy shield to Corda and escort her to the Stargate and back to the SGC. You can return once you've gotten her there."
"For what purpose, Alexander?"
"My scan accidentally picked on the fact that Corda is two days pregnant. We're going to have a baby, Teal'C. A baby we've waited nearly 460 years for."
Teal'C immediately understood the promise of this child and that it needed to be protected.
"I am honored that you would choose me to guard them. I will ensure their safe arrival, even if it costs me my own life." He vowed.
"Thank you, Teal'C." Teal'C handed his shield emitter to Corda. Alexander gave her a kiss and watched as Teal'C escorted her to the Stargate. He didn't take his eyes off of them until they were safely through.
"Where is Teal'C going?" Bra'tec asked, having seen he and Corda leave.
"I asked him to escort Corda back to the SGC. My scanner just discovered that she's two days pregnant. Bra'tec, we've been married for nearly 460 years. This is the first time we've ever been pregnant."
Bra'tec nodded gravely. "I understand. Children can be difficult for Jaffa to have as well. The longer lifespan seems to be offset by fewer children. The Gou'ald do not cherish our children, but we do. You honor Teal'C by choosing him to guard your future."
"He's worth trusting. Come on, we need to get this figured out. The sooner we do, the sooner Corda and I can celebrate this with our family."
"Yes, one must secure the future, before one can have a future." The Stargate flared to life behind them and they turned to look as Teal'C, along with Major Carter, came back through.
"All is well, Alexander." He assured the anxious father to be. "O'Neill will guard them until your return."
"Yeah, he knows what this means to us."
"I've got some news." Carter said. "My father arrived at the SGC a little while ago. Anubis is on his way here. He heard you've taken Dakara and he means to take it for himself."
And he wrenched his mind back to the task at hand and turned back and picked up his scanner and returned to scanning.
"I'm reading another chamber behind the one we're in. These are Alteran letters on the wall, but the sentences don't make sense." He examined them visually and then realized there were groves, groves in circles, five of them. He touched one and it shifted.
"What are you doing? " Carter asked.
"The sentences don't make sense the way they're written, but it looks like parts of this wall rotate. If I turn them." He demonstrated. "I may be able to find sentences that actually make sense."
"A combination lock." Carter said thoughtfully.
"Probably. Let's see what this does." And then he saw a word that made him stop. He carefully reached out and touched it. "Discenna."
"What did you say?" Carter asked.
"Bra'tec, the Gou'ald that claimed this planet originally, which one was it?"
"Amerterasu."
"That makes sense since Dakara is Japanese for 'that's why'. This word here, Discenna, that's the name of the Alteran city that was here. This place has meaning for my people as well."
"How so, Alexander?" Bra'tec asked.
"Discenna was the first city ship. The one that brought our people to this galaxy. This was the first world Alterans walked on in the Avalon Galaxy, what you call the Milky Way Galaxy. Terra, what you call Earth, became the seat of our power, because it reminded us of our lost Homeworld, but Discenna became our place of greatest learning. Some of the greatest discoveries of our people were made here. Discenna was more then 50 million years old. It left this galaxy along with all the other city ships, but unlike those others, it never made it to Pegasus. We never knew why."
"50 million years old." Bra'tec said in awe.
"And I thought when you said Atlantis was 30 million years old that, that was old." Johnathan said.
"Wow." Said Oz.
Alexander continued to rotate the circles until he had sentences that made sense. Then a grinding noise was heard and the wall slid open, revealing a stone device. Both Carter and Johnathan immediately began examining it. A panel on the back wall lit up. Alexander told them what he was seeing.
"This device uses an energy wave to reduce matter to it's basic components."
"Energy?" Johnathan asked. "Alexander, what kind of energy?"
"An artificial version of the energy of a world. Amplified."
"These panels can be manipulated." Johnathan said. "The energy of every world is somewhat different." He switched to Alteran, a language he'd learned while studying Alteran programs. "Alexander, we've been wondering how your people got rid of all the demons before they left. And we know at least vampires are vulnerable to Earth's energy, it's why they build a shield using the energy from the rifts around themselves. What if your people used this weapon to do it?"
"It would explain it. We'd have to figure out the exact modulation, but we may be able to finally get rid of at least the vampires. But right now, we need to concentrate on figuring out how to work it in general."
He switched back to English. "I'm sorry, we may have just figured out another puzzle, one that's going to have to wait. Let's figure this thing out."