Erm, Hi?

First off, It's been a (Long) while, but thanks for the support on the first chapter, it went better than I expected. College is a bitch and this term was annoying as hell. If any of you have to take a Thermodynamics course, schmooze your teacher as much as you can. Trust me, it will save you so many marks.

Secondly, I forgot to mention in the previous authors note, but this story will contain minor crossover things, like ship names, ship designs, and maybe a character or two here and there. Nothing major, but enough that it's worth mentioning. If anyone has any suggestions for ships, names and other stuff, throw them at me in the reviews.

And here, we, GO!

Speech - "Wraith!"

Radio/comms - "Zelenka still hasn't fixed this thing"

Atlantis City-wide - "Attention. This is Dr. Weir speaking…"

Telepathy/Wraith mind speak - "What do you call your world?"

Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis are the property of MGM

Chapter 2: "Warning! Dictionary to the face!"

As he slowly came back to consciousness, a dull ache was the first thing O'Neill felt. Originating from his head and the center of his chest, it radiated outwards, throbbing in tune with his heartbeat. Groaning, he tried to open his eyes only to hiss in pain and squeeze them shut due to a blinding light above him.

What felt like hands held his arms still, he tried to free himself, however the most he accomplished was a slight movement of his arms and the hands on him tightening their grip. A too-loud voice tried to tell him to stop, making him wince in pain once more. He couldn't understand what it said, but the more he listened, the less everything hurt.

He felt a cool sensation on his fron(forehead?), reducing the pain he felt. As he slowly became more aware of his surroundings, his headache became worse and his body was full of aches and pains, as if he had just run a marathon and then had to climb a mountain all in one day.

Eventually his head cleared enough, and his senses were back under his control, enough for him to open his eyes and assess his surroundings.

Immediately he winced in pain, as concepts and information previously unknown to him began to spring to the forefront of his mind. Everywhere he looked, items that previously mystified and confused him were suddenly revealed in a new light. Their functions, the mechanisms they used, their materials, how they were fabricated. It was too much.

Eventually the pain faded as he began to adapt to the influx of foreign information. Looking around the room, he discovered that the hands he had felt on his arms belonged to nobody, as the rest of the room was empty. Leather straps held his arms down and only the dull hum of machinery, and the faint rocking and crash of the ocean were apparent.

Looking to his left, he saw Major Sheppard struggling to sit up in his own bed. The Major appeared to be in the same situation as him if the look in his eyes and the wincing as he jarred his head were anything to go by.

Before he could address his companion, the hiss of Atlantis's doors and a sudden, vaguely comprehensible shout took his attention. He only understood a few words of the shout, with most of them being garbled or unhelpful. He recognized the person though, she was one of the medical staff that was sent to Atlantis once they made contact again. As she approached, Major Sheppard tried to ask her what had happened, only for the nurse to look confused before saying something incomprehensible, and leaving the room.

Before anything else could be said, the doors opened once more and Dr. Beckett and Dr. Weir walked into the room. Behind them came, Dr. Jackson and Col. Carter, and Dr. Zelenka, all of them looking worried. Dr. Weir stepped closer, and after giving them both a quick once-over, she began to speak.

[Quick Authors note, From here on out, any words in the ancient language will be underlined for clarity. Eg: "Hello John, How are you doing?"]

"How are you two doing? You were found in a hallway unconscious and convulsing so we had to restrain you." She looked very concerned, and Dr. Beckett was also looking worried as he went about checking them for any issues.

What came from her mouth was nothing but gibberish to the two soldiers, Sheppard grimaced, and opened his mouth to speak. "Elizabeth, what happened to us? Why can't I understand you?"

Everyone in the room minus General O'Neill looked concerned, as all they heard was "Elisabeth, quid onobi accita? Quore cano tela intelil?" Dr. Jackson and Col. Carter were even more worried, as these symptoms are very similar to the few times O'Neill encountered the Ancient Repository of Knowledge.

Dr. Jackson stepped forward, before looking O'Neill in the eyes and speaking very slowly in Ancient. "Jack, what happened, you and Sheppard were found unconscious not too far away from the mess hall."

Grimacing, O'Neill explained. "We had just begun to return to the control room when I heard a buzzing sound. I didn't think much of it at first, but it suddenly got very loud and then both of us passed out. Now we're here and I'm seeing things everywhere."

Blinking in surprise, Daniel shared a look with Dr. Beckett, and explained what the General had just told him. The doctor looked surprised before walking briskly to a corner of the room and grabbing a medical scanner. As he returned, he started to talk to Daniel again, prompting him to share the Scottish Doctor's words.

"Beckett is going to do a scan of your heads, since what you describe happening to you sounds alot like the Ancient Repository of Knowledge." When he heard this, O'Neill groaned and pushed the palms of his hands into his eyes, grimacing at the memories he'd rather not remember.

Sheppard, who had been silent until now suddenly spoke up. "What's a repository of knowledge?"

"I forgot you got the abridged introductory lessons." Daniel grinned wryly. "An Ancient Repository of Knowledge is a device created to preserve the history and knowledge of the Ancients. It downloads the sum knowledge of the Ancients into a persons' brain." Trying not to laugh at the muttered remarks from O'Neill and the surprised cough from Dr. Weir behind him, he continued. "The issue with these devices is that it will eventually overload and overwrite the consciousness of whoever fall victim to it. Jack was subject to two of these devices and has some less than pleasant memories from them."

"I hate those head suckers." O'Neill groaned.

Stifling a chuckle at the surly general, he continued the explanation. "Luckily we were able to get him help in the form of the Asgard, If you both have been afflicted by a similar device, then we need to know as soon as possible."

Pondering the new information, the younger of the two men fell back into an uncomfortable silence as the Scottish doctor began to scan him with the handheld examinoro.

Eventually the doctor finished scanning the two of them and turned back to the others. "They're fine as far as I can tell, nothing unusual in their brains."

Seeing the inquisitive and hopeful looks from the two bedridden soldiers, Daniel passed on the message, to their obvious relief.

"Still, with them unable to communicate properly, we'll need to have someone to translate until we can figure this out. Dr. Jackson, if you wouldn't mind keeping close for the next while?" Dr. Weir quickly made sure to kill all thoughts of running off for a while.

"I can definitely do that Doctor, I may even be able to figure out what happened and maybe how to fix it." Said the archeologist, before translating the exchange for the two that could not understand it.

With the stereo groans of the two fully grown men behind them, the rest of the people in the room left the trio to their devices.

"Alright now, what can you two tell me about what happened here." Daniel fixed them with a firm stare.

Speaking quickly, with a hint of desperation, Sheppard started talking. "No idea, we were on our way back to the tower and then boom. We were here. Now we can't speak normally and all this new information keeps showing up in my head when I look at anything around me."

"Same here." General O'Neill piped up, "Everywhere I look, something new pops into my head. I can tell you the exact material composition of that scanner over there, as well as how it works down to the user manual. I barely understood how a computer works, but now I know how the medical scanners work down to the quantum level!" He sighed, shaking his head in exasperation. "This is nothing like the repositories we found before."

Before Dr. Jackson could respond, a nurse hurriedly entered the room. "General, Major, Doctor, we found Lieutenant Ford, Dr. Beckett wants you to see this."

~~Break~~

Slowly approaching the frantic group of medical staff clustered around an examination table, the trio met up with Dr. Weir and Colonel Carter who were standing off to the side in a mild daze.

"Sam, what happened? We were just told to come here as fast as possible." Daniel asked in place of his companions.

Blinking at being addressed, Carter turned to see the three people she had only just left behind in the other room. "Daniel, they found Ford, but there was a problem. They beamed him up to the Daedalus from the ocean. He was in the sea for at least a week and he survived!"

"How could that happen? I though the cold water was fatal, not to mention the matter of drowning." Daniel was perplexed, he wasn't a medical expert, but he'd experienced many plunges into oceans over the years.

At that, Dr. Weir turned to them and grimaced. "They don't know, but they suspect it has something to do with the Wraith feeding mark on his chest. We lost contact with his defense squad shortly after the Wraith were dropped on Atlantis. Dr. Beckett is examining him now."

At those words, both Major Sheppard and General O'Neill flinched, and grabbed their heads before looking to each other, bewildered.

"Did you just-" Began the Major.

"I did," The General cut him off. "Daniel, we need your help." He said, before walking off with the Major towards the group of Doctors.

Blinking owlishly at the exchange, the two women looked at Daniel, who shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what happened, but they apparently need my help."

With that, he left them behind as he moved to follow the two men.

~~Break~~

Doctor Beckett was having one hell of a day. It started with the new staff and supplies arriving from Earth, leaving him to organize the people and products in the infirmary. Then he barely managed to get some time to get to the mess hall and have some lunch before he witnessed both Major Sheppard and General O'Neill collapse.

Having to rush them to the infirmary, he had to abandon the majority of his food, leaving him hungry and irritable. He thought things would get better, however when he looked them over and nothing was out of the ordinary. He left them in the hands of his staff to hopefully return to his lunch when they awoke and began speaking in tongues.

After dealing with that headache, he returned to organizing the new surplus of staff and supplies. For all of twenty minutes, he had manged to sit down and begin the painfully slow task of organization and scheduling before someone had to throw another wrench at him.

"Doctor! We found Lieutenant Ford!" Came the shout, followed by the immediate follow-up of "He has a Wraith feeding mark on his chest!"

Before he could even process that second bit of information, he was up and running towards the scanner table, pushing past nurses and logistics workers as he rushed to save the young man.

It was a nightmare, the medical techs from the Daedalus told the Doctor that Ford was found in the ocean around two kilometers from the city. When they beamed him up, they first thought he was dead, as he didn't look to be breathing and they couldn't find his pulse. Luckily, however, the ship's sensors detected that the young man was barely clinging to life, and he needed immediate treatment in order to save him.

As Dr. Beckett began his attempt to save the man, he found himself pushed to the side by none other than Major Sheppard. On the other side, General O'Neill was clearing the medical staff away. Before he could even shout at the two reckless individuals, they began to tap away at the controls for the scanner bed.

Dr. Jackson had at that point reached his side and asked him to stand back. "They say they can save him, but they wouldn't tell me how." He said, looking just as confused as the Scottish Doctor felt.

Watching while someone else treated a patient was a novel experience for Carson Beckett. He had been the Head Doctor on Atlantis for a little over a year at this point, and had been an accomplished doctor for nearly 20 more years on earth. He was always in the thick of it, and rarely if ever was he sidelined during treatment. But now, being pushed back by two soldiers who, by their own admission couldn't treat anything worse than small cut, he was astonished to see them plugging in commands to the previously inert machine, and even more so at watching the machine begin to adjust and start healing the Major in from of his eyes.

Blinking at the scene, he missed General O'Neill say something to the Archaeologist next to him. "Jack says that the treatment bed can only heal physical wounds, and due to how long Ford was in the water, he may have brain damage. Do you have any Neurologists on staff?"

The Doctor blinked a few times, before what he'd been asked fully registered. "Dr Jameson is a Neurologist I think, he just came from the SGC so he might be somewhere else in the city." He said, sounding somewhat distracted, no doubt at the scene still playing out around the medical bed. Shaking his head, Beckett turned to Dr. Jackson next to him with a deadpan expression. "I know it's too much to ask, but can you please give me a heads up before the two of them do something like this again? My bloody heart can't take this."

His only response was a wry grin from Daniel. "I've been asking the same thing for ten years, nobody has actually done it yet."

~~Break~~

After finally being shoo'ed away from the bed by a rather prickly Scotsman, the two afflicted soldiers and their translator/babysitter had finally made it to the lab that Daniel had been assigned. Sitting them down, Daniel began to sift through the Ancient Database, looking for any clues as to what happened.

"You said the two of you were just walking back to the central spire after the tour? You didn't touch anything unusual or go anywhere unexplored?" The Archaeologist asked, currently looking through an entry on the milky way repositories of knowledge.

"Yeah, we were walking back through the mess hall when we heard some sort of buzzing. At first I thought it was just some maintenance crews doing something or other, but then it started to get louder and louder until I blacked out." Sheppard explained, with O'Neill nodding alongside him.

"Well, I can say for certain that what happened was not the same as the milky way devices. They seem to operate through both vision and physical contact." Daniel said, still looking through the database. He sighed, "This is going to take forever, the database is incredible, but the Ancients didn't seem to care about organization at all." He grumbled, annoyed that despite the obscenely advanced technology, the Ancients were worse at sorting their information than even the most incompetent technician at the SGC.

"What if we use the chair? Can't we do the same thing as in Antarctica?" Sheppard asked.

"...what?"

~~Break~~

After banging his head against the wall trying (and failing) to convince Jack to sit in the chair, John agreed to go first, to Daniel's relief. Sitting down in the Ancient interface device, the pedestal and chair began to glow a deep blue, before the Major leaned back and the lights in the room dimmed.

"Alright, just think about what happened, the chair works through intent, so you need to focus on why it happened." Dr. Jackson coached the younger man. "The chair should do most of the work to sort through the database."

As the Major concentrated, the lights on the chair began to change, gradually changing from a deep blue to a bright teal.

Noticing the change, the two observers looked at each other with concern, before Dr. Jackson tried to get Sheppard's attention. "John, what's going on? Are you okay?"

Getting no response, he looked to the technician monitoring the readouts. The tech shook her head, "Nothing unusual, though the datastream is encrypted and I can't crack it. He's probably going through some of the higher level entries."

Nodding at the tech, Daniel still couldn't shake the thought that something was about to go wrong.

…

…

…

The last time he used the chair, John was in Antarctica. There, the database was barely more than some navigation charts, maps of the system and the galaxy and the functions for the Drone weapons.

Now, on Atlantis, the database was immense. Sorting through it was like being dunked in Lantea's oceans. The sheer amount of information was astonishing, and at the same time, he could clearly feel the systems for all the functions of the city just waiting for his commands. Sensors he didn't even know existed were feeding him information about the city, its inhabitants and the surrounding space. One in particular felt like it was shouting at him about something on other planets, but for now he had to focus on his objective. Making a note in the system for Rodney or Colonel Carter to check on that system later, he followed Dr. Jackson's instructions, searching for any mention of a repository.

For what felt like hours, he was presented hundreds of thousands of entries, mostly pertaining to the Milky Way variant of the devices, with a few interesting ones about small caches of equipment stashed around both galaxies. Nothing stood out to him, however, so he continued his search, glancing (Could he even glance right now?) at a helpful readout of the current time in his mind's eye.

The system was quite the experience for most people, but according to the statements and reports John had read, his interface with the chair was by far the most unique and involved. To most users (Including McKay, to John's secret amusement), the act of interfacing felt like being stuck in a giant vat of goo. Trying to get information or activate systems felt like the users had to drag and pull on the interface. Beckett and McKay both theorized that the extra effort was a result of the less than perfect Gene sequence most bearers had.

For John, the system felt like it was actively begging for his queries, eager to fulfill them as fast as possible. Nothing took more than a brief mental nudge to kickstart the programs and systems and retrieve the information he was looking for. The only problem was the sheer quantity of information, and the rather vague search terms he was using were returning millions of entries. Despite that readout from earlier showing that only a few minutes had passed, it had felt like hours since he started to scour the database.

Even then, he kept going. Trying to find some clue as to what happened to him and the General.

Being so engrossed in his search however, he failed to notice a peculiar presence in the system. It was an unusual thing, almost akin to his own existence in the digital sea of Atlantis' Database. Without realizing it, the presence had come almost "next" to him, practically touching his consciousness.

"Hello, young warrior."

Jolting upright with a gasp, John blinked a few times in surprise as the chair powered down. Startled, the other three people all jumped and looked towards the shocked and confused Major.

"Did- did any of you guys say something?" Sheppard gasped, reeling at the sudden loss of connection with Atlantis. After being submerged in the depths of the database for what felt like an eternity, suddenly being torn from it left him feeling almost hollow. Absently, he wondered if this is what being fed upon by the wraith felt like.

Looking between themselves, his audience silently asked themselves if any of them said anything, each one confirming to each other that they had not spoken. "No one said a thing, you sure you're okay John?" Daniel asked.

Blinking, the tech seemed confused before turning to the Archaeologist. "Hold on one sec, weren't you supposed to be translating for him? I heard he got hit with some brain scrambling thing that made him speak ancient or something like that."

Pausing for a moment, and simultaneously ignoring the inquisitive look of the still very much affected O'Neill, Daniel turned and looked at Sheppard. "John? Can you say something for me?"

Confused, the Major asked his question again. "Did any of you guys say something?"

At the widening eyes of the two academics in front of him, and the deadpan expression from the General, he finally put things together. "How can I speak English again? Did one of you figure it out?" He asked.

"What did he say?" O'Neill asked, sounding lost as he could not understand the conversation, before the events finally clicked, and his eyes widened as well. "How did you do that?"

Now it was John's turn to look confused, as he turned to O'Neill and asked him "How did I do what?"

With the whiplash of disconnecting from the chair and the confusing scene playing out in the room, it took John another few moments before he finally understood what he had just said. "Wait, I can speak English and Ancient?!"

A bit shorter than the first chapter, and probably what the average chapter length will be from here on out. A reminder that I do not update consistently, not out of spite or disappointment or anything like that, but purely because my motivation to write this story is like, twelfth on the priority scale right now.

Hopefully though, the next chapter will come out sooner than it took to write this one. I've also posted this story on AO3, so if you prefer that site it should be available right now.

Also, the Ancient speech doesn't have any real translation, just a bunch of Latin that I butchered to make it sound like the few instances we got in the show.

Cheers!