Chief stepped out onto the wide green field ahead, rifle drawn. He was the first out onto Epsilon Eridani II. Beside the Gate itself was the MALP they'd sent forward. And just like in the images, around them was a massive, very familiar valley. Chief lowered his rifle, scanning the place with muted awe as Cortana spoke, "Atmospheric conditions... Are a ninety-nine point nine percent match, John..." her own awe in plain view.

Jack came through next, his P90 raised high as he scanned the area. He stopped beside the Chief and let out a whistle of surprise, then spoke, "I'll be... Look at this place. Almost looks like home," as Carter, Teal'c and Jackson joined them. Teal'c eyed the planet's biosphere suspiciously, staff weapon in hand, though he, too, seemed to be soothed by the sight of the world. A few dozen Marines from SG3 held position.

Chief commented, "We're in the Longhorn Valley," his voice low as he slung his rifle onto his back and stepped toward the edge of the hill they were on. He squinted, letting his armor's visor polarization engage the zoom. Indeed, it was Longhorn Valley. And that meant the river flowing clean through the middle of the picturesque landscape of pine trees, tall, snow-capped peaks and green valleys was the Big Horn River.

Colonel O'Neill asked him, "You familiar with it, Chief?"

The Spartan nodded, "Epsilon Eridani II, also known as Reach, was one of our earliest Colonies, sir... It's also where I and most of the rest of my comrades trained," before humming and looking around. He turned off his external speakers and told Cortana, "Can you pinpoint whatever Forerunner structure is on-site? Or is it at the would-be Site of CASTLE?"

"Scanning now. If you'll give me a few seconds, you can enjoy the scenery," The AI quipped with a smile. Chief gave ever-the-gentlest nod as he looked around, eyes wide. The last time the Spartan had seen Reach was while they were fighting in its orbit against the Covenant. It was burning brightly, ablaze, all of its green stripped and replaced by smoldering auburn and orange.

And yet, here it was, in another universe. Pristine, untouched, uncolonized. He breathed a deep sigh, then looked to the Colonel as the man was looking through his own binoculars at the area. Teal'c was providing security in the rear, while Daniel was already pulling soil samples, or so the Chief noticed. Jack smirked and said, "Damn, wonder how the fish here are."

"Sir?" Chief raised a brow, though it went unseen behind his visor.

"C'mon, you gonna tell me you don't have the urge to go down to that river, sit by the side and fish away the hours?" The man asked, "And I'm asking you about the fish because you say you know this place."

"Which is rather odd," Carter commented as she took a knee, leaning her P90 on her right thigh and staring out. She looked at the Spartan and asked, "Isn't it?" as she saw him staring at her. She clarified, "An entire planet in the Epsilon Eridani system that looks and feels very much like the first human Colony in your world? That can't be cosmic coincidence, Chief."

"It never is, ma'am," The Spartan replied. Not with the Forerunners involved, he thought to himself.

"The wildlife seems fairly active, Master Chief," Teal'c commented with his usual blank bluntness. He pointed out some creatures sat in the shrub, looking at them, which Chief soon recognized. Standing tall on two legs, with long necks and some bearing colorful combs on top of their beaked heads, flightless birds surveyed the new arrivals from the safety of the treeline, heads snapping to and fro as the flock's leaders cautiously stared.

Cortana laughed, while Chief told them, "Native avian species. Moas," as he shifted his stance. The birds seemed to know they were noticed, the entire pack breaking into a sprint back the way they came. Noting the Colonel staring at the creatures, the Spartan told him, "They're docile and easily frightened, sir. I think the local farmers on Reach used them as a food source."

"Alien chicken," Jack quipped, "It good?"

"From what I know, sir," The Chief nodded. Weird thing to ask him. He recalled having them a couple of times during the Spartans' operations, but it had been a while since he touched an MRE that contained them. Jack nodded approvingly, then waited for Chief to guide them. Chief himself waited for Cortana to give him a NAV Point. Thankfully, that last bit didn't take as long as he would've thought, as the marker winked on onto his HUD.

Jack saw the Spartan's slight prep to start the walk, then balled his fist to show the team to form up. The five-man squad then began their descent down into the valley and the march toward the Waypoint. It was pointing at a mountain ten kilometers away on the dot, so the Spartan gave them a rough estimate via hand signals. Two hours' travel time on a bright and sunny day.

"It's... Incredible," Daniel commented as he pushed his glasses onto the bridge of his nose. He looked around at the greenery, mouth agape, "A world a Galactic stone's throw away from us and it wasn't marked on the Cartouche. I... The fact that so much data was locked in a single place. That Cartographer might've been one of the biggest discoveries since the Stargate..."

"Provided it doesn't lead us into some problem later down the line, I agree it was a pretty big thing," Jack murmured quietly. Chief agreed. The Forerunners had a pretty bad track record in his book for bringing things they shouldn't have brought and creating things that would've best been left an idea in a madman's head. Still, the sight of the Sentinels blasting away at the Goa'uld was interesting, but it brought another point:Why didn't they shoot at Teal'c, since he apparently carried one of the symbiotes in him? Probably the outward aggressiveness that Apophis had shown.

As they marched by the valley's river, Carter couldn't help but photograph the place. The group had certainly seen their fair share of worlds that looked very close to Earth, but Epsilon Eridani II, Reach, was something else. It almost felt like a surreal place, one untouched by any sentient species. The Spartan, however, recognized each tree, rock and peak around him. Almost to an unhealthy degree, could he tell where he and his friends hid, fought and trained, where they played and laughed and grew to be the soldiers that humanity needed them to be.

There was a sense of longing as flashes of that life played in the corners of his eyes. Was this what nostalgia meant? He stared at each tree, recognizing the spot where he, Sam, Kelly and Fred ambushed that one platoon of Marines from Charlie Company, the tree where Linda had climbed to get a vantage point, the rocks behind which they played their own version of hide-and-seek...

"John?" Cortana started, "You alright?"

"Yeah," He replied, a little awkward. He'd been in this fight for what was nearing to be forty years of his life, the last few of which were spent in cryo-stasis, awaiting for his retrieval by mankind. He hadn't really had time to understand and come to terms with his continued service. He had just done as he'd expect any soldier would do:He carried out his mission.

"Hey, Chief," Jack started, looking back at the Spartan. Once he knew the man was looking back at him, the Colonel asked, "You've been slowin' down. Everything alright?"

"Yes, sir," He nodded, "Just memories."

"You said you trained here," Daniel stated rather bluntly, "Alongside the rest of your fellow Spartans, I imagine?"

Chief nodded, "This exact Valley was where we did most of our training. Where we were forged to be who we are now," And he rejoined the formation. Daniel had wanted to comment on the fact the man so easily remembered this place, but it really couldn't have been a cosmic coincidence that this planet was the way it was. The prevailing theory in the good Doctor's head was that it might have been reconstructed by the Forerunner artifact here.

"Was there a lot of Forerunner technology on Reach?" Carter raised a brow as she turned to face Chief, too. She continued, "You know, an outpost? Maybe they were watching over us."

"A good chunk of the items they found on Reach was classified under an ONI Directive, but yes, ma'am," Chief replied as he stopped beside her and Daniel. He noted Teal'c was keeping watch, so the moment the Jaffa Warrior turned his head to look upon them and listen, the Spartan gave him a nod of approval and of thanks. Teal'c gave one of his usual, slow sideways nods out of respect, before his gaze swept the virgin land ahead.

Carter then asked, "Do you think we'll find similar technology here?"

"It's likely," Chief nodded, "Might even have another Cartographer, if I were to hazard a guess. The Forerunners scarcely leave their facilities without a means to navigate them," and then he recalled Halo, the Cartographer there and the various other items of interest, like the ever-common slipspace teleport networks. He wondered if they'd run into something similar to the Menachite Complex here. Then he remembered, "Colonel. Hourly check-in."

Jack blinked, then remembered, "Oh, right..." before clicking his Radio and reporting, "SG3, this is SG-1-Actual. Hourly check-in, all's fine and dandy here. You guys should see this place from up-close, though... Tell General Hammond we're alright and proceeding on foot, still," As the sun of the system began to set, the sky glowing a faint, bright orange.

"Copy all, Colonel. Give us a ring if you guys need a hand over there, SG3 out," The Marine officer replied. Jack looked to the Chief again and the man gave him a nod of approval. Hopefully, they wouldn't need much of a hand, honestly. As they continued, Chief took the lead again, pushing toward the waypoint while Cortana hummed a happy tune in his ear.

As they did walk, however, Teal'c inquired, "You speak of training here, Master Chief. May I ask how you and your comrades perceived this training?"

"We were young," The Chief replied, "It was tough on us the first few weeks, but then we got into a routine. Physical exercises, shooting, theory to study for classes, history and actual officer training. When we were out by the Big Horn River," He pointed at the river they walked by, which was teeming with fish indeed, then told Teal'c, "We would usually be in a form of live-fire training against Marines from our ranks."

"Hm. No experience quite like that of a true fight for survival. And training from youth, much like us Jaffa warriors," Teal'c replied after a moment of thought. He then complimented Chief, stating, "You must have all become great warriors. Fact proven by the way you have so easily melded yourself into SG1's cadre and learned to fight alongside us,"

The Spartan told Teal'c, "We are trained for adaptability. And you're all fellow soldiers."

"Indeed," Teal'c nodded, "Yet I am alien. I recall you fought aliens, too."

John nodded, "Unlike your brethren, you haven't shot at me yet, Teal'c."

"And I do not intend to. I would rather not run on thin ice," He replied dryly, which caused the rest of SG1 to chuckle. Jack gave Teal'c a pat on the shoulder as they walked, which caused the Jaffa to look upon him with slight surprise. Truthfully, the one weird thing about Teal'c was probably his proclivity to make mistakes in regards to English phrases and quips. If he was doing it on purpose, neither Chief, nor the laughing Cortana could tell.

"It's 'skate' on thin ice, Teal'c," The Colonel snorted. Teal'c gave him a nod of thanks.

The group climbed up onto the mountain next, the Spartan leading them into a cave. He activated the flashlight on his rifle, with the others soon following suit. Beams of light cut through the darkness of the granite cave as they walked in, the faint trickle of water falling into pools around them due to the melting snow above echoing throughout the cave's interior.

Cortana told him, "We're getting closer. Power source matches Naquadah output and background radiation profile, though, so either the Forerunners adapted Naquadah to their systems, or there's someone else already here," which caused the Spartan to tense. Even though the others couldn't quite see it, they felt the air around the Spartan drop by a few degrees centigrade and tensed up accordingly.

Jack actually commented, "Did the room suddenly get a little colder, or is it just me...?"

Chief showed them to halt, checking his motion tracker. He took cover beside a wall, with the entire team scattering around and readying their weapons. Listening in, the Spartan was expecting to hear footsteps coming in, but found something else instead. The quiet hum of an antigravity engine intermixed with the chirp of a female voice that was marked by the filter of a vocoder.

The strange alien machine, an eyeball that glowed a deep, dark purple, appeared in front of the group. It stopped and looked around, murmuring, "Strange. I could swear I heard something..." before turning to face the cave entrance rather awkwardly. It called out jovially, "Hello? Anyone there? I felt the activation of the Wormhole System, so please, do not be afraid to approach!"

Chief blinked and was about to ask, but Cortana said, "... Yup... That's the installation Monitor," which made the Spartan grow even more tense. He prepared to draw his rifle, but Cortana told him, "John. Let's play nice. Not every Monitor has to be Guilty Spark, you know?" with a little disappointment filtering through into her voice. The Spartan sighed, showed SG1 to stay calm, then stepped into view.

The Monitor gasped, then dashed forward and screamed joyfully, "RECLAIMER! A RECLAIMER IS HERE!" before starting to fly around erratically, "By the Forerunners' will! It finally happened! They told me I should wait, but I didn't know and almost couldn't believe it! After almost a hundred and fifty thousand cycles since my Masters departed, oh my!" and turning to face the Chief again, exultation echoing, "Oh, right, m-my manners! Hello! I am 096 Patient Exultation! Monitor of Guard Installation 029! I'm afraid our systems may be a tad overgrown, but now that you're here, we can solve that! Oh, there's so much I want to ask you and speak to you about, Reclaimer!"

Cortana giggled, "Told you. She's nice."

The Monitor kept bouncing around like an overjoyed puppy, before pausing and looking at the Spartan, "Oh, yes, right! The Sentinel security units I have deployed to the Wormhole System have just reported back meeting your comrades! Could you please tell them to not be afraid? We mean them no harm, but we can see how tense they are in regards to us."

Jack looked to Chief and asked, "So... Are we good to come outta hiding now? Because Tinker-Bell here seems friendly..."

"Sir," Chief nodded, then motioned for them to walk out. The Monitor grew ever-more jubilant, letting out a string of noises that could hardly be described as words. When she spotted Teal'c, however, she froze. With a quick scan, it seemed to almost furrow its brows at the man. She flew up to his face and looked him dead in the eye, but the man never once showed any sort of fear.

She spoke, "You poor thing..." in a low voice, "You carry one of those Thieves in your body."

"... Thieves?" The entire group voiced.

"Yes, indeed. The creatures that call themselves the Goa'uld. They've attempted to steal technology from other systems many times, as per the reports of some of my sibling Monitors!" The floating eyeball replied. She looked to Teal'c and asked, "If you wish, I can excise it from your body, though..." She performed another quick scan, "Oh... Oh, no... Your immune system..."

"Indeed..." Teal'c replied, his voice low. His eyes had lit up for a moment when the suggestion of removing the Symbiote was voiced by the machine, yet he knew it was too good to be true. He spoke next, "You are a machine of the Forerunners, then. The Master Chief has spoken of your kin as creators of weapons of mass destruction... Have the Goa'uld acquired any such weapons?"

"Thankfully, I don't think my creators brought any to this version," She replied, then hummed and said, "Oh yes! Much to do, much to talk about! If you'll please follow me into the Facility so we may continue this discussion!" with the usual rambunctiousness of a young woman. The group looked to each-other, confused, then nodded and followed along.

Entering deeper into the cave, past several more bends and turns through which they followed the Monitor, the group paused as they saw it:An alien structure made of the same metals and alloys that the Cartographer was made out of. It had missing areas, collapsed tunnels permeating from the central hub and a multitude of flickering holographic consoles in the middle, as well as a massive central area that seemed to be a hologram display for another Cartographer.

Descending down one of the ramps, the group listened to Patient speak proudly, "This station has sustained its defensive perimeter despite the damages taken under the changing times and weather of this System! It is the last surviving Defense Station of its kind and has had over thirty million successful simulated firings and two thousand one-hundred actual with an accuracy of 72,9%!"

"... You're telling us this thing was used?" Jack inquired as he saw the weapon system(probably) sticking out over the top above them, still peering into the mountain's rock.

"Indeed! It held off an active and highly-adaptive mechanical threat we've had issues with before," Patient replied jovially, "Though rather obviously, it being in the state it is means it can no longer operate at peak efficiency. Its defense systems, however, are not the sole reason it was created! In fact, this station contains information in regards to my Creators' work in this Galaxy!"

"Wait, you mean you have a repository of ancient knowledge here?" Daniel's audible excitement amused everyone.

"Easy, Daniel," Jack quipped, "Keep it stowed for now."

"Indeed!" Patient's reply was just as jovial, "Though I'm afraid much of it is currently locked in data crystals that are inaccessible until we start properly mining out the area... And most of my Sentinels are combat units instead of construction ones. All forty are what is left of my defense Legion..." before she let out a sigh, "I wish I had been left with more, though. Those patrolling the orbital perimeter are busy running their 13,5 hour patrol cycle currently."

"How long is the planet's orbit, then?" Carter raised a brow.

"Twenty-seven hours per day, 390 days per full orbit," The Monitor replied as she floated in front of Carter next. A pair of drones returned from scouting and went into their respective repair bays within the station's metal walls. She continued, "This planet was chosen as a perfect defense station location specifically to maintain the possible Reclaimer presence on your homeworld and ensure its safety."

"... Incredible," murmured the blonde as she looked around. She approached one of the consoles and said, "And these consoles must be... Targeting systems? Going by the geographical and orbital algorithms displayed here and here, it seems to be calculating continuous fluctuations in the planetary atmosphere and orbital positioning of Epsilon Eridani II."

"Yes!" The Monitor bounced, "I personally make sure these algorithms are up to date every day! Also, Epsilon Eridani II? Is that what you named this planet?"

"Technically," Carter chuckled, "It has another name that the Chief knows..." then she pointed to the Spartan. She turned as she remembered an important detail and asked, "Patient Exultation... We've heard that word from the Cartographer on another planet, so I feel obligated to ask. What does 'Reclaimer' mean to you and the Forerunner installations present in our Galaxy?"

"The children of the Forerunners, chosen to bear the Mantle of Responsibility and ascend to the role of Protectors for all that lives in our Galaxies," The AI answered calmly as she hovered over to the Chief, "He is one such child. As are all of you, to some degree... Though if one was to argue, we could say you are different from him, bearing a different gene than your standard. And your Thief-bearing Companion is certainly not a Reclaimer by any metric, no offense."

"None taken," Teal'c replied bluntly and calmly.

"So, we're Reclaimers, too," Jack asked, "This mean we can... I don't know, use some of the stuff here to defend Earth if the need arises?"

"Certainly! Though it should also mean you might be able to use other leftover technological advances made by your other ancestors," She told them, "I believe the common word for them is... Ancients...?" and she hovered over to Daniel as the man was examining the symbols floating off of one of the walls. She offered to the man, "I can provide an updated Lexicon of our symbols if you wish!"

"I'd appreciate that," Daniel smiled, then furrowed his brows and looked over to the Colonel. He asked, "Uh... Jack?"

"What's up, Daniel?" He raised a brow. He knew what the man was about to ask and was of a similar mind, but he still let Daniel ask.

"We should probably let the General know about this," He told him as he stood up, "Maybe petition him to start up a research station on the planet, help get this place back in shape if at all possible. It'd be nice to have some sort of defense blanket between us and any possible Goa'uld incursions coming toward Earth," then he approached him. Jack nodded, then sighed and activated his radio.

Patient Exultation told them all, "This is an incredible opportunity. I look forward to working with all of you! And Reclaimer," and hovered over to the Chief. She looked him in the visor and told him, "May I ask that you come visit more often? I know that you've come through the Wormhole System, so that means we have a link to your homeworld, but I've detected fluctuations from another Station on the Cartographer's data and would very much like to look over them with you."

"Sure," Chief nodded before Cortana could even beg him to. He wanted to find answers as much as she did, so for the opportunity to fall into their lap like this was beyond welcome. He turned to face the Colonel as the man walked toward the exit, then said, "I'll join Colonel O'Neill outside," before excusing himself and stepping outside. Teal'c, Sam and Daniel all looked to one-another, then the latter two shrugged and got back to work examining the place. It wasn't always an opportunity like this presented itself.

A treasure trove of ancient data, uncorrupted?

Score.