Author's Notes: Thanks to Stonedtoad for beating.
Sorry this has taken so long I got a wee bit blocked. I'm working on the next chapter.
Enjoy.
The launch was silent as the two occupants each took in the story the other had told.
"There it is," Tim said suddenly, spotting the glint of crystal on the ocean floor tucked against a rock.
Ari shifted, squinting to look at it, "Can you get it?"
Tim frowned, "Not sure, it's at an awkward angle. Let me see…" he trailed off as he began to manoeuvre the robotic arm attached to the launch towards their objective. He swore softly when he missed it before trying again.
"Do you want me to try?" Ari asked after the fifth time he missed.
"Are you going to…" he made a strange gesture.
Ari stared at him with a frown, "Try to dislocate my wrist?"
"You know what I mean," he rolled his eyes.
Ari chuckled, "I meant since you're not doing too well I could try to use the thing to grab the box. I can't do it my way because I could accidentally move something else since I can't see it properly."
Tim looked at her amused, "Do you know how to work the arm?"
"I'm a fast learner," Ari shot back.
"How about instead you keep the launch steady while I try again?" Tim countered.
It was Ari's turn to roll her eyes, "You're no fun."
x
Bridger was waiting for them when Tim and Ari left the launch, the box was now in the secure case they'd been given.
"Well?" he asked them.
Tim handed him the case, "We got it, Sir."
"And I got a chance to drive," Ari grinned with a gleam in her eye.
Bridger glanced at Tim who shrugged slightly with an amused smile before he turned to the young woman, "Dr Jackson, Lucas has found some more information from the Jumper he wants to ask you about."
"No problem," she told him with a nod.
"Eat something and get some sleep first. It can wait until after that," Bridger ordered as she started away.
Ari turned back, her head tilted while an amused smile crossed her lips. She gave him a quick mock salute before disappearing. Bridger waited until he was sure she was out of range before turning to Tim again.
"How did it go?"
"Good, sir, Tim told him, "It took us a few tries to get the box but we finally managed to retrieve it."
Bridger nodded before asking, "And Dr Jackson?"
"Ari is…" Tim hesitated for a moment knowing he couldn't tell the Captain what they'd discussed in the launch, "She wants to get home as much as we do but I think there's still something she's not telling us."
There was a pause before Bridger nodded again, "Go get something to eat, Lieutenant then get some sleep."
x
As per Captain's orders Tim grabbed a sandwich before retreating to his quarters for some rest. Sitting on his bunk Tim went over Ari's story in his head, he was still trying to get his head round everything she had told him.
He liked Ari, she had a sense of humour that was familiar in many ways, he was also fascinated by the story she'd told him. Tim remembered the chill that ran down his spine at her flat voice as she stated, 'Was, I was a weapon.'
She was the daughter of two people destined to be together for ten thousand years. If you thought about it, if you actually thought about it properly, it was mind-blowing.
Tim's mind slid past Ari's story and onto his own, it was something he hadn't thought of in a long time. His hand moved to the scar on his temple.
The small indentation was a reminder of just how lucky he was to be alive. Tim didn't think about it very often, it was something he'd deliberately pushed to the back of his mind. It was strange how much he was thinking about it now.
"Come in," he called when someone knocked on his door.
"Hey," Miguel appeared, "How'd it go?"
Tim shrugged, "We got the box."
"And our guest?" Miguel asked grabbing the seat from the corner, "Did you learn anything about her?"
Tim hesitated before nodding, "Yes."
Miguel rolled his eyes and let out a sigh, "You're not going to tell me, are you?"
"I made a promise," Tim replied, "So, how are things going here? What's the land like?"
"We're still stuck," his friend told him, "Lucas is spending all his time in that ship trying to get as much information as possible. You know after all the odd things we've seen over the past few years this is the most amazing."
Tim nodded, "You've no idea."
Sha're sipped her tea as she sat on the balcony of the rooms she shared with Daniel trying to get a better sense of her daughter's well being. Stretching her mind out, she let out a soft sigh.
"Are you trying to hide from me?" she turned a stern stare to what anyone watching would assume was an empty spot on the balcony.
A young man was suddenly standing in the spot looking sheepish at being caught, "Of course not, Mother."
Sha're stood and walked over to her son. He was a handsome young man who resembled his uncle and, thankfully, not the creature that had fathered him. Sha're wrapped him in a tight embrace before she stepped back and levelled a frown at her son, "Now, tell me what is going on?"
Shifu dropped his head for a moment, "There is a secret that needs to be revealed. Arianna can find it."
"Why is Arianna the only one who can do this?" Sha're demanded annoyance filling her voice, "Did you know what would happen?"
"Mother, I promise I did not know that this would happen," Shifu told her; "I only ensured that the people of the Seaquest did not miss an artefact that would bring Arianna to them. I had no way of knowing they would leave Earth."
"Do you know where they are?" Sha're asked.
Shifu nodded.
"And you are not allowed to interfere by telling me this information," Sha're stated grimly.
Shifu nodded once more, "Oma has also told me I am not allowed to contact any of you for several months since I have stretched the rules so much for this. Arianna is safe with the people she is with, I can promise you that."
Sha're reached out and hugged him tightly once more, "I want you to let me know you are well the moment you are allowed. Do you understand?"
Shifu nodded softly, "I promise, Mother."
She stepped back from him and he was gone leaving her alone once more.
x
Daniel tapped his pen off the table thinking, wondering where his daughter was and if she was safe.
"If you don't stop I'm going borrow Ronon's gun and shoot you," Rodney threatened from across the desk.
Daniel stilled his hand letting out a long sigh, "I can't stop worrying about Ari. All I know is she's with the crew of the Seaquest."
"You know she's safe," Rodney rolled his eyes, "Sha're told you this. Besides Ari's just like her mother, strong, smart, really annoying when she's right."
Daniel gave a soft smile at that. Ari had spent a summer on Atlantis while she was studying during which both Rodney and John had become fond of her.
Daniel sighed, "I know. But she's still my little girl and I just…"
Knowing there was nothing he could do, or say, to help Rodney pushed over the section of the database he was working on to Daniel.
"Look at this."
Daniel gave him a quick smile as he took the tablet from him and scanned over the symbols.
"Rodney," a sharp voice interrupted the quiet of the room making the two men turn.
Daniel glanced at his friend, "You're in trouble."
Letting out a long sigh Rodney nodded just as the woman with long flowing auburn hair marched in to the lab and dropped a pile of paper onto the desk in front of him.
"What is this?" Rodney asked.
Laura Cadman gave him a slight amused smile, "This is the paperwork you have been avoiding for the past three weeks. The appraisals are due and if you don't do them I'm setting Radek on you."
"You know I don't need actual paper to do the paperwork?" Rodney asked looking down at the pile in front of him, "Don't you?"
A slight smirk touched her lips, "It made my entrance better," she patted his arm before turning to Daniel, "Sha're asked me to tell you if you don't meet her for dinner, you will regret it."
Daniel nodded at her smiling as she headed out the room with a flick of her hair, "She scares me."
"Me too," Rodney chuckled as he pushed the paper to one side and went back to working on the new lab they'd found.
"Lucas," Ari stepped into the Jumper the next morning, "You do know you're allowed to sleep, right?"
The teenager glanced up at her and gave a slight shrug, "I'll sleep."
Ari chuckled especially at the roll of the eyes from the bored security guard sitting there to keep the power on, "I hope we do get to Atlantis."
"Why?" the absent question came.
"Because I want to see Bridger fight to pull you away from it," she retorted before taking the spare seat beside him, "So what did you find?"
He tapped a few controls bringing up details for her. Ari scanned the information.
"Well that explains why the Atlantis team didn't come across the dock," she murmured as she read, "There wasn't one. The system was built so that it would provide the right kind of dock for the ship that arrived. Very clever. The Ancients weren't always completely arrogant and stupid."
Lucas looked at her confused at her statement.
"They had a tendency to create machines and not leave any real instructions on how to use them," Ari explained, "Killed a lot of people. Have you found anything that can possibly help us either get back to Earth or to Atlantis?"
Lucas let out a long sigh, "Unfortunately no. I thought that was what the box was for?"
Ari shrugged slightly, "We can only hope. So, you have questions?"
x
The second box passed through quarantine without incident and a few hours later Ari was sitting with Tim in the ward room scanning the symbols on the box hoping to make some kind of sense out of them.
"What?" Tim asked when she stopped working and leaned back in her chair.
Ari let out a soft sigh, "It's different."
"That's good isn't it?" Tim rolled his eyes.
She nodded, biting her lower lip in thought before she grinned at him, "I have an idea."
Tim watched her bounce up and move to where the original box sat, she studied it for a moment before bringing it across and sitting it beside the first one.
"Look at them together," she said with a smile.
Tim frowned a little as he stared at the two crystal boxes in front of him, "Not seeing it."
She smirked at him making him grimace some more before she pulled out her penlight and shone it through one side before taking his and shining it through the other side.
"Wow," Tim breathed, "Look at that. Is that what I think it is?"
Ari grinned, "You're the communications officer, you tell me."
He grinned back before launching himself out of the chair, he paused and turning back grabbed one of the boxes.
"Bring the other one," he called back at her.
x
Nathan could hear excited voices as he walked into the room holding the 'Jumper'. Entering the small vessel he found his communications chief, his chief scientist and visitor were all talking over one another as they crowded over the small console.
Nathan coughed pointedly making them all turn to him, "I take it you've found something?"
"Yes," they all started before stopping and looking at one another.
Jackson nodded, "Tim, why don't you explain."
O'Neill nodded back his grin still on his face, "We were looking at the second box when Dr Jackson noticed that when the light was hitting both at a certain angle it changed the symbols. When we entered them into the Jumper…"
"Yes?" Nathan asked as Tim paused.
The three people in front of him grinned and Lucas finally answered.
"If we get enough power," he said, "We think by connecting the Jumper and the boxes then we can contact Atlantis."
Silence filled the small room as Nathan took in the announcement. He let them have a moment before got them focussed again.
"Why Atlantis?" he asked, "Why not Earth?"
O'Neill and Lucas glanced at Jackson who rolled her eyes that she was being volunteered to answer.
"Because this is all Lantean tech," Jackson explained, "The receiver will be on Atlantis and if it's not there will be something that will pick up our signal," she smiled to herself, "Besides my parents are there and I can let my mother know something is happening."
They all looked at her confused.
"You can contact your mother?" Nathan demanded before asking, "Why haven't you done so before now?"
Jackson shook her head, "It's not like that. My mother can sense my well-being but its feelings not words. I couldn't let her know anything specific but I should be able to let her know she needs to see something urgently."
Nathan wanted to ask but didn't get a chance as Lucas started talking again.
"Captain, we'll need to move this to the land," Lucas explained.
"Why?"
Jackson patted Lucas arm, "Less chance if something goes wrong we blow up the boat."
Nathan stared at the young woman, the glint in her eye similar to the one Lucas got from time to time. He looked over to see O'Neill and he grimaced seeing the same glint in the other man's eye.
"Get Ortiz to help," Nathan ordered before he headed up to the bridge shaking his head muttering to himself, "What did I do to deserve another one?"