The tension in the air of the Gate Room was palpable. This was it. This was essentially the only chance SG-1 would have to bring the crew of the Destiny home.
"Chevron 1, encoded" Sgt. Gallagher said over the Gate Room intercom.
"Chevron 2, encoded."
"Hey Sam?"
"Yeah, Daniel?" Sam replied, while zipping up her tactical vest.
"Chevron 3, encoded."
"How sure are you and Martouf that this Mark-200 will work?" Daniel asked, the concern evident in his expression.
"Well, you saw the results of the tests we did. The power generation made the Naquadah generators seem like a double-A battery in comparison. I think this is going to work."
"Of course it's going to work, I'm involved after all."
"Chevron 4, encoded."
"Ah, so great to see you Rodney. I'm so glad you could take time out of your busy schedule to join us." Sam quipped at McKay. McKay could really be an arrogant ass sometimes, but honestly, he was a good man who would do anything to help the people he cares about. That usually made up for his grating cockiness.
"Hardy har har, Sam. You know you're happy to see me" Rodney replied. "Oh, hey Martouf, didn't see you there."
"Chevron 5, encoded."
Martouf didn't reply, but simply gave Sam a look she was all too familiar with. It was his "do we really need him here" look. Martouf was not a jealous type at all, but he and Rodney have had their fair share of arguments.
"Chevron 6, encoded."
It looked like McKay was about to open his mouth, but just as he was, Teal'c, Ronon, Cameron, John, Teyla and Dr. Keller walked into the Gate Room and joined the rest of the team.
"Rodney, are you being yourself?" Sheppard asked.
"Ha ha, very funny Sheppard. What kind of question is that even?" Rodney replied.
"Rodney, you better behave because if not I have this." Sheppard said, as he pulled a lemon out of his vest pocket.
Rodney didn't say anything in response but his entire demeanor changed.
"Chevron 7, encoded."
From the outside, Sheppard and McKay may not seem that close, but ever since Rodney had the parasite in his brain back in the Pegasus galaxy, he and John have been really close. They just don't advertise it openly for whatever reason.
Shortly after Atlantis landed back on Earth, Rodney and John even got an apartment together briefly, until Rodney and Dr. Keller moved in together.
"Chevron 8, encoded."
"Jennifer, what are you doing here?" Rodney asked.
"Usually people are happier to see their fiancée, but hey, what do I know?" Dr. Keller said, in a somewhat joking manner.
"No, I mean, of course I-" Rodney started to say, but was very quicky cut off by the Stargate.
"Chevron 9 is - locked?" Sgt. Gallagher said, clearly not able to believe that it had worked.
As soon as the chevron locked, the familiar "whoosh" sounded from the Gate and the blue "puddle" took up most of the Gate Room, so much so that SG-1 had to take a step back.
Sgt. Gallagher came over the intercom and said "power levels are in the green."
"SG-1, good luck and God speed to you all. Do what it takes to bring our people home." General Landry said over the intercom.
"Does anyone else have a bad feeling about this?" Rodney asked, clearly concerned.
No one responded to Rodney, but everyone walked up the ramp and towards the Gate.
"Remember, this wormhole is taking us further than we've ever been before. The amount of energy surging through the Gate right now is enormous. When we get to the other side, you may...fly." Sam said.
"Destiny, come in, this is Stargate Command. I repeat, this is Stargate Command. Do you read me?" Mitchell said over his radio.
A familiar voice came across the radio. "Stargate Command, this is Destiny. I read you loud and clear." It was Eli Wallace. "How are you dialing us right now? Did you find another Icarus Base?"
"Uh, that's a long story Eli. We're gonna step on through and we will fill you in once we get there. Are we good to step through?"
"Yeah, shield's down. You're good. I've got a lot to tell you too" Eli replied.
Mitchell spoke up and said "alright, everyone follow me, one at a time." Mitchell then stepped through the wormhole.
One by one, the team stepped through, following Mitchell.
Eli stood there, at the DHD console, patiently waiting.
He checked his watch and realized that it was taking so long for them to arrive due to the vast distance between Earth and the Destiny.
All of a sudden, there was a 'whoosh' and a male wearing full blue camouflage military fatigues came flying through the gate, landing just beside the DHD. Then, in the blink of an eye, more came, one by one, through the gate and landing next to the first arrival.
As they landed, they all began moaning and groaning.
"I told ya so" Sam said to the group as she stood up.
Sheppard keyed up his radio, "Stargate Command, we have successfully made it aboard the Destiny, mostly unscathed."
Just as Sheppard finished his transmission, another ripple formed across the event horizon and another body came flying through the gate.
"Jac- I mean, General O'Neill, what are you doing here?" Sam asked, clearly baffled by his arrival.
General Landry's voice came over the radio in response. "Great news SG-1, your first radio check will be in 1 hour. Don't be late."
Yet another ripple formed across the event horizon and a black military styled backpack came flying through the gate.
Sam caught the backpack and opened it, revealing a bottle of champagne, with a note that simply said "Good luck SG-1, Gen. HL."
The Gate suddenly made a "whoosh" noise indicating that the connection with Earth was gone, and the Gate Room went dark.
The group all stood up, brushing themselves off.
"Well Carter, I was tired of letting you kiddos have all the fun, figured it was my turn for some fun." Jack replied.
Mitchell walked over to Eli and introduced himself and the entire group.
"So Eli, what's going on? Where is everyone" Shouldn't they all be awake right now?" Mitchell asked.
"Yeah, about that...follow me" Eli said.
SG-1 did not question it, but followed Eli.
"Eli, where exactly are we headed?" Martouf asked.
"We're almost there now. We're headed to the bridge." Eli replied.
Once the crew arrived on the bridge, they all stopped in disbelief. They could not believe what they were seeing.
Teyla was the first to speak up. "Um, Eli, maybe I'm wrong, but doesn't the bridge of a ship usually point in the direction it's traveling?"
"Uh, yes. Yes it does." Eli replied, the nervousness apparent in his voice.
"Then why does that galaxy look so far away?" Teyla fired back with.
"That's because it is." Eli said, looking at the floor, afraid to meet the gaze of the group.
"What happened? I thought the Destiny was supposed to be in that galaxy already." McKay asked.
"I nicknamed that galaxy Soleil. Soleil is French for star. Anyways, we were supposed to have reached Soleil last week, but about two months ago, Destiny dropped out of FTL for unknown reasons. I checked Destiny's systems, but could not decipher why we had. Everything is in Ancient and my Ancient's a little rusty."
"Maybe I can help with that. Can you show me?" Daniel said.
"Absolutely, look at this" Eli said, flipped a console around.
"This might take a couple of minutes" Daniel said.
"Would it not have been helpful to use the Ancient communication stones to let SGC know about the situation at hand, Eli Wallace?" Teal'c asked.
"Well, yeah, of course. That's the first thing I tried to do, but something was preventing me from making a connection to the other side." Eli replied, the sadness overwhelming his expressions. "I felt...alone, unsure of what else to do."
"I am sorry, Eli Wallace. I did not mean to imply anything." Teal'c said.
Eli nodded in response, but did not respond. He was afraid that no words would come out.
"No, no. That can't be right." Daniel said out loud.
"What? What's the matter Daniel?" Sam asked. Sam did not say it out loud, but all she could think to herself was "what else could go wrong?"
"Eli, the Destiny has shown in the past that it has a remarkable sense of self preservation right?" Daniel said.
"Yeah, it absolutely has. On multiple occasions, it's taken measures to preserve itself and protect it's mission."
"If I'm reading this correctly, and I'm sure I am, the Destiny dropped itself out of FTL, because it detected a ship on it's long range sensors." Daniel said. "Can you show us the long range sensors?"
"Uh, yeah, here they..." Eli replied, pointing to a larger display console towards the center of the bridge.
On the display was what appeared to be the outer edge of "Soleil" and was a couple dozen red dots.
"Are those what I think they are?" Dr. Keller asked.
"Ships. Those are ships. An entire fleet" McKay replied. "Great, we're dead."
Sheppard spoke up this time. "Let me ask the obvious question here, but how could we have made a stable connection to this Stargate if we're in between galaxies? And why are there ships floating in the middle of dead space?"
"Uh to be honest John, I'm not sure" Sam replied. "This has never happened before."
The rest of the science team nodded and stated that they agreed, that they were not sure how that worked.
Martouf was the next one to speak up. "Umm guys. Is it just me or does that galaxy look familiar?"
"Wait, Martouf, I think you're right. That looks like the...Milky Way?" Sam sad, a hint of confusion in her voice.
"Uh Sam, what are the chances of another galaxy in our universe being so similar to the Milky Way?" Jack asked.
"Virtually impossible. Essentially, it's a 1 out of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 chance of a separate galaxy forming to look exactly identical to ours." Sam responded.
A stunned silence fell over the group, not a single person knowing what to say next. The silence was suddenly broken by a loud beeping noise coming from the control module of the Destiny. Eli and Daniel both ran over to the console and in complete unison gasped at whatever they read on the computer.
"Daniel, care to share with the class?" Jack said in his normal humorous, yet somewhat serious tone.
"I don't know how, who, what, when, where, why, or how, so pleased don't ask, but we received a message from the command ship of the 'alien' fleet." Daniel replied.
It was obvious to Sam and Jack, who had worked with Daniel for so long, that he had put special emphasis on the word 'alien.' Neither Jack nor Sam said anything, hoping Daniel would continue his explanation.
"I'm not sure how to explain it, but the message we received from the command ship was...written entirely in English." Eli finished for Daniel.
Sam tilted her head to the side and her mouth practically dropped to the floor. "Destiny has shown in the past that it is hyper intelligent. Is it possible that Destiny automatically translated the message into English for us?"
"The Destiny doesn't work like that, at least not that I've seen." Eli replied. "As improbable as it is, it's much more likely that the crew of the other ship sent the message in English."
"That's is all fine and dandy, but what does the message say Daniel?" Jack said, his loss of patience evident.
It just says "we come in peace, please do not shoot."
"Shit" Rodney exclaimed.