A/N: Hello once again! So… yeah, this is happening.

I know what you may be thinking: "Why is this dummy republishing a story of his that I've already read instead of updating his other stories?", and that would be a valid question to ask. In fact, I can see how this could be considered the fanfic equivalent of a live-action movie remake. But, please, hear me out.

I'm not oblivious to the criticism this and my other stories have received over the years, particularly regarding glaringly obvious plot holes and common OOC instances all throughout. I'm man enough to own up to that, but I also want to explain myself a little bit. Truth be told, when I first started dabbling in writing, I was still young and had a rather, uh… 'innocent' outlook on a lot of things. As I matured with my writing, I consciously chose to stick to my guns and keep what I'd already written instead of going back to fix things.

Recently, though, and having discussed this with a couple of people on my Discord server (that's a thing I have now, BT dubs), I've come to realize that it's better to address those issues before moving forward with my newer projects—or, rather, as I continue moving forward with them. I'll explain more in my closing A/N.

For now, though, I'll just leave it at that and drop this little project here for you to read if you want to. In any case, I do hope you'll at least enjoy it as a refresher. See you in a bit!

Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, Earth
0700 hrs. July 14, 2013

The sun started to rise over the ocean, its rays shining off the waves and generating a beautiful display of multicolored light. It was the beginning of a new day over planet Earth, and it certainly seemed to be full of hope and new opportunities for many of its seven-billion-plus inhabitants.

As the yellow star began to rise higher above the sky, the reflection of its light started to shine off something else, something standing mightily tall over the waves. Any seaman sailing through those waters would have believed it to be a wonderful mirage.

But Colonel John Sheppard knew better. He was standing on the "mirage", after all—a space-travel-capable alien city formerly located in a foreign galaxy he had spent 5 years living in. This was Atlantis, the legendary mobile capital of the race known as the Ancients, and now that it was back on the planet where it had first been built, John loved the sight of the familiar star rising over it whenever he got the chance to come here.

The Ancient city-ship was uncloaked; it needed not be hidden, not this far into the Pacific Ocean. This was no-man's land, which meant virtually no passing sea ships near the floating city. It had been moved to this location, further away from the mainland, roughly three months after its return to Earth, in order to keep it safe from any prying eyes attentive enough to distinguish the slight shimmer of the cloaked city in the San Francisco horizon. Here, the only thing the city had to be occasionally cloaked for was to avoid surveillance from any satellites that might pick it up from orbit, and those instances were few and far between.

It had already been 4 years since the city had been brought here to aid in the defense of Earth against a Wraith super-hive. To think so many things had changed in that time…

For one, the Milky Way galaxy was currently enjoying its most peaceful era in millennia, relatively speaking. With the Ori vanquished, the few surviving Goa'uld still in hiding or on the run, and the Lucian Alliance becoming nothing more than a mere nuisance—formidable in numbers, yes, but lacking any technological edge compared to the Tau'ri—after their failed attempts to seize control of the Ancient ship Destiny, conflict on a galactic scale had calmed down considerably. What few skirmishes had taken place ever since had all been in space, where—thanks in no small part to the Asgard technology inherited to them years before—the Tau'ri now held near-total superiority, leaving Stargate Command enough breathing room to carry out its more noble mandate of exploring alien worlds and establishing diplomatic relationships with human and alien societies across the galaxy.

That had only left the Wraith as the primary hostile force to deal with back in Pegasus. With the mighty Atlantis out of commission and unable to travel back to the dwarf galaxy after its star drive had been damaged in battle and its wormhole drive had been burnt out beyond repair, the IOA had opted to establish an entirely new base back on the neighboring galaxy. It was well-known, of course, that such an argument was but a lame excuse by the IOA to keep control of the Ancient city and its treasure trove of knowledge and technology more tightly than they ever could back in Pegasus. Four years of dragged-on politics had taught the Atlantis expedition members that much.

In any event, the IOA had pushed for finding a planet in the very edge of the Pegasus galaxy to settle on, a planet with no Stargate of its own—one would be brought in from the old Intergalactic Bridge—and completely unknown to the Wraith. Surprisingly enough, it didn't take long to find a suitable candidate in the Ancient planetary database, and construction began right away. Within a month, and in spite of mounting tensions between warring Wraith factions scouring the galaxy for empty or abandoned planets to set up bases on, the new Pegasus Forward Operating Base had been established right under the noses of the vampiric alien race. With both the Daedalus and the Apollo providing continuous support, the place was simply the perfect beachhead in the neighboring galaxy.

Sheppard and his team had been among the military personnel that traveled back to settle the new base, along with a select team of scientists and civilians to provide scientific and logistical support. Under direct orders from the IOA, the lie that Atlantis and her inhabitants had returned to Pegasus was subtly perpetrated among the human populations of the galaxy—with the exception of the closest allies of the Tau'ri—eventually reaching Wraith ears. The higher-ups back on Earth had hoped that the Wraith might be motivated to open diplomatic talks with the Tau'ri to negotiate the alien race submitting themselves to Dr. Jennifer Keller's gene therapy to remove the biological aspects that made them dependent on their age-old 'dietary requirements'—under the unspoken threat that the Tau'ri might eradicate the Wraith otherwise.

Fat chance.

For the better part of two months following the establishment of the Pegasus FOB, the Tau'ri and the Wraith continued fighting fiercely for survival. Even after the Wraith known as Todd had been allowed to return to his people in an attempt to establish diplomatic relations with his faction at least, tensions continued to escalate between both races. The conflict seemed like it might reach a boiling point when rumors of a legendary Wraith Queen named Death seeking to reunify her kind under her banner began spreading across Pegasus. Then, something unexpected had happened just as most of the Wraith gathered in their homeworld for a summit of sorts allegedly presided by Death, and… Well, it sufficed to say they were no longer even a threat for humanity, having met their demise in a way so frightening, so gruesome, the mere thought of it sent shivers down John's back.

Those few that had not attended Death's call had united under Todd's banner—and, because he knew they didn't have enough strength in numbers anymore to reclaim Pegasus, Todd had advised his brethren to call for a truce between them and humanity in general, but especially with the Tau'ri. Reluctantly, the surviving Wraith had agreed to this proposal, sending Todd back to the Tau'ri as their representative. The IOA, seeing that their original plan had finally come to fruition—albeit under entirely fortuitous circumstances—did not squander the opportunity, and accepted the truce… under the condition that any and all surviving Wraith agree to work with the Tau'ri to perfect Keller's gene therapy so they could have the need to feed on humans removed from their genetic make-up. Facing the now very real prospect of extinction, the response from the surviving Wraith was virtually unanimous in favor of the condition set forth by the Tau'ri. Thus, a fragile peace agreement was struck, ending the five-year long war with—and the millennia-long oppression from—the Wraith.

Since then, and barring a handful of incidents that were pretty much unrelated to the Wraith, exploring the Pegasus galaxy had become awfully dull for John, to the point where it sometimes felt like there wasn't any mission to carry out—even while on assignment. Few things about Pegasus were exciting to him now, though chief among them was his blooming relationship with Chaya Sar, a former Ascended Ancient who had retaken human form once she'd been given the news that the Wraith threat no longer existed, which released her from the responsibility that she'd held for thousands of years, of using her Ascended powers to keep her people—and only her people—safe from the Wraith for all time. She still wouldn't agree to leave her home planet, but John hoped he might be able to convince her of it at some point, if only so Chaya could visit Earth at least once while John was on leave.

Sheppard had come to appreciate the days of leave he would get, but only because he got to spend them in Atlantis, reminiscing of the good old days amid some semblance of familiarity. Frankly, though, he really missed the combat—fighting in the front lines alongside Teyla and Ronon and even McKay. His original team had been disbanded shortly after the unexpected defeat of the Wraith, and ever since, each of them had gone on to undertake their own personal projects and/or endeavors. Rodney, in fact, had returned permanently to Atlantis quite a while back so he could continue studying the Ancient database. John figured he was bound to bump into him over the next few days.

Thankfully, the Pegasus FOB had been granted access to one of the three ZPMs that had powered Atlantis during its journey back to Earth. Despite being depleted considerably in the process, and even though they couldn't enable the city to travel back to Pegasus—if such a thing was ever even allowed by the IOA—they still had enough juice left to enable Gate travel between the two locations on a regular basis for any personnel who, like him, may choose to take their leave in Atlantis—and that was quite a lot of people, in fact. John would've been remiss not to be grateful that humans had finally achieved some measure of peace on a galactic scale—in two galaxies, actually—as none of this would've been possible otherwise. Certainly, all of it would've been but a pipe dream a couple of years prior.

Would such a peace last for long, however, or would it be short-lived? And, with him constantly traveling back and forth between Earth and Pegasus nowadays, would he be in the right place if a new enemy surfaced… or an old one?

The sun was now riding higher above the city, shining bright and glorious. Sheppard reckoned he'd been reminiscing and musing long enough for one day, and so, he retreated from the balcony back inside his quarries before heading out into the city.

Somewhere in slipspace, en route to ONI Research Facility Trevelyan
1400 hrs. September 17, 2558 (Military Calendar)

Blackness. Nothing but blackness outside.

Not that anyone cared to observe from inside the gigantic ship, though, while it traveled smoothly through slipspace. They would soon drop from the extra-dimensional region of space and reach their intended destination, and thus, there was too much of a hustle and bustle everywhere aboard, especially at the bridge, for anyone to stop and just… contemplate at such immensity.

That was, with the exception of Captain Thomas Lasky, who couldn't take his eyes off the viewport as he ruminated on recent events.

His ship, the UNSC Infinity, had been called from Earth to ONI Research Facility Trevelyan as a top-priority situation, but as was the norm with the secretive Office of Naval Intelligence, no details were given. As far as everyone aboard the ship knew, they could be dealing with an incursion from the Covenant on the facility or with some stupid request from any of the science teams stationed there. It wouldn't have been the first time in the latter case, which was always boring for nearly everyone aboard except the resident scientists themselves.

Still, Lasky preferred that scenario over all the combat he'd participated in during the last few months—and the kind of bloodshed it wrought the UNSC. And even if he really didn't mind seeing some bloodshed on the Covenant's side, lately it always came at the cost of more human casualties than he cared to tolerate, so, he was of a frame of mind to avoid combat altogether if at all possible. No matter how hard someone could try, there would always be a price to pay in war. Especially since the Covenant had made a human ally, and a very dangerous one at that, given her smoke knowledge and expertise. Just a few months ago, a Covenant assault force had raided a colony world dedicated to studying some ancient archaeological remains not Covenant nor Forerunner in origin. It had been a massacre. All research and medical equipment, both top-notch and basic stuff, had been taken; nothing else. It was obvious Dr. Catherine Halsey had been behind the attack. Why would the Covenant take only science stuff otherwise?

Not long after the Requiem campaign, Dr. Henry Glassman—the ship's chief scientist—had finally come to the conclusion that the mysterious Forerunner artifact recovered from the shield world just before its destruction was indeed incomplete, and that Halsey had kept the other half of it. The logical conclusion then, whether she knew the true purpose of the device or not, was that she had to be looking now for a way to activate it without its counterpart. How any sort of human tech that the Covenant procured for her played into that theory was beyond Lasky and his crew. Ultimately, though, it didn't matter. Halsey had to be stopped.

Lasky couldn't help but wonder how much damage Halsey could cause if she managed to activate the artifact, regardless of what it could do. It was abundantly clear that she was no longer fond of the UNSC, not after being betrayed by her own kind. In a way, he could empathize with her, no matter what she'd done in the past. Such empathy had been what had compelled him to send Spartan Fireteam Majestic to rescue her before Commander Sarah Palmer could execute her as Admiral Serin Osman—Commander in Chief of the Office of Naval Intelligence—had ordered.

That decision weighed heavily on him ever since.

Palmer had given him a stern 'told-you-so' look when they had returned to Earth after Requiem's destruction and had been summoned to face the UNSC Security Council—and Admiral Osman in particular—about their failed mission to neutralize Halsey. Even then, though, Sarah had supported him by saying that Majestic, to her knowledge, had been a contingency, and she had gone as far as taking the fall by claiming that she had missed her shot when she'd had Halsey in her sights. Without any hard evidence proving otherwise, Osman had left the Captain clear of all charges and allowed him to keep his position as CO of the Infinity… but not before telling him something that would haunt him from them on: "Anything she causes from now on will be on your head."

And it was. He may not regret his decision—and he knew if he had to choose, he'd do it all over again—but the outcome still was too much for him now.

Lasky tried to push all these thoughts aside as the Infinity came out of slipspace and starlight filled the bridge anew. They had emerged right next to the Forerunner shield world formerly called Onyx by the UNSC, and after following the usual safety procedures to access the construct, the ship finally entered "orbit" inside, several kilometers above the inner surface of this world.

Thomas left the bridge and headed for the Pelican bay, knowing they would all learn shortly and for certain the importance of their presence here, now that they had arrived. All of a sudden, however, he also got a gnawing feeling that humanity would be facing something more threatening than everything they were facing now—and soon.

Atlantis, Pacific Ocean, Earth
1000 hrs. July 14, 2013

After a short visit to the mess hall for a bite, Sheppard headed for the main laboratory. His former team member, Dr. Rodney McKay, would undoubtedly be there as usual, working hard in his ZPM research. McKay had become somewhat obsessed with discovering the secret behind one of the most powerful sources of energy ever created, claiming that "the world sorely needed it". John suspected Rodney had ulterior motives, though. He had come to know McKay well enough to believe he was after a Nobel Prize and the worldwide recognition it would bring—always the egocentric man. Of course, Sheppard couldn't help but joke about it all the time, which always annoyed McKay.

Today, however, it seemed Rodney was already annoyed even before John had reached the lab. Maybe something has gone sideways with his work, Sheppard thought at first when he saw his scientist friend. "Hey, Rodney. How's that Nobel going?" he asked as he approached McKay's workstation.

"Not today, Sheppard", McKay clipped without even turning to acknowledge him. "I'm not in a mood for it. Something really weird is happening with the Ancient database."

"Weird? How so?"

"It's none of your business," Rodney mumbled.

"OK", John said and started to walk towards the exit, knowing full well that the Canadian scientist was merely trying to bait him; not playing along was always the best strategy to get Rodney to stop beating around the bush.

"Oh, come on! Don't act as if you're not interested", came the reply from McKay. John smirked. Works every time, he thought.

"It's not that I'm not interested. It's just… none of my business," he shrugged.

"Alright, if you need to know, Zelenka somehow managed to access the database's encrypted section. I'm trying to find out how he did it. Happy now?"

Sheppard turned back. "What do you mean 'encrypted'?"

"I mean 'encrypted'!" McKay said, clearly mad about it. "As in 'an isolated section of the database protected by the Ancients with an encoded algorithm, for unknown reasons, in order to prevent anyone from accessing its contents'."

"What are you talking about?" Sheppard said. "The Ancient database's contents have always been fully accessible since we first stepped through the Gate." Yes, the database was so staggeringly vast that finding anything in it was always a monumental challenge—that was a well-known fact—but it had been accessible in its entirety since day one regardless.

"That's what we used to think, until I found out an entire portion of the database a couple of years ago that was completely off-limits to everyone. I've been trying to find out what it contains, but since the most important stuff is accessible—ZPM research, Gate addresses, lots of Ancient tech, you name it—I didn't really pay any mind to it. Besides, I didn't think anyone would be able to crack the encryption before I could, Zelenka least of all. I'm sure he must've had help from someone, but that's beside…"

McKay chose this moment to finally turn and see Sheppard, and John was unable to keep his poker face up.

"Oh no, you're kidding me", McKay said, shooting him a double take.

"Rodney—"

"You?! Of all the people to set foot in this city, it was you?"

"I was bored!" Sheppard said. "These past few years have been the dullest I've ever experienced! Do you know what it is like for a guy like me to just gallivant around a friggin' galaxy without really doing anything of consequence after five years of extensive action?"

"Fine, I'll give you that", McKay said, softening his expression a little, "but why would you help Zelenka in the first place?"

"He told me it was a favor for someone. I figured it was for you", Sheppard answered, suspecting now that there had been a bet riding on who of the two scientists would crack that mysterious encryption first.

"A favor?" Rodney scoffed. "Who would ever ask him to do such a thing?"

"That would be me", said a voice coming from down the hallway. It was followed by the footsteps of Dr. Daniel Jackson as he walked into the lab. McKay seemed visibly taken aback by this admission, which didn't really surprise John, as he was aware there was some sort of rivalry between Rodney and Dr. Jackson. Then again, McKay just seemed to have some sort of rivalry with everyone.

John knew that Dr. Jackson continually visited Atlantis, especially over the last two years, as part of his own research on the Ancients' history. Sheppard was also aware that the good doctor had been trying to spend more time here ever since Atlantis had been discovered, but had only been able to do so on a regular basis once the city had come back to Earth. Surely he'd found out something big lately; otherwise, he wouldn't have approached Zelenka so desperately to ask for his help in decoding the hidden portion of the database.

Before McKay could ask or say anything else, Daniel spoke. "I didn't ask you to do it, Rodney, because I knew you'd just be too 'busy' to help, and this is important."

"Oh really? How important?" McKay seemed somewhat offended as he folded his arms over his chest.

"Well, ever since we learned about the Alliance of Four Great Races, I've found several references about a 'legacy of responsibility to be held by humans in every galaxy'. I used to believe it meant humans here and in Pegasus, or maybe even humans taken by the Ancients to other places far beyond the Milky Way. But what if it means something else? I mean, the Ancients were the first evolved humans that we know of, and even they had evolved in another galaxy altogether. So, what if humans have not only evolved here in this galaxy, but in others as well?

"Now, two years ago I discovered an interesting record in the Odyssey's Asgard core. It happens to be the oldest record mentioning the Furlings—the only race in the Alliance still shrouded in mystery—and according to its contents, they were also from another galaxy where humans had evolved… but that's all there is about it."

McKay and Sheppard looked at each other with confusion. "That's it? No more details?" McKay asked. "Nothing at all?"

"Just one other thing", Daniel replied. "The record implies the Ancients had once been at the Furlings' home galaxy after they left the Milky Way, just before they settled in Pegasus."

"And something that important should be in the Ancients database!" McKay exclaimed, apparently understanding what Daniel was driving at.

"Except it's not there," Daniel said. "I've already been all over it, and there's nothing whatsoever. Unless…"

"Unless it is there", Sheppard finished the idea, catching on, "and it is hidden."

"Exactly. That's why I asked Zelenka to help me decrypt it. I wasn't aware until just now that he happened to ask you for help in turn, Colonel Sheppard."

"Well, you could have asked me," McKay said. He no longer seemed pissed, but rather quite interested. "Have you found anything related to the Furlings yet?"

"Nothing concrete so far", Daniel said. "In fact, only one word has turned up from the description process—which, to be fair, has only just started."

"So… what's the word?" John asked?

"'Precursors'".

Trevelyan Airbase, 500 miles from ONI SHIELD Base
ONI RF Trevelyan
1430 hrs. September 17, 2558 (Military Calendar)

The Pelican's passenger bay ramp opened, and Captain Lasky descended from the transport. A pair of Huragok approached the vehicle to service it. This only happened here in Trevelyan, but still Lasky felt uneasy about it. He feared one day humans would become so dependent on these Forerunner-made aliens, it would become their weakness. He knew it had happened with the Covenant client races, many of which were still struggling to find their footing now that they found themselves free from the Prophets' rule.

He walked towards the Warthog parked a few dozen meters from the landing pad. A corporal was already waiting in the driver's seat for him. As Tom climbed aboard, he couldn't help but smile. Every single time he was on a 'Hog, it reminded him of the occasion when he was the Master Chief's driver—when they were escaping from Corbulo. That line of thought, however, made his smile fade as he remembered all the people he'd lost that day: Dimah, JJ, Walter… Chyler…

He shook that line of thought off, knowing it was best not to dwell on something that has happened such a long time ago. Right now, he had to focus on the mission at hand.

The ride to ONI SHIELD Base—if it could be called that—didn't take long. The 'base' had been established in one of the smaller Forerunner cities built within this shield world. It had taken ONI a long time to take that confident step, but after just a couple of years, they'd finally occupied the place. A small section of it, anyway. Lasky had to admit it was an astounding sight to behold.

The driver had to take a few more turns after he'd driven through the main gates before they arrived at one of the ONI-occupied buildings. As Lasky climbed out of the vehicle and started walking towards the entrance, he was greeted by someone he had not expected to see ever again.

"Hello, Captain Lasky. Welcome to SHIELD Base."

Right away, Lasky noticed the bars of a Navy Commander on the man's shoulder. He felt compelled to embrace him regardless, but he wasn't absolutely sure if that would seem appropriate, as other people were close by. His body language might have given him away though, because it was the other man who actually took the initiative to beckon him closer.

"It's alright, Tom", he said, thrusting his arms around him and squeezing him tightly. "It's been a long time after all."

For a moment, Lasky felt lost for words, but the glee he felt made him regain his speech. "Yes it has, Sully. It surely has."

The last time he'd seen Michael "Sully" Sullivan was shortly after their rescue from Circinius-IV. They had been forced to go separate ways, since there were not enough military academies with enough space for cadets who'd just lost their school to the Covenant. He'd heard rumors about Sully being inducted into and trained by ONI, but after a while, he'd dropped off the map. Given how, just shortly before the Covenant attack on Corbulo, Sully had already messed with ONI's comms and hacked them—which could've gotten him into a lot of trouble—Tom had hoped his disappearance only meant he was just so damn good he'd become some sort of operative or something like that.

And now here he was, a Commander apparently in charge of the complex, or at least of something very important in it. It didn't matter what Sully was doing here; Tom was just so glad to see his good old friend again.

Sully finally let go of Lasky. "I'm sorry we'll have to skip the pleasantries and getting up-to-date on each other, but we're kind of on a timetable here. Please, come this way." Sully motioned for Lasky to follow him as he walked back inside the building.

"Can you at least tell me how you wound up in this place?" Lasky asked.

"Guess being one of ONI's chief intelligence analysts helps", Sully replied. "That's all I'm at liberty to explain for the moment, though. I'll tell you more once we're behind closed doors."

Lasky was taken aback by this answer. Sully had always complained about ONI keeping secrets, yet now he seemed to play by the same rules. Then again, Tom thought, he was now part of ONI, after all.

They walked for a while until they finally reached what seemed to be a conference room. There was no one else there but them, however. The doors closed behind them, and Sully motioned Lasky to sit in one of the chairs.

"So… can you tell me what it is that my crew and I are doing all the way out here?" Lasky enquired as he sat down.

"Well, first of all, you're here to receive a history lesson", Sully said. "Just like the old times back in Corbulo."

Lasky frowned. "And you're going to be my teacher today?"

Sully smiled. "It's very short, and I promise I'll make it easy for you. After all, you were never good at History." Lasky narrowed his eyes at Sully in response but remained otherwise silent.

"As you may already know", Sully began, "in these past few years we've spent in this world, we've learned lots of things about Forerunner tech, but there's not really much about them as a race—their history, their society, their culture. Only recently have we been able to put together some bits and pieces we've found here and on several other known Forerunner locations. We have thus learned by this point—albeit admittedly vaguely—about both their history and that of another race which preceded them, some folks called 'Precursors'.

"From what we've been able to piece together, these Precursors were a highly advanced race, way more advanced than the Forerunners themselves. The Precursors, in fact, seem to have achieved an unparalleled level of scientific advancement which allowed them to build their technology based on something called 'neural physics'. While this normally made most Precursor artifacts effectively indestructible, the nature of their construction made them extremely susceptible to the effects of the Halo Array which, to the best of our knowledge, specifically targets neural systems."

After a short pause, Lasky asked, "Is that it? That was the history lesson?"

"Oh, we're just getting started", Sully answered. "I'm just giving you enough time to let it sink in, because what I'm about to tell you is way bigger than anything you've ever known.

"Apparently, years before the major Halo event, the Forerunners test-fired an early Halo prototype on a planet known to them as Charum Hakkor, where there were a lot of Precursor artifacts. The weapon's effect shattered every Precursor structure and piece of tech present on the surface, and they were all wiped out… but one single device remained standing. Not much is mentioned about this peculiar object, except for the fact that such a device seemed to be present in several worlds.

"After a long research, the Forerunner concluded the device was of an unknown origin—and, by 'unknown', they literally meant 'not built by any species in this galaxy, extinct or otherwise'—suggesting there was another race out there which came to our galaxy just to spread these mysterious artifacts all over it. The Forerunners ended up collecting a large number of such devices and storing them in the Ark for further study.

"From the Forerunners' own reports, we gather they used to believe the Precursors had seeded life in the galaxy through these artifacts. The Halos had been built in a shape identical to those devices to reflect the irony of their function in contrast. But when they found out the artifacts were not Precursor-made at all…"

This time the pause lasted longer, which had Lasky thinking the other shoe was yet to drop. When Sully didn't add anything else, he decided to break the silence. "Something tells me this goes beyond classified, or a lot of UNSC personnel outside of ONI would already know this, including me. Which leads to an obvious question: Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because you've just been given clearance to know about it", Sully replied. "It was deemed necessary for your mission."

"Which is…?" Tom was getting tired of his friend being so dramatic about this whole thing.

"To recover these artifacts in order for us to study them and understand their true purpose, and maybe even find out where they actually came from."

Lasky felt at a loss. Had he missed something during the 'history lesson'?

"Sully, you're right about me not being really good in History, but I do remember reading something about the Ark being destroyed when a replacement Halo ring was activated to wipe out the Flood threat."

"'Thought to be destroyed'", Sully said matter-of-factly. "When we debriefed MCPO Spartan-117, we learned that the Ark had been damaged but not destroyed, according to Cortana's account. This fact was later corroborated during Operation: FAR STORM. I do believe you had clearance already to read about that mission?"

Lasky racked his brain for any information he may have come across in the past about Operation: FAR STORM. "I… vaguely remember reading something about a human-Sangheili joint task force being sent to the Ark in 2555. Shall I assume they succeeded in finding it?"

"Indeed. They got there through the Portal at Voi after it was repaired. The UNSC began to establish research facilities on the Ark right away, and we studied the Sentinels in hopes that they could be commanded to continue repairing the installation by strip-mining lifeless star systems. Took us a while, but we were able to get the job done." Sully sounded so proud of such a feat, it made Lasky wonder whether his old friend had been involved in the operation in any capacity.

"Well then, if the UNSC is already settled in and has the means and resources to find what you're looking for, why is Infinity being assigned to this task?"

"Turns out, the Portal at Voi isn't the only one capable of reaching the Ark as previously thought. We're still working on locating and securing any other such portals, but it's a big galaxy—and the Covenant may already be aware of them."

Lasky felt his stomach knotting up. "I'm guessing they already beat us to the punch?"

"You catch on quickly, Tom. We've received reliable intel that a Covenant strike fleet may soon depart for the Ark, though we're still short on details. That's where Infinity and the Spartan-IV's come in", Sully said. "You are our very best bet for a successful defense there with our limited information, both in space and on the ground."

Lasky couldn't deny that. Plus, he did understand the importance of keeping these devices out of Covenant hands. If they were something way beyond the Forerunners themselves, such artifacts could potentially be the key holding secrets more powerful than anything this galaxy had ever seen—and thus, they could give any race that cracked their secrets the ultimate upper hand.

"Okay, we'll make sure our people at the Ark and the artifacts they're looking for stay safe", Lasky promised.

"Yeah, about that", Sully was quick to add. "Our people there haven't yet started looking for them. Your crew, both military and civilian, are actually being given that task, since you'll also be in charge of extracting the devices safely and transporting them back here for safekeeping."

It's always something else with ONI, Lasky thought to himself. "What would we be looking for?" he finally said, letting out a heavy sigh.

Sully raised a remote, and a holographic display flashed above the desk. "They are similar in appearance to the Halos, but we believe them to be considerably smaller—only approximately seven meters in diameter."

The hologram displayed a ring which, at first, looked similar to a Halo—until the angle shifted drastically, revealing an inner ring lined with weird-looking symbols. Yeah… this definitely looks nothing like a Halo, Lasky mentally remarked.

A/N: Aaaaand we're back! So, yeah, there you have it. I'm certain you'll have noticed quite a bunch of differences already between this first chapter and the original—hopefully enough that you'll feel encouraged to join me once again in this journey. And don't worry, I have no plans to drag this story over five years like the last time. This is, after all, just a rewrite of something that has been published in full already.

Now, for the more detailed reasons behind me undertaking this little republishing project:

As stated before, I want to fix some things that were poorly written in my haste to get this story out of my brain and into the world (aside from wanting to improve the style and language to reflect how my English has improved over the years), not to mention making it less 'naïve' than it—than I—was back then. Heavens know the Stargate franchise was never naïve, even when trying to keep a positive outlook on our humanity as we ventured into the stars. The least I can do is try to live up to that legacy.

Additionally, in light of all the official expanded lore that has been released on both sides of the fence over the years, I'd like to go back and incorporate stuff that may benefit the story. And yes, I know that fanfiction isn't necessarily dependent on official lore, but I do like acknowledging any good stuff found in such lore if it also suits my story. For instance, back in 2013 when I first began writing this story, I wasn't remotely aware that a series of book sequels was already in the works for SGA. Even to this day, the only exposition I've had to that material has been through the SG wiki, not the books proper, and I suspect that is true of a good portion of the SG fan base world-wide.
For better or for worse, there's some really good stuff in those books! (At least it seems as much, from what little I've gleaned while skimming through the SG wiki.) That being said, had I waited back then for that book series to be released in full, my story would've never even gotten off the ground. Same with the Halo printed media, though perhaps to a lesser extent. And that's the last I'll say in this regard before I digress even further.

For those of you who may not be aware, back in early 2023, I had a stroke. Recovery since then has been steady, even though I still struggle with mobility in my left hand. My memory, in any event, is not the same as it used to be before this health incident. I've forgotten things about my own stories, and this is having a direct impact on my inspiration for the stories that are meant to come after this one. Like, I know where they're meant to go, but I'm having a hard time with the journey itself. So, in going back and not only rereading TFRR but actually rewriting it, I'm hoping to find that much-needed inspiration again.

Well, now that you know my reasons for this project, I leave it up to you to decide whether joining me again in this journey is worth your time or a waste of it. I promise I won't feel bad if it is the latter.

Regarding the timeframe for updates, my plan is to release a chapter every week on the same day. By my estimation, it should take half a year for TFRR to be republished in full if I can manage to stick to this plan—which I sincerely expect I can, given what I stated before about this story being complete already and only requiring some polishing. As for the SGU: Season 3 spin-off and the sequel (TFRR: Upheaval), I truly hope to find the time and renewed inspiration as I keep republishing chapters here to continue writing them while at the same time keeping up with this project. I have learned my lesson, however, and know better than to make empty promises. So, all I can say is that I'll try my best, despite my current circumstances, to continue updating my other works, but they'll be ready when they're ready.

Last but not least, in case you still haven't yet and are interested, I kindly invite you to read a PSA I published over on TFRR in February of this year, where I explain stuff regarding the ischemic stroke I had and the Discord server I opened in greater detail. Also, feel free to join the server at any time if you'd like! That way, we can stay in touch more closely and (relatively) frequently.

Well, peeps, that's all I have for now. Please do let me know in a review whether you enjoyed reading this republished chapter and like the idea of this project, or you didn't and you don't. Regardless, please, don't forget to review on your way out! Have a nice day, everyone!