A/N: Yes, I know this isn't 'the following week on the same day', and I apologize; it was out of my hands. My computer crashed catastrophically last week (it tends to do that a lot nowadays), and I had to get it fixed before I could get back to rewriting this chapter. But, hey? At least it didn't take me months to post a 'new' chapter, right?

Ok, so, I've decided to include a list of broad changes for each republished chapter at every closing A/N from here going forward. As I failed to do that in the previous chapter, I'll include those as well in this one.

Changes in Chapter 1:
- Added/expanded on several subtle mentions of the state of things in Pegasus. Rectified one of two plots that made little to no sense, particularly regarding Sheppard. Added some references to events from the SGA: Legacy book series [Queen Death and the reunification of the Wraith]. (Please keep in mind, not all the stuff from those books will make it into my republished story—just the odd plot or two.)
- Added/expanded on several subtle mentions of the state of things in the Halo galaxy. Rectified Sullivan's rank. Rectified the plot regarding the Ark to include references to the book Hunters in the Dark.

That should do it for now, so, I'll leave you to it. Do please, however, take some time to read an important announcement in my closing A/N. Enjoy!

Atlantis conference room
Atlantis, Earth
1800 hrs. July 15, 2013

"What exactly are the implications of this?" Richard Woolsey asked.

A meeting had been called upon soon after McKay and Daniel had informed Wolsey and General Jack O'Neill—over the phone in the latter's case—of their discovery. With the Daedalus currently in orbit and prepping for their next supply run to Pegasus, beaming General O'Neill from DC to Atlantis so that both leaders could meet with the two scientists in person for a proper report had been a breeze. Woolsey had requested Sheppard's presence in the conference room, so here he was too, for the first time in ages.

Being here brought John back to the good old days, when he and his team would plan or be assigned their next mission. The only thing that had been less constant about that over the years was the person sitting in the expedition commander's chair, with three different people having sat there. Frankly, he was still surprised that after four years, Woolsey was still in command of Atlantis. Sheppard had half-expected the IOA to replace Woolsey after the organization had insisted on keeping the city on Earth; there was precedent for that, after all. Then again, it was perhaps Woolsey's knowledge of the inner workings of the IOA and how the minds of its higher-ups operated that had allowed him to navigate the endless political discussions about what to do with the city in such a way that he remained in the big seat to this day.

"Well, there is a chance we could find the only race that remains of the Alliance, besides the Nox," Daniel said in response to Woolsey's question.

"Yeah…" General O'Neill shifted in his seat, clearly not convinced by the argument. "Daniel, need I remind you that the last time you said something like this, we almost got our asses whooped by the Ori?" said.

"Things could be different this time, Jack."

"Really? What have you learned so far, anyway?"

Daniel and McKay looked at each other. "Well," McKay said, "th-the decryption process is taking longer than we first anticipated. Apparently the Ancients wanted to make sure this remained a well-kept secret, which is odd considering they even left that information in the database. I-I mean, you'd think they would have erased it in the first place if they—"

"Rodney," Sheppard interrupted, "have you found something new or not?"

McKay paused, then said, "No, not really." O'Neill scoffed.

"The decrypted information is emerging randomly," Daniel interjected, "so we only have bits and pieces. Although I think some of it hints to an individual alliance between the Ancients and whoever the Precursors were prior to the one forged with the Asgard and the Nox, I won't be able to confirm anything until I have more to work with."

"Alright then, Dr. Jackson," Woolsey finally spoke again. "Keep working on it. In the meantime, let's move on to more pressing matters, shall we?"

"Sheppard, this one in particular concerns you," O'Neill said.

Sheppard frowned. "How so, sir?"

"Let's just say you'll be making the return trip to Pegasus aboard the Daedalus instead of gating back… and you won't be going to the FOB straight away." Sheppard's brow went up immediately.

"I assume," Woolsey took over, "you're aware of the Ancient manufacturing facility currently in use by the Travelers?"

"How couldn't I?" Sheppard snorted. "Some sort of low-tonnage shipbuilding yard, wasn't it?" The topic of this facility—found on an inhabited world accessible only via Spacegate—was still something of a sore point for some people in Atlantis. Someone in Rodney's research team had stumbled upon the place in the database just the day before the Super-hive incident, and a scouting mission for Colonel Lorne's team to check the place out had been left in the planning stage when the city had left for Earth.

Then, in the expedition's relatively short absence from Pegasus, the Travelers had claimed the planet for themselves, having found information on its location in their own Ancient warship's data banks not long before its tragic loss. To be fair, it was much better that the place was in the hands of the Travelers—who were making good use of the facility by fixing their ages-old fleet there—than in anyone else's. In any case, the situation in and of itself wouldn't have been so bad, were it not for the fact that they wouldn't let the Tau'ri anywhere near the yard after their return to Pegasus, refusing to even explain why.

"Not just low-tonnage, apparently," Woolsey clarified. "We just learned a few days ago of a previously undiscovered annexed yard whose purpose was to build ships of much higher tonnage."

"Wait, what?" McKay blurted out. "How could the Travelers miss that? They never bothered to check the schematics?" McKay made a good point. Despite whatever reason the Tau'ri were being denied access to the place, Larrin—one of the Traveler commanders John had had… dealings with in the past—still had the decency to keep them apprised of any new discoveries they made—though Sheppard was all but certain she only did it for bragging rights. For her not to have shared this information sooner meant either that she hadn't been as forthcoming as she claimed, or that her people really had found the annexed yard only just recently.

"The facility in question is built beneath an inland sea," Woolsey said. "No one could've seen it from the air previously, and it was sealed due to flooding. From what I'm told, the hangar door and atmospheric shield that kept the lake water at bay must've failed at some point in the last five years or so. Talk about poor timing."

"Ah. So, it's useless," McKay leaned back in his seat, arms folded over his chest and a sardonic smirk playing at the corner of his lips.

"Not anymore. The Travelers managed to repair the damage and drain all the water. The facility is now fully accessible again, and they're working hard to get it operational."

"Gotta give it to that bunch," Sheppard interjected with a mild grin. "They can be pretty tenacious and motivated."

"They have every reason to be in this case," Woolsey observed. "So far, they've only used the low-tonnage section of the yard to repair and service their battered centuries-old ships. With both sections of that facility fully operational, however, they have the potential to, more than just repair ships, build new ones—provided that the current automated manufacturing settings can be reconfigured. At the moment, all that can be manufactured there is Lantean spacecraft."

"One would think they might prefer more technologically advanced ships than the ones they have now," Sheppard commented.

"Lantean technology is still light-years beyond them," McKay pointed out haughtily. "Even with their ATA interface, all they can do is operate a Lantean ship, but they can't really fix any major issues that might arise down the line. The only reason they've been able to use the facility to fix their fleet is because they're operating the yard's machinery manually to fix what they know how to fix. If the facility were to follow its automation settings, their ships would likely end up being a mishmash of highly advanced control crystal systems and archaic circuitry. They wouldn't have the slightest idea how any of it works."

"You really need to work on your vocabulary, Rodney," Sheppard teased with a smirk. "That was at least three times you used the word 'fix' just now."

Rodney's arrogant pose eased up somewhat at that remark, and the childish sneer he threw John in response was just priceless. "What do they even need new ships for, anyway?" the Canadian scientist argued in a clear attempt to deflect. "It's not like they need to continue being space nomads to avoid the Wraith anymore. Can't they just put down roots for a change?"

"They still have some reservations about establishing another colony after what happened a few years ago when their first settlement in generations was destroyed." The Travelers had developed a somewhat superstitious belief that it would be bad luck for them to try and settle down anywhere after the Attero device incident Sheppard was referring to, and couldn't blame them. Three ships—including their Lantean battleship—and more than 3000 lives had been lost that day in the catastrophic explosion of the planet's Stargate. Something as traumatizing as that had to leave a mark.

"In any event," Woolsey continued, "reprogramming the yard to build anything other than Lantean spacecraft turned out to be more difficult for the Travelers alone than they first thought. Larrin had to contact our people in Pegasus to request aid in the matter."

"And Dr. Jimenez, being the skilled diplomat she is, respectfully told them where to shove it, right?" Not that the current commander of the Pegasus expedition would ever do such a thing. There was a reason she'd been handpicked by the President to lead the expedition at the Pegasus FOB in lieu of Woolsey who had stayed behind to help General O'Neill in his dealings with the IOA. As Elizabeth Weir's former student and protégée from before her days in the Stargate Program, Dr. Jimenez would know better than to antagonize an ally, regardless of how… flighty said ally could be.

"She was able to broker a deal, actually. More than that, she was also able to get Larrin to open up about the reason why the Travelers wouldn't let us near the facility these past few years, and it was as we suspected. Their inclusion into the Coalition of Planets—and the rather negative influence of some of its members, no doubt—played a big part in that decision."

Sheppard shook his head. So, the rumors about the Travelers joining the Coalition were true. He knew first-hand how manipulative the latter could be, and given how their influence had spread far and wide across Pegasus over the years, it wasn't hard to imagine them strong-arming the Travelers into limiting their interaction with the Tau'ri, lest the nomadic civilization lose access to any valuable trading partners they had made over generations. "Well, now we know that for a fact. What's the deal Dr. Jimenez made, anyway?"

"In exchange for us assisting in reconfiguring the facility automation settings," Woolsey replied, "we would be allowed to claim any spoils of our choosing."

"Okay, I'm starting to like the sound of that a bit more," Sheppard said.

Woolsey shifted in his seat before continuing. "Unfortunately, there was only one fully-built Aurora-class battleship there, and because of the collateral damage caused to the Travelers by the activation of the Attero device a few years ago, Dr. Jimenez thought it would actually be of more benefit if we turned it over to them."

Sheppard was confused. "I'm sorry, how could that be of more benefit to us, exactly?"

"Simply put," Woolsey grinned, "we give them the ship, and they allow us to keep all but one of the ZPMs stored in the manufacturing facility."

McKay instantly straightened in his chair at that sentence. "Did you just say 'Zed-PM'?"

"Actually, Rodney," Sheppard said, better able to mask the same shock he seemed to share with McKay in that moment, "I think he said ZPMs—plural."

Rodney was unapologetically saucer-eyed by that point in a way that was almost comical to watch, like a kid at a candy shop. "How many of them?" he asked with a wide grin.

"Eight," Woolsey answered. "Minus the one we're giving them for their ship."

"Seven total, then," Sheppard summarized matter-of-factly as he did the math out loud. "Three for Atlantis, and the remaining ones for each of our 304s that still lack one—the Daedalus, the Apollo, the Sun Tzu, and the Hammond." The Odyssey still retained the ZPM given to it in 2007, and it was still at a relatively decent charge.

"And Stargate Command gets the ZPM Atlantis already has, half-full though it may be," General O'Neill remarked. "You never know when we could use one there."

Sheppard rested his chin on his fist as he leaned forward on the conference table. "To be honest, I can't even be mad that Dr. Jimenez offered to let them keep the battleship they found instead of claiming it for Earth. The Travelers did help Ford out where I couldn't, so… what better token of gratitude than that?" As it turned out, Lieutenant Aiden Ford, former member of Sheppard's team believed lost in the Battle of Edowin eight years ago, had in fact survived. For five years before he was found again by the Pegasus expedition, he had been living among the Travelers. After Ford had escaped the hive ship he had been on during the battle in question, the Travelers had found him on Edowin and taken him in. One of their doctors was a former Wraith worshiper and thus knew how to treat Ford's Wraith enzyme withdrawal.

With the Travelers help, Ford had eventually recovered and—now under the name 'Wolf'—taken the fight to the Wraith again for a while, even during the early months of the truce agreed to by the Wraith, until the Pegasus expedition had to step in at Todd's request to stop him in order to maintain the fragile peace the Tau'ri and Wraith had established. Afterwards, Ford had left the Travelers and returned to Earth with his Traveler wife and their son. Sheppard may not have liked the way the Travelers were treating the Tau'ri when it came to that shipbuilding yard, but he was eternally grateful to them for saving Ford when he had failed to do so himself.

"Where does the space trip fit in all this, though?" Sheppard addressed the question to General O'Neill directly, continuing his original train of thought.

"The Daedalus and the Hammond have been appointed to help tow the Tria through hyperspace back to Pegasus," O'Neill replied. "You remember the Tria, of course?"

"Not too fondly, sir, but yes, I do." The way those ungrateful Lanteans the Tau'ri had rescued from the intergalactic void all those years ago had kicked them all out of Atlantis afterwards was still easily one of the more unpleasant chapters in the history of the expedition. As for the damaged Aurora-class battleship the Lanteans in question had abandoned when the Daedalus crew had ferried them back to Pegasus, John was fully aware that the IOA had intended to salvage it at some… point…

Wait…

"Well, Dr. Jimenez convinced Larrin somehow that our people would need to see the facility's automation settings in action in order to understand them better and reprogram them to suit the Travelers' needs. She reasoned that, since the ship that was already docked in that yard is in mint condition, short of building a new ship from scratch, the best way to understand those settings was to have the yard repair an existing damaged ship."

The Colonel had just unwittingly confirmed the suspicion that had begun forming in Sheppard's head just as he'd started to put two and two together. "Wow," he chuckled mirthlessly. "Ballsy move on Dr. Jimenez' part, if I may say so. We must've seemed less altruistic once she mentioned that we already had a battleship to claim as our own."

"Oh, she did explain that the ship may never be returned to its former glory," Woolsey weighed in, "even with whatever repairs the shipyard is able to effect."

"Still, I'm surprised Larrin didn't argue against that proposal. She's not exactly the most reasonable lady out there, you know?" Sheppard insisted, muttering the last bit somewhat, before he turned to Colonel O'Neill again. "I assume, then, that I'm required to help land the ship once we reach our destination?"

"You assume correctly, Sheppard. Though that's only part of your assignment. Once there, both 304s will be given a ZPM before departing for the Pegasus FOB, where the remaining five ZPMs will be sent to Earth via Stargate. You'll be in charge of guarding those five ZPMs until then." O'Neill leaned towards John on the table in an almost buddy-buddy way. "I know you've been away from the real action for quite some time, and while this mission isn't the most exciting, it should still be something a little closer to what you got used to in your early tenure at Pegasus."

Sheppard couldn't believe Earth's increasing luck—their enemies defeated, humans acquiring more technology now than ever, the possibility of a new ally from the time of the Alliance of Great Races… Murphy's law dictated that something much less pleasant was bound to happen sooner than later. How much luckier could they get before then? And for how long?

What the heck, he pushed that line of thought aside, let's enjoy it while it lasts.

"Okay then," he asked, clasping his hands together excitedly, "when do we leave?"

In orbit above Earth, Sol System
UNSC Infinity, S-Deck
1200 hrs. September 23, 2558 (Military Calendar)

"They're overdue," Captain Lasky said, a slight trace of concern in his voice. He was standing at Palmer's command post overseeing S-Deck, waiting for the new Spartan-IV fireteams assigned to the UNSC Infinity. Sully had advised him to max out Infinity's roster of Spartans for the mission but wouldn't elaborate on why. Whether ONI was expecting that the Covenant would already be at the Ark by the time the Infinity arrived or this was just part of the agency's pathological penchant for shadow play, Lasky was nevertheless surprised by his own patience regarding the situation.

"The best things in life always take time, Captain." Roland, the ship's AI, was his usual condescending self—which meant he was bored and would soon start looking for ways to entertain himself. As long as he didn't commandeer the ship and take it for a joyride all over the planetary system. Heavens knew the AI in question had made such a 'threat' more times than Lasky cared to count…

"I just hope this turns out to be only a precautionary measure and not an actual necessity, Roland," Lasky said as he tapped the comms console in front of him. "Dr. Glassman, status?"

"All systems are in the green, Captain," came the response. "We're ready to leave on your order."

"Were you able to boost the Slipspace drive's efficiency?"

"As much as I could, but I'm afraid it's still going to take us a week before we reach our destination."

Lasky turned to Roland's avatar. "Please, break it down for me again," he requested. "How come this trip isn't faster than a week? I was under the impression that a portal transition could be as fast as just a few hours, according to the mission reports for Operation: FAR STORM."

The AI's avatar became slightly brighter, something that used to happen a lot when he was asked about something, as if proud to become a teacher to anyone who would listen.

"It's not really up to us, Captain," Roland said as though it was rather obvious. "So long as we're using a slipspace portal, we're just along for the ride—quite literally. As for improving portal transit, it's all a matter of resource allocation, basically. With an exponential increase in the portal's power and astrogation systems to send and receive objects across the vast space that separates Earth from the Ark, travel time can indeed be shortened considerably. The problem with this proposition is the extraordinary exertion of power and information it entails, which could very well compromise a number of systems on whichever end of the portal such modifications are implemented on. In fact—"

"Roland, I meant 'dumb it down' earlier, not 'make my head spin'."

"Sorry, Captain," Roland flashed an apologetic smile, a gesture Lasky knew was more for his own benefit than something the AI actually felt. "It all boils down to the benefits of faster travel time not outweighing the risk of damaging the Ark itself, essentially."

Lasky nodded. As long as they managed to fulfill their mission, time was not a problem.

"Captain, Commander Palmer has arrived with the new Spartan fireteams," Roland announced. "Shall I contact the people in charge of opening the portal and let them know that we're ready to depart?"

"Not yet, Roland," Lasky replied. "We're still waiting for our special guests."

"Ah, you mean Major Sullivan and his 'personal security detail'?" Roland air-quoted, an amused grin on his face.

"They are more than just a security detail. You'll know when they arrive. Just try not to make a fuss over it, would you?"

"Aye, aye, Captain. In the meantime, fancy a look at the new Spartan recruits?"

"Yeah, why not?" Lasky shrugged. "Might just as well see the faces of more people I'm now responsible for, with the hopes that they will survive in combat." Lasky was certain these Spartans had been given the best training possible. It couldn't be otherwise, considering their mentors were all of the surviving Spartan-II's and some of the -III's. Nevertheless, he still had deep concerns about their fates being in his hands. After all, not everyone has made it back from Requiem.

Tom would have to make sure to bring them all back home breathing and in one piece this time around.

"Captain, your special guests have…" Roland began but paused for a few moments, something that rarely happened. With how insanely fast Smart AIs could process information, Roland had to have been truly impressed and taken by surprise by what he was seeing through the hangar bay cameras, or he was merely being melodramatic. To be fair, either one of those two scenarios would've been rather appropriate in these circumstances, Lasky figured.

"Roland, show them to their quarters. And don't say a word about this to anyone, please. As much as I'd love to share this with the rest of the crew, I've been ordered to keep this under wraps."

"ONI?"

"Is there anyone else who orders you to keep a secret these days?"

"Point taken. Ready for your announcement, Captain?"

Lasky nodded once more. He took a deep breath then spoke through the ship-wide comms. "Attention all hands! We're going into emergency Slipspace protocol. All non-essential personnel, report to your designated Cryo-chambers. Entering slipspace portal in T-minus 5 minutes."

Lasky headed back to the bridge, and by the time everyone was either in a Cryo-tube or in a relevant post, he was already overseeing the final steps prior to the journey. As Infinity cruised through Earth's upper atmosphere towards Kenyan airspace, he couldn't help but be astounded at how well the UNSC seemed to be able to keep the portal at Voi from becoming public knowledge—especially given how it apparently remained active at all times. Yes, there was a no-fly zone in effect that encompassed the better part of the eastern African coast, but still, there was no way something as big as this could be kept hidden for long… was there?

Moments later, Infinity broke orbit and plunged into the depths of the twirling circuit of purple energy ripping time and space open. The mission had begun.

Intergalactic void, over two hundred and sixty thousand light years from the Milky Way's center
September 24, 2558 (Human Military Calendar)

The relative peace and quiet of a place in the void beyond the Milky Way galaxy was suddenly broken as a Slipspace window began to open. From it emerged the Glorified Wisdom, a Covenant Ceudar-pattern heavy corvette, its command center crawling with Sangheili technicians, one of which immediately announced: "Shipmistress, we've reached the coordinates."

"We have a massive object on sensors", another one spoke up only a few seconds later. "Forerunner architecture confirmed."

The holo-projector in the middle of the bridge immediately flashed to life, but the Shipmistress ignored it and moved towards the massive screen which served as a window. She preferred to look at this feat of Forerunner technology in all of its glory, not reduced to a simple holo-projection. For a moment, everyone else paused and did the same thing as her—they all gazed at the magnificent starfish-shaped artifact created by the gods millennia ago.

"Perfect." As everyone returned to their respective duties, the Shipmistress just stared… and smiled. She was the only living being aboard this ship that could actually generate this particular gesture.

She was the only member of her species among the Covenant altogether, something previously unheard of. Though, of course, her specific circumstances for such inclusion had more to do with convenience than true acceptance on the splinter faction's part.

"Communications?" she called out.

"Our link to the fleet is active, praise the gods," the pertinent crew member replied.

"Good. Send a message to the Didact's Hand", Shipmistress Catherine Halsey commanded. "Let him know that we've reached the Ark."

A/N: And that's a wrap on this one.

Changes in Chapter 2:
- Added/expanded on a few additional subtle mentions of the state of things in Pegasus. Rectified one of two plots that made little to no sense, particularly regarding the Lantean facility where the ZPMs are found. Added a reference to a salvageable SGA: Legacy plotline [Ford's fate].
- Added/expanded on a few subtle mentions of the state of things in the Halo galaxy. Rectified the plot device through which both Infinity and Halsey travel to the Ark in order to better match the events of HitD [slipspace portals].

I believe those are all the changes so far. If I remember anything else that has been altered up to this point, I'll add it later. For now, I'm running on fumes as it is, so, I'll just finish with the following PSA:

As previously mentioned, the Patre0n project has been shelved indefinitely, opting instead for a more open means to connect with you, my dear audience. That being said, I'm still unemployed after the whole stroke incident, staying afloat only through odd jobs here and there. Wiring these stories (or, in this case, rewriting it) is pretty time-consuming, and while I'm still not working an office job and thus available to spend time on this, it would be nice to get some support from people who appreciate the effort.

So, taking a cue from some content creators I follow on social media, I've come up with a small solution… in the form of a Ko-fi page. That way, instead of paying for a tiered subscription for content that may or may not be released on a regular basis, you can just help this humble fanfiction writer through occasional donations equivalent to the price of a cup of coffee, as long as you (and your wallet) are feeling up to it. If interested and able to, please visit my FB page tomorrow. There should be a pinned post there with the link by then.

So, that's item no. 1 on this announcement. Item no. 2 is something I'll leave for your consideration in a poll: if I were to tell you that I've been considering doing streams on Twitch again, but this time with the idea of discussing my stories much in the same way I'm attempting to do in my Discord channel over gaming sessions, would you approve of the idea and join me there once or twice a week? Or would you say it's a ridiculous idea and just stick to trading my stories whenever I update them?

I'll be posting that poll tomorrow. For now, I have to go to bed. Talk to you soon! Oh, and… well, you know the drill, hehe. ;)