"Thank You Sir." Sam said as she turned to see the young man laughing quietly.
"Col. Carter, to answer your earlier speculation, it does take enormous energy to do what we do with the Astria, in fact my ancestors who built the primitive ones you use now, would not have been able to provide the power needed, nor would the Astria be able to handle it." Harry told her.
"But it still does not explain how it is possible to have more than one gate open at the same time in the same place." Sam exclaimed.
Seeing no forthcoming explanation she said. "Look we know that you can only dial one gate on a particular planet, the dominant one. It is possible for the gate to jump to a secondary gate on the same planet, but the circumstances needed to create that jump are impractical for normal use."
Since she had yet to ask any question Harry sat there and just watched her dig herself a deeper hole. Oh how he was going to enjoy knocking over her tower of knowledge.
Getting frustrated a she was not getting any answers, it did not dawn on her she had yet to ask a question.
Seeing Sam getting frustrated Daniel wisely whispered in her ear. "Sam you have not asked anything juts made statements of how things work, which if you think about it since they can do it you might want to re-evaluate what you think you know."
Leaving his colleague slightly shocked Daniel decided to ask before they got bogged down in technical discussions. "Would it be possible to get some one to tutor me properly in speaking your language, I would prefer not to make a fool of myself again."
Remembering Daniels last attempt and how much of a disaster it was, Harry smirked at the thought of teaming the Archeologist up with Minerva and wondered how many detentions he would end up with before she broke down and just slapped him for his foul mouth. "I think I can make arrangements with the Headmistress of education for you to join some of the elementary classes in a couple of months."
Pleased with the answer. "Thank you." Daniel told him beaming with excitement.
Thinking carefully on how to phrase it. "I have been wondering something." Sam said.
"I know that our gates, dial seven symbols to get to the planet we want to travel to, and the eighth acts like an area code which allows us to dial other galaxies, what does the ninth symbol do?" Sam asked.
"Let's start with what happens when you input the co-ordinates into the ailer var shall we." Harry said placing his hand on the panel and having the computer give a detailed hologram of an antique gate and its control console.
"Now when seven symbols are entered, the closest Astria at the destination target becomes the anchor for the matter stream, correct." Harry asked.
Nodding her head in the affirmative, though it was not quite how she understood the process, but it was close.
"And if I told you that by adding one more symbol it would target a particular Astria at the target destination." Harry said watching her process that information.
"Wait a minute I thought the eighth glyph indicated which galaxy you wanted to dial into." Daniel interjected.
Shaking his head and pointing at the hologram, Harry told him. "No, at the time the Astria were built they did not need any more than eight symbols to indicate nexus gates."
"It's all about power, with enough power at your disposal you would be able to go to the planets that are currently out of your computers reach, which is about half of them." Harry shrank the hologram of the gate and had a nexus gate appear next to it.
Unlike other platforms that hold the gate, if you look closely at a nexus gates platform, you will see it is attached to the gate itself, and the ailer var is built into the platform not stationed near by. It also differs in that it is larger as it needs to be so to house the larger power source." Harry explained.
"Let me see if I have this correct." Daniel said. "The eighth symbol is to get to a nexus gate not a gate in another galaxy."
"Yes. Back when the Astria were built, it seemed like a waste of resources in the beginning to provide every Astria with a large enough power source to be able to access every other one. So traveling around the galaxies was a four or five step process.
You would travel to the nexus or to a Astria close enough to get to a nexus. Then you would travel to the next nexus and from there out to the planet you wished to go to. Took about ten minutes." Harry shrugged.
"Even after newer and more powerful power supplies were invented there really was not a good enough reason to upgrade the Astria." Harry said as the hologram flashed and disappeared.
Sitting up as she made a connection. "Wait we have seen these nexus gates Daniel. The ones we found that had Zero Point Module's on them.
"Zero Point module?" Harry questioned trying to think what they could be referring to.
"A glowing crystalline structure about so long, several pointed points on the end." Daniel pantomimed the dimensions.
Frowning in thought Harry stared as energy modules started to rapidly flash in front of him.
'Harry I think he is describing a Celes node.' Aloria whispered through the link.
'Those old things.' Harry replied as he changed the settings so that museum pieces started to display.
Slowing down as he was getting to the end or the earliest displays Sam exclaimed. "There, that's what it looks like."
"But.But that's positively ancient." Harry groaned out in shock.
"Are you telling me that the Celes Bydi were never replaced in this region?" Harry said incredulous.
Then aloud Harry asked Aloria, while skimming through diagrams and specifications. "Aloria could you check the archives to see if you can find out why these things were still in use."
Projecting her voice like it was coming out of a speaker in the table, she said. "Right away Lord Commander."
Sam just blinked at the statement and the expression on Harry's face, while Daniel asked. "Celes Bydi?"
"Hmm.Oh closest would be Quantum node in your language I suppose." Harry replied still distracted with what he was reading.
Seeing that he was distracted and hoping that he might give an explanation without thinking about it, Sam asked. "What do Quantum nodes do?"
"They encase an artificial subspace point which harnesses micro wormholes that try to form inside, and as they collapse capture the energy released and focus its output through the crystalline structure into usable energy." Harry answered with what he was reading, not giving it much thought.
'It would take thousands of these things to match the energy output of just one of our singularity plants' Harry whispered in shock through his link. 'No wonder the old Astria have to be replaced to perform as we need them to.'
"Just think of what we would be able to do if we could create ZPM's to power our ships instead of the Naquadah generators we use now." Sam was excited by the prospect.
'Harry, it looks like this branch of the Alteran race never had a need to develop new power sources. Though from information provided by the Atlantis dump it looks like the war caused them to try, but in the end they failed.' Aloria told him as he shut down the display.
'So while some moved into hiding and started to research and develop everything they could think of when the plague started the rest just put distance between them and the affected worlds and grew complacent and lazy' Harry said bitterly.
"It looks that way. I would say that we are as far advanced from the ancients as the ancients were to the Earth humans.' Aloria compared.
Harry winced at that thought, after all he did have Aloria and she was able to make great leaps in their knowledge and capabilities.
Sighing quietly as he leaned back in his chair letting his head rest on the headrest. The culture shock that the Alteran's they rescue is going to be immense he thought. I need to make sure we come up with something to help ease that or we stand the chance of loosing the much needed genetic infusion.
Deciding he had better pay attention to the here and now Harry listened in to the conversation Col. Carter was having with Daniel.
"I wonder if we can get a couple of spare ZPM's to replace the ones Dr. Weirs people need." Daniel mentioned to Sam.
Breaking into the conversation Harry told him. "No, we don't use them. In fact I had to find the information on them in the museum to even know what you were talking about."
Jack who had been keeping half an ear on the conversation sat up, the Asgard had even been unable to reverse engineer a ZPM.
Daniel stared at Harry and mouthed very slowly. "A museum."
"Our scientists have speculated that that a truly advanced civilization would have unlimited power by tapping the planets core." Sam threw out one of the more off the wall theories hoping to get it shot down.
Shaking his head in disgust, Harry simply said. "Why would you do something foolish like that and risk destabilizing the planets core causing it to blow up."
Sam's eyes bulged out in shock. She was hoping to get the theory disproved but this was a whole different thing.
Ignoring the babble that was over his head Jack asked. "If you don't use ZPM's what do you use?"
Harry blinked at the question and not seeing any harm in the answer told them. "A singularity."
"But how could you use a black hole as a power source? Wouldn't it sap all your energy instead of generate it?" Sam asked confused.
Confused for a moment as he had to translate the black hole reference and the prevailing theory behind it into something he could understand.
Sometimes he wished he had more of a grounding in the sciences he would have had if he did not go to Hogwarts, instead of learning advanced science from the Alteran view point, some times he did not have a good reference to go by when talking to those that only knew the prevailing Earth views.
"No this would be the opposite of a black hole. I believe you call them white holes." Harry explained.
While the hard Sciences were not his field Daniel did know that current theory was that a white hole birthed the universe.
Way over his head now Jack asked. "What's so special about a white hole anyway?"
"Big Bang, Jack." Daniel said as he was still trying to get his mind around the concept.
Harry almost had to laugh as the look that crossed the General's face as he looked around like he was about to be blown up at any minute.
"How.How is that possible." Sam stuttered.
Harry just shrugged like it was no big deal, and replied. "We create them, it's quite easy actually."
Jack smiled as he watched Carters brain shut down and she sat there mouth moving slightly and nothing coming out.
"How is it possible to have five gates sending things to and from one gate on each end?" Daniel asked.
Well we are using the Astria in orbit around Draynor as one of the arrival points for non sensitive cargo:" Harry told him.
"But what you really are asking is how we can connect two of our Astria to just one at the other end correct?" Harry asked
"Indeed." Teal'C said.
Commanding an image of a gate to appear above the table Harry simply asked. "Describe the Astria to me."
Daniel not sure what the wanted to know started. "Well it's round in structure with an inner ring that moves. There are nine chevrons spaced evenly around the gate that light up and lock into place one of the thirty nine symbols carved in relief on the inner ring."
Rotating the ring so the backside was now the one facing the Archeologist. "And this?" Harry again questioned.
"It is the same gate only the back of it." Daniel said not sure where this was going.
Harry changed the image now to the new advanced Astria they used. "And this one?"
"Well first off the color is different, meaning it might not be made of the same material. There seems to be no inner ring, and no chevrons to lock address into. There still is symbols carved into the face, but it does not look like it has any moving parts to it."
Rotating the gate to the other side Harry did not get a chance to ask before Daniel answered "Its just the back of the gate like the first one you showed me."
"I disagree Daniel Jackson." Teal'C said as he leaned forward.
"The back of the lighter colored gate also has symbols on it and the same raised ridge as the front side. Where as the gate we are used to does not have a raised ridge and the back side is smooth with nothing on it." Teal'C informed him.
Harry smiled at Teal'C as he was evidently the more observant of the two. "That is correct. One must remember that everything has two sides."
"With the advanced Astria we use we are able to split the matter stream between both the front and back, in essence creating two event horizons. Very useful in an emergency evacuation scenario." Harry told them smugly.
Joe after having read through most of the papers looked up. "While I certainly do not see anything in here that the president could disagree with I do have a couple of questions that would make things clearer in my mind."
Gesturing for him to continue Harry wondered what was not clear.
"You are offering to take all members of the Alliance to a certain technological level but no further, why?" Joe questioned.
"I was wondering that myself, but seeing how it is light years above where we are now it didn't seem important." Jack said.
Trying to phrase his answer in a way that didn't sound belittling. "It is not that we think that you could not in time understand, it is more that any of you would not be able to duplicate our methods." Harry told him.
Joe looked over at Jack who looked at Daniel.
Seeing that they had no clue to what he had said Harry told Aloria to set his chair for simulation only.
A huge 3d holographic model of the city appeared above the table and for the first time the group realized they were not on a planet but a huge city sized ship.
Submerging himself in his magic Harry's voice became deeper as he started to glow with a greenish energy that swirled around him.
Leaning back in the chair it reclined as display after display appeared all around the room as each and every station and section of the simulated ship lit up. "We are able to directly manipulate the energy of our surrounding in a way like no others."
"Through this I can link my mind and energy to the city and with a thought command it to do anything I can think of." Harry told after a few minutes of the demonstrated simulated attack he put the city through. Sitting back up and letting go of his magic letting it return to the imaginary pool just below the surface of his skin as he told Aloria to shut down the simulation.
"So it's a genetic thing." Daniel said slowly, impressed by the demonstration.
"To a certain extent." Harry nodded his head in agreement.
"And would we have to give up our sovereignty by joining the Alliance?" Joe wanted that point clarified.
Harry turned to look the man in the face. "NO, but if you would leave the Alliance you would loose the protections you had gained by being a part of the Alliance along with any Alteran tech loaned to you for your use."
Jack heard the unspoken threat that if they wanted out they would loose the advanced gates also. He made a mental note to make sure Joe picked up on that fact.
Thinking back to BP6-3Q1 the planet where Teal'C was infected by the giant bug, Carter asked. "Would help colonizing another world include the possibility of removing a hostile non sentient life form."
"What." Jack asked liking Carter better when her brain was stuck in idle until needed. She was a lot quieter that way.
Excited by the possibility. "Sir you remember BP6-3Q1, the planet where Teal'C got stung by that strange bug. It was advanced and was in pristine condition. Like whatever disaster happened destroyed to them overnight."
Remembering the planet now, Jack had a hopeful look on his face when he turned back to Harry, thinking the planet was perfect.
"Intelligent or not we will not help exterminate a native natural species." Harry dashed Jacks hopes.
Not speaking till now Teal'C asked. "And if it is not natural?"
Harry had almost forgotten that the Jaffa was there as quiet as he had been. "That I have no problem with."
"Carter do you remember the gate address?" Jack asked.
Frowning Sam replied. "No sir but I can radio back to the SGC and get it."
Looking at Harry she added. "That is if you do not have any objections to me doing that."
Seeing Molly fidgeting outside the meeting room Harry said. "I have no problem with that, why don't we take a break of about an hour while you phone home."
Standing up and willing some folders to appear, "We will reconvene in an hour then, you might want to take those with you as we will meet on another level that is a little more spacious." Harry told them as he escorted them to the steps.
Signaling molly to join him as he escorted the SGC team to the main level.
Switching to Alteran he asked. "Molly is there a problem?"
Answering him the same way. "I was in medical when we received a signal from one of the damaged Alteran ships whose crew was in hibernation sleep. It was a gate beacon automatically released on the destruction of the ship."
"Aloria did not say anything about receiving a distress signal. How did the signal come in?" Harry asked reaching the first level and walking towards the steps.
Slightly upset that so many had died before they could rescue them Molly told Harry. "It came in on the dedicated medical channel.You know that means."
Stopping to one side of the bottom of the steps, Harry whispered in horror. "Cyrorar.It means it could only be the Cyrorar."
"Thank you Molly I will get some people out there right away to find out what happened and if there are any survivors." Harry hugged her before she made her way back to the embarkation med bay.
Harry stared at the retreating Molly, not sure what the feeling was, other than knowing anger was mixed in there somewhere.
Ignoring the questioning looks from Jack and Daniel Harry led them to the gate console, and asked. "Steven would you use Astria one so that my guests may contact their home base."
Not even listening to Stevens reply Harry walked a few meters away and started to glow.
Jack and Teal'C were curious as they watched Harry walk a few steps away from them and start to glow slightly. Moving closer they listened in.
Very aware that he was being watched closely Harry never the less. "Aloria city wide alert, trace back the Astria beacon please."
Pitching his voice so that it would be carried over the sounds of the alarms that started blaring. "This is not a sim.I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A SIMULATION. ALL PERSONALL TO RESCUE AND RECOVERY STATIONS."
Waving his hand in a circle above him Harry was engulfed in a bright white light as the area was bathed in a red light and the bay doors in the ceiling opened.
His voice was carried through out the city as everyone ran to their emergency stations. Aloria having traced back the signal from the gate beacon started to dial the Astria address where the signal originated.
At the same time she uploaded the information to the ready room and the ships standing by.
"Ready Room.Launch the search and recovery Pinnaces." Harry's voice boomed out over the hidden speakers.
"We have received a gate beacon from the Cyrorar that is twelve hours old." By this time Harry was completely linked with Aloria and the city and was seeing everything as it happened.
"Pinnace one through nine manned and responding." A voice came back through the speakers.
Long double ended needle like craft started to drop from the ceiling and powered up and flew through the gate.
Sam who had ran over to where Jack and Teal'C where standing asked. "Sir what's going on?"
"Not sure Carter, but whatever the Cyr.Whatever it is, it sounds important." Jack said stumbling over the name.
Daniel and Joe who had just finished talking to earth and started back towards the rest of their team, jumped in surprise to hear the alarms going off and seeing people actually appear out of this air and start running for stations.
"Launch scout cadre unicorn.Provide cover for search and rescue Pinnaces." Harry went on as his eyes cycled through the different stations as they powered up.
As the last of the Pinnaces entered the Astria, a swarm of remotes started through intent on rapid modification.
"Estimated Astria upgrade one point seven hours." Steven yelled out as he sent the emergency remotes through the gate, programmed for rapid down and dirty modifications.
By now the rest of the Earth SGC team had gathered a few feet behind Harry.
"Jack what the hell is going on?" Daniel was almost frantic seeing replicators swarm through the gate.
"Harry the Bololarys is fully manned and ready." Ron's shimmering image appeared near Harry.
Turning his head slightly and focusing on Ron. "Launch Search and Destroy mission. Your orders are Vengeance." Harry told Ron before turning back to monitor the information feeds now coming back from the gate in the Pegasus galaxy.
Remus who knew Harry was scheduled to meet with the SGC team shifted to the Embarkation deck, right behind the Earth Team in time to hear Daniels question.
Looking down at his data pad where Aloria was scrolling the details of the hospital ship. "The Cyrorar was a hospital ship with a crew and medical staff of five hundred and five thousand youngsters in stasis. They had an engine damage due to the system going nova when they attempted to escape." Remus answered the mans question.
Hearing that Jack winced in pain, not liking to hear about any child getting hurt or killed.
"The plan was for them to take the ship to light speed and enter hibernation while they traveled knowing that their emergency signal would take some time to reach an outpost that could mount a rescue." Remus sadly said. "Unfortunately their signal did not reach a manned outpost, the ship became a legend as no one could find her, we received a message from her automated systems last week and we were planning a rescue mission to take off in a few days. That's the reason the Bololarys was ready to respond so quickly."
"Incoming fold space transmission." Aloria announced.
The image of a huge lethal looking ship appeared on the wall behind the gates as small liquid silver dart shapes started to drop through the ceiling and disappear through the gate like bullets shot from a gun.
"Greeting Lord." Thor started to say before taking in what was happening on the other end of the connection.
"Commencing data dump." Aloria announced as a stream of Asgard writing scrolled in front of Thor's face.
Finished reading the data stream, "I shall collect your mate and launch the New Hope and the Vindicator. Estimated time of arrival 6 hours." Thor said before disconnecting.
Jack looked around taking in all the people around him glowing as their hands moved through holograms above their work stations.
A voice from behind him called out. "Bololarys you are cleared for dimensional shift."
Jack realizing that the image of the ship on the far wall, was what was being seen in near space watched in awe as it shimmered and disappeared.
Turning back to where Harry was standing, a chair started to rise from the floor molding itself to Harry's form, changing his position so he was seated and reclining back.
An image formed above Harry, fed by the fold space transmitters on the rescue Pinnaces Showing the Bololarys shifting into existence near their position outside the planets gravity well.
By this time the gate had shut down and off to one side an image appeared showing the replicators swarming all over the gate sparks flying as control runs were ripped out and new ones appeared like they were grown in place.
"I am not sure how far you had gotten in your meeting, but I want to apologize on Harry's behalf, I know the next several hours are going to be taken up by this emergency at least and more than likely he will not be willing to deal with the niceties of diplomacy afterwards." Remus apologized to them.
Ever the diplomat Joe replied. "We understand, for the most part this meeting was over, as I need to present everything to the President before we can commit. We can leave the gate address of the planet with the dangerous insects with you."
"Horntail nine reporting wreckage on long range sensors." A voice called out.
Harry started to glow brightly, quickly becoming too bright to look at. When they were able to see again he had disappeared.
"Where did he go?" Questioned Daniel.
"Back where he belongs during a crisis." Remus pointed up to the third level, where Harry was now in his chair.
"All ships converge on Horntail Nine. Employ Standard search pattern." Ron's voice came through the speaker.
"Is there any thing we can do to help?" Joe offered, knowing that it would prove their willingness to be full members of the Alliance.
Remus thought the offer was nice, but knew that they were not advanced enough to really help. "Not right now. If you wish I can make arrangements to send you home or I can take you over there where you can sit and observe."
Seeing the concern and that Daniel did not want to leave Jack turned to Joe and questioned him with signs on what he thought.
Seeing the Ambassador nod his head for staying Jack said. "We'll stay for now, in case we can help."
Leading them over to Harry's work platform where the could sit out of the way yet still watch what was going on Remus summoned some drinks and sandwiches to the table. "Help yourself, everything is safe for you to eat, we might be here a while."
Half an hour passed as Remus answered their questions to help them understand what they were seeing.
"Unicorn One I am reporting tango. I repeat tango inbound" a voice came from towards the gate area.
Harry rotated his chair and the Holo images that were being shown shifted with him.
A Holo of the ship in question appeared in the middle of the floor where Harry had been seated earlier. It was shaped like an arrowhead with two bulges mid ship.
"Sensors indicate bio ceramic construction." The voice continued to report.
'Harry that looks like the Wraith hive ships in the data dump' Aloria told him quickly.
"Unicorn One. Vengeance is yours.I repeat Vengeance is yours." Harry's voice echoed through the room.
"Confirmed Lord Commander, Unicorn One confirms Vengeance is mine." The voice spoke as the little ship rose from near the gate and turned to face the oncoming ship and sped off to meet it.
Waiting until the Astria was cleared from any possible backlash from the energy released the scout ship taunted the larger ship into following it into the upper atmosphere.
Clearly out of range of the Astria David released the weapons console with a thought as he lined the enemy craft into the Holo crosshairs that appeared in the front view port.
Giving the mental command to fire He threw the scout into a end over end and steep climb to get out of the way of the wreckage as the single shot impacted the ships screens causing them to overload and the energy released fed on itself as it destroyed everything in its path.
Circling around David was pleased to see the ship was now in very small pieces as it fell to the ground.
Activating the fold space communicator again David reported before heading back to guard the gate. "Vengeance has been served. I repeat Vengeance has been served. No survivors."
"Holy shit." Jack yelled out as he watched that little ship take out the huge one with one little shot the size of a baseball.
Scott lent me his most excellent editing skills for this chapter.