A Fresh Start
Posted on Tue Oct 21st, 2025 @ 3:36am by Major General Richard Lockhart (Raynor) & Lieutenant Colonel Jonathon Raynor & Scarlett Hayes Dr. & Sterre Forster & Chief Petty Officer Marisa Harlan & Commander Aaron Wander & Captain Jason Tahana & Pilot Officer Aisling Quinn & Colonel Myranda Adler
Edited on on Wed Oct 29th, 2025 @ 2:12pm
Mission:
Echoes of the Fallen
Location: Briefing Room - Stargate Command
3284 words - 6.6 OF Standard Post Measure
The Gladiator had returned to Earth, settling into high orbit above the familiar blue sphere before her crew was ferried back to the Antarctic base. Forty-eight hours later, SG-1 and SG-2 were gathered once more inside Stargate Command’s briefing room. The atmosphere carried a weight that was equal parts fatigue and anticipation, the kind that only followed a mission few would ever believe possible.
The doors opened, and every officer in the room rose to their feet as Major General Richard Lockhart entered, trailed by a sharp-eyed woman in Air Force blues. Lockhart’s presence carried command in every step, but it was the quiet authority in his expression that stilled the room.
“At ease,” Lockhart said simply, his voice steady but firm. The room settled, chairs creaking as soldiers and civilians resumed their seats. He gestured slightly to the officer beside him.
“For those who haven’t met her, this is Colonel Myranda Adler. She is assuming duties as Deputy Commander here at Stargate Command. Colonel Adler will be working directly with me to coordinate all gate operations and off-world deployments moving forward. She brings extensive tactical and command experience, and you’ll be seeing her in nearly every operation briefing from this point on.”
The dark haired woman, with some white at her temples gave a nod and a wave of acknowledgement towards those gathered. Her sharp dark gaze, moved from one individual to the next, as if to sear their faces in her mind. Right now she preferred to not say anything.
Lockhart shifted his gaze toward the far end of the table, where Lt. Colonel John Raynor sat with his team. “Colonel Raynor. Let’s hear it.”
Raynor leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table, his voice carrying the weight of days that had allowed just enough distance to process what had happened.
“Sir. When the Gladiator arrived in orbit of the target world, scans revealed nothing but water. No visible structure, no energy signatures that stood out. On paper, Atlantis was gone. We decided to attempt something more direct. A MALP was deployed using the transport rings, and immediately, the system locked onto another set of rings. First confirmation Atlantis was still down there.”
He let that hang for a moment, then continued.
“The MALP feed showed what we had hoped for—Ancient construction, submerged structure, intact despite being under pressure for what had to be millennia. Once we confirmed stability, I led a team down. We breached the control tower without resistance and began the process of securing the city’s key systems. That’s when the failsafe triggered.”
Raynor’s gaze shifted slightly, as though recalling the moment.
“Atlantis disengaged itself from the seabed. It began a controlled ascent on its own power, Within minutes, the city surfaced. Systems began restoring themselves in sequence—power grids, partial life support, sensors but minimal power. And none of us had touched a command interface yet.”
He drew in a breath, then pressed on.
“From there, we secured the chair room and isolated system access. Still no hostiles, no evidence of recent occupation. Atlantis is secure, stable, and on the surface but it will not remain so without oversight.”
Raynor sat back slightly, his words landing with deliberate weight.
The room went quiet, the echo of the report lingering as Lockhart and Adler exchanged a look that promised the next phase of the discussion would be every bit as important as the mission itself.
Sterre chose that moment to swallow her own spit wrong and started sputtering and coughing loudly into the crook of her arm, her face turning red from lack of oxygen and embarrassment at the same time.
"Bless you," John remarked, noting Sterre, who was sitting two seats away from her. He smirked but straightened up slightly as he tapped his pen on the table. "Anyway."
"Thank you," Sterre said, finally sucking in some air and barely getting the words out in a whisper. She was sure Raynor had heard her though. But dear God, why did this kind of stuff always happen to her?
"Yes, anyway. Thank you for the update, Colonel. Now that we have secured the Ancient city, the Gladiator and the Daedalus will take turns resupplying the base," General Lockhart explained as he looked at his new Colonel. "Myranda, have you been able to get spun up on all that has been going on?"
Marisa was seated with a mug of coffee in front of her, listening to the dialogue. When she heard Sterre coughing she glanced over there, to check on her. Looked like she would be okay.
Myranda looked at Lockhart. "So far so good, General. I am quite pleased at hearing what has been accomplished so far."
Scarlett was sitting looking over the details of what had been found at Atlantis, it was totally fascinating yet it bothered her that it seemed familiar somehow. She had never set foot there before but maybe her feelings stemmed from the memories of the symbiont that once inhabited her mother. Whatever it was she wanted to know more.
"Have we worked out how to connect their gate system to ours?" Aaron asked as he looked up from his note pad. He hadn't been on the mission personally, but he'd read the briefing. "It would make resupply a lot quicker and allow us to bring things back a lot more quickly and securely."
Aaron was the new kid at this table, but he wasn't about to let that keep him from asking what he thought were the important questions. "Alternatively, have we looked into if Atlantis could survive the journey back to Earth? Having that kind of defense platform here would help a lot more than having it off in the middle of nowhere."
“As of now, the power source uncovered in Egypt, the same one used to activate the Ancient weapon's platform, as been under study for years,” the general began. His voice carried a steady authority, practiced from countless briefings. “Between our own work and Asgard assistance, our scientists have managed to reverse-engineer elements of the system. We can now channel its output not only to strengthen our battleship shield arrays, but also to generate the power required to dial the Pegasus Galaxy directly.”
He let that settle before continuing. “With Atlantis located and secured, we’ve already deployed a significant wave of personnel and equipment last week. Our second battleship, the Daedalus, should be arriving at their doorstep as we speak, with a full wing of F-302s and fresh supplies to bolster their defenses.”
Lockhart folded his hands before him, his gaze steady. “At present, Command and the U.E.O. are awaiting the first full reports from Atlantis before deciding whether the city is flightworthy. Best case, if the city proves space-capable and power stable, Atlantis itself becomes the crown jewel of our defenses. A mobile city-ship would place us well beyond the reach of any conventional threat.”
Raynor raised a couple fingers and was given approval to continue from there.. “The reality is, what we saw on arrival wasn’t encouraging. Atlantis barely survived the rise to the surface, it was sheer luck we weren’t all drowned when the failsafe's triggered.”
The Lieutenant Colonel shifted slightly before continuing. “If she can’t fly, we move to Plan B. That means constructing a stable gate bridge between our galaxy and Pegasus, allowing reliable travel without relying solely on ships. Until then, we have the Gladiator and the Daedalus to maintain supply lines and personnel transfers. And if an emergency arises, Atlantis can still be dialled directly from Earth.”
Scarlett massaged her temples as she sat quietly, one downside of memories hidden deep within her mind was headaches especially as she was getting a sense of familiarity with Atlantis. “I felt…a sense of familiarity when I was at Atlantis, I can’t really explain it except to say that maybe the Tok’ra symbiont that inhabited my mother spent time there somehow, if only briefly.”
“I don’t see how,” General Lockhart said flatly, one eyebrow arched as his gaze settled on the doctor. “According to every report we’ve compiled, Atlantis left the Milky Way a very long time ago. By all accounts, the city was abandoned for over ten thousand years, long before Ra ever set foot on Earth and carved his throne out of Egypt.”
Raynor leaned forward in his chair, his voice carrying a note of challenge. “Maybe the symbiote has been in another outpost. Atlantis wasn’t the Ancients’ only project, there had to be other cities, bases, or facilities scattered across the stars. The Milky Way is enormous. Sure, we’ve managed to step into another galaxy, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’ve barely scratched the surface here. Too many nooks and crannies left unexplored.”
Aaron listened intently, trying to keep up on the nuances of the previous missions. "Looks like we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg, and it sounds like a lot of resources are going to be used to get it functional, if it ever makes it that far."
“You’re right” Scarlett nodded to Lockhart, “I’m just getting mixed up somehow, I get flashes of information, brief images, they don’t even know how I possess it, but I do have Naqueda in my blood. Most likely from when Shani gave her life to save my mother and I, hence why I’m the closest thing there currently is to an ex-Tok'ra host.”
He raised an eyebrow as he listened to the ginger haired woman before looking back to the file in front of him. Aaron blinked a few times as even with his previous clearances there was obviously going to be a lot more to learn and get up to speed on. "It could be possible that if you have those genetic memories, we could exploit them to find those other outposts as well eventually."
Myranda let the group talk amongst themselves for a few while she observed, then she caught sight of the Major General glancing her way. She gave a slight nod.
A knock on the table top to call attention Myranda began.
"Now to get to business, 48 hours ago a MALP was sent through the Stargate in order to investigate a chamber that had been found on the other side. It isn't able to go beyond that cleared chamber."
"It is unknown as to what the atmosphere is like outside of this chamber. readings do indicate that the chamber itself is safe for a team to go inside."
Her eyes went to those gathered, "You're mission is to scout out what's beyond that chamber."
She looked over towards the Major General. "Sir, your addition if you may?"
Lockhart leaned forward slightly, resting his hands on the table as he picked up where Myranda left off.
“Thank you, Colonel.” His voice carried the weight of both authority and purpose. “As most of you know, with the knowledge shared by the Asgard over the years, we’ve been given a clearer picture of what’s out there.
“When the Stargate was unearthed, it was sealed with a cover stone. That stone bore six glyphs originally mistaken for a written language. In truth, they were constellations, coordinates that correspond to symbols on the gate itself. The seventh symbol, however, stood apart, carved beneath the others. It was flanked by images of worshippers kneeling beside a pyramid. The implication is clear, this gate was deliberately sealed, perhaps to keep something in… or to keep others out.”
With the Asgard's knowledge, the planet was identified as Abydos. According to the Asgards, it was once under Ra’s direct control, like Earth. He forced the human population there to mine naquadah for him. A desert world, harsh, unforgiving, but strategically significant.”
He paused, his eyes sweeping the room.
He let that hang in the air a moment before continuing.
“Command’s directive is straightforward: assess the situation. We need to know what remains of Ra’s domain, and whether any of the Goa’uld System Lords still hold sway. Your immediate mission is to move beyond that chamber the MALP located and establish a safe perimeter. From there, reconnaissance will determine if the inhabitants remain, what state they’re in, and whether the Goa’uld presence still exists. Our long-term strategy begins with this first step.”
Lockhart settled back slightly, giving the team space to absorb the weight of the mission.
Aisling stayed quiet, letting the weight of generals and colonels fill the space. The MALP’s frozen feed sat on the screen in front of her, a perfectly ordinary-looking chamber that somehow carried all the tension in the room. Radios would be fine in there, of course they would. Still, she found herself thinking of the corners that swallowed sound, the blind turns where voices seemed to vanish even when the gear was working.
She bent to her notebook, pen scratching neat lines that weren’t meant for anyone else. If she ended up on this run, she wanted the MALP parked right at the doorway, as if it were a friendly ear keeping watch. A spare cable tested properly and not just assumed good. A couple of little boosters in her bag in case the air beyond the door played tricks with their signals.
At the bottom of the page she underlined the same thing she always did, small and steady: bring everyone home. Then she capped her pen, looked up again, and listened, content to let the senior voices carry the briefing while she kept her own counsel.
Aaron leaned forward in his seat as if to get a better view of the grainy footage. worked stone, or what appeared to be stone. While it wasn't clear from the video it looked like there were symbols on some of the pillars. He continued to look at the screen and something seemed a little off. What was it? He looked back to his folder and then back to the screen. "Where's the dialling device?"
Marisa was all ears on this, another gate to somewhere else? That truly got her attention. She took another sip of her coffee, and just listened.
"The DHD seems to be stationed off to the far right side of the room, allowing for additional personal to come through and stage inside before the stargate," the general explained as he took the remote and tapped through some images, to land on the location and still image of the DHD for the commander.
“Are there any images with languages on? Any hieroglyphs anywhere in range?” Scarlett looked at the feed with interest. “It might give us more to go on if there is, and I can decipher it.”
“There are markings, six distinct glyphs carved into the cover stone that match constellations already mapped on the Stargate itself. Below those is a seventh symbol, different from the others, framed by carvings of figures in worship around a pyramid. That’s the piece our linguists haven’t been able to fully interpret yet. If you can shed light on it in the field, all the better," the general responded
Aisling shifted in her chair, eyes narrowing slightly at the still image of the DHD pulled up on the screen. Everyone else seemed to be leaning toward the symbols, the pillars, the history written into stone. What caught her eye was something else.
“Sir,” she said carefully, her voice lower than most, “do we have a clear read on the condition of the DHD itself? Power readings, wear and tear, anything that suggests it’s been in use recently?”
She tapped her pen once against the notebook, then stopped the habit. “If it’s pristine after all this time, fair enough. But if it’s scuffed or patched… someone’s been through there, and that’s worth knowing before anyone else dials out.”
Lockhart gave a short nod. “The MALP confirmed the device appears intact and capable of operating. There are no obvious signs of heavy wear, but that doesn’t rule out occasional use. Your caution is noted, and you’ll have authority to run diagnostics before relying on it. We won’t assume this world’s been untouched just because it looks quiet.”
Sitting there listening, Jason was processing everything. The fact that the gate was active said to him that it was used, even if only on the rare occasion. What if they couldn’t dial out once on this planet. Looking up, he felt he should add something, “we should take supplies for at least two weeks with us. We can’t tell from the feed if there’s even a water source near the gate. If we can’t dial out, we’d need to survive while we figure things out”
Lockhart’s gaze settled on him, and for a moment the corners of his mouth twitched like he almost approved of the practicality.
“If we do not hear back from you within a couple hours, we will send additional supplies. If we can’t rely on the DHD, then survival until extraction becomes priority one. I do not plan on leaving you behind.” the general replied.
Aisling glanced up from her notes at the general’s words, a small nod betraying the flicker of relief she felt. He hadn’t dismissed her concern, and more than that, he’d given her the space to act on it.
“Understood, sir,” she said quietly. “I’ll make sure the diagnostics are thorough before we put weight on that device.”
She let the pen rest again across the page, keeping her posture straight. Inside, though, she marked the difference—her voice hadn’t been lost in the room.
Looking around the room, the general asked the final question, "Any other questions?"
"None from me sir." Aaron replied as he took his gaze off Aisling. Her age would have kept her from some postings, but her achievements showed someone a lot more dedicated and hard working than her meager years would suggest. She'd be a good addition to the team and he was happy to have her aboard.
"Lieutenant Colonel Raynor, could we have a quick side bar after this to discuss breakdown of roles?" Aaron asked as he turned his chair a little to face the other man.
"Sure, Commander," Raynor glanced over at the commander’s request, arching a brow before giving a small shrug. “Sounds like a plan. I think I speak for my team when I say we’re ready to go.”
“Good. You’ll have overall command of the mission,” General Lockhart confirmed with a curt nod. “Get your teams prepped and ready.”
Before anyone could respond further, the red klaxons flared, bathing the room in a warning glow. A crisp voice echoed over the comms:
“Incoming wormhole. General Lockhart to the Control Room.”
Lockhart pushed back from his chair and stood at the head of the table, composed despite the alert.
“That’ll be Icarus Base, right on schedule with their weekly shipment. I also have a meeting with General Ferguson and the rest of Homeworld Command. They’ll be joining to see you off. So keep your noses clean. Dismissed.”
Richard Lockhart, Maj. General
Commander, SGC
(SPNC)
&
Jonathon Raynor, Lt. Colonel
SG-1 Leader
&
Aaron Wander, Commander
SG-2 Leader
&
Aisling Quinn, Flying Officer
SG-2 Member
&
Scarlett Hayes, Dr.
SG-1 Member / Chief Archaeologist
&
Myranda Adler. Colonel
Deputy Commander / SGC
(SPNC)
&
Chief Petty Officer Marisa Harlan
SG-1 Member
&
Sterre Forster, Dr.
SG-1 Member / Archaeologist
&
Jason Tahana, Captain
SG-2 Member
