16x03 "The Forerunners"
Synopsis: A mission to a world locked out of the database on Heliopolis by the Nox reveals ancient secrets that the original Alliance of Great Races did everything possible to keep hidden.
(Beginning of "The Forerunners," see next two posts for more.)
Synopsis: A mission to a world locked out of the database on Heliopolis by the Nox reveals ancient secrets that the original Alliance of Great Races did everything possible to keep hidden.
Spoiler:
On a planet dominated by rolling white and gold deserts, a stargate sits inactive in a sand dune, itself half-buried by the sheer amount of the stuff surrounding it. Its DHD is nowhere to be seen, probably likewise covered by the coating of sand, and it looks as though the terrain just goes on forever in all directions without changing. If there were ever a stereotypical barren world, this would most likely be it.
After a moment, the stargate suddenly begins its inbound traveler sequence, all seven needed chevrons flashing orange before an unstable vortex flushes out, vaporizing all the sand in the way and revealing what must have once been the stone platform that kept the portal above the dunes surrounding it. Nothing happens for a long moment, then a M.A.L.P. rolls through the puddle and stops, scanning the atmosphere and sending back the results to Earth. In the new ISGC's control room, Talbot and SG-1 look up at the monitor and listen to the gate technician's analysis of the readouts, which indicate a barely-habitable planet with an extreme arid environment; essentially, the biggest desert in the galaxy since Abydos was destroy ("Full Circle"). According to the database on Heliopolis, this planet was visited by an Ancient exploratory mission in the days after their arrival in the Milky Way, but immediately after, it was locked out of the network altogether. Only with the passing of the Nox, and the subsequent transfer of all relevant archive data to the younger races, have they stumbled upon the entry, and it certainly merits a look.
Looking over the endless desert, Daniel asks if it might have been locked out for good reason, but his voice seems to be lost in the excitement of what may have been left behind from the very first days of the old Alliance. Talbot admits that despite her own concurring concerns, the United Nations, as well as their allies, want it checked out, and SG-1 is to gear up and head out on a recon run as soon as they're finished going over the M.A.L.P. telemetry. Should they run into anything of interest, they can just dial back home for assistance, but there's a lot of expectation riding on this one. Staring purposefully down at the gate, Talbot tells the team to make it count.
A short time later, SG-1 emerges on P3X-291, and Vala immediately regrets not bringing an extra bottle of sunscreen. Mitchell just rolls his eyes and slides on a pair of sunglasses, looking around the area and wondering where they should go from here. As the stargate shuts down behind them, Eaton goes over to the M.A.L.P. and pulls up its preliminary scan of the region directly around them, pointing out that there appears to be some strange rock formations or something a couple of miles to the southwest. Slinging his gun around his shoulder, Cameron supposes they should go investigate those then, since there doesn't seem to be much else here to look at. Not so sure, Daniel reminds him that the Ancients deemed this planet dangerous for a reason, and Mitchell promises that if they run into anything scary enough to frighten an Ancient, they'll run back to the gate. Until then, however, they came here to explore, and that's what they're going to do.
Back on Earth, Talbot is just leaving the control room when Dr. Caroline Lam arrives, shouting for the base commander to wait for her and jogging up to talk. Checking her watch, Danielle says she only has a few minutes, but Lam only needs that much of her time anyway, if less. For the past several months, they've been studying the various types of bioweapons the Aschen have been using to wipe out Alliance-affiliated worlds, and with the Venii now sharing their own intelligence with them ("Hyperion"), they've gained access to information on the newest virus in the Confederation arsenal; an organism capable of reforming its own DNA on the go to infect any specific lifeform it needs to. Essentially, it appears that they've taken the concept and building blocks of Earth's own Alpha One weapon ("Xenocide") and refined it far beyond the ISGC's capabilities, creating something that could distinguish between humans based on something as specific as hair color.
Needless to say, the implications of this are massive, and Lam wants authorization to send a survey team to the Venii colony recently wiped out by the strain. Hopefully, they'd be able to collect remaining traces of the virus in the colony's water table, giving them a more-accessible way to study its construction and effects. Putting in the stipulation that she first check with the Venii representative on Heliopolis to avoid any diplomatic infringement, Talbot OKs the mission, but advises Caroline to tread carefully here. After all, the Aschen aren't stupid, and it's likely that if they left any traces of their attack, there's a reason for it. Promising to take every precaution necessary, Lam thanks her for the approval and leaves to assemble a team, and Talbot heads toward her office, already dreading the stack of personnel reports waiting there.
On the desert planet, SG-1 is approaching the target site a few miles from the stargate, and the sun looks to be approaching its peak for the day. Wiping a small puddle of sweat from her brow, Eaton mutters that this is ridiculous and strips off her jacket, tying it around her waist and adjusting her vest over her tank top. Looking her over approvingly, Mitchell remarks that he's beginning to like how often she does that ("The Ragged Edge"). In response, Rebbecca starts to move toward him, her arm already coming up, but Daniel comes between them, pointing to something rising over the next dune. The team climbs up the last few feet of sand and looks out to see what he means, and they're all struck by what lies before them; these aren't just stones jutting up from the desert, they're giant towers that have sunk into the swirling surface after eons at rest. The buildings are intricately carved from some slightly-shimmering metal, and Vala remarks that she's never seen anything quite like them before.
Pulling out a pair of binoculars, Mitchell tries to figure out where a likely entrance to the closest tower might be, but he can't see any obvious door around ground level. Taking out her own binoculars, Eaton points out that if these things used to be much taller and have gradually been submerged in the sand, any entryway at "ground" level is probably quite a ways underground by now. Admitting that that sounds about right, Cameron turns to the other two and asks if they have any bright ideas on how to investigate further. Jackson just shrugs, but Vala has a thought, and tells Mitchell to just follow her lead.
Shortly afterward, the team is at the bottom of the nearest structure, combing around its side. Vala explains that any sentient race that bothered to build something like this would probably like some light, so there are bound to be windows or some sort of opening somewhere. And if they were ever as tall as they suspect, then most-likely there will hangers or bays higher up, for atmospheric craft to dock without needing to descend much. And sure enough, a few more minutes of walking brings them to a massive set of metal doors, one of which appears to have been caught and forced open by a small rock spire jutting up next to the sinking tower. Gesturing at the opening, Vala asks the others what they would do without out, but Mitchell just shoves her in first and leads the others up into the structure. As they clamber up out of the hot sun, however, they fail to notice a few of the other towers suddenly flash to life, thousands of lights all along their superstructures brightening after their completed period of inactivity.
Inside, everyone flips on their flashlights to get a better look around, seeing that this was once, as Vala guessed, a hanger of sorts, though the only signs of the ships that flew in and out are piles of scrap metal in the corners, twisted and broken. Going over to one of the torn-off pieces, Eaton notes that the metal doesn't look rusted, and nor do the towers themselves, for that matter. Whatever material was put into construction here, it's survived better than anything else they've come across in an atmosphere. After all, even Lantean buildings eventually gave in to the elements (SGA: "The Tower"). Whatever the case, Mitchell suggests they try and find a computer interface, so they can find out what this planet was once used for, and they all set out down the closest hallway.
Meanwhile, Talbot is wishing Dr. Lam's hastily-assembled survey team good luck, as they depart through the ISGC stargate for the recently-abandoned Venii colony struck by the Aschen. Watching from the second-floor balcony, Danielle and Caroline wait until the wormhole has dissipated, then turn down the hallway to chat a bit. Lam is personally hoping that they can devise a biological weapon of their own to neutralize the Confederation's tactics, and the Tok'ra have offered their services in her work if they retrieve the necessary samples. Talbot agrees that it would certainly be a great relief to be able to just dial up an infected planet, send through a few vials, and go home knowing the entire population would be safe, but it still sounds a little too much like fantasy. Taking her superior's hands in her own, Lam promises that this will work, then leaves for her lab.
Light-years away, on P3X-291, SG-1 is making their way down a hallway in one of the sunken towers, still trying to find some sort of access panel. Suddenly, however, the entire building begins to shake, and they are thrown to the floor. Outside, the towers begin to drop deeper into the sand, but not gradually, like they must have over the past few thousand years. This time around, they're plunging down quite rapidly, and after only a few seconds, they disappear under the dunes, leaving no sign that they were ever there at all. Inside, Mitchell shouts that maybe they stumbled onto some kind of trap. Whatever the case, they need to find a way out of here, and they rush back down the way they came, hoping to get out before they're miles underground. But they arrive at the entry to the hanger to find it rapidly filling with sand, the caught metal door having been torn off by the rock spire. With the desert simply spilling in around them, they have no place to go but deeper into the tower, and without much of a choice in the matter, they retreat back down the hall.
After a few frantic minutes of running, the team pauses to catch their breath in an alcove, and Daniel mutters that it would be just their luck to have this happen on the day they visit. Glancing over at him, Eaton points out that their being here at all could be why this is happening; for all they know, the tower could have detected lifeforms and activated some subroutine. Sighing, Vala asks what possible purpose a program could have for sinking a building into the sand, and guesses that this is some secret Der'kal trap that they've sprung, set up to drag them to their death here in the middle of nowhere. After no one jumps to second her thought, however, she reluctantly admits that Rebbecca's idea may be the slightly more-logical one.
After a moment, the stargate suddenly begins its inbound traveler sequence, all seven needed chevrons flashing orange before an unstable vortex flushes out, vaporizing all the sand in the way and revealing what must have once been the stone platform that kept the portal above the dunes surrounding it. Nothing happens for a long moment, then a M.A.L.P. rolls through the puddle and stops, scanning the atmosphere and sending back the results to Earth. In the new ISGC's control room, Talbot and SG-1 look up at the monitor and listen to the gate technician's analysis of the readouts, which indicate a barely-habitable planet with an extreme arid environment; essentially, the biggest desert in the galaxy since Abydos was destroy ("Full Circle"). According to the database on Heliopolis, this planet was visited by an Ancient exploratory mission in the days after their arrival in the Milky Way, but immediately after, it was locked out of the network altogether. Only with the passing of the Nox, and the subsequent transfer of all relevant archive data to the younger races, have they stumbled upon the entry, and it certainly merits a look.
Looking over the endless desert, Daniel asks if it might have been locked out for good reason, but his voice seems to be lost in the excitement of what may have been left behind from the very first days of the old Alliance. Talbot admits that despite her own concurring concerns, the United Nations, as well as their allies, want it checked out, and SG-1 is to gear up and head out on a recon run as soon as they're finished going over the M.A.L.P. telemetry. Should they run into anything of interest, they can just dial back home for assistance, but there's a lot of expectation riding on this one. Staring purposefully down at the gate, Talbot tells the team to make it count.
A short time later, SG-1 emerges on P3X-291, and Vala immediately regrets not bringing an extra bottle of sunscreen. Mitchell just rolls his eyes and slides on a pair of sunglasses, looking around the area and wondering where they should go from here. As the stargate shuts down behind them, Eaton goes over to the M.A.L.P. and pulls up its preliminary scan of the region directly around them, pointing out that there appears to be some strange rock formations or something a couple of miles to the southwest. Slinging his gun around his shoulder, Cameron supposes they should go investigate those then, since there doesn't seem to be much else here to look at. Not so sure, Daniel reminds him that the Ancients deemed this planet dangerous for a reason, and Mitchell promises that if they run into anything scary enough to frighten an Ancient, they'll run back to the gate. Until then, however, they came here to explore, and that's what they're going to do.
Back on Earth, Talbot is just leaving the control room when Dr. Caroline Lam arrives, shouting for the base commander to wait for her and jogging up to talk. Checking her watch, Danielle says she only has a few minutes, but Lam only needs that much of her time anyway, if less. For the past several months, they've been studying the various types of bioweapons the Aschen have been using to wipe out Alliance-affiliated worlds, and with the Venii now sharing their own intelligence with them ("Hyperion"), they've gained access to information on the newest virus in the Confederation arsenal; an organism capable of reforming its own DNA on the go to infect any specific lifeform it needs to. Essentially, it appears that they've taken the concept and building blocks of Earth's own Alpha One weapon ("Xenocide") and refined it far beyond the ISGC's capabilities, creating something that could distinguish between humans based on something as specific as hair color.
Needless to say, the implications of this are massive, and Lam wants authorization to send a survey team to the Venii colony recently wiped out by the strain. Hopefully, they'd be able to collect remaining traces of the virus in the colony's water table, giving them a more-accessible way to study its construction and effects. Putting in the stipulation that she first check with the Venii representative on Heliopolis to avoid any diplomatic infringement, Talbot OKs the mission, but advises Caroline to tread carefully here. After all, the Aschen aren't stupid, and it's likely that if they left any traces of their attack, there's a reason for it. Promising to take every precaution necessary, Lam thanks her for the approval and leaves to assemble a team, and Talbot heads toward her office, already dreading the stack of personnel reports waiting there.
On the desert planet, SG-1 is approaching the target site a few miles from the stargate, and the sun looks to be approaching its peak for the day. Wiping a small puddle of sweat from her brow, Eaton mutters that this is ridiculous and strips off her jacket, tying it around her waist and adjusting her vest over her tank top. Looking her over approvingly, Mitchell remarks that he's beginning to like how often she does that ("The Ragged Edge"). In response, Rebbecca starts to move toward him, her arm already coming up, but Daniel comes between them, pointing to something rising over the next dune. The team climbs up the last few feet of sand and looks out to see what he means, and they're all struck by what lies before them; these aren't just stones jutting up from the desert, they're giant towers that have sunk into the swirling surface after eons at rest. The buildings are intricately carved from some slightly-shimmering metal, and Vala remarks that she's never seen anything quite like them before.
Pulling out a pair of binoculars, Mitchell tries to figure out where a likely entrance to the closest tower might be, but he can't see any obvious door around ground level. Taking out her own binoculars, Eaton points out that if these things used to be much taller and have gradually been submerged in the sand, any entryway at "ground" level is probably quite a ways underground by now. Admitting that that sounds about right, Cameron turns to the other two and asks if they have any bright ideas on how to investigate further. Jackson just shrugs, but Vala has a thought, and tells Mitchell to just follow her lead.
Shortly afterward, the team is at the bottom of the nearest structure, combing around its side. Vala explains that any sentient race that bothered to build something like this would probably like some light, so there are bound to be windows or some sort of opening somewhere. And if they were ever as tall as they suspect, then most-likely there will hangers or bays higher up, for atmospheric craft to dock without needing to descend much. And sure enough, a few more minutes of walking brings them to a massive set of metal doors, one of which appears to have been caught and forced open by a small rock spire jutting up next to the sinking tower. Gesturing at the opening, Vala asks the others what they would do without out, but Mitchell just shoves her in first and leads the others up into the structure. As they clamber up out of the hot sun, however, they fail to notice a few of the other towers suddenly flash to life, thousands of lights all along their superstructures brightening after their completed period of inactivity.
Inside, everyone flips on their flashlights to get a better look around, seeing that this was once, as Vala guessed, a hanger of sorts, though the only signs of the ships that flew in and out are piles of scrap metal in the corners, twisted and broken. Going over to one of the torn-off pieces, Eaton notes that the metal doesn't look rusted, and nor do the towers themselves, for that matter. Whatever material was put into construction here, it's survived better than anything else they've come across in an atmosphere. After all, even Lantean buildings eventually gave in to the elements (SGA: "The Tower"). Whatever the case, Mitchell suggests they try and find a computer interface, so they can find out what this planet was once used for, and they all set out down the closest hallway.
Meanwhile, Talbot is wishing Dr. Lam's hastily-assembled survey team good luck, as they depart through the ISGC stargate for the recently-abandoned Venii colony struck by the Aschen. Watching from the second-floor balcony, Danielle and Caroline wait until the wormhole has dissipated, then turn down the hallway to chat a bit. Lam is personally hoping that they can devise a biological weapon of their own to neutralize the Confederation's tactics, and the Tok'ra have offered their services in her work if they retrieve the necessary samples. Talbot agrees that it would certainly be a great relief to be able to just dial up an infected planet, send through a few vials, and go home knowing the entire population would be safe, but it still sounds a little too much like fantasy. Taking her superior's hands in her own, Lam promises that this will work, then leaves for her lab.
Light-years away, on P3X-291, SG-1 is making their way down a hallway in one of the sunken towers, still trying to find some sort of access panel. Suddenly, however, the entire building begins to shake, and they are thrown to the floor. Outside, the towers begin to drop deeper into the sand, but not gradually, like they must have over the past few thousand years. This time around, they're plunging down quite rapidly, and after only a few seconds, they disappear under the dunes, leaving no sign that they were ever there at all. Inside, Mitchell shouts that maybe they stumbled onto some kind of trap. Whatever the case, they need to find a way out of here, and they rush back down the way they came, hoping to get out before they're miles underground. But they arrive at the entry to the hanger to find it rapidly filling with sand, the caught metal door having been torn off by the rock spire. With the desert simply spilling in around them, they have no place to go but deeper into the tower, and without much of a choice in the matter, they retreat back down the hall.
After a few frantic minutes of running, the team pauses to catch their breath in an alcove, and Daniel mutters that it would be just their luck to have this happen on the day they visit. Glancing over at him, Eaton points out that their being here at all could be why this is happening; for all they know, the tower could have detected lifeforms and activated some subroutine. Sighing, Vala asks what possible purpose a program could have for sinking a building into the sand, and guesses that this is some secret Der'kal trap that they've sprung, set up to drag them to their death here in the middle of nowhere. After no one jumps to second her thought, however, she reluctantly admits that Rebbecca's idea may be the slightly more-logical one.
(Beginning of "The Forerunners," see next two posts for more.)
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