"Unscheduled off-world activation!" Harriman announced.

John turned away from not listening to General Landry's comments to O'Neill and Daniel Jackson, and walked over to stand near the Chief Master Sergeant. Before he could ask, the man continued.

"Receiving... Colonel Carter's IDC?"

Again, before John could speak, someone beat him to it. This time it was Carter's voice coming over the intercom.

"Stargate Command, this is Carter. Come in?"

Landry stepped forward frowning, and then keyed the mic to answer.

"Colonel, unless I'm remembering incorrectly... you're not due back for a few months. Is there a problem?"

"Not exactly, sir. I'm still in Pegasus, but there's been... the situation has materially changed. I'm calling to ask if you can set up a time for General O'neill, Colonel Sheppard and yourself to be present for a discussion."

O'Neill leaned forward, grinning.

"Carter. I always thought you were a little psychic. I'm here with Sheppard... are you ready to talk now?"

"Sir! Good to hear from you. Wait one," she said, and the connection went quiet for a moment. "We're ready, but I recommend you transfer this to the conference room, and we should have our discussion over a secure connection."

John exchanged a curious look with O'Neill and Daniel. That could mean trouble. Not something he wanted to hear when he was still almost a week away from even heading out on the Daedalus.

"Alright, Carter. Give us ten minutes, and then dial back," O'Neill said after a nod from Landry.

"Understood, sir. Carter, out."

John followed O'Neill and Daniel as they made their way to the conference room, leaving Landry behind to give a few orders. Things had gone pretty smoothly so far for John. He had his people all picked out, and was in the process of getting supplies sorted. Teyla had been helping him with training the new people; hand-to-hand combat as well as debriefing them on the situation in Pegasus, were the main things on the agenda. As he eased into a seat at the conference table next to O'Neill and across from Daniel, he tried to fight down the sense of impending dread.

Finally, Landry joined them, and less than a minute later, they were alerted to the transfer of the connection.

"Colonel, the three of us are here, along with Doctor Jackson. What's this all about?" Landry asked.

"Thank you, sir. With me I have Major Lorne, and Mark Taggert."

Taggert's name caused all four sets of eyebrows to rise, but Carter continued before any of them could speak.

"As I mentioned before; the situation here in Pegasus has changed, somewhat. I'll let Taggert explain, since it's his discovery."

"Gentlemen. I have been able to move forward as I'd planned, and part of that was explorin' some possible Ancient sites. Well, I kinda hit the jackpot, as McKay would say." John and Daniel both snorted, but Taggert continued without pause. "I found a research outpost that was dormant, but still had power. Long story short; I spent a few days lookin' through the database and came across information about a supposed military outpost."

"Military outpost? We always wondered why we never found anything like that, considering they were at war and all that." John spoke up.

"Right. Well, I'm assumin' they kept all word of it quiet for security reasons, especially considerin' their primary security measure was the use of the gene. I'm also pretty sure it's somewhere in Atlantis' database, we just hadn't run across it yet," Taggert explained.

"Considering one keyword search can bring up billions of hits, that's understandable," added Carter.

"Well, I got pretty damn lucky."

John watched O'Neill roll his eyes at the seemingly huge understatement, but the General remained silent.

"After several days of trackin' it down, I got the address... it wasn't just an outpost. It turned out to be a fully functional military base."

"That certainly would have been handy five years ago," O'Neill mused somewhat ruefully.

"Wait a minute, Commander. Are you saying that we now have possession of an Ancient military base in Pegasus?" Landry practically growled.

"Uh... respectfully, sir… No, I am not." Landry sat back in surprise, but Taggert went on before he could reply. "It's not Commander anymore, remember, and I'm sayin' that I... a civilian no longer in any way affiliated with the U.S. government... now have an Ancient military base under my command."

It was silent for several seconds, but then O'Neill barked a laugh.

"Didn't I tell you not to touch anything?" He asked, smirking at John.

John could not stop a laugh himself, and knew Taggert would get the joke, since he had told the man about the day he had met General O'Neill and sat in the Antarctic chair. Daniel rolled his eyes, also having been there.

"No excuse, sir." They could all hear the repressed laughter in his voice.

Landry did not look amused, and was still practically floundering for something to say. Fortunately, O'Neill was ready.

"Okay, so… the reason for your call... Hey! Here's a thought; I bet you could use some manpower at this fancy new base of yours. I just so happen to have one Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with the Ancient gene and a platoon of eager young Marines that will be needing a place to operate out of when they get to Pegasus."

"You're sending more people, sir?" Carter cut in.

"Yep. New task force you'll be heading. Congratulations, by the way. We'll discuss the details in person when the Daedalus gets there."

John and Landry both looked at him sideways. Neither had known he was going along when John went back. Of course, knowing O'Neill, he could have just decided right then. Daniel did not even blink at the revelation.

"Umm... Thanks?" Carter muttered.

"So, Taggert... think we could work something out?"

"I do believe we can, though I also was wonderin' if you could send a few more people as well. Know any scientists with knowledge of Ancient technology that would like to help out? Any foremost Ancient experts hangin' around..." Taggert was almost laughing as he spoke.

"Actually…" Daniel began, looking hopeful, but O'Neill just held up a finger in warning. Daniel's shoulders slumped and he let out a sigh.

"And perhaps someone other than Sheppard that can command the ground forces?" Taggert continued, unaware of the byplay.

"You got something else in mind for me to be doing, buddy? I kinda like my job."

"Well, I thought you might like to borrow my brand new Scutin class warship to go out and kill some wraith with, but if you're not interested..."

This time the silence lasted much longer after the bomb drop. A warship? An Ancient warship in perfect condition? Scutin class? John did not even know what to think. O'Neill was once again the first to recover.

"You have the capability to effectively defend the base from the wraith? Without the warship around, I mean?" That was the most serious John could ever remember O'Neill's voice getting.

"We do, sir. The base comes with some serious internal defenses, as well as external weapons platforms that should be able to handle up to three hive ships at one time." Taggert sounded a little proud, and John could not blame him.

"That estimate might even be a bit conservative," Lorne added.

"And you have no problem with civilians working there?" John asked Taggert.

"Not at all. In fact, other than Doctor McKay, Doctor Keller and Doctor Zelenka, I was hopin' you might talk Teyla into joinin' us. This base should be at least as safe as Atlantis was, if not safer. It's a base, but it also has housing for families. We can use all the help we can get, and settin' up trade with other worlds will be a necessity."

"You know… we can't keep calling it the base. Got a name picked out?" O'Neill asked.

"The computer lists it as Praesidos," Carter answered.

"Huh…" Daniel Jackson uttered, looking thoughtful.

O'Neill, whose mouth had opened to speak just stopped and blinked at Daniel a few times. When Daniel remained silent, O'Neill gave him an exaggerated "well, what?" look, waving both hands for added emphasis.

Daniel scratched at his head and then shrugged before speaking.

"Uh… well, it means stronghold… or bulwark. Similar to the latin deriva-"

O'Neill's finger went up again and Daniel stopped, letting out another sigh.

"You're willing to let us station some of our military there?" It was Landry asking this time, ignoring the other men.

"Yes, sir. I've already figured out how to assign myself as commander of the base, so as long as no one gets any stupid ideas about takin' the place from me, we should all be able to get along. I'm perfectly happy to share any knowledge found, and we can work out a trade for some of the goods the base can produce once we figure out a way to get manufacturin' up and runnin'."

When he paused for a second, Carter took over.

"As a gesture of good faith in that regard, he has given me two ZPMs, the ones that were used to power the outposts he came across in his search, as well as the coordinates to those research outposts. The two ZPMs I have are roughly at seventy and fifty percent charge. He also has a few more ZPMs, and some drones that he is willing to trade for."

"I like the way you think, Taggert. I believe we can work something out. We'll talk more when I get there. Carter, install a ZPM on the Hammond until we meet up. At that point, I'm afraid both will have to come back to Earth and Atlantis. We'll see what we can do to get you another one in the future."

"Taggert, Colonel, Major… give us a second to discuss something?" Landry asked, and when they agreed, the General muted the intercom, and then turned to O'Neill.

"You know, if Carter sends a ZPM through the gate right now, Sheppard's unit can join them in a day. I have no doubt you'll be able to work something out with Taggert. I'm also pretty sure Sheppard and Taggert won't have any trouble getting along."

John nodded. He did have some more things to do to get ready, but any forgotten supplies could be sent out on the Daedalus. The quicker he could get back to Pegasus the better, as far as he was concerned. He was certain Teyla would feel the same.

O'Neill's eyes looked off into the distance for a second, and then he reached for the mute button on the intercom.

"Change of plans. Carter, send a ZPM through the gate now along with the gate address for the base. I give you my word, Taggert; we officially recognize your claim to the base and will not attempt anything stupid. We'll hook up the ZPM here, and send Sheppard and his platoon through in two days. I should be able to join them so you and I can talk about how to help each other out, otherwise I'll come out on the Daedalus. Sound good?"

John was not certain if Taggert's hesitation was to talk it over with Carter, or just to think it through in his own head. Whatever the reason, it still only took him ten seconds.

"Agreed. We'll send the ZPM through in... two minutes. Thank you, sirs."

"No... Thank you. As I said, I was already planning to send Sheppard and some people back to help. I feel a lot better about what they'll be able to accomplish now. We'll talk in a couple days. O'Neill, out."

John let a small smile quirk his lips, and leaned back in his chair. A second later O'Neill clapped him on the shoulder and a full smile came out.

"Sheppard, you've got two days. See if you can talk McKay, Keller and Zelenka into joining you, or at least being ready to hitch a ride on the Daedalus. We'll worry about anyone else after Taggert and I have worked out some details."

After that, the three other men went into Landry's office, and John got up to go meet with Teyla. His mind was churning, but under it all was the excitement he felt about going back.