Hope everyone is enjoying this lovely spring (or autumn down south)! Right now things are moving a bit slow on this fic, as: 1) I have been outside fighting a viscous battle against the ever present blackberry bramble threat and 2) it took me until tonight to settle on a name for this part.

My hope is to have Part 6 be the final piece of this story. And hopefully, *beats muses back into their cages* ...have it no more than 15 chapters. Word count is beyond me, as the first two chapters have already had sections cut and re-added, only to be revised and cut again. So here's a bit of a prologue/teaser to keep you all happy. No promises on when the next part will be out, but hopefully I'll settled on what I'm doing by this next weekend.

AWandersHaven: I'm just as excited to see your reviews! :D Thank you so much

Nance: Thank you so much. The staff thing had been an idea I had been trying to fit in for a while.

Guest: Thanks!

Anyhoo...Proofed by Nance, any remaining mistakes are my own.

Part 6: Unfurling Destiny

The smooth, amber liquid flowed over the ice cubes in beautiful, cascading waves. Laney looked out the window of the parlor, and watched her boys playing on the manicured lawn of the old English manor house. They had been in the UK for almost two weeks, and they were settling in. She was expecting a truck any minute with their possessions, and she had just gotten off a call with her realtor. There was an offer on the house, that she had accepted for above the asking price. The only catch…the new owners requested her to be present for signing the documents.

It was an odd request, but they were buying the entire place, along with the equipment, and even wanted to negotiate for some of the livestock that a neighbor had been planning on taking to auction the next week for her. From the time Gwaine had arrived home, after his trip to D.C., life had been running at full steam. Household goods were packed and the boys pulled out of school. Even Laney's roan mare was certified healthy and transported. Gwaine still technically worked for the SGC and the Marines, but his new position allowed him to be off with his buddies...his 'brothers' as he called them...searching through space. Merlin hadn't officially turned down the UNIT position, but he made it clear that things were going to be done on his own terms, as he had always done.

Laney took three glasses outside to the patio where Gwen and Martha were sitting, watching the kids play. One held clear soda, while the other two had alcohol.

"It might be a bit early..." She said, setting the glasses down. "…But, I think the house in Colorado is sold!"

"That is great news!" Martha picked up the glass and clinked it against Laney's.

The older woman didn't miss the fact that Martha then set it aside, without taking a drink. "Not your vintage?" She joked. During previous times, when they had gotten together, Martha had imbibed with Laney. So, it was a bit odd to see her just push it away...or it was odd…Laney thought. Then, she realized she hadn't seen the other woman drink at all, since she and the boys had arrived. "Oh, my god! Martha!"

Flashing her friend a brilliant smile, Martha ducked her head and blushed.

Laney squealed and put her glass on the side table, gathering Martha up in a massive hug.

Gwen was staring at them with wide-eyed curiosity, as she caught the meaning of the conversation. Her own hands rubbed at her distended belly, just coming into the third trimester. "Martha, are you pregnant?"

Martha nodded enthusiastically. "We weren't going to tell anyone for a while. My Mum doesn't even know yet."

"How far along?" Laney asked.

"Not far at all. Just a day or so off of six weeks. It's rather easy to pin it down to our anniversary, with all the rushing around and such."

Laney took Martha's drink, and poured it in with her own. "Guess I'll just have to take one for the team then, huh?"

Cackling, Martha threw back her head. "Don't force yourself on my account!"

"Trust me, nothing forced about it."

"So…what happened between you and Leon?" Martha's eyes narrowed suspiciously at her friend, hoping to catch her off-guard and get the boisterous woman to open up. Even Gwen sat forward to listen.

"HA!...Not going there. Nice try, though."

"Come on, Laney." Martha implored. When Merlin had been in the hospital, Laney had mentioned something about her relationship with Leon, but it had only been in passing. It was obvious during the short time they had been around each other since coming to the UK, and prior to the men leaving the planet, that the two practically went out of their way to avoid even being in the same room. "Something is going on between the two of you."

She snorted softly and rolled her eyes. After a rather large swallow of her drink, she realized her two friends were not going to let her get away with avoiding the subject. A few false starts later and Laney finally admitted, "We've been sleeping together, alright?...Not something to make a big deal over."

Martha laughed outright, and shared an expression with Gwen. "We already figured that part out on our own, thank you. What I want to know is about the recent fall out. Come on, fess up!"

Laney glanced out toward the lawn. She was thankful to see her salvation from the awkward conversation heading her way. "Oh, look! Here come the kids…"

"You know, if you..."

"Merlin, shut up! I am not modifying a perfectly well designed ship! I've been flying around space for longer than you've been flying, period." Leon scowled at his friend, before amending his statement. "Fine…more consistently."

The warlock smirked and stuck his nose back in his notebook, sketching out rough ideas for aerodynamic improvements to Leon's ship. The immortal knight certainly had more experience in flying, especially in space, but Merlin's imagination in designing aircraft was not limited by the centuries of acceptance of his situation. Space flight was a new and exciting adventure for his old soul. They had been traveling the stars for over two weeks, sifting through clues as to where Aithusa was being held.

Since the destruction of the Ori ship, when the people of the SGC had successfully closed the wormhole to the Ori's galaxy, the strain on Merlin had lessened significantly. Dr. Jackson and Vala had gone to Atlantis, an Ancient city in the Pegasus Galaxy, searching for more information in the extensive data base. While there, an ingenious plan had been formed to use a nearby singularity, a black hole, to power a Gate from the Pegasus galaxy and dial-in to the Supergate. They had hoped that the new incoming wormhole would cause the one connected from Celestis to break off. The result had been beyond anybody's expectations, and it left an open wormhole with unlimited energy to connect to the Supergate. [1]

Teal'c had been in a cloaked ship monitoring the Milky Way side of the gate, just as an Ori ship had come through. The 'kawoosh' as the new wormhole formed, sent out the typical wave of raw energy and disintegrated the Ori ship. At the same time, the gravitational field of the black hole within Pegasus had crushed an incoming enemy Wraith vessel.

The Wraiths were humanoid creatures who had once been large life-sucking bugs, but over millions of years, they had evolved into ruthless hive-minded beings; determined to cull every human life in Pegasus for food. The day the ships were destroyed, was a major win in both galaxies for the people of the Tau'ri...but, it left Merlin clueless in his personal search.

Leon had taken them to meet with Heimdall, the Asgard who had befriended and helped the ancient knight over the centuries. Heimdall, and the other Asgards, were reluctant at first. After recently winning their own war against a robotic race called Replicators, and now facing the Ori, their resources were stretched.

Arthur placed a hand on Leon's shoulder, as he moved forward and took over the negotiations. Somehow, he had managed to convince the Asgard to send out one ship for information gathering. The alien ships were capable of intergalactic travel, but it would take at least a month before the Asgard vessel made it to Celestis. Once there, the ship could begin to report back on their findings, using Ancient Communication Stones, similar to what Vala had used to inhabit Daniel's body to send her message from Celestis. It was a dangerous mission, infiltrating an unknown galaxy, especially with no knowledge of what they might encounter.

After the Asgard, they had flown to speak with the Nox. Immediately, Arthur had taken up the role of leader, attempting to negotiate with the peaceful race, as he had with the Asgard. The Nox had both impressed and infuriated Arthur. He could see the relation to the druidic people around his old kingdom. While they had confirmed Merlin's suspicions of the staves and the Ori's possible abuse of Aithusa, they had refused to get directly involved.

Merlin had smiled hopefully, when Lya told him they would give Aithusa a safe sanctuary and a peaceful place to recover, once the dragon was found.

With each passing week, more worlds were either being destroyed or bowing down to the Ori. In the midst of it all, the search for Moros' Weapon by the SGC continued. Then, they received word through the SGC that they weren't the only ones looking for it. Ba'al, the last Goa'uld System Lord, had been searching, as well. A ship had been taken down, when it approached Earth and failed to respond to hails. Inside was the very alien they had been worried about.[2]

Leon had suddenly seemed distant when the name was dropped. His shoulders tightened and his fists clenched. After some prodding, he finally spoke to the others about how he was betrayed in the monastery, and the subsequent flight for his life with the sword on his back. It was obvious that Ba'al believed the sword to be the weapon they were all searching for. While it did hold the ability to destroy beings who were no longer living fully in the normal plane of existence, it was still just a sword that needed a man's hand to wield it, and not the actual weapon they were searching for.

After allowing Dr. Lee and Colonel Carter to run scans on Arthur's sword, it had been determined that the energy in it was similar to the piece of Mordred's blade that had been taken out of Arthur's chest. The main difference being, the piece of shrapnel had not been as pure. Also, unlike the broken piece, they weren't able to find a way to replicate the effects without actually damaging Arthur's sword. They had destroyed the sword fragment in order to create the device that was able to temporarily negate the Priors' abilities.

In addition, it was discovered that no matter what tests they attempted, the micro-genetic make-up of Merlin's blood always showed adverse effects. This confused the scientists, until the warlock explained that, even before he came into his heritage as a Dragon Lord, his magic had never worked on the dragons. The best explanation that Martha could come up with, involved the genetic issues going back to when the Ori had first harnessed the power of the dragons, and manipulated the bond between man and beast.

With the downed ship, the SGC was facing a situation they had not prepared for. Ba'al had found a way, with stolen Ancient technology, to clone himself and his symbiote. Now, these clones were turning against him. He also claimed that he knew the key to locating the planet where the Sangraal was located. He was willing to hand over this information, if the SGC helped him take care of the situation with the problematic clones.

Merlin had commented that he had a bad feeling about the situation. General Landry had sent a request, asking them to help track down one of the clones, who was on a planet inaccessible by the Stargate. Gwaine, Arthur, Leon, and Percival had all given Merlin varying looks of surprise and concern. That had lasted only for a handful of seconds before they had all started chuckling. Once upon a time, Arthur would have made fun of the gut instinct, and the others would have been in the background, teasing them both for the bickering it would have sparked.

This time, however, Arthur had simply nodded and asked if Merlin had an alternative solution. Unfortunately, he didn't. If this Ba'al had a piece of the puzzle…or at least a bit of information on it…Merlin was willing to do whatever needed to be done.

He flipped to the inside back cover of the notebook, and ran his thumb over the picture of Martha and himself, which had once graced his desk in Snowdon. On the opposite page, was a crayon sketch of a dragon that Laney's youngest had drawn for him, while he was unconscious in the SGC, as a 'get well' card.

"We're here." Percival announced.

Merlin put his notebook aside, and joined the others at the window; looking down on the planet below.

Leon shook away his apprehension and checked the levels in his energy weapon. Percival secured a couple of extra clips of ammunition and readied his firearm, as did Gwaine. Arthur's hand tightened on the hilt of his sword. He had a rifle slung across his chest, but he still didn't have the proficiency the others did with modern weaponry. Although, he had become better after a few more intensive sessions of paintball over the winter months.

"Don't overexert yourself down there." Arthur warned Merlin. "I, for one, will not be carrying your unconscious body back to the ship, if you do."

Merlin sniggered, "Yeah, you will, because you like me…and couldn't stand to be without me. Plus, my wife will kill you if you don't."

Arthur sneered, "Shut up, Merlin. Besides, I thought that was what you hired your grandson, or whatever he is, for."

Covering a fake cough with his fist, Gwaine rolled his eyes and tried not to laugh.

The Tel'tak set down on the ground, and Leon set the ship's power to standby before they exited onto the planet's surface. This was to be the first time, since their days of patrolling centuries ago, that all of them had participated in an actual mission together that might include some action.

Mickey had stayed behind on Earth. Partly, it was to assist Daniel Jackson in going through some of Merlin's personal library; searching for anything that could point the archeologist in the direction of finding the planets…while keeping track of any discovery for Merlin. As well, it was because it turned out that his ankle had been a little more than twisted, during his and Gwaine's flight from the bandits. Martha had put her foot down as a doctor, forcing the young man to stay behind.

Adjusting his sunglasses, Gwaine grinned at the others. "Let's play Ba'al!"

1-Stargate SG-1 Episode 10x03 "The Pegasus Project"

2-SG-1 episode 10x04 "Insiders"