This is the translation of my German SGU fanfiction. If you're able to read German I suggest you read the original.

My heartfelt thanks go to Master Of All Imagination who made this readable. You did an amazing job. All mistakes left are my fault ^_^

When Colonel Everett Young opened his eyes, he didn't feel rested at all. He and Camille had been joking that three years in stasis would be more than enough rest. But the stasis pod had obviously not only frozen his bodily functions but also his exhaustion. It felt like he had just said goodbye to Rush and Eli.

With a deep breath he shook off a slight feeling of confusion, caused by his awakening from the stasis, and stepped out of the small chamber. It was silent around him and only the stasis pod and the emergency light offered dim illumination.

Were they already there?

Why was he the only one awake?

Shouldn't the ship have powered up everything before they woke?

There had been a specified order for the waking.

After all, Eli had programmed…

Eli!

Young's heart stumbled and then beat faster as he remembered the young man, who had been so convinced of his own skills that he had taken the place in the last pod. Knowing that failure would mean his death.

Had he made it?

With a dull feeling in his stomach Young went to the remaining pod – to the one that Eli should be in.

To the pod that was empty and open when he finally stood before it.

Had Eli woken first? But then he would have greeted Young with his typical smirk and one of his remarks. He would run around energetically and list everything that should be done. And he would be happy that they made it, that he had been right and saved them all.

Searchingly, Young's gaze swept over the inside of the pod, as if Eli could hide in there somewhere, but the only thing he could see in the weak illumination of the emergency light was small crystals on the outside, which looked like they had burned out.

Burned out and useless.

"No! Damn it!"

With an outraged, helpless cry, Young hit the frame of the dead stasis pod, hardly feeling the pain. He never should have allowed Eli to be left behind. That hadn't been his job. He should have waited, should have been the one who stayed out at the end. But he had let himself been convinced by Eli's determination and he hadn't wanted to die if there was this small hope.

Young breathed shakily in, out, and in again, even if it was hard. As he tried to calm down he finally noticed the kino sitting on the floor in front of him.

He lifted the small sphere and went to the stasis pod Rush occupied. The man was still standing there, with straight back and uplifted head, as though it had been only a few moments ago when they had turned it on. A few moments which in reality were years. The brown hair swept from his forehead and cheeks and chin covered by a stubby beard, already gray in some places. Destiny had made all of them older and the tension, which Rush had exuded continuously, was even there in this situation.

On the glass surface of the chamber he could also see his own faint reflection. His black hair was still too long, wildly curled and far from a military cut. His black BDU was worn from the time on Destiny and he was so tired that the only thing he wanted was a bed.

Young breathed in deeply again to concentrate and was reminded be the heavy, cold air that Destiny awoke only slowly. But it wasn't icy, so life support must have been started some time before his wakening. He had no idea what else was working and what would happen next, aside from the ship hopefully heading into a star, if they actually had reached their destination.

It couldn't be helped. He needed Rush, and thus he ended the cryo sleep of the scientist exactly like Eli had showed him. A small hissing sound, then the light went on in the pod and the fogged glass cleared. A few moments later it opened and Rush opened his eyes. No blinking, no staggering. He just stood there motionless and seemed to gather himself.

"We still live." Possibly it should have been only a cool statement, but Young could hear the surprise and relief in those words. He also didn't miss the slightly amused twitch in the corner of his mouth.

He only nodded slightly, while Rush stepped out of the pod and took a look around. "We are the first, I assume? Good. I have to go into the interface control room and find out our current situation. The others will have to wait." During his monologue Rush had walked to the damaged stasis pod and now watched it suspiciously. "Where is Eli?"

As an answer, Young held up the kino. „He wasn't there. Only this. I have to..." Young cleared his throat before going on. "I want to watch this first, before we continue and wake all the others."

Rush nodded slowly, his face a neutral mask. "Status check first, then the recording."

The way to the control room seemed like an eternity to Young. When they finally reached it, lit by the emergency light, Rush started working immediately while Young took a puzzled look around. Under the consoles lay blankets, a mattress, and other assorted scattered items. Amongst them were medicine and bandages, obviously from TJ's inventory. There was a spacesuit in the corner, too. It seemed like Eli had spend most of his time in here. The room was total chaos. Young swallowed questions concerning the matter that Rush wouldn't be able to answer anyway, and watched him instead making entries on one of the consoles.

"How is it?" Young wanted to know impatiently when Rush didn't say anything.

"At first glance, good," came the hesitant answer finally. "All systems operational. Life support, engines… We are headed directly into a star and we should reach it in about four hours. But…"

"But what?"

"This clock readout can't be right. And the energy level is strange, too. But we are definitely at the edge of the next galaxy."

"What about the clock readout?" Young wanted to know immediately.

"It's been just 27 months, only two third of the estimated time. And energy isn't nearly as spend as calculated. Honestly colonel, these readings don't make any sense." Rush looked openly at him and Young didn't know if Rush's obvious confusion should trouble him or not.

"Maybe there is an answer in here." He gave the kino to the scientist, who took it wordlessly and downloaded the data.

Young stood beside him silently while the monitor flickered, and then Eli's happy face appeared. He seemed tired but enthusiastic. Exactly like Young had seen him last.

/ „Day 1. Rush and Young went into stasis about an hour ago. Destiny is completely silent and it's almost creepy, being all alone here." Eli took a short look to the left and right and leant conspiratorial closer until his slightly rounded face took all of the monitor. "And any moment now nasty killer aliens might appear out of nowhere and take over control." He took a second glance around, shook off the feeling, and went on speaking normally. "1700 Pages! You have to be kidding. Well, time to work..." /

The picture changed and Eli looked tired as he spoke into the camera again.

/ "Day 3. I've hardly eaten, or slept, and I've only finished about half of it. Until now there wasn't any solution for my problem. Those technical instructions aren't exactly bestseller adventures. Considering my luck, the solution is somewhere on the last 50 pages… It's really lonely here and did I mention that the silence is really creepy?" /

The picture changed again and Eli grinned into the camera, the tiredness even more obvious than before. Under his eyes lay dark shadows. He sat on the floor of the stasis pod, surrounded by bits and pieces.

/ "Day 6. I'm officially the greatest expert on Ancient stasis pods in the whole universe… okay, at least amongst humans. I don't ever want to see any text in my life again. Only numbers. Numbers are great. Numbers are brilliant. But I finally identified the problem. I did analyze the other damaged pods of this section and none of them could be repaired, but at least I can take a spare part from one of them and if everything works, I will be frozen food like everyone else in no time…" /

/ "Day 9. It took longer than I thought, but now it's time to say good bye. Moment of truth has come. I have ran the diagnostic and tested everything countless times, and it all looks fine. System is stable and I'm still on schedule. I'll shut down everything now and, well, hope that nothing goes wrong and I'll wake with everyone else. If it doesn't work… Wow, I'm nervous. But hey, I'm a genius. No reasons for worries there. Everything will be fine, piece of cake. We'll meet on the other side…"/

The monitor went black and Young looked at Rush, who looked as surprised as himself. If Eli had gone into stasis, why wasn't he there now? Young doubted that Eli had woken before them and was now walking around the ship without saying anything. With some delay the monitor flickered again and Eli appeared once more, an expression of fear in his face.

/ "Day… no clue." He ran his hand through his hair in a tired, distracted motion. "FTL is offline and my stasis pod short circuited. The system is fried and I'm lucky I'm not fried too. It's unbelievable, but we're on our way into a star." Eli directed the kino away from himself, so one could see that he was standing on the observation deck. Beyond the great window, a star burned in the darkness of space. Then the camera focused back on Eli. "This thing behind me is a runaway star. I'm gonna use it to recharge our energy reserves, and after that… I have to find a way to solve the stasis pod issue. Because the one I repaired is now definitely useless. I know, I should wake you, anyone, but…"

He shook his head and grabbed the kino. The picture went blank for a moment before it showed Eli at another place. By now he looked totally exhausted and it was more then obvious, that he wasn't eating enough.

"Okay, that's it. There is nothing more I can do. If everything works you'll probably be wondering why we're already there. Maybe you've already read the ship's log. I'll make it short: I think Destiny has been disrupted by the electromagnetic radiation of a solar flare from the star we met. Whatever the reason was for the FTL going offline, no one can be so lucky." Eli's gaze wandered to the side for a moment before he shook his head and spoke again. "I spend the last weeks doing some repairs on the ship, like I've already mentioned, reloading Destiny and reprogramming the FTL. Should arrive a lot sooner now. You'll ask yourself why I didn't wake someone. But there are different reasons for that. Maybe…" He stopped in the middle of the sentence and let his gaze wander to the side again. Something seemed to distract him.

"Anyway, everything I could do is done now, but my main problem of the stasis remains. Even with the reload I can't stay awake for the rest of the way. And honestly, I wouldn't be able to stand it. But I found a solution…. At least, I hope so. It's my last chance, as far as I can see... During the repairs in the last weeks I found another stasis section. It only has a few units and it's located in some secluded technical section, damaged before our arrival. There's a breach in that part which hasn't been repaired yet and I'm not able to do it myself, so there is no atmosphere. But one of the pods is definitely intact. Only this part isn't connected to the system anymore. Find me. Get me out of there, because I won't wake automatically with you…" /

He seemed to want to say something else. But he only shook his head and whispered a soft 'good luck' before the picture ceased and the monitor showed only some diagrams and data.

For a moment there was nothing but silence. Young was speechless at first, an then he turned to Rush.

"Can you find him?" he demanded of Rush, who immediately started typing on the console.

"What the hell did Eli do the whole time? … There it is." Rush accessed a map of the ship and indicated a remote section. "He should be there. It's a damaged area, but there is a weak energy reading that wasn't there before."

"Help me to get the spacesuit on and guide me there. I will look for Eli, and in the meantime you will wake the first section and send TJ, Greer and Scoot to me. The others shall help you here."

Rush checked the power level of the space suit, then helped Young into it.

They left the room together, but shortly thereafter parted ways. While Rush went back to the stasis sections, Young followed the instructions he had gotten from him.

The longer life support was on, the better the air got. Breathing felt easier. Young had the urge to run, which was effectively prevented by the suit. In any case, there wasn't any reason to be in a hurry. As long as Eli was in stasis everything was alright; and if he hadn't made it, time had no meaning anymore. But it was exactly this uncertainty that was driving Young into a rush. He had to know that the young man was well… that they all had made it. Not because of the sacrifice of one person.

His heavy footfalls made the silence nearly tangible as he passed the corridors under the emergency light. It seemed to take an eternity again till he reached a locked door with a big cross drawn with chalk on it. Behind it could only be the damaged section.

"Rush, this is Young. I've found it and I'm going in."

"Wait a second," came the quick respond over the radio.

There was a short break, then TJ's voice. "Colonel?"

"TJ, is everything alright?"

"Yes, no complications during the waking so far. Greer and Scott are here too."

"Good, let Rush explain everything and show you the way. Wait for me at the second door near the locked section. I will radio you when I'm back."

"Copied, sir."

Young switched off the radio and tucked it away before putting on his helmet and activating his magnetic boots. There was no way of knowing if there would be any gravity on the other side. After he had checked everything properly, he shut the door behind him and opened the one in front of him. Immediately a strong pull set in, only letting go when all atmosphere had escaped. Then he started walking. He had been prepared for a search, but Eli had left obvious tracks. Along the wall was a white, shaky chalkline. This worried Young, along with the state of the section. There was a wide gap in the floor and the damage on the inside couldn't be ignored either. This place had no energy left and therefore no artificial gravity. The stasis pods in here must have been self-sustained or else they wouldn't have been any use to Eli.

He worked his way through the corridor, one hand on the wall, following the white line till it finally ended abruptly at a half opened door. The opening was barely wide enough to get through with the space suit. The room behind was small and housed exactly four stasis pods. At one of them, the control crystals were shimmering slightly. When Young stood in front of it, however, he had to look down before spotting Eli. The space suit covered the shape of the young man who was half cowering on the floor of the pod. That didn't look good. But he hadn't looked healthy at all on the last recording of the kino. Whatever had happened in the weeks Eli had been awake, he obviously hadn't wasted much thought on eating.

But he wouldn't get anywhere by puzzling about it. He only had to get Eli out of there now, and they could answer all questions later. Young's heart was beating far too fast as he deactivated the stasis pod. It took some moments before the device shut down. Eli's body started to float in weightlessness as the pod opened. Obviously the pod had its own gravity field.

Young instantly grabbed the younger one by the arms. "Eli. Eli! Are you awake?"

"Colonel … found me," he replied weakly, a faint smile on his lips behind the visor of the helmet.

"Yeah, I did. Hang on. Can you walk?"

Eli shook his head slightly. He must have walked into that pod on his last strength.

"Okay, no problem. We can do this. Just hang in there."

Eli nodded, his eyes half closed. Thanks to the weightlessness Young trekked Eli without much effort out of the small room and brought him back to the closed door. On the way he radioed Rush. "I found Eli. TJ shall stand by. Reestablish the atmosphere as soon as I have shut the door behind me."

"Understood."

"Eli, talk to me. Stay awake."

„Hmmm, 'm tired," Eli mumbled, and didn't say anything else.

Young was relieved when he finally reached the door and shut it behind him.

"Now. Rush!" Gravity was established again and the ventilation came to life with a loud fizzling. He fell to his knees, taking Eli with him to the floor. It seemed to take an eternity till he heard the second door open.

"TJ!"

"I'm here."

Young freed himself from his helmet and then helped Eli with his before the blond woman reached them.

"Eli, can you hear me? What happened?" the medic ask as she knelt down and took Eli's pulse.

"No idea. We have to get him out of the suit and into the infirmary. Scott! Greer!"

"Yes, sir!" Both young men had been standing directly behind TJ and came closer now. Together they carefully released Eli from the space suit and helped him sit up.

"Everything's fine. Just tired," Eli mumbled again and again, but he obviously had no energy left to help them. He could hardly keep his eyes open.

Young took one step back and observed them while he began to get rid of his own suit.

Eli was alive. Everyone had made it, but something still wasn't right. This wasn't the result of tiredness and too little food. As Eli's left arm was freed from the suit, it even became more apparent. His skin was red from fingertips to elbow, partially covered with blisters and scabs.

"Oh my god." TJ put her hands over her mouth in alarm. Greer and Scott tried to hurry and be as careful as possible at the same time, not knowing what other injuries Eli might have. Young looked away from the sight, finally getting rid of the suit completely and letting it slight to the ground. They could come and get them later, when everything had calmed down.

"Young, do you read?" Rush's voice sounded from the radio at TJ's belt. Young got it from her and answered while they finally made their way to the infirmary. Luckily Greer and Scoot didn't ask any questions as they carried Eli between them.

"Young here."

There was a short pause before Rush's voice came again. "Do you have him?"

"Yes, but he isn't in a good shape. We're bringing him to the infirmary."

"Leave it to the others and come back here. This will interest you. Rush over."

Young rolled his eyes and sighed. Nothing had changed. Everything was as before.

"Understood, over." He switched off the radio and gave it back to TJ.

"How did he get down there and what caused the burns?" She asked, no and then casting worried glances at Eli.

"If only I knew. While we were sleeping, some things happened. Take care of him. Maybe he will wake up enough to give us some answers." Young parted ways with the little group reluctantly, but TJ would take good care of Eli and he himself couldn't do much for the young man at the moment. Accompanied by the silence of the empty hallways, he headed back to the control room to meet with Rush.

"So, what did you find?"

"I used the time to investigate the logbook. At least I have a rough roundup from Destiny's point of view."

"And?" Young asked impatiently.

"We had left the last galaxy behind us and had made it about a quarter of the way to the next one when a disruption overloaded the already damaged FTL drive. It was obviously caused by a solar flare from a star that wasn't supposed to be there."

"The runaway star?" Young remembered from Eli's recording.

"Yes, a runaway star. A star that moves faster than its neighbors and finally leaves its original galaxy. Anyway, its electromagnetic fields disrupted Destiny's systems. A spike short circuited Eli's unstable stasis pod and woke him. After that, Eli was apparently extremely busy: he repaired some systems, refueled Destiny completely, entered new course calculations and did some more repairs with the help of the robots. Before he went back into stasis he entered search criteria for possible planets: food, water, resources."

"How long was Eli out of stasis?"

"According to this? Seven weeks at least, but I can't tell exactly."

"That explains why we are already here, but not why Eli is in such a bad shape."

"What shape?" Rush asked. Young recognized the open worry in the scientist's voice.

"He has some heavy burns and he is hardly conscious. I have no idea how he made into the stasis like that. TJ is taking care of him now."

"Good, let's hope he is better soon. Only he can tell us what he was doing all that time."

"Yes. Is there anything else? What about the others you've woken?"

"Beside the others, I only woke Chloe, and she was on her way to the infirmary. We should wait until we finish reloading Destiny before we wake anyone else."

"Agreed. But I will contact Earth now."

"Now?" Rush asked, skeptical.

"Yes, there is still time till we arrive, and it won't take long. They should know that we are already awake, and I'm sure you'd like to know if they have found a new Icarus planet in the meantime."

"Sure," Rush responded.

Young turned away and was already half way out of the room when Rush spoke again. "But you know what's strange, Colonel? Eli's recording shows the moment when he comes out of stasis and then some minutes before he goes into the next one, but there is nothing in between. One should think that with all the stoic documentation he does there should be material about the weeks in between those two points."

"Yeah, one should think so." Young knew what Rush was aiming at. The kino they had found surely wasn't the only one. But right now they had no time for this and Eli would tell them everything later. Now he had to go to Earth.

He took the radio from his belt and switched it on.

"Scott, Greer, do you read?"

"Yes sir," Scott answered instantly.

"How is Eli?"

"Hard to tell, but he is stable and asleep. TJ took care of the injuries. Chloe is here too and is helping her."

"Good. Take Greer and meet me at the communications lab."

"Understood, sir."

When he arrived there, the room was as silent as everything else on board the Destiny. Greer and Scott came in soon after.

"You're contacting Earth?" Scott asked. Young nodded briefly.

"We should at least let them know that we are awake again. However, I don't know who will be on the other end, and that's why I need you to monitor me. If something is off, cut off the connection instantly. I should be away for an hour at most. We still don't know how flying through a star affects the stones. If I don't cut the connection, you do it."

"Yes sir," they answered in unison. Young sat down at the table the device lay on. He took it out of its casing, switched it on, and after a short hesitation put a stone on the glowing tablet. Nothing happened.

„What happened?" Scott asked. Young shrugged one shoulder slightly.

"Nothing, obviously." He took the stone down, cleaned it up and switched off the device.

"Do you think something happened on Earth?"

"No idea. There could be a dozen reasons and it makes no sense to speculate about it. We'll try again when we are on the other side of the star. Make an inventory of the food and then rest. Till Destiny is refueled, there isn't much else we can do."

"Yes sir."

"Dismissed." Both men left the room while Young stayed seated for another moment. He was tired. Actually, there were uncounted reasons for the connection not working. The device on Earth could be off. Nobody awaited them, so there was no reason to leave it going. But would they have to wait a whole year until Homeworld Command would expect them and let some one near the stones? The war against the Lucian Alliance could be going bad for them as well, and there could very well be no Homeworld Command left anymore. There was really no sense in driving himself crazy with that question. They just had to try again later.

With his last bit of energy Young went to the infirmary to look after Eli, Chloe and TJ. Both women sat on the right and left of a bed in which Eli lay, talking to each other quietly, Eli either asleep or still unconscious. His left hand was bandage up to the elbow and his visibly slimmer body was covered by a light blanket. A wet washcloth lay on his forehead and an IV was attached to his right hand.

When Young entered, Chloe and TJ looked up instantly.

"How is he?"

"Hard to say. Aside from the burns he has some smaller scrapes and cuts, a light fever and has obviously lost weight. He is dehydrated and exhausted enough to still be unconscious. We will know more when he wakes up, but I think he will recover."

"Good. That's good." Young smiled, relieved, but still looked at Eli. His conscience wouldn't ease before a grinning Eli stood in front of him again.

"You look exhausted," Chloe said after a while. TJ looked up at him scrutinizingly.

"When did you last sleep, Colonel?"

"We just did sleep two years, TJ."

"I meant real sleep, not frozen."

"I don't know."

"Then go now. Rush said we can't do much the next couple of hours. So finally get some sleep."

Young wanted to protest, but he couldn't come up with an argument. So he stayed silent and nodded approvingly.

"Two years? Wasn't it supposed to be three?" Chloe asked belatedly, looking at him confused. It showed how exhausted he really was, because he hadn't meant to say that just yet. But there was no point in hiding it- everyone would find out eventually anyway.

"En route we unexpectedly met a star that wasn't supposed to be there. Eli managed to recharge Destiny and speed up our journey. We don't know more yet."

Both women gazed astonished at Eli. He definitely would have to answer a lot of questions as soon as he woke up.

"I will get some sleep. If something happens, wake me." He gestured into a corner of the room, where some beds were separated with some light walls. At the moment he didn't want to go back to his own quarters. He would have to pass half of the ship and at the end he had to get back here anyway. He would save himself the time.

As soon as he lay down his body felt heavy and tired. Accompanied by the silent voices of the others in the background, it didn't take long for him to fall asleep, despite his rotating thoughts.

Young was woken by the sound of several voices. He didn't really feel better, more like beaten. When he opened his eyes TJ stood beside him and smiled dully.

"Hey, you still look worn," she said quietly and confidentially. Young sighed.

"Yes. How long did I…?"

"About six hours. Not nearly enough, but Destiny is refilled and we are back in FTL. Rush wants to know, what will happen next."

"Okay, I'm on my way. Just give me a minute."

"Take your time." She left again and Young stretched lightly. Definitely, the sleep hadn't helped much, although he had gotten along with less. His reserves had been completely depleted.

When he finally left the quiet space behind the divider, TJ, Rush, Chloe, Scott and Greer had gathered around Eli's bed, who hadn't woken yet. They looked up as he walked to them.

"What's our status?" he asked. Scott answered first.

"Obviously Eli maintained a list of his activities. Compared to the lists, which were made before we went into stasis, our supplies haven't changed much. The problem is that we still have to find a planet on which we can resupply our food and water in the near future."

"Destiny is heading for the best candidates. Meanwhile, we will have to ration again. It would also help if we don't bring everyone out of stasis. Just the necessary personnel," Rush interjected, and Young had to concede, albeit unwillingly. The thought of leaving those people in stasis made him uncomfortable, but at the moment there was no other option. If they were all awake, their supplies would diminish too fast, no matter how much they rationed.

"Okay, make a list of who you need."

"The recordings, if they are complete, also explain at least partly why Eli is in such a bad state. He didn't eat much at the beginning and nearly nothing at the end," TJ added.

"He didn't know if he would be able to solve the stasis issue and after energy wasn't a problem anymore he tried to make it without. He wanted to hold on as long as possible," Rush explained dryly. His commend provoked new questions.

Greer asked what everyone had written on their face. "What stasis issue?"

"We were the last three to go into stasis," Young said, indicating Rush, Eli and himself, "and it turned out that one of the pods was more damaged than the others. Eli stayed outside and repaired it. What happened after that only he can say."

Awkward silence fell upon them, which was finally broken by Rush. "We should get to work. With some luck it hopefully won't take long until our next stop. We should have a working team together by then."

"Rush is right. TJ, go with him and monitor everything. Greer and Scott, have you fetched the space suits yet?"

"No."

"Okay, then fetch and check them. After that you can come back to the others. TJ, you'll help Rush. Chloe stays with Eli. If his condition changes, report to TJ immediately."

He got confirmations from all sides and the room started to empty. He would have prefered to stay and wait for Eli to wake up. He wanted to know what had happened, and to apologize for letting it, and he wanted to hear from Eli himself that everything was fine. And that from an Eli who wasn't half unconscious but could think clearly.

With a last look at the unconscious man he left the room, though he had no idea what to do. Sleeping was out of question. Maybe he should also oversee the waking of the others. After all, they had to wake some of the military too. If they had to go to a planet, they would be crucial. But his feet took him unconsciously into another direction, which he only realized when he reached Eli's room. It looked messy, but half empty; after all, most of the inventory was still in the interface control room. With everything that must have happened, Eli obviously had other things to think about than cleaning up. He was still a boy, no matter how much he had developed on board the Destiny.

Rush's words came back to his mind. Was there maybe another kino, one that showed everything that Eli had left out on the kino that they'd found? Or perhaps he hadn't thought of recording those lonely weeks? The latter seemed nearly impossible to him. No matter how stressful the circumstances, he had always thought of the kino.

Young looked around again, this time more closely, but none of the small spheres was lying around the room. Eli probably hadn't spent much time there. And even if there were any recordings somewhere, it was Eli's privacy. As curious as he was, as long as there were no threat to Destiny or the people aboard, he had to respect it.

Abruptly he turned away and went on his way to the communications lab. He would try again to contact Earth. He had duties to fulfill and didn't have any time to waste on things he couldn't change right now anyway.

With the radio he contacted Scott. "Scott, do you read?"

"Yes, sir?"

"What's your status?"

"We brought back the suits. They look good, but a closer check-up would be Park's task… or someone else who knows them better than we do." Obviously Scott had forgotten that the scientist was only of limited use in such matters since her blindness. "We also found the third suit with a note attached to it. It's damaged."

"Understood. Meet up with TJ and choose five of our people, so Rush doesn't only wake scientists. And send Greer to the communications lab."

„Yes, sir."

When Young arrived at the stones, Greer was already there and waiting for him.

"If something seams wrong, turn it off," he reminded, then he laid one stone on the working communication device. It took some moments, but this time the connection worked. As he opened his eyes, blinking, he found himself on Earth. At least it looked like it. He sat in a chair, some reports on the table before him, next to them the communication device and a monitor. Obviously he was in the body of a young sergeant.

The man at the door had noticed his changed behavior.

"Identify."

"Colonel Everett Young." He told him his ID and stood slowly.

Bewilderment showed on the face of the guard before he could control his features.

"I have to talk to Colonel Telford" Young demanded hoping that the man was still there.

"Please wait a moment, sir."

The guard vanished and then reappeared a short time later, gesturing for him to follow. Young knew the way because he had walked it several times before, and apparently nothing had changed.

The guard guided him through a couple of corridors and up an elevator, finally gesturing in the direction of an open door, which led into an office. But instead of David Telford like Young had expected, it was general Jack O'Neill sitting over a pile of documents. As Young entered he shoved the papers aside and stood to greet him. He hadn't changed much in the last two years. Grey, short hair; a round face from the job behind the desk. His time in the field was over, but Young was sure that he was still not to be underestimated.

"General."

"Everett, is that really you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Take a seat. What happened? Did something go wrong? We weren't expecting you for at least another year."

Young sat in the free chair at the desk while O'Neill did the same on the opposite side. "I wouldn't say that anythings's wrong. We have reached the next galaxy."

"Really? I thought it would take three years, minimum."

O'Neill showed earnest bewilderment and Young could comprehend that. He didn't understand everything himself yet.

He wasn't sure if he should mention that Eli had stayed out because of the damaged stasis pod two years ago. He decided not to. It wasn't germane to the explanation. "Eli…. Mister Wallace was woken early thanks to a short circuit in his stasis pod. Destiny had crossed paths with a star in empty space that hadn't been detected by the seed ships. He was able to refill all energy reserves completely and do some repairs to the FTL drive that we hadn't had time for before the jump. That way he could raise the FTL drive's efficiency and accelerate the jump. At least that's what we got from the records of a kino. Mister Wallace is in the infirmary at the moment and not conscious. Dr. Rush, Lt. Johannsen and Lt. Scott are working on waking a team of scientists and military personnel which will attempt more repairs on Destiny and try to resupply. As soon as this is finished we will wake the rest of the crew members from stasis." Young ended his short briefing and looked openly at O'Neill.

"Seems like you had more than a little luck, Everett. Mister Wallace is going to have a lot questions to answer when he wakes up."

"Yes, sir. That he will. What has been happening on Earth in the meantime? How is the situation with the Lucian Alliance?

"We were able to deal them some severe blows and push them back. Unfortunately they still haven't given up and they are not to be underestimated, but it's gotten easier," O'Neill replied tersely.

Young got wary. "What about the supplyline?"

"I want to be honest—it's not looking good. Langara still refuses to cooperate. In fact, we located a new potential Icarus planet, but conditions on the planet are extreme so it's nearly impossible to built a base there. Other candidates in this galaxy haven't been found yet."

"What about the Pegasus galaxy?"

O'Neill hesitated, seemed to calculate something and made a decision. "About half a year ago Atlantis was sent back to the Pegasus galaxy. The Wraith are still there and getting them under control is a slow process. The money for the project has been limited and reduced from Icarus. At the moment, Atlantis has only a couple of scientists and they have their hands full with other projects… Like I said, we expected you at the earliest in a year from now."

They stared at each other for some moments before O'Neill looked away.

"They wanted to wait and see if we made it. You gave up on us because some politicians decided we are not worth the money," Young stated dryly, hardly surprised. An uninvited feeling of betrayal took stole over him.

O'Neill' hesitation confirmed his words clearly enough.

"Everett, we haven't given up on you. But our hands are tied. You know how politicians are. They think about election campaigns and their reputation. Now that you are back, we can debate that anew.

"Sure, and how long will that take?" Young raised an eyebrow and stood. "The fact that we made a connection was pure luck, right? You didn't expect us, not now. The stones weren't activated because of us."

O'Neill stayed silent and Young massaged his temple in exhaustion. This wasn't what he had wanted to hear, but it was still better than all of the scenarios he had envisioned according the Lucian Alliance.

"I have to get back. You know now that we are back and will get a full report later."

O'Neill nodded and didn't say anything else, apparently he knowing that he couldn't say anything to change the situation.

Young saluted fractionally and let himself be guided back to the stones by the guard.

When he ended the connection, he found himself in his own body back on Destiny. Greer sat across from him observantly.

"I'm back. Has anything happened?"

„No, sir. Everything is calm."

„Good. Let's get back to the others."

In the stasis section they found only Brody and Volker. Both stood at a console and were absorbed in a conversation as Young and Greer entered the corridor. Most of the pods were opened. Camille was one of those who still slept. Young thought about letting her be woken too, but at the moment her skills weren't of any use. If she should resent him this, he could still deal with it later. At the moment they had other priorities.

"Where are Rush and the others?" Young asked after greeting both man and making sure that they had no aftereffects from the stasis.

"Rush is on the bridge, which is where we're headed in a moment. Scott has selected his team and is somewhere on the ship with them," Brody said.

Young joined the two scientists on their way and went directly to Rush, who was entering something into a console.

"You were on Earth?" Rush asked quietly, while the others were busy and no one paid them attention.

"Yes," Young answered shortly. He considered what to say, but at last openness between them had paid off. And sooner or later Rush would find out everything anyway, exactly as would all the others on board.

"Bad news?"

"More or less. The Lucian Alliance seems to be mostly under control, but like we thought, they weren't expecting us. To be more clear, they have written us off. In fact, they found an Icarus planet, but it's not possible to establish a base there. In addition the House stopped the money and the search for another planet has been suspended."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Rush retorted coolly. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned against the console. "What happens now?"

Young didn't need to wait long for an answer. After all, he had had time to think about all that all the way. "For the time being, nothing. They know now that we are back. We will see what they do with this information. In the meantime we will continue like before. If we want to go home, we'll have to find a way ourselves. In the end, it's what we knew the whole time. Even with an Icarus planet the connection would be a one-way-street. We could have used the supplies, but we are in a new galaxy now. Hopefully one where we won't meet hostile aliens. In this case we can concentrate fully on supplying ourselves and repairing the ship so that we can dial Earth again. All we needed to repair the stasis pods was the right material. That should be possible with the main part of the ship too. There must be instructions for all those systems in the database."

"Surely not for everything, but for most of it, yes. I like that plan." The corner of Rush's mouth twitched suspiciously upwards.

"I thought so."

They were interrupted by the FTL drive shutting down. The already-familiar feeling that followed was still strange.

"Planet?" Young asked. Rush shrugged his shoulders.

"Looks like it. Let's find out."

They met Scott's team at the gate room.

Corporal Barns was at the control console. "There is only one gate in range, sir."

"Dial and send a kino through."

"Yes, sir." Tense silence spread while chevron after chevron lit up, a connection established, and the kino vanished through the event horizon. Young and Rush stepped over to Barns as they received the first data and pictures.

"Oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen... atmosphere isn't perfect but it's breathable, no toxins. But it's quite cold out there. The suits might be the most comfortable."

"They are not an option at the moment. We'll just have to dress warm enough and try not to stay too long. Varro, James, Greer, Johns- come with me to the planet. TJ, you supervise from here. Scott will be in command."

"There is vegetation, so it must be some sort of winter right now. Besides the water supply you also should look for edibles. It's possible that there are animals," Rush commented after a thoughtful look at the record.

"Okay." Young gestured Barns to shut the gate down. They had to collect some stuff first, but that didn't take long. Half an hour later he and a small team found themselves on the planet in the middle of a winter wonderland. The air was noticeably thinner than they were used to, but it would be okay for a while. They would have to take breaks.

The sky above them was hung with heavy grey clouds, which were snowing soft flakes down on them. But there was definitely daylight. The question was for how long?

They tested the snow near the gate where it lay in a thick layer. Sure enough it was potable water.

"Greer, you stay here and coordinate the transport. With every load you change the team. Mind TJ's instructions. I don't want any unnecessary trips to the infirmary.

"Yes, sir."

"Varro, you'll come with me. We will take a look around the vicinity." He got an affirmative nod from the skilled tracker. "Did you find any marks around here?"

"No, nothing so far. But if it's snowing like this the whole time, than it means nothing. Light traces vanish fast beneath it."

"Okay." Young took a searching look around. They were surrounded by snow covered trees and stood at the food of a light slope. Aside from the small clearing the Stargate was placed in, everything looked the same.

"Uphill or downhill?" Varro asked. Without traces, it didn't matter.

"Uphill," Young decided as he started to walk. They made only slow progress because they sank into the deep, loose snow again and again. It was strange how similar these planets were to Earth, even though they were on the other side of the universe.

"How are your injuries?" Young didn't think about the outcome of the horrible fall on Novus anymore. Just now, as he saw that Varro wasn't moving as smoothly as he used to, he was reminded of it. Maybe he shouldn't have taken him with him. On the other hand, he was sure that Varro was experienced enough to know and say when he had the feeling that he was hindering a mission.

"The shoulder is still a little sore, but everything else is fine again. Tamara did a great job in patching me up," Varro replied without hesitation.

"That's good. You gave us a damn scare."

"Yes, and I owe you for not leaving me behind there."

"You saved TJ more than once and you are a member of the crew. You owe me nothing."

Varro didn't reply anything, so Young let the topic drop, though he still had questions concerning TJ. But they could wait.

After nearly half an hour Young finally stopped. "We should return soon. We won't find anything here." It seemed the whole trip had been a waste of time. But despite the cold and the thin air, Young was happy for it, because the chance to get off the ship was seldom.

"Yes, that…" Varro broke off in the middle of his sentence and listened. "Do you hear that?"

Young listened closely and actually could hear it too. A quiet swooshing, dampened by all the snow. "A river?"

"Possibly. Shall we take a look before we return?"

"Yes, maybe our dinner is swimming in there."

"That would be great."

They went on and followed the sound, which steadily became stronger. Soon it sounded more like a roar and as they brought some trees behind them, they could finally see the source. Straight ahead the ground broke into a steep slope and to their right a river half covered by ice and snow poured into the abyss.

Carefully Young walked closer. Through the snow it was nearly impossible to judge the ground accurately. Finally he was close enough to the edge to get a clear view of the ground. It was a thirty-foot drop down there. Varro stepped next to him carefully.

"Under normal circumstanecs, it would be easy to get down there with ropes, but it's not worth the effort in our present situation. We should get back."

"Yes, this planet has refilled our water supplies at least. Food we will find hopefully on the next one."

Young turned around and saw out of the corner of his eye a short movement before everything happened too fast. He didn't even have time to shout a warning. He pushed Varro aside and felt a hard impact in the next moment. He was flung through the air, his mind screaming that he was too close to the edge. He heard shots, the enraged roar of their attacker, and then the air rushing past his ears as he fell. The heavy impact nearly bereaved him of all his senses. Pain flooded his body, icy cold penetrating his skin as masses of snow slid down on him and took his breath. Finally everything went black around him as he lost consciousness.

Yeahs, cliffhanger- I know, I'm meany, but hang in there, it's not what it seems... mostly ;-)

So, wow, this is not only my first SGU fanfiction but also my first try in translating one of my works. It's a lot of work, but it's fun too and I'm learning with every page. That's so cool.

The reason I translated this is simple: I love English... and, okay, because I figured there are a lot more people out there understanding English than German ;-)

I also wanted elementals and CleanWhiteRoom (you're both amazing) to read this as they are to be blamed mostly for me finally writing this idea down. I hope you like it at least a little.

I love commands and talking in English in general, so talk to me whenever you feel like it.