Buried in the sands of time

Professor David Jordan looked at his Protégé Doctor Daniel Jackson and smiled.

Daniel had some outlandish theories that the pyramids were older than established fact and were actually the landing platforms for alien spaceships.

Personally he thought Daniel was too much like his maternal grandfather Nicholas Ballard for his own good.

Luckily before he could publish his theories he had discovered something in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago's archives that had consumed most of his time.

Daniel had discovered a plaque made from an unknown metal that referenced Lemuria, the so called lost continent.

What Daniel had discovered also interested Professor Jordan and the metal plaque had writing that appeared to be in Latin but also contained what appeared to be the longitude and latitude coordinates for some place in Australia.

The Oriental Institute had apparently received the metal plaque as a donation sometime in the 1930's.

And it had just been filed away.

But Professor Jordan believed that they had enough information to start a dig at the longitude and latitude coordinates.

Professor David Jordan was intrigued by Daniel's discovery.

The use of ground penetrating radar in archaeology was incredibly helpful and its use at this site indicated that a very large structure was buried beneath his feet.

They were still discussing how to excavate the site when night descended and his team prepared to turn in for the night.

Doctor Daniel Jackson couldn't sleep his allergies were playing havoc with his attempt to sleep and even a quick roll in the hay with Sarah Gardner didn't help his attempts get some sleep.

Getting up Daniel decided that he would explore a cave he had discovered earlier in the day before.

The cave had some promising cave drawings and the mummified remains of some of Australia's mega fauna.

Grabbing his caving gear Daniel set off only vaguely aware that he really should have told somebody where he was going.

The cave Daniel had discovered was an archaeologists dream even if none of the team specialized in this field of archaeology.

The only reason they were here at was because he had discovered the strange metal plaque covered in Latin like writings.

Daniel lent forward to study a particularly fine specimen of the Thylacoleo carnifex (the marsupial lion) when he slipped and fell into the dark abyss of the cave.

When Daniel woke he was hurt and alone in the pitch blackness of the cave.

After he sat up he groaned in pain and looked for his flash light.

Turning around Daniel crawled in the dark trying to find his pack.

As he crawled further into the cave Daniel noticed a slight glow coming from another cave up ahead.

Thinking that he might have found another way out Daniel crawled towards the glow.

Seeing the glow getting brighter Daniel increased his pace wanting to get back to the rest of his team.

Daniel stopped short when he found himself in a large dimly lit cavern.

The cavern wasn't really a cavern but a technological construct that had objects emitting a slight glow.

He staggered over to one source of glowing light and throwing aside his archaeological training brushed the light source with the sleeve of his shirt.

Daniel was shocked when his actions uncovered a screen of some sort that was displaying the same strange Latin script.

Uncovering the screen had projected more light into the cavern and it was then he discovered that he was in what must be some kind of control center.

Looking around he noticed that there appeared to be chairs fixed in various positions around the room and Daniel suffering from information overload staggered to the nearest chair and slumped down on it.

No sooner had Daniel slumped down in the chair than it reclined and more script appeared to the screen requesting activation of the automated maintenance equipment.

Without really thinking about what he was doing he gave his assent and large mechanical Lego spider like machines and what appeared like small radio controlled vacuum cleaners shot out of holes in the walls and started cleaning and conducting maintenance on the equipment around him as he lost consciousness.

The next morning the archaeological exploration team woke to find Daniel missing.

After searching the camp the team expanded their search area to other nearby geologic features including the cave that Daniel had found yesterday.

Doctor Steven Rayner was the first to enter the cave and found some of Daniel's possessions.

As he reached for the bag a giant mechanical spider clamoured out of a nearby fissure and scared the hell out of him before it disappeared down the same fissure.

Doctor Sarah Gardner laughed so much at Steven Rayner's explanation at his girly scream that she nearly wet herself.

Professor David Jordan stifled his laugh and started examining the cave as it was obvious that Daniel must have fallen down the fissure.

As he moved towards the fissure another giant mechanical spider appeared over the edge of the fissure causing him to jump back in alarm before it too disappeared back down the fissure.

With those giant mechanical spiders apparently occupying the fissure Professor Jordan decided that it was too dangerous to venture down there without help.

So the exploration team returned to their camp to request the assistance of the Australian government.

When Daniel regained consciousness he woke to a different visage than what he had when he lost consciousness.

The control room was fully repaired and dust free and he could read all the screens clearly.

One screen was flashing a violent red declaring resource reserves nearing depletion requesting deployment of resources gathers.

Daniel sighed and thought that he really should authorize this request and used the holographic display to authorize the deployment of resources gathers.

No sooner had he done this then he heard a grinding sound from beneath his feet.

Curious as to what this was he got back to his feet with a groan and staggered off to find the source of the sound.

Daniel stared in awe at the metal ring as those strange mechanical Lego spider like machines walked through the device.

As he stood watching the device activated again the some of the mechanical Lego spider like machines returned carrying metal ingots of some kind.

These machines scurried past him completely ignoring his presence.

As the device activated again Daniel was expecting something to either leave or arrive when nothing happened for half an hour Daniel wondered what was going on.

On Heliopolis, Doctor Ernest Littlefield heard the stairway to heaven operate and rushed to the room that held it.

He pulled up short when he saw the room was full of mechanical looking spiders.

Ernest was confused the mechanical spiders were swarming over what he assumed was the control device for the stairway to heaven.

As he watched more of the mechanical spiders arrived carrying metal ingots that he wondered where they had found them.

Suddenly the mechanical spiders left the control device to go about whatever other tasks they had.

It was only after they had left did he notice that the control device had apparently been repaired.

Ernest was contemplating trying to return home when the stairway to heaven operated again and the mechanical spider with the ingots started to march through the stairway to heaven.

Realizing that this might be his only chance to escape this hell hole he put on a burst of speed that he didn't even know he had and rushed through the stairway to heaven.

Doctor Daniel Jackson was shocked when the latest activation of the metal ring saw the return of more of the mechanical spiders carrying metal ingots and an old man dressed in rags.

Totally gob smacked, Daniel didn't know what to say when the man asked in a pleading voice with an American accent, "Where am I?"

Daniel just responded with, "Australia!"

With this said the old man dropped to the floor and kissed it before asking, "When did Australia get possession of the stairway to heaven?"

Not knowing how to respond Daniel said, "Come with me. Whatever I have accidentally discovered must have some kind of medical facility and a commissary of some kind.

I think you must be in needs of both."

With this said Daniel turned to return to the control room with Ernest following behind him.

When Daniel and his guest arrived at the control center Daniel sat in the chair and discovered the location medical facilities and commissary.

He thought for a moment and decided that his guest probably needed medical care more than food and Daniel turned to the old man and said, "We'll head to the medical facilities but first I think introductions are in order I'm Doctor Daniel Jackson from Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago and you are?"

Ernest Looked at Daniel Jackson and said, "I'm Doctor Ernest Littlefield. I was involved in a secret program called Project Giza, using the stairway to heaven, the metal ring you were watching.

I went through the stairway to heaven in 1945 and was marooned on a planet I called Heliopolis.

When the metal spiders dialled the stairway to heaven I took a chance and ran through hoping to get back to the earth."

Daniel smiled kindly at Ernest Littlefield and replied, "Well you are back on the earth Ernest and now we need to get you some medical care before getting you a proper meal and some new clothes."

With this said both men set off for the nearest medical facility.

When Daniel and Ernest reached the medical facility Daniel got Ernest to sit on what appeared to be an examination table of some kind while he tried to work out how the medical facility operated.

No sooner had Ernest sat on the examination table that it lit up and a robot came out of a side room that proceeded to lift Ernest from the table and placed him in a box like device that immediately filled with some kind of fluid.

Daniel decided to sit on the same table while he waited for the robot to finish whatever treatment it had started on Ernest.

After he sat down the robot the immediately moved to Daniel and repeated the process with him.

Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Williams of the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment (1 CER) regiment of the Australian Army frowned at what he saw.

The archaeologists that had alerted the Australian government of a potential problem hadn't been wrong.

The ground penetrating radar indicated that a massive cavern was forming where the missing archaeologist had disappeared.

Lt Colonel Williams was concerned that something was creating a massive sinkhole and he ordered everybody to move beyond the edge of the forming sinkhole while he prepared specialists to climb into the sinkhole to find out how and what was forming the sinkhole.

Before he could get the specialists ready the sinkhole swallowed the remaining soil to reveal a glistening city covered in the mechanical spiders that the archaeologists had reported.

As he stared in awe at the city the mechanical spiders seemed to disappear inside one of the structures completely ignoring the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment and the others on the edge of the massive hole.

Breaking out of his daze Lt Colonel Williams orders the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment into the uncovered city while he reports what has been discovered to his superiors.

In orbit above the Earth various satellites recorded the appearance of the factory ship Lemuria not that they knew what it was only that it had suddenly appeared.

They just knew that something strange had happened in Australia and instructed their spies to find out where that modern city came from.

Doctor Daniel Jackson wake from his box like device and discover that his allergies weren't affecting him anymore.

As he climbed out of the device he noticed that he no longer needed his glasses that he had worn most of his life.

Furthermore his hearing appeared more acute as well when he heard a series of heavy footsteps rapidly approaching his location.

Thinking that Professor David Jordan Steven Rayner had found him Daniel took a final look at the device that still contained Doctor Ernest Littlefield and thinking that he probably needed more healing headed off in the direction of the heavy footsteps.

Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Williams of the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment pulled up short when he saw the mechanical spiders.

He had already found out that you didn't shoot at the things if you wanted to live.

He had already lost three soldiers to them before it was realized that if you ignored them then they ignored you and went about whatever task they had.

He had just turned another corner when he saw Doctor Daniel Jackson approaching them at a rapid pace.

He also noticed that Doctor Jackson completely ignored the giant mechanical spiders.

He and the rest of his sappers stopped where they were and waited for Doctor Jackson to reach them hoping he could offer some kind of explanation.

Supreme System Lord Ra was concerned.

His slaves on Abydos had told tales of strange metal spiders stealing their naquadah tribute.

He had sent dozens of Jaffa through the chappa'ai to deal with this problem only for them to fail to report back.

Ra eventually dispatched his first prime to investigate what was happening.

This is where his concern grew.

His first prime reports that the metal spiders ignore anybody who doesn't interfere with them but the moment they are attacked the metal spiders consume those attacking them.

Ra doesn't want to lose his principle naquadah mining world yet he doesn't know how to stop these mechanical spiders.

Eventually he decides to no interfere with the mechanical spiders but instead trace them to their point of origin to find out who was responsible.

Then he would deal with the issue at its source.

Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Williams was amazed by what Doctor Daniel Jackson was showing him.

This city that Daniel Jackson had identified as being the factory ship Lemuria left him and his engineers astounded.

But it was also problematic as it appears that only Doctor Daniel Jackson could operate anything on the factory ship Lemuria.

Even the name seemed to scream at Colonel Williams that it was designed to build things but what needed a factory ship that was twenty-five kilometres in diameter.

Those would be questions for his superiors to answer as he was sure that the Australian government would claim ownership of Lemuria even if they didn't have anybody who could operate it.

As the saying goes money talks and he was sure that Doctor Daniel Jackson would receive an offer too good to refuse.

But Colonel Williams wanted to show the Australian government what the factory ship Lemuria as asked Daniel to produce something that nobody else was capable of building.

Daniel Jackson looked at the list of current construction designs and chose the first ship on the list.

Little did Daniel know was that he had just authorised the construction of a pre Potentia era battlecruiser.

Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Williams was satisfied with what he had go Doctor Jackson to start construction on but he still had issues with none of his men having the ability to read Latin.

So Bruce made a decision to allow the other archaeologists to enter the the factory ship Lemuria to assist his sappers in determining what did what on the factory ship Lemuria.

This would solve two of his problems as the archaeologists had been complaining incessantly about being kept away from the find of a life time and it would help his sappers understand the factory ship Lemuria's functions.

Professor David Jordan was absolutely astounded as Daniel showed him around the factory ship Lemuria.

Then Daniel remember Ernest Littlefield and checking a nearby terminal to see when Ernest was due to be released from the medical pod.

Seeing he was going to be released any minute now Daniel led Professor David Jordan and the rest of his party to the medical bay so that he could check up on Ernest's recovery.

As Daniel Jackson entered the medical facility with the rest of his party the medical pod holding Ernest Littlefield.

Daniel was in a state of shock when he saw that Ernest Littlefield had been de-aged decades and appeared to be in his mid-thirties.

Ernest was now even clothed in a one piece jump suit of some kind to hide his modesty.

When Daniel started to introduce Ernest Littlefield to his colleagues Professor David Jordan staggered to a nearby chair when he was introduced to Ernest Littlefield.

Ernest had been an old drinking buddy at their university fraternity.

He had heard through associates the Ernest had died towards the end of World War Two in some kind of classified laboratory experiment.

Ernest too was shocked by the appearance of his old drinking buddy but also saw an opportunity to find out what had happened to his fiancée Catherine Langford.

When Professor David Jordan recovered from his old friend's reappearance he answered Ernest's questions regarding Catherine Langford.

Ernest was surprised yet delighted that Catherine hadn't moved on and decided to see if he could get Catherine to come to Australia so that she can undergo the same medical procedure that had de-aged him.

Of course he would have to get Daniel to agree to let Catherine undergo the same procedure but Daniel had a soft heart and it shouldn't take much convincing.

Before Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Williams could say anything Professor David Jordan pulled out a satellite phone and called Catherine Langford advising her that Ernest had been found and was currently in Australia.

Before Professor Jordan could say anything else Catherine had hung up the phone and was rushing to the airport to get on the next available flight to Australia.

Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Williams couldn't believe how out of control the situation had suddenly become.

Involving more civilians wasn't career enhancing and Bruce was sure that his superiors would nail his balls to the wall for making decisions outside of his pay grade.

The Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating knew when he had received a gift horse.

The report from Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Williams about the rejuvenation of Doctor Ernest Littlefield made the world his oyster.

This factory ship Lemuria could jump start Australia as a place of high technology manufacturing that is way beyond the state of the art.

But first he had an election to win and he knew just how to do it.

Kerry Packer listened to the phone conversation with a growing sense of disbelief.

Yet if what Paul Keating told his was true then all his health issues could be cured and he could even be de-aged.

Kerry knew that he had to play hard ball with Keating as he didn't want to be years younger while Roslyn his dedicated wife wasn't.

Instead he'd make Keating allow both he and Roslyn to undergo the same treatment.

He knew what Paul Keating wanted and it was an easy thing to supply as he knew where all the Liberal party's dark secrets lay and he wasn't above destroying somebody to achieve his own goals.

Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Williams was frantic here he was supervising the single most advance source of technology known to man and now he had been advised of important visitors were soon to arrive for an inspection tour.

Bruce could understand why the Prime Minister Paul Keating had to attend for an inspection tour but why in the hell was billionaire Kerry Packer coming with him.

At least it would be his problem for long.

Bruce had been advised that seeing the factory ship Lemuria was fully excavated the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment was no longer required and would be replaced by its parent command, Forces Command.

The idea being that others might try to take the factory ship Lemuria from Australia's possession so the Prime Minister had decided that the factory ship Lemuria had to be protected at all cost.

Hence the entirety of Forces Command would be bases around the factory ship Lemuria.

Colonel Jonathan J O'Neill was speaking to his wife Sara explaining why he couldn't come home.

Ever since that alien city had appeared in Australia he had been on call to either seize it for America or to deploy to prevent it from being seized by others.

This had caused him to miss Charlie's baseball games and disrupted normal family affairs.

What Sara and Jack would never know that his absence saved Charlie from a near certain death.

The Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating was touring the factory ship Lemuria with Kerry and Roslyn Packer and select other in the Labour government.

He was amazed by the construction capabilities of this factory ship as demonstrated by the incomplete form of a deep space battlecruiser.

In had only been under construction for a few days yet already the spine and skeleton of the battlecruiser was nearly complete.

Doctor Daniel Jackson had advised his party that the estimated total construction time was just three months.

Apparently the factory ship Lemuria had ten construction slips that could be used to produce space going vessels.

Paul decided then and there that one would be dedicated to producing ships for Australia but what to do with the other slips when he had an idea.

His office had already been inundated with queries about the factory ship Lemuria and the vessel under construction.

Paul thought Australia could make some quick money if he was to offer to sell other ships built by the factory ship Lemuria to the highest bidders.

He was sure that China, Russia the United States of America and other states would jump at the chance to possess deep space battlecruisers.

He was still thinking of all the money that would flow into Australia when they reached the medical facilities.

As they reached the medical facilities Paul Keating then instructed Daniel Jackson to have Kerry and Roslyn Packer placed in the medical pods so that their injuries and illnesses can be treated.

Daniel didn't know why the billionaire and his wife was being given preferential treatment but his was not to reason why especially when he had been given a virtual free hand in going through the factory ship Lemuria's databases and to explore anywhere he had an interest in.

With a shrug Daniel instruction the medical robots to start treating Kerry and Roslyn Packer.

Ra's Lo'taur, Dersenedj stood quivering in fear as the metal spiders walked past him ignoring his presence.

He was here on a mission of importance to the Great God Ra.

He was to memorise the address that the metal spiders used on the chappa'ai and report this back to his master.

Once had had done with his rewards would be enormous.

Now all Dersenedj had to do was wait to the metal spiders to dial the Chappa'ai and the he would dial Ra's capital word to report his findings.

Paul Keating's offer to the world to sell deep space battlecruisers to any who could pay.

Even before he had completed his statement to the press the phones at the Department of Foreign Affairs started ringing off the hook as every country with even the slightest chance of finding the money wanted to get on the list for a deep space battlecruiser.

Professor Catherine Langford arrived at Sydney International airport.

She had expected to jump straight on a short hall fight to get closer to Ernest.

However just as she was trying to locate her baggage several ASIO agents intercepted her and advised her that she would be taken to the factory ship Lemuria only after she had answered their questions.

Wanting to get to her fiancé as quickly as possible she told them everything including the USA unsuccessful attempt to activate the stairway to heaven and everything she knew on those behind Project Giza.

Surprised at her knowledge and her desire to reach Ernest Littlefield ASIO decided that she could be an asset to Australia and arranged for her to be taken straight to the factory ship Lemuria.

Professor Catherine Langford looked at Ernest in stunned amazement.

While Ernest has aged he only appeared to be a decade older than when he was lost.

For his part Ernest was stunned that Catherine had waited for him for all these years.

Ernest yearned for the lost years and asked Daniel if he could get Catherine the same medical treatment that had allowed him to regain his vitality.

Daniel of course immediately agreed and as Catherine was helped to one of the medical pod Catherine removed the Amulet of Ra from around her neck and gave it to Daniel as a sign of her appreciation at having another chance of life with Ernest.

Ra's Lo'taur, Dersenedj had been recovered and had advised Ra of the address that the metal spiders had travelled to.

Ra was concerned the address he had been given was that of the first world.

Yet even the humans of the first world couldn't have advanced to the level of having created the metal spiders as even the hated Tollan hadn't reached that level.

The only conclusion he could reach was that the Ancients had returned to the first world yet again after they had forced the Goa'uld to have left the first time.

Ra wasn't willing to risk a war with one or more of the Great Races so he devised a cunning plan.

He would have his human slaves armed with weapons recovered from Ma'chello's world of Dendred and attack Apophis stealing his slaves.

His slaves would have orders to send the stolen slaves to the Tau'ri before fighting to the death.

He would plant explosives in his slave's brains that will detonate when his slaves die. This would ensure that their brains are destroyed and Apophis will never know he had been set up.

Hopefully the Ancients will destroy any fleet Apophis sends weakening his main rival for the title of Supreme System Lord.

When Kerry Packer woke he couldn't believe how well he felt.

Then when he saw his wife Roslyn looking love in her now thirty year old body Kerry knew that he just had to keep his promise to Paul Keating.

Besides the election that Keating was going to lose was now going to be in doubt with all the money that would come from the factory ship Lemuria when it was used to its full potential.

And Kerry was going to push hard to be at the forefront of exploiting the factory ship Lemuria.

The leader of the Liberal party John Howard wondered where everything went wrong.

Polling had indicated that he was heading for a landslide victory but in the year since the factory ship Lemuria was discovered his Liberal party and their allied National party was beset by scandals.

That and the massive amount of income that the sale of the deep space battlecruisers brought in left the opposition parties to the Labor government floundering as the Labor government spent the money to keep the people happy.

The people studying the factory ship Lemuria were panicking the Astria Porta as it was discovered the stairway to heaven was really called had activated and strange primitive people came through speaking a derivative of Ancient Egypt.

The archaeologists quickly discover that these people were slaves that had been freed and sent to the earth for some reason.

As they were former slaves no government on the earth was willing to send them back to a life of slavery so they were allowed to settle in Australia as refugees.

The newly re-elected Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating was preening in front of the press as the HMAS Australia launched on its shake down cruiser.

As the earth's first inter-planetary spaceship the HMAS Australia was taking a select group of scientists and the press on a week-long tour of the solar system.

It wouldn't be alone for long as the other nine battlecruisers in the first batch were only a month or two behind HMAS Australia and the crews from countries across the globe were already on the factory ship Lemuria learning about their nation's latest additions to their navies.

Teal'c was unnerved by his orders to take five ha'tak's and lay waste to the first world.

It was something he had done many times in the past in the service of Apophis but for some reason he felt that his current orders were wrong.

With a sigh he ordered the fleet to head towards the first world.

When he arrived at the first world Teal'c was shocked to be greeted by a very advanced warship when he issued the normal challenge to surrender and bow down before their god Apophis.

The response of bugger off left him slightly baffled but he assumed it was some kind of insult.

He was still contemplating his next action when one of the primes commanding one of the other Ha'tak's opened fire hitting a shield that easily deflected the plasma bold.

Teal'c thought this was not good as the other ha'taks started shooting as well to no avail.

Captain Russell Harry Crane was not amused by these intruders attacking he latest command the HMAS Australia.

The only reason why he hadn't returned fire was that he was waiting for permission from the Australian government who had also referred the matter to the United Nations.

The only definitive answer he had received from the Australian government was that he could only open fire if his command was under threat of destruction.

Checking HMAS Australia's shield strength Russ had no option but to ignore the incoming fire from the alien vessels.

The primes in command of the other ha'taks were getting incensed by the lack of effectiveness of their ha'taks weapons.

Taking this as an affront to their honour they ignored Teal'c's instructions and commenced ramming attacks against the enemy of their good Apophis.

Captain Russell Crane saw the ramming attack runs that four of the alien vessels commenced against HMAS Australia.

Russ didn't know if his new command would survive such an attack so he reluctantly ordered that attacking ships destroyed.

Teal'c watched on in horrified awe as the four ha'taks that had chosen to attack the strange vessel swatted from space as if they were some kind of irritating insect.

Thanking the false gods that he didn't believe in that he had stacked his ha'tak with all his loyal followers who didn't believe that the Goa'uld's were gods.

Believing that he had no choice he surrendered his vessel to the Tau'ri hoping that they might be able to help free his people from slavery.

He was surprised when his surrender was immediately accepted and he was instructed to land his ha'tak besides an obviously advanced alien city.

Teal'c did wonder how the Tau'ri had managed to advanced so far in the few thousand years they had been left alone.

The United Nations were in an uproar when it was revealed that these Goa'uld parasite had spread humanity across the stars to use as slaves and soldiers for whatever purpose they desired.

This was simply unacceptable to the silent majority who for once made their views known to their politicians.

The earth politicians now had to bow to the silent majority instead of the usual practice of caving in to the vocal majority the intelligence supplied by Teal'c and his rebel Jaffa was a god send to the Earth intelligence community.

It also provided the intelligence community with much needed information on the practices of the Goa'uld system lords.

The pressure to deal with the aliens using humans as slaves become too much for the United Nations and the G20 nations of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK, USA and the European Union stepped in and created a new organization to deal with alien threats.

Hence the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit was created with all the G20 nations contributing funds and military forces to the new organization.

Colonel Jonathan J (Jack) O'Neill frowned at his permanent change of duty station notice.

Everybody in the United States military special operations were being seconded to the new X-Com organization.

It wasn't the fact that he was being seconded to X-Com that concerned him but more the fact that Sara would hate having to move to Australia.

Luckily another Astria Porta or Stargate in English, was being built and would be installed near Brisbane so that all the land forces of X-Com wouldn't have to be based in the middle of Australia.

Jack was surprised when he was given command of XCU-1 that would consist of most of his former team with occasional people added with the required skill sets when required.

Jack didn't know how he came to command the first team by suspected that politics had been involved.

With the factory ship Lemuria producing vessels at its maximum production rate it was decided that the first two locations to be visited were the ones that the automated resource gathers were visiting to gather the required materials for the Earth's nascent space fleet.

Once these were visited then more addressed for the stargate would be calculated using the most advanced computers known to man.

Kerry and Roslyn Packer had an unexpected surprise from their rejuvenation on the factory ship Lemuria.

They had both been very surprised when Roslyn discovered that she was pregnant with their third child.

Neither of them had realised that their rejuvenation bodies could also reverse their biological clocks.

The probe sent to the first stargate address showed Egyptian hieroglyphs the moment it exited that stargate.

Teal'c and his followers had already advised that this was the Goa'uld language and writing style.

With X-Com unwilling to release any of the Jaffa to the exploration teams it was decided to ask Egyptologists to volunteer to assist in interpreting and communicating with the locals.

The first person to volunteer was Doctor Daniel Jackson who was so desperate to go to this planet that he instructed the factory ship Lemuria to accept instruction from Ernest Littlefield and Professor David Jordan in his absence.

X-Com glad to have others who could operate the factory ship Lemuria accepted the compromise and Daniel prepared to join ECU-1 direct from the stargate on board the factory ship Lemuria.

Colonel Jack O'Neill sighed in exasperation as this Doctor Daniel Jackson rushed straight to the Egyptian hieroglyphs the second he exited the stargate.

His team ECU-1 had already gone outside and discovered that they were inside a giant pyramid.

Jack thought it was unlikely that any people would be on this planet as it appeared to be a giant desert.

Yet the presence of Egyptian hieroglyphs also indicated that the Goa'uld had been here in the past and due to the lack of sand in the pyramid mostly came here on a regular basis.

Grabbing the nerd by the scruff of the neck he pulled Daniel away from the Egyptian hieroglyphs to that he would have a translator with his team if by chance they found human on this god forsaken planet.

Daniel was amazed by the planet he was on.

While the XCU team was walking in a certain direction Daniel stopped at the top of a sand dune and stared in shock for below him grazing on a stunted bush was an animal of some kind.

But what really surprised him was the fact that the animal had reins indicating that it was domesticated.

This meant that somewhere close was probably some kind of civilisation.

Whistling to get Colonel O'Neill attention he gestured for him to see what he had found.

Jack O'Neill couldn't believe his eyes when he saw an obviously domesticated animal grazing on a scrawny bush.

He was just about to suggest following the animal to see where it headed when he noticed a boy on the next sand dune looking at them.

Skaara was looking for the missing Mastadge when he noticed a group of strange people standing on the next sand dune looking Mastadge with a strange look on their faces.

Hoping they were here for trade he ran down to the Mastadge and collected its harness and then shouted at the strangers to follow him.

As he started to move off he noticed that they weren't following him.

Wondering if the hadn't heard him Skaara gestured for them to follow him and when he saw the taller older man nod he resumed his trek towards Nagada city.

Arriving at Nagada city Skaara immediately called out to his father Kasuf that they had visitors who wanted to trade.

Several minutes later Kasuf arrived on board a Mastadge with a type of tent erected on top of it.

Doctor Daniel Jackson seeing the strange animal arrive with some kind of tent on it made him realise that this was probably the village chieftain and he needed a gift for him.

Daniel dropped his backpack to the ground and knelt down to see what he could present to the chieftain.

As he lent over the Amulet of Ra Catherine Langford had given him fell from beneath his shirt and was exposed for the natives to see.

Daniel didn't see the local kneel before him as he finally found a gift for the village chieftain.

The gift was an M9 bayonet that an Aussie soldier had given him along with his pistol as they didn't want Daniel going unarmed.

When Daniel looked up he saw the local kneeling before him baffled by this he gestured for them to rise and the seeing the older man he assumed was the village chieftain present him with the M9 bayonet.

Kasuf was stunned by the beautiful knife that the stranger wearing the Amulet of Ra had presented him.

His tribe must have been in great favour with Ra to have knifes like this to give as presents.

Such a present must be reciprocated and then Kasuf had an idea.

He would give Sha're to this stranger as his wife thus solving the gift problem and also tying their tribes together through marriage.

Clapping his hands together Kasuf called for a grand feast to be prepared and wondered if this new tribe might be able to help increase their naquadah production so that they could meet Ra's increasing naquadah quotas.

Colonel Jack O'Neill laughed at Doctor Jackson's impersonation of a chicken during the feast.

Though Daniel flapping his arms didn't make him cry the firewater the Abydonians brought around during the feast certainly did.

When a group of older women started to drag Daniel away Jack started to stand but Daniel waves him to sit again telling him that it was probably cultural and it was best that they went along with the locals.

Daniel Jackson was starting to feel that he should have asked jack to come.

First the older local women had tried to wash him then they had taken him to a private room.

Daniel was still looking around the room when a young pretty woman entered the room and started to undress.

He just stared dumbfounded at the most beautiful woman he had ever seen dropped her dress to the ground and walked towards him.

It was then that the thought hit him that perhaps giving the M9 bayonet to Kasuf might have been a mistake and that Kasuf had reciprocated by giving him Sha're.

Daniel didn't know what to do he didn't what to reject Sha're and cause her and her family dishonour.

He also didn't know if honour killings were part of ancient Egyptian rituals.

Finally Daniel decided that he would try to talk to Sha're to find out more about her civilisation.

Sha're was shocked when Daniel didn't take her straight away like was the norm on a women's wedding night.

Instead he started to talk to her trying to learn about her people and she decided that seeing she would be leaving with her Daniel when he returned to his tribe she had better to the same.

So she decided to cuddle up to Daniel and teach him about her people with the hope that the feel of her body against his would convince him to take her after he had learnt what he needed to know.

Daniel woke in the morning to the feel of Sha're pressed against him and then he remembered what had happened.

After having talked for hours with Sha're's feminine charms pressed against him he had giving in to his lust and taken her.

The memory of her soft pliant body moving against his as he took her brought a smile to his face.

Then he remembers who old she was and felt ashamed even as his body responded to her pressed against his.

Before he could do anything else he saw Sha're stir from her slumber and smile at him before she reached down and touched him giggling.

He was about to object when he felt Sha're climb on top and straddle him before she started to bounce on him.

Daniel was mesmerised by the bounce of Sha're's pert breasts and reached for them before he started kissing her again.

In the back of Daniel's mind the thought remained of how he was going to explain to the powers that be that he had apparently married Sha're in a local ceremony.

Colonel Jonathan J (Jack) O'Neill shouted at Daniel Jackson when he learnt what had happened.

Jack was disgusted that Daniel hadn't been able to restrain himself though he did concede that different cultures did have their own rites and rituals.

Still upset but starting to calm down Jack told Daniel that he had better look after Sha're as he was going to make sure that Daniel's Abydonian wedding was recognized by the relevant governments.

They were here to release the Abydonians from slavery not to destroy their culture.

Besides Jack was sure that if one marriage happened then with more people arriving to help the Abydonians more were likely to happen in the future.

Sha're was unhappy that her Daniel was being shouted at by his chief.

From what little she had learnt from Daniel the way they married was not the norm for his people.

Knowing that Daniel's people were interested in the history of the Abydonians Sha're decided that perhaps if she showed Daniel the secret women's business in the buried temples her mother had taught her might placate Jack O'Neill.

Daniel stared in awe at the temple that Sha're was showing him in her attempt to appease Jack.

He knew at first glance that this was probably the most important site on Abydos and had to be recorded and protected at all cost.

Still holding Sha're close Daniel pulled out his camcorder and started to record as many of the stargate addresses as he could.

This library of stargate addresses would be a godsend to the earth as now they had some knowledge of which addresses the Goa'uld used.

When he had recorded as much as he could Daniel took Sha're hand and rushed to find Jack.

They had to get this information to the earth fast so that Abydos and this vital information could be protected.