Daniel stepped through the blue gate at the telekinetic prodding of Stevenson and arrived first into darkness. Only the light of the event horizon and the blue chevrons on the gate gave his feet a visible target as he hesitantly moved forward. When the Alterran stepped through a few seconds later the small room in which they stood suddenly came to life, powering up a vast array of surveillance equipment in what looked to be a copy of the Tria's bridge.

Foremost of all the visual splendor was a floating hologram of a dense star system in front of several observation screens directly opposite the gate. The numerous planets within the system were surrounded by a sphere made up of small red dots.

"What is this place?" Daniel asked.

"An observation station," Stevenson said, reviewing the most recent logs.

"Observing what?" Daniel asked, trying to piece it all together. Something about the address sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

"This system is near the core of Avalona," Stevenson explained as he continued to work the consoles. "It contains 52 planets along with 76 moons and is one of the densest systems in the galaxy. Originally we had intended it for our own use, but circumstances led us to designate it for another purpose."

Stevenson brought up a visual display of one of the planetoids, a green-white world with obvious signs of civilization scattered across its surface. He zoomed in the surveillance footage until Daniel's eyes went wide with shock. "You have got to be kidding me?"

"Not at all…and do not mistake them for mere beasts. Jurassic Park didn't do them justice."

"They're intelligent?" Daniel asked as he watched live footage of a group of long-necked dinosaurs walking through a series of arches outlining a corridor within a massive city.

"Very," Stevenson said without any hint of levity. "They are called the Lovakora…a conglomeration of twelve races along with numerous subspecies. They were the dominate power in Avalona when the Alterra originally settled in this galaxy, yet they controlled less than 1% of its territory. Those systems that they did possess were spread far apart, cherry-picked by the Lovakora for the worlds that best suited them. This provided more than enough free space for us to inhabit without crossing their path. In the end, however, that didn't prove to be true. A few thousand years after we colonized Dakara the Lovakora came into conflict with one of our allies. We intervened…and a galactic war ensued."

"Dinosaurs?" Daniel asked, still not believing it.

"When the war began," Stevenson continued, ignoring his rhetorical question, "our fleet was small, but we had a significant technological advantage that kept us alive. We had hoped to defend ourselves and our allies and force the Lovakora to abandon the war…but we quickly discovered that wasn't an option. The nature of the Lovakora is one that doesn't tolerate opposition. Once they enter battle, the fighting doesn't end until the enemy is completely annihilated. They will accept nothing less."

"Surely there must have been some diplomatic recourse?" Daniel argued.

Stevenson shook his head. "You underestimate them greatly, Dr. Jackson. They will tolerate no rivals. Even when they were on the edge of total defeat their resolve did not slacken…and it took us over a thousand years to overcome their hold on this galaxy."

"In the end we decided not to wipe them out completely, though that seemed to be the only logical recourse. Instead, we devised an end to the war that would give them a second chance at survival."

Stevenson pointed at the holographic map. "They were banished to Tar, Ta, Rush, never again to leave under pain of death. We didn't negotiate the terms of the armistice with them. Even as they faced total defeat they would not consider us worthy enough for communication. At the time we believed they only accepted the armistice in order to give themselves a chance to rebuild their forces and attack us again. Knowing this, we established a network of satellites around the system that marks the limit of their allowed movement, as well as establishing a jamming field that blocks all incoming and outgoing transmissions."

"Wait a minute," Daniel said, holding up a hand for him to stop. "Tar-Ta-Rush…" he said aloud, thinking it through. "Tar-Tar-Ush…Tartarus. This is Tartarus, from Greek mythology, where the Olympians imprisoned the Titans in the underworld…" Daniel hesitated as it finally sunk in. "The Dinosaurs are the Titans…twelve species, twelve Titans?"

"Twelve dominant species," Stevenson corrected him. "There are many more that serve under them. They use another one of those forms of government that Avalon isn't familiar with," Stevenson said, referring to their previous conversation. "The best analogy I can give you is that of the Covenant in Halo…though the Lovakora share power more between the species than the Prophets allowed."

"Ah, I'm sorry…Halo?" Daniel asked.

Stevenson frowned. "You've never played Halo?"

"I'm not even sure what it is," Daniel admitted.

"It's a video game," Stevenson told him. "There were weekly tournaments in the SGC."

Daniel shrugged. "I never cared for games. I was always more into books and artifacts."

Stevenson rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Anyway, by the end of the war the Alterra were left in the default position of galactic stewardship…which we never relented. The surviving Lovakora were relocated to this system and have remained here ever since."

Daniel looked at the holographic map. "And the satellites keep them in?"

"No," Stevenson said menacingly. "The promise of total annihilation should they ever violate the armistice has kept them here."

"Well what's keeping them in now?" Daniel asked. "With the Alterra gone they should have…"

"And you thought Avalona was safe," Stevenson reminded Daniel, sensing that he'd finally caught on.

"They don't know what happened," Daniel said, almost in a whisper. "They still think the Alterra control this galaxy."

Stevenson nodded. "That's the only reason I can think of that they would still be here. With the blackout in place they have no knowledge of outside events…and if they sent even so much as a probe past the satellites it would break the armistice and we would kill them all."

"How big of a threat are they?" Daniel asked, looking at the visual images of the Lovakora on one of their prison worlds.

"Haven't you been listening?" Stevenson rebuked him.

"I mean now," Daniel clarified.

Stevenson ground his teeth. "This citadel orbits the central star in what is a trinary system. The abundance of stellar energy is what feeds the satellites and keeps them operational. This space station gathers the energy and redirects it periodically to the jamming net. Fortunately the citadel's backup generators are also stellar powered, or the station would have shut down long ago, and with it the blackout. When I first came here a few months ago I found the Potentia depleted. I've since replaced it and the citadel's monitoring equipment is now back to full capacity. The first thing I did once power was restored was to have the computer compile an updated report."

"Initially 16 of the 128 planetoids were habitable," Stevenson continued. "Now they all are, and are filled to the brim with Lovakora…with estimates placing their total population at over three trillion."

"Oh my god," Daniel commented, feeling the pit of his stomach sink.

"Initially, this system wasn't abundant in naquada and other materials essential to the creation of advanced technology, so it wasn't theorized that they would be able to build up a sizeable force to challenge us again…but in the millions of years that have passed they have upgraded their technology with an eye towards creating alternative compounds to those that they are lacking. Their power generators are using a compound unknown to the Alterra, which I believe is some type of synthetic construction created through combinations of available resources…much like how a metallic alloy is stronger than its constituent parts."

Daniel stared him in the eye. "So they've become far stronger than you ever imagined they would?"

"We weren't here to keep an eye on them…and to be honest, even their current strength wouldn't be something we couldn't have countered at the time the plague hit us…but now, if they discover that we're no longer here to contain them, there's nothing that I can do to stop them. Not yet, anyway."

"How advanced is their technology compared to Earth's…or the Asgard's?"

"Avalon can't compare," Stevenson said with a hint of disgust. "And given the advancements they've made in the interim…they may have even surpassed the Asgard."

"Oh, this is bad," Daniel commented.

"You see now why I need the Jaffa to back us up?" Stevenson asked pointedly. "And there are even more lethal threats in Avalona than the Lovakora…just none this large."

"More lethal?" Daniel asked, questioning his own hearing.

"Not all threats vie for galactic domination," Stevenson reminded him. "Some prefer to remain hidden…waiting for you to cross their paths. There are some so powerful and so unusual that we quarantined them rather than face them in battle. However, the Lovakora do vie for galactic domination…which makes them the largest threat within Avalona. Then take into account all the possible extra-galactic threats…"

"And you need as big a defense force as you can get," Daniel said, seeing the logic. "Do the Jaffa know about them?" he asked, pointing to the monitor.

"No one does," Stevenson said, eyeing Daniel. "And I want it to stay that way. I don't want to distract them from their current assignments, especially given the fact that there's nothing the Jaffa could do in the here and now against that," he said, also referring to the real-time images of the Lovakora.

"Are you sure that's wise," Daniel asked, thinking. "I've found that sometimes the threat of mutually assured destruction can be a great incentive for cooperation," he said with just a hint of sarcasm.

"Temporary cooperation," Stevenson corrected him. "The Jaffa united to defeat the Goa'uld, then split apart into competing factions after the threat was eliminated. I want a unified force to safeguard this galaxy, not one cobbled together out of immediate need."

"Point taken," Daniel said, staring at the displays. "Who's the dominate race in the Lovakora? The T-Rex I suppose?"

Stevenson shook his head. "The Atla are a subspecies to the Iapetus. They're used mostly as front line commanders."

"In mythology Iapetus was one of the original Titans and Atlas was the offspring," Daniel said in awe. It still amazed him how much of mythology still proved to be true in the present day…even if it had become a bit distorted. "Not to mention Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius."

"All subspecies of the Iapetus," Stevenson told him, searching the surveillance data for a particular feed. He had to switch planetoids to find the appropriate species.

"These are the Iapetus," he said, bringing an extremely large dinosaur onto the screen from a top down view. "I don't believe their remains have been found on Avalon."

"Is that?" Daniel asked, pointing to a small dinosaur beside the Iapetus.

"An Atla."

Daniel's jaw dropped again at the sheer size of the creatures. "How did they come to be on Earth anyway?"

"Avalon was one of their regional capitols before we took it from them," Stevenson said warily.

"Which means it'll probably be one of the first worlds they want back," Daniel said ominously.

"Probably," Stevenson reasoned. "Hopefully I'm able to rebuild our civilization before they grow bold enough to challenge their imprisonment. If not, Avalona will fall with little resistance."

"And I suppose Pegasus and other nearby galaxies not long after that?" Daniel guessed.

"I don't think so," Stevenson countered. "The Lovakora's hyperdrive technology proved inferior during the war…and it's not like they've an opportunity to field test any upgrades."

"So you're saying they can't reach another galaxy?" Daniel asked.

"Not categorically, but there's a strong chance that's the case."

"Just for argument's sake," Daniel said offhand, "what happens if, say, a rogue Goa'uld or an explorer happens to stumble across this system?"

Stevenson didn't say anything. He just shook his head.

"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of," Daniel said, staring at the Iapetus and the hoards of smaller Lovakora flanking it. "I liked Spielberg's version better."

Stevenson placed his hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Come on," he said, mentally dialing the gate. When it came to the jump code he input that manually on the dialing device then hit the activation key. As soon as the event horizon snapped into place his communicator registered a new message.

He read the brief holographic text message then deactivated the device. "There's a medical emergency on Atlantis. We have to return at once."