This story is set during season 8 of Stargate SG1 and Season 1 of Stargate Atlantis. (No Stargate Universe plot here)

I want this story to press the extremes of what we already know about the Stargate universe, build on what we already know. The story maybe slow starting, but all good ones are like that; am I wrong?

I dedicate this story to Aer-ki Jyr, he is the one who drove me to start writing after reading his story 'Stargate: return of the ancients' – a good read I suggest you take a look.

The lost colony of the Ancients

120 Million Years Ago:

Abilana was waiting outside the communication chambers for Ortis to finish. She was standing by the door in typical Alterra architecture and fashion, three glowing blue, rectangular crystals where on the left side of the door, she knew if she waved her hand over it she could go inside and see what was taking so long – but it wasn't her place to interrupt.

Abilana stood at average height, wearing a tight fitting white robe that hugged her curved, athletic body. She had brown eyes and brunette hair that was shoulder-blade length. Abilana was slightly tanned, but for the most part more pale than golden.

The hall she was in was deserted; the city was in lock-down from a vicious virus that had swept over her people. This city was few out of thousands of inhabited worlds by the Alterra that hadn't yet been exposed; and they planned on keeping it that way.

Abilana reached out with her heightened senses that came with nearly 50 billion years of evolution. She could feel the presence of her kin in their living spaces four levels below her, trying to stay out of contact with anyone as instructed by the City's medical professionals. Abilana and Ortis where authorised to leave their living quarters so that Ortis could speak with the other colonies via the communications room.

Abilana was only 80 years old, quite young by the Alterra standard. Ortis took her as his apprentice when she was 11 years old – someone taking an apprentice was rare, but it made it that much more of an honour. Ortis was, and still is one of the most respected Alterran's of all time. Not only did he play a crucial role in re-building the Alterran empire when they first arrived in Avolona, he was one of the oldest; his vast experience gave him wisdom few could hope to rival. The main responsibilities he took on where biology – he had made several outstanding contributions to the field, including advancing our genetic code by a few million years three times. He is also the Supreme War Lord of the Alterra and has a keen strategic mind, calculating and plotting every move to bring him advantage in a battle. Among many other contributions throughout his long life, he also was a large contributor to the assimilation of the 'Alliance of Great Races'.

Woosh, the noise was all too familiar to Abilana: the door to the communications room had opened to reveal Ortis standing in the threshold. Ortis stood slightly higher than average height, had lightly tanned skin, brown piercing eyes and short sandy-brown hair that was long enough to be stylish and short enough to fit his military persona. Most Alterran's wore white clothes, but Ortis wore a black robe with the hood thrown back to reveal his face. He wore brown leather combat boots; it looked like they had seen their share of use.

He stepped out of the threshold of the door and started walking; Abilana trailed along, a step behind to his right side. She wanted a explanation or a clue of what happened inside, he was in there for 40 minutes after all, but her master had taught her the value of patience, and he tested her on what he taught her often and in ways she never expected – for all she knew this could be one of the tests right now.

The silence was uncomfortable. "We're leaving this galaxy; we will go far, far away. We will continue our civilisation in a new galaxy – to one day return once the virus has passed" Ortis said evenly with no hint of emotion in his voice. "Which galaxy will we travel to?" Abilana replied. "Mayall" he said evenly. "What? That galaxy is over a 12,000 year journey away in the fastest of vessels – why are we going so far! I don..." She stopped talking when her master gave her a sharp look, she hung her head slightly – she knew she shouldn't argue with things she doesn't understand, that's the way of arrogance. "Sorry" is all she had to say. Ortis said nothing, just giving her a few seconds with her thoughts so she could learn her lesson. "We will leave all this behind us, from what the others have studied there is a chance that this is a weapon, meant for us. If this is true this is a battle we cannot win, their knowledge of biology is more advanced than ours. Time and advancements in our own field of biology is the only way to combat this." He continued after a moment's pause "we must find seclusion, only time will drive our advancement. We have begun to prepare for the journey; we will leave within three days."

Present day Earth:

SG1 sat around the table in the briefing room. They could all see through the window General O'Neill talking on a red phone, it looked important. Jack gave them a nod and a smile and kept on talking, and then hanging up the phone when he was done, walked out to join the others. "Ahh you're back, find anything cool in the Ancient ruins? Cool gizmos, big-honkin'-space guns?" he asked with a smile on his face, like a child at Christmas time. Carter spoke up, as the official leader of SG1 "Just ruins with writing on the walls, we haven't found anything of value on the planet." She said, looking over at Daniel who gave her a sour look. "The planet was very valuable, the walls tell of some of the defining history of the Ancients. And we also found this" Daniel said while pulling a stone tablet the size of a piece of paper out of a cloth and placed it on the table.

"Space rock, very valuable Daniel" Jack laughed, teasingly. "No, well yes, it's not the rock!" he said frustrated, "It's what's on the rock. It has a reference to the lost city of Atlantis we think is in Pegasus Galaxy." Teal'c, who rarely speaks decided to jump in. "What is the value in knowledge we already posses, Daniel Jackson?" "Well I'm not too sure on the translations, but I think it mentions two cities. It says the wiser were in one city, and the younger were in the other... If this is true, where is the other city, where the wiser the ones who went to Pegasus, or the one we haven't discovered yet?" Daniel said, half talking to the others and himself.

Teal'c rose is eye brow and said "indeed". All eyes fell on the general, he shifted in his seat a little "Ahh well, who cares, who know's. As long as you beat the snake heads to it. Did you run into any trouble there?" he asked. "Yessir, a scout party of three Jaffa came through, probably to check what happened to the first, a little fire fight broke out and they were killed, sir" carter finished.

"Okay then" jack said, getting up and walking over to the steps "I'm hungry, haven't had my fruit loops yet". As he reached the stairs he looked behind him to see the others, they were all just sitting there. "Erm. Dismissed?" the General said, almost laughing.

Present Mayall Galaxy:

Abilana walked briskly through the halls, passing many people and giving slight nods and smile's to them all. But she didn't have time to stop and talk to them; her master had called for her. Although her apprenticeship had ended, unofficially Ortis was still her master; she had so much to learn from him still, and she was eager to learn.

Although 120 million years had passed, Abilana still looked much the same. She walked with purpose down the hall, each stride bringing her close to her destination. As she walked her hair which she wore in a loose 'pony tail' swayed forward and back along with her loose fitting black robes. Like her master she adopted the black robes that her master wore. They were the only Alterran's who wore black robes, all others wore white clothes, and not all of them robe's. To her, it was more of a symbol, not fashion.

As she was walking she couldn't help but think about all that had happened in the last 120 million years since they had left Avolona. The journey was long; it took them 12,350 years to arrive at the Mayall Galaxy. Stopping every few hundred years to transport the hydrogen of massive stars onto their ship so they wouldn't run out of raw matter to synthesise their food, technology and fuel that was essential for surviving.

The journey was long, confined to the city ship. During the journey everyone in the city became very close, not that whey weren't before the plague, they just grew closer. During the time spent travelling, everyone spent their time in the gym working on physical training, and just as much time at the feet of teachers and data terminals absorbing in knowledge like a sponge. With the possible threat of an enemy that was to powerful to defeat at the time, everyone was determined to work double-time to make sure that, one day, they were.

Although the Alterran's where the most technologically advanced race they had ever encountered before, they were surprised at the speed of advancements they were making, knowing that only a few thousand years ago it would have been thought impossible. Abilana remembered what her master had told her 'power comes in response to a need, not a want. In this case power is innovation'.

She knew full well that at first, they all kept themselves preoccupied so they didn't have to deal with the saddening thoughts of their kin, brothers and sisters suffering and dyeing without a chance of survival.

As the thousands of years went by, Ortis had continued to teach, train and test her. He taught her everything he knew about strategy, the right frame of mind to be in. Ortis had tried to pass on much of his wisdom to her, trying to recreate the situations he was in, so she could learn from the mistakes, and help her understand what went wrong, how to avoid and fix it.

'Why do we fall Abilana? Because we are not perfect and we all make mistakes. A lesson in humiliation goes a long way. We fall to get back up, by retracing our steps as we rise again; we learn what we did wrong. Every mistake has a valuable lesson that can be learned, if your mind is open to it.'

Ortis had trained her to be one of the best fighters, hand-to-hand or with a rifle. Taught her how to train her body, mind and emotions, and she took it all in eagerly. The only thing that she did not take to with enthusiasm was biology, she respected the field and the potential it held, but it wasn't her calling. She learned the basics of the field, as was required by all those who were still 'young' and hadn't passed their trials. Her attention in the science field was directed towards physics – understanding the secrets of the universe.

When the day came when they finally found a suitable planet in the Mayall Galaxy to start rebuilding their civilisation, the hard work had only begun. Scouts were sent out to explore the galaxy, and seed a Stargate to all habitable worlds. It was confirmed that the Alterra where the only intelligent life in this galaxy, as they had hoped.

Three Alterran were tasked to ascend to see if the galaxy was truly untouched. They were to report back if they came into contact with any other ascended beings. A day after they had ascended the three returned, reporting that there was none. Ortis had decided that without the laws of the other ascended beings in Aavolona they could freely ascend, and interact with the Mayall Galaxy. The knowledge gained while ascended set the Alterran's science forward roughly 25 billion years. Even though Abilana had ascended for 2 days, then returned to corporal form she would definitely call it an experience.

Once the Alterra had learned all they could while being ascended, they returned to the corporal world in newly advanced bodies that had brains that had the power to house all they had learned. Ortis, and most of the biology department agreed that ascension could only do so much. As pure energy they had vast power, but they lacked one thing that the all Alterran's believed was necessary; the ability to evolve.

Abilana turned to the left at the end of the hall, only to carry on. Her master was waiting for her in one of the rooms near the end of the hall. As she walked her thoughts drifted back to all they had achieved since they had left Avolona, and all that was left to achieve.

The Alterran's continued to develop their technology in preparation for what they now knew was a war. After studying the digital samples the other colonies had sent them, they knew it had to have been engineered. In time their advanced sciences lead to many genetic alterations in their bodies until the impossible had occurred, they had surpassed ascended beings completely, in both mind and power.

Abilana reached the door she was looking for. She waved her left hand over the blue crystals in the door and it opened with a 'woosh'. "You summoned me, master?" she asked as way of greeting. "Yes i did, its time." "Time for what?" Abilana asked, slightly confused. "Time to return home, we will leave for Avolona within the month. You have been tasked with helping Kann'ire evacuate the military training facilities." "I will leave imminently".