Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate: Atlantis or Star Trek: Voyager. Or any of the other's.

Author's note: Actually, we of Infinity have been discussing some of these issues for a while now. So I thought perhaps we ought to get Stargate and Star Trek talking about it, as well.

Midnight – and lots of beer later

It was late and the stale smell of spilt beer was almost tangible. Only a number of dimmed lights still burnt and John Sheppard supposed the barkeep wished the last of the customers would leave. Han and Leia Solo had left early, because baby Anakin – their youngest – was sick. This had meant they had taken their friends along home with them. Nobody had minded the Wookie, but everyone was happy that they had taken C-3PO with them. The robot never shut up and he couldn't keep his liquor.

In another corner Malcolm Reynolds of the Firefly was still drowning his sorrows, but he didn't bother anyone. Here at the bar it was only John and the barkeep and John was considering leaving when another man sat down in the stool next to him. John looked over at the tattooed man and took another swig of beer.

"So, how're things on Voyager?" he struck up a conversation.

Chakotay hardly glanced over before taking a swig of his own mug. "Still stuck in the Delta quadrant," he replied. He looked tired. "And Atlantis?"

"Still fighting life-sucking space aliens," John told the commander of Voyager. He glanced at the older man. "Too bad you don't have a hyper-drive on your ship," he remarked.

Chakotay shrugged. "Star Trek was conceived in a time when man did not know about hyper space," he explained. Then he sighed. "But a hyper-drive would have been handy," he admitted. After a minute's silence he looked over at John. "Where did you get your hyper-drive anyway?" he asked.

John looked away in that way men did at a bar. "The Asgard," he admitted and drank from his almost-empty mug. He signalled the barkeep for another and so intentionally missed Chakotay's frown.

"So you didn't come up with the technology?" he asked the younger man. He too drank from his mug as he looked in front of him at the rows of bottles. "At least we had a human invent warp technology," he told the military commander of Atlantis.

John frowned. "True." Silence reigned. Finally John felt it was his time to break the silence. "What about your big honking wormhole? Aliens made that, didn't they?"

Chakotay frowned slightly, wrinkling his tattoo. "True. But at least we stayed within more conventional ideas of wormhole travel," he defended the wormhole between the Alpha and Gamma quadrants.

"How so?" John asked, only slightly interested.

"Well, a wormhole is a rift in subspace. You can't just walk through it unprotected."

It was John's turn to frown. "I think we have some matter-conversion going on as we step through the gate," he explained.

"Oh," Chakotay replied. "Similar to transporter technology?"

John emptied his mug and started on his next. "I suppose. The SGC once nearly lost Teal'c because he couldn't be rematerialised immediately on earth's side."

Chakotay brought his mug ho his lips, but discovered his mug was empty. The barkeep idly places another in front of him. The poor alien had seen in what direction this conversation was headed. "So, how did you compensate for the Heisenberg principle?" he asked.

John wondered where Rodney was when he needed him. "You mean the uncertainty principle? The principle about the fundamental limit on the accuracy with which certain pairs of physical properties of a particle, such as position and momentum, can be simultaneously known?"

Chakotay nodded. "Yes. We have the Heisenberg compensator built into our transporters."

John looked even more away. "We left that part of the technology to the Ancients," he admitted.

Chakotay nodded slightly. "So you don't have regular beaming technology?"

John would have looked embarrassed if it had even occurred to him, but it had been a big mug of beer and it was nearly finished. Again. "Yip," he replied. "The Asgard invented that as well."

"So all of your technology is alien?" Chakotay asked.

John thought about it for a while. "I think we're mostly responsible for our FTL-drive," he remarked.

Chakotay thought about this for a while. "Faster than light-drive?" he hazarded a guess.

"Yip," John happily replied.

"How very...original," Chakotay muttered. After that the topic seemed to have reached its end and both men drank in silence for a while.

"So, how's life on Voyager?" John finally asked.

Chakotay scowled. "I'm in love with a woman who's technically my boss," he admitted.

John nodded. "Tell me about it," he told his new friend. Then he frowned. "Technically?"

Chakotay rubbed at his eyes. It had been a long time since he had had a decent night's sleep. "Yes. I used to have my own ship," he admitted.

"What happened to it?" John enquired.

Chakotay looked slightly abashed. "I rammed it into another ship," he told John.

John looked at the stocky Indian for a moment and realised he could not imagine the man doing such a thing by mistake. "A much bigger ship that would have destroyed everyone if you hadn't?" he asked and Chakotay despondently nodded. John sighed.

"You seem to know the feeling," Chakotay asked.

"It seems to be a recurring theme in my life," John admitted. Then he decided to leave the subject of ships and return to the previous one. "You think you and the lady will ever get it worked out?" he asked.

Chakotay considered this. "Not in canon, I think," he finally admitted and John knew exactly how the man felt. He suddenly had the urge to cheer the other man up.

"Well, at least you don't have Rodney McKay," he joked. But Chakotay glared at him.

"I have Tom Paris and Tuvok," he trumped John's effort. Then he frowned again. "And I have Neelix," he added.

John looked over at the man. "Can I buy you another beer?" he asked as he had run out of happy things to say. And it really seemed Chakotay needed the comfort.

"That would be appreciated," the commander of Voyager replied.

The night dwindled. In one corner Malcolm Reynolds was snoring lightly, but at the bar the two men found the silent companionship of each other to be comforting.