Chapter 1

In the Milky Way, there lies a region of space where debris from a failed planetary system slowly travels around a dark sun. A eon ago, dust gathered from the great bang and slowly coalesced into what would have become planetary bodies. But, unlike our solar system, these planets did not hold a stable orbit, and eventually the gravitational pull from one another drew them closer and closer until the inevitable occurred ... they impacted each other.

The force of the collision, billions of tons of planetary mass colliding at millions of miles per hour, caused debris to scatter across the whole parsec. The region of space around the sun was relatively clear, through the gravitational effects of the sun drawing matter towards it. This matter, however, slowly overcame the stability of the sun's ability to create nuclear fission, by introducing too many heavy elements to sustain the nuclear chain-reaction. This sun was dying.

Inexplicably, a void appeared in the dust that permeated the area. A small portion of dust simply disappeared, leaving a small spherical area empty of anything. And it grew.

This continued for several hours, with the volume of the empty space increasing exponentially. Finally, the space seemed to stabilize, not expanding any further, and almost seemed like it was pausing, waiting for something to happen.

Then, with a suddenness that was astounding, the void was no longer a void, for a planet appeared. A planet that didn't belong, with a population that screamed the screams of those terrified and bewildered. A population that, moments before, enjoyed a beautiful and bright sun that bathed the planet with life-giving light. A population that, slowly, perished, under the light of a sun that barely filtered through the enormous cloud of dust between the two bodies. A sun that would have been 1/10 the brightness of their original sun, had there been no dust in their heavens.

Famine and pestilence spread through a once thriving population. Months later, only a small percentage of the population remained, clumped together in small pockets of civilization that tried to stay warm in a new ice age. Pockets of civilization that was scooped up by an enormous ship, a ship that defied logic with its mind-boggling size. A ship that wasn't aesthetically pleasing, but rather harsh looking, brutal.

It was a ship in the shape of a cube.

"Chevron 7 will not engage!" Sargent Walter Harriman announced to the team standing behind them.

"What's the holdup, Captain?" Colonel O'Neill asked the blond woman in military fatigues.

"No idea, sir," Captain Carter responded. "I'm running gate diagnostics now, but I don't think the problem is from our side." she said, as she typed away at the terminal in front of her.

Doctor Daniel Jackson showed up at the control room at that moment. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"No idea. Carter there is running diagnostics right now, but we can't dial in to P7X-559. SG-7 is overdue for a check-in, and the General ordered a dial-in to see what's the hold-up" O'Neill replied. "Captain, what's the problem?

Carter frowned for a moment then replied "Well, the diagnostic checks out fine. Let's try dialing the Alpha site. Sargent would you mind?"

"Sure thing, Ma'am." Harriman replied, typing commands into the console in front of him.

Through the plexi-steel in front of them, they could see the huge gate as the symbols contained within began to rotate, pausing every once in a while as the stargate locked in a part of the address to the Alpha site. As the 7th and final symbol, or chevron, locked, the event horizon formed, looking for all the world like water expelling, then retreating, from the face of the gate.

"Incoming transmission from Alpha site, sirs." The Sargent reported.

"Put it up, Major," Colonel O'Neill ordered. Above them, the screens that normally show the status of the stargate changed to a view of a man in a command center similar to the one that they were currently in.

"Stargate Command, this is Colonel Reynolds. What may I do for you today?"

"Colonel, this is Captain Carter. Just checking our gate out, we had a problem dialing out to P7X-559, and wanted to rule out a problem with the gate network. Have you had any issues on your end?

"No, Ma'am. Everything here checks out fine, and we just ran our daily diagnostic of gate systems. In fact, we just were in contact with the Tok'ra about 30 minutes ago." The Colonel reported.

"Thank you, Colonel. If any issues do arise, please inform Stargate Command immediately." Carter replied.

"Will do, Captain. Reynolds out." With that, the transmission ended, and the gate shut down.

Carter turned to O'Neill, "Well, we can rule out problems on our end, or with the gate network. P7X-559 must be down."

"Where's the Daedalus?" O'Neill asked, referring to the X-303 the Air Force recently completed.

"They're due back from Atlantis tomorrow, 0900 hours." Sargent Harriman reported.

"Come, let us speak to the General. It's been a while since I've rode in style," O'Neill quipped, before heading off to the General's office.