THE END OF BEGINNINGS

FIVE

Daniel Jackson was nothing if not a seasoned gate traveler.  Somewhere, in a file or a database, there might exist a number tallying exactly how many times the archeologist and galactic explorer had crossed the velvety barrier of the pool-like event horizon generated by the stargate.  The first time was in 1994.  He had been brought to the Cheyenne facility by Katherine Langford, daughter of the Egyptologist who first uncovered the stargate near the Giza plateau just before 1930.  Years of work and research had been put into understanding the mammoth metal ring and its purpose before Jackson was brought into the program.  Samatha Carter, an Air Force captain at the time, had created the dialing program.  Terrestrial computer systems were able to act as a primitive dialer, accessing the inner ring's ability to spin and its symbols be locked into a sequence.  It was the lonely, sneezing academic who worked out the final pieces of the puzzle.  He figured out the meaning of the symbols on the gate and corresponding cover stones once buried on top of it in the Egyptian desert.
The antique missile silo had hummed and quaked as the dialing computer had activated the missing seventh symbol the original team had been stumped to identify.  Everyone had breathed in a sharp gasp as the orange-lit chevrons suddenly dimmed behind an explosion of brilliant, crystal-blue light.  Daniel's life was never the same after that.  But, neither was anyone else's associated with the budding Stargate Program.
The well-like chamber was humming once more as one of two, thick blast doors sealing the room slide aside.  Daniel Jackson finished cleaning his glasses before walking through the open doorway.  He slipped the thin frames over his ears, pushing the lenses up to the bridge of his nose.  The moving blur that was General Landry focused into a recognizable and detailed shape halfway across the chamber.  The older man had his hands on his hips and was looking toward where a technician at his side was pointing.
"Well, get it done then," Landry ordered.  The thin man with red, sandpaper-like cheeks nodded and then saluted before hurrying off.
"Problem, General," Daniel asked, looking up toward the spot at the stargate the technician had been gesturing.
"Hopefully not," General Landry responded.  "There's apparently some concern about one of the new conductors overheating while the gate is connecting."
Daniel blanched.  He looked from General Landry back up at the stargate.  A group of engineers were clustered together on one side of the seven meter ring.  Half of them were packed in the basket of a cherry picker that was clearly overcrowded.  Their hands were moving quickly over and under the heavy clasp situated halfway between two of the idle chevrons.
"That doesn't seem good," said Daniel, speaking over the steady buzz of voices around them.
"No.  But since this is only the third test of Colonel Carter and Dr. McCay's system, not all of the kinks have been worked out."
Daniel looked sidelong at the older man beside him.  "What happens if they don't think they can get this fixed in time?"
General Landry finally looked away from the crew at the stargate's side.  "We still have the ZPM on loan from the Antarctic outpost.  We'll use it if we have to," he said as he walked behind Daniel toward the open blast door.  "The supply team is leaving on time, no matter what."
"That's good to know," said Marcus Van Scott as he walked into the gate room.
"I'm glad," General Landry said with a bitter edge of sarcasm.  He didn't stop to talk to the younger man any further, brushing past him, instead, into the corridor beyond the doorway.  Marcus watched him leave, missing Daniel's eye roll in the gate room.
Marcus let himself smile as he turned back around to face Daniel Jackson and the bustling chamber.  He walked past the armored airmen trying to stay out of the way of the different teams moving busily about.  The thirty-three-year-old diplomat noticed the difference in uniforms as he studied the various men and women around the gate.  The base personnel not about to make the journey across the cosmos were dressed in lab coats, plain gray or green jumpsuits, or just standard military garb.  Waiting on and around the shallow ramp leading up to the stargate were individuals in black, green, or gray-blue jumpsuits and vests.  There were badges on their shoulders identifying their specific teams, missions, and countries or origin.  Daniel Jackson was no exception.
"Nice uniform," Marcus said as he closed the distance between he and the archeologist.
"Yeah.  Thanks," Daniel replied without looking at the man from the IOA.  "Just kind of standard issue."
"No SG-1 badge?"
"I'm not really going as part of SG-1.  It's just...kind of the easy thing to wear.  Lots of pockets."
"Right," Marcus said, facing forward to look at the ramp.  The pair of matching, robotic transports he had seen parked behind each other from the conference room seemed even more full of cargo than they had a short time earlier.  He could barely see over the bulging mounds secured to the top of each flatbed.
"I do have a question, though," Marcus said, leaning to his left as he spoke.
"I'm sure it won't be the only one," Daniel said flatly.
"How do you pick out which color to wear?"
Daniel breathed deeply.  "We spin a wheel."
Marcus smiled.  "You don't like me much, do you, Dr. Jackson?"
"Do I have to like you?"
"No.  But I'd at least like the chance to earn your respect.  And your trust."
"Well, I wouldn't hold your breath or anything."
Marcus' smile finally faded.  His pride was a little wounded by the archeologists' words.  "I feel like I'm at an unfair disadvantage.  I'm not even getting to start on the ground floor with you.  I would have figured you, of anyone here, would be the most open-minded to a new-comer."
Daniel Jackson turned his head to look at the other man beside him for a moment.  There was a lot he could have said to defend his attitude and impression of the man.  Marcus Van Scott had no idea who Daniel Jackson really was, what he had seen or experienced, or how many times Daniel's trust and open-mindedness had been used against him.  But he didn't.  Daniel didn't think he needed to, not this time.  Instead, he simply said, "Sorry to disappoint."
"Your judgement is harsh, Dr. Jackson.  Especially given you don't know me."
Daniel breathed deeply and loudly.  "No.  But, I know who you're working for.  That alone says something about you."
Marcus nodded his head.  "Maybe so, Dr. Jackson.  But, I promise, I'm not who you think I am."
Daniel stared with narrow eyes at the man beside him for a long, cold minute.  "We'll see," he said before turning his head to shout over his shoulder, "General?"
"We're a go," announced General Landry, his voice booming through speakers above the silo floor.  "All non-authorized personnel leave the gate room now."
With the general's words still bouncing off the thick, concrete walls, the stargate suddenly came to life.  A surge of power kicked through its ancient skin, loudly unlocking the inner ring.  It was a noise that made Marcus jump back a half-startled-step.  "Oh," he mumbled.
"Chevron one...locked," Sergeant Harriman said into the microphone in front of him.  He smiled down at Daniel Jackson who turned his head to glance up at the control room.  Daniel returned the smile.
At the top of the gate, the first raised triangle moved sharply.  It stretched downward over the symbol that had stopped beneath it.  Hidden parts snapped and clicked a fraction of a second before the chevron retreated back into place.  Marcus watched without blinking as the orange crystal in the top of the angled shape was suddenly shining brightly.
The gate's movements had barely ceased during the quick sequence.  Before Marcus knew it, the inner ring was spinning again.  "Chevron two, locked," Walter Harriman announced, his amplified voice ringing in the background of Marcus' attention.  He watched the second triangle repeat the movements of the first, its crystal glowing brightly a heartbeat later.  Then the gate was moving again, the third symbol already being locked into place.
"This is...impressive," Marcus said to Dr. Jackson without taking his eyes off the stargate.  The fourth chevron blinked to life as he spoke.
Daniel glanced at the slightly younger man out of the corner of his eye.  He could only chuckle quietly at Mr. Van Scott.
"Is this process always this fast," Marcus asked after Walter announced the fifth chevron.
Daniel stared ahead at the team members on the crowded ramp leading up to the gate.  "This isn't fast," he said.
"Chevron six, locked."
"Oh," Marcus said, taking his eyes off the stargate for a moment.  "There's...one more, right?"
"Chevron seven, locked."
"Nope," said Daniel.
"Oh," Marcus said again.  He returned his attention to the stargate.
"Chevron eight is...locked."
Marcus felt the air in the silo tease the hairs on his neck.  It was pulled toward the gate for a rapid, heart-stopping second.  All he could think of was an engine, powering the universe, suddenly cranking up.  A geyser of light and energy erupted out of the open core of the gate.  Molecules grabbed hold of each other, forming a violent, liquid-like vortex that sprang outward over the head of the ramp.  Marcus felt his body jerk back, startled by the sight.  The coalesced matter hovered in place for the blink of an eye, only to retreat, as fast as it had jetted out, back into the heart of the massive, metal ring.
"Wow," Marcus breathed.  "That was...umm...very impressive."
Daniel didn't look at the man near his right shoulder.  His eyes were fixed only on the shimmering pool within the stargate.  "Always is," he said quietly.
Above them in the control room, Sergeant Harriman quickly read over a column of information that had appeared on the computer screen in front of him.  "Wormhole established and iris code sent to Atlantis.  Power readings indicate three minutes before total power loss in the new generator."
General Landry leaned down toward the microphone near the sergeant.  "Resupply team, you have a go."
Marcus stood, spellbound, as the robotic vehicles swiftly ascended the steel ramp.  His wide eyes watched, mystified, as the members of the resupply mission stepped up to the dazzling sheet of energy, then disappeared through it without hesitating.  Their shapes rippled across the water-like surface until the next person in line followed them.  The process was the same for the small, open-top vehicles.  The thirty-six-year-old didn't realize how close he was to the second of the two transports until he watched its flat end vanish within the event horizon.
"I had no idea..." Marcus mumbled to himself.  He caught sight of the micro-ripples his hushed words had sent across the shimmering barrier.
"Mr. Van Scott..." echoed General Landry's voice through the speakers in the silo.  "Mr. Van Scott, if you don't mind, we are under something of a time crunch with our power."
Marcus turned around a single step.  "Huh?"  He blinked for the first time since the gate had opened.  "Oh, right.  Umm..."  He blinked again, looking awkwardly at the man standing a few steps down the ramp.  "Anything I should umm...know?  Or...do?
Daniel Jackson breathed.  "Just walk through it.  That's pretty much it.  The stargate kind of does all the rest for you."
"Right.  Okay," Marcus said, shuffling his feet back around until he was facing the liquidy curtain separating himself and the universe beyond it.
"Oh," Daniel suddenly said as Marcus had begun to step forward.  "You might want to exhale right before you walk through.  Your first instinct is to inhale when you get there."
Marcus glanced over his shoulder.  "Exhale.  Walk through."
"Exactly," Daniel said, walking the last few steps up the ramp.
"Forty-five seconds..." Sergeant Harriman announced.
Marcus took a small step closer toward the event horizon.  He breathed in deep before exhaling slowly.
"Don't worry," Daniel said, placing a hand flat on Marcus' back.  "You've got this."
With that, Daniel extended his arm all the way forward, pushing the diplomat over the wavy threshold and through the gate.  The archeologist turned to look back at the windows of the control room.
"Dr. Jackson, good luck," General Landry said into the microphone.  "Find our missing people."
Daniel smiled humbly, nodding his head once before pivoting to face the gate.  In the same motion, he walked through the velvety, wet sheet of energy he was all too familiar with.  In some ways, it was one of the most comforting sensations Daniel Jackson had ever experienced.