Lara found herself sitting on a section of a rubbled column as Colonel Carter finished her explanation of how the Stargate system worked. A lot of it was a little obscure, but she simply decided to take it at face value. She looked up. "So... now what? Am I now to be locked away for discovering the dark secret of the US Air Force's space exploration program?"

Mitchell shrugged. "Well, if nothing else, we are going to at least temporarily make you a guest of ours several floors underneath Cheyenne Mountain..."

Lara shook her head. "Of course. May I at least tell my friends where I'll be?"

Mitchell shrugged, and Lara reactivated her radio headset. "Sorry about that, lads, but I ran into some... unexpected company. I'll be a bit late for that appointment - don't wait dinner for me." She cut it off, then held out the device. Carter took it and carefully tucked it in the pocket of her vest. Mitchell nodded, and glanced back at Daniel, who was inspecting the dais where Excalibur had been used. "Jackson! Let's go!"

Daniel looked up. "Well, wait a minute. I mean, we've barely begun to look around here! We can't just walk away from-!"

Mitchell cut him off. "Daniel. We are on Earth. It's not like we're never coming back."

Daniel huffed, but had to acknowledge Cam's point. The rest of SG-1 formed up, and Lara stood beside Mitchell. Carter reached up and tapped her radio. "Carter to Odyssey. Six for transport." And with that, the Asgard beaming technology whisked them out of the middle of the ruins. As they left, the stones around them glowed briefly, showing their embellished Stargate address glyphs. The platform rumbled, then slowly sank into the earth. Even though, later, Daniel Jackson would lead a team of SGC scientists and archaeologists directly to the site, they never did discover what Ancient tecnhologies laid hidden beneath Tiwanaku.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lara, divested of her equipment and pack and watched carefully by two SGC Marines armed with zat'niki'tels, placed one hand on the observation room's window as she stared down at Earth. She'd never been up in space before, and Lord knew she certianly hadn't expected to do it aboard the US Air Force's answer to the Starship Enterprise. As she watched, fascinated, as the blue ball beneath her rotated, slowly bringing her native England into view, she heard several booted feet walk in behind her.

SG-1, similarly without the vests and weapons they'd carried on the planet, walked in, trailed by another man, this one wearing the insignia of an Air Force colonel. From Mitchell's thumbnail description, plus the man's name tag, she pegged him as commander of the Odyssey.

The others took their seats, and Lara took an empty chair at the opposite end of the table. Carter started off. "We just got word. The President has talked to the Prime Minister of Britian, and they've agreed to allow you to work with us for the time being. General Landry said the President wasn't exactly happy," Carter and Mitchell shared a look at that, "But they understand why it's necessary."

Lara nodded. "I fully expect the Men of Black working for the Queen will be most interested in what goes on when I return home."

Carter nodded. "Them and the International Oversight Advisory board, as well."

Lara was about to ask what that second group was, but then shook off the thought. "Right, then. So what does the gods of Egypt being aliens and a device built by humans from another galaxy have to do with Arthurian legend?"

Jackson picked up a small remote and clicked it at the main monitor, changing the image from the ship's crest to an analysis of Excalibur. "From what we can determine, Excalibur is definitely an Ancient device, likely a forerunner to the technology in Goa'uld staff weapons. While the field of effect is larger, the energy used is actually less than that of a regular staff blast - as shown by the primary effect of it being to throw targets around a room."

Getting nods from all those in the room, Jackson continued. "This effect does seem, however, to be a secondary purpose to the sword. Sam's analysis shows that the sword contains large amounts of liquid naquadria - an artificial form of naquadah, an element that most Ancient technology in this galaxy used as a power source, that's not only more volatile but also more powerful," he added for the British woman's benefit. Lara pursed her lips for a second, but nodded for Jackson to continue. "While the power in the sword has a greater capacity than one of our regular naquadah generators, the actual feed rate is somewhat lower, meaning it lasts even longer - possibly as long as a zero-point module."

Cam whistled quietly. "So Thanos wasn't the first one to discover it after all?"

Sam shook her head. "No. This would seem to indicate the Ancients knew how to create naquadria, and did so for scientific research and for devices like this. The process seemed a bit advanced for any one Goa'uld to have come up with on his own, and they are by nature prone to copy any advanced technology they come into contact with. It's possible that the Ancients were able to create a more stable versoin of naquadria, but for some reason Thanos never quite got it right."

Landry walked into the briefing room. "But we still might." He waved Mitchell and Carter back into their seats and sat down himself at the head of the table. "Lady Croft, I'm General Hank Landry, commander of the SGC."

Lara nodded in acknowledgement, and Landry continued. "I take it SG-1 has pretty well brought you up to speed on the realities of what's going on here?"

Lara smiled slightly. "It's taken me a moment to wrap my brain around it all, but I've followed along, sir."

Landry nodded. "Good. Doctor Jackson found a Stargate address at the site SG-1 found you at. We'd like you to come along."

Lara blinked. "You mean... to an alien world."

Landry looked at her, as if surprised she'd ask. "Of course. You discovered the Tiwanaku site, you activated the device there, you have the most experience."

Lara shook her head. "Sir, I'm sorry, but I don't think-"

Landry cut her off. "Stop arguing. You're going with SG-1." He grinned. "Who knows? You might decide to join up."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Would you please stop doing that?" Daniel snapped as SG-1 walked from the Stargate Command armory twoards the gate room.

"What?" Mitchell asked, looking innocent.

"I don't know what's gotten it into your head, but you're humming that damn song again!"

"Hey!" Mitchell pointed at Jackson. "Just because you don't carry a bullwhip and a revolver doesn't mean I can't enjoy movies about an archaeologist who does!"

"Please! He's more grave robber than archaeologist!" Daniel glared at Mitchell, the two men turning to face each other outside the blast doors for the gate room. A guard slipped his card through the nearby reader, and the door slowly slid open, but neither Daniel nor Mitchell appeared to notice.

"Even so," Mitchell pressed, "I'm going to see the movie anyway, since it needs to be evaluated by the Air Force to make sure we don't have a breach in security with the crystal skull thing."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Nothing I've seen about that movie even vaguely references the pyramid on P7X-377, so I don't see how-"

Vala cut them off, putting herself between the two. "Boys! Stop arguing in front of the guests!" With a wave of her hand, she indicated the waiting Lara Croft, who was obviously uncomfortable in her SGC-issue gear. She had been allowed to customize her kit some, with some of her more esoteric gadgetry, and she had been allowed to carry her twin pistols.

Lara looked at Teal'c. "Why does he get to skip the jacket?"

Mitchell shrugged. "The costume department hasn't made him a new one yet. Yo, Walter!" He waved at Chief Harriman, who was ensconced in his chair in the Gate Control Room. "Dial it up!"

Harriman tapped keys rapidly, and the Stargate rumbled to life, the glyph track rolling around, before halting. Over the familiar sound, Walter kicked in the PA. "Chevron one, encoded."

"What I don't get," Vala said to Daniel, "is how you can have Ancient artifacts on this planet and nobody ever notices."

"Chevron two, encoded."

Daniel shrugged. "If the devices are out of power, or simply don't get used, which is what happens a lot of the time, we don't know about it until we literally stumble over them. Look at the Antarctic 'gate, or the Ancient outpost it belonged to."

"Chevron three, encoded."

Lara looked at the heavily armed Airmen standing in the gate room. "What are they for?"

Mitchell shrugged. "Even though we're dialing out, there's nothing to stop someone else from dialing in."

"Chevron four, encoded."

Lara looked at Carter questioningly. "I thought you said something about a shield that you can use to keep someone from coming in."

"Chevron five, encoded."

Carter nodded. "It's an alloy iris. Normally, it works, but there is a chance someone could override it, get an access code from a captured SG team, or it simply fails to close. In those cases..." Carter trailed off and guestured at the assembled Airmen and weaponry.

"Chevron six, encoded."

Lara nodded. "All right, but what about the machine guns? Aren't those a little much?"

Mitchell grinned. "Would you like to rephrase that in the form of a wager?"

"Chevron seven, locked!"

The Stargate event horizon swirled into place with its usual dramatics, and Lara's jaw dropped. Mitchell grinned at her. "It's not much, but it's how we get around down here."

Teal'c, Vala, and Jackson walked up to the gate, and stepped through without hesitation. Mitchell and Carter walked behind Lara, who was, for once, hesitant. "So this," Lara said, "is going to break me down to the subatomic level, shoot me through space via wormhole, and then another gate will reconstruct me on the other side?"

Carter nodded. "Pretty much."

Lara looked at her. "And nobody's ever been put together wrong?"

Carter and Mitchell exchanged glances. "Oh, not usually," Mitchell said.

Carter cocked her head, as if trying to remember. "It's been, what, four weeks?"

Mitchell shook his head. "No, three. Remember Fredricks, SG-9?"

Carter nodded, her face grave. "Oh, right."

Lara looked back and forth at the two Air Force officers, who just looked back at her, their faces grave. "Oh, bugger off," she muttered, and both colonels broke into grins.

Mitchell chuckled. "Sorry, we had to."

Lara glared at him, muttered something that sounded unladylike, and stepped through the Stargate, Cam and Sam on her heels.