CHAPTER 26

The Mercury – Callia System – Orbiting Lacocala

Harry sensed Hermione as she took a seat beside him. He was becoming used to the control chair and its quirks. Even if his experience was driving home that there was a lot left to explore if he wanted to gain half the competence shown by Rolion. He could control the ship but some of the less used systems like internal scans were still distracting rather than helpful.

"Need a break?"

He heard Hermione speak and realised that he had been in the chair for some time and with that realisation came the need to eat, drink and relieve himself. He began the process to swap operators. After a moment, he felt the 'awareness' that came with the control chair fade.

"Sure, thanks Hermione," he slipped off the chair and took the opportunity to kiss Hermione before she slipped into the chair.

She smiled and then her expression became more neutral as her concentration shifted to operating the ship.

With a sigh and a stretch, he glanced out the window to see, in reduced clarity and contrast, the system that they had been scanning for two days. It looked beautiful and peaceful but there were anomalies that they were trying to understand before they risked approaching.

So far, there had been no sign of the Goa'uld or that they had ever been there. Which was a relief, having to deal with them was not something he wanted to do without support. Still the odd energy readings they had detected were interesting enough and while Rolion was fairly sure they were not Goa'uld technology.

Walking aft, his first stop was the head, followed by the mess.

Rolion and Rebeka was studying a pad as they ate what smelt like curried chicken. It wasn't, but the Lantean dish had a similar taste and smell.

"Harry, pull up a chair," Rebeka said as she spotted him. "Rolion was just explaining how the probes are relaying information."

The Lantean grinned and shrugged, "They are fairly limited, but we can use them with little risk and undamaged with their internal power source they can last decades."

Rebeka nodded thoughtfully, "We should be ready to launch them in an hour or so and hopefully we'll see some scans of the surface that might explain those energy readings."

Rolion touched something on his pad and an image of something technical appeared that he expanded until it filled the screen. "This is the southern continent, where we detected the anomalous energy readings. There is something there that is putting out a low-level scattering field. It is difficult to detect but the probes should give us a visual of the area as well as a more accurate set of scans."

"Sounds like a plan," Harry sort of understood the explanation and decided that he would leave the details to Rebeka and Rolion. "I didn't pick up anything entering or leaving the system, so we are still alone out here as far as I can tell."

"Let us hope that the Goa'uld stay well clear until we understand what is happening on the planet," Rolion said as he scrolled through a few more screens. "I hope that the probes will give us a lot more to work with."

oOoOo

Four hours later he was proved right.

"Telemetry is coming through clearly…as we had hoped the sensors are picking up a lot more." Rolion adjusted the data stream and the suddenly had a crystal-clear view of an island in a turquoise sea.

"Looks nice," said Rebeka with a grin. "I whoa…look at the energy readings!"

Rolion studied the data stream with a frown. "They are constant enough that I doubt it is natural. It is centred on the island but covers most of the planet."

Hermione frowned and studied the probe data looking for something that might explain the situation. When the data suddenly stopped.

"What happened?" Rebeka asked.

Harry, once more manning the control chair replied. "The probe is gone; I think it was destroyed but I didn't see anything."

Rolion shrugged, "Then we know more than we did yesterday. There is something natural or built on that island which is disrupting scans. And there may be something that can affect a heavily shielded probe. I think the transporter might be our next test. We transport something in and then out. It works differently to a scan."

They transported a probe down – and it functioned for a few moments before failing. They then transported it back. It appeared and seemed undamaged and indeed it began transmitting after a few moments.

"Could it be some kind of EMP field?" Rebeka mused.

"Perhaps," allowed Rolion. "Let me make a few adjustments."

This time the probe stayed active.

"I changed the frequency of its shields," he explained as he activated the probe's live feed. "It is putting out some fairly exotic energy."

The island was clearly covered in what looked very similar to a rainforest. A dense tree canopy with layers of plant life. The spotted what looked like some sort of rat or something like it as the camera panned. "I'll switch to heat vision and see if we can spot anything. It looks quite…" Rolion trailed off as a figure appeared. It was humanoid if not human and it was just visible by its heat signature. It approached the probe and slowly squatted down as if studying the probe.

"Is that a human or a Goa'uld?" Valeria asked quietly. "It looks like a woman."

"No, symbiote is visible on the scan. The Asgard said that they show as a heat source. Let me change back to the augmented video feed."

There was silence as Rolion changed back from heat sensors to video. The view changed and they saw a naked young woman squatting down staring at the probe. She was perhaps eighteen with tanned skin, bushy brown hair and sea-green eyes. She had a thoughtful look on her face before she suddenly smiled. She said something before Rolion could turn the audio feed on.

"…is a surprise. Mum will be thrilled that you finally worked it out. And dad will curse you bad for catching me while I was swimming!" finished the girl in quite clear English.

"What in Merlin's name is happening?" Hermione whispered as Harry almost simultaneously said "What the hell?"

"Can we talk to her?" Hermione asked.

Rolion nodded and touched his pad.

"Hello, we mean you no harm. We are explorers…"

The young woman rolled her eyes and grinned, "Hello…yes, from a ship called the Mercury and I'd know that voice anywhere. Hello mother, it's a girl."

oOoOo

It took nearly an hour before the girl, apparently named Lily returned with her parents. The shocked crew of the Mercury had been coming up with increasingly complicated theories about exactly what was happening when Lily returned with two quite familiar figures. An older Harry and Hermione along with a second much younger girl with the same wild hair as her sister and mother and brown eyes.

"It bloody took you lot long enough!" were Harry's first words.

"What the bloody hell is happening?" Harry asked from the control chair.

"Dad?"

The younger girl who looked about nine was looking at the probe with some surprise. "Mum, that sounds like dad!"

The older Hermione sighed, "I explained this, Grace. I'll explain again in a minute." She turned her attention back to the probe. "Hello everyone. We probably need to explain. Harry and I have been here Nineteen years in our time. You must not land, there is some Furling equipment here that we should never have touched. It is for all intents and purposes an unstable closed loop temporal field. It runs in a nineteen-year loop and will reset in about a month. I'd rather not be here for that."

Rolion was frowning as he spoke, "Temporal effects can be dangerous. My people gave up on the concept. Are you sure that is what has occurred?"

Harry laughed, "Pretty sure, Rolion. We, that is Hermione, figured it out. After all she had a lot of experience at school with time turners. We've spent fifteen years surviving on this rather nice island and translating the Furling tech here. Once we worked out the duration we waited while you worked out what was what."

"And," continued Hermione, "We have twenty nine days to get off this damn island before I end up temporally disappearing along with my children. I'd rather that didn't happen."

"Gods…I mean how?" Rebeka whispered.

"What of the risks of changing the timeline?" Rolion asked quietly.

Hermione shook her head, "Closed loop remember. Just the island and what is on it resets and starts again. When that happens, everything resets. We've been here the whole time so no way we can change anything. The Furling scientist-mystics were trying to create the perfect defence, a temporal shield. Putting themselves out of sync with time…anyway it didn't work, and they couldn't shut it down, so they left it and hid the lot with a technical version of a disillusionment and seemingly evacuated. They found that copies, us I suppose, have no impact when outside the shield, no implosions no fractured timelines. They were geniuses but really impractical. Why would you want to live nineteen years and then reset back to day one?"

"Did you understand that?" Valeria asked.

Rolion slowly nodded, "I am not a scientist but if it was a closed loop then we are looking at Harry, Hermione and their children. If we remove them, they are simply…copies of you both."

"That's the rub," said older Harry. "We can't remove ourselves from within the area of effect, but we think you can get us out."

"How?" younger Hermione asked.

"With a portkey, the Furling technology that tried to keep the experiment localised will stop transports out, in is okay, and blocks apparition and portkeys being created, we've tried. We think that a portkey from outside should work."

Younger Hermione frowned, "Why would that work?"

"I'm not sure how the Furling did it, but anything magically created in the field simply fails to activate if trying to leave," explained older Hermione. "I've got a Furling data crystal with all their research. Hopefully scientists can find where they went wrong." She shook her head and then shrugged. "Nineteen more years might be needed to work it all out, but our focus was on shutting it down or escaping."

"And raising two wonderful girls," added older Harry.

"That too, I did find out what they planned to do but I'm not sure it helps us understand what happened to them. For all we know they could be hiding in temporally shield strongholds."

"What about the Goa'uld that we saw searching the system," Rolion asked.

"Never saw them, I doubt that they could detect the Furling tech. From what we found in the scientist's notes, there was nothing of value in the system. It is why they chose it. Of course, that was nearly ten thousand years ago," Hermione explained somewhat apologetically.

Younger Hermione was thinking fast and after a few moments she began tapping at her pad furiously. "Hold on, when we first arrived, we detect two anomalies. This was the first and larger one. The second was on the smaller moon."

"The smaller moon…" mused older Hermione. "Hold on, I saw something on the second moon." She lifted a triangular device and started making twisting gestures.

"It's a Furling pad," explained older Harry.

"Got it!" exclaimed Hermione. "There was an observatory there. It was a separate mission, and it was the crew from there that sent a ship to evac the Furlings here."

"That might explain it," Rolion admitted. "Once we resolve the situation here, we'll send a probe there. And I think Hermione is right. From what the Asgard told us, the Goa'uld sensors are nowhere near as powerful as the Mercury's. Even if they found the other base, I doubt they could find this."

"So great, when do we get the rescue happening?" Older Harry asked with a grin.

oOoOo

The rescue was rather anticlimactic.

The portkey worked as older Hermione had suggested and soon the Mercury had four new passengers.

It was an awkward and surprisingly emotional meeting for young Hermione and Harry. Luckily both of their older duplicates had clearly thought about things.

Harry, who looked in his early thirties grinned at the crew of the Mercury. "It's been a while, but it is really good to see you all. I'd like you to meet Lily and Grace Potter."

Younger Hermione smiled nervously and cleared her throat, "It's lovely to meet you both. If you don't mind me asking, how old you are?"

Lily grinned, "Nearly nineteen."

Younger Hermione and older Hermione exchanged a long silent look and the younger paled.

Younger Harry looked between the two Hermione's with some confusion. "Is there a problem?"

Older Hermione rolled her eyes, "How long were we in the time bubble Harry?"

Younger Harry looked at the elder copy with some confusion, "Um, nearly nineteen years?"

"And how old is Lily, Harry?"

"Nearly…oh, God! That means…"

"That means Mum is already pregnant with me," Lily cheerfully explained. "Which is interesting but more importantly we need to prioritise things. Family stuff after temporal stuff."

"What do you mean?" Rolion asked with a frown.

"Mum and I have some different theories about what will happen when the temporal field shuts down. Either we pop out of existence, or we are simply written in, no temporal ripples. Personally, I think being clear of the area of effect means we will not be impacted. But I am not prepared to bet our existence on that."

"Are you suggesting that we shut the effect down?" Rolion asked curiously.

"Yes, she is," replied older Hermione. "I am not happy about it, but Lily's argument is hard to ignore. We have the Furling's data, all that survived, including what schematics they left behind. We don't need the installation. So, destroying it should be considered. After all, it is a rather dangerous experiment. Despite our advantageous outcome."

"Advantageous?" Rebeka asked from where she had been watching the 'show'.

"Well, besides our survival and of course our wonderful children. You have in us and especially Lily, two people who are fluent in the Furling language and have a working understanding of their tech," explained the older Hermione. "Well four if you count Harry and I. Lily and Grace are the two who really get the language."

"You want to destroy it, don't you?" Valeria asked.

"Yes," admitted older Harry. "We do. It serves no purpose, and the technology is flawed and dangerous. I shudder to think what you could do with it if someone decided to weaponize it."

Rolion looked at the younger Harry, "You are the mission lead, Harry."

Harry slowly nodded. This whole thing, his counterpart and his…well his children. It was very strange, even for him. It was an almost a 'Mirror of Erised' moment except the reflections were flesh and blood. "How sure are you that you won't be impacted?"

Older Hermione sighed, "That depends on which theory is right. Time travel is…difficult to predict. Time turners were dangerous because you could potentially do a great deal of damage by changing things. We are from a closed loop, but it was unstable, very unstable. As evidenced by our existence. The area in the field has advanced nineteen years but its temporal location is jumping around. From what the Furling instruments recorded, the time bubble was jumping around a lot." She shrugged and shook her head. "Anyway, we are made up of matter from this reality. That means that we are protected from some of the nasty effects that the Furlings discovered in their earlier experiments around time and different dimensions. If you travel from…say one dimension over, simplistic but let me explain. Let's say that it is very similar. A you already existed there and that is a problem for the newcomer. The Furlings found that the newcomer would begin breaking down. Nasty stuff and fatal. We are you, but a you from this dimension so we should, again in theory, not suffer that fate."

"You can always call it in Harry," said older Harry. "We have a while yet."

"We should seek the guidance of others on this. We have time and there are science staff among my fellow Lanteans as well as the Asgard and Nox," suggested Rolion.

"And," said the older Hermione with a wry grin, "I need to tell my mother and father that they are grandparents."

oOoOo

Atlantis Hospital Complex – Dental Services

David Granger stood up from his desk and stretched his back out. Despite his rather nice office and excellent chair, sitting for long periods was still a pain in the…well, back.

"Time for a walk," he said to himself as he walked to the door. His working day was long finished, and he wanted to be home early tonight. He had just reached the door when it opened to reveal commander Adama.

"Lee..." began David but trailed off when he took in the Colonial's serious expression. "God, is someone hurt?"

Lee shook his head, "No, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. We just received a communication from the Mercury. They've made some, well some amazing discoveries and have asked for a conference to discuss them."

"They found something interesting?"

Lee shrugged, "All I know is that they found some Furling technology and that nobody is hurt. There is a briefing starting soon."

Relieved, David followed Lee Adama to the Atlantis briefing room. There was already a small crowd of mixed Colonials, wizards and Lanteans gathered around the large table. He spotted Jane and hurried over to her.

"I wonder what has happened?" he asked as he took a seat next to his wife.

"No idea, I'm just glad nobody is hurt," admitted Jane.

A few moments later a screen appeared with the Lantean officer, Rolion visible in what David recognised as the command chair of the Mercury.

"Thank you all for coming so quickly. We have an interesting situation and in the interests of time we thought it best to report back what has happened."

He explained about the Furling bases and that the Furlings had been experimenting with time travel. David shook his head, wondering how that worked. Then he found out that it had one major catch. An unstable nineteen-year time loop, amazing.

There were questions and a fair bit of conversation as everyone processed the discovery. The wizards mostly took it well, Hermione had explained about time turners, so he could understand that. Still, it was interesting. I mean it was effectively a time bubble. Interesting but what could you do with it? Rolion explained that it was cut off from both normal time and actual space. So once in, you couldn't leave for Nineteen years. Then it re-set?

"I wonder how they worked that out?" Jane mused.

Rolion continued, explaining how they had managed to save someone from the Time Field by using magic. David wondered if it was a Furling or some other explorer that had become trapped in the field.

"I…." David trailed off, shocked to the core as the image shifted to the Mercury's Mess.

Beside his daughter was another Hemione. This one older and bracketed by two young women that bore a strong resemblance to his child.

Then he realised that there was also two Harry's. One younger, one older.

There was silence in the briefing room.

The older Hermione sighed, "I don't suppose that there is an easy way to say this but here goes."

She explained about being trapped with Harry, living nineteen years in the Furlings time trap. She introduced her and Harry's daughters Lily and Grace and finally she explained the call.

"My hypothesis is that by leaving the area of effect, we are safe. But, if we are wrong then I, Harry and the girls will cease to exist."

President Roslin was frowning as she considered the news, "Hermione, sorry the elder Hermione. Can the device be shut down without destroying it?"

Hermione shook her head, "Nothing we tried while in the field worked. We, that is my husband, and the children are outside of the area of effect and our younger selves have not yet entered it. Thanks to its unstable nature. We have broken the chain of events. It appears that only events inside the time event are restricted. By using a portkey, we found a back door. If we destroy the power source the actual time device should be unharmed. It will shut down and hopefully we can then study it at our leisure."

"And if it doesn't shut down?" Admiral Adama asked.

"Then we destroy it, Admiral. It is a dangerous experiment and I fear that others encountering it might not be as lucky as we have been."

Roslin sighed, "Strictly speaking the government has no say in this, jurisdiction is not something we can just decide extends to this. However, maybe we should consult our allies?"

"I am sure that the Asgard would be a good choice," offered Adama. "From what we know they have the most up to date records. Although the Nox might be able to help."

Aressa slowly shook her head, "I would like to think that the Asgard would have informed us of this place if they knew of it. I believe that when Harry and Hermione activated the Furling technology it was the first time it had been active since the Furling abandoned it. From what the Mercury's scanners recorded the Furlings had a base on a nearby moon which was also abandoned. If this device works as Hermione and Harry have suggested, and I have no reason to think it does not, then it presents a clear danger to others. They have the technical specifications. These can be studied at a later date. We should also remember that the Goa'uld were searching these systems. They might not be aware of what is there but allowing them to get their hands on Furling technology is not desirable."

Roslin seemed to consider the situation before slowly nodding, "I don't disagree Aressa. And, as staggering as the concept of time travel is, it seems more like a scientific failure than a success. If the Asgard agree, then we should see if removing the threat is possible. As I said, I don't believe that we have any jurisdiction here, but I'll let the relevant government ministries know."

"And I, will contact the Nox and the Asgard High Council," Aressa assured them.

Daniel cleared his throat, "Um, would it be possible for my wife and I to talk to our daughter?"

Aressa smiled at him and raised an eyebrow, "Of course, Doctor Granger. I will ensure a private channel is made available straight after this."

The older Hermione looked to be studying her parents, "Mum, Dad…it is good to see you both. I…look forward to catching up and introducing your granddaughters." There was a lot of very clear emotion in her voice as she spoke.

Jane was looking a bit teary, so Daniel answered, "I…we are looking forward to it too."

"Perhaps a shuttle to the Mercury?" Aressa suggested.

Daniel and Jane exchanged a glance, before nodding to Aressa, "If that is possible, we would be very happy to come to you Hermione."

"Of course, Dad," Hermione said with a somewhat watery smile.

oOoOo

The reply from the Asgard arrived several hours before the transport from Atlantis. An Asgard scientist, Kvasir, who had studied Furling technology, was enroute. He had stated that, in principle, the Asgard supported the idea of shutting down the device. He also requested a copy of the data that Hermione had collected so that he could preserve it in the Asgard's records.

He would be arriving within the hour and would be helping determine the best way to safely shut down the Furling technology.

The Asgard ship, a science vessel, first conducted detailed scans before Kvasir requested permission to come onboard the Mercury.

Kvasir was a rather formal individual but clearly very interested in the story of the time displaced family. He took a few more scans and then stood still, blinking infrequently for a few minutes as he considered what he had found.

"You have uncovered a remarkable find, despite the actual failure of the Furling's experiment. But, more importantly, I believe that your hypothesis is correct. The Furling device creates a closed loop of time. While in that loop time accelerates and when the devices powers down, the loop would reset. It is fortuitous that you were able to escape before that shut down occurred."

"And our long-term prospects?" older Hermione asked calmly.

Kvasir blinked as he seemingly studied Hermione before replying, "Given that you survived exiting the time loop, I believe that you will be unaffected by its discontinuation."

"So, they'll be fine?" Younger Harry asked carefully.

"Hypothetically yes, it would be wise to run some tests but based on the Furling's own research. I will complete them shortly and advise you of the outcome," replied Kvasir.

oOoOo

Harry and Hermione watched their older selves reunite with Daniel and Jane. Hermione's parents were delighted to meet their granddaughters and didn't seem to hesitate at all in greeting the elder Harry and Hermione.

The crew of the Mercury had waited with quite a bit nervous anticipation for Kvasir to return his report.

"Miss Granger, you have done excellent work decoding the Furlings work, given the scientific limitations you had to operate under," Kvasir explained as he brought up a holographic image of the island. "The Furling device created a field effect where time effectively operated at a different rate of flow. A simplistic explanation but accurate. Once you left the accelerated time flow, you avoided any further complications. It was an advantageous escape as from what I can determine the device would have reset and then restarted almost immediately. That is why I will be recommending that the device be either shut down or that we destroy the power source. Any sentient investigating the system might fall into the same trap."

oOoOo

Goa'uld Ha'tak

Lord Tmolous, servant of Ares glared at the Jaffa operating the long-distance sensors who had just reported a partial contact.

"What was it?"

"I believe that it was a an Asgard ship. It was at our maximum sensor range, my lord."

Tmolous scowled but waved the Jaffa away. This was not welcome news. Lord Ares would not be pleased to receive it and would in likelihood blame the messenger. Worst of all, a single Asgard ship was likely a match for a single Ha'tak so attacking would be foolish.

"Prepare a Tel'tak and send Relak to me."

"Yes, my Lord."

oOoOo

The Mercury

The Asgard scout ship fired a single burst and there was a detonation followed by a few moments of silence.

"The device has shut down," reported Kvasir.

Younger Harry was watching his counterpart, Hermione, Lily and Grace. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, it appears that we've survived," replied Hermione with some relief. "I trusted my research…but still, whew."

Kvasir didn't seem interested in social activities and after copying Hermione's research he left. He did assure them that the Asgard Science Council would report on what they discovered.

oOoOo

Jane Granger was fascinated by her older daughter and her children. It was not just the suddenness of how she had found out, but rather that she felt like she was getting a glimpse of some distant future.

Seeing the older Hermione sitting next to the younger with Lily and Grace…it was mind boggling. She had not been able to have more children after Hermione. Now she had another daughter and grandchildren.

"Mum?"

Jane focussed back to the conversation, "Sorry, I missed that Hermione."

The older Hermione laughed, "I said, that I think I will use Jean. It will help people distinguish between us."

oOoOo

Goa'uld Tel'tak

Relak didn't quite feel relief as the Asgard ship jumped into hyperspace. The reason for this was the remaining ship. It was not a design he recognised, and he had restrained himself from scanning or otherwise alerting the Asgard or the unknowns from detecting his ship. The airless moon helped, as its strong EM field would hopefully disguise the cloaked and almost shut down Tel'tak. Thankfully his mission was observation.

The computer showed nothing of interest in this system. He hoped that the unknowns would leave without the Asgard returning. This system was too close to one that was of interest to Lord Ares.

He would wait as long as he could, before sending the encrypted message to Lord Tmolous.

oOoOo

The Mercury

Harry was in the control chair when the sensors detected the cloaked vessel on the small, airless second moon of the 4th planet.

A Goa'uld Tel'tak wasn't exactly a threat, based on the Asgard data they had been given. It's presence however was potentially problematic. It could just be watching them, having blundered across the system or it could have been related to the original reports of Goa'uld activity in the sector.

He alerted the others and soon the crew along with the Grangers and extra Potters were crowded around the large display next to the command chair.

"It could be coincidence, but I doubt it," Valeria said as she studied the images with a frown. "The Goa'uld have been reported in this sector."

"Then we need to consider how long it has been watching. There is still a decommissioned Furling observation station to consider," Rolion added. "Although I believe that it must be a recent arrival. The Mercury's scanners would have detected it when we did a full sweep earlier. Even with it cloaked in an EM field."

Daniel Granger shook his head as he processed what had been said, "But it isn't a threat, is it?"

Rolion shook his head, "Realistically no, it is not. But that doesn't mean that we should be complacent."

"Would them finding the Furling base be a big problem?" Rebeka asked.

It was "Jean" Granger that answered. "From what little we discovered and the scans that Kvasir did. I should think not. Although there would be no way of knowing without landing and checking the base."

"Should we talk to them?" Harry asked the group.

"It will give away that we can see them," said Rolion before shrugging. "Although that isn't something that I would think compromises our defences."

"We are assuming that they mean us harm," Jane added neutrally.

"From what we saw in the Asgard intelligence they are almost universally belligerent, and most are egomaniacal in the extreme. They will certainly not negotiate in good faith unless clearly at a disadvantage," added Rolion.

"I am not comfortable with simply destroying their ship, without at least trying to talk to them," Hermione said with a frown. "They don't pose a risk if we approach them, and wouldn't we need to positively identify them?"

"That's true," agreed Harry.

In the end they agreed to contact the hidden ship. It had its risks, but they had agreed that the risk, even if the Goa'uld brought in reinforcements, were low enough.

Rolion took the control chair as the Mercury turned and approached the hidden ship.

"Hail them," ordered Harry.

"Goa'uld ship, this is the Mercury. We are requesting communication."

There was no reply.

"Are they receiving the message?" Hermione asked Rolion.

"It appears so," Rolion replied.

They waited as he continued scanning the smaller ship.

oOoOo

Relak was an experienced warrior, he didn't panic or give into fear. His God had made it clear that intelligence was needed, and he was to provide it. His ship was unarmed and therefore a fight wasn't a possibility. Stealth was apparently no longer an option. That left retreat. As repellent as that idea was, it was what was required of him. The other ship was hailing him, repeatedly. He had no intention of answering, let them wait…the few seconds he gained meant he could power up systems.

He had not recognised the nature of the vessel. It was not an Asgardian ship they had seen before. Identifying the nature of the vessel was important as was discovering why it was so close to an important system.

But he could report nothing if he was captured or killed.

oOoOo

"He is going to run," warned Rolion.

Harry grimaced as he considered what to do. He didn't want to fire on a ship without knowing more. The decision was taken out of his hands when the smaller ship jumped to hyperspace.

"Not much we could have done without firing on them," Rolion acknowledged as he adjusted the sensors. "I am just extended the sensor range."

"We can track it, can't we?" Daniel Granger asked curiously.

Rolion nodded, "If we had the Aurora or were on Atlantis, then we could scan half the galaxy. Ours are less specialised than the Asgard's. But we do have a large range though, so if they drop out of Hyperspace within our range, we should be able to detect them."

Harry considered what they knew and their mission before deciding, "Then we will try and work out where they go and then we had better report this."