What the Academics do... "
By: Dr. Alyssa Caitlin Northrop, Acting Chief Intel Officer, [PST]

Stardate: 58206.14 0126

Ever since returning to the Zion from her mission on Pacifica....and it's included extra-curricular activies, Alyssa had found herself in something of a funk. In and of itself, this was nothing new for her as she usually felt similar after each and every sucessful expedition. Northrop shrugged as she considered this...and wondered if she was an Adrenaline Junkie, as the old Earth saying went. It was possible. No, she thought, that was probably spot on for her.

When she got this way, she tended to fold in on herself and keep contact with others to a minimum. Over the last days she'd made sure that her duties were fulfilled and all that...but as soon as that was done she would retreat to her quarters or to the holodeck. Though what she did in the holodeck wasn't what most people would call fun.

"Computer....recall program Northrop-Alpha-One. Begin at last save point."

It took a few moments, but the computer beeped and opened the doors for her. Before was sand dune after sand dune.....and off in the distance stood the great pyramids of Egypt.

Once inside the arch vanished and the simmulation was completed. Alyssa simply stood there for a moment and basked in the heat and glow of the mid day sun. Though her quiet moment was fated to be short lived as she all of the sudden heard, "DOCTOR NORTHROP!!! Come and see!"

Of course...the language was not English, but Arabic, and the man was not a collegue, but a man that the expedition had hired to run the dig. The place was Giza Plateau and the time was 1947.

"Yes yes, very well, Amir....I'm coming!"

Northrop fought her way up the dune to his side and looked over the massive dig. Amir lead the way down the dune and around to a specific area of the dig site.

Laying in the center of the pit was a large circular object. It was a dark grey color...and a material that she couldn't identify by sight. Moving closer she saw that there was a large coverstone in the center of the ring. Ancient Egyptian Heiroglyphs were spread out all over the stone....but in the center there were a grouping of 6 symbols that she didn't recognize. But they were similar to the markings on the grey ring.

"Doctor..we were about to remove the ring.....it is fortunate that you arrived back from Cairo when you did. It is facinating, yes? In all my years of doing this work, I have never seen anything like it."

Alyssa nodded and smiled at the man. She knew what the ring was....but only because this was her program.

During her days in academia, Alyssa had two pet projects. One was the Ancient Creytan Civilization...and the other one was much closer to home. Everyone knew that Zephram Cochrane made First Contact with the Vulcans on April 5, 2063. But there were those that believed that Earth's real first contact happened much sooner. The stories went that in 1947 an archeological dig had uncovered an alien device on the Giza Plateau. This device had become the posession of the United States Air Force and that...is when they say the real First Contact occured. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries....the USAF had sent teams of humans off world through what was called the "Stargate."

But then came the Third World War...and the Eugenics Wars.....and nearly everything about the Stargate Program was lost. Except that some information survived....such as photos and other such things. But if the reports that Alyssa had read were true and there really was a network of devices in the universe that would allow a person to instantanously travel from one planet to another....well, it boggled the mind.

And that was Alyssa Northrop's second pet project. And since she'd already completed her first pet project...all that was left was this one. Every shred of information she'd been able to dig up was held in a stand alone computer in her quarters. She never went anywhere without it because there was an off chance that she might find something that would lead her closer. This holo-program was a recreation of the events that had led up to the Stargate's discovery....or at least it was the best she'd been able to cobble together.

"Ok Amir...let's get this thing up and have a better look, shall we?"