A/N: here we are at last - the last chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The characters of Doctor Who belong to BBC Wales and those of Stargate to MGM but the words are mine.

AU/SG1/DW: The last address of the Stargate opened on a depressing, dim world full with nothing but graves and tombstones where four SG teams already disappeared without a trace. SG1 embarks to locate them only to witness the opening of one tomb that holds the greatest of all secrets in the universe.

The Tomb of the Doctor

Chapter 14

Samantha opened her eyes. She saw General O'Neil above her with a worried look.

"Are you alright, Carter?"

"Yes, I am fine." She said. "Did something happen?"

"Well, you fainted. You got me worried. Are you sure you are alright?"

Samantha processed the part where she fainted and wondered why. She began remembering. She was in the middle of briefing the General about the new battleship the USS Achilles. She was listing all the upgrades they had made and then it was a blur.

"Yes, sir, I'm fine." She said and stood up with his help.

"Good, shall we continue?" General O'Neill said and resumed his seat at the head of the table.

Meanwhile at the SGC, General Hank Landry paced nervously. SG teams 8, 9, 10 and 12 went through the gate but have not reported yet. Actually they were overdue. It has been sixteen hours since they went through.

"Walter, dial it again!" He ordered.

Walter obeyed and began the dialling sequence but promptly was aborted. "Incoming wormhole," He announced.

General Landry quickly came down. "Do we have an IDC?"

"Not yet," Walter replied after having deployed the IRIS.

The gate stood open for thirty eight minutes but no one came through. Then there was a flash and the gate shut down.

"What happened?" General Landry asked.

"I don't know, sir." Walter replied. "Running diagnostics now!"

Walter analyzed the recorded data and stood puzzled. The gate sensors have not registered any incoming signal or energy, and yet it stood open for its maximum time. It was very puzzling. The only other time this had happened was when Anubis attacked Earth using some low level energy beam (but that maintained the gate open).

Walter decided to be thorough so he dug deeper. The margin for error on the diagnostic on that level was significant but he had no other choice. The sensors however had recorded something though he was not sure what. He needed help so he contacted Colonel Carter.

Colonel Carter arrived a few hours later and Walter showed her the recorded data. Carter was also puzzled. And then the gate activated again and the same occurred again. It stayed open for the maximum duration and then with a flash it shut down.

The gate sensors did record something but as Carter noticed this it was different though she still did not understand its significance. The weird event however repeated itself another five times and then again the gate shut down.

"Carter, what's going on?"

Carter noticed General O'Neill had come personally. She did not realize how much time has passed but it must have been hours. She had been studying the recorded data but she could not make sense of it.

"Well, sir, for the past...I don't really know how much time,"

"Several days, Carter," O'Neill replied. "But do go on!"

"Ok, for the past few days, the gate would dial in and stay for its maximum open and then it shuts down. The standard diagnostics doesn't pick any signals or energy transfer of any kind. The deep scan however does."

"And what is it?"

"We don't know."

"Sam, how many times has this happened?" Daniel asked. He had come earlier but did not take part in the conversation until Jack had arrived. He was here for different reasons.

"So far, Daniel, the gate has opened..." Carter stopped to count. "Seven times,"

'Weird,' Daniel thought. The reason he found it weird soon became a clearer thought. 'Seven times...' He had a weird epiphany. "Um, Sam, seven times..."

"Daniel?" Carter looked at him but did not understand where he was going with that.

"Ok," Daniel decided to rephrase his supposition. "How many points in space do you need to plot a course?"

"Six."

"Plus the point of..."

"Departure," Carter slapped herself. Could it be that simple? She asked herself.

"Would you two care to share with the rest of the class?" Landry asked having followed this exchange to no avail.

"It is just a guess, General." Daniel replied. "But it occurred to me that if for some reason the SG teams cannot make it through the gate they might trying to send us another type of signal and having the gate dial seven times in a row..."

"Daniel, get to the point," O'Neill interrupted as he was certain they were going to have a lecture on the matter.

"It is coordinates, sir!" Carter replied. "Space coordinates, I hope."

"Isn't the gate-address exactly that?" Landry asked.

"Normally, yes, sir" Carter agreed. "However to dial this address, we had to make a few adjustments that bypassed certain protocols and thus the gate address doesn't provide us with accurate space coordinates."

"And these gate anomalies we experienced do?"

"I believe it is possible that Captain Beans is trying to convey us the accurate space coordinates. For some reason, they can establish contact but cannot go through."

"Ok, so what are the coordinates?"

"I will start working on it." Carter replied. "Walter, let's see if we can find a pattern."

"They have some work to do. Let's leave them to it." O'Neill said.

Several days later, Carter and Walter succeeded deciphering the data recorded by the gate sensors. As they originally thought, it was a set of coordinates. It was also not in their galaxy as if they were correct they would end up inside a sun. The problem they had now was to determine which galaxy.

They had to go through the data again to see if they have not missed something that would give them a clue or another marker for distance. Of course, the most puzzling part was the gate address itself. As Carter said, they had to bypass several protocols but they made it work.

If the gate was indeed in another galaxy, how did they succeed dialing it the first time around or the next few times? It was not possible as they did not have the power to dial another galaxy. So was it possible they miscalculated the provided space coordinates?

Colonel Carter resorted to even calling Dr. McKay of the Atlantis expedition to assist with the data. She was certain she was missing something.

"Well, Carter, McKay, do we have something?" General O'Neill asked when he came to see where they were at.

"Possibly," McKay replied. He had not slept for the past few days but Carter's original thought that she had missed something turned out to be correct. The provided data did provide a set of coordinates however they were not for space navigation but naval navigation.

The two spent hours to determine where these coordinates would match as the used language to translate the coordinates was the basic language of the universe (protons and atoms). The problem they encountered was that some of the coordinates were part of elements they did not have in the periodic table. They had to use the periodic table they had found on the Tantalus planet (the sister world of Abydos) and that was taking more time.

They explained that to the anxious Generals O'Neill and Landry and dived back into the problem.

Finally after days of research and exhausting sleepless nights, Carter and McKay succeeded to chart the coordinates.

"Well, where is it?" O'Neill asked impatiently.

"It is in the Constellation of Orion."

"I thought those were not space coordinates, were they?" Landry asked confused.

"They weren't. The coordinates match perfectly the pyramids on Earth. And they depict the constellation of Orion." Carter explained.

"And we are fairly certain of the space coordinates we have to reach by ship." McKay added.

"Possibly? Fairly certain? What is it with you scientists?" O'Neill exclaimed frustrated.

Carter and McKay exchanged looks but did not answer this bitty remark. "The Achilles is ready to depart."

"Excellent," O'Neill said. "SG1, you have a go! And I'm coming too!"

"Yes, sir," Carter said. "Thank you, Rodney,"

"Anytime, now if you would excuse me, I'm going for a nap, a long nap!" McKay said and left.

The next day, Earth's finest battleship, the USS Achilles took SG1 and General O'Neill and left for the space coordinates inside the Constellation of Orion to locate their missing teams. Carter only hoped she was right about that otherwise it would have been a colossal waste of time.

"Colonel Pendragast, the Achilles is ready to depart!" Major Shanks announced.

"Excellent, jump!" The commander of the Achilles ordered.

A hyperspace window opened and the ship departed.

"Estimated time of arrival?"

"We will reach our destination in 40 hours."

"Well, then ladies and gentlemen, relax and enjoy the voyage."

The provided coordinates were at approximately 1100 light years. The USS Achilles was a new generation ship with a maximum interstellar speed of 30 light years per hour. SG1 and the general got comfortable (for as much comfort one can find on a battleship).

Forty hours later, the ship emerged from hyperspace and was in orbit of a blue planet that was far from its star. Sensors however revealed stable atmosphere (meaning breathable) though there was no sign of civilization or the SG teams. Sensors did pick up a power source and SG1 was beamed to those coordinates.

"Why didn't we just come through the gate?" Vala asked. This question nagged her for some time now.

"We came by ship, Vala, because after the weird events of the gate, we were no longer able to dial the gate." Carter explained patiently.

"This place looks like it has been through hell!" Cameron noticed. There were scorched marks everywhere signifying a battle.

"Do you see anything other than snow and burnt marks?" Daniel asked as he wondered who would fire on snow as there were no signs of civilization at all. And on top of everything, it was dark (no sunlight).

"No, I do not, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c replied studying this strange environment.

"Didn't the sensors pick up a power source nearby?" Cameron asked.

"They did." Carter replied and headed in its general direction.

"Why did we park so far away?" Vala complained but followed the others.

They went up and down ridges (the entire time seeing the scorched marks but still nothing that would indicate why) until in the distance they saw a village. When they reached it, they found it weird. The entire village had signs of a great battle. There were many weird things in it but strangely enough no occupants.

But the most staggering sight could be seen over the next ridge. It was difficult to describe though. It appeared to be a huge blue castle that remarkably resembled a blue box. Before the box, the land was unwelcoming. There were graves and tombstones as far as the eye could see.

"Wow, this place can win an Oscar for depression." Daniel remarked.

"What do you think that is?" Cameron pointed at the blue castle.

"I'm not sure." Carter replied. There was something oddly familiar about it but what escaped her.

"Do you think they can be in there?"

"It is possible. The village did not offer any form of technology they could have used to contact us."

"Alright, let's go!"

As they neared the place, they noticed movement around. They were about to investigate when General O'Neill ordered them not to. He had some undefined feeling warning him not to proceed.

They circled the castle and went in from another direction. There they saw a group of people though one quick look told them it was not their teams. But the beings there gave them shivers. They were faceless.

"What the hell are those things?" Cameron exclaimed slightly stuttering.

"I don't know." Carter replied. "I do not want to find out."

"We stay here." O'Neill ordered. "And maintain observation, "

Soon among the faceless creatures appeared other beings. O'Neill observed through the binoculars four humans, one (resembling a reptilian on two feet) and another he could only classify as a dwarf, a bald dwarf with brownish skin (like a potato).

Some commotion occurred and the faceless ones attacked all but two of the humans. He was ready to intervene when the commotion ended. But he got curious as to what opened.

"SG1, move out!" He ordered.

They reached the place just in time. The sight inside was weird. All stood before what could be described as a tree of light. But the explanation of it was far more staggering. Then one of the humans disappeared inside it. The effect was immediate.

"What?" O'Neill exclaimed and then noticed that Teal'c, Vala and Cameron had disappeared. "Where are they?"

Carter also noticed something else and it was disturbing. The stars on the night sky started to disappear one after the other. She witnessed the Reptilian defending herself against the dwarf (more like she killed him with some kind of blaster that basically vaporized him). The Reptilian then returned inside.

The young female (one of the humans) then bent down to the other human (who seemed in great agony) told him something and then disappeared inside the tree as well. The stars started to reappear.

"Sir,"

O'Neil turned around and there they were again – Vala, Cameron and Teal'c.

"Buddy,"

"O'Neill?"

"We will tell you later." Daniel replied instead.

Soon after, the one on the floor did some strange things too and he too disappeared inside the tree.

'Remember my name,' Carter jumped like a jolt of energy had just hit her. She looked for the source but did not find it. The words however echoed in her mind with greater force.

"Carter?" The concerned O'Neil asked.

She did not answer as the power of it intensified. She winced in pain. She could barely withstand its force. It beckoned her. But she still had no idea why.

"Carter!" Cameron approached her. His concern was visible all over his face. He touched her and was thrown backwards.

"Cameron," Vala exclaimed and went to help him get up.

'Remember my name!' The voice repeated with terrible power. The pain was too much and Carter could barely stand. The others did not attempt to help her again though they certainly wanted.

Carter moved out by herself but she felt being in a trance like state. The others had no choice but to follow her further inside this strange place. As they approached the barriers, each sensed crossing a threshold and suddenly remembered events that never happened.

They were back on the convergence planet where they witnessed the Doctor transform into something that could not be described. And then everything became a blur before they were back on Earth several days before that.

"What the hell was that?" O'Neill exclaimed. "Are we, back on Earth?"

"No, sir, we are still in the TARDIS." Cam replied (still shocked of the sudden wakeup call).

"Right," O'Neill said. "Carter, Carter!"

Carter had also remembered everything and especially the man whose voice she has been hearing. He told her to remember his voice, no, his name. "Guardian!" She exclaimed and the door next to her opened. The weirdly dressed man beamed at her.

"Good girl," He exclaimed and gave her a smack.

"Who are you?" O'Neill asked.

"I am the Guardian of Gallifrey, General O'Neill." He replied. "Thank you, Samantha, for remembering,"

"I still do not understand." Carter said. "Events seem to repeat themselves."

"No," The Guardian shook head. "Events proceed as they were supposed to the first time around."

"Explain,"

"Yeah, before that where are SG 8, 9, 10 and 12?" O'Neill interrupted.

"Oh," The Guardian exclaimed. "They are in the library."

"What?"

"Come," The Guardian said and bolted ahead.

The others had to keep up with him but after navigating the maze of corridors they reached the library where the SG teams were.

"Oh, thanks the Gods," Captain Beans exclaimed. "You received his message."

"Your message?" Carter exclaimed stunned and angry at the same time.

"Yeah, sorry about the deliverance system," The Guardian apologized.

"Start explaining!"

"Ok," The Guardian said raising hands defensively. "When you bypassed the standard dialing protocols, your gate succeeded in doing something it was not supposed to do. It dialed an Iconian Gate."

"A what gate?"

"Iconian," He replied. "It is slightly different than that of the Ancients. I believe you call that race – Furlings."

"We have seen a Furling gate and it is nothing like a stargate." Daniel objected.

"The completed version, no, it is nothing like a stargate but the original tries of the Furlings produced a gate very similar to that of the Ancients. However their gate had 42 symbols hence the reason connecting the two gates was a bit problematic, not to mention sending a signal.

So I had to get creative. I succeeded in keeping your gate open for its maximum allowed time so I can transmit coordinates. But I had to use the base language of the universe for that as the two gate systems are quite different on a system level one from another. The only common point between the Ancients and the Furlings was the universal language.

I could not use complicated coordinate system so I had to resort to planetary coordinates, mostly disguised as naval coordinates. I knew it would take time for you to figure it out hence the reason I brought your friends in here."

"But then why did you need me to remember your name? So it can open a door?"

"Oh, Samantha, clever Samantha," The Guardian beamed. "You needed to remember my name so you can pass through the veil and remember what happened in the timeline that no longer exists otherwise you were doomed to repeat the same actions that led to the creation of that very same timeline that we erased."

"My head hurts." Carter stated when she began to reassemble all that has happened and she still could not properly explain it.

"It is called a Parallax." The Guardian said. "It is the result of an action that hasn't taken place yet."

"So this is what originally happened?"

"Yes, you are getting it now."

"Wow."

"Yes, wow, would someone care to explain?" Cameron asked. Having followed their conversation he did not understand a word.

"I'm not even going to bother, Cam." Carter said. "My head still hurts of the effort for me to understand it."

"That's all well and cool," Captain Beans interjected. "But how are we getting home?"

"We brought the Achilles." Daniel replied.

"No need, Danny boy," The Guardian exclaimed. "I will drive you home."

"With what?"

"With my TARDIS, of course," He replied all beaming. "Don't worry! I will toll the Achilles behind me."

"And where is your TARDIS?" Cam asked looking around hoping to spot it which only brought a smile to the Guardian. He noticed how many times, Cameron looked at it and never saw it.

"Cameron, you are sitting on it." The Guardian said and pointed at the 8 feet long crate on which Cam currently sat.

"WHAT?" And he stood up like electricity had just coerced through his body.

"Time Lords, when are you humans ever going to learn?" The Guardian exclaimed. "Our ships can take any form." And he put the crate up, opened it and ventured in.

The inside of the Guardian's TARDIS however was different from that of the Doctor. It was still bigger on the inside but different interior design.

"Now, that is a ship." O'Neill observed. "A proper looking ship,"

"You shouldn't judge anything by its cover, General." The Guardian said. "The Doctor's TARDIS is just as impressive though slightly crazier."

"You, Time Lords, are weird."

"Yeah, I guess we are a bit eccentric." The Guardian said and got his moving. He picked up the Achilles and drove them back to Earth where he left them.

"We will see you again?" Carter asked.

"Well, you humans keep me busy, so anything is possible."

"Guardian, what was that weird tree of light?" O'Neill asked.

The Guardian beamed even more and delivered the most perplexing answer they could have possibly expected to hear. "You witnessed the opening of the Tomb of the Doctor, home of the greatest secret of the universe!"

The END!

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