05:32, 1st October 2014
"Unscheduled offworld activation!"
The red lights flashed, and the klaxon sounded, with Harriman calling out over the mild hubbub that rippled through the night shift. The familiar kawoosh tore through the air, and the blue light from the event horizon reflected from the back wall of the gateroom, the iris firmly and irrevocably in place until some sort of signal was received that whoever had dialled in was someone known to them.
The minute or so waiting for that signal was interminable, and, finally, a code was received, a code that had been given to the Tollans a long time before. A code that was close to being revoked, in fact.
However, ostensibly, the Tollans were their allies, albeit shaky ones, and, as such, Harriman punched in the code to open the iris. The return code was sent to indicate that the iris was open, and it was safe to come through. The Tollans had the technology to bypass it, of course, but there was no harm in being courteous.
And... nothing.
Nothing happened at all.
Harriman looked a little confused, resending the code, and waited again. Still nothing. Hammond was offbase for the night, so he paged Major Davies, who looked as though he had just been dragged out of bed. He probably had. "What's the matter, muttered Davies, rubbing sleep from his eyes." Harriman shot him a look of pure sarcasm, and gestured towards the gate. "That's the matter," said Harriman. "It's the Tollan code, but nobody's come through, and we've not received any transmission either."
Davies frowned. He didn't like it when the gate was activated for seemingly no good reason. "Send a radio transmission through, on all frequencies. We need to make sure that everything is alright with them." It took Harriman a few moments to prepare the transmission and send it through, and then they waited.
And waited.
Davies felt more and more uneasy as the minutes ticked by and there was no response. It had been a while since the SGC had had any contact with the Tollans, and he had come to dread them getting in touch. It usually meant trouble to the Nth degree.
Nineteen minutes had passed by since the wormhole had opened, with no hint of contact, and no response to the hailing, when the wormhole flickered shut as suddenly as it had opened. "Get a team into the gateroom, check for radiation levels, and anything unusual." Davies blew out a long stream of air, pushing a hand back through his short hair in frustration.
"And get the General here!"
The team duly swept the gateroom, coming up with nothing. Davies frowned. "Dial Tollana," he ordered. Harriman punched in the code, but the seventh chevron refused to lock, almost as though the address had been locked out. He tried again: same result. "Nothing, sir," he muttered. "Could be the gate's open on their end, so I'll keep trying." He kept trying for an hour, the same result occurring, by which time Hammond had arrived, and the base was starting to stir to life.
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