Ancient starships in Stargate

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the television series Stargate SG-1, the Ancient starships including flying cities are among the most advanced ever encountered by the humans from Earth.

Contents 1 Aurora class battleship 1.1 Systems 1.2 Locations 1.3 Encountered vessels 1.3.1 Aurora 1.3.2 Orion 1.3.3 Other 2 Ancient Cityship 2.1 Structure and technology 2.2 Tactical systems 2.3 Encountered city ships 2.3.1 Atlantis 2.3.2 The Tower City Ship 2.3.3 Asuran City Ship 2.3.4 Asuran Atlantis copy 3 Puddle Jumper 3.1 Design 3.2 Technology 3.2.1 Defensive systems 3.2.2 Earth-based equipment 3.3 Time jumper 3.4 Encountered jumpers 4 References

[edit] Aurora class battleship

Aurora Class Battleship
The Orion prepares to enter hyperspace
First appearance	"Aurora"
Affiliation	Ancestors Asurans Atlantis Expedition Travelers
General Characteristics
Armaments	Drone Weapon Energy Weapons
Defences	Drone Weapon Ancient Shields
Propulsion	Hyperdrive Sublight Engines
Power	Unknown ZPM (Tria)

The Aurora Class battleship is a warship utilized by the Alterans, first introduced in the Stargate Atlantis episode "Aurora".^[1] The Aurora class were used originally in the Ancients war against the Wraith, technologically being more superior to the Wraiths cruisers and hives, however the downfall of the Ancients in the Pegasus galaxy was because of the Wraiths far superior numbers.^[2]

The Atlantis Expedition encounter a Ancient battleship for the first time when a Zero Point Module is introduced to the city of Altantis and a transmission is sent into space recalling any Ancient ships in range, the only one detected is the "Aurora", which the team investigate, and it is subsequently destroyed.

The Asurans, or Replicators use the ship class as well as several other Alteran designed ships, despite being in existence from the time when the Alterans were in Pegasus (10,000 years ago) the Asurans refer to the ships as Aurora class.^[3]

The ships also appear to be made from the same materials that the Alterans used, meaning they can be destroyed using conventional methods, unlike the encountered replicator ships in the Milky Way and The Asuran Replicators themselves.^[4]

A damaged yet partially operational Warship is acquired by the Atlantis Expedition from a human faction named the "Taranians", the ship is further repaired on route to engage the wraith, but due to its incomplete state of repair it is subsequently destroyed in the ensuing battle.^[5]

A human group of Travelers' acquire a dormant Aurora class ship which was abandoned after a battle with the Wraith. The ship loses its bridge after a short battle with a Wraith Cruiser and several systems are in-active, however after help from the Atlantis Expedition's Col. John Sheppard the ship is repaired for use by the human group.^[6]

[edit] Systems

The ships utilize Drones for primary offense and defense as well as using shielding technology which can be enhanced through the use of a Zero Point Module.^[2] The drones can be controlled from both the bridge of the ship and the Weapons Control Platform, similar to that of Atlantis, Earth and Proclarush Taonas.^[7] Large turrets align the hull of the ship, all of which appear to be of similar design to the cannon used on the ancients project "Arcturus"^[8] the turrets are only seen in use on the Asurans Aurora class battleships in their fight with the Wraith/Human/Traveler fleet.^[2]

Egg-shaped pods that can be modified so that their occupants can participate in a virtual construct, allowing their minds to remain active during long voyages. The pods interface directly with the ship's computer so the crew may work on tasks while they are asleep, even allowing the alteration and deletion of files from the ships computers.^[1]

The Aurora's primary function is as a battleship, long distance is less achievable, the Aurora's hyperdrive is better suited to jump a short distance in a faster amount of time in hyperspace, however with modifications, the hyperdrive can achieve longer distances.^[1] The sub-light engines can also be modified to reach .999 speed of light.^[9]

[edit] Locations

The bridge is comparable in size to the auxiliary control center the bridge has multiple consoles, with the captain's chair in the center of the bridge, looking out on a fulling glass-like window which surrounds over a quarter of the bridge.^[1] Without shields the bridge is relatively exposed due to being on the top side of the ship, however in the event of the bridge being lost the ship can be run from the auxiliary control center.^[6]

There are known to be at least 3 hangar bays on-board seemingly big enough to accommodate a single puddle jumper, whether the ship can carry puddle jumpers or other craft remains unknown.^[10] The bays are also large enough to land a wraith dart.^[6]

Other locations include the Captain's Office,^[1] a drone storage room,^[1] a brig,^[1] storage,^[6] an auxiliary control center,^[6] and a control chair.^[6]

[edit] Encountered vessels

[edit] Aurora

Introduced in "Aurora", the Aurora was originally on a reconnaisance mission but was badly damaged in a fight, forcing its crew to enter the stasis pods and await rescue from Atlantis. However they are believed dead by the Ancients and thus abandoned, leaving the crew to slumber, slowly ageing over ten thousand years. During present time, Atlantis' long range sensors initiate a beacon calling all Ancient ships back to Atlantis, however it would take millions of years for it to arrive at sub-light so the Earthship Daedalus is dispatched with a team from Atlantis. They discover the badly damaged ship and attempt to access the virtual reality environment in which the crew's minds are interacting. According to Teyla's search the original crew numbered at least 329 members, based on the number of pods, and according to Rodney's search of the armoury it once contained Drone Weapons, although these have been depleted, presumably during its last battle. The explosive force of the Aurora's self destruct is sufficient not only to vaporise the ship but also anything in at least a two kilometre radius.

[edit] Orion

The Orion was introduced in the episode "Inferno" when the team used it to evacuate the planet Terranus with a supervolcano going to explode. The name Orion was given by Sheppard after he said they were not going to call the ship Enterprise. Originally, the ship was named the Hippaforalkus, after the name of an Ancient general. Dr. McKay and a team continue fixing the ship, in order that it may be used against the Wraith. Orion is seen in the episode "Allies" as under the command of Lt. Col. John Sheppard in the deffence of Atlantis from a Wraith Hive Ship heading for the city. The Orion is destroyed by a Hive Ship in "No Man's Land".

[edit] Other

Ship Identity	Faction	Status	Episodes Featured In
Tria	Ancestors	Abandoned in space (See "The Return")	"The Return"
Unknown	Travelers	Active	"Travelers", "Be All My Sins Remember'd"
Ancient fleet used to destroy the Asurans	Ancestors	Presumably destroyed with the rest of the Alteran fleet	Flashback in "Progeny (Part 1)"
Asuran fleet	Asuran	Destroyed by Human/Wraith/Travelers allied fleet (See "Be All My Sins Remember'd")	"First Strike", "The Seer", "This Mortal Coil", "Be All My Sins Remember'd"
Rogue Asuran Ship	Asuran, Dr. Weir	Unknown (See "Be All My Sins Remember'd")	"Be All My Sins Remember'd"

[edit] Ancient Cityship

Ancient City Ship
An Ancient City Ship in space
First appearance	"Rising"
General Characteristics
Auxiliary craft	Puddle Jumpers
Armaments	Drone Weapons
Defences	Ancient city shield
Propulsion	Ancient Hyperdrive
Power	3 ZPMs

An Ancient City Ship is a large city-sized spaceship within the science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis, long ago constructed by the Ancients. Dwarfing even a Wraith Hive-Ship and Ori battlecruiser, the city ship may be the largest ship ever encountered in the Stargate universe. The only other contender is Anubis' Mothership but a comparison has never been made on the show to know for certain.

[edit] Structure and technology

The ship is a snowflake-shaped platform dotted with skyscrapers, lower buildings in the six outlying sections, with the control tower in the center. However, most systems can be activated from an auxiliary control room. Due to its enormous size, the ship has been compared in size and interior space to Manhattan.^[11] Most of these ships carry a Stargate, usually located in the control room. Curiously, the city ship does not have a traditional outer hull. Instead, the atmosphere is contained within the vessel by a huge energy shield spanned around the city.^[12] Also, most of the structures are surprisingly fragile, requiring the aforementioned shield to protect them from naturally occurring phenomena such as hurricanes. ^[13]

The city ship, as with most Ancient technology, is powered by Zero Point Modules, requiring three to achieve full functionality.^[14] However, most systems, like the energy shield, can be activated with only a single ZPM^[15], and day-to-day power can even be supplied by Naqahdah generators.^[16] In emergencies where no ZPMs are available, some systems, like the shield, can be activated by harnessing energy from lightning.^[13] This, however, was not the intention of the original design, as the lightning rods dispersed throughout the city simply redirected the current to six grounding stations to keep the structure safe.

The ship is also equipped with several systems encountered on most interstellar vessels, such as long range sensors ^[17], internal transporters^[16], and sophisticated computer systems.^[15] The advanced internal sensors, that can also be used to track life forms, enable the City to sense threats, including chemical and biological ones. The City can automatically seal or open sections of the city to secure its population.^[11] It also carries a complement of smaller ships, Puddle Jumpers.^[18] These are stored in two Jumper bays. One is located directly above the Control Room, from which the Jumpers can be either sent through the Stargate or exit the City via the retractable roof ^[19], and the second is located in the lower sections of the city. ^[9] Atlantis also has five desalination plants to supply the city with fresh water, which it stores in large tanks in the superstructure.

The enormous vessel can descend into the atmosphere of a planet, and often resides on top of an outpost. But the ship can easily land on the ocean of any planet. Engines are lined on the bottom side of the city ship, with six sets of engines on each of the piers. This configuration was encountered on both Atlantis ^[4] and the Asuran city-ship. ^[12] However, when Atlantis left Earth for the Pegasus Galaxy, the city was equipped with two on each of the three large piers.^[18]

Interstellar travel, or even intergalactic, is achieved by the activation of the stardrive. The drive requires an enormous amount of power that can only be achieved by all three ZPMs working simultaneously.^[12] However, the Atlantis expedition managed to bypass the energy requirements of three ZPMs by using a geothermal power station and a single ZPM to get Atlantis into space and away from the planet. When in flight, the city is piloted from the Ancient Control Chair. ^[4]

The activation of the stardrive is automatically preceded by the powering up of the inertial dampers, also requiring a significant amount of power.^[20]

[edit] Tactical systems

Defense of the vessel is provided by its all-encompassing shield, although it does require the presence of a ZPM or a mark 12 Naquadah Generator to be activated. This shield can be expanded to cover a larger area than the city itself, although exactly how much area can be covered depends on the power available. When powered by three ZPMs, the shield can be extended to cover most of a planet the size of Lantea. ^[21]

In addition, the city can be rendered invisible by linking the cloaking device of a Puddle Jumper to the shield generators. ^[15] As a last resort, the enormous city can be submerged into an ocean, protected by its energy shield and attached to the ocean floor with an intricate clamping system.^[18]

As with Puddle Jumpers and Aurora class battleships, the city ship is equipped with Drone Weapons controlled by an Ancient Control Chair and launched from three ports on the ends of three arms of the city. ^[15]

When not activated, the drones are stored in specifically-designed racks that can be replenished if reloads are available.^[22]

[edit] Encountered city ships

Several city ships have been encountered by the Tau'ri, all of them in the Pegasus Galaxy. However, outposts required for landing the city have been discovered on both Earth and Proclarush Taonas,^[7] indicating the possible existence of several city ships in the Milky Way's distant past, Atlantis itself once having been on Earth docked in Antarctica several million years ago.

[edit] Atlantis

Main article: Atlantis (Stargate)

Atlantis was the capital of the Ancient empire in the Pegasus galaxy. The City was once located on Earth in what is now Antarctica. Several million years ago many of the Ancients who inhabited Earth at that time relocated the giant city to the Pegasus Galaxy. After years of being under siege by Wraith ships in orbit, the Atlantis inhabitants abandoned the city, traveling back to Earth via the Stargate.

The city was submerged in the ocean and was left like this to keep it intact and safe from the Wraith. Eventually, a team from Earth used the Stargate to travel to the City in search of knowledge and possible contact with its builders, ten thousand years after it was abandoned. Thanks to the presence of a Dr. Weir from an alternate timeline, the Atlantis Stargate had been programmed to only accept incoming wormholes from Earth's address at the time, meaning it was secure from any Wraith attempt to gate in. As such, the city lay dormant on the ocean floor for ten thousand years. ^[14] However, when the Atlantis Expedition arrived, the ZPMs were nearly depleted, and the autonomous city released its clamps on the ocean floor and resurfaced.

Today, a team of humans from Earth makes up the bulk of Atlantis' urban inhabitants, and the city now acts as the secure main base for Stargate operations in the Pegasus Galaxy.

[edit] The Tower City Ship

Another city ship was encountered on a planet in the Pegasus galaxy, populated by a primitive people. This city was in much worse condition than Atlantis, having been attacked by the Wraith or exposed to the elements and largely buried since the Ancients abandoned it. The city's ZPMs were nearly depleted, and most of the primary systems were inactive. Only the central tower remained visible. However, the weapon and power systems had remained active for a greater time, and were still used to defend the planet from the Wraith by humans with the ATA gene, indicating the crossbreeding of Ancients and humans on this planet. Also, this was the only encountered city ship that did not contain a Stargate.

The City Ship was controlled by a Lord Protector to protect the planet from the Wraith and intimidate the village nearby. When the Lord Protector was poisoned, his advisor, Otho, who was also responsible for the Lord Protector's death, succeeded him. He tried to destroy the nearby village for "defying their Lord Protector" using the City's drones, but Rodney McKay managed to stop him by powering the City's stardrive, depleting the already-weak ZPM. The City's drones and Puddle Jumpers were eventually brought back to Atlantis for later use.^[22]

[edit] Asuran City Ship

Another Ancient city ship, on the Asuran homeworld, was encountered in 2006 by the Atlantis Expedition. This city was constructed and inhabited by replicators emulating unascended Ancients, the result of a failed Ancient experiment to combat the Wraith. This city was in perfect condition, and fully powered. The ship was the centerpiece of a much larger metropolis which, like Atlantis, is located in an ocean.

Once the Asurans discovered Atlantis had survived the siege by the Wraith, they decided to attack Atlantis themselves for vengeance against the Ancients. Defending their home, the Atlantis Expedition overloaded the Asuras' ZPMs, destroying the city while in space. The Asurans would later rebuild their city ship. The rest of the Asuran cityscape remained intact on their homeworld.^[12]

[edit] Asuran Atlantis copy

In "This Mortal Coil", a group of Asurans from Niam's faction created, on another planet, a duplicate of Atlantis filled with replicated Atlantis personnel as well as living flesh and blood copies of the Atlantis team, including Dr. Weir, constructed by nanites. The purpose of the experiment was to learn the secrets of human ascension. After the duplicated team discovered the ruse, Niam's Asurans intended to erase their memories and start over. Before this could be effected however, the Asuran leader Oberoth discovered their location and destroyed the city with ease, as the rebels had only one ZPM and did not have the ability to mount a proper defense against the a fully powered Aurora class ship, and thus the city was destroyed. The duplicate Atlantis team was able, however, to escape in a jumper before this happened.

[edit] Puddle Jumper

Puddle jumper
A puddle jumper in motion.
First appearance	Rising
Affiliation	Ancients, Asurans
General Characteristics
Armaments	Drone Weapons
Defences	Cloaking device, convertible to a shield when needed.
Propulsion	2 engines of unknown construction housed in retractable nacelles
Length	24 feet
Width	16 feet

A puddle jumper is a small craft capable of space travel created by the Ancients. Several of these ships were discovered in the Atlantis hangar, and are used by the Atlantis Expedition. The name "puddle jumper" is derived from the ship's ability to travel through Stargate event horizons, which visually resemble pools of water. That had already been called a "puddle" e.g. by General Hammond in "Prophecy". The name was coined by Major John Sheppard, an experienced pilot, who found a serendipitous double meaning when describing the craft. The nomenclature of the ship was protested by Dr. Rodney McKay and Lt. Aiden Ford, who preferred the name "gateship", although their suggestion was rejected. However, an Asuran referred to a jumper as a "gateship", which means the Ancients may well have called it that.

[edit] Design

The puddle jumper is a small cylindrical ship with an angled front and rear, allowing it to travel through a Stargate. Similar to the Tel'tak, the craft is split into two sections, the cockpit and cargo hold, with a bulkhead door to separate them. This door is quite strong, capable of retaining atmosphere against the vacuum of space or holding back the pressure of deep ocean water.

Entry and exit to the puddle jumper is provided through the use of the cargo bay door on the rear. This door can be lowered and raised in normal operation, or can be jettisoned by use of the emergency release located in the rear section of the cargo bay. The cargo area also serves for additional seating within the jumper for more than the flight crew. Jumpers have a limited power supply, but it is presumably rechargeable.

Throughout the series of Stargate Atlantis, there have been three different designs of main control consoles for the jumpers. The reason for the changes was not explained in the show but it is most likely a design change made by the creators of the series.

• The original console from the first season featured many colored panels and knobs which would glow when the jumper was started up by a person with the ATA Gene. Most of the console was brown-colored.

• The second jumper console featured a rigid gray panel without any type of lights. This console was featured in the beginning of the second season of the series. The light colored buttons and dials were replaced with gray sliders and other controls. The control panels onboard the Orion and at the center of Project Arcturus were similar. It is implied by Dr. McKay that these control panels were "the Ancients' latest stuff - latest being 10,000 years old". This would indicate that the second jumper console is actually more advanced than the first, but it is not explained how the team came across the newer design. It is possible that they were obtained from Atlantis' sister ship, seen in the episode "The Tower".

• The third jumper console was first introduced in the puddle jumper stolen from the Asuran City Ship, and was featured ever since. It appears as a mix of the two previous jumper consoles with a solid panel but with many small buttons, blue lights and sliders. In the previous jumpers there has been two sticks controlling speed and direction. In this there is one which moves up, down, and side to side for direction and another one controlling speed. When moved completely forward it is at zero, and when pulled fully back it is at max throttle. A good example is in the episode "Echoes". This design also has only 4 bench seats in the rear compartment, as opposed to the first two designs which had 6 bench seats.

It should also be noted that since the start of the second season, the characters have been seen using the control stick to fly, instead of piloting the vessel by mental interface. However, in the episode "Sateda", drones were still required to be launched with the mental interface.

[edit] Technology

Puddle jumpers are equipped with several Ancient technologies, and are among the most advanced craft in the Pegasus Galaxy. Their propulsion systems consist of two retractable thruster pods that power the craft to sublight speeds, allowing interplanetary travel. Limited thrust is apparently possible with retracted pods, as seen on several occasions in the Atlantis control room. While the thruster pods are responsible for propelling the craft, the pods must be closed to allow the ship to fit through the Stargate. Though it has not been confirmed, it has been suggested that the jumper operates on an auto-pilot for this maneuver, allowing people without the ATA Gene to pilot the jumper out of Atlantis. It is also possible to fly a puddle jumper with just one functioning thruster pod.

Alternately, it is possible that the pods don't house thrusters at all, but rather some type of gravimetric propulsion system. In essence, this very advanced method of propulsion creates a "gravitational wave" in any direction around the ship, which then essentially pulls the ship in, thus moving it in the given direction. Such a system doesn't require any thrusters, merely projection points. In some other shows (e.g. Babylon 5) such engines were placed on various protrusions from the main bulk of the ship and often glowed (but produced no air shimmering or matter stream like reactive thruster engines do). This would explain the puddle jumper's apparent ability to fly with retracted engine nacelles, as well as some other observed properties, and would fit very nicely into the concept of a very advanced race. However, as there is little to none canon technical data in the show, it is virtually impossible to decisively say either way, thrusters or gravimetric drive.

As many Stargates in the Pegasus Galaxy are located in space and therefore have no traditional Dial Home Device, the puddle jumper is equipped with its own DHD, enabling the passengers to activate the Stargate from within the craft. The jumper's DHD is very similar to the one in Atlantis, although without Atlantis' extra control-crystal. The jumper DHD seems to adapt itself to the galaxy it is in. Puddle jumpers from Atlantis normally have the Pegasus set of chevrons, although the time jumper found by SG-1 had the Milky Way set with the Earth point of origin. Also, a jumper from Atlantis can activate a Milky Way Stargate.

Puddle jumpers are equipped with a neural interface that essentially reads the pilot's thoughts and controls the ship based on those commands, assisted by two control joysticks built into the ship's main control console. Like a great deal of Ancient technology found in the Pegasus and Milky Way galaxies, the puddle jumper requires the user to have the ATA gene to initialize. After that, many of the jumper's systems can be used by anyone. However, since piloting requires the mental interface, only one with the ATA gene can actually fly the craft. There are also two control panels at the rear of the jumper, one on each side that appear to be used by people that do not have the ATA gene. Some aspects of the craft can even be controlled by a Wraith, given that this wraith has the knowledge to figure out advanced technology.

The puddle jumper can also be used as an underwater submersible, although it should not be used to dive to great depths, as the front window will not be able to sustain high pressure. A damaged jumper dove to a little over twelve hundred feet (366 m) without a shield before the window cracked. Using the shield by inverting the cloaking generator, the jumper could dive deeper, although the high pressure on the shield would soon drain the power source. However, it has been assumed that if a jumper would be connected to a sufficient power source, the shield could be powered constantly.

Passengers inside are shielded from sudden accelerations and stops by an inertial dampening system, which can also alter the weight of the puddle jumper. Information regarding the craft's status, course and landing coordinates is projected on a holographic HUD. The craft also carries several small Life Signs Detectors, and is equipped with advanced sensors. Most of the technology on board is controlled by crystals throughout the jumper in places behind the benches and seats, in cubbies.

[edit] Defensive systems

The jumper's weapon systems consist of at least 16 Ancient Drone Weapons, housed in two weapon pods located in front of the engine pods. These pods must be extended before the drones can be fired. It was theorised by Rodney McKay that these drones could also be used to pilot the jumper, although this was never tested. It is assumed that the craft would not be very maneuverable or fast, however, it would require very little power. Rodney McKay theorised the jumper could be controlled through an Ancient Control Chair in this way.

The jumpers can be used as bombers by attaching explosives to the bottom of the craft and later releasing them.

A puddle jumper has no true shields at all, suggesting that it is an exploration and trading ship. Its only defense consists of an advanced cloaking generator capable of masking the ship to both the naked eye and sensors, much like those on Goa'uld Cargo ships and Al'kesh bombers. The generator acts more like an advanced active camouflage because since a cloaking generator makes light bend around objects, there would be no light inside and as a result, the pilot would be blind. However, the cloaking generator can be "reversed" to act as a shield, but this drains the jumper's power far too rapidly, making it almost useless in a combat situation. This situation occurred in "The Defiant One", when a wraith prevented Major Sheppard from entering his jumper by the use of a shield which he activated with the jumper's remote cloaking device. The cloaking generator can only project either the cloak or the shield, as both are generated the same way, just at a different frequency. Therefore it is impossible to have both running at the same time. The shield, however, has enough power to deflect at least one drone, although such an impact would severely damage the craft, even through the shield.

[edit] Earth-based equipment

As the jumpers are used on a regular basis by the Atlantis Expedition to explore planets in the Pegasus Galaxy, their jumpers have been equipped with a large amount of Earth equipment. All of their jumpers possess plenty of food, medicine, weapons and other supplies on board, suspended over the seats in the rear compartment by rubber netting and behind the seats in the forward compartment.

As off-world teams are likely to come under fire, there is a healthy supply of weapons, ammunition and tactical vests on board, including P90's, M4 Carbines, M249 SAWs, and pistols, usually Beretta 92s. In addition, there are at least two AT4 rocket launchers on either side of the rear hatch in the back of the jumper. There is also enough equipment in the jumper, including laptops and tools to fix the jumper in case of a breakdown.

During the brief time that Rodney McKay was being accelerated towards ascension, he designed a virtual prototype for a hyperspace window generator for the puddle jumper. In the season 4 episode Lifeline Rodney and Zelenka formulate a plan to use the experimental jumper hyperdrive, so the team are able to fly from the stranded Atlantis to the Asuran homeworld. Unfortunately this took a lot of power and the only way they would have been able to fly it back would be to hook up the ZPM they stole. Also in this episode McKay modified the jumper's cloak to emit an Anti-Replicator field that would destroy all Asurans in range.

[edit] Time jumper

An Ancient scientist named Janus created at least two puddle jumpers capable of traveling through time(One which was used in stargate SG-1), by means of a device installed in the cargo hold. In the main timeline, this experimental technology was banned by the Atlantean Council in order to prevent dangers associated with time travel.

In an alternate timeline, members of the Atlantis expedition discovered a special puddle jumper in Atlantis's jumper bay, one which was capable of time travel. In that reality, the expedition had suffered tragedy immediately upon arriving at the ancient city, because the shield had begun to fail from lack of power, causing the city to flood. Desperate and with no method of escape, the alternate versions of John Sheppard, Elizabeth Weir and Radek Zelenka sealed themselves in this jumper as the jumper bay flooded. They subsequently activated the time device by accident.

They traveled 10,000 years into the past, arriving at the final days of the Ancients' war with the Wraith. Orbiting Wraith ships sieging Atlantis mistook the newly-arrived time jumper for a contemporary Atlantean craft, and opened fire, causing the jumper to crash land on Lantea. The alternate Sheppard and Zelenka were both killed in the crash, but the alternate Weir and the jumper itself were rescued by the Ancients inhabiting Atlantis, including Janus. Meeting a woman from 10,000 years in the future prompted the Atlantean Council's decision to ban further time-travel research, thus changing the timeline such that Janus's prototype would no longer be left behind for the expedition to later find. Fortunately, Janus ensured that the expedition would also be saved from drowning, in the new reality.

An identically-equipped puddle jumper, equally capable of time travel, was later discovered by SG-1 abandoned on a planet in the Milky Way galaxy. This newly discovered ship's time travel device was visually and functionally identical to the Janus prototype, implying that in the new timeline Janus chose to disobey the Atlantean Council's ban on time-travel research. The time jumper discovered by SG-1 in Milky Way was most likely the new timeline's version of Janus's original prototype, which thanks to the intervention of alternate Weir, was evacuated through the Stargate to Milky Way instead of being left behind on Atlantis as it was in the previous timeline.

Alternatively, it is also possible that the pod discovered by SG-1 is the exact same pod which was originally flown back in time by the alternate Weir, left over as a temporal orphan. Since it reverted to Janus's possession following its crash-landing and recovery, he was actually in possession of both iterations of the pod when the Ancients evacuated the city. Therefore, it is plausible that this is actually the same ship, repaired. If this interpretation of events is correct, it would make the jumper more than 20,000 years old by the time it was finally discovered by SG-1.

This jumper was later used by SG-1 as a means of traveling back in time to ancient Egypt, in order to steal a Zero Point Module from Ra, setting into motion the somewhat convoluted series of events depicted in Moebius, and further aging the time jumper by about five thousand years... twice.

[edit] Encountered jumpers

All Ancient City Ships carry several of these small ships, stored in at least two different jumper bays. One bay is located directly above the Control Room, from where the jumpers can be either sent through the Stargate or exit the City via the retractable roof, and a secondary jumper bay is located in the lower sections of the City. As such, the Atlantis Expedition has encountered jumpers on Atlantis, an unnamed City ship in the Pegasus Galaxy, and Asuras.

The exact number of jumpers the Atlantis team currently owns is unknown, but at least twenty can be accounted for in Adrift. Twelve jumpers were stored above the Control Room in Atlantis, with at least another six of them being discovered in a secondary jumper bay on the underside of the city. Additional puddle jumpers have been acquired on several occasions, including several (probably the twelve jumpers contained in their Control Tower) from another City Ship and one which was stolen from the Asurans.

[edit] References

v • d • e Technology in Stargate Technology Atlantis • DHD • DNA resequencer • Stargate • Zero Point Module Starships Ancient starships • Asgard starships • Goa'uld starships • Ori mothership • Tau'ri starships • Wraith starships Technology by race Ancient • Asgard • Asuran • Goa'uld • Ori • Tau'ri • Tok'ra • Wraith • Other