After more than ten years of operation, Stargate Command embarked upon one of humanity’s most
important and consequential missions. The journey would lead to the establishment of a secret base
of operations on a desolate world, the recruiting of civilians to study the Stargate, and a one-way
trip to an Ancient ship traveling from one galaxy to the next on the other side of the universe.
A Stargate has nine chevrons, though normal dialing to planets within the same galaxy
only utilizes seven of these. Earth eventually discovered that, with the right address
and enough extra power, the eighth chevron could be used to dial the Stargate to another
galaxy – the Pegasus Galaxy, for example, or the Asgard-colonized galaxy of Ida.
The purpose of the ninth chevron, however, long remained a mystery. But when a single,
9-symbol address was identified within the Ancient database on Atlantis, the Icarus
Project was born. It would attempt to utilize an unimaginable amount of power – essentially
using an entire planet as a battery – to dial the address and establish a stable wormhole.
No one knew what was on the other side. Perhaps the secrets of the universe itself.
Perhaps the greatest discovery mankind has made since the Stargate.
The Icarus Project proceeded in three phases.
First, Earth’s deep-space vessels were tasked with identifying a viable planet to establish a base.
The planet’s core had to be rich with the mineral naquadria, a variant of naquadah – the element the
Stargate is made of, and which provides an energy source for various weapons and technologies.
But second, because naquadria is highly volatile and unstable, the planet had to be uninhabited.
After nearly two years of searching an exceptionally rare and suitable planet was
located, and construction began on the new Icarus Base. This was the project’s second
phase. Icarus Base was populated by several dozen personnel, both soldiers and civilian scientists.
The base commander was Colonel Everett Young, who was tasked with supporting the
ninth-chevron project. If and when the Stargate was successfully dialed, in phase three Colonel
David Telford would lead a team of carefully selected mission specialists to the other side.
Leading the research project was Dr. Nicholas Rush, who was recruited by Daniel Jackson after
suffering the loss of his wife. Rush threw himself into this work, dedicating his life to unlocking
the ninth chevron. But Rush hit a wall, and the research stalled. He couldn’t figure out how
to properly channel the energy from the planet’s core into the Stargate to power a stable wormhole.
Back on Earth, the U.S. Air Force and the newly established Homeworld Command were
on the lookout for a young genius who might be able to help Rush crack the code. They planted
a version of the Ancients’ language, along with a challenging cipher puzzle, into a video game.
After the brilliant Eli Wallace solved the puzzle, Rush and General Jack O’Neill showed up on his
doorstep to recruit him into the program. On board the U.S.S. George Hammond Eli was
taken to Icarus Base, where Dr. Rush gave him a rapid orientation to their research.
Remarkably, Eli quickly determined how to dial the 9-chevron address.
The achievement was short-lived, however. The Lucian Alliance had discovered the base,
and attacked from space. Colonel Telford scrambled a squad of F-302 pilots to engage the enemy
alongside the Hammond. And Colonel Young ordered an evacuation through the Stargate.
With Icarus Base coming under fire, Rush saw his one opportunity to complete the work that was now
slipping through his fingers. Instead of dialing Earth or the Alpha Site to evacuate the base,
Rush dialed the 9-chevron address ... successfully establishing a connection.
The Icarus Project was, technically, a success. But because of Rush’s decision it came at a
high cost. The entire base full of civilians and military personnel, more than 80 people,
evacuated through the Stargate – leaving Telford and his pilots behind. The naquadria planet was
destabilized, and exploded in a huge eruption. Colonel Young and his people found themselves
billions of lightyears from home, aboard a long-abandoned Ancient vessel – the Destiny,
now manned by the wrong people, in the wrong place, for this new mission.
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