I haven't watched "The Seed" yet, but I noticed that Woolsey beams in from the Daedalus rather than arriving via the Stargate. He says he has been out of touch for three weeks because of the trip. Is there some reason why they couldn't have sent a Puddle Jumper for him via the Gate Bridge or is that completely gone after "Midway" ? And why doesn't the SGC have a ZPM ? I have not seen Continuum yet.
It looks like the gate bridge was totally destroyed after "Midway." They may not want to rebuild it now that the wraith know about it. According to the status quo from before "Continuum," the SGC doesn't have a ZPM. They're using two in the Milky Way, one on the Odyssey, one at the Antarctic outpost, and I suppose they could borrow one of those to power the Stargate from time to time, but writer fiat says it's too much trouble.
And thusly has the power to dial earth. The SGC, on the other hand doesn't have the power to dial Atlantis.
That's an interesting question since... While the Midway station was destroyed, the gates should still be out there. And they are presumably stationed along the route the ships travel in... They could've-if they wanted to, stopped at the 1st Pegasus gate on the way to Atlantis, and sent for a Jumper to pick him up, to get him there faster, but since the Daedalus was heading back to Pegasus anyways, it may not have been worth the trouble...
Well, they do have the Drone Chair's ZPM, they could always beam it from Antarctica to the SGC to power the gate if they needed to, I wonder why they don't do that now that the threat of the Ori is gone. Also, they have the one on the other ship there, they could always use it. Point is, I don't see why the SGC doesn't have easy access to one.
Oh, you know what, I was just sitting on the crapper thinking about this, the Odyssey doesn't need its ZPM anymore, the Daedalus should get it now, it needs it more. Think about it, the threat with the Ori and Baal is now gone, the Odyssey doesn't need the ZPM, but the Daedalus does. It currently takes 3 weeks for the Daedalus to get from Earth to Atlantis, but with the ZPM this trip would be shortened to 3 days. They could transfer personel, supplies etc.. faster, plus if there is ever a problem, like a Wraith attack, the Deddy can get there faster. Also, the Daedalus is the sole Earth ship in the Pegasus galaxy, defending Atlantis from the Wraith, it, above all ships, needs the power of the ZPM to defend Atlantis better. It just makes sense to give the Daedalus the ZPM now.
I would imagine they're careful about that. They don't want Apollo and Daedalus passing each other in between galaxies.
Well, they seemed to have no problem when the two ships exited hyperspace beside one another during the Asuran war. Indeed, if they wanted to re-build Midway, it could be handy to have one ship bring supplies (and a Milky Way gate) in one direction, and have the other ferry more supplies (and a Pegasus gate) from the other.
The problem is that if two of your three ships are between galaxies, what do you do when you need them in an emergency ? It'd be difficult, but really you want at least one ship in the Milky Way and one ship in the Pegasus galaxy at all times.
That would be easier to accomplish once Phoenix is finished - then they could more easily rotate the ships back and forth. I'd like to have one kept at or near Earth, one at or near Atlantis, and the other two on patrol within each galaxy - and make sure that both the homeworld and the Expedition have a ship on hand as often as possible. (Since they haven't figured out how to install transporters or Asgard plasma beams onto Atlantis yet, the ship offers options the base itself can't handle on their own.)
And teh ship that's in the Pegasus galaxy is the one that needs the ZPM, its only a 3 day trip back to Earth then as well.
As I pointed out elsewhere, Earth has another fish to fry - the Lucian Alliance. I would keep the Odyssey, fully powered and cloaked and use it to smash their Kassa smuggling operations.
We can fry em without needing a ZPM on a ship, just a regular powered Deddy class can hold them back, plus if they ever come to Earth we have the chair.
We don't know the strength of their fleet. I would be cautious. Plus the ability to cloak the ship gives them a massive tactical advantage.
It would also be an advantage in the pegasus galaxy. I don't think Earth is too worried about the Lucian Alliance anymore.
Still, with the number of threats Earth has faced so far, I know I'd want my most powerful assets close to home, just in case.