Untitled Work
Stargate Atlantis / Halo Crossover
As with all stories, none of the concepts specific to these series are mine, although I do claim possession over where I take the plot and what elements I introduce.
From Halo we take the idea of the Spartan program and AI consciousnesses, as well as other devices that might later prove useful. From Stargate Atlantis we take the "suits" the Pegasus Asgard wore, add in a copy of Elizabeth/Fran's consciousness, and an accident solved by McKay, and get Spartan 1, John Sheppard. (Note: Atlantis is still in Pegasus, basically the last two or three episodes in season 5 didn't happen.)
First Chapter:
Start with a Halo quote (Lost the lead, gained the lead) explain how this game got to Atlantis, reaction to it (McKay and Zelenka messed around with the code and made Wraith skins), and general overview of where the story is starting from. Elizabeth is gone, but copied her consciousness in trust to Rodney, telling him he will know to activate it when the time comes. There are a couple of Asgard suits available for study, and Atlantis found a lab that housed a connection to a neural network, the "artificial environment" used aboard the Aurora and to store the human form replicator Ava Dixon in "Outcast".
Second Chapter:
Starting from the Gate Room, Sheppard has been badly injured and Dr. Keller cannot fix him even with all the Ancient and Earth technology at her fingertips. Instead of going into stasis (John hated that with the future Rodney in "The Last Man") McKay creates a virtual world for John's consciousness while they try to heal his body. To stop him from going insane and to keep him grounded, they upload Elizabeth's consciousness into the environment.
Third Chapter:
After an undisclosed amount of time (a few months would be best) McKay, along with Zelenka and new transfer (?make up later?) are able to modify one of the suits to sustain John's body, with a catch. He must have a blank symbiote implanted into his original body to sustain his new existence. Reluctantly, he agrees and is even more shocked when they wheel out his new suit, it looks just like Master Chief from Halo. Rodney explains how this design was the most competent they found, and that John would like the video game connection. John gets another shock when he learns just how like the video game his new suit is, right up to the empty slot in the helmet for an AI of his choice. John and Elizabeth talk, and agree, they will explore the galaxy with the Atlantis teams together and return to their virtual environment during downtime. (Sheppard still resides in his body, but can communicate though the chairs first discovered in Gamekeeper and later utilized in Avatar, and the ancient control chairs)
Fourth Chapter:
The previous tasks had been undertaken without the approval or knowledge of the IOA, so they are understandably shocked and extremely skeptical when Spartan Sheppard shows up claiming to also have Elizabeth's consciousness in his head. He proves beyond all doubt it is really him and Elizabeth, and they grudgingly accept they need his help and expertise, and her diplomacy, and it is nice that a diplomat is so protected from external influence. Under review, they return to pegasus and begin missions.
Untitled Story
Chapter One:
"Gained the lead. Lost the lead." This comment drew quite a bit of commotion in the Atlantian recreation room that was full to overflowing with people from varying occupations around the base. The reason they had all congregated in this particular room at this particular time was simple, the final round in a long postponed and often abandoned tournament was finally being played, and the good-natured tension was starting to get to everyone. Bets were made, drinks of the non-alcoholic persuasion were consumed, and in general everyone was having a great time. In between rounds, Lt. Col. John Sheppard looked around at the multitude of people in the room and smiled. It had been a hard few months for them and it was great to see everyone relaxing and cheering on their candidate of choice in the tournament. It had started out simply enough, on his way back from Earth, he had brought an Xbox 360 and a couple of games for when he was recovering in the hospital wing and was not allowed back on active duty. He had been joined by the members of his team and other injured personnel and even enticed Beckett to a game once or twice. From there it took off into a weekly tournament to help the citizens unwind from the pressures of the Wraith, the military, the IOA, whatever had been bugging them. With the blessing of Mr. Woolsey Sheppard had been able to suspend rank and position temporarily in this room, further increasing the relaxation aspect and forging new friendships between the military and civilian populations.
"Sheppard, get your head in the game otherwise we are going to lose," stated McKay shaking him out of his reverie. One of the strangest discoveries Sheppard had made on Atlantis to date was the fact that Rodney McKay was good at video games. It seemed that Rodney could translate what he wanted to do on the battlefield better through a controller than through his own body, much to his chagrin.
"Alright McKay, but really, we're up 40 kills on everyone else, can't we at least give them a chance?" He joked while chuckling at Major Lorne's attempt to teach Zelenka a bit of battlefield strategy. From the occasional expressions in Czech that the Doctor used, John had a feeling that it wasn't going too well.
One of the tenets of this Halo tournament was that the teams of two had to be military/civilian pairings so no one team could dominate the whole thing with standard military tactics. It had worked out greatly in regards to teams like Sheppard and McKay who had surprised everyone with their inventive and devious tactics and McKay's love of the flag as a weapon. It had also promoted camaraderie between the pair and helped to ease the tensions that missions, experiments and bosses had heaped upon them. Sheppard noticed once again that the people in the room were extremely relaxed, not to mention while some had chastised their partners, none had complained or requested to be separated, always a plus. It probably helped that Cavanaugh had been transferred off-base though. He was brought back into the present by the general cheering of the crowd as the tournament drew to a close.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, your winners for this week's Halo tournament, Rodney McKay and our very own John 'Don't call me Colonel, Corporal' Sheppard!" exclaimed a corporal to the room's applause and the Colonel's annoyance.
On the screen behind him, a scene that could only come from the combined minds of McKay and Zelenka played out. Apparently another aspect of the game that was modified to provide more entertainment had been the installation of wraith selectable characters in the multiplayer screen. Sheppard thought it was quite funny that timid scientists who would not otherwise play the game, now found excuses just to come in here and stomp a few wraith.
The last few months had been hard on the entire expedition. Atlantis had come through it intact but the heart of the expedition that had been captured again for a brief moment was out for good. In yet another act that proved beyond a doubt that Elizabeth Weir lived on, her consciousness had inadvertently drawn others from the leftover replicator collective to the city-ship. Rather than risk the lives of her expedition in the forlorn hope that the other replicators would accept human bodies and ascend, she sacrificed herself and led the others to a space gate where they were forced to deactivate. The last part of that plan had been vehemently objected to by the Colonel but even he could see how dangerous they were. One last glance at the gate that communicated something and she was gone again, never to return.
Another such example was when Dr. McKay and Dr. Jackson had discovered a secret lab belonging to the ancient Janus, hidden due to his unorthodox research projects and their development. Although ordered by the Atlantian high council to 'cease and desist', he had continued his research and achieved many breakthroughs that had already saved Atlantis in the past. This time Janus had succeeded in creating a device that would block the specific subspace frequency of Wraith Hyperdrive technology, thereby rendering the Wraith fleet immobile on a galactic scale and causing any ships who did attempt a jump to vaporize in the resulting rift. As with any new device there were a number of unforeseen side effects, one of which would prove deadly.
An unknown race had jumped directly to the planet's surface, flown right through the city-shield of Atlantis and abducted Rodney and Daniel from Janus' lab. They also took what would later be identified as a 'control key' from the lab, which turned out to be the missing part of the Attero device, the experiment Janus had created to interfere with Wraith hyperdrives and that was shut down voluntarily. After turning the device on, both Atlantis and another planet had experienced the unforeseen side effects and promptly had their stargates explode due to a power buildup in the event horizon. While the city was lucky in that their gate shield absorbed the brunt of the explosion, another settlement was completely obliterated marking the death of (hundreds?).
Due to this device being activated, the Wraith Todd had incorrectly assumed the humans of Atlantis were behind the plot and promptly commandeered the Daedalus to force the Atlantians to turn it off. He held the crew ransom and forced Sheppard to divulge the planet where the device was located. After plotting a course and leaving the system, another ship had jumped to Atlantis. It was a traveler's ship and it was their settlement, the first in (100?) generations, that had been destroyed by stargate overload. Sheppard and Zelenka promptly joined the travelers to rescue both Dr.'s McKay and Jackson and the crew of the Daedalus, which included Mr. Woolsey.
Meanwhile, on the surface of the unknown planet, McKay and Jackson had discovered that the Attero device was causing harmful interference to the stargates and attempted to shut it down, only to be stopped by their abductors. Jackson was taken to their leader and proceeded to negotiate with them to turn off the device voluntarily. Over the course of the conversation he discovered that the mysterious armoured race were in fact Asgard who had broken off from their Milky Way brethren thousands of years ago due to a disagreement of ideologies, specifically the use of humans as test subjects in genetic experiments in cloning. They turned the device on both to ensure confusion and abandonment of the gate system and to strand the Wraith wherever they were.
At this time, the ship that Dr. Zelenka and Col. Sheppard were aboard had reached the planet housing the device. After a space battle which left an Asgard ship destroyed and another on the run, the Daedalus dropped into normal space and began a preprogrammed kamikaze run at the compound, facilitated by Todd. Unable to break the password the Wraith had used to lockdown the navigational system, Sheppard had maneuvered his ship in between the planet and the Daedalus and created a Hyperspace window big enough for both ships to safely pass through the planet. Just before the jump, the humans who had retaken their ship had located and transported McKay and Jackson aboard, ensuring their safety. After reversing the lock upon the ship, they had destroyed the Attero device so it could not be used again.
John was still reminiscing when the radio in his ear crackled to life.
"Colonel Sheppard, we have made a discovery both you and Dr. McKay will want to see. Come to the East Pier and bring Zelenka with you too, if he is there."
"Roger that, Sheppard out." To the rest of the room, "McKay, Zelenka, Lorne, with me. Your science team found something in the East Pier we need to check out asap."
A chorus of agreement followed him as he left the room. One of the greatest things about this city was that certain people with a strong ATA gene such as himself could manipulate the controls to various rooms and workstations with a greater ease and control than those who had the therapy. When he had first arrived in the city, he had spent no small amount of time discovering the unknown areas which always seemed to react well to him. As time went on he found a greater control for familiar areas of the city and could almost speak to the city when needed. For now however, this superior mastery allowed him to open doors with a thought, as well as control the lights.
"You know it's freaky every time you do that, right?" McKay complained. He was always whining when Sheppard used his 'voodoo' magic on the doors. Whether it was jealously or fear, if it bothered McKay, he whined about it. Somewhat relaxing compared to some of the other coping techniques he'd seen over the years.
"You're just jealous because you can't." He retorted in purely typical fashion. As the bulkhead door opened, Sheppard stepped through smirking slightly when he heard the Czech and Lorne still discussing their rather humiliating loss to Rodney and himself. One of the things he had really come to love about this expedition was the multicultural nature of it and the spreading of understanding that had occurred. There was no racism here, no looking at someone oddly because they were of a different colour or religion. It was humans against anyone who would harm them from Genii to Wraith to Replicators and everything in between. In that everyone had come together and this tolerance is what brought a smile to his face, although he would never admit that to anyone.
They walked down the familiar aqua themed corridors that any interior decorator would swear all looked like a small part of some gigantic movie set. They had actually had requests for movie crews to visit the city and make a documentary type movie that the air force would never release to the general public. The Colonel always wondered why these people wanted to do projects on a subject that they would never get recognition for. Luckily he had been able to deny them on the basis of the almost continual threat the city seemed to be in for whatever reason suited fate that week. The secret reason that he might actually shoot someone who asked him annoying questions all the time, just like McKay, had nothing to do with it at all.
He looked over at the subject of his current thoughts and internally sighed. McKay had finally grown up in the preceding months. He was saddened to think that the always petulant and childlike McKay made fewer appearances these days, mostly due to his almost inexhaustible innocence being drained by the deaths of two close friends, multiple abductions by any number of factions and finally falling in love. He actually liked the times when Rodney would act like a kid again, back in the good old days when Elizabeth and Carson were still alive and Ford was his second in command.
His attention turned to Lorne and he couldn't help thinking that while no one could replace Ford, Evan had certain taken up the responsibility of his post while not making Sheppard think he was trying to replace anyone. He had heard what Caldwell had done while he was transforming into that disgusting bug and while it was no surprise to him, he was shocked when he had heard of the resulting discussion between Elizabeth and Caldwell. For once he hadn't been interchangeable akin to what many of his commanding officers on Earth had thought and that concern had translated down his own chain of command, making Lorne hopefully feel the same. He had discovered that the soldiers who fought hardest weren't the ones with nothing to lose but the ones with everything at stake.