Stargate Atlantis:
A Matter of Time
Disclaimer:
I do not own Stargate Atlantis or any of it's related characters. The property of MGM.
Chapter One
The sun began to set over the vast rolling ocean as Jumper Three made the return trip to Atlantis. The sun reflected off of the ship casting a rippling reflection in the water below them.
"I still don't see why I had to come." whined Dr Rodney McKay to anybody that cared to listen, which in this case appeared to be nobody. Realising that nobody was paying him any attention, he continued with his rant, "It's not like I was needed, the drive pods accepted the new modifications perfectly with no trouble, the command interface adapted as I predicted it would." at this Colonel Sheppard felt he should say something to prevent one of Rodney's full blown hissy fits for which he was renowned.
"It was your idea to modify the drive pods to maximize output, Elizabeth wanted you there in case anything went wrong, and I would hardly say that the trip was perfect, what about the sudden drop in altitude at launch?" he asked, glaring at the scientist.
"I fixed it didn't I? And why did I need to stay on the mainland, I could have flown the Jumper back myself and sent one for you later." he said with a tone that indicated he had won against the Colonel, however this was soon deflated as a retort came from Teyla, the teams third member,
"I wished to speak with my people on the mainland, I have not seen them in a long time and Colonel sheppard kindly offered to take me there this morning." she said, hoping to bring an end to the bickering, but she should have known John always wanted the last laugh, to borrow an Earth expression.
"Besides, I've seen you fly a Jumper…" he said with a smirk, Rodney's response was lost to an alarm sounding from the Jumper's control console.
"What did you do?" yelled Rodney, automatically jumping to conclusions, another one of his favourite past times.
"I'm getting the 'Do Not Proceed' signal from Atlantis, according to the sensors, the shields are raised." concern leaked from the Colonel's words, it wasn't like Elizabeth to raise the shields without radioing them first. He slowed the Jumper to a stationary hover just before the shield.
"Rodney, any ideas?" John asked while the scientist tapped madly at his laptop.
"Gimme a minute here." he said, sounding exasperated.
"Perhaps there is a Wraith ship in the area…" suggested Teyla, but in usual fashion Rodney stomped on that theory,
"If there was a Wraith ship in the area they would have cloaked and they wouldn't have done it with out contacting us first." as much as John hated to admit it Rodney was right, for good measure he kept this thought to himself.
"I'm getting sensor telemetry from inside the shield. I think…"
"You think?" remarked Teyla; she found it unusual for Rodney to be uncertain, to his credit he was always certain, even if he turned out wrong.
"According to the readings, Atlantis…well…it's not there." he looked at sheppard, bemused.
"What?!? Rodney I can see the damn city in front of me, how is it not there?" yelled sheppard, his patience growing thinner by the second.
"Could we not just pass through the shield, I have seen Puddle Jumpers do this before?" asked Teyla, feeling out of depth trying to comprehend what Rodney had just said.
"No," McKay answered, "When we did it before the Jumpers own shield was calibrated to the same frequency as Atlantis's shield, allowing it to pass right through. I might be able to do it from here but it will take longer without the correct equipment, not to mention the fact we don't know why the shield is raised, is it so wise to go in there without knowing what's going on?" again John felt the need to keep his agreement with Rodney quite.
"Do it. But before we go storming in we'll try and get more intel first."
Rodney climbed out of his chair a moved into the Jumpers rear compartment and began fiddling with various crystals and wires while John and Teyla shared a concerned look with each other.
An hour passed as Jumper Three now cast an eerie reflection into the ocean by the moonlight as it hovered just before the shield. They had powered down several systems to maintain there position, Rodney had worked out it would use more power returning to the mainland.
"Rodney, how close are you to getting the shields sorted?" yawned John, looking sleepily at McKay.
"Hm? Oh there done, I've been working on a sensor modification to try and…" much to Rodney's annoyance the Colonel cut across him,
"There done? Why didn't you tell me? We're wasting time out here when we could be in there?" he asked McKay who was now giving him the annoyed look he reserved especially for the Colonel.
"If you had let me finish, you would have heard a perfectly rational explanation as to why we aren't in there now." answered McKay, pausing only to continue to foul look the Colonel was getting, "I have been working on a sensor modification which should allow me to work through what ever interference is present, it may even allow us to make radio contact." Rodney finished, slightly calmer than before. "I just need to upload the program into the Jumper's sensor array, shouldn't take long." he muttered, more to himself as he pulled various parts of the Jumper around and plugged in his data tablet. A row of crystals lit up as he did this and began emitting a low hum.
"Good, it's uploading now, sheppard, get us into position above the Jumper bay." the Colonel woke the Jumper and pulled up around the shield dome to the top of the control tower's Jumper bay entry hatch.
"McKay?"
"Hang on, fifteen seconds…now, bring up the HUD." Rodney answered. The holographic HUD appeared on the Jumpers main window.
"Initiating scan." said sheppard, hitting several buttons on the Jumpers console.
"Receiving telemetry." stated Rodney. The HUD displayed nothing but static where there should have been a clear picture of Atlantis. "Are we definitely scanning and getting feedback?"
"Yes," confirmed McKay, "I don't know what's going on, increasing scanner strength, fifty percent." still the HUD only displayed static. "Increasing seventy five percent." this time the HUD showed a scrambled picture, a wire frame map of the city, but still static distorted the image. "Increasing one hundred percent." The image was still not perfect, but clearer. sheppard let McKay worry about the technical jargon being displayed next to the image while he open a radio channel to the control tower;
"Atlantis this is Jumper Three, please respond. Atlantis, this is sheppard do you copy?" only silence answered his radio call. "Rodney, can you get me anymore energy?"
"What? You can't be serious! Look we burnt a lot of energy staying hovered, which the Jumper isn't designed to do…" Rodney stammered as sheppard gave him the look that said, 'I know you can do it McKay', a look he normally gave when he was expecting the impossible, which usually worked, but this time there was no chance. "There is no more power that I can divert without compromising key systems…" the look continued "Highlight the word KEY systems, if you want to get through that shield then there is no more power. That's final." finally sheppard gave up.
"Alright, activate the shield and let's go in." ordered the Colonel.
"John, is that so wise when we do not know the nature of what has happened?" said Teyla, who had been following the convocation silently.
"She's right," said McKay, "I can't make head nor tale of this data, as far as I'm concerned the scanners aren't working, the data goes against all the laws of physics."
"Perhaps we should return to the mainland and attempt to contact the Daedalus…" this time sheppard cut her off;
"The Daedalus landed alongside the east pier just before we left this morning, it's under the shield too." said sheppard solemnly.
"Alright, lets get this over with, maybe from that side of the shield I can tale proper readings…activating shield" muttered McKay as sheppard lowered them through the shield and sent the remote access open command to the roof hatch.
"Err, McKay, the roof isn't opening." sheppard stated, glancing at Rodney.
"Damn it, I was afraid of that," he said "I think the number of modifications we've made on this lovely day trip has routed power away from the remote access command; I can't put it right without us being landed."
"Colonel, is there not a flat topped tower just through there, if I am not mistaken it also has and entry hatch?" asked Teyla.
"Excellent, I'll put us down there." the Jumper thudded gently as it touched down on the roof top. "McKay you stay here and work on getting the roof open and those sensor readings, Teyla, you're with me." said sheppard handing her a P-90 and a side arm from the Jumpers stores. Teyla hit the hatch release and listened as the whirring of the gears was ended when the hatch hit the ground.
"Alright," said McKay, "Radio's should work, we're on top of an auxiliary tower, no one from the expedition should be here, I suggest you walk through to the control tower, something may have compromised transporters. Good Luck."
John and Teyla stepped out on to the tower top, a cold brisk wind caught Teyla by surprise, around them the city was dark, which in it's self is strange, normally, by this time of night the lights were on, illuminating the ocean around the city. John headed for the door and forced it open…
McKay sat in his seat in the Jumper at the laptop; he attached a side arm to his holster just in case. I didn't take Rodney long to find an anomaly he recognised…
"Sheppard, Teyla!" he yelled into his radio, "Fall back to the Jumper now, you cannot enter the city!"
Ok hope you like, I will update with Chapter Two ASAP.