A/N: Hi, everyone. Been busy graduating, competing at state UIL, and turning 18. Oh and by the way? It was all in one week! Here's a new storyline I'm working on. It's not finished by a long shot, but here's a teaser. Warning, it's definite AU, but hopefully you can fill in the blanks. Tried to keep it a bit humorous, too.
Fixing Destiny: Chapter 1
"Damn it!" McKay fumed while Dr. Weir and I watched. Of course, he didn't know I was watching, but still. "I told you we should have brought Gen. O'Neill along!"
"Rodney." Dr. Weir chided. "We couldn't exactly drag a general along on a one-way trip. What's the problem?"
"It's Beckett." McKay stated right out. "He's just not cut out for controlling weapons tech and he's our strongest expression of the gene in the entire city. If those creepy Wraith guys decide to come for us, we're sunk. Literally. In fact, I don't know how we're gonna get through the week, let alone a year or more. We have no qualified pilots for those gate ship things and we barely made it to the surface in time. If that failsafe hadn't been there we'd have been crushed by the water intake after the shield collapse. AND we already lost Col. Sumner in an attack on Athos. That was a single dart Elizabeth. Can you imagine what one of those things that Teyla person calls a hive ship can do? We're dead."
"So you're saying we have all this tech and no one to control it?" Weir asked. "I thought Dr. Beckett was close to having a gene therapy that could potentially give everyone the ATA gene."
"All fine and dandy there, but no. He hit some kinda snag and his voodoo, however magnificent, isn't working. He needs a stronger sample of the ATA gene than O'Neill to figure it out. And right now we don't even have O'Neill much less a stronger expression." McKay explained at his normal, panicky rate. Weir seemed to follow and her eyes dimmed.
"Do all that you can without the gene. We have no way to reach Earth with the ZPM dead, so there's not a whole lot of options. We'll just have to figure out something." She dismissed the scientist and went out to the balcony alone. "God, I think we're gonna lose the city."
Not if I have anything to say about it. I thought to myself. It was time to get started and to hell with the coincidences. First things first: time to pick up the missing component.
* * *
"Who's there?" Maj. Sheppard was instantly alert. Luckily for me, his somewhat tense interactions with the rest of the McMurdo crew had led to him being given a private room rather than having to sleep with the enlisted men. It was little more than a storage closet with a bed, but it would do. I closed my eyes and sent out a wave of sleep. Even he wasn't able to overcome that. His eyes closed and his entire posture relaxed back into the same state he'd been in before I teleported in. I looked around, especially watching the other planes, to see if my interference had been noticed. Either it hadn't, or I was going to be allowed to do what needed to be done before the consequences caught up with me. I quickly took the major's arm, looked around the room for any supplies he would need and teleported everything right back to Atlantis. Step one complete.
"I really am sorry, major. But you have a destiny that needed to be fixed." I whispered as I set him down on the bed of the living quarters I had chosen. It was then that my punishment caught up to me. A strange, itchy sensation came over me and, a few painful jolts later, I was on all fours. Those freakin' sadists! They'd turned me into a DOG! I quickly assessed the situation and reviewed the conditions of my punishment. I slowly relaxed. It wasn't quite as bad as I feared, but still… a dog? Was that completely necessary? I nudged the major. He looked like he'd be out for at least a few more hours. He better be worth this. I trotted to the door and gave it the evil eye. I tentatively accessed my mental abilities and slid a phantom hand over the crystal. It worked. Yes! They'd left my abilities intact. Well, some of them at least. The really cool ones were locked, but at least I would get trapped in a room or anything. Talk about embarrassing. I began to lope down the halls, working my way to the control room. It took me a few tries to figure out the whole four legs thing, but I finally got going. I spotted a transporter and zeroed in on it. A quick mental command later put me right outside the gate room (or, as we had called it so many years ago, the gatrium). Several of the surrounding marines and scientists stared as I trotted by, but none got over the shock of seeing a dog in Atlantis quick enough to catch me. I walked right into Dr. Weir's office and jumped into the chair. Then, though I inwardly cringed at the indignity of it all, I got her attention. By barking. She nearly jumped out of her chair at the totally unexpected noise and stared at me. I barked again, softer this time, and whined. If only I had permission to speak with all of them, not just the man whose destiny I'd fixed, everything would be a lot easier. But no. I had to be a dog. If this was Danvere's idea of a joke I was going to be seriously pissed if I ever got back.
"O-kay." Elizabeth said slowly, trying to figure out just where I'd come from. I jumped down, walked to the door, and barked again. I swear I felt just like that Earth TV show Lassie. She stood and reached up to her comm. I shook my head and whined. If I got thrown in some kind of dog kennel or something we'd never get this sorted out. Her eyes widened at my reaction and I could nearly see the wheels turning in her head. I took a few steps and barked again. Now the entire control room staff was staring, but at least she got the idea. "Okay, then, boy, lead on."
"Elizabeth, what the hell is going on?" McKay's eyes looked like they were gonna pop. I gave a tail wag, and trotted to the transporter. When it opened I walked in, turned around, and sat looking at them. Wasn't anyone going to come in? And here Atlantis was run by the best. Things were not looking up. I rolled my eyes, barked, and jerked my head. In, idiots. I don't have all day. If Sheppard wakes up all alone in an alien city he's gonna freak. Hell, the way my day was going he'd end up shooting someone. I sighed. Finally Weir and McKay got curious enough to walk in. "I think that dog rolled its eyes at me."
"I don't think it's a normal dog." Weir pointed out. Success! I closed the doors and sent us to the closest transporter to Sheppard's room. I had taken into account his eventual desire to be a short distance away from a way to get to the control room and picked accordingly. Five minutes later I stopped in front of his door. I woofed happily as I opened it up and trotted in. "Where are we, Rodney?"
"They look like living quarters." Rodney glanced around, his eyes resting on the sleeping form of Sheppard. "Holy crap! There's a guy in here!"
"It must be an expedition member." Weir reasoned and reached for the lights. I jumped on the bed and laid down by his feet. I did her a favor and turned the lights on mentally. "Who did that?"
"Maybe the dog did." McKay replied sarcastically. I nodded my head and the two looked at each other in shock. "Oh… Hey, wait a minute, this section we're in hasn't even been explored yet. We didn't even know about the transporter thing until the dog led us into one. How'd this guy get here? And he doesn't look a bit familiar, though he does look like a grunt so I probably couldn't tell you."
"He's not someone I picked for the expedition. I reviewed all the personnel files. He wasn't in the stack." She answered. I nodded again. When they finally got around to radioing Dr. Beckett, I jumped up. The gurney finally showed up and I nearly wagged my tail. I was never gonna get over the laughter I was gonna receive if I got home, but hey, I was happy. A short trip to the infirmary later (though I'd had to snap at Bates's men to prevent them from trying to take me), and I was safely perched in a chair waiting with about half a dozen marines, Weir, McKay, and Beckett. Sheppard was good, but come on. Six marines? The guy was a pilot for Pete's sake! What was he gonna do, grow wings and fly outta here? I was tempted to roll my eyes again, but a sudden stirring stopped me in my tracks. He was moving! I straightened and barked at Weir. She instantly came over. "Carson, I think he's waking up."
"Aye, lass." Beckett came strolling up, looked at the guards and raised his eyebrows. See! I wasn't the only one who thought six marines was overkill. Sheppard blinked groggily and stared up at the ceiling. His brow furrowed in confusion.
"What the hell?" He stared at the brown-green ceiling. "That's not the same as when I went to sleep."
No, duh. I replied dryly. Now get up, I'm tired of the whole Lassie impersonation. Oh, and welcome to Atlantis.
* * *
A/N: So… drop me a review, tell me if the story has any merit. I've got most of chapter two, so that should come up soon. My muse has made me almost forget my other stories for now, so we'll see what happens with this one.