STARGATE ATLANTIS: The Island
Summary: A strange island appears off the mainland that raises curiosity… and trouble!
Spoilers: No Man's Land.
Season: early 3
Pairing: ShWeir
Disclaimer: I don't own it, etc.
Author's Note: Just so you know, this is gonna rip off just about every story ever set on an island. Hope y'all like it! Please R&R as always. Thanx. Enjoy!
The Island: Chapter 1: The Vanishing Isle
Even Teyla was sick of them at the moment. She sat silently next to Carson as the jumper glided over the mountains and valleys of the mainland. They had been taking antibiotics to the Athosians, who had contacted them about a sudden outbreak of what Carson could only describe as chicken pox with attitude.
But when they got there, all the people did was complain about how long they had waited for help and how nothing like this would have happened back on Athos. In the end, they had endeavoured to turn a deaf ear to the complaints, done their job as quickly as possible and promptly left again.
"You alright?" Carson ventured as the coastline came into view.
Teyla hadn't said a word since they took off a little over an hour ago. He knew some of the things her people had said had cut deep.
"I'm fine," she said simply, still staring out of the window. Carson didn't press further.
"They just don't know how lucky they are!" she said suddenly. "I mean, how can they think they'd be better off on Athos?"
"I don't think they meant it," Carson said in comfort. "Not really anyway."
Teyla seemed to be comforted a little by this and smiled thinly at Carson in thanks for his efforts.
"You know you shouldn't –" Carson began, but was cut off by an insistent beep from the jumper as the HUD (Heads Up Display) blinked into life to draw their attention to something in the water bellow.
"Where the hell did that come from!" Carson exclaimed, bringing the jumper to hover.
Teyla just shook her head, too stunned by what she was seeing to give a coherent response.
In the clear water ahead of them was an island. It was about the same size as Atlantis and was covered in forest. From the jumper, Carson and Teyla could make out rivers and waterfalls cascading down the side of the mountain in the centre of the landmass. Apart from the breeze, there was no apparent movement no sounds of exotic creatures prowling in the shade of the trees. One thing was for sure; it was beautiful.
But a few moments earlier, it hadn't been there at all.
There really was no reasoning with some women when they were upset. To John's surprise, Elizabeth was one such woman. Everything he tried to say to her today had been turned against him in the most original and imaginative ways possible. But to make matters worse… it was his fault.
He had sided with Caldwell over her in the latest debate as to whether she was fit to run the expedition – or that's how she had taken it anyway. Caldwell had pointed out that she lacked the military experience to be head of the military contingent – which was true!
By agreeing with this point, John had somehow implied that she was a lousy leader. He was still trying to get his head around just how this conclusion had been drawn, but it simply denied all possible logic.
Save for one. The only one John didn't understand at all. WOMEN!
"I don't think you should go in there at the moment," Cadman apprehended him as he neared her office door. Clearly, Elizabeth had filled her in on what had happened, as Cadman's eyes were a little harsher towards him than they usually were.
Come to think of it, a lot of the women (mostly scientists, but some marines too) had been staring daggers at him today.
Damned female solidarity! he thought.
"Oh come on," he said quietly so his voice wouldn't penetrate the glass wall of the office. "It wasn't as bad as all that."
Cadman wasn't convinced. She turned to leave.
"It wasn't!" he shouted after her.
Thud!
John flinched as something impacted the glass behind him. It sounded very close to his head and probably would have hit him – hard – if the glass hadn't been there. He turned around slowly to see Elizabeth stood behind her desk scowling at him; her arms folded hostily across her chest.
He tried to avoid her eyes and so looked at the ground and caught sight of the modelling clay ball Heytmeyer had given Elizabeth to help relieve stress. It was now slightly flattened on one side from hitting the glass. Somehow, John didn't think this was quite what the doctor had had in mind for 'relieving stress'.
He looked back up. Elizabeth was still staring at him. She gestured for him to come in, her expression unwavering and hostile. John hesitated before he went in. This was not going to be easy.
"Look," he said, his military training kicking in, instructing him to gain the upper hand as soon as possible. "I didn't mean it how it sounded, OK?"
Elizabeth stared at him.
"Caldwell wasn't even saying you were a bad leader," he added.
Elizabeth sat down, still seething. She handed him a manila file and waited for him to read through the top page. It was a report Caldwell had brought back from earth from the IOA detailing the conclusions they had come to following the crisis that had narrowly been averted as the Wraith attempted to invade the Milky Way. In it, they expressed their concerns at having a civilian leader, when clearly the situation had changed.
"You're kidding me!" John exclaimed, looking up from the dossier. "They want to militarise Atlantis!"
Across the table from him, Elizabeth's mouth twitched into a half smile.
"It's not as simple as that. At face value, that's what they're saying. But the IOA would never hand this place over to the US military. This is just a scare tactic."
"Huh. Some scare," John commented. "So what the hell do they actually want?"
"Oh, God only knows!" she replied sitting back in her chair.
"So…" John ventured carefully, seeing an opportunity to clear things up. "This is what you and Caldwell were talking about earlier. It had nothing to do with him questioning your leadership."
"That's right."
John suddenly felt a little sheepish, but at the same time reassured that his record for being wrong was still on track for the Guinness Book of Records.
Before Elizabeth could say anything else, there was a hiss from both their radios as they were hailed.
"Dr Weir, Colonel Sheppard," said a young sounding technician. "Teyla and Dr Beckett are on their way back from the mainland. They say you need to see something."
John and Elizabeth glanced at each other, at a loss for what could be so important.
"Colonel," Elizabeth said after a beat. She gestured towards the door. "I guess we'll have to finish this later"
John stood up. "Yes we will," he replied, though he felt relieved that they hadn't had time to rake his own comments through the coals.
He allowed her to lead the way.
"Oh, by the way," she added as she reached the door. "I'm still mad at you."
John sighed. Somehow, he knew she wasn't joking.
The island itself was uninteresting. The fact that it had seemingly appeared from nowhere was another matter. Now, as the Daedalus observed it from orbit, there was nothing more they could say about it.
"You getting anything, Doctor?" Caldwell asked over the radio, making Rodney jump in his seat.
"No," he said. "Not since the last time you asked, all of four minutes ago." He went back to looking at the screen in front of him as more information was downloaded from the Daedalus into the city's computer.
"I don't get it," John said from behind him. "How can an island just appear out of thin air?"
"It can't," Rodney replied, still looking at the screen.
"It just did," John pointed out.
Rodney turned around in his seat so John could see the unamused expression on his face. "What I mean is that it had to have either been there to start off with or it's come from somewhere else. Matter can't just appear from nothing."
"Well that's obvious," John said. "So where did it come from?"
Rodney was quiet for a moment. "I don't know," he admitted eventually. He turned back to the screen.
John rolled his eyes and smiled to Elizabeth. She didn't return the gesture, but stared ahead at the monitor showing an aerial view of the island. John sighed inwardly, realising it was going to take a little more time than he'd have liked for Elizabeth to forgive his previous misdemeanour.
For someone so well trained in diplomatic relations, she certainly knew how to hold a grudge.
"Is there anything going on at all down there?" she asked.
"Not that we can tell," Caldwell replied. "But –"
"Wait a minute," Rodney interrupted.
The whole room fell silent and focused on him waiting for elaboration. Rodney said nothing more, but stared harder at his screen, occasionally looking away to scribble down numbers.
"Ok," John said after a while. "That's a minute. Care to tell us what we're waiting for?"
"Hmm?" Rodney looked bemused for a second. "Err, I'm picking something up. Some sort of signal… I guess. From the mountain."
"You guess?" John queried.
"Well, its faint. I can't quite make out what exactly it is. Could be a distress code, I can't be sure. But its definitely Lantean."
John was sold. "Alright. I'll take a jumper. See if I can get a closer look."
He headed for the stairs. "Someone radio Ronon. Tell him to meet me in the jumper bay," he ordered, taking the stairs two at a time. He was at the bottomwhen –
"No need, Colonel," Elizabeth said. "I'll go with you"
John stopped dead in his tracks – as did most of the personnel around them.
"You will?" he questioned as she headed down the stairs.
She shot him a murderous look. "You have a problem with that?" Her face clearly read just-try-and-stop-me.
"Not at all I just –" he stuttered.
"Doctor, is this such a good idea?" Caldwell questioned over the radio, knowing exactly why she was volunteering.
Elizabeth ignored him as she marched past John and towards the door.
"Doesn't look like we're getting much say in this one, Colonel," John said quietly before he followed her – a little nervously – to the jumper bay.
John said nothing as he prepared the jumper for flight. Beside him, Elizabeth stared out of the front window, her expression set in absolute determination. She sensed John's gaze as he cast her a sideways glance.
"What?" she demanded.
"You don't have to prove anything, you know," he said carefully.
She didn't reply.
Soon, they were in the air and cruising away from the city. The island loomed ahead of them its forest inviting them like a tropical paradise. But the terrain was not what John had been hoping for. There were chasms and crevasses pocketing the entire island, especially around the summit of the mountain at its centre.
"Well, I guess we're not landing there," John commented.
Seconds later, the HUD blinked into life, signalling a suitable landing site on the other side of the island. It was the only piece of remotely flat land around overlooking an enormous cliff drop on the West shoreline.
"Looks like we're gonna be on foot," John radioed to Atlantis and the Daedalus as he set the jumper down.
"The signal is coming from directly on top of the mountain," Rodney instructed them. "I'm guessing there'll be some sort of visible device that –"
"Holy crap!" The exclamation came from the Daedalus.
Rodney turned back to his monitor as the latest data filtered through.
"Oh my god," he said on a breath.
The island was gone.
Author's Note: Obviously, I'm not just leaving it there. That would be cruel (even by my standards!). Don't forget to review all the same!