Title: Second Chance.
Summary: In the future where things aren't going so well in the fight against the Wraith, one man is given the chance to change all that, but will he take it?
Parings: Shep/Weir for sure. There are others hinted at or mentioned, but not vitally big in the story.
Spoilers: Anything from season one and two is fair game. But some spoilers for 'Allies' are most likely the only ones. There are a few SG-1 spoilers here and there, but nothing real big.
Warnings: Some language.
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis is not mine. Only the story line and any made up characters that may appear in the story belong to me.
A/N: Ok parts of this story can be blamed on watching too much of 'Charmed' season six. A friend of mine just got the DVD box set and insisted on a continuous all weekend viewing marathon. So don't be surprised if parts of this story seem familiar, I'm sure several things from that season sunk into my subconscious and bled out while I wrote this story, despite my best efforts to not let that happen. All credit goes to the creators of 'Charmed' for those sections.
Stepping out of the Central Command building Major Troy Sheppard lifted the collar of his jacket up in an attempt to keep the rain out. God he hated this godforsaken planet, it rained for nearly ten months out of the year and was scorching hot for the other two. Ever since the Wraith had finally managed to break through Earth's defenses four years ago and lay siege to the planet the small handful of survivors - little more than a thousand people - had been forced to move from planet to planet trying to stay one step ahead of them.
The "Alpha Site" wasn't much to look at, there was only one actual building - Central Command - that acted like a mini SGC; the military used it as their base of operation, the Stargate was held there and the scientists study any technology that might be used in the war against the Wraith there. Everything else used as shelter was either a tent or some kind of natural shelter that could be found on whatever planet they were on, like caves and such.
There was one large tent set up as a communal shower, another large one served as the Med tent, and a slightly smaller one was used as the Mess tent. Military personnel either lived in the few rooms that were available in the Central Command building or the barrack tents - half circling the perimeter of the settlement, the other half circling Central Command. The rest of the tents were for the civilians to live in.
Heading for the Mess tent Troy passed the Med tent. Stopping he took a moment to close is eyes in reverence for those unlucky enough to end up in that tent. With supplies running low and medical personnel in even shorter supply few people survived the Med tent these days. Troy didn't envy Carson or Dr. Lam their jobs one bit.
Medical supplies weren't the only thing they were low on these days, food was also starting to become an issue. Lately it seemed almost impossible to find another world that hadn't been touched by the Wraith and wasn't suffering like they were. They hadn't heard from the Tok'ra or the Asgard in years and it had been over a month since they'd last heard from the Daedalus; things were beginning to look really bad for the human race.
Moving on he spotted a group of the younger children playing out in the rain in blissful ignorance while their parents tried to round them up and get them out of the rain. Troy suddenly found himself longing for the days when he'd also held such blissful ignorance; the days before his mother had passed away and he and his father had started to grow apart, the days before the Wraith had come and destroyed Atlantis.
Entering the Mess tent Troy spotted Carson and Radek sitting at one of the tables at the back of the tent. Making his way over he plopped down into an empty chair pouring himself a glass of Radek's latest batch of home made hooch. They may not of had much of anything else but they did have plenty of Radek's home made brew - he was always working to prefect it, saying that he didn't have much else to do these days since engineers weren't all that high in demand.
"Carson, Radek." He greeted as he took a drink.
The two older men nodded their heads in greeting as they drank from their own glasses. The three men sat silently waiting for the final two people of their group to arrive. When Nathan McKay and his mother Kate arrived Troy filled the last two glasses on the table and slid them over to the two.
"Hard to believe it's been ten years." Radek, his tone soft, broke the silence a moment later.
"Aye it feels like just yesterday we were all there." Carson agreed, taking a sip of his drink.
The group fell silent again as they each got lost in their own thoughts. Every year for the last ten years, no matter what, the five gathered together to mark the anniversary of the destruction of Atlantis at the hands of the Wraith. Out of the hundreds of people that had been living in the city only a small handful had managed to make it through the gate back to Earth.
They had all lost loved ones that day; Radek his fiancé, Carson his wife and daughter, Nathan his father, Kate her husband, and Troy his father - although he had to admit he wasn't as broken up about that one as much as he probably should have been, he and his dad hadn't been all that close.
"To the fallen." Nate lifted his glass.
"May their sacrifices never be in vein." Troy added raising his own glass.
"The fallen." The others raised their glasses as well. The group passed the night away reminiscing about old times while drowning their sorrows in Radek's hooch.
Groaning Troy rolled over on his cot as the voice coming from his radio penetrated his alcohol muddled brain. Reaching towards the nightstand he cursed when he didn't find his earpiece where he normally left it at night. Slowly sliding off the cot Troy began searching the piles of clothing that had accumulated on his floor - he probably should really do some laundry sometime soon.
Finally finding the offending earpiece he put it on. "This better be the world is gonna end right this second important, other wise I'm going back to bed. It is my day off after all." He croaked out, his mouth and throat feeling like a desert.
"I'm well aware of that Major." The voice of General Landry came over the radio. "And I wouldn't be bothering you, but we have a security breach in one of the lower labs and at the moment next to me you're the highest ranking officer planet side." Not that, that was saying much there was only Colonel Carter and Colonel Mitchell between Troy and Landry rank wise.
It was then that Troy became aware of the intruder alarm sounding, which only added to the pounding in his head. Mentally groaning Troy pulled himself up and started getting dressed, "I'm on it sir." He disconnected his radio and started looking for his gear.
Damn his head was killing him, Troy thought as he advanced on his target. There was a reason he always requested the day after the anniversary off. But did whoever the hell had broken into the lab give a damn that Troy was sporting the hangover from hell? Apparently not judging by the fact that the intruder alarm was still going off. Troy really wished somebody would turn the damn thing off.
Consulting his Life Signs Detector Troy was grateful to see that the lone dot was still in the same lab it had been for the last ten minutes. Signaling for the two men with him to hold by the door Troy slowly entered the lab only mildly surprised to find that he recognized the intruder. The man's name was Dr. Brad Jamas, he'd worked at the SGC as one of the many scientists there since the SGC had first been established. After his entire family had been taken when the Wraith attacked Earth Jamas had been forced to take a leave of absence due to mental stress - not that Troy could fault they guy, he knew what it was like to loose people you cared about to the Wraith.
Seeing what Jamas was working on Troy tensed raising his weapon. The man was standing at the control panel for the Ancient time machine that had been found off world the month before - Troy only briefly paused to wonder how Jamas even knew about the thing, let alone work it, the machine wasn't general knowledge to the settlement. The team that had found the machine learned that an Ancient named Janus had been the one to create the device. Troy remembered Rodney once telling him about the older Dr. Weir they'd found in Atlantis - Janus obviously hadn't stop his research and had found away to create a time machine with out the aide of a Jumper.
"Back away from the panel, Jamas." Troy ordered.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Major." Jamas paused, but didn't move away from the machine.
"And I can't let you use that machine."
"It's the only way to stop the Wraith."
Troy was beginning to get an idea of what Jamas was planning. Command had already thought of using the time machine against the Wraith, but had just as quickly discarded the idea. In order to power the time machine a ZPM was needed and the one hooked up to it was almost completely out of power. Most of the scientists were convinced that the ZPM didn't even have enough power to send a person back in time even once, let alone the power to bring that person back to the present.
"Yeah and how do you plan on doing that?" Troy questioned hoping to keep Jamas distracted while he moved closer.
"By going back to the beginning and stopping this war before it ever has the chance to start." Jamas quickly hit a button on the panel causing a portal to suddenly form in the middle of the room. So much for the ZPM not having enough power.
Troy was slightly startled by the sudden appearance of the portal – it reminded him of the event horizon of a Stargate but with out the Stargate. Taking advantage of Troy's moment of distraction Jamas bolted for the portal.
"Shit," Catching sight of Jamas moving for the portal Troy lunged at the man trying to stop him. Jamas quickly angled his body so that when Troy slammed into him the Major's momentum pushed them into the portal.