Author's Note: Ok, so this is basically a rewrite of the entire show modified to include my OC, Major Isabeau Sheppard. It also happens to be told from her perspective. The story begins at Season 2 Episode 13 and continues on from there, hopefully to the end of the series. Each new chapter will be an episode of the show, and because the length of some of these I don't really have an update schedule. I'll try to go as fast as I can, but you may have to bear with me for a while. I'm new to this. Anyway, please be kind when you review, this is my first fanfiction!
Disclaimer: If I owned Stargate Atlnatis it would still be on the air and Ronon and Teyla would be married with kids. So, no. Not mine. In fact, most of this dialouge and plot isn't mine. All I own is Isabeau. Everything else belongs to it's respective owners.
On with the show!
Critical Mass
As usual, the day dawned clear over Atlantis, with no clouds to obstruct the sun from shining down on our city. I was in the Gateroom, helping an SGA team prep for an off world mission. Looking up from my task, I saw my husband Lt. Col. John Sheppard saunter up to Dr. Zelenka.
"Going off world?" John asked.
"M7G-677." replied the moody Czech.
"That's the planet with all the kids, right?"
Dr. Zelenka snorted, "They're having trouble with their EM field generator and McKay has decided that I am the most capable person on Atlantis to fix it." he said sarcastically. I couldn't help but snicker. "Well, you can't blame him, Radek. McKay will do anything he has to to avoid getting anywhere near those little brats." I had been to M7G-677 myself, and knew all too well why Dr. McKay was pawning this mission onto Radek.
John turned and gave me a look that clearly said you're not helping here. I shrugged and shot him an impish grin. Sighing, he turned back to Radek. "Don't you worry, Radek. They're a great group of kids, you're going to love them," he lied. Dr. Zelenka regarded him dryly, "My sister has a child. He breaks things. He throws things. He smears things onto furniture." John was still trying to come up with a reply when Dr. Rodney McKay's voice cut through the chatter of the Gateroom.
"Col. Sheppard, Major Sheppard. I need you both up in the Control Room." Rodney appeared at the edge of the balcony above our heads. "Oh, Radek," he said, "You're still here?"
"We're just leaving." Radek snapped at him.
"Oh, well uh, do say hi to the kids for me." Rodney smiled smugly. John gave Radek a thumbs up as he and I made our way up the glowing stairs, leaving Dr. Zelenka to mutter angrily about the horrors of children. "We are never having kids." John muttered in my ear. I chuckled in response. It was something we had agreed on a long time ago. John and I were both on bad terms with our parents and more military than family type people, so kids were something we both agreed wouldn't suit our lifestyle. Sometimes I secretly thought John would make a good father, however, I was sure to be a horrible mother. But he didn't want kids anyway, so I had nothing to worry about.
We joined Rodney, Ronon Dex, and Dr. Elizabeth Weir – the woman in charge of Atlantis – in front of large screen displaying city's long range scanners. Two red blips were steadily blinking away on the far right side of the screen.
"Two Wraith cruisers," Rodney explained. Elizabeth questioned him worriedly, "How far away are they?"
"A day, maybe a day and a half. We've been tracking them for some time. The good news is it doesn't look like they're headed this way."
"So, what? They're just passing through?" I asked. Dr. McKay nodded, "It looks that way. But I just discovered something rather curious." He tapped the screen, enlarging the space around the cruisers. "Short but intense energy bursts passing between them."
"They're fighting each other?" Ronon asked.
"In my, expert opinion, yes."
John grinned, "Good news then."
"It would seem that way. If there's any change in course, let me know." Elizabeth instructed, "And don't forget that today we're dialing Earth to send a weekly status report. McKay, I want that data prepped and ready for transmission in two hours. The rest of you, dismissed." She turned and exited the control room. Whilst Rodney was now preoccupied with messing with his fancy toys – however much he hated me calling them that – , and Ronon had wandered off to the gym or something, John took my hand and pulled me towards a transporter. "Come on, Izzy. I want to show you some of the tech my team picked up on our last mission. It's pretty cool." I smiled and allowed him to guide me into the transporter. "Fine. But if you end up making me invisible or something, I'm going to kill you."
SGA
Somehow John managed to demonstrate the new stealth and weapons technology that Atlantis has acquired during trade with other civilizations without maiming either of us. It was fun while it lasted, but he had eventually been called away to some debriefing or another. This left me occupying myself with odd jobs around the city, as my team, SGA-2, was lacking in any immediate off world assignments. I don't know how, but my helping out technicians on the Operating Level somehow turned into listening to McKay go on and on about the weekly status update.
"– Elizabeth's including intel about the in-fighting amongst the wraith into today's status report. " he rambled, oblivious to the fact that I was only lending him a fraction of my attention. "Let's hope that train continues," I said. "If the Wraith keep fighting like this, I'll be able to take the weekend off." Rodney chuckled. Suddenly, he stopped short. Working on one of the control panels in front of us was a petite – Still taller than me, I thought – strawberry-blonde haired woman.
"Cadman?" Rodney asked incredulously. "Wh-what are you doing here? I thought you were leaving on the Daedalus." The woman abandoned her work and strode up to us. "Well, it's good to see you too Rodney." She replied humorlessly. "I was going to, but something… came up. I asked Col. Sheppard if I could stay around a little while longer." She turned to me, extending her hand. "You must be his wife. I'm Lt. Laura Cadman. I have to admit, I really haven't heard that much about you. You're new, right?"
I shook her hand firmly, "Major Isabeau Sheppard. And yes, I was assigned to replace Major Lorne a few weeks ago."
"Well, um, excuse me. Still here," McKay interrupted us. "I guess that's fine. If you're, staying." I could tell he was lying by the slightly repulsed look on his face. Cadman cocked her head at him, "You okay with that?"
"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?" I shook my head at his desperate attempt to save face, amused. Real smooth there McKay. It was then Cadman decided to end the conversation. She nodded to me respectfully, "Major."
"Lieutenant." I smiled. Rodney and I parted as she wove between us and headed for the door. Rodney gulped audibly as he watched her go. Once Lt. Cadman was safely out of sight, we resumed walking.
"What's with you?" I asked, "You seemed really freaked out by her."
Rodney groaned, "I guess Sheppard hasn't told you yet, has he?" I shook my head. "Well, we had a close call with some Wraith tech a while back, Lt. Cadman got stuck in my head." I gaped at him. "Seriously? Like, in your head?"
He nodded, "Yeah, her consciousness was sharing my brain while her body was stuck, dematerialised in a Wraith dart. I could hear her thoughts, she kept talking in my head, and everyone thought I was insane. It was horrible." I was gobsmacked, "Wow. That's, kind of hilarious! I can see why you're a little creeped out by her."
Define a little. She just, gets under my skin. Literally." Rodney grumbled, pointedly ignoring my amusement.
SGA
Around an hour later Rodney, Ronon, John, and I all congregated in the Central Tower Control Room, preparing to dial Earth for our status report.
"Where's Teyla?" I asked. "I thought all the SGA-1 members had to be present for stuff like this."
"She went to mainland with Dr. Beckett. One of the Athosian elders she's close to is sick, she wanted Beckett to take a look at her. She might be going back and forth all day." Ronon said gruffly. I nodded at him thankfully. The three of us stood around one of the large consoles covered with switches and buttons in the control room. Rodney was already seated at said console and typing away at his laptop when Elizabeth walked in.
"Are we all set to dial?" she asked. Rodney looked up from his work. "Almost. Just finishing up the data compression."
"Stand by." Dr. Weir ordered on one of gate technicians.
"Standing by," replied the man – whose name I believed to be Chuck. Then Rodney's computer beeped, and he spoke. "Compression's complete, we're good to go."
"Alright then, dial the Gate." Said Elizabeth.
"Yes ma'am." Chuck began pressing down on address symbols as the Stargate powered up. However, I noticed an expression of horror grow on Rodney's face as a new message popped onto his laptop screen. "Rodney, what it?" I asked.
He completely ignored me. "Stop!" he yelled, flinging his arm out at Chuck. Chuck jolted and gave McKay a questioning look, his hand hovering over the last symbol in the dialing sequence.
"Rodney, what is it?" Dr. Weir demanded. Rodney was breathing hard, "Come look at this." he ordered. John and I exchanged a glance before crowding in around McKay's computer. Flashing onscreen was an incoming transmission from the Daedalus.
Do not dial gate to Earth. A Trust operative has planted a bomb in Atlantis, to be detonated upon completion of dialing sequence.
Elizabeth straightened abruptly. "All of you, my office, now!" she ordered, going into full commander mode. Rodney swept his laptop off the desk and matched her step, talking a mile a minute about what this could mean for the city. Us two Sheppards and Ronon shared a look.
"So much for a quiet day on world." The big Satedan said. John elbowed him in the side, "Come on, Chewy. It's more exciting this way." I shook my head at my husband's antics and turned to follow Dr. Weir and McKay, Ronon and John close behind me.
"We need to disconnect the ZPM and switch to back-up naquadah generators to prevent any possible dialing of the Gate to Earth." Rodney was saying as we entered Dr. Weir's office. Elizabeth slid behind her desk while McKay and John seated themselves in the only other chairs in the room, leaving Ronon and myself to lean against the glass-paneled walls.
"I agree," declared Weir, "In fact, as of this moment, all Gate activity should be suspended. How many off world teams do we have out there?"
"Just Zelenka and his team on M7G-677." Rodney replied, maybe a little smugly.
"Well, he's going to have to sit tight for a while."
"Stuck with all those kids." John mumbled under his breath, causing Rodney to look even smugger.
"Ahem," Elizabeth cleared her throat, bringing the two men's attention back on topic. "Is the Daedalus still in range to relay a data transmission back to the SGC?" Rodney quickly wiped the satisfied look off his face, "Ah, yes. They are holding a position that keeps them in range of both Earth and us." Elizabeth nodded, "Okay, good. Send a message saying we received their warning and aborted the dialing."
"Why don't you ask them if they could give us a little more than 'there's a bomb in Atlantis'. How did the Trust infiltrate the city, anyways? What would they want with Atlantis?" I cut in. I only been debriefed about the Trust when I had taken up a fulltime position on Atlantis. None of us had expected that the level of Trust infiltration of Earth's governments went as high up as this city.
"Maybe the Trust thinks this is the only way to ensure the Wraith don't get to Earth. What's worse is that the Trust operative was probably acting under orders from a Goa-uld." Dr. Weir answered my questions. Rodney looked shocked, "What?"
"How'd the Goa'uld get involved in this?" John added. Elizabeth directed her words towards him. "Several months ago the Goa'uld successfully infiltrated upper levels of the Trust, gaining a stronghold on Earth, accessing government agencies from many countries." While the rest of us silently soaked up this information, Ronon glanced from me, to John, to Rodney, to Elizabeth, and back at me again. "What's a… Goa'uld?" he inquired blankly.
"They're basically slimy, snake-like alien creatures. Burrows into people's heads and takes control of their bodies." I explained. Ronon raised his eyebrow at me, "That doesn't sound pleasant."
"It isn't. I've read enough SG mission reports to know I don't want anything to do with them."
"Good on you, Izzy." John nodded at me. I gave him a crooked smile.
Dr. Weir gave us our orders, "Col. Sheppard, Major Sheppard, I want you to organise some teams to do a search of the city. Start with any obvious sabotage points, power disputation centers-"
"I'll check primary and secondary systems for any anomalous readings that may indicate the presence of an explosive device." Rodney volunteered. I smirked a little, "How about you get Lt. Cadman to assist you? She is a bomb expert."
"She is?"
"One of the best, she'll be a big help." It took a lot of willpower not to laugh at Rodney's face. Also, judging by John's and Ronon's expressions, they were familiar with the whole 'Cadman' fiasco as well. However, our shared amusement went unnoticed by Elizabeth, who was probably the only person in the room taking the bomb situation as seriously as we all should be. "Good, Rodney and Lt. Cadman will work on identifying any anomalous fluxes in power consumption. Also, ask Col. Caldwell to return to assist with the investigation." Rodney interjected, "Whoa whoa whoa whoa, wait a second. If the Daedalus returns here you'd be cutting off our communications with Earth!" Elizabeth raised her hand to silence him, "Yes I understand that, but if the person who planted the bomb is on board, we're going to need to question them here. We need them to reveal the location of the bomb and how to dismantle it." At this my husband leaned his head on his fist and sighed. I kind of wanted to as well. This was some job we had ahead of us.
"You think the person who did this is on that ship?" Ronon asked Dr. Weir. She sighed, "Think about it. The only people who have travelled between Earth and Atlantis since our last dialing of Earth are the passengers on that ship. And before that, the only person to come through the Stargate from the Milky Way in the past month was Major Sheppard. Not," she looked at me, "that I am accusing you of anything Major. In all honesty I think that if you were planning to blow up Atlantis you would have done it by now." I nodded to her gratefully. Besides being my boss, Elizabeth was a leader I admired. I was thankful to have her trust. Elizabeth shuffled the papers on her desk. "Alright then, let's get to it." John and Dr. McKay rose and joined Ronon and I at the door. As the four of us left Dr. Weir's office, I heard Rodney grumble under his breath about the horror that was working with Cadman. Once he had wandered off go scan the city, John turned to Ronon and I.
"Major Sheppard, you take SGA-2, 3, and 4, and work through the south quadrant. Ronon, you lead SGA-5, 6, and 7 and head for the east levels. I'll get the rest of team leaders to assemble groups of eight or twelve people to cover the north and west quadrants." He ordered. I saluted respectfully. He may have been my husband, but he was still my commanding officer. "Yes sir." With that I turned on my heel and headed towards a transporter. Before I activated it, I tapped the radio unit in my ear.
"Attention all members of SGA-2, 3, and 4. Report to the armoury immediately, to equip for a city-wide bomb search." Choruses of confirmations echoed in my ear as I activated the transporter, setting my target as the armory level. To be truthful, I was actually more than a little worried about the bomb. If the Trust could get into Atlantis, what couldn't they do? Don't freak out, Izzy. You've got the best people in two galaxies working on this. I tried to reassure myself. You are going to find this thing, and then you are going to find whoever did this and kick their ass back to the Milky Way. No matter how much I tried to encourage myself, I still couldn't get over the fact that somewhere in this city was a bomb waiting to blow us all sky-high. However this search turned out, one thing was for sure. It was going to be an interesting day.
SGA
Half an hour later my radio buzzed in my ear. "Major Sheppard, how's the search going?" asked Dr. Weir. "We're at the power distribution centers on the south pier," I replied. "Still nothing."
"I see. And Col. Sheppard, Ronon? What about your teams?" she enquired over the open frequency. I heard both men give their current statuses to Elizabeth. So far none of us had found a single thing that resembled anything like a bomb big enough to blow up the entire city.
"We got eight other teams out there, it's a big city. It's going to take a while." said John.
"Understood. Be advised, we had a second message relayed to us-" something cut Elizabeth off. I paused, alarmed. All around me my team glanced up, concerned. When no immediate update came from Elizabeth, I spoke into my radio, "Dr. Weir, come in. What was the message? What's happening up there?"
"Elizabeth? What's going on?" John's voice sounded along with mine in a joint effort to get a message through to our leader. Strangely enough, it was Rodney's voice we heard cut through the static instead. It sounded like he was talking to others in the control room rather than us. "It's dialing itself!" we heard. "…That's Earth's address…Well it can't!" As soon as I heard the words 'dialing itself' I ordered my team, "Stay here and continue searching." and tore back through Atlantis' twisting corridors towards the Gateroom.
"Did I just hear right, the Gate dialed by itself?" John asked, irritated at being kept out of the loop. I had a feeling he was just as anxious to get back to the Gateroom as I.
"Ah, yes. It tried to dial Earth." Elizabeth's voice came back over the radio.
"Whoever planted the bomb must have devised a program to upload itself automatically and dial the Gate as back up, in case the first dialing was halted." McKay reasoned. "Son of a bitch." I mumbled under my breath.
"A very good thing you pulled the ZPM then." Dr. Weir agreed with what I had to say in far less colourful words.
"Yeah I guess so…oh no." Rodney paused to speak to someone off-radio. "We just started broadcasting a distress beacon! The Gate dialed itself to draw attention away from the transmitter!" he practically yelled. "Well turn it off!" John sounded pissed as hell, and I had to agree with him. Weaving between stairways and conductors, I cursed our luck as I ran towards the Gateroom.
"I am! …It's too late. The damage is already done." Just then I reached the Stargate Control Room. Slipping inside, I saw Elizabeth and Lt. Cadman watching Rodney work with horrified expressions. McKay switched his attention to the city's long range scanners. "The two Wraith cruisers I was monitoring. They've picked up the beacon, they've altered their course, and they're headed straight for Atlantis."
"How long until they get here?" Dr. Weir asked.
"A day, maybe a day and a half, depending on whether they need to make a hyperspace pause along the way." Rodney's face was the epitome of a bearer of bad news.
"We'll have to cloak the city, but we don't have enough power for that." I realized. "Not without the ZPM. And if we use that,-"
"The Gate will dial Earth and we all get blown up." John finished my sentence, jumping up the stairs two at a time to join us. "But what other choice do we have?" Rodney grimaced.
"Even cloaked, the Wraith are going to wonder where the beacon came from." Elizabeth interjected. Rodney sighed, exasperated, "Well then we need a ruse! Um… Ah ha! We take a transmitter, dump it along with some charred rubble on a beach on the mainland. They'll think it's jettison that washed up what the city 'exploded' during the siege." He mimed an explosion with his hands.
"Hang on, back up a second, let me get this straight. You think our bomb guy did this." asked my husband, formatting his words into more of a question than a statement.
"Yes! It'd be easy for him to figure out that the Wraith were in the area, we've been tracking them for a while now." John looked skeptical, "So, he gets the Gate to dial by itself in order to distract us so he can broadcast a distress beacon that would be-"
"Picked up by the Wraith, yes. I believe so." Rodney interrupted. I whistled softly, "Whoever he is, this guy is no brainless lackey. I don't think some of the technicians here would be able to do all that. But why go to all the trouble of bringing the Wraith here in the first place, if all he's going to do is blow us up?" It was then Lt. Cadman offered her opinion, "Maybe he wants to blow up the Wraith along with the city."
Rodney turned to give her a scathing look of condescension. "Two Wraith cruisers. That's insignificant compared to all the hive ships that are still out there." Elizabeth intervened before the tension between McKay and Cadman could escalate any further. "Well we don't have much time, so whatever the connection is let's try to figure it out before the cruisers get here."
SGA
I ran into Teyla in one of the corridors leading from the infirmary on my way to the operating level. She had just finished a conversation with Dr. Carson Beckett when I caught up to her.
"Teyla!" I exclaimed, "I heard that one of the Athosians is ill. Did Carson take a look at her?" Teyla smiled at me, "Yes, Dr. Beckett was most efficient when diagnosing Charin. She is old, and her body is weak, but he assures me that are treatments that will be able to prolong her life. I am returning to the mainland now to evacuate my people into the city."
I frowned, "Yeah, but with this whole bomb thing going on isn't that even more dangerous that staying put?" The Athosian woman gave me a rueful look. "Maybe so, but at the moment I am sure my people would rather risk a bomb than a Wraith attack." I had to admit I agreed with her. Suddenly my earpiece buzzed to life and I heard John's voice form out of the static. "Major Sheppard, report to the main Conference Room immediately. Dr. Weir has requested we assist with questioning the passengers of the Daedalus." I groaned dramatically, making Teyla smile, then reluctantly bid her farewell. As I made my way up through the Control Tower's many levels to the Conference Room tapped my ear, replying to John's summons.
"Understood. Sheppard out."
The interrogations were a nightmare. Apparently what Dr. Weir had meant by 'assist' was basically 'stand guard outside the door and look scary' while she was inside questioning each and every passenger and crew member of the Daedalus. For Ronon and John, looking scary that wasn't much of a problem. I've bet money that Ronon could kill with a look if he tried hard enough, and John Sheppard was an obvious military man. With the exception of his hair being ridiculously messy. I thought. Either way, the guys had no difficulty with scaring away any outside stragglers. Me, on the other hand? With my 5'1" and 150 lb. frame that made me look like a teenager press-ganged into uniform? Not so much. Despite the fact that I was actually twenty-nine years old, my 150 lbs. was mostly muscle, and although I happened to be one of the highest ranking officers on this base, I just didn't have the intimidation factor working for me. Oh well. That's we have people like Ronon around.
Intimidating or not, somehow I ended up leaning against the closed panels of the Conference Room with my husband and the big Satedan. John was currently filling me in on McKay's explosive accusations against Lt. Cadman.
"-and he said that it was suspicious that she asked to stay in the city instead of leaving on the Daedalus because 'something came up'. He seems to think she might be behind it just because she's an explosives expert and is apparently, 'always around when things happen'." said John, bending his fingers into air quotations around the parts he had quoted from Rodney.
"What do you think of her?' I asked. John sighed and shook his head, "I just can't see her doing something like this. She's one of the most trusted officers in my command, plus the fact that she was stuck in McKay's head for as long as she was. I don't think his accusations are well founded. McKay just gets too jittery when she's around, I have a feeling he's kind of biased on the matter." It was quiet for only a brief moment after John had finished speaking before the three of us heard muffled yelling coming from inside the sealed Conference Room.
"God damn, who's in there making all that fuss?" I asked. John cocked his head to listen, then responded, "I think it's Dr. Kavanagh. Man dislikes everyone and everything to with this base, including Elizabeth."
"Has he always been this bad?" Ronon asked as the voices on the other side of the wall raised even more. John snorted. "Trust me, he's usually worse. You could tell him the sky is blue and he would take it as a personal insult." I glanced at him, disbelieving. "Oh joy. Sounds like a lovely man to work with."
The Colonel chuckled, "Pray you never have to, Izzy. I can't tell you how thankful I was when he left Atlantis to take up a position on the Daedalus. Man's a wretch if nothing else. The way he disrespects Dr. Weir makes me want to punch his lights out."
"Maybe if he keeps it up like this," Ronon declared, gesturing towards to Conference Room, "We'll be able to." John patted Ronon's muscular arm. "Don't worry Chewy, I'm sure you'll get your chance to rough up the uncooperative few." I laughed at that, causing Ronon to glare at us both darkly, but not reply.
Mere minutes later the panels separating the Conference Room from the corridor revolved and a very irate, very red-faced Dr. Kavanagh stormed out. Elizabeth followed a few steps behind. She stopped beside us, breathing heavily.
"He making trouble?" Ronon guessed. Dr. Weir laughed tiredly. "More trouble than he's worth, that's for sure. Ronon, will you please make sure he doesn't harass any of our personnel? I need to talk to him again later, but not right now." Ronon nodded and set off after the furious doctor. Elizabeth pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is not going well." she muttered. It seemed like she had forgotten John and I were still there. However, as quickly as her look of frustration had come, it vanished. She straightened, smiled at us two Sheppards, and called in the next crew member. And so it went. On and on and on, Elizabeth interrogating the populace of the Daedalus ship while John and I stood guard outside. Despite how bad I was at being menacing. It reached a time when we had been standing there doing nothing for so long I thought I was going to fall asleep on my feet. See, that is why I'm not a sniper, I can't stand sitting – or standing – still for long periods. Frontline action is much more fun.
"Elizabeth, Sheppard, other Sheppard. Can you come to the Control Room? I've discovered something important." Rodney announced over our radios. John tapped his earpiece. "On our way." he responded at the same time Elizabeth exited the Conference Room. We all shared a look that clearly spoke what more could he have possibly found before falling into a row of three, heading towards the Control Room.
SGA
"Guess what! There's no bomb after all," was the first thing Rodney said when the three of us joined him in the Control Room."
"What?" John and Elizabeth squawked in unison. I myself was at a loss for words. "So then what was this whole thing about?" I asked, once I was able to find my voice.
"Ah, well, there's no actual explosive device, the explosion will come but, ah, from somewhere else." McKay answered as he danced from console to console, fiddling with god-knows-what piece of Ancient tech. "Now, with the Wraith on the way we'll need to cloak the city, right?"
"Yes…" Elizabeth replied guardedly. I could hear – and approved – of the caution in her voice. I didn't think anyone but Rodney himself knew where he was going with this crazy train of thought.
"Well in order to do that we need to reconnect the ZPM in order to supply the necessary power."
"And what about the Stargate?"
"I physically disabled the DHD. It won't be able to dial so it won't be a problem. Now, the ZPM however, will be." John rolled his eyes. "Problems, problems everywhere." He whispered.
Rodney continued on with his little lecture, oblivious to the Colonel's interruption. "As you know, the Zero Point Module controls massive amounts of power."
"Like a dam." I added unhelpfully.
"No it's not like a dam. It's more like a-ah, well actually yes it is like a dam. If you overload the dam, it breaks. Which is why the Ancients put in place fail safes to prevent such a thing from happening."
"Like a spillway." John elbowed me in the gut at that analogy. Yes, I know I'm not being beneficial, but messing with McKay is fun. Apparently Rodney seemed to agree with John about my counter-productiveness.
"Can we just stick with fail safes?" he moaned. When I stayed silent, Elizabeth gestured for him to continue. Which he did. "The problem is that our Trust operative figured out a way to rewrite Atlantis' operating system and disable the fail safes, but, mask it in such a way that the city sensors didn't detect it." Elizabeth, cocked her head at him. "So, the dialing of Earth would cause the ZPM to overload." She reasoned.
"Oh yeah. Dialing another galaxy requires tremendous amounts of power, we're talking catastrophic overload. I mean, the explosion would destroy not just the city but uh, most likely the entire planet." Ouch. While Elizabeth and I processed this information, John took initiative to ask McKay what was probably on everyone's mind, "Can the fail safes be re-enabled?"
"Yes, but whoever it was that did this anticipated the possibility that they would be discovered and put in place a code, to block access to it."
"And I'm going to guess that cracking this code isn't going to be easy." I jumped at a new speaker's voice. Sitting at a console a ways away from Rodney was Lt. Cadman, looking exasperated and drained. Instead of his usual condescension and snarkiness, Rodney simply nodded. "No, not at all. It is extremely complicated." Okay, scratch that earlier statement. He was still plain snarky.
Dr. Weir however, still looked confused. "But for now you've already disabled the DHD, so it's impossible to dial Earth."
Rodney shrugged, "Yeah, but unfortunately, any number of systems could be used in conjunction with each other to overload the ZPM. It'd be a much more gradual build-up than dialing the Gate, which would cause an instantaneous power spike, but equally effective in its results."
"And we can't disconnect the ZPM because we need the cloak for when the Wraith cruisers arrive."
Rodney mimed a gun at Elizabeth as he strode around the Control Room. "Bingo. Which is why our 'bomber' activated the distress beacon, alerting them. And that is how the Wraith coming to Atlantis is connected to detonating, the bomb."
SGA
Dr. Weir had unsuccessfully attempted to pry a confession out of Dr. Kavanagh after our briefing in the Control Room. John and I stayed behind to help Rodney track the Wraith ships – probably because the long range scanners were the only toys of his that McKay would let us touch – leaving the whole, 'guarding and looking scary' assignment to the ever-capable Ronon. When Elizabeth returned to the Control Room, I assumed the interrogation hadn't gone well by the incensed expression she wore, her mouth twisted in a determined scowl. Not paying me any attention, she marched up to the long range scanner monitor. She stood there staring at the two steadily approaching red blips for so long I debated whether or not I should check if she was alright, until Elizabeth broke the awkward silence herself.
"Could the cloaking cause the ZPM to overload?"
"Yes, but I can turn off some of the systems to keep the power levels short." Answered Rodney, typing away at his laptop. John watched him for a second, eyes hard, then suggested, "Maybe we should start thinking about evacuating the city."
"We're kind of out of options there." Rodney folded his arms cross his chest. "But it never hurts to a have a plan ready, if we can think of one."
"Right." Everyone meet me back in the Conference Room. Col. Caldwell is meeting us to discuss our next plan of action.
John frowned, "He's been making trouble again, hasn't he?" Elizabeth replied with a warning glower, "I suggest you be more respectful of your commanding officers, Colonel. But, yes. Caldwell has been insisting he interrogate the Daedalus passengers, despite the fact that this situation falls under Atlantis jurisdiction. I wouldn't worry though, we have agreed that I should be the one to lead this investigation."
"Bet she put him in his place." I whispered to John. He smirked faintly. One thing I had come to realize during my short time on Atlantis; Dr. Weir could be one downright bitch if she wanted to be. Definitely not someone you want mad at you. I noticed Dr. Weir leaving the Control Room and hurried after her, swiping Rodney's laptop away from him as I passed. Regardless of his protests, it was obvious if you knew Rodney that he wasn't going to pay attention to anything else – including our briefing – until the situation was resolved if I let him keep it. Plus, using it as bait was a good way to get him to come in the first place.
We arrived to find the Conference Room cleared of Dr. Weir's suspects, who had been replaced by Col. Caldwell and Ronon. As I took a seat at the large table I regarded the Daedalus commander. Col. Caldwell was a tall, bald man with an almost tangible sense of 'soldier' about him. Also, if you were in the right place at the time to overhear the right conversations, you'd know that he had very little respect for Dr. Weir's leadership. Before coming to Atlantis I had met him briefly back on Earth, and he had struck me as the type of person who did whatever it took to get a job done, and waited for no man. This of course meant I had disliked him immediately.
"We're still working on cracking the new fail safe code, but so far, no luck." Rodney revealed once I had grudgingly given him back his beloved computer.
Col. Caldwell slid on the table top he had been sitting on. "How are things coming with Kavanagh, is he still your prime suspect?" He asked Elizabeth.
"Yes he is. I'm having some difficulty with him though, he's not exactly the most cooperative of people-" "Ooh well, that's a shocker," McKay interrupted. Given what I had heard of the infamous Dr. Kavanagh, I agreed with him.
"If he does know the code, I highly doubt he's going to just give it to us." Elizabeth finished. It was then that Ronon pushed off the railing he had been leaning against and spoke up.
"Give me ten minutes with him. I'll get it out of him." He growled, flipping one of his multiple knives in his hand.
My husband shifted in his chair. "It may not be a bad idea. Maybe it's time to take this interrogation to the next level." I smacked him on the arm. Kavanagh was a son of a bitch but I wouldn't wish an angry Ronon on anyone. Except maybe the Wraith. Yeah, that sounds about right.
McKay was following my train of thought as well. "Look, I hate Kavanagh as much as the next guy, probably even more. But we really need to be sure about this."
"I agree." said Dr. Weir, "If there's the slightest chance that he's innocent-"
"We don't have time to debate morality doctor. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to do unpleasant thing to save lives." Col. Caldwell cut her off harshly. I growled warningly. Even though he was a higher-ranking officer than me and I couldn't do anything about it if I tried, it ticked me off when anyone disrespected Dr. Weir.
Elizabeth looked conflicted, "…Alright, fine. All of you, dismissed." As we all rose and filed out of the Conference Room, I grasped John's sleeve. "Come on," I whispered, "There's not much else for us to do here. Let's leave Rodney to deal with the ZPM, and go see how Teyla's doing." After he nodded, I gently pulled him towards a transporter to the infirmary level. Passing by one of the city's huge windows, I saw the other buildings of Atlantis vanish as Rodney cloaked the city.
SGA
We found Carson and Teyla at the bedside of a decrepit old woman. The woman's heart monitor was flat-lining. As we approached, Carson reached past Teyla and silently turned it off. Teyla herself looked like she was holding back tears. Carson glanced at us, then back to Teyla. He quietly left to see to his other patients, leaving the three of us alone with Charin's body.
"Teyla…" I said, unsure of how to proceed, "I'm so sorry." She looked up at me mournfully. "It is not your fault, Isabeau. Nor was it Dr. Beckett's. It was Charin's time." Teyla choked. I gave her a sympathetic look. John tried to copy my expression, but failed and settled on standing there awkwardly instead. Not that I expected him to say anything in the first place. Expressing his emotions was not one of John's strong points.
"If you would please leave, I have preparations to make for the Ring Ceremony." said the Athosian. I nodded, once again yanking my husband away clumsily. When we were a few meters away, John tapped my shoulder and pointed back towards Teyla. She had taken Charin's hand in her own and was pressing it against her cheek, tears streaming down her face. John silently questioned me if we should go back and comfort her. I shook my head. Sending the older woman one last glance, I led John through the infirmary, leaving Teyla to grieve in private.
"John, Izzy! The city's inertial dampeners just began powering up!" McKay suddenly screeched in our ears. We gaped for a split second before breaking into a full-out run towards the transporter.
"What do you mean, the inertial dampeners are powering up?" I yelled.
"What I mean, is it's the stardrive!"
"Wait, what?"
Rodney sounded ridiculously frustrated with me, "Look, this city is just a giant spaceship with a stardrive capable of faster-than-light travel. This means that it also has inertial dampeners. One of the precursors of the stardrive's power up phase is the activation of the dampeners. Which may very well affect our cloaking, but that's not the worst part of it."
"It will overload the ZPM." pronounced John as we ran.
"Waaaay overload it." Rodney affirmed.
How soon before that happens?" Elizabeth joined in the conversation.
"Thirty minutes at the most, then this city will be vaporized." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Way to keep being optimistic McKay. I thought.
Once John and I reached the others Dr. Weir led us all into the Conference Room once again. "We need to initiate some evacuation plans." She said. John groaned, "I told you, the Daedalus is our only option. We can't use the Stargate; we can't go to the mainland."
Col. Caldwell spoke up. "I agree. We fit as many people aboard the ship as we possibly can-"
"There is nowhere near enough room for everyone!" McKay cut in.
"Then we're going to have to make room!" retorted John. McKay rolled his eyes, "No no no, you don't understand! The life-support system can't handle that many people, there's not enough air to go around. We'll never make it back to Earth."
"And there's no other way?" I asked. Rodney shook his head.
"What about another planet?" John suggested. "There's one nearby in this solar system, remember? The one where we found the crashed Wraith cruiser. It took us fifteen hours by Puddle Jumper, it's a blink of an eye for the Daedalus." Elizabeth nodded, "And then we could use the Puddle Jumpers to ferry the rest of the people."
"The quickest thing to do is get the code." Ronon interjected. The entire room turned to look at him. "Just leave me with Kavanagh; I'll get it from him." Everyone was silent. I don't think any of us wanted to let Ronon do what he was planning, but we didn't exactly have a choice, either.
"ZPM overload in twenty-four minutes." Rodney reminded us. Elizabeth exchanged a glance with John, then looked back at the Satedan.
"Do it."
Ronon made eye contact with John first, then me. As his brown eyes met mine, I got the feeling that this wasn't going to be pleasant. As Ronon left the room I was becoming exponentially more and more grateful that I wasn't Dr. Kavanagh.
Almost immediately after Ronon left, Dr. Beckett ran in.
"Teyla's stayin' behind ta perform the Ring Ceremony for Charin. She says she won't leave on 'he Puddle Jumpers 'till they're done." He panted. John stood and looked about ready to force Teyla onto the Daedalus until Elizabeth motioned for him to sit back down. "Col. Sheppard! I'm sure I don't have to tell you that what Teyla does to honour Charin is her own decision. As long as she and her people evacuate with the last of the Jumpers, we really can't tell her to leave earlier when we ourselves are not." Admonished, John sank back into his chair. I placed a comforting hand on his arm under the table. Carson sighed and excused himself to go witness the Athosian's Ring Ceremony, and make sure they left afterwards. After Carson's departure, Col. Caldwell was beamed back on board the Daedalus to prepare for the evacuation. With nothing else to do, the rest of us simply sat and waited for word from Ronon.
SGA
"ZPM overload in ten minutes," McKay announced, looking up from his laptop. "We should think about getting to the Jumpers." None of us said anything, but I knew we were all thinking the same thing. Suddenly Lt. Cadman rushed in. She was clearly agitated.
"Dr. Weir, Rodney. I found something. It's not Kavanagh. It's Col. Caldwell." Elizabeth gaped at her, dismay colouring her face. "Ronon." She whispered. I didn't wait permission to rocket out of my seat and tear down the smooth hallways to where Ronon was 'interrogating' Dr. Kavanagh. Slipping between the revolving panels that separated the rooms of this level of the Tower, I was met with the sight of Ronon standing over an unconscious Kavanagh.
"Stop!" I screamed. "What did you do to him?" Ronon looked at me, amused. "Nothing. He fainted before I could touch him." He gestured at the doctor. "Why?"
"Kavanagh is innocent. Col. Caldwell did all of this." Ronon raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
"Oh yes. Come one. They're beaming him down now."
I stood to Elizabeth's right while John was on her left, arms crossed. Ronon was circling the perimeter of the room. We were all pissed off, and doing a good job of looking ominous. Well, at least the boys were. And Elizabeth. Damn my shortness. We stood in the center of a closed interrogation room, eyes trained on the table and empty seat in front of us. Suddenly the bright blue-y white light that indicated Asgard beaming technology flared in front of us. When it faded, Col. Caldwell appeared sitting at the table. He whipped his head around, confused. As soon as the Colonel realized where he was, he stood, infuriated. "What the hell is going on here?"
"I asked Hermiod to beam you here so you could give us the access code." Elizabeth replied evenly.
"What?"
"Lt. Cadman discovered a gap in the system command logs that indicated two deletion points which she ind-"
"You know, we don't have time for this!" Col. Caldwell yelled. I didn't know what the others saw when they looked at him, but I was pretty good at reading people. Caldwell knew he was caught, but seemed desperate to try evading us anyway. Elizabeth stepped forward, unfazed, "Your identification code was used to access this city's operating system. You copied it. Took it back to the Trust whose Goa'uld scientists rewrote the program to overload the ZPM. You, then brought it back here, then uploaded it into the Atlantis computers." Col. Caldwell stared at her, incensed. "You think that I'm working for the Trust?"
"We know you're working for the Trust," said John, cocking his handgun in the background threateningly. "So give us the code." Col. Caldwell glared at him and suddenly something didn't add up in my mind. Rodney said that whoever was capable of all this must be some kind of genius. Even if Caldwell had the system rewritten by Goa'uld on Earth, the level of expertise you would need to upload and calibrate the modifications to the city, it would take the same intelligence possessed by those who rewrote it…
Faster than even the ex-Runner could stop me, I darted over and grabbed Ronon's Particle Magnum gun from the holster on his hip. It took me less than a second to set it for stun, aim it at the Colonel, and squeeze the trigger. A good thing too, because an instant before my shot hit him, Col. Caldwell's eyes glowed white with the presence of a Goa'uld, and he lunged for Dr. Weir. Before he made it even a step however, the energy bolt hit him square in the chest and he crumpled to the floor, his body flinching as red electricity crackled through him.
"Oh my god!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "He's a-"
"A Goa'uld." I said darkly. The Colonel was still conscious, writhing from the blast of the Particle Magnum. John pulled out his taser to finish the job, but I stopped him when I noticed the glow fade from Caldwell's eyes, "Wait a second." I cautiously stepped towards him, keeping Ronon's gun trained on his head. "Colonel? Colonel, we don't have much time, we need that access code." He looked up at me, gasping for air. For a moment I thought the Goa'uld had retaken control, or that he was going to pass out, or worse, not give me the code. But then he did.
I leapt up the steps of a side staircase to the Control Room two at a time, closely followed by Ronon, Elizabeth, and my husband. All around us lights were flashing, alarms were ringing, and technicians ran in circles like chickens with their heads cut off. McKay and Lt. Cadman were both working frantically at the consoles. As soon as he saw us, Rodney started spewing his usual 'we have to get out of here, we're all going to die' rant. I shushed him by forcing the piece of paper I had written Col. Caldwell's code on into his hand. "Access code." I explained. He didn't spare me a second look as he turned on his heel, shoved Lt. Cadman out of the way, and input the code into his laptop. We all crowded around Rodney to watch him type the code. As soon as he was done, a green bar flashed across the screen as well as the message,
Authorization Code Accepted. Fail Safes Reenabled.
Rodney sat back in his chair and sighed. Elizabeth nodded, relieved. Ronon, smiling, leaned on one of the control consoles and rested his head on his arms. John turned to me, beaming. He put a hand on my cheek and kissed me quickly. "Good work Major," he whispered in my ear. I grinned.
SGA
John found me later lying on our bed reading a book. He came over and sat down beside me. The most hilarious grin was plastered onto his face. "Did you see Zelenka?" he asked. I put down my book, "No, I haven't."
"He just got back. You should go take a look before he washes his face. The kids did a real number on him." When I didn't reply, he sobered a bit. "Elizabeth's asked Dr. Beckett to give everyone on Atlantis full examinations. If Caldwell had a Goa'uld inside him, who knows how many of us could." I shivered, "That's a disturbing thought."
John laughed softly, "No it isn't. But it has to be done." He stood and stretched out a hand. "Come on Izzy. I told Ronon, Teyla, Rodney, and Carson that we'd meet them for movie night. I also heard Beckett's bringing Lt. Cadman."
I raised an eyebrow at him, "McKay and Cadman at close quarters for an entire movie? Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Of course it isn't. That's what makes it fun. Now let's go."
Grinning like a teenager, I took John's hand and allowed him to pull me off the bed and out of our room. Another day, another crisis averted. I had no doubt that tomorrow would be just as exciting, if not – hopefully – a bit less near-death catastrophic. I guessed it came with the job of exploring new galaxies and fighting aliens. But those were more problems for another time. Right then? I was thinking comedy.