Stargate Atlantis: Dragon's Lair2

John sat in the conference room. A data pad was in front of him. He was staring at the screen then drawing a facsimile on a pad of paper. He was making notes in the margins. Although frustrating it was the only way he could work and it did force him to think more carefully. He was plotting the course of the fuglies as best he could, marking off their previous locations and the planets in their path. He was trying to find their trajectory. At the same time he was trying to locate the elusive Tir na nOg. With limited computer access this was more difficult. Having an address was one thing. Locating the actual planet on a map of the galaxy was quite another.

Frustration was building in him but he doused it with careful concentration and focus. He rubbed his chin, mind working furiously albeit with limited facts and estimates. He tapped the keys to bring up another map, this time the one Rodney had found of the Stargate network. He stared at it, overlaying key points on his own hand-drawn map. It was time-consuming work, but it was better than sitting around doing nothing while he waited for Carson to clear him.

"Should you be doing that?"

He looked up to see Ann Teldy in the doorway. She was in her familiar Atlantis BDUs, military gear. Her blond hair was trapped in a tight bun behind her head. Her blue eyes perused him as she entered the room. John shrugged. "A little won't hurt me." Nevertheless he shut the lap top before she could further reprimand him.

Ann took the seat next to him. "I could help you, if you'd like." She glanced at the pad of paper, at the hand-drawn map but John closed the pad, concealing his diagrams.

"I just have to wait until Beckett gives me the all clear," he said. His impatience was obvious.

Ann smiled. "He will, soon enough. You gave us all quite a scare, John. You were unconscious for several hours. John, I wish, I wish you would talk about it. I know it is troubling you, besides all of this." She gestured round the conference room.

"Isn't this enough?" he asked, tensing at the question. He hated being interrogated, even by his friends, even by his girlfriend.

"Well, yes, more than enough, and that's why you are pushing yourself, right? You are shouldering too much, John. Let me help you. Why is there all this secrecy? This place you think you have discovered, you really haven't said that much about it."

"I did discover," he corrected quietly.

"You did discover," she amended, although her skepticism remained evident. "Why must it be a secret? You can trust us. You can trust me."

"I know that. Until I can verify a few things it needs to be that way. This could be a wild goose chase for all I know and I don't want to get our hopes up for nothing."

"Because the city wants you to keep it quiet?"

"Yes." He sighed, scowling, answering before thinking. He drew his hand away from hers. "Look, I can't explain it, and quite frankly since no one believes me I don't feel the need to explain it." He turned away from her.

"John, of course I believe you," she soothed, touching his arm. "It's just hard to, to understand. This connection you have with the city, the way it…talks to you. You have to admit it is a little unusual and hard to understand when you are not experiencing it."

John was silent, sullen. No one understood, except for Carson and at times even the doctor was dubious at the extent of John's interaction with Atlantis. His friends were supportive, but skeptical, except for Rodney who was downright dubious, but John expected nothing less from the physicist and actually welcomed the honesty. He didn't try to pretend to understand like the others did. Like Ann was doing now. John tapped his foot on the floor. He knew that Moira would understand, if he told her about it. When he told her about it, he silently corrected.

"John? I'm sorry. Let me help you, at least. What do you need to find in the data base? I can look for you, or even access the Ancient Podium. Have you tried that?"

"Yes. And no," he turned to her, schooling his expression, "you can't help me. I mean I already have what I need, just about. I have to put the pieces all together. I'll get the rest ASAP."

"I still think I can help you if you'd stop being so secretive!" Ann flared, losing patience. He was so cut off from her, from everyone and it worried her. Although he was sitting right next to her he may as well have been on another planet. "Tell me what you need and I can try to find it for you. I may not have the ATA but I can still operate the systems and use a computer!"

John's lips quirked at her anger, amused. "Yeah, but it's complicated. She didn't give up any of this intel easily and I have to proceed cautiously, and she'll only give up to me."

"I see. No, I don't. You make the city sound like, like—"

"I know, because that's how I connect with her and think of her. It's easier than thinking of her as just a machine, all right?" His anger flared and he eyed the pad of paper. "Once I get some things clarified we are going there."

"What do you need clarified?" Ann asked, trying a different tactic.

"Names. Other stuff."

"Like what?" At his silence she sighed. "John, please! I could help you. We all want to help you! If you can't talk to me, talk to Rodney or Teyla. You can't bottle all of this up, whatever it is! And don't tell me it's classified or has to do with the mission or because the city told you because you haven't been yourself for weeks!"

John met her gaze. "I'm fine." He ran a hand through his already tousled hair. "You're just gonna have to trust me on this."

"I do! You need to trust us! You need to trust me! You need to trust someone, John!"

"I do," he said quietly, the words slipping out before he could stop himself.

Ann stared at him. "And that, that someone isn't me. Is that it?"

"I trust the city," he hedged, "and that should be good enough, all right? I do trust you, Ann. I just need time to clarify some things and get some facts straight before I decide we do have enough to embark on a mission. Don't make me pull rank on you," he warned, as she was eying his data pad as if she would take it. Not that she would guess his password, that is.

Ann stared at him. "It's a little late for that, John."

He stared at her a moment. Sometimes she was a like a stranger to him and he wondered how he had gotten so involved with her, apart from the obvious, which to him was becoming less and less obvious. He stood, snatching his data pad and his pad of paper off the table. "Maybe, maybe not. I am still your commanding officer regardless of any personal relationships, and for now this intel is classified until I am satisfied." Seeing her surprise he gentled his voice, his expression. "Just give me some time to work this through, Ann. That's all I ask."

"All right, John. Just don't shut me out, all right?"

"Okay. What I really want now is a turkey sand—"

"Incoming wormhole!" a voice shouted from the PA speakers in the room. "Off world activation!"

Without a word John sprinted out of the conference room and to the control room.

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Richard Woolsey was standing at the monitor, looking over Chuck's shoulder. "And you verified the IDC?"

"Yes, sir. It's them. It's Colonel Sheppard's, er, Major Reynold's team. Temporarily," he added quickly seeing John approaching at a quick stride.

"Raise the Shield. They are back early," Richard remarked, heading for the 'Gate room.

John strolled next to him. "That's never a good thing," he muttered.

The team emerged from the shimmering wormhole, but they didn't appear to be injured or upset or even in danger. Before Jason Reynolds could speak Rodney McKay was already talking. "You have to see this John! You have to see this!" He was waving his scanner around in the air like a flag.

"Major?" John asked, trying to keep the resentment out of his voice.

"We were just making contact with the locals and they were telling us about how they had been approached by the Coalition when Doctor McKay discerned the—"

"They were there! They still are, in orbit around the planet!" Rodney interjected, moving to John and showing him the scanner. "Look at these readings!"

John glanced at the screen to see waves of lines and equations. "Wow."

"Wow? This is incredible, John! I was able to detect their ship from the ground! It's in orbit around the planet, and yes, before you ask it is them! It has the same strange anomalous energy signature and it's huge! I'm talking the mass of two warship class ships! I could only get these readings and no visuals but it's there and it's—"

"Huge, got it. What's it doing?" John asked.

"It is in orbit and has not made any contact as far as we know," Teyla Emmagan said. "We advised the people to hide, as if the Wraith were coming."

"When we left they hadn't beamed down to the planet," Ronon Dex added. His grip on his gun was tight, too tight, even though he was safely in Atlantis.

"What did they have to say about the Coalition?" Richard asked.

"What? You're missing the point!" Rodney exclaimed. He looked at John who undoubtedly did get the point. "We have to go back there in a Jumper! This might be our only chance to see one of their ships up close and we can—"

"See what we're up against, yes," John finished for him. "We'll take a cloaked Jumper and gather all the intel we need. Good work, Rodney!"

"Wait, wait, colonel wait!" Richard halted the military commander's exit. "Has Doctor Beckett cleared you for duty?"

John turned to the leader of Atlantis. "No," he was forced to admit, "but we can't waste this opportunity."

"I agree. Major Reynolds, please take the team back to the planet via a cloaked Jumper and—"

"Whoa, whoa! I am leading this mission and that is final!" John stated firmly.

"I'm afraid not, colonel. Major Reynolds, please lead the team," Richard repeated.