Chapter 1
Doctor Elizabeth Weir was still contemplating what 'Morgan le Fay' had said before the others had taken her. 'Merlin's weapon is not…' Not what? Not working? Not what we think it will be? Not for us to use? Not on any of the planets? Not… There were far too many options as to what Merlin's weapon was not. On the positive side, Dr. Jackson and Vala had found the two gate addresses for the planets they needed.
She sighed and went back to reading what she had obtained from the Ancient database about the war with the Wraith, hoping to find something that they could use against them. As she read there were more and more references to warriors who were named only as 'Sisters of Battle'. The passage briefly explained when they had appeared and how long they had fought for. The next passage then went onto something completely different. Scanning through there was no other mention of the Sisters. It seemed almost typical of the Ancients. They leave the clues to something you can use and skirt around the issue of where it is, but they never tell you directly. Elizabeth sighed and made a note to go and see if she could find any more information on the Sisters when she had a free moment, before going back to reading.
The room was empty apart from the stasis chamber opposite the door, the large crate that was to the right of the pod and the interface screen that was above the crate. On the stasis chamber door were three words written in Ancient.
The woman inside the chamber was surrounded by ice and had dark read hair that was tied back in many tiny plaits; each ended with a black bead that had a small white symbol etched into it. Her skin seemed unnaturally pale. Over her left eye was a scar that began just above her eyebrow and went down to the middle of her cheek. She was wearing a black strapless top which exposed her stomach and tight fitting knee length black shorts.
Since the arrival of the expedition to Atlantis the stasis room and been taken small amounts of power each day, so as not to draw attention, so that the young woman could awaken. Finally enough power had been put aside and the ice slowly melted away. A few moments later the door to the chamber slid up.
The red head's eyes fluttered open and she looked around the room. Her right iris was colourless and her left eye had before completely white. She slowly eased herself out of the chamber and made her way over to the interface. She pressed a sequence of buttons and information about the city since she'd been frozen began to be displayed on the screen.
There was another identical room at the end of a different pier. The stasis pod had the same inscription on, along with the crate and screen next to it. The young woman inside also seemed to have unnaturally pale skin. Her hair was blonde and tied back in a loose ponytail. She wore similar clothes to the first but hers were in dark blue.
The ice melted quicker than in the last chamber and her pale blue eyes snapped open as the door slid up. She exited the pod in a careful manner and went over to the screen as well and entered the same sequence. A few moments later the same information began to show on the screen.
In the right hand corner of both screens a flashing message appeared, telling the two that the other had been awoken successfully. The two arranged to meet in an unused area of the city to decide what to do next.
The technician frowned in confusion at the terminal. It had just stated there were two sudden bursts of energy used; yet nothing seemed to have been dramatically effected and there was no apparent reason for the bursts to occur. Thinking it was a glitch the technician was about to turn away from the terminal when there were more diversions of power in unused areas of the city. They seemed to be supplying air and gravity to a small section before turning that off and giving it to the next section.
"Dr. Weir," the technician called, not taking his eyes off the screen, "you need to see this."
A few moments later Elizabeth came out of her office and went over to him.
"What is it?" she asked, looking at the screen.
"A few moments ago there were two sudden energy bursts, but nothing seemed to have been affected," the technician explained; "Then this pattern began occurring. I think there are people down in these two piers, and they appear to bee heading to a third pier, none of which we've explored yet."
Elizabeth looked at the screen for a few moments longer before calling Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne and their teams to the briefing room. The two teams arrived a few minutes later.
"What's going on?" John asked.
"There are at least two unknown beings walking around Atlantis, they're in the unexplored areas of the city," Elizabeth explained, gesturing to the screen.
They all turned to look at it. It showed to beings walking towards along a pier before stopping next to each other.
"They started off in two separate piers and have made their way to this point," Elizabeth explained, "I want you to go down there and bring them back here."
"How did they get into the city?" Teyla inquired.
"I don't know," Elizabeth replied, "they just appeared on the sensors a few minutes ago."
"Do you have any idea as to who they are?" Major Lorne turned to look at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth merely shook her head. "No idea who, what or why, only that they're in the city."
The two women stood in a small room, looking at each other. They'd regained much of their strength in the short time they'd been out of the stasis chambers.
"No Wraith, why were we woken?" the blonde asked.
"The report that the Wraith had awoken early, the question was bringing enough power to awaken us without drawing attention," the read head replied, "they've probably detected us by now anyway."
"Will this Dr. Weir know of us? Or would the doctor we met not have passed on the information?"
"I doubt it," the red head replied, "we should probably separate and head into populated parts of the city. We'll be able to gather more information that way."
"I agree. What about our belongings, surely they will send people to investigate the rooms."
"We will be able to retrieve them later. For now we should move to remain hidden."
The blonde nodded and the two started towards the door before freezing and looking at each other, listening. There were people on the other side of the door. The two moved to stand with their back pressed against the walls on either side of the door.
Outside the two teams were gradually making their way towards the room. They paused in front of the door, taking up positions, aiming their weapons at the doors, before John reached over his hand and opened the door. No one moved. They couldn't see the two people in the room and couldn't hear anything to suggest people were in there.
"Maybe they've already left the room," Rodney broke the silence.
"They haven't, this is the only corridor that leads to this room," John replied quietly.
"That we know of," Rodney added.
"McKay," John sighed.
"I'm just saying."
"Well don't," Ronon snapped.
Inside the two were looking at each other, neither having moved from against the wall.
"Eight," the blonde mouthed.
The red head nodded slightly. Looking around she noticed two pipes above them. She motioned her head slightly to the open space in the room and then up to the ceiling. The blonde nodded, smiling slightly.
The red head hit the door control and moved quickly to lie, as is passed out on the floor, while the blonde jumped up and balanced on the two pipes.
John opened the doors again a few moments later and everyone saw the red head lying on the floor. He motioned his head towards the room and the eight of them began cautiously making their way into the room. Rodney looked up above the door and saw the blonde on the pipes.
"Ah, Sheppard?" he broke the silence.
"What?" John turned to him and looked up when he saw Rodney was looking up as well.
The blonde jumped down and quickly knocked half of the people unconscious. While she did this the red head seemed to get onto her feet without moving and took out three of the others. The only one left conscious was Teyla. She backed away from them, her weapon raised.
"We have no fight with you, Athosian, though tell the others of what happened here and we will. No one here saw either of us," the red head stated.
"We will know if you do tell," the blonde added.
The three of them stood in silence for a few more moments before the two women left the room and split up at the end of the corridor, heading in opposite directions.
TBC
As always reviews, comments, suggestions and constructive criticism is welcome. An answer to this would be welcome: should I continue or not?