The Times Have Changed-Chapter 3-It's Been Way Too Quiet
It had been one month since the training of the newbies ("How can they not know how to operate a simple computer program!" McKay had later yelled at the weekly meeting) and everyone was once again settling in. Jinto, Wex, and the other Athosian children their age had completed their very first trading mission with only a few minor glitches, the harvest season on the mainland had been successful, and their latest group of refugees were deciding where they would now go (their two choices were the mainland or the Alpha site). All in all, it had been a pretty quiet month.
In fact, it had been too quiet, Elizabeth noted. Everyone had been going about their usual business while at the same time waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. And drop it did, in the form of an angry creature that resembled what one might get if you crossed a giraffe with an elephant; a very angry, large, and extremely hostile elephant.
"Atlantis, lower the shield, we're coming in hot!" came the message that afternoon. Elizabeth nodded to the gate tech and no sooner had the shield been lifted when Lt. Col. Lorne and his team, accompanied by Ronon, Charlie, and Zelenka came barreling through the event horizon, shooting at an unknown threat. As soon as everyone was through the gate, the shield was raised and the expedition leader jogged down the steps to greet her city's executive officer and his off-world team.
"What happened, Colonel?" she was joined by Sergeant Bates and Sheppard.
"Wraith?"
"Negative, Sir. We're not quite sure what it was."
"Looked like a cross between a giraffe and a very angry elephant, Sir," Sgt. Thomas, a recent addition to Lorne's team, answered.
"A giraffe and an elephant?"
"Very large elephant with a temper like Rodney's when we're out of regular coffee," Zelenka added.
"I take it we can take that planet off the list of possible Beta sites?" Elizabeth asked them.
"Along with possible ZPM locations," Zelenka said.
"Alright, debriefing in one hour."
"You know, I think we were just waiting for the other shoe to drop," John told Teyla as they began their sparring session.
"You mean, it was too quiet around here," she clarified for herself as she blocked his attack.
"Yeah; it's been way too quiet around here. No explosions, no Wraith, no attacks. I think we were all waiting for the giraffe-elephant hybrid," he agreed as he blocked her volley of attacks.
"Are you regretting not going to M6T-237?"
"No, not really; it sounded like that world that had the T-Rex."
"M1M-316?"
"Yeah, that's the one. It sounded just like it, don't you think?"
"Yes, Col. Lorne's description of the planet did sound familiar." John laughed as he barely missed blocking another of his wife's attacks; he had gotten a lot better over the past five years. "Did I say something amusing?"
"No, Teyla. God, no. I was just thinking about how we've all changed in the last five years. I'm a full colonel," he dodged another attack and attempted to catch her off guard with one of his own. "Lorne's a lieutenant colonel, Bates is now a technical sergeant, and Ballard's a captain," he ducked as she sent another attack, coming back with one of his own.
"Yes, we have all changed. Soon Elizabeth and Rodney will be married, Laura and Carson have Malcolm, and Ronon and Charlie are becoming closer every day. Jinto and his friends will be adults soon. Callie is almost 5," she ducked one of John's attacks and finished their session by literally sweeping her husband off his feet whereupon he landed on the mat on his back.
"Yeah; it's so hard to believe that our little Callie will be school-age soon." Callie and her older sister Menar were orphaned refugees that Sheppard and his team had found a year before on the planet they had designated M2G-985. John and Teyla had immediately fallen in love with the little girls and adopted them. Life had certainly changed for all.
They decided to call it a night, picked up their equipment, and headed to the room that had been designated the classroom for the children of Atlantis. For the past four years, the ancient city had seen a rise in families; many were refugees from culled planets that had been scientists and soldiers on their home worlds. Sheppard and Weir had given those that came from relatively advanced worlds, that is, worlds only a few decades behind Earth, the chance to stay in the city and help in the war against the Wraith. Half of those they gave the offer to accepted, while the other half went to either the Alpha site or the mainland. As it was, including the Sheppards, there were fourteen families in the city that had children. It had been agreed early on in the relocation of refugees that if there were going to be children in the city, then there should be a school. The younger children went to classes while the teenagers apprenticed the soldiers and civilians of the city. They dropped off their gear in their quarters and went to go pick up their daughters.
As they entered the classroom, they were greeted by two brown-haired balls of energy who always somehow managed to knock John off his feet when they greeted him.
"Mommy! Daddy! Are we going to dinner now?" the girls asked in unison.
John laughed as he stood and picked up the younger of the two girls and hoisted her in the air. The child laughed as he put her down. "Yeah, you ready?"
"Yes!" came the twin giggles.
The family left the room and headed for the mess hall where they were greeted by many of the expedition members. Teyla spotted the large table that their "family" had chosen for their evening meal and she and John left the girls sitting with Miko and Zelenka.
Twenty minutes later, the Sheppards, the Becketts, Rodney, Elizabeth, Zelenka, Ronon, Charlie, Miko, and Lorne were talking and laughing as always when Bates ran over to Sheppard and Elizabeth, who always sat next to each other at meals in cases like this, and whispered that they had a security problem and the city's leader and military commander were needed in the cell room. Elizabeth motioned to Carson, and the three of them followed the security chief.
"What's the problem?" Sheppard asked when they saw the young woman lying on the pad they had decided to put in the cell.
"We found her wandering around with no tags. No one knows who she is or how she got here."
"She could have come in last week with the other refugees."
"I checked; no one from that planet knows who she is."
Carson had the Marine standing guard open the cell door and stepped inside to inspect the unconscious figure. What he found startled him. He turned on his radio and called for a gurney and a medical team. When the others just stared at him he told them, "She's in shock" and waited for his team to get there.
An hour after the mysterious woman was brought into the infirmary, Beckett was explaining what he had found after admitting the woman.
"Not only was she in shock, but she was bleeding internally and is malnourished. Until she wakes up, I have her under round the clock observation." He finished explaining to the city's civilian and military leaders what he had found and left them staring as he went to his office.
The girl had Goa'uld proteins in her DNA. The girl had been a Goa'uld host.
Okay, so what do you think of my third chapter? Like it? Hate it? Please review it!
