Chapter Three – The Misfit Starts To Fit In
Three hours later, and the marines had recovered from being stunned and released back to their quarters, and autopsies were being carried out on the Wraith and their victims.
Elizabeth had called a meeting. Sheppard, Ford, Bates, Zelenka, Grodin and Beckett were present for it. Rodney was still missing.
Major Sheppard gave a debriefing on the events in the North Pier, and Beckett confirmed that the Wraith were able to regenerate their tissues, and that they appeared to be very old. He believed that they were unlikely to die of old age, so long as they were properly nourished, and, as Major Sheppard had said, they would be very difficult to kill, but not impossibly so.
Radek briefed them on the battle readiness, or lack of battle readiness more like, of Atlantis. Basically, the city needed at least one ZPM, which would give them the shield and, hopefully, the control chair as well. Though until they gained a ZPM he couldn't guarantee that one would be enough to power both of them, nor was he able to tell how many, if any, drones they had at their disposal. Without a ZPM, they were sitting ducks; with one, they stood a chance.
Elizabeth asked him to put in place a self-destruct. They needed to be able to destroy Atlantis and the information it held in a worst case scenario.
She then asked Grodin if he would be in charge of looking for addresses within the database that might lead to Ancient facilities; outposts for example. This was their best chance of finding a ZPM, and possibly other artefacts that could be useful to defend themselves.
They needed to organise gate teams, which she would leave to Major Sheppard to do. Some teams would primarily be used to search the city, others to go in as second contact teams were friendly locals were found, and one or two would be first contact teams, and would also deal with gathering Intel. They needed allies in this galaxy, not least because their food supplies were limited. At present, they were okay for food, but the sooner they established trade, the longer their rations would last.
At this point Elizabeth received a message over her radio that Rodney had been sighted near to the control room, and she asked that he be directed to the meeting room by whoever was closest to him.
There were sighs of relief from many present that he was back, apparently unharmed.
When Rodney entered the room, he looked…nervous and unsure. Though he quickly hid this, trying to look in control. He was also wearing a full Atlantis uniform, jacket with patches included. He ducked his head in embarrassment when he spotted the look of surprise on her face, which she quickly hid.
"I'm glad to see you're okay," Elizabeth said with a tone of censor in her voice at him for running off on his own.
"Yeah." He took the seat nearest the exit. "Sorry I ran off…I just needed some time."
"You had us worried."
"Not used to people worrying about me much," he admitted, before stealing himself. "Look, I…ah…the Wraith are coming, and, well, we need to work together if we hope to defeat them, or at least stop them from reaching Earth. So, I need to…" He looked up at Elizabeth, fear and uncertainty warring in his eyes. "I need to trust you. And I need to become part of the expedition. I mean, fully part of it. No holding back. But I should warn you, I'm not good at following orders." He gave a nervous laugh. "Heller and the others couldn't get me to follow orders a lot of the time, at least not without a lot of arguing beforehand. And you know how they handled disobedience." He looked away, nervously clasping his hands together on the table. "I know you wouldn't hurt me like that. What I'm trying to say is that I will try to…to follow your orders. Try not to go off on my own, but work as part of a…a team."
"Thank you." Elizabeth smiled at his surprised glance at her reaction. "I know this is hard for you, Rodney. I appreciate that you want to try and be a part of us, a team player."
"It would help if you didn't keep thinking of me as a kid. I mean, I know I'm sixteen, but please, I'm not a normal teenager, and I don't need to be treated like one. I've been in dangerous situations before, lots of times thanks to Heller and his team. I've even saved their butts with last minute repairs, or working out how something works. So don't think of me as just a kid. I grew up a long time ago. I had to, to survive."
Elizabeth realised that she really didn't know what kind of life he had lived the last four years or so. Hadn't really thought about what he might have been through, how it might have changed him. She knew full well about child soldiers on Earth, and how they had to grow up quickly. Suddenly, she knew he was more like one of them than a normal teenager, and treating him like a kid wouldn't help.
"Okay," she sighed, and then said with a slight tease. "We'll try to treat you like an adult."
A small smile crossed his face at her throwing his own line back at him, before he turned serious once more, returning his attention to his hands.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the Wraith. I really didn't think that you'd believe me, or at the very least, wouldn't have believed the Athosians who'd told me about them. I mean, they sound like some kind of fictional monster, don't they? A native myth. I know I didn't believe them at first. But I was wrong, and I should have told you anyway. Maybe then you'd know what you were up against when they came here. Maybe Sumner and that marine wouldn't be dead…"
"You can't think like that," Sheppard interrupted him. "Even if we had known, I doubt we'd have done anything differently, and they would still have died."
"But if you'd known how hard they were to kill…"
"Stop it, McKay," he ordered. "You're not to blame for their deaths."
Rodney didn't look entirely convinced, but didn't argue further.
"Rodney, no one here is blaming you," Elizabeth soothed. "And Major Sheppard is right, what happened would most likely still have happened."
"I…" he stopped, looking at her, and then to Sheppard. "Okay, maybe. But I'm not going to hold anything back anymore. I want you to know that."
"That's good to know," she said with a smile.
"We need to find a Zero Point Module," he said, changing topic.
"We know. Major Sheppard is going to organise gate teams, and then we'll start looking for Ancient technology, specifically a ZPM, as well as organise trade for food. I'm hoping the Athosians would be willing to help us with the latter."
"I'm sure Teyla will, once she knows you're okay. And you need me on one of your teams. I know more about Ancient technology than anyone here, so you need me out there."
"I don't think that would be such a good idea," Sheppard started.
"You need me out there," Rodney said stubbornly. "You know you're going to need a scientist on whichever team goes ZedPM hunting. In fact, you should have one anyway, like SG-1. I've heard stories about how Carter pulled their asses out of the fire on more than one occasion. Okay, she was military, and all the scientists here are civilian, but you still need someone. And that someone should be me. No one here knows as much as I do about Ancient tech."
"Okay, granted, we need a scientist. But not you," Sheppard said firmly.
"Why? Because I'm a kid? Didn't we just have this conversation? I've already been in more dangerous situations than any of your non-SGC scientists here. And with what the machine did to me…" he trailed off, a worried look passing over his face.
"Hold on, what machine? I thought you said the one they used on you didn't work," Elizabeth said.
Rodney crossed his arms over his chest defensively, looking frightened and trapped.
"You said you wouldn't hold back information from us," Sheppard cajoled.
"I…was going to tell you." He looked at Bates sharply, who had snorted derisively. "I was. I just… This isn't easy for me."
Both John and Elizabeth shot annoyed looks at Bates, and Rodney took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
"The machine didn't work like they thought it would, but it did do something to me before it…sort of shorted out. You see, I've always had a reasonably photographic memory, but after the machine…it was different. I have total and perfect recall on anything I read, or any static picture or diagram that I see. Moving pictures, you know, like real life for instance, is the normal recall you'd expect anyone to have, but static pictures or anything I read…I never forget. Never. When I'm studying a new piece of technology, I make diagrams and take photos as I work, and then I never forget what it looks like, how it works."
"That explains much," Radek said quietly.
"Yes. I'm naturally a genius, high IQ and all that, but add this enhanced photographic memory, and…well, it doesn't make me smarter in the conventional sense, but it certainly makes me better."
"Any idea how this happened?" Carson asked, clearly fascinated by the concept.
"Not entirely. I know it's partly a physical alteration of my mind. But there's another element involved in it." He licked his lips nervously. "I don't have the ATA gene. I tried to activate the machine but it didn't respond to me. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, one of the group had the gene. Michaels, he died a couple of months later. Anyway, he activated the machine that changed me, and I couldn't. But afterwards, I could activate Ancient devices."
"It gave you an artificial gene, like the gene therapy I'm working on, perhaps?"
"No. Not a gene. Nanites."
"Nanites?" Elizabeth asked.
"Microscopic machines or robots, in this case about the size of a single blood cell," Rodney explained. "They are keyed directly into my DNA, so they won't work for anyone else. And they become inactive and start to decay once they leave my body, after about four or five minutes. They're harmless."
"Fascinating," Radek said, intrigued.
"Yeah, well, you and Carson can fight over how fascinating my nanites and I am later," he said, scowling.
"Sounds creepy to me, tiny robots running round in your blood." Ford shivered at the thought.
"I've had four years to get used to it, but I'll admit, the thought freaked me out at first," Rodney agreed. "But you see why you need me out there. I know more, remember more, not just about what I've read or seen since this happened to me, but out there, I can do the same. I'd be like a…a laptop. Storing up information, images." He turned determined eyes to Elizabeth. "If I was older, would you have such a problem with this? Because you said you'd try not to hold my age against me, try not to treat me like a kid."
Elizabeth knew he was right. She didn't like the idea of sending anyone out into potentially dangerous situations, but her hesitation with Rodney was largely to do with how young he was.
"Okay," she sighed. "Major, what do you think?"
"I think we need him on a gate team, as much as I don't like the idea," Sheppard answered her. "I'll take him onto my team. I don't want to offload the responsibility to anyone else." He smiled at Rodney's huff of annoyance at his terminology. "Mine will be a first contact team, and like SG-1, I will need the best. McKay is the best," he said, looking Rodney in the eyes. "But there are conditions. I'm in charge when off world."
"Understood." Rodney nodded. "Though I can't guarantee I won't argue or complain, when we're not in a life or death situation, of course."
Sheppard shook his head.
"Of course," he added dryly. "I'll need to train you, teach you how to shoot for a start. I have to say I was impressed."
Rodney looked pleased at that, until John continued.
"Not a single bullet hit the intended target, and you were, what, five metres away at most? Very impressive." John smirked.
"I underestimated the recoil, that's all," Rodney exclaimed. "I've fired a Zat before and hit the target!"
"Yeah, but let me guess, on your…twentieth attempt?"
"No, my fourth…" he stopped, seeing the triumphant smile on Sheppard's face, and he scowled again, having fallen into the Major's trap of admitting to his less than perfect aim. "Fine, but I did hit the target," he grumbled.
"Okay, we know what our assignments are. I think your team's first mission should be to Athos, to see if they would be willing to trade with us," Elizabeth interrupted their banter.
"Teyla could probably tell you more about the Wraith as well. Her people have lived with their cullings for centuries."
"Good. I'm looking forward to meeting her."
The meeting ended, and Major Sheppard asked McKay to come with him to the firing range, to show him how to use a 9mm. Rodney argued that he should learn how to use a P90, but John merely told him 'one step at a time', and insisted on starting out with the handgun.
Two days passed, and Rodney was trying to integrate with the expedition, though he still had a tendency to withdraw from everyone and go off on his own. At least now he told them where he would be, and stayed within areas that had been explored and labelled as safe.
Major Sheppard was still finalising who would be on his team. Rodney, of course, and Lieutenant Ford. But he hadn't made a decision on the fourth member as yet. Their first mission was scheduled two days from then, so he needed to make a decision quickly, and he was beginning to think he should just choose one of the Sergeants, but not Bates as he didn't like Rodney, and see how things went out in the field. He could always change the composition of his team until he found a set of people that had the right team dynamic.
The first mission was supposed to be to Athos, but that changed when the gate was activated from off world.
"Rodney, this is Teyla Emmagen. The Wraith are here."
Fortunately Rodney had been in Elizabeth's office with Radek, discussing their latest discovery. They had left the office when the alarms had sounded, and he now opened a channel to Teyla.
"Teyla, this is Rodney."
"Rodney, the Wraith, they have taken many more than normal. All that are left are with me. Please, lower the shield."
Rodney shot an agonised look to Elizabeth, who nodded, much to his relief.
"The shield is down," he told Teyla after the gate tech had shut it off. "Come on through."
He rushed down to the area in front of the gate to wait, Elizabeth and Sheppard by his side.
As the first Athosians came through, they looked frightened and wary of the people waiting for them. Elizabeth told the security team to stand down, not wanting to frighten these potential allies more than they already were.
Several more groups came through, about two hundred people at most. In the last group that came through a woman came forward, warily eyeing the strangers. The gate shut down behind them.
"Teyla." Rodney rushed to meet the woman, who smiled.
"Rodney. You are well?" she asked, glancing round the gate room, and raising an eyebrow in query.
"Yes, I'm fine. Is this all?" he asked, shocked at how few had come through.
"It would seem so," Teyla said sadly. "They took many hundreds this time. I have never heard of such a number being taken before. You have new friends, I see."
"Yes, yes, this is Elizabeth…Dr Elizabeth Weir, and this is Major John Sheppard. They came here when I was last with you on Athos, but it's okay. They're from Earth, but they're not like the others I was with. These people are okay," he reassured her.
"Hello," Elizabeth said, approaching the Athosian leader. "You are welcome to stay here, though I wish it was under better circumstances."
"Thank you. I am Teyla Emmagen, daughter of Tughan."
"Major, is there somewhere that the Athosians could rest?"
"We have opened up another level of accommodations, it might be a bit cosy, but it would do in the short term."
"Are we to be your prisoners?" Teyla asked, looking pointedly at the military in the room.
"No, no, that's the last thing I want," Elizabeth was quick to reassure her. "Please, after what Rodney has told us about you, we would like to be friends, allies. But this place is…large and we're still exploring areas that could be used for living space. We don't want people wandering outside of these areas unescorted, as we don't know what dangers lie out there."
Telya nodded her understanding.
"Very well. I will go with my people to see them settled in. Then I believe we need to talk, to discuss my people's future."
"I'll come with you," Rodney said. "Tell you about what's been happening here."
Elizabeth watched as the Athosians were guided out, with Rodney talking to Teyla as they left.
"She said the Wraith had never taken so many before," Sheppard said quietly to Elizabeth. "Could it be due to them awakening? Rodney has told us that they sleep between cullings, leaving only a few awake during this time. Morrison said that they were all awakening, and if that is the case…"
"Then they will need more food than normal, hence the larger culling." Elizabeth looked troubled.
"Yeah. Not looking forward to explaining that, even if we're not to blame for it ourselves."
The Athosians were settled, and an alliance formed between them and the expedition. Information on the Wraith and on potential trading partners was shared, along with the fact that the Wraith had awakened early and in larger numbers due to Heller, Jacques and Morrison.
After a week, during which a black energy beast had been released by accident, but fortunately persuaded to leave, and Rodney had learned the dangers of using a personal shield when you were nervous, but had ultimately proved himself a hero by pulling a Hail Mary, Teyla approached Elizabeth to say that her people wanted to move to the mainland.
As she pointed out, her people were hunters and farmers, and they found the city to be overwhelming. Also, it would be beneficial to the expedition to have a source of food so close by, once they had enough to share. Elizabeth agreed to let them access the gate for trading purposes, and offered aid whenever needed, be it medical or other.
Telya herself, and four other Athosians, agreed to stay on Atlantis to help them with their fight against the Wraith, and to act as native guides.
The last of the Athosians were ready to board a jumper and go to the mainland, and Teyla was saying her farewells. This included a gesture; hands on each others' shoulders and a touching of foreheads. Rodney referred to it as a sort of hug, though it was also used in less hug-like ways as well. It was rarely offered to those outside of friends or family, though occasionally it was used to cement new partnerships or alliances.
Elizabeth was waiting with him as Teyla said her goodbyes, and could see the wistful look in his eyes when he talked about the gesture, though it was quickly hidden. It saddened her to think that he probably hadn't been hugged for many years, and now felt himself to be above that sort of thing. Or possibly felt himself unworthy. She knew she wasn't the only one to notice how he liked his personal space, though John had breached it several times with friendly shoulder slaps, or leaning over Rodney's shoulder to see what he was working on. Rodney seemed to tolerate these breaches, and perhaps even like them, though he would never admit to that, she was sure.
Once the Athosians were safely on there way, Teyla walked over to them, taking Elizabeth's shoulders and inclining her head. Taken by surprise, Elizabeth nevertheless responded, knowing how important this was.
"I and my people thank you, Dr Weir," Teyla said, pulling away. "I hope that this will be a beneficial partnership for all involved."
"Thank you. I'm sure it will be," Elizabeth responded.
Teyla smiled, and then turned to Rodney, placing her hands on his shoulders and inclining her head again. He, in turn, looked stunned, and awkwardly placed his on hands on her shoulder and returned the gesture, very much flustered.
"I and my people thank you too for all you have done for us," Teyla intoned solemnly, before moving back.
"But…I haven't really done anything," he stammered in denial.
"You spoke highly of us to Dr Weir, and saved us from the energy beast."
"Oh, well."
It was amusing to see him almost speechless, but Elizabeth was sure he had been touched by Teyla's gesture and words, and she was grateful to the Athosian leader for doing this.
"Major Sheppard has asked me to join his team. I must find him to give him my answer," Teyla said with a gracious smile, turning to leave.
"Um, what is you answer?" Rodney asked.
She turned to look back at them.
"I believe I should tell him first," she said with another smile, leaving.
Two more days passed, and Major Sheppard and his team of Ford, Teyla and McKay, were about to go on their first mission through the gate. It was to be a nice, easy mission to start off with, to broker trade with a group of people the Athosians had been trading with for many, many years. Simple and straightforward.
Teyla believed the Genii would be happy to trade with any who she called friends. As Sheppard said, they'd be home for dinner, no problems.
Not Quite The End (!)
Author's Notes:
1) The t-shirt quote 'I have nothing to declare except my genius' is by Oscar Wilde.
2) The rogue NID under Maybourne gained access to the second stargate on Earth for a while, but lost access to it in 'Touchstone', Season 2. Jack O'Neill, working with the Asgard and Tollens, shut down a group of NID off world in 'Shades of Grey', Season 3. I have made these events later in time (i.e. 2000 for the first ep and 2001 for the second, not 1998 And 1999 respectively), so that Rodney is kidnapped when he is 12 and on Atlantis 4 years later aged 16.
3) The bit were teen Rodney explains how a ZPM works comes from the transcript for 'Rising', as if you hadn't already guessed that. Just altered the wording very, very slightly. From "it generates it's power from vacuum energy derived from a self contained region of subspace time." ('Rising') – to "they work by generating power from the vacuum energy derived from a self contained region of subspace." (my story)
4) The Ancient name for whale, and the fact it is a big fish not a mammal, comes from 'Echoes'.
5) The bit where Carson reports on the Wraith autopsy is heavily based on what he says to Elizabeth in 'Rising' when he studies the Wraith arm brought back from Athos.
6) Season One – well, 'Suspicion', 'Home' and 'Before I Sleep' have been wiped out from my universe. Other episodes could follow the same plots, broadly speaking. However, there would be differences due to Radek and Rodney's positions being reversed, Rodney having no family or friends on Earth, and Rodney being sixteen (eg, Allina in The Brotherhood wouldn't have a crush on a teenager, unless she was a teenager herself!). Anyway, I'll leave these up to your own imagination to work out.
7) Oh, and yes, the Genii are the double-crossing bad guys that we all know and love!