Author's Note:

The crew devise a plan to save the ship from the asteroids - but will it work? Lots of tension and technobabble, with some Rush/Young stuff as well.

(Revised)

Chapter Two

Destiny: Gate room.

Lieutenant Matthew Scott sprinted into the gate room, along with Young and Greer. Doctor Rush and Eli were each at different consoles, feverishly pressing buttons.

The Stargate was active, the event horizon of the wormhole casting a rippling blue/grey light across the entire gate room.

"Situation report," Young said sternly. "Rush?"

The haggard Scotsman looked up, his unkempt nature even more prominent than usual. Rough stubble was growing rapidly on his face; his long, brown hair tinted with grey was all over the place; and he looked as if he had not showered in days. I doubt he's slept in days either,Scott thought.

"Our situation is that Destiny's shields are taking heavy damage from this constant barrage of asteroids!" Rush yelled, as another crash resonated throughout the gate room. "We have hull breaches in the uninhabitable compartments of the ship; if we don't do something to stem the flow of asteroid collisions, then the shields will fail."

Scott looked at a small Ancient screen above their heads, high on the wall opposite the Stargate. The Ancient digits ticked away fast, counting down.

"Our Ancient is a little rusty, Eli," Scott stated. "How much time until we jump back to FTL?"

"About twelve hours," the young mathematician replied. "But our shields will have long since failed by then."

Scott's mouth fell open in shock. Adrenaline began flowing through his military trained body, as his mind comprehended the danger.

"As I said, we have a problem," Rush said, irritated.

Young frowned, thinking hard.

"What about the Stargate? Have you sent a Kino through?" the Colonel asked.

"The ship being torn apart by asteroids is a much more pressing issue than what is on the other side of that wormhole, Colonel, so no; I have not sent a bloody Kino through!" Rush answered, his voice rising and growing more impatient.

"All right, all right," Young said irritably. "The Destiny's shields managed to resist going through a star, so why the hell can't it resist this asteroid field?"

"When we recharge at a star, almost all remaining power is diverted to the shields," Rush replied. "Right now, power is being drained by other primary systems, which means the shields are weakened."

"Can't you deactivate those systems?" Scott asked.

"Oh, so you want the engines to fail, do you? Or the life support to go down?" Rush said sarcastically. "And even if I wanted to, we still can't access the ships core systems."

"Okay," Young said, frowning as he considered his options. "Okay, let me talk to the crew and reassure them that things are fine."

Rush's mouth fell open in disbelief. Scott bristled, ready to intervene if Rush lost control; he was clearly exhausted and burdened with stress. Why does he do this to himself? Scott wondered. What is so important about this ship that you are risking your health, Rush?

"I think that this is a more pressing issue than raising moral!" Rush exclaimed.

Young turned to face the scientist, with his lips pursed and fire in his eyes. And I thought the relationship between these two was improving, Scott thought. The smallest catalyst could set off another confrontation between the Colonel and the scientist; well, at least Greer and I are here to step in this time.

Although Scott doubted that Greer would prevent Young from beating Rush to a pulp.

"Just do it, Rush," Young ordered gruffly.

Rush glared at Young, before forcibly pressing a couple of buttons and activating the Destiny's internal communication systems. He stepped back, and made a greatly exaggerated gesture at the Ancient console, his face the epitome of rage.

"Go ahead," Rush said, spitting the words out as if they were poison.

Young kept his eye on Rush, as he moved towards the console and began speaking.

"Attention, this is Colonel Young. We have a situation, so listen carefully," Young's voice echoed throughout the gate room, as it was played through the intercom system.

"Here are the facts: we have dropped out of FTL into a giant asteroid field, and the Destiny's shields are taking heavy damage."

Rush glared at Young with anger. Scott could tell that the only thing the scientist wanted to do right then was to punch Young squarely in the face. Don't do it, Rush.

Since the escape from Icarus, Rush and Young had had several confrontations; mostly shouting matches. However, there had been one incident on a planet that had caused deadly repercussions for the entire crew of the ship. Since then, they had both tried to make a special effort for the sake of the crew; Young would say that he had put aside his differences with Rush, but Scott was not stupid.

Rush believed that it was necessary to lie to the rest of the crew in order to raise moral. Young was unflinchingly loyal to the people under his command, and refused to lie to them, while his principles kept him from lying to the civilians.

"Do not panic, Doctor Rush and Eli are working on the problem. Just stay in your quarters and await further instructions. Young out."

Eli stepped forward and pressed a button to shut off the communication system, his boisterous smile of excitement long gone.

"You didn't need to tell them about the damage to the shields..." Rush said slowly, with ice in his voice.

"I'm not going to lie to the people under my command, Rush," Young replied.

Rush opened his mouth to retort, but stopped himself after a surprisingly hostile glare from Eli. Good man, Eli, Scott thought with admiration. The kid was certainly starting to grow a backbone. Rush shrugged heavily, a sign of resignation. But Scott knew that the scientist would not leave it at that; this isn't over.

"Okay, so what are our options?" Scott asked; keen to avoid another conflict between the military commander and the lead scientist.

Rush took one last angry look at Young, before looking back at the Ancient console and pressing some buttons. His frown deepened.

Eli quickly made a suggestion. "Could we find a way to drain power faster? So that the ship will automatically leave this asteroid field to find a star?"

When the ships power reserves ran low, pre-programmed protocols were enacted that caused the Destiny to find the nearest star. The ship then, protected by the shields, entered the stars orbit and proceeded to descend into the star itself. During this time it used fusion scoops to collect solar energy, thereby refilling its power reserves.

"That's a good thought, but no," Rush replied matter-of-factly, before grabbing onto the Ancient console after another boom vibrated through the ship. "Leaving the asteroid field at that speed would cause us to collide with many more rocks, and at a far greater velocity, which would likely collapse the shields."

Eli bowed his head, disappointed. Scott felt sorry for the young mathematician; Eli was new to all this, even newer than Scott. He had been recruited to the Icarus Project the day before the base was attacked; he was the one who had solved the mathematical problems surrounding the power requirements for dialling the ninth chevron.

Since Rush had recruited him, Eli had been working in Rush's shadow. He tried so hard to live up to Rush's expectations, and he seemed to value the scientists approval immensely. Scott knew that Eli was smarter that Rush gave him credit for; he had figured out the Icarus power issues after all, something that Rush had been trying to do for months. You don't need to always work in his shadow, Eli, Scott thought. Scott hoped that he realised that soon.

Suddenly, Rush slammed his hand down on the Ancient console, and began typing furiously. "I've got it!"

Young and Scott looked at each other incredulously.

"Please enlighten us, Doctor," Young asked.

"We have very little time!" Rush said. "Eli! Stay here and monitor the shield power levels. Radio me if anything changes."

"But, where are you-."

Rush raced out of the gate room; the fastest Scott had ever seen him run. Eli stood there in shock, before hurriedly returning his attention to the console.

"Rush!" Young yelled. "Get back here!"

The rogue scientist ignored the order, disappearing into the next corridor. Young stood, perplexed, before motioning to Scott to follow him and turning to Greer.

"Sergeant," the Colonel said to Greer. "Go and get Sergeant Riley, Doctor Park and Mr Brody up here right away."

"Yes, sir," the quiet soldier said in a low voice, before walking quickly out of the gate room by another door.

Before anyone else could speak, Young sprinted out of the gate room, chasing after Rush with Lieutenant Scott in tow.

Eli was left standing alone in the gate room, staring blankly, wondering what the hell was going on. He looked down at the Ancient console, and punched a few buttons, doing what Rush had told him to.

He then looked up at the active Stargate, admiring its magnificence, before lifting the military radio to his mouth.

"Uh, Greer? Could you fetch a Kino from my quarters and bring it up here as well? Thanks."

Destiny: Control interface room.

Colonel Young and Scott followed Rush through the dark corridors of the Ancient ship for a minute or so, before coming to an abrupt halt as he entered the control interface room.

It was a circular room, with a central column-like structure plugged into three nearby Ancient computer consoles. This column was the control interface hub; the access point to the Destiny's systems. Currently, the core systems such as navigation and propulsion were locked out by a master pass-code for security reasons, but Rush was still able to tap into many of the minor systems from this room.

Due to the interface hub's shape, Eli had nick-named the room the 'apple core', much to the disapproval of engineer Adam Brody. Young had no problem with Eli's jokes; as long as they don't interfere with his work.

Rush was running from one rust console to another, frantically pushing buttons and twisting dials.

"Rush!" Young shouted, as Scott entered the room behind him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I think I can save the ship, but we don't have much time and I need to implement my plan now!" Rush replied, his voice raised and eyes fixed on the console screens.

Boom!

Rush grabbed the Ancient console tightly, as Young and Scott supported themselves against the wall. Things are getting out of hand, Young thought as he stared at the only man who could get them out of this situation. Why does he have to be the genius? The one person Young hated more than anyone on this ship was the only person they could not live without. And it really pissed Young off.

"Explain while you work," Young ordered sternly.

Rush sighed heavily, before relenting; he knew that he did not have the time to argue. I seem to be winning the arguments so far today, Young thought, amused. Let's see how long it lasts.

"We can use Destiny's weapon systems to clear a path through the asteroid field," The scientist stated, while twisting a dial and moving to one of the other consoles.

"But doesn't that drain just as much power as the shields?" Scott asked, his face the picture of incredulity; you obviously didn't like science as a kid, huh Scott?

"Not quite as much as the shields," Rush said, before slamming his hand down on the console and yelling, "Come on!"

Young moved closer to the console; for what purpose he wasn't quite sure. Perhaps it was a leader's instinct to try and keep the people under his command calm. And that includes Rush, he thought begrudgingly. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that I am trying to do a hell of a lot of calculating and preparation in order to make sure the firing of the weapons doesn't cause the ship to explode!" Rush yelled impatiently. "I don't have the luxury of time, and I also need to enact the weapons auto-fire protocol."

Young and Scott looked at each other; he really is losing it again, the Colonel thought worryingly.

"And I have to do all this while explaining it all to you two!" the Scottish man yelled.

"Okay Rush, calm down," Young said. "If the firing weapons will use up power, why are we doing it?"

Nicholas Rush took a deep breath, and buried himself back in the data on the console before speaking again.

"The ship is in orbit around a planetary body because it has a Stargate on it," Rush stated. "This planet is in the middle of the asteroid field, orbiting around the sun. But, if we can clear a path along our orbit, then when the ship comes back around it will have little to no asteroids in its way."

"Which means no power will be drained by the shields or the weapons," Young said slowly, as he realised the extent of Rush's plan.

"Exactly!" Rush exclaimed.

"Well, this plan sounds perfect to me," Young said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "But then with you it's never that simple, is it Rush?"

The scientist looked up from his work, with fire in his eyes. Young immediately regretted his derogatory comment; I just pissed him off even more.

"If you are asking me if there is a downside, yes, there possibly is."

Fantastic, Young thought.

"Many of the ships power conduits are still badly damaged, and the immense flow of power from the weapons could cause a huge overload, which could be catastrophic."

"Wasn't Sergeant Riley nearly killed trying to repair one of those conduits?" Young asked, his confidence in the plan decreasing exponentially with every passing second.

"Yes, Colonel, but we need to enact this plan now, or this ship will be torn apart when the shields fail," Rush said. "We will have to deal with the power conduits if and when that problem arises."

Rush ran across the room to another console, pressing a couple of more buttons, before speaking again. Young's mind raced; he's not lying. Eli confirmed that the problem was real. I don't think Rush is doing this for his own purposes.

But then he is a lying bastard, Young thought.

"I'm nearly finished with these calculations. I would have liked to have Eli check them over, but obviously we don't have the time. Colonel, could you please head to the observation deck and radio me when you get there?"

"Why?"

"I'll need some eyes outside to let me know if my plan is working. The ships external sensors are among the many systems that are badly damaged," Rush explained. "And it'll be one hell of light show."

Young pursed his lips, thinking over his current options. The Colonel didn't trust Rush, and he certainly did not like him, but he knew that the scientist did not want to die. That was enough for Young.

"Okay, Scott and I will head over now,"

"Thank you, Colonel," Rush said spitefully, as Young and Scott exited the apple core.

One minute later, Rush was still frantically punching buttons. On one console, he brought up the power flow levels for the weapons systems; everything seems normal. But then that's what I thought when Riley had his accident. On the other two consoles he was initialising the auto-targeting protocol and keeping tabs on all of the damaged power conduits.

This would be so much easier with access to the core systems, Rush thought, frustration taking over. He lifted the radio to his mouth.

"Eli, what's the status of the shields?"

For a moment, all he heard was a muffled rustling; presumably as Eli picked up the radio.

"Shield power levels are all over the place! The asteroids are really taking their toll."

"Let me know if anything changes," Rush replied. "Colonel Young, are you at the observation deck yet?"

"Almost there, Rush. E.T.A: thirty seconds."

"Copy that."

The scientist hurried over to the second console, and pressed two buttons, enacting the auto-targeting protocol. He then sprinted back to the other console, bringing up the weapon controls; sweat dripped down his face, as his heart rate and breathing increased. Finally, he checked the power flow to them was within the green.

"Okay, Rush we're here," said Young's voice, laced with static, over the radio.

"All right," Rush replied, placing his left index finger on a button. He looked up at the control interface hub; the blue lights blinked away as it processed huge amounts of data simultaneously.

He thought about the enormous potential of this ship, the information it was capable of gathering. Hours after they had first arrived aboard, Rush had told Chloe Armstrong that Destiny could be the greatest discovery since the Stargate itself.

He could not allow the ship to be destroyed by some floating rocks; he would not fail himself, the Ancients or Gloria. I cannot fail Gloria, he thought defiantly. I will not.

"Firing," Rush said, as he braced himself on the console.

He pressed the button.