CHAPTER FOUR – The Story Begins

The rest of the group followed Elizabeth into the mysterious room. The room held several comfortable chairs in a circle and Elizabeth chose one and sat down. John took the chair closest to Elizabeth and, as he waited for the others to get settled, looked around the room in curiosity. They had never found this room on their earlier explorations of the city, but truth be known, they hadn't explored as much of the city as he would have liked. It seemed they had to spend far too much time away from the city trying to defend it, than they did actually exploring it.

As he glanced around the room, his first impression was that it reminded him of a library in some English manor, or what he thought one would look like, since he'd never actually been in one. There were comfortable chairs and various sized tables scattered throughout the room and shelves of books, old texts and artifacts.

Rodney piped up first. "What is this place?" John could hear the excitement in his voice and saw that Rodney hadn't sat down yet, but instead was pouring over the shelves, anxiously taking in all the titles.

Elizabeth smiled. "Rodney, I really have missed your enthusiasm for the 'gifts' of the Ancients, but could we get through the whole 'how in the heck am I here' part first and then you can explore?"

Rodney spun around, a sheepish look on his face and quickly dropped into the nearest chair. "Sorry."

The smile Elizabeth gave him was warm and genuine, "No problem, Rodney. I understand. I was pretty excited myself when I found this place."

Elizabeth sat down next to John, took a deep breath and began.

"After I ordered you to leave me behind, I did what I could to prevent the Replicators from following and retaliating. But, by that point, Oberoth had gained the upper hand and I no longer had control of his actions or of those who followed him. Needless to say, Oberoth was not pleased I was able to assert control for so long." Elizabeth suppressed a small shudder, unwilling to delve into the painful memories of Oberoth's retaliation against her in those early days. She saw John tense and a dark look settle onto his face and knew that now was not the time to go through all that she had endured.

"Luckily, Rodney's adjustment to the Replicator base code took hold quickly and Oberoth's attention was diverted to the war with the Wraith. He, of course, didn't forget me, but at least it gave me some respite from his 'questioning sessions'." John muttered a curse under his breath. Elizabeth was sitting close enough to him to lay a hand gently on his forearm. "John, it's all right. I survived the ordeal and as you can see I am fine."

"You never should have had to survive anything. We should never have tried to upload that code. We should have taken the ZPM, considered ourselves lucky and escaped. I never should have left you behind."

"John, you did the right thing. I ordered you to go. Had you disobeyed that order, not only would I have been captured, so would you, Ronon and Rodney. And, Atlantis would not have survived without that ZPM."

"Dammit, Elizabeth…"

Elizabeth cut him off, her voice gentle, but firm, "John, you and I will have this conversation, but not now. That conversation would be best left until we have a private moment alone, I believe."

John looked at Elizabeth and saw the caring and concerned look in her eye. Despite the fact he desperately wanted to tell the rest of the people in the room to 'clear out', he knew they deserved to know what happened, just as much as he did. He sat back in his chair and nodded.

Elizabeth continued her story. "Oberoth questioned me on several occasions, trying to find out information about Atlantis, about the expedition, about the Ancients, about all of you. It was difficult, but I did find a way to resist him. And, considering he was the most powerful Replicator I had to contend with, any of his followers that were sent to interrogate me didn't have much luck, either." Elizabeth smiled.

"You displayed great strength and courage in the face of a powerful adversary, Elizabeth. You should be proud," Teyla said with conviction.

"I learned that strength and courage from each of the people in this room, Teyla, most especially you."

The two women leaders shared a knowing smile. Elizabeth continued. "Even though I was able to hold out against them and not give them any information, the interrogation sessions weakened me physically, mentally and emotionally. It quickly became clear that my health was suffering and that the nanites Rodney had reprogrammed in me were having a hard time keeping up."

Rodney shifted in his chair uncomfortably. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

Elizabeth looked at him, her gaze one of concern. "Rodney, it is not your fault. The fact you were able to reprogram the nanites at all and allow me to survive is nothing short of a miracle. I should have died that day." She stopped, swallowing hard; it was still hard to accept how her life had changed so drastically. "But, I didn't," she continued on in a small voice. "Because of you and Dr. Keller, I was able to survive, go on the mission to the Asuran home world and help save Atlantis. Had you not interfered, Atlantis and all of you might not have made it. It was worth the sacrifice."

Now it was Rodney's turn to swallow hard. He knew the sacrifice Elizabeth referred to wasn't only her being captured on the Replicator home world. She was also referring to the sacrifice of her pure humanity that came as the result of his decision to activate the nanites in her system. It may have been Keller's idea, but it was his call to go through with it, against John's wishes. He quickly glanced at John to see if he had picked up on the double meaning of Elizabeth's words, but John's gaze was directed at the floor, his jaw set, and his shoulders tense. Rodney wondered how long it would be before the man literally snapped in half.

Elizabeth continued with her story. "Luckily, I got a reprieve. Oberoth's arrogance and anger had grown so much that he left Asuras to lead the attack fleet against the Wraith. The concept of defeat never entered his mind." Elizabeth shook her head. "With him gone, the daily interrogation sessions stopped. I grew stronger. As my physical strength returned, so did my spirit. I began very quietly and discreetly to seek out replicators who saw things differently than Oberoth."

"Niam's followers?" Teyla asked.

"Yes. Fortunately there were still some there on the home world. Most had been destroyed once Niam's betrayal became known. However, a few were able to conceal their involvement with him and survived. When Oberoth left, we sought each other out."

"Weren't they worried about Oberoth finding out?" Zelenka asked. "I mean, things didn't go so well for Niam when he was discovered."

"Fair point. But, I think they had reached a point of desperation. They despised the path Oberoth was leading them down, but were not strong enough to overthrow his control completely. He had too many followers willing to dispense judgment upon them."

"They saw you as the only person who was a strong enough threat to Oberoth to protect them" Ronon said gruffly.

"I suppose so." Elizabeth was uncomfortable at being labeled a threat, but saw the truth in Ronon's statement. "Funny isn't it? I was so against aggression and negotiation by force when I first came to this galaxy. I guess I've changed since then."

"No, you haven't." John said fiercely. He had finally stopped staring at the floor and was gazing intently at Elizabeth. "You were placed in a position where you had to do things against your nature so you could survive. You took control of Oberoth and forced him to obey your will to give us a chance to escape and save Atlantis. You held out against him and fought him using his methods because it was the only way. That doesn't mean you've changed."

Elizabeth gave a small nod, not wishing to argue the point any further. She was too anxious to finish her story. "Through Niam's followers, I found out about the rebel settlement and the clones. Needless to say, I was less than pleased to hear about their project. However, I could see no easy or appropriate way to end it without destroying the clones." She stopped, swallowed hard, her eyes downcast and said, "I'd lost you once, I couldn't take the action that would cause me to lose you again."

"We met them you know," Rodney said in a small voice.

"I know. The rebels were able to send me a message right before Oberoth destroyed their city. They reported that they had set the clones free and it appeared the clones would be able to escape unharmed. I knew the clones would try to find all of you to warn you about what had happened."

"They told us you were dead." John said bitterly.

"The clones told you what they thought was the truth. I instructed the clone Keller to tell them I had died at Oberoth's hands."

"What?" The look on John's face would have stopped most people in their tracks. All it did to Elizabeth was make her want to explain faster. She had to make him, make all of them understand.

"I knew that without official confirmation of my death, you would never stop trying to rescue me. And, I also knew that the chances of pulling off a successful rescue were non-existent. I could not allow any of you to come to harm or to endanger the Atlantis expedition on a futile, failed rescue attempt. So, I did the only thing I could think of to stop you. It nearly broke me in two to do it, but I had to do it."

The group stared at her in shock. Only Ronon nodded at her and she saw understanding and acceptance in his eyes. She knew he understood. It was a start. The others would need time to accept her decision.