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Chapter Four
Weir was relieved to see Teyla finally emerge from the gate. She carried a small child in her arms and was followed by still more children with some of the older ones holding little babies too young to walk on their own. Elizabeth stepped closer to the balcony of the control room as she watched them enter. All the refugees were from a battle zone . . . and they were just kids, ranging in age from infants to preteens, twelve or thirteen years of age.
The terror obvious in the youngsters, a fear the likes of which few adults would ever know, was palpable as they moved away from the gate area. Several of the kids were injured, some were screaming, some just crying, while still others were stumbling to the ground. The two adult villagers with them weren't in much better shape.
Weir put a hand to her mouth. This was supposed to be a simple mission to pick up a shipment of fruit and vegetables. These people were mere farmers, without many weapons or riches. Why would the raiders even bother with them?
Most of the city's staff moved in to take a child into their arms – that was if the child would allow the physical contact – and they tried to console the little ones, but it was too late for consolation. These kids wanted their parents and nothing was going to comfort them until that happened.
Elizabeth realized she hadn't seen this level of emotion since the Wraith siege on the city. Back then, her people had been braced for war. Even so, it wasn't children fighting for their lives . . . dear God, these were just kids. Her heart ached at the sight. She let her hand drop from her mouth to her neck as she said, "We need more people down there to assist with the children."
"I can-" Chuck, one of the nearby technicians, volunteered as he started to stand.
"No, the control room staff is too vital at the moment," she interrupted.
Chuck returned to his seat, but said, "What about the kitchen staff? The mess hall is close by. We can move the kids who aren't as badly hurt there until we can straighten things out."
Weir gave him a quick smile. "Excellent idea. Do it. And tell them to hurry."
Beckett's medical teams had arrived by then, and immediately began to triage the injured. When Beckett saw the number of patients involved and their emotional state, he let out a deep breath before he tapped his headset. "This is Beckett. I'll be needing every last one of my people down at the gate room stat."
Moments later, the additional staff arrived, bringing all the equipment they could grab along the way, just as the last of the children arrived with Lorne and his Marines through the wormhole.
Elizabeth continued to stare at the gate, desperately waiting for Sheppard, McKay, and the rest of the off-world team to step through. If she hadn't been watching so closely, she might have missed the gate's whisper that heralded another traveler had just come through. Her hands tightened their grip on her arms. She could clearly see the ripples in the event horizon, but not who or what it had caused it.
Before she even had time to think, she was forced to cover her ears against a brief high-pitched screech. As Elizabeth stared down from her vantage point, she saw several of the people, adults and children alike, suddenly topple over. It seemed as if a rogue elephant had plowed across the gate room platform, bowling over anyone in its wake, leaving wounded strewn along the sidelines.
She never saw an assailant.
It had all happened in the blink of an eye, but the end result was terrifying. Beckett's teams again tried to take control of an uncontrollable situation, and fanned out amongst the fallen, assessing injuries as they went. It appeared their mysterious aggressor was indiscriminate in its attack, downing Marines, medical staff, and children when it tore through, but how?
Her mouth dropped open as the sudden realization hit her that they now had an intruder loose in Atlantis. She spun around to face the staff in the control room and barked, "I want a level four lock down on the gate room now! A hostile presence has entered through the gate and I want it contained!"
She took a quick breath as her people followed her orders, then she looked back to the gate room to see if there were any new attacks. Thankfully, there were no more. She was still waiting for Sheppard, McKay, Ronon and McMurphy to return so they could close the gate and secure the shield. Until that gate was shut down, anything could happen. She faced a very tough decision.
Elizabeth had known bewilderment and times of being powerless before as the expedition's commander, but never like this, never with this level of uncontrollable hysteria. Now, she had to worry for the safety of those in the city, along with those still on the other side, and she continued to debate with herself about closing down the stargate.
The frustration was clear in her voice as she called again. "Sheppard, McKay, this is Weir, what's the delay?"
Down below, Major Lorne spoke to Teyla as he handed an unconscious boy about five years old to one of Beckett's people. The nurse laid the boy on the floor and began to check his vitals. Teyla's expression was grim as she paused to speak to the nurse, gesturing with her head to Lorne's arm. Weir could see it was bleeding, but he waved off the medical assistance.
Teyla bit her lip, but didn't argue with him. Instead, she gave him a reluctant nod. Pressing her lips to the head of the young girl she'd carried through the gate, she said something to him. The girl in Teyla's arms was crying so hard, Weir could see her shoulders shudder even from this distance.
Lorne looked up and met Weir's gaze. He glanced back down at Teyla and she nodded for him to go ahead. He barreled up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. He was dirty, sweaty, and bloodied from an arm wound. Gauging by the tension in his jaw and the horror in his eyes, he was even more unnerved by the situation than she was, but then not only had he been to Jakndaxta, and seen the carnage for himself, he had witnessed it happening again here at home.
He spoke even before he came to a stop, his voice breathless and hoarse with emotion. "Colonel Sheppard ordered us to go through, ma'am. He was bringing Ronon back to the gate. McKay and McMurphy's team were providing cover fire. They must be pinned down again."
She tapped her headset again. "John, this is Elizabeth. Can you read me?"
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Sheppard and Ronon maintained a strange momentum as they headed to the gate, and though they wobbled when Ronon's weight was carried more by Sheppard than by the wraith runner himself, somehow it worked. Of course, having bullets whiz by their heads proved to be great motivation.
The gate was still open, still waiting for them to come through, beckoning like an oasis in the desert. Not quite as beautiful was McKay as he stood with Sgt. McMurphy, waving for them to keep coming. Rodney started to step out when Sgt. McMurphy pulled him back. Sheppard looked around with alarmed confusion until he saw they were staring up at an approaching aircraft coming up behind Ronon and himself.
"Find cover fast! Looks like we've got an enemy plane coming right at us," McMurphy shouted.
"As if there isn't enough to deal with," Sheppard muttered as he pulled Ronon down behind the nearest boulder. It wasn't nearly big enough to shield both of them, but he hoped it would suffice. He aimed his P-90, trying to get a bead on it, and fired off a few shots, then shook his head. "It's too high and coming too fast."
At the same time, Ronon pulled his weapon and fired without hesitation, but all it did was merely rock the approaching plane. He kept firing as the plane passed over them. Sheppard was surprised that it hadn't returned fire, but then he realized there was a much greater threat as something fell from the sky.
"It's a bomb! Get away from here!" Sheppard shouted to the others as it slowly descended.
He grabbed Ronon by the shirt and they began running back in the direction they'd just come. The bullets were still flying, but that was the least of their problems. He felt the bomb's concussion lift him and Ronon into the air and he closed his eyes in preparation. This was going to hurt. A lot. Then the roar of the blast enveloped them and everything went black.
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Before Elizabeth had a chance to say anything more, a sudden explosion from the other side of the gate rocked the gate room. It caused a strange reddish glow to sweep around the gate itself, circling around and around until the gate went dark. Everyone froze, staring in shock and alarm for a moment until the reddish glow started flashing along the conduits. It went from there to appear in the Ancient devices in the control room, jumping from one piece of equipment to the next, and then all hell broke loose. Sparks sprayed everywhere, causing several small fires to break out.
In the darkness before the emergency systems kicked in, Weir heard Zelenka shout rapid orders to contain the damage from a massive system overload. Just as the emergency generator came online, Weir turned to her right, spotting Zelenka amid the confusion and asked, "How bad is it, Radek?"
"Bad. It looks like communications are down, along with gate travel, but I can't be sure how badly until we run a full systems diagnostic."
Weir coughed and put a hand over her nose and mouth as noxious fumes began to rise from the damaged equipment. The smoke was filling the room. "Open the outer doors to clear the smoke," she called to a technician.
As her order was carried out, she turned to Lorne. "You're hurt. You need one of Beckett's people to look at your arm."
Lorne shook his head. "It's not that bad. A lucky shot from a Sinomean sniper just as I got to the gate. Glad it was me and not one of the kids." He glanced at the others down below. "There's a lot of people much worse off down there. I'll deal with it when they're taken care of."
Weir searched his expression for hints that he was minimizing his condition, but found none. "Well, consider it an order if you haven't sought treatment by the time things settle down here." She hesitated. "I really need to debrief you, Major, but there's no time. Tell me quickly what happened there."
"There wasn't a lot of free time to talk to the Colonel. I know we lost the jumper soon after we went through the gate, but I don't know where it crashed or if there are any survivors."
"And the others?"
He shook his head. "As I said, when I left, Sgt. McMurphy and his team, and Dr. McKay were waiting for Ronon and the Colonel to join them. It was supposed to be a matter of a few minutes . . . "
Weir nodded, smiling in commiseration. "We'll get them back. Are you sure you're okay for a few minutes?"
He nodded. She took a deep breath. "Then stay here and take care of things here for me for a moment. I need to see for myself what's happening down there."
Lorne stepped to block her way slightly. "It isn't pretty, ma'am," he said quietly as he unconsciously rubbed at the drying blood on his hands.
She put a hand to his shoulder as she tried to step past him. "The aftermath of a disaster rarely is, but I can handle it."
She glanced to Zelenka, who was still busy dealing with damaged equipment. "Help Dr. Zelenka with whatever he needs. I won't be gone long."
Lorne caught her forearm and didn't move out of her way. "That – thing – whatever it was, is still on the loose. Sheppard's not here, so you're my responsibility now."
"I appreciate your concern." She looked him directly in the eye. "But we're no safer here than they are down there. We've blocked off as much of the city as we can to contain the risks to our population, but that's all we can do at the moment."
Lorne's gaze intensified. "Meaning no disrespect, ma'am, but we need to find out where that thing is and how to kill it."
She took a deep breath and nodded. She should have already issued that order. Her concern for the injured had clouded her thoughts. "Yes, of course. Get your search teams started. I'll try to get you more manpower once we get some of these children calmed down and treated. But be careful out there."
"Yes, ma'am." He didn't look happy about her leaving the control room, but he nodded and stepped back.
A rush of fresh air swept into the room from the opened outer doors as she walked down the small set of stairs leading to the main staircase. The gentle breeze was a welcomed relief compared to the suffocating confusion she knew had to be at the base of the stairs. And as much as she wanted to linger up in the fresh air, she had a greater concern for the injured. She had to know firsthand what was going on if she was to help them. It was time for her to be amongst her people.
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