Elizabeth watched as Rodney moved around the consoles, unceremoniously pushing the Daedalus crew members out of the way as he worked.
Rodney finally paused when he bumped into John and scowled slightly as he looked up at the taller man, "Do you mind?"
"This is what I do when I have problems with my laptop," John moved out of the way to the other side of the console, standing next to Elizabeth, "I turn it off and then I turn it on again."
"I think this is a little bit more complicated than that," Elizabeth said calmly.
D whispered rapidly from her position next to Hermiod, the two of them having a mumbled conversation as they both slid their hands over the console in front of them.
"I'm just saying that if we're taking a page from the John Sheppard book of computer repair, we're really desperate," John insisted.
Rodney ignored them, reaching up to tap his earpiece, "All right, Colonel, we're ready."
D moved away from Hermiod, coming to stand behind Elizabeth as Caldwell's voice came over the PA, "All personnel. This is Colonel Caldwell. Prepare for a full system shutdown."
The crew members in the engineering room and in the hallway beyond stopped moving, everyone stilling to prepare for the shutdown.
D lifted her left hand, placing it gently on Elizabeth's right shoulder as Rodney gave Hermiod the signal. The ship was plunged into darkness for a couple minutes before Elizabeth heard Hermiod reach over to restart the system. The lights came back on and D dropped her hand, earning a curious glance from John as she moved quickly back over by Hermiod, looking down at his screens.
"Engine room, what's our status?" Caldwell's voice came over the radio.
"All systems are functioning normally," Rodney replied smugly, "No sign of the virus. Looks like it worked, Colonel."
"May I suggest we vacate this system?" Hermiod advised, "Our current position may well have been compromised."
"Can you give me hyperdrive?" Caldwell questioned.
"That will take longer to get back online," Hermiod informed him.
"I can get you sub-light," Rodney gave Hermiod a haughty look as he spoke into the radio.
Elizabeth's relief lasted only a brief moment before Hermiod mumbled something and D cleared her throat loudly.
"Dr. McKay?" D asked evenly.
"Yes, yes, I see it," Rodney started working furiously at his console again, "Damn it!"
"Engine room, what's happening?" Caldwell questioned.
"The virus. It's back," Rodney moved quickly over to Hermiod's console, glancing at the screen before moving back to his own, "Now it's got full control of sub-light navigation."
"You said all systems were clean," John pointed out.
"They were," Rodney insisted, "When we did the reboot, there was no sign of the virus. This shouldn't be happening."
Rodney moved over to Hermiod's console again, raising his hand to press it against his chin in thought. Elizabeth heard the voice of the helmsman in the background on her radio, telling Caldwell of their new course.
"What happened?" Elizabeth looked over to Hermiod and D.
"I'm not sure what happened, ma'am," D answered without looking up from her study of the consoles, "Dr. McKay is correct, the virus was gone."
"The virus returned almost immediately after we re-started the system," Hermiod informed them.
"At the risk of repeating myself," John said carefully, his gaze following Rodney as he moved back to his console, "I thought you said we wiped it out."
"We did," Rodney maintained, "We must have missed something."
"And it's going to crash us into a sun?" Elizabeth inquired.
"Not exactly," D replied shortly.
"A more precise calculation of our heading shows that we will not collide with the star, but rather make a close approach, near its coronasphere," Hermiod agreed, "The ship will survive, but the radiation will kill everyone on board."
"Why kill everyone if they already have full navigational control?" Elizabeth questioned, frustration finally leaking through in her voice.
"The virus has access to our database," Rodney snarked, "It knows our tactics, our tendencies…"
"They know we'd destroy the ship before we'd allow it to fall into Wraith hands," John concluded.
"How could a computer virus survive with no system to inhabit?" D looked over to Rodney, a peculiar expression on her face, "If we shut everything down, there was no place for it to go. Не понимаю." [Russian: I don't understand.]
"Wait a minute," Rodney straightened, "There was a situation similar to this back at Stargate Command. I remember reading the report. An alien entity took control of the base computer, so they did a system shutdown to destroy it. It survived by loading itself onto a MALP."
"Okay," Elizabeth drew the word out warily, "We don't have any MALPs."
"No, but we've got a bay full of F-302s," Rodney pointed towards the door, "We already know the virus can upload itself onto the ship's navigational computers, but it could've used any of those ships as a hiding place while we wiped the Daedalus system clean. It's the only possible explanation."
"Это не единственное бозможное объяснение, но самое вероятное," D muttered quietly. [Russian: Not the only possible explanation, but the most probable one.]
"What did you say?" Rodney questioned sharply.
"Nothing important, Dr. McKay," D looked down at Hermiod's console again, "Please continue."
"So…?" Elizabeth drew Rodney's attention back to her, "What do we do?"
"So," Rodney replied, "we physically pull the memory storage modules from the 302s. We do another shutdown. That should do the trick."
"Contact the bridge," John commanded as he headed towards the door, Rodney following close behind him, "Tell Caldwell we're on our way to the bay now."
"Ma'am?" D stepped over to take Rodney's place at the consoles.
"Go ahead," Elizabeth nodded.
D tapped her radio, quickly relaying John's message to Caldwell and cutting her radio off.
"This virus is fascinating," D remarked absently, studying the scrolling Wraith language on the screens in front of her, "The level of intelligence it displays is remarkable."
"Dr. Vaughn," Hermiod said evenly, "May I remind you, this particular virus, fascinating though it may be, is currently attempting to kill everyone on this ship through intense solar radiation?"
"Yes, thank you, Hermiod," D gave him a flat look, "I was simply making a comment on the ingeniousness of the design. It's not like I want to keep it around as a pet."
"I should hope not," Elizabeth said dryly.
"I'd think that an advanced race such as the Asgard," D continued with a small huff, "would be able to appreciate the uniqueness of an artificially intelligent computer virus."
"I did not say it was not interesting," Hermiod insisted, "Under other circumstances, I would share your enthusiasm, however-"
"Hermiod," Caldwell's voice over the radio interrupted, "I need to be able to beam Lt. Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay to the 302 bay. The virus has cut-off all access routes."
"It will take a moment to make some adjustments to the transport system, Colonel Caldwell," Hermiod responded, already pressing the buttons on his console, "Please stand-by."
"The virus is reacting too quickly," D frowned down at her console, muttering quietly to herself, "It's almost as if…"
"The transport system is ready, Colonel Caldwell," Hermiod announced.
"Activating transport beam now," Caldwell said evenly.
"Raise the shield in the fighter bay," D commanded, looking up to Hermiod suddenly, "Now."
System alarms began blaring as Hermiod pressed a series of buttons on his console.
"Bridge to engine room!" Caldwell shouted over the radio, "Beam them out now!"
"What's happening?" Elizabeth questioned.
"Colonel Sheppard, Dr. McKay, can you hear me?" Hermiod asked calmly.
"Yeah, we're reading you," John's voice came over the radio and Elizabeth let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"I have raised the fighter bay shield in order to prevent the atmosphere from escaping," Hermiod informed them, "However, the virus has invaded the system and it is only a matter of time before it gains control. Therefore, I suggest you complete your task as quickly as possible."
"Can you keep the virus out of the shield long enough for them to finish?" Elizabeth directed the question to Hermiod after several tense moments.
"I am attempting to do so, Dr. Weir," Hermiod replied.
"The virus is not merely reacting to our attempts to get rid of it, ma'am," D explained as Elizabeth turned back to her with a questioning look, "It's anticipating them. Once it sealed off all open routes, our most obvious move would be to beam Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay into the bay. The logical counter-move for the virus was to open the doors, decompressing the bay. That way we wouldn't be able to pull the computers from the 302s and the virus would have eliminated two of its more serious threats."
"Okay, I understand why this virus would see Rodney as a threat," Elizabeth said with a small frown, "but John as well?"
"Dr. McKay has the technical skills and intelligence level to be a threat to the virus, which obviously makes him a target," D responded, tilting her head to the side, "Lt. Colonel Sheppard is…wildly unpredictable in his responses and reactions, ma'am. That makes him very dangerous to any being, including this artificially intelligent virus, which relies heavily on logic to anticipate and counteract any moves we might make."
"I see," Elizabeth bit back her smile.
"I can no longer prevent the virus from gaining complete control of the shield," Hermiod stated.
"Well, beam them out!" Elizabeth ordered quickly.
"Unfortunately," Hermiod looked up from his console, "it appears I have lost control of that system as well."
"Colonel Sheppard, do you read me?" Caldwell's voice came over the radio, "Colonel Sheppard, do you read?"
"This is Sheppard. We're okay," Sheppard answered after a moment, "We managed to get in the last F-302 before we lost atmosphere. Any chance you could beam us out?"
"Sorry, John, we lost the transport beam," Elizabeth replied, "You're going to have to sit still for a while."
"We pulled all the memory units," Rodney informed them, "Another shutdown should work."
"Understood," Elizabeth acknowledged.
"Engine room, this is the bridge," Caldwell said, "We don't have a lot of time before we approach lethal radiation levels."
"Most of the shutdown protocols are still in place from our first attempt," Hermiod replied, "This will only take a few minutes."
"Let's hope we have a few minutes," Caldwell stated.
After a couple minutes of silent working Hermiod finally spoke again, "Colonel Caldwell, I am ready to attempt another shutdown."
"All hands, this is Colonel Caldwell," Caldwell announced over the PA, "We're going to give this another shot."
"Dr. Weir," D spoke quietly, "Please come stand over here."
"Making sure you don't lose me when the lights go off?" Elizabeth smiled wryly, walking around the console to stand next to D.
"Maybe I'm just afraid of the dark and I want to hold someone's hand, ma'am," D raised an eyebrow, laying her right hand gently on Elizabeth's forearm.
"We're initiating total system shutdown now," Caldwell declared.
Hermiod pressed the keys on his console and the ship was once again plunged into darkness. Hermiod waited a minute and tapped the button again, the lights coming back up as he spoke, "Re-initializing."
"Did it work?" Elizabeth asked as D moved her hand away.
"We will know momentarily," Hermiod answered evenly.
"This is Sheppard," John said over the radio, "What just happened?"
"Stand by," Caldwell ordered, "We're trying to figure that out."
There was a short pause before Caldwell spoke again, "It didn't work. We're still on course for the coronasphere."
Hermiod mumbled under his breath as Elizabeth ducked her head with a frown.
"Wow, Hermiod," D snorted, "You could make a sailor blush with a mouth like that."
Hermiod mumbled something else that was clearly directed at D even though he didn't look up from his console.
"Now, that wasn't a very nice thing to say," D pouted, "If we're all going to die in a puddle of radioactive goo, the least you could do is be polite beforehand."
"There has got to be something else we can do," Elizabeth insisted.
"Engine room, this is Sheppard," John's determined voice came over the radio, "Prepare to initiate another shutdown on my command."
"John, what are you doing?" Elizabeth asked warily.
"Getting rid of the last place the virus can hide," John answered firmly.
"You'd better make this quick, Sheppard," Caldwell responded, "Radiation levels are beginning to rise on the outer hull."
"He's going after the last 302," D said thoughtfully, "Hermiod, could you show us his progress please?"
Hermiod pressed a few keys and the display behind him shifted, "I have them on my screens. The computer-controlled ship is preparing to fire."
The image on the screen showed the two ships suddenly changing positions.
"Nice move," Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed," Hermiod agreed.
"Wildly unpredictable, ma'am," D shook her head, "Не хорошо на следующих заказов, но великолепно сохранившихся космических сражений, по-видимому." [Russian: Not good at following orders but great at surviving space battles, apparently.]
"Radiation levels in the Colonel's ship are beginning to rise," Hermiod informed them.
The image on Hermiod's screens fuzzed out.
"What happened?" Elizabeth questioned Hermiod.
"They're approaching the coronasphere," Hermiod answered evenly, "There is too much interference."
"How long can they survive those radiation levels?" Elizabeth asked carefully.
"I believe it has already been too long," Hermiod stated.
"John, can you read me?" Elizabeth looked down anxiously, "Oh, please. Rodney, come in."
"Daedalus, this is Sheppard," John answered after a small pause, "Target is destroyed. I repeat. Target is destroyed. If you try one more shutdown, I think it might just work."
"Well done, both of you," Elizabeth gave a relieved smile, "You had us a little worried there for a minute."
"Sorry about that," John replied.
"This is Caldwell," Caldwell interjected, "We'll rendezvous as soon as we've eradicated the virus once and for all."
"Roger that," John acknowledged, "Sheppard out."