This chapter will cover the second half of season one.
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Chapter 6
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During weekly flight training for the newest recipients of the gift it was discovered that a super storm was making its way towards the city, and covered more than 30% of the planet's surface. They could activate he shield for a short time and with their power reserves, but it would drain all of their stored energy reserves. While contemplating their limited energy supply John approached Rodney and Radek with an idea to greatly increase their energy stores, gave them the outline to his idea and left them to calculate if it was doable.
The next morning the senior staff was gathered in the conference room to discuss their plans when Rodney and Radek rushed into the room and told John that it would work and could potentially fill all three ZPMs that they possessed. Elizabeth catching the wording asked what they meant by fill instead of recharge.
Seeing that it was time to explain the truth about the ZPMs John began his explanation "The difference is that ZPMs can only be made and recharged in one way. ZPMs are created with the energy generated when a bonded trio fully connects. The Ancients were amazing geneticists and using the A/B/O bond built a genetic code that had three separate parts one to each the Alphas, Betas, and Omegas. When the three have a healthy bond and connect sexually the three pieces of the code align to generate unbelievable amounts of energy. This is ONLY possible when an Alpha, Beta, and Omega possess a healthy bond. The Ancients built three rooms within the city to channel this energy into useful endeavors and with the aid of the Leviathans found that the energy could be used to build ZPMs by combining the energy various crystals and minerals. It was however essential to keep track of which trios built each ZPM because only that trio could recharge the ZPM. Though ZPMs are still capable of storing massive amounts of raw energy, (one could think of them as super batteries) but even if a ZPM is filled to the brim with raw energy it is still only about 20-25% of the power that recharging it could produce."
With a smile Elizabeth states "So that is one of the reasons you have been encouraging our people to pursue fulfilling relationships."
With a frown John replies "No Elizabeth. While that is certainly one advantage along with a few others that will not be discussed yet humans are categorized into three roles Alpha, Beta, Omega. Each human is meant to find and bond with two others that complete them. It is how our species was meant to be; unfortunately North America forgot this and damaged several generations. Had we already been in complete bonds when we came to the city we would have been able to fully repair her with a month instead of it taking a year. But even if we had been able to build ZPMs from the beginning it would not do us any good because a ZPM has to set or settle for a while before they can be used or they will burn out very quickly."
"How long do they have to set exactly John?" asks Rodney
With a sigh John replies "I honestly don't know it was not viewed as essential information when I was in the chair because we were incapable of creating them so I was just given a summary and told that when we were closer to being able to build ZPMs the subject would be revisited. So Rodney you were saying that my idea would work, what do we need to do for it to succeed?"
Bringing out his tablet and sending the plans to everyone's tablets in the room they looked over the plan. It would require taking the ZPMs to the top of the central tower where the lightning rod was attached. The ZPMs would be put into a naquadah sphere that was built for just this purpose and the lightning rod would be disconnected from the tower and attached to the top of the sphere. The rod would then be given a positive charge to attract the lightning bolts. Due to the dangers of having lightning constantly striking the city it was recommended that all nonessential personnel go to another planet for the duration of the storm.
It was agreed that about 80% of the expedition would be going off world leaving only 6 scientists and a few dozen solders behind to guard the city ensure that the plan was successful. The people who were leaving went to the planet that the Athosians currently inhabited with the cover story that their base was being remodeled and they were taking this time to explore a new planet and get to know the Athosian people better. Unfortunately the Athosians were old trading buddies with the Genii and word got back to them that Naboo's base is being remodeled and only a few people are currently residing within the base.
The Genii eager to get more of the C4 after the initial test showed amazing potential, kidnap some of their scientists to advance their own technology, and get revenge for the death of Tyrus make a daring plan to take control of the base and strip it of anything useful to the Genii.
With the preparations all in place the remaining personnel were just waiting for the storm to hit. Not expecting any activity no one was paying attention to the gate so when it activated SGA 1 being the only team in the gate room dashed to the computer in time to see a dozen Genii had already made it through the gate. Having made it through with his strike team and finding no resistance the team leader Kolya sent back the all clear for the full attack force to come through.
Seeing the Genii moving away from the gate to make room for what he assumed to be reinforcements Aiden entered his code into the computer and initiated emergency lock down protocols that activated the iris, scrambled all radio frequencies, erected shields around the computers in the gate room, sealed the gate room, and locked everyone out of the computers until John, Rodney, and Elizabeth were able to enter their own codes at the same time and unlock all the systems. Looking through the shields that now surrounded them SGA 1 saw the confused looks on the Genii's faces; their attention was then drawn to the numerous bangs that signified that the iris destroyed whatever it was that just traveled through the gate.
Scowling furiously Kolya looked around until he spotted SGA 1, getting everyone's attention as he pointed his weapon at SGA 1 his men mimicking his actions he roared. "What did you do, and where are my men?"
With a sinister smile Aiden asks "Did you all hear those bangs a few moments ago?"
Kolya questioningly replies "Yes?"
Aiden smiling answers "That was your men dying as the iris prevented their bodies form rematerializing every impact you heard was another one of your little invasion force dying in an attempt to follow you through the gate."
Enraged by the loss if his men Kolya begins firing at SGA 1 his remaining men following his lead, only to be shocked as the bullets ricochet and wound 5 of his remaining men. Ordering his men to cease fire he turns his shocked gaze to SGA 1 and asks "How is this possible you are uninjured and our own bullets are hitting us"
Aiden replies "When you came through the gate I initiated the lock down protocols which activated the iris, sealed the room, and erected shields around us. Your only options are to surrender or die!"
Further angered by his compete failure Kolya prepares to attack again. This time though SGA 1 returns fire killing every solder that raises their weapons. When all of the Genii are down Aiden yells "Anyone who wishes to live will throw their weapons towards the wall and surrender!" Weapons are thrown from only three locations the throwers putting their hands up in the air showing that they are unarmed. Aiden and Teyla step through the shield and cautiously move towards the downed solders, thanks to the Ancient life signs detector they know that the three that surrendered are the only ones alive. After ensuring that the injured survivors are stripped of all weapons Aiden sends them all into unconsciousness with a single Zat shot to each one. Then he reaches out to everyone in the city to give them a summary of the situation and asks John, Rodney, and Elizabeth to find a terminal and input their codes to end the lock down, and for some who are capable of healing to come to the gate room to treat the injured Genii.
After dealing with their Genii prisoners they returned their attention to the Storm and their energy gathering the computers warned that a massive tidal wave was heading for the city, and they would need to raise the shield for a short time to protect the city. Activating the shield drained about 70 percent of their reserves, but with the city was safe. While the storm finished it trek across the planet, with the major threats behind them John turned his focus to the failed invasion and the three survivors John and Aiden entered their minds and gathered every useful piece of information they could. After they were finished Evan was called in to wipe all of their memories from the moment they stepped through the gate. Taking the prisoners and returning to the gate room John told Peter to dial the Genii home world then John, Rodney, Evan, and Aiden levitated the prisoners and the corpses through the gate leaving Kolya for last. John attached a note to Kolya's chest telling Cowen that they failed and another such attempt would result in retaliation, but for now John felt that the loss of all but three of their men was enough of a cost then levitated Kolya's body through.
Once the storm subsided they were happy to learn that all three of the ZPMs were full and could power the chair and the shields in the event of an enemy siege on the city. A couple days later when everyone had returned everyone was informed of the attack and to be on the lookout for any Genii when going through the gate.
After everything settled down it was discovered that the city had been struck by several stray bolts of lightning. The strikes had woken Atlantis and Avalon from their slumber and the two sent all of the extra energy into producing the gift so that there were enough doses to have every member of the expedition receive one. All of the residents within the city had fallen in love with it and had come to the conclusion that they wished to stay so they would need the gift to be contributing residents.
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A few weeks later while check looking through the database Rodney found references to an Ancient weapons platform about 15 hours from the city and after checking the long range scanners found that it was still intact. That night in their quarters Rodney asked John if they could go to the satellite to see what condition it was in reluctantly John agreed but they would be taking two additional Jumpers with SGA 1-2 as back up. It took a few days to line up everyone's schedules up, and after 15 hours of flying John was thanking the Ancients repeatedly for building auto pilot into the Jumpers. Once they docked with the satellite and liked their tablets they were disappointed to discover that 10,000 years of neglect had left the satellite in desperate need of repair. Rodney and Peter theorized that in an emergency it would be possible to squeeze out one possibly two shots before the system overloaded and burned out. The two scientists made a full list of parts necessary to repair the satellite to full working order, and even a planned upgrade to install a shield generator.
On the return flight Rodney was messing with the scanners and found a downed Wraith Cruiser, after a short discussion it was agreed that searching the wreckage could prove to be useful he also ordered them that if they were able to capture a Wraith alive to do so. John reminded them that there could be Wraith present and told them he did not want a repeat of the MDF incident. With that jolt of reality the SGA 1 went in from the front and John and Rodney joined SGA 2 at the rear with one member of each team constantly monitoring the life signs detector for any movement. It turns out that Wraith are capable of cannibalism as they found a number of Wraith bodies that showed evidence of being fed upon. In the end they found only a single surviving Wraith who kicked several of their asses before they were finally able to subdue him shockingly it took two shots from a Zat to knock him unconscious. Once he was down the newly dubbed Steve was wrapped in metal wires and put into the jumper with John and Rodney. Rodney was able to alter the Jumpers shields to contain Steve in a bubble and the three jumpers headed for home.
Though Elizabeth was unhappy with the idea of testing on a living specimen she was forced to concede John's point that if they were to have any chances against the Wraith then they needed to understand them. John did however promise that all testing would be limited to samples that were taken from Steve.
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On their next trip though the gate SGA 1 encountered a planet that was untouched by the Wraith, when questioned about this the local inhabitants tell SGA 1 that the mighty Athar protects them. After communicating with the priests of Athar they meet the high priestess of Athar and invite Chaya to return with them so they may discuss the protection that Athar grants his people. Though it is against protocol Aiden takes Chaya back to the city because he something inside of him is telling him to take her to the city. Once back in the city SGA 1 approached John, Elizabeth, and Rodney with Chaya in tow and most were shocked by John's greeting. "It has been a long time Chaya Atlantis and Avalon send their greetings though they are confused as to why you are masquerading as a mortal when you ascended 11,000 years ago. It confuses them as to why you appear to be clinging to mortal life when the Ancients abandoned life in pursuit of their precious ascension."
With a sad smile Chaya replied "Greetings Keeper. Greetings Atlantis. Greetings Avalon. As for the reason I appear to be clinging to life after I ascended my home world was attacked by the Wraith and I could not bear to watch it ravaged so I lashed out and destroyed the Wraith vessels. Because I broke the noninterference that the other ascended put in place I was punished. My punishment was that I am bound to my home world for eternity only able to protect those born there from the Wraith while the rest of the galaxy is ravaged by them."
With a frown John agrees "Yes that sounds like the Ancients that I have hears about. Cowards and arrogant fools who create problems then leave their messes for us mere mortals to clean up, like they did with the Wraith." Before anything else could be said panic flooded the room as Chaya muttered "I should never have left" turned incorporeal and went through the gate back to Proculus. Turning to Aiden John ordered him to return to Proculus to access the situation and aid Chaya it she needed it. Thankfully no help was needed and any further conversation was pushed to an unknown later date due to Chaya's reluctance to leave Proculus any time soon.
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During the next monthly meeting a new issue was brought up by several concerned women and a few male Omegas. None of the women had had a period in months and the Omegas biyearly heat had not occurred at first some had attributed it to the stress, however now they realized that everyone who had receive the gift was currently off their regular cycles. With a completely red face John realized that he had missed three heats since receiving the gift and had not even realized it. With a muttered "Be right back" John practically fled to the chair to get the answers to this important question. Ten minutes late a much relieved John returned and explained that "Since our life span is now measure in the thousands of years which has basically slowed our body's aging down to a crawl it also affects Omega heats and women's monthly cycles. Avalon told me that it varies from person to person but Omegas will usually have one or two heats per decade, and women will have one period every two to four years. I am told that the symptoms will be a bit stronger, but generally there is little difference."
John's explanation was met with a wave of cheers from the women several making statements like. "Accepting the gift would have been worth it if this was the only benefit." A few of the women were oddly patting the walls thanking the city for taking away their terrible monthly visitors. Moving along from that terribly awkward topic and the strangely happy responses Peter moved to the center of the platform drawing everyone's attention. Over the last few weeks I have been reviewing the Ancient records and I have compiled a list of gate addresses where ZPMs could be found 10,000 years ago, I am unsure of their current status but it is more that we had before. Getting a nod of approval from John for his initiative John told them to gear up and start at the top of the list ad work their way down.
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SGA 1 taking the first address on the list came to a planet that was inhabited by a group called the brotherhood. They worshiped the ZPMs and called them the Potentia after searching through some old records SGA 1 was lead to an underground room that was supposed to hold the Potentia, but in order to get it one had to solve the riddle. After several grueling hours of work Aiden and Peter were able to solve the riddle recover the Potentia, however as they were heading back to the gate a faction of the brotherhood all wielding guns ordered SGA 1to surrender the Potentia to them or die. The Jumper pilot playing on the beliefs of the brotherhood used his telepathy to project into all of their minds. "Leave my people be they are doing my work I tasked them with retrieving my Potentia and returning it to me!" With the locals scared stiff SGA 1 made for the gate at full speed, just as they were stepping through the gate they saw several members of the brotherhood break through the tree line and take aim at them. Just as they made it through the gate a stray bullet caught Aiden in the wrist blowing off his hand and continuing on into Peter's thigh since was standing in front of him the injury causing Peter to fall forward launching the ZPM into the air.
Seeing two team members fall and the ZPM go air borne Elizabeth radioed to the infirmary as John and Rodney ran forward to help and Evan used his telekinesis to catch the ZPM before it could hit the floor. John went to Aiden and Rodney focused on Peter, Rodney used his telekinesis to pull the bullet from Peter's thigh then placed his hand over the wound to begin healing. John was having a harder time as he was using his telekinesis to slow the blood loss, but had no idea as to how to heal the wound since most of the hand was missing. Teyla at seeing her Omega bleeding out and the man she hoped to become he Beta injured was clearly distraught, her entire being was focused on helping Aiden as she joined John and placed her hands around Aiden's mangled hand and focused her will to fix the damage inflicted upon her Omega. A few minutes after receiving the call Carson and his team came running into the gate room, taking in the scene before him and the larger puddle of blood beneath Aiden went to him while sending his second to Peter.
Having the easier of the two tasks Rodney was almost finished when the nurse arrived, and the task having drained him more than he realized happily moved to the side and allowed the nurses to take over. As he turned around he saw John swaying and Teyla fall backwards unconscious. Confused as to what happened he moved closer to steady John and see what condition Aiden was in. As he got his arm around John's waist he heard the shocked exclamation from John so he turned and asked what was wrong. John relied "His hand is whole, when I got to him it was in pieces and I did not know how to heal it." Seeing the disbelief on Rodney and Carson's faces John just pointed to the right where a bloody pinkie and ring finger lay on the ground then pointed to the Aiden's fully intact hand.
Not knowing how to answer Carson settled for asking what happened do John explained "I was slowing the blood loss trying to figure out what to do when Teyla came forward and wrapped her hands around the mangled hand. When she did this I felt a great build up of energy in her then it flowed through her arms into her hands and towards the injury so I did the same and focusing all of my energy into her hands to aid her in whatever task she was doing." Since Teyla was unconscious they would not be getting any information out of her so the injured headed for the infirmary, john and Rodney went to find some food and everyone else went back to their tasks.
The next day after thoroughly checking the ZPM they found that it was full charged and ready to be installed at any time, however it would only be needed in emergencies because the city gains the power needed for daily functions from natural sources making it completely self sufficient. After hearing that Teyla is awake John, Rodney, and Elizabeth head for the infirmary to speak with her about what happened the day before, and a shocking discovery that had been made. They had researched several documents left over from the Ancients and found many variations of healing, but there was no mention the level of regeneration that Teyla demonstrated yesterday. So Carson had taken a blood sample to see if he could find any anomalies there that would give them provide answers for her amazing ability since no one had ever shown such abilities in the history of the Ancients.
A shocked Carson had come to them early this morning and told them that a few markers in Teyla's DNA were the same as the Wraith. This is why the group was currently in the infirmary to speak with Teyla and hopefully uncover the secrets of her genetic similarities with the Wraith. After explaining the situation to her Teyla had a concerned look on her face and told them that there was a story passes down from her father about why his father had joined the Athosians. The story said that the man had been culled but woke up in strange room where a Wraith had injected him with something and then put him in a cell. Over a period years he had been subject to many more experiments until one day he was released. He had been thrilled to escape alive, but when he reaches the village the locals had shunned him forcing him to flee to another planet when they began to turn violent and ended up on Athos.
"Do you know what planet he came from Teyla?" asked John
"Yes the address was passed down as a part of the story" Replied Teyla
"OK. Carson says that you will be able to get out of here later today so tomorrow morning you will take SGAs 1-2 with you to that address and find out what you can about these experiments." Replied John before the three of them departed the infirmary.
The records recovered from the Wraith lab were disturbing it seems that a rouge Wraith scientist was experimenting on humans in an attempt to make humans more compatible with the feeding process so the Wraith would get more food from each human they fed upon. However it had an unforeseen result, all of the test subjects began to display violent behavior and the telepathic abilities of the Wraith. So the scientist had released the subjects out into the village hoping that several generations of breeding with normal humans would dilute the effects so he could begin his experiments anew. At some point after the release of the subjects his experiments were discovered and the Wraith culled the planet to extinction and it is assumed that the scientist was killed.
The most disturbing information discovered though was the fact that the Ancients were directly responsible for the birth of the Wraith. It appears that when the Ancients first came to Pegasus and began seeding life throughout the galaxy one of the planets they chose was the home worlds of the Iratus bug. At some point the Iratus bug mixed their DNA with a human and evolved over the course of several million years before journeying out into the stars in search of new food sources where they encountered the Ancients. The ancients had at first attempted to negotiate with the Wraith mistaking advanced for civilized and paid for that mistake with their lives. The meeting had taken place in the city and the delegation that was meeting with the Wraith was led by several high ranking citizens within Ancient society. Half way through the meeting the Wraith Queens had attacked killing all of the Ancients then escaping through the gate before the Ancients could recover from their shock. It was this attack that sparked the war between the Wraith and the Ancients; it was also this event that evolved the Wraith into the creatures they are today.
It was also discovered that the Wraith are in constant communication with each other over a telepathic link and it that link which allowed Teyla to sense when the Wraith are present. Thankfully after receiving the gift and finding out she was a telepath she trained to erect barriers around her mind to protect not only herself, but also to protect the secrets that lie within. Carson theorized that it was her Wraith genetics that boosted her natural healing ability into regeneration since the Wraith are able to heal from almost any injury as long as they have the energy.
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Going into the monthly meeting John knows it is going to be extremely emotional and painful for everyone not only because of the impending threat that was picked up on the long range scanners a few days ago, but also due to the betrayal that each and every member has been dealt by those on Earth. A betrayal that John has the task if delivering to them thankfully his task will be aided by the files that he has copied and uploaded into the system so everyone can view them. There is however good news their efforts to recover ZPS had yielded amazing results they were able to find five more fully charged and 4 that were depleted giving them a grand total of six fully charged ZPMs, 4 depleted ZPMs, and the three that they had charged during the storm.
Stepping up onto the platform in the meeting hall John drew the attention of all. With a sigh he began "There is some information that I need to share with all of you. Then months after we arrived and the city had recovered enough to focus on things other than healing Avalon informed me that she maintained a subspace connection with all of the Ancient outposts. Not fully understanding where she was going with this I asked her what she meant. Her reply was that she was currently in contact with the Ancient outpost in Antarctica and could easily facilitate us to communicate with people on Earth." Shock and outrage swept the room even Elizabeth was giving him "the look" so he continued. "I figured that I would surprise everyone in the city with the information and hoped to allow you all to contact your families. So I had Avalon search the systems of Earth using all of our names and the information in our files to access our E-Mails so we could get caught up on what we had all missed since we left Earth, and compose replies. As Avalon was doing this she discovered that according to the solders families we are all KIA, MIA, or POWs and all of the civilians are listed as dead killed in various accidents." When John finished this there was pandemonium, exclamations of denial, and shouts of anger. Holding up his hands John got them to quiet long enough to tell them that all of the information was on the city server and gave them the access code so that they could read it for themselves.
Three hours later once everyone had read the information and had time enough to calm down so they could discuss this new information. John retook his position "There is a second part to this betrayal that shows how deep the corruption runs. Once all of us were listed as dead, POW, or MIA all of the pay and benefits our families were receiving stopped, however we are still listed as alive and healthy by our governments all of whom are all still sending our pay checks to our accounts. The money is then withdrawn and routed to another account directly under the control of the IOA. Once I found this with the aid of Avalon I found that the IOA was responsible for our current listings, and that they have repeatedly blocked all attempts by various people to check on us. General O'Neal was in fact ordered by the president not to discuss anything about the city or our expedition with the Asgard or he would be brought up on charges of treason. It appears that those in charge want any and all discoveries to be solely under their control. In fact the IOA has gained considerable influence in multiple governments around the world since several of their senior members control the various laboratories that are responsible for a number of the most recent breakthroughs in medicine and technology. Breakthroughs that were made with alien technology they claim it is to help offset the cost of maintaining the Star Gate program however only about 60% of the money made actually makes it to where it is meant to go."
Pausing for several minutes to give them time to digest this John began again. "What we must all now consider is what to do about it because with the amount of money and deception involved the IOA will probably be ripped apart if this information ever came to light, and the people responsible for revealing it would most likely be killed. There also has to be several high ranking officials in each government involved for them to accomplish this who would all do everything in their power to ensure that this information never sees the light of day. So you all need to think about how we should proceed because the only way that I have seen for us to tell our families we are alive and not put them in more danger is to reveal the Star Gate program to the world." Waiting until the noise died down before continuing.
"Now there is a reason that I am sharing all of this information with you now. Our long range scanners indicate that there are 4 Wraith hives on a direct course for this city we are unsure why, but we believe that the Wrath acquired our gate address and knowing that the Ancients had the same address are coming here. The connection to the information is that while we have the power for some to flee to Earth or even call for reinforcements with this new information I don't believe that either action would be advisable especially with our new abilities none of us would ever see the outside of a science lab with us as the experiments. So I am planning on fighting the Wraith and the city will be doing the same all of you need to choose what path you wish to take and be prepared for the consequences. I realize that we have discussed the issue of us being able to maintain relations with Earth, but after this latest disappointment I see no reason to maintain my allegiance to people that threw me away and while I will not view them as an enemy they will not be seen as a friend either." With that John turned and left the room to begin preparations.
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OK all so here is my latest chapter hope you enjoyed. I don't have a Beta so I am sorry if there any errors I don't mind if they are pointed out just don't be rude about it.
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