Cast between Worlds
A/N; Shorter chapter this time I'm afraid. Long chapters like the last one are just too hard to write and it makes it harder to update regularly. Still the same as I would have done it though it just doesn't have much after the Storm episodes.
Chapter 9; Storm
Rodney's lab
Harry was sitting on one of the hard tables with his feet crossed in front of him. The door was firmly locked keeping his and Rodney's little experiment secret from any of the rest of the expedition. Rodney was sitting by the side of the table behind a desk with his laptop open in front of him and what seemed to Harry to be a hundred different wires running from it to a dozen pieces of equipment.
A number of wires were connected to Harry in all the usual places. He was shirtless allowing the wires to monitor his heart rate, body temperature and a number of other things as well as a dozen wires around his head to monitor his brain patterns and electro-neural levels. The only thing that really changed when he was manipulating the weather and the only thing really harmful to him. From previous tests he knew that it was the electronic pulses in his neural system that actually connected to the systems he manipulated and that was dangerous. Though it had never caused him a real problem before.
"Let's try this again." Rodney told him gesturing to a small glass cylinder he'd set up as soon as Harry had agreed to let him run his tests.
"It's not going to work." Harry told him once again.
"It's not supposed to work." Rodney told him. "It's in the act of trying that I find out what I want to know. I can't have you creating a full blown storm."
"Why not?" Harry asked the eager scientist.
Rodney looked up startlingly. "Because Elizabeth said I can't."
Harry laughed but concentrated on the air in the room and more particularly the air inside the air tight glass chamber filled with little sensors to register changes in pressure, temperature or the electro magnetism. Instead of concentrating on changing the pressure to create a mini-hurricane like Rodney wanted he concentrated on the air molecules themselves and what gave them their temperature. The outside of the glass chamber suddenly started running with water as the air on the inside went cold and misty. Water began to settle in the base of the cylinder.
"What did you do?" Rodney asked half standing up to look into the cylinder as if his results weren't enough.
"Chilled the air." Harry told him.
"Passed the dew point." Rodney told him. "That's incredible."
"I was going for a blizzard." Harry told him.
"Can you do that?"
"Not a clue." Harry laughed. "Was never allowed to try before. I think I'd need several cubic miles of air before I could set up something like that but I don't think people could accept it if I made it snow in the middle of summer."
"But you can make it rain pretty easily." Rodney pointed out.
"I suppose the Athosians don't have to worry about droughts." Harry told him with a sigh.
"So tell me about storms." Rodney told him.
"What type? They work differently you know." Harry grinned.
"I know that!" Rodney sighed as if talking to a child. "What about cloud based ones? Thunderstorms."
"That's the same as what I just did." Harry told him. "Moving moisture in the air in certain ways makes the lightning so just changing the moisture in an area can charge a cloud from being a normal rain cloud to a lightning capable one."
"That's what you did against the Hive ship?" Rodney asked.
"Been talking to Elizabeth?" Harry asked, Rodney didn't answer so Harry continued. "That was a bit different, I had to pull in the clouds throughout the area and condense them. All that moisture blowing together provided the charge."
"What about the tornados?"
"I can't really control them that much." Harry told him. "I can create a storm system capable of them and push it to the edge to create a tornado or a dozen of them but once they're formed all I can do is feed them or stop them. I can't tell them where to go."
"Can you tell thunderstorms where to go?"
"No." Harry shook his head. "I can only build them up in an area and create wind to push the clouds in a particular direction but if I push too hard the wind starts to break the clouds apart. I've never forced the lightning to hit a certain target either. I suppose it's possible if I could create opposite charges in the area to attract the lightning."
"You can do that?"
"Theoretically electronic manipulation is possible for me but I've never done it before." Harry sighed. "That creature we discovered was much better at it."
"Don't remind me." Rodney shuddered. "So you can create and stop thunderstorms and tornados and similar things but not control them? What about hurricane systems?"
"That's large scale." Harry told him. "It takes a lot of effort and time to build them up. I have to constantly move air in a massive area to create a low pressure cell and then have to constantly add to it to maintain it. Controlling it's direction works in the same way. I just lower the pressure on one side and it moves that way."
"What about size?" Rodney asked looking rather eager.
"It works the same for all of them. I have to constantly feed the small ones and it tires me out. Like if I tried to create a hurricane in a small room. It's hard to do." Harry explained. "Take a hurricane for example. I have to constantly feed the smaller ones with energy to keep them going or they neutralize themselves and fade. But there are three stages to every storm I create."
Rodney pulled up his laptop and looked intently at Harry. "Three stages?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "The first stages is the Unsustainable stage where I have to constantly feed energy into it."
"Or it dissipates?" Rodney asked.
"Right." Harry nodded. "In the middle is the Sustainable stage where I can sit back and watch it happily pleased with its destruction."
"And they're more powerful then the Unsustainable ones?" Rodney asked.
"Definitely." Harry nodded. "We're talking natural looking hurricanes, large scale and they don't go away until I destabilise them or nature finally shifts to counter them."
"And above that?"
"Right." Harry bit his lip. "I've never pushed to create one but the President wanted me to."
"And you didn't?" Rodney seemed surprised.
"The Queen of England is aware of my abilities and I'm dual nationality, meaning if they do anything to risk my life they have to have her permission as well." Harry explained.
"Risk your life?" Rodney frowned.
"As soon as I force a storm through the upper barrier into the Self-sustaining phase it gets nasty." Harry explained. "It takes a life of its own beyond what is natural. I have to flood it with my own energy to stop it from becoming too big."
"How big are we talking?" Rodney asked listening intently.
"I suppose if I lost control of one in the wrong place on Earth I could create an Ice Age." Harry guessed.
"But you wouldn't lose control of it?" Rodney asked.
"It depends on if I can force it back below the barrier into Sustainable before I run out of energy." Harry explained. "If I can't then it would just continue growing until something is done to sustain it."
"Which could be?" Rodney asked.
"Ever heard of the Zeus project?" Harry asked. "A way of using a nuclear explosion to destabilise a hurricane. It was planned that if I ever lost control of one on Earth they'd use a nuclear war head to attempt to destabilise it."
"What about you?" Rodney asked.
"If I ever pushed a storm into the upper stages I'd have to constantly fight it to keep it at a controllable level. The larger I let it get the harder that would be." Harry explained. "I've accidentally pushed that border once before and my electro-neural levels jumped. Theoretically the longer I'm in that stage the further off balance those levels could get."
"So you could go into a coma?" Rodney asked.
"If it doesn't kill me outright." Harry shrugged. "Not something I really plan on ever doing."
"I wasn't even going to suggest trying that."
"So, what do you have planned next?" Harry asked.
"A couple of things." Rodney explained. "I want to see what happens to your body when you monitor the weather around a large area."
"Like the planet?" Harry asked. "I can't pick up a storm on the other side of the planet but I can pick up the effect it has on this side."
"Kind of like a warning system?" Rodney asked.
"Sure. You'd have to go and look to be sure but it's a good warning." Harry told him. "What else?"
"I was thinking about trying for something that could power the city." Rodney bit his lip. "A weather system has a lot of energy and by what I'm reading on my sensors you're not actually feeding the weather yourself but rather directing the energy already there. If you can direct it into something we can take from it could be very useful for us."
"Sounds interesting." Harry mused. "And if we get it wrong I bring a hurricane down in the middle of the city and wipe us all out."
"Well, yes. There is that." Rodney rolled his eyes. "Let's see what happens with the first test. See if you can find out what the weather is like somewhere far away."
"Looking for beach time are you?" Harry teased.
"Funny Captain." Rodney was looking down at his screen. Harry lay back on the bed and got comfortable before letting his eyes flash back to their cloudy black colour as he delved into what the air wanted to tell him. A breeze ruffled the hairs on his skin and goose bumps formed on his skin. A soft smile graced his lips.
Harry reached out through the city and listening solely to what the outer air could tell him about the world. What he found worried him. The wind was moving steadily in a westerly direction which wasn't all that strange except it wasn't even similar to the weather patterns he'd noticed before. He reached out further and with a jolt felt his powers try to connect to something so far away he couldn't even sense it. It was massive. The system he could just sense the edge of suggested something that took up half the globe.
He sat up with a gasp and started yanking off the wires connected to him. "Your electro-neurals spiked just then." Rodney told him.
"I'm not surprised." Harry told him. "We need to go find a Puddle Jumper."
"Why?" Rodney asked and followed Harry up as he stood and grabbed his shirt and jacket. He pulled them on before clipping his radio over his ear.
"Doctor Weir?" He asked into the scientists frequency.
"Captain?" She asked, sticking to surnames on the net.
"We've got a not so small problem. Please meet me in the control room."
"I'll be there in a few minutes." She promised. Harry was already out of the door leaving Rodney to catch up.
"What is it, Captain?" Rodney snapped. He didn't like not being the first to understand something.
"I sensed the edge of something that could become a problem." Harry explained. "Something on the upper edge of the Sustainable Field."
"As in?" Rodney asked.
"I'm not sure but it was enough to spike my electro-neurals which I don't like." Harry told him. "I'm guessing a hurricane."
"Coming this way?" Rodney frowned.
"If you'd stop talking and walk faster we'd be that much closer to finding that out." Harry told him. A few silent minutes later Harry entered the control room. "Where's Major Sheppard?"
"He's on a trip to the main land." Peter Grodin answered straight away just as Elizabeth walked in.
"See if you can raise him for me." Harry told the man before pulling Elizabeth to the side to talk privately. "I sensed something building up on the other side of the main land. A hurricane and a big one."
"You didn't..." Elizabeth started. Harry's eyes narrowed. "Ok, no you didn't."
"I wouldn't." Harry told her. "I couldn't sense the actual thing, it's too far away and I can't really connect to it without hurting myself. It's too powerful. We need someone to have a look at it."
"Major Sheppard and Teyla are on their way to the mainland." Elizabeth nodded and led Harry back to Peter at the controls.
"Captain? Major Sheppard is on the comm."
"Major?" Harry asked. "What's your ETA to visual of the mainland?"
"A few seconds."Major Sheppard responded after a moment to check his sensors. "What do you need?"
"A weather check, Major." Harry explained. "Doctor McKay and I found something interesting in one of the labs' records which worries me."
Harry knew the Major knew he was lying but neither would call him on it. It was also clear that Peter and the other control room personnel knew he was covering for something but they all knew what classified was. "It looks calm out here." Sheppard told him.
"Go orbital, Major and have a look westward beyond the continent." Harry told him.
"Give us a minute." Sheppard was obviously doing something and Harry waited patiently for a moment as the Puddle Jumper broke atmosphere and levelled off in orbit with a better view of the planet. "That can't be a storm!"
"Major?" Elizabeth frowned as she spoke.
"That's huge!" Sheppard told them.
"How big is it Major?" Harry asked.
"It must cover twenty percent of the planet!" Sheppard told him.
"Can the Puddle Jumper predict its route?" Harry asked cutting through the bubble of talking in the control room.
"It's tracking straight for the settlement and then to Atlantis." Sheppard told him bluntly.
"Major, I need you to record everything into the Puddle Jumper, do as many scans as you can but especially on the pressure zones near the centre." Harry told him. "Get that back to us as soon as you can."
"You got it, Captain." Sheppard told him. Harry turned to Elizabeth and frowned.
"Once we have that information we're going to need to look at our options." Harry made it clear what he meant. A private conversation where only those that knew about Harry's abilities were present.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Conference room
Harry sat at the conference table with Elizabeth on one side and Sheppard on the other. Ford sat opposite him with Teyla between him and the Major. The only other people in the room were Rodney and Zelenka and the door was firmly shut. Harry, Sheppard and Elizabeth had had a quick whispered conversation with Rodney after Harry, Rodney and Zelenka had gone through the results of the Puddle Jumper's scans and come to the conclusion that Zelenka deserved to know everything that was at their disposal. Which meant Elizabeth was giving Harry permission to tell the second-in-charge scientist about his ability.
"This planet is basically the same size as Earth." Rodney was explaining to those that didn't know everything about hurricanes. "Now, hurricanes on Earth never get as big as this bad boy because once they hit the shore, the brakes get put on. Without as much landmass to slow it down here, it's just gaining momentum."
"Both of them are." Zelenka added.
"Both of them?" Elizabeth's eyes widened and Sheppard sat up straighter.
"We saw only one." Teyla pointed out.
"You have to know what to look for." Harry told her. "The scans show two but they are so close together they look like one with the normal eye."
"Now, according to the Ancient database, every twenty or thirty years the sea gets unseasonably warm. Now that, for reasons too boring to get into, means that hurricanes are much more likely to occur." Zelenka made to interrupt but Rodney cut him off. "Like I said, too boring to go into. Basically, when there's a bunch of them out there it's more likely for two of them to collide. That's what's happening."
"It's more like a merger than a collision. They are intersecting and combining their power." Zelenka told them all.
"And it's heading right towards us." Rodney continued.
"What about the continent?" Sheppard asked. "You said that the land on Earth stops them."
"It'll slow it down but only fractionally." Harry spoke up before Rodney could piss people off with something belittling.
"You said this happens every twenty or thirty years. Surely the Ancients would have some sort of precaution in place." Elizabeth prompted.
"In the past, the Ancients would have been protected by the shield or would have submerged deep enough in the water not to be affected." Rodney explained.
"Ok, strike those options and what else do we have?" Sheppard asked.
Rodney looked at Zelenka who just look back. They both looked blankly back at the audience. "Nothing." Zelenka sighed. "It is a real threat. The high winds alone could wreak havoc."
"Harry?" Elizabeth turned to him. Harry sighed and motioned Rodney and Zelenka to sit down.
"I'll start by saying there is very little I can do." Harry told them bluntly. "Doctor Zelenka, you're the only one in this room that doesn't know this but you're about to get higher security clearance but you must know that you cannot discuss this with anybody outside of this room and keep the questions till when we're not threatened with destruction."
"Of course." Zelenka blinked in surprise.
"I have the rather unique ability to manipulate the atmosphere and with that I can create weather shifts." Harry briefly told him. "Rodney can explain more about it later but simply put I can create hurricanes, thunderstorms and blizzards with very little effort and no technology whatsoever."
"Can you handle that for the time being, Doctor Zelenka?" Elizabeth asked.
"I..." Zelenka muttered under his breath for a moment in Czech before nodding up at Harry. "For the time being."
"Good." Harry nodded before turning to the rest. "There is nothing I can do about the storm itself. If I try to manipulate it directly it would be like putting my finger into a high voltage socket. It is natural and fully sustained. It'll take weeks to dissipate on its own and I can't change that. Redirecting it and slowing it is an option but not a brilliant one."
"Can you shift it away from the mainland?" Teyla asked.
"Not a chance. It'll slow when it hits the land but not by much and under normal circumstances it takes thousands of miles to shift a large hurricane let alone this one. I'd have to make a low pressure trough that curves slowly away from the equator." Harry explained.
"Wait." Ford stopped him. "Why away from the equator?"
"It's the curve of the earth." Rodney stepped in. "It pushes air around but nothing crosses the equator. Forcing the hurricane to cross the equator would be like trying to run around the planet faster than it's spinning."
Harry frowned at the example but shook his head to continue. "That's also the problem between the mainland and Atlantis. The hurricane will already turn northwards once it hits the water and that turns it slightly closer to Atlantis. I can't turn it back to the equator but if I try to turn it fast we'll end up with the centre right over Atlantis."
"Is that better or worse?" Sheppard asked.
"It's like dropping a nuke on a house." Harry told him.
"So outskirts is better?" Sheppard asked.
"Outskirts would be like dropping a cruise missile on a house." Harry told him. "With a storm that big it really doesn't matter. Atlantis will be wiped out either way. If the strong winds don't rip it apart, the storm surge will overwhelm it, and that's not even taking into account the lightning and the debris it picks up on the mainland."
"So we're screwed either way." Ford spoke up before biting his lip as Elizabeth, Harry and Sheppard all looked at him. "Sorry."
Harry flashed him a quick grin. "There is only one thing I can do. I can create a massive high pressure cell, an anti-cyclone, between us and the hurricane."
"What will that do?" Sheppard asked.
"It would force the front edge of the storm to destabilise and cause the main low pressure cell to slow." Harry explained. "Buying us some more time to evacuate."
"Ok, so what's the catch?" Sheppard asked.
Harry winced. "I'd have to draw more air into the area which would eventually be added to the wall of air circling the low pressure cell. I'd basically slow it down so it could feed and grow. When it got here it would be larger and more destructive."
"One nuke is the same as any other nuke." Rodney pointed out. "Time is good."
"Creating a high pressure cell of that magnitude this close to a low pressure cell like we have will mean constantly feeding my energy into it. As soon as I stopped the whole thing would collapse and it'd probably kill me to do it." Harry continued without expression. They all stared at him.
"I'd say that was too high a risk just to buy some time." Sheppard declared as if warning people to even try to argue with him.
"So exactly what sort of damage are we looking at here?" Elizabeth asked.
"I've probably seen the most hurricanes." Harry stepped in before Rodney and Zelenka could over exaggerate things. Though that would be hard in this situation. "We'll expect the front edge of the hurricane proper in about twelve hours. About eight hours before that we'll have strong winds, a couple hours after that it'll be dangerous for anybody to be outside. Just in front of the hurricane proper we'll have a thunderstorm like you can't imagine. If the winds and lightning don't destroy the buildings the edge of the hurricane pushes a storm surge before it."
"What's that?" Teyla asked.
"We're talking a hundred foot high wall of water that will completely cover the piers in water, flood it and sink it." Harry told her bluntly. "That's a certainty. The hurricane itself won't be able to do much damage once the city's underwater though."
"Very funny, Harry." Elizabeth glared at him.
"Better than being torn to shreds by the actual hurricane." Harry shrugged.
"You're not helping." Elizabeth told him before turning to Rodney and Zelenka. "What's the plan."
"Like Captain Potter said, we have twelve hours." Rodney told her. "So we plan...to have a plan by then."
"Get to it." Elizabeth nodded.
"I'll be with them if you need me." Harry told her before standing to follow the two scientists from the room. It was going to be a long few hours.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Hours later
Harry stood leaning on the balcony outside the lab where all of the scientists were working together to try to come up with a solution. Harry had gotten tired of all of their arguments about what to do. So far the only mildly useful solution was to power the structural shields with the naquada generators but that wasn't really a solution since that would only save a single section.
Major Sheppard had managed to negotiate passage to the Menarian home world for a few days but that wouldn't help them in the long run. Overall this was the biggest disaster they could have come up with. Harry had come out here to think as soon as Elizabeth, Sheppard and Ford had left to help out with their own evacuations. He enjoyed the wind blowing around the city even though it was merely the front edge of the storm that would destroy Atlantis.
The door opened behind him and he glanced around to see Zelenka and Rodney braving the wind to see what he was doing. He heard yet another snapshot of the useless argument inside. Harry turned back to the western horizon and the dark clouds looming there. What they really needed was massive amounts of power. Harry frowned as he thought about it like the military man he was. You shouldn't try to use something that you couldn't get a hold of, it was better to just stop hoping and use what you had.
So what did they have? A dead city, a lot of annoying scientists, fifty marines, hundreds of Athosians and a massive storm coming straight at them. Harry jerked and looked up at the storm just as a tiny flicker of lightning lit a small patch of the sky. That was it, they had a dead city and a massively powerful storm. Wasn't it Rodney that had suggested just that morning that they find a way to harness Harry's ability for more than just creating storms. That storm had thousands of megawatts of power, more than enough to run the shield.
"Rodney." Harry turned to look at the man who was arguing with Zelenka yet again. "Rodney!"
"What?" Rodney rolled his eyes at him.
"I've thought of something." Harry told him. "A way of getting the power we need."
"Oh and you're just going to magic it up right?" Rodney sighed.
Harry gestured out to the east. "I don't need to." His eyes glinted in amusement. "It's right there."
Rodney frowned and looked first at the horizon and then at Zelenka before realisation dawned on them both. "The hurricane?"
"Is there a way of channelling the lightning straight into the shield generators?" Harry prompted, he didn't like only having half a plan.
"Through the lightning conductors." Zelenka muttered more to himself than anybody else. Harry already knew about the lightning conductors since he'd looked for such things early on in his expedition.
"So we can?" Harry asked.
"Shut up for a moment would you!?" Rodney ordered. "If we disconnected the grounding stations..."
"...and let the power flow straight into the shield generators..." Zelenka helped him out.
"One shield." Rodney grinned.
"So...?" Harry prompted getting rather irritated now.
"I think you're on to something." Rodney nodded. "You and Zelenka find the schematics for the grounding stations and meet me up in the control room."
"Of course Sir." Harry rolled his eyes even as Rodney turned and walked back into the room of arguing scientists while Zelenka gave him a congratulatory smile and motioned to the door.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Harry had just changed into full tactical gear and armed himself with his Sai and pistol and was walking out of his room when Major Sheppard saw him and called out to him. "Good catch." Sheppard told him.
Harry raised an eyebrow at him. "You mean the lightning?"
"Yeah, you got one over on Rodney. I'd give you a medal for that one." Sheppard laughed.
"I've got two medals more than I want, Major." Harry told him with the smallest of winces. "As for the lightning, I'm an Astramaniac. Of course I'd be the first one to think of it."
Sheppard laughed and the two walked together to find Elizabeth and Rodney. They found them talking in Rodney's lab. "Finally!" Rodney glared at them.
"If we can't do this we'll be evacuating off world, would you have preferred us not to be in combat gear, Doctor McKay?" Harry asked shutting up his complaints.
"Right." Rodney narrowed his eyes before turning back to the screen of his laptop that showed a schematic of the city. "There are hundreds of lightning rods throughout the city."
"Why?" Sheppard asked.
"Why what?" Rodney frowned.
"Why are there hundreds of lightning rods placed around the city?" Sheppard asked. "Wouldn't the shield protect against lightning?"
"Yes it would." Rodney sighed. "But running the shield all the time is good for only one thing...using power."
"Right." Sheppard nodded his understanding.
"You're aware there is a time element to what we're doing right?" Rodney shook his head.
"It's been brought to my attention." Sheppard pointed out dryly.
"Sir, please stop winding him up." Harry spoke up. Sheppard eyed him for a moment before sighing in defeat. Harry shared an amused look with Elizabeth before Rodney continued.
"Like I was saying. There are hundreds of lightning rods throughout the city." Rodney explained. "As it stands now, all that power is routed to four grounding stations. In turn the stations ground all that energy into the ocean below."
"So instead of sending all that energy into the ocean..." Sheppard prompted.
"We use it to power the shield." Rodney nodded.
"How?" Elizabeth asked.
"By directing it through the corridors of the city and into the shield generator." Rodney told them as if that was the simple part.
"The city can handle that right?" Harry spoke up.
"Yes...theoretically." Rodney bit his lip.
"Like dinosaurs turned into birds theoretically or theory of relativity theoretically?" Sheppard asked.
"Uh...somewhere in between." Rodney told him though it was clear Sheppard really didn't know what that meant. Harry didn't have a clue either. "Elizabeth you take grounding station two. Major you take three and Captain you take four."
"And where is three?" Sheppard asked.
"Or four?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Here and here." Rodney told them and pointed to the edge of the city schematic. "I need to get done quickly so I can get onto the subroutines and Elizabeth was complaining about her knee the other day..."
Harry raised an eyebrow at the man. "The nearest transporter?"
"Elizabeth's and mine are close to transporters." Rodney admitted.
"Up to a couple mile jog, Major?" Harry asked.
"Thrilled." Sheppard rolled his eyes.
"I was worried you were going to get flabby." Harry pointed out.
"Radio me as soon as you get there." Rodney told him.
"And guys?" Harry started before they could leave. "Stay inside. Those clouds are teetering on the edge of lightning already."
"Noted." Sheppard nodded.
Harry jogged with Sheppard as far as the transporter but they'd take different transporter destinations to reach where they were going. Sheppard would reach his at least five minutes before Harry and then start back. Apart from two Marines waiting in the control room they were the only ones left apart from Carsen, Ford, Teyla and three Athosians still on their way back from the mainland.
Harry listened in as Rodney explained to Sheppard how to decouple the grounding station and knew where everyone was when Elizabeth called them both.
"Major, Captain? Apparently we have wounded incoming." Elizabeth told them. Harry clicked his microphone to let Sheppard know he'd heard but let the other man do the talking.
"Doesn't make sense." Sheppard replied. "They said it was Wraith related?"
"We'll ask them ourselves in a moment. Hold on." Elizabeth went quiet but she was still transmitting. "What the hell is going on!?"
Harry heard a scuffle and came to an abrupt stop. "Doctor Elizabeth Weir." A man spoke from away from the microphone. Harry turned up his earpiece to hear better.
"Yes." Elizabeth's voice was loud in his ear.
"And you must be Doctor McKay." The man continued.
"That's him." A woman declared with hatred in her voice.
"Where is Major Sheppard?" The man asked. "I'd like to know where he is."
"You seem to know a lot about us." Elizabeth asked. "Who are you?"
"They're Genii." Rodney spat angrily but Harry only heard him through Elizabeth's microphone.
"There is only one thing you need to know, Doctor Weir." The man continued. "As of right now we are in control of Atlantis."
There was a scuffle on the other end of the line and eventually Harry heard the connection die. "Captain. Scramble one."
Harry pulled his radio from belt and changed the settings using the secondary frequency. "Major?"
"Yeah, Captain. Where are you?"
"About two hundred metres from the end of the North Pier." Harry reported.
"You heard all of that?" Sheppard was speaking in a carefully controlled tone that made Harry grit his teeth. He felt the same anger. He'd heard the shock in Elizabeth's voice and knew that nothing good had happened to the two Marines in the Gateroom.
"They wouldn't try to take Atlantis without at least a twelve man team if they think we're empty." Harry told him. "Even so we need weapons."
"Agreed. Get to the armoury. Secure what we need and wait for me there. I'm going for the Jumper Bay to get us some life sign detectors and to try to raise Ford on the comm." Sheppard told him.
"Roger that. Potter Out." Harry cut the connection and spun back to face the centre of the city. He unclipped his pistol. This was his kind of fight. He'd done it when Markham's team had been captured and he was doing it again now. This was what he'd been trained for. No hesitation warfare whether it was in a plane or on the ground.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Armoury
"Elizabeth, just give him what he needs." Harry grinned as he crouched in the corner of the armoury. He was fully kitted out for a war, he hadn't bothered with food since they'd be dead in a matter of hours if he and Sheppard didn't succeed but he had an M40-A3 sniper on his back, a P-90 in his hands and smoke bombs and grenades in his backpack. He also had a P-90 and supplies ready for Sheppard when he arrived. He'd been hiding in the corner so he could see somebody arrive before they saw him when the city's speakers had come to life and Rodney had started speaking. "He needs the C4, the medical supplies and the Wraith Data Device, just give them to him. None of that is worth dying for."
The connection cut instantly but Harry almost laughed. Clever man. Harry stood slowly and after checking the corridor was clear he started piling all the C4 into another backpack as well as the Wraith Data Device and then put as much of the medical supplies too dangerous to leave lying about into another bag.
He then took a second radio and began taking apart the face plate. By the time Sheppard arrived he'd rewired it so that it could only listen and transmit on one frequency. That way they could talk to these Genii on their own frequency without having them listen in on the one that he and Sheppard would use.
"You heard then?" Sheppard asked.
"The C4 and the Data Device are in one bag, the medical supplies that Carsen would kill us for losing are in the other." Harry told him. "I didn't think we'd be needing the Wraith Stunners."
Harry left the option open but the steely look Sheppard gave him told him the thought of letting these men go hadn't even crossed his mind. "We shot to kill." Sheppard told him.
"I can do that." Harry nodded. "Let's get clear of here and hid these in the city."
"Roger." Sheppard nodded though he looked rather worried.
"Sir, don't worry. Between the two of us they don't stand a chance. We have the home ground, the better weapons, the better training. All they have is numbers." Harry told him.
"And Elizabeth and Rodney." Sheppard gritted his teeth.
"We have the reason for him being here. That's one point for Rodney I suppose. He's evened our position." Harry told him.
"Ford and Teyla will get here as soon as possible but they're right in the middle of the storm." Sheppard told him.
"It's just the two of us then." Harry nodded and flashed a quick smile at Sheppard. Harry was surprised when his eyes met Sheppard's and he realised he was looking at the eyes of his John and not just his senior officer. Sheppard saw something there too since he didn't look away. Harry found himself wishing they weren't in a hostage situation in another galaxy. He shook his head slightly and looked away and almost missed the flash of disappointment that crossed Sheppard's face as Harry drew himself up to begin a war.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
The first thing he and Sheppard did was to hide the C4, medical supplies and data device in a place where they didn't think even Rodney would find. It was a small alcove with a broken floor in the Eastern pier. They didn't hide it under the floor though but forced open the ceiling before hiding the bags inside the ceiling and resealing the panel without any sign of entry.
They were headed back to the central towers when their radios came to life. "This is Commander Kolya." The man from before declared.
Harry raised an eyebrow at Sheppard who smirked back before pressing the switch on the side of his ear piece to talk. "Kolya... that's a hard name to pronounce. Is that a first name?" Sheppard teased with faked humour, believable only if you couldn't see the harsh look on his face. "My name's Major John Sheppard and I have hidden the C4 where you will never...I repeat, never... find it. When I get confirmation that the prisoners have been safely released and allowed to gate off Atlantis, I will help you find it."
"Your offer is very generous, Major."
"Yes it is." Sheppard nodded to himself.
"However, Doctor McKay recently shared with me that there's a plan in action to save Atlantis." Kolya told them. Harry bit his lip, McKay was a bit of a wimp but it would have taken some painful persuasion to force that from him. "My understanding is there is one final grounding station that needs to be deactivated. Uncouple the grounding rods at Station four, assist with the reactivation of the shield, and you and your friends can leave here unharmed."
"Wait a minute." Sheppard narrowed his eyes as the tables were turned. "I thought all you wanted was the C4 and a Jumper."
"Why raid a city when you can seize it, Major?" Kolya asked. "Atlantis will be ours or the ocean's, you choose."
The line went dead and Harry turned to Sheppard. "Personally I'd rather see it at the bottom of the ocean then in the Genii's hands but we're not there yet."
"You have a plan I take it?" Sheppard asked.
Harry grinned nastily and turned to head for his own grounding station once again. "Obviously McKay didn't tell them about me which means we have an advantage. They haven't worked out how to use internal sensors but we have the hand held ones. So we thin them down, get into the control room to use our access codes to block incoming wormholes so they can't bring in reinforcements and then take out the rest of them."
"And undoubtedly he's about to send some of his men to capture me at the grounding station." Sheppard nodded. "I can work with that."
"How are you at acting meek, Major?" Harry asked with a bit of amusement shining in his eyes. Their eyes met for a moment and Sheppard mirrored the look before nodding in determination.
"Let's get going." Sheppard ordered. They both broke into a loping run.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Harry lurked on a ledge above the grounding station. He was only just above the doors but he had a good view over the area. Sheppard was standing in front of the console waiting patiently and two Genii soldiers appeared slowly through the door and spread out to watch what he did. Undoubtedly they'd wait until Sheppard deactivated the grounding station before moving to capture him. Sheppard glanced down at the life signs detector in his hand before moving away from the console.
The bait worked. As soon as the soldiers thought Sheppard would notice them one of them ran into the room properly. Sheppard shot him in the chest and he went down before Sheppard ducked for cover before the second soldier could see him. The soldier fired wildly into the room but Harry dropped down behind him and with a deft twist killed him instantly with one of his Sai's into the back of the man's neck.
Harry joined Sheppard in the main part of the room as he cleaned his Sai on a torn bit of the soldier's clothing. Sheppard nodded at him but grimaced as he saw the damage the soldiers had wreaked. They'd shot through the control panel. Sheppard sighed before switching on his radio. "Let me tell you what you did wrong here, Kolya." Sheppard sneered. "A; You lost two of your men. B; You damaged the switch before I could deactivate it, which I'm sure you'll get an earful for from McKay and C; You lost whatever credibility you had with me."
"You killed two of my men?" Kolya snarled.
"I guess that makes us even." Sheppard hissed.
"I don't like even." Kolya told him. Harry tensed up but stayed silent.
"I'm not finished yet!" Sheppard warned him.
"Neither am I. Say goodbye to Doctor Weir."
"The city has a self-destruct button. You hurt her and I'll activate it." Sheppard threatened.
"Even if it exists, Major, you need at least two senior personnel to activate it... and I'm about to take one of them out of the equation."
"Kolya! Kolya!" Sheppard yelled down the radio. Harry watched on silently. "I'll give you a ship. I'll fly it out of here myself! Kolya!"
They were met by almost a minute of silence before the radio kicked back in. "Major Sheppard, how is this for credibility? Weir is dead."
"I am going to kill you." Sheppard hissed, his words sent a shiver down Harry's spine. This was Sheppard's black ops. training coming to the for. Sheppard hid his better than Harry but the same cold core was in both of them.
"Maybe," Kolya told him. "Stay out of my way or McKay will join her."
Sheppard leaned on the railing and breathed in great gasps of air as Harry watched on silently. "Time to do some serious damage." Harry told him.
"Doing damage is what got Elizabeth killed." Sheppard told him.
"No," Harry stepped forwards and grabbed Sheppard's shoulder, forced him around to look at him and pushed him back by his tactical vest. "Kolya killed Elizabeth. That shouldn't change what we do. We stick with the plan."
A cold frost seemed to take over Sheppard's eyes and Harry found himself wishing for the warmth back. Sheppard nodded though and forced Harry away. "I'll kill him."
"Major." Harry warned. "Keep your cool."
"Captain, I don't need you telling me how to do this." Sheppard told him.
Harry narrowed his eyes. "I'm just saying that if we have to do something you don't like it would be best that I did it."
"And why is that?" Sheppard asked.
Harry shook his head and turned to the door. "At least we've pulled Kolya out from the control room. It'll make it easier to disrupt things."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
The two split up not long after that heading out into two different piers. They'd stolen the radios from the two soldiers they'd killed and with them knew what their movements were.
Harry had just listened as the control room evidently found out how to use the internal sensors though they hadn't yet expanded it away from the central towers so hadn't seen him as of yet. He'd listened to Sheppard's brief battle with three of the soldiers and their rather noisy deaths but then got a surprise when Sheppard reported that he had five of them following him.
"I'm going to head for the generator for the control room." Sheppard told him. "I'll take the central span, think you can take out a few of them?"
"Easy pickings." Harry told him before stopping at the window. He'd been on his way to the generator himself to cut their internal sensors but if he could get outside he'd have a shot at only five hundred yards at Sheppard's pursuers.
He got out onto the roof without much problem and swapped his P-90 for his M40-A3 before he lay out on the hard surface and began making adjustments using the scope to measure the distance more accurately. He was just making adjustments to his sight for the steady harsh wind when Sheppard ran out across the span. It was only about a fifty yard span but by the time he was three quarters of the way across it five soldiers ran out on his tail. Harry waited until they were in the centre of the span before he took his first shot. Allowing for their running he fired a couple of yards ahead and the first shot slammed straight through the man's head jerking him right out off the span and down onto the pier below. A second fell before they realised their leader had died.
Their mistake was that they tried to take cover and only the last one managed to report sniper fire before Harry killed him leaving four soldiers dead on the bridge and another at the bottom of the towers.
"What the hell is happening Laden!?" Kolya called on their own radios.
"We had a team tracking Major Sheppard but he led them into an ambush." Laden, presumably, reported. "There's another one of the Atlanteans out there. Wait... we have him out on the eastern pier."
"Can you take him out before he kills more?" Kolya asked.
"Men are already in the area." Harry was moving even as Laden began giving orders to close in on him. He ran down through his tower to the pier knowing he'd be able to outrun them in the harsh weather that he could push and shove to give him a slight advantage. He'd almost run for five minutes when shadows slipped out of a building about a hundred yards in front of him. Harry crouched in a water gutter to look behind him and saw the three coming up behind him. He could kill one group but he'd be shot in the back before he could turn.
"Captain? How's things going?" Sheppard asked on their private line.
"A bit sticky, got three on my tail and three up ahead and nowhere to run." Harry reported honestly.
"I'm by the main generator." Sheppard told him regretfully.
"No sweat, Major. I can handle these guys but it's going to hurt. Just kill the power so they can't send more at us and then continue with the plan." Harry told him.
"You're not just bluffing me, Captain?" Sheppard asked. "Can you take them?"
"With so much power over my head I can do anything to these people." Harry told him honestly.
"Captain?" Sheppard paused. "Be careful."
Harry didn't respond but could hear the nervous chatter of Laden directing the soldiers through the storm towards him. Harry ducked down into the trough that bled rain water passed his ankles and his eyes flashed black. There was an almighty crack above him as Harry did something on complete instinct. He turned the air around the soldiers into lightning attracting ions before shoving the thunderstorm above them over the edge. Lightning crashed throughout the city sending an ominous rumble through the city until two lightning bolts struck the pier to either side of him right in the middle of the soldiers.
Harry released the storm and the lightning strikes retreated back to where they were before, out to the west. He stood slowly and staggered at the effort it had taken to force the storm up that small notch and surveyed the burnt out corpses of the six trackers.
"Command." The Genii's radio reported. "We just lost those six men on the other Atlantean in those lightning strikes."
"The Atlantean is Captain Potter according to Doctor McKay." Kolya hissed. "Did he survive the strikes?"
"Yes sir but he's not doing anything." Harry listened to them talk as he crouched in the rain with the smell of burned flesh surrounding him rather unpleasantly.
"And Major Sheppard?" Kolya was beginning to lose his cool.
"He's just standing in one of the generator rooms." Harry watched the central tower and laughed when the lights blinked out. The was a moments silence. "Commander. Major Sheppard has cut power to the control room."
"Can you still track him or Captain Potter?" Kolya asked.
"No." This time it was a woman's voice.
"Then we have no idea where they are." Kolya hissed. "Is the control room secure?"
"Yes, Commander." The woman reported. "May I suggest we send men to guard the remaining generators?"
"No, they're trying to separate us. Just close Stargate Operations and wait for reinforcements to arrive." Kolya ordered.
"Understood." The woman responded.
It was time to get up to the control room and do some more blatant damage while Sheppard mucked around with stalling Kolya.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Harry and Sheppard definitely stepped it up from there. Harry went straight to the control room and lurked where he wouldn't be found while Sheppard got into position in case this went wrong. When the Stargate came to life and the woman, Sora, and the only two soldiers left the control room to meet them Harry made his move. He crept up silently on Laden and seeing no reason to kill what was obviously a scientist he simply drew his pistol and smacked him on the back of the head. Laden fell to the ground with a thud just as the first two soldiers came through.
Three more came through as Harry was working but they would be all that came through. He raised the shield and locked it in place, freezing all of their systems with his own access code. The shield came up and with a sudden thud three soldiers were killed instantly. "Shut it off Laden!" Sora turned to look up at him and her eyes widened as she saw Harry. Harry ducked away and ran with the sound of bullets striking where he'd just been standing.
A part of him mused as he ran through the halls. He was glad that it had been him to kill all of the incoming Genii rather than any other member of the team. Sheppard could have done it but part of Harry didn't want Sheppard to bloody his hands to the rest of the expedition. Harry was the cold, uncaring one that could kill dozens but Sheppard was the saviour of the expedition, always kind and friendly and Harry liked that about him even if he knew there was a colder, darker side to him.
Harry came up short and harshly crushed those sudden thoughts deep inside him. He couldn't have himself distracted, especially with feelings bordering on attraction to a senior officer, when they were stranded in the Pegasus Galaxy.
A few minutes later Harry came to a stop half way down the tower. Now that they had things more contained with only a few men left for the enemy they could hide in the central tower. He'd paused because Kolya was talking to the Major again. "Major Sheppard. I have a proposition for you."
"Kolya. I'm having a hard time keeping up." Sheppard teased. "What's the score again?"
"My men have informed me that not only have you disabled several critical generators." Kolya told him. "But you've stolen key parts that are needed to repair them."
"Yeah I did that." Sheppard agreed.
"There are two flaws to your plan." Kolya pointed out. "One, the assumption that I would believe that you would rather destroy the city than let us have it. It is childish."
"That doesn't sound like me." Sheppard agreed.
"Second. If I decide Atlantis to be unsalvageable then Doctor McKay and Doctor Weir become obsolete." Harry narrowed his eyes at the proof that Elizabeth was still alive.
"Weir's alive?" Sheppard's anger was clear in his voice.
"Doctor McKay was able to make a strong case for keeping her alive."
"Let me talk to her." Sheppard demanded. Harry stayed silent.
"Sheppard! We're both here." Elizabeth announced after a moment.
"It's a relief to hear your voice." Sheppard told her. Harry had to agree. It made this situation just a little brighter.
"We have less than an hour until the storm hits full force. If power is not restored to grounding station three within ten minutes then Doctor Weir dies." Kolya threatened.
"Again you mean?" Sheppard hissed.
"Her death will buy you another ten minutes. After which, should the power still be out, Doctor McKay dies. We will then leave with what we can and the city will be destroyed." Kolya warned. "If you don't mind destroying Atlantis then stay where you are for twenty minutes. Starting now."
Harry swore but was already running down through the corridors and through the halls to the generator that Sheppard would have to get to. Sheppard arrived before him and as Harry slunk around the corner with his P-90 raised he noticed the two guards pointing guns at Sheppard's back and also figures at the end of the hall. Harry just saw Ford's face before he turned back to the matter at hand.
He fired on automatic and the two Soldier died very quickly. Harry stepped out into the hall and walked down towards the advancing trio. Teyla and Ford were being cautious but Carsen was as useful in these situations as any other scientist. "After this is over I'm going to sleep." Harry told Sheppard who laughed at him before turning to reinsert the reactor modulator into the top of the generator.
"Are you both ok?" Ford asked as Sheppard joined them in the corridor.
"I've been better...I've been worse. My shoulder's a little sore." Sheppard admitted. Harry just shrugged.
"You want me to have a look at that?" Carsen offered.
"Take a rain check, Doc." Sheppard told him before turning to Harry. "Glad to see you're ok."
"No problem. I think I'm winning this contest going on between us and Kolya though." Harry told him.
"Perhaps me should move. More soldiers will come this way soon." Teyla suggested.
"I couldn't agree more." Carsen told them. Harry shook his head before scouting down the hall.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Harry left Sheppard and the others with his own mission in mind. While Sheppard attacked with Ford from one direction and Carsen and Teyla from another, Harry planned to come in from the floor below. The balcony that led into the control room was accessible from the recreational room two floors below. It took a while but Harry managed to get a grapple up onto the balcony railing. After making sure it was secure he started to climb the rope.
Once at the top he reported in. "Major, I'm in position."
"So are we, but Teyla and Carsen aren't responding." Sheppard replied quickly. Harry leaned around and risked a glance into the control room taking in everything in a second. Rodney and Elizabeth were both struggling against captors. "Captain, the Stargate's dialling out."
"Roger, Major. Kolya, Laden and two more guards are in the control room. They look like they're going to take the Doctor's with them." Harry reported.
"Follow them out of the control room." Sheppard ordered. Harry waited for the last possible moment before slipping into the control room just as the last of them walked out the other side. Harry slid through the room as Kolya led Elizabeth and the others down the steps.
Rodney was talking loudly but he stopped suddenly as Harry let loose with his two Sai at the Major's order. They sunk deep into the backs of the two men holding Rodney in place. Harry's P-90 was in his hands a second later even as Ford and Sheppard turned the corner and killed the last three soldiers in the room. Harry took two steps forwards even as Kolya grabbed Elizabeth to use her as a shield between himself, Sheppard and Harry. Harry pulled Rodney backwards rather harshly and Rodney fell onto the steps but started crawling up them without complaint.
"You're not going anywhere." Sheppard warned Kolya. "I will shoot you if you don't let her go."
"And risk hitting her?" Kolya leered as he backed both himself and Elizabeth towards the Stargate.
Sheppard took a slight step to his left leaving Harry a clearer shot in invitation. Harry braced himself even as Kolya moved Elizabeth slightly further to his right to block Sheppard from shooting her. "I'm not aiming at her." Sheppard pointed out without losing a beat in the conversation.
Harry fired. His shot passed well clear of Elizabeth's smaller frame and hit Kolya just between his collar bone and shoulder bone. He jerked and let go of Elizabeth before he fell back through the Stargate. Elizabeth dropped to her knees rather ungraciously.
Harry went with Sheppard to Elizabeth side. "Sorry about that." Harry apologised. "Are you ok?"
"No." She chuckled even as she let Sheppard help her up.
"You will be." Sheppard told her. "Come on."
Harry and Ford followed the two up to the control room where, to his credit, Rodney was working on the computer. "Wait!" Ford ordered. "What are you doing?"
"I thought I'd activate the shield and save the day." Rodney retorted. "You got something else in mind?"
"Teyla and Beckett are still out there." Ford told him.
"The tracking system's down and there's a Tsunami coming towards us. In two and a half minutes they're dead." Rodney told them.
"Then give them two minutes." Sheppard ordered. Harry nodded his agreement and leaned tiredly back on the railing. Sheppard joined him a moment later and the two enjoyed a moment of camaraderie for what they'd both had to do to keep their friends safe. A few minutes later, Teyla came in with the Genii, Sora, at her side and Carsen hanging between them though still conscious. Ford look Carsen off of them.
"Go." Elizabeth ordered.
"Going." Rodney started working even as Harry crossed the room and pulled Sora away from the others. He checked her over removing a blade from her boot before he shoved her down into a chair and rather obviously stood beside her with his P-90 pointing at her. She eyed him nervously but Harry simply glared back at her.
"What's happening?" Elizabeth asked when nothing happened.
"It's working. It just needs to build up enough power for the shield generator to activate. Wait for it." Rodney assured them. A long moment passed before Rodney sighed. "Now!"
A hum suddenly started and Harry swayed as a shield expanded over the entire city forcing the air and wind within to spiral strangely. Harry turned to the East to look out of the window in time to see a huge wall of water crash against the shield which glowed white as it parted the wave to either side of the city. He sighed out in relief.
"Nice work, Rodney." Elizabeth complimented.
"Did you ever doubt me?" Rodney grinned.
"Yes." Elizabeth told him. "Several times."
"I see you made a new friend, Teyla." Sheppard spoke up.
"Perhaps we should lock her up for the time being." Harry spoke up. His voice was cold and his eyes distant though he hadn't succumbed to the desire to delve into his powers. It would be a rough half day for him as the storm passed over.
"Are you ok?" Elizabeth asked.
"Just tired." He told her eyeing Carsen who, along with Sora, were the only ones in the room that didn't know about him. Elizabeth seemed to catch on.
"Perhaps you should get some sleep?" Elizabeth offered, not really knowing what Harry would want to do in this situation.
"I think some sleep would help." Harry nodded.
"Ford, see him down to his room." Sheppard ordered. Harry shot him a thankful look which he returned.
Harry would dream of hurricanes, thunderstorms and even his Sheppard that night. Slowly the difference between Major Sheppard and his hallucination was starting to crumble.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
End Chapter
