Chapter 10: That wasn't exactly quiet!
"This whole plan was targeted specifically at me," Sheppard's tone was bland ... inside he was struggling with the guilt at being used that way but he didn't let any of it show.
"How so?" Doctor Weir waited for John's explanation, sitting in her usual spot in the Conference Room with Team Sheppard, Carson and General O'Neill all in attendance.
"Atlantis said the project to create that add-on was developed before the war with the Wraith got out of hand," Sheppard explained. "There would have been plenty of time while the Replicators had free access to the Ancient systems for them to find out about it. I don't think the Ancients ever got that project to completion - not to test it anyway ... the Replicators just made it look like they did."
"The outpost on M4R 379 wasn't an Ancient facility in terms of how long it's been there," Rodney broke in to report. "You wouldn't be able to tell from the structure itself, which isn't surprising if the Replicator's built it, but going over the readings I took of the surrounds I discovered that it was in fact fairly recently constructed. There probably are Ancient ruins on that planet ... just not intact like the outpost was."
"And the off worlder who told Tomaskitous the story of your connection to the Ancestors?" Teyla looked at John worriedly.
"Probably a Replicator plant," Sheppard said simply. "He used the village legends to their advantage – gave Tom just enough to have him lure us to the planet knowing McKay would pick up that energy reading. I should have known as soon as we got there it wasn't an Ancient facility."
"You should have known?" O'Neill queried sceptically.
"The city, in fact pretty much any Ancient structure we've been to that's still 'working' gives off a kind of hum that I hear up here," Sheppard pointed to his own head ruefully.
"Hey, I thought you said you got away from that when we were off world," Rodney protested irritably.
"And sometimes I do," Sheppard kept his tone bland, amused that Rodney was so troubled by his unique circumstances.
"And this time you didn't get the ... hum?" Elizabeth queried.
"No," Sheppard admitted. "Sometimes it's pretty faint – depending on the condition of the systems. This time I didn't get anything even though I should have. I just ... didn't notice at the time. Whatever it is that makes Ancient tech hum to me isn't something the Replicators can duplicate – I should have remembered that from Asuras when we first ran into the Replicators."
"But the device itself is Ancient," O'Neill countered. "Future McKay was pretty clear on that."
"It is Ancient," Rodney reiterated what his future self had believed. "I don't know the sequence of events but ... the Ancients designed and then created that add-on to their own specifications and then for some reason they must have abandoned the project before trying it in a live test. Somehow the Replicators got their hands on it - maybe even before everything blew up between them and the Ancients. In any case they took that device and altered it in such a way that we wouldn't notice. It's the programming that makes the whole thing work and that's what they took advantage of ... I'm pretty much convinced that only the Replicators could have done that."
"Then we're already one step ahead this time," O'Neill said simply.
"He's right – knowing it's the Replicators should help us defeat this thing," Rodney replied.
"Have you thought any more about the maintenance subroutine?" O'Neill asked Sheppard with a significant look. "My McKay was pretty clear that there is a time limit here ... the longer you delay the less chance there is you'll be successful."
"Did more than that," Sheppard replied somewhat flippantly. "I spoke to Atlantis about it ... what she told me is consistent with what your McKay believed. It takes time for the subroutine to work through the whole system – the more problems, the more time required. The human operator has to be connected continuously, hence the greater chance for problems disconnecting."
"So we should act now," O'Neill persisted.
"Atlantis said what happened to my future self was a flaw for the Ancients too," Sheppard revealed. "They were working to resolve it. There's a planet, Kalla, where they were developing a computer driven replacement to having a human conduit for the subroutine."
"And you want to go there," Weir's statement was not a question. She glanced quickly at General O'Neill when Sheppard nodded wordlessly.
"This is on me," Sheppard directed his arguments to O'Neill, knowing he was the one he'd have to convince. "It was my thoughts the Replicators used to set us up, my connection to the city they exploited. And I was too keen to make use of that add-on to the point that I ignored some pretty obvious clues that were there before we even plugged it in," he paused as the others considered what he'd said. "Don't get me wrong - I like being able to talk to Atlantis but ... it comes at a cost. The thought that others could talk to Atlantis too, that it wouldn't all rest on me? If I'm honest, in the end that was pretty much the only thing driving me."
"And you think whatever's on Kalla will undo that?" O'Neill asked.
"We need something that's gonna fix this permanently," Sheppard stated firmly. "And it's not about taking the pressure off me anymore – it's about removing the current vulnerability so that something like this can't happen again. If it doesn't pan out I can still do the subroutine myself."
General O'Neill looked at Sheppard assessingly for several moments before nodding imperceptibly.
"Ready your team," Elizabeth agreed.
oOo
Kalla was a planet that looked a lot like every other place they'd been to in the Pegasus galaxy, especially the usual trees that provided cover around the Gate but also obscured the view of any possible dangers. The MALP they'd sent through first hadn't detected anything of concern but Sheppard always preferred to confirm these things with his own eyes ... with a little bit of help from the Ancients of course.
"You detecting any life signs?" he asked Rodney, taking the Jumper into a high arc away from the Gate.
"None within scanning range," Rodney replied.
"Energy readings?" Sheppard looked at Rodney hopefully.
"Not so far," Rodney reported, "although if this planet is like most of the others the really good stuff will be located a fair way from the Gate."
"Okay – so we do this the hard way," Sheppard drawled, calling up the HUD. "We'll sweep the planet looking for any kind of structure ... hopefully we won't have to resort to searching on foot."
A couple of hours later Sheppard was ready to call this one another bust ... they'd covered most of the planet in a high search pattern and found nothing. Reluctantly turning the Jumper back towards the Gate a small flashing dot on the HUD drew his attention.
"We've got something, dead ahead," he revealed. "It's a little hard to tell but I think it's some kind of building."
"Why did we not detect it on our first pass?" Teyla queried.
"It's in a valley hidden by the forest," Sheppard brought up a different view on the HUD to show the others the topography of the surrounding area. "We're gonna have to walk."
"Great," Rodney complained. "That's just what I need ... a long trek through a dingy forest to a place that will probably contain nothing."
"Stop complaining McKay," Sheppard ordered, landing the Jumper in a small clearing as close to the building as he could get.
"You do realise the chances we'll find anything in that building are less than slim, right?" Rodney retorted sarcastically. "We're in range and I've got nothing ... which means that building's not putting out enough energy to power a flash light."
"Gear up," Sheppard ignored Rodney's lack of enthusiasm, clipping on his P90 before opening the back of the Jumper.
"Rodney may be right John," Teyla warned. "There is no guarantee the Ancients did anything with the project Atlantis told you about. The city records can only cover events that took place within the city itself."
"Unless the Ancients returned and updated the records," Sheppard replied. When Teyla frowned at his attitude he relented. "Look I know this is a long shot okay. But we still have to follow it up before we fall back to O'Neill's plan."
"You're not actually gonna do that maintenance meld are you?" Rodney asked worriedly. "After what General O'Neill said about what happened in his time?"
"Hopefully it won't come to that," Sheppard dismissed the subject abruptly, cloaking the Jumper before starting the long walk. "Everyone remember where we parked," he quipped.
"Great - you're stealing lines from Star Trek now?" Rodney protested, letting himself be distracted.
"You're one to talk Rodney – didn't you want to rename our Ancient ship Enterprise instead of the Orion?" Sheppard reminded him.
"That is a perfectly good name for a space ship," Rodney defended.
"Well, in the famous words of another science geek, I know you love scanning for life forms so get started," Sheppard grinned when Rodney rolled his eyes at that one, Teyla and Ronon looking on with obvious confusion. "It's from a movie," Sheppard said apologetically. "Probably not one you've seen though so I probably shouldn't have ...," he trailed off lamely. "You picking anything up McKay?"
"Surprisingly no," Rodney replied sarcastically.
"Well keep looking," Sheppard picked up the pace, quickly putting himself in the lead position.
The forest was dense making visibility poor which made Sheppard wary and even more on guard than usual. Something cracked to his right – Rodney yelped, dropping his scanner and then fumbling around on the ground to pick it up. Sheppard listened for a few moments before relaxing.
"Sorry," Rodney glanced around nervously, clearly expecting bad guys to jump out at them at any moment ... even though his scanner said no one was around.
"Probably some kind of small animal," Ronon offered that explanation casually. Sheppard nodded, motioning for them to continue forward.
Rodney kept up a steady stream of nervous chatter as they walked through the forest. Half an hour later they spotted something obscured by the trees ahead ... a flash of colour and edges inconsistent with the surroundings. Sheppard motioned abruptly for Rodney to be quiet ... a few more cautious steps forward revealed that it was the building they were interested in.
The forest was such that a dozen enemies could be lying in wait and they wouldn't know it ... by the same reckoning though Team Sheppard were able to get pretty close to their target without fear of their presence being detected.
"Can you tell what's in there?" Sheppard asked in a low voice.
"It's shielded," Rodney said in an incredulous whisper. "There could be a swarm of Wraith in there and we wouldn't know it."
"If we open the door a little, will you be able to scan inside?" Sheppard queried.
"Maybe," Rodney replied.
"Good enough for me," Ronon jumped up and sprinted the few remaining metres to the door.
"Quietly," Sheppard ordered in a harsh whisper. "We don't want to alert whoever might be in there to our presence."
Ronon did a thumbs up in understanding, before pulling out his blaster and firing a single shot at the locking mechanism. When the smoke cleared it revealed the door now standing ajar, edges blackened from the blast. Sheppard motioned for Teyla and Rodney to follow him as they ran to join Ronon.
"That wasn't exactly quiet!" he glared at Ronon irritably.
Ronon shrugged without remorse, turning back to Rodney curiously. "Getting anything now McKay?"
Rodney had been focused on his scanner from the instant the door had opened. Now he looked at Sheppard with a horrified expression. "I'm picking up multiple signals ... they're Replicators."
Authors Note:
Please excuse my silly references to Star Trek The Voyage Home ('remember where we parked') and Star Trek Generations ('I just love scanning for life forms ... life forms ... you tiny little life forms ...') - couldn't resist and I can just imagine Shep doing that deliberately to distract Rodney away from stuff he doesn't want to talk about!