Title: The Pi Covenent
Author: AshtakRa
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters: Ronon/Lorne, Sheppard, McKay
Rating: PG (for now)
Summary: A comrade recovered, but how much of him remains? Weir mentioned the existence of advanced civilisations but did not elaborate on their intentions - The Pi Covenent could be their doom, or their salvation.

Chapter Ten

(Note: [voice] denotes Nox voice as Lorne hears it.)

In the cold emptiness of the void between the planet and its larger moon the Puddle-jumper remained in a fixed position; the gravity of the two planetoids cancelled each other out at this exact point. For this reason the jumper needed little to remain in position except the inertia of moving with the planet's orbit around the sun. Cloaked and on strict radio silence the pilot inside ticked off another ten minute sit-rep and sent the report off on a sub-space burst designed to appear nothing more than the background noise of a solar flare.

After ten months in Pegasus he was somewhat of a veteran and such missions were not unusual; if mostly boring and without incident. There were always exceptions and the itching on the back of his neck indicated this would be one of them. The jumper shuddered ever so slightly and a silent alarm flashed up on the HUD; calmly with the experience of facing many unusual situations he checked all the systems. Apart from a minor course adjustment due to a gravity flux there was nothing abnormal and he sat back in the seat. Since this was his usual jumper the seat was adjusted specifically for his body and it gave just the right amount of firm support and soft comfort.

The alarm went off again and the tiny ship lurched suddenly. The pilot checked the systems again and once more all appeared normal; but he knew this was something else, the same way all Pegasus veterans knew when a seemingly peaceful mission was about to go to hell. With a thought he lowered the blast screen, left up for the possibility of micro-meteors this close to a planet without shields. Folding back into an invisible slot the blast screen allowed the dark emptiness of space to fill the window. Being far enough from the atmosphere the stars shone bright and the moon's edge was to the far right. He peered into the star field; something was not right with it. He studied one point in particular and relied not on the HUD but his own sight and instinct.

"Where are you?" he muttered to himself, his voice sounding strange in the compartment. His eyes widened slightly as the wrongness became apparent; off to the left and getting larger was a big black nothing. It did not have the sheen of something painted black but was just 'not there', the only evidence was the lack of stars in the vicinity; and there should have been stars. He swore and started activating systems as he tried to send an emergency report.

SGASGASGASGASGA

"Anything?" asked Woolsey again and again Chuck shook his head.

"They should have seen something, the gravity well is almost upon us isn't it?"

"Affirmative sir, there are several atmospheric disturbances and tidal surges indicative of a major gravity flux in our sector."

Woolsey tugged on his uniform cuffs as if they were suddenly too tight. "Prepare to dial the alpha site – we may have to evacuate if this thing keeps coming." He turned a raised eyebrow to Chuck. "I don't relish being sucked into a black hole."

A smile tugged at the corner of Chuck's mouth, something he would not have done in front of Woolsey only a month ago. "Me neither sir, perhaps we can try Colonel Sheppard again, this close a signal might get through."

Nodding Woolsey did not allow his negative thoughts to show but Radek voiced what he was thinking.

"If they're even in that thing and still alive."

SGASGASGASGASGA

Bullets thudded into the wall where Lorne had been only a split second ago. They had almost been cornered but luckily the modifications for his previous imprisonment had provided an exit that the marines were not aware of; of course the exit had led them into another patrol. Two blasts from Ronon's pistol and one from Lorne's stun-staff had them crumpling before any more rounds were let off.

"That was close," growled Ronon. "That makes what, twelve?"

"Plus the three we heard on the level above makes fifteen, insurgent squads work in groups of six so at least another three we don't know about."

Checking his weapon Ronon grimaced. "I'm almost out – unless we start salvaging their weapons?"

Lorne frowned and took a moment to crouch against the wall. Across from him stood Nox, invisible to Ronon but entirely real to Lorne.

[they are armed with only lethal weapons – whomever arranged this wanted only one outcome]

Nodding in agreement but staying silent, no need to spook Ronon more than necessary, Lorne took a breath and stood. "No, lethal force is a last resort and will not help our case if we're captured."

"They're not trying to capture us," grunted Ronon.

"No, but I can't believe they're all in on this – if needs be we surrender to them when they're in a group, less chance of execution that way."

Ronon shook his head and put an arm around him. "You say that like we're discussing what to have for dinner… I love that about you."

He shrugged and for a moment allowed himself to lean into the bigger man and soak in his warmth. The squads tracking them were smart and had reduced the temperature; probably trying to make them uncomfortable but for Lorne it was worse. A large part of his bio-mechanical energy came from ambient heat – and that was now severely lacking.

"I need my armour – without it we'll never make it through the water."

Ronon nodded and pointed to the right. "This way, they kept it in one of the labs."

"Hey!" as Ronon spun back Lorne grabbed him and pulled him in for a crushing kiss. "Love you too, just in case I never said it enough before."

"Then you're getting too soft, might have to trade you in." Ronon's eyes belied his comment and they jogged off.

On the ground one of the marines rolled over and brought a radio out. "I have them, they're heading for the labs."

SGASGASGASGASGA

Walking up closer Sheppard stared into one of the clone's eyes. They were life-less, no movement apart form a blink every few seconds. The same for all he could see; the army was in some kind of rest mode. They made small movements, probably involuntary to keep the muscles and flesh from atrophy.

"They await purpose," explained Kellerax-Six. "Having an army is one thing; an army that will obey without question while being capable of independent action is another."

McKay stared at the alien for a moment before clicking his fingers. "This Integration of yours, the Pi Covenant… they fear an uprising because all their experience tells them it is inevitable."

"Correct. Through all the galaxies, no matter the size and power, those who rule are eventually taken down by the very instruments of their power – the Covenant will not allow that to happen."

"How, if all the galaxies had no solution then how do you find one?"

"Exactly," countered Kellerax-Six. "And you, Doctor McKay, are part of the answer… Atlantis is the other."

Sheppard's military mind quickly processed his meaning. "You need a program like the replicators – and you need McKay to adapt it."

The aged face of Kellerax-Six spun to face them. "Precisely. Taking Atlantis was to be the next move, then find Doctor McKay and use him to interface and use the Ancient's database to ensure these soldiers would act as commanded."

"Then we turned up on your doorstep," muttered Sheppard. "Now you don't have to be so careful about who you kill – cause all you need is the city intact, not its inhabitants."

"Yes," the younger face took over. "That is why time is of the essence; I had thought to act during the initial conflict, using the confusion of battle to turn many of the Integrated personalities back to our true path – now the battle will be short and the chance lost."

McKay's face dropped as realisation hit. "They're just going to murder everyone aren't they – not even provide a chance for surrender."

"Yes, but we still have a chance to stop this from occurring." The young face grimaced slightly. "Although it will involve initiating a civil war – and may well destroy all that the Covenant was and could be."

"I suppose it involves great risk on our part?" snarked McKay. "As usual we have to clean up the mess started by others."

"Not really," answered Kellerax-Six. "The sacrifice will be great but not yours to make… no Doctor McKay, all I need from you is to provide another program for these soldiers."

"Hah!" laughed McKay. "As we've already ascertained, the basic program is on the database in Atlantis – without that it would take me months to create one."

"Years probably," countered Kellerax-Six. "The program is indeed on Atlantis but you are not required to re-write it – merely retrieve it."

"I don't understand," said McKay. "The replicator program is flawed, it won't help the Covenant, or you, or us?"

The aged face took over again, the sadness and determination evident on its ancient features. "The program I seek is on no database."

SGASGASGASGASGA

The circular displays now showed the planet close, in real size and beautiful with its hues of blue and green interspaced with white cloud. For a moment it triggered a long forgotten memory in Sharmilla-Joth; one of great cities beneath open skies in a time of peace and prosperity – before the great calamity. When this was done there would be a million worlds where they could rebuild such paradise.

All it required was the initial sacrifice.

A tone indicated they had reached the destination and she smiled, the fire behind her eyes brightening to white hot for an instant.

"Prepare to invert the magnetosphere," she intoned, the order unnecessary but it gave her pleasure to voice it. Untold trillions would soon obey her voice, the one true voice of the Covenant echoing across eternity. In her excitement she missed the minute fragment of Integration that noted containment chamber one zero-zero-three had been activated. Had she noted it she would have seen Kellerax-Six and Colonel Sheppard and Doctor McKay standing in the transport rings – had she seen it one thought could have prevented their plans.

But she didn't see it.

SGASGASGASGASGASGA

Upon the Jumper the pilot studied the darkness before him and swore again as a charge of energy swept across it. He had considered it large but the arc was far wider than he thought, at least it provided data the jumper could interpret. The figures came up on the HUB and he took a vital second to double check – because the figures were far too massive for ship – even a ship that could create such a gravity well.

Another arc crackled across space, then another and another. More jumped across and the darkness startled to ripple like some giant insect shedding its skin.

"Open direct link to command," spoke the pilot and thankfully the link was established.

"Atlantis, this is Jumper Beta Two – you are not going to believe what I am seeing."

SGASGASGA

Lorne froze in the moment of sliding closed the armour and turned to Ronon, his eyes were wide with fear and sudden knowledge.

"They're here," he gasped and grabbed his head, falling to his knees as millions of needles jabbed into his brain – all with one point to make:

Obey!

Obey!

Obey!

SGASGASGA

"The transmission is coming through but suffering major interference," said Chuck, punching dozens of controls to isolate the data stream to get a better reading.

"Divert all available power to that transmission," commanded Woolsey. "We have to see what is happening."

Radek's fingers danced across the keyboard and the lights in command flickered and died – to be replaced by the main screen projecting Beta-Two's transmission. The stars could be seen around the edges but in centre a rippling darkness was making itself visible. The pilot's voice was also coming through but broken by interference.

"Comm- initial estim- object located three hundred thous- size estimated… - irty – and kilometres across."

"Doctor Zelenka," barked Woolsey. "Can we clean that up, what's he saying?"

Radek looked up from his screen, his eyes wide behind his glasses. "He's using the moon's vector to estimate size and location of object."

"So?"

"To do that the object would be in similar position to the moon," Radek managed to say while tapping more instructions."

Woolsey's face fell as he walked towards the screen. On it the moon was in the bottom corner, its curve barely filling ten percent of the area – the rest was almost entirely covered by the rippling black. "But that would mean-." His voice caught, unable to finish the sentence.

Chuck interrupted as fresh data flowed across his screen. "Object has halted its forward momentum and is in synchronous orbit with our planet – we can now detect it and I am reading a massive energy build up." His breath hitched as he punched another key.

The comm buzzed again as Beta-Two voice filtered through, "…- uck – oody…- eath star."

Chuck saw the surge and yelled into the comm, "Beta-Two, get out of there now!"

SGASGASGA

Pilot first class Anthony Ashcott watched as the ripples shook off the remaining black and the object became visible. He had seen many things and imagined a whole heap more during his time in Pegasus – but this was beyond anything he had thought possible.

Out of the darkness and empty void of space he had just watched a planet appear – a planet covered in grey-black interconnected tiles that were probably each the size of a major city.

"Fuck me," he muttered, not realising his comm was still on. "It's the bloody Death Star."

His words appeared prophetic as seconds later he heard Chuck yelling for him to leave immediately. Too late he realised as a final ripple went from each pole and when they met on the equator a shock wave of blue-white energy shot out from the planetoid in a perfect spherical plane – heading right for his position.

Time for thoughts was over as the shock-wave obliterated the Jumper and Anthony Ashcott in a nano-second before continuing on. The edge of the wave sliced through the upper atmosphere at the north-pole and trillions of tons of gas and ice were instantly ignited by the wave and burned as white hot plasma. On the other side of the wave's circumference the wave sliced right into the centre of the moon, rock and dust vaporising as easy as Atlantis' planet's atmosphere. The moon lacked the planet's mass however and the ability to absorb the incredible amount of energy – the moon literally cracked in two which created a secondary shock-wave that reached the planet in a matter of three point four seconds.

This shock-wave hit the equator and flash-boiled ten billion mega-litres of seawater before being dissipated by the ocean floor.

SGASGASGA

Through the pain, the unrelenting agony of alien thoughts trying to penetrate his head Lorne saw Ronon's face yelling at him. Hearing was impossible through the white noise but he didn't need it to know that Ronon was yelling at him to stay awake, to stay with him.

He wanted to; he needed to – because he knew that to fall prey to these thoughts would mean the absolute end of whatever part of Evan Lorne remained.

His vision was clouded by red, capillaries in his eyes had probably burst from the pressure and he could already feel moisture running from his nose. Blood or his brain – nothing would surprise Lorne at this point.

Reaching up a shaking hand he touched Ronon's cheek, the texture of it and warmth the only real thing keeping him in this moment – the tears on that beautiful face breaking his heart.

He was causing this pain – he should never have been here.

All of it was just some stupid accident.

Hidden memories surfaced. Wraith, dozens of them as he fired his weapon – too many. The explosion of the C4 as he blew the DHD – darkness, a Hive Ship – the chaos of some kind of inter-hive conflict then more explosions.

Darkness again.

The cold of space and the icy-tendrils of being completely and utterly alone.

His eyes widened as the most hideous memory of all returned.

Death.

Azure blue eyes gazed into his own.

[it does not have to be]

"I'm sorry Ronon," he gasped out, the pain racking his body with convulsions. Ronon's face, in Lorne's vision juxtaposed next to Nox's, betrayed his pain, his torture at losing Lorne again.

[but he isn't is he? Tell him – make him understand]

Lorne breathed, trying to catch enough air to make a sentence. "I – am – not – him."

Ronon's lips moved, finally some sound made it through. "I know – but it doesn't matter," his lips quivered. "It was enough… it would have been enough."

Nox's eye blazed blue, filling Lorne's view and making him scream – he didn't want this – he wanted his last sight to be Ronon.

[there is no other way]

The whole world became blue-white pain then nothing.

Nothing but stars and cold. He was floating in the void, the emptiness of space where the Pi Covenant found him.

[alone you cannot defeat them, they are many and you are one]

"I am nothing, we've discussed this before – I am a phantom of a soul long dead."

[no! you are what you are – I am what I am… separately we are nothing but together…]

His thoughts tried to make sense of it all – the pounding of the alien minds had lessened, they had became an annoyance and it was only when he spoke with Nox that they became weaker.

"Everything we thought we were, it is nothing."

[not nothing; but less than what can be] Nox's face and body levitated above him, if it could be called levitating in space.

"We must be more, we must be…"

Nox's face came closer and closer, their lips almost touching.

[cease to be me, no more you]

"A single organism," Lorne lunged forth, his lips locking on and kissing his doppelganger. Through eyes half-shut he saw the tattoos on Nox's face flare a brilliant red-gold, his own probably doing the same. Their tongues entwined, their moves became co-ordinated, neither fighting for control while allowing the other complete control.

Giving up power while taking complete command.

An impossibility made flesh.

[One voice]

"One body."

"One," Lorne-Nox said, his voice no longer many but a single tone – not what it was and not what it was meant to be – but as it now had to be.

Tbc…