A/N:

Caution: Limes. (Remember they are married.)


Chapter 11: The Siege (Part 1)

The Guardian entered her secret sanctuary to pick up her personal kit for her move-in to McKay's quarters. She found her white duffel bag and filled it with her small number of personal items: her sundress and sandals, a roll of extra fabric for repairs, some basic toiletries, her spare limiter, and a few small secret items hidden in the lining of the bag. She put the strap over her shoulder and slung the bag across her back.

As she turned she paused and looked at the access point to the inner sanctum of the Forbidden Archives. Since her awakening she had been inside that secret place only once, to take inventory. She did not know when she might return again so she decided to go inside for one final inspection.

She lowered her duffel bag to the floor and approached a blank wall. On the adjacent wall was an 'X' symbol. She made some complex hand motions and heard the expected faint rumbling noises behind the blank wall as she waited for the dimensional interlocks to align. The symbol changed from 'X' to 'O'. She then teleported to the access point that was behind the wall. At the access point she verified that the dimensional interlocks were in place, then she crossed the glowing threshold.

She was now inside a featureless room that existed in a tiny pocket of subspace that was outside of the normal universe. She knew that just before the city's self-destruct sequence would destroy the city, the access point would permanently scramble the dimensional interlocks, the pocket would disconnect, and its contents would be forever lost to the physical world.

She inspected the very dangerous artifacts that were in the sealed room. They included a Replicator Table, a Quantum Mirror, a Vacuum Bottle, an Ascendant Neutralizer, a Time Machine, and a few other devices. She saw that everything was in order.

The Council had specifically assigned the Guardian as the keeper of the Forbidden Archives because, as her father had explained to them, the Guardian would be the ideal Curator: dispassionate in her duties, with no personal motive to ever use them, being a creature with no past memory (and no real future). She would remain forever alone, never interacting with others, ordered to never leave the city, so she would have no desire to ever abuse such terrible devices for her own ends.

But she did leave the city.

She was now able to recall the approximate year and the gate address where it had happened.

Where is my Mommy?

I can't find my Mommy!

In her madness she had violated her orders and had committed a terrible crime.

She paused. She went back to the Time Machine.

She could go back.

She could undo a horrible mistake.

She took off a white glove and touched the Time Machine with her fingers, feeling its shiny smooth surface.

No one would ever know.

She thought a moment, then she put back on her glove and left the room.


The Guardian climbed up to the rooftop of the North Tower alone. Living with McKay meant that she would go to the North Pier only rarely now, and given what might happen during the next seven days she did not know if she would ever have a chance to climb up there ever again.

Standing on the rooftop she looked up as she had done many of times in her life.

Just remember, my little white tiger-kitty, there will always be someone watching you. Never forget that.

So you have told me many times.. After you leave, will it be you who will be watching me?

I honestly don't know. But if I can watch you, I promise I will.

And so from her youngest age she had climbed up to the roof of the North Tower whenever she had the opportunity, looking up so that he could see her face.

And now she looked up into the heavens, for possibly the last time. She knew that also up there were the Vigilante, The Watchers, the Ascendant beings who she knew were watching her at that very moment.

Even higher up was the Excogitatoris, the Creator, the One who existed in some unreachable higher level of reality - of which the physical universe was only a small part. He existed outside of time and space, and presumably He could re-enter any part of His Creation at will.

In her talks with Kurosawa, the Guardian knew that there were humans who had claimed that He had done exactly that on their amazing world about 2000 years ago. At first she thought the idea was absurd. Now she wasn't so sure. If there was any one world in the known universe that had deserved Watching, be it the Watchers or even the Creator Himself, it certainly had to be that one. It was the most dynamic and vibrant world she had ever heard of. If the Creator ever did decide to meddle at a single point in His Creation, she believed that it would be there.

She had asked Kurosawa what Evan Lorne was doing at the end of his Twelve Step meeting, when he seemed to be talking directly with the Excogitatoris. Kurosawa explained that it was called 'prayer'. She said that God always heard prayer, and that it was a form of bidirectional communication, a dialogue, 1-on-1, and when it was done properly it was a form of spiritual intimacy between the Creator and His Creation - a meeting of minds - and that therefore it should be done each and every day to strengthen and deepen that spiritual connection, just like physical exercise strengthens the body.

The Guardian had never done it, indeed it had never occurred to her to even conceive of doing it. She decided to give it a try.

Excogitatoris, I know you are Watching me, to instantiate my reality if nothing else. I explained it to Rodney: I think therefore I exist, I exist therefore I am Observed, I am Observed therefore there is an Observer, QED. But Rodney still clings to his strict physical materialism no matter how strong the evidence that I present to him that You exist. I'm not sure why.

You Created me. You are Watching me. But do You care? Do You participate? I think You must do so on Earth because that world is a miracle unto itself, and only divine intervention could keep something so incredibly unstable from flying apart into complete chaos almost immediately. Yes, Earth is a living miracle, one that You had Created.

So maybe You do care for these humans? But if so, why? Why them?

I do see some of it, I think. They are young, eager, brave, foolish, facing challenges beyond their comprehension. My people started to interbreed with them..

Her radio crackled to life.

"Grodin to Guardian."

She tapped her mic. "Guardian here."

"I am very sorry to bother you ma'am, but we are having problems trying to connect the magnetic grapples and the durafiber nets to the backs of the jumpers. I have some of my engineers with me in the main hangar. Major Sheppard said it would be all right if I contacted you to please ask for some help?"

"I am happy to assist you. On my way. Guardian out."

She looked up for a final time.

I respect and honor your Creation, this universe, for it is indeed sublime, elegant, and majestic in its glorious design. I don't know You, but I do know that it is a reflection of You, Glorious Creator, so I respect and honor You as well. Amen.

She wasn't sure if she did it right. She decided to ask Kurosawa about it later. She was going to next ask the Excogitatoris what happened to her people when Grodin interrupted her. She made a mental note to later ask Kurosawa if there was anything in Earth's religious writings about early humans interbreeding with powerful beings that came from another world. She gazed up at the fluffy clouds for the last time, then she sighed and headed for the rooftop's edge.

She climbed down the ladder and re-entered the main building, walked down two flights of stairs, crossed a hall, and entered the teleporter for the upper North Tower. She quickly zapped herself over to McKay's quarters to drop off her duffel bag, then she zapped over to the main hangar to assist Grodin.


The Guardian was back in McKay's quarters. She was once again straddling him on his bed, but this time it was for an entirely different reason. McKay was laying on his stomach and looked unhappy. She was slowly moving the palm of her right hand over the back of his injured thigh where a large bruise had formed.

McKay squirmed a bit. "Hey, that tickles."

"Keep still." Her hand was glowing softly as it accelerated his tissue repair. "You lacerated the vein. I hope you learned your lesson."

He was resting his chin on the back of his hands. "Yeah, yeah. Never try to sneak into the shower with a girl who is way more limber than you are." McKay's attempt to share the shower had quickly failed, ending with only a fall and a nasty bruise to his thigh and to his ego.

As she kept working on healing his injured leg he asked her, "So how does that healing gizmo work?"

She continued to move her glowing right palm over his bruise. "I am not sure really. It's an energy transfer mechanism that stimulates cellular repair."

He squirmed again. "Rodney, keep still."

"Sorry."

"There, done." She stood up and started to dress.

He sat up and rubbed his thigh. "You know, we're going to need a bigger bed." Then he added brightly, "Hey, I bet we can requisition a bigger room. Maybe one with a balcony?"

She briefly sat back down on the bed to put on her white boots. "Rodney, why didn't you ask for that originally?"

"Eh, up to now I'd only use this room to crash out, usually after an all-nighter in the lab, that's it. So you think Weir will let us have bigger digs now that we're married?"

She put on her gloves and sealed them. "Oh I think she will, however she will need to discuss it with the Quartermaster." She smiled, "Oh wait, that's me."

McKay rubbed his still sore thigh again. "Hey, yeah, you're the landlady! Does this place have a penthouse suite somewhere? Let's grab it."

She tsked-tsked him as she stood up again. "No, we get nothing that extravagant. A balcony is fine, but that's it." She attached her hooded cloak. "Now hurry up and get dressed or we're going to be late for the final briefing."


The Guardian was piloting a puddle jumper to the L5 Lagrangian point in the Lantean system. A durafiber net and a magnetic grapple were in tow.

McKay was sitting in the co-pilot seat. He was fidgeting.

"Dang it, Kit, I should be back at the city working on refurbishing the drone launch bays. We still need to figure out how to adapt our naquadah power generators for trickle-charging the drones. Why did you drag me out here?"

"Well, I thought this would be a good opportunity for you to gain some more piloting experience."

"Kit, I already know how to pilot a jumper." Sheppard had previously given him some basic flight training after McKay had received his initial ATA gene therapy.

The Guardian explained, "You only know how to do basic take offs and landings using the neural autopilot. The flight logs say that you've only flown two practice flights out to the mainland and back, that's it. You've never flown through the gate before or up into space."

"Aw, how hard can it be?"

"And you need to learn advanced tactics: evasion, targeting, drone launching, high speed planetary re-entry.."

McKay crossed his arms. "And when will I ever use those?"

"Trust me, some day you will."

"C'mon, why do I need to learn how to evade and shoot when I am flying a ship that has an invisibility cloak?"

"Rodney, you can't always depend on the ship's cloak to be functional. It can easily become damaged, or you might need to divert the power for extra speed, or you might meet an enemy that can see through the cloak."

McKay had a worried look on his face. "An enemy can see through it? Who?"

"Well, no one you need to worry about right now. The Replicators mainly. They learn to adapt very quickly to overcome any offensive or defensive weapon, sometimes within minutes. Granted, they are an ancient enemy that you needn't concern yourself with at the moment.."

McKay nodded with understanding. "Yeah, Replicators. I hate those things."

The jumper lurched as the Guardian reacted to McKay's very surprising statement. She turned on the autopilot and swivelled her pilot seat to face McKay squarely. "You.. you know about the Replicators?"

"Oh yeah. Nasty little buggers."

She whispered, "Where?"

"They infested the SGC once. We had a devil of a time getting them out."

"That's.. that's impossible."

"Why?"

{ They are implacable enemies, relentless, impossible for mortals to defeat. In some ways they are even worse than the Wraith. If they had reached Earth you wouldn't have a planet anymore, at least not one with any recognizable form of biological sentient life left on it. }

"Huh? They're bad but they're not that bad. Not too intelligent either. At least the ones in the SGC. They just, well, replicated, and that's it. We got rid of them."

The Guardian frowned. { Show me an image of them in your mind. }

He did. They looked like robotic Lego spiders, marauding but doing little else.

"That's it? Are you sure?"

"Uh, well, I wasn't there when they infested the SGC. It heard it was touch-and-go for a while, but yeah, they eventually got rid of them."

Not the same. More primitive.

McKay went on. "I think some other Replicators later tried to clone Samantha Carter - they wanted to use her as a template for creating a master controller or something. It didn't work."

She asked worriedly, "It didn't? You sure?"

"Nope, didn't work. As far as I know they haven't been a problem since.*"

From McKay's description the Milky-Way Replicators seemed to be considerably inferior compared to the ultra-intelligent and ruthlessly implacable enemy of the Ancients.**

The Guardian gave a sigh of relief. "Oh thank the Maker, you had me scared for a moment." She rotated her pilot seat so it faced forward again.

"Anyway, you need to learn some basic evasive combat maneuvers." She leaned forward and added, "Like this one."

The jumper suddenly began to corkscrew wildly in a loop-the-loop like a drunken bird.

Rodney yelled, "Gah!" as the ship spiraled around like a roller-coaster ride. A few seconds later it levelled out and steadied itself.

He yelled at her, "Stop that! I'll throw up!"

The Guardian sat back and grinned at him. "That was a bumpy ride, wasn't it?"

"Yes!"

"That is because the inertial dampeners were caught off guard and fell behind by a fraction of a second. Now watch this." She repeated the same maneuver again, but this time it was smooth as glass. The stars swirled outside but there was no apparent feeling of movement inside the vehicle.

McKay was impressed. "I didn't feel a thing. How did you do that?"

"I told the ship what I was planning to do ahead of time. It readied the inertial dampeners, then I synchronized my mind with the ship and told it the evasive pattern I wanted it to follow, then I let ship fly the pattern for me. In this case it flew a pre-arranged path that I call 'Evasive Pattern Helix 1'. Simple, see?"

"So the ship flew a pre-arranged flight pattern that you had programmed in advance."

"Correct. I have flown thousands of hours in this little ship. This is my personal jumper, so it knows me very well. It knows all my favorite tricks." She lovingly stroked the console. "It's name is Tarai."

"You named it?"

"Oh yes. The jumper and pilot work together as one. Each pilot has a favorite jumper, and the tighter the mental bond the better it flies. It can be a very close relationship."

McKay said acerbically, "Well, you just tell Tarai that you're already taken."

She laughed. "He knows. Don't worry, he says he likes you."

"Oh that's just great."

"Would you like to fly next? Introduce yourself?"

McKay crossed his arms again. "No, not really."

"Well, on the return flight I will have you practice a high speed de-orbit and fast landing. Don't worry, it will be 100% manual."

"Aw, why?"

"Because it's very important. A normal landing on can take a long time to bleed off the high velocity from orbit, and there can easily be a situation where you might need to dive in and rescue me or someone else off a hostile planet as fast as possible. The hull is very strong but it can't be a meteor."

"Oh wonderful.."

"The trick is to fly a series of 'S' turns at the optimum descent angle for the given atmospheric density and composition. The descent window is very narrow. Go in too steep and you burn up; go in too shallow and you bounce off the atmosphere. You have to hit just the right angle, usually to within about three degrees or less."

"Oh brother. I hope there's an indicator dial somewhere?"

"Yes. I'll demonstrate when we get back. Tarai could do it for us, of course, but you might be flying a different jumper in an emergency situation so you need to know how to do it manually."

"Fine, whatever."

They resumed their flight in silence. McKay checked the chronometer. "Gawd, it's only been 2 hours. 13 more hours to get there. Why did you pick L5? It's the furthest one out."

"To give us maximum time."

"For what?"

She made a small grin. "Check the storage compartment."

He got up and went to the back section. The Guardian unhooked her seatbelt and followed him back. He opened the lid to the storage compartment, and there he pulled out a warm blanket and a soft sleeping mat.

He caught on and chuckled, "This is just so we can get some sleep on the return leg, right?"

She approached him from the back and wrapped her arms around him. "It's the best I could arrange for a honeymoon. And yes, we both desperately need some sleep. We certainly didn't get any last night."

He turned and embraced her face-to-face. "You know, this was actually in the back of my mind after you shanghaied me up here, but I was worried that the aluminum emergency blanket wouldn't be warm enough and the cargo mat would be too hard so I didn't say anything."

"So we were both thinking the same thing again.."

He pulled her in. "Great minds think alike don't they?"

"Indeed they do." She kissed him.


He was embracing her under the blanket. "Kit, you are so incredibly warm. We don't really need the blanket.."

She said, "No, I still want the blanket. Otherwise I'd feel chilly."

"You'd feel cold without the blanket? It feels downright toasty to me."

"I'm a thermophile. My outfit is an insulator that keeps my high body heat in; that's why I don't wear any other fabric."

"Of course, I get it. You always wear your special gloves for the same reason - because otherwise your hands would feel chilly."

"Exactly. My outfit maintains my thermal equilibrium and helps reduce the draw on my biopacks. On a sunny warm day I will sometimes wear my sundress. The black rooftop material can get very warm, so I usually change into it before I go cloud watching. If it's a bit chilly I sometimes wear my bodysuit's leggings under the dress."

"Well, you feel to me like I'm holding a heated body pillow. A very nice one, I might add."

They looked at each other's faces in silence under the blanket. The rear compartment was well lit, so McKay used the opportunity study her face closely: her high cheekbones, her perfect complexion. He gazed deep into her sparkling blue eyes, and for the first time he noticed that her irises had tiny gold flecks in them.

"My god, you're beautiful."

{ And I think you are very handsome. }

"No I'm not. I'm balding, I'm not that tall, I'm going to need glasses soon.."

{ You are wrong. Besides, I don't care what you look like. You have the most beautiful mind I have ever seen, and remember I had lived among Lanteans. }

They continued to gaze at each other under the warm blanket.

Is this really happening? I can't believe how lucky I am.

She smiled at the thought-leak. { No, I'm the lucky one, not you. }

"C'mon."

{ Just look at you. Out of the billions and billions of people on your planet you, and only you, were selected out of all of them to come here, across galaxies, across millennia, to be with me. Everything is rare, but even this is.. }

"Wait, everything is rare?"

"Yes, Rodney, everything is rare."

McKay propped his head up. "What do you mean by that?"

"You should know. It is a basic property of the physical universe."

"Is this like your weird comment about neutrinos? Are you being cryptic again?"

She propped her head up as well. "No, my statement should be obvious. As a physicist you of all people show know what I mean by it."

This was technically their honeymoon, and they were both tired and sleepy, but she had triggered McKay's insatiable curiosity. McKay had to know what she meant by her strange remark. "All right, I give up. Explain yourself."

"Well, let's start with life. You agree that life is pretty rare in the universe, right?"

"Of course. Life exists on only in a tiny subset of planets. The probability is modeled by the Drake Equation: the rate of star formation, the fraction of those stars with planets, the average number of planets that can potentially support life, and the fraction that actually develop intelligent life. We know it's really tiny, but not zero. Until the Stargate Program the only example was Earth itself."

"Correct. Now, is life rare on Earth, as a fraction of the planet I mean?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose so. You can calculate the amount of biomass versus the mass of the entire planet, which yeah, is a pretty tiny fraction of it I bet."

"Again correct. I worked it out. The mass of your planet is approximately 6 sextillion metric tons [6 trillion gigatons]. Earth has billions of people, plus all the agriculture to feed all those people, and over half your people eat a considerable amount of meat, which takes even more grains and crops, plus all the natural wildlife your world has in an incredibly diverse ecosystem that is broader than any other known planet. The fecundity of Earth is incredible. For example, did you know that there are over 350,000 species of beetles on your world?"

"Beetles? Ick. I hate bugs."

"Well, get used to them. There are over 4 quintillion beetles on your planet, plus all of the other kinds of insects, plus a trillion birds, uncountable numbers of aquatic creatures, and truly massive amounts of plant life. And it's growing. Did you know despite your huge population increase that there are now more forests and trees planted on your world than there were 200 years ago before your Industrial Age even began?"

"Okay, but what's your point with all this?"

"Rodney, the planet Earth, the most fecund planet known, with the huge biomass of all of its life, including all underground and undersea life, is roughly a trillion metric tons, with the vast majority being single-cell microbes and plants. In contrast, the mass of the Earth is six billion times that."

"Pretty tiny fraction."

"Emphatically. Only 0.000000016 percent of your planet is actually alive. And humans are a less than microscopic fraction of even that. Compared to your planet as a whole, even mold and mildew is incredibly special and rare. Everything that is alive will live for only the tiniest fraction of Earth's history until it dies and gets covered by other life until it forms topsoil, then it sinks over millennia into the Earth and decomposes back to basic carbon and other elements, with some forming oil and coal but with the vast majority of it sinking slowly back into the unquenchable fires of the Earth's mantle, never to be seen again until the universe dies. Don't you see? Any given bit of living matter on Earth, even the most insignificant spot of slime, is rarer than winning a thousand lotteries, and it lives for only the most fleeting of moments before it dies and sinks back to into the Earth, never to be seen again."

McKay raised a hand. "Okay, Kit, you made your point.."

"I'm not done. You, Rodney, are the product of conception where a half billion sperm cells fought to fertilize only one egg. Only one sperm succeeded. Now, doesn't that sound like a waste?"

McKay wasn't sure where she was going with her argument now. "Uh.."

"And the hierarchy of all wildlife can be stacked like a pyramid, with microbes and plants and the bottom, then insects, then arthropods and fish, birds and herbivores, leaving a tiny fraction as carnivores, and then just the tiniest number of them as apex predators: wolves, sharks, eagles, lions."

He grinned, "And tigers?"

She gave him a look, then she resumed. "Yes, and tigers. The point is almost all life is primitive, mindless, and relatively boring. Guess which of those categories is the most celebrated? The most talked about? The ones that appear in almost all your wildlife film documentaries? The rarest."

"Well, yeah, lions and stuff are the most interesting. Who wants to watch a documentary about slimes or mold?"

"Exactly! Rarity is interesting. Remember that."

"Fine, fine, I get it, all life is rare. And interesting life is rarer still. But you said *everything* is rare. What about that 99.9999.. blah blah percent of the Earth that is dead? How can that be rare?"

"Rodney, planets are rare. You know how big space really is."

"Yeah, I do. And yes, it is really incredible just how big the Solar System really is compared to the itty bitty planets in it, and few people realize it. There's an Internet video at a URL that I forget*** that really nailed it for laypeople. Earth was a marble, Jupiter was a soccer ball, the Sun was a about 5 feet across, and they laid all all the other planets like that in the middle of the desert. The video is amazing to watch. They built the whole Solar System going out to Neptune and the whole thing was bigger than San Fransisco."

"And that is downright crowded compared to interstellar space."

McKay chuckled, "Oh yeah. Interstellar distances are insane. The nearest star to Earth's system is Alpha Centauri, about 4.2 light years away. If you shrank the Sun down to the size of a period on a printed page, Alpha Centauri would be another pencil-point about 14 kilometers away. If Earth's Sun was scaled to a 1 foot radius and put in London, Alpha Centauri would be another ball 10,000 miles away in the southernmost tip of South Africa."

"Yes, and interstellar space is crowded compared to intergalactic space."

He stopped her. "I can take it from here. Yeah, intergalactic space is appallingly empty. Well over 99% of the observable universe is intergalactic space with nothing in it, and between the galactic clusters and superclusters themselves are monsterous voids that are even bigger."

"Correct. The physical structure of the universe is actually very frothy, sort of like soapy suds when you take a bath. The galactic superclusters are all clumped along very thin strips and point junctions that interconnect the frothy soap bubbles. The rest of it, all that empty space inside those soap bubbles, goes for billions of light years in any direction."

"I know that. So what's your point here?"

She ignored him. "Rodney, let me ask you now, given how space is so appallingly empty, would you consider a random meteor, a lump of rock, in the great scheme of things, to be something rather special?"

"Well, yeah."

"Rare?"

"Of course."

"Perhaps even precious?"

"I get it. Anything at all would be pretty special given the complete emptiness surrounding us."

"Good, remember that. Now let's shift gears. Pick a large gathering place where your people congregate, for example to watch a sports game or to watch an arts event."

"Okay, I'll pick the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. My Dad took me and Jean there to watch the Summer Olympics in 1976. It's the biggest stadium in Canada, fits about 66,000 people."

"Approximate size?"

"Well, I'm not sure exactly, but I know it has an enormous dome. Let's say it's 165 meters high."

"Fine, now take one atom, the largest stable atom in nature, which is.."

McKay interrupted her, "Uranium-238. 92 protons, 146 neutrons, a big sucker."

"Yes, the biggest fattest natural atom there is. Now put it in the center of that huge domed stadium. That stadium represents one atom. What would it look like?"

McKay worked it out in his head. "Let's see. The nucleus of U-238 has a diameter of approximately 15 femtometers, multiply it out.. I'm guessing it would be about the size of a marble?"

"Close enough. And the electron cloud?"

"Basically 92 gnats flying around the empty stadium."

"Good. Now think about it. Montreal's Olympic Stadium with a marble and 92 gnats flying around inside that whole space. And that represents the entire volume of space for a single atom. Atoms are almost entirely empty space. Physical matter is basically a whole lot of nothing."

She poked her finger into his bare shoulder. "When I press my finger into you like that, you already know that it is actually the electroweak force that is causing the resistance that is stopping my finger. There is no actual physical contact anywhere, in the sense of particles getting close enough to actually touch. The nuclear forces prevent it. So in a sense I am not actually 'touching' you at all."

"Yeah, fine. Okay, I'm getting it. So from your point of view even a single electron or atom nucleus is 'rare' because an atom is actually 99.999 blah blah percent empty space, right?"

"Yes. Now do you understand? When I say 'everything is rare' I mean it literally. Everything in the universe is fantastically rare, on every scale, from the largest intergalactic void down to the smallest atom."

"So is there a point to all this?"

"Yes, I think so. By learning about the properties of the observable universe on all of it's scales: intergalactic, life, subatomic, we can learn about its Creator."

"Oh not this again. Dang it, Kit.."

"Hear me out. I'm almost done. What I am trying to say is that the nature of Creation, how it is structured, how it works, helps us to understand something important about the One who created it."

"Which is?"

"He seems to like rarity."

"Huh?"

"I admit that I can't prove it. But it seems to me that if everything is rare, then He must like that."

"Well, fine, given the hypothetical premise - which I still don't buy - you can make that supposition I guess."

The Guardian gently touched McKay's face. { Meredith, you are so special, incredibly special. On every possible scale. I'm the luckiest woman in the universe. }

He leaned in. "No, you're the miracle, not me. I crossed two galaxies and found the last living Lantean, and now she's here with me."

"Mmm."

"Are we really married? I swear I'm dreaming all this. I really do."

She smiled, "I told you, I think we are both dreaming right now."

{ Bassara. }

"And I hope it never ends.." He kissed her. She returned it.

{ Meredith. } Hands were moving. She rolled on top and tried to straddle him again, the blanket falling away.

And then..

He stopped. "Kit, wait."

She was surprised. She laid back down next to him.

"I'm sorry, was I going too fast?"

He smiled, "Oh no, believe me, you were fine."

"Are you too tired?" Neither one of them had slept in almost 48 hours.

"No, it's not that.."

She grew increasingly concerned. This wasn't like him. "What did I do wrong?"

He scooted closer to her under the blanket. "It's nothing you've done.."

{ Meredith? }

{ It's.. what you are going to do. }

{ I don't follow. }

{ We both know we're going to lose the city eventually. }

She took a deep breath. { I know. Even if we stop the trio, they'll just send another. And another. We could launch 1000 drones, and another 1000 after that. Ultimately it won't matter.. }

{ .. because we're just fighting the Lantean-Wraith war all over again. }

{ I know, it's hopeless. }

"We don't even know if the SGC got our message. And even if they did, without a ZPM there is nothing they can do to help us stop them anyway."

{ Your idea to scavenge the drones was brilliant. It will buy us time. } She stroked his cheek.

"It will stop the trio. But then.."

{ .. but then the Wraith will regroup and try again. We probably have only a month left, maybe only a few weeks. Eventually they will figure out that we don't have a shield. Then they'll just raid us with darts and beam down hundreds of Wraith combat drones, all charged up with several fresh feedings each, and do a mass attack to take over the gate. Even I can't stop that. }

"And then you'll destroy the city."

{ Yes. I'll wait until the last possible moment, give all of your people time to escape. They don't know the gate address of the Alpha Site. }

"Kit.."

{ Stay hidden. Never use the gates, and you'll survive. }

"Without you I don't want to go."

Her face became stern. { Rodney McKay, you will leave my city when the time comes. If not, I'll make you. }

He held her hand. "Kit, come with me. We can rig a 10 second time delay on the self-destruct. I'll help you. Maybe we can even find a way to get back to Earth.."

She shook her head. { Rodney, we already discussed this. I am the Guardian of Atlantis. Protecting this city is the sole reason for my existence. If the city falls, I will have no purpose anymore. }

{ Bassara.. }

{ It's my duty. I made a solemn oath. I was born here, and I will die here. }

He quickly sat up and pulled her up by the shoulders with surprising force. "No. You're wrong."

"Rodney.."

"You made a new oath, new vows. To me. Yes, your old vows are still in effect, and yes we agreed that they would take priority. City first, not me. City first, not you. We agreed. But once you trigger that detonation sequence your duty is done. Your mission is finished."

"But.."

"Don't you see? You still have a purpose, your new vows. With me."

She flopped back down on the mat. "Oh I want to stay with you. I do. I want that so much. But I can't." She had tears in her eyes.

He held her again. "Why not?"

She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and turned to face him. { Remember how I kept asking you who I was? That I didn't think I was a person? Well, last night you finally made me believe that maybe, just perhaps, I might possibly be a real person after all. Every minute I'm with you reaffirms that. But don't you realize? It doesn't change who I am. I'm still the Guardian of Atlantis. It's my purpose, my only one. I don't know how to do anything else. }

"Then come with me to Earth. They still have the Chair down at the South Pole. We don't know how to use it properly."

{ No, you certainly don't. That was a horrible waste of drones. }

"Exactly. And you're an elite operator of the Chair, right? You can take out a capital ship with only 100-200 drones on a good day. By the end of today we'll probably have more drones than we know what to do with. We'll take a bunch of extras with us to the Alpha Site. Then we'll bring them all back to Earth and re-arm the Chair again."

{ Meredith, you mean.. }

"Yes. You'll have a purpose, one you know how to do, better than anybody. You'll be the Guardian of Earth."

She stared at him.

Of course.

A thousand drones.

The Chair.

She really would have a purpose. One that she knew very well.

Her eyes lit up, the blanket flew off, and she was back in the straddle position again.

{ Meredith, I love you.. }

"Heh. You'll come with me, right?"

{ I didn't think I could love you more than I already do. }

He was grinning. "Yeah, I hope this becomes a habit between us."

She pushed him down and kissed him as deeply as she could..

Hands were moving, and events were quickly approaching the point of no return.

.. and then she made a big yawn right into McKay's mouth.

McKay sat up and gagged.

{ Oh! I'm sorry! }

"Ack, I think there was backwash. Those three MREs you just ate. Gah!"

{ Sorry! Sorry! I'm so sorry! }

"It's okay. We can try again.."

She flopped back on the mat and pulled the blanket up again.

"No, I'm too tired."

"Aw.."

{ I am so exhausted. Rodney, we haven't slept in two days. }

He sighed. So much for the honeymoon. "Yeah, I guess I'm pretty beat too."

"Rodney, your idea of my being the Guardian of Earth.. I'm not sure I can do it. Earth is really scary. The more I think about it, the more scared I get."

He patted her shoulder. "Yeah, billions of people. Feh. Can't stand them. Well, humm, I'll probably get my old research job back at Area 51. I used to run Section 5, the Skunkworks section. I had a team where I basically could do any research I wanted. It's really isolated. A dream research gig really. Well, second only to Atlantis and you.."

"Area 51? Is that a secret lab?"

"Part of it. It's a very secret US Air Force base in the middle of the desert not far from Las Vegas. It's surrounded by square miles of empty fenced-off US government land with Shoot on Sight warning signs posted everywhere. Very private, very secret, and it's pretty major, practically a city unto itself."

{ Hmm. A secret technological city floating on an ocean. Only one made of sand instead of water, filled with scientists and military personnel. You know, I think I'm familiar with that.. }

"Heh, yeah, great analogy. I bet you'd love it. You'd fit right in too. We already have aliens there, including two Goa'ulds down deep in The Hole. We got a Baal clone and one of Baal's flunkies, a big fat slob whose name I forget. The bastards won't talk, even with enhanced interrogation techniques."

{ Rodney, I think I might be able to help with that. }

"Oooh. Would you really do that for us? A forced mind probe? I know you are really touchy about doing that.."

"Rodney, as the Guardian of Earth it means that my job would be to ensure planetary security against alien threats."

"Department of Homeworld Security. Bingo. You'd fit right in."

"Yes. Not only would I agree to scan your Goa'lud prisoners, it would be my duty and obligation to do so for planetary security."

"It's a perfect job for you then."

"Also, I'd strongly recommend that the Chair be moved from the South Pole to a new secret location. The Goa'uld know the South Pole location so it is compromised now. It was stupid how you revealed it so easily."

"So how would you have fought them from there if it was you?"

"Well, the South Pole was chosen because it would be the least visible location from equatorial orbit. If the orbit was non-equatorial I would wait until the enemy was on the far side of the planet and launch out of sight. Otherwise I'd launch at ground level, with the drones skimming just a few meters off the ice floor.."

".. like Tomahawk cruise missiles.."

".. until they reached the ocean, then depending on the orbital location of the enemy I'd fly them into the sea, just under the water, moving them away from the South Pole in random swarms, then bring them up all at once for a simultaneous attack on the enemy fleet. From the enemy's point of view the drones would be coming at them from ten different directions. They would have had no idea where they were actually coming from."

"Neat. Did you think of that?"

"No. It's SOP. The Antarctic Defense Station had no shield; none of our defense stations did. ZPMs were too valuable. We only used them to charge up the drones, then the defense station would run without one, manned only by a single Guardian, with a visit by a supply ship every few years to loan its ZPM to top off the power charges in the drones. The defense stations all depended on secrecy for their survival. That is why yours was buried in the South Pole under almost a half mile of ice."

"So where would you move it to?"

"How secret is this Area 51? Does anyone outside the US government know about it?"

"Uh, well, it's not really secret anymore. Hollywood has even made movies about the place, including one called Independence Day where they had aliens there, and there was a big invasion attempt.. You know, that was not really that far off from reality surprisingly enough.."

The Guardian tsk-tsked him. "Well, it was foolish to reveal it. We can't put it there. What is the surrounding terrain like? Are there any mountains nearby?"

"Oh yeah, it's ringed with them, the Sierra Nevadas."

"Then that is were I would secretly move it. I would construct a tunnel from Area 51 to the nearest mountain, then build a small complex there similar to your Stargate Command Center in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. Not as big of course, just enough to hold the standard 2048 drone complement for a defense station."

McKay though. "Hmm, tunneling would be expensive. It might need to go 10-20 kilometers."

"With a ZPM it would be trivial. We already have a drill attachment here in the city for underwater ocean drilling, back when we were trying to exploit geothermal energy to supplant our limited ZPM supply."

McKay said sarcastically, "Well, everything is easier with a ZPM, isn't it?"

"Rodney, one more thing: A Guardian's duty is to protect the planet, not to protect any one country. I cannot get involved in your planet's internal politics."

"I'm sure that would be cool with the SGC. Talk to Weir to be sure."

"I will, but I definitely don't want to get involved with your planet's Byzantine politics. I get nightmares just thinking about it. Normally the rule is that we only put a defense station on advanced worlds that have a single unified government. We sign a treaty that lays out what we will and won't do.."

He patted her hand. "Okay, okay.. I'm getting a headache now. Let's drop it. The point is, you are not going to run off and kill yourself when the city falls, right?"

{ No, you talked me out of it, my love. }

"Good."

She gave him a knowing look. { It wouldn't have worked, you know. }

"Hmm?"

{ You've been searching for the subroutine that triggers the city's self-destruct. You found it. You have a hidden pre-written subroutine to replace it with a timer. }

He sighed and put a hand over his face. "You found it.."

{ Yes. You also found my second one.. }

".. the second subroutine that you hid in the power management software. I admit it. You caught me."

{ .. and the third one I hid in the environmental system. That was one was deep. I'm impressed. }

McKay's eyes widened. He didn't expect her to know that he found it.

"I'm sorry, Kit. Look, I did it because I love you, and I didn't want you to die.."

{ I know, my love. I didn't say anything. You never found the fourth one. }

He sat up. "What?"

She grinned and pulled him back down, then she wrapped herself around him. To McKay she again felt like a warm electric blanket. { Never try to trick me. Sheppard tried; it will never work. }

"Sorry.."

"Shush." She lifted his head with her hands and kissed him deeply.

This time it was McKay's turn to yawn into Sara's mouth.

{ Ack! }

"Sorry!"

The blanket was pulled up again, and they were both on their backs again.

He sighed, "You know, this isn't going to work. We're both just too tired."

"I know. I'm sorry. This is supposed to be our honeymoon. Well, I already told Tarai to wake us in eight hours. I suppose we should just get to sleep then."

"Yeah. Goodnight."

{ Goodnight, my love. }

He held her hand again. "Kit, thank you for this dream.."

She smiled, { How do I know it's not just my own dream? You might just be merely a figment of my own imagination, you know. }

He grinned. "Not arguing. Too tired. Dream of me, okay?"

"Mmm."

Her eyes snapped open again. She had a gleam in her eye. She rolled on top of him agaim. "Ooh, I have an idea."

McKay was getting a bit put off with all her teasing. "C'mon, Kit, not again. We're both dead tired. Look, I said this isn't going to work."

{ No, I really have an idea that might work. I want to try something different. }

"Try what?"

{ A very advanced exercise for increasing mental intimacy. Lucid dreaming. }

"Lucid dreaming?"

{ Yes. We dream at the same time, with one of us taking control of the shared dream state while the other rides along. It's very advanced, but since we're already at the Bond level I think it might work, even if you're not 100% Lantean. I'll have to be the primary, I think, at least for now. }

"The primary controls the dream."

{ Exactly. For now you are just going along for the ride. Later on we can try switching control, but for now I think I should run it. }

He was dubious. "Run what exactly? What kind of dream are we talking about here?"

{ Well, anything really. We can dream anything you would like, any fantasy, any situation, be anyone, be anywhere. As long as we both agree. }

He was still very unsure about the whole idea. "Oh man, I dunno." { Uh, Kit, I have to warn you, I have a rather, uh, I mean.. I kinda dreamed about you already. A lot. Uh, I'm not sure if.. }

{ It's all right. Don't worry, I'll run this one. We'll do something simple that a normal couple would do, nothing really bizarre. Besides, we both really need the sleep. }

"Uh, okay, I guess. But if I want to bail, you'll let me out of it?"

{ Of course, right away. This requires trust. }

"All right. So, what do I do?"

She stroked his face. { Our heads should be touching. It works best that way. }

He moved in. "Okay. Now I just close my eyes?"

{ Yes. Sweet dreams, my love. Tarai will wake us in eight hours. }

"Goodnight.." He closed his eyes.

Within seconds the Guardian was asleep, her breathing soft and regular.

He opened his eyes again. Yes, she was really asleep already. He took the opportunity to closely study her face again.

He thought that she looked human enough to pass for one if they ever got to Earth together. If anything she looked a bit too perfect, with her spotless complexion, her high cheekbones, and her full lips. A bit exotic even. Well, he could always claim that she had plastic surgery or something.

Would everyone buy that? Her figure was athletic and trim, well proportioned, and not particularly busty. Wait, if a woman was having plastic surgery wouldn't she want to enhance herself there first? It would be suspicious if she didn't..

He kept thinking.

Something poked him in the shoulder. { Rodney, what's taking you so long? Hurry up, I'm waiting! }

"Oh, uh, sorry! Going to sleep!"

In seconds she was sound asleep again.

He closed his eyes tightly and began counting prime numbers starting after 1,050,000.

1,050,011.. 1,050,0013.. 1,050,031.. 1,050,041..


He found himself standing on an flat empty white plane that seemed to go off forever.

"Rodney! I've been waiting over 15 minutes!"

He spun around and there she was. She was wearing her usual combat uniform.

"Oh, sorry. I guess I was still pretty wound up thinking about you and Earth and everything. Uh, we're still asleep right?"

She approached him. "Yes. It's working. The intercranial bandwidth is excellent, better than I hoped. This should work nicely."

He shrugged, "So, uh, what do we do?"

She took a step back. "Well, I was thinking about that. Now, you are always teasing me about being Supergirl, so.."

Suddenly she was wearing Supergirl's whole outfit, complete with the knee-high red boots, the red pleated skirt, the tight blue longsleeve high-necked top with the yellow and red 'S' blazoned across her front. "You like this, hmm?"

He didn't particularly; he only called her that to tease her. He was still feeling a bit disoriented so he decided to just go along with it. "Uh, sure. Okay."

She sighed, "And I suppose that makes you Superman. I already looked it up. There."

He tried to stop her but it was too late. Now he was wearing the Man of Steel's outfit, with his physique, but his own head and face..

Her eyes widened. "Gaah!" She shut them tightly. "No, no! Wrong! Wrong!"

He was waving her off but she had already quickly changed him back to normal. Her eyes were still tightly shut.

"Great. Now I will never get that image out of my head. Ugh, that was awful."

McKay yelled, "I could have told you that!"

She opened her eyes again and frowned at him. "All right, what's your suggestion then?"

"Uh.. okay.. keep it simple, right?"

"Yes. You pick it."

"Uhm.. superheros.. anything simple.."

His eyes lit up. "Oh yeah, of course."

"Which one?"

"Let's do Batman."

"Show me the image in your mind."

He thought quickly. There were a lot of potential choices. The old 1960's Adam West version was right out, and so was the overly stiff and immobile outfit that Michael Keaton wore in the 1980's version. He decided to go with the Christian Bale version in The Dark Knight.*4

He was now wearing Christian Bale's outfit in TDK. She gave him a careful once over and nodded approvingly. "Hmm, you know, I like that. What's the belt for?"

"It's his utility belt. You see, Batman has no superpowers. He fights crime just using his brain and the gizmos that he invents. That's why I think he's so cool."

She approached. "Mmm, yes, I like it. Okay, who am I then?"

He thought quickly again. Batgirl? No, that didn't seem right. He felt that Sara was too mature in both body and spirit for her. Some of the Robins were female. There were at least two of them in fact: Stephanie Brown and Carrie Kelly. But he felt that both were way too young, especially Kelly, and it really didn't feel right either. Not with Batman.

Hmm, who else? He knew that Bruce Wayne had endless girlfriends, most of them fake to fit his false rich playboy persona. No that wouldn't work either. It had to be someone who could realistically be in a serious relationship with him, one that could potentially go all the way. A supervillian perhaps? Poison Ivy maybe? No. Wait..

He snapped his fingers. "I got it! Oh, of course!"

"Well?"

"Selina Kyle!"

"Who is Selina Kyle?"

"Catwoman! Yeah!"

Sara frowned. "'Catwoman'? Seriously? Rodney, you know how I feel about indulging in your little perversion about my tiger engrams.."

"First, I'm not perverted and neither are you. I already explained that. Second, Selina Kyle is a very complex woman. She grew up in a broken family and fell on the wrong side of the tracks. Batman kept trying to get her to switch to the good side. C'mon, read me."

She did. McKay imagined Selina Kyle as played by actress Anne Hathaway in TDK. She saw that the woman had a rather athletic and well-proportioned body type that was rather close to her own. And she was wearing.. she was wearing..

A full-length mirror appeared, and Sara was inspecting herself wearing Hathaway's Catwoman outfit. "Oooh.."

Batman walked up behind her approvingly. "Wow, that costume works on you." Her hair was darker but otherwise she looked like herself. He saw that the black outfit set off her fair skin nicely, the same as it did on Hathaway.

She turned. "Yes, I love this outfit. The eyemask is intriguing. I caught your background about her too, how she led a hard life growing up without a father, was used as a sex slave for money.."

"You mean a prostitute."

".. a prostitute, then she beat her slaveowner.."

"Pimp."

".. her pimp and turned into a petty thief. She saved Batman's life once. Did I get all that right?"

"Yep. There was a lot of misunderstanding between them, especially in The Dark Knight Rises. Eventually he won her over to the good side. He faked his death, and together they eloped to Europe together in secret."

She said coyly, "Oh yes, that sounds perfect. Let's keep it simple for now. Leave out Europe. I'm not ready for that."

"Okay. Uh, now what?"

She was annoyed. He was being far too passive. Didn't he realize this was a dream?

"Rodney, look at me."

"Yeah, wow, it works."

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Look, do I really need to explain this for you? I am your wife. This is our honeymoon. I am wearing a Catwoman outfit. Shall I continue to elaborate? Or would you like for me to just draw some diagrams in a sketchbook for you?"

He got the hint. He came forward and he embraced her.

She squirmed. "Wait a second." She tried to look behind herself, "Hmm, did I forget the tail?" One appeared.

He shook his head. "No, Catwoman is just a disguise. She's a normal woman with no powers just like Batman. She's just as smart as him too. Her creator, Bob Kane, said he was inspired by actress Hedy Lamarr, a beautiful genius who had filed patents for the basis of digital WiFi. She was brilliant. That's why you being Catwoman is perfect."

The tail disappeared.

Then he looked around the empty white expanse. "Don't we need scenery for this?"

She delicately ran a sharp claw under his chin using her black glove. The claw was an inch long. "Mmm, yes. Your lair or mine?"

He grinned. "Yours."

They were now standing and embracing each other in a large bedroom surrounded by several throw rugs. A king size four-poster bed with a great furry blanket was next to them. Several small cat-like creatures with variously colored coats of fur were lounging around watching the pair placidly.

She pulled him in and cooed into his ear, "Batman, I'm a bad girl."

"Selina, it's not too late for you. You can change."

"I don't know if I can."

"Yes, you can. You can still be saved. Come with me. I'm getting too old to fight crime like this. I'm giving up this life. Let's go. Together."

"You and me? We can go away together, leave this awful city?"

"Yes, now and forever."

"Oh, Batman.."

"It's Wayne. Bruce Wayne."

She pushed him down on the bed. "Bruce.. I want you. Make me good."

"Selina.."

She dove in.

"Ouch! Dang it, Kit, watch the claws!"

"Oops." Sara smiled weakly as she took off the sharp black gloves, "Sorry." She looked down at herself. "Say, why am I wearing high stiletto heels? Catwoman is supposed to be a thief, correct? She cannot possibly run with these things on."

McKay sat up. "You know, Kit, you're really ruining the moment."

"Uh, heh, sorry. Let's try this again. Say, am I supposed to be purring?"

"No!"


The Guardian and McKay were returning from L5 with 276 dead drones in tow. They were being pulled behind their jumper in a durafiber net that was filled to capacity. Using a detector that McKay had calibrated to detect molybdenum they had identified almost a thousand of them at the L5 point.

Earlier, Lorne had radioed in from L2 that he had discovered a partially intact weapon defense platform. It had apparently been kicked into deep space early in the war, only to drift back to its Lagrangian point again 10,000 years later. The 1.5 kilometer long station had all of the solar panels blasted away, and it was missing much of the protective armor plating that ran along the outside, but the main dorsal cannon was still fully intact.

Lorne speculated that the weapon platform might be salvagable. He sent photos back to Atlantis where Grodin agreed with his assessment. The photos were also transmitted to the Guardian at L5, where she radioed back that although it might be possible to jury rig a repair by sacrificing one of the city's five naquadah generators as a power source, that trying to repair the station would be a waste of time, because it would have been good only for one attack before it was blasted away again. Between the six jumpers they had collected almost 1,200 intact dead drones, of which a large fraction were likely operational enough to use again, so there was no point in trying to repair the weapon platform.

An hour later the Guardian finished doing a series of simple combat training maneuvers with McKay at the helm. She didn't let him try anything too difficult given the precious cargo they were pulling. She hid the fact that Tarai was not happy about being man-handled by the clumsy rookie pilot.

"Kit, I feel sick.."

"Relax, we're done for now. I'll set the auto-pilot. You still need a lot of practice in my opinion, but we can save that for another time."

"Does this thing have a barf bag?"

{ Tarai, I'm sure he's just joking. }

"Are you talking to the ship again?"

"Uh, you are joking, right? Tarai wants to know if you are going to puke on him."

"Yeah I'm fine."

She sighed, "14 more hours of this.."

They travelled in silence.

A half hour later she asked him idly, { Europe? Is that where you'd take me? }

Rodney was learning back in the co-pilot seat, his arms behind his head. "Eh? Naw. That was just the Dark Knight film."

"So where would we go?"

"Hmm. Tahiti."

{ Is that a quiet place without any crowds where you and I could just lay our backs and look at the clouds? }

"Oh yeah. Definitely. White beaches. Us laying under a beach umbrella in our beach chairs, drinking Mai Tais. I'm picturing it right now."

She picked up the image.

{ Oh I like it. Nobody else around. In fact I love it. Wait, what am I wearing? }

"Oh, uh, well, I imagined you wearing your usual white fabric, but as a bikini.."

{ Rodney, I'm practically naked. You know I'd never wear that. I'd get too chilly. }

"But this would be in the tropics, really warm and sunny."

{ I see. I suppose I have enough cloth left to make that.. }

"I'd love to see it on you. I have so much vacation time accrued you won't believe it."

Several more minutes passed in silence.

{ Rodney? }

"Yeah?"

{ I have a fantasy.. }

"Go on."

{ It's kind of silly.. }

"It's okay."

{ I just imagine sometimes, what if we just ran away together? Like in the lucid dream? }

"Run away? Really?"

{ Sometimes I imagine just running away.. }

"You? Running away?"

{ Yeah, I wish I could go to a far away place, just you and me, a place that has never heard of the Wraith, or the war, or has Replicators, or has the Goa'uld, or any other enemy - just a quiet peaceful place where we could just lay on our backs, look at the clouds... }

"Like Tahiti."

{ Like Tahiti. }

"Let me guess, and have intense arguments about astrophysics and quantum mechanics all day long?"

{ Yes. And have intense arguments about astrophysics and quantum mechanics all day long. }

"Nice dream."

She sighed. { Only a dream. }

"Tahiti really exists, you know. A tropical island paradise on Earth."

There was a pause.

{ We both know I'll never get to Earth. }

"Sure you will."

{ No. I'll die here. }

He sat up, worried. "Is that some kind of prediction?"

{ No. I have no real precognitive ability. It is true that pre-Ascendants often have that ability, but I lack it. It is just a feeling I have. }

He tried to cheer her up. "Hey, let's do it. If we get back to Earth from the Alpha Site, then let's run away together."

{ Rodney, you can try to tempt me all you want, but I am still a creature of duty with a mission. }

She sat up. "You have a mission too. I know that in your own way you are as much a creature of duty as me."

McKay waved her off. "Oh bosh. I am a creature of comfort, not duty. Give me my coffee, a comfy chair, and a good physics book, and I'm happy as a clam. I'm also a coward."

She smiled pleasantly. "So you say."

"And sitting in a beach chair is strictly optional."

They did not speak again after that, with each of them lost in their own private thoughts. McKay decided to dismiss the Guardian's prediction as just a case of pre-battle jitters and pessimism.

Other than a handful of thought-leaks from McKay that were mostly related to Tahiti and someone wearing a white bikini, and the manual landing attempt helmed by McKay that dented the jumper, the remainder of the trip was uneventful.


Sheppard, Zelenka, Weir, Sheppard, McKay, and the Guardian were in the Chair room. Previously, McKay and Zelenka had rerouted the power from four of the five naquadah generators for charging up the drones, of which 500 were now loaded in their bays. Grodin announced that another 500 would be loaded within the next six hours by his team and then enabled upon their passing their built-in internal status checks.

It had turned out that so far over 80% of the salvaged drones were potentially still operational, a rate higher than expected. Based on the molybdenum readings by the six jumpers taken at the four Lagrangian points, McKay had estimated that at least 2000 more drones were still potentially harvestable - more than enough to take at least 1000 back to Earth, given Atlantis' maximum capacity of 2048 drones in its own launch bays.

Sheppard had his arms crossed. "Okay, Genie. Give us the lesson."

"Gladly." She sat in the Chair and placed her hands on the blue gel pads. She leaned back and the chair lit up. "An operator's skill level is determined by how many independent streams of drones that he or she can simultaneously pilot and control at the same time. The elite level is ten."

Sheppard said, "Ten? That's a lot."

"Yes. It takes a lot of concentration at that level. I can't always reach it."

"So how many times have you done this?"

"I have over 1000 hours logged."

McKay was was studying his data tablet. "Let's launch a couple, shall we? I think we can afford to expend a few now, just to verify operational viability."

"Good idea. I'll launch three on independent paths. I might be a bit rusty, so I don't want to push myself yet. Here we go."

Nothing happened.

"Uh, I said, here we go.."

Still nothing.

McKay frowned. He checked his computer tablet. "I don't get it. Power is good. The data connection is good. Sara, are you sure you're hooked in?"

"Of course I am."

She grimaced. "Firing." Still nothing.

Then she realized something. "Oh wait, I forgot to turn off the safety. Heh, silly me. There."

Sheppard raised an eyebrow. "You forgot to turn off the safety?"

"Yeah. Sorry." Three drones fired.

She concentrated as they took up into the sky, going in three different directions.

Sheppard was nonplussed. "Sara, I know you're busy, but can I ask you a question?"

She was still concentrating. "Sure, anything."

"How many times have you actually fired a drone? I mean a real one, not in a VR simulation?"

"Uh, three."

"You mean.."

Weir gave an expression of surprise. "Sara, you've never fired a real drone before?"

The Guardian looked embarrassed. "Uh, no, not really."

McKay lowered his tablet. "What? You kept bragging how you were this great hot-shot drone pilot! 'Oh I took out a whole hive ship with 50 drones once...'"

She moved the Chair back to its upright position, turning it off. "Dang it, Rodney, I told you! I did all that in a VR simulation! Look, by the time they let me out of the box the city was down to its last 200 drones. They couldn't spare any just for practice!" She glared at him. "Okay, so the VR simulation wasn't perfect, but I'm still rated elite in the sim!"

Sheppard shook his head sadly. He had seen this before. "Sara, that was just a video game. I'm a pilot too, and I know how flight sims are never a substitute for real-world piloting experience. You gotta practice with the real thing. A lot."

She sat back, her face dark as the Chair lit up again. "Fine, I'll go shoot up a bunch of trees on the mainland. There, five away. Happy now?"

She turned and gave Sheppard a nasty grin. "Unless you'd like to fly your jumper up there for me, John, for target practice? I will be happy to shoot at you instead."

"Ha ha. Just keep practicing." He turned to leave.

"John, stay here. You're up next."

He turned back, "Who, me?"

"Yes. When the Wraith figure out that we don't have a shield they'll be sending in waves of darts to beam down attack squads. I will be too busy chasing them around the city, so you will need to man the Chair."

"Right, got it. I'm watching."

"I understand that Beckett also has some Chair time, so get him down here too. There is no power in the infirmary right now so he is probably just sitting on his thumbs anyway."

Weir used her radio to call in Beckett while McKay checked his tablet, with Zelenka conferring with him quietly.

McKay shook his head. "Something is wrong. The first three drones all fired okay, but they are all already out of power. They quit and crashed way too soon. The trickle charge isn't working right, or we are misjudging something with the efficiency rating of the charging system."

The Guardian was still concentrating on flying the remaining five drones. "You two are going to need to figure out that problem yourselves. I'm too busy here."

McKay turned. "C'mon, Radek, let's go."


The next day the Guardian entered the mess hall at lunch time. It was mostly empty, as the majority of the Expedition's staff had already decamped for the Alpha Site, leaving behind Marine volunteers and a skeleton staff.

She walked up to the serving station. No one was there to serve, and the only food item was a large lidded pot containing processed yeast. She glopped some into her bowl, then she turned to pick a table. She spotted Evan Lorne with several military men seated in a semi-circle. Previously Lorne had given her an open ended invitation to sit and watch whenever she liked, but she politely declined. Still, she was intrigued about what they were doing so she sat near them to quietly listen as she ate.

"Lorne, you got the inside scoop. Tell us, are we gonna live through this?"

"I dunno, Rick. But we're gonna give them a heckuva fight. Remember, the plan is to fall back to the gate. No suicide heroics."

"I don't wanna die.."

"Nobody does. We just have to trust in God."

Another voice spoke up. "C'mon, Rick. We're all gonna die sooner or later, right? Personally I'd like to go out in style, not bedridden with some terminal cancer, or having someone wipe my butt in an old folks home."

"Well, we can take solace in the fact that we'll be with Him. Life is fleeting, it passes by in a flash. He is forever. He'll call us Home."

Lorne then asked, "Anything else? We need to keep this session short."

"Evan, what should I pray? I'm still not that good at it."

Lorne chuckled, "It doesn't matter, Charlie. You're not being graded. It's true that we often don't know how to pray as we ought, but that's okay because the Spirit that is within us will intercede for us and translate our groanings that are too deep for words*5. Just let it come naturally. Or just use Psalm 23. In fact I'll do that right now to close up."

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely your goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.*6

"Godspeed, now let's get prepped."

The group broke up.

The Guardian quickly downed her yeast, tipping the bowl and slurping it up in a few gulps, and left.


The Guardian entered the gate room and saw that the gate was active and a stream of people were walking into it. Weir was busy conferring with someone on the main floor when the Guardian walked up.

Weir noticed her. "Oh, hello Sara."

"Hello Doctor Weir. Is the evacuation proceeding satisfactorily?" She knew that time was running out, with the first hive ship expected to arrive within the next few hours.

Weir was checking her computer tablet. "Uh, yes, thank you for asking. Some of Grodin's team are still here. They will stay until the last minute."

"Anyone missing?"

"Yes, a few." She turned to a Marine. "Sergeant, can you send someone to please fetch Doctor Kurosawa from sublevel 5? She doesn't wear a radio."

The Guardian interrupted, "I can bring her up for you. I was planning to head down there anyway to check on the power systems."

"Oh, thank you very much."


The Guardian approached Kurosawa's office door. It was already open. She peered in and saw Kurosawa working rapidly on her Dell laptop.

The Guardian knocked on the open door. "Doctor Kurosawa? It's time to go to the Alpha Site."

Kurosawa looked up. "Oh? It is? What time is it? Oh dear, I didn't realize it was so late." As she started to shut down her laptop she asked, "So what brings you down here?"

"I ran into Doctor Weir and she was going to fetch you, so I volunteered."

"Oh that's very kind of you. You want to help me pack and carry this up?" Two boxes were on the floor. "I'm afraid can't carry much myself."

"I'd be happy to." The Guardian bent over and started to help put papers and various small archaeological knick-knacks into the two boxes.

As Kurosawa waited for the laptop to shut down she asked, "So, how are doing, Sara? I'm surprised you are down here. I was expecting you to be very busy getting ready for the upcoming battle."

"Well, everything is basically in place now. It's mainly waiting."

"I see. This must be very stressful for you."

"To be honest I'm more excited than anything."

"Really?"

"Yes. I finally get to do my job and actually do something useful around here."

"That's excellent. And thank you so much for your help."

The two women continued to pack items. The Guardian wondered if she should ask. She finally spoke. "Uh, Doctor Kurosawa?"

"Yes?"

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead, anything."

"Uhm, what do your people believe will happen when they die?"

She stood up and smiled. "Well, we believe that we will be called back Home."

"I've heard that expression." The Guardian thought back to Lorne's final Twelve Step session. "What is meant by that?"

"Well, we believe that life in this world is transitory. We are just pilgrims passing through it. Our proper place is by His side. We rise up and become transformed into spirits."

"That sounds very much like Ascension to me."

"Hmm. I never thought of it like that. I suppose it might."

The Guardian knew that Ascension was actually just a physical transformation of matter to energy with no real change in locality. "The analogy is not perfect. There is no such thing as 'heaven' for the Ascended. They are still living in this galaxy."

"I see. Yes. Well, the real Heaven is a bit different."

"How so?"

"Well, if you read read Revelation 5 you will see that everybody is doing something. Everybody is active. It's a busy place. In Heaven you get put to work. I admit that some of it might seem a bit cliche, like singing hymns in the heavenly choir, but it will still be really interesting. Some people will go to work in other mansions, maybe get assigned roles in physical worlds, perhaps as spirits, perhaps as something else. Some of the roles will be quite powerful. Take Revelation 2 for example. It describes the saints helping Christ to rule 'with a rod of iron'. The greek word is poimanei, which is derived from the word for a shepherd, poimen. Paul uses the same word in Acts 20:28 to describe overseers. So apparently some people in Heaven will be given positions of considerable authority and power."

"Interesting. Here let me carry both boxes for you. We need to get you up to the gate."

"Thank so much, dearie." Kurosawa picked up her cane. Together they walked out into the narrow dark hallway and headed out. With the Guardian assisting by holding Kurosawa's elbow, they climbed up the stairs to the transporter booth on sublevel 3. From there they reached the gate room.

"You get going now." The Guardian handed the two labeled boxes off to a younger person who carried them toward the gate.

"Thank you again so much. I'll be praying for you."

"Thank you. I am honored."

Kurosawa smiled. "You know, I must say that your manners are really improving. You are becoming quite a pleasant young lady."

The Guardian decided not to correct Kurosawa regarding her true age. "Well, when I genuinely feel thankful I do manage to say the right words, I guess."

"Yes, you do." Kurosawa hesitated, then she asked, "So, will you be joining us eventually?"

The Guardian looked at her. "No, I don't think so."

"Oh. I'm so sorry.."

"It's all right. Like I said, I'm excited. I'm finally doing my duty, my purpose, which as much as anyone can ask for in this life."

"God bless you. Take care."

"Goodbye."


Chuck radioed down, "The first hive ship is coming in. Slow straight-line course. It has three smaller cruisers moving in front of it."

The Guardian was in the Chair. "Cruisers are in standard trio formation."

"This is Weir. We are ready up here. Good luck."

"Preparing to launch."

"50 drones away. 100. 200. 300. Multitargeting, four streams, on the forward hive and the three cruisers."

Chuck radioed, "They are reacting. Evading. Looks like darts are coming out."

She concentrated hard. "I see them. The darts will try to block."

And so, the Second Lantean-Wraith War had begun.


The Guardian was standing in the control center looking at the big display screen with the senior staff. She looked somewhat tired.

She asked Chuck, "You can confirm the kills?"

Chuck was nodding. "Confirmed. One hive ship and three cruisers neutralized. The other two hive ships left. Long range sensors show both of them are parked just outside of the solar system."

Weir made a sigh of relief. "Good job. Well, I think we won this round. Don't you agree, John?"

John was musing. "They bailed after one hive ship was lost. Huh. Genie, I though you said they'd sacrifice two ships?"

She was frowning. "Yes, it is unusual how they retreated so fast. Wraith are normally much more aggressive than this."

There was a beep, and Chuck whirled his chair back to his station. "Three darts coming in fast! ETA one minute!"

The Guardian was alarmed. "What? Where? How?"

McKay groused, "I bet a cruiser from the second hive ship snuck back in and dropped them off on the far side of the planet."

"But we have a spysat on the far side."

Chuck was shaking his head. "Not anymore. It's offline now. Must have just happened."

The Guardian snarled and ran in a flash to the transporter to head back to the Chair room.


Sheppard was looking at the main display, which showed no sign of Wraith activity. "Well, that was odd."

The Guardian was nodding. "I agree."

The three darts had just barely managed to reach the city before the Guardian was able to fire drones to quickly eliminate all three. What was odd was that they did not attempt to fire back.

Weir asked worriedly, "Any sign of Wraith inside the city?"

The Guardian shook her head. "I'm not detecting anything."

McKay was looking at the life signs monitor. "No Wraith signs here either. We're good."

Sheppard was thinking. "Hmm, I bet it was a test."

McKay sighed, "Yeah. They were testing.."

The Guardian completed his sentence, ".. the shield. It didn't go up. Now they know."

"Yep."

"I should have killed them while they were much higher up. It's my fault. I left the Chair room for a moment and they managed to sneak in because of it."

Weir reassured her. "Sara, no. Don't blame yourself. You can't be in there all day and night.

"Yes I should. Round the clock."

"You can't.."

"Then we should have rotated between me, John, and Beckett, so it would always be manned day and night. I should have suggested that ahead of time. I still screwed up."

McKay said, "Sara, relax. They were going to figure it out sooner or later."

Sheppard said, "I'll head down and man the Chair for now. I'll have Beckett swap in after."

Weir said, "Good. Keep me posted. Meanwhile the rest of us should take a break. We're all beat. Reassemble at 15:00."


It was 13:45. The Guardian entered Weir's office. "Doctor, you asked to see me?" Then she noticed Teyla and Doctor Beckett were already there.

"Yes, Sara. Please close the door." She did.

She could feel the tension in the room. "What's going on?" Teyla looked fretful. "Teyla, is something the matter?"

Weir spoke on Teyla's behalf. "Sara, we need to tell you something. Teyla has just informed me that there is a Wraith inside the city."

The Guardian was surprised, shocked, and confused. "What? That's impossible. I don't detect anything. If there was a Wraith lurking anywhere in the city I would sense it immediately."

Teyla approached her with great trepidation. "Anquietas, I am so sorry. I am ashamed that I did not tell you before."

"Tell me before? Tell me what?"

Weir said softly, "Sara, Teyla has the ability to sense the Wraith. It is a secret in her family going back generations. She's sensing one in the city now. She came here to report it to me, and she was going to find you to tell you next, but I asked her to please stay here when she told you so that I can help explain this to you."

"Explain what? Teyla, how are you doing this?"

Teyla was very nervous. "Uh.. I don't know exactly. I just know that some members of our family have always had this ability. We can sense them, even communicate with them telepathically. It's.. genetic."

The Guardian was perplexed. "Teyla, you have no Lantean blood to use mind powers."

"I don't. But I think I do have another kind of blood.."

Carson Beckett spoke up. "I checked and confirmed it. She has some Wraith DNA inside her, a small amount."

The Guardian looked rapidly between them. "Surely you are joking. None of this makes any sense."

Weir said, "I know, but we have to face facts."

"This is ridiculous. I don't smell any Wraith on Teyla at all. I never have."

Beckett spoke up again, "That is because, I suspect, that the pheromones that the Wraith naturally emit are activated by a gene that Teyla does not have."

The Guardian approached Teyla. "You are part Wraith..?" She kept approaching.

Teyla stepped back in abject fear.

Weir interposed herself between them. "Sara, stop!"

The Guardian looked at her innocently. She was confused. "Doctor Weir?"

"You will not touch her! She is not a Wraith!"

The Guardian realized what was happening. "Oh. I see. I'm sorry." Her face had a gentle expression. "Teyla, I have no urge to attack you. None whatsoever. I never have. I apologize if I scared you."

So that explained it. Teyla had always avoided becoming real friends with the Guardian, rarely interacting with her except during a pre-mission briefing or during a mission. They had never met or talked in private. She did sit with her once to look at horses, and a few other times at lunch, but always when others were present, and never alone. She only met the Guardian when other witnesses and potential protectors were present.

The Guardian said softly "Teyla, are you really that afraid of me?"

Teyla replied just as softly, "Yes."

"I never picked it up.."

"I have a well-disciplined mind. I hid my fears."

"I'm so sorry. I called you 'friend' the first day we met, remember? You are my friend then, and you are my friend now. That will never change." The Guardian had a tear in her eye. "Teyla, I will never hurt you. I will always be your friend."

Teyla bowed, "Thank you, Anquietas."

Weir gave a sigh of relief. "Good. I am glad this was resolved without violence. Now please, we need to deal with this situation. There's Wraith somewhere.."

Suddenly there was a muffled explosion. Alarms started going off.

They all ran out. Weir yelled, "What's happening?"

Chuck was checking the monitors. "Explosion somewhere in the city."

"Where?"

He checked. His face had an expression of dread. The Guardian already knew. "No.."

"I'm sorry. It was inside the drone launch bays."

The Guardian snarled and ran.


Laura Cadman was standing just outside the door that led to the large room where the drone bays were located. The Guardian ran up. She saw that Cadman was wearing her EOD bomb disposal suit.

Cadman stepped in front of her. "Whoa! Sara, stop!"

"I need to go in there!"

"Relax, I have a MALP in there. The Wraith blew himself up. He's already dead."

The Guardian growled again. She knew who it was: a Wraith Champion, specially bred, filled with dozens of human souls, given years of mental training to hide his mind from Lantean probes, sent in a suicide mission to take out the drones.

"Let me through!"

Cadman pushed her back. "No! The bomb wasn't that powerful. A lot of the bays are still intact."

The Guardian yelled, "They were being careful not to damage the gate! It's right above us! I need to go in and check!"

Cadman shook her head vigorously. "No! I took some radiation readings with the MALP. Sara, it was a dirty bomb. The room is sleeting with hard beta radiation Over two sieverts per minute*7.

"No! No!"

"Look, nobody can go in there. There's a glowing blob in the center of the room, cobalt-60 I think. I was trying to get the MALP's waldo arm to remove it, but the MALP died. It's just too radioactive in there."

"Sara, what's going on down there?" It was McKay on the radio.

"Rodney, quick, tell me, how many bays were damaged?"

"Uh, the status displays are up on most of them.. checking.. we lost about a third. 450 are still good. We got lucky."

"Oh thank heavens."

"Wait. Aw crap! Crap!"

"What is it?"

"The main power coupling got disconnected. I see the cable on the monitor. It needs to be spliced and reconnected. Crap! That will take at least 10 minutes. It's too delicate for a waldo."

"Cadman, give me your EOD suit."

She heard Chuck's voice on the radio. "The two hive ships are moving towards us again. Sublight speed. Six cruiser escorts."

Laura stepped back. "No way jose. This EOD suit will barely protect you from rads. Look, that is hard beta-ray radiation in there. It will nuke every DNA strand in every cell in your body in two minutes. You'll be the walking dead after that." The Guardian already knew there was no way to regenerate from that much cellular damage.

McKay was inchoate. "Sara, you are not going in there!"

The Guardian snarled. She looked at Cadman, who promptly fainted as her carotid arteries were temporarily pinched shut.

The Guardian removed Cadman's heavy EOD suit and put it on herself.

Then she went inside.


A/N:

* The Milky-Way Replicators were destroyed by the superweapon at Dakara in early 2005.

** The Milky-Way Replicators had almost defeated the Asgard after the Atlantis Expedition had left Earth, so McKay is underestimating them. (Their power level varied quite a bit during the course of the SG-1 series.) The Dakara weapon had eliminated them all so they are no longer a threat regardless.

*** See Filmmakers Show the Scale of the Solar System in Amazing Video at space dot com.

*4 For story purposes I am assuming the TDK trilogy was released before Rodney had left for Atlantis.

*5 Ro 8:26-27

*6 Ps 23, NASB. (Usually I recommend NIV, but I think the NASB translation is better here.)

*7 See xkcd dot com slash radiation.


A/N Update:

Answers to some questions:

Q: Where is Aiden Ford?

A: Ford is not in this story (his mother got sick). In real life, the series producers (Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper) and the actor (Rainbow Sun Francks) felt that the character of Aiden Ford was not working as intended, so he was changed to a recurring character and a new character (Ronon) was introduced to take his place on AR-1 (cf Wikipedia). I wanted Evan Lorne in the story early so I swapped him for Ford in S1. The Wraith-enzyme-enabled Ford is no threat to Genie so he wasn't a useful antagonist to drive this story.

Q: Will Todd appear?

A: He already has (Chapter 5).

Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback in your kind reviews and PM, and as always, thank you for reading.
-HuuskerDu