Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis, the characters and universe are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Productions and the Sci-Fi Channel

Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis, the characters and universe are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Productions and the Sci-Fi Channel. The content of this story is solely for entertainment purposes and no copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: I am NOT in the medical, military or science professions so what you read is just 'winging it'. Hope it sounds plausible. Also in my stories there will always be Dr. Weir and Dr. Beckett.

This is the fourth story I've written dealing with Colonel Sheppard's disability. Preceding order: Three for the Price of Two, Conquering Adversities, Unexpected Surprises.

The story was beta read and any remaining errors are my own. Enjoy.

Life Altering

By Kwillads

Chapter 12

"Morning Elizabeth." John announced leaning against the office doorway holding their customary two cups of coffee at seven am sharp. He was dressed in his uniform waiting to be granted entry. Today was the day. Six months of hard work re-learning to walk and he was gate ready. Yes, Today was the day. Not that he was expecting to go through the gate today or even tomorrow in fact but at least he knew he could if he had too.

"Morning John, come in please." As he got closer Elizabeth had her arms out stretched and fingers ruffling in the air for one of the cups he held, "gimme, gimme. I was running late this morning and haven't had any yet."

"Gimme? Did I hear that correctly? The leader of an International Expedition to another Galaxy says 'gimme'? Just what language is that from?" John quipped, setting her cup down on his side of the desk just out of hands reach.

"You heard me correctly…now do I get my coffee or do I lose this file?" She said coyly lifting the edge of the file with her painted fingernail. If John wanted to play hardball, so could she.

"I don't know…guess it would depend on what file you have." John replied taking a sip of his coffee while looking over the top of the cup coyly.

"Well let's see…the name on here says Sheppard, John P Colonel USAF. Hey… that's you isn't it?"

"Yeah, is that my, ah…"

"Yes it is." She stated unwavering.

"Oh, well in that case, any leader of an International Expedition to another galaxy who wants to say 'gimme' can, I guess." John quickly passed her the cup of coffee he had previously kept out of her reach being very careful not to spill any on the file that lay in front of her. He would have hated to have his back-to-action report stained with coffee or worse yet ruined. The paper was just a formality for his existing file. The real documents were all electronically filed and signature stamped. It was the only way to send them to the SGC. Atlantis didn't use a whole lot of paper. In fact they only went through one ream a year. If that.

Elizabeth accepted the cup and took a long sip, savoring the aroma and taste. As she set the cup down on her desk she replied, "wise decision, Colonel."

John smirked. "Have you ah…" John pointed to the file his eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Not yet." She replied smiling behind her cup at her Military Commander. She didn't want her Second in Command to know that she had signed off on the official e-papers two seconds after she booted up her laptop this morning. A good negotiator and leader needed to have a little leverage now and again, that being the reason she had not had any coffee yet. She was so excited about the news that she had hardly slept last night. When the alarm went off this morning all she could think about was getting to her laptop and signing off on John's re-instatement orders to full-active off world duty status.

"Oh." John fidgeted in his seat, sitting up a little straighter than the normal slouched position he was more comfortable in. However, the two plus years he'd spent in his wheelchair corrected much of his slouching problem; the wheelchair didn't allow for such pleasures. He still had a laid back air about him. "You are going to…um… aren't you? I would hate to think I got all dressed up for nothing."

Elizabeth just smiled and continued to sip her morning's coffee with pleasure.

oOo

Now as John stood in the doorway of his office he surveyed it with a grim smile on his face, his computer laptop in one hand and a cleaning rag and bucket in the other. It was an office he had not seen in six months, not since all this crazy madness started. Who would have ever thought he'd walk again except now that he did, he couldn't stop smiling inside and out – God it felt good. Staring at his office he pondered where to start cleaning. The poor neglected place had at least an inch of dust over everything and a rather pathetic dead plant in one corner. He would have to talk to Rodney about the air purification-filtration system of Atlantis if this is what happens when a room was not being used on a regular basis. John understood ten thousand years of non-use would certainly create dust but six months? He couldn't seem to recall there having been this much dust when they arrived in the sunken city years ago, or when he returned home after spending six months with ascension wannabes in the cloister. He still had a hard time wrapping his head around that one. Six months for him but only a couple of hours to his friends.

'Good to be back to work', he thought as he started to clean up the dust-bunnies that had settled over all his office furniture; desk, chairs and accessories alike. The plant in the corner was dead, most likely from shock or caffeine deprivation since that was where John emptied his cup on many occasions. John finished dusting and had the plant removed. One of the Botany members, happening to pass his office door at the time, saw the dead plant in the doorway and offered to dispose of it with a promise of a replacement. Not that he really needed another plant to look after and water, but it was hard to say no. John moved his office chair back behind his desk from the corner where it had been pushed after his accident. He marveled at the sparkling clean desk he now found himself behind.

Now he could work. Col. Lorne had sent him a list of departments all wanting off world missions scheduled over the next few weeks. Evan even forwarded all requisitions for him to approve and sign-off on; including the one to add sports drinks to the official list of necessities that the Daedalus brought on each run.

Going through the latest e-mails he found several from Elizabeth advising of upcoming staff meetings. He even had a few non-Atlantis business e-mails welcoming him back.

John had just finished the last requisition when there was knock on his door. Looking up from his laptop he found Teyla and Ronon standing there. He invited his friends in and offered them a place to sit. "I thought you two were headed to the mainland this morning?"

Teyla and Ronon took a seat across from him in the two guest chairs he had in his office. "We were, but just as we were to depart, Halling radioed and advised it was no longer necessary. The dispute between my peoples had been resolved. So Ronon and I thought we should come see how you are doing, settling in on your first day back." Teyla explained.

"Great actually. It took me an hour or so to clean everything. But so far it's been a typical day at the office."

Another knock found Elizabeth standing at his door. He instinctively reached up to his ear to make sure he was wearing his comm, and had not missed her hail. He hadn't been in the habit of wearing it a lot as of late. Normally when Elizabeth needed him, he would go to her office. It was very unlike Elizabeth to be dropping by his small office.

"May I come in? I'm not interrupting, am I?" She asked.

"Of course not. I'm just surprised to see you here. Did I miss your comm?"

"No, I just thought I would see how you're settling in on your first day back." Elizabeth took a seat in front of his desk next to Teyla in the guest chair Ronon quickly vacated for her. Ronon moved to the other side of Teyla and stood by the wall.

"As I was telling Ronon and Teyla, I spent the first hour or so getting rid of the dust bunnies and a dead plant. Just finished reading and answering some e-mails and signed off on all the military requisitions. After lunch, mission planning is top priority on my list of things to do. Evan wasted no time in forwarding them to me. Thanks, by the way, for the list of upcoming meetings. You could have at least waited until tomorrow to send me those. You know how much I love meetings." He smiled. "I'd say so far my first morning back on official duty has been normal."

Another knock at his door brought their attention up.

"Hey. Katie asked me to bring this to you. She said one of her Botanists told her you needed a replacement. She said something about the one you had died of a caffeine overdose or lack of caffeine…or something like that. I wasn't really paying that much attention. Where do you want it?" Rodney related as he walked into the office holding a rather large potted floor plant. This one had a strong thick stock with large yellow and purple leaves about the size of dinner plates. In the center was a smaller shoot that had an orange blossom of sorts coming out.

John pointed to the corner of his office. By the time Rodney had put the plant down in the corner, Lt. Col. Lorne knocked on his door.

"Come on in Evan, gang's all here, what can I do for you this morning? I've already received all the requisitions and upcoming mission requests. Don't think I didn't catch what time they were all sent either." John waved a hand gesturing him to enter.

"Sorry to interrupt Sir."

"Oh you're not interrupting we were just chatting." McKay answered back before Sheppard could say anything to the contrary. He was standing next to the desk wiping his hands off on his pant legs.

John gave Rodney a 'mind your own business this is my office' look, but Rodney was totally oblivious to it. Casually Rodney sat down on the edge of the Colonel's desk since all the seats in the office were taken.

"Sir, I was wondering if I should get a detail together to remove the lifts and other equipment from your quarters."

"That's a good question John. Have you given any thought to whether you want to change quarters?" Asked Elizabeth. "You could move back into your old room and I'm sure we can find Carl suitable quarters of his own. We could leave the suite as it is in case any other expedition member would require the equipment and Carl's abilities."

"Not really." The words slipped out of John's mouth without really thinking.

"Oh puh...lease. Of course you have." Rodney sputtered. "Why just last night you…."

"Rodney." John growled glaring at Rodney. In the back of his throat John was counting to ten in Farsi. It was a harder language and took longer and right now he needed all the extra time he could get to keep his frustration with Rodney in check.

Ronon grunted under his breath changing his stance against the wall. Teyla raised her hand up to her face to cover the smile and giggle that wanted so badly to escape. Even Evan gave a smirk as he bounced on his feet. They had all been together at dinner last night when the topic was first presented.

"John?" Elizabeth asked looking between John and Rodney and Teyla and Ronon. Evan stood slightly behind Dr. Weir bouncing on his toes with a grin waiting for his CO to respond. Dr. Weir unable to see the grin on the Military's Second in Command.

"Okay…okay, so I have thought about it. I'd like to keep the suite. It will come in great for team movie nights." John let out exasperated. "And I don't think Carl has to move out either. I'm used to having him there. He's a pretty good room mate, better than any I had when I was in college, in boot camp…hell even after I became an officer and I shared a room with three other guys. Even stationed at McMurdo in Antarctica I had shared quarters with my frost-bite buddy. Coming here was the first time I had ever had my own room. But I like the suite and like I said Carl is a pretty good room mate."

"Can't wait till the Daedalus gets here to see the…" Rodney began saying.

John gave Rodney a slap on the arm. "I think you've said enough Rodney. Shouldn't you be getting to your lab? I'm sure there is at least one minion or two that needs your expertise. Or was there something else you needed besides dropping off the plant?" John cut him off and changed the subject.

"John, what about the Daedalus?" Elizabeth's curiosity was peaked by Rodney's cut off comment. John found himself counting to ten again only this time it was in Czech.

"You're doing that 'thing' again in the back of your throat. What are you doing?" Inquired McKay.

There were some days he could just strangle Rodney for opening that mouth of his. Not bothering to give Rodney's inquiry a second thought or a reply John purposely went back to the original question and answered Dr. Weir. "You'll find out soon enough I guess. I ordered a large screen TV and player. It should arrive on the Daedalus's next run. That way I won't have to take the one from the rec room." John stated and lowered his head to his waiting arms on his desk, waiting for his boss to yell at him. Things were so much better when the boss didn't know what was going on.

Elizabeth hadn't seen his old room in ages. She had no clue of the amount of non-regulation, non-mission equipment that was now being stored in there. There would be no way he could ever go back to that small of a room after having a suite for the past two and a half years. Even though Elizabeth had the final say on all requisitions she never once questioned any of the requests. Maybe it was because John made it all sound 'military'; two white boards for the Orientation Room. She didn't need to know that the white boards were actually snow boarding boards. John had become the master of bureaucratic subterfuge. His creative writing skills, since coming to Atlantis, had served him well on many requisitions over the years.

"Do I want to know how you managed that?" She asked.

"No." John mumbled into the desk top. Rocking his head in a back and forth motion.

"Sir the detail?" Asked Lorne to help his CO out.

John lifted his head up from the desk avoiding eye contact with Elizabeth, and sighed. "I'll let you know Evan. Let me talk to Carl first. Since we have this equipment we might as well set up a physical therapy room somewhere. The practice gym is not large enough now that we have the weight machine in there. I'll have Carl talk to Beckett about the idea and then get with you. You two can scout out a location near the practice gym."

"Yes Sir. Oh…have you reassigned the teams? I can post it on the board on my way back."

Rodney, Ronon and Teyla stiffened at the thought. When John asked Lorne to take over for him two and a half years ago it was a struggle for the team at first. But as time went on, they became a cohesive unit just like they had been with John. It would be hard not to have Col. Lorne as part of their team.

"No I haven't. Before making any changes of any kind that was one of the first things I wanted to talk to Dr. Weir about, when we have time. And since you brought it up and she's sitting right here and this concerns all of you I might as well broach the subject. I'd like to keep the teams as they are for now, no changes. I'd like to join Lorne's team for a while. It has been over two and a half years and I hate to admit it, but I'm a bit rusty. I'd like to go out with them a few times to get my mission legs back, so to speak. If that's okay with you Elizabeth."

"I think that sounds like a wonderful idea John." Elizabeth remarked stunned to see her Second in Command taking things slow for a change. She couldn't quite put her finger on it just yet but something was different about John.

"Great. Lorne I'll be joining you and your team...my team…our team on your next few missions then."

"That's fine Sir. It'll be nice to have you back. I'd better get back to work myself. Welcome back Sir." Lorne dipped his head at his commanding officer before leaving the office.

Yesterday had been a long day with many ups and downs and after his impromptu celebration in his quarters and dinner in the mess hall a couple of hours later John found himself extremely tired and had gone to bed early. So with his team sitting in his office John continued to visit with his friends and arranged more Katas lessons with Teyla and Ronon. John even offered some lab-rat time to McKay to work on calculations or light-switch duty. Elizabeth returned to her office shortly after Col. Lorne left. Looking at his watch John realized that the morning was now gone. "I don't know about the rest of you…but I'm hungry. Lunch?"

oOo

Over the next two months Colonel Sheppard went with Lt. Col. Lorne and his team on several missions. Dr. Weir was after him yet again to reassign teams but John came up with more reasons not to. John told her it was because of him not having his mission legs back, but Elizabeth knew deep down that it was John not wanting to break up the team dynamic that had developed in his absence between Lorne and his team. But there was something else too. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something in John Sheppard had changed. He was more cautious, careful and understanding now. He wasn't jumping into situations like he used too. He was taking them slow. It was like trying to put together the pieces of a puzzle. There was a definite change from the John Sheppard that had come to Atlantis over five years ago. Elizabeth would continue to watch from a distance—for now adding additional pieces to her puzzle.

On his first mission together with Lorne's team they went to P2G-887, a merchant planet. Many cultures came to this planet at least once or twice a year to peddle their wares. As the team went from one make-shift booth to the next looking over the offerings, or on occasion sampling what was offered, the team bartered for food goods and some ancient tech that Dr. McKay had found interesting. Several of the merchants agreed to have them come to their home worlds to seek further trade alliances. Overall it had been a 'cake walk'.

John scheduled subsequent missions to these worlds and put them on the Atlantis mission board along with all the other requests that came in on a daily basis. Colonel Sheppard and Lorne's team made good on their promise to visit those plants and ended up setting up new food trade alliances. His first few missions were easy in his opinion but John didn't mind not having his life in peril and he certainly didn't miss being chased, being shot at by pointy arrows or getting hurt. He had made no guarantees to Carson but he was doing his best to stay out of the infirmary, at least as a patient that is.

On visiting Lir they traded technical knowledge on irrigation systems for a potato like vegetable that grew to be about the size of a watermelon. The Lirans current method of irrigation meant carrying water in five gallon jars for miles to the fields so that their crops would grow. O'dar explained that the rain showers on the lower plains were scarce however the higher elevations received rain showers during the hot months and a cold white rain during the cold months. Setting up a naquadah generator and pumping system at the water source was Rodney and Simpson's job. With the aid of a few Marines, John and Ronon laid down the aqueduct or in this case hollowed out halves of trees similar to large bamboo. Col. Lorne instructed O'dar and his people on how to open and close the openings along the aqueduct infrastructure so that water could be diverted to different sections of the planting fields. In return they would get a percentage of the new crops that would be coming to harvest in two months time. One watermelon sized potato could easily feed twenty to thirty people on Atlantis. Their current crop of otopa was just enough to take care of the Lirans needs but with the new aqueduct their yield would be greater for the next harvest. O'dar explained that the otopa root grows quickly.

On P7R-316 the Alpak's offered them a third of their fruit crops for medical aid and help rebuilding their settlement after a storm nearly wiped them out. Colonel Sheppard guessed the fruit would make for some good pies and other delicious desserts. At least Rodney and Ronon thought so. Once Rodney figured out the fruits were not citrus. The village was small and only took a week to rebuild. The Alpak's had been culled a third of a cycle ago so Colonel Sheppard figured it was worth the fruit to help them rebuild. He hoped it would be many years before the Wraith came back. Not many survived the culling and the storm had taken a few more.

Rodney found himself fixing a generator that provided a light source for the Karajan's after an attempted Wraith culling, because two scout darts came through the gate. Before either of them reached the village to produce a culling beam, John, Evan, Teyla and Ronon managed to bring them both down. The Lanteans tried to reassure the Karajan people that they were safe, but they were scared. Although it had been many generations since they were last culled the Karajan's remembered the stories from generations past and took refuge in the hills. Teyla and Rodney helped evacuate the Karajan's to the caves in the woods to escape the possible threat of culling, hence the need for Rodney to repair the generator. The Karajan people declared that they were going to stay in the caves for one full cycle of the moon in case more darts came through. The generator would allow them light when they needed it. For their help each member of the team was given a large satchel of cured meat to take back with them. It was the first time John could ever remember that no one was culled and no one was injured when seeing darts.

Sheppard couldn't say that on his latest mission however. Rodney had been working for a few hours on a console he'd found inside an ancient ruin in hopes of gaining another ZPM. The MALP and UAV had discovered a strong power signal on P5T-107 on its initial scan of the planet for EM emissions. The ruins were about an hours walk from the Stargate. Rodney managed to locate and disconnect the ZPM successfully. As the group headed back to the gate they were over run by angry natives. Ronon took a spear in the shoulder before he could get off a shot. Col. Lorne was knifed in the arm a few times when a native caught him off guard and the pair ended up in hand-to-hand combat. Teyla covered Rodney's escape with the ZPM in tact. Rodney only suffered a sprained ankle for his trouble. It was to Dr. Beckett's surprise, once everyone had been sorted out and treated; that he found Teyla and the Colonel had only minor cuts and bruises. The attack from the natives was unprovoked. It had nothing to do with Rodney taking the ZPM from the Ancient ruins. Teyla had managed to catch a few of the words that had been shouted towards them as they 'strategically ran', shall we say, to the stargate. Turns out the natives, a hunting party, were upset at the loss of their game. Seems the 'rounded' Lantean made too much noise and scared their dinner away. At least that is how Teyla presented it at the briefing.

The shoulder wound of Ronon's put the team in stand down for three weeks. Evan's knife wounds put him off duty for a week while Rodney's sprained ankle was wrapped and forgotten just as quickly since he had another ZPM for the city to test and use. Initial testing on the planet showed the ZPM yield to be over eighty percent charged. John kept himself busy with his duties of planning, arranging and sending teams off world while his other team mates recuperated. All his reports, files and miscellaneous tasks were all brought up to date and kept up to date.

After the newness of the ZPM wore off, Rodney went back to work full time trying to shield Sheppard's implant. Since the Colonel had made his announcement to the whole base Radek had been brought into the project and the two scientists bounced ideas off one another in hopes of sparking a solution.

Teyla took a week off herself and spent some much needed quality time with her people on the mainland. John was thankful for that as he kept getting his butt handed to him during Katas practice. Though he had several missions under his belt in the past two months John still resisted Elizabeth's request for reassignment of the teams. John just wasn't ready. At least that's what he kept telling Elizabeth.

oOo

The Daedalus was a month over due and some supplies were getting thin. John had had to break up two fights in the mess hall over the last cups of coffee. Rose Highland, the head of the mess hall, was rationing the coffee. She made only six urns per day in the 55 gallon coffee urns. Once those six urns were gone, there would be no more coffee until the next day. Scientists who lived on coffee needed their coffee as much as any life form needed oxygen to survive. Other food stores were limited but not to the point of rationing yet. The worlds the gate teams had set up trade alliances with were what sustained them until the next batch of supplies arrived. John only hoped that one of these days they would run across a world that grew coffee beans or a reasonable facsimile.

Elizabeth met Col. Caldwell on the gate room floor as he beamed into the city. John and Lt. Col. Lorne's team were off world. Dr. Weir began telling Caldwell of John's recent missions and his back to active status when the gate klaxons sounded.

"Unscheduled off world activation." Announced the gate technician on duty.

Col. Caldwell and Dr. Weir made their way up the grand staircase in the midst of the gate security detail getting into position with their weapons trained on the big blue puddle. As the pair were coming into the command center Elizabeth asked, "who is it?" and took her position on the balcony. Colonel Caldwell came to stand by her side.

"Reading Colonel Sheppard's IDC, ma'am." Responded the gate technician.

"Lower the shield." She replied calmly and tapped her comm. "Colonel Sheppard you're clear to come through." Elizabeth announced. "They're back early." She informed Caldwell.

It had now been three months the Colonel had been back on full duty. This was his tenth off world mission with Lorne's team, their first coming off stand down after his team mates' sustained injuries on P5T-107.

Down below on the gate room floor, there was a splurt and Rodney walked through. Another splurt and Teyla backed through. Both looked unharmed yet distressed. Elizabeth could see worry painted their faces and in their body language. As she watched two more splurts from the gate were heard and she witnessed, Lt. Col. Lorne and Ronon walking through. Ronon took time to settle his blaster back into his side holster. There had been no mention of hostiles so she wondered why Ronon had his gun out. But now that she was aware she realized that Teyla and Col. Lorne had come through with their P-90's raised. There was a short pause and the final splurt was heard as Colonel Sheppard backed through the gate, weapon ready and held at the shimmering blue puddle in front of him.

Sheppard looked up over his shoulder and yelled, "shut it down. Now!" Then he turned, started for the stairs and took them two at a time. He heard the gate shut down behind him by the time he hit the first step. The team followed him up the stairs.

"You're back early. Was there a problem?" Elizabeth casually asking as he made a fast approach.

Not stopping, he mumbled as he passed her and Colonel Caldwell, "something like that," and kept on walking right into her office. His face unreadable, eyes cold and set with determination and uncertainty. His team followed in single file. This was one debriefing apparently that couldn't wait.

Dr. Weir and Col. Caldwell both raised an eyebrow at the quiet words spoken as he passed. Not one word from his team mates either, especially McKay who always had something to say or was complaining about one thing or another, as they all walked by the pair in silence. Now the concern spread to Weir and Caldwell as well as they followed Ronon into the office. Shutting the door after they entered, Elizabeth took her place behind the desk choosing to stand. Her hands clasped the back of her black leather office chair. Col. Caldwell stood to the end of the desk nearest the door.

Rodney, Teyla and Ronon had taken seats on the couch like bench on the side wall. Rodney had his laptop opened already and his fingers were flying over the keyboard at lightening speeds. Lt. Col. Lorne stood at-ease, both he and Colonel Sheppard remained standing. "Glad you're here Sir, I could use the Daedalus's help." Sheppard addressed his equal, uneasiness showed in his tight posture.

Without the usual exchange of military courtesies it seemed that Sheppard was feeling a bit apprehensive about something and had chosen to delve right into the matter at hand. "What kind of help Colonel?"

"Yes John, what kind of help? What's going on? What happened on P6R-114?" Elizabeth asked now clutching the back of her chair.

"Michael."

There was a long silence in the office before Caldwell asked for more information. "What about Michael, Colonel?"

"He's bringing his army of superbugs together on 114." He paused to let the information sink in. "We hadn't run into anything on our routine survey mission. The planet was void of ruins, no people and no energy signatures so we were headed back early to the gate. Rodney couldn't find anything of significant value. One thing the planet did have a lot of was vegetation just like the Ancient database claimed. However, according to Teyla and Ronon the plants were non-edible. We were about a hundred yards from the gate when an incoming wormhole was established. We took cover in the tall brush at the tree line. Michael came through followed by some of his superbugs."

"That doesn't mean he's bringing his army together, Colonel." Caldwell interrupted.

"Let me finish." John paced a small area of the office adrenalin pumping high through his veins. "After they came through Michael dialed out and left. We were too far away to see where he went so we gradually changed our position to get closer. We were lucky that we were down wind of those things and that they hadn't discovered we were there. Anyway, we managed to move about ten yards closer when another incoming wormhole opened up and Michael led more of his bugs through the gate. One, maybe two hundred this time it was hard to tell. Michael dialed out again, only to return approximately twenty minutes later with another group. We kept moving closer, ten yards at a time towards the gate staying hidden in the tall brush and trees, and every twenty minutes or so Michael led another batch of his bugs through. Sometimes only twenty or thirty, other times hundreds came in at once."

John paused a moment to collect himself before continuing his report, the mere thought of those things made his skin crawl. Their large head and hard shelled back made them hard to kill. Their black claws with what looked liked three pronged pinchers made them deadly in a fight. John remembered how strong and big they were and now that he had seen them in daylight they were even more menacing. They scurried fast away from the gate as if knowing more would be showing up. His right hand unconsciously moved to rub the scar on the side of neck. "Before we could change our positions, we had to wait for the bugs to move off, away from the gate which they did at a pretty fast pace. It appeared they were making room for the next incoming batch. By the time we moved close enough to the gate and the DHD there must have been a thousand of those things on the planet. He's definitely up to something. We watched as the bugs moved off, we only had a small window of opportunity before Michael would dial in and return with more. At twelve minutes into Michael's approximate twenty minute interval, I dialed us out and got the hell off that world. What I need is for you and the Daedalus to monitor the planet. See just how many of those superbugs Michael has. Determine if the other Wraith hives are helping him. Or if he has any ships on the planet that we could not see from the ground."

Caldwell took a brief moment to ponder what the Colonel had just reported. "Col. Lorne do you concur?"

"I do Sir." Lorne stated respectfully.

Caldwell tapped his comm and advised his ship to prepare to leave within five minutes. "I'll need coordinates."

"Done!" Shouted McKay from his position at the back of the office where he had sat with Teyla and Ronon, quietly.

A flash of light engulfed Col. Caldwell and he was beamed out of Weir's office. Caldwell understood the urgency of the matter all to well. He remembered reading the report of their first encounter with the superbugs. Since Caldwell had only been on Atlantis for fifteen minutes the off-loading of supplies would have to wait until they got back.

"John what do you think he's planning?" Elizabeth asked.

"Whatever it is, it's big. He's bringing his army together which in my book tells me he's about to attack. But attack who? Us? The Wraith? Other defenseless worlds? I don't know Elizabeth. How many teams do we have off world right now?" John asked rubbing the right side of his neck unconsciously.

"Three." She answered. "Why?"

"Call them back. Our shield will protect Atlantis and the mainland. I don't want any of our people off world until I know what Michael is up to. We should also contact our allies and inform them. Lorne you organize and ready the military and McKay back there is going to come up with a brilliant plan. Aren't you McKay?" John turned to look at his team mate.

McKay's head popped up from his laptop. "What?" He hadn't been paying too much attention to the exchange of information between the two military leaders and Elizabeth. When he saw Caldwell on the balcony with Dr. Weir he knew that Sheppard would ask for his help. He had already relayed the coordinates of P6R-114 to the Daedalus then he moved on to verify the ZedPM output needed to hold back an attack of any magnitude on this planet if that's what Michael had in mind.

Elizabeth moved out from behind her desk and stood next to John. "I agree about recalling our teams, but we have no information to pass along to our allies. At least not yet anyway. We don't know…"

"Elizabeth, we can at least give our allies a heads up. Tell them what we do know and let them decide what to do with it. Maybe they have heard rumors which might give us an idea of what Michael has planned, I don't know. As soon as we know more we can relay that information. It's more than the Ancients did before they abandoned this galaxy ten thousand years ago. And I sure as hell don't want those superbugs of Michaels to attack us or any other civilian populated planet if I can do something about it." John emphatically explained, feeling all too responsible for the current situation.

"I suppose you're right. So what's this brilliant plan?" She asked.

"We'll let you know as soon as we come up with one." John grinned at Elizabeth. He turned to Evan and the rest of his team. "Lorne, you and Ronon go get started. Teyla, I'll take you to the mainland so you can speak to your people. McKay…you work on that brilliant plan. I'll be back in an hour or so." The Colonel conveyed.

oOo

The Colonel came down the stairs into the control room from the jumper bay overhearing Elizabeth informing one of their allies about the situation with Michael. Teyla had remained on the mainland since there were hunting party's still out and she wanted to be the one to inform all her people.

"Yes Chancellor, we will contact you again when we know more. Atlantis out." Elizabeth sighed. It was her second to last notification and it had gone the same as all the rest. Each allied world wanted more information than what she had at this time. It was frustrating to her and to them as well she presumed. They all promised to contact her if any of their people found out any more news or heard any new rumors.

Several of their allies informed Dr. Weir of what they knew or had learned. One of their allies had actual cause for alarm as a neighboring world was over taken by hideous creatures. The world was found desolate and no longer could they allow their small herd of kuh's to graze. The planet had once been pasture land of yellow and blue grazing grasses as far as the eye could see. Elizabeth presumed by 'hideous creatures' they meant Michael's superbugs. Although the information that was passed on lacked any details or value as to what Michael had in mind.

John squeezed her shoulder, "you doing okay?"

"Yes. I just wish I had more information to pass along."

"You will. The Daedalus should be contacting us soon with an update. What did Ladon have to say?" John asked purely out of curiosity.

"Oh the usual. His Genii forces were up to the challenge. Thanked me for the information…" She replied.

"Same old song and dance then. Remind me again why we have a treaty with them. Forget I asked, where's McKay?"

"Briefing room. I set up command operations in there." She replied. "I also notified the Alpha site. Staff Sergeant Alcala informed me it will take them two hours to lock down and then they will gate home."

"Great. 'Lorne this is Sheppard, briefing room ten minutes'. I'll just go check on McKay and see what he's got for us. He's had over an hour I'm sure his genius mind has come up with something by now."

"I'll be in shortly I have one more call to make." Elizabeth quipped with a half-turned smile as the reference to 'call' was so out of the ordinary. Who ever would have thought to use a stargate to make phone calls.

John walked into the briefing room and scanned the room. The room was a buzz of frenetic activity. His eyes immediately followed his hearing and were now focused on McKay and Zelenka arguing over data which was normal for them. A good thing he told himself because if McKay and Zelenka were arguing it meant they were on to something and it was their way of working out the finer details. Further scanning found Carson and two other members of his team huddled at another table going over their research on the bugs. When Ronon severed one of the bug's limbs with his sword, they had brought it back for testing and research. Three members from entomology huddled around a couple of laptops as well. Finally his eyes scanned the large plasma screen that was set up in one corner, a communications tech was seated inside the door monitoring both internal communications and any sub-space communication that would be coming through from the Daedalus.

Carson gave the Colonel a nod as he entered the briefing room and then went back to talking with his two fellow researchers. The Colonel walked up to stand behind McKay and Zelenka neither of whom acknowledged his presence. He placed a firm hand on each man's shoulder to get their attention. The arguing continued until he squeezed hard enough to elicit an 'ow' out of McKay.

"Hey…watch it…I need that shoulder." McKay spouted.

John ignored his little outburst. "So what's the brilliant plan?"

"No brilliant plan yet Colonel." Rodney replied.

"McKay…you've had over an hour, actually closer to an hour and a half. I've seen you come up with plans in way less time then this."

"Well…yes…I'm sure you have. But I haven't got anything for you this time…What I mean to say is…I don't have anything 'yet'." Rodney prattled off not daring to look at the Colonel.

"So what's all this arguing about then?" Sheppard asked.

"Argument over how to stop bugs, Colonel." Radek advised the Colonel. "I tell Rodney we use Daedalus weapon system."

"And I told you that won't work! Now move on and try to find something useful I can use." Rodney spouted.

"Vy jste neinteligentní blbeček."

John let out a small chuckle unintentionally. Radek looked up at him big eyed. This wasn't the first time he'd notice the Colonel responding to something he had said in Czech. "Why won't it work McKay?" John asked quickly trying to cover up his little slip. He had never told Radek that he understood Czech but John got the feeling that the cat was for sure out of the bag now.

"Because it won't." Rodney stated. Then he heard that sound that Sheppard makes when he is about to lose his temper, like someone counting to ten in the back of his throat only not in English but some other language. "Look…using the Daedalus weapons won't guarantee we can eradicate all of them. I assume you want to kill them all? The firing mechanism is not designed for wide spread fire…and before you ask…no I can't reconfigure the system. Well…I could…but it would take about a week. Longer then we have time for I presume. You have no idea how complicated those mechanisms are on the Daedalus. I tried to tell the SGC when I saw the plans for the Prometheus how they could make the firing system thirty percent more efficient. But did they listen to me? Of course not. Instead they exiled me to Siberia. Do you know how cold it gets in Siberia?" Rodney heard that growl again coming from the Colonel and realized he had gone off on a tangent. Without apologizing he took back up where he left off. "Like I said it's just not possible. Some of the bugs could escape through the stargate before the Daedalus could expend enough of their ordinance on the surface."

"We could supplement using the jumpers and the F-302's…" John started to say before Rodney started in again.

"Yet again…not such a good idea. No the jumpers and F-302's would just be in the way. I'll think of something…just leave me alone so I can think." Rodney said.

"Okay keep at it. I need some way of stopping those things. McKay, you and Radek are my best options." John informed them.

'No pressure.' Rodney thought.

Just as he finished talking to the two bickering scientists Elizabeth walked into the room. "I just got done talking with Minister Byn. He informed me that a planet they use to let their quells feed off from time to time is now barren wasteland. He said the whole area was void of any type of green vegetation."

"Is that the planet with the ostrich size chickens?" Elizabeth gave John a confirming nod.

The Sergeant monitoring the sub-space communications announced that Col. Caldwell was reporting in from 114. Radek and Rodney gave each other a look of gloom and doom before turning their attention to the plasma screen in the corner where Col. Caldwell's face appeared.

"Atlantis this is Daedalus do you read?" Caldwell asked.

"Yes Steven, we read you. What is your status?" Elizabeth asked.

"We're in low orbit over the planet. Scans indicate thousands of life signs now. No ships on long range sensors. None so far detected on the planet surface. Hermiod reports continuous Stargate activation at approximate twenty minute intervals." The Daedalus Commander reported.

"Can you check the other five planets in the solar system for a Stargate? I'd like to send a couple of jumpers through. They can cloak and get a lot closer look." Sheppard advised wishing he had thought about putting jumpers on the Daedalus before she left Atlantis. It was too dangerous with those bugs to put feet on the ground but a jumper could be invisible eyes. Sheppard realized he had let his emotions take control over his brain. He hadn't been thinking too clearly when he and his team came back through the stargate. "Wait! Colonel, did you scan for a cloaked dart?" The thought just occurred to him that maybe it was Michael who sent that cloaked dart to Atlantis over a year and a half ago.

Lorne and Ronon came into the briefing room and caught the Colonel's exchange. Hearing the Colonel state he wanted to send jumpers to the area, Lorne tapped his comm and ordered three jumpers prepped and ready just in case.

"No I haven't. I'll inform Hermiod. Have Dr. McKay send up the detection program. We'll check out the other planets and contact you again in a few hours. Caldwell out."

"Rodney, send the program for detecting a cloaked dart to the Daedalus. Carson, you have any ideas on how to stop these things? I'll take anything you or your department has. I'm open to suggestions." John told them. Seeing the Doctor confer with his other team members then shake his head no he turned back to talk to Lorne and Ronon. "Colonel, where do we stand in defense of Atlantis?"

"I've got three spotters on each pier plus several on the upper balconies. I've pulled the Station Guards, Sir, to help, so please be careful where you go within the city." He firmly added the reminder. "The men have all been informed and know where their duty assignments are. Ronon gave them all a brief idea of what they would be dealing with. I've set up two extra patrols in all civilian occupied sectors. I've added ten extra men between the gate room and command deck. I've assigned two guards to Dr. Beckett, they're just outside. And when Teyla gets back I've got a detail set up for her, not that she would need it. We're good to go, unless you can think of anything else Sir."

"Excellent Colonel. Let's hope it's all for nothing. Elizabeth, are all the teams back?" John asked.

After referring to her watch Elizabeth answered. "Yes, the last team came in fifty minutes ago. The Alpha site team is not due in for another hour at least."

That eased the Colonel's mind if only for a microsecond, knowing that all his people were back or soon would be in Atlantis and would be safe under the shield if Michael's objective was to attack them from the air. He figured that McKay or Zelenka had already checked the ZPM's, gate controls and gate shield should Michael try to come through the Stargate. He knew Michael had contempt for them from his last encounter. His mind flashed with the scene of the iratus bug on Teyla at the new Taranian settlement. Vengeance is a strong motivator but with the four ZPM's they now had he was sure he could protect everyone on Atlantis. Just not their allies.

"Rodney…how many life signs can a dart's culling beam hold? Could it hold thousands? Could a cloaked dart penetrate our shield?" Colonel Sheppard inquired.

McKay stopped typing while he formulated his response. Radek had stopped typing as well. The two exchanged a few words between them before Rodney looked over to the Colonel to reply. "No…no I don't think it could hold thousands. Unless…" Rodney trailed off for a second. "My guess would be no more than twenty or so. I honestly never gave that a thought. The dart's buffer is not that big. As for a cloaked dart, if it had our shield frequency it could penetrate our shield… however we would be able to detect it long before it got in range with the program I wrote when we had the incidence with the first dart. If Michael modified the dart in anyway it would have to reconfigure its frequency to match our own in order to slip past our shield and we know from the wreckage we obtained that the cloaking mechanism takes a lot of power. So if Michael was going to beam in his superbugs he would have had to have made significant modifications to the dart."

John had picked up on McKay's little stumble and not wanting to leave any minute detail out asked. "Unless what McKay?"

"Unless? Oh…I was thinking that if Michael did make modifications to the dart then it could be possible for him to store more life signs. Similar to our compression algorithm that we use on our data bursts." Rodney didn't like the sound of that at all but it was a possibility not that he gave it much credibility. Just thinking that the dart might hold up to twenty-five life signatures was scary enough. He didn't want to think about thousands of superbugs beaming into the city all at once. The one they encountered on the new Taranian planet was horrific enough for him.

John wasn't so sure he liked what McKay said about the possible modifications to the dart. If Michael had made changes to the dart it had to be on the planet. There would be no way Atlantis could withstand thousands of superbugs. But Michael would have to know the shield frequency and he was pretty sure he didn't have that.

"Rodney can you or Radek vary our shield frequency to make it harder for anyone to lock onto it? Give us time to locate a cloaked dart and destroy it before any bugs get beamed into the city?" John asked.

"Yes…yes that is possible now that we have a fourth ZedPM. We can use the ZedPM to alter the shield signal. It could be set up independently and would not interfere with the city shield or cloak." Rodney turned to Radek and had him begin the work on varying the shield frequency.

John was glad that was doable but his thoughts turned to the other inhabited planets in the galaxy. How could he protect them from those superbugs? Time was ticking away fast; McKay and Zelenka were discussing options as were Carson and his team plus the three entomologists. Base security had been taken care of thanks to Lt. Col. Lorne and Ronon. Now he just needed information from the Daedalus. God he hated waiting.

"Come on people! I need some way of stopping these things. Think! We have the upper hand here. The element of surprise. Think outside the box. I don't want to lose the upper hand. We may never be in a position like this again where we have the advantage. Anything?" John voiced his frustration loud and clear as he paced around the briefing room but found himself hovering over Radek and Rodney most of the time. He read through Elizabeth's notes again for the third time. As she contacted each of their allies Elizabeth jotted down any worth while information that was passed along to the Lanteans.

"It's not an attack." Sheppard blurted out as he stopped his pacing and took in the stunned looks of everyone in the briefing room. "Well not an attack like you think."

"John, what do you mean?" Elizabeth asked.

"Look here." John pointed to two different notes she made. "See, you mentioned that our trade ally on K'Nath said a planet was over run with 'hideous creatures'. And here you mentioned that Minister Byn said the planet they used for their quells was 'void of green vegetation, a wasteland'. P6R-114 is mostly vegetation. Cadman checked one out eight months ago and there were two others then too. And if I'm not mistaken several more planets we visited were the same. I've read all the reports what does that make it…ten… twelve planets so far? I think Michael is going from planet to planet and letting his army feed. When they're done all that's left is barren wasteland. What would be the chance of anything growing there again? We've sent out science teams to take samples and so far they can't determine what caused the planets, flora and fauna, to erode. What would happen if you went from planet to planet, used up all the natural resources? Eventually the human population would die out, they'd starve. And Michael has thousands of superbugs."

The briefing room fell silent as each member pondered what the Colonel surmised.

"Aye…that is a possibility. We've discovered an enzyme that if the creature secretes could cause the flora not to regenerate. And without plant life you have no animals. Bloody hell."

"Why would Michael want to starve out the population? We're their food source… albeit reluctantly." McKay asked in general.

"Think about it. He's not welcome as a human and he's not welcome as a Wraith. What better way to rid the galaxy of both. If the humans starve and die out so will the Wraith." Answered John.

"That's preposterous! If Michael is doing what you're thinking he's doing he will contaminate the whole galaxy. It would be unsustainable to all life forms including his and his bugs. The wraith can hibernate for centuries. Michael wouldn't wait that long. He'd have to have a place to retreat to while he waits them out. Where would he go then?" McKay's acerbic rant ended with everyone in the room staring at him in awe.

Everyone in the room was silent. Waiting on McKay's brain to catch up with his expeditious mouth. When realization set in…

"Oh."

TBC

12/14

Czech translation:

"Vy jste neinteligentní blbeček." Means: "You are brainless nitwit."