"Catch up munchkin," Jack ordered powering onward, young Nicholas Jackson working hard to keep up, much to his surprise. The reinstated, again, general moved much faster for his age and his health than the child ever expected him to move, especially at this early hour. And, he didn't even mind being calling "munchkin" again given what his uncle had done for him last night. He never thought his dad would ever realize that he was growing up at the rate he was growing, despite the actual time that was passing, but thanks to General Jonathan J. O'Neill, the world, no, the galaxy's GREATEST pseudo-uncle, he was.
Now though, was not the time for any more thanks yous, because at the rate his former caretaker and now boss were moving, he couldn't believe the man ever suffered a stroke.
"Uncle Jack slow down! My legs aren't as long as yours!" the boy whined, Jack finally stopping and turning around, shaking his head.
"Not an excuse. We gotta get down there. We're running on your mother's time this morning…"
"Because my mother woke me up this morning," Nicholas shot back, "How do you expect me to get here any faster?"
"You're an intern now," Jack answered, "Set your own alarm."
"I'm not even two," Nicholas replied frowning so much like Daniel.
"I like how your real age only comes into play when you want it to..."
The boy didn't have a reply.
Dammit
"As I was saying, you need to set an alarm and be here at 0900 every morning…"
"But John worked night shift?" Nicholas asked, excited but confused; so much has changed in so little time.
"Your dad says that Ronon has the city covered overnight, minimal crew, so we are moving more people to day shift. Get more done," Jack explained as they reached the stairs to their new workspace, a space that when Nicholas had last visited resulted in a major argument with his father.
"So I guess I start every morning here and then head down to the classrooms in the afternoon…"
"Not exactly," Jack explained, "I told your mother to forward your lessons here so you probably won't be spending a lot of time down the classrooms at all."
"Really?" Nicholas sputtered, trying not to act too excited. He wanted to see his friends, of course, but having that stupid creepy DATA hologram stare at him?
That was a different story.
It just seemed to get creepier each and every day. It was originally something he had blamed on his mother's guilt over his rapid development and the demands of her career, but she seemed surprised when he would tell her how it watched him, questioned his every move. Besides that, listening to his friends ask for explanations of things that he already understood made him more and more wanna create an excuse to hang out with his lizard in the gardens.
And check on a few other things, given the events of the past couple of days…
Some things needed to be checked on in person rather than just through a monitor.
Seemed that this new position wasn't going to help with that either.
He'd have to get creative.
"Well, yeah, I got you out of that," Jack continued as he entered the office, "You owe me big time munchkin along the lines of using some of your power with your dad to get me more bait from Earth kinda big-time."
Nicholas laughed, somewhat feigned, "I get it uncle Jack, I get it. Thanks."
"You're welcome," he said in reply, "Just remember it takes your dad a lot to let go. You're probably gonna be the thing that's the hardest. Either you or the girl."
Nicholas frowned, his uncle's words ringing true. One would have thought that his mother would have been the one more emotional when it came to the children, but in fact, Adrienne Jackson was much more rational. Nicholas figured this was due to the influence her aunt had on her upbringing. Daniel, however, had a much more turbulent childhood, and life overall, and as a result, let his worry rule his decision-making much more when it came to his family.
"I know, poor Helena," he agreed and he meant it. If he thought his dad was overprotective of him, it was nothing compared to the way he hovered over his little, or not so little sister. She had grown again, last night Nicholas swore, his mother fussing over breakfast about pulling out the next size of clothing. It was faster than he had, he was sure, but his parents didn't seem to be accepting that.
"Sometimes I feel bad for her…" the boy added as the general paced around the office, chocolate brown eyes darting around to look at something Nicholas was not sure.
"Don't," Jacks interjected, "She has everybody in the damn city wrapped around on her finger with that little empathic trick of hers."
The boy chuckled. Again, Jack was right. He was about to comment when he noticed a second desk in the office, a real desk at that, not one of the smaller ones used in the classrooms. This was real, his uncle Jack had really managed to convince his dad to give him real responsibility, something that was just setting, really setting in, at this very moment.
Thoughts of his sister, and those two children sitting in those stasis pods left his head completely.
"Ok, so today's agenda, though," the general continued, "is more like orientation. I've been through all of this before, at least on paper, but we need to make sure that you have your own access codes, know how to get into mine, things like that."
"I have the access codes to everything in the city," Nicholas said the regretting his words the moment they crossed his lips.
"Oh yeah, hacker junior I'm well aware," Jack replied with a frown, "but no more hacking. You have to be official."
"Since when do you follow the rules?" the boy shot back without thinking, more rudely than he intended. After all, his mom still hacked into things all of the time and Jack was not saint.
He saw his uncle's frown grew more severe.
Nicholas Jackson really needed to calm his mouth, but he just couldn't as much anymore. Dr. Beckett said it was part of the strange form of puberty he was going through; that his level of self-control was going to be different than a normal eleven or twelve year old boy. Coupled with his intelligence, he just couldn't stand by and let the adults act like things around here weren't the way they were. There were so many contradictions about his parents and their friends that he felt as if, given the strict rules he was asked to live under, he should start pointing them out.
In fact it was this very contradiction that was the reason he wasn't telling a single soul, not even Vala, who had stepped up to be a pretty amazing aunt, what exactly was in the Gardens. No one knew but Saurza, who for now, had agreed to be quiet.
He needed to ensure that it stayed that way.
His thoughts went back to the children...
"You want this job or not Jackson, because I can make sure you go down to that classroom," Jack continued, Nicholas noting his change in moniker as he scolded the boy, "and ya know, I think considering you want to work for the SGC, a little military history and some strategy…"
"I know, Uncle Jack, I'm sorry, sorry, you know the pre-teen impulse thing," Nicholas interrupted trying to look cool, but the look on his uncle's face said that he wasn't buying it.
"You're worse than a combination of your parents," Jack grumbled.
Shrugging, much like his father, Nicholas slipped his hand down around the iPod in his pocket, pulling it out and over to the side to check the feed he had set up in the in the Gardens. Granted, that feed couldn't point into the lab, he wasn't going to risk that, but he could safely point it at the door, the one tiny opening where somebody or something might get in and find the capsules. There was no movement, not a soul and it appeared that nothing had moved since he had last checked. Content, he slipped the device back into his pocket.
"Once we go get you set up," Jack began again, "We're going to go ahead and take you on a tour of the more secure parts of the city."
Nicholas' heart stopped, his hand instinctively reaching into his pocket again.
"Ya know, where they keep the guns," Jack added with a smile, "The real guns not the videogame guns."
The boy tried to contain his sigh of relief, Jack taking the final turn to the office, stopping only to raise his eyebrows.
"Ya ready?" he asked one more time "Let's go show your dad you're ready to be one of us."
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"You're not limping," Daniel said as he watched his wife come around the corner and pop into her lab, grinning. She'd started limping after the her dramatic leap of faith with Todd, her leg not a healed as she had led him to believe, but she was looking a bit better again.
"I'm not," she agreed, "Despite the complete and total lack of attention I've had from you and your little healing gift."
He blushed, wishing he had been able to be close to her in the way she was alluding, "You know, we've had a lot on our plate the past couple of days," he said reaching out for her fingertips and pulling her to his lips kissing her softly.
"I'm so sorry about last night, about everything…"
Adrienne put a finger to his lips, shaking her head, "No, you had to meet with Cam and see what was going on with Ford. There will be plenty of time after I get back to go over things. Did you get any sleep?"
"At my desk," Daniel admitted quietly, "Richard told me to grab a few hours while we were waiting on Telford to come through."
Frowning, the Cajun grabbed his hand, dragging him back out to the hallway.
"Ad I came to see what Paris found…"
"Yes," she stated, "And I just said we have plenty of time. Jack was already up and going this morning, Nicholas in tow. You, sha, haven't slept and as the commander of the city I technically need your permission to go off world tonight."
Daniel frowned.
"See, I need you there tonight. Not a LONG nap Indy, because I want you to get up and kiss me goodbye."
"What did you find?" he asked, still not moving.
"I'll walk back with you home and tell you what you need to know," she pulled at his arm, leading him to their quarters.
"Can I shower before I sleep?" Daniel now asked, following though, as she had requested.
"If you wait until this afternoon, I can join you. Ya know, when I'm getting ready to leave…" his wife teased as he flushed.
"Not arguing with that logic."
"So, that settled," she said with a grin as she walked along, "This morning while I was feeding Helena, well, Helena was feeding herself, I've got Carson taking a look at her as we speak, I had Data download all the images process them try to cross-reference them with anything else in the city and I'm finding some interesting things."
Daniel shook his head, unaware that the small spoon sitting on the table this morning had actually been for Helena, and to use herself no less; but he needed to focus.
"Like…"
"Like more fiction based on fact, but that'll be in my report. You've got to do nothing but sleep and when you wake up you can go through the images, I have them tagged," Adrienne continued, "Let me go grab Helena from Carson, he's lovin' her talkin', making videos and I gotta see if she's bigger as of this morning because I swear she is and then I can keep her in the lab with me today…"
"Oh God," Daniel grumbled reaching for his forehead, "I took away our babysitter."
"I'll figure something out," Adrienne said, "In fact I won't be the first professor to make her grad students take care of her child, trust me."
Daniel frowned again, peering over his glasses at her. Not that he disliked any of the grad students in particular; he just didn't know any of them well enough to want his daughter toting around their care. Especially given that she was now starting to develop like her brother...
"And besides," his wife continued, "She is far better behaved than her brother honestly. When she learns to stand, which 'all, may be today for all I know, I can just put her in a playpen and let her hang around with me all day."
"Stop trying to get them to grow any faster than they already are," Daniel scolded, remembering this morning when he had seen his son come tearing down the hall following after Jack, he's not even two-year-old son, starting his internship.
His life was so strange.
"Jonas leave to go back this morning?" she now asked, ignoring his remark, as they made it to their door, the Cajun intending to head to the infirmary to retrieve their daughter and see if her assumptions at breakfast had been correct.
"Yeah unless you need him," her husband answered as the entryway opened, "Telford wasn't too happy to lose him for as long as we've kept him, but I can make an argument if need be. Ann has things under control I'm sure."
"It's so weird you know," Adrienne replied with a mumble, "Ann being in charge of the team, of our team. Hell, it's not even our team anymore."
"Imagine how I feel," Daniel shrugged as he held to door open, "Dinner before you leave?"
"I said shower…"
"Both?" he smiled sweetly, Adrienne leaning in to kiss him lightly.
"I can never say no to you," she admitted as she backed up, a grin plastered across the commander's face.
"I know and I take full advantage."
Laughing, he stepped into their quarters, the door closing behind him.
"Damn cooyon," Adrienne muttered as she headed to get her daughter.
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It was like camping when he was a kid. His family never really camped, that wouldn't have been acceptable, but they did have a large deluxe Winnebago that his father would drive to different events, in an attempt to look like the only one among his social circle who didn't bask in the glory of his riches. He never thought he would miss the buzz that Atlantis made when it was quiet, when he worked the night shift, or when he slept, but it hadn't taken very long to get used to the sound once they were on Atlantica again.
His room on the mainland was small. Not unbearable; he had always enjoyed the simplicity of military life even if military logic always annoyed him. It was in the main house, if you could call the structure a house at all. Over the months here the small colony constructed by his shipmates for the Athosians was a collection of small huts, houses made of that shed material always advertised on late-night TV, and a central command house, for defense, communication and for the leader.
For Teyla.
And now, for him.
John should have been used to strange turns of events, but to end up being the co-leader of the first alien civilization he ever encountered in his life, along with his best friend, who happen to be an alien, was something he could have never predicted.
He glanced over at the clock, a small gold-tone analog machine on an otherwise bare grey side table. It was a little after nine in the morning. He should have been up at least two hours earlier, but adjusting to a day schedule exclusively was evidently going to take longer than he had thought. Teyla hadn't woken him and he wasn't surprised. He knew she really didn't need him to run her tribe, they would have accepted her and her alone, but she'd wanted his consult and company. It was a strange relationship, their closeness, yet never close enough, or close in the correct way…
"Look at the Jacksons," he told himself as he slid out of bed, headed to his closet, "Being single and confused is a much better proposition."
He yawned, habit taking him to the table that in his quarters in the city had a one-cup coffee maker, realizing quickly it wasn't there.
"Athosian tea," he muttered with a slight grin, noting a tray set out for him, "Not sure if I really knew what I was getting into."
Grabbing his canteen instead, John turned to the communication screen, cueing up the day's information. There was the weather report, island looked good today, a city status report, seemed that nothing too exciting was going on there, thankfully, given everything. There would be no agenda for the day here, nothing at all, and he found that both liberating and troubling all at once. He chugged the water, shutting off the screen with a tap, walking over to his dresser. He guessed jeans would be alright, and a t-shirt, but he wasn't too sure about that when he saw a small pile in a chair, with a note.
If you desire, these are more appropriate for your new position.
It was unsigned, but the pile of Athosian leathers could really only have one place of origin. He couldn't help but smile. Abandoning his jeans and his desire for a cup of coffee, John Sheppard got dressed in his new attire.
Yea, he thought, liberating.
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He was racing through the halls, power flickering, something that sounded like a bomb going off behind him. Where was Adrienne, Nicholas, Helena; where was his family? Pausing, he grabbed the wall as the city shook, screaming behind him.
Adrienne..
Running faster, his wife was in trouble, the love of his life, and he had to help her, but he just couldn't move fast enough. He tore around the corner and saw her, coming in the other direction, pointing ahead at their son who was running, his daughter in his arms to a glow in the distance. It was the South Wing, where was he going, Adrienne screaming for him to stop that he needed to take cover but the boy just didn't, powering into the light.
NICHOLAS!
Daniel sat up in bed, having sweat through his shirt, his palm thrust to his forehead. His skull throbbing, the city commander peered over at his nightstand clock, noting that it was barely noon. That same dream, no nightmare, that same nightmare, had once more robbed him of much needed rest.
"Three hours is better than nothing I guess," he muttered, trying to convince himself otherwise, tossing the blankets aside and setting his bare feet on the cool tile. He shivered reactivity at the temperature, a chill down his spine at the touch and the lingering of the dream that had ended so abruptly just moments ago. It was longer this time than the other versions, more detailed, and there was something different about what he was doing in this version that unsettled him more than before. Instinctively, he started to tap his ear, call Adrienne but he paused, knowing she was knee deep in mission prep and he didn't wanna worry her with a stupid dream, even if it was the same stupid dream that he was having. There were more important things to do, namely check on Nicholas on his first day and to wrap his head around what had happened on Earth. He was a ball of nerves, probably what had caused the change in the dream. He was certain that Nicholas would do fine, more than certain, Jack really had made a good call making the boy his intern. What he was afraid of honestly wasn't his son's failure, but his success, and more than that the child's future. True, in Stargate Command past identities had been made, stories created, but for his own child, his own toddler to be in this position was never something he would have chosen.
Deep down, Daniel wanted his children to be able to leave this madness, because, as much as he loved this life himself, it wasn't a safe existence, and more than anything, he wanted those that he loved to be safe.
Additionally, Telford himself was coming through later today, Telford, the man who had taken over Jack O'Neill's job after his stroke, and a man Daniel had never quite seen eye to eye with. It was his own experience with the crew of the Destiny that had jaded him so, and with Chloe laying in Carolyn's infirmary indefinitely, the man had grown even more harsh regarding the program.
Daniel knew that Cameron had taken a risk bringing Ford over here, a risk to his own career and to be honest he wasn't quite sure of the fallout back on earth when Cameron returned with an unconscious Ford. Then again, Telford could've been overjoyed because having one less maniac to deal with was probably something, from what Daniel understood from Cameron and Jonas' accounts, to be welcomed.
He also felt some guilt on a personal level. He hadn't realized that Cam and Carolyn had taken the next step in their fledgling relationship. It was something that had been brewing far longer than any of the couples here, save, of course, for Sam and Jack. Carolyn had made it quite clear as she grabbed Daniel for that bloodwork on the way back to the city that they were engaged, and in such a fashion as she was probably planning a wedding like Vala would have liked. All of which meant that Cameron was stuck in the position of being Stargate Command leader while trying to pull off the wedding of the year for the woman he waited for so long to be with. It was a position Daniel personally would not have wanted to be in. At least he and Adrienne had gotten all of that out-of-the-way prior to their arrival in another galaxy.
There was a flashing at the console, the color coding letting Daniel know that it was a message from Richard, probably giving him a warning that he needed to get up, get moving and be prepared for his meeting. He knew as well that Telford would be asking for the status of the Destiny and with everything going on lately Daniel had yet to use the communication stones and he was certain that Adrienne hadn't spoken to Eli in weeks. Daniel never knew what to say to Telford on that account, especially since Chloe Armstrong had arrived here in the city. Even though she was a maniac possessed, destroyed both physically and emotionally, it seemed, Daniel didn't know how he could say that he had no way to explain it to Telford who wanted answers. That was one way in which Rodney McKay was helpful because if anybody on Atlantis could answer the question as to how Chloe got here it would be Rodney McKay. He thought for a moment about calling Rodney, maybe halfway through this meeting, but Rodney was up with Todd at the hive continuing to work on the repairs.
"Actually," Daniel said to himself as he stood from the bed looking over at Richard's communication, which was indeed a warning that he had an hour before Telford's arrival, "I probably should call up to the hive. Ad's is gonna want to brief Todd before they head back over to the Subae because apparently Todd's going to get his training on world."
Daniel shook his head, the nerves coming back, knowing that was going to be something else Telford would wish to discuss: The wraith as the assistant to the head of archaeology and anthropology.
"Oh I love my life," Daniel choked out, walking over his closet to grab his coat and head down to the command center, planning to call Rodney and Todd on the way.
At least he had a shower and dinner to look forward to, hopefully.
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"This is truly incredible," Adrienne said, stepping back to look at the pictures the Paris had snapped, pictures he had taken with technology she left behind. Their blackboard was covered with images, different information filled in the middle. She sighed, peering at the empty crib behind her, somewhat wishing that Helena hadn't wanted to stay with Carson so she could share this joy with her youngest. Alas, when she had left the infirmary, Carson was teaching the small child Scottish words for various animals as they flashed across the LED screen, Helena repeating each with a clarity that was hauntingly like her brother.
"It is," Paris agreed quickly, "It is truly amazing. In fact, pieces of the story seem to have rotated around my world for quite some time, but it wasn't until your students had shown me things from the other civilizations that I noticed the pattern."
"Indeed," Adrienne said looking over her notes she had pulled on the Bola Kai, the Genii and every other civilization that she had laughingly joked with Daniel paralleled ancient Greece and ancient Rome, and, to an extent, Ancient Egypt.
It seemed now that she had been right.
"As I was saying before..." Paris reiterated to make sure that his connection was correct. He was looking for approval, approval that he he already knew he had, he must, or so Adrienne hoped she conveyed that with the look on her face…
"...The story of the king that you brought me? The one who was mad?"
"Caligula," Adrienne finished for him, nodding, "Carry-on."
"Yes, Caligula," he seemed pleased, continuing as instructed, "It appears that these people who you referred to as the Bola Kai carried some strain of DNA that was introduced to their species and their species alone. It appears to be enough to alter them on a behavioral level."
She wasn't sure how he had made that connection; it was quite remarkable. After all, just about everything on earth she had learned through her studies with Daniel was named by the Ancients or the Goa'uld based on their own experiences. To name a crazy Roman Emperor after a crazy group of people they had seeded for some strange scientific experiment made perfect sense.
It would be a nice warning to one another to avoid that person or that area at the very least. They were just lucky to have been able to get a DNA sample from the recovered puddle jumper.
"And then these people, the ones with which Daniel loves to associate," Paris smiled brightly at his joke, very happy to have learned Earth sarcasm.
"The Genii," Adrienne spoke up for him, chuckling at his joke.
"The same. As you have explained, that translates to your language to mean protectors and as you will see by Kira's images and Dr. Beckett's DNA's analysis from the mandatory health exams given to visitors," Paris continued, pulling up more on his iPad, DATA projecting them on the wall, "There seem to be some sort of soldiering gene, programmable to a mission so to speak…"
"Engineered as well," Adrienne noted. He had done well; this was more than she could've ever explain to Daniel with her own revelations here in the Pegasus. If the Goa'uld has been traipsing around the Milky Way in order to take over civilizations and assert their own power, thinking that the threat of being stopped by the Ancients was far behind them, they were mistaken. It seemed that the ancients were over in the Pegasus, using the human beings they seeded as lab rats, long after the city of Atlantis had been abandoned.
Where, then, Adrienne thought, did they go?
The carbon dating, which neither she nor Paris had yet to explain, put some of this "interference
and "experimentation" long after the Ancients supposedly fled to the Milky Way.
Some then, must have been left behind.
Just, where?
"And then the Athosians," Paris spoke again, "Named after he who dared to challenge the mighty Zeus."
"At least we know what his punishment was, and what theirs was a well," Adrienne said, looking at Paris.
"Primitive life," he finished for her, "Primitive life. Culled to the point of losing all of their technology and access to the wonders of what was going on around them."
"To be used as food," Adrienne added, "Food for their other creation that they got terribly wrong."
Paris took a breath, making Adrienne reached her hand to his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.
"Are you all right with Todd coming?" she asked, concerned.
"I try to keep him at a distance."
Adrienne sighed out, grimacing, "I apologize for not realizing sooner."
Paris shook his head, "It is fine," he said, "He is different. Things can be different. It is not as if the Subae have been completely innocent in the way we behave."
Adrienne made a face, wondering what he meant by that. That was still another mystery; where had these people come from? As she had gotten to know both Paris and his people, she found them to be the most unique of the people of the Pegasus, even more so now that she understood what the ancients might have been doing.
"And what about your people?" Adrienne asked, wondering if he had any ideas himself, "There doesn't seem to be any connection. Subae, in Latin, an Earth language quite close to Ancient, it means "under." It's a root of the word: subterranean, which is what you are."
Shrugging, Paris pointed to his eyes, those cat-like eyes that no one else in this galaxy seemed to have.
"There is no archaeological evidence that meeting your people…"
"I know," he interrupted, "that we are the only ones who look this way. And our DNA is not altered like the others."
"I guess we can ask the cult of Nieta if we could find them," she said with a shrug, "Maybe they know more about what was going on."
"With the majority of the pictures being found in my world, I wonder if what they have hidden is a clue to the origin of our name," Paris ventured, "Perhaps the cult of Nieta hid underground and that is from where we have come."
Adrienne frowned, her pale brow furrowing. It was a really good theory; she hadn't thought of it but would explain a lot…
"Perhaps," she muttered, looking across the pictures, ideas in her head, ideas rooted in mythology that she was trying to cast aside given the evidence, "So our timeline?"
"Yes, the timeline," Paris began again,"We have them here, two separate histories. Nieta as a teacher, Khanton as a philosopher, that is the word?"
"That's correct," Adrienne nodded, "We would call him a philosopher as well."
"They have two separate paths among what your husband refers to as the Pegasus ancients. They meet, teacher and philosopher, conferring with a group of scientists as they begin to discuss Ascension," Parish continued as Adrienne shook her head.
It was all back to Ascension, she thought to herself; what had caused so many problems in the Milky Way apparently caused many problems here as well.
Jack O'Neill was right.
For a smart as they were; the ancients were pretty stupid.
"It appears that Khanton was the first to object, choosing Neita as an ally, someone that objected as well."
"Hence the judgment," Adrienne finished for him, "It wasn't romantic at all. It was showing that he chose…"
"He did choose with his heart," Paris corrected, "Although maybe not for the reasons you're Greeks would've written about."
Adrienne nodded, letting the young man continue.
"It is this alliance, speaking out against the unnatural way of Ascension, that led to their romance."
Despite everything she had looked at over the past few days, it made Adrienne smile.
"When you find your one," she said looking over at Paris, "And you know that they are the one person that understands you, it's special."
"I only hope to feel the same someday," he said, smiling, looking back at the pictures.
"I still have found nothing about their wedding," he carried on, "I do not know this temple they stand in front of, nor the animal."
Adrienne shook her head, knowing that while they had a story they would never have all the answers.
Such was the way of archaeology.
"They are wed," Paris was talking as her thoughts wandered again, "and here the erotic scenes demonstrate natural child conception, clear from the images discovered by Kira."
Adrienne made a mental note to congratulate the graduate student on finding such an important link.
"At this point from what we think were the advances in Ancient technology natural conception of offspring was forbidden."
"And they did it anyway," Adrienne interjected.
"Twice," Paris nodded, "One male and one female."
"Perfectly imperfect," Adrienne said, smiling, shaking her head, "So they stuck it to everyone."
"Yes," Paris answered, watching the Cajun's face draw more solemn.
"And then the disturbing images," Adrienne muttered, her mournful gaze at the images in front of her.
"The children taken away. Clearly," he said pointing to the piece of pottery along with the scrap that Halling had brought back to them, "They're taken away from them."
"And still no idea as to where," accented words breathed out, despairing for those two missing children as though they were her own. Shaking his head, Paris blinked those feline eyes, scanning, looking for an answer that wasn't there.
"No idea," he replied, "We have yet to find anything else mentioning the children."
"And that brings us to Khanton," she said looking sorrowfully at the last image, the one that for so long she thought was an erotic but just wasn't. The light around Khanton wasn't ecstasy as she thought so many times.
He was being ascended.
"The ultimate punishment," Dr. Adrienne Jackson said aloud, "Force one to ascend…"
"And the other runs away," Paris finished for her, "Proclaiming revenge."
"So that's really what we're looking for here," the archaeologist muttered, "In the wreckage left behind Ford, the wraith, smugglers and human traffickers, we're looking for a revenge driven religious cult that's left pieces all over the Galaxy that could easily be coming for us next."
"It is always something, as you say," Paris replied with a grimace.
Adrienne just sipped her coffee, her pale brow furrowed.
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Nicholas sat at the auxiliary desk scanning the data from Ronon's last security check, which given the source, wasn't very much to scan. He sighed, looking over at his uncle Jack who appear to be working, on something much more interesting than relaying messages such as "Level 2, Door 5, broken lock" to the maintenance team. Jack didn't seem nearly as annoyed, but Nicholas wasn't sure exactly what he was doing that could be any better.
He had thought this would be much more interesting than sitting in the classroom working on coursework that he already understood.
That was an incredibly stupid assumption he was now discovering.
Instead he was here sitting in his father's office, while his father was attending to matters off world, or in a meeting, he was too lazy to check, doing more boring work.
He thought "orientation" was going to be a bit more exciting, but apparently the tour of the restricted areas was only going to be a very small fraction of the day, at the very END of the day.
Maybe he needed to talk to Vala. She, after all, had managed to get him permission to use the unused gardens, maybe she could get him permission to intern with her husband instead. Engineering,and, in particular, the flying of puddle jumpers, was much more interesting to Nicholas Jackson than anything his parents, or apparently his uncle, did himself. He just needed to figure out a way to sell it so it looked as if he was making best use of his talents rather than being ungrateful his first day in.
"Killing you isn't it?" he heard his uncle speak from the side of the room, a sly grin across his face.
"No," the boy lied deftly, pushing hair out of his eye.
"It is," Jacked said, standing and leaning over the desk, "You see why I retired?" his uncle continued, "I went from going off world and doing cool things to doing this all the time," he concluded with a smile, "THIS is horrible."
Nicholas shook his head, "Then why did you agree to do it?" he asked confused, considering the last thing he would ever want to do is volunteer to do a job he didn't want.
Jack smiled with a shrug.
"For you, to help out your dad and stop laying around my quarters while Sam does important things to explore strange new worlds and seek out new life and new civilizations, blah, blah. I wasn't very good at retirement the first time around either."
Nicholas laughed. That he had heard from his dad was true enough.
"So how long do I have to do this?" the boy asked, as Jack looked over at the computer screen and a tablet computer to his left.
"I'm almost done what I've gotta do," he said, "Then we can go."
"Go," this was more like it Nicky thought, "Go where?"
"Exploring those cool places you haven't been before, you know, for orientation..."
Nicholas froze at his words.
It was only noon.
That was a LOT of exploring...
Before, yeah, he was all for exploring, an hour or so, but now? For that long…
He remembered Sauza's threat, that he only had two, three days max to tell his parents what he had found before she did it for him and now his uncle wanted to go exploring for the REST of the work day…
Maybe he could broach the subject at dinner, but then again his mom was going off world, for at least a few days, and his dad was probably gonna be reemed out by General Telford so it wouldn't be in his best interest to bring it up to him alone…
"Munchkin, I said exploring," Jack raised his voice, frowning, "What's with the look?"
"Rodney," Nicky lied quickly, "He's on my case when I go to visit Elias and I didn't wanna run into him."
Jack laughed, thankfully.
"We're not going anywhere near nerd hall," the general smiled, "And remember, Sam's down there too. If Rodney gives you too much trouble, she's more than happy to set him straight. Remember, guns first, like I promised, but we have a meeting this afternoon with Ronon to check the status of the drones…"
"Drones?" Nicholas asked, confused, "We have drones?"
"Yeah, we do," Jack smiled, "We have lots of things that your dad doesn't want everyone knowing. Job's not so bad is it?"
There's a lot of things people don't know around here, Nicholas thought, gazing back at the screen.
"Unless you don't want in on all the good intel in which case I picked the wrong intern."
Nope, Nicky thought before answering, you picked the right intern. In fact, I would LOVE to tell you how excited I am about all the secret intel...
"Yeah, no I do," he racked his brain, formulating a lie, a quick one that he could spin perfectly, "Mom just had some things that she wanted me to do and I probably should do them before I start thinking about exploring since that probably means we won't be getting a lot of real work done."
The general smiled. It worked, and the eldest Jackson child felt instant guilt.
"Good call," he said, walking over to the coffee machine, "You do that and I will go through a few more boring things that you can't do and then we can get going, ok?"
"Perfect," the boy replied, turning to his machine. He opened a program, an old one, one that his mother knew was well below his ability level but he was certain that Jack hadn't paid that much attention.
"Shouldn't take long," Jack added, peering at the boy's screen, "Get that math done. Your mother likes reading that data analysis," and with that he left, heading in the direction of Richard Davidson. The child waiting a sec, cracking his neck, his body growing yet again he could tell. He saw Davidson stand, walk over to a panel in the wall, giving Nicholas Jackson the freedom he needed.
"Data," he muttered aloud, wishing that the system wasn't so connected to this hologram that he had to use it, "Can I get video feed to my computer of the South Wing Gardens?"
"Of course."
The gardens appeared on his screen and no where else. There was Vastra, laying in a file of fern, happily asleep under her heat lamp.
"Zero in, seven o'clock."
The image zoomed forward, to the doorway he had constructed with gray ancient crates.
Unmoved.
"Data, what personnel have been in the garden in the past 12 hours?"
"Only yourself."
"Image off."
Peeking out to the main bridge, Nicholas shut off everything he was doing, and resumed pretending to do this math assignment.
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"You look tired," John noted as he watched Teyla stand of the altar, reading, studying although he wasn't sure exactly why she felt the need to spend so much time going through things that she could have practically written herself.
"I have grown soft living in the city," Teyla noted, "and I am not used to sleeping like this...and alone." She let out of the last part hesitantly, making John's stomach jump up, his heart pounding in his chest. She had been here since Vala had been attacked by Chloe, but she'd been here with Kanaan and it must've been that sense of security. Not that she needed him to be her protector, it was most likely the reverse, but that she wasn't alone.
Now, Teyla was completely alone.
Torren had stayed behind, despite their best efforts, John urging her to not push him, but let him make up his own mind a little at a time. The boy was confused, scared, and correct when he declared that he wasn't Athosian, at least, not in the way his parents would have liked.
"If it makes you feel better, whatever the hell those bird things are out there kept me up all night," John said with a shrug walking over to their supplies they brought hoping that maybe he'd remembered to pack some real food. He just wasn't in the mood today for whatever the Athosians are going to serve this morning.
"It begins today," Teyla continued without missing a beat, "Today I must address our people and lay out a plan of action."
"There's a plan of action?" John said puzzled, "You haven't said anything about a plan of action."
"You have not been here," Teyla answered with a soft grin, "Kanaan and I have discussed a plan of action in detail, with Halling as well before he passed. You have been working through the night."
"Don't remind me," John said in reply, "I mean it was okay but I don't think I can take much more of him."
"Daniel?"
John grimaced as Teyla laughed, not needing verbal confirmation.
"He is much like Rodney," Teyla noted, "Just with a different sort of pride."
"That's a very nice way to put it," John said, shaking his head, "No not really that's a terrible way. Don't ever tell him you compared him to Rodney and I won't tell Rodney that you compared him to Daniel."
Teyla giggled, "Your language lacks the words to describe men such as them. Both good, both brilliant, yet both stubborn."
John laughed, thinking that stubborn was a nice way to put it as well.
"So this plan of action," John carried on as Teyla turned around gracefully, her bare feet tapping the floor.
"We need to create a form of society and not just what we had before but assign roles. We need farmers to start making crops again…"
"But the replicators?" John interrupted, cocking his head over to the corner at the one thing from Atlantis in this shack besides the video monitor, "We can have food made for us you know."
"I do, however, that is no way to live," she countered, "Radek is even growing fresh fruits on Atlantis. It was the first thing he did, plant fruit trees. You do not expect my people to not want the same?"
John shrugged, agreeing, knowing that indeed it was nice to go pick an apple of one of the trees. Even though that tree was on another planet and the mere action probably should be stranger than it was, he thought as he spied a bowl of that very fruit on the table, probably brought from those very trees.
"Okay so give everybody job, start crops, then what?"
"Then the few children we have, including Torren when he is ready will begin becoming educated in Athosian ways."
John smiled, taking a bite of the apple. At least she was accepting that; that Torren would need to be ready.
"So I guess you're talking about full fledge settling down," John said as he swallowed watching Teyla nod in agreement.
"That is exactly what I am saying," she said, "With there no longer being any threat to our people we should finally be able to once more begin our own society."
"Well then," John declared, taking one more bite of the fruit before tossing it aside, ready to get his hands dirty.
Hands that would not be tied by bureaucracy as they had been in the past.
It was thrilling.
"What do you need me to do?"
Teyla smiled again, looking over at the ancient looking book she had sitting on the table and then out toward the front door.
"First John," she said, grinning, "You must become Athosian."
"Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to be something I like?" he quipped as Teyla walked over to grab the volume and a strange black bag, John wondering if he was going to be branded or something else equally as painful...
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Daniel decided to head down to the lab to chat with Adrienne sooner rather than later, out of both sheer curiosity and to get some good news before his inevitable meetings. He also wanted to stop by and say hi to Jack, just to see how Nicholas was doing on his first day; wondering if the little boy was slowly starting to realize that command and adulthood wasn't any more enjoyable than sitting in his classroom.
"Daniel?"
The commander cringed, it was the voice that he loathed to hear at times, but then again he still felt like he owed him.
"Yes Rodney."
"I am calling to inform you that we have a problem."
Why did he insist on saying things like that? Of course there was an issue if he was calling him outside of regular meetings; it didn't need to be prefaced.
"And that problem is…"
"This storm Daniel," the voice shot as Daniel came to a full stop in the hallway, rubbing his temple, "We're gonna have to shut down the city."
Frowning, Daniel walked over to an information kiosk in the wall, selecting the weather icon from the screen. There was a storm forecast, he vaguely remembered discussing this with Adrienne like any couple would discuss the weather, but it was nothing that he would have been alarmed about.
"Rodney, it's just a thunderstorm…" he started to explain that Radek would have sent some sort of notification if it was to be severe, but the scientist cut him off.
"By making the choice to not attach the city power source to the planet's core, as I have suggested since our arrival, we have essentially allowed the city to become a giant lightning rod. With no other way to disperse the energy, the water will simply conduct said electricity right back into the city."
That wasn't anything Rodney had said before, Daniel was certain, but he was equally as certain that Rodney would cite another multi-thousand page manual on the city that Daniel should have memorized, so he didn't argue.
"Rodney what are the odds of us actually getting struck by lightning?"
"As it appears the planet has five year cycles of storm intensity and we are in the fourth year of said cycle, our chances of being struck are approximately one in fifty seven, but given the high amount of attractive materials, after all we've got a main tower to rival the Empire State Building and I don't think I need to tell you that gets hit about a hundred times a year, on a planet with normal weather cycles, and we haven't been here long enough to have any idea as to whether or not that or anything else would affect those odds…"
"Ok," Daniel sighed out, "I get the point. Since we're not attached to the planet's core to disperse the energy we need to lessen those odds."
"Which is not possible," Rodney sneered back, "We're gonna get hit."
"Have you checked with Sam on this?" Daniel asked, preferring his old friend's opinion any day as the scientist scoffed on the other line,
"Yes, not that I needed do, but Samantha is equally as concerned."
Well, Daniel thought, that's definitely not good.
"Fine, we're gonna get hit then," Daniel sighed out, "What do I need to do to keep our people safe?"
"Suspend all travel for one."
"Easy, no travel, gate or otherwise, what else?"
"Ideally, confine everyone to quarters," Rodney continued, "We're sitting on a giant electrical conductor without any sort of buffer in a city teeming with even more conductive material."
"I am well aware of the various properties of water and metal Rodney," Daniel muttered, controlling his mouth, "I will issue a yellow alert…"
"And we need to kill power to the city."
"What?" Daniel shot, "Why?"
"Because Commander Jackson," Rodney shot, and Daniel could hear him pacing in his lab, "As you chose to NOT begin the project of connecting the city to the planet's core, as Atlantis was designed to do, you have given the lighting that will indeed HIT this city NO place to ground. So, rather than glide it's way through a few wires and circuits to the central line down to the planet's core, it will just race around the city and electrocute anyone who happens to feel liking asking your wife's little hologram what's for dinner tonight in the mess. IF we shut off power and you make everyone stay in their quarters and not play with their electronics, I will probably be able to divert said electricity to the main tower and ground it there using a few dead ships and our main power system without killing anyone."
"Probably be able?"
"Probably for me is WILL be for everyone else."
"Fine Rodney," Daniel sighed out, "What needs to be shut down in order to do that?"
"Everything, ideally, and launch city shields with a chemical addition that would essentially rubberize the shield…"
"Well," the commander interrupted, "We need to keep comfort systems mostly intact but Ronon can launch the shield immediately. What do you need in order to rubberize it?"
Rodney laughed, confusing Daniel.
"You can't rubberize a shield!"
"Then why did you suggest it?"
"Because you asked me what would protect us," the scientist replied snarkily, "And that would. Too bad it can't be done."
"Never mind," Daniel muttered, as he shook his head not in the mood, "Fine, I'll shut down everything but basic power to living quarters, the infirmary and the cafeteria and order everyone to stay in their rooms."
"As this planet's atmosphere contains both breathable air as well other appropriate chemical make-up I do not see the need…"
"Find, emergency lights and the infirmary."
"Daniel I said…"
"And since you ARE certain," Daniel wasn't going to be spoken over this time, "that we will get struck then the chances of injury are higher than normal. Therefore, I would like my doctors to have what they need when this does happen? Correct? Especially given that YOU will be in the tower grounding power to keep us safe?"
"Those two areas at emergency setting shouldn't increase our risk," Rodney responded quickly, "But Daniel if we expect to stay here permanently, on Atlantica, then we need to discuss attaching central power to -"
"Fine," the commander conceded, "Yes we do. You can pitch that to Telford when he comes to ask about what happened to Aiden Ford."
"Huh," the scientist laughed, his tone changing, "The storm got us both out of that meeting, but I'm not concerned. Any idiot who saw that commercial in the 80s with an egg and a frying pan knows what happened to Aiden Ford. You don't need a medical degree or any advanced sciences to recognize a brain on drugs."
Daniel sighed out. He could only be so lucky.
Given his track record as commander, they were all probably infested with brain eating nanites which was the root cause of not only Aiden Ford's collapse but the inevitable fall of the entire city...
"Daniel, did you hear me? When can I expect shut down? I have very important work done here that requires careful supervision and we only have about three hours until the first wave of strikes will hit."
"I'll get on it as fast as I can. I've gotta call Ronon first and then have Richard notify departments," Daniel answered as he snapped himself out of the worry, trying to focus.
"Thank you for finally allowing good sense to guide your command," and the scientist clicked away before Daniel could reply, the commander frowning again.
"Sure thing Rodney, whatever keeps you happy," Daniel muttered, noticing he was one left turn from his wife's lab.
"Ad or Ronon," he said to himself before he stepped away from the kiosk, "Who do I piss off first?"
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"Are those the drones?"
"Yeah, small ones," Rowan answered the boy with a smile, watching his awkward preteen body paw all over their dark metal exteriors.
"So how's it work?" Nicholas asked, "Are they controlled by the city or separate system? Could I borrow one and have Data use it to explore? Where are the bigger ones? Wait, do we have bigger ones? What did the Ancients use them for?"
But Ronan just took his head, chuckling.
"They don't work," he said walking back over to fiddle with something else in a box.
A grin of glee soured quickly, lights in his brown eyes dimming faster than the lights around him were moving.
"Really?" the boy asked in confirmation, looking over to Jack who also seem to be occupied with something else entirely. Ronon peered back from the box, a rachet in his hand and shrugged.
"Then, how do you know what they are?" Nicholas now inquired, Ronon rising and walking back over to him, squatting and pointing to some writing on the side.
"Because that says drone," he answered simply. The boy looked, reading that it indeed said Sirenus, a word he recognized from his Latin studies that referred to worker bees.
"Oh," Nicholas muttered out, "I guess that makes it a drone."
"And a waste of space," Ronon added standing and walking over to greet somebody coming through the door with a clipboard, probably about a jumper Nicholas could only assume.
"So was Rodney trying to fix them?" Nicholas shouted over, Ronon not even turning to reply.
"No," he grunted, signed the clipboard and walked back over to Nicky, "he's too busy trying to hook the city up to the planet's core."
"Still?"
Jack laughed, nodding, "Still."
"Yep," Ronon confirmed, "Elias is doing most of the scientific work now. Rodney just hangs out in the hive or whines about the core."
"And about your dad," Jack added, Nicholas frowning.
"He'll be whining to you soon, just so you understand," the general continued. Nicholas started to protest, say that he felt that he was finally in a position where he could tell Rodney to respect that it was HIS dad chosen to lead Atlantis, when Ronon frowned, not his typical stoic look, but a deep frown, his long caramel index finger reaching for his ear.
"A shutdown? Why?" he asked.
Jack made a face as well, looking down at Nicholas and over Ronon tapping at his own ear as if he expected to be brought in on this call.
"It's just a storm," Ronon replied to an unknown caller, "I got the report from Elias this morning."
Still nothing, no indication to the young Jackson as to what was going on as he watched Ronon frown, looking over at the console and frown again.
"Yeah, I see," the Satedan sighed out, "It's gonna to take me more than an hour."
He said, sighing out and tapping ear.
"We're on shutdown," Ronon announced appearing as if he was going to explain when Jack reached for his own ear.
"Yeah Daniel?" he said and walked off, leaving Nicholas standing with the head of security.
"Shutting down? What exactly? And why?" Nicholas asked, his role in motion. If he was to be the assistant to Jack, he needed to be ready to take action and now seemed to be the time. Straightening his suit, the child followed him as he walked back to the console.
"The city," Ronon answered simply, "Everything but the infirmary on emergency life-support."
"Everything? Why?"
"To keep us from getting struck."
"How is that…"
"I don't ask, that's not my department," Ronon replied, heading over to shut down jumper bay doors and ordering transportation room staff to their quarters.
"My dad didn't tell you anything?" Nicholas pushed as Ronon worked the screen.
"Rodney says it's gonna to be bad."
"What can I do?"
Ronon didn't reply, tapping his ear and talking to someone, Vala he could tell by the man's words. He wondered what was going to happen, how bad the storm was going to be as he caught bits and pieces of Ronon and Vala's conversation.
"Yeah, everything."
"Gotta stay in quarters."
"Says whole damn place could surge."
"We need a security team on standby, to assist medics…"
It sounded like it could be bad, and he wondered if his mom was going to Subae, what his dad was doing right now, if Dr. Beckett was rushing his sister down to find them to prep the infirmary, when it hit him…
"Ronon?"
But his uncle didn't listen, still talking to Vala, spatting out some technical jargon that Nicholas understood but just didn't care about.
"Ronon?"
No answer still, but the boy needed to know…
"Ronon, everything, everything?"
"Yeah Nicky, everything," the big man finally answered, Nicholas heart stopping.
"Even the South wing?"
"Hang on Val," Ronon said, making that father face he now made that Saurza had come along, "Yeah, the South Wing. Is your lizard down there?"
Thankfully, this time, Nicholas didn't have to lie.
"Yes sir."
"You need to go get it," Ronon ordered, looking up to see Jack still talking to Daniel on the communicator, "Go get it and get Saurza. She needs to stay with you guys tonight."
"No problem!" the boy agreed, racing off to get his lizard before Jack, Ronon, or anyone else could tell him otherwise.
He just hoped he figured out what to do with the other two beings in his care before he got there.
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"So no branding?" John clarified as Teyla reached behind herself to take his hands into her own.
"No branding, no tattooing, and no pain. You will probably find it quite pleasurable," Teyla assured him, as John looked ahead at the cook fires, fires that made appear much later than it was.
"I'm not quite sure if you and I have the same definition of pleasurable," John joked, but Teyla didn't reply or stop, just yelled ahead something in Athosian that John thought was 'We are here!' Cheering erupted from the bonfire ahead, the colonel reaching up his hand to wave meekly at his audience.
"You do realize the storms' coming?" John noted, but his host just smiled brightly as they came upon the group, indicating he take a seat on the lone empty log around the fire.
"We do," she replied, "It is one of the reasons we have chosen today to welcome you to our people."
Lightning struck in the distance, hitting the water, giving John chills.
"Those two things usually don't go together on earth," he stated as Teyla reached out for Jinto, his face scarred from the electrical burn he suffered indirectly at the hands of Aiden Ford. Nodding, he handed her a jug, and she bowed her head slightly, turning to pass the container to her old friend.
"Just drink this," she said to John, smirking.
"Ha!" he laughed, "That kind of pleasurable…" happily grabbing the clay pot and chugging down the warm liquid as lightning cracked in the distance.
"The gods have smiled upon us!" Teyla declared, the Athosians cheerings, "They are pleased that John has chosen the people of Athos as his true people!"
More cheers, as John swallowed, wiping his mouth and starting to hand the pitcher back but the man to his right, what was his name, he needed to learn all of these people and fast, wow this stuff was strong, insisted he keep it...
"As Tanka declared, it was the wine that washes the past away…" Teyla was speaking as John drank, his head spinning, feeling lighter. He wasn't sure what was in this stuff, but it wasn't just wine, but it was slowing him down, in a way that he hadn't been slowed before.
"The wind that blows it out of our reach…"
It was out of his reach, the life he was supposed to lead. He was never meant to be a Sheppard, in the traditional sense, which was how he ended up in the military in the first place. And he was never really meant for there either, as he found out long before he set foot in another galaxy.
"And the lightning that burns it so that we may never return to the wrong path…"
He knew. All along he knew. The moment Teyla said she was leaving the city, for good, the moment he watched her turn in her Atlantis uniform he knew that he wanted to follow.
"The path for you, John Sheppard is no longer on the city of Atlantis or on the planet Earth, but here with the Athosian people!"
It was, it had been from the moment he met these people.
He belonged here.
Lightening crashed in the distance.
The wind picked up.
Teyla was chanting in Athosian and he felt himself dragged to his feet, and he was chanting now too. He was drunk, but he wasn't, it was something else, something more spiritual and it felt right.
More lightening crashed.
The wind whipped harder and rain began to smack his face.
He felt himself being embraced by the Athosians, no his people, and he was embracing them back when the mood changed, but he was intoxicated by the ceremony and he wasn't sure what was going on.
"John," Teyla was in his face now, only Teyla, "John, I am sorry. Can you understand me?"
"Yeah…"
"We must end the ceremony prematurely, and I must return to the city…"
"Ok, I'll fly you…"
"No," she commanded, pushing down his shoulders, "You are in no state to fly. You must stay with Jinto and the others. They will care for you. I must help and you must stay with our people."
"Ok Teyla."
He agreed, but he wasn't sure he should yet his body wouldn't allow him to argue.
Teyla watched John slink down as she peered at the city in the distance.
"It is not safe," Marta argued, but Teyla shook her head.
"Kanaan is on that city, Torren as well," Teyla countered, "I must go and I…" she paused, a flashed filling her head…
"What is wrong?" the woman grabbed her leader, but Teyla shooed her away.
"It is nothing, please," Teyla continued, pushing the helping hand away, "Take John to his quarters and prepare for a rough storm."
"Yes ma'am," the woman agreed, Teyla making a break for the jumper.
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"I've gotten Paris to guest quarters, and Richard says that Jonas gated back in time," Daniel said from Adrienne's desk as his wife went through her own list of items to shut down.
"Carson said Helena can hang down there a little longer and Nicky says that Ronon sent him to go get Vastra and Saurza and head to our quarters," she added, Kira walking an iPad in from the other room.
"Dr. Jackson would you prefer I look at this during the lockdown?"
Adrienne shook her head, "Don't worry about it. Light a candle, read a book, or get some sleep. We may have to ride this out for a while."
"Yes ma'am," the graduate student thanked her and scurried off, Adrienne turning around and shaking her head at her husband.
"Does Jack know that Sam is heading down to the Tower to ground this nonsense?"
"Yep," Daniel grumbled, holding a finger up before tapping his ear, "Yes Ronon, that too. People can go a few hours on bottled water and crackers. We have emergency supplies if needed and more on the mainland," he looked back up at his wife, "Those personal shields you found, forever ago. Sam and Rodney will both be wearing them. They tested them out on ballistics dummies already. Prevents a pretty significant amount of current."
Adrienne frowned.
"Would you let me do that? Shield or not?"
Daniel peered up at her over his glasses, "Would you let me stop you?"
"Point taken," she answered, as the main lights flickered out overhead.
"Attention citizens of Atlantis," Richard Davidson's voice boomed around them, "As you all have been informed, per the commanders orders, we are on emergency lock-down due to the oncoming storm. All personnel, unless directed by the commander himself, must report to their quarters at once. All systems except for emergency lights and the infirmary will be shut down in thirty minutes. It is expected that you are in your quarters at this time. As always, thank you for your cooperation and we will keep you informed of any additional information."
"Do you think everyone is gonna do what they're supposed ta?" Adrienne now asked, shutting down her console and grabbing a flashlight.
"I gave Jack a bullhorn and free reign," Daniel said with a small laugh, "Between Ronon and Vala running security teams all night, Jack and Richard getting everyone to their rooms, Carson and Jennifer ready for any level of electrical burn and Sam and Rodney hopefully keeping the city from frying, I'd like to think we're prepared for anything and everything."
His wife smiled, reaching out a hand and pulling him to his feet.
"See," she said as she kissed his lips sweetly, "You're such a good mayor."
"I hate that word," he grumbled under her lips as she laughed before leading him out of the lab.
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"Nicholas, the lights are GOING OUT!"
His head shot back, the boy pushing hair out of his face to snarl at her.
"Don't you think I am aware SAURZA!"
"Then we need to go to YOUR quarters like my DAD said to do!" she argued, adjusted to hold the squirming iguana.
"And let them die?" he asked incredulously. He couldn't believe that she was suggesting that they just leave them, to die, here, cold, alone and nameless.
"Nicky, we don't know that they're gonna die," Saurza argued, "We don't even know if they're alive."
"That," the boy hissed, pointing to a console behind him, "that says they're alive."
"But what about when the city was submerged," Saurza tried to reason as Vastra began to wiggle harder in her arms, "Mom said it was under for thousands of years or something."
"Ten thousand," Nicholas corrected, "And it wasn't shut down. The systems were set to run in a certain way as to maintain basic life support in order to return to full functions once the city resurfaced. That includes these two."
"What if they're Wraith?"
"Do they look like Wraith?" Nicholas spat as he stood, walking over to a small screen beside the boy's capsule, "And besides, if they are, we can call Todd."
"Who will tell your mom..."
"Like Mom isn't gonna find out about this anyway…"
"Then why aren't you calling her?"
"Because, well," Nicholas read, his eyes scanning like small computers, so much like this mother, "she's busy and I'm the intern to the second in command of the city."
"And stupid."
"Then leave," he said, "Just take Vastra down and wait for me."
"No," she said, shouldering the massive iguana, "I'm taking Vastra and going to find my mom and tell her and then YOU can explain to MY mom and dad what you've been hiding down here…"
And without further argument, Saurza stormed off, Nicholas grumbling under his breath.
"Damn tattletale," he muttered, reading the instructions again. They were in ancient, simple enough, much more simple than he has expected it to be, but they were hidden after all, and the instruction here really didn't seem to be instructions but more like a reminder of what codes to enter.
And code breaking was something Nicholas was very good at.
He read aloud a few lines, more sounds dying around him as he knew Rodney and his Aunt Sam were killing power left and right.
It was now or never.
He entered the name carefully, the name his father taught him was the one that was always responsible for things here like this…
JANUS
There was a metallic sound, a clicking, and the two covers slipped back, steam rising from the cases. No motion came from either child, however, not a breath, not a wink of an eyelash and Nicholas stood in stunned silence fearing he was too late.
Eyes opened.
Deep dark eyes, two pairs, one after the other. First the boy, then the girl. They seemed drowsy and started to sit slowly, opening and closing their eyes as Nicholas smiled, another light going out behind him.
"Salve amaci!" he greeted happily, suddenly understanding all of his father's stories about how befuddling it was to encounter an alien culture. That simple greeting, hello friends, on his planet would have been enough to begin a conversation, after all, it did it in all of the world language textbooks.
Instead, in unison, the children began to scream.
"CRUVUS deductavum!"
"From whom?" Nicholas asked, in English, but the children continued to scream, leaping up from the capsules, racing around, looking for weapons.
"DEDUCTAVUM NON!"
The boy swung at him, the girl screaming and Nicholas went to block then his feet fell out from under him, the crash louder than anything he had ever heard in his entire life...
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Daniel had barely gotten the ok from Richard that most of the personnel were headed to their quarters when it hit, far sooner than Rodney had warned.
"Rodney!" he shouted first as he caught his wife, shaky on her bad leg as the couple was racing together to the infirmary to collect their daughter from Carson.
"Da-a-" the line was filled with static, "th-the-t-t-ow-er-as-it."
The commander had surmised as much, lights flickering all around him, another voice in his ear.
"Daniel," Ronon's voice was clearer, maybe given that he wasn't in the tower, "Teyla just landed, but we've got injuries in the jumper bay."
"Jennifer!" Daniel tapped his ear, changing his mind and redirecting, "Richard, I need all level one personnel in direct communication, now."
"Yes sir," the gate tech responded, a flood of voices in his ear.
"Daniel, I'm here, what's up."
"Jen, we've got wounded."
"Sending help Dex."
"Rodney, you jackass, where's my wife!?"
"He-er-J Jaak f-i-n-e."
"Let him fry Sam; he's disposable."
"IIts tha-a-a-ke-i-n-d-o-"
"Enough Jack," Daniel cut, in, Adrienne pulling him onward, "We need to make sure that everyone is still making their way to their quarters but not touching anything. Jen, get a team to the bay, Vala, start the first security team for checks, Sam, Rodney I want a check in ASAP and Carson prep your OR just in case. Addy and I are on the way to get Helena as we speak."
"But Nicky already got her."
"What do you mean Nicky got her?" Daniel asked, stopping as Adrienne walked to the kiosk, almost calling up DATA before she remembered, swearing in Cajun.
"He came and said he was gonna get her so she would be safe and dashed off. Right after the first bolt hit, that smaller one, not that big one we just got. It wasn't long ago, he just left."
"Jack I thought Nicky was with you?" Adrienne asked, changing direction to head to their quarters.
"He was but Dex sent him to get his lizard and head to his room. He must've thought to get the girl."
"Make sense," Daniel said, pointing down the hall, "Go make sure they're ok and I'll go check on Sam and Rodney."
"Indy, I…"
"Ad, it was a hit, but we were expecting it," her husband assured, taking her hand, "Everything is under control."
"Teyla is coming," Ronon spoke up, "To get Torrin."
"He's in our room," Adrienne confirmed, pecking her husband's cheek and dashing off.
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"MOM!"
She'd just gotten the orders from Daniel, a team of SG security personnel falling in behind her when her heard a scream, from a voice that should have been in her quarters, that, in fact, has been ordered hours ago to go to that very place.
"Saurza?"
"MOM!" the little girl yelled as she came to a stop, an iguana in her arms, out of breath, "Nicky, he found these kids and..."
"Wait, what, kids?" Vala questioned, confused, "Slow down. Where's Nicky? Why do you have Vastra?"
"Nicky, in the South Wing, the gardens, there's this lab, this guy and there were these hidd-"
Vala cut her eyes at her daughter, a silent signal to stop talking, before looking back at her men.
"Start the sweep without me, report anything you find immediately."
"Yes ma'am," they replied, jogging off, only then Vala urging herdaughter to continue.
"He found kids?"
"Yeah, they're frozen or something, asleep, in some pods, in some room through a hole in the garden, and they're these computers and…"
"When did he find them?"
"A couple of days ago, he made me swear not to tell, I was gonna tell, just give him a day, I'm so sorry mom, I should have told you, but now he's trying to wake them up, he says they're gonna die in the storm and..."
"God damn mini-Daniel!" Vala swore reaching for her ear and deciding against it, "Take me there!"
Saurza nodded, dashing off, weaving in and around the hallways in the dark. Vala tried to keep up, the girl was fast, ordering a few lingering and scared personnel to their quarters as Daniel had commanded, seeing a scientist, Corbin she thought his name was, go down in front of her. She slowed her jog, peering up to yell for her daughter when it hit her.
She'd seen this before.
"Jennifer, send a team, we have a possible electrocution in hall S3 headed south toward the South Wing."
She left him, she had no choice, she knew where this led and she pushed onward, seeing a small shoe dart around a dark corner.
She tapped her ear.
"Addy, Daniel, South Wing now."
"Vala, shug, what are you talking about?"
"Nicky."
She didn't need to explain more, that would ask nothing else, and she hoped that Adrienne at least was experiencing what she was, that sense of deja vu.
She ran faster.
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He was racing through the halls, power flickering, something that sounded like a bomb going off behind him.
They'd been hit, a third time, a crackling Rodney in his ear yelling that what was supposed to be the worst of it was still an hour away.
"Ad?"
No reply.
"Nicky?"
Still no answer.
Where was Adrienne, Nicholas, Helena; where was his family?
When he left her she was headed to their quarters to get the kids, Nicky, Helena and Torren and meet up with Teyla, and he heading to Sam and Rodney and making sure that they could really withstand this storm…
"Ad," Daniel repeated, "Can you hear me?"
No answer, just static.
The communicators must be affected by the storm now, not just Rodney.
Pausing, he grabbed the wall as the city shook a second, screaming, from somewhere.
Adrienne..
Running faster, his wife was in trouble, the love of his life, and he had to help her, but he just couldn't move fast enough.
"Daniel!" there was a crackling sound in his ear, one he could barely make out, "South Wing, now!"
Vala's voice, insistent, and more screaming. He needed to find his family, make sure the Sam and Rodney weren't being electrocuted, but there was something in Vala's voice that told him he needed to listen. He changed direction, running, past security personnel who looked confused but didn't try to stop him, the commander racing onward.
The scream echoed again.
NICHOLAS NO!
He tore around the corner and saw her, Adrienne, Teyla and Torren in close pursuit, coming in the other direction, pointing ahead at their son who was running, his daughter in his arms to a glow in the distance. It was the South Wing, where was he going, Adrienne screaming for him to stop that he needed to take cover but the boy just didn't, powering into the light.
NICHOLAS!
It was the dream, the nightmare.
It was happening now.
Daniel's heart pounded in his chest as his son ignored him, his daughter's emotional state a void to him as well, his wife, Teyla and Torren joining him in a pack of pursuit. A shout in the distance and he turned his head to the right to see Vala and Saurza, also trying to get Nicholas to stop, shouting something about children and waking, but it was nonsense, Daniel leading the charge as the storm raged around them, the city in utter chaos.
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Nicholas heard them all behind him, Teyla, his Aunt Vala, his mom, his dad, Torren, Saurza, screaming, but he felt his sister urging him onward. The city was shaking, like an earthquake, and he hoped the children that he had trapped in that small room weren't hurt, but it was safer there than roaming around the city and he needed to tell them that he wasn't going to take them away that he wasn't whoever they thought he was.
"Run Nicky," Helena ordered, Nicholas holding her closer, hoping that her gift would allow her to read his mind and see what he needed her to do. He felt a surge of something, reassurance, and he guessed that meant she understood, taking a left and racing straight to the soft glow of the flashlight that he had dropped to find his way. He'd lied to Carson about getting her, just as he'd lied about the mark on his face made by the boy as he had shut the two children in the lab to keep them safe. And now, taking his baby sister into a potentially dangerous situation, he was racing through the halls of the city as the storm raged all around them.
He powered onward among the screams, jumping over debris while he held on to his infant sibling, turning left into the garden and racing straight for the back, the large metal plate still over the door.
He was just enough ahead of them, of all of them, his father's voice still somewhat in the distance.
"Down," Helena gave him the ok, and he set her on the floor, pulling the piece out of their way, the two children clawing through the passage like some scene out of a horror film. They were clawing, scratching, screaming, but Helena reached out her small chubby hands, unfazed by the frenzy. His heart pounded in his chest and he instinctively reached for his sister to protect her, but he paused mid grab, just as the scratching stopped, a small hand calmly pushing aside the barrier in silence.
"Comdo," the infant requested politely in Ancient, as two pale, frightened faces appeared in the space. Pausing, the two children looked at one another before crawling forward, still calm. Nicholas felt his sister directing him to grab her and stand, backing up to allow space for the two children to stand as well. They did slowly, eyeing him, not another word spoken, Helena filling the room with calm, even seeming to quiet the storm. He went to speak, explain again that he was a friend when he saw lights behind him, flashlights, his father's and his aunt's, shining right on the two mysterious children.
"Nicholas…"
"My gods…"
"Who in the hell?"
"See Mom, I told you."
Nicky took a deep breath, turning around to face them.
"Mom, Dad," the boy started, adjusting his sister at his hip, thankful she was still keeping the room calm, "There's something I need to tell you…"
The room shook, lights flashed; Helena could calm the room but not the storm, that was merely an illusion of his mind...
"Daniel, we need to get out of here," Vala warned, pointed to the unstable lighting in the ceiling.
"Right, but we," he went to speak, command, but no one moved; no one seemed to know what to do or say.
The city shook again.
"Sha," Adrienne finally whispered, grabbing his arm, her mouth open and her head shaking, "I know them."
"Great, we know them," Vala said, walking toward the children, "Let's discuss what kinda wierd shit we've gotten ourselves into after making sure we're not getting electrocuted."
"Right," Daniel said again, walking to help, the shaking worsening; a light crashing from the ceiling down to the corner of the room. The boy screamed, turning to crawl under the console when the room was calmed again, the sensation of relaxing flowing over all of them.
"Too much little one," Teyla said, breaking through the group to take Helena into her arms.
"Jus calm," Helena cooed out, looking back at the two children.
"Adventus," Nicholas tried very basic Ancient, unsure what they would understand. The children looked at one another and linked hands, ready to follow.
Frowning, Daniel looked down at Adrienne and over at his son, confused, the emergency lights of the city glowing all around them as he led them all to the safety of the infirmary.