Ancient's Best Friend
Author's Note: Whoa! What is this? A plot? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have developed an actual plotline. As I said, this is probably going to be a 'life in Atlantis' kind of story, with a few plots like the following sprinkled in.
Regarding ZPM's: I've been informed by one of my reviewers that the ZPM's probably can't be "charged" like a battery. I thought of this too, but this is a situation where I chose to take advantage of 'artistic license'. If it really annoys you, stop reading. No! Not literally! Come back!!!!!!!!
Regarding McKay: I know I've been hard on him during the last chapter, but hey, he's not one of my fav's. I realize he's better now that he's in Atlantis, but the image of Dr. Rodney "arrogant butthead who thinks he's smarter than Carter" McKay kinda stuck when I saw the SG-1 episode "48 Hours". I'll try and be nicer to him, but that doesn't mean he's not going to be in the infirmary a lot! ;)
Thank you SOOOO much, reviewers!
lovewildfire
Courtknee
AssassinQueen
Kits
Trekkie Lizard
Kitty2satan
RougeCajunOzsgrl
MaryChristmas
Annoymous (Anonymous ?)
Disclaimer: see chapter one if you care that much.
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"There was once this guy, okay? And he lived in a little shack near a pond. Now, to get to his shack, there was a path that went all the way around the pond and went right up close to the guy's shack-"
"What is a 'shack'?" asked one of the Athosians.
"Oh, hmm. A shack is a kind of house that's not very nice…It's usually really really old, falling apart, made of bad wood and such…" explained Sheppard.
His radio crackled to life. "Major Sheppard?" asked Weir's voice
"Hold on a second kids." He talked into his radio, "I'm a little busy now, doctor."
"I need to speak with you immediately." said her voice.
A collective "Awwwwwwwwwww!" came from the Athosian children seated on the floor around him.
"Doctor, that might be a problem," he said, then held it out the children and said "Do the 'awww' thing again, real loud!"
"AAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" They shouted at the transmitter.
"Cute, but I still need to talk to you right now," came Weir's voice.
"Be right there," he answered. "Sorry kids, storytime is cut short tonight," he said, standing up and heading for the door.
"Hey, Aiden! Can you finish the story?" asked Jintoh. Ford was also there, as he didn't have anything else to do.
"Well, guys. I dunno… I'm not the best storyteller…"
"Please?!" cried several of the Athosians.
"Okay, but Major Sheppard owes me one."
"Go ahead," said Teyla as Ford crossed the room to where Sheppard had been sitting before.
Ford smiled, and sat down. "What were we talking about? The guy and the shack? Okay, everyone knows what a shack is now?"
"Yes," came a response.
"Good," Ford continued. "So the path went right past his shack. Now, on that part of the path, there are a whole load of tree roots that stick way up. He was used to them, though, and he never tripped. Except for one day… The man was walking back to his shack to cook dinner for himself when he noticed the moon. The moon that night was beautiful; huge, low in the sky, and had an unusual orange tinge… he was sooooo entranced by the moon that he didn't pay attention to where he was walking, and he tripped on one of the roots. He cracked his head open, but it wasn't enough to kill him right away, he died a slow, painful death."
"Wow, that was a great story!" said one of the children when he paused.
"Woah there, they story's not nearly over yet!" Ford replied, and went on.
"A hundred years passed, and the area got settled, the path more well-used, and the shack forgotten. But every year, on the same day he died, his spirit makes the moon the same as it was the night he died, and anyone who walks by dies the same way he did… Now this had become something of a legend in the neighborhood surrounding the pond, and one night, which happened to be the day that the old man's spirit awakens every year, a group of kids like you decided to go see if it was true…"
He continued the story, the children looking wide-eyed up at him.
xxx
"So, doctor, what could possible be so important that I have to leave my fans in the middle of a performance?" asked Sheppard as he walked into the control room.
"Your 'fans', Major?" she replied with a smile.
Sheppard held out his hands, "What can I say? They love me!"
"We have a situation up here."
"Well, what is it?"
"That's the thing, we don't really know."
"That could be a problem," Sheppard said sarcastically.
Weir walked over to the main console. "Here, look." The console's 'screen' was displaying what looked like some sort of map, with little blinking red dots moving slowly across it.
"What is that?" Sheppard asked.
Weir motioned to the chair. "We were hoping you could tell us."
Sheppard sat down. Grodin, noticing his arrival, walked over.
"As far as I can tell, it's a map of the galaxy, and those flashing dots are some sort of alert, but I can't figure out what it's warning against."
"Okay… thinking…" muttered Sheppard, concentrating on the screen. Suddenly, the screen seemed to zoom in on one of the little dots to a wire-grid outline of a ship. "Crap."
"What is it, Major?" asked Weir.
"That would be a Wraith Dart."
"If I'm reading that map correctly, they're headed this way," said Grodin.
xxx
"After they had been running for what seemed like forever, the oldest one suddenly stopped and turned to face the man's ghost.
"'Why are you doing this?' she said, ready to run if the man didn't stop.
"The man then told them the story of how he died, the same one I told you, and told the kids that all he wanted was a proper burial, then he would stop killing people every year. So the kids dug up his body and buried him right, and the man's spirit finally rested, never to haunt the path again."
"Alright, everyone. Time for bed," said Teyla when Ford had finally finished the story.
"That was great!"
"Hey, can you tell us another story sometime."
"Thanks!"
"Did that really happen?"
Ford smiled at the children as the filed out of the room, escorted by Halling. (the guy that's Jintoh's father)
"Thank you for continuing the story, Lieutenant," said Teyla after everyone had left.
"Aw, well, I couldn't just leave those kids hanging… But I'm not the best storyteller…"
"I think you are just fine. Like Doctor Weir said before, you will someday make a great father."
"Well, that is, if I ever make it back home…"
"Is there something wrong with the people here?"
"Well, no, but it would help if I spoke the same language as some of them. I haven't even heard of some of the languages that are bein' spoken here!"
"I know how you feel. For me and my people, there are many different languages as well as new customs."
"Yeah, well if everyone's stuck in this city, we're sure gonna start to get to know each other a lot better, I can tell you that. It's happening already, I heard Major Sheppard and McKay settled their little fight yesterday and started thinking up names for the dog in that room."
"I got the impression he didn't like other people to name things," Teyla said.
"Yeah, well, maybe it's just me," Ford mused.
"I promised Doctor Weir that I would help Doctor McKay with the translation. Sorry, I must go."
"Sure thing, I have some business to attend to too. See ya later."
xxx
Ford was just finishing up in his room when the PA sparked to life.
"Attention, all personnel. This is Weir. We have just discovered eight wraith ships heading this way. We are going to attempt to destroy them before they get here, but I request that everyone be prepared to evacuate at any time. All military personnel, please report to the control room immediately. Also power will be diverted from section 3 for about fifteen minutes to charge up a ZPM. That means no lights or working doors and elevators in that section for about fifteen minutes." Weir's voice echoed throughout the city.
"Oh that's dandy," he grumbled to himself. "Ooo, maybe I'll get to pilot a gateship, er, "puddle jumper'," he said as the thought occurred to him. He quickly remembered, though, that he didn't possess the ATA gene. Ford quickly packed his essential stuff, grabbed his gun, and set off for the control room.
xxx
Teyla quickly arrived at the circular room, and opened the door to find a very disgruntled-looking McKay.
"What do you want?" asked McKay, not looking away from the wall.
"It is Teyla. Doctor Weir requested I help you with the translations," Teyla answered. She walked in, the door closing behind her.
"Oh, hi Teyla. Sorry, thought you were someone else."
"It is alright. You look angry."
"It's just this phrase here, it makes no sense whatsoever!" McKay exclaimed, hitting his notebook in frustration. Teyla walked over to him and looked at the offending text.
"It reads, 'loyal friend'. Is this the extent of what you have translated?" she asked.
McKay just looked wide-eyed at her. "You can read this stuff?"
"I only have a very basic knowledge of the language."
"Wow. Well, as of now, it reads, 'A room,' which I'm guessing refers to this one, '[has been] erected for the memory of,' and now, 'loyal friend'," McKay recited from his notebook. "It's a rough translation, but-" he stopped as he noticed Teyla following the text beyond where he had translated. "Wh- what does it say?"
"I can only understand a little, but," she started from where McKay had left off. "'…origin… Paloethe,' that is a planet in this galaxy. I have been there twice. 'large,' a word I do not recognize, 'years.' This may mean the same as 'many years', but I cannot be sure-"
She was cut off by the PA, "Attention, all personnel. This is Weir. We have just discovered eight wraith ships heading this way. We are going to attempt to destroy them before they get here, but I request that everyone be prepared to evacuate at any time. All military personnel, please report to the control room immediately. Also, power will be diverted from section 3 for about fifteen minutes to charge up a ZPM. That means no lights or working doors and elevators in that section for about fifteen minutes."
"Well that can't be good," stated McKay.
"We are in section three, I believe."
"Crap, we'd better get out of here." The two started for the door, but the lights flickered out. "Oh, this is great. Now we're stuck here, in the dark, and we're never gonna get out! Oh… this is very bad-"
Teyla interrupted him. "Doctor Weir said the power would only be off for about fifteen minutes.
"You believe them?! They should've come and found me… Why did they do this without me being there? As I said before, this is bad…"
"Do you have a flashlight?" asked Teyla.
"No, I left it in my room. %&!, I should've brought it with me. Why did you not bring your flashlight Rodney, you idiot…"
McKay stood up with a little difficulty and started pacing, well, limping back and forth across the room. While he rambled on and on about their predicament, Teyla decided to look for a flashlight anyway, and she found it almost right away. She switched it on.
"You seem to have a different flashlight."
McKay looked embarrassed, but his expression quickly turned to concern as the light slowly faded, gave a final flicker, and died. He turned and started 'pacing' again. "For chrissake, why did I not put in new batter-" There was a loud crack/thump, then a clatter of the crutches, then a few softer thumps.
"Doctor McKay?" Teyla asked cautiously. No answer.
xxx
Ford walked into the control room to find most of the military personnel were already there. He walked over to Sheppard.
"What's goin' on, sir?" he asked.
"There's some wraith darts heade-"
"I'm not deaf, sir, I heard the announcement. But why are all the military personnel here?"
"Weir wants to know if there's anyone other than me with that… Ancient mutant gene… thing."
"Oh, well, not me, sir" said Ford, pretending to walk out like nothing was happening.
"Hey, get back here. I need you in the puddle jumper. There's a reason there's two seats, y'know."
Ford grinned. "Right, sir."
"Alright, everyone. Thank you for coming on such short notice," started Weir. "As you all know, we are facing an attack by the Wraith. The city's shield is gone, so our only chance is to destroy the ships before they get here with our…" she glanced at Sheppard, "puddle jumpers.
"Now, we've learned that only people with the ATA gene can pilot our ships, so, we've set up a quick test that we need you all to take." She held up a small, blue thing with an oval shape. "We need you all to hold this, and if it lights up, you need to tell either Major Sheppard or myself." She then handed the device to someone in the front of the meeting.
"What is that thing?" Ford asked Weir when she was done with her speech. The device was passed around quickly.
"Actually, we're not sure. It just lights up when someone with the gene touches it," she replied.
"How many gatesh- puddle jumpers do you want out there?"
"We were hoping for two at least," said Sheppard.
"Well, what about Beckett and McKay, sir?" asked Ford.
"I already got Doctor Beckett over here, but he wouldn't go within a hundred feet of the ships. And I couldn't contact McKay, but considering both their experiences with the Ancient technology, that may be a good thing," Weir answered.
The device finally got passed to Ford, who held it without any result. "Anyone still need it?" he called over the crowd, waving it above his head. When he got no answer, he handed the device back to Weir.
Grodin called over from the main console, "Doctor Weir, the ZPM is charged. Power's back in section three."
She nodded, then stepped back up on the box. "Thank you all for your time. I suggest you all go pack up in case we are forced to evacuate," she announced. "You two think you can take down eight of those wraith darts?" she asked to Sheppard and Ford as the crowd hurried away.
Sheppard considered it, then nodded, "Yeah, 'course we can."
"Good, be ready to go in five minutes," she said, smiling.
"Yeah! Lets go kick some Wraith butt!" exclaimed Ford, running off to get ready.
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Author's Second Note: Like? Ooo an actual plot, shocking, I know. But have no fear, the fic WILL NOT END after this plotline is taken care of. I actually do have some kind of idea where to go with this now! Woot! As for now, reviews are appreciated and will be recognized!!!!!
Note That You Must Read If You Like This Fic And Are Expecting Another Chapter: I will be busy for the next two days and possibly through the weekend, so this may be the last chapter for a few days. Sorry! I PROMISE, though, that I WILL NOT ABANDON this fic!