Aiden Ford twirled the pen in his hand as he sat in his quarters, a blank mission report in front of him. He sighed, shifting in his seat. The procrastinator in him had insisted that he had more than enough time to finish the mission reports that he didn't write, but now it had bitten him. He needed to finish all of them before he left. Aiden moved his arms, continuing to twirl the pen between his fingers. He'd finished five reports and had three more to go. 'We ship out at 0800 tomorrow,' he reminded himself, and rubbed his temples in frustration. What a way to spend his last days on Atlantis; holed up in his room writing down his adventures for people that probably wouldn't even understand their significance. Shouldering off the thought that these were his last hours on Atlantis, he poised himself to begin writing.

Destination: PG0189

The series of numbers and letters clicked instantly in Aiden's mind, and he winced. It wasn't like he hated writing these reports (immensely hated, anyway; he agreed they were a pain); there were reasons that he hadn't settled down and written them immediately. PG0189 was an unnerving memory, in the least.

"We arrived at PG0189 at the scheduled time. When we exited the gate, there was a bright flash of light…" Aiden set down his pen, frowning deeply. The mission had happened nearly a year ago, but the details were still sharp in his mind.

"What the hell was that?" John Sheppard demanded as soon as they stepped through the gate, greeted by a brilliant flash of light.

"I don't know, sir," Aiden replied, his gun up and tight to his shoulder as Dr. McKay pulled out the Ancient device.

"There's no life signs nearby," he then consulted the gadget in his other hand, "And no power signs."

"Then what's with the flash?" John asked, wary already.

"It may have been our eyes adjusting to the atmosphere," Teyla commented.

"She's right," Rodney said, lowering his arms, and proceeded to launch into how different their atmosphere was to the one over Atlantis and Earth. Aiden tuned him out—an adaptation of being on the same team with him—and walked ahead.

Ford frowned and then continued writing. "Dr. McKay thought it had something to do with the radioactivity of the atmosphere. Major Sheppard said that we would take samples before we came back to Atlantis. We walked for about two miles—" Ford considered writing in about Rodney's consistent whining, but decided not to. 'It's sad to think I'll actually miss his moaning and groaning,' Ford thought seriously. A frown darkened his face as he thought deeper into it. 'I will…I really will,' he realized, and sighed. It wasn't as if they couldn't see each other ever again. With that firm reminder, he turned back to writing the report. "—before we reached the civilization. The people of PG0189 (Raccolta, as they called it) looked the same as us. They appeared to have a simple life of nomadic wandering with no knowledge of the Stargate. They did, however, have two ZPMs." Aiden frowned at the thought of how easily they'd been deceived. Was the need of getting a ZPM so great that they weren't careful enough to be even the slightest bit suspicious of a civilization so willing to give up a ZPM to them?

"Don't you think it's the slightest bit odd that they're just going to hand us a ZPM?" Rodney questioned as he followed John Sheppard to the 'gate. John whirled around, facing the other man. Teyla and Aiden stood to the side, knowing well to stay out of the argument brewing between the two men.

"Why does it matter, McKay?" he demanded, "Have you not noticed that the Wraith are multiplying? We need that ZPM!"

Rodney turned to the other two for help. Ford shrugged. "I admit, it is a little odd, but look at them. They're using one ZPM and they're willing to give the other one up. With the way they're living, that ZPM will last them for another two-hundred years."

"What if they're like the Genii?" Rodney protested.

"We have to take risks," John replied, and turned, staring Rodney down. "Open the 'gate," he commanded. Rodney stood there for a moment, defiant. Shaking his head, his eyes portraying that he believed they all were making a mistake, he walked over to the DHD and typed in the address of Atlantis.

"The people explained that they had recently discovered the ZPMs. Writing on the walls around indicated that one ZPM was being used to "screen" everyone coming through the 'gate; making sure that they weren't threats. The leader of the people, Turin, requested to take a group of people to Atlantis with the ZPM and speak to Dr. Weir before he gave us the ZPM." Ford sighed and put down his pen. There was so much to write; too much that he was afraid would jeopardize their new life at Earth. How would the new general, whoever he was, react to the news that the Wraith had found how to disguise themselves as humans? Would Elizabeth's integrity be ruined if they knew she accepted these terms and, in doing so, let a group of Wraith onto Atlantis and inevitably the other Wraith knowing the address to Atlantis? Everything had seemed to go to plan. The group of people had been courteous and nothing less than the perfect guests. Elizabeth, fooled by their manner, told them of Earth.

It was when nearly a week had passed when things started to go wrong. Rodney, John, Aiden and Teyla had begun seeing Wraith in place of the perfect visitors. When John attacked Turin, Elizabeth had vehemently decreed that all of his team be locked up in quarantine until negotiations were finished.

"I will give you the power source under one condition," Turin told Elizabeth, his hands folded neatly on top of the desk. "I, and I alone, wish to visit Earth. From what I have heard, with this device you will be able to dial home."

Elizabeth hesitated. She'd been alarmed by the antics of her main team earlier, and it had instilled some doubts in her. Still…they desperately needed the ZPM. 'We can send another burst of data to Earth,' Elizabeth told herself, 'and warn them, just in case…' "Those are acceptable conditions," she told Turin, pasting a smile on her face as she did so.

When news of her agreement had reached the team, they had developed their own plan. The four had escaped their quarantine. While Teyla and John provided a distraction, Rodney and Aiden had gotten into the control room and, with the help of some Wraith stunners, prevented anyone from stopping them. As Ford watched for people, Rodney had quickly rerouted the address for Earth to a planet that could not hold any life because of constant volcano eruptions. Elizabeth had entered the room just as Rodney backed away from the computer. "We managed to reroute the address for Earth so when Turin left, he wouldn't be sent to Earth. By then we'd discovered that the white flash we'd encountered before turned out to be the Wraith's new means of stealth. It made them appear human to our eyes. Everyone we came into contact with was infected with the 'disease'. Dr. Beckett later theorized that there was a defect in the 'disease' that caused it to wear off after a while. In the Ancient 'cameras', the Wraith appeared extremely blurry. Something in their disguise must have partially affected them." Aiden glanced over to the other side of the folder, where several digits were written. About two years into their lives on Atlantis, they had discovered some Ancient devices that worked nearly the same as cameras. They took around ten pictures each time the 'gate activated. Rodney had figured out a way to interface the devices with laptops so they could give each cluster of pictures a six-digit number. They had found out all too late that the cameras, when operational, sucked tons of power from the ZPMs.

When the day had come for Turin to be sent home, Elizabeth never came to the control room. Two of the other 'visitors' held her captive. Through the intercom, she'd been forced to order the 'gate to open for Turin. Once Turin had left, the other Wraith headed toward the 'gate; Elizabeth with them as not to arouse any more suspicion. Since Turin was gone, the guards allowed John, Rodney, Aiden and Teyla to leave their cell. They headed directly to the 'gate room after stopping by the armory to grab their weapons. When they reached the 'gate room, the Wraith were standing at the foot of the stairs, Elizabeth still between them. "The Wraith spotted us coming into the 'gate room. They released Elizabeth, and one of the Wraith aimed its weapon at her. Dr. McKay fired all of the bullets in his magazine at the Wraith and pulled Elizabeth to safety. Dr. Grodin shut down the Stargate and called for backup on the intercom. All of the Wraith were killed." Dr. Beckett had found that the Wraith had been created in a lab. Their mission was solely stealth, which explained their increased sensory but decreased stamina. "It is most likely that the Wraith were returning to their planet so they could reveal details about Atlantis to the others, including the 'gate address of Earth. They knew that, given enough power (and only theoretically), any 'gate could connect with Earth. Turin could most likely communicate to the Wraith, even from Earth. Beckett deduced this from the medical exam Turin had to go through upon arrival. The others didn't have the capacity for mental communication." After that incident, Earth's address had been coded to prevent anything like that from happening again. And, in the end, they got the ZPM, which they switched with one of the original ZPMs. Because of a way that Dr. Zelenka and Dr. McKay had together found to increase the lifespan of the energy in the ZPMs, all three of the originals could still be powering the city. One had been replaced, however, and used selectively for weapons. The original was used to power the 'cameras', which were only to be activated when people of other worlds came onto Atlantis. In the end, the incident had been worth everything that happened.

Lieutenant Ford stood and walked over to a window, resting his forehead against it. Any normal person would want to get out of this place. They were constantly in danger; out of touch with Earth… He sighed. Despite all of that (and perhaps because of it), he didn't want to leave. Atlantis had become his home. Aiden sighed. 'Go with the flow,' Aiden reminded himself, but sighed once more. How could you go with a flow that was drowning you? But the pure fact of the matter was that no matter what Aiden or anyone else thought…at 0800 tomorrow everyone was leaving Atlantis.

Everyone.

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed! Again, many thanks to Hans for the betaing! Feedback is welcome:) I'll post the next chapter around the 11th.

Thanks to:
PentagonMerlin
Margaret
peanut
Amaunetx
Lucimon
Teyla Sheppard (There's upcoming Sheyla in the next chapter ;-) lol)
Dark Angel31