Title: The Enemy You Know
Author: SlayersGrl
Summary: Atlantis has a traitor in its midst and they never saw it coming…
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the show. I am simply borrowing the characters to satisfy the voices in my head...

Author's note: This story is written in a non-linear fashion. But don't worry, everything will be revealed in due time….

Chapter 1: Lockdown

Dr. Karen Myers yawned as she stretched her arms high above her head in an attempt to ease some of the stiffness from her limbs. Upon glancing at her watch, she was surprised to see she had been perched over her lab table for the last six hours. She always managed to lose track of time when she worked, especially with the type of work she had found on Atlantis.

When she had signed up for the expedition to the Pegasus galaxy, she knew she would find some exotic plant life to study. But the botanist never expected the life forms of this galaxy to be so, well, alien. She had been studying her latest specimen for three days now. While she had made some impressive discoveries, there was still so much more for her to uncover.

And she couldn't help but sigh as she glanced around at the multitude of specimens waiting for her attention. There just weren't enough hours in the day for her to fully examine each plant that came across her lab table. She could only hope to scratch the surface on the amount of data waiting to be gathered.

Her stomach chose that particular moment to remind her that there were other things to be considered besides alien plants. She had completely forgotten about dinner and it was too late to get anything from the cafeteria. "1:47 in the morning…" she said as she considered her options. "I bet Josh has some food stashed somewhere…" Karen then frowned as she realized she was talking to her plants again. It was definitely time for her to seek out some real human contact...

A few minutes later, she found herself entering a brightly lit laboratory. Its appearance greatly differed from hers. While every available surface of her lab was covered with thriving plant life, this lab was covered in random alien artifacts and spare pieces of building materials. "Hey guys," she said in greeting to the two men seated at the table in the center of the room. "What are you working on?"

At the sound of her voice, the two quickly glanced up from the computer screen they had been staring at intently a moment before. The younger of the two immediately smiled at her. "Hey Karen!"

Nick Haines was always pleased to see the young scientist. It had surprised him at first to find her stopping by the lab at odd hours in the morning. But he quickly realized that she tended to keep the same hours as he and Josh and that she probably just wanted some company every once in a while. Well, that and the fact that Josh was known to have a large stash of food…

The other man, already wary of the woman's intentions, narrowed his eyes upon seeing her standing in the doorway. "You still haven't replaced what you ate the last time."

Karen, already prepared for his comment, quickly pasted her most innocent expression on her face. "Come on, it's not like it's yours. That food belongs to the entire expedition."

"Yeah," Nick added, "I don't see the name 'Josh Christianson' plastered on any of it."

Josh glared at the computer programmer, letting him know in no uncertain terms that he wasn't helping.

Nick just smiled and returned his attention to his laptop. He figured he'd just let the two of them go at it on their own.

"Just because you lack the foresight to go to the cafeteria while it's actually open does not mean I should I have to share my food with you."

"You wouldn't want to make a girl starve, now would you?" Karen replied, trying to appear as sweet and innocent as possible.

They all knew she had him at that. Josh could never stand up to Karen's charms for long. "Fine… third drawer from the left. But you owe me after this!"

She immediately flew to the drawer and began rummaging through his stash. A moment later she emerged triumphant, two energy bars and an MRE clenched in her hands. "Thanks Josh! You're a lifesaver!" She then shoved some equipment off to the side and settled onto one of the lab tables.

It never ceased to amaze her how the two men could stand to be lab partners. Programmer and structural engineer always seemed like such unrelated careers. But the two always found some project or other to work on together. And there was also the issue of their personalities… Nick was such a sweet, caring guy. He always seemed genuinely interested in her work as well as offering an ear to vent her personal frustrations. And Josh was, well… Josh. The man certainly had an interesting view on life. Everything was mathematical to him. The entire miracle of life compressed into one grand equation. She had made it her unofficial mission to find the man a social life. Maybe if she could find him a girlfriend, he might loosen up a bit…

"You know," she said in between bites of one of her energy bars, "you never did say what you were working on."

"We're working on mapping the entire structure of the city," Josh replied.

Karen frowned in confusion. "Wouldn't there be a record of that in the Ancients' database?"

"Sure, but it's all based on the Ancients' building code and system of measurement," Nick clarified. "We're translating that into Earth-based units so we can compare this structure with structures built back home."

"Sounds fascinating…" Deciding she should change the topic before they launched into a detailed explanation, she added, "So, I hear Dr. McKay went offworld this afternoon."

"Good. That means we won't have to put up with him for a while."

Karen and Nick couldn't help but agree with Josh's statement. They all had respect for the man, but he was neurotic at best and infuriating at worst. He was constantly scrutinizing their work, finding faults were there should have been only perfection.

"You have to give him some credit though," Nick countered. "He is a genius."

"One's IQ level cannot possibly excuse certain personality traits."

"I don't see you volunteering to go on missions offworld, Josh. Hell, even Dr. Kavanaugh has gone on a mission."

Josh was hardly fazed by her overt challenge to his manhood. "I'd rather stay within the safe boundaries of Atlantis than have to face the Wraith."

"Relative safety anyway. Or did you forget the Genii invasion not so long ago?"

He glared at her logic and then returned to his work. Karen grinned smugly, pleased that she had won the argument. Although, a part of her did agree with him: it was nicer to stay in the city limits rather than venture out into the unknown.

Her musings were cut short when the room was inexplicably plunged into darkness. She heard some grumbling from the direction of the men and then a small beam of light parted the darkness. Josh aimed the small light of his flashlight around the small room, trying to determine what had caused the sudden loss of power. Seeing no obvious culprit, he made his way over to the communication device by the door.

"Christianson to Control Room." After receiving no immediate response, he tried again. "Control Room, come in."

"It probably doesn't work without the power, genius." Karen said with a smirk.

He simply glared at her and then turned to the door. He attempted to open it, but it wouldn't budge. Without the power to operate the doors, they were apparently locked in for the time being.

"It's probably just a malfunction," Nick speculated. "I'm sure they'll have the power restored in no time."

"Let's hope so," Karen replied. "I'm not sure if Mr. Stingy over there would be willing to share his rations with us if we're stuck here for too long..."

AN: My first attempt at writing OC's for Atlantis… I promise to stray as far away from Mary Sue Land as possible!