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...

Chapter 2: Discoveries

"What's taking so long?"

They had only been trapped in the lab for four hours and Karen was already going stir crazy. Under normal circumstances, she wasn't one to wait patiently. And this certainly qualified as anything but normal.

In response to her question, Josh replied, "I'm sure they're working as fast as they can to fix the problem. They'll get us out of here soon."

"Well, I'm tired of waiting," Karen responded. She began to pace around the darkened room, running her hands along the surface of the walls. After the third time she accidentally knocked something off one of the tables, her companions realized she was up to something.

"What are you doing?" Nick asked.

"Looking for a way out."

Josh sighed in annoyance. "The doors are sealed shut. And in case you hadn't noticed, there aren't any windows."

"Well, what about an air vent or something?"

Nick chuckled at the image of the three of them crawling through some tiny ventilation shaft in the ceiling of Atlantis. "I think you've seen too many spy movies."

"Actually…" Josh interrupted.

Karen paused in her search. "Wait, there actually are air vents?"

"Sure, how do you think the Ancients filtered air through the city when it was submerged? I'm just not sure if we can get to them from here…" He paused to think and then he remembered the program he and Nick had been working on.

Apparently, Nick had the same idea. Before Josh could say anything, the laptop was powered on. The light from the screen cast an eerie glow on the room and its occupants. Soon, the small screen was displaying a full schematic of the Lost City. A few clicks later and they were staring at a scaled version of their current location. It looked like a bunch of lines to Karen, but it must have made sense to Josh. He pointed to a spot on the screen "There."

"And that would be?" Karen asked, hoping for a translation.

Josh did even better than an explanation. Using the blue glow from the LCD screen as a guide, he grabbed one of the lab chairs and dragged it over to a spot in the far corner. He climbed on it and fiddled with the ceiling for a few minutes. A panel suddenly dislodged itself, crashing to the floor, barely missing the engineer. Nick and Karen cautiously approached to stare up at the dark hole in the ceiling.

"Can a person fit in there?" Nick asked. He hoped that they might have found a way to do something productive rather than sit around and wait.

Josh grabbed the flashlight and stuck his head into the void. He nodded his head in affirmation before realizing they couldn't see since his head was still hidden in the darkness. "Yeah, there's plenty of room up here."

"What are we waiting for? Let's go then!" Karen exclaimed. She was suddenly very happy she wasn't wearing a skirt.

Josh climbed down from the chair before responding. "You two can go if you want. I'm staying here."

"But you have to come," Nick protested. "You're the only one of us who knows this city well enough to guide us around in the dark."

"You have the map on your laptop."

"But it'll be faster if you come. Besides, the battery might not last long enough."

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Karen added.

"I used it all up when I stepped through the Stargate," Josh replied, folding his arms across his chest to signify that he wasn't going anywhere.

Karen sighed. Why did he always have to be so stubborn? She had one more trick up her sleeve… "You're going to miss out on a great opportunity to check out some of the structural design elements first hand…"

Josh faltered slightly in his resolve. He hadn't considered that. He might be able to see some of the internal structure of the city from the air shafts. "Fine, I'll go. But only to make sure the two of you don't get into trouble."

The three then climbed into the suffocating darkness. Josh lead followed closely by Karen with Nick bringing up the rear. Ten minutes into their expedition, Karen broke out in laughter.

"What's so funny?" Josh grumbled. He was currently trying to remember if they needed to turn left or right at this particular intersection. The ventilation system did not seem to follow the passageways below and he had to rely on his sense of direction to guide them.

"I was just thinking how silly we must look. It's like 'Revenge of the Nerds' meets 'Mission Impossible'." Nick couldn't help but chuckle at her analogy.

Josh, on the other hand, was not amused. "This was all your idea to begin with. For all we know, they've already restored power and we're crawling around in the ceiling for no reason."

"No, I'm pretty sure we'd know if they had turned the power back on." Nick then went on to explain his statement. "There'd probably be a lot of wind in here."

The three frowned in the dark at that realization. Perhaps this plan did have a few flaws which had been overlooked… They had no way of knowing how fast the air actually traveled in the shafts, but they did know they weren't particularly thrilled to find out first hand. Unanimously, they decided to hasten their search for a safe way out of the ventilation system.

Several arguments and a few bruised egos later, Josh felt they were finally making progress. He thought he could feel air moving steadily past him. His suspicions were confirmed when he noticed a dim light coming from a vent up ahead. "Looks like only part of the city lost power," he announced as he made his way toward the light.

"That doesn't mean anyone will be around. I'm sure most of the city is sleeping right now," Nick said from his position at the rear.

"Hello?" Josh called out through the vent. "Can anyone hear me?"

"Who said that?" a voice replied.

"Lieutenant Ford?" he replied, trying to get in a better position to see through the vent. "This is Josh Christianson. I'm one of the engineers. We seem to have lost power in our section and we were hoping we could get a little assistance."

There was a pause before the voice replied. "Um… I'd really love to help you, but I'm not really in a position to do much of anything right now. Teyla and I are locked in the brig."

Josh was surprised at that revelation. "What are you doing in the brig?"

"What are you doing in the ceiling?"

It was a fair question, but one that would have to wait. There were more pressing issues. "Lieutenant, what exactly is going on?"

"The Genii have taken control of Atlantis."