Title: The Enemy You Know
Author: SlayersGrl
Summary: A city-wide power outage reveals a hostile takeover orchestrated from the inside. Can control be restored or will Atlantis fall into the hands of its enemies?
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 chapter has actually been written for a long time. I just had to write the stuff in between before I could post it…

Chapter 6: Negotiations

But she had no time to worry about betrayals. She had a job to do. Her right hand slowly unclenched to reveal her bargaining chip. "Shoot me and we're all dead."

Karen paused to make sure no one was going to shoot her on the spot just for spite. Then she continued with her explanation. "This vial contains an extremely toxic gas. Anyone who breathes it will be dead in minutes."

"And how did you come to have this powerful weapon in your possession?" Koyla asked, clearly not believing the validity of her threat.

"If you must know, it was found in one of the Ancient's labs a few days ago. And since it comes from an exotic plant, it's been my job to study it."

"She's bluffing," Kavanaugh called down from his position on the control room balcony. "I would have known if we had such a weapon."

Karen then heard the major's voice from somewhere behind the scientist. "You must have missed the memo… I guess you were too busy plotting your little coup." At least she now knew they were alive.

She realized she only had one more card to play. "Perhaps we should all just find out if I'm bluffing." She then loosened her grip slightly.

Koyla immediately interrupted her action. "Surely you don't wish to die? And you'd be killing your own people."

"Better to die on your feet than live on your knees1."

The commander frowned at her response. "What is it that you want? You must have had some goal in mind for barging in here."

"Actually, I just wanted to know how the Genii were able to invade the city so easily." She took the opportunity to glare at Kavanaugh. "But since I have your attention, how about you release one of the hostages."

"Dr. Weir is out of the question." Koyla then paused to consider his other two captives. "You can take Dr. McKay."

"No!" Kavanaugh protested. "Do you know how much damage he can do if you let him loose in the city?"

"Have you forgotten that most of the city is without power," Koyla countered. "Besides, every system is controlled from here." He then turned back to Karen. "Although, I don't know what you're hoping to accomplish. You have nowhere to go." He motioned for his men to release Rodney. "We will find where you are hiding. You have no hope of retaking this city."

Karen simply smiled and gestured for McKay to follow her as she slowly began to back out of the room. Once he had reached the top of the large staircase leading down to the Stargate, McKay glanced back at Weir and Sheppard, unsure if he was doing the right thing by abandoning them.

John knew why he was hesitating. While he appreciated the sentiment, he knew they needed to take every chance they were given. "Don't be an idiot McKay. Just go!" He then watched his friend disappear down the stairs. Elizabeth turned to look at him, his exact thoughts mirrored in her expression. Rodney had better be able to come up with some brilliant plan or they were all screwed.

Meanwhile, Karen and Rodney slowly backed out of the gateroom. As soon as the two were around the corner, Karen grabbed McKay's hand and bolted down the hallway. She dragged him into one of the rooms at the end of the hall and immediately closed the door. Rodney was too surprised at this latest turn of events to realize that she had jumped up on a nearby table and was fiddling with something on the ceiling. A moment later a panel dropped down to reveal a dark passage way overhead.

"Come on! They'll be looking for us!"

Then a hand reached down and pulled Karen into the suffocating darkness. McKay, having learned to just go with the flow in situations like these, immediately followed suit and was pulled up into the air vent. A quiet voice instructed him to crawl forward. Occasionally the voice would issue instructions to turn left or right. Soon they had reached their destination. Upon emerging from the dark tunnel, Rodney found himself in a completely new environment. "Where are we?" he asked, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting provided by a laptop in the far corner.

"Pretty cool, huh? We stumbled upon it during our mad dash through the air vents."

McKay found himself standing in what appeared to be a small room. However, unlike the rooms in the rest of the city, the walls and ceiling were all made of the same metallic material as the shafts he had just crawled through. And in the middle of the room there was a giant fan which was currently lying dormant. "This is the center of the circulation system?"

Josh was about to respond that they had come to the same conclusion when Nick interrupted their topic of conversation. "What's that awful smell?"

"I was wondering about that too…" Karen added. All eyes were now firmly turned in Rodney's direction.

"It was an unfortunate encounter with an alien plant, alright?" he responded. Was a shower really too much to ask for?

However, he had forgotten that he was standing next to a botanist. "Really? What did the plant look like?"

Thankfully, Josh interceded. "Karen, perhaps you two can discuss flora later. I think we have much larger issues to deal with right now."

"Yeah," McKay replied, suddenly remembering he had a complaint he had wanted to voice. "like how come I was last pick? I'm just as valuable as any other member of this expedition!"

"Relax Dr. McKay," Nick called out from his position in front of the computer. "You're the one we really wanted anyway. We just couldn't let them know that."

"Oh, well in that case…" He stopped his reply mid sentence as he watched Karen casually toss her vial of deadly gas in Josh's direction. "Be careful with that stuff!"

"What this?" Josh asked, holding up the vial. "It's actually empty."

"I'm a pretty good liar, aren't I?" Karen added, obviously pleased with her work.

AN: The quote "It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees" is actually credited to Emiliano Zapata (a Mexican revolutionary for those who have never heard the name). I've always liked the quote and I finally got to incorporate it into a fic.