A/N: OK, I'm updating exactly a week after the last one, phew back on schedule.
The bunnies are smiling, and they're not white, they're the brown ones so I'm pretty sure they won't be attacking me.
re-edited version, just a little bit when Weir and Caldwell are talking. It's all in the details...
Chapter 10-Spiral in the City
"That is all." Radek shut the access panel and turned to the two people looking on.
"It did not take too long." Dr. Jin Hong, one of the several new recruits to the Pegasus Galaxy, commented. He had an uncanny eye to see things others couldn't or would simply overlook. The little wife back at home in the outskirts of Tokyo didn't like the idea of him being gone for a year, but it was the opportunity of a lifetime.
"A problem such as this should be corrected quickly before it gets out of hand."
"Or we would be in for a world of trouble." Dr. Irene Costello rubbed her arm to work out a cramp she had from working on her laptop most of they day. It was good to get out of the lab and to be in the city. It was huge and she wanted to know her way around, not to mention how nice she thought it was that Dr. Zelenka asked them to come along.
"Be like second Big Bang." Radek paused, "Not that big, but still a very large explosion."
Jin looked around the room that housed the naquadah generator which they were still using in order to conserve most of the Z.P.M. in case they needed the cloak again, "This whole sector would have been destroyed and left a gaping hole in the city."
"It's not going to happen now gentlemen, let's not dwell."
"Always the optimist." Jin teased the Italian whose family had emigrated to the Scottish Isles when she was but a child.
"Better than being a pessimist, at least I'm happy most of the time."
Radek picked up the equipment he brought and Hong helped him, "Blind bliss, what a luxury we don't have in this galaxy."
"It's not as if I don't know the threats here, I prefer not to think about them. Now, are we going to check the others?"
The two men looked at her and Radek responded, "In order to be thorough?"
"Yes."
Jin headed to the door, "Whatever happened to being an optimist?"
Irene followed, "It takes a second seat to preventing catastrophe."
---
Bryan Grimault stared at the screen that was displaying the information from the database. It was eating at his mind how he and Dr. Zelenka couldn't find anything to do with the fissure whatsoever. That meant that the Ancients never documented it so most likely it was a new problem.
They simply couldn't waste time researching before the team went, they needed to know what it was and the sensors weren't much of a help. Now things were only getting worse without contact from the Colonel and the team.
He tapped his fingers on the console and didn't hear as someone approached behind him.
"Sergeant. Do you have any news?"
He spun around to see Dr. Weir, "No, nothing yet. Sorry ma'am."
Elizabeth turned her head in the direction of the communications console, "I can't help but wonder what's going on down there."
"It would be nice to know. That and if they found anything interesting."
"They tend to. Keep monitoring those communications."
"Yes, ma'am." He watched as she walked to her office and turned his attention back to screen. He mentally checked off the sections they had searched – the typographical, the geographical, even the weather.
He began to think of other reasons why the fissure wouldn't be in the database… if an occurrence just happened then the Ancients might not have had enough time to document it properly…
Bryan hit a few keys to navigate through the system until the section he wanted came up. His eyes darted back and forth, reading the news articles' dates and upon seeing they were the wrong time, entered a few more instructions to see the later news.
---
"This city is certainly not small." Irene commented as the trio walked through another hallway that looked precisely like all the other ones, the only difference being they got more and more empty.
"No one said it was, didn't you read the information before we came?" Jin walked right behind her, Radek was leading the way.
"Of course I did, I only didn't realize it was so large."
"One gets used to it." Radek slowed down and veered to the left, opening a door. "Here we are."
Irene Costello followed the men in, "Thank the Lord."
"I seem to recall this being your idea." Jin opened a case and pulled out a few wires.
"Yes, I know." She eyed the generator as Radek opened a laptop and attached the wires to it. She then took the other ends and walked with them to the generator.
After they were connected Radek began running the diagnostic, "There shouldn't be anything wrong with this one."
Jin watched the images change. "That went for the last one."
"That is true." Radek's eyes widened at what came up, "This is not good."
"What?" Now Irene was worried.
Radek looked up at her, "It's the exact same malfunction."
"You have to be kidding."
"I'm afraid not."
Jin and Irene began to work as Radek opened a link on his radio, "Dr. Weir, it's Zelenka."
"Go ahead."
"Generator 1 also has a malfunction. We're working on it now."
"That's a little odd."
"I agree, especially because it's the same one."
The shock in her voice was hid, "Precisely the same?"
"Yes."
"Make sure the others are in working order too. I don't want a situation on my hands."
It wasn't long until they had repaired the second generator of the day and began to move towards the next one, all bemused at what was going on.
---
Elizabeth Weir had her legs stretched out under her desk and a computer pad in her hands, it was open to a map of the city and she eyed where the generators were. It was just too coincidental how two generators had the same malfunction. Not to mention how one sent a surge that jut happened to take out the security cameras in the hall outside Storage Room 27D, which happened to be on the way to Generator 1.
She opened a link on her headset, "Major Lorne."
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Assemble a security team to search the areas surrounding the generators, there's something not right."
"Sabotage?"
"It's starting to look that way. I want another team to accompany Dr. Zelenka and his team also as they investigate them."
"I'll get right on it."
"Thank you. I'll have Sergeant Grimault run scans of the area."
The link severed and she was about to open another when her radio clicked, "Dr. Weir, I have some information about the fissure."
"I was about to call you, Sergeant. I'll be right out." Elizabeth stood and quickly left her office to see the young man standing at the screen, this time he heard her coming.
"Ma'am, I found this is in the news section. It occurred to me that maybe the Ancients didn't have time to enter it in the other sections of the database."
"And?" She began reading the articles displayed.
"Basically, a month before they left, the Ancients detected the same thing we did and sent a submarine to investigate since the sensors were distorted. They lost contact with it for five hours."
"But they regained it."
"Yes. Once the crew was out of the distorted area, all communications were established once more. They reported extreme heat, and strong magnetic and gravitational fields. After peaking in all areas on the second day, the fissure faded away and was gone after a total of four, so the Ancients didn't worry about it."
"They did have other things on their minds." She read over the rest and came across a certain passage. She pointed, "Did you read this part?"
Bryan looked closer, "Well," then he read it all, "Oh, no I didn't."
"The Ancient crew had to modify the power supply to break away from the fissure." She crossed her arms in thought.
"I wonder if Colonel Sheppard and his team figured that part out yet." He rubbed his chin.
"If there's one person who can do that on his own, it's McKay. But just in case, I want a team working on another submarine. I'm sending a team down there."
"Yes ma'am."
"And perform a scan in the generators' sections, Generator 1 also had a malfunction and there's something not right."
"Right away."
---
Colonel Stephen Caldwell was taking a break from the day, sitting in his quarters. It had been an eventful day on the Daedalus itself, events caused him to miss the briefing earlier that morning about the mission to the fissure.
The scientists had taken care of it, but it was still odd. They never had that problem before, even Hermiod was a bit surprised.
"Colonel?"
Stephen practically jumped at Dr. Novak's voice coming from his earpiece, "Yes?"
"Hermiod has been reviewing the logs from the failure earlier, he doesn't think it could have happened by itself."
"What does he think did happen?"
"Someone tampered with the power."
The first thought that passed through was about the Wraith virus, but that was so long ago and they had gotten rid of it…
"And the security cameras on level three skipped about twenty minutes."
This really wasn't sounding good, "Keep working to find out who did this, is there anything else?"
"Well… you're not going to like this either."
"What is it, doctor?"
"We've discovered that last night the transporter was activated, we don't know where to yet though."
"There's only one place to go. Whoever or whatever sabotaged the ship is no longer here, they're on Atlantis." He got up as the link severed and headed to the Bridge.
---
Radek was once again leading the group as they headed to the third generator, after that they still had three more to go. The contact with Earth had also brought more generators. He was debating splitting up to get everything done sooner when his radio activated.
"Dr. Zelenka, I'm sending two men to accompany you. This might be sabotage."
Radek stopped walking at the sound of Lorne's voice, "Then get them down here right away."
"They're approaching your position."
"Ok, good." He turned to the other two, "We're going to have company."
Irene looked a little nervous, "Why?"
Radek tried to be light-hearted, "You know, military precautions and the like for possible sabotage."
"Our second day here and it already is eventful." Jin breezed past them and into the room for Generator 6. It was the next one in the circle of the city.
Irene looked at Radek, "He can be impatient." She also walked into the room.
Left alone in the hall, he looked to the end to see two Marines heading towards him, he waved and motioned he was going in, and turned.
His gaze was still down the hall when he stepped a foot into the room and as he turned his head to where he expected Dr.'s Costello and Hong to be standing, he saw them lying on the ground.
Then there was a flash of blue as his body buckled, paralyzing pain going through his limbs. His knees gave out and he collapsed, crumpled on his side. As his eyes closed, he caught a glimpse of a black garment draped behind black shoes.
---
Alexa Stroh ran up the stairs to the Gateroom in a hurry. She had tried paging Radek, but he wasn't answering, which was very unusual. Bryan was hunched over a console conducting the scans Dr. Weir ordered when she approached him.
"Have you heard from Dr. Zelenka?"
The Sergeant looked up at her, "Last thing I heard was that Major Lorne sent two other marines to his position."
"Why?"
"There's a possible saboteur in the city. Generator 1 had the same malfunction as Generator 2."
Her response was cut off when Bryan raised his hand to his earpiece, "Yes, Colonel. Just a moment."
He gave his attention back to her, "It's only a precaution ma'am."
"Yes, but… could you try to contact them?"
Bryan nodded and turned back away talking into his radio, "Major Lorne, have your men reached the Doctors yet?"…… "Ok, sir."
Alexa looked on anxiously as Bryan waited for a response. She bit her bottom lip as the moments passed by.
"I'll alert Dr. Weir." He pressed button on the headset, "Sorry to interrupt, ma'am, but Major Lorne has lost contact with Roberts and Balsa."…… "Yes… alright."
He connected again with Lorne, "Assemble more teams, whoever this is attempted to destroy the Daedalus also." … … "Ok, sir."
Alexa was now hiding her hysterics very well when Bryan turned back to her, "Major Lorne is heading to where they knew Dr.'s Zelenka, Hong, and Costello last were. I'm sure they're fine."
"I hope so."
-
"We can handle it Colonel. Now the problem is where did they come from?" Elizabeth sat at her desk talking through the communication systems to the Daedalus that was now landed on the East Pier.
"I don't believe it's one of my crew, but they were able to tamper with the ship." Stephen eyed the people surrounding him as he sat in the Captain's chair.
"And they were able to almost destroy our generators. Maybe they are a stowaway from Earth?"
"Someone who is disgruntled over the Expedition… seems possible but we just ran a head check three days ago."
She didn't want to suggest it but it had to be said, "The ship is large and a Wraith can hibernate."
"Yes, I'd advise your men to be careful."
"But your last actual encounter with Wraith was months ago though."
The Colonel nodded his head, "When you needed a bit of help with the siege."
Elizabeth suggested, "One might have managed to beam on your ship."
"I'll make sure we do a complete sweep, there might have been more than one."
"We'll do the same."
"Any luck with Lt. Colonel Sheppard and his team?"
"No, but Sergeant Grimault did find background information about the fissure. The same occurrence happened when the Ancients were here, and it faded away after a total of four days."
"A little good news is always welcome."
Elizabeth countered with, "It is, but somehow it comes with worse."
---
Major Lorne signaled to his two men to stay directly behind him as he walked against the wall of a hallway. He was holding his P90 at the ready position being supported by his left arm, and a life-signs detector with his left hand.
He was reading five life-signs and mentally checked off the possibility each one corresponded to the right people – the three scientists and the two marines, but he had the gut-wrenching feeling that four could be Expedition members, the other belonging to the saboteur, maybe a Wraith.
They reached the door and saw it was closed. The lieutenant and captain moved to the right side, also with their P90s at the ready.
With a nod of the head, Major Lorne thought 'open' and the door, and it slid with a 'whoosh.' They peered in, scanning the area, prepared to fire.
Right in front of the door lied Balsa and Roberts, their P90s still attached to their vests. The lieutenant checked their pulses and gave a signal to Lorne that they were alive. They saw the three scientists also on the ground and spread out into the room, finding nothing.
Major Lorne breathed a little easier and radioed the infirmary, "I need a med team to Generator 1. Five people down, no serious injuries."
"Be right there, Major." Nurse Carolyn responded.
Lorne thought about the situation, he now had four other teams actively sweeping the city with all on alert. They would find the culprit.
---
Things were definitely getting complicated that day, Elizabeth realized as the notification came in that Zelenka, Costello, and Hong were now incapacitated, most likely by a Wraith stunner. She quickly decided on whom to send with a military escort to the last four generators to make sure they wouldn't overload and explode.
She opened a link, "Dr. Stroh, I need you and Simpson to finish the generator repairs."
"Why, what happened to Radek?" She was still outside in the Control Room.
Elizabeth recognized the worry in her voice, "His team are being transported to the infirmary, they were only stunned. They will be fine." She began to walk out to the Control Room.
"Alright. We'll take care of it."
The link shut down and Dr. Weir walked out to see Alexa running down the stairs and Dr. Philippe Mauseu walking up. Just what I need. She sighed and turned to Sgt. Grimault, "Anything unusual yet?"
"The life-signs around the generators have been accounted for. Wraith or not, it's now in the more populated sections of the city among the other signs. I'm calibrating it to pick up only a Wraith signal and notified the teams."
"Good work." She saw Philippe out of the corner of her eye, and braced herself for a stand-of. He neared and walked past her without a word, heading directly over to another scientist that came the day before, a dark-haired German. He touched the woman's shoulder gently, caringly, and she smiled at him. Elizabeth breathed with relief, having one more problem done with.
---
Sergeant Stackhouse walked with his team through the outermost hallway of quarters in the south section. It was a little too quiet, even for that time of the day. The detector was picking up three signs around the corner and the three person group approached cautiously.
Captain Elm was first and in a flash was down on the ground.
Stackhouse and Pine began to fire as a white haired form began to emerge from around the corner, but it kept coming, holding out a hand-stunner and firing itself.
Its long black coat swept the ground.
Pine went down, her brown hair coming untied at the back of her head and Stackhouse fired his last shot before the blast from the Wraith's weapon hit him square in the chest.
As his body shut down he thought, So this is how this feels. It sucks. His knees gave out and he fell to the ground, sensing the Wraith over him and reaching out, then he went black.
A/N: Back to the sub in the next installment…
I hope to keep reading those comments! Thanks so much, and for reading too and sticking around. Looks like a total of 13 or 14 chapters… I think.