DISCLAIMER: I do not own this show, or these characters; I just borrow them.
Weathering the Storm Part 4
Back in the control room, Sora called in for reinforcements as she was commanded to do. While she waited for her comrades to dial in so that she could inform them of what was going on in the city, she was watching the dot on the screen that she knew to be Major Sheppard. All of the sudden the lights and many of the systems around her blinked off. She knew that her people might not look that technologically advanced, but she knew enough to know that she did not touch anything that would cause the reaction that she was seeing. Or not seeing, she thought sardonically. "What's he done now," she asked no one in general assuming that the Major was the cause the malfunctions that she and Laden were experiencing. She knew that her Commander was not going to be happy when she told him that the Major had cut power to the secondary systems, and therefore, the Genii had no way of tracking him.
As the primary systems were still on line, Laden was able to determine when Major Sheppard disabled another generator. Laden contacted his Commander, however, he need not have bothered as the area of the city that was blacked out from the second generator going off line included the area that grounding station 3 occupied. Therefore Kolya had first hand knowledge of the problems that Major Sheppard were causing for the Genii strike force.
Sora listened to Laden inform their Commander about the power outage while looking out the nearest window at the blackening sky that was made even more ominous without the lights from the control room to push back that darkness. She was getting worried as the storm was getting closer to Atlantis. She came to the grim realization that it was her duty to the Genii people as a whole to inform her CO that he might be overstepping the bounds of this mission. How to word this without my life being forfeit as a traitor she thought for a couple minutes before she contacted Kolya back with her well thought out words. "Commander, the storm is not slowing its pace. We have little time to get the shields activated…we should re-evaluate our goal. Perhaps…"
Sora was cut off by Kolya before she could go any farther with her voiced thoughts. "We still have move than enough time to complete our objectives."
Our objectives did not include taking the city, she thought bitterly. She was left with the instructions to guard the remaining generators when the reinforcements came through the stargate. She knew better than to say anything else on the subject, as her CO considered the subject dropped. Sora closed the link to her commanding officer, and mentally worked on calculating how the incoming Genii force could be used to guard the generators, and to find the equipment that the Genii so desperately needed. And then there was the added trouble of finding the Major now that the life sign detector was not working. With the size of Atlantis, she knew that with the reinforcements in team of twos, that it would take a great deal of time to find Major Sheppard. "How many should we expect?" she asked Laden hoping to determine how best to use the men before they stepped through the gate and looked to her for their assignment.
"A full company…60 or more," he gave her the figures that she needed, and then added to himself, "I don't know how we were expected to take a facility this size with any less?"
We weren't supposed to take the city, she thought to herself about the decision that Commander Kolya made for the entire Genii population when he got here. "It was supposed to be a raid to retrieve what was rightfully ours," she replied to Laden's voiced question. The silence fell around the two companions while they waited with batted breath for their friends to arrive. Sora was relieved when she saw the gate start to spin, and the blue lights blink on registering that someone was dialing in. She had the orders ready for the incoming men, so she decided to meet the incoming strike force at the gate and to give them their orders right away. She motioned to the two men standing near herself and Laden and commanded, "with me… come on." The two guards followed her to the gate in order to hear their new orders when the incoming men arrived.
Sora and the two men with her stepped toward the gate and watched as the first of the reinforcements started to come through. After 5 men came through the gate, Sora saw a simmering substance cover the gate, and then heard the horrific sounds of objects hitting the barrier. She was hit with a sickening sensation as she realized that her friends and comrades were dying in front of her. She glanced back toward the main control panel for the gate room to plead with Laden to undo whatever he might have accidentally done. "Shut it off Laden!" she shouted as she turned.
When she looked up, she did not see an apologetic Laden, but an irate major trying to protect his city. "Get him," she yelled to the men around her as she noticed Laden sprawled out on the floor besides the control panel, and she was momentarily relieved when she noticed that his chest was rising and falling with his breathing. However the lives of all the men that where cut short as they impacted the shield was bought back to the forefront of her mind when she heard another impact strike. She tried to contact her people on the planet to inform them of the danger facing those who stepped through the gate. "This is Sora. Stop sending the reinforcements. The stargate shield has been raised."
Sora rushed up toward the control panel as she tried to see if she could determine how to shut down the gate. She knew that she needed to inform her commander about what was going on, and she dreaded the explosive reaction that she knew this would cause. "Sheppard has raised the gate shield," Sora radioed over to Commander Kolya.
"Shut it down. Turn it off." Kolya bit back the command to Sora.
Sora glanced over the keys on the control panel and could not make any sense of them. "I don't know how," she tried to bring her emotions under control as the panic of not being able to help her colleagues tried to pull her into a pit of despair. "Laden is unconscious," she stated as a reason for why the shield could not be shut off from this end. Sora heard as her CO tried to determine how to shut down the gate from the two Atlantians that he had captive.
Dr. Weir let a slight smile come to her face as she realized what Major Sheppard had done for them and the city as a whole. Without the full company that Commander Kolya was expecting, they still had a chance at fighting back and saving the city and returning their people where they belonged. She let he smile drop knowing that that show of emotions might enrage the commander, and he might do something to them in retaliation. She realized how enraged he could get when he turned to Rodney with hate in his eyes.
"Tell her the procedure!" Kolya bellowed to Dr. McKay. The commander knew that the two people near him had been listening in to the conversation. He saw this from the slight look of satisfaction that he saw in Elizabeth's face when she heard about what the Major had done. While in a different situation he longed to see her emotions, the current display enraged him almost as much as the death this was causing to his men. As the two in front of him knew what was going on, he did not need to waste time relaying the situation.
Rodney McKay also saw the emotions that played in Kolya's eyes, and this brought the safety of his life back into question. Well more so than just with the threat of the storm, the lightening strikes, the shield not working, oh and don't forget the infection that could start eating away at the gapping wound in my arm. That thought might have started him manically laughing if it wasn't for the fact that Commander Kolya was still coming towards his, and Rodney thought any sound other than a straight forward answer would push Kolya into doing something drastic. Therefore Rodney stated, "I don't know what he's done…"
Doctor McKay would have gone on with his excessive babbling if Kolya wouldn't have interrupted him with a curt, "TELL HER!"
"He must have entered his own personal command code." Rodney replied.
"What is it?" Kolya asked as he pushed Rodney against the edge of the balcony.
Rodney was afraid of just about everything in the world, and heights and death were two of his bigger fears. Well they are the only fears staring me in the face right this second, so maybe that's why they are coming to mind. If I make it through this situation, storms will have to be added to that list. His intellectual side kicked in as the fear of death was almost too much for Rodney to handle at the current time. "I don't know!" he bit back to Kolya, hoping that he might bring him back toward the safety of the center of the grounding station.
Dr. Weir watched as Kolya threatened Rodney. She saw the anger that was shown in Kolya's face and she feared what he might do since Rodney could not help in the present situation. She quickly closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself from what she was about to do. Elizabeth stepped toward the two men and grabbed hold of Commander Kolya's arm in an effort to pull him away from the petrified man hanging over the balcony railing. "Only Sheppard would know it!" she stated once she could form words over the lump in her throat that formed when she willingly touched the repulsive man in front of her.
"Trust me I'm not that brave. I would help you if I could," Rodney rambled on, trying to talk his way down from the precarious situation that he was in.
Kolya held Dr. McKay against the railing as he turned his face toward the figure that was gripping his arm. "You have command codes!"
Dr. Weir wished that she could help Kolya the way that he was looking for as to hopefully secure Rodney's life for the present moment; however she could not help him. She was getting ready to tell Kolya something similar to what Rodney told him when she heard Sora over the radio state, "It's no use. It's over. The gate has shut down…there are no more men coming."
Dr. Weir saw the look of grief win out over the anger on Kolya's face while he replied, "How many men made it?"
"5. 5 of 60." Sora answered in a deadpan voice.
Kolya's grief was short lived, and the anger once again raged toward the man in front of him. He pushed Rodney harder against the railing, to the point that Dr. McKay knew that he was going to be sporting a large bruise across his back if he survived this night. Rodney watched as Elizabeth gripped harder at his capturer, and fought for his life. The courage that he saw from his leader gave him the push that he needed to try and save his own life. "You still need me if you want this city! You still need the both of us."
Elizabeth was awed when Rodney stood up for himself, even more so than when he stood up for her when Kolya threatened her with his gun. She knew that it took a tremendous amount of strength to stand up to your fears. But while she saw this accomplishment in others around her, she was not able to see it in herself. She did not realize the amount of courage and strength it took for her to stand up to Kolya. Dr. Weir just saw it as a necessity to try and save a member of her team.
Dr. Weir had too much to deal with currently to ponder her situation for long and as Kolya walked off she glanced out toward the ominous black storm clouds. While she still feared for the city and its people, she was struck by a sense of calm that stemmed from the protection she felt when Rodney and she were left alone in the corner of the grounding station. She knew that the calm would not last. It was the proverbial calm before the storm. As Elizabeth watched the far off clouds swirling in the intense wind, she wondered what the next chapter of this situation would bring for her people and the marvelous city.
AN: Future warnings as I'm slowing trying to get through this episode, I'm trying to weave the characters through parts of the story that might have happened between the scenes. Therefore I'm trying to be methodical about it—maybe too much so. I see a little bit where this story is going, and I have a lot past this episode that I'm looking forward to getting to (seem to want to write that over the present storyline—but I need to lay the ground work). I'm going to try to continue weaving the characters through the stories from the series, as many situations from the show I can relate to where I want to go. I see this story as becoming a romance with Rodney and Elizabeth, I do like John and Liz—but currently seeing more fun stuff in the future if I go the former route—even though a good suggestion might sway me one way or the other :) Thanks for those who keep reading and enjoying this story. I hope you will stick with my as I deal with my life, and determine slowly how to deal with the lives in the story. THANKS!