DISCLAIMER: I do not own this show, or these characters; I just borrow them.

Weathering the Storm Part 7

Kolya finished talking to Sora on the radio and strode angrily toward his new second-in-command. As he was walking toward Laden he thought about the many soldiers this trip had cost him and his people, and Sora was now one of the casualties. According to the Genii ways, Sora was now seen as dead to the community as she disobeyed orders; for her own sake, Kolya hoped that he never saw her again. He hated losing a soldier and he blamed the Atlantians for all the upheaval they had caused the Genii people. As he thought about the deaths, he looked up and noticed the captives talking; however, he was not close enough to hear what they were discussing.

If Kolya could have heard the conversation, he would have heard Elizabeth inform Dr. McKay that he must stall for more time as the Major was still in the unprotected parts of the city. But as Kolya was clueless to the ruminations of the leader of Atlantis, he was not aware of the deception that played out between the two doctors when he bellowed to Rodney to activate the shield.

Rodney's mind flew as he tried to come up with a way to stall. "It's done. Dr. Weir I need to enter your codes now."

"Yes of course. 7 9 4 2 1," Elizabeth stated trusting that Rodney had something up his sleeve in the pursuit of saving the city and its current inhabitant.

"Yes?" Rodney asked hoping to get the last few numbers needed so that he could place the shield up to protect himself… and the city of course.

Dr. Weir said the other numbers clearly, "0 3 2 4 5."

Well she was no help, Rodney thought once he keyed all the numbers that were needed. Dr. McKay mused that his current thought hit him like a bolt of lightening; that is so not the right imagery to be having right now, as it just might come true, he wryly joked. "And the second sequence?"

Elizabeth glanced at Rodney as though he had sprouted a second head before the realization hit of what he was trying to accomplish. Feeling like she was playing the lottery, she randomly picked some numbers. However that plan did not take up nearly as much time as they needed to be sure that Major Sheppard was safely in the control room vicinity, and soon enough Kolya barked for the shield to be raised.

"I'm almost finished," Rodney said, trying to grasp at any excuse to procrastinate longer.

Laden spoke up from his console, "A massive wave is approaching from the west. Without the shields…" He left the rest up for the group to ponder over, as they all knew what the lack of shields would mean to them and the city.

"McKay!" Kolya shouted out in the hope of pushing Rodney into either bringing the shield on line, or to inform them if it would not work.

Rodney enlightened those around him that lightening was starting to strike the northern pier, and therefore he was going to turn the shield on. But when he said, "Now!" the group waiting for the safety of shield, but it never came. The others in the control room watched as he tried a few more times to get the shield on line, with no effect.

Despite the fact that Rodney looked like he was getting frustrated as his lack of progress, he was actually still trying to stall for time so that the John could get to safety. If Elizabeth would have looked closely at his movements, she would have noticed that Rodney was not even pushing the correct control that was needed to finalize the process to bring up the shield. Rodney thought that even if she was watching, she probably wouldn't know that he was pushing the wrong button; therefore, he felt safe in the knowledge that the Genii would not know either.

Kolya purposefully stomped over to Dr. McKay while demanding that the scientist explain what was going on.

"Look I told you this was a long shot from the beginning," Rodney stated while locking his gaze with Kolya's.

The next words out of Kolya's mouth were again directed at Dr. McKay, "You said this would work."

Rodney's acerbic wit responded before his sense of self-preservation could inform him to shut up as he responded, "I don't know if you noticed or not but I'm an extremely arrogant man who tends to think all of his plans will work." His voice of self-preservation yelled caution just a bit too late, and by the time that Rodney heard it he also saw a fist flying at him.

As the punch landed, Rodney heard Kolya say, "Idiot." Rodney mused that the voice in the back of his head was saying the same thing but with a bit less hatred.

Dr. Weir seeing the Genii lash out at one of her people could not help but confront him before the fear of him had time to register. "Hey this was a long shot at best. Why else would we evacuate the city? It was always our intention to dial out in case this didn't work." Dr. Weir paused and started to perceive how she could use this problem, to the benefit of the city and her people. While the city might not make it through the storm, she could at least guarantee to get back to her people and help them though this time of loss. If she could just get the Genii out of the city, then she and the rest in Atlantis could gate to Manara to inform the others what was going on, and the path that now lay before them. "Within minutes Atlantis will fail. You can leave and survive or you can go down with the city. You choose." She paused to let the realization of the city's emanate downfall sink into Kolya's head before she continued on this train of verbal assault. "Are you going to sacrifice the lives of all your men on the off chance that this city won't be completely destroyed?"

Dr. Weir could see Kolya ponder the situation for only a few moments before she heard him command his men to open the stargate and start the evacuation procedures. Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief as she internally danced a victory dance over the fact that they were leaving, and that she could then get to her people. "You're making the right decision," she said.

"You're coming with us. You'll both serve the Genii as payment for what you've done." Kolya stated before he started down the center stairs toward the stargate.

Elizabeth heard Rodney say something to Kolya as they were both grabbed by a Genii soldier, but all she could think about was how this was the second time that Kolya had twisted her words around to hurt her in the long run. Thinking of the first time he hurt her, Elizabeth knew what would happen once she was off world. She started to drag her feet and struggle against the man holding her in the hope that she could get away from the pain that would come if Kolya got a hold of her in his own territory.

Major Sheppard and Lieutenant Ford were waiting for Teyla and Dr. Beckett to join them so that they could take out the remaining Genii in the city. John worried over the fact that neither Teyla or Carson had responded to his communications, but he knew that he had to save the city and the two captives before he could retrace his steps to determine what had happened to the others. Without the other two comrades, John ran various plans through his head to determine how to take back the control room; however all of his plans were destroyed once he saw Drs. Weir and McKay grabbed by two Genii and dragged toward the stargate.

Major Sheppard spoke to his Lieutenant, "Change of plan, you get McKay." They both rushed into the control room and started firing at any of the Genii that they could. Out of the corner of his eye, Major Sheppard saw that McKay was running for cover away from him Genii captor. However his eyes were glued on the situation in front of him. Commander Kolya had grabbed Elizabeth and was using her as a personal shield as he backed up toward the stargate and freedom. "You're not going anywhere. I will shoot you if you don't let her go."

"And risk hurting Dr. Weir?" Kolya said to the Major and then whispered something in Elizabeth's ear.

With the way Dr. Weir was struggling again Kolya, John had a clear shot of the Commander's right shoulder. "I'm not aiming at her," he said as he fired his weapon. He watched as Kolya dropped Elizabeth and fell backwards thorough the gate. As he rushed towards he fallen leader, he commanded Aiden to look for Teyla and Beckett and to make sure that all of the Genii were out of the city.

The fear of being a prisoner of the Genii was slightly pushed to the side when Elizabeth's curiosity wanted to know where the shooting was coming from. She saw Major Sheppard and Lt. Ford firing at the Genii. She also saw Rodney running for cover once he was released. The relief that came from what she saw was short lived once she felt Kolya grab her from behind and start to drag her toward the stargate.

Elizabeth saw John aim at Kolya and heard them talking to each other, but her mind was buzzing against the thought that once she was on the Genii home world that there was no coming back. This realization was brought to the forefront when she heard Kolya whisper in her ear that while John wouldn't hurt her… he would. Dr. Weir's mind ran thorough all the reasons why she could not let him take her: her safety and sanity, but first and foremost the safety of her people was at stake.

Dr. Weir decided to give Kolya what he thought he already created as she thought playing simpering female take twenty. While she was unsure of what number she was up to, she knew that he would not get her so easily. Elizabeth went limp as though in fear of the person holding onto her as a human shield.

Kolya felt Elizabeth go weak in his arms, and he triumphed over the power he held over her. However that triumph was shattered once he realized that the dead weigh he was pulling was slowing his time to the gate. He also realized that as she sunk lower in his arms that he was not totally shielded from the Major in front on him. This realization came at the same time he heard the weapon in the Major's hands fire. He felt the pain in his shoulder, and as he fell through the event horizon of the stargate without Elizabeth he promised himself that he would get revenge.

Elizabeth heard the gun in front of her fire, and felt the air by her right cheek warm up as the bullet soared past her. She heard the impact of the bullet as it hit the muscle in his shoulder, and even heard the telltale crack when the bullet impacted bone on the way through his body. She felt the weight behind her leave, and she staggered to fall forward rather than be pulled backwards with the falling weight of the man who a moment ago was holding her in a death grip. She fell on the ground the same time she heard the sound of a person going through the event horizon of the wormhole. The comprehension of what might have happened to her slammed into her with the same force that the waves outside were bound to hit the city with. Elizabeth struggled to stand up on her shaking feet, or was that her whole body shaking, as Major Sheppard came over to her.

"Sorry about that. I had to ermm… are you okay?" John said the last part quietly so that she was the only one to hear it.

Elizabeth responded, "No," just as quietly, not because she did not want others to hear her, but because she was having trouble forming the words as the adrenaline rushed away from her and the events of the day tried to grasp her and pull her under them and suffocate her.

Sheppard noticed that Dr. Weir was going to go into shock as the danger from the day was wearing off. He knew that her response was natural and so he stated, "You will be. Come on." He grabbed her hand to make sure that she was okay walking, and the two of them rushed up the steps to the control console that Rodney was working at.

Once they were confronted with the problem of the city being hit with the storm again, John marveled at the fact that Dr. Weir was able to climb out of her thoughts and focus once again on helping her people. However he knew that her pushing the thoughts away would probably make dealing with them worst; they would try to bury her even more later if she pushed them away now. But like any good military leader, Major Sheppard knew that the people came first, and then the fall out could happen. John's thoughts were squashed as he heard Aiden and Rodney talking.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Aiden questioned as he heard Dr. McKay hurried typing.

Rodney replied in his patented smart-aleck tone, "I thought I'd activate the shield and save the day, you got something else in mind?"

Aiden could not believe that Rodney was going to turn on the shield when two of their friends and co-workers were still out in the city, "Teyla and Beckett are still out there." He hoped that Rodney just didn't realize this fact in the confusion of all that had happened throughout the day.

"Tracking system is down. There's a tsunami headed towards the city. In two and a half minutes they're dead," Rodney replied to Aiden.

John could not believe what he was hearing and he replied the smarted answer for the problem at hand, "Then give them two minutes."

The next two minutes were hell for those in the control room. Most of the problem came from fearing that their comrades would not make it to the control room in the allotted time; however, the other problem with the wait came from Dr. McKay. Rodney would not stop tapping his fingers along the keyboard as if to solidify in his mind the correct sequence of keys to push for the shield to come on line. But for those around him it was torture.

Aiden stood the tapping for as long as he could, but after a minute and a half he barked at Rodney, "shut up."

"I'm not talking," Rodney snapped back.

"You are now," Aiden replied snidely.

Rodney was about to open his mouth again to reason with Aiden when Elizabeth spoke up, "Enough."

The foursome did not think that anything could be worse than Rodney's tapping; however the silence started to strangle those in the room until Rodney spoke up, "There's no more time. Either we lose them or the city."

Elizabeth did not want to have to order the deaths of two of her people, but she knew it was her position to let Rodney go ahead with the key strokes that would kill anyone not within the safety of the control room. She always hated the saying that 'the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many'. She was always one that wanted to save and protect everybody. Dr. Weir started to open her mouth to give Rodney the command he needed when she saw Teyla and Sora enter the control room with Beckett being held up between the two of them. Elizabeth quickly shut her mouth to breathe a quick thank you to who ever was listening, and then stated, "Rodney Go!"

The people in the control room saw a huge wave heading toward the city, and they all wondered if the shield was going to work or not. Elizabeth spoke the question that everyone was thinking of, "What's happening?"

"It's working. It just needs to build up enough power for the shield generator to activate," Rodney replied.

Once the wave was almost on top of the city, Rodney activated the shield. The group watched as the wave hit the shield and passed over it forming an interesting water show as a dome of water ran over the city. To Elizabeth it looked like they were in the inside of a water fountain that sprayed water up and fell in the shape of a circle. "Nice work Rodney," she said as the awareness that the city was safe from both the Genii and the storm put a smile on her face.

"Did you ever doubt me?" Rodney questioned.

"Yes, several times." While it was the truth, Elizabeth could not wait for the reaction she knew would grace Rodney's face.

Seconds after her words hit Rodney, he looked crestfallen, "Oh." His brain pondered over this fact and he quickly came to the realization that she just wasn't as smart as he was, which was why she doubted him for even a split second. This thought helped him quickly forget the disappointment he felt at Dr. Weir's words, and he sat back in his chair and breathed out a sigh of relief that his plan worked; the city was safe all because of him. Well and a little from the others for getting rid of the Genii, but only a very little, he thought as he mentally patted himself on the back.

Elizabeth saw the eventual smile grace Rodney's face, and she walked toward the railing to glance at the stargate before the situation of trying to get the city back in shape for her people to come back, and the medical treatment of the few remaining in the city started. She glanced over her people to see Carson still half out of it, Rodney with the wound in his arm, and Teyla and Sora also looked a little worse for wear. Dr. Weir watched as John and Aiden started to check out Carson, and look over the wounded females. Therefore she turned to watch as the waves pummeled the shield, as her mind tried to soothe itself from the disastrous day.