1Universal Constant Number Four: When you're used to being at the top of the totem pole, the hardest thing you could ever do is to try and convince a superior officer that you're right when you know you are.

"Well, this isn't good," I observed. Placing the phone down beside the bed and I hopped off the mattress.

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock," said John, reaching for his radio. "Bates, this is Sheppard. There seems to be a possible Genii invasion on the sublevels. I want you to--"

"Don't do that!" I ordered.

"Sir? Is there someone there with you?" Even the static sounded slightly confused.

"Yes there is, Lt. Larissa McKay. It's good to hear your voice again Gene but could you please, for the moment, shut up so I can talk to the Colonel," I replied snatching the radio from an astonished John.

"You're military?" he asked.

"I'm military," I confirmed. Okay, so technically speaking, I wasn't. Adele was Lt. McKay, but by now I've probably handled a gun more then anyone else on Atlantis. Besides, what they don't know can't hurt them.

"You're...military," Dad repeated.

I sighed slightly. "We can have that conversation later, Dad," I said firmly. "Instead, I'm going to grab my gear, go down to the sublevels, and find out what exactly is going on."

"No, you're staying here," said John. "And that's an order, McKay," he finished smirking slightly. I just know that he had gotten a kick out of saying those last five words. He actually expected me to obey them.

"Here's the thing. You can't order me around," I said and snatched up a very worn paperback book with the Atlantian crest on the front. I shoved it under his nose. "'Military amendment 0065: When time travel occurs the military officers from the dates in the 'future' reserve the right to disobey orders from those in 'past' in order to preserve the timeline.' You can have fun reading all about it, while I'm down in the sublevels. If you can decipher my handwriting that is."

"You're not going anywhere," he insisted.

I closed my eyes, gave a silent plea to the Ascended to please, please, please give me a little of their eternal patience, and said, in as even a tone as I could manage, "And why not?"

"Because there's no proof to back up your story. We can't have people, who are possibly spies, running around unrestricted."

"I won't be running around unrestricted. I'll be down in the sublevels, assessing the situation, and, if need be, stunning people, and dragging my own back here," I explained, fighting the urge to growl. "And what do I have to do to convince you that I am who I say I am? Recite the periodic table in alphabetical order?"

"So why shouldn't I send a team down there? There would be more people to stun the bad guys and less of a risk to the city," he reasoned while ignoring my last statement.

"Okay, first of all, I doubt any of your people will be able to tell the bad guys from the good guys. It's not like we're color-coded. In the future, we aren't even wearing uniforms anymore. And secondly, messing around with time can turn real ugly real fast."

"Oh...really?" he asked, having that annoying smile on his face again.

I gave up not trying to growl and made the impatient noise in the back of my throat. Our people were practically defenseless and probably facing a Genii strike force without back up because back up was busy negotiating with younger-- and apparently, more stubborn-- versions of their parents. I don't have time for this!

"I don't have time for this!" I repeated out loud. I turned back to the bed, to grab some of my stuff before storming out of the room, to hell with the consequences. The only reason that I didn't was because John grabbed my arm.

"Let. Me. Go... Now," I sibilated, half-wishing he would burst into flames.

"There's no way I'm letting some random kid who showed up out of nowhere walk around Atlantis, alone, while there are Genii about. You have refused to take a DNA test to prove your story and have offered no other proof to back it up."

I made to jerk my arm out of his grasp, but he just held on tighter. I gave another growl of frustration. "I don't think you fully understand our situation, Colonel," I snapped. "Let me put it in terms you'll understand. Time travel is dangerous. Very, very, very, ridiculously dangerous. If you had one hundred fully charged ZedPMs and blew them up, you would not even have one-tenth the destructive power that screwing with the time-space continuum can produce. People die when stuff like this happens! Entire planets can be destroyed, entire races could never exist, and life as we know it could cease to be! Trust me. This isn't my first time being thrown around the fourth dimension."

John glared at me. "Listen, McKay..."

"This is getting us no where," I hissed."Look, as much as I love snarking with you, I'd rather have the people on my team live. You can watch me on the friggin' life signs detector, but I needed to of been down there ten minutes ago!" I shouted. God it was very, very tempting to just switch off the lights, grab my zat and go. But chances were I'd have to deal with these people later, and running now would not endear me to them.

John looked over at Elizabeth, who looked at me. "You aren't going alone," she said finally. I groaned.

"Perhaps John and I could accompany her," Teyla offered. I shook my head violently.

"No, John can't go. He's too curious, he'd ask questions, and that could irreparably alter the time line. No," I said flatly.

"And you don't think I am curious?" Teyla said with a raised eyebrow.

"No… but more often than not, you know when to keep your mouth shut. That ability's rarer than the ancient gene," I stated. "And Carson doesn't have a shot for it. So, Teyla can go with me down to the sublevels. Everyone happy? Can I leave now?"

"No!" John protested.

That was the last straw. I… blew up. "WHAT PART OF 'I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS' DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND! THAT'S MY TEAM DOWN THERE, AND THEY'RE PROBABLY OUTNUMBERED SIX TO ONE, AND WITH THE STATE THEY'RE IN THAT'S NOT VERY GOOD ODDS! THEY NEED HELP, AND I CAN'T HELP THEM IF I'M STUCK IN HERE ARGUING WITH YOU ABOUT MY IDENTITY! YOU OF ALL PEOPLE SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT!"

Dad shouted something, and I suddenly realized that I was inches away from John's face, and seconds from strangling him. I took a deep breath and a large step back. "Look, Carson can indulge in his vampiric customs and then analyze the results while Teyla and I are rescuing my people. Then if I'm not who I say I am, feel free to lock me up in Hotel de Steve. But I need to go, and I need to go now."

John looked remarkably calm for a person who had, a second ago, almost been strangled. "DNA test first," he said simply.

"Isn't that what I said?" I asked rhetorically. He ignored me. "Let's just get this over with so I can leave, okay?"

Carson looked over at Elizabeth, who nodded; he then turned back to me. "Alright lass, hop up there."

I sat back down on the bed, grimacing. "Just make it quick, alright?"

Carson nodded, and stuck a needle in my arm. I closed my eyes, slowly counted backwards from ten in Mandarin Chinese, (Shi, jiu, ba, qi, liu, wu, si, san, er, yi), and then opened them again, to find Carson finished. Hurriedly, I hopped off the bed.

"We will need to visit the armory," said Teyla.

"No need, I have plenty of weapons here," I replied, pulling out two zats and gave one to her. She looked at it curiously. "Squeeze the base to shoot, one blast stuns, two kills, three disintegrates." I pulled out a hand-held Wraith stunner, two M-16s, and a P-90. "The fuel cells in the zats have been in use for almost a decade, they'll be running out any day now. We should probably bring the extra cells."

"Is it normal for you to be carrying so many weapons?" she asked.

"Is now," I answered, grabbing my first-aid kit. "Okay, let's go already!"

"Uhh..." Dad said tentatively.

I glared at him. "What now?"

"Shouldn't you get dressed first?"

I looked down at myself, and realized I was wearing nothing but a hospital gown. Frustrated, I quickly grabbed my jeans and put them on underneath.

"I'll take care of the rest later, let's move!"

AUTHOR'S RESPONSES AND RAMBLINGS

Belisse-Oh, they'll be plenty of unexpected stuff coming (cackles evilly).

Madj-I feel a little sorry for them too, but the tension will be explained later, although it is partially their fault.

Eris86-Here ya go! Put away those comestibles...

Margaret- Hopefully, this portrays the adults as more authoritative. That's what I was going for, anyway.

MagpieDreamer- You read fanfic during exams- shame on you! (Not really though, I spent more time here then study during mine) I'm glad you find my OC's not mary-sueish. And I'm on someone's 'story alert' list. Yippee! Thank you ;).

Xc00lcomic- Wow, has it really been two months? Here's your update!