To clear up any confusion, there are people from Larissa's time period in Atlantis' basement, whichprobably includes some Genii.
Yeah, I don't own Stargate, and Rodney McKay isn't real sobs
Universal Constant Number Five: It doesn't matter who you are or where you are in the chain of command; your people always come first.
As we left the infirmary, I became consciously aware of people staring at us-- or more specifically me. It could have been because I was a new face on Atlantis. More likely, because I was currently dressed in a hospital gown and jeans; but the real reason was probably the fact that I had a zat on one side, a stunner encasing my arm on the other, and an impatient bounce in my step
"Could you go a little faster, please?" I asked for the quintillionth time.
"We are moving as fast as we possibly can," John replied. "The transporter is about ten feet away. Now, would you please stop asking me that?"
"I would if you would move faster."
"Please tell me that Sheppard and I don't really sound like that," Dad muttered to Teyla.
"Well, it is normally John urging you to move," She replied diplomatically. As Dad groaned in response, we entered the transporter. John pressed a button toward the top of the screen.
"Hey! That doesn't lead to the sub-levels!" I protested.
"No, it leads to the control room," He informed me.
"Why the hell are we going to the control room?" I asked.
"Because I'd like to use the big life signs detector so I can get a fix on where you are going to be and how many Genii you and Teyla are going to go up against."
"And you couldn't have told me this earlier because . . . "
"I would have, but somebody kept on yakking."
I glared. " All you needed to say was, 'We need to go to the control room first'. Just nine little words, Colonel." John then muttered something, which I will refrain from repeating because it was totally not true.
When the doors opened with their characteristic Trek-like whoosh, I stepped outside not waiting for an invitation. The control room was surprisingly empty-- Radek was working on the deep-space sensors, and there were a few marines milling about, probably on guard duty. The place looked almost serene. It was the Atlantis I remembered during my days as an innocent four-year-old rather than the confused, half-destroyed madhouse of the past year.
I would have smiled if it hadn't been for that, back in my own time, Radek had been in a coma for six years because of a horrible head injury, Gene Bates had gotten shot by his own son, and Anthony Stackhouse had been blown up by one of the brainwashed suicide bombers about ten feet from where he was standing now.
Yeah, the whole 'I see dead people' thing sort of put a damper on the mood.
Gene was the first to spot me. "Who are you?" he demanded.
"Lt. McKay. We spoke on the radio." I replied. Wow, how weird can it get that I was introducing myself to a dead guy who I've known practically all my life.
He looked me over, probably taking in the fact that I was heavily armed, dressed in a hospital gown, wearing no shoes, and had the worst hair cut imaginable. "Really?"
"No, not really, because I can't remember my name and rank," Well, I added mentally, I can remember my name and my sister's rank.
"Hey kids, play nice," John drawled.
"I will if he does," I answered. Gene raised an eyebrow. I raised both of mine in return.
"Oh, crap." Dad swore behind us.
"What now?" I whined.
Dad pointed, soundlessly for once, at the life signs detector. It was currently displaying the lower levels and twenty-seven life signs.
"Oh yes, very crappy." I agreed pushing passed Gene to get a closer look. "I don't suppose any of them could be your people."
"No, we evacuated, then sealed the lower levels after we found you. Those levels were empty six hours ago!"
"Um, Rodney? Is something happening I should know about?" asked Radek, looking concerned.
"Nothing really. Just a bunch of people from the future puttering around the sub-levels."
"So they're all from my time period," I interrupted, frowning. "The ten in front of the lone pair of dots are most likely a Genii strike team. The pair are probably Damek and Laquisha, they must be sending a distress call and since we've found a way to send very short-range messages through the jammer, the others are, hopefully, answering it--" I blinked and as suddenly, forty more dots appeared on the screen. "Holy-- okay, that's just not possible, not to mention completely and totally unfair."
"I'd of thought you would welcome the opportunity," Said a drawling voice on my right. I blinked again. I knew who it was, but I was really hoping I was wrong.
"Dad, did a woman with a passing resemblance to Sam just appear next to me?" I asked hoping he'd say no.
Dad blinked, which I took to mean yes. Sighing, I turned around.
"You know, for someone who's technically omniscient, you certainly have a hard time comprehending to meaning of 'don't call us, we'll call you'," I seethed.
"Hey, I'm doing you a favor. Don't complain."
"This is what you call a favor?" I ranted, gesturing at the life signs detector. "Thanks, but no thanks, really. If I wanted to get involved in temporal mechanics, I would have become a scientist."
"You didn't even get a doctorate!" Dad yelped, at the same time John asked pointing at the intruder, "Who's she?"
"This is Inri. Uber-ascended Ancient. Basically Q, only more annoying and meddlesome," I explained. "And I got doctorates, just in Sociology, Political Science, and Diplomacy."
"Not in grammar though, eh?" Dad snarked sarcastically.
"A Q?" John repeated, looking bemused
"I am not Q!" Inri protested.
"Look, I'm sorry, but I am not having three conversations at once. You," I instructed, pointing to John. "Listen to the conversation I'm going to be having with her, and if you still have questions after that, I'll deal with it then. Dad, we are not having this conversation now. We can have it later, like after I'm born. And just for the record, you try keeping twenty different grammatical rules straight in your head, and see how you fare, hmm?" I turned back to Inri. "As for you, oh, yes, you are. And what do you mean, 'I would welcome the opportunity?'"
Inri raised an eyebrow. "Exactly that. You can't pretend you haven't wanted an opportunity to start over. Think about it-- no irreparable mistakes have been made yet. And do I really need to bring John DeLancie here again so you can see I'm not him?"
"If I wanted to change the past I would have jumped on a DeLorean. So logically, I must not want to go back in time," I shot back, purposefully ignoring the DeLancie comment.
"You wanted to; you were just to afraid of the repercussions."
"And with good reason! Genii! In the city! Not a good thing!" I shouted, flailing my arm in her face for emphasis.
"Oh, cut that out. I didn't bring any Genii back to the city," She said irritably.
"Alright then, who are those people?" I demanded.
"Atlanteans."
"Atlanteans?" I repeated incredulously. "Have you somehow over looked the fact that there are sixty-seven people down there? How could they all be Atlanteans?"
"You were missing for more than two hours. And your friends have sent out a distress call. Your people came running." Inri said with a roll of her eyes. "Feel better now?"
"Yes, thank you. This confirms my beliefs that all my people are suicidal idiots. That just fills me with such a warm, bubbly feeling." I shot back. "Radek, Dad, could one of you unlock a path to the transporters? Damek and Keesha'll know what to do."
"Dad?" echoed Radek.
"Yep. Turns out Rodney's been busy." John drawled. "Or, at least, some time in the next thirty years he will be."
"Oh, would you just shut up!" Dad spluttered.
"You know, you'd think all those millions of years your species has spent evolving would have bred this sort of thing out of them." Inri observed, jerking her head towards the guys.
"Yeah, well." I shrugged. "They wouldn't be guys then." Three heads snapped around to glare at me. "Anytime you feel like focusing and opening up the sub-levels . . . "
"You can't insult us and then ask for our help!" Radek protested.
"Well, you have to admit, you argue a lot more." I pointed out with restraint. "Can we please, please get my people now?"
"I can do that!" Inri said brightly.
"No, that's--" I protested, but suddenly sixty-seven people appeared in the middle of the control room. "Really not necessary. You do understand that we aren't complete ignoramuses and are capable of, you know, opening doors and pressing buttons, right?"
"Really?"
"Oh, shut up," I grumbled, taking a good look at the new arrivals, which were gaping at the gateroom with varying degrees of shock on their faces.
"Wow...it looks as if nothing had ever been blown up!" Petrel exclaimed, sweeping her curly blond hair out of her face, and managing to sound both sarcastic and awed at the same time.
"Okay, whoever has their jammer on, turn it off now." I called, and there was a small "Whoops" from inside the mass of people. I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, nice one Ken." Seriously, the guy's like my brother, but he can't handle technology for fribbles. "Laquisha, what's the situation?"
I waited, and then Kat pushed her way to the forefront of the crowd. "Keesha says we have two people with minor grazes and a broken wrist, along with Damek's paralysis, and she'll be there as soon as she can get your fiancée to walk upright and speak English. Now if you'll excuse me, my idiot brother will probably be blowing himself up with his jammer right, so . . . "
"Don't be too hard on Ken. It's not his fault he's a total technophobe." I said rolling my eyes as Kat walked away. Then I turned the Colonel. "Oy, Sheppard? Can we borrow the infirmary? We have wounded."
"Um . . . sure. If you'll answer some of my questions."
"Uh... Are you sure we should just let them run around unchecked." Dad asked.
"Rodney, she's your daughter." John stressed.
"We don't have any confirmation on that!" he protested.
"Yeah, but she acts like you."
"No, I don't," Isaid. "If positions were reversed, you would have been locked up by now."
Both men blinked at me. Behind them, Radek smirked slightly.
"Vell, at least we now know that Ronan lives long enough to have an influence on her." He said.
"Yep'. See you in the infirmary, Colonel." I replied, and then headed off to find my boyfriend.
Many thanks to my wonderful beta Livvy, who, once again, had to deal with my tense confusion. And as always, reviews are wonderful, wonderful things.