Chapter 7 Beta'd by angw and Trickster's Queen of War.

Cameron parried Teyla's attack with a reverse handed grip on his one stick. Holding it like he had with the Sodan he pivoted on his right foot and spun, hitting her with the other stick. Teyla ducked, avoiding his stick and bringing both of hers to bear painfully on his unprotected and over extended side.

Cameron spun with the blow, tangling his feet in hers and bringing her to the ground, along with himself. She tried to free herself but found him rolling so that he was pinning her to mat, one stick pressed against each of her wrists.

"Yield." He said.

Teyla nodded.

He stood up, extending a hand to help her up. Turning, he saw John clapping quietly in the corner. Cameron was shocked to find Teyla placing her hands on his shoulders. He glanced at John. John just nodded. Cameron placed his hands on her shoulders, mimicking her head movement until their heads touched.

"It seems you've had some training Colonel." Teyla said, dropping her hands and moving over to where John sat to place her sticks in her bag.

"Yeah... uhh... that happened a couple of weeks ago." Cameron replied. "I was captured by this crazy group of Jaffa, who insisted that I fight to the death in one of their rituals."

"Sound like fun." John quipped from the window.

"Yeah well, I don't plan on dying to begin with so I actually learned the fighting style... to an extent. I'm used to fighting with a long staff with pointed ends." He took the water bottle from John's outstretched hand and retrieved his flak vest. "So what actually happened with you and the order of time?"

John rolled his eyes. "To make a long story short, the old man told me to solve my inner demons, which must have had something to do with Teyla." He idly played with her hair as she learned against him on the windowsill. "Once I solved that, I had to pass these three crazy trials, one of which was what to do with what I'd learned from the first two."

John paused, seeming to recall the memory. "I saw the wraith ships coming with my ability to perceive time. I then used that to help Atlantis prepare. In the first trial I learned about how the Wraith had been woken up, and what could put them back to sleep again. I used this, along with some information from the Ancient database to make an attack on the Hive ship that had it. We succeeded, though I nearly lost Teyla."

"Sounds like one hell of a ride." Cameron replied.

"Sort of." John said quietly. "I just don't know what I do without her."

Jack's voice came through Cameron's radio. "Mitchell, Vala's loose on Atlantis. We think she's in your area of the city."

Cameron pressed the talk button. "Okay, what should I do?"

"We're on our way, try to find her." Jack seemed bored with the task.

Cameron glanced back at John and Teyla. "Coming?" He asked.

John stood up and walked to the door. "Stay with us Cam. We know the city." John turned to Teyla. "You wouldn't happen to have a life signs detector would you?"

Teyla grinned. "Sadly, that is one thing I do not have with me."

John faked hurt. "Alright. Cam, turn your radio to channel 5."

Cameron quickly changed the channel.

"Now contact the control room and ask them for directions."

Cameron held down the talk button. "Control room, this is Colonel Mitchell, I need directions to where Vala is."

"Hold on." A marine on the other side of the line replied. "Go right to the end of hall."

Cameron led the way as the marine dictated directions. He had to wonder what Vala was doing so far out here. Probably looking for something fun to do, he reminded himself. John and Teyla were only a step behind him.

He had to admit, it seemed that working to become a member of the order of time seemed like a good thing. It had led to the wraith being defeated. He could only guess it had something to do with the Ori. Could he truly hold the key to defeating them. The mere thought seemed outrageous. How could he go toe to toe with Prior.

He found Vala at the very edge of the peer, leaning on a railing looking out onto the teal waters of the ocean Atlantis rested on. If he hadn't recognized her by her hair, then he wouldn't have guessed by the way she was standing. Something was truly weighing her down.

He walked up and leaned on the railing next to her. "Something wrong?" He asked innocently.

Vala's eyes instantly snapped onto him, her eyes were red with unshed tears. "Mitchell, what are you doing here?"

"Making sure you don't cause any trouble." He replied offhandedly.

"I just wanted to get away." Vala's voice was quiet. He could hear the hidden pain behind her voice.

"What's really bothering you?"

"You know, I never show this part of me to anyone. Well, Daniel caught a glimpse of it once." She smiled at the thought.

Cameron nodded, letting her continue.

"You see, I'm a failure and I never try to help people because I just can't. Ever time I tried to help people, I've always ended up killing more people."

"Not true, if you hadn't stopped the Ori beachhead, billions would've died. You don't consider that helping people."

Vala stopped for a moment, glancing up at him. "What?"

"Well, believe it or not, you did help people, and what you did earlier while I was sick with a Prior plague was nothing short of a hero. What I trying to say is..." Cameron paused searching for the best way to phrase it. "... you're not a failure. You have your faults, we all do. It's not something to be ashamed of."

John took that moment to enter the conversation. "When I first got to Atlantis, my team was attacked and my commanding officer taken prisoner. I lead the rescue team, but I fired the shot that killed him."

"Why?" Vala asked, turning around to meet his face.

"Because I had to." John said, with a pained expression. "He was being fed upon by a wraith. It was too late. I still carry his tags with me. I wanted to save everyone, just like you."

Vala laughed at the thought. "I don't want to save everyone."

"Perhaps," Teyla allowed, "but you are trying to help people."

"Thanks." Vala said, finally letting the tears drop, but they were tears of happiness. She knew from that moment on-that she wasn't alone, and she never would be.

XXX

"Out of my way." Rodney said, pushing Aiden out of the way as he walked across the room to access his laptop. He quickly pulled of the ancient interface software and loaded it into the system memory. His laptop beeped once, then a window came up on the screen showing him he had successfully interfaced. He laughed, this was something Sam couldn't have done. The SGC didn't have this type of technology.

"So, does it work?" Aiden prompted.

"Now I wouldn't know that until I test something." Rodney said, his voice riddled with sarcasm. "Go bother some who's not anywhere near as important as I am."

"Next time I'll make sure it's the Colonel who stays."

"Yeah, good luck with that." Rodney replied, not really paying attention to Aiden but instead pealing through layers of ancient code. The transporter was definitely built by a member of the order of time. The code was unique in that respect. However, just under that code was something worse. He couldn't read it though, the words being in a different variation of Ancient.

He looked up at Aiden, who was leaning against the wall. "Go get Doctor Jackson."

Aiden nodded and left the room. He found Daniel scribbling notes down into a notebook filled with loose papers. "McKay wants you."

Daniel glanced at him and shook his head. "I'm kinda busy. The section of the writing deals with how the Order of Time used these to carry out their missions, including one mission back to the Ori galaxy during the great plague." Daniel seemed to ponder the information to himself.

"Wait a minute." Aiden said, thinking about the puzzle. "You're saying that the Order of Time was in contact with Ori."

"No." Daniel hastily corrected him. "The Order of Time went to the Ori galaxy then used their powers to access thousands of years of history as to why the Ori weren't effected by the same plague. It says they found nothing good in the land that was devoid of all true light."

"The land of the Ori." Teal'c finished, stepping forward with Ronon. "Gerrak uses a similar phrase to describe our own galaxy without the Ori."

"That's what I thought. Anyway, what's to stop them from using the transporter because there's nothing here to say there is any kind of safeguard. They built one in the Ori galaxy so they could use it, what's to stop the Ori from using it to game a foothold here, or worse, in our own galaxy?"

"I must return to Dakarra." Teal'c said. "The Jaffa must stand against this threat."

"Hate to interrupt," Aiden said, "but McKay said he needed you."

"Right." Daniel said, taking a few last minute notes before walking over to where Rodney was working.

"Translate this." Rodney said, pointing to his laptop screen.

Daniel looked at it closely. The words and letters were ancient, but an older variation of it. His mind suddenly realized what it meant. His blood turned cold, then he looked up at Rodney. "The transporters have long been used by the Ori. These lines of text." Daniel pointed to the lines he was talking about. "Are words and phrases used only by the Ori."

"Oh that's bad."

"That's the understatement of the century." Daniel replied. "Is there anything you can do to lock this device down, so that no one can use it with the proper code or something?"

"No, ancient technology was gene encoded, nothing more. There's no software for it anywhere in their technology."

"Then we'd better get out of here."
"What?" Rodney said. "How can you be certain they even possess the gene?"

"Are you willing to take that chance?" Daniel countered, watching the expression on Rodney's face.

Rodney took only a few seconds to decide. He quickly began packing up his laptop and all the associated cords. "Better safe than sorry." He tapped his earpiece. "Ford, go dial the gate, we're leaving."

Rodney grabbed his backpack and slung it over his back, following Daniel to the Stargate. Just as he was about to step through the even horizon, he saw a brilliant flash of light from the transporter. The next thing he knew, a torrent of weapons fire came from the compound.

"GO!" Aiden yelled, returning fire and backpedaling through the gate.

Rodney waited until everyone was through before yelling for them to raise the shield. He turned to see if everyone was alright. Aiden shook his head to clear it; Ronon was checking the charge on his pistol; Teal'c was calming resting; Daniel was fidgeting with the P90 still in his hands.

Only seconds later Elizabeth came down the steps. "What the hell happened out there?"

"Ori soldiers." Daniel said. "They showed up just before we left. They can use the transporters."

"Alright. Go see Doctor Beckett while I contact all our off-world teams." Elizabeth walked back up into the control center.

Rodney lead the way to the infirmary.

XXX

Cameron was halfway to the control room when the alarms began to wail all throughout Atlantis. He picked up the speed, jogging to keep up with John and Teyla. Vala was only a step behind him. They entered the gate room and stood off to the side.

"Unscheduled off-world activation." The gate technician said over the citywide intercom.

The shield sprang up over the Atlantis Stargate and was immediately bombarded with impacts. He followed John and Teyla up the spiral staircase and into the control room just in time to hear the gate technician announce that it was Major Lorne's team.

"Lower the shield!" John yelled, not sure where Elizabeth was. He slammed his hand down on the control crystal. "Defense teams stand by."

The shield was lowered and the telltale signs of Ori weapons began ripping through the event horizon. Everyone ducked as the shots flew everywhere. Thankfully, the pains of glass seemed very resistant to them. Must not really be glass. Cameron thought to himself.

Major Lorne and two of his team members stepped through. Major Lorne was still firing as he collapsed. A shot hit one of his team members, dropping the marine instantly. Finally, the final member of his team staggered through, clutching a severed arm and collapsing instantly.

The shield was instantly raised once all members of the team were accounted for. Cameron quickly raced down the stairs to see what he could do to help. He heard John call for a medical team, but he knew the fourth member didn't have much time.

He ripped his shirt off, using it to help clog the wound that the fourth member of Lorne's team had near his severed shoulder. The marine's teeth were gritted in pain. Cameron glanced around, glad to see the medics already on their way.

"Good god!" Carson Beckett said. "We need to bring them into immediate surgery!" The Scottish doctor pointed to the two wounded marines.

Within seconds the medics were gone, leaving only the blood stains on the gate room floor as evidence that anyone had been there. Cameron grabbed his discarded flak vest and pulled it on, preferring it to no shirt.

"Well, that's the second piece of clothing you've used as a bandage in the last couple of days Mitchell, I'm impressed." Vala smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

Jack and Sam came from the side door. Immediately they came to Cameron and Vala, who were standing like they didn't belong.

"What happened?" Jack asked.

"Where's your shirt?" Sam asked at the same time.

"Ori soldiers are here." Cameron said. "And they've just attacked Major Lorne's team."

"Casualties?" Sam asked.

"One man was missing an arm, the other took a shot head on. Either one of them might not make it."

"We've got to get back to Earth." Sam said.

"Right." Cameron stiffed. The war had just begun. These were just the first of many. He had to hurry if he was going to be able to stop them.