I don't envy Elizabeth Weir her job at all. She's been in some pretty tough situations these past two years. Not that the rest of us haven't, but she's the person who's ultimately responsible for... well, everything. She didn't expect to walk through the gate into an all-out war for survival, but she very quickly adjusted. And if certain things had to be sacrificed along the way, she seems to have accepted it as the price of the wonders waiting to be unlocked here.

From the beginning, Dr. Weir has valiantly tried not to include her code of ethics among the things that she's given up. She hasn't always been successful. There were only little lapses at first, such as treating the Athosians as a minority group to be distrusted. These were considered necessary "for the good of the expedition." But at what point do little slips begin to add up to larger mistakes? At what point is a critical mass of ethically questionable actions reached?

And, most importantly, what will be the consequences when that critical mass is exceeded? Dr. Weir isn't the only one who will have to face that question.

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I was on the Daedalus, heading for a vacation on Earth, when rumors of a bomb on Atlantis began to spread through the ship. I put down the reports Carson had given me to show Dr. Lam (I was still laughing at his account of the time-dilation field and "space STDs") and went to see what was happening.

I went straight to the bridge. I didn't think Colonel Caldwell would throw me out; I was doing him a favor by staffing the sickbay while I was technically already on vacation. I don't like the man very much (he's always a little too quick to write people off), but they were a doc short on this trip. One of their regular crew had developed appendicitis just before the ship left Atlantis. (Lucky guy -- he would get to recuperate in a marvelous setting, and there were no intergalactic HMO's to push him out of the infirmary too soon.)

"Doctor Novak, what's your status?" Caldwell asked.

"Almost in range, sir."

Dr. Kavanaugh's voice came over the radio immediately after hers. "We're not gonna make it." Caldwell grimaced at that, and I couldn't blame him. There are very few people in Atlantis whom I don't respect. Kavanaugh's one of them.

"What's going on?" I whispered to one of the crewmen.

"The SGC relayed a message from one of the outermost planets in our galaxy. There's a bomb on Atlantis, and it's going to detonate when they dial the gate."

"And the weekly status report is going to be sent in about twenty minutes," I finished for him. I gathered from Caldwell's end of the conversation that they were trying some engineering wizardry, but apparently it was going to be close. Now that I was aware of it, I could feel the engines pulse faster than normal under my feet. Was it going to be fast enough?

Caldwell was obviously wondering the same thing. He looked around the bridge and saw me. "Ah, Dr. Schwartz. Would you please go to the engineering section and see what Dr. Novak and Hermiod are up to? Be advised that you may have to stop Hermiod from hurting Dr. Kavanaugh," he said dryly. I'm sure that he heard the not-quite-whispered "why?" from the man standing next to me, but he chose to ignore it.

I arrived in engineering to see Hermiod looking as annoyed as I've ever seen an Asgard look. (Admittedly, I've only met one other Asgard -- Supreme Commander Thor, right after Anubis's device had been removed from his brain.) In my mind, Hermiod is an Asgard version of Rodney McKay: smart as hell and knows it. So it's no surprise that his interactions with Kavanaugh are equally as friendly as Rodney's.

Novak seemed incredibly thankful to see me, as if she expected all hell to break loose any minute. She was probably one step away from uncontrollable hiccuping. Hermiod looked up from what he was doing and narrowed his eyes. I thought I heard him mutter something in his own language as he turned his stare toward Kavanaugh, who was hovering over him.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Kavanaugh was not long for this world if he didn't leave Hermiod alone. Who knew what the little gray guy would do? Demolecularize the man? It was time to take matters into my surgeon's hands.

I walked over to Hermiod's console and said politely. "I apologize for interrupting you, but I'm going to need to borrow your esteemed colleague for a while. Is that going to be a problem?"

He gave what I'm sure was the Asgard equivalent of a snort. "I think I will muddle through without him."

I grinned broadly at Hermiod and firmly grasped Kavanaugh's upper arm. He sputtered, and I quickly added, "I appreciate your assistance, doctor. I could use your help writing some triage algorithms for the infirmary's computer." Pure bullshit, of course, but I didn't have time to come up with anything better. "You know, just in case we're not in time to stop the bomb."

I heard Novak sigh with relief as I pulled Kavanaugh out the door. Fifteen minutes after that, I heard Hermiod announce to Colonel Caldwell that we were in range. Thirty minutes later, we received word that in another few seconds, we would have been too late.

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Although I was expecting increased security when we returned to Atlantis, I wasn't prepared for what actually happened. Shortly before we landed, all but essential bridge personnel were confined to their quarters. We were told we would have to remain there until escorted into the city for an "interview" with Dr. Weir. I had no illusions that it would be anything other than an interrogation. Well, I certainly could understand why.

I cooled my heels for almost a day before the expected knock at my door finally came. Two guards were standing outside, and I almost laughed when I saw who they were. I didn't recognize the first, but the second one was Sergeant Macdonald. He was a tall, red-headed kid with a nervous expression on his face. In fact, he almost always looked nervous when I was around. I wonder if it had something to do with his puking on me after receiving a gene therapy shot. Nonetheless, if I was supposed to be intimidated, then the attempt failed miserably.

The two men flanked me as we walked off the Daedalus and into the city. They left me in a bare conference room, but I wasn't alone for more than a few minutes before Elizabeth Weir walked in. She sat down across from me and smiled ruefully. "I'm sorry about your vacation, Dr. Schwartz. I know you were looking forward to it, and heaven knows you deserve one!"

"I think that's the least of our problems!" I grinned wickedly at her. "Besides, I'll just torment Carson to make myself feel better."

"Right," she said. "I'll know who to blame, then, when he's in a foul mood!" She got serious. "You've heard by now about our close call here."

I nodded.

"Then you know I'm interviewing everybody who left on the Daedalus. This is in no way meant to single you out as a suspect."

"Dr. Weir," I said gently. "I completely understand. Please, ask me whatever you like."

She sighed. "I can't go into much detail, but what I can tell you is that the sabotage had to involve someone with a considerable amount of computer expertise. Do you have any experience with computer programming?"

I thought back to my interactions with Kavanaugh on board the Daedalus. "A fair amount," I admitted. "I'm not an expert, though."

"Do you know anyone who might be an expert? One who could, say, tinker with an operating system like Windows?"

I whistled. "Definitely not me! I don't think anyone in medical could, for that matter. Rodney McKay and Radek Zelenka could do it. So could Dr. Kavanaugh, for that matter." I told her about the scene in engineering.

Dr. Weir's face darkened. "Thank you. You've been quite helpful."

Only when it was all over did I learn what almost happened to Kavanaugh. I felt sick to my stomach. Sure, I wasn't the only one who'd fingered him, but he'd almost been tortured because of it. In certain societies, people were routinely forced to inform on their own family, so this was probably tame in comparison, but it was a lesson about the consequences of seemingly innocent words.

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After Elizabeth left, I was cleared to return to the infirmary. When I got there, the first thing I saw was Teyla hovering by the bedside of an elderly woman who looked near death. "...if the time comes, as much as it pains both of us, we must not interfere," Teyla was saying.

Carson, standing behind her, looked upset, but he didn't argue. I started to walk over to them. Teyla continued to hold the old woman's hand, but Carson gestured me over to his office. "What's going on?" I whispered. He told me what Elizabeth hadn't been able to, about the ZPM rigged to overload and a saboteur that was trying to activate enough systems to cause that to happen.

"We're going to evacuate the city soon," he said. "Most people will leave on the Daedalus, but a few of us will remain behind as long as we can, to try to re-enable the failsafes. I want you to..."

"No."

"What do you mean, no? You don't even know what I'm going to say!"

"I have a pretty good idea," I said dryly. "Let's just skip to the part where you finally agree that it would be a bad idea for me to leave on the Daedalus."

"Steve..." Carson said warningly. "We don't have time for this."

"You're right," I agreed. "Someone's going to need to gather the most important research records to take with us. Someone also has to watch over Teyla's friend. And who knows what Rodney will do to himself while trying to fix the ZPM. We have plenty to do, so what are you waiting for?"

Carson snorted. "You're daft, son," But he squeezed my shoulder before turning back to Teyla and the old woman.

I hadn't been kidding. Someone really did need to save the research records, so I began downloading the results of some of the studies we had done on the ATA gene. I also, against my better judgement, started to compile some of the retrovirus data. Halfway through my labors, I sensed a flurry of activity coming from the direction Carson had gone. I turned to see him snap off the cardiac monitor that had been recording the old woman's vital signs. His face held anger and sorrow as he walked away. After a minute, Teyla bowed her head and began to weep silently.

Things began to happen very quickly after that. A few of the Athosians removed the woman's body, and a little later Dr. Kavanaugh's unconscious form was deposited on a bed by Ronon. Something about fainting and an attempt to obtain an access code. I couldn't help noticing that some of the remaining scientists were giving the ex-Runner hateful looks and an especially wide berth.

Finding that Teyla had left the infirmary, Carson went to look for her. I later found out that he had reluctantly attended an Athosian burial ritual despite the possibility of the city's imminent destruction. (He also attended one final ceremony on the mainland. Teyla never mentioned either of these again, but she seemed grateful for the moral support even weeks later.)

So it was that I was the only doctor left in the infirmary when a flash of light delivered Colonel Caldwell, Colonel Sheppard, and two well-muscled guards to the isolation room. Caldwell was semi-conscious and looked like he'd gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson. "Give him something to keep him under, doc," ordered Sheppard.

"What? I can't just..."

"Don't argue! He's a goa'uld!"

"Holy crap!" I couldn't think of too much else to say at that point, so I repeated it. "Holy crap!" Within minutes, I'd put him into a deep slumber and fastened restraints to his wrists and ankles. "Anyone want to tell me what happened?" I asked the room at large.

Sheppard quickly filled me in. On everything. From Kavanaugh's near-torture to Caldwell's surprise revelation. To be honest, I'm not sure which one horrified me more. Yeah, Caldwell had almost gotten us all killed, but he hadn't been the one in control. He'd fought with his symbiote to reveal the access code, so he couldn't have been a willing host.

Now Kavanaugh, on the other hand... in the end, he was guilty of nothing more than being a complete idiot. Yet Ronon had been mere seconds away from beating him within an inch of his life. Weir and Sheppard had coldly decided that the risk of his innocence was low enough to justify a "coercive interrogation." And they'd been horribly wrong. Only dumb (literally) luck had saved the situation from deteriorating any further.

All I said was, "Oh. You have been busy, haven't you?" Sheppard gave me a funny look but didn't push the issue. The worst part was: I wish I could be totally confident that I wouldn't have done the same thing. Yeah. Mr. "We Can't Experiment on Wraith" might actually consider torture under some extreme circumstances. Hey, if it works for Alan Dershowitz...

I'm glad my father will never know of this.

TBC

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A/N: Alan Dershowitz is a lawyer who wanted interrogators to be able to get "torture warrants" under certain circumstances. Charming guy.