A/N: Just a quick note to apolgise for the delay on posting this. This has been sitting in my inbox for three weeks and i never got around to posting. / Enjoy...

I've been here before…

A.T 9:00 R.T. 16:25

Rodney woke on a gurney heading towards the Infirmary. Someone had already removed his bloodstained shirt and was dealing with the cuts he'd used to fool the Genii soldiers. Directly above him, looking down, was a concerned looking Dr Beckett.

"Not my idea of an afterlife." Rodney muttered.

Beckett laughed, "You ain't dead yet, Rodney."

"What happened?"

"We found you on the floor in the gate room, covered in blood and unconscious. Apparently you appeared out of nowhere…"

"What! The last thing I remember was, well, lying on the gate room floor. The Genii had invaded and we weren't able to fight them off. The self-destruct detonated."

"I think you must have been dreaming." Said Beckett, wondering if Rodney had hit his head when he 'appeared'. "As you can see, Atlantis is still in one piece and I don't see any invading Genii."

"Oh, thank you for pointing out the bloody obvious. But wait, what's the date?"

"29th August."

"That's the day it was a minute ago. I mean, before I blacked out." Beckett rolled his eyes, as if Rodney was now pointing out the obvious. Rodney scowled. "What's the time?"

"Just gone nine o' clock."

"But…before I was here…it was the afternoon, gone four…could I have…"

"Rodney, I think you may have hit your head. None of what you said has happened, and there has been no hint that it could."

Rodney pulled another annoyed face. "I did not hit my head! Anyway, we'll know for sure soon. If John's team comes in hot in about three-quarters of an hour, then we'll know."

"Right," replied Beckett sceptically. "First we're going to get you checked out." Rodney knew when he shouldn't argue with the doctor.

A.T. 9:40 R.T. 17:05

"Well, how's our pet genius?" Asked Elizabeth.

Beckett grinned. "Physically he's fine." He replied.

"And mentally?" She asked, catching his qualifier and spotting a catch.

"Well…" he started slowly. "He's still insisting the Genii are going to invade in about six hours." Beckett paused, not keen on the implications.

"And…"

"I do have some evidence that supports his story. The blood on his shirt was mostly his, from a couple of shallow cuts on his chest. From the angle of the cuts, they appear to be self-inflicted. The next largest amount belongs to Teyla." Elizabeth frowned at both sources. "However, some appears to belong to someone not on this expedition. And, the blood cells appear to show signs of the early stages of radiation sickness…"

"Which a Genii involved in the nuclear program would exhibit."

"Yep." Beckett looked down at his notes, and nearly continued when an unscheduled arrival prevented him. Surprised, he looked down at his watch. It was exactly 9:45.

Both arrived in the gate room at the same time as John dashed out of the gate, his team just behind him. One of the nurses from the Infirmary arrived shortly after, with a limping and wincing Rodney in tow.

John looked at Rodney and started at the gait, expression and bloody trousers, but he didn't get a chance to question them before Rodney began to speak at high speed.

"Right. You just ran into a Genii research outpost. That's one of their data drives and you want me to find out what's on it." As Rodney took a breath to continue, John jumped in.

"How the hell did you know that? And more to the point, what the hell happened to you?"

"Nothing important," started Rodney, ignoring all the signs to the contrary. "This has all happened before, just trust me. Now, in a quarter of an hour, I can get that device hooked up and show you our problem."

"Changing those pants covered with nothing important might be a good idea as well." Put in John.

Rodney looked down at them. "Ah. Good idea."

"Right," said a bemused Elizabeth. "Well, I guess we'll meet in the meeting room in fifteen minutes then."

A.T. 10:00 R.T. 17:25

Rodney led the briefing from the very start. He brought up the hologram of the cruiser. "It appears they stole or found a Wraith cruiser and then built their own from it. It is armed with weapons similar to those we found on the Ancient's defence satellites and also has stealth capabilities.

"In an hour and a half, this ship will drop out of hyperspace, about two hours from this planet."

"What if we send the Daedalus to intercept? She's more than a match for a Wraith cruiser." Suggested John.

"A Wraith cruiser, yes. Against this unholy combination of technologies, she doesn't stand a chance. She was lost with all hands just over an hour after engaging it."

"I'm sorry," began Caldwell, "was? It hasn't happened yet. How can you know the result of a confrontation that is yet to come about?"

"I'm sure I mentioned this. Somehow, this has all happened to me before. Everyone reacted normally, but we couldn't stop the Genii taking over. Everyone, except me of course, who survived the attack was killed by the self-destruct."

"Right..." the Commander started slowly. "Have you been to see Dr Beckett any time recently?"

"Thank you Commander!" Replied Rodney acerbically.

"Well I think he'stelling the truth." Put in John. "He described my mission exactly, before I'd said a word. It wasn't exactly a routine mission either."

"Aye and I tested the blood on his shirt. Some of it almost definitely came from a Genii." Added Beckett.

Rodney, a little taken aback by the unexpected support, continued. "Right, well, our weapons have little effect on the cruiser's shields. Only the drones on the jumpers managed to penetrate and then only in large groups. However, I think if we get the cruiser in range of Atlantis' defences, the combination of our weapons could do the job.'' He shrugged.

"Other than that, we need to prepare for troops beaming into the city as the shield begins to fail. They'll have their normal hand weapons, as well as C4, and will try to take the gate room as quickly as possible." Rodney stopped to think, and then added, "I think that's everything."

There was a moment's silence. "Well that was the weirdest briefing I've attended." Quipped John.

"Definitely," agreed Elizabeth. "Alright. Based on our...unique intelligence, John, I need you to organise the defences as you see fit. Make any intruder's lives as hard as possible. Colonel Caldwell, you are in charge of our aerial forces. Deploy them as you see fit. Rodney, you'll be our consultant on the Genii tactics.

"Well. I think that's everything." She stood up. "Let's see if we can get it right this time."

A.T. 11:30 R.T. 18:55

Rodney, together with a still sceptical Caldwell, hovered over the sensor's controls, which were focused on the area the cruiser was due to emerge from. John and Elizabeth stood a short distance away, awaiting the news. Right on time, the hyperspace window opened and there was a brief flicker as something invisible emerged.

"Okay, Doctor, I know when I've been proved wrong. What would you advise for our defence plans?" Said Caldwell.

"Well, we need to position our ships so that they all are within weapons range at the same time as Atlantis. You're probably better at tactics and formations than I am." He added.

John then asked, "Where will the troops beam in?"

"Last time they came in the East and West piers, but we should prepare for them to appear in any of them."

"Why would it be different this time?"

"I've already made changes this time around. I don't know how this will affect how things pan out this time."

"What like stepping on an ant in the past affecting the future?"

"Precisely, and hopefully we'll get the right one this time."

A.T. 13:30 R.T. 20:55

On the table in front of him, Rodney had two drones in pieces, one from a jumper and one from the outpost they'd discovered not long ago. He had his elbows resting on the desk, peering at them, trying to spot the difference.

Elizabeth came into the room, watching Rodney with concern and stood quietly until he noticed her. She was slightly concerned by the amount of time it took, but he eventually said,

"The cruiser?" He didn't even look up.

"We haven't seen it yet, but we're sweeping the whole system continuously."

"It must be moving slower this time." Now he looked up, stretching his muscles. "I don't get why this one penetrated the Genii shield, but not that one!"

"Do you need a hand?"

"And a second pair of eyes would be useful if you're free."

"What do you need?"

"If you hold these here, I'll power up the drones. I need you to watch those components while I check energy readings." He pointed at the parts he mentioned.

"Sure." Elizabeth did as she was told.

The drones glowed as power ran through them.

"I've had a report that one of your team has been putting themselves at risk." Elizabeth said mildly, and then paused to see how he would respond.

"Really? In what way?" He asked, and then added, "Any difference between them?"

Elizabeth checked and double checked. "No. They say the person has been working too hard, opening themselves to mistakes as they get tired." She'd timed the comment well. Rodney was just taking a pull of his especially strong coffee.

"Well I'll have a word with them all." He reached to his controls and turned the drones up to full power. "How about now?"

"There's an Ancient number there, one hundred and sixty five, but on that one its one hundred and ninety."

"That's probably an ID code so that the Chair or jumper can keep track of it. Oh well." He shut them off. "I can't see a difference." Rodney still didn't seem to be catching Elizabeth's hint. "Thanks for your help. I'd better get to the Chair room."

He headed off, pulling out a powerbar from a pocket and taking his coffee with him. Elizabeth sighed. There was no way she was going to get the physicist to rest. Instead, she headed off to the control room.

A.T. 14:40 R.T. 22:05

Rodney watched the sensors panel on his data pack as the cruiser decloaked. He thought it odd that they hadn't taken the same amount of time to arrive, but decided they must have just moved more cautiously.

The F303s and the Daedalus moved out from the shadow of the planet. They, the jumpers and Atlantis herself opened fire at the same instant. The space around the cruiser was soon thick with various projectiles and missiles.

The cruiser seemed overwhelmed by the sheer amount of defence at first, but quickly opened fire, starting on the smaller targets. The glow of various projectiles was soon competing with the fireballs of unfortunate fighter craft hit by the cruiser's weapon fire.

The Atlantian's shots weren't nearly as lucky. Very few penetrated, doing little damage, and the rest became brief, bright splashes on the shields. Everyone not actively involved in the fight watched as their best efforts failed in the face of the enemy.

Soon even the Daedalus was overcome and the cruiser began it's bombardment of the shield. Not long after, the supply of drones was exhausted and a tired John came to coordinate the defence teams.

The first troops beamed in through the shield exactly where Rodney said they would, only to be cut down by a defence team hidden in prearranged boxes and crates. The next wave met the same fate, but the third were smarter. They materialised behind the defence, closely followed by a second group on the other side. The defenders were rapidly overwhelmed.

Cadman, who was in charge of the second line of defence, became worried when the team didn't check in. "Cadman to Colonel Sheppard, can you detect the east defence team? They haven't checked in."

"One second." He glanced at the internal sensors. They only showed a group of dots moving towards Cadman's position. "They have gone down. You have hostiles moving in fast."

Only silence met his words. A second look at the sensors showed her position under attack. "Sheppard to east second line, do you copy?"

He heard the click of someone activating their radio and it was then replaced by the roar of an explosive loud enough to force him to remove his earpiece. It had sounded suspiciously like a C4 device, and was followed by an ominous silence. John watched the screen, but those sensors were blinded by the explosion. He watched the others instead, and awaited the inevitable.

A.T. 16:25 R.T. 23:50

The gate room defence teams, now the last troops on Atlantis, had managed to hold off the Genii until now. The gate and control rooms had become the last refuges of the Atlantians, and for the moment, the battle had drawn to a halt.

The shield was almost completely gone, only the central tower was now protected, and the cruiser had ceased fire in order to prevent the accidental destruction of the city in the process. The Genii were now completely confident of success.

Rodney, John and Elizabeth were watching the Genii moving around the city. One by one they were deactivating the naquadah reactors, presumably in an attempt to deactivate the remnants of the shield. As yet, they hadn't discovered the ZPM room, or if they had the troops hadn't seen the significance.

As the power from the last generator faded, they watched the Genii dots begin to close on the gate room. It was getting close to last stand time.

John went out to check on his defence teams. The sensors had shown the Genii were moving to attack on all sides at once and so the last defenders were placed accordingly.

Both Rodney and Elizabeth were armed, and Rodney had managed to acquire another knife. He had already been involved in a fight when he had been falling back to the gate room after an attempt to secure the Ancient's power control centre. John had commented favourably on his obvious improvement, but Rodney refrained from saying that fighting for his life had been more practice than sparring with Teyla, far more than he'd ever wanted.

While still a short, slightly chubby man, a fact which was slowly changing, so much time spent fiddling with technology with tiny components had given Rodney particularly good hand-eye coordination and he had reasonably sharp reflexes. Provided he stayed calm, he made a pretty good close-quarters fighter. His aim was still shoddy though, but, though John would never admit it, he could think of few others he'd want to watch his back.

However, in this fight, that wouldn't be so. The team opposite John's was attacked with far more strength, and so everyone not already involved was called there. The physicist was yet again faced with one-on-one fighting against a man a good foot taller and a lot stronger.

So far he'd managed to avoid the ham like fist and the gun used like a club. However, he was tiring quickly. Lashing out at chest height, he drew a red streak across his opponent's chest, but it probably only served to aggravate him.

A fist catching him in the chest sent Rodney sprawling across the floor. The Genii trooper swung his gun in an arc that would knock Rodney out at best. The worst didn't even bear thinking about.

Just moments before it connected, Rodney felt like he was pulled bodily away, while not seeming to go anywhere. The Genii vanished in the nauseating blur and was replaced by the unobstructed view of the gate room ceiling. He'd been pulled back yet again.

Realising he looked quite a sight, bloody knife in hand and blood, both his and someone else's, smeared on clothes and face, he decided to head to his room before explaining the situation.