STARGATE ATLANTIS: The Island
Summary: A strange island appears off the mainland that raises curiosity… and trouble!
Spoilers: No Man's Land.
Season: early 3
Pairing: ShWeir
Disclaimer: I don't own it, etc.
Author's Note: OK, i got a little confused by a review I got that said something about the Island being and island of ice. I'm not quite sure where the idea came from, but just to clarify, it's actually a jungle-ish island (though it does get a little cold...). Anyway, on with the show! Please R&R as always. Thanx. Enjoy!
The Island: Chapter 2 – Lost
Panic rose in the control room like a tidal wave. The Daedalus immediately broke orbit and was back in the city within minutes of the data being recorded. Caldwell raced to the gate room – to the barely contained chaos – and located Rodney before anyone could get in his way.
"What happened doctor?" the Colonel barked as he took the stairs three at a time.
Rodney's attention was divided between three different screens. As Caldwell reached the top of the stairs, he shook his head and threw up his arms.
"I have no idea… it's just gone," he said in bewilderment.
"Sheppard and Dr Weir?" Caldwell said as a question.
Rodney looked him straight in the eye, his expression deadly serious.
"We've had no radio contact with them since the island disappeared." There was a hint of fear in his voice.
"Where did it go?" Caldwell demanded.
"I don't know."
"I don't need you to be accurate, doctor," Caldwell insisted. "Give me anything. Theories. Ideas. Hell! I'll take a wild stab in the dark!"
Rodney shook his head. "I'm sorry, Colonel. I really have no idea."
Of all that had happened in the last few minutes, this statement from Rodney shook Caldwell the most. Rodney always had answers – often at the most ridiculous times. But this was completely alien to them all.
"Alright," he said calmly. "McKay you and Zelenka hit the database. Try and dig up anything you can on this. I don't care how tenuous a link you think it is. I want to know. Right now, any lead is better than nothing."
Rodney didn't hesitate in setting about the task. He knew, for once, that this was no time to argue over chain of command.
"Somebody get Ronon, Teyla and Dr Beckett into a jumper and over the site as soon as possible," Caldwell shouted to anyone who would listen to the order. Three people were instantly on their radios to alert the trio – a comfort to Caldwell.
He looked around the control room to the other personnel executing the tasks they felt would help.
"Recall all off-world teams," he said to the technician sitting closest to the DHD. "And then suspend all off-world travel. We're gonna need everyone on this."
The technician nodded and began dialling addresses. Caldwell looked at his watch. It was less than eighteen hours until their weekly status report to Earth.
"OK," he said to the few members of his crew who had followed him from the ship. "Get back up there. See what Hermiod can do to bolster our tracking systems. I want them found."
His crew scattered.
"And someone get me a print out of everything that was going on before it disappeared!" He wasn't leaving anything to chance.
The air turned to ice. Everything around them was black, but somehow they could still see as if in daylight. It was as though the universe had contracted to that single island. An eerie stillness fell around them, so silent that both thought they had gone deaf. Not a breath of wind moved the trees and neither did they feel the air move past their bodies.
John breathed heavily and tried hard to suppress the panic rising in his throat. Elizabeth stood still, her eyes fixed on where the sky had been.
"Daedalus, report," he said again. "Colonel Caldwell do you read me?"
"Hello!" Elizabeth screamed from beside him. Her voice, shrill and riddled with fear, carried away from them and seemed to hover for a moment as if undecided as to whether it should continue to echo or simply cease to be heard. Soon, it faded to nothing.
John could see confusion terror and hysteria in her eyes. Never a good combination.
Suddenly, the sound of an enormous rip boomed about them, drawing their attention upwards. It was accompanied by a brilliant flash of green and blue that shot, shimmering and rippling, overhead. It disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
"What was that?" Elizabeth breathed. John shook his head in response. But the apparition had made him think.
If the rest of the world around them had disappeared, why not them? He looked out across to the edge of the cliff they had landed on. With no warning, he fired his P90 at the blackness.
Elizabeth visibly jumped away from him in shock. Each and every one of the bullets hit a shield and lit up the violet energy encasing them in a bubble.
"We're trapped." Elizabeth stepped past John as the shield sank back to its invisible state. She stared at the void in front of her.
"That's probably a good thing," John replied as he headed back into the jumper.
"A good thing?!" Elizabeth repeated spinning to face him. "How exactly is any of this a good thing?!"
John didn't reply. There was nothing he could say that would make the situation any better. He sat down in the pilot's chair and waited as the tiny ship blinked into life.
"What're you doing?" Elizabeth asked realising her pervious question would remain unanswered.
"Seeing if this thing can tell us anything."
"Like what?!"
"I don't know. Anything!" he snapped.
Elizabeth huffed out a breath in the hopes of calming herself down. Her brain was working too fast trying to process what had happened; she couldn't think straight. She closed her eyes and rubbed the sides of her nose with her index fingers.
"Didn't Rodney say something about the mountain?" she said eventually and with more composure.
"What do you mean?" John didn't look at her; he was pressing as many buttons as were available to him.
"That's where the signal was coming from."
John looked out of the front window and up the mountain's slope. There was nothing unusual looking about it. Nothing that suggested the answer was at its peak.
But then again, nothing that had just happened was exactly usual. And it was the only lead they had. And if Rodney's record was anything to go by, it was most likely their best option.
"Alright," he said resolutely. "Then that's where we'll start."
Elizabeth followed him into the rear compartment and watched as he took inventory of everything in their possession. He began handing things to her – a P90 and sidearm, ammo, first aid field kit, MREs, water… she soon lost track of what she was stuffing into the backpack. She just trusted that what he was handing her could possibly save her life at some point. She felt numb with fear.
"So," she said through the silence, her voice wavering. "This is what this feels like."
John stopped. He looked at her. He knew exactly what she meant. This was what it felt like to be completely cut off from home with no way of knowing how to get back, or even to know if someone was looking for you. All you had was yourself, your supplies and hope. And you hoped like hell that itwould be enough.
So…
"Yeah," he said quietly. "This is what it's like."
It was not a comforting thought.
It was difficult to come up with a theory to something that no-one could even begin to rationalise. Now, nearly a day after the island had disappeared, they were none the wiser as to exactly why it had vanished, where it had gone or even how it had appeared in the first place.
Rodney and Zelenka had all but locked themselves into the V.R. room and were wrestling with the holographic lady designed to help search through the archive. It seemed to be doing anything but helping as both men despaired at their lack of progress with it.
Caldwell had taken up temporary residence in Weir's office – surprisingly to no-one's objection and had refused to see anyone unless they had something important to contribute to the search. Needless to say, he had had few interruptions, save from the quarter hourly updates he had requested from the Daedalus. In the mean time, he poured over every scrap of data the personnel could hand him about the island.
He was particularly interested in the signal McKay had detected from the mountain. But, sure enough, like McKay, he couldn't make much of it. The energy pattern was similar to many distress signals the city had identified over the last year or so, but it was by no means a definitive match. Eventually, Caldwell had had to admit defeat and put it aside for the moment. There was more than enough other data to sift through.
"Sir," a technician interrupted his concentration. "We're three hours past the agreed contact time."
Caldwell glanced at his watch. Twenty-one hours had passed him by and they were no closer to finding their people. His stomach suddenly felt lead lined.
"Dial it up sergeant," he ordered, rising from Dr Weir's desk. He found it ironic that he felt so awkward occupying her chair. Afterall, it had nearly been his, but still it didn't feel right.
By the time he reached the control room, the connection to earth was established.
"Well, it's about time, Atlantis. I was beginning to –" Landry cut short when Caldwell filled his monitor instead of Dr Weir. "– worry," he finished with a hint of dread in his voice.
"I'm sorry sir," Caldwell said. "There's been an incident. Colonel Sheppard and Dr Weir are missing."
"What happened Colonel?" Landry insisted.
Caldwell explained with the whole affair; from the island's sudden appearance to its mysterious disappearance, and the chaos that had followed.
"Teyla, Ronon and Beckett returned from the site a few hours ago, sir. There's nothing there that would indicate the island's whereabouts and no sign of the Colonel or Dr Weir."
"What about their locators?"
Caldwell shook his head. "Nothing, sir. We can only assume they're out of range. Zelenka and McKay are working on the database to see if –"
"I get the idea, Colonel," Landry interrupted. "You're doing everything you can."
"Yes sir," Caldwell muttered in response. He was still sure he was missing something.
"Colonel," Landry said after a moment. "We'll find them."
"Yes sir," he said with a little more bravado. He hated this part. The waiting. But there was nothing else they could do until someone stumbled onto that one vital piece of intell that would start the search properly. In all his years of service, this was his least favourite responsibility of command. He would even have gone as far to say that he preferred to be the one stranded. At least then there was something to do. From the ground, you could at least think your own way out. But command naturally obscured what happened in the field. His hands were tied.
The wormhole dissolved before him, leaving Caldwell staring at the dormant gate. He hesitated a moment, trying not to think too much about what could be happening to Sheppard and Weir.
"Sir," once again he was distracted from his thoughts.
He looked blankly at the Sergeant.
"Your orders, sir?"
Caldwell let out a weary breath. "Keep looking"
Author's Note: Hopefully not so long between chapters this time! Sorry about that.