Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original creators characters or ideas, etc (thought I should place this in at least one chapter)
Author's note: This chapter is going to back track a little and hopefully assist anyone that isn't as familiar with Stargate or is confused by the two 'Weir' sisters. Thanks for the reviews and comments everyone, I hope to hear from more of you soon:
Rybkakoi: Thanks Jhopefully the chapters will be regular, I would say they will most likely be a weekend only occurrence once uni starts though.
Guest: Having two Dr Weirs does make it confusing, but for now I want that to be the effect J I hope you'll enjoy the story whether or not the canon continues on in this way.
Placing her last book upon its shelf, G took in her new home. She had been lucky enough to have a room with a large window, which over looked parts of the city and the Ocean and a large bed, which she definitely hadn't expected. Not that it mattered; the bed was quickly covered in books and research papers, which surrounded her laptop in a halo of work. Her shelves now contained photos and items from home; her certificate for completing a red belt in taekwondo, her photo albums which her sister had kindly recovered for her after the accident, her many books on nanotechnology and scientific coding as well as books pertaining to the basics of medical science and application. A single Persian rug hung from her wall beside the window, the purple and blue hues calming her and making her feel at home. Overall, G felt that the city seemed a little sterile, like the waiting room of a hospital or military base. Not dissimilar, she thought, to Stargate Command.
A low whistling sound brought her attention back to the present as her door was opened and a soldier stepped through, offering her a small tablet, which she hoped, was familiar Earth technology.
"Dr. Weir-" the soldier began, but G raised her hand silence him.
"G will do. If you have two Dr. Weir's running around the city there is going to be more than a little bit of confusion, am I right?" The soldier smiled and nodded.
"Lieutenant Aiden Ford, ma'am. I need you to follow me. Dr. Weir wants to brief you and get you up to speed with the expedition and then I'm to escort you to the training room so that Teyla can assess whether you have sufficient combat skills to go on off world missions." She nodded in reply, her silvery violet hair now falling around her shoulders and waist in curled tendrils. She quickly zipped up her fitted Stargate issue jacket and smiled as she stepped out of the room and around the soldier.
"Oh, Lieutenant, I know you mean all due respect, but don't call me 'ma'am' unless you want to get your ass kicked." She said with mild amusement at his somewhat bewildered face.
"Yes ma-, yes G," he said, still shocked and mildly amused that she had such an attitude compared to her sister.
The conference room was occupied by several people when G arrived, Teyla, Ronan, McKay, Beckett, Sheppard, Ford, another soldier named Evan Lorne and Weir were all seated around the large table discussing what G could only assume was their previous mission. Her sister approached her before she could sit and placed a warm hand on her upper arm.
"How are you settling it?" she asked in a quiet tone, her eyes lit with what G often supposed was amusement and light. Her sister was one of the most honorable, loyal and kindhearted person that she had had the chance to meet in her world so far, although truth be told, for G that was little more that a few years.
"I admit, I'm finding it quite daunting. The city is beautiful of course, but Eli, I don't know the first thing about this expedition. After all the trouble SGC had 8 months ago with powering the gate and attempting to use nanotech – which I advised against by the way – I was supposed to be on leave, I haven't been at SGC for at least two months now…"
"Hey, calm down. I know it all must seem overwhelming, but everyone here will help you settle in, and this meeting today is to get you up to date on everything we've found out so far," she gestured to the others around the room and G's tight shoulder and tense posture began to slightly relax. "I have faith in you G, you've never let me down and I know you're capable of taking this in, you've just got to try and have faith in yourself." G nodded and smiled sheepishly, she knew her sister was probably right, she knew she was intelligent, and she had been working hard since her accident to become someone who could protect others from a similar fate at the hands of alien foes. Sitting next to Teyla, G allowed herself a few deep breaths before meeting her sister's eyes and nodding to show that she was ready for the meeting to begin.
Elizabeth cleared her throat and the others all ceased their conversations and looked at her. "As you are all aware, G is joining this expedition full time and as such, she needs to be brought up to speed with everything we've found out about the Pegasus Galaxy so far. I also think there are a few things she will need to explain about herself and her particular skill set… If that's alright with you, G?" G nodded slowly, she always dreaded this part. Having to open up about herself meant having to deal with suspicion and criticism and often times being shunned. She just hoped that after seeing how much faith this team had in each other and their leader, they would trust that she was trustworthy. "Well," Elizabeth continued, sitting down at the head of the table, next to G, "where should we start?"
"It might be a god idea to tell her the basics first? I'd hate to overwhelm someone with no real experience in the field," said McKay. Whilst G knew that this was his own condescending brand of sincere concern, she couldn't help but to sneer at his assumption that she had no idea what she was to expect here.
"This isn't the first galaxy far far away I've been to Rodney," G said calmly, earning smirks from Lorne and Ford. "If it's at all possible tell me about the city first and then maybe about the species you have encountered? I am particularly interested in the enemies you seem to have already made. I have read your emails, Dr. Weir, but hearing these things first hand would be helpful."
"Well," said McKay, obviously niffed that G had rebuked his concern so easily. "The city runs on a power source that we call ZPMs, at the moment we are sustainable at our current power level, but if we ever hope to utilize the full potential of the city we'll need more…"
"Only problem is we're not the only ones that want em." Commented Lorne dismally.
"Yes, yes well I'll get to that," continued the scientist quickly. "We currently are able to power shields, life support, the gate, the living quarters, and some of the basic weaponry, if we have to. Although I doubt we would be able to withstand a serious attack for very long. So far we have been able to simply cloak the city – that means we can hide it…"
"Thank you Dr. McKay, I know what it means," hissed G, truly becoming frustrated with the mans attitude towards her. "Teyla, Dr. Weir mentioned that you were one of the first people they found upon using the gate in this galaxy?"
"Yes, my people, the Athosians were occupying a planet which was used as a wraith feeding ground," replied Teyla solemnly. "Your sister allowed us to relocate to Atlantis in order to escape the inevitable cullings of our kind. Since then we have been assisting your people here, in developing trade relations with some of the other planets in reach of the gates."
"So the wraith use particular planets as feeding grounds, I'm assuming they're territorial then?" G asked, the others looked at each other uncertainly. It was not an assumption that they had previously made and even Elizabeth was taken aback by how quickly her sister had adapted to the situation at hand. "Tell me more about them? Apart from them being some sort of space-vampire, I really don't know much." Sheppard snorted and Beckett looked as though her description was really quite apt.
"Well, lass, from wha' we've been able to sort out so far we know tha' they're a hive-based species tha' feed off the life-force of humans in this Galaxy using their hands. They hibernate during times of peace, bu' if they think a planet is becoming too developed they wake up and cull them back," Beckett looked truly disturbed by the information he was giving her, and her previous amusement at what she had described as space-vampires vanished, replaced quickly by apprehension.
"The wraith allow our kind to grow in numbers, and when that number reaches a certain point they return to cull their human herd. I know of many, many worlds in this Galaxy, but I know of none untouched by the wraith," Teyla said, and G noticed both herself and Ronan tense. She could tell by their body language that they had both experienced great loss at the hands of the wraith they described.
"I understand," G started cautiously. "I do understand that their food source is disturbing, but is there no way we could reach an agreement of peace treaty with them of some sort? I mean, is it really up to us to decide who may eat and who must starve?"
"G, you have to understand these guys are evil, they want to destroy anyone they think could threaten their little set up. We're at war here, there isn't gonna be a peace treaty." Sheppard replied, effectively ending her moral discomfort for the moment, at least in the presence of Teyla and Ronan who were obviously put off by what she had suggested.
"Very well," G conceded. "Who else have you encountered besides the Athosians, other similar settlements and the wraith?"
"There were the Genii," started Ford, looking at Sheppard they shared a look of clear irritation towards this particular species.
"Another enemy I'm guessing?" G questioned, looking to her sister for confirmation or correction.
"There have been… incidents," her sister admitted looking hesitant before continuing. "We have begun a tenuous alliance with their current leader Ladan Radim…"
"Essentially they are humans that hide their technological advancements in bunkers underground so that the wraith can't find them," McKay spoke quickly again. "I'd say they're about 60 years behind us in terms of their technology. They're a military society though so I still don't know that trusting them is the wisest decision." G had to admit it rather amused her when Rodney seemed to make decisions on behalf of the whole team. She had trained with him once and remembered their disagreements when it came to coding and all of the pompous opinions he had on the proper way to construct and deconstruct certain coding patterns.
"The only problem that we have with them at this point is a rogue Commander by the name of Acustus Kolya." Sheppard began, his voice betraying a strong dislike for the man in question. "He's been more trouble than he's worth."
G nodded in understanding. Pausing slightly she looked at her hands which were folded in her lap. The others could sense her unease and the visible change in her confidence levels were highly noticeable. This topic had to be addressed, she knew, she was simply dreading the association.
"Tell me about the replicators." Elizabeth placed a comforting hand on her sisters knee as she asked the inevitable question that would lead her down the road of revealing more about her own situation.
"They are known as the Asurans," Teyla began in her calm and confident voice, as though she were merely stating facts. G envied her that dissociation. "They are a technological life-form created by the Lanteans as a means of fighting the Wraith."
"But they took on a life of their own, lass. They used nanite technology which were designed to self replicate, bu' they had been coded with aggression to the point tha' they proved a danger to even the Ancients," Beckett assisted.
"When the Ancients decided that their experiment had gone too far, they decided to destroy the technology and the planet on which they had deserted them." Her sister continued for her.
"Except they didn't." it was the first time that G had heard Ronan speak and she was amused that he chose to speak such an obvious fact. Fueled by resentment, of course, G knew, but it did not stop her from being amused at his total warrior personality.
"And you managed to stumble through into a world that they had restored? Let me guess: once they realized you were from Atlantis, they wanted nothing more than to destroy you?" The people around the table nodded. G sighed and looked down at her hands once more. "I may be able to help face this threat, but it will take time, and for now it is probably a better idea to not approach that particular situation. I'm sure they desire nothing more that for us to attempt to fight them and in so doing reveal the location of this city." The others seemed to take in what she was saying and the general consensus seemed to be in agreement. Knowing that it was her turn to offer up some information G blanched, she really wasn't comfortable at all with her self and admitting her past to others just wasn't something she did well. She fought so hard to appear the sensible, calm and intelligent professional, but really there were many times when she felt little more than a scared and insecure young woman.
"I suppose there are some things about myself that you should all be made aware of before you place me on a team or allow me to become a true part of this expedition," she began, taking her sisters hand as subtly as she could. "I am the product of an experiment performed by SGC and some of the Asguardians that were acting in alliance with Earth."
"Experiment?" McKay looked at her skeptically. "What kind of experiment are we talking about here?"
"I was 26 years old when I became part of an SGC program designed to perfect the concept of Earth made Nanites capable of replicating within a human body for medical purposes." There was a sharp intake of breath and she didn't have to look up to know that she was being glared at warily. "The program started to malfunction and the Nanites began to attack the systems of those they could access. Not wanting to risk the life of the other staff there, I locked myself in with the robots and began to code a self-destruct sequence. I don't remember much after that other than waking up and being told that everything would be alright… Thor and some of the top scientists at SGC's disposal and managed to save a few of the non malfunctioning Nanites and merge them with Asguardian technology to ensure that they would not become infected with a similar virus. In order to save me, they injected them into my bloodstream… I guess it worked because I am here now."
"And what exactly does that mean in terms of your condition now, G?" Teyla questioned, her voice stern, but still with an undertone of concern and sympathy.
"Well for one, I am able to take in information at an extremely fast rate, it's how I was able to become qualified as a doctor of nono-technological sciences again so quickly after the incident," she started her explanation.
"Wait, again?" questioned McKay.
"Yes, again. The Nanites were able to save my body, but my memories were gone. Elizabeth and her mother took me in after that and helped with my recovery. I couldn't of asked for a kinder family," her sister gave her hand an encouraging squeeze. "I guess I sort of have a symbiotic relationship with the replicators inside of me now, they help me become stronger and I ensure their survival. Because of them I can communicate with technology to an extent and read data from allowing my Nanites access to the point of interest. That's how I could read Elizabeth's condition when I first arrived."
"Is there anything else these weird friends of yours can do?" Sheppard asked.
"Well to be honest, I've kind of avoided finding out, but I suppose, if Dr. McKay was at all interested we could try and determine the extent of their abilities?" Rodney's eyes lit up like a child on Christmas morning.
"Hmmm," Sheppard seemed to be mulling over a decision. "Sounds like you could be pretty handy in a tight spot. Dr. Weir, permission to add Dr…. Weir, to my team so that she can experience some off world action?" G giggled lightly as the Lt Colonel wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"Permission granted."