Author's Note: Sorry these updates have been so slow in coming. Both Organized Chaos and Fate's Fickle Humor should now be updated at least weekly, if not faster. Thank you so much to all who read and review. If I haven't been able to send you an individual reply, please accept my apologies.
Chapter 5: Temporal Headaches
"Jack, you're being an ass again."
Daniel watched as his old friend reacted to the sound of his voice. It appeared this wasn't the day for SG-1 to anticipate surprises since even Teal'c looked shocked, Jonas went pale, and Sam and Jack both let their mouths hang open.
"Daniel!"
The archaeologist grinned tightly as four voices breathed the name at the same time.
"Hi, Sam, Teal'c, Jonas. Jack, don't throw another shoe at me 'cause this time it'll bounce. Wasn't exactly expecting all of you to drop in and I'd love to explain, but we have a few problems at the moment. Ronon, Teyla, Colonel Sheppard is down and McKay doesn't know how long this shield can keep the Wraith out, so..."
The Satedan scowled fiercely at the news while Teyla blanched, though neither one of them lowered their weapons.
"What about them?" A dread locked head jerked at SG-1.
From the corner of his eye, Daniel noted Jack opening his mouth to reply to that, probably with something snidely sarcastic, and shook his head. Surprisingly, his friend subsided, leaving the scientist wondering if he ought to pop out of nowhere on them more often.
"They're friends. McKay read a temporal flux of some sort just as all the Wraith appeared, so that probably is responsible for this SG-1 showing up as well." Both alien members of the Atlantis team stared at him in utter confusion, and Daniel had to wonder how they'd gotten off so lucky that they weren't familiar with the signs of time travel. "Look, it might be better to get everyone together before we go through any more of this. If we leave them alone too long, Colonel Mitchell might be tempted to shoot Dr. McKay."
A wicked grin creased Carter's face. "And how is this a problem?"
Ronon rolled his eyes, lowering his weapon with a snort as Teyla ducked her head to hide a smile.
"They've met McKay all right. Lead on." The Satedan's dry comment earned him a chiding look from the Athosian, whose lips were twitching mighty suspiciously.
"Ronon! That is not polite!"
"This way."
Daniel turned on his heel, leading them quickly through the ruins, pointedly ignoring Jack's fiercely muttered questions. The last thing he needed right now was to get into a verbal sparring match with Jack over what had happened on Jonas' planet and his ascension.
Jack still wasn't quite sure he believed what was happening. Daniel, appearing out of nowhere, dressed in SG gear after the last they saw of him, he was going to face off with Anubis? And temporal anything was never good in the colonel's experience. Jack ground his teeth in irritation, reminding himself that yelling, while it might make one feel better, would be useless aimed at Dr. Daniel Jackson, no matter how tempting.
Daniel led them through several rooms filled with debris, though all had their walls mostly intact. That alone would have told Jack that they were in a different location, though events had made that obvious even to him. Finally, they emerged into a room much like the one SG-1 had started this fiasco in, complete with crystalline pedestal/console thingy. Except this one was lit up and the place looked deserted at first glance. Slowly, however, a slightly pudgy, very familiar figure appeared, mouth hanging open in a satisfying way. It was about time some one else got a few shocks around this strange place. From the shadows to their left, a second figure soon emerged. Another man, who bore a striking resemblance in ethnic features to Daniel, but whose every smooth,wary move shouted 'military!' to those who knew what to look for. Like Jack. The other man blinked rapidly, staring at Jack in puzzlement before glancing at Daniel.
"Jackson! You picked up a few friends! What the hell is General O'Neill doing here?"
He better not have heard that right. Daniel wincing, however, made him pretty sure he had.
"Excuse me? General? Bite your tongue!" Jack told the younger man in mock outrage, really wishing someone would come tell him this was some glowy being's idea of a bad joke.
McKay shot the other man a look that would have slain him in his tracks were that possible, while managing to project an air of superiority as well.
"Uh, hello? Yes, listen to the genius. I said there had been a temporal flux, remember? Or doesn't your limited military mentality grasp what that means? Carter's wearing a major's insignia and they've got that funny alien guy with them again."
The Canadian astrophysicist folded his arms smugly, giving the other man a pointed glare. His companion, however, just cocked his head at Carter, arms resting on the butt of the P-90 hanging from his vest.
"You know, Carter, you were right about him. He's as arrogant and annoying as a Gou'ld, but you can't actually shoot him. Make yourself useful, McKay, and find a first aid kit. John clipped his head on that damn machine when he went down and its still bleeding. Ronon, Teyla, according to your pain-in-the-butt team mate, we're clear of Wraith within the shield, but..."
Teyla was quick to speak up from where she knelt beside a form in the shadows, Ronon standing nearby. Jack blinked hard, wondering how they'd gotten there when he hadn't even noticed either of them moving!
"The life signs detector is reliable unless the Wraith are in hibernation, which would be highly unlikely here. What happened to Colonel Sheppard?"
An irritated McKay handed a kit to Daniel's look-alike, who immediately took Teyla's position beside the downed colonel. The scientist then confronted his two team mates.
"Our favorite Ancient Tech activating fly boy somehow got this shield up in spite of the fact that all my readings show there are several damaged connections that should have prevented any such thing. It seemed to be either draining power from him or backlashed it into him, I don't know which. Either way, we have until the shield gives out to figure out how to get through the Wraith and back to At- the base- to get him medical help. And watch what you say, our visitors are from approximately three years in the past and I do not have time to fix the time line if you screw it up."
Jack bit back a groan, exchanging long-suffering looks with his team. Time travel was one of his least favorite accidental outcomes of gate travel, mostly because it inevitably led to lengthy confusing explanations from Carter. Ones that left him with migraines if he wasn't lucky enough to fall asleep. Why couldn't they have found themselves a nice normal black hole instead? The older man gifted them all with a pained smile.
"Been there, done that, they wouldn't let me bring back the t-shirt. So, Daniel, all done with the whole glowy bit? And what the hell were those white-haired Incredible Hulk wanna-bes, anyway?"
A purse-lipped glare from the archaeologist made Jack start feeling right at home. It had been way too long since he'd gotten one of those.
"They're called Wraith and you should shoot them on sight. That's all you need to know, Jack. Just where were you guys and what happened? We need to figure out how to reverse this mess. At a nod from the still annoyed Jack, Carter offered their former team mate a brief account of their mission.
"We were on M369-X127 exploring some ruins there with a type of writing we'd never seen before. It was a room remarkably similar to this one, but not as well-preserved, as well as an identical console, though that one wasn't glowing."
Daniel and McKay both grimaced, pointedly directing their gazes at Jack, who began to shift nervously.
"What!" He demanded finally, getting more than a little aggravated by the whole situation, which now someone seemed to be implying was his fault. "I didn't do anything!"
"Jack..." Daniel chided his former team leader. "Did you touch anything?"
"Well... I did lean on that console. Carter did it earlier and nothing happened! There was a flash of light and some guy who looked like he was dipped in gold paint, then we were here. Getting shot at, I might add!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Jack noted Carter and Jonas hastily stepping away from another piece of equipment they had both been staring at. Good. They had more than enough headaches already without those two finding more. McKay, meanwhile, was touching the glowing console, muttering rapidly to himself, though he seemed to be taking great care in where he put his hands. He was oddly reassured to see the strange warrior, Ronon, taking up a guard position at one door while Teal'c handled the other. At least they wouldn't find themselves surprised by the enemy while they tried to sort this whole mess out.
"Carter, go see if you can give McKay a hand with anything, figure out how long we have before this shield goes down."
At his order, the major nodded, though her eyes flashed with distaste at the notion of dealing with her arrogant counterpart. Jack, meanwhile, moved to check on the status of the young officer whose head was being bandaged by the man who was apparently Colonel Mitchell and the woman, Teyla. At his approach, the man who so resembled Daniel glanced up reassuringly.
"I don't think its too serious. Sheppard always has had a hard head."
"Good, 'cause your genius seems to think that shield won't last too long and this really isn't a great defensive area. Just how much do you know about the situation here? Colonel Mitchell, isn't it?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell, sir. And not that much. I'm usually with Daniel, Sam and Teal'c, not this bunch. My counterpart here, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, is the one who should be in the lead at the moment. As soon as he bothers to quit lazing around."
"Great. Just peachy. Another day, another snafu."
General Hammond was going to love this one. He hated time travel conundrums almost as much as Jack himself, since answers over what happened and why were typically in very short supply.
Mitchell rolled his eyes as if reading Jack's thoughts, though he turned to Teyla with a question instead of commenting.
"Where the hell'd the Wraith come from, anyway? Didn't think they could appear out of thin air like that. John said you were some sort a walking Wraith radar."
The older SG-1 colonel filed that one away for later, instantly seeing the potential advantages of that little ability.
"I am, Colonel Mitchell. It should not have been possible to achieve such complete surprise over us. Ronon and I were on patrol and I sensed nothing. They were surrounding us with no warning whatsoever. Even had I somehow failed to sense them, Ronon should easily have heard the gate open, given our positioning. We heard nothing."
Neither colonel needed to articulate the sinking dread settling over them at that news.
The first thing John noticed upon regaining consciousness was just how much his head hurt. What the hell had happened this time? And why did the infirmary beds feel like rocky ground? Exhaustion pulled at him, keeping him from forcing his eyes open immediately. At least until an all too familiar voice and tone registered, then he didn't even try to bite back a groan.
"-don't know the slightest thing about this technology! You can't just jerry-rig a substitute like your assembly line crappy military gear! Now-"
Time to find out just who McKay was yelling at, because as far as John was aware, no one with them would be trying the actions the man was ranting about. He began the potentially painful process of forcing himself to a sitting position, keeping his eyes firmly closed as the dizziness hit. Crap. The last thing he needed right at the moment was a concussion. Hands were quickly there, helping him upright, then gently urging him to scoot his sore body back a bit until he was supported by something hard and cold. Finally, no longer feeling as if he would pitch over, he allowed his eyes to slip open to meet the concerned gazes of Teyla on one side and a man he didn't know on the other.
"Who're you and what Puddle jumper did I get in the way of?"
The man blinked at him in puzzlement for a few seconds as John tried to assess his injuries. Teyla smiled, handing John a canteen, though she kept a firm grip on it so he couldn't gulp the liquid as he wanted to. His team was getting to know him too well, he noted sourly.
"Puddle-jumper? I thought I'd finally learned the names of all the Earth vehicles, but that's one I've never heard before."
The strange man looked to Teyla for an explanation, leaving John confused. Where had this man come from, anyway? He seemed to be wearing typical military gear, but he wasn't anyone John knew, nor did it sound as if he were native to Earth.
"It is not from Earth. It is a vehicle used here. How are you feeling, Colonel?"
"Headache, but I'm good." Gingerly, John reached for the sore spot throbbing on his head only to get his hand softly slapped by the Athosian. "Ow! Hey! What happened anyway? Everyone else all right?"
A fleeting flash of something at his predictable question. "We are fine. What do you remember of the mission we were on?"
John sighed, trying to decide why Teyla was suddenly so intent on playing twenty questions with him before realizing she was doing a neural check. With a wince, he began to search his memory. Daedalus had arrived, he'd dodged Caldwell by taking Cam and Dr. Jackson around... McKay had made an idiot of himself while examining a weird tablet. Right, the mission to explore the ruins, let McKay and Jackson have their fun, then the Wraith showed up and... Nothing. He immediately said as much to Teyla, who nodded reassuringly.
"Whose McKay arguing with anyway? And where'd the shield come from?" The pilot frowned, glancing around his limited area, most of the room blocked by the now glowing console. "McKay!"
At his call, a number of people appeared, crowding around the sitting man, at least one of whom he was certain wasn't supposed to be here. Could they have possibly gotten themselves into even more trouble on his very first mission back? John was going to have to start banning anyone from saying a mission would be easy, no problem, simple, or any variation of that idea. They seemed to have been jinxing themselves.
"Oh good, you're awake. Care to tell me what you did this time? And by the way, what part of 'don't touch anything' did your military mentality fail to grasp?"
The Atlantis colonel could feel his anger rising at the snippy tone Rodney had adopted. It was one thing to be rude to your team lead when it was just the team, but quite another when strangers were present.
"I tripped, McKay! Falling into the stupid console was sheer bad luck! Now-" John gritted his teeth, sternly reminding himself that the astrophysicist couldn't help his complete lack of people skills and Elizabeth would frown on the man returning home missing pieces. "Would someone care to fill me in on the situation?"
Ten minutes later, he was sorry he'd asked. SG-1 from the past in the wrong galaxy, Wraith outside the shield between them and the gate, and an Ancient device McKay had no idea how to make reverse what it had done, besides having at least one burnt out control crystal McKay would have to return to Atlantis to retrieve a replacement for. Perfect. Carson was going to lock the infirmary doors and never let him out again. John could feel the headache building already. Finally, he glanced over to Jack O'Neill, crouched nearby. There was one last issue that had to be resolved now and it involved one of his very favorite topics- chain of command.
"I realize you're senior to me, sir, but-"
A dismissive wave before he could even finish the tentative suggestion. "You know what's what and Daniel trusts you, so that's good enough for me. Just keep me in the loop as much as possible, please."
The younger colonel didn't bother to hide his relief at those words. If O'Neill had decided to be as big a pain as Caldwell... But he already knew the officer wasn't. Look at what had happened in Antarctica!
"Colonel!"
Three heads snapped around at McKay's irritated call, John immediately struggling to his feet. The trio of colonels responded simultaneously.
"What?"
McKay stared at them for a moment, then the eye rolling started. "Not you two, my colonel. The one who used to be a major. God, why did they have to go promoting you? As if I didn't have enough new names to learn already..."
John told himself once again that no matter how tired he was, pitching something at the Canadian wasn't going to help.
"McKay... One, we were all majors at one time, that's the way the ranking goes. Two, what did you want?"
"Oh, right. Much as it pains me to admit it, Colonel Carter is right." From the distressed twisting of his features, John almost thought the scientist was constipated.
"You mean Major Carter? The one who's smarter than you are?"
Cam's eye took on a wicked gleam, his Southern drawl intensifying as he needled the other man. John almost smacked him.
"Cam! Not helping here!"
McKay was staring at the SG-1 colonel, face slowly tinging red even as John yelled at his friend. The Atlantis commander knew it wouldn't be long before the eruption and decided to try another source.
"Major Carter? Explanation?"
"Yes, sir. What McKay was trying to say was that the shield will fail in approximately twenty minutes."
One finger went up. "Ah, twenty-three minutes and... thirty-two seconds now, actually."
The astrophysicists glared at each other in annoyance and John concluded that yes, it was a good thing these two were normally in separate galaxies. Daniel leaned toward the Atlantis colonel and muttered, "I warned you."
Jack stiffened. "All right, kids, separate corners. I assume this means we need options for getting past our white-haired friends out there."
"To go where, exactly? We don't even know what time we're in! The Wraith appearing so suddenly suggests SG-1 may not have been the only ones moved! If we went back and... the base- quit glaring at me, Sheppard, I know enough not to say the name- is still underwater, we're sunk!"
Several of the gathered group groaned at the inadvertent pun, while the past SG-1 simply smiled, puzzled.
"What if we're all in the future?" Jonas Quinn asked.
McKay blinked. "Then we impact the base shield at a velocity that is... much too high. We're in deep trouble."
"Rodney..." John chided his team mate wearily. "That's what the Alpha Site is for. Unfortunately, we're not going to have much choice about going through the Wraith. I just hope they're no longer keeping it active. Ronon, Teyla, Rodney, which ever one of us reaches the gate first, dial the Alpha site and hold it open. Only the gate is in any type of clearing, so they shouldn't be able to use Darts. Cam and Daniel, I want you to stay with Teyla and remember Wraith can make you see things that aren't there. Teal'c, Quinn, you're with Ronon. Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, with McKay and I. Any questions?"
Relief washed through him as everyone silently nodded, even McKay and Carter. None of them particularly liked the plan, but not knowing if anyone was around to even rescue them didn't leave a whole lot of options. The Wraith were in the superior tactical position at the moment, able to simply wait them out or overwhelm them with sheer numbers. They had to move.
There wasn't long to wait before the shield began to flicker and John silently cursed as a wave of dizziness rushed through his head. Fortunately, he was already leaning against a wall and a furtive glance around after his head stopped spinning told him no one seemed to have noticed. Good. The last thing he wanted was for his team to kick up their 'protect the colonel' streak they'd acquired lately and insist on staying with him. Breaking into groups provided their best chance to scatter the Wraith and win through to the gate.
Above him, the shield began to flash on and off, signaling its imminent failure. A peek at his watch showed Rodney actually off by about 43 seconds. He would have to give the man grief for that later, he noted as yet more vertigo washed over him. Once again, however, it appeared to have gone unnoticed by his companions. Turning, he caught the eye of each member of his little group, receiving a nod of readiness.
"Okay. No stopping for take out on the way, even roast Wraith. Let's go!"