Dislcaimer: Not ours, not by a long shot.
Authors' Note: Before you all die of shock, yes, this is a return to regular updating, the entire thing is all shiny and finished, and we're just working the last few kinks out of it! Never fear! The end is near!
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Chapter Nine
"So yeah, we're making some progress, Alina and her people seem very helpful," Sheppard's slightly distorted voice informed the control room. "I'll radio you back in another hour, let you know if we're any closer to actually finding this thing."
"Okay, Major," Elizabeth replied. "Take care of yourselves out there."
A couple of seconds later the Stargate disengaged, and over in his corner of the control room where nobody could see him, Rodney rolled his eyes. Was she actually trying to jinx Sheppard via the radio? Next thing everyone knew, the major would be dragging the rest of the team battered and bloody through the wormhole, ranting about angry spear-wielding natives, or someone with a delightfully primitive version of a Beretta, or –
He blinked. That was morbid. He looked back to the active screen in front of him. Numbers, figures and diagrams in two languages. Much safer fare, even if he still couldn't figure out a way to safely feed power to the long-range sensors from the naquada generators without something overloading and something else exploding.
He reached across for his tablet to start inputting some more variations for the power schemes when the entire console he'd been staring at flared to life, with one... particular... tracker... on the screen... being enough to –
"Weir! Doctor Weir, we have a Wraith dart inbound for the city!"
"What?" Elizabeth ran over to join him, everyone else in the control room either snapping to attention or else craning their necks around to McKay's console.
Rodney pointed to the screen. "That," he said, slowly this time, "is a Wraith dart, and it is headed for Atlantis."
"How far out?"
"Uh..." Rodney shook his head. "Maybe thirty minutes. Sensors didn't pick it up before – well, because there were no sensors. But it's practically right on top of us!"
Elizabeth was already back at the other end of the control room. "Sergeant," she told the Canadian on duty, "radio Bates, get him up here immediately."
"Yes, ma'am." The technician was already doing it.
"Rodney." Weir's attention was back on him now. "Name our best pilot."
Well, that was a stupid question. "Sheppard," he answered instantly. "But he's off-world."
"I know that, Rodney," she said tersely. "Who else is capable of flying a 'jumper?"
"In a straight line?" he asked, glancing between her and the readouts on the screen beside him. "Uh... not that many. Stackhouse has some kind of flu, I think. Markham's available, don't exactly know where he is though. Other than that there's Carson but he's so scared of the damn things it'll be a miracle if it gets off the ground, and, uh…"
"That just leaves you, Rodney," Elizabeth replied, "doesn't it?"
Rodney blanched. "Me? Up there? But straight lines! I can't, I mean, they aren't exactly my forte."
"They won't need to be, Doc," a new voice said from behind him.
It turned out to be Bates. "What's the situation, ma'am?" he asked Elizabeth.
"We have a single Wraith dart on a course for Atlantis," she informed him. "We could do with some eyes in the sky to figure out exactly what it's doing."
Bates nodded. "My recommendation would be at least two 'jumpers in the air, each with a co-pilot."
Weir nodded back. "I'm all for that."
Bates reached for his radio. "Bates to Markham, report to the 'jumper bay in two minutes." He turned back to Weir. "That's one pilot."
"And Rodney will be piloting the second 'jumper," Weir told him, seemingly ignorant of Rodney's look of protest in her direction.
"Very well, ma'am," Bates replied without hesitating or even glancing at Rodney. "I'll get Corporal Miller to ride shotgun with Markham." When Weir nodded her approval, Bates did one of those about-turn things and marched towards the staircase that led up to the 'jumper bay level, leaving Rodney trying not to squawk as Elizabeth approached him and gently pried the tablet from his hands.
"You'll be fine, Rodney," she assured him with a smile.
Oh, I am so a dead man.
o o o o o
Ten minutes after signing off with Weir in Atlantis, John arrived back at the dig site set up by his team and Alina's people. Over on the far side from where he was, Zelenka and Alina herself were poring over the map they'd managed to produce from what had been left of the various historical records relating to the ZPM, while Ford and Teyla were the only ones actually digging; John smirked at that before grabbing a spade and jumping down into the shallow pit two sections over from Ford.
"All he's missing is a whip," he muttered. He stopped digging just in time to see Ford chuckle, and Teyla look mystified.
"I'm guessing we don't tell the Doc that?" Ford asked innocently, after he'd whispered something to Teyla.
John shook his head. "Not 'til we're done here, Lieutenant," he replied smartly, pointing at the half finished holes around them. "We've still two more to go."
Ford sighed, but started digging again.
"Major!" Teyla called as a dull thunk from her spade echoed round the dig site. "I believe I have found it."
John moved to her position as Zelenka dropped the map and hurried over. Teyla had dropped to her knees and was about to start scraping the dirt away when they reached her.
"Just like the other boxes," said Zelenka excitedly, leaning in to help, his fingers scrabbling in the dirt to free the box.
Alina had come up beside him. "That makes eight," she said, excited. "Is it in there?"
A few seconds later Zelenka pried the top of the box away to reveal the small grey embossed stone. "Just like the map said," he replied, just as excited.
Then, almost in sync with each other, they both turned to look at John. "Alright, good work Teyla," he said. Then: "Okay, where do we need to go next?"
Alina went back to pick up the map Zelenka had dropped, and studied it for a few seconds. "This way," she said, pointing into the nearest treeline.
"Ford, help Alina and Doctor Zelenka pack up," John ordered, already moving out to scout the direction he'd been pointed in. "Let's go get us a ZPM."
o o o o o
When Rodney got to the 'jumper bay, Bates was already there waiting for him. "About time you showed up, Doc," the sergeant informed him bluntly. "According to Control, the dart's only fifteen minutes out from our perimeter, and Markham's already up in the air."
"Well, good for him," Rodney retorted. He opened the hatch to the nearest Puddlejumper with his mind, slightly gratified at Bates' momentary look of surprise. He then sighed. "What, are you waiting for an invitation?"
Bates said nothing, but stalked into the Jumper and sat down in the co-pilot's chair and tapped his radio. "Bates to Weir."
"Go ahead, Sergeant."
"Have Doctor Beckett on standby to fly a third 'jumper if we need one."
"He won't like it, but acknowledged," Weir replied.
Bates looked up as Rodney completed pre-flight checks in the rear compartment and moved forwards to take the pilot's chair. "You ready?" he asked impatiently.
"Yes," Rodney replied, not looking at him. "Just following procedures." He activated the controls and eased the 'jumper slowly out of the bay and up into the impending battle.
o o o o o
"Doctor Z, are you sure we're digging in the right place?" Ford whined, leaning on his shovel and wiping his sweaty brow. "It didn't take this long to find the other stones."
"All the other stones were exactly where the map said they would be," Zelenka replied, squinting at little at him. "There is no reason to assume this one is any different."
Stopping digging for a moment, John eyed Ford. "So keep digging, Lieutenant," he said, glancing at Teyla, who had also paused from her work when Ford had spoken up. "If the map says it's here then we'll find it eventually."
Ford looked like he wanted to complain about that, but instead he pulled the shovel out of the ground and started digging a couple of metres from where he'd been before.
For the next couple of minutes all that could be heard was the sound of three people hard at work, and two more people talking quietly. Until...
"Hey, hey!"
"What is it now, Lieutenant?" John asked.
Ford grinned. "I think I found it!"
Zelenka's head shot up at that, and he moved quickly across the dig site to where Ford was brushing away more earth. As he passed by John, he heard a quiet, "I think I could use a whip, Major."
John thought about this for a moment, then moved to join everyone else at Ford's section of the site. With the lieutenant's help, Zelenka finished uncovering a large engraved stone set in the ground, too large to be the container for the last piece they were looking for.
"It bears the mark of the Brotherhood," Alina said, pointing out the pattern in the centre, with Ancient text around it.
John nodded. "What does it say?" He raised an eyebrow. "Indiana."
Seemingly ignoring him, Zelenka squinted at the symbols. "It is a warning. That only the members of the Brotherhood may enter the chamber."
Alina nodded. "That matches what we have found in our archives," she told Zelenka.
"Chamber?" Ford asked.
John indicated the stone. "What say we try and lift that up, see what's underneath? Teyla, with me. The equipment we need's back at the monastery."
An hour later they'd returned to the dig site with the hauling equipment and Alina's assistant, whose name John could never quite get right, and lifted the cover stone up and aside to reveal what looked a lot like an underground chamber. Ford dropped a couple of glow sticks down the hole, which showed it to only be a few metres down.
"So," Zelenka said, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "Who do we send down first?"
"I'll go," John answered, lifting his P-90 over his shoulder.
Ford nodded. "I'll keep watch on things up here, sir," he said.
It took almost ten minutes to get everyone safely into the chamber, and of course, that was when everything went to Hell.
"Major Sheppard, how nice to see you again."
John looked at Teyla, her look of recognition confirming his gut feeling. Behind her, Zelenka frowned. "Who is that?" he asked quietly.
Motioning to Zelenka to keep quiet, John looked back at Teyla.
"Kolya?" she called out.
A shadow cast over the entrance to the chamber; Acastus Kolya smiled down at John and the others. "Surprised to see me?"
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