Title: The Last Chance
Date: 19th December 2007
Author: Kazavid
Chapter: 5/9
Rating: M
Pairing: John Sheppard / OFC - Alex from (Doppelgänger – Mating Instinct – Didn't think...)
Archiving: None
Warnings: Sexual Content
Spoilers: Anything up to The Seer
Feedback: Yes
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.
Summary: Four days, five chances, to stop Atlantis from being destroyed. And he can't tell anyone what he knows, or what he's doing. Is Sheppard up to the task, can he stop the destruction of Atlantis and save everyone he cares about.
The Last Chance
Chapter 5
John headed to the furthest part of Atlantis, a place where no one ever went, a place where he knew he wouldn't be disturbed.
Standing on the windswept balcony, he stared out over Atlantis, he kept thinking about what the voice had told him. Any help he needed would depend upon circumstances and how strong his desire to succeed was. Well his desire to succeed was pretty strong, so where was the help he needed.
"I need to know if I've changed anything?" he shouted out loudly.
He looked around hoping he'd see something, anything, that told him he wasn't talking to himself. He didn't even mind if he was suddenly surrounded by total blackness, at least then he'd know someone, or something, was there.
"I know you can hear me." he shouted louder, he was angry by the lack of a response. "Can't you just tell me if I've done enough, if I've managed to change anything?" he bit out. When he still didn't get any response he sat down on the bench and leaned back against the wall.
Maybe he should just kidnap everyone involved and lock them away for a couple of days, at least then he'd know where they were.
"You haven't changed anything."
He heard the words, but he wasn't sure if he'd thought them, or if he'd been given his answer. He lifted his head up, he was still on the balcony, and he was still alone.
"It's the only answer I can give you." the voice told him.
"But I destroyed the console and I've kept Alex away from the artefact. How can you tell me I haven't changed anything." John argued.
"Nothing has been changed."
"Then I might as well give up, because I don't know what else I can do." he shouted.
He stood up and walked over to the edge of the balcony and looked out over the city. Everything looked so peaceful and serene, it was hard to believe that in a couple of days it could all be gone, just a memory.
"You have to keep trying - you're so close - you can't give up."
"So close," John snorted, "You've just told me, that everything I've done hasn't changed a damn thing."
He waited for a come back response, but he got nothing, zilch.
"I want to see you." John told the voice, he wanted – no, he needed, to see who he was talking to.
"Seeing me now, would not help you to achieve anything. You have to trust me."
Trust, yeah, he knew all about trust, hadn't he just said the same thing to Ronon and Alex, 'trust me' but his trust in this voice he was hearing, was starting to waver. Mainly because his gut instinct was telling him that he didn't have all the facts on how Atlantis had been destroyed.
>>>>>ooooo>>>>>
As Alex and Ronon were walking to the mess hall, they bumped in to Teyla, who had just returned from visiting Rylan.
"Hey you're back, how did the meeting with your friend go?" Alex asked her.
"He was well, I'm just glad he decided to stay a little longer so I could get to see him."
"We're just going to grab something to eat, why don't you join us. You can tell me all about him." Alex told her.
"Alright." Teyla accepted the invitation, she looked around, "Where's John?"
"Don't ask." Alex grimaced.
They found a table and sat down, Teyla started to tell them about her friend.
They'd been talking for about half an hour when Teyla took something out of her bag, "Look at this, tell me what you think of it." she said handing something to Alex.
Alex took hold of the piece of metal that Teyla gave to her, her face paled as she looked at the artefact in her hand, her immediate thought was, 'John is going to go ballistic when he finds out about this'.
"It looks like the artefact that McKay has." Alex whispered nervously, she quickly looked around, convinced that John was going to suddenly appear and start shouting.
"That's exactly what I thought when Rylan gave it to me. He said for some reason he felt compelled to give it to me." Teyla frowned at the angry look Ronon was giving her and Alex.
"I promised Sheppard..." Ronon started to say.
"He said to keep me away from McKay." Alex reminded him, but she understood how he felt. She felt the same, like she'd betrayed him. After all she had promised that she wouldn't touch the thing, yet here she was holding a piece of it in her hand.
"He also mentioned the artefact that McKay has." Ronon reminded her, as he looked at the piece she held in her hand.
"This isn't McKay's artefact, so you've kept your promise." she said, unsure as to whether she was trying to make Ronon feel better about the situation, or herself. She could see that Ronon didn't like her interpretation. Before she could say, or do, anything else, she had a memory flashback, of when she was back in Area 51.
Memory
Location: Area 51
She was sitting at a table, with Kai, and some of the other 'guinea pigs' who were in the same project as her and Kai. A number of boxes were brought in, then various gadgets and artefacts were handed out. Everyone was asked to handle the objects, to see if they knew what any of the things were, or if they knew how to use any of them. There were a couple of things that were recognisable from their memories but for most of the stuff, they didn't have a clue what it was, or how to use it.
Alex remembered holding a small piece of metal, it had fascinated her with the intricate shapes and designs that were etched on it's surface. She hadn't been able to figure out what it was, so she'd tossed it back in to the box that she taken it out of. She'd completely forgotten about it, until now.
End of Memory
"I know where there's another piece of this." she announced, the groan that came from Ronon, told her he was wondering how John was going to react when he heard about this. Not very well, she thought.
"Where?" Teyla asked.
"Back on Earth. In Area 51, I remember holding a piece that looked just like this one, and the one McKay has." She wrote down the details of where the piece of artefact was, she even remembered what section it was in. "Could you give this to McKay, I'm not supposed to go near him at the moment." Alex handed the piece of paper to Teyla.
"Why can you not go near Doctor McKay?" Teyla asked, taking the piece of paper from her.
"It's not really McKay, it's more to do with this." she held the piece of metal up that Teyla had given to her.
"Why, what's wrong with it?" Teyla asked.
"You'd have to ask John, but I wouldn't bother asking if I were you, he won't tell you." Alex told her, "How come you didn't visit your friend yesterday?" Alex was curious as to why Teyla hadn't visited her friend yesterday when she was supposed to.
"John wanted me to go with Major Lorne."
"What on Earth for, they were only delivering equipment, why did he need you to go?"
"I really don't know." Teyla still didn't know why he'd insisted that she went. All she'd done while she was there, was stand around waiting for Major Lorne and the others, to set up the equipment and show them how to work it.
"Today, when he found out that you'd gone to visit your friend, he got pretty angry." Alex told her, she looked at Teyla then at the piece of artefact in her hand. Surely he couldn't have know Teyla's friend would give her a piece of it, could he?
"Why would he get angry because I'd gone to visit Rylan?"
"You don't suppose this thing could be the reason, do you?" Alex asked, holding the artefact up. "I mean he's been obsessed with the other piece, maybe he knows something about it that we don't."
"Not possible, he couldn't have know that Rylan would give it to me? Even I didn't know about it until I visited him." Teyla said.
"Yeah, it's probably just a coincidence." Alex replied, but she wasn't too sure about that.
>>>>>ooooo>>>>>
When John couldn't get any more information, or help, he came to find McKay. He'd deliberately, been avoiding McKay as much as possible, but now he needed to find out what he'd learned.
He stood a few feet away from McKay and watched as he concentrated on trying to translate the symbols on the piece of metal.
"So what have you found?" he asked moving closer to McKay.
He didn't respond, he was too engrossed in the artefact to hear anything.
"McKay?"
"Yes...what?" he stuttered and spun around to see who'd spoken. "Oh, it's you."
"Yes, it's me. So what have you learned about that thing?"
"Not a lot, the only thing I've managed to decipher - and I'm not sure if it's correct, is the word 'darkness', and before you ask what that means, I have no idea."
"That's all you've got 'darkness'?"
"Well it's not like I have an alphabet to refer to is it." McKay remarked, he took hold of the piece of artefact and turned towards John "Here, look at this." he said holding it out to him.
John pulled back, he didn't want to touch it, he wasn't supposed to, or so he'd been told.
"What's the matter, it won't kill you." McKay said puzzled by his reaction.
"That's what you think." John muttered under his breath.
"Doctor McKay, I have something I think you should see." Teyla said standing in the doorway of McKay's lab.
"Teyla!" John spun around as he heard her voice. He clenched his jaw when he saw her holding a piece of artefact in her hand.
"My friend Rylan, gave this to me." she held her hand out towards him.
"What is it?" McKay asked turning to look at what she had, when he saw what she was holding, his eyes widened, "It looks like a piece of the artefact." he blurted in surprise.
"Yes, that's what I thought too."
"But where did he get it from?"
"It was given to him as part of a payment, and he in turn gave it to me."
McKay took the piece from her and placed it along one of the edges of the first piece, "Look it fits." he pointed to the perfectly matched edges.
"Does he have any other pieces?" McKay asked hopefully.
"I do not think so, he wasn't even sure why he took this piece as a part payment. He said he only took it because he thought I should have it."
"You're sure he doesn't know about any other pieces."
"Very sure, but Alex told me to give you this." she handed the piece of paper to him. Watched as he read what was written on it.
"I don't believe it, she knows where there's another piece. I have to see Sam..." McKay never finished what he was saying, he rushed off without giving anyone a chance to speak.
John stood there like a statue, for Alex to know where the location of the other piece was, she must have touched it.
"Did Alex touch that?" he pointed to the piece Teyla had just given to McKay.
"Yes." Teyla could see that he didn't like the idea, "It wasn't her fault. She didn't realise what I was giving her until it was too late. I didn't know you didn't want her to touch it." she tried to explain, but he didn't look like he was listening.
>>>>>ooooo>>>>>
Alex had tried to contact John, he either didn't have his comms in or he wasn't answering her. She suspected it was the latter, because he rarely took his comms out. She'd even gone looking for him, but she hadn't been able to locate him, obviously he didn't want to be found. She'd given up and gone back to their quarters.
"Looks like your daddy is playing hide and seek without the seek." she whispered to Aaron who was lying on the bed playing with his toes.
She tried to stay awake, but once she'd put Aaron in his cot and he'd fallen asleep, she hadn't been able to keep her eyes open, and she too, had fallen asleep.
John had stayed away as long as possible, he hadn't wanted to talk to anyone, and he knew Alex would have tried to explain about touching that thing. He wasn't in the mood to listen, so he'd deliberately stayed away until he thought she'd be asleep. Thankfully she was fast asleep, he took a quick shower and then joined her in the bed. It was a few hours before he managed to fall asleep.
>>>>>ooooo>>>>>
Again his sleep was plagued with nightmares.
This time he was in the Gate room, McKay was standing before him, the fear was clearly etched on his face.
"Why did you do it?" McKay asked him. "Why did you dial that address again. You know how dangerous it is."
"Dangerous for you maybe, but not for me." he laughed. His hand came up so fast that he wasn't sure what had happened until he saw McKay clasping his hands to his neck. Watched as the blood gushed from beneath McKay's hands. The horror and confusion on McKay's face echoed the screams in his head.
Several security men surrounded him, their guns trained on him, telling him not to move. He had no fear of them, his fear was on what would happen if he touched the artefact. It took all his strength and willpower to stop himself from touching it. He knew the consequences of his actions, but it was the only option he had. You could hear the energy from the Stargate building, feel it as the static in the room caused the hairs on your body to stand on end. The sudden blinding flash of light...
John jerked upright in the bed, his skin felt like it was on fire, he couldn't get enough oxygen in to his lungs, his breathing was ragged as he took deep gulps of cool fresh air in to his lungs. He turned to see if he'd woken Alex up, but she was still asleep. There was no way he couldn't go back to sleep, so he got up, took a shower, then he headed to the mess hall.
>>>>>ooooo>>>>>
1 Day Before Atlantis is Destroyed
Zelenka hovered in the doorway of Colonel Carter's office. She was talking to Major Lorne. He didn't want to interrupt, so he waited until they'd finished. He waited for a few minutes, but when Major Lorne didn't come out, he decided to interrupt anyway.
"Colonel Carter, I need to collect some more samples for analysis." Zelenka said while standing in the doorway of her office. When she looked up at him he continued, "I know you've given strict orders that no one is to go near the room without an escort."
"Yes, I put the area under surveillance, just a precautionary security measure. When do you need to collect the samples?"
"Well I was thinking about collecting them right now." he told her.
She looked at Major Lorne, "Major, would you escort Dr Zelenka."
"Yes, ma'am."
She smiled at Doctor Zelenka, "Okay, you have your escort - how are the tests coming along, found anything else besides Colonel Sheppard's fingerprint."
"No we haven't found anything else, that's why I need some more samples."
"Of course, let me know if you find anything." she reminded him.
"Certainly, you'll be the first to know." he assured her.
>>>>>ooooo>>>>>
Lorne surveyed the debris that littered the room. "So what exactly are you looking for Doc." he asked Zelenka.
"What I really need is something that will tell me what these computer consoles where used for. So far we haven't been able to retrieve any data, so we still don't know what this room was used for."
"Okay, so what is it you want?"
"Any sizeable chunks of computer or computer parts, anything that looks like we'd be able to extract data from it."
They sifted through several pieces of debris, none of which were suitable.
"What about that piece there." Lorne said, pointing to a large piece of computer that was buried beneath a piece of the ceiling.
"Looks promising, help me lift this off." Zelenka grabbed one side of the piece of ceiling and Lorne grabbed the other side, together they managed to move it out of the way.
Lorne picked the piece of computer console up, then almost dropped it when it started to bleep.
"What happened, what did you do?" Zelenka asked.
"I didn't do anything, I just picked it up." Lorne said, handing the piece of computer to Zelenka, "Why is it bleeping?"
"Let's see..." Zelenka began to examine it.
"You don't think it's another bomb do you?" Lorne didn't think it was a bomb, but he wanted to make sure.
"No it's not a bomb, it's showing a map of Atlantis." Zelenka told him, "See that there." he pointed to the bleeping circle that was just visible on the cracked screen.
"What is it?"
"It's a location."
"A location to what?"
"It doesn't indicate what it is, just where it is. We could always go and have a look, it's just along this corridor to the right." Zelenka suggested, he was curious to see what was there.
"We'll need to get an okay from Colonel Carter first." Lorne told him.
Lorne explained to Carter what they'd found and he got an okay from her to investigate further.
"Okay, lead the way." Lorne waved his hand at Zelenka.
It didn't take them long to reach the room.
"I think you'd better wait here, let me go in first, just in case. I mean we don't know what's in there, do we." Lorne said as he moved Zelenka out of the way, then activated the door control.
The doors slid open and Lorne checked all around the doorway making sure that there were no trip wires, or sensors that would activate a bomb. When he found none, he entered the room and checked the rest of it out, it was a typical room just like any other room on Atlantis.
"You can come in now, it looks clean." he told Zelenka.
"Right let's see if this thing can give us an exact location." Zelenka pressed something on the screen but nothing happened.
When Zelenka started to curse in his own language, Lorne smiled, because he knew, without understanding, just what Zelenka was saying. "What's wrong?" Lorne asked him.
"I'm trying to get this thing to zoom in on the location, give us a position inside the room, but it's obviously too damaged to do that." Zelenka told him. "Maybe when I get it back to the lab, I might be able to get it to work."
"Have you tried hitting it?" Lorne suggested.
"Hitting it! You can't do that, this is a very sensitive instrument..."
"It usually works for me." Lorne grinned at Zelenka's outrage.
"Yes, well I am not about to resort to those tactics just yet."
Lorne walked around the room, looking for anything unusual, while Zelenka tried to get the computer to pinpoint to whatever was supposed to be here.
Lorne was getting fed up waiting, "Let me see." he grabbed for the piece of computer.
"Major..." Zelenka said, alarmed as the computer was snatched out of his hands.
As soon as Lorne got hold of the computer the bleeping sound stopped, and the image on the screen changed. "Looks like a layout of this room." Lorne remarked before handing the computer back to Zelenka.
"It is a layout of this room, that's what I was trying to get it to show before."
"See, all it needed was a little rough handling." Lorne joked.
"Yes, well maybe you're right. But right now, I need to see where this is pointing to." he checked the map on the screen then looked up, "It seems to be indicating to that wall." Zelenka told him. "I can't see anything, can you?" he asked Lorne.
Lorne noticed a small shadow on the upper part of the wall, he moved closer to get a better look. "It looks like a switch."
"You think we should push it." Zelenka asked.
"Might as well." Lorne pressed the switch and watched as a draw emerged from the wall.
Zelenka reached in to the draw and pulled out the object that was inside.
"It looks like the artefact that Rodney is working on."
"All this just to find that." Lorne was a little disappointed at their find, he'd been expecting to find something a little more exciting.
"Rodney will be please with the find." Zelenka told him.
"I'm sure he will." Lorne muttered.
>>>>>ooooo>>>>>
"McKay, there's a package here for you, from the SGC." Sam informed him.
In his laboratory, McKay stopped what he was doing, he activated his comm, "Already, that was quick."
"I believe the fact that Alex knew exactly where it was located in Area 51, is the reason it was sent so quickly." Sam told him.
"I'll be right there." he told her, he was already heading out the door as he spoke.
>>>>>ooooo>>>>>
"Have you managed to find anything else out about it, other than the word 'darkness'." Sam asked him when he entered her office.
"No, but that's probably because I only have part of it. And the symbols are completely new, I've never seen anything like them before."
"Well I'm sure you'll figure it out."
"Of course I will, I just need a little more time."
"Here you go," she held the package out to him.
"Thanks." he took the package from her and left, eager to add the piece to the other two.
Just as he was leaving the Gate room Radek saw him.
"Rodney, wait up." he shouted out.
"Not now Radek, I need to get back to the lab." he told him as he rushed away.
"But you must see this." Radek shouted again.
"I don't have time, show me later." McKay said waving his arm behind him
"But it's to do with the artefact that you are working on." he saw Rodney's step falter, then he came to a stop and turned to look at him.
"What about it?"
"Major Lorne and I have found another piece of it."
This immediately got Rodney's full attention, "Another piece? You're sure? Where did you find it? How did you..."
"It was hidden in one of the rooms."
"Where is it?" he wanted to see it.
Radek handed the piece of over to him.
"It's another piece." Rodney said absently as he examined it.
"I know, I just told you that."
"That's it, we have all the pieces..." he looked up and smiled at Radek, for a moment Radek thought he was going to thank him.
"I have to go." McKay said talking about putting all the pieces together, he turned and continued on his way to his lab, totally forgetting about Radek.
"Your welcome." Radek shouted after him, then started complaining in his own language about McKay's lack of manners.
>>>>>ooooo>>>>>
As soon as John heard the alert that told him the Stargate had been activated, he knew what it was, it was the piece of artefact that Alex had told McKay about. The SGC must have found it and sent it through.
He made his way to McKay's lab to see what was going on. He bumped in to Radek who informed him about the piece he and Lorne had found. John gritted his teeth, everything he'd done had been for nothing, he hadn't managed to change anything. He suddenly stopped – that wasn't quite true, he still had one more thing he could try. He didn't want to have to go this far, but it seemed like he'd have to
When he reached McKay's lab he saw that Ronon and Alex were already there. He really wished that McKay had been alone, but he couldn't let the fact that they were here, put him off from what he had to do. Alex stared at him, her eyes full of questions, he looked away, he wasn't here to answer any questions, he was here, specifically, for McKay.
TBC...
>>>>>>>>>>ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo>>>>>>>>>>