Sparklyshimmer2010 – Thanks for the review, I'm trying to keep it close to canon so the situation with Dr Lee is very similar minus the seducing lol. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Nogigglingmajor – Telling him no really doesn't work does it, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Lantia4ever – I'm going t kill the producers for that too, Liz was my fave character. I hope you enjoy this chapter, this is where it starts getting interesting and thanks for the review.
Stargatesomeone – I love the part of the episode too where the gang all disobey orders, hope you enjoy this chapter, thanks for the review.
Steph7085 – Glad you liked the last chapter and sorry for ending it there, hope this one makes up for it though I have a feeling you'll be mad at me again lol. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
- - -
Chapter 6
The team left the briefing room and headed immediately to John's office. Atlantis's fate seemed to be sealed, the Deadalus would nuke the city in a few days and then the one place John could truly call home would be gone... along with Elizabeth.
"Now those Replicator thingy majigys you're talking about," Carson began as he paced the room.
"Let's just call them ARG's," John interrupted, he seemed to like naming things.
"They're energy weapons, they disrupt the link between the nanite cells, the replicators literally fall apart when you fire on them," Rodney explained briefly and with far more patience than he usually had.
John's mind however was already working on a plan "You know... hypothetically, Teyla and Ronon would be more than willing to help, if we asked," he stated casually and the team seemed to quickly pick up on his intentions.
"We'd have to gate into Atlantis though, the replicators would raise the shield," Carson stated in the same tone John had used.
"Well I did write a backdoor into the shield programme a couple of years ago when Kolya stormed the city. So, I mean it could hypothetically let us get into the gate room," Rodney informed them all, none of his usual arrogance at his achievements in his voice.
"General Landry was worried that the Replicators would re write your macro to take them to another gate, does that mean you could?" Carson asked.
"Could you take us somewhere like, just talking here, the Athosian settlement where Teyla and Ronon are?" John questioned meaningfully and that seemed to take the conversation from hypothetical to an actual plan.
"We'd need a jumper," Rodney stated.
"And er," John began clicking his fingers as he tried to remember what he'd just named those weapons. "Some of those ARGs and someone to make sure Landry doesn't close the iris on us."
"I can take care of that," Rodney told them and everyone nodded their heads in agreement with the plan.
"Elizabeth could still be in that city, let's find her," John stated, Carson and Rodney seemed to fully support the sentiment. This was why he missed his old team so much; a team Carson and Elizabeth were as much a part of as the rest of them. They understood each other and worked well together, he didn't think he'd ever have that with his new team.
- - -
"Why do I have to do this?" Carson questioned as he and Rodney walked down the corridor.
"The jumper is in its storage area under guard, we need for one of us to be added to the authorised personnel list and there's only one guy who can do that," Rodney explained.
"Who, you?" Carson asked and Rodney gave him an odd look.
"No, why'd you think I was gonna say me?" Rodney questioned slightly indignantly.
"When you talk like that it's usually you," Carson stated as Rodney used his access card on the elevator.
"No sadly Dr Lee's been the one heading up the jumper research project because they refused to send him to Area 51 for me," Rodney replied "But I think I should be able to add one of our key cards to the authorised personnel list but I have to do that from his office."
"That doesn't explain why I have to be the one to do this," Carson said realising that both he and Rodney had lowered their voices conspiratorially. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, there wasn't even anyone around.
"Because I have to access his computer, it'd be kinda hard to distract him at the same time, I'm a genius not a super hero," Rodney told him as they both entered the elevator.
"What exactly am I supposed to do?" Carson asked him incredulously. "I don't even know the guy."
"Well here's what I'm thinking, Dr Lee is a fanatic of this game called World of Warcraft," Rodney began but Carson interrupted him.
"Is that the one with talking trees in it?" he questioned and Rodney looked at him in exasperation.
"No, that's Lord of the rings," he told him as if he should have known that. "Look, it won't take me long, just let him do all of the talking."
The elevator doors opened and the two men made their way to Dr Lee's office. Rodney knocked on the door and waited for the muffled 'come in' before he entered and Carson followed along behind him. This was so not going to work.
"Dr McKay, what are you doing here, I thought they assigned you to Area 51?" Dr Lee questioned as he registered who was walking into his office. Rodney subtly placed himself by the computer as he answered and Carson walked over to the scientist.
"I was in town and they called me in, they needed my expertise for an urgent matter," Rodney stated in his usual arrogant tone and Carson sent him a warning look. "Anyway, I don't believe you've met my good friend, Carson."
"No I haven't," he said as he turned to shake Carson's hand.
"Yeah, you two have something in common, Carson is big fan of that game you play, World of Warcraft," Rodney stated and Carson watched as Lee's face lit up as he turned to Carson. What exactly had Rodney gotten him into?
"Really?" Dr Lee asked with barely concealed excitement.
"Yeah, I didn't get to play much being all the way in the Pegasus galaxy but now that I'm back..." Carson trailed off and as Rodney predicted Lee started talking.
"I understand, I'm a level 75," he stated rather proudly and Carson nodded as he moved to stand on the other side of Lee. The scientist turned in his chair to follow Carson's movements leaving his back facing Rodney. "Mage, specialising in Engineering and duelling, you?"
Carson glanced over Dr Lee's shoulder to where Rodney was on the computer, he gestured for Carson to keep talking. "Level 75 wow, I'm only level 60," he stated solemnly having no idea what he was talking about. Dr Lee looked down as he continued talking and Carson looked over at Rodney who once again gestured for him to continue.
"Well I had the beta of the expansion back so I had a leg up on most people, what's your race?" he asked and Carson swallowed back the momentary panic and pulled together enough of his thoughts to answer, he was never gonna pull this off.
"Er... Mage," he replied, that being the only race he could be certain actually existed, at least he hadn't mentioned talking trees.
"I'm trying to increase my enchantress skills but it doesn't seem to be going very well," Lee told him sadly and Carson had no idea how to respond to that. What the hell were enchantress skills?
"Erm, maybe you could give me a few pointers, it'd be great to learn from a er level 75... Mage," he said and Lee gave him an odd look and then began talking about weapons and the like. Carson looked over at Rodney again who was still typing away on the computer and he glared at his friends back and then turned back to Dr Lee.
It took Rodney another couple of seconds to finish what he was doing and then put the computer back the way he'd found it. "Wow, will you look at the time," he said looking at his watch and distracting Lee from his lesson on World of Warcraft. "We're does it go?"
"What?" Dr Lee questioned as he turned to Rodney.
"We're late," Rodney stated to Carson "We should go, see ya Bill."
"Bye," Carson added as he ran out of the room after Rodney far too eagerly. He'd kill Rodney for that later; right now they had a job to do.
- - -
John made his way down the corridor with Carson and Rodney in tow, all of them dressed in their black off world gear. They moved slowly careful not to get caught and they were doing quite well until...
"Colonel?" a familiar voice questioned and John turned around to see Major Lorne standing right behind them, since when had the guy been that sneaky?
"Major," he replied and Evan gave them all a curious look as he regarded their current attire which John now noticed matched his. "Going somewhere?"
"Just got back," Lorne stated "You?" John opened his mouth to say whatever lies happened to exit but before he could say a word Evan stopped him. "I heard about Atlantis, you're going aren't you?"
It wasn't so much a question as a statement and John could already guess what was coming next and he knew the Major well enough by now to know he wasn't going to be deterred. "Welcome to the team."
John turned around to continue on his way but froze when he saw Wallace standing there on his crutches looking at him. Damn it, sneaking around the SGC was hard. "Wallace, what are you doing here?" he questioned.
"General Landry wanted to talk to me about reassignment," he stated looking curiously at the group.
"Oh right," he replied remembering the long conversation he'd had with Landry earlier. "Sorry about that."
"Are you already going on missions without me?" the young officer sounded slightly hurt and that made John feel just that little bit worse about having him booted off the team. Not that it mattered much now, he was either going to get killed or court marshalled for what he was about to do, he wasn't sure which he'd prefer. He took a step passed Wallace whilst Carson distracted him; he quickly checked the corridor to make sure no one else was going to stumble across them.
"Sorry about this," he said as he zatted Wallace and the young man fell to the ground unconscious. Lorne opened the door of the storage closet nearby whilst John and Carson carried Wallace into it. Rodney placed the crutches by the man's side and they closed the door. Hopefully they'd be long gone by the time he regained consciousness. "Can't afford to have him tell Landry he ran into us," he stated as they moved on.
The Jumper storage bay was quiet as Carson, Rodney and Evan moved to stand beside the jumper. John took a look through the front window to see only Sergeant Siler working inside the jumper, poor man, from what he'd heard he was always getting hurt. His injury list almost rivalled those of the original SG1 members.
He wordlessly walked to the back of the jumper and zatted Siler casting an apologetic glance at him as his unconscious form rolled out of the jumper. "Let's move," he shouted and the tell tale signs of footsteps told him the rest of the team was joining him. He sat down in the pilots chair and put his zat down as Lorne sat beside him.
"You set?" he heard Rodney call.
"Go for it," he replied and a few seconds later Rodney joined him them in the jumper. "They're going to be able to get through my hack pretty quickly," Rodney informed him.
"That's alright, I don't need much time," John stated as the back of the jumper closed and with everyone safely in their seats he started up the jumper.
It descended into the gate room and through the front window he could see that Rodney had been successful in keeping Landry from closing the iris on them. Speaking of the General, his voice came flooding through the radio, clearly he was not happy. "Colonel Sheppard stand down, that is a direct order."
John ignored him and instead piloted the jumper into the event horizon.
- - -
It wouldn't be long now, Teyla knew and so did he. Ronon wouldn't be able to stand not going out there and fighting for much longer. It would only take something small now, a trigger which would seal his decision and then her friend would leave. She'd go with him if she could, she wanted to be a part of this fight as much as he did but she couldn't abandon her people like that. She was their leader and that responsibility had to come before everything else.
She walked toward the edge of the village, her eyes trained on the trees a short distance away. A few of the kids had run off into the forest a couple of hours ago and had yet to return, she knew they had most likely gotten carried away as they played or got a little turned around in the trees so she wasn't too worried. Halling had gone after them along with Jinto, the boy had grown so much in the last few years and she was sad to say she had missed seeing it. She had been so very close to both Halling and Jinto, she hadn't realised until now how much her time on Atlantis had changed everything.
Not only had she gotten used to the luxuries she enjoyed in Atlantis and the way of life that came with it but the friendships she had shared with her people had suffered, she felt very distant from them all now.
She turned around when she heard a noise behind her to find Ronon approaching. It saddened her all the more to realise that soon she would not find him there anymore. "They not back yet?" he questioned and she shook her head.
"They have not been searching long," she stated and watched as he nodded his head and came to a stop in front of her.
"It's getting late though, if they're not back soon I'll go and help them search," he stated and a smile touched her lips. She was not the only one to have been changed by her time on Atlantis. She had not imagined when she had met him, when he had tied her and John up in the cave that he would turn out to be her closest friend. Thinking of that day only reminded her once again of how much had changed and she found herself missing her friends from earth once more. Perhaps tomorrow she should try and contact Atlantis and arrange to visit Elizabeth, maybe talking to her would help. "You miss them," Ronon stated and Teyla turned to look at him in surprise.
"I do," she said simply but there was a sadness to her tone she hadn't intended to reveal.
"So do I," he admitted and again she was surprised by his openness. "Except maybe McKay."
She smiled again, she knew he didn't mean it; he missed Rodney as much as the others but the comment was so very him and for some reason it helped. He seemed to realise that because he nodded and gave her a small smile. "Thank you," she said and he put a hand on her shoulder. The contact caught her off guard and she briefly wondered if she should check his breath for signs of alcohol because he was never normally this open. There was something in his eyes though, something she didn't dare identify and something that told her he was most definitely not drunk.
Sounds from the trees caught her attention and ended their conversation. The missing children were running toward the village with smiles on their faces so she knew nothing was wrong. A moment later Halling, Jinto and to their surprise, Laden followed the children. They watched as the small group approached and Laden greeted them both with a smile.
"Ronon, Teyla, can we talk?" he questioned and Teyla shared a quick glance with Ronon before she gestured for the Genii to follow her to one of the tents.
- - -
The Pegasus gate floated before them and John could do nothing but stare at it and keep the Jumper stationary. All this sitting still was giving him too much time to think and his mind seemed to be on instant replay, Elizabeth's final transmission to earth was playing over and over. What had the replicators done to her, had they captured her and thrown her in one of Atlantis's cells? Were they trying to get information from her? Was she hiding somewhere in the city? Was she even alive?
He quickly wiped the last question from his mind, she had to be alive and he had to keep believing that. If he lost that hope then he wasn't sure he'd make it through this mission. He'd left her there, he'd walked through the gate and left her where he thought she'd be safe and now she was...
"My turtles!" Carson exclaimed interrupting John's thoughts and drawing curious gazes from the rest of the Jumper's occupants.
"What?" Lorne questioned as he turned to look at the obviously upset doctor.
"I just bought some wee baby turtles and no one knows to feed them," he stated and John narrowed his eyes as he turned and made a few adjustments to the Jumpers position.
"I'm sure they'll be fine," Lorne stated reassuringly.
"If not they make good soup," John stated and Lorne nodded his head with a look of agreement.
"I figured I'm back for good so I might as well get a pet and... I'm allergic to cats and er well I work too long to be fair to a dog so I went with turtles... I've probably killed them," he stated with a guilt ridden tone and John figured they'd all been stuck in the Jumper long enough.
"Anytime now McKay," he said impatiently.
"Oh trust me I'm going as fast as I can," the scientist replied in annoyance.
"Poor little buggers," Carson stated still talking about his turtles.
John looked at the controls and then looked back quickly as the holographic screen popped up and informed him the gate was active. "The Milky Way gate just activated," he said and then glanced over his shoulder at Rodney. "Did you do that?"
"No," Rodney informed him as an image of General Landry appeared on the screen.
"Colonel Sheppard, I'm going to assume that you're still at the midway station waiting for Dr McKay to rewrite his macro," he began calmly but John got the distinct impression he was in trouble. "I understand what you're doing Colonel, hell I'll even call it brave but listen carefully and this includes you Major," he continued and John shared a brief look with Lorne before looking back at the screen. "If you don't turn that ship around immediately and come back to the SGC, I'll see to it personally that your careers in the military are..."
John cut the message off their before Landry could finish that sentence and then looked at Lorne "That way we won't know what he was about to say," he stated and Lorne cocked his head to the side in agreement.
"Okay, Okay I got it," Rodney informed them and John took a deep breath, this was it.
"Alright, last chance to change our minds," he said giving everyone the chance to voice their disagreement if they had any. When no one said anything he took that as a go ahead and nodded as he turned back to the controls. "Alright, let's do it."
- - -
"I knew you would never come to me so I thought I would come to you" Laden began and Ronon knew he was about to be given a well rehearsed speech. "Our relationship has been... strained... but we need to put all that behind us now."
"We do?" Ronon questioned incredulously, he couldn't say he really agreed if the nagging urge to shoot the man was anything to go by.
"Well your friends have all returned home and you've been asked to leave Atlantis. So the question is... what will you do next?" Laden asked.
"We are helping my people rebuild the settlement," Teyla stated obviously not liking the idea of the inevitable proposal anymore than he did.
"Yes but the settlement seems finished," Laden said somewhat smugly "Beside is carpentry and clearing brush really the best use of your skills?" he questioned and Ronon looked down at the floor, damn.
"Get to the point," Teyla ordered with a barely hidden anger in her tone. The two of them had successfully managed to avoid mentioning the subject for six weeks and now Laden had walked in and thrown it all out there.
"Come work with me," Laden suggested and Ronon almost snorted at the concept "I understand your reluctance, in the past the Genii have hardly been the shinning beacon of hope in the galaxy."
"In the past?" Ronon once again questioned incredulously.
"We are growing stronger every day," he stated seriously seemingly ignoring Ronon's sarcasm "and we have a number of operations planned that could seriously cripple the Wraith."
"What do you have in mind?" Teyla asked as though she was seriously considering the Genii's offer and Ronon resisted the urge to look at her.
"Well, I am of course reluctant to go into specific details here," he told them and Ronon stopped resisting the urge to look at Teyla and finally glanced at her "But suffice to say that the plans are dangerous and in need of your unique abilities."
"We're not interested," Ronon finally said Laden smiled slightly at him.
"Well that's too bad although not entirely surprising. Give it some time Ronon, I wonder how much joy you'll find as a tava bean farmer," Laden stated and Ronon levelled him with a glare feeling that nagging urge to shoot him get stronger. Laden smiled once again as he stood up and walked out of the tent at one side. Ronon waited until he was gone before he too stood up and walked out of the other side.
"Ronon," Teyla called as she stood up to follow him.
"I'm not gonna start working for the Genii," he said as he ducked his head under the tent opening and headed toward the small fire where something was being cooked.
"We would not be working for them," Teyla argued as she caught up with him. "Merely with them."
"Forget it," he stated feeling frustrated, Laden's parting shot still echoing in his head.
"Since Atlantis was returned to the Ancestors the Genii are the most powerful and organised group if humans fighting the Wraith," Teyla informed him as though he didn't already know that.
"The Ancestors will do something," he said stubbornly and Teyla hesitated before answering.
"True, but they neither need nor have they requested our help, the Genii have," she reminded him and he continued to stubbornly cling to his principles, he was not going to work for the Genii. "I know that you are anxious to return to the fight but..." Teyla began and Ronon knew where this was going, Laden had opened the door and Teyla it seemed was going to be the first one of them to step through it and he knew he was going to have to follow. "My people are farmers."
Ronon took a deep breath "Maybe this isn't the place for me then," he finally stated, there he'd done it, it had finally been said. He turned to walk back into the tent sensing Teyla begin to follow him.
"That smells great," an all too familiar voice announced and both Ronon and Teyla spun around to see John, Rodney, Carson and Lorne stepping out of the trees. "I hope you saved some for us."
"John," Teyla laughed, it was the first real smile he'd seen from her in weeks. "It is wonderful to see you, all of you," she continued.
"We miss that, whatever that is," John stated with his own smile but Ronon knew something was going on. They weren't even supposed to be in this galaxy and add to that the black off world gear and weapons they were carrying and he knew something was up.
"Something's wrong," he voiced and John's face became serious.
"We need to talk," he stated and Teyla quickly nodded and gestured for them to follow her inside the tent.
"What is going on?" she asked immediately.
"The replicators attacked Atlantis, Elizabeth was able to send a transmission to earth but she never made it to the gate. The SGC has sent the Deadalus to nuke the city in a few days, it's possible that Elizabeth is still alive and we have a plan that will hopefully allow us to find her and rescue the city but we need your help to do it," John told them getting straight to the point before Rodney stepped forward with his black back pack and opened it to reveal weapons.
"These are our Anti Replicator weapons," he stated and Ronon took a step forward to get a closer look.
"Do they work good?" he asked and Rodney moved to pick one up.
"They emit a directional energy beam that disrupts the connection between nanites," he explained handing one of them to Ronon.
"Not what I asked," Ronon said as he took a look at the weapon.
"Yes, they work good," Rodney stated unhappily.
"Good, so you need us because we know our way around the city?" Ronon questioned John.
"I need you because you're part of our team," John told him.
"There may be hundreds of replicators on Atlantis by now," Teyla stated in concern.
"I wouldn't ask you to come with us if I didn't think we could do it," John replied "But there's a good chance Elizabeth is still alive and still inside the city. I'll be damned if I'm going to leave her to a bunch of replicators, so you with us?" he questioned and Ronon looked at Teyla and then back at John, no answer was necessary.
- - -
With Ronon and Teyla now on board John once again fired up the jumper as Ronon and Teyla geared up in the back.
"Okay, I think I've loaded up the GDO, it'll lower the shield when we dial," Rodney stated.
"Go for it," John instructed and Rodney took a nervous breath.
"Alright, dialling Atlantis," he informed them as he began dialling the gate. They all watched as the stargate in front of them engaged. "That's conformation," Rodney said pointing at his computer as Ronon and Teyla joined them in the front. "Gate shield has been lowered."
"I hope this little plan of ours works," John stated as he looked at the gate, now that he really thought about it, it was a risky and slightly insane plan but hey, those were the ones that always seemed to work out for the best.
"Yeah, you and me both," Rodney replied a little nervously.
John piloted the jumper forward into the event horizon; he really hoped he came out the other end.
TBC