(Ok it's time for some back story. Yes you are going to have a little longer to see poor Rodney, I'm still figuring everything out there. And I'm playing around with an idea of how the Gates and DHDs work. No idea if it has basis in canon but I need to break things up a bit so if not, oh well, it is in my universe.)

Part 3 – The Problem

On the other side of the Stargate in Atlantis

Weir was standing on the balcony staring at the Stargate. Her lead team was more then thirty minutes late with their scheduled checked in. She had just ordered the Gate open to try to contact the team.

The Stargate spun and then the splash burst forward filling the Gate room with a momentary brilliant blue light. Weir never tired of watching it. It was one of the things that made her instantly fall in love with the Stargate. With her time as leader of the SGC, and now Atlantis, she still found it beautiful but understood the danger that waited just beyond.

Weir walked back to the control room and waited until the Canadian Sergeant nodded to indicate that she could try communications. "This is Weir to Sheppard, can you hear me?"

They waited, but there was no answer. She looked at the Sergeant and he checked the readings. "We are transmitting, they just aren't answering."

"Send the MALP through," she ordered one of the Marines below. He nodded and used the control box to guide the device through the wormhole.

Weir watched it leave Atlantis and looked at the young Canadian again, "It's a good thing the SGC decided to send us a few more of these."

The man smiled and then turned back to his read-out, "It has arrived on the other side."

Suddenly one of the screens on the left side of the control room began to rapidly scroll information. Zelenka stood up and walked over to it with his laptop. He ran the translation from Ancient to English and looked concerned.

Zelenka pushed his glasses up his nose and turned around to discover that Weir was already heading toward him. "We are receiving telemetry from the MALP. It would appear there is a large disturbance in sky."

He pointed to the mounted LCD monitor showing the camera images being transmitted. It showed several yellow dots in the sky heading toward the village where their people were supposed to be.

Zelenka touched the screen and it zoomed in on the area, showing about fifteen drones. "Well, I guess this answers question of if city still has drones."

Suddenly, the drones fell from the sky like dead bugs. Weir looked at Zelenka, "What just happened?"

The Czech scientist studied his readings and answered, "They have lost power. Without direction from what launched them, drones lose power and become inert."

Weir smiled, "I hope that means our people did something to stop that attack." Then, unexpectedly, the Stargate shut down. Weir looked at the Sergeant, "Why is the Gate off?"

"I don't know, the connection was terminated on their end."

"Dr Weir, look at this," Zelenka showed her his laptop. "It would appear the DHD was powered by Zero Point Module in city. When city power went off, so did energy transfer to Gate."

Weir shook her head, "But with every other Stargate we've ever seen, the DHD has its own power source. Why didn't it kick in?"

Zelenka nodded and started speaking again, "You are right, they do, as does this one. However, it seems this one was modified to work with City. Once power is disrupted, DHD takes time to draw enough energy from Gate's capacitors to maintain wormhole."

Weir looked a little worried, "You mean it needs to charge?" Zelenka nodded and set his laptop down anticipating her next question. "How long will that take?"

Zelenka accessed the database and answered, "Approximately twenty to twenty-five minutes."

"If I remember a lecture given by Colonel Carter correctly, don't the Gates draw power from the wormhole itself? Can we contact them again?"

Zelenka nodded, "Indeed they do, but there needs to be an initial contact with the other Stargate. With the DHD charging it won't accept that contact. Their DHD can dial out but we can't dial in."

Weir let out a deep breath. She didn't like being cut off from her people under normal circumstances, but especially not after they had just witnessed an attack. "So all we can do is wait?"

Zelenka shrugged, "Yes, I'm afraid so."

On the Planet Near the Gate

Ronon was accompanying the first group of refugees to the Gate. He was carrying a young child who had been injured playing a few days earlier. As they neared the large ring, Ronon saw the MALP.

He wondered when it had come through and why Atlantis hadn't tried to contact the team. When they reached the DHD, he pulled out a piece of paper that Teyla had drawn the Gate symbols for Rekalia on. The first objective was to get these people off-world. Then to get to the valley and help rescue Rodney. And finally, to get everyone back to Atlantis before the earthquake hit.

The Gate spun to life and he directed everyone to follow him through. They emerged into a large green field surrounded at a distance by trees, just as Teyla had described it.

Ronon gathered the others around him and said, "All right, everyone should start preparing some temporary shelter. We don't know when you'll be able to return home. And keep everyone together here until we come back for you. The people of this planet are friendly. We'll be back to get you when it's safe to return to your world."

Eldred and Petra started to organize the villagers and they were soon setting up pens for the animals that would be coming through shortly. Eldred walked over to Ronon and nodded, "Thank you for all your help."

Ronon nodded and quickly dialed the Gate. He arrived back on the other side moments later and looked around to see more refugees heading his way. He dialed Rekalia again and directed them through.

Now he had some time before the last group of refugees would arrive so he dialed Atlantis. The team has been scheduled to report in over thirty minutes ago and he was surprised Atlantis hadn't dialed back to check on them instead of sending a MALP. He looked again at the device as he waited for the chevrons to lock and then pressed the center of the DHD.

The Gate splashed toward him, he tapped his radio, "Atlantis, this is Ronon."

In Atlantis

Weir was sitting in her office, her mind spinning over all the worst case scenarios that could be happening to her team on the other side of the Gate. Twice in the last ten minutes she had ordered the Gate technicians to try to connect to the planet but each time it had failed.

Zelenka was working on a theory that might help speed up the charging process by giving the DHD some extra power through hooking the MALP to it. Also connecting to the Atlantis Gate would give it a great deal of power. Zelenka was explaining this to Weir when the Gate started spinning.

Weir and Zelenka jumped to their feet and ran into the Control room with hopeful expressions on their faces. The wormhole engaged and everyone in the Control room held their breath.

"Atlantis, this Ronon."

Everyone seemed to exhale at the same time. Zelenka smiled and an instant later he was sitting in front of his laptop doing the final calculations to tell Ronon how to set up the MALP.

"Yes we hear you Ronon. It's good to hear your voice," Weir said, not bothering to hide the relief in her tone.

"I found a MALP beside the Gate, but I didn't hear you contact us. Is something wrong?"

"Yes, we dialed in to find out why none of you had checked in. It seems the Village is just beyond communication range so we sent it through to extend the transmission distance. We saw a drone attack on the Village. Is everyone all right?" Weir sounded worried.

"Yes, McKay managed to stop the attack by draining the last of the power from the ZPM. Then we found out that an earthquake is going to hit this whole area very soon. McKay and one of the villagers are trapped underground in a buried part of the city. We need a rescue team, Beckett and a Jumper to get him out."

"Understood, I'll have a team on the way as soon as they can get ready. For now, I need you to follow Dr. Zelenka's instructions. Stand by." Zelenka took over as Weir turned away to begin rescue preparations. "Major Lorne, this is Weir. I want your team suited up and in the Jumper Bay waiting for Dr. Beckett ASAP. You're going on a rescue mission."

Lorne's voice came back right away, "Understood, we're on our way."

"Dr. Beckett, I need you and a medical team to report to the Jumper Bay right away. Rodney and possibly one other person could be injured off-world. You'll meet Major Lorne's at the Jumper."

"I'm on my way, Elizabeth." Beckett answered and she could hear him sigh with worry. "Do we know who they were injured?"

"In a cave-in, according to Ronon." Weir answered.

Beckett thought a few moments and began giving ordering to his people. "We'll need some time, Elizabeth."

Weir frowned, "As soon as you can, Carson."

Carson shook his head, "Aye."

She turned back to Zelenka and found he was already finished explaining the set up to Ronon. She nodded at the Sergeant to reconnect her and he nodded. "Ronon, Major Lorne is going to lead the rescue team, but it's going to take a little while before Dr. Beckett will be ready. How far are you from Rodney's location?"

"The valley is closer than the village. I can be there in less then ten minutes if I run. Sheppard and Teyla are heading there as soon as they get the village and Tower evacuated." They heard background noise and then Ronon started talking again, "In fact the last group has just arrived here. It will take five minutes to Gate them to the evacuation planet once the Gate is shut down."

Weir wondered what Tower he was talking about but didn't have the time to ask now. "Very well, we'll try to dial you back in seven minutes. If nothing happens in eight minutes, hook the MALP up and we'll dial as soon as we can."

On the Planet

"Understood." Ronon deactivated the Gate and dialed Rekalia again. Finally the animals, their handlers and the nobles were through and he was told by a villager that that was all of them.

Ronon decided that he'd better report that everyone was off the planet now. He picked the right channel and spoke, "Sheppard, the evacuation is complete. Everyone is through the Gate. I'm waiting for Dr. Beckett and we'll be heading to the valley to meet you."

Sheppard keyed his radio, "Good, Ronon. Get here as soon as possible. If Rodney has been trapped under the city we'll need as much help as possible."

Ronon changed the channel back and folded his arms over his chest as he impatiently paced in front of the Stargate. Ronon was not good at waiting, he wanted to be doing something. With one of his team members in danger, he wanted to be helping. After what felt like far longer then two minutes, he figured that Atlantis wasn't able to dial in so he started hooking up the MALP. He had just finished when he felt a tremor hit.

He was doing the final checks Zelenka had insisted on when he again changed channels and keyed his radio, "Sheppard, Major Lorne is preparing a rescue team and a jumper now. Dr. Beckett will join them with his equipment. I am heading out now. What is your location?"

Sheppard tapped his radio, "Not really sure, we haven't been paying attention to direction. Tell Beckett to use the life signs detector to find us."

Ronon just started moving towards the valley anyway. He was about to remind the Colonel that Beckett wasn't there yet when he heard Teyla's voice. He realized they must have been talking to McKay.

"Dr. McKay, are you both safe for the moment?" Teyla asked.

Ronon didn't hear anything and assumed he was only getting one side of the conversation. He had reached a point where he could see the village in the distance. He looked for the most likely angle that his friends would have taken to enter the valley and headed in that direction.

Then finally he heard McKay's soft and very scared voice, "Oh no." The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he hesitated a moment and then quickened his pace.

Ronon heard Sheppard's voice again, "Rodney? Rodney! What's wrong?"

McKay whispered an answer, "It's blood."

Ronon pelted down the side of the valley. Rodney might be what Sheppard called a "pain in the ass," but he was a friend. One of the first that Ronon had made after seven years of running from the Wraith and he wasn't prepared to lose him now.

End Part 3

So what did you think? Looking forward to the feedback as always. And yes we're back to Rodney in Par 4.