Stargate Atlantis -:- Endgame

Author's Note(s):

I am still alive! At one point I did vaguely promise weekly updates, but as proven, that didn't quite work out as planned :P Thanks for sticking with me despite my massive update gaps and as always, super thanks for reading/reviewing etc. etc. you are all totally awesome!

Anyway, back to the story! Enjoy!

Chapter Seven -:- Two by Two

ATLANTIS: STARGATE OPERATIONS
22 Hours 40 Minutes and counting
[1400hours ALT]

"Thank you Colonel, Atlantis out."

Sam Carter resisted the overwhelming urge to hit something as the screen winked out of life before her. All around her the Atlantis technicians were secretly watching her while pretending to do their jobs, having eavesdropped on the conversation between her and the Apollo. Ellis and his crew were on schedule, were actually even slightly ahead – but that just didn't feel fast enough for her.

She didn't know what she had been expecting; but as the countdown for the first check-in had come up she had, for the briefest of moments, felt a swell of hope. Maybe some incredibly unrealistic part of her had expected some miracle where the Apollo had broken all the rules of hyperspace travel and had magically already arrived. Maybe she had anticipated that the ever-resourceful SGA-1 had found themselves a sub-space radio and had checked-in with the ship. Maybe she had just been wishing for something to alleviate the guilt piled on her shoulders.

After taking a moment to control her expression, Sam turned and gave the awaiting crew a reassuring nod, and then all but fled – in a calm and professional manner – to her office at the other end of the floating walkway. Once behind her desk she did her upmost to find something to occupy her mind and its rampant negativity.

She felt completely helpless, trapped in Atlantis while those under her orders were missing in action somewhere on the other side of the galaxy. All she could do was wait – something she had never been all that good at – and pray that one of her first achievements in Pegasus hadn't been to sentence her flagship team to purgatory.

SOLARIS: THE ARK FACILITY
27 Hours 10 Minutes and counting
[0930hours ALT]

"Anyone else getting a strong sense of déjà vu?"

Sheppard asked the room, or the cell, as they now found themselves in. They were in another six-by-six glass box, identical in every way to the one they had occupied just the day before. Once the Franken-chopper had landed the local Solarians hadn't actually waited for the answers to their multiple questions, and despite Talyn's protests the team had quickly been muscled into their shiny new display case. Every now and again a uniformed Solarian would pass by to have a good stare at the fascinating aliens like lab samples. It was disconcerting, to say the least.

No one had decided to justify John's comment with an answer so he decided to join in with the silence and leaned back against the glass wall. The six hour nap on the chopper had done very little to alleviate his exhaustion; he suspected he'd sleep for a week once they got home – which they would – but at least now the damn drug had run its course and left him with just the actual amount of pain he was in.

Now that things had stopped being an imminent fight for survival, at least for a while, John took a good look at his team. Despite the broken hand, it was clear that Ronon was fine and perfectly capable of fighting one-handed if the necessity arose. By the way he was pacing it was apparent he hadn't given up yet either. If there was a way out of this they weren't going to find it locked up in here and Ronon was itching to get out and find it. Teyla had fared well during the collapse of Domilitis, only sporting a few small cuts and bruises now that hadn't been there before. She was far more anxious about Rodney, and looking at him now, John shared her concern.

He was out cold again, the fever from the infection overwhelming him. Even from his distance John knew that it was bad, but while they were trapped in there with no supplies of any kind, there was absolutely nothing they could do. Thankfully Teyla had had the chance to at least change the dressing before their incarceration; but that was like putting a bandaid on a bullet wound – it was nowhere near enough.

"We need to get out of here," Teyla voiced his thoughts as if she had been privy to them. She threw him a concerned look over her shoulder. There was expectation in her eyes, as if John would somehow manage to magic them a key to the cell, but there was understanding there as well. She knew as well as he did that what she was asking was currently impossible, and it frustrated her just as much as well.

By the door/glass wall that served as one, Ronon doubled his pacing efforts as if boring a hole in the floor would provide their much needed escape. Under normal circumstances, John would have joined in, but he was simply too tired. Instead he watched, silently cheering the Satedan on like he was watching the most boring spectator sport ever.

What they really needed however, was a way home. There was no doubt in John's mind that Colonel Carter had sent the Apollo to come and get them. He knew and trusted that she felt as strongly as he did about never leaving a man behind, and she would use every resource that she could to find a way to bring them home. That wasn't the problem. The issue was time; or more specifically the complete lack of it. They had managed to buy some by getting there, but Rodney's fatalism had more than likely been right – it wasn't enough. What John needed was a way to buy them some more. He needed Rodney to be alright, because he needed his genius sidekick to help him come up with a way to buy that time and get them home.

Unconsciously, John let his head fall back and hit the glass with a thump. Teyla glanced over, just catching the defeated expression on his face before it was hidden behind his mask. He was all too aware of what he needed, but he couldn't see a way to get it.

He couldn't get them home.

"Tell me what happened, Dawn."

She looked up at the use of her first name to meet her brother's eyes. It was unusual, to say the least, for him to do so. Sana Lance Talyn had always kept their public relationship as formal as possible; it had been the only way for him to help her get to the level that she was in their patriarchal society. But now he was looking at her the way he did when they were at home, and she felt the carefully constructed wall she had created crumble and a day's worth of emotion come pouring out. Before she knew it, tears were falling down her cheeks. "Domilitis is gone, Lance. Mother, Papa…everyone…they are all…gone…"

Dawn saw Lance subtly bite his lip as if keeping his own emotions in check, and then he laid a hand on her shoulder. "I warned you, Dawn. You always knew that this would happen. They were never on the evacuation list – we were always going to have to leave them behind."

In a flare of anger she brushed his hand of her shoulder. "There is a difference between knowing something and seeing it happen before your eyes! I was there! I felt the terror and the imminence of the end just as surely as they did! I thought…I thought I was going to…"

He pulled her into a hug then, muffling her last word against his shoulder. They stood like that for a moment, her sobs echoing around the small office Lance had pulled her into. He just held her as he waited for her to regain the control she had fought for as she had watched her home burn. After a few minutes the sobs subsided and she pulled back, taking a deep, steadying breath. Then he asked the question that had clearly been playing on his mind since he had opened the gyrocraft doors to find four complete strangers. "Where is the Master Chief?"

Dawn gave him a curious look. She had been expecting him to ask about the aliens, but he had had an odd glint in his eye as he had asked the odd question. She shrugged, pulling away slightly "I do not know. We took the last gyrocraft at the Military headquarters; I imagine that if the Master Chief was able to escape he would have arrived before us."

Lance pulled away then, terror apparent on his features before he managed to hide it. He took several steps away from her and then began pacing beside the far wall of the office. She watched him for a moment, startled by the odd behaviour. "What is it, brother?"

He stopped in his tracks, as if only just remembering that she was there. He then pasted on an unconvincing smile, still keeping his distance. "It is nothing, Sana," he was back to the formality, any traces of the brother she needed right then gone in an instant. His eyes darted around the room as if searching for a safe subject. "Tell me about the aliens."

"They are not truly aliens," Dawn replied, allowing the subject change despite his strange behaviour. This might be her only chance to help them, and she wasn't going to waste it. "They are simply humans from other worlds. They came to Solaris as peaceful explorers but since their arrival they have been treated with nothing but ill intentions. They do not deserve to share our fate. They are injured and tired and simply looking for a way home…"

"How did they get here?" Lance interrupted, the fear in his expression replaced by something else that Dawn couldn't quite identify.

"They came through the ring that was unearthed up by the Foramine tunnels," Dawn answered uncertainly. "But the ring was destroyed when Mt. Petera erupted in the North…"

"That doesn't matter!" Lance gave an almost jovial shout, before regaining his composure. Dawn watched him cautiously, not even trying to conceal the fearful concern on her face. Her brother had been the lead Sana of the Ark Programme for the last ten years and as such had had to deal with their planet's imminent destruction for quite some time. Maybe this close to the end the pressure was finally getting to him. A smile closer to a manic grin split his face, his intelligent eyes calculating several steps ahead.

"Take me to the aliens."

Ronon did not like the man currently staring at him.

He was clearly related to Dawn; his skin and hair was the same colour as all of the Solarian people they had thus far met, but he shared her particular eyes and face shape. He was older than her, premature lines creasing his eyes and forehead and the peppering of grey tinting his hair. He was studying Ronon like all the other spectators had before him, but there was something different in his eyes that set the Satedan on edge. He had the expression of a desperate man; and desperate men were dangerous.

"Err…" Dawn hesitated in the corner of Ronon's vision, but he didn't take his glare off of the man currently sizing him up like a piece of meat. "Lance, this is Colonel Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon and Dr McKay. And this is my brother, Sana Lance Talyn; chief of the Ark Programme."

"It is nice to meet you," Teyla said from behind Ronon's shoulder; ever the picture of diplomatic pleasantry. Sheppard had purposely placed himself in his line of sight having recognised the stand-off currently occurring between the two men. McKay was still unconscious and lying on the bench behind them. The edges of Lance's mouth twitched in response to Teyla's greeting, not a trace of surprise from her apparent use of their language.

After a tense while of awkward silence, Sheppard cut right to the heart of the matter. "What do you want?"

That broke the eye contact. Lance turned his gaze on Sheppard and after a brief moment to congratulate himself on a staring contest well played, Ronon returned his full attention to the exchange.

"I have decided to grant you asylum, in exchange for your assistance," Lance replied. Dawn flashed him a surprised, then confused, expression, but he ignored her and kept his attention on Sheppard. Ronon wasn't entirely convinced that he wanted asylum on a planet imminently doomed, but he left the negotiation to those far better at it than him. "Your friend will receive proper medical treatment immediately, and you will come with me."

Lance stood back from the glass door that seemed to open at his silent command, gesturing at two soldiers that had been standing back during the short talk. Sheppard threw Teyla and Ronon a look before standing aside and allowing the soldiers to take McKay away on a litter that seemed to have materialised from nowhere. He looked just as surprised as Ronon did by the sudden turn of events. Lance turned to his sister and gestured at them. "Take those two to the guest quarters. Colonel Sheppard, is it? How would you like a tour?"

Once again, Sheppard threw a look over his shoulder before he stepped out of the cell and followed Lance out of the room. Teyla, Ronon and Dawn stood there for a brief moment before he broke the silence. "What just happened?"

Dawn shrugged, staring after her absent brother. "I have no idea."

"Okay, not that I don't appreciate the sudden change of heart…"

"Do you know about the Ark Programme?" Lance cut John off as he pushed through a set of double doors. John nodded, and then stumbled to a stop when he saw what was on the other side of the door. They opened out onto a metal walkway suspended way off the ground in a huge cavern-like space. Below them was a strange, mutant craft, seemingly typical of Solarian design. "We have been trying for over a decade to create a Void worthy craft before our planet is destroyed. That…that was our last chance."

John leaned over the railing of the walkway to get a better look at the craft. The shape was vaguely familiar, almost like a space shuttle but with some pretty vital parts missing. It kind of looked like a demented version of a Thunderbird; the yellow one that went underwater. He sincerely doubted its credentials as a spacecraft, but kept that thought to himself. "'Was'?"

Lance nodded coming to stand beside him, uncomfortably placing himself on the side of his injured arm. John twisted slightly to set himself in a better position. He didn't trust the man about as far as he could throw him (which, considering his shoulder, wasn't far in the slightest). "Yes, that is the top secret Ninth prototype Voidcraft that not even Dawn knows about. It has yet to be tested; its construction only just completed. However, she will never fly. The Master Chief was paranoid that we would leave without him and as such he kept the power source in his possession at all times. When you arrived we thought for sure that you were him and that we were saved."

"Sorry to disappoint," John replied without a hint of sincerity. Lance didn't seem to notice the sarcasm, instead staring almost dreamily at the craft below. "I still don't understand what you expect us to be able to do about it."

"You came through the ring."

"Yes, the ring that has been destroyed," John explained as if he were talking to a two-year-old. Lance flashed him a look of annoyance, and then continued walking along the bridge without looking back to see if John were following. "What do you want from us?"

"We lied when we told Dawn and the others the reason for building this facility here." Lance reached another set of doors at the other end of the walkway, but this time he had to stop and enter a security code before he barged through. "We don't actually know what part of the planet will be the last to go; the Virai plains could be destroyed at any time. We built this facility here because of what we found underneath the desert sands."

John wasn't that sure he liked where this was heading. The thought that they hadn't brought themselves any time at all was disconcerting, but this place seemed stable enough for now, and he had no idea where they could possibly run to next. He followed Lance down several flights of stairs until they entered a room at the very bottom of the Solarian built facility. Once again he found himself frozen when he saw something heart-warmingly familiar.

An odd buzz raised the hairs on the back of his neck, the way it always did when he was near Ancient tech. Living in their city it often grew too normal for him to notice but after its absence of seemingly forever he felt the sensation anew. Before him stood a small, distinctly Ancient construct – literally the size of a closet – the wall facing them embedded with a door and a control panel. John almost laughed. It seemed like so long ago that they had been sent through the gate to investigate an Ancient outpost; it was an ironic twist that it might turn out to be their redemption. "A transporter."

Lance was grinning at him as he watched his reaction, clearly pleased that John recognised the technology. He pulled out a cylindrical object from inside his uniform and with a click of a button a beam of light cut through the semi darkness of the chamber. He gestured at the waiting doors with it. "We call it 'the Wardrobe' due to its size. Come."

He waved his hand over the control panel and the doors obliged, sliding open to reveal a small room with a touch screen on the back wall. The map was unfamiliar, and yet still similar to those in Atlantis. John followed Lance into the transporter and watched as he selected a dot on the screen. There was the short white flash of light, and the doors opened out into the Ancient facility.

"You've known about this the entire time?" John asked in disbelief as he stepped out into a room similar to Stargate Operations back home. As when he had first stepped through the gate and into Atlantis the lights starting flickering to life.

"We have known, yes, but we have never taken the time to understand," Lance replied, his gaze flicking from the lights to Sheppard and back again, the torch forgotten in his hand. "And, we have never been able to get most of the artefacts to work. We have never even managed to turn the lights on before. Amazing."

John shifted uncomfortably under the freshly studious gaze he was now pinned with. It was a creepier version of the glare McKay had given him when he had first sat in the chair in Antarctica. "Yes, well, a lot of the tech requires the ATA gene to activate it. But you have no idea what that is…err…"

"We found this place about fifty years ago while we were digging for water," Lance finally dragged his eyes off of John and stared at the newly illuminated treasure trove. "We found symbols that we matched back to the Scriptures and for a while this was a place of worship for those rich enough to know about it. But then we went to war with the Kleptons of the East and this place was forgotten. It wasn't until we realised that the Scriptures were true when they spoke of our inevitable end that we decided to investigate further. Ultimately what we found was a menagerie of strange objects that we couldn't identify or use. But I knew that this place was important, so I forged the timeline and convinced the Master Chief to build the facility here. I do love it when I am right."

John ignored that last comment. "What about the Stargate? The ring?"

"I have always known that that was a lost cause," Lance replied smugly, again walking off without paying heed to John. "We found reference to the Ring and its supposed interplanetary ability; however I disbelieved such a thing was possible until the Ring was unearthed during a bombing run not long ago. It quickly became apparent that it no longer had a dialling device though, so we abandoned it and focused on the Voidcraft. A mistake, I guess."

"Right, well, this is great and everything, but I still don't get what it is you want," John was losing his patience with the tour.

Lance smiled over his shoulder at him, and then came to a stop before yet another door. "You came through the Ring, you recognise the technology, and you are a flyer. As such I have concluded that you should be able to fly one of these."

He waved his hand over the door control to reveal the holy grail of Ancient tech.

A Jumper bay – complete with Jumpers.

Oh my God, I actually ended a chapter on a positive note! It seems that the team now has a chance of survival after all, isn't that good news? I wonder how long that will last… Please let me know what you think!

Now, as always, I am an opportunist. I do, however, usually wait until I finish a fic before I plug a new one, but I might end up (at least trying) to write two fics simultaneously…could be disastrous, but we'll give it a go. Anyway, time to advertise the highly demanded and (hopefully) eagerly awaited sequel to my fic the Collective!

The Vendetta

Summary: The race is on to find the real culprit behind the attempted destruction of Atlantis and prevent them from trying again…but with our boys Earth-side, who is left to protect Atlantis?

Setting/Pairings: Continuation of the Collective, so late season five with added Sheyla (though that is not the focus)

Genre/Rating: Suspense/Action/Adventure/Hurt/Comfort/Angst/Most likely whump all around cause I'm mean like that/T to be safe

I am about to start writing chapter one so it could potentially be uploaded relatively soon! See you then (or for the next chap of this fic…whichever comes first lol)