Disclaimer: i do not own any of the characters nor do i own Stargate or anything associated with Stargate.
I came back to read the reviews and realised that I had posted the wrong version it was one of the first drafts… so I'm just replacing them with the proper version.
Just some advance warning there are quite a few aspects related to the universe that I adjusted as you will find, such as Jacob Carter never being a Tok'ra because he never had actual cancer- there was a cancer scare around the time he tried to get Sam into NASA (the same time as the original). SO that meant that someone else became a tok'ra….
The blast followed by the shock wave from the Super Hive exploding along with the ZPMs that were on board had caused a significant amount of damage, very few of the dozens of vital systems that allowed for the city to fly were even functioning at the bare minimum. Many had accepted that they were either going to die or somehow survive, manage re-entry and hopefully land on earth without causing a Tsunami anywhere. There were sirens sounding throughout the city as the scientists rushed around in the dark to fix the life support before the oxygen levels got too low. More than one person ran head first into another person and needed to collect their dropped tools before continuing their run. Amid all the sirens there were people yelling and screaming at each other and barking orders, all fighting to be heard not just over the sirens but over all the other yellers. Military people were rushing around replacing lighting crystals and placing wall sconces back in their places. In the past five years the military people had learned enough about the city to be helpful in a crisis such as this one. There were many sighs of relief when lights came back on making the task or replacing the life support crystals and other important systems easier. It had been an hour since the sirens begun with the destruction of the Super Hive when they finally stopped, by this point the lighting in the areas containing important systems were back on. Everyone other than those in the control room let out a sigh of relief at the silence before focusing their hands and minds back on the task of preventing Atlantis from being destroyed.
"It is looking very bad our orbit is deteriorating very quickly, by my calculations we will crash land on Earth in approximately 6 hours, which would very likely destroy Earth. We may be able to combat this if we can get the Stardrive up and running before then but the chances of that happening are very small given the damage the shock wave did to the Stardrive. The biggest issue is one of the conduit crystals was damaged limiting the power that is getting to other areas of the city and meaning that we are losing energy as well. We need to replace the crystal but we cannot because the particular crystal that is damages is connected to the shield arrays and so the shields will fail if we remove the crystal and if the person out there doesn't die straight away they will be pulled off Atlantis with our close proximity to Earth because of the gravitational pull" The Canadian was leaning against the console as he spoke a frown on his face as he watched everyone listening to his critical evaluation of the situation
"So we can only fix the crystal once we have landed on Earth but we are losing power which is drawing us closer to earth and the Stardrive isn't operating. Meaning we are doomed and will die along with life on Earth because we will crash land and therefore would act like an Asteroid. Every life on Earth will become extinct like dinosaurs how wonderful. Could we fix the Stardrive enough to have a burst just before we hit the ground enough to slow our momentum enough that there will be minimal damage? Can we either predict where we will land or manoeuvre so that we know we will land over water?" The Canadian looked thoughtfully at the military leader who had spoken as he flicked his fingers several times before responding.
"Give me 5 minutes to make some calculations before I say anymore, it may be a viable option Sheppard, given the rate of orbital decay I can be pretty certain that we will land on water somewhere near San Francisco" then the Canadian walked away muttering to himself, he grabbed the tablet that was sitting on one of the consoles on his way out the door.
"Dr Weir, while we were fighting the Super Hive I kept an eye on all of the darts that left the ship and for any escape pods, there were none that got anywhere near any other ship apart from Atlantis and we destroyed those that did. I think that one or two may have gotten down to Earth- although I can't be certain. We appear to be mostly in the clear. It is hard to believe that the Wraith have been destroyed well almost there could be one dart but it also could have been destroyed when the Super Hive was. Although do you consider it odd that the Ancients fought them for a century and lost, while we destroyed them in 5 years, I guess the ground work was laid already, but they knew their technology much better than we do."
"It is odd from our view but they were tired, their civilization had practically ended with the plague, they were more interested in ascending rather than fighting a war. John you have to remember we were fighting to survive and to protect Earth. We seem to have a lot more to live for than them, we have found very few recreational activities that they took part in; from what we know they are a very boring people. I have to say it seems odd after all this time to be back here and there be so little difference other than that Satellite." she smiled.
"McKay really wants to go have a look at that Satellite, he is pretty sure that it isn't a weapons satellite, well it isn't like the ones we saw in Pegasus it's bigger. He thinks it might be a research post or something similar. Have you heard anything from the Scorpius or the Orion since we arrived?"
"Just a brief message, when we arrived; but our communication system was one of those damaged by the blast from the Super Hive. They just said that they arrived with no issues and wondered how we got here so quickly. We didn't respond thinking we would be able to do so after the battle. I know they were out of the main range for the blast and seem to be keeping their distance from us and the Earth for the moment. John what are we going to do about Earth? Looking at those ships they are not new. How is the rest of the expedition going to react to finding out what we have suspected for a long time- that we were left out there to die? How do we even tell them something like this?"
"I think that most of them already know Dr Weir, given what we see it would be pretty hard to try to soften the blow now. It may not be as bad as you think it will be, those of us that are alive have survived these past few years without help from Earth although I would expect there will be some bitterness. We tried to keep Earth safe while they went about their lives either not knowing or not caring about us. I heard rumours from around some of the more cynical think it was intentional leaving us out there in Pegasus without any backup but I won't believe it until I see it. We didn't lose anyone in our arrival here and the battle which followed did we?"
"No luckily. I have heard some of those same rumours, we can only wait and see what will happen next either it will be positive or negative. Hopefully we will know one way or the other soon, either that or we will be an asteroid." She moved over to stand in front of one of the consoles facing the Stargate.
"The long range sensors that are active are indicating that there is nothing coming and no ships anywhere near us other than the Asgard ship, Earth's ships and the Orion and Aurora; which is good, although I have to wonder how accurate they are considering how many systems are having problems." He turned to face the console that he was standing with his back against.
"The diagnostics have finished, the shields and the weapons are looking fine. Life Support is back and fully operational, the desalinization tanks are looking fine and while we are losing power through the conduit crystal limiting the usage through the city to what we really need has reduced the overall usage to not so significant. Communications are going to need allot of crystals replaced. Most of the lights in central areas have however been fixed. Altogether it is not looking too bad really other than the Stardrive being damaged and the hyperdrive unusable with the conduit crystal being damaged." The pair both spun to face the door hearing the rapid footfalls along with approaching, the doors slid open as normal and a man stepped through. Both sighed in relief at seeing the scientist laptop in hand, hoping he had good news for them.
"That idea of yours Sheppard may just work if we are lucky, we will however; need to replace the conduit crystal as soon as we are safely on the surface to prevent further damage. There is a lot of work that will need to be done in a short space of time. If the military people continue to replace the lighting crystals while we work it will make things simpler. It's much easier to work in actual light rather than torch light. Sheppard I am going to need you to reinitialise the Stardrive and many smaller components of it so you should come with me. Dr Weir if you could monitor all the repairs from here and keep me updated via radio that would be useful." The pair looked at each other and nodded.
"Good luck, Rodney, John. Let me know if there is anything you need that I can get to you from here."
"Lead the way McKay." The Canadian man walked out the door at a pace almost considered running leaving the military man all dressed in black to follow along.
Hope you enjoy