And here is chapter 9, I am fast today, working on chapter 10, could be donew tonight ot tomorrow, lol. Enjoy.
Edited a few spelling and grammer flaws out.
Chapter 9 - ...be sure to watch out for the water, darts,...
Atlantis, control room,
"Please tell me this is not my fault." Beckett asked.
"No." McKay answered.
"Thank you." Beckett replied.
"From what we've been able to ascertain the city is powered by three 0 point modules, two are entirely depleted and the third is reaching maximum entropy when it does, it will die too and nothing can reverse that." McKay told them.
"I hate being right." Buffy said.
"Just tell me the bottom line" Sumner told McKay.
"The force field that's holding back the ocean has collapsed to its minimum sustainable levels. Look you see" McKay said and taps in on a computer and points "here, and here where the shield's already failed and the city's flooded. It could have happened years ago. This section's likely more protected because of the Stargate.
"What if it fails completely?" Sheppard asked a question Buffy knew the answer to but really did not want to hear it.
"It's a matter of when not if." McKay said causing a groan from Buffy.
"I don't want to drown again." She said softly and Weir placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's a good thing we stopped searching the entire city, you have bought us some extra time, Colonel Sumner please call you security teams back." Dr. Weir told him.
"All security teams fall back to the Gate room" Colonel Sumner ordered over the radio.
"It's not going to be good enough" McKay told them.
Buffy who seemed to have recomposed herself said "No but it will buy us some extra time."
"So how much time do we have?" Dr. Weir asked.
"It's hard to say. Hours, maybe days if we minimize power expenditure." McKay told them.
"What about our own power Generators?" Beckett asked.
"We're working on that, but even with our most advanced Naquada Power Generators, the equations are coming up far short." McKay told him.
"Can't we somehow use what power we have left to get back to the surface, I mean this city can fly right, and maybe it is only some ankers or something like that keeping us down here. So if we can find some way to release them the city should rise and we won't all drown." Buffy told him.
"Well yes, I suppose that is possible but we have no idea how to do any of those things. I could take months to figure out how." McKay told her.
"So we need to find more ZPM's" Weir told them.
"Now how do we do that if we can't search the city?" Sumner asked.
"If there were more here, wouldn't we have detected them by now." Buffy told them.
"She's right, if there were more here in Atlantis then we would have detected them." McKay told Sumner.
"Can we use the Stargate." Sumner asked.
"There's nowhere near enough power to open a wormhole back to earth." McKay told him.
"Maybe somewhere in this Galaxy." Sheppard suggested.
"That's relatively easy. Fortunately some ancient technology still uses good old fashioned push-buttons, so we've been able to access the Stargate control system and a library of known Gate addresses in the database." McKay told them.
"Let's just hope we won't drop in on a world full off the aliens who kicked the Ancients ass." Buffy stated.
"We'll have to risk that miss Summers." Sumner told her.
"I guess, oh and call me Buffy." Buffy told the Colonel.
"That's not all, look at this." Peter said and pushes a button, a sort of shield appears across the Stargate like an iris.
"Just like the iris on the Earth gate." Sumner said.
"Using power, using power, using power!" McKay yelled and Peter turns it off.
"At least we don't have to deal with any uninvited guests. Colonel. Assemble a team we need safe harbor, or better still another power source." Dr. Weir told him.
"Ltd Ford gather security teams 1 and 2 everyone gear up." Colonel Sumner called over the radio.
"I'm coming too." Buffy stated.
Colonel Sumner looked at her then nodded "fine."
"Major I want you to go along as well." Dr. Weir told him.
"Yes ma'am" Major Sheppard told her and heads off.
"Alright pick an address. Start Dialing" Dr. Weir told them.
"Chevron one encoded" McKay said after pushing a button.
"Rodney." Dr. Weir said looking at him.
"Oh." McKay said and just pushes 5 buttons.
"Ready Malp four for Off-world recon" Peter informed them.
McKay pushes the last button.
Everyone stands ready in front of Gate, Buffy had opened one of her suitcases and taken the sword out and strapped it to her back. Unlike the others she was not wearing a military outfit but some jeans and a shirt and a dark jacket. She looked kinda like when she fought Caleb and sliced him in half, only a bit older now. Buffy also put some things in a bag, whish she swung over her shoulder and then joined the others, ready.
"Malp reads full viability and no immediate signs of activity around the Stargate. But its pitch black. For now, we're going to use the tried and true system for identification for inbound gate travelers." Peter told them.
"Let's Move out!" Sumner ordered after he looked at Buffy, Sheppard and finally Dr. Weir after she nodded.
All go through gate with Night vision goggles, except Buffy. Sheppard waves before he went though.
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Off world,
The marines scan area, as Buffy steps up besides Sheppard looking around calmly. Sheppard see movement, calls a halt, signals, which Buffy managed to get thanks to some patrols with Riley.
"It's just a kid…actually two kids" she whispered to Sheppard.
Sheppard gave her a look then looks in front of him and indeed a kid jumps out in front of Ford. Kid in mask growls, and attacks other one both fall.
"Don't!" Buffy ordered to the marines raising their guns.
"Please don't hurt us." A kid asked.
"There is someone coming from the trees, they turned to look and again Buffy was right as a man, appears through the trees walking towards them.
"Please they're just playing," the man said and raises a hand.
"Everything ok here Sheppard?" Colonel Sumner asked.
"Yes sir. Just a couple of kids" Sheppard informed him.
The man stands up, looks at Sumner. He's much bigger and taller than Sumner. Sumner looks up at him, and raises his gun "Halling." The man said, introducing himself.
"Put that Down Colonel before to turn potential friends into enemies." Buffy told him
"Buffy Summers." Buffy introduced herself. "Nice to meet you."
"Are you here to trade?" Halling asked.
"Trade. Yes we're t-traders" Sheppard answered.
Halling turns to his son "How many times have I told you not to play in the forest after dark? I'm just glad you're safe." He and his son put their foreheads together,. He then gets up, "Teyla will wish to meet with you. Come." Halling told them.
"Parker, Smitty ... you're on gate duty. Dial Atlantis base and let the good doctor know we've made contact with the indigenous people."
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Athos, woods,
"Sir if you don't mind my asking. I noticed you got a problem with Major Sheppard." Ford asked Colonel Sumner.
"My problem Lt is with his record. I don't like anybody who doesn't follow the proper chain of command." Colonel Sumner told him and they both look back at Sheppard.
"Yes, sir." Ford said.
"What's that mask you got on?" one of the kids asks Major Sheppard.
"Helps you see in the dark." Sheppard said and hands it to him "Check it out."
"Whoa." The kid said.
"Let me see…Whoa can I have it?" the other kid asked.
"No." Sheppard told him and takes it back "what's the mask you got on."
"This? Wraith." The kid told him.
"Wraith? What's that?" Sheppard asked.
"My guess would be the enemy that defeated the Ancients." Buffy told him.
"You don't know?" the first kid asked.
"What world did you come from?" the second kid asked.
"Can we go there?" the First kid asked.
"Afraid not, I'm from a galaxy far, far away." Sheppard answered.
"Please tell me you did not just say that." Buffy told him.
Sheppard looked at her.
"Why doesn't she wear any of your masks that makes you see better in the dark?" the second kid asked.
Sheppard looks at Buffy who answered "Because, I can see ok with them and I got all these big strong men to protect me." Buffy told them.
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Athos, tent,
"It's Halling ... I bring men from away." Halling told the inhabitants inside the tent.
"Enter" Teyla told him.
Ford, Sheppard, Buffy and Sumner come in.
"These men wish to trade." Halling told Teyla.
"Ah." Sheppard said and takes off his goggles, and smiles "it's nice to meet ya."
"I am Teyla Emmagan Daughter of Tughan" Teyla told him.
"Colonel Marshall Sumner, Major Sheppard, Ltd Ford and Buffy Summers. I have very few specific needs." Colonel Sumner said.
"We do not trade with strangers." Teyla told them.
"Is that a fact?" Colonel Sumner asked.
"Well then we'll just… we'll have to get to know each other. Me, I like Ferris wheels, college football, anything that goes more than 200 miles per hour." Sheppard told her.
"And apparently her form" Buffy muttered and Lt. Ford chuckled softly since he was the only one to hear her.
Ford then whispered to Sheppard "Sir, that's not going to mean anything to them."
"Feel free to speak up. I'm just trying to break the ice." Sheppard whispered back.
"If these people can't help us I'd rather not waste my time" Sumner whispered to them.
"Each morning before dawn our people drink a stout tea to brace us for the coming day. Will you join us?" Teyla asked.
"Tea?" Buffy asked then smiled "how about I make you some hot chocolate instead, it's much better then tea, and chocolate is everyone girls best friend.
"If you try our tea in the morning I will try your hot chocolate." Teyla said smiling at Buffy.
Buffy smiled back "Deal, I promise you're going to love this."
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Athos, outside tents, its light now,
Sumner walks over to one of his marines who's looking through binoculars at something. Sumner takes them and looks we see an old ruin.
"We didn't even know it was there until the sun came up." A marine said
"It's more promising than anything else these folks have got to offer, some shelter, a nice little valley, Location, location, location." Colonel Sumner said and then walks off.
"The City of the ancestors is not safe" A man told Colonel Sumner.
"We can handle ourselves." Sumner told him.
"The wraith will come." The man told him
"Who are these Wraith?" Sumner asked.
"We have never met anyone who did not know." Teyla told them.
"You have now" Sumner told them.
"Buffy thinks they are the ones who defeated the Ancients." Sheppard told Sumner.
Sumner looked at Buffy who nodded "That'd be my guess yes, we'll have to be careful when we cross them." Colonel noticed she said when and not if but didn't pay more attention to it.
"If the wraith have never touched your world you should go back there." Teyla told them.
"Oh we'd like to but we can't, see here's the thing ma'am, we've got ourselves into a bit of a bind and we may need a safe place to stay for a while." Sheppard told her.
"Not that our world is such a paradise without Wrath presence." Buffy added quietly.
"Our people have long believed that wraith will come if we venture into the old city, but it is a belief we have not tested in some time." Teyla told them.
"Gentlemen, Buffy" Sumner said and leaves with Sheppard, Buffy and Ford in tow.
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Athos, outside,
"Look I don't care what they say that city's worth a look, not to mention the possibility there could be ZPM's there that they don't know or care about." Sumner told them.
"What if the Wraith are the enemy the Ancient Hologram lady was talking about?" Sheppard asked.
"All the more reason for us to have a defensible position, should we have to abandon Atlantis. Stay here and find out what you can. Ford you head back to the Gate, report into Weir, tell her we'll have answers for her in a few hours." Sumner ordered.
"Yes sir." Ford said.
Sumner heads off; Sheppard and Buffy go back to Teyla.
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Athos, inside tent,
"Well, guess it's just you, me, Buffy….and him.
"Your leader looks through me as if I were not there." Teyla told him.
"Do I?" Sheppard asked and Buffy rolled her eyes but said nothing.
"No. You truly cannot return to your world." Teyla told him.
"No." Buffy cut in. letting the two know she was still here as well..
"Then there is something you must see." Teyla says and walks out.
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Athos, forest,
Teyla climbs down something, Sheppard behind, and Buffy behind him.
"How much further is this place?" Sheppard asked.
"Not far." Teyla replied.
Sheppard falls down, gets up acts real cool. Buffy chuckled and jumped down landed gracefully on her feet and smiled at the two.
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Atlantis, Weirs office,
"Tell me some good news Rodney." Dr. Weird told him.
"I can't do that" Rodney McKay told her.
"The shield has held back the ocean for centuries." Dr. Weir told him.
"And probably would have kept going for years more, but our arrival changed that. Now it's nothing more than a thin shell between the buildings and the water." McKay informed her.
"We stopped exploring." Dr. Weir told him.
"The damage was already down, another section of the city on the far side was flooded an hour or so ago." McKay told her.
"Even occupying this room is draining power." Peter told her.
"We need to evacuate, the moment Colonel Sumner reports back it's safe." McKay told them.
"You're saying we have to abandon the city." Dr. Weir asked.
Rumbling is heard
"The sooner we leave the longer that shield holds." McKay told her.
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Athos, some sort of cave
"I use to play here as a child, I believe this is where the survivors hid from the wraith during the last great attack." Teyla told them and grabs a stick.
Sheppard pulls out a lighter "Let me." He told her which made Buffy roll her eyes again.
Teyla lights it with her own "we mastered fire long ago" she told him.
"Guess so." Sheppard said and Buffy chuckled.
They walk; there are images on the wall. Sheppard notices something on the ground.
"Don't touch that." Buffy told him but Sheppard already had picked it up, it was a necklace.
"Why? What's this?" He asked.
"I lost this, years ago, how did you…?" Teyla started to ask him.
"It was just lying over there" Sheppard told her and opens the clasp "It was reflecting of the light." He then puts it round her neck, there's a moment.
Buffy cleared her throat. "Someone's been busy." Sheppard said.
"The drawings in the Caves are extensive; many must date back thousands of years or more." Teyla told them.
"Does this represent the destruction of your city?" Sheppard asked.
"This drawing far predates that." Teyla told him.
"So, what, someone knew it was going to happen?" Sheppard asked.
"I think more like it happens one every where. Remember Teyla said that her people believed that coming to the city would bring back the wraith which would indicate the have been by a couple of times." She told Sheppard then asked Teyla "Am I right?"
"Yes, I believe it happens again and again. The wraith allows our kind to grow in numbers and when that number reaches a certain point they return to cull their human heard. Sometimes a few hundred years will pass before they awaken again. We've visited many, many worlds. I know of none untouched by the wraith. The last great Holocaust was five Generations ago, still they return in smaller numbers to remind us of their power." Teyla told them.
"It's a hell of a way to live." Sheppard told her.
Buffy thought back to her life in Sunnydale and all the vampires who continuously killed people there. "Yeah" she said absentminded.
"We move our hunting camps around, we try to teach our children not to live in fear but it is hard, some of us can sense the wraith coming that gives us warning. We should go it will be dark soon." Teyla told them.
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Athos, near the Gate,
"Man days are short here." Ford said.
"Major Sheppard, Buffy Summers this is Colonel Sumner, come in" Colonel Sumner said though the radio.
"Colonel this is Ltd Ford, Major Sheppard and Buffy Summers are out of radio range at the moment." Ford informed him.
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Athos, outside the tents,
"Where the hell are they?" Sumner demanded to know.
"I think Teyla wanted them to see something." Ford informed the Colonel over the radio.
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Athos, gate,
The gate activated and there was an incoming wormhole.
"Defensive positions" Ford ordered then on the radio to Sumner said "Colonel we have Gate activity here."
A ship, making a loud ringing sound shoots through gate. Another one follows and another.
"Colonel, three bandits headed your way." Ford told him over the radio.
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Athos, camps,
"Take cover!" Sumner yelled.
People are shot down. Ships fly by, people are screaming
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Athos, Forest,
Sheppard, Buffy and Teyla are on their way back when Buffy and Teyla suddenly froze.
"What is it?" Sheppard asked.
"The Wraith" both Teyla and Buffy said at the same time, Teyla looked strangely at Buffy before all of them run.
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Athos, camps,
The attack by the Wraith fighter ships continues. Sumner is running through the camp. Some Athosians run towards him but a white beam comes out of the sky and transports them away.
"Fire on that, gentlemen!" Sumner ordered.
Everyone fires at the fighter flying overhead. Sumner sees something moving nearby and swings his rifle round to shine the light attached to it at what he has seen. It's a white wispy ghost-like apparition, obviously a wraith. Almost as soon as he has spotted it, it disappears. He looks around and more wraiths float around, appearing and disappearing. He looks around, bewildered.
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Athos, forest,
Teyla, Buffy and Sheppard are running back towards the camp. Teyla is way ahead of Sheppard and Buffy next to her since Buffy didn't know the way back to the camp.
"Teyla! Buffy!" Sheppard called.
Teyla doesn't slow down and disappears from sight. Buffy stops and looks back, torn then runs back.
"Colonel, they're on the ground. They're all around us!" A marine yelled.
Sheppard raises his gun as a fighter flies overhead, then looks around him. "Buffy?" he asked and Buffy appeared within sight,
"Here, let's get a move on, Teyla is that way." Buffy informed him and just as they were about to move they see movement behind them, they spins and fires at a wraith.
Buffy reached out with her senses and sensed nothing, said "hold your fire, I think it's an illusion.
Then from another direction, Teyla appears, walking right through another wraith. "They're not really there." She told them.
Sheppard stares at Buffy in amazement, 'how did she know?'
"Do not trust your eyes. The Wraith can make you see things that are not there. We must hurry." Teyla told them. And they run off.
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Athos, camp,
The Wraith ships continue to fire on the camp. Sumner and his men are firing both
into the air and at the wraiths.
"Colonel, this is Sheppard. What you see on the ground is just an illusion. Concentrate on firing on the ships." Sheppard told him over the radio.
"Fire on the ships! Fire on the ships!" Sumner yelled then runs to one of his men who is transfixed by the sight of the wraiths and grabs him. "Bates, snap out of it."
"They're everywhere, sir!" Bates told him.
Sumner drags him to a new position and points into the sky. "Take that thing down!" Sumner ordered. Bates fires a missile launcher at the fighter and destroys it. Another fighter swoops by and Bates and Sumner are transported away.
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Athos, forest,
As Sheppard and Teyla run through the forest, another transporter beam sweeps along the ground behind them. Sheppard dives out of the way but the beam captures Teyla and transports her away.
"Teyla? Teyla!" Sheppard yelled But Buffy sees a woman she recognizes from her vision and runs towards and pushed her aside just before a transporter beam hits her and she is transported away by the same ship that had Teyla.
"Damn it, Buffy!" Sheppard yelled.
"Sir, the colonel's been taken." A marine called over the radio.
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Athos, gate,
Ford is standing near the DHD as it starts to dial automatically.
"The Gate's coming on again. Two enemy ships approaching." Ford said over the radio.
"Let 'em go – we've got friendlies on board. Look at the dialing device – burn those symbols into your mind." Sheppard told him over the radio.
The two remaining Wraith fighters approach and plunge through the active Stargate. As the Gate shuts down behind them, Ford stares at the DHD, memorizing the symbols.
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Athos, near the camp,
Sheppard is walking through the wreckage of the downed Wraith fighter, some of which is burning while other parts of it are sparking. He looks in horror as he sees an alien-looking hand, severed just below the elbow. The hand is dragging itself along with its fingers.
"Son of a…" Sheppard said as he shoots the hand twice. Then he spins round as Jinto runs up behind him.
"Help! Help me!" Jinto asked him.
Sheppard turns back to the hand. It's now motionless.
Almost crying Jinto said "I can't find my father."
Sheppard puts his hand on Jinto's shoulder sympathetically.
Another chapter done :D, review please.