Chapter 17: The Return Part 1
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Loros was in the Engineering area of the Daedalus, having gone back to Earth with them to make a few modifications to the shield in the hopes of strengthening them. Aside from Dr. Novak, Hermiod had only allowed Loros to poke around the shield crystals and so far the upgrades seemed to have been accepted by the systems.
"With the Lantean coding, the shield strength should be increased by fifty percent" Loros said.
"Shield upgrade integration is complete" Hermiod reported in monotone.
"I am surprised my technology interfaces so easily with Asgard technology" the Lantean said as he shut down the tablet.
"Our shield technology often advances over time. There is no real difference in inserting an Ancient code into the system" the grey alien explained monotonously. Loros was about to reply to that when his radio buzzed.
"Loros, we're beginning the test" Caldwell explained.
"I will be there soon Colonel" he said, handing the tablet to Novak.
When he got to the Bridge, he could see Rodney was running a few checks on his tablet before the test finally began. He looked out at the frame of the Midway space station which housed two Gates on either side, one from Pegasus and the other from the Milky Way. After the coronal mass ejection drained their ZPM, they had requested one from Aita who said he could get one to them in several months. What they needed was a way to get between galaxies quicker than three weeks, hence the intergalactic bridge.
"All systems seem to be…huh…" Rodney said as he looked at his tablet.
"What?" Caldwell asked.
"Oh, there's a… odd echo on the proximity sensors. Won't affect the test but, uh… yeah, we're ready to go" he said, finally looking up from his tablet.
Fifteen minutes pass as John travels along the Pegasus half of the bridge, but soon the Stargate does activate and the Puddle Jumper comes through as planned. Loros smiles. Rodney had presented the idea some time ago and he had to admit that it was quite intuitive, not that he told the scientist that or he would never here the end of it.
"We have a contact" Rodney reports.
"Colonel Sheppard, right on time. What's your status?" Caldwell asks into the comms.
"Felt a little weird, but everything seems to be in one piece. Ready to proceed to next phase. Uploading macro and initiating dialling sequence" Sheppard reported back. As the Milky Way Gate is activated, Loros notices Rodney looking into his tablet with a concerned expression.
"Is there something wrong Rodney?" he asks, coming to stand next to him.
"Oh no-no-no-no, this is weird" he said, looking at Kleinman's console.
"Shall I tell him to stand down?" Caldwell asks.
"No-no-no, it's nothing to do with the test. It's just our sensors aren't working properly" he said and Loros raised a brow. When last he looked, the sensors all seemed to be fine.
"Daedalus, ready to proceed" John said.
"Do I clear him?" the Colonel asked.
"Mmm. Mmm, yeah-yeah-yeah, I'm sure he's fine" he said distractedly and Loros rolled his eyes, jabbing him with his elbow and earning a yelp as well as one of his patented glares. "What the hell was that for?!"
"A distracted answer is not necessarily a positive one Rodney. Do we clear Colonel Sheppard to fly through?"
"Uh, he's good to go, good to go, yes. Go ahead" Rodney said with finality this time.
"Colonel Sheppard, you have a go" Caldwell said when he sat back down in his seat, although he didn't look all that convinced. McKay reported that the Puddle Jumper was on its way. It took another fifteen minutes before they received a databurst stating that the Puddle Jumper had made it to Earth and Loros smiled once more. "Mission accomplished" Caldwell said.
"Yes, of course it worked. I'm already on to the next problem" Rodney said, still looking at his tablet.
"Which is?"
"Well, the sensors are having a hard time determining what it is, probably due to the Doppler effect" he said and Loros reminded himself that he really needed to brush up on his Earth terminology in order to better understand some of the physics that Rodney knows.
"What is?" Loros asked.
"I'm detecting a foreign object travelling at .999 the speed of light...and it's coming this way"
Fifteen minutes later and John returns through the Milky Way Stargate before being ordered to bring the Jumper on board as it was expecting some company. Loros wracked his head to figure out what could possibly reach that speed. He'd learnt of all the races and their technology in his spare time and so had a pretty good idea of what races were capable of reaching those speeds.
"Believe it or not, moving that fast, while an incredible feat of technology, isn't very useful, certainly in comparison to travel through hyperspace. Now, moving as fast as it is, this ship, assuming it is a ship, would still take at least a million years just to reach the Milky Way"
"If they are that close to the speed of light then we must take relativity into account" Loros said.
"Exactly. The people on board, assuming that they are people, would only experience maybe twelve years, so a few stasis chambers and you're laughing ... I mean, they're not laughing, they're unconscious, but, uh, you know, metaphorically" the Canadian said and Loros rolled his eyes.
"So assuming it is a ship and assuming they are people…" John began.
"What do we do about them?" Caldwell finished.
"Well we try and make contact, obviously" McKay said.
"How do you propose we do that?" Caldwell asked.
"Pull up, honk the horn, try to get 'em to roll down the window" John said and Loros had to chuckle at that.
"I'm talking about attempting to match their speed. This ship is not designed to do that" he said.
"And it never will be able to. Even if we were to succeed we would be subject to the same time dilation and we would be out of contact with Earth and Atlantis for years" Loros said, upstaging McKay although he didn't protest.
"Can't we overtake them with our hyperdrive?" John asked.
"We can, however, they will pass us the moment we drop out of hyperspace because the sublight engines are incapable of accelerating to anywhere near the speed that they have"
"So we max out the sublight engines, get as close as we can get…"
"Hmm. Yes. I mean, that might work. We should at least be able to stay in range long enough to get some sensor readings, yeah" Rodney said.
"Do it. I'll let Atlantis know you'll be late" Caldwell said to John.
Eventually they were passed by the strange object that was going rather fast. Rodney was going over the sensor readings on his tablet just as Loros realised what race could possibly increase the speed of it's ship to that level.
"It's an Ancient warship. It's possibly Aurora class" Rodney said eventually.
"Who's flying it?" Caldwell asked.
"I…would imagine Ancients?" Rodney suggested and they turned to him.
"I was unaware of the first group of Lanteans in a warship before, what makes you think that I know about this one?" Loros asked with a wry grin. "Just before the evacuation there was one ship that was unaccounted for…" he said and they had an in depth discussion on how they could have possibly attained that speed when Loros sighed. "Might I suggest trying to get in contact with the ship before it gets out of range?"
"Why don't we just ask them to slow down?" John asked.
"Colonel Caldwell. The unidentified vessel is slowing down" Kleinman reported.
"Maybe the heard me" John said and Loros grinned.
"No, they saw us. They're not just slowing down, they're slamming on the brakes something like twenty-seven gees" Rodney said. There was a flash at the front of the bridge and a hologram of a blonde woman appeared in front of them, dressed in Ancient clothing.
"Unknown vessel, I'm Captain Helia of the Lantean warship Tria. Our ship has suffered damage. We've scanned your vessel and determined that it is capable of hyperspace travel. We've begun deceleration manoeuvres. Will you render assistance in the form of hyperspace transport?" she asked and Loros' eyes widened in recognition.
"Could you open a channel to them?" Loros asked Kleinman and he did so. "This is Loros on board the Earth ship, Daedalus" he said and she turned to smile at him. "It is good to see you again, Helia. We would be glad to render assistance in any way we possibly can" he said and she smiled at him gently before her hologram disappeared.
"We're gonna meet Ancients! I mean, flesh and blood Ancients who know what everything is and how everything works! I mean, I don't even know what to ask first!" Rodney said and Loros rolled his eyes.
"You have met me and the people of the Sanctuarium"
"Well yeah but they never answered any of my questions and I don't wanna disturb you"
"Considerate" John grinned.
"Well, it's gonna be a couple of hours before we can match velocities for transport" Caldwell said as they began to move towards them.
"That should give you enough time to work on that list" John said.
It wasn't long before the Daedalus dropped out above the planet and soon they were beamed down into the Gateroom. Elizabeth, Teyla and Ronon were introduced to Helia as she looked around at the city she had called home long ago. Loros had drowned it all out until a device rose from the floor and he knew what was going on.
"Thank you for all that you've done, Doctor Weir, but your guardianship of this city is no longer necessary. The city is now under my control" she said and his eyes shot up.
"Helia…"
"I thought this would be what you would want. The city back under our control…" she said.
"They have defended this city in our place…" he said and soon he left the room followed by John and Evan when he had returned.
They were in his room where he was packing up all of his Earth equipment. He'd sent a long distance message to have Aita look in on the Olesians for he was returning to Earth with them. He had one more thing to take with him, well two things, and he would need the help of both his men.
"We are taking the ships back to Earth with us…"
"What?!" John asked in shock.
"The Helios is and always will be under my command. The Orion became part of the Earth fleet the moment we gained control of it. I negotiated with the Chancellor of Taranis to hand it off to us permanently"
"Negotiated?"
"I told him that as a Lantean, it falls to me to decide who gets it"
"Okay, so how are we going to steal the ships if Helia is in control?" Evan asked.
"Helia may be in control of Atlantis but the city still responds to all of my mental commands without any hesitation. I can lockdown the hallways after we pass them so they cannot follow us until we are already in orbit"
"That is so devious…" Evan began as John smirked. "I like it…"
They had caused quite the fuss as they fled down the hallways pursued by some of the Lantean guards. The lockdown alarm rang out as Loros used his connection to the city to seal the doors of the pier where both of the ships were docked. Within fifteen minutes, they were in the ships and already headed for orbit. Loros had assisted the Expedition in upgrading the hyperdrives from interstellar to intergalactic so they could bring in more supplies whenever they needed them. Elizabeth had initially felt unsure of essentially hijacking two ships from the Ancients, however she merely thought about the fact that they were being kicked out of their home after all of the work they had done to defend it.
"We just hijacked two of the most powerful warships known to man" John said as they jumped into the same hyperspace window, allowing communication.
"'Hijack' sounds like such a negative word, John. I prefer the term 'liberated' personally. Besides, Helia would not have been able to stop me from taking the Helios as it is mine to command. The Orion on the other hand…"
"Okay so we hijacked one of them" Evan grinned, having travelled with Loros.
"Liberated, Major" John said, and they could tell he was grinning.
"Fortunately our hyperdrives are working in tandem to get us to the Milky Way…" Loros smiled.
Fortunately, Helia was feeling lenient on the matter. She acknowledged that the Helios was in fact Loros' and the Orion was earned back from the Taranians, therefore she granted them the ships. Soon, Loros began working at the Ancient outpost, successfully overruling the governments intent to move the chair to Area 51 so it remained under American control. He'd refilled their drone supplies as well and his final act was putting the outpost under the jurisdiction of the SGC. His bargaining chip was using his Lantean heritage to cut them off from it entirely by using a genetic lockout and the governments of the Earth needed the weapon to combat the Ori if ever they needed it. Eventually he left.
"So…they got you on orbital defence now?" Carson asked. He'd been put back in the SGC's infirmary.
"It is that or I have to constantly answer the questions of the IOA" Loros said.
"Ahh yes. Your immutable patience has one killer" he joked and Loros chuckled. "So what other duties do you have?"
"None. If I am not on duty, the SGC allows me to use the Helios whenever I need it. For the time being I have been assisting in the construction of the Midway station. We will need another way to get to and from the city if and when Helia allows us to return. Well, I can return, I just choose not to"
"Why not?"
"A home is not a home without a family there" he said with a warm smile.
"And the Ancients aren't family to you?"
"Not like your people have been to me. I did not really know Helia long in any case. We fought once or twice in some minor skirmishes before the evacuation, but other than that, we really did not interact. Her crew did not interact much with me or mine either"
"What did your friend, Aita, think?" Carson asked.
"He was somewhat angered. He was surprised that Helia could be so cold and evict the people who had brought them home and protected that home at the cost of their own lives. Whether or not he wants to maintain contact with them, he does not know…" he said and Carson put a hand on his shoulder. "I have to go. I am due to take some supplies out to Midway" he said, heading out so he could speak with General Landry and inform him that he was going. When he went into the control room, the Gate was active and Landry was heading down.
"Tell me you didn't engage the Ori, Colonel" Landry said.
"We didn't engage the Ori, sir. Bambus here was inspecting some curious fauna when he discovered the ground underneath him wasn't stable. He fell twenty feet into a babbling brook. Wallace there was trying to help him get back up when he lost his footing and broke his ankle" John explained to them.
"I see"
"I never thought I'd miss Rodney McKay being a member of my team" John said.
"Well, chemistry doesn't happen overnight. We'll debrief as soon as Wallace is out of the Infirmary" Landry said and then turned to Loros. "You heading out with more supplies?"
"Yes, sir" he smiled.
"Alright. And thank you once more for the help. Sooner it gets done the sooner we can have Carter back on the team" he grinned and then the Stargate began to dial. "Hold on, you two. You may get a kick out of this. This should be General O'Neill on his scheduled check-in from Atlantis"
"He went back, sir?" Sheppard asked.
"Woolsey needed a little back-up. Apparently the Ancients find him a bit trying" he said and they both laughed. "Imagine that!" he said as they went into the Control Room as the Stargate finally activated, both O'Neill and Woolsey appearing on the main screen.
"General!" O'Neill greeted.
"General!"
"Is that Sheppard and the Ancient there with you?"
"Yes sir" they said in unison.
"Talks are proceeding at an acceptable pace; but the real news is that the Pegasus Replicators are heading back to Atlantis to make another run at the city" he said and Loros' eyes widened at that.
"They are?" Sheppard asked.
"No one here seems all that worried about it"
"Why not?" Landry asked.
"They're Ancients!"
"Apparently these Replicators have a law in their base code that makes it impossible for them to harm their creators" Woolsey said.
"They are not aware that you have left. The city is far safer now that we are not actually there" Loros said.
"Well it would have been safe anyway. You could have just beat the crap outta them with your ships and sent them packing" O'Neill said and both grinned. The Stargate disengaged then and they started walking.
"Sir, I'd be happy to talk to you more about these Replicator guys" John said.
"Naah, sounds like they've got everything under control" Landry said and they both looked at one another in concern.
"Yes, sir…I guess they do…"
Later, Loros had dropped off the material and quickly returned to Earth. He was with John in his office. Lorne was head of his own team and was currently off-world and they were missing him terribly but they had some company in the form of Rodney, on the speaker phone.
"I hate it here…" the irate scientist said.
"How's that possible?" John asked.
"It's true…"
"Look, they gave you everything you wanted: your own lab…" John started.
"Yeah, it's too big…"
"Hand-picked assistants" Loros added on.
"Yeah, sycophants, all of them"
"You even had your own choice of projects to work on, aside from being able to go back to Atlantis" Loros said and they all frowned at that. Every day that passed, they hoped that the city would fade from their minds. It didn't fade from Loros' mind, for he was born and raised there. Without the city's presence in his mind, he felt somewhat empty.
"You know, the truth is, I…" the Canadian stopped.
"What?" John asked.
"I don't - I don't wanna use the term "lonely," but, uh, there are certain people who ... I miss"
"Me? Loros?"
"You two?! You two I'm talking to on the phone right now and having dinner with tomorrow, so not so much, but other people - people who I may never see again. Like, even Elizabeth, she hasn't returned any of my calls"
"I know what you mean…" John said with a sigh.
The next day, Carson approached Loros when he was off-duty for the day and asked him if he would like to come with him to visit Elizabeth. Their phone calls were generally going ignored, even Loros had a phone to stay in contact with everyone and he went ignored too. So with that in mind, Carson decided a trip was in order.
"Carson, Loros" she smiles slightly.
"Hullo, Elizabeth" the Scot smiles at her.
"This is a surprise" she said.
"Well you haven't returned any of our messages so I thought I'd drop by and I also coerced Loros to join me" he smiled.
"Oh yeah, sorry about that. Come in" she said, stepping aside. They went inside and saw that it was a little bit of a mess. "Sorry about the mess. I wasn't expecting company"
"Oh, please. I'm from a family of seven - our home was never this clean! You look good" he said, still baring a look of concern like Loros did.
"Ahh well, thanks for lying. How's the SGC treating you? Both of you if I'm not mistaken" she said, a little surprised that Loros was working for them.
"It's only been six weeks so I'm still settling in, but it's good. Interesting work, kind people" Carson said.
"It is more mundane than what I am accustomed to on Atlantis… I am starting to fear that the Helios' weapon systems may actually go rusty due to the lack of use" the Ancient grinned slightly and she chuckled. "I am still settling myself" he said finally.
"You could have stayed in Atlantis…" she said.
"It would not have been the same. Despite the fact that the regular chaos causes us more than a fair amount of stress, it is still something that I have come to enjoy somewhat. If I were to live among my kind…it may be, for lack of a better term, boring"
"I see" she chuckled more.
"So how are you?" Carson asked.
"Oh you know, keeping busy" she said, still clearing up.
"Oh yeah? Doing what?"
"I've been doing a bit of writing, working on my memoirs" she said.
"Your memoirs? About your time on Atlantis?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"Forgive my bluntness, Elizabeth, but on which planet did you expect to be able to publish it?" Loros asked and she smiled slightly.
"I suppose it's for posterity as much as anything else. And for me. Just trying to get it straight in my own head. It all went by so fast, you know"
"Aye…it did" Carson said. "Elizabeth, we're all a bit worried about you" he said honestly.
"You're worried about me? Why?"
"Well you don't return our phone calls for one" Carson started.
"And when you have encountered others in the past, they say that you have been distant" Loros finished. He had also bumped into her once, and pain had flashed through her eyes then especially.
"I'm just…" she sighed. "I'm just trying to move on"
"By writing your memoirs?" Carson asked and she didn't answer him. "Elizabeth, why haven't you taken another position? Even Loros has adapted and tried to move on" Carson said as they both sat down on the coffee table.
"The SGC has asked me to consult with the IOA and Homeworld Securities with the ongoing conversations with the Ancients" Elizabeth said.
"You don't need to be here for that, you could easily take another position and consult them from a secure phone line" Carson said.
"I guess I'm just not ready yet…"
"Well, Rodney is coming here tomorrow and we are all going out to dinner. Perhaps you should join us, Elizabeth?" Loros suggested.
"Tomorrow? Oh, gosh, tomorrow…I…" she stuttered.
"We will both pick you up tomorrow at seven…" he smiled, patted her knee and they both left.
The next evening, they were at the restaurant, all gathered around the table and enjoying their meal, the atmosphere warm and pleasant. Even Rodney was easy to approach that night and Loros was discovering more culinary delights from Earth.
"You should call her" John said to Carson and Rodney hummed in agreement.
"You did make a cute couple" Weir chipped in.
"I too believed that you two were well suited for one another" Loros grinned.
"It didn't work out. May have something to do with our first kiss being through Rodney!" Carson said and mock glared at said scientist, who sputtered a little bit.
"Oh, I thought we made a solemn vow never to speak of that again!"
"I remember no such thing!"
"You know what, it's getting late" Elizabeth said, ready to go home.
"Since when do you sleep?" John asked in amazement.
"Since I got back. I've got a lot of catching up to do. But it's been lovely seeing all of you again. Thank you for getting me out" she said to Carson.
"No, we should thank you. You're taking us to dinner, right?" John asked.
"Cheeky!" Elizabeth chastised. Soon all of their phones were ringing, sans Carson's and Loros'.
"I didn't bring my bloody cell phone with me! What's happening?" Carson asked.
"I too have left my cellular device at Stargate Command" Loros added.
They had just watched the video at Stargate Command and Loros' grey eyes were a mix of emotions after it. Sadness for the loss of his people, horror for the fact that the base code had been seriously damaged and resolute for retribution. The Replicators are proving to be a rather large threat to the galaxy now.
"They never made it to the Gate. I was informed they had a law written into their base code that made it impossible for them to harm the Ancients. How the hell did this happen?" Landry asked and they turned to look at Rodney but Loros took the explanation.
"After they were captured the first time, they made alterations to the base code to help them in their escape. Such alterations could potentially allow them access to their own base code and make any changes that they see fit" Loros explained.
"You did this?!" Landry exclaimed at Rodney.
"At the time we thought it was the only possible way to save the city" Elizabeth said.
"How it happened doesn't matter. They may have changed it on their own. The question is: how do we fix it?" Sheppard asked.
"That's why I called you in. I have my orders. The Daedalus is already on the way. Now, what I need from you is…what's the best way to get a nuke past the shield?" he asked and Loros' fists clenched on the table, catching the attention of John and Elizabeth.
"Well I have no idea" Carson said.
"I didn't call you in Doctor" Landry said.
"You intend to use nuclear weapons on my home?" Loros asked, appalled.
"It's the gateway to Earth"
"And we have an Iris!" McKay protested.
"Yes, we do, but thanks to your Intergalactic Gate Bridge, all they have to do is rewrite your macro and they can come out anywhere in the Milky Way" Landry said and they all deflated a little.
Loros had drowned out the rest of the conversation. He was on the brink of losing the first home he had ever known, a home that he had fought to defend, a home that he had frozen himself for ten thousand years and they were not allowed to do anything that could save it. He had never felt so helpless until John managed to convince them to help come up with a plan in his office.
"Now, those Replicator thingamyjiggies you're talkin' about…" Beckett began.
"Let's just call them ARG's" Sheppard said.
"They're energy weapons. They disrupt the link between the nanites' cells. The Replicators literally fall apart when you fire on them" Rodney explained.
"You know, uh, hypothetically, Teyla and Ronon'd be more than willing to help...if we asked"
"In order to get to the city, we would have to use the Stargate. I daren't use the Helios. The Asurans would use the city's drone supply to overwhelm the shields and destroy us. They would also use the shield to block us from exiting the event horizon" Loros said.
"Well, I did write a back door to the shield programme a couple of years ago when Kolya stormed the city, so...I mean, it could hypothetically let us get into the Gateroom" Rodney said.
"General Landry was worried about the Replicators rewriting the Bridge macro to gate them somewhere else in the Milky Way. Does that mean you could change the macro, take us somewhere else in Pegasus?" Elizabeth asked.
"Somewhere like, uh... just talking here... the Athosian settlement where Teyla and Ronon are?" John followed up Elizabeth's question with his own.
"We'd need a Puddle Jumper"
"And some of those ARG's" John said.
"And someone to make sure that Landry doesn't close the iris on us" Elizabeth added and Rodney hummed in agreement. "Hypothetically" she added on with a small smile.
"Of course" Beckett and Loros grinned as they spoke in unison.
Loros changed into some of his newer Lantean clothes, a white leather zip up vest and some matching cotton trousers, not as loose as his more relaxed ones, but not constricting either. He was handed an ARG and after a close encounter with one of John's team and someone who was working on the Puddle Jumper. Despite Landry ordering them to stop, they went through, bound for Pegasus…
TO BE CONTINUED