Author Notes: Thanks for the great feedback guys! I've had this chapter done for a while now, I'll admit, but I didn't want to post until I knew I could get the last 2 chapters after this up relatively quickly. So here's the next chapter, and you should get the next installment in a week at the very most, with the final chapter following shortly after. They just need to be betaed.
Most of the italics are from the season 6 episode Redemption, which I used because the guy really is that cliche :)
Chapter 8: Ghost
The darkness was almost immediately replaced by the eerie glow of the emergency power.
"What the hell is it now?" John cursed, reaching for his earpiece to contact the control room, still watching Rodney and Laura in their staring match warily. Before he could make contact, however, a booming voice sounded throughout the city.
"I am Anubis."
John blinked, "What did he just say?"
Everyone's earpieces started bleeping, informing them that an unidentified hologram was transmitting in the Gateroom.
"Humans of the Tau'ri. Your end of days finally approaches. There will be no mercy. The city of the Ancients shall be mine to command. You will bow to my awesome power. There is nothing that can stop the destruction I bring upon you. Prepare to meet your doom."
John should have known not to get out of bed today, "Forgive me if I've read mission reports wrong, but isn't that guy meant to be completely, incontestably, dead?"
"Not in her universe." Rodney jerked his head towards Laura, refusing to name her, "And apparently even there he still has his wonderful way with words."
Laura was visibly shaking, "We're going to need guns. Lots of guns."
Ronon raised an eyebrow, "Surely he'll just blast us from wherever he is."
John glared, "Not helpful Ronon. And besides, if he wants the city, then he'll want it as intact as possible."
Teyla frowned, "Who is this 'Anubis'?"
"What do we do?" Jeannie asked, fear and uncertainty lacing her tone.
"The bad guy. Bad ass Goa'uld from the olden days, with a lot of god-complex issues. And we protect the city from him." Sheppard explained.
"All of you shut up!" Rodney yelled, his voice carrying not only over his confused teammates, but all the other occupants of the room. No one had ever heard McKay's voice sound remotely that powerful, "Anubis was the most powerful Goa'uld of the Milky Way, and you're all still just standing here? He was most likely using long range communications from a ship to deliver his threat, seeing as we're all still currently in one piece, but here's the little ray of sunshine for you all: Anubis has all the technology at his disposal to make a clean sweep of this city, and he won't hang around to take prisoners. We need to move. Now."
Only Jeannie seemed to take her brother's about-turn in character in her stride, "What do you mean?"
He moved a dark gaze onto her, "It means all civilians, as many as possible, need to move to the least interesting areas of the city; people's quarters, this room, and lock themselves in with guns. I can make the city instigate isolated lockdowns."
"You just said this guy can get anywhere." Ronon pointed out.
"Yes, but he'll be interested in securing the most valuable areas of the city first, having the Jaffa get rid of the humans willing to make a stand." Laura snapped. "I need to leave. Your trip to my world was so long-lived it probably made the connection between our two universes incredibly unstable. It's why he's able to come here."
Rodney whirled around, his hand grasping her upper arm hard as their eyes connected. Neither gaze wavered, "He is here because you are here. Youare the anomaly that has let him break through. You are endangering the people I care about. If you had just left well damn alone-"
"-Then you would never have to live in guilt." Laura finished with venom.
Rodney let go of her arm, quirking a bitter smile, "I already did. You're just adding to the nightmares."
Many people in the hall were feeling both scared and awkward, as if they were outside observers to a whole different world. But this was very much inside their lives, and about to materialise in the form of Jaffa. Colonel Sheppard slipped into command mode indicating to the military personnel, "Move! Break into the armoury and set up positions of defence. Any of you with the ATA gene move to the Jumper Bay. We're not going down without a fight." He turned to his team, "We need to get to the control room and fill in Elizabeth. You'd better have a plan McKay."
"Don't die?" Rodney shrugged, "Jeannie, you need to stay here. Just stay down when Jaffa appear."
"They're not human, so kill them if you need to." Laura added.
"Hey!" John cut in, "The Jaffa of our universe are for the most part our allies, so watch it, okay?"
"Enough! We need to move." Rodney didn't wait any further, striding purposefully to the transporter. His teammates could do nothing but follow him.
Atlantis was frantic as plans of action were put into motion. Rodney's advice was followed, relayed to Dr Weir by John so they could be carried out. Unfortunately, he hadn't really had time to be very descriptive, and so when their small group finally made it to the control room, a very angry Elizabeth was waiting for them. Her face was drawn, and she was clearly taking out her anxiety in an argument with Carson. Or rather, she was arguing, he was merely calmly stating the facts. "And if there are injured people, and I am stuck in some remote lockdown, what then? You need me out here Elizabeth."
"You might be a doctor, but you're no good if you can't hold your own in a fight." Laura stepped forward, her eyes cool.
"Aye, I've done the required basic field training, don't you worry lass." Carson replied neutrally.
"Finally." The leader of Atlantis stepped forwards, and in the half-light, they could see how worried she was, "Does someone want to explain what's going on? And why you all seem to know more than me?"
John opened his mouth to answer, but Rodney pushed past him, heading to Zelenka, who had also apparently not complied with the first order, "How long before they're in transporter range? How many ships?"
Radek shook his head, "Three motherships, and that does not include their glider contingents. They should be here in approximately two hours."
Rodney groaned, "Perfect."
Elizabeth was still glaring at them. John shrugged, "Something about Laura ripping a hole between universes. Either way, we need to work out how we're going to win this."
Dr Weir seemed to be getting paler by the minute, but a blank resolve, similar to the one she held when faced with the Wraith, was set in her face. "Two hours is enough time to evacuate the civilians of the city to the Alpha Site. Since the first Wraith attack, we've had it permanently prepped, so I want all non-essential personnel out of here within the hour." Now that she knew what was going on, she overrode the original plan with the aim of getting as many people to safety as possible, "Teyla, I want you to help Major Lorne co-ordinate. John, Ronon, organise defence teams. We're not giving up this city without a fight. Now move!"
She turned to the scientists, "McKay, Zelenka, I want a plan as to how we're going to get out of this."
Radek's face was grim, "A shield is not an option. Our ZPM is far too depleted."
"And we have nowhere near enough fire power to take out those ships – especially as Anubis' ship has got a few modifications." Rodney pointed to the screen, "Seems he's got a few Ancient tricks attached."
Elizabeth closed her eyes. Carson looked between them all, "How the hell did all of this happen?"
"It's me." Laura spoke up from her perch on a consol. "The machines that Rodney and I used to hop between our universes, they were never designed to be used for long periods of time like Rodney did. In basic terms, the foreign body in the universe, in this case me, is putting you all on fast forward, while mine is standing still, allowing my age to remain the same. When Rodney was in my universe, the same thing happened to him; he never aged."
"The amount of strain that kind of process puts on the walls between our two universes is too much. Things are breaking down." Rodney's voice was tense. Possibly the scariest thing about the whole situation was that he didn't seem to be panicking, as if they had already gone way beyond that stage.
"The universes will either collide and completely merge, or both just implode into nothingness." Laura supplied.
Carson raised an eyebrow, "Bloody brilliant. And how do we stop this from happening exactly?"
No one seemed to have an answer.
To Be Continued...
Author Notes: We're almost at an end people! Please let me know what you thought!