Authors Note:

Thanks chevron7 and Allie108 for the cool reviews. Happy Birthday chevron7 - just for you I'm gonna do a couple of extra chapters today - hope you have a great day! BTW glad you liked the Star Wars ref from the last chapter - I watched 'No Mans Land' a few days ago with the "I saw it in a movie" line. I love that and just couldn't resist doing my own!

Chapter 15: Just let me grab my ... stuff.

"John, wait up," I'd caught sight of him heading down the corridor and took off after him.

"Sabina," John looked over his shoulder with a smile. "I've gotta go get ready for a mission," John said, walking rapidly with me running to keep up.

"Is it true?" I asked breathlessly.

"Is what true?" John looked down at me, slowing his pace just slightly as I almost jogged to keep up with him.

"That Rodney found an Ancient warship - is it true?" I answered excitedly.

"Yeah, it's true," John drawled nonchalantly. He couldn't fool me though - he was seriously stoked at the find.

"Can I come?" I asked hopefully. "It's an Ancient ship - you could really use my skills ... please?"

"We have no way of knowing what condition the ship's gonna be in," John explained. "It may not be safe for any of us to board her."

"I understand that," I agreed. "But if I were on the Daedalus and the Ancient ship does prove to be safe then I'll be around if you do need me."

We'd arrived at John's quarters and I followed him in, watching as he grabbed his jacket and a couple of items for his pack. Not wanting to push him too much I waited silently for him to comment. When it seemed he was just going to put on his jacket and leave I felt my hopes dwindling. Since we were talking about a 'warship' I didn't think Doctor Weir would overrule him so if I couldn't get John to agree then I'd miss the opportunity.

"Aren't you gonna ... you know ... fix your hair?" I teased.

"Very funny," John came over and ruffled my hair instead. I squirmed away and looked at him expectantly.

"Well?" I asked hopefully, trying to put on my best pleading face.

"If Rodney has any say in it we'll be bringing the Aurora back to Atlantis," John said. "You'll get to look at her then."

"You and I both know there's little chance that ship will make it back here," I contradicted him hotly. "Will you please just think about this for a minute? The Daedalus will be right there - I'll only get to go over to the ship if it's perfectly safe and I promise I'll abide by whatever decision you make at the time."

When John remained silent, looking out his window as he thought about what I'd said, I walked over and hesitantly put my hand on his arm.

"Please John," I said simply.

John turned back to me with apparent reluctance. "Okay," he agreed. "You can come with us on the Daedalus - any decisions beyond that will be made once my team has assessed the situation."

"Thank you!" I went to hug him, looking up to catch a glimpse of amusement in his eyes. "Wait a minute," I said suspiciously. I narrowed my eyes at him, raising an eyebrow when he refused to look me in the eye. "You ... bastard! You were gonna let me come on the Daedalus the whole time weren't you?!"

"Maybe," John admitted. "But I really enjoyed the whole pleading act."

"Ooohh!" I almost stomped my foot in frustration before giving in to the urge to whack his shoulder.

"Ouch," John held up a hand to hold off another assault. "You don't get to hit your commanding officer," he grinned, reminding me that I'd have to take orders from him for the entire mission. Not that I minded - I trusted his judgement and I was going to see an Ancient warship!

It was very exciting to break out of hyperspace and see the Aurora floating in space, even severely damaged as she was. My enthusiasm was only dimmed slightly by the presence of a Wraith scout ship, easily destroyed by two missiles from the Daedalus. It was hard to be patient as I watched team Sheppard gear up in their evac suits ... crossing my fingers that Rodney would actually get the life support systems on line, I remained on the Bridge trying not to draw attention to myself.

"Sabina ... this is Sheppard," John's voice issued from my radio, startling me from a daydream where I singlehandedly flew the Aurora back to Atlantis – very unlikely I know but that's what daydreams are for!.

"John?" I jumped up, praying that he was about to tell me I could beam over.

"Rodney's just fixed the life support system," John said. "There's not a lot of power over here so it's a bit dark, but otherwise I can see no reason why you can't beam over now."

"I'll just go grab my gear and then I'll be right there," I said eagerly.

"See you when you get here ... Sheppard out."

I grabbed my laptop and my pack, making sure my torch was still there, before running down to Engineering.

"I will beam you over to Colonel Sheppard's position," Hermiod said. I waited a few seconds as he moved his controls, closing my eyes and opening them a moment later to the sight of John standing in front of me.

"Hi," I said with a huge grin. I looked around eagerly, taking in the familiar Ancient decor – based on what I'd seen of Ancient designs in the database I deduced that we were standing in Engineering. "This is amazing!"

"It is," John agreed. "Rodney's checking out the stasis pods more closely - he said the terminal here in Engineering would be the best place for you to access the ships database."

"Okay," I pulled out my laptop and knelt down in front of the terminal, looking for the right place to connect it. Looking up I realised John was still standing there. "You don't have to stay," I pointed out. "I'll be fine here ... Hermiod can beam me out at the first sign of trouble ... besides Rodney needs you down with the stasis pods."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," John frowned sternly down at me.

"That gives me plenty of leeway,' I said cheekily. "If it's something crazy, you're usually the first person lining up to do it!"

John laughed reluctantly before reaching down and stroking my hair fondly. "Be careful," he ordered. "And keep your radio on."

"Yes Sir," I snapped a cocky salute

"Sabina," John scolded. "Be serious!"

"I am," I said seriously. "I'll be careful."

"Good," John turned to leave me to it.

"Hey, you be careful too!" I called out. The only response I got was a wave as he disappeared out the door.

The database on the Aurora was structured in a similar fashion to the one at the Ancient outpost on Doranda. I'd come prepared this time with some generic search programs I could use to target specific information. I tried to find something on Project Imperium first , not really exepecting to find anything and therefore not surprised when my search program returned no results.

Turning instead to general weapons information I was disheartened by what I found. The Aurora was an older vessel, not even equipped with intergalactic hyperdrive engines. According to the database the crew had been attempting to upgrade the engines but the ship was too heavily damaged and the decision had been made to put everyone in stasis in the hopes that Atlantis would send rescue. Disappointed that my first mission as an "Ancient" expert might end up with nothing useful, I expanded my search parameters to include any mention of Wraith defences or technologies. Realising the search would take some time I decided to take a break.

Standing up to stretch my back I glanced at my watch and frowned in concern. I'd been there in Engineering for a couple of hours without hearing a word from the rest of the team. Usually John would have checked in with me at least every hour.

"Colonel Sheppard?" I tapped my earpiece, waiting a few seconds for a response. When none came I tried again. "John, do you read?" Starting to get worried now I tapped my earpiece again "Doctor McKay, do you read?"

"Sabina?" Rodney's voice echoed in the emptiness of the bridge.

"What's going on?" I asked. "I tried to contact John but didn't get a response."

"I discovered that the Ancients on board are connected through a neural feedback loop. Sheppard linked into the virtual environment to try and communicate with them."

"What?" I exclaimed.

"It's perfectly safe - Sheppard can get out any time he wants," Rodney insisted. "I was even going to do it myself."

"Oh," I sat back in relief. "So everything's all right?"

"Yes," Rodney insisted impatiently. "Have you found anything useful?"

"Not really," I admitted. "The Aurora was an older ship - the systems and records on Atlantis are more advanced."

"Well, look for anything to do with a secret communiqué about a weakness in Wraith technology," Rodney instructed. "Sheppard said the Captain was carrying it back to Atlantis when the ship fell under attack."

"All right," I agreed, before signing off.

Once my previous search was completed I copied over all the resulting documents to my laptop without looking at them further. Moving on to Rodney's request, after a thorough search I discovered that if there had been a secret communiqué it was no longer in the main database. That puzzled me ... presumably the Captain in the virtual environment was an accurate representation of the real Captain. Why would he tell John there was a secret communiqué if there wasn't? And if there was a secret communiqué then why was it no longer there? All the crew were in stasis so who could have deleted it? Thinking back to the Wraith ship we'd destroyed when we arrived a sick feeling came over me.

"Rodney," I said quietly into my radio.

"What?" Rodney responded impatiently.

"Are you sure there's no one else on board?" I asked reluctantly.

"Oh course I'm sure," Rodney answered immediately. "Why?"

"The secret communiqué was deleted Rodney," I told him. "All the crew are in stasis ... so who deleted it?"

"Maybe they deleted it before they went into stasis," Rodney's tone said he didn't really believe that. "Look Caldwell just let me know we have two Hive ships inbound. You better finish up there and make your way to my position."

"Doctor McKay?" Teyla's voice issued from the radio.

"Still here," Rodney responded sarcastically.

"There is something you need to see," the tone in Teyla's voice made me immediately nervous. "We are two decks directly below you."

"Can't it wait?" Rodney complained impatiently.

"No," Teyla responded harshly.

"I'm on my way," Rodney voice huffed slightly as though he were already moving. "Sabina, you should stay in Engineering for now."

Sitting back on my heels I thought for a moment about where else I might search for the communiqué. If the Aurora was like the Daedalus then there'd be back ups and systems that were separate to avoid a complete failure.

If this were Star Trek then the Captain would have a small room just off the Bridge where he'd hang out when not in active command. Since the Bridge was inaccessible I sincerely hoped that wasn't the case here as that would have been the most likely place to look for copies of the communiqué. Pulling up the ships schematics I scanned through the layout maps, looking for some inspiration. Stopping the scroll abruptly I looked more closely at the screen. "Yes," I thought, "the Captains quarters." Tracing out the route I'd have to take from Engineering to get there, I quickly unplugged my equipment and closed off all my programs. Tucking my laptop under my arm I raced out of the room.

The Captains quarters were one level down - Rodney hadn't been able to increase the power levels in the ship so it was a dim journey down an access ladder and through creepily deserted corridors to get there. Swiping my hand over the controls I wasn't surprised that the door remained closed. Concentrating hard I tried to tap into the Aurora systems much as I was able to do on Atlantis ... still nothing. Obviously the power levels were just too low in this section of the ship. Luckily Rodney had shown me how to override the door controls - pulling out my knife I went to work and a few seconds later was rewarded with the grating sound of a door opening that had been closed for 10,000 years.

It was very dark in the room and it remained so even after I entered. I pulled out my torch and shone it around the room. The Captain's quarters were much as I would have expected, with a spacious living room and a separate doorway that presumably led to his sleeping area. I felt a bit like a thief as I walked around, looking for any signs of separate database access – something similar to what Doctor Weir had in her office on Atlantis.

Finally noticing a glass-like screen mounted on the wall in front of a small sitting area I went over to investigate. Connecting my laptop again I tapped a few keys - yes! The Captains system was separate from the main database. There'd be periodic updates to synchronise his system with the ships but with any luck that hadn't happened since the communiqué was deleted.

I was just about to search the database when I was contacted by the Daedalus.

"What's your status Sabina?" Colonel Caldwell asked briskly.

"I'm searching the Captain's personnel database for the secret communiqué," I said distractedly.

"Two Wraith Hive ships are on their way," Colonel Caldwell informed me. "We need to beam you out of there right now."

"Where's Colonel Sheppard?" I asked.

"He and Doctor McKay are still in the stasis pods," Caldwell said impatiently. "Ronan and Teyla are with them, ready to get them out on my command."

"That communiqué could be the most important thing we've found since we got to this galaxy - I need a few more minutes," I insisted. "Can you beam me out with everyone else?" I requested.

"You have ten minutes,' Caldwell conceded grudgingly. "When that's up, regardless of whether you're finished, I'm beaming you out."

"Acknowledged," I agreed, thinking quickly. The search of the main database had taken more than ten minutes ... I raked my brain trying to think of a way around that. "What would John do in this situation?" I thought. Remembering how he'd physically taken out the transmitter on the Daedalus when it began broadcasting the distress signal on our way back from Earth I smiled. Yes - I could physically remove the database unit and hopefully Rodney would be able to reconnect it back on Atlantis.

As quickly as I could I pulled the access panels from the wall surrounding the screen, looking for the equivalent of an Ancient hard drive. There! Praying that Rodney would forgive me for the lack of finesse I unplugged what I could, and cut with my knife what I couldn't before carefully lifting the unit from the wall. There were also a multitude of crystal control modules ... looking around desperately for something to transport them in I found a carved box on the Captain's desk. After so many years whatever it had contained had turned to dusk – I cleaned it out as best I could and then carefully pulled modules from the wall, placing them gently in the box. I'd done about thirty of them when my radio beeped again.

"Colonel Sheppard," Caldwell said. "We're reading two life signs. I hope that means what I think it means."

"Give me one more minute," John requested.

"We're out of time, Sheppard," Caldwell protested. "The Wraith ships are almost here."

"One damned minute and I can take care of that problem," John insisted abruptly. "Is Sabina off the ship?"

"I'm in the Captain's quarters," I reported directly to John.

"Colonel Caldwell, beam Sabina off the ship right now," John ordered.

"Wait," I yelled. "Just let me grab my ... stuff." I ripped the remaining modules from the wall and hastily packed them into the box, loading my arms up with hard drive, box and laptop. "Okay ... ready!"

I was beamed straight to the Bridge of the Daedalus, clutching my treasures from the Aurora tightly to my chest.

"Wraith cruisers just dropped out of hyperspace, sir," the weapons officer reported. "They're aware of us."

"Battle stations!" Caldwell commanded. "Looks like we're gonna have to fight these guys ... bring main rail guns online.

"Daedalus, this is Sheppard. We're ready."

"Beam them directly onto the Bridge," Caldwell ordered the pilot.

A moment later John and Rodney appeared on the Bridge, looking unharmed.

"Targets are in range," the weapons officer called.

"Sir," John looked towards Colonel Caldwell. 'We need to get outta here."

"No, we need to eliminate those cruisers," Caldwell insisted. "The information ..."

"No-no-no," Rodney interrupted, using his 'something bad is about to happen' voice. "We need to get far away."

"What?" Colonel Caldwell demanded impatiently.

"The Captain gave me the Aurora's self destruct code," John spoke quickly. "He assures me that it'll take care of the Wraith ships too, but we need to get clear."

"Bring sublight engines to military thrust," Caldwell ordered.

"Military thrust," the pilot acknowledged. The engines fired up and the Daedalus moved away from the Aurora and the approaching Hive ships. A few moments later the Aurora exploded in a blaze of fire ... the resulting shock wave quickly overcame the Hive ships and both were destroyed.

Once we were back in hyperspace John and Rodney turned to look at me.

"What did you do?" Rodney looked horrified at the mess of cables hanging out of my Ancient hard drive.

"I was a little short of time," I pointed out heatedly. "This is the Captain's personal database unit."

"And?" Rodney demanded impatiently.

"And he kept his system separate," I grinned triumphantly. "I don't know for sure but there's a chance that communiqué is on his unit."

"Nice!" John complimented me.

"Maybe," Rodney said sarcastically, looking at John. "That is if the Aurora butcher over there hasn't permanently damaged it by ripping it clumsily out of the wall!"

"You'll fix it," I said confidently. "You can fix anything!" I fluttered my eyelashes and looked at him adoringly.

"Of course I'll fix it," Rodney preened, before catching the look on my face. "Oh I see," he said in that complaining voice he used all too often. "You've been studying with Zelenka for over a year – you can try fixing it first!" Rodney gave every appearance of being insulted by my teasing. "You'll apologise when you inevitably need my help."

"Rodney," I protested, laughing slightly. "I was just joking!" Rodney walked off the Bridge, holding up his arm as if to stop me from saying anything else.

"Leave him be," John said when I made to follow. "He's just given you a cool Ancient toy – when he realises that he's gonna be majorly pissed. If I were you I'd take that unit and run."

Like I always said, John was a lot smarter than he made out. I high tailed it out of there, making sure to avoid Rodney until after we were back on Atlantis and I'd gotten Doctor Weir's approval to work on the Ancient hard drive myself.