Authors Note:
Thanks Allie108, coral86 and chevron7 for the reassurances re my Sheppard poem recitation - I'm glad it went over okay ... I fully agree with chevron7 that it's hard to imagine Shep as the poem reciting type ... my thinking was that he'd know Sabina likes literature and he'd know she was mega nervous during that climb so for her he'd make the effort to do something that normally he wouldn't. And because he's mega smart ;-) he'd just happen to have the exact perfect poem ready to go! I will leave it up to you at this stage to suspect what Shep might have meant by that poem - and what Sabina thinks he might have meant ... I can totally see Lorne doing a poem though (maybe I can work that into a future story!!).
I'm laughing here chevron7 re the ref to the code of conduct on missions - they would be so busted wouldn't they! In my little make believe world Dr Weir is a romantic who is very supportive of PDA's during missions (LOL).
I don't mind the question Allie108 - when Sabina first went off to the Imperium room Shep and the others were in the control room which was higher BUT that was just before the Stargate went kaput - that's when Shep took Rodney down to the Ancient ship hangar which looked to me to be deep down in the facility - I just decided that would make it the lowest place in the facility (might not be though!). So at that point Sabina had to keep heading downwards to get to the hangar. I struggled with this myself when I was writing it (I had her heading back up in my first draft) cause the timing of when everything happens and how much time has gone by is a bit blurry in the episode (apart from knowing it was approx 12 hours between the Daedalus leaving and coming back at the end.) Because 12 hours is a lot more time than it seems in the episode I thought all the stuff I put in between Shep and Sabina would fit in and still allow all the episode stuff to take place too.
And now ... on with the story ... hope everyone is still enjoying this cause there's still LOTS to go!
Chapter 33: A good defensive plan would be just as valuable
"Sabina?" the sound of John's voice roused me from sleep the next morning.
"Mmm?" I murmured
"I'm heading out to the planet Elizabeth found for the Taranans," John told me, sitting on the bed next to me and moving my hair away from my face.
"Mmm," I cracked open an eye and looked up at him. "What time is it?"
"Ten," John replied.
"What?" I sat up suddenly, rubbing a hand over my face. "Why'd you let me sleep so long?!"
"Because you needed it," John pointed out. "You look better."
"I need to get started on the telepathy device," I countered grumpily. "I don't have time to lie around sleeping - that Hive ship will be here in three weeks."
"All the more reason to get some sleep while you can," John moved out of the way when I pushed him aside looking for my uniform.
"Damn," I said heatedly. "I don't have any clean stuff -"
"You can have one of my shirts," John grabbed a clean one and held it out to me, raising an eyebrow when I practically snatched it out of his hands. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked casually.
"Yes!" I shot back. "Why?"
"Because you're kinda ... grumpy," John admitted.
I looked up at him quickly, realising that he was right.
"See I told you!" I complained. "Annoying habits! I get grumpy in the morning when I oversleep."
"You're cute when you're angry," John teased, "so I don't mind."
"Go take your disgustingly cheerful self somewhere else," I ordered, throwing a pillow at him.
"I'm going," John laughed as he easily side stepped to avoid being hit. "Good luck with the device."
Realising that he'd cheered me out of my grumpy mood easily, I shook my head with a smile. I didn't think anyone would complain about waking up to the sight of John Sheppard grinning at them.
It took me a while to get back to my quarters, change, grab food and then get myself down to my lab. I kept John's shirt on though, wondering when I'd gotten so soppy that a borrowed shirt was such a comfort to me.
I really wanted to just put my hand on the telepathy device and see what happened but that was hardly scientific - plus John and Rodney would have my head if something went wrong as a result. Leaving the device in the middle of my work table I accessed the files I'd copied to my laptop and settled down to read through them all first. We did have a translation program of sorts to convert Ancient symbols into English but the results were usually unreliable. It wasn't as simple as this symbol means that - some changed meaning depending on how they were placed and the order was also important. Translating was as much art as it was a science because instinct and interpretation were just as important as an understanding of the many symbols used. I much preferred just reading the text directly.
Halfway through the first day I'd discovered enough to do a preliminary report to Doctor Weir. I was about to radio her to find out when she was free when I heard a throat being cleared in the doorway.
"Doctor Weir!" I greeted her in surprise.
"Sabina," Doctor Weir greeted me. "I felt like a walk to clear my head so I thought I'd see how you're doing."
"I was just about to contact you actually," I admitted, motioning for her to take a seat.
"What have you got?" Doctor Weir asked hopefully.
"The files I copied are a complete record of the research the Ancients were undertaking," I began. "They were looking into Wraith telepathy just as we suspected. When Rodney said it wouldn't help because none of us were proficient in Wraith telepathy he was right ... the Ancients had the same problem."
"But weren't some of them telepathic?" Elizabeth looked at me curiously.
"They were," I agreed, "but it's like comparing apples and oranges. Take the Ancient technology for example. The Ancients designed many systems so that only someone with the Ancient gene could operate them. The Wraith technology works on a similar principle - you need the Wraith gene to tap into their neural network. But they don't translate ... even if you know how, in your mind, to make the Ancient systems work that doesn't mean you'd be able to get the Wraith systems working, even with the Wraith gene."
"But didn't you get the Wraith Dart to fly?" Doctor Weir questioned with a frown.
"I did," I admitted. "When I was first captured I tried to open the cell door and I couldn't because I was trying to do it like I'd open an Ancient door. It was only after I'd been mentally linked with the Queen that I was able to understand why that didn't work. It's a little hard to describe the difference but part of it is that the Wraith technology requires much more aggression - I had to ... force my way mentally into the systems and 'make' them do what I wanted. That's very different from the Ancient technology which does everything for you as long as you maintain a tight focus on what you actually want."
"Surely the Ancients would have had enough mental strength to do what you've described," Doctor Weir pointed out.
"I don't think so," I countered. "I know from my own experience that linking to that Wraith Dart even for the short time I did was incredibly uncomfortable. I could barely function by the time John found me and that wasn't all the headache from the Queens attack. With practice I think I could improve on that but the gap between us and the Wraith in terms of how our brains work is probably not as great as it was between the Ancients and the Wraith of 10,000 years ago."
"Didn't Colonel Sheppard fly a Dart when Lieutenant Ford captured his team?" Elizabeth asked the obvious question.
"Good question - yes he did, and without the Wraith gene," I agreed. "But that was because Rodney really is brilliant - he jury rigged connections direct to the neural network for the small set of functions John would need and used the laptop as the interface. That only worked because Rodney had almost two weeks to set it up - it's a one off situation that won't help us in any big way."
"So what did the Ancients do about the problem?" Doctor Weir asked.
"I haven't confirmed all the details but drawing some connections I've worked out what the general plan was. First you have to get yourself a fleet of Jumpers, each having one of these devices,' I gestured towards my work table. "Then train up a bunch of pilots to operate them. Wake up all the Wraith at once and lure them to some predetermined location. Deploy your fleet to strategic points to surround that location and wait for the Hives to get there. Use the devices to send out some kind of telepathic command - I'm thinking something like pause on a remote control. Deliver the biotic weapon to all the Hives and then hit the play button. The Wraith wouldn't even know anything had happened - they'd search but not find anything and head on their way ... some time later the Hive ships would be destroyed by the virus and they'd be lying dead in space ... implying goodbye Wraith. Even if they don't all come at once you could repeat the same sequence any number of times, until the Wraith numbers have been so depleted they'd be easy to wipe out with other methods."
"That's a very ambitious plan,' Doctor Weir pointed out. "Any one of those steps could fail and result in annihilation by the Wraith."
"They were desperate," I explained. "And they'd left it until their numbers and resources were seriously depleted. They just ran out of time before they could complete all the stages. It's a pity they didn't develop the biotic virus first, instead of the telepathic device. From our point of view it'd be much more useful at this point in time."
"Is there anything there that we can use?" Doctor Weir asked hopefully.
"We've only got the one device," I pointed out, "but on a smaller scale we may be able to achieve something. Even if we could work out how to stop the Hive ship approaching us now from attacking that would be helpful. Every plan doesn't have to be about destroying the Wraith ... a good defensive plan would be just as valuable."
"You're right," Doctor Weir agreed, "although I'm sure Colonel Sheppard would much prefer something that wipes them out."
"John still hasn't given up hope of finding a really big space gun," I said with a smile. "But he still appreciates the benefits of a great defence."
"What do you need to do next?" Doctor Weir returned the conversation to a serious note.
"I need to finish reading all the files," I answered, "and then I need to find a way to practice using this device to see if it's even possible for us to do so."
"Okay, keep at it," Doctor Weir acknowledged, taking her leave to return back to the Control Room.
John was gone with the Taranans for two days ... during that time I completed my reading and came up with a couple of possible strategies for how we might make use of the device. I pounced on John as soon as he'd stepped through the gate to talk about my ideas.
"I need to talk to you about strategy for the telepathy device," I greeted him as he walked across the Gateroom floor towards me.
"Hello to you too," John replied sarcastically. "Yes my trip was successful - thanks for asking!"
"Sorry - Hello John," I smiled up at him apologetically. "Did you get the Taranan's settled okay?"
"I had to be diplomatic whenever someone wanted something stupid," John complained. "It was tiring."
"Sorry," I knew how much he hated those sorts of missions. "Are you finished with them?"
"I am," John vowed. "Elizabeth can send another team to provide back up support. Now what did you want to tell me?"
"I'll follow you down to the infirmary," I said, "I can talk while Doctor Beckett does your post mission check."
We'd made it to the corridor just outside the infirmary before John turned to me and said simply "I missed you."
"I was much too busy to miss you," I teased, pleased to see some of the tension leave him when he smiled at my usual response. Before I knew it he had me backed into the wall with an intent expression that made me breathless. "What are you doing?" I asked, glancing from side to side to see if anyone was around to notice.
"Making you ... rethink that answer," John replied, crowding me with his heat as much as his physical presence. He leaned in close so that his lips were only a breath from mine and whispered "did you miss me?"
"Did you go somewhere?" I asked coyly, waiting to see what he'd do next.
I didn't have to wait long ... John raised an eyebrow at my provocative response before closing the distance between our lips. Things got heated pretty quickly before John broke away and looked down with a pleased grin at my dazed expression.
"Did that jog your memory?" he asked smugly.
"Uh ... ah yeah, pretty much," I blinked a couple of times and then blushed when I saw Carson standing beside us smiling fondly.
"Unhand the lass Colonel," Carson ordered in amusement. "You're due a post mission check."
"Of course Doc," John let me go reluctantly and followed Carson into the infirmary.
While Carson was doing the usual checks I filled John in on what I'd already told Elizabeth. We moved the conversation to John's office, a room he seldom used which made it a good place to talk uninterrupted.
"Something defensive that doesn't rely on a ZPM would be handy," John agreed. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"I wanted to talk to you about how the TED can help us," I began.
"Ted?" John queried. "You named the device Ted? What kind of name is that?!"
"Telepathic Expansion Device - it's what the Ancients called it," I told him. "If you want to name it something else, go ahead."
"Nah," John said nonchalantly. "Ted's good ... sounds friendly."
"The Ancients were looking at using TED to control the Wraith themselves - because they wanted to deliver the biotic weapon to all the ships at once and have it spread to the cruisers and Darts too. We can't do that because we only have one TED and we don't have enough Jumpers."
"So what did you want to do?" John asked curiously.
"I could still work out how to use TED to control a Wraith like they do us," I admitted. "It'd be worth making sure we had that as an option because it could prove useful at some point."
"You wouldn't be able to control a whole Hive though," John pointed out.
"To be honest I don't really know – but TED could also be used to directly control the Wraith technology itself," I pointed out, "because all of it relies on Wraith telepathy too through the neural network. If I can learn how to use it in time, I could conceivably stop the Hive ship - maybe even create enough damage for it to retreat."
"Wouldn't you have to be close to the Hive ship to make that possible?" John frowned as he thought about all the pros and cons of my suggestion.
"Again I don't know – if I did we could take a cloaked Jumper up and they'd never know we were there." I said it quickly, knowing he'd probably not be that keen on the idea.
"Can anyone use the TED?" John asked a question that surprised me.
"Ah ... maybe?" I replied hesitantly. "I was assuming Wraith telepathy was a prerequisite but it doesn't specifically say only an Ancient with the Wraith gene would be able to use the device. I suppose anyone with the potential could be trained ..." I frowned in thought. "I don't see the point in training anyone other than me though," I said heatedly.
"Why?" John made me justify my thinking.
"Because I have the ATA gene which TED requires and I have experience with Wraith telepathy in general. Plus I'm the only person who's actually controlled some Wraith technology," I replied. "And I only worked out what was required because I stole the information from the Wraith Queens mind when she was trying to squash me."
"Couldn't you tell someone else how to do it?" John persisted.
"Is there some reason you don't think I should do it?" I asked, trying to keep my voice sounding reasonable, "a professional reason that is?"
"No," John replied. "I just think we'd be stupid to rely solely on you if we can train someone to be a back up ... just in case."
"I'm not sure whether two and half weeks will be enough time for me to become effective in using TED," I admitted, "let alone train anyone else to be. Besides, I wasn't really thinking of this as the front line plan - there's only one ship and they may just be doing a routine fly by so the cloak might be enough."
"Okay," John agreed. "As a defensive strategy it makes sense."
"Really?" I asked in surprise, pleased that John thought I'd come up with something workable.
"Yes," John replied, "so long as we can work out a way to make sure neither you nor the device can fall into Wraith hands."
"My first problem is how to get skilled in using the device," I admitted. "On the controlling technology front we've got the Dart – if the Daedalus can beam it down here I can practice on that. Although I'm thinking we should pick a spot somewhere on the mainland – just in case the Wraith scan us and somehow pick up a piece of their own technology on the planet."
"Okay," John agreed. "I'll talk with Colonel Caldwell and we'll pick a suitable location. Your team can go over to the mainland together whenever you want to work on the Dart. I'm sure Major Lorne won't mind guard duty."
"I don't think I need a guard," I argued. "Wouldn't Major Lorne be more useful somewhere else?"
"You worry about learning how to control the Dart," John told me, "and I'll worry about security. Anything else?"
"The second bit is the telepathic control angle – the only way I can think of to test that is to actually try and use TED to impose my will on someone else. I'm not sure how comfortable I am even thinking about doing that and I'd only attempt it if I had some willing subjects to help me test it - who's gonna agree to open themselves up that much?"
"Some of my men will volunteer," John assured me. "I'll get back to you with some names so you can organise a few sessions."
"Okay," I said a bit apprehensively.
"What?" John frowned at my obvious nervousness.
"It's just that I'm gonna be starting out blind," I admitted. "I don't want to look like an idiot with your guys."
"I don't think that'll be a problem," John reassured me.
"You say that now," I countered, "but if I look like an idiot then it'll reflect badly on you too - as the partner of an idiot!"
"Relax," John advised, clearly trying not to laugh at my concerns. "Your accomplishments are a bit of a legend on Atlantis - a fact I know you're completely blind to. They'll be lining up to help you out - trust me!"
"Get out," I blushed at his words, sincerely hoping he was just joking. I wasn't unfriendly but my nature didn't make me Miss Popularity either - most of my time was either spent obsessing over my current project or being with John and his team, so I really had no idea what people thought of me. "If anyone's a legend it's you Colonel 'I was three seconds from death but somehow I survived' Sheppard!"
"I'll pick someone easy for your first guinea pig," John offered, ignoring what I'd said. "Does that make you feel better?"
"Yes it does thank you," I replied primly.
"All right," John stood up and motioned for me to precede him through his office door. "Before I do anything I need food ... wanna join me?"
"I could eat," I said amicably.
"I know we've got our little 'I missed you' routine going," I told him as we walked to the commissary, "but in all seriousness it's good to have you back. I like talking to you about my projects ... makes me think of stuff I might not have considered."
"Could've been –" John began.
"Mensa – I know!" I cut him off. "Are you ever gonna get sick of that?"
"Probably not," John admitted.