Three days of unmitigated hell were how everyone would later describe the IOA inspection. The three representatives were everywhere, poking their noses into everything, regardless of whether or not it had anything to do with them or their organization. The worst part was the nit picking. Every single tiny thing had to be gone over at least ten times and everyone came away with the feeling that the IOA was just looking for a way to throw the book at the entire expedition. Whether they knew it or not, the reps were contributing to the growing animosity towards the IOA. So much so in fact, that many people turned a blind eye to the pranks that the twins, (and they all knew it had to be the twins as no one else had the guts or that twisted a sense of humor,) had played on Mr. Woolsey.
Most however is not everyone and Elizabeth was furious. On the third day she finally got a chance to corner the twins in the Jumper Bay where they were working with Radek and Romeo on the jumpers that Colonel Sheppard had traded a revolution for. They were just different enough from Atlantis' jumpers that those who were responsible for the jumper projects were scarily enthusiastic over comparing everything from the programming to their differences in handling. It was all rather reminiscent of teenage boys drooling over the latest cool cars.
"CONNER! MURPHY! Just what the hell do you two think you're doing! Are you trying to get us kicked out of Atlantis?" Elizabeth stormed into the jumper that the four men were working on.
"You guys are in trouble now," Romeo sing songed under his breath.
"Shut the fuck up Rome," Murphy said.
"Doctor Weir, if we were trying to get all of us kicked off of Atlantis, then we'd be picking on all of them, not just Mr. Woolsey," Conner explained. "And what we're trying to do is cheer our ma up."
"There's few things Ma likes more than a good joke," Murphy told her. "Besides, we're not going anywhere near all out on the guy. We've passed up a lot of things we could have done simply because Ma wasn't around to see it."
"He's not stupid. He knows what we're doing," was Conner's opinion.
"Don't push him too far. He won't use his position for revenge, but that won't stop him from being brutally honest about your conduct either," Elizabeth fretted.
"Do not concern yourself so," Radek told his wife. "I have already suggested to him that he fight fire with fire and get Mrs. McManus to help him prank them in return. It would be good for her to take her mind off of her mourning. Besides, it is not good for you or the baby to worry. Doctor Beckett said less stress, not more."
"I'd feel a lot better if I knew if it was Huang or Skoglund that was setting all of our shepherds off," she replied. The McManus family had been extremely vigilant about keeping the three IOA representatives far away from all of the children, as well as making certain that they were never left alone. She'd seen more than one reach for a weapon before aborting the movement. Something was definitely setting them off and she was beginning to wish that she hadn't made the shepherds promise not to kill any of them without provocation.
Whatever answer the twins might have given her on the subject was overridden by an alarm blasting through Atlantis. Conner lunged for Elizabeth, picking her up and carrying her towards the command center at a dead run while Murphy and Radek followed and Romeo ran to prep the Jumper Bay. There was no telling what would be needed for the current emergency and Romeo prided himself on having his end of things ready to go at a moment's notice.
In the command center Elizabeth simply called, "Chuck?" as Conner set her down, ignoring that Huang and Woolsey were standing by the conference room doors. Their shepherds were on the alert and keeping their charges out of the line of fire.
"Atlantis' internal sensors are reporting an intruder in the chair room Doctor Weir. Colonel Sheppard and Doctor McKay have taken a squad of Marines to check it out. Mr. Skoglund and his guides were last seen in that area," Chuck reported crisply.
Radek slid into a chair next to Chuck, diving into the sensor readings. "I think that the sensors are possibly reading Mr. Skoglund as the intruder," Radek said, in surprise. "His guides would not leave him unless he were dead, but they are in the chair room and there is no trace of his signal. There is no signal interference and the readings are exceptionally clear." He threw a knowing glance over his shoulder. "It is merely conjecture at this point, but I think that Mr. Skoglund may have done something to upset Atlantis. There have been many small malfunctions in his vicinity over the last three days, in spite of the fact that he has always been escorted by at least one McManus." Unspoken was the knowledge that Skoglund was the one who had taken it upon himself to inspect the military presence in Atlantis, and that the head of the military was Atlantis' favorite son.
"You're sounding as though you think Atlantis is alive," Woolsey said, flabbergasted and dismayed.
"Not alive, but it has become increasingly likely that Atlantis has some sort of AI in its database. We simply haven't found the programing yet," Radek explained as he busily typed on his laptop, looking for more information.
"No likely about it," Conner winced and put his hand to his head. "She's pissed as hell."
"Indignant too," Murphy agreed. "You don't think he's stupid enough to have sat in the chair?"
Conner snorted. "This is a man who thinks most Earth humans aren't people, much less people who were born on different planets. If it's so fucking stupid that not even Kavenaugh would touch it he's sure to do it." His eyes began to blaze when he realized what that meant for Atlantis.
"Fuck that shit," Murphy snarled. "He's deliberately endangering lives and that makes him a legal target!" He never had been a man to ignore a crying woman, even if it was a city instead of a flesh and blood one. He stormed off, his twin never leaving his side.
Elizabeth sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Are you just going to let them kill him?" Woolsey asked, horrified.
"If Mr. Skoglund is the intruder, and he has sat in the command chair, then yes he has endangered all of our lives Mr. Woolsey. It isn't a simple matter of the chair not working if you don't have the necessary gene sequence. There are security measures that assume that if someone without the ATA gene sits in that chair, then Atlantis is under attack and that the enemy has penetrated to the most secure level. I don't know what Atlantis would do under those circumstances to those of us who don't have the gene and I don't want to know," Elizabeth said flatly. "We've already encountered a situation where those without the gene were targeted for a horrible death while those with it were spared."
"Legal target Mr. Woolsey," Padric McManus said with satisfaction. "He knew that he wasn't authorized and only a complete fool wouldn't realize the sorts of security that has to be down there."
"Whatever he thought he could use to get around the security system isn't working," Radek said. "All Atlantis personnel, AAAT crisis ten scenario. Relocate to crisis stations. If you cannot relocate, contact command center or Little Tripoli," he called out over the communications systems.
"The children?" Woolsey wanted to know.
"The crèche is located in the second most secure area we have," Elizabeth reassured him. "The only areas that have a higher security level are the chair room and the ZPM room, even the command center has a lower priority."
Saints-sga-saints-sga-saints-sga-saints-sga-saints-sga-saints-sga-saints-sga-saints
Atlantis was in enemy invasion lock down, but she had protocols that allowed her people to move about – but only her people. Having the ATA gene was more than simply necessary to open doors as Sheppard and McKay had found. They had been reduced to three Marines by Atlantis' security. Sheppard tried not to waste time by arguing with Atlantis over the fact that he needed Marines to take care of the intruder whoever it was.
"Any luck?" Rodney gasped as they hurried down a hallway. He had gotten a lot better about running since coming to Atlantis, but he was never going to be a long distance runner, and to top it off the transporters weren't working.
"NO," Sheppard growled. "She says I don't need any Marines." The ATA positive Marines chose to ignore this as it really didn't pay to argue with the city you were living in, especially one who was currently throwing a hissy fit over someone else.
"And ye don't," called someone from behind him. The small group slid to a stop and turned around to see a large group of men and women running up behind them. There wasn't a single one that wasn't armed to the teeth.
"Well, as long as we have some backup," Sheppard shrugged and began running down the hall again. If Atlantis thought that almost the entire complement of mila poppaaem were worth more than a squad of Marines, he wasn't going to argue.
Murphy was the first one in the door, followed by Conner. There on the floor, near the command chair in the center were Aislin and Donal. That they were injured was in no doubt even if there hadn't been blood everywhere, because they were unarmed. Their weapons were on the floor at the base of the command chair in several pieces.
"Get them out of here!" Sheppard shouted. The Marines were moving before the first word left his mouth. There was no doubt about exactly where they needed to take the two severely wounded McManuses. Half of the shepherds split off to help the Marines get them to the infirmary. The other half surrounded the command chair with Sheppard and McKay.
What they found there turned their stomachs a little. It was indeed Skoglund who had turned on his guards and tried to take command of Atlantis through the chair. It was well known that the twins had stronger stomachs than most of the family, so it was to no one's surprise when Conner bent over the chair and took a close look at the wires that Skoglund had been attempting to plug into the chair. The wires led from what was probably some sort of interface designed to fake the ATA connection that had been inserted into the gel pads in the arms of the chair back to Skoglund – and into what looked like a pacemaker of some type.
"That can't be what it looks like," Conner muttered, poking at Skoglund's chest.
"That is completely disgusting," McKay muttered as he plugged his laptop into the chair. "He can't move because she's erected a small forcefield over the chair itself, binding him to it."
"No wonder I couldn't touch his skin," Conner said.
"Hey John, tell the Lady to let him go so we can kill him already," Murphy said, deadly in his focus. His guns were no more than six inches away from Skoglund's head.
"Can I at least get you to wait until he's not in the chair? I don't want to have to deal with the mess," Sheppard said. His tone was joking, but anyone looking at his eyes could see that he was just as lethally angry as any of the others.
Conner aimed a mental question at Atlantis, who rather cheerfully replied with a mental picture of a location two doors over that was already set up for quick and efficient cleaning, (something that neither of the twins had ever bothered with before but then they'd never done a hit in their own home either) and released Skoglund, freeing his arms. Sheppard, Conner and Murphy grabbed his arms, while McKay reached up and gently removed the connections, watching his laptop to insure that he didn't accidentally set off any traps. When Skoglund was free, both of the connections and the chair, the shepherds marched him off for execution while Sheppard sat down in the chair and let Atlantis' programs, and the command center, know that the emergency was over.