Hi guys! Welcome to The Storm.
MuseUrania, Bokorman, and Titan5, thanks for the reviews! Those of you who didn't review, but did put me on alert, thanks for that too. Enjoy this chapter.
The Storm
"Haven't been to the mainland in a while. How's everybody settling in?" John asked absently.
"Halling believes the first crops will have a good yield," Teyla told him.
"You still miss home?"
"There is still talk of returning, even though I've told them the Wraith have scorched Athos bare in revenge for our resistance."
"Well, maybe in time this place will start to begin to feel like home."
Half John's attention was on Alice, standing between the two seats. The 'Jumpers, he'd discovered, had their own versions of the Alice program; less well informed than the Atlantis version, but just as willing to answer questions. The programs all updated each other after any separation; John was getting used to having Alice give him mission reports as soon as the 'jumpers came home.
She could also gain limited information from the lifesigns detector; John already carried his on all his missions, but he made sure any team with a gene-empowered member carried one at all times as well.
"John," Alice said warningly, just as Teyla said "Do you see that?"
"That can't be a storm," John said slowly. "It stretches across the whole horizon."
"It is. I know that storm, John. It..."
Alice cut herself off when Teyla said thoughtfully "I've never seen something like that from so high."
"I've seen a lot of things from this altitude, but nothing like that." He reached for the comm, flicking it on. "Atlantis base, this is Jumper One. We're gonna change our heading to investigate a storm."
"Major, this is Weir. We didn't...at. You're break...up."
"They won't hear you," Alice murmured. "Those storms put out too much interference."
John repeated the message patiently; Weir acknowledged it, signing off.
John lifted the 'Jumper higher, studying the mass of cloud uneasily.
"Do all storms look like this from above?" Teyla asked.
"We should go home," Alice said quietly.
"No," John told both of them. "This must cover twenty percent of the planet."
"Is it headed towards the mainland?" Teyla asked, studying the display.
"Tracking right towards the settlement," John agreed grimly.
"And after that?"
John deliberately didn't look at Alice. "Straight to Atlantis."
"This planet is basically the same size as Earth. Now, hurricanes on Earth never get as big as this bad boy because once they hit the shore, the brakes get put on. Without as much landmass to slow it down here, it's just, uh, gaining momentum." McKay, as usual, was talking with his hands.
"Both of them are," Zeenka said pointedly.
"Yes," McKay agreed.
"Both of them?" Elizabeth repeated sharply.
"We saw only one," Teyla protested.
"It only looked like one," McKay said dismissively. "Now, according to the Ancient database, every twenty or thirty years the sea gets unseasonably warm. Now that, for reasons too boring to get into, means that hurricanes are much more likely to occur."
John tuned the pair out; Alice was standing at the door, staring at the wall behind Elizabeth as though she could see the storm. Voice flatter than he'd ever heard, she said quietly, "The storms come every twenty six years. Nothing stands against them. It's why the People never built on the mainland." She glanced up, catching John's eye. "The city will drown."
Echoing her disconcertingly, Elizabeth said, "You just said the Ancients experienced these storms every twenty to thirty years. Atlantis must have some sort of precautions put in place."
"In the past, the Ancients have been protected by the shield or submerged deep enough in the water not to be affected."
"OK – strike those options. What else have we got?" John asked. Zelenka shrugged helplessly, Rodney looked away, and Alice didn't react to the question at all.
"Nothing," Zelenka said quietly. "It is a real threat. The high winds alone will wreak havoc."
"C'mon, guys!" John protested. "This city's been around for a long time."
"With no shield and no way to submerge, the city hasn't a chance of surviving." Alice looked away, at the wall, again. "I can give you odds."
"This is Atlantis! I mean, they've gotta be able to handle that ... right?" John looked to McKay.
"No."
"Why not?" Elizabeth demanded.
"The people who built this city knew they had a forcefield capable of holding back anything Mother Nature or, for that matter, the Wraith could throw at them. Without that protection, Atlantis is remarkably fragile."
"There was no need for any other way," Alice agreed. "The shield protected them. It always protected them."
"Flooding could sink the city entirely," McKay added.
"How could something as big as Atlantis just...sink?" Ford asked helplessly.
"I'm sure the passengers on the Titanic were asking themselves the same question," John muttered.
"Yes, well let's not!" McKay said quickly.
"So what you're saying is," John said slowly, "if Teyla and I hadn't discovered this, we ..."
"We would be in even bigger trouble," Elizabeth finished. "Alright, what's the plan?"
McKay glanced at his watch. "By my calculations we have just under, what, twelve hours until the storm hits, so, uh, we plan to have a plan ..."
"Yeah," Zelenka agreed.
"... by then," McKay finished.
Alice was already in the lab when John led Ford in; she was sitting on the edge of a table, watching with some amusement the argument between McKay and Zelenka.
"He's on the right track," she said, gesturing to Zelenka. "McKay's just not giving him the time to think about it."
"Well, I got a green light from Smeadon and the Manarians," John said, mostly to McKay. "I'm not sure how pleased he'll be if we get stuck there, though. That's not gonna happen, though, right?"
"Of course it's not," McKay said immediately. "We can always gate off to another planet."
"Comforting! Thank you!"
"Are we sure there's no part of the mainland we could go to?" Ford asked.
Elizabeth and Teyla came in in time to hear the question, and Teyla answered "Everywhere that we've explored is in the path of the storm. My people are evacuating even now."
"Still, Ford's right," John said thoughtfully. "I mean, the mainland's the size of North America. You're telling me the entire continent's gonna get hit? It's just I'd rather not owe Smeadon any favors."
Alice was shaking her head, but she didn't speak.
"If we lose Atlantis we'll be stuck on the mainland without any access to the Stargate," Elizabeth reminded him.
"Well, McKay will come up with something."
"I will try, but despite what you all may think, I am not Superman."
John glanced around the room. "Was anyone seriously thinking that?"
Elizabeth shook her head, almost smiling. Another scientist agreed, and John glanced at Ford.
"No, sir."
"Never," Zelenka agreed emphatically.
"Fine!" McKay huffed. "My point is, the storm will affect over seventy percent of the mainland, and Atlantis isn't safe either. If you want everyone to live, you gate them offworld."
"Abandon Atlantis?" John repeated.
"No," Elizabeth said quickly. "We're coming back, John."
He nodded slowly, watching Alice watch him. "We're coming back," he agreed.
It took a long time to organize the whole evacuation. John restricted everyone's luggage, refused any requests to take tech, and only allowed weapons to the guards. It still took a ridiculous amount of time to get everyone sorted out and through.
Finally he got the last group through; as the 'Gate shut down he ordered the last two guards, "Evacuate the people on inbound Jumper Two as soon as they come in."
"Yes, sir."
John glanced up as Alice stepped in from the corridor, gesturing at him. Nodding to the guards, he followed her out into the corridor, trailing Elizabeth and McKay but too far behind for them to hear.
"What is it?" he asked quietly.
"They have an answer. McKay and Zelenka found a way to save the city."
"It'll work?" he asked warily.
"It should, if it happens just the way they think."
"No margin?"
"Very little. My city wasn't built to do what they're asking of her. If it fails, she'll burn while she drowns."
"McKay's almost as smart as he thinks he is. If there's a way to make it work, he'll find it."
Alice nodded quietly, vanishing midstep, and he quickened his pace to catch up with the others.
"There are dozens, possibly hundreds of lightning rods placed strategically around the city," McKay started.
"Wait a second," John protested.
"What?"
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why are there hundreds of lightning rods placed around the city? Wouldn't the shield protect against lightning?"
McKay nodded quickly. "Yes, yes, it would, but running the shield all the time is only good for one thing – draining power."
"Right..."
"You're aware that there's a time element to what we're doing here, right?" he demanded.
"Yes, it's been brought to my attention," John agreed.
"Like I was saying, there are lightning rods – a lot of them – placed all over the city. Now, as it stands right now, all the energy they capture is routed into four main grounding stations. In turn the stations ground all that energy into the ocean below."
"So instead of sending all that energy to ground ..." John trailed off.
"... we use it to power the shield," McKay finished triumphantly.
"How?" Elizabeth asked.
"By directing it right down the corridors of Atlantis and into the shield generators."
"The city can handle that?"
"Yes – theoretically," McKay said carefully.
Alice reappeared, nodding in McKay's direction: John chose to take that as confirmation of the theory. "Like dinosaurs turned into birds theoretically, or theory of relativity theoretically?" he asked anyway.
"What? Uh, sort of between. Elizabeth – you take grounding station two; I'll take grounding station one; Major – you take stations three and four."
"Woah, woah, wait a second – where are stations three and four?"
McKay turned to a map on one of the walls; the stations at the outer edge of the city were flashing, and John was sure they hadn't been a minute ago. McKay didn't notice, or didn't think it worth worrying about, because he simply pointed. "Here, and here."
"And we are ...?"
Another point began to flash, this time near the center of the city; John glanced irritatedly at Alice, who only smiled innocently.
McKay started talking faster, which usually meant he was nervous about something. "Here, yes. I need to get done quickly so I can start working on the subroutines, and Elizabeth was complaining about her knee the other day ..."
"Wait, wait, wait a second. Are these things even close to a transporter?"
"Uh, yes, Elizabeth's is."
"And mine?" John demanded.
"Uh, it's a brisk walk away."
"And by 'brisk', you mean ... 'far'."
"By 'walk', I mean 'run'," McKay agreed.
John sighed. "OK."
"You need to radio in once you've got to your first station."
"Alright. Let's do it," he agreed, gesturing for Alice to follow him as he left at a jog.
The edge of the storm had already hit; John stared at the wind for a moment before opening the door. The grounding stations were all outside, and the balcony offered no protection.
He lifted one hand to his radio, fighting the wind. "I'm here!"
"I told you to contact me when you got to the first one, Major," McKay said.
"I am at the first one, Rodney!"
"Oh, sorry. I've already done mine."
John rolled his eyes for Alice's benefit. "That's great! Good for you!"
Elizabeth's voice added, "Me too."
"Good for everyone!" John snarled.
"Where are you now?"
"I'm at the damned grounding station!"
"No, no, no, no, not you."
"I'm in the transporter," Elizabeth told him.
"There you are."
"There I am," she agreed.
"Glad everybody's having such a good time. What do I do?"
"There should be a keypad right on the console of the station." Alice pointed, illustrating Rodney's narration as he described how to turn off the grounding station.
"That do it?" he asked.
The grounding rod split open along its' length, and John nodded. "Yeah!"
"Good. Three down, one to go. They all seem to have the same separation code, so get to the next one, repeat the procedure. We'll meet you in the Control Room."
"Roger that." John headed back inside, pausing for a moment to catch his breath.
He was halfway to the grounding station when his radio crackled.
"Apparently there's wounded incoming," Elizabeth warned him.
"Doesn't make any sense. They said it was Wraith-related?" John stopped running, not willing to risk missing her answer.
"We'll ask them ourselves in a second – hold on...What the hell is going on?"
John wrapped one hand around his mic, hissing "Alice!" She stepped out of the nearest doorway, and he demanded "What's happening in the 'Gate room?"
Her eyes went distant for a moment. "You've been invaded."
"I..." Gesturing her to follow, he started running again. Elizabeth had left her radio on; he could hear snatches of the conversation, enough to grasp the basics of the situation.
Alice didn't bother trying to keep up with him, but when he reached the 'Jumper bay she was standing outside 'Jumper One. The 'Jumper version of her was nowhere in sight, which was probably just as well. Two Alices had a habit of either speaking in tandem or finishing each other's sentences, and John really didn't want to deal with that right now.
"I need the lifesigns dectector," he told her, stepping past. The lights flicked on and the detector slid out of its' compartment. John picked it up in one hand, turning on the comms with the other. "Jumper Two, this is Sheppard, come in. ... Jumper Two, do you copy?"
"This is Ford, sir. We decided to wait out the storm in the Jumper."
"You're still on the mainland?"
"Yes, sir."
"We've got a situation here. From what I can ascertain, a small Genii strike force has gated in."
"The Genii?!" Ford repeated. "The folks who wanted us to build them an A-bomb?"
"Yeah, that's them, and they've got Weir and McKay hostage. They've also got control of the Gateroom."
"You're breaking up, sir – did you say hostage?"
"Affirmative."
He faintly heard Beckett swear in the background before Ford said, "We're on our way."
Ford had some kind of argument with Beckett and Teyla, too low-pitched for John to make out; he turned on the lifesigns detector, watching the little dots wander around the 'Gate room.
"Major, this is Teyla. The hurricane is in full force outside. We could attempt to fly through it but it is doubtful that we could make it back to Atlantis; and we have three young passengers."
"That's bad news."
"I'm sorry," Teyla offered.
"So am I. Just stay put til it passes over."
"Sir..." Ford protested.
"It's OK, Lieutenant. Just get your ass back here as soon as you can. I could use a little back-up."
"Good luck, sir."
John hesitated when his radio flipped on again; Rodney was talking quickly, urgently, but the sound was muffled by distance.
"Supplies?" he murmured to Alice.
"C4, medical supplies, the Wraith data tablet," she repeated easily. The radio cut out again, but she continued. "The Genii Commander is sending Weir with some men to begin collecting the supplies, and he is asking McKay about the plan to save the city."
"Where are the Genii going?"
Alice looked away. "The lab, for the Wraith tablet."
John nodded, glancing down at the detector. "All right. Stick around."
"Never far away."
Alice stopped mid-step. "They've found the empty armory. John?"
"What?" John was studying the detector.
"They know about the plan. The lightning."
"How do they know about the plan?"
"The leader hurt Rodney. He's all right," she added, fast. "Scared. Not hurt badly. But he told him about the grounding stations."
John started to answer, but his radio crackled to life. "This is Commander Kolya."
"Kolya," John repeated. "That's a hard name to pronounce. Is that a first name? My name's Major John Sheppard and I have hidden the C4 where you will never – I repeat, never – find it. When I get confirmation that the prisoners have been safely released and allowed to gate off Atlantis, I will help you find it."
"Your offer is very generous, Major."
"Yes, it is."
"However, Doctor McKay recently shared with me there's a plan in action to save the city."
"He did" John repeated, eyeing Alice.
"He did. My understanding is there is one final grounding station that needs to be deactivated. Uncouple the grounding rods at Station Three, assist with the reactivation of the shield, and you and your friends can leave here unharmed."
"Wait a minute – I thought all you wanted was C4 and a Jumper."
He figured it out at the same moment Kolya said it. "Why raid a city when you can seize it, Major? Atlantis will be ours or the ocean's. You choose."
John studied the detector, frowning. "They're surrounding the grounding station."
"They are," Alice agreed.
John backed towards the wall, eyes on the screen. "What are they doing?"
"One's coming in. Door..."
John shot the man almost before he was inside, backing towards the window.
"Another. Three, two..."
He ducked on Alice's 'one', hearing the console explode behind him. As soon as he hit the ground he shoved back up, shooting the solider as he tried to reload.
Alice was standing over the console, grimacing. "Fried," she said briefly. John snatched a communicator from one of the bodies, coming to join her.
"Let me tell you what you did wrong here, Kolya," he told the device. "A: you lost two of your men. B: you damaged the switch before I could separate the grounding rods, which I'm sure you're gonna get an earful from McKay for; and C: you lost all of what little credibility you had with me."
"You killed two of my men," Kolya said after a moment.
"I guess we're even!"
"I don't like even."
"John, he's got a weapon," Alice hissed.
"I'm not finished yet!" John said quickly.
"Neither am I. Say goodbye to Doctor Weir."
John looked at Alice, who shook her head helplessly. "The city has a self-destruct button," he warned the Genii. "You hurt her, I'll activate it. Nobody'll get Atlantis."
"Even if it exists, Major, you need at least two senior personnel to activate it – and I'm about to take one of them out of the equation."
"Kolya?! Kolya?! I'll give you a ship! I'll fly it out of here for you myself! KOLYA!!"
A shot echoed over the connection.