Chapter 3

"What's going on here?" John Sheppard demanded. He was no longer in a good mood. The day had begun nice enough, but this past hour had radically changed it.

The morning had started like any other this past month: boring. The Wraith had been left in the Pegasus galaxy, and the Goa'uld seemed to be on holiday. Not that he had known that much about the serpentine-body snatchers up until a relatively short time ago. When SGC had briefed him five years ago on the Atlantis mission, they had only mentioned an outside threat to earth, but as they had not even known if they would return to earth – ever – it had not been discussed in detail. Now suddenly the IOA wanted to use Atlantis to fight these guys – as well as evil-Ancients, the Trust and a few other critters. Only the Tok'Ra seemed to be friends, but they turned out to be body-snatchers as well. Or, at least, body-renters.

But as Atlantis had burned out her ZPM's during her battle with the super-Hive, they were in the clear where other fights were concerned for the time being.

So, like all other mornings, the city had been peaceful and boring. He had sparred a bit with Ronon and Teyla; then he had watched them spar – which was far more exciting. The two had even drawn an audience. Well, the Becketts had claimed they were there to set any broken bones and such, but as both were present John doubted they were really there for the reasons they claimed. It seemed everyone on Atlantis was bored.

Then he had gone on a light patrol of the city – just to have something to do. After that he had spent an hour getting on Rodney's nerves. By then it had been time for lunch and he had shared the table with his team, which these days included Sitnalta. Well, not that she often went off-world with them, but one could hardly expect Rodney to eat at one table and Sitnalta at another.

It was after lunch that the trouble had started. He had been on the northern pier – which was now tilted more south-easterly and should probably rather be referred to as pier 3 – when he had seen the meandering river of vessels in the harbour. Twenty minutes later they started docking. He hurried down to the pier, only to find the boats vomiting people and equipment. Some were dressed in casual clothes, others in formal white lab-coats and a number in military wear. The equipment seemed heavy, so he refused to help even when they asked. After all, he outranked everyone.

"What's going on here?" he demanded from the Major who seemed to be in charge of the operation. The younger man neatly saluted John, but he could see a slight sneer on the Major's face. Then the Major simply handed him an official-looking piece of paper and returned to bossing the new arrivals around.

John knew the young man – Major Greer. He was a paper-pusher and an ass-kisser. John liked him as little as he liked John.

The paper was a long and windy explanation stating that Atlantis had been taken over by the IOA and their science teams. One owl-eyed scientist with lab-coat and pocket protector came up to him and demanded to be told where the main labs were. And while he was at it, John might as well give him a hand with his equipment. So John smiled and sent the man all the way to Woolsey's tower – as they had come to call it.

John followed a group of scientists and they finally found the main lab – where they promptly pissed Rodney off. But one squirrelly fellow handed him a paper similar to the one John had been given – and John spent an exciting minute observing his friend. As Rodney read the letter his face turned white, then red and white again. Then he threw the letter on the floor and started yelling at the squirrelly fellow. But as the letter – if it was like John's – explained that all Pegasus-personnel were now obsolete, the new arrival simply watched Rodney until the older man ran out of steam.

"Doctor McKay," he then said, "your work here has been invaluable to earth. But now it is our turn. So you can either aid us or be relieved of your position."

And of course Rodney didn't take that well. In the end John had to drag his friend away before he hurt the other little scientist – which, after five years of fighting the Wraith, Rodney was completely capable of doing. In fact, Rodney had been practising with Teyla, and though he will never be a Steven Seagal or Jackie Chan, he was good enough at hand-to-hand combat to flatten the new scientist.

Then again, John mused as he and Rodney left the lab, both Seagal and Chan could probably take some lessons from Teyla.

Minutes later the two men entered the control room. Woolsey and Elisabeth Weir were discussing something – and it was not a mystery what.

"What's going on here?" John demanded. He was no longer in a good mood. Then again, neither McKay, nor Woolsey or Elisabeth looked happy, either.

"It appears they had finally managed to clear all these people," Woolsey calmly said, though a tightness around his mouth gave away his own anger. "They are here to study Atlantis and to determine what military applications her technology has."

Just then a distraught Sitnalta ran into the room. Almost instinctively Rodney opened his arms and she took shelter there – almost like a frightened bird. She was crying.

"They're going to kill Atlantis!" she exclaimed between sobs.

"So you are just going to allow these people to run around, poking into everything?" John demanded from the expedition leader. Or rather, the apparently ex-expedition leader.

"We do not know whether their presence will harm the city," Woolsey tried.

"Nor do we know if these people will respect the technology, either," Weir remarked.

"And what can we do?" Rodney demanded. "That man literally threw me out of my own lab!"

"According to this," Woolsey said, holding out a letter like the ones John and Rodney had received, "it is no longer your lab."

"So you got one as well," John sneered, pointing at the paper bearing the official-looking IOA seal.

"Yes, it seems I have," Woolsey replied. "And according to it, all of us are relieved of duty."

"See, that's the part I have a problem with," John remarked. "These people have no idea what they are getting themselves into."

"Nor did we when we came here," Elisabeth said, drawing a disgusted look from Sheppard. But then he saw the frustration in her face, and he knew she was suffering as much as the rest of them. If Atlantis was harmed, Weir would feel it as much as any of them – perhaps even more so. For two years now it had been the only home she knew. It was probably the only place in the universe where she was welcome.

As they were still discussing the issue, a group of armed men marched into the control-room. Without a word they spread out and took up positions around the room. Another group was securing the gate-room.

Greer came in. He walked over to the Atlantis-group, but he did not smile. "Mister Woolsey, Doctor Weir," he greeted. He looked at Rodney. "Doctor McKay, I officially take command of this facility. With the exception of Doctor Weir, the rest of you have forty-eight hours to evacuate the city. Should any of you wish to remain, they can apply to the IOA."

As he was finishing his speech, the two Becketts came in, trailing Jennifer and Radek. The two Becketts still looked a bit strange to John with their tattoos. Three weeks ago, at the – um – interesting party, the two men had finally decided they were tired of being confused. They were not twins, after all, but neither were they the same man anymore. So they had snuck out and gotten themselves a tattoo each. Carson now sported the seventh-chevron – the earth chevron. It had been tattooed over his left eye. The one leg of the chevron bisected the eye, while the little circle on the top and the other leg were more to the side of his face. Duncan sported the Atlantis-badge beneath his right eye; the wings of the Pegasus spread so that one nearly touched his eye. They looked kind of dashing and nobody confused them anymore.

But Jennifer and Laura had yelled at them for a little while, though.

Greer turned to them. "More freaks," he sneered. John wondered how he would react to the fact that Teyla was sure Todd was still alive somewhere on Atlantis. "Duncan Beckett, Elisabeth Weir and Sitnalta," he continued, "you are not recognised citizens of earth, therefore you will remain on Atlantis until that time as we have found a place for you."

"You mean a prison," John suddenly realised.

"They will not be prisoners. But surely you can understand why we can't allow them among the general population," the Major said, looking smug.

"I am aware that a number of off-world people have taken refuge on earth," Elisabeth stated.

"But none of them posed such a threat to society as you do," Greer explained. John nearly hit him, surprised at the intensity of his anger.

"Surely Duncan Beckett poses no threat," she continued, unperturbed. Weir might look fragile and vulnerable, but she was as strong and determined – and pig-headed – as Ronon. "Nor does Sitnalta."

"But that's not why you need them, is it?" Rodney suddenly piped up, angry. "Duncan and Sitnalta are clones and you want them close-by so you can study them," the scientist suddenly realised. "And Elisabeth carries the last of the Replicator nanites – the nanites Sitnalta has reprogrammed. Letting these three out of your sight would be a loss of 'military applications,' wouldn't it?"

Before Greer could answer, the city's lights dimmed. It lasted only a moment, but by the time it came back on, Sitnalta had passed out.