Chapter 2
The Jumper exited the Gate, and John turned on the cloak. "All right, our ETA is two minutes. We should be –"
There was a sudden explosion outside the Jumper, and the ship lurched from the violent turbulence.
"What was that?" Teyla asked, sounding alarmed. The Jumper shook again as something impacted the outer hull.
"All right, we're switching from cloak to shields!" John mentally gave the order to the Jumper, then tried pressing a button, but nothing happened. "Rodney, the shields aren't working!" He looked out the windshield, an appalled expression forming on his face as a ship comprised of organic material, escorted by three smaller ships, came into the Jumper's view, firing weapons.
"Wraith cruisers," Ronon said. "And a Hive."
"Did they see us before we turned on the cloak?" Teyla asked.
"I sure as hell don't know," John replied, "and I'd rather not stay long enough to find out. We can't engage them with only one Jumper." He ducked his head as the Jumper took another hit. "Rodney, shields!"
"I heard you the first time!" Rodney retorted, furiously reading his computer tablet. "The mechanism that switches the Jumper from cloak to shield and vice versa has been damaged."
"What's that?" Ronon asked, viewing in a different direction out the windshield. Another ship, this one different in aesthetic and technological design, was approaching them and also firing weapons.
"You've got to be kidding me!" John exclaimed.
"Wait." Rodney stepped forward, his eyes flickering back and forth between the two ships, watching their weapons flying through dark space. "I don't think the Wraith are attacking us." He watched the second ship as it came into view, and he looked at John with a surprised expression. "That's Ancient technology," he said, pointing to the second ship. "I'll bet you anything that that's a Replicator warship. I think that we've just found ourselves in the middle of a Wraith-Replicator battle."
"Well, Rodney, that's slightly more comforting to know that the Wraith and the Replicators are kicking each others' asses and not ours," John replied, his face contorted as he struggled to fly the Jumper. "But if you don't get those shields up, we're about to become casualties of war." He commanded the Jumper to dodge the weapons coming at them in opposite directions, then suddenly lurched forward, and he threw his arms in front of his face to avoid impact with the front controls.
"Inertial dampeners have been hit, and so have weapons. I am keenly aware of the perilous situation that we are in, thank you for stating the obvious!" Rodney snapped back.
"If we do not have our shield or weapons, then we are already at a disadvantage when we arrive at the planet," Teyla indicated.
"I'll be damned if this crossfire thwarts this mission before it's even begun," John replied, his brow furrowing in concentration as he continued to dodge the weapons, though it was becoming more difficult to steer the Jumper with the physical effects of inertia now more noticeable.
"The Jumper has taken on severe damage," Rodney said, his voice tense. "We need to get out of this now."
"All right, guys," John said, his eyes narrowing. "Now's your chance to see what it's like to be the alien ship in Galaga. Hang on!"
The Jumper flew up and down, swerved from side to side to avoid the relentlessly endless stream of weapons fire. At one point, John just barely sandwiched the Jumper between two energy blasts from opposite directions before propelling the Jumper upward at a sharp ninety-degree angle to avoid impact with another weapon coming directly at the windshield.
"That was a close one," he said, a little breathless.
As the words came out of his mouth, a powerful blast impacted the left side of the Jumper. John felt himself thrown out of his seat, and he wasn't sure if he hit his head or not. He attempted to get back up, but the g's were now taking an incredible toll on him. His mind couldn't concentrate, and the last thing he saw was the bright weapons fire out the windshield before everything went black.
There was a sharp pounding in his head. John twitched slightly, then slowly lifted his eyelids, squinting at the bright light.
"John?" There was the sound of movement, and Teyla appeared beside him. He realized that he was lying on the floor of the Jumper.
"What happened?" he groaned, trying to get up, then falling back on his backside as his head pounded like a heartbeat.
"I saved your sorry asses, that's what happened." Rodney's griping voice came from the front of the Jumper.
"You were thrown out of your seat and fell unconscious," Teyla explained, her voice gentle. "It appears that attempting to control the Jumper while under the physical effects of damaged inertial dampeners was more difficult for you than expected. Rodney managed to take control of the Jumper and fly us out of the crossfire and to the Replicator planet."
"So we're here?" John asked.
"Yes, we are," Teyla replied with a smile. She observed him closely. "How are you feeling?"
"Aside from my head feeling like it's been split in two?" John grimaced. "And how long have I been out?"
"Only approximately twenty minutes," Teyla replied. "It does not look like you have any apparent injuries. Do you feel well enough to proceed with this mission?"
"You know, I haven't heard a 'thank you' yet for my act of bravery that saved all of your lives!" Rodney complained.
"Thank you, Rodney!" John called out, his tone half sincere. "Looks like I've trained you well." He turned back to Teyla. "Just get me some Tylenol, I'll be fine. How about you, are all of you all right?"
"We are fine," Teyla said, smiling. "The damage to the inertial dampeners was actually not quite as serious as Rodney had initially anticipated. He has also been working on repairs for the mechanism that switches cloak from shield as well as weapons."
"The cloak is still operational, thank God," Rodney grumbled. "We haven't been detected – not yet, at least."
"Let's keep it that way," John replied. "Hopefully, with that battle going on up there, the Replicators are too occupied at the moment to deal with us. This should make things a lot easier. Here, help me up." He grabbed Teyla's extended hand and slowly got to his feet. He then stumbled to the rear compartment, where Ronon was waiting, and dug around for the first aid kit.
"You feeling all right?" Ronon asked.
"Yeah, I'm ok," John said, opening a black metal box, his head still pounding. "Though I can't believe I passed out like that at the controls. Never happened to me before."
"First time for everything," Ronon said. John popped two pills into his mouth and took a swig of water.
"All right." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Let's get moving." He opened the door and exited the Jumper, the rest of his team coming after him.
"According to these readings, no Replicators are nearby," Rodney reported as he studied the life signs detector. He pointed to a circular metal door on the ground near them. "We'll get in through that metal hatch. We're on the roof of a building south of the central tower."
"All right." John mentally formed a plan. "We'll split up into teams of two. Ronon, you're with Teyla, Rodney, you're with me. We'll check out the most likely places where they might be keeping her first. Rodney and I will head down to the brig and look around the lower levels of the city. Teyla, you and Ronon cover the upper levels and search any labs you come across. She'll probably be kept in an isolated section of the city. Only engage the Replicators if they're in groups of four or fewer; otherwise, avoid them. We don't want to confront too many at once and have any escape, otherwise, it won't be long before they all know we're here. Rodney, put your freezing program on stand-by in case we have an opportunity to use it. Radio contact every half hour. Questions?" When no one spoke up, he handed Teyla a second life signs detector. "Let's go."
The team split up after descending the hatch. Teyla and Ronon headed down the hallway, and John and Rodney headed for the nearest transporter to get down to the brig.
"We should consider ourselves lucky that that Wraith-Replicator battle is going on right now as it is," Rodney muttered as they exited the transporter, then headed down a nearby stairwell, the surrounding hallways completely empty. "If not, we'd be ducking our heads at every corner by now trying not to get shot."
"Yeah, well, let's hope our luck stays that way," John said, turning a corner.
"Wait." Rodney stopped walking, and John turned around to see him reading his detector. "The brig is around that way," Rodney said, jerking his thumb to the left, "and I am reading two life signs at the entrance."
"All right, let's see what we're up against." John continued down the hallway toward a corner, his footsteps quick and silent as Rodney followed him. He peered around the corner toward the entrance to the brig, and he glimpsed two Replicators in their habitual off-white attire stationed on opposite sides of a door.
"You got the one on the right," he whispered to Rodney. As he spoke, he heard footsteps approaching from an adjoining hallway, and he pressed his back against the wall.
"Your help is requested in the control tower." John heard a deep male voice echoing in the hallway.
"Of course," a different voice replied. He heard footsteps now approaching his and Rodney's position, and he signaled to Rodney to fall back. The two of them crouched in the shadows of the stairwell from which they had descended, and John watched as a Replicator with black hair and a tightly set jaw went up the staircase, not noticing his and Rodney's presence. The Replicator's footsteps faded away, and John emerged from his position and approached the nearby hallway once more.
"There's only one life sign reading now at the entrance," Rodney confirmed. John peered around the corner again, then without hesitation, he raised his ARG and fired at the lone Replicator standing at the door. The energy beam hit him squarely in the chest, and he disintegrated and fell to the ground like sand. He ran down the hallway, and he ignored the crunching sounds below his feet as he opened the door.
The brig was empty.
"All right," John said, realizing that the search was going to take a while. "Let's keep looking."
"Teyla, this is Sheppard. How are you and Ronon doing?" John spoke into his radio twenty minutes later.
"Colonel, Ronon and I are in the eastern section of the city," Teyla replied. "We have searched four levels in this section, yet we have not found anything."
"Yeah, well, same goes for me and Rodney," John replied, frowning. "Have you come across any Replicators?"
"Only a few. Ronon and I have managed to either avoid them or dispose of them without complications. However, we feel that it is ineffective to perform a blind search of the city as we are doing now. Is it possible for us to narrow down the search parameters further?"
"Rodney's coming up with a plan right now," John said, looking at the man in question.
"We need to get to the control room for two reasons," Rodney began. "One, I can access the Replicators' base code and upload the freezing program there. Two, once the Replicators are frozen, we can use the city-wide sensors to determine where they're keeping Elizabeth. Her reading will come up different because she's part human –"
"She is human, Rodney," John cut in.
"Yeah, but she has active nanites as well, which means –"
"She's human," John insisted, his tone discouraging further dispute. "And get to the point."
"She's comprised of 97.1249 percent organic material," Rodney said, rolling his eyes. "So her reading will be different because she's not a machine. We'll be able to pinpoint her location in the city just like that."
"There's only one problem," John said, glancing above him warily. "The control room is occupied by Replicators. We're underneath the stairs leading up there now, and there are more than a handful of them. We need you and Ronon to come over and help us take them out."
"Very well. Ronon and I will arrive at your location shortly."
"Sheppard out." John tapped his earpiece to break radio contact.
"I'm just saying, she has miniature robots keeping her alive –"
"McKay!" John shot Rodney a furious look, and Rodney backed down, grumbling incoherently.
A few minutes later, there was the sound of footsteps from down the hallway, sounding quick and urgent, and John emerged from his position as Teyla and Ronon rounded the corner.
"How many are there?" Teyla asked.
"I counted eleven," John grimaced. "Hopefully, no more have arrived." He suddenly heard the sound of approaching footsteps from above him, and he quickly motioned to his teammates to keep quiet. As he crouched back into the shadows, two pairs of feet appeared through the slats of steps, and John saw two Replicators coming down, one of them the black-haired Replicator that he had seen earlier. Then the Replicators disappeared down the hallway, their footsteps fading away.
"Make that nine, now," John said, slowly rising from his position.
"All right," Ronon said, sounding satisfied as he twirled his gun around in his hand, and there was a familiar swoosh sound as he changed the gun setting. "Let's go kill some Replicators."
John silently led his teammates up the staircase, then peered into the control room. He then glanced behind him and motioned with his hand to signify their tactical strategy. Then he turned back to face the control room and rose from his position. Within a few seconds, all nine Replicators in the control room had crumbled to the floor like sand.
"All right, Rodney, get that freezing program plugged in," John ordered, heading toward the control consoles. "If other Replicators try to contact the control room, they'll know something's up when no one's responding. I'll check the city-wide sensors."
"How many more Replicators are in the city?" Teyla asked.
"Hopefully, few enough that we can handle them," John replied, his brow furrowing in concentration as he pressed a few buttons on the screen before him. "Once Rodney gets the freezing program up and we pinpoint Elizabeth's location, we're gonna swoop in to get her and leave. Should be a cakewalk."
"All right, freezing program is uploaded," Rodney announced. "Their code has been tampered with on an even more complicated level this time, so we should have more time than last time before they unfreeze and all hell breaks loose."
"Exactly how much more time is that?" John asked, studying the city-wide sensors, his voice not sounding so trusting.
"Oh, uh, approximately two minutes, thirty-eight seconds, give or take," Rodney flipped back.
"That's great, tell me the next time you have good news to share," John replied, slightly irritated.
"Oh, and I suppose that you think that you understand the absurd complexity of the Replicator base code better than I do –"
"This can't be right," John cut Rodney off, his eyes surveying the dots on the large screen before him, feeling a cold chill running through him.
"What, what's wrong?" Rodney stepped forward, looking at the screen as well, then his eyes widened as if in realization of their new problem. "She's not on here."
"Ok, we need to act fast." Rodney's voice sounded more agitated now. "There are a couple reasons for why she's not showing up on the city-wide sensors. She could be in one of the shielded sections of the city, or maybe the sensors simply can't identify her from the other Replicators because she's partially one of them."
"I thought you said that her reading would be different because –" John began, sounding irked.
"Yeah, well, so much for 97.1249 percent organic, huh?" Rodney muttered.
"This is all assuming that she's still here in this city, right?" Ronon spoke up.
"We're not there yet," John growled.
"I'm not saying that the Replicators killed her," Ronon explained. "I'm just saying that they might have taken her somewhere else, maybe off this planet."
"Ronon's right, she's too valuable for the Replicators to get rid of her," Rodney agreed. "I mean, with all the information she has on Atlantis –"
"Assuming that Elizabeth is here in this city on this planet," Teyla interjected, "where else could we look?"
There was a moment of uneasy silence. Then Rodney began snapping his fingers, his eyes lighting up as they always did whenever an idea suddenly occurred to him.
"The stasis chambers," he said, a look of disbelief on his face. "She's not in the brig, and I highly doubt that the Replicators would just leave her fully conscious in a room by herself, especially with the Wraith-Replicator war going on right now. No, they'd keep her somewhere safe in case they ever needed her, but she's otherwise stowed away so she doesn't cause them any trouble."
"To them, she's like a messy file cabinet," John said. "Full of valuable intel, but you only open it when necessary and shove it back in when you're done."
"Exactly," Rodney replied, turning back to the screen and pointing to two nearby locations. "The closest stasis chambers are here and here. If she's not in either of those places, then we'll try these two locations," he finished, pointing to two other rooms in the city.
"Sounds like a plan," John said. "Teyla, you and Ronon check out the ones on the northern side of the city, Rodney and I will get the ones in the east and south."
"We'd better hurry, the Replicators aren't going to stay frozen forever," Rodney said, sounding a bit apprehensive.
"You don't have to mention it, we already know," John muttered under his breath as he headed out of the control room.
A minute later, John and Rodney arrived at their first stasis chamber. John swiped open the door, and he looked around the darkened room. There were three chambers, and all of them were empty.
"Teyla, this is Sheppard," John said, tapping his earpiece. "How's it going on your end?"
"Colonel, Ronon and I have arrived at our first location, and Elizabeth is not here. We are on our way to our second location."
"Same goes for me and Rodney," John replied. "We're heading to the one on the southern edge of the city."
"Very well. Good luck."
"Sheppard out." He turned off his radio and headed down the hallway again.
John and Rodney soon arrived at their second location. Once again, John swiped his hand across the door control crystals, and he entered the darkened room, walking around slowly in what appeared to be an abandoned lab. He turned a corner, and he stopped when he noticed what was immediately across from him. There were three stasis chambers. All empty.
"Teyla, what's your status?" John whispered into his radio, his heart pounding.
There was a brief moment of radio static before there was a reply.
"Colonel, Ronon and I have thoroughly searched our second location, and Elizabeth is not here."
John felt his mind begin to whirl uneasily.
"Copy that," he managed to say. He turned to Rodney, who was looking at him with a fearful, wide-eyed gaze.
"We're almost out of time," Rodney said, sounding distressed. "The Replicators are going to unfreeze any minute now."
"Are there any more rooms like this in the city?" John demanded.
"Not that I know of," Rodney replied, his voice frantic. "Maybe there are, but there are parts of Atlantis that we haven't even discovered yet, and it's possible that –"
"We don't have time for this," John cut Rodney off, clenching and unclenching his fists, his knuckles turning white. His head felt like it was about to implode, and he hit his fist against the wall. "We need to –"
His hand came in contact with a raised surface on the wall, and there was a click followed by a muffled swoosh. John stopped talking, and he saw that he had hit a switch on the wall. He turned around behind him.
"What was that?" Rodney whispered, his eyes flickering nervously across the room.
John signaled Rodney to keep quiet, and he took a few silent steps forward. There was a door in the room that he hadn't noticed earlier, and he was pretty sure that the second noise had come from that direction. He raised his ARG with one hand, then threw open the door with the other, the light from his weapon dashing across the pitch-black room. The light fell on an empty stasis chamber. Then he directed the light toward the floor, and he felt his breath catch.
"Teyla. Ronon." John tapped his earpiece, and he had to make a conscious effort to get words out. "We found her."