Chapter 3 – Invasion

Elizabeth had disengaged one of the grounding stations before returning to the control tower and meeting up with Radek, who had also disengaged a station, and being contacted by John to say that he had dealt with the first of the two stations he was responsible for and was heading to the second one. She was about to sign off when Sergeant Peters contacted them to say that there were incoming casualties from an attack on Manara.

Immediately concerned, they picked up their pace and were less than a minute from the control room when they came to a sudden halt at the sight of Maredith NcKay approaching them at a fast walk.

"NcKay? What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise.

"NcKay?" she heard John exclaim over the radio, and she realised that she had left the channel open.

"I…" He stopped, looking nervously at her before bracing himself and continuing. "I took the first chance I could to get away from your guards and head for the stargate, only when I got there…" There was another brief pause, anxiety rolling off him. "When I got there I saw an Athosian dialling the gate and using one of your devices that let people into Atlantis. Only he was doing it under duress from a group of people, dressed to look like Athosians but… but the leader…"

"NcKay, what happened?" she asked, seeing the fear he was trying to hide.

"The leader is a man called Acastus Kolya. He's… Kolya is Genii and he's ruthless and dangerous and… he killed the Athosian and then he killed your two men even though he didn't need to, but that's what he's like, and… and there's fifteen people with him, all Genii, and I think they're going to try and raid this place for anything they can. If you get in their way, they'll kill you. If they find out about the plan to save the city, they'll try to take control. I… I managed to slip into the group, they were too busy to notice an extra person, and came here to warn you…"

"Who are they? How do you know them?"

"They're…" he stuttered to a halt.

"Please."

"They're my people, but I didn't do this, I didn't tell them. There hasn't been time for me to do that, and I wouldn't have anyway. You've got to believe me," he said desperately. "I don't know how they know about all you, but it wasn't me. Maybe one of the people on that planet told them."

"One of the Manarians?" Radek asked.

"Crap," she heard John say angrily. "It's possible. I got a bad vibe from their leader."

NcKay, however, looked stunned. "Manara?"

"Yes, why?" she asked him as he gave a disbelieving laugh.

"Because Manara and Genia have been trading partners for generations, and the Manarians would willingly sell out their own people in exchange for Genii trade if needed. You can be sure they'd have no problems selling you out."

"Meet me in the armoury," John told her.

"Wait, John? Have you disengaged the last grounding station yet?"

"No."

"He should not do so until we regain the control room," Radek stated. "Once they are disengaged we are in danger from electricity. The storm is not here yet, but can we be sure of getting to safety when it comes?"

"And I'm not giving these Genii any reason to stay," John added.

"Okay, we'll meet you in the armoury."

"Keep an eye on NcKay, just in case this is some sort of trick."

"Will do."

Kolya was looking around the Ancestral city's control area. It was even more impressive than he had imagined and it was a real pity the city would not survive the storm. It would have made an excellent base for his people and he would have won much acclaim for taking the city. Enough to be offered command here, of that he was certain.

"Commander, we have internal sensors. I'm picking up four life signs here," Ladon, an elite scientist he had been forced to include in this raiding party as a favour to the Genii leader, interrupted his thoughts and pointed to four dots on a screen.

"So, there are still people here," he mused. "Will you be able to guide our people to them?"

"Yes."

"Good," he said, turning to order four soldiers to intercept these so-called 'Lanteans', as the Manarans had referred to them mockingly, with instructions to capture them if possible, or to kill if not.

As soon as they entered the armoury, John passed Radek a P90.

"Have you contacted Ford?" Elizabeth asked. "I know that Teyla, Carson and himself stayed behind to pick up some hunters that were missing…"

"They're on their way. The eye passed over them and they used the opportunity to go into orbit and come back down ahead of the storm. They should be landing soon."

"So we wait for them?"

"Not here. Also, take this, you might need it," John passed her a 9mm.

"I hope I don't need to use it."

"Same here, but just in case…"

Elizabeth grimaced but took the gun anyway. "I guess those lessons on the firing range weren't a total waste of time."

"Told you they weren't," John flashed her an impish grin, before turning serious. "NcKay, no offence, but you're not getting a weapon."

"I didn't expect one."

"Good. Oh, and just so you know, if you're working with them, I will kill you."

"John," Elizabeth said in admonishment.

"You understand me, NcKay? I want to trust you, am going to have to, but..."

"I understand," NcKay replied, seeing the seriousness in Sheppard's eyes and gulping. "I won't betray you."

"You'd better not. Now, we need a plan."

"You should shut off power to the control room," NcKay suggested. "My… the Genii know a bit about Ancestral technology. It won't take them long to figure out things like the internal sensors."

"And you know about them how?" John asked suspiciously.

"I overheard someone talking about them before Teyla came back from Hoff."

"He has a point," Radek said. "If we shut off the naquadah generator it will cut all but primary systems. The shields, gate and external sensors won't be affected, but the internal sensors will be."

"The external are primary but the internal ones are secondary?" NcKay asked, puzzled.

"If I designed systems they would both be primary. Ancients obviously thought different," Radek replied with a shrug.

"Okay, we need to make them blind," John agreed. "And then join up with Ford, Teyla and Beckett If we can split them into groups it would make it easier to subdue them."

"We need to do it quickly. The storm is less than an hour out," Radek reminded them. "It might be prudent to have someone at the grounding station, ready to disengage as soon as we have dealt with the intruders."

"But that means one less person to fight…" NcKay pointed out.

"I'll go," Elizabeth volunteered.

"After we've shut down the generator, and you will take Ford with you," John said. "Let's move out, when the others arrive they'll contact us and we can meet up with them then."

They were halfway to the generator room when John picked up four dots on his life signs detector heading in their direction.

"We're being followed," he informed the others.

"They must be using internal sensors to follow us," Radek said. "They will not be able to do so once generator is shut down."

"True, Doc, but we're not going to make it to the generator first at the rate they're catching us. We need to ambush them."

"How?" Elizabeth asked.

"There's a room not far from here that has a gantry above it. We climb the gantry, wait for the Genii to come into the room and then I'll take them out."

"That seems a little cold, doesn't it?"

"Yes, but we don't have time to try and negotiate with them, even if there was a chance it would work. And we don't have time to take prisoners either."

"It still seems wrong," Elizabeth said, looking uncomfortable with is attitude.

"They killed two of my men, I'm not about to let them kill anyone else."

"They don't negotiate," NcKay said. "The Genii think they are superior to everyone else. They rarely let anyone who isn't Genii live amongst them, and then only when it's to their advantage."

Elizabeth sighed, before agreeing reluctantly. "Okay, it's a military situation, I'll follow your lead on this."

"Good."

John watched from above as four Genii entered the room cautiously, scanning it for the enemy.

"Are you sure they're here?" one of the soldiers asked via his wrist communicator.

"Yes, and they can probably hear you," was the response from the control room.

He waited until they were in the middle of the room and directly below him, before, against his instincts that said to just shoot them, he called down, "Drop your weapons."

Instead of obeying his command, the Genii aimed their guns upwards and started firing. Fortunately the bullets hit the gantry, ricocheting away harmlessly, and he wasted no time in gunning the four men down.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked. "No one hit?"

"I am unharmed," Zelenka answered.

Elizabeth and NcKay nodded when he looked at them, though they seemed a little shocked by events.

John knew he should have followed his first instincts, but he'd felt that he should give the Genii a chance to surrender, mainly because of Elizabeth's presence, if he was honest with himself. But there wasn't time for civilian hand holding. This was a military situation and he was lucky no one had been hit. From now on, he would follow his gut instincts, regardless.

"Okay, we need to get to the generator quickly before they send anyone else after us."

"You should take one of their communicators," NcKay said.

"Fine. We need to head down there anyway."

As they passed the dead Genii, NcKay showed him how to use one of the wrist communicators, setting it so they could hear any communications but not be heard themselves.

Or at least, he hoped that was the setting NcKay had used. He could easily have made it the other way round, and if so, they were in trouble. And NcKay was dead.

But his gut instinct was telling him NcKay was on the level. He just hoped it was right.

Kolya realised he had underestimated his enemy when he was unable to contact his men after four life signs went out. Losing four of his men was unacceptable. He ordered three more of them to go after the Lanteans, but not to engage them except on his command.

"Ladon, once you know which direction the enemy is heading in, inform my men so that they can set up an ambush," he ordered.

"Yes, Commander."

This time his men would have the upper hand and the Lanteans would die.

The rest of the journey to the generator room was uneventful. Radek turned the generator off as soon as they entered the room and they were plunged into darkness, making them glad that they had taken the time to pick up flashlights on the way here. Radek then removed the generator's key and placed it into one of his pockets for safekeeping.

Heading out, they were a few levels below the control room when Ford contacted them on the radio to say that he and the others had just landed in the jumper bay.

"About time," John said dryly.

"Sorry, sir, but the hurricane was too strong to fly through, we had to wait for the eye..."

"Yeah, I know. Beckett, you stay with the jumper and the Athosians hunters. Close the ramp as soon as Teyla and Ford have left and be ready in case you have to make a quick getaway through the gate. Hopefully, you won't need to, but be ready just in case things go south."

"Aye, alright."

"Ford, Teyla, meet us outside the mess hall"

"Understood. We're heading there now," came Ford's reply.

"Better go join them," John said grimly.

As the control room went dark and a few emergency lights came on, Kolya turned to Ladon with a scowl. "Report," he ordered tersely.

"They've cut power to the control tower. It looks like Atlantis is being powered by five small generators, each responsible for a separate area of the City. We still have most primary operations," he reported, walking over to another console. "We have definitely lost all secondary systems."

"Can we track them?"

"No, we've lost internal sensors. External sensors are working, as is the gate, but we can't track them."

"Recall my men to the control room." There was no point in leaving them out there now that they had lost the upper hand.

"Yes, Commander."

As soon as Ford and Teyla had arrived, John had sent Ford with Elizabeth to the grounding station that still needed to be disengaged. His thoughts then returned to the situation at hand. They had taken out four Genii soldiers and according to NcKay, there were another twelve to deal with, including Kolya. He truly hoped that NcKay could be trusted as he didn't have any other Intel to go on. This could still turn out to be some elaborate trap, as unlikely as that seemed.

He moved everyone back towards the control room, trying to work out how to deal with the Genii left. When he spotted three more dots on the life signs detector about a hundred yards behind them and moving quickly in their direction, he knew he had a chance to even the odds in their favour.

"You're sure they can't track us?" he asked Radek, pointing to the dots heading their way.

"I am sure. You heard over communicator that their leader called them back to control room."

"So, they don't know we're here..."

"An ambush?" Teyla suggested.

"Yes," Sheppard replied, looking around and noticing a transporter close by with a storage room next to it.

"Zelenka, NcKay, I want you to stay in here," he said, opening the door to the storage room. "And stay quiet. Doc, if anyone except us comes through this door, shoot them."

"I hope it does not come to that," Zelenka said nervously as he followed NcKay into the room.

"We'll do our best to make sure it doesn't," John said earnestly before closing the door. He wanted to keep the civilians out of the fighting as much as possible, especially Zelenka, without whom Atlantis would be sunk. Literally.

Opening the transporter doors, he indicated that Teyla should enter with him, and checked the life signs detector as the doors closed behind them.

"We'll wait until they pass us and then come out shooting. I'm counting on the element of surprise here, but if things go wrong, then I want you to get back in here and transport out," John whispered to Teyla, who, although looking unhappy at the idea of transporting out, nodded her assent.

He knew this was risky, but the corridors in Atlantis, especially here in the central section, were long and wide, providing poor cover.

As the dots neared, Sheppard indicated the dot on the right to Teyla. She nodded her understanding and they took positions near the doors. Using his fingers, John counted down from three. On the count of one, he opened the doors and together they opened fire on the unsuspecting Genii.

Two of the enemy fell to the ground before they had time to react, blood covering their backs. The man who'd been in the middle of the three panicked and started to run, but had only taken a few steps before he, too, lay lifeless on the ground.

John grimaced. He hated shooting people in the back, but it was far safer than trying a frontal attack. In another time and place, he may have done things differently, but here and now, he'd done what was necessary to survive. He'd deal with any feelings of remorse later. If he survived the day, that was.

He turned and opened the storage room door, coming face to face with a shaking and pale looking Zelenka, who, despite his fear, had his gun aimed unerringly at John's chest. As soon as he realised who it was, he let his hands fall to his sides, relief showing on his face.

"They are dead?" Radek asked.

"Yeah," John replied. "But that still leaves nine of them to three of us. That is, three of us with weapons."

"Maybe..." NcKay started, before stopping, an uncertain look on his face.

"Spit it out, NcKay," John ordered.

"I could project the image of one of the soldiers you just killed, make it look like the communicator was damaged so I couldn't contact them and then go to the control room and... and say that I saw you heading into a room a level down and that if they moved quickly there was a chance they could corner you..."

"And we set up another ambush for those Kolya sends with you?"

"Yes."

"It's risky..."

"I can do this," NcKay said determinedly, though John could see fear in NcKay's eyes. He considered their options. Taking out more Genii would give them a better chance of taking back the control room, but could he really trust NcKay? His gut said yes, but…

He sighed deeply and decided to follow his instincts. They hadn't steered him wrong yet.

"Okay." He pointed to a room not far from them. "Bring them here and we'll get ready to take them out as they enter the room. Try to stay back, but if not, so long as you don't change images we'll recognise you and try not to hit you."

"I'll stay back, let them go in first."

"Take this." John offered him a spare radio, glad he had thought to bring one in case of problems. "I've set it to an open channel. We'll be able to hear you, so we know when you're coming our way."

"Okay."

"If things go wrong, it'll take us a few minutes to reach you…"

"I'll manage," NcKay said, a mix of terror and resoluteness on his face.

"Good luck."

He couldn't believe he'd volunteered for this. It was stupid and dangerous and not like him, but he needed to prove himself to these people. All his fears about them seemed to have dissipated, though he wasn't sure why. Perhaps Elizabeth's reaction to the killing, how she'd clearly would have preferred negotiation, perhaps Sheppard's look after killing those soldiers, especially the first group; a look of determination mixed with regret and pain at what he'd had to do.

Perhaps it was the way they were trusting him, not entirely, but more than he could have hoped for, more than they should do, that made him believe that they were good people.

Or it could be that when he compared them to his own people, he found them to be better, and that could only be a good thing.

Whatever it was, he wanted to help them, wanted to prove he could be trusted, and really, really wanted to stop his people taking anything from Atlantis back home.

Hmm, perhaps there was a hint of revenge in there too.

He schooled his features as he approached the control room, making sure the image of the soldier was projecting as he wanted it to, and entered.

"Idos, where are your fellow soldiers?" Kolya asked him.

"We were ambushed on our way here, but I managed to get away. My communicator was damaged so I couldn't inform you of the situation. I saw three people enter a room not far from here, I think we can catch them if we move quickly, Commander."

"No. I'm not risking further ambush. Help Sora with downloading from the database."

"Yes, Commander," he answered dutifully, while trying not to panic that the plan wasn't working. He needed to try and slip away, but first, he'd better help this Sora person, or at least, appear to be helping her.

Inspiration hit him as he moved over to where the data-collector was plugged into Atlantis. He would seemingly help to search through the information and to collect what was important, but instead he would ensure that the data was corrupted beyond use.

Damn, damn, damn.

"Let's move out," John said, Teyla and Radek following him closely. They should have chosen a room closer to the control room, but he hadn't wanted to risk Kolya overhearing any commotion.

But damn it, this wasn't in their plans.

"He will be alright," Teyla said, sensing his concern. "We will be there soon."

"Yeah, but I don't like our odds…"

"Then we will find a way to improve them. Perhaps Dr Beckett can help…"

"He's worse with a gun than he is flying a jumper…"

"If NcKay is not in immediate danger then we can wait for Ford," Radek suggested.

"Okay, we just have to hope no one realises he's not this Idos guy before we can even things up a bit."