Disclaimer: I don't own 'Stargate Atlantis' or any related concepts or characters; you know the drill by now. Also, the basic details of the plot were inspired by 'The Phantom of the Opera', although I have naturally put my own spin on things; hope it meets with your approval

Feedback: Always appreciated, trust me

AN: Just to clarify, Elizabeth's meeting with Carson regarding the severed Wraith hand took place between this chapter and the last chapter; I saw no point in including it because it's the same as it was originally

The Phantom of Atlantis

A few hours later, as Elizabeth stood in the control room waiting for Colonel Sumner's team to depart, she still found herself unable to fully believe how rapidly everything had gone following her decision to permit the rescue attempt to take place. Thanks to the Ancient database on Stargate addresses- one of the few things in the Atlantis databanks that there was no chance of misunderstanding, thankfully-, McKay had eventually been able to identify the only possible 'gate address for the symbols that Lieutenant Ford had seen activate on the DHD, but the subsequent MALP test had revealed that the Stargate in question was located in orbit around a planet rather than being on the planet itself, thus making it impractical at best to send a conventional team through.

Fortunately (Or unfortunately, depending on your perspective; Elizabeth still wasn't sure how she felt about that particular discovery, particularly after what Carson Beckett had told her about their new enemy following his examination of the severed Wraith arm Sumner's team had recovered from Athos), an earlier search of the city had resulted in the discovery of what could best be described as a 'shuttle bay' located directly above the 'gate room, containing several small space ships that could clearly be piloted through the Stargate. After gathering almost every ATA-gene-positive member of the expedition into the 'shuttlebay' to test what McKay had termed 'Gateships' (On the grounds that they were ships that went through the Stargate; personally, Elizabeth thought the name displayed a significant lack of imagination but had declined to comment on the grounds that she was unable to come up with something better herself), Sumner had selected a pilot for the mission in the form of Air Force officer Sergeant Markham, and subsequently gathered his assault team together.

At the moment the staff were making the last few checks of the few Ancient systems whose purpose they'd been able to determine inside the control room, while Sumner's selected 'strike force' of about ten assorted marines and soldiers gathered into the 'Gateship'. With nothing immediately requiring her specific attention following Carson's examination, Elizabeth had decided to make sure things were prepared in the control room, and just hope for the best when it came to Sumner and his team once they were through the Stargate.

"Are we ready here?" she asked, looking over at McKay as he studied one of the control panels.

"I have no idea," the scientist groaned, placing something down on the console as he walked around it to join her. "This technology is so far beyond us; I haven't clue what we're dealing with. For all I know, we could…"

As Elizabeth turned to glare at him, not in the mood for further complications at a time like this, McKay simply sighed. "Yeah, we're ready."

With that said, he walked over to stand in front of the DHD, his hands on either side of the console as he waited for the confirmation call from the hanger.

"Flight," Colonel Sumner's voice finally said, "this is Gateship One; all systems are go."

"Affirmative, Gateship One; you are clear to launch," McKay replied, moments before the Stargate began to activate. As soon as the final chevron had engaged and the wormhole formed, the roof of the main room opened and the ship- Elizabeth couldn't quite bring herself to call it the 'gateship'; it just didn't feel right, somehow- lowered itself from the hanger to hover in front of the Stargate, its sleek greenish-grey form reminding Elizabeth of an animal ready to pounce in the brief moment before it entered the Stargate.

After what she'd learned of this latest enemy race from Carson's examination of that hand, as the Stargate shut down automatically, Elizabeth could only hope that this 'animal'- to continue her original metaphor- possessed enough power to do the job.

"Alert me as soon as we hear anything from them," she said, as she glanced back at the technician currently at one of the consoles before she looked back at McKay. "Stay in touch with the expedition teams and let me know the moment you find anything that we might be able to use at the moment to help with our current situation; I'll be in my office."


After about an hour of sitting and waiting for a report, however, Elizabeth soon came to realise the main disadvantage of being a civilian in this kind of situation; she had to simply wait and find out how things were progressing for her staff.

It was funny, really; she'd been anxious when SG-1 had gone on that mission to try and track down what they'd thought had been Atlantis, but it hadn't been as serious as it was now. Maybe it was because, unlike then, she'd had more of a choice in the matter; with Colonel O'Neill dying from the Ancient knowledge in his mind, they'd had to move fast if they were going to accomplish anything, but here she could have refused to send them on the mission relatively easily.

When Colonel O'Neill's life had been dying from the Ancient knowledge in his head, it had been a choice between doing nothing and losing the chance to find Atlantis, or doing something and taking that chance.

Here, the choice had been do nothing and definitely lose around ten people, or do something and potentially lose twice that number; it really wasn't as clear-cut as it had been during the Anubis incident.

Just because she'd known what she had to do in that situation- it would have been an extremely bad idea to leave people in the hands of the enemy, after all- didn't mean that she liked having had to do it in the first place…

Sighing, she got up from her new desk and walked down the stairs to stand in front of the Stargate, a reflective expression on her face as she stared at the device that had caused so much change back on Earth over the last seven or eight years, to say nothing of what had taken place in the distant past because of it. So many alliances had been formed… so many people had been lost… so many advances had been gained…

And in the end, no matter how far they came, there was always at least one advanced civilisation out there that saw humanity as nothing more than something to be stepped on.

"Doctor Weir," McKay's excited voice suddenly said from behind her, breaking Elizabeth's train of thought even as she continued to stare reflectively at the Stargate, "we're getting reports in from all over the city; there's some pretty interesting stuff. We've only been able to provide power to certain sections, but even then, the things that are coming up are just…"

As he drew closer to her his voice trailed off, clearly realising that she wasn't paying any attention to what he was saying to her as she continued to stare silently at the Stargate.

"I should never have let them go," Elizabeth said after a moment's silence, acknowledging that Rodney would probably want some explanationf or why she was simply staring at the Stargate like this.

"For what it's worth…" her head scientist said after a moment's pause, "you made the right decision. Give them time."

Even as Elizabeth was grateful to hear that one of the non-military personnel supported her decision- he was probably the closest thing to a neutral opinion she'd receive in a situation like this-, she still couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't something she could have done differently.

"Well…" McKay said after a moment's awkward silence, "I'll just… get back to work, shall I?"

"Yes… of course," Elizabeth replied, briefly, nodding briefly at McKay as she continued to stare anxiously at the Stargate, a part of her wishing that it would start dialling even as the rest of her wished that it wouldn't; at least at the moment, she could hope that everything had worked out well with the mission.

Shaking her head in frustration, she turned around and began to walk back towards her office- she wasn't doing anybody any good right now- only to accidentally run into the young boy in the silver mask that she'd seen running around earlier.

"Oh- sorry, Doctor Weir!" the young boy said, looking apologetically up at her behind the mask. "Wex and I were playing, and we lost track of each other; I was just trying to find him-"

"That's all right… Jinto, wasn't it?" Elizabeth asked, smiling slightly at the young boy before her as she helped him to his feet. "No harm was done, and it's an easy mistake to make."

With the initial apology out of the way, she turned her attention to look curiously at the silver mask he was wearing. "If you don't mind my asking, what kind of mask is that?"

"It's the Phantom," Jinto said by way of explanation, removing it from his face and looking at her in surprise. "You mean you don't know him?"

"Should I have?" Elizabeth replied, smiling slightly at the young boy as she looked at him in a quizzical manner, only for the smile to fade at the genuine confusion on the young boy's face.

"The Phantom has defended this galaxy from the Wraith for the last few years, and he is said to do so from the city of the Ancestors using their power; how can you not know about him?" Jinto asked, his expression reminding Elizabeth of a child's face the first time a parent suggested that Santa Claus wouldn't be real. "He has been here for years; he would not leave the city, and he cannot die so suddenly…"

Deciding to remain diplomatic about the situation- given now little she knew about Athosian culture, she didn't want to risk causing problems by hurting a child's feelings, not that she'd do that deliberately in the first place-, Elizabeth simply shrugged and smiled slightly at him, privately noting his words about the Phantom and resolving to ask one of the adult Athosians about the individual in question as soon as she had the opportunity to do so.

"He's… he's here somewhere, I'm sure, Jinto; he… probably just doesn't want to reveal himself to us," she said, looking reassuringly down at the young Athosian. "We have stories of a lot of people like the Phantom back where we come from, and they all prefer to keep themselves secret from everyone else unless they have to tell them who they are, so that they can protect their families."

"Protect their families?" Jinto repeated, looking in confusion up at Weir. "But the Phantom has helped to protect so many people from the Wraith; why would he worry about his family?"

"Well… if everyone in the Pegasus Galaxy knew who the Phantom was, the Wraith would know where to find him and who to go after to hurt him while he was busy somewhere else," Elizabeth explained, silently thanking her brother for having a comics fan for a child; his ever-constant enthusiasm about every kind of superhero under the sun had provided her with a fairly thorough amount of background information regarding the motivations of some of the more prominent comic book heroes of the present. "He's probably here somewhere, but he doesn't want to let us know he's here until he's sure that we won't tell anybody else who he is; he's done this for so long that it's… probably hard for him to be sure of other people if he doesn't know them well."

"Oh," Jinto said, nodding in understanding before he smiled and placed the mask back on his face, clearly reassured regarding the Phantom's existence. "I am sorry I ran into you before, Doctor Weir."

"Don't worry about it, Jinto; that's quite all right," Elizabeth said, smiling slightly at the young boy as he ran off once again, the mask on his face once more, only for the smile to fade as she reflected on the implications of what she'd just been told.

She had to admit, the idea of this 'Phantom' that Jinto had told her about did have a certain… well, 'appeal' was the only word she could find that seemed appropriate; it certainly went a long way towards providing her with answers.

After all, a figure in a mask who travelled around the Pegasus Galaxy doing what he could to protect people from the Wraith? While it might sound a bit like something from a comic book back on Earth, the fact that the man in question was rumoured to not only have access to Ancient technology, but, if Jinto had remembered the legend correctly, he was meant to do so from Atlantis itself?

If nothing else, it would go a long way towards providing her with answers regarding who had been using the DHD before their arrival, to say nothing of who had provided the fourth ZPM for the city and inserted that 'quirk' in the system to prevent them from even being able to send a message back to Earth to ask for assistance.

When she thought about it, it even accounted for…

Elizabeth's thoughts trailed off as she realised what had just occurred to her; the obvious implications had escaped her at first.

Could it be that the Phantom had been the one to program Atlantis to rise to the surface before the power level in the ZPM had been depleted to dangerous levels?

In other words, was he really still inside the city somewhere, as she'd just told Jinto?

It would certainly explain what they'd discovered, but Elizabeth wasn't sure if she could even believe it. After all, the 'story' that Jinto had told her about the Phantom may sound real, but she had no real way of knowing if her earlier Santa Claus analogy was more accurate than even she had suspected. For all that she knew, the Phantom could just be an encouraging story that parents told their children to make them less afraid of growing up in a world where these 'Wraith' could attack them at any moment, and in reality any occasions where he'd supposedly saved the day were nothing more than lucky breaks or something like that.

Until she'd found an Athosian adult she felt comfortable asking about the story she'd just heard, she should consider that she had learned nothing new and move on.

Trying to force any further thoughts of the Phantom out of her head- until she knew something more detailed about that whole situation, she really had nothing that she could use to try and figure out what was going on here beyond speculations and what was essentially a child's story-, Elizabeth turned away from the Stargate and walked back to her office; after what she'd discovered, she definitely needed some time to think by herself.

She had only just reached the control room, however, when the Stargate suddenly began to activate, the blue chevrons illuminating around the large circle even as she changed her focus to getting to the control room as swiftly as possible.

Thoughts on the possible identity of the city's presumed recent inhabitant could wait; she had a situation to deal with at the moment.

"Offworld activation," Grodin said unnecessarily, glancing over at Elizabeth as she entered the room; presumably he simply wanted to confirm that none of them had done anything to trigger the current dialling sequence.

"Raise the shield," she said promptly, putting aside all thoughts of the Phantom and his possible purpose in Atlantis to one side for the moment; even if the theory was accurate, she had more immediate concerns to deal with right now.

As soon as the shield over the Stargate was activated, Elizabeth turn to look at McKay as he stood by

"Do we have an identification code?" she asked, hoping that he'd respond with 'Yes' and let her know straight away whether or not she'd sacrificed more good people in a failed rescue attempt.

Glancing at a nearby laptop, the scientist shook his head.

"Nothing yet," he said apologetically, leaving Elizabeth to stare anxiously at the Stargate before her, her fears about the team once again hitting her practically full-force.

Right now, all she could do was keep her fingers crossed and hope that she wasn't about to witness proof that the rescue attempt had failed and their enemies now had the 'gate address to Atlantis (The shield would protect them from an attack in that direction, of course, but keeping it on all the time would be a definite drain on power).

After a few anxious, nerve-racking moments, McKay finally spoke once again, turning around to look at her with an expression that almost looked like a grin.

"I'm reading Lieutenant Ford's IDC," he said, prompting a relieved sigh from Elizabeth as she glanced over at Grodin; at least that was some encouraging news.

"Let them in," she said, nodding at the technician, shifting her gaze back to the Stargate just as the shield over it was lowered. For a moment, nothing happened- not that Elizabeth was too worried about a few seconds' delay; given that the gateships were still new to them it was only natural that they'd take a while to properly manoeuvre them through the Stargate-, three bursts that looked like some kind of energy weapon came through the wormhole, striking the stairs and wall opposite and forcing some of the staff to dive for cover.

"Give them a few more seconds!" Elizabeth yelled as she saw Grodin reaching over to activate the shield; after waiting this long to find out if the mission had succeeded or failed, she wasn't about to close the shield on them until she knew either way.

A few seconds after she'd issued that order, the gateship came racing through the Stargate, only to immediately stop just yards into the Gateroom. Even without being a flyer herself, Elizabeth couldn't help but be impressed at the inertial dampeners the ship seemed to possess; it had halted at an extremely rapid speed, and yet, from what Elizabeth could see, nobody had so much as jolted in their seats inside the ship.

"Reactivate the shield!" she yelled over at Grodin almost as soon as she'd registered that the gateship had come to a stop, the shield automatically raising just in time for three loud thuds to take place.

Despite the simplicity of the sounds, Elizabeth couldn't restrain a slight wince as she saw the impacts through the shield; evidently, some of the 'Wraith' had attempted to follow the gateship back to Atlantis.

Well, Elizabeth mused to herself, as the gateship rose upwards towards the hanger, if we weren't at war with the Wraith before, we certainly are now.

She had to admit, her time in the Pegasus Galaxy was clearly not going to be what she'd expected.


A few hours later, the expedition members gathered together with the Athosians in an unofficially-declared 'getting to know you' party held in the main area of the city, Elizabeth stood at the balcony and looked out at the vast ocean before her, reflecting on the mission report she'd received from Colonel Sumner.

It hadn't gone well, to put it simply. The gateship had operated like a dream, allowing them to track the Wraith to a large ship on the planet's surface and providing them with what Lieutenant Ford had named a 'Life Signs Detector' that they were able to sue to track the captives once inside the ship. Having recovered the Athosians and some of the team from a cell inside the ship- planting C4 explosives at various points throughout the ship to better effect an escape in the process-, Sumner and Ford had gone to try and track down Captain Gemmel and an Athosian who had been taken from the cell earlier.

What they had discovered had not been a pretty sight; as far as Colonel Sumner could determine, these… Wraith… had the ability to literally drain the life-force from human beings and use it to sustain themselves. When they'd discovered the main chamber where Gemmel and the Athosian had been taken, the Athosian had been reduced to a withered husk that looked like a corpse that had been dead for some time, and Gemmel, according to Sumner's description, looked like he was a half-starved man in his late eighties.

Sumner didn't feel like he'd had a choice; he knew that there was no way that Gemmel would want to live like that, and he could see no way of restoring him to what he had been. With no other way to help his second-in-command, Sumner had been forced to shoot him, Ford subsequently killing the Wraith who had fed on him with one of the Wraith weapons.

The results, as far as they could tell, hadn't been encouraging. According to Ford and Sumner, as the Wraith had died she had revealed that she was merely a 'caretaker' for a large number of dormant Wraith in the ship, with multiple other ships like hers spread out throughout the galaxy… and, with her demise, the other ships in the galaxy had been activated, along with all the Wraith on board them. Sumner, Ford and the remaining former prisoners had barely managed to make it back to the gateship before the entire sky was filled with the dart-like form of the Wraith ships, and even then it had been touch-and-go in the resulting space battle for a moment before they had managed to get through the Stargate.

To say that Elizabeth was happy with how things had turned out would be inaccurate; they had not only triggered another war with a powerful alien race, but they had apparently significantly affected the status quo that existed in this galaxy by prompting the race in question to 'wake up' possibly centuries before it was meant to do so.

On the other hand…

Elizabeth could hardly blame Ford for doing what he'd done; at the time, the female Wraith had seemed to be the more immediate threat, and there'd been no way of knowing the consequences of their actions. He'd made a decision based on the heat of the moment, using the facts he had available to him, and it hadn't worked out; it was tragic, but it wasn't like there was anything they could do about it now. All she could do was make sure that Sumner selected a well-balanced team for his own trips through the Stargate- if they were going to fight against the Wraith, they were going to do it properly-, that the rest of the military teams that were selected had a decent balance of scientists and military men, and they were essentially sorted.

"Doctor Weir?" a voice said from behind her.

Glancing back, Elizabeth smiled slightly at Teyla, the woman who Ford had introduced to her as the leader of the Athosians; she hadn't had much of a chance to talk to the woman yet, but what she'd seen had given her the impression of someone she would find it easy to get along with.

"Hello, Teyla," Elizabeth said, smiling slightly back at the woman as she moved along on the balcony to give the Athosian woman something to lean on. "How are your people doing?"

"They are… as well as could be expected," Teyla replied after a moment's pause to process what Elizabeth had said; the Athosians were easily picking up some of the more common details of their new allies' language, but Elizabeth supposed that it was hardly unexpected that some details would take a while to become second nature to them. "Many of them are anxious about being within this city; some feel that the ghosts of the ancestors still remain…"

For a moment, Elizabeth contemplated leaving the opening that last comment gave her for a more convenient moment, but decided against it. After all, she had come this far;

"Would these ghosts include… the Phantom?" she asked, looking curiously at Teyla as she spoke, the better to judge her reaction to the comment.

Although a moment's silence followed that comment, Elizabeth was relieved to note that Teyla didn't look at her like a grown woman talking about the Easter Bunny while looking totally serious.

On the contrary, if anything, Teyla looked almost… startled?

"How… how do you know of the Phantom?" she asked, looking at Elizabeth in confusion. "I thought that your people were new to this galaxy; you had not even heard of the Wraith before coming here…"

"Let's just say I saw a strange mask on a child and wondered what inspired it," Elizabeth replied, smiling slightly as she glanced back at where Jinto was currently standing beside his father before turning back to look at Teyla. "What I want to know is… is there any truth behind the story?"

After a moment of silent contemplation, Teyla nodded slightly to herself and turned back to look at Elizabeth.

"There is a significant amount of information available about the Phantom, Doctor Weir; where would you prefer to start?" the Athosian leader asked.

Even amid the other issues surrounding her, Elizabeth smiled at the thought of getting at least some answers regarding this private mystery of hers.

Maybe, once she knew more about the Phantom, she'd have a better idea of how to deal with the possibility that he might be somewhere in the city…