Chapter 3

Elizabeth rested her head on her fist, her elbow on her desk, as she scrolled down the document on her laptop. The document, drawn up by Chuck, contained the problem areas, complaints and grievances of the week that needed her attention. It was a longish list, although, admittedly, since they had gotten rid of Peter Kavanagh the 'grievances' part of the list had shrunk to merely a single entry. The grievance concerned the heavy-handed authority of Rodney in the main lab and this was only because SGA-1 had not been on a trip through the stargate in a few days. As soon as she could get McKay off Atlantis on a trip, the complaint will disappear. Although, she had to admit, most of the labbies respected Rodney enough to ignore his abrasive manner. It was just in times when there had not been some major crisis on Atlantis itself that they tend to forget how much they love him. A crisis would solve the problem as easily, but she was not about to pull the entire city into trouble just to soothe a lab tech with ruffled feathers.

She reflected that when she had originally signed up for this mission, this had not been the idea she had concerning her duties. She had imagined a lot more exploring and adventure. Yet, though they were a community of less than a thousand people, she seemed to be constantly bogged down by the responsibilities of making sure everyone did their share. Fortunately the people she had chosen to join the mission from the start were self-sufficient enough not to need much attention. But they made out only a small part of the community by now and though everyone embraced the idea of being Atlantean, they were of such diverse cultures it sometimes seemed impossible to manage.

The list seemed endless, but within an hour or so she had managed to solve most of the problems. Fortunately she could delegate most of the work these days. Military issues were referred to John, science problems to Rodney (except the labbie complaint about Rodney) and any issues concerning off-world trade and farming to Teyla. In the big scheme of things, Teyla functioned more like a vice-president than anything else and Elizabeth was thinking about making it official that should anything happen to her, Teyla should be left in charge. Of course John would still maintain the authority to invoke martial law when needed. Medical matters were referred to Carson.

On the list of those working under her another name had proven to be invaluable to the budding community. Though Keras was by nature a soft-spoken, friendly man, he was turning out to be an excellent leader and had taken responsibility for those working as artisans in Atlantis. Basically he made sure those who were not military, scientific or farming were kept happy. He now lived permanently on Atlantis, but as one of the first not-earth humans to successfully receive the ATA gene therapy, he spent quite a lot of time shuttling between Atlantis and Athosia in his puddle jumper. Also, his romance with the jeweller Sophia was flourishing and Elizabeth suspected he might be planning on making their arrangement more permanent.

A short report on the patient currently in the infirmary by Jennifer Keller caused her to pause for a moment. She hardly knew the woman, yet she knew how much she meant not only to Carson and Duncan, but also to Jennifer and Laura, the two new brides.

"Doctor Weir, you'd better come hear this," Chuck suddenly interrupted her work. She looked up to find him standing in the doorway to her office, an easy excitement about him. He was another one of those unplanned treasures. Though she had originally selected him for the Atlantis mission in order to work as gate technician, he had adopted a new role all on his own. Amelia was training one of the kids from M7G-677 as a technician and already the young man, Beril, was proving to be a real whiz. This left Chuck with some time on hands and he had opted to adopt Elizabeth as his boss: though a trained technician, he now acted more like her PA than anything else. Elizabeth was only too happy about the situation.

"What is it?" she asked Chuck even as she got up from behind her desk. As her PA he took his job seriously and would not bother her unless the situation really required her attention. She joined him at the door where he stood waiting.

"A young woman dialled the gate, using the IDC we gave Draven Navac a few weeks ago," he started his explanation as they made their way down the short corridor to the control room.

"It would not be the first Satedans to make contact with us," she gently prodded. Of the group called 'the Fourty' that had served under Draven Navac, two teams had already joined the Atlanteans, bringing the total of Satedans in the city to eight; not including Ronon. Though Satedan by birth, he had given his loyalty to Atlantis and now considered himself to be Atlantean. He also wore the blue bead in his hair, not the dark brown one of the Satedans. Another group wanting to come here hardly merited her attention, though.

Chuck nodded as he came to a stop next to Amelia, who was also regarding her with wide eyes. "Yes, but this woman said she would only talk to either you or her brother," he informed her; piquing her curiosity. She was also aware that he was drawing out the moment to its full dramatic potential. He took a breath. "She says her name is Ella Dex," he finally dropped the other shoe.

She lifted an eyebrow. "Dex?" she asked. "As in Ronon Dex?" she made sure. Chuck nodded.

It was Amelia that answered from behind her consol. "I didn't even know he had a sister," she remarked. Elizabeth looked at her and smiled slightly.

"Considering what we don't know about Ronan, I'm not surprised." She turned to look at the swirling blue gate, almost as if she could see through it to the woman on the other side. "Have you managed to contact Ronan yet," she asked either Amelia or Chuck over her shoulder without looking at either; her attention still focussed on the floor below.

"Colonel Sheppard informed us they would be out of range of the gate on their side for a few hours," Chuck carefully answered. She turned to look at the young man.

"And why wasn't I informed about this?" she demanded. Perhaps the one thing she would not delegate or be flexible about was the status of her SGA teams. If even one of them suffered a stubbed toe that prevented them from returning within the allotted time, she wanted to know immediately. When the team concerned was SGA-1 the rule counted doubly. Not only was her husband on that team, but also two of her leaders.

Behind Chuck Amelia punched his leg. "I told you we needed to tell her," she informed Chuck, who stood there looking guilty.

"Next time, I want to know as soon as a SGA team reports in, understood?" she firmly told the two technicians. Both hastily told her they understood. With a final glance at them, she turned her attention back to the stargate. "Why hasn't Ella Dex come through the stargate?" she wanted to know. Just as she spoke the familiar shoop resounded through the room and the gate disengaged. Now she only had a darkened ring to stare at. She frowned; turning her body slightly towards the two technicians as she spoke. "What happened?"

"Ella Dex says she will only speak to you or Ronon and she won't come to Atlantis until she has spoken to either of you. In fact," Chuck continued and she turned to look at him because of his tone. His tone was worried. "She gave us coordinates for a planet and told us to meet her there within the next few hours." He looked at Amelia for a moment. "We still couldn't reach Ronon and she will leave if he doesn't go there."

Elizabeth stared at the young man; trying to determine if that was the totality of the news they had to give her. Apparently they had, as they both looked away and at the dark gate. Also, a plan was forming in her head. Knowing their reaction, she smiled at them in a slightly conspiratorial way. "Lorne's team is on Atlantis, aren't they?" she asked while knowing full well the truth. Neither Lorne nor his team had been married the previous day and they were put on alert for just such an occasion. At the moment they were probably off showing the two Satedan teams around the city. Apparently John had convinced the Satedans that they were to team up with existing SGA teams and were at first going to be responsible for the security of the city.

"Doctor Weir," Chuck frowned at her. "You are going to get yelled at," he warned as he apparently understood the plan Elizabeth was about to propose. Elizabeth lowered her head to regard the young man.

"If that is indeed Ronon's sister, we need to get her to Atlantis before she disappears," she stated the fact hanging between them. "If that means I need to go meet her somewhere, then that is a risk we will have to take," she added.

"Colonel Sheppard won't like it," Amelia added with a frown of her own. Since he had heard he was to become a dad and had married Elizabeth, John had become a very responsible spouse and a bit of a worry-wat. Ironically, the greatest part of Atlantis seemed to worry along with him over his wife and unborn child. It drove Elizabeth up the walls even as it made her feel the one thing she had thought she would not find: contentment. Her days were busy and long and she suddenly found herself married and pregnant and she had never been happier or more content in her life. She just sometimes wished everyone would first listen to her and then worry about what John will say.

"This is something we need to do," she told them even if she knew she did not need to explain her decision to them.

Amelia and Chuck looked at one another with pained expressions. Then Chuck looked at her while Amelia looked down at her control panel. "I know," he finally said. Then he sighed and straightened his back. "But I'm coming with," he informed her. She decided she might as well allow him to go with her and nodded.

"I'm going to change," she informed them before turning and heading towards her room.