Six

'Lost and Found'

Lilion moves quickly around the group, checking for concealed weapons while Torr tries to reason with her. 'Lilion, this is very unhelpful, these people are not a threat..' Lilion reaches Ronon Dax who immediately disarms her and takes her hostage.

'I told you they were untrustworthy, this one is as bad as Telford. Let me go!' Lilion is unable to free herself from Ronon's grasp.

'Look, we are not here to hurt you! We accidentally ended up on a ship travelling here, I'm an archaeologist and I was looking for Atlantis and...' Torr trails off as Ronon levels Lilion's blast gun at his head.

'He looks like Michael, I say we shoot him now and be done with it.' Ronon takes a step closer to Torr, still keeping a firm grip on Lilion.

'No! I am not Michael, Colonel Telford can confirm that I am a descendant of the ancestral Wraith Todd. We no longer have the hunger, the Pegasus Galaxy is a peaceful...'

'He's right about the length of time we've been in stasis.' Dr. Freya PeaseGood interrupts him. I've checked chambers, the data is undeniable, we've been in stasis for over two thousand years, that's why we are all feeling such terrible after effects ...'

Colonel Samantha Carter steps in between Ronon and Torr. 'Is any of this true, Colonel Telford?'

Telford looks up where he is leaning against the wall. 'Yes, as far as I know it's all true. We have been in stasis long enough for Destiny to return to Earth.'

'Enough now Ronon, put the gun down. Secure the two of them in a room and then let's start seeing if we can get Atlantis up and running.. and what is it with the lights?' Samantha walks briskly to the door and looks out of the window in the corridor at the bioluminescent water beyond, trying not to retch from the sudden movement.

'It looks like some kind of phytoplankton bloom.' Dr. McKay stares out at the water, leaning a hand against the wall to steady himself. 'I feel like I'm sea sick.. oh no!..'

'John, you and Freya are the only two with the ATA gene capable of rebooting the city. I want the two of you to go directly up to the control room and see if we can get life support and communications up and running, the quicker we can get Atlantis up to the surface the better, find out what has happened to the planet and why we weren't reawakened after the meteor strike. Rodney, you and Torren go with them, Torren keep your eyes open, we don't know how many of them there are. Ronon, you and Teyla secure these two, find some weapons and then start a search of the city, check they are alone. Colonel, you and I are going to have a little talk about those communication stones and exactly what you know up in my office.'

The Outpost, Outlaw Zone, Pegasus Galaxy

How long is this Wraith Tullar going to keep us waiting? Scera paces angrily up and down the space dock of the outpost. Nearby Occut puts a squad of his Athosian fighters through their paces. Londic smiles at her impatience. 'Tullar will be here in good time. A treaty with us will give him the resources he needs for his hive ship, look this is his dart now.'

They watch as a silvery Wraith dart lands on the space dock. Londic raises his eyebrows in surprise as Tullar and an unfamiliar Wraith climb out. 'It seems he has bought someone with him. Keep your anger in check, my dear Scera, your father will not forgive you if this treaty is not signed.'

'I am quite capable of acting as my father's emissary. It is you who should keep yourself in check, Londic, you are forgetting whose authority I am representing.'

'Apologies, Scera. I meant no disrespect to your father... Tullar, such a pleasure to meet again! May I introduce Commander-in-Chief Cowden's daughter, Scera, she is our Chief Scientist and this is?' Londic bows deeply to the female Wraith at Tullar's side.

'This will be our new Queen when you have perfected the gene therapy, Elliana this is the Genii wanting our help.'

'We are offering a very generous treaty Queen Elliana. As Tullar knows, we have much to offer in terms of resources...'

'And in return you want to experiment on us and then use us to gain power in the Pegasus Galaxy. Do not think your plans are opaque to me. I can see clearly what you think you will get from us. But I need your research to build warriors for my hive, you are the Chief Scientist?' Elliana turns to Scera.

'Yes, I am here on behalf of my father who wishes to help you build a great army. We have already started on ours, Occut has bought along some of our fighters to show you how far we have come with our gene manipulation...' Scera brushes Londic aside and guides the wraith Queen over to watch the grisly display Occut has prepared.

It seems the Wraith have an appetite for fighting, both Tullar and his queen watch with interest as the Athosian fighters set about killing each other without mercy. At the end of the display, once all the fighters are dead, Elliana turns to Scera. 'We will sign this treaty of yours, Genii. Your work is impressive. Now you will see our hive ship and continue your work there.'

'I would be delighted to see your hive ship Queen Elliana, unfortunately all my work is in my laboratories on Athos. I must return there to continue it. But, perhaps Londic can go with you, as a sign of our mutual respect for each other.' Scera smiles sweetly as she watches Londic turn puce at the thought of being held as collateral on the hive ship by the Wraith.

'Excellent, Tullar will return with you to oversee your work on Athos, he has with him my DNA samples that you require to continue your work. I am informed by Tullar that there is a very lively saloon on this outpost, you will be my guests and we will eat and drink there to cement this new working partnership and to a glorious future where the Wraith and the Genii Confederation have conquered the Pegasus galaxy. We may once have become weak and lost our way but soon our hunger will be found!'

On Atlantis, in Colonel Samantha Carter's Office

Samantha listens to Colonel David Telford's report on his visits via the communication stones to the Destiny with increasing sadness. If David is right, if they had been in stasis for thousands of years, what hope for humanity? Had the population of Earth been wiped out by the meteor? They knew it was always a possibility when they signed up for the deep stasis on Atlantis but now, it is looking like a certainty.

'Can it really be two thousand years?'

'It looks that way. I can't see how else Destiny can be back in our galaxy.'

'What do you think this Wraith and Traveler want?'

'I think their story holds water. I think they want to get back to the Pegasus Galaxy, but they don't possess the TGA gene and so can't control the ship. They want the chevron sequence from us to fire up the gate to get back.'

'Send then back to Pegasus?'

'I'm not losing that ship again Samantha! The Destiny is ours and we have at least two crew members with the gene who can help to fly her.'

'Our first priority must be to raise Atlantis and to find out what has happened to our planet. I'm not sure I want to send them back without more information on the situation in the Pegasus galaxy. You saw the Wraith, he does look like Michael, we have no idea what these descendants are capable of and I will not let either Atlantis or Destiny fall into their hands.'

'They're no threat! Torr is an archaeologist, not a fighting man. He thinks we are the Ancients! He's like a Wraith version of Daniel Jackson.'

'Well if we've been asleep for two thousand years, technically we are ancient! OK, let's just take this slowly, it makes sense for you to Captain the Destiny but our first priority must be to secure and raise Atlantis and to see if Stargate Command still exists, indeed, if civilisation made it through the meteor strike...'

As the two map out a plan of action, slowly Atlantis comes back to life as Dr. Freya and John Shephard set about reactivating systems, the city awakening after it's long sleep deep in the ocean.

In the Control Room on Atlantis

'You know, I've been wondering about the phytoplankton.' Rodney pauses from the code he is typing into the computer console in the control room.

'The what?' John asks.

'The shiny blue stuff outside the windows!' Rodney waves in the direction of the window.

'The blue stuff? You're thinking about the blue stuff? Awakened by a Wraith after two thousand years in stasis, a city to raise from the depths of the ocean and no idea as to what has happened to humanity after the meteor struck and you are thinking about the blue stuff?' John replies incredulously.

'As well as everything else...Do you still feel nauseous?'

'Yes! And a whole host of other aches and pains but I'm sure it's just the after effects of such a long time in stasis, isn't that right Freya?' John asks the doctor working with Torren on the other side of the control room.

'More than likely, your inner ears are probably just taking time to adjust to movement again.'

'No, no... what I'm talking about is motion sickness. Not because we are moving but because Atlantis is. Bioluminescence in phytoplankton only occurs under stress, the blue light is triggered by the organisms response to some pressure on them! We really need to get the external monitors on the city up and running. I have a bad feeling about this!'

'A bad feeling about what?' Samantha asks as she and David join them in the control room.

'Rodney thinks that his motion sickness is because Atlantis is moving...' John is cut short by the whole control room shaking for a few seconds.

'That felt like an earthquake!' Samantha makes her way to where Rodney and Freya are trying to get the external monitors working. 'Oh no!'

The camera images come up on screen showing the ocean floor around them, huge cracks are appearing across it, with vents of steam spewing out.

'That is so not good!' Rodney sighs.

'How quickly can we raise the city?' David asks Rodney, indicating to the control chair.

'As soon as all power systems are up and running. Another five minutes or so!' The room shakes again, this time stronger.

'OK, Freya you take the chair and get ready to raise the city once we have full power. John you and Torren come with me and we, we need to find the others and get supplies and weapons organised, we may have no choice but to leave through the gate!' David and John head off to find Teyla and Ronon and their two captives. Rodney stares after the them. 'Leave through the gate.. to where?'

'The ship Torr and Lilion arrived on is the Destiny, she has a Stargate, we ought to start dialling the chevrons just in case. David's just given them to me in our meeting.'

'The Destiny? The big Ancient ship with the FTL drive travelling across the universe?' Rodney brightens up at the thought.

'Yes Rodney, that Destiny. Now back to work!'

In the armoury on Atlantis

Teyla and Ronon are in the armoury as the first quake rocks Atlantis.

'What was that?'

'Don't know but whatever it was it's not good. Grab as many weapons as you can and let's head back up to the control room.' Ronon throws a blast gun to Teyla as the second quake hits, sending weapons and ammo boxes scattering across the floor.

'Are you alright?' Ronon helps Teyla back to her feet. 'That was a quake. We need to get back up to the control room.'

'What about the prisoners we can't leave them!'

'I can leave them, he looks like Michael.'

'Ronon that was two thousand years ago! It is improbable that this Wraith has anything to do with Michael. They do not strike me as our enemies, in fact they travelled here to find us.' Teyla grabs some of the fallen guns and slings them across her back. 'Give me a hand with these.'

David, John and Torren arrive and tell tehm what is happening up in the control room and they split into two groups. Teyla, Torren and John head back to pick up the prisoners, while Ronon and David search for supplies. By the time they all reach the control room, Freya is starting to raise Atlantis from the ocean floor as all around large vents open and the water starts to boil.