Ace In The Hole
Chapter 53
"It's Colonel Lorne's team sir"
"Let him in" Sheppard says wearily before bounding down the stairs towards the incoming team.
"Sorry" Evan grimaces as he notes the annoyed look that flickers across John's face the moment they make eye contact.
"What the hell happened?"
"The Wraith knew that the villagers were still there, hiding on the planet somewhere, they disabled the gate and spent three days searching for us" Lorne says with a small smile.
"They began bombarding the planet from orbit Sir" Reed grins at the Colonel causing Tim and Alex to nod in agreement.
"I think they were trying to flush us out" Lorne shrugs
"And the Trakaree?"
"They were a little scarred"
"For about the first five minutes" Alex says with a smile.
"Once they realised that the Tokra tunnels were deep enough to keep them safe they began partying" Lorne grins now openly at Sheppard.
"The Trakaree throw a party if someone sneezes they're like the frat house of Pegasus" Sheppard finally smiles the tension in his shoulders visibly draining away.
"True" Evan laughs as he and his team follow Sheppard out of the gate room into the adjoining corridor "Did we miss much? Its just I thought that you are supposed to be..."
"You come first" Sheppard says stopping dead in his tracks and rounding to face Evan "And you're team" Sheppard adds glancing at the three men following behind.
Lorne glances at his team briefly a thousand words conveyed in a single glance.
"Come on guys, I'm sure Kellar's wanna see us" Tim says thumping Lorne on the shoulder playfully.
"Thanks guy's"
Before they have a chance to move John grabs hold of Evan and pulls him into a hug, three days of worry and stress finally tipping him over the edge.
"Thank fuck you are OK" John sighs in his ear not releasing his hold on him for a second.
"You have turned into such a sap, you do realise?" Evan chuckles "Three days without contact is hardly a big deal in the scheme of things, not that I'm complaining about the welcome home"
"I know, I'm being totally irrational and with everything else that's going on around here I should be great it's just..."
"You're waiting for the other shoe to drop" Evan says knowingly pulling away to look at John in the eyes at last.
"There are so many cards at play in my life right know that if I loose one..." John trails off suddenly looking haunted.
"Will you get a grip" Evan grins causing John to sigh and finally smile before finally kissing him passionately.
"I missed you"
"That much I gathered"
"I really should" John says pointing his thumb over his shoulder.
"Yes you should" Evan smirks at Johns rapidly retreating form.
"I trust that Colonel Lorne and his team are well?" Teyla says with a warm smile as he re-enters the briefing room.
"They are all fine, I'll fill you in with the details later" John says as he quickly retakes seat with a slight blush flushing across his cheeks at her knowing smile "So what did I miss?"
"Seventeen more worlds have asked to join the alliance but Ladon has been very vocal about two of them"
"What's new" Sheppard smiles across the table at the Genni leader.
"Urada and Seckal are not to be trusted!" Ladon growls out glaring at Sheppard before glancing at the others assembled.
"That's rich coming from a Genni" Ford grins.
"Look! I know that we have had our difference's in the past and yes if we are being completely honest I don't particularly like most of the people in this room, especially him!" Ladon points at Sheppard who merely nods triumphantly the smile never leaving his face "But the people on Urada and Seckal will sell us out to the Wraith the instant our backs are turned"
"Actually Colonel, for once I have to agree with him" Larin says glancing at the surprised Genni "We have heard of these people before and what I've heard isn't good"
"They could be useful for disinformation though" Rodney says whilst rubbing his chin but never once taking his eyes off the laptop perched in front of him.
"I'll keep it in mind" Sheppard nods before sharing a glance with Teyla for her to proceed.
"Then onto other matters" Teyla says firmly before continuing "How are the Feljinn settling in?" she asks Tamar with a smile.
"Well enough considering"
"We got lucky, it was only pure chance that the hives passed just inside the sentinels range" Rodney says finally glancing up at the others assembled "If Felji was just slightly further away from the Degan system they would have slipped past and wiped em out"
"As it was only a few failed to evacuate in time"
"Taking in over 15,000 refuges has got to be putting pressure on Sarisia's resources though" Sheppard says with a frown.
"It would have done only a few months ago" Tamar says with a smile.
"Thanks to Colonel Lorne and his team we have been expanding the Tokra network on Sarisia dramatically" Larin says with a smirk "You do know he's a mining engineer?"
"Course" Sheppard says frowning slightly.
"We have expanded the tunnel system almost ten fold in the past eight weeks alone"
"Same on Galdora an Tuklana" Ford adds
"Nautilus 4 has been producing everything from folding chairs and camp beds to basic med kits" Cairns adds with a smile. "Just in preparation for this kind of occurrence"
"My idea" McKaye adds glancing around the room with an arrogant smirk before once more returning to his laptop.
"Each bunker can hold 5,000 people comfortably they are all interconnected via two main transit tunnels" Cairns says with a smile.
"Think ladder lying flat under ground" McKaye shrugs not bothering to look up.
"Rodney!" Sheppard snarls.
"Sorry" McKaye says less than apologetically.
"What Rodney is saying is that we currently have over twenty of these shelters spread across 3 worlds" Teyla says diplomatically.
"That's enough space to provide shelter for over 100,000 people and growing" Larin says with a smile.
"Why not just bring them here?" Ladon says trying to look uninterested.
"Security is the main concern, but safety is also paramount" Sheppard says nodding to Teyla
"Actually Ladon it was my idea to limit the number of people brought into the city, my people struggled to adjust to the advanced technology of the city when we first came here" Teyla says with sadness tingeing her words.
"Most the Athosian's chose to leave the city if I'm not mistaken" Ladon says a glimmer of understanding flickering in his eyes.
"Yes, they felt out of place here"
"Most of the people in Pegasus have been hunted for so long and often that any handle they had on technology has regressed to the point of being..."
"Useless" Mckaye says glancing up earning himself a glare from Teyla.
"We need to speed up deployment of the sentinel network to fill the holes around alliance worlds we need better warning time" Sheppard says aiming the barb at Rodney.
"What we really need is to strengthen our weakest point" Ladon says nonchalantly.
"Weakest point?" Teyla asks frowning.
"The gates" Cairns says.
"Correct... the attack on Ploria only last week proves that the Wraith are just as deadly on foot as in their ships" Ladon says.
"You still believe that what happened on Ploria was in response to the increase in missed cullings" Larin says surprise and alarm evident in her tone.
"Why else attack on foot?"
"I have to say that he may have a point" Ford says grimly "From what the survivors have said they attacked in huge numbers possibly two maybe three hundred drones"
"If that many came through the gate on Sarisia we would have less than ten minutes to get every man women and child down into the shelters" Tamar says gloomily "We would loose many people or worse still the Wraith would be able to follow us down into the shelters"
"Thanks for that ray of sunshine" Sheppard says trying to lighten the mood "So how do we protect the gates? I mean putting a shield on every world is not gonna be possible"
"I have an idea" Cairns says gaining everyone's attention
"I thought you were working on the ship?" Sheppard asks
"Its finished, Dr McKaye is stalling because he wants Lt. Weir to double check the design before showing you" Cairns says with a smirk.
"What! That is so not true" Rodney blusters earning a grin off Sheppard.
"I want a viable and sustainable way of defending the alliance gates asap guys" Sheppard says earning himself a nod off both scientists.
"As Sarisia currently has the greatest numbers outside of Eden I say they are first to be protected by any new system developed" Larin says earnestly earning nods from everyone around the table.
"Thank you" Tamar says blushing slightly.
"Are you crazy?"
"You never once tried?"
"Why the hell would we?"
"Considering that the SGC employed the best and the brightest none of you seem to think about even the most obvious of scientific experiments" Cairns says frustratedly.
"Walking through an incoming wormhole is insane!"
"Why?"
"Because"
"That's not an answer"
"Well its the only one you are going to get" McKaye gripes.
"Rodney, haven't you ever wondered?"
"Why would I even think about such an hair brained idea?"
"I do! I can't believe none of you put these things to the test"
"What's this got to do with protecting the gate?"
"In itself nothing really, I just want to know its all part of the same puzzle" Cairns sits looking at Rodney excitedly.
"We have just spent weeks designing at new class of intergalactic star ships and you were like" McKaye huffs causing Cairns to grin "Yet this gets you excited?"
"The gate Rodney, since they read me in on the program I've wanted to put something to the test, finally I'm gonna get the chance"
"What ever we come up with has to be simple, and low tech!" McKaye grimaces.
"It is" Cairns grins "All I will say is do you like trains?" he asks with a smile.