Disclaimer - I do not own Stargate Atlantis, any of the characters or the events depicted in this story. I only own my character Rayne, her background and family, also anything not privy to the show.
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Enjoy!
Inside the Atlantis gate room a team is preparing to go off-world, packing boxes, collecting equipment together and generally milling around the gate room. Doctor Radek Zelenka is among them, looking incredibly sulky and petulant.
Colonel Sheppard walks over to him, "Goin' off-world?"
"M7G-677." He replies in a sulky voice.
"That's the planet with all the kids, right?"
"They're having trouble with their E.M. field generator and McKay has decided that I am the most capable person in all of Atlantis to fix it." He says bitterly.
"Hey, don't worry. They're a great group of kids - you're gonna love 'em."
"My sister has a child. He breaks things. He throws things. He smears things onto furniture."
Doctor McKay calls out from the control room, "Colonel Sheppard! I need you up in the control room." He walks to the edge of the balcony, looks down into the gate room and sees Radek there. "Oh - you still here?"
"We're just leaving."
"Hmm. Well, uh, do say 'hi' to the kids for me." He gives Radek a thumbs-up, clicks his tongue and grins at him before turning and walking away.
John grins, looks at Radek, gives him a thumbs-up and clicks his tongue and walks away. Radek turns around, his expression one of pure annoyance as he mutters to himself in Czech. "Idiot." Then mimicking McKay, "Say 'hi' to the kids for me." In Czech. "You'll catch it from me. You are such an idiot."
In the control room Elizabeth, Rayne and Ronon are there, together with Rodney and John. Everyone is looking at the long-range sensors. They show two ships. "Two Wraith cruisers." McKay advises them all.
"How far away are they?" Weir asks.
"A day - maybe a day and a half. I've been tracking them for some time now, but, uh, the good news is it doesn't look like they're heading this way."
"Just passing through the neighborhood?" John quips.
"Yeah, it looks that way. But I just discovered something rather curious." He touches the screen and the view closes in on the cruisers and shows that energy is radiating out from each of the ships towards the other one. Short but intense energy bursts passing between them.
"They're fighting each other?" Ronon says quizzically.
"Hmm. In my, uh, expert opinion, yes."
"That's good news." John grins.
"Certainly is. If there's any change in course at all, let me know." Weir says and Rodney nods to her.
Back on Earth inside of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex which houses Stargate Command, General Hank Landry comes into the Briefing Room to meet with Agent Malcolm Barrett of the N.I.D.
"I just cut short a call with the Secretary of State. I hope this is worth it." Landry tells him.
"I'm sorry, sir, but a situation is developing that you need to be made aware of. It couldn't wait."
"Alright, then, make me aware of it."
"We've noticed an increase in chatter amongst The Trust recently. The Goa'uld have infiltrated the highest ranks of the organization. We've discovered that their access to government agencies has gone a lot deeper than we realized."
"How much deeper?"
"Atlantis."
Landry stares at him in shock. "They know about it?"
"Worse: they've been there. They've planted a bomb somewhere in the city."
Landry and Barrett have been joined by Doctor Bill Lee, an S.G.C. scientist. "I don't understand. Why-why would the Goa'uld want to blow up Atlantis? I mean, I'd think they'd be eager to get their hands on all that Ancient technology."
"They want the technology, sure, but they're more concerned about the Wraith finding their way to this galaxy. The last thing they need right now is another enemy to contend with - especially one so formidable."
"Jeez, those poor people. I mean, as if they don't have enough to contend with, with the Wraith - now they have a Goa'uld in their midst?"
"The intel we have suggests a lower-level operative planted the bomb, which means we're dealing with a human."
"And from what little we've been able to decipher so far, the bomb is set to be detonated the next time Atlantis dials Earth, so The Trust have probably set up a transmitter close to Cheyenne Mountain to be detonated at the exact moment that the wormhole is established."
"Which is today."
"What?! Oh, the weekly status report!"
Landry looks at his watch, "In two hours and forty-six minutes."
"Well, we have to warn them - we have to tell them not to dial Earth."
"How?! Even if we had the kind of power we needed to dial Atlantis, we couldn't because that would detonate the bomb."
"What about the Daedalus? It's on a return voyage to the Milky Way. We could use them to relay the trans..." Lee trails off, thinking, then shakes his head. "Ah, no, I mean, wait. God, there's no way they're close enough, even with their long-range transmitters."
"You'll find another way to get the message to them."
"I will?!"
"Course you will. It's what I pay you for." He walks away, leaving Lee staring blankly after him. "Uh, uh..."
Rodney and John are walking through the corridors. "Elizabeth's including intel about the in-fighting amongst the Wraith in today's status report." McKay says.
"Let's hope that trend continues. If the Wraith keep fighting like this, might be able to take the weekend off."
Rodney chuckles, then notices that Lieutenant Laura Cadman is standing nearby, examining a panel in the wall and working on a small hand-held device. "Cadman? What are you doing here?"
Laura turns and walks over to face him and John. "Well, it's good to see you too, Rodney."
"No, I thought you were leaving on the Daedalus."
"Yeah, I was, but something came up. I asked Colonel Sheppard if I could stay around a little while longer."
John smiles at Rodney, who doesn't look too pleased, he's still remembering the time that she was stuck in his head after a malfunction in rematerializing them from inside of a Wraith Dart. "Oh, well, that's fine." He looks uncomfortable.
"You OK with that?"
"Yeah, course it is, why wouldn't it be?"
Laura smiles at him sarcastically, then turns to John. "Colonel." She walks between the two men. John smiles at her. "Lieutenant."
As she passes Rodney, she throws him a long look, smiling, then walks away. Once she has passed him, Rodney grimaces, then he and John continue walking.
"I would think after all this time, you'd stop being creeped out by her."
"She just has a way of getting under my skin. Literally." Rodney says with a shudder.
In the infirmary Teyla comes in and walks over to Doctor Beckett, who is sitting at a computer. "Doctor Beckett?"
Carson answers without looking up, "Yes?"
"Do you have time to accompany me to the mainland?"
Carson looks up at her as he hears the slight worry in her voice. "Is something wrong?"
"A woman who is very close to me, Charin."
"Oh yes, I remember her. Sweet lady."
"She is like a grandmother to me. I have just received word that she is very ill. I was wondering if you could look at her."
Carson immediately stands up, "Of course, love, say no more."
Back inside of the SGC briefing room a large group of people is seated at the table: Colonel Landry, Agent Barrett, several scientists and four military personnel who make up an S.G. team. Doctor Lee is standing at the end of the table by a large whiteboard.
"OK - this is Atlantis, deep in the Pegasus galaxy…" He draws a symbol on the far left-hand side of the whiteboard to depict Atlantis. "…and this…" He draws a crude diagram of the Daedalus about a quarter of the way along the board and writes the letter 'D' above it. "…is the Daedalus that left there about a week ago on its way to…" He walks to the far end of the board and draws a circle, then writes the letter 'E' inside. "…Earth. Now, since we can't dial the Gate to Atlantis, we have no way to get a warning to them except by use of a subspace data burst transmission relayed from our galaxy to Pegasus using the Daedalus as one of the relay points."
"I thought you said the Daedalus was too far away for our transmitter to reach."
"It is, which is why we have to get closer." He turns back to the board and writes about three quarters of the way along the board. "P4M-399. It's a - it's a tiny little planet right on the very outskirts of our galaxy, but if we can send a science team there through the Gate, they should be close enough…"
He draws a semi-circular line linking Earth to P4M-399. "…to relay the information to the Daedalus…" He draws another line linking the planet and Daedalus. "…and then they can..." He draws another line linking Daedalus and Atlantis, then turns to face the table.
"It's-it's-it's like the Twilight Bark." Everyone looks at him blankly. "Twilight Bark? "Hundred and One Dalmatians?" Didn't you guys see that movie? My kids love it. Any... Well, OK, so there's all these dogs and one barks here, one barks here, one..." He says indicating each point from Earth to Atlantis. "They-they send a message across the countryside."
He turns to the table again but everyone is still silent and blank. Then he gets inspiration. "Lord of the Rings." The scientists and immediately nod and smile. "Lord of the Rings!" You know, when they light all those signal fires on the mountain tops?" The S.G. team now gets it and they nod and grin. "You saw that, right?! So, OK..."
He turns back to the board to demonstrate again as the scientists and S.G. team all start chatting amongst themselves.
Landry interrupts, "People, people, people, people!" He stands up. Everybody falls silent. "I believe we have work to do."
"Right. Sorry."
Landry turns to the SG team, "Gear up." Everybody stands and heads off.
As Daedalus flies through hyperspace, Doctor Lindsay Novak reports over comms from the Engine Room to Colonel Caldwell on the Bridge. "Colonel Caldwell. We just received a subspace transmission from an S.G. team on P4M-399. It's an urgent message from Stargate Command we are to relay to Atlantis."
"What's the message?"
"Do not dial Gate to Earth. A Trust operative has planted a bomb in Atlantis to be detonated upon completion of dialing sequence." We are to maintain our position until the message has been delivered for further Intel as it develops."
"Are we still in range to relay the message to Atlantis?"
A male voice comes over the comms immediately saying, "No."
"Who's that? Kavanagh?" Caldwell says rolling his eyes, he really can't stand that man. It is indeed everyone's not-so-favorite pony-tailed scientist, Doctor Kavanagh, who detests Dr. Weir and Sheppard's team, and sadly wasn't eaten by a Wraith during the siege.
"Yes, Colonel. We're way too far out to broadcast a subspace transmission to Atlantis."
"We could turn around - get closer." Novak offers.
But of course Kavanagh intercedes, "We don't have enough time. Their weekly status report dial-up is in just under two hours. We can't possibly get close enough to broadcast the message in time to stop them dialing."
Hermiod the Asgard is at his station in the Engine Room and now speaks into comms. "Colonel Caldwell. I believe I can make modifications to the hyperdrive in order to achieve the speed necessary to reach a distance capable of relaying the transmission within the allotted time. The hyperdrive will be operating at a level that can only be sustained for a short duration before damage is incurred."
"What kind of damage?"
"It could burn out the drive."
"Meaning we'd be stuck between galaxies." Kavanagh states.
"Yeah, I know what it means, Doctor."
"However, I do believe that we will reach the point at which we can relay the message to Atlantis before damage to the hyperdrive is incurred." Hermiod clarifies.
Kavanagh walks over to Hermiod, "Are you sure about that?"
Hermiod ignores him. "Shall I make the modifications, Colonel?"
"Go ahead." The Colonel commands as he turns to his pilot. "Turn us around."
Back in the Engine Room, Hermiod has turned to another console and is working on it. Kavanagh walks around to face him again. "I don't see how you can possibly milk any more power out of the hyperdrive..."
"Doctor Kavanagh." Hermiod interrupts him.
"Yes?"
"Stop talking, please." He looks at Kavanagh for a moment. "Thank you."
"Are we set to dial?" Weir asks as she stands in the control room ready to report in to SGC.
McKay is sitting at a console and working on a laptop computer. "Almost. Just finishing data compression."
Weir turns to the Canadian technician, Chuck, "Stand by."
"Standing by."
The Daedalus is now heading back through hyperspace towards Atlantis. Caldwell radios down to Novak for a status update. "Doctor Novak, what's your status?"
"Almost in range, sir."
Kavanagh walks over to her. "We're not gonna make it."
On the Bridge, Caldwell makes a sour face.
Rodney's laptop reads "COMPRESSING DATA", then changes to "COMPRESSION COMPLETE." "Data compression's complete. We're good to go."
"Alright, then." Weir says to the technician. "Dial the Gate."
"Yes, ma'am."
He presses the first five symbols of the address for Earth. Just then, a message comes up on Rodney's computer reading, "INCOMING TRANSMISSION" and the transmission begins to feed across the screen. The technician pushes the sixth symbol. Rodney stares at his screen as he reads the message, then he turns and holds out his hand to the technician. "STOP!"
Everyone turns and stares at him. The technician pauses with the tips of his fingers less than an inch above the final symbol. He curls his fingers and lifts his hand away from the panel. Rodney stares at him for a moment, then sinks back into his chair, letting out a breath.
Elizabeth is joined shortly after that by John, Rodney, Rayne and Ronon as they walk into her office, while McKay suggests what they should do now that they all knew what the message said. "We need to disconnect the Zed P.M. and switch to back-up naqahdah generators to prevent any possible dialing of the gate to Earth."
"I agree. In fact, as of this moment, all Gate activity should be suspended. How many off-world teams do we have out there?" Elizabeth asks.
"Just Zelenka and his team on M7G-677." McKay says with a small smile.
"Well, unfortunately he's gonna have to sit tight until we sort this thing out."
"Stuck with all those kids!" John chuckles.
"Is the Daedalus still in range to relay a data transmission back to S.G.C.?" She asks Rodney.
"Yes. They are, uh, holding a position that keeps them in range of both Earth and us."
"OK, good. And send a message saying we received their warning and aborted the dialing."
"Ask them if they can give us a little more than just "there's a bomb in Atlantis." Sheppard tells Rodney.
"Maybe The Trust thinks this is the only way to make sure the Wraith don't get there."
"Well, it's drastic but effective." McKay says to her.
"What's worse is the Trust operative who planted the bomb probably did so under orders from the Goa'uld."
"What?!"
"When did the Goa'uld get involved in this?" Sheppard asks.
"Several months ago. They successfully infiltrated the upper leadership of The Trust, gaining a stronghold on Earth accessing government agencies from many countries."
"What's a Goa'uld?" Ronon asks as he glances over at Rayne, but she holds up her hands. "Don't look at me, I know of them, but I couldn't explain it even if I tried."
"It's a slimy, snake-like alien creature - burrows into people's heads and takes control of their bodies." Sheppard explains causing both of them to wrinkle their noses in disgust.
"That about covers it." Rayne says with a nod.
"That doesn't sound pleasant." Ronon answers for the both of them.
"It isn't. I've read enough S.G. mission reports to know I don't want anything to do with them."
Weir turns her attention back to John. "I want you to organize some teams to do a search of the city. Start with obvious sabotage points - power distribution centers..."
"I'll check primary and secondary systems for any anomalous energy readings that might indicate the presence of an explosive device." McKay suggests.
"And get Cadman to assist you - she's a bomb expert." Sheppard tells him.
"She is?!"
"She's one of the best - she'll be a big help." He says reveling as Rodney grimaces.
"Good. Ask Colonel Caldwell to return to Atlantis to assist with the investigation." Weir orders.
"Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa." McKay halts her. "If the Daedalus returns here, then you're effectively cutting off our communication with Earth."
"Yes, I understand that, but if the person who planted the bomb is on board, we're gonna need to question them here - have them reveal the location of the bomb and how to dismantle it. Alright, let's get moving."
Down in the power room Rodney types into a console, then goes over to the central panel where the Z.P.M. is. He activates his radio. "Disconnecting Zed P.M. power... now." He presses a button and the Z.P.M. rises up out of the panel and its internal illumination goes out.
On the mainland Carson draws some blood from Charin while Teyla offers her a spoonful of the tuttleroot soup she had made; hoping one day to be able to cook as well as Charin.
As Carson finishes drawing the blood, Teyla dips the spoon into the bowl and then feeds Charin a mouthful of soup. "Oh!" Charin chuckles affectionately. "I'm afraid that day is far into the future, my dear!"
Teyla looks hurt for a moment, then smiles ruefully.
"You were born for a higher purpose - to be the leader of our people. And that's why I want you to prepare them for the Ring Ceremony."
Teyla shakes her head, "Charin..."
"I'm dying, Teyla."
"Forgive me, but what exactly is the Ring Ceremony?" Carson asks.
Charin looks at Teyla and nods to her, to which Teyla explains. "Among our people, it is very rare for someone to die of natural causes."
"Because of the Wraith."
Teyla nods at his conclusion. "The Ring Ceremony celebrates such an event. A ring of stones is laid out, symbolizing the Ring of the Ancestors - the Stargate - in the center of which the body is placed, and..." She trails off, looking at Charin for a long moment, then sighs. "I am not ready for this ceremony, Charin. Not yet."
Charin smiles, understanding her anguish, she reaches up and strokes Teyla's hair.
General Landry and Agent Barrett are walking along the corridors of SGC. "What have you got for me?"
"One of our teams has raided a Trust compound: discovered computers containing further Intel on Atlantis. It's not much - the Goa'uld are being very cryptic about this."
"Cut to the chase. Do we know what kind of bomb it is?"
"Not yet."
"Do we know where in the city it was planted?"
"No."
"I'm sorry? You said "further intel." Landry scoffs.
"Well, we know for sure that there's no transmitter here on Earth to detonate the bomb."
"I thought you said it was connected to the dialing of the Gate?"
"It appears that the actual trigger, be it the Gate itself or some other mechanism due to the dialing, is on their end, not ours. Colonel Carter just came back from off-world - she's gonna help us figure out what the trigger might be."
"So what else can we do?"
"Nothing. I mean, not until we find out more."
"Then by all means don't let me stop you." He walks away. Barrett stops and blows out a breath, frustrated.
Inside the engine room of the Daedalus, Novak receives a message from SGC. "Colonel Caldwell - we received another message from S.G.C. to relay. It looks like the detonator is not on Earth but it is in Atlantis."
"Alright - go ahead and send it. Also let S.G.C. know Doctor Weir's request that we return to help with the investigation."
"Yes, sir."
Rodney and Laura Cadman are sitting at neighboring consoles in the control room working on laptops.
"Explosives expert, huh?" McKay asks her casually.
"High temperature and energetic materials technology. And I can tap dance, too."
Rodney rolls his eyes as Laura grins at him. Elizabeth walks over, talking into her headset radio. "Colonel Sheppard, how's it going?"
"Checking the east pier power distribution centers. Still nothin'. We're headed to the west pier now."
She nods, "Ronon? How about you?"
"Checking the grounding stations. Also nothing."
"Rayne, do you read me?" She asks hoping that the watertight covering Rodney had made to protect the Siren's comms was doing its job.
In the water beneath the city Rayne is swimming under the North pier, they had to be sure that the bomb was not planted somewhere that no one would think to look. Good thing they had someone that could breathe underwater.
"I read you Dr. Weir. Nothing yet." She says pausing to hover as she answered, her voice only slightly distorted through the covering over her comms. "I've cleared the east and north piers, I'm moving towards the south pier now."
"Okay, keep me posted."
"Will do." She says heading to the south as she listens to them continue to speak over her comms.
"We've got eight other teams out there. It's a big city - it's gonna take a while." Sheppard says.
"Understood. Be advised: we got a second message relayed to us..."
Just then, noises come from behind her and the Canadian technician stares in horror at his console. "Uh - D.H.D."
"It's dialing itself." McKay shouts as he walks over to the D.H.D. console as it continues to dial the Gate. He looks at the symbols that are lighting up. "That's Earth's address!"
"I thought it couldn't dial Earth without the Z.P.M." Elizabeth exclaims.
"Well, it can't!" He stares at the Gate as its chevrons light up, then looks down at a screen. A message comes up reading "INSUFFICIENT POWER TO COMPLETE DIALING PROCEDURE," and the Gate powers down. Rodney smiles in delight.
"Did I just hear right - the Gate dialed by itself?" Sheppard questions.
"Uh, yes, it tried to dial Earth." Elizabeth tells him.
"Whoever planted the bomb must have devised a program to upload itself and automatically dial the Gate as backup in case the first dialing was halted."
"A very good thing you pulled the Z.P.M." Weir says.
Laura spots something, "Rodney?"
"What?"
"The transmitter."
Rodney looks over to the transmitter screen on the wall. "Oh, no!" He hurries over to the screen.
"What is this?"
"We just started broadcasting a distress beacon. The Gate dialed itself in order to draw our attention away from the transmitter!"
"Turn it off!" Sheppard yells.
McKay hurries over to another laptop, "I am." He starts typing and the transmission shuts off. "It's too late. The damage is already done." He goes over to the long-range sensor screen. "The two Wraith cruisers I was monitoring - they've-they've-they've, they've picked up the beacon, they've altered their course, they're headed straight for Atlantis."
Night has fallen as Elizabeth and Rodney talk, John arrives back just in the middle of their conversation.
"How long before they get here?" Elizabeth questions.
"A day, maybe a day and a half, depending on if they need to make a hyperspace pause along the way. We'll need to cloak the city again."
"Uh, even cloaked, the Wraith are gonna wonder where the beacon came from."
"Well, then, we need a ruse. Umm..." He thinks for a moment, then clicks his fingers. "We'll take a transmitter and dump it along with some charred rubble on a beach on the mainland, and they'll think it's jetsam that washed up when the city exploded during the siege." He looks pleased with himself.
"Hang on, back up a second." John says as he stops beside them. "Let me get this straight. You think our bomb guy did this?"
"Yes. It'd be easy for him to figure out that the Wraith were in the area. We've been tracking them for a while now."
"So he gets the Gate to dial by itself in order to distract us so he can broadcast a distress beacon that'll be picked up by..."
"...by the Wraith, yes, I believe so."
"OK, why?"
"Well, maybe he wants to blow up the Wraith along with the city." Cadman offers.
Rodney looks round at her sarcastically. "Two cruisers. They're insignificant compared to all the hive-ships that are still out there."
"Well, we don't have much time, so whatever the connection is, let's try to figure it out before the cruisers get here." Elizabeth tells them all.
Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman comes to the door of Landry's office and knocks. Landry is pouring himself a cup of coffee. He turns and looks at Walter. "Not sure I like the look on your face, Chief."
"Sir, the Daedalus just relayed a message informing us that Atlantis requests that they return to help with the bomb investigation."
"Well, tell them "no" for the time being. I need them to hold position in case we gather more Intel."
"Sir, that's the problem. They already headed back. They're out of range. We have no way of communicating with them or Atlantis."
"Then there's nothing else we can do for them?"
"No, sir."
Elizabeth is studying a laptop when John walks in, walks around the desk and looks at her screen. "Passenger manifest?"
"Yeah."
"Any names jump out?"
Elizabeth sighs, "A few, actually." She looks at the screen again. "I hate this - having to suspect one of our own."
John walks round to the front of the desk and sits down. "Unfortunately the list of suspects may not be limited to the Daedalus."
Elizabeth stares at him. "You think the Trust operative might still be here in Atlantis?"
"Well, with everything that's happened: the Gate dialing by itself…" He pauses as Elizabeth leans back in her chair and puts her hands over her face briefly. "…the distress beacon..."
Elizabeth sighs again, "I don't know - getting themselves blown up along with the city doesn't seem part of their M.O."
Rodney walks to the doorway but for the moment the other two ignore him.
"Well, all it takes is one not to be talked into it."
Elizabeth thinks about it. "Wow. OK. Who around here do you suspect?"
McKay steps into the office offering his opinion. "What about Lieutenant Cadman, hmm?"
"What?!" John snaps while Elizabeth frowns at Rodney.
"Hear me out. She's an explosives expert." Elizabeth nods. "She was all set to leave on the Daedalus but, uh, asked to stay when "something came up." She's always around when things happen. When the distress beacon started..."
"She's one of the most trusted officers in my command - not to mention the fact that she was stuck in your head for some time."
"Do you always have to keep bringing that up?" McKay snaps at Sheppard who nods. "I bring it up because you of all people should know: she'd never do something like that."
"Well, maybe she was brainwashed, huh? The Goa'uld are very clever when it comes to things like manipulating..."
Laura approaches the office, "Excuse me. Doctor Weir."
Elizabeth smiles at her, "Yes."
"Flight just confirmed that the Daedalus has landed alongside the east pier."
"Thank you."
Laura throws a black look at Rodney's back before turning and walking away. Rodney looks nervous, unsure of what she might have heard.
On board the Daedalus Weir has met up with Colonel Caldwell and are walking through the corridors. "I wanna begin the interrogations immediately. All crew and civilian passengers have been confined to their quarters until I have a chance to talk to each of them separately." Caldwell informs her.
"Colonel. This investigation falls under Atlantis jurisdiction, which means they will be conducted under my command." Caldwell grimaces. "Now, I welcome your assistance, but as far as questioning potential suspects..."
"Doctor. One of the people aboard my ship may be an operative of The Trust."
"Yes. And the sooner I figure out who that is, the better for all of us."
Caldwell looks irritated, but knows better than to prolong the argument. "Alright, who's first on your list?"
Of course her first visit would be to the man that had tried to get her fired from her position. Kavanagh.
"You think I did it?" Kavanagh is seated at a small table in one of the conference rooms off the Control Room. The doors are closed and a Marine stands guard.
Elizabeth walks towards the table. "Relax, Doctor. You're just one of many people I'm questioning." She sits down opposite him.
"No - I'm pretty sure mine's the first name on what is probably a very short list."
"Shortly after the siege, you couldn't wait to leave Atlantis. A few months later, I received an urgent request from you to be allowed to return. Your second tour lasted three weeks, and suddenly you asked to leave again."
"Yeah - because working conditions became intolerable for me here. I have no friends here, my work is not respected..."
"And this occurs only days before we discover a bomb has been planted in the city."
"Right! Of course! So obviously I did it." He sits back and folds his arms.
"Given the circumstances, can you not see how such behavior might arouse suspicion?"
"Your suspicion, sure. Seeing as how you never cared for me, nor valued the talents I brought to this expedition."
"My personal feelings towards you, no matter what they may be, have nothing to do with this."
He laughs sarcastically, "Oh, please!" He laughs again. "Everything you do is motivated by personal feelings. You're driven by emotion, not reason. It's why I've always felt you're not capable of doing this job. You don't have the..." He purses his lips as if to say a word beginning with 'b', but changes his mind. "…strength to be leading the fight against the Wraith."
"If I remember correctly, you were the one who wanted to - what was it? - run and hide?"
"And at the time, I was right. If the Daedalus hadn't arrived at the eleventh hour, this city and everyone in it would have been wiped out because of your recklessness. There no need for The Trust to blow it up when Doctor Weir's at the helm!"
Elizabeth is now talking with Doctor Novak. "You understand that I am interviewing everybody on board the ship?"
"Oh, sure, I know. I mean, whoever planted the bomb was probably eager to get away from the city!" She chuckles nervously, then realizes what she just said. "N-not that I was eager. I was just doing my job. I couldn't have cared less when we left... n-n... but... I care about my job, I just didn't..." She trails off, coughing nervously. "You were saying?"
Elizabeth smiles comfortingly at her, "Doctor, you have nothing to be nervous about here."
Novak giggles, "I know, I know... unless, of course, I was guilty, then I would have some..." She hiccups. "Sorry."
"Have you noticed any crewmembers... change in behavior the last few weeks? I dunno - anybody acting in a suspicious or odd manner?"
Lindsay shakes her head, "No... Wait." She thinks for a moment, then looks at Elizabeth. "I-I-I-I mean, no." She hiccups. "Oh, for God's sake!"
"Can I get you some water?"
"Uh, no, wouldn't do any good. I get the hiccups when I'm nervous - it goes way beyond annoying." She takes a breath. "But wait..." She thinks for a moment. "The pony-tailed guy, Doctor Kavanagh? He was always hanging around, looking over your shoulder, poking through computers. Kinda creepy."
Elizabeth sits back in her seat, looking at her. Lindsay looks nervous. "Well, not really, uh... creepy as much as, um, peculiar, maybe, uh... I-I-I-I don't know the guy, he could be a great person. I mean, who am I to judge, you know?" She hiccups. "I'll just shut up."
Rodney's voice comes over Elizabeth's headset. "Elizabeth."
"Excuse me." She activates her headset. "Yes, Rodney?"
"Can you come to the Control Room? I've discovered something important."
"I'm on my way." She stand up, "If you'll excuse me?"
"Yes, sir. Uh, ma'am."
Elizabeth immediately heads back into the control room, "What have you found?"
"Guess what? Turns out there's no bomb after all." Sheppard tells her.
"Uhhhh, there's no actual explosive device." McKay clarifies. "The explosion will come, but, uh, from somewhere else. Now, with the Wraith on the way, we'll need to cloak the city, right?"
"Yes." She answers.
"Well, in order to do that, we need to reconnect the Zed P.M. in order to supply the necessary power."
"And what about the Stargate?"
"Ah - I've physically disabled the D.H.D. It won't be able to dial, so it won't be a problem. Now, the Zed P.M., however, will be. Now, as you know, the Zero Point Module controls the flow of massive amounts of power."
"Like a dam." Sheppard injects.
"No, it's not like a dam, it's more like a... uh... actually, yes, it's like a dam. If you overload the dam, it breaks, which is why the Ancients put in place fail-safes to prevent such a thing from happening."
"Like a spillway." John says.
"Could we just stick with fail-safes?" McKay snaps and John shrugs. "The problem is, our Trust operative figured out a way to rewrite Atlantis' operating system and disable the fail-safes, but mask it in such a way that the city sensors didn't detect it."
"So the dialing of Earth would cause the Z.P.M. to overload." She concludes.
"Oh, yeah! And given that dialing another galaxy requires tremendous amounts of power, we're talking catastrophic overload. I mean, the explosion would destroy not just the city, but, uh, most likely the entire planet."
"Can the fail-safes be re-enabled?" Sheppard questions.
"Yes, but, uh, whoever it was who did this anticipated the possibility that it would be discovered and they put in place a code to block access to it."
"And I'm gonna guess that cracking this code isn't gonna be easy." Cadman says speaking up for the first time since they'd started talking.
"No, not at all. It is extremely complicated." McKay answers her sarcastically.
"But for now you've already disabled the D.H.D. so it's impossible to dial Earth." Weir states.
"Yeah, but unfortunately, any number of systems can be used in conjunction with each other to, uh, overload the Zed P.M. It'd be a much more gradual build-up than dialing the Gate, which would cause an instantaneous power spike, but, um, equally as effective in its results."
"And we can't disconnect the Z.P.M. because we need the cloak for when the Wraith cruisers arrive."
McKay points at her, "Bingo! Which is why our bomber activated the distress beacon, alerting them. And that is how the Wraith coming to Atlantis is connected to detonating the bomb."
Rayne gets the all clear from Sheppard to stop searching the water under the city, turns out there wasn't an actual bomb anywhere, the city itself was the bomb.
It felt great to be in the water, she hadn't spent much time in it since her home had been destroyed. She realized the longer she spent in the water, the stronger she felt and her abilities were heightened. She could see miles down into the darkness below her, she could feel and interpret all of the different vibrations in the water, from the marine life to the currents and waves.
As she pulled herself up onto the south pier she found Ronon waiting for her holding a towel. "There you are Aqua-woman."
Rayne rolled her eyes, "You've been spending way too much time with Sheppard."
He chuckled as he wrapped the towel around her, marveling at how much brighter her eyes were glowing at that moment; and they didn't fade out quickly as they usually did. Her skin was flawless and he could now see that the blue, purple and green woven throughout her tattoos actually glowed.
"So… you glow." He said smirking.
She laughed looking down at her arms, "Yeah. The longer I'm in the water, the longer it lasts. I'll be a spectacle for several hours."
"As long as everyone looks and doesn't touch." He said giving her a wink.
She smiled intertwining his fingers with hers, "I'm 100 percent yours, Ronon."
The shimmer in her eyes, coupled with the pure honesty in her voice made Ronon feel as though his heart had wings. He leaned down capturing her lips in a heated kiss. When he parted from her he stared into her eyes and took a leap of faith, hoping he didn't drown. "All that I am, is yours. My Queen."
As they walked through the hallways towards Rayne's room, she needed a dry set of clothes, Ronon growled at every man that stared at her too long for his liking. Rayne couldn't help but smile at his protectiveness. She'd been self-conscious of her body and its unique traits when she'd first arrived, but now, she refused to hide who she truly was.
Back on board the Daedalus Elizabeth is interrogating Kavanagh again. "Rewriting Atlantis' operating system and disabling the fail-safes - now that takes someone with incredible intelligence."
"You mean like Doctor McKay?" He replies cockily.
"And also someone who's very eager to leave Atlantis shortly before the weekly dial-in to Earth."
"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Doctor Zelenka currently stuck off-world somewhere? Why isn't he a suspect?"
"Our list of suspects isn't open for discussion, but off the record, Zelenka went against his will and I couldn't picture him working for The Trust."
"Oh, but you can picture me?" He scoffs.
"In a heartbeat."
Kavanagh looks up at her, nods, and looks upset, though it's not clear whether he's faking it. "I see." He takes off his glasses and rubs his eye. "Guilty until proven innocent."
"I've been going over the communication logs from the Daedalus and it seems that you sent three unauthorized encoded messages back to Atlantis shortly after the dial-in was halted."
"I have a few friends here I was concerned about. I wanted to see if they were alright."
"I thought you said you didn't have any friends here." She states reminding him of what he said prior and Kavanagh smiles ruefully. "Now, the messages were encrypted, but don't worry, I've got people deciphering them right now."
"What do you want from me?"
"I want the access codes so I can re-enable the Z.P.M. fail-safes!"
"Well, if you're waiting for me to tell you, then you'll be waiting a while, seeing as I have no idea what that code is."
"No, I think you do know it. And since I don't have the time to wait any more, I'll just have to decide the quickest way to get it from you."
Kavanagh laughs, "Like what? Are you gonna torture me?!"
Elizabeth stares at him and after a moment, Kavanagh drops his gaze nervously.
Elizabeth is looking at the screen showing the approaching Wraith cruisers. "Could the cloaking cause the Z.P.M. to overload?"
"Yes, but I can, uh, turn off some of the systems to keep the power levels short of an overload."
"Maybe we should start thinking about evacuating the city." Sheppard suggests.
"Well, there's not a lot of options there. Still, it can't hurt to have a plan ready, if we can think of one."
Elizabeth, John, Rodney and Caldwell are in the conference room with the doors shut tight as they discuss what is to be done now. "I'm still working on cracking the new failsafe code but, uh, so far, no luck." McKay says.
"How are things coming with Kavanagh? He still your prime suspect?" Caldwell asks.
"Yes, he is. I'm having some difficulty with him, though. He's not exactly the most co-operative of people."
"Ooh, well, there's a shocker!" Rodney snarks.
"If he does know the code, I highly doubt he's gonna just give it to us."
Ronon is sitting on the balcony railing just outside the Conference Room and has been listening to the conversation along with Rayne. He now stands up and walks in with the Siren beside him, taking a knife out of a sheath on his leg and flipping it nonchalantly. "Give me ten minutes with him. I'll get it out of him."
"Or give me five." Rayne says flashing her eyes. "If he's responsible, I'll know."
Rodney shakes his head and grimaces at them both.
"Might not be a bad idea. Maybe it is time to take this interrogation to the next level." Sheppard suggests with a shrug. The thought of watching the man panic as the two warriors stared him down causing John to internally smile.
"Look, I hate Kavanagh as much as the next guy - probably even more - but, um, we really need to be sure about this." McKay balks at the idea of sending the warrior's into scare the man.
"I agree. If there's the slightest chance that he's innocent, then..." Elizabeth trails off.
"We don't have time to debate morality. Unfortunately sometimes you have to do unpleasant things to save lives." Caldwell admits.
As everyone exits the Conference Room, Rodney walks into the Control Room and sees Laura working on a laptop. "What are you doing?"
"I was going over the systems command logs for the past few months."
He folds his arms, "Why?"
"I noticed a gap in one of the data stream sequences from several weeks ago." Rodney looks exasperated. "It's probably nothing but I thought it might indicate a..."
"...a deletion point, yes. Believe it or not, I have had some experience with these systems; more, say, than a tap-dancing explosives expert."
"I was just trying to help, Rodney."
"Hey, here's a thought: fail-safe code. Why don't you help with that?"
Laura looks annoyed but before Rodney can continue the argument, he spots something nearby and activates his headset radio. "Elizabeth." He walks over to the screen monitoring the Wraith cruisers.
"Yes, Rodney?"
"The cruisers are getting closer. I think it's time to reconnect the Zed P.M. and cloak the city."
"Go ahead."
Rodney inserts the Z.P.M. back into its slot and it lights up. He goes over to the control console. "Switching to Zed P.M. power... now." The Z.P.M. sinks down into its slot. From outside the city disappears behind the cloak.
Rodney is back in the Control Room, working on a laptop when Elizabeth approaches him. "How're we doing?"
"Well, I've powered down several of the secondary systems but, uh, so far, Zed P.M. levels are holding below overload. Huh - I think we're gonna be OK."
Inside of the infirmary where Teyla had brought Charin to after evacuating the Athosian's off the mainland and into the city; Teyla sits at Charin's bedside as Carson stands nearby. Charin is struggling to draw breath.
"Are you in pain? Doctor Beckett can give you something to ease it."
Charin looks at her and speaks weakly, "Teyla."
"Yes, Charin?"
"Our journey begins." She smiles at her, then draws one final painful breath. As she breathes out, the monitor attached to her flat-lines as she dies. Carson quietly reaches around Teyla and switches the machine off, then discreetly walks away. Teyla gazes down at Charin and then, with tears spilling down her cheeks, takes Charin's hand and lays her own head down on it.
Elizabeth and Rodney are looking at the screen showing the Wraith cruisers very close to Atlantis. "They're here!" Rodney says in a sing-song voice before dropping back to normal. "Two Wraith cruisers, just outside our atmosphere."
"So far they don't behave in a way that would indicate they're aware of us."
An alarm starts beeping suddenly alerting Cadman, "Rodney."
"What?"
"The city's inertial dampeners just began powering up."
Rodney jumps up from his chair, "What?!"
Cadman furiously works at her laptop, "I-I-I'm trying to shut it down but it's requiring a code."
"Get out of there." He shoves her aside and looks at the screen. "It's the star drive!" Elizabeth frowns at him, not understanding. "Look, the city, as you know, is just a giant spaceship with a star drive capable of faster than light travel, which means that it also has inertial dampeners."
"Yes, I know that."
"One of the precursors of the star drive's power-up phase is the activation of the dampeners... ah, which may very well affect our cloaking. Look, but that's not the worst part of it."
"It'll overload the Z.P.M."
"Way overload it."
"How soon before that happens?"
"Thirty minutes at the most, and this city will be vaporized."
The team convenes in the conference room once more, this time joined by Rayne and Ronon; the group trying not to stare in awe at Rayne's glowing skin or eyes, but failing miserably as it was quite amazing.
"We need to initiate some evacuation plans." Weir starts off saying.
"I told you, the Daedalus is our only option. We can't use the Stargate, we can't go to the mainland." Sheppard reminds her and luckily Caldwell agrees with him.
"I agree. We'll fit as many people aboard the ship as we possibly can..."
"There is nowhere near enough room for everyone!" McKay hollers.
"We're gonna have to make room." John states.
"No-no-no-no-no, you don't understand. The life support system can't handle that many people - not enough air to go around. They'd never make it back to Earth."
"What about another planet? There's one nearby in this solar system, remember? The one we found the crashed Wraith cruiser. That took us fifteen hours by Puddle Jumper. It's a blink of the eye for the Daedalus."
"And then we could use the Puddle Jumpers to ferry the rest of the people." Elizabeth suggests.
"The quickest thing to do is get the code." Ronon leans on the table and stares at Elizabeth. "Just let me and Rayne in with Kavanagh - we'll get it from him."
Elizabeth looks at him, unwilling to take that step.
"Zed P.M. overload in..." McKay consults his tablet computer. "…twenty-four minutes."
Elizabeth looks at John, who gazes back at her meaningfully. She looks at Ronon again, then nods. "Do it."
Ronon looks at John, who nods to him and Rayne, then the two turn and leave the room.
The Athosians have found a room somewhere in Atlantis with what looks like stained glass in the windows. It looks almost like a church. A bed has been placed in the center of the room and Charin's body lies on it. She is covered with decorated blankets, and there are several different colored cushions under and around her head. As several other Athosians busy themselves with preparations, Teyla kneels at the bedside wearing a stunning turquoise floor-length dress with long ornate flowing sleeves.
Carson hurries into the chamber and stops at the sight of the preparations. "Oh God!" He hurries over to Teyla as she stands up. "Teyla, what are you doing?"
"We are about to begin the Ring Ceremony according to Charin's wishes."
Carson takes her arm and leads her away from the bed. "They're evacuating the city. In a matter of minutes it could all explode."
"We are aware of that, and many of my people are boarding the Daedalus as we speak. I and the others will leave with the final groups aboard the Puddle Jumpers."
"Cutting it a little close, don't you think?"
"I made a promise to Charin, and I intend to keep it, no matter the cost."
Carson sighs as Teyla walks back to Charin's bedside.
Aboard the Daedalus the interrogation room doors open. Outside in the darkened hallway, Ronon and Rayne stand and glare into the room. Kavanagh, who had been sitting with his feet up on the table, stares in panic and brings his feet down to the floor, then stands up. All he can focus on is the murderous gaze Ronon has him pegged with and Rayne's glowing eyes in the dark which unnerve him to no end. The two warriors walk slowly and threateningly into the room, stopping just inside the door they glare at Kavanagh, who stares back at them, terrified. Ronon starts to walk forward towards him as Rayne remains by the door.
Teyla stands at Charin's bedside as Carson stands with the other mourners. Standing stones now surround the bed in a circle. Several of the other Athosians begin to play a lilting lament on instruments. The tune has a somewhat Celtic style. Teyla begins to sing in a pure, clear soprano voice.
Beyond the night, a rising sun
Beyond the night, the battle's won
The battle's won.
In the Control Room, Rodney and Laura frantically work on their laptops, trying to decipher the fail-safe code. Laura throws up her hands in despair but continues working. Rodney looks across at the screen showing the approaching cruisers, then gets back to work.
Fear and shame now in the past
Pain and sorrow gone at last
Gone at last.
In her office, Elizabeth sits at her desk anguishing about what she is allowing Ronon and Rayne to do. She stands up and walks over to the window, gazing out into the Gate room.
In space, the two Wraith cruisers fly towards the planet.
In the Control Room, Elizabeth has joined Rodney. "Zed P.M. overload in ten minutes. We should think about getting to the Jumpers."
Laura hurries back into the room and goes over to the two of them. "Doctor Weir. Rodney. I found something."
Circle renewed, peace will be found
Beyond the night on sacred ground.
John runs into the interrogation room on the Daedalus, "Stop!" He stares at what he sees. "What did you do to him?" Ronon and Rayne are standing over Kavanagh, who is lying on the floor on his back, unconscious.
"Nothing. He fainted before I could touch him." Ronon states shrugging his shoulders. Rayne nods honestly and John tries to hide a grin.
On the Daedalus, Caldwell sits in his chair on the Bridge. "Doctor Weir, we're ready to go. We'll meet you at the rendezvous site."
An Asgard transporter beam sweeps him off the Bridge and he reappears sitting on a chair in Atlantis' conference room. He looks around in shock, then stands up. "What the hell's going on here?"
Elizabeth, Rayne and John are standing on the other side of the table. Ronon stands near Caldwell and paces back and forth behind him like a caged lion.
"I asked Hermiod to beam you here so you could give us the access code." Elizabeth states.
"What?!"
"Lieutenant Cadman discovered a gap in the system command logs that indicated two deletion points that she..."
"Look, we don't have time for this."
Elizabeth steps forward. "Your identification code was used to identify this city's operating system. You copied it, took it back to The Trust, whose Goa'uld scientists then rewrote the program to overload the Z.P.M. You then brought it back here and uploaded it into the Atlantis computers."
Caldwell balks at them incredulously, "You think that I'm working for The Trust?!"
"We know you're working for The Trust…" John states as he pulls the pistol out of his thigh holster and cocks the hammer, though he doesn't raise it yet. "…so give us the code."
Caldwell looks at them for a moment, then his eyes glow white. He's been infected with a Goa'uld symbiont. Now John raises his pistol and aims it at him.
Elizabeth takes a couple of steps backwards. "Oh, my God!"
Caldwell smiles smugly, in the dual voice of a Goa'uld. "I will never give you that code."
John looks round at Elizabeth. She looks back at him for a moment, then turns and leaves the room. John continues to hold his pistol on Caldwell.
"I warn you, as a Goa'uld I now possess the strength of many men."
"Won't be a fair fight, then." Ronon says ominously.
He kicks the chair out of the way and grabs Caldwell, slamming him against the wall. As John watches with his pistol still aimed, Ronon punches Caldwell hard in the face, then picks him up and throws him across the table and onto the floor on the other side. As Caldwell lies on his back, Ronon heads for him again but John holds out his hand to stop him.
"Hold on."
As Caldwell struggles to stand, John draws another weapon from a holster. This time it's a Taser. He fires it at Caldwell and the electrodes hit him in the chest. As electricity pulses through them, Caldwell convulses, groaning. John keeps the power going for several seconds, then releases the trigger. Caldwell collapses, staring up in agony and his eyes flash. The Goa'uld symbiont inside him can be heard squealing in pain. John pulls the trigger again and electricity floods Caldwell's body once more. He convulses, groaning in agony. John keeps the power going for several more seconds, then releases the trigger. Caldwell collapses again, panting and in great pain.
"Colonel?" John calls out as Caldwell gasps for breath. "Colonel?"
Caldwell answers weakly, but in his normal voice, "Sheppard."
"We don't have much time - we need that access code."
Caldwell grimaces, clearly fighting for control against his injured Goa'uld symbiont.
In the Power Room, the Zero Point Module is pulsing ominously.
"Zed P.M. levels are spiking. We need to go now." McKay yells, but as he and Laura jump up from their seats and begin to run towards the stairs to the Jumper Bay, John, Rayne and Ronon race into the control room.
John hands Rodney a notebook. "Access code."
Rodney grabs it and heads back to his station. He sits down and starts to type in the code as the screen flashes "OVERLOAD." As he finishes entering the code, a message comes up reading, "AUTHORIZATION CODE ACCEPTED - FAILSAFES REENABLED." The "OVERLOAD" message disappears. Rodney sinks back into his chair with a sigh of relief.
As Elizabeth smiles at him, Ronon leans on a console and sinks his head down onto his arm; beside him Rayne laughs in relief as she lays her head on his back, wrapping her arms around his waist.
River flows, led by the wind
First new breath, our journey begins
Our journey begins.
Carson and Laura are walking along together, Laura giggling about something when Rodney spots them. "Oh, Carson. Hermiod's just beginning initial calculations on the extraction."
"Extraction?" Cadman asks.
"Now?" Carson says excitedly.
"Mmm-hmm. Hermiod's gonna attempt to extract the Goa'uld from Colonel Caldwell using Asgard beaming technology."
Carson looks at Laura, "Quite remarkable, actually."
"And complicated. The calculations are impossibly intricate. You don't wanna go beaming out a chunk of his brain." McKay says smiling.
"Lovely, Rodney." Carson snarks.
"Hmm." He spots someone coming up behind Carson and Laura. "Hey! Look who's back!"
Carson and Laura turn to see Radek stomping along the corridor, glowering at them all. His face is painted several different colors and white straw has been woven into his hair using colored braid.
"It's Mister Mom!" Rodney shouts. "How were the kids?"
Radek turns and points at him furiously, momentarily lost for words. Finally he manages to string a sentence together. "Do not even speak to me." He glares at him for a moment, then turns and stomps off. Rodney smiles smugly.
Elizabeth is sitting at her desk. A silver pocket watch is lying on the table and she is aimlessly pushing the chain around with a pen.
John comes in, grinning. "Did you see Zelenka?!"
Weir glances up at him, "No." She looks down at the watch again.
"You should take a quick look before he washes his face. The kids did a real number on him!" He perches on the edge of the desk.
Elizabeth looks up at him again, her face serious. "I asked Doctor Beckett to give everyone on the base a full examination. If Colonel Caldwell could have a Goa'uld in him, any of us could."
"It's not a pleasant thought."
"No. No, it isn't." She falls silent for a moment, gazing into space. "I crossed a line, John, with Kavanagh."
"You did what you had to do. The good news was, he wasn't hurt."
"Here we are, gloating about the in-fighting among the Wraith." She looks at him. "How are we any different?"
John looks away, unable to answer her.