Since I've been a little slower than usual in posting (and probably will be again as I'm still on annual leave and my beta is currently unable to edit) here is another chapter for today :) All mistakes are mine! Enjoy!

Chapter 9

The Gate had activated almost ten minutes ago. No IDC was received, yet the Stargate's shield ignored their commands and deactivated to allow the Jumper passage. The PuddleJumper that team AR-1 departed in at nine that morning slipped through the event horizon and hovered before the gate. When it failed to ascend into the hanger bay, Woolsey ordered the Gate guards to investigate.

"What do you mean it's empty?" he shouted a few minutes later to the men below in the Embarkation area.

A suited and booted soldier was looking in the Jumper window. "There's no one inside, Sir, that's why it won't ascend."

Woolsey wrung his hands and wondered what the hell was going on. He looked to the command staff, all of whom shrugged and gestured that they were none the wiser. He looked back to the Jumper and focussed on the red light that flashed intermittently in the cockpit interior.

He activated his com with an irritated sigh. "Doctor Zelenka to the bridge, immediately."

Five minutes later the little Czech hurried into the gate room with an assortment of cables and his laptop. He looked to Woolsey and then the Jumper and gestured as if to say, "What?"

"The Puddlejumper is empty and won't go to the bay," Woolsey informed him.

The little scientist raised an eyebrow and looked confused for a moment. "Then how did it get here?" he asked.

"Just, please, get it into the bay, would you?"

Zelenka frowned then nodded and left to deal with the ship. Woolsey watched him as he proceeded to open a panel on the side of the Jumper and connect one of the cables before pressing at his laptop. There was a clunking sound and Zelenka removed the cable and told everyone to stand back as the Jumper rose slowly up into the hanger bay.

"Doctor Zelenka, if you would be so kind as to find out what's going on and report back to me, please," Woolsey said and returned to his office.

He sat behind his desk and glanced at the clock, his fingers drumming off the desktop in agitation. It was five-thirty in the evening and the Jumper had returned a day before it was meant to, with no one on board. It took four hours to reach Coronaa through a series of three gates. Double that to account for the return journey. It appeared as if the ship had returned to Atlantis as soon as it landed on Coronaa, and without Colonel Sheppard or his team.

Atlantis had received no communications from the team since they left that morning on a routine follow up visit. Colonel Sheppard had mentioned a promise he had to keep. Woolsey had been about to ask about it when Rodney McKay had interrupted with a rather scathing remark about Sheppard's need to impress girls. Woosley let the subject drop, not wishing to open that particular can of worms.

But this situation concerned him. Never before had a Puddlejumper returned to Atlantis without its team. As far as he was aware, the Stargate shield had not failed them in the past and Woolsey wondered why it would now, especially today.

Two anomalies in one day were no mere coincidence.

He lifted his silver flask to pour some coffee, only to find it empty. Pulled his best exasperated expression even though there was no one to see it. "To the mess hall, then," he sighed, grabbing his mug and closing the flask.

When he arrived in the hall there were a few people dotted around eating meals at tables; the late shift grabbing a bite to eat before continuing their work into the small hours of the morning. He passed a table where the people were talking about the Jumper's return and the missing team. One man laughed about it, saying Sheppard was probably playing a joke. Another worriedly asked his companion if the wraith might have something to do with the strange happening. Woolsey wondered how they even already knew. Was he so far out of the loop, that —had he not been present when it happened— he would be the last to know?

He was always the last to know.

Not this time, he decided.

Woolsey filled his flask, and also his mug, then sipped the fresh coffee as he made his way to the Jumper bay. He hated it there. It just reminded him of the time Atlantis was attacked and General Jack O'Neill and himself were captured in a similar hold. He shuddered as he stepped inside the darkened area.

Zelenka was in the back of the returned Jumper, sitting amidst crystals and cables while staring at his laptop with a look of delight.

"Have you found anything?" Woolsey asked when the man failed to notice him.

Zelenka startled and scrambled to his feet, stammering and stuttering as he held the laptop under Woolsey's nose. "Look at this! It's a return-to-base command code! I've never seen it before! No one has!"

"So, how was it activated if no one knows about it?"

"According to the system files, soon after touchdown, something happened and a command was sent to the Jumper telling it to return to Atlantis."

"That doesn't answer my question, doctor."

Zelenka pushed his glasses back on his nose and huffed. "I do not know why, or how, I only know that it did. I know the mechanics, I can read the code. As to why it was activated?" he shrugged again.

Woosley sighed, drained the coffee from his mug and poured some more from the flask. "So we are no further forward than we were when the thing came through the gate."

"Ah," Zelenka said and raised his hand, pointing a finger upwards, "but we do know more, sir."

He typed into this laptop then presented it to Woolsey who stared at it, bewildered. "And just what is it I'm supposed to be seeing?"

"That," Zelenka pointed to a line of numbers, " is a ship."

"What kind of ship?"

"I don't know. I just know it is one."

Woolsey rubbed at his temple, clearly exasperated. "Doctor Zelenka, if you could possibly try and make things clearer, we might reach a conclusion sooner."

Zelenka blushed and cleared his throat, pushed his ever-roving glasses back on his nose and said, "That is a ship. A huge, ship. It is also one we've never encountered before. Perhaps the team ran into trouble. Maybe they had a fight with that ship. And maybe Colonel Sheppard sent the Jumper back here so that it wouldn't be taken by the enemy."

Woolsey finally understood. "It's an emergency call. Sheppard sent it back ensuring the ship didn't fall into the wrong hands."

"Yes!" Zelenka cried. "This is remarkable sir, a new discovery of a Jumper subsystem!"

"Yes," Woolsey said quietly. "And a cry for help from one of our teams."

This settled the excited scientist into a somber silence.

"See to it that this ship is ready to fly out as soon as possible. I'll be sending a team after them. I want a full report of your findings on my desk by morning."

Crestfallen, Zelenka nodded and turned back to the mess on the Jumper floor.

"And, doctor Zelenka?" Woolsey said and waited for Zelenka to look wearily back. "Good work."

He left the scientist who grinned and got back to work while reverting to his own language to talk to himself.

Woosley shook his head but smiled and left the jumper bay. He activated his com and said, "Major Lorne, meet me in my office in five minutes." He thought for a moment then added, "And bring your team with you."

To be continued...