Unexpected by Oparu
Author's Chapter Notes: Sorry this one took awhile.
Teyla finds family. John and the geek trio struggle to keep the city going.
Teyla finds family. John and the geek trio struggle to keep the city going.
Doctor Rodney McKay tried to wipe the dirt from his forehead, but only managed to smear it into his hair. "We're going to have to evacuate down to a skeleton crew as soon as possible and limp the city into Asgard space," he reported harshly. "I'm doing everything..."
"...we're doing everything," Doctor Radek Zelenka corrected firmly as he clung to the wall behind his head in the cargo bay. "That we can, but we just can't regenerate an arm of the city, we don't even know where to begin..."
"...we don't know what alloys the Ancients used," Rodney interrupted back with exhausted impatience. "Even if we did, we don't have the tools to reproduce them or a dry dock to attempt to reattach the arm in space and the city's just not designed to fly long-term without it. The best..." he paused and wrapped his hands tighter round the edge of the workbench before he looked back up at Elizabeth and Jack, "...the absolute best we can do is to patch it with deck plating and hope the Asgard can help us."
"I'm afraid I have to agree, Sir," Colonel Samantha Carter weighed in gently from her place near the bench. Her blue eyes were sunken into her head and Elizabeth couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Sam take some time off. "Rodney, Zelenka and I can patch the damage, but we don't know enough to repair it. It's like cauterizing a wound on the battlefield, we can stop the bleeding but none of us are doctors..."
"At least not medical doctors," Rodney grumbled under his breath. "Carter's right," he agreed slowly.
Radek nodded as well. "We need to limit the people on the city so we can shut down life-support and save power. Probably no more than twenty scientists."
"We've already evacuated nearly all of the civilians," General Jack O'Neill reminded them as he played with the stylus from his computer. "Major Lorne reports they're settling well on the planet."
"We can't continue to depend on charity," Doctor Elizabeth Weir added grimly as she tried not to fidget. It had already taken more than an hour for the scientists to list everything that was wrong with the city and her back hurt again. She rubbed her lower back with her right hand but pulled her hand away before Jack caught her favoring anything. Putting both hands on the edge of the workbench in front of her, she tried to hide the wince in her eyes and stare seriously at Rodney. "When will the city be ready to support life again? We can't just dump our people on Ceol and hope for the best..."
"I'm not sure you're listening to me, Elizabeth," Rodney snapped irritably as he left the bench to pace behind them. Holding onto the edge of the table for support, he tried to clarify his point. "The internal stabilizers are shot; the best human minds in two galaxies are here and we don't know how to fix them. The city even rolls when it's not moving."
"We don't have the parts to fix it," Sam explained calmly as she tucked an errant strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "There are control crystals we can't duplicate, alloys we don't know how to construct. The Asgard are our best hope."
"So we're counting on them being buddies with the Ancients to help us?" Jack asked watching Rodney struggle to regain his chair. "We're just going to knock and hope they'll help us?"
"Pretty much," Sam agreed with her husband as she tried to smile. "There is one other option, but we'd rather keep that as a last resort."
"Last resort?" Jack repeated brightening up slightly as the promise of something more interesting than repairs came to his attention.
"We find the Replicator city," Radek began nervously. "They must have constructed a new one by now..."
"...we find it and take it over," Rodney interjected as he swallowed against his nausea. "The parts are basically interchangeable; we can take what we need from them..." He stopped and stood suddenly, covering his mouth, "I have to go, now."
"Go Rodney," Elizabeth said as she waved to the door. "It's okay," she finished as she looked over the pale faces of her team. Jack and Sam seemed mostly unperturbed; she supposed it came from piloting. Radek looked nearly as bad as Rodney had, but he was holding his own. Swallowing, she tried to relax and ignore the turning of her stomach. Carson continued to promise that the reoccurrence of her nausea was from the failure of the stabilizers instead of the child straining her waistline.
"We would rather not have to go after the Replicators for spare parts," Sam said for all of her team. "i really think the Asgard will be on our side, however..."
"Sam and I talked about it," Jack interrupted for his wife. "We'd like to use the Artemis as an escort for the city. Sam's worried about the stabilizers failing..."
"Teal'c and the Hera can travel back to the Milky Way just as well as the Artemis can," Sam agreed tightening her knuckles on the edge of the bench as the city leapt to the left. Jack grabbed the bench and Elizabeth's arm when she nearly lost her balance.
Smiling, but mildly irritated at the sudden desire of everyone to protect her, she held on tightly to the workbench until the city righted itself. Sam scrambled over to a computer, wedging herself in as the city dove again. "I'l try to fix it," she called over the sound of crystals and tools bouncing noisily to the floor.
This time Elizabeth was grateful for the strong arms of the general as he held her in place against the metal. Her stomach jumped into her throat and she felt even Jack swallow hard behind her ear. Atlantis rolled hard to the left and Jack tightened his grip. Radek struggled back to his feet from the floor and dug into the crystals beneath the bench. Replacing two of them with ones on the floor, he was able to right to the city for the moment.
Putting her head down, Elizabeth fought against the desire to empty her struggling stomach. Jack's hand brushed over her head as he let go of the bench. "You okay?" he whispered before moving on to his wife.
"Radek fixed it temporarily," Sam reported before she covered her mouth suddenly and stumbled out of the room.
"It'll hold awhile," Radek reported as he crawled out his hair was wild around his ears. "We need to get everything tied down; it's only going to get worse."
"Call up to command, get everyone who can handle the rolling on a crew to tie things down," Jack suggested as he saw Elizabeth tap her radio. "I'm going to check on Sam." It took her a moment to find her voice but she swallowed and sounded calm when she spoke.
"Chuck," she started as she took hold of the wall for support. "Get the marines and everyone who's still feeling all right and get them on a crew to tie everything down."
"Yes, Ma'am," the young man replied quickly. "Right away, Ma'am."
"Can you stop the city so we can get everyone through the gate?" Elizabeth asked Radek as he took over Sam's computer. Her fingers were sore from grabbing the bench and she tried to flex feeling back into them. Letting go was a dangerous prospect and she stumbled back, nearly losing her balance completely before Rodney hit her. He led her to the bench, holding tight to her arm until she had a grip again.
"We can stop it," he promised through pale lips. "But the city's got a lot of inertia, when we come out of hyperspace it's going to be a hell of a crash, we'll need everything tied down first, people too."
Radek nodded quickly as he moved aside to let Rodney in. "It'll take us some time to turn the dampeners up as high as we can," he promised when Elizabeth turned to him. "Give us an hour."
"Okay," Elizabeth replied as she patted his shoulder. "An hour, then we stop." She walked slowly, careful to keep her hand on a wall or something else solid. She saw Jack and Sam when she went through the door into the hallway. Sam was getting to her feet with Jack's arm around her shoulders. She knew the look in Sam's eyes and what it felt like to have her head and her stomach twisted until she couldn't tell which way was up.
"I've flown combat," Sam complained to her husband as she clung to his shoulder. "I've pulled thirteen G's and I can't handle a little bit of a roll in the deck."
Jack shrugged and helped her find her feet. "Sometimes things aren't what they should be," he offered gently as his hand caught her cheek. "You'll be fine, you'll keep McKay from killing us all and everything's going to be fine."
"What about you?" Sam asked softly, taking the stolen moment to kiss his cheek before he was too far away.
"I'm going to help Elizabeth and tie things down," Jack promised winking as he took a step away. "I've always been good at knots, you know that." Stopping for a moment he took a few steps back towards her and kissed her cheek. "Take care, Carter."
"Yes, sir," she promised weakly managing to smile as she headed for the door.
Her husband watched her go for a moment, then he reached for the wall by Elizabeth. "I'll stumble after you, if you don't mind," Jack teased as he fell in step behind her in the swaying corridor.
"Sam looks tired," she mentioned tentatively hoping she wasn't opening the door for more commentary on her own appearance. "Is she having trouble sleeping?" Elizabeth had seen it happen to nearly everyone. John hadn't complained, but even he was having trouble dragging himself out of bed.
"She's been tired," Jack agreed as his voice softened with concern. "But we're all tired," he finished as he caught the door controls and hung on as the city shifted. "It's not a simple mission."
"It never is," Elizabeth replied softly wondering if he ever thought his rescue was the reason her team and so many others were trapped on Atlantis.
"We're alive," he piped up behind her as he helped her into the transporter. "At the end of the day that's the best we can hope for." Once inside the rolling of the deck subsided somewhat as Elizabeth paused and reached for the glowing dot of the control room. Jack closed his eyes as they flew instantly through the city. When he opened them, Elizabeth was starting out into the control room. The city bucked, tossing him into her back, this time she surprised him and caught his arm, keeping him from knocking them both to the floor.
"Still here?" she teased as they both reached for the control console.
"Nice save," Jack retorted as he headed for a chair and relative safety.
"Chuck, any luck with the Marines?" Elizabeth asked as she caught the back of his chair. "Or Naval officers? They might be better off with the swell."
Chuck managed a wan smile. "The Daedalus is beaming over as many volunteers as they could find along with everything Colonel Caldwell thought would be useful to secure things," he reported as he struggled to maintain his composure.
"Good," Elizabeth favored the control room with a smile that warmed the room. "Let's get everything tied down."
Teyla woke in the center of an endless room. The air in her nose was wet and heavy as it poured into her lungs. She didn't remember when she'd passed out and time was running away without her notice. Her mind was quiet now without Michael's presence and the first thing she felt was a sense of confusion. She didn't belong in this room surrounded by Wraith.
She'd been able to sense them her entire life; feel them coming to take her people. Now she felt them all around her, and or the first time in her life that sensation filled her with warmth instead of mind-numbing fear. The minds around her were curious instead of foreboding. In the haze of whatever it was that held her intoxicated she could only guess how many Wraith surrounded her. Wraith minds were rarely distinct but one stood out. Like a spotlight in a field of candles, the queen mother dwarfed everything around her.
"Rise," the queen mother demanded in the chill voice Wraith only used for command.
Teyla felt the voice stir her, but she didn't have to move. She lifted her head enough to look at the area around her, but she didn't sit up.
"Good," the queen mother purred in a normal tone. "You can resist me." The queen mother drew closer; Teyla felt her hand settle hot on her shoulder. Power surged in that hand; reminding her that the mind behind it was the most powerful she'd touched. "What else can you do?"
Teyla grabbed the hand that held her and pulled as hard as she could. Using the leverage to right herself, she flipped up and onto her feet. In the space between a heartbeat, the queen mother attacked her. She dodged, forcing the haze out of her mind as she let her body take over. The queen mother had brute force, but Teyla was smaller, she slipped between blows and wormed her way inside of the queen mother's reach.
Listening to the queen mother's mind and letting her feelings wash over her like an angry storm, Teyla let go and became part of that storm. Her left hand forced the queen mother's head up, leaving her neck and chest vulnerable. Fighting purely on instinct, her right hand slammed into the queen mother's heaving chest with her palm flat on the warm skin.
The queen mother bared her blue-white teeth in a wicked smile of pride. "We are already in you," she said with a voice harsh with age, studying Teyla with open approval. "What we are has not been lost to the ravages of time."
As her head started to clear, Teyla realized she was staring into the jet black eyes of the oldest Wraith she had ever seen. Even with the incredible regenerative powers of the Wraith, the queen mother's skin was lined with age. Her lips were cracked and dry as she smiled again.
"Yes, you see it in me don't you?" the ancient queen mother sank back into her chair as if her fight with Teyla had taken what little energy she had left. "I was the first queen mother among queen mothers, I was born when Wraith lived on Atlantis with those you call Ancients, and my daughters built the hive ships that wiped them out." Her eyes ran slowly over Teyla's body as the tendrils of her mind worked their way into Teyla's most intimate thoughts.
"You are the leader of your people," the queen mother rasped in her ears and in her mind.
"The Wraith are not my people," Teyla snapped back as defiantly as she could and forced the queen mother from her mind.
Stilling smiling her toothy smile the queen mother closed her eyes and fought her way back into Teyla's mind. "Aren't they?" she insisted. "Our blood is in your veins, your mother was nearly one of us."
"I am not..." Teyla started to resist.
"A killer?" the queen mother asked as she waved that excuse aside with a withered hand. "A hunter?" Her head rolled back against her chair and her voice faded. When she lifted it again there was fire in her bottomless eyes. "You're not a monster?"
"I am not," Teyla spat back.
"Not yet," the queen mother's tone belied the nightmare to come.
At her signal Michael emerged from swarm behind her and laid his hands on her shoulders.
"When we were born we were strong," the queen mother explained with waning strength. "We were stronger than our makers and in time we overcame them. The strong feed upon the weak because the universe hungers for strength. We were strong then and now..."
"...we are fading," Michael finished for her. "Your people showed us that what was human in us still sleeps within us, and that humanity is not the weakness it once appeared to be."
"You will be queen," the queen mother intoned heavily as she stood from her throne. "You will lead the Wraith into a new age of strength."
Michael's hands were warm on her arms as he held her in place. "We need you, more than the Athosians or the people from Earth ever could. We need you to save us from weakness and teach us your strength."
Teyla's heart insisted she had to keep fighting, but the queen mother in her mind directed her to a new fight. She would fight for her people; keep them safe from all harm and teach the ways of the new world coming to into being.
The queen mother stalked down the steps towards her, lifting her hand to rest it in the center of Teyla's chest. "You have never had a child," the queen mother whispered in her ear. "Now, you will be mother to all before you. All Wraith, all of the galaxy will kneel at your feet."
The queen mother looked into her eyes with love and began to fill her with life. At first she felt no different, Teyla was used to her body pulsing with strength, but then she felt better. Far better than she had ever felt on the best day of her life, because she was stronger. Her mind opened to the thoughts of the Wrath around her and they filled her with harmony. For the first time in her life, all the voids in her heart were full.
Lifting her hand, she slammed it into the chest of the queen mother and began to feed.
John startled himself awake for the third time and bit his lip to make sure he stayed that way. His head hurt from the coffee he'd drank too quickly before his fourth turn in the chair. He'd heard Carson's warnings about mental fatigue and neurotransmitter depletion; he knew he should be more careful, but it was getting harder and harder to steer the city. Rodney was busy, Lorne was planet side already, and he couldn't hand the city over to just anyone. It needed a real pilot now, not just a babysitter with the ATA gene.
The ache in the back of his head blossomed into a pulsing knot of pain. He couldn't hold it anymore. The city was spiraling out of his control and there will still too many people on it. It wasn't safe.
"I can't hold it," he radioed up to control as he fought to keep panic out of his voice. If the city came out of hyperspace without the inertial dampeners everyone would be a splatter of liquid on the walls. He'd once pulled thirteen Gs coming out of a nasty dive and nearly blacked out. He remembered the feeling of lead blanketing his chest and the way his eyeballs had flattened back into their sockets. "Get everyone off the city now," he warned when no one answered him. "I can't..."
"John?" she asked irritably. He could picture her eyebrow tightening in frustration. "You're supposed to be sticking to the rotation. You're going to hurt yourself."
"I can't keep the city in hyperspace," he replied ignoring her concern. "Evacuate," his words caught in his throat.
Elizabeth's voice was nervous beneath the calm she always summoned. "John, we know, Sam and Rodney..."
"...we think we can extend the dampening field on the Hera to ease the city out of hyperspace," Rodney snapped quickly. "I need you to hold it..."
"I..." John began as he swallowed and tried to ignore the hot trail of blood on his upper lip.
"John, it's all right," Elizabeth soothed over the radio. "They almost have it, just a little bit..."
"...beam everyone off the city," he demanded again as he swallowed against the metallic taste in his mouth. "Right now," that panic was in his voice now. "Elizabeth..."
"Rodney's getting it," she promised softly. "It'll be all right." Her forced calm rang through his ears in sharp contrast with the screaming in his brain. If the city fell out of hyperspace he might survive, the chair room was better shielded than any other, but control wouldn't be safe.
"Get out of there," he nearly screamed at her.
Wincing as she watched Rodney's and Sam's hands fly over computer controls Elizabeth bit her lip. "It's okay John," she promised again, wishing she believed herself. "They can do it."
This time there was no response, only the heightened sense of things that only came when death was imminent. John felt sweat creep down his forehead, and tasted bitter blood as it crept over his lips. He shook his head, hoping vainly it would clear the pain in his mind. Some headaches attacked from outside, but this one came from the core of his mind, burning through every part of his head. He fought the pain a moment longer before his vision and everything else in his mind went white.
"We're losing the inertial dampeners," Sam announced grimly trying to keep some kind of calm. "We can't remain in hyperspace more than a few milliseconds after they fail."
"Can you ease us out?" Jack asked hopefully as he looked over her shoulder. "Coast on out of harm's way?"
"We aren't waterskiing!" Rodney snapped as his fingers flew over the Ancient controls. "We can't just..." he stopped short and stared at Sam.
She kept working for a moment before she looked at him. "Rodney?" she wondered hopefully.
"Coast..." he repeated as his eyes grew large. "We need an eddy, a calmer place in hyperspace, somewhere we can..." he mimed slowly down gently with his hands as he continued, "...slide out easily."
"The shield," Sam realized as she nodded and moved to another control panel. "We use the shield to make an eddy in hyperspace and slide into it."
"Simple," Jack nodded sagely and leaned against the top of the panel as he stared proudly at his wife. "Just like that," he added as he tilted his head towards Elizabeth. The grip of her hand on his startled him.
Touching her commlink nervously in her ear Elizabeth bit her lip before she whispered to him, "John's stopped responding."
"We probably just lost the radio," Jack assured her as he stared at the smaller fingers covering his. Patting her hand nervously in return, he watched as McKay and Carter looked up in unison.
"Hang on," Sam advisedly seriously. "This might be a little weird."
The shield flashed blue through the miasma of color that was hyperspace outside the glass windows of the control room for a moment before everything around them slowed. The city shivered, as if the great structure was drawing breath to sneeze. The dancing colors crept to a halt before the city sighed and fell back into the darkness of normal space.
Metal creaked and groaned as Atlantis settled and stopped. Elizabeth felt the floor quiver beneath her feet as everything calm to a halt around her.
Rodney's shoulders relaxed in relief and he managed a smile. "We seem to be okay," he exclaimed for all of them as he looked around.
"The city is intact," Sam agreed less enthusiastically. "But we've completely destroyed the inertial dampeners and weakened many of the shield emitters. The city was in rough shape before, now..." she sighed and ran a hand through her mussed blonde hair. "We're dead in the water. i don't even know where to start fixing things."
Rodney sank into a chair and closed his eyes as he rubbed his temples. "It's possible the Asgard could help us patch the city together enough to reach their space dock, but we're still looking at months of repairs."
"Months?" Elizabeth asked in surprise as she caught her hand on her stomach. The though that her child was going to be born somewhere other than Atlantis made her uneasy. The refugee camps were supposed to be temporary.
"Do you have any idea how little we still understand these systems when they're working correctly?" Rodney asked rhetorically as he dragged himself out of the chair. "Sam and I will do the best we can to stabilize the city, but you're going to have to get everyone to Ceol or on a ship until we find someone who knows a hell of a lot more about Ancient technology than we do."
"We'll start getting ready to evacuate then," Jack agreed with a shrug as he reached for Sam's shoulder. "Good work," he offered as he winked cheerfully.
She looked up for a moment and managed half a smile. "Thanks," she replied before she went back to work.
Elizabeth beat him to the transporter. "I need to check on John," she explained softly as she reached for the lower level on the transporter. Resting her hand on her hip was less effective than it had been a month ago and she ended up with her hand on her belly instead.
"Anything moving yet?" Jack asked curiously as he leaned back against the wall.
Her eyes widened for a moment and she shook her head slowly. "Is that supposed to be...?" Elizabeth wondered shyly biting her lip.
"You've got to be pushing five months by now," he continued as the doors hissed open for them. Eyeing her thoughtfully, Jack grinned. "Even with your figure, the kid's gaining on you," he teased and touched her shoulder. "The kid moving around is one of the weirdest things..." he trailed off as he watched her eyebrows tighten. "What?"
"I've been too busy to sit down and talk one of the doctors," Elizabeth explained with a nervous sigh, "I keep feeling like there are all these things I should know, that everyone else seems to know already."
Her hair tumbled loosely over her shoulders and Jack wondered the last time she'd cut it. "It was difficult enough for me to schedule Sara's appointments around my duties, I can't imagine trying to do it when your doctor gets kidnapped and your home is falling apart," he soothed as he stopped her just outside the transporter. "Having a baby's not rocket science," he advised as he scratched his grey head. "They pretty much have themselves."
"I hope he or she doesn't have to raise herself too," she remarked darkly as she followed him down the too silent hallway. Atlantis was becoming a tomb around them, crumbling in beyond their ability to heal her.
"You'll be fine," Jack promised gruffly. "You'll be in good company," he added awkwardly patting her shoulder. "Lots of people, stuck in tents, nothing better to do..."
Raising an eyebrow at him, Elizabeth managed half a smile before they arrived in the doorway to the chair room. It was dark and the corners ate what little light had been in the hallway. She heard the snapping of velcro as Jack fished something from his pocket, than he shone light on the chair.
"John," she whispered as she pushed past Jack through the light. John's eyes were open as he stared up at the ceiling but he didn't move to look at her as she grabbed his shoulder. "John!" she called as she shook him.
Jack grabbed his radio and started to ask for a medical team. "His pulse is strong," he reported as he aimed the tiny flashlight down on John's still face. His eyelids didn't even twitch.
"He's not responding to stimuli," Elizabeth added as she shook her head. "I told you to get out of there," she whispered running a hand through his dark hair. "Medical?" she demanded.
"Coming from the Daedalus," Jack promised softly.
"Why aren't they beaming him out?" her voice cracked as she fought to control it.
"He might still be connected to the chair," Jack warned as he switched his flashlight to his other hand. "Carter's not sure, she wants a medical team to look here before we do anything. He's probably just unconscious."
"Right," she agreed without conviction. Elizabeth could feel the gentle rise and fall of john chest beneath her hand. "I thought I'd start to get accustomed," she admitted as she pulled her hand away to fidget with her sleeve. "Get a thicker skin, you know?" she finished and bit her lip.
"He's just unconscious," Jack reminded her roughly. "No starting down that path,"
"You're right," she shook her head and feebly agreed but her hands shook as she ran them over her hair. She strained her ears listening for the sounds of boots in the corridor. "Does the chair still have power?"
Jack knelt, groaning slightly as his knees creaked. "I'm not the right half of me to be repairing Ancient devices, my smarter half is still in the control room," his complaining went unnoticed as Elizabeth's eyes ran over the crystals inside the panel.
Reaching for a blackened crystal inside, she yanked her hand back when the blistering surface touched her skin. "It's actually burned out, all through here..." she murmured as Jack moved out of her way.
"Be careful," he warned as he dragged himself back to his feet. "It's not just you you're electrocuting."
She hissed in frustration around the burned fingers in her mouth. "I'm the leader, I'm supposed to have scientists to do this for me," she muttered and used her sleeve to pull the damaged crystal free. It shattered on the floor, collecting around her boots in dusky shards. Elizabeth wracked her brain and tried to remember which one of the blue crystals she could steal to replace the burned one. Choosing one, she slipped into slot and jumped back when the panel came to light.
"What did you do?" Jack demanded as he assisted her up to her feet.
'"I think I bypassed the secondary neural interface," Elizabeth brushed fine dust from her pants and watched the newly repaired lights flicker around them. "At least I think it was the secondary neural..."
John coughed and Elizabeth pushed past the General so quickly he had to move back out of her path. He coughed again and his hand twitched up towards his mouth.
John remembered the blinding pain in his head and the desperate notion that he was going to fail everyone counting on him in the city. His eyes hurt too much for him to open them more than a slit. Hands he knew rushed over his face.
"When did you get down here?" he teased in as he started to find his voice.
"Someone had to check on you," Elizabeth offered dryly as she caught the general escaping out of the corner of her eye. John's hand flopped over the arm of the chair and she brought it to her chest. "You got kind of quiet on me there for awhile. Jack was worried about you."
He started to laugh but ended up trapped in a coughing fit. "Feel like hell," John rasped when he finally regained his breath.
"You really did some damage to the chair," Elizabeth told him as she ran her hand down his arm. "Fried a crystal or two."
"I'll stop by the hardware store and get a new one," John offered sarcastically.
The tears she usually managed to keep away stung her eyes as she tried to picture him driving a puddle jumper into a parking lot. "I expect it," Elizabeth agreed as she remembered how to smile down at him. "A little less heroics less time would be nice as well," she sighed the knot out of her chest when the medics finally arrived in the doorway.
"I thought the hero got the girl," John murmured back as he tried to keep the blackness in the back of his head at bay.
"I don't know if you've noticed," Elizabeth leaned close enough that the feeling of her hair against his cheek overrode his headache for a moment. "John," she continued, "I think you have me."
"...we're doing everything," Doctor Radek Zelenka corrected firmly as he clung to the wall behind his head in the cargo bay. "That we can, but we just can't regenerate an arm of the city, we don't even know where to begin..."
"...we don't know what alloys the Ancients used," Rodney interrupted back with exhausted impatience. "Even if we did, we don't have the tools to reproduce them or a dry dock to attempt to reattach the arm in space and the city's just not designed to fly long-term without it. The best..." he paused and wrapped his hands tighter round the edge of the workbench before he looked back up at Elizabeth and Jack, "...the absolute best we can do is to patch it with deck plating and hope the Asgard can help us."
"I'm afraid I have to agree, Sir," Colonel Samantha Carter weighed in gently from her place near the bench. Her blue eyes were sunken into her head and Elizabeth couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Sam take some time off. "Rodney, Zelenka and I can patch the damage, but we don't know enough to repair it. It's like cauterizing a wound on the battlefield, we can stop the bleeding but none of us are doctors..."
"At least not medical doctors," Rodney grumbled under his breath. "Carter's right," he agreed slowly.
Radek nodded as well. "We need to limit the people on the city so we can shut down life-support and save power. Probably no more than twenty scientists."
"We've already evacuated nearly all of the civilians," General Jack O'Neill reminded them as he played with the stylus from his computer. "Major Lorne reports they're settling well on the planet."
"We can't continue to depend on charity," Doctor Elizabeth Weir added grimly as she tried not to fidget. It had already taken more than an hour for the scientists to list everything that was wrong with the city and her back hurt again. She rubbed her lower back with her right hand but pulled her hand away before Jack caught her favoring anything. Putting both hands on the edge of the workbench in front of her, she tried to hide the wince in her eyes and stare seriously at Rodney. "When will the city be ready to support life again? We can't just dump our people on Ceol and hope for the best..."
"I'm not sure you're listening to me, Elizabeth," Rodney snapped irritably as he left the bench to pace behind them. Holding onto the edge of the table for support, he tried to clarify his point. "The internal stabilizers are shot; the best human minds in two galaxies are here and we don't know how to fix them. The city even rolls when it's not moving."
"We don't have the parts to fix it," Sam explained calmly as she tucked an errant strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "There are control crystals we can't duplicate, alloys we don't know how to construct. The Asgard are our best hope."
"So we're counting on them being buddies with the Ancients to help us?" Jack asked watching Rodney struggle to regain his chair. "We're just going to knock and hope they'll help us?"
"Pretty much," Sam agreed with her husband as she tried to smile. "There is one other option, but we'd rather keep that as a last resort."
"Last resort?" Jack repeated brightening up slightly as the promise of something more interesting than repairs came to his attention.
"We find the Replicator city," Radek began nervously. "They must have constructed a new one by now..."
"...we find it and take it over," Rodney interjected as he swallowed against his nausea. "The parts are basically interchangeable; we can take what we need from them..." He stopped and stood suddenly, covering his mouth, "I have to go, now."
"Go Rodney," Elizabeth said as she waved to the door. "It's okay," she finished as she looked over the pale faces of her team. Jack and Sam seemed mostly unperturbed; she supposed it came from piloting. Radek looked nearly as bad as Rodney had, but he was holding his own. Swallowing, she tried to relax and ignore the turning of her stomach. Carson continued to promise that the reoccurrence of her nausea was from the failure of the stabilizers instead of the child straining her waistline.
"We would rather not have to go after the Replicators for spare parts," Sam said for all of her team. "i really think the Asgard will be on our side, however..."
"Sam and I talked about it," Jack interrupted for his wife. "We'd like to use the Artemis as an escort for the city. Sam's worried about the stabilizers failing..."
"Teal'c and the Hera can travel back to the Milky Way just as well as the Artemis can," Sam agreed tightening her knuckles on the edge of the bench as the city leapt to the left. Jack grabbed the bench and Elizabeth's arm when she nearly lost her balance.
Smiling, but mildly irritated at the sudden desire of everyone to protect her, she held on tightly to the workbench until the city righted itself. Sam scrambled over to a computer, wedging herself in as the city dove again. "I'l try to fix it," she called over the sound of crystals and tools bouncing noisily to the floor.
This time Elizabeth was grateful for the strong arms of the general as he held her in place against the metal. Her stomach jumped into her throat and she felt even Jack swallow hard behind her ear. Atlantis rolled hard to the left and Jack tightened his grip. Radek struggled back to his feet from the floor and dug into the crystals beneath the bench. Replacing two of them with ones on the floor, he was able to right to the city for the moment.
Putting her head down, Elizabeth fought against the desire to empty her struggling stomach. Jack's hand brushed over her head as he let go of the bench. "You okay?" he whispered before moving on to his wife.
"Radek fixed it temporarily," Sam reported before she covered her mouth suddenly and stumbled out of the room.
"It'll hold awhile," Radek reported as he crawled out his hair was wild around his ears. "We need to get everything tied down; it's only going to get worse."
"Call up to command, get everyone who can handle the rolling on a crew to tie things down," Jack suggested as he saw Elizabeth tap her radio. "I'm going to check on Sam." It took her a moment to find her voice but she swallowed and sounded calm when she spoke.
"Chuck," she started as she took hold of the wall for support. "Get the marines and everyone who's still feeling all right and get them on a crew to tie everything down."
"Yes, Ma'am," the young man replied quickly. "Right away, Ma'am."
"Can you stop the city so we can get everyone through the gate?" Elizabeth asked Radek as he took over Sam's computer. Her fingers were sore from grabbing the bench and she tried to flex feeling back into them. Letting go was a dangerous prospect and she stumbled back, nearly losing her balance completely before Rodney hit her. He led her to the bench, holding tight to her arm until she had a grip again.
"We can stop it," he promised through pale lips. "But the city's got a lot of inertia, when we come out of hyperspace it's going to be a hell of a crash, we'll need everything tied down first, people too."
Radek nodded quickly as he moved aside to let Rodney in. "It'll take us some time to turn the dampeners up as high as we can," he promised when Elizabeth turned to him. "Give us an hour."
"Okay," Elizabeth replied as she patted his shoulder. "An hour, then we stop." She walked slowly, careful to keep her hand on a wall or something else solid. She saw Jack and Sam when she went through the door into the hallway. Sam was getting to her feet with Jack's arm around her shoulders. She knew the look in Sam's eyes and what it felt like to have her head and her stomach twisted until she couldn't tell which way was up.
"I've flown combat," Sam complained to her husband as she clung to his shoulder. "I've pulled thirteen G's and I can't handle a little bit of a roll in the deck."
Jack shrugged and helped her find her feet. "Sometimes things aren't what they should be," he offered gently as his hand caught her cheek. "You'll be fine, you'll keep McKay from killing us all and everything's going to be fine."
"What about you?" Sam asked softly, taking the stolen moment to kiss his cheek before he was too far away.
"I'm going to help Elizabeth and tie things down," Jack promised winking as he took a step away. "I've always been good at knots, you know that." Stopping for a moment he took a few steps back towards her and kissed her cheek. "Take care, Carter."
"Yes, sir," she promised weakly managing to smile as she headed for the door.
Her husband watched her go for a moment, then he reached for the wall by Elizabeth. "I'll stumble after you, if you don't mind," Jack teased as he fell in step behind her in the swaying corridor.
"Sam looks tired," she mentioned tentatively hoping she wasn't opening the door for more commentary on her own appearance. "Is she having trouble sleeping?" Elizabeth had seen it happen to nearly everyone. John hadn't complained, but even he was having trouble dragging himself out of bed.
"She's been tired," Jack agreed as his voice softened with concern. "But we're all tired," he finished as he caught the door controls and hung on as the city shifted. "It's not a simple mission."
"It never is," Elizabeth replied softly wondering if he ever thought his rescue was the reason her team and so many others were trapped on Atlantis.
"We're alive," he piped up behind her as he helped her into the transporter. "At the end of the day that's the best we can hope for." Once inside the rolling of the deck subsided somewhat as Elizabeth paused and reached for the glowing dot of the control room. Jack closed his eyes as they flew instantly through the city. When he opened them, Elizabeth was starting out into the control room. The city bucked, tossing him into her back, this time she surprised him and caught his arm, keeping him from knocking them both to the floor.
"Still here?" she teased as they both reached for the control console.
"Nice save," Jack retorted as he headed for a chair and relative safety.
"Chuck, any luck with the Marines?" Elizabeth asked as she caught the back of his chair. "Or Naval officers? They might be better off with the swell."
Chuck managed a wan smile. "The Daedalus is beaming over as many volunteers as they could find along with everything Colonel Caldwell thought would be useful to secure things," he reported as he struggled to maintain his composure.
"Good," Elizabeth favored the control room with a smile that warmed the room. "Let's get everything tied down."
Teyla woke in the center of an endless room. The air in her nose was wet and heavy as it poured into her lungs. She didn't remember when she'd passed out and time was running away without her notice. Her mind was quiet now without Michael's presence and the first thing she felt was a sense of confusion. She didn't belong in this room surrounded by Wraith.
She'd been able to sense them her entire life; feel them coming to take her people. Now she felt them all around her, and or the first time in her life that sensation filled her with warmth instead of mind-numbing fear. The minds around her were curious instead of foreboding. In the haze of whatever it was that held her intoxicated she could only guess how many Wraith surrounded her. Wraith minds were rarely distinct but one stood out. Like a spotlight in a field of candles, the queen mother dwarfed everything around her.
"Rise," the queen mother demanded in the chill voice Wraith only used for command.
Teyla felt the voice stir her, but she didn't have to move. She lifted her head enough to look at the area around her, but she didn't sit up.
"Good," the queen mother purred in a normal tone. "You can resist me." The queen mother drew closer; Teyla felt her hand settle hot on her shoulder. Power surged in that hand; reminding her that the mind behind it was the most powerful she'd touched. "What else can you do?"
Teyla grabbed the hand that held her and pulled as hard as she could. Using the leverage to right herself, she flipped up and onto her feet. In the space between a heartbeat, the queen mother attacked her. She dodged, forcing the haze out of her mind as she let her body take over. The queen mother had brute force, but Teyla was smaller, she slipped between blows and wormed her way inside of the queen mother's reach.
Listening to the queen mother's mind and letting her feelings wash over her like an angry storm, Teyla let go and became part of that storm. Her left hand forced the queen mother's head up, leaving her neck and chest vulnerable. Fighting purely on instinct, her right hand slammed into the queen mother's heaving chest with her palm flat on the warm skin.
The queen mother bared her blue-white teeth in a wicked smile of pride. "We are already in you," she said with a voice harsh with age, studying Teyla with open approval. "What we are has not been lost to the ravages of time."
As her head started to clear, Teyla realized she was staring into the jet black eyes of the oldest Wraith she had ever seen. Even with the incredible regenerative powers of the Wraith, the queen mother's skin was lined with age. Her lips were cracked and dry as she smiled again.
"Yes, you see it in me don't you?" the ancient queen mother sank back into her chair as if her fight with Teyla had taken what little energy she had left. "I was the first queen mother among queen mothers, I was born when Wraith lived on Atlantis with those you call Ancients, and my daughters built the hive ships that wiped them out." Her eyes ran slowly over Teyla's body as the tendrils of her mind worked their way into Teyla's most intimate thoughts.
"You are the leader of your people," the queen mother rasped in her ears and in her mind.
"The Wraith are not my people," Teyla snapped back as defiantly as she could and forced the queen mother from her mind.
Stilling smiling her toothy smile the queen mother closed her eyes and fought her way back into Teyla's mind. "Aren't they?" she insisted. "Our blood is in your veins, your mother was nearly one of us."
"I am not..." Teyla started to resist.
"A killer?" the queen mother asked as she waved that excuse aside with a withered hand. "A hunter?" Her head rolled back against her chair and her voice faded. When she lifted it again there was fire in her bottomless eyes. "You're not a monster?"
"I am not," Teyla spat back.
"Not yet," the queen mother's tone belied the nightmare to come.
At her signal Michael emerged from swarm behind her and laid his hands on her shoulders.
"When we were born we were strong," the queen mother explained with waning strength. "We were stronger than our makers and in time we overcame them. The strong feed upon the weak because the universe hungers for strength. We were strong then and now..."
"...we are fading," Michael finished for her. "Your people showed us that what was human in us still sleeps within us, and that humanity is not the weakness it once appeared to be."
"You will be queen," the queen mother intoned heavily as she stood from her throne. "You will lead the Wraith into a new age of strength."
Michael's hands were warm on her arms as he held her in place. "We need you, more than the Athosians or the people from Earth ever could. We need you to save us from weakness and teach us your strength."
Teyla's heart insisted she had to keep fighting, but the queen mother in her mind directed her to a new fight. She would fight for her people; keep them safe from all harm and teach the ways of the new world coming to into being.
The queen mother stalked down the steps towards her, lifting her hand to rest it in the center of Teyla's chest. "You have never had a child," the queen mother whispered in her ear. "Now, you will be mother to all before you. All Wraith, all of the galaxy will kneel at your feet."
The queen mother looked into her eyes with love and began to fill her with life. At first she felt no different, Teyla was used to her body pulsing with strength, but then she felt better. Far better than she had ever felt on the best day of her life, because she was stronger. Her mind opened to the thoughts of the Wrath around her and they filled her with harmony. For the first time in her life, all the voids in her heart were full.
Lifting her hand, she slammed it into the chest of the queen mother and began to feed.
John startled himself awake for the third time and bit his lip to make sure he stayed that way. His head hurt from the coffee he'd drank too quickly before his fourth turn in the chair. He'd heard Carson's warnings about mental fatigue and neurotransmitter depletion; he knew he should be more careful, but it was getting harder and harder to steer the city. Rodney was busy, Lorne was planet side already, and he couldn't hand the city over to just anyone. It needed a real pilot now, not just a babysitter with the ATA gene.
The ache in the back of his head blossomed into a pulsing knot of pain. He couldn't hold it anymore. The city was spiraling out of his control and there will still too many people on it. It wasn't safe.
"I can't hold it," he radioed up to control as he fought to keep panic out of his voice. If the city came out of hyperspace without the inertial dampeners everyone would be a splatter of liquid on the walls. He'd once pulled thirteen Gs coming out of a nasty dive and nearly blacked out. He remembered the feeling of lead blanketing his chest and the way his eyeballs had flattened back into their sockets. "Get everyone off the city now," he warned when no one answered him. "I can't..."
"John?" she asked irritably. He could picture her eyebrow tightening in frustration. "You're supposed to be sticking to the rotation. You're going to hurt yourself."
"I can't keep the city in hyperspace," he replied ignoring her concern. "Evacuate," his words caught in his throat.
Elizabeth's voice was nervous beneath the calm she always summoned. "John, we know, Sam and Rodney..."
"...we think we can extend the dampening field on the Hera to ease the city out of hyperspace," Rodney snapped quickly. "I need you to hold it..."
"I..." John began as he swallowed and tried to ignore the hot trail of blood on his upper lip.
"John, it's all right," Elizabeth soothed over the radio. "They almost have it, just a little bit..."
"...beam everyone off the city," he demanded again as he swallowed against the metallic taste in his mouth. "Right now," that panic was in his voice now. "Elizabeth..."
"Rodney's getting it," she promised softly. "It'll be all right." Her forced calm rang through his ears in sharp contrast with the screaming in his brain. If the city fell out of hyperspace he might survive, the chair room was better shielded than any other, but control wouldn't be safe.
"Get out of there," he nearly screamed at her.
Wincing as she watched Rodney's and Sam's hands fly over computer controls Elizabeth bit her lip. "It's okay John," she promised again, wishing she believed herself. "They can do it."
This time there was no response, only the heightened sense of things that only came when death was imminent. John felt sweat creep down his forehead, and tasted bitter blood as it crept over his lips. He shook his head, hoping vainly it would clear the pain in his mind. Some headaches attacked from outside, but this one came from the core of his mind, burning through every part of his head. He fought the pain a moment longer before his vision and everything else in his mind went white.
"We're losing the inertial dampeners," Sam announced grimly trying to keep some kind of calm. "We can't remain in hyperspace more than a few milliseconds after they fail."
"Can you ease us out?" Jack asked hopefully as he looked over her shoulder. "Coast on out of harm's way?"
"We aren't waterskiing!" Rodney snapped as his fingers flew over the Ancient controls. "We can't just..." he stopped short and stared at Sam.
She kept working for a moment before she looked at him. "Rodney?" she wondered hopefully.
"Coast..." he repeated as his eyes grew large. "We need an eddy, a calmer place in hyperspace, somewhere we can..." he mimed slowly down gently with his hands as he continued, "...slide out easily."
"The shield," Sam realized as she nodded and moved to another control panel. "We use the shield to make an eddy in hyperspace and slide into it."
"Simple," Jack nodded sagely and leaned against the top of the panel as he stared proudly at his wife. "Just like that," he added as he tilted his head towards Elizabeth. The grip of her hand on his startled him.
Touching her commlink nervously in her ear Elizabeth bit her lip before she whispered to him, "John's stopped responding."
"We probably just lost the radio," Jack assured her as he stared at the smaller fingers covering his. Patting her hand nervously in return, he watched as McKay and Carter looked up in unison.
"Hang on," Sam advisedly seriously. "This might be a little weird."
The shield flashed blue through the miasma of color that was hyperspace outside the glass windows of the control room for a moment before everything around them slowed. The city shivered, as if the great structure was drawing breath to sneeze. The dancing colors crept to a halt before the city sighed and fell back into the darkness of normal space.
Metal creaked and groaned as Atlantis settled and stopped. Elizabeth felt the floor quiver beneath her feet as everything calm to a halt around her.
Rodney's shoulders relaxed in relief and he managed a smile. "We seem to be okay," he exclaimed for all of them as he looked around.
"The city is intact," Sam agreed less enthusiastically. "But we've completely destroyed the inertial dampeners and weakened many of the shield emitters. The city was in rough shape before, now..." she sighed and ran a hand through her mussed blonde hair. "We're dead in the water. i don't even know where to start fixing things."
Rodney sank into a chair and closed his eyes as he rubbed his temples. "It's possible the Asgard could help us patch the city together enough to reach their space dock, but we're still looking at months of repairs."
"Months?" Elizabeth asked in surprise as she caught her hand on her stomach. The though that her child was going to be born somewhere other than Atlantis made her uneasy. The refugee camps were supposed to be temporary.
"Do you have any idea how little we still understand these systems when they're working correctly?" Rodney asked rhetorically as he dragged himself out of the chair. "Sam and I will do the best we can to stabilize the city, but you're going to have to get everyone to Ceol or on a ship until we find someone who knows a hell of a lot more about Ancient technology than we do."
"We'll start getting ready to evacuate then," Jack agreed with a shrug as he reached for Sam's shoulder. "Good work," he offered as he winked cheerfully.
She looked up for a moment and managed half a smile. "Thanks," she replied before she went back to work.
Elizabeth beat him to the transporter. "I need to check on John," she explained softly as she reached for the lower level on the transporter. Resting her hand on her hip was less effective than it had been a month ago and she ended up with her hand on her belly instead.
"Anything moving yet?" Jack asked curiously as he leaned back against the wall.
Her eyes widened for a moment and she shook her head slowly. "Is that supposed to be...?" Elizabeth wondered shyly biting her lip.
"You've got to be pushing five months by now," he continued as the doors hissed open for them. Eyeing her thoughtfully, Jack grinned. "Even with your figure, the kid's gaining on you," he teased and touched her shoulder. "The kid moving around is one of the weirdest things..." he trailed off as he watched her eyebrows tighten. "What?"
"I've been too busy to sit down and talk one of the doctors," Elizabeth explained with a nervous sigh, "I keep feeling like there are all these things I should know, that everyone else seems to know already."
Her hair tumbled loosely over her shoulders and Jack wondered the last time she'd cut it. "It was difficult enough for me to schedule Sara's appointments around my duties, I can't imagine trying to do it when your doctor gets kidnapped and your home is falling apart," he soothed as he stopped her just outside the transporter. "Having a baby's not rocket science," he advised as he scratched his grey head. "They pretty much have themselves."
"I hope he or she doesn't have to raise herself too," she remarked darkly as she followed him down the too silent hallway. Atlantis was becoming a tomb around them, crumbling in beyond their ability to heal her.
"You'll be fine," Jack promised gruffly. "You'll be in good company," he added awkwardly patting her shoulder. "Lots of people, stuck in tents, nothing better to do..."
Raising an eyebrow at him, Elizabeth managed half a smile before they arrived in the doorway to the chair room. It was dark and the corners ate what little light had been in the hallway. She heard the snapping of velcro as Jack fished something from his pocket, than he shone light on the chair.
"John," she whispered as she pushed past Jack through the light. John's eyes were open as he stared up at the ceiling but he didn't move to look at her as she grabbed his shoulder. "John!" she called as she shook him.
Jack grabbed his radio and started to ask for a medical team. "His pulse is strong," he reported as he aimed the tiny flashlight down on John's still face. His eyelids didn't even twitch.
"He's not responding to stimuli," Elizabeth added as she shook her head. "I told you to get out of there," she whispered running a hand through his dark hair. "Medical?" she demanded.
"Coming from the Daedalus," Jack promised softly.
"Why aren't they beaming him out?" her voice cracked as she fought to control it.
"He might still be connected to the chair," Jack warned as he switched his flashlight to his other hand. "Carter's not sure, she wants a medical team to look here before we do anything. He's probably just unconscious."
"Right," she agreed without conviction. Elizabeth could feel the gentle rise and fall of john chest beneath her hand. "I thought I'd start to get accustomed," she admitted as she pulled her hand away to fidget with her sleeve. "Get a thicker skin, you know?" she finished and bit her lip.
"He's just unconscious," Jack reminded her roughly. "No starting down that path,"
"You're right," she shook her head and feebly agreed but her hands shook as she ran them over her hair. She strained her ears listening for the sounds of boots in the corridor. "Does the chair still have power?"
Jack knelt, groaning slightly as his knees creaked. "I'm not the right half of me to be repairing Ancient devices, my smarter half is still in the control room," his complaining went unnoticed as Elizabeth's eyes ran over the crystals inside the panel.
Reaching for a blackened crystal inside, she yanked her hand back when the blistering surface touched her skin. "It's actually burned out, all through here..." she murmured as Jack moved out of her way.
"Be careful," he warned as he dragged himself back to his feet. "It's not just you you're electrocuting."
She hissed in frustration around the burned fingers in her mouth. "I'm the leader, I'm supposed to have scientists to do this for me," she muttered and used her sleeve to pull the damaged crystal free. It shattered on the floor, collecting around her boots in dusky shards. Elizabeth wracked her brain and tried to remember which one of the blue crystals she could steal to replace the burned one. Choosing one, she slipped into slot and jumped back when the panel came to light.
"What did you do?" Jack demanded as he assisted her up to her feet.
'"I think I bypassed the secondary neural interface," Elizabeth brushed fine dust from her pants and watched the newly repaired lights flicker around them. "At least I think it was the secondary neural..."
John coughed and Elizabeth pushed past the General so quickly he had to move back out of her path. He coughed again and his hand twitched up towards his mouth.
John remembered the blinding pain in his head and the desperate notion that he was going to fail everyone counting on him in the city. His eyes hurt too much for him to open them more than a slit. Hands he knew rushed over his face.
"When did you get down here?" he teased in as he started to find his voice.
"Someone had to check on you," Elizabeth offered dryly as she caught the general escaping out of the corner of her eye. John's hand flopped over the arm of the chair and she brought it to her chest. "You got kind of quiet on me there for awhile. Jack was worried about you."
He started to laugh but ended up trapped in a coughing fit. "Feel like hell," John rasped when he finally regained his breath.
"You really did some damage to the chair," Elizabeth told him as she ran her hand down his arm. "Fried a crystal or two."
"I'll stop by the hardware store and get a new one," John offered sarcastically.
The tears she usually managed to keep away stung her eyes as she tried to picture him driving a puddle jumper into a parking lot. "I expect it," Elizabeth agreed as she remembered how to smile down at him. "A little less heroics less time would be nice as well," she sighed the knot out of her chest when the medics finally arrived in the doorway.
"I thought the hero got the girl," John murmured back as he tried to keep the blackness in the back of his head at bay.
"I don't know if you've noticed," Elizabeth leaned close enough that the feeling of her hair against his cheek overrode his headache for a moment. "John," she continued, "I think you have me."