Action/Adventure, Week 2: These Forsaken Demons
Title: These Forsaken Demons
Author: lullabymoon
Genre: Action/Adventure
Prompt: Aliens
Word Count: 8745
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mild violence
Summary: They really should know by now that abandoned Ancient facilities are abandoned for a reason, especially the ones that aren't in the database.
Notes: Set roughly mid-S3. Thanks to C for the beta.
Art by syble4
They changed positions, Reed joining Lorne up front, Radek handing Elizabeth his tablet as he reached for his gun. They walked forwards another few yards, guns at the ready as the Wraith rounded the corner.
They opened fire the second they saw it coming, but it moved fast, faster and getting closer to them by the second.
The noise of the three P0's firing full blast at the Wraith filled the corridor and Elizabeth winced at the volume, panic starting to rise as the Wraith kept coming forward. The hail of bullets continued and still it kept coming. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, ready to move when Lorne shouted "Retreat!" and she turned back down the corridor, trying to move fast enough so that she didn't hold anyone back. Behind her she could still hear the Wraith moving, and Lorne or Reed shooting occasionally, trying to slow it down.
Twelve hours earlier.
"Elizabeth! This planet is perfect! Sensor readings indicate there could be a ZPM and a whole host of other Ancient technology."
"I'm not disputing that, Rodney, I'm telling you that you won't be going."
"Elizabeth!"
"Rodney, you broke your ankle yesterday and the scout pictures indicate it's an old version of Ancient so I'll be going along to translate." He opened his mouth to argue. "Therefore Colonel Sheppard will be in command of Atlantis and I'll be taking Major Lorne's team with me." She added.
"Which scientist are you taking?"
"I'll be taking Radek with me. Don't worry, Rodney, you can go over the data with him when we get back."
"But Elizabeth!"
"No, Rodney," she spoke sharply. "Your team has a disturbing tendency for things to go wrong around Ancient technology," Teyla coughed delicately and John glared at her, "and Carson wants you off your feet for the next day or two. Once things in the facility have been cleared and Carson releases you back to light duty, then you can go."
"Are you sure you don’t want to take extra back up?" John butted in and Elizabeth sighed in exasperation.
"Standard off world procedure will be fine, John." John opened his mouth to speak again but she cut him off. "Ronan can come with us and you can have a team on standby as per procedure but that's all." Elizabeth raised an eyebrow as she stared at him.
He eventually nodded in agreement and she carried on. "Does anyone else have anything else they would like to bring up?" She looked around the table at everyone. "Well then this briefing is over. Ronan, I'll see you in the gate room in two hours." She smiled and Ronan nodded before they scattered.
Elizabeth finished with the zip on her vest as Ronan jumped down the steps to join them in front of the gate. "So what's the deal?"
Elizabeth smiled slightly, "Well if you had been awake during the briefing…" She teased. Ronan smirked back. "Rodney was whining. I don’t listen then."
Elizabeth bit her lip to stop laughing before explaining. "We found an Ancient facility on a planet that's not in the database. There are some surrounding structures we haven't seen before as well as some writing on the external walls that isn't quite familiar so we're checking it out."
Ronan nodded. "Can't see what Sheppard was worked up about."
She smiled wryly. "I think he was thinking of his own experiences."
Ronan grinned widely and they turned to see John standing in her own traditional position. She waved as the gate activated before turning back to see Lorne head through the gate, Coughlin, Reed and Radek following him through. Then it was her turn, Ronan a step behind her as she stepped through the event horizon.
The planet was fairly standard for a former Ancient outpost. Trees surrounded the gate, the sky was blue and the sun shone high above them. The air smelled slightly different then it did on Atlantis but then it always did. Lorne took the lead, and they stayed in the formation they had come through the gate as they headed towards the facility, hidden from view by the trees. Elizabeth was mainly silent on the journey, enjoying the chance to off world without an emergency as she listened to the banter the team was exchanging. She tried not to laugh as Ronan and Coughlin bantered about which of them would win in a fight.
The hike passed quickly and they paused for some sensor readings before they entered the facility, Elizabeth taking the opportunity to catch her breath again.
Situated at the base of one of the mountains, the facility's original disguise was impressive. From where they were standing it looked very much like a natural outcropping of rock and the only reason they had discovered it at all was the addition of the different alien technology that had been picked up by sensors. Further investigation had shown the form of Ancient around the entrance that had piqued their interest.
Inside, it looked very much like an Ancient outpost. Earlier period, Elizabeth mused out loud, given it's similarity to Atlantis, more like a work of art than some of the more functional facilities they had come across. They spread out, looking around the main entrance as Radek brought out his PDA and tapped into the data point hidden behind a panel. He muttered under his breath slightly as he fiddled with it. A minute passed before he looked up. "Got the map, but the panel isn't connected to the main system." He said as he unplugged himself and put the cable back into a pocket.
"Which way, Doc?" Lorne asked as he continued to look around the hall, gun at the ready.
"This way," Radek nodded towards the left hand passage. The light from the entrance didn’t penetrate far down the corridor and there was a brief flurry of movement as everyone got out their flash lights and fixed them to their guns. "The map shows a terminal not too far where I should be able to get into the main system and see if there is power."
They automatically glanced at Elizabeth, who nodded and they started down the corridor. Quickly, the corridor twisted to the left again and with no windows to the outside, they lost the last of the natural light. With only the flashlights for light, they carried on, their beams catching the edges of the panels on the walls and creating an uneasy atmosphere.
Coughlin spoke up. "It's kinda creepy," and Elizabeth smiled as he echoed her thoughts.
Ronan snorted. "You're just a scaredycat." The rest of the group shared a hastily covered laugh at this.
"You've been spending too much time around certain people." Elizabeth added and she could tell Ronan was smiling without turning her head.
Coughlin spoke up again. "I've just read too many mission reports about dark, abandoned ruins."
"Would help if we were in ruins though." Reed spoke up and Lorne snickered before breaking into the conversation.
"Boys,"
This seemed to be a fairly regular occurrence because they took it easily and Elizabeth noticed they hadn't altered their stance or readiness throughout the conversation. "Major!" Radek called out and he stopped.
"You find the station?"
Radek nodded and he placed his PDA in his pocket, handed his torch to Elizabeth and started to pull the panel off the wall. Coughlin moved forward to help, Ronan and Reed standing guard.
Radek tapped the panel a few times, connected his tablet and frowned. "Elizabeth, I don't think this is translating right," She crowded towards the panel, running her finger along the text as she read.
A minute past before she spoke. "It looks like the same writing as on the outside walls. Definitely an early form of Ancient so I'll need to tweak the translation program. If you can give me light…"
"Of course, the technology is essentially the same as in Atlantis." He fiddled with his computer a bit more and the lights flickered before coming on, although not as bright as they were used to in Atlantis. They waited until they stabilised, then switched off their flash lights.
"What's with the lights?" Reed asked before the rest of them could.
"I'm checking the power levels now." Radek frowned at the screen again. "It doesn't look to be powered by a ZPM - it must be some sort of secondary power system that I don't recognise yet."
"Any life signs showing up?" Lorne asked.
"No."
Elizabeth swung her pack off her back and pulled out her tablet. She handed it to Radek. "If you can download any logs you can access, I should be able to help." Radek nodded and quickly changed the connections.
While he was doing so, Lorne spoke, "Radek, you go to the main power room, Coughlin and Reed you go with him. See if you can figure out the power. Ronan and I will take Doctor Weir to the main lab, see if she can get a head start on updating the translator so we can figure out what this place is." He paused, then looked to Elizabeth as if to double check that was okay. She nodded slightly and he carried on. He pulled his own PDA out of a vest pocket and handed it to Radek, who had just handed Elizabeth's tablet back to her. "If you could load a map…?"
Radek nodded and a minute later handed it back. They waited while Radek and Coughlin replaced the panel and then they walked along the corridor until they reached a junction. Looking at their maps, they needed to split, Radek, Reed and Coughlin turning right into another long corridor, Elizabeth, Ronan and Lorne heading up the staircase straight in front of them.
The staircase made no noise as they climbed, despite its age and the halls of the next level were just as quiet.
One or two of the lights were flickering and humming as if on their last legs and Elizabeth couldn't help but take a step closer to Lorne. Ronan noticed and pulled up closer from behind her without saying a word. She switched on her flashlight again and swung it around the corridor, reaching onto the darkened crevices that the lights didn't reach. "I don't see any signs of other technology."
"Maybe they didn't change anything cosmetic, I mean you can't always tell from the corridors in Atlantis that there is other technology."
She nodded, "True," and continued looking about. They turned left into another corridor, pausing partway down as Lorne rechecked his PDA. "It shouldn't be too much longer. Looks like it's 200 metres in this direction."
"Yeah but how much walking is that?" Ronan asked.
"Not much more, the corridor is pretty straight."
True enough they walked a little further, round a corner and then stopped in front of a door. Lorne checked his PDA for lifesigns. He nodded to show it was clear but brought his gun up at the ready, Ronan doing the same. Elizabeth waited until Lorne nodded again and swiped her hand over the door crystals. She stood back while they entered the lab, sweeping it just to make sure it was empty. She stepped in when they both lowered their guns.
The lab was similar in style to the rest of the facility but here and there there were obvious signs of other technology. Elizabeth walked over and gingerly touched one of the control panels. Nothing happened. "Radek," she touched her earpiece. "Are you in the power distribution centre yet?"
"We have just arrived. I need to check but it looks as if there is only minimal power to important functions at the moment."
Elizabeth nodded. "Understood." She sat on a nearby stool, slightly too short for her but she focussed on getting her tablet out her kit again. "If you two want to check out some more of the facility while I update the translation programme?" She smiled and Ronan grunted. Lorne raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't want you to get bored." She added.
Lorne grinned. "I wouldn't worry about that, Ma'am."
Elizabeth smiled again and Lorne took out a power bar, hand resting on his P90 as Ronan began to peer into the closets. She settled own to work, only really looking up when the lights flickered slightly. She finished soon after, calling Radek again and transmitting the updated programme to him. The comm. crackled a minute later. "I've got the update, Dr Weir, we should be up and running shortly."
"Okay, Radek." Elizabeth signed off and slid off her perch, leaving her bag where it was as she started to wander around the room. The lights continued to flicker occasionally as she wandered, casting shadows that darted out of the corner of her eye and made her stand just a little bit straighter. Ronan showed no sign of them affecting him but she could see Lorne grip his gun just a little tighter, stand a bit more at attention.
Her inspection of the walls showed nothing more than Lantean technology and she moved onto the consoles dotted around the room. There still wasn't enough power for them to light up, but on the centre console there was what looked to be a small tablet computer that activated when she touched the screen. She caught a glimpse of a language that wasn't Ancient, though it looked like it had a familiar base but she couldn't determine anything more before the power depleted and the screen died. She started to look up at the ceiling, finding one or two wires that looked like they had been added in later, only stopping when the lights failed, plunging them into complete darkness. Her hand automatically touched her earpiece even as Lorne and Ronan flipped their flashlights on and held their guns in firing position. "Lieutenant Reed? Is everything alright."
"Dr Zelenka is fighting with the power system, Ma'am. We're not sure yet but his muttering isn't too loud."
Elizabeth had to fight to suppress a smile.
"The main power source is nearly depleted, Dr Weir, just enough for the lights and the emergency consoles. There is another alien power source though which looks to have been wired in in the past. I'm about to reinitialize it now." Radek spoke up.
"Excellent, Radek. When you think it's stable come join us in the lab."
"Yes, Dr Weir." The radios turned silent again and Elizabeth touched the screen of the console in front of her to check again. She sighed when nothing happened.
Ronan stood still from his circuit around the room and looked relaxed. "Rooms clear."
Elizabeth looked up at him, then across at Lorne, who, in the torchlight, looked amused. "We need to check the perimeter. I was going to send Coughlin and Reed when they got here but you could get a head start." Lorne suggested and Ronan nodded.
"Great." He started to head towards the door.
"Be careful," Elizabeth warned and Ronan grinned as the door shut behind him. Elizabeth sighed and exchanged another weary look with Lorne. They sat in the near darkness of their flashlights for another couple of minutes before the lights flared to life again, brighter than before, steadier too, and the consoles beeped as they were powered up.
This time when she ran her fingers over the sensor, the screen activated.
"Good work, Radek, do you have any idea how long the power will last?" She managed to refrain from touching the console again until he replied.
"It looks to be a solar based power system so provided the batteries hold we should have almost unlimited power for the moment."
"What condition are the batteries in?"
"Well, the access shaft is on the other side of the facility but, eh, the power readings indicate they are working."
"Okay, we'll see you shortly then." She looked back at the console, activating it fully and Lorne smirked at her enthusiasm before he joined her. There was a slight lull as she connected her tablet and ran the updated translation programme.
"It's definitely some sort of research lab," she started thinking out loud. "The early entries are about the set up of the facility, although there are some references to subjects gathered for testing."
"Subjects?" Lorne looked queasy and gripped his P90 tighter.
"It doesn't say yet, let me skip ahead slightly." She accessed the data results rather than the log and there was a slight lag as the translation kicked in.
"I'm not a scientist but those look like wraith to me." Lorne said when the data showed on the screen.
"It does." Another few finger taps and more data showed up on screen. "I'll need Radek to go over this but it looks like they were experimenting on wraith DNA." She frowned. "The Iratus bug as well." She was silent as she looked back at the logs. "If the Wraith are the subjects they are talking about then it looks as if they were trying to create a retrovirus."
"Thought you needed Zelenka to go over it?" Lorne teased slightly.
She looked slyly at him. "More like I can remember Carson's briefings on his research." They shared a grin before she looked back at the screen. "I wonder how successful they were." She scrolled down, trying to find the last entry whilst Lorne spoke.
"Can't imagine they were, given this place is abandoned and the Wraith are still out there." She smiled abstractly at his comment as she continued to work. She lifted her hands off the console, a soft "whoa" escaping her as the text suddenly changed. "What is that?" Lorne asked.
"It's another language, which explains the additions we've seen outside and Radek spotted." She frowned and lost herself in thought. "It looks like the language I caught a glimpse of on the tablet."
Lorne picked the tablet up and fiddled. "Whatever it is, it's definitely dead."
At that, the doors whooshed open and Elizabeth jumped, Lorne standing straighter. They relaxed again when the rest of their group walked into the lab.
"What's dead?" Coughlin asked, looking hopeful.
"Nothing to get excited about," Lorne replied and Coughlin looked disappointed. "Just some of the equipment." He smirked at the looks of boredom showing on Coughlin and Reed's faces. "I want you two to check out the rest of the facility. Now the lights are on properly, it shouldn't be so creepy." Coughlin grimaced slightly and Reed smirked at him. "Ronan is already out there so don't panic immediately if you see another lifesign." They both nodded and looked a little more animated as they headed out the door.
That left Radek standing beside the door, though he quickly moved over to join them. He placed his backpack down eagerly as he leaned over the panel.
"From the logs and data I looked at, it looks like the Ancients were working on a Wraith retrovirus. The logs change language halfway through though and I've not had time to start the new translation yet." Elizabeth scrolled down and showed him. "Did any of the technology in the power room have this?"
Radek nodded. "The additional power system looked like it had this language." He pulled out his PDA. "These are some of the schematics I worked from. Would it help the translation if I added notes for the technology I recognised?"
"That would be great, Radek. Once you have done that, could you read through the logs and see what else there is? The power system integration would be particularly helpful, although that might have to wait until I manage to understand some of the language."
Radek nodded again and they set to work, Lorne settling down on a stool, P90 at hand.
They worked comfortably for several hours, Coughlin, Reed and Ronan all rotating in and out at one point or another. When she stopped for a break, Lorne took the chance to speak to her. "How's it going?"
Elizabeth sighed. "Fortunately it seems to be a bastardised phonetic version of the Ancient language, rather than a completely new language. Radek's notes have helped a great deal as well. Of course, now comes the true test."
Lorne took a guess. "Seeing if you can read the logs?"
Elizabeth laughed. "I'm hoping for some phrases, words to match data but nothing very much at this stage." Lorne looked a little disappointed so she carried on. "Every bit helps with the translation though."
"Right," Lorne nodded and left her too it again. She inputted her rough translations into her tablet and began running them through the logs to see what popped up. Meanwhile, Radek had started muttering under his breath so Elizabeth took it as a sign to interrupt before he got too carried away.
"Anything interesting in the logs?"
"It's all about there research into the wraith DNA. Some of their experiments are fascinating, at least from a technological standpoint. I believe I may have found the use for one or two pieces of equipment back on Atlantis that had us stumped."
"Really?" Elizabeth leaned closer.
"This here?" Radek pointed at a diagram on the screen. "There is an identical machine in one of the unused labs in Atlantis. The use in the logs suggests that it genetically modifies DNA far more efficiently than any of our methods."
"Can you figure out how it works? I'm sure Carson would love to get his hands on it."
"Not yet, but I have been focusing on the logs themselves."
Elizabeth nodded. "Well, it's certainly good data to have. What do the logs say?"
"The last few entries say they had no success in their experiments, and the last entry before the language change simply says their resources are being redirected."
Elizabeth looked thoughtful. "It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Just how desperate they must have been to abandon this lab and their research on the Wraith." They stood in silence for a minute as they mulled that over.
Radek broke the silence. "It looks like their research was geared towards mutating the Wraith back into an Iratus bug like creature. The initial research took place over a period of four months before it was abandoned. I do not think they got as far as they wanted to but you would need Dr Beckett to go over the data to tell you more information."
"Okay." She glanced down at the logs, looking lost in thought for a moment before looking back at Radek. "Why don’t you have another look at the power system? Solar power would be perfect for Atlantis."
Radek brightened and she had to resist the urge to smile. She looked over at Lorne and he nodded as he hit his headset. "Coughlin, I want you to meet Dr Zelenka back at the main power room. Make sure he doesn't try to blow himself up." This last was said with a teasing glance at Radek, who merely pulled a face and muttered under his breath. Lorne smiled and Elizabeth couldn't help but join in. Her tablet beeped at her, distracting her from the banter and she buried herself back in her translations.
She looked up again a couple of hours later when Ronan returned and leaned against the wall to eat a power bar.
"Anything to keep you interested?" She asked with a small smile.
Ronan shrugged. "Mostly like Atlantis. Getting dark outside though." Elizabeth checked her watch at this.
"Check in should be next hour. How do you feel about a run?"
Ronan grinned. "Trying to keep me busy?"
Elizabeth smiled wryly. "I've seen what happens when you get bored." Ronan's grin turned wolfish and he bit into his power par with gusto. She bent back down to her translation, working through some of the kinks that were left, tweaking things here and there but gradually becoming more satisfied with it.
"Anything interesting?"
"What from I can translate, it looks like they carried on the Ancient's research. They don't appear to have had any more success than the Ancients, in fact it seems they made things worse." She kept scrolling through the logs, frowning when she came across one of the last entries.
Ronan stood straighter. "What?"
"Did you see any stasis chambers when you were searching?"
"Couple empty ones four levels down."
"Where exactly?"
Ronan joined her as she brought up the schematic. He pointed to an area four levels down and Elizabeth swore under her breath. "And they were definitely empty?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"According to the log, the experiments had the opposite effect of what they were looking for so whoever took over stored the enhanced Wraith in stasis before they abandoned the lab themselves."
"Enhanced Wraith?"
"The experiments with the Wraith DNA were to try and revert the Wraith back to an earlier stage in their evolution, back to an Iratus bug. Unfortunately, whoever took over the lab only managed to enhance the Wraith, making them stronger, harder to kill and less, well I suppose reasonable is the word."
"Wraith aren't reasonable."
Elizabeth paused for a moment then replied. "I suppose not but these Wraith seem to be less… sentient I think is a better word. Evan?" She turned to Lorne, who had busied himself on his PDA as she was talking.
"I'm not picking anything up on the life signs detector, but they could be out of range."
"Get Coughlin and Reed,"
"On it, Ma'am." Lorne tapped his earpiece. "Coughlin, Reed, be advised we have Wraith on the loose. Can you pick them up on your life signs detector?" He waited for an answer then spoke to Elizabeth. "Nothing. How many are we looking at?"
"Two. One is significantly more enhanced than the other, although they are both much stronger than an ordinary Wraith."
He murmured the information into his ear piece then looked back at Elizabeth. "If Radek can get the full sensors up and running then it would make things easier."
Elizabeth nodded. "Let him know. Then, we should regroup as soon as possible. According to the logs, 10 men died before they could get them into stasis."
"Why'd they bother with stasis?" Ronan spoke up.
Elizabeth shook her head. "I'm not sure…" She paled as she read further. "It, it appears that they couldn't kill them so they put them in stasis before the abandoned the planet."
"Idiots." Ronan grumbled.
"It's possible the stasis failed long ago, but I would still feel more comfortable knowing for sure." She tapped her earpiece. "Radek?"
"I'm about to bring the sensors online now." He paused. "Sensors active." They waited impatiently. "I'm picking up two Wraith signatures."
Lorne turned to Ronan. "Head back to Atlantis and bring back a squad of marines and as many functioning Wraith stunners as we have." Ronan ran to the door in acknowledgement but stopped as the door slid shut in front of him. He waved his hand over the sensor panel, growled when nothing happened.
"Radek?" Elizabeth asked.
"It looks like detecting the Wraith activated some sort of emergency lock down."
"How much of a lockdown?"
"It looks like a full lockdown. All the internal doors have shut and it looks like the external entrances are locked as well."
"And the computers? I can still access the logs from this terminal."
"Certain terminals are locked out, however it appears the lockdown has been altered."
"Altered in any way useful, Doc?" Lorne butted in.
"It's the same language as the second logs. From the results of the modification I would say whoever took it over wanted to still have some control if their subjects escaped."
Ronan kicked the wall at this. "Anything we can use?"
"I'm running Dr Weir's translation program just now. I'll need to see the precise alterations before I can start to alter it myself."
Silence fell as they let Radek work uninterrupted. Lorne started to work on the console in front of him and after a few minutes said. "I've managed to bring up the main sensor display here." Ronan stalked over and peered at the screen.
"Where are they?"
Lorne frowned and pressed the screen a couple of times. "One is two floors down, there," he pointed at one red dot, "the other is on this floor, on the other side of the facility." Lorne looked thoughtful for a minute. "Is there any way to tell them apart?" He looked at Elizabeth as he asked.
She read through more of the logs. "The Wraith they had the most difficulty with was the one with a slightly higher percentage of Iratus bug DNA." She paused, continuing to read. "It's looks like they had some different mutations and abilities." She looked at Lorne. "Can you calibrate the sensors that accurately?"
Lorne nodded. "They're the same as Atlantis' and Radek's shown me."
"Good." Elizabeth brought up the data on screen. "These are the latest readings I can find." Lorne nodded and started working.
Another minute passed, Ronan getting more and more restless, until the door finally hissed open and Radek's voice came through their earpieces.
"I'm managed to unlock the internal doors. The external doors are part of the original code and I'll need more time."
"Thank you, Radek. Can you work on it on your tablet?"
"Yes."
"Good, we'll meet you there in a few minutes."
Lorne turned to Ronan, who was on the verge of disappearing out into the corridor. "Come with us, then you can take Coughlin with you while you search." Ronan looked unimpressed but Elizabeth looked at him and he acquiesced. She quickly grabbed her tablet, disconnecting it and putting it in her backpack as they made their way out the door into the corridor.
The silence as they walked towards the main power room was different from before, the journey no longer a leisurely stroll taking in their surroundings but a march with a more urgent purpose. Ronan and Lorne were on alert for anything and Elizabeth couldn't help but tense up in response, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when the lights dimmed.
"Radek?" Elizabeth almost whispered into her earpiece.
"The sensors are requiring a large amount of power, and it's starting to affect the reserves in the batteries. Now night has fallen, they are no longer being charged."
"Understood." Now she knew why the lights had dimmed she wasn't as tense, though she still felt a little fear gripping her insides.
The rest of the walk was equally as tense, not knowing precisely where the Wraith were at the moment or even how fast they could move taking it's toll on their nerves.
It was with a sense of relief that the power room door slid shut behind them but Lorne still took the precaution of taking out a crystal from the sensor mechanism. The door disabled, he handed his PDA to Radek. "I've managed to calibrate the sensors to the two different Wraith, can you sync the main sensors to this?"
Radek nodded. "Yes, yes, just give me a minute." He rummaged in his backpack for another cable then attached the PDA to the centre console. A minute later, he disconnected it and handed it back to Lorne. Lorne nodded in thanks then handed the PDA to Coughlin.
"You and Ronan take this Wraith," he pointed to the bright red dot on the screen, "be careful, according to Dr Weir, it's the most mutated and a lot stronger than a normal Wraith." Coughlin nodded as he took it.
"Yes, Sir."
Lorne walked over and replaced the crystal, letting the two men out with one last 'be careful' directed at Ronan, then pulled the crystal when the door shut again. Radek in the meantime had synced his PDA with the main sensors and was in the process of putting the cable back in his pack.
"You have the lockdown program on your tablet?" Elizabeth asked as Radek handed the PDA to Lorne.
Radek nodded. "I can work on it as we are moving."
"How long will you need?"
Radek shrugged. "Depends, but I think an hour at most."
"Okay. Will the sensors last that long?"
Radek paused. "Well, I've turned off all extraneous power uses, I've dimmed the lights are far as reasonable to hunt Wraith and most of the computer terminals I've disconnected, so," he screwed his face up in thought, "I would say yes."
"If it takes longer than an hour, then Atlantis should try to contact us to see why we missed our check in." Lorne said.
"When is our check in?" Radek asked.
Lorne looked at his watch. "Five minutes ago."
"We shouldn't have to hold out for too long then either way." Radek sounded happier at this and they walked out of the power lab, pausing as Lorne reactivated the door controls. He looked thoughtful as the door closed on the room, then pulled the crystal from the door mechanism and put it in his pocket.
Elizabeth nodded. "We don't want them getting in there."
With that, they set off down the corridor, Lorne in front, Reed bringing up the rear and Radek beside her, working away on his tablet.
They followed Lorne through the corridors, heading towards their Wraith, no one uttering a sound, all utterly alert.
The silence was broken when Lorne swore softly. "Reed, Radek, get ready. It's heading straight towards us and the sensor shows it moving much faster than normal."
They changed positions, Reed joining Lorne up front, Radek handing Elizabeth his tablet as he reached for his gun. They walked forwards another few yards, guns at the ready as the Wraith rounded the corner.
They opened fire the second they saw it coming, but it moved fast, faster and getting closer to them by the second.
The noise of the three P0's firing full blast at the Wraith filled the corridor and Elizabeth winced at the volume, panic starting to rise as the Wraith kept coming forward. The hail of bullets continued and still it kept coming. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, ready to move when Lorne shouted "Retreat!" and she turned back down the corridor, trying to move fast enough so that she didn't hold anyone back. Behind her she could still hear the Wraith moving, and Lorne or Reed shooting occasionally, trying to slow it down.
They had obviously caused enough damage to slow it down slightly, for when Elizabeth slowed to a stop outside a door, the Wraith was nowhere to be seen in the short section of corridor. She hurriedly swept her hand over the sensor panel though, because she could still hear it. The door slid open and they ran into the empty room, Radek rushing past, Lorne and Reed pausing to fire again at the Wraith as it approached again.
There was still no sign of the Wraith faltering and they stopped shooting, allowing the door to slide shut as the Wraith came horrifyingly close. Elizabeth started as they heard it howl through the closed door and she pulled the crystal from the door mechanism. She leaned against the wall, sliding down to sit as she recovered her breath. Lorne and Reed were in better shape and were breathing only slightly harder as they checked their ammunition. Radek had leaned against the wall as well and after a few gasps, reached for his tablet. Elizabeth passed it over willingly.
He pushed his glasses back up his nose and began working again. Lorne and Reed were discussing tactics and she stood, still breathing more heavily than she would have liked, and joined them.
She listened in as they tossed options back and forth, not having much input but listening all the same. They had spread the contents of their vest pockets and packs over the consoles, checking what they had and how useful it would be. They had dismissed the grenades and claymores as not effective enough as Radek finished his work. He stood and joined them just as Reed suggested using the C4 on the Wraith. Radek winced. "Do we have any other options?"
Lorne shook his head. "Doesn't look like it. We'll just have to risk the damage to the building."
"Given the research, that might not be too bad an idea." Elizabeth spoke and they turned to face her, all looking slightly shocked. "We can't risk the Wraith getting their hand on the research; we would have to wipe the databases anyway."
Lorne and Radek looked slightly mollified but Reed still spoke up.
"You realise this would kill the Wraith?"
"Unlike gunfire?" Elizabeth asked wryly and Reed looked slightly embarrassed. "As I said, we can't risk the Wraith getting their hands on them and given how we woke them, the stasis pods are not any better. Leaving them here would mean they would either escape or starve to death." She paused, her tone becoming harder. "Neither of those are acceptable options."
Reed nodded and Lorne swiftly moved on. "Radek, how much C4 did you bring with you?"
"Just one block, I needed space for my sensor equipment." Lorne nodded and as Radek placed the block beside the others. Lorne brought up the sensor readings on his PDA. "We've got eight blocks of C4 so I think our best plan will be to lure the Wraith here," he pressed a location on the map, a junction between two corridors. "The room here," he pointed to a room down one of the corridors, "will provide good cover from the explosion, as well as being easy to access so we won’t have to worry about the Wraith catching up too fast." He explained, more for Elizabeth’s and Radek sake. "We'll position the C4 in a circular pattern, Radek, you’ll take two blocks and set them up in north and north east positions." He passed the C4 over, as well as two detonators. "Dr Weir, if you take East and South East," he passed them over to her, "Reed and I’ll handle the rest as well as providing cover."
"How will we lure the Wraith there?" Elizabeth asked.
Reed and Lorne exchanged a look, then Reed took over. "The Major and I will head towards it. We’ll take turns firing at it until it follows, then we’ll head back towards the trap."
"How dangerous will it be?"
"No more dangerous than sitting here waiting for it to come back," Reed replied, adding a belated "Ma’am," at Lorne’s look.
Elizabeth smiled wryly. "All right then. I take it Radek and I will be in charge of detonating the C4 then?"
Lorne nodded. "Both of you will hide in the room, on the opposite side of the door from the trap. When Reed and I lure the Wraith near the trap, we’ll stop firing and run to join you. When we draw level with the door, that’s when you’ll detonate. Any earlier and we might scare it off, as well as kill ourselves."
There were slight smiles at this, then the moment was over and they packed their equipment back as they waited for the Wraith to shift position.
When it had moved sufficiently far enough away for Lorne to deem it safe, they moved out, same formation and tactics as before and they made it to the junction without incident. They went wordlessly to their positions, planting the C4 and inserting the detonators, Reed and Lorne alternating standing guard.
Lorne checked Elizabeth and Radek's detonators were correct then he handed the detonator to Elizabeth, saying "Remember, don't detonate until we are level with you." as she and Radek started down the corridor to the room they were using as a shield. They watched Lorne and Reed jog off in the direction of the Wraith as they crouched down behind the panelling of the wall.
They endured the wait in silence, trying not to twitch as the tension of waiting increased. After what seemed like an age, they heard the sound of gunfire, at first far down the corridor but quickly coming closer, the echoes becoming louder.
Lorne and Reed came into sight, taking turns to fire or move backwards. Beside her, Elizabeth could feel Radek twitch towards his own gun but he didn't move otherwise, managing to resist the urge to help them out. The tension in the room increased until Lorne and Reed managed to lure the Wraith to the edge of the junction. They stopped firing and ran towards Elizabeth and Radek's hiding place, the Wraith growling at them.
Their burst of speed brought them level with the hiding place, the Wraith running to catch up with them which brought it to the centre of the ring of C4. Elizabeth pressed the detonator and Lorne and Reed dived into the room.
Fire and smoke filled the air, the noise ricocheting along the corridor and making them cover their ears. Lorne and Reed immediately stood, Radek joining them as they moved into and along the corridor. The smoke started to clear and Elizabeth relaxed slightly when she saw the outline of the Wraith lying on the floor. It was still twitching but they opened fire, a constant barrage until it stopped moving. They then made their way gingerly over to the body, guns still at the ready, until Reed kicked it and Lorne checked his scanner.
"It's dead."
They stood still for another minute, waiting for it to show any signs of movement, despite the fact the sensors didn’t show any life sign. When the body stayed still everyone visibly relaxed.
Until Reed mentioned "one down, one to go," at which point Radek retorted, "you just had to go spoil the moment."
Elizabeth resisted the urge to roll her eyes while Lorne tapped his earpiece, smiling a little. "Coughlin, Ronan, how’s your Wraith fairing?" There was a slight pause then Coughlin replied.
"We managed to catch up with the Wraith, Sir, but it’s proving mostly impervious to gunfire. Even Ronan’s gun is barely having an effect."
"Damn. Ours was the same, we used C4, though I don’t think we’ll have enough left for it to work again."
There was another pause and when Coughlin answered again he was breathing heavily. "We’ve made a temporary retreat until we rethink our options."
"Okay, give us your position and we’ll back you up."
"Yes, sir."
Reed was still looking at the PDA and nodded when the position came through. "Are we picking up the other Wraith as well?" Reed nodded again and Lorne headed over and peered at the screen. They quickly decided the best route to take to avoid running directly into the Wraith and then they were off.
The walk was just as tension filled as the previous ones, even if they were slightly more optimistic about their chances this time. The lights dimmed further, causing them to pause while Radek checked his tablet. He muttered under his breath and they waited impatiently for him to finish.
"Power conservation. I programmed the lights to dim to conserve power for the sensors. Sensors are still working at full capacity for the minute."
"How much longer?" Lorne asked.
Radek screwed his face up in thought. "Another twenty minutes or so for the lights, then we will start to lose sensors. I can write a program that will phase the sensor loss to the level we and the Wraith are on."
"How long?"
"Ten minutes or so. I'll need to access one of the terminals to upload it though."
"Where do we need to go?"
"I left the power lines active to the terminals so it's just a case of switching one on. One terminal will not sacrifice too much power."
"Good." They all somewhat relaxed again, and carried on. Reed kept a careful eye on the sensor readings as they drew nearer to Ronan and Coughlin.
They found them still sitting in the room they had retreated to and after a moments pause when they reactivated the door controls, they joined them. Ronan didn't look happy at the enforced wait, and Coughlin didn't look much better.
"Ronan, how much more effective is your weapon than the P90?" Lorne got straight down to business.
"It's barely stunning it."
"Still, it's better than our weapons." Lorne looked thoughtful for a minute. "C4 worked but we don't have enough, especially as this one's stronger."
"What about electrocution?" Radek piped in. The three soldiers looked thoughtfully at him, Ronan just shrugging.
It was Elizabeth that spoke up. "A high enough voltage might overcome their natural healing abilities long enough for weapons fire to be successful." She looked at Radek. "How much power could we use?"
"All of it." Ronan spoke and they all looked at him. "My gun’s not working enough so we need to take it down as much as we can before we shoot it."
Lorne nodded. "Otherwise we’ll run out of ammo." He turned to Radek. "What would be the best way?"
"We can use one of the connections from a corridor terminal. We don’t have enough power to electrify a corridor but you can wield the live end of the cable like a weapon. That way I can control when the power is released by activating the console."
"Alright," Lorne said, "Radek will set up the trap, Ronan and I will lure it in. Coughlin, Reed, I want you to be standing by near the console, ready to fire once we get back." He paused, looking between Elizabeth and Radek, clearly unable to choose.
Elizabeth spoke up. "Radek is better with a P90 than I am."
Lorne looked slightly uneasy about the prospect until Ronan spoke up.
"She can wield it like a Bantos stick. Teyla’s been teaching her." Lorne looked slightly less concerned at this, enough to go ahead anyway.
"Radek will activate the console, Dr Weir will electrocute the Wraith then get back, while Radek and the rest of us open fire. I want you to get a room ready to block off if we need to retreat." He directed this last part at Elizabeth.
She nodded.
"Atlantis should be starting to get a little concerned about now, so we should be contacted soon. If this fails we should be able to wait it out until help arrives."
They all nodded and Lorne pulled Radek's tablet closer to him. They all crowded round as he brought up the current position of the Wraith on the schematic and they mulled over positions. "Any piece of corridor with a console can be used. It depends on what type of configuration you think is best." Radek said. "This console here could be converted, there is an empty room just down the corridor and the corridor is slightly wider for all of us to fit in." Reed spoke. Lorne murmured an agreement. "It’s far away enough to give time to set up without wasting too much ammo." He paused for a moment. "How long will it take for you to set up?"
"If someone else removes the panelling and pulls the power cable, it will take me two minutes to set up the power switch." Radek answered and Lorne nodded.
They spent another few minutes waiting as Radek updated the power conservation program then they headed out to the section of corridor they wanted. It was a quick walk and soon Coughlin and Ronan were heading off to lure the Wraith towards them whilst Elisabeth and Reed started removing the console panelling. Lorne stood guard as Radek starting his programming. They worked in silence, focused on the task and soon they had the cable loose, Radek finishing his programming just as Reed zipped tied a thin piece of panelling to the cable to make it easier to wield. Elizabeth took the finished cable from him and gave it a few experimental swishes. Reed still didn’t look convinced and she smiled a little unconvincingly. She tried again, the cable moving better this time and she avoided looking at Reed. That done, they settled in to wait for the others to lure the wraith to them. The air grew tense and they all looked lost in thought.
Elizabeth chuckled suddenly, breaking the silence and Radek turned to look at her. "I was just thinking I told Rodney he couldn’t come along because with him and the rest of the team they always run into trouble."
Radek smiled. "He will not let you here the end of this for a while." "Neither will John." They quietened again and what remained of the lighthearted moment was shortly ruined by the sound of gunfire echoing down the corridor. They all stood straighter, Elizabeth gripping the cable tighter as Radek’s stylus hovered over the tablet screen. The Wraith came into view first, being pushed along the corridor towards them by the gunfire.
It bellowed as it was hit, arms sweeping out to try and catch any of the men herding it but they kept firing and pushing it further towards the trap.
Reed held off firing, nodding his head at Elizabeth and Radek to go for it whilst the Wraith still had it's back to them.
Radek’s stylus flicked, the air filled with a crackling sound as the cable became live and he clipped his tablet to his vest and gripped his P90. He held off though as Elizabeth moved forward, thrusting the cable ahead of her like she was going to stab him with it and caught the back of the Wraiths neck.
The Wraith jerked, bellowing louder and the stink of burnt flesh began to fill the air. It twisted towards her but Radek and Reed moved beside her and started firing. She barely managed to keep the end of the cable to the Wraiths neck as it twisted and turned, the gunfire holding it in check as the electricity began to have an effect. Its growls became weaker and it sank to its knees as the lights grew dimmer still and quickly went out altogether.
There was a brief moment of eerie silence in the dark as everyone was still, then the corridor came alive again with gunfire. The flashes of gunfire allowed Elizabeth to back away quickly, the cable still in her hand. The others quickly formed a tighter ring around the Wraith and she threw the cable to the side wall and darted down the corridor to the room they had planned and stood at the entrance, hand at the ready on the control crystal.
She didn’t switch her flashlight on, knowing the light would only confuse matters at this stage but with only the light of gunfire to go by, she couldn’t clearly see how the fight was going.
Sounds on the other hand, were a different matter altogether. Their plan seemed to be working because soon she couldn’t hear the noises the Wraith was making over the sound of gunfire. She managed to hear someone curse as they ran out of ammo, then everyone stopped firing. The silence was deafening and she could tell be the glow on his face that Radek was checking his PDA sensor for a life sign. She couldn’t hear what he said but Ronan shot another few shots anyway and she forced herself to remain still where she was until Lorne shouted her over.
They all switched on their flashlights and she could see the Wraith lying lifeless on the floor. They stood watching for a minute, experience telling them to be careful.
"We heading back to Atlantis then?" Ronan was the first to speak.
"We will need to wait until after dawn to regain power to lift the rest of the lockdown." Radek replied.
"How about we find a room to hunker down in until then?" Lorne asked and there were signs of agreement from everyone.
Their comms burst into life before they started to move though. "Lorne, this is Sheppard, come in." Lorne smiled as he answered, everyone else holding back sniggers or laughter.
"Sheppard, this is Lorne. Sorry we didn't check in, things got a little hairy for a while there." Lorne's grin widened.
"Need any back up?"
"No, Sir, we'll be back in Atlantis shortly after the sun rises."
"Any reason for the wait?"
"It's a long story, Sir, we'll tell it properly when we get back."
There was a pause, then, "Understood. See you back in Atlantis, Sheppard out."
Their laughter echoed along the corridor as they moved out to find somewhere to settle in for the wait.
Author: lullabymoon
Genre: Action/Adventure
Prompt: Aliens
Word Count: 8745
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mild violence
Summary: They really should know by now that abandoned Ancient facilities are abandoned for a reason, especially the ones that aren't in the database.
Notes: Set roughly mid-S3. Thanks to C for the beta.
Art by syble4
They changed positions, Reed joining Lorne up front, Radek handing Elizabeth his tablet as he reached for his gun. They walked forwards another few yards, guns at the ready as the Wraith rounded the corner.
They opened fire the second they saw it coming, but it moved fast, faster and getting closer to them by the second.
The noise of the three P0's firing full blast at the Wraith filled the corridor and Elizabeth winced at the volume, panic starting to rise as the Wraith kept coming forward. The hail of bullets continued and still it kept coming. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, ready to move when Lorne shouted "Retreat!" and she turned back down the corridor, trying to move fast enough so that she didn't hold anyone back. Behind her she could still hear the Wraith moving, and Lorne or Reed shooting occasionally, trying to slow it down.
Twelve hours earlier.
"Elizabeth! This planet is perfect! Sensor readings indicate there could be a ZPM and a whole host of other Ancient technology."
"I'm not disputing that, Rodney, I'm telling you that you won't be going."
"Elizabeth!"
"Rodney, you broke your ankle yesterday and the scout pictures indicate it's an old version of Ancient so I'll be going along to translate." He opened his mouth to argue. "Therefore Colonel Sheppard will be in command of Atlantis and I'll be taking Major Lorne's team with me." She added.
"Which scientist are you taking?"
"I'll be taking Radek with me. Don't worry, Rodney, you can go over the data with him when we get back."
"But Elizabeth!"
"No, Rodney," she spoke sharply. "Your team has a disturbing tendency for things to go wrong around Ancient technology," Teyla coughed delicately and John glared at her, "and Carson wants you off your feet for the next day or two. Once things in the facility have been cleared and Carson releases you back to light duty, then you can go."
"Are you sure you don’t want to take extra back up?" John butted in and Elizabeth sighed in exasperation.
"Standard off world procedure will be fine, John." John opened his mouth to speak again but she cut him off. "Ronan can come with us and you can have a team on standby as per procedure but that's all." Elizabeth raised an eyebrow as she stared at him.
He eventually nodded in agreement and she carried on. "Does anyone else have anything else they would like to bring up?" She looked around the table at everyone. "Well then this briefing is over. Ronan, I'll see you in the gate room in two hours." She smiled and Ronan nodded before they scattered.
Elizabeth finished with the zip on her vest as Ronan jumped down the steps to join them in front of the gate. "So what's the deal?"
Elizabeth smiled slightly, "Well if you had been awake during the briefing…" She teased. Ronan smirked back. "Rodney was whining. I don’t listen then."
Elizabeth bit her lip to stop laughing before explaining. "We found an Ancient facility on a planet that's not in the database. There are some surrounding structures we haven't seen before as well as some writing on the external walls that isn't quite familiar so we're checking it out."
Ronan nodded. "Can't see what Sheppard was worked up about."
She smiled wryly. "I think he was thinking of his own experiences."
Ronan grinned widely and they turned to see John standing in her own traditional position. She waved as the gate activated before turning back to see Lorne head through the gate, Coughlin, Reed and Radek following him through. Then it was her turn, Ronan a step behind her as she stepped through the event horizon.
The planet was fairly standard for a former Ancient outpost. Trees surrounded the gate, the sky was blue and the sun shone high above them. The air smelled slightly different then it did on Atlantis but then it always did. Lorne took the lead, and they stayed in the formation they had come through the gate as they headed towards the facility, hidden from view by the trees. Elizabeth was mainly silent on the journey, enjoying the chance to off world without an emergency as she listened to the banter the team was exchanging. She tried not to laugh as Ronan and Coughlin bantered about which of them would win in a fight.
The hike passed quickly and they paused for some sensor readings before they entered the facility, Elizabeth taking the opportunity to catch her breath again.
Situated at the base of one of the mountains, the facility's original disguise was impressive. From where they were standing it looked very much like a natural outcropping of rock and the only reason they had discovered it at all was the addition of the different alien technology that had been picked up by sensors. Further investigation had shown the form of Ancient around the entrance that had piqued their interest.
Inside, it looked very much like an Ancient outpost. Earlier period, Elizabeth mused out loud, given it's similarity to Atlantis, more like a work of art than some of the more functional facilities they had come across. They spread out, looking around the main entrance as Radek brought out his PDA and tapped into the data point hidden behind a panel. He muttered under his breath slightly as he fiddled with it. A minute passed before he looked up. "Got the map, but the panel isn't connected to the main system." He said as he unplugged himself and put the cable back into a pocket.
"Which way, Doc?" Lorne asked as he continued to look around the hall, gun at the ready.
"This way," Radek nodded towards the left hand passage. The light from the entrance didn’t penetrate far down the corridor and there was a brief flurry of movement as everyone got out their flash lights and fixed them to their guns. "The map shows a terminal not too far where I should be able to get into the main system and see if there is power."
They automatically glanced at Elizabeth, who nodded and they started down the corridor. Quickly, the corridor twisted to the left again and with no windows to the outside, they lost the last of the natural light. With only the flashlights for light, they carried on, their beams catching the edges of the panels on the walls and creating an uneasy atmosphere.
Coughlin spoke up. "It's kinda creepy," and Elizabeth smiled as he echoed her thoughts.
Ronan snorted. "You're just a scaredycat." The rest of the group shared a hastily covered laugh at this.
"You've been spending too much time around certain people." Elizabeth added and she could tell Ronan was smiling without turning her head.
Coughlin spoke up again. "I've just read too many mission reports about dark, abandoned ruins."
"Would help if we were in ruins though." Reed spoke up and Lorne snickered before breaking into the conversation.
"Boys,"
This seemed to be a fairly regular occurrence because they took it easily and Elizabeth noticed they hadn't altered their stance or readiness throughout the conversation. "Major!" Radek called out and he stopped.
"You find the station?"
Radek nodded and he placed his PDA in his pocket, handed his torch to Elizabeth and started to pull the panel off the wall. Coughlin moved forward to help, Ronan and Reed standing guard.
Radek tapped the panel a few times, connected his tablet and frowned. "Elizabeth, I don't think this is translating right," She crowded towards the panel, running her finger along the text as she read.
A minute past before she spoke. "It looks like the same writing as on the outside walls. Definitely an early form of Ancient so I'll need to tweak the translation program. If you can give me light…"
"Of course, the technology is essentially the same as in Atlantis." He fiddled with his computer a bit more and the lights flickered before coming on, although not as bright as they were used to in Atlantis. They waited until they stabilised, then switched off their flash lights.
"What's with the lights?" Reed asked before the rest of them could.
"I'm checking the power levels now." Radek frowned at the screen again. "It doesn't look to be powered by a ZPM - it must be some sort of secondary power system that I don't recognise yet."
"Any life signs showing up?" Lorne asked.
"No."
Elizabeth swung her pack off her back and pulled out her tablet. She handed it to Radek. "If you can download any logs you can access, I should be able to help." Radek nodded and quickly changed the connections.
While he was doing so, Lorne spoke, "Radek, you go to the main power room, Coughlin and Reed you go with him. See if you can figure out the power. Ronan and I will take Doctor Weir to the main lab, see if she can get a head start on updating the translator so we can figure out what this place is." He paused, then looked to Elizabeth as if to double check that was okay. She nodded slightly and he carried on. He pulled his own PDA out of a vest pocket and handed it to Radek, who had just handed Elizabeth's tablet back to her. "If you could load a map…?"
Radek nodded and a minute later handed it back. They waited while Radek and Coughlin replaced the panel and then they walked along the corridor until they reached a junction. Looking at their maps, they needed to split, Radek, Reed and Coughlin turning right into another long corridor, Elizabeth, Ronan and Lorne heading up the staircase straight in front of them.
The staircase made no noise as they climbed, despite its age and the halls of the next level were just as quiet.
One or two of the lights were flickering and humming as if on their last legs and Elizabeth couldn't help but take a step closer to Lorne. Ronan noticed and pulled up closer from behind her without saying a word. She switched on her flashlight again and swung it around the corridor, reaching onto the darkened crevices that the lights didn't reach. "I don't see any signs of other technology."
"Maybe they didn't change anything cosmetic, I mean you can't always tell from the corridors in Atlantis that there is other technology."
She nodded, "True," and continued looking about. They turned left into another corridor, pausing partway down as Lorne rechecked his PDA. "It shouldn't be too much longer. Looks like it's 200 metres in this direction."
"Yeah but how much walking is that?" Ronan asked.
"Not much more, the corridor is pretty straight."
True enough they walked a little further, round a corner and then stopped in front of a door. Lorne checked his PDA for lifesigns. He nodded to show it was clear but brought his gun up at the ready, Ronan doing the same. Elizabeth waited until Lorne nodded again and swiped her hand over the door crystals. She stood back while they entered the lab, sweeping it just to make sure it was empty. She stepped in when they both lowered their guns.
The lab was similar in style to the rest of the facility but here and there there were obvious signs of other technology. Elizabeth walked over and gingerly touched one of the control panels. Nothing happened. "Radek," she touched her earpiece. "Are you in the power distribution centre yet?"
"We have just arrived. I need to check but it looks as if there is only minimal power to important functions at the moment."
Elizabeth nodded. "Understood." She sat on a nearby stool, slightly too short for her but she focussed on getting her tablet out her kit again. "If you two want to check out some more of the facility while I update the translation programme?" She smiled and Ronan grunted. Lorne raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't want you to get bored." She added.
Lorne grinned. "I wouldn't worry about that, Ma'am."
Elizabeth smiled again and Lorne took out a power bar, hand resting on his P90 as Ronan began to peer into the closets. She settled own to work, only really looking up when the lights flickered slightly. She finished soon after, calling Radek again and transmitting the updated programme to him. The comm. crackled a minute later. "I've got the update, Dr Weir, we should be up and running shortly."
"Okay, Radek." Elizabeth signed off and slid off her perch, leaving her bag where it was as she started to wander around the room. The lights continued to flicker occasionally as she wandered, casting shadows that darted out of the corner of her eye and made her stand just a little bit straighter. Ronan showed no sign of them affecting him but she could see Lorne grip his gun just a little tighter, stand a bit more at attention.
Her inspection of the walls showed nothing more than Lantean technology and she moved onto the consoles dotted around the room. There still wasn't enough power for them to light up, but on the centre console there was what looked to be a small tablet computer that activated when she touched the screen. She caught a glimpse of a language that wasn't Ancient, though it looked like it had a familiar base but she couldn't determine anything more before the power depleted and the screen died. She started to look up at the ceiling, finding one or two wires that looked like they had been added in later, only stopping when the lights failed, plunging them into complete darkness. Her hand automatically touched her earpiece even as Lorne and Ronan flipped their flashlights on and held their guns in firing position. "Lieutenant Reed? Is everything alright."
"Dr Zelenka is fighting with the power system, Ma'am. We're not sure yet but his muttering isn't too loud."
Elizabeth had to fight to suppress a smile.
"The main power source is nearly depleted, Dr Weir, just enough for the lights and the emergency consoles. There is another alien power source though which looks to have been wired in in the past. I'm about to reinitialize it now." Radek spoke up.
"Excellent, Radek. When you think it's stable come join us in the lab."
"Yes, Dr Weir." The radios turned silent again and Elizabeth touched the screen of the console in front of her to check again. She sighed when nothing happened.
Ronan stood still from his circuit around the room and looked relaxed. "Rooms clear."
Elizabeth looked up at him, then across at Lorne, who, in the torchlight, looked amused. "We need to check the perimeter. I was going to send Coughlin and Reed when they got here but you could get a head start." Lorne suggested and Ronan nodded.
"Great." He started to head towards the door.
"Be careful," Elizabeth warned and Ronan grinned as the door shut behind him. Elizabeth sighed and exchanged another weary look with Lorne. They sat in the near darkness of their flashlights for another couple of minutes before the lights flared to life again, brighter than before, steadier too, and the consoles beeped as they were powered up.
This time when she ran her fingers over the sensor, the screen activated.
"Good work, Radek, do you have any idea how long the power will last?" She managed to refrain from touching the console again until he replied.
"It looks to be a solar based power system so provided the batteries hold we should have almost unlimited power for the moment."
"What condition are the batteries in?"
"Well, the access shaft is on the other side of the facility but, eh, the power readings indicate they are working."
"Okay, we'll see you shortly then." She looked back at the console, activating it fully and Lorne smirked at her enthusiasm before he joined her. There was a slight lull as she connected her tablet and ran the updated translation programme.
"It's definitely some sort of research lab," she started thinking out loud. "The early entries are about the set up of the facility, although there are some references to subjects gathered for testing."
"Subjects?" Lorne looked queasy and gripped his P90 tighter.
"It doesn't say yet, let me skip ahead slightly." She accessed the data results rather than the log and there was a slight lag as the translation kicked in.
"I'm not a scientist but those look like wraith to me." Lorne said when the data showed on the screen.
"It does." Another few finger taps and more data showed up on screen. "I'll need Radek to go over this but it looks like they were experimenting on wraith DNA." She frowned. "The Iratus bug as well." She was silent as she looked back at the logs. "If the Wraith are the subjects they are talking about then it looks as if they were trying to create a retrovirus."
"Thought you needed Zelenka to go over it?" Lorne teased slightly.
She looked slyly at him. "More like I can remember Carson's briefings on his research." They shared a grin before she looked back at the screen. "I wonder how successful they were." She scrolled down, trying to find the last entry whilst Lorne spoke.
"Can't imagine they were, given this place is abandoned and the Wraith are still out there." She smiled abstractly at his comment as she continued to work. She lifted her hands off the console, a soft "whoa" escaping her as the text suddenly changed. "What is that?" Lorne asked.
"It's another language, which explains the additions we've seen outside and Radek spotted." She frowned and lost herself in thought. "It looks like the language I caught a glimpse of on the tablet."
Lorne picked the tablet up and fiddled. "Whatever it is, it's definitely dead."
At that, the doors whooshed open and Elizabeth jumped, Lorne standing straighter. They relaxed again when the rest of their group walked into the lab.
"What's dead?" Coughlin asked, looking hopeful.
"Nothing to get excited about," Lorne replied and Coughlin looked disappointed. "Just some of the equipment." He smirked at the looks of boredom showing on Coughlin and Reed's faces. "I want you two to check out the rest of the facility. Now the lights are on properly, it shouldn't be so creepy." Coughlin grimaced slightly and Reed smirked at him. "Ronan is already out there so don't panic immediately if you see another lifesign." They both nodded and looked a little more animated as they headed out the door.
That left Radek standing beside the door, though he quickly moved over to join them. He placed his backpack down eagerly as he leaned over the panel.
"From the logs and data I looked at, it looks like the Ancients were working on a Wraith retrovirus. The logs change language halfway through though and I've not had time to start the new translation yet." Elizabeth scrolled down and showed him. "Did any of the technology in the power room have this?"
Radek nodded. "The additional power system looked like it had this language." He pulled out his PDA. "These are some of the schematics I worked from. Would it help the translation if I added notes for the technology I recognised?"
"That would be great, Radek. Once you have done that, could you read through the logs and see what else there is? The power system integration would be particularly helpful, although that might have to wait until I manage to understand some of the language."
Radek nodded again and they set to work, Lorne settling down on a stool, P90 at hand.
They worked comfortably for several hours, Coughlin, Reed and Ronan all rotating in and out at one point or another. When she stopped for a break, Lorne took the chance to speak to her. "How's it going?"
Elizabeth sighed. "Fortunately it seems to be a bastardised phonetic version of the Ancient language, rather than a completely new language. Radek's notes have helped a great deal as well. Of course, now comes the true test."
Lorne took a guess. "Seeing if you can read the logs?"
Elizabeth laughed. "I'm hoping for some phrases, words to match data but nothing very much at this stage." Lorne looked a little disappointed so she carried on. "Every bit helps with the translation though."
"Right," Lorne nodded and left her too it again. She inputted her rough translations into her tablet and began running them through the logs to see what popped up. Meanwhile, Radek had started muttering under his breath so Elizabeth took it as a sign to interrupt before he got too carried away.
"Anything interesting in the logs?"
"It's all about there research into the wraith DNA. Some of their experiments are fascinating, at least from a technological standpoint. I believe I may have found the use for one or two pieces of equipment back on Atlantis that had us stumped."
"Really?" Elizabeth leaned closer.
"This here?" Radek pointed at a diagram on the screen. "There is an identical machine in one of the unused labs in Atlantis. The use in the logs suggests that it genetically modifies DNA far more efficiently than any of our methods."
"Can you figure out how it works? I'm sure Carson would love to get his hands on it."
"Not yet, but I have been focusing on the logs themselves."
Elizabeth nodded. "Well, it's certainly good data to have. What do the logs say?"
"The last few entries say they had no success in their experiments, and the last entry before the language change simply says their resources are being redirected."
Elizabeth looked thoughtful. "It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Just how desperate they must have been to abandon this lab and their research on the Wraith." They stood in silence for a minute as they mulled that over.
Radek broke the silence. "It looks like their research was geared towards mutating the Wraith back into an Iratus bug like creature. The initial research took place over a period of four months before it was abandoned. I do not think they got as far as they wanted to but you would need Dr Beckett to go over the data to tell you more information."
"Okay." She glanced down at the logs, looking lost in thought for a moment before looking back at Radek. "Why don’t you have another look at the power system? Solar power would be perfect for Atlantis."
Radek brightened and she had to resist the urge to smile. She looked over at Lorne and he nodded as he hit his headset. "Coughlin, I want you to meet Dr Zelenka back at the main power room. Make sure he doesn't try to blow himself up." This last was said with a teasing glance at Radek, who merely pulled a face and muttered under his breath. Lorne smiled and Elizabeth couldn't help but join in. Her tablet beeped at her, distracting her from the banter and she buried herself back in her translations.
She looked up again a couple of hours later when Ronan returned and leaned against the wall to eat a power bar.
"Anything to keep you interested?" She asked with a small smile.
Ronan shrugged. "Mostly like Atlantis. Getting dark outside though." Elizabeth checked her watch at this.
"Check in should be next hour. How do you feel about a run?"
Ronan grinned. "Trying to keep me busy?"
Elizabeth smiled wryly. "I've seen what happens when you get bored." Ronan's grin turned wolfish and he bit into his power par with gusto. She bent back down to her translation, working through some of the kinks that were left, tweaking things here and there but gradually becoming more satisfied with it.
"Anything interesting?"
"What from I can translate, it looks like they carried on the Ancient's research. They don't appear to have had any more success than the Ancients, in fact it seems they made things worse." She kept scrolling through the logs, frowning when she came across one of the last entries.
Ronan stood straighter. "What?"
"Did you see any stasis chambers when you were searching?"
"Couple empty ones four levels down."
"Where exactly?"
Ronan joined her as she brought up the schematic. He pointed to an area four levels down and Elizabeth swore under her breath. "And they were definitely empty?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"According to the log, the experiments had the opposite effect of what they were looking for so whoever took over stored the enhanced Wraith in stasis before they abandoned the lab themselves."
"Enhanced Wraith?"
"The experiments with the Wraith DNA were to try and revert the Wraith back to an earlier stage in their evolution, back to an Iratus bug. Unfortunately, whoever took over the lab only managed to enhance the Wraith, making them stronger, harder to kill and less, well I suppose reasonable is the word."
"Wraith aren't reasonable."
Elizabeth paused for a moment then replied. "I suppose not but these Wraith seem to be less… sentient I think is a better word. Evan?" She turned to Lorne, who had busied himself on his PDA as she was talking.
"I'm not picking anything up on the life signs detector, but they could be out of range."
"Get Coughlin and Reed,"
"On it, Ma'am." Lorne tapped his earpiece. "Coughlin, Reed, be advised we have Wraith on the loose. Can you pick them up on your life signs detector?" He waited for an answer then spoke to Elizabeth. "Nothing. How many are we looking at?"
"Two. One is significantly more enhanced than the other, although they are both much stronger than an ordinary Wraith."
He murmured the information into his ear piece then looked back at Elizabeth. "If Radek can get the full sensors up and running then it would make things easier."
Elizabeth nodded. "Let him know. Then, we should regroup as soon as possible. According to the logs, 10 men died before they could get them into stasis."
"Why'd they bother with stasis?" Ronan spoke up.
Elizabeth shook her head. "I'm not sure…" She paled as she read further. "It, it appears that they couldn't kill them so they put them in stasis before the abandoned the planet."
"Idiots." Ronan grumbled.
"It's possible the stasis failed long ago, but I would still feel more comfortable knowing for sure." She tapped her earpiece. "Radek?"
"I'm about to bring the sensors online now." He paused. "Sensors active." They waited impatiently. "I'm picking up two Wraith signatures."
Lorne turned to Ronan. "Head back to Atlantis and bring back a squad of marines and as many functioning Wraith stunners as we have." Ronan ran to the door in acknowledgement but stopped as the door slid shut in front of him. He waved his hand over the sensor panel, growled when nothing happened.
"Radek?" Elizabeth asked.
"It looks like detecting the Wraith activated some sort of emergency lock down."
"How much of a lockdown?"
"It looks like a full lockdown. All the internal doors have shut and it looks like the external entrances are locked as well."
"And the computers? I can still access the logs from this terminal."
"Certain terminals are locked out, however it appears the lockdown has been altered."
"Altered in any way useful, Doc?" Lorne butted in.
"It's the same language as the second logs. From the results of the modification I would say whoever took it over wanted to still have some control if their subjects escaped."
Ronan kicked the wall at this. "Anything we can use?"
"I'm running Dr Weir's translation program just now. I'll need to see the precise alterations before I can start to alter it myself."
Silence fell as they let Radek work uninterrupted. Lorne started to work on the console in front of him and after a few minutes said. "I've managed to bring up the main sensor display here." Ronan stalked over and peered at the screen.
"Where are they?"
Lorne frowned and pressed the screen a couple of times. "One is two floors down, there," he pointed at one red dot, "the other is on this floor, on the other side of the facility." Lorne looked thoughtful for a minute. "Is there any way to tell them apart?" He looked at Elizabeth as he asked.
She read through more of the logs. "The Wraith they had the most difficulty with was the one with a slightly higher percentage of Iratus bug DNA." She paused, continuing to read. "It's looks like they had some different mutations and abilities." She looked at Lorne. "Can you calibrate the sensors that accurately?"
Lorne nodded. "They're the same as Atlantis' and Radek's shown me."
"Good." Elizabeth brought up the data on screen. "These are the latest readings I can find." Lorne nodded and started working.
Another minute passed, Ronan getting more and more restless, until the door finally hissed open and Radek's voice came through their earpieces.
"I'm managed to unlock the internal doors. The external doors are part of the original code and I'll need more time."
"Thank you, Radek. Can you work on it on your tablet?"
"Yes."
"Good, we'll meet you there in a few minutes."
Lorne turned to Ronan, who was on the verge of disappearing out into the corridor. "Come with us, then you can take Coughlin with you while you search." Ronan looked unimpressed but Elizabeth looked at him and he acquiesced. She quickly grabbed her tablet, disconnecting it and putting it in her backpack as they made their way out the door into the corridor.
The silence as they walked towards the main power room was different from before, the journey no longer a leisurely stroll taking in their surroundings but a march with a more urgent purpose. Ronan and Lorne were on alert for anything and Elizabeth couldn't help but tense up in response, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when the lights dimmed.
"Radek?" Elizabeth almost whispered into her earpiece.
"The sensors are requiring a large amount of power, and it's starting to affect the reserves in the batteries. Now night has fallen, they are no longer being charged."
"Understood." Now she knew why the lights had dimmed she wasn't as tense, though she still felt a little fear gripping her insides.
The rest of the walk was equally as tense, not knowing precisely where the Wraith were at the moment or even how fast they could move taking it's toll on their nerves.
It was with a sense of relief that the power room door slid shut behind them but Lorne still took the precaution of taking out a crystal from the sensor mechanism. The door disabled, he handed his PDA to Radek. "I've managed to calibrate the sensors to the two different Wraith, can you sync the main sensors to this?"
Radek nodded. "Yes, yes, just give me a minute." He rummaged in his backpack for another cable then attached the PDA to the centre console. A minute later, he disconnected it and handed it back to Lorne. Lorne nodded in thanks then handed the PDA to Coughlin.
"You and Ronan take this Wraith," he pointed to the bright red dot on the screen, "be careful, according to Dr Weir, it's the most mutated and a lot stronger than a normal Wraith." Coughlin nodded as he took it.
"Yes, Sir."
Lorne walked over and replaced the crystal, letting the two men out with one last 'be careful' directed at Ronan, then pulled the crystal when the door shut again. Radek in the meantime had synced his PDA with the main sensors and was in the process of putting the cable back in his pack.
"You have the lockdown program on your tablet?" Elizabeth asked as Radek handed the PDA to Lorne.
Radek nodded. "I can work on it as we are moving."
"How long will you need?"
Radek shrugged. "Depends, but I think an hour at most."
"Okay. Will the sensors last that long?"
Radek paused. "Well, I've turned off all extraneous power uses, I've dimmed the lights are far as reasonable to hunt Wraith and most of the computer terminals I've disconnected, so," he screwed his face up in thought, "I would say yes."
"If it takes longer than an hour, then Atlantis should try to contact us to see why we missed our check in." Lorne said.
"When is our check in?" Radek asked.
Lorne looked at his watch. "Five minutes ago."
"We shouldn't have to hold out for too long then either way." Radek sounded happier at this and they walked out of the power lab, pausing as Lorne reactivated the door controls. He looked thoughtful as the door closed on the room, then pulled the crystal from the door mechanism and put it in his pocket.
Elizabeth nodded. "We don't want them getting in there."
With that, they set off down the corridor, Lorne in front, Reed bringing up the rear and Radek beside her, working away on his tablet.
They followed Lorne through the corridors, heading towards their Wraith, no one uttering a sound, all utterly alert.
The silence was broken when Lorne swore softly. "Reed, Radek, get ready. It's heading straight towards us and the sensor shows it moving much faster than normal."
They changed positions, Reed joining Lorne up front, Radek handing Elizabeth his tablet as he reached for his gun. They walked forwards another few yards, guns at the ready as the Wraith rounded the corner.
They opened fire the second they saw it coming, but it moved fast, faster and getting closer to them by the second.
The noise of the three P0's firing full blast at the Wraith filled the corridor and Elizabeth winced at the volume, panic starting to rise as the Wraith kept coming forward. The hail of bullets continued and still it kept coming. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, ready to move when Lorne shouted "Retreat!" and she turned back down the corridor, trying to move fast enough so that she didn't hold anyone back. Behind her she could still hear the Wraith moving, and Lorne or Reed shooting occasionally, trying to slow it down.
They had obviously caused enough damage to slow it down slightly, for when Elizabeth slowed to a stop outside a door, the Wraith was nowhere to be seen in the short section of corridor. She hurriedly swept her hand over the sensor panel though, because she could still hear it. The door slid open and they ran into the empty room, Radek rushing past, Lorne and Reed pausing to fire again at the Wraith as it approached again.
There was still no sign of the Wraith faltering and they stopped shooting, allowing the door to slide shut as the Wraith came horrifyingly close. Elizabeth started as they heard it howl through the closed door and she pulled the crystal from the door mechanism. She leaned against the wall, sliding down to sit as she recovered her breath. Lorne and Reed were in better shape and were breathing only slightly harder as they checked their ammunition. Radek had leaned against the wall as well and after a few gasps, reached for his tablet. Elizabeth passed it over willingly.
He pushed his glasses back up his nose and began working again. Lorne and Reed were discussing tactics and she stood, still breathing more heavily than she would have liked, and joined them.
She listened in as they tossed options back and forth, not having much input but listening all the same. They had spread the contents of their vest pockets and packs over the consoles, checking what they had and how useful it would be. They had dismissed the grenades and claymores as not effective enough as Radek finished his work. He stood and joined them just as Reed suggested using the C4 on the Wraith. Radek winced. "Do we have any other options?"
Lorne shook his head. "Doesn't look like it. We'll just have to risk the damage to the building."
"Given the research, that might not be too bad an idea." Elizabeth spoke and they turned to face her, all looking slightly shocked. "We can't risk the Wraith getting their hand on the research; we would have to wipe the databases anyway."
Lorne and Radek looked slightly mollified but Reed still spoke up.
"You realise this would kill the Wraith?"
"Unlike gunfire?" Elizabeth asked wryly and Reed looked slightly embarrassed. "As I said, we can't risk the Wraith getting their hands on them and given how we woke them, the stasis pods are not any better. Leaving them here would mean they would either escape or starve to death." She paused, her tone becoming harder. "Neither of those are acceptable options."
Reed nodded and Lorne swiftly moved on. "Radek, how much C4 did you bring with you?"
"Just one block, I needed space for my sensor equipment." Lorne nodded and as Radek placed the block beside the others. Lorne brought up the sensor readings on his PDA. "We've got eight blocks of C4 so I think our best plan will be to lure the Wraith here," he pressed a location on the map, a junction between two corridors. "The room here," he pointed to a room down one of the corridors, "will provide good cover from the explosion, as well as being easy to access so we won’t have to worry about the Wraith catching up too fast." He explained, more for Elizabeth’s and Radek sake. "We'll position the C4 in a circular pattern, Radek, you’ll take two blocks and set them up in north and north east positions." He passed the C4 over, as well as two detonators. "Dr Weir, if you take East and South East," he passed them over to her, "Reed and I’ll handle the rest as well as providing cover."
"How will we lure the Wraith there?" Elizabeth asked.
Reed and Lorne exchanged a look, then Reed took over. "The Major and I will head towards it. We’ll take turns firing at it until it follows, then we’ll head back towards the trap."
"How dangerous will it be?"
"No more dangerous than sitting here waiting for it to come back," Reed replied, adding a belated "Ma’am," at Lorne’s look.
Elizabeth smiled wryly. "All right then. I take it Radek and I will be in charge of detonating the C4 then?"
Lorne nodded. "Both of you will hide in the room, on the opposite side of the door from the trap. When Reed and I lure the Wraith near the trap, we’ll stop firing and run to join you. When we draw level with the door, that’s when you’ll detonate. Any earlier and we might scare it off, as well as kill ourselves."
There were slight smiles at this, then the moment was over and they packed their equipment back as they waited for the Wraith to shift position.
When it had moved sufficiently far enough away for Lorne to deem it safe, they moved out, same formation and tactics as before and they made it to the junction without incident. They went wordlessly to their positions, planting the C4 and inserting the detonators, Reed and Lorne alternating standing guard.
Lorne checked Elizabeth and Radek's detonators were correct then he handed the detonator to Elizabeth, saying "Remember, don't detonate until we are level with you." as she and Radek started down the corridor to the room they were using as a shield. They watched Lorne and Reed jog off in the direction of the Wraith as they crouched down behind the panelling of the wall.
They endured the wait in silence, trying not to twitch as the tension of waiting increased. After what seemed like an age, they heard the sound of gunfire, at first far down the corridor but quickly coming closer, the echoes becoming louder.
Lorne and Reed came into sight, taking turns to fire or move backwards. Beside her, Elizabeth could feel Radek twitch towards his own gun but he didn't move otherwise, managing to resist the urge to help them out. The tension in the room increased until Lorne and Reed managed to lure the Wraith to the edge of the junction. They stopped firing and ran towards Elizabeth and Radek's hiding place, the Wraith growling at them.
Their burst of speed brought them level with the hiding place, the Wraith running to catch up with them which brought it to the centre of the ring of C4. Elizabeth pressed the detonator and Lorne and Reed dived into the room.
Fire and smoke filled the air, the noise ricocheting along the corridor and making them cover their ears. Lorne and Reed immediately stood, Radek joining them as they moved into and along the corridor. The smoke started to clear and Elizabeth relaxed slightly when she saw the outline of the Wraith lying on the floor. It was still twitching but they opened fire, a constant barrage until it stopped moving. They then made their way gingerly over to the body, guns still at the ready, until Reed kicked it and Lorne checked his scanner.
"It's dead."
They stood still for another minute, waiting for it to show any signs of movement, despite the fact the sensors didn’t show any life sign. When the body stayed still everyone visibly relaxed.
Until Reed mentioned "one down, one to go," at which point Radek retorted, "you just had to go spoil the moment."
Elizabeth resisted the urge to roll her eyes while Lorne tapped his earpiece, smiling a little. "Coughlin, Ronan, how’s your Wraith fairing?" There was a slight pause then Coughlin replied.
"We managed to catch up with the Wraith, Sir, but it’s proving mostly impervious to gunfire. Even Ronan’s gun is barely having an effect."
"Damn. Ours was the same, we used C4, though I don’t think we’ll have enough left for it to work again."
There was another pause and when Coughlin answered again he was breathing heavily. "We’ve made a temporary retreat until we rethink our options."
"Okay, give us your position and we’ll back you up."
"Yes, sir."
Reed was still looking at the PDA and nodded when the position came through. "Are we picking up the other Wraith as well?" Reed nodded again and Lorne headed over and peered at the screen. They quickly decided the best route to take to avoid running directly into the Wraith and then they were off.
The walk was just as tension filled as the previous ones, even if they were slightly more optimistic about their chances this time. The lights dimmed further, causing them to pause while Radek checked his tablet. He muttered under his breath and they waited impatiently for him to finish.
"Power conservation. I programmed the lights to dim to conserve power for the sensors. Sensors are still working at full capacity for the minute."
"How much longer?" Lorne asked.
Radek screwed his face up in thought. "Another twenty minutes or so for the lights, then we will start to lose sensors. I can write a program that will phase the sensor loss to the level we and the Wraith are on."
"How long?"
"Ten minutes or so. I'll need to access one of the terminals to upload it though."
"Where do we need to go?"
"I left the power lines active to the terminals so it's just a case of switching one on. One terminal will not sacrifice too much power."
"Good." They all somewhat relaxed again, and carried on. Reed kept a careful eye on the sensor readings as they drew nearer to Ronan and Coughlin.
They found them still sitting in the room they had retreated to and after a moments pause when they reactivated the door controls, they joined them. Ronan didn't look happy at the enforced wait, and Coughlin didn't look much better.
"Ronan, how much more effective is your weapon than the P90?" Lorne got straight down to business.
"It's barely stunning it."
"Still, it's better than our weapons." Lorne looked thoughtful for a minute. "C4 worked but we don't have enough, especially as this one's stronger."
"What about electrocution?" Radek piped in. The three soldiers looked thoughtfully at him, Ronan just shrugging.
It was Elizabeth that spoke up. "A high enough voltage might overcome their natural healing abilities long enough for weapons fire to be successful." She looked at Radek. "How much power could we use?"
"All of it." Ronan spoke and they all looked at him. "My gun’s not working enough so we need to take it down as much as we can before we shoot it."
Lorne nodded. "Otherwise we’ll run out of ammo." He turned to Radek. "What would be the best way?"
"We can use one of the connections from a corridor terminal. We don’t have enough power to electrify a corridor but you can wield the live end of the cable like a weapon. That way I can control when the power is released by activating the console."
"Alright," Lorne said, "Radek will set up the trap, Ronan and I will lure it in. Coughlin, Reed, I want you to be standing by near the console, ready to fire once we get back." He paused, looking between Elizabeth and Radek, clearly unable to choose.
Elizabeth spoke up. "Radek is better with a P90 than I am."
Lorne looked slightly uneasy about the prospect until Ronan spoke up.
"She can wield it like a Bantos stick. Teyla’s been teaching her." Lorne looked slightly less concerned at this, enough to go ahead anyway.
"Radek will activate the console, Dr Weir will electrocute the Wraith then get back, while Radek and the rest of us open fire. I want you to get a room ready to block off if we need to retreat." He directed this last part at Elizabeth.
She nodded.
"Atlantis should be starting to get a little concerned about now, so we should be contacted soon. If this fails we should be able to wait it out until help arrives."
They all nodded and Lorne pulled Radek's tablet closer to him. They all crowded round as he brought up the current position of the Wraith on the schematic and they mulled over positions. "Any piece of corridor with a console can be used. It depends on what type of configuration you think is best." Radek said. "This console here could be converted, there is an empty room just down the corridor and the corridor is slightly wider for all of us to fit in." Reed spoke. Lorne murmured an agreement. "It’s far away enough to give time to set up without wasting too much ammo." He paused for a moment. "How long will it take for you to set up?"
"If someone else removes the panelling and pulls the power cable, it will take me two minutes to set up the power switch." Radek answered and Lorne nodded.
They spent another few minutes waiting as Radek updated the power conservation program then they headed out to the section of corridor they wanted. It was a quick walk and soon Coughlin and Ronan were heading off to lure the Wraith towards them whilst Elisabeth and Reed started removing the console panelling. Lorne stood guard as Radek starting his programming. They worked in silence, focused on the task and soon they had the cable loose, Radek finishing his programming just as Reed zipped tied a thin piece of panelling to the cable to make it easier to wield. Elizabeth took the finished cable from him and gave it a few experimental swishes. Reed still didn’t look convinced and she smiled a little unconvincingly. She tried again, the cable moving better this time and she avoided looking at Reed. That done, they settled in to wait for the others to lure the wraith to them. The air grew tense and they all looked lost in thought.
Elizabeth chuckled suddenly, breaking the silence and Radek turned to look at her. "I was just thinking I told Rodney he couldn’t come along because with him and the rest of the team they always run into trouble."
Radek smiled. "He will not let you here the end of this for a while." "Neither will John." They quietened again and what remained of the lighthearted moment was shortly ruined by the sound of gunfire echoing down the corridor. They all stood straighter, Elizabeth gripping the cable tighter as Radek’s stylus hovered over the tablet screen. The Wraith came into view first, being pushed along the corridor towards them by the gunfire.
It bellowed as it was hit, arms sweeping out to try and catch any of the men herding it but they kept firing and pushing it further towards the trap.
Reed held off firing, nodding his head at Elizabeth and Radek to go for it whilst the Wraith still had it's back to them.
Radek’s stylus flicked, the air filled with a crackling sound as the cable became live and he clipped his tablet to his vest and gripped his P90. He held off though as Elizabeth moved forward, thrusting the cable ahead of her like she was going to stab him with it and caught the back of the Wraiths neck.
The Wraith jerked, bellowing louder and the stink of burnt flesh began to fill the air. It twisted towards her but Radek and Reed moved beside her and started firing. She barely managed to keep the end of the cable to the Wraiths neck as it twisted and turned, the gunfire holding it in check as the electricity began to have an effect. Its growls became weaker and it sank to its knees as the lights grew dimmer still and quickly went out altogether.
There was a brief moment of eerie silence in the dark as everyone was still, then the corridor came alive again with gunfire. The flashes of gunfire allowed Elizabeth to back away quickly, the cable still in her hand. The others quickly formed a tighter ring around the Wraith and she threw the cable to the side wall and darted down the corridor to the room they had planned and stood at the entrance, hand at the ready on the control crystal.
She didn’t switch her flashlight on, knowing the light would only confuse matters at this stage but with only the light of gunfire to go by, she couldn’t clearly see how the fight was going.
Sounds on the other hand, were a different matter altogether. Their plan seemed to be working because soon she couldn’t hear the noises the Wraith was making over the sound of gunfire. She managed to hear someone curse as they ran out of ammo, then everyone stopped firing. The silence was deafening and she could tell be the glow on his face that Radek was checking his PDA sensor for a life sign. She couldn’t hear what he said but Ronan shot another few shots anyway and she forced herself to remain still where she was until Lorne shouted her over.
They all switched on their flashlights and she could see the Wraith lying lifeless on the floor. They stood watching for a minute, experience telling them to be careful.
"We heading back to Atlantis then?" Ronan was the first to speak.
"We will need to wait until after dawn to regain power to lift the rest of the lockdown." Radek replied.
"How about we find a room to hunker down in until then?" Lorne asked and there were signs of agreement from everyone.
Their comms burst into life before they started to move though. "Lorne, this is Sheppard, come in." Lorne smiled as he answered, everyone else holding back sniggers or laughter.
"Sheppard, this is Lorne. Sorry we didn't check in, things got a little hairy for a while there." Lorne's grin widened.
"Need any back up?"
"No, Sir, we'll be back in Atlantis shortly after the sun rises."
"Any reason for the wait?"
"It's a long story, Sir, we'll tell it properly when we get back."
There was a pause, then, "Understood. See you back in Atlantis, Sheppard out."
Their laughter echoed along the corridor as they moved out to find somewhere to settle in for the wait.