Fanfic - "Finding Atlantis" (Part 2)
Meta Information: Here
Part 1: Here
Elizabeth walked the halls of Asura with her head high. She’d stopped turning her head at every whisper, glaring at every robot that gave her a strange and unwelcome, scrutinizing look. She was living in a prison of flowing silks but it was a prison, nonetheless.
Oberoth had insisted upon her attire, a matter of which confused her greatly because the Asurans were not a species that deliberated over fashion or colour. But there she was, day after day, forced into the regal gowns contrary to prison life. Paraded amongst the Asuran people until she realised that it was the one thing that set her apart.
In order for him to humiliate her further, he needed her to look every bit the outsider. It wasn’t enough that she could hear every thought, every cruel word of the Asurans, inside her head. It wasn’t enough that she could see their memories of past planets conquered, people slain at their hands.
**
John wrapped the silver pocket watch around his hand once, undid it, then wrapped it again as Ronon watched him, both of them standing by the stargate, waiting.
“Isn’t that Weir’s?” Ronon questioned, as John wrapped the chain of the watch again.
“Yeah.”
“You two were...?”
“Yeah.” John kept his eyes on the stargate.
“So this...mission is-”
John cut him off. “Is to get our leader back. Don’t start questioning it now, it’s a bit late.”
Ronon shook his head. “I wasn’t questioning it, I was just asking.”
John was about to answer him when the Stargate opened with the loud sound of the vortex before two puddlejumpers came flying through. John grinned up at them and clapped Ronon on the back in excitement before jogging off towards where they were slowly landing in the clearing.
“This just might work.” He shouted behind him as Ronon started to follow.
**
“Colonel.” Lorne greeted to which John grinned and walked past him into the jumper.
“Did you get everything?” he questioned, checking over the controls and looking in the supplies Lorne pointed to.
“Right down to the chocolate praline.” Lorne laughed and John grinned up at him.
“She’s gonna love you for that.”
“Well that’s my hope.” Lorne winked and John glared at him with a smirk. Ronon came into the jumper while John continued to sort through their supplies and Lorne’s team started to pile out of the ship.
“Dr. McKay’s in the other jumper, I thought it’d be best if he stayed there and didn’t see you, save him wanting to go with you.” Lorne smiled softly and John looked up at him.
“Yeah, thanks for that.”
“You sure you guys aren’t going to need back-up? I’m sure I can claim wraith attack if Carter questions why we’re late.”
“Nah, it’s alright. The less people at risk, the better.”
“Right,” Lorne nodded. “Ok, well the Doc’s loaded this jumper up with an altered ARW shield, all you have to do is activate it and the ship will be impenetrable for as long as it...”
“Yeah, we get it.” John nodded.
“Good luck, Colonel, Ronon.”
“We’re gonna need it.” Ronon muttered.
**
“So, do you need me to punch you or something?” Rodney asked and Lorne looked at him with a bewildered expression.
“What?”
“Well, I thought we were going to try and make this look believable.”
“I doubt you punching me could make it look believable McKay.”
“Are you sure, coz I’m pretty strong.”
“I’ll be fine, thanks.” Lorne rolled his eyes as he unstrapped his P-90 and placed it on the floor by the pilot’s seat. Starting up the jumper they waited as the saw the other one lift off from the ground and head for the gate. The team watched the chevrons engage before the puddle opened up and their vigilante friends were gone one again.
“Do you think they’ll do it?” Rodney asked quietly, turning towards Lorne with a worried expression mirroring the Major’s.
“They have to.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
**
The plan was to hop from the planet they’d met with Lorne, to another planet close to the Replicator homeworld so that they could fly the rest of the way, avoiding the use of the Asuran gate. But it wasn’t easy. The closest planet to the Replicator homeworld just happened to be a wraith outpost. No doubt it would either be a baron wasteland with every living thing wiped out or it would be crawling with Replicators and wraith.
John flew the jumper through the stargate, hoping for the sake of their mission that they wouldn’t come up against anything they’d have to fight on the other side. Much to his disappointment though, as soon as they passed through the event-horizon, they were bombarded with shots from the planet. He tried to manoeuvre away from them, tried to out-run the darts that flew up form the hive ship parked on the planet, hidden beneath a thousand year old forest.
“Could you try and avoid getting hit!” Ronon yelled from the back of the jumper, trying to strap all of his weapons onto his body. John winced as the jumper took another hit and thanked his lucky stars that with the upgrade of the ARW shield in the ship, Rodney had enhanced the regular shield as well.
“Well, I’m trying, but I don’t see you helping.” John growled in response and Ronon just huffed in response, hanging on tight to the baggage rack.
**
“What happened, Major?” Carter asked as he, Rodney and the rest of the team came wandering down the steps from the jumper bay, looking a little worse for wear. Rodney had a bruise on his jaw, two of the men on Lorne’s team were bloodied though bore no serious injuries and Lorne, remarkably managed to suffer the situation unscathed.
“Wraith ma’am, the second jumper took a hit with Stephens and Benson in, they’re ok as you can see, but we had to ditch the jumper in order to get out of there.”
“Alright, well, we’ll debrief in an hour. Get your men to see Keller.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Lorne smiled before turning to head towards the infirmary. She watched them go, chuckling slightly as Lorne slapped McKay upside the head though she was stunned for a moment when Rodney slapped him right back, causing the both of them to chase each other the rest of the way down the stairs attempting to hit each other.
Sam only shook her head at their antics.
**
“So the mission was a success?” Teyla questioned as Rodney and Lorne walked slowly into her quarters. Lorne moved over to the bed and smiled as he sat down beside her, reaching a hand out in askance to rest it on her belly. When she nodded slowly he answered her question with a smile.
“Yeah, Colonel Sheppard and Ronon are happily off on their little suicide mission to take Dr. Weir chocolate Pralines.”
Teyla chuckled as the baby kicked against Lorne’s hand. Lorne’s eyes widened and he looked up at Rodney suddenly, before turning to Teyla with a surprised smile.
“Was that?”
“Indeed, it was.” She grinned, moving her hand to rest on her stomach as well.
“Ooh, can i?” Rodney moved forward and Teyla smirked up at him.
“I did not know you were one for such things, Rodney.”
He shrugged and sat down on her other side, reaching out to shove Lorne’s hand aside and wait as the baby stilled. Lorne glared at him, but Rodney ignored him and just waited.
“Speak again, Major, I think it was your voice.” Teyla encouraged.
Lorne licked his lips before leaning towards her belly. “Ah, Dr. McKay is a ninny.” Rodney was about to throttle him when he suddenly felt the little tiny foot against his hand. He grinned and laughed when it did it again.
“That must feel so weird.”
“Yes, it does.”
Rodney kept his hand on Teyla’s belly as Lorne got up and paced the room. “Do you wonder if Sheppard’s doing this just because he and Dr. Weir were-”
Teyla smiled serenely. “No. But whether or not he is doing this for the sake of his feelings toward Elizabeth, she does not deserve to live the remainder of her life in the hands of the replicators.”
“True.”
“Do you think they’ll bring her back here?” Rodney looked up at her, finally removing his hand as she pulled her shirt back down. Teyla shook her head, realising that for some reason these strong men were looking to her for guidance.
“Bringing her back here could be too dangerous, and according to your planet’s laws it appears, Colonel Sheppard’s return would not be taken as a joyous event.”
“He’d probably be tried and imprisoned if found guilty of a dereliction of his duty, whether good came of it or not.” Lorne said sombrely.
Teyla looked up at him with glistening eyes, grasping the hand Rodney had resting on her bed. He wasn’t as surprised by her touch as he used to be, Teyla had become one of the few people in Rodney’s life that he respected more than he loved his own genius and one of the only people that knew what he was really like in the heart.
“Then we must assume that we may never see them again.” Her voice was quiet and streaked with a great sadness. They’d not long ago lost Carson and she was still coping with that loss in the darkness of her quarters, where no one could see a lonely, pregnant and scared leader cry.
**
“SHIT!” John growled. He just couldn’t shake the darts. There were three currently tailing them and for all his efforts, john just couldn’t get them off.
“What is it?” Ronon staggered as the ship rolled to the left, before dropping himself down into the co-pilot’s spot.
“These damn darts haven’t worked out yet that we’re not here to bug them, we’re just passing through.”
“well then pass through, what are you still doing on the surface.”
“we don’t need them following us all the way back to the replicator planet. We’re going to meet enough resistance when we get there, I don’t wanna draw too much attention.”
Ronon raised his eyebrows. “you really think that they’ll follow us there? John, the replicators want to, and can kill them, why would they follow us into that?”
John turned his attention from flying, to Ronon for a second before licking his lips. “Right, ah...good point.”
**
Elizabeth stood in the centre of the sculptured landscape garden. She studied the trees, their perfectly rounded shapes, the lack of breeze in the air and the feel of the grass beneath her feet. She’d removed her shoes so that she could feel the cool grass beneath her toes, the dirt or perhaps the gentle feeling of early morning dew. But like everything on this planet, she was bitterly disappointed when all that met her senses was the sharp bristling of something artificial and contrived.
Lifting a hand to her forehead she felt the tears burn at her eyes. She hated it there, hated that none of the food they presented her with had a taste beyond the nauseating stench of ground vitamins mixed with something she didn’t care to ask about. Her tongue had begun to forget what real food tasted like, her hands had begun to forget what real skin felt like and her mind had begun to forget what was truth and what was not.
Every night she met with John in his quarters, smiling happily when his arms encircled her and made her feel safe. She knew that it wasn’t real, she knew that he wasn’t really there and that she’d probably never see him again, but that didn’t stop her dreaming. In her dreams she was safe, in her dreams they were all ok and Atlantis survived the Replicator attack, they’d stopped the beam.
In her dreams she shared lifetimes with John, raised children with him and saw his brilliance in their eyes. She’d wake up crying in the morning, with a hole in her heart each time she had to leave that perfect place.
Suddenly shaken from her thoughts Elizabeth looked up through the glass ceiling to see a Puddlejumper shoot across the sky at lightening speed. Though while her first thought was that the Asurans didn’t have Puddlejumpers, never once did it cross her mind that it was either real, or that John and Ronon were on their way to find her.
Part 3
Part 1: Here
Elizabeth walked the halls of Asura with her head high. She’d stopped turning her head at every whisper, glaring at every robot that gave her a strange and unwelcome, scrutinizing look. She was living in a prison of flowing silks but it was a prison, nonetheless.
Oberoth had insisted upon her attire, a matter of which confused her greatly because the Asurans were not a species that deliberated over fashion or colour. But there she was, day after day, forced into the regal gowns contrary to prison life. Paraded amongst the Asuran people until she realised that it was the one thing that set her apart.
In order for him to humiliate her further, he needed her to look every bit the outsider. It wasn’t enough that she could hear every thought, every cruel word of the Asurans, inside her head. It wasn’t enough that she could see their memories of past planets conquered, people slain at their hands.
**
John wrapped the silver pocket watch around his hand once, undid it, then wrapped it again as Ronon watched him, both of them standing by the stargate, waiting.
“Isn’t that Weir’s?” Ronon questioned, as John wrapped the chain of the watch again.
“Yeah.”
“You two were...?”
“Yeah.” John kept his eyes on the stargate.
“So this...mission is-”
John cut him off. “Is to get our leader back. Don’t start questioning it now, it’s a bit late.”
Ronon shook his head. “I wasn’t questioning it, I was just asking.”
John was about to answer him when the Stargate opened with the loud sound of the vortex before two puddlejumpers came flying through. John grinned up at them and clapped Ronon on the back in excitement before jogging off towards where they were slowly landing in the clearing.
“This just might work.” He shouted behind him as Ronon started to follow.
**
“Colonel.” Lorne greeted to which John grinned and walked past him into the jumper.
“Did you get everything?” he questioned, checking over the controls and looking in the supplies Lorne pointed to.
“Right down to the chocolate praline.” Lorne laughed and John grinned up at him.
“She’s gonna love you for that.”
“Well that’s my hope.” Lorne winked and John glared at him with a smirk. Ronon came into the jumper while John continued to sort through their supplies and Lorne’s team started to pile out of the ship.
“Dr. McKay’s in the other jumper, I thought it’d be best if he stayed there and didn’t see you, save him wanting to go with you.” Lorne smiled softly and John looked up at him.
“Yeah, thanks for that.”
“You sure you guys aren’t going to need back-up? I’m sure I can claim wraith attack if Carter questions why we’re late.”
“Nah, it’s alright. The less people at risk, the better.”
“Right,” Lorne nodded. “Ok, well the Doc’s loaded this jumper up with an altered ARW shield, all you have to do is activate it and the ship will be impenetrable for as long as it...”
“Yeah, we get it.” John nodded.
“Good luck, Colonel, Ronon.”
“We’re gonna need it.” Ronon muttered.
**
“So, do you need me to punch you or something?” Rodney asked and Lorne looked at him with a bewildered expression.
“What?”
“Well, I thought we were going to try and make this look believable.”
“I doubt you punching me could make it look believable McKay.”
“Are you sure, coz I’m pretty strong.”
“I’ll be fine, thanks.” Lorne rolled his eyes as he unstrapped his P-90 and placed it on the floor by the pilot’s seat. Starting up the jumper they waited as the saw the other one lift off from the ground and head for the gate. The team watched the chevrons engage before the puddle opened up and their vigilante friends were gone one again.
“Do you think they’ll do it?” Rodney asked quietly, turning towards Lorne with a worried expression mirroring the Major’s.
“They have to.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
**
The plan was to hop from the planet they’d met with Lorne, to another planet close to the Replicator homeworld so that they could fly the rest of the way, avoiding the use of the Asuran gate. But it wasn’t easy. The closest planet to the Replicator homeworld just happened to be a wraith outpost. No doubt it would either be a baron wasteland with every living thing wiped out or it would be crawling with Replicators and wraith.
John flew the jumper through the stargate, hoping for the sake of their mission that they wouldn’t come up against anything they’d have to fight on the other side. Much to his disappointment though, as soon as they passed through the event-horizon, they were bombarded with shots from the planet. He tried to manoeuvre away from them, tried to out-run the darts that flew up form the hive ship parked on the planet, hidden beneath a thousand year old forest.
“Could you try and avoid getting hit!” Ronon yelled from the back of the jumper, trying to strap all of his weapons onto his body. John winced as the jumper took another hit and thanked his lucky stars that with the upgrade of the ARW shield in the ship, Rodney had enhanced the regular shield as well.
“Well, I’m trying, but I don’t see you helping.” John growled in response and Ronon just huffed in response, hanging on tight to the baggage rack.
**
“What happened, Major?” Carter asked as he, Rodney and the rest of the team came wandering down the steps from the jumper bay, looking a little worse for wear. Rodney had a bruise on his jaw, two of the men on Lorne’s team were bloodied though bore no serious injuries and Lorne, remarkably managed to suffer the situation unscathed.
“Wraith ma’am, the second jumper took a hit with Stephens and Benson in, they’re ok as you can see, but we had to ditch the jumper in order to get out of there.”
“Alright, well, we’ll debrief in an hour. Get your men to see Keller.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Lorne smiled before turning to head towards the infirmary. She watched them go, chuckling slightly as Lorne slapped McKay upside the head though she was stunned for a moment when Rodney slapped him right back, causing the both of them to chase each other the rest of the way down the stairs attempting to hit each other.
Sam only shook her head at their antics.
**
“So the mission was a success?” Teyla questioned as Rodney and Lorne walked slowly into her quarters. Lorne moved over to the bed and smiled as he sat down beside her, reaching a hand out in askance to rest it on her belly. When she nodded slowly he answered her question with a smile.
“Yeah, Colonel Sheppard and Ronon are happily off on their little suicide mission to take Dr. Weir chocolate Pralines.”
Teyla chuckled as the baby kicked against Lorne’s hand. Lorne’s eyes widened and he looked up at Rodney suddenly, before turning to Teyla with a surprised smile.
“Was that?”
“Indeed, it was.” She grinned, moving her hand to rest on her stomach as well.
“Ooh, can i?” Rodney moved forward and Teyla smirked up at him.
“I did not know you were one for such things, Rodney.”
He shrugged and sat down on her other side, reaching out to shove Lorne’s hand aside and wait as the baby stilled. Lorne glared at him, but Rodney ignored him and just waited.
“Speak again, Major, I think it was your voice.” Teyla encouraged.
Lorne licked his lips before leaning towards her belly. “Ah, Dr. McKay is a ninny.” Rodney was about to throttle him when he suddenly felt the little tiny foot against his hand. He grinned and laughed when it did it again.
“That must feel so weird.”
“Yes, it does.”
Rodney kept his hand on Teyla’s belly as Lorne got up and paced the room. “Do you wonder if Sheppard’s doing this just because he and Dr. Weir were-”
Teyla smiled serenely. “No. But whether or not he is doing this for the sake of his feelings toward Elizabeth, she does not deserve to live the remainder of her life in the hands of the replicators.”
“True.”
“Do you think they’ll bring her back here?” Rodney looked up at her, finally removing his hand as she pulled her shirt back down. Teyla shook her head, realising that for some reason these strong men were looking to her for guidance.
“Bringing her back here could be too dangerous, and according to your planet’s laws it appears, Colonel Sheppard’s return would not be taken as a joyous event.”
“He’d probably be tried and imprisoned if found guilty of a dereliction of his duty, whether good came of it or not.” Lorne said sombrely.
Teyla looked up at him with glistening eyes, grasping the hand Rodney had resting on her bed. He wasn’t as surprised by her touch as he used to be, Teyla had become one of the few people in Rodney’s life that he respected more than he loved his own genius and one of the only people that knew what he was really like in the heart.
“Then we must assume that we may never see them again.” Her voice was quiet and streaked with a great sadness. They’d not long ago lost Carson and she was still coping with that loss in the darkness of her quarters, where no one could see a lonely, pregnant and scared leader cry.
**
“SHIT!” John growled. He just couldn’t shake the darts. There were three currently tailing them and for all his efforts, john just couldn’t get them off.
“What is it?” Ronon staggered as the ship rolled to the left, before dropping himself down into the co-pilot’s spot.
“These damn darts haven’t worked out yet that we’re not here to bug them, we’re just passing through.”
“well then pass through, what are you still doing on the surface.”
“we don’t need them following us all the way back to the replicator planet. We’re going to meet enough resistance when we get there, I don’t wanna draw too much attention.”
Ronon raised his eyebrows. “you really think that they’ll follow us there? John, the replicators want to, and can kill them, why would they follow us into that?”
John turned his attention from flying, to Ronon for a second before licking his lips. “Right, ah...good point.”
**
Elizabeth stood in the centre of the sculptured landscape garden. She studied the trees, their perfectly rounded shapes, the lack of breeze in the air and the feel of the grass beneath her feet. She’d removed her shoes so that she could feel the cool grass beneath her toes, the dirt or perhaps the gentle feeling of early morning dew. But like everything on this planet, she was bitterly disappointed when all that met her senses was the sharp bristling of something artificial and contrived.
Lifting a hand to her forehead she felt the tears burn at her eyes. She hated it there, hated that none of the food they presented her with had a taste beyond the nauseating stench of ground vitamins mixed with something she didn’t care to ask about. Her tongue had begun to forget what real food tasted like, her hands had begun to forget what real skin felt like and her mind had begun to forget what was truth and what was not.
Every night she met with John in his quarters, smiling happily when his arms encircled her and made her feel safe. She knew that it wasn’t real, she knew that he wasn’t really there and that she’d probably never see him again, but that didn’t stop her dreaming. In her dreams she was safe, in her dreams they were all ok and Atlantis survived the Replicator attack, they’d stopped the beam.
In her dreams she shared lifetimes with John, raised children with him and saw his brilliance in their eyes. She’d wake up crying in the morning, with a hole in her heart each time she had to leave that perfect place.
Suddenly shaken from her thoughts Elizabeth looked up through the glass ceiling to see a Puddlejumper shoot across the sky at lightening speed. Though while her first thought was that the Asurans didn’t have Puddlejumpers, never once did it cross her mind that it was either real, or that John and Ronon were on their way to find her.
Part 3