The Star's Heart, Chapter 10, pt 1/3
Title: "The Mystery of the Star's Heart"
Author: Taylor Dancinghands -taylor@tdancinghands.com
Characters: McKay, Sheppard, Beckett, Zelenka, Weir, Teyla, Ronon, (nun!)Jeannie McKay, Grodin, Lorne, Caldwell, among others.
Pairings: Zelenka/McKay, Sheppard/Lorne past and Sheppard/Lorne/Teyla preslash, Beckett/Weir, Caldwell/Jeannie McKay romance background
Category: slash, pre-slash, Steampunk AU, romance, action/adventure
Spoilers: none
Warnings: m/m relationships
Rating: Teen
Summary:In a bygone future that never was, the US Special Projects Bureau's Airship Daedalus carries an expedition into the Hollow Earth to discover the fabled lost city of Atlantis...
AN: Yes, these chapters do seem to keep getting longer and longer, but there's only one or two more to go. Lots and lots of action in this one too, so hold onto your hats, everyone!
(An index for the whole story to-date can be found here.)
Chapter 10, pt 1
In which Ford's mischief comes to have serious, mostly intended, consequences, and his plans reach their ultimate fruition.
"It would be a mistake to qualify deep ones only as inhuman, rapacious monsters (though they are most certainly all those things) for they can also be said to possess characteristics we may find virtuous seeming. For one, they are steadfastly loyal and devoted, both to their clans, families and to their Gods. They might even be said to be selfless in this regard, as a mother wolf will give her ferocious all, without thought, in the cause of protecting her cubs."
The Look -An examination of the natural history, habits and culture of Deep Ones -Dr Calvin Kavanagh
"Tell me again why we are giving up valuable space on the air launch for this... this voodoo practitioner?" Dr McKay griped stridently. "We barely have room for the welding gear, the spare metal stock and our people! And may I remind you that these are vital, vital repairs!"
Dr Weir was quite pleased with her new office on Atlantis, with its windows on one side overlooking the grand upper foyer and control room and those on the other side looking out over the expanse of the city and cavern outside. She was less pleased with how having an office seemed to mean business as usual for some of her scientists. It was Drs McKay and Gaul who stood before her today, and as usual, McKay was doing all the talking.
"Dr McKay," Elizabeth said with fraying patience. "I am no less aware than you of the necessity of these repairs, and I equally aware of the capacity limitations of the air launch. This is why Dr Kavanagh is not going to get the photographic equipment he requested, but will instead be forced to rely on pencil and paper. I have seen for myself, gentlemen, some of the sigils and runes scribed over the tunnel mouth which Dr Kavanagh wishes to study, and I deem them not only potentially of interest for his field, but also possibly of critical importance for our own mission and survival. Dr Kavanagh will be travelling with you to the mirror array, gentlemen, and that's final."
McKay looked as if he wanted to continue to argue the point, but fortunately his colleague knew better. "C'mon McKay," Gaul said with a resigned sigh. "I told you this was a waste of time. Let's go see how Zelenka is doing at stripping down the welding gear."
"It's not like it's even anything like science, what he does," Elizabeth could hear McKay carrying on as he left, and she let herself smile, just a little, once she was sure he wouldn't see. In all fairness, he had a point about the 'scientific' merits of the Esoteric Studies field, but its value to the survival of members of the SPB, now and in the past were unquestionable.
She'd made her own study, as a linguist, of the various runic symbols and signs often found at temples and other sites associated with Elder Beings, and had tried to find some system or order to them, but with no success. It might be that none existed -or at least none that the human mind could grasp- but furthering that knowledge could prove vital, for all who would seek to oppose these horrific beings, and this made the field central to the mission of the SPB, for all that McKay and others like him complained.
She'd been hoping that such knowledge, among other useful things, might be found in the Ancient Ones' repository of knowledge here in the city, but the problem here was an excess of information. Peter had already transcribed dozens of pages for her to review and indicate what more should be studied and transcribed, but how could she make a decision?
There were priorities, of course. Peter had, for a wonder, found a set of schematics for the various mirror arrays -including the hundreds of small arrays in the settlements- a copy of which McKay had now for the furthering of the repairs on the primary array, surrounding the tunnel mouth. He and his team had been working for two days already, and had mostly repaired the damage they'd caused, but an examination of the plans, and further discussions with Teyla and folk from other settlements revealed that time and misfortune had also damaged the array in many other places.
"Honestly, its a good thing we came when we did," McKay had told her the evening before, over dinner. "These people were looking at several possibly catastrophic failures that would have most certainly taken place over the next ten to twenty years. Luckily, I'm fairly sure that we'll be able to fix everything over the next week or so."
"Two weeks," Zelenka, sitting across from them, had suggested.
"Okay, ten days, at the outside," McKay had replied and the debate had gone on from there.
Elizabeth was more pleased than she could say about how well McKay and Zelenka got on these days. Even she could not have predicted how well they would come to work together, though she had always hoped that they would at least find some sort of working partnership. Their growing friendship, and the synergy with which their minds worked was something miraculous to see.
It was McKay's mantle lanterns, and Zelenka's orlubs that were bringing the most revolutionary changes to the people of these realms, as well. They'd distributed both to several of the settlements scattered around the greater cavern -the lanterns to 'patch holes' in the light coverage from the damaged array, and to serve as emergency defense, and the orlubs to create a nearly instant communication system in the greater cavern, for the first time since the Ancient Ones' departure.
Eight of Zelenka's ten 'life sized' mechanical pigeons had been disseminated to eight strategically located settlements, with their navigation algorithms set so that they would fly back to Atlantis. The small cargo compartments in their backs could carry a single sheet of writing paper folded small, and if someone from one settlement wished to send a message to another settlement, the name of the intended destination could be written on the outside of the paper. The designated 'Orlub Wrangler' -Peter Grodin for the moment, but plans were underway to train Sister Constance for the job- could reset the orlub's algorithm for the intended settlement, and they, in turn, could either set the bird to return to its home settlement, or to Atlantis.
It was a highly civilizing improvement, Elizabeth thought with pride, bringing something like a postal system to a place where a more conventional version of the job would be much too dangerous. The danger was twofold: any messenger, going alone or as one of a pair, would be too easy a target for the wraith, even during the daylight hours; and any message carried, either in writing or in the messenger's memory, could be learned or read by the wraith.
Elizabeth and Sister Constance had independently come up with the idea of teaching the people here to read and write in Latin -a language not dissimilar from the Ancient Ones' tongue, which a few of them knew, but with a different character set from the one the wraith knew. English, unfortunately, was out of the question, as Sumner had known it, and no one was yet sure how much, if any, of his knowledge the Wraith had taken from him.
That was one of the sobering, unanswered questions that plagued Elizabeth these days. Another was who had employed Harry Maybourne to steal the Star's Heart. The man refused to admit to anything, save for repeatedly trying to convince them that Lt Ford had been his confederate, occasionally even claiming that the man was a cultist of some sort. The absurdity of this claim in particular bothered Elizabeth, as it made no sense. She understood why Maybourne wouldn't give up his paymaster, but why make these clearly ridiculous accusations? Unless they were true...
Elizabeth had kept these fears to herself, thinking them only passing whims, but they would not pass. It did not help that the numerous times she had tried, over the past couple of days, to engineer a chance encounter with Ford, the man was mysteriously not present, every time. The whole thing raised her figurative hackles and she had determined to put the question to Sheppard today, at some point. She'd have to pry the man out of Zelenka's flying machine first, however.
Following this thought, Elizabeth stood from her desk and crossed to the windows to see if she could spot the man and his new toy. She was, she confessed, still a little leery about going out in the open, after her terrifying experience of nearly being captured by the wraith, even in what amounted to 'broad daylight' here. She reminded herself that she remained as safe as possible here in the city, even out on the balconies, as Atlantis remained cloaked in light at all times of the day and night. McKay reminded them frequently enough that this could not last forever, but surely it was only a matter of time before they discovered where to place the Star's Heart so that it could power the city again.
Seeing the glimmer from her window of the approaching orlub, Elizabeth pressed herself to continue out onto the balcony. There she found Dr Beckett and Sister Constance, who had just spent her first night on Atlantis, after agreeing to take up residence there along with the rest of the scientists. She had also agreed, at last, to try wearing the Daedalus crew trousers and tunic Novak had lent her. They fit her well enough, Elizabeth thought, but the nun looked as if she was not at all yet used to wearing them.
"Good morning Elizabeth," the two of them greeted her.
"Good morning, Carson, Sister Constance," Elizabeth replied, surprised to see the nun frown slightly at being addressed thus.
"Actually," she said, "I've been thinking that it's time to dispense with 'Sister Constance'. As much as I hate to admit that my brother is right about anything, I really am much freer to pursue my dreams here than I could ever be while I was in orders. It's time for me to give up the habit," she gestured to her new outfit, "and the dopey name. I'm ready to go back to being Miss Jeannie McKay, for good, I think."
"Well congratulations!" Elizabeth said, wondering if the very gentlemanly attentions she noticed coming from Captain Caldwell had played any part in this decision. "I trust I may call you Jeannie?"
"Yes, please!" Jeannie said with a laugh. "Now that I'm done with being 'Sister Constance' I certainly don't need to insist on 'Miss McKay'."
"Oh good," Elizabeth said, and then before she could say anything else she remembered why she had come out to the balcony... as the thing -and people- she come to see loomed suddenly, nearly in their midst.
"Oh!" cried Jeannie as the orlub fluttered up (with an alarmingly large flutter) to perch on the balcony railing. It was Lorne piloting now, with Sheppard in the passenger comportment, so evidently Sheppard had successfully trained his fellow pilot to fly the orlub.
"Great job Major!" Sheppard said, climbing out of his compartment and then reaching up to lend Lorne a hand as he did likewise -somewhat more slowly and carefully. Only a few days after having been caught in a rock fall during his rescue from the wraith, Lorne's ribs had not yet fully recovered.
"My first 'perching' landing," he said with pride when he came to stand on the balcony and greet Elizabeth. "Sheppard's right, though, this thing is a dream to fly."
"Congratulations, Major!" Elizabeth said. "But you must be sure to let Dr Zelenka know what you think of his machine."
"Aye," Carson seconded. "It's like his own wee bairn, that thing is, and I've never seen a prouder papa."
"Well he has just cause," Jeannie said. "It was instrumental in my rescue, and the rescue of my fellow sisters, after all."
There was a momentary pause as Elizabeth could actually see Sheppard biting his tongue and Jeannie had the grace to blush. "Oh, of course, you and my brother were, um, instrumental too, Major."
Sheppard laughed. "We all played our parts, Sister, including you," he said, and Jeannie blushed again.
"As you can see," she said, gesturing at her outfit. "I'm, ah, out of uniform, for good I think, so please, the only person who gets to call me sister any more is Meridith. I'm perfectly pleased to go back to being Jeannie McKay to everyone else."
"Really?" Lorne said, blinking. "That's a pretty big step."
"Well," Jeannie said with an uneasy laugh, "I've taken a lot of 'big steps' lately, so maybe it just seems like one more. I mean, I guess I should feel like it was a hard decision, but it wasn't. When I didn't really believe that there could ever be a place for me in the world like this place or the SPB, it was easy to shut myself away in a convent, but as soon as I realized the possibilities that existed for me here, it was too easy to walk away. I guess that doesn't say much for the sincerity of my devotion."
"Seems to me like you were always devoted," Elizabeth said, "to science, and you expressed that devotion the only way you could. There's no shame in that at all."
"Well, I'm glad you think so," Jeannie said, "but now, if I would be true to my true devotion, I should keep my appointment to meet with Dr Grodin, who's going to show me the ins and outs of the smaller version of this wondrous machine." She gestured to the orlub perched on the railing.
"Indeed," he's waiting for you in the control room," Elizabeth said, pointing to where they could see Peter through the glass partitions of the upper level. "And Captain Sheppard, may I have a private word with you in my office?"
"Sure," he said, suggesting to Lorne that he get additional practice on the orlub and that they would meet for lunch in an hour. Once in Elizabeth's office, he took the seat across from her desk.
"I'm beginning to be concerned about Ford," Elizabeth said without preamble. "I realize that we both thought Maybourne's accusations were ridiculous when he first made them, but the more I think about it, and the more time that goes by with the man apparently avoiding me, the more I'm starting to have doubts."
To Elizabeth's relief, Sheppard did not immediately dismiss her worries. "I know what you mean," he said. "And I've begun to think about how perfect the timing was when he told me he was beginning to suspect Maybourne less than a day before we busted him coming out of your quarters. It's just too... tidy."
Elizabeth relaxed in her chair, but now confronted a whole new set of worries. "Do you think Maybourne could be right about Ford being a cultist?" she asked.
"I've been asking myself the same question," Sheppard said. "But the guy's been pretty scarce around me, too, and that's not doing his case any favors."
"No, it isn't," Elizabeth replied. "I won't tolerate any witch hunts, but we can't have a cultist running around free down here either. God knows what kind of unholy alliance he could try to make with the wraith -if it's true."
"I don't know if the wraith are alliance making types," Sheppard said, "but Ronon told me that there are, evidently, some folks here who more or less worship the wraith as gods -or rightful rulers at least. That sounds pretty much like cultist thinking to me, and if Ford is one himself, he's likely to think something similar."
"So what do we do about it?" Elizabeth asked, hands folded on her desk.
"Well, the guy is supposedly still in the chain of command," Sheppard said. "He has to respond to a direct order, and if he doesn't we can more or less count him as rogue. I'll put out the word among the Marines that he needs to report to either me or Lorne for some new assignment, and I can at least find out who's seen him lately and what he' been doing."
Elizabeth nodded. "Sounds like a plan," she said. "And now that I've got you here, we need to talk about duty schedules and supplies -seeing as you are now the ranking military commander on the expedition."
Indeed, there was nothing Lt Ford could teach John Sheppard about making himself scarce, as he had found ways to avoid this meeting for the last two days. Elizabeth had him now, however, and so he grimaced a bit and then sat forward to get their business done. They were at it for a little over an hour and then it was time for lunch.
Lorne joined them for lunch, as did Peter and Jeannie and Dr Beckett. Elizabeth could see Zelenka and McKay, sitting with a number of the other scientists at an adjacent table, all of them eagerly engaged in some scientific debate with sufficient passion that some the debating was done with mouths still full of food. While an atrocious demonstration of table manners, it was a sign of good spirits among the science staffs, Elizabeth knew, and took satisfaction in it.
On the way back from returning his dishes, Sheppard stepped over to another table, where Stackhouse and Miller sat with a number of other Marines and asked if anyone had seen Ford recently. The general consensus was that he was doing 'ferryman' duty on one of the air launches and might be taking lunch on the Daedalus... but might possibly also be at the Athosian settlement.
Well, that's convenient, Elizabeth thought, as she heard Sheppard tell the men to relay his message that Ford was to report to him or Lorne -whoever he happened across first. She and Sheppard had worked out duty schedules for the job of running the launch, and determined that no one should have to serve more than a five hour shift. The schedule also determined when the shifts should end and where the launches should be docked at shift end, but if Ford never saw that schedule, he would have no way of knowing when and where to leave off. Elizabeth made a note to herself, to have the schedules copied out and posted on the two launches.
After lunch Sheppard and Lorne went off with Zelenka to see about how to permanently affix a mantle lantern to the orlub, Beckett went back to his infirmary with one of the Marines who'd turned an ankle doing something foolish, Jeannie and Peter went back to Peter's new office to work on their establishment of a cavern-wide air postal system and Elizabeth went back to her office to work on her translation of more of the ancient material she'd copied from the IDS. She'd been working for nearly an hour and a half when she heard the first, faint alarms.
The distant tolling of a bell did not come to her as remarkable at first -it being a common sort of sound in the teeming cities where she'd lived most of her life. It was just dawning on her that it was not such a common sound here, when the second unusual noise -a sort of droning horn- intruded on her senses and began to spark her alarm. She left her work on her desk and hurried out to the balcony.
Sgt Bates was there, as were McKay and Sheppard, who'd been working in the control room.
"What the hell?" Sheppard asked as more bells and alarms could be heard from some of the distant, and higher settlements.
"I'm not thinking it's anything good, sir," Bates commented. Elizabeth was forced to agree.
She tried to fathom where the most of the sounds were coming from, and ended up peering up towards a distant corner of the cavern, more or less, she thought, where Sheppard's rescue party had gone to access the wraith nest. As she stared she saw something that looked, inexplicably, like a falling star, and evidently she wasn't the only one.
"Is that...?" McKay began and Sheppard answered him before he could finish his question.
"One of our flares, yes" he said. They'd distributed flares, along with mantle lanterns, in some of the more remote settlements, to serve as both defensive 'weapons' and distress signals. This one had been evidently thrown out into the main cavern from a considerable height in the cavern, and it fell for some time, allowing all who watched it to trace the trajectory back to its origin.
"That came from the Alteinian settlement, or I'll eat my hat," Sheppard said.
"That's the high one, up by where Jinto showed us the tunnel into wraith territory?" inquired McKay.
"You think they're under attack, sir?" Bates asked.
"I can't think of what else it might be," Sheppard said, brow furrowed as he extracted a folding telescope from his vest pocket. "But I can't understand why they're attacking now, in broad daylight... unless... oh crap, Ford!"
"Captain?" Elizabeth said with growing alarm.
"I let him cover our retreat," Sheppard said angrily. "I told him to make sure no wraith lived to see where we'd gone... I trusted him..."
"You had no way of knowing," Elizabeth said, even as she saw him shake his head.
"Moot point now," he said bitterly. "Now we're gonna need to do a lot of damage control."
"We going to help them?" Bates asked, clearly keen to do just that.
"We won't be able to get men up there fast enough on foot," McKay said, frowning as Sheppard peered through his spyglass.
"And the Daedalus won't be ready to take to the air until tomorrow morning at the earliest," Sheppard said, gaze still focused on the distant scene. "We need to recall the launches; have them come to Atlantis and pick up men armed with muskets and coach guns, but I don't know if they'll be fast enough either."
Elizabeth frowned, thinking that they hadn't yet decided on a signal for recalling the launches and regretting it deeply. Of course there was something faster than the launches, but before she could say a word, it presented itself.
"Way to go, Evan," Sheppard muttered as they all saw the orlub, Lorne in the pilot's seat, climbing through the air towards the very balcony where they stood. Sheppard collapsed his spyglass and turned to Bates.
"Sargent," he ordered. "Go find the flare gun in my office and fire a very-light off this balcony. It's not a prearranged signal but hopefully whoever is piloting the launches will buy a clue. When they arrive, put the first five volunteers -one pilot, four gunmen- you can find in it with loads of ammunition. You can start assembling crews as soon as you get send the signal."
"Yes sir," Bates replied and raced off to comply.
"I'm gonna grab a couple of pieces from the armory," Sheppard called out to Lorne as the orlub came to perch on the balcony rail again.
"Coach gun will do you more good than a musket, Sheppard!" McKay called after him as he dashed off.
"What do you think you can do, Major?" Elizabeth asked as Lorne moved himself from the pilot's seat to the back.
"Take out as many as we can," he answered. "And track their movements. We can probably provide cover for the launches when they get out there too."
Elizabeth nodded tightly, trusting her military people to do their jobs, as uneasy as it made her. Sheppard came pelting back onto the balcony a moment later, several firearms and a box of ammunition in his arms. These he handed to Lorne before leaping into the pilot's seat and belting himself in.
"Lemme know when you're stowed and secured, Major," Sheppard said and as soon as Lorne did Sheppard brought the orlub to life. Elizabeth and McKay both stepped back as the avian flying machine reversed itself on the balcony rail and crouched, readying for takeoff.
"Godspeed, gentlemen," Elizabeth called and then the orlub launched itself into the air. Lorne gave a whoop as the machine took wing and began to climb toward the distant settlement, and Elizabeth heard an answering shout from some of the Marines gathering on the landing bays at the tower's base. One of the launches, Elizabeth noted, was already coming in to pick them up.
"I'd better go get Zelenka and head down to the chair room where the light weapon controls are," said McKay, heading down the stairs.
Elizabeth followed him, feeling unsure as to what she could do for now. She watched as Bates came up on the lift, racing past McKay on his way down, and then past her, up the stairs toward the balcony. A moment later she heard the soft report of the very pistol from outside. She supposed that staying where people could easily find her would be the most sensible course, and so found herself climbing slowly back up the stairs toward the control room just as Bates came running back down.
"Let me keep that up in the control room, Sergent" she said, catching him as they passed and indicating the very pistol. "If I see anything change out there, or in case of any other emergency..."
"Sure thing, ma'am," Bates replied, laying the pistol in her hands and then extracting a couple of spare rounds from his pocket. "That's probably a good idea."
Elizabeth tucked the snub nosed pistol into her expedition jacket, and dropped the flares into her pocket as she watched Bates disappear. She paused at the top of the stairs, glancing about the empty control room and through the transparent walls into her office. There was work she might do there, but for the moment she didn't think she had the concentration for it. Instead she strolled back toward the balcony, doubting that she would be able to see anything, but curious nonetheless.
The flare which Bates had fired a moment ago still hung from its parachute in the center of the cavern, a strange red star slowly descending through the fractured sun beams cast by the mirror array. Alarm bells could still be heard ringing in the distance, but Elizabeth could see no other sign of the conflict supposedly taking place in the far upper reaches of the cavern. She turned to make her way back to her office when she realized that someone was now standing at the balcony door.
"Dr Weir," said Lt Ford with a disarming smile that utterly failed to set Elizabeth at ease.
"Lieutenant," Elizabeth said, trying, on her part, for welcoming, though she wasn't at all sure she had succeeded either. "It's good to see you. We've been looking for you."
"Well now you've found me," Ford said, still smiling. The grin that had seemed light hearted and puppyish only a few days ago now seemed slightly disturbing somehow. "Listen," he continued earnestly. "Before you tell me about that, there's something I need you to see. It's this way." He gestured for her to follow, taking a few steps back towards the stairs, as if he had every reason to expect her to go with him.
"Lieutenant," Elizabeth said. "I need to stay here for now, and you need to take your air launch to the base of the tower and pick up the men Bates has organized. We have reason to believe there's a wraith incursion near the Alteinian settlement..."
"Yeah, I know," Ford said dismissively. "But that's not important. What's important is that you really need to come with me now."
"Why do I need to come with you, Lieutenant?" Elizabeth asked with growing awareness that she was in trouble. There was something so very clearly wrong about Ford, she wondered how she'd missed it, or how he'd kept his nature hidden so well.
"You need to come with me," Ford answered, his voice suddenly, shockingly dead cold, and a pistol suddenly in his hand, "because if you don't I'll shoot you, and I won't kill you."
Elizabeth felt the blood drain from her face, even as her thoughts sharpened and began to calculate. Elizabeth Weir was no soldier or fighter, but she hadn't exactly lead a sheltered life either. She would not panic. "Lieutenant," she said, her own voice possibly a notch colder than Ford's now. "What do you think you're doing?" There was nearly always, Elizabeth knew from long experience, a benefit to playing for time.
"What am I doing?" Ford replied, the pistol he directed at her steady as a rock. "I'm doing what I truly came here to do: serving mypeople. I'll have your stolen artifact for them, and I will bring them these Realms, to rule and plunder as they are entitled to. Father Dagon and Mother Hydra must rule all seas, below the Earth as well as on it!"
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Elizabeth saw it. Ford was young yet, but even so he was beginning to develop the first hints of The Look. It was evident in how his eyes were just a little too wide, how his forehead sloped back at a not-quite-human angle. Elizabeth shook her head in dismay at how she'd missed all the signs, and let the anger she felt at herself fill her words.
"The Star's Heart no more belongs to the Deep Ones than it belongs to me, you fool!" she retorted. "It belongs to Atlantis and her children, and only they will be able to wield its power. It will be nothing but a useless ornament to your people, as you know perfectly well!"
"The Ancient Ones are dust," Ford replied with contempt. "Their city is sea trove now and therefore rightfully ours. If the Ancient Ones' children would walk its corridors again, they would do well to acknowledge their masters." He gestured meaningfully with the gun now, meeting Elizabeth's gaze coldly.
"You need to acknowledge your master as well, Dr Weir," he continued. "I have a gun and am prepared to use it, if you do not do as I say this minute."
Mouth firmed into an unhappy line, Elizabeth complied, striding past the rogue soldier haughtily. He had no idea about the very pistol, she reminded herself, and though it would not do her any good just now, there could well come an opportunity to make good use of it. She would keep her wits about her and await her chance.
***
And when will they realize she's missing?
Author: Taylor Dancinghands -taylor@tdancinghands.com
Characters: McKay, Sheppard, Beckett, Zelenka, Weir, Teyla, Ronon, (nun!)Jeannie McKay, Grodin, Lorne, Caldwell, among others.
Pairings: Zelenka/McKay, Sheppard/Lorne past and Sheppard/Lorne/Teyla preslash, Beckett/Weir, Caldwell/Jeannie McKay romance background
Category: slash, pre-slash, Steampunk AU, romance, action/adventure
Spoilers: none
Warnings: m/m relationships
Rating: Teen
Summary:In a bygone future that never was, the US Special Projects Bureau's Airship Daedalus carries an expedition into the Hollow Earth to discover the fabled lost city of Atlantis...
AN: Yes, these chapters do seem to keep getting longer and longer, but there's only one or two more to go. Lots and lots of action in this one too, so hold onto your hats, everyone!
(An index for the whole story to-date can be found here.)
Chapter 10, pt 1
In which Ford's mischief comes to have serious, mostly intended, consequences, and his plans reach their ultimate fruition.
"It would be a mistake to qualify deep ones only as inhuman, rapacious monsters (though they are most certainly all those things) for they can also be said to possess characteristics we may find virtuous seeming. For one, they are steadfastly loyal and devoted, both to their clans, families and to their Gods. They might even be said to be selfless in this regard, as a mother wolf will give her ferocious all, without thought, in the cause of protecting her cubs."
The Look -An examination of the natural history, habits and culture of Deep Ones -Dr Calvin Kavanagh
"Tell me again why we are giving up valuable space on the air launch for this... this voodoo practitioner?" Dr McKay griped stridently. "We barely have room for the welding gear, the spare metal stock and our people! And may I remind you that these are vital, vital repairs!"
Dr Weir was quite pleased with her new office on Atlantis, with its windows on one side overlooking the grand upper foyer and control room and those on the other side looking out over the expanse of the city and cavern outside. She was less pleased with how having an office seemed to mean business as usual for some of her scientists. It was Drs McKay and Gaul who stood before her today, and as usual, McKay was doing all the talking.
"Dr McKay," Elizabeth said with fraying patience. "I am no less aware than you of the necessity of these repairs, and I equally aware of the capacity limitations of the air launch. This is why Dr Kavanagh is not going to get the photographic equipment he requested, but will instead be forced to rely on pencil and paper. I have seen for myself, gentlemen, some of the sigils and runes scribed over the tunnel mouth which Dr Kavanagh wishes to study, and I deem them not only potentially of interest for his field, but also possibly of critical importance for our own mission and survival. Dr Kavanagh will be travelling with you to the mirror array, gentlemen, and that's final."
McKay looked as if he wanted to continue to argue the point, but fortunately his colleague knew better. "C'mon McKay," Gaul said with a resigned sigh. "I told you this was a waste of time. Let's go see how Zelenka is doing at stripping down the welding gear."
"It's not like it's even anything like science, what he does," Elizabeth could hear McKay carrying on as he left, and she let herself smile, just a little, once she was sure he wouldn't see. In all fairness, he had a point about the 'scientific' merits of the Esoteric Studies field, but its value to the survival of members of the SPB, now and in the past were unquestionable.
She'd made her own study, as a linguist, of the various runic symbols and signs often found at temples and other sites associated with Elder Beings, and had tried to find some system or order to them, but with no success. It might be that none existed -or at least none that the human mind could grasp- but furthering that knowledge could prove vital, for all who would seek to oppose these horrific beings, and this made the field central to the mission of the SPB, for all that McKay and others like him complained.
She'd been hoping that such knowledge, among other useful things, might be found in the Ancient Ones' repository of knowledge here in the city, but the problem here was an excess of information. Peter had already transcribed dozens of pages for her to review and indicate what more should be studied and transcribed, but how could she make a decision?
There were priorities, of course. Peter had, for a wonder, found a set of schematics for the various mirror arrays -including the hundreds of small arrays in the settlements- a copy of which McKay had now for the furthering of the repairs on the primary array, surrounding the tunnel mouth. He and his team had been working for two days already, and had mostly repaired the damage they'd caused, but an examination of the plans, and further discussions with Teyla and folk from other settlements revealed that time and misfortune had also damaged the array in many other places.
"Honestly, its a good thing we came when we did," McKay had told her the evening before, over dinner. "These people were looking at several possibly catastrophic failures that would have most certainly taken place over the next ten to twenty years. Luckily, I'm fairly sure that we'll be able to fix everything over the next week or so."
"Two weeks," Zelenka, sitting across from them, had suggested.
"Okay, ten days, at the outside," McKay had replied and the debate had gone on from there.
Elizabeth was more pleased than she could say about how well McKay and Zelenka got on these days. Even she could not have predicted how well they would come to work together, though she had always hoped that they would at least find some sort of working partnership. Their growing friendship, and the synergy with which their minds worked was something miraculous to see.
It was McKay's mantle lanterns, and Zelenka's orlubs that were bringing the most revolutionary changes to the people of these realms, as well. They'd distributed both to several of the settlements scattered around the greater cavern -the lanterns to 'patch holes' in the light coverage from the damaged array, and to serve as emergency defense, and the orlubs to create a nearly instant communication system in the greater cavern, for the first time since the Ancient Ones' departure.
Eight of Zelenka's ten 'life sized' mechanical pigeons had been disseminated to eight strategically located settlements, with their navigation algorithms set so that they would fly back to Atlantis. The small cargo compartments in their backs could carry a single sheet of writing paper folded small, and if someone from one settlement wished to send a message to another settlement, the name of the intended destination could be written on the outside of the paper. The designated 'Orlub Wrangler' -Peter Grodin for the moment, but plans were underway to train Sister Constance for the job- could reset the orlub's algorithm for the intended settlement, and they, in turn, could either set the bird to return to its home settlement, or to Atlantis.
It was a highly civilizing improvement, Elizabeth thought with pride, bringing something like a postal system to a place where a more conventional version of the job would be much too dangerous. The danger was twofold: any messenger, going alone or as one of a pair, would be too easy a target for the wraith, even during the daylight hours; and any message carried, either in writing or in the messenger's memory, could be learned or read by the wraith.
Elizabeth and Sister Constance had independently come up with the idea of teaching the people here to read and write in Latin -a language not dissimilar from the Ancient Ones' tongue, which a few of them knew, but with a different character set from the one the wraith knew. English, unfortunately, was out of the question, as Sumner had known it, and no one was yet sure how much, if any, of his knowledge the Wraith had taken from him.
That was one of the sobering, unanswered questions that plagued Elizabeth these days. Another was who had employed Harry Maybourne to steal the Star's Heart. The man refused to admit to anything, save for repeatedly trying to convince them that Lt Ford had been his confederate, occasionally even claiming that the man was a cultist of some sort. The absurdity of this claim in particular bothered Elizabeth, as it made no sense. She understood why Maybourne wouldn't give up his paymaster, but why make these clearly ridiculous accusations? Unless they were true...
Elizabeth had kept these fears to herself, thinking them only passing whims, but they would not pass. It did not help that the numerous times she had tried, over the past couple of days, to engineer a chance encounter with Ford, the man was mysteriously not present, every time. The whole thing raised her figurative hackles and she had determined to put the question to Sheppard today, at some point. She'd have to pry the man out of Zelenka's flying machine first, however.
Following this thought, Elizabeth stood from her desk and crossed to the windows to see if she could spot the man and his new toy. She was, she confessed, still a little leery about going out in the open, after her terrifying experience of nearly being captured by the wraith, even in what amounted to 'broad daylight' here. She reminded herself that she remained as safe as possible here in the city, even out on the balconies, as Atlantis remained cloaked in light at all times of the day and night. McKay reminded them frequently enough that this could not last forever, but surely it was only a matter of time before they discovered where to place the Star's Heart so that it could power the city again.
Seeing the glimmer from her window of the approaching orlub, Elizabeth pressed herself to continue out onto the balcony. There she found Dr Beckett and Sister Constance, who had just spent her first night on Atlantis, after agreeing to take up residence there along with the rest of the scientists. She had also agreed, at last, to try wearing the Daedalus crew trousers and tunic Novak had lent her. They fit her well enough, Elizabeth thought, but the nun looked as if she was not at all yet used to wearing them.
"Good morning Elizabeth," the two of them greeted her.
"Good morning, Carson, Sister Constance," Elizabeth replied, surprised to see the nun frown slightly at being addressed thus.
"Actually," she said, "I've been thinking that it's time to dispense with 'Sister Constance'. As much as I hate to admit that my brother is right about anything, I really am much freer to pursue my dreams here than I could ever be while I was in orders. It's time for me to give up the habit," she gestured to her new outfit, "and the dopey name. I'm ready to go back to being Miss Jeannie McKay, for good, I think."
"Well congratulations!" Elizabeth said, wondering if the very gentlemanly attentions she noticed coming from Captain Caldwell had played any part in this decision. "I trust I may call you Jeannie?"
"Yes, please!" Jeannie said with a laugh. "Now that I'm done with being 'Sister Constance' I certainly don't need to insist on 'Miss McKay'."
"Oh good," Elizabeth said, and then before she could say anything else she remembered why she had come out to the balcony... as the thing -and people- she come to see loomed suddenly, nearly in their midst.
"Oh!" cried Jeannie as the orlub fluttered up (with an alarmingly large flutter) to perch on the balcony railing. It was Lorne piloting now, with Sheppard in the passenger comportment, so evidently Sheppard had successfully trained his fellow pilot to fly the orlub.
"Great job Major!" Sheppard said, climbing out of his compartment and then reaching up to lend Lorne a hand as he did likewise -somewhat more slowly and carefully. Only a few days after having been caught in a rock fall during his rescue from the wraith, Lorne's ribs had not yet fully recovered.
"My first 'perching' landing," he said with pride when he came to stand on the balcony and greet Elizabeth. "Sheppard's right, though, this thing is a dream to fly."
"Congratulations, Major!" Elizabeth said. "But you must be sure to let Dr Zelenka know what you think of his machine."
"Aye," Carson seconded. "It's like his own wee bairn, that thing is, and I've never seen a prouder papa."
"Well he has just cause," Jeannie said. "It was instrumental in my rescue, and the rescue of my fellow sisters, after all."
There was a momentary pause as Elizabeth could actually see Sheppard biting his tongue and Jeannie had the grace to blush. "Oh, of course, you and my brother were, um, instrumental too, Major."
Sheppard laughed. "We all played our parts, Sister, including you," he said, and Jeannie blushed again.
"As you can see," she said, gesturing at her outfit. "I'm, ah, out of uniform, for good I think, so please, the only person who gets to call me sister any more is Meridith. I'm perfectly pleased to go back to being Jeannie McKay to everyone else."
"Really?" Lorne said, blinking. "That's a pretty big step."
"Well," Jeannie said with an uneasy laugh, "I've taken a lot of 'big steps' lately, so maybe it just seems like one more. I mean, I guess I should feel like it was a hard decision, but it wasn't. When I didn't really believe that there could ever be a place for me in the world like this place or the SPB, it was easy to shut myself away in a convent, but as soon as I realized the possibilities that existed for me here, it was too easy to walk away. I guess that doesn't say much for the sincerity of my devotion."
"Seems to me like you were always devoted," Elizabeth said, "to science, and you expressed that devotion the only way you could. There's no shame in that at all."
"Well, I'm glad you think so," Jeannie said, "but now, if I would be true to my true devotion, I should keep my appointment to meet with Dr Grodin, who's going to show me the ins and outs of the smaller version of this wondrous machine." She gestured to the orlub perched on the railing.
"Indeed," he's waiting for you in the control room," Elizabeth said, pointing to where they could see Peter through the glass partitions of the upper level. "And Captain Sheppard, may I have a private word with you in my office?"
"Sure," he said, suggesting to Lorne that he get additional practice on the orlub and that they would meet for lunch in an hour. Once in Elizabeth's office, he took the seat across from her desk.
"I'm beginning to be concerned about Ford," Elizabeth said without preamble. "I realize that we both thought Maybourne's accusations were ridiculous when he first made them, but the more I think about it, and the more time that goes by with the man apparently avoiding me, the more I'm starting to have doubts."
To Elizabeth's relief, Sheppard did not immediately dismiss her worries. "I know what you mean," he said. "And I've begun to think about how perfect the timing was when he told me he was beginning to suspect Maybourne less than a day before we busted him coming out of your quarters. It's just too... tidy."
Elizabeth relaxed in her chair, but now confronted a whole new set of worries. "Do you think Maybourne could be right about Ford being a cultist?" she asked.
"I've been asking myself the same question," Sheppard said. "But the guy's been pretty scarce around me, too, and that's not doing his case any favors."
"No, it isn't," Elizabeth replied. "I won't tolerate any witch hunts, but we can't have a cultist running around free down here either. God knows what kind of unholy alliance he could try to make with the wraith -if it's true."
"I don't know if the wraith are alliance making types," Sheppard said, "but Ronon told me that there are, evidently, some folks here who more or less worship the wraith as gods -or rightful rulers at least. That sounds pretty much like cultist thinking to me, and if Ford is one himself, he's likely to think something similar."
"So what do we do about it?" Elizabeth asked, hands folded on her desk.
"Well, the guy is supposedly still in the chain of command," Sheppard said. "He has to respond to a direct order, and if he doesn't we can more or less count him as rogue. I'll put out the word among the Marines that he needs to report to either me or Lorne for some new assignment, and I can at least find out who's seen him lately and what he' been doing."
Elizabeth nodded. "Sounds like a plan," she said. "And now that I've got you here, we need to talk about duty schedules and supplies -seeing as you are now the ranking military commander on the expedition."
Indeed, there was nothing Lt Ford could teach John Sheppard about making himself scarce, as he had found ways to avoid this meeting for the last two days. Elizabeth had him now, however, and so he grimaced a bit and then sat forward to get their business done. They were at it for a little over an hour and then it was time for lunch.
Lorne joined them for lunch, as did Peter and Jeannie and Dr Beckett. Elizabeth could see Zelenka and McKay, sitting with a number of the other scientists at an adjacent table, all of them eagerly engaged in some scientific debate with sufficient passion that some the debating was done with mouths still full of food. While an atrocious demonstration of table manners, it was a sign of good spirits among the science staffs, Elizabeth knew, and took satisfaction in it.
On the way back from returning his dishes, Sheppard stepped over to another table, where Stackhouse and Miller sat with a number of other Marines and asked if anyone had seen Ford recently. The general consensus was that he was doing 'ferryman' duty on one of the air launches and might be taking lunch on the Daedalus... but might possibly also be at the Athosian settlement.
Well, that's convenient, Elizabeth thought, as she heard Sheppard tell the men to relay his message that Ford was to report to him or Lorne -whoever he happened across first. She and Sheppard had worked out duty schedules for the job of running the launch, and determined that no one should have to serve more than a five hour shift. The schedule also determined when the shifts should end and where the launches should be docked at shift end, but if Ford never saw that schedule, he would have no way of knowing when and where to leave off. Elizabeth made a note to herself, to have the schedules copied out and posted on the two launches.
After lunch Sheppard and Lorne went off with Zelenka to see about how to permanently affix a mantle lantern to the orlub, Beckett went back to his infirmary with one of the Marines who'd turned an ankle doing something foolish, Jeannie and Peter went back to Peter's new office to work on their establishment of a cavern-wide air postal system and Elizabeth went back to her office to work on her translation of more of the ancient material she'd copied from the IDS. She'd been working for nearly an hour and a half when she heard the first, faint alarms.
The distant tolling of a bell did not come to her as remarkable at first -it being a common sort of sound in the teeming cities where she'd lived most of her life. It was just dawning on her that it was not such a common sound here, when the second unusual noise -a sort of droning horn- intruded on her senses and began to spark her alarm. She left her work on her desk and hurried out to the balcony.
Sgt Bates was there, as were McKay and Sheppard, who'd been working in the control room.
"What the hell?" Sheppard asked as more bells and alarms could be heard from some of the distant, and higher settlements.
"I'm not thinking it's anything good, sir," Bates commented. Elizabeth was forced to agree.
She tried to fathom where the most of the sounds were coming from, and ended up peering up towards a distant corner of the cavern, more or less, she thought, where Sheppard's rescue party had gone to access the wraith nest. As she stared she saw something that looked, inexplicably, like a falling star, and evidently she wasn't the only one.
"Is that...?" McKay began and Sheppard answered him before he could finish his question.
"One of our flares, yes" he said. They'd distributed flares, along with mantle lanterns, in some of the more remote settlements, to serve as both defensive 'weapons' and distress signals. This one had been evidently thrown out into the main cavern from a considerable height in the cavern, and it fell for some time, allowing all who watched it to trace the trajectory back to its origin.
"That came from the Alteinian settlement, or I'll eat my hat," Sheppard said.
"That's the high one, up by where Jinto showed us the tunnel into wraith territory?" inquired McKay.
"You think they're under attack, sir?" Bates asked.
"I can't think of what else it might be," Sheppard said, brow furrowed as he extracted a folding telescope from his vest pocket. "But I can't understand why they're attacking now, in broad daylight... unless... oh crap, Ford!"
"Captain?" Elizabeth said with growing alarm.
"I let him cover our retreat," Sheppard said angrily. "I told him to make sure no wraith lived to see where we'd gone... I trusted him..."
"You had no way of knowing," Elizabeth said, even as she saw him shake his head.
"Moot point now," he said bitterly. "Now we're gonna need to do a lot of damage control."
"We going to help them?" Bates asked, clearly keen to do just that.
"We won't be able to get men up there fast enough on foot," McKay said, frowning as Sheppard peered through his spyglass.
"And the Daedalus won't be ready to take to the air until tomorrow morning at the earliest," Sheppard said, gaze still focused on the distant scene. "We need to recall the launches; have them come to Atlantis and pick up men armed with muskets and coach guns, but I don't know if they'll be fast enough either."
Elizabeth frowned, thinking that they hadn't yet decided on a signal for recalling the launches and regretting it deeply. Of course there was something faster than the launches, but before she could say a word, it presented itself.
"Way to go, Evan," Sheppard muttered as they all saw the orlub, Lorne in the pilot's seat, climbing through the air towards the very balcony where they stood. Sheppard collapsed his spyglass and turned to Bates.
"Sargent," he ordered. "Go find the flare gun in my office and fire a very-light off this balcony. It's not a prearranged signal but hopefully whoever is piloting the launches will buy a clue. When they arrive, put the first five volunteers -one pilot, four gunmen- you can find in it with loads of ammunition. You can start assembling crews as soon as you get send the signal."
"Yes sir," Bates replied and raced off to comply.
"I'm gonna grab a couple of pieces from the armory," Sheppard called out to Lorne as the orlub came to perch on the balcony rail again.
"Coach gun will do you more good than a musket, Sheppard!" McKay called after him as he dashed off.
"What do you think you can do, Major?" Elizabeth asked as Lorne moved himself from the pilot's seat to the back.
"Take out as many as we can," he answered. "And track their movements. We can probably provide cover for the launches when they get out there too."
Elizabeth nodded tightly, trusting her military people to do their jobs, as uneasy as it made her. Sheppard came pelting back onto the balcony a moment later, several firearms and a box of ammunition in his arms. These he handed to Lorne before leaping into the pilot's seat and belting himself in.
"Lemme know when you're stowed and secured, Major," Sheppard said and as soon as Lorne did Sheppard brought the orlub to life. Elizabeth and McKay both stepped back as the avian flying machine reversed itself on the balcony rail and crouched, readying for takeoff.
"Godspeed, gentlemen," Elizabeth called and then the orlub launched itself into the air. Lorne gave a whoop as the machine took wing and began to climb toward the distant settlement, and Elizabeth heard an answering shout from some of the Marines gathering on the landing bays at the tower's base. One of the launches, Elizabeth noted, was already coming in to pick them up.
"I'd better go get Zelenka and head down to the chair room where the light weapon controls are," said McKay, heading down the stairs.
Elizabeth followed him, feeling unsure as to what she could do for now. She watched as Bates came up on the lift, racing past McKay on his way down, and then past her, up the stairs toward the balcony. A moment later she heard the soft report of the very pistol from outside. She supposed that staying where people could easily find her would be the most sensible course, and so found herself climbing slowly back up the stairs toward the control room just as Bates came running back down.
"Let me keep that up in the control room, Sergent" she said, catching him as they passed and indicating the very pistol. "If I see anything change out there, or in case of any other emergency..."
"Sure thing, ma'am," Bates replied, laying the pistol in her hands and then extracting a couple of spare rounds from his pocket. "That's probably a good idea."
Elizabeth tucked the snub nosed pistol into her expedition jacket, and dropped the flares into her pocket as she watched Bates disappear. She paused at the top of the stairs, glancing about the empty control room and through the transparent walls into her office. There was work she might do there, but for the moment she didn't think she had the concentration for it. Instead she strolled back toward the balcony, doubting that she would be able to see anything, but curious nonetheless.
The flare which Bates had fired a moment ago still hung from its parachute in the center of the cavern, a strange red star slowly descending through the fractured sun beams cast by the mirror array. Alarm bells could still be heard ringing in the distance, but Elizabeth could see no other sign of the conflict supposedly taking place in the far upper reaches of the cavern. She turned to make her way back to her office when she realized that someone was now standing at the balcony door.
"Dr Weir," said Lt Ford with a disarming smile that utterly failed to set Elizabeth at ease.
"Lieutenant," Elizabeth said, trying, on her part, for welcoming, though she wasn't at all sure she had succeeded either. "It's good to see you. We've been looking for you."
"Well now you've found me," Ford said, still smiling. The grin that had seemed light hearted and puppyish only a few days ago now seemed slightly disturbing somehow. "Listen," he continued earnestly. "Before you tell me about that, there's something I need you to see. It's this way." He gestured for her to follow, taking a few steps back towards the stairs, as if he had every reason to expect her to go with him.
"Lieutenant," Elizabeth said. "I need to stay here for now, and you need to take your air launch to the base of the tower and pick up the men Bates has organized. We have reason to believe there's a wraith incursion near the Alteinian settlement..."
"Yeah, I know," Ford said dismissively. "But that's not important. What's important is that you really need to come with me now."
"Why do I need to come with you, Lieutenant?" Elizabeth asked with growing awareness that she was in trouble. There was something so very clearly wrong about Ford, she wondered how she'd missed it, or how he'd kept his nature hidden so well.
"You need to come with me," Ford answered, his voice suddenly, shockingly dead cold, and a pistol suddenly in his hand, "because if you don't I'll shoot you, and I won't kill you."
Elizabeth felt the blood drain from her face, even as her thoughts sharpened and began to calculate. Elizabeth Weir was no soldier or fighter, but she hadn't exactly lead a sheltered life either. She would not panic. "Lieutenant," she said, her own voice possibly a notch colder than Ford's now. "What do you think you're doing?" There was nearly always, Elizabeth knew from long experience, a benefit to playing for time.
"What am I doing?" Ford replied, the pistol he directed at her steady as a rock. "I'm doing what I truly came here to do: serving mypeople. I'll have your stolen artifact for them, and I will bring them these Realms, to rule and plunder as they are entitled to. Father Dagon and Mother Hydra must rule all seas, below the Earth as well as on it!"
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Elizabeth saw it. Ford was young yet, but even so he was beginning to develop the first hints of The Look. It was evident in how his eyes were just a little too wide, how his forehead sloped back at a not-quite-human angle. Elizabeth shook her head in dismay at how she'd missed all the signs, and let the anger she felt at herself fill her words.
"The Star's Heart no more belongs to the Deep Ones than it belongs to me, you fool!" she retorted. "It belongs to Atlantis and her children, and only they will be able to wield its power. It will be nothing but a useless ornament to your people, as you know perfectly well!"
"The Ancient Ones are dust," Ford replied with contempt. "Their city is sea trove now and therefore rightfully ours. If the Ancient Ones' children would walk its corridors again, they would do well to acknowledge their masters." He gestured meaningfully with the gun now, meeting Elizabeth's gaze coldly.
"You need to acknowledge your master as well, Dr Weir," he continued. "I have a gun and am prepared to use it, if you do not do as I say this minute."
Mouth firmed into an unhappy line, Elizabeth complied, striding past the rogue soldier haughtily. He had no idea about the very pistol, she reminded herself, and though it would not do her any good just now, there could well come an opportunity to make good use of it. She would keep her wits about her and await her chance.
***
And when will they realize she's missing?