Friendship, Week 1: Plowshare (4/5)
Title: Plowshare
Author: liketheriverrun
Prompt: Tools and Weapons/Friendship
Rating: T
Word Count: ~42,100
Warnings/Spoilers: Set a few years in the future so anything and anyone can and do show up.
Summary: The discovery of an alien race that predated the Ancients in Pegasus leads to something no one ever thought they would see-- peace. But is it worth the price they have to pay?
[ Part One] [ Part Two] [ Part Three] [ Part Four] [ Part Five]
* * * * *
From: Einsteinsheir@mckaysbatcave.net
Sent: May 14, 2012
To: John.Sheppard@atl.af.mil
Subject: Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts
Sheppard,
Sorry I won't be able to deliver it in person, but just wanted to give you a heads up that I put a box of fudge in the mail for you today. Should arrive in about three weeks (talk about your snail mail), but trust me, it will be well worth the wait. Oh, and say hi to Sam for me if you see her during the offload of the George Hammond. She wasn't around when I dropped off the fudge and other stuff for shipment. Speaking of the fudge? be careful, it's full of bits of nuts and stuff (Jeannie's recipe), and I wouldn't want you to choke on anything. Be sure to share some with Radek. I got an email from him last week whining about how you won't let him go in the field, how he's not really part of the team, how you guys will never let anyone replace me... yada, yada, yada. Thanks for that, btw, totally made me day.
I also sent Torren's birthday present. I know it's a little early, but who knows when the next mail run will reach you guys. Do you think an electric keyboard is an appropriate gift for a preschooler? My first choice was a drum set, but Jeannie says a keyboard is plenty evil enough. Teyla sent pictures from movie night. I can't believe how much he's grown in just a few months. Oh, and I also sent a case of popcorn. I swear that kid loves the stuff even more than his mother. I know you guys probably still have plenty stashed away, but I'd bought some and Kaleb is apparently allergic to the coconut oil in the fake butter (who the hell is allergic to something like movie theater butter?) so I couldn't keep it in the house. And anyway, I figured why let it go to waste when there were hungry movie lovers who would eat it? If I can't be there to watch movies with you guys, at least my popcorn can. Can you believe Kaleb has never seen The Magnificent Seven? Or The Wild Bunch? I swear to God, it's like living in a cultural vacuum in this house.
Anyway, enjoy the loot. I think I'll go to my room, load up a few Sergio Leone flicks, and lament the general lack of decent popcorn and like-minded cinephiles in my life.
McK
From: John.Sheppard@atl.af.mil
Sent: May 16, 2012
To: Einsteinsheir@mckaysbatcave.net
Subject: RE: Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts
Your brother-in-law is obviously a freak of nature. At least your extremely rare citrus allergy hardly ever impacts movie night...other than the ban on basically any and all Mexican food and frozen alcoholic beverages, a wide variety of desserts, and even decent iced tea. But we will gladly eat a bag of popcorn soaked in hydrogenated oil along with the fudge in your honor when it arrives. In the meantime, I'll put aside a stack of Peckinpah films to save to watch when you come home.
We're breaking ground at a new farm site tomorrow. Here's hoping all will go well. I'll keep you posted...
J
May 17, 2012
It wasn't exactly a lab, but it was close enough. It wasn't exactly a barn either, but it had been once, and Radek hoped it could still pass as that if the Eslateran inspectors arrived to examine the farm Atlantis was, in theory, developing. Again, it wasn't really a farm, but there were fields being tilled outside by workers? a motley crew of Athosians, Genii, and Atlantis personnel?even as the true work was being accomplished in the combination lab-barn.
In fact, no one working the fields knew the real reason Radek was here. They, like the Eslaterans, believed he was working to develop an improved irrigation process, not a way to stop the Eslaterans from sending any other Pegasus inhabitants to an alternate dimension. Since the Eslaterans had established a presence on Atlantis, it meant any work to undermine them had to take place off-world, it also meant the scientists working on it needed an excuse to be off-world conducting experiments. The establishment of a farm and development of enhanced agricultural techniques had seemed a reasonable cover story, and so far, the Eslaterans had bought it. But stealth required secrecy, so that only a handful of people on Atlantis were in on the plan. That, in turn, meant Radek was working with only a few scientists to assist him, none of which were currently here. He really didn't mind; he seemed to get much more done on his own anyway.
The tarp covering the missing portion of the roof bellowed up when the door opened, and Radek looked around to see Colonel Sheppard enter with Teyla and Ronon. Even after all these months, Radek still caught himself looking for Rodney whenever he saw these three. The glorious Rodney McKay, however, was back on Earth. As Radek dropped the sensor back into the large tank of water, he honestly wasn't sure if that fact made him happy or sad.
"Radek, how's it going?" the colonel asked, stepping up behind the scientist to peer over his shoulder.
It was an act that always made Radek a little jumpy, as if his work was being graded by a particularly strict university professor, even though it was unlikely John Sheppard even knew what he was looking at. Rodney had always handled the looming easily. Radek, however, found himself stepping forward to open the small space between him and the colonel, so that he was practically smashed against the tank that was set up on one end of the makeshift lab.
"So far our tests have confirmed the information we found in the database as well as Rodney's theories." Radek turned and found himself practically nose to nose with Sheppard. The awkward position at least had the man stepping back enough to let Radek walk across to the laptop set up on another table.
"Rodney's theories are right?" Sheppard raised eyebrows in surprise at the admission. "I'd tell him you said that in my next email except his head would probably swell enough to endanger the entire province of British Colombia."
Radek grinned. "I and Canada would appreciate it greatly if you kept that confession to yourself."
Ronon was leaning over the tank of water, studying it closely. "I still don't get how music and water are keeping the Eslaterans from making Atlantis disappear."
With a push at his glasses, Radek explained. "Well, based on the way they chose to communicate with us while still trapped, Rodney was the first to suggest the Eslaterans were somehow using tonal variations to shift phases to travel between dimensions. And projecting those same tonal fluctuations could cause other things to vanish, as well. That seemed to be confirmed when a high pitched sound was heard before things vanished."
Colonel Sheppard spoke up then. "And the water of the ocean messes up the transmission of the sound waves they use so it doesn't work on Atlantis?"
"In essence, yes." It was a very simplified summary of a highly complicated process the Eslaterans had developed and the Ancients had counteracted, still Radek was impressed with the colonel's basic comprehension. "Did you realize Atlantis was not always meant to sit on the water? Like with the sister city you found buried, Atlantis may have originally been meant to sit on the land. Moving it to the water may have been a defensive move for more than just sinking it to protect it from the Wraith."
"Can we recreate the same sort of dampening field the ocean creates naturally?" Teyla asked.
"That is the plan," Radek confirmed with a nod of his head. "But it is not a simple undertaking. For one, we do not know precisely what it is about the ocean that disrupts the Eslaterans ability to shift phases. Is it the water density? The wave action? For all we know, it could be the sound of the waves hitting the structure of the city or any combination of those. Until recently, we could not test any of these hypotheses because we did not have any data on the tonal variants the Eslaterans were using."
A woman spoke behind them. "But thanks to the sacrifice of the Genii, we now do have the data we need to move forward."
They turned to see that Dahilia Radim had entered the barn. Dahilia had been working with Radek and a few other scientists analyzing the data they'd recorded when the Eslaterans 'discovered' the weapons cache the Genii had hidden. Of course, the whole thing had been staged for precisely that reason. Without good empirical data that could tell them how the Eslaterans were achieving the phase shift, they had no chance of ever coming up with a way to block it. Unfortunately, it had not come without a price. It seemed there were always a few Bothan spies who had to give their lives to acquire the data in any covert operation. For this one, it was five Genii soldiers? a fact Dahilia was never going to let them forget.
Colonel Sheppard's shoulders slumped slightly at the reminder, yet again, before he straightened and turned to greet the Genii leader.
"A sacrifice we are all grateful for," he stressed. "Although, they were supposed to have left at least an hour before the Eslaterans arrived."
"If the recording equipment had set up the way they were instructed, they would not have been there," she countered.
Radek mumbled a Czech curse under his breath even as he rolled his eyes to see the two rehashing this argument once more.
"There was no problem with the recording equipment," Sheppard insisted.
Dahilia placed her hands on her hips. "Once my people fixed it."
Radek had no idea what had actually happened with the installation of the data logs, but he did know he had been the one to program them and test them before they left Atlantis, and they were operating properly at the time. He was, however, more than aware of equipment functioning perfectly in the lab suddenly not responding in the field.
"John. Dahilia." Teyla stepped between the two. "We all recognize the importance of what the Genii have been willing to do. However, we all went into this knowing that it would be dangerous, and we have all accepted the risks. You, yourself, first came to Atlantis years ago willing to make such a sacrifice for the betterment of your world. The soldiers you lost knew the consequences they would face if they were caught, and still they were willing to take the chance, just as everyone here is willing to do the same."
"You speak of sacrifice, yet Atlantis has not lost people to the Eslateran's whims," Dahilia accused, responding to Teyla's argument but looking directly at Sheppard when she spoke. "You have not had a brother exiled to another galaxy, possibly never to return."
Sheppard's mouth flattened into a tight line, and he looked as if Dahilia had slapped him across the face. "Think again."
Now it was Dahilia whose eyes widened in shock as the colonel pushed past her and headed straight for the door. He never looked back even when Teyla called his name to stop him, and she quickly followed after him. Ronon sneered, intentionally bumping shoulders with the much smaller woman as he passed, and went after his two teammates.
That left an uncomfortably shifting Radek and an abashed Dahilia Radim in the barn-turned-lab. Radek dropped his eyes to his boots and quickly shuffled back to the water tank to needlessly check his sensors yet again.
"He means Dr. McKay, does he not?"
Apparently Radek's efforts to look busy and perhaps avoid the inevitable conversation had failed. He nodded briskly without looking back at Dahilia.
"Rodney, Colonel Sheppard, all of their team, they are very close. As close as any family ever could be."
"I meant no insult." When Radek glanced over his glasses at her in disbelief, Dahilia gave him a small, embarrassed smile. "No personal insult, at least. It is just... a very stressful time. I know you would not have sabotaged the equipment, if for no other reason than Atlantis needs the data just as much as the Genii. But it is difficult not to search for blame in a situation such as this. I knew two of the men we lost very well; Malin and Daamon worked with me on the atomic bomb development project. And now Ladon is gone..." She sighed in frustration.
"I have lost colleagues over the years. Friends." Radek chuckled humorously. "When I went to school to study engineering, I never imagined I would lose so many. It was supposed to be a safe job. In a lab, a real lab that is climate controlled, not a barn with a tarp to keep the rain off the equipment. And not on an alien planet where I could be sent to another dimension if I am caught working."
"On Genii, to work on the bomb was one of the most respected positions a person could hold," Dahilia explained. "It was also the most dangerous. I am one of the oldest surviving scientists from the program, and that is only due to Dr. Beckett's intervention."
Radek found himself struck by how different their worlds truly were. "Did you ever regret pursuing science?"
Dahilia smiled at the question. "Never."
"Even when you were sick and expected to die?"
"Do you regret taking this position here instead of staying on Earth in a safe lab with climate control?"
"No," Radek admitted. "As difficult as it is now, as it has been in the past, I would never take a moment back."
Taking a deep breath, Dahilia turned her attention to the readout on the laptop screen. "Now, assuming my brother's political position, that I might come to regret." She tilted her head toward the door Colonel Sheppard had stormed through. "As you can see, I am not very diplomatic."
"Neither is the colonel," Radek told her with a conspiratorial grin.
"No, he's not," Dahilia agreed with a small laugh.
Radek reached out and tentatively rested his hand on Dahilia's arm before removing it quickly. "They will return. Rodney, Ladon? when this is all over, they will return."
"I hope you're right, Radek."
"So am I," he confessed. "I, like you, would prefer not to have had the leadership role thrust upon me. I am more than happy concentrating on my science."
Radek had stepped in for Rodney before on a temporary basis, and he had feared it would be permanent only once before when Rodney had been afflicted with the parasite. Fortunately, Rodney had recovered and resumed his position as head of science. Radek had been relieved then and looked forward to Rodney's return now. Having to deal with the bureaucracy and paperwork and personnel issues for months at a time was much more of a headache than any promotion was worth.
"Then maybe we should concentrate on the science now so we can bring them home all the sooner," Dahilia suggested.
Radek nodded and turned back to his work. She was right; the sooner they found a way to stop the Eslaterans, the sooner things could get back to normal. Then again, normal in the Pegasus galaxy wasn't too far from where they were now.
* * * * *
From: John.Sheppard@atl.af.mil
Sent: June 11, 2012
To: Einsteinsheir@mckaysbatcave.net
Subject: Greetings
Ladon,
I have asked Colonel Sheppard to send you this news so that you know all is well with me and our people. I hope all is well with you in your new surroundings, and you are being made welcome on Earth. Mr. Woolsey has assured me that the SGC has made proper accommodations for you and they will treat you as they would any other visiting head of state. As for me, I alternately curse you, dear brother, for burdening me with the responsibilities I have assumed, and lament the absence of your counsel on a daily basis.
These are indeed unusual times here at home. The truce still stands, but the Eslaterans watch our every move. I believe it will be a long while before they trust the Genii completely following the events on Galeson. It is my goal to regain their trust, if for no other reason than Genii's honor. However, our current predicament has not been without its unexpected merits. Never would I have dreamed of a time I would see Genii working side-by-side with Atlanteans, and most amazingly, the Wraith. Yet, day after day we toil toward a common goal of bettering the farming capabilities throughout the galaxy. With the shipment of new supplies that arrived from Earth a few days ago, we believe our progress will be even more impressive. It is our hope that even more Genii will be able to assist us shortly. If all goes well, Malin and Daamon will join us soon to provide their insight. I hope the next message I am able to send will deliver good news.
Dahilia
June 12, 2012
"Lorne, do you copy?"
Evan keyed his radio in response to his CO's hail. "Go ahead, Colonel."
"We're about ready to start here," Sheppard informed him. "Any activity from your location?"
"No, Sir, the gate's all clear," Evan reported.
"If the gate starts to dial, you contact us and conceal the Jumper. If Radek's right and the Eslateran's are monitoring the location somehow, we've only got one shot at this."
"I'm aware of the plan, Colonel," Lorne assured with a hint of frustration that Sheppard felt the need to remind him of it yet again.
Still, he could understand the colonel's anxiety. If they were successful, if they were able to reverse the Eslateran's work, it could mean the turning point in finally gaining this galaxy back. Peace was great, but if those overseeing that peace really didn't care for you as a species, you were pretty much screwed. Another Wraith Hive had been reverted to Iratus bugs a little more than a week before. Within a few days, those bugs had been dispersed on two different human worlds. The Eslaterans had refused to intervene or allow anyone else to help the inhabitants of those worlds other than to allow the survivors a refuge from the infestation. The Eslaterans had claimed it was only fair that the Iratus had a right to live as much as the humans. The humans, however, saw the plan very clearly. The Iratus bugs were being sent in to finish the job they had started all those years before. Only this time, they weren't going to be tainted with human DNA and evolve into Wraith.
The worst part was, if they were successful today, they were kind of launching their canoes up shit creek at the same time, because bringing back the Genii troops and weapons the Eslaterans had shifted into another dimension was only half the mission. Luring the Eslaterans here and testing Zelenka's device on them directly was the second half, which meant they'd be revealing their hands to the enemy with help still nearly a month away.
His thoughts on how insane they really must be were interrupted by Dahilia Radim calling through the radio. "Radek, everything is in place, and we are prepared to begin the test. Are your sensors set up?"
Zelenka pushed a few buttons on his laptop and realigned what looked like a small satellite dish in the back compartment of the Jumper. "Standby."
Evan and Radek actually had a lot more in common than either would admit. Maybe it was that they had worked together several times in the past, or maybe it was the fact they were both seconds in command. Whatever the reason, Lorne felt he and Zelenka had an understanding.
"Radek, need any help?" Evan offered.
"Yes, yes, to stay out of my way, please," the scientist snapped as he went back to the laptop.
Then again, maybe Zelenka had more in common with McKay, and Evan had more in common with Sheppard for having to put up with him.
As if realizing what he'd just said and to whom, Radek looked abashed and pushed on the bridge of his glasses. "I am sorry, Major, but this must be done precisely and well..."
"I'm not exactly precise enough for the job?" Evan offered.
Zelenka didn't even look up to see Lorne's dry expression. Instead, he checked his readings once more. "I knew you would understand." Once satisfied, he let the other team know he was ready to go.
"Test commencing in four, three, two, one. Initiate." When Dahilia completed her countdown, an ear-piercing tone filled the air even the half mile the gate was located from the test site.
Evan plugged his ears and winced at the sound, but Radek didn't seem to notice as he monitored the data on the screen. Evidently the continued noise was enough for him to know it wasn't working. "Adjust the tone by an eighth," he instructed.
The off-key chord changed pitch slightly and Dahilia reported excitedly, "I just saw something! I'm adjusting a little more..."
Again the tone changed, this time to one that set Evan's teeth on edge. He sure didn't understand the science of what they were doing. He left that sort of thing to Zelenka, and had seen the man's work enough to know between he and McKay, they could come up with an answer to almost anything. But Evan knew their theory had something to do with using the same concept of sound the Eslaterans had used to send the Genii soldiers and their weapons away to reopen the rift and bring them back.
"I am reading the phase shift similar to what we saw on Eslatera," Zelenka told her.
"It worked!" Dahilia exclaimed happily. "By the Ancestors, we have them! They are back!"
At the news, a cheer went up among the small group of marines in the Jumper. Radek, however, continued to monitor his sensors. "Bring the tone down slowly. We do not want to have a backlash from the shift."
Backlash? Backlash didn't sound good, worse than the tone actually, but apparently it didn't happen because the noise decreased and they were all still there.
"Are we good?" Evan asked anxiously.
Zelenka nodded with a sigh of relief and small smile of pride. "It would appear so, yes."
"No offense, but I can't believe that actually worked," Evan admitted.
"Honestly, Major," Radek confessed, "neither can I."
Sheppard's voice cut across the radio. "Lorne, any sign of the Eslaterans?"
"Not yet, but I'm going to button things up here and cloak the Jumper just to be ready." Evan moved to the pilot seat and closed the back hatch even as his thoughts turned to hiding their ship.
"Good idea," Sheppard agreed before lowering his voice. It wasn't that he thought no one else could hear him, it's just what he said next was obviously important to him on a personal, as well as professional, level. "If this doesn't work, you know the message to send McKay. Right?"
"I know it, Colonel." Hell, he could recite it in his sleep. "And if it does work?"
"I'll send one myself," he replied, the note of hope evident in his voice that soon all of this would be over.
"If it works, this will be one for the history books, Sir," Evan pointed out. "Like D-Day or the Battle of Midway."
"Hopefully with less casualties."
"Absolutely," Evan agreed with Sheppard's amendment. "I just meant it's the sort of day when things really start rolling."
"Then the date you're looking for is March 13," the colonel corrected.
Evan frowned in confusion, unsure of the importance of that date. Before he could ask, however, the gate started to dial. "Incoming wormhole, Colonel," Lorne reported lifting the Jumper off the ground. A lot of good it would do to cloak the ship and have them walk right into it.
"Okay, people, this is it. Maintain radio silence until you hear from me again. Sheppard, out."
A moment later, the gate opened and three of the Eslaterans exited the wormhole.
"Here we go," Evan mumbled as they watched the three beings walk directly toward where the phase shift had taken place.
A few minutes later, a tone resumed, followed almost immediately by a second one. Evan grimaced at the discordance of the two sounds. Radek immediately left from where he'd been standing looking out the front window over Lorne's shoulder to return to his monitors in the back.
He cursed under his breath in Czech. "It is not working. Dahilia needs to adjust the frequency. I knew I should have been the one on the ground. I must contact her?"
Evan stopped him before he could key his radio. "Whoa! Hey! You heard Colonel Sheppard; we're under radio silence. If the Eslaterans hear us, we blow our cover."
"If we don't, they'll override our block," Radek insisted.
Lorne considered his options for split second, knowing they really had no choice. "Go ahead."
Zelenka immediately called to the Genii scientist, giving her directions.
"Lorne!" Sheppard yelled, not sounding happy at all. "Get the hell out there; they're turning on you!"
Evan could already feel the world slipping sideways a fraction, the scene outside the jumper going in and out of focus, and another one taking its place. The trees were fading to barren rock slopes, the cloudy sky was being replaced by an intense red sun. They were being forced into another dimension and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.
"Dahilia," Radek ordered, "increase the output!"
Whatever she did, it work, the trees and clouds reappeared, and Evan immediately pressed the tiles on the DHD. "Colonel Sheppard, what about you guys?" he asked as the gate dialed.
"We'll meet at the rendezvous point, or we'll be waiting for you guys to bring us back. Now get out of here."
"Copy that, Sir. Good luck."
As soon as the wormhole stabilized, Lorne was through it and back on Sateda where Woolsey, Todd, and a small contingent of Coalition personnel were waiting for word on how the experiment had gone.
When Evan stepped out of the back of the Jumper, Woolsey looked further into the craft. "Where are Colonel Sheppard and the others?"
"Still working," Evan told them with a sigh. "We had to get out of there."
Radek stepped in to explain further. "There appears to be a limit on the range of our shielding equipment compared to the range of the Eslaterans phase shifting abilities. In the immediate vicinity, it seemed that our equipment was having some success. However, the Eslaterans were able to cause the shift where we were located whereas our equipment barely reached that far."
"Should we send in a Wraith dart to extract them?" Woolsey asked, turning to Todd.
The Wraith appeared hesitant. "At this point, the Eslaterans are unaware of any Wraith involvement. If they discover the Genii and Atlantis are working together, Wraith anonymity may be our only advantage."
"And if you remove our personnel, they may not find out about the Genii and Atlantis at all," Woolsey contended.
They never had a chance to really sink their teeth into the argument, because a moment later, Colonel Sheppard's Jumper came through the gate. Dahilia came out of the Jumper all smiles, followed by Sheppard and his teammates.
"It worked," the colonel reported with a grin of his own. "Goddamn, if it didn't work."
Zelenka exhaled in relief, muttering what had to be a pray of thanks under his breath in his native tongue.
"And the Eslaterans?" Woolsey inquired.
Ronon patted the Wraith stunner he held and hitched his head toward the inside of the Jumper. "Taken care of, for now."
"It will not take long for them to be missed, however," Teyla reminded.
"We'll have enough time to contact Earth, though," Sheppard pointed out. "Let them know we'll be ready."
Evan knew the plan from here on out. After they contacted the SGC, it would be a game of cat and mouse. Woolsey could possibly convince the Eslaterans that Sheppard was acting on his own with the Genii, but if they couldn't, Atlantis would expel the delegates and lockdown for the next three weeks until the Daedalus arrived. As for Lorne, Sheppard, and the other deployment teams, they would run, hide, keep clear of the Eslaterans on various safe worlds and Wraith ships. If the Travelers had managed to avoid the Eslaterans for the most part for the past several months, they figured they could for a few weeks.
All memory of bickering went out the window at the news, and Woolsey asked Todd, "We'll have eighteen days once we send news to Earth. Can you finish manufacturing the devices by then?"
"They will be completed and deployed," Todd promised.
"All right then, we have a go," Woolsey announced. "Everyone knows what they need to do, and we have a very short amount of time to do it in. I suggest we get to work."
The small group dispersed quickly to their respective worlds, and it didn't dawn on Evan until much later that he never asked Sheppard about the significance of March 13.
* * * * *
Intercepted Wraith subspace transmission
Date: June 12, 2012
Operation Plowshare has commenced.
March 13, 2012
"Plowshare." Rodney said the word then sipped his beer as he looked out across the ocean from his perch on the dock.
"Is that supposed to mean something?" John asked, finishing off his own beer and popping open another one.
"I've been thinking about what Carson said the day we signed up for all this truce..." Rodney twirled hand as he attempted to think of the correct word. He was still on some pretty decent painkillers from being blown up, and the half a beer he'd drank was making things even fuzzier. "...bullshit." Yeah, bullshit, that was a good word for it.
Sheppard's eyebrows rose. "You mean about turning weapons into plowshares and pruning shears?"
"Hooks," McKay corrected. "Pruning hooks, but yeah, same concept."
John leaned back, propping on his elbows and looking up at the stars above them. "So what have you been thinking about them?"
Rodney used to look up at those same stars and see potential. The potential for discovery, of finding some amazing piece of Ancient tech. Now he just saw the potential to get himself killed and a total waste of time.
"I've been thinking about how there's always a price to pay, even for peace. Especially for peace. Did you know that countries under dictator rule have some of the lowest violent crime rates?"
John took another swig from his can. "You can't have your peace and eat it, too."
"No, you cannot," Rodney agreed, stared at the stars for a long while, before finally saying. "We have to stop them."
He'd been thinking about it for a while now. Hell, ever since John had mentioned it on the way to the ceremony.
Sheppard perked up at the comment. "How?"
"They use sound... somehow." McKay shook his head. "Sonic waves to rip open a sliver into another dimension. If I had time, a safe place to work and experiment without them hanging over my shoulder, I could possibly come up with something. But they don't trust me anymore. Not after what happened with the explosives at the mine."
"Then leave," John suggested. "Go back to Earth where it's safe and find a way to defeat them."
"You think we should leave Atlantis?" Rodney was shocked he would even suggest such a thing.
"Not we," John corrected. "You."
"I can't just abandon you guys," McKay insisted adamantly.
"It would just be temporary, until you find a way to beat them," Sheppard promised. "Look, I don't want you to go anymore than you do, but you said it yourself that they don't trust you. What if they decide you're too dangerous and work their hoodoo and banish you to the other dimension?"
Rodney frowned because, honestly, he'd been thinking about the same thing every time the Eslateran delegates saw him in the city and stared at him with their gills fluttering in suspicion.
John continued his argument. "At least on Earth you'd be able to help us. Hell, you could probably do more good there than you can here."
"But I need access to data here," Rodney reasoned. "There has to be something in the database on how the Ancients trapped them. We'd need that data if we have any chance of succeeding."
"I'll be here, and so will Zelenka. We'll smuggle data to you somehow, talk in code through email. We can find a way to make this work."
Rodney considered the possibility for a moment as he thought out loud. "We'd need a two-phased approach. Something to block them from using their powers to give us time to send them back and essentially lock the door again."
"And you can probably come up with that," John reiterated hopefully.
"Possibly," Rodney corrected. "I never said probably."
"Yeah, but you'll probably achieve the possibility," Sheppard dismissed with another sip of his beer, as if it were a done deal.
The problem was, it was far from a done deal. They needed data, more than that, they need to be able to research and experiment on various sound patterns. Jeannie actually specialized in sound spectrum analysis of distant star clusters during grad school, so she'd be a good resource for help, but that was far from a solution to the problem.
"And how do you plan to cover the work you're doing here while I'm gone?" Rodney asked.
"Farming," John answered simply.
"Farming?" McKay repeated incredulously. "You think farming is the answer to all your problems?"
"I think farming is as good a cover as we'll ever get." Sheppard tipped his can toward Rodney to make his point. "The SGC has announced it plans to help the Pegasus inhabitants develop better farming techniques to support themselves. Why not use that as a cover?"
Rodney grinned in appreciation of the concept. "Turn our plowshares into swords?"
John shrugged. "Whatever it takes."
"Including me leaving Atlantis." Rodney knew he'd never be able to accomplish what needed to be done here in the city, but the thought of leaving, of walking away with the chance of never coming back, made his stomach clench.
"Temporarily leaving Atlantis," Sheppard stressed. "You'll be back."
"And if it doesn't work?"
"Then we'll be joining you on Earth."
Rodney didn't miss how John didn't look at him when he made the statement. "Bullshit," he snorted.
John would give his last breath defending Atlantis. Rodney had seen him almost do just that more times than he cared to think about. He'd never abandon the city unless it was collapsing around his ears, and even then it was doubtful he'd go.
"Hey, I was back on Earth for over six months a few years ago," Sheppard pointed out irritably.
Rodney rolled his eyes. "Yeah, just because that's where Atlantis happened to be stuck."
John's lips quirked as he slid his eyes in McKay's direction. "Minor technicality."
"The point is, Sheppard, contrary to popular belief, you are not the only one willing to make a sacrifice to save the city."
Sheppard tilted his head and asked with exaggerated innocence. "A sacrifice like temporarily leaving Atlantis?"
Too late McKay saw the trap he'd just walked into. "You are a sneaky, no good son of a bitch, Sheppard. You fully took advantage of my compromised physical state and even got me drunk to do it."
"You've had half a beer!" Sheppard insisted. "And you were the one who first said you could probably find a way to stop them."
"Possibly stop them," Rodney attempted to rectify yet again, for all the good it did him. "Poss-i-bly. Christ, do I need to get you a dictionary?"
"You can send me one from Earth... along with some cookies."
"Oh, you will get no cookies from you," McKay told him with a firm shake of his head. "No cookies, no care packages, no DVDs, nothing."
"Except a way to defeat the Eslaterans so you can get your ass back here where it belongs."
John drank his beer, stared out across the waves, watched the lights from the city behind them reflecting off dark water below their feet. And Rodney simply watched him for a minute, boggling yet again how someone like Sheppard had managed to get to know him better than he'd ever know himself. Rodney couldn't help but think of another time they'd sat out here drinking beer. Sheppard had refused to say goodbye then, Rodney wondered if John would say goodbye this time when Rodney walked through the gate back to Earth.
"You are the worst friend I've ever had in my entire life," Rodney told him grumpily.
John tipped his beer can against the one Rodney held in his hand. "The feeling is completely mutual, McKay."
"If I can find a way to beat them... if..." And it was a big, big if. "When you're ready to fight, you send word, and I'll come home to help," Rodney promised, meeting John's eyes and holding his gaze. There was no way he was going to sit on the sidelines back on Earth with the big fight taking place here in Pegasus.
John nodded, never looking away. "You damn well better."
* * * * *
From: John.Sheppard@atl.af.mil
Sent: June 12, 2012
To: Einsteinsheir@mckaysbatcave.net
Subject: Plowshare
Farming going extremely well?ground is fully prepped for planting. Just in time seeing as the goddamn plowshare broke this afternoon. For now, we're standing by for additional parts from Earth.
J
From: Einsteinsheir@mckaysbatcave.net
Sent: June 12, 2012
To: John.Sheppard@atl.af.mil
Subject: RE: Plowshare
John,
That is great news about the farm! Parts will be shipping out on Daedalus in next 24 hours. ETA is 19 days from today. Hold on until then, help is on the way.
McK
July 1, 2012
Steven Caldwell held his breakfast tray and quickly scanned the small area of the Daedalus cafeteria for a place to sit. This time of day, it filled quickly, which was a good enough excuse to take his meal to his office and eat in private. Unfortunately, today, he caught the eye of Dr. Novak, who waved him over to join her, Dr. McKay, and the Genii, Ladon Radim. Steven thought of pretending her didn't see her, but she was already scooting her chair over to make room for him. With a weak smile and hitch of his head to indicate he'd seen her, Steven headed reluctantly toward the trio. It wasn't that he disliked them, per se. But let's just say, after eighteen days, he wouldn't be weeping tears of loneliness when they finally disembarked from his ship.
Radim looked almost relieved to see the ship's commander take a seat. "Colonel," he greeted with a tip of his head. "How much longer until we arrive?"
"We should reach Sateda within a few hours," Caldwell told him.
"Good," the Genii responded with a thankful smile. "Very good."
Considering that the man had spent most of the last two months with Rodney McKay, Steven had a feeling Ladon's anxiousness to return to Pegasus was only partially a result of homesickness. If the Genii had a commendation or medal for outstanding acts of sacrifice and bravery, Ladon Radim should be awarded one for volunteering to get himself ousted from his home galaxy in order to deliver crucial data to McKay, data that couldn't be sent in the databursts that were monitored by the Eslaterans.
All in all, it was amazing how much they had managed to achieve during this whole covert operation to keep the Eslaterans in the dark as to their plans? McKay volunteering to leave Atlantis in order to work on his theories regarding music playing a key role in how the Eslaterans were causing the dimensional shifts; Radek finding the information in the database on how the Ancients had guarded Atlantis and sneaking it out with Radim; Rodney smuggling tonal frequency information programmed into a child's electronic keyboard and a microchip of design schematics in peanut butter fudge. Caldwell had seriously begun to wonder what was next. A file baked into a birthday cake? Then there was all the farm equipment that had been shipped from Earth that was nothing more than a cover for providing the parts necessary to complete the manufacture of the devices on the schematics.
There had been times Steven had been convinced there was no way they would be able to pull this off. They would have to pull the expedition back to Earth and destroy Atlantis to keep it out of enemy hands... enemies who were now allies in a secret war against the Eslaterans.
McKay made a noise against the lip of his coffee cup as he drank, as if he'd just thought of something. "We should probably fall out of hyperdrive before we get there and test the modified Asgard beam. Just to be sure it works in case... well, in case things haven't gone as well as we'd hoped since we last had contact with Atlantis."
What he meant but wasn't saying out loud was, in case Sheppard and the others had failed in their mission to deploy the shielding devices, had been captured by the Eslaterans, and banished to an alternate dimension. If that had happened, if Sheppard and the others had failed in their portion of the operations, this whole trip was pretty useless and potentially deadly. What was the point of possessing a modified Asgard beam capable of causing the dimensional shift to send the Eslaterans back to the dimension where they'd been trapped previously if the Eslaterans could simply shift the entire Daedalus there in the first place?
Steven shook his head and lifted his own mug from the tray. "We'll test it on Sateda."
"If we need to tweak the beam, we could take advantage of the travel time remaining," Novak suggested. "Better than sitting around twiddling our thumbs." The scientist laughed then realized what she was implying. "Oh, not that we have nothing better to do on the ship than twiddle our thumbs even without any fine tuning that may be necessary. Busy, busy, busy."
When Caldwell just stared at her, she dropped her eyes and took a hasty bite of eggs from her plate. The downside to Dr. Novak was that she tended to be a bit fidgety. Twitchy people grated on Steven's nerves. The upside was that a single glance could usually get her to shut up. Unfortunately, that didn't work with McKay.
"If we wait until Sateda and it doesn't work, we'll be wasting more time," Rodney argued. "Our people know we're in Pegasus thanks to the stop at the way station to offload. They'll be expecting us to show up at Eslatera within ten hours from our departure from there."
"We're lucky we made it out of the check point and they didn't search the ship more than the cargo we delivered," Caldwell reminded. "If they'd found you and Radim on the ship, this mission would be over. And if they find out we've come further into Pegasus instead of heading back toward Earth, things will be even worse." Steven shook his head again and stated definitively. "We're not risking blowing our cover until we arrive at the Satedan rendezvous location and can talk face to face."
By opening a hyperdrive window deeper into the Pegasus Galaxy, Caldwell knew they had broken a major agreement the SGC had brokered with the Eslaterans to allow the Earth battle cruisers to continue making deliveries to the Atlantis expedition while maintaining weapons capabilities. While they may be undertaking this operation with the full backing of the SGC, the SGC was back in the Milky Way. If the Eslaterans caught them, the Daedalus would be on the frontlines and take the brunt of the attack. Steven knew very well that would mean a one way ticket to another dimension for the entire crew of his ship. There was no way in hell he was risking the men and women under his command to try something out when it could wait a few hours. Until then, they were running silent and hopefully under the radar of any Eslaterans.
"We could always run a few more simulations," Novak offered.
"We've run so many simulations that I'm dreaming about them in my sleep," McKay snapped. "The last thing we need is more simulations."
"No, the last thing you need is to blow our cover," Caldwell stressed. "We'll arrive on Sateda in less than three hours." Rodney opened his mouth to plead his case again and Steven spoke before he could. "You can run your tests then." Caldwell's eyes narrowed slightly, daring him to say anything more on the matter.
Rodney stood and took his half-empty tray with him. "Fine. Call me when we arrive. In the meantime, I'll be in my quarters trying to figure out how to make up the time we're going to lose fine tuning the beam on Sateda."
Ladon watched McKay storm out of the cafeteria, before he resumed eating his own meal. "I understand your concerns regarding discovery, Colonel Caldwell, but Dr. McKay does have a point? timing will be a critical factor in the success of our endeavor."
Caldwell turned to Novak. "You've been working to integrate the tonal data with the Asgard beam. What do you think? Will it work?"
Novak looked a little wide-eyed to have the colonel seek her opinion. "Oh... well, the Asgard technology has always been a little persnickety when it comes to melding it with other tech. It's one of the reasons why we always had an Asgard presence on the ships. But out of necessity, we've gotten better at it over the years."
"Will it work?" Caldwell repeated, doing his best not to sound impatient but figuring he wasn't doing a very good job of it considering how Novak snapped to attention in her seat.
"The simulations and the limited testing we've been able to conduct indicate that it will work. The biggest concern is how the on-ground shielding devices will interfere with the beam."
Radim nodded in agreement. "And those must be fine tuned in-place to compensate for the specific conditions at the location."
"Sounds like a lot of variables to contend with," Steven noted. It also sounded like very little would have been gained by testing the beam prior to their arrival at Sateda and he had made the correct decision.
"Ohhh yeah," Novak agreed with a small snort at the over simplification of his statement.
Radim sighed in his own agreement of the complexity of their task. "But Dahilia and Dr. Zelenka were able to quickly compensate in the field during the first trial, so we will hopefully be able to do the same before the Eslaterans can overcome the shielding device."
Caldwell heard the note of pride in Ladon's voice when he mentioned his sister. "You must be happy to finally be returning home to see your family."
Ladon's lips curled into a small smile. "My time on Earth has been...trying at times."
"No plans to apply for a job with the SGC?" Steven asked with his own hint of amusement.
"I believe Colonel Mitchell's expression was 'It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.' Although he was referring to Atlantis instead of Earth. I'm afraid my own sentiment is just the opposite of his."
"To each his own," Caldwell conceded, lifting his coffee cup once more.
Ladon tipped his own mug in a silent toast. "Which is why I am more than happy to be returning to my own."
He had a feeling McKay's sentiment was more in line with Radim's, which went a long way in explaining why he was so anxious to try out the beam. If this failed, Rodney was losing a lot more than an expeditionary base. The lengths he and Sheppard and the others had gone to in order to gain it back from the Replicators a few years back, including disobeying direct orders from the SGC, showed exactly where their loyalties lay.
Those loyalties to Atlantis and the Pegasus Galaxy hadn't changed for McKay over the years, and when they arrived on Sateda, they found out they hadn't changed for Sheppard either.
Caldwell, McKay, and Radim beamed down to the surface of the planet where they were met by Woosley, Todd, Teyla, Ronon, and Dahilia Radim. They had barely had time to reform from the beam before Dahilia eagerly embraced her brother. Ladon seemed more than happy to return the hug.
Ronon thumped McKay hard on the shoulder, and Teyla's face broke into a wide smile when Rodney winced through his own grin and rubbed his arm. "Rodney, it is good to see you once more. It has been too many days."
"You, too." The smile on McKay's face, however, wavered as he looked around. "Where's Sheppard?"
Teyla's own expression sobered. "He volunteered to deploy the shielding device on Eslatera."
"He went alone?" McKay demanded at the news.
"Radek's with him," Ronon supplied, not sounding very happy with the arrangement. "He said the fewer people that went, the less chance of being caught."
Rodney looked heavenward and threw up his arms. "Why am I not surprised?"
"There's more," Woolsey told them. "Todd has been unable to contact the Dart that deployed them on the planet."
Ladon stepped away from his sister with a concerned furrow of his brow. "How long have they been out of contact?"
"For over an hour," Ronon supplied.
"Is it possible the Wraith piloting the Dart was sympathetic with the Eslaterans?" Ladon asked.
Todd bristled at the accusation. "He is from my own Hive. He is loyal to our cause."
"How can you be sure?" Radim continued.
"I have personally chosen every member of my crew," Todd defended. "Can you say the same about the Genii who know about our plans?"
"Please," Woolsey stepped in. "We are close to achieving the goal we have worked toward for months. Now is not the time to have internal bickering and distrust."
"You think the Eslaterans caught the Dart?" Caldwell suggested.
"That's the most likely scenario," Woolsey stressed to hopefully put the squabble between Wraith and Genii to an end. "But Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Zelenka were already on the ground. It's possible they have eluded capture."
"And if they haven't?" Steven had to ask the question, even though Sheppard's three teammates glared at him for even suggesting it.
Todd stepped in then. "I will be joining you on your ship. If we cannot contact Sheppard when we arrive in orbit, I will launch my own Dart and deploy a second team to use the shielding device."
"And if the Wraith are working in concert with the Eslaterans?" Ladon asked.
"It's a chance we will have to take," Woolsey told him.
"Ladon..." Dahilia placed a hand on her brother's arm. "I have been here, working with the Wraith. I trust that they are on our side."
Rodney wagged a finger at Todd. "No, this is good. I have something I want to try and you're just the Wraith to help me."
"The other teams are in place," Woolsey informed them. "When you're ready to depart for Eslatera, we'll send word to activate their devices."
Caldwell nodded gravely. "Dr. McKay, as soon as you've finished testing the beam, we're heading out."
"Give me an hour and we'll be ready to go."
Steven checked his watch, the special one he always carried with him when he was in Pegasus that was set to the odd Atlantean twenty-eight hour and seventeen minute day. That meant is would be a few hours past midnight Atlantean Standard Time when they arrived at Eslatera, which was the equivalent of late afternoon on the planet, if everything went as planned. And the best laid plans... Steven knew they often went to shit.
At least this time, they had a backup plan to fall back on.
* * * * *
Concluded in Part Five
Author: liketheriverrun
Prompt: Tools and Weapons/Friendship
Rating: T
Word Count: ~42,100
Warnings/Spoilers: Set a few years in the future so anything and anyone can and do show up.
Summary: The discovery of an alien race that predated the Ancients in Pegasus leads to something no one ever thought they would see-- peace. But is it worth the price they have to pay?
[ Part One] [ Part Two] [ Part Three] [ Part Four] [ Part Five]
* * * * *
From: Einsteinsheir@mckaysbatcave.net
Sent: May 14, 2012
To: John.Sheppard@atl.af.mil
Subject: Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts
Sheppard,
Sorry I won't be able to deliver it in person, but just wanted to give you a heads up that I put a box of fudge in the mail for you today. Should arrive in about three weeks (talk about your snail mail), but trust me, it will be well worth the wait. Oh, and say hi to Sam for me if you see her during the offload of the George Hammond. She wasn't around when I dropped off the fudge and other stuff for shipment. Speaking of the fudge? be careful, it's full of bits of nuts and stuff (Jeannie's recipe), and I wouldn't want you to choke on anything. Be sure to share some with Radek. I got an email from him last week whining about how you won't let him go in the field, how he's not really part of the team, how you guys will never let anyone replace me... yada, yada, yada. Thanks for that, btw, totally made me day.
I also sent Torren's birthday present. I know it's a little early, but who knows when the next mail run will reach you guys. Do you think an electric keyboard is an appropriate gift for a preschooler? My first choice was a drum set, but Jeannie says a keyboard is plenty evil enough. Teyla sent pictures from movie night. I can't believe how much he's grown in just a few months. Oh, and I also sent a case of popcorn. I swear that kid loves the stuff even more than his mother. I know you guys probably still have plenty stashed away, but I'd bought some and Kaleb is apparently allergic to the coconut oil in the fake butter (who the hell is allergic to something like movie theater butter?) so I couldn't keep it in the house. And anyway, I figured why let it go to waste when there were hungry movie lovers who would eat it? If I can't be there to watch movies with you guys, at least my popcorn can. Can you believe Kaleb has never seen The Magnificent Seven? Or The Wild Bunch? I swear to God, it's like living in a cultural vacuum in this house.
Anyway, enjoy the loot. I think I'll go to my room, load up a few Sergio Leone flicks, and lament the general lack of decent popcorn and like-minded cinephiles in my life.
McK
From: John.Sheppard@atl.af.mil
Sent: May 16, 2012
To: Einsteinsheir@mckaysbatcave.net
Subject: RE: Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts
Your brother-in-law is obviously a freak of nature. At least your extremely rare citrus allergy hardly ever impacts movie night...other than the ban on basically any and all Mexican food and frozen alcoholic beverages, a wide variety of desserts, and even decent iced tea. But we will gladly eat a bag of popcorn soaked in hydrogenated oil along with the fudge in your honor when it arrives. In the meantime, I'll put aside a stack of Peckinpah films to save to watch when you come home.
We're breaking ground at a new farm site tomorrow. Here's hoping all will go well. I'll keep you posted...
J
May 17, 2012
It wasn't exactly a lab, but it was close enough. It wasn't exactly a barn either, but it had been once, and Radek hoped it could still pass as that if the Eslateran inspectors arrived to examine the farm Atlantis was, in theory, developing. Again, it wasn't really a farm, but there were fields being tilled outside by workers? a motley crew of Athosians, Genii, and Atlantis personnel?even as the true work was being accomplished in the combination lab-barn.
In fact, no one working the fields knew the real reason Radek was here. They, like the Eslaterans, believed he was working to develop an improved irrigation process, not a way to stop the Eslaterans from sending any other Pegasus inhabitants to an alternate dimension. Since the Eslaterans had established a presence on Atlantis, it meant any work to undermine them had to take place off-world, it also meant the scientists working on it needed an excuse to be off-world conducting experiments. The establishment of a farm and development of enhanced agricultural techniques had seemed a reasonable cover story, and so far, the Eslaterans had bought it. But stealth required secrecy, so that only a handful of people on Atlantis were in on the plan. That, in turn, meant Radek was working with only a few scientists to assist him, none of which were currently here. He really didn't mind; he seemed to get much more done on his own anyway.
The tarp covering the missing portion of the roof bellowed up when the door opened, and Radek looked around to see Colonel Sheppard enter with Teyla and Ronon. Even after all these months, Radek still caught himself looking for Rodney whenever he saw these three. The glorious Rodney McKay, however, was back on Earth. As Radek dropped the sensor back into the large tank of water, he honestly wasn't sure if that fact made him happy or sad.
"Radek, how's it going?" the colonel asked, stepping up behind the scientist to peer over his shoulder.
It was an act that always made Radek a little jumpy, as if his work was being graded by a particularly strict university professor, even though it was unlikely John Sheppard even knew what he was looking at. Rodney had always handled the looming easily. Radek, however, found himself stepping forward to open the small space between him and the colonel, so that he was practically smashed against the tank that was set up on one end of the makeshift lab.
"So far our tests have confirmed the information we found in the database as well as Rodney's theories." Radek turned and found himself practically nose to nose with Sheppard. The awkward position at least had the man stepping back enough to let Radek walk across to the laptop set up on another table.
"Rodney's theories are right?" Sheppard raised eyebrows in surprise at the admission. "I'd tell him you said that in my next email except his head would probably swell enough to endanger the entire province of British Colombia."
Radek grinned. "I and Canada would appreciate it greatly if you kept that confession to yourself."
Ronon was leaning over the tank of water, studying it closely. "I still don't get how music and water are keeping the Eslaterans from making Atlantis disappear."
With a push at his glasses, Radek explained. "Well, based on the way they chose to communicate with us while still trapped, Rodney was the first to suggest the Eslaterans were somehow using tonal variations to shift phases to travel between dimensions. And projecting those same tonal fluctuations could cause other things to vanish, as well. That seemed to be confirmed when a high pitched sound was heard before things vanished."
Colonel Sheppard spoke up then. "And the water of the ocean messes up the transmission of the sound waves they use so it doesn't work on Atlantis?"
"In essence, yes." It was a very simplified summary of a highly complicated process the Eslaterans had developed and the Ancients had counteracted, still Radek was impressed with the colonel's basic comprehension. "Did you realize Atlantis was not always meant to sit on the water? Like with the sister city you found buried, Atlantis may have originally been meant to sit on the land. Moving it to the water may have been a defensive move for more than just sinking it to protect it from the Wraith."
"Can we recreate the same sort of dampening field the ocean creates naturally?" Teyla asked.
"That is the plan," Radek confirmed with a nod of his head. "But it is not a simple undertaking. For one, we do not know precisely what it is about the ocean that disrupts the Eslaterans ability to shift phases. Is it the water density? The wave action? For all we know, it could be the sound of the waves hitting the structure of the city or any combination of those. Until recently, we could not test any of these hypotheses because we did not have any data on the tonal variants the Eslaterans were using."
A woman spoke behind them. "But thanks to the sacrifice of the Genii, we now do have the data we need to move forward."
They turned to see that Dahilia Radim had entered the barn. Dahilia had been working with Radek and a few other scientists analyzing the data they'd recorded when the Eslaterans 'discovered' the weapons cache the Genii had hidden. Of course, the whole thing had been staged for precisely that reason. Without good empirical data that could tell them how the Eslaterans were achieving the phase shift, they had no chance of ever coming up with a way to block it. Unfortunately, it had not come without a price. It seemed there were always a few Bothan spies who had to give their lives to acquire the data in any covert operation. For this one, it was five Genii soldiers? a fact Dahilia was never going to let them forget.
Colonel Sheppard's shoulders slumped slightly at the reminder, yet again, before he straightened and turned to greet the Genii leader.
"A sacrifice we are all grateful for," he stressed. "Although, they were supposed to have left at least an hour before the Eslaterans arrived."
"If the recording equipment had set up the way they were instructed, they would not have been there," she countered.
Radek mumbled a Czech curse under his breath even as he rolled his eyes to see the two rehashing this argument once more.
"There was no problem with the recording equipment," Sheppard insisted.
Dahilia placed her hands on her hips. "Once my people fixed it."
Radek had no idea what had actually happened with the installation of the data logs, but he did know he had been the one to program them and test them before they left Atlantis, and they were operating properly at the time. He was, however, more than aware of equipment functioning perfectly in the lab suddenly not responding in the field.
"John. Dahilia." Teyla stepped between the two. "We all recognize the importance of what the Genii have been willing to do. However, we all went into this knowing that it would be dangerous, and we have all accepted the risks. You, yourself, first came to Atlantis years ago willing to make such a sacrifice for the betterment of your world. The soldiers you lost knew the consequences they would face if they were caught, and still they were willing to take the chance, just as everyone here is willing to do the same."
"You speak of sacrifice, yet Atlantis has not lost people to the Eslateran's whims," Dahilia accused, responding to Teyla's argument but looking directly at Sheppard when she spoke. "You have not had a brother exiled to another galaxy, possibly never to return."
Sheppard's mouth flattened into a tight line, and he looked as if Dahilia had slapped him across the face. "Think again."
Now it was Dahilia whose eyes widened in shock as the colonel pushed past her and headed straight for the door. He never looked back even when Teyla called his name to stop him, and she quickly followed after him. Ronon sneered, intentionally bumping shoulders with the much smaller woman as he passed, and went after his two teammates.
That left an uncomfortably shifting Radek and an abashed Dahilia Radim in the barn-turned-lab. Radek dropped his eyes to his boots and quickly shuffled back to the water tank to needlessly check his sensors yet again.
"He means Dr. McKay, does he not?"
Apparently Radek's efforts to look busy and perhaps avoid the inevitable conversation had failed. He nodded briskly without looking back at Dahilia.
"Rodney, Colonel Sheppard, all of their team, they are very close. As close as any family ever could be."
"I meant no insult." When Radek glanced over his glasses at her in disbelief, Dahilia gave him a small, embarrassed smile. "No personal insult, at least. It is just... a very stressful time. I know you would not have sabotaged the equipment, if for no other reason than Atlantis needs the data just as much as the Genii. But it is difficult not to search for blame in a situation such as this. I knew two of the men we lost very well; Malin and Daamon worked with me on the atomic bomb development project. And now Ladon is gone..." She sighed in frustration.
"I have lost colleagues over the years. Friends." Radek chuckled humorously. "When I went to school to study engineering, I never imagined I would lose so many. It was supposed to be a safe job. In a lab, a real lab that is climate controlled, not a barn with a tarp to keep the rain off the equipment. And not on an alien planet where I could be sent to another dimension if I am caught working."
"On Genii, to work on the bomb was one of the most respected positions a person could hold," Dahilia explained. "It was also the most dangerous. I am one of the oldest surviving scientists from the program, and that is only due to Dr. Beckett's intervention."
Radek found himself struck by how different their worlds truly were. "Did you ever regret pursuing science?"
Dahilia smiled at the question. "Never."
"Even when you were sick and expected to die?"
"Do you regret taking this position here instead of staying on Earth in a safe lab with climate control?"
"No," Radek admitted. "As difficult as it is now, as it has been in the past, I would never take a moment back."
Taking a deep breath, Dahilia turned her attention to the readout on the laptop screen. "Now, assuming my brother's political position, that I might come to regret." She tilted her head toward the door Colonel Sheppard had stormed through. "As you can see, I am not very diplomatic."
"Neither is the colonel," Radek told her with a conspiratorial grin.
"No, he's not," Dahilia agreed with a small laugh.
Radek reached out and tentatively rested his hand on Dahilia's arm before removing it quickly. "They will return. Rodney, Ladon? when this is all over, they will return."
"I hope you're right, Radek."
"So am I," he confessed. "I, like you, would prefer not to have had the leadership role thrust upon me. I am more than happy concentrating on my science."
Radek had stepped in for Rodney before on a temporary basis, and he had feared it would be permanent only once before when Rodney had been afflicted with the parasite. Fortunately, Rodney had recovered and resumed his position as head of science. Radek had been relieved then and looked forward to Rodney's return now. Having to deal with the bureaucracy and paperwork and personnel issues for months at a time was much more of a headache than any promotion was worth.
"Then maybe we should concentrate on the science now so we can bring them home all the sooner," Dahilia suggested.
Radek nodded and turned back to his work. She was right; the sooner they found a way to stop the Eslaterans, the sooner things could get back to normal. Then again, normal in the Pegasus galaxy wasn't too far from where they were now.
* * * * *
From: John.Sheppard@atl.af.mil
Sent: June 11, 2012
To: Einsteinsheir@mckaysbatcave.net
Subject: Greetings
Ladon,
I have asked Colonel Sheppard to send you this news so that you know all is well with me and our people. I hope all is well with you in your new surroundings, and you are being made welcome on Earth. Mr. Woolsey has assured me that the SGC has made proper accommodations for you and they will treat you as they would any other visiting head of state. As for me, I alternately curse you, dear brother, for burdening me with the responsibilities I have assumed, and lament the absence of your counsel on a daily basis.
These are indeed unusual times here at home. The truce still stands, but the Eslaterans watch our every move. I believe it will be a long while before they trust the Genii completely following the events on Galeson. It is my goal to regain their trust, if for no other reason than Genii's honor. However, our current predicament has not been without its unexpected merits. Never would I have dreamed of a time I would see Genii working side-by-side with Atlanteans, and most amazingly, the Wraith. Yet, day after day we toil toward a common goal of bettering the farming capabilities throughout the galaxy. With the shipment of new supplies that arrived from Earth a few days ago, we believe our progress will be even more impressive. It is our hope that even more Genii will be able to assist us shortly. If all goes well, Malin and Daamon will join us soon to provide their insight. I hope the next message I am able to send will deliver good news.
Dahilia
June 12, 2012
"Lorne, do you copy?"
Evan keyed his radio in response to his CO's hail. "Go ahead, Colonel."
"We're about ready to start here," Sheppard informed him. "Any activity from your location?"
"No, Sir, the gate's all clear," Evan reported.
"If the gate starts to dial, you contact us and conceal the Jumper. If Radek's right and the Eslateran's are monitoring the location somehow, we've only got one shot at this."
"I'm aware of the plan, Colonel," Lorne assured with a hint of frustration that Sheppard felt the need to remind him of it yet again.
Still, he could understand the colonel's anxiety. If they were successful, if they were able to reverse the Eslateran's work, it could mean the turning point in finally gaining this galaxy back. Peace was great, but if those overseeing that peace really didn't care for you as a species, you were pretty much screwed. Another Wraith Hive had been reverted to Iratus bugs a little more than a week before. Within a few days, those bugs had been dispersed on two different human worlds. The Eslaterans had refused to intervene or allow anyone else to help the inhabitants of those worlds other than to allow the survivors a refuge from the infestation. The Eslaterans had claimed it was only fair that the Iratus had a right to live as much as the humans. The humans, however, saw the plan very clearly. The Iratus bugs were being sent in to finish the job they had started all those years before. Only this time, they weren't going to be tainted with human DNA and evolve into Wraith.
The worst part was, if they were successful today, they were kind of launching their canoes up shit creek at the same time, because bringing back the Genii troops and weapons the Eslaterans had shifted into another dimension was only half the mission. Luring the Eslaterans here and testing Zelenka's device on them directly was the second half, which meant they'd be revealing their hands to the enemy with help still nearly a month away.
His thoughts on how insane they really must be were interrupted by Dahilia Radim calling through the radio. "Radek, everything is in place, and we are prepared to begin the test. Are your sensors set up?"
Zelenka pushed a few buttons on his laptop and realigned what looked like a small satellite dish in the back compartment of the Jumper. "Standby."
Evan and Radek actually had a lot more in common than either would admit. Maybe it was that they had worked together several times in the past, or maybe it was the fact they were both seconds in command. Whatever the reason, Lorne felt he and Zelenka had an understanding.
"Radek, need any help?" Evan offered.
"Yes, yes, to stay out of my way, please," the scientist snapped as he went back to the laptop.
Then again, maybe Zelenka had more in common with McKay, and Evan had more in common with Sheppard for having to put up with him.
As if realizing what he'd just said and to whom, Radek looked abashed and pushed on the bridge of his glasses. "I am sorry, Major, but this must be done precisely and well..."
"I'm not exactly precise enough for the job?" Evan offered.
Zelenka didn't even look up to see Lorne's dry expression. Instead, he checked his readings once more. "I knew you would understand." Once satisfied, he let the other team know he was ready to go.
"Test commencing in four, three, two, one. Initiate." When Dahilia completed her countdown, an ear-piercing tone filled the air even the half mile the gate was located from the test site.
Evan plugged his ears and winced at the sound, but Radek didn't seem to notice as he monitored the data on the screen. Evidently the continued noise was enough for him to know it wasn't working. "Adjust the tone by an eighth," he instructed.
The off-key chord changed pitch slightly and Dahilia reported excitedly, "I just saw something! I'm adjusting a little more..."
Again the tone changed, this time to one that set Evan's teeth on edge. He sure didn't understand the science of what they were doing. He left that sort of thing to Zelenka, and had seen the man's work enough to know between he and McKay, they could come up with an answer to almost anything. But Evan knew their theory had something to do with using the same concept of sound the Eslaterans had used to send the Genii soldiers and their weapons away to reopen the rift and bring them back.
"I am reading the phase shift similar to what we saw on Eslatera," Zelenka told her.
"It worked!" Dahilia exclaimed happily. "By the Ancestors, we have them! They are back!"
At the news, a cheer went up among the small group of marines in the Jumper. Radek, however, continued to monitor his sensors. "Bring the tone down slowly. We do not want to have a backlash from the shift."
Backlash? Backlash didn't sound good, worse than the tone actually, but apparently it didn't happen because the noise decreased and they were all still there.
"Are we good?" Evan asked anxiously.
Zelenka nodded with a sigh of relief and small smile of pride. "It would appear so, yes."
"No offense, but I can't believe that actually worked," Evan admitted.
"Honestly, Major," Radek confessed, "neither can I."
Sheppard's voice cut across the radio. "Lorne, any sign of the Eslaterans?"
"Not yet, but I'm going to button things up here and cloak the Jumper just to be ready." Evan moved to the pilot seat and closed the back hatch even as his thoughts turned to hiding their ship.
"Good idea," Sheppard agreed before lowering his voice. It wasn't that he thought no one else could hear him, it's just what he said next was obviously important to him on a personal, as well as professional, level. "If this doesn't work, you know the message to send McKay. Right?"
"I know it, Colonel." Hell, he could recite it in his sleep. "And if it does work?"
"I'll send one myself," he replied, the note of hope evident in his voice that soon all of this would be over.
"If it works, this will be one for the history books, Sir," Evan pointed out. "Like D-Day or the Battle of Midway."
"Hopefully with less casualties."
"Absolutely," Evan agreed with Sheppard's amendment. "I just meant it's the sort of day when things really start rolling."
"Then the date you're looking for is March 13," the colonel corrected.
Evan frowned in confusion, unsure of the importance of that date. Before he could ask, however, the gate started to dial. "Incoming wormhole, Colonel," Lorne reported lifting the Jumper off the ground. A lot of good it would do to cloak the ship and have them walk right into it.
"Okay, people, this is it. Maintain radio silence until you hear from me again. Sheppard, out."
A moment later, the gate opened and three of the Eslaterans exited the wormhole.
"Here we go," Evan mumbled as they watched the three beings walk directly toward where the phase shift had taken place.
A few minutes later, a tone resumed, followed almost immediately by a second one. Evan grimaced at the discordance of the two sounds. Radek immediately left from where he'd been standing looking out the front window over Lorne's shoulder to return to his monitors in the back.
He cursed under his breath in Czech. "It is not working. Dahilia needs to adjust the frequency. I knew I should have been the one on the ground. I must contact her?"
Evan stopped him before he could key his radio. "Whoa! Hey! You heard Colonel Sheppard; we're under radio silence. If the Eslaterans hear us, we blow our cover."
"If we don't, they'll override our block," Radek insisted.
Lorne considered his options for split second, knowing they really had no choice. "Go ahead."
Zelenka immediately called to the Genii scientist, giving her directions.
"Lorne!" Sheppard yelled, not sounding happy at all. "Get the hell out there; they're turning on you!"
Evan could already feel the world slipping sideways a fraction, the scene outside the jumper going in and out of focus, and another one taking its place. The trees were fading to barren rock slopes, the cloudy sky was being replaced by an intense red sun. They were being forced into another dimension and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.
"Dahilia," Radek ordered, "increase the output!"
Whatever she did, it work, the trees and clouds reappeared, and Evan immediately pressed the tiles on the DHD. "Colonel Sheppard, what about you guys?" he asked as the gate dialed.
"We'll meet at the rendezvous point, or we'll be waiting for you guys to bring us back. Now get out of here."
"Copy that, Sir. Good luck."
As soon as the wormhole stabilized, Lorne was through it and back on Sateda where Woolsey, Todd, and a small contingent of Coalition personnel were waiting for word on how the experiment had gone.
When Evan stepped out of the back of the Jumper, Woolsey looked further into the craft. "Where are Colonel Sheppard and the others?"
"Still working," Evan told them with a sigh. "We had to get out of there."
Radek stepped in to explain further. "There appears to be a limit on the range of our shielding equipment compared to the range of the Eslaterans phase shifting abilities. In the immediate vicinity, it seemed that our equipment was having some success. However, the Eslaterans were able to cause the shift where we were located whereas our equipment barely reached that far."
"Should we send in a Wraith dart to extract them?" Woolsey asked, turning to Todd.
The Wraith appeared hesitant. "At this point, the Eslaterans are unaware of any Wraith involvement. If they discover the Genii and Atlantis are working together, Wraith anonymity may be our only advantage."
"And if you remove our personnel, they may not find out about the Genii and Atlantis at all," Woolsey contended.
They never had a chance to really sink their teeth into the argument, because a moment later, Colonel Sheppard's Jumper came through the gate. Dahilia came out of the Jumper all smiles, followed by Sheppard and his teammates.
"It worked," the colonel reported with a grin of his own. "Goddamn, if it didn't work."
Zelenka exhaled in relief, muttering what had to be a pray of thanks under his breath in his native tongue.
"And the Eslaterans?" Woolsey inquired.
Ronon patted the Wraith stunner he held and hitched his head toward the inside of the Jumper. "Taken care of, for now."
"It will not take long for them to be missed, however," Teyla reminded.
"We'll have enough time to contact Earth, though," Sheppard pointed out. "Let them know we'll be ready."
Evan knew the plan from here on out. After they contacted the SGC, it would be a game of cat and mouse. Woolsey could possibly convince the Eslaterans that Sheppard was acting on his own with the Genii, but if they couldn't, Atlantis would expel the delegates and lockdown for the next three weeks until the Daedalus arrived. As for Lorne, Sheppard, and the other deployment teams, they would run, hide, keep clear of the Eslaterans on various safe worlds and Wraith ships. If the Travelers had managed to avoid the Eslaterans for the most part for the past several months, they figured they could for a few weeks.
All memory of bickering went out the window at the news, and Woolsey asked Todd, "We'll have eighteen days once we send news to Earth. Can you finish manufacturing the devices by then?"
"They will be completed and deployed," Todd promised.
"All right then, we have a go," Woolsey announced. "Everyone knows what they need to do, and we have a very short amount of time to do it in. I suggest we get to work."
The small group dispersed quickly to their respective worlds, and it didn't dawn on Evan until much later that he never asked Sheppard about the significance of March 13.
* * * * *
Intercepted Wraith subspace transmission
Date: June 12, 2012
Operation Plowshare has commenced.
March 13, 2012
"Plowshare." Rodney said the word then sipped his beer as he looked out across the ocean from his perch on the dock.
"Is that supposed to mean something?" John asked, finishing off his own beer and popping open another one.
"I've been thinking about what Carson said the day we signed up for all this truce..." Rodney twirled hand as he attempted to think of the correct word. He was still on some pretty decent painkillers from being blown up, and the half a beer he'd drank was making things even fuzzier. "...bullshit." Yeah, bullshit, that was a good word for it.
Sheppard's eyebrows rose. "You mean about turning weapons into plowshares and pruning shears?"
"Hooks," McKay corrected. "Pruning hooks, but yeah, same concept."
John leaned back, propping on his elbows and looking up at the stars above them. "So what have you been thinking about them?"
Rodney used to look up at those same stars and see potential. The potential for discovery, of finding some amazing piece of Ancient tech. Now he just saw the potential to get himself killed and a total waste of time.
"I've been thinking about how there's always a price to pay, even for peace. Especially for peace. Did you know that countries under dictator rule have some of the lowest violent crime rates?"
John took another swig from his can. "You can't have your peace and eat it, too."
"No, you cannot," Rodney agreed, stared at the stars for a long while, before finally saying. "We have to stop them."
He'd been thinking about it for a while now. Hell, ever since John had mentioned it on the way to the ceremony.
Sheppard perked up at the comment. "How?"
"They use sound... somehow." McKay shook his head. "Sonic waves to rip open a sliver into another dimension. If I had time, a safe place to work and experiment without them hanging over my shoulder, I could possibly come up with something. But they don't trust me anymore. Not after what happened with the explosives at the mine."
"Then leave," John suggested. "Go back to Earth where it's safe and find a way to defeat them."
"You think we should leave Atlantis?" Rodney was shocked he would even suggest such a thing.
"Not we," John corrected. "You."
"I can't just abandon you guys," McKay insisted adamantly.
"It would just be temporary, until you find a way to beat them," Sheppard promised. "Look, I don't want you to go anymore than you do, but you said it yourself that they don't trust you. What if they decide you're too dangerous and work their hoodoo and banish you to the other dimension?"
Rodney frowned because, honestly, he'd been thinking about the same thing every time the Eslateran delegates saw him in the city and stared at him with their gills fluttering in suspicion.
John continued his argument. "At least on Earth you'd be able to help us. Hell, you could probably do more good there than you can here."
"But I need access to data here," Rodney reasoned. "There has to be something in the database on how the Ancients trapped them. We'd need that data if we have any chance of succeeding."
"I'll be here, and so will Zelenka. We'll smuggle data to you somehow, talk in code through email. We can find a way to make this work."
Rodney considered the possibility for a moment as he thought out loud. "We'd need a two-phased approach. Something to block them from using their powers to give us time to send them back and essentially lock the door again."
"And you can probably come up with that," John reiterated hopefully.
"Possibly," Rodney corrected. "I never said probably."
"Yeah, but you'll probably achieve the possibility," Sheppard dismissed with another sip of his beer, as if it were a done deal.
The problem was, it was far from a done deal. They needed data, more than that, they need to be able to research and experiment on various sound patterns. Jeannie actually specialized in sound spectrum analysis of distant star clusters during grad school, so she'd be a good resource for help, but that was far from a solution to the problem.
"And how do you plan to cover the work you're doing here while I'm gone?" Rodney asked.
"Farming," John answered simply.
"Farming?" McKay repeated incredulously. "You think farming is the answer to all your problems?"
"I think farming is as good a cover as we'll ever get." Sheppard tipped his can toward Rodney to make his point. "The SGC has announced it plans to help the Pegasus inhabitants develop better farming techniques to support themselves. Why not use that as a cover?"
Rodney grinned in appreciation of the concept. "Turn our plowshares into swords?"
John shrugged. "Whatever it takes."
"Including me leaving Atlantis." Rodney knew he'd never be able to accomplish what needed to be done here in the city, but the thought of leaving, of walking away with the chance of never coming back, made his stomach clench.
"Temporarily leaving Atlantis," Sheppard stressed. "You'll be back."
"And if it doesn't work?"
"Then we'll be joining you on Earth."
Rodney didn't miss how John didn't look at him when he made the statement. "Bullshit," he snorted.
John would give his last breath defending Atlantis. Rodney had seen him almost do just that more times than he cared to think about. He'd never abandon the city unless it was collapsing around his ears, and even then it was doubtful he'd go.
"Hey, I was back on Earth for over six months a few years ago," Sheppard pointed out irritably.
Rodney rolled his eyes. "Yeah, just because that's where Atlantis happened to be stuck."
John's lips quirked as he slid his eyes in McKay's direction. "Minor technicality."
"The point is, Sheppard, contrary to popular belief, you are not the only one willing to make a sacrifice to save the city."
Sheppard tilted his head and asked with exaggerated innocence. "A sacrifice like temporarily leaving Atlantis?"
Too late McKay saw the trap he'd just walked into. "You are a sneaky, no good son of a bitch, Sheppard. You fully took advantage of my compromised physical state and even got me drunk to do it."
"You've had half a beer!" Sheppard insisted. "And you were the one who first said you could probably find a way to stop them."
"Possibly stop them," Rodney attempted to rectify yet again, for all the good it did him. "Poss-i-bly. Christ, do I need to get you a dictionary?"
"You can send me one from Earth... along with some cookies."
"Oh, you will get no cookies from you," McKay told him with a firm shake of his head. "No cookies, no care packages, no DVDs, nothing."
"Except a way to defeat the Eslaterans so you can get your ass back here where it belongs."
John drank his beer, stared out across the waves, watched the lights from the city behind them reflecting off dark water below their feet. And Rodney simply watched him for a minute, boggling yet again how someone like Sheppard had managed to get to know him better than he'd ever know himself. Rodney couldn't help but think of another time they'd sat out here drinking beer. Sheppard had refused to say goodbye then, Rodney wondered if John would say goodbye this time when Rodney walked through the gate back to Earth.
"You are the worst friend I've ever had in my entire life," Rodney told him grumpily.
John tipped his beer can against the one Rodney held in his hand. "The feeling is completely mutual, McKay."
"If I can find a way to beat them... if..." And it was a big, big if. "When you're ready to fight, you send word, and I'll come home to help," Rodney promised, meeting John's eyes and holding his gaze. There was no way he was going to sit on the sidelines back on Earth with the big fight taking place here in Pegasus.
John nodded, never looking away. "You damn well better."
* * * * *
From: John.Sheppard@atl.af.mil
Sent: June 12, 2012
To: Einsteinsheir@mckaysbatcave.net
Subject: Plowshare
Farming going extremely well?ground is fully prepped for planting. Just in time seeing as the goddamn plowshare broke this afternoon. For now, we're standing by for additional parts from Earth.
J
From: Einsteinsheir@mckaysbatcave.net
Sent: June 12, 2012
To: John.Sheppard@atl.af.mil
Subject: RE: Plowshare
John,
That is great news about the farm! Parts will be shipping out on Daedalus in next 24 hours. ETA is 19 days from today. Hold on until then, help is on the way.
McK
July 1, 2012
Steven Caldwell held his breakfast tray and quickly scanned the small area of the Daedalus cafeteria for a place to sit. This time of day, it filled quickly, which was a good enough excuse to take his meal to his office and eat in private. Unfortunately, today, he caught the eye of Dr. Novak, who waved him over to join her, Dr. McKay, and the Genii, Ladon Radim. Steven thought of pretending her didn't see her, but she was already scooting her chair over to make room for him. With a weak smile and hitch of his head to indicate he'd seen her, Steven headed reluctantly toward the trio. It wasn't that he disliked them, per se. But let's just say, after eighteen days, he wouldn't be weeping tears of loneliness when they finally disembarked from his ship.
Radim looked almost relieved to see the ship's commander take a seat. "Colonel," he greeted with a tip of his head. "How much longer until we arrive?"
"We should reach Sateda within a few hours," Caldwell told him.
"Good," the Genii responded with a thankful smile. "Very good."
Considering that the man had spent most of the last two months with Rodney McKay, Steven had a feeling Ladon's anxiousness to return to Pegasus was only partially a result of homesickness. If the Genii had a commendation or medal for outstanding acts of sacrifice and bravery, Ladon Radim should be awarded one for volunteering to get himself ousted from his home galaxy in order to deliver crucial data to McKay, data that couldn't be sent in the databursts that were monitored by the Eslaterans.
All in all, it was amazing how much they had managed to achieve during this whole covert operation to keep the Eslaterans in the dark as to their plans? McKay volunteering to leave Atlantis in order to work on his theories regarding music playing a key role in how the Eslaterans were causing the dimensional shifts; Radek finding the information in the database on how the Ancients had guarded Atlantis and sneaking it out with Radim; Rodney smuggling tonal frequency information programmed into a child's electronic keyboard and a microchip of design schematics in peanut butter fudge. Caldwell had seriously begun to wonder what was next. A file baked into a birthday cake? Then there was all the farm equipment that had been shipped from Earth that was nothing more than a cover for providing the parts necessary to complete the manufacture of the devices on the schematics.
There had been times Steven had been convinced there was no way they would be able to pull this off. They would have to pull the expedition back to Earth and destroy Atlantis to keep it out of enemy hands... enemies who were now allies in a secret war against the Eslaterans.
McKay made a noise against the lip of his coffee cup as he drank, as if he'd just thought of something. "We should probably fall out of hyperdrive before we get there and test the modified Asgard beam. Just to be sure it works in case... well, in case things haven't gone as well as we'd hoped since we last had contact with Atlantis."
What he meant but wasn't saying out loud was, in case Sheppard and the others had failed in their mission to deploy the shielding devices, had been captured by the Eslaterans, and banished to an alternate dimension. If that had happened, if Sheppard and the others had failed in their portion of the operations, this whole trip was pretty useless and potentially deadly. What was the point of possessing a modified Asgard beam capable of causing the dimensional shift to send the Eslaterans back to the dimension where they'd been trapped previously if the Eslaterans could simply shift the entire Daedalus there in the first place?
Steven shook his head and lifted his own mug from the tray. "We'll test it on Sateda."
"If we need to tweak the beam, we could take advantage of the travel time remaining," Novak suggested. "Better than sitting around twiddling our thumbs." The scientist laughed then realized what she was implying. "Oh, not that we have nothing better to do on the ship than twiddle our thumbs even without any fine tuning that may be necessary. Busy, busy, busy."
When Caldwell just stared at her, she dropped her eyes and took a hasty bite of eggs from her plate. The downside to Dr. Novak was that she tended to be a bit fidgety. Twitchy people grated on Steven's nerves. The upside was that a single glance could usually get her to shut up. Unfortunately, that didn't work with McKay.
"If we wait until Sateda and it doesn't work, we'll be wasting more time," Rodney argued. "Our people know we're in Pegasus thanks to the stop at the way station to offload. They'll be expecting us to show up at Eslatera within ten hours from our departure from there."
"We're lucky we made it out of the check point and they didn't search the ship more than the cargo we delivered," Caldwell reminded. "If they'd found you and Radim on the ship, this mission would be over. And if they find out we've come further into Pegasus instead of heading back toward Earth, things will be even worse." Steven shook his head again and stated definitively. "We're not risking blowing our cover until we arrive at the Satedan rendezvous location and can talk face to face."
By opening a hyperdrive window deeper into the Pegasus Galaxy, Caldwell knew they had broken a major agreement the SGC had brokered with the Eslaterans to allow the Earth battle cruisers to continue making deliveries to the Atlantis expedition while maintaining weapons capabilities. While they may be undertaking this operation with the full backing of the SGC, the SGC was back in the Milky Way. If the Eslaterans caught them, the Daedalus would be on the frontlines and take the brunt of the attack. Steven knew very well that would mean a one way ticket to another dimension for the entire crew of his ship. There was no way in hell he was risking the men and women under his command to try something out when it could wait a few hours. Until then, they were running silent and hopefully under the radar of any Eslaterans.
"We could always run a few more simulations," Novak offered.
"We've run so many simulations that I'm dreaming about them in my sleep," McKay snapped. "The last thing we need is more simulations."
"No, the last thing you need is to blow our cover," Caldwell stressed. "We'll arrive on Sateda in less than three hours." Rodney opened his mouth to plead his case again and Steven spoke before he could. "You can run your tests then." Caldwell's eyes narrowed slightly, daring him to say anything more on the matter.
Rodney stood and took his half-empty tray with him. "Fine. Call me when we arrive. In the meantime, I'll be in my quarters trying to figure out how to make up the time we're going to lose fine tuning the beam on Sateda."
Ladon watched McKay storm out of the cafeteria, before he resumed eating his own meal. "I understand your concerns regarding discovery, Colonel Caldwell, but Dr. McKay does have a point? timing will be a critical factor in the success of our endeavor."
Caldwell turned to Novak. "You've been working to integrate the tonal data with the Asgard beam. What do you think? Will it work?"
Novak looked a little wide-eyed to have the colonel seek her opinion. "Oh... well, the Asgard technology has always been a little persnickety when it comes to melding it with other tech. It's one of the reasons why we always had an Asgard presence on the ships. But out of necessity, we've gotten better at it over the years."
"Will it work?" Caldwell repeated, doing his best not to sound impatient but figuring he wasn't doing a very good job of it considering how Novak snapped to attention in her seat.
"The simulations and the limited testing we've been able to conduct indicate that it will work. The biggest concern is how the on-ground shielding devices will interfere with the beam."
Radim nodded in agreement. "And those must be fine tuned in-place to compensate for the specific conditions at the location."
"Sounds like a lot of variables to contend with," Steven noted. It also sounded like very little would have been gained by testing the beam prior to their arrival at Sateda and he had made the correct decision.
"Ohhh yeah," Novak agreed with a small snort at the over simplification of his statement.
Radim sighed in his own agreement of the complexity of their task. "But Dahilia and Dr. Zelenka were able to quickly compensate in the field during the first trial, so we will hopefully be able to do the same before the Eslaterans can overcome the shielding device."
Caldwell heard the note of pride in Ladon's voice when he mentioned his sister. "You must be happy to finally be returning home to see your family."
Ladon's lips curled into a small smile. "My time on Earth has been...trying at times."
"No plans to apply for a job with the SGC?" Steven asked with his own hint of amusement.
"I believe Colonel Mitchell's expression was 'It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.' Although he was referring to Atlantis instead of Earth. I'm afraid my own sentiment is just the opposite of his."
"To each his own," Caldwell conceded, lifting his coffee cup once more.
Ladon tipped his own mug in a silent toast. "Which is why I am more than happy to be returning to my own."
He had a feeling McKay's sentiment was more in line with Radim's, which went a long way in explaining why he was so anxious to try out the beam. If this failed, Rodney was losing a lot more than an expeditionary base. The lengths he and Sheppard and the others had gone to in order to gain it back from the Replicators a few years back, including disobeying direct orders from the SGC, showed exactly where their loyalties lay.
Those loyalties to Atlantis and the Pegasus Galaxy hadn't changed for McKay over the years, and when they arrived on Sateda, they found out they hadn't changed for Sheppard either.
Caldwell, McKay, and Radim beamed down to the surface of the planet where they were met by Woosley, Todd, Teyla, Ronon, and Dahilia Radim. They had barely had time to reform from the beam before Dahilia eagerly embraced her brother. Ladon seemed more than happy to return the hug.
Ronon thumped McKay hard on the shoulder, and Teyla's face broke into a wide smile when Rodney winced through his own grin and rubbed his arm. "Rodney, it is good to see you once more. It has been too many days."
"You, too." The smile on McKay's face, however, wavered as he looked around. "Where's Sheppard?"
Teyla's own expression sobered. "He volunteered to deploy the shielding device on Eslatera."
"He went alone?" McKay demanded at the news.
"Radek's with him," Ronon supplied, not sounding very happy with the arrangement. "He said the fewer people that went, the less chance of being caught."
Rodney looked heavenward and threw up his arms. "Why am I not surprised?"
"There's more," Woolsey told them. "Todd has been unable to contact the Dart that deployed them on the planet."
Ladon stepped away from his sister with a concerned furrow of his brow. "How long have they been out of contact?"
"For over an hour," Ronon supplied.
"Is it possible the Wraith piloting the Dart was sympathetic with the Eslaterans?" Ladon asked.
Todd bristled at the accusation. "He is from my own Hive. He is loyal to our cause."
"How can you be sure?" Radim continued.
"I have personally chosen every member of my crew," Todd defended. "Can you say the same about the Genii who know about our plans?"
"Please," Woolsey stepped in. "We are close to achieving the goal we have worked toward for months. Now is not the time to have internal bickering and distrust."
"You think the Eslaterans caught the Dart?" Caldwell suggested.
"That's the most likely scenario," Woolsey stressed to hopefully put the squabble between Wraith and Genii to an end. "But Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Zelenka were already on the ground. It's possible they have eluded capture."
"And if they haven't?" Steven had to ask the question, even though Sheppard's three teammates glared at him for even suggesting it.
Todd stepped in then. "I will be joining you on your ship. If we cannot contact Sheppard when we arrive in orbit, I will launch my own Dart and deploy a second team to use the shielding device."
"And if the Wraith are working in concert with the Eslaterans?" Ladon asked.
"It's a chance we will have to take," Woolsey told him.
"Ladon..." Dahilia placed a hand on her brother's arm. "I have been here, working with the Wraith. I trust that they are on our side."
Rodney wagged a finger at Todd. "No, this is good. I have something I want to try and you're just the Wraith to help me."
"The other teams are in place," Woolsey informed them. "When you're ready to depart for Eslatera, we'll send word to activate their devices."
Caldwell nodded gravely. "Dr. McKay, as soon as you've finished testing the beam, we're heading out."
"Give me an hour and we'll be ready to go."
Steven checked his watch, the special one he always carried with him when he was in Pegasus that was set to the odd Atlantean twenty-eight hour and seventeen minute day. That meant is would be a few hours past midnight Atlantean Standard Time when they arrived at Eslatera, which was the equivalent of late afternoon on the planet, if everything went as planned. And the best laid plans... Steven knew they often went to shit.
At least this time, they had a backup plan to fall back on.
* * * * *
Concluded in Part Five