Hello friends! I'm so sorry it's been a little while since I updated. I recently published a new story and got distracted by it. If you enjoy The Mandalorian check out my new fanfic One Endless Night! But I missed John and Kai and realized I left you with quite the cliff hanger, so here we go!
Happy Reading!
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Progeny Cont.
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John was screaming in pain. White hot searing pain radiated through his body. He dropped to the floor with a groan and he rolled up, frowning to see Oberoth standing over him. "What the hell just happened?" he asked with a frown.
Oberoth simply stared down at him. John looked around but there was no Atlantis, and no Kai. He was on the floor of the cell back in Asuras. The others were all collapsed on the ground around him.
"Who the hell are you people?" John demanded.
"They aren't people," McKay groaned lifting his head from the floor. "They're machines. Replicators," he said in slow horror.
John frowned as he tried to remember everything he could about the SG-1 files he had read about the replicators. A low rumble started and a fine vibration ran through the floor.
"What's happening?" Elizabeth demanded
John had a very bad feeling. He had been in enough ships to know what an engine felt like.
Elizabeth slowly pushed herself to her feet, cupping her forehead. "My head," she complained.
John pushed past the pounding migrain in his temples and got to his feet. "How'd we get back here?" he asked with a concerned frown.
Teyla frowned. "What do you mean 'back here'?" Teyla asked with a confused frown.
"Well, we broke out, got to the jumper, gated back to Atlantis..." the look on everyone else's faces told him that was not what happened. They were all looking at him like he was nuts. "At least I thought we did," he added.
Teyla shook her head. "That is not what I remember," she said.
"The only thing I remember was being in a dark room, fighting hand to hand for hours," Ronon said, he was still sitting on the floor, holding his arm across his body as though he could still feel the phantom pain.
McKay frowned. "They obviously created different scenarios for each of us during the mind probe, no doubt looking to gather information form our responses," McKay said with an exhausted sigh.
"I thought our escape seemed too easy," John said. "And there were weird things," he said dragging off with a shake of his head.
"At least you escaped," McKay grumbled.
"What'd they do to you?" John asked.
McKay blanched. "Torture, in ways to hideous and intimate to recount," McKay said shifting uncomfortably.
Ronon frowned up at McKay. "Like what?"
"I said to hideous to recount," McKay said, shooting Ronon a miffed look.
Elizabeth stiffened, looking around in terror. "I just had a horrible thought," she said.
"What if it is still happening?" Teyla asked.
"Yes," Elizabeth agreed.
McKay paced around, looking down at Sheppard, trying to decide if he was real or not. "There's gotta be a way to know for sure," McKay said. He poked Sheppard hard in the head. Sheppard scowled and slapped him back.
McKay frowned. "That didn't really prove anything," he said with a sigh.
"It's real Doctor McKay," Niam said walking into the room. This time he was flanked by six guards. "Your minds are no longer being probed," he assured them.
"It's good to know it was just our minds," Sheppard quipped as he climbed to his feet.
"Oh don't make me sick," McKay complained with a wince.
"Please, come with me," Niam said.
The others all exchanged a look of disgust but they didn't really have a choice. Niam led them up into the tower and out onto a balcony.
"We're in space," Weir said in awe.
"The star drive. Of course the rumbling sound we heard.With all those ZPM's you're actually able to fly the city," McKay gushed, pushing so he was the first to the balcony railing to look out at the stars.
"Yes Doctor McKay," Niam confirmed. "Watch now, we're about to open a hyperspace window."
Around them the empty black of space between systems transformed into the swirling colors and patterns of hyperspace.
"Where are we going?" Teyla asked.
"Atlantis," Niam said almost apologetically. "The probes of your minds uncovered the truth that Atlantis had not been destroyed by the Wraith 10,000 years ago as we believed. You only came to live there from your original home, a planet called earth."
Sheppard scowled. "Why didn't you just dial the gate and send us through?" John asked.
"We are not taking you to Atlantis. Our intention is to destroy it," Niam said as though that were obvious.
They all stiffened.
"Why?" Elizabeth asked.
"Retribution," Niam replied emotionlessly.
"For what?" Elizabeth demanded angrily. "The disagreement you once had?" she asked. "The Ancients no longer live there. We are the only inhabitants of that city."
Niam shook his head. "There was no disagreement, Doctor Weir. Only betrayal. If you wish to know the truth of who we are, I will show you," Niam said holding out his hand.
"Elizabeth," McKay said protectively touching her arm.
Elizabeth stared hard in Niam's eyes as though she saw something there the rest of them did not. "It's okay Rodney," she promised and she took Niam's hand. Elizabeth's body jerked up and went very still. Her eyes fluttered closed and she and Niam froze, like they were locked in time. Behind her closed lids her eyes flickered as though she were dreaming.
When Niam released her hand Elizabeth staggered back. John caught her arm and steadied her. Niam took them into a small room to rest. Elizabeth held the cool rag provided against her head as her mind fought to sort through the memories and images Niam had shown her. How the replicators were created.
"Obviously the Ancients didn't do a thorough job wiping them out," John said after she explained to the group how the Ancients had decided to destroy what they created.
"No," Elizabeth said with a wince. "A few of the nanites manages to survive."
"Which is all they need to begin replicating again," McKay added helpfully.
"Replicating?" Teyla asked with a confused shake of her head.
"Is bad," McKay said grimly. "They are very similar to an artificial intelligence that SG-1 encountered several years ago that evolved from tiny block replicators into human form. They may even be related somehow."
John leaned forward. "I read those reports," he said. "Stargate command could barely defeat the human-form replicators."
"Oh, which is why I said this is bad," McKay said in a snarky voice.
"The difference here is they are emulating the ancients," Weir said with a shake of her head. "They've even built themselves a version of Atlantis."
"And then some," Ronon said.
"Why would they do this?" Teyla asked.
"I think they look at the Ancients like parents who betrayed them, and now they see humans as the favored siblings who received all the parents' love. They've been seeking revenge ever since."
John blew out a frustrated sigh. "Just what we need, more bad guys," he snapped.
"Which means we've probably identified the race that created the nanovirus that nearly killed me a couple years ago," McKay said.
John looked up at McKay. "It almost killed a lot of people," he said.
"Yeah," McKay said with a shrug.
Teyla cocked her head to the side. "Were you not able to defeat the nanovirus with an electro magnetic pulse?"
McKay shook his hand at her. "That was different," he said. "Those were individual nanites, easy to disrupt with a simple EM pulse. These things have evolved way beyond that with interdependent organic constituents of a far greater complexity.
One of the members of the council who had been with Niam the most walked into the room. She addressed Weir first. "Are you feeling better?" she asked.
"Yes," Weir said with a nod.
"Then follow me," she ordered and she turned, expecting them to follow her. She led them into a meeting room where Niam and another woman waited. The woman who had led them in walked to the opposite side of the table so the two women provided a united front with Niam.
"I have an offer to make you," Niam said gravely. "Something that could greatly benefit us both."'
"Well if the offer involves saving Atlantis, we're willing to listen," Elizabeth said stepping forward to take control of the negotiations.
"It does," Niam assured them.
Weir arched her eyebrows encouraging him to continue.
"We have achieved much since our second birth," Niam said. "We have evolved to take the form of our creators, built a city far grander than they ever achieved. Yet for all of this we are still restricted from reaching a pivoltal point in our evolution."
"You want to Ascend?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes," Niam said with a nod. "Many among us, like Oberoth, have no desire to experience this. They are content with our present state. But there are a few of us who recognize that as a civilization we are stagnant."
The woman turned to them. "We seek to continue our own evolution."
The other woman continued. "To try to emulate the Ancients and their ultimate achievement."
"Even though they betrayed you?" Teyla asked uncertainly.
"They are our creators," Niam said. "And ascension is the final step to equaling them, to becoming one with them."
"No offense," Sheppard said. "But how are a bunch of machines gonna do that?" he challenged.
"Are you so different?" the first woman asked.
"Well, we're living, breathing people."
"Constructed of cells, consuming and burning energy, governed by electrical impulses..."
"Hey," John said holding his hands up. "I didn't say I could Ascend," John said defensively.
McKay crossed his arms over his chest. "Metaphysical debates aside, what do you want from us?" he asked. "We're not exactly Ascension experts."
"Although," John added flippantly. "We do know killing people isn't the best way to get there."
"We realize this," Niam said. "And we have done much to repress our violent nature, but yet it still remains within us. We believe this, above all else is what has prevented us from Ascending," Niam said.
"What are you looking for? Therpay?" John asked. Of all of them, he was the one that had the most experience with Ascension. During his time living in the time dilation field he had worked with Ancients achieving ascension.
"We want to rewrite our base code," Niam said. "To remove the directives for aggression."
"What's stopping you?" Ronon asked.
"The Ancients put in place measures to prevent us from altering the code ourselves. But you can do it," Niam said looking at McKay.
"Me?" McKay asked in surprise.
"During our probe of your mind, we learned that you are capable of doing this," Niam said.
"Oh that's funny, because all I remember is the torture," McKay snapped.
"And what's in it for us?" Ronon demanded.
"We will stop the others from attacking Atlantis," the woman said.
"And we will help you in your fight against the Wraith," Niam promised.
"And Oberoth will agree to this?" Weir asked in disbelief.
"I believe Oberoth is attaking Atlantis as a result of tht programing. If we can prove to him that it can be altered..." Niam dragged off.
"You think he'll see that light?" John asked. He didn't buy it. He had seen the resolve in Oberoth. Nothing Niam said was going to convince him.
"I will do everything in my power to persuade him," Niam promised them. But John knew that wasn't the same as a guarantee.
"Why should we trust you?" Teyla asked cooly.
"Because we are trusting you," Niam said. "By extending this offer we are jeapordizing our very existence," he turned to face Elizabeth. "I saw in you compassion Doctor Weir. Someone who could understand our plight. Help us," he impolored. "And we will help you."
"Well," John said resting his hands on his hips. "When it comes right down to it we don't have much of a choice," he said grimly.
Every moment they sat here talking was another moment the city grew closer to Atlantis. He wasn't sure about the city's cloaking abilities or how it would show up on the long range sensors of Atlantis. With him, Weir, Teyla and McKay off world, it left Lorne and Zelenka technically in charge. Although he was well aware and slightly reassured to know that Kai would be standing right over Zelenka's shoulder.
They were led into the control room. "We are approaching Atlantis," one of the women told them. "We will be dropping out of hyperspace soon."
John pressed his lips together and stepped out of the control room. He reached up and touched his comm, activating it. "How's it coming Rodney?" he asked.
"Slowly," McKay huffed back.
"What's the hold up?" John asked.
"What's the hold up?" McKay snapped. "Do you have any idea what I'm trying to do here?" he challenged.
"Niam gave you access to the program code, and you're screwing around with it."
"Oh, that is so..." McKay sputtered. "...relatively accurate," he finished in a calmer tone.
"Thank you," John said triumphantly.
"Still, we're not dealing with Rock 'em, Sock 'em robots here. We are dealing with complex code of over three billion chemical base sequences. It's like trying to reconfigure the DNA double helix."
"Okay," John agreed. "So what, like five minutes?"
"It will be done, when it's done," McKay growled. "And you applying pressure is not gonna..." he dragged off.
"What?" Sheppard asked.
"Gotta go, McKay out," and the comm went dead.
"Rodney what's going on?" Sheppard demanded but there was no answer. "Rodney!"
The others were brought back to a waiting room. They sat and paced as they waited for McKay. Finally the doors slid open and McKay strutted in.
"Did you do it?" Sheppard demanded before anyone else could speak.
"Yes," McKay replied triumphantly. "I removed the aggression directive from the base code. It is uploading to Niam as we speak. But I discovered something else!" McKay said excitedly. "Nothing short of brilliant I might add."
"What?" John asked.
"Okay, even though these replicators are each separate functioning beings, their basic command code is interconnected over a powerful subspace frequency. They have these periodic collective program updates or merges as they call them, where they exchange new information."
"That's how Niam hopes to distribute the new information to the others," Weir said.
"Exactly!" McKay said excitedly. "But while I was working on it, I figured out a way to create a glitch that, on my command, should momentarily freeze them."
"Should?" John asked speculatively.
"Okay, will," McKay huffed. "I mean dead in their tracks like hitting the pause button, temporariliy, until they figure out how to override it..." McKay dragged off.
"How long?" Ronon asked.
"Well I don't know," McKay said defensively. "That's why I said momentarily."
"Days? Hours? Minutes?" John pressed.
"It's minutes, but I don't know. That's what I was just saying to him," McKay huffed.
"Ten? Twenty?" John pushed as his mind raced to put together a tactical plan. They needed to escape and notify Atlantis of the impending attack.
"Okay fine, you want a number? Fine. Seven. Seven minutes and thirty-one seconds. You happy?"
"No."
"No?" McKay sputtered.
"That's not enough time."
"Look, you wanted a number," McKay argued.
"A bigger number," John huffed.
"Yeah well it very well may be longer."
"Or shorter."
"Look! I don't know! Look, you're missing the point!"
"Gentlemen, focus please," Weir's voice was sharp to be heard over their bickering. It was a wonder they accomplished anything at all on their missions if this was how they intereacted together. Elizabeth turned to Sheppard. "Will that be enough time for us to escape?" she asked
John shrugged helplessly. "It'll have to be," he said.
"Not much point leaving without blowing this place up first," Ronon said casually.
"How do we do that?" Elizabeth asked.
Everyone turned their eyes on McKay. "Oh that me, right. Surprise, surprise," he said. "Look, why don't I just go on these missions by myself?" he snarked, then he stopped and began snapping excitedly as a thought hit him. "I'll rig a ZPM overload," he said triumphantly and he ran from the room.
Sheppard scrubbed at his face wondering if dealing with McKay was what being a second grade school teacher felt like. Only the second grader was smarter than him and knew it.
Teyla stepped forward. "What about Niam?" she asked in concern. "Are we not exploiting his trust?" she asked.
John shrugged, now they went from the uncontrollable second grader to having to talk over their feelings. He sighed and glanced towards Ronon who just grinned at him and leaned back in his chair. Ronon didn't care about emotions or exploiting anyone's trust. He appreciated Ronon a lot in that moment.
"Even if he's able to honor his end of the deal," Sheppard said. "There's no guarantee he can stop Oberoth from attacking Atlantis."
"We will offer him the chance to come with us," Elizabeth said. "But we can't leave this city intact."
Sheppard sighed and shook his head. It was a bad idea to tip their hand, but he knew Elizabeth and Teyla wouldn't be swayed on this.
John left them with Ronon and went to find McKay. The scientist was sitting by himself in a chair, his fingers working quickly over the buttons on the handheld scanner he had tied into their systems. "Are you sure this is gonna work?" he asked looking over McKay's shoulder.
McKay jumped and shot a scowl his way. "Please, of course it will work."
"Why is it taking so long?" John asked
"Why do you always have to...look," McKay said with a shake of his head. "I need to properly calibrate the frequencies. I wanna make sure that when I freeze them, I freeze them all, okay?"
"All would be good," John agreed.
"Okay, will you just let me finish?" when John turned to leave him he snorted. "Thank you," McKay said. McKay pressed a few more buttons. "Okay here we go," McKay called to them. "In five, four, three, two..." and all of the replicators in the city went still, just as McKay said. It was unnerving to see them all standing frozen, as though someone had hit pause.
They opened the door and stepped out into the busy hallway filled with people. "Hey it worked!" McKay exclaimed.
"Interesting," John said with a frown. He reached around one of their guards and took his weapon.
"Okay, we should move to the ZPM room," McKay said leading the way.
"Why isn't he frozen?" Sheppard asked as Niam came around the corner.
"His code's been changed," McKay said. "Until he distributes it to the others in the next merge, he'll be different from the rest of them."
"What happened?" Niam asked looking around in confusion.
There was an electric pulse that ran through the entire ship. "What was that?" Teyla asked.
"I think we just dropped out of hyperspace," John said in slow horror. He was out of time. They he arrived at Atlantis. His memories of the brain probe haunted him. He remembered all too well what it felt like to lose Atlantis. He couldn't let it happen.
"We need to move," Ronon said and he strode off down the hallway.
"Come with us," Weir said, touching Niam gently on his arm. "I'll explain on the way."
They stepped into the ZPM room and there was a replicator frozen over the control counsel. "Ronon I could use-" McKay started to say.
Ronon shot him a look and he grabbed the replicator and tossed him aside.
"Thanks," McKay said distractedly as he sat down at the controls.
"You want me to go with you?" Niam asked in surprise
"You must understand our situation, if you can't stop Oberoth-"
"I said I would do everything in my power," Niam said defensively.
"But can you promise that you will succeed?" Elizabeth pushed.
Niam looked down and away. John watched the exchange closely. He would put Niam down if he had to, but he was willing to give Elizabeth the chance to convince him.
"Our lives and the lives of our people are at stake here," Elizabeth told him.
"Look," McKay griped. "You merge through a subspace connection. Even if you're with us you should be able to spread the new code."
Niam was still torn.
"Come with us, Niam," Elizabeth pushed. "Ascension is within your grasp," she added. "You can't turn back."'
"Damn," McKay grumbled looking back down on the readout of his tablet.
"What is it?" John asked.
"In order to do this I have to utilize all three ZPMs," McKay said pointing at the ZPMs. "I was hoping to bring at least one of them back with us."
"Do what you can," John ordered and he glanced down at his watch. "We only have three minutes."
McKay blew out a frustrated sigh. "Look, I already told you..." he huffed impatiently. "Never mind," He turned away from Sheppard and looked up at Niam. "I need an access code to remove the fail safes."
Naim stared long and hard into Elizabeth's face before he nodded imperceptibly. He strode back around the the access terminal where McKay was working. McKay stepped aside while Niam imputed his code.
"Now," John said, his eyes still narrowed as he studied Niam He didn't trust him as far as he could throw them, but as long as they could continue to dangle Ascenion in front of him like a carrot they would be able to get him to do what they wanted. "How about our weapons?"
Niam turned to the Colonel, he shirked back a little at the intense expression on his face, but he nodded. "We can recover them on the way," he assured him.
John nodded and led the group out of the door. They were running out of time. They jogged through the city toward the jumper bay. He felt better once they had their weapons. Something about having his gun in his hand made him more confident. John pulled up sharply as he came around a corner and nearly ran into a frozen Oberoth.
McKay let out a yelp, then recovered himself a little sheepishly. McKay chuckled. "Ha! Not so arrogant now are you?" he challenged shoving his way into Oberoth's chest. It reminded John of watching a little dog yap at a big one that had it's back turned, but he didn't correct his friend. All of their nerves were fried and they still weren't clear yet.
Oberoth's arm lashed out suddenly grabbing McKay by the throat. Somehow Oberoth was fighting through the program freeze.
"McKay!" Ronon yelled and he stomped forward. Oberoth back handed him out of the way. They all began to fire on the replicators. Both their bullets and Ronon's gun didn't seem to have any effect on them.
"Everyone move!" John shouted. He took off running for the jumper bay. The other's followed behind him. He trusted Ronon to bring up the rear. "So much for seven and a half minutes," John grumbled sarcastically.
"It was an arbitrary number!" McKay griped.
"Okay, start the overload," Sheppard ordered.
"What?" McKay asked. "No, no, no, no. Not yet!"
"The jumper bays not far. We're almost there," Sheppard told him.
"No, no, you don't understand, I don't want them to be able to stop it. Look as soon as I trigger the overload there will be practically a zero lag time before it blows."
"Practically?" John asked.
"Okay fine," McKay snapped. "So like a few seconds to build up the power but not nearly-"
"How many seconds?" John asked.
McKay stared up at him. "I don't know."
"Well five? Ten?" Sheppard pushed.
"Again with the arbitrary numbers," McKay huffed.
"We need to move!" Ronon called urgently.
"Okay," Sheppard said. "Let's start the overload!"
McKay's fingers tapped against the screen of his tablet as he ran behind Sheppard. John slowed, watching McKay's back closely while he was distracted. He pressed a final command and looked up, meeting the Colonel's gaze with a nod. An alarm started sounding through the halls as they ran.
"What's that?" Weir asked.
"The sound of a city about to blow!" McKay called over his shoulder.
They ran into the nearest jumper. John powered it up. "Get that roof open Rodney or this is going to be a real short trip."
"Go go go!" McKay shouted and the cleared the roof just as the bay exploded behind them. The shock wave of the cities destruction threw them out into space. John let the inertial dampeners do their job and once they had slowed he took the controls once again.
The open comm crackled to life. "Unknown Jumper please identify yourself," Major Lorne's voice filled the cockpit. "We have a lock on you and if you do not identify yourself we will open fire."
John exhaled in relief. "Lorne is that you?" He called back.
"Colonel? Did you just take out that big ship?" Lorne asked.
"Long story," Sheppard said. "Tell Zian she can get out of the chair. We're all that's left."
"Roger that sir," Lorne said and the comm went quiet.
"Great work, all of you," Weir said gently. She turned to Niam. "Thank you for your help," she said.
Niam smiled warmly at her but the smile stilled on his face. His head twitched to the side.
"What's wrong?" Weir asked.
"Something's happening..." he drew off, a frown forming on his face.
"What is it?" Weir asked in concern taking a step closer. It was her own mistake. She didn't spend much time in the field and her own empathy had a tendency to get the better of her.
"The others on my planet, they know what I've done," he said and his head twitched again. "I'm being re-set..."
"McKay do something!" John called.
"It's too late..." Niam said. His head tilted to the side and he jumped forward, wrapping his hands around Weir's neck, choking her.
Ronon and Teyla fought to pull him off of her, but he was too strong. John jumped to his feet and charged them. He slammed into Niam, knocking him into the rear compartment. He slapped the controls to close the door between the cockpit and the rear compartment.
"That's not going to hold him!" Mckay cried. John ran for controls and he blew the rear airlock and ejected Niam into space.
"Are you all right?" Teyla asked crouching in front of Elizabeth. It had all happened so fast they were all a little shaken.
Elizabeth coughed, holding her sore neck. She couldn't speak but she nodded.
John stared at her. "Are you okay?" he asked. Elizabeth nodded again but John couldn't shake the bad feeling that he had. He sat back in his chair with a sigh of relief and turned the jumper towards Atlantis.
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John set the jumper down in the bay. He opened the bulkhead and they all walked out the destroyed rear cabin. Elizabeth seemed shaken but fine, and the others simply looked tired. "Why don't you guys all get some sleep," he advised. "We can debrief in the morning."
Ronon and Teyla nodded and turned to head towards the living quarters. Rodney and Elizabeth however exchanged a look and trudged off towards the control room. The Asurans were still out there. They weren't safe yet.
John finished shutting down the jumper, moving slowly. He would never admit it out loud, but he was trying to decide if this felt a real. He was waiting for the test to come that would prove it was a mind probe. Something terrible that would reveal a weakness to them that they would exploit.
Eventually there was nothing left to do and he strode through the rear compartment. Without the ramp he jumped down to the bay floor. When he lifted his head Kai was waiting for him like a silent shadow.
Her scarf was wrapped around her head and she was wearing the oversized jumpsuit she liked, tied off at the waist. There were lines of stress on her face and she looked tired, but she had never looked more beautiful to him. He strode up to her and not caring if anyone was around he wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her.
Kai was surprised by John's intensity but she lifted her hands up and slid them through his hair, giving back as much as he was giving her. She felt the hard nudge in her mind and she smiled against his lips.
"Definitely real," John muttered against her lips as he felt the shift in his chest. He pulled back from her and stared down into her eyes, a frown on his face. "That's what they got wrong," he muttered.
Kai frowned back at him. "What?" She asked.
John shook his head. "It'll all be explained at the debriefing but they tried to pass off something as you and...it was a pretty bad copy," he said with a boyish grin.
Kai smiled up at him but despite his teasing words and rakish smirk she could see something serious in his eyes. Whatever had happened on this mission had been bad. John carried so many burdens, she wished she could do something to ease the shadow she saw in his eyes.
She lifted her hand and traced her fingers down the side of his face. "You look tired," she said gently.
John nodded, he was. He was exhausted. "It was a rough one," he told her.
He wondered if he should go into detail and tell her about the mind probe. How they hadn't been able to recreate the feeling of the Bond and he should have noticed that. How he had known something was off and it was because he hadn't had Kai radio in his head. He wanted to tell her how it tore him apart to watch her die with him and he still wanted to chastise her for the reckless decision even though it hadn't been her to make it.
Kai seemed to know there was more going on than he was ready to talk about and she pushed herself up on her toes and rested her forehead against his affectionately.
John exhaled and nodded, letting himself rest in the peace Kai gave him for a few stolen moments.
He took the step back, putting space between them. "Let's go see where we're at," he said and he led the way down to the control room.
"How we doing?" John called coming down the stairs.
McKay and Zelenka were working at separate terminals, each scrolling through the ancient database. Kai walked over to a third terminal and joined them. Even though she was tired, she wasn't willing to leave it to them.
"Still nothing," Zelenka said tiredly.
"Either the Ancients purposefully chose to conceal every record, extremely well I might add, or they just deleted them from the database. I'm leaning towards the latter."
"Perhaps they think they'd truly destroyed them all," Zelenka supplied helpfully.
"Either that or they didn't want anyone to know they'd failed," John pointed out.
"Again, there is nothing more annoying than people who won't admit their own mistakes," McKay said.
John and Kai shared a look of disbelief across the room. Kai just shook her head and dug into the database. She hadn't slept much while John was off world, but she needed less sleep than the humans and many hands made light work.
John spotted Elizabeth standing out on the balcony. He glanced back at Kai, but she was already bent over a laptop, her graceful fingers flying over the keys. He was hesitant to leave her side for some reason, but he needed to check on Elizabeth.
He stepped through the doors and they slid shut behind him. She had been pretty shaken up when they landed and he was wondering if he should send her down to Beckett. She was staring intently up at the stars and didn't turn around when he joined her.
"McKay, Zelenka and Zian are scouring the database for any information," he informed her. "So far not much...as in nothing," he added.
Elizabeth shook her head. "Those replicators are probably already at work building themselves another Atlantis," she said. She wrapped her arms around her body as though she were cold, although she was wearing a jacket.
John rested his hands against the railing and leaned forward, stretching his tired muscles. "Now they know all about us."
Elizabeth shrugged. "Well,
we beat them this time," She shot him an impish look. "...maybe we scared them off."
John snorted and shook his head. "Yeah, maybe," John agreed, although he didn't look convinced.
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Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the update. It took a little while to get this one out. I never really liked this particular episode so the last two updates were challenging to write. I didn't want to send Kai there, but it's an important part for later on so I didn't want to skip it.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. It ended up pretty long. So apologies for that but I'm super excited to get to the next couple episodes because now we have had two chapters in a row with very little John and Kai...I plan to sort that! Thank you as always for your amazing support!