Atlantis Prologue excerpt

[nanonano]

I'm feeling generous. I don't usually post a lot of excerpts, just because I like keeping stuff close to the chest. But this is SGA fanfic, so the rules are a little different. Again this comes from the modern day prologue I didn't know I was writing. 1588 words. Warnings for head hopping, Cadman/McKay snarkage and one cheap shot at certain Air Force Lt. Colonel. (Not the one you're thinking either.) Not even sure this technobabbly works for stargates...



Sheppard asked. "Are we in any immediate danger?"

"I am not sensing any Wraith present," Teyla returned. "Perhaps as McKay said, there is nothing to feed on here."

"Except us," McKay added hastily.

Sheppard said, "So we make sure they don't find out we're here."

"So what is this place, doc?" Major Lorne asked. "The ceilings stretch on for miles."

"They appear to have built their stargate inside some sort of structure," McKay said. "Usually we see them outside in a field or in orbit. The only other one we've seen like this one in the Pegasus Galaxy is the one back on Atlantis."

Sheppard asked. "So this could be some sort of Ancient outpost?"

"Possibly," McKay admitted. "Or an early site lost during the siege. We know the Wraith attacked the outlying worlds before they turned their attention to Atlantis. Maybe this was one of them."

"Okay," Sheppard said, "we'll split into teams of two. Teyla, you're with me. Major Lorne, you get Dr. MacEwan and Cadman, you're with McKay."

"Oh joy," Cadman rolled her eyes. She couldn't contain her excitement at minding McKay again.

"For that," Sheppard grinned, "you get to dial the gate and update Atlantis, Lieutenant."

Cadman nodded. "Yes, sir." She needed to be careful of that loose lip. Sheppard might be one of the more relaxed commanders she had served under, but he still had a side one didn't want to cross.

"Make sure he stays out of trouble," Sheppard indicated McKay.

Cadman resisted the urge to smirk. "As much as humanly possible, sir."

"Anyone spots anything get on the radio," Sheppard said. "Understand?"

The teams all nodded their agreement and trotted off to explore this new place.

When Sheppard was finally out of earshot, McKay scoffed, "Like trouble doesn't follow you around." He recalled all too clearly the last off world mission in which they were assigned together. He had no urge to go through that again or worse.

"Come on, let's get this over with, so you can explore this masoleum," Cadman shouldered her P90 and walked over to the DHD. She glanced around the huge room, unnerved by the way the shadows played around the room. "Although you'd probably feel right at home here."

McKay sighed. "From one hell to another."

Cadman punched in the coordinates for the Atlantis base and waited for the usual wormhole. But nothing happened this time. She was sure she had put them in the right order. This wasn't good. So much for a nice quiet reconnaissance mission.

"McKay?" Cadman called.

"What, what?" McKay asked. He was already busy looking at his readings. Honestly the Wraith could sneak up on him without a second thought. "What did you do now, Cadman?"

Cadman grit her teeth. It wouldn't help matters to get mad at him, no matter how tempting it was. "See for yourself, Einstein. I put in the coordinates same as usual, but no whoosh. Why is there no whoosh?"

"Are you sure you put them in right?" McKay asked.

"Of course," Cadman snapped, "I have dialed a gate before."

"Let me have a look," McKay moved until he was standing almost hip to hip with her. She hadn't even realized how close he was until she saw his hands moving over the DHD. She watched him dial the same chevrons she had pressed in exactly the same order. Knowing her luck, the gate would dial perfectly and she would come off looking like the dumb blonde Marine.

Cadman waited expectantly, but there was no whoosh forthcoming.

"I don't like the looks of this," McKay said. Immediately he was opening up the DHD console and crawling underneath for a look. She would have thought he was working on a car the way he poked around with such care. Just a little oil change and a tune up and the DHD would be good as new. He leaned out to glance up at her. "You're positive you didn't touch anything else?"

"Positive," Cadman replied.

"That is really weird," McKay commented.

Cadman noticed his deepening frown, "Is it missing a key or something?"

"Nothing that rudimentary, I'm afraid," McKay said. "Although that did happen once to the SGC..."

"Spare me the war stories," Cadman cut him off. McKay needed to focus his attentions on the current situations. Cadman could only take so much of McKay's stories about working side by side with the wonderful perfect Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter. On the other hand, his unrequited crush was somewhat adorable. The Marine circled around DHD on the alert for signs of any intruders.

McKay pulled himself out of the space, "Everything's exactly as it should be. Nothing's missing or different as far as I can tell. So I guess that leaves you off the hook this time."

"So glad to hear that ringing vote of confidence, McKay," Cadman replied. "So what's wrong?"

McKay closed up the DHD. "If I knew I'd be fixing it, now wouldn't I?" After a moment, he added. "I have a theory, but I'm not absolutely certain." He pulled out his tablet from his pack. Something was ringing a bell. He hoped he was wrong. Then he found the information he was looking for. "Oh no."

"Why don't I like the sounds of that?" Cadman sighed.

"Because you know I wouldn't say that unless it was really bad..." McKay suggested hopefully.

"Or you thought it was," Cadman said equally worried. "How bad is this on the McKay level of bad?"

McKay checked the DHD again. "Pretty bad." When there was no response the final time, he touched his radio. "Col. Sheppard, this is McKay."

"This is Sheppard, go ahead."

McKay said. "We've encountered a problem contacting Atlantis."

"How so?" Sheppard's voice sounded harder.

"A small matter," McKay admitted, "We may not be able to dial out."

###

Sheppard didn't even think twice about ordering everyone back to the DHD. MacEwan complained loudly, but he didn't argue when Lorne nudged him forward.

"So what are we dealing with?" Sheppard demanded. "Has Atlantis been hit? Is it the Wraith?" He glanced at Teyla who shook her head. She would have alerted them if she had sensed their presence.

"We're the ones in trouble," McKay looked up from the controls. "We could dial in, but we can't appear to dial out. Lt. Cadman discovered the problem when she tried to follow orders."

"How is that possible?" Sheppard asked.

McKay shrugged, "Near as I determine, whoever was here last blocked all outgoing gate addresses."

"But only allowing Atlantis in?" Cadman frowned. "That doesn't make a lot of sense." She added as an afterthought. "Unless they knew no one was coming."

"That doesn't seem likely, Lieutenant," Teyla began.

"Actually," McKay leaned against the DHD, "for once, I think Cadman's right."

"I am?" Cadman was stunned. "Should I alert the media?" Even Lorne managed a smirk.

"Don't get used to it," McKay snapped. "I thought I had seen this configuration before and I had... back on Atlantis." He let that implication sink in within the team. Perhaps Sheppard's theory about the planet hadn't far off. Maybe the Ancients had used this planet more recently than they realized. "Remember when the other Dr. Weir told us about being left on Atlantis? She said Janus locked down the gate, so only Earth could dial in. We can lock people out ourselves." He didn't glance at Sheppard, but he was thinking of it all the same. "But it should have occurred to me that the process could just as easily be reversed."

Sheppard sighed. "And you didn't?" He pointed out. "We know the Wraith block gate travel when they attack."

"But we've never had a chance to study it firsthand," McKay said, "being slightly more interested in saving our lives."

"Did the Wraith learn this method from the Ancients?" Teyla asked.

McKay sighed, "It's beginning to look that way, isn't it?" He didn't want to know what other tricks of the stargate the Wraith had mastered and turned into tactical advantages.

"Can you unblock it?" Sheppard asked.

"If I can figure out the code they used, sure," McKay nodded, "but I don't have a guess how long it will take." He looked thoughtful. "Maybe it's a variation on the Atlantis code. We had to unblock that gate after all."

"Lt. Cadman suggested they didn't think anyone was coming," Teyla said.

McKay said. "Whoever it was couldn't follow them, if they wanted to."

"But it still allowed the Ancients the option of coming back," Sheppard said. "Risky move, if the Wraith took the city."

"Maybe they knew it was safe and submerged, maybe they were cocky and assumed it was safe," McKay said, "who knows? I'll get to work deciphering the code."

Sheppard said, "Cadman, stay with him. Keep me updated the moment anything changes."

"Yes, sir," Cadman replied. She muttered under her breath after the two teams had moved away. "Why did I think this mission would be any different than the last?"

"Think on the bright side," McKay said.

Cadman asked. "Which is?"

"You're in your own body," McKay pointed out. "Which is fortunate for me, if nothing else."

Cadman said, "There is that." She added. "Anything I can do to help?" She added helpfully. "Other than being quiet and not asking stupid questions?"

"Follow your orders and keep me out of trouble," McKay said. "You can shoot that thing, can't you?"

Cadman sighed. "Why do I even bother?"

"What?" McKay glared at her. "What did I say?" He never would understand women.