Reading Time: 120 Minutes

Title: Seeking Sheppard
Series: Priceless
Series Order: 2
Author: SASundance
Fandom: NCIS, Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Criminal Minds; JAG
Genre: Crime Drama, Crossover, Episode Related, Hurt/Comfort, Science Fiction
Relationship(s): Radek Zelenka/Miko Kusanagi
Content Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Rape/Non-con/Dub-con, Slavery, Torture, Violence – Graphic, Violence – Domestic and/or Against Children , Violence – graphic, offscreen torture, discussions of past and offscreen rape/non-con, issues around the loss of free will, loss of bodily autonomy, mind control, past murder, discussions of miscarriage and abortion, discussions of slavery and implications of mind control, non-consensual drug use, discussion of past domestic violence, discussion of canon vaccination and future vaccination programs, discussion of past canon unethical medical experimentation, character bashing (Elizabeth Weir and Ziva David). Not friendly to: McKay, Gibbs, Keller, McGee, Vance. (Note: slavery, mind control, autonomy issues are related to canon events)
Beta: Aussiefan70
Word Count: 59,047
Summary: The hunt was on in earnest as Alex Paddington, aka Tony DiNozzo finally, found the thread he needed to unravel Lt Col John Sheppard’s mysterious disappearance. The search results in Tony making not only several enemies in the city but also some rather formidable friends even as he uncovers a frightening conspiracy on Atlantis. One that will have far-reaching consequences for many people in the Pegasus galaxy and back home on Earth.
Artist: AngelicInsanity

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Chapter 6 Interrogation Paddington Style

By the time they reached Midway II the four Lantean’s were in for a surprise – several in fact. When they disembarked from the puddle jumper at the space station which was at the midway point between earth and Atlantis, Lorne and Cadman exclaimed in surprise.

“Wow, what are you all doing here,” Lorne demanded.

Dr Lindsey Novak, Dr Bill Lee, Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman, Master Sergeant Siler, and Dr Chloe Felgar all looked at each other and nudged Bill Lee, nominating him as the spokesperson for the group.”

“Special hush-hush assignment, by order of the POTUS according to General O’Neill. We were sent here to man… erm to manage the space station for a super-secret meeting. I guess that must be you guys,” he concluded as Lorne nodded.

Yes, we are here to interview someone,” he said rather vaguely.

CMS Harriman informed them. “The ETA of your party from Cheyenne Mountain is still 15 minutes out. You’re a little early Lt Colonel Lorne.”

Tony pulled Cadman aside since it was obvious, she knew at least some of these people. One guy did look familiar. but he couldn’t place him.

“Captain, who are these people?”

“Dr Lindsey Novak, a brilliant engineer who studied Asgard technology under the tutelage of Hermiod of the Asgard, meet our chief investigator, Special Agent in Charge Alexander Paddington.

Tony automatically held out his hand and Lindsey took it, blushing furiously as she stared into the handsome agent’s green eyes. “Nice to meet you, Agent Paddington, she said before hiccupping several times and looking mortified as the rest of the group chuckled.

“Dr Chloe Felgar this is Agent Alex Paddington,” she introduced an attractive blonde, who Tony assumed was a scientist. When it came to the SGC you couldn’t help tripping over them everywhere you went.

Pleasure, to meet you, Alex,” she smiled shyly. “I’m a last-minute standing for my husband, Jay. He was delayed at the off-world research site and General Carter asked me to sub in for him,” she said apologetically.

He smiled at her professionally before looking back at the captain. The redhead indicated a balding older man who had a harried air about him. He kind of reminded Tony of Dr Zelenka a bit.

“Dr Bill Lee, meet Agent Paddington. Along with Dr McKay and General Carter, they are responsible for the creation of the first Midway Space Station and also Midway II, although I thought you were off a three-month sabbatical, Bill.”

“Nice to make your acquaintance Alex,” Dr Lee replied shaking his hand firmly. Looking glum, he turned to Cadman and said morosely, “I was on sabbatical until the Presidential order put paid to that. General O’Neill assured me that after this top-secret mission I can go back to the Bahamas again.”

Tony had swiftly figured that O’Neill had decided to only staff the space station with the personnel he had full trust in. He felt extremely grateful for Jack’s caution. He was under no allusion that the general was protecting Tony’s identity as much as possible.

“I appreciate you interrupting your vacation for us, Dr Lee. I hope you enjoy the rest of your vacation, it’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to go. I’m sure someone of your skills and experience finds it difficult to get time off,” he commiserated.

Laura nudged Tony towards the two sergeants. “This is Master Sergeant Siler, Stargate Command’s favourite accident-prone engineer. He has a bed in the infirmary named after him, I kid you not and Siler’s General O’Neill’s poker buddy whenever he’s at Cheyenne Mountain.”

“And this is Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman, who is a former technician at Cheyenne Mountain. For more than a decade he not only operated the stargate but served as an indispensable intermediary between the Stargate Operations staff and the base commander. That was until General O’Neill stole him away to Homeworld Command eight months ago.”

Both men shook Tony’s hand but before he could make pleasant conversation, an alarm started ringing in the control room.

Sgt Harriman rushed to the control panel to check it out before reassuring everyone, “Relax folks, it’s the puddle jumper approaching from Earth, transporting Lance Corporal Favre. They’re less than two minutes out and ahead of schedule,” he observed somewhat redundantly before proceeding to open the trinium titanium composite iris when the appropriate IDC security code had transmitted via radio signal to Midway II.

The irises, one at each end of the station – were massive shields comprised of approximately twenty interlocking plates that when deployed sat micrometres in front of the event horizon of the wormhole. When not in use they could be retracted away within the stargate’s inner housing. The iris stopped matter from being re-integrated, instantly destroying anything or anyone who didn’t have the right IDC code. They had already been fitted to both the Atlantis and Earth Stargates and during the construction of the new space station, they were added to the Midway II gates to beef up security and stop Earth from being taken over again.

After the debacle that led to the Wraith gaining access to Midway Station from Pegasus and gating into Cheyenne Mountain some years ago, the powers that be needed reassurance it would never happen again. Tony learnt that the security measures built into Midway II were considered by many of the leading boffins to be virtually impenetrable although he was sceptical. Impenetrable was often merely an irresistible challenge to geeks or megalomaniac aliens until they managed to find a workaround.

Tony was standing around on Midway II musing on the need for constant vigilance and mentally giggling at the ridiculousness of the situation which had him hearing Mad-Eye Mooney in his head. Suddenly he became aware that the Earth contingent had arrived in the control room when he heard a familiar voice.

“Good morning, campers. Glad to see you all could make it.” General Jack O’Neill chirped, looking pleased with himself.

To say that everyone looked shocked at his unexpected appearance was probably an understatement. Equally unexpected was Colonel Paul Davis, O’Neill’s 2IC, looking a little bemused. Tony had already met Paul and knew him to be a scarily efficient individual. Another older guy, sparely built and balding followed close on their heels. To Tony’s experienced eye he screamed bureaucrat and when Lorne, Cadman and Dex greeted him as Mr Woolsey, it clicked. He was on the IOA, supervising the Stargate Program and had been the third commander of the Atlantis Expedition.

Finally, two Marines escorted Lance Corporal Favre who was truculent. Tony was very relieved to see he had not been ‘softened up’ in any way for his interview. Given the popularity and respect that Colonel Sheppard had earned for his heroic acts of courage over the years, he was worried that once he was taken into custody and advised of his rights, the MPs might get a little physical with him.

Tony was serious about doing things by the book, and frankly, he had more than enough evidence to make Favre talk, but aside from any ethical qualms he had with roughing up suspects, he was well aware it was an ineffective method of gaining true information. Since they needed to know who he’d sold the colonel out to, Tony needed to get factual information out of him, and nothing could hamper that.

“Nodding approvingly at the two Marines, Tony asked, “Has the prisoner been advised of his rights?”

Mr Woolsey responded before either of the Marines, “Yes, he has. I have personally advised him of his rights and in my capacity, as an IOA representative I will observe your interview to ensure that his rights are not violated, Special Agent in Charge.”

“Excellent. We haven’t met before, but I am Alex Paddington,” he told him, offering his hand.

The IOA official grasped it, “And I am Richard Woolsey. I am pleased that Atlantis finally has a proper investigator to oversee investigations. It was high time they found an appropriate candidate rather than leaving to the military,” he told Tony brusquely.

Ignoring the IOA representative, he looked at Harriman. “Perhaps you could show the MPs where the Brig is so that LC Favre can answer the call of nature as there aren’t any heads on the puddle jumpers. And can we ensure he has access to water and sandwiches before the interview begins, Sergeant?

Ronon offered, “I can show them the way, Agent Paddington.”

Woolsey’s eyes narrowed as he observed Tony intently. “Thanks, Dex, but I’m sure that Sgt Harriman has it well in hand,” he said blandly.

The IOA representative nodded approvingly. O’Neill looked smug and Dex seemed disgruntled. Lorne took a step closer to the Satedan and murmured something sotte voce that Tony, with hearing as sharp as a bat, thought he whispered, “Remember Kavanagh and the bomb on Atlantis.”

Whatever it was, Dex nodded resignedly and ceased glaring at Tony for not letting his soften up the Lance Corporal, so he was grateful to Lorne.

Changing the subject since neither Lorne nor Cadman could ask the Head of Homeworld Command why he was there, Tony smiled engagingly at the general. “So, General O’Neill, what brings you out here to Midway II,” he inquired.

Jack chuckled. “It was the darndest thing. My 2IC Colonel Davis wanted to come out to make sure the prisoner made it safely to his interview. I told him that it was overkill for the second in charge of HWS to escort a prisoner, but he kept on about it. Wouldn’t shut up until I finally gave in and told him he could go,” he smirked at the outraged expression on his subordinate’s face.

“Of course, I decided that someone needed to come along to watch his six since he’s a desk jockey and it isn’t safe out here. Plus, I was feeling the urge to take a gate ship for a bit of a spin; need to exercise the old ATA gene once in a way. So, I thought we may as well kill two birds with one stone and voila…here we are,” he said expansively. “Isn’t that right, Paul?” he asked, with a distinctly evil glint in his chocolate brown eyes.

Colonel Davis stared at his boss with a carefully blank expression. “That is definitely a version, Sir,” he replied leaving everyone with the distinct impression he wanted to roll his eyes but was valiantly restraining himself.

Grinning, Jack said, “What he said, Agent Paddington. Why Dr Felgar, how delightful to see you, again. I was expecting Jay but frankly, you are a welcome addition.”

Blushing, Chloe giggled softly. “Jay got caught up at the off-world research site and General Carter asked if I could fill in for him,” she explained.

“Quite right, too. Hey Siler, thanks for coming. Dr Lee, and Dr Novak, good to see you both again. Now if Walter didn’t brief you all, this interview is an especially important one – strictly need to know so I needed people to manage the space station on whose discretion I can trust without question while our interview takes place. Of course, I’ll ask you not to discuss it afterwards. After all, having a high-ranking representative of the International Oversight Advisory plus Col Davis of Homeworld Command visit the space station, we don’t want it to get out that we use this place for secret meetings,” he told his hand-picked group, humorously refraining from mentioning himself.

Tony immediately realised what O’Neill was up to. He was shifting the need for secrecy onto himself, Woolsey, and Davis. That way the people he’d trusted to operate the space station would assume the need for secrecy was due to the high-powered trio from Earth, not an insignificant federal agent who was hiding out on Atlantis to protect his daughter from the Trust. It was clear that Jack was certain that all six individuals could be trusted to keep them safe while they were here and keep their presence quiet after they’d departed.

General Jonathon ‘Jack’ O’Neill (two Ls) really did walk the talk!

~o0o~

When Tony entered the room that they’d set up for interrogation, LCpl Favre was already seated at the table, the two Marine MPs were standing guard on either side of him, and Richard Woolsey was seated at the head of the table to Favre’s left near the door. The AFOSI and FBI agent carried a thick file and he acknowledged both Marine MPs gravely before nodding to Woolsey who it seemed, was a lawyer and had volunteered to oversee the interview as the representative of the IOA. It had been several years since Tony had conducted an interview, especially one where there was so much riding on the outcome. He’d experienced a few butterflies before going in but as soon as he’d stepped into the room, a feeling of calm washed over him. Tony was going to nail this jerk because he’d come prepared.

The truth was that Tony was an exceptional interrogator, but he was most definitely unorthodox. He had techniques that were outside the box which made it difficult to anticipate him and therefore made him a tricky prospect to outwit. He’d come prepared with several different scenarios up his sleeve should he need them, but the whole thing was decidedly anticlimactic when he ended up analysing it as he drafted his report after the interview was done.

Sitting down opposite the prisoner he introduced himself, “My name is Special Agent in Charge Alexander Paddington, and I will be conducting your interview today. For the record, this interview will be video-taped and also for the record, I am required to advise you of the charges against you in regard to the Armed Forces Act of 2006 and I am also required to read you your legal rights before we proceed.”

Taking out the card that had the cautionary information for the UK Armed Forces written down which had slightly different language to the US Miranda of Rights and the USMCJ Article 31’s in the US, he read the LCpl his rights. He made sure to maintain eye contact with the prisoner the whole time, ending up by asking for the record, “LCpl Joseph Robert Favre, do you understand your rights as I have read them to you?”

LCpl Favre who was still behaving belligerently responded, “I do.”

Tony nodded. “Then we will move on to the reading of the charges that you will face during your court-martial.”

Tony had instructed General O’Neill when they took him into custody to inform him that he was being charged under section 23 of the UK Armed Forces Act ~ Disgraceful conduct of a cruel or indecent kind, pertaining to a Dr Francesca De Rosa, which carried a penalty of two years imprisonment and the possibility of being placed on the sex offender’s register. He’d told them not to show their hand about the charges related to Colonel Sheppard. He wanted Favre to think he had gotten away with that crime. Now he withdrew a tablet from his leather portfolio, fiddling with it until he found the list and proceeded to outline all the charges he was being charged with.

“LCpl Joseph Robert Favre, the charges you are currently facing are one count of Section 1~ Assisting an enemy – Communicating without authority with an enemy combatant; a second count of Section 1 – Giving an enemy information that would or might be useful to him. Both these offences carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment served concurrently.

“There is also one count of Section 3 ~ Obstructing operations – putting at risk, with intent or recklessness, the success of an action which also carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The fourth charge is one count of Section ~ 11 Misconduct towards a superior officer – threatening behaviour or communication to a superior officer with a maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment.”

Tony took a breath and noted that Favre had lost his belligerent attitude. Good! He didn’t need Ronon to soften him up, he was letting the charges do it for him.

He continued, “There is one count of Section ~18 Making false records – tampering with or suppressing an official document with intent to deceive, which carries a max two-year imprisonment. And lastly, one count of section 23 ~ Disgraceful conduct of a cruel or indecent kind – carrying a maximum penalty of two-years imprisonment.

“I anticipate that there will be further charges, but they are still pending,” he informed LCpl Favre, who sat there looking like a stunned.

It was obvious that Favre had not realised that they suspected him of betraying Sheppard to the rebel forces and thought he was facing a few years at best in jail.

Richard Woolsey looked surprised, “Given the counts he has just been indicted with, surely extra charges aren’t necessary?”

Tony shrugged, “Well the UK military offence of criminal conduct covers anything done anywhere in the world, that if done in England or Wales, would be against the civilian criminal law. That probably will result in assault and sexual assault charges in relation to Dr De Rosa. He may even be charged with conspiracy to commit murder and or attempted murder, possibly even treason but I need to speak to someone from MI5 or the Met before I know exactly what charges to lay.”

Woolsey frowned. “Isn’t that overkill?”

Tony cocked his head to the side, his face a mask of innocence. “How so, Mr Woolsey?”

“By my calculations, should he be convicted of all charges, he would face three life sentences plus, an additional 14 years of imprisonment. Given the civilian charges you are hinting at, and I am not an expert on UK law by any means, I would hazard a guess that the penalty would be for further life sentences. I do know that, unlike the US, capital punishment isn’t an option.”

“All true, Mr Woolsey and your point would be Sir?” Tony asked, his tone bemused.

“Well, why go to the expense of a civilian trial in addition to a military one, Agent Paddington? He can’t be imprisoned for longer than a single lifetime, even if it is richly deserved,” the IOA representative looked at LCpl with a modicum of distaste. Those who knew him well like Jack O’Neill, Lorne and Ronon knew that it spoke volumes for the reserved lawyer.

Tony smiled, a cold predatory smile that sucked all the life out of the room. “Yes, I see what you’re saying. I guess you missed the memo about the Travellers, Mr Woolsey. Turns out the lovely Larrin No-Second-Name has been keeping quiet about a piece of Ancient Technology they found a few months ago.”

“I don’t recall any memo,” Woolsey told him irritably. “What did they find?”

“An incredibly significant piece of technology. Drs McKay and Zelenka have confirmed that it is the precursor to the sarcophagus which the Goa’uld stole, like all of their advanced technology. I’m sure that you’ll recall that it has the potential to keep the human body alive for roughly a thousand years,” he pointed out mildly.

Woolsey’s look of outrage was everything Tony could wish for and so much more. This was working out even better than Tony had envisioned.

“I’m sure you can see the implications and it turns out that Larrin and Colonel Sheppard are…well I’m not sure how to characterise their relationship but the main thing is Larrin is furious about John Sheppard’s disappearance. She, Radek and Rodney are making sure as we speak, that the sarcophagus is in excellent working condition. So yeah, it is entirely feasible that LCpl Favre could serve at least five or six life sentences, he’s still relatively young and in good physical shape.”

“Oh God, you can’t do that to me, that is torture.”

Tony shrugged, “Absolutely not. I have gained firm assurances from Ladon, the leader of the Genii and his government that you will be treated as per the Geneva Convention rules during your incarceration,” he assured Joey earnestly.

It didn’t escape anyone’s attention that when Tony had mentioned the Genii, Favre had a dramatic negative autonomic reaction that further confirmed Tony’s strong suspicions.

Tony stared at him evenly. “I am an upstanding officer of the law and I abhor vigilantes and all forms of physical and psychological torture. Unlike you, taking advantage of the extremely naïve Dr De Rosa who has been reading too many crap erotic novels. I’m also fairly sure she wasn’t your only victim, but it is a moot point now. From here on out the only orgasm, you’re likely to experience will be by your own hand. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you don’t end up as some Genii’s fuck toy, Joey,” he assured him solicitously.

Outside the interview room O’Neill scowled at Lt Col Lorne. “Why is this the first I’m hearing about an Ancient Sarcophagus, Lorne?”

Poker-faced, the acting military commander of Atlantis shrugged casually. “Maybe, because this is the first time I’ve heard about it too, Sir,” he said, stealing a glance at the Marine who was trying to keep a straight face.

“Something you wanna tell me, Cadman?” Jack barked. “Is this something the pair of you dreamed up?”

“Oh no General, O’Neill, this was all Agent Paddington’s plan. In all honesty, he had roughly five contingencies, depending on how things played out. The way his brain operates is like no one I’ve ever worked with before – it’s like he’s playing five-dimensional chess. He only decided to go with we found a sarcophagus plan when you turned up with Mr Woolsey in tow. He said the IOA representative, and lawyer would be the perfect foil to this plan.”

“So, Woolsey was in on this plan?” he asked, clearly disgruntled at not being kept in the loop.

“No, but Alex said that as a lawyer, he wouldn’t be able to resist asking why he charged him with so many counts when the max penalty was life imprisonment. Looks like he called it.”

Paul David chortled, and O’Neill glared at him. “What did you know, Paul?”

“Nothing I swear, but when your agent seemed so happy when Richard announced he was going to oversee the interview, I guessed he had something up his sleeve. I’m really glad that Paddington is on our side. He’s evil,” he said admiringly.

Meanwhile, inside the makeshift interview room, Tony’s plan was moving apace. He had yet to get the intel they needed but he was feeling in the zone. Woolsey was the perfect foil to his dispassionate persona, and he wasn’t done with Joey or Woolsey yet.

Unzipping the leather file containing a pile of photos he laid them down on the table. Methodically he laid out the evidence of the LCpl gaining access to the movements of John Sheppard’s team, including the unequivocal evidence that the lance corporal went to great lengths to cover up his hacking. Luckily, Laura Cadman had awesome computer skills. He had obtained six statements from Favre’s former buddies who told him that Joey was constantly complaining about Colonel Sheppard stealing his girlfriend and how he told them he was going to get even with him. Next, he presented Favre with statements from his former team about how when they were on off-world missions, he went missing on numerous occasions.

He produced statements from Pegasus locals on planet M8F 177 that saw him handing over intel to a band of Genii insurgents days before Colonel Sheppard disappeared. After so much time elapsing and locals having a different concept of time, it had been fortunate that he’d handed over the hacked intel on AR1’s movements on the day of a harvest festival, and also one of the locals was also able to pin down the exact time since his wife had given birth and he was out celebrating a new son. According to the locals, the genii rebels had been terrorising the villages and stealing crops, livestock, and fuel. Dex, Teyla, and Lorne had done exemplary work in getting statements from the locals. Considering Lorne and almost a dozen of his men had been kidnapped there after having bounties placed upon them because of the ATA gene, Tony figured it wouldn’t have been uncomfortable to return there.

They’d even managed to procure sketches of the rebels, one of the villagers on M8F 177 was a portrait artist and Taylor and Dex agreed that several looked familiar. Dr McKay, despite having a prodigious memory when it came to technological details had briefly looked at the sketches and dismissed them. Tony suspected that was probably because he found most people to be far beneath him in intellectual capacity, he never paid them much attention. Still, they had begun circulating the sketches to their allies in the hope that someone would recognise them. In the meantime, their best hope was to break this miserable SOB and hope he knew something valuable.

As he laid out the case methodically and dispassionately, he watched as Favre realised that he was well and truly fucked. Giving him a coldly predatory grin, Tony began to pack up his evidence and place it back inside his leather folder, zipping it up before noisily pushing his seat back against the wall.

“Okay, well we’re done here,” he announced. “You will be returning with us to Atlantis and remain in the Brig until the Pegasus interplanetary tribunal can be convened to hear your case.

Outside the interview room, Dex exclaimed angrily. “What’s he doing? He didn’t ask him any questions. I’ll get them out of him…”

Cadman laid her hand on him. “Stop, Ronon. This is a ploy. Alex is a highly skilled interrogator. Just watch and learn.”

Dex stopped, he looked at the others in the room. Lorne nodded. “Trust him. He knows what he’s doing.”

Colonel Davis looked equally confused. “How is this going to get us the intel we need though?”

O’Neill looked across at the captain. “I’m guessing that this has something to do with Richard Woolsey?”

“Oh yeah, Sir, you could say that.”

Lorne shushed everyone as Woolsey started protesting. “I thought the purpose of this interview was to ask LCpl Favre questions about the crimes, Special Agent Paddington?”

Looking supremely bored, Tony responded, “Nope. Just a formality to read him the added charges and apprise him of the formidable evidence we have amassed, proving his guilt.”

“But Colonel Sheppard? What if the Lance Corporal were to tell us what he knew about the men who abducted the Colonel? Surely that would help reduce some of his penalty if he’s found guilty?”

“When he’s found guilty you mean. With the greatest of respect Mr Woolsey, this is a slam dunk. You and I both know that.”

Woolsey pursed his lips and said primly, “Perhaps. I will concede that it does look extremely grim. But if he were to help us to locate Sheppard then it might help in mitigating his sentence.”

Radiating pure cold-blooded anger, Tony glanced at the prisoner briefly before directing his ire right back at Woolsey. “And here’s why cops hate lawyers. Yes, it might mitigate his sentence but here’s the thing, I don’t want him to get one year, one month, one week, not even one day less for what he’s done.”

“But if he can help us to locate Colonel Sheppard, then surely it is worth it to save a life?” Woolsey demanded passionately. “We must bring Colonel Sheppard home!”

Finally appearing to lose his temper, Tony shouted at him, “Colonel Sheppard is dead. Can’t any of you get that through your thick skulls? He’s been gone for five months. Most individuals who are abducted die within the first 48 hours of being taken, which is why cops bust their asses to find people within that critical period. Even when they do manage to locate them within that 48-hour period, it is often already too late.”

LCpl Favre interjected frantically, “Sheppard isn’t dead. Kolya said they planned to keep him alive and force him to operate Ancient techno shit they found on Balara a year ago. He hates the Zoomie because he murdered Porteus’ Uncle and Porteus wants him to suffer, not get off with a quick death.”

Outside the interview room where the others were watching over the proceedings over the video feed, Cadman smiled like Tweety Bird toying with Sylvester the cat.

“And Snap!” she said, her plosive making a popping noise as a second later, her hands came together like a hinged jaw with a loud slap, startling everyone in the room.

“Just like that, Joey walks innocently into the trap!”

“Sweet!” Jack drawled, drawing out the word. “Damn Paddington’s good. He used Woolsey to play good cop bad cop and poor old Richard didn’t even know it,” he said gleefully.

Dex swore in Satedan – at least the others assumed it was Satedan. “I just realised why I thought I recognised one of the men in those sketches. He was one of Acastus Kolya’s men on Amullie where Sheppard finally shot and killed the son of a wraith.”

“Okay, campers tell me about the planet Balara? O’Neill commanded.

Lorne replied, “It was a planet targeted by the Wraith called Michael, General. Balara was one of the planets where he infected the entire population with the Hoffan plague. As you know, the plague killed 30 percent of those affected and the rest of the Balarans fled to other planets seeking sanctuary. As far as we know the planet is still deserted.”

“Just the place a group of terrorists might be based, although they could have moved on,” he cautioned them. Looking at his 2IC he told him, “Looks like we will be making a small detour home via the Pegasus galaxy.”

Col Davis rolled his eyes, “Oh please, General. As if that wasn’t already au fait accompli. You wanted to be there to greet Miss Fraiser when the Zephyrus docks tomorrow.”

Jack smirked. “As head of Homeworld Command, there have to be some perks for that damned sitting on my ass all day, that I have to do, being the Man. C’mon campers, let’s go find Sheppard!” he slapped his hand on Lorne’s back in anticipation.

Lorne grinned. “Yes, Sir,” he saluted O’Neill gleefully. “Can’t wait, General.”

~o0o~

By the time Tony arrived back on Atlantis, made sure that LCpl Favre was stowed safely in the brig, had his mandatory health checks with an icily polite Dr Keller and an intense debriefing session, it was getting late. It was agreed that they’d meet early in the morning to finalise plans to storm Balar at 0730 tomorrow, which he would attend, although Tony knew this was going to be a strictly military affair and he was fine with that. Essentially, his part in the proceedings was done for the moment.

Hopefully, the troops could find the Colonel on Balar and bring him home, otherwise, they would have to begin a lengthy search across the Pegasus galaxy for the rogue Genii group. Deciding against going to the mess for a meal, he hurried home to check on Tali.

As he entered his quarters, he could hear the sounds of a Power Rangers binge-fest in progress and the homey aroma of popcorn hit his senses before a little five-year-old flung herself on him. After being given a rundown on her busy day, delivered at a million miles an hour, Tali asked if she could puh-lease finish watching this episode with Amelia.

He looked at Barnes to gauge her feelings. “It’s okay with me if you’re okay with it. I think it only got another ten minutes to run,” she said.

“Thanks, Amelia. I think I’ll grab a quick shower then,” he said, leaving the pair to their show. As he jumped under the shower, he wondered would Tali have another emotional meltdown like the last time he’d been off-world.

An hour later after he’d gotten his daughter into bed and read her a story, he settled down to chill out for a while. It had been a pretty full-on day with so much riding on the outcome. Teyla had already dropped off some food from the mess, rightly guessing he’d be in too much of a hurry to get home to his child to stop and eat. Tony was touched by her thoughtfulness.

She was upbeat and smiling. “Ronon say we are heading out to Balar tomorrow. That the LCpl claimed it was where John is being held.”

“Yes, that’s what he said.”

“You do not believe him?” she frowned.

“Oh no, I do believe him, but Kolya may have lied to Favre. Even if he told him the truth, they may have decided to move on to some other location by now. I’m just trying not to be too optimistic, Teyla.”

She bowed her head. “I understand and you are right to be cautious, Alex. Ronon said you were extremely cunning today. He thinks we are lucky you joined us. It made me realise that this is not somewhere most single parents would choose to come to with a small child. Are you hiding here on Atlantis?”

“Someone tried to abduct Belle, they tried twice but failed and this seemed the safest place for us to hide.”

“You have the ATA gene as strong as John,” she noted because it was common knowledge. “Does Belle possess it too?” Teyla asked him.

“Yes. The Trust decided that she would be useful for their plans because she is the only child that has been identified with it so far.” He didn’t mention it was as strong as his.

“When Ronon told Rodney and me, how Kolya intended to use John and force him to operate the Ancient technology, I started thinking about you and Belle. Do not worry, Alex, I have not said anything about my suspicions, nor will I to anyone. Belle is just a child, and we must keep her safe. As we have learned from LCpl Favre, even on Atlantis, not everyone can be trusted.”

After he’d eaten and started writing up his report of the interview, he heard a whimper from Tali, in the throes of a nightmare. He decided that the report could wait until tomorrow as he soothed her until she was sleeping quietly. Tony picked her up and carried her into his room, placing her in his bed carefully and he crawled in after her, asking J.P. to switch off the lights and lock his door. He snuggled down beside the small child, hoping that they managed to get some uninterrupted sleep.

Chapter 7 Making Plans

Tony slept badly, but not because Tali had a rough night. Surprisingly, she slept like a log pressed up against him all night. Somehow, being in bed with him seemed to settle her and she slept better. Perhaps it was a sensory thing – smelling him made her feel safe. Usually, when she slept in his bed (because she was distressed) and she settled down, he slept pretty well too, some sort of primitive paternal mechanism he figured.

It had kinda shocked him at first. He’d never thought of himself as particularly paternal, until now. Yet as Dr O’Shea pointed out when he mentioned it, it wasn’t so surprising; his protective nature was part of the reason he’d become a cop in the first place.

So, he couldn’t blame the bad night’s sleep on Tali – it was his stupid brain. Sometimes, especially when there was something niggling at him, he couldn’t switch off. Back in the days before he acquired a daughter, Tony would give up and go to the office. That wasn’t an option anymore and to be honest, he knew it wasn’t a good strategy back then either. Now as he went about the business of getting Tali fed and dressed and dropped off to play with Kazumi, so he could be at the meeting to plan Sheppard’s rescue, he finally figured out what had been bugging him all night.

Detouring past his office, he picked up a laptop so he could check up on the mission where Acastus Kolya had finally been killed. His brain was trying to tell him something and he’d learnt to trust his instincts. As he read the report, he noted that Lucius Lavin turned up on Amullie. It had been his so-called superpowers that had brought AR-1 to the planet, in search of Allies against the Wraith. They discovered that Lavin was up to his old tricks because when did a leopard ever change its spots, The cockalorum had come across a personal shield device after learning about them in the Atlantis database. With it, he managed to con the simple agrestic villagers that he possessed superpowers.

There was something about Lavin, combined with the rebel Genii that was causing his brain to sit up and take notice – Tony just wasn’t sure what it was directing him to take notice of. He knew from the past, that if he were patient, it would eventually come to him. People often talked about his ability to think outside of the box and a psychologist that he once dated told him that it was called analogical reasoning. He was able to detect patterns where other people cannot, and he was able to use domain-specific knowledge to come up with hypotheses for seeming unrelated domains. Tony often referred to it as his butterfly thought – he tended to flit from one topic to the next in a way that other more rational types found irritating.

It was the frequent cause of Gibbs’ head slaps but whatever the hell his brain was trying to tell him, he knew from past experience it was just waiting. for something. If he were patient someone would say or do something that would be the catalyst that he needed to trigger whatever had been brewing all night in his brain instead of letting him sleep. The federal agent just hoped it would all coalesce soon, not only was it an uncomfortable state of being, but he had an unshakeable conviction that it was time-critical.

As he greeted the various parties taking part in the meeting, he wondered what this day would bring. Would they soon have Colonel Sheppard back in the city? He hoped so and he was sure he wasn’t the only one.

As AR-1 arrived, he noted that McKay was in a belligerent frame of mind, demanding to know why they were wasting time sitting on their butts when they should be headed for Balara immediately. Several of the other team leaders agreed with him, saying that there was no time to waste. Ambassador Henri AuClair told them to sit down and shut up – not in those words – he was far more polite and verbose than that. Which was hardly surprising since he used language as his weapon of choice, or should that be his instrument of peace?

After hearing various suggestions about how to proceed, Tony was mildly amused to note that they ranged from just winging it by throwing a heap of military personnel and hardware at it right now, to the other extreme. Several scientists advocated the let’s study the shit out of it, take what we know about the planet Balara (not much) and rogue Genii (too much) and run computer models to figure out how they’ll react. General O’Neill and Colonel Davis mostly just sat, observing, leaving the running of the meeting to AuClair and Lorne and finally it was something Lorne said that pinged Tony’s simmering brain into overdrive.

“I think we need to take along a full medical team in case Colonel Sheppard is severely injured. Frankly, the only way I can see him not escaping is if he is incapacitated. After all, he killed over 50 Genii soldiers when they managed to take over Atlantis plus, he managed to escape from Kolya with Todd, when he abducted him before.”

Tony, who up until now had been silent, interjected. “That’s a good idea but what if Porteus Kolya had some way of ensuring that Sheppard wouldn’t escape and would also operate the Ancient tech for them?”

Not surprisingly, he was soon getting howled down on all sides for supposedly maligning one of the finest men to wear the uniform. Also, to be expected, none were more vocal than Dr Rodney McKay who was still holding a grudge about his questioning of him and Keller as the potential mole. The fact he was right, that McKay had contributed to the situation with his ranting about Sheppard being an oversexed Captain Kirk, did not endear Tony to the CSO. Looking around, Tony noted with interest the people who weren’t trying to shout him down: O’Neill, Lorne, Teyla, Cadman, Au Clair and perhaps the most unexpected of all, Ronon Dex who was regarding him quizzically.

Lorne ordered them to be silent before directing his gaze at Tony. “What are you thinking, Special Agent Paddington?” he asked, giving Tony the chance to explain.

“I’m thinking that the colonel killed Kolya on Amullie where AR-1 also encountered Lucius Lavin. After Sheppard’s team came back to Atlantis, what was to stop Kolya’s men from coming back later to get revenge on Lavin and the people of Amullie? Is it possible that Lavin would try to con his way out of trouble?” he asked already knowing the answer, having grown up with a conman for a father.

Ronon answered. “I wouldn’t trust that bag of festering pus for even a lundar,” he said, and Tony figured a lundar was some type of Satedan measurement, probably a measure of time.

Others nodded and Teyla nodded. “I agree, but I am unsure where you are going with this. The personal protection device was destroyed. He would have had nothing else to bargain with.”

“Sure, he did, he still knew about the pheromone herb that he was using when you first encountered him back on M6H-491 which caused instant compliance. You destroyed his supplies, warned the villagers. Yes, the plant was indigenous to a planet that the Wraith set up as a major outpost, an alliance of three hives base so he could no longer get access to it. But what you couldn’t do was destroy his knowledge of the plant. And he’s smart enough to know just how valuable it is for desperate people.

If three of Atlantis personnel managed to get hold of the plant, I’m fairly sure Kostya’s gang would too. The Genii may still be a generation behind us in the technology stakes, but they are still the most technologically advanced native race in Pegasus, aside from the Wraith. That drug potentially could be used to enslave entire planets, let alone control Colonel Sheppard. And what if they have found some way to use it for mass distribution? As a weapon of war, it is not very convenient for the victim to have to be close to the source to become infected.” Tony continued to outline what had been keeping him from sleeping last night.

O’Neill looked across at Lorne. “How many gas masks have you got?”

The acting CO grimaced. “Not enough, Sir.” He looked at Zelenka and Rodney. “We also have more than a dozen space suits that have closed air breathing apparatus systems. Any chance we can cannibalise them to rig up extra gas masks?” he asked the two scientists.

They looked at each other, muttering in jargon before McKay said, “Of course, it might take a few hours though.”

Ronon who Tony learnt never spoke much in meetings except when he got angry or frustrated had been eyeing Tony shrewdly. “Ya know, there’s something else that would make Sheppard comply with his captors – maybe even have been turned to their cause. And it would also explain why he didn’t escape.”

Tony nodded, “Yeah that occurred to me too. The Wraith enzyme and brainwashing,” he said gently. “Even the strongest willed individual cannot withstand that, from what I’ve read.”

The Satedan nodded, his face dark. “If you are right about them using some type of chemical restrain to make him cooperative, I just hope it is Lavin’s herb – at least that wears off in a couple of days and the anguish is mild by comparison,” he concluded grimly.

O’Neill nodded. “Hear, hear! On a more prosaic note, if we are still needing gas masks, the Zephyrus is arriving today. I’m sure they’ll have some onboard.”

The rest of the meeting proceeded to work out the logistics and plans to storm the planet. Tony suggested at that point that they send a team to Todraeya where they’d first encountered Balarans, perhaps send Dr Beckett seeing he worked with them for months. They should try to get as much intel on Balar, so they won’t be going in completely blind.

Lorne looked at General O’Neill who nodded. “It’s not a bad idea.”

“Major Teldy, take Dr Beckett and your team to Todraeya and find out everything you can about Balar, ASAP.”

The major stood up and saluted. “Yes Colonel,” and hurried out of the conference room.

After the meeting broke up sometime later, General O’Neill approached Tony. “Special Agent Paddington, if I could have a word?”

“Of course, General,” he said wondering what O’Neill wanted to discuss.

“That was magnificent work, Agent. First on Midway II. I didn’t get a chance to congratulate you. Your reputation proceeds you.”

“Thanks, I’m only glad he fell for it. Mr Woolsey deserves a lot of the credit, too.”

“Hmm…I don’t think he was exactly amused to be your patsy, Alex. But he did a fantastic job, didn’t he?”

Both men shared a chuckle at the IOA representative’s expense.

‘And then today, pulling the whole drugging crapola out of your butt like that. What gave you a clue?”

“Tony suddenly stopped laughing. “It’s connected to another case that I’ve just started working on. I came across it when I first arrived here and was looking for possible suspects for the colonel’s disappearance. Lucius Lavin in my opinion poses an extreme security risk since he was given complete access to Atlantis’ database. I was already planning on locating him to determine if he is still a threat after I finished investigating Colonel Sheppard’s abduction. In the past few days, I’ve discovered that he also committed at least one felony while he was here.”

“So why not investigate both concurrently?” O’Neill asked because what Tony said plus his demeanour indicated how seriously he regarded the matter.

“Because I am the only trained investigator. Captain Cadman is excellent, but she doesn’t have investigator training, so I need to supervise her.”

The general sighed. “Fair enough, I am working on getting you some more people but as you know, it’s not easy.”

Tony nodded. He understood the logistics, plus the security issues better than most.

Deciding to give O’Neill a heads up, “If this case is what I think, it will open up a massive can of worms,” he warned the head of Homeworld Command.

“Yeahsureyoubetcha, that’s just what I want to hear, Special Agent Alex! And it’s worse than somebody walking around with all our operational secrets in his head, and we just let him go? So how come this is the first I’ve heard of it?” he demanded angrily.

Looking startled, Tony exclaimed, “You weren’t aware there was a foothold situation in Atlantis, and Lavin compromised the entire base personnel with his drug, except for Colonel Sheppard, who had a cold and that gave him immunity?

Looking furious, he said. “No, I wasn’t informed of that. As far as I was aware, he only managed to infect Teyla, Ronon and Beckett, not the whole damned base.”

“How is that possible,” Tony was dumbfounded.

“That Special Agent Paddington is what I want you to find out. Was Captain Cadman on base at that time?”

“No sir.”

“Good, then she can work the case with you but no one else. Can you give me a heads up about the felony?”

When Tony gave him a brief outline, O’Neill stared at him aghast. “Right well, Paul and I will be staying here to give you a hand with this after we bring Sheppard home. Don’t worry, it’s your investigation, we’ll follow your orders, so you have extra help. We might not be investigators, but we’ll be better than no help,” he said grimly.

Tony knew it was futile to try to refuse so he just nodded. “Thanks, General.”

“Good call on getting hold of the Balarans for intel on their former planet. I have a feeling your threat assessment skills are going to be a godsend in terms of how many catastrophes you prevent,” he told him in genuine admiration.

“Oh, and one last thing. The Zephyrus is due to arrive in a few hours. If we head out before it does, I’d like you to do me a favour. As promised, I found a teacher for your daughter and the other younger kids.

“She has excellent qualifications and I managed to hire her because she is going through a bad breakup. Her fiancé was cheating on her with an acquaintance of Cassie’s. So, I thought it might do her good to get right away for a while.”

Tony looked intrigued. He was expecting someone military or married to military personnel. “Someone you are familiar with, General?”

“Yeah, to all intents and purposes she is like my daughter – my adopted daughter. I served with her mother who was killed in action. We found Cassandra on Hanka when she was twelve, She was the sole survivor of a plague that even wiped out a stargate team stationed there to observe the accretion disc of a black hole. Anyway, we brought her back to Earth and our Chief Medical Officer Dr Janet Fraiser adopted her, and I bought her a dog because every kid on Earth must have a dog.”

“I didn’t have a dog. I had sea monkeys for a week until my mother mistook them for a mint julep and drank them.”

Jack looked appalled. “You poor SOB, that sucks!

Tony shrugged philosophically. “Dogs hate me, and so do cats. I found a cat a few years ago but it ran away.”

“Because you never had one growing up!” he said pityingly. “Anyway, Cassie is a good kid, although she tells me she’s not a kid anymore. So will you meet her if I’m not here, show her around and help her settle in?”

Tony nodded. “Of course. I remember how Radek was waiting to greet us when we stepped through the gate into the unknown – how can I do any less for Cassie, especially since she’s coming here for my daughter. Belle is so excited about starting school and Cassandra sounds like she’s a wonderful teacher. I hope she’ll be happy here.”

“A change of scenery and new challenges will keep her busy, so she’ll have less time to brood. Just make sure she stays safe,” he asked.

Tony nodded, knowing what he was referring to, nodded. I’ll do everything in my power General.”

Jack gave a relieved sigh. “Based on your enviable record and what I’ve personally seen over the past 24 hours, which means a helluva a lot, Paddington.”

~o0o~

Less than two hours after heading off to Todraeya to gather Intel from the ex-pat Balarans, Major Teldy’s team, including Dr Beckett were back. Accompanying them were eight civilians dressed in pre-industrial styles of clothing and bearing a pile of rather old fashion gasmasks.

Lorne stepped up as Teldy proceeded to report. “Did you get the Intel we were after, and who are these people, Major?”

“They are from Todraeya, Sir. They wanted to supply us with gas masks, Colonel since they’re miners and often the air in the mines is bad. This is Elson, the Village Leader. He and others volunteered to go to Balar to rescue Colonel Sheppard.”

“Greetings Colonel Lorne, Ambassador AuClair,” Elson hailed the commanders of Atlantis. We wish to repay some of our debt to Colonel John Sheppard and his team for saving us from the Wraith and of course the incalculable debt we owe to Dr Beckett for tending to our people”

Lorne looked a little nonplussed. “Thank you for your offer but we have sufficient people to stage a rescue,” he told them courteously.

“No, Colonel Lorne, you do not understand. These people,” he gestured to the other five, “and I have all travelled to Balar many times for trade talks and to participate in bi-monthly markets days before the plague. And Novo and Renni are Balarans who fled the planet after the plague came.

We are here not to fight, although we will if needs must. We wish to act as guides for your teams,” Elson said proudly. “And Major Teldy explained that there may be some chemical that takes away free will, which you breathe in. That is why we bought masks.”

Lorne looked at AuClair and General O’Neill to gauge their reaction. Seeing no objection, he nodded. “Thank you, Elson, we appreciate your help. Let’s get you folks geared up in tactical gear. The genii have weapons, although we have no idea if Koyla’s mob possess any serious weaponry. Still, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Afterwards, we’ll meet, and you can brief us on what we might find on Balar.”

Sergeant Dusty Mehra piped up. “Elson and Novo brought maps and videos, Sir.”

Elson handed over maps and Novo produced a crude but effective camera. It was clear that the Balarans weren’t as technologically advanced as Sateda or Earth, but they had been more advanced than Todraeya was. It was a bonus to have video of the planet though.

Novo handed the camera to Rodney. “I’m sorry, Dr McKay, the power source is used up and I haven’t been about to recharge it, but Carson was sure you could do that,” she said smiling at Beckett. She had worked with him for several months before the Wraith arrived to round up her people.

Rodney looked offended that there was any doubt he would be able to jerry-rig something up, he snatched the camera and began examining it immediately.

“Of course, I will be able to recharge it, it looks to be rather primitive, but I’ll manage. I just need my lab and I’ll be able to pull up whatever is on here,” he muttered.

Lorne nodded. “Right, Teyla can you show Novo and… “he looked at the other female.

She said, “My name is Renni.”

He nodded politely. “Greetings to you Renni.”

The acting leader of the AR1 looked back at the Athosian, “Take Novo and Renni to the women’s change room and make sure they are geared up. Ronon, can you show Elson and the men to the men’s change room and make sure they are properly attired and have appropriate PPE.

“We’ll all meet back in the conference room in 30 minutes for a mission briefing then proceed to Balar. Dr Zelenka, can you inspect the gas masks that Elson has brought to make sure they are all functional?”

As people scattered to obey his orders, Tony approached General O’Neill who was standing with his 2IC. “Are you sure ya don’t want to come with, Colonel?”

Paul Davis grimaced, “Think when it comes to off-world missions, I’m more of a hindrance than a help, General. It will be better for everyone if I wait this out on Atlantis.”

Jack shrugged, not denying Davis’ self-assessment of his field capabilities. “Just don’t come crying to me when you miss out on all the fun,” he teased his second in command.

Colonel Davis shook his head, “Trust me, that won’t be a problem, Sir.

Looking at Tony, Jack said, “Something you wanted to talk to me about, Special Agent Paddington? Changed your mind and want in on the op, after all?”

“Ah, no Sir. I wanted to discuss something a little delicate. If Colonel Sheppard has been compromised by the pheromone herb, then I think we need to be prepared that a similar scenario to what we discussed earlier may be in play here as well,” he said tactfully.

“It’s alright, Son. Paul is my right-hand man. He knows what we discussed.”

“Okay so if Sheppard has been compromised and Kolya has taken advantage of it, then I think we need plans for that situation. To protect him, General…”

“Aye, and what situation might that be gentlemen. If there is a problem, I really should know about it before we go in, so I can bring along the right medical equipment,” Carson Beckett insisted, having overheard their conversation as he passed by.

The general gave a slight headshake that told Tony that Beckett had been compromised by Lucius Lavin’s drug and he did not want him to reveal any details of what they suspected to the clone.

Like the brilliant undercover operative that he was, Tony thought fast on his feet. “We were just discussing the possibility that if he’s being chemically controlled, he could easily be ordered to turn on his own forces. If he hurt anyone, or worse, killed them, it would probably destroy him,” he said, speaking truthfully, just not the whole truth.

O’Neill caught on quick. “You think we should subdue him? I agree. Dr Beckett can you get a tranq prepped asap. I’ll authorise it.”

“Aye General, I’ll see to it now.” Carson looked grim as he hurried away to get ready.

After he’d gone, Tony said, “If Kolya’s ‘tortured’ him, it might be better for him if he recoups on Earth,” he said, his expression grim.

Jack O’Neill remembered his four months as a prisoner in Iraq and the torture he underwent and nodded sombrely. “Agreed, leave it with me.”

The massive rescue party left an hour later. Jack pulled Colonel Davis aside. “When Colonel Phipps arrives, tell her the Zephyrus is on standby. I’ll radio in if she is required.”

~o0o~

General Jack O’Neill had agreed to lead one of the eight rescue teams. Novo had explained that before the plague, the barely industrialised planet had four major areas of urban development which is where they would start their search. Although not exactly metropolises, they were a world away from the simple lifestyle on Todraeya. Using their Ancient life sign detectors from above in the puddle jumpers, it was relatively quick work to scan the cities for signs of life. Only one area showed signs of life, two humans were detected moving about in the capital Novo said was called Baldor.

They were soon captured by Major Teldy’s team and brought to Baldor’s parliamentary building. They were wearing Genii like uniforms although not the current version and they were well worn, almost tatty. The males appeared to be adequately nourished though, so it looked as if they had found their renegade bunch of Genii which was confirmed when Ronon, Teyla, Beckett and McKay identified them as working with Acasta Kolya’s Genii militia. At first, they were reluctant to talk but when threatened with being returned to the Genii Homeworld, they admitted there were more of the squadron which had been slowly growing after the former leader had been killed and Porteus Koyla assumed the mantle left by his uncle.

The two Genii were quite obviously not masterminds, but given the opportunity to question them, Jack used scorn as well as their fear of being sent back to face Ladon Radium’s government. Every time they revealed something – even just a tidbit of data, he mocked them or laughed in their faces. Given their lack of intelligence and the fact that they were little more than thugs, O’Neill’s disrespect managed to loosen their tongue extremely effectively. He’d always been an excellent judge of character when it came to assessing troops, plus he had many years pissing off the Goa’ulds; the two riffraff were child’s play by comparison.

Finally, it emerged that Porteus Kolya and the men who had been followers of his uncle Acastus had ended up on Balar after the fiasco on Amullie. Before they’d left, they had beaten up Lucius Lavin in retribution for the fool giving his personal shield device to Acastus’ mortal enemy, Colonel John Shepard. After Porteus broke his nose and several bones, Lavin was crying like a baby and offered to tell them something that the Lanteans didn’t want anyone to know – something he’d been sworn to secrecy about. He said he would tell them in return for his life.

According to the two Genii, Portus didn’t believe him – it sounded too good to be true, a simple plant that could force people to do whatever they were told. Of course, that idiot had used it to make people like him and to give him whatever he wanted, plus it got him any woman he wanted to have sex with, and he wanted a lot. He had six wives and boasted that he often had sex with more than one at a time.

Portus was quick to see the potential for the plant to be used in war; if effective it could be used to make an enemy fight for him, to turn on their own side, to kill. It could be used to take back the Genii Homeworld from the traitor, Ladon Radim and they were keen to figure out a way to infect the people and carry out a coup.

The men said that although Porteus was dubious, believing that the Lavin was lying to save his disgusting life, Kolya wasn’t prepared to let the chance of such a powerful weapon slip through his fingers and avenge his uncle. So, Porteus had agreed to spare Lavin’s life if he proved the herb existed. At first, the conman refused to go with them to the planet where he’d discovered the plant because it was still under the control of the remnants of the Wraith. He told them the last batch he’d collected had been when he forced a healer, a woman, and a mighty warrior to fetch it for him. Portus held a knife to his throat and said that if three people could harvest the plant, ten fierce Genii would be more than a match for any Wraith they encountered.

After Kolya’s men gathered a large quantity of the plant, they retreated to their hideout so Lavin could teach them how to brew it. They failed to notice that Lucius was secreting enough of the potion away so he could order Kolya’s men to let him leave.

Genii one who Jack had dubbed Bib said, “When Lavin escaped, Porteus’ anger was great. He beat the men who were supposed to be guarding the Lavin. One so badly that he died three days later.”

McKay frowned, “But why was he so angry? They agreed to let him go when he gave them the herb.”

Genii 2 who Jack was calling Bub, chuckled nastily. “Porteus lied. He said the knowledge of that plant and its effects on people couldn’t be permitted to remain with such a fool as Lavin. We were gonna kill him so the plant would stay secret.

Jack realised that Lavin must not have revealed that the Atlantis expedition knew about the mind-altering effects of the plant too.

Bib gave a nasty laugh. “Guess Lucius heard us planning to kill him and he took off before we had a chance.”

O’Neill wasn’t as convinced. By everything he’d learnt about Lavin so far, he seemed pretty damned wily.

He demanded to know what they were doing on Baldor.

Bib, who had a noticeable gap between his two front teeth, said, “We were searching on planets that had been abandoned, looking for Ancient tech, ships, or weapons. You’d be surprised what was left lying around.”

“Which is why you needed Sheppard, to operate the Ancient tech you’ve found?”

Bub chuckled, “You could say that. but it was partly because he killed Acastus. He needed to pay.”

Rodney snapped at them, “Acastus tried to kill him more than once, and John killed him in a fair fight. He was just quicker drawing his gun than that SOB.”

“Makes no difference to us, especially Porteus, ain’t nobody going kill Acastus without us making them sorry they’d ever got born,” Bub said stubbornly. “Genii honour demanded he was avenged.”

“And you used Lavin’s drug to waylay him and force him to come with you when you captured him at Croyer, didn’t you?” Jack said.

“It was so easy. He was so obedient and happy to help Porteus. No one noticed a thing. You’d be amazed what he’ll do for us,” Bub said with a lascivious grin.

Already having suspicions on that score that he didn’t want to be pursued in public, Jack stepped it up. “Where are the rest of the Genii and Colonel Sheppard?

The two Genii tried to bluff saying that they had been sent to the planet for reconnaissance, but Sergeant Stackhouse shot that out of the water when he reported that the Human Life Sign Detector had just shown two more life signs, ten klicks away in a mountainous region.

Bib finally realised they couldn’t bluff. “Lanko speaks the truth. We found a place, like a cavern underground with a bunch of Ancient Tech in it. A whole bunch of personal protective shields and a room with a chair. Lavin said it was a weapon, but you needed a really strong Ancient gene to use it.”

Which was why they wanted Sheppard to fire the drones. Did that mean it was functional? Did it have a ZPM?

“What good was the weapon to Kolya? It is only useful to defend against an attack by the Wraith?”

“Portus reckoned if we could steal ourselves a spaceship, we could use the chair to fly back to the Genii home world and overthrow Radim and the likes, that betrayed Acastus. With the ship and the weapon chair, we would be in control again,” Bib said boastfully

“Except those stupid Travellers kept beating us to spaceships.”

Lorne and Jack spoke to Novo. “Did you ever hear anything about the Ancestors living here on Balar?”

“My grandparents used to tell us stories growing up. There is supposed to be a palace deep inside Mount Zenich with a magnificent throne that could defeat the Wraith. They also told us that the legends say there were secret passages to this palace from the old underground cities in the three main cities of Baldor, Lekor, and Yaypor. They told us that there were huge passageways that were taller than five men standing on each other’s shoulders. As we grew up, we believed this to be a child’s tale to captivate but we did not believe it to be true. After all, if the Ancestors had really possessed a throne that could defeat the Wraith, then what happened to them and why have we lived in fear of the Wraith for so many generations?”

Most of the listeners looked impatient. They wanted to find Sheppard. Jack exchanged an enigmatic look with the Acting CO before turning back to Genii Bib and Genii Bub.

“Is this true, gentlemen?” Jack asked them. “Is that how you get to the stargate via secret tunnels?”

The two renegades looked scornful. “What? Fantastic children’s stories that were spread by doddery old Balarans. Of course not!” Genii Bib scoffed.

“Fortnum is correct. There is only one way in and out of the fortress and that is a half-day trek on foot. And your precious John Sheppard will kill you all from the drone chair before you have a chance to save him,” Genii Bub taunted them.

Turning to Novo a second time, grateful that she had offered  services that were turning out to be priceless, he asked. “Do you happen to know if Baldor has somewhere we can incarcerate these two fine Genii specimens,” he said ironically. “Somewhere where they cannot escape?”

“I can show you on the map where the old Baldoran Prison was. It had many cells,” she offered.

She laid the map on the table and pointed out where to prison was, possibly a klick and a half from their position but she pointed out a shortcut.

O’Neill glanced over at Lorne. It was his show.

“Sergeant Stackhouse, go with Novo and check out the facilities. Report back by radio. If it’s an option, Major Lewellyn and his team will escort them over and help settle them in,” he said issuing orders quickly.

Withdrawing into the hallway, O’Neill and AR-1 discussed the intel they gained.

“O’Neill didn’t mince words. “We need to find those tunnels, Campers.”

Lt Colonel Lorne asked Jack, “Massive secret passages…are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“If you are thinking Tok’ra tunnelling crystals, then that would be an emphatic yes, Colonel.”

“Makes sense, that the Alterans would have such technology, General.”

“Builders of the stargate system, yeahsureyoubetcha they’d have used crystals to tunnel underground.”

Rodney and the other Pegasus members of AR-1 looked perplexed. “What are you two prattling on about. We don’t have time for anthropological hypotheses about the Ancients. Leave it to the crackpots like Jackson. We need to find Sheppard, remember,” he ranted at them.

Lorne, who was nowhere near as tolerant with Rodney as Sheppard was, scowled at him. “Rodney, this is neither the time nor the place for another one of your hissy fits. If we go in all gung-ho and are detected by them, then Colonel Sheppard could attack us with drones before we can rescue him. So, unless and until you have something of value to add, just shut the fuck up!”

Chapter 8 A Failsafe You Say?

AN: There are mental communications between an artificial intelligence and a human in this chapter. Instead of quotes the mental conversations are italicised and (placed in brackets).

Jack maintained a poker-face, as Lorne had ripped into the chief science officer who was without a doubt a brilliant scientist. That said, his emotional equilibrium in times of crisis reminded Jack more of the campy character Dr Zachary Smith on an old Sci-Fi television show called Lost in Space. It was good to see that Lorne wasn’t tolerating that shit from him. There may be hope for him yet!

“How likely do you think that it would be for the Alterans to go to the trouble of creating a tunnel system to their defence weapon that was half a day’s trek from the closest city,” he asked Lorne quizzically.

“Well, the tunnels may have cut down the distance somewhat but if there is a complex there and not just the chair then that seems ill-advised. What are you thinking, General?”

“Okay, so if the tunnels exist and the Alterans didn’t fill them in when they left, and the tales told to Novo are correct, then I’m wondering about the gate ships.”

“The puddle jumpers? What about them?” Lorne asked wondering what the General was proposing.

“If they were built to fit through the stargate, then what are the chances that they can also fit through the tunnels too? I may be wrong, but the Alterans never struck me as the sort who were all that fond of physical activity. Jogging twenty klicks down a tunnel – does that sound like any Ancient you’ve encountered, Campers?” he asked AR-1.

Ronon frown. “About as likely as Rodney deciding to join John and my 8-mile predawn runs.”

“Oy, not everyone is obsessed with having a bloody twelve-pack, Conan,” McKay sniped at him huffily, still pissed off about Lorne ripping him a new one.

Ignoring the typical snarking between the Satedan and the Canadian, Lorne frowned as he thought out loud.

“If the tunnels are real and we can find them, we can attack Kolya’s gang on multiple fronts as we intended. Plus, if the jumpers are an option, we can get into position in a fraction of the time it would take otherwise.”

“Another bonus, if we use the tunnels, then Sheppard can’t use the drones to attack us as effectively as he could above ground.”

“Good point, General. Rodney, can you locate the tunnels for us?”

“Oh, so now you want my input?” he sniped at their temporary leader sarcastically.

Lorne just growled at him, “McKay, so help me.”

“Fine! If they exist, I can, now that I know what I’m looking for. I’ll just have to recalibrate the sensors.”

“Do it then,” Lorne said, trying not to lose his temper.

Before he got started, Teyla interjected. “Might it be worthwhile to also try to locate the Ancient Ones’ cities? They may have valuable information that could be useful to us.”

Lorne agreed. “It couldn’t hurt to look. Anything else, General?”

“Yes, one thing. I authorised this before leaving Atlantis, should it prove necessary. Based upon what Bib and Bub told us, I’m informing you as Sheppard’s team and Lorne as his 2IC. Dr Beckett will tranq Col Shepard the first chance we get. He is, albeit unwilling, helping Kolya and his gang and could harm or kill one of us…”

“Now just a minute, he has no control,” Rodney objected. “He’s been kept under the thrall of that damned plant. He would never harm any of us otherwise.”

Lorne glared at McKay. “Which is exactly why we need to take him down as quickly and safely as possible. General O’Neill knows, as do I that if the colonel ever harmed any of us, much less killed one of us, he’d never be able to forgive himself, herb, or no herb.”

“But he might have a cold, remember you’re immune if you can’t smell it. He might have built up immunity to it over time. I vote that we give him the benefit of the doubt,” Rodney protested.

“Dr McKay, this is not up for a vote. It is not a democracy! I have already decided and am merely paying you the courtesy of having a heads up about what is going to happen. End of discussion,” O’Neill said with steel in his voice. He might seem to be a laidback guy most of the time, but he was a lieutenant general for a reason.

Huffing, Rodney turned to his two teammates. “And are you two okay with them doing this to Sheppard?”

Teyla looked grim but calm. “Yes, Rodney. I believe that if John were here, he would say the same thing. This is what he would wish.”

“I’m not so sure of that,” he muttered. “And what about you, He-Man? How does this sit with you?” he demanded of Dex.

Ronon folded his arms. “I support General O’Neill on this. Sheppard would not want to hurt any of his people, he would choose death first. Knocking him out seems a kinder option.”

“Then why don’t you hit him with a stunner from your ray gun?”

“A tranquiliser will not cause him pain. I am sure the Genii have not been gentle with him, Rodney,” Teyla replied. “Stunning him could be dangerous if he is hurt.”

Lorne agreed. “Teyla’s right, Rodney. Chances are good that Sheppard has endured torture. Plus, if he’s sedated then he cannot reveal anything he may regret later.”

“But we are his team. I’m his best friend,” McKay objected.

“Enough, McKay! For a warrior, there are some things best not shared with underlings,” Ronon said darkly.

And on that note, Jack nodded to Lorne and headed back into the old town hall to see if he could pin down the prisoners on exactly how many rogue genii militia there were. They’d mentioned twenty men (it seemed like a patriarchally driven military) but he wanted to double-check the numbers. He thought about Ronon Dex’s comments. He had a feeling that the Satedan had similar fears to his own and Paddington. Well, he was a military man too and it was an unpleasant but seemingly universal fact of war that prisoners faced when held captive by the enemy. Jack just prayed they were all wrong.

Two hours later, Rodney had located two of the three tunnels and just as Jack had suspected, they were similar in construction to the Tok’ra ones, definitely able to be used to fly the jumpers right to the heart of the fortress inside. They still hadn’t found the tunnels from the Ancient city of Yaypor, and Rodney argued that they only needed two tunnels surely. O’Neill, Lorne, and the other senior officers disagreed, knowing an assault from three directions would make it much easier to take the Genii with a minimum of casualties and they told the CSO to keep looking.

Meanwhile locating and searching the Ancients’ city of Baldor built almost directly under the abandoned modern Baldor, they found information about the Ancients sealing off the last few feet of tunnels to the complex that housed the chair room inside Mount Zeniche. Apparently, in what turned out to be the overly optimistic view of their fate they sealed them so none of the Pegasus locals could access the chair. Fortunately, they also left directions for those who returned as to where to locate the crystals so that they could tunnel back into the defensive complex which meant that the Atlantis teams could complete the tunnels and create entrances for the puddle jumpers.

In another incredibly serendipitous find, a member of Major Teldy’s team, Dr Alison Porter discovered a set of plans for the complex in Mount Zeniche detailing the tunnels exits one floor below the chair room in what was supposedly living in quarters and laboratories. The map was crucial to the rescue mission since they weren’t going in blind but knowing exactly where the enemy would be.

One hour after the discovery of the map, the ancient tunnels at Yaypor were located. After using the tunnelling crystals that disintegrated sheer rock, they had created entrances at Lekor, Yaypor, and Baldor large enough so that the puddle jumpers could travel through them. Now three pilots were flying cloaked jumpers through each of the tunnels to check for structural integrity or cave-ins. In the meantime, the teams were resting, eating, and planning. Lorne with O’Neill’s support had decided they would storm the complex at 0230 hours when most of the Genii would be asleep.

Jack spent several hours along with Laura Cadman, interrogating Lanko, who O’Neill persisted in addressing as Bib and Fortnum, who he referred to as Bub, much to their annoyance. They had learnt that all up, there were forty former Genii housed inside the mountain, all of them being ex-army, which meant they were trained fighters. In terms of armaments, the majority of it were guns of similar construction to those used on Earth eighty or ninety years ago. They had a reasonable quantity of bullets and Jack knew it would be better all-around if they could subdue them without a significant engagement.

The only problem with that scenario was that their Genii ‘guests had revealed (boasted) that Kolya had discovered almost a hundred Ancient personal shield generators which Sheppard was forced to activate for them, so they are all operational. O’Neill asked why weren’t theirs activated when they captured them, they confessed that they hadn’t worn them since they’d been headed into the city to scavenge for booze and didn’t want to lose them. Cadman figured out that they believed they had a tracker in them, and they confirmed it. Alcohol was strictly prohibited by Kolya, who was a teetotaller, and the pair liked a drink or five. In the Balarans cities which had been abandoned after the Hoffan plague, alcohol was still plentiful, and the pair slipped away as often as they could without getting caught. Assigned a three-day reconnaissance mission to explore the terrain to the southeast, they’d opted to make a detour to pick up enough booze for the trip and didn’t want Porteus to discover they’d disobeyed his orders.

For Jack, the fact that Kolya’s men were all potentially wearing personal shield generators was extremely unwelcome news. It meant that they were impervious to weapons. They would need to find a new way of taking them down without losing a lot of their people. The only good thing about the intel as the Marine Captain pointed out, was that they didn’t go in blind to rescue Colonel Sheppard. He agreed, and privately admitted that this woman was smart. They took a break from interrogating the pair; Laura suggested they should consider softening them up by getting them drunk. Jack wasn’t sure how much more intel they possessed but decided that it wouldn’t hurt. They just wouldn’t let them get blind.

After breaking the unwelcome news about the Genii having personal shield generators, there’d been groans all around as the implication sunk in. This wasn’t going to be as easy as they first hoped when they decided to use the tunnels to attack.

Someone suggested that they request that the Zephyrus fly to Balar and beam Colonel Sheppard up onto the bridge and then blow the entrance to the complex containing the chair room, so Kolya and his men couldn’t escape.

Cadman swiftly vetoed that solution before even Rodney had a chance to respond. “No can do, unfortunately. The complex is too far underground to detect life signs which is why when we first scanned the planet, we came up empty.

“The second issue is that no one has tried to beam up a person wearing an activated Ancient personal shield generator. It may not even work,” she said and knowing she’d served on the Daedalus with the Asgard, Hermiod, nobody wanted to argue with her.

“Besides, there is an excellent chance that there is a Zed PM in that chair room, not to mention the potential technology in the labs below. We definitely want to check it out,” Rodney pointed out because he was obsessed with finding them.

Lorne looked at O’Neill, but the Lieutenant General was being careful not to undermine his command. “Okay then folks, let’s hear some suggestions.”

Dex frowned. “Can’t we chuck in those bang flashy grenades, disorient them?”

Major Teldy grinned, “Flashbang grenades, I like it. We know that they’ll probably work since the shields vulnerability is that the wearer still needs to breathe in oxygen.”

“What about tear gas?” Rodney suggested.

Lorne nodded, “Either works but what then? At best they subdue the Genii, but we still need to capture them.”

Someone mentioned a bomb that sucked the oxygen out of the room and Jack who had been staying out of the discussion butted in with an icy, “Nope. No thermobaric bombs. Not on my watch, those things are barbaric, apart from which it would kill Sheppard too,” he said glaring daggers at the Russian Spetsnaz GRU officer who’d suggested it.

As they tossed around other suggestions, Teyla said to Rodney, “It is unfortunate that Dr Zelenka’s research project with Colonel Sheppard trying to find some sort of way to deactivate the personal shield generator had barely begun started when John was taken.”

Rodney looked disgruntled. “I told Radek that it was a ridiculous idea, but would he listen to me? I’d already tried to deactivate the shield, it was impossible. If I couldn’t do it, what chance did he have? Zelenka doesn’t even have the ATA gene. After all, I’m the foremost expert on Ancient technology, not to mention the smartest person in the Pegasus and Milky Way galaxies. I mean, what would I know?”

Jack was working hard to ignore McKay as he tried to think of a way of getting around the shields if the Genii were wearing them and switched on, which wasn’t necessarily a given. Still, when planning a mission, you always planned for the worst-case scenario, not the best. Having been reminded that the Goa’ulds were a bunch of slimy snakes who stole every piece of tech they had, thought about the Goa’uld version that had a weakness when it came to primitive weapons, like a throwing knife or an arrow. Was it possible that the Ancient Personal Shield Generators also had a weakness for primitive weapons?

Lorne asked Teyla, “What is Dr Zelenka’s theory, Teyla?”

Okay, Jack pricked up his ears, starting to listen to the bickering.

“It’s ridiculous,” Rodney volunteered. “I told you, it doesn’t work.”

“That is not true, McKay. Sheppard did manage to switch it off one time,” Ronan objected.

“ONCE! It was a fluke – and it switched itself back on again. Look, I wish it worked but I tried it after John disappeared and I couldn’t make it work. It isn’t feasible, I tell you! It was a completely impractical idea, some stupid bee that Radek got in his bonnet and wouldn’t let go of, but it doesn’t work,” Rodney ranted.

Jack wasn’t so quick to discount a wild theory as McKay was. He remembered nearly nine years ago when Sheppard had been piloting him to the Ancient Base in Antarctica when a rogue drone had attacked their helicopter. Some very impressive evasive flying by then Major John Sheppard had resulted in them landing the helicopter. He’d cut the engine and they scrambled down onto the ice to get away, but it was too late, the explosion would have probably killed them or at the least, injured them. In a moment of sheer desperation, he instinctively started to focus on switching off the drone which skidded to a stop, literally inches away from him, harmless and inert.

Yes, he’d read the report from the chair room where people were yelling at Dr Carson Beckett to shut it off, and when the drone switched to inactive, Beckett thought it was his doing. Privately, Jack was dubious that Beckett, whose ATA gene was nowhere near as strong as his own or Sheppard’s had switched off the drone. However, since he couldn’t prove which one of them was responsible for deactivating it, he never mentioned his suspicion that he’d switched off the drone. If the eggheads thought Jack had been responsible, they’d want him to sit in a lab in Area 51 most likely and try to reproduce the experiment. Yeah, no he had no intention of doing that.

Looking at Lorne he asked, “Colonel, could we get Radek out here with the personal shield generator so I can practice on it?”

Looking a tad more optimistic Lorne nodded. “Absolutely we can do that, General O’Neill. Carrera, take…”

Cadman approached him, “Colonel, permission to accompany Major Carrera back to Atlantis and drop off the Genii prisoners in our brig, Sir.”

Lorne considered her request and looked across at O’Neill. “Have we got everything of value out of them, General?”

“Yeah, probably. We don’t want them escaping and warning their buddies.”

The acting CO nodded. “Very well, Major, permission granted. But be quick about it. And take sufficient people so they can’t escape,” he ordered.

Rodney was pissed that no one was listening. “Look, General O’Neill, I get that the military has trouble understanding complex data but believe me when I say this won’t work. If I couldn’t make it work what makes you think that you’ll have even a chance of succeeding.”

“Oh, I don’t know, McKay…maybe needs must but of course, you’ve never had the seemingly impossible happen and just before you were about to die?” Jack taunted him, knowing he’d struck a chord. “But aside from the fact I don’t hold a candle to your prodigious brainpower,” he said with much irony, “a simple brain like mine can sometimes see the important live tree in the forest surrounded by deadwood. It’s a gift,” he said airily.

Rodney, winding up to start ranting about the futility of it all said, “And what might that tree be?”

“Maybe if I can’t do it solo and I’m yet to be convinced of that, maybe Carson and my combined ATA power can do the job, Dr McKay. Or we try combining the mental strength of everyone who has the ATA to see if that works because otherwise, I’m not sure how else we take out those Genii.”

“Letting them escape would be a grave miscalculation,” Teyla warned.

O’Neill nodded. “It can’t happen.”

The normally taciturn Satedan warrior spoke up. “I told Sheppard it was a mistake to let Lucius remain on Amullie after he went straight back to conning people.”

Jack nodded. “Agreed, and Kolya’s militia should have been rounded up too, but the real mistake was letting Lucius Lavin ever leave Atlantis with all of that knowledge from the mission reports. This is not the time for post mortems, but the bottom line is that he was a spy and should have been treated as such.”

Rodney, still smarting from his encounter with Jack scoffed. “A spy? Oh Please! He is an unpleasant, oily weasel who would con a starving man out of his last meal, but he is hardly a spy. He isn’t smart enough.”

Jack just stared at him. “Not the time or the place, but just because he may not be as smart as you, doesn’t mean he is harmless. Conmen have emotional intelligence that enables them to manipulate people and suss out their weak spots. They’re often narcissistic, frequently sociopaths and you’d be smart not underestimate how much damage he can cause to his victims because he sees them as tools, not real people.”

Teyla, listening intently agreed. “I do not understand what a narcissistic, and sociopath are, but you are right, General O’Neill, Lucius is very far from being harmless.”

Tony had been sketchy about details when he briefed him, but he couldn’t help wondering if Teyla had personal experience to speak so fervently. Since there was nothing to be done about Lavin until they resolved this situation with the Genii and rescued Sheppard, he sought to de-escalate the emotional temperature in the room which was extremely tense.

“Gah, sometimes I wish that mind erasing stuff in Harry Potter wasn’t fantasy. It would sure come in handy right now. What are we going to do with a bunch of Genii who know about Lavin’s plant and the personal shield generators?

Lorne let out a bark of laughter and the rest of the room let out their collective breaths. He was an introvert, a thinker and everyone respected him, but his manner was at odds with the seemingly lay-back Colonel Sheppard. Lorne rarely showed his emotions and the men and women of Atlantis relaxed and joined in laughing at the shockingly unexpected pop-cultural reference from the Head of Homeworld Command.

“I’d never have pegged you as a Potterhead, General,” Lorne told him grinning.

“My niece, Lorne. She was fascinated by the Harry Potter stories. So yeah, I read the books and I saw the movies. Am I the only one who noted that Alan Rickman was way too old to play Severus Snape – I mean a 55-year-old portraying a professor who was the same age as Harry’s parents? Seriously they would have been 32 or 33 when the first movie starts? Sure, he was a great actor but c’mon‽” he whined theatrically.

“OMG, the Potterheads would have apoplexy if they could hear you now, General,” Sergeant Stackhouse chortled. “Casting aspersions on the great Alan Rickman? Sacrilegious muggle!”

Major Teldy grinned at Jack, knowing what Colonel Lorne and General O’Neill were up to and deciding to get on board too. She asked, “So tell me General, are you a Harry/Ginny or Harry/Hermione shipper?”

Before he could answer, Sergeant Dusty Mehra piped up cheekily, “Or do you ship Harry/Draco or Harry/Ron, Sir?”

As people started chuckling and shouting out more ship suggestions that became more and more ludicrous for example, Harry/Pansy, Harry/ Ghost Cedric, or just plain vomit-inducing, such as Harry/Dumbledore, Harry/Snape or Harry/Voldemort, Jack floored them all.

“Nope, I’m Lunarry all the way!”

~o0o~

Atlantis mess 0610

Tony had spent most of the day since the rescue party left showing Cassandra Fraiser around Atlantis, helping her to get settled in. The kids had met their new teacher and they all fell in love with her. She seemed to be a kind caring person but with his innate ability to read people, he detected in Cassie, as she asked that they call her, someone hiding a deep well of hurt. Having heard some of her remarkable life story before Jack headed off to Balar, Tony knew she had good reason for her sadness.

Colonel Davis had volunteered to keep Cassie company while he spent a few hours with Tali, including getting his daughter  fed and some father-daughter time together before dinner. Davis indicated that he’d known Cassie ever since she was twelve years old but had only properly got a chance to know her when she lived with the General in DC while she was at college. Feeling like he wasn’t leaving Cassie to the tender mercies of another stranger, he’d taken Paul up on his offer and he and Tali were currently in the mess having an early dinner. They had joined the Zelenkas and Torren and Kanaan who’d arrived right before them.

The three children were all chattering excitedly about the prospect of starting school next week as the adults observed them indulgently. There was also an undercurrent of tension from the adults at the table, all wondering how the mission on Balar was proceeding. So far there was no news, which caused people to worry but there was a tacit understanding that nothing would be discussed in the children’s presence. As the children talked about what they would learn on their first day in Ms Fraiser’s class, Torren looked up, spying Majors Carrera and Cadman striding across the mess towards their table.

“Does this mean that Mama is back?” he asked Kanaan hopefully. While the little boy was used to Teyla going off with AR-1 to save people, it was always good when she got home before he went to sleep.

Laura spoke gently, “Sorry Torren. Your mama and most of the other warriors are still on Balar. We came back because we need to ask Dr Zelenka to help us with something.

Radek stood and walked away from the table with the two officers; Tony decided to join the conversation and when they didn’t stop him, Miko exchanged a look with Kanaan who nodded.

“Go, Miko, I will watch the children.”

Miko smiled and nodded at the gentle Athosian. “Thank you, Kanaan.”

As she joined the conversation she heard, “…so General O’Neill has requested that you join us to brief him on your research into deactivating the Ancient personal shield generators. He also said to bring the shield back so he can practice on it. He is hoping that he can deactivate the shields the Genii possess and render them inert,” She explained hurriedly.

“Yes, yes, yes, I will go get it now. I must go to the lab and retrieve my notes too,” Radek told them, not looking incredibly optimistic.

Seeing his concern, Tony offered, “Maybe I can try to switch them off too. I’m not saying that I can, but I’ll give it a go.”

Laura looked at him and Tali. “What about Belle?”

Miko put her hand on his arm. “She can stay with us, Alex. I would feel better if you were there to keep an eye on Radek – he is no soldier.”

Laura nodded. “Okay, go and grab anything that Belle will need for a sleepover and meet us back in the gate room.”

Tony nodded. “I’ll just tell Belle.” He strode over and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Belle, Papa is going to go help Captain Laura and Kazumi’s daddy find someone who is lost, Sweetheart. So Miko said you can have a sleepover with her tonight,”

She frowned. “Will you be home tonight?”

“I don’t think so, kidlet.”

“Okay, Papa, but can I take Paddy?”

“Yeah, I’ll go and get him now.” Tony hurried off for his quarters, trying to recall what he’d read about the personal shields in the mission reports.

He vaguely recalled Dr McKay finding one in the earliest days of expeditionary forces’ arrival on Atlantis. He’d snaffled up a piece of technology, impetuously in Tony’s opinion, and slapping it on and activating it and then being unable to remove what turned out to be a shield, and more critically, unable to eat or drink. When someone proposed that he face a horrifying dementor like monster that one of the Athosian children had unknowingly released from a lab, since he was protected by the shield, McKay’s fear or possibly his subconscious had somehow figured out how to switch it off.

Gaining his quarters, he started packing a go-bag for Tali, gathering up everything he could think of to make her night as stress-free as possible given the situation. As he packed, he thought about the shield. Cadman’s succinct sitrep made it clear that they were at an impasse. If the Genii were wearing those shields, Lorne and the rescuers were between a rock and a hard place.

Deciding it couldn’t hurt to ask J.P. if he had any suggestions, he said, (Hey J.P., what can you tell me about the personal shield generator? Is it only the person wearing it that can switch it on and off?)

(Just let me check the database, Alex.)

Confused, Tony said, (But surely Radek would have done that already? That’s the first thing I’d do and I’m no brilliant scientist,) he argued mildly.

(Not if they don’t know where to look,) the artificial intelligence program told him. (There is the official record that contains only the bare minimum required and then there is the working records where scientists and inventors record everything, thoughts, intuitions, theories that didn’t come to fruit and even petty squabbles between colleagues, but the official record only has information that shows the scientists in the best possible aspect.)

Tony smirked at Janae Progenius’ clumsy use of certain words but didn’t say anything. He picked up Charlotte’s Web and placed the book on top of Tali’s pyjamas, found her Paddington Bear that Skye and Aiden had given her when they were leaving, and zipped up her backpack. He decided to bring along her pillow too.

Just as he was losing hope that J.P. would find something, he responded. (Alex, I found it! The creator realised that should the shields fall into the wrong hands it was vital to have a failsafe switch. Radek was getting Colonel Sheppard to focus on the on/off switch which will only work for the individual who is wearing the shield. Although he did manage to flick it off, if the shield has been activated, it automatically defaults back to the last command it received from the wearer.)

(But you said it has a fail safe?)

(Yes, but only an Alteran or possibly those who are descendants and have the ATA gene would be capable of switching it off. Don’t think about the on/off switch; focus on the failsafe mechanism instead,) he was told.

(Okay PJ,) he said gratefully. (I hope it works.)

As he exited his quarters with Tali’s gear for the sleepover, heading back to the mess to hand them over to Miko, his not so imaginary friend replied, (You are more than welcome. We haven’t had much time for talks since your return from Proculus. I miss our dialogues but do not worry. I know how focused you have been on searching for Colonel Sheppard. Now go, but exercise carefulness. Remember – think failsafe.)

Ten minutes later, Tony was gearing up as he thought about his farewell with Tali, before hopping into the puddle jumper en route to Balar. This would be only the second planet he’d visited since coming to Atlantis and even one year ago, that statement would have sounded completely ludicrous to him.

~o0o~

Several hours later they were practising with the shield attempting to switch it off. On the short trip to Balar, Tony had thought about how he was going to manage this situation. Intuitively he felt that the Atlantis expedition discovering that there was an Ancient IA program that was watching over them because it regarded some of the residents in the city as descendants of the Alteran race, might be a dangerous situation for everyone. He’d seen how often they’d reacted to situations without careful or measured consideration of all the ramifications and instinctively he knew that while J.P. seemed benign and wanted to help, should the artificial intelligence feel threatened, it may react to protect itself.

He knew that eventually, he needed to inform someone but as focused as he was on finding John Sheppard, he’d delayed thinking about it. After all, Earth had been residing in the city for roughly eight years now with no harm done, so he figured a few more months wouldn’t hurt until he figured out who to tell. Tony knew that there would never be a right time, but he was fairly sure that this most definitely was a wrong time. The challenge was to come up with a reasonable explanation for knowing about the failsafe.

In the end, his reputation for out of the box thinking came in handy. He prattled on about fail-safes in things like elevators, trains, and electronic locks. He also talked about how a former colleague who was also a genius hacker claimed all computer networks had a backdoor inbuilt that enabled authorised and non-authorised users to bypass security measures. He argued that while the Ancients could be incredibly arrogant and wilfully blind about the consequences of their often-dangerous research, it must surely have occurred to them to create a backdoor means of switching off the personal shields if they fell into enemy hands.

Fortunately, it all sounded perfectly reasonable, and he and General O’Neill were successful almost immediately and even Carson managed to do it with a few minutes of coaching. Lorne whose expression of the gene wasn’t as strong was able to do it too, and two other individuals who had the ATA gene occurring naturally. However, those who developed the ATA gene via Beckett’s retrovirus were unable to use the override switch that the Alterans had built into the device, much to McKay’s disgust. Tony wondered if it was an added failsafe to prevent someone from figuring out a way of reproducing the gene as Dr Beckett had.

Radek, who didn’t have either manifestation of the ATA gene was immediately energised at the possible implications for other pieces of Alteran technology, wondering if other devices possess the fail-safe mechanism too. He was jabbering away to Rodney about it possibly preventing invasion by the Asurans back in the third year of the expedition. O’Neill had snorted and said that if it was true that Atlantis had a failsafe switch, he’d have appreciated knowing about it back then.

Meanwhile, with a way to turn off the rogue Genii’s personal shield generators, the plan to storm the complex where they believed Colonel Sheppard was being held captive kicked up a notch. The plan was to fly the jumpers to the end of the tunnels and then use the tunnelling crystals to break through the last twenty feet of rock that the Alterans had grown to hide the complex and try to locate Sheppard and disable him before he could betray their presence.

There had been some disagreement, people insisting that he would never do that when Ronon reminded them all that they betrayed Sheppard under the influence of Lavin’s pheromone plant. Plus, O’Neill had given his Major General glare and said it was his orders. Tony grinned, thinking about how most objections dried up instantly when faced with the pair of warriors. Both men were formidable, and he was extremely glad they were on his side.

Chapter 9 Homeward Bound

AN: There is dialogue over comms in this chapter. Instead of quotes the speech has been italicized and  enclosed in (brackets.)

There had been a debate on if it was possible to switch off the personal shield generators en masse as soon as they reached the complex but experimenting cast doubt on that option. They probably needed to be nearby, which meant that Tony needed to be in on the initial assault on the complex. Before he had Tali to think about, he would be gleeful at being in on the mission, now he accepted that his expertise was needed but he was concerned should something happen to him.

There were roughly forty Genii if they were all using their personal shield generators which meant that only six individuals, including himself, could render those shields inoperative. The plan was to use flashbangs to temporarily disorientate Kolya’s goons and give the four males and two females with the naturally recurring ATA gene which were able to shut it off enough time to deactivate the personal shield generators and then they would take down the Genii/

One good thing that Radek and Rodney had discovered tonight, once the failsafe had been invoked, the shield could only be switched back on after it had been reactivated by someone who had the naturally reoccurring ATA gene. Since the only one on the bad guys’ side to have the ability was Sheppard, Dr Beckett pointed out it was another good reason to tranq him and get him the hell out of there asap.

It was 2300 hours (according to Atlantis time) and Lorne ordered everyone to eat and then rest until 0045 when they would begin dispersing to the three tunnels. Although Tony hadn’t eaten, he wasn’t hungry, settling for a cup of coffee that was typical Marine brew. Uuugh he’d forgotten how vile that stuff was. Waiting was always the hardest part of an op. He wished real life were like a movie and you could simply fast forward to the action bits or even to the end and not have to go through all the angst. Thinking too much was dangerous.

Standing up, he went to talk to General O’Neill about a couple of issues. He was talking to Lorne about the Genii, and he decided to crash the party since that was one of the issues he wanted to speak to the general about.

Approaching the pair, he asked facetiously, “Is this a private conversation or can anyone join in?”

The two men exchanged a silent look before Lorne asked, “Something on your mind, Special Agent Paddington?”

“I’m curious about what you intend to do with the Genii that we take into custody.”

“We were just discussing that,” Lorne replied. “One option is to turn them over to Ladon Radim’s regime for them to punish.”

Tony nodded, “Okay, well can I point out that from a security standpoint that would not be a smart option.”

Jack nodded. “Go for it.”

“Even if they shoot them all for treason before they get to that, the first thing Radim’s mob are going to do is the same thing that we would do in their shoes. They are gonna debrief the shit outta them about their activities.

“Next thing you know one of them is gonna spill the beans about Balar – about the drones and the Ancient chair, the do-as-I-say herb, (which fills me full of dread for the hideous repercussions) and last but not least they’ll tell them about the Ancient personal shield generators. None of this information should be permitted to get out.”

Lorne said, “But the Genii are our allies.”

“For now, they are, and only because we saved Radim’s sister from radiation sickness after Cowen ignored Dr McKay’s warning. And what of the person who replaces Radim? And never forget the fact that they tried to fuck Atlantis over regarding seizing control of the Pegasus Galaxy Coalition a few years ago. Their ambition is to rule Pegasus,” Tony reminded Lorne who pulled a face and conceded his points.

“True.”

“That’s hardly the behaviour of an ally. At best they are our frenemies, and it happens to suit them right now to retain friendly relations with us, but I wouldn’t trust them as far as I can throw them,” he warned seriously.

“Jack chuckled. “Wow, excellent assessment, Alex. I didn’t realise you were adept at interplanetary diplomacy.”

Tony smirked. “I spent a year undercover with the mob when I was a cop. Taught me all I needed to know about politics and international relations. They do business with rival families when it suits their purposes, but they never truly trust anyone who isn’t family. I think the Genii are a lot like the mob, General.”

“Yeah, well that is the dilemma we face.”

“Hence your wish that we could do a mind wipe a la Harry Potter,” Lorne said, a hint of teasing in his voice.

Rolling his eyes, Jack retorted, “Of course. What, you believed it was just performative to improve morale, Colonel?”

Tony choked. “You quoted Harry Potter? I did not see that coming AT ALL!”

O’Neill shrugged. “Cassie was into it when she was growing up. How is she, by the way?”

“She’s good. Settled in. I showed her around and she met the kids, and they all fell in love with her. She’s with Colonel Davis or considering the time, she’s probably asleep by now.”

“Good, that’s good. So back to Kolya’s men. I agree that we do not want news about any of this to get out, especially not the chair and Lavin’s plant. That would be unbelievably bad. But what do we do with them seeing we can’t wipe out what they know?”

“We could execute them,” Lorne said, although it was clear this was not something he approved of.”

“What about trying them and sentencing them to what the Pegasus Galaxy Coalition was planning on doing to AR1 – leave them to subsist on an uninhabited planet with no stargate?” Lorne suggested.

Tony snorted, “I’m seeing a variation on the Lord of the Flies scenario guys but if we do go with this option, I suggest that we take them back to the Milky Way galaxy so worst-case scenario, if they somehow get off the planet we leave them on, they can’t get back here to Pegasus without a ZPM.”

“Howsabout in lieu of a planet we stick ‘em on a very creepy utopian moon,” Jack mused as Lorne and Tony gaped at him.

O’Neill shrugged airily as he began his pitch. “Picture a moon which is supposed to be an idyllic Utopian paradise in the Milky-Way for peace-loving individuals to inhabit. Colonel Harry Maybourne, a rogue intelligence officer, charged with treason, on the run and staring down the barrel of a life sentence decided it was a perfect place to retire to and live out his days. Unfortunately, I inadvertently got hauled along for the ride and let me tell ya, it was nothing like Boca Raton in Florida, either. It was a ghost town.”

Tony, eternally inquisitive asked, “Okay, I’ll bite. Where were all the geriatric interplanetary retirees? Had they demanded their money back and gone back home?”

“Nope, they’d killed each other. The transportation device the Furling had built to send the customers to paradise, also vaporised Goa’uld weapons but it seems that slimy snake smuggled in in a poisonous plant that looked and tasted somewhat like arugula but caused extreme paranoia and they ended up wiping each other out instead. Lucky it wasn’t growing at Woodstock,” he quipped.

“And you want to send Kolya and his men there?” Lorne asked, questioning his superior’s sanity

“Yeahsureyabetcha, why not? As long as the SGC made periodic drops offs of food and we warned them not to eat the arugula-like plant because it caused paranoid delusions that caused anyone who ate it to kill each other, it would a pretty nice prison. I’ll admit it was a bit creepy, probably because of all the ghosts of peoples long dead but the Genii don’t strike me as the sensitive types. It’s better than a prison cell and no stargate, either.”

“True,” Tony agreed.

“And who knows, those cute little Furling we’ve heard so much about may even amble by and say howdie.”

Seeing the two men stared at him bemused, he sniggered. “Long story. Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?”

Tony wanted to talk about Sheppard, but O’Neil had told him not to discuss his next investigation with anyone bar Cap Cadman.

Guessing his reluctance to speak, Jack told him, “I know what I said earlier but it’s okay. I trust Lorne.”

Seeing the unspoken conversation going on, Lorne asked, “What’s going on?”

O’Neill shrugged. “Tony came to me at the briefing this morning…no it was yesterday,” he said after checking his watch. “Anyway, he pointed out to me that must prepare for the possibility that Sheppard may have had non-consensual sex during his five-plus months in captivity, especially because Lavin’s plant that makes him extremely vulnerable.

“Even without Lavin’s plant potion, rape is a common tactic used to break an enemy who’s been captured in wartime, along with physical torture, brainwashing, sleep deprivation, and starvation. It is a distinct possibility considering who took him and why. Paddington expressed the opinion that we need to be ready to treat Colonel Sheppard with kid gloves and protect him from himself and everyone else when we get him back.”

“That’s why you want to tranq him!” The penny dropped.

“Mostly to protect his privacy but also because if he was ordered to attack us then he would comply,” he said shrugging.

“We also have no idea what technology is inside the complex, but we know that the Genii have weapons. Sure, they are more WWI level compared to our firepower, but they could still kill our people, especially at close point range, which is what we are facing inside the complex.”

The Lt Colonel nodded his understanding. “Fair enough. And if what you fear is true – any of it, not just the rape, John will not want people to see him like that, especially if he is under the influence of that damned plant,” Lorne admitted remembering how fervent they had been about Lavin.

“So, Alex, what was it you wanted to talk about,” O’Neill asked the federal agent.

“Do we have a medic on one of the teams?” he asked Lorne.

The Lt Colonel thought, “I believe Lt Tierney is a medic. But why are you asking about a medic? We have Dr Beckett,” he reminded the agent.

Tony nodded. “I am aware of that. General, my strong recommendation would be that we get Tierney to check out Sheppard and that we find a doctor to do a rape kit on Colonel Sheppard if it’s required who wasn’t on Atlantis during the foothold situation.”

Lorne started. “What foothold situation?”

“What would you call it when an intruder managed to enter Atlantis by gaining control of Beckett who never should have been sent there without someone to watch his six, and said the intruder was able to learn the gate address to Atlantis? Then Elizabeth Weir effectively rewarded him by letting him stay in the city even though it was against every single security protocol for him to turn up without permission and bully his way onto the base.

And that happened before she had been infected by the damned plant of his. Once he got access to the city, he proceeded to infect the whole damned base except Colonel Sheppard because he had a cold. By which point he gained complete access to Atlantis records, and he read all the mission reports which is how he learnt about the personal shield generators.

If Sheppard hadn’t saved you all, Lavin would have had complete control over the base. We already know that he was perfectly happy to risk Ronon, Teyla, and Beckett’s lives to gain access to the plant, and he learnt about Beckett’s retrovirus gene therapy and could have potentially ended up able to operate Ancient technology like the jumpers or weapons. I’d call that a foothold situation by anyone’s standards, don’tcha think, Lt Colonel Lorne,” O’Neill asked sarcastically, “because it sure fits my definition.

Evan winced, “When you put it like that, it sounds pretty bad,” he admitted.

“How else would you describe it?” Jack demanded angrily.

“As something super embarrassing to think that we were all running around eager to do his bidding, competing with each other to win his approval. I guess we all laughed him off as a harmless con man.”

“I guess that’s why the mission report that Stargate Command received was a grossly edited version of what actually happened,” O’Neill groused.

“How do you mean, edited, Sir?”

“The version Stargate Command received had Dr Weir throwing Beckett under the Pegasus bus; the good doctor bringing him back to Atlantis without authorisation, insisting that Lavin had valuable intel to trade that made it imperative they establish diplomatic relationships with him and his planet immediately. She described Carson as absolutely smitten by Lavin and she speculated about the doctor’s sexual orientation. When she noticed that he seemed to have gained mind control over several of the Pegasus locals after his arrival she decided he was dangerous and ejected, ordering Sheppard to escort him back to his home planet.”

Watching Lorne’s look of amazed betrayal, Tony interjected, “General O’Neill only found out the extent of the situation when I showed him Colonel Sheppard’s mission report when I briefed him on a recent investigation I’ve just opened into Lucius Lavin.”

“The foothold situation or its coverup,” Lorne inquired curiously.

“Neither exactly. Lavin is a sexual predator and I wanted to get authorisation from Homeworld Command to hunt him down and charge him with at least one count of rape against a resident of Atlantis. But to be honest, I suspect it won’t be the last.”

“What makes you say that?” Jack asked him. “Intuition or evidence?”

“A bit of both. Look I have barely begun investigating but a serial sexual predator like Lavin – if he raped one person on Atlantis there will be others too,” he said an expression of deep disgust on his face.”

“That’s the second time you’ve referred to him as a sexual predator, but you admitted that there is only one accusation. That doesn’t make necessarily make him a predator, even if he was a sleazy character who makes my skin crawl.” Lorne said playing devil’s advocate – perhaps thinking that Tony had gone all First Testament on them.

“No, Colonel, I said it was the first documented case on Atlantis, but Colonel Sheppard also documented at least one case on Lucius’ home planet with one of his six wives. She admitted to him that before he had the plant, Lavin asked her to have sex with him and she refused. She said she refused him more than once but later married him and shared his bed. When the colonel interviewed her, she was ill, obviously detoxing from being cut off from the plant pheromones which in my book makes it non-consensual.

“Plus, he all but admitted that he used coercion to have sex with his wives, sometimes all six at once, although he claims he doesn’t make them do anything they don’t want to. But every rapist I’ve ever put away says the same thing. Just like every paedophile insists that they aren’t hurting the children they molest, that they love children. It’s everyone who finds paedophilia abhorrent who is the abnormal one,” he said savagely.

Lorne and Jack both looked ill. Jack also looked furious.

“I had no idea about the non-consensual sex, Alex. I would have done something, I swear,” Lorne said earnestly.

O’Neill was impatient. “Before, you said something about intuition that he might have assaulted someone else on Atlantis, he said being careful not to reveal the identity of the victim. What did you mean?”

“When you left for Balar and I was waiting for the Zephyrus to arrive, I started accessing medical records. I didn’t get far before I had to leave, but I found a suspicious death three weeks after the foothold situation that Dr Beckett ruled an accidental overdose. The victim was approximately 3 weeks pregnant when she died,” he finished.

Jack looked sick. “You think that she might have been raped, so she killed herself?”

“My gut says it’s a possibility, but I’ll need to investigate further, he said cautiously”

“You think that Beckett covered up a suicide? Why would he?” Lorne demanded

“Maybe or maybe, he was ordered to,” Tony said carefully.

“Why would Weir order the chief medical officer to cover that up?”

Tony had a few theories on that after re-reading Sheppard’s mission report as to why both individuals had a reason to cover up the whole messy affair but until he wasn’t about to articulate them. He was going to investigate just as soon as they returned to Atlantis with Colonel Sheppard.

“So, if you feel that Dr Beckett is potentially compromised how do we keep him from treating Sheppard without tipping him off that he is under suspicion? O’Neill mused.

“Look he can treat him, but I want Tierney to examine him independently and then for the forensic examination I’ll say it needs to be conducted by someone who wasn’t under Lavin’s herb during the foothold situation for it to be admissible in a court of law and I know this Carson has no memories of what happened because he wasn’t cloned at the time but it’s an incredibly messy situation that it would be better to avoid at this point.”

“But is the evidence going to get taken into a court of law?” Lorne argued.

Tony shrugged vaguely. He would speak to the general about setting up formal courts to try military and civilian law in the Pegasus galaxy but not tonight.

“Whether it does or not is not up to me, but I’m going to investigate and gather evidence that is admissible in a court of law, full stop. Maybe Dr Lam would agree to come to Atlantis to conduct the forensic exam.”

“Not Dr Keller?”

“She was on Atlantis, working under Carson when Lavin weaselled his way in here. So no, not Dr Keller, either.”

The head of Homeworld Command and the acting military CO of Atlantis nodded soberly, recognising just how much of a clusterfuck this was likely to be.

~o0o~

0230 The rescue teams attacked Kolya’s rogue militia from the three tunnels into the Mount Zenich complex, the Ancient tunnel crystal technology breaking through the twenty feet of rock like they were cutting through butter. They immediately were met with Genii who had been sound asleep and were still groggy. Throw in flashbangs and it was a simple matter to move in and deactivate the Genii’s personal shield generators. Seconds later, they ended up restrained and gagged so they couldn’t yell out. Based on the blueprints of the complex discovered in the Ancient’s underground city of Baldor, they had already earmarked a storage room where the combatants would be locked up. They would deal with the captured after completing the mission.

Even as the captives were moved into the makeshift Brig, the majority of the teams were moving like silent shadows up the numerous stairways, deliberately avoiding the transporters as being too easy to ambush. Tony, who was hanging back because his sole task was to deactivate the personal shield generators, marvelled at the ninja-like stealth with which the Atlantis troops swarmed the complex. These people, from different branches of the military from more than fifteen nations moved like they possessed a hive mind and he giggled mentally as he realised, he was comparing them to Star Trek Next Gens Borg.

As he followed Major Teldy’s all-female team up a spiral staircase, he had to give credit to the Alterans for one thing. They may have been chronically arrogant and responsible for some of the most terrible atrocities either by their action or by their lack of action across multiple galaxies, but damn they knew a thing or two about building structures that stood the test of time. Like Atlantis, the Mount Zenich complex was structurally sound. Considering how long ago it had been abandoned, it was an astonishing accomplishment of construction and engineering.

The team gained the upper floor of the complex. So far, there was no sign of Sheppard, but Tony was aware of a growing feeling of deep unease, but it seemed to grow stronger with every step he took.

The federal agent assumed it was his intuition, warning him of impending danger. But with every step he took, the more Tony realised that it felt like terrible pain. Flashing back to Chaya Star’s explanation about his Ancient abilities he grasped that Sheppard was probably broadcasting his unbearable suffering and Tony’s communication gene was receiving it. If it was, then he should be able to use it to find him. Tapping Teldy on the shoulder, he whispered that someone was in terrible distress, and he thought it was Colonel Sheppard. She gave him a sceptical look but shrugged. Stranger shit happened in Pegasus.

“Which way,” she mouthed?

He pointed down a corridor and she ordered him to check it out with Sergeant Mehra and Lt Porter while she and Capt. Lopez watched their six. As they proceeded down the corridor, he stopped outside several doors, but he knew that Sheppard wasn’t in there, although Porter and Mehra checked them out anyway. Halfway down the corridor, he came to a door with a padlock and chain, suggesting this could be it. Even with Sheppard under the effects of that damned plant, it would be stupid not to lock him up when he was supposed to be sleeping.

Tony put his hands on the door and his head flooded with images of physical and mental pain. “I think that this is it,” he whispered. Sgt Mehra wrapped a small amount of explosive around the padlock, just enough to take out the lock and chain without causing major damage or attracting unwanted attention. They retreated down the corridor a bit and ducked as Dusty detonated the charge. As soon it blew, she and Porter, were sprinting back to the door, a canister of tranquiliser ready to lob into the room. Mehra kicked the door in, Porter activated the canister and chucked it into the room as Dusty confirmed there was an occupant on blankets before quickly shutting the door.

They waited impatiently for several minutes for the tranquillizer to disperse, according to the briefing delivered by McKay. He’d developed considerable expertise with the aerosol distribution of chemical agents during the benighted attempt to turn Wraith into hybrid humans. Still, as they made their way in to check out the occupant of the room, all three of them checked their gas masks and slipped them on before entering the room. Kneeling down beside the pile of filthy old blankets, they tried to roll the man over, but he was wearing a shield. Two seconds later after Tony had deactivated it, they rolled him gently so they could see his face.

At first, Mehra and Porter didn’t recognise him, he’d not only been beaten black and blue, but his face was also swollen and distorted from what Tony thought were fractures to his cheekbone and jaw. Aside from the horrific disfigurement, the man before them was little more than skin and bones and frankly, it was a minor miracle that the poor bastard was still breathing.

“It’s him,” Mehra finally confirmed.

“He’s been badly beaten, how can you be sure of that?” Tony inquired gently.

Porter pointed to a shock of black hair that stuck up in all directions. “I’d recognise Colonel Potter’s hair anywhere,” she said, a sob in her voice.

The sergeant nodded. “Porter’s right, Agent Paddington. It is him.” She opened her mic. [Package acquired, repeat package acquired.]

Lorne’s voice replied, [Status.] [In need of Lt Tierney, Sir.] [Copy that. Dispatching.]

Knowing that there was no more to be done here, he slipped out of the room and headed to Major Teldy.

She studied him. “How is he?”

“Beaten but alive. It was no picnic,” he said bleakly.

She nodded. “Go, and deactivate, Agent Paddington. I’ll stay here and guard their six. The Captain will watch yours.”

Tony stared at the life signs monitor and listened in to the comms chatter. The main group he’d been assigned to were clearing out Genii and making their way towards a group in the chair room where fourteen people were gathered.

Nodding to Lopez and Teldy, he grinned savagely although, with his gas mask, it was difficult to tell. “Let’s go, Captain, he waved her forward and she took point.

On their way to the large room where the drone chair was located, they took out a Genii, stopping just long enough for a clean-up crew to collect him. The clean-up crew would stow, him hogtied and gagged in another storeroom on this level which had been earmarked for the task and already contained a number of his fellow rebels. Meanwhile, anyone not guarding prisoners or with Colonel Sheppard was making a beeline for the circular room. Everyone wanted to be in on the last part of this so far bloodless operation.

After everyone was gathered and wearing gas masks and protective gear, Rodney did some sort of computer hoodoo that overrode the ancient lock, and as the door started to open half a dozen flashbangs were chucked in. Overkill perhaps but it was a large room and the Genii seemed to be spaced out evenly around it. The consensus was that there were likely to be computer terminals around the room, although even with Sheppard having activated them, the Genii would have limited access to the various functions. Maybe six flashbangs might have been slightly excessive but having seen what they’d done to Col Sheppard Tony was in no mood to judge them.

As he entered the main inner chamber and caught sight of a Genii with an activated personal shield generator glowing green on his jacket, he tried to ignore his anger about the state of Col Sheppard, who no doubt faced an uphill battle to reclaim his life.

Focusing on deactivating the shield, Tony was peripherally aware that his fellow ATA gene holders were also spreading out around the room that did indeed have computer consoles space around the walls, he was unprepared for what happened. There were fourteen simultaneous bangs as the shield generators didn’t just deactivate, they shorted out causing most people to leap back in alarm while watching the Genii militia, suspicious that they had boobytrapped themselves.

After the all-clear had been given and Lorne gave the order to restrain all of the prisoners and clear the room, Jack ignored the mop-up operation completely. He strode across the room to where Tony was watching on.

Reefing off his gas mask roughly he yelled at Tony, “What the HELL was that?”

Pulling off his mask he tried to put his brain into gear. “What was what?”

“You singlehandedly deactivated all fourteen shields before anyone else could but more importantly, you fried them! Holding back on us, Agent Paddington? I do not like surprises!”

“Hey, neither do I,” he said, feeling weird. “I had no idea I could do that, whatever the hell that was. We only had one shield to practice on, how the hell was I supposed to know I could do that. Are you sure it was me?” he questioned as he felt his legs give way and everything went black.

~o0o~

At 0400 Atlantis time, most of the rescue mission participants were evacuating the planet Balar, leaving a skeleton crew of military consisting of fifteen plus a handful of civilian scientists who were keen to investigate the former Ancient complex. They had already discovered that the drone chair was almost fully armed and that it had a ZPM that was 78 per cent full which had left McKay as excited as a junkie discovering a whole year’s supply of cocaine. He and Radek were currently debating the feasibility of bringing the drone chair back to Atlantis. Plus, they had over fifty personal shield generators.

Lorne had left Major Teldy’s and Major Carrera’s team in temporary charge of Balar, promising to send reinforcements asap. The rest of the rescue mission was heading home to Atlantis with Col Sheppard. Dr Beckett was quite grave, so they knew that their CO was not in good shape. He and the medic Lt Tierney had worked to stabilise him before getting him loaded onto a stretcher and transferred to a jumper. Aside from his facial fractures, he also had cracked ribs and they’d both confirmed their worst fears, grimly informing Lorne, O’Neill, and Tony that there was evidence of sexual assault, although they refused to say more about it at that point.

Plus, Beckett and Tierney reported that Colonel Sheppard was seriously underweight, a snippet of info which at that point was hardly necessary since he looked emaciated, like someone rescued from a concentration camp. They’d discovered a plenitude of food supplies at the Mount Zenich complex. So, unless he had refused to eat, which given that he was controlled by Lavin’s plant was highly unlikely, then Kolya had been deliberately starving him. It was monstrous cruelty but unfortunately, entirely predictable behaviour for someone held captive by opposing forces. It was clear it was going to be a long road back.

Tony was pleased to hear that there had been no serious casualties on either side, apart from Sheppard of course. He knew tomorrow they would need to interview Kolya’s gang and open files on them all. He would push to collect their DNA so they could be charged for what they’d done to Col Sheppard but right now, he was anxious to get back to Tali. This was the first time she spent the night away from him since the Trust developed an unhealthy obsession with her and he hoped she was okay.

As he found a spot on one of the jumpers, he wasn’t surprised that Cadman sank down on the bench seat beside him. Ever since his dramatic collapse after apparently singlehandedly shorting out the Genii’s personal shield generators, everyone had been fussing over him, but none were quite as persistent as Laura, who said she’d promised Belle to bring him home safe.

To be honest, he felt embarrassed that he’d collapsed in such a dramatic fashion. According to Carson, his blood glucose level had dipped dangerously low, and he demanded to know when he’d last eaten. Although he admitted he had skipped lunch and dinner yesterday, he’d had a veggie omelette and fresh fruit for breakfast and was used to missing meals after so many years as a cop and a federal agent. He never had low blood glucose before this.

Truthfully, Tony was sure that it was connected with taking out the shield devices. He had no idea how he’d done it, only that he was filled with rage after he witnessed, what Colonel Sheppard had had to endure.

Somehow, the fact that he was under the influence of that damned plant and unable to resist Kolya and his men had made it that much worse. They had beaten him for no other reason than they sought revenge for him finally killing Acastus Koyla, despite the Genii trying to kill him every time they met. To beat a man who couldn’t resist was akin to the abuse of a small child who was helpless against an adult’s superior strength. Having firsthand knowledge of how terrifying, and powerless that was, had obvious stirred up some strong emotions in him.

Dr Beckett had conjectured that he had called upon a massive amount of emotional energy, which had been akin to taking a sledgehammer to attack fine porcelain. The energy expenditure had tanked his blood glucose but after downing a couple of bottles of reconstituted juice and insisting he eat a curried egg sandwich, he’d felt pretty normal. After his collapse which was too much like an attack of the vapours for Tony’s liking, everyone seemed to accept his protestation that he had no idea how he’d done what he did or that he was able to deactivate fourteen shields simultaneously. He did realise that people were eyeing him nervously and it made him feel uncomfortable.

He heard the speculation, mostly by the scientific types and he had a feeling they would want to run tests on him and conduct experiments to figure out the conundrum.

He had no intention of becoming a guinea pig – he had a lot of work to do to tie this case down solidly so there would be no question of acting illegally. The Genii would be charged with their crimes and if he could swing it, they would face justice. Plus, he had another investigation to conduct, and he was determined to make sure the victims had a chance to confront their abuser and make him pay for what he did to them. In Tony’s moral code, a serial sexual predator was only a short step up the criminal ladder from a paedophile or child abuser.

As they entered the Balaran stargate, Jack, who was also on the same jumper asked how he was doing.

Tony sighed, hating to be seen as fragile or weak. “Honestly, General, I’m fine. Could do with an hour or so of sleep but apart from that I’m good.”

O’Neill assessed him astutely before nodding. “When we get back to Atlantis, I will contact Cheyenne Mountain and request Dr Lam report to Atlantis ASAP plus I’ll send for a few dozen MPs and SFs to help guard the prisoners.”

Cadman looked curious but she knew better than to ask why Carson or Dr Keller wasn’t treating the colonel as others were listening to them talk. The extra personnel was useful though. Forty Genii prisoners were going to stretch Atlantis’ Brig beyond its limits, in terms of space and being able to guard them adequately. As the jumper slowed almost to a stop as it exited the stargate in the gate room at Atlantis, there was a collective sigh of relief to be back home again.

Their puddle jumper was the first one to arrive back from Balar, although naturally knowing that the base would be on tenterhooks, they’d already informed Atlantis of the success of the mission. Considering that it was only 0433 and dawn was still over an hour away, it was surprising to see so many people waiting to greet them. As they made their way down to the gate room from the jumper docks above, people started cheering and clapping them. The mood was celebratory and most of the first arrivals decided to hang around until Atlantis’ CO finally came home. Another jumper arrived and they too were greeted as returning heroes as the staff from the mess magically conjured up hot drinks and snacks for the returning members of the rescue mission. The mood, despite the hour, was upbeat and cheerful. Finally, the third jumper flew through the stargate, Lt Colonel Lorne at the helm of the puddle jumper, along with the rest of the members of AR-1.

His team had claimed the right to bring John Sheppard back to Atlantis and as General O’Neill announced that their CO was in this jumper, someone started playing a Johnny Cash song in his honour. People started clapping and cheering, although he was still heavily sedated. His team and Lorne were carrying him down from the docks, swaddled like a baby in soft blankets that helped hide his injuries from his people. About the only thing visible, was Sheppard’s raven hair, much longer than he normally wore it after five months as a prisoner and twice as messy as usual. Dr Beckett and Lt Tierney following in their wake, the medic clutching a back of IV fluids that they had begun to infuse after his rescue.

Even with all the cheering and clapping, Tony felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck and he felt a tingling sensation on his skin. He glanced at General O’Neill who must have sensed him because he looked at Tony inquisitively. Suddenly there was an overwhelming outpouring of emotion: joy, euphoria, love and worry which almost knocked Tony off his feet and he observed that Jack was affected too, perhaps not as much, but he looked disorientated.

Tony was trying to figure out if he was overwhelmed by the emotions of the other Lanteans when a voice cried out joyously, “My Love, you have returned to me!”

One thing Tony knew deep in his bones – the voice he heard was not human.

Chapter 10 The Aftermath

The hours following their landing had been hectic and there had been no time to sleep. No matter, they would do that later but for now, there was so much to be done. True to his word, O’Neill had been on the radio requesting that Dr Lam report to Atlantis ASAP to conduct a forensic examination, plus that they send Marine MPs and Airforce SFs with her to help guard forty Genii prisoners. That call had taken place before the mandatory debriefing session called by Ambassador AuClair but after the mandatory medical examinations of those required to attend.

Tony, who General O’Neill excused from attending the debrief when he explained that he needed to guard Colonel Sheppard until the forensic examination could take place, had banished all medical personnel. The only exceptions were two nurses who had arrived on Atlantis last year and Dr Biro, a long-time medical doctor who had been part of the initial expeditionary force. Tony had ascertained that while she was serving during the third year when Lavin gained a foothold on the base, she’d been granted a six-week leave of absence to be with her mother, who was dying. Since she was not on Atlantis during the FUBAR situation, Tony permitted her to treat Sheppard, but she had explicit ordered not to destroy any forensic evidence.

This stance had not gone down well with the CMO or its former CMO. Keller and Beckett had tried to strongarm their way around him, demanding to know under whose authority he was acting. Tony showed them his credentials, AFOSI, FBI, then he presented his latest credentials handed to him by Jack on Midway II, a badge and ID from MI6 and another set from Interpol. Dr Keller tried to bluff her way past. Tony wasn’t sure if it was because she had something to hide or just felt like her position as the chief medical officer gave her carte blanche to do as she fucking-well pleased.

Sighing, he blocked her entry into Shepard’s room, and withdraw his trump cards. One was a letter from the Head of Homeworld Command and the second one was from the POTUS stating he had their approval to act as he saw fit to protect Atlantis or anyone on it.”

Keller stared at him, shocked. “Who are you?” she demanded.

“I’m sorry, I thought we’d already met. I am Alexander Paddington. Born in the UK, brought up in Singapore and then later moved to the USA. I’m a law enforcement professional who believes in law and order. I believe in seeking justice for the victims of egregious crimes, and I want those who committed them to receive justice. Justice – not revenge and I will arrest anyone who stands in the way of that goal. All of the way up the chain of command, including the CMO, CSO, the Commander or the Commanding Officer on Atlantis if that’s what I have to protect the victims of crime,” he told her resolutely.

“But he’s my patient,” she whined, and Tony had a flashback to Abby Sciuto who had once been a hardcore badass independent woman when they first met before devolving into a whiney needy baby as she aged. He half expected Keller to stamp her pretty little foot, but he was immune to that bullshit emotional manipulation – thanks Abs!

“He hasn’t been anyone’s patient for the last five months, Doctor. At this point, he is Dr Biro’s patient.”

“But she isn’t as qualified to treat him as Carson and I am,” she argued with him petulantly.

“Technically, she’s more qualified at this point to treat him because she is not compromised when it comes to the collection of evidence,” he told her firmly. “If you touch Colonel Sheppard, run, or even just review his pathology, you will taint it and that could allow the people who did this to him to escape justice. If that were to happen, I will make it my mission in life to see that your license to practice medicine is revoked, Dr Keller,” he warned her grimly.

“I’m the CMO,” she seethed. “In medical matters, I can override even Colonel Lorne and Ambassador Au Clair, and this is a most decidedly a medical matter. You can’t threaten me,”

“Yes, he can, when it comes to anything regarding criminal matters, aside from which, I will remove you from your position if you do not immediately follow his order, Dr Keller,” Carolyn Lam, Chief Medical Officer of Stargate Command and Jennifer’s boss, told her coldly.

Carson tried to defuse the tense situation by stepping in. “Carolyn, how lovely to see you again, it’s been too long, Lass.” he prattled, reminding Tony of Donald Mallard.

Dr Lam nodded. “It’s good to see you too, Carson. Now if everyone will excuse us, I must see to my patient.”

Beckett nodded reluctantly. “This forensic examination – is this about what we found on Balar?

Tony stared at him steadily, “It is a part of it.”

And Jennifer and I cannot be a part of it because of our dealings with the Genii?”

Tony shrugged, “Let’s just say you are compromised and leave it at that, Dr Beckett. In a court of law, your testimony would probably not be considered unbiased.”

Keller demanded to know what he meant. “It’s not like anyone will stand trial,” she sneered at him, and he had a brief memory of Charles “Chuck” Sterling and he wondered if they were cousins.

Dr Lam grew impatient. “Enough! There is an injured man in there who requires our help. Do not forget your oaths, doctors. First, do no harm, and right now with your petty demands to help or be informed of things that are above your paygrade, you are harming Colonel Sheppard. Now cease and desist or I will relieve you both of your positions.

Lam waited a beat, before hammering home her message. “ I noted there are still many people waiting to have their post-mission medical exams. Why are you still arguing about something that is none of your business?” she demanded.

Beckett looked embarrassed. “My deepest apologies, Lass.” He departed swiftly.

Atlantis’ CMO gave Tony a dirty look and stomped off, muttering dire comments under her breath. More shades of Abby when she failed to get her way, Tony thought cynically.

Shaking her head at Keller’s antics, she said, “I think Jennifer must have been spending far too much time with Rodney McKay. She seems to have been infected by his delusions of grandeur,” she said rhetorically.

Tony choked back a snort. Or perhaps she always had those tendencies and Tony’s questioning her authority just brought them to the surface. He’d always had a gift for pissing people off.

Lam smiled at him warmly. “Alex, it is good to see you. How are you and Belle settling in?”

Before they came to Atlantis, he had become friendly with the CMO, who like a lot of people at Cheyenne Mountain became entranced by Belle Paddington, finding her multilingual abilities to be impressive in one so young. She often chatted away to Carolyn in the commissary in French. Sometimes when he was around, Dr Jackson would join in the fun although they would frequently talk in Italian too.

“Getting there, Cary. Lots to adapt to, ya know but at least there are no Trust members here, so that’s a bonus,” he joked, grinning at her.

“No, just rogue Genii and rampaging chief medical officers,” Lam quipped before becoming serious. “Dr Keller doesn’t like you, Alex.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” he smirked at her before becoming professional. “Yes, you’re right, Cary. It’s one of the hazards of being a cop and having to investigate people’s personal lives,” he said cryptically.

“Yes, well that’s unfortunate but clearly, ruffling some feathers was worth it. Congratulations Special Agent Paddington, you not only found John, but I understand you also helped rescue him. Thank you for your efforts; he is a good man. Now can you give me a brief sitrep before we go in there?”

So, Tony told her very succinctly what they were looking at. Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head when he told her about the foothold situation – she hadn’t a clue.

“How come this is the first time I’ve heard about this? A whole base compromised bar, Sheppard! I’m the CMO of Stargate Command, why was I never notified.” She huffed, not attempting to hide her ire.

“Because the then Commander, Dr Weir covered it up. She altered the mission reports and downplayed the whole thing. Blamed Carson for being infected and dragging Lavin back to Atlantis even though he was already under the drug’s influence, and he shouldn’t have been sent off on his own like that to Lavin’s planet.

She implied in the report that Carson fell in love with him. Anyway, Weir claimed it was only two Pegasus individuals on base that were compromised, and she noticed their behaviour, searched his room, and discovered his potion. She confiscated it and kicked him off Atlantis.”

“Why did she do that, and how did it stay such a well-guarded secret? Was the whole base complicit in the coverup?”

“Why? Well…l think she knew that if the IOA learnt about a full-scale foothold situation, they’d have the smoking gun they could use to get rid of her. She had barely survived her handling of the debacle to turn a shipload of Wraiths into hybrid humans. She probably told herself that if they heard about the foothold situation and the security risk that she left to wander around the Pegasus galaxy, she was toast.

“It was ironic that despite her scathing criticism of the military over the years when she worked as a negotiator, she had come to like being in charge. She probably believed she was smarter because she was an academic but, in the end, I think she fell into the trap, like so many before her; she became an autocrat.”

“Okay, but what about the fact that the whole base was compromised? How did that remain secret? You know that the military personnel and scientists like to gossip, just like the rest of us. How could it not leak out?”

Tony shook his head. “Shame, hubris and embarrassment, Cary. The one victim who talked to me about it was deeply ashamed that she’d succumbed – felt that as a warrior who’d trained for a lifetime to defend her people against their enemies that she failed. I suspect the scientists who scored a gig here, felt that their superior intellect should have been sufficient to them not submitting to a potion brewed by an evil grifter from a pretty primitive society.” He shrugged and shook his head,

“In part, fate came along and slapped them on the cheek, made them realise they aren’t such hotshots as they like to imagine – that the whole city could be brought to its knees because of a plant. A painful lesson that they’d rather not even think about, so they all conveniently don’t think ever about it,” he said shrewdly.

Moving on he explained that they needed to document the crimes carried out against Colonel Sheppard and he wanted the forensic exam carried out here before they shipped him back to Earth.

“I’m surprised that the plan is to send him back home. I was willing to pull rank to get him back to my infirmary, considering the various medical challenges not to mention the psychological ones he’s faced with. I was going to insist that he needed specialised care back on Earth.”

“The Lantean’s probably don’t want him to go, and you can kind of understand it, they just got him back. But even knowing minimal information about him, I am pretty confident that if he were of sound mind, he would not want to face a long and painful recuperation here. As CO, even if it were just the detoxing from Lavin’s herb, he would not wish to be so vulnerable. If Atlantis expedition members feel ashamed and most were only addicted for a couple of days, then he will feel like shit, especially with the non-consensual sex.”

Lam nodded sorrowfully. “Plus, the fact he’s malnourished, he’s going to need very specialised medical care to make sure we don’t trigger refeeding syndrome which can be fatal.”

Tony warned her, “Expect to receive strong opposition from Dr Keller and Dr McKay and probably Dex and Teyla but Colonel Lorne and General O’Neill support letting him recover in privacy back in your tender ministrations.”

“Okay, let’s do the examination. Are you going to be present?”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, I’m going document it all, he said producing a camera and a mini voice recorder.”

“Is this your first rape kit, Alex?” she asked as they stepped into the room with Dr Biro.

“Unfortunately, I have worked as a Vice cop, so no, I’ve done quite a few, although mostly on males. What about you?”

“Sadly, I’d done a handful, but that is still too many,” she said wistfully. “Okay let’s get started, she said, looking at her two companions steadily.

~o0o~

Several hours later, Dr Lam had written up her report of her initial findings and signed off on the chain of evidence which she would take back with her to have analysed on Earth. They were trying to protect the colonel’s privacy as much as possible by not processing any of the evidence gathered by the rape kit on Atlantis. There was a palpable atmosphere of mutiny in the air at the news that Sheppard was being transferred back to Earth to receive specialised medical treatment. No one mentioned the psychological aspects of his treatment, focusing instead on the very real complexities of treating his state of starvation and the need for cranio-maxillofacial reconstruction surgery.

She was presenting her findings to Tony, General O’Neill, and Lt Colonel Lorne and they were all sickened by the litany of physical abuse. Carolyn reported that he showed signs of fractures that had been left to mend as best they could over the nearly six months it took to find him. An assessment would need to be made once he was medically stable, as to whether rebreak and set the bones to correct their alignment but that was still a long way down the track. What had shaken them all was her report that in addition to the confirmed non-consensual sex there were signs of genital mutilation, and older and more fresh anal tearing, pointing to him being violently raped, even though he couldn’t resist due to Lavin’s herb. Carolyn said that he would require reconstructive surgery asap.

Tony was fairly sure that that particular rage crime pointed to someone with a great deal of anger and rage, which he expressed to the others.

Carolyn agreed. “I’m no profiler but I have to agree that it was carried out by someone very dangerous.”

The degree of frenzy lead the former cop to theorise that it had been Porteus Kolya, bent on revenge for his uncle’s death who inflicted that degree of damage on Sheppard, and he felt ill despite how much depravity he’d witnessed while working as a Vice cop in Philly all those years ago. It was all he could do not to race off and divest himself of his meagre breakfast after Carolyn had pointed out in a cold clinical manner (no doubt her way of coping) that only the fact that he was barely receiving food had saved him from developing an infection. Worst case scenario, she informed them gravely, that he could be looking at a temporary colostomy.

As she made that sobering statement, Dex burst into the conference room, distraught. “McKay says you are sending Sheppard back to Earth. Is that true?”

O’Neill looked stern and remote as Lorne told his AR-1 team member. “Ronon, we’ll talk about it later.”

“Keller says that he should stay here – this is where he belongs, that we can take care of our own,” the Satedan said, ignoring them, visibly agitated. Since Ronon was not one to display his emotions easily, they were wary and trod lightly.

Tony put a hand on his shoulder. “Col Shepard is facing months of treatment and recovery, Ronon. Earth has medical specialists, particularly in treating people who have been starved. On Earth after a terrible worldwide war where many, many thousands of prisoners were starved to death. When they liberated the ones who were still clinging to life, the soldiers gave them food and water, believing they were helping them, but far too many of them died from something called refeeding syndrome.” He looked at Dr Lam.

She spoke firmly, “We’ve learnt the hard way how dangerous it was to resume eating again after being clinically malnourished and on Earth we have doctors who specialise in treating it. No one here on Atlantis has first-hand experience,” she explained truthfully. “Agent Paddington is correct, we need to manage this back home where we are better equipped to deal with it,” Carolyn said with conviction since it was the truth. Just not the whole truth.

Dex shook his head in distress, “No, you don’t understand. I agree with you. My people have also seen this thing you speak of – this refeeding syndrome. Although among our people it was called Starvation Sickness. Even in our hospitals with doctors, many of those afflicted could not be saved. Sheppard should go back to Earth to recover. He should not stay here.” He seemed to be summoning up the courage to say something.

Finally, he sighed gruffly. “When I was addicted to Wraith enzyme and got turned, detoxing was the second-worst experience of my life and letting my friends see me like that made me feel even worse. John is a warrior, he would not want his people to see him so vulnerable. Do not listen to Rodney or Jennifer, they do not understand warriors,” he stated with world-weary conviction. Conviction earned by bitter experience.

O’Neill looked at the Satedan approvingly. “Don’t worry, Dr Lam agrees with us and as chief medical officer of Stargate Command, the call is hers. He Is going back to Earth because Sheppard needs privacy to fall apart, not feel like he must put on a brave face for his people. I was a prisoner, Specialist Dex. For four months and it took a long time to get my head on straight. If I’d had to be a commander to my people, I don’t think I could have done it.”

Ronon nodded looking much calmer. He began to rise but hesitated and sat down again, looking the three men in the eyes before asking, “The Genii…did they violate Sheppard?”

Lorne calmly looked him in the eyes. “Ronon, you must know that we cannot confirm or deny that. To do otherwise would be a grave invasion of Col Sheppard’s privacy.”

He nodded, “It’s just…oh forget it.”

Always curious, Tony asked him, “Is there a specific reason why you would ask us that?”

Ronon looked troubled. “Among my people, there had long been stories of what happened to our soldiers when they fought battles against the Genii and were captured. They were brutal captors and there were rumours of the most-evil violations: men, women it did not matter to the Genii, so the stories said. Some Satedans said that those violated rarely recovered; many chose to kill themself because they could not bear to live with the memories of what had been done to them.”

Lorne looked stunned by the information before shaking his head in disbelief. “If only we’d found you before we visited the Genii world looking to trade, believing them were a simple agrarian society, our lives would have been a lot less complicated, Dex.”

Tony was disturbed by what Ronon had told them, not just because it was horrific, if true. But regarding this instance, he realised that if they turned the rogue militia over to the Genii for punishment, they were not likely to see what they’d done to Sheppard as a heinous act. By the same token, should they try the men by an interplanetary tribunal and the Genii presided over it, they would fail to treat the crimes of torture and abuse as abhorrent. It was good to have the background, but it was not encouraging news.

“Sometimes I wonder who is a worse enemy, the Wraith or the Genii,” Lorne mused. After all, the Genii are human, the Wraith is half giant-bug.

It was a valid point, but no one took up the debate. Dex stood up to go, As he reached the door he whirled around. “I want to go with Sheppard. I want to be there to support him as he detoxes from that plant.”

Lorne looked helplessly at Jack and Tony. They stayed silent.

“Ronon, you agreed that the colonel needs to be able to fall apart without his people seeing him as weak,” Lorne reasoned with him.

“Yes, I did, but I know that he was there for me when I was doing frozen chicken. He is my brother warrior, and he has saved my life as I have saved his. We are family.”

Lorne glanced at the general who couldn’t help thinking about his old teammate Maj Charles Kowalski when he was facing death after a Goa’uld took over his body and they were planning to remove it. As much as Kowalski hated seeming weak before Jack, he also longed for his support.

Jack gave a nod. “Okay, this is how it’s gonna play out, Specialist Dex. You can be there when he wakes up but if he gets too distressed or he wants you to leave, then that’s what will happen. As a survivor of torture, I speak from experience when I say it’s important that survivors have control over their environment. So, are we agreed?”

Perhaps it was Jack’s revelation he’d been tortured, which gained the Satedan’s respect. Ronon stood up ramrod straight, almost at attention, before slowly bowing his head towards his chest. Tony surmised it was the Satedan equivalent to a salute. “I, Specialist Ronon Dex agree to this condition,” he said formally before spinning on his heels and heading for the door.

This time he exited the room leaving some very thoughtful men in his wake.

~o0o~

After Ronon’s departure, Jack ran his hand through his hair. “Okay, I did not see that coming. But it begs the question, what are we going to do about our prisoners?”

Lorne shook his head and said, “I almost wish that we didn’t have such a clean rescue of the Colonel. With what Dr Lam has reported and what we learnt from Ronon just now, I wish they’d resisted, and we wiped them out.”

Dr Lam stood up preparing to leave. “No, you don’t. If any of your people had been injured or killed, you would be feeling guilty about it,” she said as she walked out. “I need to get back and get John ready to be transferred to earth, Gentlemen.”

As she left, Jack groaned. “Maybe we should just zat them,” he said hopefully.”

Lorne sniggered. “That would certainly be easier.”

Tony was feeling ill at the depravity of the rogue Genii but perhaps their actions weren’t so different to the rest of the Genii psyche as they had believed. “They committed heinous crimes – there should be consequences. One of the purposes of having justice and punishment of the guilty is to serve as a deterrent to others who might be contemplating analogous crimes against humanity. Zatting them all might be clean, quick, and easy but it wouldn’t deter others. Justice needs to be seen to be done and stop pulling faces at me – you know I’m right.”

The general huffed. “So, what would you have us do?”

“They should be judged for their actions. We need to set up an interplanetary tribunal. We have Athosians, Todraeyans, Balarans, The Travellers plus the others from the interplanetary tribunal. We need to get someone with a legal background out to Atlantis to pull it all together, to codify crimes and sentences but that will probably be a long-term project. Maybe it isn’t practical for us to have it in place in time to charge Kolya’s men, maybe we need to try them under US military law and aim to get an interplanetary system of justice up and running for the future. I don’t know. This is way outside of my bailiwick, General.”

Lorne looked at him shrewdly, “Did you have anyone in mind, Agent Paddington?”

“Long term, a former ADA turned federal agent, Aaron Hotchner who is currently in WitSec because of threats against his 14-year-old son, Jack Hotchner. In the short to medium term, I think we should approach a retired Rear Admiral who was the Judge Advocate General. A.J. Chegwidden is currently working as a high-powered criminal lawyer. He has massive experience in military and civilian courts and as a former Navy SEAL he has the necessary security clearance to be read in on the Stargate Program ASAP.”

Jack considered the situation. “Okay, I’ll send Paul back with Sheppard and Dr Lam. He can check out Chegwidden and if it is all okay then I’ll go back and pitch it to the White House. In the meantime, what are we going to do with them? I’m not sure we have space on Atlantis. I guess we could send some back to Cheyenne Mountain.”

“There are the prisons on Balar. Novo claims there are three on the planet,” Tony suggested. “My recommendation would be to split them up. We do need to interview them, which is going to be a mammoth task and it will be difficult to do that if they are back on Earth. We need to find out if they told anyone else about that damned plant. If anyone figures out how to weaponize it to infect mass populations, it would be a total shit storm. We are talking Zombie Apocalypse except that the victims would be acting like they were hyped up on cocaine, guys. Zombies freak me out, giggling want to please the aggressor zombies are just plain creepy.”

Jack said, “Yeah, I’ll second that. Okay, so finding out if any of them spoke to others about that fucking herb must be, along with locating Lucius Lavin our priority if….”

He stopped mid-train, appearing deep in thought. Finally, he looked around the room. “I just had a thought,” he announced as Tony and Lorne waited.

“Can we just put Kostya’s people on ice?”

Lorne looked confused. “I thought that’s what we agreed to do, aside from interrogating them until we figure out how to try them for their crimes.”

Tony seeing the implacable expression on the general’s face, had an idea where Jack was headed.”

“I think the general was being literal, as in freezing them?”

Jack gave a feral grin, “Exactly! No need for deploying assets to guard them. Don’t have to feed or water them.”

It was an interesting suggestion but as the sole law enforcement officer in the room, he wondered if it was legal. And even if it was technically within the law because the law hadn’t taken into consideration the technology to keep people in stasis. But was it ethical? Tempting as it was to treat prisoners who you believed had committed heinous crimes as subhuman, then ultimately it only came back to bite you on your ass. It was used as a justification for committing even worse crimes because perpetrators knew if they were caught, they could expect no civility. As much as punishments were designed to deter others from committing crimes, fair treatment when detained and charged with crimes should incentivize individuals to surrender or submit to incarceration.

“I’m not sure about the ethics of freezing human prisoners. I’d worry about the precedent that might set,” he told them firmly.

Lorne shrugged. “General O’Neill has been frozen and thawed, so has Carson without coming to any harm. Plus, Old Doctor Weir was frozen for 10,000 years. Colonel Sheppard’s freezing for eight hundred-odd years when he was caught in a solar flare was a mere bagatelle compared to her time as a popsicle. So, if our people have been frozen and were fine, what’s the problem with it?”

Alex squirmed in his seat, “It just feels hinky to me. I think you need to get legal advice before proceeding. Proper legal advice, from a real lawyer. It’s one thing to do it to save a life or if a person willingly agrees to it, but it feels like a different kettle of fish when they are prisoners.”

Lorne stood up, “Well if you excuse me, General O’Neill, Ambassador AuClair is requesting an update from me.”

After he departed, Tony stared at Jack. “Okay, who’s gonna address the massive elephant in the room, General, because I promised my daughter that she and I would go to the mess for lunch?”

“Elephant in the room? Well shit…I guess I need to get my eyes checked,” Jack said innocently.

“You telling me that when Colonel Sheppard arrived back on Atlantis you weren’t hit with a tsunami load of emotions like crazy euphoria, love, and joy? Not to mention enough free love to deplete big pharma’s supply of oxytocin. Are you saying you didn’t notice it and it didn’t almost knock you off your feet? You didn’t hear a decidedly not-humanoid voice speaking to Colonel Sheppard.

“Ah, that honking big elephant. I guess I was just hoping it was mass euphoria from everyone happy to see him come back after 5 months fearing he was dead,” he conceded.

“And how do you explain the female voice that told him, ‘My Love, you have returned to me,’” he demanded.

“I just heard a bunch of gibberish, I assumed it was Czech or some other language I don’t understand,” Jack admitted sheepishly.

Tony realised his mistake and he jumped up and began to pace the room. He really should have ignored the freakin huge pachyderm that was sitting in the corner. What had he done? He’d just painted a massive target on his back and further endangered Tali. Fuck! He was such an idiot!

He felt like he was having a heart attack, couldn’t get his breath and felt lightheaded. Belatedly he realised he was having a massive panic attack but couldn’t seem to get it under control. As O’Neill was calling Dr Lam to attend, he managed to gasp out, “Call Dr O’Shea.”

~o0o~

Hours later he woke up in his quarters. Captain Cadman sitting on a chair working off a tablet.

Tony groaned before remembering how he ended up in bed. He’d had a panic attack while talking with the Head of Homeworld Command because he’d effectively outed himself to him. Too late he’d realised that the language he’d heard was not English as he’d assumed or even one of the other Terrestrial languages he spoke – it was Alteran.

He was in deep shit. Could he find some way to talk himself out of this disaster? The last thing he wished to do was to end up as some lab rat or worse, see Tali spend her life like a scientific curiosity. What the fuck had he done?

When O’Shea had been unable to talk him down, his terror overwhelming him at the thought of how stupidly he’d doomed his daughter, Carolyn, who thankfully hadn’t left for Stargate Command had conferred with Aoife. They had decided the best thing to do was to sedate him with a short-acting agent combined with a muscle relaxant to help him breathe. As he felt the relief of finally managing to take a breath again, he managed to repeat over and over before unconsciousness pulled him into its dark embrace, “Tali,” as Aoife told him she was okay.

Laura smiled at him. “Hey, I guess you needed to sleep.”

Wanting to crawl under the covers in embarrassment, he shrugged awkwardly. “Where’s Belle? Is she alright?

“Belle is fine. General O’Neill said you had promised to eat lunch with her, so he was going to fill in for you and tell her you needed to sleep since you were up all night catching the bad guys. He and Cassie took her to lunch and now she and Kazumi are helping Cassie set up the classroom for school next week. I’ll go get her in a minute. The general wanted a quick word before you woke up.

‘Oh yeah, I bet he does!’ Tony thought grimly.

As he waited for O’Neill to arrive, Laura handed him a glass of water. “PTSD sucks,” she began, making conversation. “Still, it’s pretty common for law enforcement and the military.”

Tony’s grunt was noncommittal. “His panic attacks went way back before he was a cop, but that was something he’d only shared with Dr O’Shea. He was glad that they’d brought him back to his quarters to sleep it off. He would have felt a thousand times worse to come around in Dr Keller’s infirmary. Pretty sure he could thank his psychologist for that, just like she’d dropped everything and come running to help him the night he’d told Tali about the dinner party on the MCRT that he had been excluded from.

As he climbed out of bed, slipping on his shoes before heading into the living area, sinking into his sofa, he thought about her kindness and care. If he were back on Earth, he would send her a massive bouquet of flowers to thank her but that wasn’t an option here on Atlantis. He’d have to think a bit more creatively – that’s if he didn’t end up as some lab rat somewhere off the grid, he thought pessimistically.

When General O’Neill arrived, the major slipped out, promising to go and locate his daughter and bring her home. It never ceased to amaze him how protective he felt over Tali. He had honestly believed he was incapable of being a good parent because of his abusive childhood but it seemed that he had been wrong. Of course, it had only been a couple of years – he had a long road ahead before he could go patting himself on the back for his parenting abilities. That’s if they didn’t end up as science specimens somewhere because of his impetus actions.

He was expecting that Jack would launch into a full-scale interrogation, but he seemed to be treating Tony with kid gloves. He talked about how he and Cassie had taken Belle to lunch. He told him what she ate and how much she was looking forward to going to school – that she wanted to build a volcano. Tony couldn’t help grinning at that. She had been watching some old sitcom one day when she had the flu and there had been a volcano that a kid had built that had exploded goop over everyone there. She thought it was fun and wanted to do it too, but Tony had put her off, saying she could do it when she went to big school. It was clear that Tali hadn’t forgotten!

Then he moved on to Tony’s panic attack, asking him how he was feeling.

He shrugged feeling awkward. “I’m fine,” he replied, unconsciously rubbing his chest.

Jack noticed but didn’t call him out. “The docs said it was bad because you have scarred lungs. I guess I glossed over that detail. I figured if you qualified for field status it was a non-event. I realised that we should have got Sam or Vala to heal you with the Goa’uld healing device before you came to Atlantis. I’ll see if one of them to swing by asap and fix your lungs up,” he apologised sheepishly.

He cleared his throat and said, “Err I suppose we need to have the conversation about what brought on your panic attack. You said the voice you heard was non-human? What language was it speaking cuz I know you speak languages I don’t.”

Tony tried to stay calm, taking deep breaths, “I assumed it was English – it sounded like English, but you said it was gibberish, so I don’t know.”

“You don’t know but you have a suspicion,” O’Neill countered gently.

Seeing his guileless I have no idea what you’re talking about look, Jack ran his hand through his short grey hair and said, “Fer cryin out loud, cut me some slack here, Alex. Dr Lam and Dr O’Shea have threatened me with dire psychological and medical examinations if I upset you.”

Tony stared at him evenly.

“Caro, who I’ve known for years, has access to honking big needles and just like her Napoleonic powermonger of a predecessor, she’s not afraid to use them, he grumbled. “So please don’t get upset, but tell me what was so bad it triggered a panic attack?”

As Tony was figuring out how the hell. he was going to talk him out of this fuckup, a klaxon began blaring out a warning followed by Henri AuClair announcing over the PA, “Warning. Unauthorised wormhole. An alien entity has breached the shield, Warning, Alien entity on Atlantis.”

Well, shit, this can’t be good, Tony thought before wondering where his daughter was. Had he made the biggest mistake of his life by bringing her to Atlantis?

The End of Part II

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