Fanfiction: Goddesses - Part III

[rachel500]

For disclaimers and author's note see Part I.

 

Part III: Past Corrections

Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak and closed it again. Her hand crept to her throat. ‘Are you certain?’ She managed eventually.

‘Yes.’ Sam felt her knees tremble and she searched for the chair behind her. She sat down heavily. She’d just destroyed Atlantis. There were over two hundred personnel in the expedition…all gone because of her; she had pressed the button.

‘There has to be some mistake.’ Elizabeth grabbed the laptop from Sam’s numb fingers and looked uncomprehendingly at the screen, at the squiggly white line creeping towards the Atlantis system. She shoved the laptop on the console and whirled back to Sam. ‘We have to warn them.’

Sam shook her head. ‘The long range communications array here is completely ruined.’ She ran a hand through her shaggy blond hair, her mind already turning to the problem, running through options and discarding them. ‘We can’t even contact them through the Stargate; the anomaly will still be causing issues with connecting a stable wormhole.’ Her sad eyes met Elizabeth’s. ‘I’m sorry.’

Elizabeth felt her throat close up. Atlantis; John, Teyla, Rodney, Carson, Ronon and so many others. They would all be destroyed. Her chest constricted; her head pounded. ‘I need some air.’ She muttered before she all but ran from the room, down through the corridors, past the celebrating Amerans. Her feet found their way through the familiar yet different passageways until she reached the operations room and found her way out to the balcony. She collapsed against the railing; the wind whipped her hair around her face as she gasped in lungful after lungful of air. Thoughts of Atlantis and her team rampaged through her mind, collided into each other, half-finished and chaotic…

Her first meeting with John in Antarctica; the memory of him sitting in the chair, his ability to use the Ancient technology as natural to him as breathing and whose talent as a military leader was developing all the time…who had tamed Ronon, a tough, relentless warrior who would follow John anywhere…

Teyla; the beautiful Athosian, a warrior princess with a pure heart and fellow leader, someone who understood the challenges of command and leading men; dealing with the boys and Rodney…

The thought of the scientist made the breath catch in her throat and she clasped her hand over her mouth. Rodney with all his quirks and foibles but who had so much courage and deserved his self-proclaimed status as a genius…but so too was Zelenka…and Carson…

A sob escaped her at the thought of the gentle Scot who kept them all patched up and sane. The friend who had reached out to her in her depression when the Ancients had briefly reclaimed Atlantis and dragged her out to socialise with the others…

All would be gone when the anomaly reached Atlantis.

Her legs wouldn’t hold her any longer and she sagged to the floor. She rested her back against the railing and stared up at the night sky through blurred vision. Her hands swiped at her wet cheeks. She was barely aware of the door opening and Sam walking over to her, sitting beside her, until the other woman spoke her name. She shifted her head and looked at the devastated blonde. Her hand groped outward and a moment later it was clasped warmly.

‘I’m so sorry.’ Sam said softly, her lip trembled slightly giving away her own tumultuous emotions.

Elizabeth shook her head and brushed the back of her free hand beneath her nose. ‘This isn’t your fault.’ Her fingers tightened on Sam’s hand. ‘You couldn’t have known.’ She sniffed as a thought occurred to her. ‘Maybe they won’t be destroyed.’ She turned eagerly to Sam. ‘They’ll be able to spot the anomaly. The long range sensors are working perfectly with three ZPMs.’

‘Maybe.’ Sam suggested hopefully.

‘And Rodney’s just as smart as you.’ Elizabeth continued blithely.

Sam gave a half-smile but nodded. ‘He is. He’ll be able to come up with a plan.’ She sighed. ‘If they tried ours with three ZPMs it should work. We just didn’t have enough power.’ The guilt returned edging her tone. ‘I should have run more simulations before we tried it.’ She muttered. Her eyes searched the sky as though the stars would provide an answer to assuage the nagging shame that filled every pore.

‘It’s a miracle it worked at all.’ Elizabeth assured her. ‘You were barely able to make the shield modifications in time.’

Sam’s head snapped up; her eyes wide with startled realisation. ‘That’s it.’

‘What?’ Elizabeth asked seeing the excitement race across Sam’s delicate features.

‘Time.’ Sam turned to her enthusiastically. ‘Didn’t Janus say he had gone to the future and seen what would happen with the anomaly? How it destroyed Amera so he returned to the past to fix it.’

‘Yes.’ Elizabeth agreed hesitantly. She had no idea where Sam was going with her comments.

‘So if he was able to travel in time he had to have a time machine here.’ Sam pointed at the Citadel behind him.

‘A time machine.’ Elizabeth repeated.

‘A time machine.’ Sam confirmed excitedly. ‘If we can use it…’

‘We can go back in time.’ Elizabeth began to smile and she couldn’t resist reaching over and hugging the military officer who hugged her back just as forcefully. Elizabeth pulled away to grin at her. ‘We can stop any of this from happening.’

Sam’s face sobered and she shifted away from Elizabeth. ‘Well, not exactly.’

‘Not exactly?’ Elizabeth questioned.

‘We have to be careful not to disturb too much of the causality otherwise we might do more harm to the timeline than good.’ Sam said firmly. Her fingers tapped restlessly on her thigh. ‘We have to consider what the best plan is.’

‘OK.’ Elizabeth agreed readily. ‘As long as we save Atlantis.’

Sam nodded and stood up. She reached down with a hand and Elizabeth grasped it gratefully as Sam pulled her to her feet.

‘First,’ Sam said with a wry smile, ‘we have to find the time machine.’

o-O-o

In the end, finding the time machine wasn’t as difficult as they had anticipated; the jumper bay was almost completely empty. There were three jumpers in total left in the bay. One was completely non-functional; the second was as damaged as their own which remained outside the Stargate and the third…Sam recognised the modifications immediately.

‘This is it.’ She said confidently as she strode into the machine.

Elizabeth took in the central console in the back of the jumper. ‘Is that…?’

‘The device that allows time travel.’ Sam nodded. She was already trying to power the jumper up; accessing control panels and the internal crystals of the machine. ‘We don’t really understand how it works yet. The project at Area 51 hasn’t managed to do anything more than figure out some of the command pathways.’

‘So we’re not going to be able to use it?’ Elizabeth asked tentatively.

‘Well, we don’t have to understand it to use it.’ Sam pointed out as she dug into her retrieved backpack and brought out her laptop. She started to connect it to the jumper. ‘Apparently we already have used it successfully in the past.’

‘Huh?’ Elizabeth asked as she sat down on a bench and watched Sam work.

‘The ZPM we sent Atlantis.’ Sam muttered. ‘We used the time machine we found in the Milky Way galaxy to get it.’

Elizabeth frowned in confusion as she rolled her tensed shoulders. ‘I thought it was found on a dig in Egypt?’

‘It was,’ Sam confirmed, ‘along with a video recorder.’

‘A video recorder?’ Elizabeth gave a sharp laugh. ‘You’re kidding.’

‘Nope.’ Sam said as she examined one of the flat clear panels. ‘Supposedly we – I mean, SG1 – went back in time, found the ZPM in Ancient Egypt and left it in a location where Daniel knew there would be a dig.’

‘Wow.’ Elizabeth murmured.

‘Well, it wasn’t us, really.’ Sam said gesturing with a screwdriver. ‘Because we went to the past and changed the timeline so the ZPM would be found, we didn’t actually have to go to the past.’

‘That’s confusing.’ Elizabeth said crossing her arms.

‘Can you pass me the cable?’ Sam pointed to the one she wanted and Elizabeth reached across to hand it to her. ‘It’s not really anymore confusing than your own trip to the past.’ She said returning to their conversation.

‘I guess not.’ Elizabeth said. ‘At least you didn’t meet your past self.’

‘Just saw them on video.’ Sam said lightly. She looked over at Elizabeth. ‘That was pretty weird. I can’t imagine actually seeing myself in person, watching myself…uh…’

‘Die?’ Elizabeth suggested dryly. ‘It was…’ she searched for a word to describe the experience and settled for the one Sam had used; ‘weird.’

‘Anyway,’ Sam said, ‘because of the video I know we managed to get the time machine to work.’

‘Which is why you think we should be able to use this time machine.’ Elizabeth concluded.

‘I’m just hoping it will work for someone who has the gene artificially.’ Sam said. ‘It was General O’Neill who operated the time machine in the other trip.’ She sighed and looked at Elizabeth. ‘I’m going to need to look at the other jumpers and see if I can find some replacement parts for this one otherwise we’re not going anywhere.’

‘How long do you think it will take you to get it operational?’ Elizabeth asked.

Sam bit her lip and hooked her hands into her pockets. ‘A couple of days.’

‘But Atlantis will have been destroyed by then.’ Elizabeth protested.

‘It doesn’t matter.’ Sam said.

‘Doesn’t matter?’ Elizabeth’s voice rose in the small compartment.

‘Time machine.’ Sam said pointedly gesturing around them. ‘Even if it takes us a week we can still go back in time and if Atlantis is destroyed, we can correct it.’ She waved a hand at Elizabeth. ‘And if Atlantis isn’t destroyed and they stop the anomaly themselves, we can simply use the jumper to get home.’

‘Without going back in time?’ Elizabeth checked.

Sam shrugged. ‘If Atlantis manages to stop the anomaly, there won’t be a need for the time travel.’

‘But we could go back and stop it from being diverted there in the first place.’ Elizabeth objected.

‘How?’ Sam asked crossing her arms and regarding Elizabeth with scepticism. ‘The only way to prevent the anomaly from being diverted to Atlantis is to allow Amera to be destroyed. There isn’t enough power here to destroy the anomaly completely and I don’t know of anything else that will destroy it without needing just as much power as the plan we have already.’ She sighed. ‘If Atlantis manages to deal with the anomaly without us having to do anything, then the best thing for the timeline is to do nothing.’

‘OK.’ Elizabeth reluctantly agreed. ‘But if they don’t…’

‘We go back in time and fix it.’ Sam agreed. ‘I’d better take a look at those other jumpers. We have a lot of work to do either way.’

The hours slipped away; Elizabeth could hardly believe Sam’s stamina as she worked non-stop on the time machine, repairing broken panels and rerouting power. The grateful Amerans brought them whatever they needed including the abandoned supplies from the jumper the two women had abandoned outside the Stargate. Twenty-four hours after they had saved Amera they stopped to watch how Atlantis fared using the long range sensors. They hovered around Sam’s laptop screen with anxious eyes and watched helplessly as Atlantis was destroyed. It seemed like the anomaly had taken them by surprise; there had been no attempt made to prevent the disaster.

Sam placed a hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder. The brunette was clearly shaken. ‘We’re going to fix this.’ She reminded her.

Elizabeth fierce gaze met Sam’s. ‘Yes. We are.’

It was a tired but satisfied Sam who two days later proclaimed the time machine ready. They flew it out of the Citadel and placed it directly in front of the Stargate. A small contingent of Amerans accompanied them to say goodbye.

Gya smiled warmly at them. ‘We have no words to thank you.’

‘There’s no need.’ Elizabeth replied stepping forward to clasp Gya’s hands in her own. ‘I only wish the relationship between our two peoples could continue.’

‘Perhaps one day.’ Gya said.

Elizabeth stepped back. ‘Thank you for all your help and for your kindness.’

‘It was the least we could do.’ Gya murmured. ‘We have survived at the cost of your own people but I know you will save them yet.’

‘How do you know that?’ Elizabeth asked seeing the complete certainty in Gya’s eyes.

‘Because you saved us who you didn’t know at all.’ Gya cupped Elizabeth’s cheek in her palm. ‘How can you not save those you love?’

Elizabeth nodded and impulsively hugged the older woman. Sam gave a respectful nod to Gya and smiled broadly at Ala. It was time to go. They turned away to board the time machine, the ramp slowly closed behind them as they took their seats. Sam powered up the machine and checked the readings.

Sam turned to Elizabeth. ‘OK. I think we’re good to go. Do you need to go over the plan?’

Elizabeth shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. We’re going to go back in time ten thousand years first because the time machine doesn’t work in short jumps but then we’ll come forward to a point in time just over two weeks ago.’

‘Two weeks should give us enough time to travel with the jumper to Atlantis across space without using the Stargate.’ Sam concluded.

‘Which we can’t because the Ameran gate doesn’t work and wouldn’t even if we fixed it because of the power issues.’ Elizabeth recited. ‘Are you sure two weeks is long enough?’

Sam nodded. ‘It gives us time to stop for rests.’ She gestured at the jumper. ‘It’s not really designed for long term travel.’ She adjusted her position. ‘But we should aim to arrive at the same point we would have done if we hadn’t been diverted.’

‘Which will give us almost forty-eight hours to make the shield modifications to handle the anomaly and save Atlantis.’ Elizabeth finished. ‘OK.’ She let out a slow breath. ‘Let’s do this.’ Her eyes remained firmly forward glued to the front windshield and the party of Amerans in front of the Stargate.

‘OK.’ Sam said quietly. She closed her eyes and concentrated on initiating the time machine, of travelling back ten thousand years. A power surge around her had her eyes flying open.

‘Oh my God.’ Elizabeth leaned forward over the controls and stared out of the jumper. The Amerans had disappeared and in their place stood a lone man; tall, thin with brown hair and twinkling brown eyes.

‘Janus.’ Elizabeth said stunned. ‘It’s Janus.’

The Ancient saluted them and Elizabeth returned it clumsily.

‘We should go.’ Sam said gently.

‘But we could stay and talk with him.’ Elizabeth suggested half-rising from her seat.

Sam pushed her back down with a firm hand. ‘Causality.’ She said softly. ‘We have to protect the timeline.’ She gave her own nod of thanks to Janus and closed her eyes to take them back to the future.

Another power surge.

She opened her eyes and looked out at the empty space in front of them.

‘Did we do it?’ Elizabeth asked anxiously.

Sam tilted her head and checked the sensor readings. ‘I think so. The anomaly is just entering the other system and…’ she peered out of the windshield where the wreckage of their jumper had been, ‘we haven’t arrived yet.’ She started to take the jumper up into space, cloaking as they skimmed past clouds and into sky.

‘It worked.’ Elizabeth said in disbelief.

Sam grinned at her. ‘Yes. It worked.’ Her smile turned grim. She only hoped the rest of the plan worked as well.

o-O-o

The trip from the Ameran system to the Atlantis system was difficult. Sam hadn’t been joking when she’d commented that the jumper wasn’t equipped to handle a long space flight. The practicalities of eating, sleeping and dealing with the normal bodily functions were all fairly grim. A bucket in the back of the jumper served as an emergency toilet especially in the space between the two systems when they couldn’t set the jumper down on a planet for two days. The benches in the back served as beds and they took turns; Sam would fly while Elizabeth slept and Elizabeth kept watch in the stationary jumper when Sam would sleep. Food was plentiful – the Amerans had been generous in providing them with enough water and dried goods to last the trip – but after a few days the lack of variation in their diet had both women grimacing at meal times; they realised after the first week that both of them had lost weight. A meteor storm caused them to make a day’s diversion but the trip was otherwise made without mishap. The sight of Atlantis in the distance was a godsend to both women and gave them a surge of renewed energy.

Sam took the jumper into a geosynchronous orbit with the city as she began making sensor readings. She had tracked the anomaly throughout their journey and she figured that they were a day behind schedule but still ahead of the anomaly itself. She should have plenty of time to make the adjustments to the shield. Her mind had already refined her previous plan and she figured with the power from all three ZPMs, they could destroy the anomaly once and for all. She nodded at Elizabeth and opened up their communications.

‘Atlantis, this is Doctor Weir. Do you read me?’ Elizabeth said authoratively. The city wasn’t cloaked which suggested they hadn’t spotted the jumper’s approach.

There was a deafening silence in the cockpit.

‘We’ve probably arrived quite some time after we were expected.’ Sam said calmly. ‘They may think this is a trick.’

Elizabeth cleared her throat. ‘Atlantis, this is Doctor Weir. Colonel Carter and I are in a cloaked jumper in geosynchronous orbit with the city. You should be able to verify our position with the sensors and confirm my identity with my voice print on file. Contact us when you are…’

‘Elizabeth?’ Sheppard’s voice crackled out of the radio. ‘Where the hell have you been?’

Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes briefly. There had been a part of her insanely worried that they would arrive at Atlantis too late to save them; that they would all be dead anyway. ‘It’s a long story, John.’

‘Colonel Sheppard, this is Colonel Carter.’ Sam spoke up. ‘We have an urgent situation we need to brief your team on; permission to approach.’

‘Permission…’ Sheppard began. He was cut off suddenly.

Elizabeth and Sam looked at each other in surprise.

The radio crackled to life again.

‘Sorry about that, Colonel.’ Sheppard said tightly. ‘We’d like to take some precautions down here. I’m sure you both understand.’

‘Understood.’ Sam agreed crisply.

‘Colonel Carter, this is Colonel Caldwell. You are to decloak and maintain position. Two 302s will escort you to the North pier.’ The commander of the Daedalus sounded pissed as though he had lost an argument.

‘Please make this quick, Steven.’ Elizabeth said urgently. ‘We’re on something of a tight deadline.’

‘We’ll be as quick as we can.’ Sheppard assured her.

Sam decloaked and waited. Ten minutes later they spotted the 302s leaving the Deadalus. They formed an escort as they descended to Atlantis in the jumper, landing on the North pier with a gentle bump. Sam grabbed her gear leaving the weapons in the jumper; Elizabeth was already hurrying out. Sam watched with amusement as the other woman hugged a bemused Sheppard and even more bemused Caldwell before moving onto the other members of the Atlantis team; Teyla, Ronon, McKay who patted her awkwardly on her back and Beckett whose face shone with concern as his eyes examined her intently.

‘It’s so good to see you all.’ Elizabeth said finally stepping back, her eyes glimmered with tears, the memory of Atlantis’s destruction and losing them all too vivid in her mind for distance.

‘It’s good to see you too.’ Sheppard said with a wary expression.

‘What happened?’ McKay jumped in before Caldwell could speak. ‘We were expecting you almost twenty-four hours ago.’

‘One of the gates was hit by a sub-space anomaly as we went through.’ Sam replied. ‘The wormhole…’

‘Jumped. Of course it did.’ McKay nodded and gestured at everyone around him. ‘That’s what I said. Didn’t I say the wormhole must have jumped?’ He sounded peeved like he hadn’t been believed.

‘Yes, Rodney. You did.’ Teyla soothed him.

‘But it’s light years to the nearest gate.’ McKay’s mind was already leaping ahead. He gestured at them. ‘How did you get here so fast?’

‘That’s a good question.’ Caldwell crossed his arms, his face a stern demeanour that reminded Sam of one of her academy instructors.

‘Perhaps we should take this to the briefing room.’ Elizabeth said taking charge. ‘We don’t have a great deal of time.’

‘You’ve said that a couple of times now.’ Sheppard noted. ‘We don’t have a great deal of time before what?’

‘Before Atlantis is destroyed.’ Elizabeth said clearly. ‘Now we need to get to the briefing room so we can brief you all properly.’ She took a step forward intent on leading the way into the city when a Marine stepped forward. She stopped and looked at Sheppard.

‘You’ve been missing.’ Sheppard pointed out. ‘We need to…’

‘Check we are who we say we are.’ Elizabeth snapped. ‘Yes. I know. I wrote the protocol.’

‘Then you won’t mind if we verify your identity.’ Caldwell stated.

‘We don’t have time.’ Elizabeth objected.

‘And if it was one of us and you were standing where we are?’ Caldwell asked bluntly.

‘I’d follow protocol.’ Elizabeth admitted frustrated. ‘But…’

‘Doctor Weir,’ Teyla interrupted her, ‘if time is a factor perhaps it would be quicker to comply with the protocol rather than waste any additional time arguing about it.’

‘Or,’ Sam suggested, ‘perhaps we can brief you while Doctor Beckett confirms our identities.’

‘Now that’s a plan.’ Sheppard said with a quick grin.

Elizabeth gave in. ‘Fine.’ She glared at the Marine and then at Sheppard. ‘Shall we?’

Sheppard nodded and the Marine moved aside. They all began the walk into the city. Elizabeth and Sam were diverted to the infirmary for blood tests. They both sat through the tests impatiently before they were escorted to the briefing room.

‘OK,’ McKay said impatiently as they settled into their seats and before Sheppard could begin, ‘what’s going on?’

‘Start at the beginning.’ Sheppard advised.

‘Like how you got here in a jumper without coming through the Stargate.’ Caldwell added.

Elizabeth clasped her hands on the table and looked at her team, vaguely aware of Sam opening her laptop and bringing up the relevant data to share with them. ‘As you know Colonel Carter and I were travelling through the intergalactic bridge when the wormhole jumped.’ She took a breath. ‘We were expelled through a Stargate on a neighbouring system to Atlantis, on a planet called Amera. It was one of the first colonies the Ancients made when they came to the Pegasus galaxy.’

‘A colony? Really?’ McKay leaned forward over the table. ‘But there isn’t any record in the database.’

‘The Amerans and the Ancients had a disagreement over Ascension and the Amerans went their own way. The Ancients erased them from the database believing they were protecting the Amerans from the Wraith.’ Elizabeth explained. ‘The Amerans don’t believe in using technology…’

‘Woah.’ McKay waved his hands above his head. ‘You met them? Real life descendants of the Ancients?’

‘Yes.’ Elizabeth said shortly.

‘They aren’t coming here though? Are they?’ McKay asked worriedly. ‘I mean we’ve only just got the city back and…’

‘No, Rodney.’ Elizabeth said forcefully. ‘They’re not coming here.’

‘Oh. Good. Well, not that it wouldn’t have been good to have met them but good in that…’

‘McKay!’ Sheppard snapped exasperated. ‘Shut up!’ He sent him a hard stare to back up the order.

McKay subsided; a little sheepish and a little put out as his huffy expression gave away.

‘The anomaly that caused the wormhole to jump,’ Sam began, ‘was also heading for the Ameran’s planet.’ She pushed her laptop over to McKay who reached for it eagerly. ‘It’s an energy ribbon that moves through sub-space. When it comes into contact with a ZPM the colliding particles cause a massive explosion.’

‘That’s not good.’ Sheppard commented.

‘Not good?’ McKay blurted out. ‘It’s a disaster. I mean, these readings are incredible. They’re…’

‘McKay!’ Sheppard’s sharp use of his name had McKay retreating to mutter over Sam’s data.

‘We stopped the anomaly from destroying Amera.’ Elizabeth said nervously. ‘But it had an unfortunate side-effect.’

‘The plan was to send a corresponding pulse of energy out through sub-space using the shield.’ Sam explained. ‘This pulse is set at a specific frequency that disrupts the frequency that is holding the energy ribbon of the anomaly together which means…’

‘The energy would be dissipated harmlessly into sub-space.’ McKay finished staring at her. ‘That’s brilliant.’

‘Thank you.’ Sam acknowledged the praise tightly. ‘Unfortunately, the Amerans only had one ZPM. There wasn’t enough power. The pulse simply managed to divert the anomaly onto a different course.’ She grimaced. ‘It’s on its way here.’

‘Oh that’s just great.’ McKay said sarcastically. ‘You didn’t think we had enough problems to deal with? You wanted to send us another.’

‘It was an accident.’ Sam pointed out furiously.

‘That doesn’t explain how you got here so fast.’ Ronon spoke up. He had remained standing, slouched against the wall behind Teyla.

Sam took a deep breath. ‘The jumper we arrived in is a time machine.’

‘A time machine?’ McKay looked as though he didn’t know what he wanted to do most; jump up and run out to check or stay and hear the rest of the briefing.

‘Yes.’ Elizabeth said.

Caldwell shook his head. ‘You really expect us to believe this?’

‘We have had experience of time travel before.’ Elizabeth said firmly.

‘She’s right.’ Sheppard said supportively.

Sam cleared her throat. ‘We saved the Amerans just under twenty-four hours after arriving on their planet. Twenty-four hours later, we watched on the long range sensors as Atlantis was destroyed by the anomaly.’

Shock and disbelief raced across the faces of the Atlantis team.

‘But we’re all still here.’ Sheppard pointed out bemused.

‘Because the anomaly hasn’t reached here yet.’ Sam said. ‘We travelled back in time. The Ameran’s Stargate wasn’t functional for outgoing wormholes so we planned to use the jumper to travel and arrive just after we were due to get here via the bridge.’

‘You’re late.’ Sheppard murmured.

‘Meteor storm.’ Sam said succinctly.

‘The point is that the anomaly is on its way to Atlantis.’ Elizabeth said firmly. ‘And we have,’ she glanced at her watch, ‘less than twenty four hours to stop it.’

‘Great. That’s just great.’ McKay muttered slumping back in his chair.

‘My plan should work using all three of Atlantis’s ZPMs.’ Sam said calmly. ‘But the sooner we start making the modifications to the shield the better.’

‘We only have your word on what will happen.’ Caldwell stated brusquely. ‘Until we verify your data and your identities, we’re not modifying anything.’ He gestured at her. ‘You could be Asuran copies tricking us into leaving Atlantis defenceless.’

Sam smiled humourlessly thinking back to her Replicator double. ‘Believe me if I was an Asuran copy, I wouldn’t need the elaborate ruse. I’d have simply destroyed you by now.’

‘And it’s not your decision.’ Elizabeth said to Caldwell causing the older man to flush. She turned to the military commander of Atlantis; Sheppard. ‘John.’

Sheppard looked back at her; assessed the sincerity in her eyes; examined her expression for any sign of deception.

‘Colonel, I strongly recommend against allowing either of these women any access to anything until we have verified their identities.’ Caldwell cautioned him.

Sheppard looked over at the Daedalus commander. ‘I appreciate your concern, Colonel.’ He snapped his eyes to Sam. ‘You can stop this anomaly thing from blowing us up?’

‘Yes.’ Sam agreed.

‘OK.’ Sheppard nodded. He gestured at McKay. ‘Work with her, McKay.’ He knew the scientist would know immediately if the blonde Air Force officer tried to do anything but what she said she needed to do to save them.

Sam got to her feet and grabbed her laptop back from McKay. ‘We need to get to the ZPM lab.’

‘Right.’ McKay led the way out of the briefing room.

Sheppard gestured at the two Marines hovering by the door. ‘Go with them.’

‘This is a mistake.’ Caldwell said as he got to his feet. ‘I’ll be on the Daedalus.’ He left without another word.

‘Thank you.’ Elizabeth said to Sheppard gratefully.

Sheppard shrugged self-consciously.

‘We really blew up?’ Ronan asked.

‘And you really travelled back in time to save us?’ Teyla added.

Elizabeth nodded tiredly.

‘Wow.’ Sheppard muttered.

‘You have had quite a journey.’ Teyla said smiling sympathetically at the other woman.

Elizabeth returned her smile. ‘I’m just happy to be home.’

Sheppard grimaced. ‘Let’s hope Colonel Carter can save it.’

‘She will.’ Elizabeth said confidently.

Sam wasn’t feeling as confident as Elizabeth as she set up her laptop in the ZPM lab. She tried hard not to feel an uncanny sensation of déjà vu as she connected with the Atlantis systems.

‘I can’t believe you blew us up.’ McKay muttered as he leaned over her shoulder.

‘I didn’t blow up Atlantis.’ Sam objected. ‘The anomaly did.’

‘Which you diverted here.’ McKay pointed out.

‘At least I didn’t blow up an entire solar system.’ Sam shoved the cable into her machine with more force than was necessary.

‘Five-sixths.’ McKay said defensively. ‘It was five-sixths of a solar system. And besides,’ he said recovering, ‘this from a woman who blew up a sun?’

‘To destroy Apophis’s fleet.’ Sam glared at him.

McKay paused and wagged his finger at her. ‘OK. I’ll give you that one.’

‘McKay,’ Sam sighed, ‘we have a lot to do. Let’s just get on with it, OK?’

McKay opened his mouth to argue but his brain suddenly registered her crumpled uniform, unkempt hair and tired, wan face. ‘Sure.’ He agreed.

‘OK. Here’s what we need to do.’ Sam began to explain. It helped talking through the plan with someone who understood the technology; understood what she was trying to achieve and Sam was suddenly incredibly grateful that McKay had the intelligence to keep up with her. Within minutes they had an improved plan and were hard at work.

Elizabeth and Sheppard interrupted them every few hours for an update and to impart information; Beckett had confirmed their identities; they hadn’t been able to achieve a stable wormhole to Earth to report the current situation; most of the personnel were evacuated to the Daedalus which had left to transmit a subspace message from beyond the area affected by the anomaly. Hardly any of it registered as they focused on the modifications.

It was several hours before McKay clapped his hands and announced to the scientists and military personnel milling in the room that they were done.

‘You’re sure?’ Sheppard asked nervously.

‘We’re sure.’ McKay grinned back at his team-leader and friend. ‘It’s all set-up.’

‘We should clear the room.’ Sam said fighting a wave of tiredness; she hadn’t slept since her arrival, had worked through and she could feel her weariness down into her bones.

‘Right.’ Elizabeth confirmed remembering the sparks that had flown in Amera. ‘Everybody out.’

‘You too, McKay.’ Sam said firmly. ‘I’ll press the button.’

‘But I…’

‘That’s an order.’ Sam said forcefully and pushed him in Sheppard’s direction.

‘But…’

Sheppard placed an arm around McKay’s shoulder. ‘Come on, McKay.’

Elizabeth hovered by Sam. ‘Is this going to work?’ She asked nervously.

Sam nodded. ‘We’ve made some improvements.’ She patted Elizabeth’s arm. ‘Don’t worry.’

Elizabeth sighed. ‘Good luck.’ She made her way out to the doorway.

Sam looked up at the gathered Atlantis team briefly stood outside in the corridor all peering in inquisitively and back down at the console. She hit the button.

Yellow bolts of energy jolted out of the ZPMs and raced over the console. Sam took a quick step away from it and turned towards the door.

A bolt shot out and caught her squarely in the back.

She gave a startled cry and fell to the floor, sprawled forward as more bolts raced over her prone form.

Sheppard dove to the floor and crawled over to her unconscious body. He began to drag her out inch by inch. Half-way there a hand clamped onto Sam’s uniform on the other side and then another. He looked up and found Ronon and Teyla. They made it out of the lab and collapsed into the corridor.

Beckett hurried forward and crouched by Sam.

‘Is she alright?’ McKay asked anxiously.

‘There’s no pulse and she’s not breathing!’ Beckett snapped. ‘Rodney, start CPR.’ He was already beginning compressions and snapping further orders at the hovering soldiers to bring medics and equipment.

‘Me?’ McKay hesitated and a split second later found himself pushed to the side as Elizabeth crouched down and began blowing air softly into Sam’s mouth. Beckett checked for a pulse and shook his head. They began again.

The Atlantis team stood around them and waited.

Beckett indicated for Elizabeth to stop and felt for a pulse. ‘She’s back.’ He confirmed with relief. He gestured for the stretcher he saw approaching. ‘I need to get her to the infirmary straight away.’ He oversaw the transfer of his charge onto the medical gurney and raced away with her.

Elizabeth watched them go, her heart pounding in her chest.

‘She’ll be OK.’ Sheppard assured her.

She pushed away her worry about the Colonel and glanced back at the silent ZPM lab. ‘Did it work?’

McKay jerked his gaze away from the disappearing stretcher. ‘Hmmm?’

‘Did it work?’ Elizabeth said forcefully. ‘Is Atlantis safe?’

The scientist strode back into the lab and the team followed after him. He picked up Sam’s laptop, input the scan and checked the data. ‘It worked.’ There was a note of awe in his voice as though he had doubted it would. ‘The anomaly is gone.’

‘She saved us.’ Elizabeth said suddenly fighting back tears.

‘She did it.’ Sheppard said quietly.

‘Well, actually to be precise, we did it.’ McKay objected absently his eyes still reviewing the data on the screen. He looked up and caught the exasperation in the others’ faces. ‘What? What did I say?’

o-O-o

‘Receiving SGC IDC.’ The technician at the gate control console confirmed.

‘Lower the shield.’ Elizabeth ordered.

‘Carter’s ride?’ Sheppard asked as he came to stand beside her.

Elizabeth nodded her hands clasped behind her back. They had been able to establish a wormhole a few hours after the anomaly had dissipated but Beckett had refused to release the Colonel immediately back to the SGC and her return had been scheduled for that morning. They watched in unison as the jumper glided out of the wormhole and into the room. Elizabeth’s eyes widened at the sight of the pilot who gave them a jaunty wave as the jumper was automatically lifted into the bay above.

‘Was that…?’ Sheppard began hesitantly.

‘General O’Neill.’ Elizabeth confirmed already walking away from the Stargate and heading for the stairs to the jumper bay. Sheppard kept pace with her as they made their way to greet the General.

Jack was outside the jumper when they reached him. He returned Sheppard’s salute and nodded an acknowledgement at Elizabeth.

‘General.’ Elizabeth smiled at him. ‘We were expecting Colonel Mitchell and the…’

‘The rest of SG1. I know.’ Jack waved his baseball cap at her. ‘They couldn’t make it. Some Ori thing.’ His expression sobered. ‘How’s Carter?’

‘Much better.’ Elizabeth assured him as they began to walk. ‘Doctor Beckett’s impressed at her quick recovery.’

Jack simply nodded. He knew Sam’s constitution had a lot to do with the naquadah left over from her brief spell as a Tok’ra host and he was always absurdly grateful for it when Sam was injured.

‘She saved us, General.’ Elizabeth’s voice choked up and she took a deep breath. ‘And the Amerans. She saved us all.’

‘It’s what she does.’ Jack said lightly. The pride in his brown eyes gave away his own feelings about Sam’s actions.

‘You know, General,’ Elizabeth began, ‘Atlantis is supposed to be for the best and the brightest…’

‘You can’t have her.’ Jack cut off the half-finished request. ‘I – we need her in the fight against the Ori.’

Elizabeth missed Sheppard’s speculative look at her as she nodded disappointed but not surprised.

‘Besides,’ Jack commented having seen the look Sheppard had aimed at Elizabeth, ‘Carter technically outranks Sheppard here so unless you’d like a new military commander…’

Elizabeth blushed and sent John an apologetic look. ‘No. I’m very happy with the one I’ve got.’

‘Thanks.’ Sheppard said smiling at her. ‘I think.’

They were almost at the infirmary and voices started to drift out to them; a Scottish burr dominant.

‘…and I’ve told you before Rodney that you’re not to disturb my patients.’

‘Who’s disturbing anybody?’ McKay retorted. ‘We’re just debating a minor…’

‘Major.’ Sam corrected tiredly. She winced as she shrugged into the jacket of the Atlantis uniform she had been given as an alternative to her own which had been cut off her unconscious body. She fingered the SG1 patch that Beckett or someone had kept.

‘…quibble with the code adjustments for the bridge in case of another wormhole jump.’ McKay continued as though she hadn’t spoken. He waved the notepad at her. ‘I’m telling you that we need…’

‘Hey.’ Jack’s voice broke into the scientist’s sentence and immediately caught everyone’s attention. His own eyes scanned Sam confirming for himself she was fine before they settled on her blue gaze.

She beamed a smile at him, everyone else in the room seemingly forgotten. ‘Sir.’

‘I heard you needed a ride.’ Jack said easily as he moved to stand beside her but he still didn’t touch her; years of practice. ‘Something about crashing your last one?’ He gently teased.

She rolled her eyes at him. ‘The wormhole jumped.’

‘You sure you weren’t speeding?’ Jack joked. The last of his worry drained away at seeing her whole and healthy.

Sam simply smiled innocently and the two of them held each other’s gaze without speaking for a long moment.

The others shuffled as though sensing they were intruding on a private conversation and the slight stirring caught Jack’s attention.

‘We should be going.’ Jack said as he offered Sam his hand to help her off the infirmary bed. She staggered a little and his arm went around her waist. ‘Easy, Colonel.’

She straightened and he reluctantly let go of her.

‘You really should wait another day, lass.’ Beckett advised.

‘I’m OK.’ Sam insisted.

‘Aye and I’m Superman.’ Beckett frowned but turned instead to Jack. ‘She needs to take things easy for the next few days, General. Light duties only. She received a hell of a shock to her system.’

‘She’ll rest, Doc. I promise.’ Jack said. He grinned at the sharp look Sam sent him. ‘Shall we?’ He indicated the door and they all trooped back out.

They made their way to the jumper bay and headed to the time machine they had retrieved from the North pier.

‘I can’t believe you’re taking the time machine,’ McKay complained, ‘and the ZPM.’ He frowned as a soldier handed it ceremoniously to Jack who placed it in the back with less care than McKay would have liked.

‘Well, we’re all set.’ Jack said cheerily ignoring McKay. ‘Nice to see you all again.’ He looked from Sam to Elizabeth and back. ‘Why don’t I give you a moment?’

‘Thanks.’ Sam said as he disappeared into the jumper. She smiled at Elizabeth and reached forward to shake the other woman’s hand.

Elizabeth stepped forward and hugged her instead. Sam returned the hug, slightly bemused, before she pulled away. They looked at each other with complete understanding of the new bond between them. They had saved the Amerans, saved Atlantis and saved each other. Sam gave a brief nod and entered the jumper. The back door rose and shut behind her. Elizabeth followed her team back down to the gate operations room and watched as the time machine slipped into the blue horizon back to Earth. She leaned on the banister as the wormhole disappeared.

Teyla moved to stand beside her as the others drifted away. ‘Colonel Carter is an incredible woman.’

‘Yes.’ Elizabeth agreed. ‘She is.’

‘As are you.’ Teyla added. She smiled at Elizabeth’s surprise and rested her hand over Elizabeth’s briefly before she moved away too.

Elizabeth wandered away into her office and slid into her chair. The calmness seemed strange after the frantic activity of the past few weeks, or was that the last few days, Elizabeth wondered. She shook her head and reached for her laptop, pausing at the record of Janus she had searched out earlier. She smiled at the frozen image. Had he known everything? Elizabeth mused. Had he known they would save Amera only to endanger Atlantis? Had he left the time machine for them to use? She shook her head again and with a click of a mouse, Janus disappeared and a requisition form took his place. Elizabeth looked at it regretfully. Time to stop being a Goddess, she considered wryly and time to get back to work however mundane…her fingers hesitated over the keyboard and she sat back in her chair. She reached for her father’s watch on the desk top and fingered the silver thoughtfully. Maybe she could take another minute.

fin.