Title: Last Image From Earth
Author: lindaljc,
Summary: It was Sam. And God help them all.

A/N: In all honesty I don't think I've ever used so much bad language in any other story, but the words just came and they seemed honest for the shock of the situations. They're all words you've seen or heard before unless you're like, eight, and probably younger (sorry moms).

Characters: John Sheppard, Elizabeth Weir, Rodney McKay, Carson Beckett, Steven Caldwell, Chuck Campbell, Bates, Lorne, Teyla, Ronon, Hermiod, Novak, Samantha Carter, Jack O'Neill

Category: AU, Timelines with SG1 may not be in sync, Apocalypse, Plague, Angst, Drama, Action/Adventure, Field Promotion, Martial Law, Psychological Trauma, Psycho Elizabeth Weir, Topic - Genocide, Alien Insanity, Asgard Suicide

Warning: Gen, Non-SGA Character Death, Graphic Death
Disclaimer: The characters and settings of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis belongs to Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Film Corporation. All other publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis , Star Trek, Back to the Future or any other media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

This story was written by with the love of the show in mind.

...

Earth was always on everyone's minds, just not in the forefront every moment of every day. Except today, at this moment, because their Gate wouldn't connect to Earth for the regularly scheduled update.

As soon as the alarm went out, Sheppard arrived running into the Control Room but slowed to a walk when he saw Chuck's face. He could tell just by his expression that it was serious, but not about-to-explode-serious. Chuck was concentrating on the controls at hand, and John could see that he was quickly running through basic diagnostics, but John could also see that Chuck was worried, so he turned to Elizabeth.

She looked like a porcelain figure. So straight, and motionless, and looking like if she fell she'd shatter. He'd never seen her look so fragile before. He made himself take a deep breath and held it a few seconds before letting it out. He surprised himself by shuddering. Some instinct was telling him this was somehow different, and he was trying hard to ignore it. Maybe she was feeling something similar.

John called out softly knowing it was unnecessary to even ask. "Chuck, have you called McKay?"

"He's on his way, sir."

"Good." John climbed the steps unhurriedly to stand beside Elizabeth. He spoke softer still, "You need a couple of breaths. There must be a glitch somewhere. Even if the Gates were built by the Ancients, they weren't infallible, and equipment here has been known to fail from time to time."

Elizabeth tried to take his advice. And tried again. She finally loosened her arms that had been wrapped around her torso a little too tightly. She glanced aside at John. "Thank you. That is a little better."

He shoved his hands in his pockets and said carefully, "Well, it isn't like all of us don't have nightmares about this happening, one way or the other. One of my favorites is being stuck on Genii, and the Gate won't open to Atlantis."

She turned quickly and stared. "I'm sorry, John."

John shook his head appearing nonchalant. "It's an old one, but a good one."

"I can't even imagine... don't want to imagine. It was horrible enough the way it happened." She turned back when she heard Dr. McKay arrive.

McKay rushed through the door like a force of nature. "Move. Move, Campbell. Tell me you didn't break it."

Chuck sighed. "I wish I could, sir. I just don't know what's wrong. I ran the basic diagnostics but nothing showed up."

Then the Gate began to dial. Everyone turned to stare and the relief on everyone's faces was obvious, but it was a Pegasus address. AR-4 came back with a member with a broken arm and a limp. They were quickly sorted off to the infirmary.

Elizabeth stepped forward and leaned one hand on the closest railing. She sounded as calm as she always did with any normal request, as if it was any normal day. "Chuck. Try it again. Try to call Earth."

Again the attempt was fruitless. She turned to Rodney. "We still have two teams out. We'll need them to return if you get to the point that you need to start dismantling vital components, Dr. McKay. I'll be in my office if you have any updates. And John, we should postpone anything planned for off world until we know what's going on, and how long it may take to correct."

Rodney nodded as he clicked on his mic. He called for reinforcements, for Dr. Zelenka and Dr. Simpson. And Dr. Kusinagi would run power diagnostics from the lab.

John nodded at McKay and gestured that he would follow Dr. Weir to her office. "If you need my help I won't be far."

He'd only taken a couple of steps when McKay chided Chuck. "See. Just a switch. It's working fine now. Nothing to go all apocalyptic about. Finish the dial out."

Chuck looked at McKay, seeming confused and a bit embarrassed but activated the systems necessary and sat back in relief as the dial started to connect just as Zelenka and Simpson reached the Control Deck, and Elizabeth had turned back from her office. But once again the dial out failed and faded to nothing once again.

McKay looked confused until the Gate began to dial in. "Well, that's weird timing."

"Unscheduled off world activation," Chuck muttered softly, because everybody knew that anyway, but he was much more animated when he saw the address. "It's from Earth."

But the connection wasn't perfect.

John asked, "McKay?"

"Close the Iris!" Elizabeth said firmly.

McKay was frantically checking the incoming signal. "What the hell? Wait, wait, wait. There's always a little FYI - message incoming annotation - before the actual message, but that's not the usual encryption signal," he muttered worriedly. The unauthorized Gate activation alarm blared belatedly at the odd signal. "Chuck, turn that off. This is definitely from Earth, and I recognize Sam Carter's signature code in the encryption opening. Something's not right, but there is a message coming through. Give me a moment to divert it to an isolated server."

And, true to his word, only a moment later the large screen above the Gate Room bloomed to life. The static was heavy and there was a lot of background noise. The worst was the alarm. Only the self-destruct sounded like that. That sound alone had everyone's attention in the Control Room and on the Gate floor. It drew frightened people in from adjoining hallways and even the flight deck above. Slowly the picture cleared and the devastating truth stared back. The glare of the red strobe lights only added to the horrifying scene.

McKay audibly gagged until he managed to control it. The SGC's Control Room blast shield was clearly spattered with blood and smeared with gore as was every console and every wall as well as showing evidence of weapons fire. There were also bodies that could partially be seen in the background on the stairs. And it was impossible for their eyes not to be drawn to those spiral stairs that quite literally ran with blood. A woman at the main console weakly shook the man beside her but he remained motionless.

Sheppard stepped to the railing feeling drawn to that lone figure leaning heavily over the controls. Blood matted blonde hair was the only real clue besides her uniform. Her face was ravaged, and her own team wouldn't have recognized it, but the sound of her breathless voice was enough for Rodney to recognize.

He gulped hard but breathed out a querulous, "Samantha?"

Sam looked up slowly, and the anguish was there for all to see. "It-the countdown is just under five minutes, Rodney. There's plague everywhere. Earth is dead; or dying so slowly they don't even know it yet.

"There are people on upper floors here at Cheyenne that are fighting to get themselves or their families out, even though they've been exposed or are already sick. We can't let them use the Gate. There may be some survivors out there, somewhere, and we can't take the chance. We had to fight to clear the Control Room, but the only way to stop them is the self-destruct.

"No matter what we've tried we can't stop the plague. It isn't bacterial or viral, but we can't tell you what it is or where it came from. We know the progression of the obvious symptoms, and you can see most of them on me. But there must be something we missed. But that doesn't matter any more, because the mortality rate... it's 100%. No one that's been infected has survived, and the infection rate is faster than ever.

"We're done. And it's not just Earth. No other worlds that had contacted us with pleas for help have responded to our messages. We've detected numerous ships just floating dead in space, even the former Ori's ships. Our own ships no longer answer our calls.

"Sheppard... John. The Daedalus..." and she paused for a deeply asthmatic sounding breath, followed by a tearing sob. "They were just coming back from Atlantis. They didn't land, didn't resupply. We couldn't take the chance. They just turned around and headed back to Pegasus. But Dr. Novak, she had family, two young nieces that were her responsibility. She insisted on beaming down to be with them.

Sam grimaced as she glanced at the countdown clock.

"You have to warn Caldwell. Novak was out of touch as long as the ship was, but she died faster than anyone. Either it's mutated again or Caldwell's people were exposed somehow. You have to warn Caldwell that he could be bringing it to Pegasus. Nothing makes sense with this plague. No one on that ship should have been infected. Now we're not even sure of the incubation period. It could be days, weeks, maybe even months. Novak shouldn't have died so quickly.

"General O'Neill was barely hanging on, but this is what he told me to tell you, order you: Take whatever measures you deem necessary. Those are his direct orders... Oh, and one more thing... General Sheppard... Sir... Sorry about the bad timing on the field promotion. But orders are orders and Jack said there wasn't time to type them up in triplicate, Sir." After that, Sam's strangled sob was loud and clear, but she obviously struggled to continue.

"I'm just so sorry, John. Rodney. All of you. I'm sorry this is all the warning I have for you. Even after all the trials, treatments, isolation... nothing seemed to work." There was a half sob, "We know the symptom progression, we think, although it could have started less obviously, and no one noticed until it was too late. Then suddenly it seemed like it was everywhere at once.

"It's the craziest thing, ships and whole planets were calling for help, but the more we tried to help, the faster the infection rates seemed to increase. It may just be mutating so fast we can't keep up, but, damn it, we can't identify it so how can we tell if it's changing?

"The people that asked for help first, seemed to live the longest. The more contact we had, even sharing information through subspace, seemed to affect the rate of infection. I know that sounds crazy but the computer analysis found a correlation. We decided to not take any chances. That's why this connection is so bad. We're using a completely separate encryption algorithm I'd been working on. We do know old style radio transmission is safe, at least for now. That's one test that seemed to prove out. And we don't know why.

"Dr. Lam was able to pass what little information we had that way to Caldwell over comm. She wanted to make sure their doctor was aware of what symptoms should appear first. We don't know if it will be of any help. We don't know if they'll even make it back to you.

"I don't know what Caldwell will do. I don't know if his crew is sick or not, or if they will be. We'd hoped they got away in time. Tell him about Novak. Make him understand that Pegasus could fall.

She looked aside and sobbed. "The countdown is almost there. I'm so sorry about the Daedalus. They'd been out of contact for so long, but there must have been some connection we didn't know about... just make sure Caldwell knows. I'm sorry this is the last..."

The blast of light was all they really remembered after that. The Stargate Iris had already been in place after Elizabeth's order. The flash from the detonation was instantaneous and died with the loss of contact with the Earth Gate. The Control Room was deathly silent until sobbing started from many of the people that witnessed it.

...

Sheppard was standing near Elizabeth and caught her as she started to slip to the floor. She was shuddering, almost seizing, and was as pale as a ghost. He lowered her to the floor and collapsed beside her, just holding her. He made sure she was breathing comfortably and kept her head and shoulders off the cold of the floor.

Seeing Samantha Carter like that was making him glad he had someone to hang on to. Someone alive, even if she wasn't responding to his verbal comments of comfort.

He finally glanced around to McKay. He was walking woodenly to the panels that controlled the scanners. "Chuck, can you see the Daedalus on the scanners?"

Chuck was still understandably dazed.

McKay snapped rudely, "Move, move. I'll do it myself."

But Chuck rallied, "No, sir. I can do my job." He set searches in motion and looked worriedly at the doc. Everyone had someone on Earth. "Sir, please sit. I'm sure it will take some time."

McKay just nodded, and sat heavily beside the tech. "You're a good man, Chuck," he whispered. Sheppard thought Chuck might weep at the comment that was so unlike Rodney McKay. But Rodney knew Chuck had family, too.

John looked around the Control Deck and the Gate Room. Everyone was obviously distressed, most were weeping. He couldn't dismiss the guards, but almost everyone else slowly headed back to regular stations for the time being without being ordered.

Only Amelia Banks held back for some reason; probably to help with Chuck's station if he needed it, or maybe McKay. It was a good idea. Who knew when the next problem would present itself?

Sheppard still held Elizabeth. She'd finally settled into quiet sobbing but it was no deterrence to his own thoughts unfortunately. He was planning. Oh God. He was planning, and he wished it was anyone but him, but O'Neill had dropped this burden on his shoulders. Take whatever measures you deem necessary. And he made him a General just to nail his coffin shut, so to speak.

Everyone that had seen Sam's message was in shock so it was no surprise that no one thought to try to stop it from spreading. The story of the message went through the city like wildfire. Everyone that saw the message naturally passed it on to friends and colleagues. So everyone knew, but not many had seen it in full livid color and terrifying sound.

Almost immediately there were demands coming in from every department to see the message that had been received from the SGC. They wanted an explanation, but John understood what they really wanted was for it to be wrong. There had been difficulty with the Gate itself. Difficulty with the encryption, too. Everyone wanted those difficulties that had occurred to be the cause of a horrible mistake. Somehow it had to have caused the image and message they received to be wrong, wrong, wrong. It had to be wrong. Tell us it was wrong.

"Chuck, advise everyone to stay at station and keep radio silence on the city until I'm ready with an announcement."

Then Sheppard tapped his comm unit. Unfortunately the first thing on his list was Elizabeth. No one on the Control Deck could really take that responsibility on right now. "Dr. Beckett, please respond."

When Carson finally answered John barely recognized his voice. "Aye. Colonel. I'm supposing ye have need. I've got quite a few patients in need right now."

"I'm sorry, Carson. Elizabeth is, well, not hysterical, but she's in shock and practically unresponsive. Don't bother to send anyone up here. I can have one of the guards carry her down. Maybe I should bring her down there myself. I need to talk to you and Dr. Stevenson anyway for a short consult. We're going to need lots of psychological support."

Carson let out a brittle sounding chuckle. "Aye. As soon as Stevenson wakes up. I had to sedate her. She was hysterical."

"I'm sorry. This is going to be hard on your personnel especially. We're in a lot of trouble, Carson. I'm sure you've heard the gist of the message but we need to talk immediately about this plague and what information Sam... Colonel Carter, was able to give us. It wasn't much, I'm afraid."

"Colonel. John. I know it will be a devastating thing, but I think everyone needs to see it - the message. I know from what I've heard that it's horrifying but we need to know. I'm no psychologist but I've studied the field, and I've worked with everyone here. They're brave, and they're smart, and they won't stand to be kept in the dark. We need to know. The worst as well as the... hope."

By this time Carson's voice was almost pleading. "There must be a glimmer of hope. That it hasn't reached here yet, at least. It's been nearly two months since the Daedalus was here last. And yes, I know there's no guarantee about them either. And, I'm so sorry, John, what that might mean... but we need to know. There will be those that won't believe otherwise. May still not believe. Prepare yourself, John."

"I-I'm trying, Carson. Right now I'm worried about Elizabeth."

"Oh, aye. Elizabeth. John, wait, is Rodney..."

John glanced around. "He's on his feet, more or less. Not doing well though. He's sitting with Chuck checking the long range scanners."

"Dear Lord. It shouldn't be long, should it?"

"No. I imagine Caldwell will be making all best speed considering they couldn't resupply. So, the decisions have to be made as soon as possible. And I can't wait. I need you, Carson. I need you to delegate as much as you can and I need you."

"Give me an hour, lad. I need a bit of time to get things organized here and make a few quick plans of ma' own."

"I have too many ideas going through my head. We'll talk as soon as possible though, before a general meeting, and that has to happen soon. I know you have your hands full, so I'll leave you to your work. Chuck is on the scanners, and I need to check on Rodney. I'll need his help, too."

"Aye. I don't envy any of us today, lad."

...

After Elizabeth was taken to the infirmary the guard came back and reported that she was sedated and resting in the infirmary.

That had given John precious minutes to think; to order his thoughts; plan a series of actions. But the hard decisions he shied away from. He needed more information before he tackled those. It had already been almost thirty minutes, and time was flying by too fast. After he checked with Rodney to make sure the Daedalus was still out of range, he turned to Chuck.

"I need to send a message out on citywide comm."

"Yes, Sir."

Rodney got a puzzled look on his face. "What are you going to say, Sheppard? Everyone's dead or dying? I think everyone knows already."

"They need to see it. The message."

Rodney gagged and hot tears flowed freely. "No one needs..."

"Yes. They need to know. And they need to know what's coming."

"What! A ship full of dead people? Or worse, alive but dying? What good will that do?"

"Ah, Rodney. If only that was the worst."

Rodney looked confused. "What the hell could be worse?

"They could be alive. They could look healthy, but still carry the plague. They may not have the plague at all but how will we know if they don't?"

Rodney looked like he would pass out, so John helped him sit back down. Rodney was quick. Too quick sometimes. "We might have to..."

Chuck's eyes widened in horror. Amelia sobbed but was quick to stifle it.

Sheppard simply continued as before. "It'll have to be the truth. The whole truth."

"There's no hope in that, Sheppard."

"Don't say that! Not here! Not anywhere! Chuck, Amelia, both of you, too. Because maybe there is hope. We don't have the plague in Pegasus, at least not that we know of. So the hope... the hope... is that it stops at our doorstep."

Rodney's face crumpled as he thought of what they could be forced to do. "Oh my God. John, how can we do it?"

"We can because there's no choice. If there's no choice. Now, Elizabeth is out for the time being. Carson had to sedate her, and a few others. But we can't afford a moment's delay to wait for her to recover enough to be stable. Carson couldn't say for sure how long it might be."

Rodney nodded acknowledgment, not seeming surprised at all. The first shock had hit him hard, and he'd rallied enough to sit with Campbell, but now he was looking numb. He just sat resignedly beside Chuck's station as the comm was opened for Sheppard.

A nod and a gesture from Chuck and John was live. "Attention, please." He took a steadying breath. "I'm sure the news has spread, and I won't discuss it over comm. The mess hall will be open for the rest of the day as usual. Please gather there as soon as you're able to, and please, if someone you know, or you yourself is in need of emotional support please go now - RIGHT NOW - to the infirmary. Our good Doctor Beckett is waiting for you. Believe me, you won't be alone... you aren't alone. Please, don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it. Otherwise, I'll try to see you in the mess hall in about thirty minutes."

He turned to Chuck and gestured to turn off the comm. "I'm sorry that some people will need to stay at their posts. I need you here, Chuck. Do you want someone to sit with you to watch scans?"

Amelia Banks stepped slowly forward. "I'll be glad to sit with you Chuck. If the Colonel doesn't mind, of course."

Sheppard nodded. "Thanks, Amelia. I think everyone might need a little support, a friend, today. Chuck, could you ask Lorne, Bates, and Carson to come to my office immediately, and then call the two teams out on missions. Tell them only that there's an emergency and drop everything and get back here. Tell them it's extremely urgent and to try to make it back in thirty minutes if at all possible."

Chuck nodded quickly. "Yes, of course, Sir."

...

When John finally reached the mess hall he could see nurses, medics, informal counselors, and Teyla and Ronon, too, as well as security personnel that were stationed strategically but unobtrusively among the tables. The room was more crowded than normal as most of the station's teary-eyed personnel sat at tables around the room, ready to hear the official news. To hear the message for themselves.

Sheppard nodded unobtrusively to Bates and his security teams. He hoped it wouldn't become necessary but something more security oriented might be needed, like a freak-out take-down. Too often grief and rage went hand-in-hand.

Everyone quieted down when he had entered the room, and Sheppard slowly pulled a small table to one side of the area where he could be seen by all. "We'll start in a few minutes. There are two teams coming back as fast as they can make it, and a few people here on the city finishing last minute duties." He sat there all by himself and didn't meet anyone's eyes for almost five minutes. No one moved to join him, not his men, not his team, but not one person showed impatience.

There was a small commotion as the two gate teams arrived, still in gear, and pale and distressed and probably already aware of the basic message. They took seats with their team mates and waited with the rest.

When Sheppard finally looked up he nodded once toward the teams. "Men, this is going to be rough. Please surrender your weapons to one of the city security." They looked even more distressed but did as ordered.

Then Sheppard spoke softly to Marie, one of the nurses. "Is Carson going to be able to make it?"

Marie nodded and added, "Just before I left he had a last minute patient to attend to, but he should be right along."

Sheppard nodded. He looked at all the faces so solemn, some weepy, but everyone here seemed on the right side of sane at least. He nodded to Teyla and Ronon, and was glad to see Rodney enter quietly. Teyla rose to envelop him in a long hug, not her usual Athosian greeting. It surprised him a little to see Ronon envelop them both. And Rodney clung to them before joining them at a table. Carson came in soon after, nodded to Sheppard solemnly and sat near Marie.

John stood slowly and leaned back on the edge of the table. It took another moment for Sheppard to start, but there were things that had to be said, and Dr. Weir, in other circumstances, should have been the one to address the Expedition members. But since she couldn't, and he had his orders from O'Neill, Sheppard would do the best that he could.

"At 8:49 Atlantis time, there appeared to be a Gate malfunction during the dial out to Earth. Dr. McKay and Chuck Campbell sorted through systems and it seemed a small issue with a switch was the problem.

"When we received the message we learned that it was actually because there was a newly written encryption program operating specifically for this emergency situation at the SGC. Our systems weren't automatically recognizing the signal as it normally would have, and that was the reason the dial out failed. Dr. McKay thinks that Colonel Carter was still making last minute corrections on the code and in the end was forced to dial us herself before... it was too late.

"At 9:41 we tried to dial Earth again, but it failed again. It was immediately followed by the unscheduled dial in from Earth. It was not a good connection but it cleared up enough..." Sheppard stopped and put a hand over his mouth. His eyes were clearly devastated, but everyone waited on his next words. "When... it cleared up enough, what we saw... I'm not going to show the entire video to you."

There was a mild uproar as everyone had come for this meeting for confirmation. John really hoped it was the right thing to do, as Carson and later, Lorne, had advised.

Sheppard raised his hands. "Wait. Please." He was grateful the voices died down quickly. "I have authorized a one-shot photo for you to see. The full video wouldn't give you any more information, and when you see it I don't think you'll really want to see any more. I have also authorized the audio of the transmission to be released for you to hear. I think you need to know the full scope of what we face. Believe me, we all just want to believe this is a mistake, but it isn't.

"Please, try to prepare yourselves. It isn't pretty. The sound includes the self-destruct alarm. We couldn't block it out without blocking Colonel Samantha Carter's last words of warning. I've listened to it more than once. I couldn't afford to misunderstand what she was saying, but I believe she was very clear in her statements. Now, like I said, prepare yourself. We'll put the photo up first.

...

A bit of audio at the beginning allowed Rodney's voice to be heard to positively identify the ravaged woman on the screen. They could hear his obvious gulp as he breathed out her name. "Samantha?"

Sheppard's shock was as strong this time as the first, as he stared at the figure leaning over the controls. The photo showed blonde matted hair and her ravaged face and blood and gore on every surface, as well as the scattered bodies, scars of weapons fire on the walls, and the blood red stairs.

There were screams, moans, and weeping. This atrocity was enough for them to witness. But still the blood that obviously had dripped from her eyes only accentuated the sob they would hear in a moment.

Sheppard had directed to leave blank gaps at the beginning and middle to give people a chance to assimilate what they were seeing and hearing. "Sergeant Bates, play the first part please." Shortly after, the audio started to play.

With Sam's devastated face staring unblinkingly there was no doubt there was anguish and dread in her voice. "It-the countdown is just under five minutes, Rodney. There's plague everywhere. Earth is dead; or dying so slowly they don't even know it yet.

"There are people on upper floors here at Cheyenne that are fighting to get themselves or their families out, even though they've been exposed or are already sick. We can't let them use the Gate. There may be some survivors out there, somewhere, and we can't take the chance. We had to fight to clear the Control Room, but the only way to stop them is the self-destruct.

"No matter what we've tried we can't stop the plague. It isn't bacterial or viral, but we can't tell you what it is or where it came from. We know the progression of the obvious symptoms, and you can see most of them on me. But there must be something we missed. But that doesn't matter any more, because the mortality rate... it's 100%. No one that's been infected has survived, and the infection rate is faster than ever.

"We're done. And it's not just Earth. No other worlds that had contacted us with pleas for help have responded to our messages. We've detected numerous ships just floating dead in space, even the former Ori's ships. Our own ships no longer answer our calls.

"Sheppard... John. The Daedalus..." and there was pause before a deeply asthmatic sounding breath, followed by a wrenching sob. "They were just coming back from Atlantis. They didn't land, didn't resupply. We couldn't take the chance. They just turned around and headed back to Pegasus. But Dr. Novak, she had family, two young nieces that were her responsibility. She insisted on beaming down to be with them.

"You have to warn Caldwell. Novak was out of touch as long as the ship was, but she died faster than anyone. Either it's mutated again or Caldwell's people were exposed somehow. You have to warn Caldwell that he could be bringing it to Pegasus. Nothing makes sense with this plague. No one on that ship should have been infected. Now we're not even sure of the incubation period. It could be days, weeks, maybe even months. Novak shouldn't have died so quickly.

Sheppard waited until the harsh sobbing in the hall had quieted. Caldwell wasn't the only one that had to hear this part. "Sergeant, play the second part."

"General O'Neill was barely hanging on, but this is what he told me to tell you, order you: Take whatever measures you deem necessary. Those are his direct orders... Oh, and one more thing... General Sheppard... Sir... Sorry about the bad timing on the field promotion. But orders are orders and Jack said there wasn't time to type them up in triplicate, Sir."

Sam's strangled sob was heard loud and clear. She wasn't alone. More sobs erupted to join hers. Anyone that knew General O'Neill knew it sounded like something he would say, dying or not.

"I'm just so sorry, John. Rodney. All of you. I'm sorry this is all the warning I have for you. Even after all the trials, treatments, isolation... nothing seemed to work." There was a half sob, "We know the symptom progression, we think, although it could have started less obviously, and no one noticed until it was too late. Then suddenly it seemed like it was everywhere at once.

"It's the craziest thing, ships and whole planets were calling for help, but the more we tried to help, the faster the infection rates seemed to increase. It may just be mutating so fast we can't keep up, but, damn it, we can't identify it so how can we tell if it's changing?

"The people that asked for help first, seemed to live the longest. The more contact we had, even sharing information through subspace, seemed to affect the rate of infection. I know that sounds crazy but the computer analysis found a correlation. We do know old style radio transmission is safe, at least for now. That's one test that seemed to prove out. And we don't know why. We decided not to take any chances. That's why this connection is so bad. We're using a completely separate encryption algorithm I'd been working on.

"Dr. Lam was able to pass what little information we had that way to Caldwell over comm. She wanted to make sure their doctor was aware of what symptoms should appear first. We don't know if it will be of any help. We don't know if they'll even make it back to you.

"I don't know what Caldwell will do. I don't know if his crew is sick or not, or if they will be. We'd hoped they got away in time. Tell him about Novak. Make him understand that Pegasus could fall.

Another wrenching sob was heard. "The countdown is almost there. I'm so sorry about the Daedalus. They'd been out of contact for so long, but there must have been some connection we didn't know about... just make sure Caldwell knows. I'm sorry this is the last..."

Sheppard let the sound of the detonation end the audio portion and let Sam's image disappear.

...

Sheppard sat with his head bent, silent as stone on his sturdy perch in the mess hall. He'd let the sobbing continue as long as necessary. It's not something he could order away. They needed to be allowed to release some of their grief, and Carson had said that stopping it too early was a bad idea. When it did start to die down, mainly through the efforts of their friends and colleagues who were present, he nodded to the mess hall staff, and they came out with cold drinks, hot drinks, whatever they thought was needed. It seemed a small comfort, but they were just glad there was something they could do.

He began to order his thoughts about the discussions to come. It needed to be made clear that some things would be changing. He cleared his throat gently after he took a sip from a bottle of water offered by one of the crew.

"I probably don't need to point out that Dr. Weir, and some other members, are absent from this meeting. Some obviously are on duty, like Chuck and Amelia in the Control Room, the various guard stations, and the medical personnel in the infirmary. But there were others that were emotionally devastated by the news and are under Carson's care. He's unsure how long it will be before any of them can return to duty.

"I want you to know that my next orders were not an easy decision. But the Charter that we have lived by made provisions for situations that were to be handled by military action." Sheppard hung his head and drew in a desolate breath. "The Daedalus is coming. We don't have it on long range scanners yet, but this situation, the decisions that have to be made, are not something civilians should have to deal with. Whatever happens will be by my orders.

"I fully intend to consult with Colonel Caldwell. I'm hoping he has more information about how this plague runs it's course. Perhaps with Carson and a team of pathologists, we can find some solution for the crew of the Daedalus. It is my sincere hope that this will happen. But I also believe that the time has come, especially after my field promotion, and the orders that came with it, that it's expected that Martial Law will go into effect until the Daedalus situation is settled."

Dead quiet had once again settled over the hall.

Suddenly one of Rodney's scientist's blurted a statement that reverberated shockingly in the silence. "You're going to destroy them! Aren't you? You can't do it! We're all that's left. We need them."

Sheppard didn't flinch, but stared her down and answered in the coldest tone anyone had ever heard him use. "If it must be, then it will be at my order, and my order only. The Milky Way is gone. If it's to be a choice between the Daedalus or Pegasus, there is only one choice I can make. Final choices, as needed, will be made after contact with the Daedalus." And with that, Sheppard stood and marched stiffly out of the hall.

Sergeant Bates, standing at the audio/video equipment moved to stand at attention, as did the rest of the military. At this sign of respect the civilians slowly began to understand. This was, had been, a civilian operation, but the soldiers had always been their defenders.

The civilians weren't happy, but they'd been through battles themselves where orders had to take the fate of all into consideration, not just the few. So there was despair but also a slow realization that the decisions that they would soon be facing were ones that would be decided by the situation on the Daedalus itself. And maybe they needed someone in authority to weigh all the circumstances and make the best decision for all.

Major Lorne walked slowly to the center of the hall. His countenance was as distressed as anyone's there. "Look around you, my friends. Gather together and grieve. Offer comfort where and if you can. Accept comfort when it's offered even if you feel like you want to die, because you're not alone. We're alive. And we are of Earth. We do not give up. If we can save Caldwell and his crew, remember that Sheppard, General Sheppard, does not leave anyone behind. That goes for Caldwell's people, and all of you. Find the strength I know you have. And give the General all the support you can." Lorne looked toward the door Sheppard had used to leave. "We can't lose him."

...

When Dr. Weir recovered enough to leave the infirmary she was still on shaky ground emotionally. As she looked around her she felt guilty for being relieved that so many others had needed similar support. She went to her quarters for a short time to freshen up and change but knew that she had to plan for the Daedalus' arrival. She had work to do. She needed to get to her office and prepare her people for what they had to face.

Chuck didn't correct her when she reached the Control Room and asked him to summon Colonel Sheppard for a planning session. Obviously no one in the infirmary had updated her on the situation. He knew Dr. Weir would be facing a lot of changes that were best left to a member of the Command Staff to explain.

Elizabeth knew she had to be brought up to date on what happened while she was incapacitated. That had been terribly embarrassing for her personally. She knew she had to show her people she was back on the job and in control of the situation as much as anyone could be.

She was still a bit shaky when Sheppard entered her office, but she settled behind her desk with her strongly brewed tea and drew on her somewhat shaky remaining strength and confidence. She knew there was too much to do to delay until she felt more emotionally sound. She wasn't the only one that had been dealt a severe shock. Now she had to see that appropriate actions were begun. And she couldn't allow herself to depend on chemical props as Carson had earnestly suggested.

"Colonel Sheppard, I'm glad you could come so quickly. We need to set up a meeting with the Expedition members as soon as possible. We need to ensure that they know that from this day forward that the only way we'll get through this is with support from our friends and colleagues. We'll set up discussion groups, and I realize some decisions have to be made quickly so I hope you can make time for a meeting here within the hour with the major department heads."

Sheppard held both hands up in an obvious stop gesture. "Look, I'm sorry, but you were out of the loop for more than 36 hours. But as you surely realize things needed to move fast, and we couldn't wait. The Daedalus could show up at any time. Since they couldn't resupply I'm sure they're moving as fast as they can, as safely as they can. We've already had meetings to address a variety of immediate issues. I've sent emails to you summarizing the broad details and..."

Elizabeth looked shocked. "Without my input? There are decisions to be made that I..."

"Elizabeth, I know you're still shaken by events, but you didn't even think to ask me if the Daedalus had been seen on the scanners. When that message came through from the SGC, there were more than a dozen people that saw it. The story was all over Atlantis within minutes. People had to be told immediately, before rumors got out of hand.

"I couldn't let people think that there was nothing we could do. They had to be told that there was hope. I decided the best way to accomplish that was to tell them the truth. I consulted with Carson and Lorne, and we decided that they needed to hear the message from Earth for themselves. We needed to tell them what plans were being made and would soon be underway..."

Sheppard was glad Weir was sitting down because he thought she was going to faint. He hoped this wouldn't be another shock too many.

"You didn't... You couldn't have let them see that. That was unconscionable! Trauma must be rampant through the whole city. No wonder the infirmary was overflowing!"

Sheppard tried not to sigh. He'd known this was going to be bad. "Elizabeth, we limited it to showing them one image, and we played the audio. The people are not fine, but we're handling the trauma in discussion and therapy groups that Carson and his people are monitoring. It's rough going as you can imagine but we're progressing."

"But, well, then the decisions about the plague and the Daedalus' approach..."

"I'll handle it, Elizabeth. After the orders from General O'Neill and your own incapacity there was no choice but to declare Martial Law. It's a military matter now, not civilian. There were decisions that had to be made quickly. The military and the civilians seem to be handling it well.

"Of course, the Daedalus hasn't arrived yet. Considering the plague itself, the ship may never arrive. If that happens we'll need to locate it and destroy it. Totally. We can't let anything survive."

"General O'Neill. What orders? Martial Law? You mean it was YOU that decided to order Martial Law!"

"Do you remember the whole of the message from... Sam? Do you remember the field promotion? The escalation to Martial Law was implied in my orders to deal with the situation as necessary, and I felt the sooner it was done, the better it would be accepted."

"I'm the leader of this Expedition, Colonel Sheppard!"

"Except under Martial Law, Dr. Weir, according to the Charter we all signed. Elizabeth, do you understand what may be necessary? If the situation calls for it, do you think you could give the order to destroy the Daedalus? If I thought for a minute that you could order the kill shot... but I know you don't have the stomach for it. It's better this way."

"You mean your way. There's no reason for such an order. Not now. Maybe never. We don't know enough about the situation."

"I know that. If Caldwell makes it this far, there are other decisions to make. And I'll make them. I'll consult with him, and with you."

"You're damn right you'll consult with me!"

"But the decision will ultimately be mine."

"Well, we'll see about that, Colonel."

Sheppard took a deep steadying breath, and spoke firmly. "Actually, Doctor Weir, orders from Sam's message gave me a promotion to General, so that I would have undisputed authority over the military here, and over Colonel Caldwell, as well.

"Before I leave, let me remind you that you might want to read the emails that have been sent to you from me and the various department heads that you wanted to meet with. You might be interested to know what's happened while you were incapacitated.

"There are teams of people all over Atlantis already working on different ideas. Carson's gathered quite a few people from different disciplines to work with him on the medical issue. If you have any questions, just call me, Carson, or Lorne.

"Chuck is quite busy with the scanning equipment so interruptions of his duties would be ill advised. McKay's departments are working on some of their own ideas, but if you need to contact someone in the hard sciences I'd advise it to be Radek.

"Now, good day, ma'am. I have a lot of things to do to prepare." Then John did a very military about face and left before Elizabeth could be allowed to offer any other thoughts on the subject.

...

John hadn't known many Jaffa, but Teal'c would be missed. Ronon and Teal'c had become good friends. And Ronon and Teyla had both met people at the SGC that they respected, and some they called friends. Rodney's grief was overwhelming. He had loved his sister and her little daughter no matter their differences over life choices. And Dave, John just hoped for a quick death and that he wasn't alone at the end. Their fifteen year estrangement hadn't altered the feelings he'd had for his only brother. Even if John was on Earth he knew that orders would keep them from being together.

No one had wept for the Ori, but John felt a twinge of despair for their followers. They didn't ask for this either, they just wanted to spread the word of Origin like their god's required; just pawns in a game for power and now dead by this new threat like their masters had died before them. There had been so many useless deaths.

He could only hope there were pockets of survivors, untouched by the plague. But how did it spread? Even if there were survivors would the plague suddenly reappear, could they become newly infected or reinfected? Maybe Caldwell could tell them something. More likely they'd learn more if Caldwell's people had it, too. God help them all if it could cross space itself.

If Caldwell was less than the man he thought he was, John might have to destroy the Daedalus himself. But it was a possibility that Caldwell might not even still be alive, or in charge. John was running scenarios in his head. All kinds of scenarios. His best hope was that maybe the ship could land on a planet with no Gate, one of Rodney's earliest suggestions. If the plague was on the ship, they could rig up some device, bomb, something that would scorch the world to a cinder. But Sam said isolation hadn't worked.

That left John very afraid. What could they do that all the efforts of the SGC, the Jaffa, and every other world out there couldn't?

Where did it start? Finding patient zero was an impossibility. How did it move from world to world, person to person? Atlantis might as well be starting from zero. They didn't even have a list of everything that had been tried and had failed. Probably not even Caldwell had enough information considering what Sam had been able to tell them. Even then, was it information they could trust? Trials could have been hastily designed or flawed in some other way. Treatments that didn't work on some... might they have worked on others? And time was a factor they couldn't count on either.

But then /destroy the Daedalus/ kept running through his mind. How could he do that to all those people, after fleeing what looked like hell on Earth? He still had nightmares about killing Sumner, mercy killing or not; now he was faced with possibly killing a ship full of Earth humans; most of whom he knew.

He still wandered Atlantis many nights when thoughts gnawed at him that he'd already killed ships full of Pegasus humans incapacitated in Hive ships to be consumed by the Wraith as needed. The only consolation was that it was a quick death, and their Wraith captors died with them. But his conscience told him it wasn't much consolation at all. None really.

And then there was Elizabeth. He could still remember the feel of her shaking incoherently in his arms, followed by seemingly endless sobs as he held her that day. He had the horrible sinking feeling that she could be the greatest danger of all. She might - she could - she very probably would - say no. And fight him every inch of the way.

Dr. Weir, at her best, could be a formidable foe. But something had happened to her that day. Something he didn't want to really think about, and Carson was reticent to reveal too much even though as General John Sheppard he had a need to know. He didn't know what had broken inside her, and he didn't know if it could ever be fixed.

He could easily imagine her arguments. She'd want just a little longer delay. She'd make more and more vehement denials and perhaps even conjure lies. She'd never willingly relinquish command claiming Martial Law was an unnecessary escalation. She'd never accept that destroying the Daedalus might be the right, the only, answer.

Worst of all, Sheppard knew she'd never be able to give the kill order. And she would hate him when/if he did it anyway.

...

Elizabeth Weir was furious. All the orders she'd given, all the decisions she'd made had been for this city, but now it was all gone. Sheppard had stolen her leadership... and did it while she'd been sedated. Carson had to be in on it, too, she was sure of it.

She rarely let a vulgar word pass her lips, but the thoughts were there, /Damn Sheppard. Field promotion my ass./ She called up the file of the message Colonel Carter had sent. She saw a file that was labeled for the crew viewing. What had they put in that message? It couldn't be what Sheppard said. There was no order for promotion. She'd have remembered that.

She set the file to view, and was surprised that Sheppard had been that easy on the crew. One image, and audio. Well, she'd listen and then watch this and the original, beginning to end. Then see where the lies led.

Lies! All lies. This is impossible! It's a lie! It has to be a lie. They'd doctored the original message, too. They had to. She didn't remember any of that last part. True she'd been an emotional wreck at the time, and she'd barely admit it even to herself. But there are drugs, she knew enough about that, about drugs they used in and out of surgery that could addle the mind, make her forget. Carson would be stripped of his authority for authorizing that, and for collaborating with this mutiny.

She saw her way clear now. For the most part, Atlantis seemed to believe every word Sheppard said. Her only true ally might be Caldwell. She needed to talk to him before Sheppard showed him that twisted message. She was quite sure that General Sheppard would find less support than he expected.

Did he really think that Caldwell would just let him destroy his ship? The plague ruse had to be part of Sheppard's plan, after a decent amount of time there would obviously be no illness and the ship could be taken from Caldwell. They'd been well away from Earth; had never touched it; the plague had to be a ruse. The final step in the final separation from Earth that Sheppard had engineered. He'd had to have help though. Carson, of course, McKay and the rest of his team. And Lorne and Bates at least, of the military personnel. He just needed Caldwell's ship to secure his power base against Earth.

She needed a plan. She needed to make Caldwell listen. He couldn't be in on it, too. She knew Steven. He must have received bogus orders to turn around, maybe a fake story of plague was all the story Sheppard needed to plant, with a willing accomplice on Earth and McKay on Atlantis. But when Caldwell arrived at Atlantis and made no physical contact she and Steven would have a good chance of proving the lie. Sheppard would have no reason to interfere with no proof of plague. He would not steal Atlantis from her. She would not allow it.

Yes, of course, she could tell Caldwell to say he would settle into an orbit a good safe distance from Atlantis. Sheppard and his men would have a difficult time boarding and taking over the ship if it was distant enough. Let Sheppard think Steven was being cautious about the plague, just in case. Have Caldwell tell Sheppard he would try to wait it out, months, or as long as it took, if they were low on supplies we could deliver supplies easily.

Caldwell was the key. Steven was not a coward. He would fight Sheppard. He would believe her. He'd argue for their lives. He'd bargain, for her, for his ship, for his continued command. Maybe he could argue that he could land somewhere and wait to see if it's true. Wait for the proof of the plague. And Sheppard would try to argue against these measures... and Steven would see through the lies. He was her only real ally. And if it took everything she had this mutiny would fail...

Because it's my Expedition, they won't let me down. There would always be those that would listen to logical arguments. And her arguments made sense. They offered hope. They'd be glad to be told the truth. Most important, they'll want it to be true. The mutiny would disappear like a puff of smoke when she told them the lies Sheppard and the others had manufactured. Yes, they would believe her. She was the leader of Atlantis, after all.

...

McKay and his team were working round the clock. There was no real way they could help Carson's medical teams on the science, but finding a way to isolate the ship and crew when it arrived had all sorts of possibilities. From isolation in space, with ferried supplies, to a Gateless planet for them to land on. They even had the stasis chambers if they could figure out a way to isolate them sufficiently, if that was even possible. Those were some of the obvious choices they worked on. Probably too obvious. The SGC had surely tried at least some of their ideas, and Sam said nothing they'd tried had worked.

But Rodney's worries strayed far from mere physical obstacles to the spread of the plague itself. The medical questions were so confusing and unanswerable how could they even form an hypothesis? How was Carson's team even forming a plan of attack? He had faith in medicine, it had surely saved his life more times than he wanted to think about. But just the thought that the placebo effect* worked in so many strange ways, even when the patients knew the treatment was nothing more than a sugar pill, only proved to him that medicine might be a science but it was still half voodoo.

His thoughts forced him to consider that the danger was so terrifying and out of their control that he doubted that they would be able to find the right choice. Obviously Sam's people and the medical people of hundreds of planets, stations, and ships would have tried everything Atlantis could think of, and more, with variations that they'd have no hope of implementing in time even if they had the resources, which he seriously doubted.

Why couldn't they figure out the incubation period? It should have been possible. Unless it was mutating somehow, which wasn't impossible. Why didn't any treatments work? Damn it, isolation should have worked, there were dozens of planets with Gates that were rarely contacted at all. And most puzzling, why did Novak die, and so soon after no obvious contact? Did she contract it as soon as she landed on Earth? Was that possible? Damn, what wasn't possible?

...

Radek thought more than once that Rodney was going insane. He would often find him watching that horrible message from beginning to end. Over and over. Over and over. An endless loop of horror.

"McKay, why do you do this to yourself? Do you think she was sending you a puzzle to solve? The best medical minds in a galaxy failed to solve it. She had no answers just many, many questions. And the warning of course."

"But there has to be something. The timing must be important. Novak's death was too soon. Novak was completely out of touch for months, yet at the end she died in days. Why?"

"I do not know. She also said the incubation period was unknown. There have to be factors they never recognized that affected it, or for some reason it changed. I'm sorry I have no miracle to offer. I can only hope that Caldwell has more information."

"The Daedalus. Was there something different about the Daedalus...?"

"Rodney... do you think the ship, being out of contact so much, is really connected to the plague?"

"I don't know. I don't know. But the Daedalus isn't like most ships in the fleet."

"Rodney..."

"Go get some sleep, Radek. I need to think."

...

Major Lorne and Sergeant Bates had insisted on a promotion ceremony. Sheppard accepted, because, well, it was orders even if the General that ordered it was now dead. And any confirmation of his authority to the members of Atlantis was valuable in his present situation.

Dr. Weir had been a cold and uncompromising presence at the ceremony, and it's a good thing that Sheppard hadn't been expecting a congratulatory handshake because all he got was a cold shoulder. And wow, if looks could kill...

It was obvious to Elizabeth that her objections were well known now. She'd spoken to every one of the colleagues she most trusted, yet she'd been unable to make them see her logical conclusions. She had talked a few people into watching the whole message from Earth, but those who did were often more traumatized. But still, she'd been right. There were those that doubted. She just needed time... and Steven.

When she'd finally convinced one of the scientists to accompany her to talk to Sheppard she'd demanded that they attempt to try to call Earth again. Sheppard agreed, and probably too readily. McKay could easily have sabotaged anything they tried now. And of course the dial out failed. She should have guessed.

Elizabeth's fury only increased when she found that there was always protection around the General now. She glared at Ronon almost as often as at Sheppard himself, because he never left the General's side, and never took his eyes off Weir.

...

It was troubling for John to see and hear the reports about Elizabeth from various personnel both military and civilian. He'd been following the rumors of her treasonous actions and statements, declaring Sheppard had forged the message and usurped her position, and committed mutiny.

Carson had counseled John that there would be doubters, those that wouldn't or couldn't believe the message for what it was. But Sheppard had somehow known that it would be Elizabeth that would be the biggest danger. He had seen her that day, held her. After talking to her he knew that the trauma she suffered had affected her recollection of the actual events of that day. Her personality had taken a terrible shock, and she hadn't yet shown signs of recovery from her breakdown.

He didn't really know what to do with her. Locking her up would have given the statements she made even more credence. Anyone that truly doubted the truth of the situation would only be encouraged to follow her shrewd twisted logic and her manipulative arguments. Because there were people that wanted so desperately for her to be right. For her words to be true. That the Earth was still there and unchanged.

Unfortunately he had more things to worry about than Elizabeth Weir, so he let her own ravings do the job for him, while providing a protective escort for the former civilian leader at all times. He hoped the Daedalus would arrive soon, and one reason was that she'd have less time to incite resistance, or outright rebellion.

He felt sorry for Carson, and his military leads, because even with Carson's own warnings they were confounded by her recent actions. And they were hurt by them, as was John. Their honest reactions helped Sheppard's cause more than any protestations he could make himself. Everyone knew tough decisions were coming, and Dr. Weir was not capable of making them any more.

He also knew that some of the Expedition members listened to Elizabeth because they felt sorry for her. Most people could see that Elizabeth Weir was no longer herself, and everyone began treating her like the crazy aunt that wasn't quite crazy enough to be locked in the attic, but still needed a chaperon.

...

But then the day came. The Daedalus showed up on scanners. Soon they were being hailed. Sheppard had been dreading this moment since the day of the message from the SGC. Chuck notified him over comm and he was only minutes away from the Control Deck.

For several days Dr. Weir had been keeping herself occupied in her office. Her escort had been stationed at her open door, but any privacy may have been a mistake. She'd obviously been biding her time, and she must have thought that first contact with Caldwell would be her best option. She looked sane, she even managed to sound sane unless you knew what had gone on in the last few days.

But Sheppard had not been expecting her to show up on the Control Deck immediately after the hail. She obviously had a plan and Sheppard was terrified Caldwell might go along with whatever she'd cooked up.

She walked confidently to the front of the Control deck and calmly ordered Chuck to make contact with the Daedalus.

Chuck turned to General Sheppard. He looked like he was dreading his own question. "Sir, do you wish to hail the ship?"

That's when the sane demeanor finally vanished, and Elizabeth's fury exploded. "I am the leader of this Expedition, Mister Campbell. You will obey my orders."

"Uh, no ma'am. We're under Martial Law. I can only follow General Sheppard's orders."

Sheppard tried a quiet approach. "Dr. Weir, this is a military matter now. Your presence on Deck isn't necessary at this time."

Elizabeth whirled around searching everyone's reaction. Searching for someone to believe her, follow her orders. "But this is all a hoax. There's no plague. It's a disgraceful plan, a mutiny. You've all been duped by this fake General... Martial Law is wrong. This is a civilian led outpost. You'll be sorry you didn't believe me. You'll see. Caldwell and his people won't be sick. They won't get sick. That itself will prove the lie."

Sheppard had felt exhausted and heartsick before the ship's arrival. He didn't need this complication in the midst of the arrival of the Daedalus. Maybe he should have confined Elizabeth to her quarters after all. But this is where it had to stop, right here and now. He just had to suck it up and do what was necessary. God he hated being the General. His next words were cold and deliberate, but he trusted his Exec to do what he needed to do.

"Major Lorne, please remove Dr. Weir from the Control Deck. This city is under Martial Law, and the decision has been made that this is a military matter. Her opinions, objections, and any further obstructive actions must have no bearing on my decisions and cannot be tolerated."

There was a minor struggle, but Elizabeth had never been a fighter, at least not physically. Now diplomacy was lost to her, also. Maybe her sanity, too. He was glad he'd confiscated any unsecured weapons on the city the first day and had them secured in the armory, because she was a crack shot with her 9mm. In her present state it wasn't an unreasonable concern. That was one reason why Ronon was still a constant watchful presence, that and the possibility that any deranged converts might show up.

Sheppard stepped to the Control console. After a steadying breath he stated, "Chuck, hail the Daedalus."

The image that appeared on the overhead screen was surprisingly normal. Caldwell looked worn and tired, as did his bridge crew, but nothing like Samantha's last image. Was that a good sign, or not? All the really worst case options flashed through his mind; any one of which was just as bad as any of the others. Sheppard felt like he'd turned to stone inside. If they'd been sick already, the decisions had practically already been made because finding a cure was an extremely unlikely possibility in the time the crew would have had left. Now things would really get complicated.

But he forced his voice to as calm and normal a tone as possible. "Colonel Caldwell, it's good to see you, sir."

"Col... well, my mistake. General Sheppard." Caldwell's scrutiny told John that he'd quickly realized what this promotion meant. Caldwell was a good officer, with years of service. General Sheppard would have authority over this situation. "Congratulations are in order."

"Considering the situation, not so much, sir. But thank you."

Caldwell nodded slowly. "I guess you've heard from the SGC. It wasn't good news, I take it."

Sheppard bowed his head for a long minute. Everyone around him on the Control Deck went still and silent.

Caldwell's strained voice finally broke the silence. "Did anyone survive?"

Sheppard finally raised his head but he found it too difficult to answer directly. "I have a copy of the message Samantha, Colonel Carter, was able to send... before the end. My only advice is that you should watch it alone or with a couple of very tough colleagues before sharing it's contents with your crew."

"Has your crew seen it?"

"Everyone on Deck saw the full message as it was broadcast. For the crew at large I allowed one still image, and the audio only. I thought it best. Several people have requested to view it in full, so it is available for anyone who insists."

Caldwell's jaw clenched. "Self-destruct?"

"Yes, Sir. After Sam's message ended. There's part of it that she especially needs you to see. Is – is anyone of your crew ill with the plague?"

Caldwell looked years older, and grayer than he had only moments ago. He, and the crew, must have thought they were home free. But the SGC, gone. And Earth. But now more fears were obvious because of that one question. "Do you mean, ill yet?"

Sheppard nodded.

Caldwell looked around at his devastated bridge crew. "Perhaps we can talk after seeing the message."

"Yes, Sir. Right away." He turned aside, "Chuck send the message, please."

Chuck looked respectfully from Sheppard to Caldwell. "Right away, Sirs."

...

Dr. McKay rushed to the Control Room just as Chuck signed off. "Wait. What did they say? Did they have any more information? Are – are they sick? Dead? Will somebody answer a question before I have an aneurysm?"

Sheppard really wasn't in the mood for joking around but that last line got a smirk, however out of line it was. God, how he'd missed that. Humor had gone missing days ago, and after the last few days, humor itself was a shock.

"They're here. They're alive. We just sent our copy of the message for them to see for themselves. I don't expect an answer back for a while, but you can wait if you want."

McKay surprisingly didn't seem to have any more questions. He, probably more than anyone, knew that since they were alive and not sick there were a lot of decisions to make, and most of them were messy, complicated, and horrifying. But he sat quietly with Chuck and his laptop and waited.

Caldwell's return message was delayed for a time. Which was understandable, but then, they had the whole horrible background that had to have been consuming their energy and their souls all this time. They had to expect that since they hadn't received any message from the SGC, or anyone, that the news would be bad. But also, no one on the ship was ill so Dr. Lam's last message had probably been a consolation at the time especially with no symptoms showing up among the crew.

But that last message from Earth had devastated the Atlantis crew, and they hadn't lived any part of the horror personally, just the aftermath, which was still ongoing.

Caldwell was to-the-point when he hailed Atlantis that second time. "Sheppard, there are times when I hate being in charge."

"Yes, Sir. I do understand."

"Well, for starters, I honestly don't want to blow up my ship until we've tried to wait it out a good long while. I owe my crew that at least."

"My sentiments exactly. Do you need supplies?"

Caldwell sighed tiredly. "Not yet. We went on short rations immediately even though we had enough MREs to outlast a mechanical emergency if it cropped up on one of our trips. So we're good for now. I want to exhaust any other alternative before we have any contact with you or anyone at all. Dr. Lam's last message didn't offer much hope, but still, no one here is ill. Yet."

"Yes, Sir. We do have a plan to drop supplies near enough for you to capture."

Caldwell's grimace looked more like defeat. "It sounds like a good idea, Sheppard, but I was given an extensive list of all the things they tried... and that one didn't work either, not irradiating them, exposing them to space, nothing."

McKay rushed forward. "You're kidding? Right? That's – that's not even possible!"

Sheppard placed a hand on Rodney's shoulder. Usually that wouldn't stop him, but the information was as startling to John as it was to McKay. They were both shocked.

Sheppard stated, "I- I honestly don't have much else to offer. Colonel Carter didn't have the time to give us much information. But our people have worked straight through trying to find some bit of strategy, some hope, that we can help. Sam said that you had the latest information from Dr. Lam. Is there anything pertinent that might help? Send it down anyway and we'll study..."

Caldwell swiped a hand over his tired face. He just shook his head. "Sheppard, I hate to disappoint you but even sending information might compromise Atlantis. For all we know that may have affected the supply drops. Or maybe it's all damn bad luck and freakish mutations. This plague is just completely unpredictable. I just don't dare. The only thing we're really sure of is that the comm, the radio system we're presently using, is safe for transmission. We don't even dare use the standard SGC encryption from what they told us."

"But that's crazy!" McKay snapped.

"Yeah. But that was something they'd just learned before we left. That's why we only talked to Dr. Lam using radio frequencies. Colonel Carter did say she was working on a new encryption algorithm. She said she hoped it would be a safe way to send you a warning. She also used it to send us a packet of information about the plague.

"I can't believe how impossible this situation is. I can understand Sam's disbelief that they couldn't get a handle on it. And then Novak requested to be left behind... I really didn't want to leave Novak. She may have had her quirks but she was one of the best bridge officers I've ever served with. Smart, and stubborn enough to deal with our Asgard guest, and brave as they come. She loved her sister's girls like they were her own, and there was just no way that I could deny her last request. I'm really sorry she's gone."

Sheppard whispered, "There are so many gone."

Caldwell's thoughts had grown more solemn but after a few moments he suddenly looked curious as his glance took in the entire Control Deck. "Is Dr. Weir available? I honestly expected her to answer the hail even though I understand now that Atlantis is obviously under military control for this situation at least."

Sheppard shook his head. "I'm afraid she's... she did not accept the situation well. Dr. Beckett had to sedate her for a while, and even then her denial of the true circumstances led him to diagnose PTSD with severe paranoia. Especially when she learned I declared Martial Law, and even after reviewing the full message numerous times. I actually had to have her removed from the bridge when you arrived. Before she left her accusations included hoax, and mutiny, and fake General."

Caldwell looked astonished. "I would never have expected her to react that way."

"Well, to be honest, we didn't either. But I was there with her on the Control Deck that day. She just hasn't been the same since. I'll bring her to the bridge so she can talk to you if you'd like. I'm afraid she'll try to hatch some plan, but I'm willing to risk it since I don't doubt your sanity, Sir."

Caldwell managed a mild smirk. "Considering the world as we know it, you're very trusting, General. But I would like talk to her if I may? Maybe it will help if I can confirm it. Explain the situation from my perspective, too."

Sheppard turned to Chuck. "Have Lorne escort Elizabeth back to the bridge."

It didn't take long before Dr. Weir confidently walked to the Control Deck. She glared at her escort as she twisted from his firm grip on her arm when she got too near Sheppard. Ronon stepped between the two, and the escort simply watched carefully and respectfully and stayed close.

Caldwell sighed deeply. He felt bad enough for Sheppard, and everyone else that had to deal with this situation, but this too...

Elizabeth put on her best diplomatic smile with a healthy dose of disdain in her tone. "Colonel Caldwell, it's very good to see you, and see you healthy. I've been telling these, these, mutineers, that this is all a hoax. They've wrested the leadership of Atlantis away from me, and they'll pay for their insubordination. You can rely on me to take charge and deal with the situation now that you're here."

When Caldwell spoke, he surprised everyone with his gentle words. "Elizabeth, I'm very sorry, but there is no hoax. There is a plague, and we're trying very hard to deal with the situation as it is. Your help would be appreciated. I know you've had a tremendous shock, as have we all, but I know that now you know the truth..."

"That's, that's ridiculous. The truth as you call it is the hoax. The mutiny. If there was a real plague you'd just be able to ride it out on Daedalus. But you all look healthy and fit. You'll still be healthy after a waiting period. That's all you need to do to prove it, you need to stand off and wait. Their fake message said it might be months, but surely there's no real problem, and if there is we'll find a solution."

"Dr. Weir, I assure you, there's no hoax, no mutiny, and there certainly is a plague. The SGC did not self-destruct for a hoax. I think you're still in shock, and I would really appreciate it if you would go and talk to Carson Beckett about this. I think he can help straighten this out for you in time. Please, Elizabeth, do this for me, just because I ask it."

"Steven... are you sure? It's just so impossible... this whole story is so crazy..."

"Liz, I think it's best. Do this for me, alright?"

"I – I'll try. But can I speak to you again? I have reason to believe that Carson is in on the conspiracy, too."

Caldwell smiled sadly. "I'll be glad to speak to you again if we have time, Liz. But I believe Carson can help. I think you can believe him. He's a very good doctor, and a good man. And he's been your friend for years. I'll try to speak to you again a little later."

Sheppard nodded for Lorne to lead her away.

There was a rather awkward moment before Sheppard spoke. "I'm really sorry. I didn't know that you and Elizabeth..."

"It wasn't something that we'd really had much time to explore. No apology necessary. I only hope it helped at least a little."

It seemed it was Caldwell's turn for an awkward moment. "Sheppard, I was wondering if we could... talk. Just the two of us."

Sheppard looked blank for a moment. He had to hear what Caldwell had to say, but didn't know if he really wanted to hear it, or rather, the truth he would certainly hear. He turned to the Gate guards and decided that they were too far away to hear if he took over Chuck's post for a time. "Chuck, could you take station at the secondary Control deck to watch the scanners until I call you back."

"Of course, Sir."

Sheppard turned to McKay. "Rodney, I think I need to give Colonel Caldwell some time to discuss what we're going to do. I'm sure you have a dozen things to..."

McKay looked dazed and distracted. "Oh, at least a million." And he wandered off staring at his laptop.

Sheppard turned to take over Chuck's station, but McKay suddenly returned and headed for the railing at the edge of the Control Deck. He asked brusquely, "I just have a question, Caldwell. Is Hermiod still on board?"

"Why, no. After our last stop at Earth to drop off Novak he requested his personal Asgard escape pod that was on board for his use. I'd been expecting it for a while, after the Asgard, his whole race, committed suicide. He'd been getting more and more quiet, you know, interacting less with the crew after the last message from the Asgard. Hermiod said he needed to go home."

"Uh, huh. Huh? Wait. No, no, no. That makes no sense whatsoever. I talked to Hermiod a lot when we started exchanging information about Asgard tech. He was pretty arrogant about their accomplishments of course, but they were thousands of years ahead of us, so why wouldn't they have advanced tech.

"Still, he was always saying stuff like the Asgard were smarter, better, one of the Four Races, yadda yadda and all that. He obviously thought a lot of his people's accomplishments. I didn't even bother to argue with him about the moronic stuff they were into. Cloning? Really? They couldn't even figure out a way to keep cloning themselves to survive.

"But... going home? That doesn't make sense. I mean I didn't think they thought of home like humans do. I mean they don't have families, just cloning centers. So why go home?" Rodney hesitated for a moment. "But to be the last Asgard... I guess that could have caused him distress. But why go home when they blew themselves up? That just sounds crazy.."

"That all may be so, Doctor. I didn't really question his last request. And maybe he was acting a little crazy, because soon after he left the ship, the pod exploded. We all assumed it was suicide like the rest of his race."

"Exploded? Hmm." Rodney sounded very distracted, and waved his free hand in agitation. "Well, you go ahead and have your little talk with Sheppard. I have work to do. I need to think about this."

Caldwell stared at Sheppard, and John just watched worriedly as McKay started to wander off again. Something was percolating through that big brain of his and he had no idea what it was, so he just shrugged it off as normal McKay for the moment. When McKay's brain said eureka, he'd hear about it. He turned to Caldwell and literally shrugged. "Rodney."

"If you think so, Sheppard. Somehow he doesn't seem to fit my idea of a typical kind of astronaut, you know what I mean? But then he's not military, and it's not exactly a normal kind of life for any of us, is it? I certainly never expected to be living it myself. Nothing like the old TV shows. I bet you have a favorite science fiction show. Am I right?

Sheppard nodded, not knowing where Caldwell was going but willing to go wherever he needed to go for this talk he wanted. "I've seen a fair share of TV and movies, sir. I think McKay cornered the market on them before we left Earth. If you ever have a chance to talk to McKay about anything, the subjects would likely be: his research; where is his coffee; or rants about just how bad movie science is... and maybe not it that order. And it would be best to never, ever mention the "flux capacitor". Sheppard gave a mock shudder.

Caldwell chuckled darkly, then added pensively. "For me it was Star Trek. I used to idolize Kirk until he came up against that test, the Kobayashi Maru. The fact that he couldn't stomach a no-win situation just made him a coward in my mind. Anyone truly faced with that situation pays with part of their soul but it's not something you can hide from, or cheat your way through. You always hope it'll never happen to you..."

Sheppard felt like he was going to be sick. "Sir, I think it's really too early to be talking about a no-win situation. I hope you're not thinking of taking that step too soon. I really don't think we've tried everything. What about taking the ship and landing on a Gateless world? You'd have time, and isolation..."

Caldwell was shaking his head no. "And for a reason we didn't understand then or now, that didn't work either, Sheppard. And they tried every variation they could think of. Everything about it changed so fast, no one could make any headway on stopping it, and curing it...? One day we were fine, and toward the end whole worlds went silent at once. No, I think the possibilities are getting pretty narrow. I'm seriously considering a fast trip through a local star. Might be quite a show."

"But - but not yet. Not yet. I'm a General, damn it, and. Not. Yet." Sheppard tried desperately to think of some delaying tactic. "You said transmitting data could be dangerous. That Dr. Lam would only communicate over radio to give you the latest information even though you had a packet in the brand new SGC encryption."

Caldwell's dry chuckle did nothing to cheer up Sheppard. "Do you know how much information that dumped into our computers, Sheppard? And most of it is absolutely useless about trials and variations that never worked. It would take years to get through the information. Planets all over the Milky Way were desperate to try anything and everything, and they all failed. And all of it was transmitted to the SGC and translated to their new encryption algorithm just before we left. And still I have to wonder how safe that is. It isn't exactly brand new now, is it? It's been a few weeks. The radio is still considered safe, I hope, but what do I know? The only thing I know for sure is that we're all alive here on the ship."

"Then we'll take as long as we need. Your people can filter out the useless stuff and read out the rest over comm. We have to try. Atlantis won't give up on you that fast. And we have some pretty smart people here and some resources not available to Earth. Maybe they'll come up with something else, or learn something from your information that will help."

Caldwell asked dryly, "And how do we choose what's useless information?"

Evidently Rodney McKay hadn't wandered far because he suddenly burst back onto the Control Deck. "Did I just hear the most idiotic plan ever devised by man? READ an entire computer... you might as well try to read the Library of Congress, you idiots."

"Do you have a better idea?"

McKay looked decidedly pale and devastated. "What? Pull a rabbit out of my ass? You know, a few days ago I didn't pay much attention to something Radek said to me because I thought it was true. But maybe he was wrong. Radek said Sam didn't send me a puzzle... and maybe she didn't mean to, but I think I figured it out. She was so close. I think she almost had it. If she'd just had more time. But she was so sick she didn't see it.

Well... Maybe you're going to think I'm crazy, and Sheppard if you say it's crazy even once I'll have to remind you of the many, many, MANY times I was crazy but right!

"But the thing is, I kept listening to Samantha's message, and when you just repeated the craziest thing I've ever heard, that most transmission of information wasn't safe... well, I may sound crazy myself but I have an idea why that may be.

"Now just a little history here. The SGC uses... used... a propriety intellectual encryption coding system. They didn't even share it with the Asgard, because, well, they were aliens, and they were so arrogant, and they knew theirs would be/had to be better than ours, and safer, and more efficient, and oh so much better than ours in any other way. That sounds just like Hermiod, doesn't it?

"But this idea I had. Well, it'll be a little less time consuming than reading out the Library of Congress. I want you to read me the Asgard code that you have on board for your Asgard Transport Beam."

Caldwell and Sheppard were, in a word, skeptical.

"What?" asked Caldwell.

"Why in the world? Where did that come from?"

McKay frowned in grief, "Novak." He continued stridently, "Don't you get it? She was never infected, nor is your crew, until she beamed down while Hermiod was still on board.

"Something else Radek said: that Sam said the incubation period was unknown. That there had to be factors they never recognized that affected it, or for some reason it changed.

"I think, with Novack, Hermiod screwed with the code to make the plague work in less time. He knew you were headed to Atlantis. He knew the Milky Way was gone. I think he expected it to work out here, too, because of course you'd use the transport beam on the Daedalus at some time, and that would take care of Pegasus, and his plan would be complete... and he could go join the rest of the Asgard in Valhalla or wherever.

"Sam said Novak was dead in days, and there are just no other factors that make sense. I checked with Carson, and she almost had to be sick when she reached Earth. And none of your crew are infected... yet... because you haven't used the Asgard Transport Beam or their advanced carrier beam for information transmission. All you've used is good old "good-enough-for-us" Earth tech for communication because you're suddenly scared to death to do anything else, and with good reason. And other Earth ships used it to communicate in the Milky Way and with Earth so there must have been cross-contamination or whatever Carson would call it.

"Read me the code. Every last jot, dot, dash, trace, trifle, and squiggle from the Asgard Beam coding. I have an original copy. We hoped to incorporate the Beam on Atlantis when we got the power for it to make sense. But we never have, yet. I can compare the code copy-to-copy.

"Please. I've listened to Samantha's message hundreds of times and it's the only thing that makes sense. Even when transmitting information between ships or stations isn't safe... because it uses a form of Asgard coding because it's just so God damn good and it's efficient, and it's fast. We use it everywhere, for everything except for the encryption at the SGC itself and it's major outpost, Atlantis, that comes straight from the SGC through the Gate or from the Daedalus because it's secure out here in Pegasus, because even out here there was that contingent of renegade Asgard that probably all went boom, too, before this all started.

"I'm hoping I'm wrong... no, I'm hoping I'm right, that Hermiod wanted to take humans out after the Asgard died. I think he might have gone a little crazy, maybe like Elizabeth did, with the shock, or just maybe he got so desperately lonely. But I'm really convinced that he thought the human race could never compare to the Asgard; that they'd never be good enough to be the Fifth Race.

"Look, maybe I'm right. Maybe I'm wrong. But maybe we can save Pegasus, and maybe even the Daedalus. What have we got to lose? Sheppard? General?"

McKay's use of Sheppard's new title surprised him almost as much as his theory. But what a theory! If McKay was right...

McKay suddenly looked desperate. He was afraid he wouldn't be believed. He made one more plea. "Caldwell, the Daedalus was out of contact a lot, but it had one other important variable... Hermiod. Tell Sheppard we have to give this a chance."

Sheppard looked to be in mild shock himself just at the possibility, but sounded very clear headed and decisive in his response. "McKay, get your readers set up in pairs: one reads, and one listens; both on Atlantis... and on your ship, Caldwell. We can't make one little mistake. If there's an error, or errors, we need to find them."

Caldwell was stunned. "Huh. Maybe you were right, Sheppard. A no-win situation means there's no hope, and I think McKay came through with a theory of hope. Give us a hail when your teams are ready, General. I'm sure I'll have lots of volunteers up here."

…

They may not have been reading the Library of Congress, but operations came to a standstill anyway. Pairs of readers and listeners changed often, because no one wanted to make that one mistake with the totally foreign Asgard coding language.

Sheppard and Caldwell kept to themselves and didn't talk often, but once that first mistake in the code was found... they'd also found real hope that they had found their miracle - Rodney's Rabbit. Soon other tiny mistakes were found in the coding of the transport beam. They were small, and terribly easy to miss. And they were scattered through the whole length of it. They were tiny bits that added up to a rewrite of the human genetic code into something alien and murderous.

And when they were done they read it again. Now that they had evidence of the genocide code they weren't going to take a chance that they'd missed something.

...

Dr. Weir came often to the Control Deck during this time to speak to Steven. She was always escorted, and the escort was always respectful, after all, this woman had led Atlantis through some tough times, and it wasn't really her fault that she'd broken down during the toughest of those times. But someone was always keeping a close ear on her ramblings wherever she went. But she seemed better over time. Sometimes Caldwell had conversations with Carson, too, but those were confidential.

...

During the middle of the second reading of the code, Caldwell and Sheppard were updating and aligning their schedules when McKay walked in staring at his laptop, but then he never went anywhere without it. But it was different now. He usually just stared at it, or tapped a key or two, not at all like the flying fingers that would have been observed before. And he rarely spoke to anyone.

Sheppard and Caldwell shared worried glances whenever they saw him. McKay had seemed to shrink over time, too. His grief for his family and friends was bad enough, but they knew he blamed himself for... everything, which was ridiculous. But he knew Hermiod about the best of any other human, and he hadn't seen or noticed the clues.

And Sam's message, and the fact that he took so long to understand what the timing of Novak's death meant, just added to his grief. He believed he should have seen it faster. What good was it to be the smartest man in two galaxies if one galaxy was now lost because he wasn't smart enough? Fast enough? The timing of Novack's death was the last, the most important clue, besides Hermiod himself. If it had occurred to him during that last message... what might have happened?

...

But Caldwell knew Hermiod probably better than McKay. Hermiod stayed in Engineering most of the time, but they were still on the same ship. Any guilt that McKay felt, was felt also by Steven, and he wondered why, why the Daedalus? Was it something about Caldwell himself, his command, his crew, or something else that played a role in the deadly actions of his Asgard crewman? Did he just feel too alien? That he wasn't accepted or treated as a real crewman? They had tried. They respected the Asgard if only for his work and helping them with theirs. Novak had tried hardest of all because she sometimes felt awkward and a little alien herself with her impossible-to-stop-hiccoughs that came on anytime she was stressed.

It was just so hard, not knowing. Because he didn't know, it weighed on his every thought and action after Hermiod's hacking was discovered. He grew as quiet as McKay as time went by, even after the situation started to look brighter.

Caldwell had pondered McKay's guilt and there were thoughts that hit Steven just as hard. There were so many "what-ifs" where Hermiod was concerned. There was just one question that he couldn't let go of, and he needed to know. Maybe McKay would be able to at least tell him his thoughts about it. And one day, finally, he just couldn't hold back the need to know.

"Dr. McKay, this probably isn't a good time for this, but I have a question that's been nagging at me ever since you told us your theory about Hermiod. I've been wanting to ask, but I've held off because I may not want to really know the answer. But it's been eating at me and I just need to know what you think. Why do you think Hermiod set out to use the Daedalus to try to exterminate the human race? Was it something we caused? What did I miss...?"

McKay was startled speechless, which was unusual in itself. But then he started laughing hysterically, obviously unable to stop. Sheppard rushed to his side and got him to sit on the steps to the Control Deck.

"McKay? Come on, now. Is this just last minute hysteria, or is there something REALLY wrong? Come on, try to catch a breath." And Sheppard rubbed strong circles on the man's back until Rodney could finally take a shuddering breath. And then another, until he finally rested his weary face in his hands and shuddering sobs followed for several minutes.

Sheppard and Caldwell shared half-terrified glances, while Chuck stood frozen at his station, wanting to help but not knowing what to do any better than the officers.

Suddenly Rodney calmed until his breathing was easier. He eventually sat straighter and rubbed roughly at the tears that still didn't want to stop. He looked at Caldwell on the screen near the Gate and said in a sad, wispy, weary voice, "Thank you, Colonel."

Caldwell looked decently confused.

Rodney took one more shuddery breath and shook his head roughly. "I didn't get it. I blamed myself, and you blamed yourself. But it was Hermiod. It was him all along. The Asgard race died months ago yet he had hung on long after their suicide. And for what? I've seen Ronon Dex hang on for years after he lost his people. So I didn't question Hermiod's reaction. I just thought that was the way he was, that he was tougher than your average Asgard."

He looked even more worn as resignation set in. "But I didn't see it. You didn't see it. No one did. So who's fault is that? Hermiod's. Who knew little gray aliens who were so smart and technologically advanced could also be crazy and devious? Maybe we should have suspected they were cowards, and crazy, too, since they all committed suicide, but hey, they're aliens. What did we know?

"He had to have been planning this all those months after the Asgard died, and we never knew. All he had to do was make tiny adjustments to the code to insert the plague piece by piece, and when all the little adjustments were done, and all his jots and dots meshed and made the plague whole, he took his little pod and ran away. Did you track the pod, Caldwell?"

Caldwell nodded slowly yet scowled with disgust. "And to think I was sorry when I saw it explode."

"Crazy and suicidal. I think I finally called it right, didn't I? I don't know for sure of course if he did start with the Daedalus. But because he was probably coward-enough he wouldn't have wanted to draw any attention to himself... until that last trip to Earth and he saw that his plan worked.

"Just think, to reach all those worlds, all those people that might never have contacted the SGC directly, he had to have used thousands, even millions of diverse ships, outposts, and other contacts. And slowly all those bits of data connected and interacted until the plague was whole and unstoppable. And now we're just the ones left to wonder where we went wrong. And grieve. And bear the guilt that isn't even ours, but one little gray alien's."

…

When the readings were finally done Carson put the pathologists to work with the computer team. They needed to piece the plague pieces together. If the pieces fit together into a whole, and the Atlantis copy matched jot for dot, then the search was done at least as far as they could prove. It was a possibility that Hermiod hacked the code kept on Atlantis even though no evidence of that was found.

The corrections were relayed to the Daedalus and they flew off to a Gateless planet, as one of their prospective early plans had outlined. They landed and used the corrected Asgard Beam to transport various lab animals from cage to cage outside the ship. No one wanted to hurry the process, but the animals stayed healthy. Caldwell waited several months before two volunteers were allowed a beam-out. They spent a leisurely month camping, and if not for the bit of uncertainty they all still felt, they were envied for finally being off the ship and having to endure fresh air, sunshine, and even rain showers.

But it worked. Every jot and every dot had been corrected. Eventually everyone beamed off and on the ship dozens of times and everyone was still healthy. Their morale was improving, and Caldwell gave them leave to explore this Gateless world. It wouldn't be a bad world to settle when they had the resources.

But that was for later. For now they could go home, and Pegasus was as safe as life was ever going to be here for the time being, but at least they were alive.

Epilogue 1

...1

Martial Law remained in the city during the next year until the Daedalus situation was cleared up to Dr. Beckett's satisfaction. The ship had been allowed to finally land on the city. Morning briefings were led by General Sheppard and the city's department heads were all usually present unless there was a crisis somewhere. There had necessarily been re-allocations of duties and responsibilities during the year.

The science departments were rearranged so that McKay could work on several very specialized projects with the assistance of Dr. Kusinagi and Dr. Beckett. Dr. Zelenka was head of city projects that involved many divisions except for medical, which Beckett oversaw. Dr. Simpson and others took over off world missions unless something far outside their expertise warranted a different scientist's presence.

It was Sheppard's decision to stay on the city more than he had before, though he never gave up flying the Jumpers. His presence, and his leadership were essential without Dr. Weir's administrative efforts.

Ronon and Teyla worked with more of the military members on missions. They were all pleased with the progress being made in that area and with the decision to add two more members to each team. They saw an immediate decrease in hostile actions against the teams with the larger presence in most instances, and a larger defensive force was welcome when they did face hostiles.

Caldwell was present at briefings unless away on the Daedalus surveying areas close to the city that didn't have Gate access, although a few of his crew with the ATA gene often served on duty on the city. The Gateless world they had spent time on was chosen as a colony world, but still only very basic facilities were available. It was not to be an Alpha or Beta site, but it could prove useful simply by being totally isolated from the rest of Pegasus.

And Dr. Weir, though she was still under Carson's care, and probably would be for some time, was allowed to attend briefings and her suggestions were given as much consideration as was anyone's. Everyone working together on all these projects during the past year plus continued counseling had calmed most of her fears. And Steven's constant visits and calls helped, too.

Today's briefing was almost a year since the devastating last message from Earth and McKay had told Sheppard that he had some news to pass along that was encouraging.

"Dr. McKay, you asked for time for a special briefing this morning. I'm sure everyone is curious about it."

Some of the department heads had mostly been kept in the dark about Rodney's many projects. They knew that Sheppard was getting emails with updates constantly, but with no results being reported everyone else was left with curiosity and no real expectation that much progress was being made.

Rodney hesitated briefly before clearing his throat. He hadn't been as outspoken since that last message from Earth so everyone waited patiently.

"It's ready. Everything's ready to go. The relay sensors have been finished by Zelenka's team, and Kusinagi and I have finished the code to overwrite the Asgard transmission and transport codes."

Everyone seemed stunned. It was a good thing; a marvelous, an amazing accomplishment. But the fact that they could now correct Hermiod's attempt at genocidal hacking was also a reminder of the despair of the last year; the loss of so many lives, so many worlds full of life.

And would it be of any real effect? They would send out the overwrite, offer the option of contact, and then wait. They had to let the worlds recover, and if they could, send out contact if they wished.

This of course was only one of McKay's projects. First the codes had been altered in Pegasus to lock out any Asgard hacking if it somehow infected Atlantis or some other Pegasus planet in the future. And of course, firewalls were set up to make it impossible for Hermiod's code to ever connect with their own communications systems ever again. These had not been small projects either.

But the Milky Way was vast, larger than Pegasus, and already infected in every system known to be in use. But now it was ready. The code could be overwritten if it was still out there. If there were survivors somehow, somewhere, they might some day try to make contact. But this would eradicate Hermiod's bastard code for good, it was hoped.

Caldwell simply nodded to McKay. "Good work, Doctor. Now, Sheppard, when do you want the Daedalus to set out. It shouldn't take long to load up."

"McKay? Ready to go?"

Rodney nodded. "Kusinagi and I are all packed. Zelenka says the sensor array is all crated and ready for deployment."

Sheppard nodded assent, and sent a quick glance to Caldwell. "I always hated no-win situations. Maybe we can make something of this

one after all. The mission is on..."

Epilogue 2

…2

Sheppard, McKay, Carson, Teyla, and Kusinagi sat in secret conference after the return of Caldwell's Milky Way mission.

Sheppard's eyes bored into McKay's. "You're sure the other project is ready, too?"

McKay nodded. He and Carson shared a glance but that was all. "It is. While we were away Carson's been verifying all the little dots and jots on this code. They seem to fit together to make a whole, and it's even been tested and it worked the way we hoped. Carson and his team have tested it on a crashed hive and it worked as planned. We have an Athosian team that Teyla's been monitoring working with survivors."

Sheppard muttered, "Are we playing at being Ancients with this?"

McKay snorted. "We're no gods, and neither were they. It makes me sick to think of all the human experimentation they were involved with. Maybe we'll actually be able to undo some of that and do some good with this."

John nodded. "Then I guess if it's ready... there's no reason to delay. Maybe, Carson, this time we'll accomplish what we set out to do the first time. I never thought that Hermiod's genocide code could come to this.

Teyla was very solemn as she added, "John, it even worked on you and I. Neither you nor I have reported any ill effects. I cannot believe this is a bad thing."

"Alright then, McKay, your mission has a go... We'll announce it in tomorrow's briefing that we'll be sending out the altered Wraith transport and communication codes to their ships and darts. The darts won't affect humans unless they have Wraith DNA, like Teyla and I, but they also are used to transport Wraith sometimes. That and the communications code overwrite will eventually make it's way through their populations. When it deletes the Iratus and Wraith changes the Ancients made and makes them revert to human form again, maybe this can finally stop the slaughter."

End

Back to the Future and the "flux capacitor".

wiki/Back_to_the_Future_(franchise)#Reception

The Kobayashi Maruis a training exercise in the fictional Star Trekuniverse designed to test the character of Starfleet Academy cadets in a no-win scenario.

wiki/Kobayashi_Maru#Star_Trek:_The_Kobayashi_Alternative .

Placebo effect:
. /blog/placebo-can-work-even-know-placebo-201607079926

Valhalla: home of the slain in Asgard

wiki/Valhalla