The Other City von T L Kay
“They’ve completely taken over the command room,” said Lorne. “There are human forms everywhere.”
Kate swore under her breath. “Have they figured out what we did to the control room?”
Zelenka shook his head. “They still have been unable to restore power.”
Kate nodded. It had now been nearly a day since the Replicators had taken over the city. Shortly after they had taken the gate room Kate and her team had been able to sabotage the control room, disabling power from all but essential systems. This also meant that the Replicators had been unable to detect them. So far Kate and her team were the only survivors, but they had no idea if there were others out there in the city.
“What’s our progress on dialing home?” she asked Radek.
He sighed. “We can do it, but not for long.”
“How long is not for long?”
“One minute, maybe two.”
“That’ll be fine. We only need to contact the SGC and let them know we’re still alive.”
“What are we going to tell them?” asked James.
They all looked at each other, because they knew the answer, and it wasn’t pleasant.
Finally Kate sighed. “We tell them that we’re alive but we can’t get to the gate because of a foothold situation. We give us 72-hours to try to retake the city. If by that point we haven’t…we make sure they can’t find Earth.”
“Why can’t they send a rescue?” asked James.
“It would take the Daedalus, Apollo and Odyssey combined to even put a dent in the Replicator’s forces,” said Lorne. “And even then we would probably sustain heavy loses.”
“So there’s really no choice then is there?”
Kate shook her head. “Either we get back the city, or no one gets it.”
“Incoming wormhole!”
John was the first to Walter’s side, followed closely by Elizabeth, Rodney, Daniel, Landry, and incredibly enough Jack, being supported by Sam.
“Receiving a message.”
“SGC, this is Praesidium,” said Kate’s voice.
John let out a breath that he hadn’t known he was holding. He felt Elizabeth’s hand slip into his and gave it a little squeeze.
“We read you Dr. Sheppard.”
“The city is swarming with Replicators; we’ve lost the gate room and are currently dialing from one of the city’s sublevels. We were able to cut power to all nonessential systems and have since been evading capture.”
“What are their numbers?” asked Landry.
“It’s difficult to say, but there are a lot.” There was a pause. “We are attempting to win back the city, but we do not know how successful we will be. We request 72 hours to try before counter measures are taken.”
Landry and Jack exchanged a look and Jack nodded.
“Very well,” said Landry. “In the meantime we will divert the Daedalus to your position—”
“No sir,” she said. “That would not be wise. There are many Replicator ships around the city; I don’t think she could take them.”
Landry sighed. “Very well.”
“Sir, Zelenka tells me that we don’t have much time left. Is General O’Neill all right?”
“I’ll live,” said Jack.
Kate sighed in relief. “That’s good to hear sir.”
Jack smiled, even though she couldn’t see it. “I’m glad to hear that you’re ok too, make sure to stay that way.”
“Yes sir.”
They heard Lorne’s voice. “Kat we’ve gotta go, they’ve detected us.”
“We’ll contact you in 72 hours if not before,” said Kate, “Praesidium out.”
The gate shut down and the group was left in silence. John was the first one to speak.
“Counter measures?”
Jack sighed. “We were given orders that if a situation like this arose the wrong information was not to be allowed into enemy hands.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’m afraid not son,” said Landry.
“Well that’s a load of shit.”
“John!” Elizabeth said sternly.
He ignored her, pulling his hand away from hers and stepping toward Jack.
“General this is my sister we’re talking about!”
“I know that John. There are a lot of people’s sisters and brothers on this mission. It isn’t just your family that’s at stake.”
“Damn it!” John started, but Landry cut him off.
“Colonel! You are getting dangerously close to insubordination for the second time in two days. Now I think we all need a break and we can come back to this in the morning.”
“That sounds like a good idea sir,” said Elizabeth, trying to ease the tension of the situation. “Come on John, I’ll walk you back to your room.”
John looked from her to Jack and back before reluctantly nodding. He followed Elizabeth out of the control room and out into the hallway. She took his hand in hers and led him back to his room.
“John you’ve got to keep it together,” she said when she had closed the door behind them. “I need you in Atlantis; I can’t have you sitting around here with a court-martial.”
John sank onto the bed and put his head in his hands. “She’s not going to make it back is she?”
Elizabeth sat down next to him and slipped her arm through his. “She’s going to be all right John, I promise.”
“How can you be sure?” he asked, sitting up.
“Because,” she said as she leaned her head on his shoulder. “She’s too much like you not to be.”
John smiled weakly. “I should have been there before this.”
“John,” she sighed. “You have to stop beating yourself up over that. You did what you could.”
John shook his head. “No, I didn’t. Kate was right, I was a pushover. I should have told Paul to go to hell, that I was going to see my sister no matter what, and I didn’t. Because I thought he was right. I thought that she would be better off if I disconnected from her. So I stopped talking to her and moved to Antarctica. She had every right to be upset with me, and now I’m never going to get to apologize.”
Elizabeth sat back up and turned to look him in the face.
“I have complete faith in Kate, Radek, and Lorne’s ability to fight back. But I also know that General O’Neill isn’t going to be so quick to give up on them. So don’t you worry, everything will be just fine.”
As John sat there, looking into her eyes he thought of what Kate had said, and the fact that he had done nothing about it. And now with all this, he remembered how lost he had been when Elizabeth was taken, and how he had done nothing to show his feeling when they got her back. And here was his chance, the perfect moment, and yet he couldn’t seem to find the courage, and that thought made him laugh.
“What is it?” she asked.
“It’s nothing,” he said, turning away and trying to hider the emotion that was undoubtedly all over his face.
Elizabeth reached out her hand and slowly tilted his face back towards hers. Then she leaned in and gently kissed him, an act of comfort more than anything. But though it started out that way it was not destined to end that way.
John leaned into the kiss, wrapping his arms around her. She moved into the embrace as well, digging her hands into his hair and opening her mouth to him.
He pulled away after a moment. “Wait, wait, wait,” he said. “What are we doing?”
“Something we should have done a long time ago.”
John shrugged. “Just so we’re clear.”
Elizabeth smiled. “Crystal,” she said before pulling him back in for a kiss.
Kapitel Abschlussbemerkung: sorry for the shipping, i just had to get it in there cause i'm a die-hard John/Elizabeth fan and i felt that it needed to be there a bit, especially with the stuff that Kate said to him. so there, i'm done, it's out of the way.
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