Stargate

Atlantis

Rodney McKay had spent the better oart of 2 years leading extensive research teams on Atlantis so that they could leave a copy of the Ancient database on Earth. The work had been slow and steady, but they had finally managed a complete copy for the IOA.

Rodney was reviewing the files in the final harddrive when he noticed one of them was labeled Elections for Council members. He opened it inside the Ancient terminal, and read the file quickly. He knew exactly what he had to do as soon as he finished reading the file. He ran to the teleporter and got to the operations center where everyone was gathered in the conferemce room.

"I found the Holy Grail." Rodney said as he walked in amd got everyone's attention.

"How do you mean McKay?" Lt. General Jack O'Neill asked him as he sat at the table.

"We all know that Atlantis was ruled by a Council, and since we found it 7 years ago we have ruled as an Expedition. The city has fought us on the primary controls, even though we have great access. What I found woukd change all that, we need to assign citizens and hold an election." he told them.

All of the delegates looked stunned, as they had never considered that. "Elections for what?" Jack asked curious.

"The ruling Council Positions. The Primary controls are under the designation of the Council Members. Because we have not assigned one, we cannot access the basic controls. Our work arounds allow us great access to the central controls, but we battle the system nearly every day." Rodney explained sitting down.

"Who can be a citizen?" Woolsey asked.

"Anyone with the Ancient Gene can be a citizen or council member. I understood that we were preparing the next expedition to Pegasus, so I would say anyone with the Gene that is going. Dr. Beckett has improved the Gene therapy success to like 92 percent, so it shouldn't matter who is selected." Rodney replied.

General O'Neill looked at them all, and knew that they would need to do this. "How long does the election process take?" he asked.

"21 days minimum, and we have to assign the citizens before we can select the ones for the process." he explained quickly before anyone could ask.

"Start adding the expedition members first, than we will see if we have enough to hold these elections. Woolsey, we need the entire council gathered as we will need to move quickly." O'Neill said to him.

"I will have to scan them in one at a time, may even be able to get those without the gene accepted as well that way. Send them to my lab so I can begin the process. I would like to submit my name for the Science Council Seat." Rodney said as he stood again.

"How many seats are there?" Richard Woolsey asked.

Rodney smiled as he answered. "9 seats make up the Lantean Council as it is called. It will aslo allow us to decrypt the sections of the database and transfer them to the harddrives." he told them.

O'Neill watched Rodney leave and the doors close. He looked at Woolsey who had placed his hands on his head as if he was getting a headache. "This will dramatically change how we run Atlantis, and it will need to be a joint operation." he said shuffling papers knowimg that none of them addressed this.

"I will inform the council, and you will need to inform the President later. How long do you meed before you are ready for the Pegasus expedition?" Woolsey asked him.

Jack looked at a few things in his paperwork before he replied. "35 days at the soonest. That would be pushing several things forward, and we might have to rush production of the Pheonix a bit so that my 5 ship fleet will be ready." he answered simply.

"Very well, assuming we receive authorization finalizr your expedition members. I assume you wish to be considered for the High Chair?" Woolsey asked.

"It would only be appropriate." Jack said as he stood up preparing to depart on one of the cloaked jumpers from Atlantis. "We have a few things to discuss with the Presidsnt now it seems." Jack said as he developed his plan for the evening.

Destiny Day 4

Eli woke with a start on his bed in the aeroponics bay, and looked at the schematics if the corridors he needed to repair. He was concerned about how he was going to repair the hull when he went into one of the ancient storage bays. He found the container he was looking for that was supposed to hold the padts he needed to repair the system that controlled the compression rate between compartments. Without it he wouldn't be able to transfer tje atmosphere between compartments so he could repair the damaged corridors.

He opened the container and was surprised to see 3 little robots and a controller sitting on a tray. A manual was included so he picked it up, and looked it over.

At first he couldn't believe his luck as these repair robots seemed to be keyed for repairing certain systems aboard the ship. He read it twice and knew he had scored the biggest break yet. These 3 robots were programmed to repair shields, weapons, and the conduits themselves. He quickly grabbed the controller, and turned all 3 robots on at once. He set them to automate repairs, and he was surprised when they automatically accessed the latest diagnostics on the systems. All 3 robots scampered off as their systems identified the faults and assessed the order in which repairs needed to be conducted.

He pulled the tray out, and was surprised there was a somewhat larger robot in the bottom of the crate. He pulled it out and set it on the deck before he found the controller and instructions for it. This robot was specifically designed to repair the stellar plasma storage systems, and had the shielding necessary to withstand it as well. Eli quickly activated it, and it to went straight to work accessing the relevant diagnostics it needed. It flagged 32 critical repairs that the system needed, and advised he dropped the ship out of FTL immediately.

Eli looked over the diagnostic and about feinted when he discovered the problem.

Eli ran to the bridge and unlocked the controls so he could drop the ship out of FTL before the ship exploded. He waited impafiently as the secure doors unlocked, allowing him to run in to the navigation panel and command the ship out of FTL. He experienced the familiar sensation as the ship dropped out of FTL, just before the first explosion rocked the ship.

He pulled up the controls for stellar plasma, and quickly locked down the cells that had been damaged, and plugged the leaks from venting all of the Plasma that was stored in the ones left intact. He pulled up the schematics and sighed as he realized plasma storage was only accessible through Engineering. And to add to his problems, it had created a new rupture in the Hull, and the shields were overtaxed to the point that integrity had fallen to 8 percent. If he attempted to jump to FTL the ship would be torn apart from the stress.

Eli went to the sensor station and performed a long range scan. Fortunately he was in the middle of nowhere so there were no drone ships nearby. But there were also no stargates or even stars within 70 lightyears of him. Without even a stargate in range, he had no hope of supplies even if he could have used it undetected.

Eli sighed as the damage reports came in, and he knew the situation of the entire crew was now in grave peril. It would take weeks or even months for him to make the repairs necessary to restore the systems. He walked to the Aeroponics bay, and locked the door with a code so that whoever took over couldn't leave the room. He kept hold of the tablet so they could read the situation themselves.

He activated the unit and placed the stone while he closed his eyes.

Washington DC- Homeworld Command

Eli opened his eyes, and turned in the seat as he opened the eyes of a staff sergeant. "I need to see General O'Neill now." he demanded.

"Who are you?" Walter replied as he had been observing.

"Eli Wallace, Authorizaion Delta Omega 332." he replied automatically.

"Right this way, he will be headed for the White House in a few minutes however." Walter replied as they ran through the building. They got to General O'Neill office just as he was headed out.

"General O'Neill, Eli Wallace. I need to speak with you sir." Eli said in the uniform.

"Can it wait?" he asked as he began speed walking towards his waiting car.

"I am afraid not sir, I must report catastrophic failure of Plan A for Destiny." Eli said as he walked with him.

"How bad is it?" O'Neill asked as they exited the building.

"It is complicated but the ship is dead in the water until the hull is repaired a bit and the shields strengthened. They are currently ar 8 percent efficency, and fluctuating with the drain on them. Any attempt to jump into FTL will result in the destruction of Destiny. Repairs will take me between 4 and 12 weeks minimum." Eli reported after taking a seat in the vehicle as it pulled away from the building.

"What happened?" O'Neill asked as he closed the file he had been reading.

"Stellar Plasma storage tanks exploded, caused another rupture in the hull. It has to be repaired before the FTL Drive can be reinitialized which means repairing the corridors and engineering compartments so they can even be accessed to begin repairs." Eli told him.

"Shit." Jack exclaimed knowing that it changed the entire plan. "Sorry Eli, but this is a significant wrench in the plans. What do you need from us?" Jack asked.

"I do not even know how I am going tonrepair the corridors. We relied on isolatimg the sections because we do not have the materials. I need an engineer to come and assess the repairs needed, amd determine how I can even complete the work." Eli replied as they pulled into the White House. "I am going to need you to tell a few other people in a few minutes."

Eli paled as he realized who Jack wanted him to tell. "The President?" he asked.

"Not just him, but yes. The IOA Presidency will be there as well as the joint chiefs." Jack answered as they cleared security and the car pulled into the rear of the building. "You will get out after me, and follow me like you belong to the military." he said as he opened the door.

They made it through Security quickly, Eli pretending to be the person he was actually inhabiting. It was easier than explaining what was really happening, and Eli was surprised when he was lead into the room by General O'Neill himself.

"Welcome Jack, I am sure you know everyone?" President Hayes asked as he amd Eli sat down.

"I do, I would like to introduce Eli Wallace of the Destiny crew. He is currently using the communication stones to report failure of Plan A." Jack said to them all.

"I am sure we will get a full report later, but give us the short version." President Carl Storm of the IOA asked.

"Stellar plasma storage exploded and caused significant problems. They will need to be repaired before Destiny can reenter hyperspace. Coult be as long as 12 weeks with only Mr. Wallace conducting repairs." Jack replied reciting what Eli had told him.

"Why do I have a feeling that is only part of the problem?" Carl asked leaning forward.

"Because it is." Eli replied. "The complete diagnostic has not been completed, however we are short of the power needed by atleast 5 percent."

The heads around the table shook as they realized how dangerous that situation could be. "We will need to find the options available and figure out what we can do to assist." President Hayes said as the IOA looked at him.

"We need to discuss the request by Atlantis, what is this election?" President Storm asked.

"Atlantis was governed by a ruling council elected from the population. The only way to control it completely is to hold this election and form a governing council to unlock the secrets of the city." Jack answered as he understood it. "There are 9 seats on the council, and each was assigned a task to govern and lead. They also decided how the city was run, however it can still be run under our current structure."

The representatives nodded as they accepted it was necessary for the city to be unlocked. "What can we expect the results to be after this election?" President Storm asked.

"The plan will not change because of that, other than I am informed it will make maintaining the city easier. However what is happening with Mr. Wallace may dictate we use Atlantis to mount a rescue operation." Jack answered for their immediate plans.

"How would that work?" Richard Woolsey asked. "As I understand it we still have not learned how to make Zero Point Modules, and Dr. McKay has reported it would take 5 of them for such an extended Journey through hyperspace to where Destiny is. How would you suggest we go about that?"

Jack smiled as he knew what Woolsey was getting at. "Zalenka has reported that the Wormhole drive would deplete 2 of the 3 Atlantis currently has to reach Destiny and return to Atlantis." He replied with his own report.

"We will need others to verify the numbers, and those calculations would be difficult to achieve. How do you anticipate counteracting the odds of being off course?" Woolsey asked. "As I understamd the reports from the last time it was used, we were lucky that the city was obliterated from the stress."

"I could review those logs and determine the risks." Eli offered. "It will likely be several days while the engineers determine my best plan of action while using as little piwer as possible." Eli volunteeted.

"Very well, we will have the Engineer ready in 12 hours Eli. In the meantime the delegates need to return to their home contries. I have a proposal for the Leaders of the Nations that must be decided upon." Jack said as he stood. "As it concerns the future of the Stargate I wish to address it with them."

"What would that be?" President Storm asked.

"Releasing the details of the programs to the public. Otherwise it will be very difficult to cover the departure of Atlantis. The cover story has been questioned repeatedly, and the quarantine of the bay has not been helpful either." Jack said as the President was openly shocked and blindsided by this.

He wasn't the only one, as most of the IOA had not heard even a peep about this. "I must say this is shocking, what has caused this unexpected turn in your belief General?" Richard Woolsey asked.

General O'Neill stopped at the door to the Oval Office as he had been dismissed with Eli. "Many things Mr. Woolsey, it is the logical next step when we are about to unlock the secrets of the Ancients. With the Council Files decrypted, we will have access beyond anything you could imagine. It will become necessary quickly once we unlock ZPM construction, or shields, or city ships, or any of a million other discoveries that will change the landscape of our world." Jack explained before he closed the door to allow them to discuss the issue.

He led Eli through the building and back out to the car without speaking. As soon as they both entered Eli looked at him. "General, I would like to request I be allowed to visit Atlantis upon my return. It might be time for me to do some research while they determine the best way to complete the repairs."

"That will be easy, as the person I was thinking of would be there already. Dr. Zalenka is the best person as I assume you wish to have Dr. McKays help?" Jack asked him.

"If possible, yes. Dr. Mckay would be a great asset to my research."

"What is it you are hoping to research Eli?" Jack asked as the car began driving through the grounds to the streets back to Homeworld Command.

"I need to research repairs and possible upgrades to Destiny. What I have not reported yet, is that even assuming I repair the current issues, and somehow manage to recharge the ship, I cannot enter stasis as the control unit is destroyed with no chance or hope of repair or replacement." Eli told him the full scope of the situation.

"That is indeed problematic Eli, and we will have to do what we can to rescue all of you. Hopefully we can find a way to rescue you using Atlantis itself, in the meantime we will swap whoever we need to get the repairs finished. You are not alone in this Eli." Jack said before answering his phone.