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    Originally posted by Steelbox View Post
    s09... glad your back. And awesome episode. And i wanna know the repercusion on all the data they was copied. I hope this planet builder story is long from kaput.
    The planet builder story is going to get a huge focus in the first half of S3, don't go worry.
    Click the banner or episode links to visit the virtual continuations of Stargate!
    Previous Episode: 11x03 "Shore Leave" | Previous Episode: 6x04 "Nightfall" | Now Airing: 3x06 "Eldest"

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      I assume that the "Cryoformers" are the ones that sent the dying copies of the Eden settlers?

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        Originally posted by Crazy Tom View Post
        I assume that the "Cryoformers" are the ones that sent the dying copies of the Eden settlers?
        I'm sorry, the who?

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          Originally posted by JamesPeterson View Post
          I'm sorry, the who?
          I think he's referring to how Nod was being slowly covered in an unnatural ice storm when Destiny arrived, whereas Eden had been a lush paradise all around. He's assuming that who/whatever was behind the "cryoformation" of Nod was likewise the who/what brought the dying corpses of the missing crew back in "Visitation."

          Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, Tom.
          Click the banner or episode links to visit the virtual continuations of Stargate!
          Previous Episode: 11x03 "Shore Leave" | Previous Episode: 6x04 "Nightfall" | Now Airing: 3x06 "Eldest"

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            The team plays a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with "The Stowaway"
            Settling back into life in the Pegasus Galaxy, the Atlantis crew is ready to take on the Wraith or any other alien menace. But the first threat may come from within; when a crippling virus wreaks havoc on the city's systems, Col. Sheppard and his team struggle to identify who among them could have turned traitor--and what it is they're after--before a deadly enemy succeeds in their goals.

            "The Stowaway" will not feature any notable guest stars.
            Click the banner or episode links to visit the virtual continuations of Stargate!
            Previous Episode: 11x03 "Shore Leave" | Previous Episode: 6x04 "Nightfall" | Now Airing: 3x06 "Eldest"

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              I think he's referring to how Nod was being slowly covered in an unnatural ice storm when Destiny arrived, whereas Eden had been a lush paradise all around. He's assuming that who/whatever was behind the "cryoformation" of Nod was likewise the who/what brought the dying corpses of the missing crew back in "Visitation."

              Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, Tom.
              i thought it was the planet returning to it's natural state. kind of like in Visitation.

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                I was under the impression that the left behind crew said it was just winter coming, not that the paradise they found was a one time only sort of thing. At least that's the implication I got, that when spring and summer came again it'd be back to the way it was when they found it.

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                  Originally posted by s09119 View Post
                  I think he's referring to how Nod was being slowly covered in an unnatural ice storm when Destiny arrived, whereas Eden had been a lush paradise all around. He's assuming that who/whatever was behind the "cryoformation" of Nod was likewise the who/what brought the dying corpses of the missing crew back in "Visitation."

                  Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, Tom.
                  Right on the money.

                  Originally posted by thekillman View Post
                  i thought it was the planet returning to it's natural state. kind of like in Visitation.
                  No, Eden's winter looked to be naturally occurring, there was dialogue to that effect. On Nod through, it was a perfectly circular area of decent weather being overrun by an ice storm, that has all the hallmarks of an attack-defense pattern, a clearly delineated line of skirmish so to speak.

                  Am I close at all s09?

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                    6x03 "The Stowaway"
                    Synopsis: While settling back into the Pegasus Galaxy, the Expedition suffers sabotage from within. Though evidence points to the Wraith as the culprits, Sheppard and his team suspect they brought a threat from the Milky Way back with them.
                    Spoiler:
                    Standing on the balcony outside the city control room, Col. John Sheppard takes a deep break and mutters that it's good to be back in the Pegasus Galaxy fulltime. Joining him from inside, Richard Woolsey says much the same, looking out at the ocean of M35-117 and commenting on how peaceful it is here despite the war raging around them. Technicians and engineers are running every which way with laptops and tablets in hand as a number of systems that had been suppressed or outright disabled on Earth, a task that's been ongoing for nearly a week now. Many of the measures that the International Oversight Advisory, under the direction of the United Nations, believed were "too dangerous" to keep active are vital to restoring regular operations. It will take time, but Woolsey hopes to have the city back to its former functionality soon. With the Wraith's renewed aggression toward anything and everything in the galaxy, they can't afford to be at anything but peak performance.

                    Coming up the stairs toward them, Dr. Rodney McKay holds up a hard drive and tosses it over, saying that he found some poorly hidden monitoring software from the United Nations inside. He suspects that most of their requisitioned hardware will show the same tampering, but individuals' personal computers should be fine. It's not all that surprising, really, considering that a UN team had control of the city for the months after the Expedition was disbanded ("Crossroads, Part 1"), but it could still be an annoyance. If Woolsey wants, he can begin purging the spyware from everything they brought with them from Earth, but there's no telling how the IOA would react. The administrator sighs regrettably and says that he had hoped they'd be able to avoid something like this. So blatantly defying Earth so soon will only increase the tension over sending Atlantis back to Pegasus, even if it's completely justified. Completely understanding, Rodney pulls out a flash drive and says he anticipated that response and took the liberty of writing a counter-program on his own machine. It will rewrite the spy software to send back perfectly legitimate, if bland and rather generic, reports as to what each issued computer is doing. That way they all win; the watchdogs think they have a record of everything the Expedition does, and real work can be done without their prying eyes. Taking the drive and looking it over, Woolsey promises to get back to him with an answer soon.

                    Across the city, Teyla Emmagan and her husband Kanaan are unpacking their belongings into their old quarters. Their son, Torren sits in the middle of the room playing with toys and being generally oblivious to goings-on around him. Pointing out that he's in the least convenient spot possible, Ronon Dex sidesteps the child while carrying another large box into the living area and putting it at Teyla's feet. He finished setting up his own space earlier and was more than happy to assist his friends, though he's starting to regret that given how many heavy stone decorations they seem to have. Smiling and picking an Athosian sculpture out of the crate, Kanaan says he'll take Torren for a walk around the pier. Sitting around all day isn't healthy anyway, and he could use the chance to stretch his legs, as well. Picking up the young one, he exits and leaves the two other Pegasus natives onbase alone to continue the setup. Teyla looks over at her teammate and asks if he's gotten in contact with any of the Satedan survivors since they returned, seeing as she already spoke with her own people ("Crossroads, Part 2"). Setting up a bedframe, Ronon absently says that he'll see them when they head back that way again and not before. His people can handle themselves, and he has no intention of becoming sentimental for sentimentality's sake. There's a long pause, during which Teyla waits patiently for him to look up and admit that he'll visit soon. Smiling, she returns to her work.

                    Back in the control room, McKay is just finishing the dissemination of his new program, much to Chuck's relief. The gate technician was apparently booted from his workstation while the upload was in progress, and he gratefully takes back his post once the Canadian steps away. Clapping his hands together, Rodney says that everything they do should be covered now--not that they planned to do anything disloyal anyway. Woolsey says that they shouldn't blame the IOA too much for the precautionary measure; they're under the direction of the United Nations now ("Enemy at the Gate"), and this was likely done at the UN's insistence. But regardless of who ultimately made the call, he's glad that it's done. The work finished, he turns to head toward his office, then frowns when he notices the lights overhead have begun to flicker. He starts to ask what could be causing it, then realizes that something is very, very wrong when everything Ancient in the control room shuts down at once. Lights, computers, displays, everything just goes dead, leaving only the glow of laptop screens. Everyone instinctively stares at McKay, who can only turn somewhat red and insist that this wasn't his fault.

                    Hours later, it appears that he really wasn't at fault. Instead, trace signatures in the database suggest a virus remotely severed the link between the power room and the main tower. The appropriate condiits have since been reopened, but so far there aren't any leads on who might have uploaded the malicious program or why. Gathered in the main conference room, Woolsey, Sheppard, McKay, Dr. Radek Zelenka, and Maj. Evan Lorne go over the facts and their options, all of them worrying. Rodney is certain that their virus--if indeed, that's what it is--has only been in the system for a few days; the upload had to have taken place after they'd landed on M35-117. Seeing as no one's been offworld yet, that means the culprit has to still be onbase. Turning first to McKay, Richard asks what the chances are that the IOA's monitoring program was involved with their power loss at all. Everyone catches his line of thought immediately, the implication that the software detected it was being shutdown and a failsafe remotely deactivated the power flow. It's definitely a possibility, which raises Woolsey's second thought along that line. When they left Earth, he had Zelenka go through the United Nations personnel and make a short list of those who should accompany the Expedition back to Pegasus. Perhaps they should sit down with the new additions and make sure they didn't miss anyone who may be acting on secret orders from home to ensure the city's compliance.

                    At the same time, though, he wants to have one team assume that this wasn't some obvious scheme from home. This time turning to Sheppard, he tells the Colonel to look at the power room computers to see if they can find any evidence about their perpetrator. In addition, they need to search for anything that can confirm that they're dealing with a virus. If they're going down the wrong path, he needs to know as soon as possible so they can pursue alternatives. Then Woolsey dismisses the group, watching them file out and rubbing his temples to ease a sudden headache. He wonders aloud if there's time for him to retreat to his quarters for a nap, but it's time for his twice-rescheduled meeting with the science team responsible for studying the mainland, so it looks like sleep will have to wait a little longer.

                    Several levels down, Sheppard radios Teyla and Ronon and tells them to meet he and McKay in the ZPM room. Radioing back, the Pegasus natives ask what's happened that suddenly has everyone on edge; having not been in the tower when power was lost, they're still out of the loop. John promises to explain everything in person, then heads into a transporter to cover the rest of the distance. He and Rodney arrive only minutes ahead of their teammates, and the four of them quickly settle into their separate work efforts. McKay plugs into the power grid and database to look for any clues that their hacker may have left behind in his work, still somewhat shocked that their security was compromised so easily. The others spread out around the area and begin looking for any evidence that may have been dropped to pick up a lead, but the surrounding corridors appear clean and spotless. It's going to be quite a long investigation.

                    While John pokes around in a storage room nearby, Ronon draws his pistol and enters a lab intermittently being used by a minor science team. The lights are off and all paperwork tucked away, but it's in the vicinity and therefore worth a look. Across the hall, Teyla keeps her own gun at the ready while checking out a few rooms set aside for eventual civilian use. With all the personnel still settling in, a good number are still in need of living quarters, especially those that have only recently been posted on Atlantis for the first time. It hardly escapes Teyla's notice, then, that many of the packs and suitcases littering the rooms in question are stamped with the seal of the United Nations. She calls Sheppard in and shows him that every space along the main corridor to the power room is being used to store the excess luggage from the IOA-assigned experts that Woolsey decided to keep on after the Expedition was reapproved. That only further suggests that this must have something to do with their attempts to spy on city activity, but John feels decidedly uncomfortable about the whole situation.

                    In the conference room, Woolsey is fiddling with his notebook when there's a knock from the entryway. He looks up to see Zelenka standing there somewhat awkwardly, a computer in one hand and a radio in the other. He says that he's assembled the first group of UN personnel for them to interview and that they can begin at any time. Richard sees no reason to keep anyone waiting, so he beckons Radek in and calls out the first name on their list; Capt. Luis Hernandez, a Spanish Special Operations Unit officer transferred to Atlantis from the ISGC. He takes a seat in front of Woolsey and asks what he’d like to discuss, saying he has the rest of the day off anyway. Pulling up his dossier, Richard reads that he’s quite the accomplished soldier; Hernandez has a sterling offworld record, most notably having fought his way out of enemy hands when the rest of his team was killed. That said, his disciplinary report indicates he has some disdain for the American dominance of the Stargate Program. Getting to the point, Woolsey asks if he’d ever consider acting on that aggravation in a more damaging way.

                    Luis doesn’t take well to the veiled accusation, asking if Richard means to imply he had something to do with the earlier power loss to the city. Clearing his throat, the base commander tries to explain the reasoning for being so direct with the UN personnel, but Hernandez doesn’t want to hear it. He didn’t leave his friends and family and volunteer for a Pegasus assignment because he wanted to see them all get killed, and even if he did dislike the Atlantis team, he wouldn’t hurt his own planet by getting some of its best and brightest killed. Loud enough for the others still in line to hear, he says that they’re not going to be made scapegoats out of just because the Expedition and United Nations have issues with one another. Then he brushes past Zelenka and leaves, leaving Woolsey to put his head in his hands and try to steel himself for what’s sure to be a similar next few discussions.


                    (Beginning of "The Stowaway," see next two posts for more.)
                    Click the banner or episode links to visit the virtual continuations of Stargate!
                    Previous Episode: 11x03 "Shore Leave" | Previous Episode: 6x04 "Nightfall" | Now Airing: 3x06 "Eldest"

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                      (More of "The Stowaway," see previous post for beginning and next post for conclusion.)

                      Spoiler:
                      Later on, McKay is in his lab going over the data he collected from the crime scene, going through more coffee than usual and completely forgoing lunch. Bringing him a tray with a few sandwiches and fruits, Sheppard sits down on a nearby stool and asks if he’s made any progress. Absently grabbing some food for himself, Rodney replies that he’s found plenty of markers; their hacker made no effort to hide what he’d done aside from disabling any silent alarms from the intrusion. If they hadn’t looked, they would ever have known it happened, but all it takes is literally one look at the code to see the extent of the infiltration. But that’s the curious thing, that it’s such a well-executed hack with such careless coding. In layman’s terms, it’s almost like their hacker put up a neon sign in the mainframe pointing to what he did. And the only real point of the virus seems to have been to shut down the city’s power grid, nothing truly malicious. None of it adds up.

                      Finishing his sandwich, John just shrugs and says that he shouldn’t feel too bad, since it’s not adding up anywhere else. Woolsey’s gone through about a quarter of the United Nations personnel, and the vast majority are only being more put off by all the suspicion being thrown on them. Making matters worse, there’s a scheduled dial-in to Earth in a few hours, and something tells Sheppard that the diplomats in New York aren’t remotely going to like hearing who the Expedition’s investigating. Rodney asks if that’s going to be the new normal then, having to tiptoe around not hurting the UN’s feelings whenever a potential issue with their orders or representatives crops up. It’s already hindering their ability to figure out what’s going on, and it looks like it’s only going to get worse. Giving him a shrug, Sheppard guesses that it’s the price they pay for global unification, then pats his teammate on the shoulder and heads out.

                      He doesn’t get far before bumping into Zelenka, who’s leading another group of UN personnel up toward the control room for interviews. Gesturing for John to walk with him, Radik wonders if Rodney’s made any headway in his analysis, and he’s understandably disappointed with the answer. Then he pauses and looks at the group behind him, asking if McKay could use a second set of eyes to comb the database records. One of the young ladies he has with him, Dr. Lisa Kirov, is a Russian-American computer expert who’s already proven invaluable in streamlining the city’s data management systems. She can do her interview later if it’d help to have her working with Rodney. They need to get to the bottom of the sabotage ASAP, Woolsey will understand if a few of the most-needed new arrivals are tied up for a bit. John agrees that they could use all the help they can get, and with most of the veteran science teams tied up restoring power where it’s still out or continuing to bring the city back to full functionality, one more helper can’t hurt. Besides, it’ll be great experience learning to deal with McKay. Laughing, the two prepare to part ways, but John pauses before setting off with Kirov. Pulling out his pistol, he hands it to Radik and says to give it to Rodney just in case their hacker on the loose figures out who’s on to him. He can grab another from the armory, but a saboteur running wild is something even McKay’s brain won’t protect him from.

                      Meanwhile, Ronon is still keeping an eye on the ZPM room when Lorne and a few soldiers arrive to relieve him. The major apologizes for leaving him here so long, but they’ve been spread pretty thin getting word around about what happened and guarding any other sensitive areas. Ronon says it wasn’t a problem at all, gesturing to the pieces of his pistol that are strewn out on a nearby table. He’s been taking the time to clean his weapon and didn’t mind the distraction. After all the hustle and bustle of reorganizing the city’s supplies and acclimating first time visitors to the Pegasus Galaxy, a little downtime isn’t bad. Even if it comes in the middle of yet another crisis. That said, it’s been quiet; most everyone’s been steering clear of the area so as not to link themselves with the incident. That is, except a figure at the far end of the hall watching the soldiers very carefully, staying just far enough behind a wall outcropping that no one can see. There’s a service pistol clutched in his or her hand, but the face and any recognizable features aren’t visible.

                      Back down the hallway, Lorne tells his men to fan out and patrol the area while he brings Ronon up to speed on the investigation’s progress. He has to admit that he’s no fan of the United Nations telling them what to do, but he doesn’t think they’d outright sabotage the Expedition. After all, they fund and ultimately benefit from its existence, and if they truly disagreed with Woolsey’s management they could simply replace him. It doesn’t make sense that they would go and pursue such an aggressive covert operation that could potentially cripple Atlantis. For his part, Ronon can only shrug. In his time living on Earth, he saw a planet that could barely manage its own affairs, much less a colony in another galaxy. He wouldn’t put it past the bureaucrats to attempt something like this.

                      While they continue the discussion, two of Lorne’s men are checking rooms at the far end of the hallway, only a few feet from where the armed figure remains hidden. They don’t expect any sort of danger, doing diligent work but caught up in arguing over an upcoming soccer game between France and Italy. One of them is in the process of telling a joke about France’s team when he peeks around the nearby outcropping, and is met with a lightning-fast strike that snaps his neck in an instant. The second soldier looks over to see his partner slumped into the wall and heads over, concerned. He’s only just started to draw his weapon when he’s likewise dispatched, this time by a knife strike to the chest and a follow-up to his midsection. As Ronon and Lorne have turned into the power room to check on the ZPMs, there’s no one to see the brutal attack. The attacker drags the bodies into a side room and seals the door, pulling the control crystal to keep it locked before retreating toward a transporter.

                      In the control room, Sheppard is on his way to meet with Woolsey when Teyla shouts for him to wait for her. Coming up the stairs from the gate room, she says she just got back from the residential areas, where power is still fluctuating despite Rodney’s assurances that he purged the virus. Sighing, John tells her that he’s been hearing the same from pretty much everyone. Either McKay has some more rooting around in the database to do, or the hack took more of a toll on their power systems than they first through. And neither of those possibilities is remotely pleasant to consider. Looking up when they enter his office, Woolsey agrees that the situation is starting to look much more complicated than it did originally. He’s beginning to wonder if they’ve been making one assumption too many, namely that correlation means causality in terms of their removing the United Nations’ monitoring software and their initial power loss. The two events happened so quickly in succession, and so logically fit together, that it made sense at the time, but Richard’s beginning to have serious doubts.

                      Pulling up a chair and taking a seat, John can only shrug. He’s inclined to agree, there has to be more at play than they realize. That said, they have a very narrow parameter for who could be behind the virus. As they discussed after it first struck, no one has used the stargate to enter or leave Atlantis since their arrived from the Milky Way, and the Wraith have no idea where they are. That only leaves something that they brought back with them from the Milky Way. They sit in silence for a moment before Teyla volunteers that Todd had full control of the city for at least a few minutes during his breakout and escape (“Crossroads, Part 1”). Given that he was able to hide a pair of stunner sticks during his imprisonment, isn’t it possible that he also hid a data storage device and uploaded a virus to the database set to strike once they were settled back in Pegasus? They had the science team do a scan of the main systems after that incident, but it wasn’t very high on the priority list with the relatively small window he had and much more pressing concerns such as the need to track him down. It’s something they can look into, but John still has a bad feeling about the idea of something malevolent coming back with them from home. If it turns out Teyla’s hunch is wrong, there’s only one other explanation he can think of; that they have a stowaway.

                      Several levels down, McKay is in the process of flirting uselessly Dr. Kirov. Even with a girlfriend, old habits die hard. He can’t resist asking where she got the exotic tattoo that just peeks out when she takes off her jacket, a question that only earns him an annoyed glare. But he has good news to report when Sheppard radios him for an update. After scrubbing the main systems for any leftover trace of the computer virus, he found several copied registries manufacturing additional strains in obscure secondary systems. He’s purging them as they speak, and the power fluctuations should be over for good inside of an hour. Looking over to where Kirov is analyzing data for him, he also reports that he was able to recover a deleted log entry indicating that someone without authorization accessed the database during the initial power outage, presumably using a local generator to power an isolated terminal. He and Kirov are trying to determine which console was used and exactly when, but it appears that someone in the system is throwing up firewalls to slow them down. It has to be someone with high-level access already, since the system isn’t detecting a breach, but they’re using some clever hacks to shield their own location and identity.

                      Confused as ever, Sheppard asks what that’s supposed to mean, and an exasperated Rodney tries to simplify it for him. Whoever hacked their system and uploaded the virus knows that they’re on to the infiltration, and they’re in the mainframe right then trying to stop McKay from getting a fix on where they’re working from and thus deciphering their identity. They have to be someone that the Expedition has granted high clearance to, and according to the data he’s seeing, there are just under forty individuals logged at the moment that match that description. He’s going to remotely shutdown the indicated workstations once by one, checking to see if the new round of hacking ceases with each terminal gone offline. When it ends the instant he shuts down a specific console, they’ll know who’s behind all of this.

                      Clicking off his radio, John leans back in his chair and remarks that they should have this all wrapped up in no time, with a whole hour and a half before the scheduled check-in with Earth. But his hopes sink when Maj. Lorne radios Woolsey to grab Sheppard and get down to the ZPM room immediately. They’ve found something that’s going to turn this investigation on its head, and Teyla mutters that she has a feeling it’s only going to get worse. Minutes later, she and the others step out of a transporter on the appropriate level to find Ronon and Lorne waiting for them with grim looks on their faces. Walking the group down the hall to where a door’s been forced open, Evan explains that his men were patrolling the area when two of them stopped answering their radio calls. They eventually found one room sealed off with its control crystal missing, and a few streaks of blood leading inside. Lorne leads them inside, where the two ambushed soldiers lie in pools of blood on the floor, muttering that their hacker just became a murderer.
                      Click the banner or episode links to visit the virtual continuations of Stargate!
                      Previous Episode: 11x03 "Shore Leave" | Previous Episode: 6x04 "Nightfall" | Now Airing: 3x06 "Eldest"

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                        (Conclusion of "The Stowaway," see previous two posts for beginning.)

                        Spoiler:
                        Amazingly, it looks like the second man isn’t quite dead yet, as he comes to at the sound of voices while Woolsey calls for Dr. Jennifer Keller and a medical unit. He’s still losing a lot of blood, most likely long past any hope of recovery, but Sheppard leans down to tell him he’ll pull through all the same. Laughing bitterly and coughing violently, the airman says he knows he’s going to die, but he’s not going to die without serving some justice. With his final words, he manages to pass on the name he glimpsed on his attacker’s jacket: Hernandez.

                        Oblivious to their discovery, Capt. Hernandez is eating lunch in the commissary, joking with a group of other newly-arrived personnel when Sheppard steps through the doorway. But his smile quickly fades as Lorne, Ronon, and Teyla draw their weapons and form around the corner table where he’s sitting. Coming up behind the line, Woolsey announces that they have reason to believe Hernandez is involved in an act of sabotage against Atlantis, and they need him to come with them for questioning. He doesn’t want this to turn violent, but with numerous systems compromised and two airmen dead, he’s not about to take any chances. The other men sitting with him slowly stand and slip away, staring back in shock and confusion while Luis stares at Woolsey with disbelief. Leaning close to his superior, Sheppard begins to wonder if maybe they have the wrong guy, but then he’s forced to pull Richard out of the way as a thrown plate flies at his head.

                        Flipping the table up just as Ronon fires his stunner, Hernandez pushes it forward to smack Lorne in the face and push Teyla off-balance and down a few steps. Then he draws his pistol and begins firing around the side, using his corner position and the thick table to create a makeshift barricade. Bullets ricochet off the walls while other diners stream out of the commissary to escape the shootout. Ronon tries to flank him, but takes a bullet to his right leg in the process, going to one knee on the steps and flinging himself toward an outcropping for cover. Firing a volley of stun blasts into the table edge closest to their quarry, he yells to Sheppard to move in now before this escalates further.

                        Glancing in the other direction, Hernandez spots Sheppard roll into a flanking position behind another table. He has a clear shot that Luis can’t evade without leaving his own cover and running into Ronon, Teyla, and Lorne. John trains his pistol on the airman’s head and tells him to give up and surrender. The alternative is a bullet in the brain, and he really doesn’t want to send a young man’s corpse to the Dr. Keller. For a moment, it looks like Hernandez might try to fight his way out, but then something appears on his face, in his eyes. He looks absolutely terrified, unsure of himself, staring at the gun in his hand, the chipped walls around him, and at the steel-faced man ready to kill him at a moment’s notice. His hands jitter and his eyes dart around the room before he seems to steady himself and whisper Sheppard’s name and what sounds like the start of an apology. But then it passes, an angry fire leaps back to his eyes, and he shouts that he won’t give them the pleasure of his surrender. Putting the pistol to his head, there’s nothing John can do but watch as he pulls the trigger and tumbles to the ground.

                        An hour later, Sheppard is sitting in McKay’s lab with his head in his hands, muttering that he should have found a way to stop Hernandez from killing himself. Rodney tells him not to be so hard on himself for the Captain’s death; from what he heard, there was nothing he could have done to save their suspect. At least now they know he was responsible. Sheppard just sighs, insisting that that doesn’t make it any less difficult to absorb. Then he frowns and asks how, if Hernandez was their hacker, there’s still someone in the system throwing up firewalls to stop Rodney from determining where the database was accessed and what was copied. McKay shrugs, suggesting that maybe it’s another virus that was uploaded into one of the high-clearance consoles. Either way, it’ll be shut down all the same once he terminates the correct computer, and he’s almost through the list now. They should have everything finished up in no time, and John leaves to head back to the control room for the scheduled dial-in to Earth.

                        While the city prepares to report in to the ISGC, most notably a visibly-disturbed Dr. Keller making final notes in the infirmary, Rodney continues plugging away at his work. One by one, he shuts down the last few consoles on his list, but at the third to last one, he suddenly gets success. Surprised at easy it turned out to be, he exclaims that the firewalls dropped with that last terminal’s deactivation, and he can finally access the data he’s been trying to get his hands on. Engrossed in reading over the files, he doesn’t seem to notice that Dr. Kirov’s computer is offline, nor that the young woman is slowly moving closer to his position. He only looks up after realizing that the hack he spent the past few hours fighting wasn’t coded in any programming language used on Earth, but something he recognizes from the Expedition’s second year as Goa’uld (“Critical Mass”). Then he realizes not only that Kirov is continuing to advance toward him, but that it’s her computer he just turned off. He puts it all together a moment too late, asking why it’s always the hot women who go bad before she knocks him out cold. Grabbing McKay’s radio and the pistol Zelenka brought him earlier, she types something on his console and takes one last look around the lab for anything useful before sprinting down the hall.

                        At the top of the control tower, Woolsey walks up to Chuck and tells him that it’s just about time to start the dialing protocol. Entering from the rear stairs, Sheppard checks his watch and says they should give it a few more minutes for Teyla and Ronon to get there, oblivious to the drama unfolding below. Finally coming to in his lab, McKay glances around groggily before snapping leaping into action. Scanning over the remainder of Kirov’s code, his eyes widen and he tries in vain to counter whatever he’s said. It would appear that she locked his terminal, and he doesn’t have time to waste trying to find the relevant lines of code on the other computers. He goes to grab his radio, then groans when he realizes it’s gone, as is his gun. Checking his watch and hoping he’s not too late, he follows Kirov’s lead and dashes from the lab.

                        Now it’s down to the wire; Ronon and Teyla arrive in the gate room, and Chuck begins dialing the stargate for Earth. Sticking to the least-crowded corridors, Kirov makes her way up toward them, leaving a transporter and making her way to the control room completely unimpeded. Whatever she has planned, it would appear that it’s about to go off without a hitch. But it’s just than that Rodney barrels into Zelenka near the science labs, nearly knocking him to the floor in an effort to grab his radio. Screaming over the channel, he shouts for them to halt the dialing process immediately, and under no circumstances establish contact with Stargate Command. On the other end, Sheppard starts to ask why, but Rodney’s continued screaming convince him to order Chuck to pause the sequence… just in time, as the eight chevron was about to lock.

                        Listening to McKay’s explanation as Kirov enters the control room, the rest of the team learn that Rodney discovered a string of Goa’uld code imbedded in the main system. It’s purpose was to upload copied information from the database onto the channel they used to communicate via stargate with Earth. From there it would piggyback onto the ISGC’s computer and transmit elsewhere in the Milky Way. McKay only put it together once he realized that Kirov was the one behind it all along, and then it all made sense. The information stolen from the database was concerned solely with the Ancients’ ninth chevron research and anything even tangentially related to their exploration of the far universe. She had an exotic tattoo she was reluctant to reveal, probably representing her home clan. Her programming, once she lost the luxury of time, was in Goa’uld computer language. And lastly, they know that there’s one group back home with both operatives that could fit both parameters that have the technology necessary to brainwash personnel captured offworld like Capt. Luis Hernandez. If Rodney’s right, “Dr. Lisa Kirov” is actually an agent of the Lucian Alliance.

                        Turning to where Kirov stands watching all of them at the rear of the control room, Sheppard draws his gun and coldly informs her that she’s going to wish she didn’t make an innocent man take his own life earlier. But just as quickly as his weapon is out, so is hers, and she keeps it trained on the Colonel to dare him to shoot. Everyone watches breathlessly as the two stare one another down, and Kirov slowly moves toward the staircase leading down into the gate room. She says that there’s only one way this won’t end with someone dead, and that’s if they dial the stargate to a planet of her choice in the Milky Way and let her leave. Her gun still aimed at Sheppard as he moves after her, she asks what he’s going to do. Shrugging, John tells her that he’s never going to let her leave this city, no matter how many bullets he needs to take in the process.

                        Kirov laughs, declaring that if he thought she’d let them take her alive, he’s sorely mistaken. She puts the gun to her head and moves to pull the trigger, but this time there’s no table between the attempted suicide and Ronon Dex. A stunner bolt rings out from the control room and knocks her backwards, sending the pistol clattering down the steps and Kirov to the floor. Glancing up at Ronon appreciatively, Sheppard holsters his weapon and radios McKay to get to work removing that radio piggyback so they can apprise Earth of the situation. It looks like it’s over.

                        The following day, Sheppard is leaving the detention wing, where Kirov glares back at him angrily from inside a cell. Woolsey and McKay are waiting for him, eager to hear if he was able to glean any information from the interrogation. But unfortunately her resolve was just as strong as it appeared, and she didn’t betray anything besides her undying loyalty to the Lucian Alliance. Filling him in on what they’ve been able to confirm, Woolsey explains that Capt. Hernandez was captured offworld by the Alliance, and the ISGC originally worried he might have been subjected to Goa’uld brainwashing technology. But the fact that the enemy outpost was apparently destroyed in his escape attempt convinced them that it was a genuine escape, and he was already high on the list of potential new transfers to Atlantis. It was an oversight that cost the young man his life, but at least his family can be assured that his killer will see justice.

                        While they head toward the transporter, Sheppard asks just what the Lucian Alliance was so interested in that it would concoct so elaborate a plot to beam data back to the Milky Way. McKay says that it has a lot to do with the organization’s obsession with the Ancient exploratory vessel currently playing host to nearly a hundred ISGC personnel, the Destiny. They desperately want control of it, and they learned through a mole on Earth that the only concrete information on the ship and how to reach it was found in the Atlantis database. No one’s quite sure how Kirov was able to slip through security to get onto the city before it returned to Pegasus, but given the Alliance’s skill at subterfuge, it’s not hard to imagine. At any rate, the plot was stopped and the stowaway captured. Now they can get back to the business of saving the galaxy, and with a laugh, the three of them turn a corner and head off.
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                          Wow, this is very good. I didnt expect it would be them.

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                            Originally posted by Crazy Tom View Post
                            No, Eden's winter looked to be naturally occurring, there was dialogue to that effect. On Nod through, it was a perfectly circular area of decent weather being overrun by an ice storm, that has all the hallmarks of an attack-defense pattern, a clearly delineated line of skirmish so to speak.

                            Am I close at all s09?
                            Interesting way to put it, like a line of attack. You think there was malicious intent then?

                            And as for the new SGA episode, I liked it quite a bit more than I was expecting. Very interesting finally seeing the Lucian Alliance take action to try and discover more about the "Destiny" crew versus always just attacking with brute force. When does Season 6 take place in relation to SGU?

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                              i liked it a LOT. i always rate episodes by how much my mind fills it in (a sign that i'm bored), and i have to say i didn't expect the LA. very, very good

                              Comment


                                Originally posted by Crazy Tom View Post
                                No, Eden's winter looked to be naturally occurring, there was dialogue to that effect. On Nod through, it was a perfectly circular area of decent weather being overrun by an ice storm, that has all the hallmarks of an attack-defense pattern, a clearly delineated line of skirmish so to speak.

                                Am I close at all s09?
                                Oh come on, you know I can't tell you

                                All I'll say on the matter is that there's certainly a reason for what happened to the planet in "Nod." The only hint I'll give you is to look forward to "Eldest."
                                Click the banner or episode links to visit the virtual continuations of Stargate!
                                Previous Episode: 11x03 "Shore Leave" | Previous Episode: 6x04 "Nightfall" | Now Airing: 3x06 "Eldest"

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