Stargate Rejects

Nick stumbled slightly as he re-materialized on the other side of the Gate. He was in a large, dark, crowded room. From the light provided by the Gate, he could see that there were corridors on either side of the room, and a set of stairs directly ahead of him. A security team was cautiously ascending the stairs, which were lighting up as they climbed.

As people spread out, more and more of the lights started coming on. Nick was just starting to take in the details of the room when William and Ryland stepped out of the Gate behind him.

"Wow," William said softly, looking around the room.

"Dr. Wheeler!" Alex called from the top of the stairs. "There's some kind of control room up here, why don't you come have a look around?"

"Be right there!" Nick grabbed William by the arm and pulled him up the stairs. There were dozens of control panels at the top, covered in buttons and keypads and screens. He recognized the D.H.D. for dialing the Gate, but most of the other equipment looked unfamiliar. He couldn't wait to start figuring out what it all did. He glanced at a keypad before pressing what seemed to be the power button. Nothing happened. Frustrated, he studied the keypad more closely.

"What's that?" William asked, leaning on the control panel. The screens and the buttons instantly lit up.

Nick sighed. "Of course."

"What did I do?" William asked, alarmed.

"The Ancient gene," Nick replied. Several months ago, it had been discovered that some humans possessed a gene that allowed them to operate Ancient technology. William, along with several other members of the expedition, had the Ancient gene. Nick, unfortunately, did not.

"So are you going to need me to turn everything on for you?" William asked in an innocent tone, although he was having trouble hiding his smirk.

Nick glared at him. "No, I don't think so. The lights are turning on for everyone, so not everything here requires the gene." He selected a different control panel and tapped the power key. To his relief, the screen came to life. "This looks like a map of the city," he said out loud, although more to himself than anyone else.

"What are all those little moving dots?" William asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Life signs," Nick replied. "Each one of them represents a person."

"So since all of the dots are clustered in the middle of this map, we must be in the center of the city, right?"

"Very good," Nick said, not able to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

"So then... who's that?" William pointed to the screen.

Nick looked at the area he was pointing at. One dot was all by itself, quite far away from the others.

"Dr. Gaskarth?" he called.

"Yes?" Alex replied.

"Is everyone supposed to be in the Gate room?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because someone isn't."

Alex approached the control panel and looked at the screen. Nick pointed to the solitary dot.

Alex frowned and turned his radio on. "Whoever has left the Gate room, please respond."

An unmistakable voice replied. "This is Major Ritter." Nick rolled his eyes. Of course.

"Please fall back to the Gate room immediately," Alex said.

"I found something really important, Dr. Gaskarth."

"What is it?"

"Spaceships."

Alex looked surprised, but he didn't let it show in his voice. "Fall back to the Gate room, Major. When I decide to let the teams explore more of the city, you can show me these spaceships."

"Yes sir," Ritter replied. "I'm on my way back now."

Alex shut off his radio and sighed. "Colonel Watkins warned me that Major Ritter doesn't follow orders very well," he said to no one in particular.

"Then... why is he here?" Nick asked.

"He has the Ancient gene."

"We already have a ton of people with the Ancient gene."

"Yes, but Major Ritter's is... different. While everyone here with the Ancient gene can use it to activate the Ancient technology, it takes a great deal of concentration and training for them to learn to use it properly. Major Ritter could operate Ancient technology naturally from his first encounter with it."

"Hmph," Nick said, and leaned over the map of the city once again.

"You totally have a crush on Ritter, don't you?" William asked, as Alex slipped out of the control room.

Nick rolled his eyes. "I don't have crushes, Beckett."

"Then what do you call that thing you had with Colonel Watkins last year?"

Nick blushed. "That was not a crush. That was... an attraction."

William smirked. "Whatever you say, Wheeler."

Nick turned to another keypad.

"Uh.... William?" he asked after a second.

"Yes?"

"Can you turn this on for me?"

"Of course, Nickolas." William grinned at him. Sometimes Nick hated his job.

Almost an hour had passed before Alex returned to the control room.

"How's it coming?" he asked, glancing around at all the screens that were now lit up and working.

"Pretty good," Nick answered, without looking up. "I've been able to access the Ancient's database and learn quite a bit about the city."

"Anything that's of immediate importance?"

"Power," Nick answered. "We're running very low on it."

"What can we do about that?"

"We need a ZPM."

"I'm sure I don't need to tell you how rare they are, Dr. Wheeler. Where are we going to get one?"

"Well..." Nick trailed off. "I have no idea."

"Alright, so what happens if we don't find any?"

"Nothing, at least not yet. We have a bit of power left in one of the Ancients' ZPMs that should last us for a while, as long as we use as little power as possible. The only problem will be... well, if we're attacked."

"What do you mean?"

"The city has a protective force field that can withstand a lot of damage. But to operate it for any length of time, we'd need more power."

"How much power?"

"I don't know. A lot." He looked at Alex hopelessly. "At least one full ZPM."

"And to dial back to Earth...?" Alex trailed off.

"We'd need a ZPM for that too."

"Okay. As soon as we're settled in here, I'll send teams out to look for ZPMs."

"Alright." Nick leaned over the control panel again, shutting down all of the unnecessary systems that were running.

"Can you take a break for a second, Dr. Wheeler?" Alex asked.

"Sure, just get Blackington in here to shut down the rest of these systems. What do you need?"

"I'm taking a team to investigate the ships that Major Ritter discovered. You'd probably be the best person to have a look at them."

"Probably," Nick agreed. "Who's going with us?"

"Ritter and Saporta."

Nick sighed. "Let's make it quick, then."

Alex laughed. "No problem." He switched on his radio. "Dr. Blackington, please report to the control room."

Ryland arrived a few minutes later. "What do you need?" he asked Nick.

"Shut down all of the systems we aren't currently using. And I mean all of them. We need to use as little power as possible. Call Beckett if you need any help, he saw how I did it."

"No problem," said Ryland, already absorbed in his work.

"Alright, let's go check out these Puddle Jumpers," Alex said.

Nick raised an eyebrow. "Puddle Jumpers?"

"Major Ritter named them," Alex explained.

Nick sighed. Of course.

"Alright, let's go."

Alex nodded, and lead the way out of the control room.