Everything pointed to a total evacuation. The stillness of the city was bizarre. John had been one of only a handful of people around in the aftermath of the Genii incursion, but then the slowly receding storm and the resulting damage had kept them all on edge. Now, Atlantis was clean, bright, and utterly silent.
First to reach the bottom of the stairs, Rodney visually scanned the control room. "I suppose it would be too much to ask for them to have left a note " When he looked out at the 'gate room, his eyes rounded and his jaw sagged open. "What the hell?"
The empty expanse drew Ronon and Teyla to the railing. John hung back, watching their shock with a grin so wide it hurt.
Vainly attempting to keep his voice in something resembling a masculine range, Rodney demanded, "Was there or was there not a Stargate in here when we left?"
John couldn't help chuckling. "Hot damn, they did it." He shook his head. "That's what I call airlift."
Comprehension, unsurprisingly, hit Rodney before the others, and he swung around to face John. "The Daedalus beamed the 'gate into their cargo hold?"
"They must've gotten the hyperdrive up and running in time to pull it off." At Ronon's expression of complete astonishment, John kept right on smirking. "No 'gate, no way for the nanites to get offworld, no galactic annihilation."
"No reason to set the self-destruct," Rodney finished. "And presumably no reason to take the ZPM from Polrusso. Impressive. I'm sure I would have thought of it had I not had the additional burden of dealing with the exogenesis machine."
Letting the familiar sound of his teammate's vastly relieved rambling fade into the background, John went out onto the nearby balcony and turned his face to the sun. Within moments, he heard only the waves and a few squabbling birds, and he felt as though he were taking his first real breath in over a week.
"My people will be safe now," Nabu said from behind him. "As will yours."
John didn't turn, enjoying the feel of the wind. "Until we find another hornet's nest to stir up."
"That may be," the Polrusson allowed. "But I have come to believe that we are all born for discovery, whatever form it may take. For my people, it may be the development of our abilities. For yours, exploration."
"Yeah, there's a quote like that from my world that I've always liked." John leaned forward on the railing. "`A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for. "'
Nabu moved to stand next to him, gazing out over the calm waters painted by sunlight. "My world will look like this one day, and for the first time in many years, I count myself fortunate that I will live to see it. But for you, in more ways than one, this is also the dawning of a new world."
"We won't waste it," John felt the need to say.
Eyes that had seen ten thousand years sized him up, before returning to the sea. "In that I have great faith."
Chapter Twenty-three
Walking along a hallway of the city, Elizabeth was struck by how wonderfully, blissfully normal everything felt. She'd been back for most of a day already, but the feeling had yet to dissipate. Its hyperdrive at last operational, the Daedalus had started hailing Atlantis as soon as it reached a safe distance from the planet. After a long period of excruciating silence, the desolate vision of a flat gray world was pushed aside by a tiny pinprick of blue-which expanded at a speed she'd found difficult to believe, dissipating the nanite horror. It took some time to get a radio signal through the interference, but then came the welcome voices of John and Rodney, inviting the ship to return home. Yes indeed, it was home.
They'd made good on her vow to Ea, defending Atlantis with everything that they had. It was their home, a birthright bequeathed upon them by the Ancients who had fled to Earth so very long ago. She needed only to look around at the people eagerly returning to their duties to confirm that fact.
Reinstalling the Stargate proved almost as simple as removing it, in spite of Rodney's distrustful micromanaging. Before long, the displaced expedition members were flowing back through the 'gate from the Alpha site. Their expressions of elated relief surely mirrored the one she'd worn when the Daedalus had settled onto its customary pier.
Now they had to deal with the fallout. The sand-blasted control room equipment had turned out to be the worst casualty, but she'd been assured that it would be functional again within the week. The city had sustained remarkably little structural damage, thanks to the shield and stabilizers, so the majority of the expedition personnel were currently engaged in reorganizing their hastily evacuated equipment. A large contingent had already traveled to the mainland with the Athosians to assess their rebuilding needs.
The Polrusso machine had reversed the effects of the nanites, leaving the Athosian settlement in its post-storm state. Teyla had been in regular contact from the mainland and believed that some of her people's possessions could be salvaged from the mudslide. Meeting the half-Ancient Nabu, who had stayed in the city through the return of the evacuees, had given many of the Athosians some reassurance that the Ancestors had not condemned them for settling on Atlantis. There was a lot of work ahead, but it was in no way an insurmountable task.
Then there was the other, more personal fallout. Elizabeth could no longer push aside the rift between her and her military commander. Yes, he'd done his part, and more, in saving the world once again. That changed nothing about his defiance of her authority in returning to Polrusso to search for Rodney. She couldn't ignore that, and she suspected he couldn't, either.
Might as well get this over with. She passed her hand over the sensor that would signal her presence outside the door to his quarters. "Colonel, can I have a word?"
There was no acknowledgment from within, but the door slid open. Past the bare walls and the packed bags sitting patiently by the desk, she could see him standing at the window.
"You can unpack now, you know," she began tentatively. "We lifted the evacuation order-did you miss the memo?"
Turning partially toward her, John raised an eyebrow, apparently not buying her weak attempt at humor. "Figured it'd be more efficient to leave `em packed if I'm headed back to Earth on the Daedalus."
A cold sensation prickled at the back of her neck. She wasn't sure how she'd expected this conversation to go, but it was already threatening to run off the rails. "Are you resigning?"
He offered a smirk and a minute shake of his head. "That would deprive the Air Force of the pleasure of firing my ass, which is tempting, but no. I made my choice, and I'll accept the consequences. I'm just assuming the consequences are likely to involve a disciplinary hearing."
"I'm not familiar with-"
"Don't worry. I'm familiar enough with it for the both of us." John's expression was carefully controlled, but she knew him too well to let the years-old ache escape her notice. "Based on previous experience, things tend to end badly when you disobey a direct order from a superior officer."
Taking a steady breath, Elizabeth reasserted herself. "True, but that isn't what you did, is it?" At his blink of confusion, she elaborated. "The order not to go after Rodney was mine, not Caldwell's. One could claim that he'd implied such an order by confining you to the infirmary, but as I understand the Uniform Code of Military Justice, an order must be clearly communicated to be considered lawful. His wasn't, and under military regulations, mine can't officially be an order."
Some tiny part of her took pride in catching him off-guard. John's features seemed to transition rapidly from bewilderment through relief to reluctant appreciation. "You were feeding me a line a minute ago, weren't you? That whole `I'm not familiar' thing-that was a line."
"I'm a quick study." She took another step forward. "There won't be a hearing. Colonel Caldwell and I have agreed to jointly submit a formal reprimand to your file, and I expect General Landry to accept it as written." A formal reprimand carried a surprising amount of weight, but she suspected that his career after Atlantis hardly figured into his thinking these days.