Title: Be Careful
Author: Ladyholder
Series: The Unlikely and Unwilling
Protecting the Tribe is all.
***********
“We have a ZPM, Rodney. We need to contact Earth to let them know about the Wraith.” Dr. Weir said in an impassioned tone.
Rodney looked at the titular leader of the Expedition and wondered who she thought she was kidding. Stretching his gifts out, Rodney tried to monitor what was actually going on behind the politicians mask that Weir frequently presented. The flavor of the emotions that he was getting from her were all negative; fear, dread, disappointment, even hatred. And yet, none of them showed on her face. “You won’t get me to disagree with you, Dr. Weir. However, I am not willing to open the gate for an indefinite amount of time, so we will be sending a very short message through. 3.2 seconds as a matter of fact.”
“But we have a ZPM that is mostly full. Why the short time? And what can we do in that short of time? Why can’t we send people home?” she asked. Desperate hope colored her words on an emotional level and Rodney had to work hard not to react to it.
“Because for all that we have a ZPM that is just over 90%, it isn’t enough to open multiple wormholes to Earth so people and equipment can go through. We need to protect the City from the Wraith and to do that, we need every person and piece of equipment that we have here. And if a message home will get us more arms to fight them with, that will make the power drain worth it.” John said from behind her.
“I know that you want to get our non-combatants out of the way, Major. We have the power, why don’t we send them back to Earth? They can report back on what has happened over this last year and for those who want to come back, they can start the process of choosing supplies.” That desperate hope was still there and Rodney felt terror join in. And still, none of the heightened emotions showed on Weir’s face. If he hadn’t been a Guide, there would be no way to tell that the woman across from him was scared to death. “Or perhaps we could destroy the City. If the goal is to not let it fall into the hands of the Wraith, destroying it is indeed an option.”
Rodney felt his Sentinel still and then flash over into rage. Weir had just screwed up. “Perhaps we should strip the City of everything that is portable and try to download the database to our systems using Rodney’s compression algorithm while we are at it?”
Cheeks finally flushing, Weir looked back at Sheppard steadily. “Yes. There is nothing keeping us here and we need to go back to Earth and take care of our own people.”
There wasn’t even a hint of her emotional reactions to the conversation on her face and Rodney mourned once again for lost chances. This woman could have been a great leader for the Expedition, but at the first hint of danger, she had folded in on herself and refused to stick her neck out any further. And now she was advocating abandoning her post to a Sentinel? The woman was mental.
Oh, Elizabeth. You’ve let your fear cloud your intelligence – you never tell a Sentinel to abandon their post. Are they going to send her through the gate with their message? It might be for the best if they at least considered it…
For all I know, she goes through wrapped like a Christmas goose…
Not happy with Lizzie
~L
*cackles* Oh damn Elizabeth, you’ve just hit every single button and then some with John and repeatedly all at once… *snickers* I’m surprised you’re still standing and breathing.
I can totally buy into Elizabeth like this especially when you factor in the early seasons. I just never warmed to the character and found myself frustrated by her — it made no sense to have a civilian leader with absolutely no gate experience as the leader of the Atlantis expedition. A few months as the head of sgc spent reading reports & relying on Daniel for advice does not make a qualified exploration leader. Just my opinion that is. (i wish i could find a fic, or corral my muse to write what should have happened–daniel as the atlantis leader; the daniel-rodney snark would rock).
And she so lost her mind with that last comment — I mean *really*?? She obviously slept through the sentinel/guide lessons. I can see John trussing her up like a turkey & tossing her back to Earth.
Very evil, you are. Thanks for more tantalizing tidbits!
Lovely little excerpts.
Thank you!
~L
More please!!