Summary
We open minutes after the events of "First Strike."
Dr. Weir has been caught in the blast from the Replicator
satellite as Atlantis was reaching escape velocity. The
city itself has dropped out of hyperspace early and is
lost.
Weir is rushed to the operating room. Weir flatlines on
the way, but Dr. Keller manages to get her heart restarted.
Further complicating things, Weir has suffered head trauma
and her brain is swelling. She doesn't respond to initial
treatments.
McKay discovers that the city is rapidly losing power.
The power conduits were damaged in the same blast that
injured Weir. Subspace communications are also down, so
there's no way to contact the Apollo. Teams are
sent out across Atlantis to shut down all unnecessary systems,
but McKay fears they still may not have enough power to
survive through the night.
McKay explains to Sheppard that since the conduits are
essentially leaking power, the output of the ZPM is being
increased so that adequate power still makes it too all
systems. This keeps the systems running, but it depletes
the ZPM. Shutting off non-essential systems will allow
the city to throttle back the ZPM's output.
As McKay is delivering his status report, the city's shield
starts to contract and the unshielded areas start to decompress.
McKay reports that the city is sacrificing those areas
to keep the shield from collapsing completely. Sheppard
recalls the teams in those areas, but one team isn't fast
enough. They're caught outside the city shield and die.
At Midway Station, Carter and Dr. Lee work to get the
station online. The stargate connected to the Pegasus system
of gates opens and the station receives a transmission
from the Apollo. Col. Ellis reports that Atlantis made
it into hyperspace, but is overdue for its rendezvous.
Ronon gets an update on Weir's status. Her brain is still
swelling. If the swelling cannot be stopped, she'll have
to undergo a decompressive craniectomy. A part of her skull
will have to be removed to allow her brain to continue
to expand without being squeezed into her skull.
McKay proposes shrinking the shield back to only cover
the central tower. This leaves the rest of the city exposed
to space, but it's the best way to conserve power. Sheppard
gives the OK.
With Weir's intracranial pressure continuing to rise,
Dr. Keller is left with no choice but to perform the decompressive
craniectomy.
McKay tells Sheppard and Teyla that he's managed to pinpoint
their location. Unfortunately navigation and sublight engines
are still offline. The hyperdrive is fine, but it shut
down because of the damage to the power conduits. They
can't be fully repaired, but they can be patched and Zelenka
is working on that. They're still leaking power, though,
and if the conduits can't be patched before the ZPM falls
below a certain power level, they won't have enough power
to make a hyperspace jump. After that, McKay estimates
that they'll have approximately 30 hours until the shields
fail and they all die.
Dr. Keller gives Sheppard an update on Weir's condition.
Weir has suffered brain damage from the swelling. If Weir
survives, and Keller stresses the "if," she won't be the
same person they knew before.
Zelenka reports to McKay that they're having success with
using secondary conduits to bypass primary ones. It looks
like they should be able to complete their work well before
the ZPM drops to critical levels. McKay's joy at this piece
of good news is cut short by a call to report to the control
room.
The new crisis is that Atlantis is going to pass through
part of an asteroid belt. Raising the shields will drain
off too much power, so that's not an option. Sheppard suggests
using drones to clear a path, but the chair room is outside
the shield. Sheppard orders everyone with the Ancient gene
to report to the jumper bay. They'll use the jumpers' drones
to clear a path. Most of the new pilots have logged very
few hours in the jumpers, but there's no other option.
The operation is largely successful, but it isn't possible
to clear every last asteroid. The city does take
a few hits, but avoid being ripped apart.
With the city through the asteroid belt and the conduits
patched, things should be looking up. Time for another
crisis. One of the larger asteroid impacts damaged a control
array for the hyperdrive, taking it offline. Sheppard and
Zelenka are forced to go outside the shield in EVA suits
to repair the array. Once suited up, McKay estimates they'll
have fifteen minutes to complete the repair. Complicating
matters, there are still small,
bullet-like micro-asteroids in the area.
Dr. Keller finds McKay and tells him that she's run out
of medical options for saving Weir's life. She does have
one last-ditch idea, but she needs McKay's help to make
it work. Keller wants to reprogram and reactivate the nanites
in Weir's system and have them effect repairs. McKay fill
Sheppard in on the idea while he's suiting up for the repair
mission. Sheppard won't even consider the idea unless McKay
can be 100% certain that he can reprogram the nanites to
keep them from taking over Weir and to keep them from trying
to contact the Replicators.
Zelenka and Sheppard transport near the damaged array,
but find that the asteroid hit wiped out a section of the
city that they needed to walk through to reach the array.
They end up having to toss themselves into space and float
over to their destination. Zelenka starts his repairs.
McKay finds a way to reprogram the nanites to repair Weir's
cells, but only using replicated nanites. The problem is
that when McKay deactivates the nanites, those cells would
stop functioning and Weir would die. He's managed to program
the nanites so that they can't harm Weir and can't contact
the other Replicators, but Weir would be part Replicator
for the rest of her life. McKay hasn't given up on programming
the nanites to repair Weir's organic cells, but he'll need
more time.
The
repairs progress slowly because Zelenka has to work wearing
bulky gloves. Sheppard tells him they still have four
minutes before the power level dips too low. Zelenka
continues to work, but is hit in the leg by a micro-asteroid.
Weir reaches a critical condition. McKay says he needs
more time to finish the reprogramming, but Keller tells
him he doesn't have it. They either reactivate the nanites
now, or Weir dies. McKay sends the program to Keller.
Carter comes up with an idea for locating Atlantis. The
Apollo will fly back along Atlantis' expected flight path,
making multiple stops and using long range sensors to find
the city. Without considerably enhancing the Apollo's long-range
sensors, thousands of jumps would be required. Carter proposes
that she and Dr. Lee take a trip to the Pegasus galaxy
to make the enhancements.
Zelenka
manages to complete the repairs, but he and Sheppard
were slowed enough that the repair wasn't completed in
time.
There's
no longer
enough power to make a hyperspace jump.
Sheppard gets Zelenka back to the infirmary and finds
Ronon there. Zelenka should be fine. They estimate the
city has 28-hours remaining before the shields fail. He's
looking
for McKay, and is furious when he finds out that McKay
activated the nanites without his permission. He orders
McKay to shut down the nanites immediately, even though
doing so will kill Weir. McKay refuses. Sheppard orders
an E-M field generator to be brought to the operating room.
The argument is interrupted by the sound of Weir's voice,
calling for Dr. Keller.
Teyla talks with Weir while Keller performs scans to make
certain that the nanites haven't make Weir dangerous. Weir
tells Teyla that they shouldn't have done this. Teyla points
out that nobody wanted to lose her, and that McKay is certain
that the nanites cannot contact the other replicators.
In Teyla's opinion, it was worth the risk. Weir continues
to insist that this was a bad idea.
McKay comes up with the idea of using the a jumper he'd
almost finished equipping with a hyperdrive. It couldn't
jump all the way to the Apollo, but could make it to a
planet with a stargate. The experimental nature of the
hyperdrive makes it unlikely that it could be used for
more than two jumps, so they can't simply ferry everyone
to safety. McKay looks over the list of gate addresses
in range and comes up with an idea. They could jump to
a planet that has ZPMs and use them to power Atlantis'
hyperdrive. And just which planet that's in range has ZPMs?
The Replicator home-world.
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