Summary
"Lifeline" picks up shortly after the events of "Adrift."
Atlantis is losing power. Dr. Weir's injuries have been
healed by reactivating the Replicator nanites in her body.
Their best bet for saving the city and themselves appears
to be to use an experimental jumper to steal a ZPM from
the Replicator homeworld. Piece of cake.
McKay and Zelenka are working on getting the experimental
jumper's hyperdrive online. That's no simple task, but
it may be easy compared to what they'll have to do to get
away from the Replicators with a ZPM, not to mention their
lives.
McKay proposes taking Weir with them on their heist. Once
inside the Replicator city, McKay believes he can use the
nanites to hack into the Replicator systems, allowing him
to quickly locate a ZPM and track the Replicators' movements.
If the Replicators manage to take control of the nanites,
McKay has installed a "kill switch" in their code, and
they'll be deactivated. The down side there is that the
nanites are the only thing keeping Weir alive. Small detail,
there. Weir agrees to go along with the plan surprisingly
quickly, but insists that at the first sign of trouble,
the team triggers the kill switch.
Sheppard gives Teyla the news that she's not going on
the mission. They've found a planet that can sustain life.
There's just enough power for the city to jump to the planet,
but there's no way to protect the unshielded areas of the
city, nor will there be enough power to sustain orbit.
They'll have to abandon the city and travel to the planet
in the jumpers. Once there, Sheppard thinks Teyla is the
one most fit to lead the survivors. If they don't return
from Replicatorland in 12 hours, Teyla is to give the order
to jump.
Sheppard, Weir, McKay and Ronon board the experimental
jumper and launch. Once clear of Atlantis' remaining shield,
they jump into hyperspace.
Carter and Dr. Lee gate into the Pegasus galaxy. Once
through the stargate, Carter contacts the Apollo and they're
beamed onboard. Their plan is to modify the Apollo's sensors
to extend their range, then make a series of jumps along
Atlantis' intended flight path and look for them. In order
to make the sensor modifications, one of the systems that
will suffer is subspace communications.
The jumper exits hyperspace near the Replicator planet
and engages its cloak. Unfortunately, the jump there used
up much more power than anticipated. Unless they manage
to get the ZPM they came for and use it to power the jumper,
there isn't enough power for them to return to Atlantis.
McKay initiates the link to Weir's nanites. She becomes
aware of the entire city at once and guides Sheppard to
the location of a ZPM that's lightly guarded. He lands
the jumper on the building's roof. Sheppard and Ronon leave
the jumper to get the ZPM. McKay and Weir stay behind to
guide them through the building and to monitor the nanites.
As Weir guides Sheppard and Ronon, she warns them to hide
just before a Replicator walks by. She hooked into the
system deeply enough to know that the Replicator didn't
see them. Sheppard and Ronon find and take the ZPM, then
head back toward the jumper. They safely return to the
jumper, but McKay doesn't want to leave yet. Through the
nanites, he's found a command in the Replicators' base
code that instructs them to attack the Wraith, but it's
been deactivated. He thinks he can activate the command
and upload it to the Replicators. The only way to do that
without risking Weir's assimilation is to upload it to
the Replicators' data center, but that's at the center
of the city, nine-levels down with no chance of remaining
undetected. Unfortunately, they can't come back and try
later, as the Replicators will undoubtedly discover the
security breach and plug it.
McKay rigs the jumper's cloak to generate an anti-Replicator
field. Doing so will render the jumper visible, but the
idea is to extend the field to encompass the data core
and get in and out before the Replicators can adapt to
overcome the field. Once again, Sheppard and Ronon will
be guided over the radio while McKay monitors Weir.
The Apollo exits hyperspace and scans for Atlantis. It's
their 11th jump, with possibly 39 more to go to reach Atlantis'
original planet. No signs of the city so far. On to stop
number 12.
The jumper lands and McKay engages the anti-Replicator
field. Apparently it works by disrupting the Replicators
that pass through the field boundary, rather than just
anything within the field, because Weir's looks remarkably
undisrupted. McKay manages to extend the field downward
to encompass the data center. Sheppard takes with him a
tablet configured to automatically upload the new code
once it's
plugged into the Replicators' system. The field is detected
by the Replicators and the Replicator leader, Oberoth,
figures that someone is trying to get to the data core.
Sheppard and Ronon reach the data core and plug in the
tablet, but nothing happens. Weir's tells them that hundreds
of Replicators are headed their way. Replicator after Replicator
run into the field and are destroyed, but the repeated
encounters will help them find a way to override it.
McKay begins instructing Sheppard on how to modify the
tablet. The Replicator guards finally make it through
the field and Oberoth heads for the core. Sheppard and
Ronon are cut off from the jumper. Weir's leaves the jumper
to try and help, but she doesn't respond to her radio.
Sheppard orders McKay to trigger the kill switch, but it
has no effect. While McKay tries to find a way to make
the kill switch work, Sheppard continues trying to get
the tablet to download the new code.
Oberoth rounds a corner and finds Weir waiting for him.
Before he can react, she reaches for his forehead. She
and Oberoth end up chatting in their minds. She tells him
that through her nanites and her physical connection to
him, she now controls the Replicator collective.
The tablet finally starts downloading the code modifications
when multiple Replicator guards enter the room. Sheppard
and Ronon take up defensive positions, but the guards freeze
in their tracks. McKay figures out what Weir is up to,
but says it significantly increases the chances that the
Replicators will take control of her nanites.
The download completes, but before Sheppard and Ronon
can make it back to the jumper, Oberoth gets control back
from Weir's McKay, Sheppard and Ronon are all captured
by the Replicators and taken to a cell. Weir is taken to
be
"repaired."
Oberoth tells the three non-nanite-infested team members
that he still wants to know Atlantis' location so that
he can complete its destruction. Oberoth sticks his hand
into Sheppard's forehead, but nothing happens. It was all
an image in Oberoth's mind, created by Weir's She's still
in control. Oberoth tells her that she'll never leave the
city alive. Perhaps not, but she tell him her team will.
In the real world, the Replicators are still frozen. McKay
is unable to locate Weir, but Sheppard and Ronon attempt
to locate her. They find her just as Oberoth manages to
remove her hand from his forehead. She tells them that
they have to leave her behind or they'll never escape.
Sheppard and Ronon reluctantly start their retreat as the
rest of the Replicators unfreeze.
Sheppard, Ronon and McKay take off in the jumper, but
they're pursued by two Replicator ships. Until McKay can
interface the ZPM, there's no chance of using the cloak
or jumping into hyperspace. The Replicators fire on the
jumper, but the Apollo (they've already caught up with
Atlantis) shows up to run interference for them. They land
the jumper in
the
302
bay and try to
beam
Weir out using her locator beacon, but she can't be found.
The Apollo jumps into hyperspace and makes its escape.
With its shiny new ZPM, Atlantis makes its way through
space with full shields. A new planet is selected for the
city's home, one that was never discussed as a possibility
with Weir. The city jumps into hyperspace and emerges in
orbit of its new home. There's still the matter of landing,
which isn't as easy as it might be due to the strain that
going into hyperspace put on their no-longer-quite-as-shiny
new ZPM. It's a rough ride, but Sheppard uses the chair
to set the city down in the ocean.
Teyla packs up Weirs things and commiserates on her loss
with Ronon. Carter and McKay manage to get the stargate
back online and dial the SGC. Zelenka reports that long-range
scanners have detected a massive fleet launching from the
Replicator homeworld. The fleet is headed toward a Wraith
world, indicating that the attack command has been activated.
Carter and Lee prepare to gate back to Earth.
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