Peter Evans - Angelus

No, this wasn’t personal. It was simply that the feeling of being supervised by a civilian committee, especially one so distant, made her slightly uncomfortable. Carter was used to taking orders from people who were either of a higher military rank, or in what she regarded as a justifiable position of authority. The International Oversight Advisory was neither.

On a good day, they were merely ineffectual. But there had been times when their vacillations had made them a dangerous liability.

Still, while Carter had no time for the kind of political games that fuelled the IOA, she knew the rules off by heart. So she put on a smile, dipped her head ever so slightly forwards, and said: “Always a pleasure, Mr Woolsey. Of course you know Colonel Sheppard.”

“Indeed I do,” replied Woolsey. Somewhat warily, Carter thought. “I was told Colonel Ellis would be here too?”

“Colonel Ellis will be joining us shortly, Mr Woolsey. In the meantime —”

Light flared behind her, a column of brilliant blue-white that seemed to drop, momentarily, from the ceiling. When it vanished, Colonel Ellis stood in its place.

“Well, actually he’s here,” said Carter, flatly.

“Sorry about that.” Ellis glanced around quickly, as if to get his bearings. “I got held up.”

“Better late than never,” said Sheppard quietly.

Carter nudged him. “Colonel Ellis, it’s good to see you back. Where’s Rodney?”

“Thank you, Colonel. And Doctor McKay asked to be beamed directly to the hangar. He wanted to look at the ship, make sure it had survived the journey intact.” Ellis cleared his throat. “I did, ah, suggest that he might like to ride one of the jumpers down, but he declined my offer.”

Carter chuckled. “I’ll bet.”

“Excuse me?” On the screen, Woolsey was looking puzzled. “Hangar? Surely you didn’t store that ship in the jumper bay?”

“No, not there,” Carter replied. “There’s an open area a couple of levels down from here. It wasn’t being used for much, just storage, and some of the outer walls are modular. We managed to get them retracted temporarily to make a kind of, well, parking garage. Major Lorne and his team flew the ship in on tethers.”

“It couldn’t be beamed in?”

“No,” replied Ellis. “Our transport sensors couldn’t get a complete lock on the hull. We’re not sure why, possibly a defense mechanism or a property of the hull. But Doctor McKay didn’t want to risk it arriving in pieces.”

“Very wise. What about your guest?”

“He’s undergoing a last couple of tests in Apollo ’s infirmary,” said Ellis. “When my people are sure it’s safe for him to be moved, we’ll ship him down to Doctor Keller, nice and gently.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“Concussion, mainly. His body does seem to be healing itself to some extent. But whatever the Replicators hit him with, it hurt. He took some serious knocks up there.”

“I see.” Woolsey had gestured to someone offscreen, and in response a folder was passed to him. He opened it. “Thank you,” he muttered, not looking up. “So, Colonel Ellis, what has he told you?”

“Very little so far. Partly because he’s been unconscious some of the time, but I’m sure he’s deliberately holding back, too. Basically…” There was a pause, and Carter noticed that Ellis was looking distinctly uncomfortable. “Basically, he says his name is Angelus, and he claims to be a corporeal Ancient.”

That roused Woolsey from his folder. “A Lantean that didn’t ascend? That would make him, what, ten thousand years old?”

“Give or take,” said Sheppard.

“Well, that’s news,” replied Woolsey dryly. “How’s he looking?”

“Pretty good for his age,” said Ellis. “I know this sounds wild. Believe me, I’d be the first to advise extreme caution. All I’m giving you is what he gave me.”

“And the ship?”

“Like nothing I’ve ever seen before.” Ellis folded his arms. “Doesn’t quite match any of the Lantean ship designs we have on file, but it doesn’t resemble anything else we know about either. It’s a new one on me.”

“Colonel,” began Carter. “Surely your medical team have done some preliminary tests on this… Angelus. Do they confirm what he’s saying?”

Ellis shrugged slightly. “To be honest, we don’t have nearly the research facilities you do here. We were able to confirm the ATA gene, and his anatomy doesn’t look much different from what Lantean bodies are supposed to be. Then again, I could say much the same about Doctor McKay.”

Sheppard grinned. “Hey, can I quote you on that? Rodney’ll be thrilled.”

“Colonels, please…” Woolsey closed his file, looking perturbed. “Look, this Angelus could be anyone. Until we’ve got more information, it’s impossible to make any kind of decision.”

Now there’s a switch , thought Carter. “Mr Woolsey, the only thing we can do at this stage is find out all we can. Speak to him once he’s recovered, do tests… If Angelus is, somehow, what he claims, then some serious decisions will need to be made. You know what happened the last time there were Ancients on Atlantis.”

“I do,” said Woolsey grimly. “I was there.”

“So from your point of view, wouldn’t it be best to start formulating preliminary plans based on the possible outcomes? If he’s for real, Plan A, if he’s not, Plan B, and so-on?”

“If he’s a Wraith in disguise, Plan C, throw him to Ronon,” said Sheppard, largely under his breath.

Woolsey nodded. “Yes… yes, I’ll put that to the Advisory. Probably best to start now… The IOA’s decision-making process can be a little, well…”

“Thorough?” ventured Carter. Woolsey smiled.

“I was going to say ‘torturous’, but ‘thorough’ will do.”

Ellis stepped forwards. “And the Apollo ?”

“Personally,” said Sheppard, “I’d feel a whole lot better with Apollo still in my sky for now. From what Colonel Ellis here says… You’re sure about that, Colonel? The Replicators actually dropped their shields?”

“Absolutely. Damnedest thing I ever saw.”

“So whoever this Angelus is, they were prepared to sacrifice a whole cruiser just to get one decent shot at him. I don’t know about you guys, but that makes me just a little nervous about having him around.”

“I concur,” said Woolsey. “Colonel Carter?”

Carter shook her head. “Actually, I disagree. As far as we know, the location of Atlantis is still a secret, and I’d like to keep it that way for as long as possible. I’m sorry, Colonel, but that means not having Apollo around right now.”

Sheppard leaned slightly towards her and dropped his voice. “Doesn’t that leave us a tad, you know, exposed?”

“Sure it does. But come on, if the Replicators want him that badly and they knew he was here, they’d be all over us right now. I’d rather have Apollo seeding those stealth sensors. The more information we have about who’s in our neighborhood the better.”

“I’m with Colonel Carter,” said Ellis. “Even without Angelus in the picture, the Wraith and the Replicators are still at each others’ necks. If their war threatens to spill over into this system, you need to know about it.”

Woolsey slapped his folder in exasperation. “But Colonel Carter can’t spare McKay! Not if she’s going to investigate Angelus and his ship!”

“McKay’s done all he needs to on the sensors.” Woolsey opened his mouth to speak, but Ellis put his hand up. “Yes, I know he’ll tell you differently. But you know what he’s like. You all do. He’ll tinker until the last possible moment if you give him the chance, but if you take that chance away, he’ll come through. At least, he always has so far.”