Chapter 44

Lord Protector Planet

"At Mr. Woolsey's urging I have ordered that all belongings be packed in anticipation of your arrival. Everything is prepared in the main chamber." Mara said proudly.

"Very good. We can just beam that aboard and I can get to work." said McKay.

"Mara, if you would follow the pilot who brought you aboard back to the Jumper he will gladly return you to your planet so we can begin bringing the royal court aboard." suggested Eckhart.

The young woman quickly exited the room leaving the Colonel and the scientist alone.

"Now that we have that out of the way I'm assuming you want to get right to work." stated Eckhart.

"You got it. That way I don't have to deal with them. Sheppard told horror stories about their table manners for weeks." replied McKay.

Rolling his eyes Eckhart stood up and left for the bridge. Rodney with matters to attend to headed for the area he had taken over for his command post. At his console McKay performed highly accurate scans of the buried city ship. A majority of the city's towers were indeed damaged. Some were broken off altogether. She was in need of a lot of work, but being the foremost expert on ancient technology in the galaxy Rodney was certain he could bring her back to life.

"Let me know the moment the royal court and all their belongings are aboard." Rodney said into his earpiece.

"No problem." was the reply.

Heading towards the Asgard core room Rodney stopped for a cup of coffee. He wrote computer code best when he was well caffeinated. Seated in front of the core he brought in the sensor data he had recently taken of the city ship below. Over the next few hours a computer routine was put together making use of Athena's beaming technology. He knew from the beginning that the city would need to be excavated before being repaired. Traditional excavation took too far to long for his tastes. Instead he would use the beaming technology to beam away six inches of soil per minute. The soil beamed away he would deposit in a valley fifty miles to the south. Once the soil covering the city ship was removed he would deal with the corridors filled with hundreds of tons of earth. That earth was all that held up several of the corridors his scans told him.

"Dr. McKay, the royal court and their belongings are now onboard." said the engineering officer over the radio.

"Thank you. I'm going to need to beam down to an interior space in about fifteen minutes. I'll let you know when I'm ready." said McKay.

He could barely contain his excitement. Rushing to his quarters he changed and gathered the gear he felt would be needed. Stopping by the dining facility he asked for and received an assortment of sandwiches, a thermos of coffee, and a several power bars. Putting these in his backpack along with his tablet computer and his ancient scanner he picked up the hard metal case sitting beside him in preparation to beam down.

"Bridge, this is McKay. I transmitted a schematic with several numbered locations to you. Refer to that doc.u.ment when I request beaming to another section of the ship. I am prepared to beam down to location three." said McKay.

"Roger that doc, be careful down there." said the engineer.

After the split second of nothing Rodney found himself standing in the power distribution room of the city ship. He already knew the ZPM's were lifeless from his last visit to this ship. Not wasting a moment of precious time McKay removed the three empty ZPM's and tagged them so they would not be confused for ones still of use. From the metal case he brought with him he removed a fresh zpm and installed it within the power node. In seconds lights began to come on. For the first time in several years the city once again had power. Scratch one item off his one thousand item to do list he thought.

Athena, this is McKay. I'm ready to beam to location one please" said McKay.

"Right away doc." answered the bridge crewman.

In a flash of light McKay appeared in the auxiliary control room. The last time he had stood in this room was when he had powered the star drive to drain what little power remained in the city's ZPM to prevent drones from being launched at his team. Bringing the ancient data terminals online McKay entered the AI avatar password. Appearing before him was a beautiful woman with dark red hair and grey eyes.

"Thank you for reactivating my systems. I am Borealis." said the woman with a sincere smile.

"Borealis it is a pleasure. I am Doctor Rodney McKay." said the scientist.

"You have the gene, but you are not Lantean." said Borealis.

"A lot has happened since the last time you were active. Suffice to say I know Atlantis very well and am here to bring you back into working order." answered Rodney.

"My sister was always the stronger of us." replied the avatar.

"Borealis please give me your current state of repair?" asked Rodney.

"That will take some time Dr. McKay. Most of my core systems are not currently operational. Should I begin with primary systems before we discuss tertiary systems?" asked the AI.

"Yes, begin with primary systems." said Rodney with a growing sense of excitement.

"The star drive is currently not fully operational. One drive section was damaged beyond repair. Weapons are currently unavailable as stocks are diminished. Shields are not functional as all shield emitter stations were destroyed when my main power conduit was damaged." stated Borealis.

"What happened that caused this much damage?" asked McKay.

"After a great battle with my power stores depleted to minimum levels, my crew sought refuge on this world. As we entered the atmosphere several Wraith vessels attacked. Power was not sufficient to maintain our descent, utilize weapons, and power the shield. The shield was lowered to give my crew time to land. The main power conduit was damaged at that moment and we plummeted the remaining eight hundred meters to land." said the avatar with a trace of sadness.

"You mean you crashed?" asked a shocked Rodney.

"Yes Doctor. With the war going badly resources and personal could not be diverted for my repair and retrieval. I have remained on this planet since that day ten thousand years ago." she said.