Star Child

[Colonel Carter]

The whoosh of the event horizon flooded into the Atlantis Gate Room as military forces moved into place, prepared for anything that might come through. From high above Elizabeth Weir looked down as her ears were tuned behind her for word of an IDC signal coming through. And one did.

"It's Shepherd's team," the technician told her.

"Open it," she ordered and watched as the clear force field disappeared.

Seconds passed into minutes and the mood of everyone shifted. There was more tension in the air than normal. Where were they?

And then a sudden blast through the gate struck one of the airmen below. The others scattered to the sides to avoid any more blows as two carried the injured man to safety.

"Doctor Beckett, we need you down here now," Elizabeth spoke into her headset and heard his reply that he was on his way.

More fire power poured through the open gate though nothing critical was hit.

"We must close the iris!" her chief of security was yelling at her from several feet away.

"No! They're coming!"

"And what if someone or something else comes through that gate?!"

Fortunately for her, however, Dr. McKay had just arrived, looking roughed up and out of breath.

"We have refugees!" he shouted before heading down the ramp.

Elizabeth lost count of how many came through the gate around 25, they just kept pouring in, along with some of her own people.

The last to come through was John who immediately shouted, "Close it up!"

Elizabeth nodded and the Technician raised the force field. A few thuds were heard before the gate was at last shut down. Now Elizabeth hurried down to reach the others, her mind racing with questions.

"What's going on, John?" she asked when she finally reached Colonel Sheppard. "Who are all these people?"

"Wraith survivors. They attacked while we were working out the details for trading with these people."

"How did they know you were there?"

"It was probably just some random attack."

"Maybe," Elizabeth said eying the visitors warily. "I hope you're right."

[Colonel Carter]

Dr. Beckett had his hands full in the infirmiry as the refugees grew impatient waiting on him to give them a clean bill of health. He had to put them on hold to tend to the fallen airman who was now in critical but stable condition in a quiet room.

With the help of extra Atlantis staff, they managed to keep the refugees moving in an timely an orderly fashion. Most were overwhelmed with the technology of their surroundings. They were a simple people who like so many others, had avoided advanced technology in hopes of avoiding Wraith detection.

By the end of the day, Dr. Beckett was thoroughly exhausted, wishing he could have called it a day hours before. But he didn't let his weariness show as with each new patient he gave his same old charming smile. Thus far he had considered himself fortunate to find nothing more than a few people with cold symptoms at worse.

"Haven't I checked you out already, love?" he asked a plump, elderly woman as she stepped up towards him. He was sure he had.

"Yes, but I also help watch over the orphans and they are next," she pointed and Dr. Beckett looked and counted 47 dirty faced children huddled together ranging in age of around 2 to 15 years of age.

He had already seen several children, but they had all been with a parent or guardian of some sort.

"There are so many of them," he could feel his heart break as he guessed that most, if not all, had lost their parents to the Wraith.

Some of them looked frightened, some of the younger ones were crying, and all looked tired. He walked over towards them and smiled, assuring them that everything would be alright and how his scans would not hurt at all.

When he asked for volunteers, a blond headed boy of around seven was the first to step out. Apparantly braver than the rest, he kept Dr. Beckett busy with all sorts of questions about what the different instruments were for and what exactly they did. Teyla stood in the door smiling. It had been her responsibility to take the refugees on to their quarters.

The orphans took a considerable amount more time as he had to reassure some of them individually that everything would be alright. And although their guardian tried to assure them as well, not everyone was as eager as the first boy to be checked out.

After a couple of hours had passed he turned to see the last orphan standing there and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hop on up, love," he said but the girl, who appeared to be around 11, didn't move. "It's alright, it won't hurt."

"That's Keira," the old woman explained. "She keeps to herself. No one knows from where she came or who her parents were. We found her wandering through the woods alone. She doesn't speak and she won't let you touch her."

A million thoughts began racing through Dr. Beckett's head, but he tried to push them aside as he walked over to her. She backed away.

"It's alright, love, I won't touch you. All I need for you to do is walk up and lay down on that bed up there."

She took a few more steps back, shaking her head. Dr. Beckett got down on his knee and looked up at her. Their eyes met and he smiled gently.

"I promise I won't hurt you. You can trust me."

Their eyes stayed locked for several more seconds before at last she slowly nodded and walked over to the bed and laid down. Dr. Beckett stood up and looked at the line. A dozen more people. He couldn't wait until this was all done and he could go back to his quarters and get some rest.

[Colonel Carter]

"Since Dr. Beckett has given all the refugees a clean bill of health, we now need to start looking at where to send them," Dr. Weir said as she folded her hands on the conference table around which were seated John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, and Teyla. Dr. Beckett had chosen not to come to catch up on some much needed sleep.

"That's easier said that done," Sheppard spoke up. "We don't have the time or manpower to invest in searching prospective new worlds as a possible home. Not if we hope to continue searching for technology we can use to fight the Wraith."

"I agree," Rodney McKay spoke up. "And we waste energy every time we open up the Stargate.

"Well then what about the main land?" Elizabeth asked.

"My people would be more than willing to share," Teyla said. "But I'm afraid I have heard some of the refugees claim they do not want to stay on this planet."

"Did they say why?"

"They seem to be a proud people..."

"Aren't they all?" McKay muttered.

"...And to stay here they would feel as though they were accepting some sort of charity. At least that is the feeling I have gotten from them."

"Then let's compromise," McKay stated. "They can live on the main land until we find a suitable home for them."

"I thought you agreed we couldn't afford to waste the energy," Sheppard said.

"We can't, if all we're doing is sending out scouting parties to find these people a home. But if we find something on a regular expedition, then it's settled."

"I am not sure the people will be happy with that decision," Teyla said.

"Well then do they have a gate address of where they would like to go?" Elizabeth asked.

"I am not sure."

"Ask them, and in the meantime, let's start preparing to take these people to the mainland."

[Colonel Carter]

In the two weeks that followed, Colonel Sheppard and his team did come by an uninhabited world in which the refugees were eager to move in. Aside from that, all had been quiet around Atlantis. Other missions through the Stargate had been more or less uneventful with no Wraith activity, and there were no Wraith hive ships on the scanners.

Elizabeth Weir was liking the quiet, though she knew it wouldn't last. She was determined to enjoy any amount of peace she could get, and the others in Atlantis seemed to think the same way. The mood had lightened considerably. She could hear more laughter and for that she was glad. Her people needed to laugh. It was a seldom and rare thing in war time.

She was just about ready to call it a day and head to bed when an alarm sounded. She hurried over to where Rodney was sitting at a console and asked him what was happening.

"Someone has entered a restricted area," Rodney answered.

It was something Dr. Weir had put in place awhile back. As much of the city was yet unexplored, she didn't want her people simply wandering around in those areas until an armed and equipped team had been able to search it out.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"None of our people, the life signs don't register on our database."

"I'll go," John Sheppard, who had been standing back listening to all the commotion, said. "Teyla, Ronon."

Teyla and Ronon nodded and followed John to the armory before heading off for the unexplored section of the city.

"Who would be in the city other than our own people?" Teyla asked as they wandered through dark corridors near to their destination. "The sensors would have told us if it was a Wraith. I would have sensed it as well. And there has been no one else in the city."

"Except for those refugees," Ronon pointed out.

"You think someone stayed behind?" John asked rhetorically and they were silent as they approached the area, their life scanners in their hand showing them exactly where the intruder was.