Lifeline

From SGCommand

Atlantis Season 4
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8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20
Season 3				Season 5

This episode is part 3 of 3; it is preceded by "First Strike" and "Adrift".

"Lifeline" is the second episode of the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis.

Contents 1 Plot 1.1 References 2 Notes 3 Sources

Plot

While Atlantis continues to drift in space, a plan is formed to steal a ZPM from the Asurans. By using the experimental jumper hyperdrive, the team is able to fly to the nearby Asuran homeworld, using Elizabeth Weir to control the enemy Replicators. Due to McKay's nanite treatment, she is now able to tap into their subspace link. While John Sheppard is naturally suspicious of this plan, McKay insists that he can prevent any Asuran attempts to reprogram the nanites, and if anything does go wrong, he can use a "kill switch" that will automatically shut down the nanites, which would kill Weir as well.

Meanwhile, Colonel Carter and Bill Lee arrive on the Apollo to help find Atlantis. They conceive a simple, but tedious plan. Assuming that Atlantis dropped out of hyperspace early, they would have to power up Apollo's sensors to extend their range significantly. They would follow Atlantis' original path, making a short hyperspace jump, scanning the area, and then jumping to the next area. Naturally, such a process is incredibly time consuming.

On arrival McKay and Weir guide Sheppard and Ronon towards the ZPM. The mission is successful, however, McKay discovers a disabled line in the Asuran base code that would force them to attack the Wraith. As appealing as this is, the only way to reprogram them is to update their computer core manually. Risking everything, Sheppard and Ronon go back into the city. They form an anti-Replicator field around the core to buy them some time and begin trying to reactivate the code. Unfortunately, the process takes too long and the Replicators manage to find a way to counter the field. With hundreds of Replicators heading towards the core, Dr. Weir leaves the jumper to attempt to stop them. Ignorant of her true purpose, McKay attempts to disable the nanites and kill her, but the command fails to work for unknown reasons. She confronts Oberoth and makes physical contact with him, connecting herself to the Replicator network. She uses her access to freeze all of the Replicators and fool Oberoth into thinking he had captured the team to give them time to escape. Sheppard, not wanting to leave Weir behind, goes to search for her. However, Oberoth begins to resist Weir's control over the network and manages to physically grab her arm. Weir pleads for Sheppard to run and leave her behind. Sheppard is forced to run back to the Jumper and escape without Weir.

Unfortunately, escaping is not such a simple matter. The Jumper had exhausted most of its energy on the initial hyperspace jump and using the AR field and does not have enough power to open a hyperspace window or even go into stealth mode. McKay attempts to hook up the ZPM to give them the power they need but it's very time-consuming. Fortunately, they are saved when the Apollo arrives and distracts the Asuran battleship pursuing them, long enough for the jumper to land onboard. Carter informs Sheppard that their search finally succeeded and they made contact with Atlantis, who told them where Sheppard and his team had gone to. Carter attempts to beam Weir on board but cannot pick up her locater beacon. The Jumper lands in the 302 Bay and the Apollo jumps to hyperspace returning to Atlantis.

With the ZPM back at Atlantis, the city jumps to its new home of M35-117 where Sheppard lands it rather roughly on the ocean. Because the Replicators know the location of the planet Atlantis was previously on, they flew to a planet (M35-117) that wasn't registered on any of their exploration lists so that even if the Replicators mind probe Weir, they won't be able to find it. This planet is similar to the previous one in the fact that it has large oceans, continents, and can support terrestrial life. With the city once again running, Ronon and Teyla mourn the loss of Weir and ponder who will take her place. McKay and Carter activate the Stargate and manage to reestablish contact with Stargate Command.

Meanwhile, Zelenka arrives with a surprising announcement: long range scanners have detected a massive fleet of Asuran ships heading for a Wraith planet. McKay concludes that the mission was successful. Carter tells Sheppard she has been ordered back to Earth and passes on General Hank Landry's condolences for the loss of Weir. Sheppard, however, vows that he will find her.

References

Anti-Replicator Gun, Apollo, ascension, Asurans, Asuras, cloak, control chair, Elwynn Forest, jumper bay, Landry, Hank, M35-117, nanite, Niam, puddle jumper, Stargate Command, string theory, World of Warcraft, Wraith, ZPM

Notes

• On September 12, 2007, unfinished versions of this episode and Adrift were leaked onto the internet [1].
• Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi has stated that "Lifeline" is a "big op eppy".

Sources

1. Gateworld Spoilers: Lifeline, Gateworld.net, retrieved 1 July 2007

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Lifeline (Stargate Atlantis). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with SGCommand, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.