Rating: T

Summary: The Genii are at the door, the children have been separated from their parents and it is up to them and a few others to see that the Genii get what they deserve.

Disclaimer: I own none of the Stargate Characters nor do I own Terry, Fran or Pudsey (He is the Children in Need mascot). Elizabeth Bartlett kindly let me borrow Max Wainwright, Jason, Jamie, Patrick, Kelly and Stuart. I do own Alex and Maria.

Authors Notes: Children in Need is an annual Telethon for the charity of the same name. Millions of pounds are raised each year to help underprivileged and sick children make their lives a little better, this story is to promote Children in Need so dig deep you Brits, it's not just about Terry Wogan on the telly you know, there is a point.

Chapter 1

Alex Ramsey the acid tongued head chef of Atlantis was sitting under her desk clutching a large carving knife. She was shaking like a leaf and keeping up an internal monologue to try to keep herself calm. Four hours ago, she'd heard the alarms going off; she'd thought it was a drill as they'd been having a lot of them lately. As she was alone in the kitchen doing the paperwork she'd put it all away, tidied up, straightened her desk and was preparing to lock the doors before she'd ventured out, she was never one to hurry as she knew it was a drill so there was no need to rush. Sitting under her desk Alex realised that that had probably kept her free, she was just leaving the kitchen when she'd heard gunfire, the drill must be more serious this time, she turned to head for the East Pier when a group of Marines came running around the corner,

"Get out of here, head for the jumper bay the Genii are invading the city" the leader yelled. They took cover behind the columns and opened fire on the advancing invaders,

"Where's Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne?" Alex asked

"Don't know, I haven't heard from them for ages, I think Sheppard was trying to get a distress call out" he replied as two of his men caught bullets in the chest, on instinct Alex moved towards them but the leader grabbed her arm

"Get to the jumper bay, all personnel have been told to get there and get to the mainland," he said. Alex took off for the jumper bay, she was just about to head round a corner when she saw a reflection, Dr Kusanagi, Dr Zelenka, Dr Kavanaugh and three armed men that weren't from Earth were heading her way, Alex abruptly about turned and ran back they way she'd come. She skidded to a halt and clapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself screaming at the carnage in front of her, she heard footsteps behind her and headed for the only place left to go, the kitchen. Alex grabbed the biggest carving knife in the rack and headed for her office, crawled into the tiny space between her desk and the wall and waited for the inevitable. She had been sitting in that cramped space for five hours when her head hit the wall, she gasped and jerked her head back, hitting it on the desk in the process,

"Oww for s sake" she muttered as she realised she must have nodded off. Slowly she crawled out of her space trying to work the kinks out of her screaming muscles, gingerly opening her office door she realised that the kitchen was the same as when she'd left it, no-one had been in but she knew it wouldn't be long before the Genii came looking for food.

Max Wainwright was sitting in a storage cupboard outside the gym with her assistant Fran and six terrified children gripping one of Teyla's fighting sticks. She'd been in the middle of telling a story when the alarm sounded, they'd assumed it was a drill so Max had told the children to line up quietly with Fran while she tidied up a little. They had left the Schoolroom and headed for their muster point, on the way she had a garbled message from Elizabeth telling her that the Genii were swarming through the Stargate and she had to get to the Jumper bay and take the children to the mainland. Max had told Fran as quietly as she could what was going on and Fran explained to the children that they were going to the mainland as a treat because they had been so good. They were heading towards the Jumper Bay when they bumped into Sgt Stackhouse and his team, they were bloodied and bruised and obviously retreating

"What are you doing here?" he demanded

"Dr Weir told me to get the kids to the jumper bay and then to the mainland" replied Max

"You can't go that way, the Genii are right behind us," said Stackhouse

"Is there another way?" Max asked

"Head for the gym there's a corridor that will take you straight there" he replied "I don't know how long the Jumper bays will be free".
Footsteps could be heard coming towards them, Stackhouse signalled his men to get ready "you'd better get going", Max ushered the children down the opposite corridor

"Good luck" she called

"And you Ma'am" he replied. Max, Fran and the children ran along the corridor towards the jumper bay

"Jason stop" she hissed, Jason Sheppard stopped dead in his tracks, he was about to ask why when Max put her finger to her lips and beckoned him to come back to the group. What she could see but he couldn't was a group of soldiers, not from Earth, searching the gym, she searched frantically for a hiding place, Jason's sister Jamie tugged at Max's sleeve

"Mummy keeps her fighting sticks in that cupboard," she said pointing, Max grinned

"Well done Jamie, we'll hide in there," she said. She opened the door and ushered the children in closing the door quietly behind her,

"We have to be really quiet, not a sound because we don't want the bad men to find us do we" she said and six little voices murmured in agreement. Jason pushed his way to the back of the cupboard and started to open a box

"Jason, Jason what are you doing? come here at once" hissed Max in fear, Jason made his way back to her and handed her one of Teyla's fighting sticks, he handed one to Patrick, one to Stuart and kept one for himself

"No-one's going to hurt my sister," he whispered fiercely as he stood in front of Jamie

"Or mine" said Patrick, Stuart grabbed hold of Maria's hand

"I'll look after you," he said. Max was glad it was dark so none of the children could see the tears running down her face as the three little boys promised to protect the girls

"Good boys" she said in an unsteady voice, first of all the Genii would have to get past her to get to the children.

Max's head dropped and she gasped as she opened her eyes, now was not the time to be dropping off. Fran was telling the children the story of Daniel in the lions den,

"Max I'm hungry," said Kelly

"I want a drink, I'm thirsty" said Stuart. She'd know it wouldn't be long before hunger and thirst set in,

"I haven't heard anything for a long time," remarked Fran "we are going to have to leave here soon"

"I know, the kitchen shouldn't be too far away, it won't take too long to get there" Max replied "ok we're going to go to the kitchen to get something to eat but remember, be quiet and stay behind me and in front of Fran, understand?" the children whispered yes. Gingerly Max opened the door and peered down the corridor, Fran stood beside her

"What will we do if we meet the Genii soldiers?" she asked

"Surrender, they wouldn't really murder children in cold blood would they?" she replied, the silence spoke volumes "ok kids follow me and remember be quiet".

Alex's blood froze as she heard someone outside the door, she scrambled to her feet and made her way over to the door, she stood flat against the wall and gripped her knife as someone entered.

AN: Fran is Fran Godfrey one of Terry Wogan's faithful newsreaders, I don't know if I'll add Boggy and Deadly yet, I'll have to see how it pans out.

Chapter 2

Max opened the door and saw a knife glinting in the light she swallowed in fear.

"Please don't hurt me I'm the school teacher, the children are hungry so we came looking for food, please don't hurt them they're just children..." she babbled, the knife clattered to the floor as she was enveloped in a hug.

"Max, oh thank God," said a trembling voice,

"Alex" she said in bewilderment "oh my God Alex, I'm so pleased to see you" Max replied as she returned the hug. Alex untangled herself

"Come in quick, they haven't found this place yet but it won't be long" she pulled Max, Fran and the children into the kitchen

"I don't like the dark anymore can we have the lights on" said a tearful Kelly. Alex picked her up and gave her a cuddle

"I'm afraid we can't sweetheart, the bad soldiers might see us" she turned to Max "lets go to the office, I've got a couple of torches and a camping light in there" she stopped "you got the mutant gene?" she asked Max who shook her head "Fran?" Fran shook her head

"Why?" asked Max

"To lock the door, if I remember rightly someone with the gene can override the door switch" Alex replied "What about Jason or Jamie, as Sheppard's kids they must have it".

"Jason, see if you can lock the door," said Max, he crept over to the door and ran his hand over the panel, the panel clicked and the door locked

"Good boy" said Max. Alex led them to her office and rummaged in her filing cabinet; she pulled out a plastic box and opened the lid. She pulled out a torch and switched it on, she slowly swept it across the room, seeing six tear stained faces looking expectantly at her,

"Stuart hold this for me," she said handing him the torch. Alex pulled out an old camping gas light and a box of matches, she lit the lamp and everyone breathed a sigh of relief,

"I'll never make fun of my mother for always being prepared for the worse again, the gave me this 'Emergency Box' to me before I left, 'you never know when you may need it' she said" Alex remarked

"What's in it?" asked Max

"Torches, batteries, gas light, bottles of water, matches, candles, energy bars, that kind of thing. Why do you ask?" Alex said

"I think I should make one for the school room" Max replied

"I'm hungry," said Jason

"Me too"

"I want something to eat"

"I'm thirsty". A chorus of voices started complaining

"Right, first things first eh" said Alex with a smile "you lot stay here and be good, we'll get you something to eat". The children nodded and the three women went out into the kitchen.

"What are we going to do?" asked Fran as Alex moved around getting sandwich gear together

"We can't stay here that's for certain, they'll start searching for food soon" said Alex

"Major Lorne told me once that down on the eastern side of the city, right in the bowels of Atlantis the sensors don't work," said Max

"We'll go there, if there are any of our guys still free that'll be the logical place for them to go," replied Alex

"It's a long trek, I'm not sure if the children can make it, they've been through so much already" said Fran.

"We'll go at their pace, they're my responsibility..." began Max

"Ours" said Fran as she put a hand on her shoulder

"All of ours, I not going to let anything happen to them" said Alex, "there's three of us to take care of them now", they found some milk and some cookies and made their way back to the office.

After the sandwiches and cookies had been finished and the children were beginning to smile again Alex, Max and Fran were beginning to make plans on how to get to the east pier.

"I doubt we can use the transporters, we're going to have to walk there's no other way, walk avoiding the main corridors" said Alex, Max sighed

"It's not going to be easy for the kids," she said.

"We'll just have to take turns in carrying them, Patrick and Stuart, being the oldest can probably cope and Jason being stubborn like his father wouldn't let us carry him anyway, that just leaves Kelly, Jamie and Maria" said Fran

"We'll deal with it when it comes up," said Max.

"We'd better make a move then," said Alex, she picked up the rucksack she used to ferry her paperwork about, emptied into a draw and went out into the kitchen. She started to fill it with energy bars, cookies, fruit, bottles of water and MRE's, she also picked up her knife and put it in her bag with the handle sticking out of the top so she could grab it easily. As she was tying up the top, movement caught her eye outside the door,

"Max, Max bring the kids out quick, there's someone at the door" hissed Alex, Max and Fran ushered the children out of the office

"Now what?" said Fran

"There's a way out through the freezer, it used to be a small room so there's an unknown air con duct in there, it's big enough to crawl through, I have no idea where it goes but if we keep going east we should be ok" remarked Alex as she opened the freezer room and everyone followed her. Max and Alex got the grill off the vent and Alex crawled in first followed by Fran, then the children and Max bringing up the rear. Alex came to a crossroads in the ducts

"Now where" she muttered to Fran

"You said East" Fran replied

"Unfortunately I have no idea which direction we were heading in when we started" Alex admitted

"Why have we stopped?" asked Patrick

"I'm trying to decided which way is east" replied Alex.

"The sun rises in the east" said Kelly helpfully, Alex smiled to herself, Kelly obviously hadn't realised that they couldn't see the sun from where they were

"Thanks sweetie" said Alex

"This will help" said Max and told Maria to pass the object up through the line to Alex. When it got to Alex she saw it was a Swiss Army knife with a compass "your mother's not the only one who is prepared for any emergency", Alex lined up the compass

"This way" she said, as she turned right. They crawled in the duct for about an hour until they came up to a dead end, Alex and Fran managed to remove the grill and climbed out, as they started the lift the children out a figure stepped out of the shadows. The sound of a pistol being cocked froze the three women to the spot.

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AN: Yes my mum does have an Emergency Box with candles, matches, my camping gas light, batteries and such things in it, yes I have made fun of her and yes I have had to eat my words during a power cut.
I used to carry my biggest knife around with me when I was at college as there was a rapist loose in Ealing at the time, I never had to use it luckily.

Chapter 3

"Keep you hands where I can see them" said a voice, everyone put their hands in the air.

"Pu...Pudsey?" stammered Fran

"Miss Fran?" he asked

"Yes, yes it's me" she answered

"Who's with you?" he asked

"Alex Ramsey" replied Alex

"Max Wainwright and the children" said Max,

"Oh thank God they're safe, the Major and the Lieutenant have been half out of their minds with worry" he replied. The three women heard the sound of the safety catch being replaced and slowly turned around to see the owner of the voice standing before them. Pudsey was a tall, muscular man with sticky out ears and a mop of blond curly hair that he kept out of his eyes with a red and white spotted bandana, he always reminded Max and Alex of a teddy bear. The sounds of frightened sobs broke the silence, "I'm sorry kids I didn't mean to scare you" he stepped further into the light "it's me Sgt Pudsey, see”, he said as the children peered out from behind Fran, Max and Alex. "Where are you going?"

"To the east of the city where the sensors are blind" said Alex

"That's where we are," replied Pudsey

"We? There are more of you?" asked Max

"There's about fifteen of us still free at the moment, military and civilians" he scooped Stuart and Patrick up into his arms "follow me," he said as he strode off. Alex picked up Jason and Jamie

"Hey I can walk," said Jason who started wriggling

"I'm better at keeping up with Pudsey," said Alex as Jason gave up wriggling and let out an enormous yawn, Jamie had fallen asleep almost as soon as her feet left the floor, Fran picked up Kelly, Max scooped up Maria and they all followed Pudsey.

"You said something about the Major and the Lieutenant, who do you mean" asked Max quietly as Maria was asleep, Pudsey smiled and nodded at Maria and Stuart

"Major Lorne and Lt Cadman" he whispered, "they've been scouring Atlantis looking for all of you", Max sighed

"No wonder they've been going frantic" murmured Max as they turned a corner and came face to face with Sgt John 'Boggy' Marsh who was on guard.

"Pudsey" Marsh beamed as he saw the children in his arms "the Major will be pleased to see you," he said.

The group made their way into the makeshift camp,

"Look what we found sir" said Pudsey to Major Evan Lorne as the group moved further in. Lorne was sitting, propped up against the wall as Terry, a doctor from the Irish contingent, was cleaning up a cut to his head

"Maria, oh my God Maria" he said as he struggled to his feet. Max shook Maria gently to wake her up

"Look who's here" she said

"Daddy" murmured Maria as Max handed her to Lorne

"Oh baby, I thought I'd never see you again" he hugged her tightly "I thought I'd lost you" he said

"Been hiding in a cupboard with Max and the others then we went to find food and found Alex then we crawled for ages until we found Pudsey" said Maria. Lorne kissed his daughter

"You're safe now" he looked around "all of you" he said

"Ah, will ye look at that, yer man will be alright now" said Terry

"Major, where's my daddy?"

"Have you seen mummy?"

"Is daddy here as well?"

"Where's mummy?".

The rest of the children clustered around Lorne asking questions

"Easy" he said with a smile, "now I really don't know where your parents are but because their important people I'm sure they're ok" he said guardedly. Some of the other refugees gathered the children up and began to make a fuss of them,

"So what do you know?" he asked Alex, Max and Fran

"I saw them taking Drs Zelenka, Kusanagi and Kavanaugh somewhere and I'm pretty sure they've found the kitchen, I spent five hours under my desk after a group of soldiers saved my life " said Alex sadly.

"I saw Sgt Stackhouse and his men halfway between the Schoolroom and the Gym they looked like they were retreating, I was trying to get to the Jumper bay, Dr Weir told me to get the children to the mainland" said Max

"The guys I saw told me to get to the jumpers too he said they were trying to evacuate as many people as possible" put in Alex, Lorne sighed

"We only got about half the jumpers away, the Genii over ran the bay pretty quickly, we knew you weren't on them because I had Sgt Dedicoat stationed there till the end, that's why we spent so much time looking for you. I would have killed the Genii with my bare hands if they'd hurt you and the children" he said.

"The guys I met, who are no more I might add, said that Sheppard was trying to get a distress call out, do you know if he succeeded" Alex asked

"I have no idea, I do know he sent some communication guys and Ronon to the mainland" Lorne replied

"Bet he didn't like that" remarked Fran.

"He wasn't happy but Sheppard wanted him to get on to our allies to see if they could get a message to the Deadalus, it's only about three days out" he said. There was a commotion outside and Laura Cadman came running in followed by Dr Parrish and Katie Brown and Sgt Alan 'Deadly' Dedicoat.

"Marsh said the children have been found" she said, Lorne smiled and pointed to where they were all asleep, Laura pushed her way over to where the children were

"Stuart, thank God I thought I'd never..." she said as she dissolved into tears, Fran went over and started to comfort her

"I take it Carson's been captured" said Max.

"Looks like it, we haven't seen any of the senior staff for nearly seven hours, Sheppard and Teyla would have made their way here, they know it's a meeting point" said Lorne.
"Next time d'you mind sharing little pieces of information like that, if I hadn't have met Max I'd be still sitting under my desk or dead or a prisoner of the Genii" retorted Alex

"Sorry, I'll try harder next time" he said with a wry grin. Alex shook her head and took the rucksack off her back

"Blimey I forgot about this" she handed the pack to Lorne "it's food, MRE's, Power Bars, fruit, water, cookies and flapjacks I don't know how long it will last" she said, Lorne grinned

"Should have known I could rely on you not to let us starve" he replied as he handed the pack to Cadman, who started to hand the food out.

John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Elizabeth Weir, Teyla Emmagen, Carson Beckett and Radek Zelenka were pacing, not very successfully, in one of the cells in the Brig.


"Look Lorne is still out there and so is Laura, Ronon's on the mainland and the Daedalus will be here in a couple of days" said Sheppard,

"All we have to do is sit tight and not do anything stupid" said Elizabeth, she glared at John as the last comment was directed specifically at him.

"I'm worried about the kids, what if Max couldn't get them to the jumper" said John,

"I trust Max and Fran, the will not let any harm come to the children" said Teyla reassuringly

"Aye Max is a good 'un and I know Laura and Lorne won't rest until they've found them" said Carson.

The door to the Brig opened and two men stepped in, the jaws of Rodney, John and Elizabeth dropped open

"It can't be, it's not freaking possible" gasped Sheppard.

Chapter 4

"I assure you Colonel Sheppard it is possible," said Acastus Kolya


"No, no, no, no he died, he was on a planet destroyed by a nuclear bomb, no-one could have survived that" said Rodney. The other man chuckled


"Ah Dr McKay still the same I see, our scientists were not just working on our nuclear projects, they were perfecting cloning too" said Cowen


"So they bought you back”, sneered Sheppard "what a waste".


"When I heard what Ladon had done I worked behind the scenes with our loyal scientists and some of our allies to resurrect Cowen and lead our people back to their rightful place in the galaxy," said Koyla


"I thought you and Cowen didn't see eye to eye and that you were supposed to be leading Ladon's coup" said Sheppard. Koyla laughed


"I would not betray the most powerful leader the Genii have ever had" he replied


"Where is Ladon?" asked Elizabeth


"Still on our home planet as far as I know Dr Weir" Cowen replied


"You are planning to take back power on your planet," said Teyla, Cowen nodded


"Since he came to power Ladon has made the Genii weak, forging alliances instead of conquests, sharing technology instead of taking what we need, he is a weak fool," Cowen smiled "but after we have taken what we need from you we will deal with Ladon" he said.


"What is it you want?" asked Elizabeth, Rodney sighed and muttered 'ask the obvious why don't you' under his breath'


"Well seeing as you asked so nicely Dr Weir I'll tell you, we want all your weapons, your database, your puddle jumpers, your scientists and everyone with the Ancestor Gene," Cowen said.


"You don't want much do you" sneered Sheppard earning him the 'Look' that Teyla used to keep the Twins in line and with that he shut up, Koyla laughed and bowed to Teyla


"Madam I would like to know how you do that, you are the only person I know who can keep Colonel Sheppard quiet" he said, Teyla just glared at him and kept silent. A man entered the room and handed a data pad to Cowen who nodded and left, Koyla stared at Sheppard


"What?" said John


"I am just planning your death" he replied. John lunged at the bars but Zelenka and Rodney held him back,


"Koyla" yelled Cowen from the corridor, Koyla smiled at Sheppard and left.

In the east of the city the personnel that had escaped the Genii were getting some well deserved rest, Stuart had woken up to see his mother bending over him smiling, the reunion had been touching and now he was asleep in his mothers arms, most of the children had found someone to hold them while they slept. Whispered plans were being made as to what to do next


"Sabotage is the only option there are too many Genii for us to go toe to toe with them and win," said Laura,


"Agreed" said Lorne


"If there's any way to get the children away I want to do it, if, God forbid, the Genii get their hands on them then we can say goodbye to any resistance," said Max bringing out the ugly thought lurking in everyone's mind, everyone nodded


"I know you do but it's not going to be easy, the jumper bays will be heavily guarded, the kids will have to stay here and not be left alone for any length of time. I'll make sure there is at least a team of armed personnel here at all times, Max is right we have to protect the children if the Genii realise who they are we're screwed" said Lorne.


"I know this is a little um...Trekkie but couldn't we feed Ether through the ventilation systems, I saw it once or was it twice on Star Trek," said Alex apologetically, Lorne looked at Terry who shrugged.


"I can't see why not, Nitrous Oxide¹ may be better though too much can go wrong with Ether," said Terry


"It's an option," said Laura


"We need to override as much of the city as we can, the Major can lockdown a lot of it," said Sgt John Marsh


"I'll need someone with second command security code for some of it," said Lorne.


"I've got Carson's" said Laura guiltily "He's terrible for remembering numbers so he gave me a copy, just in case", Lorne frowned


"I'll let that go for the moment," he said. Lorne stiffened, made a quiet motion and raised his weapon "someone's up there" he mouthed, Marsh and Deadicoat also raised their weapons to the vent opening directly above them.


"Hey guys, it's Bec Thomson and the HOG² team we figured you'd be here," said a female voice, Lorne and the others lowered their weapons


"Come on down" said Lorne with a sigh, the vent cover was pulled back and a voice yelled


"Look out below" as a length of rope dropped down and Dr Bec Thomson slid down closely followed by her team.

The door slid open and Cowen returned looking like a cat that had feasted on a flock of canaries, he had a data pad in his hand


"You have been busy in my absence," he said


"Well you know," remarked Sheppard,


"And I see that a number of personnel are still unaccounted for" Cowen replied.


"So" said John earning him a glare from both Elizabeth and Teyla, this was not the time to be winding up their captors,


"Major Lorne, Lt Cadman" Carson blew out the breath he was holding as Teyla squeezed his hand "Sgt Marsh, Sgt Deadicoat, Sgt Pudsey, Specialist Ronon Dex, Miss Alex Ramsey, Miss Fran Godfrey..." Cowen droned on as he read out a list of names. John Sheppard heaved a sigh of relief Lorne and Cadman were still alive and free, if they'd have been dead Cowen would have been crowing over the fact, it looked like there was a number of military still free too, he really hoped that Lorne was planning a rescue. "And this is the most interesting group of the missing I could find" Cowen grinned " Miss Maxine Wainwright, Jason and Jamie Sheppard, Patrick and Kelly McKay, Stuart Beckett and Maria Lorne" said Cowen smirking at the horrified looks on the faces before him "this is my lucky day".