Search and Rescue (Stargate Atlantis) - Plot

Plot

With an explosion leaving the team buried under rubble, Sheppard lies unconscious, and his lost friend Aiden Ford (Rainbow Sun Francks) tells him how he failed to help him (in the episode "The Hive"), just as he has failed to help Teyla. He then awakens, with Ronon Dex at his side, only to find out that falling debris has significantly injured him. On the other hand, Dex is in far better condition and is able to move around, and works to free Sheppard from the rubble. McKay and Major Lorne (Kavan Smith) also end up being trapped in a different location. While Lorne has a broken leg, McKay only ends up with a few scrapes and bruises. Michael is quickly informed that his compound has been compromised, and takes his cruiser to the planet.

Lieutenant Edison (Jeremy Jones), who dispatched with Lt. Col. Sheppard & Maj. Lorne's teams, manages to return to Atlantis to inform them of the situation on the planet. Additional personnel quickly return to the planet with combat engineers. Michael arrives soon after, and quickly deploys Darts to sweep the compound site. The combat engineers are able to recover McKay and Lorne and evacuate the site in Puddle Jumpers; however, Dex and Sheppard still remain trapped. Michael's hybrids soon start digging the two out. The USAF ship Daedalus arrives in orbit and is engaged by Michael's cruiser, which, upon failing to deliver a sufficient amount of damage to Daedalus, attempts to retreat. Daedalus manages to hit the cruiser's hyperdrive core, taking it off-line. Michael's hybrids almost reach Sheppard and Dex, but just in time Daedalus manages to use the Asgard transport systems to bring the two on board. In order to beam Sheppard and Dex out, the shields of the Daedalus are lowered temporarily, and Michael's cruiser is able to score a few direct hits taking the Asgard weapons and engines off-line. Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and teams aboard the three Jumpers also manage to get on board, after which the shields are raised again.

Realizing that Teyla Emmagan is likely aboard Michael's cruiser, the reunited team plan a mission to get aboard the ship using a cloaked Puddle Jumper and attacking the cruiser with F-302 fightercraft, which will force the cruiser to open the bay doors so Darts may deploy. The attack is a success, and while the cloaked Jumper enters the cruiser, the F-302s knock out Michael's primary weapon systems. The team discovers Teyla, already in labor, and are preparing to leave when the cruiser's hyperdrive is brought back online. Sheppard and Dex head out to disable it again, and McKay is forced to help deliver Emmagan's child by himself; both groups end up successful. Upon reaching the spot where they had left their Jumper, it is discovered to be missing (Stolen by Michael, who later uses it to infiltrate Atlantis), and another method must be found to leave the ship. Kanaan (Patrick Sabongui), Emmagan's child's father and a soldier in Michael's army, helps the team escape in a Wraith Dart. Daedalus, which has regained control of their Asgard weapons, swiftly destroys Michael's cruiser upon the team's return to safety.

At the episode's ending, Carter returns to Earth, where she is to go off-world with SG-1 to witness the extraction ceremony of the last system lord Ba'al (Stargate: Continuum). Upon arriving, she is told by Richard Woolsey (Robert Picardo) that she will not be returning to Atlantis, and will be replaced as expedition leader by Woolsey himself.