Harmony (episode)

"Harmony" is the fourteenth episode of the fourth season of Stargate: Atlantis.

Synopsis
Dr. Rodney McKay and Lt. Colonel John Sheppard are on a familiar planet for trade, where their royal family ask them to escort a young princess, Harmony through the forest to some ruins, where she will become Queen. However, on the way, they discover that a Genii contingent is tracking Harmony down, by the orders of one of Harmony's own sisters.

Plot
Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Dr. Rodney McKay meet with Flora and Mardola, the royalty on a planet the Atlantis expedition trade with since their first year of operation, where they also warned them of a Wraith culling. The two sisters are very grateful for their kindness and toasts them for it. The sisters then say they need the men's help, they have another sister that needs their assistance. When they step out for a second, the team are expecting a sister as beautiful as Flora and Mardola, but they are stunned when they are met by the third sister, who is actually thirteen years old, named Harmony.

Flora and Mardola explain that their mother, who was Queen, recently passed away. They performed a ceremony, and later determined that Harmony is to become the next queen. There is a rite of passage: Harmony must go on to the Ruins of Larris to become Queen. Originally, the next of kin would travel alone, but since Harmony is thirteen, the other sisters fear for her safety. They explain that although the planet's residents are prohibited from escorting the new queen, the law does not apply to visitors from other worlds. They appeal to Sheppard and McKay based on maintaining their alliance, and they reluctantly agree.

McKay and Sheppard take Harmony into the woods, and she finds out that Sheppard is the leader, despite McKay's attempts to argue against it. She wonders why Sheppard puts up with McKay's impertinence. On the way, Sheppard follows the map, when he notices that a wooden bridge over a ravine has since collapsed, and sees no other way to cross. He tells McKay to stay with Harmony, while he looks for another way over. While he is gone, Harmony takes an energy bar from Sheppard's pack, against McKay's wishes, and she opens it. When McKay tells her to put it back, she hands him the empty wrapper. When Sheppard returns, he thinks McKay took his food, despite him saying Harmony took it. McKay then aggressively tells Harmony to tell the truth, when she bursts into fake tears. The deceived Sheppard takes pity on her, who agrees on letting her navigate using the map when they return to the path.

After more navigating, they all hear a strange noise. Harmony tells them that it is the sound of the "beast", which is assigned to attack anybody, or anything, that is a threat to the throne. After some further walking, McKay and Harmony notice that Sheppard has disappeared. Harmony wonders why McKay isn't taken, since she thinks the beast is behind this. This is proven to be wrong, when McKay is surrounded by a group of three Genii, who don't seem to recognize him, since he helped them with their nuclear weapons program. They tell him that all they need is Harmony, and they'll spare him. McKay considers it for a second, but then Sheppard (who had sensed the ambush) shoots them all down from behind the foliage.

They wonder what the Genii are doing here. Harmony reveals that her people used to trade with the Genii, but after they kept cheating them several times, her mother banished them. Sheppard leaves McKay with Harmony again, to find out how many more Genii are out there. During that time, McKay and Harmony continue their arguments, whilst Harmony tries to intimidate McKay with threats, for fun. Sheppard returns to them, and tells them that there are Genii everywhere. They decide to hide out until nightfall, when they would then return back to village. However, Harmony disagrees, since she wants to make it to the ruins before the end of the lunar cycle. She knows her throne will be forfeit if she fails the quest. Sheppard however has to insist on returning, since it isn't safe to continue.

In the palace at night, the Genii leader, Toran sneaks into the palace, and meets up with Mardola, one of Harmony's sisters. They both have a secret meeting. It is revealed that Mardola has ordered the hit on Harmony, and would become queen herself if she were not to return from the ruins. Toran blames her for the death of three of his men. But Mardola simply states that having Sheppard and McKay around was unfortunate, and agrees on paying the Genii three times as much as she originally intended to give them. Toran gives her a Genii communicator to contact him. She also tells Toran to keep the fact that she ordered the hit on Harmony a secret, as if anyone finds out, it would be bad for both of them.

Meanwhile, McKay comes up to Sheppard, and suggests that they stun Harmony and take her back. Sheppard disagrees, and decide now would be the time to head back, whilst it is still dark. However as they turn around to tell Harmony, they notice she has disappeared. They proceed to search for her in the woods, but can't find her. McKay then feels hungry, when Sheppard admits that having Ronon Dex there to track her down would useful. McKay smells a fire and food and is able to track the origin of the fire.

They find Harmony hidden in a cave, and sees that she has caught a Loden bird and started a fire to cook it. Sheppard quickly puts out the fire, and warns Harmony that she is in trouble. They have to turn back to the settlement, despite Harmony telling them that the ruins aren't that far away. As they plan to leave again, they hear the beast approaching. They decide to wait it out and then turn back. Later they chat and Harmony says that since she is going to be Queen, she is going to need a King, and suggests that Sheppard become her king. However, he defers. They then hear the beast again and screams and weapons fire coming from the Genii. Sheppard goes to investigate, and again leaves McKay with Harmony. Harmony wants McKay to teach her about love, since she thinks that she's in love with Sheppard. McKay advises her that Sheppard won't be interested in her, and she would have to find her own king. McKay realizes she was only having fun back in the forest and that she is not really so bad, admitting he "doesn't not like her."

Meanwhile, Sheppard finds two Genii bodies, who have been attacked violently by the beast, and turned into "Swiss cheese". He then hides from other Genii soldiers, who find their dead comrades. When they leave, Sheppard discovers that the Genii now have a shoot-to-kill order on the three of them. When he overhears the communication, Sheppard returns back to the cave and reiterates that the must go back to the castle. Harmony disagrees, since they're close to the ruins, and insists the beast will avoid the ruins. Sheppard finally agrees and decide to leave as soon as possible.

As dawn sets, the trio arrive near the nearby ruins and take cover, where they find two Genii soldiers fiddling with some Control crystals on the ruins. McKay gets his stunner out and begins to aim, but Sheppard quickly snatches the weapon off him and does it himself. When they arrive in the ruins, they notice that the structure is Lantean architecture. McKay discovers that the "ruins" are actually a testing place for Mini-drones. McKay explains that the noise of the beast, is just the noise of the drone's engines. Also, the drones haven't attacked the trio, because they all have the Ancient Technology Activation gene. Unfortunately, the Genii have fiddled with the control crystals, meaning the drone controls won't activate. Harmony gets out her pendant to control the "beast" and explains it will light up once she activates the neural interface but McKay realizes that because of the tampering from the Genni, the controls will not function. Harmony sees her pendant not glowing as a sign that she should not be queen. Sheppard tries to explain that it's just broken and that McKay can fix it.

Whilst McKay replaces the crystals in the correct order, Harmony insists she can make it work if she focuses (believing that the Lantean technology is holy and cannot be destroyed), but after several tries begins to believe she is not the true queen after all. Toran then radios the Genii prisoners, and Sheppard tries to bluff through a conversation that he is Heiron and everything is fine. However, as the two Genii cry for help, Sheppard stuns them again, as Toran announces that back up is on its way. Preparing for a Genii attack, Sheppard takes cover with Harmony, while McKay works on re-activating the device. However, just as he is completed and the device powers up, the Genii start firing on them.

In the process, Harmony runs toward cover. McKay runs to her and trips whilst trying to push her out of the way, dropping her to the ground too. They get up and run to Sheppard's cover spot. Toran admits that one of her sisters ordered the hit, when she says her sisters would take them down. McKay isn't sure if the device is working. Sheppard then plans to activate the device. He tells McKay to lay down cover fire, while he snatches Harmony's pendant, since anyone with the Ancient gene can activate the drone system. He makes a run for the device and commands the drones with his mind, and the drones mobilize and kill Toran, as the others run away and the drones chase them. Harmony is duly impressed by McKay, and declares him a hero, because he shielded her from the Genii with his own body, to which McKay responds he just fell. She also starts to denounce Sheppard for taking her pendant. She then places her pendant over the device, making it glow, and is pleased to know she is the true Queen after all.

They return to the palace and search Mardola's quarters, since they searched Flora's quarters and found nothing. They find the Genii radio. Mardola explains that Harmony is too young to become queen, to which Harmony says that by the time she will be released from jail, she will be too old to remember it, and has her arrested. McKay and Sheppard later attend the coronation, where Harmony congratulates McKay and Sheppard for their work in protect her. She then unveils a portrait of the event painted by her best artists. The painting shows a heroic Harmony in the middle, with brave McKay defending her from the Genii and Sheppard cowering in fear behind her.

Notable Quotes
Sheppard talks in a deep voice to Toran over the radio Sheppard: Heiron here. Toran: What's your status? Sheppard: Good. Toran: Elaborate. Sheppard: Real good. Heiron and Genii: Help us! (Sheppard stuns them) Toran: Heiron! Sheppard: (in his normal voice) Kinda busy, gotta go.