Col. Sheppard's team is urgently summoned to M1K-177, where Maj. Lorne's team has been attacked. When Sheppard and his unit arrive, however, all they find is a burned building containing charred bodies: presumably, Lorne and his men. After returning to Atlantis, Sheppard and Weir are startled when Ladon Radim, a member of the Genii strike force that previously tried to attack the city, contacts them through the stargate. He claims that he wants to trade a ZPM in exchange for weapons to stage a military coup against Cowen, the ambitious Genii leader.