Outline: McKeller Adventure. Jennifer and Rodney are married.
Genre: Romance/Adventure with a little angst thrown in for good measure.
Timeline: Sometime after Lost Tribe but AU anyway!
Disclaimer: MGM as always
Thank you so much to my Beta Dani Wilder who inspired this story and keeps me writing.
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As the Daedalus pulled away from the atmosphere Doctor Jennifer Keller took a deep breath. Leaving Atlantis was never easy but it was doubly hard now she had Doctor Rodney McKay back there. Hoping that her husband would manage to stay out of trouble while she was away Jennifer turned from the observation window and made her way to the mess hall. As it was late the impersonal room only had a few occupants and Jennifer filled a tray and sat by herself, working on her tablet.
The request had come through only four days ago but already Jennifer was heading out and back to earth. The IOA required her to brief them in person on her progress with the wraith feeding gene therapy and although she had protested, she found herself alone on the Daedalus with not even one of the marines for company. There was the crew of course and a few people she had treated but she had no close friends on board. Since the Stargate had been destroyed they were back on the three week Daedalus run and Jennifer was not happy. Having finished her meal she put her laptop away and made her way to her cabin. With thoughts of Rodney in her head, she fell asleep.
The first sign of trouble for Jennifer was when she woke up on the floor of her cabin. Confused, she lay still for a moment and did a quick check. Nothing hurt so that was a good sign but why was she on the floor? Cautiously, Jennifer got to her feet and promptly landed on her backside as the ship jolted wildly. The alerts started sounding and the cry for battle readiness echoed around the room. Knowing that the medical department could well do with her help, Jennifer carefully made her way out of the cabin and into the chaos that was the corridor. Hurrying in the direction of the medical unit, Jennifer fell twice more before she was able to reach it. When she finally got there the Daedalus medical team was working at full capacity and where glad of her help.
The next couple of hours were frantic; the bombardment of the ship continued and the casualties kept coming. The call came over the PA for them to abandon the ship and Jennifer looked around her in panic, there was no way she would leave the people that were hurt. The other medical staff looked at each other and the nurses began evacuating the more stable patients. Finally all that was left was Jennifer, the CMO of the Daedalus and two nurses. They had five patients they were unable to move and the CMO of Daedalus turned to the CMO of Atlantis.
"You need to go now, before it's too late," he told her. A monitor alarm went off to their right and Jennifer shook her head.
"I am not leaving," she told him firmly. Not having the time to argue with her, the CMO turned to the patient and Jennifer turned her attention to a young marine who was severely wounded. The abandon ship alarms where still sounding and Colonel Caudwell's voice echoed around the room.
"All remaining staff to the life pods, medical section clear out the shields are failing," he ordered. The remaining medical staff exchanged looks of horror mixed with terror and Jennifer sent a silent thought to Rodney back on Atlantis. I love you, and then there was a blinding flash.
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The routine diagnostic of the Stargate had thrown Doctor Rodney McKay for a loop. The readings were off and his staff, after doing all they could, finally gave up and called their boss. It was the last thing everyone wanted to do. With his wife, Jennifer Keller off base, Rodney McKay was not a nice person to be around. John Sheppard watched his friend tiredly as he yelled at a few people, crashed around a bit and finally settled down to work on the problem. John grinned; at least he didn't have to get annoyed with him.
That was how Rodney happened to be in the control room when the worst call he had ever had in his life came in. There was a subspace message from the Daedalus:
"This is the Daedalus. We are under attack and sustained heavy damage. We are abandoning the ship."
There was commotion in the control room then as all hell broke loose.
John looked at Rodney, knowing full well Jennifer was on the ship.
"Where did that message come from?" John asked the tech sitting at the sensor control panel.
"I am trying to locate it now sir," he responded. Rodney was standing rooted to the spot and John threw him a worried look.
"It's no good sir I can't get a lock on it," the technician told him. John glanced at Rodney again, he still had not moved.
"Rodney do you think you could boost the sensors?" he asked him. There was no response from the pale astrophysicist and John tried again, louder this time.
"McKay!" he yelled. Rodney jumped and finally focused on John.
"We need to boost the sensors to see if we can pinpoint the Daedalus; do you think you could do it?" John asked him more gently. Rodney visibly shook himself and headed over to the computer consol.
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The last memory Jennifer had was of a blinding flash, then nothing. As she looked around her now she realised she was still on the Daedalus and the alarms where still going off. Her attention was drawn by a movement to one side and Jennifer looked over to see the CMO of the Daedalus looking as confused as she was. The bombardment seemed to have stopped at least. The other CMO got onto the communication link.
"This is medical to the bridge, is anyone there?" he asked. Jennifer listened in, holding her breath.
"Medical this is Caudwell, what's your status?" he asked.
"We have five patients that can't be moved, and four members of staff, including Doctor Keller from Atlantis," he reported.
"Well hold tight. The attackers have gone but we are dead in the water. It could take some time for repairs. Why didn't you abandon the ship when I gave the order?" Caldwell queried.
"We had patients we couldn't move then there was some kind of flash and we were knocked out. There wasn't time," the CMO told him.
"Well its immaterial now, we will have to wait for help. We sent a distress call to Atlantis and we are broadcasting the distress beacon. I just hope our side finds us first, I don't need a visit from the Wraith just now," he filled them in. The heard him break the connection and Jennifer got to work helping the patients and the nursing staff.
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"There, I've got them!" Rodney exclaimed with a mixture of relief and panic. "They are broadcasting a distress beacon," he informed John.
Colonel John Sheppard looked at the screen where his friend was pointing. They were not that far out but there was no Stargate anywhere near and it would take ages to get there by jumper.
"We need to get out there," John stated. Rodney frowned.
"How?" he asked.
"Time to call in some favours I think," John said mysteriously.
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Jennifer and the other medical staff where working hard, there had been others not able to make the abandon ship order and were hurt. They were steadily making their way towards medical so they had their hands full. The PA system rang out again:
"All crew report," the voice of Colonel Caldwell echoed around the room. Daedalus' CMO looked at Jennifer.
"Do you think you could give him the status report?" he asked her, he had his hands full for the moment with what could turn into an amputation. Jennifer nodded and headed over to the wall communication unit.
"This Doctor Keller, reporting for medical," she responded.
"Go ahead Doctor Keller," Caldwell told her, "What have you got down there?"
"We have nine critical and seventeen injured, including two of the medical staff," she told him.
"Do you need assistance?" he asked her.
"We can cope for now but any help you have got would be welcomed," she told him. Some of the military personnel was medically trained and would be of use but Jennifer did not want the Colonel to pull them away from more important jobs.
"When I know what personnel I have free I will send them down to you," he informed her and broke the link.
It was a long night of trying to keep everyone comfortable and Jennifer was running on empty. The extra staff arrived near what would have been morning if they had not been in space and the Daedalus CMO insisted she take a break. Not wanting to leave the infirmary, she grabbed an empty bed and slept for a while. When she woke a couple of hours later the other CMO took a break and she returned to duty. By this time Jennifer felt she had been trapped like this for a lifetime and all sense of time and space left her. Her life became one long round of sleeping for a couple of hours and working for the rest. Operations were performed, post operative care was given, medicines where prescribed and people where stabilized. All the while the remaining team on the Daedalus were effecting repairs and hoping that no one else would find them until they were operational. Help from Atlantis was unlikely, no other ship was anywhere near and there was no Stargate within reach. They knew they were on their own.
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Colonel John Sheppard wanted Doctor Rodney McKay to remain on Atlantis but was not surprised to find him standing resolutely next to the loading ramp of the Traveler Ship that John had managed to persuade to help them. John sighed and nodded to him. Knowing he was not going to be of much use to them with rescue, he also knew it was pointless trying to leave him behind in his current state. They had heard no more from the Daedalus and John could not decide whether the fact they were still broadcasting the distress signal was good or not.
They boarded the ship and Rodney stood on the bridge watching as Atlantis fell away beneath them and hoping to hell that the next time he saw it, he had Jennifer beside him. It was going to be a long twelve hours until they got to the Daedalus.
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Jennifer heard the battle station alarm go off and looked tiredly around her, not sure she could go through another disaster. Working side by side with the other CMO, whose name she still had not learned, she glanced at him and saw the same resigned expression on his face that she was sure mirrored her own. Somehow they daring rescue and salvation that she felt sure would happen seemed a very long way away now.
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The Traveller ship excited hyperspace to see two ships ahead of them. John took in the situation straight away. There was an unknown ship firing on the Daedalus and it seem unable to fire back. Taking them in steadily with the sub light engines they managed to get a couple of shots off before the other ship turned their attention to them.
"Crap!" John murmured and hit the fire controls for all batteries. They swung around, using evasive manoeuvres and fired back. Their shots were hitting home, but they were taking damage too.
"Who the hell are they?" John asked no one in particular.
"I don't know," Katana replied, "But whoever they are we are getting our ass kicked. We can't take much more of this."
John got on the radio.
"Daedalus, this is Colonel Sheppard aboard the Traveller ship. What's your status?" he radioed out, holding his breath for the reply.
"Colonel Sheppard, good to hear your voice. We will render whatever assistance we can, but we don't have much online yet," Colonel Caldwell filled him in.
"Who the hell are these guys?" John asked.
"We don't know. They showed up, blew us out of the sky and headed off. I have crew on the planet so we need to beam them back on when we can get the beam online. I had to give the order to abandon ship as we were short on life support. It's back online now but it was close for a while," the older man filled John in.
There was a break in communication as the Traveller ship took a hit that rocked the bridge and sent sparks flying from a few key systems.
"At this rate we are going to be the ones who need rescuing. Have we got anything else we can throw at them?" John asked. Katana nodded.
"We don't have many left, but we have a few ascatter bombs we could use, we were saving them for real trouble. They need arming, they are in the rear cargo hold." she told him.
"Well I think that time has come don't you?" John exclaimed, more than a little annoyed she had not suggested it in the first place. Another shot hit home sending more sparks and alarms ringing around the ship, reinforcing John's point.
"GO!" Katana shouted and John headed off at the run to arm the bombs.
The bridge crew of the Daedalus was going crazy trying to fix systems to support the other ship. One of the remaining techs had been hurt and Jennifer was on the bridge sorting out his injuries. Colonel Caldwell looked around in exasperation; he was running out of crew fast. As his eyes came to rest on Jennifer he took a deep breath.
"Doctor Keller I need you to man the weapons console," he told her.
"What? I can't...I've never," Colonel Caldwell cut her off.
"You just have to push the red button when I tell you too. We have help here, it would be good if they don't get blown out of the sky before they can get to us," he told her firmly. Jennifer stood looking at him then at the weapons console on her left. Hesitantly, she took the seat and her hand hovered above the button. The Colonel threw a quick look in her direction.
"Just wait until I tell you," he told her. Jennifer nodded and watched the drama unfolding in front of her. The unknown enemy vessel was throwing all it had at the Traveller ship and she was taking damage now. Jennifer squared her shoulders and waited.
"Sublight engines would be good now," Caldwell radioed to the engine room.
"They are firing up now sir," came the disembodied voice.
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Rodney was standing on the bridge, frustrated at having nothing to do, the thought that Jennifer may be injured or worse on the other ship, made his disposition more agitated than usual. Katana watched as he paced backwards and forwards. Sheppard had filled her in on the situation and although she did not particularly like the arrogant physicist she felt sorry for him.
"Doctor McKay do you think you could check the sensor status for me?" she asked him gently. It was the only unmanned station and she felt it would give him something to do. Rodney looked at her then nodded.
Seated at the consol he fired up the screen and looked at the readings. There were life signs on the Daedalus and the planet but Rodney had no way of knowing if one of them was Jennifer. Growling his frustration he looked at Katana.
"What's taking Sheppard so long with those bombs?" he asked her. Katana was saved from answering as they were hit again and another wave of sparks and systems when offline.
"Colonel Sheppard, if you are going to deploy those bombs, now would be a good time," Katana radioed out.
"Yea, I'm working on it," came the tense voice of Colonel Sheppard.
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As the sub light engines finally came online the Daedalus came to life and swung around to help their would be rescuers. Finally getting into firing range, Colonel Caudwell lined them up behind the enemy ship and gave the order to fire.
Not hesitating, Jennifer hit the button and watched as the shots hit home. As the Colonel took them out and back for another strike, Jennifer watched as a stream of flares issued from the Traveller ship and finally the enemy vessel broke apart. Sitting back in relief Jennifer let out the breath she was unaware she was holding and looked across at the Colonel. Catching her look, he gave her a small smile.
"We are not out of the woods yet, we have no hyper drive and the beam is still out. I don't want to land in this condition so unless the other ship can pick up our crew we are stuck here for a while," he told her. Nodding Jennifer got up from the console and headed back to the infirmary.
The infirmary had calmed down a little when the announcement came that the beaming technology had come back on line and they were beaming help in. Allowing herself a quick fantasy that it might be Rodney she pushed it to one side, it was unlikely they would have bought her husband on a rescue mission. Suddenly there was chaos everywhere as the original crew were beamed back aboard and some from the Traveller ship. As the medical crew found their way to the infirmary the CMO of the Daedalus turned to Jennifer.
"Thank you so much for all your help. I don't think we would have made it though without you. Now go get some rest," he told her gently. Feeling dead on her feet, Jennifer nodded her head and made her way back to her cabin.
Jennifer was dreaming of Rodney, his hands were arousing her in their familiar dance over her body. As she cried out in her dream, she ached for his touch and woke with a start. Breathing fast, Jennifer stood up carefully and went for a glass of water. It was still going to be a few days before she saw him again so she tried to calm her thoughts.
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John Sheppard had insisted that Rodney stay behind until he could find out what was going on with the Daedalus. If something awful had happened to his friend's wife, he wanted to be the one to break the news not some random tech. Almost having to physically restrain him, John promised Rodney he would contact him as soon as there was any news.
As soon as he beamed aboard, Colonel Sheppard turned to Colonel Caldwell.
"Good to see you in one piece Colonel. How's the ship?" he asked.
"Thank you. We have most of the primary systems back up and running. The hyperdrive is shot though, it's going to take a while to get that repaired," The older Colonel filled him in.
"Rodney McKay is on the Traveller ship and maybe able to help if I can give him a status report on his wife!" John told him. The other Colonel grinned at him.
"He must have been going nuts. Jennifer is fine and is asleep now from what I could gather from the latest medical report. Go tell him and maybe we can get out of here before those guys turn up again to get their revenge for us killing their friends," Caldwell smiled.
John got on the radio. "Sheppard to McKay," he called.
There was a moment's hesitation before Rodney replied, experiencing every emotion known to man for a moment he took a deep breath, "McKay," he answered.
"Jennifer is fine; she is here and asleep at the moment. They had heavy casualties and she has been helping out," John quickly filled him in. Rodney's sigh of relief could be heard over the radio link. John continued, "Do you think we could beam you over here to help with the repairs to the hyperdrive?" he asked.
"Just try and stop me," Rodney growled, asleep or not he was not about to miss the chance of seeing his wife alive and well.
Rodney rematerialized on the Daedalus and stood for a moment taking in the devastation around him. It would take weeks to fully repair the ship. John walked over to him and rested a friendly hand on his shoulder for a moment.
"Let Jennifer sleep for a bit and have a look at that hyperdrive will you?" he asked him gently. Rodney stood undecided for a moment then gave John a fierce look.
"No," was all he said and after looking up her cabin number in the passenger manifest he headed off the bridge. John shook his head at his friends departing back, he was not surprised.
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Jennifer was having the same dream again, only this time it was more vivid and she could feel her husband's touch as he pressed his lips to hers. Jennifer's eyes flew wide open as she realised the dream was reality and it was indeed her husband kissing her. Noticing she was awake, he pulled back a little and held her gaze in his.
"You don't know how happy I am to see you," he quietly told her. Jennifer smiled at him and pulled him back into the kiss, urgently deepening it and pulling at his t-shirt. Giving into her insistence for a moment, Rodney reluctantly came to his senses and pulled back.
"I like where this is going but I am needed to fix the hyperdrive and the sooner we get out of here the better I think," he told her gently. Reluctantly, Jennifer let go of him and nodded. Before he could change his mind, Rodney quickly stood up and exited the room.
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The repairs took a while but finally Rodney had them back on line and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the ship entered hyperspace. Rodney and John made their way back to the bridge and gave a quick update to the older Colonel. After they finished Rodney turned to go. John grinned at Caldwell behind his back and spoke to Rodney.
"Where you going Rodney, aren't you going to stick around to see if the hyperdrive repairs hold?" he asked his friends departing back.
Rodney turned and fired him a stare that would have quelled lesser men, "No. I am going to make love to my wife!" he informed them and headed out. The two Colonels exchanged glances then laughed.
"Remind me to tell Jennifer she is a good shot in the morning; somehow I don't think we are going to see either of them for a while!" Colonel Caldwell said, grinning ruefully.
The End.
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A/N: Thank you for reading and any reviews greatly appreciated :)