Previously: see Saving Milky Way.
Saving Pegasus
The Blorg's face split into a hideous grin as it used its mind to watch the Earth vessel disappear through the Stargate. He had seen the 'gate address.
Their plan was about to go into effect. They had taken imprints of the human's minds and could now control them at will while they held a Stargate connection. The more humans under their control, the more their power grew.
The only problem was that the humans had stolen their power source, and the link they had with the other planets was now broken. They would need to use the humans they had imprinted to recover it.
The Blorg grinned evilly. How very little they knew…
V
The jumper leaped through the 'gate and jerked to a stop in the Atlantis 'gate room. Major Lorne, who was left in charge of the base while the main chain of command was gone on the mission, ordered the 'gate shut down and watched the scene unfold.
The jumper door opened to reveal 3 people hovering over an unconscious Colonel Carter. John hung out the back of the jumper and yelled for a medical team and Lorne repeated his orders over the loud speakers.
Dr. Keller looked up from her work as the order came over the intercom. She began shouting out orders to her staff, as a stretcher was pushed from the room by a small med team. She quickly snatched her pack and sprinted after them.
This was the routine she followed after every mission. She would look up in anticipation as an incoming wormhole was broadcast, hoping against hope that she wouldn't have to be called down.
Though she was a doctor, and she had to deal with these things on a regular basis, it didn't make the pressure any easier to deal with. After what happened to Elizabeth, she became exposed to what could happen should she fail. She couldn't ever let that happen again, and today she dreaded that announcement worst of all.
She ran into the 'gate room just as Ronon exited the jumper carrying the unconscious form of her commanding officer. Her heart dropped as she rushed to meet him at the stretcher and examine the injuries.
"What happened?" she asked, discovering an abnormally fast pulse as she put her fingers to Sam's neck.
"I don't know," he said. "She just passed out."
Rodney exited the jumper now and strode over, looking aggravated. "Snake bite," he explained, moving hair away to show Jennifer the two long slits in her neck.
Panicking, Keller wasted no time and began barking out orders again. The team watched in horror as Sam was wheeled away to the infirmary.
V
John was standing on the balcony gazing down on the Stargate in deep thought when an incoming wormhole was announced. Furrowing his eyebrows, he began to make his way to the tech room, when he suddenly felt a spark go off in his brain.
His face faded to a blank and serious expression and he strode into the tech room where he met the rest of his team and Major Lorne.
"Sergeant, report,' he demanded, studying the schematics displayed on the screen.
"That's the planet you just came from…" Lorne said, reading the 'gate address John was looking at. He nodded towards Chuck, saying "shut it down.'
The technician was about to oblige when John said, "belay that order, Sergeant."
Lorne looked at him in surprise. "Sir!" he said, becoming concerned of what would happen if they didn't shut the 'gate down soon.
"You heard me, Major," John said calmly. Ronon and Teyla smirked from where they stood observing the scene. "Lower the shield."
Chuck paused, unsure of what to do. He looked up at Lorne for a second opinion, but he looked just as confused.
"Sir, I think maybe we should get you to the infirmary…" he suggested.
John smirked. "That won't be necessary, Major," he said, and before Lorne could react, his hand was on his forehead. Chuck panicked as he saw a blank look come over the officer, and he spun around to see that the rest of Sheppard's team were doing the same thing to the other technicians in the room.
As he turned back, McKay's hand met his forehead and he felt a strange burning sensation. His eyes glossed over and he lost all expression in his face.
He turned back to the screen and touched the hand scanner. "Lowering the shield…" he said as the shield lowered, and John grinned.
From where she was standing frozen just around the corner, Vala gasped. She' d just been making final repairs to her ship and was on her way to see what the incoming wormhole was all about when she had seen the scene unfold.
Sheppard gave some orders to a group of marines and they stalked off. Vala turned and ran without looking back.
She saw people being brainwashed as she passed corridors, but was running so fast that their slow-working minds missed her.
She darted straight into the infirmary and sealed the door shut. Sam looked up at her in confusion from where she sat on her bed.
She had been examined, and thus far, there was not much they could determine. The snake that bit her was, according to Rodney, poisonous, and Keller's tests did trace a poison spreading slowly throughout her body. But without any knowledge of the animal that bit her or the poison it secreted, they couldn't do a whole lot for her. Keller had yet to determine what effects the poison might have, and was keeping her in the infirmary until she had a better idea. Sam had regained consciousness some time ago, and seemed to be ok aside from the darkening scar on her neck that was beginning to branch out into thin black lines that were spreading to her face.
"Vala?" she asked in concern. Vala rushed to her bedside, trying to catch her breath.
"The aliens…" she mumbled in between breaths.
Sam raised an eyebrow.
"…the aliens… gated in… Sheppard… brainwashed…" she explained, waving her arms wildly in the direction of the door and illustrating her explanation with hand gestures.
Sam's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh my god…" she exclaimed. "Is everybody affected?"
"Not yet…" she huffed. "But they're going around right now scrambling people's brains. I think we're still immune…"
Sam thought for a moment. "Then maybe we can still use that…"
She was out of bed before Vala could protest and walking over to the medicine cabinet where she prepared a syringe.
"What are you doing?" Vala asked, following her.
"Give me you're arm," Sam commanded, holding out her hand and holding the syringe in the other. Vala snatched her arm out of reach, eyeing the needle.
"What?" she asked, as though Sam had lost her mind.
"I need to take a blood sample," she explained.
"Why can't we use your blood?"
Sam narrowed her eyes. "Because my blood has an unknown, quite possible deadly poison flowing through it," she reminded.
Vala winced. That was the topic she'd been trying to avoid. "Right…" she said, and cautiously offered her arm.
Sam took it without haste and injected the long needle into it, making Vala bite her tongue and look away.
She extracted it, satisfied, and strode over to another section of the infirmary with a lot of very complicated looking equipment. Vala watched as she processed the blood and stored it in a new syringe.
Just as she finished, they heard footsteps and stepped around the corner just in time to see Dr. Keller walk by, look at Sam's empty bed in confusion, and then continue walking towards the door.
Vala hurried after her as she opened the doors. They were open just long enough for the young woman to see an officer down the hall with his hand on another officer's forehead, before Vala clasped her hand over her mouth and pulled her back into the room, jamming the doors shut before they were seen.
"Don't… scream…" Vala said calmly into the doctor's ear, for she had been screeching through sealed lips when Vala grabbed her.
The doctor, recognizing the alien woman's voice, nodded and she was released gently. She spun out of her grasp and backed a safe distance away. Vala raised her hands to show she was unarmed.
"It's ok," Sam assured, making Jennifer turn again. "It's just us."
"Colonel…" she began, looking back and forth between the two women that had her surrounded. "…what's going on?"
Sam and Vala exchanged looks, before Sam casually approached the woman and seized her arm, holding up her syringe in preparation. Jennifer panicked slightly, trying to pull away, but didn't react as strongly as she did when Vala had attacked her.
"W-what are you doing?" she asked nervously as Vala stepped up behind her.
"Sorry about this, Doctor," Sam apologized, positioning the needle above her skin. "But it's for your own good."
Jennifer jerked her arm as the needle was injected into it. Sam extracted it calmly and released her arm. She immediately pulled it away and looked back and forth between the hole in her arm and the woman with the needle, her eyes wide with shock.
"What was that!?!" she demanded, beginning to fear her commanding officer was not in her right mind.
"I'll explain everything later. But first, I need your help."
"With what?"
"Where'd you just come from?"
"The other side of the infirmary," she explained, still lost as to what they were getting at. "I was treating a patient for a minor headache when I came over to check on you…" she explained.
"How many people are in there?"
"I don't know… 10 or 12 maybe…" she said, but Sam was already making her way towards the door that sectioned off the two halves of the infirmary.
She peeked her head in and saw that half the people indicated were already robotic looking and busy brainwashing the rest. She quickly sealed the door, and Jennifer approached her.
"What did you inject me with…? What the hell is going on?" she asked in exasperation.
"The city has been compromised," Sam explained, turning back to the young doctor. "We'll have to barricade ourselves in here until we can come up with a plan."
Jennifer looked over at Vala in shocked disbelief, but the alien woman only nodded in confirmation, so she let Sam continue.
"As far as I know, we're the only ones in the city who haven't been affected by the brainwashing. Or at least… we will be once they get through everybody else," she said grimly. "Vala and I are naturally immune because of the Naquadah in our blood. That's what we injected you with."
"So you see, we actually did you a favor," Vala interjected.
Jennifer frowned, trying to comprehend all the information. She couldn't come flat out and say she thought they were insane. Besides, she'd heard stranger things already in her short time here. But then again, how was she to know that it wasn't Sam and Vala who were the brainwashed aliens, and perhaps she had just been brainwashed too… Her head swam with possibilities, and she was still too inexperienced to know which was most plausible.
"Ok…" she said nervously, feeling she should reward them with some kind of response for their efforts. "So, let me get this straight," she thought aloud, glancing back and forth between the two women with a nervous laugh, still hoping someone would burst out laughing and tell her it was all a joke. "It's the three of us… versus the entire city…"
Sam bit her lip and exchanged a look with her partner. "Pretty much…" she admitted, shrugging in apology.
"Oh…" Jennifer gulped, staring absently at the floor. "So what are we going to do?"
"First of all," Sam said, crossing her arms over her chest. "We'll need to find a more secure location. They'll be after us soon."
"Right!" Vala said, whipping out her zat enthusiastically. Jennifer frowned.
"You don't happen to have any extra of those?" Sam asked, walking over to the counter and beginning to stuff a pack with all the materials available to them in the sectioned off part of the infirmary.
"First rule of gun handling," Vala began, twisting her belt around so she could have access to the contents in the back. She withdrew two more zats with a proud flourish. "…Always carry extras!"
Sam frowned, taking one of the offered weapons. She couldn't recall that rule being anywhere in the gun handling manual, but decided it wasn't worth quarrelling over. Instead, she laid the weapon down, having no belt in which to store it, and returned to her packing.
Meanwhile, Vala was offering the other zat to Keller, who accepted it nervously.
"You know how to fire one of those things?" Sam questioned, glancing over her shoulder at the uneasy looking doctor.
Jennifer looked up in surprise as she processed the question. "Oh, umm… sure…" she answered, waving the weapon in a confident gesture.
Sam grinned, amused, and zipped up the pack. She began to sling it over her back but Keller quickly stopped her, grabbing for the straps. "Please, let me get that…" she offered as Sam gave her a confused look. Jennifer slung it over her shoulders and gave an embarrassed smile. "This I think I can handle," she explained, shrugging her shoulders indifferently.
Sam smiled, but it quickly faded as something occurred to her and she looked down at the white infirmary slacks she was wearing, patting her unarmed chest as if expecting to find something.
"Jennifer," she said, her tone serious. "Where's my uniform?"
Vala sighed in frustration. "Sam, I know infirmary clothes aren't the most stylish of outfits but…"
"The power source," Sam said, cutting her off. "It's in my front pocket!"
Jenn's face quickly lit up in understanding and she rushed over to a closet and quickly located Sam's BDU's. Sam took them and began a panicked search. Within a short amount of time, she had withdrawn the clear disk and sighed in relief. Vala and Keller only had moments to look at it before she stuffed it safely back into her vest pocket, which she also removed from the assortment of clothing and slipped on over her white shirt. It looked rather ridiculous, but was effective.
She turned back as Vala walked over to wait by the door. She hurried over, Keller in toe, and took her position on the other side with her zat raised. She nodded and Vala opened the door.
Jennifer had screwed her eyes shut and held her breath, expecting a fire fight, but instead she blinked to find Sam and Vala already out in the hallway beckoning for her to follow. As they had hoped, the corridor was empty for everyone was being herded into other sections of the city to be brainwashed. She scurried out after them, and then ducked back into the room shouting a warning when she saw two armed marines marching towards them.
Sam and Vala spun around and fired their zats at them, knocking them out. They rushed over, each lifting one of the unconscious men from under the arms, and dragged them to the nearest door which turned out to be a transporter. They crammed the two inside as quickly and silently as possible and began jogging down the corridor in the same manner.
Jennifer followed, cursing each time she stomped too hard and the footstep echoed loudly in the quiet halls. The other two women said nothing, simply kept their fast pace.
By ducking behind walls and occasionally zatting and hiding oncoming marines, they were able to avoid any huge confrontations. Jennifer noticed how heavy Sam's breathing was, and how each time they stopped she would lean heavily against the wall. She stared at her in concern but could not meet her gaze for she kept her eyes shut while she rested.
They transported down to the lowest sections of the city, (part of which had yet to be explored even) and herded Jennifer into a small laboratory.
Inside, all the equipment was still covered by large sheets and the lights stayed off even as they stepped inside. The trio sighed in relief as Vala sealed the door shut behind them.
Sam rested her back against the wall and wiped a hand over her face in a mixture of frustration and exhaustion. The young doctor did not miss this gesture, and looked over at her with concern.
"Colonel… you ok?" she asked nervously, her breath still coming in heavy pants from their long jog.
"Yeah," Sam was quick to respond. She rested her eyes as she waited for the nausea to pass, leaning heavily against the wall and beginning to slide down it. "Just a headache…" she slurred before passing out and sliding to the floor.
"Colonel!" Jennifer shouted, rushing to assist.
Vala was already by her side and patting her cheek in encouragement to get up. Jennifer shoved her out of the way as politely as possible so she could look at her patient.
She put her fingers to her neck right above the ugly scar and checked her pulse, then laid a hand over her forehead. She sighed heavily and closed her eyes.
"She's getting worse…" she told Vala.
"Define worse…"
Jennifer paused and looked down at the unconscious form before her. "She's come down with a fever… which means the infection is getting worse. I'm giving her antibiotics but that's about as much as I can do."
Vala looked down at her friend worriedly, then back up at Keller. "So what are you saying? She's going to die?" she demanded. She had not thought the bite to be so serious, and now as it dawned on her, she was in total fright.
A saddened look came over Jennifer's face and she opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out. She had considered the possibility already but was not ready to give a definite answer. Now she didn't know. She knew of different treatments they could try, but none that would save her life, and especially none that could be performed without her medical staff in a tiny laboratory in the bottom of the city. Not even Vala's healing device had proved effective. Jenn had little experience with snake bites, but from what she did know, it was that they would need to concoct an antivenin if Sam was to have any chance.
She looked at the floor, and when she met Vala's eyes again they were watery with tears. "…If I can't find a cure soon…" she choked out.
Vala met her eyes with an intense gaze as a tear rolled down her cheek. "And will you be able to?"
Jennifer made a weak attempt at holding back tears but they escaped anyways, and she averted her eyes. "The only plausible cure would be an antivenin," she explained. "And in order to make that I'd need a sample of the original venom."
Vala looked up in disbelief and studied the woman's face. "You have to be joking…" she said, her sarcastic laugh distorted by sobs.
"I wish I was…" Jennifer said, shaking her head.
Vala gazed down at her friend's pale face and went into a state of deep thought for several moments.
"I'll go," she finally said, making Jennifer look up in surprise.
"You'll go where?"
Vala had already stood up and was sorting through the bag they had brought.
"Wait…" Jennifer hurried over to her, wondering what she was doing. "Vala, what are you doing?"
"I'm going back to that planet," she explained, not taking her eyes off her task. "I'm going to collect the venom."
"Are you serious!?!" Jennifer demanded, though the woman didn't seem to be joking. "You'll get yourself killed! I mean, you won't even make it off this planet, what with those… psychos running around," she said, for lack of a better word.
"Do I have a choice?" Vala asked, turning to face her. "You said it yourself. Without that anti-whatever Sam is going to die!"
Keller huffed in defeat as she met Vala's gaze and realized she would not be talked out of this. She nodded sharply, and Vala did so in turn.
"Now," she began, turning away momentarily to zip up the pack again, having pocketed a few grenades and some power bars. She sniffed, pulling herself together before continuing. "I'll need you to show me how to collect the antivenin before I go."
Jennifer sighed and selected some different supplies from the pack to show Vala how to use them. She had brought these medical supplies out of calculation that she may have to use them. Vala nodded and stuffed the assortment of objects into her front pocket in a rather disorderly fashion.
Jennifer followed her to the door to wish her luck.
"Stay with Sam," Vala instructed, nodding her head towards the occupied bed. She opened her mouth to say more, but decided there wasn't much more advice she could offer that would be of any use to the young woman. She was a doctor, and she knew what she was doing. She would keep Sam alive.
Vala smiled weakly once more and nodded a farewell.
"Good luck," Keller said as Vala slipped through the doorway into the vacant corridor and slunk off towards the armory.
V
"Status report," a hypnotized John Sheppard demanded as he strode into the control room. The technician stopped what he was doing and went to stand behind his commander, who was now standing by the railing and staring down at the open 'gate where a few airmen patrolled like mindless soldiers.
"The city has fallen under our control. Only a few humans are left to be dealt with, and they are being taken care of as we speak."
John grinned wickedly. "Good. Now, find me Colonel Carter."