Title: Illuminant Noctem
Author: stella_pegasi
Rating: K +
Genres: Action, Angst
Word Count: 2,686
Spoilers: None
Warnings: None
Characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan
Disclaimer: I do not own them; I would have treated them better.
Summary: An unexpected event strands the team very far from home.
Author's Notes: Written for LiveJournal community sga_saturday's Week 11 Prompt: limn. The title for this story is Latin for illuminate the night. I chose the archaic definition for limn: inlūmināre to embellish, literally, light up; (gen. luminis) "radiant energy"; see illuminate for the title. I included the conventional meaning, To draw or paint, especially in outline, in the story as well.
Illuminant Noctem
By stella_pegasi
"Colonel?"
John Sheppard woke with a flinch, groggy from sleep and the diminishing oxygen, "Huh…."
Teyla spoke softly, "You asked me to wake you when the next checkpoint came up. We are almost there."
"Okay," he glanced over at Rodney McKay, slumped over asleep in the copilot's seat. Sheppard gently shook the scientist awake, "Rodney, time to check the heading." He shook him again, "Come on, Rodney."
McKay slowly roused, staring blankly at Sheppard, "Oh…uh…time to check the heading, right; thirsty."
Sheppard passed a canteen over, "Just a sip; we're almost out."
Wearied, McKay took a small drink of water and handed the canteen back to Sheppard. He pointed to the viewport, and Sheppard bought up the HUD. As if in slow motion, McKay punched the keyboard of his pad for a few moments before he spoke.
"I…I think…no…we're on course. According to the star fields, we should be heading for Atlantis."
One corner of Sheppard's mouth turned up slightly, "Good job, Rodney."
In the dim light of the cockpit, Rodney gave Sheppard a wan smile, "It might not be good enough."
"It's the best we could do; now go back to sleep, we'll be home soon."
Rodney slumped back down in his seat and Sheppard swiveled his seat around to look at Teyla, who was sitting behind him. "Teyla, take a pill, and go to sleep, I'll keep watch. If Rodney's right, we should be home in four hours."
"John, do we have enough oxygen?"
"It'll have to be."
Teyla squeezed Sheppard's shoulder, then joined Ronon in the back of the jumper. The big Satedan slept, stretched out one of the benches. He had taken a sedative to slow down his breathing. They were doing everything they could to make it home. Teyla swallowed an Ambien they had found in the med kit, and after a few minutes, she was asleep.
Sheppard gazed out the viewport; faint glimmering stars floated past the jumper window; in the distance, there was an indistinct rosy glow of a nebula. Somewhere in the darkened void was Atlantis. His thoughts drifted to how they had gotten into this situation.
Lieutenant Wong's team had surveyed PX8-587 as a possible beta site, but Wong had some concerns about the environment. There were signs of recent meteorite bombardment, and the lieutenant's team had observed meteors streaking across the sky during their stay. McKay's curiosity kicked into gear, and convinced SGA-1 to investigate.
Sheppard thought the one decision that he made, that they use a jumper on the mission, may have saved their lives; may being the operative word. He had been concerned about them gating onto the planet without some measure of protection. With jumper access at the planet's gate, he thought it was prudent to take precautions.
As the jumper broke through the event horizon, meteors of all sizes, some nearly as large as the jumper, were streaking across the sky. Fireballs were striking the ground, and huge fires raged in the timberland near the gate. Even with his lighting-fast reflexes, Sheppard couldn't get the shields raised before a large chunk of rock hit the starboard engine nacelle. The impact sent the jumper into a flat spin. As he fought to regain control of the jumper, a yell from Rodney alerted him to a larger problem.
"Sheppard; watch out, huge fireball, coming right at us," Rodney shrieked.
Keeping the fireball in his peripheral vision, he fought to gain altitude while sharply banking the jumper to port. Another large meteor struck the roof, and even with the shield engaged, sent the jumper rocking. Wrestling with the controls, he had managed to pull the jumper into a climb and avoid the large fireball. He swung the jumper around, yelling at Rodney to dial the gate.
When McKay didn't respond, he again ordered, "McKay, I said dial the gate."
McKay didn't answer; he was staring out the jumper viewport. Sheppard felt the blood drain from his face when he realized what had happened. The large fireball had impacted the stargate; the ground where the gate had stood was now a huge crater.
"Crap, we've gotta get out of here, " Sheppard muttered as he activated the HUD. The sky was littered with meteors, rushing to join the meteorites on the ground. The jumper was sluggish, but Sheppard managed to serpentine his way through the falling debris, heading away from the largest concentration of meteors. Within a few minutes, he had reached the fringes of the atmosphere, putting some distance between the jumper and the large swath of rocks falling toward the planet.
Ronon's deep voice resonated through the now quiet jumper, "What was that?"
Rodney answered, his tone reflecting desperation, "That was our only way home being destroyed by a rock."
Sheppard stared out the viewport, "Damn big rock."
"What are we going to do, colonel? Teyla sounded calm, but as he turned to answer, her expression revealed her fear.
"We are going to figure out a way home." He swung his chair to look at McKay, "Rodney, how long will it take to get to Atlantis from here?"
"Seriously, you are seriously asking me that! It could take years; what the hell are you thinking?"
"McKay, did you pay attention to where this planet's located? It's only a short distance from where we found the Lagrange Point satellite, maybe another fifteen-sixteen hours. We can get back to Atlantis, but we need to plot a course."
"Then plot one, flyboy."
Sheppard frowned, "I would, Rodney, but I've lost navigation. The starboard engine pod took a hit and the nav system is located in that pod."
"How the hell are we going to get back without navigation?"
Sheppard's hand flew up and he pointed out the viewport, exasperated, "Just…just get me a heading; I can fly her manually."
Sheppard moved the jumper into a higher stationary orbit around the planet and as Rodney worked on the way back to Atlantis, the others watched as wave after wave of meteors struck the planet.
"What has happened here?" Teyla asked.
McKay mumbled as he worked furiously on his pad, "According to the database, there were two moons here; I think they must have collided. When Wong was here, the debris had just started to fall through the atmosphere. In the ensuing forty-eight hours, more meteors started arriving. Now, be quiet and let me work."
Sheppard checked out the jumper's systems, and wasn't happy with what he had found. "Ah, crap; shields are down sixty percent, and we only have one engine…life support is operating at less than seventy percent. Whatever happens, it's going to take longer to get back than if we were at full capacity."
They were quiet while McKay worked; Sheppard resisted tapping the console for fear of distracting the scientist. Finally, McKay looked up, "Okay, best I can figure we're about sixty-seven hours from Atlantis, and with reduced power, we need to add about another fifteen to twenty hours to that. Roughly, eighty-two hours travel-time minimum before we can reach Atlantis, if we're lucky."
"Okay so, it's going to take three and a half days; what's the heading?"
"Sheppard, don't you think we'd be better off waiting here? The Daedalus will come back for us or Atlantis will send jumpers."
"No, the Daedalus is only three or four days from Earth by now, ETA for them to arrive would be just under three weeks if they turned around now and booked it. We don't have that kind of time; I have no idea how long life support is going to work. No, we need to head to Atlantis. Now, which way do I go?"
Rodney gave him the headings and Sheppard broke orbit. A quick rundown of supplies by Teyla and Ronon revealed they had enough water and food for a bit over two days, so they were going to have to ration. Yet, Sheppard remained positive that they would make it.
As he sat in the dark, trying to breathe as shallowly as he could, he thought about how wrong he might have been.
The first twenty-four hours had been relatively easy. It wasn't until day two that their situation turned bleaker. They had been taking turns monitoring the HUD to make certain they remained on course, and it was when McKay was on watch and the other three trying to sleep, that the first problem happened. A loud crack startled them all as blue sparks flew from the control panel.
McKay rushed to the panel. The first words he uttered were, "Oh, no; I don't believe this."
Sheppard was on his feet, "What…what happened?"
"We've lost some of the forward thrust of the engine; it's gonna slow us down."
"Can you fix it?"
"Oh, yeah, Sheppard, I have tons of jumper parts on me. Hell, no, I can't fix it; these crystals are fried, no way I can repair them."
"So, what are we looking at time wise?"
"I don't…let me see," Rodney ran some calculations, "probably added another twelve to fifteen hours on the trip."
Sheppard rifled his hand through his hair, "Okay; we just ration more and we'll be there when we get there. At least, we're broadcasting a distress beacon, so if Atlantis is searching for us; if they are anywhere near us, they'll find us. Let's hope this is the last problem we have to deal with; we have enough troubles."
As Sheppard reflected on their journey, he thought how wrong he was again; that had not been the last of their problems. Another electrical short took out long-range sensors and long-range communication, then only twenty hours before they expected to be in Atlantis life-support failed.
McKay worked feverishly to repair life support, but was only able to bring it back online at about thirty percent of operating power. He glumly turned to his teammates. "I can't guarantee it's going to hold, and I don't know if the system can regenerate enough oxygen for us to reach Atlantis."
Sheppard was chewing on his lip, thinking, when Ronon quietly spoke, "Hey, I…I can…"
"No, don't even say it; no one's going to ride on top of the jumper. We just have to figure out how to conserve oxygen."
Teyla asked, "Colonel; we will not consume as much oxygen when we are sleeping, will we?"
"No, but we can't just fall asleep at will; I mean, enough to make a difference."
A thoughtful look passed over Teyla's face, and she stepped into back of the jumper coming back with the first-aid kit. Opening it, she pulled out several packets of Ambien, "John, I found these when we were inventorying supplies. I believe that these are left over from the mission to that planet with the binary suns."
"The one where it's only dark for a couple of hours?"
"Yes, several of the scientists took these pills with them to help them sleep; they were having a very difficult time because of the constant daylight. Could this help us?"
Sheppard hesitated, "I don't like having you guys take pills, but if it buys us some time, we can use it."
"Then it is settled; Ronon and I will take these, so we are not consuming so much oxygen. You and Dr. McKay need to stay alert."
The hours slipped by, Rodney dozing next to him, Ronon and Teyla asleep on the benches in the rear. Teyla woke once and before she took another Ambien, she let him sleep for a while, with instructions to wake him at the next course checkpoint Rodney had designated. Once the checkpoint was confirmed, he fell asleep occasionally, waking with a start, ever mindful of their trajectory. They couldn't afford to miss New Lantia; they wouldn't get another chance.
Sheppard watched the time slip away, ninety-two minutes. He peered into the darkness, certain he could see an object getting larger; however, he was so exhausted, he wasn't certain if his mind was playing tricks on him. Eighty-seven minutes, then eighty-two, he tried to remain alert, but he couldn't. As he slipped into sleep, the number seventy-nine flashed before him.
A grating tone woke him up, Rodney stirring as well. He struggled to alertness, realizing his breathing was a bit more labored. He was rubbing his eyes when Rodney's shrill cry startled him.
"Sheppard, look, New Lantia"
He snapped his head up to see a planet looming in front of them. As he grappled with the controls to begin to slow the jumper down, and bring her into an orbit where he could initiate the correct re-entry angle. The grating tone was still tormenting him, and he realized it was the life-support alarm; their oxygen was nearly depleted. Throughout the last four hours, the life-support system had been losing power. They only had a few minutes of oxygen left, and many more minutes than that before he could bring the jumper into the planet's atmosphere.
As he pulled up the HUD to plot re-entry, he asked Rodney, "Check the shields, what do we have?"
"Not much, about twenty percent, the power drain is getting worse."
"Can you boost it?"
"I can try." As he slipped through the bulkhead to the control panel, he stopped, "Do you think Atlantis will spot us and send help?"
Sheppard pursed his lips, "We're too small, and too far out yet and on the backside of the planet, maybe by the time we get to the atmosphere, but…"
Rodney finished his thought, "Then it might be too late."
The grating tone erupted again, this time making a more staccato beeping; loss of oxygen was imminent. "Rodney, breathe shallowly and don't talk if you don't have to." Sheppard took the grunt from Rodney as acknowledgement.
He knew that the oxygen was becoming scarce; his head was beginning to pound. He was nauseous, and he was becoming giddy, all signs of oxygen starvation. He forced himself to concentrate; he only needed a few more minutes to get them into the atmosphere, where he could open the vents and pull in fresh air.
McKay returned to the copilot's seat, flopping down as exhaustion overcame him. "I can't get anything else out of the shields."
"It's okay, Rodney; we'll make it."
Sheppard wondered how empty his words sounded to his friend, who was now breathing erratically. He had to get them to fresh air. He broke the orbit he had established while he worked out reentry and began his descent. Now it was up to the shields to protect them.
The heat was beginning to build; first, a soft orange glow, then a brilliant red-orange glow flooded the cockpit. The cabin temperature began rising rapidly, the heat only making it more difficult to breathe. Rodney was gasping for air, and his own lungs were bursting by the time he broke through the upper atmosphere. Diving toward the surface of the planet, Sheppard's left hand slammed the manual switch for the air intake vents. He and McKay began sucking in the cool, fresh air as quickly as they could.
"Slow down, Rodney; you'll hyperventilate. Can you check on Ronon and Teyla?" Sheppard's chest was heaving as he willed himself to calm down.
Rodney returned, speaking breathlessly, "They're fine…both asleep but breathing.'
They were approaching the twilight band circling New Atlantia, "Atlantis isn't too far, Rodney. We made it; you did good, buddy." McKay just sank back in his seat without replying.
About ten minutes later, darkness had fallen around them. A few minutes passed before Sheppard exclaimed, "Rodney, look…there's Atlantis." Sheppard immediately contacted the tower by the short-range com band.
Rodney listened as the excited and relieved voices from Atlantis flooded their COMs. However, only one thing captured Rodney's attention, Atlantis.
She sat before them, radiant light outlining her distinctive structures, making her appear to have been limned on the surface of the ocean. The planet's twin moons cast a soft, ethereal glow on the surface of the ocean, waves gently lapping at her hull. As Sheppard began to gain altitude to enter the jumper bay at the top of the tower, Rodney whispered, "Illuminant noctem, Atlantis."
The end…
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