Soldiers by Necessity

By Leesa Perrie

Set Season Three – sometime after 'McKay and Mrs Miller' – beware spoilers

Chapter One – Lost

The Wraith stood in front of them, smiling, if that could be called smiling.

"Oh crap," Beckett said, fumbling for his 9 mil.

Rodney had already brought his gun up to bear on the creature facing them. It moved closer, and he fired. Each bullet hitting the Wraith in the chest. Dead centre. Carson was surprised. He had rarely seen Rodney firing, and the last two times Rodney had panicked. One time he had winged the Colonel…okay, the Colonel had been taken over by another consciousness at the time…but it was still Sheppard. The other time he'd been spooked by a rat. This, however, this was steady, accurate and deadly.

"Carson, some help," McKay's voice brought him back to the present, realising that McKay was reloading, and the Wraith had started moving in closer again. Damn, what did it take to kill one of these things? He aimed his gun, and started firing. Not dead centre, but the Wraith was so close now, even he couldn't fail to hit it.

And then Rodney's gun joined his. And the Wraith fell. And didn't get up.

"We need to get out of here," McKay said, panic flaring in his eyes, and voice rising an octave or two with fear.

"Aye."

They turned and headed away from the fallen Wraith, running through the caves, hoping the tunnel they were following would lead outside. He was aware of McKay on the radio, calling to Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon, telling them of their run in with the Wraith.

The cave system was used by the locals of this world to hide when a culling occurred, but this time it hadn't helped them. When Sheppard's team had arrived here to renegotiate a long-standing trade agreement, they had found the two villages deserted. Teyla had sensed no Wraith, and Sheppard had asked for a team to join them to look for survivors. And for a doctor, meaning him. He really needed to stop going off world, except that he was unwilling to let any of his staff go in his place.

So, they had looked for survivors. And the search had led to the cave system. A rock fall had separated Rodney and himself from the others, and only Carson's quick reflexes had pushed Rodney out of danger. As if things weren't bad enough, Teyla had started to sense Wraith in the area, and the life signs detector was buried under a pile of rocks, so they had no way of checking for them. Sheppard had told them to keep an eye out for trouble, whilst the team tried to find another way to get to them. Rodney and he had followed the tunnel they were in, hoping to find an exit. Instead they had found a Wraith.

"Light," Rodney hissed, somewhat out of breath.

"What?"

"There's a light ahead. Maybe an exit."

"Good," he, too, was panting from running.

They continued to run towards the light, but as they got closer Rodney suddenly stopped, and Carson ran into his back, nearly toppling the astrophysicist to the ground.

"What the… Rodney…" Carson started.

Then Rodney was holding his gun up, aiming at something Carson wasn't able to see. Only whatever it was, was upon them. Carson only had a moment to realise it was another Wraith, as it grabbed Rodney and threw him violently into a wall. And then it pushed him down, grabbing the gun from his hands before he had time to aim it, throwing it into the same wall as Rodney.

"No," he whispered, fear paralysing him as the Wraith held up its hand, ready to push down onto his chest and start feeding from him.

There was a shot, and then another, and the Wraith pulled away, turning to face McKay, who kept shooting. Carson realised that Rodney had both of their guns, and when one was empty, he brought the other one up and continued shooting. The Wraith fell, dying, dead. Carson pulled himself up, and headed towards McKay. As he got closer, he could see he was in pain, and cradling his left arm against his chest.

"Rodney." He sat next to his friend.

"Ow…" Rodney's eyes were closed against the pain, "this is…so unfair."

"Oh crap." Carson said, reaching for Rodney's arm, "let me see it."

"Think… it's broken," McKay hissed.

"Let me check it out."

"No, guns. Reload the guns first." Rodney grimaced, "and contact Sheppard."

Okay, that made sense he guessed. He quickly grabbed both guns and reloaded them, grateful that they had had more than one spare clip each. He then radioed Sheppard to update him on their situation, even though there was little the Colonel could do right now, except keep looking for them.

He then grabbed some supplies out of his med kit and gently took Rodney's arm, checking the radial pulse, which fortunately was still strong. Rodney tried not to cry out, instead finding release in low level cursing, some of which he was amused to hear sounded suspiciously like Czech. He gave Rodney something to take the edge off the pain and then splinted the arm, strapping it securely to Rodney's chest. There was little else he could do until they got back to Atlantis.

"Okay, I've done," he said, "are you injured anywhere else?"

"Just bruises…" Rodney said through gritted teeth. "Got to get out of here."

"Aye, let me help you up."

Rodney wasn't too steady on his feet at first, but regained his balance after a few moments.

"Give me one of the guns. I can still shoot with my good hand."

"You sure? I've seen your shooting."

"Been practising."

"You have?" he asked, handing him a gun.

"Never know when you're going to be down to one hand, even been practising shooting with my left." Rodney smiled grimly, and headed towards the light. Carson followed closely, keeping an eye out for more Wraith.

The cave opened onto a plateau, so fortunately there was no need to climb down anything, and about thirty metres from the cave exit was the start of the forest that covered most of this area. Not that he knew which way led to the stargate, having had no way of keeping track of their direction due to the twists and turns of the cave system they had just exited. He decided to ask Rodney, just in case he'd had more luck.

"Rodney, any idea which way to the gate?"

"You're kidding, right?" Rodney responded, "those tunnels twisted about so much, we could be anywhere."

"Aye, that was what I was thinking myself," he sighed, before contacting Sheppard again, letting him know they had found an exit, and asking for advice, which basically amounted to find a defensible position and staying put until the team were able to find them. The Colonel didn't want them to get lost in the forest, and as he and the others were working their way around the mountains, they should come across the two of them eventually.

Rodney looked less than pleased at this, but with no way of knowing which direction the stargate lay, there wasn't really a lot of choice in the matter. Getting lost in the forest would be a bad idea.

They were looking for a defensible position, both keenly aware that they didn't have much ammunition left, maybe enough to take out one more Wraith, two if they were lucky. Though, if they were lucky, no more Wraith would find them.

It became a moot point though, when a dart came screaming over the mountain, scooping them up before they had a chance to hide.

Rodney came round, to find himself lying on a floor. Studying his surroundings told him two things; one, he was in a Wraith cell, and two, Carson was lying nearby and starting to regain consciousness.

Oh, this was bad. Very bad. Still, a cell was better than one of the cocoons. At least there was a chance of escaping from a cell, whereas not from a cocoon. Not unless you happened to be Ronon and carried several hundred knives on you. Well, okay, maybe not hundreds, but…

Okay, that wasn't helping any. He struggled into a sitting position, hampered by his left arm. So, stuck in a cell on a Wraith ship, most likely a hive ship. Could be worse, well, not by much, but it could be worse. Could also be an awful lot better.

If he could get out of the cell, he could cause damage to the ship's systems. He'd learned a lot from the hive ship they had captured, even in the short while they had had it for. And maybe, if they were extremely lucky, they could grab a dart and he could, possibly, work out how to fly it, maybe. Okay, that was a lot of maybes, but it was possible. Maybe. After all, he was a genius.

"Rodney…" Carson struggled into a sitting position, "you alright?"

"Alright? Oh, I'm just fine! Broken arm, pain. Sitting in a Wraith cell, waiting to be fed on, but, you know, other than that…did I mention the pain?"

"Rodney!" Carson interrupted him, and then added, "sorry, stupid question."

"You think?" he closed his eyes briefly, reining in his terror, "sorry, not having a good day."

"Aye, neither am I," Beckett agreed.

There was the sound of footsteps approaching.

"Oh crap." Rodney looked round wildly, "that's not good. Damn it, I was hoping there might be time to figure out a way out of the cell before they came…"

The person standing outside of their cell, flanked by two drones, was not who they were expecting to see.

"Oh crap," Carson breathed, "Michael."

"Dr Beckett, Dr McKay, so nice to see you again," Michael said, though the tone was more menacing than polite.

"Um, and so not nice to see you again," Rodney said, "thought you were dead. Pity you're not."

"Ah, the bombardment on the camp was very effective, only myself and three others survived it. The hive picked us up after the destruction of your hive ship. I didn't believe you had died with it. I was right."

"Is this just some sort of unhappy coincidence, or some part of a plan?" McKay asked, "because I don't think even our luck could be this bad. What do you want?"

"It was not coincidence. I was able to gain the location of some of the worlds you regularly trade with from Dr Beckett last time we met. I merely waited for one of those worlds to be culled. I knew that you would search for survivors, and that there was a good chance the doctor here would be one of those searching. It was an added bonus that we were able to take you as well, Dr McKay. Though anyone would probably have done."

Michael opened the cell, entering it with the drones, who grabbed McKay, pulling him to his feet, and then pinning him against the wall. He cried out when they jostled his arm, just managing to choke off a scream.

"Leave him alone," Carson said, standing. Michael approached him, and it took all of Beckett's will power not to cower back from him.

"As to what I want, Doctor; the retro-virus. You are going to show me how to produce it, and," he paused, moving closer to Carson, "you are going to work on perfecting it, so that the change is permanent."

"No bloody way."

Michael turned away and approached Rodney. The drones held him against the wall, keeping his arms to one side.

"Then you will get to watch Dr McKay die. Slowly and painfully."

Without warning, Michael pushed his hand onto Rodney's chest. This time he was unable to hold back the screams, as pain flowed through his chest and through his body, like fire. He was vaguely aware of Carson's cries to stop in the background. And, as suddenly as it started, it was over. Michael drew back, turning to face the shocked physician.

"I have only taken a few weeks, this time. But next time, be assured that I will take more. It is up to you, Dr Beckett, as to whether there is a next time or not. I will leave you to think about it."

With that, the drones let go of Rodney, who collapsed to the floor, and they were left alone in the cell. Carson rushed to his side.

"Rodney…"

He wanted to respond, to let Carson know it was okay, but he could hardly breathe. The pain was beyond anything he could ever have imagined. Oh crap, make it stop. Please make it stop. He wasn't aware that the pleas were verbal.

For a while there was nothing but the pain, overriding everything, but slowly it started to recede, and he was aware of Carson's voice, talking to him, trying to reassure him, telling him to just hang on. After a while, he realised that he was leaning against Carson, who was holding him tightly to his own chest, and apologising. Blaming himself for making the retro-virus, for testing it, creating Michael, for this.

"Not… your… fault…" he managed to say. "Don't… blame… you…"

"Back with me, Rodney?"

"Yeah," he felt weak, drained. Literally. "How do I look?"

"He took a few weeks from you, not even a year. At least that's what he said. Anyway, you don't look any older."

"Hate… to think… what it'd be like… if he took more…"

"I'm not going to let that happen."

"You can't… give him what… he wants." He closed his eyes, "at least…not without… knowing more… like why he wants… it."

"I'm not going to sit by and watch him torture you! It was bad enough with Sheppard…"

He opened his eyes, grabbing one of Carson's hands. He wanted to look him in the face, but moving that much just wasn't on the agenda right then.

"Carson… you can't…" he stopped, thinking about his next words, "you need… to find out… why he wants the virus… why he wants you… to complete it. Even then… I don't think… you should give him… what he wants."

"I'll ask him why he wants the retro-virus. But I won't watch you die, Rodney. Don't ask me to do that. I can't."

"Carson…"

"No, Rodney. End of discussion." He heard, and felt, Carson sigh, "bloody idiot, you've been hanging around with Sheppard too much, picked up his stupid self-sacrificing heroics. Doesn't suit you."

"Believe me… I really don't want to get hurt… really, I don't. But…"

"No buts."

"Damn stubborn Scot…" he mumbled.

"Anyway, to start with, I could stall him. And even if that doesn't work for long, showing him how to produce the retro-virus will take days. As for trying to find a way to make the effects permanent, I have no idea how long that will take. But I'll be buying us time."

"Time for what?"

"Either for a heroic rescue, or a heroic escape. Really, right now, I don't care which one it is."

"Escape," he said, "it's unlikely… anyone will be… able to locate us… to rescue us."

"Okay, so escape," Carson shook him slightly, "and that's another reason not to let Michael drain any more life from you. You think I stand a chance of escaping without you? You're the expert on Wraith technology, not me."

"Flattery…"

"Will get me everywhere, when it concerns one Dr Rodney McKay, PhD." Carson finished.

He snorted at that, and then groaned.

"Please… don't make me… laugh…"

"Sorry."

"Okay… you stall him… and I'll try and think… of some brilliant… escape plan."

"I'd take a not so brilliant escape plan, just so long as it works. Now, let me see to that arm again, and check out the wounds on your chest."

He sighed, but didn't argue. He knew there was little point in it, and his injuries did need seeing to, as best as possible without a first aid kit. He distracted himself from the pain as much as possible by trying to figure out a plan of escape.