Four
Disclaimer: "Stargate", "Stargate Atlantis" and all related characters are the property of MGM Television Entertainment. I don't own any of it.
Rating: T (13+) Two major characters die and there's violence!
No spoilers!
Summary: On Thursday, the fourth of April, an unforeseen attack off-world leaves Rodney McKay stranded along with Evan Lorne. Team Sheppard and Dr. Keller lead the rescue mission, which goes horribly wrong and ends in tragic circumstances. This is a 'one-shot' and slightly darker than some of my other writing.
Characters/Pairing:
- Rodney McKay, Jennifer Keller, John Sheppard, Richard Woolsey, Evan Lorne, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan, Amelia Banks and Chuck Campbell.
- One OC, Lt. Evans and a lot of unnamed Marines.
- Pairing of Rodney McKay & Jennifer Keller.
Written by Jasper (JperW)
A/N: This story contains a very little reference to 'Rings of Love'. I want to thank my Beta-Reader x Varda x.
Chuck Campbell's voice announced, throughout the control room, "Incoming wormhole!"
Amelia Banks, Richard Woolsey, John Sheppard and Teyla Emmagan watched the gate establish a stable connection for the incoming wormhole as the four of them arrived in the control room. There was no 'whoosh' from the unstable vortex because the shield had been activated.
Woolsey asked, "Nobody's due back for four hours, who is it?" He looked concerned and surprised at the same time.
Chuck answered, "We are not receiving an IDC, sir."
A few seconds later, Amelia Banks raised her voice and called for their attention, "We are, however, receiving a coded radio-transmission. I think it's from Dr. McKay. He's the only one I've ever seen using this sort of coding before."
She put the sound through the speakers, but nothing happened for about four minutes, there was only static. Woolsey feared that this foreboded trouble and it would almost certainly not be any good news.
Chuck cranked up the sound. There was still a lot of static, but there was now another noise too. It sounded like gun fire and explosions.
Rodney McKay's voice suddenly came through the radio, but there were a lot of interruptions due to the static kicking in all the time, "…Atlantis… This is… Atlantis, this is Dr. McKay… We… We need back-up. I repeat, we… back-up…. We're taking heavy fire... Repeat… under… Rogue Genii… Genii… They are closing in on our position… Hundred meters… South… South of the gate… Retreated… Don't lower the shield, we're cut off from the gate… I repeat… Cut off from the gate… IDC… Sending IDC now…. Please, send a pair of jumpers as fast as possible… The gate's clear… But… can't… I… We can't get to the gate… and Major Lorne is seriously injured… Dying… Injured… medical assi-"
The radio-transmission was abruptly cut when the gate shut down as suddenly as it had activated. Colonel Sheppard had already turned around. He was just about to call Ronon and Lt. Evans' team on the radio, when he heard Woolsey cough to get his attention.
"Colonel?" Woolsey said.
Sheppard responded, "We have to send help. They're in trouble." He expressed all of his defiant, angry and surprised feelings with one look at Woolsey.
Teyla said quickly, "I agree, Mr. Woolsey. Rodney and Evan would do the same…" She sounded more diplomatic and looked friendlier than John – as usual. She did not want a power-struggle between Sheppard and Woolsey right now; they needed to get going.
However, before she could finish her sentence, Richard interjected, "You can go as soon as you're ready, but shouldn't you tell me about the plan first?"
Teyla and John both looked awkwardly at the ground and then at each other for just a second. They had expected him to stop them. They certainly had not thought that he only wanted them to explain their course of action.
Sheppard quickly laid out the plan, "We'll just get Lt. Evans' team in jumper three. Teyla, Ronon and I will use jumper four. We go to the planet like McKay requested. We don't have much of a choice. We'll cloak and investigate the situation from the air and choose our best tactic – a stealthy rescue or fire some drones up their asses and come in guns blazing – and save them all. Anyway, we'll be fast and quick, they'll never see us coming. Just in and out, saving the day."
To their surprise, Woolsey did not object and agreed without arguing, "Okay, sounds good. You have a go." He paused briefly and then continued, "Colonel, please be very careful and bring everyone back alive."
Woolsey overemphasized the word 'please' to convey more meaning. Apparently McKay was not the only one who had changed over the course of the last four months.
"Will do, sir!"
Little did Sheppard know at that time, it was going to be far harder than he had made it sound.
This Thursday, the fourth of April, was going to be a dark day.
When Sheppard and Ronon arrived in the jumper bay, everyone was already there, including one very pale looking Jennifer Keller. Lt. Evans took his team into a jumper and Sheppard faced Jennifer.
"Jennifer, what are you doing here? You're not coming with us!"
"Like hell I'm not!" Jennifer said to him in response and added, "I'm not letting anyone die out there and Major Lorne already requires medical attention. You'll need a good doctor. I'm going! Period. End of discussion."
She did have a point, but it was not her reasoning that stopped Sheppard from continuing his protests. It was the fact that they needed to get going, because they were wasting valuable time. By the hard, defiant and fierce look on Keller's face, he knew that the easiest and fastest way would be not to argue, but to just get in the jumper and leave.
In the meantime, Jennifer had already settled down on one of the chairs in the cockpit, crossing her arms and legs so tightly it did not look like she was going to unravel anytime soon.
Sheppard settled himself in the pilot's seat, brought the engines online with a thought and followed Lt. Evans in jumper three.
"Jumpers three and four, ready to go," he announced over the radio.
Chuck dialed the gate and the jumpers flew through. As soon as they exited the gate on the other side they were under attack. They could hear the sounds of large explosions and the jumper trembled like Jennifer did with fear in her seat.
Crude projectiles met them from every side. They were primitive, but it did not matter. There were just too many of them, some were bound to hit them, whether they were aimed at them correctly or not.
Suddenly the jumper in front of them went down. It had been hit by four flying bombs at the same time. It was falling fast and quickly down to the ground. It lost all the height it had just won as it plummeted in a brief, but very steep and uncontrollable dive. The jumper crashed into several of the primitive launching platforms. There was a loud explosion and a big fireball filled the sky. Sheppard only just avoided it and cloaked the jumper at the same time.
Nobody said anything. Four people had just died; they were all too shocked.
Suddenly McKay's voice rang through the radio again, "That better be you, Sheppard!"
"How nice of you to invite us to your little party, having fun?" Sheppard retorted.
"It would be much nicer if you'd just blow them out of existence with a few drones. Don't worry about us; we're out of the way. We're currently hiding ourselves in the forest south of the gate."
The Colonel answered, "We're on our way. Just stay put for another minute. Sheppard out."
He did not think it would be smart to give away their position and the element of surprise. They would need everything they had to get off the planet alive.
He landed in a clearing in the woods. When they opened the rear hatch, two Marines and Rodney McKay emerged from between the trees. They were carrying Major Evan Lorne.
"Rodney!" Jennifer yelled out his name, ran to him and gripped his arm, quickly checking if he was seriously injured.
He was incredibly dirty and looked very disheveled in his torn clothes and there were scratches all over his face. The Marines looked unharmed, but they were clearly still trying to get a grip on their situation. They had only been stationed in the Pegasus galaxy for four weeks and they had already lost four of their new friends today.
When they had made their way back to the gate, they had been attacked. Two Marines had died instantly. Lorne had ordered his men to retreat and make a run for the gate. Rodney had dialed the gate and as soon as he had activated it, Lorne had pulled him down, preventing him from being hit by the bullets coming from everywhere.
Rodney did not go for the gate. Instead, he pulled the now unconscious Major out of harm's way and tried to make radio contact. They had been forced to abandon the gate when a large explosion nearby had sent them flying through the air. All of Rodney's clothes had been torn and he had continued to pull Lorne to safety. He contacted Sheppard and after yet another explosion, the gate had shut down.
Two more Marines had died as they had retreated into the forest. Six Marines had accompanied Rodney and Evan – four had died and only two were still alive right now. It had been a wonder the four of them – Rodney, Evan and the two Marines – had made it out of there alive, or barely alive in the case of Major Lorne.
The trees and vegetation had given them cover and their attackers had not come after them. They had obviously realized that it would be much easier to just watch the gate, because that was still the only way off this planet. McKay had called in reinforcements so they knew they only had to deal with the people or in this case, jumpers, coming through the gate.
Rodney answered, "I'm fine. Lorne needs your attention, Jennifer. I thinks he's dying…"
Jennifer cut in, "I'm the doctor, Rodney. Let me be the one to decide that."
"He hit his head pretty hard on that rock at the gate when he pulled me down to prevent me from being dissected by the bullets." Rodney felt horrified by the thought of it.
He was just about to help Jennifer with Evan while Sheppard was talking with the Marines, when four Genii soldiers emerged from behind some bushes and opened fire.
He hugged Jennifer from behind and prevented the bullets from hitting her, by using his own body as a shield. They fell down on the dirty ground as four bullets found him. He had stopped them from hitting Jennifer. She heard the others return fire and the four Genii soldiers fell down and the ground beneath them was colored red with their blood.
Jennifer, however, only had eyes for Rodney. He was on his back where he had fallen on the ground and Jennifer fell to her knees beside him as she frantically tore away his clothes.
One of the bullets had found his lung, another one his liver, the third one was in his right shoulder and the last one his spleen. He had already lost a lot of blood and it started to come out of his mouth. He was quickly dying. He was drifting away.
The physicist got a hold of the physician's hand and looked her – the love of his live – deep in the eyes.
"Jennifer, I love you…"
He coughed up some blood.
"Forever…"
His breath choked for one last time and he died.
Jennifer patted his face and whispered in shock, "Rodney…" He did not reply, so she shook his uninjured shoulder, "Rodney?" She started to become desperate and her voice rose as she asked again, "Rodney?"
The floodgates opened suddenly and she yelled, "Rodney!"
She said his name four times before her words became lost in hysterical cries.
She sobbed her heart out, hitting her fist on Rodney's chest and clasping his hand in hers, but he did not move. He was dead and was not coming back.
Shouts and the noise of more Genii soldiers drifted through the forest.
Jennifer took hold of Rodney's P90 over his chest. She was on her feet before she even realized it. It was like a haze; a haze of unstoppable rage and a sorrow she could not find a way to process.
She emptied her clip between the trees, killing at least four soldiers, before a bullet hit her in her shoulder. She wanted to kill as many of them as possible. They would pay for what they had done to Rodney, for what they had done to her.
Before she fell to the ground, Sheppard caught her and dragged her back to the jumper. The Marines had already moved Rodney's body into the back of the jumper and Major Lorne was laid next to him. He was still unconscious.
"We have to go!" Sheppard yelled.
John laid her down on the bench in the back of the jumper across from Lorne and made his way to the pilot's seat. Teyla was standing in the back of the jumper. She was clutching her arm to her side where a stray bullet had grazed her. It was only a superficial injury in the form of a nasty cut where the bullet had passed by.
"Ronon, come on, we should go. We need to leave," She said loudly at the Satedan, who was firing shots everywhere. The look on his face would haunt her nightmares forever.
Ronon ran towards the jumper, but he never made it.
Suddenly a projectile flew through the air and exploded only one yard behind him. He was killed instantly.
The soldiers were closing in on them. Teyla pulled herself together and yanked at the control to close the rear hatch.
"Go!" Teyla cried to Sheppard.
He did not wait for her to sit down as he accelerated as fast as he could and faster than he had ever done before.
There were four bodies lying in the back of the jumper. One dead, one severely injured and barely alive and two others overcome with grief. The grief drove them both to the point of actual physical pain.
Sheppard fired drone after drone at everything he saw moving until he was out of ammunition. He dialed the gate and flew through. Only four of them made it off the planet alive. They would carry this with them forever and never be the same again.
The end.