Okay guys and girls, thanks for all the reviews...the response was loads better than i was expecting.
i'm getting ready to post the final arc of WHL but this is just my way of dealing with the stress that WHL is causing me. :)
this is a fun fic for me, an experiment if you will. None of this is beta'd or seriously proofed...i'm kinda typing this out, bunny after bunny with only a vague idea of where i'm going.
So enjoy and when it's done, i'll tidy it up and repost.
Chapter 2
"HE WHAT?"
Major Lorne winced as Woolsey's shouted echoed slightly in the relatively small confines of the Operations Centre. "As far as we can tell, he put a freeze on the computer systems until he was clear. By the time we manually opened the doors, he and Ronon were long gone in a Jumper."
Woolsey glared at the Major, wishing it was one raging ego-manical scientist in front of him instead. "Do we at least know where he gated to?"
Lorne did what any good soldier in his position would do and looked towards Zelenka, who was puttering away at the laptop beside them, obviously trying to remain invisible. The scientist felt the burning stare of Woolsey fall upon him almost immediately and shot a betrayed look towards the Major.
With an attempt at a disarming grin, Zelenka gestured at the computer display in front of him. "Rodney left a very impressive worm behind. It systematically went after primary security systems and introduced a small error checking subroutine which caused each system to reset itself continuously…"
A small choking sound caused him to look back towards Woolsey, at which point he suddenly wished he hadn't as the man had gone a distinctly dark shade of red.
"Do. We. Know. Where. He. WENT?!" Woolsey ground out tightly.
Zelenka shook his head. "The worm erased all his tracks and is, even now, in the process of deleting itself. All systems are back under our control."
Woolsley took a deep breath, trying to regain control. "Fine. He's gone and we've no way of stopping him from carrying out what is, it's pretty safe to say, a rescue attempt to save the good Dr. Keller and her people."
He looked over at Chuck who was sat at the main console. "Delete Dr. McKay's and Ronon's IDC codes from the computer. As of this moment, the pair of them are consider AWOL and compromised."
Chuck hesitated for a moment but Woolsey's face was enough to convince him to respond with alacrity. Several key presses later and, "Codes removed, sir."
Woolsey opened his mouth to address the rest of the staff when a distinctly familiar cough was filled Operations.
"Ahem! Testing, one, two..."
McKay! Eyes wide, Woolsey spun to face Zelenka who was already tapping away at his computer. "It's a recording, set to go off when we deleted Rodney's IDC."
Rodney's face suddenly appeared on all the displays around the room. "Yes, yes, Zelenka…it was trivial for me to predict that Mr. Woolsey would delete my IDC codes…enough already." McKay's voice was full of amusement.
"Sorry, Rodney." Zelenka replied and blushed deeply when he realized he had apologized to Rodney's recording of all things.
"Mr. Woolsey." Rodney called out firmly. "Let me begin by saying that I honestly do regret having to go behind your back on this. If there was any other choice, I would have followed your lead with pride for you have proven to be an able leader over the past few years. Unfortunately, your insistence on following procedure with the Genii was going to put Jennifer's life at risk and this was something I simply could not allow."
"Obviously, I have a plan. With a little luck, Ronon and I will be successful and our missing colleagues will be back within the week. I will regroup at one of our allies and contact you from there for pick-up."
Rodney's expression became regretful. "I'm sorry for the position I have put you in, sir. But…they have Jennifer." He took a deep breath and nodded towards the camera. "I have undertaken this rescue mission with a full comprehension of what I am risking and the consequences of those actions."
He opened his mouth to say something before, apparently, changing his mind. "Wish us luck, sir. I hope to see you soon. McKay out."
As the monitors all went blank, Woolsey felt his anger drain away. Without saying anything, he walked over towards the door leading outside, to the balcony. No one broke the silence as he stepped through and the door shut behind him. He looked up at the night sky and sighed deeply.
"Good luck, McKay."
Rodney grimaced as he tore into a ration pack and chewed on the banana beef bar absently.
He had initially hoped he might luck out and immediately pick up their subcutaneous transponders but the Genii had chosen the locations of their underground cities specifically because of the sensor- and emission-scattering properties of the ore in the crust of the planet. By turning off their reactors, he could easily see how the Wraith had been fooled into think all there was to the Genii was a few farming communities on the surface.
"Any luck?" Ronon asked as he started reassembling his weapon that he had just finished cleaning.
"No." Rodney replied. "We're going to have to go with the primary plan and find a trunk line into their computer network."
Ronon nodded. After leaving Atlantis, they ended up on an empty world remarkable only in its blandness. They had taken a couple of hours to check over all the gear they had stashed before Rodney had begun to feel the pressure of time.
Using an appropriated grenade launcher, Ronon fired a volley of smoke-grenades through the Stargate that was dialed into the Genii homeworld. Earlier probes had revealed an awesome array of defenses set up around the gate at their end so it was deemed necessary to repeat the same trick they had used to get past the Wraith cruisers on the Shrine world three years ago. Rodney had added his own twist to the technique and had programmed a MALP to follow them through and begin scanning everything with every sensor it possessed.
It wouldn't take a big leap in imagination for the Genii to conclude that it was simply a reconnaissance mission by Atlantis. Difficult for Woolsey to explain but he was confident the man wouldn't give him up.
With the area filled with smoke, the invisible Jumper had made its way through the Genii forces without incident. The MALP self-destructed once Genii soldiers realized it was there and began to approach it. Ronon grimaced at using stealth tactics. It wasn't his way.
"Look, Chewie, we can't afford to let them know we're here, comprende? On the bright side, there's no way in hell Woolsey will send a battlecruiser to come pick us up so the only way we're making it out of here is by blowing up most of those soldiers on the way out."
That definitely made the big Satedan happy.
It was also night-time on the homeworld and after flying around for a while, taking passive scans of the planet, they eventually decided on the 'capital' where they had been several times before and landed near a tertiary access point in the woods over a kilometer from one of the main access hubs.
It was from here that they would make their way into the Genii cities.
Ronan finished reassembling his weapon and slid it into his holster. He was already wearing his blade, a dozen knives and he picked up a large assault rifle from one of the mil-spec containers.
Rodney, on the other hand, was strapping various bits of equipment to himself, some of which Ronon recognized, most he didn't. He offered Rodney a similar assault rifle to the one he held but McKay shook his head. "Just gimme the P90."
Ronon nodded and turned to grab the smaller but not that much less effective weapon. When he turned round, McKay was filling a rucksack with half a dozen Wraith stunners they had appropriated over the years.
As the Satedan lowered the Jumper's ramp, McKayhad clipped the weapon to his vest and picked up a rather large device mounted on a tripod with thick legs. Running over his mental checklist one last time he nodded in satisfaction. "You ready?"
Ronon grinned with delicious anticipation. "Always."
After a brief moment of shared determination, they stepped out into the night.
