Major Lorne entered the gate room, nodding at some of the techs that passed by. He checked his wristwatch and noted that he was two minutes late for the hastily called meeting with Colonel Carter so he double-timed it up the stairs, wondering what the current crisis might be. As far as he knew, all the off-world teams had returned on time and he knew Colonel Sheppard was off entertaining the base's newest guest. For once, it was nice to be second in command of the military since it meant he didn't have to participate in the dog and pony show.
"Oh, good. You're finally here, Major. Now we can get this over with."
"A pleasure, as always, Dr. McKay," he answered with barely suppressed sarcasm. "Colonel, sorry for the delay but I was in the rec room on Level 19."
Colonel Carter rolled her eyes at Rodney McKay's 'greeting' but managed a smile. "I'm sorry I took you away from your card game, Major."
"There's no such thing as off duty on Atlantis, Colonel," Lorne said, smiling.
"Yes, yes, all very unfortunate; not that you ever invite any real players," McKay said with a put upon sigh.
"We don't play with sharks or card counters," Lorne replied.
McKay crossed his arms. "Yet, you deal Sheppard in."
Lorne quirked an eyebrow. "He's the boss and we mark the decks to even out the odds."
Carter coughed, bringing things back to order. "Speaking of Colonel Sheppard, he, Teyla, and Prince Fahd are over an hour late for their scheduled arrival."
"When was their last check in?" Lorne asked, back to business.
"Four hours ago."
Lorne narrowed his eyes. "Any word of trouble?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary," Carter answered.
"Colonel, they're only an hour overdue. For all we know, dinner ran longer than expected," he said.
"I know, but considering the VIP that Colonel Sheppard is escorting, I want to err on the side of caution," Carter explained.
McKay rolled his eyes. "Oh, please, I really hope Sheppard leaves that egotistical jerk on the planet. Maybe the natives can sacrifice him to their gods... no, wait- that'd be bad. His Highness would probably bring them bad crops for years."
Lorne briefly considered reminding the physicist of the pot calling the kettle black but, then again, the prince had won the prize for arrogance and McKay was probably upset he'd been dethroned, so to speak.
Carter took a deep breath; this was a topic she'd had to defend many times already. "We all know that Prince Fahd can be... difficult."
McKay snorted. "Please, the guy knows how to tinker with low orbit satellites. Well, gee, maybe he could win a fifth grade science fair with his knowledge. Doesn't give him the right to waltz into my lab and demand to be shown my latest work."
"Rodney," Carter sighed.
"No, you rolled out the red carpet for the sheik."
"Prince."
McKay glared at the colonel. "Whatever. The guy got a ceremonial title from NASA and I'm sure his physics degree was found in a Cracker Jack box."
"I know the past six days have been trying, but General Landry and Richard Woolsey have stated over and over again, the importance of our guest's visit."
"And that was again?" Lorne inquired. He then amended quickly, "Sorry, I was on a week long mission and missed the meeting before the prince arrived."
"More IOA red tape bulls--"
"Enough, Rodney," Carter interrupted, turning to address Lorne. "Every year, all the members of the IOA gather to go over budget concerns, review mission directives and evaluate the overall resources devoted to the program. All the major world powers have delegates, including Prince Fahd's father who represents Saudi Arabia, a country, I might add, that donated a large sum of money to our weapons program."
Lorne was beginning to connect the bureaucratic dots. Even in another galaxy, it was impossible to get away from the taint of Earth political rhetoric. "So, now we're a tourist destination?"
"No. The IOA figured this was a way to allow some of its own members to see firsthand the work we've been doing."
"What, that gnat, Woolsey, doesn't poke his head around here enough?" McKay grouched.
"They want 'one of their own', someone who isn't groomed to paint rosy pictures of everything. Atlantis has been such a vital part of the program. It's gained more than a little mystique and a bit of concern as well." Carter cleared her throat. "Fahd's father has been the most vocal about this latter issue and is too ill to travel. Some think it's mainly his son who just wanted to go into space beyond what NASA could offer."
"Nice to know security clearance includes the family members of the IOA," Lorne chimed in.
"After a thirty million dollar donation, I think that was a given." Carter smiled at their shocked expressions. "Atlantis needs some good press after the past two years. I figured this would grant us a favor later on."
"We always need those," Lorne muttered.
"Well, it has been fun and games, seeing Sheppard reduced to an errand boy, but we have more important things to deal with. So, chop, chop. Let's go drag him back so I can put him to some real use."
Lorne glared at McKay. "You might want to let the colonel run with Ronon a little bit after being stuck with that guy. He's been taking out his frustrations on the target range and exercising with some of the Marines a little harder than normal."
"I owe him a steak dinner and recordings of all the college bowl games," Carter smirked.
"Are we done?" McKay fidgeted.
"You're in an awful hurry to go on this mission. Thought you preferred avoiding primitive worlds?" Lorne asked.
"Hello, Sheppard was supposed to test pilot the hyper-drive modifications to the jumper." The scientist shook his head. "Doesn't the colonel brief you on the important things?"
"This would be the jumper that you used to go to the Replicator home world?" Lorne bit his bottom lip, wishing he had used another example when he saw the physicist grimace.
"Yes. It worked, but only for a single jump, then we ran out of power. I've been working on changes that might allow us to use them for multiple jumps, which I remind you, would be a very good thing."
"Yeah, I recall it now. The colonel's been pretty hyped about taking it for a spin."
"Of course! He was supposed to begin today but someone," McKay looked over at Carter, "made him go on another babysitting assignment."
"I hated getting between a pilot and his toys, but this was one of the last requirements of the prince's trip... and speaking of?" she urged.
"Heading out now, Colonel." Lorne said, gesturing at McKay.
"I'll inform Doctor Keller to join you in the bay," Carter stated.
"Is that necessary?"
Carter turned to McKay. "I'm not taking any chances with the importance of our guest's safety. I know everyone here finds it a huge inconvenience, but we are responsible for him. I want a doctor present, just in case you come upon trouble."
"Understood, Colonel," Lorne said before glaring at his other team member.
"Whatever. The sooner we get there, the sooner some real work can be done."
Lorne followed McKay out, resisting the urge to sigh loudly.
Jennifer Keller hauled her med kit in one hand and had slung a heavy, oversized bag onto her other shoulder. The uneven weight made her unbalanced and she wobbled a little as she walked towards the jumper. She tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach, but memories of her last off-world trip had them flapping like crazy. She hefted her supplies up the ramp, managing only three steps before Ronon Dex grabbed the large knapsack off her shoulder and stored it away.
"Thanks," she said, huffing for breath.
"Sure. Where you want this thing?" Ronon asked, indicating another piece of equipment balanced on his shoulder.
"Um... over there," she answered as she pointed to the back of the jumper. "Thank you."
Ronon didn't reply, too busy stowing away more of her things. Major Lorne entered the jumper and brushed past them to take a seat in the pilot's chair. Jennifer followed behind, weaving to avoid Dr. McKay where he stood in the middle of the jumper's floor, fiddling with his PDA.
Her motion distracted him and he looked up and around at everyone. "Are we all aboard now?"
Jennifer sat down in one of the back seats, giving her a front row view of Ronon and Rodney facing off over the co-pilot's chair. The two men stared balefully at each other and Ronon's hand reached over to grip the headrest. His fingers made a squeak as they sank into the cushion.
Rodney finally blinked, quailed actually, and shook his head, muttering about pushy Satedans as he took the seat next to her. Ronon smiled wolfishly as he eased his lanky form into the co-pilot's seat.
She tried offering a kindly smile to Rodney but the physicist just pulled out his PDA and started pecking at it. "Didn't want to be up front anyways," he muttered.
"The rich guy isn't going to ride back with us... is he?" Ronon asked.
"Lord, I hope not," Rodney said, looking up from his data pad. "All we need is for him to demand to fly the jumper back."
Lorne looked over. "We're just going down to the planet to retrieve our people. Colonel Sheppard will probably be mighty pleased that we're rescuing him from spending more time with Fahd."
"Good. Maybe the guy can hassle Sheppard about flying his jumper then," Rodney said as he returned to his tapping.
"Maybe when Hell freezes over," Lorne muttered under his breath.
"Are you kidding?" Ronon whirled around in his seat. "He can fly our stuff?"
Jennifer shrank into her chair. "I was told to give him the gene therapy... didn't count on it taking, though."
"Oh, it took alright. He enjoyed watching things glow and kept snapping his fingers at me so I would hand him more trinkets."
It eased her mind a little; listening to the others complain about the prince distracted her as they entered the gate and re-emerged above a massive range of green covered mountains. The small craft didn't register things like normal planes because of the inertial dampeners so she wasn't expecting it when she was almost thrown from her seat as the jumper slung sideways.
"Whoa, we've got some chop," Lorne warned.
"Oh, define 'chop', Major!"
Jennifer dug her fingers into the chair arms, glancing at the anxious scientist and over at Ronon whose eyes were glued to the front windshield.
"Looks like a pretty bad storm. Hold on while I try to get around it." Lorne stayed calm as he adjusted one of the sticks. "I think this is the tail end of a larger system."
A swirl of red appeared on the internal display, spinning across the screen. Jennifer felt her stomach drop as the jumper rattled in the turbulence.
"You think Sheppard got caught in this?" Ronon asked, glaring at the black clouds surrounding them.
"Scanning now," McKay replied.
The tiny craft was battered around by gusting winds; lightning streaks flashed in blue and yellow bolts against the grey storm clouds. Jennifer squealed in surprise when the jumper dipped suddenly, much like a free fall on a giant roller coaster.
"Sorry, guys. Think we're past the worst," Lorne called out over his shoulder.
"Some warning next time!" Rodney barked.
Ronon pointed at a blinking dot. "Look, that's the jumper's signal."
"They're over the foothills of the mountains," Lorne said, straining to see. "Right near the Barrens."
"Barrens?" Jennifer asked.
"Rocky, grassy area. Good for hiking, where the mists roll off the mountains," Ronon explained.
"Colonel Sheppard, this is Major Lorne. Do you read?"
The three of them waited tensely as they approached the area the signal arose from. Silence hung in the air after repeated unanswered calls, making her antsy. With rekindled nervousness she mentally went over the inventory of medical supplies in her head, prepping for the worst.
Rodney was out of his seat, gripping both chairs up front as he peered out the windscreen. "Oh, no."
"Damn," Lorne cursed.
Ronon's back and shoulders locked up and his jaw clenched so hard it hurt her own mouth to see it.
Lorne hovered long enough to scope out a close landing spot near the wreckage that finally came into her view.
The front end of the jumper appeared crumpled, the front section crunched inward. Part of the right side was entrenched into the packed earth, caught in one of the hillsides. Jennifer bolted up as soon as they touched the ground, her fingers grabbing both bags.
"Let's go," she said firmly.
Rodney was right behind her, looking a bit shaky and even a little pale. Ronon marched past him, opened the hatch and the three of them hustled outside, a light rain pelting them as they got near the crash site.
Lorne tried activating the back doors but they were unresponsive to his touch. Ronon was at his side, slipping his fingers into the crevice and prying at it with all his might but to no avail. The metal didn't budge.
Rodney made a circle around the damaged craft, coming up quickly at his teammate's side. "If there's no power, human force – even yours- won't open it," he snapped. "We need a crowbar."
"On it," the major announced, jogging back to their own jumper.
Ronon began banging on the outside. "Sheppard! ...Teyla!"
Rodney paced back and forth outside, the rain slicking down his hair. He swiped angrily at it, pushing it back from his forehead. Ronon kept tugging on the hatch, only finally stepping back with a growl as Lorne returned with the needed tool.
The major was still breathing heavily from his adrenaline fueled dash for the crowbar. His first attempt, the tool slipped from the crevice on the rain-slicked metal. Ronon yanked it from him and began forcing the doors apart with a grunt.
Just as Jennifer was beginning to fear it wouldn't work, the back hatch was physically disabled and slid open with a hydraulic hiss.
"Let me through!" she yelled, even as she was bullying her way past the trio of testosterone and into the dark interior of the jumper.
Lorne and Rodney lit the way with their flashlights, only a few steps behind her as she clambered her way in using what Colonel Sheppard had once called the "oh, shit" handles attached to the roof. The jumper was angled in a downward slope, making balance tricky as she maneuvered through the craft and tried not to fall forward. There were boxes and supply containers strewn all over the place, most undoubtedly knocked loose by the impact.
The first thing that hit her was the heavy copper smell that permeated the enclosed space and she swallowed heavily against the odor. "Oh, Teyla," she breathed upon seeing the woman sprawled on the floor in front of her chair. "I need light!" she commanded, pulling out her stethoscope.
She bent down, fingers verifying a strong steady beat while her eyes did a cursory examination. There were no signs of obvious external injury or blood loss. Ronon crouched next to her, holding his light aloft.
"Pulse is good," she said out loud. Then she pressed the bell of the instrument to the unconscious woman's chest. Teyla stirred awake as Jennifer reached up under her skirt. "It's okay, Teyla. It's Jennifer – Dr. Keller. You've been in an accident and I'm just checking on the baby... lay still." Teyla nodded quietly, then gave a sad smile as Ronon's hand slipped into hers.
A few seconds later Jennifer was rewarded with the hummingbird flutter of a tiny heart. "I've got a heartbeat. It's strong... he sounds just fine, Teyla." The mom-to-be let out a relieved sob and buried her face in Ronon's side.
Jennifer's own relief and happiness was short-lived though. She watched as Lorne moved around her towards the other two occupants. He turned to meet her gaze. "Damn."
Her eye caught the reflection of Ronon's light in a glistening blood pool that had formed around the co-pilot's seat. Her eyes flicked left and she took in Colonel Sheppard's motionless form slumped over the controls.
Rodney inched closer into the increasingly closer quarters of the cockpit and reached out towards the injured pilot's neck.
"Don't move him!" she ordered, making Rodney flinch.
"He... he, um... has a pulse," he relayed uneasily as he switched to Sheppard's wrist. "It's very fast," he added, swallowing roughly.
"Okay... just don't touch him until I get over there."
She squeezed Teyla's shoulder as she felt the woman trying to move. "Just relax, try not to move."
"I am... fine... Help the others," Teyla said woozily.
Jennifer looked over at Ronon. "I need to check on the others; her breathing looks good and she's conscious, but try to keep her still and quiet, alright?"
"I'll stay by her," the Satedan replied, looking over at the flight controls.
She nodded, hurrying over towards Prince Fahd, knowing by the sheer amount of crimson that soaked his clothes and dripped on the floor what she would find. The human body only contained so much blood and it looked like half the man's volume had pumped out of him.
The console in front of Fahd had been sheared apart like tinfoil and pieces of the instrument panel had been forced upwards. Lorne shook his head at her.
The gaping wound in the prince's neck left little doubt. The fingers she pressed over his carotid slipped in the still warm blood that continued to trickle out. Then she reached up and closed eyes frozen open in shock.
There was no time to dwell on the dead. She crossed over to Colonel Sheppard's seat, moving fallen supplies and debris out of the way to reach him. The colonel was slumped over the flight controls with one of the yokes pressed up against his stomach. She reached for his pulse and felt the thready, weak flutter.
"Major Lorne, I need my backboard and a neck brace."
"Yes, ma'am."
She checked his airway, noting his shallow breathing. Then she quickly snagged a BP cuff out of her bag while visually checking back on Teyla. The injured woman's eyes were still open if a bit glazed over and she held her left arm awkwardly. When she tried again to sit up Ronon thankfully laid his hand on her shoulder to keep her from moving. Jennifer offered Teyla a brief smile of reassurance before pumping up the cuff on Sheppard's arm.
"How is he?" Rodney asked impatiently.
Sheppard was tachycardic; his pulse was around 140 and the 80/60 reading meant his BP was dropping to dangerous levels. "When the Major gets back it's important that we transport Colonel Sheppard to the other jumper as quickly as possible."
Rodney for once was silent, obviously feeling a bit helpless at the moment, but she had a task for him. "Bring me that large knapsack I left outside." She saw Rodney's eyes go large but he was off like a shot.
She knelt back down next to Teyla and pulled out a penlight to check pupil reactions while she waited for the backboard.
"Any dizziness?"
"A little, but I'm feeling better. I think my arm is broken," Teyla replied. "How is everyone else?"
"We are taking care of them. I don't want you to worry," Jennifer answered, feeling a little better at Teyla's responses. "Any belly pain?"
"None," Teyla replied, shaking her head slowly.
Jennifer knew that any type of crash could involve many types of blunt force trauma. What determined the seriousness of possible injury were the velocity of the moving vehicle and the force of impact. Jumpers flew at speeds so much faster than cars and there was no telling if any of the dampeners had been working. She was worried about unseen injury in her patient and that of her child, biting her lip at what that meant for the colonel who had been thrown at who knew what speed into the dash and flight controls.
This was a nightmare. She had been brought along as an afterthought; normally, this type of mission, a medical person wasn't even part of the roster. Now she was faced with a mass casualty situation with multiple victims and was forced to choose a "priority" patient based on a quick assessment. With one backboard and cervical collar, they could only safely transport one victim. The only reassuring thing she could count on was Teyla's strong vital signs and those of her unborn child.
Rodney returned, hauling the large leather satchel. "What do you have in this thing? Rocks?"
Lorne was back as well, dragging the equipment with him. Jennifer dug into the second bag, thankful she had come prepared as she pulled out an IV kit. They needed to get some fluids into Sheppard ASAP to bolster his pressure and she quickly inserted the needle into a vein in the back of his hand.
"I need someone to hold up the saline."
McKay grabbed the bag, holding it high and out of the way while she quickly attached the cervical collar and slid the backboard behind Sheppard's body. She slipped the head harness beneath the colonel's skull, aligned it the best she could, and began securing the straps.
"Would someone--"
Lorne was by her side before she completed her sentence. "I know what to do," he said, getting on the other side of the seat.
They carefully lifted Sheppard out of the chair enough to lay him down on the floor and finish strapping him in. Ronon seemed terribly torn, but there was no room and no time. "I only have one backboard and I want to make sure Teyla's transported properly."
She looked at the Athosian, who was attentive and responsive, her eyes on Colonel Sheppard's plight. "Ronon's going to stay. You're stable and we need to get the colonel--"
"Go. I am fine," Teyla encouraged.
Lorne took one side of the backboard and, surprisingly, Rodney took the other without asking, tucking the bag of saline into his jacket. "We need to hurry," Jennifer commanded.
They were airborne before she knew it, intent as she was on her patient; so focused, in fact, that Rodney's voice made her jump.
"Doesn't he already have an IV?"
She didn't look up as she inserted an additional bore needle into Sheppard's arm, hoping the extra fluids would counteract his falling crit levels. "Yes, Doctor McKay," she said with a trace of annoyance.
"I may not have an M.D. after my name, but I know something about medicine, despite it being a distant cousin to real science."
She locked eyes with the frantic man, trying to remind herself how many friends their close-knit community had lost recently. "He has internal injuries. I'm not sure what type. His blood pressure isn't good and I'm doing what I can to stabilize his vitals, so, please... Let me."
She pried open the injured man's lids, shining a light in one pupil then the other.
"Uargghhhh."
Her heart stuttered and Rodney practically glued himself to her side. "Colonel Sheppard?"
The man blinked sluggishly, trying to move his head and muttering under his breath.
"Colonel Sheppard, can you hear me?"
She wasn't expecting much; she had already noted that the right pupil didn't respond as quickly as the left one. "Colonel Sheppard?"
"How's... … how's...Teyla?"
"She's going to be fine," she assured him.
That was it. Sheppard was out for the count again, his lids fluttering closed as his body relaxed into unconsciousness.
"Sheppard!" Rodney shouted.
"I need a radio," she said firmly, trying to get the shell-shocked physicist's attention. "Rodney."
"Um... okay... hold on."
"Gotcha a connection, doc," she heard from the pilot's seat. She hadn't even noticed that Lorne was in communication with Atlantis. "I repeat, we have two casualties and one fatality. Request an additional jumper with a medic to retrieve the second injured and body recovery."
Carter's voice came through. "Who was the fatality?"
Jennifer placed an oxygen mask over Sheppard's nose and mouth, listening with half an ear and picking up on the fear in the colonel's voice.
"The diplomat didn't make it."
"Understood, Major. I'm sending a second jumper now."
Jennifer picked up on the subtle relief in Carter's voice, but it was still tense with regret over the loss of life. She had already cut open Sheppard's tunic, baring his chest and palpating his torso for injury. The ancient scanners afforded her an advantage over any modern hospital, but while there was time, doing things the old-fashioned way eased her mind.
McKay waited with a com in hand until she was done with the brief examination; the fresh bruising over Sheppard's ribcage and belly were a bright red warning sign as was the way he moaned and writhed under the pressure of her fingers.
"We're almost there!" Lorne shouted.
She clicked on her radio to address her team in the infirmary. "I need an OR prepped and ready to go when I arrive. Make sure Dr. Melvin scrubs in and have six units of Colonel Sheppard's blood type on standby."
"Yes, Doctor."
"Be sure the scanner is up and running; we need to get him under it as soon as we wheel in."
"Right away," one of her staff answered.
"I can't do this again," Rodney said, slumping down to sit on the floor.
She doubted he even realized he'd expressed it out loud. However, any thoughts about offering him words of support were swept away as Sheppard's vitals continued to fail. "Come on, Colonel," she murmured. "Hang in there. We're almost home."