"The place was rigged?!" someone from the small crowd hissed after they decided that there was to be no more mayhem.
"Oh my God, those were priceless findings…" someone else moaned in the back.
"Donaldson, of course it was rigged. It's an ancient power generator lab connected to a long-range weapon facility five miles from here, plus all our equipment and computers with tremendous amount of data. And as much as I agree that this might have been valuable if we ever got the generators fixed, It's practically standard procedure with long-term offworld projects like this to secure them from falling into the wrong hands. You know, with the Wraith looming and whatnot." McKay answered matter-of-factly, handing the laptop to Zelenka, who was watching him very carefully.
Rodney was sweating profusely, which was sort of expected after what happened in the clearing. But as he clambered to his feet, he grunted heavily and all color seemed to drain from his face, as he swayed a bit. Radek stabilized him quickly.
"Are you all right?" he asked, peering at his friend.
"Yes, yes. Just winded, took a poor tumble. We need to round up back to the gate," the CSO answered impatiently, pushing away from his helping hands and not looking at any of them. Radek's brows drew together.
"Wait, what weapon facility?" Donaldson cut in.
"Ancient one. You deaf or something?"
"We were never told about a weapon facility…"
"There wasn't much to tell, I've been there, like, five times and found absolutely nothing to drool over," Rodney muttered, looking around. "The weapon system was levelled. But our new friends there didn't necessarily know that. We discovered it only after the second recon. And its purpose took a while to figure out."
"Five… times? So this was all investigated and researched already?" someone else asked.
"Well, clearly, we had to make sure the planet was safe for your sorry lot to work on AND not bring mayhem to the galaxy by accident. This was supposed to be a safe haven. Listen. As much as I love the chit-chat, we really need to make our way to the gate. I don't know how many more of those bozos there are."
"We need to take care of the wounded first," Radek said and McKay followed his gaze to the three people that were sitting down - Simpson's leg was swollen and she cried a bit as Malozzi was trying to wrap it. Coleman looked pale, as she was trying to stem the bleeding from where she cut her calf and Donaldson, even though he seemed very vocal just a few seconds ago, looked slightly dazed as blood kept trickling from his head.
"Make it fast," McKay said and they could hear the strain in his voice. He was the only one from their group that was a regular in offworld expeditions and it was showing now - his gaze was calculating and as he poked around the vest for field med kit, they could see this was not the first time he was dealing with a situation like this one.
He made his way to the injured people, silently handing them the small packets of gauze and bandages. He looked pale and scared, just like the rest of them. But it didn't escape their attention that not a single complaint left his mouth ever since the first shots could be heard in the distance. Like a switch was flipped the moment their day went sour.
They've seen this before, to some extent. Under duress of their circumstances, he did seem more focused and task oriented. But this - this was a whole other person.
"Doctor McKay, I think your hand is bleeding," Coleman said cautiously, taking the bandages from him. And surely, a small trickle of blood was making its way down the back of his palm, from somewhere under his sleeve.
"Oh, brilliant," he hissed, rolling the material away. There was a thick bandage covering half of his forearm up to his wrist, now completely soaked with blood. "Carson's gonna have my ass for this," he grumbled, wiping the blood away and peeking under the warp. "And he did such a nice stitching job, too…"
They stared at him, as he slowly and carefully sat next to Coleman, snatched one of the bandage rolls and carefully started wrapping it around the existing patch, wincing slightly.
"We didn't know you were hurt, Rodney," Radek said carefully. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"It's a leftover from the last mission. The hand's fine, probably a few stitches gave way. Carson specifically told me not to strain it under the threat of cross stitching the word 'idiot' on me. I imagine that 'straining' includes tumbling into ravines and shooting a rifle," McKay rambled, focusing on tucking the bandage into a lopsided knot, failing miserably. Mallozzi, who had the extended first-aid training, moved from Simpson and took it from his hand carefully, like he was dealing with an angry snake. With a sort of satisfaction, Radek remembered that he was the one to comment about Rodney not carrying stuff earlier that day.
McKay sighed heavily and and closed his eyes in resignation, rubbing them with his other hand. Radek noticed it was shaking. That he allowed Mallozzi his ministrations without a word was even a greater testament to the fact that something was clearly wrong.
Only a few minutes passed when they heard shouts from the distance. Their heads spun in the direction of the late ruins in apprehension.
"Okay people, we need to move. Like, yesterday," McKay snapped and pulled his hand away from Malozzi. He seems to gather his strength before pulling himself back to a standing position where he wobbles for a fraction of a second. A drop of sweat made its way down his brow as he moved to start walking to his left.
"Isn't the gate that way?"
"I think Dr McKay wants us to avoid enemy, even if it means we need to circle the area a bit," Esposito piped up and Rodney turned to her, surprised.
"Finally someone that has at least two brain cells connecting," he muttered, as he made his way deeper into the woods. They all followed him silently.
The trek was difficult. The underbrush was thick and littered with rocks, but still they made a good distance in the first fifteen minutes. The Stargate was a few miles away from the ruins and now, tired and scared, they could all keenly feel the loss of the jumper that, unfortunately, was still stationed in the clearing.
Radek heard a short discussion somewhere in the back of the group about why they hadn't ran to it in the first place, but they were smart people - they could see the reasoning behind McKay's orders quite clearly. The first enemy emerged from the woods just meters away from their transporter. Running there, seeing how many showed up soon after, would have meant almost certain death, as the invaders didn't seem to be interested in taking prisoners.
After a while, the brisk walk slowed to a painful crawl. They were all exhausted and the adrenaline rush that was keeping them all moving, dwindled out of existence. Simpson, as much as they'd like to deny it, was slowing them down considerably, Coleman and Donaldson didn't look so hot either. They were all tired - this was probably the most exercise some of them got since their preliminary fitness tests, before joining Atlantis expedition. And they still had possible hours of walking ahead of them.
"Doctor McKay?" Esposito moved to the front of the group, addressing the physicist carefully. The way he carried himself, plowing through the underbrush with his jaw locked tightly and clouds in his eyes, definitely didn't encourage conversation.
"What," he barked and it sounded… winded. There was a weird sort of tremble in this one short word and Radek had to crane his neck to look at him, as McKay glared at the pretty young woman.
"They don't seem to be following us… Maybe we could stop for a bit? Let the injured rest…?"
"The injured will need to suck it up, if they want to make a hasty return to their cozy labs," Rodney grit through his teeth and the breathy stutter that they could now clearly hear in his voice rang all sorts of alarm bells in Zelenka's head. Not only his, as it appeared.
"Sir, are you sure? You don't look so…"
"We don't have time for this, Esposito!" was the terse answer as he spun around to continue on his way…
...and his legs buckled under his weight, dropping him suddenly to all fours. A startled groan of pain escaped his lips as he clutched his midriff with one hand, his eyes screwed shut.
"Rodney!" Zelenka was at his side instantly, together with a few others, easing him to the ground completely.
"On second t-thought… a f-few minutes b-break s-s-sounds good…" McKay stuttered out, as they all crowded around him. Mallozzi was already peeling the physicist's hand away from his ribs, undoing the clasps of his vest.
The light jumper he had underneath was soaked with blood around his lower left ribs. Gasps could be heard, as Malozzi, with gentle help from Radek, pulled it up to reveal torn edges of a bullet wound.
"You were shot!?" Radek exclaimed, horrified
"A little louder, why don't you! I don't think the whole forest heard you!" McKay snapped, jutting his chin out defensively. "It didn't seem too serious," he added after a moment, sputtering a bit.
"Sir, there's no exit would," Mallozzi said, clearly shaken. No first-aid training prepared him to handle that sort of injury. "I think the bullet hit your rib"
"Well, ain't I lucky. I get a souvenir. And you get to keep your grubby fingers if you remove them from my person."
Mellozzi hesitated, as if he actually wanted to move away. Instead, Radek could almost see his thought process as he assessed the situation. The wound was nod bleeding hard at the moment but the angry flesh around it was swollen and torn.
"Sorry Doctor McKay, you'll just have to wait with chopping them off until we get back. I need to stop the bleeding."
"I'll scout for someplace more secluded for a shelter," a voice suddenly piped up and they all looked at Kusanagi with astonishment. The small, awkward woman didn't wait for acknowledgement, instead moving away from the group.
As Mallozzi prepared to dress the wound, Radek looked around. They were not prepared for this. They were scientists, most of the having next to none offworld experience. Even though they were reluctant to rely on Rodney, at the moment he was their best chance to go back home relatively safely. And to be fair, his little stunt at the ruins did put him in an entirely new light in the eyes of those that didn't know him too well before today.
A sense of fear and unease radiated from his colleagues and Zelenka cursed their bad luck. Their last check-in with Atlantis was literally minutes before the attack, last one planned for today. The next one - the one they'd have to miss to alert the city of trouble - was scheduled for next morning, hours away. And from experience, Radek knew that the command center usually waited a few hours before reaching out.
It looked like it's going to be a long night.