Chapter 2: Lost in Space

They didn't need Rodney to complete his sentence; they both knew what he meant. They had twenty-four hours to find a solution and save not only the City, but also the expedition.

"Can we use the Stargate?" Teyla asked, hoping that they would at least be able to transfer non-essential personnel to the Alpha Site.

"In order to dial a Gate, it needs to be calibrated to a specific location. We are lost. Look, we dropped out of hyperspace way too soon. I have no idea where we are."

The word was out; they were lost in space. In order to escape an attack, they left the planet, only to find themselves stranded completely in the middle of nowhere. And by the look on Rodney's face, John and Teyla could only guess that getting out of this mess would be complicated, if not impossible.

"Colonel?" Jennifer said, and he turned to face her. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we're ready to transfer the injured to the infirmary."

"Ok, do that, and keep me informed."

"Will do, sir. But the thing is, Doctor Weir refuses to come until she gets an update on the situation with the City."

"That doesn't come as a surprise," John replied with a small smile. "Tell you what. Transfer everyone else, and I'll take Elizabeth to the infirmary myself once I've given her that update."

"Yes, sir."

He watched her walk down the stairs, and order her team to the infirmary. Only a small crew remained in the control room once the injured left, but for the time being, it was better this way; he didn't want to alert his people to the situation just yet.

"She's not Doctor Beckett, but she'll do well," Teyla said, misinterpreting the path his thoughts had wandered on.

"I know. Look," he said, turning back to his teammates, "I'm going to inform Elizabeth of the situation, and then, I'll walk her to the infirmary. In the meantime, try and find a solution."

"I don't see wha…" Rodney stopped himself when he saw the look on John's face. "I will."

"Good. Teyla…"

"I'll keep an eye on everything. Go see Elizabeth."

"Thank you."

Nodding at them, he turned away, and jogged down the stairs. Elizabeth was still sitting where he had left her, and for him, it was evidence that she was still processing what had happened to the City, and to her. Otherwise, she would have found her way up the stairs, even if she had to crawl to join them in the control room.

She was looking straight ahead of her, and didn't turn around when he approached. He wasn't even sure she heard his footsteps. He sat down beside her, and took her uninjured hand in his.

She turned her face, and looked at him straight in the eyes. He could see unshed tears in her eyes, but he knew she wouldn't let them fall; not here, not now.

"You ok?" he asked.

"I will be," she tried to reassure him with a smile. "So, what's going on with our City? I could feel that we dropped out of hyperspace. Have we already reached our new planet?"

"Not exactly."

John then proceeded to explain everything that was going on, trying to remember exactly what Rodney had been telling him and Teyla. She didn't interrupt him, except for a couple of clarifications.

"That's it. You know everything."

"So basically, we're screwed."

"That's a pretty good summary of the situation, yeah," he replied with a chuckle. "But Rodney will find a solution. You know him. He's always pretending not to know what's going on, so that he can say he's a genius when he figures it out."

"You really think that's what he's doing today?"

"No," he had to admit under her gaze. "But we've faced worse situations, and we're still here. It's going to be fine," he added, squeezing her hand. "Now, let's get you to the infirmary, ok?"

"I'll be of more use…," she tried to protest, but John stopped her.

"You'll be more useful once Keller has patched you up. Come on, let's go."

He got up, and held his hand out for her. Once her hand was safely in his, he pulled her up, and he had to steady her when she swayed on her feet.

"Whoa, careful there. You ok?"

"Yeah. I just stood up a bit too fast," she replied, closing her eyes to stop the room from spinning around her.

"I should probably call the infirmary to send us a wheelchair."

"No, no. I can walk there, John."

"Elizabeth, you have a concussion, you have to be careful."

"I know, and I'm fine. Promise," she added, opening her eyes to look at him.

He didn't know what to do. On one hand, he didn't want to risk her health, but on the other hand, he knew that if he bypassed her and radioed the infirmary, she would end up being angry at him, and it was the last thing he needed, today.

"Ok, we'll walk to the infirmary. But I'm holding on to you," he said, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Is the room still spinning?"

"It's fine, now. But I shouldn't move my head too much."

"You can rest it against my shoulder, if you want. Even close your eyes, if it's better that way. I'll guide you."

"Thanks, John. We can go, if you want."

They walked through the Gateroom, under, of that he was sure, the puzzled stares of every single person left in the control room. Her uninjured hand was still in his, and his other arm held her as close to him as possible, so that she could lean against him if she needed to.

He walked slowly, slower that she would have liked, because she didn't wait very long to point it out to him.

"You know, I won't break if we walk just a little faster."

"I know, but you have a concussion, and you shouldn't strain yourself."

"And how do you know that?"

"I'll have you know that I've had ten concussions already, and four of them since I started working here."

"What about the other six?" she asked, quite curious.

"One when I fell off my horse. He got scared by a bee," he explained at her look. "Two when I was a cadet. And another two during crashes."

"There's one missing," she said when she made the count in her head. "You're embarrassed," she said when she saw the look on his face. "This must be good. Come on tell me, John. I promise I'll keep it to myself."

"It happened when I was six. I was jumping on my bed and hit my head against the ceiling. You can laugh," he said as he saw her trying to fight back a smile.

"You must have scared your parents."

"Yeah. They took me to the hospital, and I remember them being relieved when the doctor told them that I only had a concussion."

"I guess that after that bad experience, you stopped jumping on your bed."

"You'd think, but no. I just didn't jump as high after that," he replied with a smile.

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly at him, but what he had just told her didn't come as a surprise. She knew him by now, and a small incident like that wouldn't have made him stop, no matter how old he was.

"What about you? Is that your first concussion?"

"No. I had a car accident when I was in college. My car was totalled, but I got out of there with a concussion only."

"You were very lucky."

"That's what Simon told me. He was an intern at the hospital, that's actually how we met."

"Chance meeting. Just like you and me, I suppose. If Carson hadn't sent that drone towards my helicopter..."

"And if you hadn't sat in the chair," she continued. "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't change a single thing."

"Neither would I," he replied with a smile. "It looks like we're there."

They entered the infirmary and were immediately spotted by a nurse, who motioned them towards a free bed.

"Glad to see you've finally joined us," Jennifer said as she walked towards them a few seconds later.

"He insisted we walk slowly, so that I don't tire myself."

"And he was right. Let's get you under that scanner, so that I can see what's going on with that wrist and head of yours. Colonel, could you wait for her, over here, please?"

"I thought she would have to stay until tomorrow morning, at least."

"Oh, she should, but she insisted I let her work, and have someone check her up every once in a while."

"You do know that even though she's the leader of this expedition, you outrank her because you're the CMO, right?"

"Did that trick ever work with Carson?"

"Once or twice. Try it when she's really tired, and you'll have minimal complaints."

"You do know it's not polite to talk about me as though I'm not here," Elizabeth pointed out to them, getting a bit sick of being ignored. "And I'm not staying. I'm the leader, I have to be there. Now, will you wait for me, John?"

He knew that when she had her mind set to something, it was hard to convince her to do differently, and this time would be no exception. She was resolute to go back to the control room, and he would not be winning this one.

"Fine. But that doesn't mean I like it," he added, with a pointed look. "She's all yours, Doctor."

He watched them leave, and sat down in a free chair. He looked around at the injured people; most of them had glass slivers being picked out of their skin, a few had an arm or leg in a cast, but all in all, they were lucky.

###

Sam was floating above the floor; if she wasn't currently concentrated on her work, she would be enjoying herself quite a bit. Going into space had been her dream since she was a kid, and even though she had done it more times than she could count, it was the first time she experienced weightlessness. Working on getting the gravity back on in the Midway Space Station had its perks.

She was drifting slowly towards the center of the room, careful of the various equipments they had around.

"Hey, are you getting the same data rate inconsistencies off these flash drives? Bill? Bill?" she asked, turning around just in time to see him vomit into a bag.

"Oh, sorry."

"Oh, boy."

"It's this damned weightlessness."

"You know, maybe you should gate back to Earth. I can get somebody else to help me bring the Station online," she said, definitely not wanting a repeat performance; Lieutenant Hailey would be just as qualified to help her.

"No, no, I'll be fine as soon as I can figure out how to get the gravity back on. Uh, what were you saying about the flash drives?"

"It's just that every time I update the software, the drives ..."

But she couldn't go any further. The sound of a Gate opening cut her off, and when they turned towards the screens, they noticed that the Pegasus Gate was active.

"This is Colonel Abe Ellis, commander of the Apollo. Midway Station, please respond."

They had been expecting that report, but something in the Colonel's voice told Sam that what he was about to say wouldn't be exactly what they were waiting for. This, and the fact that usually, Atlantis would be the one doing the report.

"Colonel Ellis, this is Colonel Samantha Carter. I am on the Midway Station. How did the mission go?"

"Well, as far as we can tell, Atlantis successfully evaded the Replicators' beam and was able to enter hyperspace."

"From what you can tell?" she asked, already fearing his answer.

"Well, they're not at the pre-determined rendezvous point."

Sam couldn't say that she was surprised to hear this, as she had already determined that something must have gone wrong for the Apollo to contact them. But that doesn't explain how they were able to dial the Midway Station; M12-578 didn't have a Gate, of that, she was sure.

"I've jumped to the nearest Gate to see if they've checked in with you," Ellis replied when she asked.

She ended the communication with Ellis, and turned back towards Bill, who was looking as anxious as she was feeling.

"But where are they?" he finally asked, all thoughts of repairs long forgotten. "If they're not on Lantea anymore, and if they haven't reached M12-578 yet… They're lost in space!"

"Whatever happened, I'm sure Doctors McKay and Zelenka will figure it out. They always do." She wasn't even sure who she tried to reassure with her words, herself or Bill. "Come on, Bill, let's get back to work. There's nothing we can do for Atlantis just yet, but we can make sure the Midway Station is in working order for their next trip home."

He nodded slowly, and followed her back to the other side of the room, where they proceeded to continue the repairs.

###

He didn't know how long he had been sitting here, lost in his thoughts, but it felt like hours since Elizabeth had left to have her scan done. He could only hope that it wasn't a bad sign that she wasn't back just yet.

"Colonel?" he turned towards the voice belonging to a nurse. "Good to see you here. Would you mind giving us a hand with Ronon? I have to set his shoulder back in place, but I need an extra pair of hands to keep him down."

"Of course, lead the way," he said, getting up and following her to a bed hidden by curtains. "Hey buddy! Have they given you the good stuff, yet?"

"It doesn't really hurt."

"Only you would say that."

Following the nurse's instructions, he held onto Ronon's uninjured shoulder. He couldn't help but wince when the bone popped back in place, remembering from past experiences that that part hurt like hell. But looking at his friend's face, he didn't see the pain he was expecting; it was like he had barely felt it.

He shook his head, and took a step back, so that the nurse could do her work, and put Ronon's arm in a sling.

"So, what's going on?" Ronon asked, as the nurse left them alone once she was done.

"I won't go into details, but to sum it all up in a few words, if we don't find another ZPM soon, we're dead."

"That's quite reassuring. Is there something I can do to help?"

"I thought Keller wanted to keep you here for a few hours."

"Yeah. I'm not the boss, so… She does have great negotiating skills."

"She does, but I wish she wouldn't use them in these circumstances. Look, once you're out of here, would you mind keeping an eye on Elizabeth? I probably won't have time to do that…"

"Count on me."

'Thank you. Now, get some rest. I believe it'll be a while before we have a full night sleep."

John left Ronon's bedside, and after telling a nurse where he would be if Elizabeth asked for him, he went to stand just outside the infirmary. He had to get an update on the City from Rodney, and he didn't want to risk anyone overhearing the conversation, just in case things had worsened.

"McKay, this is Sheppard. What's our status?"

"It's looking worse every passing minute," came the reply, and it wasn't to reassure him. "We can't contact the Apollo, sub-space communications are down. Chuck was working on it, but the whole panel exploded."

"He's not hurt, though," Teyla quickly added, knowing that it would be John's next question.

"What's worse though," Rodney continued as though he hadn't been interrupted, "is that we've lost power, massive amounts of power. I've sent teams to shut down all-non essential systems, but…"

"But…," John prompted when the scientist didn't continue.

"The City collapsed the shield to save power, and we lost a team."

John closed his eyes in grief; those men were the first casualties of the Asurans' attack on Atlantis, and the only thing on his mind was that if he had stood by Elizabeth in the first place, like he should have as her second in command, none of this would have happened. But he had let himself be convinced that the first strike was the best thing to do; how wrong he had been.

"This is not all. There's an asteroid belt on our way, the shield won't be able to protect us."

"I can get in the Chair, fire drones and clear a path to travel through," John suggested.

"In principle, a good idea, but the Chair Room is outside the shield right now and we'd never get to it. Look, we could, um ... ah, that's not gonna work. Uh, we could ..."

John heard in Rodney's voice that he had run out of possibilities, and that was not at all reassuring. But just as he thought about it, he realized that there was still an option the scientist hadn't thought of.

"How many people on the base have the Ancient gene?" he just asked, knowing that at one point, Rodney's mind would catch up with his.

"Twenty or so," he replied absentmindedly, before figuring out what was implied by the question. "Look, no, no, no-no-no-no. That is a bad idea."

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Yes," he answered, trying to think of one that would change John's mind. "I can't. I just, I just need some time. If you, er ..."

But they didn't have more time; if they wanted the City and its inhabitants to pass through the asteroid belt unscathed, they had to act fast. And John's solution, though dangerous, was the only viable one.

"Contact everyone on the base who has the Ancient gene; tell them to meet me up in the Jumper Bay. Sheppard out."

He didn't give Rodney time to say anything else, and went back into the infirmary. Elizabeth still wasn't back from her scan, and he had no other option but ask one of the nurses to give her a message.

"I need to leave for a while," he told the nurse who had asked his help with Ronon's shoulder. "When Doctor Weir comes back, just tell her to wait for me, here. If that doesn't work," he added, knowing that it probably wouldn't work, knowing her as he did, "go ask Ronon for help. Whatever you do, do not let her leave without me," he concluded, but then added as an afterthought. "And don't sedate her."

The nurse shook her head vehemently, remembering what happened when Carson did sedate her when she still didn't want to get some rest at the end of another crisis. It hadn't been a pretty sight. John sent a look heavenward to the good doctor, knowing that he was probably laughing his ass off at him for trying to control Elizabeth's moves; they both knew it was next to impossible.

With reassurance that Elizabeth would be taken care of, even though he knew he was in for an earful once she learned of his orders, John left the infirmary, knowing that one of the worst parts of his job was still ahead of him. He might be sending some of those men and women to their death, himself included.

###

Of course, once they were done playing Asteroids, as Rodney had labelled it, it didn't mean that they were out of the woods for good. As soon as they got into the control room, they learned that the hyperdrive was offline, thanks to some smaller asteroids who had impacted the City.

John left Lorne to help Zelenka, knowing that he had a more pressing matter at hand; he had to relieve the nurses of one Doctor Elizabeth Weir, who was probably driving them crazy, wanting to go back to the control room to find out what was going on. And as a matter of fact, the moment he was in full view of her, she sent him a death glare he wouldn't be able to forget any time soon.

Ronon, who was sitting next to her, looked at him with relief when he saw him walking towards them. He had probably had his hands full, trying to make sure Elizabeth would wait until he was back.

"You left me out of the loop," she said as soon as he was close enough, and he knew she just itched to slap him hard across the face.

"I'm sorry, but that couldn't wait. There was an asteroid belt on our way, and the shield wouldn't have protected us."

"What did you do?"

"I got everyone with the Ancient Gene in Jumpers, and we fired at them. We were lucky," he admitted to her. "So what about you?"

"I'll live," she deadpanned, and he couldn't help the smile that stretched out his lips. "I got a brand new cast, that you can sign later," she added with a smile, knowing what he was thinking. "And I still have a concussion, but I can leave, as long as a medic checks on me every hour or so."

"Nothing I can say would be able to change your mind on this point, right?"

"No. I'm the leader of Atlantis, I can't stay in the infirmary at a time like this. My place is in the control room with the rest of you."

"Ok," he conceded, before turning towards Ronon. "Do you need anything?"

"Get me out of here."

"I'm sorry, Ronon, but the free pass is for Elizabeth only. You'll have to wait until Keller releases you. You'll find us in the control room. Let's go then," he said, offering his arm to Elizabeth, who took it without question.

While they were walking towards the control room, he updated her on the situation he knew of. As Rodney hadn't contacted him yet, he didn't know how Lorne and Zelenka were doing outside the shield, but he could only hope that all was going well.

But as soon as they rounded a corner, they saw Lorne walking in their direction, supporting an injured Zelenka.

"What the hell happened?" John asked, once they were close enough.

"A micro-asteroid hit him in the leg."

"But we finished the repairs. Except that it doesn't work," he added after a beat.

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked, afraid that her City was even more in danger than before.

"We don't have enough power to activate the hyperspace jump."

Elizabeth closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose; their last chance at getting out of there was gone. And as far as she knew, Rodney didn't have anything else up his sleeve.

"Get him to the infirmary, Evan. And John, we have to get to the control room as fast as possible, and assess the current situation."

###

Now that the gravity had been restored on the Midway Station, Sam could work on more pressing matters. The Apollo hadn't been in contact yet, and she wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad thing.

Finding a way to contact Atlantis was more taxing than she would have thought. With the City's gate off the grid, they couldn't be contacted directly, and even if Bill's suggestion to contact all the Gate's at once to find them had sounded interesting, she knew that if they had been in close range of a Gate, Atlantis would have had contacted them by now.

"You know," she finally said after long minutes of silence, "the easiest thing to do if they really did fall out of hyperspace early is to fly back over the path between M12-578 and Atlantis."

"Well, that would take over a million years. That's why we have hyperspace."

"We could use the Apollo's long-range sensors."

"No. Those long-range sensors, they don't work in hyperspace," Bill pointed out to her, hating to crush her hopes.

"I know, but we could make a little jump, look around, make another little jump, look around, until we find them."

"Yeah, that's good. Uh, so using those sensors, conservatively, we'd have to make... one hundred and eighty thousand "little jumps," he said, using quotation marks. "It'd take a few years."

"Unless they seriously augment the long-range sensors."

"Who's gonna do that? It's not like they have an Asgard on board."

Sam smiled at him, and he knew he wouldn't be a fan of her idea. And as soon as he heard it, he could already imagine the thousand ways he could fail.

But he knew better than to tell her that; he knew as well as everyone else at the SGC that Samantha Carter had saved the world many times already, and if there was someone who could find a City stranded in space, it was her.

It looked like he was in for a trip in another galaxy.

He stood beside her, as she informed General Landry of what little they knew about the situation Atlantis was currently in. The General gave them a go, and the Milky Way Gate shut down.

Now, they were on their own.

###

When Elizabeth and John walked into the control room, only Teyla noticed them. The gate technicians and scientists, including Rodney, were conferring on the better way to save the City.

She walked towards them, and greeted them with a smile, happy to see Elizabeth up and about.

"What's the situation, Teyla?" she asked, as John prompted her to sit down on a chair.

"I'm afraid it hasn't changed much. As far as I could understand, Doctor Zelenka radioed in with a solution to bypass a security protocol that prevents us from using what little power we have left to jump into hyperspace."

"Yes, yes, but there's a fifty-fifty chance the City could be ripped apart," Rodney said, having heard Teyla's words. "And we wouldn't be able to get even to the nearest Stargate."

"Ok, bad plan, then," John decided. "Anything else?"

"Experimental Jumper," Rodney said, snapping his fingers rapidly in the process. "Remember when I was zapped by that machine a few months ago and I got, well, even smarter than I normally am?"

"The one that almost killed you? Yeah," John replied, as Elizabeth resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Yeah, well, before I was re-set, I was very close to giving one of our Puddle Jumpers a hyperdrive."

"Can you finish it?" Elizabeth asked, rising to her feet, so that she was face to face with him.

"Yeah! I mean, yes, I probably can."

"Alright, great. Well, we'll make a jump to the Apollo, tell them where we are."

"No. We won't be able to jump that far. And we get only two jumps, so we can't ferry the crew to another planet," he added, knowing that had been on John's mind.

"So what can we do?" Elizabeth asked again, knowing from the glint in his eyes that he had a solution.

"We can go somewhere where they could give us a few ZedP.M.s."

"And where is that?"

"M7R-227."

###

To be continued