Chapter Four—Banged Up Stupid
"Okay. Hold on…told you they would call…get the lead flight attendant in here for me," Ramos said as the plane leveled out.
Sheppard heard the flight attendants frantic call. He looked worriedly at Ramos but focused on his voice. He told her to come up. He realized then that he also heard banging on cabin door.
"Sheppard!" He recognized Ronon's voice now. "Sheppard!! Open the door!"
Sheppard realized he would have to get up to do that. He took off his mask and willed himself out of his chair. He steadied himself and pushed back the gray forming in his field of vision.
It only took a few steps and he fumbled at the door. "Sheppard!" Yes that was Ronon, and he heard McKay talking to probably the flight attendant.
Sheppard opened the door and nearly collapsed at the effort. "Oh my God," McKay exclaimed behind Ronon.
He felt Ronon guiding him back toward his seat. McKay was arguing with the flight attendant.
"Rodney!" Sheppard shouted. His headache was barely tolerable, and he needed to take care of business. "Rodney please let her through. Ronon. Please I need to talk to her. " Ronon knew that Sheppard was not doing so well, but the pilot, Sheppard's friend,was worse.
"Oh my God," the lead flight attendant said looking at the glass and blood throughout the cockpit. "Captain Ramos!" She said rushing to the pilot. "Joachim."
The older pilot looked at her. He removed the mask and Sheppard noticed blood had run down his chin. Shit! Shit! Shit! Sheppard thought.
"Kara," he heard Ramos rasp. "Look. Sheppard is going to have to take over. He's a pilot. I am going to help him. Just let the passengers know that there was an attempted hijack that was thwarted and that, during it, there was a breach in the compartment. We are fine, but…have to fly below 10,000 for the rest of the trip…it's going to take a little…longer. If there are any concerns, we will let them know, but we are not worried right now. If they ask just let them know that a pilot is flying this bird."
"Yes sir. I will find a doctor. We have two on board."
"Okay. Shep is hurt worse than he will tell you. Do what he tells you Kara and let his team help you."
She nodded with tear filled eyes then quickly dried them and put on a mask of calm. Sheppard looked up at Ronon and the Satedan followed her out to help. When they left Rodney rushed in. "What did you do, Sheppard?"
Sheppard had to smile. "Saved your ass again, Rodney."
McKay harrumphed while he looked Sheppard over. "Jeez, John. I don't think there is anymore blood left in your head."
"Rodney, put the mask back on Ramos," Sheppard said putting his own on again.
McKay turned around. He checked the older man's pulse. Not good. "Okay," he said quietly. "There you go Captain. Doc will be here soon." McKay turned around to Sheppard as he realized something. He placed a headset on to talk. "Hey should the rest of us still be on oxygen?"
"No. We are okay here where we are, but anyone in the cockpit should keep it on. This altitude affects night vision and we don't want to go much lower." Sheppard was quiet for a while. McKay could hear both pilots breathing irregularly. He knew he should be scared but for some reason he didn't. He needed to act but was not sure what he could do to help. Sheppard looked up at him with glassy, dazed eyes and appeared to be thinking or wanting to say something. Great, McKay thought, you went and got yourself banged up stupid. We are so dead.
Sheppard opened his mouth to finally say something when a tall gentleman rushed in with another standing behind him. "Hello. I am Dr. Jesop and this is Dr. Baker. We need some space to work please," the doctor said in a firm buy gentle British accent.
"Sure, fine." McKay said handing the doctor the headset. "I'll check on you soon, John. Need to let them do their voodoo."
Sheppard nodded expressionless. Yeah, so dead.
Jesop was in front of Sheppard. "Son," the gray haired man said with that gentle voice. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Sheppard looked around the doctor. "How is the colonel?"
The old man did not take his hands off of Sheppard. "Doctor Baker is taking care of him. Now tell me what happened first."
Sheppard related what he remembered of the story while the doctor examined him. "Ah so that is how you got this gash and bruise on your head. You need stitches. I'm worried about the sluggishness of your pupils. Are you seeing double?
"No."
"Do you feel nauseous?"
"Not now. Did."
"Head hurt?"
"Yes."
Sheppard grunted as the man touched his shoulder. "You have lost a lot of blood colonel. I need to get this bleeding to stop. You really should not be flying."
"Oh, and he should." Sheppard quipped.
"I'm afraid you have at least a moderate concussion."
"Can you fly this whale doc?"
"Hey on both counts," he heard Ramos say weakly through the headset.
"Need to get you patched up colonel if you are going to help Captain Ramos."
"I'm fine now. Need to stay."
"I just want to get you stitched up son. We have a long trip ahead of us."
Sheppard was going to say something when he heard Ramos in his ear. "Spike, it's on autopilot. Get your friend McKay back in here to figure out what the hell happened. That is why you have him, isn't it? To fix stuff? Go get yourself sorted out. Then it can be my turn. If something happens then we'll get you. That's an order."
Ramos thought Sheppard would argue. He could not give him orders anymore, but instead he heard a weak "Yes sir," and the doctor was helping him out of the seat.
The curtain was still closed so no one saw Jesop help him to the crew quarters. It was large enough for a twin size bed, and a couch and two seats. The idiot high-jacker was bound and gagged. Sheppard saw a figure on the bed covered in a blanket. He knew he was out of sorts a bit because a part of him understood that if he were feeling better, he would not have left the cockpit under any circumstances since that was the co-pilot under that blanket. But he knew he needed to get the bleeding under control if he was going get them home. He also knew Ramos was going to die. In his heart he knew it, but he allowed himself to deny it right now.
"Ronon, get him out of here before I change my mind and let you kill him. Take his wallet and get information to Rodney to find out more." He felt disconnected from himself slightly as he spoke. Ronon smiled and grabbed a wide-eye Mathias and led him out.
"John," he heard a soft call on his left. His left eye was nearly swollen shut and it hurt to move it, so he turned his head.
"Teyla," he said quietly with a smile. She did not look shocked at his appearance because she had seen him like this before. Even worse.
She sat next to him on the couch as the doctor looked him over some more. "I need you to lay down son. I am going to stitch you up and stop the bleeding on this shoulder. They have a pretty impressive med kit here so I am going to give you a local but I can't give you anything else."
"Story of my…life doc." Sheppard said sleepily.
"Miss, is it okay if I place his head in your lap? I could use your help keeping him still."
Teyla nodded as the doctor placed a blanket on her lap and eased Sheppard back. Gentle fingers pried open his swollen eye again and a light flashed in it. He hissed in anger and was met with a gentle pat on his leg. "Sorry son, but want to make sure there is no damage to the eye directly."
Sheppard slowed his breathing. He felt Teyla's small warm hand wrap around his slender shaking one. "Teyla?" he asked quietly.
"Yes John. I am here."
"Tell McKay to figure out…what's wrong…," he couldn't remember what he need from Rodney for a second, and it was hard keeping his eyes open. "Ummm, wrong with the hydraulics…why de…depressurized…I forgot to…tell him earlier.
"Okay, John," she whispered while she held him gently. She rubbed his hair softly and frowned when her hand came away bloody. The doctor administered a numbing shot to Sheppard's head. She did not watch but spoke softly to him as the older man stitched his head and cleaned him up as best as he could. It did not seem to take as long as she thought it would, but Sheppard did not even stir when the doctor worked on his shoulder pressing firmly on the wound.
"Miss, can you hold this here firmly for just a minute while I get something to adhere to it? It'd like to immobilize his arm, but he is going to need it, so I just need to get a firm bandage on there."
"He seems to be sleeping too soundly doctor," Teyla whispered.
"He has a moderate concussion. I am concerned with the bruising on his right side of his torso but nothing appears broken, and frankly there is nothing I can do even if it is a problem. I would like to keep him still for as long as possible until he is needed in the cockpit."
She nodded. It was disconcerting sitting with the body of the co-pilot just a few feet away. "I am Teyla. I will keep him here as long as possible."
"Thank you, Teyla. I do hope he can fly this plane. The other pilot is not likely to live much longer," the doctor said quietly as he finished with Sheppard.
She said nothing as she looked sadly at Sheppard. "He can fly anything doctor. As long as he is conscious, he will not let anything stop him from keeping everyone here safe." Her conviction surprised the doctor, but he had not been through what they had. McKay would determine what was wrong, and he would fix it, and John would land this aircraft safely.
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Storms, turbulence ahead and that's even before the difficult landing. Thanks for your feedback. I have not based this off a specific movie, just let the mind flow a little, but I would be wrong to say that those disaster movies weren't an inspiration. I'm torn though what to do about Ramos. May take a wee bit longer for the next post. Waiting on getting it Betaed and now in the revision part but just a little bit longer.