Sam and John sat on the floor across from each other now. An impossible decision had arisen and Murphy's Law had reared its ugly head. Rodney was alive, as were one of the Marine escorts. John and Sam had been forced to listen as one Marine was fed on as a warning to surrender.
They wanted Sam. The hero of Asuras. They had Rodney, and now they wanted the one who'd ensured the battle was won. The Wraith were in disarray and this hive wanted a technological advantage. So what better than take the two smartest people in the galaxy?
Sam had worked it out now. Activating the outpost had warned the Wraith. The Wraith commander had taunted them mercilessly, and threatened to take as many years from Rodney's life as needed if Sam didn't come out and give herself up soon. Rodney had been gagged though the pair could still hear him grunting and moaning about the situation. Oddly the Marine hadn't been gagged so John assumed the Wraith merely wanted Rodney to shut up. The constant thump thump of Wraith weapons against the heavy outpost door only made their thinking all that more ominous
After checking the outpost's computers they'd found a secondary exit. John figured he and Sam could evade the Wraith long enough to get to the gate, and maybe get back to Atlantis for reinforcements. But that would mean abandoning Rodney, and neither was willing to do that.
So that led to this position and now John and Sam struggled to think of a way to do everything they needed to do. Save Rodney, Save the Binthu, Save themselves, and maybe in that mess work out exactly how they were going to even look at each other again. Not to mention check if Sam was indeed alright from her near death experience.
It'd only been five minutes, every second wasted was lowering Rodney's chances. And that's when John got a horrible idea. A truly twisted, out of this world, on the fringe of lunacy idea, As he explained it to Sam, she had to admit, Murphy's Law might have cursed them, but maybe adding to the chaos was the most logical way to go.
"It appears they do not care about you. Perhaps hearing your screams would make them a bit more willing."
Rodney tried to work the leather gag out of his mouth He had no idea where this rag came from, horrible, horrible thoughts including the Wraith gastrointestinal tract came to mind. Did they even have a gastrointestinal tract!
At least 20 Wraith were in the area. the Binthu were all either hiding or under guard. Most of the Wraith were drones, but a trio of commanders remained besides the two who'd been dragged back, one with his throat cut open, and the other with more holes than swiss cheese. The Binthu were nowhere to be seen, whether they'd been culled or simply sequestered was beyond Rodney's knowledge.
The Wraith Commander crouched down to where a pair of Drones held Rodney down on his knees. "Another ten minutes and I shall enjoy taking a taste of you."
Rodney internally screamed. He'd never been fed on and he wasn't keen to appreciate the experience. All he knew was that one Marine was nothing more than a husk and the other had screamed to Sam and Sheppard that they should just leave them behind. No wonder Marines were called Jarheads, he obviously didn't have anything in his head!
Shuddering as the Wraith ran a finger down his face to his neck, Rodney suddenly decided that no, he wasn't ready to experience being fed on. If Sam and Sheppard managed to save him before that happened, he'd get them a great wedding present. If he survived the reprisal from them for highlighting the events that brought them all here, perhaps then he'd calm down.
Just as Rodney swore it, he felt a small shake in the ground as well as hearing a loud rumble from near the outpost. The Wraith heard it too and shot up. He quickly motioned to a quartet of Drones, who after a second grunted and began to run towards it. Rodney had never gotten used to the idea of the Wraith communicating telepathically. Granted yes, sometimes he wished he could just to make Radek work more efficiently, but having his secrets taken out from under him was by far not what he wanted.
Rodney turned towards where the rumble had come from. a thick haze now came from the sparse forest like an enveloping evil. It twisted towards them, slowly as if it oculd consciously choose to terrify.
The ground began to shake again, softly at first, nothing too serious and it could have been Rodney's imagination for all he knew, but it was growing, and in the cup of… some kind of fluid which Rodney didn't want to venture a guess, he could see tiny ripples from the tremors.
It grew into a noticeable effect and Rodney looked at the Marine across from him who began to breathe harder, almost as if expecting something. Rodney mimicked him, having to use his nose which unfortunately got a perfect whiff of the disgusting leather gag.
Looking back to the haze, Rodney realized it wasn't haze at all. It was smoke from fire or an explosive. As Rodney suddenly understood where it had come from, the four Wraith Drones that had gone out into the haze came back running at top speed. A series of pops became audible, sounding distinctly like gunfire. The rumbling ground grew even more, and Rodney would have gasped as he saw what the Wraith were running from if he didn't have a Wraith's potential toilet paper in his mouth.
An entire column of cows and bulls, the ones the Binthu kept for organic ploughs and meat were stampeding. there must have been at least fifty of them, and seated on top of one creature that resembled a horse, John and Sam sat riding the whole chaotic mass into the village.
The Wraith commander instantly began to scream orders, the few drones he had at the ready fired into the crowd of oncoming cattle. It was hopeless though, the stunner pistols and rifles were designed specifically for humans and it'd take four or five shots to take down an enraged, or in this case, terrified bull.
Adding to the chaos, Sam held her handgun with her right hand, firing either down into the ground or up towards the Wraith. John held Sam steady as he barely managed to ride the horse-like creature bareback. Rodney's dad had come from the Prairies and had once said that riding a horse like that was tremendously difficult and even at this distance Rodney could see John hugging Sam and the horse's neck to keep from falling off.
The Binthu had taken the chance and they quickly began to riot and cause general pandemonium throwing the Wraith into disarray. The ones who'd been hiding inside their tents swarmed the Wraith guarding Rodney and the Marine, and finally Rodney was able to pull the disgusting gag out of his mouth. Just in time too, as the bulls had almost reached them.
The Marine leapt up and used his combat boot to drive the Wraith above him's chin up and back in a roundhouse kick Chuck Norris would have been proud of. He then spun around and yelled at Rodney. "RUN!"
Rodney took one look at the stampede heading his way and didn't think twice. the enraged roars of the creatures as they drove horns first into the line of Wraith drones, cleanly pounding them into the ground and running them over was more than enough incentive.
Chuck hummed softly to himself and enjoyed the rather fine art of the "Birds of Prey" comic that Sheppard had lent him. Granted, Amelia's harrumph over the rather scantily clad women on the cover had been expected, but dammit, the writing was good!
He'd just turned the page to a nice battle scene involving jumping through the air when the alarms began to ring and an incoming wormhole signal activated. He instantly got to attention and tapped his radio. "Unscheduled off-world activation! Major Lorne to the…"
"I'm here."
Shirking at the sudden arrival of his superior officer, Chuck realized that Lorne had likely seen him goofing off. Amelia over at the other console looked equally amused, though frosty with the tense situation. "Incoming wormhole. it's from the Binthu's planet."
Lorne sighed. "You ever get that feeling nothing good's gonna come through there?"
Relieved that Lorne wasn't going to reprimand him even though both Sheppard and Carter had said it was okay for him to read something during the slow hours, although technically Carter had assumed he'd be reading tech manuals or… It didn't matter. "Every time the IOA calls, sir."
Lorne chuckled, and clicked his radio. "This is Lorne, anyone…."
"This is McKay! Drop-the-Shield-Drop-the-Shield-Drop-the-Shield!"
Getting an authentic IDC signal, Chuck didn't need to be ordered.
The shield in the Gate Room below opened, and the few guards who were on duty took aim. Standard operating procedure for any signal like that. A moment passed, and one of Sam's Marine escorts came barreling through with Rodney in tow.
Lorne was about halfway down the stairs to greet them when he stopped suddenly at the shock of what came through next. "What in the name of…!"
The dark brown colored creature came through at a full gallop, and John and Sam barely hung on as it skidded to a halt and began to run circles around the Gate Room. Sam screamed as she was flung around like a ragdoll. "Close-the-gate-Close-the-gate-Close-the-gate!"
Lorne was speechless, but thankfully Amelia couldn't see the pandemonium below and was able to shut it off despite everyone else's catatonia. Chuck couldn't help it and burst out laughing as John and Sam struggled to get the creature beneath them under control.
Rodney fell back, now hiding behind the line of very confused Marines on 'gate duty who didn't know whether to shoot or try and assist. Lorne finally snapped out of his stupor and tried to calm the beast down with his hands out stretched.
Surrounded, the creature only panicked even more. It had never been through a Stargate and was obviously very confused. John had finally had enough of the nausea-inducing rollercoaster ride and screamed. "Stun-it-Stun-it-Stun-it!"
The pair of Marines with Wraith stunners gave each other a look, and then shrugged. Both aimed low and drove shot after shot into the horse's abdomen. On the first hit, it bucked back cleanly throwing John and Sam off and down to the floor.
Since she was holding onto him for support, Sam found herself flying through the air with John as a cushion. Before she even hit the ground she screamed. "Sorry!"
John slammed into the ground, and a nanosecond later Sam landed on top of him in heap of bruised muscles and tangled limbs. John hacked out a cough as the strike winded him and Sam quickly rolled off of him.
Lorne rushed over and tried to help them up, but quickly realized that they were severely injured. Unwilling to exacerbate the situation, he keyed his radio. "Medical team to the Gate Room! I repeat, Medical team to the Gate Room on the double!"
John coughed. He'd broken some ribs for sure and that was nothing compared to how crappy Sam must have been feeling. If Keller didn't spring for the good stuff to deal with this pain, she truly was a coldhearted and sadistic monster.
Lorne just looked down at John and muttered. "The hell happened, sir?"
Looking at each other as they lay on the floor in pain, both writhing and struggling to breathe, it was a fight not to start laughing or weeping. John just muttered back. "Murphy's a bitch."
Now resting comfortably in the semi-privacy of the infirmary, John eagerly awaited some news from either the Binthu, Sam's condition, or just about anything that would distract him from the pain of his two broken ribs. The worst part was that he could still swear he felt that mental link. Something told him that relief was coming soon, but not the way he was expecting.
Sam was going to be alright, Keller had explained that through some sheer and utter dumb luck of the universe, the naquadah in Sam's bloodstream had acted as a sort of poison to the Wraith. When she'd exposed cultures of Wraith DNA to a sample of Sam's blood, the result was what could only be described as allergic. John had struggled not to laugh out loud at the idea that the Wraith were literally allergic to Sam. Jennifer had also explained that it was a very unique occurrence, and that given a little time to adapt, and no injuries from multiple gunshot wounds, the Wraith would have eventually succeeded in feeding on her. John's quick reaction had kept Sam alive and despite the humor, it was a sobering thought for both Colonels.
Lo and behold, a few moments after the feeling had arisen, Marie came along pushing Sam in a wheelchair, and Keller came up to him with a tablet nestled in the crook of her arm. Uh oh.
Jennifer nodded slightly to Marie, dismissing her with a silent gesture. John looked to Sam and had his fear confirmed. Keller knew.
Marie nodded to both Sam and John, and then backed off, closing the curtain around the three.
Keller faced John as soon as they had privacy, and quietly said. "I'm very disappointed in you both for not telling me about the outpost sooner, but I do understand why you want to keep it private." John instantly felt his cheeks turn red… or were those Sam's? "I've already talked it over with Colonel Carter. I'm willing to keep this quiet as long as it doesn't affect your command abilities. this means I'm going to have to run some tests, and I need both of your full co-operation."
John gulped audibly. Obviously Sam had spilled it all and now all that was left was dealing with it. He sighed resignedly. "What do you need?"
A/N: The chapter title is an inside joke. A million and a half points if you figure it out :P
