Respite
Nondum Omnium Dierum Sol Occidit
oOo
After Dr. Millhouse had chased him out of the isolation room, Radek hadn't been able to return to the lab. He knew he wouldn't be able to focus on any task he attempted. As much as he complained about the arrogant man, Rodney was a friend to him. This time, it wasn't a case of hypochondria. Rodney was in serious trouble.
Radek sat down in the informal waiting room Carson Beckett had created not long after their arrival in Atlantis. He worried about Rodney. It had been almost half an hour since Rodney had flat-lined. The fact that it was taking so long, that was probably a good thing. Dying was quick. Radek sighed. He should be going back to the lab and work. Just as he wanted to get up, Dr. Millhouse came through the door of the infirmary. Her face was a mask of impassiveness and it was impossible to tell what news she was bringing.
"Dr. Zelenka, I thought I might find you still here..."
"How is Rodney?" Radek interrupted her, not in the mood for small talk.
"He is alive, for now. But his neural activity has dropped considerable during the last half hour and I'm afraid this is a continuing trend. Dr. McKay is in a deep coma right now."
Radek nodded. "What's the prognosis, doctor?"
"Without knowing more about what caused his condition, I'm afraid I can't be very optimistic. At the moment, his brain activity will sustain autonomic functions, but if he continues to deteriorate like this, he'll eventually suffer brain death."
"How long does he have?" Radek hardly dared to ask, but he needed to know the facts.
"Dr. McKay's condition worsened considerably over the last hour. He would have had several days, but now, a day, maybe less. I'll have to consult with Dr. Beckett and Dr. Biro, but I don't think they'll know much more than I do. We need to know what caused Dr. McKay's condition in order to find a treatment."
"Yes. Can you let me know as soon as anything changes? I'll be in the lab." Radek had an idea. He had not forgotten what Rodney had told him, just before everything had gone to hell, but he hadn't been sure how much credit to give a dying man. At least, he was going to check it out; he owed Rodney that much.
Radek walked out into the corridor and tapped his radio.
"Dr. Weir, this is Dr. Zelenka. I need to speak with you; it is urgent."
He got no reply. "Dr. Weir. I need to speak with you. It is urgent, about Dr. McKay.
"Dr. Zelenka. Dr. Weir is off-world at the moment. There has been an incident involving Major Sheppard. It's pretty chaotic, so unless the world is ending, you'll have to wait." Radek recognized the voice of Dr. Taylor.
"Yes, world is very well ending. Zelenka out." Radek clicked out his radio and stormed off to the lab. Where were people when you needed them? He was going to do this alone if he had to. Rodney had figured out a way to tap into the main computer from the lab sometime last year after the Genii invasion. The access protocol was locked up tight in a file on Rodney's computer, and it was just a matter of finding it. Radek let himself into Rodney's private lab and switched on the laptop.
oOo
Ten minutes later, he had Rodney's password hacked. The man was too easy, using Colonel Carter's locker combination. He would have thought the man would go for something classier. But that was Rodney. Finding the access protocols was harder than figuring out the password. Radek had to wade through denigrating progress reports about the staff, unfinished letters to McKay's sister and dozens of mission reports until he found what he was looking for.
Twenty minutes later, Radek was king over Atlantis. The power of Atlantis sensors was at his fingertips. Oh well, at least until someone found out. But that someone would have been Rodney, or him, so no one was going to know about his little experiment.
He scanned for the presence of life-forms first. Nothing unusual showed and the log for the past day didn't show that an intruder had been aboard Atlantis. Looking though the logs for energy consumption, nothing had spiked during the last forty-eight hours either. He did find something unusual, looking for energy discharges during that time frame. He found what he was looking for.
It was at the right time and in the right place. About an hour before Rodney had first collapsed, an unusual burst of energy had been released inside his quarters. Two life-forms had been present at the time. The door to his quarters had activated just before the energy surge and just after. It had been an attempt on Rodney's life and Rodney himself had told him who the do-er was: Colonel Sheppard.
If nothing else qualified as the end of the world, this did. Radek wasn't an alarmist, but he needed to warn Elizabeth. Sheppard could very well be out to kill her as well.
Radek tapped his radio.
"Taylor, I need to talk to Elizabeth, it's life-and-death. And I'm not kidding."
"She's off-world right now, Dr. Zelenka. I'm not even sure who is in charge." Dr. Taylor was starting to sound nervous at the predicted Armageddon.
"Sheppard is going to kill people, so get security to infirmary. Do something!"
"Are you serious?"
"Just do it!" Radek screamed in exasperation when suddenly he became aware of a soft ticking sound. Ticking sounds were bad, very bad. Things that went boom. Radek dove under the table and there it was. The device looked to be Wraith and blinked in a menacing green. He tried to detach it, but it wouldn't budge. He lost valuable seconds, before he recalled to just run, run and hope the door would close behind him fast enough and seal the explosion within the lab. Rodney would be so pissed at him for destroying his precious lab, but Radek would gladly listen to Rodney ranting and raving if it meant that Rodney recovered from whatever Sheppard had done to him.
The doors slid closed in agonising slowness as Radek sprinted away. He wasn't safely around the bend yet when the explosion rocked the entire level.
oOo
Only the single moon and the stars over M2X-118 faintly illuminated the grassy plain stretching out in front of the Stargate. The Jumper was parked aside and Dr. Beckett and the other medics immediately hurried to help Lieutenant Ritter with the wounded.
"Dr. Weir. My men have secured the area and we are ready to start a search, but with the darkness, we can only rely on the LSDs to aid in the search. The lack of visibility will make our efforts difficult." Simmons explained
"Do you have any further information yet, Sergeant?" Elizabeth inquired. She didn't have any experience to help in a coordinated search; her skills were in negotiations. But for that to happen, Simmons and his men needed to find John first, preferably without having to shoot him.
"We don't know anything new yet. We're planning to make a sweep by Jumper, as soon as Dr. Beckett has taken Mars and Lorne back to Atlantis. I tried the Ancient database, but there is nothing that can help us in there. Clearly they never explored this planet. Without the Jumper's sensors, we have no chance of finding the colonel in the darkness. He is almost thirty minutes head start on us by now."
"I understand. I'll check with Dr. Beckett and see how much longer he needs." Elizabeth headed over to the Jumper.
Carson and Dr. Biro were getting the injured soldiers placed on the craft.
"Carson, how much time until you're good to leave for Atlantis?"
Carson looked up from the still form of Major Lorne. "The sooner the better. I hope Simmons knows how to fly these things steady."
oOo
Nick's world was moving too fast. He tried to stop and noticed that he wasn't even moving; he was lying still, and the world was moving.
Suddenly, with a yank, the sliding motion stopped and only Nick's head continued to spin. He must have made a noise, because someone started talking to him.
"Major Lorne, can you open your eyes for me?"
He recognized the accent; it was Beckett.
Nick risked a blink, but the bright light sent pain through his head, so he slammed his eyes shut immediately. He felt sick from the moving around. Without warning, a hand touched his neck. The pain was instant and agonising. Nick screamed. He tried to roll out from under the pain, to move away, but his body wouldn't obey him.
"Sorry, Major, the local should take effect any moment. I need to have a closer look at the wound on your neck."
"Hurts like hell," Nick whispered. It felt like his neck was on fire.
"I can imagine. You were grazed by a bullet. You were very lucky." Carson didn't sound like he meant it.
Nick didn't feel like it either. But before he could say anything else, he drifted off again.
oOo
Elizabeth wasn't sure she preferred the Jumper to a commercial airplane. Sure the leg room was gigantic, but the prospect of a ten thousand year old craft zooming through the nightly air made her a slightly uncomfortable.
"We can only scan small segments at a time. It's going to take a while before we find him. But if he is on the planet, I don't see how he could have escaped. We'll find him." Sergeant Simmons tried to reassure her obvious discomfort. Elizabeth nodded. She had heard it all before.
They had been in the air close to ten minutes already, flying one circle after another. It was after almost twenty minutes, when Simmons finally found a single life sign down on the planet.
"I can't say for sure whether it's human. But it's pretty isolated. The problem is that we are over a wooded area. I'm going to have to set us down further away in the nearest clearing. It's about 400 meters from where we picked up the life sign."
"That might be a good sign. If Sheppard hears the Jumper, he might panic," Elizabeth considered.
"I'll take us down. You should stay in the ship, ma'am. There is no telling what he will do. He tried to kill Mars and Lorne back at the gate.
"I'm not willing to believe that. I'll stay back. I want to try to reason with Sheppard." Elizabeth was insistent. She didn't want to lose another good man without trying everything in her power.
The Jumper set down without a hitch in a small clearing. The forest was quiet and dark as the three men plus Dr. Weir stepped out of the craft.
"I'll stay back with the Jumper. Sheppard might try to steal it, even if we lock it. The gene might enable him to break in anyways."
"We'll stay in contact," Simmons ordered. "Keep the lights down. We don't want to spook him."
The night was thick black down in the forest. Sheppard would hear them, long before they would be seen. Elizabeth had to struggle to keep up with the men, who were used to marching though rugged terrain, but she was determined to see this mission through. She was not going to let John Sheppard down.
They made silent progress. Simmons checked periodically if Sheppard was already down on the LDS. Finally they were able to track his signal straight ahead down a small ravine. They had gotten lucky; it was a strategic opportunity.
Simmons motioned for Elizabeth to stay back between the trees as he and Lieutenant Shaw moved to approach the ravine. Elizabeth watched from her post in between the trees, but soon the two men disappeared. All she could hear was the rustling of trees. She prayed the two soldiers would manage to corner Sheppard without panicking him. They were armed with Wraith stunners, hoping to bring him down without harming them.
A sharp scream pierced the night, followed immediately by the sound of stunners being fired. Once, twice, then again the stunners were discharged.
"There he is." Someone--it sounded like Lieutenant Shaw--yelled and she could hear movement in the underbrush. More stunner fire, then it was finally silent in the woods.
"Dr. Weir." Simmons voice crackled over her radio. "We have him. Had to stun him three times, but we got him. We're taking him back to the Jumper now. We'll meet you there?" It was phrased as a question. Simmons knew how little experience she had in the field.
Elizabeth glanced at the darkness surrounding her, and then she answered. "I'll meet you at the Jumper."
TBC
