Chapter 9

"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us."


The jumper exited the vortex at high velocity and cloaked within a split second of entering the planet. The gate appeared to be unguarded for the moment. As the Lantean ship soared through the air, McKay activated the HUD, and spotted several Genii converging on their position.

"McKay!"

"You know shouting doesn't help!" His hand gripped the controls so hard his knuckles began turning white. Keeping his vision on the landscape below, McKay checked the readout in front of him. His voice raised an octave, as the nerves began settling in. "How many did you count?"

"Roughly 30 that I saw, but they were heading away from the gate. There's nothing we can do about it for now," Ronon stated uneasily, "I'll try the radio, you just concentrate on flying. The last thing we need is for you to crash this thing." Ronon advised him, switching on the walkie-talkie.

"Hey! I take offence at that, there's nothing wrong with my flying."

"Shut up and watch what you're doing," Ronon wasn't in any mood for any of McKay's whining. Usually Sheppard was around to keep him in line, but since they found out he was missing, McKay had pain a pain in the ass. He tried the radio, but only received radio static. Great, just great!

Something towards Teyla's left caught her vision. "Over there, by the tree line, isn't that the colonel's jumper? But it looks…" she didn't want to finish her sentence. A gust of wind flowed through the trees as the craft headed towards the forest where previous plumes of smoke had now extinguished and all that was now evident, was debris scattered across the ground. "Do you think we are too late?"

"Hey! I thought I was supposed to be Mr Negativity around here?" It was a short sharp shock to the system to see one of their puddle jumpers mangled, and probably beyond repair. But what had hit them the hardest was the fact that McKay wasn't able to discern and life signs coming from the wreckage. "Lets just keep our eyes out for Sheppard, his subcutaneous transmitter should still be broadcasting, so I'm not giving up just yet."

"Rodney, I did not mean anything by it." Teyla tried to reassure her friend, but by the stoic determination on his face, she didn't think he was listening.

"McKay do a quick survey of the area by Sheppard's puddle jumper, if we're not alone, then I'd prefer to know now rather than later." With that Ronon pulled his weapon out of its holster and set it to kill, this time he wasn't taking any chances.

McKay, checking on the HUD noted that there didn't appear to be anyone near their vicinity. From what he could ascertain the only discernable life signs seemed to be congregating around several structures several miles from their location. It was an area they planned to check out immediately after the team inspected the crashed jumper. There was still a chance, albeit a small one that he was there and still alive. But seeing the mangled wreckage of the jumper and the fact that his subcutaneous transmitter wasn't activating, he wasn't optimistic. "We're good to go." McKay stated, landing the jumper with some reservation. He wasn't so sure if he wanted to know what was or wasn't inside the jumper. If they found him dead, he'd never forgive himself at losing one of his closest friends, and it would be all his fault.

Maintaining the cloak on the jumper they watched the ramp descend and headed out, cautiously eyeing their surroundings. The jumper was a mess. Hot twisted metal leading into the cockpit was their first discovery, followed by the stench of smoke that infiltrated their senses. For a moment they took in the carnage, bits of smashed consoles littered the floor of the ship where it had impacted onto the ground like a lead weight. As they moved towards the front of the cockpit, with weapons raised at the ready, Teyla was the first to spot it; dried blood coated the panels.

"That's a good sign." Ronon told them with hopefulness that Sheppard had made it out in one piece.

"Are you kidding me?" McKay retorted acerbically; for once not afraid to show his anger towards the former runner. The more anxious he got, the faster the words came out. "Hello? The ship is buckled, and will probably never fly again. The drive pods are shot to hell, and oh yes, have you seen the blood? How the hell can that be a good sign? Have you ever known the ship to end up like this even after the times we've crashed?"

"Do you see a dead body? Because I sure as hell don't. So yes, I'd say it's a good sign. You got a problem with that McKay?" The tall Satedan stood face-to-face daring the man to disagree with his assertion of the facts as he saw it. For a brief moment, silence ensued as both men allowed their emotions to cloud their friendship. It had always been that way, and today was no different. McKay, as Ronon was well aware wore his heart on his sleeve. When aggrieved he became confrontational, allowing the fear to surface, especially when that fear involved losing a friend. He however, was the polar opposite. Years spent on the run from the Wraith had taught him to shield his emotions, never allowing anyone to see past the mask that he so prominently displayed when faced with adversity.

McKay couldn't help himself. As time passed, he was becoming despondent, several hours has passed and they were still no further forward in finding their friend. Anxiousness had now become his companion as he looked around the cockpit, trying to salvage some kind of hope that his instincts were wrong. His friend was alone, vulnerable and injured on a hostile planet because of his actions, so of course he had a problem with that. "What the hell are you yelling at me for? I wasn't the one who had the death wish, and then decided to disobey orders, steal a jumper and crash it into the nearest tree."

Squeezing past them, Carson ignored their backbiting; he'd seen and heard it all before. At the moment, he was more concerned with how much blood loss was evident. After studying the volume of blood dripped over the consoles and onto the floor he pointed out something, "Given the quantity of blood here, it's more than likely he just hit his head. It makes sense given the state of the jumper. Besides I certainly can't see any signs of exsanguination."

Rodney was disgusted at the reference. "Ew! I can't believe that even popped into your head."

Turning to face him, Beckett frowned before giving as good as he got, "I'm a medical doctor, Rodney what the bloody hell did you think I'd be looking for? And if you must know, it also means that I agree with Ronon's assessment of the situation; it's a good sign."

"Yes, getting fed upon again is infinitely better than being dead!" A shocked expression washed over him. As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them. "I'm sorry, that didn't come out the way I intended." He wasn't used to apologising, even to his friends, but the words had cut through the atmosphere like a knife, and he didn't know how to take them back.

The worrying thing was, he was right to some degree in that their worst fears would be realised once more. It was in the back of all their minds that there was a possibility that Sheppard could be seriously injured or worse, but none of them dared say it out loud, except for McKay. He was good at many things, but keeping his mouth shut wasn't one of them. Each of them shook their heads at his lack of diplomatic skills.

Ronon scowled, but Carson was the first to admonish him, "Rodney."

McKay looked at them sheepishly, "What? I told you I was sorry. You know this never would have happened if…"

Teyla didn't let him finish, she was becoming exasperated with them all, and told them so in no uncertain terms. "Can we please put our differences aside and concentrate on the problem? At least we have to some degree established that the colonel might be sill alive, but injured. Is it possible that we could actually try and find him, instead of behaving like children? As I am sure you are all well aware, the Wraith are due here within the next few hours, and I for one do not relish being here when that happens, so can we?" she finished, indicating that they should make their way out of the jumper. She wished the colonel were here to keep them all in line. One thing she had noticed since she had allied herself with them, was that whether John Sheppard knew it or not, he was the glue that bound the team together, and without him, they felt lost.

"Let's just head back to the jumper and scout for him from the air." It was a good plan; in fact it was their only plan. But if they didn't find their team mate soon, there was no way they would be able to take on a hive ship, not by any stretch of the imagination. Which meant only one thing; Sheppard could be left to face them alone.

End of part ix

AN: Thank you for your kind reviews :o)