Chapter 9 – Downhill, Fast

"Ronon to Teyla."

Teyla was still sitting in a chair next to Rodney in the infirmary and clicked her radio, "Go ahead, Ronon."

Rodney looked up from the tablet over at her from where he lay. He had slowly ground Beckett down by asking every five minutes over the course of two hours. Carson had eventually been forced to let him have the computer, mainly just to keep him quiet.

"We need McKay and a medical team over here now."

He sounded a little rattled, which was unusual for Ronon. Teyla frowned.

"What is wrong?"

"Sheppard and Perkins are trapped behind a shield and Zelenka can't get to us either. You need to hurry. They're being frozen."

Teyla widened her eyes in shock. Rodney gave her a questioning look.

"Do you think you can walk?" She asked him.

"Don't know. Possibly, but for nothing less than a life or death situation."

He said it sarcastically, but Teyla's eyes widened even further and she put a hand over her mouth.

Rodney pushed himself upright and winced, "Oh, God! The malfunctions have started again haven't they?"

Teyla nodded, "We must be quick. Colonel Sheppard and Dr Perkins are counting on us."

Rodney swung his legs over the side of the bed and Teyla stood to help him up.

Carson came rushing over. "Where do you think you're going?"

"We need to leave." Teyla said as she held onto Rodney's left shoulder to steady him when he released an involuntary groan and closed his eyes.

Carson shook his head and walked over to stand next to them, "Not like that you are. I'm sorry Rodney, I can't let you out of my sight just yet."

"You won't have to," Teyla said as she continued to help Rodney, "We need you to come as well, with a medical team."

She then turned to Carson and said, "We must hurry. Colonel Sheppard and Dr Perkins could freeze to death if we do not."


Sheppard lay shivering on the floor as the cold air continued to cut through his thin shirt and blast over his skin. He had his arms around his knees as he curled them up to chest, trying to conserve as much heat as possible.

The icy air made his lungs and throat ache as he drew in shallow breaths.

He opened his watering eyes and looked sideways across the floor at the other man trapped with him.

Perkins was also shivering and hugging his arms around himself. He had his eyes closed and teeth clenched as he breathed through them in harsh gasps.

Sheppard tried to move to get closer to Perkins, but found that his muscles were so numb he could not shift himself at all.

Ronon watched helplessly from the corridor. He had not dared to go into the room or to try blasting anything in case it made things worse. He growled in annoyance and shifted his weight between his feet as he fiddled with his gun holster.

It looked as though Perkins and Sheppard were losing their battle against the cold and their faces had become deathly pale. Ronon knew they were still alive though as he could see the tremors and rapid breaths fogging in front of their faces.

Ronon heard a flurry of activity approaching along the corridor long before he saw Beckett with a medical team, McKay and Teyla.

Rodney had put his Atlantis uniform jacket on over his white scrubs and held his right arm across himself to lessen movement on his bruised right side. Teyla carried his tablet and stood close to him just in case he stumbled.

"We are here," Teyla said into her radio, "Thank you Radek."

Rodney grabbed his tablet from Teyla and walked over to stand in the doorway.

"Oh…" he said when he saw the scene before him.

"You can get them out McKay," Ronon reassured him.

Carson and his medical team stood in the corridor waiting for the scientist to find a way to lower the shield.

Rodney held the tablet on his left forearm as he used his right hand to type. He kept it as still as possible across himself, but grimaced as he worked when even the slightest movement of his right arm hurt him.

He turned to Teyla, "Remove that wall panel over there." He indicated the panel next to the door control crystals with his right hand and gasped as his side pulled painfully.

Carson rushed over to him, but Rodney ignored him and gritted his teeth against the pain as he continued to work.

Teyla did as he asked and exposed the wires within the wall.

"As I don't have a toolkit, we'll have to rely on Ronon's usual method for solving every problem."

Ronon grinned and levelled his blaster at the wires.

"Fire away," Rodney said, as everyone backed up from the wall.

The red blast flew across the corridor and hit the wall in a shower of blue sparks.

"So that was for the door, but what about the shield?" Carson asked.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Rodney said angrily. His hand was shaking as he tapped on the screen.

He continued to mutter while he worked, "Still lazing around napping in the infirmary? Zelenka's a great help, trapped in the lab. You all force me to work when I can hardly breathe and it feels like my ribs are cutting into my lungs."

Carson rolled his eyes while he gave a long-suffering look at Rodney's back and shook his head.

Rodney looked up from his tablet at the two stricken figures lying on the floor in front of him in the lab. He walked into the room and glanced up at the ceiling. The others followed him inside.

He pointed up, winced and shuddered a little, "Ah…" he exclaimed as he lowered his hand back down. "We need to cut the power to the whole lab. There are some power conduits in the ceiling. Should be able to blast them. Although I'm not sure what effect it will have on the lab or the surrounding areas."

He turned around and his eyes darted around at everyone in anxiety, "It may even explode, but at the moment it's all I have in the way of a quick fix. The systems are still not responding. Sheppard and Perkins will be frozen lollies before we have time to find a ladder, remove the panel and carefully choose the correct wire to cut."

Ronon pointed his blaster up at the ceiling and aimed at the area Rodney had indicated.

"Wait a minute," Rodney said, "We should go and stand in the corridor again. Sheppard and Perkins will be protected for a moment by the shield, but we won't be."

They shuffled outside and Ronon stood in the doorway with his blaster pointed.

"Do it," Rodney said.

Ronon grunted and flipped the power level of his blaster up to maximum. He fired many shots in rapid succession.

There was visible tension in everyone's faces as they all wondered if the next shot would mark the start of a massive explosion which would kill them all. After a few heart stopping seconds the lights in the lab went out.

Carson and his team quickly rushed inside and started working on Sheppard and Perkins.

Rodney nodded gratefully at Teyla as she took the tablet from him. He closed his eyes and put his right arm across his chest once more, "I think I'm going to go back to my quarters now and sleep right through until tomorrow."

"That sounds like a good idea," she said with a smile.

Ronon chuckled.

They all looked into the dark lab where Sheppard and Perkins were being wrapped in blankets and lifted onto gurneys.

Sheppard looked over at them and managed a brave smile although the muscles on his numb face were not working properly yet and that made it look half hearted.

Suddenly Dr Perkins pushed away the hands of the medical team who were helping him in the lab and tapped his radio, "What's wrong?… The gate? But they're not due back for hours…"

He shook in cold as he stood up, savagely forcing the people away who tried to keep him down. His eyes then widened in fear, "Under attack? But Dr Li's on that mission! I'll be right there."

Teyla, Ronon and McKay had already begun to walk slowly back to the transporter along the corridor, keeping pace with Rodney.

They all stopped and turned when they heard Perkins raise his voice. He stumbled out of the lab into the corridor and bounced off the wall as he hit it.

He slowly staggered along the corridor towards them as two medical staff chased after him.

"Get out of the way!" He called as he got closer, his voice was shaking.

Teyla stood in front of Rodney and Ronon and held out her arms, "Dr Perkins, Matthew, you are not well. Let us help you."

"No! Sally's in trouble, I have to help her."

"Rodney can go and help. We should be able to free Zelenka to assist as well."

Perkins did not stop. When he was near Teyla, he caught her off guard with a vicious shove to the shoulders. She had not believed the hypothermic man would have had that much power in him, but he was acting out of desperation and confusion.

Teyla was forced backwards and stumbled into Rodney behind her. He cried out and doubled over in agony with both arms crossed over his torso.

Ronon stepped forward quickly and held onto Perkins' shoulders tightly so that he could not escape.

The outburst had weakened Perkins and he could no longer keep up the momentum; Ronon kept hold of him as he fell down to the floor. The medical staff approached and lifted him onto the gurney.

Sheppard and Perkins were then wheeled away to the transporter. Sheppard smiled weakly at them. Then he visibly shrunk down under the blankets he was wrapped in and closed his eyes.

Ronon turned to Rodney and put a hand on his upper arm, as he stood with his arms still wrapped around his chest, his eyes watering in pain.

"Think you can make it to the Gateroom? Sounded quite important whatever it is that's going on."

Rodney furrowed his brow, "Yes. I have to. I'm the only one who can now."

Teyla smiled at him and then shared a concerned look with Ronon as Rodney closed his eyes tightly to try and clear them.

Ronon helped guide him back to the transporter and said, "I'm going to help free Zelenka from the shield he's trapped behind."

He stepped into the transporter first and when he had gone Teyla and Rodney proceeded to the Gateroom.


Dr Newall focused on the two figures being frozen under the shield he had raised. He smiled as he saw the life signs fading.

He was unconcerned as he watched McKay standing in the corridor trying to find a way to reach his trapped colleagues.

Newall had not thought it was in the scientist. He was always complaining about how much splinters hurt and Newall never thought for a moment the man would be able to force himself out of the infirmary after what had happened to him earlier.

Newall narrowed his eyes; McKay was now showing a strength that he had not taken into account in his plan. The other scientist possessed a will that would be difficult to break.

He frowned when he saw Ronon shooting the ceiling in the lab on the video feed. Suddenly the feed was completely cut off and he could no longer control any aspect of the lab.

He connected the dots in his mind. Without power, the shield would have lowered and freed Perkins. He saw from the life sign detector that none of the indicators had blinked out yet.

He screamed in fury, his voice reaching a volume and power he never knew he possessed. It tore into his dry throat and reverberated around the room back towards him and hurt his ears. He had been so close this time.

As he breathed quickly in his anger he felt a twinge at the corner of the city. The gate had just activated.

He switched the video feed to the Gateroom and listened to the exchange.

Dr Weir spoke from behind the gate technician, "Raise the shield."

He said, "We're receiving an IDC. It's Dr Li's."

Newall frowned and cursed. She was not due back for hours. He had still not successfully taken Perkins out of the picture yet. She could not return until he was dead. Then the way would be open for him to have Dr Li all to himself.

His chest tightened painfully when he thought of her. He needed to delay the return of the team. He searched through the systems and quickly found what he was looking for.


Teyla stood close to Rodney as he forced his feet to climb the stairs in the Gateroom. The gate behind them was active, but the shield was still raised.

Dr Weir looked at him in concern as he walked slowly and painfully over to one of the consoles in the Control Room and sat down.

"Should you be out of the infirmary?" She asked, taking in his pained expression and the white scrubs he was still wearing.

He waved her off with his left hand and asked, "What's the problem?"

"We called Dr Perkins and Dr Zelenka to help. We can't lower the shield and Major Lorne's team are under attack."

Teyla went over and stood behind Rodney. She said, "Dr Perkins is in the infirmary along with Colonel Sheppard and Dr Zelenka is trapped behind a shield. Ronon has gone to help him."

Weir frowned, "I'd like a full briefing in a minute. Let's concentrate on this first."

She returned her focus to the yellow shield over the rippling blue of the open wormhole. She reached up and tapped her radio, "Major Lorne. Report."

His voice came over the speaker, "They've got us surrounded. No one has been injured yet, but we really need to get back through the gate."

"We're working on it Major. Standby."

She turned around and looked at McKay, "How's it coming Rodney?"

He sighed in frustration, "Nothing, as usual. No indication of errors in the code. According to these readings the shield should be down." He stopped typing for a second, closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead in annoyance. He took his hand away and pointed it towards the screen of the computer where he was working.

"I can't turn it off using this. I need to unplug the power supply to the shield."

"Can you do that from up here?"

He hissed, "Yes," through his teeth as he stood up. He walked over to the console housing the DHD and muttered, "Move," to the technician sitting there.

Teyla rushed over and helped him as he sat on the floor and pulled off the panel under the console. She passed him the tablet and he used it to isolate the correct wire he needed to disconnect in order to power down the shield.

Major Lorne's voice crackled over the radio, "Is the shield down yet?" There was a sound of sporadic gunfire in the background, "Two of my team have just been hit."

"Standby, Major," Weir replied sounding anxious. She then tapped her radio again, "Medical team to the Gateroom." She looked down at McKay as he sat hunched over the tablet on the floor, "Hurry Rodney."

"Working as fast as I can," he said, sounding annoyed.

He lifted his hand and stuck it inside the tangle of wires and grabbed one of them. He flinched slightly, half expecting to be electrocuted at any second. He was alright though, even as he tugged the wire and disconnected it from the console.

The shield instantly shut down.

Weir said into her radio, "Major, the shield's down. It's safe to come through."

Teyla helped Rodney to stand up. He sat down in the gate technician's seat next to him and hugged both arms around himself as he looked down at the floor dejectedly.

A stunned silence descended on the occupants of the Gateroom when a marine stepped through the gate. He was dragging Dr Li's still form behind him. There was an arrow in her chest.

Another marine came next. He was being supported by Lorne as there was an arrow embedded in his leg.

The gate shut down behind them.

Dr Weir and Teyla rushed down the Gateroom steps to help.

Unseen by them, Rodney also followed them down the steps, but he slipped away down the corridor away from the Gateroom.


TBC

A/N – Uh oh!