Chapter Ten – No Rest for the Weary
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Teyla slowly opened her eyes; she felt well rested and fresh. The foot did no longer hurt the way it had before and she was satisfied that the rest of her team members were on the mend. This would be the sixth day since they came back and she gained strength for every day that went past. She tried to shift the injured foot off the pillow but the cast was so heavy that she had to use both her hands as support.
"Wait a minute and I'll help you," Marie hollered from distance.
Teyla smiled as the nurse neared. "That would be much appreciated," she said happily.
Marie gently steadied her and handed over a couple of crutches. "Is there any special place you want to go to?" she asked.
"I will only take a short walk and I think I can manage on my own," she answered.
"Are you sure?" Marie asked softly.
Teyla nodded as she took a small step forward, testing her balance.
"Okay, but don't be long or we'll send the cavalry out to get you," the nurse replied with a warm smile.
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With satisfaction Ronon stretched in his own bed and saw the sun streaming through his window. He sat up, swung his leg over the edge and rubbed his tired eyes. Almost a week in the infirmary had made him soft. Normally he would have been up in the early hours to stretch his legs with a ten kilometre jog. The Satedan quickly eased into his clothes and walked over to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. After completing his early morning rituals he exited his quarters and began his jog.
Ronon had always loved action. Ever since he was a little boy on Sateda his life had been full of action. It helped him to unwind and to stay in shape. He wasn't certain Keller would approve of him taking a jog but, then again, what she didn't know didn't hurt her. Besides, he was feeling fine, his arm was healing up nicely and his body felt almost back to normal. And, if he could get Keller to clear him for active duty, he would return to the planet to help Major Lorne and Captain Gaspari to secure the area. Things still looked a bit uncertain and the Wraith seemed persistent. More of them had turned up after his team's return to Atlantis.
Deep in thought he rounded a corner and almost collided with a small muscular woman. He came to a halt just inches before her. As recognition dawned on him his face split into a wide grin. "Teyla," he said.
"Ronon," she acknowledged as she steadied herself on the crutches. "Are you trying to run over an innocent woman?" she questioned with a hint of amusement in her voice.
"Sorry," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "Have you escaped the infirmary?"
"No, I am just stretching my sore muscles. Unlike the rest of you, I usually follow Doctor Keller's advice," she returned with a knowing look. "I thought you were supposed to rest?"
"I am," he admitted as he reached up with his hand to rub his forehead.
Teyla chose to let the matter rest and decided to switch subject. "How's it going with your report?" she asked.
"Don't know, I'm almost finished, I guess," he said with a shrug.
"Maybe I could help you?" she returned softly, hoping he wouldn't take it the wrong way.
"Nah, you have enough to do," the Satedan said.
"Really, Ronon, it would be no trouble. The only thing I do is laying on my back staring at the ceiling," she explained with a smile. "I'll tell you what; I'll write some more on my report and then we go through yours."
"Sounds like a plan," he returned.
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Rodney tapped his fingers on the nightstand and stared across the room. To say that he was annoyed was an understatement. Someone, well, Doctor Cole, had taken his computer and she wouldn't give it back.
"Look, I need to do some research," he said fixing the doctor with a fierce stare. "The little I can do from here," he added.
Cole sighed heavily. Hadn't he been a valued member of the expedition she would have twisted his neck right about now.
"Doctor McKay," she began with forced politeness. "Do you know why you are here in the first place?" she tried diplomatically.
"Yes," he countered. "I almost died on that freaking planet."
"You are here to rest and the more you rest and behave the sooner you can get to your lab and do your research," Amanda Cole explained logically.
"This is a waste of my precious time. I'm needed in my lab. I mean you can't seriously expect Zelenka to fix everything. He doesn't even have the competence…"
"What is it now? Is it McKay again?" an annoyed voice drawled from across the room.
Rodney snapped his mouth shut and turned to glare at the smug looking man lying opposite him. "Stay out of this, Sheppard; I'm having a discussion with Doctor Cole."
"Yeah, I can hear that, it's kinda hard not to," he answered sarcastically.
The doors opened revealing Keller and Teyla, who had obviously met outside in the corridor.
"What's going on?" Jennifer asked with a frown.
Rodney was sitting up in bed his nose in the air and his features annoyed. Doctor Cole was equally annoyed standing near Rodney with her arms folded over her chest and Colonel Sheppard had his hands over his face massaging his temples.
"Finally," Rodney said testily, looking at her, ignoring the other doctor. "I was only asking nicely for my computer."
Amanda Cole snorted.
"You can have it," Jennifer said but with an edge in her voice.
"Ha, you see?" Rodney asked triumphantly looking at Doctor Cole.
"Later," Keller added sternly before continuing. "I probably shouldn't tell you this but we've lost contact with our teams back on the planet."
John Sheppard carefully eased himself into a sitting position. "Okay, I need my radio," he demanded.
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One hour later, Major Lorne and Captain Gaspari's teams were still out of reach. John was coordinating search and rescue attempts from his bed after a long and heated conversation with Woolsey and Rodney had left the infirmary in order to try and find out more about the ancient bunker system. Ronon had jumped at the sudden action and headed for the gate room to help and oversee the new MALP images.
Teyla readjusted her foot on the pillow and reached for the computer. She was going to have that report finished for Mr. Woolsey. It was the only thing she could think of that would take her mind off of Major Lorne and his team back on the planet. She opened the file and started typing again.
/ After the encounter with the Wraith. We did a quick sweep of the village to make sure we wouldn't encounter any more surprises. The team agreed that the Acclosians should be buried by another people from the Pegasus galaxy, to give them peace and welfare. Since our people once stood very close it was decided that I would contact my people.
/ I performed the traditional guiding ritual for their spirits as customs require. I sincerely hope that they'll find their way among the stars.
/ Since there was nothing more we could do on the planet we headed back toward the gate. No one said anything for a long time. I imagine that everyone contemplated the events and dealt with them in their own way. I saw the anger radiating off Ronon, the determination on Colonel Sheppard's face, the pure shock on Doctor Keller's and the sadness in Rodney's eyes.
/ It was almost evening before we finally took a break. The setting of the sun wouldn't do much for the humidity on Acclo so the pauses for water were necessary. Since no one had seen or heard anything for a couple of hours we let our guard down a little; that was a terrible mistake.
"How can people live here? I mean of all the places they could have chosen," Rodney complained, wiping his face clean of perspiration.
"Do you always have to be so negative?" Jennifer asked nicely as she swatted a fly from behind her ear.
"What are you telling me? That he has a positive side?" John asked sarcastically.
"Give a guy a break. I'm hot, tired and achy. I think I'm coming down with something," the scientist whined.
"Being hot is not necessary a bad thing," Sheppard said with a smirk.
She chuckled at the bickering between her team members, she was grateful for the distraction it created. Still, as soon as they stopped talking, her mind went back to the Acclosians. Then all of a sudden she felt the dread coming over her as she thought she had heard a sound. She tensed and started to look around.
John immediately turned serious, his eyes following her gaze. "What is it?" he questioned.
The second later several stunners cut through the woods.
"Get down!" she urged.
She heard Keller shout and saw Rodney go down. She dove for cover and saw that John had done the same. They quickly got into defensive positions and returned fire.
"They are all over the place!" she shouted.
Ronon grabbed Rodney, hauled him up and took off with the others not far behind.
"We have to get out in the open to reach the gate!" Keller shouted.
"Go! Teyla and I will lay cover fire," John returned over the staccato from the P90 fire.
Keller didn't need to be told twice. She saw the doctor as she sprang into action helping Ronon with Rodney. Jennifer then grabbed the scientist's P90 and rushed to help her and John.
It had amazed her at the time that the younger doctor had had the courage to do so but she was grateful for the help.
They neared the grassy field and she willed herself to run faster. She fired again and managed to get a direct hit on one of the Wraith soldiers but her relief was short-lived. A whining sound could be heard in the distance and she realized they hadn't much time.
"I hear a dart!" she shouted over the noise for the others to hear.
"We have to move faster; when we get a little closer to the gate I'll cover you." John said and glanced over his shoulder, making sure she had heard. "Then you dial Atlantis," he added.
She said she had understood but the reply never got to the receiver because of the shots fired around them.
The Wraith where persistent in their pursuit but after a while only two of them remained upright; at least of those she could see. It could be ten more in the woods somewhere she didn't know about and she hoped never to find out.
"We need to get away from here!" she shouted as the single dart began closing in on their position.
Instead of a reply she heard something snap and John shouting for Ronon to move.
She brought the last Wraith down and instantly turned around but she could no longer see Ronon and Rodney. Almost in slow motion she saw John throwing himself on the ground, as if to grab something, and then Jennifer was throwing herself down reaching for the lower part of the Colonel's legs as his upper body disappeared through the ground.
Both worried and curious she heard, rather than saw, a new dart approaching and she ran towards the team, feeling the adrenaline pumping through her body. She had to help them in some way. However, she wasn't fast enough. She heard someone cry out and in the next couple of seconds all of them had fallen through the ground to who knows where.
As the dart was almost on top of her, she had no choice but to try and get cover; she prepared herself to jump down to her team mates but hesitated seeing how deep it actually was. Seconds later she felt herself falling, not knowing what she would face.
Teyla opened her eyes and let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
'When had she closed her eyes?' she wondered as she looked at the screen in front of her. The last word written was very true; mistake. Teyla tried to calm herself down. Everything she had just experienced had already happened. Yet she shuddered, thinking about it.
The Athosian continued to type.
/ We were ambushed by several Wraith and Doctor McKay had the misfortune of getting hit. Ronon quickly grabbed the doctor as I, Colonel Sheppard and later even, Doctor Keller, distracted and brought down most of the Wraith. When we neared the gate something went wrong. I later learned that the roof on an Ancient chamber had collapsed under the combined weight of Ronon and Doctor McKay.
/ Colonel Sheppard managed to grab Doctor McKay's feet and Doctor Keller successfully got hold of Colonel Sheppard's legs in order to prevent him from falling down. However, something gave away and he lost his grip and got slammed into the wall opposite. The chamber had once been built to last long and the ceiling had been laid up on long and small beams; it was one of them that gave away as Sheppard tried to haul up the others. As Keller was forced to let go of John he was thrown forward and fell upon the remaining structure. The old roof weren't able to support the weight and he fell through to join Ronon and Rodney several meters below. Keller fell as well and only I remained.
She felt herself once again being drawn back to the events of that day.
Touching the ground six meters down wasn't a nice experience even if you landed on your feet. Her feet and legs protested the strain and she almost immediately rolled over on her side, grimacing. Grateful that nothing seemed to be broken or sprained she threw herself at the wall as if it would protect her against the dart above.
"They are coming!" she shouted. It would be mere seconds now and then they would be transported aboard the dart.
But the dart just flew over and made no attempt to beam them up. It seemed confused, as if it had lost its prey. The sun was setting and it was getting dark but she knew the Wraith flew by instruments. She thanked higher powers for whatever reasons the Wraith had left and momentarily closed her eyes to catch her breath.
She heard low voices somewhere near her and opened her eyes, straining them to see in the semi-dark.
"W…Wraith?" McKay asked sluggishly where he lay on top of Ronon.
Keller heaved herself up from the ground and she couldn't help but see the doctor's pained expression.
"Are you all right?" she asked concerned, taking in the dusty appearance in front of her.
The doctor seemed dazed and she favored her left hand a little. A small cut ran over her cheek.
Keller nodded. "Just bruised I think," the doctor said.
A low moan escaped from somewhere near and she turned, trying to locate it. She swallowed as she found its source.
"John?" she whispered and kneeled beside him; placing a hand on his shoulder.
He looked pale even in the evening light that filtered in from above their heads.
"Don't get up," she said concerned and put a restraining hand on his chest.
She knew that John wouldn't even be on the ground if he was okay; something was very wrong. He was badly injured and she didn't see where. She gently unzipped his vest and moved her hands over his torso, stopping as she felt something sticky on her fingers. She looked more closely to his right side and swallowed as she saw the blood stain on his shirt.
"Jennifer!" she said with urgency in her tone.
The doctor seemed to have come to her senses and quickly took control of the situation.
"Colonel Sheppard?" Jennifer asked, ripping the shirt open.
The doctor carefully lifted the plastered t-shirt and glanced up at her. "I need my bag," she said.
She nodded and quickly got up, searching for the medical bag, the rug sack had been lost at the village. She could hear Keller in the background.
"John, can you hear me?" Jennifer sounded concerned.
"What's wrong?" Ronon asked as he came closer; McKay was not far behind.
"Just give me a second." Keller said, not taking her eyes off of the patient.
"John?" the doctor asked again.
"I'm…here," he replied weakly.
Having found the medical kit she walked up to them and handed Jennifer some bandage. She then carefully sat down, placing John's head in her lap, trying to make him comfortable.
Jennifer nodded at her and then turned her attention back to her patient.
"Listen to me; something penetrated your side and it's bleeding quite heavily so I need to put pressure," the doctor explained softly.
"Do what…you need to, doc," he said; his face tight with pain.
"Oh…it's bad isn't it?" Rodney asked concerned.
Jennifer was about to answer when a hand suddenly grabbed her own. Hazel-green eyes locked with the doctor's.
She carefully placed her own hand on his and Keller nodded, giving her a silent thanks before returning her focus on John.
"I know it hurts but I have to do this," Jennifer reasoned.
The Colonel nodded, and licked his dry lips.
Jennifer looked at Rodney and Ronon. "It's not good but it's not life threatening," the doctor filled in. "Not yet."
Keller switched subject. "How are you two holding up?" Jennifer asked, noticing Ronon's bleeding arm and Rodney's pale face.
Ronon nodded. "I'm fine," he replied.
"Well, how do you think I feel? First I get stunned by some lucky Wraith and the next thing I know I'm falling…who knows the depth," Rodney countered angrily.
She saw the doctor smile and she felt herself smiling too. What else could they do? After all Rodney was Rodney.
"Well, at least you're standing up," Keller offered lightly.
Rodney's expression changed from annoyed to concern as he looked at John. "I'm far better off than Sheppard. He is going to be all right isn't he?" the scientist asked carefully.
When Keller met his eyes it was with a serious expression on her face, a too serious expression for her liking. "He needs proper medical attention; he needs to get back to Atlantis," the CMO replied.
"Hey, I'm still…here and I was kind off on my way there, remember?" John returned.
Keller smiled at him before looking at the Satedan again. "Ronon, we need to look at your arm."
He shrugged. "It's just a scratch," he reasoned.
"So is this; we should concentrate on getting out of here before the Wraith comes back," Sheppard said, attempting to sit.
"Colonel, with all due respect," Keller cautioned. "If you move right now it could start to bleed again."
"Perhaps you should lie still for a while?" she tried diplomatically trying to help the doctor.
He gave her an undignified look and blinked; he obviously tried to focus but he didn't attempt to move.
She smiled at him. "Good; we will find a way out of here, do not worry," she said softly.
Teyla made a face at the memory. If she had known then how long it would take them to get home…
/ In order to escape the Wraith I joined the rest of the team in the Ancient chamber. The Wraith dart just went right over us but did not make any attempt to capture us.
/ I was grateful nothing was broken after the jump and went to check up on the others who had fallen. Doctor Keller seemed fairly okay, although she was favoring her right hand and had sustained a cut to her cheek.
/ I am sure that Doctor Keller will leave an update on our medical conditions in her medical report.
/ Ronon and Doctor McKay could stand on their own; apparently Ronon had broken Rodney's fall. However, Colonel Sheppard sustained a pretty deep wound, caused by his encounter with the decaying roof beams.
/ As for our narrow escape with the Wraith's, we could not get up the same way we came and we had only two choices; we could sit down and wait for someone to come and rescue us or we could try find a way out on our own.
/ It didn't take very long before we discovered a door but the chamber that we had fallen into had obviously been sealed for a long time and the door refused to open. It didn't acknowledge the Ancient gene and it had no handle.
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To be continued
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