Sorry about being evil, mean and in general upsetting, but bear with me for a few more chapters (VEG)
Chapter Ten
"Slowly dialing up the shield," McKay said over the radio in a quiet tone, as if his words spoken in a louder tone would disturb the process – or maybe because it would hurt too much for him to say it louder due to his head injury. Either way, it made for a strangely subdued Rodney McKay.
Teyla had arrived with Ronon at their destination at the center of the sinkhole. Now, all they could do was wait. The rain was coming down again, harder this time, and it was accompanied by lightning and thunder. She swung the beam of her flashlight around the area to reveal huge boulders, uprooted trees and lots of mud, giving the landscape some interesting topography.
Ronon wiped the rainwater from his face and said, "This won't make much of a last stand if we need it, but it's the best we can do."
McKay cleared his throat, sounding more like himself as he said, "I certainly hope you two are far enough away by now, because when I completely expand the shield, there's a very good chance that we'll bring this hillside down upon us, burying us for good."
Sheppard's sarcastic drawl came over the radio, drawing her attention away from Ronon. "You two are just a barrel of laughs."
"Well, it's true!" Rodney answered.
Sheppard chuckled. "And people say you have a gloomy disposition, Rodney. I just don't understand where that comes from."
McKay grunted. "Go ahead, make fun of me now, because when I'm dead, I won't be around to be the butt of your adolescent humor anymore."
Sheppard paused a beat, then said, "Okay, Rodney, I promise if you die, I won't make you the butt of my jokes anymore."
"Oh, that's comforting. Please continue to confront me with my mortality as I frantically work to save our lives. Yeah, that will help keep my head clear and focused."
Sheppard chuckled. "The funny thing is, it usually does help. Impending doom begets seemingly miraculous life-saving measures from you. I don't understand it, but it works. Besides, if you pull this off, I foresee long hot showers, clean clothes, and trays full of food in the mess hall in your future."
"Hmm, that doesn't sound so bad. Actually, it sounds pretty damned good. Okay, on the off chance we don't kill ourselves with this madness, I'm going to keep extending the shield."
Teyla asked, "How long do you think it will take?"
McKay sighed. "It's going slow...maybe ten more minutes."
Sheppard's enticing images of home, food and a long hot shower made Teyla yearn for the comforts of Atlantis and she tried to encourage McKay. "It will be good to – "
A fierce howl cut through their conversation like an arc wielder through an aluminum can, fast and messy. Teyla's gaze whipped around as she sought to locate the howling skree. Before she caught sight of one, there were more howls, many more in fact and they were relatively close – that was if the echoes in the sinkhole were to be trusted.
Sheppard said, "Damn it, Rodney, our timetable just got shoved up. It's time to stop fooling around and get down to business. We need to move now, or Ronon and Teyla will become kibble for those damned skree!"
McKay stammered for a moment. "Like – like I was fooling around before! Look, basic physics cannot be rushed. Certain principles and protocols cannot just be speeded up."
Sheppard's voice was tight with worry. "We're talking about Teyla and Ronon's lives here. Move it faster or I'll just back us out of here – the hell with the shields."
"Damn it, Sheppard, I've said this before and I'll say it again, you are going to be the death of me! Hold on – just hold on for one blasted minute and let me do something that might speed things along a little. Okay, don't try this at home, kids, at least not without a brilliant astrophysicist present."
Sheppard didn't sound like he had much patience for McKay's running banter. "You've got exactly thirty seconds before I start backing us out, ready or not."
McKay cursed, saying something Teyla couldn't make out and again she tried for mediation. "Gentlemen, please. Do not act in haste. Ronon and I are both safe at the moment. We will be fine until you can pick us up."
She'd barely finished speaking when Ronon jumped down from the boulder and grabbed Teyla by the arm, then pushed her toward a huge uprooted tree.
"They're here," he said gruffly as he fired his weapon, resulting in a pained yelp from one of the skree. Without looking at her, Ronon asked her, "Do you think you can climb that tree?"
Teyla glanced at the tree and nodded. They had little other choice.
"Just how close are they?" Sheppard asked.
Teyla began climbing. "It would seem your sense of urgency was valid, John. The skree are out early tonight," she said breathlessly as she steadied herself on one of the lower branches before she reached up to climb higher.
"Crap," McKay muttered. "Don't say it, Sheppard! Don't you dare tell me to work faster! I'm working as fast as I can, which, may I remind you, is several times faster than your average individual could ever dream of doing!"
"Yeah, yeah, we all know how fast you are working, McKay, but it's worth zilch if we can't get to Teyla and Ronon in time, so move it!"
"Damn you anyway," Rodney said, more emphatically this time. "I'm going as fast – Oh, wow."
"What?" Sheppard asked.
"Well, that certainly helped more than I thought it would. We might be almost out of here. Once again, the famed McKay genius has saved the day. No surprise there. Okay, the ball's in your court, Sheppard. Let's see how you do when the fate of this team rests squarely on your shoulders for a change."
McKay paused as if he knew he had crossed some unspoken line. His tone was softer as he said, "Back us out of here slow and steady, but if I say stop, you sure as hell better listen to me."
"Yeah, yeah, I get the picture. Just leave the driving to me."
Meanwhile, Teyla and Ronon continued to climb. The tree Ronon had chosen for their sanctuary was several decades old, its foot thick branches easily supporting their weight. It was leaning against other trees that had fallen into the sinkhole, sitting at a sixty degree angle, like some giant set of pick up sticks.
Huge bolts of lightning lit up the sky, allowing Teyla to easily glimpse the skree down below. They were now at the base of the tree, hopping and posturing from one nearby tree trunk to the next, up on a boulder and back down again. Some of the skree were starting to reach the lower branches. If one of them got up high enough with a good foothold on the smooth bark, they could conceivably scramble up the tree to follow Ronon and Teyla.
"Ronon," Teyla called out, a few feet above Ronon's position. "I will release a flash-bang. Prepare yourself. On three. One. Two. Three."
She activated it and tossed it down to the ground, closing her eyes and covering her ears. The resulting explosion of light and sound produced a great deal of yipping and howling, and the skrees' rapid retreat.
"That worked pretty good. How many do you have left?" Ronon asked.
She grimaced as she patted her now empty pocket. "That was the only one I had."
"Don't worry. We're moving," Sheppard said, his voice sounding stronger than it should. "We'll be there soon, just hold tight."
"Careful, John," McKay warned. "Having the shield between us and the rubble won't mean crap if you shake things up too much. Maintain a slow, easy backward momentum."
Ronon reached Teyla's position and paused to check his ammunition. The look on Ronon's face told her he was getting low. All she had was her 9-mil and a couple of extra clips. As if reading their thoughts, Sheppard asked, "How do things look there?"
"We are relatively safe," Teyla said, putting a hand over her side. It felt like she had pulled something in her climbing. "How much longer will you be?"
McKay practically growled at her. "We won't live long enough to get there if Sheppard doesn't slow down! I mean it, this shield isn't designed for fast or fancy moves. Back out slowly or we're dead!"
Sheppard fired back. "I've got it under control. Don't be a backseat driver."
While they argued, Ronon tapped Teyla on the shoulder. "You still have that C4?"
She nodded and reached to pull it out of her vest pocket, but flinched when she moved the wrong way. She leaned forward, trying to wrap herself around the wound in her side. Ronon put a hand on her shoulder. "Easy," he said softly.
She raised her head and nodded, then pulled it out of her pocket. "Here it is. What do you have in mind?"
Ronon adjusted his position, then holstered his weapon. "We can drop small charges away from the tree. Hopefully, it will keep them busy until Sheppard and McKay can get here."
She smiled weakly as she met his gaze. "It might work, though these skree are more tenacious than I remember from earlier encount–"
She froze when she heard McKay call out, "Sheppard?"
The panicked tone in McKay's words put Teyla on edge and she looked in their direction, knowing she couldn't see anything beyond twenty feet because of the darkness and the rain. McKay's tone was lower as he said, "Sheppard, you don't look so good all of a sudden. Not that you were looking that great before..."
"I'm fine," Sheppard said, his voice graveled. "It's just taking a lot more concentration to do this than usual."
"Well, don't look at me to take over for you," McKay said in response. "Between the anvil pounding in my head and the hoops I've got to jump through just to keep this jumper operational, I'm at my wit's end."
Sheppard sighed. "Did I say anything like that? Be quiet and let me get us the hell out of here."
Teyla swallowed, worried for John – worried for both of them. She turned to Ronon just as the skree swarmed on their position again. Teyla took the C4 and began forming small balls about an inch thick. She wiped the back of her hand across her chin as the accumulating rainfall running down her face irritated her and diverted her attention away from the mission at hand.
"Hold these," she said, placing them into his outstretched hand.
She retrieved the blast caps and added them to the C4. "Okay," she said as she activated one and handed it to Ronon.
He smiled as he said, "I'll throw, you detonate."
She nodded. With little effort, Ronon pitched the explosive away. Teyla watched it fall and detonated it when some of the skree came around it, sniffing. The area lit up with the blast, resulting in a few more of the skree down, but within moments the bulk of the pack was back, howling and growling.
"What was that?" Sheppard asked, alarmed.
Before she could answer, McKay shouted, "Watch out, Sheppard! You're drifting!"
"I've got it. I've got it," Sheppard said, but he sounded weaker with each passing second.
"Maybe I should be flying this thing," Rodney muttered, adrenaline causing his voice to quiver.
"Pipe down, I'm concentrating," Sheppard replied.
Teyla put all the calmness she could manage into her voice as she said, "Please, both of you, do not be alarmed on our behalf. We are using the C4 from my tac vest to keep the skree at bay. This will provide some additional time until your arrival."
"Oh, thank heaven," McKay said and then he sighed. "There, Sheppard, now you can go a little slower. This whole thing will end badly if you don't slow down!"
"Not much further to go," Sheppard said, but the words came as if he were gritting his teeth together.
"Just because the jumper is – " McKay's voice was cut off by a sizzling sound, then an alarm. "Ouch!"
Teyla met Ronon's gaze. "Rodney?" she asked.
"Ouch! Shit! Damn it, that hurt!" McKay cursed.
"Rodney, are you okay?" Sheppard called out, his voice so tense it cracked at the end.
"Blasted access panel just tried to short out on me again. Honestly, Sheppard, I don't know how much longer I can keep ahead of this patch job I've done. Please don't rock the boat any more than you have to."
"Like I'm doing it on purpose."
A few of the more aggressive skree began jumping up on the tree trunks again, leaping from one to another trying to find the best way up, so Ronon released another C4 bomb, then Teyla aimed her flashlight down to the ground, and saw that some of the skree were now feeding on the carcasses of the dead pack members. She relaxed a little. It appeared they had a viable method to hold off the skree until Sheppard and McKay could come to them.
"This should deter them a little longer," she said softly as she detonated the C4.
It wasn't a big explosion, but Teyla knew something was wrong the moment the blast occurred. It disturbed the loose soil underneath their tree enough to cause it to shift on its axis. Teyla and Ronon's weight on the upper branches of the tree became a liability, making it sway even more. Teyla dropped her flashlight and the detonator when the tree shuddered and shifted again. She frantically clutched the closest limb with icy fingers, then she saw Ronon doing the same thing.
"Damn!" Ronon exclaimed as he held on as best he could to balance his weight between the branches with only one functioning hand.
The rain-slicked surface of the tree made it difficult to grip and Teyla worried for Ronon. She reached out to steady him, but Ronon shook his head, waving her off.
"I'm okay, but we better get climbing again. Without the C4, I don't know how long the skree will hang back before they decide to make another run at us."
McKay practically shouted over the radio. "What? What happened now?"
"I will explain in a moment," Teyla said as she began climbing and tried to steady her breathing.
McKay muttered, "Damn, what else can go wrong?"
Teyla's hands shook from adrenaline and the cold rain. Weakness from her fever and infection probably factored into it, too, but she pushed away her human frailties and focused only on climbing to the next limb. Ronon stayed right behind her. When she reached what she felt was a safer position, she stopped and looked down.
Sounds from the skree down below had grown significantly quieter. Lightning flashed again and Teyla could see the remaining skree feeding on the half dozen carcasses littered around the base of their tree. She looked over at Ronon and sighed as she held her side.
Rodney had asked what else could go wrong. She decided she really wished he hadn't tempted fate further by asking.
oOoOoOoOo
Chapter 10