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Thanks to all the fans for keeping the reviews coming and my advisors dwparsnip, HalCooper and scr1tno.


Rodney McKay felt panic flow through him as the door opened. Jennifer would have a second to get the shot off before an armed person could return fire. An image of Jennifer falling dead by his side drove him to move faster than he thought he was capable of. The instant it registered in his brain that the person on the other side of the door did not have a gun, the physicist, who was still pumped up with adrenaline from his fight, slammed his fist into the side of the man's head.

"Rodney!" Jennifer shouted as she stepped inside the door aiming the gun at the man. He was dressed in a blue jacket that looked like a lab coat. Blood flowed out of his mouth as he pushed himself up. "Stay there! Don't move."

"Got it," Rodney said as he slammed the man in the head with the defibrillator, cracking the case and knocking him out.

"Why did you do that? Now its broken," Jennifer said.

"Oops," McKay responded. He turned and closed the door, ripping wires out of the panel. "I wanted to knock him out, so… you know… so you didn't have to…"

Jennifer knew what Rodney was saying. Killing an unarmed person was not really something she wanted on her conscience. Smiling at him for protecting her soul in addition to her body, she realized she loved him even more. "Thanks, but you didn't have to hit him with it. You could've stunned him."

"What is this place?" Rodney said avoiding her eyes for a moment. She's right. I'm not thinking straight. Better get it together. He looked up the corridor to a dimly lit room beyond with computer consoles. "Excellent. Now we're getting somewhere."

"Rodney, get behind me. I've got the gun." Jennifer moved in front of him as he started moving quickly up the corridor.

Rodney moved close to her, so he could push her behind him if they ran into more trouble. He had no idea how loud they had been while taking down the man in the corridor. There could be someone waiting up ahead.

Once they stepped into the room, their eyes were drawn to the center because it was well lit and there was an Ancient Chair weapon sitting there. In the Chair was Douglas Bryce, one of the medical technicians, who looked like he was unconscious. Jennifer quickly ran toward him.

"Keller, stop," the voice of John Sheppard rang out in the room. "Don't touch it. It'll kill you."

"Sheppard?" Rodney and Jennifer both said at the same time scanning the large room. Along the right side of the room there were darkened alcoves. In the back corner is where John's voice came from. Switching on the light of the P90, she and Rodney walked around the platform toward the back of the room. Her light shone into an empty cell with bars on the door and as she swung the light to the left, she saw a battered and beaten John Sheppard slumped against the bars of his cell. Running to him, she knelt in front of the bars and shone the light on him seeing several lacerations on his face and a split lip. "John, are you okay? What did they do to Doug? Have you seen anyone else?"

"Whoa, you're starting to sound like McKay," Sheppard chuckled. Looking at his teammate standing behind Jennifer, he noticed that his left arm was in a sling. Jennifer, who was removing her backpack for her supplies, looked like she had not been harmed. Other than some hair falling out of her ponytail to frame her face, she looked like she always did when on duty in the infirmary. They must have broken out. How the hell did they do that?

"I'll see if I can find a way to release the cell," Rodney said going to one of the consoles.

"Did you two break out?" John asked as he reached out to take the water Jennifer handed him through the bars.

"I've got some pills for you to take," she said. "Yes, we're here to rescue you."

"Aren't you a little short for a storm trooper?" The Colonel said with a smirk. He waved away the pills.

"They're antibiotics in case your cuts get infected. Here's some saline and gauze to try to clean them up." Shaking her head at his attempt at humor, the doctor started closing up her pack.

"Ronon is in worse shape than me. Give them to him," John said.

"Ronon? Where is he?" Jennifer asked looking around the darkened wall where the holding cells were.

"Over here," came the gruff voice of the Satedan from several cells to the right.

"I have plenty, Colonel, so take them. I don't want to deal with infections when we get back to Atlantis." Her voice was firm, so he took them.

The physician moved further along the bank of cells to find Ronon with similar injuries to the Colonel; only his shirt had a large bloody cut across the front. "How are you doing?"

"Been better," Ronon smiled at Jennifer. She looked like she was unharmed. "What happened to McKay's arm?"

"It got crushed under a column." She handed him water and antibiotics, too.

"Crushed? How did that happen?" Ronon asked taking the handful of pills and a drink.

"It fell on him after we knocked it over." Jennifer looked into the dull green eyes of her Satedan friend. "Do you want something for the pain?"

"No, I'm fine. It helps me focus. Why were you knocking over a column?" Ronon asked. What did those two do?

"I don't really have time to explain. What happened to Doug?" Jennifer stood taking the P90 with her and looked at the young technician strapped into the Chair.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer, but he's dead." John felt terrible telling her like this, but he needed to make sure she did not go near the Chair.

"How?" Her voice was suddenly weak and shaky. Douglas Bryce was dead. It's my fault. I never should have taken him off world after only being here a week. "And where's Tony?"

"The Chair killed Bryce and Karric killed Tony," John replied.

"What!" Rodney shouted from the console he was typing away at.

"Karric? He betrayed us?" Jennifer could not believe the kind old man with the bad ankle could have harmed them.

"I saw him shoot the kid, so it was definitely him," the colonel said. "He killed one of my Marines, too."

"I'm so sorry, Jennifer," Rodney looked at her and wanted to give her a hug, but knew he needed to decipher the information. He found a couple systems for propulsion and navigation. It has systems like a ship. "Sheppard what did you say about the Chair killing him?"

"It seems to kill anyone without the Ancient gene. They put Lorne in first…" His team leader began.

"Evan's alive? Where is he?" Jennifer turned to shine her light into the other cells.

"They took him. He tried to escape after they put him in the Chair and got shot in the leg. We haven't seen him since." John could not keep the concern for his second in command out of his voice.

"What? He could be bleeding to death in a cell somewhere." Jennifer caught Rodney's eyes. "I need to go look for him."

"No!" Three male voices shouted simultaneously.

"Jennifer, you are not going anywhere. Take care of John and Ronon. Lorne would not want you risking your life for him," Rodney said as he walked to the woman he loved and reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. He knew he should keep working, but he did not trust her not to dart down the corridor. She has been incredibly reckless lately. I'll need to talk to her about that. "We've been extremely lucky so far. We only ran into two people. Don't push our luck."

Jennifer was torn. She knew Rodney was right, but Evan never wanted to come back. He was also against giving the villagers weapons and now those weapons were being used against them. She stared into Rodney's concerned face. "Fine."

"So when they put Doug in the Chair, what did it do?" Rodney walked to John's cell and knelt in front of his friend. He needed more details.

"It appeared as if it sent some type of electric current through him. He looked like he was being shocked." John was trying to catch a look at Jennifer, but she was just staring at the Chair and her junior staff member. "The technicians have to power down the Chair using one of the consoles before they can remove anyone. The guy who just left before you got here. I don't think he knew what to do."

"From what I can tell, this is not Ancient. As a matter of fact, some of the computer systems must have been stolen from a ship. They still reference navigation, weapons and life support. It's as if they linked the Ancient outpost with this… I don't know what it is." Rodney waved at the room they were in and moved back to the console clicking different buttons. "Jennifer, I need your help over here. I think I found how they're powering the Chair. Someone has cobbled Ancient and some other technologies together. The language is a derivative of Ancient, so you should be able to make out some things out."

"You expect me to read it?" Jennifer asked. She was still shocked and saddened by the loss of her two technicians. Hold it together. You can cry in Rodney's arms once you're back. Don't think he'd appreciate it, though.

"Well, Radek should have taught you to read Ancient while he was educating you or he's a lousy teacher," Rodney said spitting out Radek's name like it was poison.

Jennifer could not help but roll her eyes. "What do you need me to do?"

"I'm going to pull out some cables and I need you to tell me if the readings here and here start falling," he said pointing at two screens with numbers written in Ancient on them. "If I start screaming or you see sparks or stuff like that, type in this combination of buttons."

"Screaming? Sparks? Could you get electrocuted or blow us up?" Jennifer said with concern in her voice.

"It's possible. I don't know what half of this stuff is." Rodney leaned over to quickly give her a kiss on the forehead and then dropped to the floor scooting under the console on his back.

"Okay," Jennifer set the P90 down on the console. "But how are you going to manage with one hand?"

"I'll manage. Now get ready," Rodney said. Please let this work. To get electrocuted after all we've been through would not be good. Pausing a moment before he pulled the cable out, he said, "I love you, Jennifer."

"What?" Jennifer could not hear what Rodney was saying under the console, so she leaned down to look at him.

"I said I love you, now get back up there," Rodney said jerking his head for her to go.

"I love you, too. I'm ready." Jennifer stood up with her hands hovering over the keys to push in the combination that Rodney showed her. Please let this work.

John watched the resident super geniuses of Atlantis and thought they made a great team. They obviously escaped from their holding cells and found this room. We should be rescuing them. When this is over, I will never hear the end of it from McKay.

Rodney pulled a cable out and the lights came on. Jennifer leaned down to help pull him up when John and Ronon both shouted. "Get down."

Rodney yanked Jennifer's hand pulling her on top of him. A stun blast flew over her. He ignored the pain in his injured arm as she landed on it and rolled them quickly so he was covering her with his body. "Where's the gun?"

"I left it on the console. I'm sorry." Jennifer had dreamed about being under Rodney's body for a long time, but not like this. I can't believe I put the gun down. What an idiot!

"You can get up Doctor McKay and Doctor Keller. If not, we will kill Ronon and then Colonel Sheppard." Jennifer recognized the voice as that of Karric.

"Don't worry about us," Ronon could be heard growling.

"Jennifer, I can see the strap of the gun to your right," Rodney whispered in Jennifer's ear. Rodney had her effectively pinned to the floor trying to protect her. It was impossible to move and she could barely breathe. Looking into his blue eyes, she saw pain and love reflected there. Ignoring her own discomfort at being pressed into cold metal, she nodded and tried to get ready to roll and pull the gun off the console.

Rodney wanted to have Jennifer under him for years. Unfortunately, now it was to protect her and not to make love to her as he wanted. He could tell that he was hurting her by the grimace on her face and set of her eyes; with only one arm he could not hold himself off of her. Clenching his teeth against the pain in his left arm, he pushed himself up slightly with his right arm. He rolled right so Jennifer could reach up and pull the gun into her hands.

Once the gun dropped, Jennifer adjusted it and rose to her knees still hiding behind the consoles. Glancing at Rodney, who motioned for her to follow the consoles back to the exit corridor, she tried to think of what to do next. How will we get Ronon and John? Or Lorne and the other soldiers?

"I do not like to repeat myself, Doctor Keller. I promise if you come out, I will not hurt you or the others," Karric said.

"You're an idiot." Jennifer suddenly had an idea. I hope I can pull this off. I need to be as arrogant and cocky as the man I love. "If you don't let us all go, we're all going to die. I have no reason to give you my weapon."

What the hell is she doing? Ronon could see Jennifer and McKay behind the console. She was squatting with the P90 and McKay was squatting next to her. The Satedan was pacing and wished his hidden knives could reach all the guards, but he knew they were on a higher level with Karric. The man was as cruel as that Genii, Koyla; laughing as he cut Ronon's chest. I'll get great pleasure returning the favor.

Rodney gave Jennifer an incredulous look. Huh?

"Really, Doctor Keller. How are you going to kill all of us? I guarantee you there are more of us than you," Karric said laughing.

"You're a stupid fool. Doctor McKay was in your computer systems," Jennifer said with as much arrogance as she could muster. "Don't you remember what Mister Woolsey said about how smart he is? Of course he put in a virus to blow us up if we're harmed."

Karric did not answer right away. Rodney was staring at Jennifer. He sucked at lying. Why did she say that? As their eyes connected he tried to silently tell her this was not going to work, to give him the gun and get out. It appeared she read his mind because she shook her head.

"I don't care about the others, so I'll let them go," Karric said. He did not seem to have the same level of confidence in his voice as before.

"All of us or none of us," Jennifer replied looking at Rodney trying to pull from his immense reserve of arrogance. At that moment, she knew that if it came down to his life or hers, she had the strength to sacrifice her potential future with him to keep him safe.

"What do you want with them?" John had risen to his feet. He could not see Rodney or Jennifer because he was in front of them. What are they up to? This man is a cold-blooded killer. "Ronon and I are soldiers. Fighters. We are much more valuable than those two."

"Doctor Keller," Karric ignored Sheppard. She's just the pawn I need. Stupid woman. "I will release all your friends if you and Doctor McKay agree to remain with us."

"No way," Rodney yelled before Jennifer got a chance to say anything. He glared at the woman in front of him because he could see the look on her face. No way am I letting her remain here.

"What do you want with us?" Jennifer called out.

"I would think it is rather obvious." Karric sounded like he was coming closer to them. "The Great Doctor Rodney McKay is the smartest man in the galaxy according to Woolsey. We came into a bit of trouble a couple years ago. Our ship crashed on this world killing our engineer. He had the ability to work with Ancient technology, which we were hoping to gather more from this place."

Rodney leaned close to Jennifer so he could whisper in her ear. "That's it, we're in a ship. I have an idea."

Having Rodney breathing in her ear sent a shiver through her that had no place in the middle of a life-and-death situation. Furrowing her eyebrows, she gave him a questionable look wishing she could read his mind.

"I'll fix your ship, but you have to let everyone go, first," Rodney said looking at Jennifer.

"Shut up, McKay. You are not helping them." John felt useless. He saw Karric and several of his goons coming down the stairs at the back of the room. They all carried P90s. Why the hell did Woolsey agree to this?

"As much as I looked forward to killing you, Colonel, I will let you go. I want you and what's left of your soldiers to return to Atlantis to let them know there is a new power in the galaxy."

"You're joking? You think you're as powerful as the Wraith?" Sheppard was trying to keep Karric's attention on him. McKay must be working on something.

Rodney's mind was racing. I've got to get Jennifer out of here. He looked around and saw Ronon in his cell where he was pacing and clenching his fists. When their eyes connected, the scientist glanced at Jennifer, who was trying to look brave, and then back at his teammate. With a slight nod of his head, he tried to tell the big man to protect her.

Ronon watched McKay look at Jennifer and back at him with a nod. McKay has a plan and wants me to get Jennifer. The Satedan nodded and got ready.

"Jennifer, when I open the cell doors, I want you to start shooting out the lights. It should give John and Ronon time to get to us," he whispered into her ear and took a second to kiss her hair briefly feeling her nod. "Good."

Now that she'll be busy, I can concentrate. Rodney reached his right arm under the console and grabbed a cable. Hopefully, it was the one he needed.

John was glaring at Karric, when all hell broke out. The lights flickered; the cell door opened and someone started shooting. The guards dove for cover, as did Karric. John ran toward the Chair. If he could get it to work, he might be able to do something useful.

Ronon saw McKay reach under the console and pulled knives out of his hair and belt. When the door opened and Jennifer started shooting at the lights, Ronon practically leaped out of his cell. He threw a knife at the nearest guard who dropped in front of Sheppard, who was running their way. A stunner blast coming from the catwalk at the front of the room hit the Colonel causing him to fall before he could reach the computer console. Ronon had to dive back into a cell as a blast hit the spot where he had just been.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Rodney could not believe John and Ronon did not make it to them. Jennifer was still shooting, but the guards must have realized she was not aiming at them by now. Glancing back at the Chair, he proceeded with his original plan. Running to the Chair, he quickly yanked the strap holding the body of Douglas Bryce off and removed him from the Chair. Sorry. He then dropped onto the Chair causing the platform to light up.

Jennifer saw Rodney pulling Bryce out of the Chair and sitting down. She glanced around and saw that Ronon was back in a cell because of shots coming from above. The young woman pointed the P90 toward the darkened upper level and started firing. As luck would have it, she hit a couple of people. Their cries could be heard and one of them dropped his weapon, which landed in front of the console. Too bad I can't reach around to get it.

Ronon watched helplessly as his friends struggled to save them. Rodney had been his teammate for four years and picked up some military strategy, but he usually left that to Sheppard. Jennifer had no military training except the basics everyone got on Atlantis. She had held her own on the Daedalus but became reckless trusting Todd. He was terrified when Karric said he would let them go that the physician would once again turn herself in to save them.

Rodney's only thought was to get Jennifer to safety when he sat in the Chair. The ship that the Chair was tied into tried to take off causing a lot of shaking and nothing else. Apparently, the power was not flowing to the engines properly. After knocking everyone off his or her feet, the shaking stopped.

Ronon was the first to get up. He immediately ran to pull Sheppard over to the consoles. Karric and his men were bounced around on the decks pretty hard, making them slow to get up.

Jennifer moved to help Ronon with John and called to the man she loved, "Rodney, are you okay? Did you do that?"

"I'm fine. There's something wrong with the power," he said moving to get off the Chair. As he stood, he froze raising his right hand. His position was slightly higher than Jennifer and the others kneeling behind the console caring for Sheppard, so he noticed men behind them. There seemed to be a lot of them.

Jennifer was feeling John's neck for a pulse as Ronon pulled the P90 away from her. "I'm sorry Ronon, but it's out of bullets. I should have realized it was going to run out, but…" She never finished the sentence because Ronon was suddenly hit by a stun blast. Jennifer screamed, glancing around and seeing guards behind her and Rodney. They must have gotten the door open at the end of the corridor. A sinking feeling came over her. Slowly rising with her hands raised, the physician looked at the physicist trying to say in her eyes how sorry she was that she failed him and that she loved him more than anything.

TBC


A/N:Thanks for all of you who have been following this story, which was my first fan fiction. We are almost at the end.