Disclaimer – the usual

This scenario has a faint whiff of AU (Go with it ok!). Characters will stay true (at least as true as I can make them :P ).

Set after 'Misbegotten.'

Prang

Sheppard looked at his team in dismay as they sat around the conference table. Lines of stress and tiredness etched into their faces.

Dr Weir had noticed it too and she was watching them with an expression of concern and a slight frown.

Ronon was fiddling absent-mindedly with a small hole in his shirt, while Teyla, Beckett and McKay stared off into space.

"Buck up guys!" Sheppard cried out when he could not stand the tension any longer, "We survived didn't we?"

Rodney looked up, "All that Wraith Intel. Gone," he snapped his fingers, "Just like that. They nearly killed us…" his breath hitched slightly and he looked back down at the table.

"We killed all those people," Teyla said, looking horrified.

Ronon stopped enlarging the hole for a moment and gazed at Teyla, "They were Wraith. We may have made them look human, but they will always be Wraith."

Dr Weir clasped her hands together in front of her. "This is why I called you here. Dr Heightmeyer has expressed a… concern about everyone on the base."

Rodney's eyes darted between them all nervously.

Weir continued, "She has reported that the high levels of stress created by the incident with the Wraith are still having a detrimental effect on all personnel. Recent events really put us through the wringer and I think we need some kind of morale booster to get us back on track."

Sheppard smiled, "Sounds like a good idea. What do you have in mind?"

Weir pressed her lips together wryly, "I was hoping you would all be able to help me."

"Why don't we go camping?" Teyla said.

Rodney rolled his eyes, "I thought the intention was to reduce stress."

Teyla glared at him.

"Treasure hunt?" Ronon said.

Sheppard smiled, "I think you'd win that one."

Ronon raised his eyebrows, "Really? You think?"

Rodney said, "Just as long as it doesn't involve work, Wraith or fighting."

Weir turned to Sheppard, "What about something with the Puddle Jumpers? You mentioned that some people needed more practise flying them."

Sheppard looked pointedly at Rodney as Weir spoke.

"Hey!" he said indignantly.

Sheppard looked at the table, his expression showing that he was deep in thought. After a while his eyes narrowed. "How about running time trials around Lantea. We could set up a course with the hovering targets we found on the West Pier. Nothing like a bit of friendly competition to get everyone focused again."

Beckett's eyes were getting wider the whole time Sheppard was speaking, "Bloody hell Colonel, you still want the Jumper intact at the end of the course? Perhaps it's better if I sit this one out."

Rodney's face was twisted in panic, "That's a terrible idea Sheppard. I hope you're not expecting me to participate."

"Everyone who is able to fly the Puddle Jumpers will be expected to take part."

Ronon laughed, "McKay, I'll be surprised if you can keep the Jumper on track to finish the course at all."

Rodney frowned and folded his arms across his chest, "Is that a challenge?"

"Uh… sure," Ronon said with a sly smile.

"Alright. I'll do it, but only to show you I can."

Sheppard locked eyes with Weir for a moment and they both smirked.

Weir spoke, "Okay. Colonel, I would like you to devise and set up the course. Every person is to go around on their own to avoid collisions."

She turned to Rodney; "I would like you to set up cameras on the targets and in the Jumper we will be using and then link them to a live video feed for the mess hall."

"Okay," he said. He did not look as downcast as he was at the beginning of the meeting.

Teyla was smiling and her eyes were showing the first signs of excitement.

Weir looked at them all and smiled, "Okay, get to it."


The sense of excitement rose in Atlantis as the time trial day approached. Sheppard had tried to stop anyone from calling the event a 'race' as the intention was just to give everyone something else to think about other than how close the Wraith came to getting to Earth.

Rodney and Zelenka easily fitted cameras to the targets, they had even been able to rig a way for them to rotate and track a Jumper when it flew past. They also put cameras on the front of the Jumper and in the cockpit. Several other scientists and even Kavanagh had tried to help, but McKay angrily patted their hands from the panels they touched and shooed them away. He told them to work on the screens and interface in the mess hall with everyone else.

The day before the event, Sheppard flew around the course he had devised and dropped targets off at each corner and marker. He believed he had come up with a challenging, exciting and fun course for them all to try. It looped around Lantea, taking in all the sights. It had underwater and overland sections; a section in space, a slalom and a loop. He flew over the course a couple of times admiring his handiwork.

Dr Weir tried to ignore the rumours of wild bets on each of the ATA gene carrier pilots. She could no longer avoid it when she heard raised voices as she walked down a corridor.

"But he can't even fly the thing in a straight line!" A snide and superior voice floated down the corridor.

"He's a lot better than he was at first. I think he will at least finish." The accent was unmistakable.

Dr Weir rounded the corner and saw Zelenka and Kavanagh glaring at each other. Kavanagh had just raised his finger to make another comment, his mouth hung open guiltily as Weir raised an eyebrow at them.

She asked, "How are the cameras gentlemen?"

Kavanagh muttered, "I.. uh… they're all finished Doctor Weir. We're ready for the race this afternoon."

Weir raised both eyebrows, "Hasn't Sheppard told you? It's not a race; it's just something to lighten the mood and take our minds off recent events."

They both still looked terribly guilty and did not speak.

Weir sensed the tension and walked away, "I'll see you both in the mess hall later."

She heard their heated discussion begin again when they thought she was out of earshot, but it still echoed noisily down the corridor.


Sheppard stood in front of the entire expedition in the mess hall. The ATA gene carriers were seated in chairs in front of everyone else. There were about fifteen of them, including marines and pilots from the Daedalus as well as some civilians. Rodney's eyes kept darting around in nervousness and he wrung his hands together. Sheppard thought he looked a little pale.

Beckett was staring at the large display screen that had been set up with a look of resigned terror in his eyes.

Several members of the science team where at the back of the room standing by a makeshift real-time editing suite they had set up. Several laptops were lined up; each screen displaying several video feeds from the hovering targets around the course.

Sheppard raised his hand to Zelenka at the back of the room. He nodded and activated a control on one of the laptops. A twisting map flashed up on the large screen. Sheppard pointed at each section as he spoke guiding everyone around the course with his intentions for each part. He said that as he had already flown round it many times, he would not be participating, but would act as navigator over the radio from Atlantis. That way no-one could accuse him of favouritism or cheating.

A marine went first. The course took about twenty minutes to complete. The mess hall was full of ooh's and ah's as he skilfully glided the Jumper through the water and wove around the slalom with ease. The scientists had done an excellent job on installing the cameras. They switched views to show the look of concentration on the marine's face as he navigated a tricky corner as fast as he could. They then changed the camera to show the Jumper as it flew past at an incredible lick.

Everyone cheered when the marine walked into the mess hall with a massive grin on his face. Several other marines went over and patted him on the back.

Sheppard's voice came over the PA, "Dr Rodney McKay. You're up."

McKay's face fell and his hands slimed together in sweat as he continued to rub them together nervously. Beckett gave him a brave smile as he walked past.


Sheppard met Rodney in the Jumper Bay. He had a few laptops set up on a table at the edge of the bay. He could therefore see every video feed and avoid the noise in the mess hall.

"Did I mention I really don't want to do this?"

Sheppard grinned, "Just try your best Rodney. It's only a bit of fun after all."

"Didn't seem like that much fun, based on the shouting in the mess hall. Everyone's really serious about this."

Sheppard's face fell a little. He put a reassuring hand on Rodney's back and gently guided him towards the designated Jumper for the time trial. He had decided to make it fair, everyone was to use the same craft.

"You'll do fine, just enjoy the ride."

Rodney looked like he had no intention of 'enjoying' anything for the next twenty minutes, although he thought it was more likely to be over an hour before he made it all the way around. He could imagine everyone in the mess hall laughing as he veered off course. He could not think of anything worse. It was highly unlikely that they would never let him forget about it either.

He was so preoccupied in contemplating his fate in misery that he did not realise when Sheppard's hand had left his back. He sat down in the pilot's chair with a resigned sigh and ran through a few mental checks as he felt the Jumper powering on.

Sheppard's voice came over Rodney's radio, "Okay, the first part of the course is a steep climb into space."

Rodney lifted the Jumper off the ground. Although he could not hear or see them, he could feel everyone's eyes burning into him as they watched his every move and twitch. He set his lips in a hard line and frowned in concentration.

Sheppard's infuriatingly calm voice came over the radio again, "Just relax. They can't hear us."

Rodney grimaced as he flew the Jumper out of the Bay. He brought up the HUD and could see the targets laid out around the course. Sheppard had asked one of the scientists to draw a line between each target to mark out the course on the HUD.

McKay sighed as he flew the Jumper high into the sky as fast as he could.

The sky got gradually darker as he flew out into space. He could now see the target through the windscreen.

"That's it Rodney. The next target is underwater, close to the mainland."

"Underwater!" Exclaimed McKay as a cold sweat broke out on his face.

"Don't worry. It's in the shallows, that way if anything…" His voice trailed off as Rodney began to tremble. The Jumper sensed it's pilot shaking and started spinning.

Rodney closed his eyes tightly as the sun kept flashing and rolling across the window. He took a few steadying deep breaths and opened them. The Jumper stopped spinning and flew past the first target. He turned it back towards the planet and dove back into the atmosphere towards the coast along the mainland.

"That's it Rodney, you're doing really good. The shallow water section lasts a few minutes from one target to another. The second target marks where you should leave the water."

The Jumper came down short of the first underwater target, so Rodney skimmed low across the sea. He could make out the approaching coastline appearing across the horizon as he sped towards it.

"Okay, dive now."

Rodney obeyed, closed his eyes and held his breath as the Jumper broke the surface of the water.

"Uh Rodney, it might help if you had your eyes open."

"Oh right."

Rodney opened them and could see nothing but the dark blue depths through the window. Images of whales and sinking into oblivion alone ran through his memory and he tried to block them out with little success.

He stared at the HUD trying to ignore the crushing water beyond the glowing display. He zoomed the HUD into his current position and some of his fear dissipated when he realised Sheppard was right. The water here was very shallow. It should not cause any problems, pressure wise, if the Jumper lost power and sunk to the seabed. He thought maybe Sheppard had done it on purpose, just for him.

"You're nearly at the second target. After you fly past go straight up and leave the water. You should be able to see the next target over the mainland. That marks the start of the slalom."

"Hmm." What little colour had been in McKay's face drained out completely and he grimaced.

He saw the second target go past on the HUD and let out a sigh of relief as he flew the Jumper towards the surface. The dark water became clearer and was eventually replaced by a bright and clear blue sky.

He saw the next part of the course snaking across the mainland. The aim was to go around the outside of each target in a series of tight turns.

Rodney flew up quite high in the air.

"That's a little bit high Rodney. You need to be at the same altitude as the targets."

McKay said through gritted teeth, "They're a bit low, Colonel. I think I'll be lucky not to clip the tree tops and mountains flying like that."

"Just try it ok? Don't worry too much about speed, just concentrate on not missing any turns. I don't know, imagine you're trying to out manoeuvre a Wraith dart or something."

"A dart?"

"Well whatever else you can get to work for you I suppose."

"A dart'll do."

Rodney aimed the Jumper down to the first target and flew low over the ground. He easily passed the first target and slowed the Jumper down on the turn as he flew towards the next on. Trees, lakes and fields rolled across the windscreen as he flew past.

"Okay, that's really good Rodney." Sheppard sounded genuinely surprised at how much McKay's flying had improved since his first lessons.

Rodney sensed his friend's tone of voice, and he used his best sarcastic voice to reply, "Gee thanks Sheppard. I always knew you had such confidence in me."

He had the corner of his tongue sticking out of his mouth and moved in his seat with each turn, even though the inertial dampeners meant that he could not feel a thing.

As he flew past the last target the Jumper began to buck a little and the controls started to become less responsive. Rodney dismissed it, as he had been gripping the control sticks very tightly the whole time and his hands were beginning to seize up.

"Okay the next target marks the start of 'the loop.'"

"'The loop?'" Rodney said in alarm.

"Just follow the course as closely as you can from the HUD."

Rodney looked at the HUD and saw a sweeping circular ring marked out by targets at four points. The Jumper let out a violent shudder.

"What's happening?" Asked Sheppard, "Is that you doing that?"

"Probably, my hands are sore."

Rodney had just begun climbing into the loop, when the power cut out briefly and then came back on. His heart rate increased in panic. It was already quite high from the stress of navigating the course.

"That definitely wasn't you. There's something wrong with the…"

Sheppard's voice cut out completely as the power turned off in the Jumper once again. Only this time it did not come back on straight away.

"Oh crap," McKay whispered as the Jumper lost speed and the nose pitched down in a dive. His eyes widened as the ground rushed up to meet him. He screwed his eyes closed tightly and turned away waiting for the fatal and inevitable impact.

Suddenly the power whooshed back on and Rodney quickly urged the Jumper to fly up away from the ground.

"Land, Rodney, land!" Sheppard's voice came over the radio again as the power came on.

Rodney had no argument with that. He had swept the Jumper up into the sky again when the power came back on. It was rattling and shaking around him.

He had just begun to lower it towards the ground when a massive explosion ignited one of the drive pods. The bulkhead slammed closed as a fireball tore through the rear compartment and the Jumper ditched into the ground at a sickening speed.


Wipeout!

A/N – Anyone who's read my longer fics will already know that I'm a sucker for a cliffhanger…