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Chapter Thirteen

Sheppard sat back, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the wall. Ronon was speaking with the villagers a short distance away and he asked, "So, Denaz, you think it might have been this – Death Claw creature – that attacked the people at the ancestral ring?"

Sheppard opened his eyes enough to see the small group gathered around Ronon. With his question, they had started arguing quietly amongst themselves. Denaz spoke again, raising his hands in an obvious effort to get the others to listen to him. "It's possible. The Death Claw is said to be invisible and its attack swift and deadly."

"And it's also supposed to exist deep in the heart of the mine, so what was it doing all the way out there at the ancestral ring?" another man asked.

"What else could it have been?" Denaz responded. "We have no other predators like that."

"What if the Sinomeans brought it with them?"

Casea came over to Sheppard with a rough hewn bowl as the conversation continued. She gave him a tired smile and held out the bowl. "It's cold and has little flavor, but you need to eat."

Sheppard took the bowl and sniffed at it, the very smell cramping his stomach even more. He set the bowl on the ground beside him and slid an arm around his waist to brace himself against the cramps. He hoped the movement seemed casual enough not to be noticed by Casea. "I think I'll pass right now, but thank you."

She sat beside him, her movements slow and weary. Her head dipped down and she pulled a folded cloth from a pocket. "Here, try this. The denobian root helps with stomach problems and there's some nutritional value to it, too."

Sheppard looked down to see what looked to be a cross between a carrot and a mushroom lying inside the cloth when she opened it up. He looked up at her and frowned at the broken pieces of yellowish plant suspiciously. He took one and sniffed at it. She nodded and gestured with her hand as she said, "It will help with the cramping and nausea."

Still frowning, he nibbled on one corner. He was surprised to find it tasted much better than it looked, then he was surprised once again at how quickly the medicinal root began to work, easing the churning of his upset stomach.

"Let it linger in your mouth before swallowing," she said, exhaustion marking her drawn features.

He closed his eyes in relief and said softly, "Thanks."

After a moment, he asked, "Where did you find this?"

"It grows here inside the mines. We've come across a wealth of them. The heat of the underground stream and the self-contained nature of the mine tunnels are a perfect breeding ground for it, but I haven't seen much of it until today. Here, take another bite."

Sheppard did, then leaned back against the wall, then asked, "What's this Death Claw they're talking about?"

Casea shook her head, her gaze on the others as they talked. "The Death Claw is a story the elders tell the children to keep them out of the mines."

She seemed to hesitate, so he waited. She sighed with exhaustion and continued after a moment, "And perhaps it is not just a story . . . "

Sheppard looked at her more closely. "Why do you say that?"

She brushed some loose locks of hair away from her face. The nervous gesture wasn't lost on Sheppard. "The attack Ronon described at the ancestral ring could have been done by a Death Claw. It supposedly haunts in the mines. It is said it can live outside of them for a short time, and when it attacks, it is fast and deadly, killing within the blink of an eye."

Sheppard frowned. "Do you think it's still out there?"

"Perhaps, but I'd be more worried about being in the mines than out on the surface. The Death Claw or Madj needs to stay close to the Benji crystals, otherwise its danger grows. If it is a Madj, it will be drawn back to this place and our lives will be in even greater peril."

She glanced around them, her gaze distant. "Perhaps something in the Sinomean's mining operation disturbed their slumber. I'm afraid if it is a Madj, many more will die before it sleeps again."

Sheppard went to look at her and moved his head a little too quickly, making his vision blur. He rubbed his forehead in irritation. The headache he'd had earlier was back. And Casea must have noticed it, because in the next moment, she was kneeling in front of him, checking his eyes.

"Any more dizziness?" she asked quietly as she rocked back on her heels.

"Not much."

She gave him a stern look. "Why do I think not much to you would mean a great deal to me?"

Sheppard smiled innocently. "I don't know where you would get ideas like that."

She gave him a quick smile and said, "I need to look at your arm."

He paused. "Why? It's fine."

When she sighed, he noticed how really tired she seemed. The villagers had been prisoners of the Sinomeans for the better part of a week, and the drain was obvious in all of them, so he just lifted the edge of his black t-shirt, so she could take a better look at his upper arm. "See, it's fine."

Casea peered intently at the area where the wound had once been, then she reached forward, her fingers brushed over the smooth skin of his arm where the life threatening infection had been only hours before. "The wound remains healed. That is good. It is unfortunate that the treatment could not take care of your other injuries at the same time."

"Do you think it's taken care of the poison, too?" he asked, his voice softer now.

She paused in thought. "While you are stronger now, I suspect you are still feeling some of its effects, such as the nausea and stomach cramps, dizziness and weakness. They could be symptoms of your other injuries or the poison just working more slowly than it had been before."

"Well, that's encouraging," he said wryly as he handed her the remainder of the denobian root. "Look, I'm fine . . . "

He took a deep breath and started to get to his knees, intending to stand. Her hand on his arm stopped him. "It is too soon for you to be moving around."

"If we are going to escape from this hell hole, I need to be preparing for it."

Sheppard grunted, avoiding the intense gaze he knew had to be staring at him. He started to force himself up from his knees, but faltered. Casea grabbed him as he swayed. Without a word, he slid back down to his sitting position against the wall.

"As I said, it is too soon for you to be moving around," she said softly.

He gritted his teeth together and met her gaze. "I can't just sit here forever . . . "

She didn't reply right away. "No, I suppose not, but I can keep you resting until there's no choice in moving."

Sheppard looked across the room at the others where they rested and went silent for a few moments. "Can you do this healing thing more than once if you have to?"

Casea's eyes widened. "On the same patient? As in yourself?"

She shook her head with pronounced apprehension, and then met his gaze. "It is not recommended, especially for someone in your weakened condition. I feared for you even as the healing was taking place. The strain of the crystals on your system was almost too much for you. I honestly don't think you're strong enough for another try."

Sheppard sighed and rolled his head slightly. "Well, if the alternative is death anyway, I say go for it."

She closed her eyes for a moment, and then patted him on the shoulder. "Let's not rush into anything. It would be more prudent to see how you do before making any decisions. You should keep this with you, just in case," she said, placing the root in his hand.

"Fair enough."

He wanted to press the point, then decided against it. Casea slowly slumped against the wall of the mine with his acceptance, closing her eyes as if the conversation had taken much from her. Sheppard looked at her with concern. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yes, I will be. I am just weary after the two healings."

He watched her closely as she rested her head against the wall. She went silent and Sheppard let her rest. His thoughts wandered to McKay. Rodney had seemed confident that he could pull off their escape, but this was from the same man who had said he could control the energy weapon on Doranda. John frowned, forcing that incident from his mind.

The bottom line was that he trusted McKay to do as he promised. They had little other choice. Now, if Sheppard could just get his body to the point where he could trust it, too. He paused, taking another bite of the root. Maybe there was something they could do to help their situation until McKay returned for them. He had to talk to Ronon.

oOoOoOoOo

McKay's mouth went dry as he stared at Boneys. He rubbed at his broken arm in a fit of nervous irritation. "Oh, go ahead. Tell her. Get us all killed! It would be a fitting ending for one hell of a screwed up mission!"

When Boneys didn't move away to contact Conteale, McKay looked up at him in confusion. "What? Aren't you going to inform her royal highness?"

Boneys smiled, and then shrugged. "Maybe we can talk ourselves a deal that'll have both of us happy in the end."

McKay was instantly on the alert. "What do you mean?"

"I was shanghaied just like you were just over a year ago. That's how Conteale normally gets her crew. Most don't complain cuz she pays good, and then there's the sex. You don't know what you're missing. That woman is insatiable and she wears out her lovers faster than – "

McKay held up a hand and said, "Stop! Don't say another word. I do not want that mental picture inside my head!"

After a moment, he lowered the hand as he eyed Boneys in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

Boneys shrugged. "You haven't spent time with her . . . "

McKay shuddered and shook his head. "No, no, no. That's okay. I think that's one pleasure I can live without."

He blinked, trying to clear his thoughts of anything involved with Conteale's sexual habits. "So, she keeps everyone in line with the money, sex and control bracelets?"

Boneys nodded. "Once you learn to follow her orders, you almost forget about the bracelets."

McKay felt his eyes bulge. "Almost? That's the craziest damned thing I've ever heard of!"

Boneys looked a little insulted. "Yeah, well, we all do some crazy things in this life to survive!"

He frowned, then rolled his shoulders, apparently reining in his anger. "I figure you're smart enough to get these bracelets off of us, so we can escape before she knows what's happening."

McKay shook his head. "The best I can hope for is to deactivate the relay on the bracelets, using the interface device in the same way I set up the command to deactivate the ship's command functions when I'm ready. We'll need tools to get the bracelets themselves off."

"But you can do it?"

McKay nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

Boneys smiled brightly, then his expression darkened. "Just as long as you remember you won't get anywhere without my help."

McKay's gaze narrowed. "Your help?"

"You might have the interface device and know how to use it, but you'll need me to get your friends free. Once you get me control of the other ship."

McKay's head went up. "What other ship?"

"The one on the other side of the crystal packaging area. Conteale keeps several smaller ships to use for short range work, but there's only one on the planet right now. The rest are parked in orbit above the planet."

Rodney looked at Boneys closely, assessing the man's honesty. A tiny voice inside McKay said he should use Boneys to help in the escape, but a more cynical part of him eyed the Sinomean suspiciously. "How can you help?"

Boneys smiled. "The rest of the crew will trust me to pass along an order. And having me around will give you free run of the place – up until the time Conteale finds out – and that will be a very good thing for you. But we won't have long, so if you want to do this, we need to move fast. We've already wasted ten of Conteale's thirty minute time limit."

McKay looked at his watch and swore under his breath. He didn't trust the man, but he didn't have much choice. "Let's do it."

He finished the last connection that he had started before Boneys interrupted him, then paused, snapping his fingers together rapidly. "I can buy us a little more time, but I'll need to access Conteale's surveillance system first."

Boneys rocked back on his heels, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. "That's like asking for the impossible."

"Nothing's impossible when it comes to me and computers, especially with this little baby." He waved the interface device in Boneys' face.

Boneys rubbed his tongue over his lower lip. "You're a mite shy on modesty, aren't you?"

Rodney moved quickly, barely paying attention to Boneys now that he had committed himself to a plan of action, speaking with a distracted air, "I have none whatsoever. Now, shut up. As you pointed out, we only have a limited window of opportunity and I plan on making the most of it."

Within seconds, he brought up the surveillance system's main menu. Boneys had been right; he couldn't get into the system the typical way, but then McKay didn't do typical. After a few moments, he looked to Boneys. "Okay, I've deactivated the control bracelets, and I have a repeating video loop of several key positions such as the entrance to the cavern where the prisoners are being kept, the weapons locker, along with the way in and out of the mine's entrance. Now, it's time for us to go."

Boneys frowned at him. "Just like that?"

McKay nodded with impatience. "Yeah, just like that. Keep your weapon ready. If anyone asks where we are going, you can tell them Conteale said to take me back into the mine to work."

Boneys pulled his gun and checked its ammo. "Okay, the weapons locker is on our way. I'll feel better with more firepower, but if Conteale gets wind of this before we're ready, it's gonna get ugly."

McKay sighed as he retrieved the interface device and said, "I rarely have events fall into place the way they are supposed to. I don't know why, but it's always got to be nail-biting, heart-pounding, end of the world stuff with me."

Boneys eyed him strangely as they moved toward the weapons locker. "That's not exactly the kind of news I want to hear," Boneys said as he opened the locker door.

"What can I say? I lead a very stressful life." McKay shrugged as he paused in thought. "And yet, I am still alive, so I guess I must be doing something right. Okay, just grab as many weapons as you can and follow me."

Boneys started stuffing spare weapons into his clothes, but McKay stopped him with an outstretched hand and smiled. "Wait." He recognized their weapons sticking out of a duffle bag on the floor of the locker.

The bag didn't have everything, but it did have a couple P-90s, 9-mils, Ronon's blaster, and some tac vests. He handed the duffle bag over to Boneys. "Here, carry this."

Boneys didn't move. "Why do I have to carry it?"

McKay put a hand on his hip and sighed with irritation. "Because I'm the brains of this operation, and you're the brawn."

Boneys frowned, but took the bag and followed McKay. He stopped after a moment. "What about my ship?"

McKay didn't pause to look at him. They were running out of time and there was still a lot left to do. He spoke over his shoulder as he walked away, and not in a nice tone, as he said, "You'll get your ship when we have the escape route for the prisoners cleared."

"How do we do that?"

McKay hung his head. "Do I have to explain everything? You said you'd help. What I need for you to do is to tell the guys running the crystal harvesting apparatus that they've got to shut down the production line to do a full systems check, using every available man. Meanwhile, we free the prisoners."

"You think they'll fall for that?"

McKay rolled his eyes. "Yes, because you will tell them the order comes from Conteale. But before that, we have to manufacture some distractions with the Benji crystals."

Boneys held up a hand. "Hey, be careful with those things. They can do major damage."

A light went on for McKay and he reached into his pants, shifting to pull out the small packet of crystals from inside his underwear. "Oh, right, thanks for reminding me."

"Where the hell did those come from?" Boneys asked.

McKay let his sense of smugness permeate his expression. "I slipped them into my pants when we were walking back from visiting the prisoners." He frowned for a moment, disturbed by a new thought. "I sure hope this won't affect future generations of little McKays . . . "

Boneys' expression went incredulous. "You're a braver man than I gave you credit for to carry those things around in your pants . . . or a lot more stupid. You're definitely a strange fellow."

"Yeah, yeah, so I've been told. Come on, let's get moving. I've got the stuff for the bombs started and hidden away. All I need to do is insert the crystals. It won't take five minutes to put them together."

Just under five minutes later, Boneys cleared his throat as he nervously held a radio mike in his hand. "Chelsey, production levels seem to be dropping. Conteale wants you guys to shut down things to do a full system check of the main apparatus."

"Looks like it's fine to me."

Boneys let his voice drop. "You want me to tell her you said that?"

There was a deep sigh. "We'll take it offline and check it out."

"Good."

He signed off and sighed. "What now?"

"You help me get these weapons down to the prisoners while I deposit a few well placed distractions along the way. Then the ship is yours."

Boneys spat on the ground. "Hell, you don't want much, do you?"

McKay's gaze narrowed. "Do you want that ship or not?"

Boneys nodded reluctantly.

"Okay, let's go. The sooner you do what I've asked, the sooner I'll release your ship from Conteale's control."

A hard glint came into Boneys' eyes. "What if I just killed you and took the device?"

McKay took a step back, but then pushed forward. "Listen, you little weasel, you won't be able to lift off without a password from me and I'm not going to tell you what it is until my people are out of confinement."

Boneys rubbed his tongue over his teeth, acting like he had a bad taste in his mouth. After a long moment, he said, "Looks like you've got me. Let's go."

He picked up the weapons bag again and took off. McKay grabbed the packet he'd just filled with small, but deadly crystal bombs, and cautiously followed him out.

oOoOoOoOo

Zelenka had just entered the control room when he heard Dr. Morrow's voice over the room's audio speakers. "Okay, Major Lorne, it's time for your team to get into position."

As he glanced her way, Weir nodded at Zelenka. He smiled back at her, but something undefined whispered in the back of his thoughts, leaving him unsettled and apprehensive. Dr. Morrow was a good man, but there were so many variables that had to be taken into account when dealing with this strange new creature.

Radek tried to push those thoughts to the back of his mind as he stopped in front of Dr. Kline. The man was scratching the back of his neck in frustration. "I'm sorry, Radek, but this has me stumped."

Zelenka shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Thomas. Let's see what's going on here."

Kline started to explain their problem, but part of Radek's attention was attuned to the exchanges between Morrow and the others. Then something in the readouts Dr. Kline was showing him caught his eye. He cursed under his breath. It was the same strange power feedback he'd seen with the stargate and control systems. Somehow in all the confusion following the gate's problems, this particular subsystem had never been rebooted.

Zelenka practically growled at his own lack of thoroughness. "Simply shut that subsystem down and reboot. It's still reacting to the power overload. Once that is done, it should read correctly."

Kline nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. "Of course, that has to be it. I'm sorry I didn't see it for myself."

He patted Kline on the back. "No, Thomas, it was something I should have corrected already. Now, I am going back to the others. Call me if you have any more problems."

He turned to leave as he said, "Dr. Weir, I'm going back down to – "

The radio chatter still playing over the control room's intercom was suddenly filled with a high pitched screech, then there were screams and shouting. Weir looked over at Zelenka as he froze in place.

When Major Lorne spoke next, his voice was full of pain and anger. "Teyla," he grunted, "send your team to block off corridors five and six heading to the east pier, but do not engage that thing! Dr. Weir, we've got injured, but you better hold off on sending any medical teams until we know for sure where that blasted mofo is heading."

Zelenka tapped a screen on his tablet computer, looking up to Weir. "The Madj is definitely on the move again."

She glanced to the console in front of her and looked up at him in alarm. "Do you think it will head back into the city?"

"No, Major Lorne is right. It appears to be heading toward the east pier. I'm going back to the others – "

Weir stepped forward. "Radek . . . "

Zelenka took a deep breath, but refused to be drawn into an emotional confrontation. He couldn't be battling his emotions and the emergency at the same time. "That should have been me with them. I need to go there now."

Weir stared at him for another moment, then gestured to one of the beefy Marines stationed on guard duty in the control room. "Give Dr. Zelenka an escort, but if the situation looks the least bit dangerous, you are to bring him back here immediately, even if you have to carry him back."

Zelenka stopped, as if to argue, then turned and took off with his tablet computer under one arm, shouting over his shoulder, "You better hurry up, if you're coming with me!"

The Marine rushed after him. Sighing deeply, Weir contacted the infirmary, "Carson, we have an emergency."

"Aye, I know. We can be with the injured in five minutes."

"I'm sending a team to escort you there. Don't you dare leave before they arrive," she said firmly.

"Your escort would be lovely, dear, just as long as they are here when we are ready to go. Lives are at stake, Doctor, and we can't be wasting time, not a second of it."

He signed off, not hearing Weir's growl of frustration. She tried Lorne again. "Major, what is your status now?"

There was silence for a moment, then Teyla's breathless voice came over the radio. "Dr Weir, our people are deployed as Major Lorne requested. I just now arrived back at the scene. Major Lorne is unconscious and he has a bad gash down the length of his back."

"And the others?"

Again, there was silence. "The others . . . appear to be dead. All of them."

Elizabeth closed her eyes at the news, more out of empathy for Radek than anything else. This news would devastate him. She thought about calling Zelenka back, but it would be pointless. Zelenka's engineers would still be dead and there was nothing she could do to change that fact.

Instead, she turned to the technician beside her. "I'm going down there."

A Marine stepped to her side. "Major Lorne gave orders to escort you wherever you go, ma'am."

Elizabeth nodded, eyeing the Marine as he led the way out of the control room. He looked barely old enough to be out of high school, let alone here in another galaxy, but his service record was impressive with high scores in all forms of combat readiness. Still, she didn't let it lull her into a sense of false security.

As she walked to the transporter, she took slow deep breaths, preparing herself for the calm support that Radek would need once he found out about the dead engineers.

oOoOoOoOo