Woolsey dismissed the marine and laid his face in his hands. His day had been so long. Disaster after micro-disaster had occurred, and he was beginning to doubt his ability to handle anymore today. All he really wanted to do was scream. At the top of his lung for as long as he could manage, for that matter. He was about to go find a secluded part of the city when Ella drug Rodney into his office.

"Is something wrong?" He noticed after the question came out of his mouth that he sounded rather impatient.

Ella smiled, putting Woolsey a little more at ease. "Not at all. Actually, Rodney has concluded that we are ready to destroy the ship. Isn't that right, Rodney?"

Rodney gave a weak nod and Ella released his wrist as she glanced at him over her shoulder. She turned back to Woolsey, who also gave her a weak nod. She smiled and grabbed Rodney's wrist again. "Come on, let's go get the rest of the team." However, she stopped at the doorway. "Umm, Mr. Woolsey, It is Sheppard's team that's doing this mission, right?"

Woolsey nodded again, so Ella continued her dash towards the 'tack' room. She heard Woolsey radio Sheppard behind them as she pulled a rather limp Rodney by his rather limp arm.

Ronon was looking for Ella when Sheppard's voice buzzed in his ear. "Hey, Big Guy, we got a mission. Meet us at the jumper bay."

Ronon touched the earpiece that Sheppard insisted he wore so it would activate long enough to mumble a short affirmative. Us included Ella now. He smiled as he mentally thanked Sheppard for finishing his search for him.

Everyone sat quietly in the jumper. There hadn't been time or need for a briefing. The whole team knew what Rodney and Ella had been working on, and they knew all the risks involved. Rodney had asked why they all had to go, and Sheppard had muttered something about moral support, then all had been quiet.

The super hive was looming in front of them now, taking up the entire windshield. Ella moved from the rear compartment to stand near the windshield with her mouth slightly agape. Everyone else seemed equally stunned at it's enormity. John was quick to snap out of his shock and fired at the intended target. The first few drones fizzled off the shield, but some of them got through the shield just as predicted. They disappeared up the vent and the hive began to tremble. Sheppard began to turn the ship around, but he wasn't quite fast enough. The jumper was parallel to the hive as it blew, sending the jumper rolling. Screams of different pitches were intermingled and filled the rolling ship. The dampeners took off most of the momentum. It was, however, enough to throw Ella into Rodney's lap, smashing his nose into her elbow in the process. McKay screamed again and held his nose as the jumper came to a stop. Ella, who was still in his lap, turned to examine his face.

"No! Don't touch it!"

Ella was trying to pull his hands away, but McKay clearly wanted them there to shield his nose. "McKay, don't be such a melodramatic baby. Move your hands." Ella's voice was firm, and almost a growl.
Having a soft landing had meant she was the first to recover. The others were gathering their bearings while she was trying to treat Rodney. She stood and carefully made her way to the rear of the jumper and grabbed the supplies she would need before she returned. She gently hopped up onto the control panel in front of Rodney, not really wanting to sit back on his lap. She shoved the uncomfortable place she had found herself in earlier from her mind and set about the task currently ahead of her. After a few minutes of work and Rodney's reluctant cooperation, she was able to stop the bleeding. She was about to try and see if his nose was broken when the jumper leaped forward in a jolt sudden enough to slide her back into Rodney's lap, then stopped again. John had just regained full consciousness, but had taken a moment to get control of the jumper. Rodney grimaced as his hands flew up to protect his nose. Ella sighed when she realized the control panel was too slick to sit on.

"Rodney, I'm going to have to stay here to finish your checkup. I don't like it any more than you do, but we should see if your nose is broken."

Rodney grimaced. "Fine, just hurry," he snapped, sounding like someone with a plugged nose. Ella tried not to laugh as she began gently prodding his nose, her face too close to his for comfort. He grimaced and soon batted away her hand.

"I think that's enough."

A voice sounded from the chair behind McKay, a deep and angry growl. "Enough of what, McKay?"

Ronon had noticed Ella's feet on one side of Rodney's chair and was instantly irritated. He was out for a bit and McKay went after the other girl in his life. He had seen them both first.

Rodney's eyes were wide with terror as he began stuttering incoherently. Ella rolled her eyes and poked his nose as she stood up, effectively ending his stuttering.

"Yep, it's definitely broken." She was moving to the doorway, but as she walked by Ronon pulled her next to him.

Muttering softly, he asked, "What happened?"

She smiled and whispered back, "Nothing, Ro. The console was slippery."

Ronon nodded and let her go, but instead of moving to the doorway she plopped down on his armrest.

By then Teyla and John were fully coherent.

"So," John said, trying to sound nonchalant, "how'd we do?" He didn't know what had happened exactly, but considering the fact that they weren't being shot at, he assumed they had destroyed the hive. Todd would be peeved. John smiled as he turned to check on his team. Rodney's nose was bandaged and somewhat stuffed, and he had his arms crossed over his chest in an angry pout. Teyla seemed to be unharmed. Ronon looked rather happy to have his little sister by his side, and Ella seemed happy to be there. John breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his team was unharmed, but when he tried to turn the ship around, his contentment changed to worry.

"Atlantis, this is jumper one, come in. Atlantis, this is Sheppard, please respond." Frustrated, John leaned back in his seat and groaned.

"Rodney, we lost steering. I can go forward, and we have life support, but I think that may be it. I'd like communications back online first."

Rodney stood and made his way back to the rear compartment, muttering a sarcastic, "No, I didn't just get my nose broken, I can go fix it," under his breath.

John pretended he didn't hear as he tried to get the jumper to move. Unfortunately the burst when he had first awoken seemed to be all the jumper had. He sighed and turned his head to glance over his shoulder at Rodney. "How's it going, McKay?"

Rodney grumbled back, "I am working on it. Contrary to your popular belief you cannot make me go faster than is possible, especially not by irritating me. It would be nice if I could have silence."

John rolled his eyes and turned back towards the windshield. Ella was looking at Ronon with a look of amusement, and Ronon reflected almost the same look. Teyla pursed her lips and settled down into her chair. All of them could hear Rodney fiddling with the control crystals, muttering under his breath occasionally.

Finally, he had them fixed. Rodney sat down in his chair with a triumphant smirk on his face. John rolled his eyes and opened a radio frequency.

"Atlantis, this is jumper one, do you read?"

There was a tense silence and five held breaths in the jumper. Then the radio crackled to life.

"Jumper one, this is Woolsey. We thought we lost you when you destroyed that hive ship. Come on home."

The team was met by a light applause when they exited the jumper. Doctor Keller was ready for them with her medical team, and gasped when she saw Rodney. He took this opportunity to play up his injury, which had settled into a dull ache. Rodney laid out on the gurney and let himself be pushed back to the infirmary. Ella rolled her eyes and followed Doctor Keller and was followed closely by the rest of the team.
When they arrived in the infirmary they all went to various beds as nurses went about checking on the team.

The briefing room was quiet, and Ella was sure she would rather be facing down an angry, hungry wraith at the moment. So maybe the briefing room wasn't really quiet, but once she tuned Woolsey out it was, and that was exactly what she'd done. Watching the glint off the knife she held in her lap out of Woolsey's line of sight, she didn't realize Woolsey had asked her a question. She jumped when John, who was across from her, kicked her under the table. She shot an icy glare in his direction, then turned to Woolsey.

"Yes?"

"I asked where you learned the skills to care for Doctor McKay's nose?"

Ella glanced over at McKay, who now had a proper bandage on his nose. "I broke a few noses as a kid. Escorting my victims to the hospital and watching them get fixed up helped me to pick up a few things." Ella could see Ronon's smile and Sheppard's look of astonishment as she glanced around the room. Rodney just looked peeved. When Ella realized Woolsey was done talking to her she shut him back out and turned her attention back to her small, shiny blade.