CHAPTER 21
He was pacing when the others showed up in the jumper bay showered, fed, packed and ready to go repair the jumper.
"Took you long enough." He growled as he stalked aboard the jumper.
Sheppard just scowled at him as he moved past him to the pilot seat. The power flickered on and the jumper lifted and drifted over to the iris in the floor. The iris opened and the jumper gracefully lowered to the Gate room.
"It may take us a couple of days to get the drive pod fixed if Teyla's description of the damage is accurate."
"It is." Teyla interjected slightly offended at the expressed doubt.
"It sounds as if the power couplings may have been severed." Rodney said from the co-pilot's seat, continuing as if she hadn't spoken.
Teyla frowned at him. He ignored her. Ronon glared at them both. Sheppard continued his pre-flight check ignoring them all.
"No hurry," Carter replied sounding relieved.
Rodney chuckled. Sam hid it well, but he knew that Ronon's outburst had frightened her. She was used to military control and scientists. Ronon in a really bad mood and barely in control was not in her realm of experience and she was relieved to see him getting off of Atlantis for awhile.
They eased through the Gate and made their way to the wrecked puddle jumper. It leaned drunkenly against several trees that were slowly giving way under its weight.
"Oh! Oh, that's just great!" Rodney groused as he took in the large tree limb thrust into the drive pod. He walked around the drive pod and clambered over it checking the damage from all angles before pulling out the diagnostic tools.
"At least the windshield isn't cracked." John said.
"Not an accomplishment since a small meteorite could hit it and it wouldn't crack." Rodney snapped as he took readings and muttered about the extensive repairs needed.
"This is going to take days! I may have to enlist an assistant." Rodney continued to complain.
They looked up at the sound of hoof beats and saw Drea accompanied by six men approaching on horseback. A very different looking Drea. She was dressed in a rich burgundy velvet and was riding a very sleek buckskin.
"Need me for anything?" Ronon asked casually.
"Not unless you have a degree that I don't know about." Rodney retorted snidely as the damage report kept getting worse. When Sheppard had lost consciousness he had lost control of the jumper. The shields went down and the tree limb had skewered the drive pod connections and smashed delicate crystals and other components.
"Would it matter?" Sheppard asked dryly taking in the look on Ronon's face.
Drea gave an undignified whoop and kicked her horse into a gallop as Ronon stepped into view. She drew the horse to a stop and flung herself into his arms. Ronon kissed her hungrily before setting her down and glaring at her.
"Four weeks! You couldn't send word that you were alive for four weeks!" He yelled at her giving voice to the panic and fear that had ate at him from the moment she went through the Gate. His hands gripped her shoulders hard and shook her.
Several of the men started to react, hands on weapons. Hu and Olin simultaneously raised a hand, halting the protective reactions.
She winced as he put pressure on the still tender shoulder. "I've missed you too." She said softly.
"Why didn't you send word sooner?" He dragged her back into his embrace. "I thought you were dead." He whispered hoarsely into her hair.
"It took us two weeks to infiltrate Calmora and unseat her then there were so many things to straighten out." She explained against his leather jerkin. "Conspirators to ferret out and arrest, my little brother and sister to find." Her hands tightened in his shirt as she bit back a sob. "My sister's funeral."
"I'm sorry." Ronon stroked her hair. He could only imagine how hard it must have been to issue orders to kill her sister.
She swiped her eyes, took a deep breath and stepped back struggling for composure. "We'll talk more later. I'm here to officially offer you the hospitality of the royal residence while you repair your ship."
"And we are officially glad to accept." John said with a grin, coming up next to Ronon. "In fact, if it's okay with you we'll send Ronon on ahead to get all the ceremonies out of the way" he clapped Ronon on the back, "so Rodney won't have to deal with them when he gets there tonight exhausted from a day of hard labor."
"I believe that would be acceptable, Colonel Sheppard." Drea replied with a luminous smile as she began dragging Ronon toward the horses. "You can't miss the residence. It's in the middle of the city on a small hill. There's room on the east side for you to set down."
A man handed Ronon the reins to a horse and he swung up. Drea settled into her saddle. "We will have soft beds and a hot meal prepared for you tonight and citrus has been banned, Dr. McKay so you will not have to worry and we'll serve the good kobe."
Rodney gave her a genuine smile before resuming his diagnostics.
"Having seen your ship we thought you might need this." Hu said and nodded to one of the men.
The man handed down an odd shaped contraption to Sheppard. "It's a saw." The man swung down and showed Sheppard how to use it.
"Cool," Sheppard grinned. "McKay, thank our friends. They just saved you from a lot of blisters."
"Thanks," McKay muttered distractedly. "Wait? Blisters?" He looked up focusing on Sheppard.
"Yeah, from cutting out that tree limb." Sheppard held up the gadget. "They brought us a power saw."
Rodney's eyebrows raised. "They have power saws?"
"Yep."
"Cool," Rodney said.
"That's what I said." Sheppard grinned at him.
Drea laughed at the two of them before turning her horse and nudging it up to Ronon's. Leaning over she tugged him down for a kiss before putting heels to her horse. Ronon was only a second behind her. Her men surrounded them as they pounded away.
#
By the time the sun was starting to set Rodney was more than ready to call it a day. They had cut the tree limb up and hauled it out of the drive pod. They contacted Atlantis and he reported the damage.
"It's fairly extensive, Sam. It'd go a lot faster if I had Zelenka."
"I don't know if I'm comfortable having the two lead scientists off world at the same time Rodney."
"The revolution is over, Sam. Drea has won. She's happy. Her people are happy. Ronon is happy. There isn't any danger." McKay retorted in exasperation.
"There's always danger, McKay."
"Yes, well there's the danger that Atlantis will lose power, sink, or be discovered and be blown to bits, but we don't fret over it daily."
Sam rolled her eyes at his theatrics. "I am not fretting."
"No, but you are forgetting that you are just as smart as Zelenka."
"I seriously doubt there's any realistic danger right now, Colonel and having Dr. Z here will cut repair time in half." Sheppard cut the two of them off before the argument could really get started.
Sam sighed in capitulation. "Okay, I'll let him know to be ready tomorrow morning."
Turning to his team mates his grin widened. "I do believe I hear fawning women, hot kobe, and a comfortable bed calling my name."
Shaking their heads, Sheppard and Teyla turned and entered the working puddle jumper. Rodney joined them and soon they were skimming over the forest on the way to the city. It didn't take long with the cooperative weather for them to reach the fair sized city.
Spotting the Residence, Sheppard gave a low whistle a the large sprawling building as he swung carefully around to the east and eased the jumper down on the large expanse of manicured lawn.
"Not the castle I expected, but still impressive." Rodney said almost as if to himself.
"Umm," John agreed distractedly. "No defensive walls either." If anything spoke to the military man about the relationship of a ruler to their people it was whether or not they were accessible or not. Apparently, Drea's parents and her ancestors had been very accessible to the people.
"There is not a lot of guards either." Teyla remarked as they took in the empty expanse.
John powered down the jumper and they grabbed their packs and exited the ship setting the shields. Walking to the front of the jumper, they stopped and studied the surroundings and the building in front of them.
The large expanse of lawn ran up to manicured gardens with gravel pathways which in turn joined the building. The building itself was a sprawling three story pink/grey stone structure with several wings branching off of the main building. Many of the second and third story rooms had balconies with glass double doors.
Someone must have seen their arrival because it wasn't long before the doors opened and Drea and Ronon came out followed by several of what had to be the royal guard. Ronon looked more relaxed than he had in months. Drea looked like she had been born to be queen. Her regal bearing ruined only slightly by luminous smile that she kept directing at Ronon.
"Welcome to Calmora." Drea said when they got close enough.