AN: This chapter assumes that after the episode Grace Under Pressure, that Rodney and Zelenka outfitted all of the Jumpers with shields. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Stargate Atlantis or it's wonderful characters.
21 – Escape
Day 4 Continued
"Rodney, this is Sheppard, I've sent the alternate teams the long way around to the gate," Sheppard informed the scientist.
"Yeah, I heard you, what kind of distraction could I possibly make that'll get the rest of that angry mob to move far enough away from the gate to dial and get through?" Rodney asked sarcastically. "Remember it's just me, a cloaked Jumper and Dr. Keller. Maybe she could hold a clinic here at the Jumper for anyone who has an injury or sniffle. Better yet, maybe I could hold a class on Ancient technology. The local citizens could bring me anything they found in the Ancient facility and I can show them how it works. Or maybe a weapons workshop, they can show us what they dip their darts and arrows in and we can show them what a flash bang…"
"Rodney, shut up," Sheppard yelled into the radio. "Here's what you have to do…"
Ronon thought they'd made good time moving around to the back of the gate. He'd heard this alternate Sheppard checking in with his Sheppard and knew that they were just exiting on the far side of the village and hoped they'd lost the mob following them. He hadn't heard P-90 fire in a bit and that was a good sign.
The Satedan looked over his shoulder at the group from the other universe and found it a bit awkward to see what looked just like Lorne's team, his own team as well as his double holding Dr. Keller's hand as they crouched in their hiding spot in the bushes behind the gate.
They'd snuck as close to the gate as they dared and were all ready to make the dash when given the signal. They were about 20 yards behind the gate in heavy foliage, but Ronon could easily see the field in front of the gate and the tree line beyond. He knew roughly where the cloaked jumper sat just inside the tree line to the far left.
"Here we go," the alternate Sheppard said quietly, looking out at the mob they'd have to out run if this backfired in any way. He looked at Ronon with a smirk, "You wouldn't want to come back with us would you? We'd have a kick ass team with two Ronons."
Ronon glared at him, but he couldn't help a small grin knowing that this other Sheppard wasn't serious.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Sheppard said, his grin getting bigger. "Guess it's time to get out of here then." Sheppard nodded at Ronon.
"Okay, Rodney, go ahead," the ex-runner radioed his team mate in the cloaked Jumper.
"You're sure none of our teams are mixed in with theirs," Rodney challenged.
"McKay," Ronon growled over the radio, although he noticed that everyone did stop and take note of their dark gray uniform colors for reassurance.
"Hope this works," the alternate scientist with him spoke aloud what he was sure they were all thinking.
"Just be ready," Ronon responded. He watched the area at the far end of the field as the cloaked Jumper became visible. There was a moment before any of the villagers took notice, but once they did all hell broke loose, as Sheppard would say.
The angry mob all began running toward the now visible Jumper. With the shield on, the jumper was taking all of the hits the villagers threw at it. Ronon watched all the warriors moving toward the Jumper and away from the gate.
After the crowd was eighty to ninety yards away, Sheppard motioned for the Rodney from his universe to go dial the gate while he called the physicist in the Jumper on the radio, "Now, McKay."
Ronon watched the Jumper slowly lift five feet off the ground, then ten feet as the scientist with him started dialing the gate. With the distraction of the Jumper lifting off the ground no one had noticed a man dialing the gate and then sliding out of site behind it, until the sound of the third chevron finally caught their attention. The Jumper dropped a few feet grabbing their attention again as they all thought the Jumper was going to make a run for the gate.
There was a sound of some type of bugle as the villagers tried to alert their fellow warriors that there was a problem at the gate. Rodney lifted the Jumper up about 15 feet off the ground and Sheppard gave the signal for the alternate teams to run.
Ronon got several claps on the back as they passed his place of cover on their way to the gate. Dr. Keller and the alternate Ronon stopped in front of him and Jennifer gave him a quick hug and a kiss to his cheek. He looked up quick to judge the other Ronon's reaction to this, but only saw gratitude and got another clap to the shoulder as they both ran for the gate.
"Don't forget about me, Rodney," Ronon called as the last team member went through the gate and it shut down behind them.
"We'll be back, stay hidden though," Rodney warned, "they saw some people go through, but they obviously know we're still here," he said as he lifted the Jumper up and headed out toward the village.
"Sheppard, Lorne, we're about 2 minutes out."
"Looks good so far, Rodney, just set it down as far to the right in the clearing as you can," Sheppard ordered. "Come in cloaked and just step out the back, we should be able to see you and they won't have your exact location until we're all making a run for the Jumper."
Rodney set the Jumper down in the field and lowered the tailgate. "Here we go," he murmured nervously as he clipped his P-90 into place.
"You're going to be fine, Rodney," Jennifer told him. "Sheppard and the teams already know where you are. They just need to know where the opening is so they have something to aim for when they start running."
"I just hate arrows," he grumbled before cueing his radio, "Here we go," Rodney announced before stepping out the back.
He'd hated playing hide and seek as a kid because Jeannie would always wait till he almost found her and then jump out and scare the hell out of him. That's is how he felt right then as he heard some rustling in the bushes directly in front of him. He raised his gun and cringed as the noise got louder and closer.
He felt a rush of air just behind his head and saw an arrow land to his left. He swung his gun to the right and laid down cover fire as Lorne came running out of the woods and stood next to him doing the same. He was quickly followed by the rest of the team as they made their way into the Jumper with Sheppard bringing up the rear yelling 'Go! Go!' the entire time. Lorne and Rodney rushed back into the Jumper after Sheppard and hit the control for the hatch to close.
"Here we go," Sheppard announced as he lifted the Jumper off the ground. "Let's go home."
"Ronon, we're on our way, get ready." Sheppard turned to Rodney, "Dial the gate."
Ronon listened to the chevrons locking into place as the Stargate came to life. They were almost home, they just had to make it past the growing group of about sixty people on alert in the middle of the field and through the gate.
Ronon heard the radio come alive as Sheppard talked to Atlantis, "Atlantis we're coming in hot. First Ronon on foot and then the Jumper, raise the shield the moment the Jumper is through."
"Copy that Colonel, we're lowering the shield now."
The ex-Runner couldn't see the cloaked Jumper, but he knew it must be close. The swarm of villagers had all their primitive weapons aimed up in all directions. After a moment the Jumper appeared high above and began to descend straight down in the middle of the field until it was lined up with the gate. The Jumper shield was activated and he could see the weapons were having no affect.
"Ronon, go, we're right behind you," Sheppard ordered.
Ronon drew his stunner and began to run from the woods behind the gate. He rounded the corner and started the short distance to the gate hearing shouts. He aimed his blaster randomly and fired without breaking his stride. He heard a few arrows whiz past, a few closer than he liked, but his shots must've been causing their aims to be off.
He leapt when he was close to the shimmering puddle of the gate and a moment later was slowing his run in the Gateroom and moving quickly to the right to be out of the way of the Jumper, which entered the Gateroom next.
He heard the shield go up a moment before the Stargate shutdown. They were home. He felt a desire to go straight to his room. He hadn't thought much about possessions and his own space for almost ten years, but right now the feeling of having a home and returning to it was overwhelming.
He began to walk toward the infirmary to meet up with his team and have their post mission physicals. The thought of seeing the Doc slowed his steps a little as he wondered if it would be an awkward meeting.
Dr. Cole saw to Jennifer right away. She teased Jennifer that if she completed her post mission physical first, then Jennifer could help clear out the infirmary so Dr. Cole could get back to playing solitaire on her laptop.
Jennifer grinned knowing that her staff felt awkward not seeing to their boss first, but she knew they liked her as much as she appreciated them. She snuck a glance around the infirmary at the beds of those being given their physicals and those waiting. Ronon was among those waiting and as much as she found his presence disconcerting, she also needed to reassure herself that he was ok and indeed himself.
Dr. Cole released her to get to work in a teasing manner and Jennifer did just that.
"Ronon," she called motioning him over with her hand. She watched him walk over and tried not to read anything into the slow saunter.
"Doc," he greeted her as he sat down on the bed behind him.
"After what you've been through in the last few days, I want to do this physical myself," she gave him as the reason for calling him over. It was the reason she was giving herself, yet she knew it wasn't completely true. She needed to reassure herself that he was okay. Jennifer also figured that rather than allowing the awkwardness to grow between them, as she feared it would, she'd get this first meeting between them over with.
Jennifer quickly completed all of the routine tasks associated with the physical. Ronon was quiet throughout and Jennifer wasn't sure what to say so she allowed the silence to hang. As Ronon moved to get up Jenn cleared her throat, "Ronon, I just want to check a couple other things… if you don't mind."
In answer he scouted back on the bed.
"Would you mind removing your shirt?" she asked and to hide her discomfort she quickly moved behind him as he gingerly lifted the shirt over his head.
She noticed some angry marks that looked like burns and placed a hand over her mouth to stifle the quick intake of breath.
"Ronon… did they… burn you?" she asked tentatively, hating what she knew the answer would be.
"Some kind of zapping, stinging thing," he related. "Said they found it in the Ancient facility."
Jennifer looked over his upper body and moved around to look at his chest and the front of his biceps. "Looks like they used it often," she said quietly, trying to keep the quaver out of her voice.
"Yeah," he responded, wincing at the memory.
Jennifer reached up and ran her hand across a couple of the marks, feeling the roughness that would probably leave scars. "Any other injuries that I should know about?"
"No."
Although his answers were succinct, he didn't sound impatient. "Did you wait long before you were rescued?" she asked.
"Don't think so," he answered quietly. "It seemed to be the same day."
"Good," Jennifer said with relief in her voice. The thought of him suffering because of the mix-up was something she'd been worried about. It appeared that he'd been tortured more than the other Ronon she'd treated and she was sure it was because he was still there after their rescue.
"Just one more thing I want to check," she told him as she walked back around the bed. She lifted his dreads up and slid them to the side searching his upper back near his neck.
"It's not there, Doc," he told her as she saw for herself that his runner scar was still healed.
She walked back around the gurney to face him and saw the smirk upon his face. "Just needed to see for myself," she said with a little bit of teasing in her own voice. She felt a bit of the strain that was weighing her down lift just from that little smirk he'd given her. This wasn't nearly as awkward as she'd imagined.
She nodded at him that he could go and he gave her a slight smile before standing.
When Jennifer turned to look out into the infirmary to find her next patient she noticed that most eyes were upon her and Ronon. It was a very disconcerting feeling and she turned quickly back to the gurney and busied herself with tidying the area that was already prepared for the next patient.
This was what she'd meant when she told Lorne she was worried things would be awkward between her and Ronon. She just hadn't thought she'd feel awkward because of the speculative gazes of those that were curious about the pair.