Author's Note: YES I'M BACK! My apologies for such a long delay, but I'm here with the rest of the chapters so you're getting them all at once! :) When we last left the Scoobies, the crazy Doctor's realized Ronon wasn't where they left him, Evan and Jen came too in the back of the Jumper, and Jen set out to stage her own rescue attempt. And now... away we go:
"What do you mean he's gone?" Dr. Bryant exclaimed, shoving Dr. Davidson aside.
"I mean he's gone…gone…" Davidson muttered.
Bryant pointed his flashlight at the ground. He squatted, reaching for several chunks of heavy rope strewn across the rocky cavern floor.
"Told you we should have used more rope," Dr. Davidson shrugged.
Dr. Bryant straightened, throwing the rope to the ground in disgust. He aimed the light around the deep recess, searching the shadows. It was futile. The man was obviously gone. But he hadn't passed through the front of the cave, so the only option left was one of the several tunnels that squirreled deeper beneath the escarpment. He'd explored the caverns quite thoroughly with Davidson over the past couple of months – the tunnels squirreled in several directions, but never exited. The Satedan was quite thoroughly trapped.
Bryant smirked. Not so smart are you now, tough guy!
He turned on his heel and hurried back towards the sliver of light that announced the narrow opening into the cavern. He squeezed through the crevice and out into the morning light.
Dr. Davidson wormed his way out and moved to stand beside him. Bryant briefly entertained the idea of shoving the idiot back into the hole, but knowledge he needed the other man to complete the plan kept him in check. He grabbed Davidson's arm and aimed the man towards the tree-line.
"Get over there, and get down," he ordered.
"Why? Wait. What are you doing?" Dr. Davidson questioned, his eyes locked on the small black object in Dr. Bryant's hand.
Bryant glanced down at the detonator and smiled. "Just doing a little house cleaning," he answered, shoving Davidson forward. "Now unless you want to be buried beneath the escarpment, I suggest you move."
"Easy, Doc…"
Jen's struggles against her attacker slowed to a stop as the whispered words registered.
Ronon.
Relief surged through her limbs and she sagged forward against his chest. Ronon removed his hand from her mouth, but his other arm remained tightly locked around her waist. Jen was pretty sure it was the only thing keeping her rubbery knees from depositing her onto the rocky ground.
She licked her lips, took a deep breath then straightened. Damn sneaky bastard. "You scared the life out of me!" she hissed, whacking him across the chest. "What are you doing here?"
"I was about to ask you the same question," he countered, releasing her. "Where are the others?"
"Dr. Bryant and Dr. Davidson stunned them. I locked them in the jumper. I figured they'd be safer that way."
"Safer? Wait…why aren't you with them?"
Jen gnawed on the inside of her cheek. Somehow the rescue plan seemed a lot less of a good idea if she had to say it out loud.
Ronon sighed. "You should have stayed with them."
"I was trying to make sure you were okay." Jen glared at him through the darkness but couldn't see much past the hulking shadow he created.
"I can take care of myself."
"Yeah and I knew that how? I mean they stunned you guys then dragged you off into the woods doing god knows what…" she trailed off, letting the host of horrible things she'd considered since she'd left the camp die off into the silence of the cavern.
"You don't think I can take care of myself?"
Jen rolled her eyes at his words, their bite hiding an underlying tone of amusement.
"Who was the only one who didn't get zapped?" she countered, planting her hands on her hips.
He snorted, and stepped back.
Feeling the widening space between them, Jen lurched forward and grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?"
He placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back against the wall of the tunnel. "Wait here."
"Wait! What? Why?"
"I'm going to take a look around," he answered over his shoulder as he moved towards the opening of the narrow tunnel.
Jen hurried after him. "But there's no one out there. They didn't follow me. I'm sure of it."
"Doc," Ronon turned and stepped into her, forcing her against the wall. "Stay."
"No way," Jen shook her head firmly. She'd had just about enough dark and damp caverns and she didn't have a flashlight. Staying in some tunnel in the middle of Pegasus with goodness knows what kind of crazy Pegasus type creepy crawlies was definitely not an option. She'd been perfectly brave enough before when she'd thought she was rescuing Ronon, but now that she'd found him was no reason she could think of that would send her back into the darkness without him.
He made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a groan. "Fine," he relented. "But you stay behind me."
"Yup!" Jen hastily agreed. She had barely taken two steps after him when the ground shook with a violent rumbling. "What the—"
Her words ended in a shriek when Ronon grabbed for her, shoving her roughly into the darkness of the narrow tunnel. The floor twisted sharply side to side causing her to stumble and fall. She reached out to stop herself but her hands found nothing but air. She landed hard on the uneven ground, knocking the air from her lungs. Her ears rang from the sharp cracking as ceiling rock collided with the hard floor.
Jen suddenly found herself with her head and shoulders pinned beneath Ronon's upper body. She struggled, cursing him for placing himself between the falling rock and her. She tried to extract herself but fighting Ronon when he was determined to keep her there was useless.
Then as suddenly as it started, it was over.
Silence rang in her ears. The pressure of Ronon's weight was making her lightheaded, her lungs unable to pull in a full breath. She tried to see past his shoulder, but all traces of light were gone. Even the hint of morning filtering in through the front of the cavern had been extinguished.
They were in total darkness.
"Okay that did not sound good," Evan muttered, releasing his hold on the tree he'd grabbed to keep himself from sliding to the bottom of the hill. Having opted to take a more direct route to the caverns, they were halfway up a steep incline when the explosion had turned the rocky slope into a bed of marbles.
He glanced over at Laura, who was balanced between a pair of half-dead saplings. Letting loose with a long string of curses, Laura shoved herself away from the trees and scrambled up the slope. They made their way down the other side, slowing when the scrubbed trees thinned.
Crouched behind a spastic thicket of thorny burs, they surveyed the spiked edges of the escarpment rising before them. The grey rock face climbed 200 feet into the early morning sky, the edges sharp and sheer.
For several miles in each direction, great gaping caverns exposed their dark hollows – except for the exposed section directly in front of them. Where the entrance to several narrow tunnels had been yesterday, today there was a massive pile of loose rock and crumbling stone.
"Damn," Evan whispered, digging into his pocket for the Ancient scanner. He eyed the screen and the two pairs of life-signs. "Still two," he angled the scanner so Laura could see it.
"They're headed away from us," she noted. "Further up the escarpment."
Evan tucked the scanner back into his vest. He hopped up and extended his hand, hauling Laura to her feet. "The way I see it we have two choices." He angled his chin towards the rubble. "Go back and wait for reinforcements, or follow whoever that is."
The look Laura gave him pretty much echoed his personal opinion of waiting. "We're not due to check-in for another hour. So in light of standing around being useless and counting boulders, I say we go for door number two and keep moving."
"Option B it is," he agreed, turning to follow in the direction of the life-signs.
"I swear," Laura grumbled as she followed him back down the hillside. "If those dots are not Jen and Ronon I am going to rip those Doctor's arms off and shove them so far up their asses they'll be able to pick each other's noses."
"Graphic."
"Just saying."
Evan had no trouble believing the redhead was going to do some serious damage if she got her hands on either one of the two scientists. The problem was there was a quickly forming line of justice-takers—himself included. And while half of him wanted to believe they were following Jen and Ronon, the other half knew damn well the Satedan wouldn't be heading in the opposite direction of their camp. Not willingly, anyway.
The jumper skimmed across the white capped ocean, its occupants riding in silence. John stared at the horizon, willing the land to finally appear, but there was nothing to see save for sea and sky.
Captain Sanchez sat beside him, checking his watch methodically. Teyla and Rodney commanded the second set of seats, and Ellis and Browne hovered in the doorway leading to the back compartment, refusing to sit. The tension was heavy with unspoken questions; questions which John had nothing to answer with other than a stomach clenching desire to shoot something.
John replayed Colonel Caldwell's message in his mind, rolling it over and over, twisting it until the only thought left was why hadn't he known? They'd had an imposter living within their midst for months—and he hadn't suspected a thing.
Hell, none of them had.
But that didn't stop him from wanting to slice into the IOA for their Swiss cheese security procedures. He almost laughed to think of the dent O'Neill was going to leave when the reports made their way round to him.
"Whoa," Rodney exclaimed, snapping forward in his seat.
John jerked at the break in silence. He glanced over his shoulder at the scientist. "Whoa, what?" he questioned quickly.
Rodney set his tablet aside and moved forward. "I've been monitoring the mainland for anything abnormal and the sensors just picked up localized seismic activity." He lurched up and pointed to the HUD which was now showing a map of the mainland. "There," he pointed.
"Seismic?" Captain Sanchez commented. "As in, earthquake?"
"Too contained," Rodney shook his head. "No fault lines in this region and the only active volcanoes are in the southern hemisphere. No it has to be—"
"An explosion," John stated. He stared at the HUD, the location of the drop off point too close to Rodney's seismic event for coincidence. Following the logical leap of his thoughts, the Jumper overlapped life-signs on top of the local topography.
In the ensuing silence, Teyla's sharp intake of breath sounded like a gunshot.
Four dots.
Four life-signs—where there should be six.
He willed the jumper to go faster, cursing because he already knew the drives were already working at maximum speed.
Pressure lifted of her chest and Jen sucked in a lungful of dusty air. She coughed against the dry grit coating the inside of her nose and mouth. Strong hands gripped her upper arms and pulled her upright.
"Jennifer! Are you okay?" Ronon asked. The way he squeezed her arms, accenting his question, made Jen realize this wasn't the first time he'd voiced it.
Jen tried to speak but managed only a squeak. She could feel the strong beat of Ronon's heart beneath her fingertips, which were gripping his neck tightly. She cleared her throat and tried again. "What happened?"
He guided her to her feet but didn't immediately release her. "Explosion."
"I kind of figured that part out already…" she retorted, gripping his forearms tightly. She blew out a shaky breath, trying to hear over the ringing in her ears and the heavy pounding of her heart. Jen could see nothing in the darkness. Nothing.
Fear that they'd been sealed in… buried… lost beneath a mountain of rubble launched her stomach into her throat.
Ronon's presence was the only thing keeping her from screaming.
"Breathe, Jennifer."
His fingers gripped her shoulders with force, their bite startling her.
She wasn't alone.
Jen took several deep breaths, concentrating on the motion. In and out. After a few minutes she'd calmed her self down enough to trust her voice again.
"What do we do now?"
"We get out of here," he stepped back.
Jen gasped when he pulled out of her reach and she lost contact with his arms. The air had barely left her lungs when his hand was back, gripping hers tightly.
"Come on." He tugged her forward.
"What?" she exhaled, stumbling along behind him. "Where?"
"Out."
Jen bumped her shoulder against the side of the cavern then slammed face first into Ronon's back. Off balance, she took a hurried step back and nearly fell when her ankle twisted on a rolling rock. She twisted sideways when Ronon's arm hooked around her waist. She hovered above the ground, bent over in the darkness.
"Okay, how the hell do you see?" she whispered, feeling the warmth of his breath on her cheek.
"I can't."
"You…wait. What?"
He straightened her up, his fingers sliding down her arms to grip both her hands. He pressed her fingers against his back. "Grab the back of my belt," he commanded.
Jen hurried to wrap her fingers around the leather, the heat of his back searing her chilled hands. She felt his torso twist as he turned forward once again.
"I know the tunnels," he said, taking a slow step forward.
"How can you possibly know the tunnels?" Jen stumbled along behind him, taking several steps before she figured out how to match his gait.
"We train here."
"Train? We who?"
"Sheppard. Lorne. The others. We use these tunnels for training exercises, close quarters combat."
"Really? How come I haven't heard anything about these exercises?"
"Don't know. You'll have to ask Sheppard."
"Don't worry. I will," she grumbled. "If we ever get out of here."
"We will."
"Before or after they blow up the other end of the tunnel?" she wondered aloud.
"They'd have to take out the whole hillside," he answered as they turned sharply to the right. "These tunnels are a maze of crosses and intersections but they cover most of the escarpment."
Jen thought of the amount of dirt and rock and earth above her head and couldn't resist tipping her chin up. She could smell the dampness, smell the dark earth. She still couldn't see anything, but somehow the weight of the escarpment felt as though it were pressing down on her lungs.
"Don't think about it," Ronon ordered. "Just close your eyes. Pretend it's one of those trust exercises Woolsey's always trying to get us to do."
Jen couldn't stop herself from giggling. Yes this would be something Woolsey would eat up.
She squeezed her eyes shut, the darkness feeling more natural with her eyelids closed. Concentrating on the shift in Ronon's muscles against the back of her hands, she matched his speed, moving her feet as he shifted his hips. Twisting and turning, she followed him blindly, trusting his instincts as he led her through the cold, damp darkness.