Chapter 28
Now he was alone, Sheppard lay back down and remained very still on the floor of his cell, not daring to move at all. Every inch of his body pulsed with pain, which was thankfully very gradually subsiding. The weirdest sensation of weakness gripped him, not the kind of weakness that came with physical exertion or sickness. This was totally different, a sense that if he moved too quickly he might actually fall into tiny pieces. He knew that, given time, he would recover, so he stayed where he was and waited for everything to return to normal…whatever normal was these days. He wasn't sure he knew any more.
When his discomfort reduced to little more than a dull full-body ache, he lifted his head to test his reactions. Initially, his vision swam, but it steadied after a few moments. That was a good sign; he'd thought for sure his brain was melting. Feeling braver, he sat up, sending another wave of pain and nausea coursing through him. Not so good. Even so, he chose to fight through it, deciding that movement was the best thing to help him shake off the aftereffects of Akalus' assault. He hoped he was right.
'Nice going, John,' he muttered to himself, as he took a few shuffling steps and promptly collapsed to the floor again. Okay, so maybe staying put was a better plan after all, at least for a while longer. 'You just handed yourself over to an insane psychopath. That was real smart.'
A noise outside the cell door caught his attention. For one awful moment, he thought Akalus had returned to dole out more punishment and her departure had just been a ruse. Thankfully, it wasn't her. Rodney popped his head around the door. 'Are you up for visitors?' he asked cheerily.
'How the hell…?' Sheppard said, his brows knitting in puzzlement. Not that he needed to know. He was just happy to see McKay was looking better. He'd been barely coherent on their trip down to the cells.
McKay stepped inside, with someone else he recognised bringing up the rear close behind him.
'Mehra,' Sheppard breathed, managing a smile. 'You're still in one piece.'
'Did you doubt me, Sir?' she grinned, squatting down beside him. 'How're you doing?'
'Well, better than the last time you saw me,' he assured her, accepting her offer of a hand to get him back to his feet. 'Although I'm starting to wonder if coming back here was such a good idea.'
Mehra gritted her teeth and let out a pained groan as he pulled on her arm. He couldn't help but notice the change of clothes too. And was that blood? Without thinking, he lifted the lab coat a little away from her skin and peered at her shoulder underneath it.
'Sheppard…what the hell?' he heard McKay demand.
'What did I tell you about not doing anything stupid?' he said, the angry red oozing scar of her reparative surgery obvious even in that murky cell. His own scars ached in sympathy. He still remembered only too well how bad that felt.
She shrugged, making herself wince, then gave him a sheepish smile. 'Got me out of my cell, Sir. Wouldn't be here now if it hadn't happened.'
'And I thought Akalus was crazy,' he muttered, letting the coat drop back in place. 'Just promise me you won't do anything that dumb again.'
She thought about it, then replied. 'Didn't you tell me I shouldn't make promises I could keep?'
He stared at her, her brown eyes full of life and humour, and realised her experience hadn't dampened her desire to fight back one bit. 'That I did. Just…try not to get into any more trouble. Okay?'
She grinned now. 'I'll do my best.'
He thought he could see perspiration glistening on her face. She wasn't in the best condition to be running around this place leading a rescue mission, but he was glad to see her all the same. 'What are the two of you doing here? How did you get out of your cells?'
'We're mounting a rebellion,' Mehra grinned. 'So, what's your excuse for being back here, Sir? I thought you were well away from this place.'
'I'm mounting a rebellion of my own,' he confessed. 'What's your plan?'
'We've got ourselves a key card, I have Ronon and Teyla hiding out in a safe place, so we're gonna go collect them and get out of here, biosphere or no biosphere, then come back with reinforcements. Yours?'
Sheppard checked his watch. 'I'm blowing this place up in a little over six hours. Oh, and there is no biosphere. Plus, we're sixty thousand years in the future, so no coming back with reinforcements, I'm afraid.'
Their jaws dropped.
'The sixty thousand years bit I knew, but…dial the rest back for me,' McKay squeaked.
'I got kidnapped from the Reliquiae.' Sheppard held up a finger to stop Rodney asking for details. 'It's a long story, Rodney. I'll fill you in later. So, I was kidnapped by some Birajan rebels, who were planning to blow up Phylacos with everyone still inside it because Akalus…or Geeja…has some crazy plan to destroy the universe. I managed to persuade them to let me bring in the explosives, in return for giving us a window of opportunity to escape with as many humans as we can round up before the incendiaries go off, but we're not getting home any time soon because the whole time-travel thing has kinda screwed that up.'
'Sixty thousand years?' Mehra said slowly, as if it was just dawning on her how enormous a leap forward that was. She punched McKay's arm. 'Why didn't you tell me?'
'Yeah, 'fraid so,' he told her, watching the shock register. It did, and then gradually she came to terms with it and began thinking strategically again.
'Is that really the scariest thing he said?' Rodney demanded, rubbing his sore arm. 'Am I the only one worried that we're going to get blown into a million pieces?'
'So, how do we get the others out?' she asked, ignoring the scientist's protests. 'We only have one key card and I'm not sure we can get through all levels without getting caught.'
'Thirty minutes before this place goes up, the rebels are going to fire up a disrupter that should take out all the power in this place. The doors will open, and everyone can take their chances.'
'Thirty minutes might not be long enough for some people,' Mehra pointed out.
'I know, but it's the best deal I could strike. They were going to take this place out without freeing any of us; it was a big leap to get them to agree to this much. They want Akalus gone…whatever the cost.'
'Whatever the human cost, you mean,' Rodney snorted.
'Well…yeah…we're not exactly high on their list of priorities in the whole "end of the universe" grand scheme of things,' Sheppard admitted.
But he knew some of them cared…Mishta cared.
'What about the miners?' McKay asked him. 'If you take out the power, the elevator will shut down and that's the only way in and out of there. I've checked out the schematics of this place and there are no other exits.'
Sheppard felt slightly queasy. 'Crap…I didn't realise-'
Mehra's eyes almost bugged out. 'You didn't realise? That's no help to them, Sir!'
'I know, Mehra, and I'm sorry!' Sheppard snapped, clutching his ribs again as they reminded him of his earlier injury. 'If there was some way of getting them out then I'd do it, but I don't now how to make that happen and I have no way of calling things off now.'
'Wait a second,' McKay said, clicking his fingers as he experienced one of his recognisable "Eureka!" moments. 'Where have you put these incendiaries?'
Sheppard mentally back-tracked his movements. 'The hangar at ground level, Akalus' chamber and pretty much every level between there and here.'
Rodney gave him a lopsided grin Sheppard knew meant he was about to deliver good news. 'I've had plenty of time to access information on the layout of this place while we've been here. Beneath the lowest level of cells and above the mine is approximately six hundred feet of bedrock. That should protect them from the explosions and with luck the elevator shafts, if they're not blocked, will allow oxygen to flow down to them, giving them a few days to survive and hold out. Then, if we can get just one elevator shaft powered up we should be able to get them out.'
'If we make it out ourselves,' Sheppard reminded him.
'I have the key card,' Mehra reminded him. We can walk out of this place now if we want to. We can collect Ronon and Teyla and go. We don't have to wait for the power outage.'
'Leaving all the other humans to fend for themselves?' he pointed out. 'You wanna do that?'
'So, we open their cell doors and we all make a run for it.'
'Except the key card doesn't open the doors to the outside,' Rodney announced, scuppering what had seemed like a potential plan.
'It doesn't?' Sheppard sighed, rubbing his aching forehead. This was all getting way too complicated.
'No, Akalus isn't dumb enough to create a card that opens every door in Phylacos. He…or rather she…made sure if anyone ever got their hands on one of the key cards, they couldn't make it all the way out into the open. There's another operation required to open the outer doors and only he, the Birajans and the Kheprians can do that. The outer doors function on biometrics so no human can operate them.'
'So, we need to wait for the power outage,' Sheppard clarified, putting them back on course with their original plan. 'We can't risk doing anything else that might alert Akalus to the fact something is going on.'
'Well…yes,' Rodney agreed. 'But even if the power's down, we still have to get past the Kheprians…although…'
'What?' both Sheppard and Mehra demanded at the same time.
'That three-armed guard – Hakkar – he told me the Kheprians are under some kind of programming instilled by Akalus via their translation devices. If we take out the power –'
'He loses his hold on them,' Sheppard finished for him. 'The rebels told me they believed the Kheprians had been compromised, they just didn't know how,' he added. 'This would explain it. So…Hakkar isn't under his control?'
'No…not anymore.'
Sheppard thought about how Wanless, or rather Hakkar, had stopped the other guard striking him in the hangar…and now he thought about it, his violence after the first month or so of his incarceration had only ever been when Akalus had been around. It had all been an act, and while he'd busily been trusting Geeja, Hakkar had been the one he really should have trusted.
'We need to find him – get his people to help us get everyone out. Akalus can't stop all of us.'
'Is that Akalus or Geeja?' Mehra asked, giving him a pointed look. 'Didn't I tell you that you shouldn't trust her, Sir?'
He smirked, wincing and dabbing at his swollen cheekbone. 'Is that an "I told you so", Mehra?' he asked.
'I'd never say that to you, Sir, but now you mention Akalus…or Geeja…what's going on between you two?' Mehra asked. 'I thought she was killing you in here.'
'She can't kill me. She needs me,' he assured her.
'So I keep hearing, but for what?'
'To end the universe,' McKay finished for him. 'I've seen the plans. He…she…plans to get Sheppard to initialise the shut down Stargate system and connect them to a space bound gate in close orbit to a dying star. When it dies and a blockhole is formed in a little less than a year, that gate will dial up and connect it to numerous gates at once, unleashing the massive gravitational pull all across the galaxy...'
Sheppard listened to his explanation, for the first time fully understanding why he had such a pivotal role in Akalus' grand scheme. 'Is that even possible?'
'Theoretically, yes,' McKay replied with a frenetic nod. 'I've seen his notes into overriding the safe dialling protocols that stop a wormhole from splitting so it can do that. And he plans to go further than that, using the immense power from the black hole to power the initiation process to connect to gates lying in other galaxies beyond Pegasus. He believes he can slow and stop universal expansion and use the gravitational pull of the black hole, amplified through dozens of gates, to counteract the effects of the energy still driving the expansion onwards. He wants to create the Big Crunch. The universe will be compacted to an infinitesimally tiny point…effectively zero…and then he thinks the Big Bang will eventually occur again, restarting everything.'
'And the universe will be reborn,' Sheppard murmured, realising the full impact of what Akalus had told him.3 'Could it work?'
Rodney seemed to give it some thought, his eyes bulging as his brain calculated the probability of success. 'If he can overwrite the safety protocols of 'gate travel that prevent the division of a wormhole between more than one setting…which is what he wants to do…then yeah…it's possible. The 'gate dialling and connection process would need to expand exponentially, but with the vast amount of energy being fed to the gate at the brink of the wormhole…it could have all the power it needs for that command to keep travelling. The protocols are there for a reason…without them, the gate system becomes a potential weapon of mass destruction. Even if the result isn't the big crunch, the effects on all planets within the vicinity of a connected gate would be catastrophic…we're talking ELE here.'
After a few seconds of silence while Sheppard allowed that news to sink in, Mehra said, 'I only got about half…okay, maybe a quarter if what he said, but I'm assuming this is really bad.'
'If you think that the end of all life as we know it is bad, then yes, it's bad,' McKay confirmed to her in his inimitable way.
Sheppard noticed Rodney's eyes had wandered to the basket of food lying on the ground where Akalus had left it. He was practically drooling at the sight of it, like a hungry dog. Of course, he probably hadn't seen anything other than the mulch humans were served in this place for six months.
'Perhaps you two should eat some of that food before we head out. It'll help keep your strength up,' Sheppard suggested.
Mehra and Rodney exchanged a glance, then pounced on the basket. Despite their apparent desperation, Mehra thoughtfully made sure Rodney got the biggest share, obviously understanding his need was greater having been there far longer than she had. They munched away gratefully on the selection, only slowing when Sheppard reminded them of the two friends hidden away and waiting for them. 'Maybe we should save some of that for Ronon and Teyla, huh?'
Rodney brushed fragments of food from his beard and jacket front, looking guilty.
Suddenly an alarm sounded, and a voice that sounded distinctly Birajan in quality made an announcement.
'What's going on?' Mehra asked, unable to understand a word that was being said.
'Two female prisoners have escaped from the laboratory,' Sheppard translated, watching as Dusty screwed he face up and swore under her breath. 'Mehra?'
'That would be me and Teyla…We had no idea you were coming back to help us get out.'
'Oh, this just keeps getting better!' Rodney whimpered.
'Not your fault, Mehra,' Sheppard was quick to tell her. 'But I think it's time we found Ronon and Teyla before they get rounded up by a search party. They need to know what's going down once the lights go out. We'll just have to be more…stealthy.'
'Yes, Sir,' she nodded, frowning as she watched Rodney beginning to stuff as much food as he could into his pockets. 'McKay…is food all you can think about?'
'Like you said, Ronon and Teyla will need food,' he grunted, still filling his pockets. 'It's for them.'
Sheppard had to admit he was impressed with McKay for remembering them despite the new dilemma they faced.
'I hope they're still where I left them,' Mehra mused as she broke a bread roll in half and put a piece in each of her pant's pockets. 'If the Kheprians are searching the upper levels me and Teyla, they could be in trouble.'
'So, we start with where you left them, and if they're not there –,' Sheppard replied, but found himself interrupted.
'If they're not there, they've been captured. They have no key card to get out of the gantry,' Mehra said simply.
Sheppard gave her a grim smile and a sharp nod. 'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.'
'Yes, sir,' she agreed, swiping her key card through the door control.
He seriously hoped that was one bridge they didn't have to cross.
oooOOOooo
Akalus returned to his chamber, mentally exhausted by his attempts to prise information and compliance from his Sheppard. On top of that, he now had two missing prisoners to recapture, two prisoners who just happened to be connected to Sheppard – a complication he could do without. He wasn't truly worried. They couldn't escape. There was no way out of the facility without one of the Kheprians opening the outer door for them. But they could cause problems if left on the loose. And they still needed more genetic material from the female who had been brought in with Sheppard to create a treatment to keep him alive for the next three months. With luck, they would be recaptured soon so that the work could continue. If not, Dr McKay would definitely be the first one to take punishment tomorrow in his attempts to sway Sheppard's loyalties.
He slumped into his chair and looked at himself, the frail body he inhabited reflected in the polished metal surface of his desk. There was no point in using this pathetic disguise anymore. Sheppard had seen through it, realised that he and Geeja were one and the same, although he still didn't understand what exactly he was up against. There would be no more friendship, no more insight into his thoughts and fears. The man was strong again, and their relationship was back to its fractious beginnings. That was why he'd first created his Geeja persona. He'd known Sheppard would never open up willingly to someone he viewed as an enemy, but when it came to a harmless girl, little more than a child, he saw no threat and he'd eventually confessed his friendships and sickness, things that could be used against him now.
He rose and stepped away from his seat, mentally hearing Geeja beg for his mercy as she realised what his intentions were. He didn't listen, separating her brain cells in an instant and vacating the body he no longer had a use for, his shadowy energy snaking free of the corporeal form. The body slumped to the floor, reduced to an empty husk. There had been no point in keeping her alive any more. She was only a drain on resources.
He instead took up residence inside his usual armoured suit, the field within the garments giving him the presence and form necessary to face the lifeforms of this galaxy without revealing his true self. They wouldn't understand what he was…wouldn't be able to relate to him in the ways he needed them to carry out his preparations. What he was didn't even make sense to him. Sheppard would merely think he was a young girl hiding her true face behind a metal suit. That was fine, he could believe that for now. In truth, he was neither male nor female, old nor young any more. He was an essence…a memory…a tortured soul trapped between existences, and the plan he clung to was the only hope he had of ending his agony.
Once settled into his armour, he ordered his computer's holographic HUD into life, giving the command for the concealed panel in his room to draw back. He grasped Geeja's ankle and dragged her lifeless body into the small room beyond the opening where he had been keeping her prisoner for the past several months. Sheppard had almost discovered her, that was why he'd thrown him across the room away from whatever sounds he'd picked up on. The pain had distracted Sheppard from seeking an explanation. The room held a bed and basic facilities, and a bowl which he had filled with scraps from the meals the Birajans left to keep her healthy enough to serve her purpose as a host. No need for any of that now. He let her leg drop, left the room and closed the panel up, entombing her body there until he decided how to get rid of her. Her death was sad…he always felt guilty for his hosts when they had become useless to him. They had to be killed because they knew too much. He'd mistakenly left one alive once and now the Birajan rebels knew far more about his plans to end the universe than he'd ever intended them to. It made them a real threat, one he should perhaps deal with now Sheppard was back in his possession. He'd assumed they were impotent, but the fact they had taken Sheppard from the Reliquiae meant they were more dangerous than he had given them credit for. They would need to be neutralised so they couldn't try to take Sheppard away from him. Another addition to the list of problems that needed his attention, along with the Reliquiae themselves.
What had his life become, he wondered, sitting in his chair again. As a young man, he'd never imagined harming anyone, but now he casually plotted the downfall of anyone endangering his plans as if they were an infestation of vermin that needed to be exterminated. Death consumed his entire existence where once he had only sought to improve the quality of life for everyone in his once proud race.
A little over seventy thousand years ago, he had lived happily in Atlantis with his people. Life had seemed idyllic. He'd had a wife and two sons, and a significant role within the city's research department, working on alternative energy sources. But a threat had been growing in the galaxy, one he knew his people bore the responsibility for. Over their years of seeding planets, encouraging the growth and development of human populations on various worlds across the Pegasus galaxy, they had inadvertently created a monster.
That monster had eventually brought about the downfall of their supremacy in that region of space.
The war had been vicious and overwhelming. Every day brought more news of ships destroyed, outposts overtaken, planets' populations culled to fuel the Wraith and keep them at full strength as they massed on Atlantis itself.
His responsibilities had changed from developing power sources, to creating more and more powerful weapons. Always a pacifist, Akalus had struggled to come to terms with the change in direction his work was forced to take. He understood the necessity, but could not rid himself of the feeling that if they had just been more careful in their choices and decisions, this aggression would not be necessary.
He'd overseen a project at Doranda that had shown great promise, but had had to be abandoned when the result had been so unstable it had threatened to destroy a solar system. His superiors had then decided that they should try something on a far smaller scale. Replicators. These tiny, almost unstoppable robots were created to aggressively attack anything Wraith. But then they had begun to adapt beyond their original programming, becoming more complex and sophisticated than their original parameters permitted, modelling their appearance on their creators and taking on a new sentience of their own. Again, the project had to be abandoned, and the nanite technology was left on Asuras, finally being destroyed, or so they had thought, when it became clear they were building ships and planning to travel beyond their home planet.
After that, his team had begun work on a satellite weapon, one that could be powered up and would generate enough energy to take a Wraith hive ship out of existence. A gnawing, nagging sense that it was wrong of them to try to destroy something that only existed because of their own mistakes remained with him through the entirety of the project, but he completed the work, nonetheless. Numerous satellites were deployed across the galaxy, designed to take out Hive ships before they could reach Atlantis itself.
They should have worked…but they weren't good enough.
The Wraith had come in numbers far exceeding anything they had imagined even in their very worst-case scenario simulations. The satellite weapons only had time to take out one ship before another in the fleet fired on it and destroyed it. And eventually, the Wraith found ways to track their positions and destroy them before even one ship was lost as they continued their advance across the galaxy toward Atlantis. Almost all of them were destroyed. Those left were out of range before they could fire on the Hives again.
The decision was made to abandon the city…abandon the galaxy…abandon the primitive peoples they had nurtured and watched over to their fate at the hands of the evil they had created and could not contain.
The process took some time and planning. Their ships were loaded with everything that could be salvaged and transported easily, and everyone who could be spared left on the earliest flights.
And that was when the unthinkable had happened.
Akalus could still remember exactly where he was and what he was doing when he received the news that would change his life forever. He was in his laboratory working on compression ratios to ensure he could copy as much of his experimentation data before they had to abandon Atlantis and submerge it. His assistant, Almeda, had already packed and was due to leave on a ship that day, so he was surprised when he looked up from his calculations to see her standing in the doorway, her pale face a portrait of horror. He'd immediately risen from his seat and rushed to her, thinking she was ill or hurt. But when she'd gripped his forearms as he'd reached out to her, Almeda's huge brown eyes locking onto his with such sorrow and pity, he'd felt his world begin to slip away from him. He'd known what she would say even before the words had left her lips.
'There was an attack on the last fleet as they passed Manaria. Two ships were destroyed before they could fight back. Your family…they were aboard one of them. I'm so sorry, Akalus…There were no survivors.'
And in that one, simple message all life as he knew it ceased to be. Dea and his sons were gone…and the fault ultimately lay with their kind.
He couldn't move on.
He couldn't forget.
But his people did move on. Life continued in another galaxy, where they continued their experiments and began seeding planets once again. They had apparently learned nothing. He felt…uncomfortable with their new-found peace and continued tampering with nature.
As Akalus aged, the priorities of his people shifted. Material things meant less to them; the search for ultimate freedom and knowledge became everything. They wanted to ascend. Still burdened by the loss of his family and the weight of all they had left behind in Pegasus, Akalus found it hard to achieve the enlightened state his fellow Lanteans craved and ultimately achieved. Numbers dwindled, as one-by-one those around him made their journey to leave their corporeal forms behind. He thought he would end up alone until one day a thought entered his mind. If he were at one with the universe, a being of pure energy an enlightenment, he might be able to find his wife and children, wherever their souls had journeyed to, and be reunited with them. Lifted by that thought, his efforts bore fruit. He could feel himself letting go of his earthly bonds and expanding into something more…something greater.
But did he deserve that?
He had been complicit in leaving the Pegasus humans his kind had helped create to the Wraith.
And at that moment of realisation, something happened to Akalus.
He had started his journey, but had somehow halted before he could fully reach a higher plane. His body was gone, but he couldn't move on, trapped between planes. He was stuck in this half-existence, with no greater knowledge, no way of finding his loved ones, and no hope of shedding the guilt that had shackled him here.
And so, his incorporeal energy form had travelled the universe for tens of thousands of years, looking for his lost family, until he had at last found himself back in Pegasus, hopeful that he could find some way to put right what he had done to himself. Over the years of loneliness and dissatisfaction he had grown increasingly jaded with the universe. Humans wiping themselves out by interfering yet again in the natural course of things had given some sense of equilibrium to their existence. But still their legacy remained – a permanent stain on the universe.
That was when it came to him; his people had altered the natural order of things so the universe needed a reset if it was to have any hope of recovery. And so, he'd hatched his plan with the upcoming singularity and reawakening the Stargate system. He'd tried inhabiting bodies in the hope that once his energy was encompassed within a human form it would exert the necessary influence over the technologies his people had left behind throughout the galaxy.
It didn't work.
He took numerous hosts; some died instantly, some battled against him and died later, another cast him out and survived, but nothing worked. He had changed his state of being and couldn't return to what he once was. His plan had seemed doomed to failure…until the Kheprians and their time dilation ships had come exploring. He'd faltered and failed even then, but now…now he had everything in place that he required to set right the wrongs of the Lanteans. All he had to do was coerce co-operation from John Sheppard and Rodney McKay and they would set in motion events that could not be stopped. All would be restored to its glorious beginnings to be born again. Had he lied to the peoples of this planet to gain their trust and following? Yes. Did he regret that? No. This was simply something that had to be done, and better that they go to their deaths happy and ignorant than knowing their lives had amounted to nothing. They would not be reborn…he couldn't even guarantee the universe would be reborn. In a few months all would end, and with that end the scourge of his people would be wiped away.
And along with that the agonies of his guilty conscience that had tortured him for millennia would finally be over.
The peace he yearned for would at last be his.
oooOOOooo
After dodging numerous Kheprian guards out hunting for their missing prisoners and a handful of Birajan scientists, Mehra, Sheppard, and McKay made it back to the balcony a few hours later. Mehra opened the door and hurried in with her two companions close behind, all expecting to be reunited with their friends. It was with a heavy heart that Sheppard realised Ronon and Teyla were nowhere to be seen.
'Crap!' he breathed, running his hand back through his hair, his brain already running through what their next move would be. 'They must've found them.'
'So, what now?' Rodney asked shakily. 'Where do we start looking? What if they put them right back down in the mines? They'll be trapped when it's time to get out of here!'
'But they'll be protected, like you said,' Sheppard pointed out. 'We'll just have to get them out later.'
'What if they're not in the mines?' Mehra asked. 'What if Geeja is punishing them for trying to escape? They might not be able to get out when the power goes down if she has a hold of them.'
Exasperated by all the questions, Sheppard patted the air trying to calm them. 'We'll find them…we'll get them out,' he promised them. There was no way he was leaving without them.
'How? We don't even know where to start looking,' Rodney protested. 'Do you have any idea how big this pl –?'
All three of them jumped as thumping came from beneath their feet. They froze until they heard a familiar voice. 'You could start by looking under here,' Ronon gruffed. 'Only place we could find to hide when the alarms went off.'
Sheppard darted to the edge of the gantry, and looked over in time to see Ronon's head emerge from beneath it. He gave Sheppard a toothy grin, before disappearing. Next, he saw Teyla, looking grubby but happy, being supported by Ronon as she began to climb back up toward the rail of the balcony.
Sheppard reached down, extending his hand for her to grip onto as she clambered back up to safety. It hurt like hell to haul her up, but he couldn't not assist. Once she was on the solid floor, he reached back over to do the same for Ronon. As soon as the big man was on the gantry he pulled Sheppard into a bear hug, clapping him hard on the back.
Sheppard winced at the pressure on his sore ribs, but returned the gesture. Teyla's embrace when she got the chance was much gentler and lasted a little longer. When she released him, she took hold of his hands and dipped her head. 'It is good to see you, John.' He touched his forehead to hers in the traditional Athosian sign of friendship and greeting, drinking in her warm smile when they parted. He'd missed that sight over the past six months.
Then it was Rodney's turn. Even he looked pleased at the contact from his two friends, though normally he would have shunned it or pretended it was inconvenient.
The reunion affected Sheppard far more deeply than he'd expected, and he could feel the emotions swelling in the others too. They had worked together as a team for years within the Atlantis expedition, and each of them had spent the past six months unsure whether the others were alive or dead. This was a huge moment for them all, and it was no surprise that tears were shed and voices choked as they expressed their joy at seeing one another again.
Conscious that Mehra was somewhat on the periphery of it all, Sheppard stretched his hand out toward her. 'Good work, Mehra.'
She took it in hers and shook it firmly. 'Thank you, Sir,' she replied with a slight grimace of discomfort at that movement. He didn't correct her on her use of his previous title. It seemed petty to bother at a moment like this.
On their journey up from the cells, Mehra had warned them that Teyla had some memory loss. Thankfully, she now seemed quite alert, though after some gentle questioning she still appeared to have some missing time. But nothing vital was lost, and the most important memory, the need to get home to her son, was certainly foremost in her mind now there was a chance of escape.
Ronon and Teyla were soon tucking in to the provisions they had brought for them, squashed and mingled as they were after being crammed into such confined spaces for transport there. Even Teyla shed a little of her customary elegance to consume the fare as quickly as her body would allow. 'Where did you get this wonderful food?' she asked between mouthfuls, even licking the last dribbles of juice from her fingers rather than waste any of it.
'Sheppard's well connected,' Mehra said, giving him a nudge and a wink.
He laughed, shaking his head. 'A little too well connected.'
'I don't care where it came from,' Ronon grunted, biting into a chunk of meat. 'Tastes good.'
And that really was all that mattered. There was no need to worry about the reasoning behind the offering. They didn't need to think about that right now. The bribe hadn't worked. Sheppard had seen through the ruse and now they all knew Akalus was a front for a 'girl' to make her appear more intimidating.
'Enjoy it guys. We have a few hours to hold out until we can make a break for it,' Sheppard told them.
'Have you figured out a way to get us out of here?' Ronon asked. 'The outer doors of this place must be well guarded.'
'I have some friends on the outside who are going to cut the power in a little over two and a half hours,' Sheppard explained, checking his watch again. They still had a way to go. 'Hopefully, that'll cause enough of a distraction to allow us to get out of here…along with a few other humans if we're lucky.'
'Told you he was well connected,' Mehra reiterated.
'What's to stop Akalus rounding us up and bringing us back once they fix the power problems?' Ronon asked, tucking into something resembling a pear.
Mehra exchanged a look with Sheppard and Rodney. Risky as the plan was, they had to tell these two what the rebels had planned. 'Because this place won't exist in just over three hours.'
Teyla stopped eating and blinked incredulously at them as if unsure she'd heard them correctly. 'What –'
'I've planted explosives on several levels. They're set to explode at ten tonight,' Sheppard explained.
Ronon looked concerned, and lowered the fruit he was eating away from his mouth. 'What happens if we can't get out by then?'
'Don't think like that, buddy,' Sheppard said, giving him a grim smile. 'We have thirty minutes to get out once the power's off. We're on the top level and no more than ten minutes from the outer doors. We'll try to make sure we keep the doors open for as many humans as we can, but we will get out.'
Ronon nodded, but didn't look convinced. Apparently, the food suddenly wasn't all that appetising to him either, so he dropped the half-eaten item he held back into the basket. 'How long did you say it would be before the power gets cut?' he asked.
'Just over two and a half hours now,' Mehra said, checking her watch.
'I hope we do not get found before then,' Teyla said softly, her eyes brimming with tears, though she held them back. Sheppard knew what was bothering her; she'd allowed herself to believe they were going to live, and now he'd thrown that into jeopardy. He'd taken a gamble with all of their lives. Had he really had the right to do that? Had he had a choice not to? Not really. The rebels would have blown the place up with or without his help. And if they'd done it without his intervention, there would have been no hope for the humans.
He sat down beside her, leaning his back to the wall below the rails. 'Hey! Let's not have any more of that kind of talk,' Sheppard said, gently leaning against her. 'When we were brought here, I promised to get you out of here and back to Torren – I plan to keep that promise.'
She nodded and reached out to catch hold of his hand, gripping it tightly. 'I trust you, John. You have never let me down before.'
A little embarrassed by the intensity of her emotions he did employed his usual diversion tactics. 'How're you holding up there, Mehra?' he asked, glancing up at her as they broke off from their exchange.
Mehra looked like she was about to shrug, but then thought better of it. 'Aches like a bitch, but it's not so bad. I'll be okay,' she assured him. He remembered the pain well, still got dull aches to remind him of it from time to time. He couldn't blame her for getting into trouble though. He'd done plenty of that himself in the first month of his stay.
'What are they like, these friends of yours?' Teyla asked.
'The rebels? Well, apart from most of them needing a sense of humour transplant, they're okay. Rodney'll like them,' he said, making Ronon laugh and McKay roll his eyes with an indignant 'Humph!'. 'They're good, honest people, and they don't like Akalus. That's all I need to know.'
'Do you think they will help us when we get out of here?' Teyla said, finishing off the last of the food supplies absent-mindedly as she leaned her head on his shoulder. 'Will they offer us shelter until we can find a way home?'
'I'm not sure,' he admitted, trying not to think of how much he enjoyed the closeness. He'd compartmentalised those feelings for Teyla when she'd become a mother; he didn't want to let them out again. 'They're outcasts themselves. They may not want to or even be able to take in everyone who escapes from here.'
'First thing we should do is find someone willing to fly us back to Earth,' Ronon pointed out.
Sheppard glanced at Rodney, who's expression betrayed that it wasn't going to be as easy as that.
'What?' Ronon demanded, tensing. 'What's wrong?'
'It…it isn't as simple as that,' Rodney stammered,
Sheppard felt Teyla's head lift off his shoulder to look Rodney was as he asked, 'Could you be more specific, Rodney?'
'It's a long story,' Rodney sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
'We got two hours. How much longer do you need?' Ronon grunted.
'Trust me. This is not a good time to discuss this,' Rodney insisted, pulling his knees up and hugging them to his chest, 'We need to focus on getting us and as many other humans as we can out of here. We can iron out the wrinkles with getting home another time.'
Suddenly, the atmosphere in the group felt less buoyant, more serious. But Sheppard agreed with Rodney's decision not to explain. Getting home was a hurdle to get over once getting out of Phylacos alive and in one piece was complete. They had to stay focused on that for now. There was no point in spending their last hours worrying about something they were never going to face. 'He's got a point,' he told Ronon, an indirect way of telling him to back down. 'Let's take this one step at a time.'
Sheppard glanced down at his watch again. 1918 hours. Could their luck really hold out for the next two hours and forty-two minutes?
Life in the Pegasus Galaxy was rarely that kind to them.
A/N: And...the team are all back together at last! only the small problem of an exploding compound to overcome now! Thanks to those of you reviewing. I hope you enjoy this chapter too. I may even get the last two up some time this week, but don't quote me on that! :)
