AN: heh. I don't know what this is.

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…A Tale of Pirates and Mad Men…

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"Ronon, Teyla, thank you for coming back to Atlantis," Weir nodded, attempting and failing at any real sort of smile.

"We came as soon as we could," Teyla replied, looking worried.

"Your Beckett," Vala whispered to Cadman, who just smirked slightly. Beckett frowned.

"What about me?" he asked, looking confused. Ronon twitched. Vala blinked innocently.

"She was just saying that she hoped we wouldn't need your services as a doctor," Cadman answered smoothly.

"At least not until after they're back up here safe and sound," Weir muttered darkly. Beckett raised his eyebrows.

"So I'm sure Vala and Laura brought you up-to-date?" he asked, and Ronon grunted an affirmative.

"Well, we're bouncing some ideas around," Weir continued. "If we can't turn off the field that's affecting them soon, we'll have to get them out a different way and handle that afterwards. They don't, as you know, have unlimited time."

"Right now we're considering trying to tow them out," Zelenka cut in, having crept up behind them without them noticing. "Unfortunately, we can't get close enough to do it automatically and since we aren't quite sure what's causing the field we don't necessarily know if it's safe enough for someone to do it manually, even within a created underwater shield."

"What do you want us to do?" Teyla asked.

"Well, right now we're attempting to see if we can connect the tow line magnetically. We're running a couple more simulations, but if you have any ideas—"

"Harpoons," Ronon immediately answered. Zelenka's mouth opened and then shut with a frown. Beckett, Weir, and Cadman all looked at him in confusion that slowly turned into comprehension. Vala and Teyla just looked at each other, confused.

"You want to harpoon the other jumpers?" Weir asked after she'd recovered her composure.

Ronon shrugged. Cadman tilted her head to the side.

"Y'know…"

"Ó, můj bože…Rodney…" Zelenka groaned softly.

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AN: "Ó, můj bože" is 'oh my god'.