Chapter 49: You want to try for that ATA boost?
"Okay we've got a plan," John dropped into the chair across from me only moments after I'd sat down to eat. "And it's big!"
"You're flying the city out of here," I smiled when John's face fell. "Sorry – did you want to make that more dramatic?"
"Ha ha," John leant forward to steal something from my plate, moving swiftly out of range when I tried to smack his hand away. "And the plan is bigger than just flying the ship. First we have to get enough power which we're gonna do by tapping into the drilling platform."
"Nice!" I exclaimed, feeling an extra thrill over that because I'd actively helped to make the platform viable. "Lucky we got that up and running then."
"It is," John agreed, "but they can't give us everything we need, so Lorne and a team of F302 pilots are heading out to grapple a large asteroid and tow it towards the beam. When it intercepts it'll reduce the load on the shields and buy us enough power to make it out of the atmosphere."
"You came up with that one didn't you?" I grinned proudly at his continuing ingenuity.
"Saw it in a movie once," John quipped modestly. "This is gonna take a while – you should probably take the chance to get some rest now before everything gets frantic again."
"What about you?" I looked at him in concern.
"I've got a couple of things to take care of and then I'll join you," John promised, standing up and looking down at me curiously. "You seem pretty relaxed all of a sudden – are you feeling all right?"
"Epiphany and all that," I waved a hand cryptically in the space between us. "Ask me about it when we're out of this."
"Sure," John seemed torn between wanting to stay and make me tell him now and his duties. "Later," he agreed, running a hand down my hair before turning and strolling casually out the door.
I finished dinner by myself quickly ... I had a couple of things I still wanted to do too before settling for the night. One of them was to stow my gear somewhere portable and convenient – the only place I could think of that made sense was Jumper One. Having done that I radioed my next target, hoping he hadn't headed out yet.
"Major Lorne," I called, "what's your position?"
"Hey Sabina," Lorne replied. "I'm up in the Control Room with Rodney."
"I'll be there in a sec," I said, ducking out the back of the Jumper and down the stairs to the Control Room to see him. "When are you heading out?"
"You heard about the plan already?" Lorne asked in surprise.
"In with the boss, remember?" I smiled smugly. "You'd be happy – getting to take a 302 out for a spin."
"It'll be more like flying a really big brick," Lorne pointed out. "I'm just waiting for McKay to identify an asteroid of sufficient mass and then I'll be beaming up to the Apollo."
"I'm glad I caught you before you left then," I said.
"You're not coming up on the Apollo?" Lorne looked at me questioningly.
"Didn't know it was an option," I admitted, wondering why John hadn't mentioned it. "Makes sense to minimise the number of people left in the city though."
"But you won't be leaving," Lorne stated it like it was a given.
"Course not," I replied with a smile. "I'm surprised John didn't try to get me to leave this time."
"Major?" Rodney called Lorne's attention away from me.
"Good luck with the brick," Lorne smiled at my flippant remark. Raising a hand as a good bye and good luck in return, he turned and gave his attention to Rodney.
Stifling a yawn I turned tiredly in the direction of bed, slumping down on the mattress face first as soon as I got there.
x
The next thing I knew it was early morning and John had already left. Hurrying through my morning rituals I ran up to the Control Room, stopping in a corridor on the way to listen as Doctor Weir made another city wide announcement.
"May I have your attention? As you all know, we have found ourselves in a spot of trouble. The reality is that no matter where we try to hide on this planet, the Replicator satellite will be able to track us. Therefore, Doctor McKay and Colonel Sheppard have come up with a rather ingenious way for us to escape the satellite's range altogether. In the next few hours, we will fire the city's star drive and head into space," Elizabeth's voice was tinged with the excitement of making that happen. "Atlantis is leaving this planet."
Continuing on I arrived at the Control Room only moments later. John and Rodney were hunched over one of the display screens, Rodney pointing something out that was hopefully not another problem.
"I had an idea about how I could help," I stood behind them, clearing my throat first in case they hadn't noticed I was there.
"Morning," John greeted me. "What idea?"
"It's gonna take a lot out of you to control the star drive," I pointed out. "If I'm down there with you I could try and lend you a bit of extra ATA juice – like the reverse of what you've done for me in the past."
"Is that possible?" John narrowed his eyes in thought. "I thought it only worked the one way."
"Maybe, maybe not," I countered. "It's worth having me down there just in case."
"Okay," John agreed. "It's still gonna be a couple of hours before Lorne has the asteroid in place. Go grab something to eat and then head down to the Chair Room - I'll see you there."
"Sure," I nodded, standing where I was just looking at him. Sensing the stare John turned back to me in confusion.
"What?" he looked at me curiously.
"I'm just kind of surprised that you didn't insist I go to the Apollo with all the other non essential personnel," I admitted.
"I guess you've graduated from non essential to essential then," John replied simply, keenly watching as a huge grin spread over my face.
Not caring that he was on duty and Rodney was right there I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight. "That's the nicest thing you've said to me in like ... a week!" I said. Seeing Rodney rolling his eyes dramatically I added "All right Rodney – I'm going. I just need to do this," I added as I pulled John down and kissed him exuberantly. "See you in the Chair Room," I called, turning and heading rapidly back down the stairs.
x
"Well, I guess it's show time," John said, walking into the Chair Room a couple of hours later with Rodney in tow. I'd taken up a position at one of the side consoles and waved a greeting when he arrived.
"You sure you can do this?" Rodney asked.
"Fly the city?" John asked in confusion, probably wondering why Rodney would be asking that now.
"What else could I possibly be talking about?" Rodney said impatiently.
"I flew a V22 Osprey once," John offered like we should all know how that was related to operating the star drive on Atlantis.
"Was it as big as a city?" Rodney's voice dripped sarcasm.
"Well, you had to use your hands and feet with that one," John explained the complexity. "This one, you just have to sit down and think ... 'Fly'."
"OK, why don't you just get in the Chair and start your pre-flight?" Rodney suggested, realising he wasn't going to get anything else from John.
John sat down in the chair which lit up immediately as usual. Rodney walked around the chair towards the door, pausing when he got there to look at John uncertainly.
"Oh, I'm gonna head up to the Control Room, and Zelenka will monitor output from the ZedPM Room," he told John stuff he already knew instead of what he really wanted to say. Hesitating awkwardly Rodney added "And, uh, good luck."
"You too," John returned. Rodney left, leaving John sitting a little uncertainly in the chair.
"You're always telling me how you can fly anything," I reminded him. "You can do this."
Rather than respond with words John purposefully pushed back in the chair, reclining it into action position. Closing his eyes he ran mentally through all the pre-flight checks, preparing himself for the mammoth task ahead. Watching him silently I tried to calm myself so I'd be ready to help him if he needed it.
"Are you ready, Sheppard?" Rodney spoke over the radio from his position in the Control Room.
"Ready as I'll ever be," John responded.
The city shook as the engines fired, pushing Atlantis up from the ocean floor. Moments later the feeling of motion ended, leaving Atlantis floating once more.
"We're on the surface," Rodney confirmed. "Fire the star drive."
John's face took on a look of intense concentration as he activated the star drive. The shaking of the city returned – John's face became strained as the city broke clear of the ocean, struggling to reach the required height.
"We're not flying high enough," Rodney said urgently. "It's stalling out!"
"Something's not right Rodney," I spoke from my position monitoring the chair output.
"What are you doing wrong?" Rodney demanded.
John snapped open his eyes and raised his head. "Sure, blame me," he complained. "We don't have enough power."
"Oh, sure, blame me!" Rodney returned the complaint.
"It's not working," John reminded him. "What other reasons could there be?"
"I have no more power to give you!" Rodney's voice was tinged with a hint of panic now.
"Shut it off," Elizabeth offered, obviously keeping an eye on things from Rodney's position.
"What?" Rodney demanded.
"Lower the shield," Doctor Weir reiterated.
"We're about to go into space!" Rodney protested. "If you plan on breathing, we're gonna need the shield."
"Turn it back on at eighteen thousand feet," John suggested. "We just need the boost to get started, no?"
"That might work," Rodney said in a more reasonable tone. After a short pause he came back. "OK, I did it. Give it all you've got."
"Sabina," John turned to me with a raised eyebrow.
"You want to try for that ATA boost?" I jumped up and stood beside him, putting my hand on his shoulder when he nodded wordlessly. I kept my eyes on his face as he closed his eyes and lay back again, concentrating all my focus on thinking 'help John'. I felt the energy rush out of me as John pushed the star drive to the limit, finally breaking the city clear of the hold the planet had on her.
"That's it!" Rodney said excitedly. "We're flying!"
John concentrated on controlling the star drive and all its related functions – I continued to offer him help in the form of extra ATA energy. Time seemed to have slowed to a crawl and I was painfully aware of every minor detail ... the creaking and groaning sounds of the city in flight, the look of almost pain on John's face as he struggled to control everything, and the increasing weakness I was feeling as both our energy was consumed in operating the Ancient systems.
"That's it," Rodney spoke after seemingly endless seconds of shieldless flight. "Time's up. Raising the shield."
"Taking us into hyperspace," John reported seconds later. I felt the unmistakeable motion of hyperspace travel as John deactivated the Chair and sat up.
"We did it!" he said, covering the hand I still had on his shoulder and squeezing it in relief. "McKay! Elizabeth!" John called over the radio, keen for a progress report from their end.
"I need a medical team to the Control Room, stat! Multiple injuries!" Rodney's panicked voice echoed ominously over the radio channel.
Without a word John jumped up and ran from the Chair Room, with me hot on his heels.
The scene we arrived into looked like the aftermath of an explosion. The huge glass windows across from the control room stairs had been blasted through the Gate and Control rooms in a million lethal pieces. Injured people were sitting or lying where they'd dropped, each sporting a number of small cuts on exposed skin in addition to more serious injuries. Even more worrying was the sight of Elizabeth being lifted onto a stretcher – she was unconscious, head wrapped in a large bandage and neck braced, with an oxygen mask over her face.
"Keller, what happened?" John demanded, looking worriedly at Elizabeth.
"Apparently the beam grazed the tower and blew out the ... " Doctor Keller broke off and turned to one of the medics wrapping a bandage around a man's arm. "Adams, that guy just has a cut. Tell him to put pressure on it and move on. There're a lot of people worse off upstairs."
"Elizabeth?" John asked hesitantly, walking closer to the gurney. "Is she gonna be OK?"
"I don't know yet," Doctor Keller admitted. "She took quite a fall and her pupils are sluggish. I'm gonna have to get her under a scanner. I'll know more in a bit."
Doctor Keller followed the medic wheeling Doctor Weir from the room. I stood looking after them for a moment before heading up the stairs after John. Stifling a curse I took in the mess. Glass covered every flat surface, consoles sparked, and damaged equipment littered the floor. There were injured people up there too, with medics attending to the worst hit.
"Ronon," I exclaimed, rushing over to drop down on a knee beside him, looking in sick concern at the large piece of jagged glass sticking out of one shoulder.
John was already bent down next to Ronon, with a hand on one of his shoulders.
"Oh, God," John muttered, looking at Ronon's wound nervously.
"It's okay ... I've had worse," Ronon said bravely although I didn't believe that for a second.
"How come no-one's helping you?" John asked.
"I told them I didn't need any help. Other people need more," Ronon replied hoarsely.
"I doubt that," John disagreed with Ronon's self diagnosis. "Get this man to the Infirmary," he called out to Adams.
I waited next to Ronon until he'd been made ready for transport, promising to come and see him as soon as we'd assessed the situation. John was talking with Rodney and Teyla, both of whom were sporting thankfully only minor cuts on their faces.
"What happened?" John demanded.
"The beam grazed the side of the tower before the shield was completely closed," Rodney admitted.
"Damage?" John looked at Rodney expectantly.
"Minimal - I think," Rodney replied. "Look, I was able to get the shield up fairly quickly. It took the brunt of the blow." An alarm sounded, causing a sick look to cross over Rodney's face. "Oh, what now?" he muttered plaintively, as the room began to shake.
"What is happening?" Teyla asked worriedly.
"We just dropped out of hyperspace," Rodney's face was stunned.
"Have we already reached M12-578?" Teyla demanded.
"No. There's no way," Rodney denied. "It should have taken at least another few hours. The hyperdrive just shut down."
"Why?" John asked heatedly.
"I don't know," Rodney complained.
"Get it back up," John ordered sternly.
"I just said I don't know what's wrong," Rodney said angrily. "I can't get it back up if I don't know what happened!"
"Can you tell where we are?" I tried to make my tone reasonable, knowing how much pressure Rodney would be feeling right then.
"In the middle of nowhere," Rodney got that pained look on his face that said things had just gotten really bad. "There are no planets, no moons, no Stargates."
"How much power do we have?" John asked the question I'd been thinking myself.
"This can't be right," Rodney muttered under his breath as he checked the readings on his console.
"How much?" John demanded an answer.
"At current consumption, we've got twenty-four hours of power left," Rodney said in horror. "After that, there's no shield. No shield, no atmosphere. No atmosphere, we're ..."
"Can we use the Stargate?" Teyla interrupted his doom filled recital.
"In order to dial a Gate, it needs to be calibrated to a specific location," Rodney lectured. "We're lost. Look, we dropped out of hyperspace way too soon. I have no idea where we are."
Authors Note:
And here ends Season 3 ...
... but don't worry - I watched a tiny Chinese subtitled screening of the first episodes of Season 4 on my laptop just so you don't have to live with the horrible cliff hanger I had to put up with for months ... coming up next is 'Adrift'. If you haven't actually seen the beginning of S4 yet there are MAJOR spoilers coming up in the next chapter.
