Chapter 50: The shield's collapsing!

"This is bad," I muttered. "This is really, really bad."

"Thank you Ms Obvious!" Rodney retorted. "Look, I need to start getting some of these systems back on line."

Rodney continued to move from one console to another as he worked out what the status of the various systems was. He seemed oblivious to the numerous cuts scattered across his face, a sure sign that our circumstances were indeed dire. I stood beside John and Teyla trying not to get in his way ... trying not to think about Elizabeth and how badly injured she might be.

"Here we go," Rodney announced. "Here we go."

"Got city-wide sensors back online?" John asked hopefully.

"Not fully," Rodney admitted. "Slowly re-booting up right now."

"Can we contact the Apollo?" Teyla got in first with the most important question.

"Not yet, no," Rodney replied, still paying more attention to his console than to us.

"Why not?" Teyla persisted.

"Because sub-space communications are down," Rodney said, in that tone he used to signal we should have already known the answer. "Don't worry - I've got Chuck working on it."

With perfect timing Chuck chose that moment to activate part of the wall panel where he was working. Something short circuited, sending sparks flying all around him.

"Well, maybe you should be working on it," John suggested pointedly.

"I've got bigger fish to fry," Rodney countered that suggestion.

"What could be more important than contacting the Apollo?" Teyla asked in confusion.

Ignoring that question Rodney continued to focus on his computer tablet. His eyes widened in alarm. "This can't be right."

"What's wrong?" John demanded.

"Power," Rodney said in dismay. "We're losing massive amounts of power."

"Why?" John looked at Rodney expectantly.

"I don't know," Rodney admitted. "Look, if you stop asking me questions I might be able to work it out." Turning away again he tapped his earpiece to contact Doctor Zelenka down in the power room. "Radek, are you reading the same massive power usage we've got up here?"

"Yes Rodney," Radek replied quickly. "I don't think the problem is on this end."

"I don't care where the problem is," Rodney said irritably. "I wanna know what the problem is."

There was a pause before Radek came back on the line, this time his voice was as dismayed as Rodney's had been. "It's in the conduits." Rodney groaned as Radek continued. "It looks like several of the main conduits were affected by the brush with the beam."

"Alright, that means we'll need to, uh ..." Rodney began.

"Yes, yes, yes. You-you should get the ...," Radek interrupted, already knowing what Rodney was going to say.

"I will, as soon as I've shut down all of the ...," Rodney continued their verbal half conversation, confusing the hell out of the rest of us.

"Yes, yes, yes. I will do the same thing," Radek agreed.

"Wait, wait, wait," John held up a hand to get Rodney's attention. "What's going on here?"

"Every second I waste, we're draining more power," Rodney replied, rushing from one console to another. "Just trust me, we're doing the right thing here."

"Tell me what's going on, Rodney!" John demanded. Looking at his frustrated and worried face made me suddenly realise an important detail. With Elizabeth injured, John was effectively in charge of the whole city and everyone in it. His entire demeanour since we'd come up from the Chair Room and discovered how bad things had gotten was grimly determined - he wasn't happy to have been forced into that position but he'd do what had to be done to keep everyone safe.

"Long story short, there are a bunch of systems on right now that don't need to be, and given our current situation, they are draining the life out of the city," Rodney finally explained.

"Can you not just shut them off?" Teyla asked the obvious question.

"Just ... wait ... uh ...," Rodney said, thinking hard. "Maybe, yeah." Moving to yet another console, he started typing in commands at a rapid rate. "Oh, come on," his voice took on a whining tone as he discovered something he felt was there just to annoy him.

"What?" John demanded again.

"Nothing!" Rodney exclaimed. "Well, the control grid's all out of whack. I can't shut the systems down from here. We're bleeding out!"

"We can shut down the systems manually, right?" John asked.

"I don't think we have the time," Rodney said negatively.

"Anything we can do would help, wouldn't it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at Rodney expectantly.

"OK, you're right," Rodney agreed. Activating his headset, he contacted the Power Room again. "Zelenka, we're gonna need to deploy some teams."

I listened as they worked out what systems had to be shut down and where they were. Radek released all the people he had down with him, sending them off to positions in the northern part of the city. John moved to the side of the room to speak to some of his men, assigning them to escort Rodney's teams in case they needed help.

"Rodney," I put a hand on his arm to draw his attention to me. "I can help with that too." Pointing to a spot on the city schematic near the East Pier I added, "I know this area really well - I could get there just as quickly as anyone else and shut off the labs down in that area."

"Okay, yes," Rodney agreed.

Turning to leave I literally walked straight into John who'd obviously heard the tail end of my offer. The look on his face said he wasn't thrilled with me. "Wait until Barnes gets here," John ordered. "He'll escort you down there."

"That's a waste of manpower John," I denied the need. "It's one of the closest locations for the teams - I'll be there and back inside of twenty minutes."

Frowning in frustration John thought for a moment before reluctantly nodding an agreement. With a fair number of personal located on the Apollo we were short staffed and needed to be efficient in how we utilised the people we did have.

Not waiting for further protests I shot John a confident smile before running down the stairs and across the Gateroom towards the nearest transporter. Coming out in the corridor leading to the right section I sprinted to the access panel, quickly pulling it off and looking inside. Pulling the right crystals I was rewarded with the faint hum of power systems shutting down.

"Rodney," I contacted him on the radio. "I've cut off the power here - are there any other locations close by?"

"Ah hang on," Rodney muttered. I waited impatiently for a few seconds before he replied. "Okay, there's a research lab two levels down that's still drawing power." He gave me the exact location and I took off, making it there quickly and again removing the right crystals. We repeated that same process several more times, with Rodney giving me locations that drew me further and further away from the central tower.

"Any more?" I asked Rodney.

"That's it," Rodney replied. Turning to head back to the tower I heard the alarm sounding in the Control Room through the still open radio channel.

"What's going on?" I demanded, picking up my pace as I wondered what could possibly have gone wrong now. "Rodney?" I called again when he didn't get back to me straight away.

"Sabina," John's voice came on the line - the urgency in it had me sprinting before he'd even said anything else. "Fall back to the tower - run!"

"Already on it," I panted, racing down the corridor as fast as I could. "What's happening?"

"The shield's collapsing," John said grimly.

"Crap," I muttered, putting on a burst of speed as I glanced over my shoulder.

"You need to move faster," John urged in a tone that had a edge of panic to it.

I could hear the doors behind me slamming shut as I ran - the main door to the tower section was only a few metres away now. "Almost there," I reported, launching myself at the opening when I was still a few paces away. In mid air the gravity suddenly shut down, causing my leap to turn into a longer flight than I could have managed by myself. My momentum carried me through the doorway just before the door slammed shut behind me. I crashed to the floor with the sudden return of gravity, winding myself with the drop. Struggling to take a breath I heard nothing on the radio for a few moments before John's voice calling to me came through loud and clear.

"Sabina?" he said quietly. "Are you okay?" I tried to say something but my vocal chords were strangled by the lack of air in my lungs. "Sabina!" John demanded. "Please respond!"

"I'm fine," I finally choked out, still struggling to take a proper breath. "Just ... winded myself ... when I hit ... the floor."

"Don't do that to me again," John admonished in a shaky voice. "That was too close."

"Wasn't by choice," I replied, finally getting a full breath in. "What about the other teams - were any of them affected?"

"We lost Matthews plus two of Rodney's scientists," John admitted grimly.

"Damn!" I muttered angrily, dragging myself off the floor and towards the transporter. "Did we get enough systems shut down?"

"It definitely bought us more time," John replied, carefully not stating the obvious fact that we were still in dire trouble.

"Okay ... ah ... ," I asked uncertainly, "have you heard anything about Elizabeth yet?"

"She's still in the OR," John replied.

"Do you need me for anything up there?" I asked, not waiting for his reply before I continued. "I want to check in with Ronon - see how he's doing."

"There's nothing we can do for the moment," John said. "Go see Ronon - I'll come down a bit later."

"Okay," I agreed, wishing I could do something or say something that would help him feel better about the situation. "I'll see you later."

Taking the stairs down to the infirmary I looked around, spotting Ronon immediately. He was lying on one of the infirmary beds, as usual making the bed look ridiculously small. His shoulder was heavily bandaged and he had a drip attached to one arm but overall he looked pretty good.

"Hey Ronon," I greeted him softly as I approached his bed.

"Sabina," Ronon greeted me in return.

"How's the shoulder?" I gestured vaguely towards his injury.

"Glass is all gone," Ronon replied. "I should be out of here soon."

"Any word on Doctor Weir?" I asked hesitantly.

"The medic said her brain was swelling," Ronon frowned in concern. "Said something about cutting a piece of her skull out to make room?"

"Oh God," I muttered, realising that Elizabeth's condition was much more critical than any of us had realised.

Lapsing into silence I sat with Ronon, trying not to think about the likely outcomes for Elizabeth. I hated the thought but I knew a brain injury meant possible brain damage - maybe even permanent damage. I'd been sitting there a while when John arrived. Putting a hand on my shoulder in greeting he looked at Ronon carefully before speaking.

"You OK?" he asked Ronon.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ronon said casually, like he hadn't had a big chunk of glass sticking out of his shoulder only hours before.

"Good," John said simply.

"You need me somewhere?" Ronon asked almost hopefully.

"Right here, getting better," John dashed Ronon's hopes of a quick exit from the infirmary.

"Alright. Well, I'm good to go," Ronon replied.

Before John could say any more about that, Doctor Keller appeared from the doorway of the OR, frowning when she saw John standing beside Ronon.

"Colonel?" she called him over to her.

John's expression was reluctance and dread ... hesitantly he walked over to her. Doctor Keller put her hand on his shoulder and steered him further away from us. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I had a bird's eye view of John's expression and that was enough to tell me that Doctor Keller was giving him bad news about Doctor Weir.

John asked a couple of questions but most of the conversation was Doctor Keller telling him things. At the end John was mutely nodding, his eyes conveying how tightly he was holding on to his emotions. Doctor Keller left him silently. He stood there for a few seconds before turning and walking quickly from the infirmary without a word to either Ronon or me.

Glancing hesitantly as Ronon my eyes asked him for some guidance on what to do.

"Go," he said firmly. Nodding quickly, I squeezed his hand before jumping up and following John from the room.

John was just disappearing around the corner and I ran to catch up with him. "John?" my voice drew him to a sudden halt. Keeping his back to me he waited silently. Putting my hand on his back I frowned when I registered how tense he was. "Is Elizabeth ...?" I began, not sure what to ask.

"She's not doing well," John grated out.

Walking around him I grabbed his hand and waited for him to look at me. When he did and I saw his eyes, glazed with shock, worry and grief I felt my own eyes begin to water. "How bad is it?" I asked weakly.

"As bad as it can get," John admitted. "Doctor Keller said her chances of survival aren't good - even if she does she won't be the same Elizabeth," his voice cracked faintly on the last bit.

"Um ...," I kept my eyes on his, trying to pull in the emotions and be as strong as I knew he needed me to be. Our situation was still grim - much as I wanted to break down and cry, John's expression was telling me that now wasn't the time. "Okay ... what can I do to help you?"

John pulled me wordlessly into his arms, dropping his head down to my shoulder as he hugged me close. We stood like that for a few moments - drawing strength from each other.

"Colonel Sheppard, Doctor McKay," Chuck's voice came through the general intercom. "Please report to the Control Room immediately."

Squeezing me tightly for another moment John reluctantly let me go. "I better go see what he wants," John said briskly.

"Can I tag along?" I asked, falling into step beside him when he nodded.