A/N two chapter updates in one day! what! make sure you've read the previous chapter before starting here!
Happy reading!
Alice felt the mat soften under her weight, and the cracks of the material under her toes. A cool breeze from a nearby window blew gently across her back. She was supposed to be concentrating on Ronon, who had marched into her room earlier that morning and basically dragged her out of bed. Telling her she'd been slacking on her training. But as hard as she tried to focus on his attacks, she found her mind kept drifting back to a certain Colonel.
It had been hard at first, every time she saw John she felt the same sadness well up inside her. But as the days drew on the sting seemed to lessen, especially as he made an effort to make things seem less awkward than they should be. He was back to smiling and giving her a friendly nod as they passed by each other in the corridor, and even extending an invitation to join his table at lunch. They'd even been able to laugh and share a few jokes.
Hit. Alice groaned as Ronon's fist connected with her forearm. "Pay attention." Ronon growled.
Wincing, she rubbed the skin that had already turned red. "Sorry." She mumbled, raising her fists as Ronon stalked around the mat. Shaking her head, she kept her eyes on Ronon's feet, trying to anticipate his next move.
Ronon stood opposite her, bouncing from foot to foot trying to determine the best way to strike, his eyes narrow and dangerous. She darted forward jabbing her hand out to catch him in his throat, she'd timed it perfectly so it landed the same time he'd switched his balance. Ronon grunted and went stumbling back onto the ground. He let out a deep chuckle. "That's what I'm talking about. But you're still slow. Again." He sprang back up from the mat and resumed his stance.
Alice shook her hands out and once again placed them up in front of her face. She knew her movements were sluggish and unrefined, she had definitely been slacking off recently.
She took in a breath and prepared, this time though, Ronon acted first. Faking a left jab, he spun around catching Alice in the side. She managed to deflect most of the power of his punch with her arm, but it still hurt. She tried to get inside his reach, but Ronon wasn't taking it easy on her today. He landed jab after jab on her sides. Thinking quickly, she allowed him to catch her again. But this time she grabbed the arm as it struck her and pulled him into an arm lock. Then using his arm as leverage sprung her feet off the ground and kicked him back in the chest.
Unlike last time, he didn't fall back. His hand twisted around to grip her wrist and she felt herself being lifted off the ground. The wind completely left her body as she crashed down onto the mat. She could have sworn she saw stars. "Woah…" she said as the breath left her body.
"Enjoying your rest?"
Alice peeked open an eye, to see John standing over her. She let out a small groan. "Don't be a dick." She stretched out her hand towards him. "I've knocked you flat on this mat myself more than a few times."
He stepped over her then his hand reached down and clasped her wrist. He gave her a yank and she used his energy to pull herself back up. "Not as spectacularly." His face was pulled into a grin.
Ronon was stood off to the side pouring water into his mouth, his eyes glancing back and forth between the two of them. Everyone on the team was like this, they'd all sensed the change between them, and Alice was sure she'd overheard Ronon betting on her and John being back together in the next month with some of the other marines.
Alice huffed, her head still spinning slightly. "So you here just to mock me?"
"No, Lorne's team is heading off-world. Lt. Maddox is confined to the infirmary, somehow managed to trip down the stairs and give himself a concussion." John raised an eyebrow, as if considering how someone could be that clumsy. "I've volunteered you to take his place. Gear up, they're waiting in the Jumper for you."
Alice hesitated, she saw this for what it was; an olive branch. Smiling she started walking backwards to the door. "I'm gonna go, before you change your mind." She spun around. "Ronon, rematch later!"
—-—
Once she'd geared up Alice headed for the jumper bay. Evan and his team were stood waiting for her. "Looking good Riley." Evan smiled. Alice gave him a grin back. "Right, we're heading to M4D-058. Reports suggest a typical low-tech society, so we go in and see what intel we can gather and then decide if we make first contact." The team nodded and Evan led them inside the jumper. "Aly take point?"
Alice couldn't help but bounce on her heels in excitement, it was the first time in two months she'd actually gotten to fly a Jumper rather than just fix one. "Yes sir." She slid into the pilots chair and began her pre-flight checks as Evan dialled the gate.
"Alright. Move out." Evan said from her left. "Just like old times, right?" He grinned.
Alice laughed and guided the jumper through the event horizon. The last time her and Evan had been on a team together was back on SG-11. As they rematerialised on the other side Alice immediately cloaked the jumper. "I've got several signals up ahead." She activated the HUD to show the small signals up ahead.
"Ships?" Evan asked.
"Too small, they look like satellites." She tapped a few controls, using the long range scanners to bring up a more detailed view of the objects. "Woah." The HUD showed a number of satellites organised in geosynchronous orbit laid out in an exact grid. "And there's a lot of them."
"Are there any life signs on the planet?" Evan asked.
Alice nodded. "Hundreds, in the space directly below the satellites." She turned to look at him. "Could be an advanced race?"
"Maybe..." Evan was still staring at the image of the satellites. "Okay, let's take a closer look but keep us cloaked."
"Moving in." Alice turned back to the controls and flew the Jumper down towards the planet. As they got closer the HUD showed a layout of the planet's surface. "It looks like there's two main settlements, separated by a large river." She looked over at Evan. "Which one do you want to go to first?"
Evan narrowed his eyes at the map and pointed to the settlement closest to him.
Alice landed the jumper and together the team headed for the edge of the town. "Aly, you and Tyler cover our six. We're on recon so let's stay low and quiet." The team nodded in agreement and the headed towards the small settlement.
As they approached the boundary of the town, keeping as low as possible. Alice held out an Ancient scanner and crept up beside Evan. "I'm not picking up any signals or frequencies. Nothing that would suggest these people built those satellites." She reported in a low whisper.
Evan nodded and gestured to his two other team mates to move ahead. Alice put the scanner back in her vest, and put both hands back on her gun. She hung back waiting for the others to move past her and take her position up at the rear.
Creeping forward they approached a boundary wall. Evan held up his fist and they took up positions behind it. Telling the others to stay down, he peeked his head up and looked over the wall. "No way..." he muttered, sliding back down against the wall.
Alice raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" She asked.
—-
Alice headed back for the Jumper. Once she was out of sight of the village, she picked up her pace into a jog. As soon as the rear hatch closed she slipped into the pilot's seat. The Jumper powered up at a single thought.
Alice tried to hide her grin. The instant the rear door sealed, she lowered the inertial dampeners slightly and accelerated into the atmosphere. Normally at the speed and angle she was travelling the g force would have knocked her unconscious. But right now, she was only pulling around 3 to 4g, cheap change for any air force pilot.
Alice couldn't help but smile, as she felt adrenaline pulsing through her. She just wasn't built to be sat in a lab all day everyday. "Elizabeth, this is SGA-2, come in."
A second later the HUD flickered and Elizabeth and John's image appeared. "We're reading you loud and clear Riles."
Alice straightened her posture, feeling like a kid who was about to be caught out doing something they shouldn't. "I'm patching through Major Lorne now, he's got something he wants to show you both and Rodney."
Elizabeth gestured off-screen as Alice hit a few keys and connected the call to Evan's transmission from the surface. "Dr. Weir, Colonel." Evan was still crouched behind the wall on the outskirts of the village. "Is Dr. McKay there?"
"I'm here!" Alice heard Rodney's voice from off-screen and then a moment later he was pushing John aside to stand in view of the screen.
"Right..." Evan paused, pursing his lips. "We came through the space Gate and immediately noticed a bunch of small satellites in geosynchronous orbit above the planet."
"An advanced civilisation?" Elizabeth interjected, echoing hers and Evan's original thoughts.
Evan nodded. "That's what we thought, then we picked up life signs directly below, so we flew down, saw several villages separated by a large river and decided to check one of them out, and as you can see ... Sergeant? ..." the camera panned and peeked over the wall to show A typically simple group of villagers. One of them is pushing a cart with a sack on it. "... these people don't exactly look like they're ready to be launching any satellites - at least not for the next five hundred years or so."
John put his hands on his hips. "The Ancients probably put 'em up there."
"That's what we thought, they definitely look like Ancient tech." Alice added.
"Mmm." Rodney mumbled, already sounding bored.
Elizabeth turned to him. "Send a science team to check it out."
Evan grinned as his sergeant aims the camera back at him and they ducked down out of sight again. "Uh, actually, I think Doctor McKay may wanna come check this one out for himself."
"Why?" Rodney said confused.
"Take a look." The camera poked back over the wall and zoomed in. On the opposite side of the village square, a flag was flying. It had a vertical red stripe on each side and a central white area and looks eerily similar to the Canadian national flag. In the middle of the white area was a picture of a man who looks suspiciously familiar. Alice couldn't help but laugh as Elizabeth, John and Rodney stared blankly at the screen.
Elizabeth blinked a couple of times. "Major, have your team report back to Atlantis." Then the screen went blank.
"Aly, swing back down and meet us at the original landing site." Evan said through the radio.
"Copy that. See you in a few minutes."
—
Alice couldn't believe what John and Rodney had been up to playing this 'game'. Though who else would end up causing two peaceful civilisations to turn against each other to become mortal enemies. Sometimes she wasn't sure how John and Rodney were even friends.
Radek had been assigned with Evan to check out this 'game', whilst John's team managed the situation on the ground. That left Alice back where she spent most mornings, sat in her lab glancing at a screen of Ancient text. The adrenaline rush she'd had from taking the Jumper out was starting to wear thin now.
They'd been here about three years now and they'd only been able to translate about 20% of the Ancient's entire database. It probably would have been more if they weren't at war with the Wraith, but the database was just so vast, they still had no idea what was even on it.
As Rodney was off-world, it was up to Alice to run the bi-weekly team leads meeting to check on the status of the different projects, and if necessary reassign any teams. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy these meetings, but there was still a small amount of resentment amongst some of the older more experienced scientists that she'd been given the deputy head role.
At any time, they probably had 20 live projects - not including Rodney's side projects, which Alice had now lost track of. Grabbing her tablet, she trudged towards the science briefing room.
All of the team leads were already sat in their places when she arrived. "Afternoon." She muttered, walking in to take her seat. "Shall we get started then." Alice listened in turn to each of the team leads report on the progress of their projects, their recommendations on whether the project was still viable, or if it would be best to shelve it and come back to it later. Alice doodled notes on her datapad, and after an hour and half the meeting was finally over. Alice had cut three projects and refocused those teams on the Ancient database and the new systems the Ancient's had activated during their time here.
People mulled about, breaking off into small clusters chatting quietly amongst themselves. Mostly they seemed excited, she'd expected more resistance from some of the team leaders when she cut their projects, but they seemed more than happy to oblige. Though it might have one of the few meetings where someone hadn't been publicly embarrassed by Rodney.
She stretched her arms up and tilted her chest over to the side, feeling the muscles on her ribs extending. "Doctor Riley?" A man's voice surprised her. Dropping her arms she swivelled her body around to see a sandy blonde man stood before her. She blinked slowly as she took in his appearance.
He was tall and well built, different to most of the other scientists in the room, in fact he looked like he be better suited to a black trim uniform than a blue one. But it was his face that drew in Alice's attention. His eyes were a deep blue, and his smile was ever so slightly crooked. Heat rushed into her cheeks as she realised she was staring at him with her mouth slightly open. "Hi!" She said slightly too enthusiastically. She swallowed. "How...how can I help you?" She wanted to mentally slap herself, could she sound anymore like a star-struck teenager.
He laughed softly, it floated through the air like a melody. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind taking a look over these logs. I'm afraid my Ancient still isn't all that good, and I'd like a second opinion." He had a soft British accent, that warmed her insides, making her cheeks flush again.
Straightening up she smiled. "Sure, I can take a look. I was actually just about to grab lunch but-" she reached out to take the tablet.
"Brilliant, let's make it a lunch date then!" He said enthusiastically, slipping his tablet under his arm.
Alice blinked, slightly stunned. "O...okay. Sorry I didn't get your name."
The man stepped back, allowing Alice to slip down off her chair and onto the floor with a soft thud. "Doctor Charlie Morrison. Call me Charlie." He held out his free hand to her.
Alice felt her heart beat jump as she took his hand. "Charlie." His name rolled lightly off her tongue. "Well you can call me Alice, or my friends call me Aly."
"Alice." His hand was warm as it wrapped around hers. His smile broadened as she realised her hand was still in his. Clearing her throat she slid her hand back and shoved it into her jacket pocket. Once again feeling her cheeks redden. "Shall we?" He gestured towards the door.
Alice pursed her lips and headed through the door, leading the way to the mess hall. "So how long have you been on Atlantis?"
Charlie let out a shy laugh. "Since the expedition returned to Pegasus."
Alice mentally winced. "I'm so sorry, I thought I would have noticed someone like you." She cringed, biting her cheek.
"I tend to keep to myself, and you seem to have been very busy recently." Charlie seemed amused by her awkward statements.
"Right." Was all Alice could think to say. Together they walked into the mess hall and grabbed some food, without thinking Alice took her usual two blue jellos.
"Blue jelly huh?" Charlie was staring down at her tray with an eyebrow raised.
"Uh, it's my favourite." Alice said plainly shrugging and turned away to a nearby table, Charlie following her. She kicked out the chair and sat down opposite the blonde scientist. "So, these logs?"
Charlie placed the datapad down on the table beside him but made no love to activate it or show her. "I have to admit I may have gotten you here under slightly false pretences."
Alice tilted her head. "Oh really? So no difficult to read Ancient logs" She wasn't sure where this was going.
Charlie smiled warmly at her, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. "Oh no, there are plenty of those. But really I just wanted to ask you to lunch."
Alice sat up straighter, her hand rubbing the side of her face. She didn't know where to look. "Okay." She said finally, feeling uneasy. "Well here we are."
Charlie let out a small laugh. "Yes we are. I hope this is okay?"
Alice pursed her lips. "Yes. It's fine." Though she felt a small bubble of guilt building in the pit of her stomach. Even though they weren't together, being with someone else right now just didn't seem appropriate. She dipped her spoon into the jelly taking a mouthful, hoping that Charlie would lead the conversation. But he just took a bite of his own food. Not wanting to sit in silence, Alice held her hand to cover her mouth. "What department do you work with?"
"Geophysics, but we're not going to talk about work."
"We're not?" Alice raised an eyebrow.
Charlie put down his sandwich. "Tell me about you?"
Alice blinked, it was such an open question and the answer wasn't all that interesting. She was a military brat that signed her youth away to be a soldier. "Um...well I'm originally from California. I joined the military right out of high school and-"
"No." Charlie laughed. "Tell me something I can't just read in your file."
Alice fidgeted and narrowed her eyes. She didn't like being embarrassed. "Why don't you start?"
Charlie leaned back in his chair. "Very well. As you can tell I'm British, and I have an unfathomable desire to understand the things people say are beyond our understanding. Though my friends call it arrogance." He grinned, as Alice let out a small laugh. "I'm an avid reader and have a tendency to ramble on about ancient history."
Alice put her sandwich down and ran her tongue over her top teeth. "Wow. I have to say I think I agree with your friends."
He opened his hands out gesturing to her. "Your turn."
Alice rested her elbows on the table and clasped her hands together In front of her face. "Fine. I have always dreamt of being apart of something bigger than myself, something to give me a purpose in life. Which is why I'm here. Atlantis is my life, and the people here have become my family." She dropped her shoulders, feeling herself relax slightly. "If you asked them they'd tell you to make sure you have a spot reserved in the infirmary, as I'm quite accident prone."
Charlie dropped forward, the movement was so sudden and fluid, it didn't register in Alice's head until she realised how close his face was to hers. Instantly her spine stiffened and she pulled back. "Aly?" Alice turned her head as she heard Teyla's soft voice.
"Teyla. Hi!" Alice cleared her throat, a sense of relief flushed through her.
"Would you mind if we joined you?" Teyla said, nodding her head over to Ronon who was still filling his tray.
"Of course." Alice said maybe a bit too quickly. "Teyla this is Doctor Morrison."
Teyla sat down next to Alice and held her hand out to accept Charlie's handshake. "Call me Charlie."
"It is a pleasure to meet you." Teyla dipped her head, and gave Alice a side glance. She tried to suppress a groan, Teyla would definitely be asking her about this later. "This is Ronon."
Charlie looked over his shoulder as Ronon approached. But to Alice's surprise Ronon clapped Charlie on the shoulder. "Hey Charlie, how you going?"
"Very well thanks, and you?" Charlie replied smiling back.
Alice point back and forth between the two of them. "Wait. How do you two?"
"Charlie is one of the few scientists that was brave enough to join my sparring class." Ronon slumped down into his chair and started shovelling food into his mouth.
"Right..." Alice scrunched up her nose and had to divert her eyes away. "So you guys still trying to sort out the issues on M4D-058?"
Teyla sighed in obvious frustration. "Colonel Sheppard and Rodney are still trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution."
Alice rolled her eyes. "Only those two could do something so stupid."
Ronon grunted in agreement. Charlie's eyes darted back and forth between them. "What did they do?"
Alice exchanged a glance with Teyla, who dipped her head softly. Alice then started explaining what they had found on the planet. "And that's how our two biggest idiots managed to start a planetary war." She smiled affectionately as she said it, stabbing her spoon into her jello.
"Interesting." Charlie narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. Then he clapped his hands together and pushed away from the table. "Well I should be getting back to it. It was lovely to meet you Teyla." He started picking up his tray.
Ronon grunted a goodbye with a full mouth and Teyla just smiled. "I'll see you later, and we can take a look over those logs you mentioned." Alice gave him a sly smile. Charlie winked and then headed away from them.
Teyla had her eyes trained on him as he walked away. "He is very attractive. Is he new?"
Alice put a spoon in her mouth, taking her time to answer her. "No apparently he came back with the expedition three months ago." She purposefully didn't acknowledge the attractive comment.
"He's a good man, though his technique needs more work." Ronon commented.
Teyla let out a small tch. "So you were just having a work lunch?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
Alice took in a sharp inhale. "He's a colleague, nothing more." Teyla nodded, but she didn't seem convinced. "I need to get going. I'll catch up to you later." Alice shoved the last drop of jello into her mouth and picked up her tray.
"Don't think I'm letting you off that easily. Sparring later." Ronon reminded her. "You're still too slow."
Alice bit her lip to stop a smart retort, instead she just flicked her hand at him to acknowledge him. Then returned to the lab.
On her way she saw Rodney, John and Elizabeth leading two people, a man and a woman through the halls towards the 'game room'. She assumed they must be representatives from the planet Teyla mentioned, and it was easy to tell which one came from John's settlement. The man was dressed in all black, medieval looking leather armour. Very militaristic and rough looking compared to the poised blonde haired woman walking beside him. Who had a surprising resemblance to Colonel Carter... Rodney could barely keep it in his pants around the Colonel.
John caught her eye as she stared at them, making her gut churn. She lifted her hand to offer him a small wave. The corners of his mouth twisted up, and he nodded softly in response.
It was sign, albeit small, that they still stood a chance of having some sort of connection. Even if it was just as friends. That thought warmed her. More than any smile or flirty remark from anyone else could.
She sighed and continued back to her lab. Her mind had more important things to dwell on.
—-
The next week passed by, each day felt like a step forward back to some kind of normal.
She was doing a lot better, in fact she was starting to actually feel happy. She laughed, and spent time with her friends. Ronon continued to drag her out of bed every morning for a spar, Teyla was always up for lunch and Carson dropped by every afternoon for a chat. Evan had been offworld a lot more recently, but when he was around he spent most, if not all, his free time with her. She'd even managed to have breakfast or dinner almost everyday with her entire team, John included.
She'd seen Charlie around more, he'd asked her to lunch again, but she'd managed to find an excuse to decline. The last thing that was on her mind right now was dating. Though she knew she needed to make it clear to him sooner or later.
Shrugging on her jacket she grabbed her datapad and headed out of her room. Stifling a yawn, and covering her mouth with the back of her hand she walked towards the control room. Chuck had been having some problems with the systems and asked her to check it out. "There you are!" Alice felt herself stiffen as she heard Charlie's soft British accent. Heavy footsteps clapped behind her, she glanced to the side as a blob of blonde hair appeared next to her.
Forcing a smile, she tried her best to sound cheery. "Good morning."
Charlie smiled back, it looked like her smile was believable at least. "What are you doing for lunch today?" He held up his hand as she opened her mouth to reply. "Before you say anything, I already checked your work schedule and asked Teyla if you had lunch plans."
Alice scoffed. "You're certainly thorough."
"Just persistent. Though if you'd prefer we could always go for breakfast now?"
Alice started chewing on her cheek, her eyes shifting back to the corridor. "Look Charlie..."
Charlie stopped walking. "Would you just tell me what it is? I'm a big man, if you aren't interested you can just say it." His jaw tightened, and she could tell he was being serious.
She tried not to flinch as her teeth bit through the skin of her cheek. The rusty tang of blood filling her mouth. "It's complicated. I was with someone recently and..." She hoped she didn't have to finish the sentence.
"Then that's his loss. But that's over right?" He didn't wait for an answer. "You're allowed to go for lunch, you know that right?" Charlie asked it as though it was a serious question.
"Of course." Alice blurted out defensively. But as soon as she said it she realised how it sounded. "How about we just try for friends right now?"
Charlie smiled like he'd won. "Sounds great. So tell me, what do you typically do with your friends?"
Alice smirked. "Have you ever played Predator?" Evan had invited her to join the Airmen take on the Marines later tonight. But she was sure there would be space for an extra.
Charlie smirked. "No, but it sounds like a date." Then held his hands up. "Just an expression, I promise." He stepped away, a triumphant look on his face. "I'll see you tonight."
"Make sure you wear black, and be prepared for a few bruises." Alice laughed, and for the first time in weeks her whole body felt lighter. Walking to the control room, each step she felt like a cloud of darkness was lifting off her head. By the time she reached the control room, she almost felt normal. "Morning Chuck."
"Morning Alice." Chuck swivelled his chair back. "Thank god you're here. The command system has been touch and go all day."
Alice knitted her eyebrows together. "That's strange. Okay, let me have a look." She bent over so she was level with his laptop. She start typing bring up the logs and trying to find the cause of the issue. "It doesn't look like anything's wrong...but..." she hit a few more keys bringing up a command override box. "I've reset the system so it should have cleared any bad code. Let me know if it still acts up though."
Chuck grinned. "Thanks." He swivelled his chair back towards and console as Alice straightened up. She started to head down off the platform towards the stairs when the gate started dialling. "Hey, you might want to stick around for this." He said, then called in Elizabeth from her office.
Alice stepped back up the platform. "Who is it?"
"Sheppard, they've found some ancient space station dug into an asteroid." He said enthusiastically.
"Really?" Even Alice had to admit that was interesting.
Elizabeth gave her a nod of greeting as the wormhole connected and Chuck gave her the thumbs up. "Colonel Sheppard, do you read me?"
Alice dragged over a chair and sat straining her ears as the audio crackled. "Loud and clear, and your timing's perfect. Now, you need to get Beckett here with a rescue team and some cutting equipment as soon as possible." John spoke fast and it sounded like he was straining for breath.
Alice didn't need to wait for Elizabeth's approval, she hit her earpiece and told Carson to head to the Jumper bay. Elizabeth's face was tense. "What's happened?"
John took in a raspy breath. "We've got ourselves in a damaged moonbase in a decaying orbit, cut off from each other, and we lost the Jumper. That happened. Well, there's more to it than that, but you get the idea."
Alice stood up, contacting Evan and asking him to meet her no questions in the Jumper bay. She cast a glance over her shoulder at Elizabeth before she started climbing the stairs. Elizabeth gave her an approving nod. "Help is on its way. What else can we do?"
"Hurry!" Ronon yelled through the comm.
Alice spun around and ran up the step, her heart beating in time with ever footstep. She was the first in the Jumper bay. She grabbed a tac vest out of the emergency supplies they kept in the bay, and ran into the nearest Jumper. As normal, the lights and systems started powering up the minute they sensed her presence. Throwing herself into the pilots chair she prepped for take-off. "Aly?!" Carson ran into the ship panting, loaded up with medical bags. He dropped them on the rear seats and moved into the cockpit. "What's the situation?"
Without looking away from the controls Alice answered. "Evan is coming, I'll explain when he's here. Get ready."
Evan ran in the rear hatch a few moments later with Lloyd. "I grabbed who I could." He said taking a gasp of air.
"Everyone take a seat. Colonel Sheppard's team are trapped on an alien space station, there are casualties but they didn't say how bad." Alice started explaining as Evan took the co-pilot's seat. "Control, we're ready."
Alice deployed the engines as soon as they exited the space gate. She could see the asteroid John had described in the distance, debris was floating in the wake of it as it moved slowly towards the planet. Alice hit the comms. Evan stood up and started suiting up into space suits. "John, this is Riley, we're en route we should have you out of there in no time." she tried to sound reassuring.
"Understood. You're gonna have to convert the Jumper's cloak into a shield and extend it to the station to create a seal." John said.
"Already on it." Alice said as she hit a few keys on her datapad. Luckily she had picked the Jumper that was already set up.
Carson stumbled forward awkwardly in his spacesuit. "How are my patients doin'?"
"Jamus could use your help." John replied. Alice blinked as she tried to remind herself which one Jamus was - the leader of the race that built the station.
"Tell 'em we'll be there in a jiff." Carson had a much more convincing reassuring voice than she did. He squeezed Alice's shoulder and moved back into the rear compartment.
Alice concentrated harder as she closed in and had to manoeuvre around the debris. The hanger approached and Alice could make out a spaceship and the remains of a second airlock. "Okay, this may get a bit sticky." She called back to the men in the back. Taking in a breath she focused on backing the ship up in line with the airlock, retracting the engines so they didn't get stuck. "We're in." She sighed.
Climbing over the seat she watched as Evan and Carson secured the helmets of their suits. "I'll keep the engines warm." She gave them a small smiled and closed the door to the cockpit.
Now all she could do was wait. Normally, she wouldn't have let herself be the one holding down the jumper, but it was the only option. Reading her mind, the HUD shifted showing her life signs readings from the station. It wasn't exactly a map, but she could at least monitor the mission. There were three moving dots leaving the hanger, Evan, Lloyd and Carson. Then another three clusters of dots. Two pairs and one isolated. The pairs had to be John and Ronon, and the other Teyla and Jamus. Leaving Rodney as the lone dot. Though she had no way to differentiate between them.
She started picking her fingers, as she watched Evan and Lloyd meet up with Rodney, and Carson broke off heading towards one of the pairs. That must've been Teyla. "Aly, come in." Evan's voice called to her through the radio.
She hit a button on the dash. "Loud and clear."
"We're starting the repair on the door. Let me know when sensors detect a good seal."
Alice zoomed the map into Evan's position, adjusting the jumper's sensors to detect the pressure inside the station. "Alright, ready."
Minutes went by, the temperature surrounding Evan slowly increased as he welded the damaged hatch. "Looks like we've got a good seal on the damaged hatch."
Alice checked her readings. "Confirmed. The station is repressurising." She waited until oxygen levels were over 15%. "Okay, you're good to go." The Jumper shuddered as the asteroid rumbled. Warnings flashed up on the HUD. They're were getting dangerously close to the atmosphere of the planet. "John, Teyla, you're safe to open your hatches."
"Great! how much time do we have?" John asked.
Alice glanced back at all the warnings. "Not much." She watched as John and Ronon's dots moved quickly out of their room to join with Carson and Teyla's. But they all stopped outside of the door to her compartment.
"Teyla? Open up the door - we've gotta get out of here." She heard John's voice through the radio.
"I can't do that, John." Teyla's voice was tense. "Jamus has my sidearm and will not let me leave until we find a way to preserve the storage device."
"Alright. Tell him we'll try."
She kept her voice level as she answered. "I've already done so. He does not believe me."
"Put him on the radio." There was a 10 second delay, before John spoke again. "Jamus, can you hear me?"
"I can." Jamus said.
"I want you to listen carefully. If there was time to save the storage device, we would, you know that. We got into this mess by offering to stick around and help you in the first place. But we can save you - this is your life we're talkin' about, alright? So just open up the door."
"I have her weapon." The moon started shaking again. More warnings flashed on her screen. They were only minutes away from skirting the upper atmosphere.
"This rock is gonna burn up in the atmosphere." John's voice grew increasingly tense.
"Meaning if you don't open this door, you'll die." Carson added.
"Then I will die with my people." Jamus said resolutely.
"OK. Open up the door and let Teyla out and you can die with your people." John's voice lacked any sympathy. She'd seen many different sides of John through the years. There was the warm, soft side, full of fun and jokes. Then there was this ruthless version of John, who would sacrifice anyone and anything if it meant the survival of his team. The last time she'd seen that version of him, he'd killed Kolya. There was no answer from Jamus. "Jamus, we're gonna open up this door one way or the other. And if we have to do it the hard way, my offer to take you with us is off the table."
Alice's foot started bouncing against the chair. As once again the temperature started rising in the area around John. "There is nothing more to say." Jamus replied.
Red warnings flashed, seconds before the Jumper started shaking violently. They'd hit the atmosphere. "John, we've hit the atmosphere."
"I'm going as fast as I can." He snapped back.
She bit her tongue, her hands moving across the dash. They needed more time, but every idea that popped into her head was impossible.
"Colonel! Colonel. You can stop what you're doing now. I'm ready to open the door." Alice's headed jerked back up, as Janus yelled through the radio. The HUD switched back to a view of inside the station, zooming in on the cluster of white dots.
"Now he's ready!" John muttered irritated. "Alright. We're gonna open up the door. I wanna see your weapon on the ground and your hands in the air."
"Sheppard, what's going on? I'm picking up another power surge." Rodney said.
Alice watched her screen, and suddenly two dots vanished. She stood up, staring at the screen. "They're gone!"
"Oh crap..." John muttered. "Jamus zapped both of them into the storage device!"
"I'm on my way." Rodney yelled and his dot started moving back towards the others.
"So am I." Alice twisted and headed to the back of the Jumper.
"No. Riles, stay with the Jumper. If we lose it we're stuck here." John ordered.
Her hand hovered over the cockpit door control. She considered disobeying, but he was right. "Okay." Returning to the pilot's seat she switched the HUD back to monitor the moon's descent into the planet.
The minutes seemed to tick by faster than ever. Every second brought them closer to the planet. She pressed her earpiece. "Evan, we have to go. 10 more minutes and this moon will be nothing but rocks."
"Understood." Then the radio shut off.
She watched anxiously as the dots gathered around each other, then one broke off from the rest, heading away from the Jumper.
—
"What do you mean he's going to fly the shuttle?!" She said sternly into the radio.
"I think he's crazy. The thing's how many hundred years old? And it's out of fuel." Evan replied.
"He said he could fly it." Ronon said defensively.
"Ronon, John thinks he can fly anything." Alice said, this entire plan was ludicrous.
She hit her earpiece again. "John, even if that thing can fly, the chances..."
"I know, but it's Teyla."
Alice swallowed the lump in her throat. John was the best pilot she'd ever met, if there was any chance that this could work, then he'd be the one to do. And he was right, she would be doing the exact same in his place. Any of them would. "Okay." Was all she could say.
John cleared his throat. "Alright. Radio Atlantis as soon as you're clear. Keep a safe distance with the Jumper. I'll try to maintain radio contact."
"I'll see you soon flyboy." Alice said softly.
The others made their way back to the Jumper quickly, throwing themselves into the door and slamming the ramp shut. "Go!" Evan shouted as the cockpit door opened. Alice disconnected the shield, and detached the ship from the station. As soon as they were clear enough, she activated the drive pods and flew it out of the hanger doors.
"Alright. I've got the device locked in place. Looks like internal power switched on automatically. Closing rear hatch now." John reported, she could just see the edge of the shuttle. "See you guys on the ground."
Alice turned her head to exchange a tense look with Evan, who was now sitting in the copilot's chair. He gave her a reassuring nod. "Will do, sir. Good luck." Alice manoeuvred the Jumper clear of the hanger doors and out into open space. "We're clear, sir."
Alice felt a hand rest on the back of her chair. "The moon's decelerating in the upper atmosphere. You've only got a few minutes to familiarise yourself with those controls." Rodney was tense, as she looked up she saw beads of sweat forming on his brow.
"Pretty straightforward." John said.
"We're gonna lose radio contact as you pass through the atmosphere."
"I know, Rodney."
His hand dropped down to touch her shoulder. She'd moved the jumper so they were holding orbit above the moon, but still with a line of sight to the hanger. "I'm saying that if you have anything that you'd like to say, now would be a good time to say ..."
"No, not really." John replied quickly. Alice let out a scoff, unsentimental to the end. "Gettin' some chop."
Rodney turned back to look at his laptop. "Now would probably be a good time to disengage. Hopefully the explosive bolts will throw him clear of the moon."
Alice activated the HUD, to close in tightly on the shuttle. "Initiating separation manoeuvre in three, two, one, mark." Alice held her breath. "Separation is negative. Switching to back-ups." The whole Jumper watched the HUD, in a tense silence. "Disengage. Come on!" She could hear alarms screaming through the radio. "Dammit! The bolts will not work. I repeat: the explosive bolts will not fire. Unable to separate ship. I don't know if you can hear me but it looks like I'm gonna have to ride this one down."
Alice felt her heart thumping in her chest. "What's happening?" Ronon pushed his way past Rodney to stare out the window.
"If he can't separate he'll burn up as the moon breaks through the atmosphere." Her voice was steadier than she thought it would be.
They all watched as the moon started blazing as it descended through the atmosphere. Debris was flying back as it went leaving a comet trail of rock and chunks of the space station. Rodney's hand thrust out in front of Alice's face. "There it is!" The HUD was having a hard time focusing due to the interference around the image, but Alice could just make out the shape of the shuttle as it plunged brightly to the ground. Smoke was pouring out of the back of it, it didn't look like the engines were on. John must be attempting to glide the shuttle down.
"Hang on." Alice started moving the Jumper towards the planet, though she kept one eye glued to the HUD tracking John's descent. Avoiding the debris of the moon as it started breaking up, she headed into the atmosphere. The shuttle stopped moving suddenly, with the interference clearing they could see John had managed to crash land in the middle of what looked like a large desert. "Come on." She muttered to herself, pushing the jumper to its limits.
"Can you tell if he's alive?" Carson whispered.
"Not yet. Wait." Alice gritted her teeth, as she concentrated on manoeuvring the ship. As soon as she cleared the stratosphere the HUD started beeping. "He's alive." It came out as a sigh of relief.
"That's one week's pay you owe me, Rodney." John's voice was weak, but it crackled through the speakers.
Alice let out a laugh, she looked over her shoulder and the rest of the crew were grinning in relief. "Well, technically, I didn't take that bet." Rodney said weakly.
"Hang tight, sir. We're on our way." Evan was smiling.
"Take your time, Major." John sighed. "Take your time."
Alice found them a spot to land a couple of meters away from John's shuttle. She was one of the first out of her seat and running for the door. Evan, Ronon and Carson followed behind her with Rodney taking his time. They had to pry the door open, but could only get it so far. Alice slipped in first, with Carson. As the two smallest it was easier for them. They split into separate directions, there was nothing Alice could do for John, but nothing was going to stop her from saving Teyla.
"Rodney! Get your ass in here now." She said as she examined the casing of the device.
Rodney shuffled in behind her with Evan, who was carrying the small generator. "We need to switch the power over to the generator, before we can detach it."
Alice had already found the connection ports and gestured for Evan to bring the generator around to her. "Okay, on three." She looked Evan in the eyes and together they pulled the cables and switched them over.
Rodney hovered the scanner over the device. "Looks good, we can detach it now."
Alice and Evan stepped around to opposite sides of the device and lifted, unplugging it from its port. It wasn't as heavy as Alice thought it would be. Carefully, they manoeuvred it back out of the shuttle and into the jumper. Evan wiped his brow and looked back to the shuttle. "I'll go check on the doc and see if he needs any help."
Alice nodded, securing the device on the floor of the jumper. Then she took her seat back in the pilot's chair, preparing for the journey back. She heard Evan and Carson return, and as she twisted her head around, saw John braced between the two. "Closing the rear hatch." Evan yelled up to her.
"Alright. Everyone get comfy." She concentrated and flew the Jumper back to the gate.
—-
Alice sat on the edge of Teyla's bed, smiling down at her friend. "I'm glad you're okay."
"It was very strange." Teyla said lifting her hand up to her head. "Though this still isn't necessary." She gestured to the bed.
"Carson's word is law." Alice chuckled. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
Teyla reached out and grabbed her hand. "Thank you."
Returning a smile, Alice let go and headed out of the room, passing Elizabeth on her way.
She stood waiting for the transporter to open, when the doors opened and John appeared. "Hey." He said with a casual surprise.
Alice shoved her hands into her pockets. "Hey yourself. You going to see Teyla?" Every word spoken between them, seemed easier and simpler.
"Yeah, want to make sure she's all there. Y'know we don't need about McKay, Cadmen situation."
A laugh passed her lips. "I'd rather we didn't. I'm glad you're okay too. Though you might want Heightmeyer to take a look at that head of yours." She leaned forward and poked John's temple.
John gave her a lopsided grin, his fingers touching the spot she'd poked. "It worked didn't it?"
A small smirk tugged on her lips. "Don't get too cocky, girls don't like that."
John took a step towards her. "Really? The ones I like seem to."
"You realise you owe me one now!" She yelled after him as he stepped around her towards the infirmary.
Swallowing, she looked around her and quickly stepped into the transporter, hoping no one noticed the grin smacked across her face.
