Major Lorne was limping noticeably.
With the help of the Mhisi, it hadn't taken all that long to get the dead and severely injured members of the team into a jumper with someone capable of piloting it. Of the Lanteans, only John's team, Drs. Laurenson and Hall, Fletcher and Larson from Dorsey's team and Major Lorne had remained behind. Obsessed with his research now, Rodney refused to leave. As for Lorne, when he'd given his report on the injuries to his team and Dorsey's, he'd made no mention of having been hurt himself.
John had given his orders based on Lorne's information, assuming the Major was physically sound and thus telling him to stay behind to coordinate up top while John kept an eye on things from down here. That might have gone on much longer if Reder's men, in exploring around, hadn't stumbled on the concealed entrance to this lower level.
The entrance had actually been built into the back of the pyramid, but had obviously been blocked off. However, something (likely the Crocuta) had dug out the stones and burrowed in. Once inside the pyramid, there was another open door, which led to a room that adjoined the main hallway. The door to that room was closed, but not actually locked, so it could be forced open and closed. The Crocuta had entered the main hallway by simply digging a hole in the wall near the floor that was just big enough for them to squeeze through. Because the Lanteans had been looking for actual doors and controls and equipment that were meant for Ancients, nobody had swung a light that low to the floor where it met the wall at the particular section of hallway where the hole had been dug.
So far, there had been no further sign of the Crocuta, but somehow John still felt uneasy. In any case, with the door discovered and opened, John decided to have Fletcher and Larson keep an eye on the ceiling hole, while Ronon kept an eye on that tunnel the Crocuta had been using for an entrance.
John was himself still embroiled in the ongoing discussion with Reder about how to approach the Bethashaya with this new idea of not having a war with the Mhisi while the Lanteans tried to fix the Sentinels. Teyla had made a very good point about why the Bethashaya should agree, but the matter of exactly how to present it, and how to approach them in the first place was far from resolved. Since Rodney was clearly not going to be much help with the matter, John decided to pull Lorne back so that he could offer input about the Bethashaya based on his own experience and observation, and it was then that John became aware of the Major's rather pronounced limping.
John knew how easy it was to be so absorbed in the business of defending against the enemy and getting your guys out of danger that you didn't even notice having been hit, and he knew Lorne was wise enough not to put the team in danger by hiding an injury. But he also knew that he'd put some undue stress on the Major recently, stress that might drive Lorne to behave aberrantly. So rather than immediately call Lorne out on it, John excused himself briefly from Reder and had Lorne follow him a short distance so that they wouldn't be distinctly heard as long as they kept their voices low.
"So," John inquired, "How'd you get hurt?"
Lorne looked surprised and baffled as he replied, "I didn't."
"Then why are you limping?" John asked.
"Oh. That," Lorne said dismissively.
John waited for Lorne to elaborate, which the Major did after a moment.
"That's from my last visit to this little paradise," Lorne explained, "Dr. Beckett cleared me for active duty, but told me to be careful and limit physical activity. Apparently I reached my limit during the firefight with the Crocuta," he shrugged, "I'm okay, Colonel."
"Yeah, right," John sighed with a shake of his head.
But he was inwardly relieved to hear it. A little pain from injuries taken less than two months ago was to be expected, and since Carson had cleared Lorne it was unlikely that it would rise to a crippling or disabling level, merely an unpleasant one. Better that than Lorne being freshly injured and either not being aware of it or willfully ignoring it. But John decided that caution was still warranted.
"I'd still like to make sure you're in one piece. I've got to get back to Reder, so go have Teyla take a look at you," John ordered.
Lorne put up no protest about this. He understood just as much as John did about soldiers in battle being wounded without even knowing it. And certainly he knew what it was to have an injured man unexpectedly fold and inadvertently put a team in danger because of it. If he'd ever had any of that macho 'Deny Injury Due To Pride' nonsense in him, it had been worked out before he'd come to Atlantis and John had never seen it. The Major would keep working under stress and pain, and he wasn't prone to complaining like Rodney, but he would let his CO know if he wasn't a hundred percent because he knew that could make him unreliable in myriad ways without him or anyone else even realizing it was happening.
A handful of minutes later, Lorne rejoined John and Reder, so apparently Teyla had confirmed Lorne's assessment, which was that he was unhurt, he'd just put in more physical effort than Carson had intended for his first day back on active duty.
Really, Carson should know better by now. Firstly because of the sort of things the recon teams encountered off world on a regular basis. Secondly because of how Major Lorne was generally deployed in the field. The most vital and common uses the Major was put to involved situations that had gone bad or seemed likely to, giving him and his team a high probability of having to do a lot of physical work and deal with high tension situations on an average day.
But Carson wasn't a military man, or even a field man, so it wasn't natural for him to view things in that light. He was a doctor, and happiest in an infirmary. In a lot of ways, though he was something of a miracle worker, he was learning this job as he went, just as they all were. Conducting long-term field operations on a planet a galaxy away from Earth was new ground, even a couple of years in.
However, John felt he might ought to have a talk with Elizabeth. Though she could not have predicted the particulars, she had known exactly what sort of situation she was probably sending Lorne into, and there were a hundred reasons she shouldn't have done that, especially right now.
Not that John wasn't grateful. In fact he was pretty sure he'd never been more relieved to have Lorne involved, not only because of the Major's levelheaded and calm nature, but because of his experience with the people and planet. If not for Lorne, things could've been much worse at several points.
Possibly the rescue team would've been killed by the Crocuta. More likely, they would have been killed in the crossfire between the Mhisi and Bethashaya. If Ellet hadn't exposed herself in trying to kill Lorne, Reder might not have had the chance to kill her, and the battle could have continued indefinitely. It was possible all the Lanteans might've been killed in the process. And then another firefight would have ensued in the Temple once the Mhisi reached it, and there was no telling what toll that might have taken. As it was, only one member of the team had died, and that had happened before Lorne and his team had even been deployed, so that was on John, not Major Lorne.
It wasn't over yet, of course. But there was no team leader John would have preferred to have at his back, even if that team leader was currently heading up half of someone else's team. In fact, under these circumstances, John knew Lorne was the best out here. Lorne had a way of rapidly instilling confidence, calm and control into people under his command. Right now, depending on how things proceeded, that might count for everything.
It was Rodney who heard it first. Something about the open interior of the power generator served to amplify the noise from below. He didn't recognize what he was hearing at first, in part because people were talking. Specifically, Laurenson had finally found his tongue again and was in heated debate with Vusaneti (blatantly disregarding the weapon the Mhisi soldier was carrying).
"Sh! Shut up! Both of you!" Rodney interrupted, "Does anybody else hear that?"
"I don't hear any-" Laurenson began, but Vusaneti had cocked his head to listen and cut him off.
"Sounds like digging," Vusaneti assessed.
"Any idea what's on the level below us?" Rodney asked.
Vusaneti shrugged, "This is my first time inside the Temple, and the Mhisi records of its interior do not even include the level we are currently on. Historically, it was vigorously defended by religious among the Bethashaya, who believed it to be the home of the ancient gods from long ago, whereas the Mhisi had no compelling reason to want it."
"Ancient is right at least," Rodney replied somewhat distractedly, then said, "We should get Sheppard in here to hear this," he elected to go and get Sheppard this time rather than shout for him.
Sheppard was right where Rodney had last seen him, standing in the hall and talking to Reder. Major Lorne, slightly behind Sheppard and not actively participating in whatever they were talking about was the first to notice Rodney coming, Laurenson and Hall in tow. Vusaneti had evidently decided to stay put and keep listening. Without speaking, Lorne gave Sheppard's arm a nudge.
"Rodney," Sheppard said, turning to see what Lorne was drawing his attention to, and absorbing the more than usually worried look Rodney had on his face, "What's up?"
"You should come and hear this," Rodney answered, at a loss for an explanation.
He didn't wait for acknowledgment, simply turning back the way he'd come, waving to encourage Sheppard and anyone else who wanted to come and follow him.
As he entered the power room, Sheppard was saying, "Rodney, I don't-" he broke off as he became aware of the noise below and looked down sharply, "What the hell?"
"My question exactly," Rodney replied.
"We never did find those baby Crocuta," Hall offered shakily.
"We don't know for sure that there were any," Laurenson shot back, "Or that they weren't already half or full grown."
"Well something made those Crocuta want to tear us apart," Sheppard pointed out flatly, "Even money says whatever they were protecting, it's down there."
"So let's not bother it," Laurenson suggested.
"Unfortunately," Rodney said, "If we want to fix the power source for the Sentinels, we need this Temple. So unless we're abandoning that idea-"
"We are not," Reder cut in firmly.
"Then we're going to have to finish cleaning out this nest, or else somebody's going to get maimed or killed," Sheppard concluded with an unhappy sigh.
"Somebody else, you mean," Rodney said, reminding him pointedly that several people had already been maimed and killed by the Crocuta already.
"Thank you, Rodney," Sheppard growled sarcastically.
"As it is my people who are in danger, and as we have the numbers, I and my men will deal with this," Reder told Sheppard.
But of course Sheppard shook his head, "No, my team will go with you. Rodney, find us a way down and get the door open," he turned to Lorne, "Major, you and your team stay here with Rodney and the others."
Major Lorne looked decidedly uncomfortable with this arrangement, and Rodney found himself wondering why. After all, the Crocuta were hellish, and the Major was being given orders that meant he had little chance of having to deal with them again unless they somehow got past the Mhisi and Sheppard's team. Then it dawned on him: the last time Major Lorne had been put in charge of Rodney's safety, things had not gone well for him.
With a small shock, Rodney realized that Major Lorne actually looked afraid. It was an expression he'd never seen on the Major before, and the novelty of it made it somehow more unsettling than the sound of Crocuta burrowing around just one level below.
However, Lorne was too much a professional at his job to object. He only protested or offered points against an idea if he had a good reason, otherwise he kept his complaints to himself within hearing range of his superiors. Rodney found the behavior both admirable and annoying for a variety of reasons he preferred not to consider. Laurenson, on the other hand, was less of a professional.
"Surely you're not serious. After what happened last time?"
Rodney could've sworn he saw Major Lorne flinch. Sheppard turned his head to look at Laurenson, anger quietly burning in his eyes. But Rodney got there first.
"Hey! Were you there?" Rodney paused for the silence that followed the question, glaring at Laurenson and even sparing Sheppard a brief glance, "Then shut up about it! I was there, so if anyone should be objecting it's me!"
Rodney flicked a look in Lorne's direction, and was surprised by the uncertainty he saw there. Mentally, he found himself berating Sheppard for that. If the Colonel wanted to tear someone's confidence to shreds by telling them the people they served might no longer trust them, he damn well should've done it to someone Rodney didn't have to deal with on a regular basis.
He returned his focus to Laurenson, continuing forcefully, "Nobody's asking you to like him. I'm not sure I do. And I know he doesn't like me. But fortunately that doesn't matter, because unlike some people in the room that I could name, Major Lorne actually does his job. And part of that job is keeping jerks like you in one piece, though frankly it would be easier to ship you all the way back to Zambia."
Sheppard and Lorne both looked a bit like deer caught in headlights, neither having expected the tirade, much less the direction it had taken. Laurenson opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, but there really wasn't much left to say. Rodney hadn't entirely meant to say the last part, at least not in that way, but it was too late now. Besides, it was all honest.
As he still seemed to have the floor, Rodney went on, "If you'd been here, you'd understand that what happened wasn't anyone's fault, least of all Major Lorne's. And I'm not about to put up with you or anyone else saying otherwise. Because I was here, and I know what happened. Major Lorne did the best he could in a terrible situation, and I'm here and alive because of it," feeling the need to say something further but not sure what, he finished, "If you want to blame him for that, go ahead. But do not blame him for things no one could have seen coming, much less prevented."
Taking another look around the group, he noticed that Sheppard looked unaccountably relieved. Major Lorne's expression was harder to read, but Rodney was sure he saw gratitude there. It made him feel a little bit weird and uncomfortable, so he decided not to dwell on the implications there.
"Well," Colonel Sheppard said briskly, "If there are no further objections..."
McKay didn't seem to know what exactly he'd done.
In effect, he'd taken an aggressive whack at the problem Colonel Sheppard had presented to Lorne some weeks ago, in a way that neither Sheppard nor Lorne were capable of. Both Sheppard and Lorne were Air Force, and thus were expected to side with one another. Sheppard was expected to think highly of the people under his command (why would they be there otherwise?) and Lorne of course was expected to claim that he was competent at his job. But Rodney McKay was a civilian, a genius and freely admitted to his own cowardice and powerful instinct for self preservation. Not only that, but he was notoriously irascible and cantankerous. The man dispensed pessimism with unflinching frequency, and scathing verbal abuse nearly as often.
That he would stand in favor of Lorne, most particularly under these circumstances, would have an impact all through the rank and file, both civilian and military. And, considering how angry Dr. Laurenson looked, the story was going to spread throughout Atlantis the second they got back from the mission, as the man would doubtless go looking for sympathy. He might get it from some, but most would trust McKay's judgment, because they knew how many times McKay's instincts and knowledge had saved Atlantis from the literal pit of disaster and jaws of death.
Of course, McKay was right: Lorne didn't like him. But Lorne did have to respect the man's ability to find ways to fix what would seem to be irreparably broken with a sudden snap of his fingers. Lorne knew it wouldn't be that easy to undo the damage that had been done to his own reputation, but because of McKay's attitude and position, McKay had given things a huge shove in that direction, and might well give another in future.
As it promised to be an elaborate and dangerous endeavor that Sheppard and the Mhisi would be participating in, the Colonel opted to put Lorne's team in the power room with McKay and the other researchers. There was only a single exit, and they could more or less see into the hall from the open doorway. That freed up the Mhisi that had been positioned as sentries (as well as Vusaneti) to join the Crocuta hunt. Sheppard claimed that his first choice was simply to get the Crocuta to leave, but Reder Wilhye was convinced that would not be possible. According to him, Crocuta fought to the death to defend their lairs and offspring.
But that was not Lorne's problem now, and he was pretty happy about that. He would have faced the Crocuta again if he had to, and was still prepared should he be called upon, but one encounter with them had been all the lesson Lorne needed in their brutally efficient attack strategy. However smart they might be otherwise, they knew the value of disorienting sounds and sudden unified rushes from the shadows.
On the other hand, rather than the threat of being torn to shreds by a dangerous animal, Lorne was in the position of having to deal with the threat of being torn to shreds by egotistical scientist types, and -perhaps more difficult- keeping Fletcher and Larson from turning on the aforementioned scientists. Fletcher and Larson were both more highly strung than Lorne's usual team, and -rather like their absent leader- seemed to resent being left to babysit when there was combat to be done.
However, McKay was in finely vociferous form today, and was primarily directing his efforts to keeping his people in line rather than harassing the airmen. To further ensure peace, Lorne opted to set Fletcher and Larson to either side of the door, staying back in the room with the generator and people exploring its innards. That way, if McKay did one of his brusque "you need to be somewhere else" maneuvers, it would be directed at Lorne and not someone who'd be inclined to take it personally.
Lorne was somewhat baffled and actually almost intimidated by McKay's rather uncharacteristically cheerful demeanor. Under these circumstances, McKay would normally be demanding to have someone keep a close eye on him and make sure he didn't get attacked unexpectedly, and fretting about how things might be going elsewhere. A paranoid pessimist, McKay had made a career out of complaint and worry, and his current bizarre (for him) attitude was unsettling.
In fact, the only person he was being snappish with was Laurenson, and that man seemed to richly deserve it. If there had been a whining contest, Laurenson would have done very well at it.
All things considered, there wasn't much reason to expect trouble from the outside. After all, the Mhisi and Sheppard's team were securing the area, and had started with a seemingly superfluous sweep of the hallway beyond this room, and moved outward, splitting into two groups, one of which went up to make sure no Crocuta had been closing in from that direction and the other of which went down to deal with the main problem on the lower levels. They had blocked off the hole in the wall the Crocuta had dug, and closed the concealed entrance, so those were unlikely trouble spots.
Lorne was perfectly content being on the "just in case of unexpected disaster" team. It was his most common role, and he knew its value, and that it wasn't a role every team or leader was suited for. Anyone could do it if necessary, but there would often be grumbling or inattention to the task, especially if they were called on to do it repeatedly. Sparing other teams the discomfort and tedium was a worthwhile purpose, one Lorne was happy enough to fulfill.
"Incoming!" Fletcher's shout was totally unexpected, and not very informative.
A split-second later, it was obvious why, as something was lobbed into the room out of the dark reaches of the hallway. That something began to hiss and spit in a way that Lorne didn't immediately recognize. And then the air began to fill with smoke, and Lorne realized that they were under attack, not by creatures, but by people.
The Bethashaya had returned with a vengeance.