Sheppard cut close to a building and they all watched as the drone crashed into the exterior wall. Sam saw a gaping hole and tumbling raw materials before Sheppard turned again to dodge another drone.
For a split second, Sam missed doing this kind of flying. It might have been terrifying, but it was also a rush to twist and turn out of the way of enemy fire. It was something she'd been good at once upon a time.
Jack had been even better, but Sheppard gave them both a run for their money. He was a natural pilot, especially in the puddle jumpers.
Right now, they were really lucky he was the one who was flying.
Sheppard did a quick maneuver to get out of the way of another drone and it crashed into another tower.
"If we keep this up," Weir commented, "there won't be much of a city left to save."
He threw an irritated glance in her direction before facing front again.
"I'll try to run the drones into your least favorite buildings," Sheppard said to Weir before shouting McKay's name.
"It should be working," the man replied, looking a little desperately at the readings he was getting.
"Well, it's not working!" Beckett shouted as another drone hit the shield.
McKay turned towards Beckett, full of tension.
"Well, if I give him any more power, he'll wake up and kill us all!"
If it hadn't been such a dire situation, Sam wouldn't have been able to hold back her desire to say I told you so to Rodney McKay. They should have had a backup plan, just like she suggested.
Ronon turned to McKay. "Sheppard can't keep this up forever."
Just then a drone hit the side of the puddle jumper on its starboard side, cushioned by the shield, but still rocking the jumper.
"Shields have been damaged," Teyla announced.
Damn it. First they lost the cloak and now the shields had been hit with more damage. Ronon was right, they couldn't keep this up for much longer. It wouldn't do anyone any good if the jumper went down.
"Alright, I've had enough," Sheppard said as he turned the jumper towards the ocean, "I've got a different idea."
Sam heard the engines retract as the ship dove into ocean. She braced for impact and there was a slight jolt as they hit the water before going deeper.
"I hope you know what you're doing, John," Weir commented.
"I always know what I'm doing."
"He doesn't," Ronon added.
Sheppard glared at them and grumbled before turning back to the display. "A little support from my team would be nice here."
"You are doing a wonderful job," Teyla said with an indulgent smile that seemed to smooth Sheppard's ruffled feathers.
Sam watched as the icons representing the drones moved further and further away.
"Will we be able to surface?" she asked Sheppard. "Or will the drones be able to track us as soon as we're above water again?"
He took a moment before he answered, probably trying to readjust and calm down after that difficult flight through the city.
"Doesn't matter. If we resurface and those drones don't catch us, other ones will. Don't worry, I think there might be an underwater jumper bay around here somewhere."
Sam really hoped that Sheppard was right. In fact, an underwater jumper bay would make it easier for them to enter the city unnoticed.
Then she noticed McKay staring at her from where he stood next to Niam.
"McKay?"
He tilted his head and kept looking directly at her. "You know, last time we were in a jumper underwater, you wore this flirty pink top. It was a good look on you."
"What?"
Sam had no idea what the man was talking about.
"I mean, I suppose I owe you, sort of," he rambled. "Although it was really my own mind, so maybe I don't owe you."
Suddenly it clicked and she thought back to that completely awkward conversation with McKay on the Odyssey when they'd been dealing with the Ori Supergate.
"Are you talking about that -" She cut herself off, cringed at the thought, and then decided to power through. "That fantasy of yours?"
"Hallucination," he replied. "I'm sure I explained that it was a hallucination."
"Even so."
Just because she was getting along with McKay better most of the time, didn't mean she wanted to think about any "partially" naked thoughts the man had about her, regardless of whether or not that hallucination had saved his life.
"Being here just made me remember."
McKay shrugged.
"Nothing to remember," Sam insisted. "Not real."
She caught Dr. Weir and Teyla glancing their way before sharing a look. McKay had probably told the entire Atlantis team how he hallucinated Sam's presence when he was stuck in that underwater jumper. How embarrassing.
"I mean," McKay continued, "You can't deny that we have chemistry and an intellectual connection, so it's not surprising that I would conjure you up in that moment of desperate need."
She never wanted to hear Rodney McKay use the words desperate need in conjunction with her ever again.
"No, I would definitely deny that. Strongly deny, in fact."
Sam thought she heard Ronon laugh. Luckily, the conversation went no further because Sheppard opened up the communications channel to contact Jack.
"General O'Neill, are you there, sir?"
Jack's response came through loud and clear.
"Yes, we're here. You're late."
Sam laughed at the irritation in his voice. They actually would have been early if they didn't need to fly all around the city dodging drones.
"Sorry, sir," Sheppard replied. "Had to go into space and pick up some…frozen goods."
That was certainly one way of putting it.
There was a pause before Jack answered.
"Whatever. Where are you now?"
He sounded tired. Not for the first time, Sam wondered if he and Woolsey had been able to remain uninjured while eluding the Replicators.
She hoped they had enough medical supplies on the ship just in case.
"We're not exactly inside the city yet," Sheppard answered. "We're headed toward an underwater jumper bay."
The jumper moved smoothly, floodlights illuminating the water in front of them. Sam hoped that Sheppard knew where he was going because it was dark out there and the front display wasn't that detailed.
"Well, what we think may be an underwater jumper bay," Weir clarified.
The silence stretched out before Jack responded.
"Is that Doctor Weir I hear?"
"Yes, General," Weir replied with a smile on her face. "It's good to hear your voice too."
The smile dropped as soon as Jack started talking again.
"I didn't say it was good, Elizabeth. Please, don't be offended as I express my surprise that Landry would send you on a mission like this."
The Atlantis team exchanged a look.
"Well, sir," Weir responded, with only a slight hesitation in her voice, "General Landry didn't sanction this mission."
There was another pause and Sam could only imagine what was going through Jack's mind right now.
"So, am I to assume you are not surrounded by heavily-armed SG teams and young strapping marines?"
The sarcasm seeped out of his voice.
Weir took a breath before she replied.
"From the Atlantis team, you've got Colonel Sheppard, Ronon, Teyla, McKay, myself, and Doctor Beckett -"
"Woo! Doctor Beckett, is it?" Jack interrupted. "Well, I'm comforted."
Yeah, Jack O'Neill was definitely in a bad mood. She couldn't completely blame him. He'd probably been going through an emotional rollercoaster since the Replicators arrived - first thinking that the Ancients would prevent the attack, then finding out he was stranded on Atlantis with a nuke on the way, and getting his hopes back up when Sheppard radioed. Only to ultimately discover that it wasn't an official rescue, but a ragtag group of people, almost half of whom weren't comfortable firing weapons.
Still, she felt bad that Beckett had to take the brunt of his temper.
The doctor looked around, confused at Jack's comment. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Weir shook her head and Teyla gave a supportive pat to Beckett's forearm.
Before Jack could open his mouth and explain why he wasn't happy to learn that Beckett was part of the rescue mission - probably something to do with the man almost shooting Jack down in Antarctica - she interjected.
"And me, sir. Glad to hear you're alive and well."
Sam bit the inside of her lip, realizing she hadn't quite broken her habit of calling him sir in non-work situations after all. Although, maybe this did sort of count as a work situation. Off-world usually meant work, even if she was technically on leave.
There was a long pause and at first she wondered if the connection had been lost. Then they heard Jack clear his throat.
"Carter, good to hear your voice."
Damn, she wished she could hug him right now.
McKay turned away from the laptop. "Okay, ready to open the lock."
"We've got a plan, sir, a good one," Sheppard shared over the radio.
Good one might have been overstating it a little, but Sam hoped it worked anyway.
"Yes, Colonel, I'm sure you do," Jack said over the radio, sounding less than confident in their ability to rescue him. "But in the unlikely event you don't fail miserably, you're fired."
Sheppard pursed his lips.
"Yes, sir. Look…forward to that." With that, he shut off communications and continued to move the jumper forward as the bay doors opened.
"Why didn't he threaten to fire you too?" McKay asked.
She turned and saw that the question was directed to her, as the only other military member of the rescue operation.
"Oh, he gave up trying to intimidate me years ago," she said. "Besides, we used to do this type of thing together all the time. If anything, he's just annoyed he's not the person doing the rescuing."
"Really?" McKay drew out the single word with suspicion.
Rodney McKay clearly did not have a high opinion of Jack O'Neill.
"Yes, really."
She didn't mention that Jack also wasn't likely to threaten to fire the woman he was sleeping with...and living with when they were both on the same planet and in the same state. Technically, he couldn't fire her even if he wanted to because they were no longer in the same chain of command as far as official records went.
She turned to Sheppard.
"Don't worry. He won't fire you."
"Hope you're right. Every other job would be a let down compared to this."
"I know what you mean."