To say John Sheppard was surprised with the sudden demand may have been a slight understatement. Still, he had learned to grow weary of sudden voices appearing.

"Huh? Who the hell's this?"

"Authentication Alfa Charlie One. De-cloak now." The voice was losing patience with him. But what the hell, he was about to die anyway. Why not trust the strange voice with USAF codes. With a mental command the Jumper became visible just as it entered the Hive, and with a strong white light he disappeared.

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Back on Atlantis Dr. Elizabeth Weir, Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Carson Beckett (each with their own separate fields, no less) were in the control room, silently watching the screen as a nearby technician counted down to the explosion.

"Detonation in five, four, three, two…" He trailed off as the blip on the radar signifying one of the Hives disappeared. "Target has been neutralized."

"He did it." Elizabeth couldn't believe John was gone, sacrificing his life for theirs."

"Yeah." Dr. McKay sighed softly. "He did."

"Doctor Weir, I'm reading picking up another ship."

"Wraith?"

"Negative, ma'am, I'm reading I.F.F."

-Atlantis, this is Sheppard,

"John?" Elizabeth's voice had a strange mixture of relief, fear and anger.

-How many Sheppard's do you know?

"Oh thank God." The Scottish M.D. sighed in relief.

"No, no, no, this can't be. We saw the Hive blow up." If Rodney didn't know any better, he would swear he was saved a biting remark by another voice.

-I assure you Dr. McKay that Major Sheppard is alive and well.-

"And who is this?" Elizabeth raised a delicate eyebrow at the sky.

-Colonel Steven Caldwell, commander of the Daedalus. We are ready to assist you.-

"We are very glad to hear that Colonel." Elizabeth smiled, ignoring Rodney, who had sunk down to the floor in relief. "And I assume we have you to thank for saving out Major?"

-We were monitoring your transmissions as soon as we came out of hyperspace. We couldn't beam him until he disabled his cloak.-

-It didn't take that much convincing, honestly.- John's voice cut through. -Where are we, Elizabeth?-

"There are still Wraith in the city."

-As soon as we deal with this other Hiveship we'll come to assist you.- Col. Caldwell spoke up. -Dr. McKay?- All eyes turned to the half-asleep scientist as he jerked to his feet, blinking himself awake.

"What? Yes. Here. I mean, present."

-I trust you know what to do with this.- A moment after two marines appear in a bright light with a large metallic box between them.

"Is that…?"

"Your ZPM, sir." One of them said, gesturing to the box.

"Now how did they do that?" Carson muttered to himself confused.

"The Daedalus is loaded with Asgard technology. The beaming technology is only the first part of it. They have things like…"

-Rodney, would you mind shutting up and plugging in the damned thing?-

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it." He pulled the large orange crystal from its box with an almost childlike glee, "Shall we?"

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"Sir, we have bandits bearing three-two-zero."

"All forward rail guns stand by. Launch all fighters."

The space battle was going as well as could be expected. The Daedalus had superior shields and weaponry, but the Hiveship had a lot of Darts that they used to intercept the nuclear warheads before they could get to it. John was the first to admit that the Colonel was a stubborn man, but enough was enough.

"Colonel, you're wasting ordinance. The missiles'll never get through."

"Then what do you propose." He had a feeling this military commander didn't like him, either.

"Why don't you just beam a warhead into the other Hive, like you got me out?"

"The Asgardians built fail-safes into their technology. We can't transport something like hat."

"We have one of these Asgard onboard, right? Just get him to override the fail-safes."

"And why would he do something like that?" Caldwell raised an eyebrow. Maybe John was just imagining it, but the Colonel managed to make even that gesture condescending.

"His ass is on the line, same as ours." The Major deadpanned, looking straight at the senior officer. Steven gazed at him for a few moments before pushing a button on his chair.

"Novak, this is Col. Caldwell. Prepare a warhead for beaming."

-Uh, sir… Hermiod's not gonna like this.-

"I am well aware, Doctor. Make it happen."

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"Wait, what's this?" After instructing Dr. Radek Zelenka about the shield activation, Rodney went to finally install their precious source of power, met by only two marines at the stairs. "This is my escort?"

"I don't know if you noticed byt we're stretched a little thin at the moment." Elizabeth had definitely been spending too much time with Sheppard. Not that he'd say that out loud. To either one.

He liked his limbs exactly where they were, thank you very much.

"Fine. But if we run into danger you have to protect me with your lives."

"Rodney!"

"I mean the ZPM, you have to protect the ZPM with your lives. And also me." Elizabeth looked like she wanted to reprimand him again but settled against it. "What? Am I wrong?"

"Just get going Rodney."

"Fine, bully the brilliant scientist who's about to save your lives."

"Rodney!"

"Fine, fine. After you two." The two marines exchanged glances and set off in a random direction.