Standing Outside a Fire
Book One --- Turbulent Winds
Chapter Three ::: Caution to the Wind
---Opposition at Home---
Weir was very surprised when, as she and Grodin were discussing how the world to work the hacked software McKay had nearly finished tapping into the Ancient computer base, making the already complicated system twice as difficult, when the gate started to dial for an incoming wormhole.
"Shields raised." Grodin hit the button to bring up the transparent, smoky cover without waiting for Weir's mouth to even open with the command. He rolled his chair to the laptop, opening the lid smoothly and rising the radio signal reciever. He watched the frequency stream over the screen, turning to look at his superior with a question in his eyes. "I thought AG1 wasn't due back until later."
"AG1? They're not to be back for quite a while." Weir leaned over the luitenant's shoulder, frowning in perplex. "Lower the sheild." she walked out onto the balcony, leaning over the railing, crossing her arms on the cool metal. The event horizon fluxated once before emitting Sheppard, McKay, Ford, and Teyla, none of which who looked happy. She surpressed a sigh. Couldn't AG1 for once not get into trouble? Pushing off the rail, she descended the stairs to where the team stood waiting in silence. Not good.
"Major Sheppard." she tried to smile, the look more like a grimance. "I'm guessing something's gone wrong. Please make it good, we do need allies."
Sheppard just looked her dead in the eye and she knew she wasn't going to get her wish. "Let go to the breifing room."
"So... what do you want to do about it?" the woman leaned her face into her hands after the events of the day were recited to her. She already knew the answer and was surprised that Sheppard, impulsive as he was, even came back to consult.
"Shoot the diplomatic plan to hell. Save the defenseless child. Alienate some more... aliens." Sheppard finished lamely and purely in his manner of speaking. He sent the leader his best 'I'm so cute, please say yes' look and swallowed the nervous lump in his throat when Weir's gaze didn't falter in the least.
"And you believe it's worth it." Weir stood and crossed her arms, making sure to keep her face completely expressionless. 'Don't take sides. Do. Not. Take. Sides.' she squeezed all bias out of her mind, focusing on her duty for the best of the colony.
"Doctor, she's a kid." Sheppard all but whined to the leader, leaning forward over the table, palms down.
"Rodney." Weir ignored the man blatantly, making the physist twitch at the sudden attention focused on him. "Do these Ju'umsun people have anything of value for us?"
"Huh? Oh yeah well, sure." Oblivious to Ford glaring at him quite plainly to shut up, the oldest male there rambled on. "They have fresh water, livestock, cloth, the basics." Suddenly, Rodney realized what he was saying. "No-not enough to make the girl's sacrfice just though."
Weir raised her eyebrow and smirked at his discomfort. "Oh, I'm sure." she sombered, looking at the Major with slight pity. "Your request is denied."
Sheppard slammed his fist on the table, getting to his feet. "Don't you have a conscience?! She's seven years old, for the love of Christ!"
"Major, we've already alienated too many people."
"You think I'll just stand by as she's murdered?!"
Weir's eyes narrowed. "I expect you to follow a direct order, Major."
"Don't count on it."
"I'm sorry?" His face fell at her aghaust expression, knowing he'd just really screwed up. His mouth closed shut with a snap, aware that nothing he said would fix the damage he'd done. He could feel his teammate's stares on him as well, all probably calling him a complete idiot in their own minds. He hung his head in defeat.
Weir walked to the door, opening it and motioning Grodin over to her. They watched as she whispered a few commands to him before he nodded and jogged away. A few minutes later he returned, accompanied by about five armed guards. Sheppard squeezed his eyes closed. 'Oh hell...'
"I believe, if I heard you right Major, that you'd overrule my order. For the sake of delegations, that cannot happen." She spoke acidly, making John's ears redden in embarrassment. "So I'm having Dr. Beckett quarantine you until tomorrow. I suggest you all be good and stay put." She waved her hand and AG-1 was forcefully brought to their feet and led from the meeting room and towards the infirmary.
"Nice job, Major." Rodney muttered under his breath venomously once they were out of Weir's earshot.
"Don't even start, McKay." the man growled back, narrowing his eyes. "Or I'll shoot you once they give my gun back."
McKay snorted, a wry, dark smirk playing onto his features as they reached the medical wing and Beckett, who was talking to Grodin on his comm unit. His eyes locked immediantly with Rodney's, who vouched to stare at the floor in all it's infinte glory rather than meeting the doctor's gaze.
"Yes, they just arrived. Yeah, yeah, I will, Grodin. I'm not daft." the good doctor clicked the comm off and gestured for the guards to leave. The Scot crossed his arms sternly, looking decidedly unhappy with the lot. "I'd say I was glad to have company, but of all the circumstances, you people." he rubbed his eyes and waved them inside, locking the door behind them. He tucked the key card for the lock into his jacket and dropped into his lab stool, turning it to see his unusual charges.
---A Friend in Need---
"Look, doctor-"
"I don't want to hear it." his sapphire eyes focused on Ford, who shrank down under the icy stare feebly. "Whatever you did to tick off Weir this time is not my business. I'm gonna do as I was told and nothing you say will change that, clear?"
"A seven-year-old's going to be murdered, Carson." McKay whispered to his friend, daring to return his gaze with his own hazel one, equally intense. The stern face Carson wore faltered, jaw dropping slightly in shock. The two civilians mouthed a few words to each other, so in tune to each other's thought path no more was needed. Sheppard quietly marveled at the silent connection, wondering briefly why he hadn't known it even existed before now, it was so blantant. After literally several minutes of it, Carson groaned purely from frustration, burying his face in his hands.
"Fine. Talk." he flicked his wrist, motioning for them to start.
"A girl named Sheedra the Zephyr will be used as a human sacrifice in some cock-eyed ritual." Ford explained quickly. "She ran away, we caught her, found out about it, and lost her to the temple guys. We came back to authorize a cease in diplomatics, but Dr. Weir turned us down, as you know. Major Sheppard," the dark man's eyes flitted over to his CO for a spilt second, "inadvertantly admitted to planning to disobey orders. And so, Weir quarantined us."
"Why would they kill a seven-year-old?"
"Sheedra has an infection over her left eye." Teyla spoke up in her monotone. "The people believe any ill markings are a sign of misfortune, and must be rooted out apprently."
"Let me guess; you want me to patch her up?" Carson grinned half-heartedly at her.
"If you would."
"As wonderful as this conversation is, Carson, we have a deadline." AG1 all flinched at the use of the word 'deadline' but Carson just frowned in confusion at Rodney's statement, so he rolled his eyes and elaborated. "The Gecenadi Ritual is due to start in," he glanced at his watch, "four hours."
"Better than having only thirty-eight minutes..." the doctor coughed, tilting away from the heated deathglare sent to him by McKay. "But I see your point." He stood, slidding his chair under the desk and leaning against it's back. "I'll make you a deal. I'll let you go, but only if you find a way to keep me out of trouble with Dr. Weir." he shivered. "That woman scares me."
"Okay, let me think..." Rodney began his pacing, hand on his chin in thought. He snapped his fingers and whirled on Beckett. "Alright Carson, go to my lab. On the examination table is a steely blue cylinder. Use the gloves there to pick it up and bring it here." Unwilling to waste any more time, Carson bobbed his head once and left, locking the door behind him.
Ford simply raised his eyebrows at the Canadian, expression asking his questions for him. But McKay only smiled. "You'll see, Lieutenant. Be patient."
"You're talking to me about patience? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black..."
"Got it!" Carson jogged back into the room, holding the aforementioned item in the palm of his glove. He tossed Rodney the glove's twin, and handed the object over carefully. Rodney, with both gloves on, examined it for a moment with the other man hovering at his elbow. Surprising everyone present, McKay smiled apologetically at the medical doctor who's eyes widened as he backed away from him. "Erm... Rodney?" his back bumped into the surgery table and he twitched with nervousness.
"I apologize ahead of time." With a movement usually too fast for the astrophysist, he tapped the cylinder on the skin on the other's neck. A blue spark jumped into the Scot, who sagged to the floor promptly. Teyla and Sheppard rushed forward to lift Beckett and looked to McKay increduously. He shrugged.
"I dismantled one of the Wraith stunners. This is the raw power generator from it, heavily toned down of course." he sighed, looking slightly regretful. "Better set him on one of the beds. He won't be comfy on the floor." He folded the generator in a spare biohazard suit and left it on the table. "Shall we go?"
"Yeah. We'll sneak into the jumper bay. Each jumper's got a emergency weapons stash, so we'll be fine. Let's move out." Sheppard jumped into military mode, jogging to the door.
McKay lagged behind a moment, walking to the unconscious Beckett's side. He patted his hand softly, smiling. "Sorry, Carson. I had no choice." he whispered to his friend before running to catch up with AG1.
---First Defiance, Then Trickery, Now Thievery?---
"Take off, take off, take off." Rodney said to Sheppard in a sing-song voice as they scrambled into the Jumper, Teyla shutting the door as the ship began rising. "We've got three armed teams running at us, take off." the scientist bounced in place behind the pilot's seat, looking over his shoulder at the slowly closing doors. "Weir's gonna murder us. Carson'll help with some of those really... scary hypodermic needles he has."
"Chill out, we'll be fine." Sheppard mumbled back, concentrating. Ford tapped the console, activating the passage to the gateroom. Sheppard glanced fleetingly at his co-pilot, frowning at the black man's shaking hands. "Ford? Something wrong?"
The underling twitched, looking at John, a little wide eyed. "Of course not sir." he said in a completely unconvincing tone. "Just a little jumpy."
"Right." Sheppard rolled his eyes, not willing to persue it now. He closed his eyes breifly, feeling the technology of the ship seep into a subconscience area of his mind. It wasn't something he felt, or realized, the first time he piloted the jumper, but as he did more and more, his ability to feel that creeping coolness and reassurence fill his mind sharpened. He blinked, eyes almost fluttering at the cold feeling telling him to go. He slid into a weird state of mind, the world and voices around him turning almost grey, except for the controls.
Rodney heaved a sigh of relief when the ramp finally finished folding itself closed, turning to watch the flight instead. John was in his trance and Aiden was loking very nervous. He tapped the latter on the shoulder, elicting a jump from the youngest there. "What's wrong?"
Aiden looked at his CO, who was paying no attention to anything but his beloved ship. He looked back at Rodney's face, which looked as concerned as the cynic could manage. "I've never done this before." he admitted, shrugging. McKay frowned.
"Done what?"
Ford climbed out of the chair, walking a little away from the Major, who paid him no mind. "I've never disobeyed an order before." he continued, lowering his voice so only the doctor could hear him. "The major's been through it already. Everyone on base knows about his black mark. I'm not so easy about it though."
McKay seemed to seriously consider the situation, biting the inside of his cheeks in thought. "Well, which would hurt your conscience more? Leaving or staying?"
The 25-year-old blinked, unsettled that it was the snarky, arrogant Dr. Rodney McKay asking him this, seeming almost sympathetic. He shook his head, clearing those subjects away to focus on the question. He weighed the two choices mentally, McKay standing quietly next to him, respectfully silent. "I couldn't live with myself knowing I could have helped a child live and didn't because of some foolish order." he replied firmly, nodding surely.
To his already well-exercised surprise, the docter smiled at him. "Good answer. Now go help the major." Without another look, he walked into the back and sat across from Teyla, already babbling about how screwed they were when they got back and how saving the girl with all those guards around was ludicous, like nothing had happened.
Ford stared at the sudden shift in McKay's mood, marveling at it. How did the man do it? One moment the stereotypical whiny frail physist, the next moment morphing into a self-assured, nearly noble man without the snark and pessimism.
Aiden collasped back into his chair, thinking he had judged Dr. McKay way too soon. Sheppard watched him out of the corner of his eye and Ford knew he'd overheard the exchange somehow. "Dial the gate, Aiden."
He nodded and starting pressing button. His hands had stopped shaking.
---Author Notes---
I definately like this chapter. It feels a bit like a filler, but still nessecary for the plot. I focused on certain characters' points of view I usually don't spend a second on. Actually, I like Ford, unlike some. He's... interesting to try to get into the mind of and write for. I hated him being so one dimensional in fanon, alway agreeing with Sheppard and acting like a kid. I think he's deeper than that. Whether that means I'll do another POV for him is rather debatable. I'm still planning on this being McKay!Third Person more than anything. But variety is the spice of life, as they say. But don't expect me to jump onto the "Let's Write Teyla!Fics!" bandwagon. We're almost eight episodes into the series, one dedicated almost solely to her, and I still have no grasp of her character. She's harder to write than Toby Ziegler from The West Wing, and anyone's who's done that fandom knows he's 3v1l.
Back on subject: I kinda wish this chapter had more plot to it though, but there's nothing I can do about it. Not that the next will be better. -.-' I doubt anyone will like the next one. It's damn boring, in my opinion. But even if I do have a habit to jump around in my writing (you must have noticed by now how often I use time jumps), I can't skip the next part. I'd get flamed.
Whatever. I should start drafting the second book, which is when this story really starts to get rolling with a new baddie. But I digress, I will stay silent. Mum's the word.
Onto other topics; I have reason for this being so damn late. High School Hell is upon me, roaring at me and chasing me around with spears and stealing my McKay-oogling time. So, homework is my excuse/scapegoat for laziness this time. But I did get a cool picture of Sheedra done. I wanted an exact image of her to go off, I drew it out, it turned out pretty good, and I colored it in Paint Shop Pro.
However; It has her full name on it, so it is a huge spoiler for the next book. But since I've been alluding to Rodney getting a huge new responsibility, you smart readers probably figured it out already, ne? If you did guess, bravo. I'll be posting the art link in my LJ, which can be found as my homepage on my bio page. But, I'm warning you one last time, it is a huge spoiler.
Anyway, I live you with these parting words: "Wise readers never bring their Carson/Rodney lemons to school to read, for teachers are nosy and don't like slash much." Don't ask. . Long story. Embarrassing story.
Dr. Zephyr Tanaka
