"McKay!"
Rodney came running over.
"Help Ford get Mitchell into the other Jumper. We'll cover you." He and Teyla would take the ship they'd come in, Ford would fly the one Mitchell had arrived in. It was obvious she was in no shape to fly herself.
McKay slung his machine gun over his shoulder and he and Lieutenant Ford reached down and carefully but quickly pulled Mitchell to her feet.
"The zat," Talon said, pointing at the weapon Melony had dropped. Ford grabbed it up and tucked it into his waistband. They definitely didn't want to leave that for the other Wraith to find, did they?
"Talon?"
Rodney had noticed that Mitchell's voice was far deeper than normal – a sure sign that the symbiote was doing the speaking.
"Move!"
Sheppard didn't care who was talking – they should all be running. He could see rustling in the trees that were about two hundred feet from them, and he was pretty sure it wasn't a herd of wild horses or something coming at them.
Ford and McKay scurried off to the first Jumper, pretty much dragging Mitchell along with them, and as soon as the hatch had closed, Sheppard yelled for Teyla to get into the ship. The first Wraith broke the cover of the trees just as the first Jumper took off, and Sheppard fired his P-90 at them, sending them scattering. He bolted for the Jumper while he had the chance, and Teyla covered him from the rear hatch until he was in, then she slapped the control that shut it.
"We need to get out of here!" She yelled.
"I know..."
Sheppard dropped into the pilot's seat and started the ship, looking out the front viewer at a dozen charging Wraith coming right at him. A dozen charging Wraith who were going to get there before he managed to get the engines powered up and the Jumper off the ground. Teyla got into the co-pilot' chair just as a burst of energy slammed into the charging Wraith. The other Jumper hadn't left, and they were covering Sheppard's retreat.
Good enough.
Sheppard lifted off, and the two ships accelerated rapidly, leaving the planet's orbit in mere seconds.
"Ford?"
"Here, Sir."
"How is she?"
"I don't-"
McKay's voice interrupted. The Astrophysicist had settled Mitchell on the floor of the ship, right behind the pilot's chair, and was checking her over. He wasn't a doctor, but he knew how to look for bleeding and bruises – although that was about the limits of his medical abilities.
"She looks like she's in shock, Major. We need to get back to Atlantis immediately."
Of course, they'd all seen what had happened, so they all knew they needed to get her to medical attention. Ford was already pointing his Jumper at the gate floating in space in front of them.
"Dial it up," he ordered McKay, too busy making sure he was lined up with the gate to take his hands off the controls.
McKay left Mitchell's side and went over to the gate device, dialing in the Atlantis code with practiced ease. A second later he sent through his own IDC, alerting them to lower the shield and let them in.
"Atlantis Base, this is Jumper one," McKay said into his mike. "We're going to need a medical team in the Jumper bay as soon as we land."
"Roger, Jumper One, we'll be ready."
Weir turned to Beckett, who had been pacing the floor of the command area almost since Mitchell had taken off. He'd been muttering worriedly to himself since Sheppard and his team had followed her only an hour or so after she'd left, and when he heard they needed a medic, she saw his face pale under his neatly trimmed beard.
"I'm on my way. Call me a team and have them meet me there."
The doctor left and Weir went back to watching the gate.
OOOOOOOO
She didn't have long to wait. A moment after the shield went down the first Jumper appeared. No sooner had it stopped and ascended to the Jumper bay above the command room, than the second Jumper appeared, and repeated the process.
Weir toggled her mike.
"Major Sheppard? Casualty report?"
"Just Colonel Mitchell, Doctor Weir," Sheppard's voice came back sounding concerned. "I don't have her in my ship, so I don't know..."
He trailed off, obviously powering down the systems in the Jumper in preparation to get out of the ship. Weir didn't wait for any more information to come through the radio. She turned and headed for the Jumper bay where she could check things out for herself.
OOOOOOOOOO
"Where is she?"
Beckett rushed into the bay, but wasn't sure which Jumper Melony was on. Sheppard came out of the one he'd been flying and pointed towards the other one, just as Beckett's medical team came trotting up, armed with first aid equipment and a gurney. The rear hatch was just being lowered on the ship, and Carson fidgeted impatiently as it lowered.
"She's in here," McKay said, waving them all in the moment the ramp was down enough that they could jump up.
"What happened?" Beckett was on his knees beside Melony's still form instantly, but he was looking at McKay when he asked the question.
"She dropped the Ancient's shielding device..."
"Dropped it?"
"It turned off," Rodney said. "Right as the Wraith was coming at her."
"But that's impossible. That's when she would have needed it the most. It-"
"She had to have turned it off," McKay told him. He better than anyone knew just how the crazy shielding devices worked. "I don't think anything the Wraith did could have shut it down."
Carson looked down at Mitchell, his fingers searching for a pulse.
"How long has she been unconscious?"
"Talon was in control for a while..." Ford said. "I don't know when he..."
"Did it feed?"
McKay nodded, his face pale.
"Damn it..." He never should have let her go. Stupid plan, anyways. Stupid reckless plan... Carson ripped her shirt open, revealing an almost perfect large Wraith handprint that covered most of her left side. It was raw and bloody, looking like hamburger more than anything else.
"Oh, God..." McKay turned his head, definitely green now, and he left the Jumper without even being told to.
"Is she going to be all right?" Ford asked, looking a bit pale as well.
"Let's get her to the infirmary," Beckett called to his team, ignoring Ford's question since he wasn't sure of the answer.