A/N: Just a little FYI, story tid-bit for you all. Did you know this story was originally supposed to be entitled Failsafe, for various reasons. Upon writing up the third chapter, I saw an episode of SG1 with the same title. Bugger! So, had to change it.
Small note, ---- means in a sense, a 'scene change' jumping from one place to another since this chapter is very, hectic, especially towards the end. Cross your fingies and enjoy!!!
Day Three
Chapter Nine
The great Dr. Rodney McKay's deadline had come and not surprisingly gone with not so much as a peep from him. In fact, every since Weir gave him the one day target, John hadn't seen hide nor hair of the physicist. It was only as Sheppard approached the research labs that he heard McKay's grating snarl, obviously directed at one of his unfortunate assistants. The Major wondered then if those tech-folk knew they'd be more likely to get chewed out by Rodney, then chewed on by a Wraith.
"Three inch." McKay grumbled, holding his hand out seemingly towards no one. A hand from behind the table slipped upwards, handing a short pair of pliers to the physicist. Rodney snapped them away hastily, digging inside the contraption right in front of him, suddenly realizing what he held was in fact the wrong tool. Rolling his eyes, McKay waved the pliers about glaring at whoever was sitting below him. "Does this look like a three inch pair of pliers to you? You know being the, oh, engineer that you are I'd just assume you'd know the difference between seven and three inches!"
Sheppard, walking casually with his hands in his pockets, approaching carefully and in a defensive posture at to not enrage the physicist, who was acting more like a silverback gorilla; any more then he already was. "How's it coming along?"
Sending a quick and flashing glare at the Major, which soon melted away into an uneasy glance, Rodney's features lightened, almost seeming embarrassed by being caught behaving as he was.
"I'm sorry Rodney, I've been so caught up with configuring these controls I wasn't paying attention." Came a light accented voice which John could only guess was that of Dr. Zelenka. Sheppard's assumption was then proved positive as the doctor's head came up beyond the table, at first looking apologetically at McKay and then noticing that John was there as well. "Oh, hello Major."
"I'm---I'm sorry." McKay stuttered at the engineer, finding the pliers he was looking for where in fact, right beside him on the table, he picked them up gingerly and turned back to his work, but not before giving Sheppard a weary glance, catching the commanding office arching a brow in a slight distain. Which, made Rodney turn defensive."What? I'm tired alright, see how chipper you feel after being awake for more then forty-eight hours."
"Maybe you should take a break, have another cup of coffee." Zelenka suggested thoughtfully, taking the three inch pliers back for himself and giving John a winking grin. He knew just as well as John did that what Rodney needed now was anything but, more caffeine.
John shook his head, wrinkling his chin. "Kavanagh said he already had six this morning, anymore and we can tap his bladder as an espresso machine." He watched the physicist twitch, either at hearing the other scientist's name or perhaps the jab at his consumption but either way it rubbed him wrong, causing McKay to stop what he was doing and snap harshly at him.
"Ah, when did you ever take anything from Kavanagh to be valid and why, might I ask, are you here Major? Shouldn't you be, oh I don't know, preparing for our inevitable invasion by rabid weasels?"
John raised a finger, correcting the man. "Monkeys. And, I'm here to motivate you. In my own special way. Besides, I'd like to get to know what sort of haphazard thing you're going to make me set off." He finished with a boyish smile, seeming to make the other man's jaw clench up.
McKay, acting as if he was ignoring the Major's comment, jerked a curled clump of wires from inside the current device he was working on, digging his hands within as John watched him with renewed interest. It seemed Rodney, with no doubt, help from Zelenka had already devised a activating machine for the toilet crystals. The device, standing in a total towering five feet tall, though it seemed higher from standing atop the work table, was something Sheppard hand never in his life seen before. Standing on a circular base, there was a pole, about two inches in diameter that stemmed from the center of the base and ran up eleven and a half inches were there was a long hexagonal shaped box.
This box, was made up of long, clear glass panels, but John could see below the slight hint of green, leading him to believe the dissolving crystals were just underneath. Each pane of glass was five inches wide by the eleven and a half inches in length, held all together by strips of the same dark metal that the rest of the machine was made out of. Several inches above the first hexagonal box was a second, several wires were hanging limply from each box and at the very tip of the machine, stemmed a long thick cable that was currently dangling back downwards and down behind the work table.
"Why are you automatically assuming you're doing it, I'm sure Weir could find someone else dumb enough to willingly volunteer walking into a deathtrap. No offence." McKay spoke up suddenly, separating the wires he wanted to work with from the ones he didn't, one of the glass panels being removed from the bottom box that he was currently futzing with. John could see now how truly tired the physicist was, the large circles under his eyes, pale, drawn-out skin, and the slight hint of unshaven stubble around Rodney's chin. Poor guy really needed a nap.
Clearing his throat, Sheppard's expression went from concern to smug in a matter of ten seconds, something he prided himself on. "Well, since you're not jumping at the opportunity and I'm defensive head of this city, ball goes to me. You do your job, and I'll do mine."
"Good point." Rodney nodded slowly, catching his breath and looking down towards where Zelenka was, doing something. John leaned over the work table, spotting the engineer sitting, legs spread outward with a square device no bigger then a four slotted toaster between his knees. Sheppard replied displeased after a moment, glancing to the physicist out of the corner of his eye.
"Yeah, you say that now, you're not the one who's going to have a bomb strapped to his back."
"I think that does it." Zelenka said finally, pulling his wire rimmed glasses from off his nose and brushing his forehead against his sleeve. He replaced his glasses, and got to his feet, bringing whatever he was working on, with him. He placed it on the table, very carefully, making sure the device was on a level stance and moving back from it by a few noticeable inches. McKay even went so far as to slide his crystal converter across the worktable slowly.
"You're done?" John asked after a moment, finding both men's behavior unsettling to say the least, considering it was going to have to be him to handle all this stuff in the end.
Rodney twisted the wires back up into the contraption before him, replacing the panel over the spaghetti mass of electronics inside. "Basically." He replied shortly, folding his arms over his chest as he eyed the device up and down. "I would of preferred to have more time to run some preliminary tests but Elizabeth seems to be up my ass about getting this done today."
Winching up his face, John pulled a hand from his pocket, pointing at McKay. "First of all, never, ever, use up my ass and Liz in the same sentence again. And secondly---" He continued sounding less insulted, but nonetheless serious. "I'm not all that fond of being critter chow either. Now is it ready to go or not?"
Zelenka ran a cautionary hand through his hair before speaking up. "If you mean functionally yes, if you mean properly functionally, I'd say you have about a one in ten chance of coming out alive Major." He said hesitantly, not particularly liking the odds either.
McKay looked to both men before snapping in defense, his tone persistent as he spoke with his hands, sounding more then urgent to convince them all. "It'll work. Listen I've slaved over this plan for over twenty-four hours, not counting the time I spent yesterday drawing up the constructs. I've got about seventy-eight cups of pure caffeine running through my veins and I keep hearing the voice of my tenth grade chemistry teacher telling me not to mix volatile compounds in the lab sink again in the back of my mind." Grunting lightly, Rodney wrapped his good arm around the device, nodding for help as Zelenka quickly moved to give him a hand with the move, lifting the thing and setting it on the ground with several others of its kind. Sheppard could count about five or six machines in total.
"And who said you were high-strung?" Sheppard added sarcastically, clapping his hands together in a mock sort of excitement. "Time to get this show on the road boys; where's the duct tape?" The engineer gave a small laugh, amazed at how light of a situation John was making of all this. Rodney simply frowned, while the Major shrugged with a endearing grin. "Let's get this baby strapped on." He was after all, signaling his readiness for ultimate and inescapable doom.
Around ten to fifteen minutes later, John entered the main control room to find Weir, Ford, Teyla, surprisingly Beckett; McKay and Zelenka waiting for him around a section of the master console. Rodney gave him a short nod as a greeting, as Sheppard slipped up next to Teyla, wondering just what exactly was the next part of McKay's 'ingenious' plan.
Clearing his throat roughly, and, not surprisingly taking a long swig from his coffee mug, McKay began his strategy with a rather blunt sincerity, making everyone around him become drawn up in the graveness of this mission, even John had to admit, you could have cut the tension with a knife.
"Alright, there are six activation towers, that have the eroding crystals installed including beam splitters that will spread the light evenly in six different directions, creating a aura effect, sweeping both the floor and the ceiling, the top section of each tower as reflectors angled upward, but, that's unimportant right now. One of these towers has to go inside with generator, this will act as the starter, the rest will be connected via radio signals." McKay spoke briskly, pointing to various spots on the screen showing a magnified layout of the sector in question with his good hand.
"The second tower will be placed here, directly in front of the hole Captain Marsden's men cut in the wall, this one will cover this open section here and also back down the main corridor until it's stopped by the shield doors. Now, three towers will be placed, here, here, and here." He moved his index finger first to an area of the sector that curved round, the sector itself resembling an odd shaped light bulb, so this spot would be towards the left where a bulb's glass would curve near the top. Four rooms branched off the curved top of the 'bulb', while three enclosed rooms had been built within the sector in a triangle, two smaller rooms jutting off of the top most corners of the generator room. So, the first area was near the top left corner of the left enclosed room, between the doors of the first and second rooms to the left, while the second location was near the very top of the sector. While the third tower was in direct opposite of the left most tower; set between the third and forth room near the upper right corner of the right enclosed room.
John was more then glad to actually see the layout of the sector because if Rodney had tried to explain the set up to him any other way, he would have thought the guy was crazy, but in truth the Ancients seemed more prone to functionality then look in their building of rooms.
"The last tower is modified shorter and its an octagon rather then a hex, you'll notice the difference clearly enough, this one is especially made for the inside the shafts. Now, the towers will blanket the area's enough around them but since the sector is in such a ridiculous shape, you'll have to set up duel angle mirror in specific places to insure complete and total coverage."
Zelenka reached behind him, drawing up one of the mirrors he had built himself and handed it to Rodney. McKay rested one end of the mirror on the top of the console while he supported the back. "There are twelve mirrors like this one, and I don't think I have to add that if any one of these break, we're in for more then seven years of bad luck." He placed the mirror carefully back onto the ground with Ford's help, moving his attention back to the sector map. McKay went on to tell John and whoever was going along on this mission exactly where each mirror should be placed, these locations were specifically chosen by the physicist himself so that the crystal's beam could be reflected into each room and right back out again, covering each and every inch. Twelve mirrors in all, which included two up in the shaft system where the bottom two ducts shift downward, one for instance running right above the bathroom the two doctors were stuck in days ago.
"Now, you have to make sure, that all the mirrors are at the same height to each other, though they've been built on the long side so you won't have to worry about it too much, just, try and keep it accurate." McKay finished, looking up to Sheppard as if to see if he understood everything, it was a very complex set up for such a short preparation time and he wondered then if it would go off without a hitch, seeing the Major's now perplexed expression.
John turned his gaze from the sector layout, scratching the back of his head thoughtfully. "Um, how do expect me to remember all this?" He did have a point, at least if Rodney had a printed map of the sector with the points for each tower and mirror marked, now that would have helped a bunch, but now Sheppard was supposed keep in mind every exact angle and location on top of making sure the set up team got out of there alive.
Rodney smirk shortly, realizing the man had a point and so said the most comforting thing that came to his mind at that moment. "Don't worry; you're taking Zelenka with you."
Looking over, the Czech engineer gave him a brief wave making John take on a more then coy grin, not at all shocked with McKay's complete lack of self-involvement. "Oh so you're making him do it and not you, why doesn't that surprise me?"
McKay's hopeful expression fell as swiftly as it came, giving the Major a deep frown before raising his bandaged limb. "Ah remember, injured hand, hello?" Shaking his head, Rodney caught a disappointed scowl from Beckett and yet remained firm on his resolve not to chance his luck any more then he already had. With that in mind he added, "I'll just supervise from here. Besides, I've had just about my fill of that place for one lifetime thank you very much."
Dr. Weir had listened to every step of the plan Rodney had concocted, seen the very thing laid out on a screen and it still boggled her mind, her main concern though wasn't the mechanics of the operation, but how effective it would be in the end. "And this will work to completely destroy these creatures, correct?" She asked slowly, catching the physicist by surprise, he turned to her, noticing that just about everyone gathered round him looked just a touch doubtful.
"Well the way I figure it." McKay said quickly, reconfirming both them and himself. "Even a short blast will generate enough energy to toast a good majority of the infestation, the little buggers would be too attracted to the heat the crystals give off to know what hit them. If anything else survives, you can send in a military team to sweep it up."
Zelenka nodded, turning to Elizabeth himself before directing the rest of his instruction to Sheppard. "Either way, they'll be destroyed. Now the timer on the detonator that will be attached to the energy device in that room; has a time span of three minutes."
Ford's eyes slightly widened, the very idea causing him to interject. "Whoa, whoa----Don't you think you're cutting it a little close?" Three minutes to get everyone free and clear before the machine went off was just a bit extreme, even for him.
The engineer raised an easing hand, knowing the limit sounded rather crazy, he tried to reassure the lieutenant that all was well. "It's long enough for the creatures to be gathered and everyone to be safely out of the sector with the shield door down."
"Three minutes huh? Sounds like cake." Sheppard said finally, standing up straight and looking to everyone in the room before adding, "Mission Impossible cake, but cake nonetheless." He'd heard some harebrained schemes in his lifetime, even made a few up himself, more then not in a situation that had been totally blown out of control, but this plan worried even him a little, though he didn't really let that show. How could he?
Beckett had kept to himself for the most part, shaking his head at the conclusion of the plan, not liking it one bit. "My only concern is that with the generator off, the Major and his team will be sitting ducks for the creatures. If anyone's to be getting hurt, I want to be there." He had seen a small problem of being trapped in a bathroom escalate to the near evacuation of the city, if it killed him, he'd see it to a close.
Weir frowned, sounding greatly unsure. "Doctor, I need you here in case something goes wrong with this mission, you and the medical staff."
Taking a deep breath, Carson reasoned with her in the bluntest of ways, catching her off guard, but in the end he was right. "If that happens, then no place will be safe and I'm sorry, but I'm certainly not going to sit back and let these gents go in there without medical support. Count me in." Beckett nodded to Sheppard, giving himself the go ahead even without Weir.
"I could use all the help I can get." Sheppard sounded a touch relieved, knowing Ford would surely be coming along, and Zelenka would be interesting but Beckett too, that was a bit more comforting to say the least. Having a medical doctor on hand in case things got really hairy wasn't exactly his style, but then again, he'd never went out to exterminate killer space mutants.
"Then I shall come as well." Teyla said softly. John looked to her, smiling faintly with a wink. He knew it was going to come sooner or later. "I knew you couldn't keep your nose out of the action for long." Taking a deep breath he pushed himself lightly in front of the sector layout, taking up the tone of a commanding officer he did so well. Now was his turn to plan the attack. "Alright, we split the sector in three quarters. Quad one, two, and three" He motioned, starting the first quad at the lower left corner of the screen then moving in a clockwise direction around the rest of the map. "Ford will take quad three, I'll take one, doc you get the middle of two and three for the upper tower and Dr. Zelenka can get two. "Teyla," John glanced up to the Athosian, speaking with two fingers pointed at her. "I want you and one of Captain Marsden's men to get up in that shaft and set up there. I'll get the last beam splitter in the generator room and set the timer. Everyone will get a set of two armed guards with them, do not, wander off from them, these things like to ambush people."
He continued after a moment of thought, considering the time restraints and everyone's capabilities. "With the generator thingy off, I'm giving you all fifteen minutes to set up your quadrant then I want everyone to call in before I set the main timer, we got that?" John looked about, receiving several nods.
"Good. After that, I'll give the go ahead to you Pete to open up the shield door and we get our collective butts out of there. Meanwhile Marsden's men will provide cover fire just incase things get dicey, which, they probably will." Grodin agreed and moved himself over to the controls of the shield doors, shifting his laptop so he could easily track the movements of the creatures inside the sector.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Ford gave an excited smile, knowing it was now or never.
"A miracle." Beckett spoke up gloomily, patting the young lieutenant on the shoulder.
Rodney laughed, unamused, feeling it was a pry at his creations, but still work had to be done. "After you guys get suited up, I need to go over with you all, the wiring process of each of the towers, and Major; I need to see you about the connections to the generator." Sheppard replied to him with a nod, wondering just how more advacned this was all going to get. Maybe he should grab a notebook.
Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest, looking each and every person over, reluctantly she had no other choice, this was the best plan besides evacuating the city she had heard yet. But just how well things could turn out, the possibilities of what could go wrong made her sound a touch hesitant. "I wish you all the best of luck, we'll be pulling for you."
Sheppard gave her a half hearted smile, he knew nothing he could say would make the woman feel any easier, so it was just better at that point to get going. He backed away from the consol nodding shortly. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, let's move out!" Clapping his hands together, he left to suit up, followed by Teyla, Ford, Beckett, and Zelenka who stopped a moment, instructing several technicians to remove the towers and mirrors and load them up, secure them down, and ready them for their departure. Elizabeth stood close to Rodney who kept his gaze now fixed on the screen, watching the mass of red bubbling in front of the main shield door, and in several scattered spot round the sector. A thought then sprouted in his mind, troubling him enough to say it softly aloud. "They're never going to get in." He left her then, ready to wait in the gate room for everyone to return for further instruction.
John, basically thought about the same obstacle that McKay did, though instead, he came up with a solution. Upon reaching the large door to the sector, he suggested that they take the main shaft that crossed directly over the door and come out in the generator room, slip out of the hole in the wall, and set to work and try to stay out of range of the creatures gathered near the exit. Sheppard was glad they didn't mind the extra feat to get in to the sector, even Beckett made a crack that he'd become quite fond of crawling through the things.
Soon they were heading, single file through the cramped dark shaft, the way being sealed behind them to insure no little critter could get out while they were setting up. Unless they had to use the main shield door, the team was otherwise trapped.
Each person took a tower. Going their separate ways, Sheppard wished them all luck after carefully getting everyone out of the gen-room, including all the equipment except for one tower and the detonator which were to be used there.
John told his two man guard to take a point watch on either side of the branching hallways as he slowly shined his light down the main, catching the beginning edge of the black mass of screaming trawling creatures, bent on chewing through the door. He could just imagine the destruction they'd already cause the thing and tried to block out the sounds of tearing metal and bloodthirsty howls as he set the first crystal device down in the middle of the widened area, about where Rodney had told him to. If only they could turn the generator on for a while, insure the hallways were clear for them to work, but then the radios wouldn't work and there would be no way to contact the base in case everything went to hell.
Kneeling before the tower, its tall stature rising slightly above his head, normal to John's mid-chest when he was standing, the Major looked the device over. "This things got more wires then the back of my entertainment center. All I need is some twisty-ties." He remarked thoughtfully, narrowing his eyes as he tried to remember exactly what McKay had told him to do with the thing after first getting it on location. "Alright, big cable goes here, tab A in slot B----" Whispering as if to not draw attention to himself, Sheppard took the long cable that sprouted out of the very tip of the device and swung it round, connecting it with a loud click into a round port that was located on the bottom crystal box. "Now, red wires go up, blue wires go down---"
John took hold of a red wire that was dangling at the bottom box, where he was supposed to twist it up to a waiting connecting wire of the same color on the upper box, meanwhile the blue ones hanging off the top box where supposed to be pulled downwards to their connection on the bottom box. Pretty basic stuff really, Rodney said he would have done it all except doing this in a sense, 'armed' the tower and if the activation switch to the radio remote on the thing was pushed, the device could be liable to go off on its own if handled roughly. So, the physicist believed this process would be best utilized on location rather then back at the lab. No sense in dissolving the techies and not the creatures.
Sheppard hesitated a moment, still pinching a red wire between his fingertips. "Wait, or was it blue goes up, red goes down?" Where the red connections supposed to go with the blue wires and visa versa, or was he right before? Cursing, John looked the thing over. Rodney had done so much babbling about the damn set up, he couldn't remember if he was ignoring him at that moment when he was talking about the stupid wires. Sighing, he pulled the red wire up, speaking slowly. "Roses are red, violets are blue, Rodney's a dead man if this don't pull through." Carefully he twisted the exposed ends together with their colored companions and hoped that was right after all.
He sat back a moment, admiring his work before he stood up, remembering he had one last part to do before he'd run the fifteen minute check, which was in about a minute or so. John felt around the upper box of the tower for a small switch one might use to turn a light on and off in a room, John closed his eyes and flicked it, waiting a moment and preparing for the possible searing pain if the thing blew up right in front of him. He heard a low buzz and opened one eye to find the crystal tower humming softly, doing exactly what McKay had predicted it would do. Letting go a relieved breath, the Major took up his walkie-talkie and broke the team's agreed radio silence.
"Fifteen minute mark. How's everyone doing?"
After a moment, he heard the voice of the young lieutenant loud and clear over the radio. "This is Ford, quad three is finished."
"Mirrors up and ready to go?" John asked shortly.
"Yeah, I had a small problem attaching them to the walls, but, it's all set Sir, Ford out."
Soon afterwards the radio buzzed again, this time Sheppard recognized the doctor's voice. "Beckett here, I'm almost set up, give me one minute. Call me crazy but I feel a bit guilty for doing this."
Sheppard snorted as he checked on the creatures activites at the door, it might have been just him, but it sounded as if they were getting angrier. "Yep doc, your crazy. You know these are the same things that gave you that love peck on your chest right?"
"John, they're only acting on their own defense, just like any animal. It's not their fault they were abandoned and we're really the intruders here Major, if you think about it. I just, feel bad about causing the extinction of a whole entire species." Leave it to Carson to feel sorry for the thing that tried to take a nosh out of him, though he could see the doctor's point, though it was a bit late for it now.
"I'm sure the little guys, after they're done eating us, will really be touched by your concern."
"Major?" John paused, he for a moment didn't recognize the voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie before he put two and two together. That and the man's light accent immediately popped the Czech engineer's image into his head.
"How ya doing Zelenka? I bet you figured you'd be stuck in the lab for the rest of your days, how does it feel to be in on the fun?"
He heard Zelenka chuckle on the other end. "Riveting I must say, but I prefer the lab." "Second quadrant is---"There was a grunt then, sounding as if the engineer was setting something up at the moment. "---ready Major."
"Teyla? What's your status?" Sheppard had one last team member to check in before he could do his last duty and zap the little things to Kingdom come. There was a long pause, causing John to look up towards the ceiling, now regretting sending the Athosian up there, even with armed soldiers. "Teyla?" He clicked over again, walking up towards the first enclosed room, gazing inside to the pitch blackness where the generator sat. The Major was about to crawl through the hole and climb up into the vents when the radio buzzed back to life and he thankfully heard her voice.
"I've placed the splitting machine in the center of the shafts where Dr. McKay specified, private Burke is on his way to set up the mirrors. I should be done in a matter of minutes John, do not sound so concerned."
Sheppard quirked a brow, his tone defensive. "I did not sound panicked."
"No, of course not." He could hear the teasing in her voice, but now was not the time for playfully flirting. So, he walked up to the burnt out square cut in the wall, clicking over to everyone.
"Bang-up job everybody, I'm going to set up the last splitter now in the gen-room As soon as you're done, head towards the main door. Sheppard out." Reaching the edges of the cutout, John was about to jump up and pull himself in when off in the distance he heard the faint spitting of gun fire. Quickly, he clicked over on the radio.
"Who was that?" John looked around, seeing that the two men he put on point had also heard the commotion, and were waiting for possible orders, Sheppard instead waved a hand for them to hold up where they were. He waited, eyeing each hallway that branched off of the main and stretched around the generator room. Again came a wash of gunfire, followed by indistinguishable shouting, sounding as if it was coming from the right most corridor, the one that Dr. Beckett and Ford were assigned to.
Suddenly the walkie-talkie fizzed on. "Major! It's Carson, we've caught up with a bit of a bind here, one of the soldiers was attacked, I need to get him out of here now."
And soon after that, John caught a brief contact from Ford. "I've got them here now too Sir, I ah, don't think they're too happy about us visiting so soon."
"Damn it." Sheppard could have kicked the wall. They must have hit the pockets of creatures still held up in the various rooms budding off the sector, just their luck. Well there was no more time to screw around. "Alright I want everyone to get to the main door on the double, I'm almost done here." With that, John pulled himself into the engulfing blackness of the generator room.
"I can't see a damn thing." He grumbled in frustration as he slid down the embankment of the fallen ceiling on the other side of the wall. Picking up his gun, the Major shined his light round, making sure that everything was clear and no little things were lurking about to pounce him. Everything looked quiet, but that made him even more uneasy; he shined the flashlight up into the large gaping holes in the ceiling, not being able to tell the difference from moving shadows because of the light, or actual, moving shadows. "Alright, in out, no biggy, right?" John pepped himself up, slowly walking over to the crystal tower he had left inside the generator room, setting it up like the one he'd done outside, finding it quicker to do this time. Must be getting good at this. John thought to himself.
He then carefully picked up the timer device that Zelenka had built and placed that on top of the generator's main section, the large box that connected the enormous glass tubes of liquid, now dark and motionless since the thing wasn't turned on. John hoped, the outer shell of the generator wasn't too hot for the timer to sit on it, but after feeling the metal over, he decided it was worth the risk. Sheppard pulled a mini flashlight from his pocket and turned it on, sticking the end in his mouth so his hands would be free. He swore at that moment he heard a chitter, somewhere in the room and ignoring it, set to work.
Sliding a panel off the timer, he looked the insides over, seeing a digital screen for the actual timer and several buttons underneath, with a large black toggle switch to the far right of a smaller numbered keypad. He had to hand it to the Czech, the man built an impressive dominator in a day's time. First he had to connect the tower's main cable, to a port in the timer's back, this he did. Then, after slipping underneath on of the large glass tubes, Sheppard spun the detonator carefully until the digital readout faced him. There were several black wires streaming out of the side of the timer, these had to be connected to cold wires inside the generator, connecting them to active wires could have set the device off according to McKay, so John needed to be very patient. He received a current checker used to see if open wires were active or not when doing home repair from Zelenka.
He had four wires to connect, leaving the last two main ones in the generator that Rodney had 'supposedly' set apart from the rest, these were to be connected to the two yellow wires sticking out of the timer, these would be a direct power line from timer to the ancient machine. While he checked wire after wire, John heard snapping and snarling around him, swore something brushed up against the back of his calf as he worked, making him check the connections even faster. Sweat trickled down his forehead and on his nose, his concentration driving him on, praying that the next wire he checked would be a cold one.
"Sir?" Came a sudden call over the radio, making John jerk and nearly drop the current checker on the ground, if he did that, he would have lost it for sure.
Taking a deep breath, Sheppard tired to relax, pulling the walkie-talkie from his side; the flashlight from his mouth."Ford? What do you got for me?"
"We're all here and waiting for you Sir, we've lit some flares and tossed them down the halls, whatever of the things that didn't follow that, we took out with rifle fire. . Stevenson's been hurt but Beckett says he should be ok, it's pretty clear now, but I don't how long that's gonna last. How are you doing in there?" Ford had that calm yet alarmingly worried hint in his voice that Sheppard found to be funny sometimes. The kid wasn't prone to panics, and that, was good. Especially when combated against McKay's often outlandish hysterical turns.
"Oh, just great." The Major remarked frustrated, trying to sound cheerful as he finally got the four connections completed, now it was time for the main wires. Placing the radio on top of the generator, he shined the small light over the exposed section of the machine where it had been damaged long ago. John stared at the wires for a moment, rolling his eyes as he snatched up his radio, and clicked over to the main base. "McKay, let me ask you something-------when you went to school and discovered you were a genius and all, who exactly told you the best way to seal a wire together was with, gum?"
"Ah, well, it was the only thing I could think of at the time, sorry John." Rodney replied back after a bit, sounding more then embarrassed.
"Yeah, he apologizes after I've already touched it." Sheppard snarled under his breath, pulling the wires that were stuck along side of each other with the dried up patch of chewing gum until he had one in each hand. These he twisted to the others with sticky fingers. Letting out a long low breath, John pushed the black toggle switch up, holding it there. Yellow dashes appeared on the digital screen, blinking as he typed in 03:00 on the keypad. He let the toggle go, watching the three minute time flash once and beep, just like McKay told him it would have. One last step, as Sheppard pressed the small buttons below the digital screen, he watched as the numbers changed, and began to count down.
--------------------
Elizabeth loomed behind Peter, watching as several large patches of red, indicating the creatures, swarmed around darker crimson heat traces, being the flares the men had thrown. Several other blips, white in color, were her team, all of them waiting by the door, except for one small one that was still in the generator room. She urged John on silently, praying he'd get finished before the creatures grew tired of the flares, or they'd burn out before everything was done. Already she had a wounded man, and that was one too much.
"Grodin! Open up the shield door I want everyone out!" Sheppard's voice came suddenly over the radio, the white blip quickly moving from the generator room and out into the sector, heading towards the shield door. Grodin turned quickly to his laptop, activating the shield door from there and bringing up a remote link to the timer's readout. Red numbers came up in a separate window, seconds counting down in the blink of an eye. Peter clicked back over the intercom reading off the current time.
-------------------
Aiden waved to the Major as he trotted towards them, hearing the creatures just behind taking full notice to all the commotion at the front door. He could feel them just behind him, swarming. Sheppard slipped under the door as it began to close once more.
"Activation in t-minus two minutes." They heard Grodin say after a moment, as the shield door slammed close, just beyond it the creatures howled and clawed at the metal, seeming as if to understand they'd been tricked somehow.
"Come on, come on." John said harshly, watching the time tick down on his watch, looking back up at the door as the things roared louder, deafeningly.
"One minute." With this, Teyla drew close to Sheppard, she herself had bairly gotten out of the shafts when the small beasts swarmed in, blowing their cover, now it would soon be all over.
"Thirty seconds." They all grouped together, standing in awe, eyes peeled to the door, waiting.
"You think this is going to work?" John heard Ford mutter at his other side.
Sheppard laughed, looking down at his watch. "If not, I personally call dibs on strangling McKay."
"Five---four----" Beckett couldn't wait, in all honestly for quiet, for the rush of green beyond that shield door to finally end this nightmare of a week. "--three----two----"
Peter counted down, Teyal took Sheppard by the arm, Carson closed his eyes and Ford held his breath.
"One!"
-------------------
Back in the control room, they watched the sector layout, as the red sea of creatures fluttered around in utter chaos. And from their left, Grodin's laptop beeped, the numbers for the timer reaching zero. Rodney swallowed hard, looking from the computer readout, to the sector screen, then back to the laptop. Weir's lips tightened as she watched.
Nothing happened.
"MCKAY!" Rodney winced at hearing Sheppard's demanding voice, and yet he could say nothing. His mouth hung open, eyes wide as he stood and leaned over the sector map, seeing every single creature heat signature still there, still clamoring around behind the shield door.
"What happened? It, it should have gone off." He retorted hastily, even before anyone else said a word to him otherwise. He'd done everything right, all the pretests on the computer turned out right, the hours upon hours he had spent slaving over the crystal devices, figuring out a frequency that would override the generators so it wouldn't get washed out when it turned on like the rest of their electronics. And for what? Failure. McKay stared blankly at the screen, it couldn't be his fault.
"Rodney what's going on? Why didn't it activate?" Elizabeth finally spoke up, there was no denying the tower's hadn't gone off, that was clear enough, now she wanted answers.
McKay seemed to want them too. So much so he gently pushed passed Peter on the console and hit the com button, contacting Sheppard. "Major, did you connect the timer to the generator correctly, all the towers were set up with the right hookups?" No, no it couldn't have been his fault, it just have been John's, Ford, someone screwed up.
"Yes Rodney, just like you told me to, now what the hell is going on?" He sounded none too pleased, and for good reason too.
"Doctor?" Weir came again, looking at her head physicist who simply stared at the screen then to her, the same blank look on his face. She could see his brain stuttering, see it playing on his lips as he tried to figure out what to say, what to do. "Rodney; what, went, wrong?"
The look of confusion quickly turned ugly on the man's face, he frowned bring on that defensive tone that grated her nerves. "See, this is what happens when I'm rushed. You can't get expect brilliant results when you rush complex engineering,." He threw his hands up at the screen, placing them on his hips as he felt retreating now would be a more then blissful option.
From the console came Sheppard's voice once more, sounding strangely more at ease considering everything had gone completely to hell. "Ah, not to interrupt or anything, but our little friends are getting just a touch pissed in there." They could hear over the Major's voice, the loud screeches of the creatures, sounding as if they were right up next to them on the other side of the door.
Elizabeth glared right back at him, drawing away from the control console and walking up to the fidgeting physicist. "Well, what do we do now?"
Rodney shot his gaze from her and then to Peter who was also now staring at him, waiting for some sort of answer, and hopefully one followed by a solution. "I, I ah----" McKay saw that everyone in the control room was looking at him now, how could he make his brain work when all he wanted to do was curl up and die in a little pit somewhere. Quickly, he said the first thing that came to his mind. "Well, Zelenka built the timer, I did the hand held controls and radials, it might be something with that…."
"You crossed the signals up?" Grodin chimed in, sounding repulsed.
"Stay up for two days, might I add, two Atlantian days, working with highly unstable materials that are completely redesigned from their original purpose and see how well you do! You gave me no time, and this is what you get! Now let me talk to him!" McKay shot back at the gate technition, charging at the console as Peter slid to the side, not wanting to get in the man's way when he seemed to be on to something. Rodney leaned over the com controls, pressing them down, talking to Sheppard but looking out on to the gate room, wondering if perhaps there was another way, something other then what he hand in mind. Which, disturbed him more then anything, but, he knew well enough the Major was a type of person who would want to know every single option available to them. Rodney felt much the same himself.
"John, there's only one last possible avenue left to take, but ah, you're not going to like it."
-------------------
They'd been standing there in front of the shield door for sometime, Carson looked about as angry as Sheppard did before they heard the physicist come over the radio, sounding determined as anything.
John sighed, clicking back. He couldn't wait to here this one, Rodney seemed to always come out with a doosey of a plan, and he thought the last one took the cake. "Oh, you'd be surprised, what is it?"
"No, really----."That determination was lost in a matter of moments at hearing Sheppard so calm. It was amazing how each man played off one another, like a emotional teeter-totter. One up, the other down, and every so often, right on target.
"Rodney!" John snapped, not liking how close the creatures sounded through the door.
"Fine! Fine----- there's a sort of failsafe naturally built into the system that can be used incase this would happened; which it shouldn't have I might add if I would have had more time on it."
"Quit complaining McKay and get to the point."
He could hear McKay take a deep breath, whether for preparing to say what he said next or, in what could have been interpreted as a sad moment of hesitation, Sheppard would never know. "You'd have to directly connect the generator to the tower that's in the room with you, using the cable from the door sensor I put there before. Then, disconnect those two main wires I told you to hook up to the timer, and strike them together. Which will essentially, hotwire the generator on and arm the timer again while the tower in there will send a signal to the rest, setting them off for a longer more positive blast rather then a burst like we previously planned for."
"So, we'll have the three minute limit again and have to wait a little longer for it to end, right?" Sheppard got a hopeful look from Ford who took up his gun, more then prepaired to go back in there with his commanding officer if need be. He would have gone in there a hundred times if he had, had to.
-------------------
McKay swallowed hard, taking a seat in a rolling chair that was standing right by him, looking up to Elizabeth for a moment as he hit the com button again, trying to sound final without his voice wavering.
"No, it'll ah----activate the devices instantaneously."
"You mean with me in there with it?" Sheppard replied quickly and Rodney could just imagine the look on his face.
"Y-yes." The physicist stuttered, clearing his throat as he dove into the comforts of science rather then the guilt of condemning the man. "The circuit will bypass the original programmed time, setting it directly for zero, with-----with you inside with it." His eyes lowered, unable to look at the sector screen, the white blips as if the one that was John's could actually look right back at him.
After a long pause, Sheppard came back, sounding lightly annoyed. "You're right; I don't like it."
Being quiet for long enough, Elizabeth moved up to the console, demandingly drawing McKay's attention back to her. "There has to be another way, activate the timer from here, go through the set up again, something, anything!" Rodney seemed to ignore her as Sheppard called in again.
"Which also means, I need to get the creatures in here before it's activated."
"Yeah, that, that too." McKay clicked back, dropping his hand from the console into his lap, leaning back in his chair. Why had it all gone so terribly wrong? Why couldn't he think of any other way, there, there just wasn't any more time.
"Peter, open the door up, I'm going back in."
Weir's eyes went wide, she herself moved to the intercom button, this was just ridiculous. "John no, I'm not permitting you to go in there and set that bomb off yourself, we'll figure something else out." Granted she really knew nothing about the type of engineering that had gone into this mission, but she was still in charge and if it meant leaving the city, then it meant leaving the city. She would never sacrifice Sheppard for that.
"Liz, in a few hours, these things will be knocking at our back door; Grodin open'er up." The Major argued back, sounding more and more impatient.
"Don't touch that control." Elizabeth sent a glare to Peter as he hesitated over the buttons, wondering where this test of wills would end. Elizabeth on the other hand was in no mood to be tested, not like this. She replied then commandingly, watching the white blips on the screen. "Major, I am ordering you to come back to the base."
-------------------
The cries from beyond the door had become so loud, that Sheppard's team, including Marsden's men had backed up a few paces down the main corridor. John held the walkie-talkie in hand, everyone gather around him, finding his resolve completely disturbing. Beckett was the first one to speak up, his expression locked in concern as he watch Sheppard, who was now watching for the door to open.
"Major it's madness, you can't be actually thinking about going back in there?" The doctor pleaded, feeling in end that this was mostly his fault for mocking McKay in the first place and starting the stupid fight that got them into this mess. If anyone should have to go in there, it should have been him.
Sheppard seemed to politly ignore him, his eyes still locked on the shield door as he raised the radio back up to his lips. "Grodin open the door."
"John listen to me, there has to be another way." He winched at hearing how angry Weir sounded, in actuality he was touched at her concern, but she simply didn't understand the threat like he did. None of them seemed too, not really. Turning to his side, John motioned with the radio the right side of the door to the Czech.
"Zelenka, you think you can patch into the system and open the door from here?"
The engineer came forward, walking up next to the Major and then glancing over to the door. He considered the request and replied, knitting his brows. "Well, with the generator off, yes, but, Major Sheppard, if Dr. McKay is right, you'll be dissolved along with the creatures if you set the device off, there's no way you can get out of there in time."
"Sir, there'd been no safe place to take cover in there." Ford spoke up, moving up along side of him, followed by Beckett and Teyla.
"John, Weir is right." The Athosian began heatedly, looking as if she were about to smack Sheppard up side the head. "We must consider another way, you can't think that going into the sector and activating the timer on your own is the only solution." He expected that much from her, he knew Teyla cared, but she'd knock some sense into him before she would ever plea.
But Sheppard was set, raising his gun, clicking the overhead flashlight back on, shining it to the ground as he began to tighten the straps on his vest, his leg harness, everything so he could move swiftly and unhindered. "Doctor, the door please." He said quietly.
"John, please…. you do not have do this---"The Athosian began, but was cut off quickly as Sheppard turned to them all, looking each and every one of them in the eye, speaking as passionately about this choice as he had any in the short time they had known him.
"Teyla." "I know you guys mean well, but I also know you all understand the threat we've got going on here, and apart from blowing the brains out of the city, we've got nothing left but to leave. And I sure as hell am not going to loose this place to a bunch of whiney, little, space monkeys, no matter who left them here. They had their chance; now I'm taking ours. Zelenka, the door." Dr. Zelenka watched him for a moment, seeming to study the man's expression as if he would some Ancient piece of technology. He found the sincerity in the Major's face, proof enough. The engineer nodded shortly and made his way to the side of the shield door, hesitating a moment as the creatures seemed to explode with rage from inside.
-------------------
"MAJOR, don't you dare go back in there, I gave you a direct order!" Weir shouted over the intercom, waiting for the Major to reply. She couldn't believe he was actually willing to do this. And she couldn't actually believe she was possibly going to let him either.
"Yeah and I'm still in charge of defense Elizabeth, that's what you brought me here to do." Sheppard came back, pulling the official military tone that made Elizabeth more then nerves, because, usually it meant there was no swaying him after that. He sounded the same way when he demanded she let him go back to rescue Sumner, Teyla and her people when the Wraith had captured them.
"Let him do his job." Came McKay suddenly, looking up from the console to Elizabeth, his arms crossed as best they could be with a sling. He might have sounded and looked resolved, but inside he was shaking, his insides on fire. All the smarts in the world, and he was useless at that point, what was the use of knowhow then when it was basically his fault. John would die and it would be his fault.
Weir turned to him, eyes wide with dismay. "I can't believe you're actually considering this as an expectable alternative!" Frustration mounting, she called back to Sheppard, feeling all of this slipping out of her fingers, this situation spinning out of control. "John you can't do this, it's not worth your life!"
Peter rolled forward blinking at his laptop as the main door to the sector was suddenly activated, moving without his command. "Shield door is rising, and Major Sheppard's locator beacon is moving back into the sector." He turned back to Elizabeth who was now watching the same screen, watching as small crimson spots sparked up around the door line, John must have ordered flares to be thrown to clear the way. Suddenly the white spot moved ahead through the parted red masses that seemed to close in around him. Then without warning the shield door closed back down, Peter didn't even have to tell her, she saw it all for herself.
"John, please." Weir whispered over the intercom, knowing now, that it was far too late. Though still she had to try.
"Sorry Liz; see you guys on the other side." John replied, they could hear the lightness in his voice, and yet, something that sounded like regret, perhaps even hopefulness but not a single hint of hesitation.
"Major?" Elizabeth watched, Rodney stood up quickly rolling his chair back as he came up next to her, staring at the sector map on the screen. "MAJOR?!" She yelled over the intercom, receiving nothing but static in return.
Grodin tapped a few buttons, shaking his head as he spoke up quietly. "There's no use, he's shut off his radio." All three watched as the white spot moved up into the generator room, and stood in it's center for a few minutes.
"Whoa." Peter pulled in closer, making sure the readings were right, Weir gave him a confused and distraught look, urging him to explain.
"I'm getting a large heat influx near the door of the generator room and it's not the generator itself." He pointed to the center of the room where there was a large dark crimson spot that flared up suddenly, growing in radius every second until it was at least three inches in diameter. The white speck moved away leaving the growing heat spot in the middle of the generator room, and moving on towards the back of the area. From inside the room, light red specks, the creatures, swarmed round, drawing in from all over, even from behind the door, drawn to the sudden and mysterious heat Sheppard had somehow created.
After a few brief and tense moments the room was awashed in churning red readings, John must have been complete engulfed in creatures at that point, the little white blip, blinking on and off, was still for a moment. Rodney held his breath, clenching his fists on the console, unable to believe he was just going to stand by and watch this happen. Weir wanted to run, all the way to the sector, beat on the door, something, anything when suddenly there was a large flash on the sector screen.
Elizabeth openly gasped as the entire sector was cast in a bright green glow, lighting up the console around the screen with its illumination. She felt faint watching it, McKay clenched his jaw, shutting his eyes up tight as after a minute, the light faded, and the sector screen was blank.
Peter hesitated for a moment, unable to believe it had all just happened. Quickly he regained himself and turned to his laptop, typing in haste. "Running a bio scan on the creatures now." He hit the enter button sharply, looking back over his shoulder. McKay opened his eyes, half expecting to see the screen full of red spots again, but there was nothing, not a single trace that the creatures were still alive, as if they had never existed at all. Rodney's mouth opened with no words, staring at the screen before he managed to squeak out in amazement.
"My God, I----I can't believe it. He actually got them all; every single one of them."
Weir blindly tapped Grodin on the shoulder, pointing to his computer. "Run--run a scan for the Major's signal." She begged, she prayed, she pleaded, there had to been a way, he had to have survived. It couldn't end like that, not for John, not like this.
Peter ran a search. "Nothing-----" The computer cycled through the known DNA markers, matching them up for heat traces in the area. They watched the screen, which remained black. "Wait!" The gate technician suddenly shouted, hitting a few commands an narrowing in on a faint trace. He zoomed in on the sector and jammed his finger into the overlay map. "Here, I'm picking something up here in this room."
McKay leaned over the map, finding the room Grodin was pointing to, strangely familiar. There was a hissing buzz over the intercom then, followed by a friendly yet very exhausted voice. "Control, this is Sheppard, I seem to be stuck inside a------bathroom?"
"Hey, that's my bathroom." Rodney remarked, glancing up to Weir as he smiled unabashedly, everyone around them in the gate control room cheered and clapped. Weir felt as if she could collapse right there on the spot, letting out a relieved and unnerved laugh herself.
The Major chimed in over the radio, sounding as if he was struggling to get himself up and situated. McKay wasn't surprised in the least considering the size of the bathroom. "A little assistance and a big old sandwich would be much appreciated, all this dissolving stuff works up an appetite."
Elizabeth called back on the com, regaining her composure. She silently thanked whoever up there was with them that day, with John, now she had to concentrate on getting them all back and have the section permanently sealed off, just to be on the safe side. "John, are, are you alright? Ford---"
"Already on my way doctor Weir, don't move Sir." Ford came up on his own channel, the sounds of cheering on his end as well.
John sounded as if he was resting then, speaking reluctantly with a sarcasm that Weir was more then thankful to hear again. "Yeah, I'll do that, and where do you expect me to go anyway? Man it smells like burnt hair in here."
A/N: Well that was nuts wasn't it? And see Dru, Beckett cared about the inbred kitties just for you man, hehe. Alright folks, just one more final rap-up chapter to go. And yes you may beat me for taking so long, but, I did go away on vacation so I made a long chappy in hopes you'll forgive me. Oh, and what happened on John's end will be explained so don't fret. All questions will be answered.