PART THIRTEEN: FIRING FIVE
Sydney Carton, Sydney Carton....
Sheppard attacked the rubble with renewed vigor, nearly able to see the images painted on the wall behind. They'd been deliberately covered, he knew that now.
Pausing to wipe the sweat from his forehead, he grabbed his radio.
"Stackhouse, Dunne, anyone....Does the name Sydney Carton mean anything to you guys?"
McKay stared up at the ship appearing inside the illusion through bloodstained, watery eyes; tears ran down his face that he couldn't feel.
"This is will be the fifth shot," the hologram said softly, turning off the intercom with a "thought."
Rodney tilted his head, turning it to the side in order to see the hologram's face. It took a step forward.
"You were not ready for this, Doctor Rodney McKay. I am sorry for that. I admit...I have been monitoring your condition. I don't think you will survive this fifth shot, especially not considering the size of the hive ship, but you must try to. Even after you destroy the mother ship, there are still four more Wraith darts out there."
The doctor gave a weak smile, to the extent the muscles around his lips could manage one.
"You...really...are...evil...." he whispered hoarsely.
"But when you do, and I know you can, you will have saved an entire people. That is an amazing thing. You will be honored. The people of Deucalion will—"
"Shut up."
"But—"
"I...am...not...going to...die. Ford...won't fire...the sixth shot....he promised...."
"He will have to, Doctor Rodney McKay. Even though those four darts are not as dangerous as the hive ship, they still must be destroyed, or they will bring back more. And he didn't promise, he only said he'd try."
"He...won't...."
"He will. I am sorry." The hologram's eyes lowered.
"No...you're...not."
The hologram looked up, a hint of confusion in its eyes. Then it frowned. "I don't understand."
"It...powers...you...too...."
The projection tilted its head. "I don't understand," it said again.
"You...and the Weapon," Rodney breathed in, pain wracking his chest as he did so. "You are...too conscious...to just be a computer...."
The hologram said nothing to that. After a moment, it took a step closer, so that its brown eyes seemed to stare directly into the scientist's blue ones.
"I am programmed to make this easier for you, that is all."
"You're programmed...to kill me."
The hologram stared at him a moment longer, then, oddly, it smiled. "In the end," it shrugged, "yes."
Rodney closed his eyes at the admission and tilted his head away.
The hologram leaned back, "Is there anything you would like to have me relay to anyone before you—"
"Oh...go...haunt...someone...else's...nightmares...you...incorporeal...piss-ant."
The hologram stared at him, then bowed and stepped back, and turned the intercom back on.
"Doc? Doc, can you hear me?"
Ford was leaning over the Duecalion lieutenant, worried that he had not heard from the doctor in about a minute, though he'd been calling.
"Doctor McKay?"
"Lieu...tenant....Yes, I'm...I'm still...here."
Ford grimaced at the weak response—it barely sounded like him. "Doctor, the hive ship is almost through. Can you...are you...?"
"Just...fire the...damn Weapon...Ford."
Ford's grimace became a real frown. There was real resentment underlying that voice. McKay always sounded mean when he was tired, but, despite the sharpness of his tongue, you still knew he didn't actually intend to hurt anyone. But Ford felt cold fury this time—McKay's anger was directed squarely at him.
"Doc...Are you okay?"
"FIRE THE WEAPON!" McKay shouted back, impatience giving him strength.
"Yes sir!" Che shouted, slamming her hand down on the fifth button, "Firing Five!"
The hive ship knew, as soon as half of it was through the Illusion, that something was very wrong. Rear engines were shut down, and thrusters in front turned on. It had to get out of there.
But it was too slow.
The Weapon released the full force of its power, white light flaring so brightly that anyone looking directly at it felt like they were witnessing a supernova.
In her window, the Governor cried out, turning away and covering her eyes. Colonel Luphron squinted, watching through his lashes as the bolt impacted the edge of the hive ship, then closing them the rest of the way. Even he couldn't handle that much light.
Rodney chased the white light as it grabbed the edge of the ship, then boiled around the edges, not letting anything get in its way. It surrounded the entire ship, expanding beyond the Illusion for the first time in order to encompass the whole of the hive.
Then the Weapon boiled inside the ship, wiping out everything in its path, erasing the faces it came across, ignoring the screams of the innocent on board as they were trapped inside with the Wraith. The vampiric creatures themselves didn't scream, at least, not vocally. They just let the power envelop them without making a sound...and eradicate them from existence.
White light swelled and ripped through metal and flesh without discrimination, like a tsunami...nothing could stand in its path.
And through it all....Rodney screamed until he had no voice left.
In the Great Eye, the three people watched in awe at the power they were witnessing—both thrilled and terrified at the same time.
Rodney pulled it back, grabbed hold the power and wrenched, stopping it from doing any more damage as soon as the hive ship was obliterated. The Weapon resisted, angrily fighting the mind directing it. It turned, looking down at the gray city, wanting to erase everything it could see, to destroy it all.
The doctor bellowed noiselessly, bending it back, forcing it to retreat.
Until, finally, the white light allowed itself to fade.
After all...there was still one more to go.
The hologram watched, impressed to see the doctor's chest still rise and fall once the Weapon retreated again. He had survived after all.
"Well done, Doctor Rodney McKay," it soothed, inspecting the slack features. "Just one more now. One more and the Weapon will be sated."
TBC