"A Bad Decision – Rescue Attempt"
Chapter 3
Author: Lorrie Ellis
Email: lorrieannhotmail
Summary : The team gates to a previously unexplored world and may regret what they find.
Disclaimer: The following story is based on the characters of the TV Series "Stargate: Atlantis". The characters belong to MGM, The Sci-Fi channel, etc. but the story is mine. ALL DISCLAIMERS APPLY. (No copyright infringement is intended.)
"Dial the gate." Dr. Weir ordered and then looked at the team. "Be careful and God speed." She said as she watched Lt. Ford maneuver the Jumper through the gate.
The Jumper glided easily through the gate on Hashalana. "Cloak us Lieutenant." Rodney said quickly. Lt. Ford heeded the command and cloaked the Jumper so as not to be spotted by the Hashlanians.
"Where should we start the search?" Teyla asked.
"The city." Rodney said firmly.
"The city it is." Ford replied, turning the Jumper in the direction of the gleaming city.
"My lord, we are picking up signals over the ancient eye, but we can see nothing." A Century reported to Maylan as he watched John slump over in the chair.
Maylan stood still, as if trying to feel the presence of others. "Yes, they are here."
"Who, my lord?" Landiv asked.
"The ones who accompanied him earlier. They are back, just as you predicted."
"What shall we do, my lord? They are surely here for him."
Mayaln turned and faced the beaten figure of John Shepherd. "He is almost dead now. Another current should finish him."
"Here!" McKay shouted towards Ford.
"What?" Ford asked.
"The infer-red readings are strongest here." Rodney replied. Ford looked at him puzzled. "Infer-red sensors, I'm reading body-heat from below. There's more of it here than anywhere else, so far." Ford still started at him. "Lieutenant, put it down here!" Rodney said simply.
Ford nodded and landed the Jumper on the top of one of the buildings. The team carefully exited and found their way from the rooftop to inside. As they traveled down the corridor, they all felt as though they were being watched.
Maylan was poised and ready to push the button that controlled the metal halo, meaning certain death for John. The doors suddenly burst opened, Maylan and his Centuries finding themselves face-to-face with Lt. Ford, Teyla, McKay and their weapons, all aimed, locked and ready to fire.
"Release him!" Teyla commanded. No one made a move.
Lt. Ford grabbed Maylan from behind and shoved the point of his gun under the leader's chin. "Release him now or watch your leader die!"
The Centuries looked towards Maylan for approval, he nodded his head. "He is of no further use to me anyway and he will be of no further use to you either. He will carry the secrets of them to his grave now. He is too near death."
Ford continued to hold tight to the leader as he watched Teyla and McKay release the Major from the chair and each wrap their arms under his slumping shoulders, dragging him towards the door.
"What of this metal thing on his head?" Teyla whispered to McKay who had already been studying the device.
"We can't remove it here. It's embedded and I don't know how far. We'll have to wait until we get him back. Just watch his neck. This thing is heavy and could damage his spinal cord if we're not careful." Rodney replied.
When they reached Ford's position, the Lieutenant flung Maylan to the ground and then sprayed bullets just over the Hashlanians' heads, providing enough of a distraction for Teyla and Rodney to get the Major down the corridor and up the stairs to the Jumper.
"We're in." Rodney radioed to Ford.
Ford tapped his communicator. "I'm coming." As Ford ceased fire and turned to make his way to the stairs, the Centuries began to fire on him with what appeared to be lasers.
The Lieutenant rounded a corner, ducked down, took aim and fired at his enemies, hitting two and wounding the other.
Hearing the gunfire over the communicator, Rodney radioed back; "Aiden?"
"I'm on my way." Ford relayed.
Rodney sighed. "Good."
"You are worried now for the Lieutenant?" Teyla asked as she propped John up against the metal wall of the Jumper.
"Without Lt. Ford, we can't get back home . . . unless you know how to fly this thing."
Teyla glared at the doctor for a moment and then turned her full attention to the Major. Rodney could see the deep concern on her face. "How bad?"
"It is very bad. He has been tortured for a long period of time. There are deep bruises and a few cuts where he has been beaten and then there is this metal thing on his head."
Rodney knelt beside of John and looked at the device closer just as Ford entered the Jumper. "Everybody ready?" He asked, taking his seat, at least for this ride, and starting the Jumper.
"We're fine, go!" Rodney announced as he and Teyla gently held onto John to keep him from being unnecessarily jolted as the Jumper reached the gate.
"Dialing coordinates." Ford announced. "Transmitting signal." He announced again seconds later.
The sirens in the gateroom at Atlantis began to sound. "Incoming wormhole."
"Signal?" Dr. Weir asked.
"Lt. Ford's."
"Open the iris!" Dr. Weir commanded. "I need a medical team ready in the gateroom!" She announced over the intercom.
"We're way ahead of you on that one, lass." Dr. Beckett replied via communicator and Elizabeth watched as the medical team appeared below.
The Jumper emerged from the gate and landed. As soon as the doors of the pod opened, Dr. Becket and his team hurried inside to attend to John.
Elizabeth's eyes met Rodney's as he exited the Jumper. He slowly shook his head causing Elizabeth to close her eyes. "Rodney thinks it's hopeless. He thinks there's no way John can make it out of this one." She paused in her thinking. "He's wrong! He has to be wrong!" She hurried below. She had to be in the gateroom . . . with John.
"What's this thing on his head?" One of Dr. Beckett's assistants asked.
"I don't know, but don't touch it until I can get an MRI on him. We have to know exactly what we're dealing with here." Dr. Beckett replied as they gently lifted John's motionless body onto a gurney. "Get him to the infirmary, now!"
Elizabeth's face turned pale at the sight of John. His face was blood streaked, and his body was bruised and bloodied. What had these animals done to him? What had they done? She knew a tear had ran down her face and she had hoped that no one had noticed, but knew better when she felt Rodney's hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Elizabeth. I'm sorry that we didn't get there sooner."
She reached for John's hand briefly as he was brought by, then clearing her throat and turned to Rodney. "I'm the one who should be apologizing."
"You, why?"
"I should have never authorized this mission." She turned and started down the corridor, watching as the medical team continued to push John towards the infirmary.
"Why? Because John was captured?" She looked up at him, her eyes saying all that needed to be said. "I'm sorry he was tortured too Elizabeth, but if we had not have explored this planet . . . do you realize that they have a power source strong enough to power Atlantis three times over? If we could just get our hands on . . ."
"Enough!" She yelled. "I'm having the coordinates to Hashlana deleted from the system."
Rodney's mouth dropped as he watched her walk down the hall. "That's fine." He muttered. "That's just fine." He repeated as he stomped off towards his quarters to sulk.
Dr. Weir paused at the door of the infirmary, wanting to know what was going on with John, but at the same time almost too frightened to find out. Dr. Beckett caught sight of her as he looked up from his patient. "Dr. Weir, I need you."
She quickly composed herself and entered the room. "What is it Carson?"
"He's trying to speak. Most of what he's said is just slurred gibberish, but I distinctly heard the name Beth and well, I didn't know if maybe he's ever called you that."
She smiled as she felt tears stinging her eyes. Only two people had ever called her Beth, one had been her first real love and the second, John Shepherd. Her mind drifted back to the day it had happened, the two of them had been eating a late dinner on the deck, just outside of her office. The moonlight had been dancing across the water and both of them had drank just a little too much wine.
John had reached across the table and took her hand. In that instant, he looked deep into her eyes. "There's something special about you, Beth." She remembered it so clearly. "And someday, I'm going to find out exactly what it is." That's when they had shared a kiss, just a small one, across the table, but it was a kiss that she would never forget.
"Dr. Weir!" Dr. Beckett shouted. "He's having a seizure!"
Elizabeth looked across the room, where Beckett's voice had come from and saw John laying on a table in an examination gown, shaking violently. She heard Carson order an injection and once it was in, the shaking ceased and she was able to convince her legs to move, taking her towards John.
She reached for his hand and brought it to her lips and whispered, "John, come back to me."
"I'm sorry, Dr. Weir, but I've got to get him ready for an MRI. We have to know what's inside his head and how deep." Dr. Beckett said sternly as he gave John another injection.
Dr. Weir nodded. "I understand." She gently placed John's hand back on the bed and watched as he was wheeled towards another room.
Lt. Ford and Teyla took the Jumper back to the Jumper bay. "Do you think he will be alright?" Teyla asked, not looking up.
"The Major?" Ford asked. "Sure. Sure he will. He's been through scrapes before. He'll be fine."
Teyla could tell that the young Lieutenant was trying to convince himself more than she of John's prognosis. "I mean, it might take him a while to recover." Aiden started again. "Afterall, he had been MIA for two days and as far as we know, the Hashlanians had him all that time."
Teyla nodded. "And have most likely tortured him for all that time." She paused. "What is MIA?"
"A military term on Earth, Missing In Action."
The Jumper fell quiet and neither spoke again until after they had parked the Jumper in the bay and headed towards Dr. Weir's office. "Should we bother her now?" Teyla asked.
"I want to know how the Major is and I'm sure that Dr. Weir will know something." Lt. Ford replied as he gently knocked on the door.
Elizabeth wiped the tears from her eyes and quickly composed herself. "Enter." She smiled slightly when the two came into her office.
"Teyla, Aiden." She greeted.
"We wished to see if you know how Major Shepherd is doing?" Teyla asked.
"He's had a seizure, which Dr. Beckett brought under control and now he's having an MRI to see exactly what's inside his head and how deep."
"The metal device?" Teyla asked.
Dr. Weir nodded. "There are three pins attached to the device that have been inserted . . ."
"Screwed." Rodney's voice announced as he entered the room.
"Excuse me?" Dr. Weir asked.
"The pins were screwed into the Major's skull, well, actually beyond his skull. I just spoke with Dr. Beckett, all three of the pins are a quarter of an inch inside his brain. Two at his temple and one at the nape of his neck. Dr. Beckett said that the optic nerve seems to be involved somehow as well, so it's a pretty safe bet that Major Shepherd is blind."
Elizabeth's mouth was agape as she listened to Rodney's announcement. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. "What is Dr. Beckett's prognosis?"
"Right now the top priority is to get those pins out of his head, but he's not sure how just yet. The tops have been cut off. We're thinking of sawing the pins, just to the inside of the halo, so we can at least remove the bulk of the weight."
No one spoke, so he continued. "The metal halo is very heavy and is putting too much pressure on his spinal cord. It has to go."
Dr. Weir looked at John's team. "You're all dismissed."
The team continued to stand around. "We'll talk later."
"Yes ma'am." Lt. Ford replied and turned to leave.
"I'll go work on a way to extract those pins." Rodney said, leaving Teyla alone in Dr. Weir's office.
"You have feelings for Major Shepherd, do you not?" Teyla asked.
"I have feelings for everyone in my command Teyla. We're all friends here and yes, I do care about John, he's a close friend."
"I too care about John Shepherd, he is my close friend as well." Teyla replied firmly and walked away.
"A quarter of an inch into his brain in three places?" Dr. Weir confirmed with Dr. Beckett as he finished sawing the last of the three pins and removing the heavy halo.
"Yes ma'am." Dr. Beckett dropped the halo onto a nearby table with a clank. "I wish I knew how to extract them without adding injury to his brain."
"I've got it." Rodney entered the infirmary rather excitedly. "I've got it. I know how to take them out."
"What have you got in mind, Dr. McKay?" Dr. Beckett asked.
"Magnets."
Dr. Beckett nodded. "That might just work and it would be less intrusive than anything anyone else has come up with.
While the doctors were preparing their means of removing the pins, Elizabeth took a seat at John's bedside. She gently took his hand in hers again and kissed it.
"Beth?" He whispered, his eyes fluttering open.
"I'm right here John." Dr. Weir whispered back.
John closed his eyes tightly and opened them again. Still seeing only darkness, his breathing quickened and he tightened his grip on Dr. Weir's hand.
"Easy John. You're home, you're back on Atlantis and you're going to be fine." She turned to get Dr. Beckett's attention.
"Beth!" John called out as he felt her grip loosen for a moment and then tighten again.
"I'm here."
"I can't see." His voice was full of desperation and confusion.
Elizabeth smoothed a stray hair from above his brow. The simple touch caused his breathing to slow slightly, coming closer to normal. "It's going to alright John. Everything's going to be alright."
"Major Shepherd, it's Dr. Beckett. I know you've been through a terrible ordeal and we're trying to get you back to normal. Now what we have to do next may be painful, but your captors inserted three pins into your brain and now they have to come out. Do you understand me?"
John slowly nodded his head. "My head hurts." He whispered.
Dr. Beckett nodded. "I can imagine that it does and I hate to tell you, but it may hurt more taking them out than it did putting them in."
"No!" John shouted, as loud as his strained vocal chords would allow. "No more." He said hoarsely.
"John, they have to come out." Elizabeth said soothingly. "You can scream as loud as you want . . ." She heard her own voice cracking. "And you can hold my hand as tight as you like, but those pins are coming out. If they don't, you'll die."
"When?" John asked.
"When will you die or when are we taking them out?" McKay asked.
Dr. Weir glared at Rodney for his callousness.
"Out?" John whispered, his strength waning.
"Now if you're ready." Dr. Beckett answered.
John slightly nodded his head and then reached for Elizabeth's outstretched hand. "Don't let me break your hand Beth." He mumbled.
"After what you've been through, you can break both of them if you like." She would have liked to have added that she should have never OK'd this mission and that she felt like it was her fault that John was laying here, still fighting for his life and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it except offer him something to hold on to while he endured yet another torture and this one at the hands of his friends.
"We'll start with the left temple." Dr. Beckett stated and positioned John's head so Rodney could get a better view of the pin. "Brace yourself Major, we're about to begin."
Rodney turned the powerful magnet on and after a couple of adjustments, the pin began to move in a counter-clockwise movement, backing the pin out, slowly, painfully.
John's eyes squeezed together, he screamed out and tightened his grip on Dr. Weir's hand. "Stop! Oh God, please stop!" He begged.
Elizabeth's eyes were stinging from the tears that were running down here cheeks. This was brutal, having to watch him being put through this.
"Just a little bit further." Rodney said calmly as the pin backed out of John's skull and freed itself from his head. "Got it!"
John moaned slightly and his body shuddered as Dr. McKay immediately applied a dressing to the open wound in John's left temple. "Let him rest for a few minutes before we do the other two."
Dr. McKay started to protest.
"Rodney, please." Elizabeth said quietly.
He nodded in response and waited until John had rested for a few minutes and then they repeated the procedure on the right temple. "You do know that there are no nerve sensors in the brain." He continued to ramble. "The pain that he's feeling is most likely more from the pressure of the pins as they move through his skull and skin and . . . "
"Rodney, please." Dr. Weir said sternly.
"Two down, one to go." Rodney replied as the second pin fell away from John's body.
"The third is going to be a bit tricky." Dr. Beckett explained. "This one is why you can't see Major. It's affecting the optic nerve. We have to be very careful when we extract this one so we don't damage that nerve any further than it is. If we do, you may never regain your sight."
John's strength was almost gone at this point. "Just get the damn thing out." He said wearily.
Dr. Beckett nodded. "We need to re-position you." They gently turned him over onto his stomach, allowing Dr. Weir and Dr. McKay a first look at his bruised back.
The color drained from Dr. McKay's face as he saw the deep black, purplish brusies. He looked up nervously at Dr Weir. "What happened?" She asked, her eyes not leaving John's back.
"It appears that he's been kicked and beaten repeatedly. His knuckles are bruised, so I would say that he got in a few good licks of his own, but they overpowered him. His kidney's are badly bruised, but so far are still holding their own. The other marks will heal." Dr. Beckett reported.
"Beth?" John whispered.
"I'm here." She knelt near his face and gently cupped his chin in her hand, caressing his cheek at the same time. "It's going to be OK John."
He nodded slightly and took her hand again.
The third pin took longer to extract than the first two and when it finally oozed out of the fleshy part of John's neck, the Major passed out from exhaustion.
End Chapter 3 (to be continued . . .)