Part Three
Elizabeth moved along Atlantis's corridors, her silence matching that of her escorts. Though Sora remained watchful and cautious, as did the other two soldiers, Elizabeth thought there was something more in the Genii woman's demeanor.
Sora cut her eyes toward Elizabeth, catching her observation. Her expression hardened and coldness glittered from her eyes, but instead of being reminded of the woman's useless vendetta against Teyla, she became thoughtful, an idea percolating in the back of her mind.
"How much farther?" Sora questioned, the words echoing over the sounds of four booted pairs of feet.
"Not very much," Elizabeth replied, seeing ahead the area where the wide corridors narrowed slightly and were less ornately decorated. Many of the scientists hypothesized that these areas were mostly used for maintenance functions and were thus less adorned. But Elizabeth thought that every section of Atlantis that her eyes had touched was beautiful. It would be an injustice on a mammoth scale if it should fall into the hands of people who only wanted it for the purposes of war.
She came to a stop outside of a door with a small irregular symbol on its outer surface. It slid open when she touched the panel on the wall alongside it which bore a matching symbol.
Dim lighting, illuminated at half-level, revealed a narrow area beyond. It hardly seemed fair to call it a room as its width was little more than three feet across. It extended several yards to a darkened control panel at its opposite end. On a side wall near the panel at roughly chest height was a round metallic object which vaguely reminded her of a steering wheel.
"It's pretty tight in here," she told Sora, stepping slightly to the side to allow her to see the close quarters.
Sora peered past her then turned toward the guards. "Remain here," she ordered brusquely. The guards obeyed without question, stationing themselves just outside of the open doorway.
At the far end of the wall, Weir came to a stop, taking in the console. She reached automatically for the communication device at her ear before remembering that Kolya had taken it.
Resigned, she took the walkie-talkie Sora extended in her direction. "We're here," she announced after depressing the talk button.
Silence greeted the statement for several moments before Rodney's voice sounded across the connection. Weir noticed the more highly pitched tone of his voice and immediately feared the worst.
"Yes the panel is lit," she answered his original question quickly, and then pressed on to the more urgent worry. "How are things going there?"
"Oh, you know, big –." Rodney's voice ended abruptly and was replaced by Kolya's.
"Focus your attention on the task at hand, Doctor. Both of you." The last of the menacing words were obviously intended for Rodney.
"Hurting us doesn't help your people's cause," she said, hoping still to reason with the man.
"I determine what helps my people's cause," he replied, unmoved. "What does not help will be eliminated. Continue your work."
After a moment, Rodney returned to the link. "Dr. Weir?"
She tried not to sound defeated. "I'm here, Rodney. What do I need to do?" She listened as he explained the simple procedure that needed to be accomplished at each of the stations. When she was sure she understood, she handed the walkie-talkie back to Sora.
"Kolya can't be trusted," she told the other woman quietly as she punched in the few keystrokes on the console, and then moved toward the wheel and began to turn it counterclockwise as Rodney had outlined.
"You do not understand my people," Sora sneered.
"What if he decides you aren't good for the cause?" She pushed just a little more, testing the other woman. "What if he decides that he's better qualified to lead your people, and that Atlantis should be his only? What then? Will you follow him, or will you be eliminated?"
Sora's eyes widened and Elizabeth wondered if the Genii woman hadn't already asked herself those same questions.
"You will not talk!" Sora's voice rose bitterly, and she hardened her stance and pointed the weapon more directly at her.
Elizabeth stiffened, and worried that she had gone a little too far, but then the weapon was gestured back along the narrow area.
"You are done here and we will go to the next position."
Elizabeth nodded and stepped around the muzzle of the gun and led the way out. She caught the gazes of both guards as they stared intently at the two women.
"Relax, Doc, we're almost there." Ford's almost cheery voice rang through the cabin of the bucking puddle jumper.
"How can I relax?" Carson demanded. "We're in the middle of a bloody hurricane!" His eyes hadn't moved from the display during the entirety of the journey from the mainland. He was half afraid to think, least he cause some chronic system failure. And worse of all, the theme song from Gillian's Island kept playing through his mind taunting him to the follow the thought to its conclusion – the lot of them lost for all time in some freak storm created by some random technological failure as a result of his misuse of the ancient gene.
"Yeah, but only for about five more minutes," Ford replied. "Then we can get in and help the Major."
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Carson demanded. "We have villagers and children on board."
Ford grinned at him as a side panel opened and the portable life-signs reader appeared near the pilot's seat. Carson grabbed the device and gave it to the lieutenant with a dirty look. All this ancient mind-operated technology made him feel out of control and in over his head. "And now, what's the rest of the plan?" he demanded.
Ford looked him over in a measuring way. "You stay with the villagers and the jumper. Teyla and I will go give the Major some back-up."
He looked between Teyla and Ford. They were both warriors in the true sense of the word. But he, Carson Beckett, was a doctor. He didn't walk around with a gun and shoot the bad guys. It wasn't his thing and he wasn't good at it. He also wasn't good at letting his friends go out and fight alone when he might do something to help.
He grimaced and sighed internally. "No, I'll go with you."
"Good man." Ford seemed pleased.
"Are you certain?" Teyla asked, her gaze pressing into his.
"Of course, I'm sure," he responded, hoping she wouldn't call him on it. "All of us have had some training in the use of the weapons and self-defense measures. Besides, if it comes down to it, I've got a healthy supply of hypodermics and I'm not afraid to use them."
John woke with a start, gasping and sputtering. A smell, bitter and heavy seemed to sear a path through his nostrils and into his skull. He coughed, trying to clear away the noxious fumes, but it only added to the sudden pounding ache in his brain. Instinctively he tried to move away, to see what it was that was causing the problem, but his body wouldn't respond to his commands and it took several moments before the hazy world resolved into something recognizable.
Coughing a few more times, he allowed his eyes to focus on Kolya. The man was seated across from him, closing the lid on a small metallic canister.
Great, John thought, as the container disappeared into one of other man's pockets, Probably the Genii equivalent of smelling salts. Only worse. As the scent made its way out of his nasal passages, other things registered, like a near loss of feeling in both arms. He looked downward, and found that both his forearms were strapped tightly to the chair's armrests. Flexing his fists, he tested the bonds before checking to see what means had been used to secure his legs and feet.
"Sorry I fell asleep there," he said, glancing back up at Kolya. "Don't think it means that you're boring or anything." He looked beyond the Genii soldier as a brilliant flash of lightning illuminated the darkened skies outside. The rain was sheeting against the windows as the storm bore down on them near full force.
Kolya ignored the remark, and leaned forward slightly. "Where is the C4, Major?" he asked in a low-toned voice.
John craned his neck, hoping to see the rest of the Command Center which was situated behind him. A couple guards were still there, as was McKay, punching something frantically into a handheld device. Sheppard knew that look. The good doctor's plan was working and he was heavily engrossed in some calculation or another. Weir was nowhere to be seen.
He turned back to Kolya. "Storm is getting pretty rough out there."
One of the guards approached rapidly and buffed him alongside the head. It wasn't an especially hard hit, a love tap, really, but the quick tilt of the room and the sharp spear of pain reminded him vividly that he'd recently been hit in that same spot.
"That is not an acceptable answer," Kolya explained.
"I sorta got that," John responded, wishing he could wipe away the itchy feeling that began as blood trickled along the side of his head. The dry patchy sensation near his temple told him that this wasn't the first blood he'd bled that day.
"Where is the C4?" Kolya asked.
John glared at him. "I forget. Head injury, you know."
The soldier who'd whacked him in the head stepped to his side. There was a deep grinding sound as the man pulled what looked remarkably like an M-9 bayonet knife from its holder. A noise echoed from the opposite side of the Command Center and Sheppard had a sneaking suspicion that McKay had just dropped whatever handheld device he'd been holding.
"Dr. McKay." Kolya looked beyond John to speak to the gifted scientist. "Please explain the status of your plan to Major Sheppard."
John had to turn his neck into a painful position to see his comrade. The look of complete absorption in his work was gone, replaced by dread and uncertainty. He obviously didn't want to be a participant in whatever Kolya had up his sleeves.
"Th-the re-grounding process is nearly complete," he explained, looking uncomfortably about the room. "A lightning strike took out the fourth grounding station as I suspected. I have to keep refiguring the equations, but it appears that the plan is working."
"You may go back to your work, Doctor McKay," Kolya told him.
Sheppard was buoyed by the sarcastic retort that he knew McKay had bitten back. It brought the hint of a smile to his features as he turned back to face the Genii.
"Dr. McKay is quite an asset," Kolya stated.
"Yes, we tell ourselves everyday how lucky we are to have him," John replied, trying to ignore the knife moving in closer, taunting.
Kolya reached for the walkie-talkie and spoke into it, asking Sora if she could complete the reconnection of the final channeling station. Sora's affirmative answer started a warning bell in the back of John's mind.
"Have the guards return Dr. Weir to the Command area while you finish the task," Kolya ordered. After ending the communication, he looked at John. "Where is the C4?"
"Go to hell."
The hand with the knife moved.
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A/N: Sorry about the long delay. I hope you're all still enjoying this. Organized Chaos - no wetness this chapter, but there is wetness to come eventually! John has a few other issues to worth through for the immediate future . . .