Part Eight

Carson had long heard the saying that one's life flashed before one's eyes just before they died. Though he'd always discounted it as a medical improbability, he was ready to revise that opinion when he saw the Genii soldier appear at the end of the long corridor wielding a big triple barreled gun.

All of the events that led to his arrival at Atlantis rushed to mind, making him wonder that such a fantastic journey would end there and then at the apex of a dimly lit corridor.

He didn't remember dropping the arm load of weapons, or even ducking for cover. But the flashes of light burned their way onto his corneas, and the sound rang through his ears.

He thought he heard Ford yell something and then it seemed that bodies were moving everywhere. Four of those bodies wore Genii uniforms and they were moving toward the weapons. It was reflex that caused him to kick the guns, scattering them before Sora or either of the men could reach them.

Another shot sounded and one of the Genii jerked before crashing to the floor. The other three, it seemed, froze in place. Carson's gaze darted between the downed man and the corridor ahead. He blinked. It was completely empty.

"Get up!" Ford's orders toward the remaining Genii penetrated, jumpstarting him to action. Moving on automatic, he went to the downed man's side and quickly began to check him over. Even before he tried for vitals, he knew it was too late. A life lost.

"What the hell happened?" Aiden demanded as he and Teyla secured Sora and the other two guards with restraints.

Carson rubbed a hand over the man's eyes, closing them. "There was another one down there," he said, still feeling breathless from his own near death experience. "He shot at me. But he's gone now."

Ford looked along the abandoned corridor. "Are you sure?"

"I wasn't hallucinating."

"It's just that he didn't show up on the life signs indicator before," Aiden replied, his eyes remaining suspicious. Carson wasn't ignorant of how the Lieutenant felt about him as a fighter.

"Well maybe he was out of range," Carson shot back. "I didn't imagine seeing him and I certainly didn't imagine being shot at!"

"I— "

"Lieutenant." Teyla's voice interrupted whatever Ford might have said. She gestured toward the wall at Carson's back.

Carson followed the Athosian's gaze. An arc of impact marks shown along the surface mere inches from where his head had been. He gulped.

--

Kolya's radio beeped and the trio stuttered to a halt. Elizabeth glanced over at the Major. She suspected that his exhaustion wasn't feigned this time. His skin was pale, lines of strain were etched around his mouth and his eyes had taken on a glassy look.

As a voice sounded across the radio link awaiting acknowledgement, they got moving again.

"Sir, respond." The voice came again, this time with a heightened edge of alertness to it.

"You're running out of time." A malevolent grin spread across Kolya's face.

"You're just a regular one-track record, aren't you?" John managed in a weak voice. In opposition to the way he sounded and looked, his feet began to move a bit faster, pushing them on toward the brig.

"John . . . ," she started, wanting to tell him to take it more slowly, conserve his strength. But the look he shot her, stopped the comment.

"We're almost to your new home," he said, more for her benefit, she suspected, than Kolya's.

The radio went quiet and stayed quiet.

--

Rodney was so enthralled with Atlantis' fledging new shield, temporary though it might be that he missed whatever had been said across the Genii radio link. By the time the increased tension in the room registered in his mind, the soldiers had already gone into action. All of them were fiddling with the controls on their radios – changing the frequency, he suspected.

"What's going on?" he demanded, focusing on the nearest guard.

The guard barely spared him a look as he moved into a huddle with the four other soldiers in the control area. They spoke so softly that he was only able to catch a portion of what was being said - something about reinforcements.

"I want to know what's happening," he repeated, more loudly as he closed in on the group. Clearly something was up. Whatever was bad for the Genii had to be good for Atlantis.

A weapon raised in his direction halted his steps. "Something has gone wrong, hasn't it? You might as well tell me what it is. What am I going to do about it anyway? It's pointless to . . . ."

Rodney's words trailed away as the soldier with the raised gun began to move toward him. His expression didn't spawn any thought that he might be rationalized with. He moved into Rodney's personal space and he took a step backward, bumping against the console.

"Or . . . I could stay right here . . . ." Rodney conceded and inched back toward his lap top. "More city saving, stuff." He took the fact that the soldier didn't pulled the trigger as a sign that he could go back to work and set into a furious typing pace on the small keyboard.

The soldier held his position like a hovering shadow half between Rodney and the group of arguing Genii men. It didn't take a scientific genius to figure out that they were arguing about the gate. That one of them pointed emphatically toward the DHD clinched it. But it did take a scientific genius to do what Rodney did next.

--

"John? Are you all right?"

They'd walked out of the brig in silence, leaving the Genii military leader behind bars. John had moved with single minded determination into the outer corridor and surveyed the surrounding area before half-slumping against the wall and closing his eyes.

"I'm fine. I just need a minute."

Elizabeth nodded, though she was sure he didn't see the action. "I'd imagine something a little longer than a minute is in order."

"A week feels about right." John's eyes creaked open and he shot her a smile. Though tinged with exhaustion, it was good to see.

"So what's next?" she asked. She was over her head in what amounted to a military situation. The next step would be his call.

"Next we see where our back up is." He sorted through the items that he'd stashed in the corridor and pulled out his communicator device and routed it over his ear. "Sheppard to Jumper Two. What's your 20?"

Surprise rolled over his features almost immediately, followed quickly by pride. "They're here on Atlantis," he said between listening to the voice speaking in his ear. The smile faded away from his face as he continued to listen.

"Okay, we'll we're at the brig now. Get here as fast as you can. We'll met you half way." They had taken no more than a few steps when suddenly, without warning, Atlantis was plunged into darkness once again.

-- --

Forty-five, forty-four, forty-three. . . . . The panicked count down played through Rodney's brain as he half-crawled across the darkened control room, a lap top clutched under one arm. The pounding of his heart all but drowned out the sounds of the confused Genii soldiers, and though he knew intellectually that they shouldn't be able to see him, he expected to feel a bullet slamming into him at any moment.

He crawled past the base of the last console at what his brain identified as second number thirty-one. He was several yards away from the nearest transporter alcove. He had less than thirty seconds to navigate the space, avoiding a couple of support beams, on memory alone. Having programmed Atlantis to shut down for forty-five seconds before opening the transporter door and locking out all gate functions.

A bright beam cut through the darkness, making an arc somewhere above his head. He froze, nearly losing the lap top in the process. Several tense panicky moments passed before he realized that he'd forgotten to count.

"He's gone!" A voice yelled. Probably the guard who'd had the gun on him, Rodney decided. Torn between keeping absolutely still and making a run for it, his mind latched onto a compromise. The quick flashing of light had revealed his proximity to one of the support beams.

Not cut out for this, not cut out for this, not cut out for this played through his mind as he struggled not to breathe so loud and made for the column. Where were the military types when you needed them? Ducking downward as low as he could, he concentrated on sounds the men were making. Other lights began to flash around the room behind him.

Cursing himself for losing track of time, he began to crawl straight out toward what he hoped was the transporter alcove. The lights could come back up at any moment, and he wanted to be close enough to dive into the parting doors. He kept crawling until his head bumped against something sending off sparks behind his eyes. The lap top clattered to the floor echoing in the room like a shot.

The lights came back up.

"There he is!"

Rodney reacted. Shots rang out behind him as he ran the few steps into the open transporter alcove. He thought he felt a bullet fly past before he crashed against the inner wall and down onto his backside. The doors began to slide shut just as one of the running soldiers stopped and took aim.