Elizabeth paced her office restlessly, her hands on her hips and her gaze fixed on the floor. She'd just received yet another report that their prisoner was refusing to cooperate. Two days and all he'd said was that he wasn't going to say anything. Why couldn't people ever just be helpful?
She sighed and leaned her hands on her desk. She kept trying to keep her mind off of Rodney, but considering that he was the one everyone was trying to save, it was pretty much impossible. Every time she thought about him abandoned and alone in an alien prison it made her want to throw up. She couldn't believe it had gone on this long, and there was still no end in sight.
Their relationship with the Decarians had turned sour over all of this, but she had ceased to care. Anyone who would take one of her people and just throw him to the wolves like this didn't deserve their friendship.
Thinking closely about the situation brought images of the time she and Rodney had spent with Kolya a few weeks previously to her mind. Rodney hadn't crumbled under Kolya's intimidations, but she could tell that he'd almost reached his breaking point by the end of the ordeal. How much worse was he being treated now? She couldn't even begin to imagine.
She shrugged her shoulders in a wide circular motion, trying to work out the kinks as she started pacing again. She felt as though she, of all people, understood what he must be feeling the clearest. She knew Rodney better than anyone else in this city, for one thing, and she was also a civilian just like him. The military types would have been trained and prepared for situations like this, but Rodney? She kept trying to put herself in his shoes, and all she could see was fear and abandonment.
They needed to find him before they both went completely insane.
"Dr. Weir?"
Elizabeth turned to face Major Sheppard, who was standing tentatively at the door to her office with his hand raised as though to knock.
"Come in, Major," she said, heading behind her desk to sit down. "How is our prisoner doing this morning?"
"Just as stubborn as ever," Major Sheppard said. He looked and sounded about as exhausted as Elizabeth felt as he eased himself down into the other chair. "I don't think he's gonna talk anytime soon."
Elizabeth sighed and rubbed her face wearily. "What do you think it would take?" she asked.
John narrowed his eyes at her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean... what do you think it would take to... break him?" God, how she hated saying those words.
John leaned forward in his chair to get a closer look at her face. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" he asked in disbelief.
"I'm saying that we need the information this man has to offer," Elizabeth said. "Am I right?"
"Yes, but..."
"And you must know ways of making people divulge information that they are trying to hide."
"I really don't think you'd approve of any of those ways, Elizabeth," John said quietly.
Elizabeth took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm giving you permission to do whatever it takes."
There was silence for a long moment as they just sat there staring at each other. John seemed to be trying to find a hint of insecurity in her, and Elizabeth was trying as hard as she could not to show any. They needed to find Rodney, and Elizabeth wasn't about to let this man get away with holding back the information they needed to complete that objective. As much as she believed in human rights for everyone, she was getting tired of the run around.
Obviously, this was unexpected.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"We have to get Rodney out of whatever hell hole he's been thrown into," she said, amazing herself with how cool and calm she was sounding. "We've given that man every opportunity to help us and be set free, and he has refused. It's time to show him we mean business." She paused for a moment, and then repeated, "You have permission to do whatever you feel is necessary."
He stared at her for a second or two longer, and then he shook his head and got to his feet. Without another word, he strode out of her office and headed in the direction of the brig.
Elizabeth covered her face in her hands as she tried to hold her emotions in check. This wasn't the time to lose it - not yet. Not until Rodney was home and everything was alright again.
Unfortunately, as the hours passed and she still hadn't heard anything more from Major Sheppard, it seemed that Rodney wasn't going to get home anytime soon.
She hated that there were trivial, everyday things that she had to see to in the meantime. Atlantis seemed so empty without Rodney McKay, so it seemed as though everything should come to a complete stop until he returned. Yet everything had to carry on as normal. It was endlessly frustrating.
More than once since he'd been gone, Elizabeth had found herself just itching to talk to him about whatever was going on, and his absence would hit her hard when she would realize that it wasn't possible. She wished she'd known before this had happened just how much she was coming to rely on his friendship and how much she enjoyed the playful banter they always had between them.
She was about ready to tear her hair out for missing him.
It was getting late by the time Major Sheppard appeared again. He looked haggard and worn, like he'd been on the go all day without food or rest. Elizabeth figured that this was probably the case.
"How did it go, Major?" she asked as he wandered into her office and plopped down onto a chair.
He leaned his elbows on his knees and covered his face with his hands. "I think I got just about everything out of him that I'm gonna get," he said.
Elizabeth's heart sank. From his body language she could tell two things without him even having to say it - one, that he'd had to resort to some pretty extreme measures to get the man to talk, and two, that whatever the man had told him wasn't what they'd hoped it would be. "What did he say?" she asked quietly. She didn't even bother asking what he'd done to the man. She knew he wouldn't want to talk about it.
John straightened up in his chair, dropping his hands into his lap. "Nothing overly helpful," he said. "He did, however, tell me why this whole thing happened."
Elizabeth's ears perked up at this. "Oh?"
"Apparently, those people are way more technologically advanced than they appear. Remind you of anyone?"
"The Genii."
"Exactly. Something he said made it sound as though the Genii had a hand in it all. Not that they were the masterminds behind it, mind you. That would be the Decarians themselves, the sneaky bastards."
Elizabeth held her hand up to silence him for a moment as she caught up with what he was saying. "He said the Genii are involved in this?" she said. "That's... actually, that doesn't surprise me at all."
"No, it didn't really surprise me, either," John said. "What did surprise me was the fact that it was people who didn't have a clue who we even were who set this whole mess up."
"What do you mean?"
"That Mackush guy," John drawled. "He didn't know who we were, just saw that a bunch of strangers had entered the town and one of them was hanging around Jassin Tiya's booth. He wanted the power conversion device that Tiya was selling, but Tiya refused to sell to any kind of government official or anyone he knew to be working for one."
"So he wanted Tiya out of the picture," Elizabeth said.
John rolled his eyes and nodded. "And he figured Rodney would be the perfect fall guy," he said. "Rodney hadn't exaggerated about all those people crowding around him, holding him in place for a few minutes. Apparently, Mackush signalled them through radios of some kind, telling them to stall him for a while. It sounds as though that place is just teeming with Mackush's undercover agents, who do whatever he says without question. As soon as Rodney was out of sight, he got one of his guys to sneak into Tiya's tent and tamper with the device."
"That doesn't make any sense, though," Elizabeth interrupted. "Why would he destroy the device when he wanted it so badly?"
"Ahh, yeah, that's what I said," John said with a lopsided smile. "It wasn't the actual device he was after. It was the blueprints."
"I take it those fell into the hands of the government after Tiya was murdered?"
"Exactly. The whole place was considered a crime scene - the perfect opportunity for someone working for Mackush to steal the blueprints without anyone even knowing."
Elizabeth took a deep breath as she allowed this information to sink in. "So... where do the Genii come in?" she asked. "It sounds as though it was all the Decarians' doing."
"Well, from what I could gather, it seems as though the Genii just happened across a good thing," John said in a dry, almost angry tone. "Whether they took him back to their world or just followed him to wherever the Decarians sent him, I don't know, but I get the impression that they plan on having some 'fun' with him... if they haven't already."
Elizabeth's blood seemed to freeze in her veins when she heard these words. "You mean, you think they'll..." She couldn't even finish the sentence.
"I'm willing to bet that they already have," John said, suddenly seeming very restless and jittery. "With your permission, I'd like to take a jumper to the Genii homeworld, and see if we can figure out what they've done with him."
Elizabeth thought this over for a moment, but her decision was soon made. "No."
"Excuse me?"
"That's enemy territory, Major. I'm afraid I can't authorize sending people into what is essentially a war zone until we know for sure that Rodney is there."
"But if he's there, we're wasting time that could mean the difference between life or death!"
"I realize that, Major," Elizabeth said, feeling her voice shaking with emotion and not really caring. "Believe me, it's killing me to say no, but I really don't see that we have any other choice. The Genii have made it quite clear that we are no longer welcome on their world, and that they would rather kill us than give us the time of day. If Rodney isn't on that planet... I'm sorry, but I just can't risk people's lives when we don't know one way or another."
"Can we at least go back to Decaria and see if we can find any more information there?" John asked, obviously keeping himself under control with great effort.
"Yes, of course," Elizabeth said. "Though I... think it would be best if you didn't go yourself."
He didn't say a word, but his glare was enough to get his point across. He was about ready to blow.
"You would be sure to be recognized, Major," she said, trying to keep her voice level this time. "Assemble a team that could go undercover somehow and... blend in."
His glare didn't soften in the slightest, but he gave a short nod. "Right. I'm not exactly the 'blending in' type, after all."
Elizabeth looked down at her hands as Major Sheppard got up and marched out of her office. It was breaking her heart to refuse a rescue mission to the Genii's planet, yet at the same time, part of her felt as though searching their world would prove futile anyway. She also felt terrible that she'd had to restrict Major Sheppard from going back to Decaria, but she really did believe it would jeopardize the entire mission if he were to go.
She sighed heavily and rubbed her tired eyes. Despite their many setbacks, she was determined not to lose hope just yet. Rodney was out there somewhere... she could feel it. They just had to figure out where.