As soon as Rodney had double-checked (and triple-checked) each of the six jumpers that Elizabeth ordered to be deployed for safety and to make sure the shield used, Elizabeth directly addressed the twenty-one men standing in front of her. "The Wraith have begun powering their weapons. As of the moment, they are directed at Atlantis and not the mainland. We will be temporarily safe. When Atlantis can no longer protect itself, we will put up the shield. Hopefully Rodney is right and Prometheus will arrive before our own ZPMs are depleted. There is a signal between your jumper ship and Atlantis that directs power from the ZPMs to your ships. The signal should be able to reach you within the Pegasus Galaxy. I can't say enough to you all," she told them, "for putting your lives on the line so bravely." Elizabeth looked over at John and nodded as she walked to the side.

Sheppard stood where she had been standing: on a makeshift podium of boxes. "Since all of the philosophical stuff has been covered," he said, "I'm just here about what we're going to do." The people in front of him nodded. "The Wraith Darts are what we should be most concerned about. Sensors have indicated weapons on the Hive Ships, but they appear to be slow. The Darts are extremely maneuverable. I'm going to be honest with you now. The Darts outnumber us. If we went face-to-face, we would lose by sheer number of force. Three jumpers are going to stay below the clouds and go south. Go near PG097 and stay behind the planet. The other three jumpers will engage the Darts and led them to PG097. The first three will come from behind and get as many Darts as possible. Each of the jumpers has been equipped with a bomb," he looked at the pilots, "The scientists found them when they were searching the city. We don't know a lot about them. There is a silver panel that you have to attach to the bomb in order to activate it. It won't blow up until the panel is on. Do not deploy the bomb until you've radioed in and made sure no other jumper is in your vicinity. After most of the Darts are destroyed, we have to lure the rest of the Wraith away. It's too dangerous to drop a bomb on one of the Hive Ships over Atlantis, but if that's what it comes down to…" he trailed off. "Stay on channel six," he added, and began listing teams of three ships. Once he was done, everyone began clambering onto the jumpers. There were three more jumpers available for use if necessary. Elizabeth wanted there in case of emergency—what other emergency than the Wraith was unclear.

"Hey, John," Rodney stepped forward and John turned to look at him. The two looked at each other, no words leaving their lips. No matter how much they fought and bickered like two siblings, they both respected each other (not that they'd ever admit it, but…). "Good luck," Rodney said, swallowing. They grasped each other's forearms and John nodded.

"Thanks, McKay," he said genuinely. Sheppard turned to go onto the jumpers, glancing back at Elizabeth, Rodney, Carson and all of the others watching them go. "We'll be back," he said firmly.

Elizabeth furiously blinked her tears away. They would be back. Everything would be okay. Somehow, she couldn't convince herself of it. "Come home soon," she whispered softly as he turned and walked onto the jumper. Behind her, Rodney put his hand on her shoulders reassuringly.

"They'll be okay," he said, though deep down he wasn't sure. "John will never let anything happen to them." At least he knew the last sentence was true.

"That doesn't mean nothing will," Elizabeth replied sadly.

Rodney touched her cheek gently. "Don't talk like that," he said softly. "You know they're gonna go up there, Sheppard is going to be right, like always," he rolled his eyes, "and they're going to blow the shit out of the Wraith, come home and be heroes," his words were loud, as if he was convincing himself of it too. Elizabeth picked up on it but didn't comment.

"We should go to the control room, they'll start radioing in soon," Elizabeth said, and began walking in that direction. Rodney watched her go, his expression unreadable.

If Elizabeth didn't believe that Atlantis could be saved, then how could anyone?



Author's Note:
Short but hopefully sweet :), lol. I apologize for the chapter lengths. I've written most of the story in one word document, so they aren't really meant to be chapters. I've been cutting them up as close to 1,000 words as I can, but it's a little difficult. (The next chapter is 861, then 1120, then 1426...you get the picture) I'm trying to update every three or four days so hopefully that makes up for the length. I just watched an episode of Atlantis over again and I realized there was a part where Rodney said that the city was fragile without the shield, but hey, that's canon and this is fanon :) Sorry about the contradiction there. Oh, and a warning in case you haven't figured it out yet: one of the main charcters of Atlantisdies. (And you won't figure it out until near the end, I think...teehee). Not much else to say, sorry for the uberly long note. Thanks a bunch to Ashtynn, Orka, MacCartney and PurpleYinfor the great reviews. :)