SURVIVING THE SIEGE (alternate ending to Siege II)
PART TWO

"One minute," Sheppard said, looking down at the display in the jumper, at the damage the darts were wreaking on his city, his home. Each second was painful, watching as more and more life signs disappeared from the numbers protecting Atlantis.

Five minutes had never felt so long a period of time in his life as right now.

"Rodney?" he demanded, his voice rough with impatience.

"Almost there!" Rodney called back. "I've almost got it!"

"What good is the chair anyway?" John asked suddenly. "Even if you get it working, I'm already here."

"Will you just let me save your life, you arrogant jerk!" Rodney shouted back. "Now shut up and let me work!"

John had to smile at that, closing his eyes and imagining Rodney rushing around the chair room, trying to reignite the control chair. The smile faded as he tried to guess at exactly what Rodney was doing. If the Mark Two was dead, then what…?

It wasn't going to work. If it was, they would have tried it already. Rodney was just delaying the inevitable. And more people were dying.

"Rodney," he called quietly, opening his eyes again. "I'm not waiting anymore." And with those words, he put his hands back on the flight controls.

"No!"

"John?" Elizabeth's voice quavered as she finally joined in the conversation.

"Good luck, Atlantis. God speed." And he pressed forward on the controls, accelerating the jumper forward.

——————————————————————

"Sheppard, you complete ASS HAT!" Rodney yelled, plugging in the last wire. Bounding over to the laptop, he made sure the program was running, integrating the systems. It beeped…complete.

With a nod, he skidded next to the two generators and picked up the two keys. Holding one in each hand, he held them over the two generators, to slide them into place and turn the machines on simultaneously. His hands shook, and he mentally tried to calm himself down.

"Like jump starting a car," he promised himself quietly. "That's all I'm doing, just jump starting a car…a really big, powerful, dangerous car…."

"One minute to impact," John said over the radio.

"Damn it!" Rodney shouted, shoving the two keys down at the same time…and fell back with a wince, his eyes on the two generators, half expecting the end of the world. Instead, they lit up, initialized…and started to shake. Swallowing down his terror, he reached forward and started hitting buttons, trying to level out the power levels to keep them equal, lessening the shaking. The laptop funneled them information, and the generators started to spin faster, brightening, their respective outputs doubling….A tinny whine started to emit from both machines.

Rodney's eyes checked the readouts, watching as the levels grew rapidly past normal levels.

"Forty seconds to impact."

As soon as Rodney knew there was enough power, he jumped up onto the dais and sat in the chair. He never even questioned as it powered up, blue light bursting forth around him. He just shut his eyes and focused his mind on John's puddle jumper.

——————————————————————

John glanced at the readout from the city, eyes narrowing as he saw power flare up on the screen. His lips parted slightly, and he nearly let go of the controls. Had Rodney really….?

And suddenly, the jumper shut down.

"Hey!" he shouted, turning the handles to no avail. "Hey! Something's happening!" He let go the controls as the panels came back to life…and the jumper began backing away from the Wraith hive ship he'd been targeting, seemingly of its own volition. "Hey!"

"You just couldn't wait, could you!" Rodney challenged suddenly, his voice crackling over the radio link like lightening. "Well, now you're going to have to, if you want your ship back."

"Rodney?" Elizabeth's voice chimed in. "What's happening?"

"McKay!" John was angry, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Controlling your ship, Major. What do you think I'm doing! And in less than five minutes, I might add."

"McKay…."

"I'm sending the other jumper up…or I should be…now…Radek?"

"Yes," Zelenka responded to the call, "It's working. Puddle Jumper Five is…it's heading up. Careful of the walls, Rodney. Move more to your right. The other right! Yes, yes, there you go. Now, cloak it…Ha…yes, well done, Rodney, you've done it. It's on its way."

"Careful," Rodney groused, "He tells me to be careful. Now get to the Gateroom and through the Stargate, Radek."

"You're welcome, Rodney. But I'm not going through until you go through with me. Elizabeth, I'm coming down there."

"Understood, Doctor," there was no hiding the joy in Elizabeth's voice. "Good luck, Rodney. John, are you all right?"

"I will be, when that jerk gives me my ship back," John answered, though he couldn't resist a small smile of his own. If Rodney pulled this off, maybe, as he'd hoped, the other hive ship would back off….

He looked at the screen, and smiled more to see a new white dot appear on the screen.

PJ-05X was indeed on its way.

——————————————————————

Elizabeth watched the same screen as John, eyes tracking the same new dot. Down below, people continued to move swiftly to get the last of the supplies through the Gate, but she barely noticed the movement anymore.

Carson stood a few feet behind her, his arms across his chest, eyes looking across at a different screen, the one attached to the biometric sensor, distinguishing the life signs still in the City. There were many, but, now, almost all of them were Wraith.

"Almost everyone is through the Gate, Elizabeth," he noted quietly.

Dr. Weir flinched a little at his voice, having forgotten he was there. She turned to look back at Carson, then over at the other display.

Her jaw flexed, seeing the same completely disproportionate levels in the population.

Her eyes focused on the locations of the remaining humans, the bulk showing up here in the control room or in nearby areas. A handful of strays also roamed the outer halls, but not many. Her breath caught in her throat at what appeared to be a group of about ten men surrounded on all sides by Wraith not far from here. It was the section of the City that lieutenant Ford was supposed to be protecting, the wing just outside the room holding the generator powering the Control Room. Without thinking, she looked up towards the stairs in that direction…just in time to see Doctor Zelenka jogging down from the jumper bay.

The Czech saw her looking, and nodded at her gaze as he continued down, hitting the floor below with a soft touch.

Gritting her teeth, she tapped her radio.

"All remaining personnel, fall back to the Gateroom," she ordered, "and seal all the bulkhead doors. We will make our last stand here," she added. Next to her, the young lieutenant quickly confirmed the order. Elizabeth looked at Zelenka as he came up alongside Beckett, eying both of them. "The two of you should go through the Gate now."

"I'm not leaving until Rodney does," Zelenka stated, his tone brooking no argument.

"I'm not leaving either, lass," Beckett added.

Elizabeth gave them both a smile, nodded, and turned back to the screen. Her eyes were drawn to the two motionless dots in the area of the city where the control chair sat.

"Okay, Rodney," she said quietly, "We're all watching. Make us proud."

And that was when the power to the control room shut down.

"NO!" Elizabeth screamed, looking around at the darkness, "Not now!"

——————————————————————

TBC