Less Than a Minute (Part 3)
Radek silently thanked the heavens above when the annoying alarm finally quieted. Hopefully that was because someone outside had shut it off and not because it had been cut off. With the dim emergency backup lights still showering the bay in a red glow, he squinted at the blurry image of Rodney slowly making progress towards the back of the open jumper. Several times he'd seen the blinded scientist falter as he crawled across the floor, his hands alternately reaching out to feel for debris, or to halt in mid-swipe when the Czech raggedly called out a direction or warning. It was when McKay apparently misplaced his already injured hand on a loose fragment and it slipped out from under him on the wet surface, sending him jarring painfully to the floor, did Radek understand the depth of the Canadian's pain. Rodney did not get back up. Curled into a tight fetal position with his injured leg drawn close to his chest, the scientist remained still.
"Rodney?"
McKay stayed motionless on the floor.
"Rodney!" Radek snapped using strength he didn't have to spare, "Get up! You're in shock and need to have leg fixed before you bleed to death."
"Need to rest," Rodney answered tiredly.
"No. No. Get up. Jumper very close now."
"You get it," the scientist slurred but already he was attempting to move again. Bringing his hands together under his chest, he pushed up and swayed momentarily before dragging his uninjured knee under him and propping himself up on all three. "How far?" he grunted, mentally praying he was right beside the ship and the first aid kit just happened to be laying on the floor right inside the back.
"Meter. Two at most. You almost there." Radek had to stop to catch his breath, his injured ribs pressing painfully into his lungs. "Straight ahead," he whispered hoarsely, and then cleared his throat to try again, "Put out your hand. You can feel jumper."
Rodney hesitantly felt in front of him. The cool surface of the ship intercepted his fingertips and he sighed in relief. "I made it." Turning to face the Czech's possible position on the floor behind him, Rodney swallowed, "Can you see inside it?"
Radek didn't answer.
"Zel'nka! Wake up!" he snapped and then pressed his injured hand against his forehead to stop the immediate intense pounding. "I dragged my ass over here for you, so you better not be over there taking a nap," he gasped between his clenched teeth while reaching up the edge of the doorway. With agonizing slowness, he pulled himself to stand on his good leg. Even without sight, he could feel the dip and loop of dizziness wash over him and he had to cling to the overhead compartments to stop himself from crashing back to the floor. "Radek!"
"R'ney," the Czech groaned through a bout of harsh coughing.
"Talk to me," McKay said, running his hands over the familiar equipment, searching for the first aid kit. Feeling what might be what he needed, he pulled it free, only to cry out when several other objects came with it and fell to the floor around him. "What happened?"
"Can't see in jumper," Zelenka answered.
"No, not in here." Breathing heavily through his exertion, he gripped the pack and made his way slowly back to the entranceway. "What happened in here?"
"Explosion."
Rodney tipped his head sideways, trying to remember. "What caused it?"
"Booby trap in sensor control board."
"Booby trap?"
"Perhaps self destruct to stop wraith."
"Oh." Taking a deep breath, Rodney started to slide down to the floor but stopped when he heard Radek call to him. "What?"
"Radio?"
"You hear someone?"
"No…we call out."
"Oh." Rodney scratched his head, his hand coming away feeling sticky and he frowned. "I can't think."
"You got hurt. Hit in head," Radek replied sleepily, slowly beginning to tip sideways to lie on the floor.
Rodney fumbled through another bin and successfully located one of the portable radios. Stuffing it in his pocket, he eased himself to the floor. "Zelenka?"
Silence.
"Radek!" His head exploded at his shouting and he clenched his eyes tight, panting through the pain. "This sucks," he whispered to himself. Stretching out his hand to feel the wet floor below the open jumper, he slowly slid on his hands and knee. "Radek, answer me," he called out again.
Not receiving an answer, he stopped and remembered the radio he'd just pocketed. Pulling it out, he switched the power on. "Hello?" he paged.
"Rodney, this is Elizabeth. Can you hear me?" Dr. Weir instantly replied.
He was never so happy to hear someone on the other end of the radio, as he was to hear her voice. "Oh, thank god. Radek's hurt," he whispered, his fragile hold on consciousness beginning to slip further.
"I know, Rodney," she answered. "So are you."
"You can see us?" he asked in disbelief.
"One of the security cameras is still working, and we can see you when you stay outside of the jumper."
"Oh." He gave a small tired wave to whoever might be watching.
"Rodney?" She paged again.
"Hmm?" he answered but didn't hit the call button.
"Rodney, stay awake," Weir called again urgently.
He pressed the button, "I'm here."
"Good. Rodney, Carson needs to talk to you so I'm going to transfer you to his frequency. Okay?"
He nodded and leaned back against the side of the jumper. He could no longer feel his injured leg and his head felt stuffed with cotton. Licking his lips, he tried not to think about how thirsty he was and how much he'd really like to lie down.
"Rodney?" The worried Scot's voice was unmistakable.
"C'son," he slurred, his eyes no longer able to stay open.
"Rodney, listen to me, son. You need to put some pressure bandages on your leg. You need to stop the bleeding."
The scientist's good hand flopped to the floor, feeling clumsily about for the med kit. Pulling open several Velcro enclosures, he recognized the feel of the bandages and shook one free but lost hold of it. Confused at discovering the item suddenly missing, he pressed the switch on the radio, "Carson?"
"It's okay, Rodney, you just dropped it. Feel down beside your right leg. It's on the floor beside you."
Cautiously tracing his hand down his leg, he felt the edge of the bandage tie strap and pulled it back to his lap until he felt the actual gauze pad. Commanding his unwilling fingers to cooperate, he reached down to his lower leg and pressed the fabric to where he knew the gash to be. Agony seared up his leg at the movement and he cried out in pain. What little hold he had on his tenuous reality slipped away into nothingness.
SG: A
It was decided that the rescue team would consist of Sheppard, Teyla, Dex, Carson, Maj. Lorne, and Dr. Rick Giles, head of the engineering department. When Sheppard raised a questioning brow to Lorne behind Giles's back, the major quietly whispered that the man had been formerly in charge of MIT's engineering department and had successfully climbed Everest…twice.
"Sounds good enough to me," Sheppard replied under his breath. Securing his climbing harness and then double checking the others, he sighed, "Okay, we know what needs to be done. Doc, what's the latest word on McKay and Zelenka?"
Carson turned the laptop around that a tech had rigged up for him so that they could see the inside of the bay. "Rodney's inside the jumper and Radek is propped up against some sort of debris on the main floor."
"Do we have any sound yet? Can we talk to them?"
The tech shook her head 'no'. "Not at this time, sir. We were able to enhance the interior picture quality, but neither doctor has on their communication device. If they activated a radio, we should be able to receive their transmission if they use the right frequency."
Slipping on his heavy pack, Sheppard blew out a deep breath before looking to Beckett, "What do you think? They gonna make it until we get there?"
Worried blue eyes met his gaze. "Rodney looks like a bloody mess and has got to be in shock by now. He's running on pure adrenaline. And Radek, I can only guess why he isn't moving. He appears to be having trouble breathing, which could mean a punctured lung, broken ribs, or internal injuries. Heaven only knows." Carson glanced back to the screen, "They need medical attention as quickly as possible."
Teyla stepped closer to get a better look at the screen. "Dr. McKay is leaving the jumper."
The group quieted as their teammate crawled back into view. He seemed to be calling out, most likely to Zelenka, before stopping and leaning against the side of the jumper once more. They watched him reach inside his pocket and remove a small object.
"A radio," Sheppard recognized immediately. "Good going, Answer Man."
Moments later Weir's voice came over their headsets, "Colonel, Rodney is on channel 4."
Carson stepped forward and took over before Sheppard got a chance, "Elizabeth, patch me through to him."
"Already done," she replied.
"Rodney?" the physician asked, watching the figure on the screen slump against the jumper while trying to hold onto the radio.
"C'son?"
Beckett's eyes never left the screen, the very fiber of his being wanting desperately to be inside the jumper bay helping his friend. "Rodney, listen to me, son," he said slowly, "You need to put some pressure bandages on your leg. You need to stop the bleeding."
They saw the scientist's hand flop to the floor and reach blindly for the med kit, removing several items before shaking loose a bandage. When it slipped from his grasp, he appeared momentarily confused, "Carson?"
"It is okay, Rodney," the Scot encouraged gently, "you just dropped it. Feel down beside your right leg. It's on the floor beside you."
Somehow McKay managed to grasp the bandage and place it on his injury before crying out and dropping the radio. When the group witnessed the scientist slump sideways to the floor, they knew time was running out and they had to go now! Grabbing the gear and packing into the transporter, they stopped when a shout from the end of the hallway called for them to wait.
Kavanagh. The scientist was actually running down the hallway towards them before coming to an abrupt halt. Handing over a laptop to Sheppard, he tried to regain his breath.
"What's this for?" Sheppard asked suspiciously.
"Wireless. It should be able to receive the security footage without being hooked directly into Atlantis."
"Should?"
"It will," he huffed, looking indignant before letting it slide. "I didn't have a lot of time to fine tune it."
Sheppard looked down at the piece of equipment and then back to the scientist, "Thank you."
Kavanagh just nodded and stepped back, watching the transporter doors close between them.
Inside the transporter, the group remained silent while Sheppard snapped the system open, bringing up the image of the hanger bay. It appeared the same as when they last saw it moments ago, both men still collapsed on the floor in the same positions. Closing the lid, he turned to Teyla, "You hang onto this."
She slid off her pack and tucked it inside. "That was very kind of Dr. Kavanagh."
"Yeah, he can throw a curve ball every once in awhile."
Ronon watched and listened to the exchange with interest, "What is a curve ball?"
Glancing up at the tall man, Sheppard was prepared to answer when the doors slid open. "How about I tell you later, when this is all over?"
Stepping out into the unfamiliar hallway, they made their way to the balcony service doors and headed outside. The cool night breeze blew across the top of the tall spires, and powerful spotlights from various points located nearby were directed towards their position and above.
"Last call to back out," Sheppard said, looking at each member directly, pausing the longest on Beckett. When the Scot refused to look away, the American smiled, "You keep up the Braveheart routine, doc, and I'm going to have one hell of a story for McKay to nail you with later."
"All I have to say is 'mission exams', colonel."
Sheppard nodded. "Good point." Turning to Dr. Giles, he noticed the man was already studying the layout while attaching several carabineer clips to his belt. "What do you think?"
"It won't be pleasant but it's not that difficult. Let me go first to establish placement and get the lines adjusted, then you can follow." He slipped the heavy duty nylon rope through his harness clasp before tying it off. Handing Ronon the remainder of the line, he clambered up on the railing and gripped the overhead lip before swinging himself up and over. "Don't give me too much slack," he called back down from above.
The remainder of the team stood back along the railing and tried to keep watch as the engineer worked his way up the slippery slope to the peak. Twice along the way he stopped to attach relay clips to various pieces of equipment and once his foot slipped on the condensation causing him to slide backwards several meters before he regained his grip. The group let out a collective sigh of relief when he started climbing once more.
"I so don't need to be seeing this," Carson mumbled under his breath.
Sheppard grinned and slapped the Scot on the back, "If it wasn't for what we needed to do, this would be a helluva a lot of fun, doc."
Several more minutes passed before Giles was totally out of their line of sight but the rope continued to slide through Ronon's strong hands. When it finally stopped moving and then there were two quick tugs, they knew he'd made it to the top.
"Colonel," his voice spoke calmly through their headsets, "I'm ready when you are."
"Copy that. What's the conditions up there?"
"Windy, damp, helluva a long way down." He paused a moment before continuing. "But it is nice and flat once you reach the top, and I'm standing on the bay doors. I've located what could be an external junction box but I can't open it without some tools. Whoever comes up next needs to bring my kit and a stronger light."
"I'll go next, sir," Lorne said while taking the needed gear from one of the techs standing inside the hallway. Filling his pack, he slung it over his shoulders and adjusted his climbing gear one final time. Moments later he disappeared up and over the lip, same as Giles.
Carson leaned next to Sheppard, his hand blocking his comm. relay, "He came here on the Daedalus. Isn't he a bit short to be a Marine?"
Sheppard grinned and covered his own relay, "He worked with one of the SG teams under O'Neill's supervision. If the General used him, I'm more than happy to have him here."
"As long as the General didn't ship him out here to get rid of him." Both men chuckled and mouthed 'Kavanagh' to one another at the same time.
"Colonel, we're ready for whoever's next," the major spoke over the headset.
"Alright, good work, Lorne. Teyla, you ready?" He asked, watching her adjust another line to her harness. When she nodded, he was ready to give her a boost up but she'd already swung herself up and over. Moments later there was another double tug on the line.
Sheppard signaled a large Marine inside the hallway to come out to the balcony to hold the second line secure while slipping the rope through Carson's harness. "Ready?" He asked the Scot, watching the physician's face for any sign of anxiety.
Carson nodded but remained quiet.
"Okay. I'll be right behind you so don't worry." Slipping Giles's original line through his own harness, Sheppard stood by the railing and offered the Scot a hand up. "Remember, don't look down."
Beckett's mouth opened to respond but then snapped shut. With a look of determination that would rival one of McKay's, he climbed up onto the railing and reached for the overhead lip. With a boost from Sheppard he made his way up onto the overhead and waited for the colonel to join him. "What the bloody hell am I doing?" he mumbled to himself.
"Saving Rodney and Zelenka," Sheppard said quietly from behind him. Giving the doctor a pat on the shoulder, he nodded to the top, "Let's go."
TBC
A/N: Part 4 is still under construction. Hopefully it will be up tomorrow. Before you fuss, I need the beta seal of approval first. Thanks!
