THE ELEDGIAS

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: AW HELL

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McKay moved quickly through the halls to the Jumper Bay, walking with his usual hunched, long legged stride, not even trying to hide his presence except from the military, and those he only had to dodge a couple of times. Otherwise, with respect to the rest of the people he'd passed on the way up, he had just kept his head down, keying things into the personal datapad he'd picked up in his lab along with a radio and his usual off-world backpack, and muttering under his breath. Outside the Bay doors, he'd also grabbed his vest and a gunbelt from the tack room, slinging them over his arm. Over a dozen people had seen him do all these things, but his actions and appearance were so normal, no one thought to stop him. He was banking on Elizabeth not having told anyone on the science or operations side that he was, in military terms, AWOL, and he was right. A few even gave him half-hearted smiles, which he ignored, as he usually did.

Stopping at the Bay doors, he closed and sealed them. Moving to a control console next to the doors, he quickly moved around a couple of crystals and keyed in a few commands. The Bay went dark around him, except for emergency lighting.

Nodding to himself, he turned and made his way to Jumper One, tossing his vest and pack on the bench near the hatch and then sealing it. Settling into the pilot's chair, he keyed in a few more commands before actually preparing to take her up. To all intents and purposes, the control room should now be blind to the bay. At least, until he cleared the City limits, then everything would turn back on and the control room would be alerted to the fact that a jumper was missing. It didn't give him much time…but hopefully it would be enough.

With a jerk, the puddle jumper lifted off the ground and the roof hatch started to open overhead, flooding the dark chamber with late afternoon sunlight.

The soft orange light was almost soothing as he smoothly exited the City, glinting off the metal inside the jumper. And for a brief moment, when he was focused on nothing but maneuvering the ship, the beating Souza drums in his head faded.

Then he was flying as fast as he dared, and the conductor waved uptempo.

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"Colonel!" Weir's voice called through the radio channel, "Wait!"

Sheppard was only a few feet down the darkened hall, stopping the men with him with a raised fist. His other hand was gripping a life signs detector, which told him that just a few corridors away was the motionless dot that they had seen up in the control room. He tapped his radio.

"Elizabeth," he whispered into the mic, "what is it?"

"Someone has taken a jumper. We didn't see it leave, but the bay is now registering that the hatch was opened and that a jumper was taken at least ten, possibly fifteen minutes ago."

"And you think it was Rodney?" Sheppard asked, brow furrowing. He lifted up the life signs detector, confused by the dot that was still blinking away steadily ahead of them.

"We know it's Rodney. He's disabled the array so that we can't track him easily. No one else has that kind of knowledge of the systems. And I'm sure he's headed to the Mainland. Zelenka should be able to catch him in a moment with the sensors. We need to get after him."

"Doctor Weir," Teyla's voice called calmly over the frequency. Sheppard's eyes lifted. A tiny part of him breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been half afraid that the life sign on his scanner was Teyla's, and that Rodney had done it. He'd been unable to reach her before.

"Teyla?" Elizabeth's response was a question. "Where are you? We have been trying to reach you."

"I am with Doctor Beckett. We are in the Jumper Bay. I am requesting permission to go after Doctor McKay."

"What? By yourselves?" Sheppard said, at the same time that Weir replied, "You know he has left?"

"Yes," Teyla replied. "I am sorry—I was exercising and had taken off my radio. But I have monitored your recent conversations, and assumed that Doctor McKay might head back to the Mainland. Doctor Beckett and I would like to go after him on our own. I know he is doing this because he mistakenly believes there's something wrong with me. I believe I can bring him back, if I can just talk to him. Doctor Beckett concurs, don't you, Doctor?"

"Yes," Carson said curtly. When he didn't elaborate, Sheppard frowned.

"Colonel?" Weir called. "I admit, it seems like an idea. But I still think a detail should go with them. Do you agree?"

"Absolutely," Sheppard said. "Teyla, Beckett, wait for Lorne. I'll have him—"

"There isn't time," Teyla stated firmly. "We need to go now. We are taking Jumper Three."

"No, Teyla, you do not have a go," Elizabeth replied. "Wait for Major Lorne and his team."

"Those ruins are dangerous, Doctor Weir. We're going now. Major Lorne can follow us."

"Carson?" Weir reached out, "You're going along with this?"

"I don't feel I have much choice, Elizabeth," Carson replied, his voice oddly strained. "Just come after us as soon as you can." There was something strange in his voice. Sheppard found his frown growing.

"Teyla," he called, "Elizabeth and I are on the same page here. Do not take that jumper up. Wait for Lorne."

"Too late, Colonel," Elizabeth sighed over the comm. "They're already taking off."

"Then seal the roof!" Sheppard ordered.

"We can't. Whatever Rodney did, we don't have that control. The jumpers do."

"Crap," Sheppard muttered, glaring at the wall opposite. What the hell was going on? He swore softly again, and then radioed Lorne. The Major had heard and was already on his way to the bay. Then he told Elizabeth he'd be back there in a moment. He still needed to check out the life sign on his scanner.

A stray thought hit him then.

McKay had been right...Teyla was using contractions in her speech. It was odd.

But even worse, Carson had been terse. The man was never terse. He was the very epitome of loquacious.

With a growl, he led his men forward, and holding his P90 loose, continued down the corridor.

When they turned around the second corner, they finally saw what the scanner was telling them.

Sheppard ran and skidded to a halt before Ronon, while the two men with him both knelt down, already working on untying the bindings. There was blood on one side of his face, along with a fairly impressive purpling bruise from temple to cheekbone. Combined with the now askew bandage from his earlier wound, it was worrisome. Ronon blinked as he was leant forward so one marine could get to his hands while the other worked on his feet, and he groaned a little. Sheppard's worry grew—he'd never seen Ronon out for the count before.

A second later, the moment his hands were free, Ronon erupted in confused fury, throwing one marine back with a kick and gripping the other by the collar of his shirt. The captured marine gargled as Dex twisted his collar tight, choking him.

Oh. Guess he's okay then.

"Dex," Sheppard stated calmly.

Ronon blinked, and let the poor choking marine go. The two manhandled soldiers got quickly back to their feet, one rubbing his chest, the other his throat. The former Runner, meanwhile, was gazing blearily up at Sheppard.

"Colonel," he croaked out, then swallowed thickly, as if his neck was hurting. A hand reached up to rub at the spot just above his collar bone. Sheppard's frown deepened.

"What happened?" he asked. "Please don't tell me Rodney knocked you out."

"No, no," Ronon pressed his hands to the wall behind him and levered himself up. When he was Sheppard's level, he met him stare for stare. "It was Teyla. McKay was right. That's not her."

Sheppard looked pained, as if his worst fears were realized. "Aw hell!" he groaned. "He's never going to forgive me for this one!" Whipping around, he started running back to the transporter, not caring if the other three were with him. Tapping his radio, he told Lorne to wait for him in the Jumper Bay. When he got there, he'd tell Elizabeth using the City systems about Ronon, so "Teyla" wouldn't overhear on the radio.

When he hit the transporter, he found Ronon and the other two marines had kept up with him. Ronon looked horrible, but he also looked angry, which meant the former Runner was going to go with them, no matter what the colonel said. Sheppard's arm throbbed, his own head hurt, and he was fairly sure he'd just pulled something in his side...

But he wasn't about to be left behind either.

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TBC