Jessica felt herself being pulled one way, then another, in the black. She wondered if she were floating on a raft in the ocean, and then what ocean she was on, exactly. 'So many worlds, so many oceans,' she thought. When was the last time she went swimming… just for fun?
She went along with the tide, not having the energy to fight it right then. She wasn't even sure what was going on. Where was she again? How did she get there? Was she alone?
Murmuring voices answered that last question for her. Nope, definitely not alone. 'Who's there?' Jessica called out, but no one replied.
She'd always despised that feeling of not knowing what was going on, but she'd also learned over the course of her life that sometimes you just had to be patient and wait for more information to reveal itself. So she relaxed as best she could and tried to expand her awareness of her surroundings.
The voices grew louder and coalesced into faint but recognizable words.
"How long has she been like this?"
"Since yesterday. She had some sort of attack, but we have no idea what set her off."
"What do the test results say?"
"Inconclusive. As far as we can tell, there's no reason why she should have seized. We had to use the crash cart; she coded twice before we could stabilize her."
"Well, in any case, I have her complete medical file for Dr. Beckett. As well as some personal effects that were sent along."
Jessica could hear paper rustling, and heard someone approach her side. She wondered what was going on, and could feel memories tickling the edge of her conscious mind.
"He'll be happy to know that this is really Dr. Monevata. We were all a little worried about that."
"You never can be too careful these days."
Jessica's one eyelid was pried open, and a penlight flashed, blinding her. She flinched away.
"Well, not only am I getting a pupil response, it seems you've decided to rejoin us, my dear." The bright light moved away, and the Cheyenne dragged open her other eye to focus blearily on Nurse Saito… and a man in military gear.
Jessica blinked, not having the energy yet to speak.
"Good morning, Dr. Monevata," the marine greeted her seriously. "I hear you've had yourself quite an adventure."
Jessica snorted as a corner of her mouth weakly twisted into a wry smile. Her expression clearly stated 'No shit'.
"As soon as you're feeling up to it, I need to debrief you on the events of the last two years, doctor," the man continued. "Since your identity is no longer in question, you'll be free to move around Atlantis… once we've dealt with the Wraith, that is."
Jessica blinked again, and frowned in confusion. She opened her parched mouth to speak, but could only grate out "Wha?" before being seized by a coughing fit.
Nurse Saito raised the head of the bed enough that she could easily guide a cup of water to her patient's mouth. "Now now, Jess, don't try speaking just yet. We almost had to intubate you last night. I'm sure your throat's still quite irritated. You'd been screaming an awful lot."
The Cheyenne drank almost half of the cup before her throat did indeed feel better. "Don'… 'member…" she managed.
The nurse tilted her head to the side. "What happened? You were working on the laptop when you had some sort of attack," she began. "The only thing we could get out of you was the name Bob."
"Bob?" Jessica's eyebrows bunched together as she searched her elusive memory. She glanced at the marine, who shrugged.
"I just got here," he informed her with a small shrug, which confused Jessica even more. What did he mean by that?
It was then that it came back to her. "Wraith…" she whispered harshly, her breath hitching in her throat.
The other two didn't reply, waiting, as it was obvious that Jessica was trying to say something more.
"Felt him… die…" Jessica ground out. "Tried to… take me… with him."
The nurse shot the marine beside her an almost panicked look out of the corner of her eye, and soothed her distressed patient. "No, dear, there were no Wraith here. No one tried to kill you. You had some sort of attack, and we almost lost you. Look, you need to rest. Do you want a sedative?" She moved a hand towards a tray resting beside the bed, with a few prepped syringes waiting for deployment.
Jessica caught on to the warning in the nurses' eyes and minutely shook her head. "Must've been a… nightmare. Tired…" she affirmed, and closed her eyes. So far only four people knew about her now enhanced abilities. In her panic from suddenly remembering the previous days' events, she'd practically blurted out her secret to a complete stranger. Sighing, listening to the hushed conversation between Akiko and the marine, Jessica relaxed and allowed sleep to wash over her.
She didn't wake again until much later in the day, when Dr. Beckett came in to check on her.
"Oi, love, I heard you woke earlier," he greeted her wearily, noticing that Jessica had already regained enough strength to sit up and tentatively eat some Jell-o. "How are ye feelin'?" He also noticed that she'd changed into a spaghetti-strap shirt from the small box of personal effects that had been sent with the Marines from Earth. It proudly proclaimed, "The gene pool needs more chlorine."
The linguist looked up and did a mental double-take at the worn-out appearance of her friend. "Much better than you, apparently."
Carson snorted as he moved to her side to check her chart. "I dinna know if anyone's told ye yet, but we've got visitors from home," he began, and Jessica nodded.
"Akiko brought me up to date when she got my… lunch," she indicated the rather large bowl of red Jell-o and a mostly finished mug of broth.
"How's yuir head? Coupin'?"
Jessica blinked in confusion at the doctor.
"Ah, sorry, lass, tend to slip when I'm tired. Was askin' if yuir head was hurtin'?"
The Cheyenne shrugged. "Not as much. And don't worry about it. Just took a moment to remember what that meant." She smiled.
"Ye know… ?"
Jessica nodded. "My college roommate was from Dundee. I picked up some of the vernacular… and some interesting swearing… from her." Her grin widened at Carson's chuckle. "Dinna fash yuirsel' laddie… y'know… tha' numpty pie eater Thomas Kavanagh is a righ' bloody Jobby jabber," she said with a dead-on accent, and Carson burst out laughing.
"Ah, lass, ye do me good," he patted her good arm as he continued to chuckle. "An' tha' wasna verra nice slaggin' such rubbish 'bout Dr. Kavanagh." His brogue thickened briefly.
Jessica couldn't contain her chuckle. "That's why I said it. If he ever heard me call him a poof, he'd blow a gasket. Never could understand why some people feel threatened by that sort of thing. Still, it's better than what he called me when I met him in Russia. Bit of a nutter, he is." And she winked. "Bloody plamph."
Carson merely shook his head. "An' somehow I get the feelin' ye dinna like the man," he grinned. "Now, ye just said ye worked with the Russians?" he changed the subject, curious as to something, and Jessica nodded. "Is that where ye met Rodney too?"
The Cheyenne's expression sobered. "Yeah."
When she didn't elaborate, he pressed on. "Ye had a difficult time workin' together, didn't ye?"
A red flush crept up her cheeks towards her ears, and Jessica ducked her head behind a shimmering curtain of raven hair. "Actually, we got along quite well. Until I had to leave."
Carson blinked, taken aback at what the younger woman seemed to be implying. "Ah, well then," he verbally stumbled, and an almost uncomfortable silence reigned in the room, until Nurse Akiko Saito entered.
"How's your lunch coming along, dear?" she asked before she noticed Carson. "Dr. Beckett!" she smiled in greeting. "How went the test with Dr. McKay?"
Carson ducked his head in embarrassment. "Not well, but at least I did'na fire missiles at anyone this time," he replied in quiet shame.
"Don't tell me… Rodney's scintillating personality?" Jessica quipped lightly, and the other two chuckled.
"Nay, lass. I'm just verra uncomfortable around weapons," Carson admitted.
The nurse cleaned up the remnants of Jessica's lunch and went about tidying up the room. "Now, young lady, I expect you to take a nap very soon. You're still worn out from yesterday's episode, and you need your rest."
Jessica chuckled. "Yes mom." She looked at the various leads and active monitors beside the bed as she fingered one of the electrodes stuck to her temples. "If I'm a good girl, will I be freed from some of these machines later?"
Carson checked the readouts. "As long as ye don' go tryin' to read minds," he replied seriously. "That was too close for my liking."
"Mine too," Jessica said in a low voice. She slid down in the bed as the other two reclined the head slightly, and she gave in to the weariness tugging at her. She listened to Carson and Akiko quietly finishing up their business in the room, and allowed her thoughts to wander.
Something brushed against the edges of her mind, and Jessica startled. 'What the…' She frowned, and waited to see if she felt it again.
There! Another one!
And another… 'Oh, shit…'
Before they could fully notice her, Jessica tried to slam down the walls in her mind.
Beside the bed, one of the machines she was hooked up to began to trill as her pulse leapt into the triple digits.
Akiko shot a startled look at Carson and moved closer to their suddenly rigid and tense patient. "Jessica… what's wrong?" This rapid change was unlike anything she'd dealt with before.
Jessica's head writhed on the pillow, her long hair getting gnarled from her struggles. "W-wraith…" she panted, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. She could feel at least one of them trying to pry his way into her mind, and she wasn't having any of it. What was it with these twits and their fascination with her brain?
"We know all about the Wraith coming, lass," Carson soothed. "Dinna worry, Bob's gone. Yuir safe for the moment…"
But Jessica shook her head. No, that wasn't what she meant! "No… here… they're here!" She could feel them, intruding on the edges of her mind. More than one! She cursed her weakness at not being able to effectively communicate to the others, and her pulse and blood pressure soared. More monitors began to call out their distress in tandem with hers, and Carson and Akiko quickly moved to calm down the agitated woman. The doctor completely flattened the bed as the nurse injected a sedative into Jessica's IV, and the linguist felt the drug's immediate effects pulling her into darkness.
"No!" she cried out feebly as she was dragged under.
Teyla ran through the corridors of Atlantis, utilizing the transport system to attain her goal more quickly. She rushed into the Gate room, only to be grabbed by two of the marines on duty.
"Whoa there, missy, no unauthorized personnel," the one new arrival growled in warning.
But Teyla was not to be easily dissuaded. "Let me pass!" She looked up at the Control Room, and saw Colonel Everett, Major Sheppard and Dr. Weir moving towards the balcony. "I need to talk to Dr. Weir!" she snapped at the marines still restraining her.
Elizabeth moved more into the Athosian's line of sight. "Teyla? What's the matter?"
Out of breath from her rush, the Athosian warrior panted a little before replying. "The Wraith… they are in Atlantis."
"Oh crap," John murmured, and finally the two marines released their hold on Teyla.
When the call came to the Infirmary, notifying them that security was being increased to pertinent areas and all staff were being restricted to their quarters, Carson felt a chill settle in his gut. This was what Jessica had been attempting to tell them! She wasn't having a belated panic attack from the Wraith's death the other night… she'd been trying to warn them of more.
Jessica fought the comforting pull of sleep, clawing her way towards consciousness. There was something she desperately needed to do.
She bolted to a halfway sitting position, crying out "Wraith!"
"It is all right, Jess. They know," a woman's voice soothed as she rested her hand gently over the younger woman's on the bed.
Jessica blinked. "Ch-Charan?"
"Yes, child." The elderly Athosian woman smiled as she gently guided the panting Cheyenne back onto the pillows. "Everything is being taken care of. They are searching the city now, and have guards on all the necessary areas."
Jessica tried to relax and slow down the pounding of her heart. "There's so many of them," she whispered with wide eyes. She shifted about in the bed uncomfortably. "I should be…"
"Resting," Charan interrupted in a firm voice. "You are in no shape to do anything other than stay in this bed and concentrate on getting better."
Jessica turned the full force of her worry on to her new friend. "Why are you here? I thought you were…"
"I am better, but Teyla and Halling felt it was in the best interest of our people to stay in the city of the Ancestors until the Wraith are gone." She paused to smile reassuringly. "And I felt I could help by keeping you company."
Jessica heaved a sigh and forced her tense body to relax a little. "Thank you."
"Is there anything I can do? Is there something you require?"
"No, I'm fine… just tired," Jessica replied.
"You carry a heavy burden," Charan spoke softly. "I have asked Teyla to speak with you when she is able. I think you both would benefit from the conversation."
"You know?" Jessica's chestnut-colored eyes widened.
"I had come to visit you when you fell ill the other day," the elder woman nodded. "I heard your cries, and they reminded me of when Teyla was a child. Her nightmares before the Wraith cullings were very similar." She gently patted Jessica's hand. "I do not envy you your burden, child, but it does make you a stronger person."
Jessica closed her eyes, feeling weariness creeping up on her. "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy."
Silence fell upon the room for a while, until a thought struck Jessica.
"Charan, would you do me a favor?"
"If I am able," the elderly woman replied kindly.
"Do you know where the weapons' locker nearest the infirmary is located?"
Charan shook her head. "I do not."
Jessica wriggled up to a somewhat sitting position. ""I do, and I could use your help in getting there."
The Athosian woman raised the head of the bed to support Jessica's back as she looked curiously at the younger woman. "I do not understand. Why do you wish to go there?"
Very carefully, Jessica slid her legs over the side of the bed, and reached for the crutch leaning against the wall. "Some of the items I had on me when I arrived are being held in that locker."
"They are… weapons?"
The Cheyenne shrugged her good shoulder. "In part. I just can't stand the thought of sitting here completely defenseless while everyone else is fighting these Wraith. The least I can do is help protect the infirmary in case they come here."
"Little one, you are in no shape…" Charan began, but was immediately cut off.
"Believe me when I say I've done more when I was in worse shape," Jessica interrupted quietly, yet fiercely. "Charan, I've grown used to always being on alert; having to always be ready for an attack. This sitting around and waiting is driving me insane. Please… I want to feel like I'm doing something here. And frankly, this city needs all the people it can get to defend it."
The determination in her voice seemed to sway the elder Athosian woman, and Charan nodded before standing and assisting Jessica to do the same.
Jessica positioned the crutch under her right arm, and with Charan's gentle assistance, made it out of her room into the main part of the infirmary.
Now here was the tricky part – getting out without anyone noticing.
But there were wounded coming into the infirmary at a steady pace, keeping the medical staff on their toes. No one noticed Jessica and Charan making their way to the exit in all the hubbub.
The two women slipped out into the hall, and Jessica stopped for a moment to gather her bearings.
Elizabeth Weir's weary voice suddenly echoed down the halls of the entire city, and Jessica and Charan momentarily froze to listen. "This is Weir. Now I know how tired you all are, and how much we have asked of you these past few days."
Jessica's head tilted to the side as she picked up on the tension her friend was projecting.
"Hopefully the Daedalus will arrive soon, but until that happens our fate is in our own hands."
"This way," the Cheyenne murmured with a jerk of her chin, and she hobbled down the hallway with Charan right beside her.
"If, during the course of this battle, our mission fails, I will give the order to evacuate. Now, we all hope it won't come to that. But if it does, don't hesitate. That is all."
Charan moved silently beside Jessica, her presence fortifying the young woman's resolve to do whatever she could to help these people.
They had to duck out of sight a few times from Marine patrols, but otherwise they attained their goal unnoticed. And that was only because Jessica was able to sense the approach of others. Charan started to pry open the power access panel beside the door, but the Cheyenne woman shook her head, mentally bypassed the locking mechanism on the room and activated the door without even touching anything. If she'd had the time to think, Jessica would've been flabbergasted that she was able to manipulate the door controls as easily as she was. But she quelled any superfluous thoughts and concentrated on the mission at hand.
It didn't take her long to locate her armband devices, as they were resting on a shelf a few feet from the door.
The trick was how Jessica was going to put the devices on over her cast. After a few minutes' contemplation, she came to the conclusion that she'd be better off revamping them to fit her right arm, and she quickly set about her task.
At one point, Charan spoke up quietly. "Jess, may I ask you a question?"
"Sure," was the distracted response. Jessica squinted her eyes at a tiny connection in the hand device as she wielded a small set of pliers from a tool box she was now sitting on.
"What do the markings on your shirt indicate?"
Jessica blinked and frowned a little as she brought her full attention to the question. "Oh, you mean what does it say?" At the elderly woman's nod, she continued. "It was a gift from a… friend. It's supposed to be humorous, and is written in one of the primary languages on Earth: English." She paused, trying to condense what would be a lengthy explanation about culture, allegories and evolutionary theory. She came up way short, and instead shrugged her good shoulder. "It's a complicated discussion."
Charan smiled at her young friend, knowing that she would attempt to explain at a later time. "I understand. Maybe you can explain it to me some other time."
The refit took much longer than she liked, what with only being able to do most of it one-handed, but Jessica made do and even accepted the occasional assistance of her Athosian friend. After almost a half hours' work, Jessica critically eyed her handiwork and deemed that it would have to do. She'd had to twist some of the metal connecting pieces to make them fit her right hand, and knew that they'd dig into her skin.
'Not much I can do about it right now,' she thought grimly. She pulled the armband over her hand and settled it on her forearm, with Charan helping to adjust the fastener to accommodate the loss of muscle tone. Then she fitted the hand devices and finger coverings before concentrating on activating the individual components.
After she had satisfied herself that everything was in working order, Jessica looked up and nodded to her friend. It was time to return to the infirmary. Charan rose from where she had seated herself on a box by the door, and helped the younger woman make her way to the door. Jessica peered around the corners, and was happy to neither see nor sense anyone in their immediate vicinity.
They returned from whence they came, finding the corridors strangely empty. This made Jessica quite jumpy, and it wasn't helped by the fact that periodically both women could feel the city shudder as it was impacted by weapon's fire… and possibly even crashing ships. The second wave of the invasion was in full force.
Jessica saw something flit past the corner of her eyes and her mind, and she froze. Charan took a couple more steps before she noticed, and turned around to face her young friend.
"Jess, what is it?"
"Did you see that?"
The elderly woman frowned. "No, I did not."
Dread gripped Jessica's throat. "Someone's coming."
But before the two women could even move towards the nearest door, something came up behind Charan and struck her across the back, sending her flying towards Jessica. Both women were knocked to the ground in a tangled heap of limbs.
Jessica was flat on her back, with Charan's limp body lying half over her. Her head began a slow pounding from its impact against the ground, and Jessica opened her mouth to ask her friend if she was all right.
It was then that she saw her first Wraith, and her voice died in her throat.
'Oh gods, it's ugly!' a part of her mind shrieked, and the Wraith sprouted a bloodthirsty grin.
"As you are to me," he growled.
Jessica used her right arm to shove Charan off of her, and shimmied out from under her friend's dead weight. But she couldn't quickly get up with her broken leg at the angle it was, and the Wraith's grin grew.
"I can smell your desperation," he purred. "You shall make a great feast." He erased the distance between them in a couple of long strides, bent over and slammed his hand into her chest.
"HEY!" came a shout from behind the Wraith, just as Jessica screamed from the agony that flared up in her body. The Wraith ignored the newcomer behind him, and suddenly Jessica's ears were assaulted with the sound of semi-automatic weapons' fire.
The Wraith staggered as his hand lifted, and Jessica sagged to the floor. The pain radiating from her breastbone was excruciating. She propped herself up on her left elbow and shakily raised her right arm to aim the hand device at the Wraith's back as he confronted his new prey.
More gunfire, and the Wraith's head tilted to the side as he fired his stunner. A few people cried out, but Jessica couldn't see who they were from where she was behind the Wraith soldier.
She felt the strength cautiously return, and fought to stand up. It took a few agonizing moments, especially without the use of her crutch, but she made it up onto her left leg and leaned heavily against the wall. Now she could see that there were a total of four people facing down the Wraith, but two were already down on the ground, seemingly unconscious.
The Wraith warrior stalked up to the two standing soldiers and backhanded one into the other wall. The man crumpled into an unconscious heap, with blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. The other one raised his handgun and emptied the clip into the Wraith, but that didn't seem to stop the creature. He knocked the gun out of the man's hand and slammed his other hand against the human's chest.
Jessica was frozen where she stood as she witnessed her first Wraith feeding. Within moments, the human soldier rapidly aged as he bellowed in anguish, and then his eyes rolled up into his head as he died. The Wraith dropped the lifeless corpse to the ground nonchalantly, and turned to his next victim.
"NO!" Jessica couldn't stand to see that happen again, and she didn't even notice when she walked on her broken leg. She stumbled over to the Wraith as fast as she could, and grabbed his shoulder to spin him around just after he reached for the second unconscious man.
She raised her left hand, the crystals in her palm glowing white-hot, just as the grinning Wraith's palm smashed into her breast. Jessica screamed again as she felt her life force being sucked out of her, and she unconsciously echoed the Wraith's motion. Her left hand pressed against his chest, and she concentrated.
She could feel herself growing weaker by the moment. It wasn't working!
But then, suddenly, the Wraith's triumphant expression wavered. Something was forcing its way into the warrior's mind. He blinked at the frail looking human female, and then grunted in pain.
What was happening!
Jessica felt the strength returning to her limbs, and she unconsciously stood up straighter. She grabbed the Wraith's arm with the exposed fingers of her left hand, and slowly forced it away from her chest even as she continued to drain his life force.
The Wraith's eyes widened in horror. This cannot be happening!
Everything narrowed down to what was happening between Jessica and the Wraith, and she didn't hear the other human soldiers beginning to stir.
She could feel the energy rapidly flowing into her, and she felt enervated, as if she could do anything. What a rush! A feral grin spread across her face, and she sent a thought into the Wraith's mind. "How does it feel to be the prey?"
The Wraith howled, and Jessica's grin grew impossibly wider. The glow of the crystals in her palm intensified until it was so bright that no humans could look at her hand or the Wraith's chest without their eyes watering.
Dimly Jessica could hear voices raised in alarm as the two other Marines roused and slowly gained their bearings. The third, the one that the Wraith had backhanded into the wall, remained still and unmoving.
The Wraith writhed under Jessica's hand, and tried vainly to pull away. He managed to step back a pace, but a white-gold ribbon of energy came out from his chest to the crystals in Jessica's hand and healing devices. The light was like a palpable thing, seemingly holding the dying alien and preventing escape.
Jessica absently noticed that her broken bones were mending at an even faster rate than she was now used to, and she was able to put more and more weight on her right leg.
The Wraith began to shrink into himself, much like a star collapsing into a black hole. A part of Jessica's mind shrieked at her to stop already, that was enough, she needed to back off NOW, but she couldn't. The power flooded her, making her feel too big for her body… as if she were growing impossibly large and was going to rupture through her skin any moment. Her hair crackled with static, and a small part of her mind wondered in amusement if there were sparks showering from her like in those cheesy science fiction movies.
The Wraith continued to diminish, his desolate eyes now sunken well into his head. Jessica's ears roared with the flush of power, and she didn't catch the Marines' shouts of warning.
White-hot agony ripped through Jessica's middle. Her eyes widened just as the Wraith she'd almost drained managed a weak exultant smile.
The Cheyenne 's gaze drifted down, where she was surprised to see a long, double-edged blade emerging from directly above her right hip. In a kind of numb disbelief, she watched the blade turn counterclockwise before it was yanked out of her back.
The Wraith soldier in front of Jessica took one last shuddering breath as he died, just as the one she now knew was behind her grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.
Jessica could feel her innards trying to slide out of the large hole made by the other Wraith's giant knife, and her left hand ghosted over the gaping wound in a vain effort to staunch the blood flow.
Wait a minute…
The Wraith's triumphant grin faded even as the Marines beyond Jessica opened fire on the creature.
Jessica looked down again, to stare in amazement at the now rapidly dwindling wound.
'What the hell?'
Her hearing came back to her in a rush, and Jessica realized that the Marines had been shouting at her to drop her weapon and back away from the Wraith.
'Can't do that right now,' she thought grimly. Her legs didn't want to obey her, and she wondered if she were in shock.
Bullets flew through the hallway like horizontal hail, zipping past Jessica to their intended target. One grazed her cheek, and she felt the warm wetness of blood begin to trickle down to her chin.
Jessica blinked as the Wraith backed away from her a few steps, and her gaze fell to where Charan was still lying in a crumpled heap on the other side of the hallway. Bullets were coming awfully close to hitting her friend, and that realization seemed to unlock the young woman's uncooperative legs. Jessica staggered over, cursing the now-useless cast on her leg and how it was impeding her mobility as she dropped her left knee and crouched over the elderly woman. She pressed on a crystal embedded in the back of her armband and activated the personal shield. The air shimmered every time a bullet impacted it, and the Cheyenne woman's eyes narrowed in anger.
This had to end, NOW!
In the Gate room, Carson shoved a Marine towards the open wormhole. "Go, go, go, go!" He turned and ran up the stairs to the control room, and practically skidded to a stop beside Rodney and Elizabeth. "We canna stay here, Elizabeth."
"He's right," Rodney snapped wearily. "They're beaming in all over the place."
Elizabeth's eyes were hard. "We're not going anywhere… not yet." She'd be damned if she was going to order everyone else to cut and run when John was up there sacrificing his life to take out one of the Hive ships.
Rodney turned away to look at the computer screens. They showed one blue dot flying out into the large number of red dots above the planet.
Carson leaned closer to Elizabeth and murmured so only she could hear. "Jessica and Charan are missing. They weren't with the wounded when I ordered 'em all out."
Elizabeth shot Carson a wide-eyed look of near-panic. She had an idea what her Cheyenne friend was up to, based on something the other woman had said the last time they'd talked, but there just wasn't any time.
"We'll just have to hope that they'll be careful and can take care of themselves," Elizabeth whispered back to her CMO.
"But…"
Elizabeth's eyes said what she couldn't, and Carson seemed to understand, if the sorrowful understanding that filled his face was any indication.
John Sheppard's voice filled the control room. "You know, if this works, somebody might have to do it again."
Elizabeth sighed heavily and briefly closed her eyes in weary acceptance. "Understood."
Of the four Marines, there was only one standing now, and the second Wraith warrior was slowly advancing on him. Even though it was bleeding from numerous wounds, it refused to give up.
It wasn't the only one.
Jessica raised her right hand and spread her fingers out wide. The crystal in the center of her palm flashed white-hot red, and an energy pulse slammed into the Wraith soldier's back. He was thrown through the air like a rag doll in a hurricane, to slam with a wet 'crack' into the end of the hallway about 20 feet away. His body slid to the ground like some sick animated cartoon character… leaving a trail of greenish-blue blood on the now cracked wall.
Jessica panted with the effort of creating such a strong blast, but she glared murderously at the downed Wraith before turning back to her friend. She checked Charan's pulse and was dismayed to find it barely there.
Jessica didn't hesitate: she activated the healing device and passed it over the elderly woman's body. Once it 'reported' back to her with its findings on the damage found, she flicked a mental switch and focused her concentration on fixing it. Time seemed to slow for the Cheyenne, but it was only a few minutes before she completed her task, and raised her head to take in her surroundings.
The lone standing Marine was still gaping at Jessica as if she'd suddenly grown wings and sprouted a halo.
"Are you hurt?" Jessica asked, but the man just stood there slack-jawed. 'Jeeze, he looks all of twelve,' she thought acerbically.
"Hey!" Her eyes raked over his uniform until she saw his name printed over his heart. "Jorgenson!"
The Marine automatically snapped to attention.
"Are you hurt, soldier?"
"No, ma'am!"
"Then get your ass in gear and take this woman to the infirmary!" Jessica growled, and the younger man practically leapt at the order. He quickly strode over and carefully scooped up the elderly Athosian to his chest as Jessica rose and checked on the other men. Of the four total that had fought, only three were still alive, including Jorgenson.
But the one man was barely alive, and as Jessica watched, his chest stopped moving.