I had gotten some questions about why Jessica seemed to be so close to Charan, the Athosian elderly woman. Back in Chapter 4, Teyla had suggested that her friend Charan be allowed to visit with Jessica as she recovered, to give the Cheyenne something to do so she's not bored. Charan is (well, at least in my story, anyway) the Athosian who heads any religious ceremonies for her people, and would be the best person for Jessica to discuss the various faiths in the Pegasus galaxy with. Hope that clears up any questions? And now, on with the much-delayed story!
About 15 minutes Earlier
Rodney trudged into the Chair Room, barely able to keep his head up, and headed over to the Mark Two Naquadah generator to check its connections. John Sheppard was already there, nonchalantly leaning against the Control Chair.
"Damn Rodney, you look like shit," John remarked with a hint of concern in his voice.
The Chief Science Officer irritably waved one hand while the other rubbed over his face. "Yes, yes, thanks ever so for pointing that out." He didn't even look at John before he focused his mind on the task at hand, and plunged his hands into the mass of wires connecting the Chair to the generator.
John held back his teasing commentary, knowing that his friend just wasn't up for their usual verbal sparring. But one thing was bugging the hell out of him, and he couldn't keep it to himself any more.
"Hey. Rodney."
"Hmmm?"
"What's up with you and Monevata?"
Rodney's shoulders tensed up, even more so than they already were, yet he still didn't look up at the other man. "What do you mean?" His words were slow and measured.
"There's something between you two, and yet you haven't visited her once since the day she got here."
Rodney's nimble fingers paused in their work momentarily, and he took a deep, shuddering breath. "None of your business, Major."
John frowned. He'd figured his friend wouldn't want to talk about it, but even that was brief for Rodney. The Major at least thought that his friend would wax obnoxious about how busy he'd been and how he didn't have the time for visiting sick people. "It's just…"
"I need you to sit in the Chair now," Rodney interrupted tersely. "I have to make sure the connections are working."
John stepped around the Chair, and hesitated before sitting in it. "Rodney…"
"Look, if we make it through this, then I'll talk with you about it. But now's so not the time." Clear blue eyes shot daggers at the Major from under dark lashes before the scientist refocused his attention back on the generator. He fiddled with a few wires before rising and moving over to a console.
John sat down gingerly. "I'll hold you to that."
Elizabeth's voice came over their earpieces. "Sheppard, are you ready?"
John turned his head. "Rodney?"
The scientist scowled as he worked. "The generator's not powering up like it should be." He quickly moved over to the dais again and squatted down to the device. The indicator lights brightened momentarily… right before they dropped down to zero.
Rodney's eyes widened in horror. "Oh, no… no no no no no."
"I don't like the sound of that," John murmured.
"DAMMIT!" Rodney pounded a fist into the floor.
"They're sending in another wave! Major, we need to go!" Elizabeth's panicked voice dinned in their ears.
John stared at the quiescent Chair. "McKay!" he snapped.
"There's something wrong! Power levels are dropping!" Rodney snapped right back, with an edge of panic in his voice.
Not far away, both men could hear the canons and other anti-aircraft weaponry being fired.
"Rodney, nothing is happening!" Radek's beyond-worried voice came over the scientist's radio.
The Chief Scientist's fingers had been flying practically everywhere over the generator, and he looked a hair's breath away from hyperventilating.
Then the whole room shook from a massive explosion. John and Rodney locked eyes in panicked recognition. That was a Dart crashing into the city.
"Why are there no Jumpers in the air?" Elizabeth queried sharply.
Rodney was about ready to rip out his hair. "We must have exhausted the Mark Two's energy output." He continued to look into John's eyes in desperate helplessness. "It's dead."
John's face emptied of all emotion as the scientist turned his considerable mind back to trying to solve this problem. He leapt out of the Control Chair, and took one last look at his friend and teammate. Sorrow briefly washed across his hazel eyes. "So long, Rodney."
There was so much more he wanted to say, but there just wasn't any time. He just hoped he'd be forgiven for that.
"There's got to be a way to…" Rodney trailed off as he looked up and saw John running out of the room. "Major!"
'No way. No. Frickin. Way. Do NOT tell me he's doing what I think he's doing,' Rodney thought despairingly.
Whatever he was going to try to pull out of his ass as a solution was moot now, so he'd better get up to the Control Room. Maybe the Major was just heading up there to brainstorm another way to get those nukes into the Hive Ships…
Right, and Rodney was the King of Siam.
'We are so screwed.'
He could only hope that Jess had been safely evacuated with the rest of the injured. If they managed to survive this hell, then not only would he fulfill his promise to Sheppard, he'd also go and see her. As much as he wanted to avoid the woman and the inevitable heart-wrenching agony that would follow, he also knew it wasn't fair to either of them to keep putting off the fact that they'd have to talk eventually.
Rodney hurried up to the 'Gate Control Room, trying to push aside the thoughts of himself and Jessica. He'd been trying, and successfully up till now, to avoid thinking about their complicated history, and the mixed emotions that he'd worked so hard to suppress over the last few years.
At some point, Rodney would have to admit he was still attracted to her.
Just not now.
oOo
Jessica concentrated on what her healing device was telling her as she heard Jorgenson's footsteps fading down towards the infirmary.
'Concussion, snapped vertebrae, damaged spinal cord, intracranial hemorrhaging, fractured cheekbones… shit, this guy's screwed up,' she thought as she activated the healing device. The rest of the world faded into the back of her mind as she focused all of her attention on the task at hand. This was going to be tricky, even with the extra power she still had from the Wraith she'd drained.
'How the hell did I manage that?' she wondered. 'I've never done anything even close to that before.' But she didn't allow her thoughts to dwell on what had happened… right now she needed to deal with the situation at hand. 'When this is all over, I'm gonna have a lot to think about. And a lot to answer to, I bet.'
The other Marine, who'd been knocked unconscious from the Wraith's stunner blast, began to stir, moaning quietly. Jessica didn't notice, her attention completely focused on the man she was trying to heal before it was too late. He still wasn't breathing, and she knew she was quickly running out of time.
"C'mon… c'mon," she murmured. Sweat broke out on her brow, and began to trickle down the sides of her face. She put everything she had into healing the man… Weaver, she noted… and a thrill of relief washed through her when his chest hitched upwards with his first shuddering breath.
She didn't notice the Wraith, the one she'd hit with the hand devices' devastating energy pulse, begin to move.
But the other Marine did.
The Wraith rose like one of the Evil Dead, and the Marine's head swung around at the movement. He wasn't quite lucid yet, though, his arms and legs jerking spasmodically as the feeling slowly returned.
Jessica felt the energy draining from her, and her arms began to tremble from the effort she was expending. But she could tell she still had a little bit to go… that brain bleed was being a bitch to heal, and she was worried about the brain damage it could be causing. So she ignored the warning signs her own body was sending out that she was overextending herself, and poured everything she had into finishing the work on Weaver.
The Marine pulled himself up on the wall, and grabbed for his fallen P90 just as the Wraith straightened and began to move towards him. The man looked over his shoulder, and instinctively realized that he was on his own for the moment. Luckily, he'd been on missions for the SGC before coming to Atlantis, and was one of the few who had witnessed the use of and knew what the Goa'uld healing device was, and how it functioned. He had no idea how one of those things managed to get all the way to the Pegasus galaxy, but if that woman was willing to use it to help his teammate, then who was he to object?
The Wraith didn't make a sound, and moved towards the three humans with a barely noticeable stagger. He pulled out a pistol-sized stunner from his hip holster, and the Marine forced his half-numb arms to raise the P90.
The Wraith paused for a moment, cocking his head and assessing the situation.
A bloodthirsty grin spread across his face, baring row upon row of razor-sharp teeth dripping with saliva.
The Marine visibly gulped, and let the bullets fly.
The Wraith lurched back a couple of steps as the projectiles tore through his body armor. He jerked and twitched under the vicious onslaught…
Until the bullets ran out, and the P90 clicked repeatedly.
oOo
Rodney could feel the dry ice of his emotions destroying his stomach. John Sheppard was sacrificing himself to help save the city… and if he succeeded, someone else with the ATA gene would have to do the same.
The scientist wondered if Carson knew how to play rock, paper, scissors.
'Hey, back to business here, McKay,' he chided himself. God, he was so tired. He wondered if he'd ever sleep again… or if that damned blackness would ever go away from the edges of his vision.
"Detonation in five, four, three, two…" He strode towards the computer screen showing the attacking Wraith fleet and looked over Carson's shoulder just as the sky outside turned a brilliant white.
His heart sank into his shoes. Sheppard did it. One Wraith Hive ship down… one more to go.
Carson's eyes squeezed shut in a vain effort to block out the wrenching truth.
'Or maybe he's thinking about how one of us is next,' Rodney thought fatalistically.
One of the Gate Room techs spoke emotionlessly. "Target has been neutralized."
Elizabeth's head dipped briefly as she visibly choked back threatening tears. "He did it."
Rodney fought the lump in his own throat. "Yeah, he did it," he murmured.
An alarm bleeped on the console in front of the tech, and he spat out in surprise, "Doctor Weir, I'm picking up another ship."
Her eyes widened slightly. "Another Hive ship?"
The tech shook his head. "Negative. I'm reading ISF."
Before anyone could comment on that particular bombshell, an achingly familiar voice filled the Control Room. "Atlantis, this is Sheppard."
"John!" Elizabeth blinked.
'That's it,' Rodney thought. 'I'm hallucinating. No, I passed out. This cannot be happening. Think I'll go into a corner and have a nervous breakdown, thank you very…'
John Sheppard's smartass voice interrupted Rodney's frenetic chain of thought. "What other Sheppards do you know?"
Still next to Rodney, Carson practically wilted in relief. "Oh my God!"
But the truth wasn't sinking in for Rodney's beyond-exhausted brain. "No, no, that can't be. We saw the Hive Ship go up." See? Logic still prevailed! A plus B equals C. Sheppard plus bomb equals destroyed Hive Ship. And a very dead Major John Sheppard. Ergo, John Sheppard was most definitely deceased, and Rodney was not experiencing this.
'See? All very logical, and oh my god I'm sounding like Spock after all.'
"I assure you, Doctor McKay, that Major Sheppard is alive and well," a strong authoritative voice issued over the comm., breaking Rodney out of his inner meltdown.
"Who is this?" Elizabeth snapped.
"Colonel Steven Caldwell, commander of the Daedalus. We are ready to assist you."
Rodney's vaunted logic shrugged and did the only thing it could under the circumstances… explode into tiny little pieces. Much like that Hive ship. And damn if that black fuzziness on the edges of his sight seemed to get bigger, one of the many little voices in his mind (and no, he wasn't crazy, and they weren't actual voices) noted.
So, now that logic had nothing to do with the situation any more, Rodney could echo Carson's sigh of relief. "Oh, thank you!"
Who he was thanking he had absolutely no idea. Definitely not any kind of God, since he was a devout Atheist, mind you. All he cared about was how once again Major Sheppard had used up yet another one of his nine lives.
'No wonder I like the man… he's exactly like my second cat.' And as insane as Cat was (yes, that really was her name), she always managed to get herself out of fatal situations in time to come home and spend the evening curled up on Rodney's lap, purring like a motor… when he hadn't rushed her to the vet to get her inevitable wounds cared for.
And that thought reminded him yet again how much he missed his furry little Jane. His lap-kitty. Who was a present from…
Jess.
Agh. Kevin Bacon deserved to die. Or at least whomever it was that made up that damnable game.
He was wrenched away from his thoughts at Elizabeth's words. "We are very glad to hear it, Colonel. And I assume we have you to thank for saving Major Shepard." She bent over one of the laptops and disengaged the self-destruct.
"We were monitoring your transmissions as soon as we came out of hyperspace. We couldn't beam him in until he decloaked his Jumper."
John's wryly amused voice commented, "Didn't take much convincing!"
Caldwell didn't respond to that. "Doctor McKay?"
Rodney shook himself out of his exhausted stupor. "Present… yes?"
"I trust you'll know what to do with this?"
Rodney frowned in confusion. At least, until a bright white light flashed a few feet from him, revealing two Marines and a large metal box.
A box that Rodney just knew contained his greatest hope.
The Marine holding the box inclined his head slightly. "Your ZPM, sir."
Rodney couldn't believe it. After all the crap they'd endured: all the trials, all the searching they did, all the worry… how else would they get their hands on a precious Zed PM except for what John would call the Mother of all Hail Mary's?
He stared for a moment before he rushed over to the marine, took the box, knelt and started to open it.
Carson blinked in amazement at the Marines. "How did they do that!"
Rodney waved a hand over his shoulder as his eyes took in the welcome sight of a fully charged Zero Point Module. "Well, the Daedalus is loaded with Asgard technology. The beaming technology's the first part of it. They've got things like…"
His excited babbling was interrupted by John's amused voice over the comm. "Rodney. What say we get the shields back up?"
For the first time in weeks, Rodney McKay felt hope bloom in his chest. They might actually survive this! "Yeah," he murmured as he reached into the box and lifted out the precious Zed PM. His face shone with boyish delight. "What say we?"
Elizabeth just had to put a damper on his giddiness, though. "We still have Wraith all over the city."
"After we deal with this other Hive ship, we'll assist you as soon as we can," Caldwell's voice answered her. "Caldwell out."
Rodney looked over his shoulder at Carson, seeing the flash of worry that washed over his friend's face. His stomach twisted again. "Jess?" he asked softly, and Carson's eyes focused on his.
"Ye heard me?"
Rodney rose, still cradling the Zed PM to his chest. "Kind of difficult not to," he retorted with only a trace of his usual acidity. "So?"
"Like I told Elizabeth," the Scot replied quietly as he moved closer. "I'm sure she and Charan will take care. There's naught we can do right now." He looked like he was about to say something else, but at that moment his comm. chimed in his ear. "Yes, this is Beckett."
At the words from the other person, Carson's face blanched. "Are ye sure, lad?" His blue-grey eyes flicked over to Rodney, who couldn't read the suddenly inscrutable expression. "All right, I'll be right down." He turned to leave, but Rodney reached out his free hand and grabbed the doctor's shoulder.
"Carson?"
The expedition's C.M.O. hesitated before answering, his gaze also taking in Elizabeth's concerned face not far behind his friend. "A group of Marines were attacked by two Wraith near the infirmary. Jess and Charan were with them."
"Is everyone all right?" Elizabeth asked.
Carson shook his head. "At least one Marine is dead, and Jess ordered the one lad to take Charan back to the infirmary. She's injured."
Rodney's heart stuttered. "Jess?"
"No, Charan. Jess stayed behind to help the others. I've got to get to the infirmary, Rodney," Carson briefly rested his hand on his friend's shoulder before turning again to leave. "And ye have a shield to get up and running."
Elizabeth moved up closer to Rodney and nodded. "Go Carson. You," she motioned to two of the expedition's marines assigned to the Control Room. "Escort Doctor Beckett down to the infirmary."
The men nodded their understanding, and moved so they were on either side of the physician as he shot one last sad look at Rodney before leaving the Control Room.
Rodney could only stand there, wondering what the hell that crazy Cheyenne woman was thinking, trying to help people with a broken arm and leg, for Christ's sake. She could barely walk, he bet, and yet she was still insisting on trying to help other people.
And realizing that Jessica hadn't changed one iota in the years since he last saw her only muddled his feelings for her even more.
"Rodney," Elizabeth brought him back to the present.
He shook his head and tapped his earpiece. "Right. Radek, I need you in the Control Room. We've got a Zed PM."
It was a few moments before he got a response from the obviously stunned Czech scientist. "Sorry, I must have heard you wrong. Please repeat?"
"You heard me right the first time," Rodney snapped. "The Daedalus just arrived, and they found us a Zed PM. So if you don't mind, I need your help in getting the shield up? Or would that be too much for your tiny mind to handle?"
"Now I know I'm not hallucinating," Radek grumbled. "You never insult me in my dreams."
Rodney moved to the case to carefully place the Zero Point Module back into its cradle. "Thank you so much for that disturbing image, Zelenka," he growled. "Really, so not wanting to know about your night time fantasies."
Radek chuckled. "Believe me, you're not my type. Shape is entirely wrong. Not to mention lack of manners and etiquette."
"Ack. Again with the not helping," Rodney groused. "Think you could get your ass in gear? Hmmm?"
"Am almost there," was the huffed response. "Difficult to get around when having to be escorted everywhere. Is worse than going on dates back home."
Elizabeth shot Rodney an amused glance as she walked away and tapped into the comm. system to hear what the various military teams were reporting throughout the city.
And Rodney moved to another console to prepare things from this end for the shield to be raised. While the situation had vastly improved for the Atlanteans by the arrival of the Daedalus and the Zed PM, they were still a far cry from one of those Hail Mary's Sheppard was so fond of blabbing on about.
And they still had a long way to go in this siege before they could relax.