A/N: So, took me friggin long enough to get another chapter out, eh? Sorry about that folks. Been a bit busy what with the holidays and other responsibilities... but then again, you all know quite well what that's like. ;) I realized that I was misspelling Charin's name, but as I'm too damned lazy to go back and correct that in the previous chapters, I've corrected it from here on. As for my lovely reviewers, thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement. It helps keep my fickle hyperactive muses inspired. And now, on with the tale!
oOo
An agonized howl tore Jessica's concentration from her task. Her head shot up and back over her shoulder just in time to see the Wraith she thought she'd killed quickly draining the life from the last Marine.
"Dammit, NO!" she shouted, and whipped her right hand around to aim the ribbon device at the grinning alien only a few feet from her.
The Wraith looked up just in time for the thin band of light that snaked out from the palm of her hand to hit it in the middle of its forehead, and it bellowed in pain as it dropped the mostly dead Marine.
Jessica remained kneeling as she upped the power to the ribbon device, and blood began to trickle down the Wraith's face from its nasal openings. The Cheyenne let the weapon fry the Wraith's brain for a few more seconds before she released another vicious energy pulse.
Once again, the Wraith was violently slammed against the end of the hallway.
And once again, it slowly stood up.
Jessica's eyes widened in fury and horror, and she shoved against the wall to stand. "What the hell does it take to kill you!" she screamed as she scooped up Weaver's fallen P90 and brought it to bear on the Wraith.
She sighted down the barrel and emptied the rest of the clip… into the Wraith's head.
A few seconds' later, the alien's body slid to the floor with a bloody crater where its face once was.
Jessica stood there in the sudden silence, her chest heaving for air as she tried to calm herself down.
'Dead. It's finally dead,' she thought distantly. She blinked, dropped the spent P90, and remembered there were two men she needed to check and see if they were still alive. She looked over her shoulder at Weaver, and noted that he was breathing steadily on his own, so she turned back to the other soldier.
Jessica took a step towards the man the Wraith had been feeding on, staggered and fell as her left knee gave out on her. She dropped in a tangle of casts and limbs beside the man, whose breath was rattling loudly in his wizened chest.
"Oh hell," Jessica murmured as she took in the Marine's unnaturally aged features. His eyes were closed, and his gray face was covered in a thin sheen of sweat. She glanced at his name patch before she called out softly to him. "Gunny Sergeant Hobbes."
He dazedly cracked his eyes open and blinked at her.
"I'm going to try something to help you, if you'll let me?" she questioned softly, her eyes pricking with furious tears at the whole FUBAR'ed situation.
It took Hobbes a few moments before he could manage a short, jerky nod.
Jessica took a deep breath, activated the healing device, and gently rested it over the puncture wounds on Hobbes' chest.
oOo
Radek Zelenka rushed down the stairs from the Jumper Bay into the Control Room and quickly made his way to the console where Rodney was rapidly typing.
"I brought up the shield's subroutine," Rodney stated without looking up. "When I give the word, all you have to do is punch it…"
Radek nodded. "Yes, I know what to do. Go." He shooed his friend away from the console and took his place.
Rodney grabbed the box containing the Zero Point Module and strode towards the exit to the 'Gate Room, but stuttered to a stop when Elizabeth and two Marines stood in his way. "Whoa, whoa whoa whoa whoa. What is this! This is my security escort!" 'What… there should be at least… four Marines; the beefier the better!'
Elizabeth leveled a stern look at her C.S.O. "Well, we are spread a bit thin right now."
Rodney blinked as he absorbed that information. 'Well, duh. Of course we're spread a bit thin right now,' he thought with a mental eye roll. 'Hello! Haven't slept in what… a week here?' Aloud, he spoke to the Marines as he moved them to the door. "Okay. You need to know that if we come under fire, you're gonna have to put your lives on the line to protect me."
Elizabeth's eyes widened, and she spat out a surprised "Rodney!"
The scientist barely controlled his second eye roll from happening. "Okay, I mean the Zed PM. You need to protect the Zed PM at all costs." He took a quick breath before he tacked on "And me." He looked over his shoulder as the three of them headed out. "Am I wrong?"
The Marine in front of Rodney snorted, but didn't say anything, and the three men moved at almost a trot down the hallways towards their destination.
oOo
The bright glow of the healing device faded, and Jessica slumped to the floor in exhaustion. Hobbes raised a shaking hand and wiped his face on his sleeve.
And practically shouted his astonishment.
"I'm okay!"
He stared wide-eyed at his hand, which wasn't wrinkled, all veiny or age-spotted any more. He blinked a few times, and then realized that Jessica hadn't answered him. He looked over at the woman, and was a bit alarmed to see how heavily she was breathing.
"Hey, lady, you okay?" He reached out and clasped her shoulder lightly, and she stirred.
Jessica raised her heavy head to look at the man. "Yeah, just took a lot out of me."
"Shit, I dunno what ta say," he said in a Brooklyn-accented voice. "Thanks seems a bit corny after what ya just did."
Jessica smiled through the pain and weariness. "I think you did just fine, Sergeant." She struggled to get her arms under her, and Hobbes got up to help. He pulled the Cheyenne gently to the wall so she could prop her back against it.
"You gonna be okay, ma'am?"
"Yes, just give me a moment," she replied. She glanced over at Weaver, and was relieved to see he was still breathing without problems, although the man was still unconscious. "Could you check on Weaver for me?"
Hobbes nodded and turned towards his teammate. "Only ever saw one'a those healing devices in action," he commented over his shoulder. "But damn if ya outdid General Carter," he finished with more than a touch of awe in his voice. "I don't think even he could undo a stinkin' Wraith's work."
Jessica ducked her head at the unexpected praise. "Wish I could've done more," she replied softly.
Hobbes frowned, but shook his head as he turned back to her. "Ya did the best ya could, ma'am. I'm alive, an' so's Weaver… which is a helluva lot more'n we were ten minutes ago. Right?"
Jessica smiled. "Right."
"Now," Hobbes perked up. "We gotta get youse two down ta the Infirmary." He reached up to his earpiece, but Jessica's hand stopped him.
"I'm fine," she demurred. "Just… a little tired."
The Marine shook his head. "Not with ya lookin' as gray as an Asgard," he snorted. "C'mon…" he hesitated as he realized that he didn't even know her name.
"Jessica," she smiled. "Jessica Monevata."
Hobbes blinked. "Doctor Monevata?"
"Um, yes." Jessica looked uncertain. She didn't remember this man. Did they work together at the SGC? She thought she would've remembered, seeing as how she had an almost perfect memory.
"I served with your brother in the Gulf," he said with a note of surprise in his voice. "Helluva guy. Wow, small universe, huh?"
Jessica was stunned speechless. When she didn't respond after a few moments, Hobbes reached over and touched her forearm. "Hey, Doc, ya okay?"
She blinked and gave her head a little shake. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. Just a bit of a shock meeting one of Manny's former teammates out… here."
He smiled crookedly. "Yeah, well, if he hadn't retired, he'd probably still be my C.O., ya know?" He paused as a thought struck him. "Actually, it's probably better he's right where he is, huh?"
Anguish washed across Jessica's face, and she looked away. "Yes, it is."
Hobbes was taken aback at the severity of emotion the woman displayed. "C'mon, doc, we gotta get you an' Weaver outta here. An' I really should report an' see what other Wraith ass I can kick."
Jessica couldn't help but smile at the man's eagerness. "You're nuts."
He shrugged with a shit-eating grin on his face. "I'm a jarhead, ma'am. A'course I'm nuts!"
Jessica chuckled. A moment later, she sobered as she looked at her now useless casts. "Sergeant, would you loan me your knife for a moment?"
Hobbes eyed her questioningly. "Now's not the best time ta be cuttin' your hair there, ma'am."
Jessica tilted her head to the side and gave him a mock-glare. "No, I want to get rid of these casts."
"Shouldn't one'a the docs in the Infirmary be doin' that?"
"Yes, but I really don't think they have the time to be doing that, now, do you?"
Hobbes gave the Cheyenne a hard, calculating look before he nodded and reached behind him for his wickedly long military-issue survival knife. He handed it over with a grim look. "I expect this back when we're done cleanin' up. It was a present from Manny."
Jessica looked down at the blade, and smiled wistfully at the engraved eagle on the hilt. "Thank you, Sergeant," she looked up into his earnest brown eyes.
"Call me Al," he grinned back.
"Jess."
oOo
The Infirmary was as chaotic as an Earth emergency room after a ten-car pile-up, but Dr. Carson Beckett wasn't worried about his people. They were all highly trained professionals, and he trusted each and every one of them implicitly.
What did worry him was the accounting the elderly Athosian woman lying on the bed in front of him was giving of her encounter with the Wraith not three hallways away.
"Charin, are ye sure about that, lass?" His brow creased in deep concern.
The woman nodded wearily. "Yes. I do not understand why she would remain behind, Doctor. Perhaps the man who brought me could better explain." She looked around the infirmary in vain for Jorgenson.
Carson rested a calming hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, he was sent out again soon after he brought ye in. We need every able-bodied person defending Atlantis right now."
Charin sighed. "I am worried for her, Doctor. Even with that device she obtained, she is still not well…"
"What device?" Carson interrupted sharply.
Charin looked up at him in a little surprise. "It was located in the… weapon's storage locker…" she hesitated over the foreign words, "She said she had brought it with her when she came through the Ring."
"Did it look like some sort of arm jewelry?" Carson queried, and Charin nodded. "Oh dear."
"What is the matter, Doctor?" Charin's eyes were wide with increasing worry.
"Doctor Simpson had disconnected the power supply when she stored it," he replied, his stomach feeling like it had bottomed out below his feet. "The devices are useless without it."
oOo
Hobbes kept watch as Jessica inelegantly hacked the casts off of her arm and leg. It took much longer than she would have liked, what with her arms shaking with exhaustion, but she was a fiercely stubborn woman once her mind was set on something.
The last bits fell away, and Jessica was mildly surprised at how toned her muscles were… considering.
'Wonder how much of that has to do with the whole Wraith sucking thing,' she wondered. She cleaned off the knife on the bottom of the scrub pants on her left leg, the right one having been cut short to accommodate the cast she'd had.
She grimaced at the state of her clothes. 'Agh, another shirt ruined,' she agonized. The bottom of her tank top was torn and soaked with her blood from when she'd been knifed by the second Wraith, and her scrub pants were also bloodied and covered in plaster dust from the casts. 'I must look like some victim from a horror movie,' she grimaced. And of course her hair was probably all tangled up by now.
She cut the fabric on the scrub pants and tore off the left leg. She then cut off a relatively clean strip of cloth and used it to tie back her insanely long ebony hair.
Hobbes chuckled from where he was keeping watch at the end of the hallway, and Jessica looked up at him questioningly.
He shook his head. "Just got an image'a ya as a lady Rambo," he chuckled.
Jessica pursed her lips in amusement and rose to hand his knife back to him. "I'm gonna borrow Weaver's radio since he doesn't seem to need it right now, okay?"
"Should be fine, but I'm gonna need ya ta cover my six while I'm hauling him ta the Infirmary," he replied as he sheathed the knife.
"Why don't you call for someone to pick him up?" she asked. "He shouldn't be moved very much. He had extensive spinal and head damage. I think I took care of the worst of it, but he should be kept as immobile as possible."
"All right," the older man acquiesced, and he tapped his earpiece as he turned to look back down the corner of the corridor. "This is Hobbes requesting medical transport and backup. We're three corridors south of the Infirmary, one level up." He cocked his head in the classic listening pose before he nodded. "Understood. We'll keep our eyes peeled."
Hobbes turned to tell his companion the sit rep, and his eyes widened when he realized he was alone.
Except for his unconscious teammate Weaver, of course.
But Jessica was gone.
"Dammit!"
oOo
Jessica felt like a grade-A heel for abandoning Al like that, but she instinctively knew he could take care of himself and his teammate until reinforcements arrived in a couple of minutes. She adjusted the P90's strap over her shoulder and double-checked the large field vest for ammo that she'd snagged from the fourth Marine she'd been unable to save.
'Well, Hobbes did have a point; one out of four isn't bad, considering,' she mused. A violent shiver ran through her body at the memory of the first Wraith she'd ever seen literally sucking the life from the man.
She didn't even know his name.
Jessica listened with half an ear to the transmissions over the radio as she stealthily made her way through corridors and down stairwells. Once she was a few levels away from where she and Charin had met up with Hobbes' team…
'And the Wraith,' her mind unhelpfully added…
she stopped and leaned against the wall to catch her breath. Even though all of her wounds had been healed, she was still a long ways from being as fit as she'd been before her frenetic escape from the Goa'uld almost a month before.
She thought about where she could be the most help in protecting the city, and something tickled the edges of her mind as if in answer.
Jessica blinked in surprise, and tentatively reached out mental 'fingers' to the unfamiliar presence. This was so much different than anything else she'd come in contact with. It seemed so…
Welcoming.
The presence tugged at her mind, and she started back down the hallway with her head cocked in a classic "listening" pose.
Something within the wall to her right hummed, and Jessica stilled, looking in the direction of the noise.
A tiny section of the wall slid away to reveal what looked like some sort of palm pilot, and the Cheyenne tentatively reached out to touch the face.
And it lit up like a Christmas tree. Jessica bit out a curse and jumped back a step, before she realized that she was acting like a skittish horse.
But hey, when you spent years fleeing despotic evil head-snakes, you tended to be wary of strange alien devices that practically begged you to touch them.
Jessica chuckled wryly to herself. "It's not paranoia when they really are out to get you," she murmured before she extended her hand back out to gently pull the small device from its niche in the wall.
"So, what do you do?" she asked the thing, and in answer, it flashed symbols across its face at her.
Jessica's brow furrowed in surprise. She recognized the language from various ruins she'd come across in her wanderings. They were almost… Latin, in their familiarity.
She stared in incomprehension for a few minutes, before something seemed to 'click' in her brain, and suddenly the characters seemed to coalesce into decipherable words.
'So, you're some sort of life signs detector, hmmm?' she thought in amusement. 'Neat.'
Armed with the small piece of tech, Jessica entered a transporter, all set now to go kick as much Wraith ass as she could.