Title: Uneasy Alliance
Author: Milliecake
Rating: K
Spoilers: Spoilers up to mid Season 2, possible heavy spoilers for The Eye, The Storm and The Brotherhood
Summary: Stranded alone and injured while attempting to recover a ZPM, Colonel Sheppard is forced to work with an old enemy in order to survive
Disclaimer: Don't own any of the SG Universe
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Shaking off the flakes of dirt and debris that had begun to crumble down from the ravine's walls, Ronan Dex felt the tiny pebbles and stones beneath his boots tremble and dance as the ominous rumbling drew closer.
"Oh my God he wouldn't," he heard McKay say, voice weak with fear.
"He already has," Sheppard replied, tightly. "Son of a bitch blew the dam…"
"So what do we do? We have to get out, get up out of this ravine! Oh God we have to surrender…" The scientist's face was deathly pale, clutching his technology to his chest as if it could somehow shield him from their approaching death.
"We're not quite there yet." The Colonel chanced a glance around the boulder they sheltered behind, scanning the enemy's position, seeking a weakness, a potential escape route.
"Well forgive me for being the only one who truly comprehends how the wall of water heading for us is going to squish us all like teeny tiny bugs!" McKay shouted back and Ronan could see how close he was to panicking.
When he had first agreed to join Sheppard's team, Ronan could not understand how a man he perceived as weak and ineffectual in a fight had been able to gain a place alongside such warriors. In the following weeks however, he had come to see McKay's inclusion less of a liability, his skills in certain areas useful. And the scientist could operate under pressure when required, although at this moment Ronan's grudgingly given respect for him was waning.
Preferring the impulsive heat of battle, the cold ruthlessness of the fight, Ronan Dex had survived the Wraith hunt on sheer instinct for over seven years. To him, McKay and his intellect, his over thinking, was as alien as the Atlantian's themselves.
"Colonel?" Teyla queried, though Ronan detected alarm in her voice.
McKay was not the only one who understood their situation, that they were trapped with an armed enemy ahead and a tide approaching from behind that would sweep them all away. But Ronan didn't need to analyse or plan or make long, prolonged speeches about their predicament, he would leave that to the others.
His thinking was simple, instinctual. They were trapped, they needed to escape, by whatever means available.
Slowly, he drew his long knife from its sheath, his eyes meeting Sheppard's. The Colonel looked at him in askance but Ronan didn't give him time to question, to delay. His position was further back, out of sight from the enemy ahead, the man they called Kolya. The ravine wall was high and sheer, but Ronan launched himself at it anyway, using the strength in his knife hand to drive the weapon into the sun-hardened rocks, dragging himself upwards.
"What…what is he doing?" he heard McKay question, then incredulously. "Is he insane?"
"Ronan be careful," Teyla called, in a hushed voice.
But Ronan pushed all their chatter from his mind, concentrating on finding the next handhold, the next foothold, driving his knife into the tiny crevices before hauling his weight upwards. Pausing he risked a glance below, satisfied at the height he had gained, allowing no time for concern that, should he fall, he would probably break his own back. It was not worth consideration for they had but moments before the tide would strike and kill them all anyway.
"Kolya!" Sheppard called out from below. "What guarantee do I have that you won't execute us once we surrender?"
Good, keep him distracted, Ronan thought, approvingly, grabbing a handful of grass to steady himself, ignoring the distant roar that grew louder every moment that passed. Gritting his teeth, he bit back any sounds from his own monumental effort lest it alert the enemy, and made one final lunge for the top.
"You have none, Major," the one called Kolya replied. "But make no mistake, you will die if you do not throw out your weapons now. You are merely delaying the inevitable."
Hearing the arrogance in his adversary's voice, Ronan bared his teeth once more, this time in a feral gesture of defiance, and threw an arm upwards, meeting only empty air. With a desperate heave, he dragged his heavy weight over the rim, pausing only a moment to draw a breath. He glanced up, towards the enemy's position and met the startled eyes of one of Kolya's men.
Sniper, Ronan realised, instinct throwing him instantly into a roll, his weapon hand dragging his gun from its holster even as the man swung his rifle round to bear.
If he had been quicker, or perhaps more accurate, the sniper might have succeeded in their split second race for survival. But he was not and Ronan fired off a quick blast, catching the man in the chest with the stunning energy, not even pausing to see its effects as he searched for his next target.
A tall man in a hat and long coat was standing a little apart from his men and his mouth opened to shout a warning, before he too was struck by the blaster, his body tumbling down the slope towards the ravine below.
"Sheppard go!" Ronan shouted, firing wildly now at the enemy position behind the rocks, not even attempting to hit his targets but instead keep them from firing upon his team.
The ravine wall was not as steep below where their enemy had set their trap and he saw McKay scrambling with an almost impressive speed up the loose rocks and boulders, closely followed by Teyla.
"Go go go!" Sheppard was shouting over the roar of the water as he brought up the rear, pausing to spray the enemy position with a burst of bullets as one attempted to return fire.
Risking a glance behind, Ronan could see the tide approaching and even he was impressed at the sheer ferocity of the churning water. A strangled, high pitched yell brought his attention back to his team's dire situation, to where it appeared McKay had slipped on the rocks and fell behind the others.
Breaking cover, Ronan rose and strode forward over the shaking earth, continuing to blast the rocks as Sheppard released his own weapon in order to grab hold of the flailing scientist and propel him upwards.
"Rodney, take my hand!" Teyla called, grabbing onto the other man.
Her strength, while impressive, was no match for McKay's ungainly weight and she was not yet high enough herself to safely evade the tide. Reaching down with one hand, keeping his gun trained on the enemy position, Ronan grabbed the warrior by the strap of her backpack and pulled, knowing she would have the presence of mind not to struggle against his efforts. Grunting, he pulled her towards safety, sensing by the weight on his arm that she had not let go of McKay either.
It was then the wall of water hit.
Flung to the ground as if an earthquake had struck, drenched in moments by the sheer volume of spray, Ronan clung tightly to the strap in his hand, feeling the powerful pull as either Teyla or McKay were caught by the tide's incredible might. His ears ached from the thunder of its passing, his arm straining against its attempt to drag his friends from his grasp.
Raising his head, blinking against the blinding spray, he pulled hard, dragging Teyla closer to him, seeing her eyes closed, face taught with effort as she strained to keep McKay with her. Of Sheppard there was no sign and Ronan felt a surge of fear. If the other man had been caught in the initial surge, if he had been swept away…
"Sheppard!" Ronan bellowed over the roar, not daring to release his hold on Teyla to wipe his stinging eyes. "Sheppard!"
Straining to listen, he heard Teyla shouting too. "John, do not let go!"
"He's slipping!" McKay sounded frantic. "I can't hold him!"
"Just a little longer!"
Feeling the pull of Teyla's weight lessen, sensing the tide had released its hold upon her, Ronan let go of her strap and surged forward, to the edge where McKay still clung below. The doctor had one hand looped in Teyla's belt, the other clutching Sheppard's jacket.
Submerged by the still raging torrent, Ronan could see only the Colonel's head, dark hair plastered to his scalp, his precarious hold on the rocks slipping as he fought against the tidal forces…
"No," Ronan said at the same moment his friend's grasp failed.
He heard Teyla's cry of alarm, of McKay's yell, even believed he heard the innocuous sound of material ripping as Sheppard's jacket tore under the strain.
Ronan lunged, reaching for the Colonel, but his hand only scraped empty air. One moment John Sheppard was there.
The next he was not.
END OF CHAPTER TWO