Title: The End of Time
Author: Espiritu
Disclaimer: I don't own anything of SGA except the plots that come from my twisted mind.
AN: This is in response to Greywolf Lupous's 5 Minute Fic Challenge: Time Stopped on Jumperbay looking for a story written in 5 minutes containing the phrase "And that's when time stopped." Ficlet tag to Siege 2.
Elizabeth watched silently as the jumper's trajectory was tracked on the viewscreen monitor. Fear and heartache battered against the wall of her resolve as her worried eyes followed the steady progress of the Atlantean craft as it sped towards the incoming Hive ships. One blue blip against the red. Just three small, insignificant looking points of light that marked Sheppard's fateful journey to his final destiny.
It was almost inconceivable that it had finally come to this. All their hopes, all their efforts, and all their hard-fought battles in the war against the Wraith now rested on the shoulder's of one individual. The final outcome was dependent on one man's ultimate sacrifice. Holding in the grief and blinking back unshed tears, she stood stoically, staring unwaveringly at the screen, trying desperately not to fall apart.
Rodney and Carson both turned towards her, their eyes filled with horror and dread as realization of what was taking place in the skies above the city sank in. They looked to her for confirmation that Sheppard was indeed piloting the jumper, that their friend and colleague was on a suicide mission.
She could barely look them in the eye when she saw their open-mouth expressions of shock. Although they accused her of nothing, she could read the unspoken condemnation in their gaze. Why did she let him go? Wasn't there another way? How could she watch him fly to his death? She knew the questions they were silently asking for she asked them of herself. In answer, all she could hear were Sheppard's words as he rushed up the stairs just moments earlier.
"I have to and you know it."
Elizabeth never thought she'd ever face a decision such as this when she joined this expedition. It seemed a lifetime ago that she eagerly walked through the stargate into mankind's greatest adventure, full of excitement and anticipation of uncovering all the mysteries of the Ancient city. But, here she was now, having to order a good man to his death in a last ditch attempt to save that same city.
As the three team members tried to come to terms with the fact that they were about to lose their friend, his quiet voice suddenly cut through the static on the radio airwaves.
"They haven't detected my approach. Weapon is armed and ready. I'm going in."
In contrast to the turmoil raging throughout the control room, Sheppard's words were calmly spoken as if he were reconciled to his impending demise.
McKay counted down the seconds as the puddlejumper moved ever closer to the Wraith ships.
"Detonation in five, four, three, two..." His words reverberated across the room to his saddened colleagues.
On the screen, the blue blip of light collided with the points of red, then all three flashed briefly before fading into oblivion.
The technician monitoring the console called out to the horrified, shell-shocked group. "Target has been neutralized."
Elizabeth bowed her head briefly before raising it back to the men before her. Choking back her tears, she could feel her throat constricting as she quietly responded to the news. "He did it."
With those words, they understood Sheppard was dead. In that moment, their friend's life was extinguished in a hot blaze of light and fire. All that he ever was gone in a split second. And that's when time stopped.