AN: Lilas, oh my...shorter...eek! Well, okay, the last one clocked in at just under 3,000 but the one before was over 5,000 and this one is just shy of 5,700 so I promise we aren't shortening the chapters on you, it just feels like it!And, as odd as it sounds, I hope this one goes that fast, as well and doesn't drag! Thank you Linzi for being a great beta. Warnings : this is the chapter we had to hold back until after Critical Mass aired. When we started this story line we had no idea that there'd be one in season two that was very close. If you haven't seen Critical Mass there is a MASSIVE spoiler in this part of the fic.

And now…part 17

Elizabeth tapped her pen against the desk, boredom and impatience combining to make her surly. Radek was still working on recovering the data, Teyla was taking her turn watching Lily, while Ronon was doing…god, who knew what Ronon was doing right now. And all she could think about was how she wished things would just speed up so they could get to the solution.

"Ma'am?"

Elizabeth stopped tapping, and looked up to find the gate tech on duty peeking in her doorway. "The Daedalus?" she asked. It was due to arrive any time now, and they needed to be ready for when it did. She wasn't going to risk the operative getting away.

He nodded. "I've got Hermiod on the radio now," he added.

Steadying herself for what was to come, she let the pen roll to the side. "Thank you," she said. "Patch it into my office, and get a message to Lorne that it's time to assemble his team." The solution to at least one of their problems was finally in motion…

OoO

Lorne checked his men, making sure everyone had the right weapons kitted to their uniform vests and the right gear. Stunners and P-90's. "Remember what I said," he lectured loudly. "Stun first, ask questions later. This isn't a witch hunt, people. There's a good man being held hostage, and I won't have some trigger happy marine taking his life away from him, understood?" he demanded.

Marines never enjoyed taking orders from an Air Force officer. But, with a slight roll of his shoulders to adjust his vest, Lorne thought grimly that they didn't have to like it, they just had to do their job. He had yet to see one of these men falter in that respect.

Turning away from the soldiers standing tautly at attention, Lorne saw Elizabeth descending the stairs, and quickly moving towards him. He walked her way, narrowing the distance separating them, and gestured at the command deck, "Is it ready?"

She nodded gravely. "Hermiod is going to beam you directly on to the bridge. Remember, Major," Elizabeth stressed, "He is only to be stunned, is that clear?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Lorne answered emphatically. Turning back to his men he ordered, "Assume positions!"

With a casual salute towards Weir, Lorne stepped in front of the marines, and tightened his hand around the stunner pistol Ronon had lent him. This was it. Taking a deep breath in, he nodded at Weir.

He felt the tingling of the transport beam and when it faded, he found himself on the bridge of the Daedalus, facing Caldwell, just as planned. The pistol pointed straight at the man's chest. "Colonel Caldwell, you are hereby relieved of command." He knew the marines were pointing the stunners at the others on the bridge crew. Lorne didn't want any complications and he wasn't going to waste time explaining why they were doing this to the bridge crew. There'd be time for that later.

Caldwell straightened in his seat, confusion and then anger flashing across his granite features. "What's the meaning of this, Major?" he demanded.

Lorne smiled tightly. "It has come to our attention that you are an unwilling host to a Goa'uld."

"This is insane. I'm not a Goa'uld," sneered Caldwell, sliding back into his chair in a dismissive manner. "There's been a misunderstanding, Major. Tell your men to stand down, and we can forget this ever happened."

"I'm sorry, Sir, but I can't do that."

When the eyes flashed, Lorne flinched, despite himself. He'd believed Alicia, because at the time, she'd had nothing else to lose. But being faced with the evidence was…disconcerting.

"You think you pitiful humans can stop us?" The resonant voice dripped disdain.

Lorne pulled the trigger. "Yes, I do." He stepped closer to the twitching body, and saw Caldwell looking up at him in fear. Lorne's lips curled back and he added, "Newsflash, we already have," and he stunned him again. This time, the body was still.

OoO

Night had arrived with no change in John or McKay's status, not that Ava had expected any differently. The drug she'd given McKay needed the counteragent in order for him to awake from his comatose state. The one thing she'd neglected to tell John was that if it wasn't administered within forty-eight hours, the odds of him responding to the counteragent went down incrementally after passing that deadline.

She balanced on the stool by her desk, skimming the report to make sure it was ready to be submitted. Because Kolya had said to focus on John first, she'd only gone so far as to ensure that McKay wasn't going to die. His vitals had stabilized. That left John…her eyes drifted to the deathly still figure on the gurney.

Increasingly, she felt frustrated. It'd been so easy to agree with the Genii demands, back when there hadn't been a face to her work. Now she had two, and the one pulled her in, and made her feel something she didn't want. Guilt…shame. Somehow she instinctively knew that this John was like her Dougas. He would rather die than be subjugated as she'd allowed herself to be. Or he would've died finding a way out of it, and it wasn't without some irony that she guessed in a way he had. Granted, he wasn't dead yet, but Ava wasn't sure that the line differentiating between the two was so very great now.

"Damn it," she swore to herself. She had a family back on her home world, and they would be executed. All it took was the word of one man. The Genii agents maintained their stranglehold on her planet, and saving John and his friend McKay, would do nothing more than sign her family's death warrants.

She closed her eyes, and pictured Dougas' family falling again. The gunshots echoed in her head. Dougas…sneering at Kolya, before he, too, fell dead. What price, this life? If it was only hers, the answer would be easier. Still, not simple, but one Ava thought she could make. Hoped she could. But her daughter and son? They were innocent except for having a mother in the Technological Core, and her actions made the decisions for them – and her husband…oh, how she ached for Mequi.

It had been six months since she'd been allowed home to visit. The memories spun and flashed, images of herself falling into their bed, wrapped in his strong arms, her tears mixed with her smile. He'd tenderly wiped them away, and kissed the salty trails, whispering that it would be all right. She'd wanted to believe him, so much, but down deep, she hadn't. After they'd made love, she'd retreated to the porch that overlooked the Denassi River and cried more. It was the only time she'd allowed herself to grieve for everything she'd lost. Her home, her family, her life.

Ava savagely pushed the memories away, and stared again at John. She hadn't tried to revive him from the coma, and that action alone might end in death. For her, and her family, but she'd known it would be what John wanted, and it was the only way she had of helping these strangers. "You said you needed time for your people to rescue you," she murmured. "But your time is running out." And she tried not to feel that hers, too, was running out.

OoO

Elizabeth paced within the nursery, holding Lily tight, and gently patting her back, trying to soothe the fretful baby. Carson had theorized it was the bond again, rearing its awful head at the worst moments. Lily had begun to refuse her strained foods, and then began to fuss at her bottles. For a moment, she almost felt kinship with the little girl. Caldwell was undergoing surgery to remove the Goa'uld, but Radek was still coming up empty with any progress towards finding John and Rodney. Was it so bad if she felt like throwing a tantrum herself?

It was approaching one in the morning, and Elizabeth was so tired her eyes would've crossed if they'd been open, but the same path she'd been pacing on since midnight, was one she could do now with her eyes closed. Everyone that was involved in Lily's life was pitching in, but at the rate she was deteriorating, Carson was worried she'd need to be kept in the infirmary, and possibly get a feeding tube.

He'd hoped the bond wouldn't kill her, but right now, Elizabeth wasn't convinced. Another fretful cry against her shoulder caused Elizabeth's head and heart to ache. Lily sounded so lost in her cries. They weren't normal cries of hunger, or boredom, or even pain like she'd gone through when teething or sick. This was something new – pitiful, and weak, like a lost sheep without its mother, and that's why she knew it was a cry for John.

"Hush, sweetie, it'll be all right," she soothed. Lily had grown to the point where holding her for this long made Elizabeth's arms leaden, and fatigued.

As she went to turn and make another circuit around, Lily suddenly threw her body backwards, arching away from Elizabeth. Struggling to hold on to the baby, Elizabeth tightened her grip, and stopped walking, tucking her head in closer to Lily's, trying to calm her with the soft warm touch of skin on skin.

That's when she noticed the trembling. Time stopped, and Elizabeth froze, down to the breath in her lungs. The trembling built to full-blown convulsions, and that's when Elizabeth ran.

OoO

If you'd asked Carson how many times he'd truly felt useless in his medical career, you would've gotten a number a lot higher than you might be expecting to hear. When you distilled down those moments, you'd realize that a good deal of those times had been reduced to watching the terminally ill die, the old and worn. Rubbing weary hands over his face, he acknowledged that this case was none of those times.

Lily's physical health was perfect, for a human baby. Her organ functions, blood counts, brain scans – everything came back clean. Yet, the proof was in the evidence, and the evidence was that this perfectly healthy seven month old child had fallen into a coma. For no bloody reason.

"Or one I can test for," he corrected himself grumpily. The hospital crib had been delivered months ago, and he wished it'd never needed to be used. Staring at the baby through the bars, he felt something inside clench tight, and it hurt. Lily was unnaturally pale, and the pallor combined with her infant skin, prominently showed the blue veins along the side of her face.

"You mustn't die, Lass, no matter what happens to your daddy, he wouldn't want this," Carson whispered. "I cannot accept a bond that would allow a child to die when the parent…" he couldn't finish.

God damn, three kinds of bloody hell…he couldn't say it, wouldn't. Couldn't admit what everyone else was thinking and saying behind his back. It'd been a month now, and no one believed that the Colonel and McKay were coming back. No one believed they were still alive, except for those stubborn few that refused to face the obvious.

"I'm not supposed to be this helpless," frustrated, he shoved his hands into his pockets. "It wasn't supposed to end like this. Your mother…she was a sweet woman. It was bad enough…and now Rodney and John, and you…we had laughter, and hope, and amidst the death and fear from the wraith, you were a wee shining star. You mustn't go, Lily," he pleaded from his heart. "Fight to stay, fight to hold on, because there's nothing more I can do for you."

No response. Nothing. Not a cry, or a twitch of a little muscle. Feeling very defeated, Carson turned his back on the crib, and headed for his office. There was a certain bottle of scotch that he had for just these moments. And as he poured himself a shot, he couldn't help but be dismayed by how low the bottle was becoming. Life in the Pegasus galaxy wasn't easy.

OoO

Zelenka stared tiredly at the screen. He'd never believed himself inferior to McKay, merely different ways of viewing problems, but this…this…he sighed, because this was beating him, and he didn't like being beaten by a level of technology that they'd surpassed decades ago.

"Hlavoun!" he swore. As he stared at the pattern of gibberish, it started to make sense. Cursing more, he began to type rapidly, and the gibberish began to shift, and scroll through, defining into something that made sense. "I've got it!" he shouted, almost surprised. After all that time working on the problem, one moment of insight, and there it was, staring him in the face.

He tapped the ear piece, "Doctor Weir, I think I've got something you will want to see!" he sung happily. Hitting the print key, Zelenka felt a surge of hope for the first time in a long while…

OoO

"It is encrypted," Radek explained to Weir. He pushed his glasses up on his nose, and handed the translated print-out of the important contents. The gate address for where they'd taken Sheppard and McKay. "This computer was left as a…a sophisticated message center.

"As you know, they have agents throughout other worlds, and I'm sure if we were to dig harder, those other addresses would yield similar underground facilities." Looking off to her side, Radek fixated on the carafe of coffee. "May I?" he asked hopefully.

Elizabeth nodded absently, and continued to study the paper. "Radek, not that I doubt your skills, but are you certain this information isn't a false trail?"

Zelenka grinned around the coffee mug. "Very sure," he asserted. "They are using a private key encryption, and made the mistake of not updating their outposts after the unsuccessful take-over of Atlantis. When they radioed to their base, they used this same encryption." He twitched imperceptibly. "I should've thought of it sooner but I forgot…"

She shook her head, amazed. "I don't think you have to apologize. We had the communications on file?"

He offered a tight smile. "Yes, thankfully, Atlantis has an extremely large buffer, and the old data hadn't been written over. It was merely a matter of accessing the interface that Colonel Sheppard and Doctor McKay had built in for security purposes. Though I doubt either realized their security protocols and program would serve this end -"

For once, something had gone their way, and Elizabeth was thankful. Shortly after the initial mission with the Genii, the one where they'd turned on Sheppard and tried to take what wasn't theirs, and Sheppard's intuition had paid off, he'd asked her about installing a monitoring program in the gateroom…just in case. Using their monitoring equipment, it would interface with the Ancients database and use a segment for dumping the data. Rodney had come up with the interface and made it work.

Now, with Lily in a coma, the situation was desperate. The Trust agents were neutralized, at least the ones they knew about. They had to find Rodney and John, and bring them home. "How long will it take the Daedalus to get there?"

"Two days," he said. "It is too close to use the hyperdrive."

"Can the sensors pick up John and Rodney from the Genii, or will it be impossible to pinpoint their location?"

Radek pulled his glasses from his face, and pinched the bridge of his nose. He'd been working almost non-stop, except for the minimal breaks he'd grudgingly taken. "The ATA gene," he whispered, then grew excited. "I can have Hermiod calibrate the sensors to find the ATA gene!"

Elizabeth latched on to the hope like a dying man to a raft. "Do you think this will work?"

"I don't know, but it's worth a try." He shoved the spectacles back in place over his nose.

She nodded slowly, it definitely was worth that, but Elizabeth wasn't sure she could handle failure. "Get started," she ordered. "I'll have Lorne's team ready in two hours. You can work on the sensors en route."

Radek nodded abruptly, and stood, heading for the door, only to rush back and grab the mug of coffee with an apologetic smile, before leaving. Lifting the paper he'd given her, she studied it again. The names of Sheppard and McKay jumped out at her, the gate address, reports of sedating the 'subjects'. It caused her to go cold. They'd been referred to as subjects as if they were lab rats, and for the first time, Elizabeth began to consider that maybe John and Rodney weren't going to be okay. And that thought scared her more than anything else had before.

OoO

Ronon faced the marine, his features unreadable. The soldier tensed, waiting, hands out in a defensive posture. Ronon began to move, circling, the edges of his mouth curling up in a feral grin. The effect on his opponent was increased nervousness. The young marine turned in sync as Ronon moved, keeping himself facing the runner as Ronon kept stepping sideways.

Suddenly, the runner dropped, reaching forward and pulling the marine's legs out from under him, falling on to the soldier and pinning his head to the mat with his thick forearm.

"Every opponent will reveal his move before he does it," Ronon instructed, pushing back, and offering a hand up to the soldier. He faced the men standing to the side of the mat. "Watch their body, their eyes. It isn't obvious, and it takes time to learn, but if you do, you'll be able to stay alive a lot longer.

"Pair off, and practice for fifteen minutes, then we'll see what you can do against me," Ronon ordered, stepping off the mat. He reached for his towel, and bottle of water.

Teyla came running through the door, where she quickly focused on him, and approached slower, shifting a gaze towards the soldiers that said 'get back to work and quit staring'. They did. Both Ronon and Teyla worked with these men in getting them more prepared for facing enemies. Ronon's specialty was hand to hand, while hers was with weapons, such as the sticks, though she could use almost anything.

"Ronon," she said, keeping her voice low. "Major Lorne is readying the team. It is time."

The feral look returned. Ronon grabbed his weapon holster. "Keep practicing till your session is up," he ordered the men, strapping it around his waist. "When I get back, each one of you had better be able to take me down at least once."

"Yes, Sir," the highest ranking Sergeant snapped quickly. He turned back to the others, and shouted an order to get back to work.

Ronon nodded at Teyla that he was ready. With a resigned smile, she led out of the room, saying over her shoulder, "There will be time for you to shower on the Daedalus."

"Shower?" Annoyed, he sniffed his armpits. "I don't stink."

Teyla walked faster. He frowned at her back, and sniffed again. "I don't stink," he repeated, but was now talking to himself. With a last disgruntled stare at her retreating figure, he jogged to catch up.

OoO

Lorne surveyed his team. Ronon, Teyla, Dodd, himself, Trevors and DeWitt. It was an insertion team, going for fast and discreet, rather than a massive onslaught. "Doc, you got those sensors ready?" he asked impatiently.

Radek cursed in Czech, and thrust a finger at a blinking light on Hermiod's console. "See, what did I tell you? It will not work like that." He glanced irritably in Lorne's direction. "One moment, Major, we are having a small disagreement on the narrowing band for detection."

Hermiod's big eyes blinked at the diminutive Czech. "We are not disagreeing," he said severely. "You are incorrect."

"Neser me!" Radek swore. "I know about the ATA gene, and I am telling you, this is wrong! Tighten the band to this specific genome."

Ronon leaned towards Lorne. "What'd he say?"

Lorne chuckled. "That was actually mild for Doctor Z. He said 'don't piss me off'." After explaining to Ronon, Lorne sidled next to Hermiod and stared at the console, not knowing what it said, but then met Radek's irritated stare. "You sure about this, Doc?"

Radek opened his mouth, then quickly snapped it shut. He took a steadying breath before replying, "I am certain, Major."

"Okay, then. Do it, and if you're wrong, you buy Hermiod a beer."

Hermiod stiffened. "I do not drink…beer."

The easy grin snaked over Lorne's face, and he leaned in towards the Asgard. "Trying new things is a sign of an open mind." He went to slap the aliens back, and at the lidded glare, pulled his hand back. "Okay," he said, stepping back. "Everyone, get in position. Doc, when you're done, beam us next to their life signs, but try not to insert us into rock or anything else solid."

"Almost…got it!" exclaimed Radek. "Two life signs with the ATA gene!"

Cheers went up on the bridge. Sheppard and McKay were still alive. Teyla and Ronon shared a meaningful look that said everything. The past month of not knowing, and fearing the worst, had taken a high toll.

"Remember, just like before, stun first, unless you have to use lethal force against an enemy." Lorne pulled his stun pistol and assumed head position of the pyramid design of their insertion force. "We don't know what condition our men are going to be in. The goal is to beam in, secure Sheppard and McKay, and beam out. This isn't about killing Genii…as much as we might want to." The grim faces reflected just how many did want that. But, they were trained soldiers, and Lorne knew they'd do their duty.

Hermiod moved a lever, and the bridge of the Daedalus disappeared…

…and a laboratory formed around them, or rather, they formed in it. The startled woman in the corner, perched on a lab stool, stared wide-eyed.

Lorne brought his weapon up. "Don't. Move," he ordered calmly.

She shook her head, as if affirming she wouldn't. Lorne heard the hissed breaths of Teyla and Ronon. He gestured at his men to keep the woman under guard, and turned to look.

"What the fuck did you do?" he blasted the woman, still staring in horror at the men on the gurneys.

Sheppard was thin, and pale. His eyes looked bruised, and he had wires hooked up everywhere. Looking over at McKay, he didn't see anything much better. Maybe not as thin, but damn close, and both looked dead. If it hadn't been for the slow rise of their chests, he would've thought they were.

The woman bristled. "I had no choice," she snapped. "The Genii do not often give people any."

He spun on his heels and strode three long steps, snatching her off the stool with a fist into her lab coat, and slammed her up against the desk. "I didn't ask why you did it," he snarled. "I asked what you did."

She trembled underneath his glare, but lifted her chin with all the courage she could muster. "If you'd release me, I will show you."

Ronon had left Sheppard and McKay, and was standing behind Lorne, holding his weapon and smiling like a wolf about to eat the sheep. "You'll tell him what he wants to know, and if he doesn't like what you say, then it's my turn."

Lorne released her clothes, and she straightened, pulling her lab coat back in place. She steadied herself, and moved over to the cabinet. Withdrawing two vials, she turned to Lorne. "John said his people would come. I've induced a coma in McKay, so that he would not betray their secrets. John told me to do it," she explained, her voice steady and precise.

"What about Sheppard," Ronon interrupted. "He asked to be like that, too?"

"If you'd let me finish," she remonstrated coolly. "Kolya had me developing a serum for mining information from the subject's minds without the messy side effects that come with physical interrogation. He grew frustrated by John's ability to avoid telling what he wanted to know. I was ordered to administer a dosage that was unsafe." Ava's voice dropped to a whisper at the end. "He, too, has fallen into a coma, and unlike McKay, I do not know how to reverse the damage."

Teyla moved her eyes from John, to Rodney, then to the woman. "I do not understand. You work for Kolya, but you tried to help them?" She narrowed her eyes at the contradiction. "Yet, you are to blame for the condition they are now in."

Ava snorted disdainfully. "And you've never seen the Genii's brutality? Do you think I agreed to do their dirty work because I enjoy this?"

"Then why did you?" Ronon asked, and his posture threatened a wrong answer would have consequences.

"My family," Ava snarled. "If I hadn't, they would've been slaughtered in front of me." She turned away, and Lorne watched as her shoulders shook. "They're dead now – or will be, so it doesn't matter. All this is monitored. Kolya's soldiers are on their way. Go." She turned around to give the vials to Lorne. "Give these to your people, the one with the red label will reverse McKay's coma, the one in blue is what was used on both of them. The prototype. I don't know if your doctor can help John, or not."

Lorne waved a pistol at one of his men to get the vials. He slapped a hand against the switch on his radio. "You got us?"

Radek's voice filtered through. "Yes, Major. There is one extra life sign, do you wish -"

Lorne glanced at Ava, and sighed. "Yeah, beam us all up, Doc," he ordered.

They waited, and when nothing happened, Lorne tapped the radio again, "Doc…"

"Major, there is some interference…" Radek's voice crackled and broke up, leaving only static.

"Doc?" Lorne tried again, and when he got nothing, swore. "They've jammed us, get ready! Teyla, push Sheppard and McKay against the far wall. The rest of you, line up to the side, and prepare to fire. These will not be friendlies," he ground out. "I repeat, not friendlies."

Hands tensed on weapons. The door to the lab opened, and a small ball rolled in. Lorne shouted a warning, but the grenade detonated. When the boom receded, he was momentarily blinded and deaf. A flash-bang. They must've copied the idea from their own arsenal. After reading up on that last mission against the Genii, Lorne knew Sheppard had used just such a weapon to gain the upper-hand and subdue Kolya and his men.

When he came out of it, they were surrounded. The pistols pointed at their heads weren't stunners. Sonofabitch. He breathed hard against the anger.

"Nice of you to drop in," Kolya said. "Lower your weapons, and we won't kill you…now."

Lorne's nostrils flared. "Our people know where you are. Let us go, and we won't kill you."

Kolya smiled crookedly. "I don't think you'll be the ones doing the killing."

Ava slipped behind the Genii soldiers. "Took you long enough," she whined. "I gave them the vials like you said."

Lorne glared, events dropping into place. "You knew we'd find the information on the other planet."

"I had hoped you would," corrected Kolya. "However, I began to have my doubts, and wondered if perhaps I'd overestimated your people's capabilities."

Teyla frowned at the Genii soldier nearest her. "I do not understand what you hope to accomplish by this?"

Kolya's cold laugh seeded fear in Lorne's gut. "Right now, I have our first tactical nuke directed at your ship. Thanks to Ava, I also have a jamming shield directed at it, as well. What I hoped to accomplish, I already have – Sheppard and McKay at my disposal for information and other…things. What I planned on ultimately capturing, is now in orbit around my world, and if you don't tell the crew to beam us up when I allow the communication through, the nuke will be launched, and it will be destroyed."

Pursing his lips together, Lorne caught sight of Ava moving stealthily behind the Genii soldier. She locked eyes with him, and nodded, pulling a pistol from a cabinet that was ajar.

He nodded in return, pretending to scratch his ear. "You planned it out really well," he drawled. She steadied the gun on the soldier that had Ronon under guard. Lorne jerked imperceptibly, and the pistol fired.

Ronon's guard slumped to the ground, blood beginning to pool almost instantly from his body. When Kolya startled, Lorne slammed his gun upwards, and dove forward, scooping his weapon, and slamming it into the head of another soldier behind Kolya.

Ava was suddenly facing two pissed Genii, and shrugging, she threw the pistol at the one, and spun to kick the other.

Ronon grinned and punched the nearest soldier. The man fell to the ground, knocked out cold by the power of the runner's hit. Kolya shouted for reinforcements, but then Ronon was on him, lifting him by his uniform jacket, and throwing him into the row of cabinets along the wall. The Genii leader slid boneless to the floor and stayed down.

Lorne dispatched another, and Teyla grabbed the soldier that was beating Ava. Using a broken stick, she spun it in a circle, knocking his gun out, and then clouting him on the top of his skull. He too, fell. She offered a hand up to the scientist. "The machine he is using to block our transmissions, where is it?" she pressed urgently.

Kolya's team had been defeated, and none of Lorne's team had been critically injured. Ava gestured at a machine humming softly in the background. "There's a remote activation, but if you destroy that, it won't run."

Teyla nodded, and jogged across the room. She frowned at the controls before lifting the P-90 and firing. Sparks and burnt electronics filled the room, and the machine groaned to its death. "Major, try contacting now," she shouted.

Lorne hit his radio, still breathing hard from the fight. "Doc?"

"Major," Radek's relieved voice answered. "We were worried."

"Yeah, you're not the only one," he replied wryly. "Get ready to beam us out." He closed the channel. "Get Sheppard and McKay. I think we've overstayed our welcome."

Just as they were lining up, a shot rang out, and Lorne spun in time to see Ava fall. "What the fuck," he shouted, turning to find where it came from, but Ronon was already there. He pulled Kolya to his feet, and his anger was unleashed. He threw the Genii away from him, and Kolya hit the ground with an impact that rattled into Lorne's feet.

The runner twirled his pistol, and with deadly precision, lined it up with Kolya's head. "Sheppard should've done this long ago," he stated. As his finger tightened on the trigger, he lowered the barrel to line up with the Genii's gut, and fired. Not bothering to verify Kolya's death, because he knew a human body couldn't survive the strength of his weapon, Ronon turned away.

Lorne didn't know whether to cheer of be afraid at the ease with which the runner had dispatched the man. Deciding to just be thankful that Ronon was on their side, he gestured at his men to finish pushing McKay and Sheppard's gurneys into the middle of the now debris laden room. Equipment was everywhere, lights hung brokenly from the ceiling and flickered.

"Teyla," he called. She was leaning down by the fallen woman. "Is she alive?"

Shaking her head, Teyla climbed to her feet. "Not anymore," she said, an edge to her voice. She walked wearily to stand by Ronon.

Lorne tapped the radio. "We're ready."

"Major, the other, I'm not registering…"

"She's not coming anymore," he said tightly. "Now, Doc."

And the laboratory, dead bodies, and disaster faded around them.

OoO

Lorne entered the infirmary on the Daedalus, spying Ronon and Teyla sitting between Sheppard and McKay. They stopped talking and nodded his way. Taking the invitation, he strode over, taking the proffered chair with thanks. "I've radioed Doctor Weir and let her know the mission was a success, and we are en route, ETA 36 hours."

He'd waited to find out more on the condition of Sheppard and McKay before sending his report. The doctor on the Daedalus believed it was best to let the more qualified personnel at Atlantis treat both men, because of the unknown drugs in their systems.

"How is Lily?" asked Teyla quietly.

Lorne sighed. "Same. Beckett hopes she'll pull out of it when we get back with Sheppard."

"Did you relay my request?" Teyla's face was earnest. The woman, Ava, before she'd died, had whispered the address to her home world, and pleaded with Teyla to free them. The Genii contingent wasn't overwhelming, and if taken by surprise…

"She agreed," Lorne smiled. "The strike team is getting ready now. They'll move fast." His face grew serious. "I gave her the message to be relayed to Ava's family. They'll get it," he assured her.

Ronon leaned back, folding his arms across his broad chest. "They don't deserve it."

"That is not fair," Teyla said sharply. "She did what she had to, and in the end, she helped us save the colonel and Doctor McKay's life, along with our own."

He shrugged. "I didn't say she didn't deserve it. I said they don't. She earned it, she gave her life, but they've sat back and let others work and die for them."

"And what would you have them do, Ronon? Have their families executed?"

The air grew tense, and Lorne shook his head. "Let's just agree to disagree, okay. Bottom line, we're fine, and now we can only hope Sheppard and McKay recover."

They all stared at the shells of their former friends lying still in the beds, monitors beeping confirmation that they still lived, despite their frailty and comatose state. And no one had anything else to say to that.

The End…of part 17