Chapter Eleven
Major Lorne had been summoned to meet with Dr. Weir in her office to discuss the plan to extract Colonel Sheppard. He thought it a bit weird to have a pre-mission briefing without the rest of his team accompanying him, but he was just relieved that something was finally being done. He had gone to her earlier that morning, pleading her to let he and his team go in, taking a cloaked jumper. They could do it, he had assured her, but she shot him down. Apparently Dr. McKay had been working with Dr. Zelenka all though the night on a plan they'd conceived on some half baked theory about shields and cloaks. That was all she said she could tell them for the moment, but would contact him when they had a better idea of how they were going to proceed. So either the good doctors had devised some crazy assed, hair-brained scheme, or Dr. Weir was going to let him do it the good old fashioned way - go in armed to the teeth and bust him out the military way.
She had her head buried in her laptop and so hadn't seen him approach. He knocked on the glass panel and stuck his head in the open doorway. "Dr. Weir, you wanted to see me?"
"Yes, Major, please come in, take a seat." She pushed the laptop slightly to the side so there was nothing between them but the desk. Taking a deep breath she told him, "We're going to proceed with the plan Dr's Zelenka and McKay came up with."
"Yes Ma'am."
"You don't look too thrilled about it Major."
"No Ma'am. To be honest, I'd feel better doing this using tried and tested measures."
"I understand how you feel, but I'm afraid when I tell you exactly how we plan to get the Colonel, you won't feel much better."
"Ma'am?" Lorne was starting to get worried now.
Elizabeth resisted the urge to fidget in her chair under his intense gaze. "I'm going to get him."
"Excuse me!" That little bomb shell made Lorne forget to add a respectful ma'am at the end of his question.
"Earlier, I re-established our contact with Councillor Phelo via the radio he still had in his possession. He has agreed to speak to Athen on my behalf to arrange an exchange of prisoners."
"Who is it you plan to exchange with him, Ma'am?"
"The deal is, Colonel Sheppard will be released and I will take his place."
"What!"
"Major, please sit down while I explain."
Lorne was just about to say that he was sitting down, but when he checked he realised in his shock, he'd jumped to his feet. He forced his legs to bend and sat down again, just teetering on the edge of the chair.
Elizabeth clasped her hands together and entwined her fingers. "Athen just wants to hurt us as much as he can now. We insulted him when we refused to give up our weapons, he doesn't care much that Colonel Sheppard was the one flying the jumper during the accident. The only thing he thinks he can get of out of this is punishing us and killing our ranking military officer is going to do that. The idea that he can trade the Colonel for me has got to be pretty tempting, after all this deal would be a bargain for him, he'll be trading up so to speak."
"What makes you think he's going to go for this? Surely he'll question why you've agreed to take the Colonel's place on the chopping block."
"I don't really care what he thinks about my motivation behind this as long as he goes for it. Phelo will be doing his best to persuade him to take the bait. Once he agrees, Phelo will contact us and we'll be going through."
"So I am going to be a part of this plan, Ma'am?"
"Yes Major. I would like for you and Sergent Mathews to come through with me. As far as they know you will be seeing me safely into their custody then waiting to make sure Colonel Sheppard is released."
Lorne didn't know what to say to her so he just frowned at the desk and waited for her to either say something else or dismiss him.
"Major? I respect your military expertise and I'd like to get your input on the situation. I want to make sure there won't be unnecessary risks."
"Then take me through this, step by step. I need to know exactly what you plan to do. Why can't I take the rest of my team?"
She tried to keep her nerves at bay as she talked her way through her plan. "Okay. As soon as Councillor Phelo has managed to get Athen to agree, he will make contact with us. You, Sergent Mathews and myself will then go through to meet with them. Part of the arrangement will be that no more than two men will be allowed to come with me, but they will not be opposed to you being armed as long as I am not carrying a weapon."
Well at least he could keep his P-90, that was probably the only sensible part of this crazy plan.
Elizabeth continued. "You and Mathews will wait by the gate while I go to the Government Chambers, I'll have a radio with me so you'll know that I have made it that far. Once I'm there I will be taken down to Colonel Sheppard's cell."
"How do you know that they'll let you see him?"
"That was one of my demands in this trade. I will be the one to tell the Colonel about what will happen. If Athen doesn't agree to let me speak with Colonel Sheppard in private, then I would not consent to the swap and it's most likely to take place in the cells as its more secure than one of the Councillors' offices. This is where Dr's McKay and Zelenka's cloak comes in, we'll take care of the guard when he comes back, then all we have to do is sneak out through the front door and meet you back at the gate."
He couldn't stand it any more, this was insanity and he told her so. "Dr. Weir, I understand your desire to get the Colonel back in one piece, I want the same thing, but this plan is ludicrous!"
"I appreciate your concern, but it's not as if I'll be going in to an enemy stronghold."
"Yes Ma'am, that's exactly what you'll be walking into! Athen has the best defence and he doesn't even realise it - he's surrounded himself by innocent people that we won't want to hurt."
"And I won't put the lives of any more people at risk by ordering a strike team to go in. Not unless it's absolutely necessary."
"Dr. Weir, I think we've come to the point where it has become necessary. Please, let me take my team in?"
"I've made my decision Major."
"Fine, if I can't talk you out of it, then can I ask what you're back up plan is?"
"Like I said, I'll have a radio with me. Athen will be told that if I don't make the scheduled contact with you, it will be a breech of our contract and you will send for back up, to forcibly remove any threat he poses. The deal will be off."
Lorne sat there quietly processing all the information. She seemed to have thought of everything even if she didn't understand how foolish it was to put herself in such danger in the first place. His problem with all this wasn't the plan itself, it was the fact that she wanted to head it. It went against everything in him, to put a civilian on the front line like this, but he knew Athen wouldn't accept a swap with anyone else. She would argue that she would be able to defend herself if she had to - training with Teyla, studying various methods of self defence had really paid off. He'd had the opportunity to see her in practice not long ago and although she was nowhere near Teyla's level, she could give an unsuspecting man Athen's size a run for his money. Minutes passed and still he didn't say anything, but neither would she rush him while he thought this through.
Finally he came to his feet, his body was tense and he was nearly at attention, his eyes to the front, refusing to look directly at her. "Ma'am, I'd like to plan and select the men who will be providing the back up personally, because if we all manage to live through this insane rescue mission, Colonel Sheppard is going to kill me when we get back."
Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief. She needed Lorne's support to do this, but she knew now she could count on him, even if he didn't approve of her methods. "Major, feel free to act at your own discretion. Just let me know before we leave."
"Yes, Ma'am." Lorne looked at her then and gave her a small nod. He left her in her office and went to assemble the troops, all the while still trying to talk himself into believing this would work.
Ronon and Teyla had been asked by Major Lorne to be part of the back up teams that would go through on cloaked jumpers if Dr. Weir's plan went south. It was for that reason they and Lorne had been called to see Zelenka and McKay while they gave them a briefing on how the cloak would work, now that he and Zelenka had finished. Lorne had gone to pick the shield, cloak, whatever it was, off the desk to get a better look only to have his hand slapped away by a very irate looking McKay.
"Major, I know you're opposed to this plan, but if you're resorting to sabotage, could you at least wait until no one is looking!"
"What did I do! I only wanted to look at it."
"Then admire my work from afar! Weren't you listening when I was explaining?"
Lorne just gave him an unfriendly stare.
"You have the ATA gene Major. If you start picking it up and messing around with it, you could have inadvertently turned it on and it would be imprinted on you! All our work would have been wasted."
"Okay, okay. Sorry, I won't touch it."
Something occurred to Teyla then. "If nobody but Colonel Sheppard can touch it, how are we to get it to him?"
Rodney rolled his eyes turning to Radek who was standing just behind him and muttered, "Did I not just explain this bit?"
Radek nodded his assent, Rodney's exposition had been clear enough to him.
"Nobody with the gene can touch it!" He stressed the word 'gene' to make his point.
The two scientists looked superior while on the other side of the work top, the three warriors tried not to appear too defeated.
Ronon spoke up then. "Gene or no gene, they won't just let her walk into Sheppard's cell with this thing in her pocket."
That was obviously something they hadn't been able figure out and the smug smile on Rodney's face dissolved. "We thought we'd, ah, leave that to you. You have to earn your pay somehow." Watching the shadows darken Ronon's features, Rodney's bold words trailed off. Sometimes that guy can be a little scary.
"Don't worry Doc, you can't have the answer to everything." Lorne chipped in, still a little sore about being shouted at like a naughty child.
"Oh and I suppose you already know how you're going to get it past them?"
"Yes." Ronon's deep rumble left no room for argument.
Elizabeth had gone to her quarters not long after Lorne had left her office. She had tried to forge ahead with some of the work that had accumulated while she had been coming and going from her meetings with the Councillors, but the progress was slow. Her mind refused to focus, her eyes blurred when she tried to concentrate, and she ended up reading the same paragraph over and over. Eventually she had to admit defeat and left to take a break.
She had been awake for the last two days and the night before she had been plagued with dreams that still haunted her now she was awake. Walking around her room, that was her own private space, she allowed her doubts to come to the surface. If she was going to pull this off she had to be confident and that meant there was no place for the things that niggled in the back of her mind, so she would take some time to work through them one by one. After a while her nerves settled, but the need for something to do still drove her to pace about. As she turned once again, she looked at the door that went through to the bathroom. Suddenly the urge to scrub away the grime from the previous day had come over her and before she knew it she was under the steaming water.
She let it wash over her body as though the heat could scour away all her worries, the fear that she wouldn't be able to what was needed to save John. For a time Elizabeth just stood under the water, just relishing the feeling, but the thought that Phelo could contact them at any time occurred to her. She grabbed the soap and begun to wash, but her hand stopped as it came to her stomach. Holding it over the place where the life within was growing a little more each day, she thought, in about six months she and John would have a child. Her emotions threatened to overwhelm her then, but she held the tears back. This was everything that she had really wanted, to have a family of her own.
She had thought it would be Simon she would eventually settle down with, but after he had told her that he had taken her at her word and found someone else to share his life with, the chance seemed lost. At first the news had been an awful shock, it had crushed her and soon enough she had been so mad at him she couldn't wait to leave Earth and get back to Atlantis. The people here had made her part of a new family, their love and support had made this place more of a home than Earth could ever be to her now. This is where her heart was. Her memories of Simon were bittersweet, and looking back now, she truly wished him all the best. The end of their relationship had been like one of the last major strings that kept her attached to Earth, being cut. It was the start of a new life, abound with the struggles and hardships that came with being a leader, but somewhere along she way she had found happiness. She didn't believe in fate, but she and John had been thrown together and what had started out as a friendship between colleagues had transformed during the years, the experiences they shared bringing them closer.
And now, what she thought she would never have, was a reality, one that was at risk of being snatched away from her. She wouldn't let it happen. She had seen the anguish on Liadan's face when she placed her hand over her child and remembered her husband. Elizabeth swore to herself right then, that was not going to happen to her and John. She needed him too much and their child would need it's father. That was what was at stake, that was the burden she carried all on her own. Besides Carson, she and John were the only ones who knew about the child and for now thats how it had to stay. She was sure that gossip and rumours had let everyone in Atlantis know they were together, but they did nothing to either confirm nor deny people's suspicions. Their relationship was private, the exception of course was being John's team who were subtle enough to make sure it get any further.
Elizabeth shook herself out of her reverie. There was no more time for this. She got out of the shower, dried off and went in search of a fresh set of clothes. Once she was dressed she took a deep steadying breath to brace herself, then headed out for the control room. She would be ready when Phelo called her.