Chapter 9: Last Part of December
A/N: Sorry for the delay, school's keeping me busy, and I've started two other pieces, which I'm going to try to complete before posting, so as not to lose the thread, And yes I know I have some stuff unfinished, as well. Oh and I didn't have any look with the Powerball drawing.
Carson knelt by the two injured men, trying to put as little weight as possible on his battered ankle, and tried to keep the feelings of helplessness at bay. He had two seriously injured men before him, and he'd just seen two women he cared deeply about leave to fend off the Wraith. The pacing audience nearby didn't help much either; he'd shrugged off all offers of help.
"Relax, Doc," rasped Major Lorne, with perhaps more force than necessary. "Give them some credit, they know what they're doing."
Carson turned to face Lorne, skepticism plainly written across his face. How could the Major be taking this so calmly? The man was clearly in pain, and beginning to sweat, not from the rising temperature, but in the early stages of a serious infection. Surely this could be chalked up to delusion.
"Lt. Cadman's a trained soldier, she knows what she signed up for," he attempted to explain, then seeing the other question in Carson's eyes, he continued, "Kyte can be very skilled at hunting, when motivated." The question still remained on the physician's face. "I see Kyte still picks and chooses what she shares. You may be pretty observant, Doc, but sometimes the little details of someone's personality escapes you. Ask her sometime why she never eats jello. No, she's not bribing Dr. McKay, though that's a pretty good side benefit. There's a couple other things she'll avoid too." He lapsed back into silence, a guilty look on his face; as if he'd just revealed someone's poker tell.
The physician shook his head. Dr. Randall, like many members of the Atlantis crew, could be quite chameleonic when she wanted, showing shades of personality depending on whom she was with, never quite letting one see the whole picture. She had an interesting friendship with Lorne, never interfering in his romantic life. Carson just wondered what secrets she chose to share with Marcus, rather than him. More importantly, he hoped there would be time, to find them out. Hopefully, Zelenka or Weir had determined they'd been gone long enough and sent a puddlejumper. He'd even fly the daft thing, if it came down to it. Hell, if he made it back to Atlantis, he might even give Schwartz and the other doctors a break. Well, maybe that was promising too much.
X
Out on the mesa, Lt. Cadman and Dr. Randall surveyed the terrain with practiced eyes. Time to find an advantageous spot and wait. Neither was comfortable to be classified as prey; they were still predators, looking for the upper hand. "If only they didn't have wounded team members," they both thought, wishing for more weapons, more people. Laura decided they should continue to stay split up, although within range, provide two targets for the remaining Wraith. She couldn't help but think of all the nature videos she'd seen in grade school, of the mother bird trying to lead any potential predators away from the nest. That was a humorous vision; Major Lorne and the others weren't helpless hatchlings, usually. Still that's what they were trying to do: kill the Wraith before they discovered they weren't alone. It wasn't a matter of if they'd be found; it was simply a matter of when.
Kyte rested on haunches, surveying around her. Just breathe, she told herself, it's like all those hunting trips when you were younger. But the stakes are a little higher, that little voice nagged, even more so than that one winter. She tried to push the images out of her mind, but somehow, they slipped through the carefully constructed barriers. She forced the memories back and concentrated on the task at hand. She knew that the two of them were running low on ammo, but with a little luck and patience they might win this. Not might. They had to.
Lt. Cadman might have been thinking the same thought, until she saw the gate activate again. An additional four Wraith on foot came through, though she couldn't tell if they were from the same faction. It probably didn't matter – the Wraith would most likely see if there was any food in the vicinity and then get territorial. "So much for the secret elephant playgrounds," she muttered. The best the two women could hope for was to take out as many as possible, convincing the remaining Wraith they were the only humans, and hope a team from Atlantis could send a rescue party. "Oh hell, she muttered again, seeing two figures skittering across the rocks. Dr. Brown and Dr. Parrish had decided, somewhat misguidedly, to help out.
Dr. Randall had also noticed, and the two women moved to intercept the newcomers, trying not to attract attention.
"You couldn't sit tight and wait," asked Lt. Cadman, her tone indicating if they were really military under her command, they'd be looking at court-martials. Seeing Dr. Brown's shaken expressions, she softened slightly. "I know you think you're helping, but you may have just given away our position, and told them there are a few more targets." She refused to say what the Wraith would really consider them.
"We left Dr. Hudson with a 9mil, back in the cave," interjected Dr. Parrish softly. The meaning behind his words was clear. Suicide was preferable to being part of a combo platter.
We should take up a position over there," Dr. Randall pointed out an outcropping a short distance away, where they'd have the advantage of initially being above. "I think they've spotted us."
Lt. Cadman looked at the 9mils both botanists carried. "Click the safeties off, and don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes." No one commented on her quote. The Wraith approached with almost an unnerving speed and calm, as if they knew the Lanteans were outgunned. Lt. Cadman and Dr. Randall opened fire first, emptying the last cartridges out of their P90s. Dr. Brown joined them, cursing as her first shot went wild and she learned the meaning of the expression, 'gun control is handling the recoil.' Her wrist throbbed and she cradled the barrel in both hands, chambering the next round. Dr. Parrish mimicked Lt. Cadman's stance, realizing that first person shooter video games and action movies did not provide the best weapons handling instruction.
"Honey," drawled Lt. Cadman seeing Katie's grimace, "When we get back, we're going to have a class in Gun Handling 101." She switched to her 9mil, realizing that Wraith were like tigers, the only thing worse than encountering one, is running into a wounded one. "I hate standoffs," she muttered, as she realized how quickly the Wraith had closed the distance. It looked like a bizarre version of the OK Corral. The Lanteans were slowly retreating, unfortunately there was no place to go, except the hope of breaking into a flat-out run across the rocks, and that wouldn't solve anything.
Dr. Randall swore as she tossed the empty 9mil aside. One of the Wraiths seemed to be singling her out and grinned at her in a way that would have sent shivers down a snowman's spine.
"I will delight in feeding upon you and your friends, he hissed. She told to go perform a certain sexual act. Apparently that translated across cultures as he grabbed for her with a sudden ferocity, and she tripped over a rock behind her, landing on her back at the edge of the overhang. She felt her stomach twist as he snarled down at her.
"Dulce et decorum est," she yelled, shifting the knife for one last desperate strike, knowing it was probably useless, but resolved to go out fighting. She heard a dull roar in her ears and the sounds of renewed gunfire before the Wraith fell on her. She tried to push it off, and there was no resistance as the Wraith fell over the edge.
"Lying down on the job," asked a somewhat amused Ronon Dex, as he pulled he up. A moment later, she was kneeling on the overhang studying the activity around her, as Ronon rushed back into the fight, gun drawn. Two uncloaked jumpers had landed nearby, spilling out personnel and weaponry. The air was punctuated with sounds of Wraith snarls and machine gun fire. The cavalry had made it in time, and quickly dispatched the now- surrounded remaining wraith. After an all clear, medical personnel left the relative safety of the puddlejumper and began their preliminary exams of the combatants, setting into motion a second wave of activity.
Colonel Sheppard appeared to be congratulating a proud and relieved-looking Lt. Cadman for her handling of the situation. Rodney cradled a shaking Katie Brown in his arms. Kyte didn't think she'd ever seen him handle someone so tenderly as he stroked her back and smoothed her hair. If word of this got out, he might find himself a few more female admirers, and no one would laugh at his display at this moment. Dr. Parrish looked a little green and was being attended to by a medic, while another marine was removing enzyme sacs from the dead Wraith for Dr. Beckett's research, and in case a certain lieutenant came back. Kyte stood and looked over the edge seeing the small pool of black a long way down. She gulped suddenly, her mind and body attempting to reconcile what she had almost happened. Unfortunately, her stomach was beginning to think the easiest solution was to empty its contents. She felt a broad hand on her shoulder, and drew strength from it.
"We'll have to work on your throws," commented the Satedan. She smiled weakly, feeling the adrenalin dissipate. Off in the distance, she heard several explosions.
"Sorry McKay, no Wraith dart this year for Christmas. Must be on some sort of self-destruct," quipped Sheppard, seeing the physicist look up, regretfully. "We still need to set our own charges, prevent anyone from dialing in here again." Turning to address Lt. Cadman, he explained, "Ronon's the reason we're here. He'd heard stories about a planet where Wraith like to hunt trapped prey." Seeing her shudder and consider what might have been, "You, well, we didn't know, but it looks like everyone handled themselves pretty well. So how'd Major Lorne and Lt. Bond miss all the excitement?"
"Injured, probably critically. Carson's not in great shape, either. They're up in that cave, about a kilometer away," replied Lt. Cadman softly. Additional medical personnel and marines scurried off in the direction she indicated.
"Oh," Colonel Sheppard slowly exhaled, realizing that it had been a young lieutenant, and three civilians, two of whom were confirmed lab rats who'd decided to take on the Wraith. He guessed in a day or two, that'd this would make for interesting talk around the proverbial water cooler in the labs. And damnit, he figured Lt. Cadman and probably Dr. Randall would be notching something to mark their kills, especially in these circumstances.
TBC
A/N: Probably one more chapter. The Secret Elephant Playground is an old Far Side cartoon. Dulce et decorum est is a line from the poet Horace and is the last line of a WWI poem by Wilfred Owens. The last line is Dulce et Decorum est pro patria morti, which translates as 'It is beautiful and good to die for one's country.' I've always found it haunting, along with Hemmingway's works.