Space Pirates

Chapter 6

"At least you don't have the bullet still lodged in you. It went straight through. I don't think that it hit any of your organs, but I'm not entirely sure. As long as we can stop the bleeding, you should be all right." Rodney babbled on. "Do you need some more for the pain?" He asked, taking in the tension on John's features. "I gave you some morphine from the med kit earlier, but I have no idea how long it'll work."

"It's okay. Just get us back to Atlantis." John managed. The pain was starting to come back, but he didn't want to have too many narcotics in his system as he was probably going to have to have surgery to repair the hole in his side.

"Elizabeth will be very angry with us." Rodney got up and paced nervously. "She'll punish us for leaving the city. I don't think she will go as far as to have us executed, but she might throw us into the brig or exile us." Rodney's pacing accelerated.

In spite of the pain, John couldn't help but be shocked at how his dream world was changing. Elisabeth, who had been a fair and strong leader, had apparently become a ruthless dictator, ruling over Atlantis without mercy. But everything seemed better than the reality of being alone in a dark cell, drugged and just waiting to be sold like an animal.

"I don't think she'll kill you though. I have seen how she looks at you. No, she'll keep you around." Rodney mumbled barely loud enough to hear.

"Rodney, listen to me. We are going to get back to Atlantis and we are going to be all right. Both of us." John reassured his friend. He hated to see Rodney so worried. Dream or not, he cared about him. It was real to him.

Rodney stopped pacing and turned to John.

"You really believe that?"

"Yes, I do. And you have to believe that as well. You see, what you think is what is real to you." John said.

"Don't go all last words philosophical on me, John, you can't give up yet. Hang on, we are almost there." Rodney pleaded, despair filling his voice.

"I'm not going anywhere." John reassured him, even though he felt the pull of oblivion tugging at his mind. But if he gave in, there was a good chance that he might not wake up again.

"Rodney, you should go over to the controls, you need to dial the gate and transmit your code." John reminded him.

"I don't want to leave you alone. What if you…" Rodney trailed of.

"I promise I won't, now go on." John forced a smile.

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Teyla woke with a start. She was confused. She couldn't see a thing. Everything was plunged in darkness. The air was filled with the acrid stench of burnt rubber and fabric. She tried to recall what had happened, but only disjointed fragments came to mind. The fight with the aliens on the planet. The ship, their escape. Ford fighting to regain control of the ship. They must have crashed. Aside from her previous wounds sustained in the fight against the animals on the planet of the pirates and a jarring headache, Teyla didn't feel any other pain, indication new injuries. Gingerly, she tried to sit up. Only now she noticed that the ship wasn't level. The rear end was lower then the front. Far more alarming was the fact that her feet were wet. She couldn't see a thing, but the lower portion of the ship seemed to be filling with water. John had been lying in the lower portion of the ship. He would be unable to safe himself. Teyla carefully crawled downwards, trying to find out how high the water stood. Then she moved sideways, hoping the find the major. Feeling the territory in front of her, she finally touched something warm and soft. Exploring further, it was either the major or Ford, but probably the major, since Ford had been in the cockpit with her. Teyla was immensely relieved the find that John's head was safely above the waterline. He could have very easily drowned when they had crashed into water. She tried to grab him by the shoulder and drag him entirely out of the rather cold water. His body didn't budge. Again using her hands to create a mental image of the situation, she found a metal beam of sorts that pinned John down in his current position. As far as she could tell with the advantage of sight, he was in no danger of sliding into the cold water, but the beam was pressing on his chest.

Using all her strength, Teyla tried to push the beam aside. Her efforts were repaid and the beam released John into the water beneath. At the same moment, the fragile balance of the ship was disrupted by her action and with a sudden lurch the ship tilted further and started to submerge fully. Teyla lost her purchase on the steep floor of the ship and fell into the rising water. The all enveloping cold came as a shock, but she immediately searched for John, afraid he was going to drown before she could get to him. She felt a body brush against her, tried to grab it, but couldn't hold on it. Her lungs were already burning when she finally got a grasp on John. Pushing her body to the limit she struggled to get to the surface with the additional weight dragging her down. She wasn't so sure where up was anymore and unable to rely on her sight, the panic dash to escape the wet grave dost her valuable time. When broken metal sliced her skin numbed by the cold water, she was finally sure that they had escape the ship. Her muscles protested as she pushed on to reach the surface. Her head broke through the water and she gasped for air, then a second later making sure that John's head was above water as well. She didn't know how long she remained there, Gasping for air. Eventually her breathing normalized a bit and she swam to the shore, dragging John with her. Careful, she pulled him out of the water and rested him on his back. She hadn't had any chance to check on him until now and was pleasantly surprised to find his pulse still steady. His shallow, slightly wheezing breaths on the other hand worried her. She feared that the metal beam that had pinned him down might have broken some of his ribs. Sliding her hands over his chest, she could feel some unevenness. Sliding her hands over his chest, she could feel some unevenness. Teyla sat down next to John's still form. She hoped that Ford was going to be all right. He hadn't answered her when she had woken up after the crash and she hadn't found him on the ship, but there her first priority had been getting to John since he had couldn't help himself. There was the chance that Ford had drowned with the sinking ship.

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Rodney wasn't sure whether he was already dead and this was a very weird version of the afterlife or whether he was still alive and experiencing a strange hypothermia induced delusion. John's body that was lying in front of him, reminding him of what he had done, reminding him of the burden he would carry for the rest of his natural life and into the afterlife if there was such a thing Rodney had never believed that there was anything beyond life, but right now he was starting to doubt that. The dead, bloodied body started to change, John's form suddenly started to radiate a soft off-white glow. Rodney blinked a couple of times, but the glow only got stronger, enveloping the entire body. The glow continued to grow in intensity. Rodney watched in fascination until the glow became so bright that he had to avert his eyes. Shielding his eyes with a hand, he peaked at what had now become a cloud of glow rising from John's body. The cloud started to take shape and as he watched, almost too stunned to breathe, he saw that the glowing figure hovering over the dead body was John. Some corner of Rodney's mind told him that what he was seeing wasn't really happened but most of him didn't care. Rodney had read reports of Ascension and this seemed similar. But if John was ascending, he was really dead.

"You think too much." He heard John's voice in his head. The glowy-John smirked at him.

"I thought you'd be glad to see me. You seemed to be in need of some company. To pass the time, because you can't give up yet."

"You're wrong. Hypothermia might not be a problem for a glowing squid like you, but for us mere mortals it's a bit of a downer. Plus, I got stabbed a few times by your alter ego, but don't worry about it. If it weren't for me, you would still be enjoying your life as a human being." Rodney said dryly.

"It's not like you think it is." John replied cryptically. "So tell me, what have you been up to in the lab lately?"

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Aiden Ford wished he could turn back the clock. He had made so many mistakes during the mission, but his last one was truly unforgivable. He had only thought of himself and had abandoned his team, probably condemning them to certain death. When he had regained consciousness after the crash, all he had seen was the rising after and he had panicked. The prospect of drowning was the worst of all for him. Or the second worst, having the life sucked out of himself by a Wraith was also a horrible way to die. The moment he had realize that they were about the sink, panic had kicked in and rational thought had left. He had climbed out of the ship though the huge tear in the front hull and from then, he'd swam to the shore. He had no idea what had happened to Teyla and John. Teyla hadn't been in the seat next to him when he had woken up, but the impact could easily have tossed her somewhere else. John had been in the rear of the ship, the part that had been filled with water. Maybe it was for the best, Ford caught himself thinking. Still, no matter the odds, he should have tried to save John and Teyla. Instead he had run away, only concerned with his own safety. Now, he was sitting at the shore. They had crashed into a large but shallow lake. The shore was grassy and surrounded by tress. In the distance, all he could see were trees, lots of trees. Far behind the tress were the white summits of gigantic mountains. The sun was still rising, but the temperature was already pleasantly warm and his wet clothes were drying fast. The beauty and peacefulness betrayed the tragedy that had taken place here. He was trapped once again. There was no telling if this planet had a Stargate and even if there was one, it could be on the other side of the planet, far out of his reach. The ship was resting on the bottom of a lake and would remain there for time to come. He kicked some pebbles and watched the rings as they sank into the water. It wasn't supposed to end like this. To ease his restlessness and give himself something to occupy his mind, he decided to explore the shoreline in search of edible plant life. They had had a few rations left, but with the crash they had lost everything. He hadn't spotted anything that looked like fruit yet, but the trees obscured the view of the shore.

Ford hadn't been walking for more than fifteen minutes when he spotted two familiar figures crouched in the high grass. For the first time in a while, a smile crossed his face and a ran towards them.

"Teyla! Are you and the major all right?" He came to a stop next to her. Teyla looked up at him, but her gaze was oddly unfocused. "I'm afraid that Major Sheppard has fractured several ribs in the crash. He has some trouble breathing." Teyla paused. "It seemed that I cannot see at present." For the first time, he heart Teyla sounding not quite as calm as always. Yet still for someone who had suddenly gone blind while stranded on an alien planet, she was still far more calm then most people Ford knew.

"Have you found anything of use?" She asked him.

"No, nothing but trees so far. No sign of any natives. At least the climate seems all right." Ford tried to sound upbeat, but failed miserably.

He sank down to the grass next to Teyla. This was it .They'd never get off this planet. They'd starve to death, get bitten by something deadly or eat something toxic. Ford glanced over to John. He didn't look good. Hell, he looked hardly alive. He was no doctor, but he could tell that John was dying. They had already left Rodney to his fate, John would follow soon after and eventually he and Teyla would die on a nameless planet. Atlantis would list them as MIA. Their relatives would never know what really happened to them. Ford felt tired.

"Lieutenant, do you think it is possible to activate the transmitter of the ship?" Teyla broke the silence.

"I don't know, besides, the ship is at the bottom of a lake."

"I know. Still, if we were to activate the transmitter, would it not be possible to transmit a message to Atlantis. They would be able to find the origin and send help."

Ford thought the idea over.

"Even if the transmitter still works, the chance that Atlantis picks up the message and manages to find us are astronomical. For all we know, the atmosphere could be blocking all transmissions."

"It cannot hurt to try." Teyla insisted.

"Don't you see? We aren't getting off this planet. We are stuck. Take a look at John, he's dying. He's been unconscious for what, four days now, he isn't just going to wake up. If he's bleeding in the brain or something, then even if we get him back to Atlantis, it's too late for Beckett to do anything. The damage is already done. I should have seen it earlier and should have stopped him. Now there is nothing we can do anymore. We couldn't save Rodney and we can't save him either, no matter how much you want to believe that. We cannot even save ourselves." Aiden almost yelled, unloading the frustration that had been building up. He got up and walked away, needing to get away for a while, realizing that he left two defenceless team members alone, but he was past caring at that point. It was not as if they still had weapons to defend themselves with. If any hostiles were to make their position, they would be hopeless.

Teyla didn't reply, arguing with the upset and very emotional man was pointless. She wouldn't let go of hope. Hope was what had kept her people going for a long time. Hope was what kept them rebuilding their village after each attack. Teyla would keep hoping until the end.

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The Jumper sat down softly in the Jumper Bay.

Rodney shot John a nervous look. John smiled back, trying to keep the pain off his face. They had not even the chance to exit the Jumper when the hatch was opened from the outside. An impressively built marine grabbed Rodney by the arm and dragged him outside, ignoring Rodney's protests. John didn't have any better luck, two marines pulled him to his feet and dragged him along to the gate room. Nobody seemed to pay any attention to the fact that he was injured. In the gateroom, Rodney was already standing in the middle of the room, looking as scared as John had ever seen him. John was led to Rodney side. As the marines let go off him, he collapsed to the floor, barely managing to hold himself up in a sitting position. Only then John noticed that what seemed like the entire station was gathered in the gateroom standing around them like an audience waiting for a play. Elisabeth emerged from the crowd and stood right in front of the duo. She wore an expression of utter disgust on her face as she looked down on them.

"You left the station without my permission, you stole a puddle jumper and you threatened my people. You're hereby guilty of treason." She glared at Rodney.

Rodney just nodded, looking like he was about to cry.

"Sergeant Bates, execute him." She coolly demanded.

Bates stepped forwards, P90 ready to fire. In rapid succession, he fired six shots into Rodney's chest. The explosion of the shots deafened John as he stared on horror as his friend was thrown back by the impact of the bullets and fell to the floor dead.

A murmur went to the audience, but overall, everyone seemed to be pleased by what had just happened. John stared at Rodney's body, his eyes fixed on the bullet holes in his chest, when Elisabeth addressed him.

"John, you deserve to be shot for treason."

"Go ahead. I know this isn't real!" John challenged her.

Elisabeth didn't react.

"But, I want to keep you around for a while. You are relieved of all your responsibilities and I'll turn you over to Dr. Beckett's care. Don't disappoint me, John."

Beckett and two of his aids approached John. He felt the prick of a needle and seconds later, he drifted off, unable to resist.

TBC