Space Pirates

Chapter 16

He couldn't breathe, icy cold swept over him and he lost all feeling of orientation as his body made contact with a solid surface. When he could finally draw breath again, he smelled musty, damp air. He became aware of a deep humming permeating the dark space. He drew deep breaths, waiting for the worst of the panic to recede. Panic was not going to help him now, he had to remain calm and rational. Gather information about his surroundings. Yes, that was it. Wasn't that what the major would do? Right now he wished for the presence of the soldier.

Slowly, he reached out, feeling his way. The floor was smooth, radiating an odd warmth. Through the palm of his hand he could feel the vibrations in tune with the humming that filled his ears. He listened. Beneath the hum lay a hissing whisper and heavy metallic breaths sounded in the distance. Carson shuddered, he felt like he was inside a living organism.

His radio chirped a familiar sound in the midst of the alien cacophony.

"Beckett."

"Finally! Stackhouse here, did we get all of you? I tried to warn you, but I couldn't reach you. I think you need to have a look at Markham. The ship did something to him. He's all frozen up."

A wave of relief washed over Beckett. They were aboard the Dart. "Aye. Could you get some light back here? I need to check on the others?"

"Sorry, I'll see what I can do." Stackhouse said and closed the connection.

Carson sat back on his heels, listening to the sounds of the Dart. He wondered whether the Wraith Darts were indeed more than machines. He couldn't shake the impression that the vessel was alive. The implications for Markham who must have connected on some level to the small ship were not pleasant.

Carson heard a whooshing sound and a sliver of light penetrated the room. Stackhouse stood in the doorframe of the half-opened door, fear and exhaustion written on his face. They hadn't come on the rescue mission prepared to be chased by Wraith and stranded on an alien planet.

"Help me check their vitals. You've had some medical training, correct?" Carson eyed Stackhouse, who slowly nodded in response.

Together the two men did a quick check on the condition of their three injured friends. Carson noted the transport didn't seem to have affected their condition in any way. Markham had fortunately remembered to transport their medical supplies along with them. After verifying that Sheppard was still doing all right on the ventilator and that Teyla and Ford were showing no signs of immediate decline, Carson accompanied Stackhouse to the front of the ship.

Markham didn't seem to notice their presence, his gaze never wavered, in fact it seemed fixed on a point far away.

"Sergeant Markham?" Beckett asked in a soft voice, trying not to startle the pilot. After all they were relying on him to fly them home to Atlantis.

"I already tried that, it's like talking to a wall." Stackhouse whispered.

"When did he start acting like that?"

"As soon as he sat down at the controls, it must be the ship. It reacted to us, just like the Jumpers do."

Carson carefully moved his hand through Markham's field of vision. As expected nothing happened. The pilot didn't even blink in reaction. Carson reached to feel his pulse. It was a little bit fast, but otherwise strong and steady. Stackhouse was watching the doctor with concerned eyes.

"I don't think there's much we can do now. He seems to be able to pilot the ship fine. I don't think there's any Wraith influence. After all, he picked us and our gear up. We'll have just to wait from here on. Any idea where we're headed?" Carson moved up to study the multitude of displays.

"After what happened to Markham, I haven't been touching the displays, but I think this is some kind of star map." Stackhouse indicated one of the screens. To Carson it looked like a collection of dots and numbers. "From what I can tell it's set to scan for human life signs on any given planet in range, basically telling the Wraith whether a planet is worth culling." Stackhouse paused. "I studied the star maps before we left Atlantis, we're headed the right way. At the rate we're going, we should be getting within sensor range of Atlantis soon. If they are monitoring Wraith activity, they might already have picked us up."

"Do ye realize what ye saying?" Carson exclaimed. "They might shoot us down!"

oOo

The metal pipe slammed against the bed post, accompanied by shouts, telling the prisoners to get up.

John rolled over on his thin, thread-bare mattress, cursing at the pain from his still healing wound, staggering to his feet. He pulled on his boots, already dressed in his clothes. The nights in the mountains were cold and the blanket he'd been given offered little warmth. John joined the queue of men lining up to collect their breakfast rations. He spotted Carson a few positions in front of him. It was their first morning in Ristia. They'd arrived the previous afternoon and already spent half a day sorting crystals for their purity. The work had been fairly light and mostly carried out by women and older men. John was sure there was worse to come.

Once he'd collected his breakfast consisting of a cup of broth and some oil dunked bread, he went to find Carson. Until he figured out the dynamics here, he planned to remain aloof, but Carson had a weapon, so it was definitely worth staying in his good graces. John didn't see the possibility for escape yet, especially since he would still be trapped on a planet full of people that hated the Atlantians and with good reason.

He found Carson leaning against the wall of their barrack, his breakfast sitting next to him untouched. His knees were drawn up, his arms wrapped around them. The man appeared lost in thought and didn't react to John's approach. John leaned against the wall and slid down next to Carson.

"You should eat, we might not get anything until tonight." The memory of dinner the previous night was not pleasant. An oatmeal-like paste devoid of any salt, it tasted burnt and bland. John had eaten worse, but not much. After hardly having eaten for the past two days, the alien oatmeal had been filling at least.

"Carson?" John reached for Carson's shoulder. Through the fabric he felt fine tremors running through the other man's body. He inched closer. Carson didn't look well, he was pale and despite the low temperature, sweat was glistening on his forehead.

Carson batted his hand away. "Leave me alone." He growled.

John shrugged.

"Whatever. Watch out for that food." If Carson didn't want to talk to him then that was his problem. John would still keep an eye on the Scot. They hadn't seen much yet, but John doubted that in an open prison society like this, the peace would last long.

A guard dressed in a fairly ragged uniform was headed straight for their resting place. His face was pinched and he looked tired.

"What are you still doing here?"

John cast a look around. He had allowed himself a moment to rest, he hadn't had much sleep and his injuries still dragged him down. Concentrating on Carson, he hadn't even noticed that the barrack had emptied itself. The guard didn't wait for him to answer.

"You are new here." He said, exhaustion lacing his voice.

"We got here yesterday." John explained. Better not to irritate the guard if he could avoid it. This work camp didn't seem like the prime assignment for the guards working there either.

"You look strong enough to work in the mine." The guard gave John an appraising glance. "This is women's work here."

oOo

Tension lay heavy over the control room. The whole of Atlantis could feel it. The nightshift had come and gone without receiving news from the rescue team. No one had seen Elizabeth leave her office since Dr Beckett and Sergeant Bates' team had left. Radek Zelenka stepped into the control room, armed with a thick folder and more bad news. Watching the tense looks directed at him as he made his way to Elizabeth's office, he straightened, clutching his folder tighter. They would all know in a matter of minutes. The news would make their current worries seem small by comparison. Now, they'd need McKay.

He knocked on Elizabeth's door.

"Come in." She answered after a pause.

Radek entered, coming to a halt in front of the desk. Elizabeth looked more dishevelled than he had ever seen her, absently running a hand through her hair.

"What's the matter, Dr. Zelenka?" She sounded tired and irritated.

Radek held on to his folder.

"You know that we regularly monitor Wraith activity using device that Major Sheppard obtain from the Genii." He made a small pause, searching for the best way to put it, but there wasn't any wording that would make the situation better. "A hive ship is on way towards Atlantis. We have maybe 72 hours."

Elizabeth looked at him for a moment.

"How come we didn't know this earlier?"

"It was the closest to Atlantis, but until now, the Wraith didn't seem aware of our position. The ship is moving at far greater speed than initially anticipated. Their engines must different from Jumper's engines. I didn't have time to think about this in more detail, but Wraith's propulsion technology is probably hybrid between conventional engines and hyperdrive engines as seen with the Asgard. Now obviously Wraith have no means of leaving this galaxy on their own, which means…"

Elizabeth raised her hand to silence him.

"All right. I don't think this really matters now. What's the status of the science department?"

"We have been working on developing naquadah enhanced grenades. There are few prototypes ready. We haven't been able to produce them in mass or carry out field test on them. We could produce more, but have no more naquadah other than what was brought from Earth. It must be native to Pegasus, the Ancient used it to build gates, but guess there isn't time now." Radek felt the pressure of finding the impossible solution weighing down on him. Where was McKay when they needed him?

Elizabeth got up from her seat, her hand poised at her comm device. She dropped it again, focussing back on Radek.

"How long will the shield last?"

"Cautious estimate, 36 to 40 hours. But we don't know what will happen if Wraith fire on shield. Absorbing blast energy might drain shield much faster. We risk draining all of ZPM. Without energy source, Atlantis' systems would be dead. We wouldn't even be able to use the Stargate." Radek looked at her. "We wouldn't be able to initiate the self-destruct."

Elizabeth nodded.

"Atlantis' weapons?" She sounded almost weary.

"With Dr. Beckett and Major Sheppard off-world, there is no one to use chair. The major is really the only one who has what it takes. Rodney has experimented with chair a lot. There is no one who can use it."

Elizabeth rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Have Dr. Hayes give you the file of the gene carriers. Have them try. Keep me informed. I'll call in a briefing with Sergeant Lee in about an hour. I guess it's time I made the announcement."

"We still have M8X-063." Radek knew that it had always been one of their last options.

"There's hardly time." Elizabeth wished the rest of her senior staff were with her, she needed their input in this situation. She had to do this alone. It was her decision. It would always have been her call to make, but if things had been different, she would be able to rely on three people she trusted most to deal with such a crisis. Elizabeth reminded herself she was surrounded by extraordinarily qualified professionals. None of the people on the expedition would be here, if they weren't outstanding individuals and come highly recommended in their respective fields.

"Make a list of the personnel you need to work on our defences and contact Sergeant Luca with the details. I'll put her in charge of co-ordinating the evacuation. We've run simulations and the storm taught us a few things, we'll get everyone who isn't needed off Atlantis. The bigger problem will be transporting..." Elizabeth thought out loud.

Her comm chirped, interrupting her.

"Dr. Weir, we're picking up a Wraith Dart heading straight for Atlantis." Grodin's panicked voice flooded over the comm.

"I'll be right there."

Elizabeth headed for the door, Radek following on her heels.

"They must have dispatched the Dart scout." Radek mumbled as they rushed into the control room. Elizabeth ordered a scanner sweep of the sector.

"If there are any more Darts out there, I want to know. If any more show up, I want to know immediately. Get Sergeants Lee and Luca here." Elizabeth ordered. The control room staff launched into action. Dr Weir turned to Grodin. "How long until the Dart gets here?"

"Twenty minutes maybe. We didn't pick it up until it got very close." Grodin said apologetically. "There's no sign of any others yet, but there could be more on the way, we just don't have any way of detecting them sooner."

"Let me have a look at scanning parameters. There has to be way to configure them to scan specifically for the Darts." Radek said, moving next to Grodin at the Ancient computer display.

"What's going on?" Sergeant Luca came jogging up to the group.

"We have Wraith on the way. Currently a Dart is fifteen minutes from Atlantis. A hive ship is three days behind." Elizabeth informed her in a clipped tone. Sergeant Luca swallowed, closing her eyes for a second. No, please god, no.

"I understand. What's our strategy?" She hoped she could keep her voice from trembling. She admired the calm with which Atlantis' leader was dealing with the crisis.

"The Dart probably carries a scouting party. We need to intercept it before they have a chance to transport into the City. The City's weapons are unavailable at the moment and we need to conserve the shield's power to deal with the hive ship later." Elizabeth looked the younger woman in the eye. "I need you to fly the Jumper, Sergeant."

Sergeant Luca paled, but nodded. "Yes ma'am." She bit her lip, as if wanting to say more.

Elizabeth knew that the woman wasn't a fighter pilot, she wasn't even a pilot, but she was the only person available who'd had flight training since coming to Atlantis and logged a few hours flying between Atlantis and the Mainland. It would have to do.

TBC