I hope everyone had a good holiday season… I have an extra long chapter here for ya… hot off the press, i just got home and finished typing I know they are showing splashdown tomorrow but I wanted to post this today anyways… so any inconsistencies are just cause I haven't seen the episode in a few years and so if anything is different… well then just pretend this is a slight AU and work with me on that.

Hope you enjoy it…

…oooOOOooo…

"Lucas?"

"Commander." He grinned back. "Good ta see you too."

"Dagwood! What are you guys doing here, how did you get here. What did you do to the ship?"

"Well we helped a bit," Sheppard said from behind Dagwood.

"I'm sorry," Commander Ford was confused.

"Oh yeah," Lucas climbed out of the pool, the Commander gave him a hand then helped the others out too. "Commander Jonathan Ford, this is Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard and Lieutenant Adien Ford."

"Lieutenant Colonel?"

"Yes Sir, USAF"

Commander Ford was still utterly confused, "How did you get here?"

"Why don't we get you guys out of the sub and back to Atlantis first."

"Do you have a medical team, have wounded."

"Dr. Beckett's a miracle worker," Sheppard tapped his radio, "McKay."

"Yeah."

"You and Teyla grab the stretchers out of the jumpers and bring them in, Ford will meet you out there and show you the way to the bridge."

"On our way."

"Yes sir," Ford said and climbed his way back into the aquatube.

"Who's hurt," Lucas looked around.

"Most of the ship flooded when we where hit, the bridge, engineering and a few other places are still dry."

The bridge was unrecognizable. Display screens were broken and thrown across the bridge, dislodged chairs had been salvaged for the wounded. The smell of smoke still filled the air from dead fires. The area around the captain's chair and communications had been cleared away, Tim O'Neill lay there unconscious.

"Tim?" Dagwood quickly ran over to him. Tim's leg had been splinted and his head was wrapped in gauze, red blood was seeping though. "What happened to Tim Commander Ford?"

"He got thrown during the crash Dagwood."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"I hope so."

"How many others are injured," Lucas asked.

"Tim is the most critical, there are four others with minor injuries. We lost five people from the bridge…" he looked at Lucas.

"Do you have any news from Bridger?"

"He blew the ship, I told him the SeaQuest was hulled… Commander, I don't know how they could have survived."

"The Captain's tough, you know that. We're going to find a way down there to get them."

Lucas didn't know how to react, he fell back into the captain's chair, emotions finally starting to take him. McKay, Teyla and Ford came back at that point with the two stretchers from the jumpers and an extra medpack. Sheppard helped them out of the empty pool, "Why don't you load up the Lt. first, he looks to be in pretty bad shape. Might want to call Beckett before you get there, give him a fair warning."

"This place is a mess." McKay said looking around as Teyla and Lt. Ford brought a stretcher to O'Neill.

"Rodney," Sheppard warned.

"What? Oh… no offense or anything," He turned to the Commander who was standing next to them. "It's just… well… the fact that this place wasn't flooded is astounding."

"The SeaQuest is a well built ship," Commander Ford defended.

"Mmm… so it seems."

"Commander Ford," Sheppard broke the conversation, "This is Dr. Rodney McKay."

"Ford huh, no relation to the Lt. I take it?" McKay asked.

"No offense, Doctor, but if we could get my people food and medical attention and rescue the rest of my crew, before we study our family trees…"

"Oh…right… of course"

…oooOOOooo…

The jumpers were full with the crew from the bridge. Everyone else, except for Lt. O'Neill, had been able to walk and crawl their way out on their own, or with someone's help. Dr. Beckett and the rest of the medical team met them in the jumper bay. The door had barely touched the floor when the medical team was on board.

"Well, what do we have here?"

"His name is Tim," Dagwood supplied, quickly standing up very close to the doctor in a sort of protective manner between him and Tim. Carson looked up at Dagwood with wide eyes.

"Excuse me son, I can't help him if you don't let me see him."

Commander Ford stepped back from his seat in the cockpit. "Dagwood, it's okay," the larger man stood aside cautiously. "Lieutenant O'Neill's been fairly stable for the past twelve hours or so. Down for about twenty four total, he's been floating in and out of consciousness."

"Alrighty, we'll take it from here, thank you." and with that Carson took control and started issuing out orders to his staff.

Once O'Neill was rolled out, Dr. Weir made her way though the rest of the wounded stumbling their way to the infirmary, Teyla stayed with one of the bridge members who was using her as a crutch. The still forms of those who had fallen somberly were taken off the second jumper. Lucas silently followed them out. Elizabeth noticed the heartbroken look on his face. "Colonel Sheppard, I see that you were successful in reaching the SeaQuest."

"Why yes we were," he grinned. "Dr. Elizabeth Weir, meet Commander Jonathan Ford."

"Doctor Weir, we owe you one for saving our butts back there."

"Anytime, but as I understand you still have people out there."

"That we do. Captain Bridger and a number of the crew were on the mothership when it blew."

"Is there any chance they are still alive?"

"With all due respect ma'am, I need to find them either way."

"I understand."

"Can we bring it up like we did with the SeaQuest?" Lucas poked his head back on the jumper and in the conversation.

Rodney finally spoke up, "That depends on how large the pieces are, the shields and engines were strained enough bringing back the first part of the ship."

"We could take a shuttle back." Lucas said.

"We've already established the jumpers can't dock with ships underwater," Rodney assumed they meant their own ships.

"I see where your going Lucas," Ford ignored him. "But we can't get the shuttles out of the bay while the SeaQuest is dry."

"Then we submerge her again."

"Colonel, can we drop the SeaQuest back in the water."

"Why?"

"Can someone fill me in please," Rodney interrupted.

"Our shuttles run off their own power supply, they should still be functional" Lucas explained. "But there's no way we can take one of them out while the ship is out of the water, they aren't as fancy as your pretty little jumpers. If we can pull open the bay doors and resubmerge the SeaQuest," Sheppard wasn't looking convinced, moving the front section was hard enough for the jumpers the first time. "Look, our shuttles are made to dock down there. We can easily get to the mothership and rescue the Captain."

"How many of your crew is trapped there?" Weir asked.

"Ten."

"John, once the ship is back in the water, send Lt. Miller in another jumper, him and Lorne can retrieve the second piece of the ship while you're on the mothership. We don't need to leave those people down there any longer then they need to be."

Ford nodded, "Lucas, Dagwood, I want you to stay here with the injured…"

"But!" Lucas protested.

"We need to save room on the shuttle for the rest of the crew and who knows if any KraTaks or stormers are still down there."

The teenager turned and marched back out the jumper, following the few stragglers heading toward the infirmary.

"Wait up Lucas," Dagwood quickly caught up with him, "We should go make sure Tim is okay, he didn't look so good…" his voice trailed away.

"McKay join Lorne in the other shuttle, we'll head back to the planet, fill them in on the plan in route, we don't have much time."

"What am I, your receptionist, you have a radio." Sheppard glared back at him. "Fine… I'm going, but is it really so hard to talk to him yourself." He complained as he walked off the ramp.

"Elizabeth, call Miller, get him and Teyla back in a jumper and back to the planet ASAP."

"I want you to report back in four hours."

"Yes mother," Sheppard retook his pilot seat.

"Teyla and Miller will meet jumper two on the other side of the gate, good luck."

…oooOOOooo…

The first thing they did when they got back to the planet is attach heavy cables to the shuttle bay doors. Using the jumpers and elbow grease, they wrenching open the doors. "Lonnie's going to kill me," Ford sighed as the doors screeched and groaned to a halt. By this time Miller and Teyla had brought the other jumper though the gate. Sheppard joined Commander Ford climbing in though the bay and upto the shuttle. "I bet this is usually much easier when there's water huh," Sheppard scaled the wall of the bay up to the shuttle following Ford.

"That and entering though an actual dock… this place looks so much bigger without water."

"I'm sure."

"You ever pilot a sub?" Ford asked.

"No, but I haven't run across anything I can't fly, swimming can't be that much harder."

"Don't be so sure of yourself flyboy."

"All we saw was a pile of debris, I certainly hope there are some air pockets in that hunk of metal."

Once they were on the shuttle and powered it up the Colonel radioed to Lorne, "We're ready on our end."

"We'll make it a nice smooth ride Colonel, Lorne out."

"You have good men Colonel."

Slightly caught off guard, "Thank you." Pause, "And from the few of your crew I've meet, so are they."

"I just have to say thank you, for pooling so many of your resources for my crew."

"Well ya know, us Earthlings need to stick together, it's a big galaxy."

…oooOOOooo…

It would have taken much longer to cut though the hull if Sheppard hadn't packed a compact, high-powered torch designed to cut though naquada. The bulk of the ship had been hidden under sand that was disturbed by the blast, they were lucky to find a section large enough to dock that was attached to an air pocket.

"Where do you get this kind of tech?" Ford yelled over the torch.

"Kinda hard to explain."

"You know I'm getting really tired of this run around Colonel."

"When we're finished rescuing your people Commander we can both explain, we both have plenty of unanswered questions for each other."

The echoing thud of the hull hitting the deck broke the tension. They had to watch their footing since the whole ship went down hill in front of them and water dripped from the floor above. Sheppard took out his Life Signs Detector. "What's that?" Ford asked.

"A cool little Lantian thing that… tells… me your crew is probably over there," he pointed his P90 to the right.

"Probably?"

"Well if there really are any of those KraTaks around, I can't really tell the difference between the two with this thing. But there is a group of about a half dozen or so people over that way."

"Right," he nodded, "let's go."

The deck above them was most likely flooded, causing the water to drip consistently on top of them. "Feels like this place is going to collapse at any time." Sheppard shook water out of his eyes.

"I'd rather not stay here any longer then needed myself. How much further?"

"Hundred feet or so." The tractionless wet floor kept them from moving at a run; yet they made their way quickly, keeping their eye's open for surprises. In front of them the bulkheads had collapsed creating an impenetrable roadblock.

"Captain Bridger?" Ford yelled. Nothing. Closer, "Captain?"

A muffled voice, "Ford?"

"Captain!" he came to the block, there was no way to see though it, a steady trickle of water fell from the ceiling. With the steep incline of the floor there was no where for it to go except further down the hallway, with the Captain and his crew.

"Jonathan, it's amazing to hear your voice. How did you get here?"

"We found some friends."

"Who?"

"It's a long story," Ford winced as the words left his mouth. "Let's get you out of here and dry first."

"I like that idea."

"Sir," Sheppard was poking around at the barrier, figuring out what was and wasn't load bearing. "If you would step back I think I can punch some of this though and make a hole big enough to fit though."

"Who is that?"

"Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, USAF." He filled in.

"Air Force, what are they doing out here."

"That's part of the long story Sir." Ford said. "Is everyone okay?"

"Cuts, bruises, burns and we've been in freezing water all day with no food and Piccolo is trapped in the next section which is flooded. We've lost five people… including Wendy… Other then that we're just dandy."

"Let's just hope Tony's okay." He said quietly.

Sheppard glanced to Ford, "He's been under water for a day and he might be okay?

"I'll explain later."

"Right, why don't I stand back now so you can get us out of here." Bridger yelled over.

"Good idea." The two men spent the next ten minutes pulling and pushing at the wall of debris in front of them. "Watch your toes," Sheppard warned the rest of the crew. Thud. Soon there was a small window about chest level.

"Nice to see you Commander." Bridger leaned down and peered though the newly formed hole.

"You too Sir, let's get you out of here."

"Don't have to ask me twice. Alright Lonnie, you're the smallest, if anyone can fit though there it's you."

"Yes sir." She got a boost from Bridger, it wasn't the most graceful move she'd ever done. More like a giraffe being born.

Next was Ortiz, he had a slightly more difficult time squeezing though the hole. "Damn good to see you sir."

Ford patted his back, "you too Miguel."

After Ortiz, they solemnly passed the body of Dr. Smith though. They had used a broken piece of the bulkhead to create a stretcher of sorts. Ortiz and Brody had spared their undershirts in order to cover her face and chest, where blood from the gunshot wound that had killed her had bleed though. Brody was the last through before Bridger hoisted his way over. "Tony's is trapped behind the hatch at the end of the hallway. They hit our shuttle it was in flames, we were pinned down, after we blew the ship the stormers kept coming. We lost the rest of the team, we trapped the rest of the stormers on the other side of a blast door or something. There was a crack in the hull as we hit the ground, started taking on water. Tony pushed us through the next door and shut it behind me so we wouldn't be flooded. We could only talk to him for about and hour after that. He stopped knocking back a few hours ago."

"Head back to the launch, it's straight up the corridor and then a left, we'll get Piccolo."

"Hurry," as Bridger turned and lead the rest of the crew up to the launch.

There was about three feet of standing water at the end of the inclined hallway in front of the hatch. "Be ready to run," Ford went for the release.

"No kidding."

Pulling up hard on the release, Ford pulled the door though the standing water, more watcher rushed past them, threatening their balance. "Damn that's cold," Sheppard gasped.

"Piccolo," Ford yelled over the water. "Tony!" He pounded the wall on the other side of the door. "Come on Piccolo… Tony!" Slowly a head rose out of the water on the far side of the hallway. "Tony, come on, we're getting you out of here."

"…ood… see you… sir…wh took… so long." He stuttered out shaking. The two men pulled him past the hatch; as Sheppard struggled to push shut the hatch and stop the water flow, Ford helped Tony past the wall blockage. Once the hatch was closed again, Sheppard quickly crawled though the gap and helped support Tony's other side up the incline. "…wouldn't… appen to…blanket, would you? His legs barely worked as he still shook violently.

"In the launch, nice warm ones." They turned the corner. At the dock Lonnie and Bridger took his weight, helping him to the bench, she wrapped a survival blanket around him in the process.

Ortiz and Brody were already at the helm, powering up the launch. "We all in?" Brody yelled down the ladder.

"Yeah, let's get out of here." Ford slammed on the button and closed the launch's hatch. You could hear the water rushing in, filling the space between the two ships. Sheppard held on to the railing, trying his best not to seem nervous at the crashing sounds.

"How are ya kid?" Bridger handed Tony an unrapped emergency ration from the same survival kit his blanket had come from. Lonnie took one for herself and ripped it open for herself.

"Thanks sir," His shaking has calmed enough for him to speak clearly again. "Cold sir, very cold…" he took a bite, "…and my lungs hurt."

"I bet."

Ford climbed into the cockpit, "Why don't you guys grab some food, I'll get us to where we're going."

"Don't have to ask me twice," Ortiz practically leaped down the ladder.

Brody waited until the Commander had the controls before leaving. "Emergency rations never sounded so good."

In the back, the Captain had taken a blanket and instead of wrapping it around him self he covered Wendy's still form laying on the bench opposite Tony. After a moment of silence, "I have to thank you Colonel, don't know how much longer we could have lasted in there."

"Don't mention it." He stood awkwardly in the corner.

When Brody got to the bottom of the stairs, Ortiz already had rations out of the packaging and in his mouth. "I heard there was food." Miguel threw him a package. "Hey, Tony, good to see you."

"Yeah, you too. Hey is there another blanket by chance, huh?"

"Should be," Lonnie looked for the second survival pack.

"I should… ah… go see if the Commander needs any help up there." Sheppard quickly scooted up the ladder to the cockpit.

Lonnie handed Bridger another blanket who wrapped it around Tony, wrapping the other one around herself.

"Mmmm… artificial jerky." Brody took the last bite of his ration, reaching for another.

Bridger climbed up into the cockpit, "How's the SeaQuest."

"Not pretty, she's in two pieces." Ford answered.

"How many casualties?"

"Not sure yet, they were bringing up the aft of the ship now, but we lost four on the bridge." He turned to face his captain. "Tim's in pretty bad condition."

"What happened?"

"Tim's head collided with his screen, he's in and out of consciousness, pretty bad broken leg among other things. He's back at Atlantis, he'll be okay."

"Atlantis!"

"I know what you're thinking, and no. I've never seen anything like this place."

"It's an Ancient city we discovered." Sheppard filled in.

"How old?"

"…What?... oh… No… The Ancients… they're a people, sorta like humans, but not."

"How did you get on Hyperion?"

"Though the StarGate, Atlantis isn't on Hyperion, it's quite a distance away, other side of the galaxy in fact."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, I'm really not the best guy to explain all this to you, I confuse myself sometimes. But the StarGates were made way, way back in the day, but some really, really smart people who are extinct… mostly… And the 'Gates create stable wormholes between each other allowing us to travel all over the place. Even between galaxies, which is how we got here from Earth. My team and I were searching the planet looking for a ZPM when we ran across your crew."

"Who?"

"Lucas and Dagwood." Ford answered.

"How is he?"

"He's fine, he convinced the Colonel and his team to come and find the rest of us."

"Remind me to thank him."

…oooOOOooo…

I never hated Wendy, but I never liked her either… but her death is the first in my list of things to explain. It's a cheep way to go but I promise the others will be better. don't worry Tim will get better, him, Tony and Ortiz are my favorite characters…. And more Darwin to eventually… As always please review… please…. Pretty please… might take me a bit to get the next chapter up cause I have new years and another iinternetless trip coming up but shouldn't be too long… I'll work extra hard… I'll even hold off the knitting of my RENT sweater if I get really into it… ha…

namarie