Warning: Violence
Chapter 11
Ready or Not
The teams slipped out of the Jumper and entered the Hive ship.
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They sat with four tails on the funky feeling floor. They took turns keeping watch, listening and picking lint off their respective clothes. The Wraith were torturing them with boredom and worry.
The temptation was there. With one little mental nudge,everything could be open to her: the location of Col. Sheppard, the location of Dr. McKay and the overall grand scheme. One could guess pretty accurately at the outcome the Wraith were hoping for.
The answers may not be the ones she or anyone else wanted, but she would have them. She looked at the bread brought earlier and the water flask next to it. They consumed them sparingly because it was the only sustenance in…how many days was not clear. Long enough for hunger and thirst to try and take over when it did come. Their own greed was now an enemy.
Teyla was hiding- shamefully and smartly hiding from the Wraith. If they knew she was able to infiltrate their mental links, she would be dead and the information would still only be known by the Wraith. No advantage would be gained, a completely useless loss. Elizabeth told her under no circumstances to betray herself. She complied because it was the right thing to do, for now.
The Wraith left them alone, but something was coming though. The sounds of the ship changed. The sounds quieted most likely due to the completion of their task. The engines must be about done, which meant their time was growing short.
The Earthlings might be heading home soon and not of their own freewill. They had their own ghouls in their galaxy, along with a threat from yet another galaxy to plague them as well. That enemy made her sad. No, more than sad…it was tragic. The beloved Ancestors had their mythic opposites in her galaxy. The powerful and mythic properties of the Ori were simply and darkly consuming. They killed not for survival; they killed for fervor in their own state of godliness.
Disappointing.
She had studied some of the religions of Earth and the fallen angel and God came to mind. Many of the faiths had the good versus evil aspects. It was more conjectural than the struggle between humanity and the embodiment of evil experienced daily. Here, you were physically fighting to keep your soul out of the maw of a Wraith. The parallels were interesting and it still came down to faith.
She was embarrassed to say that she wanted to discuss the many Earth religions with Chaya before she found out who she was. She wanted to find out her point of view of these strange people, so many conflicting beliefs on one planet. Then, her own beliefs came into play and she could not approach an Ancestor. She knew they were not gods, but when faced with one who destroyed an entire Wraith battle group…respect was in order.
Once again she found herself in the middle of that fight- the maws waiting patiently for them.
Teyla was nearing the end of her shift when the footsteps echoed once again. They kept no regular patrol, so this just might be a prisoner check or a food delivery or…
They opened the cell and grabbed Dr. Weir.
…the taking of a prisoner.
The confusion written on Elizabeth's face was heartbreaking. Then, the realization and understanding was even more heartbreaking. All Teyla could do was watch.
More footsteps stomped the halls. Carson, Cavanaugh and she were pulled out of their cells next. The leering just shy of licking lips was all she needed to know. They were now on the list to be put in the supplies hold. They were no longer prisoners; they were food.
No.
She fought; Cavanaugh joined her; and Beckett recieved a stunner blast before he even fathomed what was going on.
Elizabeth screamed from the other direction and the corridor lit up like the birthday cake at Dr. Zelenka's party. Blinded, Teyla connected with flesh in her frantic bid for freedom. She would not stop until they forced her to.
Her fists flew until a stunner blast hit her solidly in the chest.
Before her brain shut down, she thought she heard concerted battle yells.
Atlantis.
Thank the Ancestors.
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Murphy's Law always kicked in when on a mission. It was not a rescue operation without at least one thing going haywire. Or, twenty.
"Lieutenant, I think they're on to us," whispered her ATA gene endowed second. He showed her the life signs detector.
Cadman had to agree. The detector had gone from registering three tracking devices to registering over twenty.
Her radio clicked in her ear. "Go ahead."
"Are you seeing what we're seeing?" Williams asked her.
"Aye, aye. Do you have your targets sighted?"
One click for yes came back.
"Ours is lost in the clutter," she whispered.
Her second halted the group and she broke contact. He held up four fingers and Cadman nodded back. She directed everyone to take up positions on either side of the corridor along the walls.
She peeped around the corner. The target was down there somewhere in the row of cocoons. All of the alcoves were completely sealed from top to bottom. There was no way to tell who was who without taking off all of the mucous membranes slowly and laboriously while under fire. Not ideal conditions.
Her second signed four more Wraith approached from the opposite way of the T-junction in the hallway.
They knew her team was there. She was going to make two new rules for rescue operations: no laws named after Murphy and no plans laid out by a paranoid, crazed, goofball hepped-up ex-lieutenant.
The LSD showed that four more Wraith had arrived in the alcove area and more were on the way. She was going to smack Ford in the back of the head if she got out of here alive.
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Williams looked back down at the detector and motioned everyone to retreat back to a doorway just off the cell block. He signed eight baddies approaching. They waited as the drones took Dr. Weir out of her cell. They started walking the opposite way from the team. The rest were removed and walked towards the hidden insertion force.
He looked back down at the device in his hand. From what he could tell Weir had the tracker, so the rest came first. He could not lose visual on them. He stowed his device and turned to give orders when Teyla made her move. Cpl. Cavanaugh joined in and Dr. Beckett did not stand a chance as he got stunned outright.
Screw waiting for Ford, he thought. It was time for a good old-fashioned firefight. The other three moved around him. He pulled the pin on a flash-bang, gave the sign and whooped up a fearsome battle cry.
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The skeleton crew of Wraith still at the house was easy pickings, relatively. They were escorting a pair of humans. Ronon had some unfinished business with one of them. The conniving speck of filth standing in front of him was a dead man. He noted that Ford was seething as well, but not surprised.
"I knew it! Something just not right about you."
Te'Jon stood in the main hall and he was surprised. He also held a girl hostage. Worse, he was skittish.
"No exploding engines today Mr. Ford. The Queen also knows everything about your rescue plan and subsequent destruction of her hard work. Caught Lia here before she did something to the prisoner the Queen would regret." His eyes searched the room for a way out, any way out.
Only way out is in a box, Ronon silently sneered at the insignificant vermin.
"I'll kill her," he tried to bargain.
Ronon and Ford exchanged glances and replied in unison, "So."
"They know your people are on the ship. They're waiting."
"Makes it more fun," Ronon said as low and menacing as possible.
Ford double clicked his handy-dandy Genii radio. A few seconds later, an explosion thundered in the distance.
"Hedged my bets there. Didn't give you all of the cherry poppers." Ford smiled brightly. "Although, they won't be as effective as if they were placed on the inside of the engines themselves. Cain't have everything." He tried to look forlorn, but it just did not happen with the arrogant smile on his face. "Chaos is a great diversion."
Ronon's finger itched to finish off the traitorous, dung covered rodent. He wanted to blast a crater through his chest with his beloved. He waited stone-like in his resolve until the proper moment arrived.
Voices crackled in his ear as Stackhouse reported from outside the house.
"We have a visual on Chicken Little."
"Take him at your discretion," ordered Maj. Warren from the Puddle Jumper.
This little maggot was stalling them so the Wraith could take McKay back to the Hive. His finger itched even more.
"Our friend here reports the ship's a trap," relayed Ronon calmly.
Te'Jon started sweating and placed the gun to the girl's head. "The Wraith know all. You cannot hope to survive or win."
Ford bobbed his head, "Blah, blah, blah. Whatever, you little shit. The Wraith are nothing more than bullies…and a great high. I'm getting bored. Either kill her or try to kill us…by the way, we know about the prisoner you're trying to get back to the ship." The grin returned. "So, what's the next move Einstein?"
Te'Jon looked at the doors to the outside. That was when the earth started shaking. Any lopsided picture fell off the wall. The hanging lights swayed. Dust fell from aged plaster.
Ronon's aim never wavered.
All sorts of squawking started on the radios. Maj. Warren shouted over the din, "The Hive ship's warming up its engines! Pull out now. We're out of time!"
"We have Mama, Bo Peep, Sneezy and Little Bear; we're missing Papa!"
Cadman was heard next, "We're cut off from Papa! Wraith have employed counter measures. They have all tracers turned on!" She was huffing and puffing as she spoke.
"Do you need assistance?" Williams asked.
"Negative! We'll find our own way. Get the rest out!" P-90 fire rat-a-tat-tatted in the background.
Ronon ground his jaw and rage colored his vision. The vermin finally made his mistake as Ronon knew he would; he moved for the door. He did not have long to ponder the error of his ways when his head exploded from a kill shot by Ronon's beloved. The girl screamed while sticky, red, brain bits peppered her face and clothes. She continued to scream as the body lumped to the floor like dirty laundry.
"Nice shot Kong!" Ford congratulated him while patting him on the back.
Damn, that felt good.
Ronon let his gun arm fall to his side. Vindication.
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Rodney was oblivious. Walking was by sheer will power alone. He followed, no, staggered really, behind two of the drones. Since they had brought Elizabeth and him to the lab, Neanderthal and Cro had not made another appearance. Maybe they were in the larder. That would be sweet.
After his session with Vlad, the drones did an about face while on the way to the cell. They started to lead him out of the lab. Change of orders, he guessed.
Lia had been waiting for him at his home away from home. When they redirected, she screeched and raced irrationally down the hall at them. Another human intercepted her as she babbled incoherently about finishing her task. He did not dwell on what task as she only had one concerning him. The drones may have just saved his life…depressing thought.
Now they were back out in the sunshine and trudging towards the Hive ship. His brain concentrated only on two things. Left foot. Right foot. Feet. Feet. Feet. How many feet did you meet? Oh goody, now he was quoting (badly, might he add) another doctor.
So when the drones were struck by stunner blasts and familiar uniforms surrounded him, he was confused. Maybe, it was Ford's little group of addicts. But why would they risk anything for him? He studied the face yammering at him until he finally recognized it.
Relief, big waves of relief.
Stackhouse stood in front of him. His jaws were moving and his lips were flapping, but for the life of Rodney he could not understand a single word. It was so garbled, dyslexia of the ear.
Instead, he decided to say something intelligible.
"'Bout damn time."
Rodney's knees saw something of interest on the ground and went to meet it.
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"Medic!" Stackhouse shouted as Dr. McKay sank before him. He slowed his descent as the corpsman knelt by McKay.
Upon the approach to the little group, Stackhouse noticed the stain on McKay's shirt. Little red dots mingled together to form a red, skunk stripe up and down his back. He was seeing red in more ways than one. No waiting, they were going after Chicken Little right then and there. Like Ford said, easy-peasy. Plus, he did not want to face the rage of Sheppard- when he returned- if they lost the Doc.
The medic checked McKay over. "Get him to the Jumper; I need to check blood sugar first. He's not going anywhere until he's stabilized."
Stackhouse directed the rest of his team to help move the doctor.
"McKay's down," he reported on the radio double-timing it back to the waiting Jumper.
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"No. NO. NO!" Ford looked up at the ceiling of the house. "No one wants me to have a successful mission. Stackhouse, get McKay's lazy, hypochondriac ass down here. The computer in the lab's our only way to stop that Hive. Or, I'm coming out there and getting him."
Beloved reintroduced itself to Ford's nose. "Leave him be."
"You don't understand. We need to stop that Hive ship now. Next stop is Earth. Not letting that happen Kong."
"Sheppard's on that ship."
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that, but he's a goner anyway. They leave; it's 6 billion Wraith enchiladas waiting at the end of the journey." Disregarding beloved, Ford ran to the door leading outside and into Dr. Hallidy.
"Brought the generator…" Hallidy said as he saw Lia on the otherside of the two men. "By the Ancestors…Lia are you…who's that on the floor?" The man was flustered as he crossed the room, sidestepping the mess, to reach the catatonic young woman.
She recognized no one and screeched no more. Lia wrung her hands and swayed back and forth. The blood was starting to dry on her face and in her hair, matting it and clumping it into knots.
He placed his coat around her shoulders. "Lia come over here and sit down."
"Te'Jon was a traitor. He didn't set the charges. The ship's getting ready to take off," explained Ford curtly. "He was going to kill her," he added as an afterthought. Ford studied the door again ready to take off after his former teammate.
Hallidy held her and whispered in her ear. She gave him no notice.
Ronon tapped his earpiece. "Does anyone else know anything about Wraith computers?"
"This is Jumper One; we have the canaries on board. We're coming to meet you at the rendezvous. We have a yes; Cpl. Cavanaugh's a veritable whiz kid."
"Does he read Wraith?"
"Negative."
Ford grinned yet again, "But Mulden does." Ford used his Genii radio. "Mulden tell me you're still alive and kickin'!"
"Yes Aiden, though the Wraith were not nearly as concerned about the explosion as we had hoped." He huffed out. "I'm on my way back to the house. Picked up Kocak on the way. Be there in few."
"I love it when a plan comes together!" Ford grabbed the portable generator which was about the size of a canister style vacuum. "Let's get this bad boy set up and get to destroying that nasty old ship."
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Elizabeth was numb. One of the rescue party gave her a jacket to cover up with once they were safely inside the Jumper. She was at the point she did not care. As it rose off the ground, she expected to hear blades chopping at the air like in all those Vietnam War movies. The quiet whine was eerily anticlimactic.
Her mind went back to the day Kinsey paid her a visit. Yes Virginia, there is a Stargate. He wanted her to be a puppet for his own agendas. Never underestimate a woman given power. They gave her command of the biggest and most fantastic secret in human history and he thought she was just a Barbie doll. Boy, was he wrong and, as it turns out, a spineless coward to boot. She never looked back and never second guessed her involvement. Not even now.
They were going home…eventually. They were safe…for the moment. The job was not done…unfortunately.
"Lieutenant, the Wraith have engaged the Stargate. Better…" Fuller stopped as he listened to his radio. "...canaries on board…rendezvous…Yes…Cavanaugh….whiz kid…" The voice kept fading in and out on her.
They did not have everyone though.
They were leaving one behind.
And, they could not let that ship leave.
Cadman's team had scrambled last minute into the back of the Jumper narrowly escaping a Wraith culling beam. They were furious to find out the entire operation had been leaked on Ford's end. Their mission was a bust before it began.
Lt. Williams's team had a shorter distance and luck on their side. A few minutes later and that part of the mission would not have been successful either.
"Lt. Cadman, we can't let that ship leave. They have intergalactic hyper drive engines," said Weir in between her contemplations.
They were going to leave him to die.
Others had already died.
"We know Dr. Weir. We might have to do a little dog fighting in a minute." Cadman solemnly nodded at her as she moved forward. Protection of Earth was first and foremost.
They were going to kill him.
He would understand and even condone it. Absolution.
She was still numb. When the Wraith came to the cell, the alpha whispered the Queen wanted a personal audience with her. More gloating. She never met a race of…beings that like to gloat as much as they did. Not even the Goa'uld. That was saying something. Of course, it could have been much more than the average Wraith gloat he was taking her to. She shuddered involuntarily.
"Cruisers, two cruisers are entering the atmosphere to provide cover." The pilot reported. "Whatever we're going to do, we need to do it soon."
"Cavanaugh are you up to hacking your way into a Wraith computer?" Cadman asked.
"Aye, aye ma'am. I'll do my best. Dr. Zelenka and I have been working together."
"Fuller, drop them off at the house, and then let's get this minivan into the fight." Cadman ordered. "I'm so angry; a soccer mom would be afraid of me."
Weir looked at Teyla and Carson's unconscious bodies on the floor of the minivan…Jumper. She felt that numb, just not that oblivious. Once they got back, she was going to scream at every wall in her room and then in her office. She still did not second guess herself. Well, maybe a little. But, only because she was useless in this situation. It was all up to the soldiers.
She stared at the storage racks and then whipped up enough courage to look at the other faces in the craft. They had their mission faces on…but …disappointment, oh the disappointment was in their eyes. They had missed one of their objectives. The failure would sting even after the debriefing. The recriminations. The stoic faces full of loathing. "He would not have left us." She could hear it already.
Lorne had stated as much when he had gone to that planet to collect eggs. Losing two men and failing to retrieve the eggs weighed him down for days afterwards. Sheppard and he had a long talk when John was up to it. She was never privy to the details, but Lorne's demeanor lightened. A lesson taught and learned.
Her own self-recriminations were already starting. "I told you so!" John jeered at her from the not quite grave. "You, me- never on the same team. Then you had to throw in Lorne as well…" A look of mischief would accompany that statement, yet he would be dead …serious. He would be kidding himself anyway, as if he would let her go on a mission without him.
Why did she not listen? Because, diplomacy was her ball of string- impressing the locals, commitment from all the leaders on Atlantis, showing them the solidarity. We are of one mind. It had worked. She had done her job.
His ball of string was…just everything else.
These were her people, John's men, and their fellow expedition members. Statistically, it was a successful retrieval. Mr. Math Whiz, Lt. Col. I Could've Been a Member of MENSA would even agree.
"You did good Lieutenant." Weir said. "Thank you."
"Your welcome, and that first thing's a matter of opinion, ma'am."
"No Lieutenant, that was my fault."
The stats did not take into account the human and emotional cost.
Now was not the time to dwell on such costs because they had a job to finish, people to kill.
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A/N: Ok, so my updates are more numerous than I thought. The bunnies nibbled out of one box and started reading the funnies wrapped around a large ceramic carrot in another. We need to head to the dentist because they thought they hit the jackpot. Never have I seen them so disappointed since meeting Gopher.
Isaac, just keep the drafts of Miller coming- it is the champagne of beers. The bunnies need to hear some well wishing so...