Chapter 24
Pressing Buttons
"As you can see Dr. Weir, there are a few residents of the Pegasus Galaxy to be returned." The camera lens drew back to reveal endless rows of occupied beds. "And, one in particular." The camera tightened and panned down to a sleeping Sheppard. "I know this is kind of voyeuristic, but he's asleep right now. It's not going to be easy. He's had a time of it. Quite an ordeal…" Carson always tried for a positive spin even in the direst of situations.
Elizabeth looked at another report on how Ronon had had to stun John when he simply lost it over Carson examining his injuries. Even before that, he single handedly took out the security team stationed in the infirmary. She snorted to herself as she looked up at the large screen. She heard Caldwell shift to her right and Zelenka quietly snorted to her left. Lorne, who was on the other side of Radek, voiced his snort, "That's an understatement."
The camera stayed on him for a moment. She could see bruises marring his jaw and the bandages peeking out from under the sheet. The camera did not go in tight enough to see any aging effects, but she was sure Carson would have mentioned anything drastic. The hair remained as unruly and dark as ever and the face had no undue wrinkles. What really surprised her was the shadow of a beard. Someone had shaved him until recently. Curious.
"We got him Elizabeth," Rodney said officiously from off-screen. "We got all of them."
"I think she knows that Rodney seeing as I'm shooting him and the others right now."
"It's called reassurance Carson. I thought you would understand that."
Elizabeth covered her mouth with her hand and sucked in her lips to keep from laughing. She missed that childish wordplay. Also, the fact that Rodney McKay was trying his hand at comfort was down right amusing- wrong, but amusing.
"Dr. Weir, copies of the full-length reports will be included in the next communication. We'll see you in about two months. Beckett out." The camera clicked off and the screen went blank.
Everyone leaned back away from the conference table. "I don't think they're telling us everything, but at least he's home and alive. He doesn't look too worse for wear. Hardly looked aged at all." Elizabeth looked at her hands for the last part of the sentence. That meant there was hope for John Sheppard to return to his post. "The Earth is also safe for another day."
"Dr. Beckett recommended we look at Teyla's preliminary report. The Queen apparently did a little boasting while connected to her," Lorne said also looking at his hands.
"I've already looked over parts. She was very peculiar and very particular about how much life she bled from him. Didn't want him too weak to witness…" Weir paused. The Queen had used those words with her in the lab and now Teyla said them back. "…to witness the decimation of his people. She was very careful which is a good thing for us and him."
"What worries me is this beacon Teyla mentioned. She wanted us to know that she left directions for whoever took up the mantle next." Caldwell looked at everyone sitting at the table. "We maybe facing a similar situation sooner than we think."
"Well let's enjoy this victory for now gentleman, and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow."
"I think I can handle that," replied Radek. "But you do realize that tomorrow, there's a real possibility it'll start all over again."
Weir sobered, "I know. Tomorrow, we start preparations for the next time."
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The snow had melted leaving the gaping craggy fissure with grass and wild flowers. He should have brought his lawnmower. He had also allowed himself to get dressed in nice casual attire, slacks and an oversized oxford. He looked down at his bare feet seeping into the mud. Oh well, he had gotten close. Sheppard lifted his head and squinted in the bright sunlight across the gaping hole in front of him.
This time, the three little dots on the other side were those considered blood relatives, his grandfather, mother and…he did not want to revisit that part of his life at the moment. He dug down and looked at the teen. They waved others over and all of them were from the pediatric set. They stood opposite of him, so very far away. Not even his family would let the lambs leave him alone.
His heart rate picked up and his eyes stung. They all waved and smiled. He knew they were smiling only because he could just make out the glimmer of teeth. He had to ask himself, why were they smiling? He had done nothing to save the young.
The poignant moment was shattered by the whine of a machine he dreaded so much that he froze in the bright sunshine. The machine closed in on the group and the beam reached out like a greedy child in the candy jar. That sound always made the pulse quicken and his muscles twitch. It screamed, flee! Instead, the entire group stood still as the dart scooped them up mid-wave without uttering a word. They did not even try to escape.
He was home, right? This was not supposed to be happening. They had defeated the Wraith and Lucy was dead. As Teyla said, he had made sure of it.
His team stepped up next to him, Teyla to his left and Ronon and Rodney to his right. They patted him on the shoulder in turn and stepped back farther away from the fissure. They too were silent in their greeting as they waved and smiled only to be immediately scooped up by another passing dart.
Now his heart was in his mouth. All wrong, this was all wrong. He stood there with his back to the maw and trembled. The water leaked from his eyes and he blinked furiously to clear them. It was not crying, not in a million years. The brightness of the sun must be irritating them. This could not be real. It had to be a very bad dream.
"Don't worry Colonel, this won't take long." The voice was a melding of two, one feminine and alien and the other male and Scottish.
He spun back around to find her. She did not hesitate this time and he could not stop her. For some reason, it did not even occur to him to block the hand going for his chest. Lucy's hand latched onto it stealing his breath. It was so cold, like a frigid breeze of air. However, his hands were free and he was able to retaliate. He could keep her from finishing what she had started. Then, he would find those darts and get everyone back.
He roared and stepped closer to her making her arm bend. He grabbed her by the throat with his right hand and squeezed for all his worth.
This time, she would stay dead.
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Rodney clacked away on the keyboard. He shifted every now and again to get feeling back into his lower extremities. He looked through the glass down at the single bed in the room. Sheppard slept fitfully within it. Awake or asleep, Sheppard had been constant motion since his return.
It was Teyla and Ronon's turn to sit with the Colonel while Carson prepared him for surgery. He was removing the restraints so they could get a good view of his back and checking the bandages on his chest. The medical team was coming in soon to evaluate the needs for the surgery on his wounds and how to best proceed with the removal of the delightful device in his back.
Ever since his attack on Carson ending with Ronon stunning him with that hand cannon of his, they had kept the Colonel pretty much sedated. Of course, it was after the enzyme left his system. Unfortunately they had to restrain him too and golly, gosh, gosh did that suck. He woke up twice and flat out panicked. The screams had the other patients wailing, the domino effect. They had to move him to isolation for the sanity of all.
They made the video for Atlantis before his move to ease their minds about how the whole "ordeal" had turned out. Ordeal, Carson could make losing a limb sound like a paper cut. "We might have to do a wee bit of sewin', but we'll get that fixed right up and good as new." This was more than an ordeal, this was a tribulation. This was hell.
Carson had shot out from behind the curtain like a missile and now wore a bandage over his eye from where it connected with the wheel of a neighboring bed. The nurse had also been booted from the area, but Sheppard had used her to collide with Teyla to keep her at bay. Ronon let out a loud curse about someone named Kell and shot Sheppard without twitching an eyebrow. It actually took two rounds to make the scarecrow go down. That enzyme packed a punch when mixed with adrenaline. Rodney should know. Hell, all three of them should know.
Carson recovered to check him and said he was wrong. Sheppard was not a man of straw but a man of sticks. An angle, the man was all harsh angles. He was geometric in design, really. Rodney had helped to get him back on the bed and felt bone way to easily through skin. That had creeped him out more than anything else. The Wraith had kept his friend on a subsistence level of nourishment. For three weeks, he had had a liquid and intravenous diet. Carson had no choice but to continue that now along with the typical IV's until further notice. There was no way Sheppard would be able to keep down food and drink for the immediate future.
Rodney's mind drifted back to the video they made primarily for Elizabeth. Sheppard and he had their men and women in each of their respective groups as did Carson. The responsibility to them was overwhelming. Elizabeth was responsible for them all. She needed to know that all of her people were all right from Simpson to Stackhouse.
For the most part, they were. No one else had been seriously injured leaving Sheppard as the only one recovering from his…ordeal. Numbers wise, those were good odds. But they were trying to ease her mind and had said he was asleep in the video so she would not worry about the violent side of his condition. Even though a report had accompanied it describing the entire encounter, words on paper seemed less real sometimes. Of course, that condition they were trying to gloss over was: their friend was a stark, raving-mad lunatic. The rest of them were trying to help, but it was mostly up to him to recover.
"You understand now."
He stopped typing his lengthy report and looked out the glass and down at his best friend. He laughed trying to keep it from being caustic. "Yeah, I understand." But, he was Rodney McKay, caustic was second nature. He swiveled in his seat to face Carter. "I understood the first week we were there."
"I assume it was the whole being stuck in a Stargate while your team leader was slowly dying from a large bug attached to his neck that did it." She came over and sat down next to him.
"Ah, the bug incident. Yes, that is where a conscience started to take hold and the knowledge that the universe didn't revolve around me took root. Mind you, only an inkling though, a little scraggly root that all deities don't always look to me and smile. Knowing my team might be trapped on a Hive and then most likely killed when the Hive blew up had something to do with it. Watching a great-granddaddy of a Wraith throw him around and kill two members of my science team had something to do with it. Seeing Radek and him walk into the back of a water-logged Jumper to get me out…" He looked at her. He wished he could say thanks without appearing any crazier than he already did. That one, he would let go. "…did it. I understand what it feels like to lose a teammate, to support a teammate…"
"To lose a friend?" She wistfully smiled as she looked down into the room only to cock her head to the side to gauge his reaction.
"I never needed friends. They stab you in the back. Take what they need from you. Leave you the moment you need them…"
"Rodney, those aren't friends," Sam said softly.
"Well, I know that now."
"You're definitely not the easiest person to get to know, but he did it, didn't he?"
"Among others. I still hold onto my charm, but they accept what they can't change. They are lucky I let them orbit the sun that is Rodney McKay. I might not be the center of the universe, but I do have my own solar system." He smiled conceitedly.
"Just don't blow that one up." She continued before he could retort. "Oh by the way, I owe you for that stunt on the Odyssey, you aren't off the hook yet buddy boy." Her expression turned menacing and she poked him in the top of the arm several times for emphasis.
He shrank away from her for a second. He still had no regrets. He might have a black eye and have a few missing teeth before his return trip to Atlantis, but no regrets. He gave a long-suffering sigh and looked behind her. He blinked not sure to believe what he was seeing. The monitor broadcasting images from the room could not be right. He stood straight up and knocked the chair away.
Hell, he was in hell.
"Oh shit!" Rodney bolted from the room and Carter turned to see what had earned such a reaction.
"Oh shit is right." She turned back around to look in the isolation room to see Sheppard sitting up and choking Dr. Beckett.
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Landry smile benignly at Ullr while standing in the engineering section of the Odyssey. Bra'tac, Mitchell, Teal'c and Emerson stood there with him. "Ullr, I believe you need to take a trip down to the planet."
Ullr narrowed his eyes. "I will not be a party to mass murder, General Landry."
"I wouldn't have it any other way. I believe they need your help on the lone dart we salvaged. Could you please assist our people with that?"
Ullr quietly snorted and mumbled as he left in a flash of white light. The glare he sent before transporting to Earth made his feelings abundantly known as if he were yelling from the mountain tops.
"General, are we sure about this?" Mitchell squinted and shifted from foot to foot.
"Orders from the President and other international leaders, we can't afford to let any of these Wraith go. Anyhow, we can't feed them due to their very restrictive diet." Landry looked down at the Asgard console. "Humane really."
"It is for the best," added Bra'tac. "I can see no other solution without further threat to our galaxy. If they are allowed to return to their own…They have key tactical information and I do not see the need to give them any advantage. If it makes you feel any better, I will push the button."
"I agree. It is our only option unless we keep them incarcerated in the computer indefinitely." Teal'c looked at each man in the empty room.
"Thank you Master Bra'tac, but it's my responsibility. Keeping them is not a risk we're willing to take. If someone wanted to release them and use them for other purposes…I really don't even want to go there. I know Dr. Beckett asked about using them for trials with the retrovirus. They're too much of a liability if they get free. He'll have to get his own test subjects."
Everyone nodded in agreement. He did not like the order, yet he could not say he disagreed with it. It was just so easy and clean. He discovered he liked having equal footing with his opponent or even being the underdog. This was not heroic by any means, but it was necessary.
Landry's finger hovered over one of the symbols on the Asgard computer. "Well, here we go." He pressed the symbol and all data was deleted and erased.
Way too easy.
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A/N: I know, being a little cold there with the Wraith getting deleted, but would you want a Fumbles McStupid opening up that icon on your computer? Gator gigging bunnies made me do it.
Apologies for the delay, but this chapter was just not cooperating and RL made it difficult to get it under control. Once again thanks to all those reading and reviewing.