Title: Lost

Author: atlantis child (Command Dynamics), innocent choir girl The Wraith return to Atlantis again. Spoilers for all seasons one and two.

Genres: Angst, Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Missing Scene

Warnings: Abuse, Character Death, Torture, Violence

Rating: PG-13

Chapter: 6 "Sheppard. Save."

Author's Notes: Okay, I'm hoping this all makes sense! But feel free to tell me otherwise! Constructive criticism is always welcome!

The water had steadily risen, forcing those held prisoner to stay above the water. The water was about waist deep for most of the expedition members, with Elizabeth Weir held up by Rodney and another. "Elizabeth! Dammit! You have to stay awake!" he yelled, his voice shaking from the freezing cold. He looked around and the ones who looked the worst off were the women, which probably explained why Elizabeth was so badly off. The women all seemed to have the least fat on them, their lips were blue, their faces a sickly pale color. Everyone was shaking. Rodney hadn't felt cold like this since he and Elizabeth had been forced out onto one of the grounding stations in the middle of a massive storm by Kolya of the Genii.

"Rodney, don't shake her like that!" Evie, one of the scientists that had also been captured scolded. Her arms were snuggly wrapped around herself, even though it was doing no use to keeping her warm. Her fingers were as cold as her toes were. Her lips she knew were blue, she had already been told that. But she figured that if Doctor Weir wasn't conscious then at least she didn't have to be in pain like the rest of them. The cold was making her joints hurt, and any movement just made things hurt more. "Just leave her alone," she said, her words disjointed from her teeth chattering.

"Lantis…" Elizabeth mumbled sleepily. Her eyes were closed and her body was slung between Rodney and Ivan, one of the Russian scientists.

"She alive, that is what matters," Ivan said putting his opinion out to the group.

Rolling his eyes, Rodney let out a frustrated sigh. "No one asked for your two cents, and I mean two cents. It's sad that you're the best that Russia has." Rodney received a pissed off growl from the Russian.

"Rodney!" a couple of the others scolded in unison.

"What!" Rodney said his voice practically cracking. "The truth hurts."

Sighing, Marcus spoke up, "The truth is…" he said letting his voice trail off as he let his teeth chatter for a second before finishing his sentence. "That we're all going to die in here." Marcus Lewein was a marine, a first lieutenant, and knew that this wasn't a situation they were going to get out of. "We all should just accept that. Accept it and let all of us die peacefully."

"Shut the hell up, Lewein!" Rodney yelled. "No one's dying."

"Yet," Ivan added.

"AT ALL," Rodney corrected. He stuttered as he continued, "They're gonna come—Zelenka's—and the jumper—and Sheppard—and poof." It all made sense in Rodney's head, but from the confused looks on the others' faces it seemed like his hope of being rescued was not relayed to the others as he had planned. "Sheppard. Save." He figured that simple statement might work better. He wasn't the only ones losing…or having brain cells frozen from being in the cell.

Two puddle jumpers had been positioned so that they would float above the wreckage and that was where a quarter of the marine detail John had chosen to go down in the jumper with him had ended up. Carson had insisted on having room in case there were any serious injuries, plus he didn't see how they could transport too many survivors at a time with the jumper jam packed. After Caldwell had argued with Sheppard, Carson had butted in and had threatened to blame the deaths of those in the Wraith ships on Caldwell for not helping. That had gotten the colonel to assist them in transporting the jumper underwater.

"We sure we're not gonna sink?" Sheppard asked looking back at Zelenka.

With a shrug, Radak responded simply, "This is all new to me."

"Great answer, Radak," Carson said shaking his head. "How do we know which ship the survivors are in? Will the Lantian life scan be able to break through all the water and the ships?"

"Let's hope so," John said as he brought up the scanner to start from the farthest point and work its way over. He didn't think there would be any life signs in the darts or smaller ships, but the larger ones…those would have survivors and he hoped one of them would hold Elizabeth. He just hoped that she was okay.

"Did anyone hear that?" Rodney asked, his voice stuttering, but laced also with panic. He was sure he had heard the hull groan. What if this was the end? What if there was going to be a huge wave of water about to wash them all out of existence? His mind raced trying to figure out how long it would take them to drown. Would it be painful?

"Crazy," was the only word Ivan spoke before motioning in Rodney's direction. He swore that Rodney McKay had finally lost it.

Most of the people were leaning against others shaking, with teeth chattering, and their eyes only half open. Evie was one of those people, "Sheppard would have come by now if he thought we were alive," she pointed out. "That's if anyone's left on Atlantis."

"Why is the ship moving?" Elizabeth whispered barely opening her eyes. Tilting her head just a bit to look up at Rodney for an answer, she wondered what she had missed. "I feel…floating…"

Rodney frowned; she had picked a perfect time to come around. "The ship isn't moving…the water's just moving in…" Her eyes seemed so blank; he figured this was why he had been yelled at before for trying to wake her. He could see how it would be better not to know. "Sheppard's coming," Rodney told her trying to sound confident.

Nodding, Elizabeth took that into her mind before letting her eyes slide closed. "Sheppard…" she whispered. It was a comforting thought that John Sheppard would be their white knight like always. Soon, they would all be back on Atlantis. Safe.

"What's wrong?" Carson asked seeing the look on Sheppard's face.

What John Sheppard saw truly was horror. There were some life signs…mostly packed into small areas, he could only guess they were cells. But the ships' hulls had opened in the crash and water had slowly seeped in. There weren't huge air filled areas. They'd have to do this with very calculated moves. "We might be too late."

"But there's life signs," Carson argued. "We just have to get to them."

John sighed and looked at Carson, "But how do we get into the ship and get the survivors back to the jumper without us all drowning?"

Zelenka's eyes widened, "If we find a section of the ship that has an air pocket, perhaps we can make it so that there can be a hole the size we need and then jam the jumper's back end into it. Of course, that will cause more water to leak into the hive ship and most likely the jumper, but that is the only safe way I'm seeing getting any of the survivors out alive."

"That sounds dangerous," Carson said looking over at the Czech.

Shrugging, John thought about it, "You obviously haven't heard many of Rodney's plans." It was true though, this was going to be dangerous. But wasn't it worth it? So many of the expedition were in the hive ships including Elizabeth and Rodney. They were two important people that the Atlantis Expedition needed, without them, would the expedition really keep going? Or would it just all shrivel up and die? "It's worth a shot," John spoke up before making the correct adjustments and preparations to go about to the side of the hive ship that had a good size air pocket and a place where they'd be able to punch through and plug it up with the jumper.

"This means we'll need to get everyone from each ship into the jumper. Or else we'll be playing God," Carson pointed out grimly. He figured it was possible, but it wouldn't be comfortable and possibly not safe.

"Better to save some," John said before readying the jumper to maneuver.

TBC…