AMONG THE STARS - by NotTasha
PART 9: CRACKERS
Teyla followed Rix as the lanky man ran toward the doorway to the central core. He keyed in a code and seemed frustrated when the door didn't part immediately. It hesitated and then it whooshed open. The man almost charged forward, but came to a complete halt as he stared within.
"Oh, crackers!" he gasped, going a little pale.
Teyla forced her way forward, coming to a stop at the verge of the opening, and just stared at the horrible sight that met her -- blood. It was spattered across one side of the floor, dripped down the ladder. An abandoned Ancient's crystal, marked in red, lay in the center of the floor, but Teyla's eyes were drawn to the laptop that rested not far from it.
She focused on it for hardly more than an instant – the familiar form fouled with blood. "Rodney," she voiced softly. And for a moment, her breath seemed to be taken from her, replaced a second later by a dark anger.
In a flash, she grabbed hold of Rix, yanking him away from the opening and slamming him against the hallway wall. He gasped in surprise at her attack, eyes wild.
"Where is Dr. McKay!? What have you done?" Her voice was dark and she pressed her arm against his throat. "You KNOW something happened! Tell me!"
"Wortley!" Rix gasped out. "It had to be Wortley! Rodney must've opened the storeroom. I swear, I swear we didn't want this to happen! We just wanted the ship fixed, that's all. Just wanted the ship fixed so we could get out of here with the treasure before the others got back. But he must have opened the door and Wortley got upset! She was the guard. The last defense if someone went looking!"
Teyla kept her arm tight to his neck, the vision of the bloodied room filling her with dread. "You are Bogachiel?" Her question came out as an accusation, and her mind clouded with stories of days long past, of the marauders, the Bogachiel that had no home planet, that raided the settlements of others.
They took baubles, gold, crystals, anything portable and useless. They took pretty things that could be used in trade for technology, for 'fast ships', for luxuries.
And they killed people who stood in their way – murdered them. There was blood dripping down the walls of that room. She pressed harder against the man's throat.
"They left us here!" Rix howled back at her, struggling to draw in a breath. "The others marooned us with no way to get out! Left us to watch it! We've watched it! We can't stand it here anymore. All we wanted was to get out with what was due us!"
But Teyla wasn't listening, her mind filled with the stories of bloodthirsty pirates and images of the room. She shoved herself off of Rix and plunged into the opening of the central core. Her hand flew to her radio. "Dr. McKay!" she called. "Rodney! Doctor McKay! Answer me! Please, answer me!"
But only the crackle of static was returned. "Colonel Sheppard, Ronon!" Her eyes focused on the stained laptop. She could make out the handprints in the blood -- there was no doubt to whom they belonged. For a moment she could envision Rodney, holding onto that device, and chatting away happily about the latest find he had cataloged there. He'd been so happy about retrieving the data in this space station.
He'd been so happy.
Rodney was the type of person who couldn't hide his joy when he found something new. She could imagine his face, and the way his eyes became so bright with curiosity. She could envision how overjoyed he'd be to parse through the supernova data he'd been collecting – the data that was on this laptop.
The handprints. The laptop was smeared with blood.
"Rodney," she called again. He'd gone up. She carefully examined the blood and how it marked the ladders.
He'd come out on the floor above, and had gone further up – beyond the airlock.
She spun, fixing Rix with a unyielding look. "If he is hurt…" and she paused, because obviously the scientist was injured, seriously hurt.
Rix backed away, trying to get away, but Teyla grabbed him fiercely by the collar. Shoved him at the ladder, she demanded, "You will go up! And you will open the doorway above! You will help me find him!"
She pushed him with enough force that Rix lost his balance for a moment and his face collided with the ladder. He came back, a smear of blood across his face. He wiped at it with his sleeve. "Wait," he cried, and pointed at the crystal. "We might need that.
Teyla snatched up the transparent piece and was beside Mills again, shoving at him, and Rix had no choice but to go up.
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Zeno moved fast. Sheppard and Ronon were right behind him, but the big guy was a couple of steps ahead.
Damn, Sheppard groused to himself as he put more speed behind his pace and attempted to close the gap.
Zeno disappeared for a moment, moving around the curve of the hall. Sheppard put on the steam, and then came to an abrupt halt as Zeno came into sight again. Ronon might have run smack into the colonel if his own reflexes weren't so quick.
Zeno faced them, his arm in motion as he reached for something tucked into his belt.
CRAP! OH CRAP! Sheppard went for his berretta.
Zeno's weapon was already leveled at them, but instead of firing, a projectile came out of nowhere, and smashed into his arm. The weapon went off. The shot impacted into the wall not far from Sheppard's head. The football wobbled away.
Bringing his own weapon to bear, Sheppard heard the inspiring whine of Ronon's weapon powering up right beside his ear.
Zeno brought the weapon forward again, his face filled with hatred.
He didn't manage to aim. He didn't even manage to fully lift the weapon. The force of Ronon's blast sent him reeling. Zeno slammed into the far wall, and slid, collapsing into a heap against one side of the hallway.
Limbs jerked for a moment, and then went completely still.
For a moment, Sheppard and Ronon stood in the hallway, over the body of Zeno as the football skittered on the floor.
This was crazy, Sheppard quickly decided. This was insane.
Sheppard kept his weapon trained on the downed man, as he asked, "It was on stun, wasn't it?"
Ronon, at his shoulder, muttered, "His wasn't."
"You killed him?"
Ronon shrugged, looking offended by his CO's reaction. "He was going to kill you."
"You could have stunned him," Sheppard responded, unable to keep a slight whine from his voice. "We might need some information from him. Like, why did he go all weird ass crazy on us?"
Ronon replied evenly, "Didn't have time to reset the weapon. I suppose you wanted to wait while I changed the setting?"
"Put that way… I'm okay with it," Sheppard responded. He turned to face Ronon, asking, "So, what the HELL's going on?"
Ronon shrugged, and leaned over Zeno to see if any sign of life remained.
"Damn it!" Sheppard reached for his radio as Ronon did his examination. "Teyla! McKay, respond. Respond immediately. No screwing around." He waited a moment. "I mean it, McKay. I don't care if you're up to your elbows in the guts of that ship. Answer the goddamn radio!"
Ronon kicked at the dead man as Sheppard waited for a response. When the Colonel frowned, Ronon tried his radio as well. "Teyla?" he called. When she didn't reply, he told Sheppard. "Radio's still out."
"Great," Sheppard said with a groan.
"Still jammed," Ronon surmised.
Sheppard sighed. "Damn it, Rodney." He frowned, not knowing why he figured McKay was at the root of this latest development, but it seemed to be a good bet. "We got to find them – now. And we're getting off this station."
Ronon confirmed, "I'm ready to go. Been ready." He looked at Zeno's body with a sneer, and then lifted his chin a fraction as he thought of something. "What was that alarm for?"
"I got a bad feeling about that," Sheppard sighed. He ran a hand through his hair as he gazed unhappily at the body in the hallway, and hoped that things weren't going to get any worse.
Somehow, he feared that they would.
"Let's go," the colonel declared. He waited a moment as Ronon went back for the gear they'd left in the other room. He picked up the football in the hallway and lobbed it at the Satedan as they came back. Ronon caught it easily and crammed it into his pack.
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He kept moving upward, wrapping an arm around the rung, using his knees as much as his feet to get a purchase. He felt so strange – so very strange, almost as if he was floating – as if he could let go and float his way to the top of the column.
He laughed at that image. "Ridiculous," he muttered, forcing himself up another step, another rung, as quickly as he could go. If he could just reach the top, he'd reach the Observation Deck, which had access to the rest of the systems on the station. Maybe there was even a first aid kit, or something, and again he mourned his missing vest and pack.
He hurt. God he hurt. He'd never hurt this bad before. He hung for a moment, pressing his hand to his bleeding side, wondering if he was accomplishing anything. His leg was red with blood and his fingers were covered with it. Staying on the ladder wasn't helping anything. He went up – and up. One foot and then another. Each step tore new pain through him.
He slipped, and held on, gritting his teeth as he found a purchase for his foot again.
Damning his horrible luck, he gasped, "Space pirates… This sucks so many ways."
The next control panel was just above his head. Another step – don't slip! And he was there -- at the last airlock. Finally… finally…
Breathing harshly, he held tightly to the rung with one hand as he entered the code and the double-airlock opened above him.
He gave a little gasp of surprise as he stared upward – not at another tube like the one he'd just left, but a panorama of stars.
He stared upward, sucking in oxygen, saying nothing, doing nothing beyond hanging on and letting his mind fill with the sight. It was… beautiful.
Another shock of pain ran through him and he moved -- he moved because a chance to rest was almost at hand -- he was nearly there.
Wearily, he pulled himself up and out, flopping onto the floor of the deck like a beached walrus. As he rolled away, the airlock to the central core shut, and he was left in the quiet canopy of stars.
He breathed slowly, holding his side. He'd made it. He'd made it all the way to the top, with a gaping hole in his side, dropping blood by the pint! Imagine that? Not only that, he'd manage to trap a Pirate Princess in the progress.
He truly was amazing.
Utterly amazing.
Someone should sing songs about him. Ballads. Long ballads.
Something good. Not that Barry Manilow crap.
Maybe something closer to "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", but with a happier ending.
Maybe that wasn't such a good example.
No, not very.
He licked his lips as he tried to pull himself together. A quick assessment of his injury told him that the bleeding seemed to have slowed now that he'd stopped moving. He had to do something. Yes, now he had a chance to take care of himself. With a painful gasp, he tried to see if he had an exit wound at his back. He turned, hissing through his teeth and felt about. oh God! Oh…oh… hurts like hell. That's probably an exit wound. Ow! Ow! He flopped back.
What did that accomplish?
Damn, damn, I have nothing with me to bandage it up. My shirt? I could use my shirt?
But that would mean sitting up. Okay, try sitting up…
Oh God… Oh God…. No… no… maybe not… Damn.
I should just lay here a minute, catch my breath…. Catch my breath. Fine.
With any luck, he wouldn't bleed to death immediately. It would take some time.
He had plenty of time now. He was safe from the wench, and the others had no way of getting to him.
He blinked at the stars, watching them blur.
Now that he'd reached this level, he'd be able to access the station's systems – to alert the others. Yes, he needed to do that right away.
Immediately.
Now.
But that would mean sitting up, and it was so much easier to do nothing, to just lay here and look at the stars – the beautiful, perfect stars. He loved them, he truly did. Stars were so easy – predictable – unless of course they went supernova.
The others – they need to be warned.
He rolled onto his knees and forced himself upright, staggering as he grabbed the control counsel for the room, a podium-like structure. His head swam and he held tight, feeling himself shake.
He had to tell the others about the crazy woman he'd managed to lock in the central core. He might have captured her, but Zim and Reno were both on the loose.
Zim? Reno? Was that right?
He shook his head, wishing he could concentrate.
And if the super pirate monkey girl was as bloodthirsty as she seemed, that meant that those two clowns could be bad business for his friends.
Pawing at the controls, he managed to access the main systems. A few more keystrokes and he was into communications. He cocked his head, feeling as if the stars were swirling around his head as he made his way through the pathways left by the Ancients, poking and prodding, discovering the jamming system. After a moment's consideration, he turned it off.
There, easy.
He was on his back again. He didn't know how he ended up in that position. But after a short panic, he decided it was a good place to be. But damn, he should have taken off his shirt before this happened.
Why did he need to take off his shirt? He couldn't remember. The idea was crazy! He started to shiver, feeling a chill.
He stared up at the stars, seeing them in all their beauty, even as he tried to blink them into focus. A turn of his head and he could see Muskingum, the big ringed planet that had greeted them at their arrival. Marxworld – Sheppardonia—whatever -- it was beautiful.
Slowly he turned his head in the other direction, to where the supernova colored the sky with its strange cloudlike structure. He felt a tear build in his eye as he gazed at it. He wanted to blink it away, but it escaped him and ran down his cheek as he looked into the depths of the supernova.
He wished… he wished he understood more about it. He wanted to know more.
But he had something to do. Something… he needed to tell the others… warn them…
A hand moved from his side, feeling like lead, and he brought it to his ear and tried the radio. "Teyla?" he called softly, finding little strength left in his voice. "Colonel? Ronon?"
Almost immediately, voices assaulted him. Funny, he could identify them, but couldn't quite make out what they said. They were all chattering at the same time, their voices demanding answers. He wanted to reply to them, but couldn't quite understand their words.
Someone was frantic, but he couldn't make out why. He heard the word ' blood.'
"What? Rodney! Where are you?" the colonel's voice pierced through his consciousness. "Rodney! Answer me!"
"Observation Deck," he responded, his voice light and dreamy. "A woman… … Tried to kill me. I… trapped her… be careful. I…" But he couldn't form a coherent thought.
He continued to focus on the supernova, so magnificent and violent, so simple-looking and filled with great power. Their voices continued to ring in his ears, but he couldn't even tell them apart anymore, and his mind was drifting, getting further from the confines of the deck and falling into the deceptive clouds of the supernova.
He was surrounded by stars -- enclosed by incredible beauty. He smiled numbly. It wasn't such a bad place to die.
--
TBC - well, he finally got to see the Observation Deck.