AMONG THE STARS - by NotTasha
PART 17: WEAPON
Teyla slowed the Ironspot and searched the control panel. "Rix," she called, her voice barely a whisper. "Rix, how do we initialize the shield system?"
Rix said nothing, sitting forward in the seat with his head in his hands.
"Rix!" she called again. "The cloak… and the shields?" but the pirate was quiet again, his eyes unfocused.
The gas giant still hid them from the Bogachiel fleet, and if they were lucky, they could keep the big planet between them and the armada – but Sheppard and McKay were in the open, had been spotted.
"We're not going to hide," Ronon growled from behind her, trying to free himself from the rest of Zeno's spacesuit. He'd already managed to rip out a few of his dreads with the removal of the helmet, and the rest of the procedure wasn't making him any happier.
Teyla was already bringing the Ironspot forward, determined to do whatever she could to get her team home.
All her life, Teyla had heard stories about the Bogachiel – the pirates that robbed the good people of their riches, took their technology.
All her life, she'd thought they were only legends, stories told by the elders by the fireside to scare the little ones into treating their property with greater respect. "Forget your things outside, and the Bogachiel will snatch them away in the night."
The pirates were, if anything, an alternative to their horrors of the life-sucking Wraith. The Bogachiel wanted only 'stuff', things that one could part with. The pirates had a propensity to take things that were shiny – gold, silver, jewels – or bits of ancient technology – things that her people had little use for anyway. They were known to be killers, marauders, but their penchant for pretties made them rather like the dark-colored birds that picked up shiny things. It made the Bogachiel, in a way, ridiculous.
They were ghosts, shadows of history, weren't they? Had they just been in hiding all these years? Or had they always been around, flitting around the edges of civilized life? Or maybe blending in, hiding in plain sight.
She jetted the Ironspot forward, sliding around the gas giant with its beautiful rings. The molten colors of the gasses swirled beneath them like a great sea, until they came in view of the Gate, the jumper and the Bogachiel flotilla.
From behind her, Ronon saw the same sight, and paused in his attempts to remove his glueboot.
At least a dozen oddball Ironspots were closing in on Jumper 5. Apparently realizing that he'd been spotted and had taken down his cloaking device. Instead of firing, Sheppard's ship took a sudden dive, and shimmied, trying to evade the approaching ships.
"What's he doing?" Ronon asked. "Shouldn't Sheppard be blowing things up?"
Teyla heaved out a sigh, realizing that the colonel was probably just doing his best to survive at the moment, knowing that the rest of his team was right behind him without any weapons. If he started a firefight now, the safety of both their ships would be in peril. The Bogachiel hadn't fired yet, so maybe there was a chance that this would end peacefully.
"He's… testing them," Teyla decided. "Trying to gain some advantage."
Ronon gave Rix a punch in the arm, demanding, "We got shields, don't we? How do we get them on?"
Rix just turned to him slowly, lifting his head see him. He blinked, stupidly, his pupils too big for his head. "Zeno?" he asked softly.
Ronon grumbled in return, tossing the glueboots to the back of the ship with more force than was necessary. "Let's get in there," Ronon decided.
Teyla, agreeing, brought the Ironspot closer.
The radio crackled. Apparently their ship had been spotted as well, as an unfamiliar voice called out, "Rix? Is that your ship?"
Mills stiffened at the sound of that voice, and a tremble ran through him as he pressed himself further into the comfy seat. "Ostego…" he breathed out, his voice filled with fear. "He's here?"
"Rix!" the voice called again. "What are you doing? How'd you get your ship flying?"
Jumper 5 peeled away, ducking and dodging and careening through the hybrid ships as they attempted to hem him in. They hadn't fired their weapons yet – probably hadn't tried to lock onto him -- and John, realizing he was outnumbered, must have been waiting them out.
The ships seemed intent on herding the Jumper, moving it into the center of their group, containing it.
Teyla's personal radio sounded in her ear as the Ironspot's radio continued to relay comments from the others. "Teyla, Ronon," Sheppard called softly. "You guys got shields?"
"No, Colonel," Teyla said softly, as if anything above a whisper would be picked up by the Ironspot's radio. "And we are without weapons." But even as she said that, she remembered something.
"Wortley! Zeno!" Ostego's voice raged over the Ironspot's radio. "What is going on?"
Rix brought his hands to his temples, rubbing them gently. "Wortley?" he softly echoed the name, blinking toward Teyla.
Teyla set her jaw, made a decision, and turned on her radio. She uttered in an almost comically deep voice, "This is Wortley! You're attacking our prisoner!"
Rix looked surprised, and behind him, Ronon's face filled with a wide grin.
"Stop your assault! We have the situation under control!" Teyla continued, her voice at a gravelly growl.
Ostego questioned, "Captured the Ancestor's ship all by yourselves, did you, Wortley?"
"Yes, we have it under our control," Teyla insisted, and the jumper slowed its attempts to escape. "It is you that have caused this problem. You may… back off."
"We'll see," Ostego commented. "Hold up," he commanded the other ships. "Let's see what's going on here."
The hybrid ships reduced their herd-dog gyrations, and the jumper slowed to a stop in their midst.
"Hailing Ancient vessel," Teyla called, a bark in her voice. "Has the ship or its contents been damaged?"
John's drawl came over the comm., "Damaged? The 'contents' aren't getting any better, that's for sure. I was really hoping we could put an end to this situation soon." His voice snapped out the last words.
"We were escorting the vessel to …" and Teyla's voice trailed a moment as she tried to come up with something quick.
"Trinway," Rix offered, his voice soft, but his face still taut with fear.
Ronon offered a quick nod, recognizing the planet name – a shady place famous for building all things 'mechanical'. Ronon leaned toward the radio, stating, "We're taking the gateship to Trinway for refitting."
"Zeno?" Ostego called, his voice crackling over the ship's poor communication system. "that you?"
"Yeah!" Ronon shot back, trying not to sound flustered, hoping the comm. system was bad enough to hide his identity. "This is Zeno."
"Where's Rix?"
Ronon gave Mills a hard shove with his knuckle. The pirate piped up with a quick, "I'm here!"
"How'd you get the Ancestors' ship? Who's piloting it?" Ostego questioned as his fleet hovered around them. A ship came near the Ironspot, close enough so that they could nearly see inside.
Teyla sunk into her seat, hoping that they didn't look too carefully into the cockpit. Ronon moved back, getting out of view. Rix was sitting forward again, his elbows on the console, chin resting on his hands. With any luck the observers would see only the 'pilot' – and not notice that he was in the copilot's position. Apparently they didn't look too closely because the ship continued on its way.
"Their ship docked at the station for repairs," Teyla told them. "We took command. They have a man who can fly it."
"Yeah, I'm the man," Sheppard voice came over. "I'm just doin' what they tell me… and hoping we get over this … soon?"
"Who is this?"
"No one… just a detainee. Trying to fly a ship… and you know… wanting to get out of here." Sheppard sounded more than annoyed.
"Wortley, you left their people alone on their own ship?" Ostego was apprehensive. "Where they have access to all their systems?"
"They don't dare disobey," Ronon cut into the conversation again, his voice sounding odd as he tried to replicate Zeno's voice. "We'll destroy the ship if they step out of line."
"Zeno, you idiot!" Ostego's voice returned. "You will NOT damage the ship! I'd hoped Wortley or maybe even Rix had more sense! We need the ship!"
Frowning at the assertion, Ronon said quietly, "It wasn't my idea."
"You should be grateful!" Teyla spat over the radio. "We have captured a ship of the Ancestors, and a pilot!" She glanced at Ronon, saying, "We are proceeding as we feel is best."
"Wortley, sometimes I think Rix is the only one of you with a brain."
The baffled redhead turned his head at this comment and blinked as if he had no idea what was going on.
"Rix, turn your ship back to the station," Ostego ordered. "I will escort the Ship of the Ancestors to Trinway."
"We are the ones who captured the ship," Ronon shot back. "We deserve the spoils."
Ostego's voice hardened. "You will return to the station, where your ship will be searched and we'll find exactly what you took with you. Zeno, how much of MY property is in your possession?"
Ronon curled his lip, and opened his mouth to respond. Teyla sighed, wondering what Bogachiel would have to say when they found what was left of their space station and their 'property'.
Ostego went on, "Gateship, prepare to be escorted."
Urgently, Teyla turned to Rix, asking, "How do we access the ship's weapons! Where are the weapon systems?"
Whether it was the concussion, or the fear of Ostego, Rix just stared out through the windshield, his jaw a little slack, and his eyelids at half-mast.
Teyla sighed, realizing that it'd do no good to press the man. She swiveled in her seat. "Ronon! There are torpedo tubes along the floor. Did Rodney show you anything about them while he was working?"
"Yeah," Ronon responded, stepping into the rear of the ship. "Was poking around in them. I wasn't listening… much. Just have to pull up these panels, then there's a port to open them up and load 'em. Just got to figure out what to put in 'em."
Teyla bit her lip, remembering that Rodney had told her that there didn't seem to be any ammunition aboard.
Ronon gazed about the back of the Ironspot, searching for something… and his eyes lit upon their packs, bulky with what they contained. A smile broke across his face, and he glanced to Teyla.
She returned the look with an even glance, and inclined her head.
Teyla toggled her radio again, stating clearly, "You will back away from the Ancestor's ship and allow us clear passage to the Ring." She paused for only a moment before she added, "We have an explosive onboard, powerful enough to destroy us all. If you do not let us go, we will fire it."
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TBC - Arg, avast me hearties.
Teyla 'n Ronon be mighty fine pirates, so says I, argggh.