AMONG THE STARS - by NotTasha
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PART 18: DERVISH
Sheppard skin was crawling. He was furious. This 'sitting around doing nothing' was killing him, as surely as the wasted time was killing McKay. The Bogachiel ships seemed to be toying with him. All of his best moves had been thwarted so far. They hadn't fired at him, but he was damn close to opening a can of whoop-ass on them.
He put his trust in Ronon and Teyla, hoping that the two could fast-talk their way past the pirate fleet. But, it just wasn't working out. The man called 'Ostego' seemed highly suspicious.
"Nothing is easy, is it, McKay," Sheppard groaned as he watched the ships huddle near him. Any attempt at wending his way through them could be countered. Damn it. "Can't ever get a decent break. We escape an exploding space station, catch Ronon before he floats off to nowhere, get you out of a locked up dome of doom, just to get harassed by space pirates."
He glanced back to Rodney, to ensue that he was okay. The scientist didn't move, covered in blankets at the rear of the ship. John picked up the Life Sign Detector to ensure that Rodney was still with him. He breathed out a sigh of relief. "Hang in there, Rodney," Sheppard muttered. "We'll get through this."
Space Pirates suck, he decided. And if these buccaneers were planning to delay them any longer, he'd just have to punch his way through them. He had a full complement of drones -- that ought to take out half of those ships.
But, if he were to make a run for it to save Rodney, then Teyla and Ronon would be left to the mercy of the pirates. Teyla didn't have the experience to outmaneuver the skilled pilots. They didn't have weapons and didn't know how to engage the shield. He had only so many drones. His teammates would be like sitting ducks. Damn it! Damn it!
And then Teyla said, "We have an explosive onboard, powerful enough to destroy us all."
Oh … crackers. Sheppard felt his blood run cold. Had they just gone insane? Not the ZPM! "You've got to be kidding…" he said out loud.
But they wouldn't try to fire a half-used ZPM into space, would they? He frowned, realizing that something was up… because, well, they wouldn't have revealed their hand so easily unless…
Well, if they wanted the Bogachiel to get the heebie jeebies, it was time to amp things up a bit.
Sheppard drew a deep breath, then shouted out, "You have NO idea how much power is in that thing. One wrong move and you'll go up like a bomb when you try to fire it. This is not a good idea. This is suicide! It'll evaporate everyone here, and take out a moon or two with it. Might even light up this big gassy planet, too.
"We know what we are doing," Ronon snarled. "Ostego! Either back off your ships or we'll open fire."
There was a pause, and then Ostego's voice came back, "Who are you?"
"Either remove your ships from the immediate area, or we will fire the weapon," Teyla restated.
"You shame me," Ostego came back. "You cannot fool a Bogachiel. Fire your weapon."
"You leave me no choice," Teyla responded.
John watched as the torpedo tubes opened at the bottom of the ship. Without a sound, the bomb shot out from under it.
The missile headed for one of the nearest ship. In a panic, the pilot pressed his ship to get away from the weapon's trajectory. It dodged 'downward', in such haste that it couldn't avoid the ship 'below'. The two ships slammed into each other, their shields rippling in rainbows, and they rolled in opposite directions.
"Nice distraction," Sheppard said to himself, sending the jumper into motion, drawing ships with him. He spun about, turning ass over teakettle, as the Bogachiel fleet opened fire on him.
Good enough, he thought as he shot off a couple of drones into the mess of Bogachiel ships.
Two ships lit up like Chinese lanterns before they flew to pieces. Sheppard ducked under the mess, bringing the chasing ships with him.
Shards of light flashed past him as the ships tried to take him down. Debris flew everywhere, spinning away from the catastrophe. A piece struck one of the chasing ships. The shields protected it, but didn't save it from twirling about like a Dervish at the impact.
To avoid collision, two other ships darted away. One clipped into its brothers, sending them into spins of their own.
The still viable ships went on the attack, firing as the jumper dodged. Sheppard zoomed in close to a disabled ship and could see the pirates behind the windshield, gesturing angrily. He cut close, and dove blindly around the destruction, the HUD pointing out the safe route through the jetsam.
The chasing ships weren't so endowed, and when they came about, they ran into the field of floating bits, sending them dodging to avoid it, and smack into each other. They clashed, shield to shield, and went all wobbly. Two more drones took out ships that faced him.
Through the commotion, the Ironspot threaded its way.
And, the Ironspot's terrible weapon still continued its course, sending more Bogachiel ships floundering to get away from it. Sheppard caught a good look at the bomb as he flew through the group, doing the best he could to further scatter the ships. He let out a short laugh as he recognized the missile – brown with white stitching, imprinted with a white "Wilson", the football spiraled through space toward the unknown.
He took off after the Ironspot as the remaining Bogachiel fleet tried to unravel itself from the chaos. He chased down his companions, quickly overtaking them and making a beeline to the Gate. The remaining whirling Bogachiel ships regrouped and took off after them.
"You will stop!" Ostego shouted.
"We will not," Sheppard uttered in return, a little sorry that they hadn't managed to take out the leader.
John realized that they'd been able to get some distance behind them. Yes! They were going to make it! Sheppard, pressing the jumper to quicker speeds, reached over the DHD and started punching in the address of P7M-557. He wasn't about to lead the Bogachiel to Atlantis.
Success was in their grasp. He pressed in the last key and held his breath, awaiting the formation of the wormhole.
Nothing happened. "Son of a…!" he cried, looking in disbelief at the DHD.
No…no… no!
Goddamn scientists and their goddamn overcautious fears that DHDs wouldn't work when hit just ONCE with a football. Damn it! He'd never live this down – if they lived through this.
He glanced back to Rodney, hoping he didn't witness this failure, even as he wished he'd see his friend sitting up and laughing at him.
"Ironspot!" he called over the radio. "Dial it!"
With a sigh of relief, Sheppard watched as the chevrons lit, and a blue whoosh came over the Gate. "Here we go, Rodney," he declared, glancing to the Life Sign Detector for assurance as the wormhole formed. He let out a sigh of relief as his jumper dove through the Gate with the Ironspot behind him.
He shot through, screaming the jumper through the atmosphere of P7M-557. The wormhole closed almost instantly, shutting out their pursuers.
John's grin grew all the wider. "Made it!" he declared. "We made it!" John let loose a breath, surprised at how calming… how nice it was to hear the jumper again. He'd missed the sound of it flying through the air and enjoyed the roar of the Ironspot.
He brought the jumper around slowly, watching below as the group of scientists and Marines came out of the cover of the trees. The group looked up with curiosity. They made faces at the strange ship that came alongside him, engines racing.
Sheppard nodded across to Teyla and Ronon, glad to see that they'd made it.
It was time to go home. He took another moment to glance back at his cargo. Just to make himself feel better, he picked up his Life Sign Detector one more time to make sure that Rodney was still with him.
His heart skipped a beat when only one dot was displayed.
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TBC - by the way, this little delay in getting Rodney home safe? Blame Tipper and Gatebiscuit. They wanted a space battle. It was one of the images they sent me, and they seemed to hint fairly heavily that they needed a SPACE BATTLE, so it's their fault if Rodney's dead. I'm just sayin...