A/N: Well, that took forever to update. Still, better late than never!
The planet's twin suns beat mercilessly down upon her, and Elizabeth was reminded of the time she helped settle a political dispute in Mozambique. At the time she'd thought it would be impossible for her to ever find someplace where it was hotter; it wasn't the first time she'd been wrong and it certainly wouldn't be the last.
Groaning audibly as she lifted a particularly heavy rock onto the back of the cart, Elizabeth found herself desperately wishing for a couple of Tylenol…or maybe some morphine…oh yeah, and some water would be nice.
As if her weary, parched mind had summoned him, Tamesis suddenly appeared in the distance, driving a cart loaded with water jugs toward the thirsty workers.
Elizabeth gratefully reached for a jug but her hand was quickly slapped away by Tamesis.
"Get in the cart," he commanded, his voice clipped. "Magus wishes to speak to you," he added, answering the question in her posture.
Elizabeth nodded once and started to climb in next to the guard; but Tamesis snorted, thumbing toward the back. A sneer creased his ugly face, "Prison scum have to ride with the load."
Elizabeth bit the inside of her cheek to hold back a sharp retort and did as she was told. She sighed in relief as the weight was taken off her aching feet, and she saw several of the other workers eye her jealously.
Tamesis lashed the oxen across the back with his whip and they were off. The ride back to the Council House was uneventful and far too short for Elizabeth's liking. Her sore muscles protested when she jumped down from the back of the cart, causing her to hiss in pain. The prison guard was less than sympathetic; he grabbed her arm, his fingers landing in their accustomed place, and almost yanked it out of the socket with the speed and power with which he pulled her after him. They entered the House through one of its numerous side doors, and when her eyes adjusted to the relative darkness in the small room, the first thing Elizabeth saw was a MALP situated in the middle of the floor, Magus hovering behind it.
"Tell us about this device," the aged Chancellor tried to sound confident and domineering, but Elizabeth could hear the underlying uncertainty in his voice. They're afraid, she realized as she observed the men's body language, afraid of the MALP. Had the situation been less hazardous she would have laughed; as it was, Tamesis' and the Chancellor's ignorance over the machine's purpose could work in her favor. Letting them believe it was a weapon gave her the upper hand.
The MALP suddenly emitted a burst of static, followed by a garbled message, "This…Rod…Kay…lantis…like to…peak…ith…agus."
"Ah, so this is a transmitting device?" Magus looked intrigued and relieved, "How do I answer?"
Elizabeth sighed, so much for that advantage. She motioned toward a series of switches, the largest of which opened up two-way communication. The camera lens dilated, widening Atlantis' view of the room.
"…izabeth?" Rodney sounded surprised
Under Tamesis' watchful eye she leaned in and flipped the switch, "Hi Rodney."
"You look awful!" Apparently the radio transmission had stabilized.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "Thanks Rodney, I appreciate it."
Dr. Weir?" Teyla's concerned voice floated over the airway, "Are you all right?"
Elizabeth grimaced; she must have looked worse than she thought. "I'm fine Teyla; how's John?"
"He will be fine, though he is very anxious to leave the infirmary."
Yeah, I'll bet, Elizabeth thought wryly.
Tamesis growled, obviously tired of the exchange of pleasantries, and cuffed her in the side of the head, "This is a waste of time!"
Magus nodded calmly, "I agree." He turned and addressed the MALP, "Why have you contacted us?"
Teyla's voice came back strong and even, "We would like to negotiate for Dr. Weir's release."
The Ontarish leader laughed incredulously, "You cannot be serious."
"We have food, medical supplies…"
Magus waved a hand, cutting her off, "I don't care what you have; there will be no trade. This is no longer a matter of efficiency or necessity; you people have vexed me greatly, and Dr. Weir will pay for your behavior," he paused briefly, "Oh, and don't attempt a rescue; if you so much as step foot on this planet your beloved leader will die." He nodded to Tamesis, who removed his gun from its holster and fired five energy blasts into the MALP at point-blank range, leaving the control panel smoking and rendering it useless.
SGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGA
"That went well," Ronon commented dryly.
"It appears that our escape has greatly angered the Ontarish," Teyla stared at the blank screen.
"Well that is a shock," Rodney adopted an expression of mock astonishment, "Because I gotta tell you, I figured they'd be thrilled that we refused to help them, had Elizabeth create a distraction so we could escape, and then killed the two guards who were guarding the 'Gate. Was that just me?"
"McKay…" Ronon's tone was a warning.
"We need to come up with a plan, not fight and complain," Zelenka piped up from the corner, suddenly becoming the unexpected voice of reason.
"Come up with a plan? That's ingenious! Why didn't I think of that?" McKay shot back sarcastically.
Teyla sighed and turned away from the console, "Dr. Zelenka is correct Rodney; we will not be able to accomplish anything if we continue to argue with each other."
"Of course, it's not like we were accomplishing anything before either," Ronon pointed out, earning himself a stern glare from the Athosian.
Zelenka pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, "So what have we tried so far?"
"Lorne proposed a standard covert rescue mission; he said that none of his men would hesitate to go in after Elizabeth. Unfortunately, the Ontarish have a pretty impressive array of defenses, including a couple of gun turrets as well as a ridiculously large number of soldiers, most of whom are probably guarding the Stargate and keeping an eye on Elizabeth," Rodney explained, his face solemn.
Zelenka shook his head in confusion, "I do not understand; if the defenses were as good as you say, how did you manage to escape?"
The three teammates exchanged glances, and it was Ronon who answered, "I don't know what Dr. Weir did to draw the guards away, but whatever it was, it was big; no one was manning the turrets and we hardly saw any soldiers on our way to the 'Gate."
The Czech's eyes went wide for a brief moment before he recovered, "Okay, so are these turrets powerful enough to take down a Puddlejumper?"
McKay nodded emphatically, "Oh yeah."
"Could we not use the cloak?" Teyla inquired, her eyes flicking between the two scientists.
Rodney looked thoughtful, "We could, but there's always the chance that the Ontarish will connect the Stargate activating to us; after all, they don't exactly get a lot of visitors. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not willing to risk Elizabeth's life."
Teyla frowned, "You believe that Magus will carry out his threat?"
Rodney gave her a look, "Don't you? The man is clearly unstable…"
"Could we gate to a planet nearby and then fly over?" Ronon quickly cut off McKay's rant.
Teyla's eyes lit up at the idea, making Ronon feel like he'd just won some sort of prize. His self-congratulations were soon cut short, however, by Zelenka shaking his head.
"Unfortunately the nearest planet is too far away for a Jumper to travel between the stargates," the Czech scientist explained apologetically.
Rodney suddenly started snapping his fingers, "Unless…" he trailed off, his excitement palpable.
"Unless 'what,' McKay?" Ronon ground out.
The astrophysicist whirled on Zelenka, "Radek, I'm going to need your help."
Zelenka looked completely stunned, whether that was because Rodney had come up with a plan so quickly, or because the arrogant scientist had actually admitted he'd need help, Ronon couldn't be sure. He did know one thing though, and that was that he hated not knowing what was going on.
"McKay!" he made his voice as deep and intimidating as possible, but the scientists were already exiting the room, jabbering back and forth in what Sheppard liked to call 'geek speak.'
He was about to storm after then when Teyla laid a hand on his forearm, "Ronon, just wait; they will tell us what they have come up with soon enough."
He couldn't exactly argue with that; then again he could count on one hand the number of times he'd argued with her, probably because he had a hard time disagreeing with anything Teyla said, especially when she leveled those big brown eyes at him, and even more so when he knew she was right.
Still, McKay had better hurry it up, or Ronon was going to have to pay him a visit down at the lab.