Chapter 9: Backup

"Thank God," Beckett breathed as he saw Radek and his team running through the woods towards him.

"Carson," the Czech panted, struggling to catch his breath. He leant over and placed his hands on his knees, drawing in great lungfuls of air. The engineer was not unfit, but had obviously run the three miles from the Gate at full speed. Ronon was stood beside him, with an impressed smirk on his face. He clearly hadn't thought that the wiry little man had it in him.

"Looks like my gut feeling was right after all," the physician muttered, leading Radek over to the crumpled outpost.

"Muj boze," he muttered as he saw the shattered remains of the buildings. He straightened up fully, all discomfort from the sprint forgotten as a horrified expression settled on his face. "They are… they are inside, yes?"

Beckett's throat tightened painfully and he could only manage a small nod.

"We have tried to radio them, but they are not responding," Teyla explained. "Major Lorne believes that the signal is being disrupted by the debris, but they could be unconscious."

"Yes, yes," replied Zelenka, nodding. "It is most likely." Immediately, he turned around and began shouting orders in a mixture of Czech and what sounded like Russian to his team.

They flew into action, setting up gear, getting portable generators running and generally being efficient in their jobs. A couple of men edged closer to assess the damage, swearing softly.

"Major," Radek called, turning to the soldier. "What caused this?"

Evan shook his head. "Colonel Sheppard said something about the drones inside activating."

Zelenka looked puzzled. "I do not understand. That would mean someone had to be in chair, no?"

"Doubt it," Ronon growled.

"Rodney triggered a booby trap earlier while he was trying to fix the security system," Teyla explained. "Is it is possible that they unknowingly activated another?"

"Ano… yes," the engineer replied. "Is entirely possible." He closed his eyes briefly, muttering softly in his native tongue under his breath. "Let us hope that there are no more surprises."

Lorne turned to his team and barked out orders to establish a secure perimeter – Teyla volunteered her services and was soon heading off with two of the marines.

"Can you get 'em out?" asked Ronon.

Radek turned around to face him. "I do not know yet," he replied softly, not wanting to get anyone's hopes up. "But we will try."

___________________________________________________________________________

"McKay? You still there, buddy?"

Rodney swallowed and blinked a couple of times. "Just… just about."

"Good man." Sheppard took a quick look at the bandages on the physicist's side. They were dotted with red flecks, but the bleeding seemed to have slowed. One good thing at least. "Remember, you gotta stay awake," he croaked.

"I know…" McKay took a couple of ragged breaths, wincing as the shaking from both his earlier mishap and shock still rocked his body. "Don't… don't feel so g-good," he mumbled.

"Make two of us," John replied. "We've just gotta hold on a little longer. Carson and Lorne will get us out of here soon." 'At least I hope they will,' he added mentally. He bit back a whimper as his back spasmed, screwing his eyes shut and breathing deeply until it subsided.

When he looked up again, he saw Rodney's own eyes closed. "Hey, Rodney! Stay awake!"

Sheppard's growl startled McKay and the physicist jerked then winced as the movement pulled at his injuries. He cracked his eyes open and glowered weakly at his friend. "Dammit, Sheppard. Don't do that! It h-hurts."

John gave him a grin. There was the Rodney McKay he knew and loved – snappy and abrasive. "Well you shouldn't fall asleep, genius." He shifted uncomfortably.

Why did they always have to get trapped in cold, damp stone buildings? Why couldn't they be stuck somewhere warm for once? Was it really too much to ask for?

Sheppard knew that unless help came soon, they were both in a lot of trouble. Although the bleeding had been stemmed temporarily, Rodney had lost an awful lot of blood. That coupled with his head injury, arm and the mental beating he'd taken from that machine earlier meant that the physicist was skirting the edge right now.

McKay was already in shock, and there wasn't much that John could do about it. Even if he hadn't been trapped, there would be no way to get the man warm with the amount of rubble covering him.

As for himself, John was trying hard not to panic. After the initial pain, his entire lower body had gone numb at a frightening speed and his head was still thumping wildly. He was convinced that his ribs really were just bruised – mainly because he wasn't having any difficulties breathing – but was frighteningly cold. 'I am NOT paralysed!' he thought. 'I've trapped a bunch of nerves or something. Maybe it's shock.' He repeated the words over and over, as if they were a mantra or something. He had to stay positive for Rodney's sake.

Pity it wasn't working.

In the back of his mind, the little voice that had been telling him that this mission was a bad idea was now taunting him unmercifully. Why hadn't he listened to it earlier? Why hadn't he just turned tail and dragged Rodney out of there when he'd had a chance?

"John?"

Sheppard looked over at McKay and saw the man staring at him with frightened eyes.

"You okay? You kind of… zoned out there… for a minute."

"Yeah, Rodney, I'm fine." John mentally shook himself as he registered the quiver in McKay's voice. The physicist very rarely called him by his first name – something to do with respectfulness or something – but anytime he did, Sheppard knew that things were bad.

"I… I'm sorry."

"What for?"

Rodney made a strange half sobbing sound. "We… we should have… should have gotten out…"

"Don't go there."

"No, I'm serious. I should've listened… to you." His breath hitched slightly. "Now we're… stuck and..."

"That's quitter talk, Rodney," John replied.

"This is my fault…"

"Stop it."

"We're gonna… gonna die down here…"

"Rodney!" Sheppard barked. "That's enough."

McKay seemed slightly cowed and the shaking took hold of him again. Every time it seemed to last longer, and left the physicist exhausted. He panted as it eased off, clawing the dirt to stop himself from crying out.

John reached over and squeezed his friend's good shoulder. "You're not to blame for any of this."

"But…"

"No, Rodney," John said, cutting him off before he could start the self-recriminations again. "It's not your fault that some whacked out Ancient with paranoiac tendencies decided to build a bunch of bombs just to stop people from stealing his work."

Rodney smiled slightly. "Thanks," he whispered.

Noticing that he was on the verge of drifting off again, John decided to have the conversation he'd been trying to instigate for nearly a month. It wasn't an ideal time to broach the subject, but the thought that he might not get another chance was firmly nestled in the back of the Air Force man's mind. "Listen, I just wanted to let you know that what you did for Rod isn't something you should be ashamed of."

"Yeah, I know," the Canadian replied. "But I sacrificed… the lives of everyone… on base to get… get him home. Now we… don't have a… shield…"

"It was worth the risk," John insisted. "He'd have done the same."

Rodney blinked a couple of times before saying, "He was a… better man… than me."

"No," Sheppard said firmly. "Yeah, okay, so he was different to you in a lot of ways. But just because he was nice to everyone all the time and had a… distinctive outlook on life, it doesn't mean that he was better. Different, yeah, but not better."

"You're just… saying that."

"'I'm serious, Rodney," the Colonel replied. "I know we teased you about a lot of things and that it seemed like we wanted to spend more time with him, but Rod wasn't half the man you are." He sighed, hating how emotional he was sounding. "Dammit, McKay, you drive me absolutely crazy, you know that? You moan about the smallest thing, are stubborn to the point of inciting violence and have some of the worst social skills I've ever seen. But you're my friend – my best friend – and nothing's gonna change that."

Rodney's mouth opened and closed silently for a few minutes as Sheppard's words sunk in. Then he managed to crack a loopy smile. "That's nice," he whispered. "No one's… ever said anything like… that to… me before."

"Then they didn't know what they were missing," John replied. "Now enough of this 'feelings' crap, okay? You know I hate it."

McKay chuckled softly, a worryingly wet sound. "Dumb jock."

"Geek."

"Goon."

"Melon head."

"At least I don't… look like… I've stuck my fingers… in an electrical socket."

John laughed, grateful for the verbal sparring. "You're just jealous 'cos the chicks dig it better than yours," he replied. "Oh, and breathe a word of what I just said to anyone and I'll make your life a misery. I happen to know over a hundred ways to kill you without leaving any marks."

"You never know," Rodney muttered, still smiling, "there's still… time for you. You might get out of this."

"You mean we and will," Sheppard insisted.

McKay's smile became rueful. "Yeah…" His eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he went limp.

"No!" John hissed, trying to slap his friend's face. "No, no, no, no, no! Come on, buddy! Don't do this!"

Despite his pleas, Rodney's eyes did not open.