Chapter 10: Easier Said Than Done

"Zkurvysyn," Zelenka muttered angrily as he looked at the geological scans of the outpost and its surrounding terrain.

Lorne winced as he heard the curse. "What's wrong, doc?" he asked, already knowing from the engineer's expression that the answer wouldn't be good.

"This region is unstable," Radek replied. "Will be very dangerous to extract Colonel Sheppard and Rodney." He sighed, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "The good news is that we have located them with the life signs detector and they are both still alive." The unspoken words 'for the time being' lingered uncomfortably in the air as the engineer led the soldier over to a nearby laptop, which displayed two small dots close to each other. "Unfortunately, they are buried fairly deeply. It will take time to reach them."

"Time they don't have, right?" asked Lorne.

Radek was spared a reply by a female voice calling for him.

"Dr Zelenka!"

Both men looked up at the sudden cry and saw a young woman racing over to them.

"Dr Alexis?"

"Dr Zelenka," she gasped. "We have… a problem." She bent over and placed her hands on her knees for a moment, trying to catch her breath.

"Take your time, ma'am," Lorne said, laying a hand on her back.

After a few moments, the dark haired girl righted herself. "We have finished the evaluation," she explained, her face drawn tight. "The ground scans indicate that there is a large cavern about a foot and a half underneath the section that Colonel Sheppard and Dr McKay are trapped in."

"Zatracene!" the engineer spat, angrily scrubbing at his hair.

Lorne and Alexis winced. For such a seemingly quiet man, Radek had an utterly filthy mouth at times.

"Does your mama know you use words like that, doc?" the Major asked.

The engineer caught their stares and blushed slightly. "My apologies." He looked back to Alexis. "Please continue."

"According to the scans, the roof of the cavern was already quite thin before the explosion." Her face paled. "There is no way to know if it was weakened when the chair detonated."

Lorne briefly wondered where she was from – her accent was definitely Eastern European. "You mean the weapon's chair? I thought it was the drones that went off?"

She shook her head. "It seemed that way at first. We thought that there were secondary explosions caused by the initial detonation, but we have found a small trace of residual radiation. Nothing harmful," she added quickly, seeing the alarm on the Major's face, "but it did not come from the drones. Dr McKay mentioned something about there being a chair like the one we have back in Atlantis, so the only logical explanation is that the chair was somehow responsible for the activation of the drones. I am not sure, but I think it exploded once it had completed its task."

Carson, who had wandered back in time to hear the woman's explanation, closed his eyes and swallowed heavily. "We have to get them out."

"We will," Zelenka replied, "but we have to change our tactics. This new information complicates the issue."

"So we can't just cut them out, then?" asked Lorne.

Alexis shook her head. "No, Major. We can not use any of our heavy duty equipment to cut through the debris. The last thing we want is to cause the crown of the cavern to give way."

"Which means that we can nae have too many people digging at any one time," Beckett growled.

"How about the Daedalus?" asked Ronon, trotting up to them. The Satedan had been skirting around the fringes of the group, feeling useless, uncomfortable and by and large out of place amongst the engineering team. Unless there was something to blow up or kill, he generally felt out of his depth. Not being able to help his trapped team-mates was killing him. "We can get them over here and beam them out, right?"

"Nice idea, big man," said Carson, "but they won't be back in Pegasus for another three weeks."

The ex-runner growled and started pacing, but stopped and held a hand around his earpiece.

Radek felt three pairs of eyes on him. "Okay," he said after a moment. "We must do this old-fashioned way. I will need the lightest equipment we have, nothing over fifty pounds in weight…"

"Everybody shut up!" Ronon bellowed, cutting the Czech off.

Nobody moved or made a sound.

"What is it?" asked Lorne as he walked over to the Satedan's side.

Ronon pointed to his earpiece. "I think I can hear Sheppard." He tapped the device. "Sheppard, this is Ronon. Say that again."

"…God… thought I'd… get… We… help… Rodney's... won't wake…"

"Sheppard, you're breaking up!" the ex-runner growled.

"Just stay calm," Carson said over his own radio, hoping that enough of the message got through. "We're going to have you out of there in a jiffy."

"Is there anyway to boost the signal?" Lorne asked.

Radek thought for a moment then grinned. He ran over to the two scientists working on the portable generators and started talking rapidly in what sounded like Russian. Lorne felt a little guilty at not being able to remember their names – the men were nearly always at poker night. They nodded and got to work on whatever it was that the engineer had said.

"I will need someone's radio, please," Zelenka asked.

"Here," said Alexis, immediately handing hers over. "I don't really need it anyway."

The engineer clutched at the radio as if it was a holy grail and beamed at the woman. "Thank you."

The radio was taken to the scientists and in a couple of minutes, was in pieces.

"What is happening?" asked Teyla, who had returned from a perimeter patrol.

"John's trying to radio us," Carson replied.

She frowned at the two Russians and tilted her head questioningly. "What are they doing?"

"Beats me," Ronon shrugged.

"They are adapting the range of the radios," Radek said. "With the generators and a few other small parts, we should be able to… how do you say… to boost signal." He looked back over to his men and they nodded. "Try again please."

Ronon hit his earpiece. "Sheppard, this is Ronon."

"Good to hear your voice, buddy," Sheppard replied. The connection still crackled with the odd burst of static, but they could hear the pilot's reply clearly.

The assembled group smiled in relief.

"Are you injured, lad?"

"Uh, 'fraid so, doc. I got a little… squished."

"Just hold tight, sir," Lorne said. "We're trying to get you and Dr McKay out."

"I don't wanna rush you and all, but Rodney's in trouble." John's voice sounded terse and anxious. "He's lost a lot of blood."

"Can you describe his injuries to me, son?"

Carson listened, his face darkening as the pilot listed the various broken bones and gashes.

"He keeps passing out," Sheppard continued. "He's been unconscious for nearly twenty minutes now and he's real cold. I've tried everything I can manage, but he…" his voice softened, "…he won't wake up." There was a pause. "Carson, what do I do? I can't wake him up."

"Stay calm, Colonel," Beckett replied. "That's to be expected with what he's been through. It sounds like shock and his earlier mishap are taking their toll. His body's conserving energy and that's making him hibernate. Just keep an eye on his breathing and check his pulse regularly. Let me know if there's any kind of sudden change." He pinched the bridge of his nose. They needed to get them out of there now! "Now, how about you?"

There was another long pause.

"Colonel?"

"Sorry, doc. I, uh, I can't feel my legs," he admitted hesitantly. "They're trapped under a pretty heavy piece of rock and I can't move it. I don't think I'm bleeding, but I can't tell for sure. I'm a bit banged up, gotta a headache, but otherwise I'm not too bad."

Carson knew that the pilot was lying – he'd had plenty of experience with the man in that past to know that when John Sheppard used the words 'okay', fine' and 'not too bad', he was in a lot of pain. The situation had suddenly changed from critical to life-threatening in seconds.

"Okay, son. I know it's a cliché, but try and stay calm. If you feel anything odd you tell me straight away. Do I make myself clear?"

"Message received and understood."

Beckett turned to the Athosian. "Teyla, can you keep talking to John for me?" he asked.

"Of course," she replied and moved away slightly to offer her trapped team-mate some much needed moral support.

"Radek, we need to get them out now."

The engineer frowned as he saw Beckett's anguished expression. "I know, priteli, but it will be dangerous. The whole place could collapse at any moment." He looked over to his assembled team and sighed.

___________________________________________________________________________

If he hadn't been trapped, Sheppard would have literally jumped for joy when he finally managed to get through to his team-mates. Having been alone, for all intents and purposes, for the last twenty minutes, he was starting to get a little panicked.

Rodney was as still as a rock and looked almost dead. It frightened John to see his best friend so quiet and unresponsive, and not being able to wake the physicist up wasn't helping matters.

"John?"

"I'm still here, Teyla."

"We will get you out. You just have to be patient a little longer."

He grimaced. He'd lost pretty much all sense of time while stuck in the remains of the tiny room, although he'd finally remembered what had happened. How long had it been since the drones had exploded? What was taking the others so long to get them out? He glanced back at McKay, his fingers pressing lightly at Rodney's neck. There was still a pulse. Granted it was weak and much too fast for his liking, but the fact that it was still there was all that mattered.

He just prayed that it stayed that way.

"C'mon, buddy," he whispered. "I need you to hang on. Keep fighting."

"John?" Teyla sounded anxious. "John, are you alright?"

"Yeah, sorry. Just zoned out a bit," he replied, smiling softly as he remembered Rodney telling him off for doing that earlier. "Any idea how much longer this is gonna take?"

"I do not know. I am sorry. Dr Zelenka and his team are working as quickly as they can."

That was not comforting and Sheppard fought the urge to scream in frustration. "It's okay. Just… just do me a favour."

"Of course."

Sheppard swallowed hard and took a shaking breath. This was not going to be easy. "If… if we don't make it…"

"Please, John, do not talk that way."

"This is important," he hissed. "If we don't get out of here, tell… tell Jeannie that I'm sorry."

He remembered the look of fear in Mrs. Miller's eyes as she had spoken to him before heading back to Earth, pleading with him to keep her big brother out of harm's way. "Apart from Maddie and Kaleb, he's the only family I have left," she had told him, her eyes shining with tears. "I've only just found Meredith again. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to him…"

"You will both be fine," Teyla said pulling him back to the present, and John could her voice cracking.

"Please, Teyla. I gave her my word that I'd watch out for Rodney. If things go south, I need you to tell her that I'm sorry. That I tried but I couldn't… I couldn't protect him."

"I will, John. I promise." There was a brief pause. "You are both fighters. Please hold on a little longer."

"We'll try, Teyla," Sheppard said. "We'll really try."

There was another pause before the Athosian spoke again. "Radek is here. He wishes to speak to you."

The heavy accent of the engineer crackled in his earpiece. "Colonel Sheppard?"

Sheppard cleared his throat before answering, "Hey, Z. How's it going?"

"Slowly, I'm afraid. I need to ask you something, but if you do not know answer, it is not a problem."

"Ask away."

"We know that the drones were triggered, but did the chair explode?"

"Yeah! Rodney said something about it being rigged to blow. I figure it set off the drones then went boom." He coughed as the dust started to accumulate again. "Does that help?"

"Actually, it helps a lot," Radek replied. "I believe I have found a way to get you and Rodney out of there," the engineer stated. "But I need you to do something for me."

"Sure thing, doc," Sheppard replied. "Just so long as it doesn't involve me having to use my legs."

There was a soft chuckle from the other end. "Ne, Colonel. You will not have to do anything physical. I need you to use your ears. Listen for any sounds coming from beneath you."

John frowned. "Beneath me?" he asked. "Why?"

"Is long story and I will gladly tell it to you later," Zelenka replied, "but for now, I need you to listen."

"Sure thing, Z," Sheppard said, still confused. "What should I be on the lookout for?"

"Anything that sounds like rock fall," was the more than slightly cryptic reply. "We are going to start to dig in a few moments."

Sheppard closed his eyes in relief. "Gotcha, doc. Just do me a favour."

"Anything you want, Colonel."

"Dig fast."