Twelve
The look on Sheppard's and Woolsey's faces mirrors the sentiments he had when seeing that wretched video for the first time, and it scares him a little that he feels the exact same thing again when he sees the footage of Laura in her cell another time. And now there's also this desperate feeling of urgency that just won't leave him. Like he needs to get through the 'Gate this very minute. Something tells him Laura needs him now more than ever, and he's just itching to get into action.
"Colonel? What do you say?" He blinks as Woolsey addresses Sheppard.
Sheppard frowns at the coordinates on the screen. "It's a trap."
"Wow, Atlantis is full of geniuses today.", Rodney barges in and rolls his eyes, but a dark look from Ronon shuts him up.
"But we still need to go." And if it was up to him, they'd be already through the 'Gate… but Richard Woolsey furrows his forehead.
"Colonel… I do understand that you see a certain urgency, but like you said… it could be a trap. And I don't intend losing any more personnel. Before you mount a rescue mission we need to assess this situation thoroughly." Crap. Woolsey's been long enough in this galaxy. Every second counts now, there's just no time for some proper "assessing". And the look on Sheppard's face says the exact same thing.
"The situation is assessed pretty thoroughly. We have two members down, the coordinates to get where they are, enough firepower and technological advantage to defend ourselves. If we don't get going now we might lose them both." In a corner of his mind he actually feels sympathy for Richard Woolsey. There he is, having been a bureaucrat for God knows how long, and now he has to face down three military men, all determined not to leave fallen comrades behind and a scientist who could single-handedly convince this city to make Woolsey's life a living hell and never be even caught doing it.
That sympathy for Richard Woolsey could be gone very quickly, though, if he doesn't see the logic in Sheppard's thoughts. Woolsey throws another look around and simply runs into wall of determination. Not bothering to put on his diplomatic poker face, you can see the exact moment where he realizes that he won't get far with trying to "carefully plan" something. "Alright. You have a go. But you will not take any unnecessary risks. And you will inform me of every step."
There's a collective underlying sigh of relief and Sheppard nods. "Yes, sir." With that, they leave Woolsey's office and Sheppard says: "Alright… Ronon and Rodney to the jumper bay. Major, you'll stay here and…" No way. Laura is in danger, and he'll be damned if he stays behind. Sheppard's tried enough to shield him off and he understands that, but he's had it now. All these times Laura rescued him, and the one time where he can repay her he stays behind? Not bloody likely.
No, this time it's going to be a good old White-Knight-Rescues-Princess-Thing, just for once. Well, if Sheppard lets him, that is. "Beg pardon, sir, but… I'm requesting permission to be part of the rescue team."
Sheppard takes a deep breath and then motions for McKay and Ronon to head for the jumper bay. Before McKay can even open his mouth to protest, Ronon has grabbed him by his arm and dragged him off a few steps in the direction of the lift. Sheppard maneuvers him into a corner where the rest of the Control Room crew can't hear them. "Major… Evan, if this is about getting your girlfriend back…"
He takes a deep breath himself. He can't remember ever having questioned an order by Sheppard before, but well… there's a first time for everything, and Laura is the best reason he can imagine to go head to head with his CO. "With all due respect, sir, this is not about "getting my girlfriend back". It's about rescuing two very valuable members of this expedition. And my team and I are the ones best qualified to assist your team on that mission. So you can either stand there and accuse me of losing my head over my girlfriend or you can just do what you always do and order your second-in-command to help you save Jennifer Keller's and Laura Cadman's asses."
Before his CO can say anything, he suddenly hears a familiar deep voice behind him. "Major's got a point, Sheppard." He turns around to see Ronon leaning against the wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest and wonders how long exactly he's been standing there.
But what's more surprising is that Rodney McKay is standing beside him and adding: "Although I'll probably regret saying this: I second Ronon and Major Romeo there."
Outgunned, Sheppard frowns at them and replies: "Hey, didn't I just send you two down to the jumper bay?"
Ronon shrugs and waves his hand to include McKay. "Just thought we might be second in line anyway."
He can see pretty well that for a moment Sheppard considers putting all three of them in the brig, just to get this over with, but in the end he simply sighs and says: "Alright. Fine. You got five minutes to get your team to the jumper bay, Major."
Barely being able to suppress a smirk, he simply nods and answers: "Yes, sir. And might I suggest informing Teyla as well?" That's bold, and he knows it, but Teyla would never forgive them if they do this without her. And Sheppard knows that as well as he does.
Grudgingly, the Colonel nods. "Right. I'll pick her up on the way to the jumper bay. See you there." With that, Sheppard makes his way to the lift.
He taps his headset and informs Lieutenant Simmons and Sergeant McPherson, the two new guys who were recently assigned to him, after his last men's tour ended, to get geared up and meet Colonel Sheppard's team in the jumper bay. While making his own way to the jumper bay, he tries going through the list of spare personnel in his head to fill up the remaining place, but is interrupted, when he hears someone calling out for him. He turns around to see Will Meyers running up to him. When he's reached him, the Sergeant doesn't lose time. "Heard you're going to kick some Hybrids' butts." Uh-oh, he's pretty sure he already knows where this is going. "Requesting permission to tag along, sir."
Yep, that's what he thought. But Meyers has been on the last three search missions, not to mention the one with the killed traders, and he must be pretty tired by now. "Look, Sergeant…"
And then Meyers does something he'd never have given him credit to. He interrupts him. "Sir, with all due respect… you just butted heads with Colonel Sheppard about letting you go with him." Yes, he did. But there's still a difference between risking his own life and that of a subordinate. He's about to tell that to the Sergeant, but he simply doesn't give him an opportunity to speak up. "And your team is one man short, 'cause Albright is still on urgency leave on Earth. I've got advanced medical training, I'm a trained sharp-shooter and thanks to the Lieutenant I know my way around explosives… to me that makes me the ideal substitute for Albright. Sir."
Unfortunately… Meyers is right. They already know that Laura is injured and as of now they have no idea how Keller is. They definitely need a medic, but this is not the kind of mission where you can take one of the civilian medics from the infirmary with you, and Oberstabsarzt Morsberg, Moore's German Army doctor, is currently away on leave. And he simply has no time to go through the list of other available soldiers with advanced medical training. Defeated, he nods. "Alright. Accompany me to the jumper bay, Sergeant."
Is that a smug grin the Sergeant took care to hide? "Thanks, sir."
"Just don't get killed.", he huffs as an answer, but Meyers simply grins.
"'Cause you want to kill me for interrupting you when we get back, sir?" Time to wipe that smirk off this Sergeant's face or this will go to his head.
"I certainly will, if you don't shut up about this killing business." Meyers takes great care to revert his face back to matter-of-factly, but somehow… there's still some glee staying behind. And he finally realizes that denying Meyers to come along would have been a lot worse than allowing him to, because the Sergeant sees this as his way to make up for having to let the abductors get away with Laura and Keller. He only hopes that he didn't just sign another death warrant with giving in to Meyers' request.
"Understood, sir." He just nods.
"I certainly hope so. Now, come on, get going." With that, they both break into a run.
When they reach the jumper bay, McKay and Sheppard are already done with the pre-flight and Simmons and McPherson acknowledge his arrival with shortly tipping their heads in informal salutes. He motions for them to get into the jumper and when they are all set, Sheppard takes the ship off. Finally, he thinks, and the last three days feel like an eternity to him.
A/N: Ye-es, I'm taking my time, I know. But I'll get there, I promise ;)
PS.: Oberstabsarzt is indeed a German Army/Air Force Medical Corps rank and can be seen equal as that of a Major in US Army/USAF/USMC terms, just in case someone was wondering.