Chapter 3
*A few days later*
McKay and and Sheppard were walking down one of the corridors in Atlantis. Rodney was in the middle of pleading his case to John.
"No, Rodney. The decision has already been made."
"Oh come on John, can't you at least consider it?"
"Listen, we don't need two doctors on this mission. Beckett has more experience with the locals there and a personal rapport with people on more worlds in the Pegasus Galaxy. He's the logical choice. Plus, Keller still has a life, family, friends here. Carson is not supposed to be interacting with his. Remember?"
"Well OK fine, but still, one more person couldn't hurt could it? I'm asking for a personal favor here."
John stopped and looked straight at him.
"As hard is it might be for you to grasp, your personal life is not a big priority when I'm assigning mission personnel. She will stay here and head up the new medical staff. It'll be OK, McKay. You'll see her again soon enough."
"Hey, the Daedalus could always use more medical personnel, what if there's some emergency and Carson can't be everywhere at once if-"
"Rodney!" John finally snapped. "Sometimes you just have to deal with this sort of thing!"
His little outburst caught Rodney off guard and there was quiet for a moment. Then Sheppard spoke again in a softer, slightly apologetic tone. "Look, I like Jennifer, Rodney, I do. But there is no point in bringing her along on a potentially hazardous journey if she's going to be superfluous. Besides, I am sure you'll find a way to pass the time." John gave him a reassuring pat on the arm as he walked away. Rodney stood there for a second, finally acquiescing, and then followed John down the hall.
"Oh alright, fine... Hey, wait a second, how hazardous a mission are we talking here?"
******
*That afternoon*
Sheppard and Ronon walked together into a crowded cafeteria section of Atlantis.
"Everyone is busy getting this city ready." Ronon said. "And I'm the one who wants to leave most of all and I don't know how I'm supposed to help."
"I'm sure everybody here has got their job covered. You just need to make sure that you're ready yourself when we are all prepared to go."
"I will be, no question. I just... really don't know what to do with myself in this waiting."
"There has gotta be a way you can find to pass the time with something. Why don't you try sparing with Teyla?"
"No, she's spending time with her family. Plus... she and I already did that."
Sheppard thought for a second and then he noticed a number of scientists who he recognized. Dr. Lee and several of his colleagues were sitting down at one of the tables. They were here to help work on the city, but they were all apparently on a break because most of them were sitting eating. Dr Lee himself was relaxing with his personal laptop. Sheppard suddenly had an amusing idea.
"Why don't you try to take in some of Earth's entertainment while you still have the chance?"
"Like what?" Ronon asked him, skeptically.
"Hey, Dr. Lee." Sheppard called to him when they approached the table. The scientist looked up at him.
"Oh hi, Colonel... Sheppard." He seemed rather surprised that John had actually taken the time to talk to him.
"Ronon here was telling me that he's got some free time before we leave. And he was also interested in learning more about World of Warcraft."
"What!?" Ronon looked at Sheppard with shock.
"Realllly?" Dr. Lee's interest was obviously piqued.
"Yep. Now I've gotta go finish up some other important stuff. You two play nice. I'll be back later."
Sheppard turned and quickly walked away before he saw more of the stunned look on Ronon's face. He quietly laughed to himself as he heard Dr. Lee's excited voice already detailing the various facets of Warcraft to Ronon.
"Now this here is the city of Dalaran, it's floating very high up in the skies over the 'frozen' continent, Northrend..."
------
John went out onto a balcony again and looked around for a second. He realized that Carson Beckett was standing off to his right, leaning over the railings and staring out into the ocean. He was obviously absorbed in thought. John made his way over to him.
"Enjoying the view, Carson?" Sheppard said, trying not to seem intrusive.
"Hello colonel." Carson said absently without looking at him.
"Are you going to be ready for when we take off? You might not have the chance to return here for a while after we leave home." John asked.
"Home... hmmm. You know, when I was being kept as a prisoner in Michael's labs, I always, always longed to see this place again. Even just one more time. I was constantly afraid I would never see my friends and family again. I couldn't wait to get back to Earth when I was still in the Pegasus Galaxy. I never ever thought I would end up like this. Everyone I knew is just right here, but I am gone... because I am dead." Carson was only half talking to Sheppard, but John responded anyway.
"You're still Carson Beckett. This is still home." Sheppard said, trying to console him, although he knew he was hardly in a position to do so.
"Yes. But then, think about it. I have never actually even been here before. This is the first time I've ever walked on this planet, isn't it? The other Carson was born here, but I was born in Michael's lab. Earth never was my real homeworld." Carson paused.
"And yet... I remember being here. I remember everything about it. I remember the place I used to live. I remember my mum's cooking. I remember the look on her face the last time I saw her. There is no other place that could ever be 'home'. Do I even have one anymore?" Carson finally looked up to his left at Sheppard. He managed a weak smile.
"Don't worry about me, colonel. I'll be fine. I'm just... still adjusting to a very bizarre situation. I'll be ready when we go back to Pegasus, no problems."
Sheppard nodded solemnly and started to walk off. But he stopped for a moment and spoke to Beckett again.
"Just remember you're not alone around here, Carson."
******
*That night*
McKay walked into the gym grumbling quietly. Teyla and John were already there sitting and talking.
"Well, the city's structural integrity should be sufficient to make the trip and the power issue is... coming along." He said that part with a clear sense of frustration. "But the Wormhole Drive probably won't work."
Sheppard looked up.
"Why? We got it to work on our way here. You cannot get it up and running again now? Why?"
"Well of course *I* could get it to work... eventually. But we have less than one day to work on it here. I spent months working on the math for that one jump. With the extra adjustments we have to make for the depleted ZPM and so forth, it would take even more work."
"Was it not Dr. Zelenka who perfected the Wormhole Drive on our journey to Earth?" Teyla asked.
"Well... yes. And that was very impressive of him but he had a lot less work than we have to do here. He just dotted some I's, crossed some T's and such. Even with all of us working together here I don't think we can complete the equations in time for it to be of any practical use for a jump. There are just too many variables to recalculate. And without me here they definitely won't be able to in time."
Just then all three of them turned to see Ronon enter the room.
"Did you guys know there is a World of Warcraft character named after me?" Ronon said.
Nobody in the room seemed to know how to respond to that.
Finally Rodney broke the long puzzled silence.
"What?"
"Dr. Lee told me about him. He's been going on and on about that game he has."
Sheppard stood and walked up to him. The look on John's face showed he didn't quite seem to fathom what he had just heard.
"What?"
"Yeah. He was a great leader or something. He was in a flying pink tower in this big city or something. Go ask him."
Rodney and John exchanged baffled looks.
"I think there could be a security breach." Ronon added.
"I'll need to ask him about that tomorrow." Rodney said. He turned around to leave. "I think I'd had better go get a good night's sleep. I'll need to be rested if we're gonna get any work done before I need to leave."
"Well this is our last night on Earth. We may not be back for a while. Everyone savor it if you can. Goodnight all." Sheppard followed Rodney out.
"Goodnight John. Goodnight Rodney." Teyla called out to them as they walked away. Then she turned to Ronon.
"I believe I will also go to bed. It has been a long day." She bowed her head to him and left.
This left Ronon alone in the gym. He watched her leave and then looked around the room and found one of the staves used for sparing and training. He picked it up and began to practice.
------
Ronon had not been particularly concerned with keeping track of time. He just needed to channel all his pent up aggression into something, anything . These final days of waiting had been maddening.
It was a short time later he sensed someone else enter the gym. He turned around. It was Amelia. Ronon stopped what he was doing and waved a greeting to her.
"Hi," Amelia said.
"Hi," he answered back.
"So you're going tomorrow."
"Yeah. Finally. I'm just not cut out for all this sitting around, you know."
"I understand. I just wish you could spend more time here."
"Well. We... *I* have things to do. There's still a war to fight. And I can't just walk away. Ever. Not until the wraith are all dead."
He resumed practicing and swiped at the air a couple more times while he waited for her to speak again. She seemed a little bit hesitant to proceed.
"Listen, Ronon. It..." She sighed. "You... don't... have to continue like this."
He stopped to look at her once more.
"Yes I do."
"But it doesn't have to be that way. We can move the city wherever we want now. And the way things are going, the wraith might not even be a threat at all anymore soon. And then-"
"I have to do this. You wouldn't understand."
She frowned and looked down, a little dejected. She Realized she couldn't dissuade him.
"Well just... be careful Ronon." She slowly turned and walked away.
"Hey." Ronon called after her and Amelia looked back at him in surprise. The satedan tiled his head.
"You... wanna spare a little?"
That brought a smile to her face.