A/N: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all of your kind reviews!
The Weight of an Oath – Part 8"Wait! Damn it, just wait!" Rodney shouted the words almost as if he couldn't believe he was saying them.
"What? Rodney, now's our chance to get out of here and get the Colonel some real help. What's gotten into you?" Carson asked, frantically.
"Believe me, I want out of here as much as you do," Rodney assured. "But Sheppard would have my head if he knew I let things happen this way."
"I don't understand," Torca said, nervously. "I only want to help. What is it that…."
"Do you? Do you really want to help?" Rodney asked, critically. "Because if you do, walking out of this room without even a half-assed plan in place isn't the way to do it."
Cold realization stole over Beckett as he recognized that Rodney was right. Carson had just been so relieved by the possibility of getting Sheppard out of the room that he had neglected to see the reality of the situation. If they had any real chance of successfully escaping Netharia, they would need more than one young woman's desire to get them out of harm's way. And more than likely, they were going to have to ask quite a lot from Torca since she was their only ally on the planet.
"He's right, lass," Carson acknowledged, gravely. "How much are you willing to do to help us?"
"I, I just want this to end. I want him to recover. I want every awful thing we've done to him to be erased," Torca said. The brimming tears finally began to slide down her face as she stared at Sheppard with a strong expression that Carson found difficult to decipher.
"Oh for God's sake, he's never allowed to call me Kirk again," Rodney said derisively, having misinterpreted Torca's expression.
"Rodney!" Carson admonished as Torca turned her hurt gaze towards the physicist.
"This is not an easy decision for me, Doctor McKay," she said, emphatically. Although she had not understood the insult, she recognized its tone, and against its force she straightened her small frame and reached for quiet composure. "By giving aid to Colonel Sheppard, I will be subject to the strictest of punishments, and my name will be nothing more than an unmentionable disgrace to my entire race. Yet I am willing to make this sacrifice for him and for you, because I sense that under all of your political machinations, you are an admirable people that do not deserve the treatment you have received at our hands. For this reason, I must beg of you to do me the small honor of keeping your insults to yourself."
Rodney had the good sense to be embarrassed, and he muttered a reluctant apology before beginning to pace the floor. Never one to be bothered much by what others around him thought; however, he began interrogating Torca very soon after the minor altercation had been resolved. Carson, feeling pity for the poor girl, smiled at her hoping to convey some level of support.
"Can you get us to the Stargate?" Rodney asked.
"No," Torca replied, with an abject bluntness that immediately dashed Carson's hopes. The expression on her face became troubled, as she also seemed to comprehend the full extent of the difficulties their escape may bring. "The Portal in the city has been heavily guarded ever since your people arrived. Citizen Setarcos wishes to be prepared in the eventuality that your people become suspicious of your absence and send a contingent of warriors."
"Sweet Jesus," Carson breathed and sat heavily in the only chair in the room.
"Okay, then," Rodney said as he tried to digest the information. "Any chance that we can get to our weapons?"
"Even if I had access to them, I would not allow it. Regardless of the situation, I will not put any of my people in danger," Torca said coldly. "I am willing to help, but not at so high a cost."
"All right, understandable," Rodney responded hastily, heeding Carson's warning glare. "Well then, is there any way else off of this planet?"
Torca seemed to consider their options carefully before making a suggestion. "There is another Portal far from the city," she eventually admitted. "Provided that I could obtain transportation, it would still take two entire day cycles to make it there. But it is a possibility."
"You have another Stargate on this planet?" Rodney asked, excitedly.
"Why yes. Do you not have two Portals on Atlantis?"
"Well, not that I know of," Rodney said. "Maybe we should start looking when we get back. Two 'gates would make life so much more interesting. I mean, we could…."
"Rodney," Carson cautioned, sensing the imminent eruption of scientific blathering.
"Oh, yes. Let's see." It took a moment for Rodney to get back on track, and Carson smiled reassuringly at Torca in the interim. "Reaching the second Stargate would be excellent. Very good."
"I will attempt to make arrangements," Torca said gracefully.
"Oh, and do you have any suggestion about how to get our other friends out of here as well? I mean, I have the idea that Ronon could draw some serious attention while he's meandering through the hallways. Giant, Bob Marley wannabes are just not easily missed," Rodney said, grimly.
Torca bit her lip and ran a delicate hand through her shimmering hair. She suddenly seemed nervous.
"It is dangerous," she said.
"I know it's a lot to ask, lass," Carson responded, reassuringly. "But you're right. We don't belong here, and we have to get home. It's not fair what your people have done to us."
The petite Netharian nodded regally and again considered their options.
"If we are to get every member of your party out of this facility, we will have to wait until Sandrina and the other Scientists have left for the evening. That will not be for hours yet," she finally said. "Once they are gone, there will be no one else in the building to outrank me, and any direction I give will not be questioned."
"Now it's starting to sound like a plan," Rodney said, hopefully.
"I think that it will draw less attention if the three of you leave separately from your other two companions. I will arrange a way out of the building for you. Afterwards, I will establish some excuse to bring the others out of their room. The Scientists allowed the one called Teyla to go to the Portal under heavy guard earlier. I may be able to use a similar pretext that will allow your friends some flexibility of movement through the Institute. To minimize suspicion, I will escort you, if necessary," Torca said.
Carson admired the woman's ingenuity and was also pleased to note that she seemed more confident in her decision to help. If it could be arranged, her plan had a fair chance of working.
Yet, he couldn't help but suspect that the strategy was riddled with flaws. He felt himself begin to feel jittery at the thought of the whole thing backfiring in their faces and suddenly longed for the inviting comfort of home. Not Atlantis, but the warm hearth and comforting smells of his mother's house in Scotland.
Rodney clapped his hands and rubbed them together vigorously. The unexpected sound drew Carson away from his nostalgic thoughts, and he turned towards the irritating man. Rodney looked nervous to Carson, but eager as well. "Sounds like we have a plan!" he announced to the group.
"That seemed easy enough," Carson said, breathing deeply and forcibly ignoring his doubts. "And we've thought of everything, right? I mean really? Everything?"
"Everything!" Rodney said with confidence and an unexpected wink at Torca.
888
"Are you…all…nuts!" Sheppard exclaimed in a breathless whisper several hours later. He struggled to sit up but failed miserably at the task. As he gasped desperately for breath, he thought about the smug and satisfied expression McKay's face had held when he had regained consciousness to find the man standing far too close. He had only been given a moment to orient himself and to recognize that McKay looked tweaked about something before what had been dubbed "The Brilliant Plan" had been explained to him.
Even in his compromised state, it had only taken John seconds to realize that the so-called plan was far from brilliant. Light years away from brilliant. In fact, the plan's conception made Sheppard seriously consider the benefits of relegating all scientists to the laboratory and away…far, far, away…from the field.
"No, not feeling particularly crazy here," McKay responded sarcastically to Sheppard's startled pronouncement. "I take it you find The Plan defective in some way?"
"How…'bout…several ways," John huffed. He wished that he could more easily communicate his adamant lack of faith in their strategy, but his breathlessness seemed to defeat that goal. He pressed on regardless. "First…can…we trust her? Haven't…even seen…her."
"Don't be ridiculous! Yes, you have! She's small!"
Lacking breath, John only rolled his eyes in response. The discourteous move also helped him to hide the alarm he felt at not being able to recall ever meeting their apparent collaborator.
"Colonel, I also have my doubts about this plan," Carson said honestly, throwing him a dubious look. "But Torca's trustworthiness is not one of them. She means what she says."
John took a moment to study Beckett's face. The doctor tended to be a good judge of character, much better than Rodney was. His endorsement of the Netharian scientist would have to be enough.
"'Kay," he conceded, though he was far from mollified. He thought for a bit longer, finding the process harder than he would have liked. "Still a…bad…idea. We need to wait for…'Lizabeth."
"What? What is she going to do? There's a regiment of soldiers standing in front of the 'gate waiting for our people to come through. They'd be captured as soon as the very first gorilla stepped through the event horizon."
"Not true," Sheppard said, resenting the implication that his people were unprepared.
"That may be, Colonel," Carson interrupted when he saw Rodney was about to launch into another diatribe. "But your health is seriously compromised. We can't wait for Elizabeth."
"Doesn't matter," Sheppard gasped, thoughtlessly.
"Oh, well that's just rich!" Rodney responded acerbically before Carson could stop him. "Your self-sacrificing, hero complex has just reached new heights of craziness, do you know that?"
Sheppard didn't have the strength to do anything more than to ferociously glare at the man.
"Oh, go ahead. Give me a dirty look. See if I mind!" Rodney countered, and John suddenly realized that McKay was furious with him. Almost as quickly, he realized that he didn't care if Rodney was pissed. It was his job to make sure his team was safe, and proceeding with the scientists' plan was not the way to do that.
"Fine! Just fine!" the physicist exclaimed, easily interpreting John's unvoiced argument from the look on his face. "I know that you chronically carry around the moronic notion that you have to take care of all of us. But like I've said, many, many times, I already have a mother. And besides, did it ever occur to you that you may not be the only one these maniacs are interested in doing their little experiments on? Did you even consider that they might move on to others who have the gene, like Carson? Or me for that matter?" Rodney paused and seemed nervously distracted by the thought of becoming a human guinea pig.
"It's true, Colonel," Carson interjected solemnly while monitoring John's pulse. "The Netharians may even have reasons for using Ronon and Teyla despite the fact that neither one of them carries the Ancient gene. It's hard to understand their motives."
John studied his friends' faces for a moment longer, and then closed his eyes against an onslaught of dizziness. He was exhausted and couldn't think. He also felt completely out of control of the situation and found himself uncomfortable with that fact.
He struggled to find anything but merit in what his two friends had told him, but failed. The plan was ludicrous, but if Carson and Rodney were right then they really didn't have a choice.
"Tell, Torca…give Ronon…my Almond Joys…if she…can…find…them. Pocket…of…my vest," he finally said, choking under the dual weights of illness and defeat.
"I think all of that oxygen deprivation is finally having an effect on him," Rodney said, with a look on his face that was a mixture between worry and perplexity.
John glared angrily at McKay's dim wittedness and felt an intense need to punch him square on the jaw.
"He won't…trust…her…otherwise," he explained with a bland look.
He was sure that Rodney said something then, but suddenly he could not hear properly. He groaned as he felt his body tense against the bitter effects of nausea, and as his vision tunneled. He had wanted to at least take some pleasure in calling McKay, the self-proclaimed genius of the Pegasus galaxy, an idiot before succumbing to unconsciousness again. But it seemed that he was meant to fail in that task as well.