Chapter 28: Who else is gonna do this?
"So let me get this right?" I asked John. "Doctor Weir wants you to voluntarily let yourself get imprinted with another consciousness?"
"Yeah," John admitted uneasily. We had come down to the commissary for dinner and John seemed to find the tabletop vastly interesting as he avoided my gaze.
"Someone she believes is this Phebus's husband?" I delved further.
"Yeah," John flicked a glance at me before looking away uncomfortably.
"And you said yes?!" I said incredulously.
"Elizabeth asked me as a personal favour," John tried to excuse himself. "What was I gonna say?"
"How about No?" I shook my head in irritation. "How do we even know it was Doctor Weir doing the asking?"
"We don't," John admitted. "It's a difficult situation. If it is Doctor Weir then she's asking for something knowing it's difficult so it must be important to her – I don't want to ignore that 'cause she doesn't ask for things for herself very often," John explained.
"And if it isn't Doctor Weir?" I asked seriously.
"Then I can't ask anyone else to do it – maybe from the inside I can find a way to control the outcome," John said. "Look, Carson assured me the imprinting would only last a few hours, a day at most."
"Are you asking for my blessing?" I waited until he looked me in the eye before continuing. "Because if you are, I'm not sure I can give it."
"Who else is gonna do this?" John changed tact.
"I don't know," I said in frustration, "but that doesn't mean it has to be you!"
"Sabina," John looked at me with a hint of pleading in his eyes. I read the expression on his face and groaned grumpily.
"Okay," I said reluctantly. "Go do it ... but if it all goes wrong I get to say I told you so."
"Do you want to come down with me?" John stood up to leave, pausing as it occurred to him that I might want to be there.
"God no," I denied hastily. "I don't want to see you cozying up to Doctor Weir if that guy does turn out to be Phebus's husband! I know, I know – it won't be you. Just make sure Rodney and Doctor Beckett are both there, okay?"
"They'll be there," John promised, leaning down to kiss me in farewell.
Although it was late I knew I'd find it hard to relax ... the possibility of sleep was out of the question until I knew John was okay. I had begun my analysis of the second weapons research inventory device I'd taken from the Tower planet. I headed off to my lab, hoping work would be enough to take my mind off what was happening with John and Doctor Weir.
"This is Doctor Weir. Attention all personnel. Colonel Sheppard is not - I repeat, not - who he pretends to be." Doctor Weir's address came clearly through my earpiece when I'd only just arrived at the lab. "If you find him, secure the area and contact me immediately. I'll deal with him myself."
"What the hell?" I said aloud. How had it gone so quickly from a husband and wife wanting one last goodbye to Doctor Weir warning everyone that John was dangerous? Doing an about face I headed for the Control Room to find out what was going on.
When I got to the Control Room, Rodney was strangely absent. The reason for that became apparent a few minutes later when he and Colonel Caldwell arrived with Doctor Beckett in tow and announced that something had gone wrong with the imprinting. The entities were in complete control and they were not very happy with each other.
"We may be able to track their progress using the life signs detectors," Rodney suggestion.
"How?" Carson asked. "They'll read as human. We won't be able to differentiate."
"Security teams travel in groups of two or more," Caldwell pointed out. "They'll be the only individual signals travelling through the city."
"I might be able to identify which signal is Colonel Sheppard's," I offered.
"Do it!" Caldwell ordered. He turned to Rodney, and said in an impatient voice "what are you waiting for?"
While Rodney and Caldwell argued about who should actually be in charge during the current crisis I tapped into the sensor system and used my familiarity with John's signal to locate him.
"This one," I pointed to the map. Rodney had just reluctantly agreed that Caldwell was in charge. Looking at where I was pointing he frowned.
"Where is he headed?" Rodney muttered.
"Sir," one of the Control Room technicians called out. "I'm picking up some chatter I think you'll want to hear."
"Put it on speaker," Caldwell ordered.
"You're the one that likes to run," John's voice echoed from the Control Room speakers. It was him but at the same time there was an inflection of speech that was not like John at all. "My ship ran out of fuel before I could even get a clean shot."
"That was my plan," Doctor Weir said in a calculating tone. As with John her voice had a strange cadence that made it sound just slightly off.
A sick feeling came over me as it hit home that John and Doctor Weir really were gone for the moment, leaving this Phebus and Thalen in their place.
"You didn't have a plan," Thalen retorted. "You just wanted me dead."
"Still do," Phebus admitted without any hint of apology. "As a matter of fact, I can't wait to see that look of defeat on your face, just one last time."
"You mean the look on my face when you rammed my fighter, making sure neither one of us would win?" Thalen antagonised. "That was hatred, not defeat, Phebus."
"Is that any way to talk to your wife?!" Phebus chided. "Thalen?" she paused waiting for a reply but none came. "Run all you like. The moment I find you, you die."
"Well ... they're headin' straight for divorce," Carson quipped.
"That whole thing was a ruse," Caldwell stated what was obvious to all of us. "In fact, I doubt very much if we were ever speaking with Doctor Weir."
"It was a remarkable impression," Rodney offered. "I'll give you that."
"From the sound of it," Caldwell stated, "we have two fighter pilots who don't know that their war is over."
"It's much worse than that," Rodney said in that ill voice he used when pointing out a disaster that no one else had worked out yet. "They know everything about this city -- the layout, defensive systems, how to access weapons."
"We just need to find a way to stop them without unduly harming the hosts." Caldwell said it very matter of factly but I didn't miss the implication.
"Unduly?" I asked quickly. "What does that mean?"
"Well, obviously, some force may be necessary." Caldwell said simply, before walking away.
"This is just great," I muttered to Rodney, trying to keep my sensor awareness of John's position. "I told John this was a stupid idea!" Rodney was just about to make a reply when I held up a hand for him to remain silent.
"Crap," I said. "He's heading for the power room – is anyone guarding that?"
The lights in the Control Room all went out together, followed quickly by all the display screens. Every console was completely dead. "I guess not," I answered my own question.
It was not reassuring to find out that Caldwell had put guards at the power room. John – no Thalen – had taken them out and destroyed the secondary power systems at the same time. Rodney was less than impressed when Caldwell insisted vehemently that he had to go down there and fix it so we could get power back.
I didn't really know what I should do. Part of me knew that John was not in control because he'd never hurt one of his own men. I wondered, if I could just talk to this Thalen, whether I could help John regain control somehow. The Control Room was in darkness so it wouldn't be hard for me to slip out. I could even get a torch because Carson had left his behind when he'd followed Rodney and the marines down to the power room.
Sneaking silently away from the Control Room I turned on the torch and set off in the general direction of the power room. What Thalen did would be based in part on what he gleaned from John so what would John do in this situation? John had rendered the city into darkness - having night vision goggles would be a definite advantage so my guess was he'd head for the armoury to grab a pair. I was a fair way from there and even though it'd be unlikely that I'd get there in time to intercept him I didn't really have any other ideas so I headed there anyway.
"Damn," I whispered once I'd made it to the armoury – there was no sign of Thalen. I waited for a few minutes without result – either Thalen had already been there, or he wasn't coming.
"Medical team to the south fork Cargo Hold," John's Thalen voice came through on the general radio channel. "You have a man down." The south fork Cargo Hold wasn't that far from my position – if I hurried I might still be able to catch him.
When I arrived in the Cargo Hold I spotted Ronan lying on the floor immediately. "Colonel Caldwell this is Sabina Scott," I radioed the Control Room as I ran to Ronan's side. "I'm here at the Cargo Hold Thalen mentioned – Ronan has a stomach wound and appears to be unconscious. Have you sent the medical team?"
"It's on its way," Caldwell acknowledged. "What are you doing there?"
"I just thought I might be able to get through to John if I could talk to Thalen," I admitted.
"That's unlikely," Caldwell stated. "Please return –"
"Can't talk now, Colonel," I interrupted before he could issue an order I'd have to obey. "Scott out." Turning back to Ronan I rolled up my jacket and placed it under his head. Ronan returned to consciousness, groaning in pain. I put a hand on his shoulder to draw his attention to me.
"Hang in there," I commanded. "Carson's on his way."
"Sheppard tricked me," Ronan rasped painfully.
"Did he ...?" I gestured to Ronan's wound.
"No," Ronan winced in pain. "It was Doctor Weir. You're going after him?"
"I was thinking about it," I admitted, knowing he wouldn't try to dissuade me.
"Don't trust anything he says," Ronan said heatedly. "Sheppard isn't in control."
"I know," I replied. "I'll be careful."
Ronan relaxed a bit and seemed to lapse back into unconsciousness. I was looking around for something to use to apply pressure to the wound when Carson and his team arrived.
"Oh thank god," I sat back with a relieved sigh. Carson got quickly to work and I was able to slip away again.
I was pretty much stumbling about in the semi darkness for a while just hoping I'd stumble across Thalen before things had gone too much further. When the power came back on suddenly I immediately tapped into the sensor system again. When I did I discovered that John was somewhere in the central tower.
I ran there as quickly as I could, skidding around a corner and slamming into another body. The force of the collision knocked me on my backside. I looked up quickly and was greeted with the sight of John Sheppard looking down at me almost distastefully.
"John," I slowly got to my feet, keeping my eyes on him the whole time.
"Thalen," John's voice contradicted.
"John," I persisted. "You're strong – you can fight this!"
"He's certainly trying," Thalen shared with an amused grin. "He is screaming in here like you wouldn't believe." The weirdness of talking to someone else in John's body struck me then, fuelling my anger.
"I am so gonna kick your arse when this is over," I promised, hoping that John really could hear me.
"Your display of touching emotion is really inspiring Sheppard," Thalen said. "He has doubts about the strength of your feelings you know ... doubts eating at his confidence ... his strength." Thalen tormented me.
"That's not true!" I denied angrily. "John knows exactly how I feel. He would never doubt me!"
"Wouldn't he?" Thalen laughed at my frustrated groan.
"You don't need to do this!" I said harshly. "Your war is long over – there's nothing left to fight for anymore."
"But if I defeat Phebus then my people will have won," Thalen contradicted. "That is worth fighting for."
"Don't you care about the innocent lives you're using?" I asked harshly. "John isn't part of your war. And there's a much bigger war being waged right now against the Wraith – we need him!"
"Interesting," Thalen spoke slowly. "You're very important to him ... he's actually trying to push me out ... and I can't have that!"
"JOHN," I yelled, registering that Thalen had raised Ronan's weapon in my direction.
"Don't worry," Thalen's voice was anything but reassuring. "It won't hurt a bit."
"JO-" my words were halted by the red blast of the stunner.
That's all I knew until I woke up some time later to the now familiar sight of the infirmary ceiling. Raising a shaky hand to my head I was unhappy to discover that Ronan's stun had the unpleasant side effect of an aching head.
I turned my head to the side – both John and Doctor Weir were sleeping in adjacent beds across the room.
"Doctor Beckett,' I called softly.
"Ah, you're awake," Carson greeted me. "Feeling okay?"
"Apart from the headache, yeah," I replied. "Are they okay?" I gestured across to his other patients.
"Colonel Sheppard has been free of the imprint for about an hour." Carson smiled reassuringly at me. "Phebus is still hanging in there but it'll only be another hour or so before she has to let go."
"And Ronan," I asked quietly.
"Also fine," Carson replied with a smile. "He's recovering in post op right now in fact."
"Can I get out of here?" I looked across at John before turning back to Doctor Beckett.
"'Course you can lass," Carson replied. "Don't you want to hang around?"
"They'll need ... a moment I think, when they wake up," I got up off the bed, looking around for my jacket before remembering I'd used it as a pillow for Ronan. "Better they do that without me sitting here as a witness. I think I'll go visit Ronan and then head back to my quarters."
I slept until mid morning, and, judging that to have been sufficient time for John and Doctor Weir to air any issues they might have because of their experience, headed straight for the infirmary.
"Finally," John complained when he caught sight of my entrance. "Where have you been?"
I walked over to him without replying and whacked his uninjured upper arm - hard.
"OUCH," John yelled, putting his other hand over the spot. "What was that for?"
"I told you this was a bad idea," I said heatedly. "The next time you volunteer yourself for something that stupid I'm gonna stun you with Ronan's gun until you come to your senses."
"Oh you are, are you?" John challenged, an amused light appearing in his eyes.
"Yes I am," I confirmed. "You clearly need someone to take care of you because you really suck at taking care of yourself!"
"I'm sorry," John said regretfully.
"If that's an apology for willingly letting some other consciousness take you over than I forgive you," I replied. "If it's an apology for stunning me, there's no need. It was my fault anyway – I shouldn't have been so arrogant as to think that I could influence you like that."
"I did almost get free," John offered me some reassurance. "That's why he stunned you."
"Was it true?" I asked, not sure I really wanted to know the answer.
"Was what true?" John played it innocent.
"What he said about you doubting me," I persisted. "Was it true?"
"No!" John denied. "I've never-" he broke off with a groan before admitting reluctantly. "Okay, technically there's an element of truth there but Thalen took it completely out of context!"
"So you do doubt me?" I asked in a faintly horrified voice.
"NO," John denied again. "Thalen took one minor detail and used it out of context. I don't doubt your feelings, okay?!"
"What was the one minor detail then?" I stubbornly refused to let the matter drop.
"Trust me when I say that you really don't want to be having this conversation here," John avoided the question. As if to prove him right Doctor Beckett approached to take some readings from John's monitor.
"Your levels have all returned to normal," Carson announced. "You're free to go."
"Thanks Doc," John replied, still looking at me.
"You promise it's not important?" I asked once Carson had moved away again.
"I promise it's not important right now," John agreed. "Is that good enough?"
"I guess," I said, sulking just a little bit.
"Good," John smiled in relief. "Bring me my clothes will you – I want to get out of here."
Authors Note:
Thanks for the reviews guys - glad you liked my episode - all your questions will be answered ... in time (said with gleeful laugh)! Good work on guessing about the Teer connection chevron7 ... I hope I'm not becoming too predictable!
I forgot to ask ... does anyone know what colour Wraith blood is? I was thinking red but somehow that doesn't seem right ...