Sorry for the delay in updating. I had to write and post my time critical Halloween fic…

Chapter 13 – Descent

Dr Newall found it surprisingly easy to control all twenty Puddle Jumpers. He had no problems tapping into the link they had with Atlantis and made them fly up to fend off the Daedalus.

He knew that he could no longer get to Perkins, so all that mattered now was staying in control and not being caught. The sense of power was intoxicating and he could not bear the thought of being away from the device even if it was killing him.

The plan had worked spectacularly well. He had kept them in the same formation as he made them blast away at the larger ship.

Colonel Caldwell had eventually seen sense and carried out a hyperspace jump and get away.

Newall could not risk having the Daedalus anywhere near him, as he had no control over it. It would be able to find him quickly and probably alert the others on the base to his whereabouts.

What he had not bargained on was Sheppard and McKay. He had no idea they were in the back of one of the Jumpers as he launched them all to intercept his greatest threat.

He had finally realised just after the first shots had been fired. He had seriously considered blasting them out of the sky with the other Jumpers, but he still had to get rid of the Daedalus. He considered making their Jumper crash into the sea or land, but it was a long way down and would have taken too much time and concentration.

He cursed when the larger ship was gone and he noticed that McKay and Sheppard had already managed to get control of their Jumper. They were on their way back to Atlantis.

Newall watched the sensors as the Jumper got closer to the city. He could not risk sending another Jumper after them now, because he needed to keep them in orbit just in case the Daedalus dared to come back again.

He was not sure whether they had been able to contact Caldwell, but had to assume they had. For that, they would have to be destroyed. He had no idea what kind of data or intel the Daedalus had been able to provide.

He tried to swallow, but there was nothing there. How long had it been since he had drunk or eaten anything? He was no longer sure and did not really care very much at the moment. He had work to do.

Sheppard looked across at Rodney sitting next to him in the cockpit of the Jumper. The scientist's face was terribly pale and there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead. There were dark purple bruises under his tired eyes and his nose was still swollen. Rodney's face was fixed in a permanent grimace as he typed on his tablet.

Sheppard looked down and examined his own bandaged hands. He still felt a slight chill in his extremities from his cold blast a few hours ago, but as he watched Rodney he felt an uncomfortable pang of guilt and sympathy for the beleaguered scientist. Rodney had borne the painful brunt of many side effects from the malfunctions. Not to mention a very human and brutal attack from one of his own staff members.

Compared to Rodney, Sheppard had got off lightly. Yet they all kept on forcing the injured man to continue with his duties. It could not be doing him any good.

Rodney ignored Sheppard watching him and carried on working. He winced as he shifted in his seat.

Sheppard frowned, "I thought you said all the data was gone?"

Rodney answered tiredly, "All the data about the Jumper, yes. But the operating system was still intact. I'm analysing the data from the Daedalus sensors."

"Anything?"

Rodney spun the tablet around so that Sheppard could see. There was a map of Atlantis displayed on the screen. Red crisscrossing lines covered the corridors and piers and made Sheppard frown and shake his head in confusion, "What's that?"

"It's a map of the power distribution. It shows the areas using power at the moment," he waved his free hand carefully, "Well a few minutes ago when the Daedalus got it."

He pointed to a particularly large area of red, "This is an abandoned lab. There should be no power running through this section at all. I cross-referenced it with the life signs readings."

"Let me guess. There's no one there," Sheppard said.

Rodney flattened the tablet down on his lap and sighed as he leaned over to look at the screen again as he spoke. "That's right. Which leaves us with two possibilities. Either it's shielded to hide whoever's in there or the power's being routed through the area as a decoy."

"Might also be being controlled remotely."

"Yes, hence the decoy idea," Rodney snapped.

Sheppard let McKay's angry voice wash over him. He was already highly desensitised to the rudeness so that all he heard now were the words.

Rodney frowned and shook a little as it creased his sore nose. He reached up and put his left hand on his forehead as he closed his eyes. He drew a breath through his gritted teeth, "Oh ow," he said in a quiet sigh.

Sheppard looked over at his friend in concern. Rodney was still leaning forward.

"Buck up McKay. We're nearly back now. As we now know where to look, it'll all be over soon. The second we land I'll radio a team to…What the hell?!"

Rodney's eyes snapped open in alarm and he looked up out of the Jumper's windscreen. He could only see the dark sea of Lantea in every direction as they decreased in altitude.

Sheppard brought up the HUD. There were several drones converging on their position.

"From the other Jumpers?" Rodney asked.

"No, they came from Atlantis."

Rodney narrowed his eyes, but it hurt his face again. He sighed and tried to remember to keep a neutral expression. "It's no good engaging the cloak as the Atlantis sensors can see through it. I would suggest using the shields, but too many hits will knock them out too."

Sheppard grinned at Rodney's usual enthusiastic negativity, "Looks like we'll have to rely on my piloting skills to get us through."

McKay exhaled a heavy breath.

They could now see the drones through the window without the sensors. The yellow pinpricks of light shined brightly against the dark water behind them as they approached.

Sheppard turned to Rodney, "Can you rig up a drone to detonate manually?"

"Yes, probably." Rodney gave an exasperated look at Sheppard, "If I had a whole team of scientists and about a day."

"You've got a couple of minutes or we're toast."

Rodney looked down at his tablet as he thought. "Hmm, I suppose I could attach a normal explosive to the drone. Then we can use a hand held switch to set it off."

"It doesn't have to be pretty McKay. Just get it done."

Rodney stood up just as the drones reached them.

Sheppard rolled the Jumper over a few times and watched the HUD as he saw the drones continuing to chase them.

Rodney swayed a little in disorientation. His eyes told him he should be being thrown about by the movement he saw through the window. The gravity plating and inertial dampeners meant that he felt nothing.

He quickly looked away from the window to alleviate the waves of nausea that just went through him. He walked into the rear compartment. He reached up and once again felt the horrendous pulling pain across his chest and abdomen. He tried to ignore it as he grabbed the things he needed.

Blinking through tears he returned to the cockpit. He hissed as he crouched down and levered up the floor panels with a strip of metal he had found in the storage racks.

Under the deck there were several drones stored and ready to move and be fired from the side of the craft. He grabbed the one next in the queue and grunted as he lifted it out.

"This is going to end up in another trip to the infirmary," Rodney muttered. "That is if I don't die from internal bleeding before I can get there."

Sheppard replied, "If you don't hurry it up McKay; there'll be so little of us left I don't think even Carson will be able to patch us up."

Sheppard squinted in concentration as he weaved the Jumper and rolled it around to give Rodney as much time as possible.

McKay worked a conventional explosive under the strange almost organic tendrils hanging from the end of the weapon. He clipped it in place securely and activated it. He carefully lowered the drone into its slot and sealed the deck closed.

He grabbed the hand held switch controlling the detonator and gasped as he stood up. He slowly walked the short distance back to his chair and sat down. His whole body trembled as he doubled up and rested his elbows on the control panel with his head in his hands.

He kept his eyes closed as he spoke weakly, "It's ready. What did you have in mind?"

Sheppard nodded, "Just activate the detonator when I tell you to."

He prayed that Rodney would not pass out before his plan was complete.

The enemy drones were still persevering in their efforts to take out the Jumper. Sheppard rolled it again as some passed by. They were getting closer all the time. He had so far been able to avoid them, but it was almost like they had intelligence and were beginning to learn what he would do next.

The Jumper's shield were up and just before Sheppard fired the altered drone, one of the enemy ones hit the left engine pod.

Rodney cried out as the craft jolted sharply to the right and then began to spin alarmingly fast in an anticlockwise direction.

Sheppard gritted his teeth as he deactivated the damaged engine and wrestled the Jumper back under control.

After a few heart stopping seconds, he managed to get it flying where he wanted once again. He knew that the craft's manoeuvring ability would now have diminished to such an extent that it was unlikely he would be able to avoid the enemy drones for much longer.

Sheppard asked, "Are you ready?"

Rodney was sitting back in his chair and had his right arm wrapped tightly across himself. He valiantly held the remote control for the detonator aloft in his left hand so that Sheppard saw it from the corner of his eye. "Do it."

Sheppard nodded and fired the drone. He guided it towards the group of enemy drones still stubbornly chasing the Jumper. As he knew they would, they all slalomed around the newcomer and continued on their path unhindered.

Sheppard narrowed his eyes and looped his drone around to fly back towards the enemy ones.

They ignored it, even as it flew in the midst of them.

"Okay, now!" He shouted to Rodney.

McKay hit the button and they both watched as their drone exploded and took out all the other drones which had been in the vicinity.

Rodney smiled as he watched all the lights on the HUD winking out.

Sheppard was also grinning broadly that his planned had worked so well. "Okay, let's get back to Atlantis before it happens again."

He aimed the Jumper at the city in the distance and flew it onwards through the dark night.

TBC

A/N - I got the drone info from the Tech Journals on the MGM Stargate website.