Hiveship
Eighteen adults was the maximum load a puddlejumper could carry. Assuming that none of the Lantians were killed in this operation, something that Lorne wasn't counting on, each jumper could carry twelve rescued humans. Lorne was hoping that they would need every bit of space. Exiting the jumpers, Lorne motioned for Miller and Gates to find a location where they could guard the jumpers. They were the rearguard, making sure that any and all survivors would be able to get out of the hive.
Teyla, Cadman, and Doctor Black gathered together, securing their packs with the bombs before giving Lorne a nod each. Lorne gestured to Giles, Johnson, and Carver, who were going to go with the ladies as extra firepower and to guard their backs. They left the hive's landing bay heading for their first choice location. That left ten people; seven Marines, two shepherds, and one Air Force Major.
Those Lorne split into two teams of five people each, sending three with the twins and keeping the last four for his own team. The twins' team would search one level where humans were stored for feeding. Lorne's team would take the other. Heading out, Lorne was pleased that they had managed to split up and begin their tasks without making a sound. Bringing the twins along was looking more and more like the right choice.
There were pitifully few humans in the cells waiting for the Wraith to eat them. Lorne was even checking the cocooned victims for life signs with the lsd from his vest out of sheer desperation to find someone still alive in this alien grown hell. They'd only found five even close to alive. One was so weak he had to be carried. Heartsick, Lorne began chivying the group back to the jumpers when two males and a group of drones discovered them.
Lorne automatically took the rearguard, wishing for a moment that Carver was there with him and not guarding Cadman's back. He stuffed the lsd back in his vest while firing his zat, only to find out that even weakened by starvation; it took more than two shots to kill a Wraith. He managed to kill most of the drones, but the males overpowered him and took the zat. 'I'm going to have to get the twins to teach me how to shoot with both hands and hit what I aim at,' was the slightly idiotic thought that ran through Lorne's mind, as the Wraith dragged him off to feed to their queen.
Evan didn't bother to struggle much once he was disarmed. His mission had changed and he would need all of his strength to complete it. He had to keep the queen busy until the nuke went off; hopefully before she ate him. He was sure that dying by being vaporized hurt a lot less than having the life drained out of you. He wasn't someone who always had a smart ass remark on the tip of his tongue to piss the bad guys off, but he figured that stubborn could work just as well.
Stubborn was something that Evan Lorne did very well. Once he'd dug in his proverbial heels over something, nothing moved him. That trait, along with his otherwise very easy going nature, good people skills, and excellence at doing his superior's paperwork made him one of the best XO's in the Air Force. The stubbornness and willingness to stand up for what was right rather than kowtowing to rank, along with his ATA gene, was what had gotten him exiled out here to Pegasus. There were times when he'd considered sending his last commanding officer a thank you letter; if only to piss the jackass off.
It was the sight of this queen's trophy chamber that brought Lorne out of his mental wanderings. On display were things that he recognized; a puddlejumper's dialing console, a life-sign-detector, a child's nightlight, one or two things that he and Radek had discovered were best not mentioned in polite company, (although if the Marines found out about them he was sure that there would be a rush on Atlantis' black market for them), and two ZPMs; and they were full.
'OH SHIT WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!' Lorne was too distracted by the thought of the size of the explosion that two ZMPs would make when a nuke went off close enough to affect the power sources to notice that the nightlight was lighting up in reaction to his fear. The Wraith males however, were not. They yanked him through the trophy room quickly, throwing him down at the feet of their queen in the hive's version of a command chair.
"What is the meaning of this?" she hissed, visibly unsettled. One of the males sent her a thought and she quickly backhanded him into a wall. "THEY ARE NOT THE ANCESTORS!" she screamed. She turned and pulled Lorne up from the floor. "Who are you?" she said, threatening to torture him to death with her eyes.
"Evan Lorne, Major, US Air Force, 748673581," Lorne recited. His thoughts were still running around like hamsters on a wheel, and he was letting his training take over dealing with the Wraith. No matter what question the Wraith Queen asked, he answered with the same answer – name, rank, service, and number.
Finally she'd had enough and backhanded Lorne to the floor, breaking his jaw in the process. "Since you are so unwilling to answer my questions, I'll just have to go and get the answers myself," she said with a hiss of frustration. She knelt down to put her hand on Lorne's head and suddenly jerked it back as his mental voice screamed in her head – "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!' and the mental picture of the ZPMs exploding obscured every other thought that might have been there. "Stupid human," she laughed. "They haven't exploded in 10,000 years. They aren't going to do so now."
She turned to the male who hadn't angered her. "The fool is terrified of my trophies and his impending death."
"Perhaps we should put him out of his misery," he said hungrily.
"Oh yes," she agreed with a laugh. The thought of food had sufficiently distracted them that neither of the two, or the subdued male in the corner, heard the agitated whispers above their heads.
"He's down. We've got to do it now," Conner whispered vehemently.
"Tie it off tight!" Murphy said. Neither of them took their eyes off of Lorne lying on the floor between the two Wraith.
"I can't believe you two are really doing this," muttered Reed as he tied off one end of Conner's rope.
"Oh don't worry," Conner said.
"We've done this before," Murphy finished. Then both of the twins, tied back to back, dove off of the edge and fell down towards the Wraith and Lorne.
Lorne saw the falling twins, and if he'd been able, would have dropped his jaw in shock. They were firing zats with both hands as they fell, hitting the two males and the queen over and over again until the Wraith finally fell to the floor dead before their bodies disintegrated. The rope finally jerked Conner and Murphy to a halt, twisting and turning right above Lorne. "Well what the fuck are you waiting for, a fucking ingraved invitation?" Conner asked, laughing at the dumbstruck look on Lorne's face.
"Just grab him and get the fuck back up here!" Reed tried to yell in a whisper.
Murphy slipped out of the knots holding him, summersaulting onto his feet on one side of Lorne. Conner landed on the other side. They both lifted Lorne to his feet. "I think the fucking bitch broke his jaw, Conner," Murphy growled. "Let's get the fuck out of here before the ladies blow this place back to hell."
That broke the shock that Lorne had been in. He began struggling to get away from the twins. They let him go, thinking that he simply didn't want them to hold him up, but the moment he was free he turned and ran. "SHIT!" the twins chorused, and took off after Lorne.
Lorne had only gone into the next room, and they found him pulling what looked to them like a crystal sculpture down off of a pillar. He shoved it at Conner.
"What the fuck is this shit?" Murphy demanded to know. Lorne didn't answer him, instead he grabbed the other crystal thing, turned and ran back for the rope.
"I don't know," Conner said as he and Murphy followed Lorne. "But from the looks of it, this thing is pretty damned important."
Murphy figured that Conner was right; especially when Reed began cursing up a storm when he saw the sculptures and didn't stop even after he'd helped to get all three men and both crystal things back up on his level. From the tone of the cursing, he figured that these things were probably either very good news if they could get them back to Atlantis, or very bad news that they were here in this hive. He just prayed that they managed to get out of the hive with them intact.
Lorne wasn't about to waste time. He simply grabbed up one of the ZPMs and began running as fast as he could for the jumpers. Conner picked up the second crystal and followed, knowing that Murphy was guarding his back. Reed was the last one of the group, held back mostly because he was using his air to curse instead of run.
It didn't take long for them to get a group of drones on their asses. The death of the queen had awakened the entire hive, and the four men were not making any attempt to hide. Stealth was no longer a priority. Getting the ZPMs out of the hive before it became so much space dust was. Their entrance into the hanger bay was a bit of a spectacle, should anyone have been stupid enough to be hanging around looking for entertainment. "Get out of the fucking way!" yelled Conner.
"They're coming up behind us!" yelled Murphy. They were both ducking stunner blasts and Murphy was sending zat blasts back behind him, although not with his usual accuracy. He wasn't used to running away from a fight. In fact the only reason that the twins were running at all was the sheer desperation on Lorne's face when he'd handed over the crystal. That and the fact that Reed's cursing had only let up enough to let them know that the funny looking things were more than merely important, not that they knew exactly what they were yet.
"Get to the jumpers!" yelled Lorne, in spite of the pain in his jaw. That pain was nearly enough to send him to his knees, but he only stumbled for a couple of paces before he was back to running full out. He could see Teyla being half carried by Doctor Black and Cadman. Carver was watching their backs. All of them reached the jumpers just ahead of Lorne. Lorne, the twins, and Reed didn't bother to slow down, running right into their respective jumpers.
Lorne dumped his ZPM in the arms of one of the Marines. He didn't check to see which one; just slid into the pilot's chair and flew them out of the hive. "Is this what I think it is?" he heard as the jumper flew right out into the middle of the dog fight between jumper and dart.
"Miller to Orion, mission accomplished. We've got casualties, rescued humans, and a present for Doctor McKay," Miller said in Spanish. The lesson that the twins had brought back from Chulaon had been well learned. No one spoke English, Latin or Ancient over open channels as anyone who was listening could probably understand those languages. All communications were made in Earth's other languages, Spanish being the most frequent as it was the second most commonly spoken language.
That was what everyone had been waiting for. The jumpers broke off their attacks, turning tail and flying off in as many different directions as they could, most of them trying to get to the solar system and putting a planetary body between them and the expected explosion. Colonel Sheppard pulled the Orion out, but slowly so that the darts would be more likely to go after them than the jumpers.
Just as soon as the Orion had made a mostly safe distance away from the hive, it blew. Just as Radek had predicted, there was nothing more than dust left. The Wraith in the darts were overwhelmed by the sudden loss of so many of their kin, and became easy targets for the Orion's rail guns. When the explosion finally dissipated, and the darts were all gone, Colonel Sheppard recalled all of the jumpers.
Lorne wasn't surprised to see that his jumper was met with medics as well as Sheppard and McKay. Miller had said that they had casualties and a present for McKay, although Lorne was sure that the two men would have been here anyway to see that Teyla and the twins had made it back in one piece. As Lorne watched, the Lantians made certain that the medics took the rescued first, which made it easier for him to check and see if everyone that he'd taken out had made it back.
As far as Lorne could see, he'd only lost two men; Sergeant Giles and Corporal Johnson. Both of them had been with the ladies planting the bomb, easily the most dangerous task of the mission. Lorne was just grateful that they were the only ones killed. Teyla's leg had looked broken. It was a compound fracture and she'd gotten yelled at by her teammates for trying to avoid the medbay. She was still insisting that she could wait even as Sheppard sent her off with the last gurney. Cadman was nursing her left arm and Carver had what looked like bruises over every visible surface, but they were here and alive. They'd even brought Doctor Black out with no injuries.
"Hey McKay, so what the fuck is this thing anyway?" Conner said. Everyone's attention became riveted to McKay when the scientist made a strangled noise, and stayed there when they saw what Conner was casually waving about.
"zzzz….zzzzz…ZedPM," McKay managed to get out. He took it away from Conner with reverent hands.
"Well no wonder Lorne wanted them the fuck out of there," Murphy said. "Those things would have made one hell of a boom when the nuke went off."
"Them? Things? What are you talking about?" Sheppard wanted to know. If Lorne could have grinned, he would have. Right now, coming down from the adrenaline rush, all he really wanted was Doctor Beckett or even better Aislin McManus and a lot of good drugs. But still, the look on McKay's face as he walked over and handed the second, FULL, ZPM to Sheppard was worth it.
Watching McKay fall over backwards in a dead faint, the first ZPM still clutched tightly to his chest, was even better.