Chapter 15: It won't take long McKay
"You have no idea how much effort it took to get here!" Rodney shot back. "Next time could you try to keep your kidnappings to just the one galaxy?"
"Yeah, nice to see you too Rodney," Sheppard smirked, happier than he'd ever admit to see his grumpy friend again.
"It is good to see you John," Teyla stepped forward, holding out her hands.
"You too," Sheppard replied, taking her hands and letting her draw him down to touch foreheads. He couldn't avoid the wince of pain and slight groan that had Teyla's eyes narrowing.
"You are injured," she stated, stepping back and looking at him closely.
"It's nothing," John dismissed lightly, not meeting her eyes. "A couple of cracked ribs maybe ... I kinda found this place by falling through the ice."
"We should probably get back then," Ronon suggested, slapping a hand to John's back that had him staggering forward.
"You wanna ease up a little buddy?" John complained, putting a hand to his side. "Ribs, remember?"
"Sorry," Ronon returned with a grin, unrepentant as usual.
Teyla nodded, activating her radio to quickly report their success in locating Colonel Sheppard, calling off the other rescue teams.
"Right ... this way," Rodney announced, consulting his data pad before heading back through the doorway and turning right.
John fell into step beside the other man, Teyla and Ronon bringing up the rear.
"So ... how'd you end up here anyway?" Rodney asked. "It's a long way from M7G 677."
"Redirected wormhole program, portable DHD and the remnants of the gate bridge," Sheppard summarised succinctly.
"The Trust?" Rodney suggested, brow raised in surprise.
"An offshoot," John explained, going into more detail about Vulture and his little 'religious' order as they walked back through the Ancient Outpost towards the central control room. "I need to go back there," he announced as they arrived.
"What? No way – we just got you back," Rodney protested.
"It won't take long McKay," Sheppard said casually.
"You are in need of medical attention John," Teyla reminded him, nodding to the marine leader who'd accompanied them from the SGC.
"I need to finish this," Sheppard countered forcefully, manfully restraining the grimace of pain from fully forming on his face. "How'd you guys get here?"
"The Apollo," Ronon was the only one to realise immediately that John wouldn't be swayed.
"Excellent," Sheppard grinned suddenly. "Colonel Ellis, this is Sheppard," he grabbed Rodney's radio and activated it to speak directly to the Apollo's commanding officer.
"Colonel Sheppard," Ellis replied. "It's good to hear your voice."
"Thank you Sir," John returned. "Listen ... can you beam us straight up there? I need a favour."
"Of course," Ellis agreed readily.
"You'll need this," Rodney handed John a transponder, his expression still worried although he refrained from further protests.
Sheppard accepted the device, moments later feeling the warmth of a transporter beam sweeping over him. When it died away he was on the bridge of the Apollo.
"Colonel," he said, greeting the ships commanding officer.
"Colonel," Ellis greeted him back. "What do you need?"
"Can we get a visual of the surface?" Sheppard requested.
Nodding, Ellis motioned for his communications officer to bring up an image on the nearest view screen.
John leaned in, his physical ails forgotten for the moment as he concentrated on the real time view of icy whiteness below. The Ancient outpost was underground, the elevator they'd installed to get down there the only thing visible at ground level.
"Pan out," Sheppard requested, frowning as he watched everything shrink. Visibility was still poor but John was able to pick out what looked like tiny boxes buried in snow a few miles out from the outpost. "There," he pointed insistently. "Can you focus in there?"
"Yes Sir," the bridge officer manning the controls replied.
Sheppard's eyes tracked the images on the screen while in his head he ran through his mental schematic of the facility.
"It's an abandoned research station," Rodney announced, tapping away at another keyboard close by. "One of ours ... hasn't been used in years."
"Well it's in use now," John retorted. "Got their own Stargate and everything." He fell silent again, ticking off buildings in his head until he had the right one. He couldn't be completely sure of course – he'd been unconscious on the way back from his one audience with Aperio but he'd seen no trace of those hologram rooms when he'd been searching for a way out and it stood to reason that they'd isolate the program they'd seen as so valuable. There were only three buildings down there – the large warehouse, the one he'd escaped from and hopefully Aperio's little hidey-hole.
"Colonel," he turned to Ellis purposefully. "I need you to beam the entire contents of this building out into space." He pointed at the structure in question.
"Space?" Ellis's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"Trust me," Sheppard said insistently. "What's in there is too dangerous to leave for anyone else to find. You beam it into space and then you blast it. It's the only way to be sure."
"No life signs ... as far as I can tell," Rodney offered.
Ellis looked at John for a few moments but Sheppard never wavered in his intent gaze. "Fine," Ellis announced. "Do it Major," he told his first officer.
One sector of space was displayed on the view screen and John watched expressionlessly as it turned from blackness to bright white as the Aperio room was deposited there.
"Sheppard!" Aperio's voice took over the ships communications abruptly, sounding very close even though John knew she'd been beamed some distance away.
"Colonel," Ellis began, confused.
John ignored him, everything focussed on his 'foe'. At the back of his mind he wondered how many times he'd heard his last name spat out with that much contempt attached to it. Too many times to count.
"Is that ...?" Rodney looked at John, horrified.
"Yes," Sheppard shot Rodney an intent look in return. "Is there any way she can ...," he trailed off, waving a hand vaguely.
"Take over the ship?" Rodney suggested, not waiting for John's nod before answering. "I don't think so ... the communications system is picking up her broadcast so it's more us than her. Given enough time though, who knows what she could do."
"Sheppard!" the curse seemed even louder the second time as Aperio demanded attention.
"I can cut her off," Rodney offered.
"No," Sheppard held up a hand, "not yet. Just make it so that she can hear me." Rodney tapped away rapidly and then nodded that it was done.
"How dare you treat -," Aperio continued, her voice angry and affronted.
"Oh I dare," Sheppard interrupted her tirade, his expression grim. "You're like a virus – only uglier and a lot more dangerous. It's time to delete you ... permanently."
"I am endless ... indestructible," Aperio was superior, smug, too confident in her perceived place in the universe.
"Maybe you were," John countered, laughing harshly. "But your little band of followers transferred you to our poor inferior Earth computers. And you know what that means ...," he finally acknowledged Colonel Ellis, motioning for him to take the shot.
"Hit it," Ellis told his weapons officer.
"NO!" Aperio growled. "N-," her voice was abruptly cut off.
Sheppard felt a deep satisfaction as the ships weapons fired on the floating remnants of Aperio, disintegrating them into nothingness.
"Who was that Sheppard?" Ellis asked.
"Believe me, you don't want to know," Sheppard replied. "Just think pure evil and you'd be pretty close."
"Right. Anything else down there you'd like to relocate Colonel?" Ellis asked somewhat sarcastically.
"No," John said with a smirk. "Just give me a P-90 and beam me and my team down there to round up the human culprits and my week will end on a much higher note than it started."
"John," Teyla's tone warned him that she wasn't impressed with him continuing to ignore his physical ails.
"Teyla," he shot her a look back, determination etched in concrete on his face.
"As far as I can tell there're only four people down there," Rodney spoke up, fingers still flying over the controls. He'd continued to make use of the Apollo's scanners to check out the situation on the surface, knowing John well enough to realise he wouldn't rest until all the loose ends were wrapped up. "The extreme conditions might be hampering the scanners a little but I'd be surprised if there were many more than that."
"See .. piece of cake," John told Teyla, urging her to go along with him.
"Very well," Teyla nodded once, still looking reluctant but resigned.
"Colonel Ellis?" Sheppard looked to the other man hopefully.
"Get this man a weapon," Ellis told one of his men.
oOo
In the end it proved too easy ... Snake was still unconscious on the floor where John had left him and Vulture had locked up Ninja guy and the fourth member of his little kidnapping team himself. Vulture submitted himself voluntarily, everything done with barely a word. All team Sheppard had to do was put the plastic cable tie restrains on and attach transponders to each of them to complete the clean up. Ronon's expression as he put away his blaster was classic – John was pretty sure he'd been hoping one of bad guys would try to escape just for the pleasure of dishing out a little retribution.
"Easy big guy," he said, a hand to the younger man's shoulder. "They'll get their punishment."
"Won't be as satisfying," Ronon returned, giving John a feral grin. "You sure you don't want a little pay back?"
"I'm good," John replied, meaning it. Blowing Aperio from space had been satisfaction enough.
He still took the extra time needed to check every building ... the stargate warehouse, the cell he'd first woken up in, the rooms where he'd seen Aperio. They was stripped bare, no sign of anything the program could have copied itself to. Only then did Sheppard truly relax. Aperio really was gone ... for good this time and he was pretty damn glad about that.
oOo
Sheppard had held up well in the hour it had taken to tie up all the loose ends but now that everything really was over he was starting to fade fast. Exhaustion, head ache, not to mention his broken ribs were all starting to take their toll. Still, he insisted that all four captives be beamed directly to the SGC and taken to holding cells before he allowed himself to follow and be attended to in the bases infirmary.
It wasn't as comforting as being back on Atlantis but Doctor Lam was as thorough as Carson and Jennifer had ever been. Within minutes he'd been x-rayed, medicated, had his ribs strapped tight and was ensconced in an infirmary bed for the usual hours of observation.
"You okay?" Rodney strolled into the infirmary only minutes after Dr Lam was done with Sheppard, making it pretty obvious he'd been hovering around outside waiting for the all clear.
"Three broken ribs, internal bruising, slight concussion," John reported. "Nothing out of the ordinary."
"Not for you anyway," Rodney retorted. He hesitated for a moment, looked around the quiet infirmary and then grabbed a chair, sitting down awkwardly. "I ah ... owe you an apology," he said.
"For what?" Sheppard frowned.
"Ah ... nothing ... m- much," Rodney stuttered a little, "and really, it wasn't even my fault."
"Rodney," John said pointedly. "Stop defending and just tell me what you did this time."
"Lorne knows about ... you know," he gestured vaguely. "Atlantis," he added meaningfully in a low tone, following that immediately with more animated speech. "In my defence though it wasn't actually me who told him. She did ... although he kind of already knew. I told you your mysterious behaviour was going to draw too much attention one day."
"I know Rodney," John replied. "I asked her while I was waiting for you to turn up - she told me Lorne was using the Chair."
"Oh," Rodney looked nonplussed for a moment. "Right – of course she did." He looked at Sheppard with a frown. "And you're ... okay with that?"
"It's Lorne," Sheppard returned. "I probably should have filled him in a long time ago. I'm not surprised he worked it out for himself."
"He's got that lurking in the shadows observing thing down pretty good doesn't he?" Rodney smirked.
"Don't let him hear you calling it 'lurking' McKay," John chuckled, clutching his side when his ribs protested. "Speaking of Lorne, do we know yet if things are okay from their end?" It was his subtle way of asking if Atlantis – the people as well as the city itself – knew that he'd been rescued and for all intents and purposes was okay.
"Not yet, but good news there," Rodney grinned, looking pleased with himself. "I managed to convince General O'Neill to authorise a dial in to Atlantis. You're getting transferred into Keller's care in a couple of hours and the rest of us get a quick trip home for a change."
"You convinced General O'Neill?" John asked in disbelief.
"Reminded him that I was instrumental in saving Sam's life on M5V-801," Rodney admitted smugly.
"You and Jennifer," Sheppard reminded him pointedly.
"Of course," the scientist shrugged. "Honestly, I don't think Jen will mind me claiming the credit if it means she gets her hands on your medical care weeks earlier than she would have."
"Well, however it came about, I appreciate the short cut return," John admitted.
"At this point I think you could ask for anything and the powers that be would grant it," Rodney pointed out.
"Why's that?" John frowned in confusion.
"The Ancient Outpost," Rodney said simply. "Turns out you discovered a whole new wing. They don't know what's in there yet - have to dig through the collapsed section of the tunnel to find out. It's shielded though – that's why we never picked it up before. Which means there's probably something really cool down there – well, that's the theory anyway."
"What, like a planet wide defence system?" John joked. "Big laser guns, stuff like that?"
"You jest but it very well could be," Rodney insisted.
"Well then I hope General O'Neill sticks around to make sure the power doesn't corrupt someone," John said in all seriousness. "There are too many people like those behind my capture to risk something like that getting controlled by the wrong people."
"O'Neill will take care of it," Rodney shrugged, unconcerned. "That reminds me. You seriously owe me for this one. You have no idea what I've had to go through to rescue you."
"What you've had to go through?" John looked at him expectantly.
"Yes me," Rodney insisted irritably. "Well me and a few others ... and ah Lorne might have had a hand in things. Did I tell you I had to spend 40 hours in the back of a puddle jumper? Forty hours alone with Major Lorne."
"I'm surprised he didn't kill you," Sheppard broke in, straight faced.
"Yeah, well he looked like he wanted to a few times," Rodney admitted reluctantly.
"Why 40 hours?" Sheppard asked curiously, wanting to hear the other side of what had been happening since his wormhole had been redirected.
"We had to go back to old Lantia," Rodney began, settling in to fill John in on the whole story. Sheppard returned the favour, telling Rodney the key points, including how Vulture's group had located Aperio in the first place.
"No way!" For once Rodney was almost speechless.
"Yeah – turns out we've got loose lips somewhere in the support staff on Atlantis," John admitted. "Something else we'll have to clean up when we get back."
"At least we don't have to worry about following things up here," Rodney said. "General O'Neill came down to talk to that Vulture guy himself. With any luck they'll take down an entire arm of the Trust ... might shut them up for a while at the very least."
Sheppard nodded, thoughtful. Vulture had helped him escape without incident and had made capturing everyone very easy. "How long 'till we leave?" he asked Rodney.
"Ah ... a couple of hours," Rodney reminded him. "Why, you got somewhere to be?"
"As a matter of fact I do," John retorted. "Go get Doctor Lam."
"Hey - I'm not your personal slave Colonel," Rodney protested more for form than any real desire not to help.
"Just do it McKay," Sheppard ordered, exasperated.
"Fine, whatever," Rodney muttered, getting up grumpily.
John waited until he was almost out the door before calling out. "Rodney?"
"What?" Rodney turned back impatiently.
"Thanks," John said simply.
Rodney started for a moment and then nodded, smiling faintly. "Yeah, well ... you'd do the same for me, right?" Without waiting for an acknowledgement, he turned and hurried from the room.
Sheppard waited until his friend had left before relaxing, chuckling in amusement. Rodney was ever a contradiction - vocal in touting his own genius but so uncomfortable receiving praise from anyone else.
"Colonel," Dr Lam's arrival interrupted his thoughts. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes," John smiled. "I need a favour."