Stargate Atlantis: Shepherd's Hook2
"Massive hit! Port side! They have sustained critical damage!"
Radek's triumphant report filled the air, but the celebration was short-lived as monitors began beeping and the lights flickered wildly.
"We've got power disruptions! John, what's going on down there?" Rodney asked, shoving a technician aside to access information. His fingers danced across the keyboard. "Oh my God. They've used over half of our Drones!"
"What?" Richard joined him. "Colonel, what's going on down there?"
"The Daedalus is reporting hull damage on the..." Radek paused, adjusting his headset. "I've lost communications!"
"Rodney!" Teyla Emmagan was running towards him, crying baby in her arms. "The city is locking down the lower levels! What is going on!"
"What? I'll override it!" Rodney moved to yet another console and quickly checked the systems. "Damn! I'm locked out! What the hell is happening?"
"I'll use my code." Richard stepped to him and typed in his command code. The screen blinked at him, unresponsive.
"Look out!" Teyla warned, whirling to shield her son. Sparks were flying on one console and the jerry-rigged device imploded in a wave of sickly orange light. Alarms began shrieking. Quickly Radek grabbed a fire extinguisher and doused the sudden blaze of flames.
"So much for that interference," Richard remarked. "Status?"
Rodney glanced at another screen. "Look for yourself! Fugly One is powering weapons…powering…oh no! No, no, no, no!" He rushed to Radek and snatched the headset off the check. "Daedalus, do you read! Get out of there! Repeat, get out of there! Fugly One is activating its main weapons system and you don't stand a chance against the super laser!"
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"I'm administering a sedative but we have to get him to medical!" Alison ordered, as she hovered over Carson as he was prone on the floor. She had managed to get the doctor out of the Chair with Moira's aid. "I need a med team down here now!" she shouted into her earpiece.
"I'll take him!" Ronon Dex ran into the room. He glanced at John before moving to Carson. The doctor was still convulsing, bleeding from the nose but as Alison gave him the sedative he slowly calmed. His limbs went slack.
"Will you be all right to—"
"Go!" Moira urged, quickly returning to John. "I'll stay with John, just go now! John, John, can you hear me?" She touched his arm, staring at him. A line of sweat beaded his brow but his nose wasn't bleeding and he was composed, calm, eyes closed.
"Call me if anything happens. Let's go, Ronon!"
The Satedan nodded and lifted the unconscious doctor. He followed Alison out of the room, glancing back at John worriedly.
Moira checked John's pulse. It was strong, a little fast but steady. She grasped his forearm with both of her hands, closing her eyes and concentrating like she had the last time, to connect through the ATA and to cocoon him with support and warmth. "John, John, tell me what to do. John…the Chair! Of course!" She opened her eyes and made to move there.
John's sudden grasp of her arm stopped her. "NO!" he ordered harshly.
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The explosion was bright, blinding, as the wave of Drones hit the side of the fugly ship and tore through the shield. With their systems briefly down the ship was vulnerable and John took full advantage of the fact. He used the Drones to tear into the enemy ship and rip apart the hull. He fell back, tensing and writhing in the Chair as he freed his control of the Drones before he could feel the full force of the impact.
Moira's voice was a distant sound. The feel of her touch was a distant warmth, but suddenly she was there, a blanket of support and calm to guide him back to Atlantis, to himself. Until he heard her suggestion of going to the other Chair. John grabbed her and halted her. He kept his hold on her, not letting her risk herself as he feared the worst about Carson. He was appalled at the number of Drones that had been expended.
But there was worse to come.
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"I can't override it! The city's in control!" Rodney complained, shaking his head.
"Why? There's no threat to us! Is there?" Richard asked.
"Rodney…is that transmitting?" Radek pointed to the neural interface. It was still glowing red and blinking rapidly amid the debris from the implosion.
"Crap!" Rodney ran to it, grabbed his data pad and smashed the device with it. The cover on his data pad cracked but he hit the device with it. It beeped and flew to the floor, in pieces now but still blinking, blinking rapidly as if in a code.
"Allow me!" Teyla grabbed a gun from a startled marine. Balancing her son in one arm she aimed the P90 in the other and fired. Pieces flew everywhere, shattered by the bullet. The red light was gone as the device was obliterated.
"Thank you, Teyla," Richard said calmly, as Rodney stared in shock at the ruin of the device not to mention his cracked data pad. "Radek, keep trying to establish communications with the Daedalus. Rodney, monitor that power surge on the enemy ship and see if you can get our systems back to normal. I will try my command code again. Colonel Sheppard, do you copy? Stop firing the Drones and get up to the control room, please."
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Alison was moving quickly, stabilizing Carson as he was convulsing again on a bed in the infirmary. "Hold him still! I need to do a scan!"
Ronon obliged, keeping the struggling doctor in place on the bed. "What's wrong with him? The same thing that happened to Sheppard?"
"Yes and no. Carson, can you hear me? Carson! He's in deep, but I think it's more physical than mental." She ran the scanner over his head, frowning at the readings. "That can't be…"
"What can't be?" Ronon asked, using his body weight now to keep the doctor in place.
"He…he's developed a subdural hemotoma…I don't know how…I…" The doctor appeared stunned at this medical emergency and she stared at Carson with wide eyes.
"Can you cure him?" Ronon asked.
"Yes…but I will need to, to operate."
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"John, John, please! John, let me help you!" Moira struggled but John's grip was iron strong. His fingers were digging into her flesh, keeping her in place. She relented, grasping his arm and closing her eyes to try to connect with him again. His hold gentled a little, but only a little. "John, please...let go! You have to let go now! Please!"
She couldn't concentrate and opened her eyes to see he was still, very still. A trickle of blood was escaping his nose.
"John, no, no!" She felt his pulse. It was fast, very fast and he didn't respond, didn't move at all. His breath was coming quickly, as if he was running. "Damn it, Sheppard, don't you dare do this again! John!" The power flared wildly, almost knocking Moira away from the Chair but she clung to it stubbornly, clung to John. "Oh no, bitch, you aren't having him again!"
She glanced across the room. The injured alien stood there, beckoning to her.