The Other Side of the Story: John's Point of View
Interlude 20: And being stubborn as usual
A short time later I was in the cloaked jumper, sitting in the pilot's seat with Rodney in the co-pilot position beside me and Ronon standing behind him as usual.
"You know, Ronon and I could probably handle this," Rodney said awkwardly. "Maybe you should stay with the Jumper."
I didn't answer, just drilled him with a scowl that had him wilting almost immediately.
"Or not," he concluded.
"Daedalus, we're in position," I reported over the comms.
"Confirmed," Caldwell replied.
"302s are approaching," Rodney had his eyes glued to the sensor screen as moments later the action began. "Cue the Darts."
Michael lived up to what was standard protocol by responding with a wave of eight Darts. The open Bay doors began to close as soon as the last Dart was clear ... I was gonna have to hurry to get there in time.
"It's closing," Rodney said worriedly.
"I see that," I acknowledged, controlling the Jumper on its approach.
"It's closing quickly," Rodney repeated.
"I got it," I insisted irritably, sending the Jumper surging forward towards the closing doors. I got there just in time – with a spot of flying reminiscent of the Millennium Falcon in the Empire Strikes Back I'd turned us sideways and flown us straight into the Dart Bay.
"Daedalus, we're in," I reported as Ronon slapped a congratulatory hand across my shoulder.
Once we'd parked the Jumper Rodney again tried to convince me to sit it out ... let he and Ronon do the hard work. Clearly I was looking a lot less than my best if McKay was willing to take a leading role.
"I'll be fine Rodney," I told him quietly, meeting his eyes and letting him see the determination in mine. This wasn't one I could sit out.
With a nod, Rodney acknowledged my silent command, grabbing his gear and following me from the Jumper.
oOo
"All right," Rodney announced once we'd snuck our way to one of the control units. "This won't take more than a couple of seconds." Laptop patched in moments later and he was looking for information. "That's ... troubling," he commented worriedly.
"What?" Ronon asked.
"Michael's a lot further ahead with his repairs than I would have thought," Rodney revealed. "Hyperdrive's almost back online. We've gotta make this quick."
"What do you mean, "quick"?" I demanded.
"Well, like, fifteen minutes," Rodney retorted nervously. "It's not a lot of time."
"No, that's not a lot of time," I agreed sarcastically. "Look for Sabina and Teyla!"
"Right," Rodney replied quickly. "Right-right-right." Turning back to his screen he worked for a few moments. "They're not together," he looked at me worriedly. "Teyla's close by – just down that corridor a ways. Sabina's further away – different level and a lot closer to the Bridge."
Crap! For a moment I was frozen, knowing what I should do but unable to make myself get us underway.
"Sheppard," Ronon called to me insistently.
"I'm here," I told them irritably. "I'm thinking!"
"Well hurry up!" Rodney replied impatiently.
"Okay," I said, frustrated and just a little bitter. "Teyla's closer so we get to her first. Once we're there Ronon and I will head further in and pick up Sabina."
"All right," Rodney led the way out, thought better of taking point and motioned for me to take point.
The lack of resistance had me wondering just how many hybrids Michael had at his disposal ... we'd gotten almost to Teyla's position before we ran into trouble.
A single hybrid approaching us with stunner drawn - I didn't hesitate in dispatching him quickly, even though at the back of my mind I knew he was a victim probably not in control of his actions - just like Carson had been. I couldn't save everyone, no matter how much that gauled to admit ... my first priority had to be saving Sabina and Teyla. I'd worry about the rest later.
"John?" the welcome sound of Teyla's voice calling to me from inside the room spurred us to action.
"Gonna get you out of here!" I called back, waiting for Rodney to bust open the door.
"Not a moment too soon!" Teyla called out.
Door open, we all rushed into the room and quickly to Teyla's side.
"You OK?" I knelt beside her ... she was pale and shaky and there was only one explanation I could think of for that, given she didn't seem wounded in any way.
"It's my baby," Teyla's announcement confirmed my suspicions. "I have been having contractions for over an hour now. They are very close. My baby is coming."
Ronon reached out and helped Teyla sit down, gasping for breath.
"We need to get you back to the Daedalus," I decided. "Ronon and Rodney will help you. I'll go get Sabina and we'll meet you at the Jumper."
"John, wait," Teyla groaned at the end of her contraction, holding out a hand to stop me from leaving.
"What is it?" My heart dropped for a moment ... was she about to give me bad news?
"I can talk to Sabina," Teyla surprised us all with that one. "We have been using our Wraith abilities to communicate since we were captured."
I pushed up from the floor painfully, putting a hand to my injured side. Glancing discretely at said hand a moment later I wasn't surprised to find it covered in blood. Technically I should have reported that to Keller ... since I couldn't I decided not to mention it to anyone. "Okay, tell her we're here," I ordered, waiting impatiently for the reply. I was so close now ... so close, and nothing was going to get in my way.
"She is happy you have come but said to tell you all not to wait for her," Teyla revealed a moment later. "She was on her way here but will head instead for the Dart Bay alone."
"Over my dead body!" I returned angrily. "Tell her to stay right where she is!"
"Uh, say, friends?" Rodney drew everyone's attention to him. "We have a small issue here."
"Oh, what now?" I demanded irritably.
"Looks like Michael's got his hyperdrive back online," Rodney reported. "It's powering up."
"Can you shut it down?" I waited for the answer even though I knew it wouldn't be that easy.
"Well, not from this little thing," Rodney said weakly. "Look, the drive room is just down the corridor. You slap a C4 charge on that thing, it should certainly shut it down."
"Where?" I demanded.
"Here. I have a map." He typed a few commands and then handed it to me.
"This other dot – that's Sabina?" I asked quickly.
"It's where they were holding her," Rodney clarified. "She might be some distance away but it gives you the direction."
"Thanks," I looked at him gratefully, getting a wordless nod in return.
"Sabina is well John," Teyla tried to reassure me.
"I ah ... I know," I returned. "I just ...," I couldn't admit that I wouldn't really believe it until I'd seen her for myself. "Look, tell her I'll come find her as soon as I can, okay." She nodded, her face shifting into that expression I'd seen before that said she was communicating mentally.
"All right. Ronon, you're with me," I said briskly, heading for the door.
Ronon murmured a few words of encouragement to Teyla before ordering Rodney to take care of her and following me from the room.
"Sounds like Sabina's okay," Ronon commented as we ran down the corridor following Rodney's map.
"Yeah," I agreed, acknowledging that the tight knot of dread in my stomach had eased as Teyla had relayed her comments back to us. "And being stubborn as usual."
"You wouldn't have her any other way," Ronon pointed out ... I couldn't argue with that so I said nothing.
At the hyperdrive room it was Ronon who shot down the first two hybrid guards, leaving the last one for me.
"It's almost powered up," Ronon reported after looking at the generator's status.
"Give me your C4," I ordered, taking it and ducking underneath the generator. Reaching up plant the charges wasn't a good idea if the sharp pain in my side was any indicator ... I tried but couldn't avoid the groan or the need to double up against the agony. Those pain meds hadn't lasted as long as I'd been hoping for.
"Here," Ronon said impatiently. "Give it to me."
"I got it," I insisted, straightening up for another attempt.
"Give it to me," Ronon demanded irritably. "You don't have to do everything." Snatching the C4 block right out of my hand he reached up and easily attached it to the generator, positioned the detonator and then stepped back. "All right. On to Sabina?"
"Yeah," I turned ... stopping when my radio crackled to life.
"Ah Sheppard," Rodney's voice sounded stressed and nervous. "Change of plans."
"What Rodney?" I demanded impatiently. "We've already planted the charge and were about to detonate."
"Not that," Rodney countered. "Teyla just let me know Sabina's gone to the Dart Bay. There's no point following that map I gave you – she won't be there."
"Great," I shouldn't have been surprised ... two months without her had obviously dulled my 'she'll do her own thing no matter what I say' detector. "We'll head back to you – help you get Teyla to the Jumper."
Ronon and I ran down the corridor to what I judged a safe distance before we stopped to set off the C4.
"Let's hope we're far enough away," I commented, detonator in hand.
"Yeah, we'll see," Ronon seemed less than troubled that we might not be.
"Fire in the hole," I announced before flipping the switch.
The resulting explosion was satisfying, especially as I imagined Michael's face when he realised he wasn't fixing that one quickly. Of course now he'd know we were on board, meaning we were probably about to be inundated with hybrids if we didn't move fast.
"Back to Teyla," I announced, leading the way.
The scene we walked back into struck a chord with me for a number of reasons. Teyla sitting there with her baby wrapped in Rodney's jacket, delighted smile on her face.
My friend so happy ... safe with her baby in hand.
Being so close to seeing Sabina again after too long.
Visions of a similar future for us once we'd gotten off the ship.
"Wow!" That one word was the best I could do at expressing everything I was feeling.
"I caught it!" Rodney was buzzing with excitement. "Didn't hit the floor or anything!"
"He did a wonderful job," Teyla agreed, smiling up at us with tears shining in her eyes.
"That's good. That's ... you did good, Rodney," I said a bit lamely ... but hell, what did you say to someone who'd just helped deliver a baby on a Wraith cruiser? "All right, we gotta get you out of here," I told Teyla.
"Ronon, you may need to help me," Teyla cradled the baby protectively against her as Ronon lifted her without obvious effort.
We must have made a surreal picture as we traversed the distance to where we'd left the Puddle Jumper. Rodney, twitchy with nerves as he tried to look everywhere at once, sure a hybrid was about to jump us. Purposeful and silent Ronon effortlessly craddling Teyla and her baby in his arms as he strode forward confidently. Teyla - so strong, despite the fact that she'd just given birth after a month as Michael's captive. And me ... I didn't even want to think about how I looked right then. I could only hope the constant pain, the fear that everything was going to fall into a hole before I got to Sabina, didn't show on my face.
Back at the Dart Bay my first concern was that Sabina wasn't there yet. And while that should have been my most pressing concern, it took a back seat when I discovered the Jumper was gone ... unbelievable as it was, it became clear after a few moments of searching and confirming that we were in the right spot that someone had stolen it.
"Oh, this is not good," I forced out grimly.
"I told you you should have stayed here!" Rodney retorted irritably.
"Was never gonna happen," I returned, knowing I would have traded a hundred Puddle Jumpers to get Sabina back. "I don't suppose there's any chance one of us could operate a Dart?" I looked at the ones closest to us in speculation.
"Ah – no," Rodney replied in a tone that said he was gearing up for some kind of scientific spiel. "The interface I wrote for Ford's Dart was complex – there's no way I could rig up anything like that and there's not enough time to teach you all the commands you'd need to understand without it. Teyla has no experience with Darts so while she might be able to get the Dart systems on line she wouldn't be able to control them."
"We need Sabina," Ronon said simply.
We did indeed. Looking at Teyla I raised an eyebrow wordlessly. She got that look on her face again that meant she was tapping into her Wraith skills.
"She is still ten minutes from the Bay," Teyla reported after a few moments of conversation.
"Still?" I frowned. "What the hell has she been doing all this time?!"
"She suggested we find a place to wait," Teyla didn't pay any attention to my mood, for which I was grateful.
"This will be the first place the hybrids will look for us," Rodney agreed.
"Okay, this way," I gestured for everyone to follow me down the corridor. We hadn't gone far when we came face to face with a hybrid aiming a stun pistol at us. Rodney and I responded by raising our own weapons.
"Don't shoot!" Teyla begged. "Ronon, put me down." Ronon gently lowered her to the ground. "It is all right, John," she told me. "This is Kanaan. He is the father."
I had no choice but to stand there and trust that she knew what she was doing as she approached Kanaan with her baby in her arms. Kanaan ignored the rest of us completely as he put away his weapon and let Teyla show him his son for the first time. When he put a gentle hand on the child I knew she'd been right to trust him.
"This is our chance," she told him softly. "These are the friends I told you of. They can help you get back to your old self, but first you have to help us. Sabina - my friend - in on her way to the Dart Bay ... do you know which way she would go?"
"Yes," Kanaan nodded. "Follow me."
"No offence, Teyla," Ronon still held his weapon ready to use. "I don't trust this guy."
"He has tried to save me before," Teyla explained. "I trust him."
I could go along with that ... with a few minor adjustments of course. "Give me your weapon," I ordered simply. Kanaan handed it over without protest which won a few more points with me. "Okay – which way?"
Having Kanaan on our side was the edge we'd needed. When we rounded a corner and saw Sabina up ahead facing down two hybrids. They held their positions as we walked towards them - one quick order from Kanaan had them both standing down without a protest.
I stood frozen in place, for once losing touch with my surroundings and the movements of my team. My focus was entirely on Sabina, my eyes cataloguing everything as she walked slowly towards me. When she got closer I could see the signs of our time apart ... in the dark shadows under her eyes, the paleness of her skin ... the troubled expression on her face that even her joyful smile couldn't entirely mask. Grimly I added them to the tally I was keeping ... all the things I owed Michael that one day I would collect on.
And then she was there in front on me ... in touching distance. Somehow I closed the space between us. Without a word I pulled her into my arms and just hung on tight, burying my head in her hair.
We still had to get off the ship but at that point I didn't care. Sabina was back ... and I was whole again.
The End ... of the companion story anyway!
Authors Note:
Not sure I'm entirely happy with this chapter but after mucking around with it for a couple of days it's as good as it's gonna get. Only two, three chapters max left ... thanks for sticking with this very LONG story.
Next Up? Fortunate Journey Season 4 Chapter 59