Vegas: Resistance9
"Then lend the eye a terrible aspect."
John couldn't stop grinning. Despite the severity of the situation, despite the fact that he might not even survive this mission and could very well leave his wife and child bereft he couldn't stop grinning. He grabbed the controls of the Jumper and felt the smoothness of its flight in the air. The machine was a remarkable piece of engineering, responding like magic to his every thought. The ATA gene enabled him to access any system just by thinking about it. He marveled over the dexterity of the machine as it swerved and swooped in the air, cloaked and invisible to the looming Hive ship above him.
"Red Leader, this is Green Leader. Stop acting like a kid in a candy store and fly a straight line."
John scowled, finding it odd to be scolded in his own voice by his alternate self. "Acknowledged, Green Leader. Lighten up, would ya?"
Sheppard chuckled over the comm unit, knowing all too well how his other self was feeling. "Acknowledged, Red Leader. Let's go. Just follow my lead. We go down the belly of the beast, drop our payloads, blow it to hell and get back in time for dinner."
"Yeah, got that. Just like Beggar's Canyon and back home," he quoted a line from Star Wars. "First one Hive, then the other one, right? McKay, position?"
Rodney was hunched over the comm unit in the control room, eyes on the board where he was tracking the two Jumpers. They were two red blips on the screen, slowly advancing towards a much larger blip in blue. "Hive one is right where we thought it would be, John. Just over the Arizona/Utah border area. Hive two is still out over the Pacific."
"Acknowledged, McKay. We'll go in low and fast."
"Acknowledged, John, er Sheppard, er…okay." Rodney shook his head, not certain which John was talking to him. He glanced over at Moira who was watching.
"We'll be back for lunch, Moy. Have a turkey sandwich waiting for me, okay?"
"And a beer. No, make it two."
"Yeah, two beers each. And baby, no twin fantasies, if you know what I'm saying."
Moira smiled and stepped to the comm. "Just get those fine, fine asses back home, Johns."
"Acknowledged," they said at the same time, and Moira met Rodney's gaze with a shake of her head.
The Jumpers flew in tandem, then Sheppard flew in front of John and they made a beeline for the Hive ship. Wraith Darts were zipping around the enormous vessel, but they couldn't see either ship as they infiltrated through the hanger bay. John knew that once they used their weapons and raised their shields they would be visible. He knew they would be lucky to make it out alive of one Hive, not to mention two. But he concentrated on the task at hand.
Sheppard kept on course, made sure his alternate did the same. Despite the novelty he knew his alternate self would buckle down and complete the mission. He still found it odd to see a version of himself who was a detective in Las Vegas, of all things, of all places. At least before the Wraith had invaded. And this version of himself had Moira and a child by her.
Abruptly the shields dropped. The bio-toxin was distributed. Long aerosol cans were ejected and broke upon impact, filling the Hive with a yellow gas that thickened the air. Already Darts were scrambling to intercept as the two Jumpers dove deeper, towards the heart of the Hive.
The hyper drives of the ship and its complex engineering were the primary targets.
John fought to control his Jumper, juking and diving as his shield took the hits of the Darts and from the Wraith firing weapons at them from the decks below. His grip tightened on the controls as he flew after Sheppard, readying for the deployment of the naquadah-enhanced nukes that would blow the Hive to kingdom come, or so he hoped.
"Deploy on my mark. Mark!"
The bombs fell silently, but John was too busy avoiding a collision with a Dart to notice. He swerved and fired his own missiles when a colossal rumbling made the Jumper shake. Systems went offline. "Shit! Time to go!" he shouted, but Sheppard was already zooming up, up, through a vent in the Hive as a terrific explosion was ripping the vessel in half.
Rodney swore. "They did it! Give me a live visual feed now!"
Moira gasped as the two blips on the screen dissolved into a horrific mass of energy as the larger blue blip erupted. Then the screen went blank and was replaced by a giant sun in the sky. Except it wasn't a sun but the Hive exploding. A massive half of it was whirling and then pointing downwards like a knife. It was falling straight towards the Earth, still intact.
"No, no, no! Break that thing up! All flights engage and break it up!" Rodney shouted, glancing at Moira who was transfixed by the sight of the giant ship careening towards Earth.
"John, do you read? Sheppard, copy? Do you read? Hive two is on the move so you better haul ass if you can? John? Sheppard? Anyone?"
"Rodney, look!" Moira pointed at the screen. The Hive was filling the view and hurtling inexorably towards the empty desert. "It's going to hit! Oh my God, it will have the impact of a small asteroid!"
"Yes, or worse. All flights leave off and head for Hive two. John, do you read? Sheppard, copy? Give me a visual of the sky now! Screen three!"
The next screen revealed the other half of the ship breaking apart safely, exploding in mid-air. The ground shook violently as the impact erupted. The Hive impaled itself into the desert, forming a huge crater. Dirt plumed all around and the whole earth shook in its wake.
"McKay…Hive two…on it…acknowledged," came a voice, but whether it was John or Sheppard neither Rodney nor Moira knew. They eyed each other in dread, waiting for the outcome.
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Moira ran to the hanger bay, stopped abruptly. She didn't care that the mission has been a success. She didn't care that both Hive ships have been destroyed. She won't join the others in celebration, or the scientists in dreadful calculations of the environmental consequences. She only cares about John. There has been no word from either John Sheppard and Moira feared the worst, the very worst. She watched as a man emerged from a battered Jumper.
He limped slightly and had a gash on his forehead. Blood trickled down the side of his face. He was wearing the combat gear that both Johns had been wearing. But Moira knew. She knew and ran to the man without any hesitation.
"John! John, John, John!"
John caught her in an embrace and held on tightly, relieved to be alive, to be back on the ground. Most of all to be back with his Moira. "Moy…I…hey!" He drew back a little to see her face. To see her love and relief and concern. "How do you know it's me and not him?"
Moira smiled and kissed him. "Only you would look pissed when we won, sweetie. Oh John!"
John smiled and hugged her again.
Moira turned in his arms to see Sheppard emerging from the Jumper, looking as battered and bruised as her husband. She gently freed herself and moved to him. She stepped close, gaze assessing. She kissed his cheek. "Thank you," she said softly, knowing that without his aid the mission could have ended very, very badly.
Sheppard smiled at her, but there was a sadness in his eyes that captured her. "I couldn't let him get all of the reward," he joked.
She touched his arm. "John…you…you'll be going back now, to your Atlantis?"
"Yeah. You can't have an Atlantis without a Sheppard," he said. But his gaze lingered on her and he touched her cheek. He drew his hand away from her face as emotion surfaced briefly. A guilt and a grief that she could sympathize with all too well.
"John…it wasn't your fault. Whatever happened, it wasn't your fault."
"It was. I…I let go…I…" He faltered, sighed. Locked down on his emotions. "Take care, Moira. I only hope he realizes how damn lucky he is."
"Don't give up, John. Don't." She kissed his cheek again and moved back to her husband.
John slid his arm around her, gaze glowering at the other man. Another version of himself that he knew Moira couldn't help but want to comfort. Nevertheless he felt a pang of jealousy. "Let's go, Moy. I really do need that beer, and I wasn't kidding about that sandwich. Where's junior?"
"With his Aunt Katie but he should be—"
"Daddy! Daddy, daddy, daddy!" The little boy raced to his father and shrieked in delight as John caught him and swung him high into the air.
"Hey, buddy!" He kissed the child and held him. He looked over at Sheppard who was watching. A look passed between the two men. Before Moira could ask John was guiding her out of the hanger bay. "Guess what, Johnny?"
"What, daddy?"
"I saved the planet."
"Again, daddy?"
John laughed. "Yeah, again."
"Okay. Can I have some ice seem?"
"Yes, we'll all have some ice seem. Moira?"
Moira looked back but Sheppard was gone. She frowned, a host of questions and concerns invading her mind, but she eyed her husband and her son. Deciding. "Yes, let's get some ice seem, gentlemen. Then daddy can tell us about how he saved the world. Again."
THE END