Chapter Twenty Two – Home and Away
"Carson?" he mumbled faintly, almost too low for Lani to pick it up as she stood next to him, checking his vitals.
"John?" she said jovially yet with a tinge of concern in her voice. "Can you hear me?"
The man before her slowly blinked dull and confused eyes open. His hair was matted against his clammy skin and his face was covered by a fine sheen of perspiration. He looked like a wax figure, like the mask of death had settled upon him gently leaching the life out of him.
John Sheppard glanced curiously at Lani and then at the familiar yet unfamiliar surroundings. A faint groan of exasperation mixed with pain escaped his lips. "I thought I dreamt I was still here," he whispered as he turned to focus on the ME. "But this is real isn't it?"
Lani smiled at him. "Yes, Colonel Sheppard, this is real. I'm glad you're still with us," she replied.
Then it all came flooded back to him, washing over him, and he struggled to reach a sitting position only to gasp as the newly sutured incisions were stretched to their limits.
"Please, John, you must lie still," the medical examiner cautioned, her hands on his shoulders, trying to pin him in the bed. "I cannot help you if you try anything foolish."
There was a worry, a deep concern in her voice that he didn't like and then he remembered the words spoken by both Carson and Teer. His condition had been grave; he had been standing on the brink, his friends having pulled him back. John involuntarily shuddered and it was not due to the fever ravaging his weakened body; it was caused by the mere thought of looking death in the eye.
Then something wicked crossed his mind and he started to chuckle faintly before it turned into a laugh without mirth. It was surprise and satisfaction mixing as he realized, really realized, that he was still alive.
Lani stared worriedly at her patient, who seemed on the brink of hysteria.
"He didn't kill me," John whispered. Then he sobered, hazel eyes turned questioningly on the doctor.
"No," Lani whispered hollowly. "Not yet," she added under her breath.
Sheppard swallowed, his mouth dry. "My team?" He asked, afraid of the answer he might be given.
"I don't know," Lani replied truthfully. "We're out of communication range down here."
"I don't care about myself…Lani…I just need to know that my friends are all right," he managed through clenched teeth.
The ME cast a worried glance at his stats, a forced smile on her lips. She opened her mouth to say something when she heard a commotion just outside the room. Lani turned around just in time for the Alpha standing guard to be tossed into the infirmary like a ragdoll by the Wraith soldier, his life drained.
She involuntarily whimpered as they came pouring in, there was no stopping them. Lani reached for a weapon that one of the Alphas had left with her and fumbled with the power cell to load it.
"Leave, Lani," John whispered. "Leave me before it's too late."
As if to strengthen his statement, one of the soldiers grabbed the wounded Medical Examiner and slammed its hand onto his chest. Teldan Tori's life was ended within a minute, his scream and unseeing eye sockets would forever haunt Lani in her dreams.
She pulled the trigger of the weapon in desperation as the soldiers started to advance on her and John's position. The first one staggered and fell, the next one stumbled. Lani then watched in morbid fascination as they got up again, her bullets having created rivulets of blood. "What are you?!" She shouted, her voice quivering.
"They're monsters, Lani," John whispered, deadly calm despite the situation. "They're monsters."
Then their ears picked up another sound, coming from the outside. Sheppard suddenly cracked a smile as the sound of P90 fire echoed through the hallways.
The moment later a shorter, well-built man with brown hair strode into the room, his weapon raised. The remaining Wraith's snarled at his presence but never got the chance to advance or even fire off a single shot at the man and his cohorts.
"Damn, Lorne," Sheppard said, his voice tinged with relief and tiredness. "What took you so long? I've been stuck on this rock for days."
Evan shook his head slightly and then his lips curved upwards in smugness. "I see you've made yourself comfortable, sir," he drawled.
"Carson said I should trust you," Sheppard mumbled, having a hard time to keep his eyes open.
Evan frowned slightly but didn't ask what he meant, instead he turned to the good looking woman at his side. "Major Evan Lorne," he said by way of greeting.
"Medical Examiner Lani Nadim," she returned, still shaken up by the previous events. "You must get him out of here. I can't save him. You must hurry, he will been going into shock soon enough. He's still got internal bleeding, I couldn't repair everything and I have no blood to give him, he's lost too much already."
As soon as she'd spoken another team rushed into the room - Alpha Team Six. Lorne and the leading lieutenant eyed each other warily, then nodded in mutual understanding that they were on the same side.
Lorne keyed his radio. "Bring Doctor Keller here immediately, we've found Sheppard," he said sternly into the microphone.
"Understood, sir," came the immediate reply.
Evan nodded, more to himself than anyone else, before he spoke up again. "Doctor McKay, come in please," he said over the open link.
A crackle followed, indicating there was a connection. "We've secured the immediate area around the infirmary and are taking Colonel Sheppard with us back to the jumper. Captain Gaspari is on his way with another jumper. Seeing how fun you have with all the fighting parties down here I'll assign another bunch of happy marines."
"You do that," Rodney returned. "I'd like you to come up here and stay here, not just fly past into the jumper bay, and out through the roof to land on the market street to go fetch our illustrious military commander," he said, the last bit delivered as a sarcastic remark.
"Several Wraith soldiers are on their way here, Major," Teyla's voice cut in.
Lorne nodded grimly at Teyla's statement, and for a brief amount of time he and Lani's eyes locked, then the major cast one worried glance toward the colonel before he turned to go.
"Understood, Teyla," he said. "Help's on the way. I'll arrive later, I'll see to it that Colonel Sheppard is safely returned to Atlantis." With that he ended the call and stepped to the side of the door.
Lani glanced curiously at the entrance to the now cramped infirmary as yet another team came through the door with a young, somewhat pensive woman.
The petite blonde woman, whom Lani guessed was Doctor Keller, looked uncertain and afraid as she cautiously glanced around the room. Then, when her eyes settled on the injured colonel, the hesitancy seemed to leave her and she became one with her profession.
"Colonel Sheppard," she said, her voice tight, as she hastily scrambled over with a medical bag swung over her shoulder.
"I'm sorry," she said sheepishly. "I'm Jennifer Keller, Chief Medical Officer on Atlantis. Can you please tell me what's happened?"
Lani offered her hand and nodded curtly, acutely aware how she must look at the moment, dead on her feet, blood on her clothes and on her cheeks, the bun holding her hair having gone sideways giving her usual silky and long hair a somewhat messy and unruly appearance.
"Medical Examiner Lani Nadim, Chief of Life Science, Section One," she said, offering a strained smile before becoming deadly serious. "So much as happened, Doctor Keller, too much. Right now Colonel Sheppard is going to die unless you find a way to get him out of here."
Jennifer involuntarily shuddered at the harsh words. The woman before her was direct and spot on, clearly a well-trained physician.
"He's been shot, multiple times, I've repaired what I can with the limited resources I have down here. There was no safe way for us to get him back to the hospital above. Also, I have no blood I dare to give him, I will not take the chance since we're not from the same planet," Lani explained. She then added dejectedly; "After what he's been through; after what everyone's been through down, here I refuse to be the one to kill him through my actions."
Keller's eyes locked with the other woman and she saw in them only deep concern for her friend. Jennifer nodded slowly as she averted her eyes and began a visual, basic examination, taking Lani's word for what had happened. Still, she was eager to know the whole story.
"Major Lorne," Keller called over her shoulder.
He nodded, his jaw set in stone and his lips pursed into a thin line of displeasure as he came to the doctor's side.
"Evan, I need help, quickly, or the Colonel won't make it much longer." Jennifer's tone was commanding, but there was a hollowness to it that left Lani to wondering what had happened previously on Atlantis. It was almost like the young doctor before her was afraid of something.
Within mere seconds the efficient members of Lorne's team had got the colonel onto an ancient stretcher and were in the process of whisking him away from the infirmary and toward the jumper.
"Ma'am, thank you for saving my commanding officer, if only temporarily," Lorne said politely with a faint smile. "Will you and your colleagues down here be able to cope on your own?"
"I'm not leaving Colonel Sheppard's side," Lani returned stubbornly.
Evan looked at Keller helplessly.
"I'm grateful for the help," Jennifer let on with a shrug of her shoulders.
The major nodded. "Well then, ME Nadim, I hope you'll have a pleasant stay in Atlantis," he said.
OOOOOO
Sha scratched the back of his head in pure frustration as he stood at the large screen in the control room. Several life signs just disappeared, the fighting still going on between the two factions despite the best attempts to stave off the dispute. Communications were still bad down in the Ancient city, but with the help of Doctor McKay he'd got a boosted signal so that he could read almost every Alpha Team. They were slowly gaining ground but it was not good enough. Also the Wraith were still too many for his liking and he didn't have the man power to fight the resistance, renegade Alphas, and the Wraith. Besides, he was constantly getting reports from the surface about things to do and things to coordinate.
A small, gentle hand was suddenly on his shoulder and he turned, somewhat surprised, to look at the Athosian woman. "Sit down, Sha, before you fall down," she said softly.
"Why are you still here, Teyla?" he asked neutrally. "Still fighting the fight that isn't yours?"
"I choose my battles," she returned curtly as the native military man gingerly sat down behind one of the control consoles. "I will return to Atlantis as soon as Major Lorne brings John in the jumper. But I will be back."
They nodded at each other, both wearing faint smiles on their rather dirty, dusty and battered faces. In a way they were two of the same coin. In a strange way they had comforted each other, trusted each other over the few days they'd known each other, like they were old friends. And Teyla knew that Sha's concern for Lani and the dangers she faced was as great as her own concern for John and the dangers he was constantly facing.
Their shared moment was broken as the Stargate dialled.
"Lorne?" Teyla asked hopefully.
"No, it's Atlantis dialing in," Rodney returned as the familiar blue shimmer spanned inside the gate, illuminating the surroundings with an eerie blue glow.
In the back of the room stood Dadan, his eyes moist, a single tear trickling down the side of his face. He was in awe; after over eighty years on the planet, he was living the dream of every tribe member. He was seeing before him with his very own eyes the truth of the prophecy, the resurrection of the sky people on his planet and the defeat of an old enemy. He was seeing the old mystic city live again, shaking the dust from her wings after so many years lying dormant.
It was Doctor Rodney McKay's voice that suddenly broke through Dadan's reverie. "Here come the good guys," he said in relief as Major Teldy made her way to them from the gate.
The woman, accompanied by her team nodded at him. "Show me those suckers, McKay," she said before nodding toward Ronon who had been standing next to his team mate, silently watching the life signs on the display.
"Ronon, best I can do," Teldy said as she tossed a P90 toward him. "You don't exactly keep your spare power cells visible."
The Satedan grumbled. "It'll do, Major."
"MDO Rodin, sir," came a voice over the native communications network.
"Go ahead," Sha said wearily.
"Sir, we have spotted Military Organizer Katan, request to bring him in and detain him, sir."
Ronon tensed at the words, adrenaline started pumping through his body once again. He walked closer to Sha.
Sha narrowed his eyes. "Where?" He asked coldly.
"Near the museum, sir, most likely heading for the hangar and the hover section."
Sha nodded and turned to look at Ronon, but the Satedan was already gone. He keyed the microphone again and spoke to his subordinate. "You have free reign, but somehow I have a feeling someone else will do the work for you," he said gravely.
OOOOOO
To be continued
/I hope you enjoyed the chapter ;)