Disclaimer: The characters of, "Stargate: SG-1" and "Stargate Atlantis", are owned by Robert C. Cooper, Brad Wright, Sci-Fi Channel and whoever else was involved with the creation and production of these two shows. Any new characters and story lines that come into play are of my own creation. No copyright infringement is intended. This is a fanfiction intended for entertainment purposes only and no money is being made off of it.
Chapter 10: Freedom
Dr. Beckett looked at Sky's x-rays one more time before he turned to speak to Sheppard and Dr. Weir who had been waiting for nearly half an hour while he planned the surgery.
"This will be a difficult procedure. The chip is close to the brainstem and there are several arteries surrounding it," Dr. Beckett warned as pointed to the chip in the x-ray.
Sheppard remained silent, knowing that Dr. Beckett was one of the best doctors he had ever known and he was the only chance they had to help Sky.
Dr. Weir nodded her head in understanding and waited for Dr. Beckett to continue.
"We can't know if the surgery will be a success and the complications on removing the chip may kill Sky. Are you certain that you want to do this? I know that we are unable to ask for Sky's approval, but I am concerned that she doesn't have a choice."
"We don't really have much of a choice, Dr. Beckett. We have to help her in any way that we can. We owe her that much," Dr. Weir said.
"We have complete trust in you Dr. Beckett," Sheppard said knowing that they had to at least try. If they couldn't remove the chip from Sky's brain, then she would remain a slave of the Ancients forever.
"Thanks, Colonel, I appreciate your confidence in me and I'll try my best to remove the chip. You may all observe the surgery if you like."
"Unfortunately, I have some things I have to attend to," Dr. Weir said as she nodded to Sheppard and left.
"I'll be watching," Sheppard said as he rose from the chair and left the room. He acknowledged with a wave of his hand that he had heard Dr. Beckett mention that the surgery would begin in a couple of hours.
Sheppard didn't hear anyone enter the viewing room but he had sensed someone enter the room and looked to his right to see Ronon gazing emotionless at the ongoing surgery.
"I see that Dr. Beckett and his team have barely started."
Sheppard nodded his head. It felt that six hours had already gone by when in reality it had only been forty-five minutes. He looked at Ronon, "Yeah, it's going to be a long one."
"How are your wounds by the way?" Sheppard asked Ronon. Sheppard couldn't believe that Ronon was walking around unaided and he had been at the meeting earlier knowing that the warrior must have been in a great amount of pain at the time.
"Healing," Ronon said his eyes never leaving the surgery.
Sheppard nodded his head and decided it was best to leave it alone for now. He considered ordering Ronon to go and get some rest, but decided that Ronon would have responded by hitting him. Sheppard's gaze returned to the surgery and he was relieved to know that Ronon was going to stand there with him until the end.
"It will be some time before she wakes up," Beckett said as he stepped into the viewing room after six hours of surgery. He looked so exhausted that it was as though he had run two marathons and had done a couple of triathlons.
"Do you think it worked?" Sheppard asked watching as two of Dr. Beckett's assistants transferred Sky out of surgery and brought her into the recovery room.
"We shall see when she wakes up. I must warn you that her mind may have been damaged by the Ancient before the chip was every placed into her brain."
"Right," Sheppard said absentmindedly as he pictured a cruel Ancient doing terrible things to Sky.
Dr. Beckett placed his right hand gently onto Sheppard's shoulder. "I understand how you feel, John, but we must have some faith that Sky will be all right."
Sheppard smiled weakly as Dr. Beckett nodded to Ronon and left the room.
Sheppard rubbed the back of his neck trying to loosen the muscles that had tightened due to the fact that his eyes had remained on the surgery for six hours.
"You all right, Sheppard?" Ronon asked as he turned to look at the Colonel.
"Yeah, I'm fine and I hope Sky will be too."
Ronon nodded not needing to say a word to what fears had been playing through Sheppard's mind for the past six hours.
Dr. Beckett checked Sky's vitals and noted it on her chart. Dr. Beckett had only been able to sleep for a few hours before he had the urge to check in on Sky. Even though it had only been four hours since the Ancient chip had been removed from Sky, her recovery time was faster than anyone else he had ever treated. He hoped that Sky would wake up soon so she would be able to them who she was and where she had come from.
He turned to go but he heard something snap and he recognized the source of that sound. It was the sound of restraints being broken.
Before Dr. Beckett could turn his head and look, he felt a hand grab onto his throat. He felt himself being lifted up off of the floor and slammed against the wall. As he hung there, his eyes looked down to see Sky's eyes burning into his own.
Dr. Beckett was glad that he wasn't unconscious again except for the fact that was being strangled by someone whom he had freed from being a mindless slave.
"What have you done to me?" Sky asked in a raspy voice.
Dr. Beckett struggled to speak, but all that came from his throat was choking noises.
Sky must have realized that she wouldn't get any answers from Dr. Beckett if he couldn't speak. She set him down onto his feet and released some of the pressure that she had been applying on his throat.
Dr. Beckett coughed as air flowed into his lungs. He tried to think of words that would sooth Sky's anger and fear, but his mind was too considered with panic about needing to breathe and fear for his life.
"Let him go," said Sheppard as he stepped into the room his weapon pointed at Sky.
Dr. Beckett would have sighed in relief but Sky tightened her grip on his throat prevented him.
"Please release Dr. Beckett, all he did was to help you," Sheppard said as he debated whether to drop his weapon or not. He didn't want Sky or Dr. Beckett to get hurt, but he couldn't be certain that Sky wouldn't hurt Dr. Beckett. Her eyes had gone from the blue of a sunny day to the dark, stormy blue of a storm on the horizon.
"Help me? You are one of them! One of those so-called Ancients. I can smell it within you," Sky yelled her hand tightening a little more on Dr. Beckett's throat.
"Look," Sheppard said as he laid down his weapon his eyes never wavering from Sky, "I don't want to hurt you. You need to understand, yes, some of us here have the Ancient gene, but we are very different from the Ancients. It wasn't all of the Ancients who did this to you; it was just one of them. You must remember that, don't you?"
"I…I don't remember. All I remember is the cold." Her eyes darkened, going to a place and a time that she could never forget. "You put me in this place and restrained me!"
"Well, that wasn't my idea," Sheppard replied with a shrug.
"John!" Dr. Beckett choked out.
Sheppard noticed that Dr. Beckett was starting to turn blue and decided that he had better get Sky to realize the good doctor soon. "Look, an Ancient put a device in your head so he could control you. All that Dr. Beckett did was to remove that device. You were restrained because we didn't want you to hurt yourself or any else."
Sheppard paused and waited a moment for Sky to absorb what he was telling her and then he continued in a softer, understanding tone. "You woke up confused, didn't you? And you panicked since you were in the infirmary. It's a place of healing, not a place where we do experiments, ok?"
Sky seemed to study Sheppard for a moment before she released her grip on Dr. Beckett's throat and watched as Dr. Beckett walked briskly to Sheppard.
Sky looked from Sheppard to Dr. Beckett and then back at Sheppard. Her blue eyes were showing a mixture of emotions that Sheppard couldn't figure out what was on in Sky's mind. He didn't know if she could be trusted or if she felt that he was the one who couldn't be trusted.
Sheppard didn't know what to say or what to do at that moment and he wondered if he ever would be able say something to her that would make everything all right.