Chapter 5: All Hands on Deck
Ronon lifted his head and looked out over the top of the canyon, to the fallen bridge and the town beyond. Everything was quiet.
He let out a breath as he tried the ropes again. He wasn't moving. These people knew how to tie knots. A glance upward reminded him that he was inside the gate. An activation would be the end of him. It didn't seem as if it would be a good way to die. Not a warrior's death in any case.
He wondered when Atlantis was supposed to check in. It shouldn't be anytime soon – but there was no telling when a trading partner would decide to dial this address.
He sighed, knowing that he shouldn't worry about it. There was nothing he could do in any case.
Still, part of him was terrified, and he had to slow his breath to calm down.
He looked across the divide and waited. He knew the others were over there. They'd be coming. There were three gateships beside him, and a group of Bogachiel, staying near enough to guard him – but far enough away so that if the gate activated, they wouldn't be caught up in it and wouldn't end up splattered.
Sheppard's attempt to negotiate with this group went nowhere. Ronon knew this type. They didn't understand talk. They understood a good fight.
His head drooped. He was so tired. He'd put up a struggle as they tied him here. He would have succeeded in getting loose from them, but he was still recovering from being stunned, his reflexes weren't so good, and there were many of them.
He waited, knowing Sheppard and the others would come.
And then he saw them – the Ironspot materialized first – that crazy ship with the big crane on top – and three other ships with it. He blinked at them, trying to bring them into focus – weird looking ships. He could see Sheppard inside the black and gray ship. Teyla was at the helm of the fast-looking orange-red ship, McKay was hunched at the controls of the silvery one and Rix manned the rust Ironspot– each different, each the same. He smiled to see them.
"Here we go," he said quietly.
As they came closer, the pirates near him went into a panic. They ran to their ships, and soon the three gateships were raising up to meet the interlopers. Only two guards remained.
Then, three more ships appeared behind his friends, Ostego's other ships, one all gilded in gold - Ostego, Ronon thought. Six of them against four of us. Not bad odds.
Ronon chuckled. He had no idea what was coming next, but he knew his friends would be the victors.
{O)[0]{O}
Sheppard couldn't help grinning as he looked along the line of ragtag ships. Teyla was sitting up tall and proud, McKay was hunched as if he was overwhelmed, but sticking with the plan. He was jabbing away at the DHD control, taking the gate out of commission until they could free Ronon. He would have to remind McKay to relax when he was flying – actually enjoy it. Rix was on the far end, looking in his element.
There was no mental component to flying the hybrid ship. It made flying dependent on their actions. It was strange, after piloting the jumpers for so long. He enjoyed the feeling of flying a ship himself.
And then he changed his gaze to see Ronon, talgoed to the Gate, and the humor left him. Ronon was bloodied and bruised - about to collapse when they brought the ships out of cloak - now Dex stood tall and strong, ready.
Over the ship's radio system, a voice rang out. "Give up your ships now and we'll let you live!" Ostego was apparently a little ticked off.
"Nope," Sheppard said, making the word pop, "Not going to happen. We're here to pick up our friend and then we will go on our way."
"I'm not talking to you, John Sheppard. Rix Mills, give up the ships now! They do not belong to you."
Rix's reedy voice came over the radio. "The ships are mine, Ostego! By the laws of the Bogachiel, I have obtained all of them fairly."
"And yet you give them to these interlopers."
"I'm not giving anything!" Rix responded incredulously.
"Why are you helping them?"
"I just want what is mine!" Rix shot back. "The ships are mine! You came to take them. These people will help me keep them."
"And the treasures of Marne and Gratiot."
"Abandoned!" Rix shot back. "You abandoned me and Zeno and Wortley on the Gratiot - longer than an Acruvio night! You purposefully disabled the Ironspot and left us there to guard a treasure that we could not spend. Abandoned! As for the treasure on the planet Marne, it was abandoned as well – for ages. I didn't even get a chance to taste that horde. I owe you nothing."
"Give it up, Rix, or you all will die. What did you offer them to help you with this pointless endeavor?"
"Hey, hey, hey," Sheppard finally put in. "We just want to go home. Untie our man and we'll be going."
"And you'll leave the ships?" Ostego asked.
From across the line of ships, Rix gave him a furious look. Sheppard sighed. He rather doubted that it would be as easy as that. He looked down at Ronon who was not able to hear the conversation. Dex looked up with a defiant expression.
"Let our man loose," Sheppard said.
Rix cut in, "There is no trade! Let him loose or experience our might."
Ostego laughed. "Mills," he growled. "You will pay for this insubordination." And Ostego fired on the Ironspot.
The rust-colored ship brought up its shield and easily avoided him, ducking and dodging and coming back to face the leader's ostentatious ship. It was then that a Wraith ship appeared, out of nowhere – enough to chill anyone's heart.
Ostego's ship spun out of the way.
Guess it's time for that, Sheppard thought, as he activated the dart hologram on his ship – and suddenly two Wraith darts dodged through the air.
The pirate ships moved out of the way to avoid the terrifying specters. Sheppard stayed with them at first, letting the hologram do its thing. He glanced at the Ironspot, the Ember and the Flicker, hoping everyone was ready.
While the pirate ships dove away from the hologram, Sheppard came in low near the gate, took down his cloak, and deployed the smokescreen as a Wraith hologram came at his ship.
[0]{O}[0]
The moment the smoke screen was deployed, Ronon stood ready, and watched in disbelief as a Wraith Dart cut across Sheppard's bow. Ronon stiffened at the sight, not ready to believe it was a real dart – it seemed too accommodating to be true, and they definitely didn't come through the gate. He could see the colonel's shocked expression as his ship suddenly went down. His mouth opened in a big "O" as he disappeared before the smoke completely obliterated everything.
Dex coughed at the acrid blackness and when he brought his head up, he realized that the Ironspot had landed beside him. He pulled away as that crane arm came at him. With a snick, something sharp as hell cut through the cords that bound him. Quick and accurate – bick-back - Ronon stumbled away, the ropes dangling from his arms and legs as the Ironspot's crane pulled back.
A voice called him through the smoke. Something else landed near him.
"Ronon, Ronon! Change of plan. You have to come here. Can you move? Are you okay? You need to get out of that smoke fast."
He looked toward the Ironspot first, but that wasn't Rix. Instead, he turned toward the other direction to find that the silver ship had landed in the smoke.
"Hurry, Ronon! We've got to get moving."
He ran up the hatch of the silver ship.
"Oh, good. Okay, hang on," McKay said, slamming the hatch shut, bringing the silver ship up sharply. Ronon fell to the ground, coughing. "Sorry, sorry," McKay said as he pitched the ship one way and then another, climbing through the smoke. "The smoke is making this harder… worse. It's… I can't use the shield or the cloak. It's all fouled. I wasn't expecting to have to deal with this part, but Sheppard…" He frowned as he looked downward. "I think something happened to Sheppard's ship. Rix said he wasn't sure about it. I wish I'd had the time to work on it." McKay prattled on as he looked out the windscreen.
Ronon struggled to his feet, dragging the remnants of the ropes with him until he made it to the front of the rocking ship and dropped into the copilot's ship. He pulled the seat straps around him as McKay brought the ship up higher. He'd undo the ropes eventually, but the knots were formidable and he doubted he could deal with them without a knife.
"You okay?" McKay asked again. "We got here as quick as we could."
"I'm fine," Ronon said coughing again, "Where's Sheppard?"
McKay looked bleak, "The ship went down, but he recovered. I think he recovered. I figured I'd have to step in because, well, someone had to. We had limited time for the smoke and before the guards came at you. The Smudge… not entirely makie, huh? I hope he's okay." McKay looked down into the canyon. "Yes, yes, he went down, but his ship is still moving."
Ronon watched as McKay one handedly poked at the DHD. The ship dipped before Rodney went back to the flight controls. "Sorry," he said again. "I'm just not that good at this with one hand."
"Look out," Ronon said as two of Ostego's team broke away and came at them.
"Oh no," Rodney groaned. "Hang on. I'm supposed to let them chase me away and then double back. I wish I had some of those fake Wraith Darts right about now. Sheilds up." And the silver ship sped away, following the top of the canyon, away from the rest of the group.
{O}[0]{O}
"Son of a bitch," Sheppard complained as he fought to regain control of the Smudge. It wasn't as repaired as Rix had promised. The Wraith dart didn't help the situation. The dart had startled him when it passed and then the ship just lost altitude. He had to fight to gain control of it.
The controls seemed to be blinking a warning at him. He gave the panel a solid rap, and they stopped blinking. "I hope that's a good thing."
He hoped Rodney had managed to pick up Ronon. The smoke screen was already dissipating, and the Ironspot had flown off as planned, along with the Flicker. Ronon wasn't there anymore – so good news.
The pirate ships were growing wise to the holographic darts – probably already aware that they existed, so Sheppard shut his down so he wouldn't be surprised again. Ostego's crew took off after Rix and McKay's uncloaked ships. Two of them followed each ship.
The biggest ship—the Fortress and the purple boxy ship- the Tinderbox followed McKay. Teyla's ship flew in front of Rodney's followers, drawing off the purple ship to chase her. She started at a good clip but picked up enormous speed and zapped across the sky with the Tinderbox following. The big Fortress stayed after McKay.
The silver ship suddenly flickered. One moment it was there – and then it seemed to have traveled forty meters ahead, and then another forty. The big, terra-cotta-brown ship kept following the Flicker as it flickered forward. The big ship fell behind.
"Son of a bitch," Sheppard said under his breath. "That's cool."
The smoke was still swirling thinly around the gate. The remaining pirate guards were wandering around, looking rather ill. The gate was clear. They could go through as long as Rodney had reset it, but they just needed to get rid of some of these pirates or they'd never make it home.
Pirates! Who would have thought of such a thing?
Rix had turned off the Wraith Surprise as well. It had helped distract the others, but now they were just annoying.
The purple Tinderbox continued to follow Teyla's Ember, chasing her down-canyon. The silver Flicker kept leaping forward, up-canyon, with the Fortress behind it.
The Ironspot dove into the canyon with the pinchered Big Bug and the green Grove in pursuit.
And Sheppard kept his eyes on Ostego and the turtle-shaped ship. Then, he realized what Rix was doing as the Ironspot dipped deeper into that canyon with two pursuers. With a sigh, Sheppard followed, with the greenish Turtle-Fella behind him.
"Just like the Kessle Run back home," he muttered, following in the strange parade through the canyon. He hoped he remembered enough about the canyon to negotiate it. Ostego's ornate ship hovered near the gate, guarding it.
[0]{O}[0]
Ronon watched Rodney as McKay kept the Flicker on course. McKay looked as if he was barely holding it together. His shoulder was obviously dislocated again – must worse than before.
Feeling the scrutiny, Rodney flinched and said, his voice quavering, "Don't touch it, okay? Just don't. I know it's a temptation to you, but it's really bad now."
"What happened?" Ronon asked. "Did someone do this to you?"
"An asshat pirate…" McKay replied, "…being an asshat."
"Which one?" Ronon asked, his frown deepening.
"Big blond guy. Dixon."
Ronon remembered the lunk from the pub. "Why?"
"I pissed him off," Rodney said, and laughed a little. It looked as if he couldn't sit up straight, as he concentrated on keeping the ship moving forward. It took all his effort to sit up and operate the 'flicker' option.
Behind them, the Fortress fired, thwarted by the shield.
"Can I help?" Ronon asked.
McKay glanced over at him. For a moment, Ronon expected a rebuke – that he was unable to understand how complicated it was to fly a machine, but Rodney said, "Yeah, yeah, you can operate the 'push'… the 'flicker'."
Ronon had seen McKay push some buttons before they jumped. Rodney flinched every time the ship jerked. The ship would dip and he'd have to work to get it back on track.
"First, you have to wait until that light is blue. That means we have enough power. It has to recharge every time. It's getting worse the farther we go. I don't think it's made to keep this up. I'd fix that if I had time. Then, you need to disengage the shied with this lever. Then, quick, hit those two buttons. You have to push them down together." McKay glanced as his monitor and said, "Oh God, that other ship is getting close again. "Now, do it now."
The light was blue, Ronon moved the lever down and then pushed the two buttons. The Flicker made that strange 'zoomp' sound, and there was that flip-flop feeling as the ship suddenly zoomed forward like a bullet. Ronan was forced back into his seat. This time, McKay was able to keep it on an even keel.
"Good, good," McKay said. "See, that was easier." He blinked heavily. "Now, that lever, push it up. That's our shield. Can't fire up the 'push' with the shield operating."
"Got it," Ronon said, doing as asked.
McKay went on, "We just have to stay ahead of him."
"Then what?" Ronon asked.
"What?"
"We just keep running ahead?" Ronon asked. "That other ship is faster than yours when you're not using the buttons."
"I know," McKay said unhappily. "The power keeps draining. I'm just… just trying to stay ahead. Stay out of range of his weapons, use the shield. I'm supposed to circle back, but we can't lose him. This ship needs more power. I could fix that if…" And he trailed off.
"We should fight," Ronon said.
"We don't have weapons," Rodney said despairingly. "The Fortress does. How is that fair? How can we have a pirate ship without any cannons?"
Ronon watched McKay, how he seemed to be dipping further into his seat. "I have a plan," he said.