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Chapter 11: Down But Not Out

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Radek knew he'd have to pay the piper for his insubordination. However, he had hoped he would have valid proof that his actions led to a worthy outcome, like it usually worked out for McKay. But when Dr. Weir exited the deteriorating hallway into the room where the second stargate was, he knew he wasn't as blessed as Rodney. Was now caught red-handed and with no proof his risk was merited.

Instead of asking why he alone was working on the gate, having sent the rest of his team to work on the main stargate, Dr. Weir began her interrogation with astute observations. "And why is the Stargate wormhole activated, Dr. Zelenka?" Her eyes flew to the control console and the second question was sharp enough to draw blood. "And to the address of the first planet the thieves fled to?"

Radek shot a look to the three guards, and they looked as pale as Rodney had that time he had ingested lemons. Teyla had used her honey toned voice on them, ensuring them her trip through the wormhole was Dr. Weir approved, but now they were quickly catching on to how big a lie that was. Digging into McKay's brand of rebellion, Radek retorted, "I'm trying to determine what effects the open wormhole has on the Atlantis systems." Which was partly true.

One of the soldiers stepped forward but Dr. Weir didn't notice, had zeroed her interrogation solely to Zelenka. "But we agreed it was too risky to open a wormhole and deplete our ZPMs," Weir tersely reminded him.

"Did we?" Radek went for stupidity instead of bragging up his brilliance the way McKay would have.

"You know we did. Now Shut. It. Down," Dr. Weir commanded in that icy tone even Colonel Sheppard obeyed, well, most of the time.

Zelenka silently cursed in Czech. "I can not do that, Dr. Weir. For numerous reasons." Her eyes flared with unholy fury, but he couldn't relent, lives were at stake. His career? That might not be salvageable. "We thought…" he began but then someone was emerging from the wormhole. The soldiers raised their weapons and stepped forward. Time froze. Then sped up too fast as a foot then a hand emerged from the wormhole. There was almost a collective sigh of relief when they could identify that it was Teyla who was coming through the portal.

But that reaction excluded Dr. Weir. She wasn't relieved, more like irate. But she held off unleashing her anger on Teyla as other travelers followed the Athosian out of the wormhole. When Ronon, Carson, Lorne and his teams were all through the stargate and no one else followed, Dr. Weir asked the same question Ronon had. "Where are Sheppard and McKay?" Though honestly, her concern was mostly for Sheppard. Considering his health was in jeopardy, his absence made her gut churn. As for Rodney's absence, it wasn't surprising he'd be wherever John was.

Conscious of the curious spectators as well as unwilling to discuss Sheppard's condition and turn it into scuttlebutt, the Major formally requested of Dr. Weir, "Ma'am, can we discuss this somewhere a little more private?"

It snapped Elizabeth into awareness, and she curtly agreed, "The main conference room then. Dr. Zelenka, Teyla, Ronon and Dr. Beckett you will be attending as well." Then she turned on her heel and stalked away.

Beckett was fretting before she was even out of hearing range. "We've done it now! She'll probably reassign me back to Antarctic or Stargate command. My mother will be so disappointed…well if I could tell her the truth about what I do she'd be disappointed."

Teyla put a steadying hand on Carson's shoulder. "Doctor, all will be well. We will explain to Dr. Weir why we chose to disable her orders. I have known her to be logical and fair."

"You mean coldblooded," Ronon undertoned as he walked by Teyla in the path Dr. Weir had already taken. He honestly didn't care what Dr. Weir said, he'd find a way to Sheppard and get him and Rodney back. He could live with no other outcome.

Major Lorne meanwhile was putting the pieces together, joined the Teyla and Carson twosome. "I take it your trip through the wormhole wasn't sanctioned by Dr. Weir."

"No. But I do not regret it. You would not be here in Atlantis if we hadn't disobeyed her orders," Teyla confidently retorted.

The Major sighed, grumbled, "I should have stayed on the planet," as he also headed down the hallway. There was going to be reckoning for all of them. He could take the fallout, would try to mitigate it for Ronon, Teyla and the doc for their part in today's snafu. But knew whatever clemency he might beg borrow and steal would be revoked with prejudice if they didn't get Sheppard and McKay returned to them. Alive. John staying that way…that might not be on the table. Might be out of all of their hands.

Evan didn't inflate his own importance, knew that the effect on Atlantis if Sheppard died would be catastrophic. And quite possibly unrecoverable because John Sheppard wasn't just the military leader of Atlantis, he was like the fun-loving mascot, awe inspiring hero, beloved fair-haired prince and their fierce protector. Dr. Weir might sit in the big chair but when push came to shove, when Wraiths and danger came knocking, everyone's eyes didn't seek out Weir, no they sought out Colonel Sheppard. They all trusted that, if there was a way to win the unwinnable, John Sheppard would be the guy to pull it off.

But when it came to struggling for his own survival, would Sheppard fight as hard as he would if it were anyone else's life on the line? Would he battle as fiercely and unrelentingly the crippling effects the ATA drug was having on his body? Pull a miracle out of his spikey head…for himself this time? Evan feared he already had the answers to those questions because John Sheppard didn't know his own worth.

It made Evan suddenly glad Dr. McKay had been the stubborn egomaniac he thrived on being and refused to leave Sheppard's side. Because as much as McKay thought of himself, which was a lot, the doc surprisingly thought even more of John. Wouldn't let Sheppard give up, would nag him to put up whatever fight he had to wage to survive. But Evan had been a soldier a long while, knew that willpower, determination, loyalty, duty, yeah it pushed you through a lot of situations and pain, but one's own body, it had the final say in how you came home, walking or in a flag covered casket.

That unforgiving realism didn't sit well with him. Nor did he relish the upcoming line of inquiry about why he had left Sheppard and McKay in the hands of a group of thieves. The result could maybe turn out to be fatal, for him, once Ronon Dex knew the details, but probably not career ending because he had dutifully followed his superior officer's orders.

He had never hated himself more for being such a model soldier.

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When Sheppard dropped out of his chair and began seizing, Kannar started to rush to the ill man, but his dad was suddenly in his way, forcibly holding him back.

"No!" Sakar growled, practically tackling his son around the waist to block his motion forward. "I won't let you endanger your life by going to him!"

"Let me go!" Kannar shouted, trying to jerk out of his dad's grasp but his father was still in good shape, had been the military leader for many years before he handed the torch off to his son. Which kind of meant, mostly all of what Kannar knew about fighting, he'd learned from his father.

Sakar used his hold on his son's waist to spin Kannar around toward the door, growled in his ear, "We need to leave him. All of us." Emotionally detached, Kannar watched the people rushing by him, panicked as if there was a uncontrollable fire in their midst instead of a guest seizing on the ground. But to them, it was as life threatening as a fire, had their ancestors' memories to know what might come next after the man's seizures stopped.

"I'm not leaving him to die because of old superstitions!" Kannar threw his elbow into his dad's gut, the surprised pain enough to loosen the older man's hold. Kannar took his opening and dodged around his dad, wasn't expecting his own two teammates, dragging a violently struggling McKay toward the door, to be an impediment. Their presence in his path to Sheppard slowed him down long enough for his dad to reach for him again, grabbed his wrist and yanking his arm painfully behind his back and jerking him backwards until he came up against his dad's chest. His dad's words were forceful and desperate.

"Son, don't! If you touch him, they may think you're infected and kill you!" Sakar hated having to be rough with Kannar but he would do what he must to keep his son safe.

"He's sick because of the gate tracking!" Kannar protested his dad's fears.

But then Sakar spoke in his son's ear, his words for him alone, "Regardless what causes his fit, if you go to his aid, it will be believed that you have sided against our people. Your fate will be tied to his…" and knowing his brave honorable son would throw his life away even for this stranger, Sakar added, "And not just your fate, but mine as well."

The danger his actions posed to his father's life was enough to get Kannar to go still. His eyes were still on the man writhing on the ground but he wasn't fighting his father's restraints anymore. Letting out a curse, he bit out, "You can let me go." His dad's hold didn't lesson not until he vowed, "I won't go to him, will leave like the rest of our craven people."

Released of his father's imprisoned hold, Kannar spared another look to the ill man before he spun on his heels and angrily strode for the door, his dad soon pacing them. They were the last ones out of the building and Olpwen shut the doors behind them, sealing in the ill man. He turned around in time to see one of his more volatile soldiers come up to McKay and knock him unconscious to cut off verbal outcries and his struggle to get back to his ill friend.

"Damn it! You didn't have to do that!" Kannar spat at his most disloyal soldier as he crouched down beside the downed Atlantean. The townspeople, having come at the commotion, started shouting threats against their visitors of "Lock him up!" "Send them to the mines", "Show the Lanteans we won't be poisoned and experimented on ever again." Kannar looked up to his father with a new understanding. He had underestimated his people's fear and hatred, not just for Lanteans, but for anyone not of their kind. They had separated themselves too long from the galaxy, had become paranoid and worse, gave no mercy to any people not their own.

'How can we broker peace when all my people want from these people is their blood?' Kannar had never felt more of an outsider than he did right then. Maybe that was why he liked these men from Atlantis so much, because he was more like them. Wanted peace more than war, wanted to invite the world in, not keep it shut out, wanted better for his people. But now he wondered if they deserved better or had they actually earned the Lanteans mistrust and betrayal.

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John didn't remember having a seizure, not before and not now, but waking up sprawled in the dirt with spit traveling down his chin gave him a pretty good idea he just had another. And this time there was no Rodney there, hovering by him, assuring him that he was going to be alright. In fact, he didn't sense anyone nearby. And the world around him was almost eerily quiet.

The quiet he didn't mind, as his head hurt like the worse concussion he'd ever had. And speaking of pain, even his bones hurt. As much as he told himself to get off the ground, at least push himself to sit up, assess the situation around him, he couldn't move, felt disconnected from his body like all his brain signals were being rerouted and his nerves and muscles weren't getting the messages. 'Like I blew all my circuits and now I'm just good for scrap metal.'

Since moving was out of the question, he decided to access his current situation. He knew he was sick because of the ATA drug and were on another planet alien world as first time visitors. And oh yeah, he was in the middle of trying to slip the noose from his and Rodney's neck from the hanging trial they were immersed in. Vaguely he wondered how it had turned out, had a wayward thought that maybe he hadn't had a seizure but had survived a hanging, like Clint did in one of his westerns.

He tried to look around the room but even shifting his eyes sent a wave of agony through his brain and he clamped his eyes shut, tried to will himself to not get sick. This was worse than the times before he's woken on the floor post seizure. This agony wasn't fading away and his thoughts were shot through with missing pieces. Couldn't' remember if Lorne was holding back by the gate waiting for word from him, if maybe Rodney had been spared because he wasn't in charge like John was. And there were other pieces that didn't fit. Where were Teyla and Ronon? Did they stay with Lorne's team or travel here and manage an escape. Shit! He didn't know and that was un-damn-acceptable. These peoples' lives were in his hands, were following his orders, he needed to keep it together, not doom them, or all of Atlantis if this trial went from two lynchings to all out war.

Elizebath wouldn't have mucked all this up, would have these Lantean haters eating out of her dainty but strong hand by now. But not him. He wasn't sure how the trial ended up but him being left alone seizing said a lot on the negative factor of the outcome. He wanted to call out, demand to see Rodney, make sure he hadn't gotten his best friend killed. But when he tried to speak, only a croak came out, his mouth Afganastan dry, regardless of the saliva that had dripped down his chin.

Cursing his weakness, he tried to put together a way out for Rodney because he refused to believe his friend wasn't ok. He would beg for Rodney's release, and if that didn't work, he'd threaten them with total annihilation. (How he'd call down this brimstone attack he hadn't worked out yet, but they didn't need to know that.) Part of him still wanted peace between their people but the rational soldier in him told him that had been only a pipe dream. These people had treated him and Rodney like terrorists the second they arrived, wanted them dead, painfully so, more than anything else. Were too prejudiced to accept they weren't the people who wronged them, that they could find benefit in joining their forces together. He had met tribes in the Middle East like this, unwilling to give up their centuries long war with another tribe, even when they didn't remember the original offence. And people, good friends of his, had died caught in their tribal battles. He refused to let any MORE of his people on Atlantis lose their lives over this feud these people had with the Lanteans.

Time for negotiation was over. They needed to take their ZPM back, get Rodney released and Kannar's people had to be made to realize that, if they wanted to escalate the hostilities, Atlantis would do way worse than the Lanteans did to them. Because if this was John's final act in life, he'd save everyone on Atlantis and make sure Kannar's people didn't ever pose a threat to them again.

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TBC

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Whoo hoo, even when he is down, John Sheppard is never out.

Have a great day everyone!

Cheryl W.