Chapter 21

As the hatch whirred closed at his back, Rodney suffered a moment of sheer panic. The bio-suit was a tight fit. The inside was moulded to hold him secure within the contraption. He felt trapped, while claustrophobia clawed at all of his senses. In the small space, he heard his own breathing louden as it sped up to a hyperventilation fit, so much so that the tiny window before his face fogged rapidly. Although he wasn't yet connected to the interface, the bio-suit responded to each movement he made. Its arms ticked up and down, the legs moved erratically and Rodney was sure it looked as if its knees were shaking like some cartoon robot whose circuitry had gone haywire.

He tried to focus, tried to talk himself out of the swelling panic, and face the job at hand. Orna was behind him in her own suit, making sure the hatch was secure and testing the systems against her own. She didn't say a word about his agitated dance though she surely saw it. However, Teyla, who halted donning her own bio-suit, did say something.

"Take deep steady breaths, Rodney. Try to calm your mind."

"Ca...calm my mind?! I'm-I'm-I'm stuck inside a tin can, about to take on animals I don't even understand and who will no doubt eviscerate me as soon as they get close! Yes, of course, I'll calm down! Just… give me a minute!"

Teyla just eyed him through the small window, the epitome of patience and calm. He watched her as she breathed in slowly and exhaled slowly, and copied her until his lungs no longer felt intent on suffocating him.

"Okay… I can do this…"

"Yes, you can. Just think of it as a second skin, no more, no less."

"A second skin… no more… no less…" He repeated this over and over as he followed her guided breathing.

After a few moments, Rodney felt calmer. The erratic movements of the suit halted as he gained control of his fear. Though the small window was still fogged, he could see Teyla smiling as she stepped away to get into her own suit.

Orna completed her checks and came to stand before him. She stared out of her little window and grinned.

"Next part will be a bit strange," she said. "You'll become part of the system in a few seconds. You'll sense a buzzing in your mind as the synaptic interface connects. Just breathe through it, the sensation passes quickly."

No sooner has she said the words than Rodney felt the interface connect. A sharp jab near the base of his skull made him flinch and he almost cried out. She hadn't mentioned that this would happen. Probably so he didn't panic more than he had already. The buzzing disorientated him. It was so intense he could barely think, his thoughts scrambled six ways to hell. Then, abruptly, it stopped.

It was a strange feeling, being part of a machine.

A HUD appeared, floating just above his right eye. It detailed suit integrity, weapons data, and showed a detailed 3D map of the area. On the map were white dots that represented the people around him. There were other dots, far in the distance, marked in red. Undoubtedly these were the Groten that hurried their way, though, according to the map, were still at least a mile away. Now that he'd gotten used to it, Rodney realised how remarkably comfortable the suit was. He grinned as he flexed his left hand and the suit clamped its three-fingered mechanical hand before him.

"Now we're talking!" he said gleefully.

A movement to his side caught his attention and Rodney watched as Major Teldy's team carried the stasis pod holding John from the barn. He watched until they disappeared outside and Ronon stepped in front of him.

"Keep your wits about you. Eyes on the target at all times. Remember what I taught you and you'll be fine."

Rodney nodded, which resulted in the bio-suit bobbing up and down.

"I remember you kicked my ass during my training, not sure what I actually learned from that other than the fact I'm useless at fighting with sticks."

Ronon grinned. "You got better, even with sticks."

It was the Satedan's way of telling him to take care and come back alive. Rodney appreciated the sentiment.

"Thanks," he said as Ronon walked to Teyla. "You take care, too."

Ronon merely nodded and continued walking, no doubt feeling his usual awkwardness at shows of any type of affection.

Rodney walked outside, flexing his hands and testing control over the bio-suit. It really did feel like a second skin, and he marveled at the ingenuity behind such a creation. Suits such as these would definitely come in handy back on Atlantis. Perhaps he would work on one if he survived today.

Ronon was the last to enter the Jumper and the bulkhead door closed behind him. Teyla came to a stop by Rodney's side. They both watched the Jumper take off and stared at the sky long after it had disappeared.

"Do you think it will work?" Rodney asked quietly.

"I have no doubt that everyone on that ship, including Primus, will do their very best to ensure it works," Teyla replied. "So we must ensure we save the Goh in return. Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Rodney replied with a sigh.

Lorne and Stackhouse's teams headed to their Jumpers, and soon, both ships hovered a few yards from the ground. The alarm continued to sound around the village. Rodney had got so used to the sound that he barely acknowledged it. But he noted a sudden change to its tone and saw the Caronaa warriors tense in their suits.

"They are here," Orna said as she stepped up beside them.

The warriors at the treeline began to fire into the trees, as did the two PuddleJumpers. Rodney could hear angry snarls and howls as their weapons hit targets not yet visible. Then, dark, fast-moving missiles blasted out from the trees, all soaring high and far into the village. People were screaming as they fled deeper into the village and Goh were uselessly slaughtered in the first barrage. Every suited warrior headed to the treeline, Rodney and Teyla included. Soon the Groten burst from the forest, howling with anger and determined to take down anything in their path. It was frightening running towards such fury. Rodney questioned his own sanity as he raised his arm to fire upon the strange creatures that twisted and morphed to avoid all fire. The Groten were larger than he remembered. Huge furry beasts with strange anatomical build and teeth longer than a human hand. They fired their weapons at the warriors, spraying them with black sludge with living Goh within. Rodney couldn't guess at what was going through the minds of those tiny creatures as they were shot from the confines of the Groten weapons. Did they know the people they were aimed at wished to save them? Would they halt their instinct to burrow and consume if they had any idea they were being fired at their saviors? Rodney wished he had asked Primus if there was a way to communicate this to its kind to establish this very fact. Perhaps then, the Groten weapons would be all but useless, the Goh becoming inert upon firing. Then again, it would matter little, for as soon as the Groten acknowledged the impotence of their ammunition, they would simply use their bodies to do the dirty work.

Rodney watched one of the bio-suits fall. He saw a Goh smash through the little window in the helmet area and on into the face of the warrior within. He nearly vomited at the sight but seeing it only made him realise that only they could stop the Groten. The Goh were only doing what instinct dictated and would continue to do so as long as they were aimed at living beings.

Rodney roared and ran forward toward the Groten whose lucky shot had taken down the warrior.

"I can do this," he said to himself. "I am a warrior. I am—"

The beast looked his way, snarled and launched itself at him.

"...I am so dead…"

Rodney fired all of his weapons, striking the creature over and over, hoping it was enough to stop the thing from reaching him. But he hoped in vain. The Groten was upon him in seconds, ripping at his suit with claws and teeth as he screamed and twisted beneath it. Rodney used everything at his disposal to injure the Groten. The huge mechanical hands pulled at limbs until they snapped. The Groten howled with pain but didn't stop the attack. Its mouth snapped inches from Rodney's face, one tooth gouging at the tiny window he looked out of. The window cracked but didn't give, though his vision through it would be impaired by the damage.

Rodney wasn't scared, though. He was angry. And he poured all of that furious resentment into a punishing assault. He punched and pulled, twisted and slammed with arms and legs until he gained the upper hand. He grabbed hold of the Groten's shoulders and twisted hard until he sat upon the creature. He raised his hands and the mechanical arms and his mind blanked as he thought about John. In his mind, all he saw was the agony his friend had suffered. He remembered John struggling to breathe, struggling to stay alive. He recalled John's fight to survive dwindle as his body withered away. Rodney saw also the Goh he himself had pulled from John's body, dying by his hands as he pummeled them to death. Victims as much as any, and killed by his ignorance. He was so blinded by those memories and his own burning rage that he failed to register the Groten was dead until another warrior pulled him from the body.

"It's dead! Move on!" the warrior shouted as it lunged towards another, living Groten.

Rodney looked down at what he had done, lost in a moment of denial. The Groten's head was little more than pulp. Its chest was torn open, a mass of splintered bone and blood. Rodney looked to the bio-suit's hands and saw them curled up and bloodied.

He had done this. He had killed this intelligent and deadly creature. Maybe once upon a time this would have made him ill and cause him to question his morals, but not today. Right at that moment, Rodney realised that he had what it took to protect himself and his friends. He wasn't just the scientist anymore. He was every bit the warrior the rest of the team were.
Rodney McKay turned from the dead Groten and eyed up his next target, even as his mind churned through multiple ideas of how to save the remaining Goh.

To be continued...