"Red Sky At Dawn" - Part 15 - STORY FINISHED

[kellifer]

Title: Red Sky At Dawn - Part Fifteen
Author: kellifer_fic
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis, that is, pegasus_b
Rating: Mature
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. They come from the SciFi Original Series Stargate:Atlantis. Don't own, don't sue!

Notes: Story completed. Many thanks to my beta *superfox*. "Red Sky" cover by sg1atlantis and link goes to first part.

Notes2: This part was a little longer than the previous but I didn't want to break it down any further and torture you all.

Summary - “Wraith Whumpers?” John snorted.

“What? It’s catchy,” Rodney sniffed.







"Why are you breathing like that?"

John looked at Rodney, who was staring at him with a canted head and a curious expression. John scowled. "Like what?" he demanded, but the words had come out on an exhalation so were partially lost and he finally realised the rushing sound he was hearing in his ears wasn't the ocean, but his own breath.

"Oh my God, you're having a panic attack. I thought I was the only one who had those. Aren't you supposed to be...?"

"What??" John had tried for menacing but the lack of oxygen was not lending credence to his tone.

"Tough or something?"

"I am not having a panic attack, McKay," John threw up his hands in frustration but Rodney was merely grinning at him.

"The harsh breathing, rapid blinking and general pallor say different. All hallmarks my friend."

John had to admit, even if he wouldn't go as far to call it a panic attack, he was certainly having a small problem. He was standing in front of the Command Chair, Rodney had said, "Well, sit down," in an impatient tone and that's when it had started. John clenched his fists and willed himself to move forward, but nothing happened. His feet stayed planted firmly, one foot away from the chair. "Why can't I do this?" John ground out.

"Look Major, this is all perfectly understandable. I would normally be understanding as a fellow..." At John's narrowed eyes Rodney didn't finish the thought. "Anyway, we have maybe five minutes before our Jumpers and the Wraith darts engage so you need to do this." Rodney was watching John, face grimly determined. "Now, Major!"

John crossed the last few inches that separated him from the chair and dropped backwards into it. It immediately lit up and tilted him backwards and he could feel the tendrils of Atlantis reaching out to him, welcoming, embracing him.

Welcome home, she said.

John ignored everything Atlantis was trying to bring to his attention, the myriad items that needed to be repaired and systems neglected too long and focused on finding the weapon. Atlantis automatically accessed the drone system but John shoved that connection aside, looking for the backup weapon. He finally found it, the dangerous lotus that would unfurl and bring death to those it touched. It was no where near as devastating as the Drones but could deal with the small force bearing down on them. John switched focus, bringing the city's external panorama online and watched as the Darts edged closer to the pathetically small grouping of defiant Jumpers. He concentrated on the lead Dart and felt the pressure build behind his eyes, the formation of power that would consume him if he didn't set it free.

John let it curl against his mind for a dangerously long time, before letting go.

Daniel and Ford had been able to use the weapon, but John was able to become the weapon, letting it be an extension of himself. The first pulse sliced through the lead Dart like it was paper and managed to clip both the second and third ships as well. They had been clumped too close together, coming in for a quick kill and not expecting much of a fight. John saw the Jumpers scatter and form up at a safe distance, ready to pick off any Darts that made a break for it. John let loose again and again and wondered why he had ever been afraid of this feeling.

Now he didn't want it to end.

Two Darts slipped past his sensor range, skirting too close to the city so he let them go, knowing the Jumpers would concentrate on those. He was left to clean up the remaining and he did it with ruthless precision. When he finished Atlantis tugged at him, begging for his attention elsewhere and John followed its tether, liking the power curling through his body.

"John," a voice said, sounding distant. John tried to ignore it.

"John!" More insistent this time and then a stinging slap brought him crashing out of the system. He jerked forward and standing in front of him, looking worried and with her hand up, probably ready to hit him again, was Teyla.

"I was trying to get you out safely when Xena here just went for the barbaric approach," Rodney complained.

John watched as Teyla slowly lowered her arm, the fingers curling into a fist as her hand finally bumped to rest against the outside of her thigh. John brought his own hand up and felt the warm skin of his cheek where Teyla had connected.

"That's my girl," John said, smiling.

~~~

Jack had watched, annoyed, as John Sheppard had basically taken care of every Dart that had come through. He'd been spoiling for a fight and it looked like, as was the case with most modern wars, he would be sitting on the sidelines and just watching the action. When two Darts actually made a break for it, ploughing headlong towards the Jumpers so John couldn't risk firing until they were too close to the city to even be an option, Jack fought the urge to yell "Woohoo!" into his comms, knowing the other pilots would probably not understand.

Jack wheeled his Jumper around, the boxy ship responding to him like no sleek jet ever had, and hurtled after the enemy fighters. He followed close as they ducked and weaved through the city's towers, praying that they weren't on a suicide run. A strange light emitted out of the bottom of both ships before they careened out of the other side of the city.

Jack watched, amazed, as they both dropped towards the ocean, smacking into the surface and fragmenting on impact. Jack circled around for a few minutes, thinking it might be some elaborate ruse, but when they ships slowly sunk , leaving jagged pieces behind, Jack tapped his radio.

"Doctor Weir, we had to Darts crash into the water just beyond the South Pier. There are still pieces floating on the surface but not for much longer. If any of the scientists want to take a looksee, you should get a salvage crew out here now."

"Acknowledged. We don't have any more Darts on view so return to the city. Good work, Colonel."

"I didn't do a damn thing," Jack grumbled and he could hear Elizabeth's snort over the radio.

"Maybe if there's a next time, the winner will be the one who gets the chair, hmm?"

Jack couldn't help but laugh.

~~~

John and Rodney had only gotten back to the control room, trailed by Teyla, when Ronon appeared from the other side, Daniel in his arms.

"Why didn't you take him down to the infirmary?" Rodney demanded, darting forward. Ronon curled his arms tighter around Daniel and turned his body slightly in a clear back off gesture that had Rodney halting when he was only halfway to him.

"I wanted to. He insisted on being brought up here. He passed out halfway up."

"Why didn't you take him to the infirmary then?" John asked, amazed at how six foot two of solid archaeologist could look light as a child in the arms of the man before him.

Ronon arched an eyebrow. "Because he asked me to bring him here," he said, as if it were the most logical thing in the world.

"I'm okay," Daniel blinked his eyes open, curling a hand up and tapping the side of Ronon's neck. "You can put me down."

Ronon crossed the control room and eased Daniel onto a chair, who was looking pale and shaky, but otherwise alright. He smiled wanly and turned the chair so he was pointed at a terminal. He started tapping in commands, bringing the database up and flicking through.

"Did you find it?" Rodney asked.

Daniel tapped a few more keys and then turned, flicking his head at the screen behind him. "Get the engineers to have a look at this. Most of it looks to be automatic when the city touches the bottom but there might be some damaged systems. I'm assuming you can take it from here?"

"Yes, yes," Rodney waved a dismissive hand, scooting a chair in and looking through the schematics and systems breakdowns that Daniel had brought up. Daniel rose and staggered his way back towards the corridor, leading to the living quarters.

"If anyone needs me..." he sighed, tapping his radio with a finger. He paused when he noticed Ronon wasn't following and turned to see Ronon leaning over Rodney, saying something into his ear that had Rodney looking up at him quickly, startled. Ronon then straightened and sauntered over to Daniel, easing an arm under Daniel's own and guiding him back to his room. Daniel waited until the door slid shut behind them and he was able to flop onto his bed if the need arose, before turning and asking, "What was that about?"

"What?"

"What did you say to Rodney?" Daniel allowed Ronon to push him down onto the bed where he sat while Ronon undid his shoes and tossed them to the other side of the room. He didn't protest when Ronon grabbed the hem of his t-shirt, tugging it up and over his head. Daniel merely lifted his arms to aid the effort. When Ronon reached for his belt, Daniel placed a hand on top of his. "What did you say to him?" he repeated.

Ronon sighed, dropping back onto his haunches and lacing his fingers. "I told him that he was never to ask you to do anything like that, ever again," he said, his tone neutral.

"Ronon," Daniel groaned, dropping onto his back with an arm over his eyes. He felt the bed dip beside him and then there was a warm hand on his chest, fingers splayed. They curled into a fist.

"I understand that he's in here," Ronon said, gently tapping the skin over Daniel's heart with his knuckle. "But he shouldn't use that. He has no right to anymore."

"He wasn't using me," Daniel protested.

"It doesn't matter. Regardless, he's not to do it anymore. I declared my intention and he's with another. He has no claim on you."

"No one has claim on me," Daniel said, his brow furrowed. "I'm not sure what you did on Sateda, what your... rituals are but here people choose their partners. There's no beating of chests and declaring of anything. I'm with you because I want to be, but Rodney will always be important to me and he wouldn't put me at risk if there was any other choice. We loved each other for a long time and even though we've both had to let that go, he'll probably be in my life in one form or another until I'm old and doddering and grey."

"You're doddering now."

Daniel snorted. "Rodney always said that no matter how tired I was, I could always work up the energy for a really good lecture."

"You got energy for something else?"

"What-" Daniel's question was cut off as Ronon leaned forward and rested his lips against Daniel's. He waited for permission, which was granted by Daniel letting his lips ease apart. Ronon brought a hand up to grasp the back of Daniel's neck, long fingers carding through the hair at his nape. Daniel reached forward, but his touch was hesitant as his fingers brushed the swathe of bare belly that was showing between Ronon's shirt and the top of his pants. He was remembering what happened last time and Ronon knew it, drawing back and running a thumb along Daniel's jaw.

"No knives. No nasty surprises," he assured, his eyes dark and his voice a low growl that curled in the base of Daniel's own belly, warming like good whiskey.

“I have some. I’m basically a mess,” Daniel confessed, his eyes crinkling in self-deprecation.

Ronon’s lip curled up in a wry grin. “I’ve been on the run from the Wraith for six years. This will be the most intimate I’ll have been with a human basically that whole time. I’ve lied, cheated and put whole villages at risk just for a hot meal. I’m so jaded I thought you were being offered in payment for information and you know what I thought about that?”

Daniel raised an eyebrow in response.

“I thought, great, I finally come up against a race that knows exactly how to get to me. Basically, I would have told them anything they wanted to know, just to be with you for one night.”

Daniel blinked. “Wow.”

Ronon sat back up and Daniel followed. He had moved slightly so there was space between them and he looked at Daniel seriously. “I got the Sheppard condensed version of what happened to you but I know there’s more to it and it obviously bothers you. How about you tell me about it?”

“Oh… I… no. I’m not sure I’m ready for that. I have enough trouble talking to Doctor Heightmeyer.”

“Nothing you can say will scare me off.”

“Okay. I sawed a man’s head off because he had a parasite in his neck,” Daniel blurted.

Ronon shrugged. “I’m sure there was a good reason.”

Daniel was stunned. He had expected Ronon to run screaming from the room, or at least be a little fazed. “I’m not sure I can-“

“Start at the beginning.” Ronon said, his eyes dark and serious.

Daniel took a deep breath.

~~~

Rodney could feel eyes on him and he turned, grinning when he spotted Jack in his accustomed pose, leaning one shoulder on the doorway of the lab. The lab was full of people however so Rodney couldn’t indulge in what first came to mind when he saw Jack like that.

Instead he raised an eyebrow. “Can I do something for you Colonel?”

“You sure can,” Jack said, his tone dirty. Rodney heard someone snort behind him and he turned but couldn’t spot the culprit. “How about taking a break?”

Rodney groaned, sinking onto his lab stool. “I wish I could but we have to get all this set up and we only have two days until the Wraith are here. I’m basically coordinating the engineers and putting together two Atlantis designed Wraith pulse weapons from plans that are tacked together from bits of the database. Yes, we have to make two because the first one was so hopelessly fried that it will be quicker to make a whole new one. I have to write the program that will instruct the city to break apart at exactly the right time and sink and we have to time it perfectly. I also still have to figure out how to eke a little extra power out of the ZPMs because firing the weapon really cost us and I’m not sure how long we’re going to be able to stay submerged. Plus-“

“Rodney!” Jack barked, holding up a hand. “For chrissakes, just half an hour to grab some food and be away from the lab. Every single person in here looks grey and… well, dead.”

Rodney had stuttered to a halt and now he looked about himself. There were twelve people in his labs and they were all moving like zombies, exhausted and pushed past the point of normal endurance. One technician in the back was actually asleep sitting up ramrod straight, head back and mouth open.

“Oh, right. Of course. Ah, everyone!” Rodney called, standing. “Go grab something to eat, get some air, get some coffee and go for a walk. See you all back here in thirty minutes.”

Twelve sets of pathetically grateful eyes turned Rodney’s way, before everyone filed out. Rodney watched them go and then turned to Jack. “So, did you want to have sex?” he asked.

Jack blinked and then chuckled. “Rodney you big nut, you’re dead on your feet. Come with me.” Jack held out his hand and Rodney took it, instinctively. Jack didn’t release his fingers, instead leading Rodney back to their room. Rodney started undoing his jacket as soon as they were through the door but Jack kept a hold of his hand, tugging him toward the bed. He sat down on the edge and pulled until Rodney was sitting beside him.

Jack reached across and slid an arm over Rodney’s shoulders, dragging him sideways. When Rodney was curled, head on Jack’s leg and arm thrown over his knees, Jack ran his fingers through Rodney’s hair, from temple to nape.

Rodney was asleep in three seconds flat.

~~~

Teyla and John had been trying to grab some sleep when Teyla sat bolt upright in their bed, her breathing ragged. John sat up, touching her shoulder gently. “What is it?”

She looked at him, with wide, terrified eyes. “They’re here. They’re in the city.”

John didn’t bother with inane questions, like who or how. Instead he rolled out of bed, reaching for his thigh holster and belt and buckling them on and then held out a hand to Teyla. “Can you find them?”

“I’m not sure. It’s more general than that. It’s more a feeling.”

John tapped his radio. “Doctor Weir, we have Wraith in the city,” he said.

There was only a second’s pause and then Elizabeth said, “Acknowledged. Meet us in the control room. I’ll get Doctor McKay and Colonel O’Neill.”

“There’s someone else we need,” John said, looking at Teyla who nodded grimly.

Again, there was the beat, but John knew it was just Elizabeth’s way of mulling things over. She only ever took a few seconds. “Understood. I think we should give him his weapon back.”

“Agreed.”

~~~

John handed the weapon over without preamble. “We need your help.”

Ronon took it, flicking it in a practised sweep and there was the metallic whine of the weapon charging and then he slid it into the makeshift holster on his hip. “Sateda is on the very edge of the Pegasus Galaxy. The Wraith seemed to have their proffered worlds that they would hit every couple of hundred years and they didn’t seem to stray outside of that. Six years ago, three Hive ships travelled far enough out that they found us. We’d buried our ‘gate long ago, fearing this very thing and thinking that with distance we’d be safe.”

“You also stopped refugees fleeing to your world,” Jack said, his voice low.

Something in Ronon’s face tightened. “Yes, because the Wraith would follow them. We had to cut ourselves off, and that’s what our forefathers did. We were able to advance to the point that when the Hive ships came, we were able to mount a resistance, such that it was. We hadn’t counted on the advance fleet of Darts that came. The Wraith dropped down and small tactical groups hit our major military installations. We were crippled before the fight even began.”

“They’ll be looking to destroy any chance we have of fighting,” Elizabeth paraphrased and Ronon nodded.

“Daniel told me about a weapon you have that can hit the Darts in the air. Guaranteed they’re after that.”

“They’d also know about the drones,” Daniel interjected and all looked to him. “They were fighting a war with the Ancients for hundreds of years and I can only guess that they had time to gather Intel. They will definitely be going after the weapons, but they will also be trying to stop us sinking the city, or power it at all.”

“Penley,” Rodney breathed. “He and a small team are down repairing some damaged couplings in the bowels of the city. We haven’t been able to get them by radio but assumed there was just structural interference. It had happened before.”

Elizabeth turned, seeing the small remaining clump of her Marines filing into the control room. They were all suited up and looking grim. Frakes was standing in the front, shoulder to shoulder with Ensfield.

“We have Wraith in the city, not sure of the number. Their main priorities will be the naqaudar generator stations, weapons and our ability to sink the city.” She looked to Jack and he nodded.

“Alright, I want a team of three to each of these six points,” Jack said, tapping the two dimensional skin of the city on the monitor behind him. “I want everyone in constant radio contact and I don’t want any heroes today. You do what you can but if it looks dicey, you call for support. Ronon, you and I will go rescue some engineers.”

“You need a third yourselves,” John said.

“I’ll go.” All looked at Rodney who held out his hand. “I’ll need a gun.”

“No, Rodney.” Jack shook his head but Rodney rolled his eyes.

“I know exactly where they are. Do you? It will take too long to explain so I’m going. Besides, I finished the Wraith Whumpers and there are a couple of people that can flick the switch that will sink the city so for once, I’m not the only person that can save us, because I’ve already done all the prep work for the… saving.”

“Wraith Whumpers?” John snorted.

“What? It’s catchy.” Rodney sniffed.

~~~

Jack let Ronon take point, even though it was against everything in him to do so. He was a realist though and knew you deferred to the man that knew the enemy, and had successfully fought them for over six years.

Jack had placed a very nervous Rodney between them and he was bringing up the rear. He watched as Rodney checked the chamber of Sheppard’s sidearm for perhaps the fiftieth time, making sure it was loaded. He put it away again and gestured to the turn on the corridor.

“They should be just around there,” he said, turning back to Jack and so bumping into Ronon who had come to a dead halt. Ronon had one hand up and Jack paused for a second, listening.

There was no noise.

None

Ronon pulled his weapon from his belt and brought it up beside his shoulder in a two-handed grip as he edged toward the blind turn. He peeked around, drawing his head back and looking around Rodney at Jack. He made a complicated series of gestures that Jack interpreted.

Four Wraith. Scientists dead

Jack clicked his radio three times and heard the staticy click of three acknowledging bursts. Others were on their way.

Too late, Jack saw Ronon tense and knew that the man was about to step around the corner and take on what was there by himself. Jack reached out a hand but Rodney chose that second to move sideways and Jack’s arm was knocked aside. He watched as Ronon darted around the corner, bringing his weapon to bear.

“Ah, hell!” Jack swore and pushed Rodney aside, following Ronon around the corner. He heard the large gun discharge and there was an inhuman squeal of protest, followed by a heavy thump. Jack saw a creature with what looked like a bone mask topple to the ground, a smoking crater in its chest. Jack thumbed the safety off his P-90 and brought it up, jerking sideways when a blast of blue energy hurtled his way.

He fired, watching bullets pepper another ugly masked behemoth that just kept coming. Jack let a second round burst free and the monster finally dropped to its knees, before going down. Jack turned just in time to see Ronon launch himself at another tall creature with white dreads that reached halfway down its back. The creature was snarling as it grappled Ronon.

The final masked Wraith charged at Jack, but shouldered him aside rather than attacking, taking four point-blank shots to the abdomen on its way. Jack spun, seeing it charging towards Rodney, who had raised his sidearm but there was abject horror on his face. Rodney was squeezing the trigger of his gun but there was only the dry clicking sound as the hammer hit the safety over and over again, Rodney not having disengaged it in his panic.

There was a whine behind him and then red fire shot past Jack, hitting the Wraith square in the back. The thing stumbled forward and over, landing on its face right at Rodney’s feet. Jack turned to Ronon, who was breathing raggedly, his forearms coated in blood and a dead Wraith at his feet.

“Are you crazy? You could have hit Rodney!” Jack snapped but Ronon smirked, tapping the side of his gun.

“Stun,” he said, shrugging.

Jack turned back to Rodney to check he was okay, but saw his eyes were now focused beyond Ronon, shock still plain on his features. Jack turned and saw five desiccated husks, sacks of dry bones held loosely together by Atlantis uniforms. They were bodies that looked to have been mummified, dead for years but Jack knew with a cold certainty that here were the engineers.

“I need to…” Rodney started, his voice tapering off. Jack clipped his P-90 to his vest and jogged the few short steps back to Rodney, stepping carefully over the knocked out Wraith so he could put a hand on Rodney’s shoulder. Rodney blinked a few times, seeming to come back to himself. “I need to check if they were… done,” he said, swallowing.

“Not right this second,” Jack said gently, wanting to take Rodney somewhere to just sit for a moment and calm down but Rodney’s eyes snapped up and Jack couldn’t believe that he kept forgetting that despite outward appearances, Rodney’s spine was pure steel.

“Yes right this second. I need to see if the Wraith caused any damage and if Penley and his guys had even started. They had about six hours work ahead of them and we just don’t have that kind of time.” Ensfield and his group arrived just as Rodney finished.

“Stay here with him,” Jack ordered and Ensfield nodded once, watching as Rodney walked around the stunned Wraith. Ronon walked up and toed the still body with his boot. He then flicked his weapon from stun and held it over the Wraith’s head.

“We could get information,” Ensfield said, holding a hand up.

Ronon looked at him impassively. “Out of that guy, maybe,” he said, flicking an arm behind himself to take in the long-coated, dreaded Wraith. “If you starved him long enough and then dangled a human in front of him. These guys,” Ronon kicked the masked Wraith again, “Are mindless drones.” He reached down and tugged at the bone face mask and Jack grimaced. He wasn’t so sure it was a mask when the Wraith’s whole head moved with Ronon’s tugging. “Besides, he can’t really… talk.”

Ronon looked to Jack, who nodded once.

There was the short report of Ronon’s weapon and then they were moving, heading towards the tower that held the Command Chair where Sheppard’s team had headed. If there was a primary target, that would be it.

~~~

Teyla paused, canting her head as if listening intently.

“Anything?” John whispered, his lips close to her ear. She looked back at him and shook her head. John glanced at Frakes, flicking his head in a silent move forward.

They rounded the corner and there was the Command Chair, sitting in its own pool of dappled light, thankfully pristine and unmolested. John did a circuit of the room anyway, just to be sure and then sighed in relief.

“Maybe they don’t know about this. Maybe they would go after the weapon itself,” Frakes supplied and John shrugged.

“There’s another team headed there. We just have to make sure they don’t mess with the chair, because if we ever find the ZPM, we’re going to be able to kick ass from a recliner.”

Frakes grinned and Teyla rolled her eyes, the way she always did when she hadn’t quite understood what John was saying but knew he was being goofy. He was watching her when her eyes widened.

John automatically brought his weapon up but then felt something slam into his chest, almost like he was hit with a medicine ball. It felt as if every synapse in his body fired at once and he collapsed to the ground, completely overloaded. He watched helplessly, his eyes wide and body paralysed as Teyla spun and let forth a burst from her P-90, only to be caught by another blast of blue energy in the face. She dropped like a stone, eyes closed.

Frakes let out a strangled yelp, clicking his radio and calling desperately for help, forgoing the protocol of the silent SOS. There was another burst of P-90 fire and then John saw Frakes collapse.

A creature loomed over him, something out of a nightmare with a white face and maw full of jagged teeth. It had a stylised tattoo curling around one eye and long white hair that fell about its face. It reached forward with one taloned hand and grasped the collar of John’s jacket, ripping sideways and tearing the t-shirt underneath as well. John was starting to get some feeling back in his extremities but it was going to be too late.

There was another round of P-90 fire and the monstrous face disappeared from John’s view with an outraged screech. There was the sound of a weapon John didn’t recognise and then silence.

A few seconds later, Jack’s face appeared in John’s line of sight. “Howdy,” he grinned. “Can you move?”

John tried wiggling his toes and fingers but that was about the range of motion he currently had. “Not so much,” he managed, letting his head fall sideways. “Teyla okay?”

“She’s fine,” Ronon assured. “Wraith use stunners. You don’t bother killing your food if they taste better alive.”

“I’ll bet you’re fun at parties,” John sighed, grateful when Jack helped him to sit up and propped him against a wall. John was able to move his arms a little but it felt like he’d slept on them for twelve hours straight. “Where are we at?”

“Mather radioed when we were on our way up here. They nailed four drones on their way to the naquadar generator on the East side. All is quiet everywhere else. Park is doing a sweep of the city with the motion sensor but that looks like it.”

“Wow, cool,” John said, wincing when pins and needles started chasing up and down his arms and legs.

“Not so much. The suckers managed to take out Penley and his guys. Rodney’s down there with Ensfield’s group checking if they damaged anything and if we can still make like a city-submarine.”

“Christ,” John breathed.

“That reminds me,” Jack said, clicking his radio. “Park, the count is one hundred and thirty three.”

“Two.” Frakes corrected, from his own position propped up on the opposite wall.

Jack looked at him for a beat and then smiled sadly. “Right, one hundred and thirty two.”

“Confirmed. We have one hundred and thirty two, Sir.”

“Good deal,” he said and then flipped channels. “Doc, we need you down here,” he barked.

“Shouldn’t you send her-“

Jack’s look silenced John.

~~~

Elizabeth sat at her desk, head in hands. Teresa sat across from her, P-90 lying across her lap. Teresa had only deigned to sit and relax her guard when they’d gotten the confirmation that there was no more Wraith in the city.

She watched Elizabeth now, wanting to say something but with no idea what.

“I’m starting to get the feeling that the Pegasus Galaxy really hates us,” Elizabeth sighed.

“Hey, our own universe was doing a pretty good job of kicking our asses,” Teresa rejoined.

“That’s very true, but we haven’t seemed to catch a break yet. I’m left to wonder how the Athosians do it, generation after generation, always on the run from the Wraith. I’ve only been aware of them for a little over a year and I’m already exhausted. I didn’t even know about the Goa’uld till a couple of years ago and even they seemed to have been in my life forever. This is balanced out though by my having a good thirty odd years of relative peace. How can you live this way your whole life?”

“Humans will get used to anything,” Teresa shrugged, fingering the strap on her jacket. “We’ve lived under constant threat for some time now, but not everyone’s crazy. Sure, we’ve had a couple of people lose it pretty spectacularly, but they’re recovering, those that survived anyway. The majority of the people just plug away, doing their jobs and hoping for the best.”

“I’ve had to record so many messages to families. I just… wanted to go maybe a month without having to do that. Thirty days, was that so much to ask? We had maybe a good two weeks. That was about it.”

“It was a good two weeks though,” Teresa grinned. “That’s more than you could usually hope for in a war.”

“I just wish…”

“What?”

“I keep recording these messages to families, hoping that someday we’ll actually be able to send them, but we don’t know that at all. We may never get back to Earth. For all we know, this is our final stand.”

“We’ve been in worse situations than this,” Teresa said jovially, waving a dismissive hand.

“Seven Hive ships? We don’t even have a moon left to blow up.”

“But we do have a city. Always gotta look on the bright side, Doctor Weir.”

Elizabeth dropped her forehead onto the table. “We’re going to run out of stuff to blow up eventually.”

“We’re not there yet.” Teresa said, mock-grimly.

Both women laughed.

~~~

“Most of my people’s accommodations were still temporary and can be packed down and moved relatively easily. It’ll take us only about two hours to remove evidence of ourselves again.”

Elizabeth nodded. “That’s good. We’re going to send three Jumpers across to ferry people. Should only take two trips each to get everyone. How are we going with the Wraith EMPs?”

“Whumpers,” Rodney corrected but Elizabeth rolled her eyes, as if to say that she would never call them that. “We’re doing good. They’re completed and are being put into Jumper one and two now.”

Elizabeth turned in her chair, looking at John and Jack. “You two ready?”

“Yep. Rodney’s talked us through the schematics of the Wraith ships and we know where we’re going,” Jack agreed.

“We’ve also moved everyone into the middle column of the city so if you start losing shield integrity when you’re still underwater, there’ll be a little time to raise the city,” John added.

“Okay. So, what’s left?”

“We need to cause what looks like a catastrophic explosion above the city just as the Wraith are attacking, make it look like they hit something vital that caused a chain reaction, ending up in the destruction of the city.”

“How are we going to do that?”

“Overloaded naquadar generator over the city. We activate the shield just as it explodes; detaching and sinking the part of the city we need to while the Wraith sensors are scrambled. When the smoke clears, there’ll be nothing but floating debris. They’ll probably scan for us but they won’t find anything worth salvaging on the surface.”

Elizabeth blinked. “I thought we needed all the power we could get. Are you telling me we’re going to lose a naquadar generator in this? We only have six.”

“My team has found a way to link them, thereby causing a loop that will end up generating more power. We risk burning out the generators we have which is why we’ve never done this before, but at this point it’s a risk we’re going to have to take.”

“How do we detonate one over the city?”

Jack held up his hand. “I drop it after sabotaging the Wraith Hive ship.”

“You’re both going to be outside the city’s shield when this detonates?” Elizabeth demanded.

John shrugged. “We were going to be cutting it fine getting back to the city before the Wraith started hitting you with everything they have anyway. We’ll get out of the atmosphere as soon as Jack drops the generator and wait it out on the dark side of the planet.”

Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest, looking grim. “The more complicated a plan, the more chance for failure,” she said, looking at her team.

“I agree that a lot of things have to go perfect for us to pull this off, but it’s a long shot anyway.”

Rodney smiled.

“This is going to work.”

~~~

John hadn’t realised how badly he’d lost track of time until he saw the first rays of the sun peeking over the horizon through his jumper’s front window and thought, huh, it’s morning.

He watched as the ocean below shifted from black to dark blue and then again to a deeper green as the new light of day chased across its surface.

The sky was a deep red, almost like dried blood and John frowned, tapping his radio.

“Is red sky in the morning the bad one?” he asked and heard Jack chuckle.

“You’re not getting superstitious on me, are ya?”

“Sir, we’re both pilots. Don’t tell me you’re not?”

“I don’t have a lucky rabbit’s foot or anything like that and I don’t take much stock with portents. I trust the people around me. That’s all I need.”

“Still…” John prodded and heard Jack sigh deeply.

“Like a red morn that ever yet betokened, wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field, sorrow to the shepherds, woe unto the birds, gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds.”

“Pardon?”

“Yes, Major. It’s the bad one.”

“Heads up,” Rodney’s voice barked and both men snapped to attention. With a thought, both were able to bring up a display showing the seven Hive ships and various support vessels dropping out of hyper-space. The two cloaked puddle jumpers arrowed straight for their targets, breaking through atmosphere and into the darkness of space.

They peeled off from one another, one heading towards the point ship and the other darting and weaving between the V formation to find its target at the end of the column.

Jack had time to think, this is all kinds of crazy, even for me, before the Hive ship swallowed him.

John, on the other hand, leaned forward and rubbed one hand over the smooth surface of his ship and thought,

Wreck to the seaman, God I hope not..

~~~

“I feel like this is all I ever do when something real is happening,” Daniel complained, his back against the wall, feet sticking out straight in front and his butt going slowly numb.

He, Teyla and Ronon were sitting in the corridor outside the control room, listening to the flurry of activity inside but also all three feeling as if they would only get in the way if they were in there. Teyla looked across at Daniel and landed a light punch on his shoulder.

“You have done plenty,” she assured and smiled bravely, but Daniel knew she had to be going crazy with worry. John was, once again, headed into the breech. He was always going to be a frontline kind of guy and it had to get tired at some point. Teyla looked exhausted but he figured he mustn’t look that hot either.

Ronon had asked if he’d wanted to just go and wait back in the rooms, but Daniel had shaken his head. He and Teyla had sat and waited it out the last time, and he felt as if he owed it to her to do so again.

Ronon, without being asked, had merely followed Daniel back to the control room where they had collected Teyla, hanging in the corridor, looking lost. She usually looked so assertive and sure that it was painful to see her that way, but Daniel also believed that she wouldn’t let many people see her that way, maybe not even John. She accepted Daniel and Ronon’s presence with a smile and a grateful nod.

Now all three sat, pressed shoulder to shoulder, Teyla book-ended between.

“Do the Wraith ever stop coming?” Daniel asked, knowing the two people by his side would be better equipped to answer that question than anyone else in the city.

“No,” they both said in unison and then looked at each, a ghost of the same known hollow fear in their eyes.

“Right. What I figured,” Daniel nodded.

Teyla looked sideways and there was something unreadable on her face. She finally took a breath and seemed to have worked herself up to asking a question. “Will there be people… on the Hive ship?”

Daniel blinked, looking past Teyla to Ronon, whose face seemed to have closed down. “Yes,” he answered simply.

“As in prisoners?” Daniel asked.

“As in rations,” Ronon said grimly and both Teyla and Daniel grimaced. Teyla opened her mouth but Ronon held up a hand.

“Believe me, they’ll be better off.”

~~~

“It’s been fourteen minutes,” Elizabeth said unnecessarily, her voice breaking the eerie silence of the control room. She’d had to say something because if it had remained that quiet even for a second longer she would have started screaming.

“Yes, I know. We did a simulated run and it should have only taken them twelve to get out of their jumpers, hook up the Whumper,” Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed at the use of Rodney’s term but he was unrepentant, “And get back to their ships.”

“Are you sure we’re going to be able to sustain the first few hits?” she asked, hitting on the part of the plan that worried her most. They were going to have to allow the Hive ships to actually get a few good hits in before detonating the naquadar generator and sinking the city. She didn’t like the idea of holes getting punched into Atlantis right before they dropped her underneath the ocean.

“We’re going to have to. It will look too suspicious if we blow up before the Wraith make contact. I know the city is fragile without the shield but that would be a little ridiculous.”

The room lapsed back into silence.

“Are you sure-“

“That button.” Rodney pointed at a grim looking Park, her small hand hovering over a blue button that had a plastic flip cover over it.

“Atlantis, Wraith Whumpers have been deployed,” Jack’s voice echoed around the room and the control room erupted with cheers and back slapping. Rodney held up his arms and flapped them.

“People! Stop celebrating. I’m banning everyone from being happy until we are back on the surface, the Wraith ships have gone bye-bye and our military commanders are safely back in the city!” Rodney yelled. The cheering broke off, everyone looking subdued.

“Atlantis, the Wraith are opening fire!” John yelled.

“Christ!” Rodney exclaimed. He’d been hoping there’d be a few minutes at least between when both Jack and John had left the Hive ships and when they starting being fired upon. It meant that Jack would have to dodge Wraith fire to drop the naquadar generator above the city.

“Colonel,” John’s voice issued, broadcast on their loudspeaker and all fell silent. “I guess it’s time to tell you that I had one of the engineers swap the naquadar generator onto my jumper. You get to safe distance.”

“You did what?” Jack yelled.

“Get to safe distance. I’m going in,”

Elizabeth looked up and standing off to the side was Teyla, Daniel and Ronon at her shoulders. They had entered the control room when they’d heard the cheering and now Teyla was frozen, looking appalled.

“You stupid son of a bitch!” Jack growled.

Rodney had a moment of thinking, Oh thank God, but then he also spotted Teyla and felt torn.

She met his eyes and her jaw firmed, eyes narrowing.

She thought he’d known.

“Rodney!” Elizabeth barked and he span back around. Elizabeth then leaned over the console and Rodney tapped a few keys, giving her city wide comms.

“Brace for impact!”

~~~

John watched as Jack’s jumper banked sharply, taking it up and away from the city. He knew he would be paying for what he’d done later, or at least he hoped he would have the chance to. The Wraith barrage was an almost solid line in front of him and he had a moment to wonder if Atlantis would actually survive the initial impact, before he was darting in, banking and pitching to avoid the deadly fire all around him.

He watched as most of the firing solution hit the ocean around the city, creating a deadly moat that shrank inwards as the Wraith adjusted. Suddenly one of the Eastern towers seemed to disintegrate and John was left hoping that it was one of the parts that had been slated to be sacrificed, because he couldn’t see how anyone would survive if there had been people inside.

John hit the point of no return and released the naquadar generator. The scientists had been able to rig a small shield over it that would collapse when it hit overload, but John still had a panicky moment when he thought it would be hit before he was far enough away, detonating it prematurely.

“Now Rodney!” he called, yanking hard on the jumper’s control stick and throwing the small ship into a steep climb. He had a second where he thought he was actually going to make it before his jumper was clipped by a stray bolt of energy.

A warning klaxon sounded in the tiny cabin. It wouldn’t have been a problem if it hadn’t thrown the jumper sideways, directly into the firing solution.

There was a flash of white and John felt the scream in his mind as the jumper was torn apart around him.

He’d known death so many times and yet this was different.

I’m so sorry, Teyla John thought, and then there was nothing.

~~~

To those in Atlantis, it was just a tiny blip on a screen that winked out.

Nothing more dramatic than that.

Teyla shrieked as Rodney turned to Park and said, “Now!”

~~~

When John opened his eyes, he was standing in a field of tall grass. He looked about himself.

“Well, this is different.”

“Were you expecting something else?” A woman was standing before him, pleasant faced and with brown, wavy hair. She looked to be roughly forty and one of the women that would stay beautiful right through her future years. She had warm brown eyes that crinkled at the side.

“No, just, thought it would be, you know, glowier.”

The woman laughed. “We’ve been expecting you, John Sheppard. You have been on the path for quite some time.”

“Oh, wait, no! I didn’t want to be on any path. I’m really not ready for… all this,” John said, indicating the field around him, the endless blue sky above and the sweet smelling breeze that was teasing around them.

“We disagree. You were always meant to join us. You were yanked in and out of death so many times but this will be the last.”

“No! I’m not… I can’t be… I mean I know there was a really impressive explosion and all but I do this thing where I miraculously escape death, a lot. It’s kinda my shtick.”

The woman laughed again. “You had received the gifts that meant you were on the path. Surely you are not surprised.”

“Wait.” John held up his hands. “Is this… I thought I was dead. Is this Ascension you’re talking about?”

“Not quite yet. We are in a plane that lingers between, where souls travel who are on the path. It is here where they decide whether they want to continue, or cease to be.”

“Whoa. Are you saying I either Ascend or…die?”

“Yes.”

John dropped to his haunches, clapping his hands over his face. “There’s no plan C?”

“There’s always a plan C, Sir.” John looked up and was amazed to see Ford standing just beyond the woman, looking big as life and grinning brightly. The woman had turned and was looking surprised as well, which was a bigger mystery.

“How did you get here?” she asked, curiosity plain on her features.

“I was still connected to him,” Ford said, tapping his temple. “It’s not like my body has any great claim to me at the moment. I was able to follow.”

John stood slowly. “How-“

“I think we covered that already. The why should be what we’re onto now. I want to make you a deal.” Ford smiled at the woman, who looked mystified.

“Deal?”

“A life for a life.”

“Ford, no!” John exclaimed, horrified.

Ford skirted around the woman, slipping through the tall grass until he was by John’s side. He grabbed John’s shoulder and squeezed. “There’s not much of me left, back in Atlantis. I lose a little part of myself each and every day. I’m close to just… disappearing. Let me do this one thing.”

“Ford, we can still-“

“They’re never going to fix me. I’m going to stay in that overgrown specimen jar until my brain dies and there’s nothing left. This way, I can still keep an eye on you all.”

“You can’t just… take my place. You heard her, I was already on a path. I’m not sure what you’re asking is even possible.”

“It is.”

Both men turned to regard the woman behind them, who was smiling gently. “With my help, of course.”

“Are you kidding?” John asked, blinking.

“Such self-sacrifice… it is rarely seen. I am willing to take his life for yours. I will assist him to Ascend and return you to your own plane. If that’s what you want. Is that what you want?”

Ford turned back to John, canting his head. “Is it what you want?” he asked as well.

“I don’t… I’m not… finished yet. But neither are you.” John looked stricken and Ford treated him to a beatific smile.

“Yes Sir, I am,” he said, stepping back and allowing the woman to take his hand. As she did, a nimbus of white light flowed over her and reached out to envelope Ford. Before he disappeared, he grinned and said, “Watch out for Daniel for me. I don’t want to see either him or you up here for quite a few years yet or I’m kicking both your asses!” On his last word, Ford seemed to fragment and dissolve completely into the nimbus of light, drifting apart from the woman’s light, tendrils of it trailing behind his main body. He drifted closer and warmth flowed over John.

Go home, Johnny

The light faded and John was left standing in the field. He looked about himself for a second and then threw up his hands. “Hello? You’re not going to just leave me here are you?”

He suddenly felt his whole body wrenched sideways, everything bright agony.

John screamed.

~~~

It was cold.

There were ten people huddled in the control room, watching the display above. The Hive ships had pelted the remaining sections of the city for a full two hours after the initial explosion before sending darts and a cruiser to investigate the wreckage. All eyes watched, transfixed, as darts swept back and forth in lazy arcs, skimming the water’s surface.

Rodney had scooted close to Elizabeth, putting an arm around her when her teeth had started chattering and grumbling something about all the skinny people he was surrounded by and how useless they were when it was cold. Elizabeth had smiled wanly, but there was shock on her face.

It was mirrored on everyone around them.

They’d just witnessed Sheppard die.

It didn’t seem real.

Teyla had screamed and cried and managed to give Ronon a bloody nose before he and Daniel had hustled her back to her room. She’d finally allowed Daniel to just pick her up, going completely limp and glassy eyed. It had been almost too horrible to watch such a formidable woman break.

Rodney knew that Elizabeth was cold, but her shivering was partly from shock. She would be feeling responsible, he knew, for okaying the plan. He knew he did coming up with it.

“How much longer can we stay down here?” Elizabeth asked, her voice broken by the occasional click of her teeth.

Rodney leaned away from her for only long enough to check his screens. “We’re still showing full integrity across the board but I really hope they get bored soon because we are really pushing our luck already.”

“They’re making sure,” Elizabeth sighed, leaning back into Rodney when he pressed himself against her again. Rodney looked over the other side of the control room and saw that pretty much everyone was in small twos and threes, huddling together for warmth. They only had enough power to keep it barely tolerable and stop completely freezing. Rodney smiled, seeing that Ensfield, who had joined them in the control room after checking all the civilians were uninjured, had drawn the diminutive Park into his lap and he was rubbing her arms while her teeth chattered.

“C’mon, c’mon,” Rodney whispered, watching five darts make another sweep.

“Jesus Christ, it’s cold in here!” a voice yelped and all eyes turned to the doorway of Elizabeth’s office to take in a very naked John Sheppard, dancing from foot to foot with his arms clasped around his chest.

“Sir!” Ensfield exclaimed, almost pitching Park off his lap when he’d made to stand. He seemed to remember at the last second and lowered back into the chair, pulling an annoyed looking Park back against him.

“Hey guys. Anyone got a spare pair of pants lying about?”

~~~

Daniel sat on his bed with Teyla curled against him, her head on his thigh and hand fisted in his jacket. She’d fallen asleep, exhaustion finally winning out against her grief and although Daniel’s leg had gone numb, he wouldn’t have moved for the world.

Ronon was pacing, darting a glance at Daniel every now and again. “He was important to you,” Ronon said, looking worried.

“Yeah. The three of us,” Daniel included Teyla by sweeping a quick hand through her hair, “Survived a lot together. I just… I’m not sure she’ll survive this. She’s the toughest woman I’ve ever known but enough, you know? How much is one person supposed to take?”

“He knew this could happen, didn’t he? That’s why he put himself in O’Neill’s place.”

“Yeah, the stupid son of a bitch,” Daniel sighed, rubbing his temple. “But that’s the kind of guy he is.” Was, Daniel thought with a pain in his heart. “He would sacrifice himself to save someone else in a heartbeat.”

“I get the feeling O’Neill is like that too, probably why he was so angry. Actually, a lot of your people seem to be like that.” Ronon raised an eyebrow and Daniel smiled sadly.

The door swished open and John was standing there, rugged up in a parka and uniform pants, but with bare feet. Daniel thought he must have nodded off sitting up but then John grinned, stepping inside. Daniel’s mouth dropped open and he watched John cross the room and lean over, placing a hand on Teyla’s shoulder and gently shaking her.

Her eyes slid open and a smile curled on her face. “Oh, hi. I was having a bad dream,” she sighed, but then blinked a couple of times and her brain caught up with the fact that John had just died but was now standing in front of her.

“John!” she exclaimed, sliding off the bed and into his arms.

He grabbed her up, spinning her in a circle and laughing. “Sorry if I scared you,” he chuckled as he finally set her down. With one arm around her waist still, he leaned over and placed a finger under Daniel’s chin, closing his mouth with a snap.

“Holy crap,” Daniel breathed, his eyes shining.

John grinned.

“You do this often?” Ronon asked, from his corner of the room and John raised an eyebrow at him.

“It’s a bad habit I’m trying to kick,” he smiled, dropping a kiss on top of Daniel’s head and then ruffling his hair. “So, how are we going? Is the plan working?”

No one bothered to ask how this had come about.

At that moment, no one cared.

~~~

The whole city shuddered, but not with an aftershock. Instead, it was released from the ocean floor and surged upwards, breaking the surface of the ocean only moments afterward, daylight flooding the gate room and control room both. All breathed relieved sighs as the warmth of the day chased it.

Rodney had the long range sensors showing on the large screen overlooking the control room, but this time they weren’t watching for the Wraith ships to drop out of hyper-space on the other side.

This time they were watching for them not to.

Rodney was fidgeting though and Elizabeth finally put a hand on his shoulder, smiling. “Why don’t you go to the jumper bay? I think we can handle things here.”

Rodney didn’t wait to be asked twice. He darted out of his chair, just as Jack radioed that he was coming in.

Elizabeth smiled, running her hands over the control panel in front of her.

“Good girl,” she whispered.

~~~

“You look great, stop fussing.”

Daniel was standing before John Sheppard, tugging at the collar of the blue dress shirt he had borrowed and rolled his eyes when John reached forward and grabbed Daniel’s hands, forcing them down to his sides.

“You’re going to be impossible today, aren’t you?” he demanded, crossing his arms.

“Payback’s a bitch,” John grinned.

“Yes, but I’m not getting married,” Daniel protested.

“You’re going through the exact same ceremony as I did. How are you not getting married when you said I was?”

“It’s just… different.”

“Wow, that’s a stellar argument. Are all your degrees forged or something?”

“Hey, am I interrupting?” Rodney had poked his head through the flap of the Athosian tent Daniel and John were occupying and Daniel waved him in.

“Never. I’m glad you came,” Daniel assured, smiling.

“Well, I’d already missed one of these things and everyone had raved about it so I thought I’d check it out.”

Daniel looked at John, who smiled. “I have to… ah, I’ve got something to.. do,” John excused himself and Daniel rolled his eyes again.

When he was gone, Daniel turned back to Rodney, who was wearing a puzzled frown. “We were never going to get here, were we?”

Daniel sighed. “No, but not for lack of trying. I couldn’t love you the way you deserved and I don’t think you could’ve either. We were a disaster.”

“A fun disaster though, right?”

“Right,” Daniel grinned.

“But he’s right for you?”

“Not sure, but I’ve got a good feeling.” Daniel smiled warmly.

“So, I never thought you’d get married before me,” Rodney said, his eyes dancing.

“Oh for… I’m not getting married. It’s just… Ronon needs to be…before we can…you know.”

Rodney grinned. “I think I’ve earned the right to mock you mercilessly,” Rodney clapped his hands together, rubbing them in an eerie impression of an evil genius.

“Yes, yes you have,” Daniel agreed.

Rodney leaned forward, embracing Daniel tightly.

“You’re not really just doing this so you can have sex with him are you?” Rodney demanded when he’d pulled back.

Daniel laughed.

~~~

Jack’s lips pressed against Rodney’s ear, his voice a low vibration so as not to disturb the ceremony going on before them. “Everything alright?” he asked.

Rodney turned his face enough that he was able to plant a quick kiss on Jack’s cheek. “Yes. Everything’s the way it should be.”

~~~

Elizabeth stood in front of the now empty chamber where Ford had been. She’d been asked a boon and she had willingly accepted.

Now she stood, a bottle of champagne and two glasses in hand. She popped the cork, filling both glasses and placing one at the foot of the stasis chamber.

“So, I know you’re not here here, but this seemed like the most appropriate place to do this. What happened to you was unfair and you were… so young. I just… I wish I got to know you better. I guess I’m going to have to do a message for your family but it doesn’t seem right, you know? It’s not like you’re really gone, you’re just… not here anymore.”

Elizabeth stood at the foot of the chamber, cradling her glass of champagne against her body.

“I’ve asked Atlantis to watch over my people. I guess I’m asking for you to watch over them as well. We need all the help we can get.”

Elizabeth sighed and turned, but whipped back when there was a tinkle of glass behind her. She looked at the base of the stasis chamber, but the glass of champagne left for Ford was gone.

She smiled.