Trial By Fire by wildcat88 [Burning Up Challenge]
Title: Trial by Fire
Author:
wildcat88
Rating: strong PG-13
Category: Gen
Word Count: ~4100
Characters: Sheppard, Ronon, Teyla, McKay, Lorne, Keller, Carter, OC
Warnings/Spoilers: Set in early S4 but only has casting spoilers
Summary: Fire burns everything in its path. It's inescapable, unreasonable. And it wants John.
A/N: Thanks to the magnificent
kristen999for the beta. Her suggestions were invaluable. All faults are mine.
Glock held in a firm grip to his side, John moved down the windowless hallway in a crouch with his back to the wall. Right leg over left, twist the knob. Locked. Quick step with left then cross with right. Check the next. Shut tight. Onto the next and the next, each with the same result. No escape. Even with his light tread, wood creaked beneath him, and his splinter collection was growing. Rivulets of sweat ran down his bare chest and back, soaking the waistband of his grey sweats.
Billows of black smoke chased him, and fire hissed its demand. Giving up on stealth, he raced to the knobless door at the end of the narrow corridor. The building was old, a tinderbox, reminding him of his grandpa’s fishing cabin, making the keypad next to the door look out of place. He blinked in confusion, recognizing the DHD symbols.
‘Home,’ his mind whispered.
John punched the first two glyphs of the Atlantis address then hesitated, his fingers tapping the buttons. “No.”
He flinched as the timber around him popped and hissed, the fire’s crackle growing closer. Beams crashed in the hallway, and he turned, pressing his back into the door as he sought another way. Flames licked their way toward him, tongues of blue and white with reddish orange tips that consumed the floor, walls, and ceiling. Smoke infiltrated his lungs and stung his eyes. Escape was only the push of a button away. Waves of heat blasted him; his skin blistered; his lips cracked.
Wheeling, he unloaded his clip into the keypad then turned back resolutely.
Roaring, the blaze leapt for him.
xxx
John dashed at the laceration on his forehead distractedly as he glanced around the shattered jumper. This one was toast. The consoles that didn’t spark were completely dead, one drive pod dangled over the view screen, and the comm system was out. He squinted through the cracks in the windshield, tuning out McKay’s ongoing commentary about patching enough power to the DHD for the one shot they were going to get.
Everyone stilled as the broken craft wobbled like a child’s rocking horse. Instead of crashing into the dense vegetation that comprised the tropical rainforest of this oppressively hot and humid planet, they had skidded to a stop on a ledge of an active volcano. Molten lava surged in rivers in front of them, a mesmerizing fiery red flow of destruction.
“OK, I think that’s got it.” Rodney scooted from under the console. “Sheppard-”
“Don’t say it. We’ve already had this discussion. Someone has to dial. I’ll be right behind you.”
With a bob of his head, McKay grabbed his pack and headed down the ramp. John shifted slightly, trying not to jar the ribs that had already torn something inside that couldn’t be repaired in time. He focused on staying awake until his team could make it to the tiny shelf that held the stargate but no DHD.
“You don’t believe that any more than I do.”
“I’m depending on you to get everyone back safely, Ronon.”
The big man crouched next to him. “I can do both.”
“No, you can’t. Someone has to carry Teyla.”
“John-”
“Go.”
Ronon squeezed his shoulder painfully then gently lifted the unconscious woman, tucking her head against his neck. “I’ll have Aiden radio when we’re ready,” he said as she strode quickly out the back.
“Great.” John dabbed again at the blood on his face then paused. “Aiden?”
Gripping the console, he pulled himself upright and leaned until he could see the gate. About three hundred yards to his left, two men stood next to the stone ring. One was easily identifiable as McKay. The other turned at Ronon’s approach, and John’s breath caught.
Aiden Ford. Alive. Unmarred. Wearing standard BDUs and that ridiculous baseball cap. He frowned at Ronon’s words and looked toward the jumper, right at Sheppard, then reached for his ear.
“We’ll send a jumper back for you, Sir.”
Pain knifed through him at the familiar voice, and he slumped back in his chair.
“Sir? Can you hear me? Sir?”
John closed his eyes as the ship began to teeter wildly.
“Sir! You need to dial now, or we’ll be stuck here!”
The jumper slid slowly off its ledge and into the lava. John ripped the radio from his ear, silencing the shouts of his team. The nose hit, the front window cracked, and magma rushed in.
xxx
The P-90’s recoil was definitely going to leave a bruise. John sprinted through the underbrush of the forest on the heels of the opposition leader, firing rapid bursts at the man’s shadow. Vaulting over a fallen log, Sheppard twisted in the air as a bullet whizzed by. This guy was good.
They hadn’t meant to start this war, but they were damn well going to finish it. John ducked behind a tree, turning his face as wood imploded and splintered. No way was this bunch of crazies going to get away with burning down an orphanage simply because they thought the children had been tainted by outsiders. His team had been pulling bodies out of the smoldering embers when the fighting had started. Teyla and Ronon had moved quickly, heading straight to the gate to call for reinforcements. Sheppard and McKay had dived for cover, but Rodney had been one step too slow and had paid for it with his life.
Pushing the image from his mind, John raced after the man responsible. Rocks clattered as he hit a soft spot in the path, and the slide to one knee saved his life as the other man’s shot went wide. Firing wildly, John missed center mass but hit a shoulder. The impact jerked the man backward, and he crumpled to the ground with a cry. Sheppard staggered to his feet and headed toward his enemy.
“Sir!” Lorne’s panicked voice sounded in his ear. “The opposition has more technology than we thought. The area between the village and the gate is being carpet bombed. We’re cut off.”
John hesitated, vengeance warring with duty. “Is there any other way out?”
“There’s a clearing nearby where a jumper could land. Too bad we don’t have one.”
Bowing his head, John turned from the wounded man and headed to the gate. “I’m on my way, Major. Hang tight. I’ll have a jumper to you in minutes.”
He jogged to the edge of the forest and gaped. Trees similar to the giant redwoods at home blazed in the night like huge torches planted in the ground. The moonlit sky was hazy with smoke and ash. Coughing, he ripped the hem of his shirt and tied it over his nose and mouth. The heat was unbearable; even the air felt like it was on fire.
The way to the gate was clear, and he darted toward it, hoping the haze and clouds would obscure his movements. Engines roared overhead, and he scurried to the base of the DHD, hiding behind the pedestal as the F/A-18 Hornet flew overhead so low that John could make out the Mark 77s hanging from the wings.
“Sir! They’re coming around again!”
John stared after the plane, watching as the bombs incinerated everything in their path. The screams of his men turned to choking gasps then silence. He stood as the plane banked, reversing its course. His eyes tracked the last bomb as it landed, sending a tsunami of fire right at him.
xxx
Lorne led the silent trudge back to the gate. Another wild goose chase. Col. Sheppard had vanished, and while rumors and innuendo were rampant, they could not find one solid lead. One minute he had been standing in the Mreqil marketplace and the next he was gone. Not even Ronon had seen anything.
Eight days. Eight excruciating days of searching with only guilt and fear to show for it. Evan was a realist. He had seen his CO pull off some unbelievable stunts in the past two years, but eventually luck ran out. The others knew it too. He could see it in the tightness of Ronon’s jaw and the stiffness in Teyla’s shoulders, hear it in McKay’s silence. But they would never stop looking, and neither would he.
Without a word, McKay dialed Atlantis and input his IDC. They stepped through empty-handed. Again.
xxx
Chuck’s voice over the radio on her nightstand jerked her back to wakefulness. Jennifer blinked sleepily at her clock. Three forty-seven in the morning. She bolted upright as her radio crackled again.
“Dr. Keller to the executive conference room immediately.”
Jumping out of bed, she threw on her top and pants, grabbing her jacket and a rubber band on her way out then ran back in and stuffed her feet in her shoes. She pulled her hair into a ponytail as she raced to the transporter. Getting called to the conference room at this hour meant only one thing.
She rubbed the grit from her eyes as she jogged the final few steps, entering with McKay and Lorne. Col. Carter and Teyla were already seated, and Ronon paced agitatedly behind them. Jennifer quickly took her seat.
“We have received word from Ladon Radim,” Sam began. “His intel indicates that Col. Sheppard is being held at an abandoned Genii safehouse on M2E-147.”
“We’re wasting time,” Ronon growled.
Carter smiled tightly. “Major Lorne, prepare three jumpers, full gear.”
“Yes ma’am. Do we know who has him?”
“Ladon believes it is a man named Merkat Lypril.”
“Who?” McKay asked.
“He was a scientist who worked under Radim before the coup. Apparently he was caught in the intrigue when Ladon turned against a man named Kolya.”
“Oh, God,” McKay muttered. “Will he not just die?”
“According to Radim, Lypril chose to go with Kolya. His… experiments were a little too unconventional for the new regime.”
“What does this have to do with Col. Sheppard?” Teyla inquired.
Sam grimaced. “It seems that Col. Sheppard destroyed Lypril greatest experiment, one involving a Wraith.”
“You mean the Wraith that he escaped with was some kind of test subject?”
“No, Rodney. He was the instrument. Lypril was studying of the limits of the human body, especially regarding pain. Ladon said Lypril went a bit off the deep end after losing all his research on the effect of Wraith feedings when you stormed Kolya’s compound.”
“He’s the one that helped Kolya torture Sheppard?”
Carter nodded at Ronon’s question, her face grim. “So it would seem.” She turned to Lorne again. “Do whatever it takes, Major. You leave in twenty minutes.”
“Yes ma’am.”
The group pushed away from the table and headed to the mission ready room. Jennifer called the night duty nurse and ordered her previously prepared medkit to be brought to her. Zipping on the tac vest Teyla handed her and the thigh holster from Lorne, she checked the 9mil for ammo and grabbed a radio on the way out.
Marie met her in the jumper bay with the medkit. “Good luck, Doctor.”
“Thanks. Have the OR prepped just in case, and I want the triage station fully manned.”
“Already working on it.”
“I’ll see you when we get back.”
Rushing up the ramp, Jennifer took a seat in the back with six Marines since Lorne and Sheppard’s team filled the front. As the engine hummed to life around her, she prayed that the kit she’d prepared held what she would need. They couldn’t lose him now.
xxx
The experimentation room had been built to his specifications, and he had spared no expense in anticipation of this day. Not a large space, but not small, cabinets for his charts, medicines and instruments ringed it while an examination table dominated the center where exhausted eyes now blinked slowly at him. The defiance was gone. While Sheppard would never verbally beg for death, his body pleaded for him. Merkat offered him water, but the man turned his face away.
“It won’t be long now,” he crooned as he brushed sweat-crusted hair from Sheppard’s face. “This will all be over soon.”
A sodden black shirt and trousers were molded to the man’s skin, defining his rib bones and his concave stomach. Rust colored streaks covered Sheppard’s forearms, hands and feet, a testament to his struggles in the metal cuffs. IVs were inserted in both arms, fluids to keep him alive.
“Are you ready to begin again?” Merkat asked as he injected the hallucinogen into the IV port.
Sheppard’s eyes lost focus, and he moaned and shuddered. Leaning close, Merkat whispered in his ear.
“You are exploring a new world with your friends. Can you hear them?”
The man relaxed slightly, a small smile playing around his lips. “No, Rodney, it’s not time for a snack break. We just got here.”
Sheppard’s voice was scratchy, and Merkat smiled in satisfaction. Days of screaming had reduced the man’s voice to a mere whisper.
“Good. As you near a small village, the Wraith attack, their small ships shrieking overhead.”
Sheppard’s face tightened. “It’s OK, Teyla. You’re not a machine. We know they’re here now. Ronon, warn the villagers.”
“There is no time.”
A frown. “Hurry, Big Guy.”
“There are no villagers.”
“Are you sure, McKay? Well, check the life signs detector. Could’ve sworn…. Fine.”
“The only place to hide is the nearest building.”
“Fall back to the schoolhouse. We’ll take cover there for now. I don’t care if it smells. Get in there before they spot us.”
“Your friends go in, but you are cut off.”
“Hang tight, guys. I’ll get to you when I can.”
“Wraith strafing fire hits the building holding your friends.”
“The building’s on fire! Get out of there!” Sheppard’s neck corded with the semblance of screaming, but his damaged voice could only manage a faint whisper. “Ronon! Teyla! Rodney!”
Merkat traced fingers over Sheppard’s throat, feeling the muscles move and constrict without producing sound. “The Wraith ships leave, but the building will collapse soon. You must get help.”
Sheppard’s body heaved as he struggled. “Ronon! Get them out of there!”
“Go to the pedestal. Dial Atlantis. Call for help to save your friends.”
“NO! Teyla! Rodney! Can you hear me?”
“They are dying. Can you hear them screaming your name?”
Tears pooled in Sheppard’s eyes as he beheld the horror that Merkat’s words were producing in his mind. “Please! Get out!”
Merkat injected the second drug, his masterpiece. A fire serum that allowed the body to feel like it was truly burning alive. “Only you can save them. The fire is coming for you. Run to the Ring and call for help.”
Confusion flicked on Sheppard’s face then his lips formed a word. “No.”
“Can you feel it?” he asked. “The flame around you, on you, burning your skin, your hair, your eyes?”
Screaming silently, Sheppard bucked and fought, trying to find relief.
“Give me Atlantis’ address and codes, and this will all end.”
Sheppard’s head flailed from side to side, convulsions racking his body.
Merkat’s brow furrowed. “The serum dosage must have been too strong though the hallucinogen seems to have worked properly,” he mumbled aloud as he jotted notes in his research journal, absently removing the IVs once Sheppard stilled. “Did I tell you I tried the fire serum once? Just a tiny bit, but it felt like my entire body was on fire. Every nerve ending telling your mind that you’re ablaze. Isn’t that fascinating? It really adds to the hallucination, doesn’t it?”
He paused as he repositioned the instrument tray. “Perhaps a longer recovery period. You may need to metabolize some of the serum so your conscious periods last longer.”
The grey fuzz sprinkled across the top of his head shook as he chuckled. “I think tomorrow after breakfast will give sufficient recovery time. For you and me. I need to contact my buyers anyway. You’d be amazed at the price that Atlantis’ codes and address is going for these days.”
He patted Sheppard’s slack jaw, double checked the room, and turned out the lights.
xxx
John stepped through the gate, unable to shake the fatigue that plagued him. McKay had his face buried in a scanner while Teyla and Ronon took up defensive positions on either side. Another trade mission on another bland world. The people were friendly enough, welcoming the strangers to their hamlet, offering a weekly supply of meat that looked like chicken and tasted like steak in exchange for medicines and occasional doctor visits. They were shown to a small hut, a spot of shade under a merciless sun, to rest before the evening festivities began.
“We really have to stay for this?”
“Yes, Rodney,” Teyla answered. “To leave now would be an insult.”
“Perhaps I should have worded it differently. We all have to stay?”
“Suck it up, McKay,” Ronon said. “You’re staying.”
“I’m just saying. I mean, I’m a busy man. Couldn’t you make up some excuse like an emergency at home or something-”
“Knock it off,” Sheppard mumbled, massaging his temples. The pain had spiked suddenly, and McKay’s whining was not helping.
“Are you alright, John?”
“I’m fine, Teyla. I just need some air.”
Pushing the heavy curtain back, he stepped out, squinting in the bright sunlight. He scrubbed his hands over his neck as he headed toward the town square. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this tired. He’d have to see Keller when he got back, would have seen her before he left except he hadn’t felt bad then. Plopping down underneath one of the massive shade trees in the center of the village, he drifted off to sleep.
Shouts woke him. Disoriented and still exhausted, he scrambled to his feet as people scurried by him with water buckets. Following them, his heart stopped as the hut he’d left earlier burned. He looked frantically through the crowd for his teammates, calling their names at the top of his lungs.
“Sheppard!” a voice gasped. “Help!”
“Ronon!” John raced to the entrance only to be held back by well-meaning villagers. “Let me go! My team is in there!”
The council leader gripped a shoulder. “No one’s alive in there, son. I’m so sorry.”
“No!” He choked on a sob as the ceiling collapsed inward. “God, please, no!”
Once the fire burned itself out, the townspeople cleared the debris, careful to not disturb the pile of bodies inside. Ronon was on top, the glint of knives the only way to recognize him. Teyla was next, most of her face preserved beneath Ronon’s bulk. McKay was curled in a ball underneath her, his charred hands wrapped around his head. John dropped to his knees next to them, head bowed.
“I wasn’t there for you, and I should have been. I won’t ask for your forgiveness because I know you’d give it. I’ll never-”
“Sheppard?” McKay whispered.
John gaped at him, stretching tremulous fingers to his carotid, stunned to find a weak pulse. “Hang on, Rodney.” Turning to a nearby man, he shouted, “I need some help here!”
“I don’t know what we can do for you,” the man said apologetically. “We were depending on your for medical help.”
“Then get me a stretcher. Help me carry him to the gate.”
Minutes later, they were setting a travois at the base of the DHD. McKay’s breathing was worsening, and the blisters on his back oozed blood and fluid. His green eyes were dull, his lids slowly closing.
“Hurry.”
John began dialing, one symbol then the second and the third. As he reached for the fourth, his mind whispered a warning. Frowning, he glanced down at Rodney. He didn’t remember McKay having green eyes. He wasn’t quite sure what color they were, but green seemed wrong.
Clearing the dialer, he input the glyphs for New Athos. When the gate whooshed to life, instead of shimmering blue, orange fire blossomed. The vortex extended beyond its normal range, engulfing him, McKay, and the DHD. He didn’t even have time to scream.
xxx
Ronon jumped out the back before the rear hatch fully lowered. Blaster ready, he glanced at McKay. “Where?”
Rodney tapped the scanner then pointed. “There.”
The building was barely discernable through the trees. Built into the side of a mountain, only the drab color against the verdant green of the forest revealed its position and only to someone who knew where to look. Ronon heard Lorne giving orders but didn’t wait. Teyla raced at his side, and McKay was a step behind her.
“This is not a time for talk,” Ronon warned.
Teyla pulled the slide on her P-90. “I am not in the mood for conversation.”
The red energy pulse felled the guards to the right of the door, and Teyla took out the ones on the left. Ronon kicked in the door and stormed in, flanked by his teammates as P-90 fire echoed behind them. Racing through the building, they killed anyone in their path, following Rodney’s instructions.
“We need to hurry,” McKay urged. “His lifesigns are growing fainter.”
Ronon allowed his mind to go blank, blocking out every distraction. With a single focus, he blasted his way down the hall and knocked down the door at the end. Filled with medical equipment and books, it was devoid of people except for a lone man strapped to a table, convulsing.
“Oh, God,” Rodney breathed.
Teyla held John’s face in her hands as Ronon released the restraints and Rodney gently removed the IVs.
“What do you think?” Ronon asked.
Teyla looked at him in dismay. “I believe it risky to move him like this, but we need to get him to Jennifer.”
“Good enough.”
Ronon lifted John like a child, holding him tightly to his chest as the man continued to jerk and shake. He whirled at the sound of shattering glass. Rodney’s face was white, and he shook with rage as he held his handgun to the forehead of a little fat man.
“Go,” McKay said. “I’ve got this.”
Exchanging a glance with Teyla who nodded and turned back, Ronon ran from the room.
xxx
John jolted awake, grimacing in embarrassment as his shout reverberated through the infirmary. He guessed the staff had grown accustomed to it over the course of the past week since no one came to check on him. At least the nightmares were decreasing although all hope of sleep was now gone.
“Chess?” McKay asked.
He nodded, trying to obey Keller’s instructions on resting his vocal cords. The damage had been extensive but not permanent. His appetite was improving too. He had progressed from bland to soft foods, and the doc had promised a real breakfast tomorrow. Today.
Rodney wheeled the table holding the chess set over, and John raised the head of the bed to a sitting position. The only down side to the vocal rest was biting his tongue so many times. McKay had been on a tear lately, bitching about anything and everything. And while it was exactly what John needed to hear, his disappointment at not being able to egg him on was overwhelming.
“It’s my turn to be white.”
John gave him his best laser-eye stare.
“Oh, come on. Don’t look at me like that. You know it’s my turn.”
Arching a brow, Sheppard grinned.
“Fine. But only until Keller springs you. Then my days of being nice are over. Yes, I can be nice. When I want to. Don’t tell Zelenka though. He’ll expect it every time he returns from the kid planet.”
McKay’s rant washed over John like a soothing balm. His team hadn’t left his side since they returned. Teyla held his hand and sang. Ronon regaled him with tales of training the newest batch of Marines. Rodney played movies on his laptop. They were healthy and whole, and the one thing that had kept him grounded in reality. He hadn’t asked about what happened when they found him, and they hadn’t told him. Truthfully, he didn’t want to know just yet.
John didn’t realize he was staring until McKay face scrunched. “What? Did I grow another head or something?”
Embarrassed, Sheppard shook his head and captured Rodney’s bishop with a rook. Blue. McKay had blue eyes not green. The errors his brain had supplied - an Ancient keypad on an old wooden building, Ford, F/A-18s, and the other wrong details - had been obvious, had stopped him from giving in to the hallucinations, from selling out Atlantis. But he’d almost missed that last clue.
“Checkmate?” Rodney huffed. “Seriously? You’re cheating somehow. Give me enough time, and I’ll figure it out.”
One day Keller and the new shrink would return him to active duty status, and he would be ready. For now, John decided to concentrate on regaining his strength. And being thankful that he lived in a city surrounded by water.
Author:
wildcat88
Rating: strong PG-13
Category: Gen
Word Count: ~4100
Characters: Sheppard, Ronon, Teyla, McKay, Lorne, Keller, Carter, OC
Warnings/Spoilers: Set in early S4 but only has casting spoilers
Summary: Fire burns everything in its path. It's inescapable, unreasonable. And it wants John.
A/N: Thanks to the magnificent
kristen999for the beta. Her suggestions were invaluable. All faults are mine.
Glock held in a firm grip to his side, John moved down the windowless hallway in a crouch with his back to the wall. Right leg over left, twist the knob. Locked. Quick step with left then cross with right. Check the next. Shut tight. Onto the next and the next, each with the same result. No escape. Even with his light tread, wood creaked beneath him, and his splinter collection was growing. Rivulets of sweat ran down his bare chest and back, soaking the waistband of his grey sweats.
Billows of black smoke chased him, and fire hissed its demand. Giving up on stealth, he raced to the knobless door at the end of the narrow corridor. The building was old, a tinderbox, reminding him of his grandpa’s fishing cabin, making the keypad next to the door look out of place. He blinked in confusion, recognizing the DHD symbols.
‘Home,’ his mind whispered.
John punched the first two glyphs of the Atlantis address then hesitated, his fingers tapping the buttons. “No.”
He flinched as the timber around him popped and hissed, the fire’s crackle growing closer. Beams crashed in the hallway, and he turned, pressing his back into the door as he sought another way. Flames licked their way toward him, tongues of blue and white with reddish orange tips that consumed the floor, walls, and ceiling. Smoke infiltrated his lungs and stung his eyes. Escape was only the push of a button away. Waves of heat blasted him; his skin blistered; his lips cracked.
Wheeling, he unloaded his clip into the keypad then turned back resolutely.
Roaring, the blaze leapt for him.
xxx
John dashed at the laceration on his forehead distractedly as he glanced around the shattered jumper. This one was toast. The consoles that didn’t spark were completely dead, one drive pod dangled over the view screen, and the comm system was out. He squinted through the cracks in the windshield, tuning out McKay’s ongoing commentary about patching enough power to the DHD for the one shot they were going to get.
Everyone stilled as the broken craft wobbled like a child’s rocking horse. Instead of crashing into the dense vegetation that comprised the tropical rainforest of this oppressively hot and humid planet, they had skidded to a stop on a ledge of an active volcano. Molten lava surged in rivers in front of them, a mesmerizing fiery red flow of destruction.
“OK, I think that’s got it.” Rodney scooted from under the console. “Sheppard-”
“Don’t say it. We’ve already had this discussion. Someone has to dial. I’ll be right behind you.”
With a bob of his head, McKay grabbed his pack and headed down the ramp. John shifted slightly, trying not to jar the ribs that had already torn something inside that couldn’t be repaired in time. He focused on staying awake until his team could make it to the tiny shelf that held the stargate but no DHD.
“You don’t believe that any more than I do.”
“I’m depending on you to get everyone back safely, Ronon.”
The big man crouched next to him. “I can do both.”
“No, you can’t. Someone has to carry Teyla.”
“John-”
“Go.”
Ronon squeezed his shoulder painfully then gently lifted the unconscious woman, tucking her head against his neck. “I’ll have Aiden radio when we’re ready,” he said as she strode quickly out the back.
“Great.” John dabbed again at the blood on his face then paused. “Aiden?”
Gripping the console, he pulled himself upright and leaned until he could see the gate. About three hundred yards to his left, two men stood next to the stone ring. One was easily identifiable as McKay. The other turned at Ronon’s approach, and John’s breath caught.
Aiden Ford. Alive. Unmarred. Wearing standard BDUs and that ridiculous baseball cap. He frowned at Ronon’s words and looked toward the jumper, right at Sheppard, then reached for his ear.
“We’ll send a jumper back for you, Sir.”
Pain knifed through him at the familiar voice, and he slumped back in his chair.
“Sir? Can you hear me? Sir?”
John closed his eyes as the ship began to teeter wildly.
“Sir! You need to dial now, or we’ll be stuck here!”
The jumper slid slowly off its ledge and into the lava. John ripped the radio from his ear, silencing the shouts of his team. The nose hit, the front window cracked, and magma rushed in.
xxx
The P-90’s recoil was definitely going to leave a bruise. John sprinted through the underbrush of the forest on the heels of the opposition leader, firing rapid bursts at the man’s shadow. Vaulting over a fallen log, Sheppard twisted in the air as a bullet whizzed by. This guy was good.
They hadn’t meant to start this war, but they were damn well going to finish it. John ducked behind a tree, turning his face as wood imploded and splintered. No way was this bunch of crazies going to get away with burning down an orphanage simply because they thought the children had been tainted by outsiders. His team had been pulling bodies out of the smoldering embers when the fighting had started. Teyla and Ronon had moved quickly, heading straight to the gate to call for reinforcements. Sheppard and McKay had dived for cover, but Rodney had been one step too slow and had paid for it with his life.
Pushing the image from his mind, John raced after the man responsible. Rocks clattered as he hit a soft spot in the path, and the slide to one knee saved his life as the other man’s shot went wide. Firing wildly, John missed center mass but hit a shoulder. The impact jerked the man backward, and he crumpled to the ground with a cry. Sheppard staggered to his feet and headed toward his enemy.
“Sir!” Lorne’s panicked voice sounded in his ear. “The opposition has more technology than we thought. The area between the village and the gate is being carpet bombed. We’re cut off.”
John hesitated, vengeance warring with duty. “Is there any other way out?”
“There’s a clearing nearby where a jumper could land. Too bad we don’t have one.”
Bowing his head, John turned from the wounded man and headed to the gate. “I’m on my way, Major. Hang tight. I’ll have a jumper to you in minutes.”
He jogged to the edge of the forest and gaped. Trees similar to the giant redwoods at home blazed in the night like huge torches planted in the ground. The moonlit sky was hazy with smoke and ash. Coughing, he ripped the hem of his shirt and tied it over his nose and mouth. The heat was unbearable; even the air felt like it was on fire.
The way to the gate was clear, and he darted toward it, hoping the haze and clouds would obscure his movements. Engines roared overhead, and he scurried to the base of the DHD, hiding behind the pedestal as the F/A-18 Hornet flew overhead so low that John could make out the Mark 77s hanging from the wings.
“Sir! They’re coming around again!”
John stared after the plane, watching as the bombs incinerated everything in their path. The screams of his men turned to choking gasps then silence. He stood as the plane banked, reversing its course. His eyes tracked the last bomb as it landed, sending a tsunami of fire right at him.
xxx
Lorne led the silent trudge back to the gate. Another wild goose chase. Col. Sheppard had vanished, and while rumors and innuendo were rampant, they could not find one solid lead. One minute he had been standing in the Mreqil marketplace and the next he was gone. Not even Ronon had seen anything.
Eight days. Eight excruciating days of searching with only guilt and fear to show for it. Evan was a realist. He had seen his CO pull off some unbelievable stunts in the past two years, but eventually luck ran out. The others knew it too. He could see it in the tightness of Ronon’s jaw and the stiffness in Teyla’s shoulders, hear it in McKay’s silence. But they would never stop looking, and neither would he.
Without a word, McKay dialed Atlantis and input his IDC. They stepped through empty-handed. Again.
xxx
Chuck’s voice over the radio on her nightstand jerked her back to wakefulness. Jennifer blinked sleepily at her clock. Three forty-seven in the morning. She bolted upright as her radio crackled again.
“Dr. Keller to the executive conference room immediately.”
Jumping out of bed, she threw on her top and pants, grabbing her jacket and a rubber band on her way out then ran back in and stuffed her feet in her shoes. She pulled her hair into a ponytail as she raced to the transporter. Getting called to the conference room at this hour meant only one thing.
She rubbed the grit from her eyes as she jogged the final few steps, entering with McKay and Lorne. Col. Carter and Teyla were already seated, and Ronon paced agitatedly behind them. Jennifer quickly took her seat.
“We have received word from Ladon Radim,” Sam began. “His intel indicates that Col. Sheppard is being held at an abandoned Genii safehouse on M2E-147.”
“We’re wasting time,” Ronon growled.
Carter smiled tightly. “Major Lorne, prepare three jumpers, full gear.”
“Yes ma’am. Do we know who has him?”
“Ladon believes it is a man named Merkat Lypril.”
“Who?” McKay asked.
“He was a scientist who worked under Radim before the coup. Apparently he was caught in the intrigue when Ladon turned against a man named Kolya.”
“Oh, God,” McKay muttered. “Will he not just die?”
“According to Radim, Lypril chose to go with Kolya. His… experiments were a little too unconventional for the new regime.”
“What does this have to do with Col. Sheppard?” Teyla inquired.
Sam grimaced. “It seems that Col. Sheppard destroyed Lypril greatest experiment, one involving a Wraith.”
“You mean the Wraith that he escaped with was some kind of test subject?”
“No, Rodney. He was the instrument. Lypril was studying of the limits of the human body, especially regarding pain. Ladon said Lypril went a bit off the deep end after losing all his research on the effect of Wraith feedings when you stormed Kolya’s compound.”
“He’s the one that helped Kolya torture Sheppard?”
Carter nodded at Ronon’s question, her face grim. “So it would seem.” She turned to Lorne again. “Do whatever it takes, Major. You leave in twenty minutes.”
“Yes ma’am.”
The group pushed away from the table and headed to the mission ready room. Jennifer called the night duty nurse and ordered her previously prepared medkit to be brought to her. Zipping on the tac vest Teyla handed her and the thigh holster from Lorne, she checked the 9mil for ammo and grabbed a radio on the way out.
Marie met her in the jumper bay with the medkit. “Good luck, Doctor.”
“Thanks. Have the OR prepped just in case, and I want the triage station fully manned.”
“Already working on it.”
“I’ll see you when we get back.”
Rushing up the ramp, Jennifer took a seat in the back with six Marines since Lorne and Sheppard’s team filled the front. As the engine hummed to life around her, she prayed that the kit she’d prepared held what she would need. They couldn’t lose him now.
xxx
The experimentation room had been built to his specifications, and he had spared no expense in anticipation of this day. Not a large space, but not small, cabinets for his charts, medicines and instruments ringed it while an examination table dominated the center where exhausted eyes now blinked slowly at him. The defiance was gone. While Sheppard would never verbally beg for death, his body pleaded for him. Merkat offered him water, but the man turned his face away.
“It won’t be long now,” he crooned as he brushed sweat-crusted hair from Sheppard’s face. “This will all be over soon.”
A sodden black shirt and trousers were molded to the man’s skin, defining his rib bones and his concave stomach. Rust colored streaks covered Sheppard’s forearms, hands and feet, a testament to his struggles in the metal cuffs. IVs were inserted in both arms, fluids to keep him alive.
“Are you ready to begin again?” Merkat asked as he injected the hallucinogen into the IV port.
Sheppard’s eyes lost focus, and he moaned and shuddered. Leaning close, Merkat whispered in his ear.
“You are exploring a new world with your friends. Can you hear them?”
The man relaxed slightly, a small smile playing around his lips. “No, Rodney, it’s not time for a snack break. We just got here.”
Sheppard’s voice was scratchy, and Merkat smiled in satisfaction. Days of screaming had reduced the man’s voice to a mere whisper.
“Good. As you near a small village, the Wraith attack, their small ships shrieking overhead.”
Sheppard’s face tightened. “It’s OK, Teyla. You’re not a machine. We know they’re here now. Ronon, warn the villagers.”
“There is no time.”
A frown. “Hurry, Big Guy.”
“There are no villagers.”
“Are you sure, McKay? Well, check the life signs detector. Could’ve sworn…. Fine.”
“The only place to hide is the nearest building.”
“Fall back to the schoolhouse. We’ll take cover there for now. I don’t care if it smells. Get in there before they spot us.”
“Your friends go in, but you are cut off.”
“Hang tight, guys. I’ll get to you when I can.”
“Wraith strafing fire hits the building holding your friends.”
“The building’s on fire! Get out of there!” Sheppard’s neck corded with the semblance of screaming, but his damaged voice could only manage a faint whisper. “Ronon! Teyla! Rodney!”
Merkat traced fingers over Sheppard’s throat, feeling the muscles move and constrict without producing sound. “The Wraith ships leave, but the building will collapse soon. You must get help.”
Sheppard’s body heaved as he struggled. “Ronon! Get them out of there!”
“Go to the pedestal. Dial Atlantis. Call for help to save your friends.”
“NO! Teyla! Rodney! Can you hear me?”
“They are dying. Can you hear them screaming your name?”
Tears pooled in Sheppard’s eyes as he beheld the horror that Merkat’s words were producing in his mind. “Please! Get out!”
Merkat injected the second drug, his masterpiece. A fire serum that allowed the body to feel like it was truly burning alive. “Only you can save them. The fire is coming for you. Run to the Ring and call for help.”
Confusion flicked on Sheppard’s face then his lips formed a word. “No.”
“Can you feel it?” he asked. “The flame around you, on you, burning your skin, your hair, your eyes?”
Screaming silently, Sheppard bucked and fought, trying to find relief.
“Give me Atlantis’ address and codes, and this will all end.”
Sheppard’s head flailed from side to side, convulsions racking his body.
Merkat’s brow furrowed. “The serum dosage must have been too strong though the hallucinogen seems to have worked properly,” he mumbled aloud as he jotted notes in his research journal, absently removing the IVs once Sheppard stilled. “Did I tell you I tried the fire serum once? Just a tiny bit, but it felt like my entire body was on fire. Every nerve ending telling your mind that you’re ablaze. Isn’t that fascinating? It really adds to the hallucination, doesn’t it?”
He paused as he repositioned the instrument tray. “Perhaps a longer recovery period. You may need to metabolize some of the serum so your conscious periods last longer.”
The grey fuzz sprinkled across the top of his head shook as he chuckled. “I think tomorrow after breakfast will give sufficient recovery time. For you and me. I need to contact my buyers anyway. You’d be amazed at the price that Atlantis’ codes and address is going for these days.”
He patted Sheppard’s slack jaw, double checked the room, and turned out the lights.
xxx
John stepped through the gate, unable to shake the fatigue that plagued him. McKay had his face buried in a scanner while Teyla and Ronon took up defensive positions on either side. Another trade mission on another bland world. The people were friendly enough, welcoming the strangers to their hamlet, offering a weekly supply of meat that looked like chicken and tasted like steak in exchange for medicines and occasional doctor visits. They were shown to a small hut, a spot of shade under a merciless sun, to rest before the evening festivities began.
“We really have to stay for this?”
“Yes, Rodney,” Teyla answered. “To leave now would be an insult.”
“Perhaps I should have worded it differently. We all have to stay?”
“Suck it up, McKay,” Ronon said. “You’re staying.”
“I’m just saying. I mean, I’m a busy man. Couldn’t you make up some excuse like an emergency at home or something-”
“Knock it off,” Sheppard mumbled, massaging his temples. The pain had spiked suddenly, and McKay’s whining was not helping.
“Are you alright, John?”
“I’m fine, Teyla. I just need some air.”
Pushing the heavy curtain back, he stepped out, squinting in the bright sunlight. He scrubbed his hands over his neck as he headed toward the town square. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this tired. He’d have to see Keller when he got back, would have seen her before he left except he hadn’t felt bad then. Plopping down underneath one of the massive shade trees in the center of the village, he drifted off to sleep.
Shouts woke him. Disoriented and still exhausted, he scrambled to his feet as people scurried by him with water buckets. Following them, his heart stopped as the hut he’d left earlier burned. He looked frantically through the crowd for his teammates, calling their names at the top of his lungs.
“Sheppard!” a voice gasped. “Help!”
“Ronon!” John raced to the entrance only to be held back by well-meaning villagers. “Let me go! My team is in there!”
The council leader gripped a shoulder. “No one’s alive in there, son. I’m so sorry.”
“No!” He choked on a sob as the ceiling collapsed inward. “God, please, no!”
Once the fire burned itself out, the townspeople cleared the debris, careful to not disturb the pile of bodies inside. Ronon was on top, the glint of knives the only way to recognize him. Teyla was next, most of her face preserved beneath Ronon’s bulk. McKay was curled in a ball underneath her, his charred hands wrapped around his head. John dropped to his knees next to them, head bowed.
“I wasn’t there for you, and I should have been. I won’t ask for your forgiveness because I know you’d give it. I’ll never-”
“Sheppard?” McKay whispered.
John gaped at him, stretching tremulous fingers to his carotid, stunned to find a weak pulse. “Hang on, Rodney.” Turning to a nearby man, he shouted, “I need some help here!”
“I don’t know what we can do for you,” the man said apologetically. “We were depending on your for medical help.”
“Then get me a stretcher. Help me carry him to the gate.”
Minutes later, they were setting a travois at the base of the DHD. McKay’s breathing was worsening, and the blisters on his back oozed blood and fluid. His green eyes were dull, his lids slowly closing.
“Hurry.”
John began dialing, one symbol then the second and the third. As he reached for the fourth, his mind whispered a warning. Frowning, he glanced down at Rodney. He didn’t remember McKay having green eyes. He wasn’t quite sure what color they were, but green seemed wrong.
Clearing the dialer, he input the glyphs for New Athos. When the gate whooshed to life, instead of shimmering blue, orange fire blossomed. The vortex extended beyond its normal range, engulfing him, McKay, and the DHD. He didn’t even have time to scream.
xxx
Ronon jumped out the back before the rear hatch fully lowered. Blaster ready, he glanced at McKay. “Where?”
Rodney tapped the scanner then pointed. “There.”
The building was barely discernable through the trees. Built into the side of a mountain, only the drab color against the verdant green of the forest revealed its position and only to someone who knew where to look. Ronon heard Lorne giving orders but didn’t wait. Teyla raced at his side, and McKay was a step behind her.
“This is not a time for talk,” Ronon warned.
Teyla pulled the slide on her P-90. “I am not in the mood for conversation.”
The red energy pulse felled the guards to the right of the door, and Teyla took out the ones on the left. Ronon kicked in the door and stormed in, flanked by his teammates as P-90 fire echoed behind them. Racing through the building, they killed anyone in their path, following Rodney’s instructions.
“We need to hurry,” McKay urged. “His lifesigns are growing fainter.”
Ronon allowed his mind to go blank, blocking out every distraction. With a single focus, he blasted his way down the hall and knocked down the door at the end. Filled with medical equipment and books, it was devoid of people except for a lone man strapped to a table, convulsing.
“Oh, God,” Rodney breathed.
Teyla held John’s face in her hands as Ronon released the restraints and Rodney gently removed the IVs.
“What do you think?” Ronon asked.
Teyla looked at him in dismay. “I believe it risky to move him like this, but we need to get him to Jennifer.”
“Good enough.”
Ronon lifted John like a child, holding him tightly to his chest as the man continued to jerk and shake. He whirled at the sound of shattering glass. Rodney’s face was white, and he shook with rage as he held his handgun to the forehead of a little fat man.
“Go,” McKay said. “I’ve got this.”
Exchanging a glance with Teyla who nodded and turned back, Ronon ran from the room.
xxx
John jolted awake, grimacing in embarrassment as his shout reverberated through the infirmary. He guessed the staff had grown accustomed to it over the course of the past week since no one came to check on him. At least the nightmares were decreasing although all hope of sleep was now gone.
“Chess?” McKay asked.
He nodded, trying to obey Keller’s instructions on resting his vocal cords. The damage had been extensive but not permanent. His appetite was improving too. He had progressed from bland to soft foods, and the doc had promised a real breakfast tomorrow. Today.
Rodney wheeled the table holding the chess set over, and John raised the head of the bed to a sitting position. The only down side to the vocal rest was biting his tongue so many times. McKay had been on a tear lately, bitching about anything and everything. And while it was exactly what John needed to hear, his disappointment at not being able to egg him on was overwhelming.
“It’s my turn to be white.”
John gave him his best laser-eye stare.
“Oh, come on. Don’t look at me like that. You know it’s my turn.”
Arching a brow, Sheppard grinned.
“Fine. But only until Keller springs you. Then my days of being nice are over. Yes, I can be nice. When I want to. Don’t tell Zelenka though. He’ll expect it every time he returns from the kid planet.”
McKay’s rant washed over John like a soothing balm. His team hadn’t left his side since they returned. Teyla held his hand and sang. Ronon regaled him with tales of training the newest batch of Marines. Rodney played movies on his laptop. They were healthy and whole, and the one thing that had kept him grounded in reality. He hadn’t asked about what happened when they found him, and they hadn’t told him. Truthfully, he didn’t want to know just yet.
John didn’t realize he was staring until McKay face scrunched. “What? Did I grow another head or something?”
Embarrassed, Sheppard shook his head and captured Rodney’s bishop with a rook. Blue. McKay had blue eyes not green. The errors his brain had supplied - an Ancient keypad on an old wooden building, Ford, F/A-18s, and the other wrong details - had been obvious, had stopped him from giving in to the hallucinations, from selling out Atlantis. But he’d almost missed that last clue.
“Checkmate?” Rodney huffed. “Seriously? You’re cheating somehow. Give me enough time, and I’ll figure it out.”
One day Keller and the new shrink would return him to active duty status, and he would be ready. For now, John decided to concentrate on regaining his strength. And being thankful that he lived in a city surrounded by water.