Fic: Silent Intruders 2/2 (Beckett/McKay, Chuck/Lorne/Zelenka, PG)
Title: Silent Intruders
Author: penguin13tcj
Pairing: Carson /Rodney Lorne/Zelenka /Chuck
Rating: PG for mature themes, mostly implied
Recipient: Flubber2kool
Spoilers: none
Summary: Dreams are windows to the soul…but the soul of what? When something goes wrong in Atlantis, can the whole Team figure it out in time?
Action, angst, H/C, drama, friendship, relationship and more: a surprise discovery just for you!
Notes: This is my very first story EVER- please bear that in mind esp. all the spelling and grammar mistakes and I tried to give you as much as I could that you asked for! All mistakes are mine, everything is made up, I own nothing or no one, Happy Holidays !
Many, many thanks to goddess47 for the beta at the very last minute! All remaining mistakes are mine.
Part One
Everything was quiet in Lorne's jumper, no one moved. The Major came to with a splitting headache. What was he doing on the ground? He looked around and realized he was on the roof somehow, his harness had come lose and he had fallen.
More voices were heard. "What the hell was that?"
"I think we hit a shield of some kind." Lieutenant Bock was in the co-pilot's seat, hanging upside down. He looked up, well down, to see Lorne looking back up at him. "Um… are you okay, Sir?"
"Can you guys get out of your restraints?" Lorne stood up to help them not free fall to the ground. "Everyone all right?"
A round of yeah's ensued, when he noticed the bulk head door was closed where the Daedalus Marines were.
"They're really going to dock your pay for this one, Major!" Sergeant Roberts, looking a little green under the collar, tried to laugh.
"No kidding, Roberts. See if the back panel is stuck, will you?" Lorne requested.
The last man out of the rear seat behind the pilots was a man mountain. Usually Lorne was glad to have him along but he was still hanging upside down and they were all wondering how they were going to get him out without hurting him.
Thankfully, the back door slid open and the Marines were all scrambling to get off each other. There seemed to be just a cut here or a bump there and no serious injuries.
"Here, Major, let us help you, I think maybe you're going to have to blow the hatch." Lieutenant Morris came forward with two other really big men to help get out Bock.
"Thanks!" Lorne slapped his back as everyone got out of his way ready to assist however possible.
"Lorne to Atlantis." Nothing. "Lorne to Atlantis, come in please."
"Whatever we hit must be interfering with the radio." Someone was having the same trouble contacting the Daedalus.
"Shhhh!" Lorne lifted up his right arm and made a fist. Everyone became silent and alert. "Do you hear that?" he whispered.
"Sounds like someone's outside, like right outside," came back a whisper from the other side of the cabin.
"That's impossible! This section has never been inhabitable and there's no way anyone got here before us," Sergeant Roberts protested.
"If you can hear me, stand back," the muffled voice called to the jumper.
Everyone scrambled to get to the front of the jumper before the hatch blew by itself.
"Everyone okay in here?" someone was walking in, rifle raised, fanning away the smoke.
Lorne went forward, "Yeah, we're fine but……."
"Got them, Colonel Caldwell, they're all fine!" the Marine reported on his radio.
"No one's in the second jumper!" they heard the Colonel's reply.
Lorne and his team piled out just as they heard another jumper approaching. It landed safely about a half a klick away. Colonel Sheppard and his team as well as Dr. Beckett came running over.
"Is everyone all right?" Sheppard demanded, looking around.
"We're fine, sir, but how did you clear the force field?" Lorne asked, puzzled.
Sheppard looked back and with a cocky grin replied, "Why, thank you, Major, I do believe you cleared the way for us."
"No problem, sir!" laughed Lorne not believing SGA-1‘s luck.
"What about the other puddle jumper?" asked Dr. Beckett. He was watching over the medics as they did first aid on the team from the crashed jumper. It was a miracle no one was hurt.
"No one's in it. The back door was opened when we got here!" Caldwell walked to the group with the rest of his men.
"That's just not possible. Someone had to be piloting and they had to have the gene as well." Sheppard was raking his hand through has hair, a sign of stress.
"Major Lorne, could I have a word with you?" Dr. Beckett took him out of hearing range of the others. "Radek was at the controls with Rodney when we saw both jumpers crash and then we heard nothing from you."
"Crap!" Lorne paled.
"Do we have communications yet?" Beckett called to the other teams.
"Only to the Daedalus, but I already took the liberty of relaying that everyone was all right and that whatever made you crash is interfering with the city's comm," Caldwell answered. He and Sheppard were assigning teams and giving out assignments.
"That's strange, the radios work," one of the Marines from the Daedalus chirped up.
"Everyone, try your head set and your radios." John looked perplexed, "Well, whatever you did, you did it good Major."
"We still can't reach the tower," Beckett supplied.
Sheppard and Caldwell quickly decided they would go with three teams. This was unexplored terrain, and no one knew what the structural damage was. Each team had two medics, eight marines and a team leader.
Colonel Caldwell took team one, Major Lorne, team two and Colonel Sheppard took his team with the added reinforcements. John really only trusted his team and even though they were missing Rodney he still felt better knowing Ronon and Teyla were with him -- he knew Carson was really much better now after all his forced off world trips. A couple of the Marines from the Daedalus followed Sheppard’s team when moved out, even though he had was somewhat reluctant to take them.
"Problem?" John was putting his sunglasses away.
"Colonel Caldwell said not to lose sight of you under penalty of death, Sir. He also said you would do something like this and we were to follow your orders to the T. Well, anything but leaving you," one explained.
"Really?" he looked at Teyla whose eyebrow went up and she was trying to hide a smile. Ronon just did his usual shrug. "Penalty of death?"
"His exact words, sir!" The Marines were like statues waiting at ease for their orders, there was no trace of any amusement on their faces.
John wasn't sure if he should be insulted or not.
In the tower, tensions were running high. Radek was shaking and Elizabeth mistook it for his recent injuries. "Why don't you go rest Radek," she started kindly, "we have it from here."
"No!" he yelled it a little too loudly, bringing all the attention on himself. He blushed deeply, "I am sorry, Dr. Weir!"
Rodney turned around to make a nasty remark. He was still stung by Carson's remark but when he looked at Radek, really looked at him, things finally started to make a bit of sense. Some genius he thought to himself. Well it wasn't his fault he wasn't a people person.
"Zelenka," he started and even his words were harsh to his own ears. He stopped and took a deep breath. "Radek," he tried again in a softer tone and moved his chair right next to his colleague.
That got Radek's attention, Rodney never got in close proximity with anyone. "Whatever you have to say please keep to yourself," Radek gritted out.
"Radek," Rodney was really uncomfortable now, "I, um…, I wanted to say, well, if you needed anything or if, um …."
Radek turned, pushing up his glasses trying to figure out what McKay was really up to. He drew his brows together and watched as Rodney tried to offer some comfort but had no idea why now all of a sudden. Oh, dear God, had he given himself away?
"Lorne isn't it?" Rodney barely whispered, and the light came on, "And," Rodney tilted his head in consideration, "Chuck? Really? I had no idea, I really am sorry. Carson's out there -- everything will be fine."
"I appreciate concern and you now know why Carson was so harsh with you. Please don't hold it against him!" Radek offered by way of explanation.
Now it was Rodney's turn to be stunned.
"Rodney, you read like book. You are very discreet but I work with you every day. I know you better then you know yourself," the Czech whispered back.
They both calmed a little. It was easier dealing with this when someone else knew and understood.
"..tian Caldwell do you re.."
"Say again please, boost the output!" Rodney was all business again.
"Caldwell to Atlantis Tower, come in please," came the voice, the signal stronger.
"Go ahead Stephen. How are they?" Elizabeth asked worriedly.
"Everyone is fine, no serious injuries and still no sign of the unknown pilot from the other jumper," Caldwell reported,
A collective sigh of relief was heard throughout the tower.
"Any sign of Sergeant Campbell?" Elizabeth asked.
"Not yet," Rodney reported, "they have a lot of ground to cover and we're still not finding him on the life signs indicator."
"We'll keep in contact every half hour. We have three teams here checking out the West pier. I can get word to you through the Daedalus, as I am now," Caldwell informed them.
"Thank you, Colonel, for everything, Weir out."
Radek was doing all he could to keep it together hearing the news. Rodney smiled slightly over at him. He actually gave Radek his cup of coffee.
Pushing his glasses up once again as he looked in front of him, he shot a surprised over at Rodney. They both just smiled.
***
Chuck was once again exploring the Stargate with Major Lorne's team, his team. At first he thought nothing of this as he followed the other Marines down the dank hallways. It was so dark and really musty smelling. He could hear his boots splashing though at least an inch of water that was everywhere. He couldn't understand why he was so bone tired, they had just gotten up for the day. Sluggishly, he plowed on to keep up.
"Major!" someone called from ahead. The team stopped to see what was going on. A dim light was shining from the other side of the… what? What were they in? For that matter how did they get there?
Chuck had that strange feeling again, the disorientation of what was happening was really getting on his nerves.
"Stay together, men," he heard Lorne's command and felt relieved, as they all moved towards the lighted hallway.
Chuck realized they were moving away from him at lightning speed.
"Hey, wait up!" He aimed his P90's light to get a fix on their location. "Major Lorne, where are you?" Chuck turned around in slow circles to see where his team could have gone. "This isn't right!"
Looking back the way they came, there was only darkness, looking forward was even more the same. "I don't understand," he mumbled to himself.
"Human!" he heard a voice from far away. "Human, wake up now!"
A bright light was shining in his face and his eyes would not open. His head turned away from the light but he was drawn to the voice. It was the same voice he heard every night of the last week before the accident when the night mares were at their worst.
"Turn down those lights," the disembodied voice had turned away from him.
Chuck's eyes barely opened a slit as he tried to take in his surroundings. The infirmary? No, more like one of the labs McKay had found from the Ancients' research stations. He tried to move but everything hurt.
"Don't move too much, we need you to have all your strength when you turn the ring for us," a voice directed.
"Who, where?" His mouth felt like cotton wool. The drummer behind his eyes was making it difficult to think, let alone talk.
"I did not know you were unable to fly that machine. For that I am sorry. It is imperative that you help us again!" The voice sounded sincere.
Fly a machine? What the hell was going on, who were these people and why wasn't he on Atlantis?
"Human! Human!" A squid-like scaled hand was lightly slapping his face.
"Stop that!" Chuck swatted at the offensive touch. "I'm awake. Where are we and who are you?"
The man-creature sighed, exasperated, "Why is it you do not remember helping us every time you come back here?"
"How many times have I been," he looked around and couldn't make out much, "here?"
"Many times. You were helping us fix the broken ring so we could return to our world."
This got the young Canadian's attention. He sat up, a little too fast for his head's liking. Riding through the waves of dizziness, he demanded, "What are you talking about?"
"We don't have time to do this all over again, others are coming." A voice from far away hissed.
"They will take him back and kill us all!" a female voice rasped.
"Who will? Who are you anyway?" Chuck stumbled to his feet, his head was now doing the conga. "Just tell me how I got here, and what's going on."
"There's no time -- they are approaching fast." Shadows started to scramble in all directions leaving Chuck with many questions and no answers.
He turned to the one in front of him to ask again what was going on. His mouth went slack and he stared. No one was there. He was alone in a dark, cold room that smelled like low tide.
***
It had reached the half hour mark and the teams were checking in. It was slow going because half the hallways were barred with collapsed ceilings and beams that had buckled under the pressure of the great storm four years ago.
"No, nothing, not even a trail of any kind, Ronon has been looking for anything at all -- there's nothing here to track!" John was kicking some damaged tiles out of his path.
"Doesn't look too promising, Sir," came Lorne's voice over the radio. "We've hit more dead ends then anything. We keep having to double back. At this rate it's going to take all week."
"I can always get more men down here," Caldwell's voice now, he was following his Marines as they sloshed down a fairly untouched part of the building. Water was still everywhere and they had to be in at least a full kilometer by now.
"If that jumper hadn't flown out here I wouldn't even think about it!" Sheppard drawled.
Teyla signaled him from a spot up ahead. "Hang on we may have something," John instructed.
"I heard voices," she cocked her head to the side.
"Wraith?" the Colonel asked, stunned.
"No, I do not feel their presence. I heard someone talking." She pursed her lips, "It has been silent for a while now. I was not sure at first."
"Best news I heard all day!" John smiled at her. "Major Lorne, Colonel Caldwell, I think you're going to want to get your teams over here, Teyla heard voices from one of the rooms up ahead, but we're going to need help clearing the way." He gave them their location.
"Sheppard, I am going to contact the Daedalus to see if the sensors can help us. It's been almost a half hour since we talked with Dr. Weir. I will send my men ahead to help you."
"Affirmative, Sheppard out." As he turned to look at his team he realized Beckett wasn't with them.
"Where's the doc?"
Ronon turned and looked amazed that he hadn't even realized the man was missing.
Teyla too, was perplexed, clearly not remembering the last time she saw him.
The Marines on their six were even more stunned. The man had been right in front of them the whole time. "Sir, he was right here!" They panned their lights around the dark hallway.
Fishing out his radio, Sheppard sucked in his breath and told the others teams to double time it to their location, they had yet another situation.
Amazingly, Caldwell was right at the entrance when he heard this call. He was speaking to Elizabeth who had suggested sending Rodney down with his team since he was able to make anything work anywhere.
"That might not be a bad idea," Caldwell's eyes were piercing the darkness wondering what happened now, as he relayed his message via his ship to the tower. "Hermiod said he has detected strange energy readings in one of the sealed off areas where Colonel Sheppard had called everyone together."
"What kind of energy readings?" McKay was multi tasking as he was suiting up for his beam out. "It should be impossible for anything to be operating down there." He was cut off before he could say any more.
"There's absolutl…." He was absorbed in a bright beam of light and sound and found himself looking at Colonel Caldwell.
"ly ridic…..I wasn't ready!" Rodney protested, pulling his pack on more securely and grabbed Caldwell's radio for the little Asgard's benefit.
"When are you ever, with that mouth?" they heard the alien grumble, ever so softly.
"Dr. McKay is here safe and sound, we'll check in again in an hour. Thank you, Hermiod!" Caldwell cut in quickly before the two could start. "Dr. Weir?"
"We heard, bring them all back safe! Weir out."
It wasn't too long before Caldwell and McKay caught up to Sheppard's location.
"You haven't gotten very far!" Rodney complained.
"Rodney? What are you doing here?" Sheppard flew around to face the scientist.
"I figured we could use the extra help. Hermiod and Dr. McKay found a way to make the life sign detector triangulate on Sergeant Campbell," Caldwell put in before Rodney could explain his presence.
"How is it for lost Scots?" Ronon grumbled.
"What?" Rodney bellowed, "you lost Carson?"
"I wouldn't say lost as much as misplaced," John was helping with a bulkhead to clear the path forward to where Teyla heard the voices. "Relax Rodney, he couldn't have gone too far. Lorne and his team are retracing our steps with the Marines Colonel Caldwell insisted we take to watch our backs." The sarcasm was barely concealed.
Caldwell pursed his lips and rolled up his sleeves. He could help as much as the next man and, under the circumstances, it was best to leave that statement alone.
Carson had been watching his life signs detector and barely keeping one eye on Ronon and Teyla in front of him. He figured with the Marines watching his back he could concentrate on the detector. As they were rounding one particularly slippery bend, he lost his footing and grabbed for the nearest wall. Much to his surprise not only did he not stop from falling, he went right through the wall.
He looked back quickly thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him. His flashlight was luckily under his arm but not turned on so he found himself alone in a dark room. He reined in his rapid breaths before he hyperventilated and tried to radio Colonel Sheppard.
Nothing. Okay, no worries, he was safe for the time being and he couldn't be too far away from the rest of them. He called Lorne next and then Caldwell. With no answer from either, he began to panic a bit. His eyes adjusted to the lights beam and his panic turned to fascination, forgetting about being all alone and cut off from the others. The room, or station as it was, had been untouched by the water damage and he was truly amazed at the sight in front of him.
A gate. An old Stargate, unused in centuries it seemed, stood in the middle of the room. He looked on further. The control panels were an exact duplicate of the tower's, only on a much smaller scale. The awe of the find was incredible enough but when a hand touched his shoulder his flashlight went flying and the good doctor did take a nose dive this time. Everything went black.
"Doctor Beckett, is that you?" Noises like someone trying to find something in the dark were heard. "I'm sorry for scaring you, Sir, but I didn't think you were real."
"Aye and having a bloody real stroke, too." He squinted to see who was in the room with him but it was too black. He bumped into someone.
"Ouch! You just walked over my hand. Just stand still a minute until I locate your flashlight!" the voice commanded. Carson heard shuffling and a clink as contact was made with the flashlight.
"Chuck?" There was light was once again and Carson's mouth was opened wide in disbelief.
"You okay, Doc?"
"Me? You were on death's door last time I saw you and that was in the infirmary, I might add. What the bloody hell are you doing here? And for that matter, where is here?" Carson shone the light in Chuck's eyes, making him sit down on the nearest chair, checking him over. "Do you mind telling me what's going on?"
"You're not going to believe me. I'm living it and I don't believe it." Chuck winced as Beckett touched a tender spot on his shoulder.
"You had no better of ruined that stitched shoulder of yours with all your traipsing about." The Scot's accent was as calm as if he was in his infirmary and people appeared from nowhere every day.
"To tell you the truth, I am a little sketchy on the details myself." Chuck sucked in a deep breath and hissed slightly as the doctor kept up his gentle ministrations checking out the missing gate tech.
"Looks like you have a few broken ribs, there's no way I missed that before." Carson was absorbed in his patient's care.
"It, uh, happened when I crashed the jumper!" Chuck couldn't believe what he was saying.
Carson looked up and started to go through Chuck's hair very gently. He laughed, "No, I don't have a head injury. One minute I'm under a console that's blowing up with Radek and I…. Crap, how is Ra- um Dr. Zelenka? Is he ok?"
Compassion got the best of the Scottish man and he pushed Chuck back down in the chair, looking right in his eyes, he told him the truth of what happened and what his condition had been only hours ago.
A sigh of relief was heard and then Chuck became all riled up again, "Major Lorne and his team, they were coming through the gate when it exploded."
"Son, ya have to calm down, you're not doing anyone any good fretting like that and you're liable to puncture one of your lungs with all that bouncing around." Carson took out some bandaging and started to tightly wrap up the Canadian's ribs. To his credit, he only whimpered once.
That done, he did his best to re-bandage the shoulder that was now bleeding. "This needs stitching when we get back. You say you were the one in the jumper?" Carson asked carefully.
"Don't ask me how but they told me they needed it. I was, I was….." he started to shake. He didn't know what or where he was before he crashed landed in Jumper 2.
"Lad, you have to take it easy. Your body has been through some major trauma and this little adventure is not helping one bit." Carson patted the other man's good shoulder. "You were lying almost in a coma in the infirmary, then the next thing we knew you were gone. How in the world did you get to a jumper on your own, let alone fly it? Invisibly, I might add."
"You mean everything that's happened was true -- it wasn't a dream? For the last week now I've been having these terrible nightmares about being on Lorne's team and checking for broken Stargates and how to fix them. It was like I was really there. But I wasn't, I was here trying to get that gate to work," he pointed at the smaller gate in the room, "I just never realized the others in the dream weren't Major Lorne's team but the….."
Dr. Beckett became concerned when Chuck suddenly just stopped talking and staring into space. "The what, son? Stay with me, don't you leave me now." Shock was setting in but there was still a lot left unexplained. Rolling out an emergency blanket, Carson laid Chuck on the floor with another warming blanket on top. He had to get them out of there fast.
***
Radek had not left his station since the others left. He was actually drinking more coffee then Rodney usually did. He gnawed on his thumbnail and nervously kept wiping his glasses on his shirt. It had been five hours since they had heard anything from anyone except Major Grant on the Daedalus to say there was no news. The only positive thing was the sensors were able to penetrate some of the blocked areas of the West pier now and they could see the life signs moving around.
He was so preoccupied Radek almost didn't notice the two life forms on the opposite side of the pier from where the search party was. He started pulling up schematics from the data base of the old ancient unused and unexplored section. What was down there anyway? They had been in Atlantis close to five years now and they were not even a tenth of the way through exploring this Ancient and beautiful city, so full of secrets.
Elizabeth was coming down the stairs. Again Radek had not noticed she left. "Find something?" she asked.
"Yes! Is wonderful, I hope!" Radek was so excited and his hopes were finally up again. He started off so fast Elizabeth wasn't even sure it was English or not.
"Slow down!" she felt herself smile for the first time in days. "Tell me what you found. Slowly."
Radek blushed and pushed up his glasses and started to explain the schematics for the West pier. With the help of the Daedalus' extra power output they were able to detect the life signs of the 'Lanteans and the Daedalus crew, losing them every once in a while when they came into too much wreckage.
"So you think the two life forms on the other side of the building might be Chuck and whoever took him?" She caught on to his train of thought very quickly. "What would be of interest to anyone in that section?"
"I was so preoccupied I only noticed a few moments ago and was checking with ancient data base to see what it could tell me," Zelenka said forlornly.
"Radek, it's okay. We've all had a tough week but not as tough as you and the Sergeant. You're allowed to be human." Elizabeth was so close and gentle with her words, she laid a comforting hand on his back and he blushed as he usually did in such proximity of the expedition's leader.
"Have we had any word at all from the teams down there?" Dr. Weir asked the room in general. "We need to get word to them -- there are two life forms at the opposite end of the building. It just showed up with the extra boost from the Daedalus."
"Ma'am, should my team take a jumper out?"
"No, thank you, Lieutenant Markley. I have a better idea. Come with me." No sooner had she said that then three beams of light disappeared from the gate room floor.
"We're here ma'am. Thank the little fella on the ship for us." Markley's southern drawl was acute as always but the quaint ways he described people or things sometimes was not all that appropriate. "We're making contact with Colonels Sheppard and Caldwell now ma'am."
"John, can you hear me?" Elizabeth called on the radio.
Surprised to hear Elizabeth's voice, Sheppard dropped his half of a piece of wall making Ronon drop his half with an curse from the runner that John had never heard him use before. He wasn't about to tell Ronon he was spending too much time with the American Marines, not with that look on his face. "Sorry big guy, the radio surprised me!"
"How'd you get through?" John was clearly shocked at the voice. His voice was tinny and there was a lot of static but she could hear him fine. She quickly explained the how and especially the why.
“Maybe the second life form is Beckett,” Sheppard speculated.
"I thought Dr. Beckett was with you!" Dr. Weir did not seem as happy as she did a moment ago. "Yes, let's pray that is who is out there. Markley is going to stay at the entrance so we can keep in contact."
"Let me know if Dr. Z. finds out more about our mystery pier, like how the good doctor disappeared ….. into ……. thin air." John's voice trailed off in thought.
"John? What is it?" Elizabeth asked.
"A transporter! It has to be! Somehow Beckett stumbled on it and didn't even realize it," John elaborated.
"How could that be? You said yourself there's no energy readings anywhere!" Elizabeth protested.
"Well, that's why Rodney came and joined the party. He'll find it." As Sheppard signed off, everyone could hear the grumbling McKay sniping how he was the only one to ever save them, yadda yadda….
Everyone smiled now as they all knew McKay could do just about anything. It was the first happy moment in a long day.
Sheppard called everyone in and they retraced their steps, touching every available wall and crevice. When a Marine fell forward -- they found their way in.
Hesitantly, Sheppard lead them all through the wall. Ronon was a bit hesitant -- being in a transporter was one thing, walking through a wall was another. Teyla gave a small smile and stepped in front of him, going first.
The sight was just as amazing to the new arrivals as when Beckett had first seen it. No one said a word for a long while. Rodney, momentarily forgetting their search, went wild at all the new, shiny controls and just gaped at the Stargate.
"How can this be?" Teyla was the first to recover.
"Haven't got a clue!" John motioned to fan the teams out.
"Where were the readings?" John was walking forward cautiously, turning around he saw that kid in a candy store look in McKay's eyes. "McKay!"
Nothing.
Lorne cleared his throat and nudged Rodney none too gently.
"What's your problem? Oh right!" Looking at his instruments, he moved down from the control area and headed towards the two mysterious life signs, hoping against hope it was Carson and Chuck.
"What's that noise?" Colonel Caldwell turned around slowly trying to place the strange noise that was quickly picking up sound and speed.
"The gate!" Lieutenant Bock pointed.
Before anyone could move, the gate swooshed opened and the whole room transformed into something totally different than the control room. No one breathed. The occupants on the other side of the gate were just as stunned.
"Okayyyy…." McKay came around to have a closer look. It was definitely a Stargate but not one used for transportation. It gave a mirror image of the room they were in.
In the control tower, Weir was shouting orders as their gate was turning on once again by itself at the exact moment things were happening in the West pier.
"Dr. Zelenka?" she called by way of asking for an explanation.
"I am not believing this. No one has even been near controls," Radek protested.
The worm hole was steady and nothing was shorting out, no one came through, and no one was trying to get out. The liquid blue just shimmered in the gate room with a full battalion of Marines all aiming their weapons straight at it.
"Dr Weir, Sergeant Markley is radioing for you!" the German tech responded.
"Weir here. What's going on Markley?" Weir asked.
"Colonel Sheppard wanted me to ask you if anything strange was happening up there Ma'am?"
"As a matter of fact the gate just opened," she said as she heard him saying the same thing.
"Sergeant? What's going on down there? Have you found Beckett and Campbell?"
"Not yet, ma'am," he repeated everything that was relayed to him so far. "We think that every time this gate opened it was drawing power from the Stargate in the Control room, according to Dr. McKay," he added quickly.
"What are you saying Sergeant? Is Doctor McKay there?" she was watching the open horizon intently.
"No ma'am, well, yes ma'am, but he is relaying everything over the radio and I am bouncing off the Daedalus' comm."
Frustrated by not knowing what exactly was happening Elizabeth hands fisted and she replied, "Yes, of course. Thank you, Sergeant Markley. Please have Colonel Sheppard call me as soon as possible!"
Carson must have drifted off. He checked his patient quickly and carefully before looking up. What he saw made him shiver.
The Stargate was now opened and instead of an event horizon he saw another working Atlantis with strangely half human, half mammal beings at the controls. They were all staring at something through the gate.
"Colonel Sheppard !" he exclaimed and then seeing Rodney he broke into the biggest grin, "Aye I should have known if anyone could find us it would be you!"
"Carson, are you all right? Is that Chuck?" Rodney started moving forward.
"Hang on, Rodney, we don't know what we're dealing with here." John caught the back of his vest.
"Are you OK Doc?" John watched Carson looking around completely baffled as they were. "Chuck?"
"He's in shock, broke his ribs when he crashed the jumper," Carson reported. "He's unconscious and I'm worried about shock."
"He crashed the jumper?" There was a chorus of disbelief. "The one that flew itself?"
Lorne was heading straight through to the other side before anyone could stop him. Ronon was checking to see if there was anything behind the gate. Were they looking at another gate room?
"Major!" Teyla saw Lorne get thrown back by some sort of force field.
His team was at his side in an instant. Carson was about to come to his aid as well when John yelled out, "Don't move, Beckett!"
Carson was torn. He wasn't sure if he was a prisoner or if he was looking through a crystal ball, be it a rather big crystal ball.
By now Lorne was on his feet and chomping at the bit with the rest of the rescue team. "Who's in charge over there and what do you want?" Sheppard was asking the aliens on the other side.
The Squid-like people, too, were stunned -- in all the millions of years they had been there, nothing like this ever happened before.
A tall half man, half squid for a lack of better description, with two tendrils where hands would be stepped forward to answer. "We are called The Monitors. We have been here since before the others."
"The others? You mean the Ancients? That's what we call them the people that built this place?" Rodney was talking and taking all types of scans but the force field was playing havoc with his equipment. "How is it possible we have never detected you before and where are you getting your power from?"
"We are not really here!" came the response.
"Well then, that explains everything!" John snorted at him.
"Our ring", he pointed to the gate, "was damaged in an attack by the small ones! Somehow, we were able to contact this one," he pointed to Chuck who was still unconscious on the floor. "We realized he could help us as he was the guard of your ring. We did not realize our world had shifted until this one," he pointed at Beckett, "came through. He just appeared."
"Small ones?" Caldwell asked.
"Never mind that," McKay took over rudely, "Your world shifted? You've been here for millions of years? Why? What's your purpose, what are you monitoring?" He was working up to an infamous McKay all out lecture. "That's not possible, we would have detected you long ago. What do you mean you contacted Chuck, how? For what reason…"
"McKay…" John was watching the Monitor closely. He was almost amused.
"Don't McKay me, he's holding two of our people prisoner and has been taking advantage of Chuck for God knows how long. We know nothing about them and we haven't even touched the surface of how this is all possible," Rodney protested vehemently.
"Do you know anything of physics? I believe that is the word the one you call, Chuck, said to us. When the small ones came we were in transition phase and somehow they breached our force fields," the Monitor explained.
McKay was bristling so much, at that comment Carson got up his nerve and walked right up to the one speaking.
"Small ones, that's the third time you mentioned them. What is that?" the doctor was trying to keep his attention away from McKay's purpling face.
"Very small machine-like things that came together and multiplied very quickly. They attacked us as we were phasing back under the ocean floor where we have monitored things since the beginning of time," he explained, looking at Beckett strangely. "What is wrong with your ring guard?"
"He was injured in our gate room. That's what we call it -- a Stargate. He is our head technician, not a guard. Your phases must have coincided with our gates controls, making them come on by themselves." Beckett went to Chuck's side and checked him over. "He is injured and needs to get out of here very soon."
"That is impossible now, the small ones destroyed the pathways," the Monitor replied.
"Replicators?" Caldwell inquired. "They made it this far without anyone knowing?"
"No one has ever been out here," John retorted, "there was never any need and we thought this place was left under water for the most part when we had the last big storm."
"Let me get this straight," Rodney pushed forward, "you live under the ocean floor but you have an exact replica of our control room. Are you monitoring us? Why?"
"You misunderstand, Mc-Kay", the name sounded strangely from the alien. "We have never encountered another culture before. That is not our purpose. We appear in waves, approximately 100 of your life cycles to check the city and make sure the storage units do not lose integrity."
"What? You mean the ancient data bases?" Rodney looked puzzled.
"If that is what you call them. We have been stuck between phases for a very long time. The first time we saw you was not long ago. We managed to communicate with your ring guard to help us fix our Ring so we could phase back properly until our next visit," the Monitor answered.
"You just said it was impossible for them to come through the gate, uh ring. How did you manage before?" Lorne asked, confused.
"Before, all we required was his consciousness, this is the first time we needed his body as well." The Monitor did not sound at all repentant pointing at Chuck.
"The bad dreams!" Carson snapped his fingers. "That's why we could get no response from Chuck, he was here with you!" The doctor explained the whole situation to the teams. "So why now did you need him to come here? How did you make him drive the jumper, and for that matter how did I get in here?"
"We realized our next phase would be a significant change and we needed to get our ring operational before time that happened. We needed Chuck here, so we phased him out and had him get here anyway he could. We did not know he could not drive that machine. We helped him as much as possible but in the end he crashed when another machine drove into our force field. What seemed like hours to you was only a matter of seconds to us."
"Okay, look, this is all well and good and very entertaining I might add, but how do we get our people back?" John had had enough.
"I told you, the window for that is long gone, we are still unsure how Beck - ett got here," the Monitor replied.
"Window? Window, huh?" McKay was snapping his fingers and then those fingers were flying over the controls.
"Rodney, what is it? You've got that look." John walked around to see what he was up to.
"Busy! Go talk to squid man, leave the genius to work," Rodney replied automatically, not stopping his work.
"Rod-ney!"
"Working!"
"I hate when he gets like this!" Ronon mumbled to Teyla.
"What is he doing?" the squidman asked them.
"Saving the day again!" Lorne's Marines and some of the others chorused. They looked up forgetting whose presence they were in. Caldwell just looked at them impassively as did Sheppard. Lorne was trying not to laugh.
"So, if we get your phase going again, your window will open and it will be like you weren't even here?" Rodney ignored them all.
"How would you do this?" the alien asked.
"Just have Beckett and Chuck ready to go through your ring as you call it at the precise moment I get your shift in time to continue," Rodney directed.
"I think we need to talk about this, Dr. McKay!" Caldwell held up his hand. "We are just to take them at his word? How do we know they aren't here for another reason?"
"That would be what?" Rodney never stopped what he was doing. "All this time and we have never known they were here and if it wasn't for the replicators we never would know. Something would have happened by now, don't you agree?"
"Teyla, what do you think?" John asked.
"My people have always believed that not all the ancients were human." She shrugged, "We have never heard of any type of interference but we always believed someone or something protected this city."
"What choice do we really have?" Major Lorne came up and talked quietly with his commander.
"Okay, get our people ready and we will help you get back," John called out.
"You're only getting one shot at this, so make it count," Rodney warned. "Sheppard you're going to have to grab Carson and Chuck through the force field before the others go back to wherever they came from."
"Will we be okay?" Carson chimed in as he scrambled to collect all their things and carefully pick up the injured man. He staggered briefly under the weight.
"It might hurt for a minute, I can't turn the force field all the way off but it won't kill you. Ready?" As usual, McKay was oblivious.
"Bloody wonderful," Carson managed to get them as close to the gate as he could.
"NOW! Pull them over!" Rodney commanded as he entered another sequence of commands into the computer.
A flash went through the room momentarily blinding everyone. Carson went down as he dropped Chuck. Ronon was there catching both men at once and handing over Chuck to Lorne and his team.
A medic was there instantly, starting IV's and tending to what they could, considering where they were. They had a portable gurney unfolded and were loading Chuck and all the equipment on it.
Beckett went down like a sack of potatoes -- Ronon grabbed him and held tight so he wouldn't hit the floor. Rodney suddenly appeared. "Is he all right? Is he hurt bad? Let me see!" He was practically crawling over Ronon.
Another medic team was about to tend to Carson when he mumbled, "Ronon, lad, you're crushing me!"
A sigh of relief was heard.
"Carson, you all right?" Rodney was shaking him.
"I'm buzzing like a bloody bee. Stop shaking me, man," Carson protested.
"Right… Right! Sorry!" Rodney took a reluctant half step back.
"Just give me a minute…" Carson was pushing away his medics.
"Fraid not Doc, you get a free ride to the jumper!" John was smiling.
"Ach, there's no need for that now. I'm fine!" Carson looked disgusted as his medics came closer anyway with the other gurney.
"Then why are you yelling?" John smirked at him. It felt good to be the one to stick it (no pun intended) to the Doctor for a change.
"You're out-ranked I'm afraid, Dr. Beckett!" Caldwell came up to Sheppard and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.
"Bloody hens, the lot of you!" Carson protested weakly, knowing he wasn't getting out of this.
"Where did they go?" Ronon wanted to know as the room turned back to normal and the gate was still there. He circled it to make sure he didn't imagine it all.
"Back under the ocean floor where they came from, hopefully." Rodney never left the doctor's side. He even went so far as to put his hand on the other man's shoulder. The others just thought it was to ground both of them but Lorne knew better and just nodded as they took their injured out.
A squad of Marines were left behind to close up the area to prevent anyone from wandering in by accident.
***
It seemed like hours since Elizabeth had heard from anyone, when in reality it had been less than an hour since Rodney had left to assist the rescue operation..
"Atlantis, come in please!" John's voice was heard loud and clear, "We have everyone and all are safe, have two med teams meet us at the landing bay."
A round of cheers went through the tower room.
"Two?"
"Yeah, Beckett got a dose of a force field and he needs checking out!" John rubbed his ear as Carson was letting everyone know his feelings explicitly.
"Oh, my!" Elizabeth couldn't help but smile, "this should be an interesting report. Where are the rest of the search teams?"
"We left a team down in the area for a while, and everyone else was beamed up to the Daedalus and should be there shortly," John reported.
No one noticed as Radek ran up the stairs to the jumper bay with the medical teams. He wasn't missed, since all the rest of the team was beamed down, headed loudly by Rodney's complaints.
"Relax McKay, they'll be here soon enough!" Ronon slapped a huge paw on his shoulder.
The infirmary was overcrowded with all after assignment checkups. Beckett, much to his chagrin, was assigned a bed and threatened by half his loyal staff with sharp needles if he even twitched near the edge of the bed. They were very protective of him, as was a certain scientist who took up residence at his side.
"I need to see how Sergeant Campbell is doing!" Carson protested, shoving the covers off.
"Nurse, can you get Dr. Biro? We seem to have a problem here!" called an innocent looking Rodney.
"You… I… after everything I…" Carson spluttered.
"Yes, exactly, after everything, now lie down and rest!" Dr. Biro wasn't even trying to hide her amusement.
"Cheeky," Carson couldn't hide a small smile.
"What was that Dr. Beckett? Another few days of observation?" Biro asked archly.
Rodney actually agreed with her for once and smiled happily. "Now just shut up and rest before she really makes you stay here that long."
Chuck was in and out of surgery relatively quickly, his ribs were all clean breaks and there was no damage or punctures. He was absolutely exhausted and now everyone knew why. When they thought he was unconscious, he was really helping those that called themselves the Monitors. He was moved into a private room near the doctors' station so everyone could keep a close eye on him.
Lorne and Radek made their way to see him after all had calmed down and they even noticed Dr. Beckett was sleeping, under Rodney's watchful eye.
It was a few hours before Chuck woke and both Lorne and Zelenka were there to greet him.
"Hi, you," said Chuck as he rubbed his eyes.
"Hi yourself, and yes you are!" Lorne teased gently.
"Leave the poor man alone! Has been through too much and I am so sorry I was not there for you!" Radek apologized.
"Hey, none of that! I didn't even know what was happening," Chuck protested.
"Yeah, but we could of at least checked in with you, we were both so busy," Lorne was wringing his hands. Gently, Radek placed his hand over Lorne's. He nodded to the bed, Chuck was sound asleep.
Almost a week passed and Sheppard had teams still going to the West pier at least once a day for the time being.
"I still don't understand why there's been no reference to them in the city database!" Elizabeth cupped her coffee with both hands.
"It's a fluke we even saw them," John said as they were finishing up with their weekly meeting. Rodney got up and excused himself so fast, he was out the door before anyone had a chance to say a word.
"Rodney must have some new Ancient toy or something!" John laughed in way of explanation.
Little did they know his toy was in the form of a Scottish Doctor who was forced to take a week's medical leave after his experience.
"Carson? Carson? Where are you? Are you sleeping?" Rodney barged into the doctor's quarters.
"If I was, I wouldn't be now!" he poked his shaving creamed face out of the bathroom.
"Need some help?" Rodney didn't even wait for an invitation, it had been far too long and they had been through too much. It was more than Rodney could bear, seeing Carson fall like that, and before that, Radek almost getting crushed by the console in the gate room. He shucked his clothes and went to help Carson clean up and maybe if they were really lucky and no one paged them they would have time to make all their dreams come true.
Meanwhile, Chuck was propped up in bed and had no time to sleep. If it wasn't Evan coming in to see if he needed anything, had he taken his meds or was he hungry, it was Radek sitting as close to him on the bed as he dared just staring at him, fluffing his pillows, making him tea and trying to make him as comfortable as possible.
When Chuck could take no more he grabbed both their hands and sat them down. "Look, I am fine. You did not neglect me, we all have jobs to do! I get that! Please, you're killing me here!" Looking at their crushed faces, he whispered something in their ear and the lights went down, and Chuck got all the attention he ever wanted or needed from his partners.
It was one wild and crazy ride but he no longer had nightmares of the silent intruders that came not so long ago. He was safe and content right where he was. He no longer had to look into his dreams to tell him what was in his soul, he had them both here and it was more than he ever could dream of.
Author: penguin13tcj
Pairing: Carson /Rodney Lorne/Zelenka /Chuck
Rating: PG for mature themes, mostly implied
Recipient: Flubber2kool
Spoilers: none
Summary: Dreams are windows to the soul…but the soul of what? When something goes wrong in Atlantis, can the whole Team figure it out in time?
Action, angst, H/C, drama, friendship, relationship and more: a surprise discovery just for you!
Notes: This is my very first story EVER- please bear that in mind esp. all the spelling and grammar mistakes and I tried to give you as much as I could that you asked for! All mistakes are mine, everything is made up, I own nothing or no one, Happy Holidays !
Many, many thanks to goddess47 for the beta at the very last minute! All remaining mistakes are mine.
Part One
Everything was quiet in Lorne's jumper, no one moved. The Major came to with a splitting headache. What was he doing on the ground? He looked around and realized he was on the roof somehow, his harness had come lose and he had fallen.
More voices were heard. "What the hell was that?"
"I think we hit a shield of some kind." Lieutenant Bock was in the co-pilot's seat, hanging upside down. He looked up, well down, to see Lorne looking back up at him. "Um… are you okay, Sir?"
"Can you guys get out of your restraints?" Lorne stood up to help them not free fall to the ground. "Everyone all right?"
A round of yeah's ensued, when he noticed the bulk head door was closed where the Daedalus Marines were.
"They're really going to dock your pay for this one, Major!" Sergeant Roberts, looking a little green under the collar, tried to laugh.
"No kidding, Roberts. See if the back panel is stuck, will you?" Lorne requested.
The last man out of the rear seat behind the pilots was a man mountain. Usually Lorne was glad to have him along but he was still hanging upside down and they were all wondering how they were going to get him out without hurting him.
Thankfully, the back door slid open and the Marines were all scrambling to get off each other. There seemed to be just a cut here or a bump there and no serious injuries.
"Here, Major, let us help you, I think maybe you're going to have to blow the hatch." Lieutenant Morris came forward with two other really big men to help get out Bock.
"Thanks!" Lorne slapped his back as everyone got out of his way ready to assist however possible.
"Lorne to Atlantis." Nothing. "Lorne to Atlantis, come in please."
"Whatever we hit must be interfering with the radio." Someone was having the same trouble contacting the Daedalus.
"Shhhh!" Lorne lifted up his right arm and made a fist. Everyone became silent and alert. "Do you hear that?" he whispered.
"Sounds like someone's outside, like right outside," came back a whisper from the other side of the cabin.
"That's impossible! This section has never been inhabitable and there's no way anyone got here before us," Sergeant Roberts protested.
"If you can hear me, stand back," the muffled voice called to the jumper.
Everyone scrambled to get to the front of the jumper before the hatch blew by itself.
"Everyone okay in here?" someone was walking in, rifle raised, fanning away the smoke.
Lorne went forward, "Yeah, we're fine but……."
"Got them, Colonel Caldwell, they're all fine!" the Marine reported on his radio.
"No one's in the second jumper!" they heard the Colonel's reply.
Lorne and his team piled out just as they heard another jumper approaching. It landed safely about a half a klick away. Colonel Sheppard and his team as well as Dr. Beckett came running over.
"Is everyone all right?" Sheppard demanded, looking around.
"We're fine, sir, but how did you clear the force field?" Lorne asked, puzzled.
Sheppard looked back and with a cocky grin replied, "Why, thank you, Major, I do believe you cleared the way for us."
"No problem, sir!" laughed Lorne not believing SGA-1‘s luck.
"What about the other puddle jumper?" asked Dr. Beckett. He was watching over the medics as they did first aid on the team from the crashed jumper. It was a miracle no one was hurt.
"No one's in it. The back door was opened when we got here!" Caldwell walked to the group with the rest of his men.
"That's just not possible. Someone had to be piloting and they had to have the gene as well." Sheppard was raking his hand through has hair, a sign of stress.
"Major Lorne, could I have a word with you?" Dr. Beckett took him out of hearing range of the others. "Radek was at the controls with Rodney when we saw both jumpers crash and then we heard nothing from you."
"Crap!" Lorne paled.
"Do we have communications yet?" Beckett called to the other teams.
"Only to the Daedalus, but I already took the liberty of relaying that everyone was all right and that whatever made you crash is interfering with the city's comm," Caldwell answered. He and Sheppard were assigning teams and giving out assignments.
"That's strange, the radios work," one of the Marines from the Daedalus chirped up.
"Everyone, try your head set and your radios." John looked perplexed, "Well, whatever you did, you did it good Major."
"We still can't reach the tower," Beckett supplied.
Sheppard and Caldwell quickly decided they would go with three teams. This was unexplored terrain, and no one knew what the structural damage was. Each team had two medics, eight marines and a team leader.
Colonel Caldwell took team one, Major Lorne, team two and Colonel Sheppard took his team with the added reinforcements. John really only trusted his team and even though they were missing Rodney he still felt better knowing Ronon and Teyla were with him -- he knew Carson was really much better now after all his forced off world trips. A couple of the Marines from the Daedalus followed Sheppard’s team when moved out, even though he had was somewhat reluctant to take them.
"Problem?" John was putting his sunglasses away.
"Colonel Caldwell said not to lose sight of you under penalty of death, Sir. He also said you would do something like this and we were to follow your orders to the T. Well, anything but leaving you," one explained.
"Really?" he looked at Teyla whose eyebrow went up and she was trying to hide a smile. Ronon just did his usual shrug. "Penalty of death?"
"His exact words, sir!" The Marines were like statues waiting at ease for their orders, there was no trace of any amusement on their faces.
John wasn't sure if he should be insulted or not.
In the tower, tensions were running high. Radek was shaking and Elizabeth mistook it for his recent injuries. "Why don't you go rest Radek," she started kindly, "we have it from here."
"No!" he yelled it a little too loudly, bringing all the attention on himself. He blushed deeply, "I am sorry, Dr. Weir!"
Rodney turned around to make a nasty remark. He was still stung by Carson's remark but when he looked at Radek, really looked at him, things finally started to make a bit of sense. Some genius he thought to himself. Well it wasn't his fault he wasn't a people person.
"Zelenka," he started and even his words were harsh to his own ears. He stopped and took a deep breath. "Radek," he tried again in a softer tone and moved his chair right next to his colleague.
That got Radek's attention, Rodney never got in close proximity with anyone. "Whatever you have to say please keep to yourself," Radek gritted out.
"Radek," Rodney was really uncomfortable now, "I, um…, I wanted to say, well, if you needed anything or if, um …."
Radek turned, pushing up his glasses trying to figure out what McKay was really up to. He drew his brows together and watched as Rodney tried to offer some comfort but had no idea why now all of a sudden. Oh, dear God, had he given himself away?
"Lorne isn't it?" Rodney barely whispered, and the light came on, "And," Rodney tilted his head in consideration, "Chuck? Really? I had no idea, I really am sorry. Carson's out there -- everything will be fine."
"I appreciate concern and you now know why Carson was so harsh with you. Please don't hold it against him!" Radek offered by way of explanation.
Now it was Rodney's turn to be stunned.
"Rodney, you read like book. You are very discreet but I work with you every day. I know you better then you know yourself," the Czech whispered back.
They both calmed a little. It was easier dealing with this when someone else knew and understood.
"..tian Caldwell do you re.."
"Say again please, boost the output!" Rodney was all business again.
"Caldwell to Atlantis Tower, come in please," came the voice, the signal stronger.
"Go ahead Stephen. How are they?" Elizabeth asked worriedly.
"Everyone is fine, no serious injuries and still no sign of the unknown pilot from the other jumper," Caldwell reported,
A collective sigh of relief was heard throughout the tower.
"Any sign of Sergeant Campbell?" Elizabeth asked.
"Not yet," Rodney reported, "they have a lot of ground to cover and we're still not finding him on the life signs indicator."
"We'll keep in contact every half hour. We have three teams here checking out the West pier. I can get word to you through the Daedalus, as I am now," Caldwell informed them.
"Thank you, Colonel, for everything, Weir out."
Radek was doing all he could to keep it together hearing the news. Rodney smiled slightly over at him. He actually gave Radek his cup of coffee.
Pushing his glasses up once again as he looked in front of him, he shot a surprised over at Rodney. They both just smiled.
***
Chuck was once again exploring the Stargate with Major Lorne's team, his team. At first he thought nothing of this as he followed the other Marines down the dank hallways. It was so dark and really musty smelling. He could hear his boots splashing though at least an inch of water that was everywhere. He couldn't understand why he was so bone tired, they had just gotten up for the day. Sluggishly, he plowed on to keep up.
"Major!" someone called from ahead. The team stopped to see what was going on. A dim light was shining from the other side of the… what? What were they in? For that matter how did they get there?
Chuck had that strange feeling again, the disorientation of what was happening was really getting on his nerves.
"Stay together, men," he heard Lorne's command and felt relieved, as they all moved towards the lighted hallway.
Chuck realized they were moving away from him at lightning speed.
"Hey, wait up!" He aimed his P90's light to get a fix on their location. "Major Lorne, where are you?" Chuck turned around in slow circles to see where his team could have gone. "This isn't right!"
Looking back the way they came, there was only darkness, looking forward was even more the same. "I don't understand," he mumbled to himself.
"Human!" he heard a voice from far away. "Human, wake up now!"
A bright light was shining in his face and his eyes would not open. His head turned away from the light but he was drawn to the voice. It was the same voice he heard every night of the last week before the accident when the night mares were at their worst.
"Turn down those lights," the disembodied voice had turned away from him.
Chuck's eyes barely opened a slit as he tried to take in his surroundings. The infirmary? No, more like one of the labs McKay had found from the Ancients' research stations. He tried to move but everything hurt.
"Don't move too much, we need you to have all your strength when you turn the ring for us," a voice directed.
"Who, where?" His mouth felt like cotton wool. The drummer behind his eyes was making it difficult to think, let alone talk.
"I did not know you were unable to fly that machine. For that I am sorry. It is imperative that you help us again!" The voice sounded sincere.
Fly a machine? What the hell was going on, who were these people and why wasn't he on Atlantis?
"Human! Human!" A squid-like scaled hand was lightly slapping his face.
"Stop that!" Chuck swatted at the offensive touch. "I'm awake. Where are we and who are you?"
The man-creature sighed, exasperated, "Why is it you do not remember helping us every time you come back here?"
"How many times have I been," he looked around and couldn't make out much, "here?"
"Many times. You were helping us fix the broken ring so we could return to our world."
This got the young Canadian's attention. He sat up, a little too fast for his head's liking. Riding through the waves of dizziness, he demanded, "What are you talking about?"
"We don't have time to do this all over again, others are coming." A voice from far away hissed.
"They will take him back and kill us all!" a female voice rasped.
"Who will? Who are you anyway?" Chuck stumbled to his feet, his head was now doing the conga. "Just tell me how I got here, and what's going on."
"There's no time -- they are approaching fast." Shadows started to scramble in all directions leaving Chuck with many questions and no answers.
He turned to the one in front of him to ask again what was going on. His mouth went slack and he stared. No one was there. He was alone in a dark, cold room that smelled like low tide.
***
It had reached the half hour mark and the teams were checking in. It was slow going because half the hallways were barred with collapsed ceilings and beams that had buckled under the pressure of the great storm four years ago.
"No, nothing, not even a trail of any kind, Ronon has been looking for anything at all -- there's nothing here to track!" John was kicking some damaged tiles out of his path.
"Doesn't look too promising, Sir," came Lorne's voice over the radio. "We've hit more dead ends then anything. We keep having to double back. At this rate it's going to take all week."
"I can always get more men down here," Caldwell's voice now, he was following his Marines as they sloshed down a fairly untouched part of the building. Water was still everywhere and they had to be in at least a full kilometer by now.
"If that jumper hadn't flown out here I wouldn't even think about it!" Sheppard drawled.
Teyla signaled him from a spot up ahead. "Hang on we may have something," John instructed.
"I heard voices," she cocked her head to the side.
"Wraith?" the Colonel asked, stunned.
"No, I do not feel their presence. I heard someone talking." She pursed her lips, "It has been silent for a while now. I was not sure at first."
"Best news I heard all day!" John smiled at her. "Major Lorne, Colonel Caldwell, I think you're going to want to get your teams over here, Teyla heard voices from one of the rooms up ahead, but we're going to need help clearing the way." He gave them their location.
"Sheppard, I am going to contact the Daedalus to see if the sensors can help us. It's been almost a half hour since we talked with Dr. Weir. I will send my men ahead to help you."
"Affirmative, Sheppard out." As he turned to look at his team he realized Beckett wasn't with them.
"Where's the doc?"
Ronon turned and looked amazed that he hadn't even realized the man was missing.
Teyla too, was perplexed, clearly not remembering the last time she saw him.
The Marines on their six were even more stunned. The man had been right in front of them the whole time. "Sir, he was right here!" They panned their lights around the dark hallway.
Fishing out his radio, Sheppard sucked in his breath and told the others teams to double time it to their location, they had yet another situation.
Amazingly, Caldwell was right at the entrance when he heard this call. He was speaking to Elizabeth who had suggested sending Rodney down with his team since he was able to make anything work anywhere.
"That might not be a bad idea," Caldwell's eyes were piercing the darkness wondering what happened now, as he relayed his message via his ship to the tower. "Hermiod said he has detected strange energy readings in one of the sealed off areas where Colonel Sheppard had called everyone together."
"What kind of energy readings?" McKay was multi tasking as he was suiting up for his beam out. "It should be impossible for anything to be operating down there." He was cut off before he could say any more.
"There's absolutl…." He was absorbed in a bright beam of light and sound and found himself looking at Colonel Caldwell.
"ly ridic…..I wasn't ready!" Rodney protested, pulling his pack on more securely and grabbed Caldwell's radio for the little Asgard's benefit.
"When are you ever, with that mouth?" they heard the alien grumble, ever so softly.
"Dr. McKay is here safe and sound, we'll check in again in an hour. Thank you, Hermiod!" Caldwell cut in quickly before the two could start. "Dr. Weir?"
"We heard, bring them all back safe! Weir out."
It wasn't too long before Caldwell and McKay caught up to Sheppard's location.
"You haven't gotten very far!" Rodney complained.
"Rodney? What are you doing here?" Sheppard flew around to face the scientist.
"I figured we could use the extra help. Hermiod and Dr. McKay found a way to make the life sign detector triangulate on Sergeant Campbell," Caldwell put in before Rodney could explain his presence.
"How is it for lost Scots?" Ronon grumbled.
"What?" Rodney bellowed, "you lost Carson?"
"I wouldn't say lost as much as misplaced," John was helping with a bulkhead to clear the path forward to where Teyla heard the voices. "Relax Rodney, he couldn't have gone too far. Lorne and his team are retracing our steps with the Marines Colonel Caldwell insisted we take to watch our backs." The sarcasm was barely concealed.
Caldwell pursed his lips and rolled up his sleeves. He could help as much as the next man and, under the circumstances, it was best to leave that statement alone.
Carson had been watching his life signs detector and barely keeping one eye on Ronon and Teyla in front of him. He figured with the Marines watching his back he could concentrate on the detector. As they were rounding one particularly slippery bend, he lost his footing and grabbed for the nearest wall. Much to his surprise not only did he not stop from falling, he went right through the wall.
He looked back quickly thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him. His flashlight was luckily under his arm but not turned on so he found himself alone in a dark room. He reined in his rapid breaths before he hyperventilated and tried to radio Colonel Sheppard.
Nothing. Okay, no worries, he was safe for the time being and he couldn't be too far away from the rest of them. He called Lorne next and then Caldwell. With no answer from either, he began to panic a bit. His eyes adjusted to the lights beam and his panic turned to fascination, forgetting about being all alone and cut off from the others. The room, or station as it was, had been untouched by the water damage and he was truly amazed at the sight in front of him.
A gate. An old Stargate, unused in centuries it seemed, stood in the middle of the room. He looked on further. The control panels were an exact duplicate of the tower's, only on a much smaller scale. The awe of the find was incredible enough but when a hand touched his shoulder his flashlight went flying and the good doctor did take a nose dive this time. Everything went black.
"Doctor Beckett, is that you?" Noises like someone trying to find something in the dark were heard. "I'm sorry for scaring you, Sir, but I didn't think you were real."
"Aye and having a bloody real stroke, too." He squinted to see who was in the room with him but it was too black. He bumped into someone.
"Ouch! You just walked over my hand. Just stand still a minute until I locate your flashlight!" the voice commanded. Carson heard shuffling and a clink as contact was made with the flashlight.
"Chuck?" There was light was once again and Carson's mouth was opened wide in disbelief.
"You okay, Doc?"
"Me? You were on death's door last time I saw you and that was in the infirmary, I might add. What the bloody hell are you doing here? And for that matter, where is here?" Carson shone the light in Chuck's eyes, making him sit down on the nearest chair, checking him over. "Do you mind telling me what's going on?"
"You're not going to believe me. I'm living it and I don't believe it." Chuck winced as Beckett touched a tender spot on his shoulder.
"You had no better of ruined that stitched shoulder of yours with all your traipsing about." The Scot's accent was as calm as if he was in his infirmary and people appeared from nowhere every day.
"To tell you the truth, I am a little sketchy on the details myself." Chuck sucked in a deep breath and hissed slightly as the doctor kept up his gentle ministrations checking out the missing gate tech.
"Looks like you have a few broken ribs, there's no way I missed that before." Carson was absorbed in his patient's care.
"It, uh, happened when I crashed the jumper!" Chuck couldn't believe what he was saying.
Carson looked up and started to go through Chuck's hair very gently. He laughed, "No, I don't have a head injury. One minute I'm under a console that's blowing up with Radek and I…. Crap, how is Ra- um Dr. Zelenka? Is he ok?"
Compassion got the best of the Scottish man and he pushed Chuck back down in the chair, looking right in his eyes, he told him the truth of what happened and what his condition had been only hours ago.
A sigh of relief was heard and then Chuck became all riled up again, "Major Lorne and his team, they were coming through the gate when it exploded."
"Son, ya have to calm down, you're not doing anyone any good fretting like that and you're liable to puncture one of your lungs with all that bouncing around." Carson took out some bandaging and started to tightly wrap up the Canadian's ribs. To his credit, he only whimpered once.
That done, he did his best to re-bandage the shoulder that was now bleeding. "This needs stitching when we get back. You say you were the one in the jumper?" Carson asked carefully.
"Don't ask me how but they told me they needed it. I was, I was….." he started to shake. He didn't know what or where he was before he crashed landed in Jumper 2.
"Lad, you have to take it easy. Your body has been through some major trauma and this little adventure is not helping one bit." Carson patted the other man's good shoulder. "You were lying almost in a coma in the infirmary, then the next thing we knew you were gone. How in the world did you get to a jumper on your own, let alone fly it? Invisibly, I might add."
"You mean everything that's happened was true -- it wasn't a dream? For the last week now I've been having these terrible nightmares about being on Lorne's team and checking for broken Stargates and how to fix them. It was like I was really there. But I wasn't, I was here trying to get that gate to work," he pointed at the smaller gate in the room, "I just never realized the others in the dream weren't Major Lorne's team but the….."
Dr. Beckett became concerned when Chuck suddenly just stopped talking and staring into space. "The what, son? Stay with me, don't you leave me now." Shock was setting in but there was still a lot left unexplained. Rolling out an emergency blanket, Carson laid Chuck on the floor with another warming blanket on top. He had to get them out of there fast.
***
Radek had not left his station since the others left. He was actually drinking more coffee then Rodney usually did. He gnawed on his thumbnail and nervously kept wiping his glasses on his shirt. It had been five hours since they had heard anything from anyone except Major Grant on the Daedalus to say there was no news. The only positive thing was the sensors were able to penetrate some of the blocked areas of the West pier now and they could see the life signs moving around.
He was so preoccupied Radek almost didn't notice the two life forms on the opposite side of the pier from where the search party was. He started pulling up schematics from the data base of the old ancient unused and unexplored section. What was down there anyway? They had been in Atlantis close to five years now and they were not even a tenth of the way through exploring this Ancient and beautiful city, so full of secrets.
Elizabeth was coming down the stairs. Again Radek had not noticed she left. "Find something?" she asked.
"Yes! Is wonderful, I hope!" Radek was so excited and his hopes were finally up again. He started off so fast Elizabeth wasn't even sure it was English or not.
"Slow down!" she felt herself smile for the first time in days. "Tell me what you found. Slowly."
Radek blushed and pushed up his glasses and started to explain the schematics for the West pier. With the help of the Daedalus' extra power output they were able to detect the life signs of the 'Lanteans and the Daedalus crew, losing them every once in a while when they came into too much wreckage.
"So you think the two life forms on the other side of the building might be Chuck and whoever took him?" She caught on to his train of thought very quickly. "What would be of interest to anyone in that section?"
"I was so preoccupied I only noticed a few moments ago and was checking with ancient data base to see what it could tell me," Zelenka said forlornly.
"Radek, it's okay. We've all had a tough week but not as tough as you and the Sergeant. You're allowed to be human." Elizabeth was so close and gentle with her words, she laid a comforting hand on his back and he blushed as he usually did in such proximity of the expedition's leader.
"Have we had any word at all from the teams down there?" Dr. Weir asked the room in general. "We need to get word to them -- there are two life forms at the opposite end of the building. It just showed up with the extra boost from the Daedalus."
"Ma'am, should my team take a jumper out?"
"No, thank you, Lieutenant Markley. I have a better idea. Come with me." No sooner had she said that then three beams of light disappeared from the gate room floor.
"We're here ma'am. Thank the little fella on the ship for us." Markley's southern drawl was acute as always but the quaint ways he described people or things sometimes was not all that appropriate. "We're making contact with Colonels Sheppard and Caldwell now ma'am."
"John, can you hear me?" Elizabeth called on the radio.
Surprised to hear Elizabeth's voice, Sheppard dropped his half of a piece of wall making Ronon drop his half with an curse from the runner that John had never heard him use before. He wasn't about to tell Ronon he was spending too much time with the American Marines, not with that look on his face. "Sorry big guy, the radio surprised me!"
"How'd you get through?" John was clearly shocked at the voice. His voice was tinny and there was a lot of static but she could hear him fine. She quickly explained the how and especially the why.
“Maybe the second life form is Beckett,” Sheppard speculated.
"I thought Dr. Beckett was with you!" Dr. Weir did not seem as happy as she did a moment ago. "Yes, let's pray that is who is out there. Markley is going to stay at the entrance so we can keep in contact."
"Let me know if Dr. Z. finds out more about our mystery pier, like how the good doctor disappeared ….. into ……. thin air." John's voice trailed off in thought.
"John? What is it?" Elizabeth asked.
"A transporter! It has to be! Somehow Beckett stumbled on it and didn't even realize it," John elaborated.
"How could that be? You said yourself there's no energy readings anywhere!" Elizabeth protested.
"Well, that's why Rodney came and joined the party. He'll find it." As Sheppard signed off, everyone could hear the grumbling McKay sniping how he was the only one to ever save them, yadda yadda….
Everyone smiled now as they all knew McKay could do just about anything. It was the first happy moment in a long day.
Sheppard called everyone in and they retraced their steps, touching every available wall and crevice. When a Marine fell forward -- they found their way in.
Hesitantly, Sheppard lead them all through the wall. Ronon was a bit hesitant -- being in a transporter was one thing, walking through a wall was another. Teyla gave a small smile and stepped in front of him, going first.
The sight was just as amazing to the new arrivals as when Beckett had first seen it. No one said a word for a long while. Rodney, momentarily forgetting their search, went wild at all the new, shiny controls and just gaped at the Stargate.
"How can this be?" Teyla was the first to recover.
"Haven't got a clue!" John motioned to fan the teams out.
"Where were the readings?" John was walking forward cautiously, turning around he saw that kid in a candy store look in McKay's eyes. "McKay!"
Nothing.
Lorne cleared his throat and nudged Rodney none too gently.
"What's your problem? Oh right!" Looking at his instruments, he moved down from the control area and headed towards the two mysterious life signs, hoping against hope it was Carson and Chuck.
"What's that noise?" Colonel Caldwell turned around slowly trying to place the strange noise that was quickly picking up sound and speed.
"The gate!" Lieutenant Bock pointed.
Before anyone could move, the gate swooshed opened and the whole room transformed into something totally different than the control room. No one breathed. The occupants on the other side of the gate were just as stunned.
"Okayyyy…." McKay came around to have a closer look. It was definitely a Stargate but not one used for transportation. It gave a mirror image of the room they were in.
In the control tower, Weir was shouting orders as their gate was turning on once again by itself at the exact moment things were happening in the West pier.
"Dr. Zelenka?" she called by way of asking for an explanation.
"I am not believing this. No one has even been near controls," Radek protested.
The worm hole was steady and nothing was shorting out, no one came through, and no one was trying to get out. The liquid blue just shimmered in the gate room with a full battalion of Marines all aiming their weapons straight at it.
"Dr Weir, Sergeant Markley is radioing for you!" the German tech responded.
"Weir here. What's going on Markley?" Weir asked.
"Colonel Sheppard wanted me to ask you if anything strange was happening up there Ma'am?"
"As a matter of fact the gate just opened," she said as she heard him saying the same thing.
"Sergeant? What's going on down there? Have you found Beckett and Campbell?"
"Not yet, ma'am," he repeated everything that was relayed to him so far. "We think that every time this gate opened it was drawing power from the Stargate in the Control room, according to Dr. McKay," he added quickly.
"What are you saying Sergeant? Is Doctor McKay there?" she was watching the open horizon intently.
"No ma'am, well, yes ma'am, but he is relaying everything over the radio and I am bouncing off the Daedalus' comm."
Frustrated by not knowing what exactly was happening Elizabeth hands fisted and she replied, "Yes, of course. Thank you, Sergeant Markley. Please have Colonel Sheppard call me as soon as possible!"
Carson must have drifted off. He checked his patient quickly and carefully before looking up. What he saw made him shiver.
The Stargate was now opened and instead of an event horizon he saw another working Atlantis with strangely half human, half mammal beings at the controls. They were all staring at something through the gate.
"Colonel Sheppard !" he exclaimed and then seeing Rodney he broke into the biggest grin, "Aye I should have known if anyone could find us it would be you!"
"Carson, are you all right? Is that Chuck?" Rodney started moving forward.
"Hang on, Rodney, we don't know what we're dealing with here." John caught the back of his vest.
"Are you OK Doc?" John watched Carson looking around completely baffled as they were. "Chuck?"
"He's in shock, broke his ribs when he crashed the jumper," Carson reported. "He's unconscious and I'm worried about shock."
"He crashed the jumper?" There was a chorus of disbelief. "The one that flew itself?"
Lorne was heading straight through to the other side before anyone could stop him. Ronon was checking to see if there was anything behind the gate. Were they looking at another gate room?
"Major!" Teyla saw Lorne get thrown back by some sort of force field.
His team was at his side in an instant. Carson was about to come to his aid as well when John yelled out, "Don't move, Beckett!"
Carson was torn. He wasn't sure if he was a prisoner or if he was looking through a crystal ball, be it a rather big crystal ball.
By now Lorne was on his feet and chomping at the bit with the rest of the rescue team. "Who's in charge over there and what do you want?" Sheppard was asking the aliens on the other side.
The Squid-like people, too, were stunned -- in all the millions of years they had been there, nothing like this ever happened before.
A tall half man, half squid for a lack of better description, with two tendrils where hands would be stepped forward to answer. "We are called The Monitors. We have been here since before the others."
"The others? You mean the Ancients? That's what we call them the people that built this place?" Rodney was talking and taking all types of scans but the force field was playing havoc with his equipment. "How is it possible we have never detected you before and where are you getting your power from?"
"We are not really here!" came the response.
"Well then, that explains everything!" John snorted at him.
"Our ring", he pointed to the gate, "was damaged in an attack by the small ones! Somehow, we were able to contact this one," he pointed to Chuck who was still unconscious on the floor. "We realized he could help us as he was the guard of your ring. We did not realize our world had shifted until this one," he pointed at Beckett, "came through. He just appeared."
"Small ones?" Caldwell asked.
"Never mind that," McKay took over rudely, "Your world shifted? You've been here for millions of years? Why? What's your purpose, what are you monitoring?" He was working up to an infamous McKay all out lecture. "That's not possible, we would have detected you long ago. What do you mean you contacted Chuck, how? For what reason…"
"McKay…" John was watching the Monitor closely. He was almost amused.
"Don't McKay me, he's holding two of our people prisoner and has been taking advantage of Chuck for God knows how long. We know nothing about them and we haven't even touched the surface of how this is all possible," Rodney protested vehemently.
"Do you know anything of physics? I believe that is the word the one you call, Chuck, said to us. When the small ones came we were in transition phase and somehow they breached our force fields," the Monitor explained.
McKay was bristling so much, at that comment Carson got up his nerve and walked right up to the one speaking.
"Small ones, that's the third time you mentioned them. What is that?" the doctor was trying to keep his attention away from McKay's purpling face.
"Very small machine-like things that came together and multiplied very quickly. They attacked us as we were phasing back under the ocean floor where we have monitored things since the beginning of time," he explained, looking at Beckett strangely. "What is wrong with your ring guard?"
"He was injured in our gate room. That's what we call it -- a Stargate. He is our head technician, not a guard. Your phases must have coincided with our gates controls, making them come on by themselves." Beckett went to Chuck's side and checked him over. "He is injured and needs to get out of here very soon."
"That is impossible now, the small ones destroyed the pathways," the Monitor replied.
"Replicators?" Caldwell inquired. "They made it this far without anyone knowing?"
"No one has ever been out here," John retorted, "there was never any need and we thought this place was left under water for the most part when we had the last big storm."
"Let me get this straight," Rodney pushed forward, "you live under the ocean floor but you have an exact replica of our control room. Are you monitoring us? Why?"
"You misunderstand, Mc-Kay", the name sounded strangely from the alien. "We have never encountered another culture before. That is not our purpose. We appear in waves, approximately 100 of your life cycles to check the city and make sure the storage units do not lose integrity."
"What? You mean the ancient data bases?" Rodney looked puzzled.
"If that is what you call them. We have been stuck between phases for a very long time. The first time we saw you was not long ago. We managed to communicate with your ring guard to help us fix our Ring so we could phase back properly until our next visit," the Monitor answered.
"You just said it was impossible for them to come through the gate, uh ring. How did you manage before?" Lorne asked, confused.
"Before, all we required was his consciousness, this is the first time we needed his body as well." The Monitor did not sound at all repentant pointing at Chuck.
"The bad dreams!" Carson snapped his fingers. "That's why we could get no response from Chuck, he was here with you!" The doctor explained the whole situation to the teams. "So why now did you need him to come here? How did you make him drive the jumper, and for that matter how did I get in here?"
"We realized our next phase would be a significant change and we needed to get our ring operational before time that happened. We needed Chuck here, so we phased him out and had him get here anyway he could. We did not know he could not drive that machine. We helped him as much as possible but in the end he crashed when another machine drove into our force field. What seemed like hours to you was only a matter of seconds to us."
"Okay, look, this is all well and good and very entertaining I might add, but how do we get our people back?" John had had enough.
"I told you, the window for that is long gone, we are still unsure how Beck - ett got here," the Monitor replied.
"Window? Window, huh?" McKay was snapping his fingers and then those fingers were flying over the controls.
"Rodney, what is it? You've got that look." John walked around to see what he was up to.
"Busy! Go talk to squid man, leave the genius to work," Rodney replied automatically, not stopping his work.
"Rod-ney!"
"Working!"
"I hate when he gets like this!" Ronon mumbled to Teyla.
"What is he doing?" the squidman asked them.
"Saving the day again!" Lorne's Marines and some of the others chorused. They looked up forgetting whose presence they were in. Caldwell just looked at them impassively as did Sheppard. Lorne was trying not to laugh.
"So, if we get your phase going again, your window will open and it will be like you weren't even here?" Rodney ignored them all.
"How would you do this?" the alien asked.
"Just have Beckett and Chuck ready to go through your ring as you call it at the precise moment I get your shift in time to continue," Rodney directed.
"I think we need to talk about this, Dr. McKay!" Caldwell held up his hand. "We are just to take them at his word? How do we know they aren't here for another reason?"
"That would be what?" Rodney never stopped what he was doing. "All this time and we have never known they were here and if it wasn't for the replicators we never would know. Something would have happened by now, don't you agree?"
"Teyla, what do you think?" John asked.
"My people have always believed that not all the ancients were human." She shrugged, "We have never heard of any type of interference but we always believed someone or something protected this city."
"What choice do we really have?" Major Lorne came up and talked quietly with his commander.
"Okay, get our people ready and we will help you get back," John called out.
"You're only getting one shot at this, so make it count," Rodney warned. "Sheppard you're going to have to grab Carson and Chuck through the force field before the others go back to wherever they came from."
"Will we be okay?" Carson chimed in as he scrambled to collect all their things and carefully pick up the injured man. He staggered briefly under the weight.
"It might hurt for a minute, I can't turn the force field all the way off but it won't kill you. Ready?" As usual, McKay was oblivious.
"Bloody wonderful," Carson managed to get them as close to the gate as he could.
"NOW! Pull them over!" Rodney commanded as he entered another sequence of commands into the computer.
A flash went through the room momentarily blinding everyone. Carson went down as he dropped Chuck. Ronon was there catching both men at once and handing over Chuck to Lorne and his team.
A medic was there instantly, starting IV's and tending to what they could, considering where they were. They had a portable gurney unfolded and were loading Chuck and all the equipment on it.
Beckett went down like a sack of potatoes -- Ronon grabbed him and held tight so he wouldn't hit the floor. Rodney suddenly appeared. "Is he all right? Is he hurt bad? Let me see!" He was practically crawling over Ronon.
Another medic team was about to tend to Carson when he mumbled, "Ronon, lad, you're crushing me!"
A sigh of relief was heard.
"Carson, you all right?" Rodney was shaking him.
"I'm buzzing like a bloody bee. Stop shaking me, man," Carson protested.
"Right… Right! Sorry!" Rodney took a reluctant half step back.
"Just give me a minute…" Carson was pushing away his medics.
"Fraid not Doc, you get a free ride to the jumper!" John was smiling.
"Ach, there's no need for that now. I'm fine!" Carson looked disgusted as his medics came closer anyway with the other gurney.
"Then why are you yelling?" John smirked at him. It felt good to be the one to stick it (no pun intended) to the Doctor for a change.
"You're out-ranked I'm afraid, Dr. Beckett!" Caldwell came up to Sheppard and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.
"Bloody hens, the lot of you!" Carson protested weakly, knowing he wasn't getting out of this.
"Where did they go?" Ronon wanted to know as the room turned back to normal and the gate was still there. He circled it to make sure he didn't imagine it all.
"Back under the ocean floor where they came from, hopefully." Rodney never left the doctor's side. He even went so far as to put his hand on the other man's shoulder. The others just thought it was to ground both of them but Lorne knew better and just nodded as they took their injured out.
A squad of Marines were left behind to close up the area to prevent anyone from wandering in by accident.
***
It seemed like hours since Elizabeth had heard from anyone, when in reality it had been less than an hour since Rodney had left to assist the rescue operation..
"Atlantis, come in please!" John's voice was heard loud and clear, "We have everyone and all are safe, have two med teams meet us at the landing bay."
A round of cheers went through the tower room.
"Two?"
"Yeah, Beckett got a dose of a force field and he needs checking out!" John rubbed his ear as Carson was letting everyone know his feelings explicitly.
"Oh, my!" Elizabeth couldn't help but smile, "this should be an interesting report. Where are the rest of the search teams?"
"We left a team down in the area for a while, and everyone else was beamed up to the Daedalus and should be there shortly," John reported.
No one noticed as Radek ran up the stairs to the jumper bay with the medical teams. He wasn't missed, since all the rest of the team was beamed down, headed loudly by Rodney's complaints.
"Relax McKay, they'll be here soon enough!" Ronon slapped a huge paw on his shoulder.
The infirmary was overcrowded with all after assignment checkups. Beckett, much to his chagrin, was assigned a bed and threatened by half his loyal staff with sharp needles if he even twitched near the edge of the bed. They were very protective of him, as was a certain scientist who took up residence at his side.
"I need to see how Sergeant Campbell is doing!" Carson protested, shoving the covers off.
"Nurse, can you get Dr. Biro? We seem to have a problem here!" called an innocent looking Rodney.
"You… I… after everything I…" Carson spluttered.
"Yes, exactly, after everything, now lie down and rest!" Dr. Biro wasn't even trying to hide her amusement.
"Cheeky," Carson couldn't hide a small smile.
"What was that Dr. Beckett? Another few days of observation?" Biro asked archly.
Rodney actually agreed with her for once and smiled happily. "Now just shut up and rest before she really makes you stay here that long."
Chuck was in and out of surgery relatively quickly, his ribs were all clean breaks and there was no damage or punctures. He was absolutely exhausted and now everyone knew why. When they thought he was unconscious, he was really helping those that called themselves the Monitors. He was moved into a private room near the doctors' station so everyone could keep a close eye on him.
Lorne and Radek made their way to see him after all had calmed down and they even noticed Dr. Beckett was sleeping, under Rodney's watchful eye.
It was a few hours before Chuck woke and both Lorne and Zelenka were there to greet him.
"Hi, you," said Chuck as he rubbed his eyes.
"Hi yourself, and yes you are!" Lorne teased gently.
"Leave the poor man alone! Has been through too much and I am so sorry I was not there for you!" Radek apologized.
"Hey, none of that! I didn't even know what was happening," Chuck protested.
"Yeah, but we could of at least checked in with you, we were both so busy," Lorne was wringing his hands. Gently, Radek placed his hand over Lorne's. He nodded to the bed, Chuck was sound asleep.
Almost a week passed and Sheppard had teams still going to the West pier at least once a day for the time being.
"I still don't understand why there's been no reference to them in the city database!" Elizabeth cupped her coffee with both hands.
"It's a fluke we even saw them," John said as they were finishing up with their weekly meeting. Rodney got up and excused himself so fast, he was out the door before anyone had a chance to say a word.
"Rodney must have some new Ancient toy or something!" John laughed in way of explanation.
Little did they know his toy was in the form of a Scottish Doctor who was forced to take a week's medical leave after his experience.
"Carson? Carson? Where are you? Are you sleeping?" Rodney barged into the doctor's quarters.
"If I was, I wouldn't be now!" he poked his shaving creamed face out of the bathroom.
"Need some help?" Rodney didn't even wait for an invitation, it had been far too long and they had been through too much. It was more than Rodney could bear, seeing Carson fall like that, and before that, Radek almost getting crushed by the console in the gate room. He shucked his clothes and went to help Carson clean up and maybe if they were really lucky and no one paged them they would have time to make all their dreams come true.
Meanwhile, Chuck was propped up in bed and had no time to sleep. If it wasn't Evan coming in to see if he needed anything, had he taken his meds or was he hungry, it was Radek sitting as close to him on the bed as he dared just staring at him, fluffing his pillows, making him tea and trying to make him as comfortable as possible.
When Chuck could take no more he grabbed both their hands and sat them down. "Look, I am fine. You did not neglect me, we all have jobs to do! I get that! Please, you're killing me here!" Looking at their crushed faces, he whispered something in their ear and the lights went down, and Chuck got all the attention he ever wanted or needed from his partners.
It was one wild and crazy ride but he no longer had nightmares of the silent intruders that came not so long ago. He was safe and content right where he was. He no longer had to look into his dreams to tell him what was in his soul, he had them both here and it was more than he ever could dream of.