Fic - Perfect Timing
Title: Perfect Timing
Author: Padawan_aneiki
Rating/Pairing: G/None
Summary: A shortage in supplies prompts a long and winding journey to a coveted prize. (With a little Shep whump tossed in for good measure.)
Perfect Timing
“Sheppard! Hey, Sheppard; wait up!”Dr. Rodney McKay called out as he
trotted along to catch up with the lieutenant colonel in question.John
paused, glancing back over his shoulder; Rodney juggled datapad, mug and a file
as he came along, prompting a mildly amused expression from Atlantis’ military
commander.
“Hey, McKay,” John greeted amiably as Rodney drew alongside.It was
unlikely he would have to wait long to hear the reason for Rodney’s summons, so
he resumed his trek down the hall.Predictably the scientist tagged
along, and John glanced over to find Rodney grinning like the proverbial
Cheshire cat.John raised an eyebrow in silent question, and his walking
companion was quick to answer.
“You can thank me now,” McKay said smugly.“Because I have some news
that’s guaranteed to make your day, maybe even your week and possibly the
month,” he declared solidly.Sheppard’s expression took on a slightly
more skeptical tone, which did absolutely nothing to dampen the physicist’s
enthusiasm.
“You...found a way to fly the city on one ZPM,” John “guessed” unhelpfully,
finally prompting a more familiar frown from Rodney.
“What?That’s absurd.Of course we can’t...oh, ha, ha,” Rodney’s
brain caught up with John’s teasing, and he glared briefly before
continuing.“Leave it to you to come up with that.” He waved his hand
dismissively, already moving on.“What I was going to tell you, is
that we received a communication from the SGC stating that the repairs to the Daedalus
were completed ahead of schedule thanks to Hermiod...”
“That little naked alien guy?” John scrunched his nose and Rodney exhaled
irritably.
“Yes; ‘that little naked alien guy.’Anyhow, they’ve left almost a week
ahead of their original departure.”The insufferable grin was back, and
John could’ve sworn that had they been standing still instead of walking, the
scientist might’ve been bouncing on his feet.
“Uh...good for them?” he volunteered, and McKay sighed again, a look of
longsuffering replacing the grin-again.
“No, good for us, Colonel; the Daedalus is running supplies,
y’know.The sooner they arrive, the sooner we’ll have more coffee...”
“...more equipment...”
“...more movies...”
“...more personnel...”
“...more coffee...”
“You said that one already,” John pointed out gamely, which earned him a huff
in return.
“More popcorn, then,” the scientist interjected impatiently. “If that works for
you.”
This time it was John’s turn to grin.“Probably,” he replied, before
turning aside to head for the jumper bay. A pair of steps later, he
turned back before Rodney was completely out of earshot.“Oh. Thanks,
Rodney.”John didn’t hear the answering grumble beyond the word
‘impossible,’ and he chuckled softly to himself.
And promptly forgot about the Daedalus in his errand to take Teyla to
the mainland, for a visit with her people.
++++++
The next few days passed as they normally did; there were a few missions, some
continuing bargaining with the people from P4T-838 and M2N-955, a scrape or two
with the Wraith.Teyla had requested an extended stay among her people in
order to help them further with the current-somewhat meager-harvest; the
mainland still recovering from the effects of the massive storm months
earlier.As nothing extraordinarily pressing had emerged, her request had
been easily granted, although John felt a little weird to be “borrowing” one of
the marines to take the Athosian’s place on those benign missions.
They were still trying to track Ford.There had been some small pieces of
intel, but so far, nothing of note had been turned up, and John was feeling the
weight of the younger man’s MIA status.Sitting in that living room,
drinking coffee with Aiden’s cousin, had been one of the hardest things he’d
done in a very long time.He wasn’t about to give up on the lieutenant,
despite the lack of information.Ford had to be out there, somewhere...
John was heading for the control room, with the intention of talking to
Elizabeth about an admittedly slender lead he wanted to pursue regarding his
missing team-mate.Traffic in the hallways this time of day was pretty
sparse; most of the expedition personnel were either occupied with various
duties or in the mess hall for lunch.Elizabeth generally took a later
lunch, and he’d already radioed so he wasn’t expecting to have to track her
down.He passed by the unofficial “rec room” they’d established
practically on their arrival when it happened.
A heavenly scent wafted out into the hallway and prompted the lieutenant
colonel to back up a pair of steps and poke his perpetually disheveled head
into the Rec Room.He grinned like the proverbial kid at Christmas when
his gaze landed on Radek Zelenka standing in front of the small microwave
they’d been able to jerry-rig into the power grid.
“Doctor Zelenka?” John prefaced, not wanting to startle the scientist; Radek
jumped anyway.Having the Czech’s attention now via near-death experience,
John casually drifted further into the room.“Hey, that uh...that smells
like popcorn.”Subtle, Sheppard, he mentally chided himself.
“Uh, yes, yes it is,” Radek replied as he shoved his glasses higher upon his
nose and regarded John warily.
“Where’d you get it?I thought we were out of that stuff,” John said,
trying to keep the please gimme some out of his voice, and probably
failing at it.
“We were,” Radek frowned a little now, and gestured toward the microwave.
“The Daedalus arrived this morning with supplies.”
Sheppard smiled again, recalling his conversation of a few days ago with
Rodney, and agreed that this was news to make his day.His stomach
grumbled as he inhaled the fragrant scent of buttered popcorn; he hadn’t had
lunch yet himself and the popcorn beckoned.
“Doctor Zelenka, to the jumper bay.Doctor Zelenka, to the jumper bay.”
The page sounded over the city-wide just as Radek removed the steaming
bag of popcorn from the microwave.
“Hey...!” John half-heartedly called out after him, but was interrupted by the
radio in his ear.
“John?” Elizabeth.“I thought you were coming up for a meeting?”
“Oh...yeah, I am,” John responded as he rummaged hurriedly in the box, coming
up with one of the folded pouches of popcorn and stuffing it into the nearest
handy pocket.After all, with a six-week round trip standing between
supply runs, things like coffee and popcorn were carefully rationed; in
Rodney’s case, sometimes hoarded although the physicist would deny he had
anything remotely resembling a coffee stash.
Exiting the rec area, John broke into an easy jog, hurrying toward Elizabeth’s
office and trying not to look like the cat that swallowed the canary.
Perhaps it was a small guilty pleasure, but while John didn’t mind the
occasional cookie or piece of cake, he didn’t exactly harbor an overactive
sweet tooth.When he’d been a kid, his greatest escape had been going to
the movies with his Mom and getting a carton of the salty, butter-drenched
treat; at least until she died when John was ten.Even with everything
that filled his life now, the memories of those afternoons spent in a cinema
sharing popcorn with his Mom could still make him smile.
Closer to his destination, Sheppard’s expression reflected less of pleasant
recollection and more of determined duty; popcorn could wait.Finding
Ford couldn’t.
++++++
The first bag was sacrificed to PJ8-9T5.
More specifically, it was likely buried in mud. That “slender lead”
Elizabeth had allowed them to follow had taken John’s makeshift team-Rodney and
a pair of Marines-straight into what appeared to be a recently established
Wraith outpost.The ensuing running, shooting, and escaping with their
lives part had somehow resulted in John losing the precious packet to
the planet’s muck.Running-or sliding as the case may be-over the
slippery terrain had made their escape that much more lovely.John had
arrived back in Atlantis splattered, disheveled, discouraged and divested of
his popcorn.
John still didn’t have any clue how packet, forgotten as he’d geared up,
had managed to work its way out of his pocket, slide through the bottom of his
tac vest, and end up trampled on the ground.
He hoped the Wraith that found it had a violent allergic reaction.
“Aright, Colonel, right over here,” Carson Beckett’s brogue prompted, his palm
patting the nearby exam bed.“Everyone else has had their turn; now ‘tis
yours.”Sheppard exhaled in a longsuffering sigh and submitted to his
post-mission check.As Carson made the usual fuss, John sighed again,
reaching up to rub his forehead with one hand; a muddy streak was left
behind.“If ye dunna mind my sayin’ so, Colonel, ye seem a mite
preoccupied.”
John glanced up at the physician, and cleared his throat uncomfortably.
“Yeah,” he said softly at first and then hazel eyes glanced away.
Honestly his irritation over losing the popcorn was trivial in comparison to
the heaviness he felt regarding the missing Lieutenant Ford.“We didn’t
get much chance to look around...y’know...see if Ford had been there before the
bad guys started shooting at us.”
“Ye’ll find him,” Carson said steadily and John again looked at the doctor
frankly, surprised at the certainty he saw in the Scot’s gaze.“If anyone
here can locate the lad, I know ye can.”John could do little more than
gape at Carson’s confidence, and eventually the physician turned away from the
stunned hazel gaze to reach for a pressure cuff.“If ye’ll roll up ye’r
sleeve for me,” Carson broke the moment, and John complied.
“I hope you’re right, Doc,” John finally murmured quietly while Carson inflated
the cuff.
“Sounds ta me, Colonel, like ye need a rest,” Beckett replied, and then smiled
gently.“An’ a long hot shower.”
John chuffed softly, and briefly hung his head; he got a good look at the mud
splattered all over his BDU’s.“Yeah, sounds good.”And some
popcorn, his tired brain told him, and he had to admit that sounded great.
++++++
The second bag was lost to Evan Lorne.
Well.Technically, and to be fair, it hadn’t been his fault that
John’s presence had been requested elsewhere just as the kernels had done
enough popping to make the whole rec room smell like buttery bliss.The
major had dropped in on him to inquire about the failed mission to PJ8-9T5 and
to report that his team had come back from their trading mission with a small
tidbit of information about a jittery stranger that had visited the village
some days ahead of Lorne’s team.
“Sounds like Ford might’ve passed through there, Sir,” Lorne finished above the
hum of the microwave and the first pop-popping of kernels.“I think it’s
worth another look around.”
“So do I, Major,” John agreed, grateful for a bit of good news.
“Even if the lieutenant has cleared out of there, there might be some clues as
to where he went.”He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck.
“I think we should...”
“Colonel Sheppard, please report to the Control Room.Colonel
Sheppard, to the Control Room,” Chuck’s voice came over the city-wide, and
John instinctively tapped his radio.
“Sheppard.I’m on my way.”
He started out, and then turned back.The popcorn wasn’t quite done
popping.“Hey, I gotta go; you can have that if you want.”
“Thanks, sir...don’t mind if I do,” Evan grinned.“This stuff tends to go
fast around here.”
“Tell me about it,” John grumbled under his breath even as he headed off
to find out what the latest crisis was all about.
++++++
The latest crisis, as it turned out, was some sort of odd lockout on the East
pier that had trapped a team of scientists in a lab away from access back into
the city; but it had been determined they could be reached easily enough by
taking a puddlejumper out to the end of the pier and flying them back to the
main portion of the city.John had geared back up, dragging Rodney with
him, and hustled up to the jumper bay.
“Oh, this is terrible,” McKay was grumbling over a datapad as the scientist
wandered up the ramp of the jumper and headed toward the cockpit, where John
was already bringing the little craft online.“It’s a disaster!”
Sheppard glanced over at his team-mate with an admittedly puzzled look on his
face.
“It’s just three people stuck on the outer part of the pier, McKay.
Nobody’s hurt; nobody’s dying and there’s no bad guys.What’s so terrible
about a little milk-run to go pick ‘em up?”
“What?” Rodney blinked as he sat down in the co-pilot’s seat and looked up from
the datapad.“Oh, no, not that...it’s this.”He motioned to
the datapad with his free hand but John wasn’t exactly in a position to see it.
“What?” John echoed.“What are you talking about?”
“This is the manifest from the Daedalus; I was just checking through it
for some important equipment we’d requested for my lab, and it looks like some
idiot was put in charge of requisitions.Half the stuff we asked for is
missing.In fact...it looks like they did the same thing for almost
everything on the manifest.Do you realize they’ve only brought about a
week’s supply of coffee?”
“Oh, so what’s that...an eight-point-five on the McKay Panic Scale?” John
chided lightly as he closed the back hatch of the jumper and lifted the little
craft into the air as the bay door opened above them.“How ‘bout we
concentrate on gettin’ your people back, and then we’ll worry about your
caffeine transfusion.”
“What?You just said nobody’s dying or hurt,” Rodney snarked as he
looked over the screen again.“This is important stuff here.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t,” John mollified, knowing instinctively that if there
were shortages in essential items it could be a very tough month until the Daedalus
was able to re-supply them once again.“Let’s just take care of Drake and
Caslin and then we’ll talk to Elizabeth.”
++++++
Bags three and four were the victims of unfortunate circumstance...one lost to
a gust of wind that took both bowl and fluffy kernels over the edge of a
balcony down to the ocean far below, and the other fated to suffer a split in
the bag prior to popping, which kept it from popping at all.By which
point, John had quietly admitted defeat to himself; with the popular snack
turning out to also have been shorted from the normal supply, he was beginning
to feel a little guilty at swiping new bags.One of the few things not
in short supply however, were the perpetually overabundant power bars stuffed
into field kits.
John had just put one of them into his pocket when he was again summoned.
A message was in from the mainland; Teyla requesting rescue personnel and a
medical team as several young Athosians had become trapped by a cave-in while
exploring.“Have Beckett and his team meet me in the jumper bay,” he
commanded as he rushed from the rec room.“And tell McKay to gear
up.”He proceeded to radio Evan Lorne and ordered him to gather the
necessary rescue personnel and equipment.“Take Jumper Three and head
over to the settlement.I don’t know how far inland we’re talking about
yet, either; this could be a few klicks in.”
It took time to gather everyone together; more time than John would’ve liked,
but there really wasn’t much that could be done about it.The medical
personnel and equipment necessary, the other equipment necessary, took time to
put together and load onto the jumpers.Still, things were handled as
quickly and efficiently as they could be, and the pair of jumpers headed off
for the mainland at top speed.
Teyla was waiting for them when they arrived.She led them to the cave in
which the youngsters were trapped, and the digging and searching began.
Rodney was able to confirm that all five of the Athosians inside the cave were
alive using the life-signs detector, which was an immediate relief, although
there was no telling if or how severely any of them might be injured.
Reaching the victims took almost two hours’ work; John, like the rest of the
team, was coated in a fine layer of dirt that seemed to have lodged in every
available pore and inch of fabric.Hands and wrists were a patchwork of
scratches, scrapes, and bruises from helping to move some of the larger
stones.He had to admit that he was thankful for the filtering masks
Carson had provided; the dust hung heavy in the air.Finally, there was a
cry from one of the other marines.“Colonel!”
John quickly shifted over the few steps to where a small breakthrough had been
made in the debris, and he tugged down the mask in order to call out,
“Hello!Hello, anyone hear me?”
“Hello!Hello, help!” a young voice, female, called back clearly fearful.
“We’re almost through to you!” John hollered back.“Are you all okay?”
“Yes...Anru, Jaya and I are well enough.Dhasan, however, will not wake
up no matter what we do.”
“Hang in there,” John encouraged.“We’re almost there.”Perhaps
another twenty minutes was needed before enough of a gap was made in a
strategic spot for one person to fit through.Despite Carson’s anxiety to
reach his young patients, John wriggled his way through first, both to test the
safety of the entry and to assess the situation on the other side.
A few more minutes were spent getting the three relatively unharmed kids out
through the opening, and then Carson wriggled his way into the cavern beyond,
where the fourth Athosian lay unconscious.John was already working on
freeing the boy’s legs, trapped beneath some of the debris.Some of it
had already been moved by the other kids, but one slab of rock in particular
had the kid pinned.It actually didn’t look particularly heavy, per se,
but it was part of the cave-in itself.
“It’s vera likely if ye try ta move it, the rest o’ the bloody thing’ll come
right down on us,” Carson warned.“Ye need more than we have ta free
‘im.”
“I know,” John said quietly, steadily, even as hazel eyes flicked around the cave,
trying to gauge what could be done.“I think all I need, really, is
just...three or four inches.If I can get that, we can just slide him
out.”He made his way back to the hole.“Lorne!” he shouted out.
“Yes, sir!” Evan’s voice came back, and John asked for the jack that had been
included in the equipment.While the jack was being produced and passed
over Carson set to triage and preparing his patient to be moved for further
treatment.Both men worked as quickly as possible; it was not lost on
either of them that the cave was still unstable.A wrong move could bring
the whole thing down on them.
“Aright,” Carson finally said.“I’ve done all I can do from here.
We’ll need ta move him through on a backboard.”The boy was still
unconscious, but Carson had placed a neck brace on him.
“Okay...I’m ready,” John confirmed. He’d worked the jack into position.
“Here we go,” he prefaced.Very slowly he began to jack up their end of
the slab...one inch...two.John paused just shy of three as an ominous
rumble sounded through the cave.
“You guys gotta get outta there!” Rodney’s panicked shout came from the other
side.
“We’re aware of that, Rodney!” John snapped back, all the while holding utterly
still as if by that alone the cave would stabilize and let him proceed.
Nothing happened for long moments.John glanced over at Carson, whose
lips were pressed together into a determined, worried, line.Nodding
once, he started again.Three inches.
“Is that enough?” Beckett asked softly.“I dunna think ye dare go much
more.”
“Just a half an inch more,” John gauged, and carefully worked the jack.
“Okay, Doc, now!Get him outta there.”He moved over to help Carson
ease the boy out from beneath the wreckage.“I don’t know how much time
we’ve got before...”Another rumble interrupted him.
“Help me get ‘im on ta this backboard!” Carson exclaimed, realizing as John did
that their time was rapidly running out.Together they secured the young
Athosian.
“Lorne!” John called out urgently.
“Here, Colonel!”
“We’ve got the kid on a backboard; we’re gonna send him through.You and
McKay grab him, and get everybody out of there!”Another loud rumbling
sounded throughout the cavern.
Together Carson and John lifted the backboard with its unconscious charge, and
worked it up to the access hole that had been dug.From the other side,
Lorne grasped the backboard and began to pull it through.
“Gentle!” Carson cautioned as he gathered up his kit.
“We’re being as gentle as we have time for, Doc!” the major exclaimed.
“Carson, go!” John ordered, and Beckett hesitated just briefly, looking at the
colonel.“Go!I’m right behind you.”Carson scrambled through
after his patient; the rumbling increasing each moment.John climbed in
after the physician and crawled through.Evan and Rodney had already
reached the cave’s entrance with the wounded Athosian, and Carson was already
running after them.John climbed out a little gracelessly in his haste
and headed for the way out.
Halfway there, the second cave-in started.Pieces of rock pelted him and
John stumbled, but kept his balance, pushing for the last few feet.A
loud roar sounded behind him, and then something very heavy slammed into his
shoulder, spinning him around.John staggered sideways, lost his balance
and fell to one knee.Then an avalanche of dirt and stone poured down and
dragged him into darkness.
++++++
Consciousness returned slowly, and the first thing John was aware of was an
insistent throbbing in his skull that was vaguely echoed in his right shoulder,
and further down, his right knee.Breathing, he realized an instant
later, added an extra twinge...in, out, ow.
“Owwhhh...”
“Carson! He’s waking up again!” Rodney’s semi-anxious voice calling out next to
him both sharpened his awareness and made him realize he’d said the ‘ow’ out
loud.John dragged his eyelids open and blinked, looking straight up at
the Infirmary ceiling.
“Ah, Colonel,” Carson’s brogue came from his left and John carefully turned his
head a little.“It’s good ta see ye back with us, lad.”The smile
that was on the doctor’s face was oddly reassuring, and John allowed himself a
small sigh, despite the ache it prompted in his chest.
“What happened?” he mumbled wearily.
“You were almost buried alive, is what happened,” Rodney snapped but John had
come to know that meant the scientist had been worried.He blinked a
moment and then swallowed convulsively.
“Teyla?” he wanted to know.
“Everybody got out, lad, exceptin’ ye’self,” Carson reassured.“Took a
wee bit o’ diggin’ ta get ye out, but ye’r goin’ ta be all right.”
John closed his eyes; his head thumped along in time to the cardiac
monitor.“How bad?” he wanted to know.
“Ye have a concussion, as I’m sure ye figured.Ye have a torn ligament in
ye’r right knee, an’ some cracked ribs.How they weren’t broken, I could
no’ tell ye.Ye’r shoulder was pretty badly bruised, but the swellin’ is
comin’ down an’ it wasn’t broken or dislocated; again a bloody miracle.
But ye’ll be my guest for a time, all the same.”
At the moment, John wouldn’t argue.“How ‘bout...the kid?” he
asked, and opened his eyes again.
“He’s farin’ well,” Carson smiled. “He’s no’ very happy with the cast on his
leg, an’ he also has a wee concussion, but he’s recoverin’ nicely.”
“Good,” John breathed out, and then he closed his eyes again.
Despite being aware of his various hurts, he could also tell that they were
fairly muted by the good drugs, and he was tired.Still, there was one
more thing he wanted to know.“How long was I out?”
“Almost two days,” Rodney piped up helpfully, and John could hear the note of
relief in the scientist’s voice.“Do you have any idea how much work I
could’ve gotten done in that time?”
John cracked an eye open.“You mean...y’ haven’t run outta coffee yet?”
he mumbled tiredly.
“Oh, ha, ha,” Rodney half-snorted, and folded his arms across his chest.
“And how many bags of popcorn have you hidden in your quarters?”He knew
of the colonel’s affinity for the stuff, especially when it involved catching
up on the football season.
“None,” John grumbled now, making to ignore the physicist and go back to
sleep.
“Oh please,” Rodney sniffed.
“Rodney,” Carson interjected firmly, “The Colonel needs ta rest; ye can pester
him later.”
“Haven’t had any of it,” John’s sleepy grumbling sounded a little dejected.“Bet
it’s gone now.”With that, the injured colonel fell asleep.
++++++
Time passed, and John was feeling much better despite the fact that it was
going to take some time to heal from the knee surgery.The headache and
nausea that accompanied the concussion had also tapered off, and Carson was
pleased enough with his progress to release him to his quarters.It was
something of a ginger journey; his shoulder was a little sore but not enough to
prevent him from using crutches to keep the weight off his knee.Rodney
walked along with him on the way, prattling along about this, that and the
other while John concentrated on getting to his destination.He didn’t
mind the rambling conversation; it reminded him how lucky he’d been.The
cave-in could’ve ended a lot differently.
The door to his quarters opened and John was more than happy to ease himself
down onto his bed.Rodney trailed him inside, and John was a little
surprised when the scientist took a few minutes to fuss, helping him to prop
his bad leg on pillows, fluffing others behind his back, and getting a glass of
water for the nightstand.
“Do you...uh...need anything else?” Rodney asked.
“I’m good...” John canted his head slightly.“Thanks, Rodney.”
“Good, good,” McKay grinned.“Up for a little company?” He pulled a chair
over, and then reached into his jacket pocket.“Because...I have last
week’s Colts game and...” He pulled from his pocket a packet of popcorn.
“The last bag.”John’s eyes widened slightly as Rodney proclaimed, “You
would not believe the wheeling and dealing I had to do to get this.”
“The last one...really?” John grinned back now.“Your timing is perfect.”
“Isn’t it always?” Rodney answered with a frown.
“Just pop the popcorn and put in the game, McKay.”As John scooped out
the first buttery, salty pieces minutes later, he glanced sidelong at
Rodney.“What kind of wheeling and dealing?” he wanted to know.
“What?” Rodney waved toward the laptop screen.“You just missed a great
catch.”
“We can rewind it,” John pointed out, and then pressed on.“What deal did
you make?”
“The...uh....” Rodney cleared his throat.“The last of
my...personal...coffee stash.”
“I knew you stockpiled it somewhere!” John exclaimed.
“Yeah, well...the Daedalus will be back...in a month.”
“More football...” John pointed out helpfully.“More powerbars.”
“More laptops for the biochemistry lab,” Rodney added.
“More marines.”
“Just what we need,” Rodney snorted, and then huffed a little.“More
popcorn.”
“And more coffee...” John paused.“Thanks, Rodney.”
Author: Padawan_aneiki
Rating/Pairing: G/None
Summary: A shortage in supplies prompts a long and winding journey to a coveted prize. (With a little Shep whump tossed in for good measure.)
Perfect Timing
“Sheppard! Hey, Sheppard; wait up!”Dr. Rodney McKay called out as he
trotted along to catch up with the lieutenant colonel in question.John
paused, glancing back over his shoulder; Rodney juggled datapad, mug and a file
as he came along, prompting a mildly amused expression from Atlantis’ military
commander.
“Hey, McKay,” John greeted amiably as Rodney drew alongside.It was
unlikely he would have to wait long to hear the reason for Rodney’s summons, so
he resumed his trek down the hall.Predictably the scientist tagged
along, and John glanced over to find Rodney grinning like the proverbial
Cheshire cat.John raised an eyebrow in silent question, and his walking
companion was quick to answer.
“You can thank me now,” McKay said smugly.“Because I have some news
that’s guaranteed to make your day, maybe even your week and possibly the
month,” he declared solidly.Sheppard’s expression took on a slightly
more skeptical tone, which did absolutely nothing to dampen the physicist’s
enthusiasm.
“You...found a way to fly the city on one ZPM,” John “guessed” unhelpfully,
finally prompting a more familiar frown from Rodney.
“What?That’s absurd.Of course we can’t...oh, ha, ha,” Rodney’s
brain caught up with John’s teasing, and he glared briefly before
continuing.“Leave it to you to come up with that.” He waved his hand
dismissively, already moving on.“What I was going to tell you, is
that we received a communication from the SGC stating that the repairs to the Daedalus
were completed ahead of schedule thanks to Hermiod...”
“That little naked alien guy?” John scrunched his nose and Rodney exhaled
irritably.
“Yes; ‘that little naked alien guy.’Anyhow, they’ve left almost a week
ahead of their original departure.”The insufferable grin was back, and
John could’ve sworn that had they been standing still instead of walking, the
scientist might’ve been bouncing on his feet.
“Uh...good for them?” he volunteered, and McKay sighed again, a look of
longsuffering replacing the grin-again.
“No, good for us, Colonel; the Daedalus is running supplies,
y’know.The sooner they arrive, the sooner we’ll have more coffee...”
“...more equipment...”
“...more movies...”
“...more personnel...”
“...more coffee...”
“You said that one already,” John pointed out gamely, which earned him a huff
in return.
“More popcorn, then,” the scientist interjected impatiently. “If that works for
you.”
This time it was John’s turn to grin.“Probably,” he replied, before
turning aside to head for the jumper bay. A pair of steps later, he
turned back before Rodney was completely out of earshot.“Oh. Thanks,
Rodney.”John didn’t hear the answering grumble beyond the word
‘impossible,’ and he chuckled softly to himself.
And promptly forgot about the Daedalus in his errand to take Teyla to
the mainland, for a visit with her people.
++++++
The next few days passed as they normally did; there were a few missions, some
continuing bargaining with the people from P4T-838 and M2N-955, a scrape or two
with the Wraith.Teyla had requested an extended stay among her people in
order to help them further with the current-somewhat meager-harvest; the
mainland still recovering from the effects of the massive storm months
earlier.As nothing extraordinarily pressing had emerged, her request had
been easily granted, although John felt a little weird to be “borrowing” one of
the marines to take the Athosian’s place on those benign missions.
They were still trying to track Ford.There had been some small pieces of
intel, but so far, nothing of note had been turned up, and John was feeling the
weight of the younger man’s MIA status.Sitting in that living room,
drinking coffee with Aiden’s cousin, had been one of the hardest things he’d
done in a very long time.He wasn’t about to give up on the lieutenant,
despite the lack of information.Ford had to be out there, somewhere...
John was heading for the control room, with the intention of talking to
Elizabeth about an admittedly slender lead he wanted to pursue regarding his
missing team-mate.Traffic in the hallways this time of day was pretty
sparse; most of the expedition personnel were either occupied with various
duties or in the mess hall for lunch.Elizabeth generally took a later
lunch, and he’d already radioed so he wasn’t expecting to have to track her
down.He passed by the unofficial “rec room” they’d established
practically on their arrival when it happened.
A heavenly scent wafted out into the hallway and prompted the lieutenant
colonel to back up a pair of steps and poke his perpetually disheveled head
into the Rec Room.He grinned like the proverbial kid at Christmas when
his gaze landed on Radek Zelenka standing in front of the small microwave
they’d been able to jerry-rig into the power grid.
“Doctor Zelenka?” John prefaced, not wanting to startle the scientist; Radek
jumped anyway.Having the Czech’s attention now via near-death experience,
John casually drifted further into the room.“Hey, that uh...that smells
like popcorn.”Subtle, Sheppard, he mentally chided himself.
“Uh, yes, yes it is,” Radek replied as he shoved his glasses higher upon his
nose and regarded John warily.
“Where’d you get it?I thought we were out of that stuff,” John said,
trying to keep the please gimme some out of his voice, and probably
failing at it.
“We were,” Radek frowned a little now, and gestured toward the microwave.
“The Daedalus arrived this morning with supplies.”
Sheppard smiled again, recalling his conversation of a few days ago with
Rodney, and agreed that this was news to make his day.His stomach
grumbled as he inhaled the fragrant scent of buttered popcorn; he hadn’t had
lunch yet himself and the popcorn beckoned.
“Doctor Zelenka, to the jumper bay.Doctor Zelenka, to the jumper bay.”
The page sounded over the city-wide just as Radek removed the steaming
bag of popcorn from the microwave.
“Hey...!” John half-heartedly called out after him, but was interrupted by the
radio in his ear.
“John?” Elizabeth.“I thought you were coming up for a meeting?”
“Oh...yeah, I am,” John responded as he rummaged hurriedly in the box, coming
up with one of the folded pouches of popcorn and stuffing it into the nearest
handy pocket.After all, with a six-week round trip standing between
supply runs, things like coffee and popcorn were carefully rationed; in
Rodney’s case, sometimes hoarded although the physicist would deny he had
anything remotely resembling a coffee stash.
Exiting the rec area, John broke into an easy jog, hurrying toward Elizabeth’s
office and trying not to look like the cat that swallowed the canary.
Perhaps it was a small guilty pleasure, but while John didn’t mind the
occasional cookie or piece of cake, he didn’t exactly harbor an overactive
sweet tooth.When he’d been a kid, his greatest escape had been going to
the movies with his Mom and getting a carton of the salty, butter-drenched
treat; at least until she died when John was ten.Even with everything
that filled his life now, the memories of those afternoons spent in a cinema
sharing popcorn with his Mom could still make him smile.
Closer to his destination, Sheppard’s expression reflected less of pleasant
recollection and more of determined duty; popcorn could wait.Finding
Ford couldn’t.
++++++
The first bag was sacrificed to PJ8-9T5.
More specifically, it was likely buried in mud. That “slender lead”
Elizabeth had allowed them to follow had taken John’s makeshift team-Rodney and
a pair of Marines-straight into what appeared to be a recently established
Wraith outpost.The ensuing running, shooting, and escaping with their
lives part had somehow resulted in John losing the precious packet to
the planet’s muck.Running-or sliding as the case may be-over the
slippery terrain had made their escape that much more lovely.John had
arrived back in Atlantis splattered, disheveled, discouraged and divested of
his popcorn.
John still didn’t have any clue how packet, forgotten as he’d geared up,
had managed to work its way out of his pocket, slide through the bottom of his
tac vest, and end up trampled on the ground.
He hoped the Wraith that found it had a violent allergic reaction.
“Aright, Colonel, right over here,” Carson Beckett’s brogue prompted, his palm
patting the nearby exam bed.“Everyone else has had their turn; now ‘tis
yours.”Sheppard exhaled in a longsuffering sigh and submitted to his
post-mission check.As Carson made the usual fuss, John sighed again,
reaching up to rub his forehead with one hand; a muddy streak was left
behind.“If ye dunna mind my sayin’ so, Colonel, ye seem a mite
preoccupied.”
John glanced up at the physician, and cleared his throat uncomfortably.
“Yeah,” he said softly at first and then hazel eyes glanced away.
Honestly his irritation over losing the popcorn was trivial in comparison to
the heaviness he felt regarding the missing Lieutenant Ford.“We didn’t
get much chance to look around...y’know...see if Ford had been there before the
bad guys started shooting at us.”
“Ye’ll find him,” Carson said steadily and John again looked at the doctor
frankly, surprised at the certainty he saw in the Scot’s gaze.“If anyone
here can locate the lad, I know ye can.”John could do little more than
gape at Carson’s confidence, and eventually the physician turned away from the
stunned hazel gaze to reach for a pressure cuff.“If ye’ll roll up ye’r
sleeve for me,” Carson broke the moment, and John complied.
“I hope you’re right, Doc,” John finally murmured quietly while Carson inflated
the cuff.
“Sounds ta me, Colonel, like ye need a rest,” Beckett replied, and then smiled
gently.“An’ a long hot shower.”
John chuffed softly, and briefly hung his head; he got a good look at the mud
splattered all over his BDU’s.“Yeah, sounds good.”And some
popcorn, his tired brain told him, and he had to admit that sounded great.
++++++
The second bag was lost to Evan Lorne.
Well.Technically, and to be fair, it hadn’t been his fault that
John’s presence had been requested elsewhere just as the kernels had done
enough popping to make the whole rec room smell like buttery bliss.The
major had dropped in on him to inquire about the failed mission to PJ8-9T5 and
to report that his team had come back from their trading mission with a small
tidbit of information about a jittery stranger that had visited the village
some days ahead of Lorne’s team.
“Sounds like Ford might’ve passed through there, Sir,” Lorne finished above the
hum of the microwave and the first pop-popping of kernels.“I think it’s
worth another look around.”
“So do I, Major,” John agreed, grateful for a bit of good news.
“Even if the lieutenant has cleared out of there, there might be some clues as
to where he went.”He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck.
“I think we should...”
“Colonel Sheppard, please report to the Control Room.Colonel
Sheppard, to the Control Room,” Chuck’s voice came over the city-wide, and
John instinctively tapped his radio.
“Sheppard.I’m on my way.”
He started out, and then turned back.The popcorn wasn’t quite done
popping.“Hey, I gotta go; you can have that if you want.”
“Thanks, sir...don’t mind if I do,” Evan grinned.“This stuff tends to go
fast around here.”
“Tell me about it,” John grumbled under his breath even as he headed off
to find out what the latest crisis was all about.
++++++
The latest crisis, as it turned out, was some sort of odd lockout on the East
pier that had trapped a team of scientists in a lab away from access back into
the city; but it had been determined they could be reached easily enough by
taking a puddlejumper out to the end of the pier and flying them back to the
main portion of the city.John had geared back up, dragging Rodney with
him, and hustled up to the jumper bay.
“Oh, this is terrible,” McKay was grumbling over a datapad as the scientist
wandered up the ramp of the jumper and headed toward the cockpit, where John
was already bringing the little craft online.“It’s a disaster!”
Sheppard glanced over at his team-mate with an admittedly puzzled look on his
face.
“It’s just three people stuck on the outer part of the pier, McKay.
Nobody’s hurt; nobody’s dying and there’s no bad guys.What’s so terrible
about a little milk-run to go pick ‘em up?”
“What?” Rodney blinked as he sat down in the co-pilot’s seat and looked up from
the datapad.“Oh, no, not that...it’s this.”He motioned to
the datapad with his free hand but John wasn’t exactly in a position to see it.
“What?” John echoed.“What are you talking about?”
“This is the manifest from the Daedalus; I was just checking through it
for some important equipment we’d requested for my lab, and it looks like some
idiot was put in charge of requisitions.Half the stuff we asked for is
missing.In fact...it looks like they did the same thing for almost
everything on the manifest.Do you realize they’ve only brought about a
week’s supply of coffee?”
“Oh, so what’s that...an eight-point-five on the McKay Panic Scale?” John
chided lightly as he closed the back hatch of the jumper and lifted the little
craft into the air as the bay door opened above them.“How ‘bout we
concentrate on gettin’ your people back, and then we’ll worry about your
caffeine transfusion.”
“What?You just said nobody’s dying or hurt,” Rodney snarked as he
looked over the screen again.“This is important stuff here.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t,” John mollified, knowing instinctively that if there
were shortages in essential items it could be a very tough month until the Daedalus
was able to re-supply them once again.“Let’s just take care of Drake and
Caslin and then we’ll talk to Elizabeth.”
++++++
Bags three and four were the victims of unfortunate circumstance...one lost to
a gust of wind that took both bowl and fluffy kernels over the edge of a
balcony down to the ocean far below, and the other fated to suffer a split in
the bag prior to popping, which kept it from popping at all.By which
point, John had quietly admitted defeat to himself; with the popular snack
turning out to also have been shorted from the normal supply, he was beginning
to feel a little guilty at swiping new bags.One of the few things not
in short supply however, were the perpetually overabundant power bars stuffed
into field kits.
John had just put one of them into his pocket when he was again summoned.
A message was in from the mainland; Teyla requesting rescue personnel and a
medical team as several young Athosians had become trapped by a cave-in while
exploring.“Have Beckett and his team meet me in the jumper bay,” he
commanded as he rushed from the rec room.“And tell McKay to gear
up.”He proceeded to radio Evan Lorne and ordered him to gather the
necessary rescue personnel and equipment.“Take Jumper Three and head
over to the settlement.I don’t know how far inland we’re talking about
yet, either; this could be a few klicks in.”
It took time to gather everyone together; more time than John would’ve liked,
but there really wasn’t much that could be done about it.The medical
personnel and equipment necessary, the other equipment necessary, took time to
put together and load onto the jumpers.Still, things were handled as
quickly and efficiently as they could be, and the pair of jumpers headed off
for the mainland at top speed.
Teyla was waiting for them when they arrived.She led them to the cave in
which the youngsters were trapped, and the digging and searching began.
Rodney was able to confirm that all five of the Athosians inside the cave were
alive using the life-signs detector, which was an immediate relief, although
there was no telling if or how severely any of them might be injured.
Reaching the victims took almost two hours’ work; John, like the rest of the
team, was coated in a fine layer of dirt that seemed to have lodged in every
available pore and inch of fabric.Hands and wrists were a patchwork of
scratches, scrapes, and bruises from helping to move some of the larger
stones.He had to admit that he was thankful for the filtering masks
Carson had provided; the dust hung heavy in the air.Finally, there was a
cry from one of the other marines.“Colonel!”
John quickly shifted over the few steps to where a small breakthrough had been
made in the debris, and he tugged down the mask in order to call out,
“Hello!Hello, anyone hear me?”
“Hello!Hello, help!” a young voice, female, called back clearly fearful.
“We’re almost through to you!” John hollered back.“Are you all okay?”
“Yes...Anru, Jaya and I are well enough.Dhasan, however, will not wake
up no matter what we do.”
“Hang in there,” John encouraged.“We’re almost there.”Perhaps
another twenty minutes was needed before enough of a gap was made in a
strategic spot for one person to fit through.Despite Carson’s anxiety to
reach his young patients, John wriggled his way through first, both to test the
safety of the entry and to assess the situation on the other side.
A few more minutes were spent getting the three relatively unharmed kids out
through the opening, and then Carson wriggled his way into the cavern beyond,
where the fourth Athosian lay unconscious.John was already working on
freeing the boy’s legs, trapped beneath some of the debris.Some of it
had already been moved by the other kids, but one slab of rock in particular
had the kid pinned.It actually didn’t look particularly heavy, per se,
but it was part of the cave-in itself.
“It’s vera likely if ye try ta move it, the rest o’ the bloody thing’ll come
right down on us,” Carson warned.“Ye need more than we have ta free
‘im.”
“I know,” John said quietly, steadily, even as hazel eyes flicked around the cave,
trying to gauge what could be done.“I think all I need, really, is
just...three or four inches.If I can get that, we can just slide him
out.”He made his way back to the hole.“Lorne!” he shouted out.
“Yes, sir!” Evan’s voice came back, and John asked for the jack that had been
included in the equipment.While the jack was being produced and passed
over Carson set to triage and preparing his patient to be moved for further
treatment.Both men worked as quickly as possible; it was not lost on
either of them that the cave was still unstable.A wrong move could bring
the whole thing down on them.
“Aright,” Carson finally said.“I’ve done all I can do from here.
We’ll need ta move him through on a backboard.”The boy was still
unconscious, but Carson had placed a neck brace on him.
“Okay...I’m ready,” John confirmed. He’d worked the jack into position.
“Here we go,” he prefaced.Very slowly he began to jack up their end of
the slab...one inch...two.John paused just shy of three as an ominous
rumble sounded through the cave.
“You guys gotta get outta there!” Rodney’s panicked shout came from the other
side.
“We’re aware of that, Rodney!” John snapped back, all the while holding utterly
still as if by that alone the cave would stabilize and let him proceed.
Nothing happened for long moments.John glanced over at Carson, whose
lips were pressed together into a determined, worried, line.Nodding
once, he started again.Three inches.
“Is that enough?” Beckett asked softly.“I dunna think ye dare go much
more.”
“Just a half an inch more,” John gauged, and carefully worked the jack.
“Okay, Doc, now!Get him outta there.”He moved over to help Carson
ease the boy out from beneath the wreckage.“I don’t know how much time
we’ve got before...”Another rumble interrupted him.
“Help me get ‘im on ta this backboard!” Carson exclaimed, realizing as John did
that their time was rapidly running out.Together they secured the young
Athosian.
“Lorne!” John called out urgently.
“Here, Colonel!”
“We’ve got the kid on a backboard; we’re gonna send him through.You and
McKay grab him, and get everybody out of there!”Another loud rumbling
sounded throughout the cavern.
Together Carson and John lifted the backboard with its unconscious charge, and
worked it up to the access hole that had been dug.From the other side,
Lorne grasped the backboard and began to pull it through.
“Gentle!” Carson cautioned as he gathered up his kit.
“We’re being as gentle as we have time for, Doc!” the major exclaimed.
“Carson, go!” John ordered, and Beckett hesitated just briefly, looking at the
colonel.“Go!I’m right behind you.”Carson scrambled through
after his patient; the rumbling increasing each moment.John climbed in
after the physician and crawled through.Evan and Rodney had already
reached the cave’s entrance with the wounded Athosian, and Carson was already
running after them.John climbed out a little gracelessly in his haste
and headed for the way out.
Halfway there, the second cave-in started.Pieces of rock pelted him and
John stumbled, but kept his balance, pushing for the last few feet.A
loud roar sounded behind him, and then something very heavy slammed into his
shoulder, spinning him around.John staggered sideways, lost his balance
and fell to one knee.Then an avalanche of dirt and stone poured down and
dragged him into darkness.
++++++
Consciousness returned slowly, and the first thing John was aware of was an
insistent throbbing in his skull that was vaguely echoed in his right shoulder,
and further down, his right knee.Breathing, he realized an instant
later, added an extra twinge...in, out, ow.
“Owwhhh...”
“Carson! He’s waking up again!” Rodney’s semi-anxious voice calling out next to
him both sharpened his awareness and made him realize he’d said the ‘ow’ out
loud.John dragged his eyelids open and blinked, looking straight up at
the Infirmary ceiling.
“Ah, Colonel,” Carson’s brogue came from his left and John carefully turned his
head a little.“It’s good ta see ye back with us, lad.”The smile
that was on the doctor’s face was oddly reassuring, and John allowed himself a
small sigh, despite the ache it prompted in his chest.
“What happened?” he mumbled wearily.
“You were almost buried alive, is what happened,” Rodney snapped but John had
come to know that meant the scientist had been worried.He blinked a
moment and then swallowed convulsively.
“Teyla?” he wanted to know.
“Everybody got out, lad, exceptin’ ye’self,” Carson reassured.“Took a
wee bit o’ diggin’ ta get ye out, but ye’r goin’ ta be all right.”
John closed his eyes; his head thumped along in time to the cardiac
monitor.“How bad?” he wanted to know.
“Ye have a concussion, as I’m sure ye figured.Ye have a torn ligament in
ye’r right knee, an’ some cracked ribs.How they weren’t broken, I could
no’ tell ye.Ye’r shoulder was pretty badly bruised, but the swellin’ is
comin’ down an’ it wasn’t broken or dislocated; again a bloody miracle.
But ye’ll be my guest for a time, all the same.”
At the moment, John wouldn’t argue.“How ‘bout...the kid?” he
asked, and opened his eyes again.
“He’s farin’ well,” Carson smiled. “He’s no’ very happy with the cast on his
leg, an’ he also has a wee concussion, but he’s recoverin’ nicely.”
“Good,” John breathed out, and then he closed his eyes again.
Despite being aware of his various hurts, he could also tell that they were
fairly muted by the good drugs, and he was tired.Still, there was one
more thing he wanted to know.“How long was I out?”
“Almost two days,” Rodney piped up helpfully, and John could hear the note of
relief in the scientist’s voice.“Do you have any idea how much work I
could’ve gotten done in that time?”
John cracked an eye open.“You mean...y’ haven’t run outta coffee yet?”
he mumbled tiredly.
“Oh, ha, ha,” Rodney half-snorted, and folded his arms across his chest.
“And how many bags of popcorn have you hidden in your quarters?”He knew
of the colonel’s affinity for the stuff, especially when it involved catching
up on the football season.
“None,” John grumbled now, making to ignore the physicist and go back to
sleep.
“Oh please,” Rodney sniffed.
“Rodney,” Carson interjected firmly, “The Colonel needs ta rest; ye can pester
him later.”
“Haven’t had any of it,” John’s sleepy grumbling sounded a little dejected.“Bet
it’s gone now.”With that, the injured colonel fell asleep.
++++++
Time passed, and John was feeling much better despite the fact that it was
going to take some time to heal from the knee surgery.The headache and
nausea that accompanied the concussion had also tapered off, and Carson was
pleased enough with his progress to release him to his quarters.It was
something of a ginger journey; his shoulder was a little sore but not enough to
prevent him from using crutches to keep the weight off his knee.Rodney
walked along with him on the way, prattling along about this, that and the
other while John concentrated on getting to his destination.He didn’t
mind the rambling conversation; it reminded him how lucky he’d been.The
cave-in could’ve ended a lot differently.
The door to his quarters opened and John was more than happy to ease himself
down onto his bed.Rodney trailed him inside, and John was a little
surprised when the scientist took a few minutes to fuss, helping him to prop
his bad leg on pillows, fluffing others behind his back, and getting a glass of
water for the nightstand.
“Do you...uh...need anything else?” Rodney asked.
“I’m good...” John canted his head slightly.“Thanks, Rodney.”
“Good, good,” McKay grinned.“Up for a little company?” He pulled a chair
over, and then reached into his jacket pocket.“Because...I have last
week’s Colts game and...” He pulled from his pocket a packet of popcorn.
“The last bag.”John’s eyes widened slightly as Rodney proclaimed, “You
would not believe the wheeling and dealing I had to do to get this.”
“The last one...really?” John grinned back now.“Your timing is perfect.”
“Isn’t it always?” Rodney answered with a frown.
“Just pop the popcorn and put in the game, McKay.”As John scooped out
the first buttery, salty pieces minutes later, he glanced sidelong at
Rodney.“What kind of wheeling and dealing?” he wanted to know.
“What?” Rodney waved toward the laptop screen.“You just missed a great
catch.”
“We can rewind it,” John pointed out, and then pressed on.“What deal did
you make?”
“The...uh....” Rodney cleared his throat.“The last of
my...personal...coffee stash.”
“I knew you stockpiled it somewhere!” John exclaimed.
“Yeah, well...the Daedalus will be back...in a month.”
“More football...” John pointed out helpfully.“More powerbars.”
“More laptops for the biochemistry lab,” Rodney added.
“More marines.”
“Just what we need,” Rodney snorted, and then huffed a little.“More
popcorn.”
“And more coffee...” John paused.“Thanks, Rodney.”