Stargateland Little!Bang: The Worst Day Part One by stella_pegasi Team Atlantis
Title: The Worst Day
Author: stella_pegasi
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: PG
Character/Pairing: Radek Zelenka, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay
Spoilers: none
Warnings: Minor language
Het/Slash/Gen: Gen
Word count: 12,199
Disclaimer: I do not own them, I would have treated them better.
Summary: Dr. Radek Zelenka’s day started out badly; then it got worse.
Written for Stargateland’s Little!Bang Challenge. Posted as member of Team Atlantis.
Character Prompt: Dr. Radek Zelenka Word Prompt: Worst Day
THE WORST DAY
by stella_pegasi
Part One
The constant buzzing was grating on his nerves. He had attempted to ignore the harsh noise, but eventually, he lost what little patience he still possessed. Picking up the offending noise maker, he blindly threw it across the room. The resulting tinkle of shattered plastic and small metal parts hitting some object in his room gave him great satisfaction.
The persistent buzzing seemed to linger in his head; the despicable sound soon accompanied by a string of ‘expletives deleted’ uttered in Czech. His most descriptive words reserved for a certain pompous, arrogant, insomniac, Canadian scientist. He moaned into his pillow, not wanting to get out of bed. Why Stargate Command had given the responsibility of directing the science department to a man like that was an enigma. Anyone who decided the science briefing had to be held at 0600 hours every morning was clearly insane. Dr. Radek Zelenka rolled over onto his back, tangled in covers on the narrow bed which was barely long enough for him.
He willed himself to get out of bed, take a quick shower, and head for the conference room. The morning science briefing would unfold as it always did. Dr. Rodney McKay would be impatient, and Dr. Klaus Deidermeyer would be whining about something. Everyone else would be sleepy and fighting over coffee. Radek shuddered, pushed the covers away, and crawled out of bed. He had taken only a few steps before his bare foot pressed down on a piece of sharp plastic, a remnant of his alarm clock. Hopping around on his uninjured foot, he whimpered in pain from the small wound on his heel. He managed to step on several more shards, making small cuts on both feet. He was cursing in Czech again as he managed to make it to the bathroom, leaving a barely visible trail of blood behind him.
~oooOooo~
Twenty minutes later, Dr. Radek Zelenka wandered into the main conference room, not acknowledging anyone. He dropped his laptop on the table, and headed straight for the coffee station. As he was reaching for a cup, a burly bioengineer cut in front of him. Radek didn’t see him until too late, and he bounced off the larger man, crashing to the floor. As he was scrambling to get up, he heard a hurried, high-pitched voice aimed in his direction, Dr. Rodney McKay.
“Zelenka, what the hell are you doing on the floor? Get up; we have a meeting to start. People, people settle down, busy man here.” McKay snapped his fingers, expecting everyone to come to order.
Zelenka heard Deidermeyer’s grating voice already beginning to complain as he grabbed the bioengineer’s outstretched hand. He nodded in response to the offered apology, taking the cup of coffee handed to him. Turning to the table, he realized that Deidermeyer had occupied the chair in front of his computer. Reaching around the cranky scientist, who glared at him, he grabbed his laptop, and headed for the other end of the table.
Zelenka sipped his hot coffee, relaxing a bit as his tattered nerves began to calm. Rodney always called on him first, so he tapped the power key to turn on his laptop. When nothing happened, he stared at the blank screen, pressing the power key harder. The screen remained dark. He muttered, “Do háje,” as McKay called on him to give his department report. Not hearing Rodney at first, Zelenka ignored him, which clearly did not sit well with McKay.
“Zelenka, when you finish playing Warcraft, would you mind telling us what absolute amazing things you are working on?” Rodney’s voice was snarky, as he usually was in the morning.
“Rodney, I cannot access the data I was to give. My computer is not working.” He was still trying to determine what was wrong with the computer, and wasn’t looking at McKay. So he was not forewarned that the chief scientist’s cheeks were turning crimson.
“Everyone, do not come in here and clutter up my meeting if you are not ready to give your report. Now which one of you is actually prepared?” Deidermeyer immediately started whining about some problem in his lab. McKay turned an even brighter shade of crimson as he cut the chemist off, calling on the botany department head.
Zelenka leaned back in his chair, exasperated. His hip ached from the fall, his feet hurt from the earlier cuts, and his head was beginning to throb. He wished for the ability to time travel; he would return to that moment just before the alarm buzzed, and start this day over. Since, as Colonel Sheppard always said, without a DeLorean and flux capacitor to time travel with, he was out of luck. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the reports being given, hoping the meeting would be over soon.
~oooOooo~
Two hours later, Radek Zelenka was in no better mood. The slight throbbing in his head had become a full-fledged headache, his hip was bruised and sore, and he was angry. His anger was directed at two of the engineers in his department. One had dropped a very delicate instrument used to measure the transference of energy through the Ancient crystals. Replacing the instrument would be costly. Radek knew that Woolsey would be pissed; the director would yell at Rodney, who would, in turn, yell at him. Another of his crack engineers had wiped out a day and a half’s worth of research on the Ancient database by forgetting to save the file. The translated data lost was regarding the mention of a weapon under development by the Ancients. Having reported the finding to Colonel Sheppard, he knew that Sheppard was anxious to learn more about the weapon. He knew the colonel was patient, but when it came to weapons, he’d want to know quickly. That wasn’t going to happen.
Lost in thought when his COM activated, he was startled, nearly falling off the stool he was sitting on. He clutched the edge of the lab bench to steady himself, and tapped his earpiece to answer.
“Zelenka.”
A shaken voice replied, “Dr. Zelenka, come to Ronaldson’s lab, there’s been an accident. Dr. Ronaldson and Dr. Peet are hurt.”
“Coming.” Zelenka sprang from the stool, running out the lab door, a chain of Czech swear words trailing behind him. Like a mantra, the thought that he should have stayed in bed kept repeating itself in his head. This was turning out to be a really bad day.
When he arrived at Ronaldson’ fluid mechanics lab, Zelenka saw that EMT teams had arrived. One team was attending to Dr, Peet. Dr. Ronaldson, who appeared unconscious, was already on a gurney and rolling toward the infirmary. Marine firefighters and a hazardous materials team were securing the damaged lab. A Marine security team had evacuated the scientists and techs from the surrounding labs.
The injured engineer had been dragged into the corridor by the young biologist, Janice Peet, who had sustained a cut on her arm. An EMT was placing a pressure bandage on the wound as Radek approached.
“Dr. Peet, are you alright?”
She nodded, but didn’t speak. The EMT stood up, “Dr. Zelenka, Dr. Peet was passing by when the explosion occurred. She was blown against the wall of the corridor and stunned, but recovered enough to realize what had happened. She entered the lab, and while tugging some equipment off of Dr. Ronaldson, she must have caught her arm on a jagged edge. When she managed to get him untangled, she pulled him into the hallway, and then called for help.
“Is she badly hurt?” Radek asked. The biologist was new to the expedition, and very tiny. He remembered Colonel Sheppard asking if she was twelve years old. At four feet, nine inches and ninety-five pounds, she barely looked that old; however, Dr. Peet was twenty-six.
“The cut’s pretty ragged and deep. It’s going to require stitches, and maybe some plastic surgery. I’m certain that the docs will want to run some tests to determine if she has any internal injuries. She was really close to the blast, but she is alert and oriented, to a degree, just a bit groggy. How she pulled Ronaldson out of that lab is beyond me, he must outweigh her by a hundred and twenty pounds.”
“Radek, what happened?” Radek spun toward the deep voice, belonging to Colonel Sheppard. The colonel was trotting down the corridor, Richard Woolsey a few paces behind him.
“I am not certain yet, colonel. The EMT’s said there was an explosion; Dr. Ronaldson is researching fluid dynamics on a liquid crystal compound found on MX9-338. I did not think its properties were combustible, but…now, we will have to see.”
Woolsey asked, “How is Dr. Ronaldson?”
“Do not know, the EMT's were transporting him to sick bay when I arrived. Dr. Peet pulled him from the lab; she was passing by when the lab exploded. She has very bad cut on her arm.”
Radek watched as Sheppard knelt next to the biologist, telling her how brave she had been to rescue Ronaldson. The EMT’s were ready to transport her; Sheppard easily and carefully picked Peet up, placing her on the gurney. She blushed, and smiled shyly at the handsome colonel. Radek was glad Rodney wasn’t here to see the infatuated scientist; Rodney would tease the colonel unmercifully.
~oooOooo~
A short time later, Radek was waiting for word on Dr. Ronaldson’s condition when McKay came into the infirmary. Radek saw his eyes darting around looking for him.
“Rodney, over here,” he motioned to the scientist.
McKay came toward him, already asking questions. “What the hell happened? I go into the bowels of the city looking for a power leak, and one of your idiots tries to blow up the city. What did he do?”
Radek took a deep breath, he already had a headache, now it was worse. “Rodney, I do not know what happened. Ronaldson was working on the liquid crystal compound found on MX9-338. We did not think it was explosive. I do not know what he was doing at moment of the explosion. Dr. Peet was walking past; she was hit by blast, but was able to pull Ronaldson out of lab.” Radek was tired and his English was beginning to fail.
“She’s OK?” Rodney asked. Radek could tell he was truly concerned about the young scientist. Despite his sometimes impatient, gruff demeanor around people, Radek knew Rodney did care about them.
“Dr. Keller does not believe she has suffered any serious internal injuries, but she is going to keep her overnight. Dr. J is sewing up the cut on her arm right now.
“Good, good; what about Ronaldson?”
“Don’t know yet.”
“I can answer that.” The men looked around to see Jennifer coming toward them. “He’s going to live, but he has serious injuries. He suffered a serious concussion, his liver is bruised, as well as his lungs, but he’s breathing on his own. He also has a broken arm, and is badly bruised overall. He is going to need at least four to five-weeks recuperation.”
“Can we talk to him?” Rodney asked.
“Unfortunately, he is still unconscious, although he’s exhibiting signs of waking up. Perhaps you can speak with him later this evening. I’ll notify you know when he awakens.” Jennifer returned to her patient.
“Radek, Sheppard’s waiting for me; we are going off world to investigate some underground bunker that SGA-9 found. We should be back in a couple of hours. See if you can get this figured out. We'll meet when I get back.” McKay turned to leave, but stopped at the infirmary door, “Is that liquid crystal secure?”
“Yes, it’s in containment. I have Braun’s team securing the lab.”
Rodney flung up his hand, Radek decided that must mean OK, and left to join his team. Radek glanced at his watch, shaking his head. All of this had occurred before 1000 hours. He hoped the remainder of the day would be uneventful.
~oooOooo~
By noon, Radek gave up; nothing was going right. With Rodney off-world, everyone in Atlantis with a problem was pestering him. Captain Waters, a seasoned jumper pilot, had limped home from a mission with navigational problems. He had barely managed to coax the jumper to lift off on the planet. The captain was forced to park the jumper in the gate room when it refused to elevate into the jumper bay. The jumper mechanics worked over an hour to get the nav system to recognize that the jumper needed to ‘ascend,’ as Woolsey had put it. Woolsey was upset because the gate was taken off-line while repairs were underway. The director paced the balcony asking, every five minutes, if the jumper was fixed. Exasperated, Radek knew he would like to do with the jumper, but he’d then have to answer to Colonel Sheppard. Not worth risking his life over; the colonel was over-protective of the jumpers. Once that crisis was solved, the thermostat in the huge freezer in the mess quit working; then some idiot broke a large water pipe, and the list went on and on. Radek decided that he was not going to get any of his work done without his laptop which IT hadn't returned. Until Rodney returned, he decided to quit trying, and headed for the mess for lunch.
Grabbing a tray, Radek rushed through the mess line, and sought out a quiet, isolated spot to sit. He simply desired some peace and quiet. Before he left the infirmary, Julius Jackson, better known as Dr. J, had given him a couple of ibuprofen to ease the pain in his head. Now that the headache had lessened, Radek did not want to risk it returning. He was about halfway through his meal when his COM cackled. It was Woolsey ordering him to the control room, stat. He sprang up, grabbing his cupcake, and quickly headed for the transporter.
~oooOooo~
The control room and gate room were buzzing with activity. The gate was activated; a jumper descended into the gate room pausing briefly before accelerating through the event horizon. He heard Chuck say that the first jumper with combat engineers aboard was away. As he entered the control room, he saw Jennifer Keller and a med evac team entering as well. This cannot be good, he thought to himself. When he saw Colonel Sheppard, covered in dust, a cut on his arm and one across his forehead, Radek had a sinking feeling that something was very wrong.
“Jennifer, leave me alone.”
Keller had spotted Sheppard’s bloody forehead and arm. “Colonel, if you don’t let me tend to those wounds, you aren’t going anywhere.” Dr. Keller was standing her ground, but even she began to wither under Sheppard’s steely gaze.
“I don’t think you understand, Jennifer. Rodney has fallen through the roof of some kind of underground facility and we can’t reach him. He’s probably hurt, and some kind of noise began the second the roof fell, and we don’t know what it means. We have to get him out now.”
Sheppard pivoted from Jennifer to face Lorne and Woolsey. It was Woolsey, who spotted Radek and called him over. When Sheppard noticed him, he ordered him to gear up; they needed him to figure out what the device making the sound was, and how to stop it.
Within fifteen minutes of arriving in the control room, Radek found himself in a jumper piloted by Major Lorne. Colonel Sheppard was also in the back of the jumper, sitting across from him. The colonel had given Keller the ten-minute journey between the Atlantis gate and their destination to patch up his wounds. Sheppard was very pale, but Jennifer had ceased arguing with him. She had been around the colonel long enough to know when one of his people was in trouble, there was no stopping him. Besides, she had to be just as worried about Rodney as he was.
Radek hesitated to interrupt Dr. Keller, but he had to ask the colonel some questions.
“Colonel, can you tell me anything more about this noise that is being emitted?”
Sheppard had been staring at the floor while Keller was working on him; he looked up at the Czech engineer, “Not much. The combat engineers who were onsite with us this morning were doing soundings to determine how large the underground bunker was, and if there were any weak areas. I had a couple of teams out looking for hidden entrances, but they hadn’t found anything yet. We were progressing across what we thought was the roof area, when McKay started picking up some energy readings. Like he always does, he got excited and took off toward the readings. I tried to get him to stop, but the pig-headed…” Sheppard stopped, he wasn’t able to finish. Jennifer put her hand on Sheppard’s shoulder; he flashed her slight smile, then continued.
“He was moving really quickly, when he just dropped out of sight. Once that area fell, a lot of the roof area began to collapse. Ronon grabbed me and pulled me away right before the ground beneath me crumbled. I got cut when I fell onto some rocks.” He looked over at Jennifer, “We tried to raise Rodney on the radio, but no answer. I swung around to what we thought was the edge of the area closest to where Rodney fell. I tried to pick him up on the LSD, but there was too much interference. Franklin thinks the noise is the source of the interference.”
“The readings from the sound?”
“Franklin reported he started picking up the energy signal as soon as the breach happened. He said the signal was strong and, for the most part, steady, but that there was some fluctuation in the signal. As soon as I heard something had been activated, I knew we needed more equipment, so I returned to Atlantis to organize the rescue. While I’m here, Ronon and Teyla are tying to make their way to the area where Rodney fell. Teyla’s lighter so she’s going to see if she can get close to the edge of the hole. There are two squads of Marine’s with them and a couple of CE’s.”
Lorne called from the cockpit that they were approaching the site. Sheppard rose and went forward. Radek glanced over at Dr. Martin Cox and Lt. Dean May, both from the Ancient Tech lab. Radek had brought them along for their expertise in Ancient artifacts. Dr. Cox had never been off world, but he appeared calm. Lt. May was an excellent materials engineer, but an Air Force officer first. He had never been on a mission with Sheppard before, and Radek could tell the lieutenant was excited; his eyes never left his CO. No doubt a bit of hero worship for the young lieutenant, Radek thought. He was confident they would be fine on this mission; he wasn’t so sure about himself. His friend was in danger; he was anything but calm.
~oooOooo~
Once on the ground, Radek found things were a bit more chaotic than he expected. There had been another collapse of the roof area and two CE’s fell into the pit. They were lucky as only a small area caved in, and the surrounding area was a bit more stable. They were rescued after only a few minutes. The combat engineers had been able to determine that there was about two feet of topsoil over most of the bunker, then a fairly thick cover of a material very much like concrete. It had some silicon properties as well, but it cracked and crumbled like very old concrete.
Lieutenant Stackhouse met Sheppard as he exited the jumper. “Sir, we’ve made a little progress in laying support toward the opening Dr McKay fell into. The equipment brought by CB’s a few minutes ago is making the process quicker. Also, sir, Corporal Brenner reports a possible opening…he used the word portal…on the north side of structure.”
Sheppard tapped his earpiece, “Brenner, Sheppard. Stackhouse says you found a ‘portal.’ Describe what you found.”
“Yes sir; we found a structure that looks like a miniature stargate, but only big enough for a couple of people to go through at a time, sir. It’s not really a gate, but we think it’s a device of some kind. It’s sure not carved out of stone.”
“OK, corporal, stay there, don’t touch anything, we’ll be there in a few minutes.” Sheppard turned to Radek.
“Radek, take your geeks, get them set up; then find me. We’ll check out this gate structure that Brenner and Rodriquez located. I’m going to check in with Ronon and Teyla first. Stackhouse, send two men with Dr. Zelenka’s men, and two with the med team. Lorne, you’re with me.”
Radek motioned to Cox and May to follow him, and they headed toward the same area the colonel was heading. The main collapse area where McKay was trapped.
A few minutes later, the two scientists were beginning to set up their equipment to monitor the energy readings. Within a few minutes, they were monitoring the signal, which was still strong but fluctuating. Once the scientists were settled, Radek went to find the colonel.
He spotted the tall, spiky-hair colonel in a small group of people. The group included Teyla, Ronon, Lorne, Jennifer and Dr. J. He walked toward them; Sheppard nodded to him, and continued to listen to Ronon.
“Teyla made it within three feet of the rim, and the ground started to fall in. I pulled her out with the safety line Stackhouse insisted on.”
Teyla spoke, “I don’t think we are going to be able to go in from the outer edges.”
“Lorne had a rescue harness attached under the jumper we came in, as well as, a camera. I want that camera lowered into that hole, so we can get some eyes on what’s going on down there. Radek and I are going to check out this ‘portal’ thing. Maybe it’s a way to get into that chamber.” Turning toward Radek, he motioned for the scientist to follow him. Radek was scrambling to catch up when Dr. J stopped Sheppard.
“Colonel, if we can get in that way and find Dr. McKay, you may need my services.” Dr. J looked at Jennifer who nodded her agreement.”
Sheppard nodded his own agreement and said, “Let’s go.”
The terrain consisted of thick groves of trees scattered with meadows of varying sizes. A wide band of trees surrounded the perimeter of the underground facility; the roof area was covered in grasses. A heavy mist hung in the air, accentuating the chilly temperature. The walk to the north side of the underground chamber took about ten minutes. Coming through a thick grove of trees, they could see a clearing where the small circular structure stood. The ‘gate’ was similar to the Atlantis gate in that it had three blue crystal energy indicators and appeared to be made of the same material, but there were no markings on the gate. Rodriguez and Brenner were standing next the structure; Sheppard estimated it was at least eight feet in diameter.
“Colonel, there does not appear to be a DHD nearby, this is not a gate. It could be…” Radek ceased talking. As they stepped into the clearing, a soft humming sound began to emanate from the ring; the blue crystals embedded in the ring began to glow dimly.
Brenner and Rodriquez jumped away from the gate, guns raised. Rodriguez noticed Sheppard first. “Sir, did you do that?”
As Sheppard approached, the closer his proximity to the ring, the stronger the hum and the brighter the crystals glowed. “It appears, I may have, corporal.” Sheppard continued to walk closer to the structure, as did Radek. The others held back.
Joining the colonel, Radek took readings on the tablet he had borrowed from Dr. Cox. “Colonel, I lack the programming, I usually have to interpret readings. However, this is definitely a piece of Ancient technology.” He walked closer to the ring, and Sheppard followed him.
“Can you see any controls?” Sheppard was circling the ring.
Radek began speaking in Czech; it was evident that he was distressed. Sheppard understood enough Czech to know Radek was annoyed “Hey, Dr. Z, what’s the problem?”
Radek looked up; his hair was sticking out from his habit of rubbing his head, his glasses perched the tip of his nose. He sighed, pushing his glasses up, “It has been very bad day that became a whole lot worse, colonel. I am fine, just upset because I do not have my own laptop with me. It broke this morning.” Radek shuddered, trying to throw off his discontent. “Colonel, I do not see controls, and for the last few minutes, the power readings have been steady. I believe you activated the device, but there has to be more.”
Their COM’s activated, “Colonel, Lorne. Sir, we have the stationary camera in the area where Dr. McKay fell. Sir, the area appears solid with debris. We can’t see anything. Lt. Michen is about to lower the snake camera in order to see if he can maneuver around the debris.”
Radek glanced at Sheppard; both men were thinking the same thing and neither was going to admit it. Dr. McKay’s chances of survival were diminishing.
“Understood, major; keep me informed. This ring structure has activated; it could be a transport, a door, of some kind. We're checking it out; I'll let you know; Sheppard out.”
Sheppard was silent; Radek noticed he was tapping the stock of his P-90, staring at the ring. Then Sheppard closed his eyes. Within seconds, a shimmering veil of pale blue light flooded the inner circumference of the ring.
Radek quietly said, “Colonel?” Sheppard opened his eyes and smiled slightly.
“Apparently, all you have to do is ask nicely if you can enter.”
Sheppard tapped his earpiece, “Lorne, I think we have a way in. I am going to take Brenner and Rodriguez with me. If you don’t hear from us in thirty, get someone with the gene to try to get in. Somehow I doubt we’ll have COM reception in there.” Sheppard listened for a moment, then signed off.
“Ok, everyone…let’s do this. Corporals, you have the six, I’ll take point.” Sheppard approached the ring, hesitating for a moment before he stepped into the pale blue light and disappeared.
Dr. J glanced at Radek and smiled, “Well, I wanted adventure.” He, too, stepped into the light and disappeared.
Radek looked at the activated ring, and thought, “Yes, this day has been a very bad day. Rodney, you’d better be OK.” He closed his eyes, holding his breath; he stepped into the pale blue glowing light.
~oooOooo~
A strong hand, belonging to Colonel Sheppard, grabbed his arm pulling him to the left. Brenner came through the pale blue portal right behind him. Dr. J snagged the corporal to give his teammate room to appear. After Rodriguez came through, the portal closed. The beams from the P-90s’ attached tactical light, and the glow from Radek’s tablet was the only illumination in the chamber. Radek found himself in a large, dark chamber which was considerably warmer than aboveground. He was trying to determine the direction that the power was coming from so that perhaps he could get the lights on, when the lights came on.
“Colonel, you asked for lights?” Radek asked almost in a whisper.
Sheppard sighed, “Yeah...looks like this station doesn’t operate automatically. We may have to ask for we want, which means the doors may not open, unless I asked them to, so be careful. No one else here has the gene do they?” A chorus of no’s sounded, sending a frown onto Sheppard’s face, he pulled out his LSD. “Well, I don’t have any life signs on this but our own. Let’s check this room out quickly, then start moving toward the area where Rodney fell. Be careful, people, this roof isn’t safe; the CE’s say the entire roof could be unstable.”
The lights had revealed a large room, about four times the size of the main conference room on Atlantis. The walls were pale blue and were adorned with dark blue panels not unlike those on Atlantis. The furniture was charcoal gray, also similar in design to the furniture on Atlantis. The light was coming from fixtures that were recessed into the ceiling, and from panels that were scattered across the room. There was a large counter against one wall; behind the counter, there were storage units with many shallow drawers, Radek recognized the units immediately. He waited to comment until the colonel tried to contact Lorne on the radio without success.
“Colonel, those cabinets behind the counter are like the ones on Atlantis. They provide storage for data crystals. I do not know what this place is, but there could be thousands of crystals stored in those cabinets alone.” Radek’s face was animated from his excitement at imagining what could be on the crystals.
“Radek, once we find Rodney and the engineers are able to stabilize this place, we’ll return to check this out. For now, we need to move on.” There were two doors leading from the room, Sheppard decided on checking out the one directly opposite the portal. It led to the direction where they thought McKay was. Walking up to it, he thought ‘open’, the doors slid apart to reveal a dark corridor.
Sheppard flipped on his tac light to obtain a visual on the corridor. Radek saw that the corridor appeared to be quite lengthy. He noticed a low humming, and was about to ask the colonel if he heard it as well, when sconces hung along the corridor walls began to brighten.
“I take it that is you again, colonel.” Sheppard nodded and Radek remarked, “You are handy to have around.’
Sheppard chuckled, “Yeah, I always knew you guys only loved me for my gene,” Radek laughed along with him.
The corridor was lined with doorways; panels adorned with Ancient numbers were attached to the wall next to the doors. Radek looked at Sheppard, “Colonel, could we open one of these doors to see what is inside? It could help us determine where we are and what this place is for. We might be able to find something that would tell us where Rodney is.”
Sheppard replied, the hint of a grin crossed his face, “Radek, you geeks are all alike, curious to the end.” He raised one finger, “One door, that’s all.” Sheppard approached the nearest door, thinking it open. Immediately, sconces brightened to reveal a closet-sized room. Inside was space for a narrow console with an embedded control panel with numerous slots for crystals. An Ancient monitor sat on the console; a chair the only other item in the room.
“Radek?” Sheppard looked at him inquisitively.
Radek shook his head, “To me, it appears to be a library carrel; this is most intriguing.”
“OK, that’s it; we’re moving on. Let’s pick up the pace.” Sheppard continued walking. Radek scurried to keep up; Dr. J and the corporals following behind.
The corridor continued on for nearly fifty feet then opened into a large lobby. Again there were sofas and chairs and a central station outfitted with similar consoles to the ones in the small room. There were open corridors, the three corridors that branched out all had doors made of patterned colored glass.
“Colonel, this looks like a waiting room.” Dr. J remarked.
Sheppard responded, “Yeah, doc, it certainly does. The question is, waiting for what? Radek, which one of these doors gets us closer to where Rodney fell?”
Radek gestured to the left doorway, “I believe that one, colonel.” Sheppard walked toward the door, commanding it to open. As he walked through the doorway, Radek directly behind him, a deafening siren pierced the silence. Numerous advanced-looking weapons descended from the perimeter of ‘lobby’ ceiling. The three men remaining in the lobby ran, making it into the corridor as the doorway slammed shut. The siren ceased as soon as the door closed.
Dr. J was slightly unnerved and breathing somewhat raggedly. “Colonel, what the hell triggered that?”
Radek was still quivering as he watched Sheppard peer through the tinted glass door. He reflected that Sheppard must have nerves made of Alloy 1090. Radek had been startled, his body jerking, his heart racing. He probably shrieked as well; hopefully, no one would tell Rodney. Sheppard, however, never flinched, just turned toward the horrid din, and began shouting for the others to run. The colonel sounded composed as he spoke.
“If I was betting, I would say that you guys should probably to stay close to me. I can see the panels those weapons emerged from.” He turned around, looking at the ceiling in the corridor. “They don’t appear to be in this ceiling. That must be some sort of security sector. Without the gene, you guys must have set off the alarm; as I said, you need to stay close to me. Let’s go.” Sheppard headed off down the corridor; the others, literally on his six.
Radek was hustling to keep up with Sheppard’s longer stride. They had been underground for nearly twenty minutes, and had yet to reach the area where Rodney had fallen through the ceiling. Radek sensed that Sheppard was getting anxious; his normally relaxed gait had been replaced by a more regulated walk, his torso rigid. Radek knew the colonel was alert to every nuance of their surroundings. A few more minutes of walking and they arrived at an intersection; another long corridor extended to their right. Sheppard threw up his hand, clenched in a fist; the entourage halted.
“Radek, which way?”
“According to the readings from earlier, colonel, we should take this corridor to the right. I believe it is heading toward Rodney.”
“Then we go that way.” Sheppard guided them to the right. The corridor was long; however, the lighting was considerably dimmer than the other corridors.
“Colonel Sheppard, energy readings are registering a bit lower here. I believe there is a power drain close by.”
“Sheppard nodded, “Probably from the cave in area where Rodney is. Come on, people. Let’s pick up the pace.” Sheppard began moving faster, and Radek was practically jogging to keep up with him.
They were approaching another doorway. Radek was about to comment that the door was just like the ones in the security area they had passed through, when Sheppard stopped. Radek stayed right behind Sheppard, as he approached the glass door and peered through. Looking around the taller man, Radek saw a similar but smaller security area beyond the door.
Sheppard blew out a breath of air, and turned to the rest of his party. “OK, this room looks similar to the security area that we passed through before. It’s smaller though, so we should get across quickly. There is only one door directly opposite this one. Once I open the door, I’ll step through; we’ll cross to the other doorway. I’ll stay in the area until you’re all in the corridor. It’s too dim to see the ceiling panels, but I’ll venture that they have the same weapons; move quickly.
Radek swallowed deeply, waiting for the colonel to open the door. He had been on dangerous missions before, but he never understood how Sheppard and his team always seemed so calm. Currently, he was shaking in his sneakers.
The door slid open and Sheppard walked into the dimly lit room. Radek followed, as did the others, on Sheppard’s six, as close as he could comfortably get. They were nearly at the other door when they heard the now familiar sound of weapons dropping from the ceiling.
Sheppard quickly ran across the room, the others right behind him. The colonel skidded to a stop at the door. Radek began to get a bit concerned as he heard the colonel yell, “Open, damn it.” The door didn’t budge. Sheppard turned to him. “Radek, get this door open.” Sheppard stepped to the left and pointed toward the door control panel on the wall.
Radek didn’t have time to think, he pulled the panel away, throwing it on the floor and began to rearrange the crystals, attempting to close the electrical circuit. It wasn’t working. He was concentrating on the control panel when he heard the unmistakable sound of weapons powering up.
"Radek, now,” Sheppard’s voice was low and calm. Only the fact that he enunciated each word emphatically, betrayed his tension.
“I’m trying, colonel.” Radek was pulling out the cross crystal to examine it when the weapons began to fire. Rodriguez, Brenner, Sheppard stepped in front of Dr. J and Radek, firing at the weapons. Brenner’s first shot took out one weapon, Sheppard’s another; Rodriguez was about to fire on a third weapon when Radek yelled.
“Yes, it is open. Come on!”
Radek rushed through the open door, traveling down the hallway a bit to give the others room. Dr. J came next, and Radek saw Sheppard grab Brenner by the TAC vest, pushing him through the doorway. The colonel was reaching for Rodriquez when the weapons fired again, a blast of energy hitting Rodriguez in the chest.
“Crap,” Sheppard shouted while he grabbed the fallen corporal and dragged him through the door way. As he cleared the door, Sheppard sent the command to close the glass door and it slid shut. He knelt beside Rodriguez, “Ray, Ray, can you hear me?”
Rodriguez stirred as Sheppard became aware that Brenner had also knelt beside his best friend. “Hey, broki, you OK?”
Rodriguez opened his eyes; a slight smile crossed his face, replaced by a grimace of pain. “Hey, colonel…I’m rubbing off on the gringo.” His eyelids fluttered and closed, and Sheppard realized Rodriguez had lapsed into unconsciousness.
“Yeah, you are…corporal.” Sheppard smiled, but moved away as Dr. J pushed him slightly.
Standing up, Sheppard tapped Brenner on the shoulder, “Corporal, you need to stay here to protect Dr. J and Rodriguez. Doc, Radek and I will continue looking for Rodney, and come back for you when we find him. OK.” Dr. J nodded as he was pulling supplies from his rucksack.
Brenner was unconvinced, “Colonel, we know this place is dangerous; I need to help you.”
Sheppard looked down at the young corporal, his eyes serious, “No, you don’t. Right now the most important person we need to protect is Dr. J. Rodriguez needs him and I suspect McKay will, too. Take care of them both; Radek and I will be fine.”
“Radek, we need to go.” Before he moved, Sheppard looked at Dr. J. “Doc, how is he?”
“Lucky, I think, colonel. The blast caught him in the upper left chest, not directly over his heart. I think you pulled him out of the way in time to prevent him taking a direct hit in the center of his chest. That may have saved his life.”
Radek watched Sheppard as he listened to the doctor. The colonel was chewing on his lower lip, a telltale sign that he was apprehensive. Radek notice that his eyes reflected relief at Dr. J’s report, while he maintained a stoic expression. Rodriguez and Brenner were very special to Sheppard; they had saved his life on more than one occasion. Besides, Radek could tell that the colonel genuinely liked the young men.
“Good, take care of him, doc. Brenner, you take care of both these guys. Don’t leave this corridor until I get back.”
Brenner replied with an understood, sir. Sheppard spun around and headed down the corridor, expecting Radek to follow. Radek didn’t hesitate.
Author: stella_pegasi
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: PG
Character/Pairing: Radek Zelenka, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay
Spoilers: none
Warnings: Minor language
Het/Slash/Gen: Gen
Word count: 12,199
Disclaimer: I do not own them, I would have treated them better.
Summary: Dr. Radek Zelenka’s day started out badly; then it got worse.
Written for Stargateland’s Little!Bang Challenge. Posted as member of Team Atlantis.
Character Prompt: Dr. Radek Zelenka Word Prompt: Worst Day
THE WORST DAY
by stella_pegasi
Part One
The constant buzzing was grating on his nerves. He had attempted to ignore the harsh noise, but eventually, he lost what little patience he still possessed. Picking up the offending noise maker, he blindly threw it across the room. The resulting tinkle of shattered plastic and small metal parts hitting some object in his room gave him great satisfaction.
The persistent buzzing seemed to linger in his head; the despicable sound soon accompanied by a string of ‘expletives deleted’ uttered in Czech. His most descriptive words reserved for a certain pompous, arrogant, insomniac, Canadian scientist. He moaned into his pillow, not wanting to get out of bed. Why Stargate Command had given the responsibility of directing the science department to a man like that was an enigma. Anyone who decided the science briefing had to be held at 0600 hours every morning was clearly insane. Dr. Radek Zelenka rolled over onto his back, tangled in covers on the narrow bed which was barely long enough for him.
He willed himself to get out of bed, take a quick shower, and head for the conference room. The morning science briefing would unfold as it always did. Dr. Rodney McKay would be impatient, and Dr. Klaus Deidermeyer would be whining about something. Everyone else would be sleepy and fighting over coffee. Radek shuddered, pushed the covers away, and crawled out of bed. He had taken only a few steps before his bare foot pressed down on a piece of sharp plastic, a remnant of his alarm clock. Hopping around on his uninjured foot, he whimpered in pain from the small wound on his heel. He managed to step on several more shards, making small cuts on both feet. He was cursing in Czech again as he managed to make it to the bathroom, leaving a barely visible trail of blood behind him.
~oooOooo~
Twenty minutes later, Dr. Radek Zelenka wandered into the main conference room, not acknowledging anyone. He dropped his laptop on the table, and headed straight for the coffee station. As he was reaching for a cup, a burly bioengineer cut in front of him. Radek didn’t see him until too late, and he bounced off the larger man, crashing to the floor. As he was scrambling to get up, he heard a hurried, high-pitched voice aimed in his direction, Dr. Rodney McKay.
“Zelenka, what the hell are you doing on the floor? Get up; we have a meeting to start. People, people settle down, busy man here.” McKay snapped his fingers, expecting everyone to come to order.
Zelenka heard Deidermeyer’s grating voice already beginning to complain as he grabbed the bioengineer’s outstretched hand. He nodded in response to the offered apology, taking the cup of coffee handed to him. Turning to the table, he realized that Deidermeyer had occupied the chair in front of his computer. Reaching around the cranky scientist, who glared at him, he grabbed his laptop, and headed for the other end of the table.
Zelenka sipped his hot coffee, relaxing a bit as his tattered nerves began to calm. Rodney always called on him first, so he tapped the power key to turn on his laptop. When nothing happened, he stared at the blank screen, pressing the power key harder. The screen remained dark. He muttered, “Do háje,” as McKay called on him to give his department report. Not hearing Rodney at first, Zelenka ignored him, which clearly did not sit well with McKay.
“Zelenka, when you finish playing Warcraft, would you mind telling us what absolute amazing things you are working on?” Rodney’s voice was snarky, as he usually was in the morning.
“Rodney, I cannot access the data I was to give. My computer is not working.” He was still trying to determine what was wrong with the computer, and wasn’t looking at McKay. So he was not forewarned that the chief scientist’s cheeks were turning crimson.
“Everyone, do not come in here and clutter up my meeting if you are not ready to give your report. Now which one of you is actually prepared?” Deidermeyer immediately started whining about some problem in his lab. McKay turned an even brighter shade of crimson as he cut the chemist off, calling on the botany department head.
Zelenka leaned back in his chair, exasperated. His hip ached from the fall, his feet hurt from the earlier cuts, and his head was beginning to throb. He wished for the ability to time travel; he would return to that moment just before the alarm buzzed, and start this day over. Since, as Colonel Sheppard always said, without a DeLorean and flux capacitor to time travel with, he was out of luck. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the reports being given, hoping the meeting would be over soon.
~oooOooo~
Two hours later, Radek Zelenka was in no better mood. The slight throbbing in his head had become a full-fledged headache, his hip was bruised and sore, and he was angry. His anger was directed at two of the engineers in his department. One had dropped a very delicate instrument used to measure the transference of energy through the Ancient crystals. Replacing the instrument would be costly. Radek knew that Woolsey would be pissed; the director would yell at Rodney, who would, in turn, yell at him. Another of his crack engineers had wiped out a day and a half’s worth of research on the Ancient database by forgetting to save the file. The translated data lost was regarding the mention of a weapon under development by the Ancients. Having reported the finding to Colonel Sheppard, he knew that Sheppard was anxious to learn more about the weapon. He knew the colonel was patient, but when it came to weapons, he’d want to know quickly. That wasn’t going to happen.
Lost in thought when his COM activated, he was startled, nearly falling off the stool he was sitting on. He clutched the edge of the lab bench to steady himself, and tapped his earpiece to answer.
“Zelenka.”
A shaken voice replied, “Dr. Zelenka, come to Ronaldson’s lab, there’s been an accident. Dr. Ronaldson and Dr. Peet are hurt.”
“Coming.” Zelenka sprang from the stool, running out the lab door, a chain of Czech swear words trailing behind him. Like a mantra, the thought that he should have stayed in bed kept repeating itself in his head. This was turning out to be a really bad day.
When he arrived at Ronaldson’ fluid mechanics lab, Zelenka saw that EMT teams had arrived. One team was attending to Dr, Peet. Dr. Ronaldson, who appeared unconscious, was already on a gurney and rolling toward the infirmary. Marine firefighters and a hazardous materials team were securing the damaged lab. A Marine security team had evacuated the scientists and techs from the surrounding labs.
The injured engineer had been dragged into the corridor by the young biologist, Janice Peet, who had sustained a cut on her arm. An EMT was placing a pressure bandage on the wound as Radek approached.
“Dr. Peet, are you alright?”
She nodded, but didn’t speak. The EMT stood up, “Dr. Zelenka, Dr. Peet was passing by when the explosion occurred. She was blown against the wall of the corridor and stunned, but recovered enough to realize what had happened. She entered the lab, and while tugging some equipment off of Dr. Ronaldson, she must have caught her arm on a jagged edge. When she managed to get him untangled, she pulled him into the hallway, and then called for help.
“Is she badly hurt?” Radek asked. The biologist was new to the expedition, and very tiny. He remembered Colonel Sheppard asking if she was twelve years old. At four feet, nine inches and ninety-five pounds, she barely looked that old; however, Dr. Peet was twenty-six.
“The cut’s pretty ragged and deep. It’s going to require stitches, and maybe some plastic surgery. I’m certain that the docs will want to run some tests to determine if she has any internal injuries. She was really close to the blast, but she is alert and oriented, to a degree, just a bit groggy. How she pulled Ronaldson out of that lab is beyond me, he must outweigh her by a hundred and twenty pounds.”
“Radek, what happened?” Radek spun toward the deep voice, belonging to Colonel Sheppard. The colonel was trotting down the corridor, Richard Woolsey a few paces behind him.
“I am not certain yet, colonel. The EMT’s said there was an explosion; Dr. Ronaldson is researching fluid dynamics on a liquid crystal compound found on MX9-338. I did not think its properties were combustible, but…now, we will have to see.”
Woolsey asked, “How is Dr. Ronaldson?”
“Do not know, the EMT's were transporting him to sick bay when I arrived. Dr. Peet pulled him from the lab; she was passing by when the lab exploded. She has very bad cut on her arm.”
Radek watched as Sheppard knelt next to the biologist, telling her how brave she had been to rescue Ronaldson. The EMT’s were ready to transport her; Sheppard easily and carefully picked Peet up, placing her on the gurney. She blushed, and smiled shyly at the handsome colonel. Radek was glad Rodney wasn’t here to see the infatuated scientist; Rodney would tease the colonel unmercifully.
~oooOooo~
A short time later, Radek was waiting for word on Dr. Ronaldson’s condition when McKay came into the infirmary. Radek saw his eyes darting around looking for him.
“Rodney, over here,” he motioned to the scientist.
McKay came toward him, already asking questions. “What the hell happened? I go into the bowels of the city looking for a power leak, and one of your idiots tries to blow up the city. What did he do?”
Radek took a deep breath, he already had a headache, now it was worse. “Rodney, I do not know what happened. Ronaldson was working on the liquid crystal compound found on MX9-338. We did not think it was explosive. I do not know what he was doing at moment of the explosion. Dr. Peet was walking past; she was hit by blast, but was able to pull Ronaldson out of lab.” Radek was tired and his English was beginning to fail.
“She’s OK?” Rodney asked. Radek could tell he was truly concerned about the young scientist. Despite his sometimes impatient, gruff demeanor around people, Radek knew Rodney did care about them.
“Dr. Keller does not believe she has suffered any serious internal injuries, but she is going to keep her overnight. Dr. J is sewing up the cut on her arm right now.
“Good, good; what about Ronaldson?”
“Don’t know yet.”
“I can answer that.” The men looked around to see Jennifer coming toward them. “He’s going to live, but he has serious injuries. He suffered a serious concussion, his liver is bruised, as well as his lungs, but he’s breathing on his own. He also has a broken arm, and is badly bruised overall. He is going to need at least four to five-weeks recuperation.”
“Can we talk to him?” Rodney asked.
“Unfortunately, he is still unconscious, although he’s exhibiting signs of waking up. Perhaps you can speak with him later this evening. I’ll notify you know when he awakens.” Jennifer returned to her patient.
“Radek, Sheppard’s waiting for me; we are going off world to investigate some underground bunker that SGA-9 found. We should be back in a couple of hours. See if you can get this figured out. We'll meet when I get back.” McKay turned to leave, but stopped at the infirmary door, “Is that liquid crystal secure?”
“Yes, it’s in containment. I have Braun’s team securing the lab.”
Rodney flung up his hand, Radek decided that must mean OK, and left to join his team. Radek glanced at his watch, shaking his head. All of this had occurred before 1000 hours. He hoped the remainder of the day would be uneventful.
~oooOooo~
By noon, Radek gave up; nothing was going right. With Rodney off-world, everyone in Atlantis with a problem was pestering him. Captain Waters, a seasoned jumper pilot, had limped home from a mission with navigational problems. He had barely managed to coax the jumper to lift off on the planet. The captain was forced to park the jumper in the gate room when it refused to elevate into the jumper bay. The jumper mechanics worked over an hour to get the nav system to recognize that the jumper needed to ‘ascend,’ as Woolsey had put it. Woolsey was upset because the gate was taken off-line while repairs were underway. The director paced the balcony asking, every five minutes, if the jumper was fixed. Exasperated, Radek knew he would like to do with the jumper, but he’d then have to answer to Colonel Sheppard. Not worth risking his life over; the colonel was over-protective of the jumpers. Once that crisis was solved, the thermostat in the huge freezer in the mess quit working; then some idiot broke a large water pipe, and the list went on and on. Radek decided that he was not going to get any of his work done without his laptop which IT hadn't returned. Until Rodney returned, he decided to quit trying, and headed for the mess for lunch.
Grabbing a tray, Radek rushed through the mess line, and sought out a quiet, isolated spot to sit. He simply desired some peace and quiet. Before he left the infirmary, Julius Jackson, better known as Dr. J, had given him a couple of ibuprofen to ease the pain in his head. Now that the headache had lessened, Radek did not want to risk it returning. He was about halfway through his meal when his COM cackled. It was Woolsey ordering him to the control room, stat. He sprang up, grabbing his cupcake, and quickly headed for the transporter.
~oooOooo~
The control room and gate room were buzzing with activity. The gate was activated; a jumper descended into the gate room pausing briefly before accelerating through the event horizon. He heard Chuck say that the first jumper with combat engineers aboard was away. As he entered the control room, he saw Jennifer Keller and a med evac team entering as well. This cannot be good, he thought to himself. When he saw Colonel Sheppard, covered in dust, a cut on his arm and one across his forehead, Radek had a sinking feeling that something was very wrong.
“Jennifer, leave me alone.”
Keller had spotted Sheppard’s bloody forehead and arm. “Colonel, if you don’t let me tend to those wounds, you aren’t going anywhere.” Dr. Keller was standing her ground, but even she began to wither under Sheppard’s steely gaze.
“I don’t think you understand, Jennifer. Rodney has fallen through the roof of some kind of underground facility and we can’t reach him. He’s probably hurt, and some kind of noise began the second the roof fell, and we don’t know what it means. We have to get him out now.”
Sheppard pivoted from Jennifer to face Lorne and Woolsey. It was Woolsey, who spotted Radek and called him over. When Sheppard noticed him, he ordered him to gear up; they needed him to figure out what the device making the sound was, and how to stop it.
Within fifteen minutes of arriving in the control room, Radek found himself in a jumper piloted by Major Lorne. Colonel Sheppard was also in the back of the jumper, sitting across from him. The colonel had given Keller the ten-minute journey between the Atlantis gate and their destination to patch up his wounds. Sheppard was very pale, but Jennifer had ceased arguing with him. She had been around the colonel long enough to know when one of his people was in trouble, there was no stopping him. Besides, she had to be just as worried about Rodney as he was.
Radek hesitated to interrupt Dr. Keller, but he had to ask the colonel some questions.
“Colonel, can you tell me anything more about this noise that is being emitted?”
Sheppard had been staring at the floor while Keller was working on him; he looked up at the Czech engineer, “Not much. The combat engineers who were onsite with us this morning were doing soundings to determine how large the underground bunker was, and if there were any weak areas. I had a couple of teams out looking for hidden entrances, but they hadn’t found anything yet. We were progressing across what we thought was the roof area, when McKay started picking up some energy readings. Like he always does, he got excited and took off toward the readings. I tried to get him to stop, but the pig-headed…” Sheppard stopped, he wasn’t able to finish. Jennifer put her hand on Sheppard’s shoulder; he flashed her slight smile, then continued.
“He was moving really quickly, when he just dropped out of sight. Once that area fell, a lot of the roof area began to collapse. Ronon grabbed me and pulled me away right before the ground beneath me crumbled. I got cut when I fell onto some rocks.” He looked over at Jennifer, “We tried to raise Rodney on the radio, but no answer. I swung around to what we thought was the edge of the area closest to where Rodney fell. I tried to pick him up on the LSD, but there was too much interference. Franklin thinks the noise is the source of the interference.”
“The readings from the sound?”
“Franklin reported he started picking up the energy signal as soon as the breach happened. He said the signal was strong and, for the most part, steady, but that there was some fluctuation in the signal. As soon as I heard something had been activated, I knew we needed more equipment, so I returned to Atlantis to organize the rescue. While I’m here, Ronon and Teyla are tying to make their way to the area where Rodney fell. Teyla’s lighter so she’s going to see if she can get close to the edge of the hole. There are two squads of Marine’s with them and a couple of CE’s.”
Lorne called from the cockpit that they were approaching the site. Sheppard rose and went forward. Radek glanced over at Dr. Martin Cox and Lt. Dean May, both from the Ancient Tech lab. Radek had brought them along for their expertise in Ancient artifacts. Dr. Cox had never been off world, but he appeared calm. Lt. May was an excellent materials engineer, but an Air Force officer first. He had never been on a mission with Sheppard before, and Radek could tell the lieutenant was excited; his eyes never left his CO. No doubt a bit of hero worship for the young lieutenant, Radek thought. He was confident they would be fine on this mission; he wasn’t so sure about himself. His friend was in danger; he was anything but calm.
~oooOooo~
Once on the ground, Radek found things were a bit more chaotic than he expected. There had been another collapse of the roof area and two CE’s fell into the pit. They were lucky as only a small area caved in, and the surrounding area was a bit more stable. They were rescued after only a few minutes. The combat engineers had been able to determine that there was about two feet of topsoil over most of the bunker, then a fairly thick cover of a material very much like concrete. It had some silicon properties as well, but it cracked and crumbled like very old concrete.
Lieutenant Stackhouse met Sheppard as he exited the jumper. “Sir, we’ve made a little progress in laying support toward the opening Dr McKay fell into. The equipment brought by CB’s a few minutes ago is making the process quicker. Also, sir, Corporal Brenner reports a possible opening…he used the word portal…on the north side of structure.”
Sheppard tapped his earpiece, “Brenner, Sheppard. Stackhouse says you found a ‘portal.’ Describe what you found.”
“Yes sir; we found a structure that looks like a miniature stargate, but only big enough for a couple of people to go through at a time, sir. It’s not really a gate, but we think it’s a device of some kind. It’s sure not carved out of stone.”
“OK, corporal, stay there, don’t touch anything, we’ll be there in a few minutes.” Sheppard turned to Radek.
“Radek, take your geeks, get them set up; then find me. We’ll check out this gate structure that Brenner and Rodriquez located. I’m going to check in with Ronon and Teyla first. Stackhouse, send two men with Dr. Zelenka’s men, and two with the med team. Lorne, you’re with me.”
Radek motioned to Cox and May to follow him, and they headed toward the same area the colonel was heading. The main collapse area where McKay was trapped.
A few minutes later, the two scientists were beginning to set up their equipment to monitor the energy readings. Within a few minutes, they were monitoring the signal, which was still strong but fluctuating. Once the scientists were settled, Radek went to find the colonel.
He spotted the tall, spiky-hair colonel in a small group of people. The group included Teyla, Ronon, Lorne, Jennifer and Dr. J. He walked toward them; Sheppard nodded to him, and continued to listen to Ronon.
“Teyla made it within three feet of the rim, and the ground started to fall in. I pulled her out with the safety line Stackhouse insisted on.”
Teyla spoke, “I don’t think we are going to be able to go in from the outer edges.”
“Lorne had a rescue harness attached under the jumper we came in, as well as, a camera. I want that camera lowered into that hole, so we can get some eyes on what’s going on down there. Radek and I are going to check out this ‘portal’ thing. Maybe it’s a way to get into that chamber.” Turning toward Radek, he motioned for the scientist to follow him. Radek was scrambling to catch up when Dr. J stopped Sheppard.
“Colonel, if we can get in that way and find Dr. McKay, you may need my services.” Dr. J looked at Jennifer who nodded her agreement.”
Sheppard nodded his own agreement and said, “Let’s go.”
The terrain consisted of thick groves of trees scattered with meadows of varying sizes. A wide band of trees surrounded the perimeter of the underground facility; the roof area was covered in grasses. A heavy mist hung in the air, accentuating the chilly temperature. The walk to the north side of the underground chamber took about ten minutes. Coming through a thick grove of trees, they could see a clearing where the small circular structure stood. The ‘gate’ was similar to the Atlantis gate in that it had three blue crystal energy indicators and appeared to be made of the same material, but there were no markings on the gate. Rodriguez and Brenner were standing next the structure; Sheppard estimated it was at least eight feet in diameter.
“Colonel, there does not appear to be a DHD nearby, this is not a gate. It could be…” Radek ceased talking. As they stepped into the clearing, a soft humming sound began to emanate from the ring; the blue crystals embedded in the ring began to glow dimly.
Brenner and Rodriquez jumped away from the gate, guns raised. Rodriguez noticed Sheppard first. “Sir, did you do that?”
As Sheppard approached, the closer his proximity to the ring, the stronger the hum and the brighter the crystals glowed. “It appears, I may have, corporal.” Sheppard continued to walk closer to the structure, as did Radek. The others held back.
Joining the colonel, Radek took readings on the tablet he had borrowed from Dr. Cox. “Colonel, I lack the programming, I usually have to interpret readings. However, this is definitely a piece of Ancient technology.” He walked closer to the ring, and Sheppard followed him.
“Can you see any controls?” Sheppard was circling the ring.
Radek began speaking in Czech; it was evident that he was distressed. Sheppard understood enough Czech to know Radek was annoyed “Hey, Dr. Z, what’s the problem?”
Radek looked up; his hair was sticking out from his habit of rubbing his head, his glasses perched the tip of his nose. He sighed, pushing his glasses up, “It has been very bad day that became a whole lot worse, colonel. I am fine, just upset because I do not have my own laptop with me. It broke this morning.” Radek shuddered, trying to throw off his discontent. “Colonel, I do not see controls, and for the last few minutes, the power readings have been steady. I believe you activated the device, but there has to be more.”
Their COM’s activated, “Colonel, Lorne. Sir, we have the stationary camera in the area where Dr. McKay fell. Sir, the area appears solid with debris. We can’t see anything. Lt. Michen is about to lower the snake camera in order to see if he can maneuver around the debris.”
Radek glanced at Sheppard; both men were thinking the same thing and neither was going to admit it. Dr. McKay’s chances of survival were diminishing.
“Understood, major; keep me informed. This ring structure has activated; it could be a transport, a door, of some kind. We're checking it out; I'll let you know; Sheppard out.”
Sheppard was silent; Radek noticed he was tapping the stock of his P-90, staring at the ring. Then Sheppard closed his eyes. Within seconds, a shimmering veil of pale blue light flooded the inner circumference of the ring.
Radek quietly said, “Colonel?” Sheppard opened his eyes and smiled slightly.
“Apparently, all you have to do is ask nicely if you can enter.”
Sheppard tapped his earpiece, “Lorne, I think we have a way in. I am going to take Brenner and Rodriguez with me. If you don’t hear from us in thirty, get someone with the gene to try to get in. Somehow I doubt we’ll have COM reception in there.” Sheppard listened for a moment, then signed off.
“Ok, everyone…let’s do this. Corporals, you have the six, I’ll take point.” Sheppard approached the ring, hesitating for a moment before he stepped into the pale blue light and disappeared.
Dr. J glanced at Radek and smiled, “Well, I wanted adventure.” He, too, stepped into the light and disappeared.
Radek looked at the activated ring, and thought, “Yes, this day has been a very bad day. Rodney, you’d better be OK.” He closed his eyes, holding his breath; he stepped into the pale blue glowing light.
~oooOooo~
A strong hand, belonging to Colonel Sheppard, grabbed his arm pulling him to the left. Brenner came through the pale blue portal right behind him. Dr. J snagged the corporal to give his teammate room to appear. After Rodriguez came through, the portal closed. The beams from the P-90s’ attached tactical light, and the glow from Radek’s tablet was the only illumination in the chamber. Radek found himself in a large, dark chamber which was considerably warmer than aboveground. He was trying to determine the direction that the power was coming from so that perhaps he could get the lights on, when the lights came on.
“Colonel, you asked for lights?” Radek asked almost in a whisper.
Sheppard sighed, “Yeah...looks like this station doesn’t operate automatically. We may have to ask for we want, which means the doors may not open, unless I asked them to, so be careful. No one else here has the gene do they?” A chorus of no’s sounded, sending a frown onto Sheppard’s face, he pulled out his LSD. “Well, I don’t have any life signs on this but our own. Let’s check this room out quickly, then start moving toward the area where Rodney fell. Be careful, people, this roof isn’t safe; the CE’s say the entire roof could be unstable.”
The lights had revealed a large room, about four times the size of the main conference room on Atlantis. The walls were pale blue and were adorned with dark blue panels not unlike those on Atlantis. The furniture was charcoal gray, also similar in design to the furniture on Atlantis. The light was coming from fixtures that were recessed into the ceiling, and from panels that were scattered across the room. There was a large counter against one wall; behind the counter, there were storage units with many shallow drawers, Radek recognized the units immediately. He waited to comment until the colonel tried to contact Lorne on the radio without success.
“Colonel, those cabinets behind the counter are like the ones on Atlantis. They provide storage for data crystals. I do not know what this place is, but there could be thousands of crystals stored in those cabinets alone.” Radek’s face was animated from his excitement at imagining what could be on the crystals.
“Radek, once we find Rodney and the engineers are able to stabilize this place, we’ll return to check this out. For now, we need to move on.” There were two doors leading from the room, Sheppard decided on checking out the one directly opposite the portal. It led to the direction where they thought McKay was. Walking up to it, he thought ‘open’, the doors slid apart to reveal a dark corridor.
Sheppard flipped on his tac light to obtain a visual on the corridor. Radek saw that the corridor appeared to be quite lengthy. He noticed a low humming, and was about to ask the colonel if he heard it as well, when sconces hung along the corridor walls began to brighten.
“I take it that is you again, colonel.” Sheppard nodded and Radek remarked, “You are handy to have around.’
Sheppard chuckled, “Yeah, I always knew you guys only loved me for my gene,” Radek laughed along with him.
The corridor was lined with doorways; panels adorned with Ancient numbers were attached to the wall next to the doors. Radek looked at Sheppard, “Colonel, could we open one of these doors to see what is inside? It could help us determine where we are and what this place is for. We might be able to find something that would tell us where Rodney is.”
Sheppard replied, the hint of a grin crossed his face, “Radek, you geeks are all alike, curious to the end.” He raised one finger, “One door, that’s all.” Sheppard approached the nearest door, thinking it open. Immediately, sconces brightened to reveal a closet-sized room. Inside was space for a narrow console with an embedded control panel with numerous slots for crystals. An Ancient monitor sat on the console; a chair the only other item in the room.
“Radek?” Sheppard looked at him inquisitively.
Radek shook his head, “To me, it appears to be a library carrel; this is most intriguing.”
“OK, that’s it; we’re moving on. Let’s pick up the pace.” Sheppard continued walking. Radek scurried to keep up; Dr. J and the corporals following behind.
The corridor continued on for nearly fifty feet then opened into a large lobby. Again there were sofas and chairs and a central station outfitted with similar consoles to the ones in the small room. There were open corridors, the three corridors that branched out all had doors made of patterned colored glass.
“Colonel, this looks like a waiting room.” Dr. J remarked.
Sheppard responded, “Yeah, doc, it certainly does. The question is, waiting for what? Radek, which one of these doors gets us closer to where Rodney fell?”
Radek gestured to the left doorway, “I believe that one, colonel.” Sheppard walked toward the door, commanding it to open. As he walked through the doorway, Radek directly behind him, a deafening siren pierced the silence. Numerous advanced-looking weapons descended from the perimeter of ‘lobby’ ceiling. The three men remaining in the lobby ran, making it into the corridor as the doorway slammed shut. The siren ceased as soon as the door closed.
Dr. J was slightly unnerved and breathing somewhat raggedly. “Colonel, what the hell triggered that?”
Radek was still quivering as he watched Sheppard peer through the tinted glass door. He reflected that Sheppard must have nerves made of Alloy 1090. Radek had been startled, his body jerking, his heart racing. He probably shrieked as well; hopefully, no one would tell Rodney. Sheppard, however, never flinched, just turned toward the horrid din, and began shouting for the others to run. The colonel sounded composed as he spoke.
“If I was betting, I would say that you guys should probably to stay close to me. I can see the panels those weapons emerged from.” He turned around, looking at the ceiling in the corridor. “They don’t appear to be in this ceiling. That must be some sort of security sector. Without the gene, you guys must have set off the alarm; as I said, you need to stay close to me. Let’s go.” Sheppard headed off down the corridor; the others, literally on his six.
Radek was hustling to keep up with Sheppard’s longer stride. They had been underground for nearly twenty minutes, and had yet to reach the area where Rodney had fallen through the ceiling. Radek sensed that Sheppard was getting anxious; his normally relaxed gait had been replaced by a more regulated walk, his torso rigid. Radek knew the colonel was alert to every nuance of their surroundings. A few more minutes of walking and they arrived at an intersection; another long corridor extended to their right. Sheppard threw up his hand, clenched in a fist; the entourage halted.
“Radek, which way?”
“According to the readings from earlier, colonel, we should take this corridor to the right. I believe it is heading toward Rodney.”
“Then we go that way.” Sheppard guided them to the right. The corridor was long; however, the lighting was considerably dimmer than the other corridors.
“Colonel Sheppard, energy readings are registering a bit lower here. I believe there is a power drain close by.”
“Sheppard nodded, “Probably from the cave in area where Rodney is. Come on, people. Let’s pick up the pace.” Sheppard began moving faster, and Radek was practically jogging to keep up with him.
They were approaching another doorway. Radek was about to comment that the door was just like the ones in the security area they had passed through, when Sheppard stopped. Radek stayed right behind Sheppard, as he approached the glass door and peered through. Looking around the taller man, Radek saw a similar but smaller security area beyond the door.
Sheppard blew out a breath of air, and turned to the rest of his party. “OK, this room looks similar to the security area that we passed through before. It’s smaller though, so we should get across quickly. There is only one door directly opposite this one. Once I open the door, I’ll step through; we’ll cross to the other doorway. I’ll stay in the area until you’re all in the corridor. It’s too dim to see the ceiling panels, but I’ll venture that they have the same weapons; move quickly.
Radek swallowed deeply, waiting for the colonel to open the door. He had been on dangerous missions before, but he never understood how Sheppard and his team always seemed so calm. Currently, he was shaking in his sneakers.
The door slid open and Sheppard walked into the dimly lit room. Radek followed, as did the others, on Sheppard’s six, as close as he could comfortably get. They were nearly at the other door when they heard the now familiar sound of weapons dropping from the ceiling.
Sheppard quickly ran across the room, the others right behind him. The colonel skidded to a stop at the door. Radek began to get a bit concerned as he heard the colonel yell, “Open, damn it.” The door didn’t budge. Sheppard turned to him. “Radek, get this door open.” Sheppard stepped to the left and pointed toward the door control panel on the wall.
Radek didn’t have time to think, he pulled the panel away, throwing it on the floor and began to rearrange the crystals, attempting to close the electrical circuit. It wasn’t working. He was concentrating on the control panel when he heard the unmistakable sound of weapons powering up.
"Radek, now,” Sheppard’s voice was low and calm. Only the fact that he enunciated each word emphatically, betrayed his tension.
“I’m trying, colonel.” Radek was pulling out the cross crystal to examine it when the weapons began to fire. Rodriguez, Brenner, Sheppard stepped in front of Dr. J and Radek, firing at the weapons. Brenner’s first shot took out one weapon, Sheppard’s another; Rodriguez was about to fire on a third weapon when Radek yelled.
“Yes, it is open. Come on!”
Radek rushed through the open door, traveling down the hallway a bit to give the others room. Dr. J came next, and Radek saw Sheppard grab Brenner by the TAC vest, pushing him through the doorway. The colonel was reaching for Rodriquez when the weapons fired again, a blast of energy hitting Rodriguez in the chest.
“Crap,” Sheppard shouted while he grabbed the fallen corporal and dragged him through the door way. As he cleared the door, Sheppard sent the command to close the glass door and it slid shut. He knelt beside Rodriguez, “Ray, Ray, can you hear me?”
Rodriguez stirred as Sheppard became aware that Brenner had also knelt beside his best friend. “Hey, broki, you OK?”
Rodriguez opened his eyes; a slight smile crossed his face, replaced by a grimace of pain. “Hey, colonel…I’m rubbing off on the gringo.” His eyelids fluttered and closed, and Sheppard realized Rodriguez had lapsed into unconsciousness.
“Yeah, you are…corporal.” Sheppard smiled, but moved away as Dr. J pushed him slightly.
Standing up, Sheppard tapped Brenner on the shoulder, “Corporal, you need to stay here to protect Dr. J and Rodriguez. Doc, Radek and I will continue looking for Rodney, and come back for you when we find him. OK.” Dr. J nodded as he was pulling supplies from his rucksack.
Brenner was unconvinced, “Colonel, we know this place is dangerous; I need to help you.”
Sheppard looked down at the young corporal, his eyes serious, “No, you don’t. Right now the most important person we need to protect is Dr. J. Rodriguez needs him and I suspect McKay will, too. Take care of them both; Radek and I will be fine.”
“Radek, we need to go.” Before he moved, Sheppard looked at Dr. J. “Doc, how is he?”
“Lucky, I think, colonel. The blast caught him in the upper left chest, not directly over his heart. I think you pulled him out of the way in time to prevent him taking a direct hit in the center of his chest. That may have saved his life.”
Radek watched Sheppard as he listened to the doctor. The colonel was chewing on his lower lip, a telltale sign that he was apprehensive. Radek notice that his eyes reflected relief at Dr. J’s report, while he maintained a stoic expression. Rodriguez and Brenner were very special to Sheppard; they had saved his life on more than one occasion. Besides, Radek could tell that the colonel genuinely liked the young men.
“Good, take care of him, doc. Brenner, you take care of both these guys. Don’t leave this corridor until I get back.”
Brenner replied with an understood, sir. Sheppard spun around and headed down the corridor, expecting Radek to follow. Radek didn’t hesitate.