"The Last Changeling" -Tale the Eighth: Truth, pt. 1/4
Title: "The Last Changeling"
Author: Taylor Dancinghands -taylor@tdancinghands.com
Characters: Vampire!Sheppard/Werewolf!Zelenka/Changeling!Rodney... and Centaur!Carson, among others.
Pairings: Zelenka/McKay and Zelenka/McKay/Sheppard ust, pre-slash other pairings background
Category: slash, pre-slash, AU
Spoilers: none
Warnings: graphic violence
Rating: for Mature readers
Archive: Generally yes, but please let me know where
Summary: With out heroes scattered, separated and exiled, those who remain do what they can to bring them back, and Rodney McKay forges ahead with a plan no one can quite fathom.
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, never will, not claiming to. Just wanna play with 'em a little. Can't I, can't I, huh?
****
The Last Changeling
by Taylor Dancinghands
Tale the Eighth: "Truth" pt 1/4
In the days and weeks that followed the expulsion of Dr Radek Zelenka, Colonel John Sheppard and Dr Carson Beckett from Atlantis, Elizabeth Weir watched her Head of Science carefully. She wasn't the only one, of course, and she supposed that it shouldn't have come as any surprise to her that Rodney McKay was behaving like a man who knew he was being watched.
Where he might, in the past, have ordinarily been irascible, these days, he was more... subdued. On occasions where she would have expected impatience, he showed tolerance. Rather than his usual sarcastic scolding, Rodney lectured, with a long suffering put-upon air to be sure, but the old verbal fireworks were nowhere to be seen. Some might have been expecting this personality transformation to result in a higher output from the labs, but Elizabeth knew better.
She did not fail to take into account how much Radek Zelenka's quiet contributions really meant to the overall achievement of the science division and moreover understood that, having gotten used to McKay's mercurial management style, the men and women who worked under him hardly knew how to act around this changed version of their tempestuous boss. Moral actually dropped, in spite of the 'calmer' atmosphere, and advances gradually ground to a halt.
Elizabeth worried, Teyla seemed at a loss, and Ronon was going around with the glower that indicated a strong desire to shoot something, but they all should have known that McKay was only biding his time. The penny dropped the day that the Daedalus arrived and Rodney appeared in her office with two letters in his hand.
"I won't say it's all the same to me," he explained, "because we both know I fully intend to come back here, so the sabbatical makes more sense," he pushed the paper in his right hand forward on her desk as a suggestion. "But if you find that you can't grant me that, then I'll just resign." He tapped the paper under his left hand.
"It's in my contract, as I'm sure you know," he continued matter-of-factly. "If you won't give me the first, you'll have to accept the second."
Of course, Elizabeth could grant Rodney his sabbatical, even if it was dreadfully short notice, and open ended, but had he not come with the resignation, she'd most certainly have tried to talk him out of it. How had she forgotten, she chided herself, that Rodney McKay was not only a brilliant physicist, but a formidable strategist as well.
"Of course..." she replied, "I'll accept your sabbatical. It would be... appreciated, however, if you could let me know anything about your... plans?"
"Oh certainly," he replied with deceptive civility. "And you will naturally be telling me about all the calls you've been making, the markers you've been calling in and from whom you've been calling them?"
Elizabeth snapped her mouth closed and let out a small, defeated sigh. If nothing else, this little exchange ought to give her confidence that those who would keep Rodney McKay from what he wanted had very little chance of succeeding. "Point taken," she conceded.
"Elizabeth," he said, his tone now surprisingly conciliatory. "I do respect your skills in this area, in fact I'm counting on them. Before this is over I'm fairly certain we're going to need them, but for now I think it's best that we work on separate tracks, yes?"
"It's not an unreasonable supposition," she said with a nod. "And it's not that I don't trust you. I do. It's just..." Elizabeth looked down at her hands. "I hate to see you go... even if it's only for a short time."
"I realize I'm indispensable everywhere," Rodney said airily as he stood, "and, um, I'll miss this place, and... you know, you guys... but I am coming back, and I'll be bringing Zelenka, Sheppard and Beckett with me. You can count on it."
Elizabeth wish she could feel so assured herself, but could not help worrying. "I will," she said, trying to sound as confident as Rodney did. "You just... be careful, alright."
"You too," Rodney replied as he paused in the doorway. "And, you know, don't sink the city while I'm gone, hm?"
"We'll do our best not to," Elizabeth answered him with a smile. If there was a bet to be made, she reflected, she'd place her money on Rodney McKay every time, but that did not mean she was free of doubts. She would just have to trust him, and do whatever she could to bring her people home again.
Rodney had done a fine job of preparing the science department for his departure, and Dr Parrish had come down to the gate room to briefly press something into Rodney's hand before he scurried off, but Ronon and Teyla were another matter. They had argued stridently against his going and then when they saw that wasn't going to fly they tried to argue that they should accompany him. They were still arguing now, as he waited in the gate room to be beamed up to the Daedalus.
"Look, it's Earth politics," he said, loud enough that Elizabeth could hear him in her office, though he stood in the center of the gate room. "There won't be anything for you to shoot at, or hit with sticks and, not to disparage your brilliant diplomatic skills, Teyla, but you don't know Earth politics, and especially Fae-Mortal politics. They're old and byzantine and illogical, and you kinda have to have grown up with them to understand them. I know you want to help, but you can help best by staying here and keeping the city safe."
"We promised Radek, and John," Teyla said, though Elizabeth could hear in her voice that she already knew she was not going to win this argument, "that we would keep you safe. You cannot tell us that there is no danger where you are going."
"No, I can't," Rodney replied, honestly enough. "But it's not the kind of danger you can protect me from, trust me. Here, on the other hand, I can practically guarantee that there will be things that need shooting at, or people that you know who Elizabeth will need your help negotiating with or something, and you can't do that if you're following me around on Earth."
When there was no answering argument, Elizabeth stepped out of her office to observe Teyla and Rodney bending to touch foreheads in the Athosian fashion, and when they had drawn back Ronon slapped Rodney on the back hard enough to stagger him.
"Please convey our greetings to the others when you find them," Teyla said a little sadly.
"Yeah, and tell 'em to get their asses back here where they belong," Ronon followed up.
"Sure thing," Rodney said, still recovering from Ronon's gesture of affection. Then he signalled the Daedalus and in a flash of light, he was gone. Elizabeth made her way down to the gate room to join Teyla and Ronon, who remained there alone, and looking a little lost.
"Shouldn't have let him go alone," Ronon murmured, discontent.
"Yet he was not wrong, in his reasons for wanting us to stay," Teyla replied, glancing over at Elizabeth as though for confirmation.
"He has a plan," Elizabeth offered, for what it was worth. "We're just going to have to trust that he knows what he's doing." Because that's what it all came down to: trust. They'd all learned a lot about trust here on the Pegasus Galaxy -even Rodney- and it was what they would have to rely on now.
Teyla nodded sagely, and Elizabeth could see she agreed. "Then that is what we will do," she said, and there wasn't much else to say after that.
***
Rodney could have easily gone stir crazy over the two and a half week journey back to Earth on the Daedalus, had it not been for the work he'd agreed to do for Novak. She was, after all, going to be doing him an enormous, and rather vital favor, so it was only fair that he return it, though she insisted that it wasn't necessary.
Some years back Rodney had helped to settle a family dispute on Lieutenant Novak's behalf, as she was half Fae, and the Elvish branch of her family had wanted her to return to the Realms and marry a young man of notable family. Rodney had been the one to recruit her for the SGC and found her work to be well above that of the average idiots he was too often saddled with, but moreover, hated the idea of such family meddling.
They'd tried to force her, using an obscure aspect of Fae common law, but Rodney had, on his own behalf, made an extensive study of Fae law and compacts. He'd happily obliterated Novak's family's case, and made her the chief engineer on the Daedalus, neither of which acts he'd ever regretted.
Some in academia, Rodney knew, carefully cultivated a network of influential people who each owed them some debt or favor, but Rodney could never be bothered with such things. He made himself useful where he liked, and where he was needed, and whether someone had the wit to recognize the value of keeping in his good graces or not was nothing to do with him. Not anyone could manage their career with such an attitude, but Rodney McKay could and did.
To be honest, Rodney didn't much enjoy actually asking for such return favors (preferring to bully people into admitting that they ought to be offered without his having to ask), but the current circumstances had him ready to actually swallow his pride. Luckily, Lieutenant Lindsey Novak was an exceedingly agreeable person, and Rodney'd had to do little more than suggest that he might need a little assistance.
"Whatever you need, Dr McKay," had been her prompt response and Rodney had been so grateful he'd almost told her so. Together they'd cooked up a marginally believable cover story as to why Rodney needed to return to earth and come up with a truly useful yet challenging task for Rodney to spend his time on for the duration of his voyage.
As far as Rodney was concerned, the primary reason for his laborious fine tuning of the Daedalus' shield emitters was to keep himself from gnawing his own leg off (or something equally counter productive) while enduring the boredom of the long voyage, but it didn't hurt to keep Novak and the crew of the Daedalus in his good graces either. Eventually, Hermiod also introduced a challenge or two to occupy Rodney's time, though Rodney was never sure if the alien wasn't actually subtly dissing him or thought he was taking Rodney 'under his wing' so to speak. There was no way in hell that Rodney was going to ask him, though.
Another benefit of keeping himself gainfully occupied was that it helped stave off his inevitable growing nervousness as the end of their journey grew closer. Since Novak was his confederate in putting the Asgard transporter at his disposal, she became, by necessity, his confederate in the whole plan, which began with determining just exactly where Sheppard was being kept.
It was their good fortune that, in the battle between Sheppard's Clan leaders and the US military for his custody, the US military had won, for it meant that they could hack their computer network to find him. There they could also get all the information on the building where he was being held, and how it was staffed, and it made the likelihood of the mission going off well much better.
Of course, Sheppard would probably be thinking that he would rather be in the custody of his Clan leaders and family, as much as he hated them, because they weren't planning on exiling him to a life of unending gang warfare. That would be the almost certain result of his upcoming court martial for treason -scheduled to begin in two days- something else Rodney knew John truly dreaded.
Well, Rodney thought to himself as he donned the all black, insignia free outfit he would be wearing for Sheppard's jail break, if all went as planned, Sheppard would never get to that court martial. He still couldn't believe that Novak had talked him into wearing a balaclava. It made him feel like a dork, but she had made a convincing case that, even if everyone would assume that it was Rodney McKay who'd come to bust his team leader out of military prison, preventing them from being able to prove that fact easily could only work to their benefit.
He'd 'snuck' (no one had really looked) a wraith stunner in his bags when he left Atlantis, because he just wasn't as familiar with zats, and he was fairly convinced that the wraith stunners were a tad more humane. Rodney really didn't want to hurt anyone, certain that it would only make things worse for Sheppard, if for no other reason. He retrieved the stunner from under his bunk now and stood, catching himself in the small mirror in his quarters, and felt a stir of anxiety.
He could do this sort of thing with his team; there was never any doubt of that in Rodney's mind, but doing it alone was something new. He'd told himself (and everyone else) that he was more than capable of pulling this off. He'd learned from his years on the team, from Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon, but he found himself wishing now that he'd let the latter two talk him into including them.
But no, they'd never have agreed to stay behind if his reasoning hadn't been sound. Teyla and Ronon knew he could do this. Sheppard needed him to do this. He had a good plan and trustworthy help. Now it was time to man up and get it done. Stuffing the balaclava in his pocket, Rodney made his way to engineering, where Novak would be waiting for him.
The Daedalus kept its time in sync with the Eastern US, which was convenient for Rodney because Sheppard was in the same time zone and Rodney wished to conduct his jailbreak late at night. He also wished to move around the ship during graveyard shift, when fewer folks were about to comment on his strange attire, or wonder why Novak wished to clear engineering. Indeed, Rodney met no one in the corridors... until just outside engineering.
"Dr McKay?" Rodney felt his heart sink at the sound of Colonel Caldwell's distinctive baritone. "A word please?"
"I'm a little busy right now," he tried, even as he was fairly sure that this would cut no ice with the Daedalus' captain.
"I'm aware of that fact," Caldwell responded smoothly. "In fact, it's what I wanted to talk to you about."
"No, really," Rodney tried, feeling both pathetic and desperate, but Novak could get him off the ship in seconds, if only he could get into engineering. He edged his way toward the door. "It'll only take a second, but I really have to get to it right now..."
Caldwell cut him off, blocking his way too easily. "Dr McKay, I've already sent Lt Novak back to her quarters." Damn, damn damn!! Rodney thought. What was he doing here, and what did he suspect? How much more trouble could he get into if he just stunned Caldwell?
"Novak?" he said, all but tasting the ashes of ruin, even as he spoke. "What's Novak got to do with anything?" Caldwell sighed.
"Why don't we just step into engineering for a moment," he said, "where we can chat privately, shall we?" It wasn't a request, and Rodney followed after him, a feeling of certain doom hanging over his every thought.
"I know what you were planning," Caldwell said, mercifully cutting to the chase, "and I don't want Novak involved."
"Why?" Rodney replied automatically and belligerent, as if he actually had a chance of changing Caldwell's mind.
"First," the captain answered directly, ticking off the points on his fingers, "because she's much too vital to the SGC and to this ship to let her career be damaged by involvement in something like this, and second... " he barred his teeth, just for a second, and Rodney saw a brief glimpse of unnaturally sharp canines, and possibly the faintest gleam of greenish luminescence in Caldwell's eyes, "because I have much more in common cause with Sheppard than she does."
For an unprecedentedly long moment, Rodney was actually speechless. Then he managed, "You...?"
"Rescuing Sheppard won't improve things for me or anyone else like us," Caldwell said, by way of an answer, "but it may move the debate forward, and if anyone deserves what they have planned for him, it isn't Sheppard. I'd like to say I did what I could, and if there are consequences, I'll bear them. It is my ship, after all."
"You..." Rodney began again, mind still reeling. Caldwell just laughed.
"Come on, McKay," he prodded. "Let's get this operation under way. We haven't got all night."
Slightly dazed with the magnitude of this discovery, Rodney shook himself and then stepped over to an open spot on the deck. "Right," he said, pulling himself together. "Hopefully this won't take more than a minute or two and you'll get my transponder signal when we're ready to beam up. You'll see it on your board right..." He moved to indicate the place but Caldwell waved him off.
"Novak briefed me," he said. "I know what you need me to do. All you need to worry about is finding Sheppard. Are you ready, McKay?"
Rodney frowned at how Caldwell could manage to sound both helpful and condescending at the same time, but he nodded, shouldering his ridiculous wraith stunner, and then remembering at the last second to don his balaclava. "Ready," he said at last, hoping he didn't sound as flustered as he felt.
"Good luck, McKay," Caldwell said, and then the Daedalus' engineering section disappeared in a flash of light and Rodney was standing in a bland, institutional corridor, lined with barred doors.
There was a guard at each end, as Rodney had known to expect, and he quickly fired the stunner first at one, then the other, just as he was calling out for Rodney to drop his weapon. Rodney glanced up at the number over the nearest door next, then jogged three doors down to where Sheppard should be, peering carefully through the bars of each window as he went.
Sheppard was there, looking out (as every prisoner was by now) and the balaclava did not fool him for an instant.
"Rodn...?" he began before Rodney could shut him up.
"Quiet!" he hissed loudly, jamming the small C4 charge into the lock. "And get away from the door!"
Sheppard looked skeptical but did as he was told and a very loud noise later later the door was open, the corridor filled with smoke, and an alarm was going off.
"Are you insane?!" Sheppard shouted over the alarm when Rodney beckoned him out. "What the hell do you thi..."
"Oh, shut up," Rodney said, fishing around in his pocket for the transponder. "Unless you can tell me one way in which this will make things any worse for you than they already are."
Sheppard opened his mouth, then bit is lip. "Okay, you may have a poi..."
"Thank you," Rodney snapped, thumb poised over the transponder. "Now take my hand."
Still looking skeptical, Sheppard did as he was told and Rodney activated the transponder. For a full second he considered the possibility that Caldwell meant to abandon them both, then he remembered that the man had shared with him a career killing secret, and in the next second the flash of light came and they were both aboard the Daedalus.
Rodney's first action was to get that gawdawful balaclava off, and when he had he saw Sheppard staring aghast at Caldwell.
"Si.." he began but the man waved him off.
"Sheppard," he said, "or maybe I should say 'Greyling'? Or better yet," and he flashed that brief, revealing grin again, 'cousin'?"
Rodney took a fraction of a second to feel satisfaction at how Sheppard was rendered just as speechless as he had been at Caldwell's revelation.
"Yes, yes," Rodney said, gesturing imperiously. "Family reunions later. Right now we need to get to Radek. Since it's early spring in Eastern Europe, you'll probably want something warmer than that t-shirt, Sheppard."
There was a stack of warm clothing, boots and coats for both of them on the chair beside Caldwell, and a pair of packs which Rodney and Novak had filled with extra clothes, food and other useful gear, sat beside it. Caldwell handed the clothing over to Sheppard, who took it, casting a leery glance in the man's direction as he did.
"Surely you didn't imagine," Caldwell said with a smirk as Sheppard pulled on a heavy sweater, "that you were the only one of your... heritage to want something more in your life than you were told you could have?"
"Can't say I gave it much thought," Sheppard replied, just a little frostily, even as he accepted a handgun from the Daedalus' commander and slipped it into his thigh holster.
"You are, almost certainly, the highest caste Hunter ever to throw over the traces," Caldwell allowed, utterly unperturbed by Sheppard's cool tone. "I'm only a half blood myself," he admitted. "I can't imagine how it was for you to walk away from your legacy like that."
"Wasn't ever anything I wanted," Sheppard replied, meeting Caldwell's eyes at last. "Once I knew what it was I did want... well, I guess I was used to getting what I wanted... and not giving much thought to anyone or anything else."
Rodney watched the two vampires regarding each other warily, unsurprised at Sheppard's prickly demeanor. Vampires are like cats, he'd been taught, and slow to warm to strangers of their own kind. In addition, Rodney knew that a vampire of Sheppard's high station would be uneasy at best at accepting a favor from a vampire of a lower position. As much as Sheppard believed that he had walked away from the whole of his heritage, Rodney knew that some things are not so easily discarded.
Once he'd gotten bundled up, Rodney moved to the work station where he could find Zelenka's transponder, hacking into the EU operated satellites that gave the best coverage of that part of the world. He found it soon enough, even with Caldwell looking over his shoulder.
"This is only going to get you to within a few miles of the signal," Caldwell pointed out unnecessarily. "You're going to have a bit of a hike, more than likely."
"Hence the cold weather gear and boots," Rodney snarked. "Are you ready, Sheppard?"
Sheppard stood, zipping his jacket and shouldering on the pack that had been prepared for him. "As I'll ever be." he replied.
"You're really going to walk into the heart of Wolf territory?" Caldwell asked, a note of real admiration in his tone, along with the insinuation that Sheppard was nuts.
"I'll be with him," Sheppard said, indicating Rodney with a thumb over his shoulder, "and he's with a Wolf." Caldwell's look clearly said that he still thought Sheppard had a screw loose.
"I suppose it would be about the last place anyone would think of looking for you," he admitted.
"All part of my brilliant plan," Rodney said, settling his pack on his back. "Now, are we ready? Chop, chop; no time to lose, Sheppard."
"Ready when you are, McKay," he said, not batting an eye. Caldwell rolled his, but moved to stand, nonetheless, behind the controls for the Asgard transport.
"Luck to both of you, whatever your plan is," he said, and Rodney's brief words of thanks were barely out of their mouth when the Daedalus' engineering section disappeared around them once again. Now the were in the middle of a pasture or field, near a small country road -forest and fields all around them. The air was chill, though the breeze carried the scents of spring, and there was a small sign up ahead upon which was printed nothing Rodney cared to try and pronounce.
"Welcome to the Czech Republic," Sheppard said, looking around. It was midday, the wide, pale blue sky fairly clear, and most of the mountains that could be seen on every horizon had traces of snow on top.
"Actually, we may be just over the border into Slovakia," Rodney informed him, studying the altered life signs detector he was using to track Radek. "Or possibly even Poland. Radek told me that the Wolves in these parts tend to pretty much ignore international boundaries."
"Great," Sheppard said with a sigh. "Does that mean it's going to be even harder to find him?"
"Not at all," Rodney replied. "No one's ever been able to control the borders here much at all, even during the Communist era. We just go where this tells us to, and we'll find him. We probably won't run into many people at all."
"And if we do," Sheppard said, following after Rodney as he headed across the field toward the road, "I'm betting they're not likely to speak any English."
"Probably not," Rodney agreed, "and they're probably not used to seeing many foreigners here either. Radek told me that this area is mainly little mountain villages where they don't tend to be too friendly to strangers."
"Great, so what you're telling me is that we're headed for a Czech version of "Deliverance"? Sheppard quipped.
"No, Colonel," Rodney replied with a sigh, rolling his eyes. "I'm pretty sure we're not going to find one around here who plays the banjo." Behind him, Rodney could hear Sheppard laugh.
They walked the whole day, pausing around mid afternoon in a sunny meadow fringed with large, flat boulders, to make a lunch from some of the provisions in their packs. Rodney's scanner showed them making progress, but it was seldom possible to approach their goal in a straight line, as the mountain roads zigged and zagged across the map and both Rodney and Sheppard agreed that cutting straight across the terrain would probably be a bad idea.
As the shadows lengthened all around them, and the chill of the day began to deepen, Rodney could all but feel Sheppard not asking how much longer Rodney thought they would have to walk. Rodney was reluctant to venture an estimate, as every time they got to a stretch of road that seemed to take them directly toward Radek's signal, it would veer off to the right or left after a mile or two.
"So," Sheppard seemed to finally succumb to the desire to gripe. "I didn't look to see if Novak packed us a tent and sleeping bags..."
"No, she didn't," Rodney snapped, "Because we won't need them. If we have to keep walking into the night for a little bit..."
"On these narrow, winding mountain roads," Sheppard interjected, "that are so far into the middle of nowhere that no one even knows what country we're in..."
"Even if," Rodney reinserted himself forcefully, "we have to walk in the dark for a little bit, we'll still find him before too long, and I for one would rather sleep indoors, and in a bed."
"That's assuming he has either one of those things," Sheppard muttered. Rodney ignored him.
They paused once again for a cold snack just as the sun was setting. At one point, a little while later, they did see the lights of what looked like a little country inn or pub, but neither one of them had any local money (or money of any sort, for that matter) and besides, the place lay in the opposite direction from where they ought to go. Still it was hard to turn away from the first sign of civilization they had seen all day, and head back into the dark, forbidding forest.
For an hour they toiled their way up a steep incline, on a road that was no more than packed gravel, and then stopped to catch their breaths when the road brought them to a crest on a mountain ridge. There was something of a spectacular view, though Rodney was too busy catching his breath to take it in at first. Sheppard's comment drew his attention to it.
"Oh crap," he said. "I'm a dead man."
"What?" said Rodney. "Why?"
"The fucking moon," Sheppard replied. "It's full."
Of course, Rodney realized. That was why the view was so spectacular, as the full moon, rising over a ridge behind them, now illuminated the whole valley that lay before them. Even as he took in the sight they heard a single wolf howl in the distance, shortly answered by several others from different locations all around them, not all so far away.
"So very, very dead," Sheppard said in a resigned voice.
"Not gonna let that happen," Rodney said, wishing he sounded surer of himself than he probably did. "I'm with Radek and you're with me. We should both be fine."
"And you're going to explain this to them how?" Sheppard asked. "Sign language? Charades?"
"Wolves communicate by smell, Sheppard," Rodney said, nervous and exasperated. "They'll be able to smell that I'm Radek's mate, and I won't have to say a word in any language."
"Yeah, and they'll be able to smell that I'm their worst enemy, McKay," Sheppard said. "I'm gonna have my throat ripped out before I can say a word in any language."
Before Rodney could come up with anything like a witty rejoinder, a new voice, howling out its location, much closer than before, intruded into their conversation.
"Crap," said Rodney, which, admittedly, wasn't very witty at all, and he moved to walk very close at Sheppard's side.
"Please tell me he's not much farther," Sheppard said in a low voice.
"He's not!" Rodney insisted. "And this road is actually taking us right toward him... for now."
"And is he moving around a lot?" Sheppard asked suspiciously.
"Um... a little," Rodney admitted. Of course, if the moon was full, Radek would definitely be in his wolf form... but then he might be more likely to sense his mate's presence in that form as well which, Rodney considered, might be for the best.
"You know, though, it might not be such a bad thing," Rodney pointed out,
"if he finds us before we find him."
"How's that?" Sheppard asked, sounding not at all convinced.
"Well, because if we are, in fact, on pack territory on a full moon," Rodney replied, "then some pack members are going to find us before very long, and if Radek happens to be with them, then we have a solution to that explaining problem. If he's not..."
"Right, right..." Sheppard said with a sigh. "Remind me again why I'm not better off safely locked in a prison cell?"
"Oh, I don't know," Rodney snapped, losing patience. "Maybe because they're not going to court martial you here?"
"No, no," Sheppard replied, matching Rodney's sarcasm ounce for ounce. "They're just going to rip my guts out and play tug-of-war with them, while I watch!" He froze then, whirling to look towards a stand of trees to their left, and reaching for his sidearm.
"Crap!" he said, suddenly much quieter. "We're not alone here, Rodney."
"What?" Rodney cried, feeling an instant of panic, then tamping it down forcefully. "No, no, of course not, but that's fine. That's to be expected. We're not their enemies -not in the least." He said this last a bit more loudly, but then dropped to a hissing whisper as he turned back to Sheppard to say, "And for god's sake, keep your hands away from your gun!"
Rodney could see Sheppard's unhappy frown, his face deeply shadowed in the moonlight, but he did as Rodney instructed, albeit reluctantly. Then they continued walking.
Rodney was reluctant to actually say anything, lest he jinx them (and he was going to have to burn all three of his doctoral diplomas if he was going to admit to believing in jinxes), but it did look as if this road was going to continue on in the direction of Radek's transponder signal for some distance. Of course, even as he thought this, Rodney saw Radek's signal begin to move at some speed... but it seemed to be moving toward them, for now anyhow.
This could be exactly what Rodney had predicted would happen, but he refrained from comment, not so much because of jinxes, but because of how stupid he would look if he later proved to be wrong. He walked on in silence, therefore, and Sheppard did the same, keeping close and looking anxiously from side to side. Even Rodney could hear the sounds of something, or someone, moving through the brush on either side of the road, and unless his imagination was being even more over active than usual, the number of those someones was increasing.
==================
On to the next bit...
Author: Taylor Dancinghands -taylor@tdancinghands.com
Characters: Vampire!Sheppard/Werewolf!Zelenka/Changeling!Rodney... and Centaur!Carson, among others.
Pairings: Zelenka/McKay and Zelenka/McKay/Sheppard ust, pre-slash other pairings background
Category: slash, pre-slash, AU
Spoilers: none
Warnings: graphic violence
Rating: for Mature readers
Archive: Generally yes, but please let me know where
Summary: With out heroes scattered, separated and exiled, those who remain do what they can to bring them back, and Rodney McKay forges ahead with a plan no one can quite fathom.
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, never will, not claiming to. Just wanna play with 'em a little. Can't I, can't I, huh?
****
The Last Changeling
by Taylor Dancinghands
Tale the Eighth: "Truth" pt 1/4
In the days and weeks that followed the expulsion of Dr Radek Zelenka, Colonel John Sheppard and Dr Carson Beckett from Atlantis, Elizabeth Weir watched her Head of Science carefully. She wasn't the only one, of course, and she supposed that it shouldn't have come as any surprise to her that Rodney McKay was behaving like a man who knew he was being watched.
Where he might, in the past, have ordinarily been irascible, these days, he was more... subdued. On occasions where she would have expected impatience, he showed tolerance. Rather than his usual sarcastic scolding, Rodney lectured, with a long suffering put-upon air to be sure, but the old verbal fireworks were nowhere to be seen. Some might have been expecting this personality transformation to result in a higher output from the labs, but Elizabeth knew better.
She did not fail to take into account how much Radek Zelenka's quiet contributions really meant to the overall achievement of the science division and moreover understood that, having gotten used to McKay's mercurial management style, the men and women who worked under him hardly knew how to act around this changed version of their tempestuous boss. Moral actually dropped, in spite of the 'calmer' atmosphere, and advances gradually ground to a halt.
Elizabeth worried, Teyla seemed at a loss, and Ronon was going around with the glower that indicated a strong desire to shoot something, but they all should have known that McKay was only biding his time. The penny dropped the day that the Daedalus arrived and Rodney appeared in her office with two letters in his hand.
"I won't say it's all the same to me," he explained, "because we both know I fully intend to come back here, so the sabbatical makes more sense," he pushed the paper in his right hand forward on her desk as a suggestion. "But if you find that you can't grant me that, then I'll just resign." He tapped the paper under his left hand.
"It's in my contract, as I'm sure you know," he continued matter-of-factly. "If you won't give me the first, you'll have to accept the second."
Of course, Elizabeth could grant Rodney his sabbatical, even if it was dreadfully short notice, and open ended, but had he not come with the resignation, she'd most certainly have tried to talk him out of it. How had she forgotten, she chided herself, that Rodney McKay was not only a brilliant physicist, but a formidable strategist as well.
"Of course..." she replied, "I'll accept your sabbatical. It would be... appreciated, however, if you could let me know anything about your... plans?"
"Oh certainly," he replied with deceptive civility. "And you will naturally be telling me about all the calls you've been making, the markers you've been calling in and from whom you've been calling them?"
Elizabeth snapped her mouth closed and let out a small, defeated sigh. If nothing else, this little exchange ought to give her confidence that those who would keep Rodney McKay from what he wanted had very little chance of succeeding. "Point taken," she conceded.
"Elizabeth," he said, his tone now surprisingly conciliatory. "I do respect your skills in this area, in fact I'm counting on them. Before this is over I'm fairly certain we're going to need them, but for now I think it's best that we work on separate tracks, yes?"
"It's not an unreasonable supposition," she said with a nod. "And it's not that I don't trust you. I do. It's just..." Elizabeth looked down at her hands. "I hate to see you go... even if it's only for a short time."
"I realize I'm indispensable everywhere," Rodney said airily as he stood, "and, um, I'll miss this place, and... you know, you guys... but I am coming back, and I'll be bringing Zelenka, Sheppard and Beckett with me. You can count on it."
Elizabeth wish she could feel so assured herself, but could not help worrying. "I will," she said, trying to sound as confident as Rodney did. "You just... be careful, alright."
"You too," Rodney replied as he paused in the doorway. "And, you know, don't sink the city while I'm gone, hm?"
"We'll do our best not to," Elizabeth answered him with a smile. If there was a bet to be made, she reflected, she'd place her money on Rodney McKay every time, but that did not mean she was free of doubts. She would just have to trust him, and do whatever she could to bring her people home again.
Rodney had done a fine job of preparing the science department for his departure, and Dr Parrish had come down to the gate room to briefly press something into Rodney's hand before he scurried off, but Ronon and Teyla were another matter. They had argued stridently against his going and then when they saw that wasn't going to fly they tried to argue that they should accompany him. They were still arguing now, as he waited in the gate room to be beamed up to the Daedalus.
"Look, it's Earth politics," he said, loud enough that Elizabeth could hear him in her office, though he stood in the center of the gate room. "There won't be anything for you to shoot at, or hit with sticks and, not to disparage your brilliant diplomatic skills, Teyla, but you don't know Earth politics, and especially Fae-Mortal politics. They're old and byzantine and illogical, and you kinda have to have grown up with them to understand them. I know you want to help, but you can help best by staying here and keeping the city safe."
"We promised Radek, and John," Teyla said, though Elizabeth could hear in her voice that she already knew she was not going to win this argument, "that we would keep you safe. You cannot tell us that there is no danger where you are going."
"No, I can't," Rodney replied, honestly enough. "But it's not the kind of danger you can protect me from, trust me. Here, on the other hand, I can practically guarantee that there will be things that need shooting at, or people that you know who Elizabeth will need your help negotiating with or something, and you can't do that if you're following me around on Earth."
When there was no answering argument, Elizabeth stepped out of her office to observe Teyla and Rodney bending to touch foreheads in the Athosian fashion, and when they had drawn back Ronon slapped Rodney on the back hard enough to stagger him.
"Please convey our greetings to the others when you find them," Teyla said a little sadly.
"Yeah, and tell 'em to get their asses back here where they belong," Ronon followed up.
"Sure thing," Rodney said, still recovering from Ronon's gesture of affection. Then he signalled the Daedalus and in a flash of light, he was gone. Elizabeth made her way down to the gate room to join Teyla and Ronon, who remained there alone, and looking a little lost.
"Shouldn't have let him go alone," Ronon murmured, discontent.
"Yet he was not wrong, in his reasons for wanting us to stay," Teyla replied, glancing over at Elizabeth as though for confirmation.
"He has a plan," Elizabeth offered, for what it was worth. "We're just going to have to trust that he knows what he's doing." Because that's what it all came down to: trust. They'd all learned a lot about trust here on the Pegasus Galaxy -even Rodney- and it was what they would have to rely on now.
Teyla nodded sagely, and Elizabeth could see she agreed. "Then that is what we will do," she said, and there wasn't much else to say after that.
***
Rodney could have easily gone stir crazy over the two and a half week journey back to Earth on the Daedalus, had it not been for the work he'd agreed to do for Novak. She was, after all, going to be doing him an enormous, and rather vital favor, so it was only fair that he return it, though she insisted that it wasn't necessary.
Some years back Rodney had helped to settle a family dispute on Lieutenant Novak's behalf, as she was half Fae, and the Elvish branch of her family had wanted her to return to the Realms and marry a young man of notable family. Rodney had been the one to recruit her for the SGC and found her work to be well above that of the average idiots he was too often saddled with, but moreover, hated the idea of such family meddling.
They'd tried to force her, using an obscure aspect of Fae common law, but Rodney had, on his own behalf, made an extensive study of Fae law and compacts. He'd happily obliterated Novak's family's case, and made her the chief engineer on the Daedalus, neither of which acts he'd ever regretted.
Some in academia, Rodney knew, carefully cultivated a network of influential people who each owed them some debt or favor, but Rodney could never be bothered with such things. He made himself useful where he liked, and where he was needed, and whether someone had the wit to recognize the value of keeping in his good graces or not was nothing to do with him. Not anyone could manage their career with such an attitude, but Rodney McKay could and did.
To be honest, Rodney didn't much enjoy actually asking for such return favors (preferring to bully people into admitting that they ought to be offered without his having to ask), but the current circumstances had him ready to actually swallow his pride. Luckily, Lieutenant Lindsey Novak was an exceedingly agreeable person, and Rodney'd had to do little more than suggest that he might need a little assistance.
"Whatever you need, Dr McKay," had been her prompt response and Rodney had been so grateful he'd almost told her so. Together they'd cooked up a marginally believable cover story as to why Rodney needed to return to earth and come up with a truly useful yet challenging task for Rodney to spend his time on for the duration of his voyage.
As far as Rodney was concerned, the primary reason for his laborious fine tuning of the Daedalus' shield emitters was to keep himself from gnawing his own leg off (or something equally counter productive) while enduring the boredom of the long voyage, but it didn't hurt to keep Novak and the crew of the Daedalus in his good graces either. Eventually, Hermiod also introduced a challenge or two to occupy Rodney's time, though Rodney was never sure if the alien wasn't actually subtly dissing him or thought he was taking Rodney 'under his wing' so to speak. There was no way in hell that Rodney was going to ask him, though.
Another benefit of keeping himself gainfully occupied was that it helped stave off his inevitable growing nervousness as the end of their journey grew closer. Since Novak was his confederate in putting the Asgard transporter at his disposal, she became, by necessity, his confederate in the whole plan, which began with determining just exactly where Sheppard was being kept.
It was their good fortune that, in the battle between Sheppard's Clan leaders and the US military for his custody, the US military had won, for it meant that they could hack their computer network to find him. There they could also get all the information on the building where he was being held, and how it was staffed, and it made the likelihood of the mission going off well much better.
Of course, Sheppard would probably be thinking that he would rather be in the custody of his Clan leaders and family, as much as he hated them, because they weren't planning on exiling him to a life of unending gang warfare. That would be the almost certain result of his upcoming court martial for treason -scheduled to begin in two days- something else Rodney knew John truly dreaded.
Well, Rodney thought to himself as he donned the all black, insignia free outfit he would be wearing for Sheppard's jail break, if all went as planned, Sheppard would never get to that court martial. He still couldn't believe that Novak had talked him into wearing a balaclava. It made him feel like a dork, but she had made a convincing case that, even if everyone would assume that it was Rodney McKay who'd come to bust his team leader out of military prison, preventing them from being able to prove that fact easily could only work to their benefit.
He'd 'snuck' (no one had really looked) a wraith stunner in his bags when he left Atlantis, because he just wasn't as familiar with zats, and he was fairly convinced that the wraith stunners were a tad more humane. Rodney really didn't want to hurt anyone, certain that it would only make things worse for Sheppard, if for no other reason. He retrieved the stunner from under his bunk now and stood, catching himself in the small mirror in his quarters, and felt a stir of anxiety.
He could do this sort of thing with his team; there was never any doubt of that in Rodney's mind, but doing it alone was something new. He'd told himself (and everyone else) that he was more than capable of pulling this off. He'd learned from his years on the team, from Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon, but he found himself wishing now that he'd let the latter two talk him into including them.
But no, they'd never have agreed to stay behind if his reasoning hadn't been sound. Teyla and Ronon knew he could do this. Sheppard needed him to do this. He had a good plan and trustworthy help. Now it was time to man up and get it done. Stuffing the balaclava in his pocket, Rodney made his way to engineering, where Novak would be waiting for him.
The Daedalus kept its time in sync with the Eastern US, which was convenient for Rodney because Sheppard was in the same time zone and Rodney wished to conduct his jailbreak late at night. He also wished to move around the ship during graveyard shift, when fewer folks were about to comment on his strange attire, or wonder why Novak wished to clear engineering. Indeed, Rodney met no one in the corridors... until just outside engineering.
"Dr McKay?" Rodney felt his heart sink at the sound of Colonel Caldwell's distinctive baritone. "A word please?"
"I'm a little busy right now," he tried, even as he was fairly sure that this would cut no ice with the Daedalus' captain.
"I'm aware of that fact," Caldwell responded smoothly. "In fact, it's what I wanted to talk to you about."
"No, really," Rodney tried, feeling both pathetic and desperate, but Novak could get him off the ship in seconds, if only he could get into engineering. He edged his way toward the door. "It'll only take a second, but I really have to get to it right now..."
Caldwell cut him off, blocking his way too easily. "Dr McKay, I've already sent Lt Novak back to her quarters." Damn, damn damn!! Rodney thought. What was he doing here, and what did he suspect? How much more trouble could he get into if he just stunned Caldwell?
"Novak?" he said, all but tasting the ashes of ruin, even as he spoke. "What's Novak got to do with anything?" Caldwell sighed.
"Why don't we just step into engineering for a moment," he said, "where we can chat privately, shall we?" It wasn't a request, and Rodney followed after him, a feeling of certain doom hanging over his every thought.
"I know what you were planning," Caldwell said, mercifully cutting to the chase, "and I don't want Novak involved."
"Why?" Rodney replied automatically and belligerent, as if he actually had a chance of changing Caldwell's mind.
"First," the captain answered directly, ticking off the points on his fingers, "because she's much too vital to the SGC and to this ship to let her career be damaged by involvement in something like this, and second... " he barred his teeth, just for a second, and Rodney saw a brief glimpse of unnaturally sharp canines, and possibly the faintest gleam of greenish luminescence in Caldwell's eyes, "because I have much more in common cause with Sheppard than she does."
For an unprecedentedly long moment, Rodney was actually speechless. Then he managed, "You...?"
"Rescuing Sheppard won't improve things for me or anyone else like us," Caldwell said, by way of an answer, "but it may move the debate forward, and if anyone deserves what they have planned for him, it isn't Sheppard. I'd like to say I did what I could, and if there are consequences, I'll bear them. It is my ship, after all."
"You..." Rodney began again, mind still reeling. Caldwell just laughed.
"Come on, McKay," he prodded. "Let's get this operation under way. We haven't got all night."
Slightly dazed with the magnitude of this discovery, Rodney shook himself and then stepped over to an open spot on the deck. "Right," he said, pulling himself together. "Hopefully this won't take more than a minute or two and you'll get my transponder signal when we're ready to beam up. You'll see it on your board right..." He moved to indicate the place but Caldwell waved him off.
"Novak briefed me," he said. "I know what you need me to do. All you need to worry about is finding Sheppard. Are you ready, McKay?"
Rodney frowned at how Caldwell could manage to sound both helpful and condescending at the same time, but he nodded, shouldering his ridiculous wraith stunner, and then remembering at the last second to don his balaclava. "Ready," he said at last, hoping he didn't sound as flustered as he felt.
"Good luck, McKay," Caldwell said, and then the Daedalus' engineering section disappeared in a flash of light and Rodney was standing in a bland, institutional corridor, lined with barred doors.
There was a guard at each end, as Rodney had known to expect, and he quickly fired the stunner first at one, then the other, just as he was calling out for Rodney to drop his weapon. Rodney glanced up at the number over the nearest door next, then jogged three doors down to where Sheppard should be, peering carefully through the bars of each window as he went.
Sheppard was there, looking out (as every prisoner was by now) and the balaclava did not fool him for an instant.
"Rodn...?" he began before Rodney could shut him up.
"Quiet!" he hissed loudly, jamming the small C4 charge into the lock. "And get away from the door!"
Sheppard looked skeptical but did as he was told and a very loud noise later later the door was open, the corridor filled with smoke, and an alarm was going off.
"Are you insane?!" Sheppard shouted over the alarm when Rodney beckoned him out. "What the hell do you thi..."
"Oh, shut up," Rodney said, fishing around in his pocket for the transponder. "Unless you can tell me one way in which this will make things any worse for you than they already are."
Sheppard opened his mouth, then bit is lip. "Okay, you may have a poi..."
"Thank you," Rodney snapped, thumb poised over the transponder. "Now take my hand."
Still looking skeptical, Sheppard did as he was told and Rodney activated the transponder. For a full second he considered the possibility that Caldwell meant to abandon them both, then he remembered that the man had shared with him a career killing secret, and in the next second the flash of light came and they were both aboard the Daedalus.
Rodney's first action was to get that gawdawful balaclava off, and when he had he saw Sheppard staring aghast at Caldwell.
"Si.." he began but the man waved him off.
"Sheppard," he said, "or maybe I should say 'Greyling'? Or better yet," and he flashed that brief, revealing grin again, 'cousin'?"
Rodney took a fraction of a second to feel satisfaction at how Sheppard was rendered just as speechless as he had been at Caldwell's revelation.
"Yes, yes," Rodney said, gesturing imperiously. "Family reunions later. Right now we need to get to Radek. Since it's early spring in Eastern Europe, you'll probably want something warmer than that t-shirt, Sheppard."
There was a stack of warm clothing, boots and coats for both of them on the chair beside Caldwell, and a pair of packs which Rodney and Novak had filled with extra clothes, food and other useful gear, sat beside it. Caldwell handed the clothing over to Sheppard, who took it, casting a leery glance in the man's direction as he did.
"Surely you didn't imagine," Caldwell said with a smirk as Sheppard pulled on a heavy sweater, "that you were the only one of your... heritage to want something more in your life than you were told you could have?"
"Can't say I gave it much thought," Sheppard replied, just a little frostily, even as he accepted a handgun from the Daedalus' commander and slipped it into his thigh holster.
"You are, almost certainly, the highest caste Hunter ever to throw over the traces," Caldwell allowed, utterly unperturbed by Sheppard's cool tone. "I'm only a half blood myself," he admitted. "I can't imagine how it was for you to walk away from your legacy like that."
"Wasn't ever anything I wanted," Sheppard replied, meeting Caldwell's eyes at last. "Once I knew what it was I did want... well, I guess I was used to getting what I wanted... and not giving much thought to anyone or anything else."
Rodney watched the two vampires regarding each other warily, unsurprised at Sheppard's prickly demeanor. Vampires are like cats, he'd been taught, and slow to warm to strangers of their own kind. In addition, Rodney knew that a vampire of Sheppard's high station would be uneasy at best at accepting a favor from a vampire of a lower position. As much as Sheppard believed that he had walked away from the whole of his heritage, Rodney knew that some things are not so easily discarded.
Once he'd gotten bundled up, Rodney moved to the work station where he could find Zelenka's transponder, hacking into the EU operated satellites that gave the best coverage of that part of the world. He found it soon enough, even with Caldwell looking over his shoulder.
"This is only going to get you to within a few miles of the signal," Caldwell pointed out unnecessarily. "You're going to have a bit of a hike, more than likely."
"Hence the cold weather gear and boots," Rodney snarked. "Are you ready, Sheppard?"
Sheppard stood, zipping his jacket and shouldering on the pack that had been prepared for him. "As I'll ever be." he replied.
"You're really going to walk into the heart of Wolf territory?" Caldwell asked, a note of real admiration in his tone, along with the insinuation that Sheppard was nuts.
"I'll be with him," Sheppard said, indicating Rodney with a thumb over his shoulder, "and he's with a Wolf." Caldwell's look clearly said that he still thought Sheppard had a screw loose.
"I suppose it would be about the last place anyone would think of looking for you," he admitted.
"All part of my brilliant plan," Rodney said, settling his pack on his back. "Now, are we ready? Chop, chop; no time to lose, Sheppard."
"Ready when you are, McKay," he said, not batting an eye. Caldwell rolled his, but moved to stand, nonetheless, behind the controls for the Asgard transport.
"Luck to both of you, whatever your plan is," he said, and Rodney's brief words of thanks were barely out of their mouth when the Daedalus' engineering section disappeared around them once again. Now the were in the middle of a pasture or field, near a small country road -forest and fields all around them. The air was chill, though the breeze carried the scents of spring, and there was a small sign up ahead upon which was printed nothing Rodney cared to try and pronounce.
"Welcome to the Czech Republic," Sheppard said, looking around. It was midday, the wide, pale blue sky fairly clear, and most of the mountains that could be seen on every horizon had traces of snow on top.
"Actually, we may be just over the border into Slovakia," Rodney informed him, studying the altered life signs detector he was using to track Radek. "Or possibly even Poland. Radek told me that the Wolves in these parts tend to pretty much ignore international boundaries."
"Great," Sheppard said with a sigh. "Does that mean it's going to be even harder to find him?"
"Not at all," Rodney replied. "No one's ever been able to control the borders here much at all, even during the Communist era. We just go where this tells us to, and we'll find him. We probably won't run into many people at all."
"And if we do," Sheppard said, following after Rodney as he headed across the field toward the road, "I'm betting they're not likely to speak any English."
"Probably not," Rodney agreed, "and they're probably not used to seeing many foreigners here either. Radek told me that this area is mainly little mountain villages where they don't tend to be too friendly to strangers."
"Great, so what you're telling me is that we're headed for a Czech version of "Deliverance"? Sheppard quipped.
"No, Colonel," Rodney replied with a sigh, rolling his eyes. "I'm pretty sure we're not going to find one around here who plays the banjo." Behind him, Rodney could hear Sheppard laugh.
They walked the whole day, pausing around mid afternoon in a sunny meadow fringed with large, flat boulders, to make a lunch from some of the provisions in their packs. Rodney's scanner showed them making progress, but it was seldom possible to approach their goal in a straight line, as the mountain roads zigged and zagged across the map and both Rodney and Sheppard agreed that cutting straight across the terrain would probably be a bad idea.
As the shadows lengthened all around them, and the chill of the day began to deepen, Rodney could all but feel Sheppard not asking how much longer Rodney thought they would have to walk. Rodney was reluctant to venture an estimate, as every time they got to a stretch of road that seemed to take them directly toward Radek's signal, it would veer off to the right or left after a mile or two.
"So," Sheppard seemed to finally succumb to the desire to gripe. "I didn't look to see if Novak packed us a tent and sleeping bags..."
"No, she didn't," Rodney snapped, "Because we won't need them. If we have to keep walking into the night for a little bit..."
"On these narrow, winding mountain roads," Sheppard interjected, "that are so far into the middle of nowhere that no one even knows what country we're in..."
"Even if," Rodney reinserted himself forcefully, "we have to walk in the dark for a little bit, we'll still find him before too long, and I for one would rather sleep indoors, and in a bed."
"That's assuming he has either one of those things," Sheppard muttered. Rodney ignored him.
They paused once again for a cold snack just as the sun was setting. At one point, a little while later, they did see the lights of what looked like a little country inn or pub, but neither one of them had any local money (or money of any sort, for that matter) and besides, the place lay in the opposite direction from where they ought to go. Still it was hard to turn away from the first sign of civilization they had seen all day, and head back into the dark, forbidding forest.
For an hour they toiled their way up a steep incline, on a road that was no more than packed gravel, and then stopped to catch their breaths when the road brought them to a crest on a mountain ridge. There was something of a spectacular view, though Rodney was too busy catching his breath to take it in at first. Sheppard's comment drew his attention to it.
"Oh crap," he said. "I'm a dead man."
"What?" said Rodney. "Why?"
"The fucking moon," Sheppard replied. "It's full."
Of course, Rodney realized. That was why the view was so spectacular, as the full moon, rising over a ridge behind them, now illuminated the whole valley that lay before them. Even as he took in the sight they heard a single wolf howl in the distance, shortly answered by several others from different locations all around them, not all so far away.
"So very, very dead," Sheppard said in a resigned voice.
"Not gonna let that happen," Rodney said, wishing he sounded surer of himself than he probably did. "I'm with Radek and you're with me. We should both be fine."
"And you're going to explain this to them how?" Sheppard asked. "Sign language? Charades?"
"Wolves communicate by smell, Sheppard," Rodney said, nervous and exasperated. "They'll be able to smell that I'm Radek's mate, and I won't have to say a word in any language."
"Yeah, and they'll be able to smell that I'm their worst enemy, McKay," Sheppard said. "I'm gonna have my throat ripped out before I can say a word in any language."
Before Rodney could come up with anything like a witty rejoinder, a new voice, howling out its location, much closer than before, intruded into their conversation.
"Crap," said Rodney, which, admittedly, wasn't very witty at all, and he moved to walk very close at Sheppard's side.
"Please tell me he's not much farther," Sheppard said in a low voice.
"He's not!" Rodney insisted. "And this road is actually taking us right toward him... for now."
"And is he moving around a lot?" Sheppard asked suspiciously.
"Um... a little," Rodney admitted. Of course, if the moon was full, Radek would definitely be in his wolf form... but then he might be more likely to sense his mate's presence in that form as well which, Rodney considered, might be for the best.
"You know, though, it might not be such a bad thing," Rodney pointed out,
"if he finds us before we find him."
"How's that?" Sheppard asked, sounding not at all convinced.
"Well, because if we are, in fact, on pack territory on a full moon," Rodney replied, "then some pack members are going to find us before very long, and if Radek happens to be with them, then we have a solution to that explaining problem. If he's not..."
"Right, right..." Sheppard said with a sigh. "Remind me again why I'm not better off safely locked in a prison cell?"
"Oh, I don't know," Rodney snapped, losing patience. "Maybe because they're not going to court martial you here?"
"No, no," Sheppard replied, matching Rodney's sarcasm ounce for ounce. "They're just going to rip my guts out and play tug-of-war with them, while I watch!" He froze then, whirling to look towards a stand of trees to their left, and reaching for his sidearm.
"Crap!" he said, suddenly much quieter. "We're not alone here, Rodney."
"What?" Rodney cried, feeling an instant of panic, then tamping it down forcefully. "No, no, of course not, but that's fine. That's to be expected. We're not their enemies -not in the least." He said this last a bit more loudly, but then dropped to a hissing whisper as he turned back to Sheppard to say, "And for god's sake, keep your hands away from your gun!"
Rodney could see Sheppard's unhappy frown, his face deeply shadowed in the moonlight, but he did as Rodney instructed, albeit reluctantly. Then they continued walking.
Rodney was reluctant to actually say anything, lest he jinx them (and he was going to have to burn all three of his doctoral diplomas if he was going to admit to believing in jinxes), but it did look as if this road was going to continue on in the direction of Radek's transponder signal for some distance. Of course, even as he thought this, Rodney saw Radek's signal begin to move at some speed... but it seemed to be moving toward them, for now anyhow.
This could be exactly what Rodney had predicted would happen, but he refrained from comment, not so much because of jinxes, but because of how stupid he would look if he later proved to be wrong. He walked on in silence, therefore, and Sheppard did the same, keeping close and looking anxiously from side to side. Even Rodney could hear the sounds of something, or someone, moving through the brush on either side of the road, and unless his imagination was being even more over active than usual, the number of those someones was increasing.
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On to the next bit...