SGA FIC: THE WORLD YOU KNOW 10/10 [PG]
Title: The World You Know 10/10
Author: x-erikah-x
Word Count: 39,637
Rating: PG
Genre: Gen, Team, Adventure, Crossover
Characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan, Samantha Carter, Cameron Mitchell, Daniel Jackson, Vala Mal Doran, Teal'c and other cameos by SG1 secondary characters
Disclaimer: Stargate and related characters are a property of Metro-Goldwin-Mayer Studios Inc., no infringements of rights intended.
Spoilers: Season 5 of SGA and as far as The Ark of Truth in SG1
Summary: The team finds an Ancient lab and ends up in trouble in some strange place. Or isn't it? Crossover with SG1. Set shortly after season 5 of SGA after they somehow return to Pegasus.
Author Notes: Thanks drewandian for cheerleading and first reading for me, even though I made you wait one year for the finished version. Thanks so much sherry57 for the beta. This fis is SO much better with your help. *hugs* Thanks so much girls!
Chapter 1
Thanks all that have read so far. Final chapter today.
Chapter 10
"All right!" Rodney cheered. "I have almost finished reconfiguring the device. Are you done with the power, Sam?"
"Almost," she shouted from across the room. "And we still need to connect the extra power to the gate and reconfigure the DHD."
Footsteps announced the arrival of the rest of the team and Rodney turned around to give Sheppard an earful for disappearing like that. That's when he saw his friend being carried into the room by Ronon.
"What happened?" Rodney screeched.
A loud rumble was heard and shook the walls of the lab.
"Stunner blast," Ronon reported as he lowered Sheppard to the ground.
Dirt rained on top of them.
"There are dozens of those things outside," Mitchell reported.
Rodney opened his mouth to say something, but Vala cut through him.
"Don't worry, I reactivated the force fields just like you told me to."
"And the jumper is cloaked so they can't get through," Mitchell completed.
"Great!" Rodney puffed. "How the hell am I supposed to connect the power to the gate?"
Ronon stood and left Teyla taking care of Sheppard. "How long do you need?"
"Several minutes!" He threw his hands in the air. "I also need to reconfigure the jumper's DHD and hope it wasn't blasted beyond repair by those darts!"
"And there's something else," Mitchell chipped in. "The wraith activated the gate. We'll have to wait till the end of the cycle to dial out."
Rodney puffed in indignation. Of all the times for the wraith to show up. "Why are they here in the first place?"
Teyla turned her attention from John. "Worshippers. They must have called their masters."
"We can hold them off for you to work." Ronon already had his blaster in his hand.
"No, we can't! We're almost out of ammo!" Mitchell protested.
Rodney snapped his fingers in rapid succession. "I know!" He turned to Mitchell. "You said the jumper is cloaked." Mitchell nodded. "That means it's still working. I can modify it into a shield to protect us while I work."
Ronon smiled. "That's more like it."
"I'll still need a few minutes of cover fire, though." He turned to Sam. "Got any clips?"
She reached for her vest and extracted some ammo. "Three clips for the P90 and three for the nine mil." She handled them out for Mitchell.
"I've got some too." Rodney took two clips for the P90 and two for the sidearm.
Mitchell spread the ammo out on the console. "How much have you got left, Jackson?"
He checked his gun. "I've got half of this plus a whole other one."
"Me too." Vala raised her hand.
"And we have John's ammunition as well," Teyla said as she took his weapon.
"All right." Mitchell divided the clips. "If you run out, give me a shout." He reloaded his weapon and turned around to exit. "Let's go boys and girls! Time to kill some space vampires."
Rodney turned around to Sam. "Finish this while I finish outside."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
Rodney gulped. "Not really."
"Maybe I should go," she offered.
Rodney sighed. "No, you don't know how the jumper works. You'd take too long."
She nodded. "Good luck."
He pointed at Sheppard. "Keep an eye on him," he said before racing after the team.
They were waiting for him next to the active force field leading into the roof, weapons at the ready. Wraith were sneering on the other side taking positions with stunners raised. Rodney took one deep breath and prepared to lower the field.
"Ready?" he asked.
They nodded.
"Let's do this," Mitchell said. He narrowed his eyes on his sight. "Lower it."
Rodney did as he was told and took cover by the corner. A roar of P90 fire kept the wraith at bay while Ronon worked in clearing a path to where Rodney assumed the jumper was parked. They gained some ground and Mitchell tossed the jumper's remote into Rodney's hand. Rodney uncloaked the ship, took a deep breath and raced inside before he decided to change his mind. He yelled as energy blasted around him, a buzz zooming so near his skin, he could feel it tingle.
He breathed hard for a few moments, savoring the taste of being still alive then opened a crystal tray and put himself to work. His shaking hands soon found the right way and it took only a couple of minutes for the patch to be ready. He moved to the pilot's seat, increased the shield's diameter and looked at the HUD to see if it was safe to turn it on.
He tapped his earpiece. "I'm ready to activate the shield but you need to step a little closer!"
When the whole team was within its protective radius, Rodney activated the field and breathed in relief when he saw it working.
"All right," he said through the comm. "I'll manoeuver the jumper to get closer to the lab entry and the portion I need to work."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" came Mitchell's inquiry.
"Just be ready for when the shield fails." Rodney said in his usual positive manner.
He knelt by the DHD and opened its tray, finding his way around to alter its configuration. He reached inside the pack he had and took Atlantis DHD crystals, analyzing each then replacing the jumper's one by one. It was a delicate work but it was pretty straight forward.
"McKay." He heard Sam's voice through the channel. "I'm finished down here. Teyla is here with Sheppard so I'll move up there to give you a hand."
"Okay, start connecting the gate. I'm halfway through with the DHD."
After Rodney was done, he used the jumper's computer to calculate how much time the incoming wormhole had left before it deactivated automatically.
"Crap!" He tapped his earpiece. "Sam, we have five minutes!" he shouted.
"Copy, I'm almost done."
Rodney exited the jumper and hurried downstairs. He gave the readings one last look and got ready to activate the device.
"Sam!" he called through the open channel.
"All right, I'm on my way down."
Rodney sighed in relief. Maybe they were going to make it out alive.
"How long do we have?" Mitchell asked as he entered the room.
"Less than five minutes." Rodney looked at his team. "We have to go now! As soon as I turn this thing on, power will start to build." He turned at SG1. "It'll take four minutes to reach the point where you'll have enough power to make a connection to another galaxy."
"I know what to do!" Sam hurried. "Go!"
Rodney nodded and hurried around consoles. He touched his hand on the activate button and hoped it wouldn't blow up on his face, smiling when it worked. "Get back!" he shouted at SG1 who stepped back into the corridor. Rodney's team surrounded Sheppard's sleeping form and held a collective breath. "Good luck," he told SG1 before a burst of bright white light enveloped them.
*****
Sam released a breath she hadn't noticed she'd been holding when McKay and his team vanished. She hurried into the lab, checking readings and logs to make sure they had really been transported to their universe.
"So?" Cam prompted.
"They made it!" She smiled. "Power is building up in the buffer. We have four minutes!"
"All right! Let's go to the roof!"
They all followed Cam up the stairs where the wraith ships still shot against the shield. She entered the Ancient gateship and checked the timing. It'd be close.
She counted every second and each blast that hit the force field outside. She rehearsed the symbols she would need to dial in order to get to the alpha site then checked the power levels. It was still building up. She checked the shield integrity and cursed internally when she saw the number.
"We'll not make it," Cam said. "The shields are almost failing."
"It'll be close," she calculated.
The numbers ticked by the screen. Thirty seconds.
Then twenty seconds.
Sparks flew from the open tray McKay had probably used to make his workaround.
Fifteen seconds.
They took more fire and the jumper shook.
"Shield's gone!" Daniel shouted.
Sam's hand hovered over the first glyph.
Ten.
"Get ready!" She shouted.
Her team scrambled behind the jumper for cover while she prayed they would be okay.
"Be ready to send in the IDC the second I finish dialing!"
"Copy, Sam!"
Each second that tickled by was an intake of air.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
She pressed the whole sequence of glyphs as fast as her hands would allow.
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon…
"We have a connection!" She cheered in relief.
"IDC is sent! Hurry up, Sam!"
She ran out and dove for cover under the heavy fire. Sparks flew from the back of the ship and some blasts hit the floor near where she stood. Mitchell was waiting by the gate and jumped through when he saw her coming. She plunged into the pool on the roof and only breathed again when she was on the other side, crashing down on the cool metal floor of the Alpha Site.
*****
"Do prdele." Radek threw his hands up in frustration.
Lorne stepped closer. "What's wrong, doc?"
Radek walked to another console. "To je na hovno tohle to."
"You know, doc, I don't speak Czech."
Radek sighed loudly. "This," he waved a hand around. "Is not working! I have no idea what Rodney did to the device! It's completely shot and-- kdo to vymyslel."
Lorne opened both hands. "All right. Calm down. Just tell me, do you know where it sent them to or not?"
Raked sighed. "All I know it that it sent them somewhere else in space. Maybe to another universe, maybe both."
"All right. Can you get them back?"
"Not yet."
Radek decided to check the energy signature again. Everything indicated that there had been an overload. Rodney hadn't been able to stop it, otherwise he's be here now instead of gone.
Now, Radek would love to hear what his friend had to say about that.
Definitely another universe. Almost definitely another planet. And most probably far, far away.
"Do prdele, what now?" he cursed when an alarm started blaring.
"Doc? What's that?" Lorne shouted over the noise.
Radek hurried to check the readings. "It's an overload! It's happening again!" He ran to and fro trying to get systems to respond.
"Can't you stop it?"
"I'm trying to! It's not responding!" A spark flew then more joined in. Radek fell back on the floor, fingers red from the burn. He looked up at the screen and saw it was past the threshold. "We have to get out of here!"
Lorne helped him up and followed all the scientists clearing the room. As they were getting through the door, a bright white light blinded them and they were thrown across the corridor from the energy burst.
Radek slowly opened his eyes. The whole building was shrouded in darkness. Lorne's lamp flashed from near him and Radek was able to observe his surroundings.
"Nothing appears broken. You okay, doc?"
Radek nodded and took Lorne's hand to stand up.
"Anyone there?" came a voice from inside the lab.
It couldn't be. Radek followed Lorne's beam of light into the room.
"Hello?" the voice called again.
Radek was going to kill him. "Rodney?"
"Radek? Oh, thank God, it worked!"
"Are you guys okay?" Lorne asked as he stepped closer to the group.
"Yes. No!" Rodney answered. "Sheppard needs medical attention."
That's when Radek saw the unconscious Colonel on the floor, blood covering his whole left side. Lorne hurried to his CO's side.
"What happened?"
"He was shot then got into a pretty good fight," Ronon answered.
Lorne was already on the radio calling the jumper and asking them for reinforcements. The major took out a field dressing and helped Teyla with the one she was holding by Sheppard's side until a team of medics arrived to stabilize him.
"So, you managed to get back," Radek said to Rodney.
"Obviously. If it was up to you we'd still be there."
Radek glared. "We barely slept for days trying to figure out what you done with this lab!"
"It wasn't exactly a picnic for us either!" Rodney shot back. "Whoawhoawhoa." He stopped the medic that had begun moving Sheppard to a gurney. "Are you sure it's safe to move him?"
"Yes, Doctor. We need to get him to Atlantis and under the scanner."
Teyla held Rodney's arm. "Just let the doctor do his job."
Rodney swallowed and nodded.
Sheppard was wheeled out of the lab while his team followed. Radek smiled. Somehow they had made it back again.
They always did.
*****
"Is this really necessary?" Rodney asked. The nurse held down his arm and forced a cuff around it. "Ouch! Careful!" Rodney winced. "I told you I'm fine. I didn't get into any fights, didn't get captured by primitive natives or shot at by wraith." Rodney grunted when the cuff cut his circulation completely. "Not so much! It's too tight!" It began deflating. "Okay, I did get shot at by wraith, but I assure you that I didn't get hit."
Ronon jumped out from his bed with a menacingly aggressive glare to the male nurse treating his leg injury. "I told you I'm fine."
"You need stitches." The huge nurse, as as big as Ronon was, crossed his arms defiantly. "Sit. Or I'll sedate you." The small nurse next to them reached for a syringe.
Ronon groaned and sat on the gurney.
"When will--" Rodney winced when the butcher inserted the needle without even warning him. "We know about Sheppard's condition?" He closed his eyes to avoid watching his blood filling the plunger.
"As soon as there is anything to inform you about," she said with an annoyingly calm voice.
They waited for some time after their post mission checkup was finished. Rodney paced, Teyla hugged her son after he had been brought by Kanaan and Ronon glared, grunted and glared some more. Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity of wait, Jennifer came in.
"So?" All eyes set on her.
She smiled. "He's okay. He has a large second degree burn on the left side of his chest and a slightly deeper cut on top of it. I cleaned everything, put in some topic antibiotics, stitched the wound and bandaged it. He's almost recovered from the stun which was little worse than usual because of his weakened state. He needs rest and plenty of fluids but he'll be all right in just a few days."
They all released a collective sigh of relief.
*****
"Hey, mister Grumpy-face." Rodney entered the infirmary with a grin on his face and a laptop under his arm.
John groaned. "Look who's talking."
"I'm not grumpy-face. In fact, at the moment I'm the exact opposite of mister Grumpy-face." He placed the laptop on the unoccupied bed next to John's then stood next to him, still beaming.
"Do you know something that I don't?"
"I know a lot of things that you don't. Genius here, remember?" He crossed his arms.
John rolled his eyes.
Rodney sighed. "Do you think they made it back?"
John shrugged and placed his hand over the bandage. "Sure. In between you and Carter, I'm sure the machine worked fine. We're here, aren't we?"
Rodney nodded. "I wish there was a way to know for sure."
"What about the device?" John asked as he curled his nails into the healing injury.
Rodney huffed. "Yeah, the one on this side is useless. Can't stay on for more than a few seconds before exploding."
John nodded. "That's probably for the best." He closed his hand into a fist over the wound.
"When will the doctor release you, John?" Teyla asked.
"She said when I behave like a good boy."
"Gonna take a while then," Ronon teased.
"For your information I am a good boy." John said while he absently started to scratch over the bandage. Teyla slapped his hand away and he pouted like a two year old. "Most of the time," he completed.
"Doctor Keller said you shouldn't scratch the healing skin," she said in her mom voice.
"God, you're worse than her baby." Rodney said while he pushed a chair to sit.
John turned his hands into fists as he tried to resist the urge to scratch his skin raw but failed miserably, barely noticing when his nails started to scrape over his clothes again.
"I'm gonna tie your hands back!" Ronon glared.
That damn itch would drive him insane any minute now. "God!" John groaned as he threw his hand away. "Tell me you have something to distract me!"
Rodney smirked and grabbed his laptop.
"What you got there?" John asked as he tried to peak behind the screen facing Rodney.
Rodney grinned from ear to ear. "The new season of Doctor Who!"
"The new season of what?"
Rodney's grin dropped. "C'mon, don't tell me you don't know what it is!"
His hand started making way underneath the infirmary sheet. "Doctor Something? Never heard of it."
"Unbelievable! It's the longest running sci-fi show ever!"
Ronon held John's hand. John grunted. "I thought you didn't like sci-fi. Too inaccurate."
"Well, for this one I usually make an exception." He sat back in his chair. "It takes me back to my childhood. Watching Tom Baker and Sara Jane Smith… Ah… Sara Jane Smith…" He grinned.
"You're not gonna force us to watch it, are you?" Ronon asked.
John took that chance to slip his hand under the blanket again. "Is it old?"
"What? Old? Didn't you hear me? I said latest season!" Rodney puffed in indignation. "Besides, look who's talking, Mister Back-to-the-Future-is-the-best-movie-ever!"
John grinned.
Rodney placed the laptop on John's legs and hit play. Teyla, Rodney and Ronon adjusted themselves around his bed as a weird blue box blasted through the screen with smoke coming out of it.
John forgot his hand on his lap and just enjoyed the show.
End
Author: x-erikah-x
Word Count: 39,637
Rating: PG
Genre: Gen, Team, Adventure, Crossover
Characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan, Samantha Carter, Cameron Mitchell, Daniel Jackson, Vala Mal Doran, Teal'c and other cameos by SG1 secondary characters
Disclaimer: Stargate and related characters are a property of Metro-Goldwin-Mayer Studios Inc., no infringements of rights intended.
Spoilers: Season 5 of SGA and as far as The Ark of Truth in SG1
Summary: The team finds an Ancient lab and ends up in trouble in some strange place. Or isn't it? Crossover with SG1. Set shortly after season 5 of SGA after they somehow return to Pegasus.
Author Notes: Thanks drewandian for cheerleading and first reading for me, even though I made you wait one year for the finished version. Thanks so much sherry57 for the beta. This fis is SO much better with your help. *hugs* Thanks so much girls!
Chapter 1
Thanks all that have read so far. Final chapter today.
Chapter 10
"All right!" Rodney cheered. "I have almost finished reconfiguring the device. Are you done with the power, Sam?"
"Almost," she shouted from across the room. "And we still need to connect the extra power to the gate and reconfigure the DHD."
Footsteps announced the arrival of the rest of the team and Rodney turned around to give Sheppard an earful for disappearing like that. That's when he saw his friend being carried into the room by Ronon.
"What happened?" Rodney screeched.
A loud rumble was heard and shook the walls of the lab.
"Stunner blast," Ronon reported as he lowered Sheppard to the ground.
Dirt rained on top of them.
"There are dozens of those things outside," Mitchell reported.
Rodney opened his mouth to say something, but Vala cut through him.
"Don't worry, I reactivated the force fields just like you told me to."
"And the jumper is cloaked so they can't get through," Mitchell completed.
"Great!" Rodney puffed. "How the hell am I supposed to connect the power to the gate?"
Ronon stood and left Teyla taking care of Sheppard. "How long do you need?"
"Several minutes!" He threw his hands in the air. "I also need to reconfigure the jumper's DHD and hope it wasn't blasted beyond repair by those darts!"
"And there's something else," Mitchell chipped in. "The wraith activated the gate. We'll have to wait till the end of the cycle to dial out."
Rodney puffed in indignation. Of all the times for the wraith to show up. "Why are they here in the first place?"
Teyla turned her attention from John. "Worshippers. They must have called their masters."
"We can hold them off for you to work." Ronon already had his blaster in his hand.
"No, we can't! We're almost out of ammo!" Mitchell protested.
Rodney snapped his fingers in rapid succession. "I know!" He turned to Mitchell. "You said the jumper is cloaked." Mitchell nodded. "That means it's still working. I can modify it into a shield to protect us while I work."
Ronon smiled. "That's more like it."
"I'll still need a few minutes of cover fire, though." He turned to Sam. "Got any clips?"
She reached for her vest and extracted some ammo. "Three clips for the P90 and three for the nine mil." She handled them out for Mitchell.
"I've got some too." Rodney took two clips for the P90 and two for the sidearm.
Mitchell spread the ammo out on the console. "How much have you got left, Jackson?"
He checked his gun. "I've got half of this plus a whole other one."
"Me too." Vala raised her hand.
"And we have John's ammunition as well," Teyla said as she took his weapon.
"All right." Mitchell divided the clips. "If you run out, give me a shout." He reloaded his weapon and turned around to exit. "Let's go boys and girls! Time to kill some space vampires."
Rodney turned around to Sam. "Finish this while I finish outside."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
Rodney gulped. "Not really."
"Maybe I should go," she offered.
Rodney sighed. "No, you don't know how the jumper works. You'd take too long."
She nodded. "Good luck."
He pointed at Sheppard. "Keep an eye on him," he said before racing after the team.
They were waiting for him next to the active force field leading into the roof, weapons at the ready. Wraith were sneering on the other side taking positions with stunners raised. Rodney took one deep breath and prepared to lower the field.
"Ready?" he asked.
They nodded.
"Let's do this," Mitchell said. He narrowed his eyes on his sight. "Lower it."
Rodney did as he was told and took cover by the corner. A roar of P90 fire kept the wraith at bay while Ronon worked in clearing a path to where Rodney assumed the jumper was parked. They gained some ground and Mitchell tossed the jumper's remote into Rodney's hand. Rodney uncloaked the ship, took a deep breath and raced inside before he decided to change his mind. He yelled as energy blasted around him, a buzz zooming so near his skin, he could feel it tingle.
He breathed hard for a few moments, savoring the taste of being still alive then opened a crystal tray and put himself to work. His shaking hands soon found the right way and it took only a couple of minutes for the patch to be ready. He moved to the pilot's seat, increased the shield's diameter and looked at the HUD to see if it was safe to turn it on.
He tapped his earpiece. "I'm ready to activate the shield but you need to step a little closer!"
When the whole team was within its protective radius, Rodney activated the field and breathed in relief when he saw it working.
"All right," he said through the comm. "I'll manoeuver the jumper to get closer to the lab entry and the portion I need to work."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" came Mitchell's inquiry.
"Just be ready for when the shield fails." Rodney said in his usual positive manner.
He knelt by the DHD and opened its tray, finding his way around to alter its configuration. He reached inside the pack he had and took Atlantis DHD crystals, analyzing each then replacing the jumper's one by one. It was a delicate work but it was pretty straight forward.
"McKay." He heard Sam's voice through the channel. "I'm finished down here. Teyla is here with Sheppard so I'll move up there to give you a hand."
"Okay, start connecting the gate. I'm halfway through with the DHD."
After Rodney was done, he used the jumper's computer to calculate how much time the incoming wormhole had left before it deactivated automatically.
"Crap!" He tapped his earpiece. "Sam, we have five minutes!" he shouted.
"Copy, I'm almost done."
Rodney exited the jumper and hurried downstairs. He gave the readings one last look and got ready to activate the device.
"Sam!" he called through the open channel.
"All right, I'm on my way down."
Rodney sighed in relief. Maybe they were going to make it out alive.
"How long do we have?" Mitchell asked as he entered the room.
"Less than five minutes." Rodney looked at his team. "We have to go now! As soon as I turn this thing on, power will start to build." He turned at SG1. "It'll take four minutes to reach the point where you'll have enough power to make a connection to another galaxy."
"I know what to do!" Sam hurried. "Go!"
Rodney nodded and hurried around consoles. He touched his hand on the activate button and hoped it wouldn't blow up on his face, smiling when it worked. "Get back!" he shouted at SG1 who stepped back into the corridor. Rodney's team surrounded Sheppard's sleeping form and held a collective breath. "Good luck," he told SG1 before a burst of bright white light enveloped them.
*****
Sam released a breath she hadn't noticed she'd been holding when McKay and his team vanished. She hurried into the lab, checking readings and logs to make sure they had really been transported to their universe.
"So?" Cam prompted.
"They made it!" She smiled. "Power is building up in the buffer. We have four minutes!"
"All right! Let's go to the roof!"
They all followed Cam up the stairs where the wraith ships still shot against the shield. She entered the Ancient gateship and checked the timing. It'd be close.
She counted every second and each blast that hit the force field outside. She rehearsed the symbols she would need to dial in order to get to the alpha site then checked the power levels. It was still building up. She checked the shield integrity and cursed internally when she saw the number.
"We'll not make it," Cam said. "The shields are almost failing."
"It'll be close," she calculated.
The numbers ticked by the screen. Thirty seconds.
Then twenty seconds.
Sparks flew from the open tray McKay had probably used to make his workaround.
Fifteen seconds.
They took more fire and the jumper shook.
"Shield's gone!" Daniel shouted.
Sam's hand hovered over the first glyph.
Ten.
"Get ready!" She shouted.
Her team scrambled behind the jumper for cover while she prayed they would be okay.
"Be ready to send in the IDC the second I finish dialing!"
"Copy, Sam!"
Each second that tickled by was an intake of air.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
She pressed the whole sequence of glyphs as fast as her hands would allow.
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon…
"We have a connection!" She cheered in relief.
"IDC is sent! Hurry up, Sam!"
She ran out and dove for cover under the heavy fire. Sparks flew from the back of the ship and some blasts hit the floor near where she stood. Mitchell was waiting by the gate and jumped through when he saw her coming. She plunged into the pool on the roof and only breathed again when she was on the other side, crashing down on the cool metal floor of the Alpha Site.
*****
"Do prdele." Radek threw his hands up in frustration.
Lorne stepped closer. "What's wrong, doc?"
Radek walked to another console. "To je na hovno tohle to."
"You know, doc, I don't speak Czech."
Radek sighed loudly. "This," he waved a hand around. "Is not working! I have no idea what Rodney did to the device! It's completely shot and-- kdo to vymyslel."
Lorne opened both hands. "All right. Calm down. Just tell me, do you know where it sent them to or not?"
Raked sighed. "All I know it that it sent them somewhere else in space. Maybe to another universe, maybe both."
"All right. Can you get them back?"
"Not yet."
Radek decided to check the energy signature again. Everything indicated that there had been an overload. Rodney hadn't been able to stop it, otherwise he's be here now instead of gone.
Now, Radek would love to hear what his friend had to say about that.
Definitely another universe. Almost definitely another planet. And most probably far, far away.
"Do prdele, what now?" he cursed when an alarm started blaring.
"Doc? What's that?" Lorne shouted over the noise.
Radek hurried to check the readings. "It's an overload! It's happening again!" He ran to and fro trying to get systems to respond.
"Can't you stop it?"
"I'm trying to! It's not responding!" A spark flew then more joined in. Radek fell back on the floor, fingers red from the burn. He looked up at the screen and saw it was past the threshold. "We have to get out of here!"
Lorne helped him up and followed all the scientists clearing the room. As they were getting through the door, a bright white light blinded them and they were thrown across the corridor from the energy burst.
Radek slowly opened his eyes. The whole building was shrouded in darkness. Lorne's lamp flashed from near him and Radek was able to observe his surroundings.
"Nothing appears broken. You okay, doc?"
Radek nodded and took Lorne's hand to stand up.
"Anyone there?" came a voice from inside the lab.
It couldn't be. Radek followed Lorne's beam of light into the room.
"Hello?" the voice called again.
Radek was going to kill him. "Rodney?"
"Radek? Oh, thank God, it worked!"
"Are you guys okay?" Lorne asked as he stepped closer to the group.
"Yes. No!" Rodney answered. "Sheppard needs medical attention."
That's when Radek saw the unconscious Colonel on the floor, blood covering his whole left side. Lorne hurried to his CO's side.
"What happened?"
"He was shot then got into a pretty good fight," Ronon answered.
Lorne was already on the radio calling the jumper and asking them for reinforcements. The major took out a field dressing and helped Teyla with the one she was holding by Sheppard's side until a team of medics arrived to stabilize him.
"So, you managed to get back," Radek said to Rodney.
"Obviously. If it was up to you we'd still be there."
Radek glared. "We barely slept for days trying to figure out what you done with this lab!"
"It wasn't exactly a picnic for us either!" Rodney shot back. "Whoawhoawhoa." He stopped the medic that had begun moving Sheppard to a gurney. "Are you sure it's safe to move him?"
"Yes, Doctor. We need to get him to Atlantis and under the scanner."
Teyla held Rodney's arm. "Just let the doctor do his job."
Rodney swallowed and nodded.
Sheppard was wheeled out of the lab while his team followed. Radek smiled. Somehow they had made it back again.
They always did.
*****
"Is this really necessary?" Rodney asked. The nurse held down his arm and forced a cuff around it. "Ouch! Careful!" Rodney winced. "I told you I'm fine. I didn't get into any fights, didn't get captured by primitive natives or shot at by wraith." Rodney grunted when the cuff cut his circulation completely. "Not so much! It's too tight!" It began deflating. "Okay, I did get shot at by wraith, but I assure you that I didn't get hit."
Ronon jumped out from his bed with a menacingly aggressive glare to the male nurse treating his leg injury. "I told you I'm fine."
"You need stitches." The huge nurse, as as big as Ronon was, crossed his arms defiantly. "Sit. Or I'll sedate you." The small nurse next to them reached for a syringe.
Ronon groaned and sat on the gurney.
"When will--" Rodney winced when the butcher inserted the needle without even warning him. "We know about Sheppard's condition?" He closed his eyes to avoid watching his blood filling the plunger.
"As soon as there is anything to inform you about," she said with an annoyingly calm voice.
They waited for some time after their post mission checkup was finished. Rodney paced, Teyla hugged her son after he had been brought by Kanaan and Ronon glared, grunted and glared some more. Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity of wait, Jennifer came in.
"So?" All eyes set on her.
She smiled. "He's okay. He has a large second degree burn on the left side of his chest and a slightly deeper cut on top of it. I cleaned everything, put in some topic antibiotics, stitched the wound and bandaged it. He's almost recovered from the stun which was little worse than usual because of his weakened state. He needs rest and plenty of fluids but he'll be all right in just a few days."
They all released a collective sigh of relief.
*****
"Hey, mister Grumpy-face." Rodney entered the infirmary with a grin on his face and a laptop under his arm.
John groaned. "Look who's talking."
"I'm not grumpy-face. In fact, at the moment I'm the exact opposite of mister Grumpy-face." He placed the laptop on the unoccupied bed next to John's then stood next to him, still beaming.
"Do you know something that I don't?"
"I know a lot of things that you don't. Genius here, remember?" He crossed his arms.
John rolled his eyes.
Rodney sighed. "Do you think they made it back?"
John shrugged and placed his hand over the bandage. "Sure. In between you and Carter, I'm sure the machine worked fine. We're here, aren't we?"
Rodney nodded. "I wish there was a way to know for sure."
"What about the device?" John asked as he curled his nails into the healing injury.
Rodney huffed. "Yeah, the one on this side is useless. Can't stay on for more than a few seconds before exploding."
John nodded. "That's probably for the best." He closed his hand into a fist over the wound.
"When will the doctor release you, John?" Teyla asked.
"She said when I behave like a good boy."
"Gonna take a while then," Ronon teased.
"For your information I am a good boy." John said while he absently started to scratch over the bandage. Teyla slapped his hand away and he pouted like a two year old. "Most of the time," he completed.
"Doctor Keller said you shouldn't scratch the healing skin," she said in her mom voice.
"God, you're worse than her baby." Rodney said while he pushed a chair to sit.
John turned his hands into fists as he tried to resist the urge to scratch his skin raw but failed miserably, barely noticing when his nails started to scrape over his clothes again.
"I'm gonna tie your hands back!" Ronon glared.
That damn itch would drive him insane any minute now. "God!" John groaned as he threw his hand away. "Tell me you have something to distract me!"
Rodney smirked and grabbed his laptop.
"What you got there?" John asked as he tried to peak behind the screen facing Rodney.
Rodney grinned from ear to ear. "The new season of Doctor Who!"
"The new season of what?"
Rodney's grin dropped. "C'mon, don't tell me you don't know what it is!"
His hand started making way underneath the infirmary sheet. "Doctor Something? Never heard of it."
"Unbelievable! It's the longest running sci-fi show ever!"
Ronon held John's hand. John grunted. "I thought you didn't like sci-fi. Too inaccurate."
"Well, for this one I usually make an exception." He sat back in his chair. "It takes me back to my childhood. Watching Tom Baker and Sara Jane Smith… Ah… Sara Jane Smith…" He grinned.
"You're not gonna force us to watch it, are you?" Ronon asked.
John took that chance to slip his hand under the blanket again. "Is it old?"
"What? Old? Didn't you hear me? I said latest season!" Rodney puffed in indignation. "Besides, look who's talking, Mister Back-to-the-Future-is-the-best-movie-ever!"
John grinned.
Rodney placed the laptop on John's legs and hit play. Teyla, Rodney and Ronon adjusted themselves around his bed as a weird blue box blasted through the screen with smoke coming out of it.
John forgot his hand on his lap and just enjoyed the show.
End