A Thousand Suns (3/4)
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Title: A Thousand Suns (3/4)
Author: arby_m
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Rating: R
Spoilers: through "Trinity"
Warnings: angst
Length: 1457 words
Disclaimer: Still don't own 'em.
Summary: On an away mission, things don't go as planned.
Note: Part 1, Part 2. And suddenly we are veering off towards H/C - can't say I'm sorry because it's one of the genres I like reading.
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9 am, Gate room. McKay was red-faced and irascible. Ronon and Teyla were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as usual.
“Okay, so when we come out of the Gate, we’re going to dive to the right and take whatever cover we can find. We may have some company in the form of some wild animals” McKay snorted at that “so be prepared for a fight, just in case.” Ronon looked pleased to finally see some action.
The gate engineer (John could never seem to remember his name) dialed the gate. They lined up four abreast and ran through the gate…
…To land in a briar patch. Or the alien equivalent of one, anyway - a mass of prickly, clinging bushes that completely enveloped them. Sheppard cursed but froze. McKay instantly began whining and flailing, making everything worse. Teyla and Ronon froze as well, either because they were following John’s example or because they had some common sense - not that it really mattered.
“Rodney, stop moving! You’re only getting yourself in deeper.”
“Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!” was the only response.
“Relax - at least the wild animals can’t get to us in here.”
“Small comfort that is!” But Rodney had stopped moving. Sheppard began very, very slowly to pick the thorns out of one of Rodney’s arms. Teyla followed his example and began removing thorns from Sheppard’s. Ronon watched them for about thirty seconds and then obviously decided he didn’t have the patience - with a mighty grunt, he tore himself free from the bush and leapt to clear ground, from which he leaned over and with his long arms was able to reach Teyla’s arm. Rather than picking away the thorns one by one, he grabbed the entire branch and ripped it loose. Teyla winced but got the picture; she did the same for her other arm, and then Ronon just grabbed her around the waist and lifted her bodily out of the patch. Then he turned to Sheppard to repeat the procedure; John keeping up a continual stream of curses throughout. Finally it was Rodney’s turn. He was further in, so Ronon had to wade into the patch to get to him. McKay watched in trepidation, then squealed like a pig when he was pulled free. Sheppard tried not to smirk and mostly succeeded.
Finally they were all in the clear. Ronon quickly assessed the area and pointed to the north. “There.”
John looked. A large tree about 20 feet away provided good cover, flanked by some sheltering bushes that were close enough to hide them from any lurking predators, but not so close that they could be ambushed from them.
So he led the way (since he was still nominally the leader and that’s what leaders did) after shushing Rodney, who was still complaining loudly as he picked out the thorns.
Once under the tree, John turned around and said to Rodney, “You didn’t even thank Ronon - if it weren’t for him, we’d still be in that pricker bush.”
Like a small child chastised by his mother, McKay turned to Dex and sing-songed, “Thank you, Ronon.” Dex smiled, rumbled, “No problem,” and patted Rodney on the back. Then he suddenly looked up and shoved McKay to one side with all his might. Rodney went flying as an extremely large snake dropped out of the tree. Ronon caught it expertly and began wrestling it into submission while everyone else looked on in terror. McKay was too shocked even to complain, though he did manage to get to his feet, wincing and holding his back like an 80-year-old man. Teyla was the only one with enough presence of mind to even try to help out; she watched closely for an opportunity, then grabbed the snake’s head and held it while Ronon broke its neck. It continued writhing for a few minutes before finally giving up the ghost. Ronon shrugged and said “Piece of cake.”
“What did I tell you? Snakes!” Rodney squeaked as he made his way back to the others, pausing to look around with cartoonish exaggeration for other predators.
“Yeah Rodney, you were right, and once again Ronon saved your bacon! So can it and let me think,” John snapped. “Teyla, where’s our map?”
Wordlessly she handed it over. Sheppard spread it out and pointed to a red circle on the edge of a shaded area that obviously represented the jungle.
“Okay. We’re here. The first ZPM is supposed to be located right… here,” pointing to a small black X in the middle of the jungle.
“Not too bad. Just a few miles.. that way.” Ronon pointed.
“Hey, who’s the leader here?”
“Sorry, Sheppard.”
“Okay then.” And John led the way in the direction Ronon had indicated.
* * * * *
Three hours and seven miles of hard trekking later, they were lost. Ronon had been hacking out a path for them to follow, but they couldn’t seem to find the burial spot of the ZPM.
“Hey, Rodney - don’t you have some kind of device to spot ZPMs remotely?”
“Yeah” Rodney panted (thankfully, he’d been too out-of-breath to complain as much as usual) “but either the foliage is too dense for me to get a reading, or the ZedPM doesn’t have enough power for me to be able to see it.”
“Okay. Everyone stop right where you are and start searching the ground. We’re looking for a stone marker of some kind. I’ll search the center of our location - you guys spread out from where you are.”
Silence fell as they searched, punctuated only by the snapping of branches, rustling of bushes and the occasional curse. Even Rodney was too busy looking to bitch.
It seemed like hours later (although it was probably only 20 or 30 minutes) when McKay said excitedly, “Here! I think I found - aaaahhh!!!” his exclamation was cut off by a startled scream and loud cracking of branches.
“Shit! Rodney, where are you? Can you talk?”
Silence. Shep took off in his best guess at the right direction. After about fifty feet he saw Ronon and Teyla standing at the edge of a pit. Uh-oh. He skidded to a stop and threw himself down at the edge of the pit to peer over.
“Goddamn it Rodney, if you’re dead I’ll never talk to you again! And you can just forget about getting back together!”
Ronon and Teyla looked up in unison at that. At any other time it would have been funny, the way both their heads came up at the same time and the exact same angle. John didn’t even care that he’d just outed himself and Rodney to the rest of his team.
Rodney lay motionless at the bottom of the fairly deep pit. There weren’t any spikes at the bottom as John had feared, and Rodney didn’t look horribly mangled or twisted in any unnatural angles.
“Oh God, oh God, what are we going to do?” John found himself panicking like.. well, not like a leader. He took a deep breath and tried to pull himself together.
Ronon was pulling rope out of his pack. “It’s going to be all right,” Teyla said calmly, as if to a hysterical child, as she took the end and tied it securely around the nearest tree. Ronon looked at Sheppard.
“You think I should go - dunno if this rope can hold us both.”
“No, I’ll do it. I’m lighter than you. If I have to carry him…Well, we’ll think of something.”
“Okay.” Ronon took the other end of the rope and fashioned a rough harness out of it with a few well-placed knots. He held it out and John stepped into it. His knees were knocking, despite his best efforts, and he had to hold on to Ronon’s shoulders for balance.
God, what if… He refused to think about the possibility that Rodney was.. He’s just unconscious, the fall must have knocked him out.
“Okay, here we go.” Sheppard went to the edge of the pit while Ronon took the rope. “I’ll let you down slowly, okay?”
The descent seemed to take forever. The sides of the pit were rough and broken tree roots stuck out of the walls. Maybe he hit one on the way down… Horrible images ran through his head.
Finally he reached bottom, and fell to his knees next to Rodney’s supine form. He checked for a pulse, not quite praying.
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Tune in for the thrilling conclusion in Chapter 4!
Title: A Thousand Suns (3/4)
Author: arby_m
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Rating: R
Spoilers: through "Trinity"
Warnings: angst
Length: 1457 words
Disclaimer: Still don't own 'em.
Summary: On an away mission, things don't go as planned.
Note: Part 1, Part 2. And suddenly we are veering off towards H/C - can't say I'm sorry because it's one of the genres I like reading.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
9 am, Gate room. McKay was red-faced and irascible. Ronon and Teyla were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as usual.
“Okay, so when we come out of the Gate, we’re going to dive to the right and take whatever cover we can find. We may have some company in the form of some wild animals” McKay snorted at that “so be prepared for a fight, just in case.” Ronon looked pleased to finally see some action.
The gate engineer (John could never seem to remember his name) dialed the gate. They lined up four abreast and ran through the gate…
…To land in a briar patch. Or the alien equivalent of one, anyway - a mass of prickly, clinging bushes that completely enveloped them. Sheppard cursed but froze. McKay instantly began whining and flailing, making everything worse. Teyla and Ronon froze as well, either because they were following John’s example or because they had some common sense - not that it really mattered.
“Rodney, stop moving! You’re only getting yourself in deeper.”
“Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!” was the only response.
“Relax - at least the wild animals can’t get to us in here.”
“Small comfort that is!” But Rodney had stopped moving. Sheppard began very, very slowly to pick the thorns out of one of Rodney’s arms. Teyla followed his example and began removing thorns from Sheppard’s. Ronon watched them for about thirty seconds and then obviously decided he didn’t have the patience - with a mighty grunt, he tore himself free from the bush and leapt to clear ground, from which he leaned over and with his long arms was able to reach Teyla’s arm. Rather than picking away the thorns one by one, he grabbed the entire branch and ripped it loose. Teyla winced but got the picture; she did the same for her other arm, and then Ronon just grabbed her around the waist and lifted her bodily out of the patch. Then he turned to Sheppard to repeat the procedure; John keeping up a continual stream of curses throughout. Finally it was Rodney’s turn. He was further in, so Ronon had to wade into the patch to get to him. McKay watched in trepidation, then squealed like a pig when he was pulled free. Sheppard tried not to smirk and mostly succeeded.
Finally they were all in the clear. Ronon quickly assessed the area and pointed to the north. “There.”
John looked. A large tree about 20 feet away provided good cover, flanked by some sheltering bushes that were close enough to hide them from any lurking predators, but not so close that they could be ambushed from them.
So he led the way (since he was still nominally the leader and that’s what leaders did) after shushing Rodney, who was still complaining loudly as he picked out the thorns.
Once under the tree, John turned around and said to Rodney, “You didn’t even thank Ronon - if it weren’t for him, we’d still be in that pricker bush.”
Like a small child chastised by his mother, McKay turned to Dex and sing-songed, “Thank you, Ronon.” Dex smiled, rumbled, “No problem,” and patted Rodney on the back. Then he suddenly looked up and shoved McKay to one side with all his might. Rodney went flying as an extremely large snake dropped out of the tree. Ronon caught it expertly and began wrestling it into submission while everyone else looked on in terror. McKay was too shocked even to complain, though he did manage to get to his feet, wincing and holding his back like an 80-year-old man. Teyla was the only one with enough presence of mind to even try to help out; she watched closely for an opportunity, then grabbed the snake’s head and held it while Ronon broke its neck. It continued writhing for a few minutes before finally giving up the ghost. Ronon shrugged and said “Piece of cake.”
“What did I tell you? Snakes!” Rodney squeaked as he made his way back to the others, pausing to look around with cartoonish exaggeration for other predators.
“Yeah Rodney, you were right, and once again Ronon saved your bacon! So can it and let me think,” John snapped. “Teyla, where’s our map?”
Wordlessly she handed it over. Sheppard spread it out and pointed to a red circle on the edge of a shaded area that obviously represented the jungle.
“Okay. We’re here. The first ZPM is supposed to be located right… here,” pointing to a small black X in the middle of the jungle.
“Not too bad. Just a few miles.. that way.” Ronon pointed.
“Hey, who’s the leader here?”
“Sorry, Sheppard.”
“Okay then.” And John led the way in the direction Ronon had indicated.
* * * * *
Three hours and seven miles of hard trekking later, they were lost. Ronon had been hacking out a path for them to follow, but they couldn’t seem to find the burial spot of the ZPM.
“Hey, Rodney - don’t you have some kind of device to spot ZPMs remotely?”
“Yeah” Rodney panted (thankfully, he’d been too out-of-breath to complain as much as usual) “but either the foliage is too dense for me to get a reading, or the ZedPM doesn’t have enough power for me to be able to see it.”
“Okay. Everyone stop right where you are and start searching the ground. We’re looking for a stone marker of some kind. I’ll search the center of our location - you guys spread out from where you are.”
Silence fell as they searched, punctuated only by the snapping of branches, rustling of bushes and the occasional curse. Even Rodney was too busy looking to bitch.
It seemed like hours later (although it was probably only 20 or 30 minutes) when McKay said excitedly, “Here! I think I found - aaaahhh!!!” his exclamation was cut off by a startled scream and loud cracking of branches.
“Shit! Rodney, where are you? Can you talk?”
Silence. Shep took off in his best guess at the right direction. After about fifty feet he saw Ronon and Teyla standing at the edge of a pit. Uh-oh. He skidded to a stop and threw himself down at the edge of the pit to peer over.
“Goddamn it Rodney, if you’re dead I’ll never talk to you again! And you can just forget about getting back together!”
Ronon and Teyla looked up in unison at that. At any other time it would have been funny, the way both their heads came up at the same time and the exact same angle. John didn’t even care that he’d just outed himself and Rodney to the rest of his team.
Rodney lay motionless at the bottom of the fairly deep pit. There weren’t any spikes at the bottom as John had feared, and Rodney didn’t look horribly mangled or twisted in any unnatural angles.
“Oh God, oh God, what are we going to do?” John found himself panicking like.. well, not like a leader. He took a deep breath and tried to pull himself together.
Ronon was pulling rope out of his pack. “It’s going to be all right,” Teyla said calmly, as if to a hysterical child, as she took the end and tied it securely around the nearest tree. Ronon looked at Sheppard.
“You think I should go - dunno if this rope can hold us both.”
“No, I’ll do it. I’m lighter than you. If I have to carry him…Well, we’ll think of something.”
“Okay.” Ronon took the other end of the rope and fashioned a rough harness out of it with a few well-placed knots. He held it out and John stepped into it. His knees were knocking, despite his best efforts, and he had to hold on to Ronon’s shoulders for balance.
God, what if… He refused to think about the possibility that Rodney was.. He’s just unconscious, the fall must have knocked him out.
“Okay, here we go.” Sheppard went to the edge of the pit while Ronon took the rope. “I’ll let you down slowly, okay?”
The descent seemed to take forever. The sides of the pit were rough and broken tree roots stuck out of the walls. Maybe he hit one on the way down… Horrible images ran through his head.
Finally he reached bottom, and fell to his knees next to Rodney’s supine form. He checked for a pulse, not quite praying.
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Tune in for the thrilling conclusion in Chapter 4!