Angst, Week 1: Reckless Abandon (1/4)
Title: Reckless Abandon
Author: hollow_echos
Genre: Angst
Prompt: Collateral Damage
Word Count: 27,000
Rating: PG-13 (Language only)
Warnings: None
Summary: The team goes off world to help with a routine evacuation mission during a monsoon. Rodney’s left behind on the planet and water levels are rising. Our favorite scientist is left praying for a miracle and a last minute rescue from his teammates.
Notes: A huge shout out goes to Rusting_roses for her wonderful betaing, for listening to my frustrations with this fic, for helping me ironing out the plot, and for being an all around awesome person. This story might not have happened without her support.
[ Part One] [ Part Two] [ Part Three] [ Part Four]
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Chapter 1 - Sometimes it Rains
"Why do I need to go on this mission again?" Rodney asked as he slumped into the chair next to Sheppard in the front of the jumper.
Sheppard calmly responded as he began the sequence of commands that would activate the jumper, "I figured you could probably use a hiatus from the lab. I sometimes think the fumes down there get you a little wonky after a few days of holing up down there."
Mckay fumbled with the seatbelt before snapping back, "The lab only smells a bit fishy! We back right up to the desalination unit; it helps with our cooling system for all of the critical projects we're working on. But besides your personal sadistic streak, that doesn't explain why I need to be going."
The jumper began moving, the bay doors opening as they dropped into the gate room at Sheppard's command. "These people are our trading partners. That means we are somewhat obligated to help them in periods of duress. God knows we've asked the same of our allies during our times of need."
Rodney still wasn't entirely sold on the idea though; he had been supposed to run some diagnostics on a jumper that hadn't been performing at full power output lately. This little detour was going to mean a late night and a caffeine binge if that jumper was going to be ready for a mission tomorrow. He doubted Elizabeth would rearrange the schedule just to give him an extra day. He threw a glance back at his teammates who were settled on opposite benches in the rear of the jumper, "Teyla, can you give us a few more details on what to expect?"
Teyla looked at him calmly, "All of the information I possess on the Verdeans is in the mission report Colonel Sheppard asked me to prepare. I don't know what else I could add."
Rodney huffed a bit and said something under his breath before addressing her again, "Normally I'd have read the report, but only if I am given ample notification that we are going off world," he said a bit bitterly, throwing a sideways glance at Sheppard in pilot's seat. "Sheppard dragged me out of bed and right down here saying we had to go. I didn't get a chance to read the mission briefing."
Teyla nodded. "The world we are visiting is what my people know as Verdea. There are two rival ethnic groups on this planet, the Serns and the Koles. While tensions run high, for the past several seasons they have maintained a strained peace. The Sern faction has a new leader that is pressing for expansion of territory into what have traditionally been Kole lands."
McKay absorbed that, "And how does this beg our involvement?"
"The Serns are a larger faction with a stronger military; they have been more aggressive in their warring tactics recently. The Kole maintain small military outposts in different communities. A large Sern contingent has barricaded one such community on a narrow peninsula. With monsoon season currently in progress on this planet, water levels have steadily risen and the Kole are suffering extreme flooding with no route of escape."
"Ok, I follow you so far...but I'm still not seeing where we come in here."
"This is a community that we trade with regularly, both here on Atlantis and my people on the mainland. The Athosians have extended an invitation for temporary refuge for these individuals until the monsoon season ends in a few weeks and they can return to their settlement if the water levels have dropped sufficiently. They may also travel to another Kole city by sea when the waters are calmer to bypass the blockade by the Serns. The gate is on an island and we will be helping to transport their elderly and children to it to avoid putting them at risk on the open water."
McKay scrunched his brow a bit at this, "The Ancients were generally a pretty smart bunch. The gates have always been in an easily accessible location before. So why would they switch it up and go for an island venue all of a sudden?"
Sheppard knew the answer to this one and chose to chime in. Of course, he had also had the answer provided to him in the mission report. But no reason to let McKay know that, he couldn't avoid outclassing the brilliant astrophysicist on the rare occasions he was able to "Planets aren't static all the time, Mckay. Things change, climates change. The piece of land was originally attached to the mainland when the Ancients built the gate there but water levels have risen and turned it into an island."
"That was a rhetorical question, Sheppard. I was just thinking out loud," Mckay responded, "Again, if we're playing pack mule for these folks, why am I along? Usually I leave the heavy lifting to you guys while I put my brain to good use."
Ronon's expression failed to hide his irritation. Of course McKay was looking at him when he said the bit about heavy lifting, but he wasn't all brawn. He let his anger fade though, as there was work enough to be done in the near future, he thought as he leaned back against the hull and closed his eyes to rest for the few moments of quiet they had left. He'd probably be doing lots of that lifting soon enough.
Sheppard grinned a bit, "Think Noah's Ark. The jumper's the ark; you're the mechanic who runs around making sure we don't spring a leak or dip out of the sky because of a short out or something. It's just in case we need some tech assistance, otherwise we'll let you stay in the jumper."
Mckay leaned back in his seat at that, "I suppose that's an acceptable compromise. I do have my tablet. I have some calculations I can work on while you guys are out dancing in the rain."
Sheppard's smirk widened, "Of course McKay, wouldn't want you to melt or anything."
Ronon peaked one eye open, "Probably a good idea. McKay's squawking when he has to suffer a little discomfort is as bad as the birds that we had back on Sateda."
"Hey! I resent that comparison. My conversation is probably the most stimulating you'll find anywhere."
Ronon shrugged, "Even the birds were good for something, made great target practice," he said, a hand settling lightly over his gun.
Rodney's eyes opened a bit wider and he kept his mouth closed, turning his attention forward again as the jumper advanced through the gate and into the downpour beyond.
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McKay was huddled by the edge of the open jumper. It'd been three hours and they'd made two trips to the peninsula, if it could be called that. Most of the community had been under a good foot of water by the time they'd gotten there. Sheppard had set them down on the roof of a building and the settlers had come slogging up with bundles of possessions, packing into the back of the jumper like cattle. He'd had to stick his tablet into his raincoat to prevent it from getting wet. Keeping anything dry in a monsoon was a challenge and electronics and water didn't exactly mix.
That was the reason why he was running one final diagnostic on the jumper. Monsoon had been an understatement. The water was falling in a continuous sheet. Most of the settlers had made the trip by water in tiny canoe-like boats that Rodney had been amazed had survived the waves out on the open sea. From where the jumper was parked near the gate he'd watched the tiny lanterns bob on the waves, one for each boat coming in. Ronon and Teyla had been making trips back and forth from the shore, helping exhausted, soaked Koles carry their possessions up the slippery, rocky slope and through the gate to Atlantis. Sheppard had been flying back and forth, landing only long enough to pick up or drop off people before taking off again. They had made their final trip though, and with good timing. Sheppard was sitting resolutely in the pilot chair, focusing on keeping the jumper hovering a foot or so above the water. They'd lost the pile of boulders they'd been sitting on to the rising water a few minutes ago and Sheppard had piloted them into the air to prevent water from pouring in through the open back hatch.
Their window for remaining here was quickly waning. The gate was not in a good position. It was on the lower end of the island, and water had started trickling through the gate at first, but reports were coming through from the gate techs that didn't bode well. They had resorted to a bucket brigade to handle the water pouring back into the gate room. It was equipped with drains for light water drainage, but that system wouldn't make a dent in the waterfall that was currently flooding through.
Rodney flicked his attention between watching the diagnostics on his screen, searching out on the slope for his friends who were helping the last few settlers up from their boats, and the gate which was slowly disappearing beneath the water an inch at a time.
He bit his lip and typed a bit faster after taking a quick glance out at the landscape. Visibility was terrible between the heavy cloud cover and the torrential rain. They should've been back by now. They needed to go.
"Rodney, brace yourself," a voice shouted over the pounding of rain on the hull.
McKay didn't question it. When Sheppard spoke in that tone of voice you didn't argue. You listened immediately; it had saved his life more times than he could count. He set the tablet aside and slid both arms through the webbing that secured much of their equipment to the wall. He took in a sharp breath of air as a gust of wind tilted the jumper's axis sideways and his tablet began to slide.
I can't lose that, McKay thought, panicked. He removed one hand from the stabilizing grip he had established to lean forward for it.
Sheppard had thrown a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure McKay hadn't slid out into the water, "McKay, leave it! The wind's bad, last thing I need is you in the water!"
Rodney hesitated but drew his hand back, once again putting it to use holding on and he let out a small dismayed cry as the tablet slid down the ramp and into the water below. One less piece of technology for the mission, he brooded silently. He should've put that in with the other equipment.
His thoughts were interrupted as there was the sound of splashing. He sat up a bit straighter and tried to make out what was making the noise. There were a few deep grunts and then suddenly a pack was being thrown up into the jumper. McKay scrunched his legs up against the rest of his body to avoid getting hit.
A few more bags were thrown up and then a head appeared at the base of the ramp, followed by a torso and the rest of the body as the man clawed his way into the rear of the jumper. McKay risked letting a hand go from the webbing, leaning out to grasp the man's cold hand and pull him up.
A soaking wet Teyla was the next up, her teeth chattering as she wrapped her arms around her torso and sat down on the bench.
Sheppard was still looking forward, the wind gusts requiring his full attention to balance the jumper out as his teammates were climbing in, but he was listening intently, "McKay, what's going on?"
"Teyla and a settler are in," he shouted over the rain, watching Teyla to make sure she was ok. She was pale; water was dripping off her clothing and gathering in a small pool at her feet. She made eye contact with Rodney but made no effort to speak, the exhaustion evident from her expression, the chill evident from her body language and shivering.
The back of the jumper dipped down a bit as one more large figure climbed up over the edge, standing up on the ramp as he quickly shuffled into to the compartment, his head almost hitting the ceiling. Ronon shook his head a few times, reminding Rodney of a dog after a bath as the man's water logged dreadlocks threw water droplets in every direction. Rodney blinked as a few landed on his cheek.
Ronon dropped onto the bench, breathing hard as he reached into the webbing above him and brought down a folded wool blanket and passing it over to Teyla without any words passing between them, "That's everyone. We didn't see any more lights on the water."
Sheppard called back over his shoulder, "You're sure we aren't leaving anyone?"
Ronon nodded, "If anyone else was out there they aren't any more. The water's a lot rougher. A few boats might have flipped. We saw a few lights just go out- they didn't make it to the shore."
Rodney heard a muttered curse. Sheppard treated everyone like one of his own, whether they were a total stranger or a friend. The loss of any individual he was tasked to protect hit him hard. Rodney had silently passed the balcony John liked to frequent, had seen the man out there alone with a drink in one hand after a hard mission and knew that it meant someone was dead. That balcony wouldn't go unoccupied tonight, he thought silently.
"You're absolutely positive?"
Ronon was wringing the water out of his shirt, "I'm confident. There were no more lights."
"What if someone's lantern went out, maybe the flame went out with all the rain?"
"Maybe," he muttered without further explanation.
"Then we go back down, one more trip. I'm not leaving people here to die."
The mask Ronon normally kept in place faltered for a moment and Rodney saw the blank look in his eyes, the hunch in his frame. He was a verifiable rock, but that didn't mean he wasn't a man, a man who could feel tired and cold after being out in a monsoon. And if Ronon looked bad, Teyla looked worse.
Rodney chose then to speak, "I'll go, Sheppard. Let these two dry off."
John did look back this time, "You sure Rodney?"
Rodney nodded, "It's not far, I can be back in a few minutes."
Sheppard looked at him skeptically for a few seconds before dipping his own head in agreement, "Fine, be quick and be careful. The gate's almost halfway under water; we need to get out of here."
Rodney drew the hood of his rain jacket over his head, zipped it up as tight as it would go, and hopped down into thigh deep water. His outline quickly faded as he slogged off into the rain.
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Chapter 2 - Sometimes it Pours
The jumper bobbed a bit with the wind as Sheppard worked to keep the jumper from barreling sideways. He had begun throwing a spare glance over his shoulder and out the back of the jumper when he could tear his attention away from his piloting, with his latest glance he narrowed in on Ronon who had scooted over next to Teyla. At some point she must have surrendered half of her blanket as they were now huddling on the bench together. He cleared his throat and shouted to overcome the background noise of the wind, "Ronon, any sign of Rodney?"
"No, I can't see far with the rain."
Sheppard let out a frustrated exhalation of air; the thought had crept into his mind almost the moment McKay had jumped out of the back of the jumper, he should've left McKay to pilot for a few minutes while he had made the last run down to the beach. "How far is it down to the coast from here, shouldn't he have been back by now?"
Ronon ignored him for a minute, focusing instead on wrapping his half of the standard military issue blanket around a shivering Teyla. Her eyes snapped back open with the flurry of his movements and the sudden absence of his body next to hers. She tried to push it back at him but even cold and tired as Ronon was, she didn't pose much of a fight and he securely bundled it around her. "Five minutes," Ronon muttered, "Maybe a few more for McKay. He's got short legs."
John nodded, "Alright, we'll give him five more minutes."
"Want me to go after him?"
Sheppard considered it, but really, McKay should be ok. He put the jumper on autopilot for the minute; the wind seemed to have granted them a momentary reprieve and died down a bit. He turned around in his chair, still close enough to grab for the controls in the occurrence of a strong draft, "We'll hold off a few more, then we'll figure out who goes if he's not back."
Ronon reached a hand up to grab a dreadlock that had escaped from the knot he was currently wearing at the base of his neck. He pushed the whipping tendril out of his face as a quick burst of air entered through the open rear hatch.
Sheppard's gaze wandered to the waterlogged landscape outside. He was mentally trying to replay the last time he had seen McKay swim. They'd all had to pass the standard military swim test to certify for off world team status, but that had been a few years ago. The last time he recalled having seen his friend take a dip was awhile ago when they'd visited Teyla's people along the coast. Even then, he'd only gone in up to his waist before releasing a yelp and declaring the water too cold for any sane person. Ronon and Sheppard had ignored him, instead rushing past and splashing him as they and dived beneath the calm waters to race out to a rock outcropping a hundred meters or so into the ocean.
"Sheppard."
He should be a strong swimmer, right? And the water was only up to his thighs or so, he shouldn't have cause to put those swim skills to the test anyways...
"Sheppard!"
John snapped his head to the rear compartment and made eye contact with Ronon.
The large man was fully alert now and sitting up straight, "Are we supposed to be moving?"
"Relax, it's the wind-"
"Our thrusters are operating."
He scrunched his brow and immediately turned back to the jumper console. They were moving toward the gate, but he wasn't doing it. This shouldn't be happening. He reached for the steering and tried to turn them back around to where they had been a few seconds ago but it seemed stuck. Sheppard swallowed. This was the last thing they needed in a storm like this with one of their people on the ground, and their only civilian team member to boot.
He grunted as he jerked the steering again, much harder this time, again, nothing. He tried pressing the sequences of buttons that would put the jumper on standby, and when that failed he tried a mental command aided by his gene. No effect. They were moving away from where Rodney was supposed to meet them, and the jumper was picking up speed.
"Sheppard, we're going to lose McKay if we keep up like this..."
"I know Ronon! I'm trying, the jumper's not responding." He tried the key command sequence again, this time pounding each key as he went, as though brute force would do the trick. He looked out the windshield to see where they were navigating. The last thing they needed was to collide with a tree or something. A confused expression passed over his face, the gate, now almost three quarter submerged, was ahead. He could imagine the gate techs having a melt down on the other side with all of this water coming in. He wondered if the gate room would be as flooded as it was out here...
And then suddenly a wormhole had formed and they were heading toward it. There was a scuttle of boots squeaking against the soaked metal floor behind him as he threw a look backward. Ronon was on his feet and at the entrance, his face gritted with exertion as he tried to force the door back open.
A flurry of panic seized John; Rodney was out there instead of in here to help them with this malfunction. Worse yet, Rodney was out there expecting them to be there when he returned. He pounded a frustrated fist against the console as they approached the gate. What the hell was he supposed to do? Despite his mental ordering, pleading, that the jumper stop, whatever command sequence had been initiated was too strong for his gene to overcome. The last thought that passed through John's mind as they approached and went through the gate was that he'd sworn to never leave a man behind.
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Sheppard put the jumper down right in the gate room, not wanting to waste the time it would take to park it in the jumper bay and they make his way back down to the gate. The moment the jumper settled to the ground with solid thud he was out of his seat and making his way to the slowly opening hatch even before the thrusters were totally deactivated.
He stalked out of the jumper, momentarily sparing enough attention to notice that the gate room was in a few inches of water. Zelenka must have gotten the drains to work more efficiently somehow to have taken care of the water level this well. The thought didn't last long though, he was yelling out to the men stationed at the control panel for the gate the moment he cleared the exit and had them in sight, "What happened?!?"
Zelenka was standing up with the techs, a look of bewilderment on his face at the colonel's sudden outburst; he'd never seen him like this before. There was rage and panic in the man's eyes. Zelenka squinted and looked at the readings on his data pad which currently monitoring the gate activity, "I...I don't know, Colonel. We didn't dial the gate; it locked in your address automatically."
"Yeah, I didn't decide to take a reprieve back here either. The jumper started flying itself and I couldn't override." Sheppard hadn't moved far from the jumper, and was ready to dart back in at a moment's notice, "Dial it back. Now. Rodney's back there in that mess."
By now Ronon and Teyla were starting to emerge from the jumper. Ronon was helping the villager that they had brought back from the coast with his meager belongings. Zelenka looked for McKay, and when he didn't see him, the colonel's words sunk in. His friend had been left in the monsoon, without his teammates, without any resources or with the capability to get back here safely. Bad didn't begin to describe this situation. He didn't speak for a moment, immediately beginning the sequence to dial the planet back. Sheppard nodded in approval as he marched back into the jumper and took up his position at the controls, ready to fly it back through the gate as soon as it was activated. Ronon had set the villager's pack on the ground and was already moving back toward the jumper. Teyla followed on his heels despite her slower movements, cold had a way of making everything more sluggish.
All eyes were on the gate as each chevron locked in. Sheppard was on edge, every muscle tensed like a wire pulled to tightly, tension to the point of almost hurting.
And as suddenly as everyone had been ready to move, the excitement died as the gate deactivated before locking the last chevron. Zelenka frowned, looking at his data pad before meeting Sheppard's questioning gaze through the windshield of the jumper. Radek shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. The frown on Sheppard's face deepened and a moment later he was up the platform standing next to Radek.
"Zelenka, we need to get back there now. What's wrong?"
"The gate won't dial the address," he was furiously typing on his data pad, trying to find a reason for it, "I don't know, Colonel."
"Well, try it again! I need to go back for Rodney."
Sheppard stood there impatiently as Zelenka had the gate tech enter the address again. The gate room was silent; the only audible noise was the sound of the gate dialing. On the last chevron, the gate deactivated.
Sheppard muttered a curse under his breath before addressing Zelenka again, failing to restrain the frustration in his voice, "Zelenka, what is this?"
Radek shrugged, not making eye contact, almost ashamed at his inability to help his colleague who had so often saved them all. "I need time to process the data. It appears some failsafe from Atlantis is preventing us from dialing."
"Well can you come up with a guess as to why?"
"How was the gate on the planet side?"
"Almost all the way underwater."
"That could explain it. Atlantis might have sensed that the gate was about to go under and recalled the jumper. The gate room did take some heavy flooding before I got the auxiliary drains functioning. Perhaps it was a failsafe mechanism to prevent the water levels here from getting too high..."
By now Ronon had mounted the steps and was standing just to the side and behind the Colonel, "Sheppard, we going back for McKay?"
John let out a frustrated sigh, "The gate's not working. Zelenka says he needs time to figure out how to override it."
Ronon narrowed his eyes at this, "So McKay's on his own for awhile?"
"He'll be ok. And we'll get this figured out," he turned back to Zelenka, "I need you to fix this. The gate there is on an island that was rapidly flooding. I don't know how much longer any of it will be above the water level and the closest land is not close at all. If he's there too long, he's going to be forced into the open water."
"I have already sent the data from the failed activations to the lab database. I will get all of my teams working on it."
"Good, I want a back-up plan too. We need options in case we can't get that address to dial in."
"I'll do my best, Colonel."
"You might have to do better than that. Do whatever it takes. We're not leaving Rodney out there."
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Chapter 3 - Left Behind
Rodney held an arm out in front of his face as a barrier against the rain that was currently assaulting him. He'd seen rain back in Canada; he'd seen rain during the hurricane that had hit back on Atlantis. But this brought a new meaning to the word. It was like someone had tipped the world upside down and the ocean was falling from the sky.
He'd made it down to the beach and looked for any lights as instructed. Not seeing any, he'd waited a few more minutes and moved down closer to where the shore was, marked only by the occasional rock peaking above the rapidly rising water. He'd strained to see anything and called out several times until his throat stung from the effort. There was nothing left. There were a few boats tethered to a tree, bobbing up and down with the motion of the water, the abandoned remnants of the people who had made the treacherous water crossing. And it was treacherous; these were more canoes than boats. He could believe it when Ronon said a few had flipped on the waves. Taking one of those things across the churning waves was suicidal.
After convincing himself that no one was out there, he'd scurried up the rocky slope toward the gate, slipping on the slick stones and falling once, soaking himself up to the chest as he tried to regain his balance. The raincoat did some good for the rain, but it didn't do anything when he was half submerged in an ocean. He gave a silent thank you for the fact that Sheppard had insisted they always wear their tactical vests off world, the thick armor-grade material provided some insulation against the cold. He was ready to be done after ten minutes out here. Ronon and Teyla had been at it for hours before finally calling it quits, and they had kept trucking along until everyone was evacuated. He took a sense of pride at the thought, his teammates were dedicated, and being among them pushed him to be a better person too.
All this passed through his mind as he climbed the slope, his lungs burning as he reached the part where everything finally leveled out. He'd gone from being past his knees in water down to a few inches below the joint with the elevation increase. He looked for the lights of the jumper to guide him back to the team; it was getting darker with the waning of the afternoon. His eyebrows dipped into a furrow, he saw waves, a little bit of land, and more water, but no light. No jumper. Where were they?
He spun in a circle, was it possible he had gotten disoriented and headed in the wrong direction from the shore? His breath was quickening, "So not good. Come on McKay, we can do this...Orient yourself. Where am I?"
He squinted, examining his surroundings for any familiar landmarks. This island really was a rock though; there were a few good sized trees uphill of where the gate had sat. Those and a few shrubs that would probably be washed away with the onslaught of the ocean if the storm kept up this way.
His breath hitched in his throat. He saw the twin trees from earlier, the ones that had been near the gate before. They were the right trees; he'd remembered commenting to himself on the way down about how they leaned toward each other. One seemed to have died and tipped into the still living one, without it, it would probably have fallen long ago. This was right. He was in the right spot.
"Sheppard!" He stumbled forward, "Ronon, Teyla! You guys out there?!?" His voice carried out over the waves, but the howling wind soon drowned it out, leaving just the desperate man with his hoarse cry into the storm.
He was hyperventilating. The gate and the jumper had been right here...had something happened? Could the jumper have gone under? A shudder ran through his body as he remembered the time he had spent at the bottom of the ocean in what he assumed would be his crypt. He prayed that wasn't the case. Even if the thrusters had died, though, they would have fallen into this shallower bit of water. It was only up to his knees, not enough to cover a jumper. No, they hadn't sunk.
So where were his teammates? Rodney swiveled his head back and forth, looking for any sign of them. Nothing, nothing to indicate their presence here.
His heavy breathing soon mixed with a panicked sob. He was a man alone on this forsaken rock. The gate was all the way under. He might be able to try dialing if he could locate it, but with just his sight to rely on, he couldn't very well dive around at random hoping to bump into it by luck. His team was gone...why would they have left him?
"Sheppard! Teyla! Ronon," he screamed out once more, before softly speaking again as his voice trailed off, "Anyone?"
He wrapped his arms around his torso, partially to try to retain some heat, partially out of a desire to comfort himself in the absence of anyone else to be there for him. They were gone.
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Sheppard had yet to sit down since he had parked the jumper in its slot in the bay. He'd already sent Ronon and Teyla down to see Carson for their post-mission physicals. They'd looked cold; at the very least he was hoping the Scot would prescribe a hot meal, a warm shower, and a few hours of rest while they figured out a way back to the planet to get McKay. Then there'd been trying to explain to Elizabeth how he'd lost their friend, their chief scientist, the most brilliant and one of the most vital men to the expedition, on a routine evacuation mission. And then there was checking in with Zelenka every chance he got until the man had finally lost his patience and told him that for every minute he spent telling Sheppard that he still hadn't solved the problem, that was another minute taken from the time he could be working on a plan to rescue Rodney.
God. McKay was out there alone. What would he be thinking right now? That Sheppard had abandoned him, that they were dead? John had tried to put mentally himself in McKay's current predicament, tried to think about how Rodney would be doing off world in a dire situation like this.
He'd tried, and then he'd tried harder to stop and silence the imagery playing though his head. He could imagine the fear and confusion that Rodney had to be feeling right now. They'd left a teammate behind. Sure, not willingly, but Rodney didn't have that piece information. He'd gone down to the shore at Sheppard's prodding for one last check, hell; he'd actually stepped beyond himself to think of his teammates. He'd let them rest and volunteered to do a pretty unpleasant task. And his reward for that? Fate had slapped him a good one in the face. For his selflessness, he had gotten left behind.
And it'd happened on John's watch. He'd lost the one civilian on his team and left him out in a monsoon, probably the person least prepared to deal with a situation like this. Ronon, Teyla, and he, they were warriors, soldiers. They knew how to keep calm, evaluate the circumstances, and optimize their chances of survival. McKay had learned a lot by going on missions, getting shot at, and having to perform first aid. But every time, John or Teyla or Ronon, they'd been there or close by to reassure him when things got bad. Even in the times when they'd been separated, Rodney could always keep faith that they would come for him. But now, God only knew what McKay was thinking. That they'd forgotten him, decided to ditch him...Now Sheppard had failed on his promise to protect his friend, and rightfully so, that thought wouldn't leave him. He never should have let McKay go out there. He knew better!
"Colonel, you look a bit tense. Everything alright?"
Sheppard stopped walking. Oh yeah, this was the next stop off on the endless list of places he had to be and people to talk to in order to coordinate the rescue effort, "Oh, um, I mean nothing's ok with Rodney out there, I assume you've heard about my latest fubar?"
Carson walked toward him in the reception area of the infirmary, sticking his hands in his pockets, his shoulders dropping a bit as he approached, "Aye, I heard about the situation, and I also heard from Teyla and Ronon that there was nothing you could've done to prevent it. So you're to leave the self-blame routine at the door."
The colonel didn't respond to that, ignoring the comment altogether. Nothing anyone said was going to deter that routine of his, "I wanted to see if you could spare a medic for when we do go off world to complete the retrieval and bring him back. Just in case..." He didn't finish the sentence, if anything had happened to Rodney because of this there wouldn't be punishment enough that Sheppard could inflict on himself to make up for this.
"Aye. I'll be going myself. My field pack's ready, just radio me when it's time and I'll be on my way to the gate room."
Sheppard gave a terse nod in appreciation. There wasn't a set of hands on Atlantis he would feel more comfortable handling Rodney than Beckett's. "Ok, I guess I'll talk to you later then. I have other stops to make, I think Zelenka's next on the list. He hopefully will have something to show for the time he's had to work on the gate issue."
He turned on his heel to walk out when a stern grip wrapped around his bicep. "Colonel, you forgetting something? I still need to do your post-mission physical."
"Beckett, there's no time for that," he said as he pulled his arm away.
"Well then we'll make the time. This isn't something I can let you skip off on," he finished in a steely voice, giving no room for arguing as he tightened his grip on John's arm and began pulling him back toward one of the examination cubicles.
Sheppard sighed but began walking with the doctor. Carson's protective streak over all of them increased exponentially when he was worrying about one of them. It was his way of defraying his concern, he took all that pent up energy and put it into hyping up his doctoring for the members of the team that were around to be heckled and poked and prodded. It was an annoyance at times like this, but Sheppard could give him this small reprieve it would give Beckett a small peace of mind.
"Thanks, Colonel. I know you want to be elsewhere. I'll be quick, just a wee listen to your heart, a few vials of blood and you'll be on your way."
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Continued in Part Two
Author: hollow_echos
Genre: Angst
Prompt: Collateral Damage
Word Count: 27,000
Rating: PG-13 (Language only)
Warnings: None
Summary: The team goes off world to help with a routine evacuation mission during a monsoon. Rodney’s left behind on the planet and water levels are rising. Our favorite scientist is left praying for a miracle and a last minute rescue from his teammates.
Notes: A huge shout out goes to Rusting_roses for her wonderful betaing, for listening to my frustrations with this fic, for helping me ironing out the plot, and for being an all around awesome person. This story might not have happened without her support.
[ Part One] [ Part Two] [ Part Three] [ Part Four]
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Chapter 1 - Sometimes it Rains
"Why do I need to go on this mission again?" Rodney asked as he slumped into the chair next to Sheppard in the front of the jumper.
Sheppard calmly responded as he began the sequence of commands that would activate the jumper, "I figured you could probably use a hiatus from the lab. I sometimes think the fumes down there get you a little wonky after a few days of holing up down there."
Mckay fumbled with the seatbelt before snapping back, "The lab only smells a bit fishy! We back right up to the desalination unit; it helps with our cooling system for all of the critical projects we're working on. But besides your personal sadistic streak, that doesn't explain why I need to be going."
The jumper began moving, the bay doors opening as they dropped into the gate room at Sheppard's command. "These people are our trading partners. That means we are somewhat obligated to help them in periods of duress. God knows we've asked the same of our allies during our times of need."
Rodney still wasn't entirely sold on the idea though; he had been supposed to run some diagnostics on a jumper that hadn't been performing at full power output lately. This little detour was going to mean a late night and a caffeine binge if that jumper was going to be ready for a mission tomorrow. He doubted Elizabeth would rearrange the schedule just to give him an extra day. He threw a glance back at his teammates who were settled on opposite benches in the rear of the jumper, "Teyla, can you give us a few more details on what to expect?"
Teyla looked at him calmly, "All of the information I possess on the Verdeans is in the mission report Colonel Sheppard asked me to prepare. I don't know what else I could add."
Rodney huffed a bit and said something under his breath before addressing her again, "Normally I'd have read the report, but only if I am given ample notification that we are going off world," he said a bit bitterly, throwing a sideways glance at Sheppard in pilot's seat. "Sheppard dragged me out of bed and right down here saying we had to go. I didn't get a chance to read the mission briefing."
Teyla nodded. "The world we are visiting is what my people know as Verdea. There are two rival ethnic groups on this planet, the Serns and the Koles. While tensions run high, for the past several seasons they have maintained a strained peace. The Sern faction has a new leader that is pressing for expansion of territory into what have traditionally been Kole lands."
McKay absorbed that, "And how does this beg our involvement?"
"The Serns are a larger faction with a stronger military; they have been more aggressive in their warring tactics recently. The Kole maintain small military outposts in different communities. A large Sern contingent has barricaded one such community on a narrow peninsula. With monsoon season currently in progress on this planet, water levels have steadily risen and the Kole are suffering extreme flooding with no route of escape."
"Ok, I follow you so far...but I'm still not seeing where we come in here."
"This is a community that we trade with regularly, both here on Atlantis and my people on the mainland. The Athosians have extended an invitation for temporary refuge for these individuals until the monsoon season ends in a few weeks and they can return to their settlement if the water levels have dropped sufficiently. They may also travel to another Kole city by sea when the waters are calmer to bypass the blockade by the Serns. The gate is on an island and we will be helping to transport their elderly and children to it to avoid putting them at risk on the open water."
McKay scrunched his brow a bit at this, "The Ancients were generally a pretty smart bunch. The gates have always been in an easily accessible location before. So why would they switch it up and go for an island venue all of a sudden?"
Sheppard knew the answer to this one and chose to chime in. Of course, he had also had the answer provided to him in the mission report. But no reason to let McKay know that, he couldn't avoid outclassing the brilliant astrophysicist on the rare occasions he was able to "Planets aren't static all the time, Mckay. Things change, climates change. The piece of land was originally attached to the mainland when the Ancients built the gate there but water levels have risen and turned it into an island."
"That was a rhetorical question, Sheppard. I was just thinking out loud," Mckay responded, "Again, if we're playing pack mule for these folks, why am I along? Usually I leave the heavy lifting to you guys while I put my brain to good use."
Ronon's expression failed to hide his irritation. Of course McKay was looking at him when he said the bit about heavy lifting, but he wasn't all brawn. He let his anger fade though, as there was work enough to be done in the near future, he thought as he leaned back against the hull and closed his eyes to rest for the few moments of quiet they had left. He'd probably be doing lots of that lifting soon enough.
Sheppard grinned a bit, "Think Noah's Ark. The jumper's the ark; you're the mechanic who runs around making sure we don't spring a leak or dip out of the sky because of a short out or something. It's just in case we need some tech assistance, otherwise we'll let you stay in the jumper."
Mckay leaned back in his seat at that, "I suppose that's an acceptable compromise. I do have my tablet. I have some calculations I can work on while you guys are out dancing in the rain."
Sheppard's smirk widened, "Of course McKay, wouldn't want you to melt or anything."
Ronon peaked one eye open, "Probably a good idea. McKay's squawking when he has to suffer a little discomfort is as bad as the birds that we had back on Sateda."
"Hey! I resent that comparison. My conversation is probably the most stimulating you'll find anywhere."
Ronon shrugged, "Even the birds were good for something, made great target practice," he said, a hand settling lightly over his gun.
Rodney's eyes opened a bit wider and he kept his mouth closed, turning his attention forward again as the jumper advanced through the gate and into the downpour beyond.
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McKay was huddled by the edge of the open jumper. It'd been three hours and they'd made two trips to the peninsula, if it could be called that. Most of the community had been under a good foot of water by the time they'd gotten there. Sheppard had set them down on the roof of a building and the settlers had come slogging up with bundles of possessions, packing into the back of the jumper like cattle. He'd had to stick his tablet into his raincoat to prevent it from getting wet. Keeping anything dry in a monsoon was a challenge and electronics and water didn't exactly mix.
That was the reason why he was running one final diagnostic on the jumper. Monsoon had been an understatement. The water was falling in a continuous sheet. Most of the settlers had made the trip by water in tiny canoe-like boats that Rodney had been amazed had survived the waves out on the open sea. From where the jumper was parked near the gate he'd watched the tiny lanterns bob on the waves, one for each boat coming in. Ronon and Teyla had been making trips back and forth from the shore, helping exhausted, soaked Koles carry their possessions up the slippery, rocky slope and through the gate to Atlantis. Sheppard had been flying back and forth, landing only long enough to pick up or drop off people before taking off again. They had made their final trip though, and with good timing. Sheppard was sitting resolutely in the pilot chair, focusing on keeping the jumper hovering a foot or so above the water. They'd lost the pile of boulders they'd been sitting on to the rising water a few minutes ago and Sheppard had piloted them into the air to prevent water from pouring in through the open back hatch.
Their window for remaining here was quickly waning. The gate was not in a good position. It was on the lower end of the island, and water had started trickling through the gate at first, but reports were coming through from the gate techs that didn't bode well. They had resorted to a bucket brigade to handle the water pouring back into the gate room. It was equipped with drains for light water drainage, but that system wouldn't make a dent in the waterfall that was currently flooding through.
Rodney flicked his attention between watching the diagnostics on his screen, searching out on the slope for his friends who were helping the last few settlers up from their boats, and the gate which was slowly disappearing beneath the water an inch at a time.
He bit his lip and typed a bit faster after taking a quick glance out at the landscape. Visibility was terrible between the heavy cloud cover and the torrential rain. They should've been back by now. They needed to go.
"Rodney, brace yourself," a voice shouted over the pounding of rain on the hull.
McKay didn't question it. When Sheppard spoke in that tone of voice you didn't argue. You listened immediately; it had saved his life more times than he could count. He set the tablet aside and slid both arms through the webbing that secured much of their equipment to the wall. He took in a sharp breath of air as a gust of wind tilted the jumper's axis sideways and his tablet began to slide.
I can't lose that, McKay thought, panicked. He removed one hand from the stabilizing grip he had established to lean forward for it.
Sheppard had thrown a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure McKay hadn't slid out into the water, "McKay, leave it! The wind's bad, last thing I need is you in the water!"
Rodney hesitated but drew his hand back, once again putting it to use holding on and he let out a small dismayed cry as the tablet slid down the ramp and into the water below. One less piece of technology for the mission, he brooded silently. He should've put that in with the other equipment.
His thoughts were interrupted as there was the sound of splashing. He sat up a bit straighter and tried to make out what was making the noise. There were a few deep grunts and then suddenly a pack was being thrown up into the jumper. McKay scrunched his legs up against the rest of his body to avoid getting hit.
A few more bags were thrown up and then a head appeared at the base of the ramp, followed by a torso and the rest of the body as the man clawed his way into the rear of the jumper. McKay risked letting a hand go from the webbing, leaning out to grasp the man's cold hand and pull him up.
A soaking wet Teyla was the next up, her teeth chattering as she wrapped her arms around her torso and sat down on the bench.
Sheppard was still looking forward, the wind gusts requiring his full attention to balance the jumper out as his teammates were climbing in, but he was listening intently, "McKay, what's going on?"
"Teyla and a settler are in," he shouted over the rain, watching Teyla to make sure she was ok. She was pale; water was dripping off her clothing and gathering in a small pool at her feet. She made eye contact with Rodney but made no effort to speak, the exhaustion evident from her expression, the chill evident from her body language and shivering.
The back of the jumper dipped down a bit as one more large figure climbed up over the edge, standing up on the ramp as he quickly shuffled into to the compartment, his head almost hitting the ceiling. Ronon shook his head a few times, reminding Rodney of a dog after a bath as the man's water logged dreadlocks threw water droplets in every direction. Rodney blinked as a few landed on his cheek.
Ronon dropped onto the bench, breathing hard as he reached into the webbing above him and brought down a folded wool blanket and passing it over to Teyla without any words passing between them, "That's everyone. We didn't see any more lights on the water."
Sheppard called back over his shoulder, "You're sure we aren't leaving anyone?"
Ronon nodded, "If anyone else was out there they aren't any more. The water's a lot rougher. A few boats might have flipped. We saw a few lights just go out- they didn't make it to the shore."
Rodney heard a muttered curse. Sheppard treated everyone like one of his own, whether they were a total stranger or a friend. The loss of any individual he was tasked to protect hit him hard. Rodney had silently passed the balcony John liked to frequent, had seen the man out there alone with a drink in one hand after a hard mission and knew that it meant someone was dead. That balcony wouldn't go unoccupied tonight, he thought silently.
"You're absolutely positive?"
Ronon was wringing the water out of his shirt, "I'm confident. There were no more lights."
"What if someone's lantern went out, maybe the flame went out with all the rain?"
"Maybe," he muttered without further explanation.
"Then we go back down, one more trip. I'm not leaving people here to die."
The mask Ronon normally kept in place faltered for a moment and Rodney saw the blank look in his eyes, the hunch in his frame. He was a verifiable rock, but that didn't mean he wasn't a man, a man who could feel tired and cold after being out in a monsoon. And if Ronon looked bad, Teyla looked worse.
Rodney chose then to speak, "I'll go, Sheppard. Let these two dry off."
John did look back this time, "You sure Rodney?"
Rodney nodded, "It's not far, I can be back in a few minutes."
Sheppard looked at him skeptically for a few seconds before dipping his own head in agreement, "Fine, be quick and be careful. The gate's almost halfway under water; we need to get out of here."
Rodney drew the hood of his rain jacket over his head, zipped it up as tight as it would go, and hopped down into thigh deep water. His outline quickly faded as he slogged off into the rain.
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Chapter 2 - Sometimes it Pours
The jumper bobbed a bit with the wind as Sheppard worked to keep the jumper from barreling sideways. He had begun throwing a spare glance over his shoulder and out the back of the jumper when he could tear his attention away from his piloting, with his latest glance he narrowed in on Ronon who had scooted over next to Teyla. At some point she must have surrendered half of her blanket as they were now huddling on the bench together. He cleared his throat and shouted to overcome the background noise of the wind, "Ronon, any sign of Rodney?"
"No, I can't see far with the rain."
Sheppard let out a frustrated exhalation of air; the thought had crept into his mind almost the moment McKay had jumped out of the back of the jumper, he should've left McKay to pilot for a few minutes while he had made the last run down to the beach. "How far is it down to the coast from here, shouldn't he have been back by now?"
Ronon ignored him for a minute, focusing instead on wrapping his half of the standard military issue blanket around a shivering Teyla. Her eyes snapped back open with the flurry of his movements and the sudden absence of his body next to hers. She tried to push it back at him but even cold and tired as Ronon was, she didn't pose much of a fight and he securely bundled it around her. "Five minutes," Ronon muttered, "Maybe a few more for McKay. He's got short legs."
John nodded, "Alright, we'll give him five more minutes."
"Want me to go after him?"
Sheppard considered it, but really, McKay should be ok. He put the jumper on autopilot for the minute; the wind seemed to have granted them a momentary reprieve and died down a bit. He turned around in his chair, still close enough to grab for the controls in the occurrence of a strong draft, "We'll hold off a few more, then we'll figure out who goes if he's not back."
Ronon reached a hand up to grab a dreadlock that had escaped from the knot he was currently wearing at the base of his neck. He pushed the whipping tendril out of his face as a quick burst of air entered through the open rear hatch.
Sheppard's gaze wandered to the waterlogged landscape outside. He was mentally trying to replay the last time he had seen McKay swim. They'd all had to pass the standard military swim test to certify for off world team status, but that had been a few years ago. The last time he recalled having seen his friend take a dip was awhile ago when they'd visited Teyla's people along the coast. Even then, he'd only gone in up to his waist before releasing a yelp and declaring the water too cold for any sane person. Ronon and Sheppard had ignored him, instead rushing past and splashing him as they and dived beneath the calm waters to race out to a rock outcropping a hundred meters or so into the ocean.
"Sheppard."
He should be a strong swimmer, right? And the water was only up to his thighs or so, he shouldn't have cause to put those swim skills to the test anyways...
"Sheppard!"
John snapped his head to the rear compartment and made eye contact with Ronon.
The large man was fully alert now and sitting up straight, "Are we supposed to be moving?"
"Relax, it's the wind-"
"Our thrusters are operating."
He scrunched his brow and immediately turned back to the jumper console. They were moving toward the gate, but he wasn't doing it. This shouldn't be happening. He reached for the steering and tried to turn them back around to where they had been a few seconds ago but it seemed stuck. Sheppard swallowed. This was the last thing they needed in a storm like this with one of their people on the ground, and their only civilian team member to boot.
He grunted as he jerked the steering again, much harder this time, again, nothing. He tried pressing the sequences of buttons that would put the jumper on standby, and when that failed he tried a mental command aided by his gene. No effect. They were moving away from where Rodney was supposed to meet them, and the jumper was picking up speed.
"Sheppard, we're going to lose McKay if we keep up like this..."
"I know Ronon! I'm trying, the jumper's not responding." He tried the key command sequence again, this time pounding each key as he went, as though brute force would do the trick. He looked out the windshield to see where they were navigating. The last thing they needed was to collide with a tree or something. A confused expression passed over his face, the gate, now almost three quarter submerged, was ahead. He could imagine the gate techs having a melt down on the other side with all of this water coming in. He wondered if the gate room would be as flooded as it was out here...
And then suddenly a wormhole had formed and they were heading toward it. There was a scuttle of boots squeaking against the soaked metal floor behind him as he threw a look backward. Ronon was on his feet and at the entrance, his face gritted with exertion as he tried to force the door back open.
A flurry of panic seized John; Rodney was out there instead of in here to help them with this malfunction. Worse yet, Rodney was out there expecting them to be there when he returned. He pounded a frustrated fist against the console as they approached the gate. What the hell was he supposed to do? Despite his mental ordering, pleading, that the jumper stop, whatever command sequence had been initiated was too strong for his gene to overcome. The last thought that passed through John's mind as they approached and went through the gate was that he'd sworn to never leave a man behind.
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Sheppard put the jumper down right in the gate room, not wanting to waste the time it would take to park it in the jumper bay and they make his way back down to the gate. The moment the jumper settled to the ground with solid thud he was out of his seat and making his way to the slowly opening hatch even before the thrusters were totally deactivated.
He stalked out of the jumper, momentarily sparing enough attention to notice that the gate room was in a few inches of water. Zelenka must have gotten the drains to work more efficiently somehow to have taken care of the water level this well. The thought didn't last long though, he was yelling out to the men stationed at the control panel for the gate the moment he cleared the exit and had them in sight, "What happened?!?"
Zelenka was standing up with the techs, a look of bewilderment on his face at the colonel's sudden outburst; he'd never seen him like this before. There was rage and panic in the man's eyes. Zelenka squinted and looked at the readings on his data pad which currently monitoring the gate activity, "I...I don't know, Colonel. We didn't dial the gate; it locked in your address automatically."
"Yeah, I didn't decide to take a reprieve back here either. The jumper started flying itself and I couldn't override." Sheppard hadn't moved far from the jumper, and was ready to dart back in at a moment's notice, "Dial it back. Now. Rodney's back there in that mess."
By now Ronon and Teyla were starting to emerge from the jumper. Ronon was helping the villager that they had brought back from the coast with his meager belongings. Zelenka looked for McKay, and when he didn't see him, the colonel's words sunk in. His friend had been left in the monsoon, without his teammates, without any resources or with the capability to get back here safely. Bad didn't begin to describe this situation. He didn't speak for a moment, immediately beginning the sequence to dial the planet back. Sheppard nodded in approval as he marched back into the jumper and took up his position at the controls, ready to fly it back through the gate as soon as it was activated. Ronon had set the villager's pack on the ground and was already moving back toward the jumper. Teyla followed on his heels despite her slower movements, cold had a way of making everything more sluggish.
All eyes were on the gate as each chevron locked in. Sheppard was on edge, every muscle tensed like a wire pulled to tightly, tension to the point of almost hurting.
And as suddenly as everyone had been ready to move, the excitement died as the gate deactivated before locking the last chevron. Zelenka frowned, looking at his data pad before meeting Sheppard's questioning gaze through the windshield of the jumper. Radek shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. The frown on Sheppard's face deepened and a moment later he was up the platform standing next to Radek.
"Zelenka, we need to get back there now. What's wrong?"
"The gate won't dial the address," he was furiously typing on his data pad, trying to find a reason for it, "I don't know, Colonel."
"Well, try it again! I need to go back for Rodney."
Sheppard stood there impatiently as Zelenka had the gate tech enter the address again. The gate room was silent; the only audible noise was the sound of the gate dialing. On the last chevron, the gate deactivated.
Sheppard muttered a curse under his breath before addressing Zelenka again, failing to restrain the frustration in his voice, "Zelenka, what is this?"
Radek shrugged, not making eye contact, almost ashamed at his inability to help his colleague who had so often saved them all. "I need time to process the data. It appears some failsafe from Atlantis is preventing us from dialing."
"Well can you come up with a guess as to why?"
"How was the gate on the planet side?"
"Almost all the way underwater."
"That could explain it. Atlantis might have sensed that the gate was about to go under and recalled the jumper. The gate room did take some heavy flooding before I got the auxiliary drains functioning. Perhaps it was a failsafe mechanism to prevent the water levels here from getting too high..."
By now Ronon had mounted the steps and was standing just to the side and behind the Colonel, "Sheppard, we going back for McKay?"
John let out a frustrated sigh, "The gate's not working. Zelenka says he needs time to figure out how to override it."
Ronon narrowed his eyes at this, "So McKay's on his own for awhile?"
"He'll be ok. And we'll get this figured out," he turned back to Zelenka, "I need you to fix this. The gate there is on an island that was rapidly flooding. I don't know how much longer any of it will be above the water level and the closest land is not close at all. If he's there too long, he's going to be forced into the open water."
"I have already sent the data from the failed activations to the lab database. I will get all of my teams working on it."
"Good, I want a back-up plan too. We need options in case we can't get that address to dial in."
"I'll do my best, Colonel."
"You might have to do better than that. Do whatever it takes. We're not leaving Rodney out there."
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Chapter 3 - Left Behind
Rodney held an arm out in front of his face as a barrier against the rain that was currently assaulting him. He'd seen rain back in Canada; he'd seen rain during the hurricane that had hit back on Atlantis. But this brought a new meaning to the word. It was like someone had tipped the world upside down and the ocean was falling from the sky.
He'd made it down to the beach and looked for any lights as instructed. Not seeing any, he'd waited a few more minutes and moved down closer to where the shore was, marked only by the occasional rock peaking above the rapidly rising water. He'd strained to see anything and called out several times until his throat stung from the effort. There was nothing left. There were a few boats tethered to a tree, bobbing up and down with the motion of the water, the abandoned remnants of the people who had made the treacherous water crossing. And it was treacherous; these were more canoes than boats. He could believe it when Ronon said a few had flipped on the waves. Taking one of those things across the churning waves was suicidal.
After convincing himself that no one was out there, he'd scurried up the rocky slope toward the gate, slipping on the slick stones and falling once, soaking himself up to the chest as he tried to regain his balance. The raincoat did some good for the rain, but it didn't do anything when he was half submerged in an ocean. He gave a silent thank you for the fact that Sheppard had insisted they always wear their tactical vests off world, the thick armor-grade material provided some insulation against the cold. He was ready to be done after ten minutes out here. Ronon and Teyla had been at it for hours before finally calling it quits, and they had kept trucking along until everyone was evacuated. He took a sense of pride at the thought, his teammates were dedicated, and being among them pushed him to be a better person too.
All this passed through his mind as he climbed the slope, his lungs burning as he reached the part where everything finally leveled out. He'd gone from being past his knees in water down to a few inches below the joint with the elevation increase. He looked for the lights of the jumper to guide him back to the team; it was getting darker with the waning of the afternoon. His eyebrows dipped into a furrow, he saw waves, a little bit of land, and more water, but no light. No jumper. Where were they?
He spun in a circle, was it possible he had gotten disoriented and headed in the wrong direction from the shore? His breath was quickening, "So not good. Come on McKay, we can do this...Orient yourself. Where am I?"
He squinted, examining his surroundings for any familiar landmarks. This island really was a rock though; there were a few good sized trees uphill of where the gate had sat. Those and a few shrubs that would probably be washed away with the onslaught of the ocean if the storm kept up this way.
His breath hitched in his throat. He saw the twin trees from earlier, the ones that had been near the gate before. They were the right trees; he'd remembered commenting to himself on the way down about how they leaned toward each other. One seemed to have died and tipped into the still living one, without it, it would probably have fallen long ago. This was right. He was in the right spot.
"Sheppard!" He stumbled forward, "Ronon, Teyla! You guys out there?!?" His voice carried out over the waves, but the howling wind soon drowned it out, leaving just the desperate man with his hoarse cry into the storm.
He was hyperventilating. The gate and the jumper had been right here...had something happened? Could the jumper have gone under? A shudder ran through his body as he remembered the time he had spent at the bottom of the ocean in what he assumed would be his crypt. He prayed that wasn't the case. Even if the thrusters had died, though, they would have fallen into this shallower bit of water. It was only up to his knees, not enough to cover a jumper. No, they hadn't sunk.
So where were his teammates? Rodney swiveled his head back and forth, looking for any sign of them. Nothing, nothing to indicate their presence here.
His heavy breathing soon mixed with a panicked sob. He was a man alone on this forsaken rock. The gate was all the way under. He might be able to try dialing if he could locate it, but with just his sight to rely on, he couldn't very well dive around at random hoping to bump into it by luck. His team was gone...why would they have left him?
"Sheppard! Teyla! Ronon," he screamed out once more, before softly speaking again as his voice trailed off, "Anyone?"
He wrapped his arms around his torso, partially to try to retain some heat, partially out of a desire to comfort himself in the absence of anyone else to be there for him. They were gone.
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Sheppard had yet to sit down since he had parked the jumper in its slot in the bay. He'd already sent Ronon and Teyla down to see Carson for their post-mission physicals. They'd looked cold; at the very least he was hoping the Scot would prescribe a hot meal, a warm shower, and a few hours of rest while they figured out a way back to the planet to get McKay. Then there'd been trying to explain to Elizabeth how he'd lost their friend, their chief scientist, the most brilliant and one of the most vital men to the expedition, on a routine evacuation mission. And then there was checking in with Zelenka every chance he got until the man had finally lost his patience and told him that for every minute he spent telling Sheppard that he still hadn't solved the problem, that was another minute taken from the time he could be working on a plan to rescue Rodney.
God. McKay was out there alone. What would he be thinking right now? That Sheppard had abandoned him, that they were dead? John had tried to put mentally himself in McKay's current predicament, tried to think about how Rodney would be doing off world in a dire situation like this.
He'd tried, and then he'd tried harder to stop and silence the imagery playing though his head. He could imagine the fear and confusion that Rodney had to be feeling right now. They'd left a teammate behind. Sure, not willingly, but Rodney didn't have that piece information. He'd gone down to the shore at Sheppard's prodding for one last check, hell; he'd actually stepped beyond himself to think of his teammates. He'd let them rest and volunteered to do a pretty unpleasant task. And his reward for that? Fate had slapped him a good one in the face. For his selflessness, he had gotten left behind.
And it'd happened on John's watch. He'd lost the one civilian on his team and left him out in a monsoon, probably the person least prepared to deal with a situation like this. Ronon, Teyla, and he, they were warriors, soldiers. They knew how to keep calm, evaluate the circumstances, and optimize their chances of survival. McKay had learned a lot by going on missions, getting shot at, and having to perform first aid. But every time, John or Teyla or Ronon, they'd been there or close by to reassure him when things got bad. Even in the times when they'd been separated, Rodney could always keep faith that they would come for him. But now, God only knew what McKay was thinking. That they'd forgotten him, decided to ditch him...Now Sheppard had failed on his promise to protect his friend, and rightfully so, that thought wouldn't leave him. He never should have let McKay go out there. He knew better!
"Colonel, you look a bit tense. Everything alright?"
Sheppard stopped walking. Oh yeah, this was the next stop off on the endless list of places he had to be and people to talk to in order to coordinate the rescue effort, "Oh, um, I mean nothing's ok with Rodney out there, I assume you've heard about my latest fubar?"
Carson walked toward him in the reception area of the infirmary, sticking his hands in his pockets, his shoulders dropping a bit as he approached, "Aye, I heard about the situation, and I also heard from Teyla and Ronon that there was nothing you could've done to prevent it. So you're to leave the self-blame routine at the door."
The colonel didn't respond to that, ignoring the comment altogether. Nothing anyone said was going to deter that routine of his, "I wanted to see if you could spare a medic for when we do go off world to complete the retrieval and bring him back. Just in case..." He didn't finish the sentence, if anything had happened to Rodney because of this there wouldn't be punishment enough that Sheppard could inflict on himself to make up for this.
"Aye. I'll be going myself. My field pack's ready, just radio me when it's time and I'll be on my way to the gate room."
Sheppard gave a terse nod in appreciation. There wasn't a set of hands on Atlantis he would feel more comfortable handling Rodney than Beckett's. "Ok, I guess I'll talk to you later then. I have other stops to make, I think Zelenka's next on the list. He hopefully will have something to show for the time he's had to work on the gate issue."
He turned on his heel to walk out when a stern grip wrapped around his bicep. "Colonel, you forgetting something? I still need to do your post-mission physical."
"Beckett, there's no time for that," he said as he pulled his arm away.
"Well then we'll make the time. This isn't something I can let you skip off on," he finished in a steely voice, giving no room for arguing as he tightened his grip on John's arm and began pulling him back toward one of the examination cubicles.
Sheppard sighed but began walking with the doctor. Carson's protective streak over all of them increased exponentially when he was worrying about one of them. It was his way of defraying his concern, he took all that pent up energy and put it into hyping up his doctoring for the members of the team that were around to be heckled and poked and prodded. It was an annoyance at times like this, but Sheppard could give him this small reprieve it would give Beckett a small peace of mind.
"Thanks, Colonel. I know you want to be elsewhere. I'll be quick, just a wee listen to your heart, a few vials of blood and you'll be on your way."
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Continued in Part Two