Trust Once Broken | SGA John Sheppard

0.81.0

John cleared his throat and opened the channel back up to Elizabeth. "Rodney is doing everything that is humanly possible to be ready, he-"

"I have a contact," they all could hear Chuck call through the comms. There was a heavy click as they opened the channel between the Orion, Atlantis and The Daedalus who was also just out of sensor range.

There was a long pause.

"Atlantis report," Caldwell demanded, his tone sharp with impatience.

There was another long silence. The tension was heavy inside the Orion. John glanced around at the scientists around him. Only Kai and McKay seemed to stay focused on their work. He was painfully aware that he had precious few people with him who had seen actual combat. If shit hit the fan he might be in trouble if they panicked.

"You could be a little more chatty Elizabeth," John reprimanded gently.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I'm just waiting for them to make their next move."

Another voice, this one a guttural growl came through the open comms. "We know you are there, we mean you no harm, please respond."

"John are you hearing this?" Elizabeth asked, her voice breathy with surprise.

The voice came again. "We mean you no harm...there is no point in hiding Doctor Weir. We mean you no harm, respond."

John blew out an angry sigh. "Is that who I think it is?" he growled.

"He's addressing me by name. I think we can safely assume it's Michael."

John's gaze went to Kai. She nodded once, confirming it was who they suspected. Of everyone on Atlantis she had spent the most time with him as he reverted to Wraith and was the most likely to recognize his voice. John held Kai's gaze. Her jaw was tight and the tension in her body made it clear how she felt about the Wraith who had kidnapped and attacked her.

"You don't actually intend to respond?" Caldwell challenged.

"Why not?" Elizabeth asked.

"Where do you want me to start?" Caldwell asked incredulously.

"I think we can safely say our cover is blown," Elizabeth reasoned.

"I wouldn't jump to that conclusion," Caldwell argued.

"The message is from Michael, Colonel," Elizabeth said pointedly.

Caldwell did little to hide his frustration with the situation. "But they don't know exactly where-"

"Caldwell is right," John interjected, a little amazed he was agreeing with the other Colonel. "Answer them and we guarantee the first shot won't miss." This was where he and Elizabeth often struggled. She was so focused on the diplomat side of things, she hadn't stopped to consider the military.

McKay spoke up unprompted. "I recommend opening a secure channel to the hive via the Daedalus and the Orion. That way they won't be able to triangulate Atlantis's position."

"And we can always turn on the shield," Elizabeth added.

"I believe we have enough combined fire power to take out a single hive if we need to," John agreed, although his voice wasn't one hundred percent. There was always a risk, and he would prefer to not take that risk with everyone's lives for the sake of curiosity.

Elizabeth sighed. "Have you ever heard of a Wraith behaving this way?" Elizabeth asked across the open channel.

"No," Ronon's voice was a deep rumble from beside Elizabeth. It made John feel better to know his friend was with Elizabeth. Ronon didn't always follow the chain of command as well as he should, but because of that he wouldn't hesitate to speak up if he though she was doing something dangerous.