Trust Once Broken | SGA John Sheppard

0.85.0

Kai hadn't slept at all in the last twenty-four since she had rested with John. She was pushing her body to the limits, but the Hive had been so damaged in its fight against the Daedalus she spent the whole trip with systems going down and breaking faster than she and McKay could fix them.

She was on the bridge working on the sensors when Michael cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"We are approaching Atlantis," the wraith informed them. Michael hadn't rested since they took control of the Hive. With no one else to pilot the ship he had pushed himself to the limits of a wraiths endurance and it showed. He was looking haggard and worn but he hadn't complained once. Kai begrudgingly admired the Wraith's survival instincts. He seemed to have a knack for it and had made a point to be helpful and not draw unnecessary attention to himself.

It hadn't stopped Caldwell from rotating his men in to stand guard and watch Michael, but after over a day together everyone seemed to relax a modicum in his presence. Kai, Ronon and Sheppard however weren't likely to forget his past betrayals any time soon. At all times one of them was keeping at least half an eye on Michael.

Kai turned to face the viewer as John and Ronon stepped up beside her. Michael's hands slid over the controls and the ship dropped out of the hyperdrive window more abruptly than they were all prepared for. Kai stumbled forward, catching herself on the edge of the control as John and Ronon fought to keep their feet.

They shot angry looks back at Michael.

"That was not me," he said quickly.

McKay looked sheepish for a moment. "Apologies, still some glitches in the inertial dampener repairs," he cleared his throat and turned to Michael. "Send a transmission immediately," McKay ordered Michael.

"Why the rush?" Caldwell asked.

"Our sensors might be down, but Atlantis' should be working just fine," McKay grumbled.

"They'll have been expecting us for over a day, and with Subspace comms down we had no way of letting them know we're friendly," Sheppard explained.

Caldwell frowned. "Are you saying Atlantis might attack us? How are our shields?" He asked turning to Zelenka.

"Depends how Beckett is doing in the chair," Sheppard said rubbing at the stubble on his cheeks with the backs of his fingers. "Open a channel," he ordered Michael.

The Wraith's jaw tightened but he complied.

"Atlantis this is Sheppard come in."

"John?" Teyla's voice came over the comm in surprise. "Is that you?" She asked in disbelief.

"We're out of food and water, and haven't slept in a few days, but yeah, we made it. So now would not be a good time to fire on us. After all," he said with a cocky grin. "You wouldn't want to damage our new hive ship."

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"Elizabeth is where?" Sheppard demanded for the second time in disbelief.

He had arrived on Atlantis expecting to debrief Weir and finally get some sleep only to find the IOA had summoned her back to earth to reprimand her in the middle of a critical mission leaving only Teyla in charge. John tightened his jaw. He couldn't stand civilian oversight for this very reason. No military leader in their right mind would remove the leader of the expedition when both the ranking Military commanders and remaining senior members of the expedition were off world. With Him, Lorne, McKay and Zelenka gone that left only Beckett and Teyla in charge while Elizabeth tried to lead from the Milkway.